Whilst our fair womenfolk took our smaller womenfolk out for the day, Vin and I enjoyed a day of lad's gaming. Did we marry the right women or what!
Vin was very eager to introduce me to Rommel's Panzers which, to quote BGG is a "MicroHistory #1 in the Metagaming MicroHistory series.
A game of Tactical Unit combat in North Africa. In 1941 Erwin Rommel arrived in North Africa to save the collapsing Italian empire. Among the units under his command was the Deutches Afrika Korps. With the Afrika Korps Rommel wreaked havoc and exercised such military ingenuity that he would therafter be known as "The Desert Fox"."
Now, this involves moving tiny cardboard squares on a map made up of hexagons. I used to love this sort of thing over a decade ago but I have kind of lost interest since. Still, I'm happy to play anything at least once and so I gladly sat down to a game. I didn't mind having to count hexes to assess range, or refer to hit tables half as much as I thought I would. It was good fun.
We played the 'Dawn Attack' scenario in which a British armoured encampment is surprised at dawn by a German Panzer column. It was a hard-fought battle but, in the end, the British were victorious although they only had two vehicles remaining.
Next, I introduced Vin to the joys of Carcassonne The Castle - perfect for two-players. Vin really enjoyed this and was only narrowly defeated 89 points to 84. I had the largest keep which gained me 7 points.
We then tried the two-player version of Finster Flure (Fearsome Floors). Vin enjoyed this a lot more than the four-player version we had played previously; it's much quicker for one thing. In the end Vin was victorious as two of his team escaped from the monster whilst only one of mine survived.
Vin then requested another go at The Castle. This time he was royally whipped 97 to 67. I managed to obtain most of the tokens and finish several high scoring buildings towards the end of the game.
We then decided to play Carcassonne with the added bonus of the Builders & Traders expansion. We played this twice and I won both (178 to 129 and 198 to 139). I concentrated on obtaining the trade goods tokens to ensure a monopoly. I also managed to place some high scoring farmers (and piggies!).
All in all a great days gaming and the realisation that hex-based wargames are more fun than I thought they would be!
Showing posts with label traders and builders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label traders and builders. Show all posts
Friday, April 27, 2007
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Wednesday 7th March 2007
Lisa and I had a quiet evening to ourselves and so we decided to have 2 games of Carcassonne and the Traders & Builders expansion. Again, we both enjoyed the variation the expansion brings to the basic game.
In the first game I managed to have a monopoly on two types of goods and position my pig well in a big field. This helped me to my 219 points to 194 victory.
The second game was much closer. We both shared the largest field and Lisa did well with the resources. I managed to move my builder around alot and benefitted from the extra go he can bring. I just sneaked victory, 193 points to Lisa's 191!
In the first game I managed to have a monopoly on two types of goods and position my pig well in a big field. This helped me to my 219 points to 194 victory.
The second game was much closer. We both shared the largest field and Lisa did well with the resources. I managed to move my builder around alot and benefitted from the extra go he can bring. I just sneaked victory, 193 points to Lisa's 191!
Sunday 4th March 2007
Maisy's parents Sarah and Stuart and my god son Henry came over for Sunday dinner. After we had stuffed ourselves with a huge leg of lamb the grown ups and Maisy played 3 games of Diamant - again at Maisy's request.
The first game was low scoring as 2 mines collapsed early on. In the end Stuart won with 23 jewels. Sarah was next with 18. Paul had 16 to Lisa's 15 and Maisy, now a bit sulky, was last with 7.
Lisa then left to play with the littlies. I convincingly won the second game with 58 jewels; I had stayed in longer than others on 2 occasions and reaped the rewards! Stuart came second with 31, Sarah third with 28 and Maisy was again last with 20 (beware the sulky child!).
Sarah then headed off to help Lisa with the littlies who, by now, had placed every toy imaginable somewhere on the floor. I won the third game with 56 jewels, again due to staying in some mines a bit longer than the others. Stuart tried this tactic but left it a little late; he came second with 47 jewels. Maisy played sensibly and safely, although this netted her only 34 jewels. Her mind had been elsewhere throughout the three games as she was in charge of dividing the jewels - a job she did admirably.
In the evening, when our guests had departed and an exhausted Eleanor was sound asleep clutching a teddy in bed, Lisa and I sat down to a game of Carcassonne, again with the Traders & Builders expansion.
This was a really close game. I finally won with 188 points to Lisa's 183. Lisa had monopolies in all 2 of the resources and we drew for the third; netting Lisa 30 points and me 10! I managed to sneak my pig into a field with 8 cities, thu scoring 32 points. Again we really enjoyed the tactics of this expansion; Lisa managed to complete far more cities and thus managed to amass the resources. I focussed on controlling the largest field. Both tactics are valid and a 5 point lead is nothing! Again, though, neither of us felt we used the builder particularly effectively as Lisa's got stuck on a road for most of the game and mine was stuck in a city....
The first game was low scoring as 2 mines collapsed early on. In the end Stuart won with 23 jewels. Sarah was next with 18. Paul had 16 to Lisa's 15 and Maisy, now a bit sulky, was last with 7.
Lisa then left to play with the littlies. I convincingly won the second game with 58 jewels; I had stayed in longer than others on 2 occasions and reaped the rewards! Stuart came second with 31, Sarah third with 28 and Maisy was again last with 20 (beware the sulky child!).
Sarah then headed off to help Lisa with the littlies who, by now, had placed every toy imaginable somewhere on the floor. I won the third game with 56 jewels, again due to staying in some mines a bit longer than the others. Stuart tried this tactic but left it a little late; he came second with 47 jewels. Maisy played sensibly and safely, although this netted her only 34 jewels. Her mind had been elsewhere throughout the three games as she was in charge of dividing the jewels - a job she did admirably.
In the evening, when our guests had departed and an exhausted Eleanor was sound asleep clutching a teddy in bed, Lisa and I sat down to a game of Carcassonne, again with the Traders & Builders expansion.
This was a really close game. I finally won with 188 points to Lisa's 183. Lisa had monopolies in all 2 of the resources and we drew for the third; netting Lisa 30 points and me 10! I managed to sneak my pig into a field with 8 cities, thu scoring 32 points. Again we really enjoyed the tactics of this expansion; Lisa managed to complete far more cities and thus managed to amass the resources. I focussed on controlling the largest field. Both tactics are valid and a 5 point lead is nothing! Again, though, neither of us felt we used the builder particularly effectively as Lisa's got stuck on a road for most of the game and mine was stuck in a city....
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Saturday 3rd March 2007
With Eleanor sound asleep, and Lisa busy preparing dinner, Maisy and I had a quick game of Diamant. Maisy did really well at this winning by 82 jewels to my 50. I kept staying in a bit too long....
A little later Lisa joined us for a go at the new Disney version of Monopoly. We played for a couple of hours before Maisy got bored. She was declared the winner as she had the most money (hhmmm?).
To be honest it was fun playing with Maisy but the game is flawed. It goes on way too long and the added features just make it longer not more fun....erm..... I think I've ranted about this before! I have.
Once both kids were off to bed Lisa and I brought out Carcassonne and, after last night's adventure, decided to try the Traders & Builders expansion! We really enjoyed this and agreed that it had far more of an impact onthe 2-player game.
It was close all the way through but in the end Lisa just sneaked ahead with 183 points to my 180! Both our builders got tied up early on in the game and so we didn't make as good use of them as we would of liked. I managed to position my pig in a field I controlled to score 44 points at the end (without this I would have suffered an ignoble defeat rather than a TCP-needing one!). Lisa really enjoyed this and said that it makes Carcassonne more like The Castle... I see what she means as it becomes a lot more tactical than normal. She initially did really well finishing cities to obtain resources. She changed tactics a bit later to sneak into the big field; this gave me a chance to get more resources. In the end I got 20 points for them whilst Lisa scored 10. We really enjoyed this expansion and felt it worked really well with the two of us. A great success.
A little later Lisa joined us for a go at the new Disney version of Monopoly. We played for a couple of hours before Maisy got bored. She was declared the winner as she had the most money (hhmmm?).
To be honest it was fun playing with Maisy but the game is flawed. It goes on way too long and the added features just make it longer not more fun....erm..... I think I've ranted about this before! I have.
Once both kids were off to bed Lisa and I brought out Carcassonne and, after last night's adventure, decided to try the Traders & Builders expansion! We really enjoyed this and agreed that it had far more of an impact onthe 2-player game.
It was close all the way through but in the end Lisa just sneaked ahead with 183 points to my 180! Both our builders got tied up early on in the game and so we didn't make as good use of them as we would of liked. I managed to position my pig in a field I controlled to score 44 points at the end (without this I would have suffered an ignoble defeat rather than a TCP-needing one!). Lisa really enjoyed this and said that it makes Carcassonne more like The Castle... I see what she means as it becomes a lot more tactical than normal. She initially did really well finishing cities to obtain resources. She changed tactics a bit later to sneak into the big field; this gave me a chance to get more resources. In the end I got 20 points for them whilst Lisa scored 10. We really enjoyed this expansion and felt it worked really well with the two of us. A great success.
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