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Review: Le Havre:: From a medium/light weight gamer - Review App Only

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by roaranimation

All aboard!

To preface I am not a heavy Euro game fan and prefer lighter games with odd ball themes. I had heard of Le Havre for years as I entered the hobby but never had the chance to play. Well it was more of a "doesn't look like my type of game" so I'll pass. Recently though Le Havre was on sale for 99 cents on iOS...so I took a chance.

Good offer:

Le Havre is a game about building, resources, feeding people and watching your boat bring goods to the harbor. Thematically it fits in very well with many games in the Euro game genre. As a "non Euro game fan" (let's face it we all like a little bit of everything) I was really blown away by what this game delivers! The game play is deliciously simple and there is always a positive option to take while playing.

You will either collect a pile of resources or activate a card action. Seems very simple but is extremely dynamic especially as the game gets to the mid rounds. I believe this game is lost and won in the middle rounds of the game. There are some solid strategies that have been found but depending on how the other players play you could be sitting in deep water for a while ha ha.

iPhone/iPad:

I've only played the app version but have played about 30 times now switching up between short/regular games and solo/multi player games. The app is very intuitive for a game with an ever changing dynamic. It took me a few games to get a good grasp of what cards do and all that but luckily the app has an answer for everything.

First there is a take back button that allows you to take back an action you just took. Took me a few games to remember that I needed a brick to build an iron ship so it was very handy (unlike you Star Realms ha ha). Another aspect is that every card has a full explanation to read! No need to reference a rule set or remember every rule, it's fool proof. The last user friendly part to mention is that the app even offers up advice/strategy. This makes for a low barrier of entry for new players.

The game can be a little confusing at first as the first few rounds are more or less developing what type of game it will be. Also for anyone with eye sight issues the app can be difficult to operate given the small space allocated on the device. After a few games though it's easy to adapt and plays very smoothly.

Loans:

There really isn't too many negative things I can say about Le Havre. It's the type of game that even if you lose you can still walk away feeling positive because of the building aspect and number of good choices available each turn. It can be challenging to new players and if you're getting beat by a mile you'll know about half way through making sitting there a painful experience. I suggest playing with players of the same level of experience or going it solo first. The short game is also good for getting a grasp of the game without getting too beat up.

If you are the experienced player I would suggest if teaching new players that you explore other strategies as that will both challenge you an give new player a chance to enjoy a more even game play experience.

Overall:

I really enjoy Le Havre! It's so engaging and the dynamic yet positive game play is addictive. I would definitely suggest trying the game first! It can be a little bit of a rough time navigating your first play but once you "get it" Le Havre is a fascinating experience.

9/10 (this is for the app version alone)

Reply: Le Havre:: Reviews:: Re: From a medium/light weight gamer - Review App Only

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by kendahlj

What is your record in multiplayer games vs the AI? With two computer players are max level of ability, I still win every time. Not to say it's not fun or challenging, but it seems like winning every time is no bueno...

Reply: Le Havre:: Reviews:: Re: From a medium/light weight gamer - Review App Only

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by roaranimation

I haven't done past 3 players but with 1 AI I'm at 50/50 and with 2 AI I'm at 30/70. These are also on the easiest level ha ha so my skill is not very well for this game. For me it's a challenge so I can't comment on a better player.

Thread: Le Havre:: General:: Thematic issue with steel production. Thoughts?

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by jlgern

Overall we really enjoy the game. I did notice one odd thematic issue. The steel production plant comes out before the coke plant. Coke is needed in the production of steel. Am I missing something? Is this just an oversight?

Thanks.

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Thematic issue with steel production. Thoughts?

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Thematic issue with steel production. Thoughts?

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by JohnRayJr

It's also possible for the cokery to come into play before the steel mill anyway.

Unboxing Week Post Part VI: Brew Crafters

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by Aaron Rohrer

This post was originally written on my blog "Late To The Table..." on June 11, 2015 and can be found in it's original (including the original pictures) at the following link:

http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/07/unboxi...

What follows is the text of the post:

Here we are, day six of my “Self-Imposed Unboxing Week” and we are in the thick of things! Before I move on to the unboxing of the day, please check out my previous five posts and give them a little look-see. You can find them at the links below.

Unboxing Post I: Star Wars: Imperial Assault:http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/07/unboxi...

Unboxing Post II: Tokaido:http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/07/unboxi...

Unboxing Post III: Roll for the Galaxy:http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/07/unboxi...

Unboxing Post IV: Elder Sign:http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/07/unboxi...

Unboxing Post V: Dice Brewing:http://www.alittlelatetothetable.blogspot.com/2015/07/unboxi...

Yesterday I posted on Dice Brewing which is a dice-rolling game where you use the dice and tokens you get to brew different beers. Obviously, the person with the most points at the end wins. I decided to continue on with the brewing theme and move on to a game published by Dice Hate Me Games (now under the Greater Than Games umbrella) called Brew Crafters. This is a game by Ben Rosset and uses classic mechanics like worker-placement and action-selection much like other Euro-styled boardgames like Agricola and Puerto Rico. While this game has some similar mechanics, Rosset did a wonderful job in meshing it with a brewing theme and making it his own. I will just say that my wife and I absolutely love this game and enjoy it even more with each subsequent play.

Okay, enough of the gushing, on to the unboxing! This game is going to be an interesting and possible long unboxing due to the sheer amount of components that are included in this box. I think I’ll start off with the box. It seems that this will be the easiest starting point! This box is the same size as the “Euro-style” box. It will fit perfectly on your shelf next to any of the Uwe Rosenberg games such as Agricola, Caverna, Le Havre or Fields of Arle. It isn’t the square box (i.e. Ticket to Ride) that has become popular in modern boardgaming. I will say that this box is just the right size to fit the incredibly large amount of components! Also, the box cover is just great!

Next we’ll move on to the rulebook. I just have to say that this is an absolutely amazing rulebook! Ben Rosset did an exceptional job on this book. It is sixteen pages of rulebook perfection. From the front to the back this is how a rule book should be done! It starts with all of the components of the game and then goes on to show you how to set up the game. Along with the wonderfully done text are big, beautiful pictures. The graphic layout of this book is spot on from cover to cover. Rosset (and who else may have worked on this) did a great job of the feel and direction of the rules. After giving a setup it goes into the gameplay, which is deceptively simple. At the end he has setup for some advanced play additions for those who have played it enough to feel comfortable with the core game. Then, to top it all off there is an FAQ section and the back cover gives a simple layout of the flow of the game so you don’t need to flip through the book if you forget. This is a rulebook done right!

After a ridiculous amount of gushing over the rulebook let’s move on to a component of the game. There are 57 total cards that are included in Brew Crafters. There are 24 recipe cards that have the names of the beers and what components that you need to brew them. These are all beautifully done with cool pictures and names depicting the different beers. Then you have 24 different cards that are the skilled worker cards. These are all pictures of people and they are the cards you get special powers when you take them during an action. Then we have the 4 local partnership cards. You can also take these during an action and they allow you to change materials for other materials and give you a greater variety during your turn. Finally there are 5 player aid cards that give the different buildings/equipment and what you receive when you build them. All of these cards are good card stock and have the linen finish that I prefer in cards.

Next up on the component list are all of the wonderful wooden bits. Being a Euro-style game you just know that there have to be meeples and wooden cubes, and wow, are there a bunch! To begin we have 15 meeples. There are 5 pink meeples which stand in for interns that can be hired and then there are 2 meeples of each player color (black, white, magenta, blue, and natural) that are used for player actions on the market board. Along with the meeples there are 150 different wooden cubes! First of all there are 4 each (20 total) of the five player colors that track research on the lab board. Then, there are 130 total cubes that are the materials that the players collect for their beer recipes. There are 50 brown (malt) cubes, 30 green (hops) cubes, 20 yellow (yeast) cubes, 10 orange (spice) cubes, 10 black (coffee) cubes, and 10 red (fruit) cubes. Lastly, there is an overproduced and awesome wooden first player marker that is in the shape of a pint of stout. It is one of the coolest first player tokens I’ve ever seen!

Finally, we’ll talk about the cardboard components, and this is really where the game shines! We’ll split them up because there are a ton of cardboard pieces in this game. To start with I’ll go over the “miscellaneous” tokens that are included in the game. You have 15 total meeple shaped tokens (3 in each of the five player colors) that stand for shift workers that the players use on the brewery action board. You start with one of these shift workers and then can buy more during the game. Another one of the “random” tokens included are the collaboration tokens. There are 4 of these and they stand for one of four different materials that players can collaborate in but are only used in 3-5 player games. Then you have 3 community farm tokens that show who has put materials into the farms so they can share the wealth later on. Lastly, of the miscellaneous tokens you have 1 market help token (used with a market helper skilled worker card) and the season tracker token.

Next on the cardboard components list are the different tokens that are used during the game. To begin with you have 75 different money tokens. There are 45 $1 tokens and 30 $5 tokens. You then have 25 resource counters in 2x and 4x which you can use when/if you run out of the cubes. The materials are infinite so these resource counters stand in if there aren’t enough cubes for the game you’re playing. Then we have the 54 reputation tokens. There are 29 1-point tokens and 25 5-point tokens. Next up we have the 21 gold label tokens. There is 1 token for each of the 21 advanced recipes that are included in the base game. Lastly, in the token during the game player, are 15 loan tokens that the players must take if they are unable to pay for upkeep during the winter months.

The next cardboard component (and the final of the tokens) is the beer recipe tokens. There are 215 total beer batch tokens that are included in this game! These are spread out among the 3 starting recipes and the 21 advanced recipes and are very cool 6-pack shaped tokens with the beer label on the front. On the back of these tokens are the reputation points that you get when you brew them. If you are counting at this point that means that there are 429 tokens that are included in this game and that isn’t even counting the building tokens that I’ll talk about in the next paragraph. With those added in you have over 450 tokens/buildings/equipment that are included in Brew Crafters. I will just say that this was the best game ever to punch out, and I love punching the tokens out of the cardboard sprues!

Next on the cardboard component’s list we have the player boards. There are 6 different types of player boards that are included with Brew Crafters. First of all (and the coolest) are the 5 personal brewery boards. These have a schematic of a brewery on them and spots that you can add different building/equipment tokens (that we’ll talk about later) which add to the look of the board and give the player different upgrades. Next on the list we have 5 double-sided research lab boards. On one side you have the basic research board and on the other side there are five different research labs for advanced games. Next up we come to the main market action board. This is the main place where the player takes their worker placement actions. Along with this there is also a double-sided market action board. This is used for 3-5 player games and is flipped depending on the number of players. Then, there is the brewery action board. This is the action step where the players use their shift workers in order to take actions that can be used by all of the players. These include doing market research, brewing beer, and adding buildings/equipment to the brewery. Lastly we have the season round board. This keeps track of the 12 turns that are taken throughout the game. There are 5 tokens that aren’t included in every game that I’ll mention here. These are advanced actions spots that can be added to the market boards for players who are ready to take on a more advanced game. My wife and I are ready to start using these tokens. They look like they add some great additions to the strategy of the game!

We have finally come to the buildings/equipment tokens that are included in the game. There are 5 of each of these tokens (and 15 of the hops infusers) and they are used to place on the personal brewery boards. These all add upgrades to the player’s abilities during the game. These buildings/equipment are the oak barrelhouses, the mash tuns, the storehouses, the yeast labs, the double batch brewing systems, the tour & tasting rooms, the farms, the brewpubs, and the hops infusers. These are put on the boards when the player obtains them and make those breweries look even cooler throughout the game.

Phew, there you have it, Brew Crafters unboxed. If you can’t tell by this post, this is a wonderful game and has a ton of great components that add to the cool factor of the game. I have my components in bags (check out Ben Rosset’s video on BoardGameGeek to see how he suggests organizing it) but if you check out www.gametrayz.com you will find a great insert that I may buy one day. Okay, enough of day six. Just one more and I’m done with Unboxing Week! Come on back tomorrow to see what the final game unboxing will be. Until next time, game on!

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Thematic issue with steel production. Thoughts?

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by davypi

Per Wikipedia: On the "coke" page, it cites an 1589 patent which refers to the process of "cooking" coal as part of the iron and steel making process. This implies the method to make steel came before the method of making coke. On the "steel" page is says modern smelting started in the 17th century using charcoal and then eventually using coke. Although there is a bit of a temporal contradiction here, both sources seem to indicate modern steel was developed before coke. So, no, I don't see a thematic issue here.

New Image for Le Havre

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by jocar84

<div>Basic Game with Expension - 2 player with jam jar ;)</div>

New Image for Le Havre

Ginkgopolis Hits the Table for the 2nd Week in a Row! Steph is Happy!!! ***Weekly Update with Pics!!***

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by Steph

Hia Everyone!

Business as usual this week with tons of gaming. :D As a week should be.

It all started Monday night when I walked in and was allocated to play a 3 player game of Le Havre.

I think Ron had wanted to play it and Marsha showed interest so he decided to teach the game and we got to playing. {I wonder if the Inland port game made him want to play the full version}

I know I have been itching to play Le Havre for a few weeks now but no one really every shows interest and 2 player is great- but I have only played a 3 player game a few times (live).

The game went well. I wasn't particularly a happy camper cause Ron had a very strong lead and I spent many turns just getting qty 1 of an iron or something dumb. Nothing seemed to be falling into where I wanted it.

Marsha was just figuring out the game and was enjoying herself. She never got a loan and, actually, did quite well for a first time play.

I managed to get my favorites a Wharf and the shipping line. I love the shipping line - it is my favorite card. I like to go shipping as much as possible and it just makes me feel complete when I do have it. I think I play better in 3 player games because there are more rounds.... more things accumulate- things like that. I did get lots of iron and turned them into steel. I got a boat of each type including luxury. I had probably my best score ever of 222. Marsha did very well with 212 and Ron was disappointed with his score of 197.

All in all it was a super close game. Marsha liked the game so much she played again right then with Joe H as a 2 player game. We left before they finished so I am not sure how it went.

Happy to have played it. I really want to teach more players from the regular group. I think they would enjoy it. It is hard not to. I also think of the game heavier than it actually is. It is not THAT heavy but in my mind it is. Tough to say why. Maybe the whole game is planning and upgrading and working with what you can. It just consumes me when I play so I give it a higher metal weight than it actually is. weird.

I really don't know if I like it more than Arle but they are very different in so many amazing ways I think I like them equally. I am definitely always more excited to play Arle and now Caverna. But Le havre is just so elegant and amazing it is really a top contender. They are all so freaking good!








:nostar::nostar::nostar:




Managed to get a 6 player game of Pictomania. Since we all knew the game we jumped right to the level 2 cards and went from there.

This game is still so amazing and fun. I am not tired of it. Even if we have seen some of the same cards multiple times. I am generally not playing with the same group of players so it hardly seems like a problem at the moment.

Still lovin' it even if Ron continues to destroy us alllllllllll. I played a very good game. I did have an easier time with the hard clues. I got the word "king" so I drew some chess pieces. simple!

I love it.

Here is some of my amazing artwork.











:nostar::nostar::nostar:



After Ron and I got home and ate some food we had time for a few fast games. I pulled out the dice games. We started with a single game of Qwixx gemixxt.

Hadn't played it in a while and it was hanging with the Rolling Japan game so played it first.

We didn't get high scores because the game ended super fast. We both closed a row and with bare minimum requirements.

Fun game. Don't think I need to play it all the time. Good to have a variety of boards to play around with.
I think Ron won that game.



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With a roll of his eyes Ron agreed to play Rolling Japan after Qwixx.

He doesn't really like the game. I love the game and we hadn't played in a while so I thought fast and good to play right then and there!

It was in the same box so it was just easy to do.

We were rolling terriblyI still managed to score 13 with Ron's 14 and I won.

see those dice in the pic below- yeah that was like terrible final round... Ron rolled that... terrible!

haha I love this game. I like it more than Qwixx, too.





:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Tuesday night means ARLE night!! One of my most favoritest nights of them all!

I am still loving this game. I kinda want to go back and count all the games I have played. I have no idea. It still doesn't seem like enough.

Ron and I are getting very good at this game. Scoring increases, it seems, each play.

This game I didn't focus on animals. Ron was working that area. I was focused on SO MUCH PEAT!!! wow it is wonderful to have so much flexibility with the peat and resource tracks.

I managed to get a bunch of vehicles by the end and was shipping materials. I boosted my tools tracked where it seemed to be most helpful (weaving looms- always).

I bought a ton of buildings and didn't invest too much time collecting animals. I always needed food- seems to be important in acquiring better buildings.

I had all the goods in the end I had something like 45 points in materials. Another 40-50 in buildings.

By the end I snuck out a win with 122.5 and Ron had 118.5 he was just behind me!

We were close and we are getting better. Man that game is so good!

After, I asked Ron which he likes more Caverna or Arle. He said Arle since he has a chance of winning.

My winning streak in Caverna against Ron is 100% he has at least won a few Arle games. We haven't played Caverna a whole lot, yet. But, he will get me sooner or later.














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Wednesday night I pulled out Super Motherload. We hadn't played in a while and it is a fun 2 player.

I enjoy this game. it plays very well with 2 and you get more actions than 4 players. With 4 players it is a rush to get the artifacts and then the game is over after you get only a few cards added to your deck. With 2 players I managed to get a whole bunch of cards added to my deck. I am thinking there is a happy medium with 3 players.

It is fast and colorful. Definitely a good deck builder game- it is more than the cards and I enjoy that.

I would happily play this whenever requested. It kind of hides on the shelf and is never requested. I should change that. :)

I don't think Ron enjoys it as much as me. I kick his butt! This game I totally killed it. I had 50 to Rons 35 or so. I did manage to get a major award and a whole bunch of minor awards.












BGG Rejected







:nostar::nostar::nostar:



I promised Ron we would try out the 2 player game of Terra Mystica.

We had been meaning to play it for a while 2 player. We ended up playing Fire and Ice.

I ended up playing as the Yeti's and Ron played with the sorcerers or something that affects the cult tracks like crazy.

All game I was having a hard time terra forming and figuring out how to best get the end game bonus points. I got tons of end game points, as it turns out. Since it was 2 player Ron also god a ton of points. Ron was getting tons of in game points and I didn't do as well in that regard.

Ron kinda blocked me from half of the board. But, in a 2 player game it didn't quite matter much.

I didn't stand chance going in, but I still wanted to try it 2 player for kicks. I don't think we will be playing it again 2p. Ron destroyed me. I had around 130 and he was at like 150 or more. Creamed me!

I did manage to get a ton in end game points and played an awesome game but I will like to save that game for when there is more players. I have to give the ice races a break as well...

Still a fun game. Just need to try it without playing against Ron! Sorry Ron!! :)












BGG Rejected








:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Thursday night was Fun Group!

Jeff asked me to bring all my Japanese games- I did. And many of them actually got played! They seemed to be a big hit! A lot of them did not get played- but the ones that did were successful!

I started off by playing 2 games in a row of Sheep & Thief. I taught 2 tables this game. The first table was having a tough time trying to understand it. It is not a hard game but they are still sort of entry level gamers. I surmised they knew what drafting meant but they didn't and kept mentioning cars....

Anyways, one we got over that bump the game moved along pretty steady.

I think by the end after the Baa-ing had stopped (but never really stopped) I totaled to win the game with 33 points.

Apparently that was my # since I scored the exact same with the second game and different players and drafting.

I think the first table liked it more than the second table. But the second table being Joe and Geoff well... we got in a few other games before the other table of The King of Frontier finished up.

:)

I enjoy playing the cards and the fluffy sheep. It is hard not to like this game. :D







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So while the other table was still going I taught Geoff and Joe 猿道 (Monkey Road).

This was my first time playing as the human. I don't really know what human strategies are but i looked at a few cards.

Then I guessed a card that Joe had and I won! After like 5 rounds I managed to guess the taxi card which Joe had forgotten I had seen and played.

hahah it was cute. They weren't so amused.

I probably wont bring it to a Monday night group. Later in the night the other table got to play it and they LOVED it!! Lots of Monkey noises coming from that side of the room...

hahaha




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We still had a some time. We played a fast 3 player game of Qwixx.

I was rolling very well on my turns and taking the value of the white dice on other turns.

I managed to score one of my better scores ever- I beat Joe and Geoff combined... I did sooooooooooooooo well! :)

Fun game. I am happy to play every now and again!





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The final game of the night was a 3 player game of Elysium

Geoff taught Scott and we got to playing.

I didn't do very well this game at all. I was going last each round and I never got enough cards or money to do everything I might have wanted. I think I ended with like 58 points and Geoff won with a bunch more than that.

I am really liking this game. I am happy to own it and I am sure it will get played a bunch more.

It is fun to explore the decks - there is certainly a bunch to get into. Expansions will be easy to incorporate- so I expect that will happen eventually.


Good way to end the night!








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Friday night Ron and I got in some late night gaming. I took out a newly acquired game of Eminent Domain. New to me!

Mina has been talking about it non stop for weeks now. I had to see what it was all about. I picked it up in a math trade.

I am not a huge deck-building fan but I enjoy Dominion and the mechanic in general.

This was interesting since there was no direct conflict going on. Standard deck builder, really. You are trying to conquer or colonize the planets and gains as much vp as possible. No attacking others. Whatever action you choose to do you allow others to feed off of and copy you. So, every role selection is very important.


To no great surprise Ron destroyed me and scored over 50 to my nearly 40. yah... I might need to play that a few more times. For now- I think it was pretty good. I look forward to playing again. I don't foresee it becoming a favorite and I would still rather play Dominion if picking a deck-building game to play. It lasted a bit too long for my liking- but I surmise it will become shorter with more familiarity.

I am sad like all my images got rejected. Not cool.








BGG Rejected















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Finished the night with a very speedy game of Deus.

So speedy neither Ron nor myself built a temple. We played with the straight line up. It is still new an fresh but sooo hard to play with. It is a rush for barbarians and therefore a rush to end. I suppose it is always that way... but more so in a straight line up.


I got screwed. Ron had better placement and I ended it too soon.I ended up giving him points for coming in on the outside of the other end of the board. Risky move since I was going first and he still would get 2 more turns. It didn't work out for me. He ended up getting all the resouce points too. ugh- terrible job by me!

Final scores were around 25 to 34 or something. haha sooo low! still on my hot list and playing on BAJ :)







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Saturday was all day gaming in Salem NH. The monthly meet up- always a good time and full day of games! yay!

Ron and I got there right on time and jumped into a 4 player game of Minerva.

Scott got his copy of the game and Ron taught him so then he could play.

It is a wonderful tile laying game. It was a bit long with 2 players learning and lots of thinking to be done.

I destroyed everyone. I managed to get tons and tons of resources that worked well together and a bunch of temples. It kind of fell my way.

I can't wait to own this game. It is very clever. I think it might work well with 2 and I am eager to find out!

I think I ended with 72 and Ron was in second with about 20 less than that at like 52.

Awesome game! I need to get my hands on a copy so I can play it on my black table! :)









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Riley brought his copy of Caverna: The Cave Farmers with all the googly eyes!! Mine is still in working progress. Might be half way done by now.

I knew Steve would enjoy the game so I asked him to get into the game so we could play. Newcomer josh also sat in for a 4 player game. Riley was so kind and taught the rules.

This was the hardest most brutal game I have played- to date.

Every round was a harvest until the final 3 rounds. It gave us no time to stop and smell the roses. It was full harvest EVERY ROUND. Painful!

We all survived and both Steve and Josh loved the game so it was a definite success.

This game both newbies went for the adventuring. Riley and I hung back and did some farming. This game I had SO MUCH planting and field growing I was doing. I ended up getting the building tile that gets you 2 vps for every paid or pumpkin and wheat you have at the end. I got 14 points from that sucker. Very nice!!

All game I was I need of getting animals and what not so I was surprised on how many animals I actually had by the end of the game.while, not a ton still a bunch!

I did very well that game. I managed to score best with 78 and Steve was on my tail with around 68. Josh did ok around 58 and Riley was below around 54. I don't have the score sheet but it worked out to be about that. Riley helped me remember! :)

Such an awesome game. The more I play it the more I love it. Ron and I played back to back games on Sunday too... I will get to that later.


Sad all my images got rejected, again.




BGG REJECTED














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Steve saw that I brought Ginkgopolis. He really enjoys that game. We got Josh to play with us in a 3 player game.

We did not have any expansion of Modules. I was teaching Josh and refreshing Steve on game play. This game I was trying to help out as best as I could.

Everything was falling my way. I got all the right Tiles at the right times and all the right cards at the right times. It was a near perfect game for me. I felt badly since they were on new side to the game. I ended up getting 128 points to Steves 58 and Josh's 54 I believe it was. Something along those lines.

I can't win people over with Gink if I crush them so hard. Oh well. Steve liked it SOOO much that he wanted to play again right then and there. This game does have that effect on people. Even last week it was mentioned a few times in game play that we should just play again after. It only didn't happen because other players showed up.


So Josh left to get dinner and Steve and I played Gink duel.

This time nothing fell my way. We played with the holding a card back each time and passing 2. Steve liked that a lot more. He was also doing much better this game.

On the last turn I ended up taking a big risk. I knew at least one card Steve had which he could screw me over if he had the right materials and I took a risk and it paid off anyway. It wasn't a big enough pay off to win the game but it did help me out.

All game I was just not seeing the cards I needed/wanted that would help me progress my tableau or give me good end game points.

Steve kicked my butt that time. I think he had around 105 and I had around 98. He definitely broke 100 and I definitely did not is all I really remember. Nice job!

So yes, another player who loves Gink. I obviously have to bring it around more. Maybe it will start to get some more love than it once had. I think I also just got tired of always having to teach it. It is hard to stay focused on a game when new players are so confused. guiding them and playing the game can be draining at times.

But, if I can still get it played -that is what matters, yeh?

Still #1 for me. So happy to see it get played for the second week in a row! At this rate, I am shoot for weekly games! Hhaha yeah, right. I can dream! :)






BGG Rejected









:nostar::nostar::nostar:



After the Awesomeness that was Gink I played 6 rounds of 猿道 (Monkey Road).

6!

I failed being the Human this time. Well the first game was a 3 player - I played poorly.

The next 5 games were with 4 players. 4/5 were other humans and 3/5 games ended after the first turn with a random first guess that was successful.

We played a few more times after that- I played as the human again and guessed correctly around turn 4.

I recommend not playing 6 times. Maybe 2 and it will stay fresh and fun.

cute game.





:nostar::nostar::nostar:



With the same group of 4 we played a game of Seasons.

Against my better judgement- 4 player is just too long for my liking. The whole time I was there like lets move ppl.

I also hate that damn score track. Ian insisted on keeping score- its not that I don't trust him its that I don't trust anyone. He positioned the score track by his side and it was in a spot I could not see... wtf

Everyone *besides me* said he should do it. I didn't want to do it but I would have rather done it since I know I can trust myself and I am very knowledgable about the cards and aware of what people are doing. He barely likes the game and doesn't know the cards. It was just very frustrating.

I should not have agreed to it. There should be other methods of score keeping.

The game went fine, I guess. I got Karin out very fast and started stealing points from everyone every round. I was collecting most points in game.

The final scores were around 140 to 135 to 130 to 120. I was the 130ish range. These score I don't even trust- so the game is shot.

I love the game. I just need to play with people I can trust. oh well.









:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Riley had a new game for us to try afterwards. We played a 6 player game of Bucket King 3D. New to me!

We played 6 player.

It is a simple card/dex game. Mostly card game. you have a hand of cards and 2 buckets in each color to match. You get your initial hand of cards and then you have to stack your cups. The catch is once the game starts that's it. You can't move the cups around.

The game plays out with start player playing a card/s down and pointing to a direction to go. From there around the table players must beat the value the first player played in order to be safe. If a player can not beat the value then they just flick that colored bucket from the stack in front of them. If you have no buckets you lose. Person with the most buckets at the end is the winner.

If you have a strong hand with a bunch of yellows then you want to stack so your yellows are at the bottom. But- it might make you a target. It is an interesting game.


We ended up playing 2 times. Ron wasn't impressed but I thought it was fun. I ended up winning the first game and staying alive the second game/ not winning but not losing.

Definitely a cute game. I will play again in the future. Very colorful with cute art! :)









BGG Rejected









:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Since we still had 6 players we played a round of Cockroach Poker.

Simple, yet awesome. Everyone tried to give me spiders and I refused. Sent them right on back. I could see through them. Most of the time...

The Stink bugs were piling up in front of me- but Pat was doing worse and he actually ended the game because he had no more cards in hand.

I was scared cause I had 3 stink bugs!!! I didn't have spiders so- it was all good! If Pat didn't lose I probably would have. I tend to be a target in games like this. :P




:nostar::nostar::nostar:


Finishing up Saturday night we played 5 player game of Wizard Extreme.


We taught a few players and got to playing. I was failing so hard with Riley. Riley was new so I had no excuse. I was just messing up all over the place. Ron was out to get me.

I collected so many black tokens. At least 1 per round... it was terrible! hahahah

Oh well, I still have a bunch of fun with that game! I enjoy trick taking games. Very fun! A good way to end the night.





:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Sunday Ron and I got to learning some new games. Yay! I love learning new games- and my new game count has been low for this month so it was definitely good to do.

Joe R let me borrow Traders of Carthage so I could see if I wanted to purchase the updated newly released version.
New to me!


The game is not very difficult. Quite easy in fact.

There are market cards to either purchase (the entire row) or pull a card from to add to your hand to use as money. They have different values and some pots.

If you purchase the row you add them to you r already existing cards in front of you and move the corresponding ship tokens 1 space per colored card. If a ship reached the end of the track it will score the cards in front of players. Ships in the danger zone are removed from players area unless they have "pots" to spend in that color. One pot to save 1 card.

it was an interesting game. I actually, the more I think about it, don't think I need to buy the new edition. I didn't find it that great. I wouldn't mind playing it but I don't think it is a game I would play all that often. I, also, don't think the new version is better than the old version. I like bold colors that traders of Carthage provides.

In this game Ron ended up beating me by a lot. Or so it felt like a lot. Maybe 10 points. He was scoring much more than I was, it seemed. I was playing it safe too much. He wasn't.

Interesting. I think it would be far too long with 4 players. We just played 2 players and it lasted too long.

Happy to play it though.









BGG Rejected








:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Since we were learning new things I suggested Dungeon Twister: The Card Game. New to me!

I had picked this up a recent math trade because it looked like something we would enjoy in terms of 2 player games. It is cards with variable set ups. There is a puzzle aspect to is and it looked interesting.

Ron could not have been more interested in it. You are working to get your characters out through the gate of the other player.

We just played the easy mode version so no fighting was happening. We could pick up weapons to help us escape. Our characters had special abilities.

None of that seemed to interest Ron in the game play. It was pretty straight forward and he was just not having it. I may have liked it more if he did- but since he was just not having a good time I wasn't either. I doubt we will play again- but if we do I will try to get a harder set up with which fighting is involved. He might enjoy it more if he can beat me up.

Ron ended up winning since he escaped with both guys. I only got one out. It was pretty easy to do so... maybe the long scenarios get more complex and interesting. I don't know! :D

Seemed pretty enough.













:nostar::nostar::nostar:



Since Ron was still interested in playing something new I suggested a game I picked up in Nov for $10 called The Lord of the Rings Dice Building Game. New to me!

I think it got a bad wrap around these parts. I am not sure why. I mean it is dice and many people hate dice. It is semi-co-op so yeah... BUT LORD OF THE RINGS THEME MAKES IT AWESOME. I have to say I love the damn ring that comes with it. Oh man- so good!!! Worth $10 right there.

To be totally fair Ron and I got a major rule incorrect and didn't end up finishing a full game. I can't give a full review. We will play it in full soon though.

What I can tell you is that if you like Quarriors! I see no reason why you wouldn't like this one. (unless you don't care for lotr). You are fighting Sauron and not other players. You could potentially work together to do this (for the good of the team) or purposefully not do something. It is the person with the great score by the end of the game so the term semi-co-op is legit.

I can't say I loved Quarriors but I can see this getting to the table more than it. I haven't actually played Quarriors in a long while but this one I can see playing.

That's good in my book!! Yay LOTR!!! :D

I am happy with my pictures as well!!!






















:nostar::nostar::nostar:



The final games of the night were back to back games of Caverna: The Cave Farmers.

Ron missed out on the game on Saturday and wanted to give it a play.

Ron has yet to beat me in this game, which might be why he is interested in playing it. Since I am winning a bunch I want to play it more. Try new strategies and see where the game takes me.

I still feel Arle is the better of the 2 games but playing this a few times gave me the opportunity to put googly eyes on my animals. I am about half way done. SO CUTE!

I want to put eyes on my Arle pieces too... YAYA!!

So this first game we played I didn't have a plan and just kinda went for tons of buildings I was going to get the Dormitory but couldn't justify it. It wasn't going to work. I did get the a bunch of yellow tiles for workers with weapons and I got farm animals and sheep. That sheep tile is awesome since it provides food immediately for all the sheep! SO HELPFUL! I didn't have to worry about food for the rest of the game.

Needless to say I beat Ron that time. He was going hard for adventures and rubies. I thought for sure he was going to win. By turn 4 he was already adventuring lvl 11... SO GOOD! Maybe he lost focus. I think I ended with 75 and he had 73- so it was pretty close.


The second game I was less confident in my strategy and end game position. I still managed to get a bunch of point via buildings and animals with a last minute harvest. I got the yellow tile that changes ore/stone/wood into 2 points. So, I HAD SO MUCH to turn. I made 16 points from that. I was save up all that material for buying lots of rooms but it didn't work out and I just did that instead. Seemed like a good trade, anyway. That was a cool tile.

I managed to win again and DO better this game with 78. Ron was just behind me again with 75. I felt I didn't do as well, but I guess it just goes to show. I got more - points this game then the game before.

Both games lasted about an hour. It plays fairly quickly, faster than Arle. More stuff so longer to set up. I think I will have to get trays or plano boxes. For now it is ok. But if we keep playing this like crazy it will be helpful to have.

I am really likin' this game. We should have played Arle too. :P










BGG Rejected





:nostar::nostar::nostar:



That was it for the week. After the games of Caverna we went outside to play with Ron's new toy. Shooting some arrows. I actually managed to hit the target maybe 50 ft away. It seemed far but prolly wasn't that far. it was fun to play. I will have to keep up and keep trying. It is tough but maybe I can get good at it! :)

Here are some pics! We are just so damn cool. :P Im j/k.





:nostar::nostar::nostar:




Yep! That's all folks! Besides the countless games of Star Realms that still consume me.


Thanks for reading!


Until next week!


Happy Gaming!!!


-Steph

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Finally picked up a copy and.... :(

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by spiralsoap

I did finally receive new boards from Z-Man, they are ever so slightly warped but at least the tokens don't slide around. Very grateful that Z-man was able to send the replacement! :)

Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: Does a worker stay on the building after turn?

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by Coffeedemon

Digging up this older thread for another clarification.

So say my turn order goes llike so:

Turn 1
Player 1 puts worker in Marketplace, takes the resources.
Player 2 takes random offer.

Turn 2
Player 1 takes a different offer.

Is that worker from player one still sitting in the Marketplace blocking Player 2 not only on their first turn but on the second too (and till the worker is moved or evicted)?

A related clarification:

Am I correct in reading that the worker does not come back to the relevant player's table space before moving from building to building? Basically preventing you from taking Marketplace on turn 1 then when you get to your second turn picking it up and putting it back on Marketplace for another resource grab.

I haven't been playing like this but it looks like once the workers are first deployed they spend the game moving from building to building (occasionally getting evicted from sales or spending an extra turn in the same building) and never repeating the building resource action from turn to turn unless it is some special circumstance such as putting your worker in a town building, buying it next turn and putting the worker back.

Thanks!

Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: Does a worker stay on the building after turn?

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by tumorous

Coffeedemon wrote:

Is that worker from player one still sitting in the Marketplace blocking Player 2 not only on their first turn but on the second too (and till the worker is moved or evicted)?

Right.

Coffeedemon wrote:

Am I correct in reading that the worker does not come back to the relevant player's table space before moving from building to building? Basically preventing you from taking Marketplace on turn 1 then when you get to your second turn picking it up and putting it back on Marketplace for another resource grab.

Correct.

Coffeedemon wrote:

I haven't been playing like this but it looks like once the workers are first deployed they spend the game moving from building to building (occasionally getting evicted from sales or spending an extra turn in the same building) and never repeating the building resource action from turn to turn unless it is some special circumstance such as putting your worker in a town building, buying it next turn and putting the worker back.

Yep.

Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: Does a worker stay on the building after turn?

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by Coffeedemon

Awesome! Thanks for your lightning quick reply. Looks like this method will add to what is already a lot of strategic depth.

Reply: Le Havre:: Rules:: Re: Does a worker stay on the building after turn?

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by tumorous

Yes, not to mention the psychological advantage to be gained by driving your opponents crazy with a leisurely turn or two of resource collections.

6x6 Challenges and Paying it Forward

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by John Curtis

First I want to say thanks for all the folks who have posted here in my blog. It is cool to "chat" with folks about my gaming experiences.

My wife and I have jointly decided to do a 6x6 challenge each. We have a problem in my game collection in that we often play a game once or twice, then don't get back to it for months and months (if ever). So we are trying to focus our attentions and get some more plays on games that we either like or want to learn to like.

Here is my list for my 6x6 challenge:
1) Agricola
2) Le Havre
3) Caylus
4) Mercante
5) Civilization
6) Battlestar Galactica

Kat's list for her 6x6 challenge:
1) Arkham Horror
2) Talisman
3) Lords of Waterdeep
4) Smash Up
5) Small World
6) Trajan

We will probably be getting started on these tonight (at least one or two plays). I think Q is just going to ride along our lists and enjoy our plays. LOL. We decided to NOT include anything that is designed to be episodic (like Pathfinder ACG)... mostly because we will play them anyway.

I will post results on the challenge as we go along. Sometimes there will be full game reports... but I will at least log how we are doing along the way. I hope that we can get this done by the end of the year... but I might be optimistic about that. We'll see. :)

=====
I wanted to take a minute and plug a geeklist that I've been watching (and participating in). http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/193365/pay-it-forward-firs...

If you haven't seen the list yet, run over there and check it out. It is awesome!

This list is a PERFECT example of what I feel makes a GREAT board game community... or really any community. When you are a part of a community, you should be willing to contribute to the community in whatever way you can. This list is a GREAT way to "give" to others in the community. I love it when people are generous... but anything you "give" promotes the good welfare of the community. My hats off to the guys running that list and hats off too to the wonderful folks who are keeping it going! I plan on contributing to the list at least every other month (as my budget allows).

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Field of Arle vs Le Havre

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by Geek Scribe

I am a big fan of Uwe Rosenberg games. I may be an anomaly though because I don't particularly enjoy Agricola. It is an incredible design and is a wonderful springboard for his other games, but I play games to have fun and Agricola is just too stressful for me to have fun. I'm saying this so you have some perspective where my opinion is coming from.

Le Havre is a wonderful game, I have played it over 40 times, primarily 2 player. When you think about it, most games in people's collections don't even make it to 10 plays. Le Havre is widely considered best with the fewer players involved due to the massive downtime involved between turns. It's not that there is a lot to do, but that this game causes a ton of analysis paralysis. Fortunately, it is no where near as brutal as Agricola to the point where if you don't forsake paying your workers at least once you're probably going to lose.

Ora and Lobora is also wonderful with 2 and has a similar mechanical feel to Le Havre, it also scales with higher player counts better, though it doesn't play quite as tight and focussed as Le Havre.

Caverna is also brilliant with 2, but it really is more of a counter point to Agricola. I prefer it to Agricola, but if you have and enjoy Agricola I would try one of his other designs first.

Episode 9 - Digital / Analog

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by Travis Hill




Episode 9 - Digital / Analog

In Episode 9, the Low Player Count Crew is joined by the one and only Suzanne Sheldon to discuss GentCan’t and digital versus analog board gaming. We also talk about coffee snobbery and the gencantsolocon, all while having some static issues on Suzanne’s side of things.

Find Suzanne at @425suzanne and gencant.com.

Times:
1:45 - Episode 10 Questions
3:50 - Shawn gets testy
4:00 - #gencantsolocon
5:15 - 1000 Hostages Saved via Van Ryder Games
7:12 - Saving Steve
10:50 - Who is this Suzanne person?
15:19 - Digital Implementations of boardgaming
19:17 - Suzanne is Star Realms obsessed
27:20 - Apps that Work
33:50 - Apps that Don’t Work
34:30 - Shawn is crazy
46:30 - Apps that Replace the Actual Game
52:49 - The Solo Experience in Apps
65:00 - GenCan’t
76:00 - End Bits

Check us out
Twitter | Online | Email | BGG Guild | Facebook | iTunes | Stitcher

This Is How Every Game Night Starts....

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by Stuart Burnham

...and if we were to add up all those minutes we spend choosing we'd be able to get a hell of a lot more games played!



(If you add an "...ummm....?" Or a "....maybe...?" To the end of every option on this chart it would be more accurate though)

Analysis Paralysis - The New Social Deduction Game.

You've got to just choose and go with it....
"He who hesitates Rod-der-Nee, He who hesitates...."
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