Game(s) Played:
Session – Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Game: Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Designer: Ted Alspach
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 90 minutes (This Play: 120 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Tile Placement
Player(s):
Today, Justin C, Melody and myself sit down to be contractors to build castles for King Ludwig II of Bavaria (some say that he's a wee bit touched in the head) in the hopes of securing future government projects if our castle strikes King Ludwig's fancy.
After my first attempt at capturing a timelapse video of a boardgame session, I'm proud to release the first video I'm actually happy with. I'm using the inbuilt timelapse feature on the iPad mini (so I can't really adjust the frames per second) and editing it using Shotcut to put in the end game pictures at the end.
I have also started an Instagram account for the specific purpose of uploading and viewing boardgame related images and videos only. You can check it out here.
And now without further ado, here is my "Play Better" section for Castles of Mad King Ludwig.
TIP #1 – Budgeting Is A Big Deal When You Are Building A Castle
Photo credits: BORDKAARTSPELLEN
A budget is defined as a method of worrying before you spend as well as afterwards and this is particularly true when you play Castles of Mad King Ludwig. There are only 3 ways to get money in Castles of Mad King Ludwig and optimally you should be getting the most money when it is your turn to be the Master Builder ("Monopolistic Supplier" would have been a more apt albeit harder to say title). Once you've gotten your pot of unfair earnings from manipulating the market, ideally you've got to make that amount last you until your next turn at being Master Builder unless you want to end up spending your turn begging for change (5,000 Marks) from the bank or buying Stairs & Hallways.
So if you get 12,000 Marks from your turn being the Master Builder in a 3 Player game, you will have an average 4,000 Marks spending budget each turn until you become the Master Builder again. Simple, logical mathematics yet often we forget ourselves in the eternal struggle of "Need vs Want".
TIP #2 – Favor Tiles & Bonus Cards Often Determine The Winner
I rigged the drawing of the Favor Tiles to make it easier to explain what the loony King's wants in his castle
When faced with evenly matched contractors who know exactly which corners to cut without getting caught out in castle building, the winner is usually determined by the Favor Tiles & / OR Bonus Cards. Both Melody & Justin C competed on all 3 Favor Tiles but Melody got points for all 3 of her Bonus Cards whilst Justin C only managed 1 OR 2 Bonus Cards. If not for some clever placement of rooms towards the end, I would have been in last place for not competing on the Sleeping Rooms Favor Tile & only scoring 2 of my Bonus Cards.
The Bonus Cards are randomly drawn and are hidden information so it can be rather hard to deal with but Favor Tiles are clearly visible and don't change from the start to the end of the game. When it is your turn to be the Master Builder, it becomes crucial to balance your greed between maintaining your Favor Tile advantage and milking Players for their precious Marks.
TIP #3 – Not All Rooms Are Created Equal
Photo Credits: W. Eric Martin
Aside from the obvious fact that the points of a room has no correlation to its type, size or shape, the usefulness of the Room Completion Rewards vary depending on the available rooms, the stage of the game & of course the available space in your castle.
For example, building Hallways & Stairs is a waste of a turn not earning any points, so you do it to complete a Food Room and voila, you get another extra turn. Or if you are desperate, many people forget that the starting Foyer counts as a Corridor Room and completing it nets you a free Hallway or Stairs. The Sleep Room Reward is more crucial towards the end of the game where you can forcibly deplete any room stacks that are running low to net the 2 VP bonus per room of the same size in your Castle. Downstairs Rooms may seem very powerful with their global effects but are not so useful without the corresponding rooms in the upper floors of your Castle.
Results Of Game(s)
Your winner!
I call this Castle Rocket Raccoon's Blaster because of the shape
Despite the odd shape, Melody's Castle had a 7/11 completed rooms ratio, good scoring from the Favor Tiles & Bonus Cards, she depleted one room stack with her Sleeping Room Rewards to score some points and lastly, completed her Living Room with the Oratory which netted her 11 VPs that turn.
This Castle I call the HDB Flat, because Justin C had space troubles at the end
It is a bit of a surprise Justin C didn't get second place. He also has 7/11 room completion rate, took a commanding lead at the start, had a good presence in terms of Favor Tiles although he did very poorly with his Bonus Cards. I think it is largely due to a lot of his rooms having lower scores and poor synergy with their adjoining rooms that he did not do better.
My Castle is the Happening-est Castle because I don't have any sleeping rooms
I just realized we all have a 7/11 completion rate. I was actually quite confident until I realized Melody, who has a reputation for winning, was playing against me. I didn't build as many Utility Rooms and had one less Bonus Card and didn't compete for the Sleeping Rooms Favor Tile but was quite proud of scoring the highest points in a turn when completing my West Tapestry Room with the East Tapestry Chamber to score 16 VPs.
Winner – Melody (84 VPs)
Second – Justin (78 VPs)
LAST – Justin C (63 VPs)
Castles of Mad King Ludwig has met all my high expectations in my first play. My decisions and other Players' actions were engaging and meaningful. The theme injects humor and life into the Castle you are building. And the mechanics make the gameplay fluid and logical which makes it easy to understand for new Players. If anything I would only limit the Favor Tiles to types of rooms for a first play with inexperienced Players so that it is easy to explain.
Session – Harbour
Game: Harbour
Designer: Scott Almes
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Main Mechanisms: Worker Placement
Player(s):
We didn't have a lot of time for Orleans so I suggested Harbour and we play first to 3 buildings instead of 4. At 3 buildings, you don't lose a lot of gameplay value in Harbour which makes it a good game to have in an emergency. For a quick look at our game, here's the timelapse video from our game of Harbour:
I've already done a "Play Better" segment on Harbour last year (I can't believe I've been doing "Player Better" for more than a year already) in my very first "Play Better" segment and honestly I don't have any fresh ideas since I handily lost this game. You can go read that here.
Results Of Game(s)
Your winner... ... again
Winner – Melody (26 VPs)
Second – Justin C (25 VPs)
LAST – Justin (19 VPs)
Melody really stole this one out from under Justin C (such a mean girlfriend) because Justin C actually triggered the end game and I really thought he was finally going to get his first W. But Mel had the Stock Market which gave her the $1 discount to pick up the House of Weights & Standards which was 1 VP more than Justin C's Pub. In his own words, "So close!!!!!! Sigh" but at least you got the Pub.
I'll be honest and say that I do miss the cosiness of gaming in a small group of Players and not have to manage a meetup and all its worries (Is everybody having fun? Is everyone gaming? Is everyone having fun? Is anybody keeping hazardous materials next to the game? IS EVERYONE HAVING FUN?). But for the present moment, the meetup format works because it makes everyone (myself included) set aside the precious time we have to have fun... particularly when you have Players who are AWOL (FFK for the local lingua franca). *shoots eye laser beams at his siblings*
But I had great fun with Castles of Mad King Ludwig & Harbour. If I were still writing game reviews, these two would definitely receive my version of Dice Tower's Seal of Excellence as must have games. And that's all for this week..
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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