Recent gaming has included:

Leader 1 – This is a clever bicycle racing game from a couple of years ago, which I was reminded of recently.  On a mailing list I hang out on, someone was advocating never buying any games from Ghenos Games.  I will admit that I do not currently own any of this publisher’s games, but that stance seemed a bit harsh.

Leader 1 is a fun game to play.  You have a team of bicyclists.  They each have different strengths.  One is good on the level ground, another is good on the mountain climb, while the leader is steady as he goes.  Further, you can designate whether a cyclist is either a downhill specialist or is a sprinter for the finish.

In the game the huge pack of bicyclists is represented by the Peloton marker.  Each turn players can take an opportunity to break out of the Peloton and blaze their own trail – but this must be carefully considered, as you only have so much energy, and a long route ahead.  All in all, Leader 1 is a good game.  There are several decisions to make, and they have a meaningful impact on how things go.  In fact there is only a modest amount of luck in the game.

The chief complaint I have with Leader 1 is merely that the rules are badly translated.  I can sort it out, but it is clear that a native speaker could have greatly improved the rules.  A shame, as I am sure many Americans (I am one) would have been happy to do a free clean-up for them.

1830 – Variant Scenario #2 (G) -

This was the strangest 1830 game I have played.  First of all, I made a stupid mistake right at the beginning and put myself in a powerless position, which another player quickly pounced upon and ruined my opening strategy.  This led to later reprisals, and generated a confrontational tone to the game.  In general a lot of stock trashing occurred.  Pretty much every stock took a beating.

The second thing was that the scenario we played seems to have issues.  It was designed to beef up the Canadian Pacific, but it was opened late and did not take a leading role in the game.  Then there was the coalfield tile, which no company ever built to.  In both scenarios I have played so far, the authors have injected extra trains.  My feeling that these extra trains take the bite out of the game, and worse, extend the duration.

Still, a flawed 1830 game is still a great deal of fun to play, even when I get crammed.

American Rails – I finally played this one, which had been played a couple other times at game night by others.  I quite liked it.  Somehow I had missed all the antecedents to this game.  I hear Wabash Cannonball is similar, but I cannot make a comparison.  I think another game was also compared, but its name escapes me.  I’m happy to play again, assuming another chance happens.

Saint Petersburg & Crokinole – It is interesting to see these games getting play time again.  Back in 2000 I bought my Crokinole board.  It was played to death for the first 3-4 years, and then it fell from favor.  Similarly, St. Pete was our most played game for 2004 and 2005, if I recall correctly, and then it also fell from favor.  Here we are in 2012, and both games are getting requested again.  Neat!

It’s been a while since I posted anything here.  So I thought I’d do a summary of the new-to-me games I’ve been playing:

Peloponnes – I bought this while I was in Manhattan, at the Compleat Strategist.  We played once, and after reading the rules I learned we got a couple of rules wrong.  But even so, it was entertaining, and I am interested in getting back to it.  Our first game wasn’t all that quick, but we saw the likelihood that we could make this a game of just 1 hour or so.  Novelty factor remains high.

1889 – Played this for just the second time.  A very entertaining 18xx game.  This game is supposedly a quick 18xx game, but we still managed to spend 4.5 hours on it.  I don’t mind, I had fun and actually won for a change.  I ordered this game from Deep Thought Games after my first encounter with it.  This session showed me that the game can develop very differently.  With the small map there could be a limit to the variations possible, I suppose.  But so far I am still intrigued.

Rails of New England – I played this with my friend Joe during my visit to New England.  Joe, being a New Englander, was quite adroit at finding the various cities on the map.  I could see how my ignorance would add significant time to the play of the game.  The game itself was pretty good.  I enjoyed how the game uses different decks of cards to drive the three stages of the game.  But I don’t intend to buy this game, and suspect I may not play it again.

Rapa Nui – Another game Joe taught me.  This is a slightly older game by Reinhold Wittig.  Rapa Nui is a beautiful wooden board with wooden pieces.  Of course, highly abstract.  I rather liked it, and would love to get a copy someday.

Jati – This is a 3M game that is famous for its scarcity.  So it was fun to actually play it.  Nothing special, truth be told.  But I am still pleased to have had a chance to actually see and have played this game!

Rallyman – We just did a single heat at the end of game night.  But it reminded me that I like this system.  So when I saw the “Dirt” expansion for it at the Compleat Strategist, I went ahead and got it.  Now I am motivated to find a way to do a series…

Great Fire of London – To my surprise this game has received several requests.  The fact that it plays 6 has added to its utility.  I do like the theme, but am not so sure there is all that much strategy to apply.  But so far I have been enjoying it as an experience game.

1846 – We finally got back to this, and I remain a fan.  1846 is a game that can really develop wildly different each play.  Of all the 18xx games I’ve played, this one seems to have the most variety in its gameplay.

Lancaster – I played this again, for my third play.  I am comfortable with this game now.  I guess it grew on me.  I gave the expansion laws to a couple friends who own the game, and I will be happy to play it with them.  Its not a game I need to own, but I;m happy to play occasionally.  I still think going to war in France is overpowered though.

7 Wonders – I have not gotten back to this.  But I enjoyed my initial session.  While quite different, I can see how 7 Wonders and Peloponnes might compete for the same game time.

Formidable Foes – Not a game I was looking to play, nor one I expected to like.  But despite several concerns, when we actually played this, everyone had fun.  Even so, I am not really looking to play this again.

Four of us gathered to play a variant on the new 1830 game yesterday.  (We played Scenario 1, in case any of you want to look it up.)  1830 is a great game, one of my personal “10′s”.  It was published about 25 years ago by Avalon Hill.  Since Avalon Hill closed doors over a decade ago, this game has been out of print.  And in recent years 18xx games have been getting more attention.  So Mayfair recently republished this game.  But they did more than just publish 1830 – they also expanded it with several extra tiles and an extra board, to allow some significant variations off of the original game.

I believe all four of us were experienced hands at the original 1830 – for sure three of us were.  So trying out the first variant scenario appealed to the group.  In this scenario, the expanded map is used.  In the south of the map a coalfields site is added, along with a few more cities.  In addition, all the off-board sites allow for passage through them.  (In original 1830 they can only be a terminus.)  One additional private company was added to the game, which gave access to the coalfields.  Two new public companies were also added to the game.

So while the game was going to be different, there were a lot of elements from the original game still present.  Oh sure, there were other changes, and I won’t try to list them all.  But one worth mentioning was the addition of several more trains than normal.

I managed to acquire the C&A for the minimum bid, which made me very happy.  I also got the M&H, which I was happy to milk for cash as well.  I decided to not float a company in the first Stock Round, as I saw the player to my left was planning on floating the B&O.  Since I wanted to float the PRR (I had a free share with my C&A company), I thought it would be neat to let him soak up the cheap 2′s.  Also, by investing in other players early companies, I would be able to drive their stock value down once I divested.

So I sat and watched the action until we got to the 3rd Stock Round, when I finally floated the PRR.  Even so, I was forced to buy two 2 trains, because so many were included in the scenario.  I floated the PRR at 90, and that proved to be enough for the entire game, I don’t believe I ever had to retain with them.  However, they topped out with a 5 train, which limited their income in the last portion of the game.  But their stock value was high, the second highest in the game.  Eventually I also launched the NYC, and managed to get them up to a diesel.  But it was painful having to withhold twice to allow that to come to pass.

I am not prepared to list what all the other players did.  But basically they were content to work more in the south, while I was running around the greater NY area.  Eventually the map all grew highly connected, and some HUGE diesel runs were being run by the end of the game.

Perhaps foolishly, I felt like I was doing well.  Even as the two who usually battle it out for the victory were agreeing between themselves that one of them had it won, I was thinking that I might still be in the hunt.

All of us were right.  I was close.  But I was still third.  The scores at the end of the game were:

11,800 – C

11,769 – A

11,550 – Kevin

9,135 – S

Aii, yai, yai!   So close and still the 3rd place guy!

I played Inotaizu tonight.  This is a great game about Japanese cartography.  I’ve played it a half dozen times now, and really enjoyed it every single time.  So much so that I bought a few copies, and ensured they got distributed to friends around here.

Imagine my surprise when we were readying for our game tonight that I found a rule that I had muffed every other play!  Geesh.  I have never before noticed that the pre-printed spaces on the board are not to have cards played on to them!  So we played it correctly tonight.  I still like the game, even with the right rules!

Tuesday evening we had a group of 6, and we wanted something different.  Sensing an opportunity to get something unfamiliar on the table I proposed we play Columbus, a game by Wolfgang Kramer from 1991.  Of course, as we learn in school, “In 1492 Columbus sailed the Ocean Blue”.  Which is why at least a couple of games about Columbus were released prior to the 500th anniversary.

Turns out the Kramer game is beautifully produced, works well with a full load of six, and really quite charming.  I had an excellent time playing the game again, and at least one other player was quite impressed.  Everyone gave it at least a “Good” rating, with me and one other giving it an “Excellent” rating.

One special attraction to this game, is that Rob Derrick chromed me out by giving me a custom player aid, and a wonderful custom English rules manual (the game is in German, but the play materials are language neutral).

A wonderful game event!

I’ve had confirmation over this past weekend that I am relatively weak at learning new 18xx train games.  Chester had a train game party on Friday and Saturday.  I played 4 games, all of which I had never played before.  My performance in most of these games was a bit weak…

1844: Austria – This is a large game that took about 7 hours to play, including instructions.  There are a lot of special rules around tunnels and mountain mines, special decaying of the trains, and other features.

1889: Japan – This was a much shorter game.  It did not have many special rules, basically being 1830 on a different map.

1880: China – Another large game, taking about 8 hours, including teaching.  This game has so many different features from normal 1830 style games that we had to be careful to do things right.

18EU (Europe) – A medium length (4-5 hour) game which features a special early game auction of 15 minor companies.  The result of this initial auction has a huge effect on the shape of the game.

Of these 4 games, the only game I felt competitive in was the 1889 game.  And of course that one was the one at least variance to the games I am familiar with.  My lesson from this weekend is that I would prefer to start replaying some of the newer games I’ve tried.  I believe I can be competitive in 18xx games.  I have won an occassional game.  But usually I need some time on a game to grok how to play efficiently.  I believe my usual opponents are swifter learners, more apt at winning initial games on a new title.

Here is a roster of 18xx games I have played since 2001:

1824 – Once

1825 – Five times in various configurations of Units.

1829 – Played once as an 1830 variant.  I’ve never played with the Survey Parties.

1829 Mainline – Three plays with others, and several solitaire sessions.

1830 – Ten plays

1844 – Once

1846 – Five plays, all since 2009 on.

1848 – Once

1853 – Once

1856 – Once

1860 – Once

1861 – Once

1880 – Once

1889 – Once

18AL – Once

18EU – Once

18EZ – Once

18GA – Once

18NEB – Twice

2038 – Once (since 2001.  I used to play this somewhat frequently back in the 90′s.)

I am generally willing to play the game being requested.  But I will begin asking if we can revisit some of the titles above.  I think I will be a better opponent, if I can just apply some of the lessons learned on early sessions.

The last two weeks Alex and I have been playing Memoir ’44.  I have the Campaign Book, which strings together a series of scenarios into campaigns – where how things resolve direct where your next battle will happen.

I’ve been enjoying doing this.  It’s nice to finally get some regular play in with the plethora of game materials I have assembled for Memoir ’44, and I am having fun just playing the game.  Memoir is a lucky game.  Wild swings of luck can deeply influence the outcome.  But at the same time some scenarios are really much tougher than others.  I don’t mind luck in my games, and Memoir at least is constantly using dice, so in theory the luck should average out over time.

We’ve been playing the D-Day campaign.  In the first sequence of scenarios, Alex, playing the Allies, could do nothing wrong.  He won a decisive victory in the “Flanking Caen” scenarios.  But for the “Taking Caen” scenarios I was able to battle back to a major victory.  So going into the final leg of scenarios, Alex is holding a 3 – 2 lead over me.  But at least it is close enough to add some drama to the final set of scenarios.

I have played a nice mix of old games, new games, net-to-me old games, and new-to me new games recently.  Here’s what I’ve been playing:

Forum Romanum – One player called it glorified tic-tac-toe.  I think he was right.  But while that might sound like a slam, it isn’t.  This game was entertaining, if a bit chaotic for a table of 5.

Barons – I doubt anyone would call this game beautiful.  It’s a card game, where you build a barony by drafting cards and playing them contiguously, a la Illuminati.  I didn’t love it, but it was more fun than I would have guessed.

Santiago – I played this once years ago.  Second play confirmed that this is a nice game.  There is plenty of player interaction.  A good, if not deeply compelling game.

Tonga Bonga – A game that I continue to enjoy.  But with this most recent playing, I realized you really do want the full complement of 4 players.

Grand Prix- F1 – Finally, someone requested a race game at the Bistro!  I especially like this game for 3-4 players, as you can run a team of cars.  Unlike any other race game, this one focuses on the fuel management of racing.

Maritim – My second play, this time with 3 players.  Sadly one of the players disliked it.  Me and the other player enjoyed it though.  I will never want to play with the full set of 6 though – it would too slow.

Janus – Another one of the Franckh games I recently collected.  We found the end game a bit forced.  But the early and midgame were quite interesting.  It’s very abstract, a feaqture I once found a flaw.  But more recently, I am warming to abstract games.

Galaxy: The Dark Ages – This is the fully chromed out version of Titan: The Arena, but set in space.  It is a good game.  Never a favorite.  But one of our Monday night gamers loves it, so we continue to play it once in a while.

Valley of the Kings (Tal der Koenige)- The best game I’ve ever played that comes in a triangular box!  Well, hmm, that sounds like another slam.  I really do like this game!

And now a bit of a rant…  Games magazine just announced Tikal II as their game of the year.  On a mailing group I subscribe to, folks immediately started trashing this game.  What a bunch of kill joys!  Tikal II is a nice game.  I enjoyed my single play of it last month.  It might not be my pick as my game of the year, but it seems like a reasonable game to honor.  It is fun, strategic and runs maybe 90 minutes.  Bravo!