If you wanted heavy-weight euros, with worker placement and efficiency engineering, then last night at the Ribs of Beef was where it was at. Caylus and Le Havre were plonked onto the tables. Hard fought socio-economic battles raged throughout the Wherry Room. Crocker dominated Le Havre with a score which tripled last placed Jimmy. I'm not sure who out scraped and bowed the others to claim the Caylus title (perhaps someone can let us know). The only surprise of the night was that Crocker didn't straddle both tables and give everyone a serious lesson at both game simultaneously.
Beer: I was drinking Elgood's Thin Ice. A thick and warming, full-bodied premium bitter. Malty and slightly darker than my usual choice of beer, but much like Railroad Tycoon it's not as heavy as it would first appear.
Playing board games since 2005ish. Every Monday & Tuesday evening at St. Andrews Brew House/Louis Marchesi.
3 comments:
heavy euro? let me guess, it had 4 pages of rules and "multiple paths to victory" and "gut wrenching decisions" due to the 4 different choices you could make each turn?
Ben won at Caylus. Luke Superior finished 2nd which made Hal feel hard done by as the rules were misunderstood and Hal built a plan around something which he couldn't do.
Jack failed miserably.
These zero luck games that aren't decided by Bonds lucky dice rolls are a bore. This is the first time I have declined playing caylus. The rule forgotten on there table was the end game condition of when the castle is full. Hal could have been awarded these points regardless and an additional favour and whilst his score would have been greater I believe it wouldnt have changed the overall result.
As for Le Harve Jimmy and Matt where punished by the inevitable learning curve in this efficiency game. Jimmy was 'happy' to write off this first play to experience although he had built impressive resources that had to be dumped, effecting his final total. It is a game that regular players will get an advantage in. I feel it is one of the best (top 2 or 3) games of its type. Its length is reflective of the complex nature of multiple resources that go through phases of popularity that inexperienced players will seldom grasp in first plays. As the game develops the resource demands shifts and players who prepare for later stages early are in a good position to hoover up VPs. Building interactions allow variety and replayability. I enjoy building a machine games, and where this is superior is that all players have access to all possibilities and that the demands develop. I likened Le Harve to a civ game in all but theme. Too often you can feel your just getting the knack of whats going on when these type of games finish. With Le Harve there are approximately 20 rounds with players having between 1 and 2 goes a round, possibly you get lets say 30 turns so there is sufficient time to get to grips with building the engine and then use it for a while without you ever feeling like the game is unbalanced. As we will play this 3 or 4 times a year it wont be long till its as hated as Caylus, Amune Re or Taj.
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