Session - Eminent Domain, Glory To Rome, Shadow Hunters, Hansa Teutonica & Troyes

17th of June 2012 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Eminent Domain


Glory To Rome



Session – Eminent Domain

Player(s):
Da Panda
Hayen
Mo

Whilst waiting for Bro D & Milo to show up we decided to play a quick round of Eminent Domain (win condition: finish one deck of role cards). Da Panda is new to this game so some rules explanation was in order, surprisingly Da Panda picked this up quite well for her first try and ended up winning her first game of Eminent Domain.

Mo hogged the big spaceships

Mo opted for a combination of Warfare and Production/Trade approach whilst Da Panda & I utilised Colonize and Research. Since it was a short game, Diverse Markets really came in handy and put me 3 points ahead of Mo at game end. Unfortunately, Da Panda actually spent time trading her resources for influence points and broke the tie to win because she had more fighters than me (and she only got them because she wanted what Mo had, not for any "strategic" purpose).

Sigh the winner

Time Taken: 40 minutes

Results Of Game
Winna – Da Panda (9 Points) + Ships
2nd – Hayen (9 Points)
Dead Last – Mo (6 Points)

We all had only 3 planets or so due to the shortness of the game

Memorable In-Game Comments:
Da Panda: "I want a spaceship!"
Mo: "Nah"
Da Panda: "Why is yours bigger than mine?" *swipe*
Mo: "Oooiii!!!"

Rating: 7/10

Session – Glory To Rome

Player(s):
Bro D
Da Panda
Hayen
Milo
Mo

There were still some 5 Player games that we have not tried yet, one of them being Glory To Rome. The last time I played Glory To Rome was way back in June last year, back when I still had not begun the practice of summarized rule sheets for my games, so it took a while for me to familiarize myself with the game again and then to explain it to the group (and then re-explaining it to Da Panda because she gets bored when nothing’s happening).

Anyways, as usual the Patrician and the Merchant were in extremely short supply. Mo was lining up for Marble buildings whilst Bro D was trying to duplicate my attempts to fill my vault with valuable resources. Da Panda was just throwing and picking up random things whilst Milo was on a card drawing spree. My strategy was a bit more successful in that I managed to pick up a Merchant as a client and got a building that turned all my Labourers into Merchants or vice versa I can’t remember which.

It came as a shock when Milo abruptly ended the game (just when everyone was getting into the flow) with a building card and Da Panda had seemingly won based on hand size when packing up, Milo remembered the bonus points cards for most materials hoarded and I ended up winning instead.

Da Panda lorded over us the power of her Statue

Time Taken: 75 minutes

Results Of Game
Winna – Hayen (12 Points)
2nd – Da Panda (9 Points)
3rd – Milo (9 Points)
Dead Last – Bro D & Mo (? Points)

The face of a fake winner

Memorable In-Game Comments:
Da Panda: "WAIT!!! I got a Statue! See it gives me 3 points, 3 POINTS YOU KNOW!"

Rating: 9/10

23rd of June 2012 (Saturday)

Game(s) Played:
Shadow Hunters

Hansa Teutonica

Session – Shadow Hunters

Player(s):
Evelyn
Hayen
Joanne
Joel
Jonathan
Xiu Mei

The cell gang came over today to play boardgames before our cell dinner tonight. I had promised Joanne to show her a game that I feel is better than Bang! and put Shadow Hunters on the table.

Jonathan seemed to know about the game and honestly a 6 Player game of Shadow Hunters really does hit the sweet spot. I played Allie and it was a blast because people seemed to forget the existence of the neutral faction and kept trying to guess if I was a Shadow or Hunter. In the end I believe the Shadows won though I can only vaguely remember the first game. The Hermit Cards were all the rage once people figured out their usefulness although some of us misread the detail in the cards and there were some identity crises here and there.

The second game was definitely won by the Shadows, I was Franklin and just couldn’t catch a break when Joel used a Hermit Card to see my Character Card, took a shot at me, pretended to be my friend then killed me in the end. We had some contention as to whether the Neutral characters win condition trumps the Shadows/Hunters win condition but it turns out that both are winners if both conditions are fulfilled. Booooo.

Time Taken: 120 minutes

Results Of Game
Winna – Shadow rulez!

Memorable In-Game Comments:
Joel: "Does lying include lying about being dead?"

Rating: 8/10

Session – Hansa Teutonica

Player(s):
Hayen
Joanne
Jonathan
Xiu Mei

We didn’t have much time before we had to leave for dinner (about an hour and a half’s worth of gaming left) which means Agricola was out although I wanted to show that to Xiu Mei. So I introduced them to a 4 Player game of Hansa Teutonica.

I think I may have been too ambitious in this case although Joanne seemed to take towards the game from the middle point onwards, aggressively stealing control of cities as well as upgrading her actions to give herself points. Jonathan too had a plan (although he claimed that he was out of his element) by taking control of many small cities and trying to complete the east – west link which he would have had he not forgotten to upgrade his color ability. Xiu Mei was left floundering a lot unfortunately, but managed to land herself on the Coellen Table so that wasn’t so bad.

Time Taken: 95 minutes

Results Of Game
Winna – Hayen
2nd – Joanne & Jonathan
3rd – Xiu Mei

Memorable In-Game Comments:
Jonathan: "Its so confusing!"

Rating: 8/10

24th of June 2012 (Sunday)

Game(s) Played:
Troyes

Session – Troyes

Player(s):
Da Panda
Hayen

Bro D & Milo bailed on us today so we finally got a chance to play one of my oft un-played favourites, Troyes! Thankfully Da Panda appreciates the game because no one else seems to so we set up for a 2 Player game of Troyes.

I really like Troyes, but I’m not particularly good at it because I tend to forget what combination of cards and dice I’m going to use and tend to get stuck because of that. What I seem to tend to lose track of is the number of dice I’m going to start with. Da Panda only started with 3 Deniers each turn because of the number of Tradesmen she had in each building whereas I started with 7 Deniers but had a measly 5 dice to work with, most of them being in the City Hall to avoid upkeep costs.

So I accumulated a tonne of money, of which I didn’t spend too wisely because it costs a tonne to buy other Players’ dice. In my quest for money I forgot the aim of the game which is Victory Points and so lost to Da Panda by a whopping 10 VPs.

52 VPs!

Time Taken: 120 minutes

Results Of Game
Winna – Da Panda (52 Points)
Dead Last – Hayen (42 Points)

My measly 42 points… …

Memorable In-Game Comments:
Da Panda: "I’ve run out of Tradesmen"
Hayen: "WHAT?!" *furious flip flip flip*
Hayen: The rulebook doesn’t say anything about that… What color do you want?
Da Panda: "Blue!"
Hayen: "Durn it"

The winner smirking

Rating: 9/10