Tuesday 14th June

Done and done. All full for TtR: UK.

Kes wrote:Jamie, I'll chase humans or run from aliens with you. Use advanced rules this time? They look cool

Sure, we'll go for the advanced rules with character abilities and item cards.

Anyone else for Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space?

It's a pretty quick game so we can slot it in around other games. Plays 2 to 8 (and I'm thinking the more the merrier). There's an element of hidden role, but it's more of an hidden movement game with 2 teams (aliens VS humans). SUSD seem to like it: https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/review-escape-aliens-outer-space/

1. Jamie
2. Kes
3. StephenW
4. Jacob
5.
6.
7.
8.

I'm sure we can rope a couple people in

Jamie wrote:

Kes wrote:Jamie, I'll chase humans or run from aliens with you. Use advanced rules this time? They look cool

Sure, we'll go for the advanced rules with character abilities and item cards.

Anyone else for Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space?

It's a pretty quick game so we can slot it in around other games. Plays 2 to 8 (and I'm thinking the more the merrier). There's an element of hidden role, but it's more of an hidden movement game with 2 teams (aliens VS humans). SUSD seem to like it: https://www.shutupandsitdown.com/review-escape-aliens-outer-space/

Please sign me and Jacob up for a game (or two) of this, I have heard a great deal about it (I love Shut Up and Sit Down) but have not given it a go and I would love too.

Cheers

Aneurin wrote:

Sam wrote:Anyone want to bring down TtR: UK. We can play it with the club's new copy of TtR: Europe.

Also really want to try Guilds of London after hearing all the positive talk for it after the Expo.  

Tom C has my copy of guilds of London for you all to play. I wont be there this week. I am booked to go and enjoy myself watching 8 year olds jump... in Rotherham. Maybe I can turn it into a betting game - which one will end up in tears first?

Thanks for the loan, Aneurin. We've played it a couple of times and I still have a 100% record but I'd be happy to put that record in jeopardy if anyone wants to play it tomorrow. I won't be able to make it down next week, though, so do you want me to pass it on to someone else to return to you?

Just looking at the rules of TtR: UK and it seems it only plays 4. I think it's the Pennsylvania map that plays 5. Pennsylvania is quite different, though I am curious to play it also.

Sam wrote:Just looking at the rules of TtR: UK and it seems it only plays 4. I think it's the Pennsylvania map that plays 5. Pennsylvania is quite different, though I am curious to play it also.

it's true, I just saw. I never played Pennsylvania, but I think it is also easier.

BeardyTom wrote:Thanks for the loan, Aneurin. I won't be able to make it down next week, though, so do you want me to pass it on to someone else to return to you?

I'd be more than happy to babysit GoL until next Tuesday!

I'm bringing Euphoria (BIG), and Sea of Clouds (small). Would like to play with 4.

1. JohnH
2. PaulG (the other one)
3. Katie
4.





I'll also have Wombat Rescue with me, but I have no intention of playing it, and Kodama if other people want to ogle it

I'm expecting to get there early today. Perhaps 6. If anyone wants to play something small beforehand? Patchwork is at the club, I have Agricola Big&Small with me, and there are plenty of other options for 3+ players

Anyone else planning an early arrival?

psychomansam wrote:I'm expecting to get there early today. Perhaps 6. If anyone wants to play something small beforehand? Patchwork is at the club, I have Agricola Big&Small with me, and there are plenty of other options for 3+ players

Anyone else planning an early arrival?

I probably won't be that early but I'll be there about 6.30 most likely (depending on traffic). I've got Lanterns: The Harvest Festival in my bag which is another good small option (either for start or end of the night...)

Would like to try that!

psychomansam wrote:Anyone else planning an early arrival?

On weeks I am able to make it to the club, I'm almost always there around 6:00. I'd be up for Patchwork or Roll for the Galaxy (just because I've heard good things and never played it and I figure you'll have it on your person, Sam) or most anything, really. Also happy to wait until Paul arrives with Lanterns, whatever people want to do. Just more games really. Oh and I have Cheaty Mages with me as usual.

D'oh. Sorry guys, I've only played TtR:UK once and when I checked assumed the 5 player applied to both maps.

Sam - we could play both boards tonight if you like?

So, yeah, thinking about it I wasn't penalized anywhere nearly harshly enough for messing up in TtR: UK. Being able to take routes in Ireland and Scotland early isn't just getting early points but blocking them off from other players and avoiding having to work around routes that might have been blocked by other players in future turns. Which is, like, half the game So really I should have had to take off all offending trains and lose the points for them. Which would have put me in dead last.

Weird board. As I mentioned after we played, it does seem that taking "two from the top" — which I tried to avoid, but Karl and Paul must have spend half their turns trying to get lucky — is way more useful than in any other version of the game. I really don't like that because it leaves face up cards unchanging for so much longer, which itself encourages more taking random cards from the top of the deck, which leaves getting the cards you want down to luck. This would be bad enough, but then the locomotives are so valuable for technology and ferries, and getting them is down to luck also, so executing a particular strategy is a tedious process of hoping you'll get lucky locomotives — which is exactly what happened for the middle portion of our game. It seems to take away a lot of what I like about TtR, which is playing efficiently and flexibly. Or maybe I just wasn't playing flexibly enough, and I should hold off committing to any strategy by buying technology until later in the game, hopefully hoarding a couple of locomotives in the meantime.

Not sure. Want to play it again to work it out.

Ice Cool's ice cool babushka box design is so inspired I am 90% sure the designer came up with the idea for the box first and the rest of the game came afterwards. Finding out that you can make the little penguin's jump by flicking their heads was the revelation of the year. Man, the Russian girl that taught us the game at the Expo (I'm remembering her with a Russian accent, but maybe that's because I just wrote "babushka") should have opened with that shit. A+ will play again

How was Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space with the advanced rules?

I enjoyed both versions of TtR tonight, UK and Pennsylvania; both bring something different to the tried and tested formula. Pennsylvania adds just one new element, allowing you to take shares in railway companies and end game scoring based on how many you collect. It adds enough to freshen it up and give you something else to think about and results in very high scoring games.

The UK map and rules have the biggest deviation from the base game of those I've played (Europe, Europa 1912, Nordic, USA, Asia Maps). It introduces technology which can be bought using locomotives. Any 4 cards can be used as a locomotive (rather than 4 of the same), hence why Paul and I were taking random cards from the deck, they can be much more valuable than usual and it's a good option if the face up cards aren't helpful. The map is much tighter and plays more like the Nordic one, relying more heavily on lots of shorter routes and there's more opportunity to block people. It feels very different and I get why some might see it as moving too far from the original game but I enjoy having an option to mix it up.

Happy to play again soon, Sam. It'll give you an opportunity to steal the moral victory back from me!

Oh and Ice Cool is ace.

Sam wrote:How was Escape from the Aliens in Outer Space with the advanced rules?

We had quite a few new players so we played basic rules. I was an alien and killed two other aliens by mistake :s oops

One human escaped but looks like he accidentally cheated on the last turn to throw us off.

I really enjoyed Brew Crafters last night, excellent game. Cheers to Ant and Paul and Sam for bringing it down. And apologies to Ant for my terrible clue giving on Codenames!

In case you missed my Euphoria review:

It was delightful.


Also, Sam, have you considered a plano box for brewcrafters?

JohnH wrote:In case you missed my Euphoria review:

It was delightful.


Also, Sam, have you considered a plano box for brewcrafters?

Any more details on Euphoria? Looked interesting...

We've now bagged things up near perfectly (thanks all!) so I don't think setup will be an issue next time. I think it probably works better with bags in fact, now that it's all sorted. I also didn't really know what I was doing, which didn't help. Got one or two little bagging tweaks to make which then mean will be lightning quick next time though!

Thanks for the games all. I very much enjoyed Brewcrafters - will be playing again shortly I'm sure. The mechanisms are great, and the theme is great, and.... oh i'll shut up now.

Yeah, Brewcrafters is gr...spiffing!

After a few plays I feel I've almost got the bagging and sorting right.

karl_b wrote:Yeah, Brewcrafters is gr...spiffing!

After a few plays I feel I've almost got the bagging and sorting right.

Really enjoyed Brewcrafters! If I had to pick either that or Viticulture it would be a tough choice. Both top notch worker placement & engine building games. Luckily I know people who have both :-)

paulyg wrote:

karl_b wrote:Yeah, Brewcrafters is gr...spiffing!

After a few plays I feel I've almost got the bagging and sorting right.

Really enjoyed Brewcrafters! If I had to pick either that or Viticulture it would be a tough choice. Both top notch worker placement & engine building games. Luckily I know people who have both :-)

For me it would definitely be Viticulture (admittedly based on a very limited sample size of one play each) - I really enjoyed Brewcrafters but thought Viticulture was a lot better, mainly as some of its mechanics addressed some of the issues I have with the Worker Placement genre

paulyg wrote:

karl_b wrote:Yeah, Brewcrafters is gr...spiffing!

After a few plays I feel I've almost got the bagging and sorting right.

Really enjoyed Brewcrafters! If I had to pick either that or Viticulture it would be a tough choice. Both top notch worker placement & engine building games. Luckily I know people who have both :-)

I have both.

I'd probably say Viticulture is my slight favourite, primarily due to the expansions you can add to change the game slightly.

karl_b wrote:I enjoyed both versions of TtR tonight, UK and Pennsylvania; both bring something different to the tried and tested formula. Pennsylvania adds just one new element, allowing you to take shares in railway companies and end game scoring based on how many you collect. It adds enough to freshen it up and give you something else to think about and results in very high scoring games.

The UK map and rules have the biggest deviation from the base game of those I've played (Europe, Europa 1912, Nordic, USA, Asia Maps). It introduces technology which can be bought using locomotives. Any 4 cards can be used as a locomotive (rather than 4 of the same), hence why Paul and I were taking random cards from the deck, they can be much more valuable than usual and it's a good option if the face up cards aren't helpful. The map is much tighter and plays more like the Nordic one, relying more heavily on lots of shorter routes and there's more opportunity to block people. It feels very different and I get why some might see it as moving too far from the original game but I enjoy having an option to mix it up.

Happy to play again soon, Sam. It'll give you an opportunity to steal the moral victory back from me!

Oh and Ice Cool is ace.

I also really enjoyed both TTR games. Just sayin'.