by Chris Marling
April 4
NEWEscape from Atlantis x2 (Chris, Zoe)
My fantastic dad found this 1996 Waddingtons version in a charity shop for £1; beyond some selotape/price sticker damage it’s in mint condition. I realise its not the best rule set, but it was great fun all the same – despite getting my ass handed to me in the first game (6-3) and drawing the rematch (8-8). The first game was a nightmare; we both put a lot of people on the outer layer, not realising how many whirlpools were out there. Carnage! But, importantly, fun carnage. I thought I had the second game, with my last guy nearing home, but first Zoe moved his dolphin away and the next turn got diving sea monster. Yeah, she’s that lucky.
Notre Dame (Chris, Zoe)
I decided to try something different and tried the hotel strategy. Either I’m awful at it, or it’s a terrible strategy. Zoe zoomed around in cars and put a couple of cubes in the park, before solidly handing me my ass (again) 68-48. It’s such a brilliant game and I look forward to heading back to a more familiar strategy next time.
April 5 (Table top Day)
Carcassonne (Chris, Kath, Megan, Nick, Zoe)
As chance would have it, Table Top Day coincided with a visit from friends we don’t see often enough; Nick and Kath, plus their 12-yer-old daughter Megan. We’d taught and given them a copy of Ticket to Ride when we’d last visited and it has happily become a regularly played game for them – so we introduced them to another couple of classics. Carcassonne went well, with everyone soon getting the hang of the basics and me taking the win by showing them, at the end, how fields work!
Maori (Chris, Kath, Megan, Nick, Zoe)
Megan seemed to lose a bit of concentration for Maori, but still enjoyed herself. I think Nick and Kath probably enjoyed this a little more than Carcassonne, but Zoe and me still came out on top – just. We both completed our board (on the easiest level of play), but her two completed leis gave her enough to pip me by seven (on 64). Megan was four tiles down thanks to some uncompleted islands, but the other guys only had one blank and weren’t far behind us.
Cards Against Humanity (Chris, Kath, Nick, Zoe)
With Megan packed off to bed and the adult beverages flowing, we broke out Cards Against Humanity. It had the desired effect and much hilarity ensued; the only downside is having the US print-and-play version, which has a lot of cards we don’t understand in it (brands, people etc). Next payday I’m going to have to buy the UK edition. Despite having to dump a few cards, it was a great end to a fun night.
April 6
Love Letter (Chris, Nick)
Unbelievably Nick and me were up first, so I introduced him to Love Letter while we had the first coffee of the day. It was good fun and we both got into it, with me eventually winning 7-5. Sure, there are meant many meaningful decisions but the occasional ones mean more because of it – while the odd crazily lucky guess keeps the laughs flowing.
The Castles of Burgundy (Chris, Zoe)
Despite us not playing this that often, it’s slowly becoming a favourite. While it may epitomise the ‘point salad’ Feld game are often criticised for, there’s a lot of interesting and subtle play to be had here – and while it may appear fiddly, once you get used to the gameplay it zips along at a satisfying rate. Castles of Burgundy is also really good two-player and proved so again tonight; this was the first time we used the flip sides of the player boards and it was in the balance throughout, but I managed to complete an eight-sized building area late on to move out to a 194-173 point win.
April 7
Unpublished prototype x2 (Chris, Zoe)
Version 1.3 of War!drobe got its first outing tonight after a major overhaul. The playtesting group had picked some seriously big holes in the last version (all of them fair) so I’d had to rethink large swathes of the play; mainly trying to focus on the decisions being more meaningful, while slicing away some unnecessary complication. I think I’ve succeeded at both goals, but whether I like what’s left remains to be seen. I’ll try to refine it a little more after work tomorrow, and then unleash it on the playtesters again tomorrow night.
April 8
Unpublished prototype x4 (Cambridge Playtest Group)
A good night at the prototype group, with four games played. First up was a second play of Brett and Trevor’s pearl diving dice game; it’s had some changes, still shows promise, but the changes haven’t quite solved its problems yet. Next up we played Gort – a crazy first time design from a guy (name forgotten – sorry!) who only has history in the ‘classics’ – Monopoly, Cluedo etc. It was interesting to see a game that had everything wrong with it in terms of design; every idea ever was here! Combat, D&D, trading, taxing, deduction- you name it. Thankfully he was very open to ideas in stripping it back and if he takes it down to a trading/deduction game it could be great. I got some good feedback on War!drobe (it’s better than it was, and I know what needs doing next) before playing Trevor’s very fun monkey game; it’s bound to find a publisher.
April 9
Race for the Galaxy x2 (Andy, Carl, Chris)
The Wednesday group hadn’t met for a few weeks, so we went back to the old favourite for our first session. Scores were low and no one really got anything going, but it was still a fun session. Carl won the first game on 50 as Andy (41) and me (34) failed to get military hands going and Carl hovered up all the bonus tiles, as well as getting away on prestige from round one. I thought I had the second game as I really did race a military strategy, but the two best cards Carl could possibly have drawn fell to him in his last two turns and saw him win by six on 41. Next time!
NEWPocket Imperium (Andy, Carl, Chris)
I’d wanted to play this Good Little Game for ages, and had finally printed it and remembered to bring it along. It’s a fantastic PnP microgame (which should be going to Kickstarter for a commercial release some time soon) that attempts to recreate – as the title suggests – the classic space 4X games. There’s a central nine-card grid, with each card having several planets on it. Each turn players pre-program the order in which they’ll play their own three cards (explore, expand, exterminate). Everyone flips their first card simultaneously; and you want to be the only one who chose a particular action, as if you are its more powerful. So, if only you choose expand you’ll get three ships – but if everyone chose it, you’ll get one each. Once everyone has played their three cards, there’s a scoring round – in which each player chooses one of the nine cards in the centre to score. This can of course reward you spreading yourself thin – but then you’re prone to being picked off. I’m not explaining it very well – just check it out! It prints on a couple of bits of paper and only needs you to borrow a few cubes from another game to represent the ships.
April 10
Snowdonia (Chris, Zoe)
Another outing for the new test expansion, and this time the rules changes seem to have been a big success. We’ll have to give it a few more games, but as a two-player it really clicked this time; in fact it might’ve been my favourite play to date. Although that was helped by some fluky card/weather combos giving me a big win, 109-60. Can’t really talk about the new mechanisms, but suffice it to say they’re different enough from the other versions to feel fun and new, but not more ‘out there’ than any of the other extra card sets to date.
Unpublished prototype (Chris, Zoe)
The dwarven beer game is dead – long live the cowboy game! We’ve kept the key dice/worker mechanism but stripped the board element, which was a bit by-the-numbers. We’re working instead towards something purely card driven, but its very early days. On the plus side we played through several rounds and it generally worked, although it wasn’t balanced enough to bother playing to the end. It’s certainly got my brain juices flowing though; here we go again!
April 11
NEWUtopia Engine (Chris)
This turned out to be a great solo print and play game that I’ll definitely give another go; and hopefully get a bit closer to beating it! It’s purely dice driven, but while there’s obviously luck there is also plenty of ways to mitigate it. It’s a lot deeper than you’d think for a dice game too, while it’s just a few sheets of paper to print, two dice and a pencil. If solo PnP games are your thing I expect you’ve heard of it – but if you haven’t, get you to a printer immediately! Great stuff and plays in about an hour – I was thoroughly captivated. Final score,
April 13
Terra Mystica (Chris, Zoe)
This time we did the full random set up; Zoe was Auren, I was Chaos Magicians. I fell behind early as I concentrated on getting my terraforming cost down to one, and then concentrated on getting my first town via the temple route. It was a really satisfying game and I can really see our improvement as we go – but the game isn’t getting easier, as better play just opens up even more options. Our scores were much better this time too, with me edging it 123-114. We shared the cult tracks two-two, while Zoe edged me on settlement size, but I did better on getting VPs via bonuses.
April 18-21 LoBster-con at Eastbourne
Twilight Struggle (Chris, Martin)
Our second game of this absolute classic went a little smoother than the first, while it’s clear that there’s an amazing amount left to learn. Despite not having looked at the game since November we were soon up and running, which pays testament to how simple the underlying principles are – but oh my, what depth! We really are scratching the surface. I played Russia again and apparently that’s easier when you’re new to the game. It clearly must’ve helped as I won, but some lucky card draws didn’t do me any harm either. We made it into the first turn of the mid war and I’m sure it would’ve gone longer – if five coring cards hadn’t come out that round, two of which I’d nailed in the early war. Game over, just.
Love Letter (Chris, Zoe)
While Zoe and me waited for John to finish a game I thrashed her 4-1. Pure skill, obviously; I didn’t just keep flukily guessing who she was. We played with the AEG ‘limited’ edition artwork, which I’m sorry but its crap – give me the naff Tempest edition any day. And AEG got the ‘7’ card right too, in my opinion.
Händler der Karibik (Chris, Keith, Sam)
A nice quick game was needed, so I taught this little classic to a few people. It went down well (as ever) and Keith took the win. It was great to see this (and the newer version Port Royal) getting a lot of play over the weekend, especially as lots of different types of gamer seemed to enjoy it. It would be good to see a copy in the box at LoB.
NEWRussian Railroads (Chris, John B, Zoe)
I’d asked John to bring this long and had been looking forward to it, as there’d been quite a bit of buzz since its Essen release. I’m also a fan of thinky worker placement games, so what could go wrong? Unfortunately, as with Lewis & Clark, I found myself underwhelmed; the game was both pretty and clever but ultimately more a puzzle than a game. Sure, I can see that experienced players would be blocking etc but by hen you’ll be bored of the limited strategies on offer – and it’s not like there aren’t good blocking worker placement games out there already. I’d play again, but certainly wouldn’t purchase it.
NEWDC Comics Deck-Building Game (Chris, Gabe, John B, Zoe)
To close the night, John suggested this light deck-builder. Ascension didn’t really need anything to make it irrelevant, but it got this anyway – a much more fun and balanced version of the same concept that also adds the only original bit of Thunderstone (the monster pile) and improves on that too. Even though it totally makes both of those games pointless to me, I still feel the need to own this fun little time waster – which tells you all you need to know about the other two games… John pipped Gabe (who moaned throughout, which made this narrow win for John all the funnier) with Zoe and me way back, but it was fun to ply so we didn’t care.
April 19
NEWLe Havre (Chris, John B, Karl)
Finally! Saturday began with John B and Karl helping me tick off the biggest hole in my game playing canon, Le Havre. Caverna and War of the Ring are the only games in the current BGG top 20 I haven’t played in some form. In short, brilliant – and nothing like Agricola; it’s now top of my wishlist alongside Twilight Struggle. It’s just my kind of game – interesting decisions every round with short turns and pleasing arcs for the short lived engines you build. John pipped Karl by two points (155-153) with me back on 133. I’m not sure what I did wrong to finish 20 behind – it didn’t feel like I had – but I’m looking forward to improving. It was also Karl’s first game and he didn’t think he’d like it much – last I heard he’d already bought a copy!
NEWKeyflower (Ann, Chris, Karl, Zoe)
This was another I’d been keen to try, but it didn’t go down quite as well as Le Havre. We had a lot of fun and the design is really clever, but the overriding feeling at the end was there was a little too much chaos throughout to really get a handle on what was going on. Lots of things that may or not come up, or you might be able to use, making it very tactical – but with very early strategic decisions possibly going totally to waste beyond any of your own control. I’d like to play again, but won’t be seeking it out. Karl nipped in and beat Ann by a single point on 69, with me on 62.
The Downfall of Pompeii (Ann, Chris, Karl, Zoe)
After a brain-burning start learning two medium euros, we gave our brains an hour off with this favourite. Karl’s Keyflower win probably saw him picked on a little more than he deserved, leaving him on 6, me on 7 and the ladies enjoying a draw on 8 (they had the same amount in the volcano too). Still a brilliant family board game and one of my favourites.
NEWMetropolys (Ann, Chris, Karl, Zoe)
I’d been intrigued by this game and had heard good reports, so Karl happily taught it to Zoe and me. It turned out to be a really clever concept but the art and 3D pieces made it all but unintelligible to me by about half way through. The board became cluttered, paths weren’t obvious and I just got a little annoyed with it all. It’s the kind of game where one accidental bad move can hand someone else the game, which always frustrates ands annoys me – especially when it’s mean cocking it up! Karl again pipped Ann by one point, much to her amusement… Not one I’d like to play again, unless they make a version that looks totally different.
NEWHimalaya (Ann, Chris, Jeff, Karl, Rich, Zoe)
We closed the night with another new – but thankfully light – game, taught by Rich. It was also nice to get a game in with Eastbourne organiser Jeff; maybe this means he won’t introduce himself to me as if we’d never met next time, as he has at each and every Eastbourne I’ve been to so far! Anyway, the game seemed fun but six was definitely too many people – I’d like another go with three or four. Karl bagged another win, this time in the flukiest way ever – winning two sudden death tie-breaks for being equal last, then winning on overall points. Odd but fun.
April 20
NEWBremerhaven (Chris, Ian, Paul, Pouria)
This probably wasn’t the best game to start Sunday with; a heavy, thinky three-hour euro I’d never heard of. However it turned out to be really good and if I thought anyone I knew would play it with me semi-regularly, I’d pick up a copy. Alas, no chance. Ian taught it well, tried to do opposite things from the rest of us, but Paul made it a really strange game by massively over bidding on things in strange ways. He also won a card that seemed really overpowered, meaning he didn’t really have to play the game the rest of us seemed to be playing to win; he got a bank and won on the profits. He played well though, and deserved the win; and it was nice to see a game that could be played in very different ways. I hope to play again sometime.
Race for the Galaxy (Chris, Kester)
This was my second game of Race with Kester, and it was a very close one. I don’t often play two-player but do enjoy the game as it really whips by with two experienced players. This was a classic match up, military vs production. Kester almost ended it one round – and I would’ve won – but sensibly kept things going into a final round. Despite me having a couple of nice multipliers he just edged it, 42-40.
NEWHawaii (Ann, Chris, Donna, Zoe)
I’ve only previously played Hawaii online and just didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Some really raved about it, which made me rally against it – more because I didn’t think it was above average, rather than because I hated it (which I didn’t). Playing for real didn’t change my opinion; it’s an average action selection game with nice components. It was a nice game played with nice people, with Zoe grabbing a debut win on 98 thanks to hammering the shield bonuses. I mustered 80 having chosen a strategy early that was largely scuppered by expensive actions. If Zoe wants us to buy it I won’t object, otherwise I’ll be OK playing in future if others want to.
NEWNew Haven (Ann, Chris, Karl, Zoe)
I’d asked Karl to teach this and after bout 15 minutes felt incredibly guilty for doing so; it was an unfeasibly dull experience and I was having a terrible time. For some reasons people’s turns seemed to last forever and when it came to my go there really weren’t any decisions to make. It was a shame as on paper it looked like a game I should love – tile-laying is normally a win for me. But no, this really wasn’t fun at all. On the plus side, it’s another game off of my wish list.
April 21
NEWRobinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island (Chris, John, Ronan, Vica)
My last game at Eastbourne turned out to be an epic – and an epic fail on our parts. But it was also one of the most fun games of the weekend. Ronan taught us the rules well, but unfortunately we got totally bummed by one terrible card shuffle. We had quite a lot of negative cards in the mix coming into day four, and we managed to get all of them (about five) happen in a row. It was too much to come back from and as the weather started hitting we didn’t even make it half way. However it was great fun and I’m really looking forward to playing again some time – it was probably the most enjoyable co-op game I’ve played.
April 23
Copycat (Andy, Carl, Chris)
Carl was absolutely determined to beat me at Copycat, and he did – but unfortunately Andy beat him in the process. I actually had a nightmare, coming second whenever I really wanted to go first and coming up one short on money in most of the early rounds. I was pretty much out of it by half way and didn’t buy any III cards at all, managing to scrape to 88 mostly on scoring as hard as possible rather than taking cards. The last round went to the wire, with the whole of Andy’s stripped down deck putting him up to 106. Carl could’ve won it, but was relying on a lucky draw in the last round. He didn’t get it, ending on 97.
April 24
Ingenious (Chris, Zoe)
I love this two-player but you really have to concentrate throughout. I had a bit of an edge across the scorecard going into the final stretch, but one bum move from Zoe let me close out the colour she had to score on to win – after which she conceded.
The Empire Engine (Chris, Zoe)
This was a great game that started in truly weird fashion; we did identical thing three rounds in a row. Once we did separate it stayed incredibly nip and tuck, and when we showed our hidden scores at the end it came down to a single yellow cube deciding it in my favour.
April 26
Rosenkönig (Chris, Zoe)
Another day, another close one – this time with the winner reversed. A series of impossible situations saw me forced to use most of my hero cards early. Zoe ran out soon afterwards, meaning a tight game eked itself out as we slowly ran out of stones. Zoe ended up edging an incredibly close game 144-138.
April 27
NEWBrass (Chris, Zoe)
I got this in a trade for Troyes, another game I enjoyed but didn’t really go down that well with my regular gaming friends. Brass was very much a selfish purchase; I’ve played online and absolutely loved it I realised it might not get much play, but Troyes wasn’t either and I really feel Brass is a classic. And, weirdly, Zoe took to it in our first game – while she didn’t like the lighter euro with dice… I’m going to give up predicting her tastes now! This was vey much a learning game – it’s so different playing for real – and I’m sure we both played terribly, but Zoe less so (160-141). I’ve only ever played two-player and while covering up some sections of the board was a little annoying we soon forgot about it and it played really well. Neither of us really went for a ‘strategy’ and did a bit of everything, except neither of built any ships. I’m really looking forward to exploring this one more; but then I keep saying that! Note to self: must buy less deep games now.
April 28
Unpublished prototype (Chris, Zoe)
War!drobe 1.4 got its first outing tonight before heading to Cambridge Playtesters tomorrow. It seemed to play well, but I’m not sure if all the chaotic fun has been drained out of it. Is what’s left what I wanted? If anything it is playable; hopefully I can reinsert the fun if required! We’ll see how it goes down tomorrow night, but I’m not overly hopeful.
April 29
Unpublished prototype x3 (Brett, Chris, David, Jen, Trevor)
Had a selfish night of prototyping, only playing/watching my own game. But the good news was it went down really well; so much better than before. I played Jen first, who had played twice before and mostly confused; this time she enjoyed herself. Both Trevor (who’d suffered them all!) and David (first timer) played, also giving the thumbs up, before Brett – who (rightly) savaged the first edition – also seemed to be impressed. One more set of tweaks before the next Playtest session, then I think I can think about upgrading the artwork to something ain to what I’ like it to be. It’s amazing how games can go from broken to solid with what seems like a small change.
April 30
Le Havre (Chris, Rich, Karl)
After Karl and I learnt Le Havre a few weeks ago, Karl bought a copy – and we played our second game tonight. Rich joined in to beat us this time, having played a few more times, and it showed. But it was great to see someone playing very differently, showing some more interesting moves I probably wouldn’t have thought of. Both Karl and me both improved our scores from our debuts, which meant I was still 20 or so behind him (188) on 160, with Rich the clear winner on 220. At the moment I’m losing my way around half way, as I haven’t memorised all the buildings options yet and find myself making stupid moves (taking three wood, for example, when a building offering wood and money was open to use). But I’ll get there.
