Spirit Games Wednesday Night - 2012

[EvilGinger]

10th of April
I could only stay for one game tonight but I had a splendid time playing Mission Red Planet a Victorian scifi themed are a control game  about the claiming of mineral reserves on Mars, with a number of nice twists. Which is fun & relatively quick to play & which I much to my surprise won by a country mile with its owner coming in last as is often traditional.



The game however is sadly out of print at the moment but well worth a try if you see it at Raiders or Beer & Pretzels

I left the remaining players starting a game of Gubbs which I would have liked to join in on but 4am starts are not fun after night outs however sober  




 Ginger

[carldjcross]

We've played Kairo the last couple of weeks. I assume the K is to differentiate it from other similarly named games with a C. It's one if Paul's new acquisitions.

Kairo is an area control game where players compete to build the biggest and most attractive stall in a North African bazaar and to attract customers to it at the expense of your neighbours.

Once sated at a store of a particular colour customers change their minds and start eyeing up goods of another colour. The trick then is not only to attract customers to your stall but also to put yourself in an advantageous position in the turns ahead.

Owners if the biggest stalls get bonus tokens which move Catan style as the situation changes. It's also worth remembering that not all stalls were created equal so pick your targets with care.

There's also an element of prescriptive movement where, like Kingdom Builder you can only build or modify stalls if you have the card for the corresponding location.

Our first game was won by Carole and I think Andy won my second but his first.

[CardcoreGamer]

GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE! Mission: Red Planet is back in print and back in stock! Now you can lose playing your own copy, just like me!

[EvilGinger]

Good isn't it the curse of playing a game you own spreads yet further, however it did not seem to apply to Chaos in the old world last night which you won hands down. I would write a detailed report but I am afraid I was so Knackered by the end I just wanted the game to end & Martin to stop TALKING  . I was however a good game and until my personal endurance gave out a couple of turns before the end. I would love to play it again when less tired.



I would also rather like tom give it a go with the Horned Rat Expansion some time as well.



 Ginger

[CardcoreGamer]

The expansion is an interesting one; it offers a replacement set of Chaos Cards and Upgrade Cards which allow Khorne better ability to win on points (and an upgrade card that makes this a little too easy), but if you believe the statistical analysis from BoardGameGeek (pinch of salt as always) it basically makes Nurgle all-but-impossible to win with.

That said, the Horned Rat as a fifth player is integrated very well and is balanced well with the other four, which is no mean feat! I like how his Dial Advancement is all about swarming Skaven all over the map as he places no corruption tokens at all.

[EvilGinger]

Very interesting  comments & I always take the Geek with a pinch of salt when it comes to player feed back as the comments are usually biased individually & only really representative en-mass. People on the Geek tend to have strong feelings about games be a bit picky being spoiled for choice nowadays & not shy about posting said feelings.

 Ginger

[Sunshine the Werewolf]

We managed to get a five player game t'other night and the rat is sure a tricky one to play by the looks of it! I was Khorne and won (I see a pattern forming here...) but Nurgle came very, very close. Mind you, we were playing with the original deck rather than the expansion deck so I don't know whether that would have affected the rat man's chances?

[Zarniwoop]

Over the last few months I have been a bit lax in writing up our wed night Sessions at shop, real life just seems to have gotten in the way and whilst I have recorded some of the results it is really a little late to remember enough details to do them justice.

I will detail the names of some of those games played over the this time and include the scores, i'll leave the dates out as quite frankly my writing is atrocious and I am not entirely sure on some of them 

On The Underground: Caz:24, Philip:25, Paul:29 and Martin:34
Gubs Played 2 games of this with Martin the winner of both.
Lords of Waterdeep Paul:114, Martin:119 and Caz:122
Stone Age Paul:105, Caz:123, Andy:129 and Chris:164
Around the World in 80 Days Phil, Paul, Caz, Luke and Martin who won
Kairo Carl:42, Paul:49, Caz:49, Andy:70
Bohnanza Philsy:11, Paul:12, Martin:13, Caz:13, Cooper:16, Barry:18
Kingdom Builder Chris:50, Caz:57, Paul:58, neil:65
Mr Jack Pocket Edition Paul(Detective) and Neil(jack) Mr Jack Wins

[Zarniwoop]

23 May 2012

Tried out a new game tonight 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 which makes for a really interesting and strategic game. Players represent tourists visiting India as they visit each city they take a token with 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 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. TOP 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. This is really a fun game providing plenty of enjoyment for repeated plays. Final Scores: Paul:39, Sal:43, Caz:46 and Andy:47

This is really a cute looking game the pieces, artwork and models are all excellent as well being very colourful. The players have the dual task of taking care of the Panda by feeding it bamboo, but also have to look after the emperors bamboo garden keeping the plants growing. There are 3 cards types the players can collect which score for feeding the panda, the layout of the garden or the size and colour of the bamboo grown. There are several actions a player can take each turn but can only take 2 actions but you roll a dice at the start of your turn which provides an additional bonus. This is just FUN and CUTE! there is no more needed to be said, I just loved this game and it always proves popular when brought down on a weds night. Final Scores: Carole:21, Paul:22 and Andy:30

This a fun, cute little game that plays really quickly. It is a little random and crazy but I think is a lot of fun as a start or end game of the evening. Final scores: Andy:0, Caz:1 and Paul:3

[Zarniwoop]

30th May 2012

Tonight we played The Castles of Burgundy, this was my first play of this, with Richard providing the rules explanation. This components for this game are nice, there being plenty of tiles and double sided playing boards with a few extras so there is plenty of options for varied play in future. The suggestion for the first game is every player should use one of the boards sides with a number 1 on it. The boards are a little thin and the colour difference between tiles can be hard in poor light but overall the quality is not that bad. The game plays over five rounds with players rolling 2 dice, the first player rolls an extra white dice which determines where the good for that turn will go. In their turn players can use their dice in the following ways: use the number to collect a tile from the corresponding depot into one of the holding spaces on the board Add a tile from their holding area onto their building area(has to martch the die number, be adjacent to another tile and be the only building of that type in that region Sell goods matching the die number gaining vp Or spending a die to gain Workers (used to modify die results +/-1) Placing certain tiles in your build area allows for additional actions or bonuses. Once per turn players can elect to buy special tiles from the centre market. This is a really nice game, whilst it uses dice there are ways to mitigate the randomness of them and there is plenty of choices along the way. A lot of fun to play and will certainly get some more outings in the future. Final scores were: Andy:147, Caz:174, Paul:179 and Richard:239

[Zarniwoop]

6th June 2012

Tonight we started off with an old favourite with a new twist, that being Kingdom Builder with the Nomads expansion. This is one of my favourite games as it plays really quickly but does allow for a bit of thinking as you try and meet the various scoring conditions. The nomad expansion adds some new boards, special actions and scoring conditions that just enhance an already excellent game. Tonight Richard joined in an attempt to see if he would like the game (I feel he was already disposed to not but I do not think he totally hated the experience so no bad thing). This turned out to be a much closer game in the end then maybe it felt at some points during the proceedings, but then scoring at the end means you never quite know how everyone is doing. The final score for this were as follows: Paul:32, Andy:30, Richard:41, Cooper:42 and Caz:43

We then proceeded to play one of my recent purchases, but an old game, Phoenicia. Richard was up for giving this title a go as he had not played it in a while and was happy enough to try and teach me how to play it. Once we got going I did remember having played this once before back when I first started coming to Wed Night @ Spirit Games and I did like it then and was pleased to find I still liked the game. I did not win but then that just proves I should own a copy I would certainly give this another go to see if I can actually play it a little better with another try. The artwork is not too bad but it is just a shame they went with plastic pieces instead of wooden ones which would have been a lot nicer overall. Final Scores: Paul:22, Richard:26, Andy:33, Cooper:35

The evening was finished off with the traditional "Buckets" which is a really fun, chaotic game but a perfect end to a gaming evening. Sadly this title is out of print  

[Zarniwoop]

13th June 2012

Tonight we decided to have a blast with Alien Frontiers which is a really well designed game using dice as your ships placed on different areas of the board based on values/doubles/Sequence etc. This game is really fun to play, well balanced with plenty of choices and with a good level of player interaction to boot. This is always fun to play and there is always something to play for. Final Scores: Carl:3, Paul:4, Caz:6 and Phil:10

20th June 2012

Tonight we played a game of Africana a delightfully easy game to teach but with plenty of strategy and depth to the gameplay. Players travel round Africa joining expeditions to earn coin and VP whilst also buying Adventure cards that can lead to Artifacts earning more VP at the end of the game. Players move around by the use of travel cards that match their destinations or by using thier wildcard (which comes back every turn) Play continues a number of rounds until the expedition cards can no longer be replaced then when that final turn is complete the game is scored. This game is fun, quick to teach and plays in a relatively short time. Final Scores: Paul:17, Caz:24, Andi:39 and Steve:46

On another table they were playing the new release game Village with the final scores of that being: Eric:39, Cooper:40, Phil:41 and Chris:44

[carldjcross]

Hello? You're all still here, great. What's that you say, want to play a game? Don't mind if I do...

First time I've been in AGES and since there was already a Netrunner game going on I joined Chris to play his new game, Mr.Jack.

Mr.Jack is a kind of two player Cluedo and it was a bad start for me as Chris managed to whittle down his suspects by half on his first go. I fared a little better in the mid game by managing to keep him in the dark for. The next three or four turns before being rumbled.

Andy, Chris and a few others went off to spend time in The Village while the rest of us delved into Philsey's new edition Descent.

We played the introductory scenario and got quite a good rhythm going beating the bottomless pit of weenies back while whittling down the Ettins. We defeated them despite Philsey concentrating on my paladin with his healing powers.

It was everything I'd been led to expect from Descent except the play time although it wasn't /that/ quick. A bit more tactical than the D&D games which was no bad thing at all.

[EvilGinger]

I actually got down on a wednesday night & had a good game of Infernal Contraption second edition with Phil & James. This played very much as I remember first playing but with sufficient cards for the game not to be over before you had got started in the four player version. The Second edition includes Sabotage which came out as an expansion the first time round & Phil seemed to be of the opinion that the sabotage cards where some what less devastating than previously. I could not comment on that as I did not play it half as much as Phil.

None the less a splendid game if more of a revised polished up reprint than a whole new game. I also think though the game is designed for four players it could be run with five if needed as there are plenty enough cards for the fifth player.

I left early as I really had not had enough sleep in the last couple of days but I had as ever much fun.

 Ginger

[Zarniwoop]

Sorry Folks, been a bit lax at these writeups lately, so here is a quick summary to catch upto date and hopefully I will try an post fuller for our next session:

27th June 2012

Tonight we played another new game Feudality this is a really neat little game that has some great artwork throughout. There is a certain amount of luck in this game, is not that complicated but does provide for some interesting choices in order to maximise your chances of getting the win. I would certainly visit Boardgamegeek and look for the Resource Board File by andamaroo as having made this it makes the game a lot easier to play. The only problem with this game for me is that with a lot of players there is significant downtime whilst people choose their tiles and place them, which unfortunately there is not a lot you can do to get around. Having said that though this is a lot of fun and I am always be willing to give this one some more table time. Final Scores: Andy:5, Phil:10, Chris:11, Paul:12 and Caz:13

4th July 2012

This is a lovely little game with some superb components and artwork. The game itself plays over a year(12 turns) with players bidding for funds to excavate for rare artefact's to eventually display in the museum in order to gain VP's. There are 4 scoring rounds, each with a different bonus score but beware as people put new exhibits in the museum the older exhibits are moved around as they are no longer as interesting so they start to score less or worse still taken out of the museum altogether. At the end of the game points are added up and the person with the most points wins. This is great fun to play, plays in around 45Min's and has plenty of depth for most gamers to enjoy. Final Scores:Paul:13, Caz:16, Chris:25 and Andy:27

This is an excellent little game that has simple mechanics making it easy to teach but a lot of careful choices and planning is required to build a good score. Players attempt to get around Africa joining expeditions to gain reward or buying adventure cards to locate artefact's for larger rewards. There is plenty here and it plays in around an hour which is just right for this. Final scores: Paul:29, sal:34, Caz:41 and Chris:43

11th July 2012

Started the evening off with a game of Heroes of the World which has you taking on the roles of various historical figures allowing you to make discoveries, with you sending your people to various territories in order to score, battles are handled by rolling dice and checking against a table of results. This is a simple and quick area control game that is easy to pick up and play but does provide enough depth for gamers to plan. Quite enjoyed this one and would be willing to play it again. Final Scores: Neil:62, Paul:63 and Caz:74

Finished the evening off with a game of Metro a classic game that is always good fun, sadly out of print at the moment (though Tsuro is a similar but simpler game). Players attempt to build Metro tracks to take their trains on the longest routes between stations. Scoring double if they make it to one of the central stations. Players lay tiles with tracks marked on them on the board hoping to join their tracks to make them longer or to force an opponents track to end quicker. As each track completes they are scored. Once all the track has been played and the final scores totted up the winner is declared. This is a fun, quick little game, but some thought is required in order to best lay the tile you have. Final Scores: Caz:55, Paul:72 and Neil:76

18th July 2012

Started off tonight with a game of Phoenicia another classic game getting a lot of attention in our group lately. Richard did protest a little too much at the start of this that some of the other players were getting ahead, but in the end it was Richard who claimed ultimate glory. Final Scores: Paul:14, Caz:17, Simon:19, Phil:21 and Richard: 33

We finished off with another game of Feudality which Richard had at Raiders he would like to try again. With the full compliment of players in this one it did drag a little bit as players spent time picking tiles. In the end Richard had to get home so the game was called at the point we had reached, meaning I was declared the winner but really this is difficult to tell in this game as there is plenty of opportunity to scupper others by removing points so who knows what the final outcome would have been