CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 08/09/2011

1.       11 players attended so we split into 3 tables. On table 1 Tony led a group of 4 in “COSMIC ENCOUNTER”, the game where each player is the leader of an alien race. The object of the game is to establish colonies in other players' planetary systems. Players take turns trying to establish colonies. The winner(s) are the first player(s) to have five colonies on any planets outside his or her home system. Alister raced to an easy victory, so the group decided to play the game again.

2.       Table 2 saw 4 players playing the card-based game of “LONDON”, which has been reviewed before. Players build their city display in front of them until they are ready to ‘run the city’. This gains them victory points, or money, but also some poverty points. Astute selection of the cards available help to eliminate the poverty points, but you can’t always get the cards you want. Paul established a good display such that he was gaining money regularly and eliminating poverty points at the same time, and he ran out an easy winner.

3.       On Table 3 Mike introduced Richard and Rachel to “LE HAVRE”, which was played last week. With the 3-player shortened version the game took 12 turns in less than 2 hours and provided a good introduction to the game for the new players. Rachel controlled the Wharf and ship building franchises, and also took the commodities that Mike needed, much to the latter’s annoyance!. Richard played the ‘long game’ by storing enough commodities to build 2 steel ships, and late in the game he was able to deliver 2 loads which gained him 24 VP’s, a lot in one go. The final scores were Richard 107; Rachel 95; Mike 89.

4.       Table 1 played their second game of “COSMIC ENCOUNTER”, but the result was the same, with Alister coming out the victor again.

5.       Table 3 played a game of “TICKET TO RIDE EUROPE”, which Rachel had not played before. Mike took an early lead with routes built in the East but the other 2 soon caught up. Richard thwarted Mike by building a link that cut off his longest railroad. This enabled Rachel to build the longest railroad and she looked the likely winner until Mike realised that by ending the game early he could ensure that the others failed to complete some of their city links, and therefore lost VP’s. This duly happened and Mike ran out the easy winner.

6.       Table 1 played “MODERN ART CARD GAME”, which, whilst not as good as the original board game, provided a quick filler. Tim was the winner.

7.       The remaining  6 players then combined to play the ever-popular “7 WONDERS” with Alister playing it for only the second time. This time Richard gained a close win from Rachel with the final scores being 57,53,47,43,43,42.

Games played and Winners were:

Cosmic Encounter – game 1 – Alister Gittin;

London – Paul Bulpin;

Le Havre - Richard Piesse;

Cosmic Encounter – game 2 – Alister Gittin;

Ticket to Ride Europe – Mike Oakes;

Modern Art card game – Tim Havenith;

7 Wonders – Richard Piesse.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 01/09/2011

1.       Bank Holiday and illness led to a reduced attendance of 9. On table 1 5 players played “INFINITE CITY”, the tile-laying game to construct a city of the future. The game has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. After being out of the game for most of the time Paul finished strongly and several players had identical scores and Paul won on the tie break.

2.       Table 2 saw 4 other players playing “LE HAVRE”, at the request of Kevin. Tony took loans early to finance his activities and built more buildings than the other players, by which he gained plenty of Victory points. Kevin built a Wharf but was unable to get the resources required to build ships until later in the game. Mike and Lucy scrapped over food production and the former struggled to generate enough to satisfy the demand on the cards so he yielded many VPs at the end of each round. Kevin continued with a broader strategy and looked the likely winner when he bought the Church in the very last round. However, Tony had paid off his loans by use of the Local Courts so he wasn’t penalised as was expected and this gave him a close victory. Scores were Tony 137; Kevin 134; Lucy 110; Mike 83.

3.       As table 2 were still engrossed in their game Table 1 played a game of “7 WONDERS” which was won by Rob with a score of 54,the others scoring 42, 40, 37 and 35.

4.       As table 2 still had not finished their game Table 1 then decided to play yet another game of “7 WONDERS” with the same 5 players. This time Rob stormed to an impressive victory with the final scores being 75, 56, 55, 41,

  

Games played and Winners were:

Infinite City – Paul Bulpin;

Le Havre – Tony Simons;

7 Wonders – game 1 – Rob Piesse;

7 Wonders – game 2 – Rob Piesse.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 25/08/2011

1.       12 in attendance at the start so we split into 3 groups. On table 1 a group of 5 players played “METROPOLYS”, a game about populating areas on the map of a city landscape with buildings by means of a unique system. Players have a set of buildings in different heights, numbered 1-12 , and in a turn one player starts the auction by laying a building of any value. The next player can add a building of a higher value in an adjacent area or pass. This chain of building continues until all but one player has passed and that is the building that is constructed. ‘Losing’ bidders retrieve their pieces for future auctions. Certain tokens, mostly beneficial but some bad, are picked up if a player builds in a particular area. The auctions continue until one player has played all of their buildings and Victory Points are calculated. Each player has a secret agenda such as “most buildings on the edge of the city” or “most buildings in areas with bridges”, and these score VP’s along with some of the tokens gained. The winner was Paul, who won easily.

2.       Table 2 saw 3 other players playing “TOBAGO”, which has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. Geoff and Roger gained some treasure cards early, whilst Mike collected amulets for use later on. When Mike used these to gain a treasure he was unfortunate enough to draw the dreaded skull card and lose all his treasures, which effectively put him out of the game.   Roger and Geoff continued to fight it out the lead but Roger won with a late surge of treasure cards and the final scores were Roger 41; Geoff 31; Mike 20.

3.       Table 3 was run by Tony who introduced new players Brian and Jamie to “SMALL WORLD”, which was played last week.  In the end Rob won on a tie-break from Brian.

4.       Table 1 played yet another game of “7 WONDERS” with the same 5 players. After her recent absence Lucy was back to demonstrate her superiority yet again with another victory.

5.        Table 2 played a 3-player game of “SAVANNAH TAILS”, which has been reviewed before. In a close finish Mike won on the tie-break by being on the inside as he tied with Geoff, with Roger just 1 space behind.

6.       Tony explained the game of “ZOOLORETTO” on table 3, the game about populating your zoo with various species of animals. A highly entertaining game, good to introduce new members. With his previous experience of the game Tony was the victor.

7.       Table 1 decided to play another game of “7 WONDERS” to try and spread the victories around but rather predictably the winner once again was Lucy.

8.       Table 2 decided to play the motor racing game “AUSGEBREMST”, but due to a misunderstanding of the rules they had a false start and had to start again. With only 3 players the game system ‘played’ the other 3 cars in the race in a random draw fashion and these cars got in the way of the ‘real’ players !.  Geoff was usually in the front runners and he eventually ran out the winner by some margin from the other 2 players.

9.       Table 2 then finished their session with the quick dice-rolling game of “SUSHIWOCK IM GOCKELWOK”. There was much pinching of tiles between the players which saw fortunes fluctuating, which made for an amusing game and in the end Mike’s high-value sushi saw him through to victory.

10.    Table 1 played the last game of packed evening with a 7-player outing of “THE GREAT DALMUTI”, at the request of Rob. Much hilarity was forthcoming from the table, especially from the newcomers,  and in the end Tim emerged as the victor.

A really fun-packed evening  with a record number of games played. Thanks to all who took part.

Games played and Winners were:

Metropolys – Paul Bulpin;

Tobago – Roger Skull;

Small World – Rob Piesse;

7 Wonders Game 1 – Lucy Newbury;

Savannah Tails – Mike Oakes;

Zooloretto – Tony Simons;

7 Wonders Game 2 – Lucy Newbury ( again);

Ausgembremst – Geoff Williams;

Sushizock im Gockelwok – Mike Oakes;

The Great Dalmuti – Tim Havenith.

CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 18/08/2011

1.       10 in attendance at the start so we split into 2 tables initially, and then 3 tables. On table 1 a group of 5 players played “LAND UNTER”, the card game about saving yourself from drowning whilst on a lighthouse. The twist in the game is that each player gets to play all the different hands in the game once only. To the surprise of all Mike actually came out the winner by a narrow margin from Geoff.

2.       On Table 2 Tony led a group of 3 other players in “SMALL WORLD” the game of selecting a faction to gain VP’s by conquering territories and then sending them into decline when they have served their purpose.  Many combinations of faction are possible, which give the game its appeal. It has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. To her own amazement and delight Poppy was the eventual winner with 107 points from Jerry’s 98.

3.       With the arrival of 2 more players a third Table was created and 3 players played “OREGON” which was played last week. The winner by a single point was Rob Piesse from his brother Richard.

4.       Table 1 saw 4 players in a game of “NAVEGADOR”, which has been reviewed before. First-time players Imogen and Rachel soon grasped the mechanisms and everyone enjoyed the game. Rachel’s use of the Market gained her lots of cash with which to build shipyards so she was able to build ships cheaply. Paul went down the church route to obtain cheap workers but was unable to get the vital privilege tile he wanted before the game ended. Imogen had lots of colonies so scored well with those and Mike had lots of cash from his use of the Market. Rachel’s shipbuilding eventually paid off as she ended the game with a lot of ships on the board as well as gaining the last navigation tile. She won by 3 points from Paul, with Imogen 3^rd and Mike 4^th.

5.       Table 3 played a quick game of “JAMAICA” to fill in the time whilst they waited for other games to finish. The winner was Rob again for his second victory of the evening.

6.       As people left a final group of 4 players played “RA”, in an attempt to find something that Rob couldn’t win, as he had not played it. However he started with a good score in the first epoch and led at that stage. Seasoned gamer Tony soon corrected that position by scoring well in Epochs 2 and 3 and Roger was not far behind. Tony ran out the winner with 49 points to Roger’s 48, Rob scored 41 points and Mike was an embarrassing last with just 1 point !!

Games played and Winners were:

Land Unter- Mike Oakes;

Small World- Poppy Jabelman;

Oregon- Rob Piesse;

Navegador- Rachel Dunn;

Jamaica- Rob Piesse;

Ra- Tony Simons.