Game Session

 We played Fresco tonight, a game I have had for a few years and had played with my brother, but it seemed fresh and new breaking it out tonight. It is a worker placement game where you are buying and blending paints to restore a fresco in a cathedral. It has similarities to other euro-games but has what I consider a few cool & interesting decision mechanics. Whoever is last goes first in selecting times when your workers wake up. This in turn effects their happiness/mood which can get you another worker, the order of paint selection at the market, and the cost you pay per paint. You then have to decide by secret plotting behind a screen where you will send your workers: to the market, to paint part of the fresco, to do portraits to earn extra money, to blend paints for more valuable colors, or to go to the theater to raise your worker's happiness. A bishop also moves around the fresco, and can give you bonus points if he is near the part of the fresco you restore. It has enough cool decisions that interplay with each other that makes it interesting (and tense!) but not too many. The game also can be played in an hour and is shorter than heavier games. Our game was tense with the first three spots separated by a single point! Some smart decisions by Charles helped shut out other players from getting more points on the last turn.



My decision-making view as green, in the lead, but got passed in the end.

We again played Kingdom builder and I did better, but still find myself not "seeing" better placements for my settlements.

Kingdom Builder
1- Tyler H, 2- Brett H, 3- CharlesG, 4- Mike H

Fresco
1- Lauren T, 2- Charles G, 3- Brett H, 4- Tyler H

Game Session

 I have been a bit sheepish about talking to gamers about games I have played since 2007, and having NOT played Agricola (one of the most popular and highest rated games). Well, no more and mission accomplished as I finally got a play in. I didn't do great and made both decision mistakes and card reading mistakes, but I loved it. It can be overwhelming with the variety of decisions to make, especially when you don't where you are going exactly (a problem with every new game you play, but must be plowd through), but I wanted to play it again immediately when we were done. I felt I actually had the win wrapped up by the second to last turn, but I neglected to fence my farm in before others snagged that action and it cost me big so I tied for second instead. The best part of the game is probably the variety, with an unending amount of occupations and improvements (each player has only 7 of each in every game, out of hundreds), and once you get the flow it is not complicated.

My humble farm, about half-way through.

The other game I introduced was this year's Spiel de Jahres (Game of the Year), Kingdom Builder. I had played it at the last Strategicon, and it also has great variety in that you use only 4 out of 16 boards, 3 out of some 15 goal cards, and special player abilities change with every board that is used. It was fun to play it again, although I felt a little boxed in by the cards I drew.

Kingdom Builder

1- Tyler H, 2- Nate J, 3- Josh D, 4- Brett H

Agricola

1- Nate J, 2- Tyler H/Brett H, 3- Josh D

Strategicon: Gamex 2012 Day 3

Obviously we never go to the game convention on Sunday, but I always go back for the last day on the Monday holiday. The main reason is the auction they hold where you can get great deals on games, and it is also entertaining. I was able to pick up a couple of games for great deals and it was worth it. With the convention closing down I only really played one game:

KINGDOM BUILDER: Rick Baptist, a guy I've gotten to know at the past Strategicons, taught me this game. I've been wanting to play it, by the same the guy who designed Dominion. It has great replayability, as you use 4 of the 12 boards provided, each with special pieces, and deal out 3 win condition cards out of 15 just for that game. The variety is very appealing, and game play is simple and straightforward as you lay pieces each turn trying to gain victory points according to that game's win conditions, and move next to special spaces which give you abilities for more plays. The only aspect I didn't like was a card you drew each turn to determine what type of terrain you could play on. This random element had a controlling factor in the game, but otherwise I liked it and did pretty well my first time, placing 3rd out of 5 players.

I am yellow and was not able to connect many places, but did fill every hex row (a victory point condition).

This is the area I started in and it became a bottleneck for me.