Big Bang Burger Bar

Here is my report on the 25th #BeerandPretzels Weekend, for Saturday 17th

The day started early as we had to get up and take the pooch for a good walk as he would be indoors all day.

Plus we had to get into the hall early as we needed to deck our table out in birthday banners as one of our friends had a 'special' birthday that day ;)

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The day started with a game of Zombology, which is a game in progress by Jackson Pope. This was quite a good looking prototype and it plays really well and we all provided some feedback on how we felt it played. Honestly I would definately play this again and I will be keeping tabs on its progress.

The next game on the table was Elder Sign (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=5811) I really like this game but we did end up playing this with about 6 or 7 people. Being a fan of all of the Arkham games and having played them a lot over the last few years I can recommend that though they all suggest 1-8 players it is best not to go above 5. With more than 5 you risk longer game times and, depending on the players, player downtime. This particular game was with Azathoth as the God and things went downhill pretty rapidly, with us nearly losing an adventurer but ultimately we lost as the only card with an Elder Sign also had the last Doom token needed to end the world!!!... It was not going to be our day to save the world :(

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After people had taken a quick[ish] lunch we moved onto Las Vegas (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=7046) a dice game which is easy to pick up and quick to play. There are a number of Casino's (1-6) and each player in turn rolls a set of their coloured dice. Grouping these dice into same numbers the player decides which number to use and how many of that numbered dice to place on the corresponding casino. Play continues until all dice are placed with players able to add additional dice later to where they have placed before. When completed the player with the modt dice on each Casino wins that payout, if there is more than one payout then the next most gets the next and so on. End of the game the player with the most money wins. This was great fun to play and I would certainly be willing to give this another go sometime.

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The next game was Il Vecchio (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=7404) which is an excellent game based on the City of Florence and the power struggle of the various families as they try and wrench power from the Medici empire to rule this powerful province. This is a nice game to teach as it not overly complicated but there is a lot of meaningful choices to make here. As always the final scores were reasonably close and everyone looked to have enjoyed the experience. I did manage to forget and get wrong some rules, which I blame on my bad cold as well as my nerves on the day. I forgot to act on the first Medici Crest by a moving the cost marker on the tiles and the action on the crest itself. That said it was not a huge game changer, as it more or less effected everyone equally. I have managed quite a few plays of this game now, with varying numbers of players, and I have really enjoyed each one. I hope to get this back to the table again soon at a Wed Night session but there is always a lot of game choices on those nights :)

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Next up was Gear and Piston (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=7986) I really like this game which pits you as one of the unsung engineer's of the auto-mobile trying to win investment for your prototype against other engineers. The sad thing for the players around the table this time was that for the second game of the day I taught I botched the rules description. The complete first turn was wrong as I got confused about putting out the action tokens and when to take the actions. The other mistakes were the First player moves to the last player to place a token in the workshop, not how I described it :( and finally I failed to put the scoring over correctly with the usual strategy tips I give to new players. This is a shame as this game is really great fun and armed with the right knowledge up-front players can avoid some of the pitfalls this game can throw at you at your first attempts. Hopefully everyone will give this game a second chance somewhere before deciding if this is a game for them or not. I can only apologies for doing such a poor job of putting this game across.

In the game you compete for the best parts as well as scavenging the junk yards in order to put your vehicle together with the right criteria to meet your investors exacting needs. You can visit the back alley to do deals to further your cause, at the cost of actions in later turns. Planning is key and rushing for the shiny new parts can end the game quicker than you expected leaving you to finish your vehicle with scrap in order to have it ready in time. Great game which scales well and is quite fun to play but brutal to learn the right strategy.

Next we played a game of Speicherstadt (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=5621) This is a neat little game with good quality components and deceptively simple gameplay.

Players represent the head of a large trading house in Hambug's warehouse district, the Speicherstadt. Cards are placed on the board for from left to right, one more than there are players, and these are what the players will bid on.

The various cards throughout the four seasons of the game represent container Ships with goods, contracts that need to be filled by certain goods, Traders who can sell your goods, Firemen and other special cards. Some of these cards count towards your VP score at the end of the game. Well I opted for the no fireman options, as I was beaten early to those, but despite starting the final scoring at -10 I managed a respectable score having scored all my contracts.

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Finally, as we only had a bit of time left before going for the now Traditional Chinese meal on Saturday night, we played a game of what I think was called Raj (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/175/raj) or "Hol's der Geier" well this was explained and played within 5 mins which was really good fun. Players have an identical set of cards numbered 1-15 and use these to bid on cards for points. The points cards are both positive and negative scores so you have to be careful when you use your cards or you'll get stuck with points you do not want. Really enjoyed this game its quick and easy to pick up so I would not turn down a chance to play this again.

Here is my report on the 25th #BeerandPretzels Weekend, for Sunday 18th

Well started the day again with Zombology, an earlier design of the game this time, with a few different players. This version seemed a little more interactive in the early game, compared to yesterdays. Once again I enjoyed playing this and this is on the watch list to see how things progress. The players had a good discussion after the game feeding back our thoughts.

Next up was Bruxelles 1893 (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=8021) having watched a Rahldo's Run through for this we have been anxious to give this a try as it looks like a game we would like. Themed around the Art Nouveau movement players are trying to create works of art to sell or work on their own Art Nouveau building. There is a lot going on here with plenty of differing strategies to score points but that said the game was not too bad to pick up and play. We both enjoyed this immensely and we really must persuade Pallet Ranger to bring this again to one of our end of month Friday gaming sessions.

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Next, whilst the others were finishing their game of Euphoria (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=8304) and Pallet Ranger was off playing a game of Bruges (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=7728) we broke out Carpe Astra (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=4206). I still really like this game and it was a joy to get to play this again, especially as it works quite well as a 2-player game. These were the characters we were playing:

(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-W0QcbQMZoCw/U33BF_eMCbI/AAAAAAAANF4/aDPYB10cxTg/w121-h214-p-no/Bn68z5DIgAA9P7y.jpg)

On par with yesterdays performance on rules I managed to get the Slander rules wrong initially but we soon back into the stride. This is my pimped copy where we have replaced the original hexagon pieces with different wooden tokens:

(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xhQQWo32VhE/U3j7ncq5aEI/AAAAAAAANAo/va46c4EkzqU/w274-h204-p-no/20140518_144114.jpg)

If you can ever find a copy of this game I would recommend getting hold of it, its a really fun game that is simple to pick up but that takes time to master the strategies.

Finally the last game of the day was Lewis and Clark (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=8008) which we have managed a number of plays since buying it. I really like this game it is a lot of fun to play, despite the harsh choices that need to be made each turn :)

Based on the historical exploration across America the game expands on this by making players part of competing exploration teams racing to reach the goal first. Along the way they will recruit other adventurers and Indians to aid them on their quest, all of the cards represent real people from that time and the rulebook provides a brief description of their history as well as their ability in game terms. This makes it quite interesting but does not distract from the game itself as you can read all this additional text at your leisure.

The cards themselves have multiple uses and the players start with the same basic abilities 4xresource gathering cards, 1xmovement card and 1xInterpreter. On a players turn they have a compulsory action and two optional actions, the optional actions can be done before or after the compulsory. The compulsory action is to either play a card for its action or use an Indian in the Village on the board to activate one of the actions there. To power the cards action you will need to either use another card (flipped over and slid under) and/or use Indians. The optional actions are to camp (take your cards back) or recruit Characters.

I like the mechanics of this game and it causes you to make harsh choices fitting the theme of the game. Whilst this can be described as a race game, it is so much more than that with a good feeling of tension as players try to make efficient use of their actions to keep up with the other players.

Essentially you need to build an efficient card engine that allows you to move and camp progressing you up the river route to your destination. Overloading your boats or keeping too many cards in your hand when you camp causes you Scout to be moved backwards down the route undoing all your hard work. Though your camp can never go backwards, you Scout certainly can hindering your progress. There are actions to be taken that can help strip unwanted cards from your hand helping you to streamline your options. It is also worth noting that partway through the river the terrain turns to mountain meaning you need to switch what resources and methods of movement you need. This provides a great catchup mechanism in the game as players have to adapt their strategy to cope with the new requirements. The game also comes with tokens to change the layout of the mountains and river to enable you to make the game easier/harder for future games making for a lot of playability.

Fantastic game, which always results in a close end game, the fact there are always different cards out each game keeps it fresh and interesting.

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Well that's it for another year...........

Ahh but wait they have announced that there will be another Autumn Beer & Pretzels this year at the Queen Hotel in October. Keep an eye out on the Big Bang Burger Bar Calendar and I will post details of the event soon. Please bear in mind that as this is at a smaller venue with limited numbers it will be a advance ticket sale only event.

Update to my report on the 25th #BeerandPretzels Weekend

@PalletRanger So having thought I had finally broken the curse of getting rules wrong during this weekend with our Last game, Lewis and Clark, I discovered that I had missed that when your upgrade you expedition boats as well as the boat you also get 2xresources or 1xIndian depending on which boat you take. So apologies Pallet Ranger I may have denied you some stuff during the game, though it effected me as well :( .. Still you still managed a good win so well done Sir!

I demand a rematch at some point, I know it is my game and the law is I am now not allowed to win but just once... one little victory..... will the gaming gods finally smile on my attempts to play games well ;)

Update to my report on the 25th #BeerandPretzels Weekend

Ok so I'm thinking I should really get out of the write-up and reporting business as well as the teaching rules business after this Beer & Pretzels.....

I played a lot of games on the Saturday and took lots of pictures including the one for this one for Troyes (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=5358) which I played but completely forgot to add to the previous notes...

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Maybe it was because this game hurts the brain a little but that would be harsh as it was actually quite interesting to play once you got your head round it. It uses a dice mechanic where each player rolls a number of dice based on which areas they have people placed in, though everyone starts with some people already placed out. The interesting thing is all the dice are pooled in the centre of the board and players can buy dice from other players to use but depending on the number of total dice then used affects how much that costs. Also during the game you earn prestige which can be used up to re-roll dice or flip them to the opposite sides (though only with your own dice). Each player has a hidden card with an end game scoring mechanism that everyone will score for but you have a head start on the knowledge. There is too much to try and go over in a short paragraph but there is a lot going on here and whilst it was enjoyable to experience I am not sure if I would play it again. Despite doing reasonably well at it I remain unclear as to how I managed it or what meaningful plays I should have made, so pretty much played in a semi-random fashion which is not unusual for me but I usually then realise what I should or should not have done.  Don't get me wrong despite the use of dice there is very little luck involved here as you can mitigate bad rolls by manipulating the dice and you can scupper other people quite nicely. It's just that, for me anyway, I never truly felt like I "got it" in a way that helped me made intelligent choices, I'm sure for a lot of people this is and will be a great game to have in their arsenal of games. I would not turn down a game of this as I feel I should give it another go but it will not be one I would rush out to buy for my own collection.