Spirit Games Wednesday Night - 2008

[Zarniwoop]

Not many of us in this week just Sal, Phil, Myself and Evilginger. (Plus the roleplayers in the other room.)

We started the evening off with a game of Basari Carole, Myself, Phil and Evilginger played in this one while Sally was wrangling computers and cashing up. This is a really nice, quick little game and is easy to jump into even after a long  time since we last played it. You each have 3 actions which you choose between based on where you are and what you think the other players will do. If 2 people pick the same roll the player ahead on points makes an offer to buy the roll, the other player makes a better  counter offer or accepts the terms. If 3 or more people pick the same roll then nobody gets to do it. Anyone selecting a unique roll just gets to act on it. The idea is to collect gems of various colours, the player with the most of a particular colour gets victory points based on it's colour (Red highest, blue is lowest). A turn ends when at least one person crosses back over the space they started from or the last gem is removed from a pile. Once the scoring is complete for the gems the winners replace 3 gems from that colour back to the pool, if they tied the tied players return 2 each.

Carole took an early lead in our game and in the final round ended streaks ahead of anyone else!!  Phil managed a last minute spurt to make it to 3rd place leaving Evilginger just in last place.

Then we played Tsuro which I had purchased that evening with my gift voucher (thanks Phil). This is a really beautiful looking game, the pieces are well made and the artwork is wonderful. We managed to draft Sally into this one so we had a 5 player game. The basic idea is you piece starts on the outside of a grid of squares and you place tiles in front of your piece which provide a series of paths. You move your piece along the path you choose till you reach the end of the tile, play continues this way and the the aim is to remain on the board and avoid bumping into the other players. If your path takes you back to the edge you are eliminated, if your path takes you into another player you are both eliminated. You have to be careful as other players can use their tiles to move you in unexpected directions, as when you get close to one another if your tile adds to another players path they get moved as well. There are a limited amount of cards and you quickly get to the point where the only new cards to get are when a player is eliminated.

In our first game of this I did cruelly eliminate Evilginger by sending his piece of the side of the board. Not long afterwards and due to a simple choice of which way in which to be eliminated I take myself out of the game. Phil and Sally end up joint winners of this game as they both eliminate themselves in the final turn.

The Second game, armed with knowledge of what not to do we started again. I wisely decided not to start from a corner again and therefore lasted a little bit longer. Evilginger eliminates Sally after we all seem to end up very close together in the middle of the board. I manage another self-elimination and then finally confusion sets in as Phil thinks Sally has won, even though she was eliminated earlier, when he had already won himself!! This led to much amusement round the table.

This game is quick, simple and extremely fun to play and would recommend it to anyone.

We had a bit of time left this evening so we had a quick game of It's Alive. This is just a brilliant, quick little game. Players bid for various body parts to fill their slab to build their monster, they can buy them outright, sell them to the bank for half their value or auction them for cash. The villagers occationally revolt and they have to be appeased with a body part of equal or higher value or bought off with money. Our game ticked along at a fair pace and we had several revolts before finally Sally shouted "It's Alive" and we totted up the scores.

1st Place - Sally 51pts
2nd Place - Me 37pts
3rd Place - Evilginger 36pts
4th Place - Carole 32pts
5th Place - Phil 26pts

[Zarniwoop]

We spread over two tables again this week with Phil, Sal and Carole on one table, Myself Richard and Dave on the other.

Our table started off playing Ice Flow The aim of this game is to try and get your 3 explorers across the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia using drifting ice flows as 'stepping stones' on your trek from east to west. Climb pack ice ridges using rope, and avoid polar bears using fish.

The pieces are very nice and well presented and although it takes a little while to get to grips with what you are doing it plays ok. The various
resources very quickly get in short supply which then requires moving ice flows off the board to replenish the stocks. We came across a problem during play where one player (me) managed to blockade the other players last men back at the start. Whilst I would play this again this is not a game I would add to my collection. It just did not grab me, having looked at the game online and seeing how nice it looked I was looking forward to playing this but was left a little wanting.

Richard then got me and Dave to play a game of Race for the Galaxy, Richard won this game but I did get fairly close this time.

For our last game we played Stone Age I did manage to get some of the setup wrong but aside from that we had a good game of this. I still really like this game and it is always a pleasure to play, even though I managed to lose again!!. We ended up having to call this as Richard had to leave but we did have a good go at it and it was fun to play. There is a lot to think about on this game and you have to remember to watch what the others players are up to.

[Oskar]

MARAKESH
A Game for up to four players this is a simple game to get into,   you have carpets to lay on a board around the marker, you  throw a dice and move the marker round the board laying your carpets on the adjacent squares to your finishing position, [avoiding the other players carpets] if you land on another players carpet you have to pay him/her 1 coin  for each carpet owned by that player in that group, when laying your carpets it is important to try and split up their groups of carpets, this will mean you pay less if you land on them again. 
The game ends when all the carpets are used, the winner is the one with the most carpet squares showing once counted.

I really liked this game, I would definitely play this again and possibly buy it.     
         ------------------------------
RUMIS

If you have ever played Tetris then you know this game, it is a 3D version of the computer game and it was great fun.

There are areas you can only have 1 brick high then some with  2 bricks high and 3 bricks high ,if you have the full four players the centre is 4 bricks high.
 
You have to touch your own coloured piece to play your next piece and try to cover your opponents bricks too, but not to early or they will do the same to you !

The game ends once everyone has played all their pieces, the colours left showing from above are counted and the one with the most is the winner.
Another good one !!               

[Zarniwoop]

Due to Sal n Phil having a Holiday !! (Yeah I know) we relocated to the Anglers Club just over the bridge. There was a small but dedicated band there to play a few games. It was unfortunate that Phil neglected to tell the Landlord of the club we would be there that weds so one person who turned up before the rest of us gave up and didn't come back.

Anyway, that evening we started off with Crazyfrog showing us Killer Bunnies this looked like a really fun game, and the few rounds we managed to get in made it look like it would be crazy funny. As it was looking like an all night game and Neil turned up we abandoned this and Neil set up a game of Ys.

This is a really good game and players take the role of gem merchants in a city and by a bidding system consisting of open and hidden bids (done with wooden cylinders with numbers) you obtain Victory points, gems, influence the market value of gems, obtain cards that allow you to take additional actions on your turn etc.. It is a very neat game and involves a certain amount of thinking and strategy. The board and pieces are well made and I would recommend this game.

[Zarniwoop]

We had a small number this week so our first game was Tinners Trail
this is a really nice looking game based around Tin & Copper mining in Cornwall.

The game plays over 4 Turns and there is a lot to think about each turn as you have a variety of different actions you can take each requiring a number of time points. Each player has 10 time points to spend each turn and as these are spent the players move there pieces up a time point track which then determines play order for the next turn.

I really liked this game, but it does have a lot of down time as players mull over their options. I would play this again but I doubt I would buy it myself.

After completing the Tinners Trail we split up, Richard and Phil played a game of Race for the Galaxy which I am informed Phil won!

The rest of us went on to play a couple of rounds of Tsuro.
This remains a very enjoyable game that has not lost it's appeal after playing it several times. It scales well having played it with 2, 5 and 6 players thus far. I would still recommend this game to anyone.

[Zarniwoop]

This week we played a game of Thebes with 4 players. We played this with the 3 player setup enabling the game to play much more like the 2-3 player game. This was played with myself, Crazyfrog, Oskar and Richard and was a very enjoyable game. Due to some poor shuffling on my part we got through the exhibitions rather quickly  . Crazyfrog and Richard seemed to monopolise the Specialist Knowledge of Palastina. There is a lot to do in this game and whilst there is an element of luck to it I feel this just makes the theme of the game. The final scores for this one were:

Richard:	90
Me:	58
Crazyfrog:	53
Oskar:	39

We then played a couple of games of Tsuro which is certainly becoming a favourite and is always a fun game to play.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Place Holder will fill in details later:

Tonight there was a lot of merriment as I managed to outdo Phil's confusion from the other week and many people made comments during a game of Bang which had everyone falling around with laughter 

Tsuro
While we were waiting for people to arrive, become free we filled in with this favourite. However, despite witnessing a 3 way elimination in our 4 player game I still went on to try and explain about how Crazyfrog could exchange his cards with the eliminated players despite the fact he was one of the 3 eliminated leaving me as a winner DOH! 

Tiki Mountain
Due to extra people turning up we abandoned our planned game in favour of this fun little gem to accommodate everyone. This was fun as always, aside from managing to let Philsy leg it to the volcano almost uncontested. He made it and passed the final test to sacrifice himself to save the island and villages from the Angry Volcano God.

Mamma Mia!
In Need of a light fluffy game and because at least one player had never played it before we got this out. I love this game, its simple, fun and extremely easy to play, that said I played this really badly and left myself a hand full of recipes and very few ingredients hampering my chances in later rounds.

Bang!
I had never played but had heard a lot about this game. I have to say I really liked this game, it was great fun especially with all the really funny statements people made with reference to the main title. It has to be said these were made in innocence but the innuendo was plain to see by everyone else which made this a perfect  end to the evening.
I will look forward to playing more of this given the opportunity.

[Zarniwoop]

ok, I have missed a few weeks so I am going to merge a few weeks together for this write up.

This week for the first time I bought and played a game on the same night. The game was Traders of Carthage and after reading the rules, which confused a lot of people, we started to play. After the first round or so the rules made a lot more sense and it turns out the game is a lot of fun to play, I did not win which is no great surprise but thoroughly enjoyed this and it is a worthy addition to my collection.

The following week the shop was closed and we were meant to be at the Anglers, but after some confusion and things being shut we ended up at the Coopers  where we played Kill Dr Lucky a couple times which is a very fun, quick little game. Then we had a game of Traders of Carthage which everyone enjoyed playing again (I still did not win  ).

Finally we planned to start the Arkham Horror Summer Tournament at the shop, we posted a list of characters so people could pre-select them, Crazyfrog picked out all the fixed items for the characters so we could start as soon as possible. We moved the table into position, set the game up and began playing our first scenario. After a good few rounds, where we were not doing too badly, we had to abandon the game. The problem was it had been a hot day and the shop was still hot in the evening leaving everyone struggling to concentrate so rather than spoil the game we decided to call it quits and play something a little lighter. So we broke out Tiki Mountain which proved a perfect choice to end the evening with as this is a fun little game which is uncomplicated to play .

[Zarniwoop]

This week we played a game of Mwahahaha! which again took most of the night to play with 5 playing. This is a very beautiful game and is always fun to play but is a long game to play.  Players take on the role of mad scientists trying to take over the world competing to build their doomsday devices to a level that can threaten the world. The first player to successfully threaten the world wins.

[Zarniwoop]

This week we started by playing a game of On The Underground which is based unsurprisingly on the London Underground. Players take it in turn to lay tracks on the underground map, each turn there are 4 destination cards where the passenger will go to. The passenger moves to a destination with the least walking, then the least number of lines. So placing of you tracks is important based on the current available destinations, some of which are express stops which the passenger will go to first then will go on to the next ordinary stop. Players score points when the passenger crosses one of their lines or when they join main line stations, or a terminus, or connect two matching symbols which are placed on the board during setup. This is really a fun game which is quick to play with lots of replayability.

After that we played a game of It's Alive which is just a really great game, beautiful pieces, simple rules and lots of fun. This game was won by in the end by Carole.

Finally we had a game of Guillotine another quick and fun little game where you take of the heads of French nobles. This is a great little game that is a firm favourite and is perfect for round of the evening with.

[Zarniwoop]

We started the evening off with a quick game of Bohnanza which is a really fun little game that always involves plenty of bean related jokes which seem a natural side effect of the game

The basic idea is to plant sets of similar beans in your two bean fields, the more you have the more they are worth when you harvest them. You trade with other players in order to get the beans you need, as you have to play the cards in your hand in the order they are dealt. Also on your turn you have to plant your first bean card even if that means you have to harvest a bean field early in order to make room for it.
Once you have played your bean you turn over two more face up beans from the deck, you then have to trade, give away or plant these beans.  It's a unique, simple and highly enjoyable mechanic making for very interesting games, though I would say this game plays better with 3 or more people. We had 6 people playing in our game and Phil managed to win piping Carole and Sally who were joint second.

We then split up into two games, Sally and co went off to play several rounds of Buckets, whilst we broke out my new copy of San Juan.

In this game you aim to build 12 buildings, each worth varying amounts of VP's. Each turn you pick a role which allows you a bonus when taking the role's action. In order to build a building you have to pay its value in cards from your hand, some buildings produce goods when that action is taken, others have special functions which aid you during the game, others just have VP values.

It is a great little game and whilst it does rely on a certain amount of luck with the cards there is plenty of scope for strategy especially when deciding on when and what role to pick.

After a fairly long game where Roy looked to be romping home with several large value buildings being in play, Phil yet again managed to pip him in the final tally to win by 5 points. It is safe to say that yet again I have been beaten in a game I have bought I'm beginning to see a pattern here that I don't like...

[CrazyFrog]

Tonight we played a game we had voted for (shocking)


Pandemic

Players Sally, Oscar, Zarni, Crazy

This is a great team building game, forget going up a mountain to a log cabin for team building exercise play this.

You and your team are playing against the board, it can be over in 5 minutes (board wins) or you can last 45 mins and still win or lose.

The first game the board won, we couldn't stop the outbreak.

The second game, having an idea of a strategy, we organised the team and won.

The medic is the most useful character in the game as it help to remove the infection in the country your in.

Remembering the locations of the outbreaks is very useful as when the cards get stacked due to an outbreak those countrys will get hit again first and could cause futher outbreaks if > 3 infections exist.



Tsuro


Players Sally, Oscar, Zarni, Crazy

One quick game to end the evening, its a great fun game with easy rules ( see the review )

[CrazyFrog]

Yet again a game we played for 1 week earlier got played (yiphee)


Power Grid
========

Players Oscar, Zarni, Phil, Philsz, Crazy


A good game of building big business, you build power stations, buy fuel, then build connections to cities.

Every round you power the number cities your power station can supply you get money to spend in the next round

The problems are other players can build into cities cutting off you future building plans and the cost of fuel flutates based on supply and demand.

So alot of planning is require per round and guessing where the other players could go.


The map contains 6 building areas of which you can only build in 5.

The first section each player can buy a power station based on auctioning rules and highest scoring player going first.
Second section you buy fuel with the lowest scoring player going first
Third section you build into cities with the lowest scoring player going first.

The starting order per section is a very nice game balancing mechanic.


The game has 3 steps, these are sections of the cities you can connect too.
each step means it costs more to build into the city if someone else is there.

The game ends when a player has connected 15 cities, but the player who can power the most cities and has them on that turn is the winner.

The leadership of the board swung around between the players, but when it was realised that Phil could win, it was too late (by 1 round) to stop him.

[Zarniwoop]

Tonight we played Carcassonne: New World, which is a new Carcassonne variant. It has similarities to Hunters and Gatherers but has some new tricks up it's sleeve. The tiles have more of a fixed area in which to lay them and you also have the Surveyors which move everytime someone scores a tile. Anything behind the Surveyor when he moves, except pieces laid down, are returned to the player. In this way you tend to go for those long shot scoring combo's in the knowledge if it does not pan out you will most likely get your piece back to place elsewhere. This really changes the strategies employed during the game which helps to make it very interesting. A really good game with bags of replayability.

As seems to be the norm on these occasions I managed to not win this one but it was a good game.

We then played Traders of Carthage which is always fun to play and a good little game. Sally & Carole ended up joint winners, leaving me yet again a loser n this game. One day I will work out where I am going wrong and actually win a game of this 

[Zarniwoop]

Tonight we played RA is a strangely fascinating game. The pieces are very nice and the theme very interesting. The mechanics are quite well thought out and the game itself is essentially an auction game where you aim to collect sets of tiles to score at the end of the game. The system for bidding is very good and balances the game well. I thoroughly enjoyed this game.