Next week is the Christmas GNN, but unfortunately Joe can’t make it that day. I started wondering if there was a way of him joining in the fun, even though he wasn’t physically there. In the event that he can’t rustle up a games night of his own, I started wondering if there are any games that he can play by phone or text.
The first, and most sensible answer I came up with was the online version of Brass. It works fine on a mobile phone, no worries. And I’m sure that there are other similar apps that offer you a chance to play your favourite board game remotely.
But then I started thinking, what about an actual physical board game? Are there any that he could join in with? We could even have an empty chair and a glass of cranberry juice to mark his presence.
Auction games would be impossible, so Ra and Medici are both out. Similarly, any games where you have to share cards, like 7 Wonders or Kakerlakenpoker, can’t be done.
After some thought, I decided that Incan Gold is playable over the phone. As long as we tell him what’s going on, he can keep track of the game quite easily, I reckon.
Stone Age, too, is a possibility. It’s more complicated: he’d need to set it up himself and pick out the cards and huts as they’re revealed by us, but otherwise it may be possible to play this over the phone. And I’m sure we can rely on him to be honest about his dice rolls, as we will be honest about ours.
Castles of Burgundy could also be done, but that’s because it mostly feels like everyone’s playing a solo game anyway. He could just play on his own, and then text in his results. Not terribly interactive. But then, CoB doesn’t have a great deal of player interaction anyway.
The Resistance might be possible with a little preparation. We’d have to know the number of players well beforehand and then put a spy/resistance card in an envelope and give it to him earlier that day. Preferably at a park bench, while wearing trench coats and black leather gloves. Then, when we come to play the game, he opens the envelope, the rest of us draw the remaining cards, and we play with Joe on speaker phone! It’d be fun!
And I’d love to know if it could be possible to do the same with RotW. It’d have to be by text, since two and a half hours on speaker phone would wipe out most phone’s batteries. As long as Joe doesn’t mind passing on every auction then, once we’d got the board set up in both houses, it may be possible. Or is that just a crazy dream?
Of course, there are probably apps and websites that do all this for you. But it would be nice to have him physically there, if not in person, at least in meeple.
Showing posts with label Brass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brass. Show all posts
Friday, 13 December 2013
Monday, 4 November 2013
Duke-ing it out
Following on from Sam’s post about Castle Dice: I like games which involve short-term, tactical decisions (unless I'm really in the mood for grand strategy). I think it’s one of the reasons Brass remains a favourite, despite it’s length and complexity. You have to form an overall strategy, sure; but you also have to respond to the changing situation on the board - and be opportunistic.
At least that’s the way I play - then again I don’t often win . . .
This weekend I tried out the ultimate in tactical abstracts -The Duke; a chess-like game where each piece's possible moves are depicted on them, and pieces are added to the board as you play.
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| The Duke - it's got wizards! |
I'm not a huge chess fan, preferring the mixture of luck and skill, not to mention theme, that modern euros offer, but this is getting such buzz on the Geek I couldn't resist. It's also really beautifully produced, with lovely wooden tiles for the pieces.
The great thing about this game is that rather than having to commit a huge number of rules to memory, you can see exactly what your pieces are capable of just by looking at the board, so the cognitive load is very gentle. You only have three pieces on the board at the start, the eponymous Duke, and two footmen. The goal is to kill your opponent’s Duke, and on your turn you can move one of the pieces on the board, or take a new one from the bag at random (there’s a lovely risk/reward at play here, since the piece you draw might save you, or block you in and hasten your demise).
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| Possible starting positions |
The twist is that each piece is double-sided, and once moved must be flipped; the reverse side offers a variation on the movement/attack capabilities. This might seem like it requires a lot of stuff committed to memory, but you can always have a peek at the piece or consult the player aid, and actually lots of the pieces reverse-sides have a logic to them, so you soon get the hang of it.
My girls are unwilling gamers, to put it mildly; a tendency I put down to a combo of wilful dad-bating and an understandable disdain of rules-learning. So my sell for this to Bea was ‘it has no rules!’. I had to change that to ‘you don’t have to learn any rules’ after she started counting on her fingers as I was explaining the game. Bea and I played two games, and she won both.
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| Brown's duke is running out of options |
I then played once each with Martha and Matilda, and won both of those. I wouldn’t say any of them loved it, but that really shouldn’t detract from the game itself; it’s an incredible achievement that all three of them were willing to give it a go at all. I look forward to playing against some more willing opponents soon - a great lunchtime, teatime or Roll for the Soul-time two player, and bound to turn the heads of any chess players passing by . . .
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Long Divisions
There's nothing more entertaining than spreadsheets and so, inspired by a comment made by Adam in the "Happy Birthday" post, I've decided to go back and do some divisions for individual games. (Three-player or more only.)
First was Biblios. Any enigma it may have once held seems to have been cracked by Sam. His winning formula, whatever it is, gives him the win in Points and Points Ratio.
Next is Alhambra, won in similar style by Sam. Paul comes in second in his highest performance on any division but perhaps the big surprise (apart from the fact that Hannah hasn't played it) is how well Dirk did: a comfortable mid-table finish for our imaginary friend.
Next up are the divisions for Stone Age and Tinners' Trail, both won on Points by Sam, and on Points Ratio by Adam.
Then we come to Adam's two strong suits. Ticket To Ride and Brass. He won comprehensively on Brass, with a series of five wins in a row. I have yet to score higher than last.
Onto the division for 7 Wonders. Again, Sam takes the Points title, with Steve taking the crown on Points Ratio. Meanwhile, Joe is yet to take a single win on 7 Wonders in ten attempts. But, no matter. He can cheer himself up with the next division after it.
Railways of the World is, perhaps, the most exciting division. If you happen to be Joe or Adam. The rivalry between these two is fierce and fearsome, as demonstrated by the fact that apart from them, no one else has won a single game. Joe just wins Points and Points Ratio by the narrowest of margins.
Meanwhile, early rumours of Joe having won Lords of Waterdeep were wrong. Although, his fledgling points ratio is the best, he's only played two games, so it doesn't count. Sam comes top of a very even table, with Steve winning Points Ratio.
Finally, Wallenstein. The two new parents share the honours on this game, Steve on Points, Anja on Points ratio.
And that's all for now. Of course, there are more games to examine in this exciting an fascinating way, but I'll leave those for a sequel to this post.
First was Biblios. Any enigma it may have once held seems to have been cracked by Sam. His winning formula, whatever it is, gives him the win in Points and Points Ratio.
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| Biblios |
Next is Alhambra, won in similar style by Sam. Paul comes in second in his highest performance on any division but perhaps the big surprise (apart from the fact that Hannah hasn't played it) is how well Dirk did: a comfortable mid-table finish for our imaginary friend.
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| Alhambra |
Next up are the divisions for Stone Age and Tinners' Trail, both won on Points by Sam, and on Points Ratio by Adam.
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| Stone Age |
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| Tinners' Trail |
Then we come to Adam's two strong suits. Ticket To Ride and Brass. He won comprehensively on Brass, with a series of five wins in a row. I have yet to score higher than last.
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| Brass |
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| Ticket To Ride |
Onto the division for 7 Wonders. Again, Sam takes the Points title, with Steve taking the crown on Points Ratio. Meanwhile, Joe is yet to take a single win on 7 Wonders in ten attempts. But, no matter. He can cheer himself up with the next division after it.
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| 7 Wonders |
Railways of the World is, perhaps, the most exciting division. If you happen to be Joe or Adam. The rivalry between these two is fierce and fearsome, as demonstrated by the fact that apart from them, no one else has won a single game. Joe just wins Points and Points Ratio by the narrowest of margins.
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| Railways Of The World |
Meanwhile, early rumours of Joe having won Lords of Waterdeep were wrong. Although, his fledgling points ratio is the best, he's only played two games, so it doesn't count. Sam comes top of a very even table, with Steve winning Points Ratio.
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| Lords of Waterdeep |
Finally, Wallenstein. The two new parents share the honours on this game, Steve on Points, Anja on Points ratio.
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| Wallenstein |
And that's all for now. Of course, there are more games to examine in this exciting an fascinating way, but I'll leave those for a sequel to this post.
Sunday, 6 January 2013
Farewell Stabcon
Three years ago, Sam had the idea of going to Stabcon as a means of doing some research for a sitcom we were working on. This year, on Saturday evening, as we drove down dark country lanes following the tail lights of a famous games designer on our way to the pub, we realised we'd become that sitcom.
We (Sam, Joe, Adam and I) set off on Friday, keen and eager. We arrived after a pleasant drive, stopping off for food at a service station famous for its ducks. We didn't see any, though. However, once at the Britannia, early signs weren't good. Behind us in the queue to check in was a man who smelt quite strongly of piss. He made idle chat with us during a hold up at reception, and I held my breath and nodded non-committally.
We then set up in the hall, and started to play. Downfall of Pompeii was first, as it encourages back-stabbing and betrayal in a light-hearted and amusing way. We followed that up with a new game, Singapore, which is a lot of worker placement and resource conversion. Nice, but not earth-moving. Joe did manage to miss his mouth with a crisp twice in succession, though.
Downfall of Pompeii
Joe 9
Sam 8
Adam 7
Andrew 5
Singapore
Adam 79
Sam 74
Andrew 60
Joe 42
Then we thought perhaps we should mingle a bit, but time was getting on and we'd be going to eat soon. Adam played on the internet, because he was in the middle of a game and it's rude to keep people waiting.
Joe taught Sam Elk Fest, a flicking game where your have to get your tiny wooden elk across the table on stepping stones. And then we played Biblios. We spiced it up by rolling the dice before we began, meaning each dice started with a random value. We play hard and fast in Stabcon.
Following that, we went to the carvery, and a very nice man found us a table while we stood at the bar and drank the beer made by (?) the band Elbow. During the meal, we discussed what we wanted to play next so when we got back to the Hotel, we were all geared up to play Africana. It was Adam's first attempt at this game which involves doing laps up and down Africa while picking up adventures and treasures along the way.
Africana
Andrew 41
Adam 38
Joe 36
Sam 34
Then we took another break and wandered around for a while. After that, Sam and Adam played Elk Fest while Joe taught me Traders of Carthage.
Then eleven o'clock rolled around and we thought it was too late to mingle, so we broke out the Tinners' Trail – a game we knew and loved. Halfway through, Cuz from Area 51 came over to see if we wanted to join in a game of The Resistance. We were too far in to stop, so we declined, and he seemed disappointed that we were only playing amongst ourselves.
Tinners' Trail
Sam 96
Adam 92
Andrew 75
Joe 66
That was the end of Friday. On Saturday, after breakfast, a shower and a shave I was walking towards the games hall when I met Sam who told me we were about to play test a new Martin Wallace game! This is what Stabcon is all about! I was very excited that we four humble gamers would be in on the ground floor of designing a game. The game, Northern Empires, is set in a mythical Britain where the humans battle each other, calling for help from elves, goblins, giants, etc and even help from other players.
Martin planned it as mostly a bidding game, but I like to think we added something with our plotting and bluffing. We certainly added to the running time, since Martin thought the first round was too long, and in the second round he removed a lot of the bidding and negotiation. It wasn't as much fun, and also there wasn't much reason to help each other unless you had nothing better to do with your troops. Some nice ideas, though, and Martin seemed happy that he'd learnt how to improve it.
Northern Empires
Joe 58
Adam 52
Martin 51
Sam 47
Andrew 41
After a quick bout of Elk Fest, Sam went off to do some paperwork from his job, and Adam, Joe and I proudly rolled out Joe's green felt Pax Porfiriana playing area and sat down to revolutionise Mexico! We got a few admiring glances, but we were mostly too busy trying to plough through Pax's dense forest of rules and text dressed up as a card game.
Sam came back, and we didn't seem to be anywhere near finishing. Adam tried to topple the government and I almost let him, but I couldn't just let him win because we were tired so I played a card to see off his revolt. Joe happily said "I think I can end this game!" The fact he said "end" instead of "win" gives a good idea of our priorities at that point. Shortly afterwards, Adam did win and we couldn't do anything to stop him even if we wanted to. And we didn't really.
After two pretty full-on gaming experiences, my brain was frazzled. Certainly too tired to do any socialising. Instead we dug out Manila, the jolly game of betting and piracy, and followed that up with Arkadia. Joe thought that the theme was a bit tacked on, and it was really just an abstract game with a historical lick of paint.
Manila
Sam 142
Joe 138
Adam 108
Andrew 104
Arkadia
Adam 79
Andrew 73
Sam 72
Joe 56
After this was a series of quick two-player games, mostly against each other, with one other passer-by playing against Sam at Elk Fest. Joe taught me Battle for Hill 218, and Adam taught Sam Mr Jack in New York.
We also played what was, for me, the best new game of the Con (not that I played many), Hana-bi. In this game, each player had four cards held out so the others can see them. You are then allowed to give your fellow players information about what cards they have in their hands (either colour, or number, both not both at the same time). The idea is to lay down the hands in numerical order. It's quite a test of memory.
The reason for this sudden run of short games is because we were waiting to leave the hotel to have dinner with Martin Wallace. He really wanted to speak to Joe about some work he may have, but the rest of us managed to be invited too. He said he knew a nice gastro-pub near here, and that's why the four of us were heading down unfamiliar roads following a man in his car just because he designed games.
The pub he had in mind was too full, but the pub across the road wasn't, and luckily the food there was pretty good. We discussed games and no one said anything crass or embarrassing, so all in all a very nice evening. Martin then went home, so we relied on Adam's GPS to get us back to the hotel.
At the hotel, we played Railways of Mexico, where I eschewed the more sensible tactic of short tracks bringing in quick profit and instead went up to my eyeballs in debt building a cross-mountain railway because it looked nice. Meanwhile, the tense rivalry between Joe and Adam concerning this game continued unabated.
Railways of Mexico
Adam 47
Joe 46
Sam 27
Andrew 22
We ended the day with Hana-bi, using the tone of our voices to indicate if a card was good or bad and, my, what acting skills we have! Didn't complete it, though. Then we played Biblios and No Thanks and went to bed.
Sunday morning rolled around and Joe and I were up nice and early. While we had breakfast, Joe dropped a bombshell. He and Adam hadn't gone to bed at 12.30 like Sam and I. Instead they tried the two-player version of Le Harve, thinking it was a quickish half-hour simplified version of the 3+ player version. But it took them up until two o'clock to finish and Joe didn't seem keen on repeating the experience.
After breakfast we found ourselves in a deserted games hall. We played some Traders of Carthage, and Sam and Adam, when they arrived, battled again over Elk Fest. Then Joe got invited to play Pax Porfiriana with Martin Wallace and a couple of others. Adam, Sam and I rather cruelly chose a game to try and make Joe jealous, so we broke out Brass. With departure time in a couple of hours, this would be our last game of the Con.
Adam gave Sam a quick refresher of the rules which extended quite a long way into the game, and I think everyone consulted the rule book a couple of times during the game. I decided this was to be my last try on the Shipyard tactic, and I really went for it, building three and selling a fair amount of cotton to ports, too. Did no good.
Brass
Adam 205
Sam 164
Andrew 161
After we finished, and Joe came back from playing Pax, we packed up since we were already behind our schedule. Once back in the car, we mused thoughtfully about our lack of socialising. While it was nice to play so many games, if we weren't going to mingle, there really was no point in driving all the way to a hotel in Stockport to do it. Perhaps it was simply too close to the festive season this year. After festivities with families and friends, did we really need more festivities? And the level of nerdiness seemed a little higher than usual. Joe told me how twice he'd said "hello" to people and they'd just stared back at him.
While games conventions are great, we may have to reconsider next year's trip. If we're being honest, the timing's wrong, the location's wrong and I don't like the carpet. Perhaps we will feel different next year. We shall see.
The final Olympic style leaderboard includes all the little games we played, and it's hat's off to Adam, who came top of the pile!
We (Sam, Joe, Adam and I) set off on Friday, keen and eager. We arrived after a pleasant drive, stopping off for food at a service station famous for its ducks. We didn't see any, though. However, once at the Britannia, early signs weren't good. Behind us in the queue to check in was a man who smelt quite strongly of piss. He made idle chat with us during a hold up at reception, and I held my breath and nodded non-committally.
We then set up in the hall, and started to play. Downfall of Pompeii was first, as it encourages back-stabbing and betrayal in a light-hearted and amusing way. We followed that up with a new game, Singapore, which is a lot of worker placement and resource conversion. Nice, but not earth-moving. Joe did manage to miss his mouth with a crisp twice in succession, though.
Downfall of Pompeii
Joe 9
Sam 8
Adam 7
Andrew 5
 |
| Early days, empty tables... |
Singapore
Adam 79
Sam 74
Andrew 60
Joe 42
Then we thought perhaps we should mingle a bit, but time was getting on and we'd be going to eat soon. Adam played on the internet, because he was in the middle of a game and it's rude to keep people waiting.
 |
| Not ostracised, just playing Civ. |
Joe taught Sam Elk Fest, a flicking game where your have to get your tiny wooden elk across the table on stepping stones. And then we played Biblios. We spiced it up by rolling the dice before we began, meaning each dice started with a random value. We play hard and fast in Stabcon.
 |
| Beer, butter and elks |
Following that, we went to the carvery, and a very nice man found us a table while we stood at the bar and drank the beer made by (?) the band Elbow. During the meal, we discussed what we wanted to play next so when we got back to the Hotel, we were all geared up to play Africana. It was Adam's first attempt at this game which involves doing laps up and down Africa while picking up adventures and treasures along the way.
Africana
Andrew 41
Adam 38
Joe 36
Sam 34
Then we took another break and wandered around for a while. After that, Sam and Adam played Elk Fest while Joe taught me Traders of Carthage.
Then eleven o'clock rolled around and we thought it was too late to mingle, so we broke out the Tinners' Trail – a game we knew and loved. Halfway through, Cuz from Area 51 came over to see if we wanted to join in a game of The Resistance. We were too far in to stop, so we declined, and he seemed disappointed that we were only playing amongst ourselves.
 |
| Tin-mining in Joe's forehead? Anyone? It's quite dry . . . |
Tinners' Trail
Sam 96
Adam 92
Andrew 75
Joe 66
That was the end of Friday. On Saturday, after breakfast, a shower and a shave I was walking towards the games hall when I met Sam who told me we were about to play test a new Martin Wallace game! This is what Stabcon is all about! I was very excited that we four humble gamers would be in on the ground floor of designing a game. The game, Northern Empires, is set in a mythical Britain where the humans battle each other, calling for help from elves, goblins, giants, etc and even help from other players.
Martin planned it as mostly a bidding game, but I like to think we added something with our plotting and bluffing. We certainly added to the running time, since Martin thought the first round was too long, and in the second round he removed a lot of the bidding and negotiation. It wasn't as much fun, and also there wasn't much reason to help each other unless you had nothing better to do with your troops. Some nice ideas, though, and Martin seemed happy that he'd learnt how to improve it.
Northern Empires
Joe 58
Adam 52
Martin 51
Sam 47
Andrew 41
After a quick bout of Elk Fest, Sam went off to do some paperwork from his job, and Adam, Joe and I proudly rolled out Joe's green felt Pax Porfiriana playing area and sat down to revolutionise Mexico! We got a few admiring glances, but we were mostly too busy trying to plough through Pax's dense forest of rules and text dressed up as a card game.
Sam came back, and we didn't seem to be anywhere near finishing. Adam tried to topple the government and I almost let him, but I couldn't just let him win because we were tired so I played a card to see off his revolt. Joe happily said "I think I can end this game!" The fact he said "end" instead of "win" gives a good idea of our priorities at that point. Shortly afterwards, Adam did win and we couldn't do anything to stop him even if we wanted to. And we didn't really.
 |
| How we felt after playing Pax Porfiriana |
After two pretty full-on gaming experiences, my brain was frazzled. Certainly too tired to do any socialising. Instead we dug out Manila, the jolly game of betting and piracy, and followed that up with Arkadia. Joe thought that the theme was a bit tacked on, and it was really just an abstract game with a historical lick of paint.
Manila
Sam 142
Joe 138
Adam 108
Andrew 104
Arkadia
Adam 79
Andrew 73
Sam 72
Joe 56
After this was a series of quick two-player games, mostly against each other, with one other passer-by playing against Sam at Elk Fest. Joe taught me Battle for Hill 218, and Adam taught Sam Mr Jack in New York.
We also played what was, for me, the best new game of the Con (not that I played many), Hana-bi. In this game, each player had four cards held out so the others can see them. You are then allowed to give your fellow players information about what cards they have in their hands (either colour, or number, both not both at the same time). The idea is to lay down the hands in numerical order. It's quite a test of memory.
 |
| Joe successfully traded a green jelly baby for a Nurofen. |
The reason for this sudden run of short games is because we were waiting to leave the hotel to have dinner with Martin Wallace. He really wanted to speak to Joe about some work he may have, but the rest of us managed to be invited too. He said he knew a nice gastro-pub near here, and that's why the four of us were heading down unfamiliar roads following a man in his car just because he designed games.
The pub he had in mind was too full, but the pub across the road wasn't, and luckily the food there was pretty good. We discussed games and no one said anything crass or embarrassing, so all in all a very nice evening. Martin then went home, so we relied on Adam's GPS to get us back to the hotel.
At the hotel, we played Railways of Mexico, where I eschewed the more sensible tactic of short tracks bringing in quick profit and instead went up to my eyeballs in debt building a cross-mountain railway because it looked nice. Meanwhile, the tense rivalry between Joe and Adam concerning this game continued unabated.
Railways of Mexico
Adam 47
Joe 46
Sam 27
Andrew 22
We ended the day with Hana-bi, using the tone of our voices to indicate if a card was good or bad and, my, what acting skills we have! Didn't complete it, though. Then we played Biblios and No Thanks and went to bed.
Sunday morning rolled around and Joe and I were up nice and early. While we had breakfast, Joe dropped a bombshell. He and Adam hadn't gone to bed at 12.30 like Sam and I. Instead they tried the two-player version of Le Harve, thinking it was a quickish half-hour simplified version of the 3+ player version. But it took them up until two o'clock to finish and Joe didn't seem keen on repeating the experience.
After breakfast we found ourselves in a deserted games hall. We played some Traders of Carthage, and Sam and Adam, when they arrived, battled again over Elk Fest. Then Joe got invited to play Pax Porfiriana with Martin Wallace and a couple of others. Adam, Sam and I rather cruelly chose a game to try and make Joe jealous, so we broke out Brass. With departure time in a couple of hours, this would be our last game of the Con.
Adam gave Sam a quick refresher of the rules which extended quite a long way into the game, and I think everyone consulted the rule book a couple of times during the game. I decided this was to be my last try on the Shipyard tactic, and I really went for it, building three and selling a fair amount of cotton to ports, too. Did no good.
Brass
Adam 205
Sam 164
Andrew 161
After we finished, and Joe came back from playing Pax, we packed up since we were already behind our schedule. Once back in the car, we mused thoughtfully about our lack of socialising. While it was nice to play so many games, if we weren't going to mingle, there really was no point in driving all the way to a hotel in Stockport to do it. Perhaps it was simply too close to the festive season this year. After festivities with families and friends, did we really need more festivities? And the level of nerdiness seemed a little higher than usual. Joe told me how twice he'd said "hello" to people and they'd just stared back at him.
While games conventions are great, we may have to reconsider next year's trip. If we're being honest, the timing's wrong, the location's wrong and I don't like the carpet. Perhaps we will feel different next year. We shall see.
The final Olympic style leaderboard includes all the little games we played, and it's hat's off to Adam, who came top of the pile!
| Gold | Silver | Bronze | |
| Adam | 9 | 5 | 2 |
| Sam | 5 | 9 | 3 |
| Joe | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| Andrew | 4 | 3 | 4 |
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Suitable for Miners
Having promised to play Brass the next time we were three players, I (Sam) was alarmed to see Tuesday looming large with various GNNers out of the picture. It looked like there was no escaping Wallace and his insidious clutches, so Brass it was to be. This game carries enough of a reputation to make a grown man nervous, so Joe charitably invited me over on Monday night for a run-through of the rules, and a practice session.
Brass!
That done, I returned to Joe's on games night proper to find Brass set up and ready to go. Adam had chips, Joe had pretzels. I had chipsticks, which I felt were thematically resonant with an industrial age game, as they appear to be a confection of factory floor sweepings and animal glue.
Although Joe had finished ahead of me on points on the previous nights run-through, I felt equipped enough that I could compete with two old hands. Who knows, maybe I could even pull off an unlikely victory?
For those unfamiliar with Brass, players are taking the role of unabashed capitalists intent on sullying the hills of north England. They mine, they build factories, they build ports, they build canals (in the first half of the game) and railways (in the second). They spend a lot of time shipping goods and taking loans. It's not a simple game but, one or two rules aside, it is (as I was promised) a more intuitive affair that Last Train to Wensleydale, where you can feel like you are being phased into an early grave*. Though there are a heap of options generally your choice will be guided by either a. what gets you victory points or b. what gets you money, which could get you even more victory points, if you use it wisely.
Tiles!
I felt I hadn't built enough canals on Monday so I was much more active establishing connections. Joe, too, was busy with the shovel. But Adam pretty much ignored the canals, focussing on developing (discarding cheaper, less rewarding buildings) and building handsome buildings, using our connections to get around. The strategy looked a sound one as the halfway scoring round saw him take the lead. Despite trying to keep abreast of the others, I realised I had about half the amount of buildings on the board that they did - not a good state of affairs.
The second round saw things become a little more combative as Joe and Adam knocked each others buildings to the ground in order to establish their own. Though I managed to create a bit more of a foothold on the board, it was clear from the lack of wrecking balls swinging my way that the others were in a battle for first place.
So it proved, though it wasn't as close between them as I anticipated. Despite Joe's multitudinous trainlines, the explosion of yellow pieces over the south Pennines made it look like someone (guess who) had struck gold - or possibly custard.
Adam 190
Joe 174
Sam 158
Brass again!
My personal verdict on Brass is that I liked it a lot. I don't think it's a game I'm likely to win, especially playing Adam and Joe - but I really enjoyed the variety of options and the theme. I struggled slightly with when you're allowed to build what, where... but that's a minor reservation. The only thing that'd stop me playing it again soon is the sheer length - three hours plus playing time for three people. That said though, it didn't drag at all. So - I'm in the fan club! Join me. Join me.
On the form table it's a bit of a one-horse race at the moment, with no-one able to challenge Adam's supremacy. In fact the person who is nearest him hasn't even played for two weeks, as Andrew moves into second by virtue of the 'most recent result' rule. Joe stays in fifth thanks to Brass - it gave him a very respectable 2nd place, but because we didn't have time for another game he hasn't shaken the 5 yet.
| Points | ||||||
| Adam | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| Andrew | 2 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| Sam | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 |
| Anja | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 12 |
| Joe | 2 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 14 |
| Steve | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 18 |
*on a first play. Andrew and I found it relatively straightforward second time around.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Through a Brass Darkly
When I arrived, I was given pancakes and a seat at the family table. What a happy start to what was to be a long evening. Since we were just three (Joe, Adam and myself) we chose our favourite on-line distraction: Brass. Although Martin Wallace's game is more like a collection of rules that don't fit together properly, we still found it had an allure that we couldn't resist. And so we donned our imaginary stove pipe hats and mutton chops and stood around, clutching our lapels and moaning about price of building t' cotton mill.
The first thing we noticed was how rusty we were regarding the rules. We were used to the internet dealing out cards, giving us money and telling us when we couldn't do things, so it took a while to get going. And then, once we were going, it took a while to keep going.
I went for my usual shipyard tactic which I think I've got down to a fine art (three out of four shipyards built). That fact that I still came last is the final nail in its coffin. It don't think I'll be going for that strategy again.
Really, the evening was between Adam and Joe. I wish I'd taken notes of what they were doing because, thinking back, I have no idea. They looked at the rule book a lot. Maybe that helped.
At the halfway point, I was in the lead, but that was thanks to my network of canals which get removed at that point. I started the second half with few industries on the board, while Adam had plenty of buildings scattered about. Joe trod a path somewhere between us throughout the evening.
By the end, Adam must've been confident in winning since he was giving both me and Joe advice so we could end sooner. Even with that help, we completed the game at quarter past midnight. We were a little older (by four hours, to be exact), a little wiser and quite a lot puzzled as to how it took so long.
Adam 204 (a new high score!)
Joe 184
Andrew 165 (and a personal best for me)
Adam leaps up the form table thanks to losing a fifth place result and replacing it with a shiny new first place.
* the decay rule –people with five results registered, after a while, will find their score go down one point per week if they don't attend for three weeks. It may sound harsh, but it stops the regulars getting resentful. If they attend another evening, all decay points are removed.
The first thing we noticed was how rusty we were regarding the rules. We were used to the internet dealing out cards, giving us money and telling us when we couldn't do things, so it took a while to get going. And then, once we were going, it took a while to keep going.
I went for my usual shipyard tactic which I think I've got down to a fine art (three out of four shipyards built). That fact that I still came last is the final nail in its coffin. It don't think I'll be going for that strategy again.
Really, the evening was between Adam and Joe. I wish I'd taken notes of what they were doing because, thinking back, I have no idea. They looked at the rule book a lot. Maybe that helped.
At the halfway point, I was in the lead, but that was thanks to my network of canals which get removed at that point. I started the second half with few industries on the board, while Adam had plenty of buildings scattered about. Joe trod a path somewhere between us throughout the evening.
By the end, Adam must've been confident in winning since he was giving both me and Joe advice so we could end sooner. Even with that help, we completed the game at quarter past midnight. We were a little older (by four hours, to be exact), a little wiser and quite a lot puzzled as to how it took so long.
Adam 204 (a new high score!)
Joe 184
Andrew 165 (and a personal best for me)
Adam leaps up the form table thanks to losing a fifth place result and replacing it with a shiny new first place.
| Points | ||||||
| Sam | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 |
| Adam | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Joe | 2 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 13 |
| Steve | 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13* |
| Jonny | 1 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 15 |
| Andrew | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 15 |
| Anja | 2 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 17 |
| Quentin | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 19 |
| Hannah | 2 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 20 |
* the decay rule –people with five results registered, after a while, will find their score go down one point per week if they don't attend for three weeks. It may sound harsh, but it stops the regulars getting resentful. If they attend another evening, all decay points are removed.
Wednesday, 15 June 2011
Water, water, not exactly everywhere . . .
Earlier this week, I listened to the latest episode of Ryan Sturm and Geoff Engelstein's excellent Ludology podcast - about the 'why' of gaming. The current episode focusses on complexity, and introduced a concept I was unfamiliar with: cognitive load.
Cognitive load is the amount of rules and concepts games require you to hold in your head whilst playing. This is distinct from rules which, once learned, quickly become second nature, and you don't have to keep them at the forefront of your mind, and can focus instead on strategy and tactics.
Games which induce a heavy cognitive load will tend to appeal only to hardcore gamers, and be a big turn-off to casual players: Troyes would fall in to this category, I would say, along with Brass and De Vulgari Eloquentia. Games like this often require a player aid, a reference card to help manage the amount of stuff that the players need to assimilate. It doesn't mean they're bad games, but they require an investment of time and effort to learn.
And then there are games that, despite a simple ruleset (and thus a light cognitive load) nevertheless involve a mind-bending set of choices, as you attempt to wrap your brain around the future consequences of your current actions.
Santiago, which we got to play last night for the first time, is one of these.
We were five altogether, Sam hosting Adam, Andrew, Jonny and me.
Santiago is about irrigating crops, and bribing the canal overseer (one of the players) to send the water the way you want it to go — as it says on the box, 'the water flows where the money goes'.
It also says on the box '60 mins'. It took us two hours, not including ten minutes learning the rules at the beginning.
The rules themselves are simple, but the decisions that result from them are rather deep, and often agonising. Do you bid high for the crop tile, and leave yourself little money to bribe the canal guy?Do you bid low to become the canal guy, in the hopes of raising some cash? Do you offer up a big bribe to the canal guy, forcing him to take it rather than spend more of his own precious money sending it his way, only to find that someone else has made a lower offer that benefits the both of them?
It was everybody's first game, which probably accounts for the long play time. Sam, Adam and Jonny made an early alliance involving bananas, while I planted a small potato field, and Andrew, the first canal overseer, bided his time.
In the second round, Adam took an aggressive stance, shutting in my potato field, and Sam threw in his extra canal to keep his bananas moist, which meant easy pickings for the winners of the crop auction going in to round three.
No-one had a total grasp of what was gonig on, but Adam seemed increasingly relaxed (always a bad sign), and by the end, although no-one could quite tell how where they stood, we all sort of knew Adam had the win.
It's a game in which you can, if you're so inclined, crunch the numbers on your turn and have a pretty good idea of your optimal move. That doesn't come naturally to me, I prefer going with my instinct. Andrew was of a similar dispostion, and we came 4th and 5th respectively. Johnny was third, Sam second and Adam won comfortably, having pushed in to the hundreds. Tellingly, the scores were fairly evenly spaced, with 40 points between first and last place:
Adam 105
Sam 90
Jonny 84
Joe 74
Andrew 65
I liked it and would be happy to play again, though I don't think I'm very good at negotiation games. That said, there's a fair amount of transparency — unlike some games, it's relatively easy to figure out what represents a good offer in terms of return.
After that we played TransEuropa — the game lasted four rounds I think, each round someone falling short by four or five points. I think Trans Europa is a great way to round off a games night — I find it quite addicitve, despite the limited amount of strategy. there's a lot of luck, but it does seem to reward attention to your opponents placement. JB
Joe 1st
Jonny 2nd
Adam 3rd
Andrew 4th
Sam 5th
| Played | Points | Ratio | |
| Sam | 26 | 106.5 | 4.1 |
| Andrew | 28 | 102 | 3.64 |
| Joe | 23 | 101 | 4.39 |
| Adam | 20 | 100.5 | 5.025 |
| Quentin | 9 | 40 | 4.44 |
| Hannah | 7 | 34.5 | 4.9 |
| Chris | 5 | 20.5 | 4.1 |
| Steve | 4 | 16 | 4 |
| Jonny | 5 | 16 | 3.2 |
Ersby reports: Just six points seperate fourth from first as we galavant to a grand finale. Despite a poor performance by me, I cling on to second spot.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Return to Stockport
Last night, Sam was designated host at his new house. However, at just past 7pm, unforeseen circumstances and general needing-a-rest lead him to cry off, and games night was hastily relocated to Joe's — a triumvirate of Adam, Andrew and me.
Despite my best efforts to force Thunderstone on them (Adam balked at the words "Attack +4" on one of the cards, and to be sure, it is a shameless uber-nerdy dungeon-crawler), there was really only one option for the three of us — a return to 19th century Lancashire in the company of Mr Wallace. But only after we'd got Age of Steam out of the box, and gazed at the Ireland map for a couple of minutes.
I always have a bit of anxiety when choosing a long game —its a whole evening committed, and there's always the sneaking feeling that the choice might be a poor one. A few moments into Brass, though, and it fit us like a comfortable pair of slippers; slippers with sleepy scorpions curled up in the toes.
Adam has been honing his skills online, and was clearly focussed from the start, taking a couple of loans back-to-back, and instantaneously catapulting himself back into profit. Andrew and I were a bit rusty, and feeling our way, but the canal phase ended closely, with Andrew and Adam tied, me lagging a couple of points behind.
The rail phase seemed fairly evenly contested, but Adam came out streets ahead in the end, with something like 190 points, me in second with 160 odd, Andrew 140-ish; something like that, anyway. Andrew and I might have been closer together actually . . .
It was an unusual game in that there was almost no coal and iron on the map throughout — we all tended to build to refill the demand track, rather than taking free resources. And it wasn't too brutal; there was a little tit-for-tat overbuilding, but as is often the case with three, there was enough room for everybody to stretch out, though as Adam noted, the fact that no-one touched their shipyards made the centre of the board quite congested. There was a tense moment for Andrew when he had to take a chance on the distant market; it had bottomed out on me in the canal phase, but he just managed it.
It was a good three and a half hours from start to finish, but lots of fun. Brass is a good 'un — I don't enjoy long-term planning in games, and it does allow for quick-thinking on the fly.
Most pleasant. And we must induct Sam into the Brass experience — four-player is definitely the way to do it.
The leaderboard...
Despite my best efforts to force Thunderstone on them (Adam balked at the words "Attack +4" on one of the cards, and to be sure, it is a shameless uber-nerdy dungeon-crawler), there was really only one option for the three of us — a return to 19th century Lancashire in the company of Mr Wallace. But only after we'd got Age of Steam out of the box, and gazed at the Ireland map for a couple of minutes.
I always have a bit of anxiety when choosing a long game —its a whole evening committed, and there's always the sneaking feeling that the choice might be a poor one. A few moments into Brass, though, and it fit us like a comfortable pair of slippers; slippers with sleepy scorpions curled up in the toes.
Adam has been honing his skills online, and was clearly focussed from the start, taking a couple of loans back-to-back, and instantaneously catapulting himself back into profit. Andrew and I were a bit rusty, and feeling our way, but the canal phase ended closely, with Andrew and Adam tied, me lagging a couple of points behind.
The rail phase seemed fairly evenly contested, but Adam came out streets ahead in the end, with something like 190 points, me in second with 160 odd, Andrew 140-ish; something like that, anyway. Andrew and I might have been closer together actually . . .
It was an unusual game in that there was almost no coal and iron on the map throughout — we all tended to build to refill the demand track, rather than taking free resources. And it wasn't too brutal; there was a little tit-for-tat overbuilding, but as is often the case with three, there was enough room for everybody to stretch out, though as Adam noted, the fact that no-one touched their shipyards made the centre of the board quite congested. There was a tense moment for Andrew when he had to take a chance on the distant market; it had bottomed out on me in the canal phase, but he just managed it.
It was a good three and a half hours from start to finish, but lots of fun. Brass is a good 'un — I don't enjoy long-term planning in games, and it does allow for quick-thinking on the fly.
Most pleasant. And we must induct Sam into the Brass experience — four-player is definitely the way to do it.
The leaderboard...
| Played | Points | Ratio | |
| Adam | 7 | 36.5 | 5.22 |
| Joe | 7 | 28 | 4 |
| Andrew | 8 | 24.5 | 3.06 |
| Sam | 4 | 20 | 5 |
| Quentin | 5 | 20 | 4 |
| Hannah | 3 | 11.5 | 3.8 |
Friday, 26 November 2010
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Where there's muck . . .
So last night, after a late cancellation by Steve and Anja, we were down to three; Adam, Andrew and me (Joe). Last time we three met, Brass happened — and so it was again. I think we were all keen to explore it a little more, and the replacement of the plastic coins with real old English pennies was more than enough to seal the deal. After setting up it was 8pm, and there was no need for lengthy rules explanations this time — as Andrew said "let's just play, and Joe can tell us why we can't do what we want to." Adam jumped in with a £30 loan on his first turn, an unusual opening strategy as it pushed him £3 into debt - the lure of the real copper coins I think. Iron was in scarce supply throughout the canal phase, and while I scoured my cards for somewhere to build an ironworks, Adam seemed to have all the right locations and made a lot of headway through selling iron back to the demand track. Both Adam and Andrew built early coal mines, which lingered on the board for quite a while, though none remained unflipped by the phase end — Andrew managing a daring turn 10 flip I think. I struggled in the first half, no real plan emerging, and the canal phase scoring saw me in third place by quite a margin. The rail phase was a bit more fruitful for me, particularly since Adam spotted that we were in the final round for taking loans and announced the fact after he and Andrew had missed their opportunity to do so, and I was able to take a final hand-out (thanks Adam).
Andrew did his customary late-game Shipyard build (in both phases), and I used my new-found wealth to build 4 pieces of track in one turn, draining the coal track dry, and prompting
some over-building, a new experience for all of us. In the end though, Adam was victorious with 174 points, me in second with 173 (curses), and Andrew in third with 147.
This was my third face-to-face Brass game, Andrew and Ads second, and Andrew and I have played a few two player games online. I'm not completely grabbed by it. I like it, but compared to say, Age of Steam, another long and competitive game, it feels a little convoluted. I do know that it's supposed to be at its best with four players, as there's a lot more competition for industry spots, and we've yet to try a four-way, so that would be interesting. But strategy-wise I'm not totally feeling the love that I've read about elsewhere. It seems to be a game of opportunism as much as strategy, and I'm not sure I can see multiple paths to victory. The shipyards, for instance; they take so much to get on the board, and then there are at most two per phase, each only scoring once since the canal phase shipyards get discarded, so I can't see them being part of a winning strategy really.
Perhaps we're none of us being competitive enough — if you see someone building cotton mills without ports, you could sweep in with your own mills and bottom out the cotton demand track, for instance. You could also use canal and rail track to secure certain cities, since other players will find it more difficult to build if they can't ship coal and iron via their own networks.
There's lots to love, and I'm prepared to think that we're not quite getting it yet, but it doesn't have the economic tension (translation: fear of bankruptcy) of Age of Steam, nor the heart-pumping exhilaration of Caylus (I'm serious), and for a three hour plus game, that's a big commitment — it's a whole games night! We could have played three games of Medici!
So anyway - four player Brass . . . anybody not yet dipped their toe in the sooty waters who feels up to the challenge? You'll have some catching up to do, but don't worry; Andrew, Adam and I will be there to tell you exactly why you can't do what you want to . . . Wallace!
The Leaderboard
| Played | Points | |
| Joe | 11 | 17 |
| Adam | 12 | 15 |
| Andrew | 14 | 11 |
| Sam | 7 | 10 |
| Jonny | 6 | 8 |
| Steve | 3 | 6 |
| Quentin | 1 | 1 |
| Hannah | 1 | 1 |
| Will | 1 | 1 |
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Brass Drubbing
So finally, after weeks of gentle pleading, dropping hints and waving the box under everyone's noses, it finally happened. Last night, with Andrew and Adam in, Brass hit the table. Martin Wallace's Brass, a wood and cardboard poem to Industrial Revolution era Lancashire. And an epic poem at that. It's not that it's complicated, I kept insisting, it's just that there are some (ok lots of) very fiddly little rules. Which means when you're learning and playing for the first time, it can be daunting. Which means lots of knitted brows, and cursing "Wallace" from between gritted teeth.
Since it popped on to my radar 6 months ago, I've wanted to play Brass. I've wanted to play it so much I've listened to several podcasts about it (links below), checked out the free online version (almost impossible to contemplate until you've played it in the flesh), and generally talked myself in to buying it. And then the long, hard slog of persuading all you other chaps to play. You have been rightfully ambivalent — we have, between us, more than enough games that deserve deeper exploration than we can give them; why add another, and a behemoth at that, to the list of games tried but not fully explored? It's true, it's the cult of the new, and it's my little problem, one I will try and keep under control. From now on.
So was it worth it? Hmm . . . Adam said afterwards "I think I enjoyed that." Andrew said, during the game "This is good, but those rules. Really." And did it live up to my expectations? A guest on Mark Johnson's excellent All about Brass podcast said "if you play Brass once, and you don't hate it, you should definitely play a few more times". I'd like to play again, but it's not really tuesday night friendly. I know we were learning, but still — we started bang on 7.30pm, and packed up at nearly midnight. And it's not fun fun like some games — it's mature, serious, thoughtful stuff. I explained this to Charlotte afterwards, and she said "please say you'll never make me play it."
It is a game that plays well online (I have played and lost twice online), so sign up and say the word, I'll be there in an instant. And thanks to Adam and Andrew for indulging me, it wasn't horrible, right? - JB
Oh, and the scores:
Joe 177
Adam 169
Andrew 140
Further reading/listening/playing:
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