Sunday Session 7th June @ The Red Deer

Mattel wrote:I'll bring a stack of paper and pens as well - always useful when sorting out turns and what actually occurs.

Thanks Matt.

We just need one more player now. Anyone else want to play Diplomacy?

I'll be coming down to this, sometime in the early afternoon probably.

Happy to bring Armada if anyone wants a try but not sure whether we'll have enough room for it? Needs 3' x 3' what do we think?

I would love to play Fire in the Lake...  But I won't be coming. Sorry...

Paul wrote:I would love to play Fire in the Lake...  But I won't be coming. Sorry...

Well, if you want to play it on another occassion let me know.
I'm also looking for players for games such as Here I Stand, Sword of Rome, A Distant Plain, Maria and so on. That kind of longer political/war game.

I'll be there for the afternoon, I'd prefer to play shorter games so if you have any recent purchases bring them along! I also have a few unplayed games, Village, Skull and Roses, Sushi Go!, Palazzo, 20th Century, Boss Monster, La Citta and a few more.

I'd like a try of Boss Monster Rik. Looks good.

Jamie wrote:

Mattel wrote:I'll bring a stack of paper and pens as well - always useful when sorting out turns and what actually occurs.

Thanks Matt.

We just need one more player now. Anyone else want to play Diplomacy?

While it shines with 7 we can play the 6-person variant with neutral Italy - if you've never played before it'll speed things up a little bit and will still give you a good idea of the game.

I'm always up for playing a bit of diplomacy pretty much whenever we can fit it in so even if we play 6 or 7 this time I'm happy to get 7 people together and arrange another time that fits all - we have the interest but we've lost Tom to York shenanigans....

Very tempted by Diplomacy but don't think I can commit to a game of that length this Sunday... will be interesting to see how people find it.

One for another time re-diplomacy is either silly short phases - 60 secs for discussions or totally absent discussions

I've been amused by both in the past but they really don't give the full depth of the game a run-out

Would love to get 7 of course; but 6 will be okay too. It's just Italy that get's dropped; I think...

Jamie wrote:Would love to get 7 of course; but 6 will be okay too. It's just Italy that get's dropped; I think...

it does - you can leave their armies out - or my pref would be to play them as neutrals with a constant hold order which disband if they are forced to retreat.

Well, I'll defer to the more experienced players; which is probably everyone...

Jamie wrote:Well, I'll defer to the more experienced players; which is probably everyone...

Professional - getting your excuses in early....

Can two more people join or are you already full for the day?

CamF wrote:Can two more people join or are you already full for the day?

Do you mean for Diplomacy? We only need one more (plays 7, we already have 6 confirmed). Unless someone drops out of course...

If you mean generally, I'm sure there will be loads of other games going on.

For the day perfect then! wasn't sure if it was a day for just diplomacy or other game as well.

I've convinced Alex to bring Formula D. I'll probably get there around 3, not sure how long I'll stay. Still up for more Summoner Wars. Anyone have specific games they want players for so I can read the rules beforehand?

Looks like we have 7 not for Diplomacy. See you all tomorrow at 2...

Best Regards,
Your most loyal ally,
Jamie.

Does anyone have any special editions of Risk to bring?

I'm here ant contemplating a single-player game of Stak Bots until Diplomacy time. Join me!

StrangeChocolate wrote:Does anyone have any special editions of Risk to bring?

Only have ordinary Risk, and it's on lone, so don't have access to it just yet. Been thinking of getting Risk 2210AD. Also, Paranoia Risk sounds interesting,,,

Cockroach poker is a way better bluffing game than I remember. The first time I played it I enjoyed it — but only ironically, of course! It was so ugly and simple and mindless. But simple and mindless was what I needed after my brain was burned out from Dead of Winter and Summoner Wars, so I asked Alex to get it out. It's surprising clever.

On the scale of bluffing to guessing, this game falls above Love Letter and Skull and around the same level as Coup. Why? Simply because the names of the insects you will be lying about typically have more syllables than the names of the numbers you call out in Skull. More syllables means more potential for you to screw up your poker face. No, I'm serious — even better when Tom insists on calling the "rat" a "squeaky tail". Combined with knowing how dangerous any card might be to any player, you just about feel like you have enough  information to make an educated guess.

The funniest aspect is that a card may be passed to several players before someone is brave enough to guess. The more players in on the secret, the more hilarious when the out-of-the-loop player makes a mistake. That player does have on their side the reactions of every other player at the table, which might make his job a little easier (or even harder?).

Final word: we played a round of Skull afterwards with the same cards, and that game had none of the emotion that the games of Cockroach Poker did. Have I learnt my lesson about being snobby about simple and ugly games?

Formula D did not click with me. This is a great example of having an idea that sounds clever on paper — a racing game where different sized dice represent different gears — but made for a poor game in practice — a game entirely about the luck of dice rolls and with the only decision being the mostly obvious choice of what gear to be in to decrease the chances of doing damage to your car.

Alex says there are more rules to add, drivers with unique stats, tracks with special obstacles and so on. Though I don't see how it would improve the depth of strategic choices, I'll fall for play anything twice.

Sorry I had to rush off suddenly yesterday, had fun with Boss Monster and Steam Donkey though.

Steam Donkey surprised me, I wasn't sure about it at first but it grew on me by the end. Boss Monster was great too, might have to buy it.

Sam wrote:Formula D did not click with me. This is a great example of having an idea that sounds clever on paper — a racing game where different sized dice represent different gears — but made for a poor game in practice — a game entirely about the luck of dice rolls and with the only decision being the mostly obvious choice of what gear to be in to decrease the chances of doing damage to your car.

Alex says there are more rules to add, drivers with unique stats, tracks with special obstacles and so on. Though I don't see how it would improve the depth of strategic choices, I'll fall for play anything twice.

Out of interest, Sam, how many people were you playing with and how many cars each? I've only played it once and there were quite a few of us with 2 cars each - I think that probably added a bit more skill in that there were more other cars to avoid, more debris on the track, you had to remember the rules about when you can move between lanes, etc. I could imagine it being much more boring and down to the luck of the dice at a low player count. I'd certainly be up for giving it another try if/when you do that...

Ste - Blinky wrote:Sorry I had to rush off suddenly yesterday, had fun with Boss Monster and Steam Donkey though.

Steam Donkey surprised me, I wasn't sure about it at first but it grew on me by the end. Boss Monster was great too, might have to buy it.

Yeah, Steam Donkey has quite a bit of depth I think! I suspect there are some real subtleties about how to play the different resorts, depending on how many slots you have to fill and so on. And I liked the passenger 'storage and pickup' mechanic which you had to balance. Would be interesting to play with the little expansion some time too.