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 3rd win of the night. Well done Ben !!
Games played and Winners were:
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 3rd 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment