Twilight on 11th Jan?

Aneurin wrote:
8 - Paul: Arborec or Yin Brotherhood

I'll give the Arborec a go! May be humming 'Little Shop of Horrors' during the game.

Aneurin wrote:1 - Dave: Mentak Coalition or Naalu Collective

This should give you a bit of time to look up strategies for your chosen race...

Mentak for me

Aneurin wrote:

4 - Alex: Xxcha Kingdom or Embers of Muaat

I think I'll go for the Embers of Muaat please, gotta love some living fire

One slot available again if anyone fancies it... I'll provide a big pot of coffee and some pastries if that helps persuade people?

I'm so up for this but it's the last day of my work campaign. I'm barely doing anything but they pay a bonus for completing every day booked to work so it would be a very expensive game. Next time, for sure.

Sam wrote:I'm so up for this but it's the last day of my work campaign. I'm barely doing anything but they pay a bonus for completing every day booked to work so it would be a very expensive game. Next time, for sure.

Well I've already promised Dave that we will play again soon so that he can have a go, so I'm sure it won't be long!

Now full again!

Sigh, I want to be space wolf scum! But everything I've read online says you should be boring humans first time... Federation of Sol please.

Barony of Letnev please. See you at 10:30 tomorrow.

So did it play OK in the end? Looks like you got started a bit late - have you finished the game yet?

DaveB wrote:So did it play OK in the end? Looks like you got started a bit late - have you finished the game yet?

It was great fun! I believe it was actually quite a short game by TI standards (about 7-8 hours after setup) so we even managed to play some ONUW afterwards.

The possibilities of the game are amazing - it feels like one game only scratches the surface. So I'd definitely be up for playing again some time.

Thanks again for hosting Paul - perfect host and venue.

I'm happy to play again - although it will take some negotiation with SWMBO. Should we set a date now? Maybe 3 months time?

Really enjoyed playing with a whole new group (bar Steve - who I really didn't interact with) and learning some new group dynamics. I was however really hampered by galaxy setup; I had 4 planets, including my home system, pretty much all game which limited my production capability. I was then out for 1 entire round when Tim publicly executed me (that is one harsh political card). Still it meant I didn't shoot ahead and it was a pretty tense/close game - until Steve was allowed to romp home to victory by Rich and Tom.

I learnt that Ellis is never to be trusted - help that man survive and he stabs you in the back when you are weak.
I also learnt that the Nekro Virus is a difficult race to play - the only tactic is aggression (to copy technology) and with that aggression comes universal fear by the other players - meaning everyone/thing is targeted at you.

Aneurin wrote:Thanks again for hosting Paul - perfect host and venue.

I'm happy to play again - although it will take some negotiation with SWMBO. Should we set a date now? Maybe 3 months time?
 

Sounds good. Let me talk to Kat - I think she is going to a hen weekend some time  in April which would be a perfect weekend to do it from my pov.

Aneurin wrote:Really enjoyed playing with a whole new group (bar Steve - who I really didn't interact with) and learning some new group dynamics. I was however really hampered by galaxy setup; I had 4 planets, including my home system, pretty much all game which limited my production capability. I was then out for 1 entire round when Tim publicly executed me (that is one harsh political card). Still it meant I didn't shoot ahead and it was a pretty tense/close game - until Steve was allowed to romp home to victory by Rich and Tom.

I learnt that Ellis is never to be trusted - help that man survive and he stabs you in the back when you are weak.
I also learnt that the Nekro Virus is a difficult race to play - the only tactic is aggression (to copy technology) and with that aggression comes universal fear by the other players - meaning everyone/thing is targeted at you.

 

I really lucked out with the galaxy setup, managing to surround myself with planets. I do keep wondering how I should have made more of that. I think my impression from rules & tutorial was that you could win without aggression / war but actually I think it's probably about moderation and perhaps I should have made some bolder moves earlier on. Still, I was pleased to rack up a few victory points.

I guess it was my inexperience with the game, but I was quite surprised by Steve's sudden flurry of VPs to decisively take the lead (and the game). I suppose, in retrospect, there is a whole strand of strategy in when to take the objectives and reveal the VPs (i.e. not necessarily as soon as you can). Even more to think about next time!

PaulG wrote:Sounds good. Let me talk to Kat - I think she is going to a hen weekend some time  in April which would be a perfect weekend to do it from my pov.

We are away the first weekend in April (Easter weekend) but otherwise pretty much available.

PaulG wrote:I really lucked out with the galaxy setup, managing to surround myself with planets. I do keep wondering how I should have made more of that. I think my impression from rules & tutorial was that you could win without aggression / war but actually I think it's probably about moderation and perhaps I should have made some bolder moves earlier on. Still, I was pleased to rack up a few victory points.

The last expansion really added the need to be more aggressive to get those decisive points. Most of the objectives now involve some aspect of war - take a system, blockade a space dock, destroy x ships, etc. There are some science based ones from the original game but in fairness Steve did luck out yesterday - the easiest race to win with and a relatively easy special objective that didn't involve invading home systems or Metacol Rex.

PaulG wrote:I guess it was my inexperience with the game, but I was quite surprised by Steve's sudden flurry of VPs to decisively take the lead (and the game). I suppose, in retrospect, there is a whole strand of strategy in when to take the objectives and reveal the VPs (i.e. not necessarily as soon as you can). Even more to think about next time!

Yes it really is a case of you should be aiming to complete 1 public objective per turn. When someone claims their special objective it means they are only 2 points ahead max then (if they also claimed an objective per turn) - then when that happens no-one should allow them to take the #8 or #3 strategy card - as they can then pick the Imperium objective and win the game (the former is obvious - but the latter strategy card allows them to take #8 next round). Then however you delay their advance everyone should launch at their home system - limit them and steal any artefacts they have to reduce the deficits.

Aneurin wrote:Really enjoyed playing with a whole new group (bar Steve - who I really didn't interact with) and learning some new group dynamics. I was however really hampered by galaxy setup; I had 4 planets, including my home system, pretty much all game which limited my production capability. I was then out for 1 entire round when Tim publicly executed me (that is one harsh political card). Still it meant I didn't shoot ahead and it was a pretty tense/close game - until Steve was allowed to romp home to victory by Rich and Tom.

Really enjoyed it. I think my plan was sound, but I waited too long to put it into action, mainly by not realising how important it was to get a VP each turn. I then had to abandon my plan of breaking my strategy of non-agression to Alex and Steve on the same turn in order to chase VP's. From the third turn onwards I found I was constantly short of Command Counters and need to manage them better in future.