October 2002 Archives

Now I have all of the HelCon (and earlier) game pictures online. Go ahead:

Alcatraz
Battle Cry
Die Händler
LotR: Confrontation
Villa Paletti

Next I'll start working on the session reports.

Here's the last one for today: Die Macher pictures are online.

More (Die Händler, Villa Paletti, LotR: Confrontation, Battle Cry) to come tomorrow!

Stephenson's Rocket pictures are online. They document my rise to power and glory... ahem. It was the best game of Stephenson's Rocket I've ever played, the one I won ;-)

There are also few new pictures of Britannia and El Grande.

Some Medina pictures online. Nice game, and it looks spectacular.

So, as requested by Iain, here's my thoughts about Stephenson's Rocket. Tommy has been carrying this Reiner Knizia game around to many events, but hasn't ever been able to play it with more than 2 players. To help out the poor guy, I suggested we play it. We soon had two other players and a game going.

At first, the game looks like to be a very confusing. The rules are not overly complicated, but you're pretty much puzzled about what you should be doing. In that way the game reminds me of Tigris & Euphrates. Also the turn structure is similar: in both games, players choose two actions from few choices. In this one, instead of developing ancient civilizations, players develop railway lines in the 19th century Great Britain. Another thing where Stephenson's Rocket meets Tigris & Euphrates is how the railway lines are not owned by particular players, but instead anyone can and will advance them to fulfill their own needs.

During the game, the railroads merge, stocks are combined and exchanged and players accumulate money. Longer the railroad, more money it brings to the shareholders and those players, who have managed to build most stations on the railroad. I can't help but wonder the logic of the British railroad builders: first they build stations and then hope that the railroad goes by... That's a bit silly thematically, but it has to be that way for game mechanic reasons.

I enjoyed the game. Not as much as Tigris & Euphrates, but it was a pleasant experience nonetheless. You have lots of things to do: you must build stations, get railroad shares and acquire tokens, so when the railroads merge, you get to reap the benefits. In the end, when there's only one huge monster railroad (the British Rail is born), you should have either most stations or most shares in that line. Preferably both, of course.

The first game we played, I won. I was lucky enough to have most stations in the final huge railroad line (well, I did that on purpose...), and thus I was rewarded about 30.000 in the end. That was enough to beat the other players, as I think the shareholder majority was shared between two players. In the second game, I didn't manage to get enough stations or enough shares in the last railway line, so I was out of the competition and lost clearly.

So, my final verdict is that I would rate the game probably about 8. It's a good game and one I hope to play again. However, while it shares mechanics with Tigris & Euphrates, I still prefer the latter.

Some of the pictures I took at HelCon (those with people - most of the pictures concentrated 100% on the games) are available at my picture gallery. Captions are in Finnish, sorry for foreign readers. You wouldn't know the people anyway...

Game pictures and session reports will come as soon as possible, but it'll take more time. And Iain, worry not, you'll get a detailed Stephenson's Rocket story too, but you must be patient...

I wrote a more detailed entry about coming back from HelCon, but managed to destroy it with accidental backspacing... Oops. Well, anyway, I'm back, had a great time, played many good games, took almost 100 photos and so on. A detailed session report (including Battle Cry, Die Macher, Die Händler, Stephenson's Rocket and Villa Paletti to start with) will come later, probably Thursday. I'll try to get the pictures online as soon as possible.

This is probably my last entry here before HelCon. I'll try to get something posted here as soon as possible after the event, and get some pictures available too. I hope to see as many of you as possible! You'll find me in the Die Macher table on Saturday afternoon, after that, who knows... Try to catch me! At least you can look out for people playing Die Händler.

As a sidenote, I'm bloody jealous to all the people who went to the Essen game fair. I haven't read any reports yet, I'm not sure if it's good for me or not to read them and weep. I wanna go!

I have finally set up an image gallery. Currently it has just my older game pictures, but more will come. You can get the English game menu with this link: http://www.melankolia.net/photo/go/games - the captions are in Finnish, but at least you can look at the pictures and the user interface is in English. Finnish users can replace the word "go" with the word "hop" and you'll get the Finnish interface.

I made the German Boardgame Geek Test today. My score was 35.46%, which means I'm not hopelessly geek yet. I obviously have to improve my score.

Also, I have a new toy, a digital camera. So, expect game pictures sooner or later! I've set up a photo gallery script at my web site, so you'll be able to see, for example, the HelCon pictures next week.

My Steel Panthers game with Tommy (see This is war) is finally over. I believe there are no winners in any wars, and this was the case this time too: it's a draw. I got more points, but that wasn't enough. I got two of the four victory objective areas - I held three, but Tommy took one back. It was a long and bloody fight, neither side can be very happy with the result.

I just finished updating to MovableType 2.5. The biggest improvement visible to you, my faithful readers, is the search ability. So, here you are, a search box. It searches both entries and comments.

I got keyword option; that's great, I love keywords and thesauri. I'm studying to become a librarian - that's my excuse for that perversion.

I played two games of Puerto Rico today at the Brettspielwelt. Both were quite exciting. The first one was four-player game. It was remarkably low-scoring one: winner had only 31 points. Unfortunately that winner wasn't me. Even though I had whopping 24 colonists and fortress too, I was only able to tie with the winner and lost because I had less goods. That's a bummer.

Second game was three-player, and the same player, Shlimazl, won again. This time it was more definite. I played indigo shipper, which is a bit risky in the three-player game. I had large indigo factory, harbour and the customs house, but couldn't get a colonist there. Well, it didn't matter - even though I had 28 shipping points, I wouldn't have won the game anyway. But it was quite tense game for me, I was sitting on the edge of my chair in the end.

I've played 6 games of Puerto Rico at the Brettspielwelt. In five of those games, I've placed second. In the sixth one, I was third out of three. I know how to play, my tactics work, but the edge is missing so I can't win. It's annoying... And it shouldn't be because I don't practise, I've played 19 games of Puerto Rico this year which is more than any other game and definitely the winner of the bigger games (I'm quite sure I'll play more Zèrtz).

There's no doubt Puerto Rico is a very good game, the best that's been published this year (not that I've played many of this year's new games, but anyway that's my opinion).

I bought Villa Paletti, the 2002 Spiel des Jahres winner for few reasons. Biggest one is probably that I happened to see it at a department store when I was looking for a birthday gift for my girlfriend. I didn't buy it right away, but went back the next day...

Also, as it won the Spiel des Jahres, I'm curious to know why. Third, I don't have any dexterity games and I wanted to have a game I could play with pretty much anyone. 6 Nimmt is one of these entry-level games, but I wanted something else, too. It shouldn't be difficult to get anybody to play this one, as most people know Jenga or some similar game.

I haven't played it yet. I just got it today, opened it up and built a tower - and what a mighty tower it became. I got it very high, all levels and even some blocks on top of other blocks before it finally came tumbling down. This far it seems like a funny game. So, it's about wooden sticks and levels, which you try to make a tower of. What's most interesting in the wooden sticks, is that there's three different sizes, each have different scores. The best-scoring, heavier pieces are the shortest, too, so pulling them off the lower levels can be surprisingly easy - and it also makes the tower deliciously unstable.

There's a scoring system - you add up the points of the pieces on the highest level and who has the most, has a seal. Who holds the seal in the end, wins. Unless, of course, he or she made the tower fall, in which case the person who had it before them wins. So there's a bit of a strategic twist in it, too.

The game looks nice. The bits are all wood. They're quite light. Someone said that was a bad thing, I don't know... They're good enough, and when the tower falls down, it doesn't make dents on your floor. There's a nice little hook included, which you can use to remove the sticks that are deeper inside the building.

So, looks like fun, we'll see how it turns out.

Our Sims addiction is getting worse. That game is EVIL. It's even worse than Civilization - at least Civilization had turns, so you could say oh, I'll play just one more turn and then after n turns (of course you couldn't stop right after the one, no way) you could stop. But The Sims just goes on and on... And if you're getting bored with the game, there's always the commercial expansions and the fan add-ins... Oh my. Wicked! But at least that's time spent together, which is not bad ;-)

So, here's the promised session report. First of all, I was quite satisfied as plenty of people came to play. I didn't count the total, but well over ten, we had four games going on almost all the time.

My games started with Zértz - I'm trying to hook people into it. Jarno was my victim this time and as usual, I beat him up before he really knew what hit him. Well, I wasn't quite that brutal, but I've yet to see someone figure out Zértz the first time they play it.

Then, it was time to play something meatier. Five of us gathered to play Princes of Florence which is the most criminally underplayed game in my collection. I was initially planning to try a strategy in which I would've bought only cheap things in the auctions, but after the game started with a jester auction, I noticed I had bought one with 1000 florins.

Then came another, and third one. So, it was my basic jester strategy again: only one building, many jesters, some landscapes and freedoms. It worked out ok, I got enough professions and recruiting cards to make it work. However, I placed third, over ten points behind the winner.

Tichu. Finally. I had tried to find out how long the game takes and after few useful replies from Spielfrieks, I decided to play only a half game. My team lost spectacularly 135-665. The game took an hour, so it was good we played only half a game, I think. We did see some really nice tactical blunders, beautiful 9- and 10-card straights and one very useful bomb too. It's definitely a game I want to play again. I'd rate it solid 8 after one play, it's very promising.

Drakon was next, and that didn't please me quite as much. It's sort of fun, for a while, then starts to drag as nobody can win as everybody jumps at the player who is about to win. I held four victory tiles in my hand with no intention to play them as I was the only player who didn't have any gold - talk about boring, huh. I rate it about 4, won't play it again unless I really have to.

I was looking forward to play Through the Desert as I've been thinking about buying it. I got interested as I read it owes much to Go, which I agree now I've played it. There's similar feel to the game. I liked it a lot, and even got close to winning. It was a strange game, though - pink camels were used a lot and we ran out long before any other pile was even close. I managed to score the longest yellow caravan with only two camels! I was three camels away from enclosing a large area, which would've meant a victory to me. Now I was 2 points from the winner... Very good, a solid 9 this one.

Then some good old classics: Web of Power. We played with four, I've played quite few of those. I played heavy advisor tactics, but the winner was Robert, who played only one advisor during the whole game. It was a nice, close match, all four of us within 12 points (45-48-49-57). I was the 48, our newbie Jarno had 49 points. Quite good, but he did figure out the advisors well, which I think is usually the tough thing for newbies.

To finish off the evening, I introduced Africa to few of the guys. The reception was warm, even though we had a little mistake in the gameplay - I forgot to remove the two extra camps as we had only four players. Well, that was minor, the game just took a little longer than usual. Still, it was great fun even though I didn't win.

So, to sum it up, it was a very good session which I enjoyed a lot (with the possible exception of Drakon).

Our board game club had a very nice meeting today, I played Tichu, Drakon, Princes of Florence, Through the Desert and Zèrtz... But I'll write a detailed session report later when I have more time.

We, that's me and my girlfriend Johanna, acted on impulse and bought The Sims after reading a good review of the The Sims Deluxe Edition from the newspaper. I know I've always been interested in simulation games, I've played various Sim Cities, Sim Ant, Sim Life, Transport Tycoon, Railroad Tycoon, Theme Park...

I can see why The Sims is the best-selling computer game ever. It has much wider appeal than your average shoot'em'up. Before, we've mostly played Half-Life and Quake and Doom - or I've played, and Johanna has watched. Which has been fun, but this is better, as we can play together.

The Sims seems to be a good game, it's fun to watch the idiots go around doing their business, trying to develop them. I wonder how long it will last, but of course, if the game starts to get boring, there's always the expansion sets.

No matter what I do, I suck when it comes to Puerto Rico. I played another 3-player game at BSW and this time I was last. It was reasonably close, however: 35-37-40.

I've used similar tactic very much lately, perhaps I should change it... As usual, I got Hospice and Construction Hut and got four quarries. I made some money with tobacco farming and bought two large buildings (Residence and Fortress). Unfortunately, I didn't have time to man the Residence, so that lost me few points.

I need more practise! Still, even though I won't win the game, I like it a lot. It's elegant and very, very difficult. What's best for you, hard to tell... until afterwards, when you've already made the wrong decision. D'oh.

Updates are getting a bit scarce, I see. Well, there hasn't been much to document, really. I tried again to play Tichu today, but I couldn't get a game.

I've been working on a picture gallery script and when that's done, I'll put all my game pictures there (most can be seen now in various game reviews or at the Boardgamegeek). And there's more pictures to come - my birthday's today and I've been waiting for my latest toy, a digital camera, for few days now.

Our board game club meets for the first time this Fall next Sunday, I'm definitely looking forward to that.

I didn't expect to play any games during the weekend (I was visiting my parents, as it's my birthday next week), but my mother had a new Tantrix set which I had to try.

It's a game of connections. The hexagonal tiles feature coloured lines, three colours each. There's a total of four colours in the game. Players try to connect the tiles so that their colour (so up to four can play) makes the biggest lines or loops. Each player scores their longest line or biggest loop, loops score double the number of tiles.

It's quite neat, and pretty fun. I played two two-player games, lost them both. What makes the game interesting are the forced plays. Each player has one free move each turn and before and after that, they must play all the forced moves they can. Whenever there's an empty space which is surrounded by three tiles, it's a forced move. These offer lots of tactical opportunities!

The game also includes some puzzles, in which you mostly try to create loops. You can do these solo, so you'll be able to kill lots of time with the set. Which, by the way, looks nice. The hexagons are black and made of plastic and the bold colours of the lines (yellow, red, blue and green) look good. Except the blue, which is hard to see from the black background. Other than that, they are nice. And they feel good.

See also the official homepage where you can play the game online. I haven't tried it yet, but might do so in the near future.

I went today to BSW to play Tichu which I've decided to learn. However, unlike usually, there was only one Tichu player there.

So, unwilling to leave empty-handed, I played a two-player game of an old favourite, Carcassonne.

It was a very good game. The result says it all: I won 108-105! It was very close game. My opponent got an early lead, which I took back when I finished my 24 point city. I managed to get the larger field, while my opponent got most of the cloisters. In the end, I managed to sneeze few points - one game-winning move was, for example, to join my one-piece city start to a slightly larger unfinished city. My opponent would've got few points from that, which I now neutralized.

It was a perfect game, close and exciting and of course, what's best, I won!

It's been a while since I last played my favourite computer strategy game, Steel Panthers. I have both Steel Panthers I and II and I loved them both. Nowadays, of course, the game to play is Steel Panthers: World at War.

We found out some time ago with Tommy that we both like the game and we decided we should play an e-mail game one day. Now that day has come. Tommy issued a challenge, I updated my World at War to a current version and the battle has begun. My Soviet troops are closing in on Tommy's Finnish ski squadron, trying to crush them into a bloody pulp.

However, I have strong faith in the strength of the Finnish soldiers, and I'm sure many of my tanks will be blown to bits by the valiant Finnish men. Still, victory will be ours!

I won't document the battle as it goes on, as Tommy might read it here and get some clues about my plans, but I'll write a report when we're done.

New issue of The Games Journal is out.

There's articles about Germany, games with kids, educational games and Essen fair. Reviews include Trans America, Sleuth and Bang! There are rules to a game called WYSIWYG and of course, the letters (including a letter from yours truly!).

Go read it, it's excellent!

1. Die Macher (-)
2. Web of Power (1)
3. Puerto Rico (4)
4. Princes of Florence (2)
5. Africa (-)
6. Mahjong (3)
7. Tigris & Euphrates (5)
8. Go (7)
9. El Grande (6)
10. Zértz (8)