Last weeks events brought to you by Peter "The photos will get better" Measham.
Our first meeting of the year brought great numbers at 10 people. This included new comer Tobias and the returning Jake.
While waiting for everyone to arrive, the night began with a 5 player game of Guillotine. In which players are in a race to collect sets of recently decapitated heads from French nobles. The game features nice stylised artwork, like similar murder strategy game Family Business; making them both fun for all ages. Like Family Business the game features a queue of cards about to under go a series of unfortunate events, with players triggering card effects to reorder the queue to best suit their scoring needs. David came out a head (well 6 heads) verses the other players winning the game on 20 points.
The later arriving members opted to play a game of Rhino Hero. This is a competitive card tower building game with the added problem of rhino relocation. Players each take it in turns to use a number of cards from their hand to build a layer of the tower and in act a special effect, like forcing the next player to move a heavy rhino meeple to the top of the tower, presumably to aid it on its heroic quest. The rhino's quest came to a crashing conclusion at around the 10th card layer on my turn, losing me the game.
With everyone arrived and a little debate over which games to play. we spilt into 3 groups; 2 tables of 4 and 1 table of 2.
The 1st table started the night with 70s classic Hare & Tortoise. This is a game about racing around the board by activating various vegetable based powers. Peter H proved top bunny by beating out the opposition to gain first place. The table then moved to a game of Port Royal. This is a push your luck card game, in which players take it in turns to try and draw the highest value cards they can, without going bust. Players are generally looking the best value ship card to generate income; which can be used to purchase townsfolk to provide both victory points and effects to aid the player. Jake was the first to 12 points winning the game. Finally this table completed the night with a game of Bohnanza. This takes place in the surprising high drama world of bean farmers, looking to make the most money. Money is generated by collecting and harvesting the best sets of beans by playing cards from your hand or trading with other players. The tricky part of the game involves quite a unique mechanic in which players must play or trade the beans in the order that they were drawn. This means there is a lot wheeling and dealing between players to try and trade away any beans delaying more optimal plays; while at the same time ensuring not to help the opponent's bean set collection. Jake edged out a victory on 11 points.
The 2nd table saw a more cooperative fair, starting the night with a game of Pandemic. Our players were unable to avoid death by cube placement, ending the game on a loss. Next the table went on to some jewel crafting with a game of Splendor. Neil proved the patron of the fine arts, winning the game. The final game of the night for this table was Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck Building Game. The game was played in its cooperative mode with players being humans facing off the against the aliens. As with the previously played Aliens legendary encounters, the game is a deck builder with players buying cards to create the most effective strategy against the cloaked alien menace. The players were unable to get to the chopper, rounding out the night a loss.
The 3rd table of Peter M and David played two rounds of Android: Netrunner. The 1st round saw David playing the corporation Weyland verses Peter M's Shaper hacker deck. The game started in the hackers favour with the use of some Anarch tech to sneak past or destroy some of David's firewalls. However a mid game trigger of the powerful Weyland firewall, put David right back in the game. Leaving the hacker to rebuild; David was able push forward his corporate agendas wining the round on 7 points. The 2nd round saw Peter M playing the corporation Weyland verses David's Criminal hacker deck. Similar to before the game it started out well for the hacker which many successful runs on the Peter M's central servers securing a good in flow of credits. However disaster struck for the David's hacker with Peter M's corporation able to trace and perform a flatline victory by employing the use of a private security company agenda and a scorched earth operation. With both corporations able to defeat their hacking attempts, the game ended in a draw.
Final scores:
Guillotine:
David: 20
Peter H: 14
Neil: 13
Jon: 8
Aaron: 6
Rhino Hero:
Rhino heroes: Phil, Tom and Tobias
Rhino villain: Peter M
Hare & Tortoise:
1st: Peter H
2nd: Tobias
3rd: Jon
4th: Jake
Port Royal:
Players: Peter H, Tobias, Jon and Jake
Winner: Jake
Bohnanza:
Jake: 11
Jon: 10
Peter H: 6
Pandemic:
Players: Phil, Tom, Aaron and Neil
Result: Loss
Splendor:
Players: Phil, Tom, Aaron and Neil
Winner: Neil
Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck Building Game:
Players: Phil, Tom, Aaron and Neil
Result: Loss
Android: Netrunner:
Players: Peter M and David
Round 1: David
Round 2: Peter M
Result: Draw
The gamer of the week goes to Jake for having the most victories of the night, with wins on Port Royal and Bohnanza.
Our first meeting of the year brought great numbers at 10 people. This included new comer Tobias and the returning Jake.
While waiting for everyone to arrive, the night began with a 5 player game of Guillotine. In which players are in a race to collect sets of recently decapitated heads from French nobles. The game features nice stylised artwork, like similar murder strategy game Family Business; making them both fun for all ages. Like Family Business the game features a queue of cards about to under go a series of unfortunate events, with players triggering card effects to reorder the queue to best suit their scoring needs. David came out a head (well 6 heads) verses the other players winning the game on 20 points.
The later arriving members opted to play a game of Rhino Hero. This is a competitive card tower building game with the added problem of rhino relocation. Players each take it in turns to use a number of cards from their hand to build a layer of the tower and in act a special effect, like forcing the next player to move a heavy rhino meeple to the top of the tower, presumably to aid it on its heroic quest. The rhino's quest came to a crashing conclusion at around the 10th card layer on my turn, losing me the game.
With everyone arrived and a little debate over which games to play. we spilt into 3 groups; 2 tables of 4 and 1 table of 2.
The 1st table started the night with 70s classic Hare & Tortoise. This is a game about racing around the board by activating various vegetable based powers. Peter H proved top bunny by beating out the opposition to gain first place. The table then moved to a game of Port Royal. This is a push your luck card game, in which players take it in turns to try and draw the highest value cards they can, without going bust. Players are generally looking the best value ship card to generate income; which can be used to purchase townsfolk to provide both victory points and effects to aid the player. Jake was the first to 12 points winning the game. Finally this table completed the night with a game of Bohnanza. This takes place in the surprising high drama world of bean farmers, looking to make the most money. Money is generated by collecting and harvesting the best sets of beans by playing cards from your hand or trading with other players. The tricky part of the game involves quite a unique mechanic in which players must play or trade the beans in the order that they were drawn. This means there is a lot wheeling and dealing between players to try and trade away any beans delaying more optimal plays; while at the same time ensuring not to help the opponent's bean set collection. Jake edged out a victory on 11 points.
The 2nd table saw a more cooperative fair, starting the night with a game of Pandemic. Our players were unable to avoid death by cube placement, ending the game on a loss. Next the table went on to some jewel crafting with a game of Splendor. Neil proved the patron of the fine arts, winning the game. The final game of the night for this table was Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck Building Game. The game was played in its cooperative mode with players being humans facing off the against the aliens. As with the previously played Aliens legendary encounters, the game is a deck builder with players buying cards to create the most effective strategy against the cloaked alien menace. The players were unable to get to the chopper, rounding out the night a loss.
The 3rd table of Peter M and David played two rounds of Android: Netrunner. The 1st round saw David playing the corporation Weyland verses Peter M's Shaper hacker deck. The game started in the hackers favour with the use of some Anarch tech to sneak past or destroy some of David's firewalls. However a mid game trigger of the powerful Weyland firewall, put David right back in the game. Leaving the hacker to rebuild; David was able push forward his corporate agendas wining the round on 7 points. The 2nd round saw Peter M playing the corporation Weyland verses David's Criminal hacker deck. Similar to before the game it started out well for the hacker which many successful runs on the Peter M's central servers securing a good in flow of credits. However disaster struck for the David's hacker with Peter M's corporation able to trace and perform a flatline victory by employing the use of a private security company agenda and a scorched earth operation. With both corporations able to defeat their hacking attempts, the game ended in a draw.
Final scores:
Guillotine:
David: 20
Peter H: 14
Neil: 13
Jon: 8
Aaron: 6
Rhino Hero:
Rhino heroes: Phil, Tom and Tobias
Rhino villain: Peter M
Hare & Tortoise:
1st: Peter H
2nd: Tobias
3rd: Jon
4th: Jake
Port Royal:
Players: Peter H, Tobias, Jon and Jake
Winner: Jake
Bohnanza:
Jake: 11
Jon: 10
Peter H: 6
Pandemic:
Players: Phil, Tom, Aaron and Neil
Result: Loss
Splendor:
Players: Phil, Tom, Aaron and Neil
Winner: Neil
Legendary Encounters: A Predator Deck Building Game:
Players: Phil, Tom, Aaron and Neil
Result: Loss
Android: Netrunner:
Players: Peter M and David
Round 1: David
Round 2: Peter M
Result: Draw
The gamer of the week goes to Jake for having the most victories of the night, with wins on Port Royal and Bohnanza.