Session - Bohnanza & Hansa Teutonica

1st of June 2011 (Wednesday)

Game(s) Played:
Bohnanza


Hansa Teutonica



Player(s):
Da Panda
JR
Milo
Nitsuj
Mo

Session – Bohnanza

It is said that all the heavens rejoice when one lost soul is saved, well we haven’t quite reached that stage yet as JR still gets a headache with games “that are not relaxing at all" (quote) but she joined us for Bohnanza today! Well… … baby steps are sometimes the way to go :)

[Game 1]
So I’m setting up a game of Bohnanza for 5 Players and as usual nobody wants to teach the newcomer how to play the game, for fear of divulging their “epic, oh-so-awesome strategies" (Sigh, Malaysians can be quite k-i-a-s-u as well). So I begin to teach JR the steps on each turn and what the cards mean and now all these people butt in with their advice here and there… … Okay I’m rambling so we’ll skip all that. Those who want to know how the game is played, go here.

We actually stuck to the rules this time around. The last time, we got so caught up in the trading atmosphere … …

Sometimes it does degenerate to such a chaotic, fun and hilarious state…

… … that we misplayed a rule and were actually trading cards that we had just traded (a.k.a. the Barter System):

Ahmed has a Cow (Green Bean) but wants a Donkey (Soy Bean)
Bala has an Elephant (Red Bean) but wants a Cow (Green Bean)
Chong has a Donkey (Soy Bean) but wants an Elephant (Red Bean)

So…
Chong gives his Donkey (Soy Bean) to Bala for the Elephant (Red Bean) – Chong’s happy
Bala now gives his new Donkey (Soy Bean) to Ahmed for the Cow (Green Bean) – Bala’s happy
And Ahmed who technically got his Donkey (Soy Bean) from Chong is also happy

Are games making us devolve? Blame Settlers of Catan!

So yea, we cheated but hey we did it in an intelligent way.

With the strict rule enforcement, we saw more occurrences of one of us Bean Farmers having to dig up perfectly good and planted beans for little to no profit and make way for some new breed of bean in the first card of our hand that we just couldn’t trade or even give away at the time. JR being new to the game found hand management a somewhat more difficult concept at first and you could tell when she was going to have to throw away her precious beans when she frowned and hesitated to plant her first card.

From the upper left heading anti-clockwise: JR, Milo, Nitsuj, Da Panda & Mo

I don’t really remember what happened to everybody else in detail but I know Manda was the last to get a 3rd Bean Field (thank goodness for photographs) [Edit: Okay, so she didn't get the 3rd Bean Field because she was thrifty, and innovated the idea behind not needing the 3rd Bean Field in play. I guess pictures don't really help sometimes.] I realized that with more Players, you need to start consolidating your beans once the deck is run through the first time because the second and third runs are much, much shorter as more players stock up on coins and the deck gets thinner & thinner.

[Results Of Game 1]
Winna – Nitsuj (15 Coins)
2nd – Mo (14 Coins)
3rd – Da Panda (12 Coins)
4th – Milo (10 Coins)
5th – JR (9 Coins)

I feel Bohnanza tends to be a close game with Players being only 1-2 Coins apart. I think this is a good thing especially for younger children where it is important that you don’t have a runaway leader and you will probably want to have another go… just like we did!

[Game 2]
I remember Game 2 better so here’s what happened. Joyce finally got a handle of trading with my side of the family and the 2 simple rules that apply:
1. If you have the advantage: Demand freebies, press for concessions then grumpily settle for a slightly unequal trade in your favour whilst grumbling about how you’re going to feed your hungry children (in that order)
2. If you don’t have the advantage: Mo goes back to rule no. 1, Milo quietly sneaks of the card she wants while you’re not paying attention & Da Panda begs hysterically saying nobody loves her… [Edit: Okay she doesn't beg hysterically, it just sounded like that when I was sitting next to her...]

Me? I use Jedi mind tricks.


So for some reason, JR, Da Panda and to a certain extent Milo had a tendency to plant the same beans at the same time. Mo and I had the same problems but managed to split the beans quite evenly between the both of us and harvest a roughly equal amount. Mo and I had an epiphany when Da Panda planted a Cocoa Bean and the other three Cocoa Beans had already been harvested by Milo and what turns to gold coins… stays as gold coins unless it’s used to buy a 3rd Bean Field, GASP! So Da Panda was stuck waiting for her miracle Cocoa Beans that didn’t come until Milo bought her 3rd Bean Field. Da Panda doesn’t believe us when we tell her that Boston is in US not UK so miracle Cocoa Beans are only a slight stretch of her imagination. [Edit: And yes in all fairness we didn't know what was in Da Panda's hand so it just looked like she was waiting for miracle Cocoa Beans and not hoarding Green Beans in her hand. My bad.]

Someone (I don’t remember who) [Edit: Da Panda has demanded credit so yes, its her great idea.] also brought up the concept of trading with both Bean Cards and accumulated Gold Coins. I must admit that it is indeed an intriguing idea and will experiment on it in our next game.

JR taught us something new by not going for her 3rd Bean Field, having good hand management and saving 3 Gold Coins to share the win for this round! I still lament that such a brilliant and adaptable mind is denied to the gaming community.

[Results Of Game 2]
Winna – Nitsuj & JR (15 Coins)
3rd – Mo (14 Coins)
4th – Da Panda (13 Coins)
5th – Milo (10 Coins)

Nitsuj: “Read them and weep folks, 15 Gold Coins!" After which… …

Mo & Da Panda decided to cry foul and demand a recount but the score still stands

Session – Hansa Teutonica

Milo the social butterfly had to go partay-ing again and JR was calling it a night. So we were down to just Mo, Da Panda and myself for Hansa Teutonica.

[Game 1]
Mo & I being the boring people that we are stuck to our usual colours, red & purple respectively. Da Panda maybe decided fortune would favour her better if she picked a different colour chose yellow. Turn order was decided with a simple “lat ta li lat tam pom" and so Da Panda went first, followed by Mo then myself, which was a first for me as I’ve never gone last before.

Da Panda was quick to establish toll booths in the upper right side of the map, whilst Mo and I were still doing some upgrading and generally just blocking each other to death with the merchant.

Mo took the entire western corner through upgrading his Colour Ability and having links all the way to the other end of the board. He upgraded his Chain Bonus Ability to score big points at game end and scoured the board for a total of 6 bonus tokens.

Da Panda on the other hand didn’t really capitalize and consolidate on her position which was a shame really because nobody really stopped her. She had a six city chain and couldn’t push it further after running out of merchants (again) so she really needed to upgrade that ability and she should have pushed her chain bonus ability to get the maximum points for that.

I don’t know what hit me but I decided to try and put myself on the last three spots of the Coellen Table and I actually very nearly did if not for Mo deciding to push the game over. I realize now the mistake of such a strategy in that I would need to maximum upgrade three abilities: Colour, Merchant & Action, for the strategy to be successful and that I shouldn’t have done it when Mo was matching me every step of the way. As it is I very nearly finished upgrading all three abilities but just couldn’t get the few more turns I needed to do so.

In the end, Mo would maximum upgrade his Colour Ability

Manda would stay at three actions but managed to upgrade her Draw Ability

[Results Of Game]
Winna – Mo (57 Points)
2nd – Nitsuj (45 Points)
3rd – Da Panda (36 Points)


[Edit: Man, so demanding these people...]