Dear Fellow Gamers,
By the time you read this I may be dead. I fear that someone is planning to take my life. I fear that someone is Scrabblette.
We played St Petersburg earlier this evening - Scrabblette, the kid, and I. In the last week Scrabblette has defeated me at Taj Mahal and Ingenious, whilst I have defeated her at Mystery of the Abbey, Goa and Blokus Duo. She also won Techno Witches when we played against sister and BIL. You'd think she'd won her fair share of games. Apparently not. I am now accused of playing a game once and moving on to something else just when she's learned the strategy, and I have been threatened with all manner of gruesome deaths.
I think she's still annoyed about Settlers where I took the Longest Road card from her the turn before she was going to win. Certainly she was annoyed at the time. But then she may also be annoyed about Mystery of the Abbey where I accused the right monk with a 1 in 3 guess when she'd correctly deduced him. I was called a "robber", "thief", "pirate", "pilferer" and "pickpocket" for that one.
Tonight after my glorious victory 129 to 79 to 51, she has gone one step further. I don't know how she's going to do it. Tomorrow morning you may find my head on one set of railway tracks and my knees in the other. Next week you may find me starved to death in the shower cubicle after it has been sealed with masking tape. Or, she may just eat me alive. I don't know how it will happen.
I'd like to leave my Tichu decks to CyberKev, Hamsterrolle to Mikey Hayes and C&C Ancients to Ozvortex. My Settlers 3D chest should be auctioned to raise geekgold for newbies in Africa, and Ryan Walberg can have his choice of my Knizias as a token of my esteem. It's been nice gaming with you all.
I love youse guys. :cry:
Showing posts with label Settlers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Settlers. Show all posts
Monday, February 19, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Stolen!
Scrabblette's gaming education continued last night with the introduction of an old classic - Settlers of Catan. I was particularly keen because I have the anniversary edition and I felt it was important that Scrabblette knew why that chest lived in our lounge room. The kid was sort of keen to play - he prefers Cities and Knights - so we had three players. (By the way, Settlers is not the most expensive game I own. I will tell you which is at the end of this story.)
For the first time I didn't use the recommended board set-up and made my own. I think I made one mistake - there was one location with 9, 8 and 5 which was pretty lucrative for Scrabblette over the course of the game. I started with two inland locations and the kid started with two harbours. Scrabblette and I both had settlements on the 8 sheep, I was on a 6 wood by myself, the kid was on an 6 ore and an 8 wheat by himself.
I could tell from the start that Scrabblette and I were going to clash roads. I chose to do that because Scrabblette is less aggressive than the kid, and if he tried to cut off my roads he'd succeed at any cost. So Scrabblette and I found a compromise where she built a long road around the water and I built through the middle. My early plans were foiled when she built a settlement just where I wanted to, and for a long time she was out-producing me. It didn't help that 6 was rolled only once in the first half of the game and 5 and 10, which Scrabblette did very well out of, were rolled a lot.
The kid pursued his usual strategy of buying development cards to get the largest army. One day I'll play so as to force him to do something else and see if he can cope. He did get a lot of knights, and succeeded in using them to extort resources from Scrabblette. I called his bluff and he confessed he was trying to extort resources using a cathedral. Nice try, kid.
I was trying to build rather than buy development cards so didn't have any knights and rarely rolled any 7s, so I was able to avoid most of the arguments with the robber. I encouraged the others to attack each other, of course, but most of the time the robber was on Scrabblette it was on the 8 sheep that we shared anyway. Because no 6s were being rolled wood was quite rare, and there was a bit of 4-1 trading going on. The kid was spending all of his resources on development cards and wasn't using his harbours.
Scrabblette was doing very well. She claimed Longest Road and had 5 settlements. The kid had 3 settlements and Largest Army. I had 5 settlements. Finally, the 6s started coming. In about 4 rounds we rolled 6 6s, giving me a total of 18 wood over that period. Scrabblette was desperate for wood, so I traded her 2 wood for 2 brick, and built 3 roads, making my road as long as hers. On my next turn I built another road and claimed Longest Road.
You should have heard the shriek. In fact, you probably did. Scrabblette had the resources to build a city and was ready to win on her next turn. Losing Longest Road cost her the win. She dumped her city plan and started building roads to claim it back. Whew, that was close. I started to wonder if I could win.
Scrabblette did claim Longest Road back, and got a Progress card to build two roads for free to rub it in while I just kept building cities. The dice were starting to fall my way and I was getting some good resources. The kid even started building cities, which is very weird behaviour for him. Scrabblette wasn't getting resources from all the 6s which were being rolled which kept her poor and unable to build a city.
Eventually I found myself in a good position. I'd managed to wrest Longest Road back from Scrabblette with all of my wood, and had 9VPs, 3 sheep, 2 ore, 1 wheat and some wood. I generously offered to trade some of my wood to Scrabblette for a sheep, and she accepted. I used my sheep port to get another ore and another wheat, built a city and won the game. Maybe Scrabblette shouldn't have made that trade?
But then the kid was annoyed too! He had 2 cities, a settlement, Longest Army and 2 VPs on development cards, so he was on 9VPs as well. Wow, he was in with a chance of winning! It turned out to be a very close game, with me on 10, the kid on 9 and Scrabblette on 7, down from 9. We'd all had our chance to win. It turned out to be a good close game, the best the kid has played, and a very good effort from Scrabblette for her first game.
Finally, the most expensive game I own in terms of price paid is the Harry Potter trading card game. I spent $A500 on Settlers and probably a bit more than that buying endless boosters. I don't think any other game I own cost more than $A200 including expansions. The kid had to learn to read so he could play Harry Potter without showing me his cards, so it was worth it!
For the first time I didn't use the recommended board set-up and made my own. I think I made one mistake - there was one location with 9, 8 and 5 which was pretty lucrative for Scrabblette over the course of the game. I started with two inland locations and the kid started with two harbours. Scrabblette and I both had settlements on the 8 sheep, I was on a 6 wood by myself, the kid was on an 6 ore and an 8 wheat by himself.
I could tell from the start that Scrabblette and I were going to clash roads. I chose to do that because Scrabblette is less aggressive than the kid, and if he tried to cut off my roads he'd succeed at any cost. So Scrabblette and I found a compromise where she built a long road around the water and I built through the middle. My early plans were foiled when she built a settlement just where I wanted to, and for a long time she was out-producing me. It didn't help that 6 was rolled only once in the first half of the game and 5 and 10, which Scrabblette did very well out of, were rolled a lot.
The kid pursued his usual strategy of buying development cards to get the largest army. One day I'll play so as to force him to do something else and see if he can cope. He did get a lot of knights, and succeeded in using them to extort resources from Scrabblette. I called his bluff and he confessed he was trying to extort resources using a cathedral. Nice try, kid.
I was trying to build rather than buy development cards so didn't have any knights and rarely rolled any 7s, so I was able to avoid most of the arguments with the robber. I encouraged the others to attack each other, of course, but most of the time the robber was on Scrabblette it was on the 8 sheep that we shared anyway. Because no 6s were being rolled wood was quite rare, and there was a bit of 4-1 trading going on. The kid was spending all of his resources on development cards and wasn't using his harbours.
Scrabblette was doing very well. She claimed Longest Road and had 5 settlements. The kid had 3 settlements and Largest Army. I had 5 settlements. Finally, the 6s started coming. In about 4 rounds we rolled 6 6s, giving me a total of 18 wood over that period. Scrabblette was desperate for wood, so I traded her 2 wood for 2 brick, and built 3 roads, making my road as long as hers. On my next turn I built another road and claimed Longest Road.
You should have heard the shriek. In fact, you probably did. Scrabblette had the resources to build a city and was ready to win on her next turn. Losing Longest Road cost her the win. She dumped her city plan and started building roads to claim it back. Whew, that was close. I started to wonder if I could win.
Scrabblette did claim Longest Road back, and got a Progress card to build two roads for free to rub it in while I just kept building cities. The dice were starting to fall my way and I was getting some good resources. The kid even started building cities, which is very weird behaviour for him. Scrabblette wasn't getting resources from all the 6s which were being rolled which kept her poor and unable to build a city.
Eventually I found myself in a good position. I'd managed to wrest Longest Road back from Scrabblette with all of my wood, and had 9VPs, 3 sheep, 2 ore, 1 wheat and some wood. I generously offered to trade some of my wood to Scrabblette for a sheep, and she accepted. I used my sheep port to get another ore and another wheat, built a city and won the game. Maybe Scrabblette shouldn't have made that trade?
But then the kid was annoyed too! He had 2 cities, a settlement, Longest Army and 2 VPs on development cards, so he was on 9VPs as well. Wow, he was in with a chance of winning! It turned out to be a very close game, with me on 10, the kid on 9 and Scrabblette on 7, down from 9. We'd all had our chance to win. It turned out to be a good close game, the best the kid has played, and a very good effort from Scrabblette for her first game.
Finally, the most expensive game I own in terms of price paid is the Harry Potter trading card game. I spent $A500 on Settlers and probably a bit more than that buying endless boosters. I don't think any other game I own cost more than $A200 including expansions. The kid had to learn to read so he could play Harry Potter without showing me his cards, so it was worth it!
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
Dimes for 2006, Except You Know I Wouldn't Do it the Normal Way
My nickel and dime list is on boardgamegeek. You can go look at it there if you want. What I'd like to talk about today is the designers for whom I scored at least 10 plays in 2006. There are actually 29 of them, so I won't even mention all of them, just the ones who made an impression on me.
Reiner Knizia (20 games, 68 plays) - Reiner is the king of designers, and it's almost impossible to avoid playinghis games. He was my #1 designer last year and probably will be this year as well. Having said that though, I'm becoming less enchanted with many of his games. Ingenious, Poison and Ra saw a lot of play this year, but I need a rest from them. Some of his other games such as E&T, Through the Desert, Battle Line and Rheinlander need to be played more this year. I'd like to play Amun-Re, but I don't mind if I miss out on Medici and Modern Art. In any case, RK has designed such a variety of games that there'll always be something for me to play.
Richard Borg (8 games, 32 plays) - I'm not sure it's fair that Borg gets credit for Bluff - did he really invent it? I heard it was a game played by pirates in the 17th century! Nevertheless, the Command & Colors system will keep him in my list of top designers and I still like playing Wyatt Earp.
Bruno Faidutti (10 games, 32 plays) - There are many of Bruno's games that I like a lot and would like to play more - Castle, Citadels, Mystery of the Abbey, China Moon for a start. There are also a few others I don't mind. With luck, he'll see more play this year.
Kris Burm (6 games, 32 plays) - I missed out on my ambition to get the whole GIPF Project onto my nickel list last year, but if I liked YINSH a bit more I might have tried harder. However I expect ZERTZ, GIPF, DVONN and PUNCT to be played quite a few times this year. Last year I bought ZERTZ on the exact day my wife told me she was leaving me (in March) and as a result didn't get to play it until about July or August. I expect I won't have that problem again this year!
Wolfgang Kramer (10 games, 22 plays) - As the numbers might suggest, Kramer has designed a lot of games but I don't come back to play them regularly. Of those that I've played I really only like Tikal, Torres and Celtica, so I'd struggle to call him one of my favourite designers. However I like Tikal and Torres A LOT, so I'd like to try Mexica and Java this year.
Doris & Frank (6 games, 17 plays) - Doris and Frank produce consistently good games, and although it took me a while to warm to Frank's Zoo I'm finally getting used to shedding games. This pair is almost on my automatic must-have list, if only to see what the hedgehogs are up to this time.
Klaus Teuber (7 games, 10 plays) - What this says to me is that I don't play Settlers of Catan enough. I'd also like to get Hoity Toity to the table more often, but I seem to be the only person who thinks that it's a game of skill.
The question that strikes me at the end of this list is: Where's Friedemann? I like Funny Friends and Fearsome Floors, so where is he? Fearsome Floors - 4 plays; Funny Friends - 3 plays; Fische Fluppen Frikadellen - 1 play. I don't much like Power Grid, and he's not a hugely prolific designer, so he misses out. This year I hope to acquire Fiji and Formidable Foes, so maybe they will pump his numbers up. And I really should play FFF some more, after I bought 3 copies of it.
That's all for now. I wonder what gems these guys will produce for me this year?
Reiner Knizia (20 games, 68 plays) - Reiner is the king of designers, and it's almost impossible to avoid playinghis games. He was my #1 designer last year and probably will be this year as well. Having said that though, I'm becoming less enchanted with many of his games. Ingenious, Poison and Ra saw a lot of play this year, but I need a rest from them. Some of his other games such as E&T, Through the Desert, Battle Line and Rheinlander need to be played more this year. I'd like to play Amun-Re, but I don't mind if I miss out on Medici and Modern Art. In any case, RK has designed such a variety of games that there'll always be something for me to play.
Richard Borg (8 games, 32 plays) - I'm not sure it's fair that Borg gets credit for Bluff - did he really invent it? I heard it was a game played by pirates in the 17th century! Nevertheless, the Command & Colors system will keep him in my list of top designers and I still like playing Wyatt Earp.
Bruno Faidutti (10 games, 32 plays) - There are many of Bruno's games that I like a lot and would like to play more - Castle, Citadels, Mystery of the Abbey, China Moon for a start. There are also a few others I don't mind. With luck, he'll see more play this year.
Kris Burm (6 games, 32 plays) - I missed out on my ambition to get the whole GIPF Project onto my nickel list last year, but if I liked YINSH a bit more I might have tried harder. However I expect ZERTZ, GIPF, DVONN and PUNCT to be played quite a few times this year. Last year I bought ZERTZ on the exact day my wife told me she was leaving me (in March) and as a result didn't get to play it until about July or August. I expect I won't have that problem again this year!
Wolfgang Kramer (10 games, 22 plays) - As the numbers might suggest, Kramer has designed a lot of games but I don't come back to play them regularly. Of those that I've played I really only like Tikal, Torres and Celtica, so I'd struggle to call him one of my favourite designers. However I like Tikal and Torres A LOT, so I'd like to try Mexica and Java this year.
Doris & Frank (6 games, 17 plays) - Doris and Frank produce consistently good games, and although it took me a while to warm to Frank's Zoo I'm finally getting used to shedding games. This pair is almost on my automatic must-have list, if only to see what the hedgehogs are up to this time.
Klaus Teuber (7 games, 10 plays) - What this says to me is that I don't play Settlers of Catan enough. I'd also like to get Hoity Toity to the table more often, but I seem to be the only person who thinks that it's a game of skill.
The question that strikes me at the end of this list is: Where's Friedemann? I like Funny Friends and Fearsome Floors, so where is he? Fearsome Floors - 4 plays; Funny Friends - 3 plays; Fische Fluppen Frikadellen - 1 play. I don't much like Power Grid, and he's not a hugely prolific designer, so he misses out. This year I hope to acquire Fiji and Formidable Foes, so maybe they will pump his numbers up. And I really should play FFF some more, after I bought 3 copies of it.
That's all for now. I wonder what gems these guys will produce for me this year?
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Bring on the Hedonism!
Hedonism:
One of my favourite blogs is xkcd.com. Amongst the silliness and touching thoughts for the lovesick there are some pearls of wisdom such as this one:
It turns out that I'm going to be spending quite a few days over Christmas playing games. After all, I hope to play all the ones that I give at least once :-). But that's my reward for being a brilliant yet miserable and grumpy Java programmer for the rest of my life. If I could figure out how to arrange my life to increase the playing of games and decrease the misery, I would. I'd keep the brilliance and the grumpiness though.
It also means that while other people are buying investment properties and cars and food for their kids and so on, I'm buying games. I don't feel guilt about buying games - all I feel guilt about is not playing the games that I do buy! My collection is quite adequate now, and I think I'd like to focus more on the unusual games rather than the latest hot thing (except BattleLore, nothing will stop me buying BattleLore), and unusual games can be more expensive. So what? My money, my life... I've got the Settlers 10th Anniversary Edition, Hameln, Hamsterrolle, Bamboleo... all of the outrageously expensive ones that are just so cool! BTW, see my latest geeklist.
When I die I want the kid to remember me as a dad who was a hell of a lot of fun to be with. Bring on the games.
| 1. | the doctrine that pleasure or happiness is the highest good. |
| 2. | devotion to pleasure as a way of life |
One of my favourite blogs is xkcd.com. Amongst the silliness and touching thoughts for the lovesick there are some pearls of wisdom such as this one:
It turns out that I'm going to be spending quite a few days over Christmas playing games. After all, I hope to play all the ones that I give at least once :-). But that's my reward for being a brilliant yet miserable and grumpy Java programmer for the rest of my life. If I could figure out how to arrange my life to increase the playing of games and decrease the misery, I would. I'd keep the brilliance and the grumpiness though.
It also means that while other people are buying investment properties and cars and food for their kids and so on, I'm buying games. I don't feel guilt about buying games - all I feel guilt about is not playing the games that I do buy! My collection is quite adequate now, and I think I'd like to focus more on the unusual games rather than the latest hot thing (except BattleLore, nothing will stop me buying BattleLore), and unusual games can be more expensive. So what? My money, my life... I've got the Settlers 10th Anniversary Edition, Hameln, Hamsterrolle, Bamboleo... all of the outrageously expensive ones that are just so cool! BTW, see my latest geeklist.
When I die I want the kid to remember me as a dad who was a hell of a lot of fun to be with. Bring on the games.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Hunch Gaming
The kid and I have occasionally, very occasionally, been inviting CyberKev and Mrs CyberKev over to play games of a Monday night. By carefully managing the invitations we ensure that there are exactly 4 players which means we can play those pesky 3-4 player games. As I insist that we play at the gaming table, which is rather low, CyberKev has christened the event "Hunch Gaming".
At the first Hunch Gaming we played my Settlers of Catan anniversary edition.
To be honest I forget who won, I think it might have been me. I do remember that the kid ate a lot of M&Ms and was very very tired by the end of the game.
At the second Hunch Gaming we played Thurn & Taxis.
Notice from the picture that as well as having a low table, my lounge room has bad lighting which we tried to rectify by adding the fluoro lamp which mostly served to blind CyberKev without illuminating very much. My other best gaming spot, the back deck, has the same lighting problem. Whoever lived in this house before me didn't care for seeing things very much.
Anyway, Thurn & Taxis seemed to go a bit shorter than Settlers and the kid was not so exhausted by the end. CyberKev won, and I struggled into third place only managing to beat the kid. In my 3 games of Thurn & Taxis, I've come third in all of them.
That's all the Hunch Gaming sessions we've had so far. With the hassle of looking after the kid it's hard to get organised for it. With the addition of Scrabblette to our household we would now have 5 players for Hunch Gaming, and that just screams Trias to me. If only I could get organised.
At the first Hunch Gaming we played my Settlers of Catan anniversary edition.
To be honest I forget who won, I think it might have been me. I do remember that the kid ate a lot of M&Ms and was very very tired by the end of the game.At the second Hunch Gaming we played Thurn & Taxis.
Notice from the picture that as well as having a low table, my lounge room has bad lighting which we tried to rectify by adding the fluoro lamp which mostly served to blind CyberKev without illuminating very much. My other best gaming spot, the back deck, has the same lighting problem. Whoever lived in this house before me didn't care for seeing things very much.
Anyway, Thurn & Taxis seemed to go a bit shorter than Settlers and the kid was not so exhausted by the end. CyberKev won, and I struggled into third place only managing to beat the kid. In my 3 games of Thurn & Taxis, I've come third in all of them.
That's all the Hunch Gaming sessions we've had so far. With the hassle of looking after the kid it's hard to get organised for it. With the addition of Scrabblette to our household we would now have 5 players for Hunch Gaming, and that just screams Trias to me. If only I could get organised.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
The League of Feelthy English Kerniggets
Today's gaming adventure was a trip to the League of Extraordinary Gamers, the last major Euro-games meeting in Brisbane which I had not previously attended. It was an unusually varied meeting, with Warhammer, Magic, Ticket to Ride and Scrabble all being played at the same time. I wanted to game with the Scrabble ladies but they left before I got the chance. The kid and I started with a game of Settlers which I won by about a turn from the other adult player. My kid went for largest army at the expense of any economic development (and we had words about that afterwards), and the other kid who was only 7 just built roads and couldn't achieve longest road anyway. By the way, are you allowed to build one of your first settlements on a harbour? I allowed it for my adult opponent, but it seemed to give him a big advantage throughout the game. It seems wrong.
After that some of the other Eurogamers were organising a game of Shadows Over Camelot, and as it seemed that most potential opponents would be doing that, the kid and I joined in on that. Wow, talk about culture shock! They play TOTALLY differently to us. They (a) don't take black cards, (b) place siege engines, (c) ignore the Pict, Saxon and Black Knight quests, and (d) complete the sword and grail quests. When I've played, we (a) almost always take black cards, (b) never place siege engines until forced, (c) always do the Pict and Saxon quests, and (d) manage the grail quest rather than completing it. They have a definite plan to attack the game, and in the groups I've played with they'd be described as m-m-m-m-m-m-mad. sir.
As luck would have it, I (Sir Percival) was dealt the traitor. Sir Kay, the most vocal of the feelthy English kerniggets, said "OK, you have to do the Lancelot's Armour quest but before you complete it we'll accuse you of being the traitor because it's too dangerous to let the traitor get it." Um, decent plan, but I AM the traitor and I don't much want to do that. Of course, arguing with the plan would only raise suspicions so I simply mentioned "that's not how we play this game", and went along with it. So there I was, railroaded into the Armour quest and desperately trying to figure out how to lose it. Because they didn't draw black cards (except I did, because I had the power of seeing what was coming), there were no points accumulating on my quest. However I pretended I had no decent cards which forced King Arthur to feed me cards. He gave me a 4, I played it on the set of three, forcing him to feed me more of them. I was desperately trying to guess what he would feed me and trying to return the same thing to him. It's called hand management :-). I had a single 3 so I played it on the set of two. I picked up a 4 somehow, but didn't play it on the set of three because I wanted King Arthur to spoon-feed me. I quietly kept my Merlin card to myself, kept the special white very quiet, and did the least I could to be helpful. Several times King Arthur forgot to trade with me, and I forgot to remind him. Hehehe.
Finally, I was poised to fail at the quest. I needed to play a 3 to win it, and I didn't have one. Woohoo! Failure! But before I could admit defeat, Sir Kay accused me of being a traitor. Doncha hate that? It was a bit of a surprise to the guys that I was, they were expecting Sir Galahad maybe. But then I was relegated to taunting the loyal knights by stealing a card from one of them each time, and either playing a black card or placing a siege engine. Stealing a card was successful on a couple of occasions - I managed to steal a Fight card someone needed to fight siege engines. Playing black cards was not very successful - if I got a Pict or a Saxon nothing bad would happen. So I kept placing siege engines. The game wore on and everyone was getting low on life points. The grail had been drunk, various special white cards used up, and Sir Galahad used Clairvoyance to rearrange the top 5 cards of the deck. When someone was required to draw a card and it caused a siege engine to be placed, I knew the next 4 cards were at least as bad as that. So I could safely draw a card and at least get a siege engine.
After a very long time the loyal knights had 6 or so white swords, no black swords, and lots of siege engines. They were reduced to drawing black cards for the Progression of Evil. Then King Arthur drew "All loyal knights lose one life point". Five loyal knights died at once. Woohoo! Next turn was mine and I placed a siege engine to win the game. Woohoo! Sir Percival did several victory dances, none of which were elegant nor knightly, but after such a hard-fought battle with my reputation dragged through the mud, it was a-very nice to see the son-of-a-hamster elderberry-smelling feelthy English kerniggets go down. I said "WE'VE ALREADY GOT ONE!"
Anyway, then the kid and I headed off as I had other games to play (i.e. squash). We hope to get back to LXG some times, and hope that some of the guys from there can come along to Critical Mass etc. occasionally. I handed out my Settlers of Brisbane cards, so maybe some of those guys will be in touch.
After that some of the other Eurogamers were organising a game of Shadows Over Camelot, and as it seemed that most potential opponents would be doing that, the kid and I joined in on that. Wow, talk about culture shock! They play TOTALLY differently to us. They (a) don't take black cards, (b) place siege engines, (c) ignore the Pict, Saxon and Black Knight quests, and (d) complete the sword and grail quests. When I've played, we (a) almost always take black cards, (b) never place siege engines until forced, (c) always do the Pict and Saxon quests, and (d) manage the grail quest rather than completing it. They have a definite plan to attack the game, and in the groups I've played with they'd be described as m-m-m-m-m-m-mad. sir.
As luck would have it, I (Sir Percival) was dealt the traitor. Sir Kay, the most vocal of the feelthy English kerniggets, said "OK, you have to do the Lancelot's Armour quest but before you complete it we'll accuse you of being the traitor because it's too dangerous to let the traitor get it." Um, decent plan, but I AM the traitor and I don't much want to do that. Of course, arguing with the plan would only raise suspicions so I simply mentioned "that's not how we play this game", and went along with it. So there I was, railroaded into the Armour quest and desperately trying to figure out how to lose it. Because they didn't draw black cards (except I did, because I had the power of seeing what was coming), there were no points accumulating on my quest. However I pretended I had no decent cards which forced King Arthur to feed me cards. He gave me a 4, I played it on the set of three, forcing him to feed me more of them. I was desperately trying to guess what he would feed me and trying to return the same thing to him. It's called hand management :-). I had a single 3 so I played it on the set of two. I picked up a 4 somehow, but didn't play it on the set of three because I wanted King Arthur to spoon-feed me. I quietly kept my Merlin card to myself, kept the special white very quiet, and did the least I could to be helpful. Several times King Arthur forgot to trade with me, and I forgot to remind him. Hehehe.
Finally, I was poised to fail at the quest. I needed to play a 3 to win it, and I didn't have one. Woohoo! Failure! But before I could admit defeat, Sir Kay accused me of being a traitor. Doncha hate that? It was a bit of a surprise to the guys that I was, they were expecting Sir Galahad maybe. But then I was relegated to taunting the loyal knights by stealing a card from one of them each time, and either playing a black card or placing a siege engine. Stealing a card was successful on a couple of occasions - I managed to steal a Fight card someone needed to fight siege engines. Playing black cards was not very successful - if I got a Pict or a Saxon nothing bad would happen. So I kept placing siege engines. The game wore on and everyone was getting low on life points. The grail had been drunk, various special white cards used up, and Sir Galahad used Clairvoyance to rearrange the top 5 cards of the deck. When someone was required to draw a card and it caused a siege engine to be placed, I knew the next 4 cards were at least as bad as that. So I could safely draw a card and at least get a siege engine.
After a very long time the loyal knights had 6 or so white swords, no black swords, and lots of siege engines. They were reduced to drawing black cards for the Progression of Evil. Then King Arthur drew "All loyal knights lose one life point". Five loyal knights died at once. Woohoo! Next turn was mine and I placed a siege engine to win the game. Woohoo! Sir Percival did several victory dances, none of which were elegant nor knightly, but after such a hard-fought battle with my reputation dragged through the mud, it was a-very nice to see the son-of-a-hamster elderberry-smelling feelthy English kerniggets go down. I said "WE'VE ALREADY GOT ONE!"
Anyway, then the kid and I headed off as I had other games to play (i.e. squash). We hope to get back to LXG some times, and hope that some of the guys from there can come along to Critical Mass etc. occasionally. I handed out my Settlers of Brisbane cards, so maybe some of those guys will be in touch.
Friday, July 28, 2006
Hey, You Should Play...
My augmented BGG stats have changed a little in the last couple of weeks. I changed the front page quite a bit so that users have more character - I link to your BGG avatar, show your number of plays, how many of the top 50 you've played, and since 1am this morning, what game you need to play soon. The number of plays and number of the top 50 are simply to promote pissing matches between users of the stats. I was pleased to note that only Karlsen, TMJJS and ekted have recorded more plays than I have. And I thought you guys were hard core! 36 more plays and I can get myself into second place...
On the page for each user I have added "Games You Like But Don't Even Own". What if your geekbuddy who owns Puerto Rico leaves town? Or someone puts the robber on him? What would you do for your Puerto Rico hit then? Here's my top 10 games I like but don't own:
* Rheinlander - CyberKev has it, but I want to get it so I can play it against someone other than him so I have a chance to win
* Hare and Tortoise - is on its way from unhalfbricking as we speak. I know just who to play it against, too.
* Tikal - Critical Mass has a copy, but I haven't bought it yet because there's a limited number of people I would play it against. I might even buy Mexica and Java first, but to be honest I don't get many chances to play games of this complexity.
* Euphrat & Tigris - I know a couple of people with copies, but I don't have a ready source of respected opponents. When I find the perfect woman who plays Gipf, she will probably play this one with me as well.
* Puerto Rico - let's be fair, this game is as common as muck :-). I might buy it just because the rule book is beautiful.
* Evo - I definitely need my own copy given how difficult it is to get hold of Mikey Hayes these days!
* Himalaya - a good game that you don't see around, and I am excited about the other Tilsit titles in that range as well. When Funatical starts importing these I will probably get the lot.
* Attika - I've only played once so my 8.5 rating is not solid. I can't think of a consistent source of opponents for it.
* Ra - another Mikey Hayes "I'll teach you this great game then go do something else" Special. Aren't this and Puerto Rico from the Alea big box series? Might as well get all of them, I know I'll need Princes of Florence some day.
* Key Largo - the kids I play with will love this game one day, but we have to wait till the littlest can actually read and add up. I don't think it will get consistent play with adults. Another of the Tilsit range.
The latest feature added (this morning) is analysis of what games you like but haven't played recently. I figured I would just combine your rating and the days since you'd recorded a play for it, and that seems to be working quite well. I tweaked the weightings till my own list looked sensible. As I play some of those games and my list evolves I will consider whether it's working or not. Here's my top 10:
* DVONN - I last played in about November I think. It was the first of the GIPF series I played, and I now own all of them. Yes, I do need to play it, and that's a good recommendation. If only my slave boy liked it.
* St Petersburg - we haven't played since winter (Down Under) last year, and I would like to play it again.
* Hansa - played only once at ConVic2, and I'd like to play it again. It's a strange game, my rating may move after I play it.
* Set - played for a brief period in July last year, and haven't found an appropriate audience since. I was obsessed with it for a few weeks.
* Vinci - last played in December with Brendan and Amanda. Because I rate it a 9, it ranks up there with the 8s I haven't played since July. That makes sense to me. I might take it along to Critical Mass soon.
* Trias - One of my favourite games - an analytical game where you're trying to screw people and not be screwed yourself. It fires the same synapses as Domaine does. I know I've played it this year at GWAN, but I rate it a 10 so it's time to do it again. Mr Lapdance wants to play, so when I find him we can do it.
* Runebound 2e - This is a weakness in the system. I played Scepter of Kyros a couple of weeks ago, but recorded it as a play against the expansion rather than against the base game. I am in no rush to play the base game again. We need some extension metadata :-(.
* Doom - we haven't played for at least 15 months, but I want to get the expansion and then we can give it a go. It's not that I don't like the game, it's just difficult to find the time to play it. Also it's an experience game, when I prefer analysis.
* Settlers of Catan - I did play this several times late last year, but my last play of the game was only in June and was recorded against the anniversary edition rather than the base game. Another expansion metadata problem!
* Odin's Ravens - Maybe slave boy will play this against me? Since the disruption to my family life we have been playing fewer games at home together. We have a game of Return of the Heroes which has been in progress so long I have forgotten the rules.
The game recommended for you to play on the front page of the stats is simply the top of your list. I'd be interested in hearing how the recommendations work for other people.
On the page for each user I have added "Games You Like But Don't Even Own". What if your geekbuddy who owns Puerto Rico leaves town? Or someone puts the robber on him? What would you do for your Puerto Rico hit then? Here's my top 10 games I like but don't own:
* Rheinlander - CyberKev has it, but I want to get it so I can play it against someone other than him so I have a chance to win
* Hare and Tortoise - is on its way from unhalfbricking as we speak. I know just who to play it against, too.
* Tikal - Critical Mass has a copy, but I haven't bought it yet because there's a limited number of people I would play it against. I might even buy Mexica and Java first, but to be honest I don't get many chances to play games of this complexity.
* Euphrat & Tigris - I know a couple of people with copies, but I don't have a ready source of respected opponents. When I find the perfect woman who plays Gipf, she will probably play this one with me as well.
* Puerto Rico - let's be fair, this game is as common as muck :-). I might buy it just because the rule book is beautiful.
* Evo - I definitely need my own copy given how difficult it is to get hold of Mikey Hayes these days!
* Himalaya - a good game that you don't see around, and I am excited about the other Tilsit titles in that range as well. When Funatical starts importing these I will probably get the lot.
* Attika - I've only played once so my 8.5 rating is not solid. I can't think of a consistent source of opponents for it.
* Ra - another Mikey Hayes "I'll teach you this great game then go do something else" Special. Aren't this and Puerto Rico from the Alea big box series? Might as well get all of them, I know I'll need Princes of Florence some day.
* Key Largo - the kids I play with will love this game one day, but we have to wait till the littlest can actually read and add up. I don't think it will get consistent play with adults. Another of the Tilsit range.
The latest feature added (this morning) is analysis of what games you like but haven't played recently. I figured I would just combine your rating and the days since you'd recorded a play for it, and that seems to be working quite well. I tweaked the weightings till my own list looked sensible. As I play some of those games and my list evolves I will consider whether it's working or not. Here's my top 10:
* DVONN - I last played in about November I think. It was the first of the GIPF series I played, and I now own all of them. Yes, I do need to play it, and that's a good recommendation. If only my slave boy liked it.
* St Petersburg - we haven't played since winter (Down Under) last year, and I would like to play it again.
* Hansa - played only once at ConVic2, and I'd like to play it again. It's a strange game, my rating may move after I play it.
* Set - played for a brief period in July last year, and haven't found an appropriate audience since. I was obsessed with it for a few weeks.
* Vinci - last played in December with Brendan and Amanda. Because I rate it a 9, it ranks up there with the 8s I haven't played since July. That makes sense to me. I might take it along to Critical Mass soon.
* Trias - One of my favourite games - an analytical game where you're trying to screw people and not be screwed yourself. It fires the same synapses as Domaine does. I know I've played it this year at GWAN, but I rate it a 10 so it's time to do it again. Mr Lapdance wants to play, so when I find him we can do it.
* Runebound 2e - This is a weakness in the system. I played Scepter of Kyros a couple of weeks ago, but recorded it as a play against the expansion rather than against the base game. I am in no rush to play the base game again. We need some extension metadata :-(.
* Doom - we haven't played for at least 15 months, but I want to get the expansion and then we can give it a go. It's not that I don't like the game, it's just difficult to find the time to play it. Also it's an experience game, when I prefer analysis.
* Settlers of Catan - I did play this several times late last year, but my last play of the game was only in June and was recorded against the anniversary edition rather than the base game. Another expansion metadata problem!
* Odin's Ravens - Maybe slave boy will play this against me? Since the disruption to my family life we have been playing fewer games at home together. We have a game of Return of the Heroes which has been in progress so long I have forgotten the rules.
The game recommended for you to play on the front page of the stats is simply the top of your list. I'd be interested in hearing how the recommendations work for other people.
Monday, June 12, 2006
We Played It!
Only four months and one marriage break-down after ordering it, we finally played my Settlers of Catan Anniversary Edition today. Arnold Horshack came over for a day of two-player games, but as the kid left his PlayStation games in mum's car there were a few three-player games as well. For the final game of the day we pulled out the Settlers set and played it as the sun set and the temperature dropped. (BTW, my stats say that today was my best day of gaming ever, which is a pleasant change after the last couple of disastrous months).
So it was "just" a game of Settlers, but it was one of the most expensive games I have ever played, and also the first time I have won. The defining feature of the game was the rarity of wheat, mostly because the kid kept putting the robber on the 6 wheat hex. I had a settlement there and also on the 9 wheat hex, but of course 9 rarely came up. Even 6 was rare for a while. When the wheat did start to trickle through I refused to trade it because I needed it for settlements. Arnold was doing 4-for-1 trades to get wheat, and the kid eventually realised he had a 2 ore port, and built a settlement on the 6-wheat hex. The kid and I got into a pissing match for longest road (kids like pissing matches), which he won for a long time after I gave him 3 brick for 2 ore. However I build a city with the ore, and started getting a bit more wheat and ore. I then managed to build another city on the other wheat. A sequence of very nice dice rolls left me with 6 ore, 4 wheat, a wood and a brick on my turn, and I built two cities and a road in one turn to take longest road and the game.
The kid plays pretty well, but maybe not aggressively enough on the trades. It was Arnold's first game, and although he didn't make obvious mistakes, he didn't seem to make enough trades. Of course, the fact that I was not interested in trading wheat at all didn't encourage him. He'll probably win next time.
So it was "just" a game of Settlers, but it was one of the most expensive games I have ever played, and also the first time I have won. The defining feature of the game was the rarity of wheat, mostly because the kid kept putting the robber on the 6 wheat hex. I had a settlement there and also on the 9 wheat hex, but of course 9 rarely came up. Even 6 was rare for a while. When the wheat did start to trickle through I refused to trade it because I needed it for settlements. Arnold was doing 4-for-1 trades to get wheat, and the kid eventually realised he had a 2 ore port, and built a settlement on the 6-wheat hex. The kid and I got into a pissing match for longest road (kids like pissing matches), which he won for a long time after I gave him 3 brick for 2 ore. However I build a city with the ore, and started getting a bit more wheat and ore. I then managed to build another city on the other wheat. A sequence of very nice dice rolls left me with 6 ore, 4 wheat, a wood and a brick on my turn, and I built two cities and a road in one turn to take longest road and the game.
The kid plays pretty well, but maybe not aggressively enough on the trades. It was Arnold's first game, and although he didn't make obvious mistakes, he didn't seem to make enough trades. Of course, the fact that I was not interested in trading wheat at all didn't encourage him. He'll probably win next time.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
It's Here! It's Here! (Part 6 of 6) (and why that makes me sad)
Finally, AT LAST, after 13 or 14 weeks, my BIG parcel has arrived. Here's the contents: Settlers of Catan Anniversary Edition, Polarity, 7 Runebound Expansions, and The Adventures of Harley. The Settlers game is thankfully undamaged, and I have hardly even looked at the Runebound expansions yet. We played Polarity several times tonight at Book Realm, and it is a WILD game. To see all of the magnets on the board quiver as you take one past to make your move just blows me away. I showed an 8yo kid how it worked this evening, and his jaw just dropped when he saw the magnets standing up. It really is stunning. One flaw is that the linen game board is crumpled, so I'll need to iron it in the morning to improve the quality of play. The Adventures of Harley is a game aimed at 4yos, and it really is pretty much at that level - not much for Dad in there. However I had to buy it because my kid's name is Harley, and I thought he'd be impressed. Also it is about a dog, so the game will see at least some play with the cousins. And one day there might be actual 4yos to play against.
The Settlers game though, makes me sad. Back in February when I ordered it, my life was very different. I was (as far as I knew) living in a happy 3 person household, and would continue to do so until the kid finally found a wife and got out of our hair. So I had a good 10 years planned of playing 3 person Settlers with this magnificent set. Regular readers of the blog will see the flaw in this plan - the kid's mum had been thinking about leaving me all year, and told me so the same day I bought Carcassonne (mentioned in an earlier post). So now I live in a 1.5 person household, which is pretty sad if you have the nicest 3-4 player game in the world. Cyberkev, Ozvortex, assorted other Arnold Horshacks: you're welcome to come play with us, but you'll never replace her.
While I'm maudlin, I'll continue with that theme. It's not *just* losing a wife, it's the breakup of my family game group. See, now you're all crying! I had been carefully teaching and nurturing this game group for a year and a half, and although Mum didn't much like games, there were some she would play with us. Mystery of the Abbey, Wyatt Earp, Mystery Rummy Rue Morgue, Mystery Rummy Jack the Ripper, Gang of Four, were all games that we three played together and that I will associate with her for a long time yet. Lost Cities and Mystery Rummy Jekyll & Hyde were games that she and I played together - games which I bought in an attempt to spend more time with her and so come closer to her. I bought Frank's Zoo because I thought she'd love it, but it seems even a thoughtful idea like that isn't enough to bring someone back when they want to go.
Ah, life goes on. I have been quite happy for the last few days, revelling in the thought that I could meet my next love at any moment, and occupying myself with assorted projects such as interior decoration, getting a decent car that won't try to steal Cyberkev's games, and learning how to feed the kid; but this reminder of how content yet ignorant I was in the recent past has been an unexpected hiccup. Praise the Lord for juniper berries...
The Settlers game though, makes me sad. Back in February when I ordered it, my life was very different. I was (as far as I knew) living in a happy 3 person household, and would continue to do so until the kid finally found a wife and got out of our hair. So I had a good 10 years planned of playing 3 person Settlers with this magnificent set. Regular readers of the blog will see the flaw in this plan - the kid's mum had been thinking about leaving me all year, and told me so the same day I bought Carcassonne (mentioned in an earlier post). So now I live in a 1.5 person household, which is pretty sad if you have the nicest 3-4 player game in the world. Cyberkev, Ozvortex, assorted other Arnold Horshacks: you're welcome to come play with us, but you'll never replace her.
While I'm maudlin, I'll continue with that theme. It's not *just* losing a wife, it's the breakup of my family game group. See, now you're all crying! I had been carefully teaching and nurturing this game group for a year and a half, and although Mum didn't much like games, there were some she would play with us. Mystery of the Abbey, Wyatt Earp, Mystery Rummy Rue Morgue, Mystery Rummy Jack the Ripper, Gang of Four, were all games that we three played together and that I will associate with her for a long time yet. Lost Cities and Mystery Rummy Jekyll & Hyde were games that she and I played together - games which I bought in an attempt to spend more time with her and so come closer to her. I bought Frank's Zoo because I thought she'd love it, but it seems even a thoughtful idea like that isn't enough to bring someone back when they want to go.
Ah, life goes on. I have been quite happy for the last few days, revelling in the thought that I could meet my next love at any moment, and occupying myself with assorted projects such as interior decoration, getting a decent car that won't try to steal Cyberkev's games, and learning how to feed the kid; but this reminder of how content yet ignorant I was in the recent past has been an unexpected hiccup. Praise the Lord for juniper berries...
Saturday, May 06, 2006
Back on the Air, Again
Sad day at my house... the kid's mum is moving out. The kid thinks it's a big adventure, but it's pretty traumatic for me. Luckily we mostly agree on what she should take. But it hurts. I have removed Girl's Night Out and Cranium from my collection at BGG. See, there's a bright side to everything. Also, all of the flowery shit / candles / relatives photos / crap has gone from every flat surface, so I can decorate the place in a way I like. Do you think it would be pretentious to leave a half played game of Through the Desert lying around to look beautiful? Hmmm.... Hamsterrolle has to go on display somewhere, and Settlers 10th Anniversary edition if it ever turns up. Any other suggestions?
I have also got my computer running again, after performing my very first motherboard transplant. Nothing can stop me now! Except that I hate messing with computer hardware. I will go now and run the extended stats for all the new people who were asking about them.
I have also got my computer running again, after performing my very first motherboard transplant. Nothing can stop me now! Except that I hate messing with computer hardware. I will go now and run the extended stats for all the new people who were asking about them.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
It's Here! It's Here! (part 5 of 6)
Return of the Heroes arrived yesterday from Boulder Games! I unpacked it all and it looks very nice, although the rule book is kinda hard to follow. Still only waiting for the BIG package including the Settlers 10th Anniversary Edition and other stuff.
In other news, my family is back from running away and we are organising what's going to happen next. My wife has found a place nearby and she'll be moving in there on the weekend (so I'll miss QUGS!). We will be sharing care of the kid, which he seems to be completely fine with. So at least I will have a half-time game buddy. Now I am just looking for a lady friend who likes 2 player games... like Gipf, for example :-).
In other news, my family is back from running away and we are organising what's going to happen next. My wife has found a place nearby and she'll be moving in there on the weekend (so I'll miss QUGS!). We will be sharing care of the kid, which he seems to be completely fine with. So at least I will have a half-time game buddy. Now I am just looking for a lady friend who likes 2 player games... like Gipf, for example :-).
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