1.
We had only
7 players in total, so we split into 2 groups. On table 1 a group of 4 players started with “ISLAS CANARIAS”, a new game
about playing cards to build houses, palaces and cities on your island until the
value of your buildings equals or exceeds a total of 19 victory points, and
then one more round is played to determine the winner. Player turns are quick,
consisting of just 2 options, play a card or pick up 3 cards. The card play is
interesting as each one played depicts a colour of a house (from a choice of 6)
and a list of ‘rules’ dictating where it must be placed on your board….
Examples are next to the coast, next to a green house, next to the farm
etc…Furthermore each round a card is placed on the Settlers ship by each player
and then these are shuffled and evaluated and the resultant house is given to
the player who has the most vacant plots adjacent to the qualifying ‘rule’. A
good little filler, in which Mike took an early lead and Alistair was moaning
about his failure to progress. This proved to be unwarranted however as due to
his lack of pieces on his island he was the player with the most vacant plots later
on so he gained the houses in the latter stages, in sufficient quantity to
overhaul everyone. Roger was actually level on points but we gave the victory
to Alistair to stop his whingeing !!.
2.
Table 2
saw 3 players engaged in “GOD’S
PLAYGROUND”, a heavy game about Poland’s chequered history. Each player represents a Polish magnate. There are various
ways of scoring victory points, owning land, religious activity, winning
battles, etc. Surrounding Poland are her numerous enemies, who may or may not
decide to attack Poland. It is up to the players how well they defend the
country. The way the enemies work is that they change their strength to match
historical changes. Lots
of phases to get through, so a 3-hour game is the likely outcome. Luke based
his game on getting the best endgame scoring opportunities and despite being
behind for most of the game he came through with a good finish to win the game
from Richard and Paul.
3.
Back on
Table 1 the 4 players played the card game “MEUTERER”, in which players take on the role of Ships Captain and
try to sail to one of the 12 islands in the game to sell their goods. However
each of the other players choose to play one of the other roles of Mate,
Merchant, Shiploader, Mutineer or Cabin Boy and then conflict occurs to see if
the mutiny was successful. The Mate supports the Captain and if the Mutiny is
defeated they gain points for their help and the ship reaches its destination.
The Cabin Boy supports the Mutineer and if between them they defeat the Captain
and the Mate then the Mutineer takes over the ship and sails it to a different
island, and they become captain for the next journey. When conflict is over the
players trade their goods for victory points on either of the 2 islands
involved in the journey, they replenish their hand of cards back up to 5 cards,
and play continues. The game ends after
8 rounds have been played and the player with the most points is the winner.
Mike made a good start whilst Roger struggled to get many points. However a
series of mutinies in the middle rounds saw Mike fall back and Roger hit a
great run gaining 27 points in 3 rounds to take a good lead with 2 rounds to
play. A late rally by the other players failed to stop Roger getting a few more
points to secure the victory.
4.
Table 1
finished the session with “YSPAHAN” ,
a game based around a city with 4 districts, with a variable number of
buildings in each district. Players place cubes in the buildings with a view to
gain victory points at scoring time, if they have completed all the buildings
in a particular colour. The other players will of course try to stop them doing
that. During the game players collect Gold and Camels and use these as
‘payment’ to improve their technologies, which give them extra abilities like
more gold from the Mint, or placing an extra cube when building, all of which
increases their chance of victory. The game is driven by a unique dice
mechanism which is too long to describe here, just sufficient to say it’s very
interesting and interactive. The game is played in a series of 3 rounds of 7
turns, with scoring taking place at the end of each round, after which all
cubes are cleared from the buildings and play starts again for the subsequent
rounds. Mike started well once again with Alistair in pursuit. He retained the
lead until the third round when Alistair cashed in a good card to gain lots of
points and he swept into the lead. Roger and Geoff closed the gap on Mike, who
was picked on by the other as he was the long-time leader, but this left
Alistair to race away as the clear winner, with Mike just holding on to second
place.
Games played and Winners
were:
Islas
Canarias Alistair Gittin;
Meuterer
Roger Skull;
God’s
Playground Luke Williams;
Yspahan Alistair Gittin.
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