CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 14/10/2010

1.       With 7 players in total, we split into 2 groups.  On table 1 a group of 4 players played “WALLENSTEIN” at Alistair’s request. This game is a conflict game which is played in a total of 8 rounds, the rounds representing 2 years, each of 4 seasons. Each round  the players secretly place their 10 action cards face down on their personal display for subsequent execution. In a clever bit of design these cards are multi-purpose, as they can be used to gain income, construct buildings, grow wheat or increase military strength. Once players have completed this task the control deck is shuffled and each action numbered 1-10 is performed in turn. The player’s action cards for the round are taken into consideration and resolved. This means that players build houses, palaces etc and gain influence in certain regions, they build up military strength for later conflict to seize control, they get money to buy things, or they store wheat to feed their people at the end of the turn.  One of the unique features of the game is the way of settling conflict. The game contains a tower with ledges inside it, into which the competing players throw their military units and the cubes which drop out into the tray at the bottom indicate the result of the battle. Some cubes ‘stick’ in the tower, whilst some left from previous conflict suddenly descend, which often leads to a surprising result. It’s tricky deciding in which turn to take money, or exercise conflict, and all the time as you expand your empire you need to have enough wheat to feed all your people! The scores for area control , most buildings in a region, most buildings of each type etc are taken at the end of each year, i.e. after round 4 and 8. Alistair chosen wisely and with just a little luck he scored a whopping 24 points in Year 1, which compared favourably with Roger’s 4 points, but the latter suffered badly in conflict. Alistair also won year 2 with a further 23 points, so he ran out a clear winner with 47 points, to Tony’s 35, Paul’s 22, and Roger’s demise continued and he finished with 8 points.

2.       Table 2 saw 3 players engaged in “WINDS OF PLUNDER”, a pirate game about sailing around the Caribbean and visiting ports to enhance your fearsome reputation. In doing so the players gain victory points and either increase their weaponry, increase their crew strength,   gain provisions or obtain a map of Buried Treasure (this is a pirate game after all). However the game resolves around the direction of the wind and in a clever system mechanic at the start of each turn the players secretly dial up on their compass which direction they want the wind to be for the next turn and ‘vote’ with a series of wind cubes. When all players have done this the result of the vote is declared and that is the wind direction applied. In this way some players may not get to go where they want, and can even be landlocked. Each player then sails to their next port and receives the appropriate resources for doing so. If they wish they can plunder other players resources! They then perform their choice of 3 Action Points to gain cards, or play cards, or gain extra wind cubes. The game plays in 9 rounds and the leading player shifts constantly throughout the game. Richard and Mike were running very close throughout until the final round when Richard gained a large number of points, sufficient to pass Mike and claim victory. Luke struggled at first after being landlocked twice , caught up in the middle game, only for Richard to scupper his recovery, the dastardly seadog!!

3.        Table 2 then played “METRIC MILE”, at Mike’s request, as he had turned a ‘pencil and paper game’ into a board game about the classic athletics distance. In the game players are dealt 2 famous athletes who all have different movement abilities,  depending upon which Running Mode they are in, and indications of stamina, and a like or dislike of leading the race. In current race running order the players choose the Running Mode each turn in reaction to their position in the race, and throw 4 dice, 2 of which determine how much stamina they expend that turn. The other 2 dice are added together and the result compared with their athlete’s table of movement for that mode. The player’s pieces are then moved around the track to indicate the status of the race. The game plays in 10 turns, with the 4 laps represented by turn 1, then turns 2&3, then turns 4,5 & 6, and finally lap 4 by turns 7,8,9 &10. Sprinting gives the athletes a much larger movement but can only be employed in Lap 4. If a player runs out of stamina they must consult the Tieing-up chart and they slow down dramatically. The winner is the athlete who advances furthest around the track. As he knew the game it wasn’t surprising that Mike won the first game but only by 2 spaces from Richard, with Luke a distant 3^rd, but he had suffered some bad dice rolls. The players decided to have another race and Luke resolved to save his Irish athletes stamina for a Sprint finish and he was justified in this as he came storming through from the back to gain a memorable victory. The game can be played by up to 8 players and is a good simulation of the real thing as you have to constantly alter your decision depending upon race condition at the time of your go. Those with a lot of stamina might try ‘Forcing’ the pace to make the others play catch up but if they lose a lot of stamina in doing so they have to ‘Ease’ back to have enough left for the Sprint finish.

4.       Some players then left at 10.30 so the 4 remaining players played the card game “HATRICK” to end the session. The cards depict baseball caps in 3 colours Red, Blue and Green and the players want to win tricks such that they gain lots of cards in one colour, as these are positive points, but not in the other colours as each card counts as a negative point so they have to keep this in mind when playing a card to a trick. There was only time for 2 rounds so not a complete game but at the end of play Mike had scored 18 points to Alistair’s 12, with the other players a remote 3^rd and 4^th.

Games played and Winners were:

Wallenstein Alister Gittins;

Winds of Plunder Richard Piesse;

Metric Mile game 1 Mike Oakes;

Metric Mile game 2 Luke Williams;

Hattrick Mike Oakes.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 07/10/2010

1.       We had only 5 players in total, so we split into 2 groups.  On table 1 a group of 3 players played “LE HAVRE” at Mike’s request. This game is about building the port of Le Havre from its humble beginnings. Players gather different resources on offer at the quayside and use them later to construct new buildings, which will give them victory points at the game end. However although they own the building any player can use it if no other player is present in it. The buildings yield benefits to the player who uses it, such as the Abattoir turning Cattle into Meat for food purposes, or The Charcoal Burner turning Wood into Charcoal for power purposes. There are many options available on a players turn and logical decisions need to be taken to maximise the opportunities to advance your position. After each round of play the inhabitants must be fed and the number of food units required increases as the game goes on. Therefore players have to constantly generate this food or they may have to pay for it using victory points they have gained. In later stages players can construct ships if they have the right materials and power resources to do so and this means that food supplies are imported, which helps alleviate the position. The players have to sometimes adjust their strategy in the light of what has occurred and this makes it a good game in my opinion.  Lucy soon understood what was required and built up a great combination of buildings with which she slowly took control of the game and ran out a most convincing winner, as Mike and Roger had to spend victory points to feed their people. A bit embarrassing but the final scores were Lucy 111, Mike 33, Roger 16. Well done Lucy!!!.

2.       Table 2 saw 2 players engaged in “ARKADIA”, a game about building a 2-tier castle. Players use builders, cards, workers, and neutral workers to build houses in Arkadia. Houses are built with the seal of one of 4 families; this family gave the building order and will get the building player its seal. These seals can be changed for victory points. But seals are subject to changing values. The growing castle (every time a house is built, players also build on the castle) has the 4 seals on it as well, which decides the value of each seal. The castle is also the game's timer: once the second tier is built, the last round starts. The player with the most gold wins. It was a first-time play for Alistair but he managed to win a very close game against Geoff.

3.        All 5 players came together to play “ISLAS CANARIAS”, a game that Geoff introduced us to on 23^rd September, so the details are not reproduced here. However Lucy was new to the game but once again she grasped the mechanics quickly and won clearly from Roger to gain her second victory of the night. Mike was a woeful last again. 

Games played and Winners were:

Le Havre Lucy Newbury;

Arkadia – Alistair Gittin;

Islas Canarias Lucy Newbury.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 30/09/2010

1.       We had only 7 players in total, so we split into 2 groups.  On table 1 a group of 3 players started with “INNOVATIONS”, a new card game about a journey through innovations from the stone age through modern times. Each player builds a civilization based on various technologies, ideas, and cultural advancements, all represented by cards. Each of these cards has a unique power which will allow further advancement, point scoring, or even attacking other civilizations. Be careful though, as other civilizations may be able to benefit from your ideas as well! To win, you must score achievements, which you can attain by amassing points or by meeting certain criteria with the innovations you have built. Paul soon established a good combination of cards and ran out an easy winner.

2.       Table 2 saw 4 players engaged in “GOA”, a heavy game about building plantations to cultivate various spices and then using them to trade for improve shipping, harvesting, taxation and expedition benefits. To add to your score you need to build Colonies to produce more goods and for that you need Colonists as well as Spices and these are quite difficult to obtain. The game plays in a series of just 8 rounds, each round consisting of an auction phase to obtain more plantations or bonus tiles, followed by a series of 3 Actions, in which the player try to improve their holdings with a view to gaining more victory points. The game took about 2 hours to play but it contains some clever mechanisms which make for a very tight game with the outcome in doubt until the end. Despite being published in 2004 it is still highly rated in the hobby. Tony made late progress on obtaining his colonies which gave him extra victory points and he also had some lucky breaks with his expedition cards which added to his score. He eventually won, with Chris a creditable second.

3.        On Table 1 the 3 players played 2 games of “GOCKELWOK”, a lightweight dice rolling game in which players obtain sushi fish heads via certain rolls and fish bones via other rolls. Each tile they collect has a value and they stack these in 2 piles, the object being to keep the piles level, as all the fish heads count as positives and the fish tails count as negatives. During the game other players will try to steal your tiles to improve their own score. At game end if the pile of sushi heads exceeds the pile of fish tails the excess tiles are taken away to make them level. However if the fish tail pile exceeds the sushi heads pile they remain in play and are scored as negative! A fun game in which Lucy came out on top in the first game and Paul won the second game.  

4.       As table 2 were still playing Goa  Table 1 finished the session with “PUERTO RICO” , the classic game about populating the island, founding plantations, constructing buildings, creating products and shipping them back to the homeland. The game has been reviewed before so will not be repeated here. Richard finally got his first win of the evening.

5.       Table 2 finally played their second game of the evening, “AUF HELLER UNF PFENNIG”, a game in which players draw a tile from a bag, the tile representing visitors to the marketplace. Some are good customers which give positive points, whilst others are bad, and give negative points. Players put the tiles on a grid of rows and columns and in later stages they can build market stalls on the grid instead. At the end of a round all the rows and columns are scored and the players receive money for their marketing efforts. The game plays for 3 rounds, which means the game last for around 45 minutes. Many chances to stuff your opponents by placing a big negative tile in a row in which they will score, or by placing a nice positive tile in a row/column that you will score. Tony, Mike and Chris were leaders after round 1, but at the end of round 2 Mike and Chris were closely matched. Mike made a gaffe in round 3 which gave Chris the chance to score a large number of points so he was able to claim his first victory since joining us.

Games played and Winners were:

Innovation Paul Gulpin;

Gockelwok game 1 – Lucy Newbury;

Gockelwok game 2 – Paul Gulpin;

Puerto Rico Richard Piesse;

Goa Tony Simons;

Auf Heller und Pfennig Chris Knight.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 23/09/2010

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.