Thanks to a tip-off from Chris Brooks, I have just been playing Puerto Rico online. I am quite impressed. The interface is pretty usable. It is much better than BSW, but that is not saying much as I think BSW’s interface is the worst I have ever seen.
Only small quibbles:
Playing games for two nights running is exceptional for me, so I decided to keep things simple.
Edel, Stein & Reich
We played a four-player game of this. It went down well, but I am not sure if this was due to the gems or the gameplay. There is some subtle thinking when bartering, which makes this one a deeper game than it first looks. Although there is a lot of luck in the scissors-paper-stone element of the game, I am sure that skilful players will win the majority of the time.
For me, it plays better with three players than four, as there is less clashing of choices. It might play well with five, but I have not had a chance to try it.
I stuck paste-ups (cut out from A4 labels) onto the event cards, which definitely improves the game. It’s light and fast moving, so looking up translations would slow it down too much.
Ivanhoe
This is good for when you are feeling tired and just want some light, direct aggression with your friends. I made the mistake of getting too committed with draining battles, and should have picked my shots more carefully. We enjoyed it so much we played twice. Apparently, the battles mechanism is similar to Taj Mahal, which I borrowed a while ago, but have not got around to playing. Judging by the consistent success of Ivanhoe, the guys will love Taj Mahal.
Wizard Kings arrived in the post last week and was delayed in the post office for over a week and I had to pay an extra £8 in tax, because it came from outside the European Union and it cost over £18. This was very annoying as I cannot easily get to the post office during the week and it was hardly one of Ness’ top priorities on top of looking after Oscar. It also makes an expensive game almost too expensive.
It’s a pity that Columbia only ship from their own website. It would save European customers money and time if they could make a good deal with a European distributor.
Anyway, we played it last night and it was worth a wait. The rules are simple and elegant. It almost feels like an video game like Myth or Warcraft. In fact some of the multiplayer battle types in Myth could be ported into interesting Wizard Kings scenarios.
We only had time to get a feel for the game and half-play the first scenario. I’m looking forward to exporing this further.
Our five-player, play-by-email game of Age of Steam finished the week before last, but I was unable to post about it due to my problems with Blosxom.
To my surprise I won, due to some early auction wins and building a ring around Lake Erie, so I could ship goods in peace. I had only played it once before and playing it PBEM and having the time to absorb the rules has led me to revaluate it. It certainly worked very well PBEM, although all the players were already very experienced.
I am very torn about AoS, as I still think that apart from Tigris and Euphrates, it is the deepest non-abstract game I have played, and that the theme richly matches the game mechanics, but the last time I played, I came sixth and spent two hours watching everything I touched turn to mud. Having said that, this viciousness is a part of the appeal. AoS is definitely the last game I would ever play with a non-gamer.
While playing around with Trackback and Technorati, (MovableType is superb) I found I was linked to from quite an interesting blog, Musings, Ramblings, and Things Left Unsaid.
Fred mostly writes about books and games, particularly big, heavy ones like Roads and Boats and The Peloponnesian War.
I would love to play some monster games.. American Megafauna looks particularly excellent, but games are a totally a social thing for me, and I can’t imagine how I could fit this into my schedule or persuade anyone to play it with me.
Only two of the guys showed up last night. I have been too busy to read any new rulesets, so we played two old ones.
Der Herr der Ringe: die Gefährten das Kartenspiel
I am not sure why this typically neat Knizia card game is so underrated. Maybe it’s the German text on the cards? In any case, the Fantasy Flight version, Kingdoms, was not more successful.
This is one of those games I can always rely on to give a good gaming experience. It’s quick, simple, has plenty of variety and requires a fair bit of strategic thinking to win. Bruno Faidutti hated the cards, but I disagree. As Bruno points out, you need a big table and have to remember that you can’t place a new place card if that would mean that other players have to place cards off the table to surround it. I printed paste-ups onto an A4 label, cut them out and stuck them onto the cards and rings, a good time investment.
It definitely plays better with four, as three players run out of character cards and the game ends well before all the place cards are finished. This meant that we were finished at the Gates of Mordor, which feels wrong thematically.
Princes of Florence
This worked well with three players. There was not as much competition over profession cards, but at least the game was quicker. Games like PoF, that do not involve much direct aggression between players, are good with three, as they avoid the petty diplomacy problem.
Last Saturday I visited my friend Michael, who was hosting a games day in Crawley (near Gatwick Airport). Unwisely, I chose to cycle the long distance on the windiest day of the year, so I was exhausted. I played three new games: one good, one average and one superb. Two games were based around maps of Germany, so I got a good geography lesson.
Fische Fluppen Frikadellen
This is a nice medium weight romp. It’s a fine balance of keeping an eye on the resource graph and the other players, while plotting your movements around the board. The components are very nice quality and look great. Apparently our game was particularly chaotic, due to using a trader who shifts other traders around the board. I’d like to try this with multiple boards, but it’s not on my buying list for now.
Volldampf
We played a six-player game of this one. Five of us were Age of Steam veterans. Michael was keen to try this, as he is an AoS nut and heard that this one was lighter and quicker. It is very close to AoS in terms of mechanics, but lacks a few elements, like engine and getting victory points for track. These changes mean that although the games share 90% of the same genes, they are very different. We all agreed that Volldampf is the chimp and AoS the man. AoS is very tense, as any mistakes you make will be immediately and harshly punished. Volldampf is much more forgiving and there is much less incentive to set up your own networks. You’re better off working out where bottlenecks will occur between heavily built up areas of track. It occupies an uncomfortable middle ground between light, fun games, and heavy absorbing games. While not being a bad game, I can’t recommend it for either casual or serious gamer
Wallenstein
I have wanted to play this one ever since I read Bruno Faidutti’s review. I generally agree with Bruno’s recommendations and they were one of my main gateways into this hobby. I find that our tastes most closely match with heavy games.
I was not disappointed. This was the best game of the day and my best discovery since Acquire. About a year ago, I played El Grande and liked it a lot. I put it on my list of games to buy, but never actually got around to it. Wallenstein has now blasted El Grande off the list. My only complaint with El Grande was that it felt like it lacked drama. Wallenstein is like a cross between El Grande and Risk, so there is no shortage of drama and chaos. It may be too chaotic and political for some, but I really enjoyed it, despite coming fourth in a five-player game. There is plenty of skill, but enough politics to make it sharp and exciting. The tower is a brilliant innovation and fits perfectly. My only worry is that the box is huge, so I will have to move a few games out of my collection into the attic. There is some German text, so I’m going to print paste-up images from the Geek onto A4 labels and stick them to the cards.
