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In the Year of the Dragon & Roll Through the Ages

This week we played another new game (for us) called Im Jahr des Drachen (In the Year of the Dragon). This is the second German game with an oriental theme that we’ve played in recent weeks. It’s an economy-type gamed where the players are Chinese rulers trying to manage their empires against a never ending onslaught of disasters–kind of like my real life. No, I’m not a Chinese ruler, but the never ending onslaught of disasters is right on. Unlike in my real life (thank God), the game disasters take the form of drought, deadly diseases, Mongol hordes, and more. The good news that you know what is coming and when, and you can prepare for it. The bad news is that your rival Chinese rulers–those pesky other players–also have this information. Your turns are spent executing actions (or if you are Ben, executing peasants), summoning people who can help you through the disasters, and garnering victory points. With the number of game components you get, you may think the game is complicated. It’s not. What is challenging is managing your people and resources to minimize or eliminate the various disasters each turn. So let’s see how we did…

There’s a little country ditty from the old TV show Hee Haw that starts with “Gloom, despair and agony on me…” I think that’s how all of us felt at one time or another during the game. Mike started out making some poor decisions because he misunderstood a few of the rules. He followed that up by listening to Wormtongue (Ben) on a couple of his turns. Even with these handicaps, he led for most the game. It was towards the end of the game that things feel apart for him. It’s not completely his fault though. We realized very late in the game that he had one less Person card than the rest of us. And worse yet, his missing card was one of his “wild” cards—a very useful card indeed. His empire ended up being completely destroyed at the end of the game.

I was completely inept throughout most of the game in making good use of my events and people. During a full quarter of the events, I could do nothing. Still I managed to stay at the front of the pack and eventually came in second. Owen, poor Owen, seemed doomed to never score many victory points. He was way behind for most of the game. But he steadily continued building his empire and by the end of the game scored a considerable amount of points, giving him a respectable third place finish. Ben, strangely, managed his empire well and steadily earned points. There was one point where he had to execute several of his people, but he deemed this as an acceptable loss. He uncharacteristically went on to win the game.

The big game of the night came next though, when Owen broke out his Roll Through the Ages. We all loved this game. It’s easy to play, challenging, yet takes only about 20 minutes to run through an entire game. Players roll dice to obtain commodities and workers to build up their civilizations. Now this may sound like a Yatzee variant, but it’s far from that. There are various ways to build your civilization. Will you build monuments to earn your points or buy developments which can also help you on future turns? Or maybe a clever combination of both? Whatever you do, you must beware of disasters, which reduce your victory point total. Knizia does it again with this seemly small game that’s packed to the brim with high quality components. Buy it. Buy it now. Oh, and in our game, I crushed my opponent’s puny civilizations beneath the weight of my civilization’s developments. Sure they had monuments, but I had currency*!

*You’ll just have to play the game to know what the heck I’m talking about.

Chaos Steve

Carson City

This week at game night we played Carson City. Carson City is a game of land grabbing, building money-generating properties, gun fights, and using the town’s “personalities” to your best advantage. The game has a lot going for it. The game only has four rounds and each round has the following phases. First each player chooses their personalities (or role) for the turn. Then, one by one, the players place their cowboys. They can use their cowboys to perform actions such as buying a building, or to grab a parcel of land, or to attack or defend a building. If cowboys from different owners end up on the same space, a duel ensues with the winner getting the spoils. After placement of the cowboys, the final phase is resolving each space on the board in a specific order as outlined on the board. It’s during this phase that victory points are earned, money is earned, and new buildings are constructed.

In our game I think Mike was a little distracted. He made a few starting blunders. He spent the rest of the rounds trying to gain back some momentum and cursing Owen for hog tying his mines so they produced less money for him. Ben on the other hand played well until the very last round when he made a fatal plunder of not playing all of his cowboys. Owen seemed to have problems throughout the game, not making any great gains and not scoring any victory points until round three. Mike, instead of being the mine owner he thought he was going to be, became the banker earning money hand over fist. Ben also earned tons of cash with his hotel and drugstores. He also warded off my attack on his money train by cleverly reading the rules and playing a church before I could take his money. (A church protects your nearby properties from being attacked.) In the end it was guns and firepower that won the game…for me that is. Using brute force I was able to win multiple duels allowing me to control most of the point scoring spaces. The others resorted to earning vast amounts of cash in order to buy their way to a win. Which points out something I like about Carson City—there are multiple strategies you can use to gain victory points.

As I mentioned, in our game guns won over cash, but it was close. Had Ben played all of his cowboys on the last round, things might have ended differently. Ben did come in a very respectable second. Mike was third and poor Owen was last.

Chaos Steve

Infinite City & Asteroyds

Last night at game night we played an unprecedented three (3) games! First we played Infinite City. Infinite city is a tile placement game where you build an ever sprawling city and then do your best to take control of it. Each tile has a set of instructions that you follow once you play the tile. Each player has colored tokens that they place on the tile to show they have some ownership in the tile. Multiple players can have their token on the same tile. There are three ways to score points. Groups of three tiles or more with your token scores you a point for each tile. Controlling the most “silver” tiles gain you a point for each. (We called the silver tiles ”barbed wired” tiles due the silver swirls at the bottom of each tile.) Lastly, some of the tiles actually have numeric values on them. Own the tile, gain the bonus.

In our first game, I was a strong contender for first place and had the game ended about 15 minutes earlier, I might have won. As it was, both Mike and Owen began building empires. At the end Mike had 20 points and Owen had 19. I was a close third and poor Ben, still suffering from last-place-itis, came in a distant last (7 points.)  In the second game we were all pretty evenly matched (except for Ben.)  Mike had a stellar first turn, but not long after Owen converted half the city to be under his control. The game continued this to and fro momentum until the very end. Owen ended up winning. Mike and I tied for second, and Ben (once again) was a distant forth.

The third game we played was Asteroyds. A space racing game where we are all piloting through an ever shifting field of asteroids and space gates. The winner is the first one to go through all four gates. You can hit the gates in any order. The game is pretty straight forward. You roll three dice, one for each color of asteroid, to see which direction each will shift. Then you hit the timer…yes, this game comes with a timer. For beginners, you get 50 seconds to figure out your six moves. Experts get 20 seconds. I can’t image anyone who can plan their turn in just 20 seconds. Ben was the first to make a major error, plowing through asteroid after asteroid when his planning went terribly wrong. It was a little while after that when we realized that hitting an obstacle stopped your progress. But the rules do say that you can make up your own rules, so we played the rest of the game as if you could plow through obstacles–still taking the damage of course.

I ended up winning the game. I had several very easy turns where the asteroids opened a path for me. Mike was looking to be number two except that to get to his final gate before Ben, he had to transfer the energy from his shields to his engines. This meant he took more damage when hitting obstacles. Mike needed to move through two asteroids on the way to the gate. Since they now did more damage to his ship, his ship was destroyed. Mike overlooked this during his 50 second planning session. Ben was an easy second, followed by Owen. We had mixed reviews on this game. I think Mike didn’t like it much. It reminded him too much of Roborally. Ben on the other hand wants to play it again to see how playing by the correct obstacle rules changes the game. I liked the game and will bring it every week to Mike’s house to play–unless of course he wants to play Roborally instead.

Chaos Steve

Battlestar Galactica

Mike got me the Battlestar Galactica board game for my birthday this year, so I spent some time reading the 32-page rule book. (Clever of Mike to give me the game, so I would have to read the rules.) Actually the rules aren’t that complicated, so reading them went pretty fast…especially when you skip the examples. The game description says that “Battlestar Galactica is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival.” Sounds like the right game for our group. We’re already filled with mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival.

At its core this game is a cooperative game where we are all just trying to get the humans to a safe planet called Kobol. What we don’t know is that one of us could be a Cylon. Even worse, by the second half of the game, we know that one of us is the Cylon. But whom? During the game the players move around various areas of the ships performing actions to hopefully help the humans reach their goal. All the while fighting off Cylon war ships, Cylon boarding parties, and various crisis that arise on every player’s turn.

As our game began, Mike took on the role of Admiral and Owen was our president. This gave them some extra special abilities. Ben was a fighter pilot and I was another military leader. From the start I suspected Mike of being a Cylon. And when I say “from the start”, I mean from the moment he gave me the game. Although his actions seemed benevolent enough, I was suspicious…even when he nuked the Cylon basestar. In the first half of the game both Owen and Ben seemed obviously human. Ben boarded a viper and went out to take on the Cylons up-close and personal. Owen was very helpful as the president. During the second half of the game, when we knew we had a Cylon among us, their actions changed. Both Owen and Ben seemed to be holding out when help was needed.

Eventually Ben revealed himself as the Cylon. He did his best to derail the human path to victory, nearly succeeding. But in the end the humans made it to Kobol…only to discover the Borg were already there. We were all assimilated. (Ok, so I made up that last part.)

We decided that the first half of the game may have been a little slow because none of us was a Cylon at the time. But once one of us became a Cylon, things livened up significantly. I’m pretty sure we’re going to get the expansion. In it, I can push Mike out of an airlock. How fun is that!?

Chaos Steve

Claustrophobia

If you have Claustrophobia (the game, not the phobia itself) then you know it’s a game about tactical survival in underground catacombs. I’m sure it will get compared to Descent, but it’s a different game that stands on its own. Claustrophobia is a two-player game where one player is evil and the other runs all of the heroes. “Heroes” is a strong word, since most of them are condemned criminals. Only one of the heroes is not a criminal, he is called the Redeemer. The back drop for Claustrophobia is that it is set in the world of Hell Dorado and takes place in the tunnels under New Jerusalem. The idea is to cleanse the tunnels of its devils and monsters. Each game is a specific, pre-defined scenario. (Later, experienced players can bid to create a more free-flow game.) The idea is that the heroes are in the catacombs and must make their way to the exit tunnel.

In our game, Mike naturally played the evil character, while I had four heroes (naturally). We were playing the first scenario which has a pre-defined number of tiles that need to be explored before reaching the exit. At first things were going well for my trusty band of heroes. We slaughtered troglodytes, and even one devil, like no tomorrow. But as we began the second half of the game the winds of fate suddenly changed. One of my heroes became badly wounded, and darn if Mike didn’t try to kill him again and again. Eventually he did….kill him. About that same time my first hero escaped the catacombs. I only needed two to escape Evil Mike’s clutches to win. Unfortunately the rest where straggling behind and beset by troglodytes. I suddenly went from looking at a confident win to staring at a disaster as Evil Mike killed each remaining hero in succession. No!

Claustrophobia is a fun, two-player game. It has a good amount of replay-ability and only takes about an hour to play if everyone knows the rules. Mike and I’s first game, including going over all the rules, lasted about two hours.

Tonight we play Battlestar Galactica…if I get the 32-page rulebook read.

Chaos Steve

Bushido: Der Weg des Kriegers

Mike got a new game called Bushido: Der Weg des Kriegers (the subtitle means “Way of the Warrior”). As you might be able to guess, it’s a German game about medieval Japan. Fortunately we have rules written in English. The text from the box says, “…players take on the roles of Daimyo, feudal lords in medieval Japan, and compete to become the next Shogun of the empire, who gets appointed by the emperor. And this truly has to be an honorable man.” Ah yes, an honorable man. If the shogun is suppose to be so honorable, why is this game all about intrigue, back-stabbing, spying, and using others to attain your goals? This done all the while you are smiling and bowing to your fellow lords? If you like games with lots of player interaction, then you’ll like this one.

The game has an interesting dynamic in that you, as the Daimyo gain honor by having others—the other players—fight your battles for you. Let me explain how this works. Each round, a new player becomes the reigning Daimyo for that round. He has three other roles that he assigns to the other players. The Samurai role will be his general and attack the province of his choice. The Bushi role is to defend against the attack. The Sensei role is the Daimyo’s advisor and can play effects that can help or hurt the Daimyo. There is one other role that isn’t used in a 4-player game and won’t be mentioned here. The game description does have it right that this game is all about honor. Everyone gains and loses honor through battles on the board.

This was a perfect game for our little group, which already has an underlying current of friendly mistrust and fragile alliances running through it. Ben once again made a strategic error in the placement of his troops at the beginning of the game. This caused him to struggle for most of the game as he was most often chosen as the Bushi. He was also the only Samurai to be called upon to commit Seppuku due to his disappointing failure as my Samurai. Mike and Owen, by far, were the best two players the entire game. Mike, whose nickname is the “Silver Tongued Devil” worked his magic and convinced everyone he was harmless…harmlessly gaining honor to become the Shogun. Owen took a more straight forward approach and won battle after battle, thus earning much honor.

Usually Ben is the king-maker (or in this case, Shogun-maker) of the game, but this time it was me. By making two, no three, no…two mistakes at the very end of the game. One, I allowed Mike to invite me to a Tea Ceremony that everyone else said (afterwards) I should decline. Mike got much Daimyo honor from this. Enough to put him one short battle away from becoming Shogun. Mike also chose me as his Samurai. If I win the battle, he wins the game. If I lose the battle, I lose. Either way it’s nothing but bad for me. Mike depended upon me doing something stupid and I did not disappoint him. I inadvertently won the battle, giving Mike the game. Owen, on the other hand, was very disappointed. He was also poised to become Shogun and my ineptness stole it from him. My ineptness also vaulted me in to third place, and in our little group, that’s a win just not to be last. (Ben was last.)

Chaos Steve

Endeavor

It’s been a few months since we played Endeavor, so we broke it out again. Endeavor is a game of world exploration and empire building. You represent a European empire colonizing the Mediterranean and shipping to all parts of the world to increase the empire’s glory and status in Industry, Culture, Finance and Politics. For all of its many pieces and parts, it’s easy to play and relatively fast. The first five or so turns go pretty fast, it wasn’t long before there were only a couple of turns left in the game. Those last couple of turns take a while though, because each player has built up the ability to take many actions during their turn.

In our game, we all started off with slightly different strategies. Some failed (Ben’s). Others succeeded (everyone else’s). Although most thought I was going to blow everyone away with my Glory Point total (victory points), that was not the case. I did win—just barely. I ended up with 45 points, but Mike and Owen were right behind me, both tied at 42 points. Ben ended with a lackluster 33 points. I pick on Ben sometimes in these write-ups, but I have to thank him for his part in my win. He made two crucial moves towards the end of the game that either hurt Owen directly or forced Owen to take action other than what Owen might have wanted to do. I think, seeing how close the final scores were, that I would have lost otherwise. Thanks Ben!

Chaos Steve

Giant Settlers of Catan

One of the great things about playing games with the same guys every week is the banter around the table during the game. This week was no exception as we enjoyed a lot of joking around the table—mostly about how badly we were all playing. As you’ll see, Owen was the only exception. Oh, he joked all right, but his play was far from bad.

Settlers of Catan 002

Ben had recently completed the final updates to the giant Settlers of Catan set he made, so we decided to play that this week. It looks really cool! We played two games on it. Owen dominated both games. He also started both games. I don’t think there is any significance there, but you never know. His starting position was the best on the board in both games. Usually our Settlers games are pretty close with several players being close to winning at the end of the game. This was certainly not the case this week as we all struggled to stay up with Owen. Ben is still on his wild win/lose gaming streak–meaning that if he doesn’t win the game, he usually ends up dead last. (He did tied for last place in the second game though, so maybe things are looking up for him.)

As always we had a great time.

Chaos Steve

Ticket to Ride & Amun-Re

Playing Catch Up

No there isn’t really a game called Catch Up. Ok, maybe there is such a game, be even if there is, we didn’t play it. What I mean here is that I’ve neglected to post the previous gaming sessions. I’ll rectify that now.

Two Sessions Ago

We played a game. I forget the name of it, but I’m pretty sure I won it.

The Previous Session

We play two games of Ticket to Ride using the 1910 expansion. We loved the new cards the expansion added and we loved the new size of all the cards the expansion added. We played the mega game using all of the cards. Mike came in dead last both times and is considering banning the game. I won both games, and Mike has banned the game. (He’ll forget he did this and we’ll still play again in the future.)

Back to the Current Session

Last night we played Amun-Re, yet another game by Knizia. The object of the game is to claim provinces along the Nile, build pyramids, and score points. But be careful, you also have to make sacrifices to Amun Re or risk his displeasure. The game is separated into 2 game parts: the old and new kingdoms. Each of the two parts has 3 rounds. Each round has 5 or 6 phases.

During the first half of the game, we were all getting a feel for the game and how to score points. Everyone else did much better than me during this part of the game. Meaning I was dead last…and pretty far behind the third place Pharaoh.

During the second half of the game, everyone had a much better idea of what was going on. Many more pyramids were built and players vied for the possible point producing Power cards. Owen, who had been hording Power cards, ended up winning with Mike coming in second, Ben in third and you-know-who in last place. It seems to me that the point scoring Power cards can be the make or break of the game. If you get them early, you can create a strategy to take advantage of them. If you get them late, or not at all…well, you come in last place.

Chaos Steve

Cyclades

Owen brought a new game for us try called Cyclades. If you think this a game of bicycles and lovely ladies, you’d be sadly mistaken. It is a game of cycles, just not the kind you ride. During each cycle the players buy favors from the gods to expand their strength and build buildings. The winner is the player who can build two cities in a group of Greek islands known as the Cyclades.

Our game started off great, with Ben completely missing a play that would have garnered him a lot of gold in the future. And believe me; this game is all about gold. You need gold to do everything! Nevertheless, Ben was doing a fine job expanding his fleets and taking over islands. Mike too, was growing powerful. While not powerful, I was on my way to getting my first city. I held off though, because I knew that would place a target on my forehead.

Mike ended up getting the first city and I ended up giving the game to Mike. I failed to do one thing on my turn that would have hampered Mike’s ability to attack me, but I didn’t see it. On my turn, I also built a city. I protected it with a couple of armies using two of the three creatures available to me on my turn. The third creature I left. I couldn’t imagine anyone using it. Little did I know that Mike had big plans for that creature. The last creature allowed you to sell anything you owned to get gold. Mike was in the perfect position to sell his needless possessions so he could do only one thing—attack me. By taking my island he could win the game. He did just that…and easily too.

Nicely planned Mike. I came in second. :)

Chaos Steve