by doctoryes0

steveg700 wrote:

There's no sense of exploration, only a refinement of a proven stratagem.

I'd love to see you try to 'refine your stratagem' against me 2p. I will block every move you try to make, sit on the wharf, never let you get a stick of wood and make you mutter FML like a mantra.

That would result in a final score of like 70 to 50. Instead I might decide to take a run at 300 and leave you in the dust.

This whole discussion is ridiculous.

LH is not solvable because I am not solvable.

by steveg700

doctoryes0 wrote:

steveg700 wrote:

There's no sense of exploration, only a refinement of a proven stratagem.

I'd love to see you try to 'refine your stratagem' against me 2p. I will block every move you try to make, sit on the wharf, never let you get a stick of wood and make you mutter FML like a mantra.

That would result in a final score of like 70 to 50. Instead I might decide to take a run at 300 and leave you in the dust.

This whole discussion is ridiculous.

LH is not solvable because I am not solvable.

Why do I get the feeling somebody recently did a binge-watching of "Bring It On","You Got Served", "Drumline", and "Eight Mile"?

:whistle:

by doctoryes0

Well, I am from Detroit... :)

Point is, LH is a massively cutthroat euro. You can't solve a good player. Of course shipping steel is worth the most money. That's why I'm going to make it really, really hard for you.

I'm going to paraphrase Hemingway paraphrasing a boxer talking about another boxer:

'Eddie is a really smart boxer. Maybe the smartest boxer I ever saw. All the time he's in the ring he's thinking. And all the time he's thinking I'm hitting him.'

Don't reduce this amazing game to formulas. Look at what your opponent is doing and block him, take his food, make him overpay, use the game against him. That's the heart of LH.

by Adhansa

My solo campaign rules

The campaign consist of 8 missions. In each mission you receive gold, silver or bronze medals in special areas and that lets you carry over effects to the next mission. In the last mission you just try to get as high score as possible. Or you can just play any mission on its own.

Each mission has 3 preselected special buildings arranged in a decided order. The marketplace can't change the order of these cards.

The standard buildings are the same ones as the normal solo game unless the mission states otherwise. They are not shuffled instead sort them in numerical order the divide them into 3 stacks.
The first card go in the first stack, the second card in the second stack, the third in the third , the forth in the first, the fifth in the second and so on.

The resource token are always placed in the same order. First to last: wood and franc, wood and fish,, fish and brick, wood and brick, iron and franc, fish and grain, wood and cattle.

Interest is 1 franc/loan

When the 6th resource are put on an offer space all 6 are immediately returned to the resource stack.

Unlimited building actions are limited to 6x.

When receiving loan due to medals or special rules francs are not given, only the debt.

Score Medals

Gold medal: 300 points, you get 2 free actions next mission. The free action lets you take an extra action after any action without placing any new resources or moving the boat forward.

Silver Medal: 250 points, you get 1 free actions next mission.

Bronze medal: 180 points

Failure: You have lost the campaign

Wealth medal:

Gold medal: 100 francs, you start the next mission with 10 francs

Silver Medal: 50 francs, you start the next mission with 8 francs

Bronze medal: 20 francs

Failure: you start the next mission with 2 francs

Goods medal:

Gold medal: at least 5 stored good of each colour at the end of the game, you start the next mission with 2 more fish and 1 more brick and 1 more iron in the offer spaces

Silver Medal: at least 3 stored good of each colour at the end of the game, you start the next mission with 1 more fish and 1 more iron in the offer spaces

Bronze medal: at least 1 stored good of each colour at the end of the game

Failure: you start the next mission with 1 less fish, 1 less wood and no bricks in the offer spaces

Estate Medals

Gold medal: 28 buildings+ships, you start the next mission with 1 cattle, 1 hide and 1 charcoal

Silver Medal: 24 buildings+ships, you start the next mission with 1 cattle and 1 hide

Bronze medal: 18 buildings+ships

Failure: you start the next mission with an extra loan

Mission 1:

Mission Rules: None

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Fish pond and wood, Masons Guild, Brick Manufacturer

Standard buildings: As normal

Mission 2

Mission Rules: You start the game with one loan, Each time the town acquire a standard building from the building stack, take one more loan.

Special buildings (from top to button): Fish Market, Fish Restaurant, Diner

Standard buildings: As normal

Mission 3

Mission Rules: You start the game with three loans,

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Farm, Bakery, Baguette Shop

Standard buildings: Replace Market and Steel Mill with Hardware Store and Grocery Market.

Mission 4

Mission Rules: Always skip the cattle/wood turn, You must buy the stadium, the build firms, and the construction firm all at once. Black market does not grant cattle.

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Tavern, Town Square, Stadium

Standard buildings: Replace Abbitiary and Tannery with Black Market and Bridge over Seine.

Mission 5

Mission Rules: When the 5hh resource are an on the offer space all 5 are immediately returned to the resource stack and the player receive a loan. Twice during the mission you may do a emergency pick-up where you empty one offer space to your personal supply. This can't be done to stop the 5th resource return to trigger. . Always skip the brick/wood turn

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Haulage Firm, Kiln, Wind Farm

Standard buildings: Replace Brickworks with Storehouse

Mission 6

Mission Rules: Own the the construction firm at the start of this scenario, Always skip the grain/fish turn, Shipping Goods only give half the income (rounded down). Interest is 2francs/loan

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Guildhouse, Business Park, Clothing Industry

Standard buildings: Replace Bake House, Charcoal Kiln, Clay Mound, with Town Hall, Business Office and Bank

Mission 7

Mission Rules: Own the the plant nursery at the start of this scenario, Always skip the wood/franc and grain/fish turns.

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Hunting Lodge, Steakhouse, Furniture Factory

Standard buildings: Replace Ironworks and Cokery with Joinery and Sawmill.

Mission 8 Final mission

Mission Rules: Own the the Dock at the start of this scenario, The second wharf is placed as a starting building in the same way as the building firms. Always skip the grain/fish and cattle/wood turns,

Special buildings (from top to bottom): Smelter, Steelworks, Luxury Yacht

Standard buildings: Standard

by Ponton

Adhansa wrote:

Gold medal: 28 buildings+ships, you start the next mission with 1 cattle, 1 hide and 1 charcoal

Silver Medal: 24 buildings+ships, you start the next mission with 1 cattle and 1 hide

Bronze medal: 18 buildings+ships

What am I missing? Gold is impossible to achieve: there are only 15 standard buildings, 3 special buildings, and 7 ships, for a total of 25. How am I supposed to get 28?

by Adhansa

3 town starting buildings

by Ponton

Thanks, forgot about those! :D

by rudolp

New File: Etiquetas en español para cartas cargadas de texto for Board Game: Le Havre

by Mools

jamuki wrote:

What does they mean with "solved"?

It's the idea that the best way to win is to build up toward shipping steel at the end of the game. However, I disagree that this is "solving" the game because everything about the design of the game makes it clear if you can ship steal you will get huge points. This is open information for all gamers.

What makes the game great is the random order of the buildings and the random nature of the special buildings. This changes the strategies of the game as you play and the better, more efficient player will still win. Plus, if everyone is going for the same end game strategy there is going to be lots of blocking and therefore the need to change course. The game is all about having to adapt your plans as you go.

So I think "solved" is a bit of a misleading comment. The game still has tons to offer and open knowledge of the value of steel and shipping makes owning those things much more important as well as blocking them. It just changes the "meta-game".

by feldfan2014

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

by sneakypete21

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

No idea Feldfan, but I think this proves that I'm not getting good scores ;)

by grant5

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

The equation, if I remember correctly, for a decent score is (7-n)*50. A very good score is (7-n)*60. I've found that to be a pretty good gauge for 3-5 player. Haven't played enough 2p to comment on that.

This is for the full length game, I don't know about the short game.

by sfox

grant5 wrote:

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

The equation, if I remember correctly, for a decent score is (7-n)*50. A very good score is (7-n)*60. I've found that to be a pretty good gauge for 3-5 player. Haven't played enough 2p to comment on that.

This is for the full length game, I don't know about the short game.

I only play 3p and those formulas are quite low for 3p games. Most of the time with 3 experienced players everyone will get well beyond 200 points (220+ at least) with one player getting above 250.

[edit] I guess the (7-n)*60 formula isn't too far off, but I wouldn't call 240 a "very good score". I'd say 240 is a good score, 270 is very good, and 300 is pretty amazing in 3p games. I very rarely get to 300 in 3p when playing with other good players, it requires good special buildings and/or the coal building showing up really early.

by grant5

sfox wrote:

grant5 wrote:

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

The equation, if I remember correctly, for a decent score is (7-n)*50. A very good score is (7-n)*60. I've found that to be a pretty good gauge for 3-5 player. Haven't played enough 2p to comment on that.

This is for the full length game, I don't know about the short game.

I only play 3p and those formulas are quite low for 3p games. Most of the time with 3 experienced players everyone will get well beyond 200 points (220+ at least) with one player getting above 250.

[edit] I guess the (7-n)*60 formula isn't too far off, but I wouldn't call 240 a "very good score". I'd say 240 is a good score, 270 is very good, and 300 is pretty amazing in 3p games. I very rarely get to 300 in 3p when playing with other good players, it requires good special buildings and/or the coal building showing up really early.

Your group must have a very friendly meta. In my experience, the more experienced players you put in the game, the lower all the scores are due to the critical path denial and generally cutthroat plays.

by klbush

sfox wrote:

grant5 wrote:

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

The equation, if I remember correctly, for a decent score is (7-n)*50. A very good score is (7-n)*60. I've found that to be a pretty good gauge for 3-5 player. Haven't played enough 2p to comment on that.

This is for the full length game, I don't know about the short game.

I only play 3p and those formulas are quite low for 3p games. Most of the time with 3 experienced players everyone will get well beyond 200 points (220+ at least) with one player getting above 250.

[edit] I guess the (7-n)*60 formula isn't too far off, but I wouldn't call 240 a "very good score". I'd say 240 is a good score, 270 is very good, and 300 is pretty amazing in 3p games. I very rarely get to 300 in 3p when playing with other good players, it requires good special buildings and/or the coal building showing up really early.

I play with experienced gamers who are familiar with LeHarve and with another group that is more of a fun group that is not so into digging out best strategies. Always either 3 or 4 player games. I think the formula's are pretty close. In my experiences only very experienced players will score over the formula. If my memory serves correctly, usually one or two in a 4 player game get pretty close to the *50, maybe one or 2 exceeds, but all else are less than that. So I'd say as an average, for average gamers the formula's are a good barometer.

by sfox

grant5 wrote:

sfox wrote:

grant5 wrote:

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

The equation, if I remember correctly, for a decent score is (7-n)*50. A very good score is (7-n)*60. I've found that to be a pretty good gauge for 3-5 player. Haven't played enough 2p to comment on that.

This is for the full length game, I don't know about the short game.

I only play 3p and those formulas are quite low for 3p games. Most of the time with 3 experienced players everyone will get well beyond 200 points (220+ at least) with one player getting above 250.

[edit] I guess the (7-n)*60 formula isn't too far off, but I wouldn't call 240 a "very good score". I'd say 240 is a good score, 270 is very good, and 300 is pretty amazing in 3p games. I very rarely get to 300 in 3p when playing with other good players, it requires good special buildings and/or the coal building showing up really early.

Your group must have a very friendly meta. In my experience, the more experienced players you put in the game, the lower all the scores are due to the critical path denial and generally cutthroat plays.

I've played against opponents who do this and trounced such strategies badly. I would say that is poor play, not expert. In 3p it isn't a zero sum game, you have to make the best play for yourself every action. If you make non optimal plays for yourself to hurt your opponents, you'll lose badly. Yes you will lower their score, but you'll lower your own even more.

by grant5

sfox wrote:

I've played against opponents who do this and trounced such strategies badly.

So you think that because you beat someone attempting to do this you can beat anyone who peruses such a strategy?

I would say that is poor play, not expert.

Well yeah. Like any strategy, doing it poorly is poor play. Doing it expertly is expert play.

In 3p it isn't a zero sum game, you have to make the best play for yourself every action. If you make non optimal plays for yourself to hurt your opponents, you'll lose badly. Yes you will lower their score, but you'll lower your own even more.

Thanks for the lesson on zero sum basics? :what:

by lostphd

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

A short but informative thread is here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/17992794

- Charles

by Steph

RON'S HOME!!!!!!!

YAY!!!

Back to normal. I love normal amounts of gaming. Then I don't get deprived during the week! :)

Monday night gaming happened as normal. Geoff requested I bring La Granja to teach him.

We played 4p and Dan taught the rules. I also got the La Granja: 2nd Edition Promo Cards. I was sad not to see any of those mini expansion cards- I LOVE shipping $$ and those new cards were like MADE for me! So great! Gotta play more so I will actually find one to use!

It was a pretty quick rules explanation and Geoff picked it up no problem. The handy player aid is the bomb and very clear.

I started off with collecting pigs and making piglets. I started shipping to the local markets and collecting the points for unlocking the closed sites. I like getting those income tokens and collecting extra points that way. I need that $3 income each time... so needed.

The more I play this game the more I am finding it to be less replayable. I really enjoy the game. I am happy to have it. I don't see it hitting the table every week or even every month. It is good- but I find I am doing the same thing over and over.

I collect the chits and then I ship the cards to the marketplace. It is a fast game (with the right people) which helps.

This game I did what I have in the past and managed to win it by a few points. I do enjoy that this game is very neck and neck. I don't think it was 10 points between 1st and 4th players. I got 73 and Geoff got 65, I think. Ron and Dan tied at 68. All in all it was a really close game. Anyone could have won. I knew I was doing well but I felt everyone else was doing well too!

For now I am enjoying it. In the long run I am not sure where it will stand.

:star::star::star:


Since San Marco has been on my list to play for a long while we took that out next. New to me!

This is a game that I have been told to play for a few years now. I really enjoy Rialto, and people said I should play this one instead.

Both games are very different. There is area control for the districts and there are cards to influence what you can do. To me they are actually very different. I am still in favor of Rialto. I like the cards and actions more in Rialto and I like that it plays up to 5 players. San Marco, apparently, plays best with 3.

This game Ron and I were learning and we played 4p. Players might be separating the cards how they see fit. 2 players are dividing 8 cards into sets for another player to choose one set leaving the first player the left over set. It is an interesting mechanic that I enjoy in games like Shitenno.

I can't say I enjoy the area control bit of the game. I really don't like that. Cubes replacing cubes and rolling a die to knock off other players. I don't enjoy that.

I did enjoy the cards and how beautiful the game is.

This game I was in last the whole time. I did manage to wind up in 2nd after all that. Dan was pretty far ahead and won the game.

I ended with the opinion that I would play again but I won't ever request it. I didn't love it. I would rather play Rialto.

:star::star::star:


Since I was still interested in learning another new game and we had 6 players we landed on Hattrick.

It is a simple card game. Standard trick taking but at a given time any 2/3 suits can be leading. That means there will be 2 winners of tricks. You score points based on the # of one colors suit that you have collected the most of minus all the other cards you collected. The more players the less amount of points per round.

By the end of round 4 I was done. The game was taking forever and we seemed to be getting no where. I really didn't care for this game. How well you did was directly related to how good the cards were that were dealt to begin with.

In the end I have no idea who won. Probably Ron he was doing pretty well all game. All I know is I don't have to play that one again! :)

:star::star::star:


Back to regularly scheduled programming for Tuesday nights with ARLE. The way things should be around here!

I was trying out the animal strategy again. I find this strategy to be very hard to balance everything. When to kill off the animals and use for food. I felt I was doing OK this game- I was worried I wouldn't even break 100. I didn't manage to get a 15 point building or any tool upgrades. I got stalls and a double stall. I was making babies left and right. By the end I had the animal score of 9/9/8 so it could have been slightly better.

Unless Ron did the math wrong at the end. I managed to score 117 to Ron's 113. I am not really sure how but it did! I am happy with a score of 117. I guess all the animals did pay off!

I bought the building to boost my resource tokens all +3 since I had 15 cows/sheep. Then I upgraded the stalls to have my good tracks x2 so that gave me an extra 9 points. That certainly helped!

It was definitely a good game. I didn't complain the WHOLE time I just didn't think I was doing as awesome as I apparently was! :)


Ron was bummed he lost by a few points. It seems to be how it goes in this game. Still loving it. So happy to get it back on the table after not playing it for over a week!!!! Unacceptable! Never again, hopefully. :laugh:

:star::star::star:


Wednesday night Ron and I got to playing Seasons. It was late and I was already tired.

I played OK. But Ron got Titus out and was just stealing all my points. :(

I had a major lead during game play. I was getting more of my points in game. I had criss killing my familiars for energy that I was transmuting for points immediately. I was collecting 3 points a turn for not having cards in my hand. That meant I had to play all my cards as soon as possible.

Ron hit me with Demon of Argos at the end per usual so I didn't collect points then and I got -5 for the damn card. That sucked and really hurt. I counted everything and I had 219 and he was at 212... I was like BWhaaaaa??? Then I forgot to subtract my -20 for the bonus track. so He won but I am still happy with my 199 score. I think I played fairly well considering I had only 7 cards in play at the end of the game (worth 66 points).

I do really love this game. It is one of my all time favorites and I think still hold a spot in my top 10 definitely top 20. (I should recalculate that sometime).

It was a close game. Shuffling the cards is a real problem, however. That is like the most daunting thing involved with the game. I am quite familiar with the cards now to know what most all of them do.

Great game.

:star::star::star:


Thursday night I was happy to get gaming in with the FUN GROUP!!

I walked in to 2 tables going playing Too Many Cinderellas This game I had played before but the recent US edition came out and there were cool tokens to use for the bidding.

It is a neat little card game. Adam purchased 2 copies and gave me the opportunity to buy the second copy- so I did -What's $11? Hhaha MORE GAMES!!

Each player players 2 cards and a random card is drawn. These all provide rules for the best Cinderella. Whomever is left standing with the lowest # card is the best Cinderella and wins the round. After how ever many rounds you want a winner with the most gems wins.

It is certainly a cute game. I would happily play it anytime. It is fast a few round here and there is a good time.

This game I missed the first round which Adam won and I came in and won the second round with #1 Cinderella card. The 3rd round Adam won again then we stopped. So Adam was the prettiest girl at the ball! :)

:star::star::star:


We had 8 players so a perfect opportunity to play Riley's new game Tumblin-Dice.

As expected this game went over very well with this group. They love Dex games and chucking dice. Perfect opportunity. Jeff and I were hitting up the back of the bus the whole time since we were scoring pretty terribly. No one was helping out dice move along- just off the board more likely.

Everyone loved the game so much that we played 3 rounds for 1 game and 3 rounds for another game. I am pretty sure Riley won the first one. I am pretty sure Joe R won the second one? I really don't remember but Joe hates when I forget that he won- so I will just give him the win for the second game! :) Everyone is happy right?

I am pretty sure I lost the second game. I did better the first game landing in the middle somewhere.

Silly good fun. It is hard not to like it a bunch. Always happy to play with a big group walking around the table. :thumbsup:

:star::star::star:


Riley had a new dex game to try out and I was interested! Haba's Dex games are always a good time. We tried out Strong Stuff!. New to me!

On my quest to learning new games I was happy to try this one out. Simple dex game that has a smaller but similar feel as Kapitän Wackelpudding. You have to roll a die and pick up the bear and move him with the ever growing stack of honey pots that he is carrying.

I lost both marbles and thus lost the game. It was super fast. I managed to screw that up pretty quickly. I blame Riley he was talking at me when I was trying to move the bear. :)

So this game had one loser and it was me. I have to say I didn't love the game- but I didn't hate it either. I would play again but I won't request it.

definitely cute and SUPER Hard! Well we played the super hard rules.

:star::star::star:


I brought along Abraca...what? since I knew it was a game Riley wanted to learn. I thought the fun group would enjoy it as well.

I enjoy this little bluffing/ deduction game. It certainly is not for everyone. it is enjoyable for the time spent. I love the smash talk (if there is any)

Cute little game with nice quality materials. Happy to play occasionally.

I didn't win this time. I was close though!!! Riley killed me off in the last minute.

:star::star::star:


I have really been enjoying my plays of Viceroy so I wrangled both Scott and Riley into a 3 player game. I think it might be best with 3 players... then there will always be at least one card that moves into the next round.

I also think it takes a full game to play and see the potential. I was teaching but I still got both of their scores combined for my final score. Riley HATED this game. Apparently, he Hates Auction games. That was news to me since he hasn't mentioned that before to me. I love auctions games- so I felt it worked perfectly well in this game with use of the gems. I find it quite clever. Scott really enjoyed it. He did think it would benefit from more plays. I agree.

I still had a lot of fun playing, even if Riley won't play it again with me. Lame!! :P

I will just have to wrangle others to play with me instead.

:star::star::star:


Later when Ron and I were home I taught Ron Tides of Time. He figured the game out super fast and knew what I wanted so did his best to hide it from me. I did my best so he wouldn't ever score the 13 point multi-symbol card. He never did :devil:

In the end we tied with 62. I was tired so after I counted I had Ron count- he had forgotten to add in 6 points so in the end since I made him re calculate he ended up with more points @ 68 to my 62. That was lame.

He really enjoyed it but was unsure of the replay value. I guess we will see. I have enjoyed the many games I have played so far. Really liking it!! :)

We both agree the art is Ultra-MAG! :D

:star::star::star:


Friday night Ron and I got around to trying out 2p Yedo. New to me!

This is a BIG LONG game. Well with 2 it really only runs 90 minutes but it won't run much faster. With more players I now understand why the game takes so long. *sigh* I want to like it. For me it is too long to be enjoyable.

Ron confirmed that the game with 2 is pretty flat and it opens up a lot more with more players. I can see that but all I see is the time dedication. It was noticeably long with 2p... that means a) I wasn't have a good time and b) it is just not the game for me. Games like Caverna, and Viticulture I don't realize the game is taking as long as it is and I am sucked in.

The game is played over 11 rounds and each round there is a bidding phase then placing workers phase- one at a time. THEN removing workers 1 at a time. the little police dude walks around arresting people in the districts so you have to be careful of him. I am sure I WOULD HATE that part- since I know playing with more there is A LOT more chances to f*ck sh*t up! I have a feeling it will just end up pissing me off and then my gaming experience will be marabout (my term for moody).

In the end I don't really feel the need to play again. There is nothing I love and want to revisit (besides the art and pretty colors).I MAY try it with 3 players to see how that goes. It is not top priority, however.

I liked it OK. Not as big of fan as most Yedo players I know.

:star::star::star:


Saturday was Salem NH game day! Before we got there Ron and I got in a game of Star Realms.

Not much to say but I kicked butt! I just had to share since I am seriously still in love with this game. I don't know why it is so addictive but it is.

Happy to always win too!

:devil:

:star::star::star:



Once we got to the game day Riley had a BAG O'Steph games to learn. He pulled out very fast 2p game called Fastrack. New to me!

Where does he find this stuff? I have no idea. It is a 2p dex game to shoot the pucks as fast as you can. First player to end with no pucks wins. Riley and I played twice Riley destroyed me the first game. The second game I TOTALLY had him --- I was down to 1 puck and then I lost. WTH- that is so uncool.

Hahah it was a silly game. I don't have to play again but if it showed up in front of me I would play it again. :p

:star::star::star:


Star showed up and Riley and I promised to play Small City. Star really wanted to learn and I have been kinda blowing him off for a few weeks now.

This is a game you can't just play willy nilly. I particularly have to be in the mood to play it. I wasn't particularly in the mood to play it but wanted to play since I said I would.

This game I was dumb and played with the hard board... cause I am dumb and didn't notice until half way through. It is OK- I still did everything I was set out to do... This game I really wanted to get out my 6 red building that provides 3 points with a meeple on it. I also got out a R5 to score a bunch of points with residents.

In the end I was mad since i had to spend 4 points for $8 - UGH terrible Idea but I really needed $$ for the last round to buy the parks in order to get my hidden bonus. I managed to get my goal card and end with exactly 50 points. Riley was on my heels and thought he caught me but he got a few more pollution than anticipated so ended with 48. Mwahahah!

I had more fun with this game then the other times. I kinda want to try and alternate end conditions game and see what happens.

For now I am happy to own it and play it on rare occasions :)

:star::star::star:


Next up Star was willing to teach me a new game. It has been on my radar to learn since the buzz from GenCon- a game called New York 1901. New to me!

I have to say I hateit right off for not having RED as a player color but BROWN. How horrid is that?! WHY is that??! WHO DOES THAT?!

When I learned that a few weeks ago I thought well this game is something I probably won't like. The color choices are just awful.

In anycase it got a few good reviews from my gaming friends who have played and I wanted to see for myself. I enjoy tile laying games and abstract so this in theory was right up my ally.

The game is Really simple. Pick a card from the 4 showing and place a worker or tile in the region. You have to play bronze/silver/gold in that order and can only build the next available level if you have the points = to that level. I think you can start building silver at 10 points and gold at 25 points. If you choose not to pick a card you can choose to demolish buildings of your own to place bigger and better buildings of a HIGHER level. So you have to have it unlocked and you have to have the land needed and you can't replace bronze with bronze etc.

That is essentially the game in a nut shell. It is highly dependent on what cards are available and which locations you can claim first. Rich mentioned that it reminded him of Kingdom Builder and I can see the comparison. In the end I don't like either of the games. I find the art very nice in New York and its good quality. Definitely for entry level gamers and a family game.

For me I didn't really care for it and I don't really have to play again. If requested I may play it again- but I am in no hurry to ever do so.

This game I did manage to win only by a few points but I did. I think I got around 70 points or so. There are a couple end game points awarded to players with the most buildings on select streets (pre determined before game start).

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We split up after that and Joe C showed up and wanted to play Ginkgopolis!! Rich had played before and liked the game so we played a 3 player game!

This game was bizarre since we started with the variable set up. We didn't have B3 or R3 in play! Ugh so hard!!! The initial drafting set up left everyone with red and yellow starting cards. So EVERYONE was hurting for blue cards and tiles. Really hurting for tiles.

Rich was working on building up his "play a card action cards" and Joe was working on "expanding the board" action cards. I was just trying to find tiles cards. It didn't work until half way through the game where I got the B9 card that gives a tile and a point when building up. Finally I could start my engine. I started turning out end game cards because that's where the points are.

I wasn't winning. Had rich just did card as a card action for the last 5 turns that would have been like 50 points. He was collecting SO MUCH VPs for that action. I did manage to end the game by getting all my workers on the board and I think that threw everyone else off.

In the end I won the game with 96 to rich 78 and Joe 68.

I am happy with that. I was seriously hurting for tiles all game but I did get a stroke of luck half way through and got that magic B9 card so it all worked otu for me!

LOVE this game sooooooooooooo much. Need to play it more. Most Favoritest game. Best with 3p as well!

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I convinced Rich and Pat to give Le Havre a play. It's not every day that I get to play this 3p. Rich and I sort of both taught the game to Pat and we got to playing.

The special buildings that came out were absolutely insanely crazy. Rich was exploiting one building that re-produced ALL the goods x1 that he had in his stock. Even Steel for an extra $3. So crazy!Pat had enough money to buy the building so He was making a good deal of money from rich paying him to use that building.

I was good and buying tons of buildings but nothing was enough. I didn't have a plan and I didn't have enough boats to ship materials so in the end I had SO MUCH extra goods that were worth nothing!

While Pat had no idea what he was doing he did manage to get tons of boats and lots of good buildings. he ended up winning the game with 232 points!! So good! Rich and I failed. But I failed harder. Rich got 202 and i got a lousy 166. It was soooooooooo bad. One of my worst games and it felt that way too.

I still love the game. I think it has moved down on my favorite Uwe list because I would have rather played Caverna. Rich doesn't like Caverna, however. That's sad :(

Good job Pat!

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The other table was playin' Flick 'em up so Riley let us borrow and play Roll For It! Deluxe Edition. New to me!

Pat, Rich and I all Rolled for it!

It is a simple game. 3 cards with dice combos are revealed. On your turn you roll 6 dice and allocate them to cards. If you complete a card you keep it and it has points on it. First player to 40 points of cards wins!

Simple simple dice game.

If you just like rolling dice this might be the game for you!

It was OK. I love all the little dice. I can't say it was that exciting to play, however.

Pat destroyed us because Rich and I were fighting over a lost cause card. :P

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Sticking with the dice theme. We all grouped together for a 7 player game of Tumblin-Dice.

Since Riley and I last played on Thursday he managed to get a ton of new dice and they are AWESOME! This game we played with 3 D6, a D12 and A D20. The game was crazy!! So much fun to see what happens with those huge dice at the end of the round. Super craze! I loved it.

It totally makes the game more fun and it already is a bunch of fun.

The scores are recorded below. I didn't win. I was playing quite terribly! Oh Riley also made a super awesome white board chart.

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Riley also brought a new game called Buster Balloon. New to me!

I have seen awesome pictures of this game from Henk in the past. I knew this game and I am terrified of this game! I DON'T WANT THAT BALLOON TO POP!!!

The game is simple. Roll a die 1-3 and put the stick that many clicks into the balloon. You can use different sticks but you have to push it in.

Everyone was SO FAR back if it wasn't their turn. It was hilarious. I was like crying cause I was laughing so much.

Oh man I am such a wuss. Ron was like whatever. Pat and I were like we don't want to play any more!

That balloon had been squished SOOOOO much. eventually Ron lost... SO HAPPY it wasn't me!

Joe R said he has to buy that game. I said to Riley he has to bring it to fun group- they will love it.


I didn't lose!!

Cute game!

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Pat had a game I hadn't played so I sorta forced everyone to play with me. We played 6 player Skull. New to me!

It is a bluffing game, which I AM TERRIBLE at! Except this was push your luck 50% and bluffing 50% therefore I had a really good chance of winning.

So the first few rounds I managed to psych people out and they were mad at me and my damn skull. I managed to guess wrong at some point so I had to start a new round. this time I put a flower and when it came my turn to put a second one down I just bid 6. I went around the table and revealed all flowers. Everyone hated me then...

I tried it a few more times and lost another and then managed to pull 7 flowers for the win.

It was a cute game. I can't say I loved it. I would play it again- I am pretty sure everyone hated me :devil:

I will never request it, however.

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Since we had 6 players- why not stick with bluffing and play Cockroach Poker. My problem with this game is the spiders- and everyone knows it.

I just surmise every card coming my direction is a spider so I guess that way. In the past it has worked wonders in my favor. This game not so much. I lost rather quickly collecting Rats. At least they were cute.

I enjoy this one- but I like the ROYAL cockroach better!!

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Riley left and we played 5 player Coloretto. I kicked butt!

I manage to play fairly well this time. People were screwing other over and my colors didn't come up till the end so it all worked out in my favor. I think i ended with 29... a few points above Joe C. I couldn't tell you what others had. Maybe I didn't win? I think I did- so that makes up for the cockroach poker mess.

I love this game- it is fast and colorful. Not much to think about with a bit of push your luck. Very nice!

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The final event of the night was 5 player The Game: Spiel... so lange du kannst!.

With some arm twisting I managed to convince everyone to play. I wanted to see how it would go with 5 players. I thought it might be easier and Pat wasn't sure how it might go.

We played and there was A LOT of talking... Maybe too much talking. The rules say you can't say your numbers. We never did! But we might have pushed it too far. Hahah

We beat the game!!! We had exactly 0 remaining cards left. I have to say It worked out amazingly well considering. The last turn for everyone was reallllllllllly scary- I wasn't sure we could do it but Amazing enough! We did!

I have to say, now I fell accomplished and perhaps don't have to play it again- ahhahaha


Interesting game that needs better art.

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Sunday Ron and I got to learning a few games. Joe R was kind and let us borrow Roads & Boats. New to me!

Mina had played it recently and it looked like a game I wanted to try out. Joe R had a copy that we had to punch for him. Damn, I shouldn't have agreed to that. It took Ron and I 1 hour to punch the damn game and 2 hours to play. An investment of 3 hours!!

This game is LONG and just hard. So much to do- you have to build the factories and do the stuffs to make the other stuffs and get the geese to make golden research. One thing after another and more. I couldn't wait for it to end. This game involves lots of creativity and planning. Seems like something I would enjoy but it felt more like homework than play.

Ron and I were also incorrectly playing. We did have a rule wrong that in order to make a brick in the magical wonder segment of the game you have to deliver goods that were at your home tile. Yeah, we were just using materials where the Donks were. It sped the game up- but makes me really nervous on how much longer the game would have lasted. it would have been another 2 hours!!!

The whole time Ron was being a little jerk and hand lots of donks and even came to visit me. He made me mad. I built a wall. Then another then another. After that he stole my goods and walked away. WTF!

So I spent time and $ on that and he was just like playing in the mines and making trucks. By the end I had a truck and only 3 gold. Ron had about a billion $$. I had a bunch of bricks but that really didn't get me much.

I ended with like 87 and Ron had 112 or so.

In the end I am not sure this game is for me. I don't have a need to play it again at least not now. It did remind me of a civ game but not enough for me to want to play again really soon.

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Riley was awesome and let me and Ron borrow and play his new game called Specter Ops. New to me!

This is not a game I would normally be drawn to because of the overall ameritrash feeling. I don't even really like that term FYI- so, I kinda wrote it off as another 1 vs many traitor game.

I was wrong- this is why I am trying to learn games! I don't want to judge games and not try them. This is actually very much like my beloved Letters from Whitechapel. It is essentially the same idea but "jack" is a spy in the case and the hunters are out to find and kill the spy. The spy's (aka Sydney Bristow) mission is out to reveal 3/4 objectives and escape without being killed.

If the hunters catch the spy they get to roll a die and depending on how close gives them a great chance to succeed. 4 hits and the spy dies. The spy has special abilities and a few bonus cards to help them deceive the hunters.

Man this board is BEAUTIFUL everything about this game is just beautiful. I wish there was more to photograph in the game but wow- I loved it for all the amazing colors and scene it sets. I was really Sydney Bristow! :)

I have to say I still like white chapel more, however. This was definitely a special game. I really enjoyed my time. Ron totally had me but mucked it up by surmising I was going to do something and I went the other way. I didn't realize I had then escape (he forgot to tell me until over half way through the game. I changed directions and headed north.

I managed to get 2 steps ahead of him and escape before he knew what hit him. :)

very enjoyable- I look forward to trying it again sometime.

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Before dinner we had time for one more game. I hadn't played Caverna: The Cave Farmers since my Solo game last week. I was ready for some competition now.

This game I was going to get the sheeps. ALL OF THEM! I had a few and then I took the weaving parlor. I took it because Ron started collecting ALL THE SHEEPS. I was mad at him for taking my sheep so I took the weaving parlor just cause. He would do the same to me. At that point I started collecting more animals and I had an adventurer.

I really didn't fell I was playing my best- but I did breed some cows and got the stuff covered. I did OK. I thought for sure Ron was winning- though I wasn't paying any attention to him.

In the end Ron was doing worse than me. He made a few bad calls when buying buildings that ended up not helping him. I ended with 87 to Ron's 70. So, I guess I did well!

I still felt I could have done a better job but happy to have won!

I want to play this with 3 or 4 this weekend, hopefully!! :)

I do like this more than Le Havre, now.

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After dinner we were scouting the shelves for a game we hadn't played in a while. I am getting the new expansion to Five tribes this week so we held off on playing that one. I gave him the choice of a few and he picked Russian Railroads.

It has been a while since I last played this game. I did play online more recently but that game lasted a long time. Last time I have played was months ago- looks like Feb. I don't long plays but I log Blogs... I went to the RR page and saw the last blog post I submitted :P

I pushed hard for the second track and getting the early bonus cards. I got the 9 train bonus and that covered the middle row. I pushed the grey up there and was scoring 16 by the end for that track. I was also going hard for the industry track. I was doing a good job with that. I ended up having 3 bonus cards by the end! All trains were gone and we both were pushing the industry track but Ron had the 3rd row out and scoring the bonus 20 so really +40 a turn.

He had like all the engineers so I didn't get that bonus at the end, well I should say I got runner up.

I still managed to get the major points that game and win it all! I ended with 393 to 387. It was really close!! I am impressed that neither one of us went the top track. :D

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The very last game of the night we played was old skool with The Castles of Burgundy. It had been a very long time since I last played this game.

For me I enjoy Helios more and they are on the same level for me. I would rather play Helios.

It was nice to revisit this though. I played with some special Spielbox board. Ron was playing with another and we just went for it. I think the last time I have played this game I didn't have baggies for the chits. I think my copy of the game has been played a few times since then and someone insisted on baggies so they bagged my chits. hahaha

I never found it needed- but then again this was one of the first games I ever bought just on plain recommendation since it played well with 2.

I still agree that it does play very well with 2.

Ron noticed what I needed and made a point to take any tile I needed before I could. He did leave me my favorite 18 point tiles in the first round- so I did score all that.

It wasn't good enough to beat him though. I couldn't finish the sections fast enough to keep up with his crazy amount of points he was getting.

In the end he had around 210 and I had around 195 or so. It was late he won- he's the jerk :P

I enjoy this game every once in a while - it appears the last time I played this was July but I had the wrong Tag in the blog! :P whoops. So recalculating I found it to be in Feb this year. That seems more accurate.


Interesting game. I like all the different boards. Happy to play.

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So I sorta wanted to share something else with you that happened during the week and I wanted you to see how much I love colors and rainbows (which I am sure you know already). My work had a "paint nite" - it is a company that travels to a venue to teach a class to paint. This is what I do! I am pretty proud of my art and first attempt at canvas painting. We were all set out to paint the same/similar paintings and this is what I created.

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Thanks for looking and reading. I had a busy week of games! I only hope my Labor Day weekend will be just as fun fill and packed with games as this week was. I did manage to learn 10 games this week so that was awesome! Maybe I can do just as well this week!! I am certainly excited for Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King. I have been waiting for this game since I learned about it!! :D





As always,


Thanks for reading!


Until next week!


Happy Gaming!!!


-Steph

by sfox

lostphd wrote:

feldfan2014 wrote:

Just restarting an old thread...

I would love to know what people feel is a good score (or score range) at each of the player counts (1-5). I have heard something like the "600 divided by the number of players" estimate, but I would like to hear what others who are fairly experienced actually get. Thanks!

A short but informative thread is here:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/17992794

- Charles

That thread lines up pretty closely with what I've seen. Pretty rare that the group total for a 3 player game with experienced players would be under 700, also very rare that it doesn't take over 250 to win. I've seen a fair number of games where all 3 players got above 250.