Game Night - Take That. Robbie's Revenge

🕑 8 min read

It's Game Night once again! Plus, Take That has gotten the band back together for one night of unbridled back-stabbery, and 'board game sanctioned' revenge. Yes, strap yourself in for the brutal, beautiful and recently re-released Spiel des Jahres winner from Nointy-Nointy-Six - El Grande. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the King. We must protect the King!

It was a cold December Tuesday evening and the pub was packed to the rafters with 30+ NoBoGlins hungry for entertainment. They got it. We all got it. After the evening's introductions which included a new Board Game Bingo seasonal event being launched, 5 of us squared off to play one of the most bloody games in board gaming history. No, we're not playing a life sized Jenga tower, capable of crushing your sleeping uncle after Christmas lunch. We were of course playing the legendary El Grande, designed by serial games designers, Woflgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich.

As we sat down across from one another, it became apparent that two(!) members of Take That had brought along this exact same game. Here to settle old scores this evening were, to my right; the previously shunned Robbie, then Gary, Mark, Jason (the game owner), and me, why not.

The rules explanation was handled professionally by both Jason and Robbie. Unfortunately my attention was too easily diverted away from 'rules' by a colourful board, and the beautiful cardboard tower looming in the corner. Everyone was smiling and in high spirits. Very strange. I though we were here to declare war.

The Tower of Mystery

Game turns in El Grande comprise of a very straight forward set of actions. Once turn order has been established, each player plays (face-up) one of the 13 numbered cards from their hand. The cards are numbered 1-13. The higher the number, the earlier you will pick up one of the 5 unique draft-able action cards, which drive the game forwards. The lower the number, the more troops (meeples) you can enlist from your supply in readiness to place onto the gorgeous map of medieval Spain. The player with the lowest numbered card also becomes the first player, next turn. The game is broken into 3 consecutive rounds of 4 turns each. Scoring phases happen at the end of each round. Ultimately, the aim is to score victory points by occupying territories (worker placement style) in Spain, shifting troops from one place to another, right up until the scoring phases happen. Then whoever has the most meeples in one territory, wins some victory points. Some territories offer varied consolation prizes for both 2nd and 3rd places, sometimes they don't. There is also a huge tower to drop troops in, secretly accumulating meeples, until it too is scored! A powerful bonus is up for grabs by winning the 'tower' game, because during a scoring phase, each Grandes (player's) meeples contained in the tower are unceremoniously dumped onto one territory of their choice, BEFORE the end of round scoring begins. Ooo it's spicy. 

The Sparkly King does his walk

Ok. So, there is a lot of toing and froing going on as the Grandes vie for area majority of profitable territories. During the game, placing and removing of troops is massively hindered and empowered by where the King is (a huge, glitzy gold wooden meeple), which is moved each turn by the player who takes the 'King' action card. The game is brutal, and not just because having a majority of meeples in a territory is as fleeting and fickle as love itself. One minute, you might think you're getting married, but in the next second, you are splitting your board game collection with them and arguing over who gets Scout. WE ALL HAVE SCOUT!!  Get over it, please.

The 5 actions cards which are drafted by players in turn order, allow them to deploy meeples, move meeples from one territory to another, and move other players meeples into or AWAY from territories you control. If that wasn't enough chaos and heart break for you evil doers... some action cards allow you to relocate the King, thus freezing all meeple movements in that territory. Finally, a Grande with an insatiable blood lust, could just 'assassinate' a whole swathe of enemy troops (meeples), sending them back to their supply. Ouch. There is so much more to this game than I've just explained above, however, it's time to get back to the game at hand... 

First player up, was Robbie, with a real mission to rub everyone's noses in their flourishing solo career, immediately took the King action. They deployed a whole bunch of their meeples into a high scoring territory, and then slid the King onto it. Thus, stopping all additional movements both in and out of the space. This was bad enough, however Robbie had also managed to imprison the majority of Gary's troops in a territory which they could not possibly prosper from... pretty much destroying Gary's 1st, 2nd and possibly 3rd turns. After the first 4 turns, Robbie was riding high with an excess of 20 points. Mark, Jason and I were close (not close) behind, and Gary was bottom of the charts.. with zero points. It was a first round massacre. Game over? Not yet.... 

It's not over Gary. Ok. Now it is. 

Robbie continued moving further ahead in round two, with Mark a close 2nd. Jason and I were trading 3rd and 4th places with each other. By the time it got to the closing few turns of round 2, I had begun to formulate a new strategy; draft a large number of new meeples into my court, and set myself up for a lucrative final turn, with first player privilege. This would have been a great plan, however Robbie, 'Robbie'd' my territories, even though I was clearly going into the final round in last position. It's really hard not to take this game personally, but Robbie was on a Rob-page, and I kept my cool. Unfortunately for Robbie though, Gary had declared war on them, as revenge for the first round shenanigans. Which was met with a lot of gas lighting... and probably the best quote of the evening, from Robbie:

"You know what Gary, I think we got off on the wrong foot here...." 

This of course was the understatement of the century, and normally those kinds of remarks would come from my mouth... with a cheeky grin I might add. This game was going nuclear. If you look up the meaning of war in the Oxford English Dictionary, you might find a portrait of Gary grimacing at Robbie, playing El Grande.

Prince Mark of Spain

Mark, the silent assassin, was diligently infiltrating the most valuable properties, and scoring plenty of 2nd and 3rd place rewards. Mark didn't particularly upset anyone, even when provoked. Personally, I think they played the most diplomatic game of the session. Jason, I believe, had relegated themselves to 3rd place quite early on. They played for the fun and enjoyment, and regularly popped up to give someone a bloody nose, just to remind us that they were still playing. Gary passed me on the score tracker several occasions, and we were fighting for last and 4th places. Then, I changed strategy again. I decided, that I wanted to give Gary some help (to my detriment), in the hopes that they might rally both Mark and Jason to work closer with one another to undermine Robbie's solo carer. I mean Robbie's winning position.

At first, it didn't work very well. Gary decided to use their new uplift in points and creative ideas to beat on Robbie some more (good), but Mark and Jason did not follow suit (bad). In fact, Mark sided with Robbie more often than not, in the hopes of consolidating their 2nd place, keeping them as close to Robbie as possible. Quite clever, and not easily manipulated.

Eventually, however, my machinations bared some fruit. The dysfunctional pop band gradually began to rob Robbie of some territory rewards, and used their drafted action cards to efficiently protect themselves against the 'sledge hammer' tactics employed by Robbie, so successfully. Or in other words, doing a 'Robbie'. The results of which meant that Mark closed in on Robbie's lead and I actually did set myself up for a profitable final round.

My strategy was not to make any more enemies so close to the end of the game, and take risks on certain properties, leaving myself open to being taken advantage of. The danger with this strategy is exactly that. Because there are so many ways to rob other players of scoring victory points, it feels like a menacing victory point buffet of both pain and pleasure. Meaning, some players may simply make inefficient or emotional plays which may adversely affect you, purely by accident, or coincidence. 

Tight closing scores. 110/106/100/96/87

The final scores came in at the end and it was actually quite close. Robbie, the Hammer of Spain, won with 110 points. Mark, the Prince of Spain came 2nd with 106 points. I managed to reach 100 points, Jason came 4th with 96 points and poor Gary never fully recovered from the first round massacre with 87 points. 

What just happened? Well, Robbie decided to forgo ALL pleasantries and like a fox being let loose in a hen house, they turned Gary's game (and to a lesser extent mine) into a coop full of blood soaked feathers and body parts. Total destruction. 

Mark, played at a similar pace all the way through. Precise, non-confrontational, unassuming, small calculated gains and wins. A potential winning formula to be sure. In one particular move, Mark benefited from a well placed King pawn move and earned a serious amount of victory points, JUST as a scoring phase came up.

I had been out-played early on, and when I regathered my senses for a fight back, this happened to be the time that I was kicked around like a school-yard football. Thus my plans were only partially realised as a result - particularly in round 2. I eventually settled for less efficient moves and plays, which were designed to cause friction between my opponents. Hoping to remove me from the  line of fire long enough to change my fortunes. Who knows... maybe I could spark a war between the leading pair of Grandes?

Jason, I felt, had been caught in a losing position early on too. However, they decided to plough on as best they could, and attempt to secure a solid 'middle' ground position. Jason had a great distribution of troops across Spain, but failed to utilise turn order as well as the rest of us. Ultimately, this led them to rely more heavily upon the luck of opportunities given, rather than opportunities created.

Finally, Gary. Poor Gary. Their first few turns and round, was almost a complete write-off, thanks to Robbie. These first few moves secured both the winner and the loser of our game. Gary eventually found some creative tactics to cause damage and raise themselves up to 3rd position at one point. However, they were unable to hold back their rage at Robbie and failed to consolidate that position for long enough. They did however, manage to control their turn order in such a way to cause maximum discomfort to the rest of us Grandes. What. A. Game.

If like me, you don't really enjoy many take-that mechanisms in your board games, then let me give you some hope for the future, in particular for playing El Grande. Most take-that mechanisms appear to be unavoidable, punishing actions which do little to help with your own immediate progression. They are designed (in the most part) to hold back your competitors; rather punitively, I might add. 

El Grande is different. Yes it's brutal, yes it's punishing... but the actions are so clearly informed by your own needs and desires, that it is HARD to blame another player if you happen to be the victim of a blood bath. Hard, but not impossible.

This game lends itself to experience, diplomacy, manipulation and a sharp tactical mind. Of course being flexible is advantageous but without a good plan to start with, you may as well just be having fun playing 'king maker' for your opponents amusement. You never know, perhaps one turn they may cut you some slack... but don't bet on it. This is El Grande, after all. 

Even though I can't wait to play this game again, we do not foresee Take That reforming for one more gig (rematch).. but never say never. Emotions were raw and feelings were hurt - but in a good way. The second best quote came after the game from the lead victimised Grande himself, Gary:

"I love it when I can spend an entire evening having my ass handed to me, and still have a great time."

Have a great gaming night yourself, and yes, if you ever get the opportunity, try a game of El Grande. 

WhaDiYoB? - The Thief of Baghdad (2006) and 12 Thieves (re-published 2017)

🕑 7 min read

Welcome back again, to our 'What Did You Bring?' segment! This week will be taking a look at a game which was last mentioned (favourably) in our NoBoG Blog 8 years ago! 12 Thieves by Thorsten Gimmler, and published by Queen Games. 

Under cover of the night, in the far away city of Baghdad, 5 opulent Palaces and their riches, have become the targets of what can only be described as organised flash mobs of thieves. Each Thieves Guild (player) has access to 12 thieves plus 2-4* palace guards on their pay-roll (*depending on the number of players). The aim of the game is to bribe your way into the treasure vaults of the palaces and then carry away chests full of gold and precious stones. The first player to secure the contents of 4-6* treasure chests (*player dependant), wins! 

If you were imagining some kind of 'Oceans 11' heist or caper, full of twists and turns with a rich theme... then please feel free to look away. The theme here is only lightly pasted on. At the beating heart of 12 Thieves is an area moving, hand managing, tactical, abstract puzzle game and race(?). There is a healthy dollop of luck needed to achieve more than other players in the same amount of time, but don't despair, if you like pitting your wits against your opponents and out thinking them, then you're in good company here. 

12 Thieves was republished in 2017 by Queen Games, after it's initial release in 2006, again by Queen Games - under the old name of The Thief of Baghdad. It was also nominated for Spiel des Jahres in 2007. I played the 2006 version, which contained wooden meeples rather than cardboard tokens. Interestingly, the games designer Thorsten Gimmler designed one of my favourite filler games too - No Thanks!. 

So, let's quickly talk about the mechanics and game play before I let you how I really felt about 12 Thieves. 

12 Thieves (2017)

Players take their turns in clockwise order, playing cards from your hand in order to move guards from one palace to another, and 'deposit' your own thieves into treasure rooms. The colours of the cards played correspond to the colour of each palace. So to get a thief into a treasure room, you  must have one of your own (coloured) guards posted at the palace of your choice, plus at least 1 more guard of another players (or a neutral guard), and the correct number (and coloured) cards. If you have your guard positioned, and the right card(s), you may sneak one or more of your thieves into the palace courtyard. Treasure chests in each palace require 4-7 of your thieves to be placed, to take them. Each palace has 4 chests to steal. 

Once your turn has ended, you draw 3 more face down cards from the deck into your hand in readiness for your next turn. 

As one would expect, there is more to this game than simply being in the right place at the right time, with the right cards. You may move your own palace guard from one palace to another, by again, playing a card of the same colour as either the palace you are leaving, or the palace you are going to. You may also, move one of the neutral (non-affiliated) guards by spending 2 cards, 1 of each coloured palace involved in that move. You might be asking why would you do this. Well, for a player to sneak a thief into a palace's treasure room, you must have one of your own guards, plus another guard to pay one card for each thief you drop off there. However, if there are 2 opposing guards at the palace, then you must bribe using 2 cards per thief to drop them off. If there are 3 opposing guards, then the cost is 3 cards each thief. So you can see that your passage to success may be made more expensive or blocked entirely by opponents jerking guards around just before it becomes your turn. Ouch, you jerk. 

The Thief of Baghdad (2006)

There are another couple of rules worth mentioning, before this chaotic masterpiece can be rendered fully in you mind. When you move one of your own guards from one palace to another (paying the card cost), that guard may also take a single thief of its own colour from the treasure room of the palace it is departing from, and deliver it, free from additional cost, to another palace's treasure room. So long as the maximum number of thief movements (and drop-offs) does not exceed 3 in the same turn, that is. The other rule is; if you can't do anything on your turn, or you simply don't want to do anything, you may instead go directly to drawing 3 cards, plus an additional wild card called a Dancer. This Dancer card can represent any colour you want it to be. It's very, very useful when you want to impress all the another thieves guilds with your forward planning and slick tricks. Totally not luck though. 100% skill. 

There it is!! A beautifully simple, yet thinky, abstract board game which will last you 30-60mins, depending on player numbers and levels of susceptibility to AP (Analysis Paralysis).

Be more donkey.

My final thoughts on this game are; give it a try if you get the chance - definitely before you consider buying it. 12 Thieves gets a healthy 6.4 rating on Board Game Geek, and that somehow feels right to me. The game is fairly cheap, and the production quality of the original release is way better than the latest 2017 release. However... it will not spoil your enjoyment of the game. One other thing I found about the game is, that there seems to be some useful 'cheat codes' you can use to hack the game. My first play, I was obsessed with what everyone else was doing. I moved guards around continuously looking for short cuts towards victory, but mainly to be chaotic, only to end up serving my opponents with 'open goals' - which amounts to palaces with only 2 guards of 2 separate affiliations. Believe you me, they took advantage of every opportunity I provided them with and used their experience with thievery to force me to lament a hand of cards which did nothing for my cause. ARGHHH!!!

By the time I got to my second game I had discovered the 'hacks', and then richly became enemy number one. As a result, I effortlessly glided to victory under a chorus of muted groans from my lesser gilded opponents. This game is easy to learn. It makes you feel powerful. It can also make you feel like a donkey. I love donkeys. Adopt a donkey! Do it!

Anyway, that's enough. See you next time.