Game(s) Played:
And welcome back to our next gaming session report on the SWAGamers, where we play the latest flavour of the week, Yokohama (climbing steadily up the BGG rankings into the 200s), entertain a mad king's whims in Castles of Mad King Ludwig & play double agents in the unusual game of The Agents.
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 think the inside jokes about sharks, treacherous backstabbery and AP Playeres that can't function without a timer for their turns are getting a little old. Moreover I didn't actually partake in the game at all so I will let the words of an actual participant speak for the game itself.
This is right after Edward took his turn as first Player. Everyone's already standing up
Justin: So tell me, what happened here?
Moses: It was all Tham's fault. He kept staying one step ahead of me, always taking the places that I wanted to use next as if he was mirroring me.
Justin: Now hold on a second, wasn't Tham's turn after yours in the turn order? It was Edward, you then Tham wasn't ...
Moses: And about Edward, there's so much pressure playing after Edward. He keeps going everywhere and you're not sure what he's doing and there's always meaning behind it.
Justin: Maybe you need a two player game with me to wash the hate out of your system.
Moses: I'm not ready for this.
Our first full 4 Player game made it look pretty
Results Of Game(s)
Moses was SOOOO tilted because he couldn't break 100
Winner – Tham (145 VPs)
Second – Edward (122 VPs)
Third – Liw (103 VPs)
LAST – Moses (96 VPs)
And so Yokohama makes it onto Moses' blacklist of games he will never play again because he lost miserably. What a great game!
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: 90 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Tile Placement
Player(s):
Justin (Yellow)
Gideon (Blue)
Chua (Red)
This is what I call a "Good Start"
I was a bit too transparent in my quest to gain Sleeping Rooms for my hidden objective. That plus my underground room that gave me Sleeping Room bonuses felt like a really good start.
11 major points!
Chua was also doing really well with his room placements though, using his Recreation Rooms as centre pieces and completing them for big points which you can see above. Yet somehow I managed to stay within ten points of Chua every step of the way with Gideon right behind me.
So much for "If it fits, I sits"
My first mistake was to misunderstand one of the Goal Tiles which was for the "Most Square Tiles" which I misinterpreted to mean "Most Four-sided Rooms" and had a whole host of rectangular rooms before it silently dawned on me that rectangular rooms don't count. Just like how you've confidently answered all the questions in your exam only to realize you skipped an earlier question and so all your answers are in the wrong place...
Gideon's big break
I also made the mistake of giving Gideon a TRIPLE TURN which was more of a gasp of awe moment then realizing that I was the Master Builder and then asking myself "What have I done?". Still, what an incredible move by Gideon and I suspect his winning move of this game.
Results Of Game(s)
My first foray into Black & White with color splashes
Winner – Gideon (101 VPs)
Second – Justin (99 VPs)
LAST – Chua (91 VPs)
I honestly didn't think that I was going to win and I rarely allow myself to play with that expectation when I'm not playing with my siblings to keep the competitive monster at bay. But when I was last to tallying my final score and for just a second, as I was closing in on Gideon's ridiculous score, it gave me false hope and let the monster loose. Until I realized I was going to fall short by 2 measly points resulting in the bitter taste of defeat seasoned with the sourness of false hope. I have to admit that I was slightly tilted (slang: angry, perturbed, specifically caused by a video game) at this point.
I was rather proud of my tight fit castle
Chua's castle went equally in each direction
Session – The Agents
Game: The Agents
Designer: Saar Shai
Players: 2 – 5 Players
Playing Time: 20 – 40 minutes (This Play: 30 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Hand Management
Player(s):
Justin
Gideon
Chua
The Agents belongs to the category of games with weird, out there mechanics in my collection, very much in the same vein as Race for the Galaxy & Chess. The basic moves are easy enough to understand but newcomers to the game will have NO IDEA WHATSOEVER as to what would constitute a good move.
I'm such a cyberpunk fanboy
The artwork is actually reminiscent of a Ghost In The Shell post-cyberpunk iteration of a possible future and is actually very, very good, which was the first reason I backed it on Kickstarter. The second reason was because the Kickstarter had unlocked the Solid Snake character as a stretch goal. (LOVE the franchise. Kojima FOREVER)
Tilted and yet ???
Anyway, as I was saying, I was rather tilted from the last game and so I was placing Agents facing Gideon & Chua so I could have a tonne of abilities to screw Gideon with, giving them the ability to earn loads of points each turn. But at the same time, I was somewhat conflicted because of Gideon's unusual Mission card which gives ME points at the same time. So I was caught in a "help you to help me" sort of situation. And so in the midst of my conflicted confusion, Gideon pushed for the win.
Results Of Game(s)
Winner – Gideon (43 IPs)
Second & Third – Chua & Justin (?? VPs)
I tried to stop Gideon but little could be done
And that's all for our meet up this month, with today's games played it really looks like a h-index result of at least 3 for the year might be totally possible. I don't know why the index bothers me though since diversity is more of our call sign because of the constant flux in Players from session to session. The "cult of the new" bug is a real thing.
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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