Andrew and I (Sam) met up this evening for our occasional Thursday sorties into the cupboard - not literally - and with both of us still intrigued enough, we set up La Granja again. This was my fourth play this week, and I enjoyed it as much as the other three.
What we'd all - those who'd played it - commented on previously was how the craft buildings seem to be too expensive for too little reward. You make your stuff on the farm and take it to market seemed to be the way to go. But I was sure that playtesting would have thrown this up, so told Andrew I was going to experiment with delivering goods to these buildings and seeing how I got on.
And after a period of early stasis it seemed like it was starting to pay off - I was getting extra points all over the place and extra income each round. Someone more gamey than me can probably find a way to make it work. But what I found was at the point where the craft buildings no longer felt sustainable - and before for that matter - Andrew had free run of the market. He wasn't scoring points for bumping me out, because I wasn't there. But he was scoring points - and more than me.
Andrew 60
Sam 51
Now in a very euro-y mood we elected to play The Voyages of Marco Polo, "before we forget the rules" as Andrew put it. However it still took us ten minutes or so to get back up to speed, and we went wildly diverse paths again - as Andrew completed lots of contracts, I travelled the world. I got a heap pf bonuses for doing so, but just as Andrew outwitted me in Mallorca, he did the same across the whole of Eastern Europe and Asia:
Andrew 61
Sam 53
Remarkably similar scores, but - euro-flavour aside - rather different games. We both found that Marco Polo seemed to pale slightly in comparison to La Granja. That might change when the novelty wears off, perhaps...
We finished off with Extreme Biblios, which was mainly notable for the fact that we both thought the other was winning. Andrew made me eat shit three times, and I ate my own shit too. I also lost out on a bunch of church cards as Andrew bumped 'his' dice up serially. As I chucked away cards of my own colours (to get gold) I truly worried we might be crowning a new King Biblios tonight... but thankfully, I managed to pick up a whole three dice in the final reckoning!
Unthankfully, Andrew won on the tie-breaker:
Andrew 8 (wins on colours)
Sam 8 (loses on colours)
Mr Endersby is now Mr Biblios! - for now, at least....
Showing posts with label The Voyages of Marco Polo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Voyages of Marco Polo. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 June 2016
Saturday, 27 February 2016
Traveling Tales
This Thursday evening, the near-mythological figure of Paul visited for an evening and so, he, Chris, Sam and I congregated in Chris’ kitchen dining area for some cardboard-based entertainment.
We began with a little bit of Codenames to break the ice. The last time Chris, Sam and I played this, Chris’ wife was the fourth player and she and I comfortably beat Sam and Chris thanks to their unerring attraction to the Assassin card.
This time Chris and Sam teamed up again to see if they could beak their run of bad form. But it was not to be. Despite Paul being new to the game, he and I kept our clues simple. Chris and Sam made few mistakes, but enough to give us the edge in both rounds. Their run of bad form continues.
Next we got out the new craze in the GNN world, Marco Polo. It was new to Paul but, as we discovered more rules we hadn’t noticed before, it was still pretty new to the rest of us too.
Sam’s character came with two extra trading posts and an extra bonus for getting them down, too. However, with no money or camels to help with the cost of traveling, Sam found it difficult to get going.
Chris was Marco Polo, so got an extra dice and a steady supply of new contracts. Paul’s character was able to teleport from oasis to oasis. Mine had two different travelers, which was nice.
Andrew 62
Chris 50
Paul
Sam 28
Chris seemed happy with his second place, and I was possibly happier with my win. Paul enjoyed it too. Only Sam seemed disappointed, saying that his character was more of a curse. Chris agreed, having had the same role before. Perhaps it's something for the more advanced player, since Andy had it too, and he didn't do so badly. Still didn't win, though.
We followed this with good old 7 Wonders. We've played it so often that I forget that Paul doesn't play it very often, and needed a slight rule refresher of the icons on the cards before we got going.
But when we got going, going got we did. Or something. It was a fascinating game. We each had our specialties: me, science; Paul, military; Sam, blue buildings; Chris went for the unorthodox choice of lots of yellow buildings.
My sciences won the day, by a comfortable margin. But I almost didn't chose sciences when the chance came up in round one to build one for free, because we'd been talking earlier about how you have to challenge someone when they start collecting sciences. I ended up with 48 points just from that category alone.
But they didn't. I guess they always had a card that suited their plans better than ruining mine.
Andrew 67
Paul 57
Sam 50
Chris 41
We ended with 6nimmt. This game never ceases to amaze with its evil twists and turns. With only four players, there were occasions when we could relax since we knew no one could pick up cards, but there were also occasions when there was no escape from a heavy forfeit.
Notable events were: Paul and Chris both getting zero points in the same round, Sam going from first to last in a single round, and then Paul doing the same in the final round.
Chris 44
Sam 64
Andrew 69
Paul 70
And with that, we set off home. Except we didn't, since Chris was putting us all up for the night. That meant we could all spend the next morning actually talking to each other for a change. Nice, but it'll never catch on.
We began with a little bit of Codenames to break the ice. The last time Chris, Sam and I played this, Chris’ wife was the fourth player and she and I comfortably beat Sam and Chris thanks to their unerring attraction to the Assassin card.
This time Chris and Sam teamed up again to see if they could beak their run of bad form. But it was not to be. Despite Paul being new to the game, he and I kept our clues simple. Chris and Sam made few mistakes, but enough to give us the edge in both rounds. Their run of bad form continues.
Next we got out the new craze in the GNN world, Marco Polo. It was new to Paul but, as we discovered more rules we hadn’t noticed before, it was still pretty new to the rest of us too.
Sam’s character came with two extra trading posts and an extra bonus for getting them down, too. However, with no money or camels to help with the cost of traveling, Sam found it difficult to get going.
Chris was Marco Polo, so got an extra dice and a steady supply of new contracts. Paul’s character was able to teleport from oasis to oasis. Mine had two different travelers, which was nice.
Andrew 62
Chris 50
Paul
Sam 28
Chris seemed happy with his second place, and I was possibly happier with my win. Paul enjoyed it too. Only Sam seemed disappointed, saying that his character was more of a curse. Chris agreed, having had the same role before. Perhaps it's something for the more advanced player, since Andy had it too, and he didn't do so badly. Still didn't win, though.
We followed this with good old 7 Wonders. We've played it so often that I forget that Paul doesn't play it very often, and needed a slight rule refresher of the icons on the cards before we got going.
But when we got going, going got we did. Or something. It was a fascinating game. We each had our specialties: me, science; Paul, military; Sam, blue buildings; Chris went for the unorthodox choice of lots of yellow buildings.
My sciences won the day, by a comfortable margin. But I almost didn't chose sciences when the chance came up in round one to build one for free, because we'd been talking earlier about how you have to challenge someone when they start collecting sciences. I ended up with 48 points just from that category alone.
But they didn't. I guess they always had a card that suited their plans better than ruining mine.
Andrew 67
Paul 57
Sam 50
Chris 41
We ended with 6nimmt. This game never ceases to amaze with its evil twists and turns. With only four players, there were occasions when we could relax since we knew no one could pick up cards, but there were also occasions when there was no escape from a heavy forfeit.
Notable events were: Paul and Chris both getting zero points in the same round, Sam going from first to last in a single round, and then Paul doing the same in the final round.
Chris 44
Sam 64
Andrew 69
Paul 70
And with that, we set off home. Except we didn't, since Chris was putting us all up for the night. That meant we could all spend the next morning actually talking to each other for a change. Nice, but it'll never catch on.
Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Mmm, capitalism
Tonight we numbered seven in total as we gathered around Sam's kitchen table: Martin, Ian, Katy, Andy, Joe, myself and, of course, Sam.
We began without any of the usual warm up group game, and immediately split into two groups: Sam, Andy and I played The Voyages of Marco Polo, while the others went for the Downfall if Pompeii.
Marco Polo may be a new arrival to GNN, but Andy has a fair amount of experience playing online. In fact, this was his first time playing the physical version.
At first, it looked like Andy and I had plans in motion, while Sam was bereft of goods and camels. This panicked him into making a number of high point scoring decisions, convinced that he'd be pegged back by our end of game bonuses. In fact, even when his score marker was on the other side of the board to ours, he was still predicting his own demise.
And although we did close the gap in the final round (Sam’s lead of 26 dropped to 15 by the end), it wasn't enough to catch him.
Sam 72
Andy 57
Andrew 51
In ancient Rome, it was the usual kerfuffle trying to get everyone out of Pompeii. There was a moment of excitement when it looked like the first six lava tiles would match each of the six different starting locations. But then Ian drew a duplicate and the moment passed.
In the end it was close. It usually is in Downfall Of Pompeii, but not this close.
Ian 8 saved, 10 in the volcano
Martin 8 saved, 11 in the volcano
Katy 8 saved, 12 in the volcano
Joe 7 saved
According to Martin we still appeared to be “balls deep” in Marco Polo (oh dear) so they began Marracash. Something to do with shops and top-heavy meeples. It was this game that caused Katy to ponder "Mmmm, capitalim" and so a blog title was born (although she insisted it was more like "grrr, capitalism")
Ian 5750
Martin 3750
Joe 3400
Katy 2350
By this time Marco Polo had ended and we three had chosen Take It Easy. The topics of our bingo-style callings were Magazines (from Sam), things about parapsychology (from me) and songs from a particular band that we had to identify (from Andy).
We each had a round in which we scored the least, only Sam’s least was much better than our leasts.
Sam 509
Andy 460
Andrew 443
We followed this up with a quick game of Dragon Run (very quick, with the dragon lurking near the top of the draw deck nearly every time). Poor old Sam went in looking for treasure, but came out with a handful of useless potions and some loose change.
Andy 18
Andrew 11
Sam 3
At this point they were totting up the final scores to Castle Crush. I hadn’t seen much, but I did witness Ian missing completely with one of his attempts on an enemy castle, and also Joe’s last castle getting hit and standing up fairly well, except that the two meeples it housed popped out of the back.
Martin 60
Joe 56
Katy 49
Ian 49
Martin was glad that he finally won a game, while Katy’s run of form for this evening left her feeling very unimpressed.
Since we were all together, we decided on one last game together: 6nimmt!
And what an epic it was. Lady Luck took turns in slapping each on of us in the face. “Spiral of Death” was very much the word of the game, as people succumbed to multiple beatings. After three rounds, no one had less than thirty-one points and there was just twelve points between the top six.
Joe triggered the end of the game in the next round and Ian amazingly snuck in for the win, ending his game with two clear rounds.
Ian 39
Andy 42
Andrew 50
Martin 55
Katy 60
Sam 72
Joe 77
And with that we were gone, out into the night air, with the taste of Apple Cake (thanks Sally) and the GNN whiskey (thanks Katy) still on our tongues.
Meanwhile, on the exciting Division, we see that no one has changed places except for Andy who has just edged ahead of Joe.
We began without any of the usual warm up group game, and immediately split into two groups: Sam, Andy and I played The Voyages of Marco Polo, while the others went for the Downfall if Pompeii.
Marco Polo may be a new arrival to GNN, but Andy has a fair amount of experience playing online. In fact, this was his first time playing the physical version.
At first, it looked like Andy and I had plans in motion, while Sam was bereft of goods and camels. This panicked him into making a number of high point scoring decisions, convinced that he'd be pegged back by our end of game bonuses. In fact, even when his score marker was on the other side of the board to ours, he was still predicting his own demise.
And although we did close the gap in the final round (Sam’s lead of 26 dropped to 15 by the end), it wasn't enough to catch him.
Sam 72
Andy 57
Andrew 51
In ancient Rome, it was the usual kerfuffle trying to get everyone out of Pompeii. There was a moment of excitement when it looked like the first six lava tiles would match each of the six different starting locations. But then Ian drew a duplicate and the moment passed.
In the end it was close. It usually is in Downfall Of Pompeii, but not this close.
Ian 8 saved, 10 in the volcano
Martin 8 saved, 11 in the volcano
Katy 8 saved, 12 in the volcano
Joe 7 saved
According to Martin we still appeared to be “balls deep” in Marco Polo (oh dear) so they began Marracash. Something to do with shops and top-heavy meeples. It was this game that caused Katy to ponder "Mmmm, capitalim" and so a blog title was born (although she insisted it was more like "grrr, capitalism")
Ian 5750
Martin 3750
Joe 3400
Katy 2350
By this time Marco Polo had ended and we three had chosen Take It Easy. The topics of our bingo-style callings were Magazines (from Sam), things about parapsychology (from me) and songs from a particular band that we had to identify (from Andy).
We each had a round in which we scored the least, only Sam’s least was much better than our leasts.
Sam 509
Andy 460
Andrew 443
We followed this up with a quick game of Dragon Run (very quick, with the dragon lurking near the top of the draw deck nearly every time). Poor old Sam went in looking for treasure, but came out with a handful of useless potions and some loose change.
Andy 18
Andrew 11
Sam 3
At this point they were totting up the final scores to Castle Crush. I hadn’t seen much, but I did witness Ian missing completely with one of his attempts on an enemy castle, and also Joe’s last castle getting hit and standing up fairly well, except that the two meeples it housed popped out of the back.
Martin 60
Joe 56
Katy 49
Ian 49
Martin was glad that he finally won a game, while Katy’s run of form for this evening left her feeling very unimpressed.
Since we were all together, we decided on one last game together: 6nimmt!
And what an epic it was. Lady Luck took turns in slapping each on of us in the face. “Spiral of Death” was very much the word of the game, as people succumbed to multiple beatings. After three rounds, no one had less than thirty-one points and there was just twelve points between the top six.
Joe triggered the end of the game in the next round and Ian amazingly snuck in for the win, ending his game with two clear rounds.
Ian 39
Andy 42
Andrew 50
Martin 55
Katy 60
Sam 72
Joe 77
And with that we were gone, out into the night air, with the taste of Apple Cake (thanks Sally) and the GNN whiskey (thanks Katy) still on our tongues.
Meanwhile, on the exciting Division, we see that no one has changed places except for Andy who has just edged ahead of Joe.
Friday, 29 January 2016
Mint with a-hole
Friday. Owing to tragic confusion, Chris was not sitting at the table with us as Andrew and I (Sam) went through the rules to The Voyages of Marco Polo. I can précis them here though: if you've played Alien Frontier you'll be familiar with the idea of rolling and assigning dice to do stuff. And if you've played any number of headfucking Euro games you'll be familiar with the multiple routes to victory.
The board shows - I assume - some of the paths Marco Polo roamed, with links between cities. You have a bunch of dice and on your turn they can do a bunch of things - get you camels (great for travelling) or money (ditto) or silk, pepper and gold (great for fulfilling contracts). It's actually surprisingly straightforward and quick moving - Andrew and I got through two games which took less than an hour each - but there was that familiar Euro-y sensation of not being able to do everything you want to. If you travel about, you establish trading houses, which means you have an extra option to spend dice on. But if you forego travelling in order to concentrate on fulfilling contracts, as Andrew did in out first game, you may find staying at home is rather rewarding:
Andrew 52
Sam 37
Because there are bonus points to do so, I'd made my way across the map to Beijing, but in doing so had neglected the contracts which not only scored big for Andrew, they also gave him a 7 point reward for doing the most of them.
We set up again and I was all set to explore the contract angle myself, but something changed my mind. At the start of Marco Polo players are given a role that gives them a unique benefit. In the first game I had the seemingly huge advantage of choosing my dice numbers rather than rolling them - not as good as I thought, at least not in my hands. (Andrew had an extra die and some free contracts). But in the second game I had an extra traveller on the board and an endless supply of camels. So once again I went travelling. This time Andrew joined me, and we fought it out on both fronts. Andrew would have won again, but he had forgotten to travel to a particular destination. We'd both made it to Beijing through, and this time I nabbed the reward for most contracts:
Sam 53
Andrew 49
It was intrigued, it played fast (in a good way) and there's definitely a lot of replay value - there's just so much going on and the character cards you start with can really define how you play. There's also - we realised late in the day - a fair amount of screwage room, if you really wanted to be an asshole. But I didn't get the sense either of us were bowled over by it. We both agreed it might be better with more players and we should revisit one Tuesday reasonably soon.
The board shows - I assume - some of the paths Marco Polo roamed, with links between cities. You have a bunch of dice and on your turn they can do a bunch of things - get you camels (great for travelling) or money (ditto) or silk, pepper and gold (great for fulfilling contracts). It's actually surprisingly straightforward and quick moving - Andrew and I got through two games which took less than an hour each - but there was that familiar Euro-y sensation of not being able to do everything you want to. If you travel about, you establish trading houses, which means you have an extra option to spend dice on. But if you forego travelling in order to concentrate on fulfilling contracts, as Andrew did in out first game, you may find staying at home is rather rewarding:
Andrew 52
Sam 37
Because there are bonus points to do so, I'd made my way across the map to Beijing, but in doing so had neglected the contracts which not only scored big for Andrew, they also gave him a 7 point reward for doing the most of them.
We set up again and I was all set to explore the contract angle myself, but something changed my mind. At the start of Marco Polo players are given a role that gives them a unique benefit. In the first game I had the seemingly huge advantage of choosing my dice numbers rather than rolling them - not as good as I thought, at least not in my hands. (Andrew had an extra die and some free contracts). But in the second game I had an extra traveller on the board and an endless supply of camels. So once again I went travelling. This time Andrew joined me, and we fought it out on both fronts. Andrew would have won again, but he had forgotten to travel to a particular destination. We'd both made it to Beijing through, and this time I nabbed the reward for most contracts:
Sam 53
Andrew 49
It was intrigued, it played fast (in a good way) and there's definitely a lot of replay value - there's just so much going on and the character cards you start with can really define how you play. There's also - we realised late in the day - a fair amount of screwage room, if you really wanted to be an asshole. But I didn't get the sense either of us were bowled over by it. We both agreed it might be better with more players and we should revisit one Tuesday reasonably soon.
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