For the first time in a couple of months I was able to make Terry's "every other Friday" evening group and this time I took Billy along with me. It was a quiet night and there were just 6 of us in attendance. It seemed like a good idea for 2 tables of 3 or else we were going to be playing Codenames and Winner's Circle all night (which is no bad thing, but we were all hoping for a little more strategy).
Once mugs were filled and slices of cake procured Terry settled down to teach good old Snowdonia and the 3 of them spent the evening struggling with the vagaries of the Welsh weather and the untimely intrusions of the outside help that the game hires. I honestly don't know how the game went (or went down with new players) but it's pretty safe to assume that Terry won.
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The figures are lovely, but I do covet the pawns that are in Terry's first edition.
On the other table I was teaching John and Billy Le Havre - and just a little note here to commend young Bill on just how well he grasped the concepts and underlying strategy of the game on a first play (he's coped admirably with this and Ora et Labora being chucked at him in the past few weeks. John is a very good player of games and tends to be a tough opponent who doesn't make daft mistakes and doesn't mind being thrown in at the deep end either.
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I love the way that resources can pile up to seemingly ridiculous levels in this and although you really have plans you just can't turn down that offer right there in front of you, can you? Can you? 18 fish! Seriously! You're not going to leave that are you? (I didn't)
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The game took all evening (about 2hrs 45mins including rules) but once John had his head around how the underlying mechanics worked he was making good choices and building a fleet of boats whilst amassing goods for some late game shipping. I seemed to be one step behind on the ship building carousel so switched my attention to constructing town buildings, especially the juicy Cokery and Steel Works. I did have a couple of crappy wooden boats and an iron one (pride of the fleet!) and after a mid game ship I had made enough to pay off the 4 loans that I had taken due to trying to be a bit too cute earlier in the game (this was in hindsight probably a mistake as I could've used the local Law Court to clear them instead for a couple of actions and later in I did have to make at least one really duff move due to being blocked.)
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The final scores were (probably) John on 205, myself on 176 and Billy on 133. I was scuppered by the loans and by Billy sitting on the Steel Mill fir a turn longer than I had expected. Thinking he would vacate straight away, and go build a luxury I had banked on being able to hop in there myself, use the pile of coke I had to grab 6 steel, build a steel boat and then use the Shipping Line on the final turn to sell off all my decent goods. Him not moving and instead taking a couple of Francs to ensure he could use the Bridge Over the Seine was not anticipated and left me unable to score heavily enough with my final couple of moves.
Never mind.
John proclaimed it to be "mad", Billy described it as "brilliant" and Terry (an interested spectator for the last couple of rounds) as one of his top 10 games.
I'd agree with all 3 of those statements!
Once mugs were filled and slices of cake procured Terry settled down to teach good old Snowdonia and the 3 of them spent the evening struggling with the vagaries of the Welsh weather and the untimely intrusions of the outside help that the game hires. I honestly don't know how the game went (or went down with new players) but it's pretty safe to assume that Terry won.
On the other table I was teaching John and Billy Le Havre - and just a little note here to commend young Bill on just how well he grasped the concepts and underlying strategy of the game on a first play (he's coped admirably with this and Ora et Labora being chucked at him in the past few weeks. John is a very good player of games and tends to be a tough opponent who doesn't make daft mistakes and doesn't mind being thrown in at the deep end either.
I love the way that resources can pile up to seemingly ridiculous levels in this and although you really have plans you just can't turn down that offer right there in front of you, can you? Can you? 18 fish! Seriously! You're not going to leave that are you? (I didn't)
The game took all evening (about 2hrs 45mins including rules) but once John had his head around how the underlying mechanics worked he was making good choices and building a fleet of boats whilst amassing goods for some late game shipping. I seemed to be one step behind on the ship building carousel so switched my attention to constructing town buildings, especially the juicy Cokery and Steel Works. I did have a couple of crappy wooden boats and an iron one (pride of the fleet!) and after a mid game ship I had made enough to pay off the 4 loans that I had taken due to trying to be a bit too cute earlier in the game (this was in hindsight probably a mistake as I could've used the local Law Court to clear them instead for a couple of actions and later in I did have to make at least one really duff move due to being blocked.)
The final scores were (probably) John on 205, myself on 176 and Billy on 133. I was scuppered by the loans and by Billy sitting on the Steel Mill fir a turn longer than I had expected. Thinking he would vacate straight away, and go build a luxury I had banked on being able to hop in there myself, use the pile of coke I had to grab 6 steel, build a steel boat and then use the Shipping Line on the final turn to sell off all my decent goods. Him not moving and instead taking a couple of Francs to ensure he could use the Bridge Over the Seine was not anticipated and left me unable to score heavily enough with my final couple of moves.
Never mind.
John proclaimed it to be "mad", Billy described it as "brilliant" and Terry (an interested spectator for the last couple of rounds) as one of his top 10 games.
I'd agree with all 3 of those statements!