I was at a local board game convention this weekend. Learned some new games, played a bunch of others, mostly with people I did not know. One friend was also at the convention, but not the whole time. I like reflecting on new games, and I will share it here as well for anybody who cares to read. I'll also talk about two tournaments I entered and some other games I played.
New Games I LearnedFive Tribes2p with a friend. I enjoyed it, but the intense analysis paralysis makes me hesitant to play it again. It might be better with more than 2 players. With only 2, you bid for turn order with two pieces each. I found that getting a double turn was far more important than vying for first player, so I just went for that every time. I don't think I ever paid money for turn order. The double turn also adds AP because you have to think through how you want to set yourself up. I completely destroyed my friend in this game, probably because I handle AP better than he does.
??? PrototypeI don't remember what the game was called, but it was a prototype. There wasn't an NDA but I won't say too much about it anyway. It is a bluffing game inspired by Coup, with the intention of making it a deeper experience with somewhat lengthier play time. I've never actually played Coup so I can't compare very well, but it was still pretty quick (about 30 minutes, I think). We played twice. My friend crushed us the first game. The second game was extremely close but a bit of luck allowed me to take the win in the end. There was one small aspect that I think was overpowered, but it's tough to tell with just 2 plays. Overall I was pretty impressed with the design.
DeusPlayed with 4. Really, really neat game. Everything is colourful and looks good. It played smoothly and felt tightly balanced. There were tough choices pretty much every turn, but it always felt like there was something good for you to do. There is some light engine building and the possibility of cool combos. I lost to the owner of the game by about 2 points (it was relatively new for her as well; it was actually somebody else who taught us). Definitely try this if you get the chance (and note, it is playable on
Boite a Jeux).
Macao4p game only with strangers, all new to the game. I've been interested in this one for a long time just because of that neat rondel mechanism. There was some rules confusion early on and probably some accidental cheating by all by the end, what with all the tiny cards with special abilities. Also, it is really easy to jostle the rondel and get all your cubes mixed up, as one other player discovered.
Early on, my strategy was mainly to get the things that were easy to build. Whenever I started taking too long with analysis paralysis I defaulted to choosing the biggest dice, giving me giant heaps of resources to deal with in later turns. This worked to my advantage in the end because I was able to fuel a giant cross-map spree to sell 3 different goods. I won with a moderately healthy lead.
There was at least one special power I had that we all misinterpreted early on, but it only gave me $2. Not sure how much of a difference it would have made. There may also have been other rules that we all missed because we mostly just skimmed the rulebook. I may actually read it later to see.
Overall impression is good. Again, I liked having all the tough choices, special powers and multiple paths to victory. I do think that it gets a bit unwieldy at the end, when we had a dozen different tiny cards that all did different things. I couldn't really keep track of my opponents' actions at all. But yeah, it was fun.
Kingdom Builder4p game. The scoring cards were Knights (build in a horzontal line), Miners (build next to mountains) and Farmers (build in all four quadrants). I don't remember their names but the special powers were [extend a line], [build 1 on grass], [move 1 to just-played terrain] and [move 1 onto water].
On my first turn I went for the line-extending power, but it was actually a bad choice because it got me stuck in a really poor location. I also had some bad luck -- I purposely avoided being adjacent to flowers terrain, but I never drew a single flowers card. Two other players were similarly lost, though one recovered a bit by the end.
My friend though. Oh man. He also used his first placement for the line-extending power, but his second placement allowed him to go across the map and grab the place-on-grass power AND put him in position on a nearly unimpeded horizontal line that also happened to go past a large number of mountain regions. It was pretty much a perfect location. By the end of the game, he had also managed to land a cluster in the fourth quadrant, allowing to score well on all 3 cards. He wiped the floor with us. He likes the game.
As for me, it actually left me feeling a little cold. Granted, a large part of that is probably because my friend won by such a huge lead
and it was completely predictable from about round 4 on. Even in retrospect I don't think there was anything we could have done to stop him. That said, I expect I would have a better time on second play because I have a better idea of how to look for a good starting placement. Moreover, I expect that the mix of new special powers and scoring cards would really appeal to me, much like how Dominion really clicks when you play your second game with a whole new kingdom. I'll play it again if I get the chance.
Tournaments I PlayedDominionIt was a poor tournament setup, but I wasn't expecting it to be good based on previous years (when I had not participated). Everybody played 3 preliminary matches. They were all 4p games with base only, and each set of matches used the same kingdom for all. Every preliminary match had Gardens, one had Witch, two had Chapel (and these were randomly dealt, not designed kingdoms). Some specific number of semi-finalists were chosen based on how many wins they got out of their 3 prelim matches. Of course, with only 3 matches (and the chaos of 4p base), there is not much spread in there. Their tie-break solution was to use your actual scores from each game, which were incredibly variable. Some groups had extremely low scoring games, others extremely high (mainly depending on how Gardens got played).
Anyway, my first match was OK. The player to my right made some rules mistakes early on (she was nesting actions and also shuffling just-played actions back into her deck mid-turn) that got her some early Gold and 2 Provinces. The other 2 players did not want to start over so we played on. She was very nice about it when we corrected her (and also very nice when we played Macao together later on); I have no doubt that they were honest mistakes. I won in the end, but my score probably would have been higher if she hadn't those 2 provinces.
My second match was terrible. I somehow did not notice a couple of key cards during the opening and did a lot of other really idiotic things. I lost horribly and it was completely my fault.
My third match was just a matter of bad luck. I went for a Gardens rush, another started going for Gardens as well but did not commit, and a third half-heartedly started following halfway through the game. I got a favourable Gardens split and the game ended on piles, but I lost by one point. I was a single card off from Gardens levelling up. Heartbreaking.
I know that some other players who only had 1 win got to to move on to the semi-finals because their one win came from a group that had extremely bloated scores from huge Gardens. So yeah. Disappointing. But I was really, really stupid in my second game, so I put that on me.
7 WondersI hadn't played this in about a year. It was base only. The tournament structure had six tables with (I think) 7 players each. The winner from each table advanced to the final table. Very simple. By tournament rules, you could not choose between sides A and B; you got what you were dealt. They allowed us to change that if
everybody at the table agreed on a method. Personally, I much prefer the choice.
In the first round, my table agreed on only using side A (there were a couple of players who were still new to the game, and I preferred that over full random). I was dealt Giza. My friend had Alexandria on my left and my other neighbour had Babylon. I think it's a bit problematic for a tournament to allow friends to sit next to each other due to the chance of collusion, but whatever.
The strategy with Giza is pretty straight forward. I was really resource-starved after Age I (I had to pass on two Caravanseries because I had no access to a second wood, and I had to discard for coin at least once) but I managed to make it up by the end of Age II.
A highlight -- for the final hand of Age I, I had to choose between left and right Trading Posts. Since Alexandria was left, I figured it would be better to trade right. By the end of the game, I had purchased Ore from Alexandria 3-5 times. The only thing I bought from Babylon were commodities, so I never got any use out of that TP.
Another highlight -- I built my second wonder stage on the first turn of Age III, burying a Palace that I couldn't afford. I was then passed the second Palace, which I immediately buried for stage 3 (other options were poor too). I think the third hand allowed me to get the Arena, so I actually built my wonder stages just in time.
One of the "rookie" players actually ended in second place by a single point (bolstered a lot by a big Philosopher's Guild -- the one that counts neighbour's science). I was first! And if I had built the correct trading post in Age I, I could have done even better.
At the finalists table, at least two really wanted to play full random. I ended up with Babylon B. Babylon has always been my least favourite base game wonder. In last year's tournament I got Babylon A for the initial table and came in second (I think). As it turned out, the person who won at my table last year also won that tournament, and this year she was on my left with Ephesos B (my favourite wonder)! I didn't realize it was her until the end of the game. She also told me that Ephesos was
her least favourite wonder. On my right was Alexandria, but there was an empty chair between us so I ended up paying less attention to what he was doing. Anyway, I like Babylon B better than Babylon A. But still, I am not a fan.
Age I was not good for me. I only got a few resources and commodities, 1 science card (tablet) and a couple of weak blues. Halikarnassos (left of Ephesos) also went science. Even though she was downstream from me, she got a better science start (having cloth to begin really helped her). I got my tablet before Hali had started on science, and luckily nobody else followed suit (probably because everybody was savvy enough to know that 3 science players spells doom for all).
My Age II was much better. By the end of it I had all three commodities, a Caravansery, my first two wonder stages (and the resources to build the third), a military card and a couple more science. Hali was still doing better on science thanks to her round 2 passing advantage. IIRC she was almost done her second set while I only had two tablets and a gear. I also had a decent amount of money thanks to Ephesos purchasing from me.
My 2 military beat Ephesos (at 0) but Alexandria was going steady on red. It was weird because Rhodes was on his right, and Rhodes did not even try to fight back. Alexandria did not go overboard on reds either, I think he built 2 in Age I and one more in Ages II and III. At the end of the game, he said he just doesn't like to let other people win military. I don't know if he gets into counter-productive arms races, but it worked out fine for him at our table. He built up just enough to deter us from competing.
Age III was scary. Unlike the Dominion tournament, it was clear that everybody at the table knew what they were doing. Everybody could actually
afford things. The very first hand was scary because my neighbour Ephesos' first card was the Philosopher's Guild (VP for neighbour's green). By the end of the game, it was worth 15 points for her. Insanity!
By the end of the game, I had not seen a single Guild card in my hand. Hali ended with 2 sets of science plus a tablet and gear (so, short 1 compass for set 3). Olympia (seated between Hali and Rhodes) and Alexandria got most of the guilds between them, with almost all of them being beneficial for them (Alexandria built the Scientist's Guild to deny me). Rhodes got many of the blues, but Ephesos had the biggest blue stack. That blue stack was very intimidating; on my last turn I had to buy a resource from a neighbour and that big line of blue pushed me to pay it to Alexandria.
As for myself, I ended the game with exactly 2 science sets plus my final wonder (which I only built because that hand was really bad) for a science score of 31. Hali's science score was 36, so I really managed to catch up. I had a smattering of VP from all other sources (except for guilds). Notably, Ephesos still had not built a red card. I think the main reason was because she knew I could trump her, since I was passing to her. I didn't built any age III reds either, so my one age II red managed to net me 8VP.
All scores were over 50 at the end. My neighour Ephesos, the previous champion, clocked in at 63. She was second place. I scored 64 points. Yes, I won both games by a single point. My prize was a $40 gift card for our local board game cafe and, more importantly, a really fun story.
Other Games I PlayedDead of WinterI taught a group of 4 strangers how to play. There was some good thematic stuff going on, with my John Price, the student, following the principal to the school to rummage around. Despite the possibility of a traitor, it turned out that everybody was good. We all managed to fulfill our secret objectives (me on the last turn, running to the hospital to find medicine). We all had fun.
SplendorLater on, I noticed that some people (including a couple from the DoW game) were playing Splendor for the first time and doing so
very incorrectly. They thought that the Nobles also counted your chips, not just your purchased cards, so there was one player sitting on a bunch of chips with 3 nobles and only one card bought. I let them know their mistake, there was a collective lightbulb moment and they restarted their game.
One of the players had to leave so they invited me to join them. I'm still pretty unfamiliar with the game, but it was fun. One guy won pretty handily (about 4+ points ahead of the rest of us), but they all really enjoyed the engine building aspect (which was, of course, absent when they had their rules misunderstanding). He won by focusing on the level 1 buildings early on when the rest of us were going between levels 1 and 2 trying to net some points. It seemed like he was behind, but then suddenly he was getting noble after noble (not all on the same turn -- we remembered that rule) and he was suddenly buying the level 2 cards with ease. They all wanted to play again.
Now we were all savvy to this tactic so we all went at it. I kind of stumbled about at first but I somehow managed to get a combination that coincided with multiple nobles. The previous winner (on my right) and I were going for the same colours while the other two players were competing with each other. I managed to stay two steps ahead of my counterpoint. We actually ran out of the level 1 cards.
There was one key moment. My neighbour picked up 3 chips with the intention of buying the only available level 2 black gem (what kind of gems are those, anyway?). He did not notice that I already had everything needed to buy it, which I did. The amazing thing was that it wasn't only him who groaned -- the other two players cried out as well. I was barely paying attention to them because they were aiming for different nobles, but they both wanted black cards as well. It was hilarious and wonderful. I won that game with a good lead. The others expressed an interest in buying a copy in the future, which was even sweeter than the win. It's always nice when everybody at the table has a good time.
For the record, I know that this "spam tier 1 cards" strategy may not actually be the most competitive. I've read reviews that talk about tournaments where the winners build point-scoring cards (read: not tier 1) almost exclusively. I just have no idea how that works.
Betrayal At House on the HillI will avoid spoilers here.
At the very end of the conference, my friend and I ran into another friend of mine (plus two of his friends). He had just purchased a copy of Betrayal and was punching out the tokens. They invited us to join them for a game, so we obliged. Most of the other players got buffed pretty heavily. My sanity went up extremely high, but my physical stats got nerfed into the ground and I never found a single item or omen.
I ended up becoming the traitor anyway, but it was late in the game, I was super weak, the others were powerful and loaded with items and useful omens, and key haunt-specific items for the heroes spawned just a couple tiles away from one of the heroes. My character was killed immediately, though that was not the end of the game because I still had a monster that they had to defeat.
Unfortunately, all my movement rolls were really bad. Instead of running at the separated heroes and picking them off one by one, my monster just travelled a single tile each turn for a few rounds, allowing the heroes to group up together. When the groups finally collided, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion. Nonetheless, it took about 4 full rounds for them to bring down my creature. It was hilarious.
AmyitisI just learned this game recently; we've actually been
playing it here in the games forum. I did not actually play it this weekend, but I found a used copy of it for $20 at the convention flea market. Everything was in good condition and the discount was steep. I am enjoying the game online so I decided to pick it up. I don't think it is particularly innovative and the theme feels a bit generic, but the mechanics seem solid and, from what I can tell, there are multiple viable paths to victory. There are a lot of tough choices and a lot of stuff to think about in the game, but it also seems very simple to teach and learn. I look forward to playing it IRL.
Overall, it was a very good weekend.