Ian 12
Joe 9
Martin 8
I'd brought along Beowulf: the Legend a few times recently without success, but tonight it got its chance. Being a Reiner Knizia game, it's not the most thematic ever, with Beowulf's epic travails represented through the medium of auctions. I think it's a lot of fun though, with plentiful opportunities to play the odds and double-entendre-prone cards ("double fist" anyone?). Unfortunately for Joe, it seemed the odds preferred to play him, as he proceeded to fail almost every risk he took. It was a lot like last week's game of San Quentin Kings, but without the twist ending where he won.
Martin 31
Matt 26
Ian 24
Joe -4
Finally, Joe was eager to unbox his new acquisition Sail To India. I thought it was a very clever game, boiling the Euro genre down to its purest essence of cards and cubes. But I'm not sure I found it that much fun. It seemed like we each fell into one of a few fairly obvious strategies (I was the trader, Ian was the explorer, Matt was the banker and Joe focused on strongholds) and churned the cubes until we had a winner. Which was me ;)
Martin 23
Matt 21
Ian 18 (wins tie-break)
Joe 18
| Points | ||||||
| Martin | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 9 |
| Sam | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 11 |
| Andrew | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 12 |
| Matt | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Gonz | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| Ian | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| Joe | 4 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 15 |
| Will | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 16 |
| Anja | 2 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 22 |
| Steve | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 24 |
Yeah I really would have enjoyed Beowulf if I hadn't been so shafted on (almost) each and every risk I took. The double-whammy of getting a scratch and last place in the auction (often leading to another scratch) made for an unpleasant experience.
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough, on the Geek it's been criticised for the risks inevitably succeeding, and therefore always worth doing!
I did wonder whether our mistake with the special card I took on the first auction contributed - all it did was let me remove a scratch - what did the Beowulf one that I was supposed to get do? I'm clutching at straws here, but knowing the good doctor as we do, I'm sure there's method in the order in which those cards come out.
Sail to India I think is a very clever little system, but pretty dry. For me its niche is for times when you might want a thinky four-player game and need to travel very light. That said, one you've laid out the cards you need a decent sized table to accommodate it.
Thanks chaps, and kudos to Martin for not using "double-fisitng" in the blog - oh I've just noticed you did . . .