1.
With a bumper attendance of 14 all 3 tables
were in play and lots of games were played. To start on table 1 Tony led a
group playing “FAST FLOWING FOREST
FELLERS”. In this game each player has 2 loggers, one male and one female
and they have different movement abilities shown on cards. Players shuffle
their pack of cards and choose 3 at random, from which they will play 1 and
then replenish. The ‘track’ depicts a river flowing downstream in a series of
hexes and the players move the number of hexes according to the card they play.
If they end their turn on a hex
containing arrows indicating they move 1
addition hex in that direction. Some are
favourable, most are not. Additionally some logs are placed in the river at the
start to form a sort of barrier to progress but with the correct strength of
card the players can ‘shove’ the logs into the path of other loggers, to slow
them down. Quite an amusing game which is pitched at the family level. Tony was
the winner.
2. Table
2 saw 5 players involved in a game of “DOMINION”,
the card-deck building game. Peregrine the visitor had brought along his large
boxed set so a scenario was chosen to introduce new players to the game. The
first game was close but Kevin eventually emerged victorious on his debut.
3.
With the
arrival of Chris the players played another game of “DOMINION”, this time with a more elaborate scenario involving
Alchemy. It seems that this was much more difficult to play and took longer to complete.
The eventual winner was Peregrine.
4.
On table 3
Mike introduced 3 other players to the Ystari game “YS”. This game is a combination of secret auctions to gain
territorial control and a stock market manipulation, all of which generate
victory points. In a game that last only 4 turns there is much for the players
to consider. Very briefly they have a series of 9 brokers, in values 0-4, which they place upon the various locations in
the city of YS, or in the various parts of the stock market. The purpose of the
placement is to gain control of a territory , or to influence the stock market
in their favour. However in a neat twist they have to place one broker face-up
and one face-down, so other players do not fully know what your
strength is in a particular area. In a game turn players’ place 8 of their
tokens so you cannot do everything you want. The parts of the city are
evaluated and the gains issued to the winners. These can be gems of their
choice, a fixed amount of VPs, a card to use of their next turn to assist their
cause or a black gem, which counts for game end scoring. Once the city is
evaluated the stock market placements are resolved , which allocate gems to
winning players, and the prices of all 4 types of gem are adjusted upwards or
downwards accordingly. The gems are hidden behind a player’s screen as they are
used to determine the victory points at the end. Play continues in this fashion
for 4 turns and then end game scoring occurs. Players earn points for the
number of black gems they have collected. Then the 4 types of gems are
evaluated, with the highest value one being scored first. Players reveal their
holdings and points are awarded in the sequence 24, 18,12,6 for places 1-4. In
similar fashion the 2nd, 3rd and 4th gem
colour is scored but in reduced values. These final scores can dramatically
affect the result, as players with the highest holding in say the 2 highest
valued gems can gain 44 points and shoot along the VP track. Much to admire in
this game, which provided plenty of replay value. Alister led toward the end
with his commercial sections scoring well by clever use of one of his cards.
However Jeremy concentrated on building the Port sections and gathered lots of
black stones , which gave him 20 points at Game end, enough for a close
victory. Paul was a respectable third place but Mike was hopelessly last….again
!!
5. Table 1 played the Motor Racing game “DAYTONA 500”, a classic of its day,
setting the tone for the later generations of car racing games. Players play
cards from their hand to move the depicted colour car shown a specific number
of spaces. They are trying to hinder the progress of their opponents whilst
obtaining the best outcome for themselves. Blocking occurs, especially through
the narrow corners, where the unlucky victims are forced wide and lose valuable
spaces. The eventual winner was Tony.
6. Table 3 continued their night of Ystari
games with “BOMBAY”, a lightweight
family game of using elephants to visit depots to pick up goods of various
colours and then deliver them to a city that wants that particular goods.
Players are restricted to 3 Action Points per turn, and some actions cost money
so progress is not as swift as they would like. Alister built his 5 palaces
very early and received money(VP) from the bank every time a player passed
through his palaces, building up a nice score. The others attempted to deliver
goods to the 4 cities on the board, gaining money and tokens for doing so. Jeremy did best at this, always seeming to
deliver a type of goods that attracted the highest return. When all players
have had 4 actions in a turn a new round is started, the markets are re-seeded
with goods and a new round begins. After 4 completed turns Game End scoring
occurs for the number of Palaces and Guides each player has collected, and the
Number of different cities visited. Despite his early lead Alister was caught
again near the end by Jeremy.
7. On Table 2 the return of “INCAN GOLD” took place, much to the
delight of Rob, as this is one of his favourite games. A card game in which
Gems cards and Disaster cards are turned over and players decide whether to
take flight with the treasure they have stored in their tent so far, or stay
for another round to increase their haul, but running the risk of a 5th
Disaster card turning up, and losing the
lot !!. Not surprisingly Rob ran out the eventual winner.
8. On Table 1 only 3 players remained so
Tony introduced “IF WISHES WERE FISHES”,
a game about fishermen catching the highest value fish and then trying to sell
them for the best prices. Of course the other players will try and hinder this
so things are not straightforward. The most intriguing thing seemed to be the
purple worms with which players lure away the fish from each other. In a close
finish Kevin won with 83 points, with Geoff and Tony both on 82, always the
sign of a good game. A bit childish in appearance but it seems there is a gamer’s
game lurking in there , judging by the comments of the players.
9. Table 3 were reduced to 3 players also
so Mike introduced the others to a quick game of “TUTANCHAMUN” by Reiner Knizia. Players start on the designated
number on the scoring mask (26 in our case)and are trying to be first to reach
zero. A quirky game where artefacts in different value and distribution are
placed ‘snake-like’ leading to an altar. In turn players move their piece from
the back of the ‘snake’ to an artefact and claim it for themselves. However
they cannot go backwards to claim artefacts they have passed. Once all the
tokens for a particular artefact have been collected it is scored, the player
with the most of that type gain its value, 2nd gains half value and
third(if present) gains half again. Play continues in this way with players
scoring at different rates and intervals until one player reaches the zero
target. Paul collected some high-scoring sets and looked certain to win until
Mike and Jeremy scored some lower valued sets frequently and closed the gap.
Eventually Mike reached 6 points and managed to close a type with exactly that
value to snatch a win, much to Paul’s disgust.
10. Table 2 were last to finish on a
marathon night, by playing “ZOOLORETTO”,
the game about filling enclosures in your zoo with animals of the same type.
The game has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. The final scores
were extremely close, these being Chris 30, Rob 29, Peregrine 28, Roger 25.
Games played and
Winners were:
Fast Flowing
Forest Fellers- Tony Simons;
Dominion game 1
– Kevin Ward;
Dominion game 2
– Peregrine the visitor;
Ys – Jeremy
Hurault;
Daytona 500 –
Tony Simons;
Bombay - Jeremy
Hurault ;
Incan Gold- Rob
Piesse;
If Wishes were
Fishes – Kevin Ward;
Tutanchamun –
Mike Oakes;
Zooloretto –
Chris Cook.
