ÿþ<html> <header> <title>My boardgame hobby - Apr to Sep 2006</title> </header> <body bgcolor="#FCFCCC"> <center><h2>My boardgame hobby - Apr to Sep 2006</h2></center> <hr> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>Jul - Sep 2006</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060723_3015.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060723_3015.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/503">Through the Desert</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I seem to post pictures of this game quite often. Maybe because I keep remember the designer Reiner Knizia's quote which goes something like "It is like life. You can't have everything. So you have to choose." </p> <p>Through The Desert is a thoughtful game of agonizing decisions. You establish and extend your trade caravans, competing with others to capture watering holes, to reach oases, to enclose areas of the desert, and to be the largest caravan of a colour. This is a totally open game and you can see what are the options available to your opponents (and vice versa). So there are tough decisions to make. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060723_3016.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060723_3016.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/12477">Bootleggers</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>This is a fun game about gangsters selling illegal liquor. We adopted a lot of localised Cantonese terminology. We probably sounded more like pirated DVD sellers at the pasar malam.</p> <p><i>23 July 2006: Jeanne, Kew, Han</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060723_3017.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060723_3017.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/12477">Bootleggers</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>The person who has more gangsters than everyone else added up controls the pub. He/she gets the right to sell liquor to customers first. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060903_3567.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060903_3567.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9220">Saboteur</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Chee Seng brought Saboteur. Players are dwarves competing to dig for gold. The one to reach the gold gets the biggest share, although others also get some. The tricky part is one (or more) of the dwarves are saboteurs who try to ruin the quest. The sabotuers win some gold if the group as a whole does not reach the gold. </p> <p>The game is played over 3 rounds, and the winner is determined after the 3rd round by comparing how much gold you have. </p> <p><i>3 Sep 2006: Chee Seng, Jeanne, Simon</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060903_3569.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060903_3569.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9220">Saboteur</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I think the trick to this game (if you are the saboteur) is to hide your identity as long as possible. I was the saboteur in both rounds 2 & 3. I made some moves that revealed my identity early in round 2, and the others quickly cooperated to stop me from causing further damage. I failed in round 2. </p> <p>In round 3 I pretended to be a good drawf up to almost the end of the game. I went so far as to sow mistrust between Simon and Chee Seng (gosh... I should be ashamed I was such a good liar). I kept some nasty cards until near the end game, and promptly used them one after another to foil the mission.</p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060903_3570.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060903_3570.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076">Puerto Rico</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I taught Jeanne, Simon and Chee Seng Puerto Rico. It was the first play for all of them. Puerto Rico is a game about developing a colony. You develop plantations, construct buildings, produce goods, and sell them or ship them back to the old world. </p> <p><i>Jeanne, Simon, Chee Seng</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060903_3571.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060903_3571.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076">Puerto Rico</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>They found the game to be just alright, not spectacular. Maybe I set too high expectations by emphasizing that this is the No. 1 ranked game (on www.boardgamegeek.com). </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060903_3572.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060903_3572.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/19100">Hacienda</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I taught Chee Seng Hacienda. His first time playing. This is a game about developing cattle farms, but I find the theme doesn't really tie with the game. Anyhow I do like this game. You try to develop large chains of land and also connect your animal herds to markets. There are multiple ways of scoring points and earning money, and you need to balance these, while at the same time competing with your opponents. So you also need to weigh between improving your position and hindering your opponents.</p> <p><i>Chee Seng</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060903_3573.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060903_3573.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/19100">Hacienda</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Our score was close. I won due to the number of market connections which gave me a lot of points. Chee Seng did well in other areas like lakes. We played quite competitively, making many moves blocking each other. </p> </td> </table> <hr> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>Jun - Jul 2006</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060604_2767.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060604_2767.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/503">Through The Desert</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Invited two colleagues to play on 4 June 2006, but unfortunately Russ didn't turn up and Desmond arrived 2 hours late. Didn't really get to introduce Desmond to many boardgames, since there wasn't much time. Mainly taught him some card games. Unfortunately he didn't seem too interested in the games.</p> <p>Turned out the few games Han and I played while waiting were quite good. We played hurriedly thinking the others would arrive any time, and actually managed to play 2 games of Lord of the Rings: Confrontation (variant version), 1 game of Elasund and 1 game of Attika. </p> <p><i>Shee Yun and I, Desmond, Han</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060618_2846.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060618_2846.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/6472">A Game of Thrones</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I bought A Game of Thrones in early 2004, which is more than 2 years ago. I even bought the expansion at end of 2004, before having played the base game. This was the first time I played a full game properly. It would have been ideal if we had 5 players, but 4 is alright also. </p> <p>This is a war game, with each player fighting to capture cities to win the game. Battles are relatively simple (and no dice rolling at all), and the number of units is low. The tricky part is guessing what your opponents will do (all orders are assigned secretly and simultaneously before being resolved one by one). There are a lot of opportunities for temporary alliances and betrayals. </p> <p>This game is based on a novel series by George R R Martin - the "A Song of Ice & Fire" series. The first book is called "A Game of Thrones". The series is not finished yet. It's up to Book 4 and I quite like it. </p> <p><i>Ricky (House Stark - white), Han (House Tyrell - green), Chee Seng (House Lannister - red). I played House Baratheon - yellow.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060618_2847.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060618_2847.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/6472">A Game of Thrones</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>The game started with Han and I fighting in the south, and Chee Seng and Ricky fighting in the north. It was quite a "low power" game, because we kept using up our power tokens. There were quite a number of shuffles on the three areas of influence. </p> <p>On Turn 6 Chee Seng surprised us with a sudden win. He had conquered 7 cities, and noone noticed it. I was too absorbed in fighting Han. Ricky had temporarily retreated into the north to accumulate power tokens and muster units and was poised to start his offense, but it was too late. Big lesson learnt, next time I must keep my eye on the big picture.</p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060624_redang.jpg"><img src="hcs_20060624_redang.jpg" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2944">Halli Galli</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Halli Galli was one of the games I brought to my company's team building event at Pulau Redang. My colleagues quite enjoyed playing it. This is a simple party game requiring quick reflexes. So it's suitable for the occasion. The other game which also got played was Coloretto, but it didn't have the draw of Halli Galli. So I didn't even bother to bring out Category 5 (6 Nimmt) or Sticheln. </p> <P><I>Han Yie, Wing Bin, Chong Seng, Yoges (half a face), Winnie (back to camera)</i></p> </td> </table> <hr> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>End Apr - May 2006</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060430_2539.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060430_2539.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/432">Category 5 / 6 Nimmt</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Looking back at my records, I actually played quite many games in April - 76 games. </p> <p>Mei was in town and her two good friends Gillian and Irene visited from Hong Kong. They together with a few other friends came to play. </p> <p><i>Eng Swee, Gillian, Chee Cheng (face hidden), Mei</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060430_2541.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060430_2541.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2453">Blokus</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p><i>Eng Swee, Gillian, Chee Cheng, me</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060501_2543.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060501_2543.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/904">Traumfabrik</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>From end of March to April, I self-made 3 games - <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/169">En Garde</a>, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17025">Poison</a> and <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/904">Traumfabrik</a> - all by Reiner Knizia. Traumfabrik took much effort to make, but was very worthwhile. It is an out-of-print game. But Uberplay is planning to reprint it this year.</p> <p>Traumfabrik (roughly translated as Dream Factory) is about making movies. Players compete in making good movies and winning awards. Players compete in auctions to win directors, actors, cameramen, musicians etc, which can be assigned to work on their movies. This version which I've self-made uses modern Hollywood movies, actors and directors, as opposed to the original game which uses movies, actors and directors of the 30's to 50's. </p> <p><i>Michelle, Kew and Han</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060501_2544.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060501_2544.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/904">Traumfabrik</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p><i>Jerry Bruckheimer directing Saving Private Ryan, and Ben Stiller stars in it. Somehow I don't think this is going to win many awards.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060506_2578.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060506_2578.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2944">Halli Galli</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Michelle beats Shee Yun easily at Halli Galli because Shee Yun cannot count to five yet. :-)</p> <p>This is a party game. Everyone has a stack of cards and everyone takes turns to flip over one card. The cards show different numbers of fruits. If at any one time exactly 5 fruits of the same kind are visible, everyone races to hit the bell. The first to hit wins all cards that have been flipped. So this is a game of reflex and high tension.</p> </td> </table> <hr> <center>Back to <a href="http://hecose.tripod.com/boardgame/boardgame.html">boardgame page</a><br> Back to <a href="http://choksienhiew.tripod.com">homepage</a></center> <hr> </body> </html>