Game(s) Played:
It is that time of the month where we take a break from all things Gloomhaven and I get to sharpen my skills at teaching boardgames to friends new and old at our monthly SWAGamers meetup. And our featured game for the month is … …
Session – Le Havre
Game: Le Havre
Designer: Uwe Rosenberg
Players: 1 – 5 Players
Playing Time: 30 – 150 minutes (This Play: 180 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Worker Placement
Player(s):
Playing one of Uwe Rosenberg's games is like playing an open world / RPG PC game akin to Deus Ex, Elder Scrolls or Fallout. At first, you learn how to win the game the way the designer has laid out for you, then you challenge yourself by experimenting with other builds and strategies like a stealth character or an idiotic warrior who is so stupid he can't form intelligent speech and challenges everyone to a fight and finally you go for those strategies that are really out there and probably won't work but you do it anyway because it's hilarious when it works.
TIP #1 – Ships Are Important
So the standard way to win at Le Havre is to build ships. Ships reduce your need to spend turns accumulating food and are also used to convert excess goods into money, of which whoever has the most is determined as the winner. Of course there are steps in between but that's basically the gist of it.TIP #2 – Bargain Building Hunting
Each good handily has a handy small marking on the bottom right denoting the value of the good. If shipping is not your cup of tea, then "Bargain Building Hunting" is perhaps more your style. When constructing a building, just make sure that the value of the building is more than the value of the goods that is the cost of the building.
So many types of goods resulting in so much math, oh how I loathe thee
So I've blinged my Le Havre copy just a little bit. Lazada had a Hari Raya sale and poker chips were 70% off so I swapped out the chips for the money tokens. There's something about the weight of poker chips that makes it feel like it has actual worth. Plus it's fun to twiddle them in your fingers whilst waiting for your turn. I also have the expansion Le Havre: Le Grand Hameau which adds Special Buildings and leads us into Tip #3:
The goods play mat is also useful. Sometimes Players confuse which goods they have because they accidentally flipped them
TIP #3 – Special Buildings Are Special
Because you only use 6 of the 42 Special Buildings (including expansion) available in a playthrough, there are times when you get a particular combination of Special Buildings that really shines. And this was the route I decided to take to achieve my victory, the winding unusual route as it were.
So I get a tonne of money at the Forest Hut, buy 1 good of every type I don't have at the Emporium, then multiply it with the Major Corporation
Unfortunately, before I could even use my wonderfully gotten gains from the Forest Hut to purchase all the goods I don't have at Emporium, I had to use the money I got to purchase all the food I didn't have at the end of the round. My biggest mistake was probably buying the Major Corporation which cost 20 Francs to avoid the 3 Franc entry cost and my second biggest mistake was not selling it to try and recover sooner. I rode my mistakes all the way to the end of the game.
Results Of Game(s)
WINNER – Sean (128 VPs)
2nd – Henry (94 VPs)
3rd – Justin (55 VPs)
LAST – Christine (50 VPs)
Your winner: Sean!
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):
As an alternative for those who couldn't spend 3 hours on one single game, I set up Castles of Mad King Ludwig for them. Edward, Gideon and Jimmy have all had 1 play under their belt so I didn't have to teach as much as usual.
Today, Mad King Ludwig is interested in fairly normal castles as well as very rich Castle Contractors
Castle Contractor Jimmy hard at work building his not so out there castle
I didn't see the other castles but this seems a little too perfect. The combination of "The Hole", "Guest Bedroom" & "Anteroom" alone is worth 21 VPs. And this is only part way through the game.
Results Of Game(s)
They really could have made a smaller scoreboard
WINNER – Jimmy (78 VPs)
2nd – Edward (73 VPs)
3rd – Gideon (54 VPs)
LAST – Esther (32 VPs)
And Jimmy notches another win at Castles of Mad King Ludwig, maintaining his 100% win rate at the game
Session – River Dragons
Game: River Dragons
Designer: Roberto Fraga
Players: 2 – 6 Players
Playing Time: 30 minutes (This Play: 30 minutes)
Main Mechanisms: Movement Programming, Point to Point Movement
Player(s):
I have yet to have had the opportunity to play River Dragons. It is a beautiful production by Matagot as you can see from the pictures below. River Dragons has a simple objective where you need to take your coolie hat wearing, frog hopping, coolie and move him/her from your island across the great lake to the opposite island. Every other Player's job including yours is to then stymie the efforts of your fellow Players whilst trying to achieve said objective. A typical sabotage move is to block off a plank or in what we call a "mean" move, remove the plank entirely.
1 v 1 might be a little too easy though
And the last time we played River Dragons at a meet up was at the inaugural meet up way back in 2013!!! How nostalgic.
Results Of Game(s)
Game(s): 5
Gideon v Esther – 3 – 2
Once again I would like to thank everyone for coming and look forward to seeing you again next month!
Until next time, keep calm and play better.
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