David Parlett has updated his site with a three player variant of Bugami, called Trigami.
Bugami is an improved cousin of Sticheln, if only because it is easier to grasp, but with the same amount of skill. I’ll have to try Trigami, as really good three player games are hard to find.
Idly browsing the BoardGameGeek forums, I found a strange, disturbing promo video that really stuck in my mind. It is the first time I have seen promotional material for a game that chilled my blood. What is even odder is that it is for an abstract game.
The game advertised, stlts (which is begging to be nicknamed Stilts) is not the sort of thing I would normally enjoy, but I will give it a go on the website the next time I want to stretch my mind with an abstract.
There is another video on the website, which is as weird and unsettling as the other, but is quietly beautiful rather than outright frightening.
Art house cinema and gaming are an odd couple if there ever was one.
It was just me, Ness and Duncan last week. Both Duncan and Ness enjoy card games, so I pulled out Cosmic Eidex. I played this several months ago and got absolutely thumped but enjoyed it. This time was no different.
I clarified the player aid on the Geek, which helped a lot. I just uploaded it and it is waiting for administrator approval.
After this second playing, I suspect seating position might play a part in the outcome. I will swap sides next time to see if it makes a difference.
This is definitely my favourite three player card game. There is a lots to think about and it is very skilful.
I am tempted to come up with a simpler version, based around Whist, that you can play with a regular card deck and a reference sheet. I would aim for the game to be the equivalent of Gang of Four compared to Tichu.
I went to Swiggers last night, as Ness was away in Derbyshire visiting a friend before she gets too pregnant and the new baby arrives.
I showed up early, so missed playing with John/Tycho, which was a pity – especially as he specially brought games I was interested in playing! I had better get used to a club environment. It seems that partnerships are fixed early in the evening and it can be hard to link up with other people later, if game finishing times do not synchronise. On the bright side, I did get to play with some nice people, including Brian Walker of Games International.
This was nominated for the 2005 SdJ, so Brian brought this out. I quite liked it.
The components are nice, but the map could have been clearer. The artist tried to put perspective into the mountains, but made area boundaries a little unclear. Some player shields are provided, which barely stand up. It would have been simpler and more effective to make them like the Tigris and Euphrates player shields.
Mechanically, it is basically a pick up and delivery game with programmed movement and area majorities. The winning conditions are interesting, as it uses a system of tiebreakers. In a game with four, last place goes to the player who has built the least stupas. Out of the three players remaining, third goes to the player with the least area majorities. Out of the last two, second place goes to the person with the least yaks, and the winner with the most yaks.
It is a perfectly decent, tight design, but I do not think it stands out enough to win the SdJ. On the way there, I read the rules to Web of Power, and I was struck by the similarity in feel to Himalaya. The big difference is that Himalaya takes about 90 minutes, while Web of Power crams the same decisions with less luck into 45.
This brand-new pirate game looks excellent. (Is it just me or are Americans crazy about Pirates?) The components are good, with thick die cut markers and coins, attractive cards and a box shaped like a treasure chest. The player mats and rules are only printed on thin, glossy paper, but at least it all fits compactly into the small treasure chest.
Rather like Meuterer, it is a card game masquerading as a board game. Cards are laid down during the game to form the board, simulating discovery and scouting. The whole game feels well researched, using ports like Campeche and ship names like sloop and brigantine. It is a nice contrast with Pirates Cove, which feels cartoonish in comparison. On the face of it, this should be a fun, medium-weight but thematic game.
Unfortunately, it was a disaster. Brian had not read the rules and it was impossible to play from a standing start. We abandoned ship after a traumatic 45 minutes.
The rules are a poorly laid out and densely printed on both sides of a large piece of paper. There are no examples or diagrams, and lots of ambiguities. There might be a good game in there but I will not find out unless someone persuades me that they have read the rules and have ironed out all the ambiguities. I understand there is an FAQ, but rules in this state are unforgivable. Why play this when there are so many other games with clear rules? The designers should play a Knizia or Days of Wonder game to see how rules should be drafted. It is a pity as the game is very thematic and the box is the best I have ever seen – although not the most stackable.
Oltremare – Merchants of Venice
Feeling ragged after Plunder, we wanted to try something relatively simple, so settled on Oltremare. I can see why the words Bohnanza come up so often.
Oltremare takes the best of Bohnanza, the card trading and card distribution then adds the tiniest board I have ever seen. The new elements do add up to a much better game than the original. It is about the same length and there is much more to think about, as you have to look ahead to what you need to do next turn, but you still get to trade and plan your sets carefully. It is just a pity the theme is not as fun as Bohnanza’s.
I liked Oltremare, probably about the same as Himalaya. Not on my buy list, but I’d play it again.
Just like last time, I was not blown away by the games I played, but playing in a club environment with strangers was very interesting.
I also remembered the importance of learning rules before teaching them to people. I will have to improve on that. Michael Longdin is the best rules teacher I know. He always understands the concepts beforehand, explains them systematically, without just reading the rules out, and gives good examples using the pieces.
Both times I have been to Swiggers, 18xx games have been played. American gamers on the net do not discuss them much. Maybe this is a British thing? 1825 was played at the next table and looks fascinating. Unfortunately, it looks like it takes a long time to play. Three to four hours is too long for my guys, even for a learning game. It might also be a bit too computational. I really want to try it though.
We played Ticket to Ride Europe last night with four. I bought it for my brother-in-law’s birthday and it went down well, but it was not quite as popular as I envisaged. They were more enthusiastic about Havoc, Age of Steam and Wallenstein. Maybe, like me, they are getting a little jaded with medium-weight €uros? They were keener on it at the end of the game, which is a good sign.
I would have won, but I missed one of my tickets because the map was upside down and I did not notice that I had missed the very last station. I cannot remember seeing a small handicap like this swing the whole game. I will know better next time. 
Last week we went on holiday to my family’s cottage in Oxfordshire. I was worried we might get bored, but not at all. Ness had lots of activities organised and I had way more than enough gardening to keep me going.
I visited Spot-On Models & Games in Swindon. I only found it from the uk.games.board faq, otherwise I would never have looked for a games shop in Swindon. It is mostly a models shop, with slot cars and model railways as the focus. However they did have some RPGs and a smallish stack of Euro games. I noticed the owner had a copy of Games International behind the counter. Interestingly enough, the stack of games only seemed to include games mentioned there, and had some that I have not noticed elsewhere, for instance Treasure Island and Shakespeare the Bard Game. The only thing I was interested in was Ticket to Ride Europe, so I bought it. This was partly in support of what looks like a new venture into selling board games. It also felt appropriate to buy a train game from a train-spotting town like Swindon that features on the English Age of Steam expansion map.
Ness and I played some of The Queen’s Park Affair, a sequel to Sherlock Holmes:Consulting Detective. It is more involved than the original, as there is a single case, played over four days in Victorian London. We love this game, but it does involve a lot of effort, so we have struggled to make headway into it and have only finished the first day. At least we can catch up with the game by ourselves and later collaborate to develop the plot further. So far it seems at least as good as the original.
Some non-gamer friends came to stay with us and we played Coloretto. It went down well, especially considering we started at 10pm or so. I might try something like Settlers or Ticket to Ride the next time they come.
We played Wallenstein for the second time last night. Again it was a success, although we played the revolting peasants wrongly and the initial placements really threw everyone, as we used the introductory preselected placements variant for our first game. In fact the initial deployment of forces dictated the whole outcome. I played well and was lucky, but I was surrounded in the middle of the board, so could not expand without inciting blood feuds. As a result, I only came third out of five. The winner got a few lonely provinces on the borders and kept well out of trouble. I agree with most of Fred’s analysis.
