Tuesday 21st June

Sam wrote:I've checked with Aneurin, he's okay for me to hold onto Guilds of London if you don't want to, Andy. Let me know if you're still bringing it and I'll make a list of players.

I'll play Guilds of London if there's a space for me?

Kes wrote:Anyone and want to play Dice City. Started a game today but had to leave early so I know how to play and would like a full game

I'm not down tonight, but I'll bring it along next week, plays up to 4...

Cool cheers

Anyone going for food at 6?

Cheers, Andy. Absolutely space for you, Evan.

Actually, Scott, supposed to be playing imperial assault next week. If we're not then I'll play

Baseball Highlights, despite a frustrating rulebook, is really good fun; last night helped in ironing out a few more issues with the rules. Thanks Sam, Evan and Steve for playing!

I can see me playing a lot of it, the short format of individual games is quite addictive. I should write a review of this in more detail.

We should run a larger tournament one Tuesday, if Tom C brings his copy we could play with 8.

Kes wrote:Actually, Scott, supposed to be playing imperial assault next week. If we're not then I'll play

No worries, if you are Imperial Assaulting, I'll bring it the week after too.

I really enjoyed Food Chain Magnate. It already has me itching to play again to try a different strategy. Bizarrely, I think I like it for a lot of the same reasons I like Terra Mystica and there are a lot of similarities. Beyond the initial setup (board layout / turn order) there is no luck/randomness. You have a lot of open choices and you need to get your engine going quickly; you can make early mistakes that are hard to recover from. Also there's a lot of wood.

I really enjoyed it too. There's so much stuff I never got to try, I'd happily play again. Getting the milestones is really important, if you miss out on those you can really be screwed. You can really plan a strategy, but at the same time you have to react to what people are doing. If everyone suddenly wants pizza, make pizza instead etc. Or if you end up in a price war, carve out a new patch in a corner of your own somewhere. It's a really interesting game, there's a lot of options.

I've still not played Terra Mystica, Paul, can we try that sometime?

Lizzy wrote:I've still not played Terra Mystica, Paul, can we try that sometime?

Definitely. Would love to play it some more - it's one of my favourites.

I loved FCM too. I definitely made some bad early plays which cost me dear but it was a lot of fun seeing strategies emerge. Very happy to bring it and play again whenever people fancy it. I was thinking it might make sense for a Sunday session?

Meurig wrote:I loved FCM too. I definitely made some bad early plays which cost me dear but it was a lot of fun seeing strategies emerge. Very happy to bring it and play again whenever people fancy it. I was thinking it might make sense for a Sunday session?

Yep, could definitely be a good one for a Sunday session. Though, to be honest, without the rules explanation and faffing about with room bookings it was only about 2h45 so I think it's quite doable on a Tuesday night.

I also had a great time with FCM, although I still feel terrible about unintentionally cheating for most of the game.      For the record, this was completely my own fault.  I know Meurig was concerned he hadn't properly explained the no-middle-management rule, but that is not the case whatsoever; he said it, I heard it, I knew it, and I promptly completely forgot about it.  Actually, I thought you did a great job of teaching the game, Meurig.

I really enjoyed the variety of viable strategies; I felt like each of us went our own way and if anyone struggled it was not because the game didn't support their chosen tactics, but rather that they made their own mistakes, or that someone else played cleverly and threw a spanner in the works.

I also felt the theme was really solid.  I really could envision diner owners glaring at each other across the street as they competed to provide the neighborhood's tastiest burger/lemonade combo, with the smallest profit margins, served by the largest army of ever-smiling waitresses.  The map tiles are bland, although as someone mentioned, there is something to be said for simplicity aiding readability.  But aside from that, I really like the aesthetics: the color scheme and plain, old-fashioned art did well to evoke the era.

Lizzy wrote:Or if you end up in a price war, carve out a new patch in a corner of your own somewhere.

This was absolutely the primary mistake that I made.  As soon as I realized Paul was consistently undercutting me on pizza, I should have abandoned it and focused on beer or soda pop instead.  With my cart operator and the associated milestone, I already had a solid basis from which I could have aimed to establish myself as the drinks king.  But I stubbornly stuck to my guns, churning out pizza pie after pizza pie, clogging up my freezer with stuff I was only able to sell if Paul ran out of stock entirely.  I also realized too late that it is not always a good strategy to set your marketing up for its maximum duration (especially not a 6-round airplane campaign).  Afterward, recognizing the mistakes I made did make me want to play again to try and play smarter, more quickly identifying and adapting to other players' actions and cutting my losses, accepting defeat in regards to a specific product.

I'd definitely play this again, though probably not for a few weeks.  Thanks to Meurig for bringing it; to Paul, Liz, and Meurig for being friendly, challenging opponents; and to Tom for not being there so I could take his spot.  Once again, so sorry I cheated!

Lizzy wrote:I've still not played Terra Mystica, Paul, can we try that sometime?

Ditto.

Colonial Andy wrote:...although I still feel terrible about unintentionally cheating for most of the game....

Can such a mistake be termed cheating given no malicious intent? I'd say no...

Anyway, Thanks Paul for bringing Panamax again - really enjoyed it (even if I did make a hash of my strategic planning). Looking forward to trying again with that rule you realized we'd been missing - definitely think that could make things very interesting in subsequent games!

DaveB wrote:

Colonial Andy wrote:...although I still feel terrible about unintentionally cheating for most of the game....

Can such a mistake be termed cheating given no malicious intent? I'd say no...

I agree. In fact, the first play of a new game (particularly a fairly heavy one) with no accidental rules infractions would be a rare thing indeed.

paulyg wrote:

DaveB wrote:

Colonial Andy wrote:...although I still feel terrible about unintentionally cheating for most of the game....

Can such a mistake be termed cheating given no malicious intent? I'd say no...

I agree. In fact, the first play of a new game (particularly a fairly heavy one) with no accidental rules infractions would be a rare thing indeed.

I don't think I've played a game more complex than Fluxx without screwing *something* up first time on the table

paulyg wrote:Yep, could definitely be a good one for a Sunday session. Though, to be honest, without the rules explanation and faffing about with room bookings it was only about 2h45 so I think it's quite doable on a Tuesday night.

Yeah, I'm sure it would move much quicker earlier on next time too. Even if there were new players I reckon the explanation would be more straightforward having done it once.

Andy, you don't have to feel bad at all! Easy mistake to make, and I really don't think it made that much difference.

I've been thinking a lot about why I lost and how I could have played differently to counter other players. Making me think about stuff like that is the mark of a good game, I reckon!

We'll have to play the other Splotter I bought (Duck Dealer) at some point as well.