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Endeavor

endeavor
This week we played a new game called Endeavor. As the game description reveals, Endeavor is a game of world exploration and empire building. I had seen this game on ThoughtHammer and suggested it Owen. Why did I suggest it to Owen? Because it has both of Owen’s weaknesses when it comes to games: a good rating at geekDo AND it had tons of components.

(BTW, this week wins for containing the most web links.) 

The game is played over 7 rounds and each round has four phases: Industry, Culture, Finance and Politics. During the Industry phase you build new factories that either increase a particular facet of your empire or allow you additional actions in the Politics phase. During the Culture phase, you gain new workers for your empire. The Finance phase allows you to free up Factories to use again during the current round. Finally the Politics phase is where you can take various actions (Ship, Occupy, Attack, Draw or Pay). Using your actions you expand your control over cities and shipping lanes. At the end of the game, these garner you Victory Points; called something else completely in the game rules, but I forget what.

This looks to be a very fast playing game. Three of the four phases are very quick, and then there are only 7 rounds. What we discovered, though, was as you progress through the rounds and more opportunities open up on the board, the Politics phase for each player takes much longer as you decide just what to spend your actions on.

We all enjoyed this game very much. As the game progressed, I could see that Mike was managing his empire very well, Owen was planning for a big finish, and Ben was floundering in a flood of empiric bureaucracy. (Ben attacked my cities during the game. You should not attack the cities of the person writing the write-up.) In the end, it was Mike and Owen* who tied for the win; each having 56 victory points. I came in second with 51 points and Ben had some number much lower that shall be lost in annals of time. He would be embarrassed if I actually noted the number of points—dreadfully low, actually.

*After we finished the game, I had made some reference to Mike and Ben tying for the win. This brought me no end of grief from both Owen and Mike. But I got it right in the write-up!

Chaos Steve

The History of the World

history of the world
This week we revised The History of the World. There is so much to say about this game. Fortunately, I’ve forgotten most of it, so I’ll just the hit the parts that I remember. If you want to know all of the details of how to play the game, go to www.geekdo.com (formerly BoardGameGeek.com).

The game started out normally enough. Owen had a small lead after the first epoch, with the rest of us tied for second place. By the end of the second epoch Mike was the pre-eminent one (the leader) and earned the first of many pre-eminence markers (bonus points). By the third epoch things were in chaos. I completely forgot to use my special cards. Mike ended the third epoch by scoring a boatload points—taking another pre-eminence marker. This was to be how each of the remaining epochs ended and here’s why.

At the start of the forth epoch, I handed Mike the game on a silver platter by stupidly allowing him to go first, thus magnifying the boatload of points he had just scored a hundred fold. (Ok, not really a hundredfold, but certainly by a lot.) Ben and Owen were duly outraged. I wish I could say they were struck speechless by my act of incredible idiocy, but alas, no, there weren’t. Mike extended his lead and never looked back.

I was in second place most of the game, with Owen lagging a bit behind and Ben lagging way behind…way behind.

Before I talk about Owen’s lucking changing, it has come to my attention that I may have had something to do with Owen’s horrible luck during the past several weeks. For this I apologize to Owen and now turn my curse ridden eyes towards my true target, Mike.

The end of the game was predictable in that Mike won by a huge landslide. What was surprising though was Owen’s ability to make up for a lot of lost ground and come in second. It wasn’t really that surprising I guess. Owen has always had a way of scoring a ton of points at the end of whatever game we are playing. That left me in third and Ben in very last place…very last place.

Chaos Steve

Struggle for Rome

struggle for rome
When we got together to play games this time, one of the guys had left his brain in Vegas and another one was talking muscle relaxers and pain medication. You would think that I had a pretty good chance of winning whatever game we were playing. You would think that; but you would be wrong.

We broke out Struggle for Rome again. It didn’t take long before Ben, the Vegas-brained gamer, took his first turn…moving my army and collecting his spoils. I pointed out in no uncertain terms that I was playing blue and he was playing white. He agreed, so it didn’t come to blows.

About halfway through the game, Feel-No-Pain Mike made sure that I would note that his poor performance was drug related. Soon after Owen, clear minded and alert, accused me of cheating. Me!? I was outraged; and so were the other players. Somehow Owen had confused me with Ben. I was cleared on all charges and the game continued.

As the game progressed Ben and I seemed to be doing well, but I knew I was in trouble. Mike on the other hand had slowly built up a good base and had a solid future. Owen’s bad luck continued as he had trouble getting, and keeping, resources. (Ben kept stealing Owen’s resources from him. Yes, it was Ben; and only Ben.)

In the end, it was Mike who announced that he had 10 victory points—enough to win. He actually had 11 once it was all added up. And according to his wishes, I should point out that his win was drug induced having no particular connection to his skills. I had a respectable 9 points. Ben had 8 and Owen had 7. Owen is due for a win here soon.

This time I don’t think many of use enjoyed the game as much as we did the first time around.

Chaos Steve

Settlers of Catan

Settlers of Catan 002
Last night we played Settlers of Catan, but we played it on a one-of-a-kind super board made by our own Ben Hodgson. Although we certainly gave Ben a hard time about this or that during the game–as we always do—he really did a nice job on the game board pieces. And he’s already talking about future changes he can make to it to improve it.

At the start of our game Owen said something extremely clever (as he usually does.) Mike said for me to be sure to remember it for today’s write-up. Mike said to write it down so I wouldn’t forget it. Mike said he’d even provide the pen and paper to write it down. Well Mike said a lot of things and after a while all I heard were dolphin clicks. On the other hand, you should have heard what Owen said; it was great–very funny.

First I’ll tell you how the game ended. Ben won. And had he not won on his turn, Owen would have won. And had Owen not won on his turn, I would have won. And had I not won on my turn, Mike would have won. That shows you just how close the game was. Looking back over the game, Mike and Ben were rich in Resource Cards throughout the game. I though Mike was going to announce a win many times over, but apparently he had no luck picking up any Development Cards with victory points on them. And he picked up A LOT of Development Cards. Mike’s starting position caused him to be a little hemmed in too. Still, he did amazingly well. Owen suffered from some bad luck as far as Resource Cards were concerned. His hand continually waxed and waned. I was Resource Card poor. Where I should have been drowning in bricks to feed to my 2:1 port, it was not to be.

I’ll leave with a little Ben-wisdom. (Boy, you don’t see that often: “Ben” and “wisdom” used in the same sentence.)

“Wood is like gold dust.”
                –Ben Hodgson

 

By Chaos Steve

The Princes of Florence & Dice Town

Prince
It was another night of the Princes of Florence. This game went by pretty fast. We nearly made the normal playing time. This is unheard of at our table. As in our last game, Owen lagged behind the rest of us in prestige points up through the middle of the game. I got a good lead at one point, but unfortunately couldn’t hold it until the all important end of the game. When it came around to the last round, Ben zoomed into the lead, with me in second place. Lastly, everyone revealed their Prestige Cards. You get extra Prestige Points if you fulfilled the goal on the card. Mike’s constructing of one last building on the final turn cost me three ending Prestige Points. This was enough to swing my game end placement from second to third. Owen, using three Prestige Cards, garnered an amazing 18 points that placed him in second place right ahead of me. Ben also shot ahead with his prestige card getting the maximum of eight points . Ben won again. Mike, who I thought was playing very well, came in an inexplicable last place.

dicetown
Next up was a new game called Dice Town. During each round the players try to build a poker hand. The results of a player’s hand verses their opponents’ hands determines what parts of Dice Town you are able to take over and reap the benefits from.  For instance, if you have the most nines in your hand, you take over the gold mine and get a gold nugget for each nine you have. There is also a bank to rob, the salon girls to charm (allowing you to steal cards from other players), items you can take from the general store, and so on. If you happen to have the best hand you also get one or more land cards. Cards, money, and gold nuggets all earn you victory points.

In our game, one of most important aspects of the game was the Sheriff. If you have the most Kings in your hand, you become the Sheriff. Being the Sheriff allows you to settle ties. This may not seem like a big deal, but oh it is. If you are the sheriff and you have two nines and so do I. As sheriff you can rule that you win, taking the spoils from the town. This happens more often than you would think and I was on the losing end of that deal most of the night. Granted, when I was sheriff, I made out like a bandit.

Let’s talk about poor Owen. The poker dice rarely rolled well for him the entire game. And when they did, someone (many times me) would make an outlandish roll and steal his thunder. Owen was literally poor most of the game too–lacking in money. Money can be used to help keep or modify your poker dice rolls. This caused Owen no end of frustration.  Ben had a similar problem, but his money drought didn’t last as long as Owens. 

Let’s talk about Mike the Sheriff. He kind of reminded me of Brian Dennehy in Silverado.  And it was a sweet deal for him. His wealth of cards, money, and gold nuggets grew and grew. I believe he blew the rest of us away as far as victory points were concerned and easily won the game.

Chaos Steve

The Princes of Florence

Prince

Monday night we were all Princes of Florence. At least as far as the game we played. This game involves developing a player’s Palazzi in to an area that will attract various professions and artisans who will then complete great works. The greater the work, the more Prestige Points you get. At the end of seven rounds the player with the most Prestige Points wins and becomes the Prince of Florence. Each round is broken into two phases: the auction phase and the action phase. In the auction phase, the players bid for various “objects” which improve their Palazzi which in turn can improve the works created there.  In the action phase the player can take two actions that either improve his Palazzi or completes a great work. Completing a great work earns him money and/or Prestige Points.

In our game, Owen shot out to early lead in Prestige Points. He soon lost the lead and was never heard from again. In his place was Mike. Mike’s lead became more commanding as the game went on. I believe at one point he had 40 points while the rest of us were struggling around 20 points. But fate is a fickle mistress. As the game was coming to a close, we were all able shorten Mike’s lead somewhat. Some of us even had a plan. Why are you looking at me? No, it wasn’t me. It was Ben. Ben had been hording prestige cards that can earn you from 0 to 8 points each at the end of the game. He used these to good effect. While me and Owen languished in third and LAST place respectively, Ben hoovered up enough points to go two points ahead of Mike and win the game. 

It should be noted that during this game Ben and I switched brains. While Ben was making what appeared to be random, unpredictable, and insignificant decisions, I was trying to cheat. While not actually purposely cheating, I did inadvertently (and without conscious choice) try to cheat a few times—just like Ben.  So in essence, since Ben won the game using my brain, I claim victory!

Chaos Steve

Agricola & Ivanhoe

agricola
We played Agricola last week. Since Ben won and Ben was the only one to ever have played it—and he had played it a lot—we thought a rematch was in order.  So we began; all mindful of the strategies we had missed in the first game. Uh, actually, judging from this game, we didn’t learn squat from our first game.

All of our farms looked “better”.  As you will see, that does not necessarily translate into more points. Ben’s farm looked much as it did the first game, although he was scrambling to feed his ever growing family. Mike seemed to concentrate on sheep. And for this he received a lot of sheep related comments. Mike also concentrated on family members . Owen concentrated on Improvements. He had a card that would earn him big points at end game time. Me, I made the mistake of concentrating on two things and doing neither well. This, and a misunderstanding of a couple of cards (apparently I should have read the FAQ) cost me dearly.

So how did the game end? If you remember from last week Ben won with 43 points and I came in last with 28 points. This week, Ben won again, but with only 28 points. Mike was right on his butt–so to speak–with 27 points.  Owen got an acceptable 24 points and I was once again last with an unfathomable 10 points. (But at least I was positive.)

ivanhoe
We managed to finish this game in a lightening 2 hours, so we played Ivanhoe.  I took an early lead, but ran into some difficulties…mainly my strategy and logic. Soon Ben, Owen, and I and were all one color chip from winning. In the end, despite my best efforts to the contrary, I won the game.

Chaos Steve

Agricola

agricola

The game of Agricola rose to the top of the list for this week. Ben was able to borrow a copy from another friend of his. Ben explained the rules—leaving several things out—and we began to play. (I can’t give Ben too hard of time for leaving a few rules out. It’s a big game and I’m the worse person to explain rules.) Ben had played this game about 20 times in the past, while the rest of us had never played. This did not bode well for the rest of us.

Agricola is a farming game. And just like on a real farm you have a lot of options: How are you going to use your land? Are you planting or raising animals? Should you add family members to get more work done? How are you going to feed everyone? Each turn each of your family members can perform one action. This action might bring you more wood so you can build fences, or bring you a new sheep, or add another room on to your farm house. After several turns, which get shorter and shorter as the game progresses, you must harvest and feed your family. Woe to those who don’t have enough food. Also along the way you can add occupations and improvements to your farm so it runs more efficiently and you score more victory points. Essentially victory points are awarded based upon how big your farm grows by the end of the game. You get negative points if you don’t fulfill some basic requirements.

I’m not doing the game justice as far as trying to get across just how fun it is. (But hey, I’m trying to make running a farm look like fun.) If you like resource management games, you’ll love this one. If a resource game has many ways to score victory points and more options than you can possibly exercise in a turn, then I think it’s on the right track. This forces you to decide what you are going to major in as far as accumulating those all important victory points.

In our game, many things went horribly wrong…mostly on my farm. At the end of the game, my farm looked like a barren wasteland compared to everyone else’s. Unsurprisingly Ben’s farm did very well. He won with 43 points. Both Owen and Mike did well coming in at 35 and 30 points respectively. As you can suspect, I came in dead last with 28 points.

At the beginning of the game Ben mentioned just how important it was to have a food generation mechanism in place during the game so feeding your family is not a big issue. I must have dozed off just before Ben gave out that advice, because I struggled the entire game trying to keep my family feed. Only some good occupations and improvements kept me in the game at all. A major point about scoring (and losing) victory points also never struck home. At the end of the game I had a -18 points compared to Ben and Mike who only had a -1 and a -3 respectively. (Owen had no negatives.)

We liked the game and we’re going to play it again next week. Hopefully with a more favorable result! :)

Chaos Steve

Kachina!

kachina 

This week was all about Kachina. Yes, I know we’ve played this game a lot recently, but we like it! And Owen hadn’t gotten to play it yet. As we will see, it didn’t take Owen long to catch on—one of the great things about this game.

In our first game, Mike was on fire; great strategy, all the right tiles when he needed them, and he was playing against two blind guys and a newbie. At least that’s how it seemed to me. Only Owen, the newbie, showed any sign of being on Mike’s level.  So while those two titans battled it out, Ben and I struggled to stay in the game. Mike eventual won. Yeah. Go Mike.

In our second game, some things changed and some things remained the same. I was still blind, but Ben was beginning to see the light. Mike was still playing very well, but Owen was warming up to the game and teaching us some new tricks. (He taught us some new ones in the first game too.) In the end it was apparent that the game hated me. I was so far in last place I couldn’t even see the tail lights from the guy ahead of me. Owen on the other hand won the game from Mike. Mike can tell me if I have this wrong (and he will) but I think Ben did much better in this second game, even being a contender for first a few times.

A couple of things we noticed going from a 3-player game to a 4-player game. One is that you get a lot less turns. Sure, that should be obvious, but it changes the dynamics of the game so players (Mike, Ben, & Owen) spend hours contemplating their turns. (Seeing how poorly I did, maybe I should have done a little more contemplating.) Secondly, the tiles we laid out seemed more condensed than in previous games. This may also be because we are more astute at taking advantage of those places where the rows or columns are close to each other.  Yeah, that’s it—we’re more astute.

No matter how you slice it, we really like this game.

Chaos Steve

Tigris & Euphrates

tigrisOwen found his way back across the pond—with a long layover in Paris—and once again joined us for game night. Ben decided to bring Reiner Knizia’s Tigris & Euphrates game. This is just as well since I left all of the games I was going to bring sitting on the table at home. Many consider this game to be Knizia’s masterpiece game. While I’m not ready to say that, I do think it’s a thought provoking tile placement game that takes a few times playing it to get your head around just what strategies to use.  (Mike still needs another game or two.) Each player has four leaders representing farming, trading, religion, and government. Each leader has his own color too. You use the leaders to get victory points in the various colors. The tricky part is that your score at the end of the game is determined by the color that you have the lowest victory points in. This forces you to garner victory points evenly in all colors.

Since this game takes deep concentration, wily tactics, a firm grasp of the rules, and a little luck to win, I was doomed to failure from the start. As the game progressed, several things became apparent: Owen was having dreadful luck, Mike was struggling with all of the requirements above, and Ben was leaving me alone. That, coupled with some fantastic luck at drawing tiles, made me a contender for winning the game. I did try to unintentionally break the rules a few times. I quickly learned that you cannot “assassinate” another players’ leader with a catastrophe tile though try as I might.

I although I had done well the entire game beating back the hordes of the aggressors; I still wasn’t sure if my final tally was good enough to win. It turned out it was, and by a good margin at that. Ben promised we would play this game again soon, before we all forget the rules again.

Chaos Steve