Game(s) Played:
I don't normally leave a follow-up session report so far apart from the actual day of the event but life got in the way as usual. Even as I am typing this I am being plagued by symptoms of the seasonal cold which my children managed to pass on to me after spending two days in the children's pool at camp that was likely filled with 60% urine based on the child to volume of water ratio. Nevertheless I am determined to soldier on, bravely breathing through only a single nostril as it were...
Session – Lords Of Vegas
Game: Lords Of Vegas
Designer: James Ernest, Mike Selinker
Players: 2 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 60 minutes (This Play: 60 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Area Control, Dice Rolling
Player(s):
Lords Of Vegas reminds me of a game of Uno. An innocent game (as far as games about building & running casinos seem innocent) with very simple actions until you realize that you have drawn the "+4" card into your hand. Suddenly you remember every slight, grudge, snub and insult from the Players seated around you. Christians may not know how to lie, and as a result are appallingly horrible at games like Werewolf or Resistance but games like Lords Of Vegas know not the colour of your religion it seems.
So when three (presumably) good Christians sit down to a game of Lords Of Vegas with a no second thought at back-stabbing, heart of a shark (one who eats their own) Player like Jimmy, it comes as somewhat of a surprise that exactly ZERO hostile takeovers took place. Worse still, explaining the ways in which you could complot to execute a hostile takeover at the end of the game to the widening eyes of Players who now have the knowledge of evil, made me feel a bit like Eve.
Here sit the three unsuspecting a la carte meals
I must admit that I shortened the game by about one third (I seem to be getting pretty decent at doing this) because of the Players' time constraints so the end game looked more like an unfinished game of Monopoly, which is exactly what Lords Of Vegas feels like to the uninitiated until you realize a very real strategy in Lords Of Vegas is to let your opponents build up their hotel at Board Walk before swooping in and through deft sleight of hand of a few die rolls, take over their entire enterprise.
Results Of Game(s)
The results surprised me!
Winner – Irene (Blue) (16 VPs)
Second – Henry (Yellow) (14 VPs)
Third – Jane (Red) (12 VPs)
LAST – Jimmy (Green) (10 VPs)
Session – Glass Road
Game: Glass Road
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 75 minutes (This Play: 90 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Role Selection, Tile Placement
Player(s):
I apologized to the gang at this table before and after their game of Glass Road but I feel I must do so again here because they had to wait such a terribly long time for me to do the rules explanation for their game, and to do it badly as well.
The tricky thing with Glass Road is that making a mistake is like eating cheap oysters whose origins are questionable, the consequences of your cheap and unwise decision making are often debilitating and agonizing. In a reverse likeness to Hunger Games, you have 15 citizens vying for you to utilize their services as tribute at the start of each round, and it is your distinct privilege to choose the 5 citizens that shall represent your district. In a further twist of cruelty, you even get to decide the order in which your 5 citizens shall participate in the Hunger Games event of glass blowing (which is strictly not true but like the real Hunger Games, nobody really cares anyway).
I was going to superimpose Donald Sutherland's (President Snow) face over each Player but my nose is leaking and I'm on drowsy medication
So the problem comes when you choose wrongly. It can totally screw up your entire turn. Or even if you did choose wisely but you sent your poor tributes out in the wrong order. Ta-dah, same result. Liew will testify to this, if I had a dollar for each time he told me his tributes were poorly chosen, I would have exactly two bucks.
Results Of Game(s)
Your winner... ...
There's a reason for the multiple punctuation marks in the caption below the photo. A closer look at the photo will reveal the "Glassworks" tile that I actually removed from the game because I feel that it is OP. I can only glean two things as a result of this: (1) My copy of Glass Road's is now sentient making it worth 10 times its original value (2) I'm a really bad rules explainer since the "Glassworks" tile is supposed to replace the "Forest Glassworks" and not occupy a space on its own.
Winner – Teik Beng (20.5 VPs)
Second – Alex (17 VPs)
Third – Liew (17 VPs)
LAST – Tham (15 VPs)
It may sound like I'm pouring hate on Glass Road but let me assure you that it is the drugs talking. Glass Road's tribute selection mechanic is what makes the game special and sets it apart from all of Uwe Rosenberg's other great games, into a greatness all of its own. And because of this report, none of you will ever play Glass Road the same way again, may you bask in the feeling of greatness when picking your next set of tributes.
Session – Yokohama
Game: Yokohama
Designer: Hisashi Hayashi
Players: 2 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 90 minutes (This Play: 90 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Route Building, Set Collection, Modular Board
Player(s):
I am sooooo not going to be able to do Yokohama any justice with this session report, so I'm going to let my fingers tap away unfiltered in a brand new definition of the hashtag #nofilter.
Yokohama may seem like a nice new mechanic for those who have not played Istanbul or Trajan which popularized the "mancala" mechanic. For true blue Malaysians that came out of the boonies, we played the actual game of Mancala or what is locally called as "Congkak" down here in the south east of Asia where people live in trees and we used rubber tree seeds instead of cubes. We Asians are the HISTORY of boardgames babeh! Okay that was a little too unfiltered because upon further fact checking (with wikipedia which equals fact), the oldest record of the game is located in Ethiopia. The Accountant side of my brain has now gone back to sleep after being prodded with the club of stupid declarations without facts.
I need to improve my photo taking skills
I did not play Yokohama but I sat through most of it. Let me say that I learned 3 things:
One. The number of ways to score points in this game is frightening in the same way as the number of species have gone extinct on planet Earth. Okay maybe not as many as 5 billion according to wikipedia again but you get the point. I am almost certain that there is some correlation between the different scoring methods such as identifying which goods are the most needed amongst the different Order Cards & Achievement Cards, but it is still not apparent to me just like how is it possible that we share a 60% genetic similarity with a banana. There is a correlation, I just cannot see it and that may be good or bad depending if upon cracking the code, we choose to create banana humans or lose interest in the topic altogether.
I will admit that I took this picture to troll for likes on Instagram. Sue me.
Two. "The lion may be the gazelle's natural predator but the lion is not immune to the kicks of a hundred gazelle" - Ancient African saying. Yokohama does involve player interaction through blocking but to do so with no real benefit to yourself is suicide if the other Players at the table are not in the spirit of the lion per se. Yokohama is big enough that if you choose to mark your territory in an area I want, I can just go elsewhere until you go somewhere else.
Three. If at any point in the game you find yourself having to ask your fellow Players "Whose turn is it?" then it is highly likely that it is YOUR turn. Gods does this game enable Players with the Analysis Paralysis Disease (to which there is currently no cure). Through entirely a fault of his own, SWAGamers has now instituted a no takesie-backsies turns policy against Edward (and any subsequent changes he may make to his name). The institution of this policy is particularly sweet because Edward tends to win at games where his disease's symptoms manifestly strongly. Sorry Edward.
Results Of Game(s)
Your winner... Edwardine because it is a lady meeple and because I'm petty
Winner – Edwardine (89 VPs)
Second – Valentina (73 VPs)
LAST – Gideon (67 VPs)
Session – Harbour
Game: Harbour
Designer: Scott Almes
Players: 1 – 4 Players
Playing Time: 60 minutes
Main Mechanisms: Worker Placement
Player(s):
As our final game, we did another game of Harbour, playing first to 4 buildings instead of 5 due to time constraints as usual.
I am somewhat glad that I decided to give way to Jason for this session of Harbour. The level of viciousness was like stepping into a smoking booth at the airport during lunch hour, it literally clung to you and I wasn't even playing. Valentina had only a value of $6 on her last turn with Edward securely in the lead when she decided to throw a hail mary and used the Cartographers, only to pull a $6 cost building in one of the 5 cards drawn, lifting her towards a very, very lucky victory. But as they usually say, "It's better to be lucky than good". Not that Valentina isn't a good Player, just that the saying sounded too good to pass up.
Results Of Game(s)
I like how the winner's meeple shrugs after winning, like how he wasn't sure if it was skill or divine intervention
Winner – Valentina (28 VPs)
Second – Edward (24 VPs)
Third – Jason (20 VPs)
LAST – Gideon (18 VPs)
For those who have managed to stick with the report thus far, kudos to you. As a small reward I will now point out what the more astute among us would have noticed, which is that I was not part of any of the games played on SWAGamers Day! I'm not 100% if this is a first in our short, short history of boardgame meet ups but I'm too lazy to dig through all the session reports and I'm sure no one else is going to so let's just chalk that up as a FIRST!
Did I feel bummed out for not being able to play? Heck yes! Show me a boardgamer who prefers to hang around and watch instead of playing and I will show you a person who has taken his hobby too seriously. (Big shoutout to all my FLGS owner friends, I still love you for taking your hobby too seriously) What is that compared to introducing new Players into the boardgaming scene? Priceless.
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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