Adam arrived and Alhambra was brought out from the games cupboard. After its recent début a couple of weeks ago where I came stony last, I was interested to see if I learnt from my mistakes. I didn’t, since I didn’t didn’t manage my hand or cards as efficiently as the other three, but I did avoid running out of cards completely, so some improvement there. Sam, Adam and Joe, meanwhile, always had a healthy handful yet still managed to complain bitterly about their limited choices. I guess there’s a middle road to be travelled, somewhere between hoarding and thrift.
Joe spent a lot of time fretting about the Arcades, hoping to sneak an improbable win due to everyone else having the same number of Arcades thus giving him more points despite being in second. Adam focussed on high-scoring Chambers and Towers, and got first place in both building types. But Sam took first place overall with a neat display of firsts and seconds across the board, matched with a nice long wall. You know: to keep the riff-raff out.
Sam 109
Adam 106
Joe 92
Andrew 89
At 9.30, the night was still young. But we forgot that we were not. St Petersburg was chosen as a nice game to wind down with. It promised a 45 minute game on the box, and we had memories of it being quite a quick game. But tonight, it stretched out to Tolstoy-esque proportions. Sam was given a quick résumé of the rules by Adam, and I listened in for a quick refresher. I also commented on the similarity to the "aristocrat" counter's semblance to a photo of Joe I took on my aging mobile phone of him at dusk looking thoughtfully out to sea. He didn't believe me, so here it is...
Once we started the game I had a massive stroke of good luck. Without really thinking, I chose a gold miner as one of my first cards. Then three more came up in the next round, so I was able to buy them for ever decreasing costs! This set me up quite nicely with a large income early on in the game. So I began to focus on big-scoring buildings.
Meanwhile, everyone else picked up some aristocrat cards to give them a second lot of income, and before long my monetary advantage had gone. Adam invested in two pubs, allowing him to exchange roubles for victory points (those Russians do love their alcohol). Sam seemed confused for much of the game, but still played a balanced game with a good mix of cards. Joe was upset at some of the less narratively coherent gameplay choices. Specifically, why would you want to change Peter the Great into a Carpenter's Workshop?
I’m not sure St Petersburg is at its best at the end of an evening. I forgot some of the rules, and I think we all did, since asking to take a go back and do it again was pretty common. And even I started to get impatient by the end, so I can imagine how Sam felt since he had the early shift with his kids next morning. But at the end was a set of results that you wouldn’t believe if you’d seen it in a movie:
Adam 120
Andrew 111
Joe 111
Sam 111
The leaderboard...
| Played | Points | Ratio | |
| Sam | 14 | 64.5 | 4.61 |
| Adam | 12 | 54.5 | 4.54 |
| Andrew | 14 | 48.5 | 3.46 |
| Joe | 7 | 24.5 | 3.5 |
| Dan | 2 | 8 | 4 |
| Sally | 1 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Jonny | 1 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
I'd happily give St Petersburg another go, even if by 11pm last night I was wishing we had never opened the box. And by 5am this morning I was cursing the very existence of Russia. But it seemed an intriguing game.
ReplyDeleteAlhambra I like a lot, though I won more out of luck than judgement. My main strategic thrust was trying to overcome my own Daily Mail-esque wall, but I was fortunate in that it forced me to collect a decent set of cards while - for what seemed like an eternity - everyone avoided picking up the many gardens available.
Nice pic of Joe. He looks like Albert Camus or summink, eh.
Ah, I thought you were commenting on how aristocratic Joe is. Or his nose...
ReplyDeleteSt P is an unforgiving game — it seems disarmingly straightforward, but there is a constant brain-struggle trying to work out how much money you'll have at the end of any given phase: if I buy this building, I pay x minus y, and then the building scores z at the end of the round so I'm left with a headache.
ReplyDeleteI cursed my stupidity clearing those cards in the last round, having not realised that even if a juicy aristo turned up in the trades phase, it would only replace one of my existing ones, as I didn't have doubles. Denying Andrew and Andrew of those extra, plus the money I would have saved would have netted me a proper second place, instead of having to SHARE.
Here's the previous post about the game — last nights game felt a bit less mechanical and more interactive; perhaps we noticed the importance of denying your opponents the cards they could buy cheaply.
http://gamesnightnews.blogspot.com/2011/01/czars-and-boxcarz.html
Oh and I like the photo Andrew — it's me during the long twilight struggle . . .
Ominously for me - and us all - the first game with any real depth of thought involved this season and Adam places a convincing first. What'll happen if we play Year of the Dragon, Taj Mahal, or - perish the thought - Agricola?
ReplyDeleteIf we're going to oust him I vote we spend the next three months playing Poison, No Thanks, and charades.