Monday night is Games Night! Jack, Greg, Andy and I began the evening with a quick game of Guillotine. Andy got off to a roaring start on the first day and could not be caught. Final scores: Andy 24, Jack 19, Greg 18, Paul 14. We like this game; it is quick, fun and simple.
Vin then arrived and joined us in a game of Puerto Rico (Lisa was tempted to join in but decided to do the work she had brought home instead). This felt like a quick game and the final scores were fairly close: Greg 35, Paul & Jack 30, Vin 25 and Andy 23. Of note..... Vin ABANDONED his coffee-buying approach!
We rounded off the evening with a quick game of Diamant. Lisa joined us for this and much hilarity ensued. Fianl scores: Vin 28 (most of which he acquired in the first mine), Lisa 14, Paul 11 (he had no precious stones until the fourth mine), Jack 9, Greg 8 and Andy 5.
Also of note....Andy won a game...he assured us this is a rare event and so is worthy of note.
Sadly, this was our last Monday night until 2007 due to the forthcoming festivities etc. Merry Christmas everyone!
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Friday, December 08, 2006
Monday 4th December 2006
Lisa and I were joined by Jack (who brought games), Spencer, Andy and Greg for the ritual that is Monday Night. First up was Ticket To Ride. I had played this once before and I thought Lisa may enjoy it. She certainly did. Spencer, who arrived a little late, teamed up with her. It was a good game, although the board seemed to fill up quite quickly. Lisa got off to an early, and ultimately unassailable, lead. I rallied towards the end coming from last place to erm... second to last.... courtesy of several tickets I managed to complete. Lisa really enjoyed it she said!
Final scores:
Lisa 102, Andy 84, Jack 84, Paul 80, Greg 69.
Next up waas the classic Settlers of Catan, played with the 5-6 Player Expansion Set. Again, Lisa had not played this before. The game lasted for two and a half hours due mainly to rule changes within the expansion and the scarcity of grain and clay throughout the game. I still think this is an excellent game, although I'm more mixed about the expansion.
We had fun making silly comments ("I've got wood for sheep!") and realising that with a bit of letter re-arranging the game could be called 'Cettlers of Satan' (read Kettlers!) which made us chuckle!
Despite getting off to an appalling start and looking out of it for most of the game I finally managed to sneak ahead at the end of the game thus bringing it to a close.
Final scores:
Paul 10, Spencer 8, Greg 7 (with the most armies EVER!), Jack 7, Andy 6 and Lisa 4.
Lisa has not said much about this game except that she preferred Power Grid and Puerto Rico. She later conceded that it might be more fun with less players and hence no expansion. We shall have to see....
Final scores:
Lisa 102, Andy 84, Jack 84, Paul 80, Greg 69.
Next up waas the classic Settlers of Catan, played with the 5-6 Player Expansion Set. Again, Lisa had not played this before. The game lasted for two and a half hours due mainly to rule changes within the expansion and the scarcity of grain and clay throughout the game. I still think this is an excellent game, although I'm more mixed about the expansion.
We had fun making silly comments ("I've got wood for sheep!") and realising that with a bit of letter re-arranging the game could be called 'Cettlers of Satan' (read Kettlers!) which made us chuckle!
Despite getting off to an appalling start and looking out of it for most of the game I finally managed to sneak ahead at the end of the game thus bringing it to a close.
Final scores:
Paul 10, Spencer 8, Greg 7 (with the most armies EVER!), Jack 7, Andy 6 and Lisa 4.
Lisa has not said much about this game except that she preferred Power Grid and Puerto Rico. She later conceded that it might be more fun with less players and hence no expansion. We shall have to see....
Sunday 3rd December 2006
As Ellie enjoyed a Sunday afternoon snooze, Lisa and I enjoyed a game of Carcassonne - The Castle. It was a close game throughout, with no one establishing a clear lead. It came down to the final scoring to see that Paul had won with 89 points to Lisa's 81. It was a good game and we both enjoyed it, although Lisa was a little annoyed not to have used her tokens more effectively.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Thursday 30th November 2006
Lisa and I decided to try the two-player variant of Border Reivers. This was the first time Lisa had played and the first time I had played with only two. We both admired the quality of the pieces and the general production. Lisa felt that at times the rules were not as clear as they could be. She thought that the game was hard to get into for someone who does not have a history of board/wargames (apart from playing Risk once...an expereince she is keen not to repeat!). This was her enduring criticism of the game, particularly the combat system which she could not make sense of (although I think I found a way to explain it afterwards).
In the end I won with 46 gold to Lisa's 38. We are a little concerned that we were not playing it correctly. We both realised that we could easily sit and build our settled empires without fighting each other and see who was the first to get 40 gold. There appeared to be no incentive to attack each other (definately not the case with 3 or 4 players).
Interestingly we both chose the Market, Training Camp and Guildhouses cards to improve the chances of increasing armies and revenue. I later chose a Reiving Party card which I used twice to annoy Lisa and keep down her income from taxation. I also got hold of the Mine which was worth doing. There was only one battle (apart from the Reiving Party) which I won by using Siege Engines to reduce Lisa's Castle to a Fortress and having twice as many armies. I then went on to destroy her city just soon enough to stop her winning by gaining more gold.
Although we enjoyed playing the game together it felt a little unsatisfactory. Lisa could have won really quickly had she not bothered defending an area which I did later attack. Had she used the armies committed to this to create cities she would have taxed her way to victory much sooner.
We will try it again soon and Lisa did say that she would like to try the 3 or 4 player version as well!
In the end I won with 46 gold to Lisa's 38. We are a little concerned that we were not playing it correctly. We both realised that we could easily sit and build our settled empires without fighting each other and see who was the first to get 40 gold. There appeared to be no incentive to attack each other (definately not the case with 3 or 4 players).
Interestingly we both chose the Market, Training Camp and Guildhouses cards to improve the chances of increasing armies and revenue. I later chose a Reiving Party card which I used twice to annoy Lisa and keep down her income from taxation. I also got hold of the Mine which was worth doing. There was only one battle (apart from the Reiving Party) which I won by using Siege Engines to reduce Lisa's Castle to a Fortress and having twice as many armies. I then went on to destroy her city just soon enough to stop her winning by gaining more gold.
Although we enjoyed playing the game together it felt a little unsatisfactory. Lisa could have won really quickly had she not bothered defending an area which I did later attack. Had she used the armies committed to this to create cities she would have taxed her way to victory much sooner.
We will try it again soon and Lisa did say that she would like to try the 3 or 4 player version as well!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
