By the time I'd arrived (seconds after I received a second photo of them having finished another game 22/25) Martin, Joe and Sam had settled on Hansa Teutonica while Ian, Katy and I pondered our options. Quite limited options, as it happened, and Katy rued not bringing Isle of Skye. In the end we chose something we all knew: Lords of Vegas.
My initial plan was to sprawl early, nabbing F6 and F5 to make a lovely six-tile casino up on Harmon Avenue and Strip. Ian started well while Katy tried to boost her meagre cash reserves by gambling, failing three times in a row. But then the strip paid out and then her three tile gold casino paid out twice in a row. This meant she was able to exploit all those empty lots near Ian's casinos and before long she was in an unstoppable position.
Ian and I jostled for second. Ian completed an audacious reroll of my five tile casino with only one of his dice in it. But I got it straight back. Katy ended the game building more casinos than she had dice. Finally the game over card appeared just as I was about to unleash my winning strategy (which would've still only got me a closer second place).
Katy 49
Andrew 36
Ian 32
As for Hansa Teutonica, I remember little except remarks about how boring the food was on the little plate tokens and Sam remarking that the person complaining most was the one in the lead, before clarifying that they were all complaining.
Martin 54
Sam 52
Joe 38
Martin remarked it'd probably be a really good game once you knew what you were doing.
They'd finished before us and they filled the time with a quick game of Don Carlo. A game so apparently simple that you may be able to work out the rules just by looking at the photo.
Joe 76
Sam 51
Martin 50
My departure was growing near so I was pleased to hear So Clover as a suggestion. We played with the usual amount sighing, especially from Joe who took so long that Katy suggested he just pass. But everyone struggled and I took the chance to be the first one to complete all four clues.
Meanwhile, Sam had to resort to googling something to help him out. My clues and Ian's were successfully deduced. Then Katy, too, scored six out of six, but I'm not sure how since one of her clues relied on a film titled "the silence of killing" only to later be told it was actually called "the act of killing."
Sam's googled clue was a success but he was undone by trying to clue "beer/detergent" with "toilets". Finally, after Martin went clear, we came to Joe's Clover that almost defeated him. And we cleared it! The tricky couple in question was "royal/flour" which he eventually decided on "chapati" because… Indian food is sort of regal. Something like that. It worked, though.
34 out of 36
With that, I set off home. They finished with American Bookshop which Sam won. Joe second and Martin last, with Ian and Katy somewhere in the middle. Results to follow, maybe.
Joe and Martin weren't entirely sold on Hansa Teutonica but I rather enjoy it. There's a lot of brinkmanship and screwage, but any AP is more about decision-making than computing rules, I think. I felt generating the most possible actions I could was the route to success, but Martin proved you can win with a frugal three per turn.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely evening, I even wrote a haiku, thank you all! I was very pleased with my so clover words, although I did get two of Joshua Oppenheimer's films confused. I was thinking of 'the look of silience' which also has a lot of acts of killing in it!
ReplyDelete