Hannah got a crash course in the rules and soon she was bidding with the best of them. Andrew specialised quickly in two products, but never got the largest boat award, thanks to some lucky tiles drawn by Adam at the end of round two and this proved costly. Sam and Adam tussled over herbs and cloth while Hannah diversified. Adam came first, probably swooping to a last minute win, or something.
Adam – 120
Sam – 116
Andrew – 115
Hannah – 70ish
Then Joe came round with Colosseum. This firm is becoming a firm favourite with its silly imagery (Joe putting on a show with two gladiators and a flower pot in a huge arena) and trading, there's a lot of interaction involved. Hannah and Andrew were quick out of the blocks, but you're only as good as your last show in theatre, luvvy, and when the last round arrived, Andrew found himself short of cast for Ceaser's Triumphant March. This wasn't the first time that this play has caused ruin to whoever chooses it.
Sam put on Anthem to Cupidon several times, while building up points for best actor, best singer and best white guy with a stick. Hannah charmed the crowds with her Ponies of Epona, especially when she got some horses. Adam gained fame for his Lion's Procession, but it was the eventual winner, Joe, who demonstrated how you should never lose hope in this game.
Early on, he had boats, lions and horses. There's not a lot of plays which need those (perhaps a really weird version of Swallows And Amazons) yet throughout the game, he built up a cast to put on the spectacular Neptune's Fury, catapulting him into first place.
Joe – 89
Sam – 87
Adam – 75
Hannah – 61
Andrew – 55
The leaderboard...
now has the points ratio column included.
| Played | Points | Ratio | |
| Adam | 6 | 31.5 | 5.25 |
| Joe | 6 | 24 | 4 |
| Andrew | 7 | 21.5 | 3.07 |
| Sam | 4 | 20 | 5 |
| Quentin | 5 | 20 | 4 |
| Hannah | 3 | 11.5 | 3.8 |
Nice write-up Andrew! The most un-ersby-esque typos you make when sloshed reflect the evening quite well.
ReplyDeleteYeah great report mr E. My lasting memory of the evening is me gloating over two two-for-one swaps with Hannah and Adam, and Sam noticing how childishly excited it made me. Nicely tense in that last round too, as Sam and I tried to get Adam onside to swap his only actor — it meant an 8 point swing between Sam and me, and would have won Sam the game, but luckily for me, Adam couldn't find a reason to hand it out.
ReplyDeleteI do like that game; as you mentioned, I was disappointed with my starting tiles, and I really thought I had no chance. But it is a game in which you can (must, even) plan ahead, and the limited number of rounds means it's feasible to plan your whole game from the start.
I was lucky in that no-one else was collecting boats, which meant I could rest assured that no-one was going to buy up the big shows I had my eye on.
Usually I find that you end the game with much more money than you need - this time though, I barely scraped it, and chose not to even buy tiles in the last round, as that would have cost me a precious 3 spectators from having to trade a medal for money. Which, as it turned out, would have cost me the game. Satisfyingly close. Thanks Sam for hosting, and looking forward to seeing the new venue — I mean home.
I was childishly excited too. I foolishly thought I had won at that point. Never write off a Berger!
ReplyDeleteColosseum is prob my favourite longer game right now, I think it's great.