Games Day report

[kmusser]

I'm back from my weekend of gaming goodness. Games played:

Anno 1503 with the expansion (twice)
Battleline
Caribbean
Ca$h'n Gun$
Guillotine
Elasund: The First City of Catan
Fibonacci
Hacienda
Igel Argern
Kreta
Pallazo
Puerto Rico
St. Petersburg
Ticket to Ride - Marklin Edition
Titan
Tumblin' Dice
Vinci (twice)
Web of Power
Ys


Thursday I arrived after work and first up was Web of Power and St. Petersburg. Then I played a short game of Titan (clocking in at around 3 hours for those keeping track). Closed with Igel Argern (Hedgehogs in a Hurry), which I'll comment on, not because it's new, but because it's kind of hard to find. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to it several years ago by aquariumgirl. It's a simple race game with hedgehogs, the hodgehogs are very cute. The game is that nice combination of quick, ridiculously easy to explain, and still with interesting decisions to be made. Also includes a zillion variants to add to the replay value.

Friday started with quick games of Battleline and Guillotine and then the meatier Vinci. Then I got to my first new game, Anno 1503, which I'd played the basic game before, but the expansion really makes it a different game. The game is by the designer of Settlers and it shows. Basically a exploration and building game. You collect resources via dice and build ships and buildings, the ships are sent off to find more resources to let you grow faster. The expansion adds pirates (always a plus) and some new avenues to victory, giving the game some more depth - a definite improvement. Anyway, after that a quick game of Caribbean and then a break from the con to go help meapet celebrate her birthday (happy birthday!). Back to the con I get talked into a game of Fibonacci before going to bed. This is a two player abstract game that was new to me, really abstract games aren't really my cup of tea and this one was no exception, but it did offer plenty of strategy for those of you into that sort of thing.

Saturday I played the most games including lots of new ones. Old games played included Puerto Rico, and more Vinci and Anno 1503. The first new one was Hacienda. This is a tile laying game in which players are trying to place groupings of different types of tiles and connecting them to markets and water while trying to block off your oppenents from doing to the same. I liked this one, lots of different ways to score points leading to lots of different possible strategies without the rules getting too complicated. Very German-esque flavor, feels kind of like Through the Desert, though I think this one is better. The next new game is Elasund: The First City of Catan, the latest in the Settlers franchise. This is for those people who like Settlers but always wished the game was alot nastier. Basic flow is the same (collect resources and build stuff) except that with enough resources you can build stuff over and destroy your opponents stuff. I'm undecided on whether I like it or not. Next is Ys which is a bidding game - lots and lots of auctions for various stuff with some bids open, some secret, and some counting in more than one auction, plus more auctions to determine what the stuff is worth. Has feel very similar to Aladdin's Dragons, but is not as good IMHO. Tumblin' Dice is for those of that lay awake at night thinking "wouldn't shuffleboard be so much cooler if it used dice instead of pucks." Kreta isn't really new to me as I played it once last year, but another playing and it definitely grew on me - might have to actually seek it out. It's an area control game. You have several possible actions that let you move your pieces in various ways, what's interesting is that only a few of the areas are going to score and you can see the what the next two to score are - sort of defining two areas of contention and you definitely have to chose your fights as you won't be able to cover everything. Plus if you chose to have an area score you have some say in what the next area will be, so might want to do so even if you're not winning in the current area.

Sunday played Pallazo which is another auction game in which you're bidding on building pieces to try and make the nicest buildings. OK, but not compelling, especially with so many other auction games out there. The final game was the wonderfully cheesy and very un-PC Ca$h'n Gun$. You are bank robbers trying to decide how to divide the loot, obviously guns are involved - in the form of actual foam guns to point at each other. Basically a bluffing game, it's cute, not sure it'd be worth the import price though.

Other games that were getting lots of play were Caylus, which I'm not sure how I missed out on (not new to me, but one I really like) and the new Ticket to Ride (Marklin edition). I didn't play the new Ticket to Ride because I played it last week at GCOM-Middletown and wasn't impressed. The new map is Germany and it adds a major new mechanic with passengers - in addition to completing routes you can get a large number of points by planning passanger routes, with the biggest points going to those that use them first. It adds another layer to the game making it dramatically more complex. Those that thought Ticket to Ride was a little too simple will probably really like it, but I think it actually adds too much, making one that was relatively simple to one prone to analysis paralysis.

Comments

[selki.livejournal.com]

Saved a couple of games to try/buy later, thanks!