Good game of Eketorp and Dominion at Brians

 Last night was another good gaming evening at the as-ever good host Brian's house. This time it was with Nigel Heather and Nigel Wood. Firstly it was a game of Eketorp - new to all the players, although Brian had just bought a copy and played a few times with his family. It went down ok, but it is more of a family game than for four adult male gamers I think - Nigel H liked it but wasn't 100% hooked - horses for courses really. Nigel Wood brought Dominion with him - a great card game based on try to win as many Victory cards as possible from a starting deck of 7 which everyone gets the same. 5 cards are then taken from the starting deck and each player in turn decides what they are going to do - with one Action, One purchase.

For example if you have an action card, you can play it then follow its instructions then make a purchase of another card from the deck piles on the table, comprised of coin cards, victory cards and kingdom cards. For example three copper coins of value 3 altogether allows you to buy a kingdom card of up to 3 value or a silver coin card (which by itself has a value of 2 in subsequent purchases). Any purchased cards are put into the discard pile (to your right).

As your turn ends, any cards you have used on the table in front of you are put into discard pile as are any unused cards in your hand. Then you draw 5 more from the deck. As you continue to purchase money cards of higher value (copper = 1, silver = 2, gold = 3), these can then in subsequent turns if they are drawn be used to purchase kingdom cards that can give you advantages during play.

For example - for 5 coins, you can buy the Market. If played as an Action card, on it there is a statement that says Draw +1 card (so take a card from your stack into your hand), take +1 Action (so you can now play another Action card form your hand), +1 buy (so now you have 2 purchases for this turn) and +1 coin (so if you play 5 coins, you now have 6 to buy with). But the clever part is, the next action card you play could be another Market if you have bought two and the 2nd Market is in your hand, either originally or just picking it up. 

So now you have a 2nd Action to play, you can play this Market as well, giving ANOTHER card to pick up, ANOTHER action, 3 purchases and +2 coins.... This chaining of cards is great for allowing purchases of expensive Kingdom cards or Victory cards as well as undermining the efforts of others. 

This is a great, simple to play game, but very strategic in my view. I played this with the family and they enjoyed it but like others more. Like Eketorp is for families, I think this is more for four adults, but I could play against the family again soon and see if that has changed. 

Good - but long! - game of Stone Age with Brian and Nigel

I was invited by Brian around for a game of something whilst Andy was running RPG games at Battlequest. We were joined by Nigel Heather and we all had a look at Eketorp which interested them both as it look strategic enough to be interesting but light enough to jump in and play, so it may well be on the cards to play at the next meeting at Brians house or at Andys BQG game night.

We'd also discussed about having a game of Stone Age which Nigel had played before but Brian hadn't - after a round up of the rules and setting up of the game, we were off and the game proceeded swiftly. In the end Brian won with a crushing 216 points - far ahead of Nigel and way ahead of me (last again lol); beginners luck?? Enjoyed by all, but unfortunately it was let down by one aspect; it took much longer than the 60~90 mins to play as stated on the box - more than 2hrs+ We couldn't figure out why either, no long decisions were being made and we all had a good grasp of the rules. Maybe with four players, this time will be more accurate? Perhaps at the next play we'll find out if we have four players.

A cool game of Eketorp

Today we had a good game of Eketorp with epic battling over the wood, bales of straw, stone and clay. In the end Anita and Roshni both finished the game with 18 and 19 pieces respectively.
Final scores - maya 17 kavita 35 me 36 anita 37 and roshni 39. Close scores!!

Eketorp and Pandemic - an old favourite and a new game with a surprise

Tonight we played an old favourite, Eketorp, and a new game, Pandemic. Eketorp is about warring Viking villages, battling over resources to build their fortifications. Roshni is particularly adept at this game and before we knew it, she'd won 18 blocks (this is one of the ways to win - the other is that the resource cards run out.) and she won the game on points! The next game was Pandemic - a fast paced game that pits the players against the game to defeat 4 diseases. The game lasted a bit longer than it should (45 mins) but it ended very suddenly when the red disease overran Asia and all was lost!

Family gaming night tonight!!

A family game night is planned for tonight what with the timely purchase of Pandemic - we thought it a good idea to play it with some other games we've not played for a while; Eketorp for starters and probably one other if we get time. Then later when the kids either run off to watch a DVD or go to bed, Anita and I will have a game of Ticket to Ride over wine and nibbles.

Catan and Martin family game play

 Today proved a great success for getting new people involved in games - our family friends the Martins came over for an evening meal and then a game of Diamant and Eketorp - I thought I'd give them two very different types of games, a slow paced tension builder and a fairly fast paced resource management game.

Diamant proved to be a big hit with them - we were able to play with a full set of players (8) and our guests were surprised at how quick the game was over and how much fun it generated in that time. Eketorp had a mixed review, not bad in anyway, but some preferred Diamant, some Eketorp. All in all a great evening.

On top of that, I bought a couple of Settlers of Catan with my vouchers for Battlequestgames. It looked like quite a promising family game with a quick to quickish play length. It is only for 4 players, but there is an expansion for 5 to 6 players if its a family hit. Time will tell. Hope to crack on with a game of Dominion and Settlers this weekend.

Inter-family games night!

This coming Saturday will be the first inter-family games night to introduce Euro-style and non-mass trash gaming (As I refer to games like Monopoly, Cluedo, Game of Life etc) to our friends the Martins. Apparently it is also going to be a take-away night too, so food and games all round!

I've already introduced two of their family to Zombies!!! as they have an interest in that "field" via the Xbox, so they were interested to find out more about gaming that didn't involve Monopoly or Cluedo. They've also expressed an interest in going to visit Battlequestgames to take a look around and see what it is I'm always on about.

I think the first batch we'll take around to introduce them to the idea is Eketorp and Diamant. Hopefully it will become a regular family thing once every 2 or 4 weeks.

A Saturday of gaming

Wow - a whole load of games today - first Eketorp, then Zooloetto then Ticket to Ride (USA map). Eketorp was played by myself, Roshni and Maya - a fab game of warring Viking tribes (I think Eketorp is German for Viking although Google Translate doesn't seem to think so, but hey, what does Google know...). The idea is everyone gets a group of little wooden guys, a card is drawn that shows where to place several pieces of material (Bales of grass/hay, wood, clay and stone) - each worth more in points value.

Once these have been placed, players then secretly using a marked board and screen place their warriors where they want to attack or claim materials. Once revealed, everyone moves their warriors to the appropriate places - any in dispute then have to fight over the materials using combat cards marked 1 to 6; the higher card wins, knocking the other to a hospital, the bigger the difference in card numbers, the longer they have to stay in the hospital - but the cards are swapped over and placed on the board where they can be picked up again if the the players cards run out, so you can't ever have one dominating player - neat idea.

After all combat has taken place, including any attacks on villages, players take back their "booty" to store in their village. The first to 18 pieces ends the game and score is counted on the number of pieces * their value (grass/hay worth 1 whilst stone is worth 5).

This is a medium length game, but a fantastic play - everyone one can get involved and it is simple to play; combat mechanics is very simple, but effective and play never becomes stagnated. An all round favourite.

Later in the evening was a 4 player Zooloretto - again a great game, Roshni won just in time; taking the Polar Bear Cub add on was decisive. The Cub halves all Barn negative scores at the end of the game.

Finally in the evening over drinks and crisps, Anita and I duked it out in a game of Ticket to Ride: USA map. In a close fought contest, Anita passed me by 3 points when it came to the ticket count up at the end, but she failed on one ticket, loosing her 10 points - final score 92 to me, 87 to Anita! I never win at this! Yay!

Bank Holiday Gaming Madness!!

Wow! What a bank holiday weekend! What do you do when it's the standard UK Bank Holiday fair ie cold wet and damp? Get out your favourite Euro games and start gaming like mad!! This was a weekend we wanted to spend time as a family, and gaming is one of the best ways we can do this.



Firstly, it was one of Maya's favourites - Gulo Gulo. A fun family favourite - nice quick and simple especially for the younger gamer - results: Roshni won! :)



Ok, then it was Ticket to Ride: USA version. An excellent tactical game with nice and simple rules. Last time we played this, the Europe version, the kids just didn't quite get it, so we thought we would play the simpler US one in teams. So it was Kavita and I vs Roshni and Anita with Maya playing with her own stuff by her own accord. They started to get a good idea of what was involved to play, especially Kavita who started to get into the tactical side. Still, it was an Anita/Roshni win at a crushing 131 to 57.

Then came another big family fav, especially with Anita, Zooloretto. This is a brilliant family game with so many tactical aspects that are very subtle and easily played by the kids, even Maya with a little help. Anita obsolutely loves this one and it shows! :) Final scores Roshni/Anita - 35, Maya - 29, Kavita 26 and me bringing up the rear at 17.

The addons really bring great new dimensions to the game and are thoroughly worth it. Cannot wait to get Aquaretto!

Up next was Queens Necklace - a great little 'Days of Wonder' Gem trading game set in the 1800s or something in France. The idea is to purchase gems that may well sell for large amounts at the Kings court at three sales that will occur during the game. And that is what I love about Euro style games - the time limit on the back of the box is how long it will last! When they say 1 hr, its how long it will last because of in built game mechanics and rules. Its an amazing principle. So if we know we have only 45 mins spare, we dig out Zooleretto knowing it will last 45 mins. Again Anita won this hands down - Kavita: £140, Anita: £480, Maya: £240 and me: £280.

Then there was time for quick game of Diamant - always a favourite with Maya - and yes, yet again she wiped the floor with us! Maya: 43, Kavita: 35, Anita: 25 and Me: 18...

Finally today we played Eketorp. Just a great game - all sorts of fun - although I tried lots of tactical gaming and Viking raids on other villages, yet again Maya won us out (She is 5 remember...!) - 5th place - Me 17 points 4th place - Roshni 26 points 3rd place - Kavita 30 points, 2nd place - Anita with 32 points and finally Maya with a whopping 47 points!!

A great gaming weekend for one and all.

Spread the joy of gaming

I was chatting to an old friend on msn the other day, a great guy from school who is a PhD in Astrophysics or something. Anyhow, we started talking about our game collection and I introduced him to boardgamegeek. He came back in a few days and was enthusing about two games he wanted to get and where to get them from, Puerto Rico and Pandemic. Even his wife wanted to get in on the act and was interested in Eketorp! Spread the news people! Yay!

When neighbours play games!

Friday was a great success. Andy and Maggie came over in the evening bringing wine and chat. We got down to a game of Zooleretto, which after a few moments of confusion and questions, was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Having adults only play adds a certain spin to the game - immediately Andy started to impliment a strategy and was doing very well. It was a VERY close game, with final scores:
Anita - 28
Maggie - 26
Andy - 25
Me - 22

With some more red wine poured out, we ploughed ahead with a game of Eketorp. The first round is always a little slow to start which helps in a way to get the newbies used to the rules. Then we started in earnest and it turned out to be a very good game, Andy turned into quite an opponent and I daftly went for broke on the last turn to get some extra building materials, leaving no one in the village to find it attacked from two sides!! With no defence, they got away with two bales of straw! The rotters! Final scores -
Me - 40
Anita - 31
Maggie - 26
Andy - 21

Overall they loved it and enjoyed themselves. It was a great way to de-stress and they couldn't believe there was such well designed games which had well built parts and were fun to play. They are looking forward to the next game evening - especially to play "Mystery of the Abbey".