6th Jan 2010 Session Report: First Attempt At Battlestar Galactica

Battlestar Galactica

Matt brought back Battlestar Galactica for me recently and I had been eager to give it a go. The opportunity finally arrived and the bonus was that I was able to round up a posy of 5 to give it a go. I have read that the game plays arguably best with 5, without the sympathizer. Furthermore, I suppose it's more fun to have 2 on the Cylon side yet avoiding the increased downtime with 6.

The rules overwhelmed me the first time I read through it. Thankfully, there were player aids and summarized rules on BGG which helped organize the material more logically than the FFG rulebook. I did realize however that the way to intro the game was probably not to bog the other players down with the book-keeping details but simply present the pertinent info necessary to play.

Marcus was the only one who had attempted the game before while it was the first play for Van, Ivan, Ben and myself. As it turned out, Ivan and I drew Cylon cards from the go. I chose to play a variant that shortened the game, in hope of not having Van sour on the game because of its length.

The variant dialed down resources to 6 fuel, 6 food, 7 morale and 10 population. In addition, Galactica starts with one less raptor and two less vipers compared to the original set-up. The Sleeper phase is triggered after a jump distance of 3 and the humans win if they jump unscathed after a distance of 6. The only other change is that centurions that board Galactica begin on the 2nd space of the boarding track.

The variant worked reasonably well and we completed the game in about 2 hours, including rules explanation. Fuel, food and morale ended in the red zone although no centurions successfully boarded the ship throughout the game.

I took Roslin and held on to the role of President for majority of the game till Marcus wrested it from me towards the end with strong support of Ben. Unfamiliarity resulted in no Quorum cards being played and player action tended to concentrate on the use of Galactica's guns to take out the Cylon ships. There seems to be many options unexplored and hopefully, there will increased variability with more plays. I mistakenly assumed that it was the President who chose the destination card when it should have been the Admiral. I suppose it did give an added advantage to the Cylons since I ended up choosing instead of Van who was playing as Saul Tigh with William Adama out of the game. Although there was only one choice that made a significant difference where I chose the destination card with a distance 1 instead the other with a distance of 3.

Ivan did not take any risky moves all game due to his unfamiliarity of the game. He didn't reveal even to the end of the game. Van was on to me from the start due to a couple of unnecessary risky discards although the attempt to brig me failed. In order to avoid further suspicion, I played my cards duely but took every opportunity to dump my cards, so that I lacked any to be of help during crisis checks. Apparently, there are many opportunities to 'lose' cards when you are the President. The humans managed a distance of 6 and were heading for their victory jump when I revealed, and my Cylon action allowed me to deal the final blow taking fuel to zero.

I enjoyed the game because it feels remarkably different from my other games. Van wasn't impressed since the theme didn't appeal to her. I also suppose the group playing the game is important since much of the fun hinges on the metagame. Looking forward to more plays most definitely - hopefully it will see play sufficiently to hold a place in my collection.

The Princes of Florence

This was Van's pick and since we had 5, I was all for it. I wasn't sure if it was Marcus' first play but he played extremely well, thanks to him obtaining 3 Jesters. I was feeling good about my chances mid-game through and planned to end the game strongly by producing 2 works in each of the final two rounds. Alas, Marcus managed to do the same, robbing me of the work bonus in the penultimate round and outbidding me for the recruiting card I needed to produce an additional work in the last round. I gambled instead on a second Prestige card and drew a good one but still fell short by a point, 59 to his 60 points. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the game tremendously and the play once again cemented the PoF as one of my favs.

Hansa Teutonica

Marcus taught Ivan and Ben Hansa and before long, we had a go at a 5 player game. I was behind most game but managed to garner enough points for a 2nd place finish. The points were all rather close though Marcus took the game by a significant margin from the rest of us. Van had control of a good number of offices but failed to string them together for valuable network points. I found myself thinking about game strategy after the play, which is always a good sign. 5 player did drag a bit longer especially since we were still new to the game but even so, I wouldn't consider it a long game by any means.

11th Nov 2009 Session Report: The One Where I Cement My Appreciation Of Chicago Express

Had a good gaming turn-out today: Weilong, Mun, Ivan, Van and myself.

Ivan was the earliest so we started out with A Game of Thrones LCG while waiting for the other two to arrive. It was our first go at multiplayer so a little reviewing of the titles mechanic was due. This basically involves a choice of title per round by each player after plot cards are revealed and initiative resolved. Each title accords a benefit for the turn as well as determines potentially another title in which you oppose or support for the entirety of the round. You are restricted from challenging whoever you support and you gain a bonus power if you win a challenge against whoever you oppose. It's a nice added element to the game which helps balance the decks and prevent runaway leaders. Thematically, it fits the politicking of the books. However, it does add considerable time to gameplay since there is a tendency to gang up on the leader to pull him or her back.

As it turned out, we didn't manage to finish the game at the point when Weilong and Mun arrived. Nonetheless, it gave us a feel of the multiplayer mechanic. Van remained unimpressed and it looks like it will be increasingly difficult to get her to play again. Ivan was leading in the power department when we decided to move on to something else.

With 5, we opted for none other than Princes of Florence. Before we started, I also managed to teach Ivan Tichu and while waiting for Mun, the four of us played two hands. It ended 270-20 in Ivan and my advantage. Van and Weilong also had a short game of Battle Line while I was explaining the rules of PoF to Ivan.

Princes of Florence (Me 63, Ivan 51, Van 48, Mun 48, WL 38)

Ivan did surprisingly well considering it was only his first play at the game. I made a big boo-boo with my first prestige card, failing to get the builder I needed to fulfill the requirements. Somehow I assumed that just like Jesters, there would be a builder available for each round and waited till the last round to obtain it, hoping to nab it at a lower price. To my surprise, there were only 7 builders in the game, as opposed to 8 for Jesters. I opted desperately for a second prestige card at that point and managed to get the tied score for most works, but the damage was done. Thankfully, I obtained 2 Jesters in the mid-game at undervalued prices, which enabled me to still nab victory.

Glory to Rome (Van - forum victory, Me, Ivan, Mun)

Weilong had to leave early and Ivan was due to leave in about an hour so we opted for GtR. Ivan picked it up quickly despite the variety of building powers. Clearly, his experience with CCG/LCG typed games helped. I was a turn away from a potential victory but Van pipped me to it with a Forum victory thanks to her Gate which activates the powers of uncompleted Marble buildings.

Chicago Express (Van 83, Me 64, Mun 42)

After Ivan departed, I taught Mun Chicago Express before dinner. She was clearly impressed by the depth of the game despite the simplicity of the mechanics. I again won the first red share at $21. Van wised up to my strategy this time round and promptly auctioned the 2nd red share at a point when my finances paled to hers. She went further to buy up the 3rd share and I was rendered helpless as she clearly had the edge in terms of income and cash early in the game. As a minor shareholder, I diverted red's network away from Chicago and utilized it to block green which Van and Mun owned out of the game. Red was left with insufficient tracks to reach Chicago though it still provided a nice income each dividend phase. But the allowance to pull off such a move just took the game up another notch in my book. Blue managed to reach Chicago and I was the main beneficiary with 2 shares to Van and Mun's one. However, I was unable to claw back on Van's early lead and she promptly ended the game by auctioning off Wabash's 2nd share, leaving shares on red, blue and black all accounted for.

21st Sept 2009 Session Report: Public Holiday Gaming

While Hari Raya was the day before, it being a Sunday meant that Monday was a holiday as well. I invited whoever was available and was glad that there was a nice turnout in the end.

Age of Empires III

I stole victory by a hair's breath from Vanessa. It was the first game for Lijie and he seemed to enjoy himself, despite expressing initial reservations regarding the rules. I was surprised to win with Vanessa gaining the upper hand in colonization. Lijie had a nice collection of trade goods and far surpassed us in terms of merchant ships obtained. It forced me to take the Age III capital building with the Merchant Ship bonus despite only having 2, but a failure to do so would have simply handed him the game. However, his late foray into colonization meant that he failed to score adequate VPs to challenge Van and I. I figured my success boiled down to a well diversified strategy. I wasn't exceptional in any aspect but did well enough not to fall behind. Once again, I enjoyed the game and while it took about 2 hours, none of us felt it took as long - clearly a mark of a good game. While I have only played with 3, it makes me wonder whether I would favour the game with more players since it would surely add to the game length with more workers to place.

China

The next game I brought to the table was China. On this 2nd play, we actually managed to place a lot more emissaries, even maxing out the capacity in some provinces. I put it down to us playing more 2 cards turn rather than using our full hand of 3. As such, the deck was drawn down more slowly, and allowed us to focus on placing emissaries after most of the house vacancies have been filled. The emissary aspect of the game was also rather interesting as the capacity is limited by the majority in each province. This meant that large provinces and those dominated by a single colour became potential for high scoring. I realized this late and Lijie took Van and I to the cleaners, trumping us by 10+ points, despite it being his first play. Nonetheless, my impression of the game has further improved after this play and with its quick play time, I can see myself bringing it to the table on a regular basis. Buying it 2nd hand for S$25 was an absolute steal, thanks Sng!

Liar's Dice

Fang Ting and her friend, Ju Lee joined us at this point and not certain of Ju Li's appetite for heavier games, I decided to start us off with Liar's Dice. It was good fun and I see its potential as a casual game for large groups, in addition to Puno.

We went out in the order: FT, JL, LJ and finally myself. The final match-up was I with a single die against Van with her original 5 - it was clear that I didn't stand a chance.

Princes of Florence

With 5, I turned to my trusty PoF to further cement its status as a gateway gamer's game. While initially perturbed during the rules explanation, it appeared that the 3 guests enjoyed themselves. It was nice to get another go at PoF which is only 1 of 2 games that I rate a 10, yet seldom appears at the table as I'm often unwilling to play it with any less than the optimal 5 players. I beat Van by 2 points, thanks to a base price Jester that I obtained towards the end game, and producing a total of 6 works. I also managed to fulfill my 7 point Prestige card for most forests with only 2.

Fairy Tale

After Fang Ting and Ju Lee left, the 3 of us managed to squeeze in a game of Fairy Tale before leaving for dinner. Despite putting it up for trade, I was keen to give it another go with the correct rules. I had misinterpreted the rules previously that "You Flip One" meant that you got to flip an opponent's card. I then realized after reading up the BGG forum that you had to flip one of your own. While it made sense that high point cards required you to pay the penalty of flipping one of your other cards, it also meant that there was even less interaction in the game than I previously assumed. While the game flowed more smoothly this time round, I still failed to see its appeal on BGG. But Van was showing her talent at the game, winning again - this time with the correct rules.

24th-26th May Session Report: 2 & A Half Games Over 3 Days...

Through the Ages

Tried the full game of Through the Ages with Van on Sunday. It was a struggle for me to come to grasp with all the rules and communicate it clearly without overwhelming. On Van's part, it was a struggle bearing with the lack of direct interaction in a game which went on for hours. We finally aborted the game when we were halfway through Age II and it was then when I realize that I'll probably never be able to get Van to give it another go. It is clear to me that interaction in Through the Ages is subtle like most typical Euro-games, in particular Race for the Galaxy. I too prefer somewhat more direct interaction in my games but nonetheless am keen to give Through the Ages another shot, perhaps with someone more diehard. For the record, Van was leading me by almost 20 culture points when we aborted.

The Princes of Florence

Introduced the game to Da-win, Huifen and Mie on Monday. Once again, it reaffirmed my opinion of PoF as an excellent deep game to intro to casual or even non-gamers, which was the case for the 3 of them. While the strategic options are varied, the mechanics are simple to grasp with merely an auction in phase 1 of each round and 2 actions to execute in phase 2. And in essence, the 2 actions boil down either to a purchase or a production of a piece of art. I commented during the game that PoF appeals particularly to gals because at the heart of it, it's a game to do with shopping - you 'buy' stuff for most of the game to enhance the pieces of art you produce. Makes me wonder whether a fashion show theme could be used for it instead to gain even greater appeal with the opposite gender. Anyway, we all ended up somewhat bunched up in terms of prestige points (another reason why it's actually a rather accessible game) with the exception of Van who won with close to 50 points. I made an early and late mistake which cost me the game but was glad the 3 new players enjoyed the experience.

Catan Card Game

Van and I decided to have a go at the game on Tuesday. We re-drafted in view of my dismal record against her. The draft we utilized involved us splitting all duplicate cards initially, and drafting 4 cards at a time of the remainders. We would alternate picks, so I get the first and third choices for the first 4 cards flipped, and the second and fourth choices for the 2nd set, so on and so forth. While I was trying to avoid building a Wizards and Dragons deck, I ended up with the better cards from that expansion deck. Against my better judgement, I went ahead building my deck around those cards and ended up crumbling to Van's superior principality 13-7. In particular, I fell behind her in terms of commerce points, and the event die was brutal in allowing her to steal numerous resources for me. You would think that after so many defeats, I would know better. Guess not.

12th May 2009 Session Report: The One With A Botched Attempt At Through The Ages

Had Ben and Mun over for games today - it had been awhile since we met up. Ben was early and I was eager to finally unwrap my new copy of Through the Ages and give it a go but shockingly when I was about to start sharing the rules for the game, we discovered that my copy lacked 35 white counters which was stipulated in the rulebook. I called Terence who I bought the game from and he advised me to contact FRED Distribution directly instead. I immediately emailed them and so far the only reply I received was one that indicated my mail would be forwarded to customer service. Hopefully, this matter will be resolved asap since it was terribly disappointing for the most expensive game I bought to date to be missing components!

Anyway, we continued with other games in hope that our inability to try Through the Ages would not spoil our session.

Puerto Rico (Me 49, Van 48, Ben 41)

I had the stronger early game, managing to obtain Coffee and Tobacco monopolies. This reaped me some lucrative early trades and set me off in acquiring the Guild House and the related production buildings. However I made a critical mistake towards the end which almost cost me the game. I could have ended the game by Mayoring but failed to realize it, and ended up Captaining for a small advantage. The game continued an additional round which allowed Van to acquire an additional large building and she closed the gap to a single point.

Glory to Rome (Mun 28, Van 27, Me 20, Ben 16)

I struggled to get any good combinations going all-game long. Used my Prison to capture Van's Wall (Immune to legionary and 1VP for every 2 material in stockpile at end of the game) but in retrospect, it was too late in the game for it to really benefit me. Mun built rapidly and her Circus Maximus (double client actions when player leads or follows) and Basilica (when Merchant is played, player may additionally add card to Vault from hand) sealed her victory. None of us had many resources in the Vault but Mun managed to accumulate 4 marble cards which together with the marble majority bonus, accounted for about half her points.

Princes of Florence (Me 61, Mun 54, Van 51, Ben 38)

I managed to win in a rather unconventional way which for me is part of the charm of the game. I pulled off the victory despite producing the least works (4) amongst all the players, but took home the best work bonus 3 times, scored a hefty bulk of points from my 2nd builder, my 3 buildings and...my 2nd and 3rd Lakes. By avoiding expensive auctions, I had to get creative in racking up the points. I also took a Prestige card early and it was fun making sure I fulfilled the condition of being the player with the least empty spaces (I ended up with 6) which reaped me 8 prestige points to take me over the top.

Tichu (Van/Ben 440, Me/Mun -30)

We played till 300. The game was relatively close till I failed my bid for Tichu on 2 consecutive rounds. On the last round, not only did I fail in my Tichu bid, but Van made hers and both Ben and her cleared their cards before Mun and I. Ouch...

26th March 2009 Session Report: The One Where We Played My Top 3 Games

Well that's the good news... The bad news? My losing streak extended - can't remember the last time I failed to win so many consecutive games. Oh well, not winning doesn't detract from any of the fun of gaming...ok, maybe just a tinny bit ;)

Ben and Mun joined us in the afternoon for games. While waiting for Mun (late as usual, hah), we started with a game of Ra as requested by Ben. I didn't mind since I find Ra best with 3 since it accords players with more control. 5 player games can be somewhat more random. I failed to obtain much value with the auctions I won, and sorely trailed in terms of monument collection. I think I ended up with something like 3 and was deservingly trounced by Van and Ben who had 57 and 49 respectively. I ended up with a score of 38 thanks to me winning the Pharaoh bonus all 3 epochs.

Since Mun was likely to arrive at any point, we decided to opt for a quick game of High Society. It was Ben's first go at the game (he emphasized that I should note this in the session report *cough*) and struggled in finding the balance between acquiring points while conserving his cash. He racked up a impressive point total but wasn't a threat as he was down to his last cash card 2/3 way into the game. Van spent more of her cash than me by avoiding the 'bad' cards and ended up with a score of 20, thanks to two 2x multipliers and a 5 point luxury card. I was too conservative with my cash and ended up with both the 1/2 and -5 cards, resulting in a final score of 8.5.

When Mun arrived, we started on Glory to Rome, my current no.1. Mun and Ben did exceedingly well in the game, scoring 33 and 32 respectively. Mun racked up points by stuffing her stockpile early and building the Wall which rewards VPs for material in the stockpile. She also played a few timely Merchant roles when our stockpiles were empty. Ben loaded up on his clientele and used his Basilica to shore up his vault midway through the game. I built the same building but took more time getting it up, resulting in my failure to make up the deficit. I ended with 28 while Van had 19.

I then suggested Princes of Florence, which has quickly risen up my favourite list, just short of overtaking Glory to Rome. I felt I played exceedingly efficient on most counts, producing a total of 5 works throughout the game and winning 3 best works bonuses. My only mistake was my failure to acquire a Prestige card. Instead I took 2 recruitment cards which I could have substituted with purchasing Profession cards. I used 3 Bonus cards on my last turn which was an overkill. The WV points obtained then pale in comparison to the potential Prestige points available from a single Prestige card. I ended with 47 to Van's 51 while Mun and Ben had 45 and 36 respectively.

We ended the day with my former no.1, El Grande. I wonder if it is even no.3 now that Le Harve has entered the fray. I built a sizable lead after the 1st scoring which was a mistake because the rest started ganging up on me by banishing my cabelleros to Portugal (Mental note to self: Avoid taking too many scoring cards early in game). Van overtook me by the 2nd scoring and with my weakened state, I struggled clawing back the deficit and ended up with 108 to her 120. Ben and Mun scored 90 and 83 respectively. 

17 March 2009 Session Report: The One Where We Tried High Society

Misplaced the record sheet so this will be a recap based on what I can remember.

Ben and Mun came over for games today. Mun arrived earlier so while waiting for Ben, I whipped out High Society which I obtained recently for a first attempt. It was typical Knizia - interesting mechanics especially with the twist of having the player with the least money being eliminated but came across slightly dry due to its abstract nature. Nonetheless, it seems like a keeper for my purpose of serving as entertainment for guests when I'm not able to join them. The short play-time and simple rules fit the bill nicely. Only question in my mind is whether For Sale would be a better option but that's a moot point till I'm able to get my hands on a copy at a reasonable price (which rules out the reprint :P)

Van took the first game and Mun the second. I couldn't make up for the negative cards I took in the first game while I overspent in the second. The feel of the game reminded me of a simpler form of Modern Art. For some reason while I usually do reasonably well in Ra, I don't seem to have a good sense of how to do well in this alternate form of auction games.

Seeing that it had been awhile since we had four seasoned players, I took the opportunity to bring our my newly acquired copy of Princes of Florence. Still prefer to play with the maximum of 5 but seeing that it was a rare opportunity, I decided 4 wouldn't be too bad either. First play for Ben. I made a couple of bad mistakes and so did Van but we still emerged on top, with me losing to Van by a single point. Could have taken it if I didn't miscalculate my finances, failing to outbid Mun for the last Forest. The extra 3PP from what would have been my fourth forest would have won me the game. After the play, I made a mental note to upgrade my rating of the game from a 9 to a 10. The fact that such varied strategies (banking on multiple prestige cards instead of producing works) were viable added a notch for me. Looking forward to my next play.

There were some calls for Glory to Rome but figured we should instead have a go at another old favourite, El Grande. It was previously my no.1 game but in recent months, it has fallen behind Glory to Rome and Princes of Florence in my book. Still rate it a solid 9 nonetheless. Van took the win by virtue of a strong early move where we allowed her to score close to 20 points by scoring the six and seven regions. I learnt today that defense was just as important as offense in El Grande and sometimes cards need to be taken not for personal benefit but rather to block an opponent from gaining an extreme advantage. The three of us failed to do that today and Van took the win easily. The issue however is that there is general reluctance to sacrifice as the blocker for it often means forsaking a card providing personal benefit to do so.

Mun had to make a move and with the time remaining, I decided to show Ben the mechanics of Red November since he queried about it. I decided to play a 2 player game with each controlling a single gnome. As expected, we both survived in view of the limited event cards we were exposed to. The game is clearly easier with fewer players even with the attempted scalability of starting further down the track with more players.