CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 24/02/2011

1.     15 members attended this week, so we played a record number of games, and had 4 tables in play at one time. This session report will only give a brief mention to certain games as I was unable to get detailed feedback due to the congested nature of the evening. With the welcome return of Tim after a long absence on table 1 Mike led a team of 4 playing “OLTRE MARE”, which was reviewed recently. Time and Lucy scored well with their Prestige points gained for trading with the Active player, and they didn’t want to trade with either Roger of Mike. Roger did the most sailing and gained lots of Harbour tokens. Mike suffered from picking up 6 Pirates just before game end and this cost him 6 points! In the final scoring Mike set the target, Lucy just failed to overtake him, Tim finished close by but Roger, with his 6 points for most Harbour Tokens, plus some good sets in his Cargo Deck swept through for a fine victory.

2.     Table 2 saw 6 players playing “7 WONDERS”, a new game that is very popular at the moment. Players are given at random a display board which depicts a particular ‘Wonder’ to be constructed, each requiring different resources to do so. They have 3 rounds of play in which to do this, gaining extra points if they complete early. At the start of each round players are dealt a number of cards and they depict several factors of influence, such as Military Strength, Trading Expertise, Discount on certain resources, Buildings and the like. They play one card to their display in front of them and then pass the reduced hand to the player on their left, and therefore receiving a new hand of cards from the player on their right. They then play a further card from this new hand and repeat the process until all the hand has been played. The various elements are scored with tokens when a round ends with the twist being that a player’s score is directly influenced by the holding of his 2 neighbours. So if a neighbour has more Military Strength than you, he will gain points in that resource and you will lose points.  This means that when handing cards to your neighbour you have to study what their display is looking like and not pass on ‘good’ cards if you can help it ! There are so many combinations that this provides a real challenge. To ‘even’; things up in Round 2 you pass the cards to the neighbour on your right, and then in Round 3 it reverts to passing to the left. For a game that lasts under an hour this provides a great gaming experience and it was rated highly by the players I spoke to, and they look forward to playing it again. In a close contest the final scores were Allister 47, Ben 44, Tony 44, Matt 36, Kevin 35, Paul 34.

3.       Table 3 saw Geoff, Robert and Luke in the 3-player game of “SHARK”, which was played and reviewed a few weeks ago.  Luke reported that he had a lucky break near the end which gave him his first victory for weeks.

4.       Table 3 then played “INFINITE  CITY”, which was introduced to the club recently. Geoff, playing for the first time, likened it to Carcassonne. On a night to remember Luke scored his second victory, proving that his gaming famine was well and truly over.

5.       Table 1 played a game of “MANILA”, another club favourite. Just to show that things hadn’t changed Lucy won yet again.

6.       With games in progress on the other 3 tables we introduced a table 4 for Mike to show Jerry, Poppy and Matthew the game of “THEBES”, an attractive game about visiting famous archaeological sites and digging for treasure, but this is to be undertaken in a specific time frame, in our case 2 years or 104 weeks. The game starts with 4 cards displayed which show a city location and the benefit to be obtained from visiting that city. This might be Detailed Knowledge of a particular site, fast modes of Transport, Extra Digging power etc. Players move their player piece between cities and pick up the card for use later on, with the display of 4 cards being refreshed each time. The neat feature of the game is that turn sequence is determined by which player is at the back of the time track. Now to move from one city to another costs 1 week for each section moved, and then to pick up a card there is a ‘cost’ in weeks to obtain it. The better the card, the more weeks it takes. So the order in the time chart is constantly changing and a player at the back can often have several turns in succession if they don’t move very far!!. Having acquired knowledge, and digging ability, eventually the players will travel to a site and another decision has to be made. The strength of their knowledge is ‘dialled up’ on a special device. The player then decides how many weeks they want to spend on the dig , consult the matching number in a result chart and this indicates how many tiles they will draw at random from a bag for that site.  Each bag contains a variable number of treasures, in a range of values, plus,at the start, 14 tiles which indicate dirt, i.e. no luck with the dig.   Players count out their tiles, retain their treasures and put the dirt back in the bag. As more cards are added to the display further cards show ‘exhibitions’ which are to be held in the various cities. If a player has the required number of treasures in the correct colours they can travel to the city, spending weeks to do so, and then show the exhibition, which takes up further weeks but does grant victory points which are useful at game end scoring. Once all the players have completed their work for 104 weeks the game ends and players count up their treasures and victory points. The player with the most is the winner and on this occasion it was Poppy , her first victory. Well done Poppy !!

7.       Table 3 finished their evening with the card game “STREET ILLEGAL”, in which a ‘track’ of 8 cards is displayed indicating the legal speed limit which is allowed in each section. Alongside this ‘track’ are placed the cards representing the players, plus a number of Pro Drivers who start the game at the front of the pack. Players will be playing cards from their hand in various combinations such that they keep to speed limits where possible and then in a subsequent phase they can attempt to overtake then car in front of them to move up the race order. Players play 3 cards from their hand that depicts various speeds and a roadside symbol and the sum of these is compared with the current limit. If they are in excess they can pay in chips to reduce their speed. If the cards they display match the symbol on the track section being played they receive 2 chips per matching card. With regard to overtaking, the car in last place goes first and after comparing speeds of the two cars and adding chips if necessary the manoeuvre is successful or not. If it is successful the player must reduce their speed by 10 mph at least by replacing one of their 3 cards and then they may, if they wish attack the next car in front. Luke had just the right cards in hand at the end to pass into the lead and won his third game of the evening.

8.       Table 1 played 2 quick games of “SUSHIWOK IM GOCKELWOK” whilst they waited for other players to finish. Both games were won by Allister, giving him a total of four victories for the evening.

9.       Table 1 were joined by Geoff and Robert for a 5-player game of “POWERBOATS”, in which players use dice to indicate their speed as they try to guide their boats between the islands and around the buoys which depict the race track. A clever mechanism for adjusting your speed by adding or subtracting dice, sometimes re-rolling them, makes this an interesting race game. The eventual winner after 2 heats was Geoff.

10.   Table 2 were last to finish, having played the classic “AGE OF STEAM”, a favourite of Tony, and it introduced several other players to the game. Most thought it was a hard game to play ‘first time out’ but most enjoyed the experience. As was to be expected Tony was the winner.

Games played and Winners were:

Oltre Mare Roger Scull;

7 Wonders Allister Gittins;

Shark Luke Williams;

Infinite City Luke Williams;

Manila Lucy Newbury;

Thebes Poppy Jabelman;

Street Illegal Luke Williams;

Sushiwock Im Gockelwok game 1 – Allister Gittins;

Sushiwock Im Gockelwok game 2 – Allister Gittins;

Powerboats Geoff Williams;

Age of Steam Tony Simons.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 17/02/2011

1.     13 members attended this week, including Jerry the visitor and his daughter Poppy . The bumper attendance meant that we were able to split into 3 tables, with the ‘overspill’ room in use for the first time, and a record number of games were played during the evening. On table 1 Tony led a game of “TAKE 5!”, a variant of 6 Nimmt, a club favourite. As in the classic game it is all about getting rid of your cards and not scoring those with Ox Horns on them. With 5 players involved scoring was close but apparently Geoff was lucky with the draw of the card and fluked a win.

2.     Table 2 saw 4 players playing “GRAND NATIONAL DERBY”, a horse racing game by Reiner Knizia, in which players place a bet in 4 separate rounds and play cards from their hand of 8 to the table in the hope that the horses they have backed make it into the final 3. The game starts with all 8 horses at the gate and in the manner described above players bet once and place cards in a row against Fence 1. The cards show a horse name and a value ranging from 0-9; there are also some ‘wild cards’, which can be used on any colour. Once a row has cards on every horse currently in the race it is evaluated and the horse with the lowest value is eliminated. Therefore players must either play high cards on horses they have bet upon or try to play low cards on hoses that their opponents have backed, with a view to getting them written off. Play continues in this way for fences 2-4, eliminating a horse each turn and then on fence 5 there is no betting but cards are still played until the final horse is eliminated, leaving 3 standing. Points are awarded to the players who backed the remaining horses, with the bets scored at 4,3,2,1 starting with the first bet. Mike looked in a good position but the group eliminated his horse on which he had a bet of 4 and 3, so 7 points went with his demise!  The final winner was Lucy. This game has more depth than it indicates, as you are looking for allies on certain horse or trying to get your opponents horse eliminated but the situation is volatile each round so it’s not straightforward.

3.       Table 3 saw Richard and Luke in the 2-player  game of “TWILIGHT STRUGGLE”, which was played and reviewed a few weeks ago.  Luke reported that despite taking an early lead the master strategist Richard came back strongly and beat him comprehensively.

4.       After mixing up the player combinations Table 1 embarked on a 3-player game of ”BRASS”, by Martin Wallace, a game based upon the Industrial Revolution and using Canals, Cotton Mills, Coalfield and Shipbuilding .  In phase 2 of the game the Railways arrive and this signals the decline in the Canal trade. A very elaborate game with a lot of depth which provided 2 hours of fruitful gaming experience. In a close finish the scores were Allister 136; Tony 141; Paul 146, and it was enjoyed by all.

5.       Table 2 played a game of “MARRAKECH” as Jerry the visitor had brought it along, and Mike and Lucy had never played it. Players have a set of 10 carpets in their colour and they move the market trader around the square board by means of a modified die. If they land on a carpet of another colour they pay money to the owner of that colour in accordance with the size of the adjacent total of squares covered by that colour. They then get to place a carpet of their colour in one of the 4 cardinal points squares adjacent to where the trader landed. They can either cover 2 blank squares or overlay an opponents carpets but only 1 square. In this way they can either deplete the scoring ability of their opponents or increase their own ‘empire’. Play was quick and fortunes ebbed and flowed, Jerry and Poppy started well as they knew the game but Mike and Lucy closed the gap. Eventually Jerry held out for the win. An attractive looking family game.

6.       Table 3 saw 4 players involved in the popular game of “POWERGRID”, the game about building Power Plants and a network of cities that they will supply. Fierce competition for obtaining the resources to generate from them, and extending the city network is the central feature of the game , which has been reviewed before. Of the 4 players only Kevin had not played it but he made it a winning debut and was praising the game highly at the end, which is hardly surprising !!.

7.       On table 2 Mike introduced 3 other players to “ON THE UNDERGROUND”, a game about building routes on the London Underground map in lines of their colour , such that when the ‘Passenger’ goes on a trip he uses their lines to scores points. There are other ways to score, such as linking to Railway Stations, linking to Termini, connecting certain stations which contain a pair of matching luxury symbols. Sometimes to score points yourself you have to give points to your opponents as you travel over their lines. Mike took an early lead but was soon caught by Lucy and Jerry and those 2 battled it out to the end, with Jerry just able to overtake and win by 2 points from Lucy, with Mike third and Poppy a close fourth.  A good game that plays in just around an hour.

8.       With the departure of Jerry and Poppy, and the other games still in progress, Mike and Lucy played a 2-player game of “LE HAVRE”, a favourite of both of them. The shortened version consisted of only 8 turns but they certainly packed a lot in. As always with this game it was difficult to generate enough food to feed your people at the end of each round, and when trying to build other buildings there was often a shortage of resources to do so. Lucy built more wisely than Mike (no change there) and Mike had to pay heavily in Victory points in the final scoring round to feed his people whilst Lucy had built 2 ships which gave her extra food so that made the differential even bigger. The final score was Lucy 87, Mike 61, so once again Lucy is Queen of Le Havre !! 

9.       Table 3 finished their evening off with the quick dice-rolling game of “SUSHIZOCK IM GOCKELWOK”, a game about obtaining sushi tiles and fish heads in equal amounts to end up with a good score. Much swapping with the tiles and after 20 minutes the game resulted in a tie between Roger and Richard.

Games played and Winners were:

Take 5! Geoff Williams;

Grand National Derby Lucy Newbury;

Twilight Struggle Richard Piesse;

Brass Paul Gulpin;

Marrakech Jerry the visitor;

Powergrid Kevin Ward;

On the Underground Jerry the visitor;

Le Havre Lucy Newbury;

Sushizock Tie Roger Skull & Richard Piesse.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 10/02/2011

1.     10 members attended this week, including newcomer Ben Braine . On table 1 Mike introduced Ben to the quick game “CLANS”, which was played last week and therefore is not reviewed again here.  Ben quickly understood the game and scored a win by just 2 points from Tony, just ahead of Geoff with Mike a distant fourth. A good start for Ben !!

2.     Table 2 saw 6 players playing the new game “INFINITE CITY”, in which players lay tiles from their hand depicting different features of a city, with a view to either scoring the points for their holding, or scoring for being adjacent to another particular tile, or just to screw their opponents. So no board to play on, giving players the chance to expand in any direction they choose. Rules were easy to explain and even for 6 players the game was completed in just over the hour, and all 6 seemed to enjoy it. The end game scoring is based around 3 factors, these being a) the number of adjacent tiles you control, of which you need at least 3 to qualify, b) Bonus points awarded for control of certain tiles, and c) the real twister, certain tiles have a silver border and the player with the MOST of these scores points equal to the number they control, the other players score nothing. Equal scores means they all count so in the game that was played this was a factor. After the first 2 scoring evaluations Richard had 22 and Luke had 21 but Richard tied on the Silver with 5 tiles and Luke was eliminated with just 3 Silver tiles, so Richard gained the 5 points needed for a victory. Final scores were  Richard 27; Luke 21; Kevin 19; Robert 15; Paul 11; Allister 10.

3.       Table 1 then played “OLTRE MARE” at Mike’s request. A card-driven trading game, in which players try and collect sets of cards in the various commodities to place on their cargo deck for end game scoring, which they do by trading with other players, or buying cards from a draw deck. Then, in the unique part of the game they display a certain number of cards from their hand and act upon it. The cards displayed offer 4 actions, these being gain money, place cards in your Pirate Stack (see later), draw cards from the deck into your hand, and move along shipping routes. The shipping routes enable you to pick up a token which has some short-term benefit, such as extra income, cheaper card purchases, or crucially immunity from Pirates. The tokens also count in game end scoring, so sailing is a good option. Regarding the Pirate stack, each card you receive is placed face down in your stack and they will count 1 point each against you at game end. However when purchasing cards in the Trade phase you can, if you have sufficient money, buy cards from the Pirate stack as well as from the draw deck, so it’s good practice to reduce these if possible. When the last card is drawn from the deck the round is completed and game end scoring commences. Players score points for prestige points obtained during trading, having the most harbour masters and then losing points for cards in their Pirate Stack. Finally the cargo deck they have been building is scored. Each commodity in the game has a different points value for holding various numbers of those sequentially.  For example Honey Pots score 0 points for 1 card but 4 points for 2 cards; Wheat is plentiful and scores 1,3,5,8,12 points for 1,2,3,4 or 5 cards.  This final scoring phase is crucial and positions on the scoring track can change rapidly. Mike thought he had done enough to win but Ben‘s Cargo Deck was sufficiently strong enough to score the necessary points to overhaul him and win by 3 points. A second win for Ben.

4.       With Allister’s departure Table 2 played “PUERTO RICO”, a club favourite and one of the best games of all time. As always with this game there were fierce competition for the roles on offer, and the buildings to be constructed. Having sufficient colonists to man your factories is vital and some failed to achieve this, leading to reduced production. Paul was the eventual winner but he did graciously admit he got lucky towards the end.

5.       Table 1 played a game of “MANILLA” to introduce Ben to it, and for once he didn’t win. Essentially a gambling game about betting on the outcome of punts moving commodities to the port of Manila, fortunes ebbed and flowed as a result of the dice throws. Tony was nearly bankrupt at one stage but a ‘longshot’ of being the only player on a particular punt which came in port earned him 30 pesos and brought him back into the game.  Ben’s steady investments looked likely to win but Geoff finished with a commanding amount of 117 to win the game. Tony and Mike were outplayed. 
6.     As Manila plays quite quickly Table 1 finished up with the card game “11 NIMMT”, in which players are trying to empty their hands of 10 cards. Those with cards remaining in their hand score points against them, and the game is played over a number of rounds to determine the winner.  Time permitted only 3 rounds to be played but Ben excelled himself by winning the game, his 3^rd win of the night. Well done Ben !!

Games played and Winners were:

Clans Ben Braine;

Infinite City Richard Piesse;

Oltre Mare Ben Braine;

Manila Geoff Williams;

Puerto Rico Paul Gulpin;

11 Nimmt Ben Braine.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 03/02/2011

1.    We had a reduced attendance of 7 this week. On table 1 3 players tackled “CLANS”, a quick game of moving nomads in groups around the mapboard, which depicts 4 different types of terrain. Players are dealt a tile at the start which depicts ‘their’ colour and they keep this secret as they try and move the nomads to form villages, which then score points. The score for a village is equal to the number of huts in the village, and this can be increased by a bonus score if the terrain in which it is founded is favourable. However at certain times the terrain can be unfavourable and the village just formed scores nothing. The strategy in the game comes from moving the right group to the right terrain at the right time. This is not as easy as it sounds and for a quick filler the game provides a reasonable test. Despite playing it for the first time Kevin managed to win with 27 points, Tony 23, and Mike a miserable 15.

2.       Table 2 saw 4 players playing the trading game “HANSA”, which has been played before, so is not reviewed in detail again. The game finished quicker than expected due by the planning ( some might say luck) by Alister to finish the game whilst he was ahead on points .

3.       The 3 players on Table 1 then entered their  main event of the evening, a game of “STEAM”, the simplified version of the classic “Age Of Steam”. In each turn players choose 1 of the 7 roles on offer and then the game sequence is followed in turn order. This covers Track building, Goods movement, City Growth, Engine Upgrade, Urbanisation.  Players try to construct track between cities and towns with the aim of moving coloured goods cubes from source to destination, for which they receive a reward, taken in either money or Victory Points. The competition for routes is fierce; players often have to take out loans to pay for their actions, so planning is essential. Players are constantly evaluating their positions, either to their own benefit or to the detriment of their opponents. Mike took an early lead by having a neat earner in one corner of the map but Tony, being the expert in this game, soon overtook Mike for the lead and built a powerful engine to transport goods over his longer network, thereby earning plenty of VPs. Kevin screwed Mike by building near his track and denying a good link.  When all 10 game turns had been completed the players scored VPs for the number of links they have created and surprisingly all 3 had built 14 links, so this did not alter the final positions, which were Tony, Mike and Kevin. Although the game took nearly 3 hours all the players felt it was a worthwhile experience.   

4.       Table 2 finished with a game of “THURN UND TAXIS”, which is becoming a club favourite and has been reviewed before. In a game in which the cards were regularly ‘burnt’ players found it difficult to build long routes and correspondingly the scores were low, and at the end 3 players tied with 25 points each, However Luke, with this 1 point token for ending the game, won on the tie-break !!

 
Games played and Winners were:

Clans Kevin Shaw;

Hansa Allister Gittins;

Steam Tony Simons;

Thurn und Taxis Luke Williams.