Monthly Gaming @ Spirit Games - 2014

[Zarniwoop]

12th Jan 2014
Well the plan was to get there early and setup for Firefly: The Boardgame but as usual that did not pan out and I arrived just after 12.


Given the amount of space this game can occupy we grabbed the wargames room table with the addition of wooden table top extension

Each player takes on the role as Captain of their own FireFly class ship, they each pick a Captain card with each one having their own abilities to assist your endeavours in the 'verse. You pick a story card which outline the goals your Captain will need to achieve to win the game and what changes (if any) are made to the initial setup rules.

You each start with some job cards which can be legal/illegal and each one tells you where you need to start the Job, any pre-requisites needed etc. It also shows you what payment will be made upon successful completion. If you complete a Job you get a Solid rep with that contact which brings additional rewards and options you can utilise as you venture through the 'verse.

There are numerous actions you can choose between each turn but can only take 2, and they have to be different. Travelling the 'verse is dangerous so when you attempt this you can either mosey along slowly or take a Full Burn but doing this means you have to draw navigation cards (Alliance or Reaver depending on the sectors you are in) some are just "Keep Flying" others require skill checks or cause events or move the Alliance Cruiser or Reaver Ships .

All in all the Atmosphere and theme of the game suits the Firefly Universe very well, though one caveat to that is the first game is hard work as the rulebook is certainly not the best. Once you get a hang of how things work the game flows quite quickly and there are plenty of hard choices to be made along the way.

This needs a huge table, the board is quite big and there are a LOT of decks of cards each needing there own discard space, each player shipboard needs space around it for drive cards, upgrades, crew, jobs and cards to show being "Solid" with contacts. You really need to find an efficient use of space to fit this on smaller tables then there is only so much you can do

The new expansions seem to be adding more cards and options which look like they will improve the gameplay somewhat as well as adding some additional player interaction options.

There were three of us in this game Jason, Evilginger and Jason, after setting things up and putting out the Introductory story, available from the official Firefly: The Boardgame website we got started.

I have to confess that this 1-2 Hour scenario took us about 4-5 hours to complete, but that was due to the fact that none of us were particularly rushing to reach the Goals to win. A great time was had at the table as we just enjoyed playing in the 'verse and getting immersed into the atmosphere of the game. We also spent a lot of time gassing about Firefly and other topics on interest whilst playing. In the end Jason started to forge ahead and in the end completed the final Goal with the rest of us with the first Goal completed still trying to complete the last 2. There it could have ended but Jason and the rest of us really didn't want the game to end so we continued with Jason flying to meet us at the key locations to trade items in order to assist both of us to complete our Goals. This really worked out quite well untill a last minute hitch in the form of the Reaver ship hitting our sector

There was a lot of laughter around the table as events transpired to hinder all of our progress with the Alliance catching smuggling runs or the Reavers blockading planets. I really could not sum up all of the hilarious events that happened during that game as there was just so much going on there was no way for me to take any serious notes.

I will definitely have to play this again, though I guess this will have to be limited to conventions, monthly gaming or anytime I have a large chunk of time to spare but I know it will be great fun when I do.

The only other game I got to play that  day was 7-Wonders



We played with expansions and as always this was immense fun and remains one of my favourite card games, that I do not own
I don't have a copy of the scores, as Chris was working these out, but I didn't do too bad and I think I may even be getting the hang of this one finally

Google+ Album
Slideshow from the Day:

[Zarniwoop]

9th Feb 2014
So we had the second monthly gaming session of 2014 at Spirit Games where we had a good turnout throughout the day.

When we arrived there were a few early birds just starting off with a game of King of Tokyo so we joined in. This is always good fun with plenty of table banter and this game proved no different. My dice tower Xmas pressy got some use, though sad to say it did help me to win, that honour went to caz. A brilliant stroke of genius where she looked a gonner then pulled a win under all of our noses, well done!!!!


The next game was Vasco da Gama this is a really well executed worker placement game with a unique mechanism for choosing the order you take actions. Each player takes a number from a pool and adds it to their action disc the area that they wish to take an action, however when it comes to taking the actions a card is turned over that moves a marker in the area the numbers came from. This then determines the cost actions, below the marker is free and each place above the marker costs 1 coin. The actions are recruiting sailors and captains, entertaining a character who then provides you a bonus, a planning area where you get ship plans and a navigation area where you can launch your ships.

This was a really enjoyable game that I had always heard good things about but had never got to play. It took way longer than the box said but we did a lot of gas bagging around the table and there was a lot of amusing banter. On the whole a great game I look forward to playing again now I actually have a clue about what I am doing

Final Scores (Pictured below, Sam:Yellow, Paul:Red, Martin:Black and Andy:Blue)


Next up, after a bit of debating as always , we got a game of Glory to Rome which is always good fun and has been a favourite of the Wednesday night group for some time only superseded by Uchronia which has been nicknamed glory to dinosaur.  The leader selects a role from his hand of cards or decides to think to draw cards. If a role is played then each other player gets a chance to follow by playing a similar card or think. In this way players use actions to build buildings, gain influence and place cards in their vaults for points. The cards do multiple tasks and they work well in this game, there is obviously more complicated rules than I have explained but you get the basic idea. Really enjoy this game and always willing to give it a go. Andy:5, Richard:12, Paul:14, Martin:19 and Sam:24


We also had a go with Fresco an older game that we have not played in a long time but no the less very enjoyable, in fact I had forgotten how much I like this game. I will have to get this back to the table again soon in order to try the many expansions I have for it.


Followed by another old classic, RoboRally, always great fun if a little chaotic and silly. We managed to introduce a couple of new players into this wacky world of racing robot mayhem, which has just got to be good no?!


We finished of the day with some quick games of The Three Little Pigs which is a dice game where you try and build the best houses and survive the wolves to score then at the end. Great fun game that provides a suitable end of evening or filler between games.

I will update this post later with some pictures and some additional scoring

Slideshow from the Google+ Album :

[Zarniwoop]

14th Sept 2014 - We had another of the monthly gaming sessions at Spirit Games, this one also included a few Roleplayers doing a D&D Session which was nice.

I'm sorry to say that not only have I not posted here for a while with previous sessions I also managed to not take any pictures from this last one poor show all round really.....

Anyways,

We started off with a game of 7-Wonders, which I tool part in and managed not to come last so that's good This is a great game that can be taught quite quickly, though everyone was more or less familiar with it this time round. It scales really well and gives you multiple ways to score, allowing you to adapt as things change around you. Really enjoyed this game and managed to score better than I thought I would at the start of it all.

Next up was a game of Yunnan, as the initial group split up to accommodate other players etc. I really like this game but have yet to really to grips with how to play it well. On the plus side I managed not to come last in this game so things must be getting slightly better eh!.

The next game we played was Istanbul, which is a really fun little game with simple mechanics so is easy to pickup. The gameplay is easy but there is room here for strategy and planning which will then enable you to work towards winning. Nice game that has a lot of re-playability and is always welcome on the tabletop to play.

The last game of the day was Glass Road an excellent game which has some high quality components and oodles of options. Each game I have played has been different and there is plenty of ways for players to achieve victory, for me I managed to build some end game scoring buildings only to spend the resources that would have scored doing other things thereby significantly reducing my score.. Ahh well next time I may get the hang of this and score more

Really great day of gaming and worth popping along if you are free on a Sunday. Plenty of games are available from the Library in the shop or the regular attendee's who all have large collections

See you next month and I will try and take some pictures next time....