Monday, 9 February 2015

Boardgame session 8Feb2015


Actually this report covers 2 boardgame sessions a week apart. The first was at my sister’s, where we played Ticket to Ride. We normally play the Europe version, but my niece had brought the USA bhttps://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic38668_t.jpgoard, so we decided to give it a go. The main difference (aside from the geography!) is the lack of tunnels and ferries, plus crucially the lack of stations. I think this could greatly increase aggressive play; the deliberate blocking of opponents routes. For this first game though, none of us decided to play aggressively. I drew routes that were north-south through the central area of the board, and which overlapped to a great degree, so I spent most time completing these. This was a mistake! In the final scoring, I had many low value tickets over short stretches of track, and therefore tallied a low total points score (I came 4th, or last). Meanwhile my 13 year old niece, completed a few long tickets (e.g. Seattle to New York) utilising long stretches of track. She was the clear winner. During the game I was sorely tempted to block her and throw various spanners in the works, but as we were only there for the afternoon, I decided discretion was the better choice. Next time, there will be no ‘mister nice guy’!

https://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic173153_t.jpgOn the 8th Val and Chris came round for lunch and a game. It was such a nice day, we took the dog, Snowy, for a walk, which significantly reduced the time available for games. I had intended to play Dominion, but instead my wife suggested Power Grid. We have not played this recently and I certainly could not remember the rules, nor more importantly, the strategy needed to win. The game progressed more slowly than I seem to remember previously, and the game lasted almost 2 hours! By the time we came close to reaching the finish line (i.e. 17 cities in a network), all the players suddenly realised that Chris was in a dominant position: he had 17 cities, all of which he could power. I was second, having 15 powered cities, Val came third and Elaine last. We played the German board using the southern 4 regions. Power Grid is an excellent game in which you have to balance many elements; type of power plant, resource management, and network building. The only change I have made to the game is to exchange the normal paper money (which I feel is cheap and flimsy) for more substantial, and satisfying, poker chips (which I bought at a charity shop for only £1).

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