Adam expanded early and somehow managed to control two territories at the end of the very first round. I controlled three, but two of them were the Shadowlands: not worth points, and the power they bestow is always a bit of a double-edged sword. What's more having the most territories made me starting player for round two, which isn't something I really wanted.
Ian decided after the second round he didn't like the game after all, after his attempts to expand ran into trouble and once again, he was bereft of territory cards. I was mostly happy on the western and central parts of the board, but my comeuppance was on its way. Andrew meanwhile over round three gained control of the island and as Ian regarded the whole affair ruefully and I remembered that the Shadowlands score nothing, it started to look like a two-horse race. In fact I decided not to attack Ian for this very reason, and that decision in hindsight was possibly a mistake!
As rounds 4 and 5 played out Ian staged a recovery, mostly at my expense as Adam and Andrew tried to kick chunks out of each other. In round five I lost no less than three provinces and ended the game in distant last. At the other end of the triumph stick, Adam's calculating brain proved to be the difference in the Hillmann-Endersby face-off:
Adam 40
Andrew 30
Ian 15
Sam 12
After that we needed something light, silly, and maybe co-operative too, so we introduced Adam to the joys of Belratti. We mostly stuck to demands of 2 or 3 paintings and Belratti kept his distance, save for his bizarre painting of a syringe. Andrew and Ian toyed with giving Adam and I a target of six to finish the game with a flourish, but perhaps wisely decided not to...
Us: 16
Belratti 4
It was still very early but with everyone a little tired out we finished the night with the odd curio that is Spy Tricks. Ian won big early on but Adam pegged him back, before Andrew staged a recovery in the final round. I did no such thing:
Adam 21
Ian and Andrew 10
Sam 0
On the imaginary form table, normal service is resumed! Thanks chaps.
I thought I'd set up an impregnable territory in the north of the Rokugan map only to discover in the penultimate round that shinobi's can hit you anywhere! Luckily Andrew got stuck going first in the last round and no more shinobi's were forthcoming. There's probably even more tactical depth to it, but the luck of the tokens also plays a big role.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed both the other games too, although we should have carried on with Belratti until he got 6 shouldn't we?
Yes that’s the correct rule. It seemed at the time a natural end though.
DeleteGreat fun, guys. That island territory is nice. Once I got it, the mainland was too full of activity for people to care about it any more.
ReplyDeleteA bit annoying that Belratti ruined my good three pictures with a slew of just-as-good forgeries.
And I'd just like to say there should be four points awarded in Spy Tricks if your able to guess which card Adam is holding on to at the end. I'd have won in that case.
Put it on the geek. There’s a bona fide variant there with guessing everyone’s last card.
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