CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 09/08/2012

1.       9 players tonight so 2 tables were in play. On Table 1 Mike led a 4-player game of “VASCO DA GAMA”, which has one of the best game board ever produced. Players purchase Projects to sail to Africa and India, recruit Crew and captains before launching them and then try and navigate them to a selection of destinations. They gain VPs for doing so and the player with the most VPs after 5 rounds is the winner. There are several unique mechanics in the game, the most interesting one being the way actions are carried out. There are 4 ‘Action areas’ on the board, with 5 slots available in each. They cover such things as Gaining Projects, Recruitment, Character Selection and Navigation. Players have 4 Action discs which they place, 1 at a time in player order, in the Action Area of their choice and select an Action Sequence Disc from the middle, numbered between 1 and 20, to accompany it. When all the players have placed their discs the actions are executed in Action Sequence order. Therefore players cannot be sure of getting the desired result from their action. A typical sequence might be Gain money, recruit crew and captains, obtain a project, launch an expedition, but with only 4 actions available these have to planned out carefully.  Lucy launched some high-value expeditions early and stormed into a big lead whilst Jeremy, Mike and Alister built their projects slowly. Mike moved into second place with a couple of small expeditions reaching their destinations but then Jeremy began to gain ground with some large expeditions and good use of the Merchant Ship. After his slow start Alister managed to place several expeditions and overtook Mike, whilst Jeremy began to catch Lucy. Mike made a daft game-losing error by having an expedition ready to place and score 11 points but he had forgot to recruit a captain, so could not launch it..stupid boy !!. In a tense final round Alister scored well, Lucy had exactly the correct money to launch her final expedition to gain her several points but Jeremy managed to launch and complete several expeditions in this round so he emerged the winner. Final scores were Jeremy 84; Lucy 80; Alister 74; and Mike a miserable 58. All the players unanimously agreed it was an enjoyable gaming experience.

2.       Table 2 saw 5 players in a game of “TICKET TO RIDE – EUROPE”, which as been reviewed before. In a close finish that was decided by the winner of the Longest Route card for 10 points the victor was Matthew Bulpin, who was making a rare appearance at the club because of school holidays. Well done Matthew !

3.       With the arrival of John and the departure of Jerry we were still 9 players and as it was Lucy’s birthday we granted her the wish to play “THE GREAT DALMUTI”. This multi-player card game about getting rid of your cards as quickly as possible has been reviewed before. Fittingly Lucy won the first round, and the second game was won by John. Lucy did well in the third game so she was declared the overall winner.

4.       We split into 2 tables for the final session. On Table 1 Jeremy led a 3-player game of “SOBEK”, the card game about collecting sets of items along the banks of the Nile, which was reviewed recently. The game is played in a series of rounds with the winner being the one with the most points or the first to get to 100. Normally 30 points in a round is considered a good score but Mike was fortunate enough to collect 2 large sets which scored 82 points in round 1. In round 2 things were a bit tighter as John and Jeremy gained early sets. But again with a lucky draw Mike managed to score large collections again and scored heavily with another 70 points so the game ended quickly. A rare moment indeed for Mike to win a game.

5.       Table 2 saw 6 players in a game of “MUNCHKIN” which was also played recently. Silly monsters trying kill each and much back stabbing from the players led to lots of laughter. Time ran out before the finish was it was agreed to nominate Donna as the winner.

Games played and Winners were:

Vasco Da Gama – Jeremy Hurault;

Ticket To Ride Europe – Matthew Bulpin;

The Great Dalmuti – Lucy Newbury;

Sobek – Mike Oakes;

Munchkin – Donna Harris.