Gaming For The Week 28th March - 3rd April 2010

My cell had a connect gathering over the weekend. Most were non-gamers but they had a good time with Jungle Speed and Liar's Dice. Both games play nicely in the 6-8 range. With Jungle Speed, more players ramp up the difficulty since you have more cards to pay attention too but with too many, decks tend to rather thin and the endings of such games feel somewhat premature. I suppose getting the expansion solves this problem to some extent although I'm not sure if I would prefer to put the dough to a different party game altogether. I would say that Jungle Speed needs to be played quickly for maximum excitement. Over-deliberate flipping can slow the game down to a crawl and make it a far less enticing experience.

I organized a usual games session midweek and there was a nice turnout this time round with 6. The early ones started with a game of Dominion:Intrigue which I won with a low score. Once everyone arrived, we split into 2 tables, with a group of us playing Le Havre while the others took on Confucius. I broke my previous high with a 257 score for Le Havre but it was largely due to the fact that Ivan and Ben failed to challenge me for the use of crucial buildings since they were new to the game. Le Havre, like games such as Puerto Rico, is one that rewards repeated plays. Nonetheless, Ivan did well for his first game.

Both tables ended around the same time. Ivan, Ben and Jo proceeded with a game of A Game of Thrones LCG while the rest of us had a run at Nexus Ops. I heard the AGoT LCG game was a close one with Ivan taking the win by a point. They however couldn't play till 15 power tokens and decided to end the game on a pre-decided round. Marcus was first to 12 points in Nexus Ops. Nexus Ops is a nice alternative to Risk especially with its euro-elements. I like the fact that the objective of the game isn't to wipe out your opponents, but picking battles wisely in order to nab victory points. Nonetheless, the game can be prone to downtime and I can't imagine playing a game with 4. Perhaps playing in teams may help somewhat...

On Good Friday, the cell came over and before we began our themed dinner, we manage to squeeze in two games of Monopoly Deal which Van dominated and a game of Ra.

20th Nov 2009 Session Report: An Afternoon of Games...

Took half day off in the afternoon to game with Jo, Dave and Seth. Jo has been exposed to euros while Dave and Seth were largely new to this world.

I decided to start off with a euro-ameritrash hybrid: Nexus Ops to ease them into the world of euros. The other reason of course is that I seldom get to bring this game to the table due to its theme. Somehow the female species gets turned off whenever they lay their eyes on the alien figurines. I don't blame them but it's such a pity because I have always rated the game highly. Well, it's rare to get 4 guys at the table and they looked thrilled lining up their various figurines while the rules explanation was going on.

The game did get bog down somewhat with 4 (my previous experiences were all with 3 so far) but not overly. I took the win easy due to their 'Risk' tendencies, opting to take the conservative approach and build up their forces. Nexus Ops however rewards aggressiveness as the game is not about survival but rather picking off the opponent at weak spots, and racing them to 12VPs by accomplishing various mission objectives, the most basic of which is simply succeeding in a battle situation.

The other reason for my easy victory was that they underestimated the importance of dominating the monolith, and allowed me several turns on it, thus racking up my stash of energize cards. These allowed me to unload them on the last few turns, acquiring the final VPs needed before they could halt my march to victory. In retrospect, I should have perhaps emphasized the usefulness of energize cards to a greater extent.

After the warm-up, I brought out the main event - A Game of Thrones LCG. Dave took Stark, Jo Lannister, Seth Baratheon and I Targaryen. The game dragged with 4 players as there was greater downtime. This was accentuated by the fact that we were unfamiliar with the card powers and spent quite some time reading them and figuring out what they meant. The game will clearly be more enjoyable with a regular group familiar with the cards. I should probably take my own advice and stick with one deck from now on, so that I can gain some competency with a deck. Between clarifying the rules, explaining the card powers of others, and grasping my own, the game becomes quite a brain-burning experience.

In terms of how the game progressed, we were generally conservative, opting to allow a challenge to go unopposed rather than face potentially heavier casualties by defending. In a sense, this was positive as it sped up the game by allowing more power tokens into the game. On the other hand, we were struggling to come to terms with the card texts that we failed to actively keep an eye on each others' armies and power tokens. In the end, Dave took the win with an unopposed military challenge, aided by Edward Stark's renown ability. Hoping to get more plays with 2 players to gain familiarity with the cards with less downtime even though the game does shine with 3-4 with the addition of the multiplayer titles.

I introduced them finally to Alhambra but we didn't finish as Dave and Seth had to leave halfway.

5th Aug 2009 Session Report: Twilight Struggle Under 2 1/2 Hours

I persuaded Ben to come over again today to give Twilight Struggle a go before I traded it off. My rules explanation the day before intrigued him adequately for him to take up the offer but he was clearly concerned about the possible length of the game. We proceeded with him taking USSR and I, the US. I chose not to play US with the recommended added influence as I thought that the added advantage would come in helpful since it was his first go.

Ben concentrated largely on Europe and Asia while I took a foothold in the Middle East and Africa, while combating him on the European and Asian front. He had a number of difficult turns, drawing a flurry of US cards, while I got rid of the USSR cards in my hand thanks to my success in the space race, enabling me to toss 2 of such cards per turn.

While Ben took control of multiple countries, I paid closer attention to the battlegrounds and successfully took control of a number via well-timed coups. I took some cheap points by playing scoring cards during the headline phase. I scored heavily on an American scoring card with only control of Panama, with the continent devoid of any other influence. Eventually, my VPs neared the brink and a couple of fortunate VP cards put me over the top at the end of the 6th turn. In particular, Salt Negotiations allowed me to resurrect a non-scoring card from the discard pile which put the deterministic VP related card in play.

Surprisingly, the game just took under 2 1/2 hours. Even Van was impressed but I could foresee how the game would easily break the 4 hour mark if it went the distance. I also realized that the right distribution of cards at the right time could significantly impact the result of the game. Perhaps, the luck of the draw is somewhat too much for me for a game of such (potential) length. Well it was nice to have another go at TS just before I trade it.

We moved on to another go at Nexus Ops with Van joining us. This time round the game was far more competitive as Van and Ben clearly caught on with regards to being aggressive. In fact, Van put the most Secret Mission cards in play while Ben and I accumulated points from mostly Battle cards. Ben neared victory on the last turn, only needing a successful dice roll to play a Secret Mission card for the win. Unfortunately, he failed and going next, I grabbed the 5 points needed for the win, with the play of Death from Above and another Secret Mission card which required a Fungoid kill which Ben sat pretty on his 3 mine space. I was confident of the win as I took a number of turns to prepare for the Death from Above play. As it turned out, Ben almost beat me to it. Nonetheless, Ben and Van were a whisker away with 10 and 9 points respectively.

4th Aug 2009 Session Report: Battling For Supremacy On A Foreign Moon

Nexus Ops (Me-13, Van-6, Ben-5)

It has been awhile since the last gaming session and I was raring to have a go at the newly acquired Nexus Ops. Verdict? I liked it - short playtime, good fun, beautiful pieces to boot. There is a degree of luck with the exploration tiles, the card draws and of course, the battles that are seemingly dice fests BUT I exceptionally enjoyed the fact is determined by the player who pursues his/her mission objectives more relentlessly and that the energizer cards offer an added element when conserved for crucial battles. I took the win convincingly as it took Van and Ben awhile to realize that the game rewarded aggressiveness and while they were taking a conservative Risk-like approach, I was picking my battles in accordance to the Secret Mission cards drawn.

Glory to Rome (Me-35, Van-27, Ben-23)

Van picked GtR which was no surprise considering how it has become a favourite at our sessions. An early Gate set me on track early as I proceeded build a series of incomplete Marble buildings to tap on their powers. I gained multiple actions easily per turn with my combination of the Palace and Circus Maximus. Coupled with my Basilica, I loaded my vault early and proceeded to end the game quickly as I saw Van catching up with an impressive haul of influence points from her completed buildings.

Citadels (Ben-40, Me-36, Van-26)

Ben had the last pick of the day and I suggested Citadels considering the time remaining and that I have always liked it with 3. In fact, I think these days, I would only play it with 3 which is clearly the best number with each player taking 2 roles per round. I got killed multiple times by Van and despite my lost turns, I still racked up an impressive score, reaching 8 buildings first and obtaining the colour bonus. However, Ben wasn't far behind and had a much more impressive series of buildings including School of Magic and Dragon Gate. He too reached 8 buildings on the last round and got the 3 bonus points for having a building of each colour. Van's progress was slowed due to getting 3 buildings destroyed by the Warlord. As usual, single gold buildings proved to be unwise options as they got picked off one by one by the player with the Warlord.

Railroad Tycoon And Nexus Ops On Their Way...

Discovered a couple of good deals on Milsims from BGG. Considering the near parity of the Singaporean and Australian dollar, the quarterly crazy deals on the site were a steal. These 2 games weren't on my wishlist but at the prices offered and the favourable reviews on BGG, I decided to take the plunge (doesn't that sound familiar?). It helped that Van's ex-student kindly agreed to lug it back for us from Down Under.

Railroad Tycoon caught my eye at a A$60 price point. How could it have not when the online US retailers have it in stock at US$60??! I figured that it would be nice to add a railway game to my collection. While Age of Steam is the undoubted king of railway games, RT intrigued me with its apparent friendliness to casual players. What use is a brilliant game if it rarely appears at the game table!!! 

The length of the game does concern me though. However after a 3 hour go at Le Havre recently, I realize that good games with minimal downtime do have the ability to make the game time feel shorter than it actually is. It is with this hope that I went ahead with the order (ditto the Battlestar Galactica order).

Nexus Ops was another spur of the moment decision although I harbour less expectations regarding this purchase. A flat shipping fee to any Australian address coupled with a A$20 price point sealed the deal. I have heard good comments about the game, that while evidently in the Ameritrash breed of games had some nice Euro elements. Furthermore, since Van and I donated away her copy of Risk, this could provide something similar which we would actually play. This is especially so since it plays at a much more reasonable game time of 60 min for what it is. 

Nonetheless, the theme may be a turn-off for Van, but I suppose with it being OOP and all, it shouldn't be all that hard to trade it off if it does comes to that.

Should get my hands on them in March (: