Thursday 4 November 2010

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 04/11/2010



1.       With 9 players in attendance we split into 2 groups of 5 and 4. Table 1 played “POWERGRID”, a club favourite about building power plants and networks connecting cities, and then getting the resources to generate the power and supply your network. The chosen map was Germany and there was little conflict for city building early on. However this changed mid-game and Mike was squeezed out, whilst the others kept pace just behind the long-time leader Alister.  He was always ahead right to the end where he held on for his first victory in the game.
2.       Table 2 saw 4 players engaged in “GIGANTEN”, a game of driving your truck to prospect for oil hidden under the many derricks on the board. Once oil was discovered players then had to transport it back to their own depots, where they tried to sell it for a profit. The game is driven by the drawing of various multi-purpose cards which permit movement, the issue of share certificates, and some ad hoc events such as extra oil discoveries or extra movements. The game is ‘controlled’ by the progression along a track of the scoring train and players can only transport new oil back to their depots if they are behind this train, so movement is crucial. The bidding for cards is done by using shares certificates in an auction and this can be quite tense, as they also need to be kept for the selling process later on. They also have to be aware that they need to sell their oil at the depot in good time or else it will ‘spoil’ and be lost, thereby losing the investment. The winner is the one with the most money when the controlling train reaches the end of its track. All 4 players were in close contention throughout with Tony just holding on ahead of newcomer Chris.
3.       Table 2 were reduced to 3 players with Chris’s early departure so they played a game of “NEUE HEIMAT”, a tactical bidding game about building the highest scoring houses in three building rows. The levels are different coloured cubes with numbers from 1 to 6 on it, which are dealt via auction in each round. The first one of a new colour you purchase fixes this colour as yours for the rest of the game and the final scoring. Players also bid for additional pieces to shorten (or lengthen) the lanes and rooftops to finish the houses. You pay with cheques, each of 1 million euros and can establish an "illegal cashbox", counting at the final scoring, too. The game ends, when there are two rows completed. The houses on these score positive points, regarding the numbers on the levels and the rooftops, the ones in the third row are scored negative. Despite Tony owning the game he was denied a second win of the evening by Richard.
4.        Table 1 completed their session with “THURN UND TAXIS”, a game about building a network of post offices in Germany. The players collect cards for various cities and when they have a linked route of 3 cities or more and sufficient horse power to travel the distance of the link they ‘declare’ the route and score victory points for it. There are points to be gained in several ways, such as linking cities of 3 particular colours, or for the various lengths of the routes ( range 3-8), or having built a post office in each of the areas of the board. The game ends when one player has placed all their post offices, any post offices remaining in other players hands score -1 point. Players then total up their victory points and the one with the most is the winner. Scores were Alister 35, Geoff 32, Roger 28, Mike 27 so Alister gained his second win of the night.  Well done Alister !!, 
Games played and Winners were:
Powergrid Alister Gitten;
Giganten Tony Simons;
Neue Heimat Richard Piesse;
Thurn und Taxis Alster Gitten

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