CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 27/01/2011

1.    We had 2 visitors this week, making a total attendance of 14, so we split into 3 tables. On table 1 Geoff led a session of “EUPHRATES & TIGRIS”, a game about gaining territory but not always by aggression. Players have 4 types of leaders which they can place on the board and they can co-exist with other players in an area until there are 2 leaders of the same type, and that is when conflict breaks out. They also play tiles in one of the 4 leader types to gain cubes of the appropriate leader colour. The cubes won are kept secret behind the players screen for scoring is the key aspect of this game, as is described later.  Players continue to expand their empire and eventually they might have enough adjacent territories on the board to construct a temple, and this brings them in more cubes each turn they have control of the temple. Once this starts to happen it fuels the conflict issue and other players start to gather their forces to try and take over the temples. As a result of conflict more cubes are won and placed behind the screen. The reason cubes are kept secret is that scoring in this game is measured by the LOWEST number of cubes in a colour that each player has. So a final holding in 4 colours of 20, 12, 7, and 3 scores just 3 points, whereas a holding of12,8,7,and 6 scores 6 points. So players are trying to keep their holding level if they can and not have a ‘straggler’. A highly strategic game which plays differently every time. The final scoring was Geoff 8, Paul, 7, Roger 6 and Kevin 5, so Geoff was the victor.

2.       Table 2 played a 6-player version of “SEAFARERS SETTLERS”, which some of the players hadn’t played before. Using the normal Settlers resource generator some players forged ahead whilst others just got no resources at all as their numbers weren’t rolled. Robert gained a lot of resources due to the high frequency of an 8 being rolled and he used this to build the longest road early on. Jerry the visitor and his daughter Poppy bought several Development cards and started to expand rapidly. They were the first to construct ships and start to explore the sea to find new land. Poppy was particularly unlucky to keep turning over sea tiles so she never got the chance to land on an island. Alister gained plenty of Knight cards so he took the Largest Army. Mike managed to get 3 settlements on the coast to gain the Harbourmaster card but Jerry soon took it over from him. Lucy got very little resource but did manage to briefly snatch the Longest Road before it was taken from her. The last hour was spent watching Jerry and Robert battle it out for the final points to give them victory, and it was Jerry who eventually reached the magic 13 required in this version . As 6 players were taking part in the game it took well over 2 hours to play and time had passed by, so much so that 4 players decided to go home early rather than play another game. I believe that any Settlers game should be restricted to 4 players to keep the game much shorter.

3.       With the early departures Table 1 then played a 4-player version of “THURN UND TAXIS”, a club favourite. The game is about building routes of Post Offices across Germany and employs some neat mechanisms. It has been reviewed before so this report will not elaborate further except to say that the winner was Kevin Shaw, his first since joining the club last week, so well done Kevin !!.

4.       Table 2 reduced to 3 players so they played “SCREAM MACHINE”, a lightweight card game about building an Amusement Park with several rides and Food stalls and attracting the public to visit your park in preference to others. They do this by making the rides of a particular type a higher total value than their opponents but players have only 4 action points to spend each turn on performing improvements, so this has to be considered carefully.  Robert stormed into an early lead as he attracted all the Cheapskates to his park because he had the cheapest prices. Luke and Mike struggled closely at the back and made a slight challenge in turn 5 but Robert pulled away again in turn 6 for an easy victory.

5.       Table 3 consisted of just Tony and Richard playing the 2-player game of “TWILIGHT STRUGGLE”, a game that is based upon the Cold War conflict between the USA and the USSR from 1945 to 1989. Lots of cards and counters in the game, representing real characters from history, and the conflicts that took place. Plenty of meaty decision making on how to make the best use of the cards you receive, as they are multi-purpose. To an onlooker the game looked good and the players certainly enjoyed it but it did take the whole of the session to play. Richard was the eventual winner in a close contest.

 
Games played and Winners were:

Euphrates & Tigris Geoff Williams;

Seafarers Settlers Jerry the visitor ;

Thurn und Taxis Kevin Shaw;

Scream Machine Robert Piesse;

Twilight Struggle Richard Piesse.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 20/01/2011

1.    We had a new member this week, Kevin Shaw, so on table 1 Mike took him under his wing and along with Lucy and Roger they played “ROYAL PALACE”, which was reviewed last week. Despite describing the game Mike made an early mistake by running out of servants to place in the palace, which hindered his progress. Roger had plenty of gold at one stage and started to build up points. Lucy picked the game up quickly as usual and was building up a useful supply of victory points and getting servants placed on the edge of the courtyard. Kevin was making good progress until he forgot about the end game condition and was unable to enlist a high scoring noble because he did not have enough money. The 14 extra points for scoring on the courtyard walls enabled Lucy to sweep through for victory, final points being Lucy 62, Mike 52, Roger 51, Kevin 36. A great game enjoyed by all the players.

2.       Table 2 played a 6-player version of “SHARK”, which was also played last week. Much cutthroat trading ensued but with this increased number of players the shares were traded regularly and the game took a long time to complete. The eventual winner was Robert.

3.       Table 1 then played “TRAUMFABRIK”, in which players represent movie chiefs trying to attract the best staff to create movies over a period of 4 quarters. They obtain these cameramen, directors, musicians, film stars etc via a neat auction system and place their staff on their different movies. When a movie is complete it is scored and the player receives a token of this value. The first player to complete a film of a particular genre receives an award of 5 points. At the end of each quarter the player with the highest scoring film gains an award for the best picture currently on show. When all 4 quarters have been played the total tokens for movies and awards are aggregated to determine the winner and this was Mike. As the game took less than an hour to complete all the players expressed an interest in playing it again next week.

4.       Table 2 reduced to 5 players with Tony’s departure so they played “AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS”, a good race game with clever mechanics. Players use cards depicting various modes of transport to travel around the various cities in a pre-defined sequence but they have to be careful not to be caught by the ever-present detective who is tracking them. For each movement taken players ‘expend’ a certain number of days and this is recorded on the scoring track. When a player returns to London the number of days they have taken counts as their score but they must NOT exceed 80 or they have lost. For the final journey Robert had the right transport cards to a value of 7 which meant he completed his circumnavigation in 70 days , compared with Geoff’s 71, so a very narrow victory for Rob, his second of the night.

5.       Table 1 finished their session by introducing Kevin to the simple dice-rolling game “SUSHIWOK IM GOCKELWOK”.  Much fun ensued with constant stealing of tiles from other players. The first of these games was won by Lucy for her second win of the night but she was denied a treble by Roger winning the second game.

 
Games played and Winners were:

Shark Robert Piesse;

Royal Palace Lucy Newbury;

Around the World in 80 days Robert Piesse;

Traumfabrik Mike Oakes;

Sushiwok Im Gockelwok game 1 Lucy Newbury;

Sushiwok Im Gockelwok game 2 Roger Skull.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 13/01/2011

1.    We were 9 players again. On Table 1 Mike led a game of “ROYAL PALACE”. The game depicts a palace with several rooms and a courtyard with 36 nobles wandering around waiting to be recruited.  Each player has a supply of servants which they introduce to the Palace and using movements points they move the servants to the different rooms to gain the ‘resources ‘ there, such things as royal seals; gold and privilege cards. If they have a servant placed at the Office they can then use these resources to enlist a noble from the courtyard, which gives either a large number of Victory Points at the end of the game, or sometimes give a small bonus feature each turn, like extra gold, extra movement points, or additional servants. As the game progress the cost in gold for enlisting reduces by 1 for each empty adjacent space in the courtyard so some nobles can be gained quite cheaply later on. The game ends when there is 12 or less servants remaining in the courtyard on the starting players turn, and then just one more turn is played. The player with the most victory points is the winner. Richard employed his servants wisely to gain lots of resources. Mike collected large amounts of gold to buy privilege cards but those drawn were not the ones he wanted. Tony concentrated on getting servants along the courtyard walls to gain Victory points. Richard managed to enlist 2 nobles in his last turn which gained him enough victory points to overtake Mike to win. Scores were Richard 56, Mike 49, Tony 45, Alister 40.

2.       Table 2 played “SHARK”, a share-trading game driven by rolling 2 dice, one which depicts one of the 6 areas on the board, and the other which colour share is to be introduced there. Players form chains of the same colour which increases their share price.  By buying into shares they make profit on these shares. They can also sell shares on their turn, which might be wise if it looks like the chain is going to be taken over. If this happens the ‘lost’ colour share price drops by the number of pieces involves and players owning those shares have to pay for the losses incurred. The newly-merged larger chain increases in value so a few battles ensue to have the right shares when the game ends, which is when one shares reaches a price of 15 or all the tokens of one colour have been placed. The player with the most money is the winner, and in this case it was Roger.

3.       Table 1 played the railway game “VOLLDAMPF”, in which players build track in various locations in order to transport goods from one city to another . They receive income for each section of track passed over in the delivery. Sometimes they need to use other players track so it’s a game of co-operation. To buy the cards to build the track they bid money at auction and to get enough money they need to take loans. This is the crux of the game as at the end of each turn the players subtract the amount of loan certificates from their income, so an income of 7 with 4 loan certificates gives only 3 money as a reward. Play continues for a defined number of turns with players progressing along the income track as they deliver more goods. At the end they move down this income track 1 space for each loan. The player who is furthest along the income track is the winner. Mike and Tony co-operated during the early stages whilst Alister made good progress with very few loans. In the end Tony was able to deliver 2 big earning contracts and this was enough to give him victory from Mike by 2 points.

4.       Table 1 finished with the simple card game “KATHAI”, in which players collect trade cards with a view to selling goods at one of the 5 markets in the game. They can trade cards with other players to gain more cards of a type they require. When they sell goods they gain points for the number of cards used, plus a variable bonus. Scoring is very tight and the scores were close, with Mike being lucky enough to make a trade worth 4 points on the last turn on the last turn. Scores were Mike 14, Alister and Roger 13, Tony 12 and Geoff 11 .

5.       Table 2 played the game of “CHAOS IN THE OLD WORLD”, which has been reviewed before. A very attractive board, with a myriad of pieces and cards and dials to determine the outcome of various battles. Near the end 3 players has achieved certain victory conditions but closer examination showed that Richard was the eventual winner.

 
Games played and Winners were:

Royal Palace Richard Piesse;

Shark Roger Skull;

Volldampf Tony Simons;

Kathai Mike Oakes;

Chaos in the Old World Richard Piesse.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 06/01/2011

1.    9 Players returned after the festive break. On Table 1 Tony led a game of “MUNICIPIUM” by Reiner Knizia. Based upon a Roman theme players are each in control of a powerful family and try to strategically place their family members in the various institutions throughout the municipium and gain the support of the citizens: Scholars, Merchants, Soldiers, and Priests. At various times during the game, if a player has the most influence in an institution, the player can exert the power of that institution and gain the support of certain citizens. Meanwhile, the praefect moves around the municipium and players strive to have the most influence in the institutions that he visits, thereby earning his favour. Each of these institutions have unique powers, and players must decide how and when to use them. The player best utilizing their power will become the most influential family in the municipium. A slightly confusing game that needs another outing. The winner was Lucy.

2.       Table 2 used the games that Santa had brought the Piesse brothers. The first of these was “ACQUIRE”, a classic game about building hotel chains, acquiring shares in them and then eventually merging the chain with other hotels to make profit. In a tight finish Mike and Roger both made the mistake of not investing in shares in the largest chain which gave the majority holding to Richard and denied them both a share of the final dividend. This proved costly as Luke was able to make a lot of money from his holdings and swept to a late victory.

3.       Table 1 played the race game “JAMAICA”, which has been reviewed before. Once again Lucy prevailed, maintaining her good standard from last year.

4.       As table 2 were still playing Acquire table 1 played a silly card game called “FELIX” as a filler. In this game based upon the old pub game of spoof you try to predict the outcome of what cats have been secretly put in the sack. The player who stays in the auction until the end of a round gains all the cards. However if there are dogs present instead of cats they ‘chase ‘ away the high-scoring cats, so the prize may not be worth as much as the winning player bid. After the game duration of 10 rounds Paul was the eventual winner.

5.       Table 2 then started on another Piesse offering, this time a 5-player game of “SETTLERS OF CATAN”. This took over 2 hours to complete as the competition for resources was fiercer than usual for this game. Mike looked out of it when all the other players ganged up on him and Richard looked favourite to win as he was near to completing the Longest Road. Near the end Mike and Roger both had 9 points but Richard was still looking good on 8 points. However some successive dice rolls of the same number gave Mike enough multiple resources that he could trade in on his turn for the necessary cards to upgrade a  settlement to a City to reach 10 points. A lucky win.

6.       To finish their session table 1 played a couple of games of “DAVID & GOLIATH”. Tony won the first game and Geoff the second.

Games played and Winners were:

Municipium Lucy Newbury;

Acquire Luke Williams;

Jamaica Lucy Newbury;

Felix Paul Gulpin;

Settlers of Catan Mike Oakes;

David and Goliath game 1 – Tony Simons;

David and Goliath game 2 – Geoff Williams.