Alhambra, Age of Steam (goes British) by Martin Wallace, 'Attack', 'Acquire' by Sid Sackson, 'Amun Re' , 'Aladdin's Dragon's' twice and 'Attilla'
News from the North: a walk on the wild side - Alhambra.
Wednesday night sees Phil Kendall winging his way through the gloom of West Yorkshire via the M62 to the heart of darkest Bingley. The splendidly-named Tom Thomson and chums lie in wait.
A chance encounter with wife of said Tom whilst Phil Kendall was 'selling' games at a craft fair ('selling' being the word closest in approximation to what seemed to involve making small-talk with other similarly disenchanted stall-holders) led to a visit from the great man himself (who also bought a copy of Viking Fury - stout fellow - cue the large Tony Curtis horn effect and much dancing on oars) ('oars' I said). Not only that but a generous invite to said Bingley. One month later, promises become reality.
It's always interesting meeting up with a different gaming group from the one you're used to. The offering of alcohol by the arriving guest is a particular case in point. The guest producing a bottle of very acceptable Merlot usually produces one of two responses: wide-eyed astonishment . . . 'very generous, but we don't usually . . . ' etc, etc - or 'do you want some straight away?'. Fortunately in the case of Tom it is the latter.
Introductions concluded, a Michael Jacksonesque moment ensues. 'Come upstairs and have a look at my game collection'. Truth to tell, it is an impressive sight - over three hundred titles. A brief return to playground bubble gum card country ('got that, got that . . . and that') before Kendall shows his lack of breeding ('How much do you reckon they're worth?) but no real damage is done. Armed with St Petersburg, Volldampff, Funchenschlag and Alhambra the intrepid two return to the guests.
It is to be Alhambra. This is a new one for the Ragnars. And very nice it is too. It has a dash of Prince of Florence about it in that you're buying squares of palace, laying them out in front of you and struggling to get the right thing in the right place. It does have a very nice buying system to it though, in that four tiles are available each player turn - one for each denomination of money. The money is similarly laid out - four different cards per turn. In a turn, you take a tile or take a money card. All nice and simple. The twist lies in the fact that you get an extra turn if you pay the exact amount for a tile. Nice one - suddenly the low value money cards become useful, because they allow you to pay this exact amount.
And that's about it. There are different colours of tile - the player with the most of one tile gets the most points etc etc. There are lots of points for the player with long walls around his palace, and three scoring points within the game. Good stuff.
A damn good game follows. Weighing in at about 90 minutes, this is not bad at all. Others have played it before, but in that wonderful tradition of the Ragnars (and possibly boardgames players the world over) the game is punctuated by cries of "are you sure we played that last time" and "this didn't seem as neat last time". Phil Kendall affects an assurance that is totally misleading, but somehow manages to fluke third place. What seems to be a devastating points scoring play in the endgame (picking up two tiles in the divvying out at the end - they go to the player with most money left) is actually a complete cock-up on the blue money ("I've got six", "nine!", "just eight!", "erm . . . twenty-three?") and a jammy orange tile. But no one is to know.
Finally, a good game of 6 Nimmt with seven players. This is also a new one on the Ragnars. Apparently it's a 'classic', and has actually been re-released for its 10th anniversary. A damned good system. Lots of tension, much moaning and rolling of eyes, and extensive mockery of anyone who gets shafted. Tom has the challenging task of playing his own hand and advising Lewis (13 year-old offspring). The end result produces much eyebrow-lifting - Lewis comes last, and said father wins at a canter. But it would be churlish to call foul.
A good evening, hopefully to be reciprocated. It remains only to thread a way back along what passes in Bradford for a ring road.
Age of Steam goes British
Sunday and a 7.00pm start - Roger is performing some sort of wargaming ritual in Manchester, as a result of which the entire world moves half an hour backwards. And sure enough, Steve, Dave and Roger make their entry on cue.
Roger is not his usual self (those amongst his less generous friends might say this is a good thing). He has had a bad day at the table, he has a sore mouth and is generally feeling rather 'down'. Sympathy is doled out in careful measure, and the offer of a cup of tea and a quick shufti at his Age of Steam expansion kits soon perk him up. Indeed, he moves from morose to animated as quickly as you can say 'flick that switch'. The new kits include Germany, the Western U.S.A, Scandinavia (the flat bit, with not a fjord in sight) and - wait for it - that hotbed of railroad entrepreneurship - Korea! Eh? Right.
But tonight is to be the long delayed visit to the England board (plus bits of Wales). This is a definite 4 or more players scenario; strangely, every previous outing has resulted in three players turning up, as a result of which England is still virgin territory as far as the Ragnars are concerned, whereas Ireland has been well and truly churned into a morass of peat, potatoes and 4' 10" gauge railway line.
For those new to Age of Steam, the system is a fine balance between the cost of building the railway and the ill-effects of raising that money from issuing shares. Goods appear on the various towns, which can then be shipped along the various railway lines - hopefully yours - to the various colour-coded markets. Each turn you bid for a different job title, which offer a variety of play advantages. All good stuff.
The map for England/Wales offers a vast expanse of rolling plain, dotted with towns and occasional rivers; only in Wales do mountains rear their ugly head - Welshpool sits in the middle of them like some latter day El Dorado. The initial feel is that there is plenty of space available. The only real rule change is that whilst there are plenty of red goods cubes in play, there will only ever be one red town on the map (London). This creates a very neat and realistic scenario, as rail companies link in to London from all directions, whilst also trying to create cross-country routes.
The illusion of space lasts for all of half a turn. Players realise very quickly that much of the outer regions will be peripheral, and that the Birmingham/East Midlands/London triangle will be crucial. Different strategies appear in all directions. Phil goes for the North-West to London link-at-all-costs strategy, and for quite a few turns looks a possible winner. Roger prefers to veer in all directions, ending the game with rail lines from Holyhead to London via Nottingham. Slade opts for the quiet life in the South West, which proves a safe but limited choice. You really do need to get stuck in to the bidding for jobs - urbanisation came all too late to the South West of England. It is left to Dave "I can't really remember how to play, but it's coming back" Morton to sneak it by one point from Roger. The strategy of building in East Anglia looked dodgy at the start, but an eventual connection to London, plus a sweeping route to Southampton and back up to Leicester proved very profitable in the closing stages. As in the last Ireland game, the circular route strategy looks a winner.
So how was it? Certainly, everyone agreed it was furiously intense. The gnashing of teeth and the whimper of slipshod financiers rang loud and clear for much of the game. At two and a half hours it's a not unreasonable length, and it was nice to play a 'different' game to which you already knew the rules. How is the history? As it happened, it felt rather more based in reality than the original 'Age of Steam'. London and Birmingham are both rightly vital to all players. Some of the later areas of contention felt a little strange: the battle to link Southampton and Oxford, and the race from Chester to Holyhead both seemed a little odd. And as a game? Roger loves it, especially for the fact that the luck is reduced to a minimum: the dice roll for where the goods appear during the game is the only purely random element, although the interaction of the different player strategies does also cause a certain amount of chaos. Possibly for the same reason, Phil was a little less enthusiastic. All the dramatic moments were personal ones - you yourself knew when something important had or hadn't happened, but it would often pass unnoticed by other players. There were very few of those times when everyone focuses on one thing that may or may not happen. But then it's not that sort of game.
Nevertheless a very good way to spend a Sunday evening. Next week will be the return of Age of Empires in its finished form. Liberte also got a passing mention for the future. Verily these are Martin Wallace times.
News from the North
Disaster at Nick's - 'Attack' from Eagle Games
Phil has a 'good' idea - why don't the Ragnars have a bash at brother-in-law Nick's? It's convenient for Slade, and it's only fair that Phil gets a turn at driving. In retrospect, as decisions go, it is probably on a par with that one of Adolf Hitler's - you know, the "a break-through will be easy - now where shall we choose - why not here? - at - how do you pronounce it - Stalingrad?" However, the latter part of the evening is, at this point, still some two hours away.
First up is Phil's birthday present from Kendall (the annual exchange of expensive birthday presents that ensures a regular turnover of new games, but without having to explain major investments in the German boardgames economy). The game is Attack - new out from Eagle games. Phil has already spent a large part of the 5th Test Match hacking a mind-boggling assortment of Airfix-style plastic tanks, aeroplanes, guns and infantrymen from off their plastic sprues, and is enthusiastically ready to go.
Attack rather ambitiously claims to put players in the role of politicians at the start of the 2nd World War. This is perhaps a little generous - whilst Britain might claim to own South Africa and part of Canada with some justification, Patagonia is pushing it somewhat. Basically, this is Risk, with a 'lively' combat system, and simple economics. But undaunted, the Ragnars pile in to it.
And yes, the combat system is lively. Perhaps a little too much so. Nick uses a vast proportion of his initial forces - 6 infantry, 3 tanks, 1 artillery and 1 aircraft to invade some remote area in northern Canada (?). Waiting there is a random hotch-potch of units who proceed to all but wipe out the invaders. Somewhat shell-shocked, the other Ragnars tone down their ambitions.
But in essence, that's what the game is. Create massed armies, try to take territory and then watch the body count pile up (not unrealistically so, one might say). The final turn is dramatic enough, but oddly reminiscent of History of the World! As each player finishes their turn, they begin imparting advice to the current player. Phil edges it ever so slightly, as Nick's final aircraft fails to destroy Steve's final infantryman. A further point is that the rules say the game lasts until someone is wiped off the board - possible in a six player game, but highly unlikely in the three player game. For no reason the final turn is scheduled to begin at nine o'clock - not terribly satisfying.
Very curious. Suspicions are voiced that the best tactics look like letting other players do the hard work, and then piling in on the remains of their forces. The simple, neat naval combat rules are used just the once - Slade puts a destroyer to sea in the first turn and not until the penultimate turn does Phil challenge and wipe it out. Nick contemplates his naval throughout the game without building a single ship. Hmmm. A frustrating game - not far from being a cracking fun combat game, but just a little lacking.
However same could not be said for Phil's finale. Halfway through a competitive game of Modern Art Phil contrives to deposit half a glass of red wine over new curtains, new paintwork and new tablecloth. He is traumatised. Nick shows unbelievable courage in the face of adversity, and ushers Phil and Slade out before breaking said news to equally tolerant fiancée.
Footnote: the good news is the red wine washed out of the curtains and tablecloth; the bad news is the tablecloth shrank six inches. But not for nothing is Nick a state-of-the-art cutting-edge software designer. He washes the second curtain and, miraculously, Phil remains on their wedding guest list.
Games night....... 14th August 'Acquire' by Sid Sackson (the late, great)
Kendall and Dicken are just concluding a Ragnar strategy chat, when Spiller arrives. Spiller is sporting a copy of Kendall's hairstyle, though without the unsightly gouges around the ears. 'How are you getting on?' asks Kendall. Spiller appears never to have heard this expression and thinks it refers to some activity he has inadvertently forgotten about. Kendall repeats the greeting and Dicken smiles encouragingly. The lights are still out.
The good news is that England are well on top in the test match. The bad news is that the famous Games shop of Old Kingston Town is no more, replaced (inevitably) by a mobile phone outlet. Usually known as 'The Games Castle' (although this wasn't its name) it had been run for a number of years by Andy/Kate and previously by Eamon. It had been an important part of our late youth and we mourn its passing. Still, Nasser did score a century.
'Acquire' has been set up in advance and Kendall now unwinds the rules. A fairly straight-forward game and one of the 'classic' range produced by Hasbro under the Avalon Hill name. As you'd expect the components are admirably produced, with a board that has a feel of the deluxe, turntable Scrabble board - plastic tiles fitting snugly onto a raised plastic grid. 7 spectacular New York buildings in bright colours can then sit on top of the tiles. Then there are lots of stock cards in 7 sets and in bright colours.
'Acquire' may well be the game that spawned a thousand others. Or, it could be that there is an even bigger 'spawner' in the works. Systems in stockbroker games will always bear some similarity, but when playing 'Acquire' for the first time (for some reason, we've never gotten round to it) there is a strange feeling of reverse deja vue. Games that spring to mind include 'Shark', 'Stevenson's Rocket', 'Tigris Euphrates'....
Spiller draws the tile nearest to A1 and goes first. Each player turn has three stages; lay a tile (completing any mergers if they occur), buy stock, re-draw a tile. Sounds simple, and is. But, it does require some thought and a fair degree of good fortune. Spiller can't put his first tile anywhere too important, nor can Dicken. Kendall, however is able to put one tile adjacent to another and thereby form the first corporation. He sticks the green building on top of one of the two tiles and Fusion is born! He forgets to get a free stock (not remembered until writing this review), but buys three anyway.
Soon Quantum (better and more pricey) comes into existence, and before you know it everyone is building and buying. As corporations grow, so they become more valuable and more expensive. Everyone makes money. In fact, it's extremely hard to lose money. The value of your shares does NOT fall (unless you hold onto them after a merger). Spiller takes some persuading of this unusual phenomena.
What is a problem is running out of cash. Dicken is the first to hit the buffers. He declares that he has learned a lot and that he is doomed to third place. Kendall assures him that all is not lost. All he needs is for a merger to take place and then he can cash in. A merger takes place. Fusion swallows Hydra. Kendall and Spiller cash in. Spiller has most shares in the defunct corporation so claims a Majority bonus of $5000. Kendall has second most shares so claims a Minority bonus of $2500. Spiller decides to hold onto his shares awaiting the re-birth of Hydra. Kendall sells his stock for a princely sum. Dicken had no shares in Hydra, so is still in the doldrums.
Peculiarly (Spiller finds this very odd), stock cannot be sold until a merger takes place - hence Dicken's cash flow problems. In this three player game, mergers don't happen too often. Perhaps they are more likely with more players (max. 6) as more tiles will be in play, allowing more of the 'choice' tiles to be available at anyone time. The fact that Phoenix was never born (never mind re-born) is indicative of the likelihood of less happening with less players. It's not a problem - except for Dicken.
What Dicken does have, is lots of stock in Fusion. And Fusion continues to grow. It soon reaches 11 tiles and is now 'Safe' - can't be swallowed by another corporation (if a bigger one existed). There is no more stock available, at least not until Kendall discovers a couple of shares hidden in other corporation trays. Spiller insists that he would have bought one (and that it was very cheap at the time). Kendall is not allowed to buy the other, providing him with good ammunition as to 'Why I lost the game.....'.
Dicken's money is now effectively frozen in Fusion until the end of the game. Wearily, he lays a tile and picks a tile up. A good job he remembered the spicy Pringles. Finally, his boat comes in. Zeta is swallowed by Fusion and the cash starts to flow.
More buying and merging and tile laying and grumbling. Fusion reaches 41 tiles and Dicken enquires about ending the game. This happens when all active Corporations are Safe or when a Corporation reaches 41 tiles. He doesn't have to, but does .... end the game.
Majority and Minority bonuses are worked out for the active Corporations and Stock is sold giving everyone a fat wad of money. Spiller wins (lots of Bonuses throughout the game and plenty of cash to play with), Dicken second (lots of Bonuses throughout the game but a long period with no cash), Kendall third (just missing out on Bonuses throughout the game).
'Acquire' is very strong and will no doubt be played a good deal. Not sure that it's for everyone as poor play could make a lot of people seriously annoyed. It's also essential that players like stock market type games - as that's exactly what you get and no more.
Time for a quick coffee and a frank discussion about sensory pleasure. Spiller is all for eating, Kendall waxes lyrical about music. Dicken leers gleefully. Robbie Williams, Fame Academy, One True Voice .... It's all getting a bit too much. Plans are made for a Bank Holiday cricket picnic and then it's home to bed.
Games night 19th June - 'Amun Re' by Reiner Knizia
Kendall arrives at Dicken's house looking like a man who needs a beer. "I'm very tired" is Kendall's reply to Dicken's observation that Kendall has a similar appearance to that of a horse about to be transported to a glue factory. As the amber nectar passes Kendall's lips almost immediately he perks up and passes a cheeky comment about Dicken's 1000 point lead in the fantasy cricket. It is a sign of the pace of modern life that Kendall needs to be invigorated by alcohol and a brief period of fantasising about what we could do if we made it big with our games ensues. Rejuvenated by our dreams we welcome Spiller to this evening's entertainment and he announces that his music booking website has just received it's 500,000th 'hit'. Congratulations all round and off we go with our second playing of 'Amun Re' - we have interspersed recent weeks with game testing our own games and feel that we had better play 'Amun Re' again before the rules flit moth-like from the empty closets of our brains.
This recent offering from the games meister impressed us on the first outing and we are eager to see if it stands up to a genuine competitive outing where we know the rules and are not soft peddling as we tease out the game play. Dicken believes that he has seen a strategy and quietly looks to buy power cards early in order to set up some long term objectives. The basic idea of the game is that you bid for 'provinces' in Egypt, build pyramids and also farm the land. Buying power cards allows you to do a number of things such as build more cheaply and gain bonuses in farming and on annual income. The level of income from farming is determined by a sacrifice to Amun Re and there is scope for tactical play at this stage depending on what power cards you have in your hand.
There is point scoring at the end of the 'Old' Kingdom and then at game end i.e. the end of the 'New' Kingdom. You may have already spotted that there has actually been a tie in with the game theme and the game mechanics - for once we are actually referring to the elements of the game by their names and not just to their colour or points value - this is a long awaited day, when a strategy game rises above the pure maths that lie silken below it's surface and the players start to feel the 'mood' of the game. We have waited a long time for Reiner to manage this and are duly impressed because the game also works well.
There are a number of choices to be made because, like the best strategy games, you can't afford to do everything that you want to all at one go, especially when you need to bid high to get a province that fits in with your end game strategy e.g. bonus points for having all your provinces on one side of the Nile or all of them adjacent to the banks of the Nile etc.
Dicken has spoiled the fun for the other two on the very first turn by reducing the sacrifice to Amun Re to zero so that farm income is also zero but his province will not starve! he has a bonus card worth 8 gold in times of famine and Dicken plays it out with that smug smile on his face that Kendall and Spiller have come to know and hate so well. Dicken is hailed as a tall poppy immediately and is therafter given not an inch when it comes to momentary losses of concentration. Does the phrase " You took your fingers off it" sound familiar? It does to Dicken.
Nevertheless, the game progresses a pace ( it should take three players about 75 minutes to finish a game) with Kendall bemoaning his poor selection of power cards, regularly cashing them in for one gold apiece. Spiller is coming up on the rails but has got the idea of scoring points for complete sets of pyramids all wrong and his placement only nets him 3 bonus points. Dicken reveals two bonus cards that he has saved from the early stages of the game and scores 6 points for province positioning. Now the other two realise why he bid so tenaciously for Thebes when he could have had Berenike so cheaply.
Dicken wins by just a point from Spiller with Kendall trailing 10 behind, hands covered in straw and mud from hastily erected pyramids! All agree that this is a good game and are keen to try with four players (Malcolm are you reading this?). The components are of the usual high standard that we expect of Rio Grande and I am sure that this game we get a lot of outings.
The evening ends with coffee and strangely enough much talk of the high cost of decent three piece suites - are we getting old?
Games night......2nd May
Spiller and Dicken are examining one of Spiller's websites - that he designed- ed.. This one comprises sketches of the famous (Norman Wisdom - remember the little funny chap?) and the not so famous - quite good actually - ed.
Kendall arrives gone 8.30 pm, giving Spiller chance to comment on time-keeping. Malcolm is likely to be even later. He and Kendall have been at the same music rehearsal, Kendall needing rather less practice. Time for a quick game of 'Carcasonne'.
To Dicken's dismay, Spiller insists on carefully lifting the 'Aladdin's Dragons' board, cards and counters from the table and into the next room. It is agreed that 'Carcasonne' will continue until the first knock on the door. Kendall cannily starts and places a man in a city, Carol (who has joined for the evening) elects to farm, followed by Dicken, followed by Spiller. Kendall finishes his City (four points) and places a farmer .. And there's the knock on the door. Kendall is jubilant, winning by a clear four points. Pathetic.
The 'Aladdin's Dragons' board, cards and counters are carefully returned - cards and counters scattered everywhere.
For Carol and Malcolm this is their first attempt at 'Aladdin's Dragons'. Kendall is invited to explain the rules, but Spiller insists upon taking the honours. He makes a good fist of it, with Dicken and Kendall remaining admirably restrained. Under starter's orders and Kendall politely asks if Spiller has mentioned about buying Artefacts. Spiller has, Kendall hasn't been listening. However, Kendall's point is to remind Carol and Malcolm of the Big Mistake made by 'Phil the Friend' when he played. It's no good bidding a lot of points for Artefacts on turn 1, because you won't be able to get enough treasure to pay the cost. Dicken and Spiller agree that this has been a worthy interruption and play begins.
Malcolm is turning into quite a handy Games Evening guest. Sure, he doesn't win very often - in fact, he has come last on every occasion so far - but he does get his head round the rules and doesn't dawdle when taking his turn. These are worthy attributes.
Dicken is dawdling. Carol comments that this is 'Typical' and receives enquiring sideways glances from Spiller and Kendall.
'Aladdin's Dragons' is a game on the up. Initial qualms about the chaotic nature of magic have become less of an issue. It is essentially a secret auction game, with a few rogue tactics available. What keeps the game on the rails is that players may only play one Artefact each per turn. That's enough to make it manageable and yet still decisive. One player per turn will get chance to play two Artefacts, but that's at the cost of bidding for the 'Two Artefact Use' space.
Laying counters in turn 1 ought to be fairly quick as players have no Artefacts to compound their thinking and few treasures to start with (hence any bids for Artefacts will tend to be 1, 2 or 4 treasures). However, to new players the possibilities and probabilities are peculiarly baffling, and each player has to lay eight counters before any results are declared. In a five player game that makes for not too quick.
Revealing counters begins, with Kendall doing particularly well down in the old Dragon caves. Malcolm and Carol seem to be missing out quite badly. And why? Because, up in the Palace they've been bidding 8 and 9 point counters. Phil the Friend's Folly strikes again. Carol is awarded 1 treasure for naivety, Malcolm isn't.
Spiller starts to tell a joke. It's the David Beckham joke he told last week, so when Spiller draws his first breath, Dicken jumps in with the punch-line - 'The crocodile wasn't wearing any shoes'. Carol insists on hearing the whole joke and Dicken has to oblige. A good joke, ruined.
Round two starts. Kendall leads, but makes a fatal error. Placing his counter in Palace room 1 he manages to flip Spiller's counter - a 4 pointer. Spiller cannily asserts that no more counters be placed in said room, effectively guaranteeing his own success. General (and very generous) agreement.
Kendall's strategy has been to tool up with magic, but he is having some difficulty getting a Lamp (you need a Lamp to use magic). Carol has a Lamp and some spells and she sets about zapping people in a minor sort of way. Spiller and Dicken shrug it off - like the robust gamers they are - ed.
Dicken flips his own counter down in the third cave. General (and very generous) guffawing.
Magic is well handled in the game. You have to get some spells and a Lamp Artefact before anything happens. Then, however you can have a really good blast! Playing the Lamp Artefact allows a player to use any number of spells in the turn. Great fun - if you're the one waving the wand.
Malcolm flips his own counter in another cave. General (and very condescending) sympathy.
There's a bit of a pile up of counters in cave number 1. Dicken and Spiller are well represented and throwing Artefacts into the fray. Kendall gets his wand out. Zz-Zzumm - no resolution of this space this turn. Dicken is aghast - 'You're not even in the cave! How can you play magic in there?' Clearly, Dicken does not understand magic. Kendall explains he is playing to the rules. Others claim he is interpreting them (??).
Kendall plays more magic. It is sullenly received.
Turn 5 and it looks like being the last (there should be at least two more) - not much time left. Carol plays some magic; all other players must play their counters face up. Time passes and passes and passes. Definitely, the last turn.
Cave number 1 is awash with treasure and Spiller grabs most of it.
Zz-Zzumm - Kendall waves his wand, everyone ducks. Kendall is out of decent spells, but exploits the fear-factor. Carol picks and chooses her way through various victims. Spiller and Dicken enjoy a titanic struggle in Palace room 1 (more rules get interpreted). Kendall is mugged by Carol for the final Artefact. Spiller holes out with 6 Artefacts, Dicken and Kendall share second spot with 5 apiece. Malcolm romps home in fourth place (4 Artefacts). Carol manages just 3.
Let it be recorded that Spiller has won and that he has won without the use of magic. He claims this to be a magnificent achievement.
Zz-Zzumm - 'til the next time!
A perishing cold evening, so there is some surprise when Ian arrives at Dicken's wearing thin nylon jogging trousers. "Going for a run?" , quips Dicken. Ian is stoical, taciturn, all set for a marathon session of electric wit and hard-nosed gaming. On a lighter note, Kendall presents his brother with gifts from America. It's only been a month since he got back and Woking is a long haul at this time of year. Unimaginative though it may be, everyone agrees that a T-towel is always useful and preferable to a crystal Statue of Liberty. Ian recalls - with genuine horror - a friend's salt and pepper pot in the form of the Empire State Building and King Kong.
Spiller is late. So late that by the time he arrives, Ian has already had a run-down of the rules for 'Aladdin's Dragon's . Spiller sees fit to explain some of the rules again. Kendall reminds everyone that he won this game on the previous playing, and manfully offers to be first player (he takes the Camel marker) as this is generally perceived to be a disadvantage. Dicken has suggested that it's probably a very different game with 4-players. We are about to find out.
'Aladdin's Dragons' is a bidding / auction based game. Bids are made in turn and secretly, using tokens valued 1 to 9 - excepting 3 (there may be some deep significance behind the absence of 3, but there's no explanation). Placing these tokens is the 'action' part of the game. Once they are all placed, they are revealed room by room and the player with highest value takes the spoils in the respective room.
Dicken got the game for Christmas from his Mum and Dad. There's something very 'Waddingtons' about that, isn't there? 'Careers'... 'Wildlife'... 'Buccaneer' ... jumpers for goal-posts. It's also the sort of game that any Mum and Dad would like to buy, then and now, because it's got a big, colourful board. And at the bottom of the board are the five Dragons! In their Lairs!
All tokens being placed the spoils are allocated. Everyone has managed to get some treasure from the Lairs, Spiller has cornered the one treasure for three market (' Old Lamps for New' ) and Kendall, in the Camel market has decided that offering to go first wasn't such a good idea after all.
The Guard is only valued at 2 points and so everyone is able to slip by him (having placed tokens higher than 2) and into the rooms of the Palace.Now winning the game is all about getting artefacts from the four rooms of the Palace. These are revealed at the start of each round and players may bid for them as they choose. The highest bidder in each room can buy the artefact paying treasure equal to the amount bid. It's a very good system and keeps you on your toes.
Dicken manages to scoop three of the four artefacts, with Spiller taking the other one. Kendall is furious. Dicken has gained a huge advantage at very little cost. What were the others playing at! Not only does Dicken have points in the bag, but the artefacts also give him extra powers in the game. A Key allows him to slip by the Guard at no cost, another artefact allows him to double the value of any one token, whilst a third give him a 3 point bonus in any room. Perhaps as much as a twenty point advantage.
He's on a roll. "I don't know what you'll think of this. Try it." Dicken tears the shrink-wrap off his home-made salsa. Pringles are hesitantly dipped. "Too sweet". "Much too sugary" . "I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it. But, now that you have ...." Ian has got the hang of it. He hasn't done too well, but he's afloat with the idea of the game. Round two sees him bidding 15 for an artefact. No-one has ever had fifteen treasures in stock in this or the previous game. Ian reveals he has six - he can't buy what he's bid for. More-over his bidding in earlier rooms has been weakened allowing Spiller and Dicken to capitalise. Kendall suggests that the game is ruined and should be revoked and a fresh game started. Spiller compromises on Ian getting the artefact for six. Kendall has yet to claim an artefact. "He must have loads of treasure" ..... Dicken, the master of disinformation, slips smoothly into action.
On cue, Dicken's tooth shatters. Could he have deliberately engineered this incident to distract from his winning form? Surely not .... He spits the debris into his hand whilst explaining that it's happened before, and that his dentist will charge him £200. Spiller moves into role play mode..."That'll be £200, Rinse! and don't go eating that home-made salsa in future...Kendall brightens up, has a look in Dicken's mouth and contemplates life with false teeth.
Dicken is still on a roll. Spiller and Ian chip away at the edges, Kendall tries to match him head-to-head. He is unstoppable. After five rounds Kendall has collected two artefacts which, at the end of the game will count as a plus in the event of a tie for first place - this does not console him. Some plussing chance of that happening!
Dicken wins out with ten artefacts; Spiller has seven, Ian has four, Kendall has three. It's generally felt that the magic rules will need to be in operation in the next game in order to mount attacks on the tall poppy. Over all, it's felt that this is an interesting game with good production values - but we await final judgement until after trying the 'magic', rules. Watch this space.
It's 10.00 p.m. and Ian feels there's not time for a second game. He is rudely proved wrong, being thrown into 'Carcasonne' without any attempt to explain the rules to him. He comes last. Kendall wins with a welter of farmers and just the right type of tile at just the right time to stop Dicken making it two in a row!. No mention of foot and mouth for the entire evening. We do have some taste.
News from the Far North:
(Note: for the sake of continuity, Kendall will still be Kendall, Phil will still be Phil)
The much-maligned Phil is holding a Sunday evening bash. The timing is no coincidence. Apparently, one team of people in helmets have now beaten another team of people in helmets and the Superbowl is over for another year. This means Roger, Dave and Ian can leave their respective houses on a Sunday night without having to be home before the clock strikes nine. Roger arrives bearing something wrapped in a plastic bag. "What's in the bag, Roger?"; but Roger is the soul of discretion. Curiously, 'it' (whatever 'it' is) goes home at the end of the evening, still in its plastic bag. Still wrapped in mystery. Strange.
Kendall has had thoughts about the morality of buying games for Phil. And yes, it is true that Kendall filches them south on a regular basis ( for a bit of variety ) but they do actually get played by Phil. And now is that time. In the winter months, between the Superbowl and the time when people in helmets begin driving round the Hamburger Ring and other such places.
Kendall's latest present to Phil was 'Attila' . This is fortunate, because that is what is being played tonight. The board is opened out. Dave's remark as to who turned out the lights is ignored. It is true that the board is rather dark, but then this is the Dark Ages. Roger likes the little wooden cubes and takes bets on which game Phil has taken them from. The answer is Attila. The wooden army pieces are curious little heads and shoulders looking for all the world like something out of Spy Ring (you remember men in trilby hats, mmm?, pieces of wire pushed into their heads, 'putting up their aerials' ; the sort of learning experience that helped forge the Ragnars). No one can quite work out what the pieces represent, but all agree they're nice, chunky and colourful. Roger takes pains to set them out in neat rows. And on to the game.
The reading of the Rules. Gone are the days when the reading of the Rules could take approximately three-quarters of an hour, usually delivered in a steady monotone, oblivious to the heckling of the audience, "I've already told you it's only 2MPs to leave a rigid ZOC when you're on a major road in a forest", etc. As age takes a hold, rules don't stick in the same way. This is probably a Good Thing. The reading of the Rules to Attila is refreshingly brief. Phil is puzzled and actually goes through the booklet again to see if he has missed anything out. He has not. In simplest terms, you score points for the size of each tribe you control. In your turn, you play one card (from your hand of six) in support of one tribe, place a piece onto the board and move your marker up that tribe's influence track. Next player. (It does mean that if you get distracted it's next to impossible to know what a particular person has done). When scoring occurs (four times in the game), top dog in each tribe gets one point per piece in play, number two gets one point per province occupied by that tribe, and everyone else gets nothing. Incredibly simple.
In the later parts of the game, you score influence in huge dollops, bonus markers get played (allowing things such as a double turn), and wars become more and more common (in which you play with great tactical cunning or simply hurl fistfuls of useless cards away). But there isn't that much more. And this is also a Good Thing. It's very reassuring to know there are no rules tucked away, waiting to leap out and mug you.
In the actual game, Phil spends much time as that unfortunate species 'The Tall Poppy But Only By A Few points'; Ian and Roger are convinced that they have understood the subtleties of the game, but can't work out why they haven't won; Dave is quietly smug at powering home by a considerable margin in the final burst of scoring. Everyone agrees that, yes, contrary to the United Nations Charter, it is a good idea to start wars. The game has gone remarkably well for a first outing.
Further bloodshed then ensues in a first outing for 'Battle Cry' . Gettysburg Day 3 is the inevitable scenario. At this point it is always possible to tell who is the true die-hard rebel. It's Ian. When he hears those magic words 'Pickett's Charge' he doesn't respond like any sane person and say "Oh dear, Oh no", it's "Let's give it a go and see if we can manage it!"(whatever it is). Roger is Pettigrew (slightly chewed from Day 1). Phil and Dave sit on their ridge and make nice, neat lines with the Army of the Potomac.
More on 'Battle Cry' on a later occasion (briefly, a fast miniatures-style game, played out on a 13 x 9 hex grid with added terrain features, using a neat card system to simulate command). Suffice it to say, a cracking good game ensues. A rebel attack in the centre drives the Union boys back from their line of fences. Blue reinforcements scurry in from either flank. The Reb centre falls back to the shelter of the woods. Gibbon and Hays exchange firm handshakes and glasses of extra strong ale. Pettigrew and the rebel left suddenly explodes into frenzied action. The Union line reels back, but then firms up a final line and chews Pettigrew some more. At which point Pettigrew gets lucky on a do-or-die roll and takes out the necessary sixth Union flag. Excellent entertainment, right down to the Rebel sharpshooter picking off Hays. Not too heavy, but plenty to think about.
And then supper, 'Sequence' and the end of a cracking good evening's gaming.