CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 30/06/2011

1.       Several members were absent due to holidays so we only had 7 in attendance at the start so we split into 2 tables. Whilst Mike waited for the arrival of Jerry and Poppy on table 1 6 players were playing the ever-popular “7 WONDERS” which is the most played game in the club. Freya was overwhelmed by the Military presence on either side of her and her other ventures failed to help her score much. Richard seems to have the strategy sussed to win this game as final scores showed, these being Freya 30; Robert 45; Roger 46; Kevin 52; Rachel 54; Richard 59.

2.       On Table 2 Mike realised that Jerry and Poppy were not coming but he persuaded 2 players to join him in “FRUIT FAIR”, as he had spent some time in setting the game up. The game is family fare about picking fruit from one or more of the 4 types in the game, and then using that fruit to go the Fruit Fair, where they can exchange the fruit for one of the 5 medals of different calibre or to hire more workers. The twist is that there are 3 medals of each type available in various ranges but the players don’t know the value of each medal as they are placed face down. These medals, plus any fruit in hand, form the victory points in the game. The game is graphically appealing and there is a defined sequence of play in 5 phases , these being Assign Workers face down to fruits to pick and plant; The Racoon eats 2 fruits; Players display their assignments and gather appropriate fruit; They visit the Fruit Fair and either hire more workers or ‘buy’ medals’ if they have enough fruit to ‘pay’ for them; The special tiles are assigned for the next turn. Once this is done the planted fruits are placed upon the trees ready to be picked next turn. Despite being a family game there are some decisions to be made which satisfy the gamer instinct and there was some cagey moves being made. There is a variable game end when 5 or less medals are left to be taken and then one more complete round is played. Rachel the visitor always seemed to be in command as she held the Racoon early on, which gave her discount on her purchases of workers and medals. The final scores were Rachel 66; Mike 56; Kevin 53. Well done Rachel !!

3.       Table 1 played a 4-player game of “INGENIOUS” whilst Table 2 finished their game. This abstract game involves laying hexagonal tiles upon a fixed board and attempting to form lines of one or more of the 6 colours in the game. They score points for the length of each line formed, which they record on their personal scoreboard. Being a Reiner Knizia game the scoring is unique and in this one the player’s score is the Lowest of any one colour, so it’s no good have one colour at 2, and others at 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, as your score is 2 ! Robert managed to win the game by just 1 point, much to the annoyance of the others. As the game plays quickly they decided to play another game of it.

4.       Table 1 completed their second game of “INGENIOUS” just as table 2 completed their game.  To prove his previous victory was no fluke Robert won again but yet again by 1 point, a fact that he couldn’t stop crowing about !

5.       Freya decided to leave at this point so 6 players played the classic game of building hotel chains called “ACQUIRE”. It was Kevin’s first outing but he equipped himself well, eventually finishing third. The winner was Robert yet again, due to a lucky(?) placement of a tile which merged 2 chains in one move, enabling him to convert the losing shares that he held into shares of the bigger corporation, which gave him the majority shareholding in a large chain. Runner up was Rachel who cashed in shares in the surviving corporations late in the final round. Well done Rob on a great treble, and with Richard also winning, plus his girlfriend Rachel, it truly was a ‘Piesse night’.

Games played and Winners were:

7 Wonders Richard Piesse;

Fruit Fair Rachel the visitor;

Ingenious game 1  Robert Piesse;

Ingenious game 2  Robert Piesse;

Acquire Robert Piesse.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 23/06/2011

1.       Several members were absent but we still had 9 in attendance so we split into 2 tables. On table 1 the players were playing “THURN UND TAXIS” which Freya and Jerry were playing for the first time. The game has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. On his return to the club after a few weeks absence Richard managed to collect enough cards to build an impressive  route of 8, which gained him big VP’s and the early lead. However the others began to catch up as the game progressed, although there were many cries of dismay as the cards they wanted were taken by other players. In the end Richard won by just 1 point, this being due to the fact that he was the player who forced the game end, for which you receive a token worth…..1 point !!.

2.       Table 2 saw Mike introduce Lucy and Tim to “NAVEGADOR”, a game which Paul requested after giving it a bad review a few weeks ago. After about 20 minutes of explanation from Mike the game commenced with all 4 players gaining a navigation token early on. Paul embarked on a building programme of churches which he funded with frequent visits to the market. Lucy was very active in the market, gaining her plenty of money with which to build factories. Tim decided to build shipyards to enable him to build cheaper ships for later on with which to navigate the unexplored territories. Mike attempted to gain more colonies and was successful but by also collecting privileges he was always short of workers to increase his number of factories. The feature of this game is the Rondel system and this led to turns being very quick. Towards the end it was difficult to predict the winner but Paul looked to be favourite with his numerous churches. As the end scoring progressed Mike and Lucy took the early lead as they had plenty of ships on the board and cash in hand with which to earn VP’s, which the others didn’t. Mike then took a temporary lead when his 9 colonies were scored but Lucy soon overtook because of her numerous buildings. Lucy and Tim scored well for their navigation tokens but Paul and Mike lost ground here. Tim rushed from the back with his 60 points for his shipyards and it turned out that Paul’s churches scoring 54 points were actually not enough to win, leaving Tim as the victor. In a close finish the final scores were Tim 105, Paul 103, Lucy 103, Mike 99.  Paul graciously admitted that his second outing was much more enjoyable than his first. Tim and Lucy really liked the game, plus the fact that it played in under 2 hours for a first-time outing and Mike also enjoyed it despite being last yet again. ( No change there then!!).

3.       Table 1 played “ZOOLORETTO” which was played last week. Again Freya and Jerry were playing it for the first time but it seems as though everyone enjoyed it. Quite a few baby animals were being born so no shortage of amorous encounters. In the end Freya was the winner, much to her surprise, which sound similar to Mike’s experience of the week before. A nice looking game, which is not to be taken too seriously but does provide a fun experience for most players. Poppy particularly liked the look of the game.

4.       Table 2 had the pleasure (?) of Robert’s company for their final game, and the choice was the card game “CITADELS”. In this game players are trying to construct a city of 8 districts from the cards in their hand, using gold to pay for the various constructions. The twist is that every turn there are 8 roles available, from which 1 is displayed face-up and 1 face down and then the current King looks at the remaining 6 roles and chooses which one to play this round. He then hands the remaining cards around the table for the other players to choose their role and pass the reducing pack on. The King then calls for the roles to be executed in a predefined order and players have a choice of more gold or more cards with which they build if they can. Some of the roles are quite vicious, especially the Assassin who can call for a particular role to be killed that turn. Also nasty is the Thief who can nominate a role from which he will steal the gold and when that role is revealed the gold (if any) is transferred, which the losing player probably had earmarked for building purposes. The game ends when 1 player has constructed 8 districts and the one who does that gains 4 VP’s for doing so. The round is completed and any other players achieving 8 districts score a lesser amount. The values of the various buildings are then summed and there are bonus points if players have built a least 1 building in all 5 colours in the game. In a tense finish Robert and Paul ended on 26 points so they settled on a tie. Lucy had 25 points and would have won had Paul not destroyed one of her buildings in the final round. Tim was 4^th on 21 points, with Mike yet another last place on 14 points…poor Mike !! For ostensibly a card game this game offers plenty of interaction, multiple chances to screw your opponents and if played in the right spirit provides a load of fun.

Games played and Winners were:

Thurn und Taxis Richard Piesse;

Navegador Tim Havenith;

Zooloretto Freya Freestone;

Citadels  tie between Robert Piesse and Paul Bulpin.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 16/06/2011

1.       Several members were absent but we still had 10 in attendance so we split into 2 tables. On table 1 Mike introduced 2 other club members to “TROYES”, which was played last week and despite the need to explain the concept and the rules we still managed to finish in just over 2 hours. Tim admitted he was struggling a bit at first but he steadily built parts of the cathedral. Mike was accumulating lots of money whilst Lucy was placing a number of citizens on the Activity cards. Tony was bemoaning his luck but still seemed to be exploiting other peoples’ die to gain plenty of Influence and VPs. The combined failure to counter certain event cards meant that the Neutral citizens gained positions in the principal buildings, leading to fewer die being available to the players. At game end, the results hinged on who completed the hidden objectives best. Every player had plenty of money so they all scored the maximum VP’s for Mike objective, which cooked his goose. Lucy scored best for her citizens on the board, Tony has lots of Influence and citizens in the buildings but these 3 players failed to build in all levels of the cathedral so they had to yield some VPs for this. Tim did not have to give up any VPs and scored 6 VPs for having contributed 7 cubes to the cathedral building, and this was enough for him to gain a close victory from Tony, with Lucy just behind and Mike a miserable 4^th. Tony did not rate the game too highly at 6/10 but Lucy thought it would improve with further playings and scored it at 8/10 and offered to play it again. Mike still thinks that with the many combinations of activity cards and event cards that the game offers a new take on games with dice.

2.       Table 2 saw 6 players playing “SHARK” which Freya was playing for the first time. The game has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. The winner this time was Jerry.

3.       With 3 players leaving Table 2 they continued with” MANILA”, which was played last week, but this time with only 3 players, so there was less competition for the places on the punts or the pirates spaces. Roberts managed to amass a cash total of 145 to win the game easily.

4.       Table 1 played “ZOOLORETTO”, which Tim and Lucy were playing for the first time. Together with Tony they soon filled up their enclosures with the various animals, leaving Mike with a load of rubbish. Tim was cash-rich but couldn’t find the requisite animals to complete his enclosures. Tony remodelled his layout to gain more VPs but in the final 2 rounds of play, more by luck than skill, Mike acquired the 2 tiles needed to complete the 2 largest of his enclosures for maximum points and somehow snatched a win, to the surprise of the others.

5.       With just over 30 minutes remaining Mike introduced Tim and Lucy to the card game “HATTRICK”, in which players try to win as many cards as they can in ONE colour, for which they score 1 point for each card, whilst they lose a point for each card they win in the other colours. Mike was stitched up late on in the first round by winning tricks in colours he didn’t want, so Lucy and Tony were the 2 leaders. In the second round Tim fared really badly, winning tricks in all 3 colours, which meant he scored zero points. Tony and Lucy continued to fight out the lead but despite our efforts we couldn’t reduce Lucy’s score sufficiently to stop her winning. For 2 rounds the scores were Lucy 27, Tony 23, Mike 14, Tim 4. The game is normally played over 4 rounds so we might have caught Lucy, but unlikely given her ability.

6.       Table 2 finished with another club favourite “MONTEGO BAY”, which this time proved Paul with a victory.

Games played and Winners were:

Troyes Tim Havenith;

Shark Jerry Jabelman;

Manila Robert Piesse;

Zooloretto Mike Oakes;

Hattrick Lucy Newbury;

Montego Bay Paul Bulpin.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 09/06/2011

1.       9 members in attendance meant we split into 2 tables. On table 1 Mike introduced 3 other players to “TROYES”, the hit of last year’s Essen Game Fair. The game theme relates to players employing citizens to various activities within the city, with the aim of gaining influence, building the cathedral, defeating enemies that attack the city and other sundry activities. By these various methods they will gain Victory points, these being the object of the game. The difference with this game is that it uses dice as ‘worker placements’ but with the ability to buy dice from other players, making for a game with multiple options. The city contains 3 principal buildings and a cathedral, upon which are marked locations numbers 1-6. In a turn players retrieve the coloured dice, 1 for each citizen they have currently placed in the principal buildings and they throw these dice and place the result in their own district. They receive income and then 2 event cards are turned over. These are resolved and some players will lose influence, money or citizens as a result. They then have to defeat the raiders that are attacking the city and for each raider they defeat they receive more influence. The players then get to perform actions of choice in turn order. This will often involve recruiting a tradesman, placing a citizen on the card for VP’s at the end and then ‘doing the effect’. The latter means compiling a group of like-coloured dice, buying from others if required, and then dividing the total spots on the dice by a figure on the card to perform the effect ‘n’ times…i.e. total of 12, divide by a figure of 3 means you get to do the effect 4 times. In this example you can get 4 lots of money, 4 lots of influence, 4 lots of building etc, the combinations are many. Players have to manage their level on the influence track as well as their money in order to maximise the dice that are thrown.  They need to populate the principal buildings in order to gain more dice to throw next turn, so there’s a lot going on. It’s a bit overwhelming on the first play through and the game took over 2 hours to complete. Mike had plenty of money early on and used it to buy others players dice to good effect. Tony recruited an Archer and used this to gain lots of Influence points and to combat event cards, which he kept. Freya concentrated on getting citizens in the buildings so she had the most dice to throw but other players kept buying them from her, so she was cash-rich but didn’t get to use many for herself. Paul pursued a strategy of using money to buy influence. The game lasts 6 turns and scores were close until the game end scoring when Tony gained  6 VP’s for the high number of Event cards he had accumulated. Final positions were Tony, Mike, Paul and Freya. Mike would like other members to try the game to give their verdict upon it.

2.       Table 2 saw 5 players playing “SEAFAHRERS SETTLERS” with 3 expansions. This was only Kevin’s second attempt at the game and this was rather daunting. Jerry and Poppy were more familiar with the game and put up some resistance but Robert, who owned the expansions, used his knowledge to good effect to emerge the victor. The game took over 2 hours to play so the expansions add to the game length considerably, which may not be to everyone’s taste.

3.       Table 1 completed their evening with a 5-player game of “MANILA” the game about racing punts up the river to deliver goods and reaping the rewards. Tony and Freya used the pirate options to great effect and on 3 consecutive occasions they plundering a punt to grab the spoils. This meant that the other players became very poor so it screwed the game towards the other 2, but in no way did that diminish the enjoyment, with much laughter generated during the game. In the end Tony gained money to the value of 192, with Freya second on 145, normally enough to win the game easily, so back luck Freya !!

4.       Jerry and Poppy had to leave so Robert and Kevin finished with a game of “7 WONDERS”, the most-played game in the club. A different experience with 2 players, in which little Military was used. The eventual winner was Robert, his second victory of the evening.

Games played and Winners were:

Troyes Tony Simons;

Seafarers of Catan Robert Piesse;

Manila Tony Simons ;

7 Wonders Robert Piesse.