1.
With 10 players in attendance tonight we
split into 2 groups of 5. Tony had already arranged for his group to play “STEAM”, the slightly easier version of
“Age of Steam”. He explained the game to the others, most of whom were playing
it for the first time. The game mechanics are well-known, based upon choosing
an action from the available options each turn and then executing those in turn
order. Players can extend their lines, upgrade their engine to a more powerful one,
deliver goods first to gain revenue etc. The path to victory depends upon
spotting where to build, when to upgrade, and there will be conflict for routes
throughout the game. Not surprisingly Tony’s experience enabled him to win the
game but all the other players thoroughly enjoyed the game.
2. Table
2 saw the other 5 players also involved in a railway game of sorts, this being
“ON THE UNDERGROUND”. In this game the
players have the ability to construct 2 different coloured lines upon the map
of the London Underground system, with the purpose of moving the sole passenger
in the game along their lines to gain victory points. The route the passenger
will take each turn is determined by examining the 4 destinations currently in
play and placing your 4 pieces of track to the best advantage. Sometimes it is
necessary to use the other player’s lines in order to make points yourself and
this gives the game a co-operative flavour. There are other ways to score
victory points, these being to connect to national rail stations for 1 point,
to build into a terminus for 2 points and gain a branch line token(more later),
to connect stations on the board which contain 2 like icons for 3 points, and
most rarely to construct a circular loop and score points according to how many
stations you enclose. Players use their branch line tokens to build track away
from their existing routes to take advantage of new opportunities that arise
from the card display. Scoring was very close throughout and at one stage 4 of
the 5 players were all tied for the lead with the 5th player close
behind. Mike was one piece of track away from completing a loop which would
have scored 8 points but Jerry noticed it just in time and built upon the very
track section that Mike wanted…taking one for the team!!. The players jostled
for the lead until the destination cards ran out and Mike thought he had done
just enough to win but Roger built a final terminus to gain 2 points and snatch
victory by one point, with Poppy just a further point behind in 3rd
place.
3.
On table 1 Tony
led the players in the card game “BOHNANZA”,
the game about planting fields of beans and trading with the other players to
turn these into gold. The unique thing about this card game is that when you
receive cards into hand( 3 each turn), you are NOT allowed to order
them, and they must be placed at the back of the hand when drawn. This means
that to get the cards to the front that you want to play in your turn you must
trade with other players to get them ‘out of the way’. The trading element is
good fun as offers and counter offers are made between the current player and
the others. A neat system and a good little filler which plays in around 45 minutes.
Jeremy was the eventual winner.
4.
Table 2 saw
4 players ending the session with the business game “TYCOON”. In this game players buy flight tickets to enable them to
jet around the world to any of the 9 international cities in the game, and then
they can build either hotels or factories in that city. On subsequent turns
they can expand this empire or fly off to another city and build there. In this
way the ‘control’ of a city constantly changes and players have to keep an eye
on their competitors. Once any one player has built their first 6
hotels a Payday occurs at the end of the round and players earn money for the
presence in the cities, the individual city control is scored for 1st
and 2nd place and factories receive revenue depending upon the progress
made in that city. A further 6 hotels are added to the player’s portfolio and a
2nd and 3rd rounds are played until the final hotel is
built. If players run out of money(very easy to do) they must fly off the board
and take out one loan. This constitutes their turn and sometimes they have to stay
off the board and take out a further loan to fund their future building plans. Loans
can be repaid with interest when a Payday occurs or they can be extended until
the next Payday when they must be repaid but at a more
punitive interest rate. The game ends on the 3rd Payday and when all
income has been received and loans repaid in full the winner is the one with
the most money. Rob built his factories in cities which he then expanded to be
the most progressive and he scored heavily in 2 cities to enable him to cruise
to victory by a wide margin, with Mike 2nd, Kevin 3rd and
Roger 4th.
Games played and
Winners were:
Steam- Tony
Simons;
On the
Underground- Roger Scull;
Bohnanza- Jeremy
Hurault
Tycoon- Rob
Piesse.
