Spirit Games Wednesday Night - 2014

[Zarniwoop]

Regular Burton Board Gaming at Spirit Games on Wednesday nights

We play a selection of new releases and old favourites, starting at 7.00pm and going on up to midnight. All are welcome, click on the articles link to get an idea of what we have been playing over the past year or two.

Contact Details:
salnphil@spiritgames.com

[Zarniwoop]

8th Jan 2014

Well we started off the New Year with a game of Eldritch Horror the brilliant new game from Fantasy Flight Games set in the Arkham Horror (Cthulhu Mythos) universe. Whilst this games does share a lot of common ground with Arkham Horror it is definitely its own game. The rules have been streamlined and once players get into the game then the turns start to rattle along quite quickly, they have also split the rulebook so you have a rulebook with the basics to get going then a reference book with fuller details. The game now has a Mythos deck built according to the Ancient one, there are also decks specific to the Ancient one in play making the theme more specific in play. Clues are now much more thematic as you have to take a successful research encounter in order to collect them. These research encounters are one of the decks specific to the Ancient one in play. In order to win players need to complete 3 mysteries, the other Ancient one Deck, each of these require the investigators to complete different tasks to succeed. Combat is much easier to handle with this game and again benefits from the streamlined approach taken with the other rules. For me the game is much slicker, the theme is even more integrated than Arkham Horror and the game is extremely tough. I have now played this 3 times against Azathoth and have lost each time, in fact the results getting worse each time. However, to put this into context each game has been played with different players so no real learning curve involved, other than my own. The game last night started off in a very bad way right from end of setup, players were forced to immediately fight any monsters on their location. This resulted in several players getting hurt right away which did not bode well. After the initial third full turn we had already lost our first character and then during the rest of the game we ended up with 4 investigator fatalities as the bad mythos events ramped up the worldwide horror. We did not play to completion but after 3-4 hours, 4 deaths, only 2/3rds of the way into completing our first mystery and with The Spinner of Webs also one Reckoning away from ending the world we decided to call this one another loss. Great game, great group of players who all bought into the theme and atmosphere of the game hopefully enjoying the experience. I will have to try this again as surely we can win at least once

[EvilGinger]

This is not an easy game but I do want to play it again given time & get my revenge - thought I will correct Zarni the first investigator made it to turn 3 after a bad run of luck - half killed before the game began  which saw him delayed and finally detained before being beaten to death on the first reckoning. it was a n omen for the game & it frankly kept us all on the back foot & kicked the stuffing out of us over and again.

Next time its personal.

 Ginger

[Zarniwoop]

15th Jan 2014

Another good turn out tonight with a good mix of games being played as normal, thanks to Phil and Sally for letting us invade their shop until late whilst tempting them away from their work to play in games

One of the new games played tonight was Concordia


The almost now obligatory Pathfinder game


On another table was Twin Tin Bots


On our table we got under way with two games of Trieste


This is exactly a 3 player game where you play as either Thieves,  Merchants or City Guards each with thier own unique deck of cards and winning goals. Each faction needs to work against the other two in order to achieve their winning conditions, though there is a slight bias against one faction, for example the City Guard deck is mostly against the thieves but does have cards to thwart the Merchant. With careful playing of cards you can both work towards your own goal whilst attempting to thwart the other two. Really nice little game, the cards are of good quality stock and the artwork is rather excellent two.

On another table the group got a game of Cyclades under way, another favourite of the Wednesday night group:


After our games of Trieste we got a game of PI under way:


This is a really nice game where players are handed a set of three cards detailing a Crime, Location and suspect with each player trying to deduct what the player next round in playing order has. The mechanism's in these game are really effective and implemented really well. You need to try and be the first to deduce your targets cards but get it wrong and you get penalties which can hurt later.  Great game always fun to play but not necessarily easy

Finally another new game got played Walk the Plank looks great fun but have yet to get a game of this myself...

[EvilGinger]

In the absence of the full team to play Pathfinder the rise of the Rue lords I spent most of the evening playing Ankike a splendidly simple and sadly out of print Roundel style empire building game game an opportunity not to be missed. On which subject I did miss out on a game of Caverna however as its owner was convinced it would not play well or fast enough for five plus even though the game is designed to run with up to seven players.

Still I have my own copy & will have to give a big game a go just to see if that is the case if nothing else.


 Ginger

[Zarniwoop]

22nd Jan 2014
We started the evening off trying out one of Pete's games from his LARGE collection this one was called: Mafioso, I had not seen or heard of this one and during the rules explanation was a little wary. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. You all play a mob boss trying to build up your gang, build fronts for your nefarious activities which earn you points for the end. To achieve this you take one action from a list, the cards are either gang members you can play in front of you or Business fronts or illegal activities you attach to a front you already have. You can attack or cards can allow you to steal "business" away from another gang and so on...

It feels like a grown up version of family business where you have more planning and strategy available, it was really fun to play and plays in a reasonable time.

Scores: Paul:8, Caz:4, Sally:3, Pete:2 and Sam:1



We then played Dwarven Miner which is a fantastic little game where you roll dice to obtain resources you can spend to craft items, these items in turn can be used to adorn your patrons. The patrons score you points and also provide in game bonus effects either continuous or one-time, players are competing to be the first to score 30points. Resources can be kept between turns in your backpack, as can items but beware some of the dice allow players to steal. You could keep unused resources and items in vaults, which you can construct, but if another player rolls enough steal symbols they can take the entire vault!... You can also roll Orcs, which you have to keep but which can not be re-rolled, you choose to re-roll dice until you have what you need or all Orcs

It is great fun to play the artwork is just superb and the theme is dwarves, what is not to like there!!.

Scores: Sally:30, Caz:25 and Paul/Sam: 23,

[Zarniwoop]

29th Jan 2014
First game of the evening was Ticket to Ride Asia a new twist on Ticket to Ride where you can play a 6 player game but in teams of 2. I have only played the basic Ticket to Ride once before, but enjoyed it, so was up for trying a new twist on a classic game. In the team version you both still have you own secret hand of cards and tickets but there is now a common pool visible to both team members, the rub though is that you are not allowed to discuss amongst the team any aspect of the game!!.... Yup its a team game where you are not really allowed to work directly as a team you have to second guess your partners intent and try to avoid hindering them!! It was a novel twist but quite frankly this hurt my brain .... A LOT..... in fact so much so here:

I used 3 cards from the common pool to build the straight Green line of 3, when we clearly already had the link by another route, which Carole needed to complete a Ticket she had in her hand thus robbing us a quite a few points. Though because of the no-talking-tactics-or-strategy-thing we only found that out after the game ended. Plus there was a much better tack to lay for me I ended up doing the following turn.

For me this Non-Team Team thing just doesn't work as whilst it may make the game more social, as you have to talk about things other than the game, it makes the gameplay much harder and in the process less fun. However, I'm sure that for some people this aspect may make it all the more enjoyable. I'm glad I got the chance to give it a go but I think I prefer the more standard game if given a choice.

Scores: Team1 (Paul & Carole):94, Team2 (Adam & Sam):29 and Team3 (Martin and Chris):166


We then played a couple of rounds of Bucket King, a classic filler for the Wednesday night gamers, with Caz then Philsy the respective winners. Great fun and it was nice to inflict sorry introduce some new players to this, sadly, out of print game.

Final game of the night was Citadels,
This is always one of those games that people think of getting out late into the evening with fond memories of playing it but forgetting that with a full compliment it ALWAYS takes longer than you think...

Starting with the player who is currently "King" each player in turn selects a role from a set of cards (Assassin, Thief, Magician, King, Bishop, Merchant, Architect, Warlord) these roles determine turn order and each has special roles within the game. The aim is to get the most points, gained by building various buildings which have different values. The game ends when the first person builds 8 buildings, then the person with the most points wins. Bonus points are to be had for having buildings in multiple districts (there are 5 different coloured districts).

Certain buildings have special abilities which aid you in a variety of ways. You build by paying the value of the building which can be 1-8 gold. On your turn you can take cards or gold tax certain districts (1 gold per building) depending on the role you selected. Each role has a specific function they can do which allows you to do extra things on your turn.

Another thing I must remember is that the one aspect I dislike about the game is that the Assassin role is a little too harsh, the good news is that the later editions of the game came with an expansion built in taht provides alternative characters. I have still to try a game using these but they look more balanced allowing for a better experience for all players.

Good game, though we had to sadly call it short as it was getting rather late (see my comments earlier      ).
Scores: Adam/Phil:11, Paul:9, Martin:8, Sal:?, Philsy:? (Not sure if the last two were 0 or I didnt grab them <SIGH> )

[Zarniwoop]

5th Feb 2014
Caz got grabbed into a game of Antike, which I was not up for that evening, so I elected to grab some sleeves to complete Sleeving my copy of RedShirts. A new face turned up, so once I finished sleeving, we set about a quick game of Hive.


This is a great little game and easy to teach, though a lot harder to get your head round the strategy. Neil turned up not long after finishing that so, after some debate and trying to entice some players away from Pete's table but failing, we settled on a game of The End of the Triumvirate.



This was actually quite a nice game where there are different ways to win, political, militarily or by gaining max skills in both. I really quite enjoyed this, I even ended up going quite military in the end unusually for me.
There was a lot of player interaction, though sadly for Neil most of this went his way making it tough for him to come back. The rest of us got around to trying to diminish each others chances later.

Great game that I would try again as it does have some quite interesting mechanics, especially the combat which is really quite simple and elegant.

Finally we played a game of Skull & Roses which is kind of a bluffing game, in a similar vein to Liars dice or perudo. Each player has a set of discs with Roses on and one of them has a skull, each player puts down a disc then the start player either places a second down or bids for how many Roses they can turn over (including ALL of their own). If the start player does not bid then the next can place another disc or bid and so on. Once the bidding has started the next player has to bid more or call the previous players bluff.

If you guess right you win and turn over you player marker to show you have a point, a second points wins, if you lose then you lose a disc at random from your hand.

Really fun little game that can end very quickly or go on a little longer depending on how things pan out

Some images from the evening:

[Zarniwoop]

12th Feb 2014

We came in tonight and found Sam and Sally had built up Rampage a game where players are monsters attacking a meeple city to devour the meeples and their buildings. You have a couple of actions each turn, movement is achieved by taking your monster off of its "feet", which is a disc, and flicking your feet towards where you wish to go. If your feet land on the pavement next to a building you can then "Drop" you monster onto the building as another action any meeples knocked onto the ground in your area can be eaten and if a section of floor is empty of meeples you can eat them. There are other options around throwing vehicles, other monsters etc. but I won't go into that here. Each monster has a set of teeth and throughout the game these may be lost and effect how much you can eat in one go. This is just chaotic fun from start to finish, each monster has a character, an ability and a secret super power all of which have some delightfully silly names and artwork. Great fun game that has some well designed components and the artwork is superb.

Next we played a game of EDO this is a fun game where players choose their actions using an innovative tile system that works quite well. Based in historic Japan where players are helping to build Edo into what would become Tokyo. We  had to end this early due to time constraints and therefore we didn't play a complete set of turns but we got a reasonable sense of how it plays and I will certainly be wanting another game of this soon. You all start with a similar set of action options but can obtain extra action cards during the game to provide more variety. In a turn players choose 3 actions from their hand of tiles (start with 3 tiles) and place them on a holder in the order they want to take them. Each starting tile has 4 actions on it, to select the action you place the tile with intended action on the bottom in the slot. Actions are taken in turn order starting with the leftmost tile for each player and then the next etc. etc. There is a lot going in this game and it has that nice level of frustration where you want to do everything each turn but have to make tough choices. The starting actions tiles have key actions on the same tiles so by getting different action tiles you extend the choices you can make. Excellent game, I ended up having to pimp my start player marker as the one supplied in the game is a little understated to say the least

Well that was another wed night over and here are some pictures of the other games being played:

[EvilGinger]

I am likely not going to be attending for a bit, I think I have been over doing it so need to give something a rest and this is the easiest to drop out of

 Ginger

[Zarniwoop]

19th Feb 2014

Tonight we played Belfort which is a truly beautiful game, the artwork on both the cards and the various boards is just superb. On the main segmented board each segment has the same set of buildings but yet each one has subtle differences in the artwork. It is this attention to detail that just draws you into this game. A worker placement style game but where the ultimate goal is area control to score points. There are plenty of choices to be made here and the game is a lot of fun and usually generates quite a lot of jokes around the table and tonight was no exception One of the best games in my collection and always a pleasure to play. Scores: Caz:36, Paul:41, Sam:48

Here are some pictures of the other games being played:

[Spirit Games]

26th February 2014

This week Paul brought down Francis Drake. Paul and Carole had run through a round of the game previously to get an idea of the rules and mechanics of the game, but for the rest of us it was new. Apart from a couple of minor mistakes (which, although altering the game slightly didn't matter as they affected us all equally) the game play went very smoothly. The first round everyone had the "oh no! I should have done that differently" moments, but that's just the learning curve. By the end of the game we all knew basically what we wanted to do, but in the manner of this type of game, were either beaten to what we wanted, had to compromise with what we had or try to scupper the opposition.



Starting at 8pm with 5 players was maybe a bit ambitious, but we were pleasantly surprised that the game fitted well into the time we had even with reading the rules first. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it's a pity we can't get it back in stock.

Scores: Phil won, closely followed by Sam, the Paul, Sally and Carole.

The other games played were Race for the Galaxy which Richard won, Skull & Roses, Glass Road (which was tried as a 2 player and worked very well) and Factory Manager.

[Spirit Games]

12th February 2014

Tonight Sam bought down Rampage. I have been wanting to try this ever since it came into the shop. It looked intriguing, silly, fun, I had to have a game. So Sam and I set the game up, and just as we were ready Paul and Carole arrived, so the four of us set about demolishing the buildings. First you have to flick your monster's feet so that they touch a sidewalk next to a building, and then drop your monster on to the building dislodging the meeples. Any meeples left in your area not in a building can then be eaten by your monster. Or you can use the trucks in your area and flick them from your monster onto the buildings, again eating any available meeples in your area. You also collect any empty floors which add to your victory points. Once all the buildings have been destroyed you add up your points to see who has won. To make it more of a challenge, each monster has a special power card which they can use throughout the game, a one off special superpower which you keep to yourself until you use it, and a goal to aim for which give more victory points if achieved.



The game is beautifully produced, with nice chunky wooden pieces, which is just as well as they can go flying all over the place. A fun game for when you don't feel like thinking too hard, and just to add to my enjoyment I won.

Paul, Carole and Sam then went of to play Edo


 
While Phil, Becka, Philsie and I played Ad Astra. I always enjoy this game, but am very bad at it and this time was no exception as I came joint last with Becka who at least had the excuse of never having played before. It looked like Phil was going to pull off a win when Philsie pipped him to the post with only 2 points between them.

Scores were: Philsie 61, Phil 59, Becka/Me 51.

My last game of the evening was Guildhall. I like the mechanic of this game, you are trying to collect sets of characters, but each character card you play has an ability which you use before adding it to your Guildhall. As these actions include traders and assassins there is a fair bit of player interaction, especially when a player looks like they may be getting ahead. It is also a game where even if it looks like you are behind you can still manage to sneak a win from under the other players noses, which is what I managed to do.



Pictures taken by Zarniwoop.

[Zarniwoop]

I've been a bit remiss of late recording games played by the Wed night group at Spirit Games and I will try and do a better job going forward, though I am only one of about a dozen or more people who attend this event frequently. I need to arm twist a few others to post some details here, as I would like to hear how some of the games I am not playing in went like.

Still the group there are a great bunch, despite the large amount of faffing and indecision when in comes to what to play

Recent games have included:
Archon: Glory and Machination which is really a great game, despite a little overkill in the art department. A worker placement style game with a bit of card drafting mixed in. I'm really liking this game and have played it quite a few times recently, hopefully I'll get myself round to writing a review of it soon.
Edo another nice game with a unique mechanic for action selection where you plan your 3 actions placing cards in a certain orientation and in the order to play them. This has been played a few times and I'm liking it more each time I play, some tricky decisions to be made each turn which keeps it interesting.
Around the World in 80 Days an older game but a classic that has always proved popular on the Wed night. A lighter, more family weight game but yet still provides a level of strategic play that suits all levels of players.
King of Tokyo Another favourite filler style game for the Wed crowd. Players roll dice to earn victory points or Energy to buy powerup cards or heal or inflict damage. A really fun little game that accommodates quite a few players and plays really quite quickly.
Keyflower love this game it is great fun to play, though I confess I play it really badly , its not the quickest game to play but it is immense fun with lots of strategic decisions to be made along the way.
Among the Stars which looks to be a really interesting game, though sadly I have yet to get a game of this to find out what it is like to play.

There are many many more games that I have missed but if you want to find out how a game plays or learn a game you own drop by on a Wed night or indeed any of the other gaming events that are organised by Spirit Games and anyone of us there will be only too glad to help out.

Spirit Games go out of their way to provide us with a great gaming space on a regular basis, as well as running a great store. The people that come to play there have a great time, providing a really friendly and open group willing to accept new and experienced gamers alike. I have been going there now for some years and have made some good friends on the back of it, I have always been made to feel welcome and would recommend it for anyone to come along.

Well see you at the next event 16th April, hopefully one of us there will do a writeup of some of the games that get played.

Have fun....

[Zarniwoop]

16th April 2014
We had a bit of a retro gaming week this week playing some of the older games in my collection, which was a welcome change of pace.

We started off the evening with Discover India which is a really easy game to pick up/teach but actually working out how best to place you token to gain maximum points is quite tricky making for a really interesting and strategic game. Players represent tourists visiting India as they visit each city they take a token, which has one or two symbols & Colours on,  which is then replaced immediately from the supply. If the city they visit has a festival token on it they gain a card worth 1 VP at the end, each token is placed on either an exchange space (In the first turn that is the only choice) or directly onto their board but has to go on a space connected to a previous token placed there. At the end of the game players score for chains of similar tokens (so the ones with double tokens can be used for 2 chains) the longer the chain the more points (8+ scoring the most). Each turn players walk or fly to a destination but if someone has flown in the previous turn the next player has to walk which means placing their piece in a city linked to where the previous player went. The piece you collect from the city can be placed directly on your board, swapped for the piece you have on your exchange space and that placed on your board or you can "Buy" a piece from someone else's exchange space. To buy a piece from someone else you lose a VP, they gain a VP and then you swap the piece you collected for their exchange piece and place it on your board. Play continues until all boards have been completed and then they are scored. We had great fun with this one again and really enjoyed playing it. Final Scores: Sam:34, Paul:33 and Caz:29

The second game we played this evening was Kairo. The game has a suggested starting setup for new players and this is certainly worth it for your first game but there is a variant setup rule as well which is worth using for subsequent games. This one of those games where your choices of action are deceptively simple, as in you can take 1 action out of a possible 3 each turn. Build stall     Play a stall card and     a) place a new stall or     b) add an expansion or     c) move a stall Lure a customer to a stall Draw 2 cards All but one of the customers is on the gameboard at any time, as soon as a customer has been to a stall and monies paid that customer is returned to its coloured money pile and the other customer on its money pile is returned to the board at the same market stall. The end game is triggered if, after expanding a stand, the last expansion of a particular colour has been used or if only 1 expansion each is left over of any 2 different colours. The only action players may now perform is Build stall. A player who does not want to build stall or cannot do so quits the game. The other players continue until no more player wants to build stall or cannot do so. The choices are simple but how you use these actions, when to make certain choices all make the execution more complicated and therefore more enjoyable. There is room for strategy here and careful placement of your market stalls is also vital. Once again this was a joy to get to play again and you forget how good some of the older games actually are. Final Scores: Sam:58, Paul:54 and Caz: 36