Monthly Gaming @ Spirit Games - 2013

[Zarniwoop]

Monthly Gaming session at #SpiritGames on Sunday July14th


Started the day out with a game of Tsuro a firm favourite with the #SpiritGames gaming group and is a cracking little game that is always great fun to play. (Caz won this one!)

Then we moved onto Buckets which is another great filler game that is just mad but fun. Sadly out of print I believe. Another Win for Caz!!

Next up was Elk Fest a 2 player where you have to flick your stones to help make a path for your Elk to cross the river onto the opposing bank. Absolutely a crazy little game but addictive fun, this time I managed to steal a win from Caz.

Another popular game at #SpiritGames Lords of Waterdeep was next. This game is well designed and has almost faultless game mechanics but for me the theme is a bit light feeling a bit tacked on. Always good to play and the pace of the game is always a bit faster than you think meaning you do not always have the amount of turns you think to execute your careful master plan.
Paul:83, Sam:87, Chris:104 and Andy:109




We had a good turn out with a good mix of games being played throughout the day, I got to play a few games I had never played before like Castle Panic! which was actually a lot of fun, we only played the base game but certainly warrants another play with the expansion.



We then moved onto Il Vecchio 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. Players place their family members in various towns around the board and by use of some "simple" actions gain followers who then help that family gain influence among the outer provinces or with the nobility or within the City Council. The game itself is quite fast paced and there are tiles that can be obtained as you gain influence in the various tracks that provide either instantaneous benefits or abilities to help during the game or end game scoring benefits if certain objectives are met. There is a lot going on here and there is a definite feel of a power struggle as you play, there is room for plenty of strategy here though the Medici tiles that mark the passing rounds have some harsh effects that can knock back your plans. Really good fun to play, last only about 45-60 mins.

The design of this game is top notch and the components are of very good quality. The game works well with 2 players but certainly benefits from more as it adds to the atmosphere a worthy game that will get lots of plays I'm sure in the future. Andy:40, Sam:44, Chris:44 and Paul:49

Then another classic and favourite of the group PowerGrid this is one of Caz's favourite game and is always willing to play. Players are trying to build power stations to help power cities they build, whilst maintaining a steady income to afford raw materials to run the power stations. As the game progresses you need to be able to upgrade your power stations in order to be able to power more cities which improve your income etc etc. The winner is whoever can power the most cities once the end game has been triggered. This is a great game that, despite involving a fair amount of maths, is actually fun to play. Paul:16, Sal:17, Caz:17 and Chris:18



Next was a quick game of Guillotine a fun little card game based on the French revolution. Players help  guillotine the nobility for scores whilst avoiding hurting the peasants or heroes as they have a negative score. To help achieve this players have a hand of action cards which can be used to influence the line of Nobles awaiting their fate or hinder other players. Played over 3 rounds this is a quick but hilarious game that always provides amusement. Caz:9, Sal:13, Paul:14 and Chris:14

As well as our games there was a lot of rather "Noisy" games of The Resistance being played in the other half of the shop. Some of this was down to exuberant play but some was down to some inept Spies who managed to not follow the  instructions at the start of the game that enables them to now who each of the other spies are. This led to several hilarious false starts before the first game got under way

[Zarniwoop]

Monthly Gaming session at #SpiritGames on Sunday Aug 11th



Started the day with a game of 7 Wonders always a firm favourite and easy to pick up. There are now numerous expansions for this but most do not overly complicate the game but do add nice tweaks to enhance an already excellent game. Chris:56, Andy:53, Mike:48, Paul:45 and Caz:45

	Next up was Room 25 which is a game loosely based on the film The Cube. There are several different playing modes based on the number of players or preference from fully co-op to traitor style. The components are of excellent quality from the artwork to the miniature sculpts, the cardboard is of good thick quality though I have sleeved the floor tiles as any marks on them would help give away what they are. We went for the traitor style where some players would be guards hidden amongst escape prisoners and from the get-go it was soo much fun. The atmosphere is immediately there and there is certainly a feeling of tension as every players tries to work out who to trust or who to be avoid. The turns are simple as you have only four action tiles to choose from each turn (Look, Move, Push and slide) from which you pick upto 2. These are revealed then in player order acted out, the nice thing about the player order is that tokens with your character on are placed on a track after both actions the character at the back is moved to the front. The additional feature is that this then also counts down the turns before the game ends. I can not recommend this game enough, I enjoyed it from start to finish with my only regret that I did not get this to the table a lot sooner. It plays in roughly 30mins and with different playing styles, layouts and hardness levels loads of potential replayability. The guards revealed themselves fairly early on but not without some hilarious early paranoid moments amongst the players. It was a touch an go escape for the prisoners and at one point it looked like we would run out of time and hand the win to the guards, but with a last minute perfect storm of moves and a little bit of self-sacrifice from yours truly we managed a prisoner win in the very last turn with Caz & Chris gettting Room 25 out of the complex
	Then we had a 3 player game of Space Beans from the same designer as Bohnanza whilst it shares some minor similarities it is a vastly different feel and one aspect where your hand of cards is passed to the right but turn order is clockwise, which led to a lot of confusion during the game. It is a more simplified game without the bidding but careful planning is required in order to maximise your scoring potential. Chris:31, Paul:30 and Caz:35
	Kingdom Builder was then next game with the new Crossroads expansion this expansion adds new boards, scoring options and new pieces. The wagon and boat which are like mobile settlements allowing a degree more freedom of how and where to place your pieces. These new settlements are one of the many new special location options that come with the new landscape tiles. We managed to get a few of the new boards and the scoring options add to the normal three giving more unique ways to score. I really enjoyed these additions, though Caz was a litle upset as now the special purple pieces I got her will not fit with this expansion... Will have to see what I can do about that This is always a fun game and definitely a favourite with most of the group.. Caz:40, Paul:49, Chris:66 and Andy:78
	SWe then played the Panda game or Takenoko to give it its proper name. This game is both beautifully made as well as being a really fun game to play. The turns are quite simple but meeting the various scoring card conditions can be a little more tricky.  Paul:9, Caz:17, Chris:21 and Andy:32

Next was Rattus which is another excellent little game, we managed to pick most of the characters from the Pied Piper expansion. The game is essentially about the plague with players taken various character roles to get their people on board and keep them alive in order to have the highest population left at the end. Dark theme but despite this is quite a good game and one I enjoy playing.  Caz:5, Paul:7, Andy:12 and Chris:13

The last game for us was Ascension: Rise of the Vigil a new standalone expansion for Ascension. This does add some nice new elements, though we did put too many Energy Shard cards in the deck so this kind of spoilt the balance of the game deck somewhat. Worth a second try as the new bits did add some interesting extras to an already good game. It will be interesting to try this blended with the original game as well to see how the gameplay is affected. Paul:54, Andy:60, Caz:71 and Sal:110

Here are some more images from the day:

[EvilGinger]

Indeed including pictures of Me & Bertie duking it out with a little bit of Sharp practice using his very nice 20mm Italiari plastic Napolionics good stuff even if the final defeat of my French by superior musketry took some time

The day finished for me with watching a game of Ascension which is on my list as a game to get for Christmass & a couple of pints a great day

 Ginger

[Zarniwoop]

8th Sep 2013

Photos are available from my Google+ Album

Can't believe I missed the write up for this one.. Doh!! 

Well, I can't remember if this is the full list of games I played on the day but here are the scores stored in my phone:

Urbania an excellent little game that is always fun to play though it is a bit of a colour explosion Andy: 201, Paul:190 and Chris:177

7 Wonders a firm favorite of the Spirit Games gaming group and always a joy to play. Andy:78, Paul:71, Chris:62 and Caz:54

Finally, I was arm twisted to give Agricola another try. This is not my favorite of games and despite the long time between plays, I still could not manage to find the same love for this game that a lot of people do. Feels to easy to block another player out of actions thereby dooming them to a game of just plodding through to the end. Still there are so many other long games that I do like, I feel no need to put myself through any more plays of this to try and "get it" providing space at the table for those that do . Phil:31, Caz:20 and Paul:19

[Zarniwoop]

8th December 2013

	Started the day off with some quick games of The City this is a really neat little card game with simple mechanics and oodles of replayability. It plays in around 10mins, which means if you suffer at the hands of a bad hand of cards from the start you can always demand a re-match . Loved this, got beat twice but the second game was a lot closer with the help of the first game. Would gladly play this again, sad to hear it did not do so well on release. If it had been released in English over here I'm sure I would have been tempted to buy a copy.
	Next up was Blueprints not even heard of this one but Andie has purchased this on the day and cracked it open so we had to give it a try really neat little game. Played over three rounds each player is given a blue print each turn which dictates the size and shape of the building they need to construct. These are constructed from a set of dice rolled at the beginning, picked randomly from a bag. There are several different types of dice and they each score in a different way, you select a dice place it in your building and pick a replacement from the bag and roll it. Each dice you use to build upwards must be of equal or higher value to the dice below. The score for your (hopefully) complete building is used to award Gold, Silver or Bronze cards and/or a construction prize, these will be your Victory Points at the end of the game. Simple, great fun, easy to play and will certainly be willing to play this again. (Nothing to do with me winning!)
	Next up was Gear & Piston I am really liking 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. 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 visit the back alleys to 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. The components in this game are really quite good quality and the artwork fits the theme really well. Great game which scales well and is quite fun to play but brutal to learn the right strategy. There is a variant page in the main rulebook and I think I may well adopt some or all of these as playing with 2,3 and 5 players the games have almost always ended with the new parts running out. I have now played this a few times and I am liking it more and more each time I play, I will have to give it a go with the expansions to see how this mixes it up. Really fun game I can recommend as it plays really quickly, even with 5 players, and there is plenty there to allow many more plays.Andie:14, Gavin:7, Paul: -2
	Mars Needs Mechanics was next and this is another recent purchase. The components for this game are of really good quality and fits the theme quite well. You play one of several Aether Mechanics competing in several rounds of a competition to earn your place on the crew of a rocket destined for the red Planet. Each turn you are buying parts and/or contructing mechanisms to aid you in earning enough cogs to beat your opponentgs. As players purchase parts during the round a marker is moved to the front of a line, then at the end of that round the last three component go down in price and the top three go up in price. You then get to sell sets of three or more components of the same time for their current value. As the game progresses you hope to collect the right parts and successfully manipulate the market to maximise your gain, the mechanisms built with those precious parts, are used to provide various additional actions or abilities that can be used to aid you. Really simple little game that plays quickly but is devious and tricky to master. Great fun to play and a worthy addition to my collection. Andie:54, Paul:52, Gavin:40 and Caz:18
	Last game, for us at least, was DC Comics Deck-Building Game I was not sure if I was going to like this game, but I was pleasantly surprised. It's a deck building game so starting hand of cards, deal yourself half of them, use the power (in this game) marked on them to "buy" better cards to improve your hand for later turns. In this game there are Supervillans to defeat who are worth more VP's at then end but trigger attacks on all the players, which you may be able to defend with cards in your hand. Neat little game, you each play a character which has particular bonuses which dictate what sort of cards or method playing you need to adopt. Length of the game can be determined by how many Supervillans you have and I am informed there are numerous variants that can be introduced that shake gameplay up in various ways to make things more interesting. Good fun and would probably play this again.  Gavin:50, Paul/Caz:30 and Andie:25

Great day of gaming again and with quite a lot of new faces which was good to see. This is really becoming quite a popular event and I certainly look forward to the next one as it gives you a chance to play new games or get out those longer ones you cant quite fit into a wed night.

I managed to get a few pictures, though sadly not of everything that got played, see the slideshow below or visit my Google+ Album