Session - Glory To Rome

19th of June 2011 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Glory To Rome




Player(s):
Nitsuj
Mo
Da Panda

Session – Glory To Rome
Mo and I broke into Glory To Rome on our own in the afternoon as no one else from the group was available. Like RFTG, we explored the game together and quickly pointed out things that made sense and things that didn’t. I’m glad I’ve got someone like him to help break in a new game, especially one as deep as this one.

[Game 1]
We mostly focused on building whatever building we could build with the materials that were available. However we did get one rule wrong, we used the Legionary to demand for building materials that we didn’t already have in our hand. Intuitively I think we felt that one would usually demands for things one doesn’t already have but the rules clearly state otherwise. I sold a tonne of bricks which are worth 2 VPs each, however Mo sold a good mix of Marble and Stone (worth 3 VPs) to take the win.

A shot close to game end

Some of the buildings I built

Here you can see all the red bricks I sold

[Game 2 & 3]
Honestly my camera battery died after Game 1 and we played 6 games that day so I don’t remember what happened but I did take note of the score.

Results Of Games 1 – 3
[Game 1] Mo (59) – Nitsuj (50)
[Game 2] Mo (12) – Nitsuj (29)
[Game 3] Mo (37) – Nitsuj (19)

We then had dinner together with JR and Da Panda nearby, followed by another session of Glory To Rome with Da Panda joining us.

[Game 4]
This was the fastest game among the six that we played. Da Panda pulled a shocking sudden death when she put down a Catacombs (“Game ends immediately") and finished it through her already built Scriptorium (“Complete any building by adding one Marble to it"). At first we thought she had won but after taking into account the Statue (“+3 VPs") Mo and I built each, it was a tie to be decided by number of cards in hand which out of sheer luck, I won. Naturally Da Panda was extremely disappointed. Mo and I however were stunned that it had happened so quickly and that there was no real way to stop Da Panda.

[Game 5]
In this round, I was gathering building materials like madness with Laborers especially after building the Sewer (“Instead of discarding to the pool, turn your cards into building materials"), preparing to sell them but could not get a single Merchant. The ones that I played into the Pool where instantly snapped up before I could hire them. Da Panda had Merchants but refused to drop anything into the Pool and kept drawing until she had upwards of 20 cards in hand. Mo was happily pushing selling off materials. Although I managed to get the merchant bonus for Marble and Da Panda for Wood and Concrete, Mo took the win with his outrageous number of Stones.

Da Panda realised how important Merchants are and the next game was a full concentration on Merchants.

[Game 6]
I had built a Forum (“You win the game if you have hired all the six different roles as clientele") looking to try and fulfil the winning condition as I already had the Craftsman, Architect & Labourer. I put down a Prison (“Exchange Prison for another Player’s building") to swipe it for Moses’ Aqueduct (“You may hire Clientele from your hand" which he was abusing) and finally put down a Merchant. All I had to do was hire the Legionary and Patron but Mo ended the game by taking the last building site. The game ended in a double tie between Mo and me with no further tie-breaker. In hindsight giving Mo the extra 3 points was what caused the tie but I was going towards a Forum win whilst he was abusing the Aqueduct and selling a tonne of building materials.

Nobody wanted to put down either Merchants or Patrons for fear of someone else snapping them up. Manda somehow kept drawing cards most of the time because she was stuck being unable to complete her building because the cards in the Pool had dried up.

The game really slowed down for us because we house ruled to having only 1 building in progress at a time but amended it to 2 buildings at a time when it became a tad too slow. We did this because everyone was hogging building sites and not completing buildings leaving only one building site available so that the game wouldn’t end. Then the minute someone feels they are in the lead, they snap up the last building site to end the game. However after seeking expert advice from fellow BGGers on the forums, we will probably remove the limit at the next game and work around how to curb this phenomenon.

There were moments of AP but it was only a few times and to be honest I’m surprised we got Da Panda to play three games with us. Hopefully the game matures with us but before anything else, I’ve really got to get these things sleeved as soon as possible.

Results Of Games 4 – 6
[Game 4] Mo (10 / 6 Cards) – Nitsuj (10 / 9 Cards) – Da Panda (10 / 1 Card)
[Game 5] Mo (45) – Nitsuj (30) – Da Panda (20)
[Game 6] Mo (17 / 3 Cards) – Nitsuj (17 / 3 Cards) – Da Panda (10)