27th Nov 2009 Session Report: Public Holiday Gaming Redux

Had a good turnout this time round, with almost 10 different ones playing over the course of the day. Lost the scores yet again so will just jot down what comes to mind.

Ivan came over with Jerry who is a CCG/LCG enthusiast. Despite never having played A Game of Thrones LCG before, he picked it up fast. The game was played over 2 halves as Marcus came halfway and we decided to opt for a game all 5 of us could play. We also played till only 10 points in order to avoid dragging out the game overly. Ivan played his slightly modified Targaryen deck while Jerry used his Stark deck. I fiddled with my Stark deck somewhat the day before, adding in a couple of Intrigue characters and swapping some of the plot cards so decided to go with that too. As a result, the game was dominated by military and power challenges. The lead switched hands a couple of times but I ultimately took the game with a 5 power gain round. I won an unopposed military challenge against Jerry, before initiating a power challenge against Ivan which he decided not to defend against. My claim that round was 2 which allowed me to rob him of 2 power tokens. I gained an extra power token for the unopposed challenge plus a final power token due to Eddard Stark's Renown ability for the win.

While this was going on, Van introduced Battle Line to Marcus before we took a break from AGoT LCG to table El Grande. I hadn't had a chance to play El Grande for some time with the infrequency of gaming with 5, coupled with the fact that I tended to opt for Princes of Florence even with 5 around. It definitely did not disappoint and I made a mental note to table it more often. Ivan, Jerry and Marcus picked up the game quickly and scores ended up really close at the end with Van edging me and Ivan out by a point. There were a couple of 'wow' moments in the game, especially when the Caballeros (men) were released from the Castillo, which changed the board situation significantly. A worthy 9 in my book.

While Ivan, Jerry and I completed AGoT LCG, Van, FT and Marcus opted to play Glory to Rome. I didn't have much info about the game but apparently Marcus grabbed a speedy win with the help of a Craftsman strategy.

Ivan and Jerry had to make a move and Marcus introduced the rest of us including Lijie to Factory Manager. I had heard good things about the game but figured just like its predecessor Power Grid, it was unlikely to be my cup of tea. My gut feel was proven right as it was rather mathy, with the need to calculate your cost and income constantly to ensure you were eking out maximum profit each round. Power Grid while longer is definitely the superior game. Marcus won with me taking second place.

Marcus and Lijie had to make a move, but with Mun and Weilong joining the fray, I had an opportunity to try a 5-player game of Endeavor. Surprisingly, not all the regions opened up either as we opted to attack rather than merely sticking to peaceful options. Having a couple of 3-player games in the pocket, the game appears to scale rather well. However, while I can see why the game is rated highly, I'm still on the edge regarding it. I like its short play time and accessibility to non-gamers. However, the premise of the game doesn't encourage specialization as you really have to build up all tracks reasonably to do well. The paths to victory do not seem diverse enough for me and I'm waiting to see if Hansa Teutonica would be a better alternative. From what I heard, Marcus should be receiving his copy soon.

After dinner, FT, Joseph, Weilong and I played a game of China. Once again, house placements dominated the first half of the game and only when the majority of spots were filled that we started playing our emissaries. That seems to be the typical pattern of play and I wonder whether there is a place to focus on emissaries earlier in the game. I still enjoy the depth of the game for the time it takes, but offering alternative strategies would definitely take the game up a notch in my book. FT took the win over me by a point.

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.