Game Session, April 30, 2006
Venue: Paul's place.
Present: Pat, Brian, Alex, Richard, Craig, Paul.
Played: Struggle of Empires, Fussball.
On Nokia 6610i pics again in the absence of Brad!
Struggle of Empires: After a month of eager anticipation this one finally gets a run and, (speaking entirely for myself of course) it didn't disappoint. I'm eager to play it again as soon as there's a willing group, now that there is some feel for the relative values of the various action tiles, as well as the significance of alliances and various other aspects such as movement and combat. I suspect Craig doesn't feel the same way after scoring a net -2 points in the final war, sliding horribly from 1st place to fifth! I think I'd like to play this next with any number of players other than 3, with a slight preference for 4.
I think it was Pat who described, or paraphrased someone else describing this as a "souped-up El Grande", and it's true that this is a game about gaining majorities in various scoring regions. For me there is much more depth and flavour than EG, most notably in the alliance auction system, the tile benefits and economic system, and combat, which is quite rich but still very simple.
On reflection there are lots of scenarios that begin with the phrase, "if only I'd... ", and I spent much time afterwards working through these in my mind! It didn't quite make for a sleepless night, but could have.
After the game ended I remarked that, despite having 6 players, the play was not nearly as chaotic as one might have expected - chaos being an emergent feature of many shorter, Euro- style games when there are more than 4 players. I still believe this, although there were definite, deliciously palpable player interactions throughout. I can only provide a 1/6th perspective on the whole game but the most significant interactions shaping my strategy and final score were Brian progressively overwhelming me in the Caribbean, and the final round battles for my tiny stronghold in the German States...
Since I was early in turn order in the first war (perhaps 2nd after Pat?) and slaves appeared in the Americas, I decided early I might leave most of Europe to other players and focus instead on a colonial policy, so I planted a fleet in Africa and grabbed cheap slave markers in Sth America and the Caribbean. But Brian, and eventually Alex, decided they too liked the climate in that part of the world, and Brian in particular chased down my control tokens here with zeal. Even before the third war rolled around I could see that fighting hard to maintain a few measly VPs was wasted effort, and I began what I thought was a nicely-planned migration strategy away from America, through Africa (to claim some small, but easy end-game VPs) to the East Indies, while maintaining significant strength in 2nd-tier European placements (Ottoman and the Med). At the end of the 2nd war, however, I effectively wasted a turn with the Pirates tile in an attempt to finesse Richard's control token in Africa. I maintain that this would have worked if he wasn't able to call upon his reserves!
However, my new plan was appearing to work - as expected Brian did overwhelm my tokens in the Caribbean (which at least kept him away from the Ottoman until it couldn't affect my score). But I gained the majority in Africa quite cheaply and then established a nice foothold in the East Indies against and to equal with Alex. Hence I was ready to gain an equal majority with Richard there on the very last turn. But then along came Craig in a beserk (although quite game-logical) rage, taking away my fort in the German States, leaving a lone control token, unprotected. Of course, Alex swooped on this, leaving me with a simple decision: Try and take it back for the 5 VPs it was worth, or stick to the previous plan regardless, for an easy net of 2 VPs in the East Indies. Well, I chose the former, since it amounted to an equal match-up with alliances etc. all considered - ie., a 50-50 chance on dice rolls. Unfortunately these went against me, and that last turn ended up being the difference between 2nd and fourth place for me! "If only I'd..." recruited an army in the German States instead of buying the Navigation tile in an earlier turn!
Just recalling this makes me want to play the game again as soon as possible! I might have to lug this around with me to the various non-Thornleigh gaming venues on the off-chance that 3 others are in the same mood as me on any given Sunday night!!
Timing data: Rules explan: about 30 mins. Fortunately the only one who had done no rules prep was Alex, who always picks this stuff up quickly! Time taken to work through the first war was about 80-85 minutes, but this necessarily included coverage of most of the tile benefits. 2nd war took about 55 minutes, and the third took about 80 minutes, although the alliance auction phase in this case took a good 10-15 minutes!
Total time was therefore about 4 hours with 6p, which in my estimation could be shorter by up to an hour with all-round rules and tile familiarity. Proportionally, a 4p game with this group should take about 2.5 hours.
Score data, in the format Player: 1st war progressive score (position), 2nd (position), final (position).:
Pat: 21 (4), 43 (2), 63 (1).
Alex: 14 (=5), 33 (5), 57 (2).
Richard: 20 (=2), 34 (4), 51 (3).
Paul: 20 (=2), 35 (3), 48 (4).
Craig: 30 (1), 45 (1), 43 (5).
Brian: 14 (=5), 26 (6), 37 (6).
Did I mention that I can't wait to play this again...?
Fussball: Another 40th birthday gift, this one from my wife! It's a major struggle keeping the kids away from this, particularly the 20-month-old, so we let them play with it as much as we reasonably can rather than fight too hard with them, with the expectation that the novelty will eventually wear off.
Pat, Craig, Sean and I had a quick go on this before the other guys turned up, and then at the end of the night it was Richard and I vs. Pat and Alex. This was a great game actually, which came right down to the wire - A&P eventually scoring the 10-9 decider against me and Richard. Brian was happy to sit out and be the guy from Channel 4.
Present: Pat, Brian, Alex, Richard, Craig, Paul.
Played: Struggle of Empires, Fussball.
On Nokia 6610i pics again in the absence of Brad!
Struggle of Empires: After a month of eager anticipation this one finally gets a run and, (speaking entirely for myself of course) it didn't disappoint. I'm eager to play it again as soon as there's a willing group, now that there is some feel for the relative values of the various action tiles, as well as the significance of alliances and various other aspects such as movement and combat. I suspect Craig doesn't feel the same way after scoring a net -2 points in the final war, sliding horribly from 1st place to fifth! I think I'd like to play this next with any number of players other than 3, with a slight preference for 4.I think it was Pat who described, or paraphrased someone else describing this as a "souped-up El Grande", and it's true that this is a game about gaining majorities in various scoring regions. For me there is much more depth and flavour than EG, most notably in the alliance auction system, the tile benefits and economic system, and combat, which is quite rich but still very simple.
On reflection there are lots of scenarios that begin with the phrase, "if only I'd... ", and I spent much time afterwards working through these in my mind! It didn't quite make for a sleepless night, but could have.
After the game ended I remarked that, despite having 6 players, the play was not nearly as chaotic as one might have expected - chaos being an emergent feature of many shorter, Euro- style games when there are more than 4 players. I still believe this, although there were definite, deliciously palpable player interactions throughout. I can only provide a 1/6th perspective on the whole game but the most significant interactions shaping my strategy and final score were Brian progressively overwhelming me in the Caribbean, and the final round battles for my tiny stronghold in the German States...Since I was early in turn order in the first war (perhaps 2nd after Pat?) and slaves appeared in the Americas, I decided early I might leave most of Europe to other players and focus instead on a colonial policy, so I planted a fleet in Africa and grabbed cheap slave markers in Sth America and the Caribbean. But Brian, and eventually Alex, decided they too liked the climate in that part of the world, and Brian in particular chased down my control tokens here with zeal. Even before the third war rolled around I could see that fighting hard to maintain a few measly VPs was wasted effort, and I began what I thought was a nicely-planned migration strategy away from America, through Africa (to claim some small, but easy end-game VPs) to the East Indies, while maintaining significant strength in 2nd-tier European placements (Ottoman and the Med). At the end of the 2nd war, however, I effectively wasted a turn with the Pirates tile in an attempt to finesse Richard's control token in Africa. I maintain that this would have worked if he wasn't able to call upon his reserves!
However, my new plan was appearing to work - as expected Brian did overwhelm my tokens in the Caribbean (which at least kept him away from the Ottoman until it couldn't affect my score). But I gained the majority in Africa quite cheaply and then established a nice foothold in the East Indies against and to equal with Alex. Hence I was ready to gain an equal majority with Richard there on the very last turn. But then along came Craig in a beserk (although quite game-logical) rage, taking away my fort in the German States, leaving a lone control token, unprotected. Of course, Alex swooped on this, leaving me with a simple decision: Try and take it back for the 5 VPs it was worth, or stick to the previous plan regardless, for an easy net of 2 VPs in the East Indies. Well, I chose the former, since it amounted to an equal match-up with alliances etc. all considered - ie., a 50-50 chance on dice rolls. Unfortunately these went against me, and that last turn ended up being the difference between 2nd and fourth place for me! "If only I'd..." recruited an army in the German States instead of buying the Navigation tile in an earlier turn!Just recalling this makes me want to play the game again as soon as possible! I might have to lug this around with me to the various non-Thornleigh gaming venues on the off-chance that 3 others are in the same mood as me on any given Sunday night!!
Timing data: Rules explan: about 30 mins. Fortunately the only one who had done no rules prep was Alex, who always picks this stuff up quickly! Time taken to work through the first war was about 80-85 minutes, but this necessarily included coverage of most of the tile benefits. 2nd war took about 55 minutes, and the third took about 80 minutes, although the alliance auction phase in this case took a good 10-15 minutes!
Total time was therefore about 4 hours with 6p, which in my estimation could be shorter by up to an hour with all-round rules and tile familiarity. Proportionally, a 4p game with this group should take about 2.5 hours.
Score data, in the format Player: 1st war progressive score (position), 2nd (position), final (position).:
Pat: 21 (4), 43 (2), 63 (1).
Alex: 14 (=5), 33 (5), 57 (2).
Richard: 20 (=2), 34 (4), 51 (3).
Paul: 20 (=2), 35 (3), 48 (4).
Craig: 30 (1), 45 (1), 43 (5).
Brian: 14 (=5), 26 (6), 37 (6).
Did I mention that I can't wait to play this again...?
Fussball: Another 40th birthday gift, this one from my wife! It's a major struggle keeping the kids away from this, particularly the 20-month-old, so we let them play with it as much as we reasonably can rather than fight too hard with them, with the expectation that the novelty will eventually wear off.
Pat, Craig, Sean and I had a quick go on this before the other guys turned up, and then at the end of the night it was Richard and I vs. Pat and Alex. This was a great game actually, which came right down to the wire - A&P eventually scoring the 10-9 decider against me and Richard. Brian was happy to sit out and be the guy from Channel 4.
posted by Paul M. at 1.5.06
1 Comments:
Yes, Struggle was cooler than I expected. Everyone was paranoid about being attacked by others with no-one feeling confident: impressive to generate such anxiety in a game. I agree a second game in short order, with 4 players, is definitely needed. You definitely don't want to attack without strong favourable odds as the cost of 2 gold plus lost action plus lost troop plus unrest is pretty serious.
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