ÿþ<html> <header> <title>My boardgame hobby</title> </header> <body bgcolor="#FCFCCC"> <center><h2>My boardgame hobby - Nov 2006 to Apr 2007</h2></center> <HR> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>Jan - Apr 2007</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070121_4896.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070121_4896.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14808">Marvel Heroes</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>After Chen Rui was born in Dec 2006 I have been playing much fewer games. Michelle has been playing even fewer. Taking care of two young children is a big challenge. And my main kaki Han is having exams in May, so boardgames will have to go on lower priority for now. Well, hopefully as the girls grow older, and also after Han's exams I can go back to more regular gaming. </p> <P>This game of Marvel Heroes was played back in January. </p> <p><i>21 Jan 2007. Han and Chee Seng. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070121_4897.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070121_4897.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14808">Marvel Heroes</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Marvel Heroes is Han's game. He's a big fan of thematic games / fantasy-themed games. So naturally Marvel Heroes is his type. </p> <p>In this game each player plays a team of superheroes, plus the the main villian for another player's team. There are different ways of playing (scenarios), but as beginners we just played the simplest one - game ends when a certain number of victory points is reached. </p> <p><i>Chee Seng: "I'll just use my Hand of God to kill this bugger!"</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070121_4898.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070121_4898.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14808">Marvel Heroes</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Crimes happen, or accidents happen (basically bad things happen), and superheroes come to the rescue. If the superhero or superheroes succeed in saving the day, the player scores some victory points (depending on the difficulty of the problem). </p> <p><i>Ironman, evil red skull face guy (don't remember his name), and Thor. The map is a map of New York.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070121_4899.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070121_4899.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14808">Marvel Heroes</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I was a bit overwhelmed by the rules. I think it is a bit complex. I keep forgetting some small rules or some aspects of the game. But I think overall it can be summarised to you have only a limited number of actions you can take every round, and you need to plan ahead to maximise your points or achieve your goals. </p> <p><i>The Thing and Human Torch from Fantastic Four, Daredevil and Spiderman</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070204_4978.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070204_4978.JPG" width=280 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1147">Outrage</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Don't know why Shee Yun liked to sit in this corner and play. She doesn't do it now. She only did it for a short period. During that time she liked to play with Outrage, a game about stealing the crown jewels which I bought from UK in 1997.</p> <p>Shee Yun looks so different from now (10 Apr 2007). Her hair is much "bigger" than now. Mei said Shee Yun's haircut looks good. Michelle gave her the haircut. </p> <p><i>4 Feb 2007. The open game in the foreground is Martin Wallace's Struggle of Empires, which I still haven't played since buying it around end 2004. It is a more complex game and needs more people to be good. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070204_4981.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070204_4981.JPG" width=280 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13">Settlers of Catan</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Oh what joy! Well, Shee Yun was not really that surprised by the content of the box. She was just pretending and playing. She had opened the box and played with the components many times before. </p> <p><i>Chinese version of Settlers of Catan, called simply "Catan", published by Capcom a Japanese company, with new graphics and component and box design. This is one of my first German games, bought around Sep 2003. The day I bought it, I played 6 straight games from 11pm to 6am with Ah Chung and Ben in Hong Kong.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070204_4982.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070204_4982.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/986">Babel</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>We had a two player session in February. We tried a number of new games from our latest purchase. Well, actually we bought this batch in August, but we only received them in January because Mei's colleague who helped us bring the games back from US got his return trip postponed a few times. </p> <P>Babel is a two-player card game which can be quite vicious. Each player race to build towers. There are five tribes (five types of cards) at your command, and each of them has special abilities, like persuading your opponent's tribe to join you, allowing you to skip a level when building a tower (normally you have to build in order - Levels 1, 2, 3, etc), and even destroying your opponent's tower. <p><i>4 Feb 2007. Han making his move.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070204_4983.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070204_4983.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/986">Babel</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>One fun thing about Babel is working out powerful combinations of uses of your cards. Plenty of opportunities for clever plays. To an extent you are constrained by the cards you get, but making the most of what you get is part of the fun and challenge. </p> <p><i>The board in this card game is not really necessary, but is still nice to have. Just like Lost Cities. Both Babel and Lost Cities are from the same game series from the same publisher - Kosmos.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070204_4984.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070204_4984.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21882">Blue Moon City</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I quite like Blue Moon City. It is by Reiner Knizia, one of my favourite designers. I own far, far more Knizia games than games by any other designers. I like many of his games quite consistently. There are many games by other designers that I like, but usually I just like one or two of their designs. Well, maybe because many of them have not designed have many games in the first place. But among designers who have designed many games, Knizia is the only one who has so many games I like. For the other big names (with many designs) like Wolfgang Kramer, Klaus Teuber, Friedemann Friese, Alan Moon, Bruno Faidutti, Michael Schacht, usually there are only one or two (or none) that I really like. </p> <p><i>Red, green and blue dragons. They'll give you a dragon scale if they witness you make a contribution in building Blue Moon City.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5133.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5133.JPG" width=280 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2655">Hive</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>21 Feb was the Chinese New Year period and we managed to have a good 4-player session. Chee Seng was back in KL from Singapore. </p> <P>Hive is a two-player game, where the objective is to surround your opponent's queen bee (with your own pieces or your opponent's). You start with an empty hive, and gradually add insects to it, or move insects within it. Different insects move in a different way. </p> <P>One of the key things about this game is you must never make a move that will split the hive in two. This rule comes into play very often and is a key to locking down your opponent's insects. <p><i>21 Feb 2007. Chee Seng.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5135.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5135.JPG" width=280 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2655">Hive</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Hive can be played light-heartedly, and can also be played with a lot of thinking. It is a fully open information game (like chess). I've played it a number of times, and I find that usually one can play it quite quickly. A game lasts around 15 minutes. Only occasionally we need to slow down to think ahead a little, but usually the pace is quite brisk. </p> <p><i>Chee Seng studying the possibilities.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5138.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5138.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22345">Yspahan</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Yspahan is a game from Ystari, a relatively new boardgame publishing company. Ystari has published relatively few games, but their games have been getting good praise - Ys, Caylus, Yspahan, Mykerinos. All their games have names with Y and S in them. </p> <P>Yspahan is a play on Isfahan, once capital of the Persian empire. The town in this game is actually not Isfahan itself, but a town which is trading with Isfahan. </p> <p><i>Han and Chee Seng.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5139.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5139.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22345">Yspahan</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Like many German games, Yspahan is about getting victory points. The three main methods are: filling groups of shops with goods, sending goods to the caravan (which will go to Isfahan), and constructing buildings. The game is limited to 21 rounds (3 weeks of 7 days), and it feels quite short. A game is probably just 45 minutes. It is quite tantalising, because there are interesting choices and you have limited turns. You need to balance competing with your opponents, hindering them, and at the same time pursuing your long term strategy. You may even need to reconsider your long term strategy. </p> <p><i>The building board in the foreground is used for indicating which buildings you have built. Each building gives a special ability.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5140.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5140.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/22345">Yspahan</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Scoring victory points is commonly found in German games. It is starting to bore me a little. It'll be interesting to see more different ways of winning, like in Attika where it is trying to connect two shrines or build all buildings, or in Blue Moon City where it's a race to make a certain number of contributions to the central pillar (well, in way, it is like accumulating victory points, just that they are called crystals). </p> <p><i>You score by putting goods (cubes) onto all shops of the same set within one quadrant of the town. That white pawn is the supervisor who will go around choosing goods to be sent to the caravan, which will deliver the goods to the great capital Yspahan (Isfahan). This is not necessary a bad thing, because goods being sent to the caravan also gives you points, and you can spend a camel to keep your good at the shop AND send another good to the caravan.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5141.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5141.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21882">Blue Moon City</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Blue Moon City was one of 5 nominees for the Spiel des Jahres 2006 (German Game of the Year). Unfortunately it didn't win. I quite like this game. It is not too complex and can be taught easily. From the few times that I've played, it was often an exciting race to accumulate enough crystals in order to be the first to make the required number of contributions to the central pillar. </p> <p><i>Han, Chee Seng, Ricky. It was Ricky's first time playing this game and he won!</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5142.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5142.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21882">Blue Moon City</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>There was an earlier game called Blue Moon, which was a card game (also by Reiner Knizia). It was about the various races of Blue Moon fighting for dominance. I've played it once but thought it was just OK. Didn't buy it. Now in Blue Moon City the war is over and the various races are now rebuilding Blue Moon City. </p> <p><i>Most of the buildings are not built yet, thus the tiles showing a sketch of the building. When a building is built, the tile will be flipped over, to show the full coloured drawing of the building. The numbers on coloured squares on the not-yet-built tiles show how many resources are needed to build the building. Players who contribute the required resources get to place a cube on those squares, and when the building is completed, they will be rewarded. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5143.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5143.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21882">Blue Moon City</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I wonder when Reiner Knizia first designed this game whether he had the Blue Moon world in mind. Blue Moon and Blue Moon City are very different games. It is possible that the Blue Moon theme was only applied after the game was designed. </p> <p><i>In this photo many buildings have been completed, thus the tiles are showing the full coloured drawings of these completed buildings. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5144.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5144.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21441">Mykerinos</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Mykerinos gives a similar feeling as Yspahan, in that it feels short, but somehow you feel you've had to make many tough decisions. It is fulfilling, and sometimes just feel too short (although it is a 45 minute game), because you wish you had the opportunity to do more. </p> <p><i>Han, Chee Seng, Ricky. We didn't finish this game of Mykerinos due to time constraints. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5145.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5145.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21441">Mykerinos</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>One of the toughest choices to make in the game is whether to take a card or to reserve a room at the museum. Most of your score will come from cards you collect, and the value of the cards is dependent on the rooms you reserve at the museum. So you are torn between getting more cards and reserving the higher-valued rooms at the museum. This is quite clever. </p> <p><i>Thick cards form a map, and players place their archaeologists (cubes) onto the map to do excavations. Players who did the most excavations in certain sections of the map will win the cards, which provide special abilities and victory points.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070221_5146.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070221_5146.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/21441">Mykerinos</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p><i>The gameboard (on the right) is small and represents the museum. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070401_5504.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070401_5504.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/19947">Ark</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I bought Ark when I was on a business trip in Manila. It wasn't a game I had on my wishlist (I always keep an up-to-date game wishlist, typed out neatly with lots of information and statistics in an Excel spreadsheet), although it did interest me earlier when it was first published. I have this habit of buying a game when I'm on a business trip, because I have the excuse of getting some traveling allowance so it is OK to buy a game even though it is slightly expensive. </p> <P>Ark is a game about Noah's Ark. The rain is coming so we need to help Noah load the animals onto the ark. There are many constraints like animal weights must balance, lest the ark tips over, and carnivores must not occupy the same cabin as other smaller animals, lest the smaller animals become lunch. So when first playing it it can be quite tricky to have to consider the many constraints. </p> <p><i>1 Apr 2007. Michelle, Jeanne. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20070401_5505.JPG"><img src="hcs_20070401_5505.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/19947">Ark</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>When I analysed the game, it is just another area majority game, which I'm usually not so keen about. An area majority game is where players compete to put their influence into certain areas, and those with the highest influence get the highest rewards, and others may get lesser or no rewards. However, I like this game more than I thought I would. Maybe because of the interesting mechanic, which ties in very well with the theme. Not a favourite game, but it is enjoyable. </p> <p><i>Every animal card is different, and the artwork is nice. But don't be fooled by the cute drawings. This is not a children's game. </i></p> </td> </table> <HR> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>Nov - Dec 2006</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20061126_4333.JPG"><img src="hcs_20061126_4333.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8481">Crusader Rex</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>In Nov & Dec I played much fewer games than in the previous months. </p> <p>Han and I played Crusader Rex for the 2nd time. The last time we played he also played the Franks. </p> <p>Crusader Rex is a block wargame by Columbia Games. The block system is useful in tracking the strength of your units (the number of pips on the upper edge indicates a unit's strength) and also for hiding information from your opponent. Blocks are only revealed when a battle begins. So your opponent can try to remember the details of your units after each battle (who it is, what's its current strength), but it is difficult to have perfect memory / knowledge. </p> <p>Crusader Rex is considered a relatively simple game among wargames, but I think this is the highest level of complexity that I can handle. It is by the same designer as Hammer of the Scots, which I own.</p> <p><i>Han played the Franks (which with my limited knowledge I just refer to them as the Christians) and I played the Saracens (which I just refer to as the Muslims).</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20061126_4334.JPG"><img src="hcs_20061126_4334.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8481">Crusader Rex</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Crusader Rex is about the crusades, obviously. The Saracens are trying to kick out the Franks. They start with more troops. Their troops are generally not as strong, but they are faster and more agile. They need to make good use of their initial advantage, before the stronger crusaders arrive. The Franks are stronger but slower (think of knights in heavy shiny armour). They start with less troops. But there are some strong crusaders waiting in England, France & Germany to come to the holy land. When they enter the game varies from game to game, partly depending on luck.</p> <p><i>That black block is the assassins. They can be used by either side. You can only use them if you draw one specific assassin card. </i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20061126_4335.JPG"><img src="hcs_20061126_4335.JPG" width=380 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8481">Crusader Rex</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>In this game that we played, Han played aggressively as the Franks in the beginning. Due to poor luck with the dice, he lost quite many troops. I think he probably shouldn't have taken too much risk. My Saracens were successful from the start to mid game. Han didn't manage to draw many crusaders from his pool of blocks, which is bad, because you need to draw the full set of three from the same country (e.g. France) before these crusaders can come out to play (fight). </p> <p>Somewhere in midgame I took a big risk trying to storm a beseiged castle. I failed to take the castle and my big army starved to death in winter outside the castle gates. And then Han's French crusaders arrived on the scene. Bad news for the Saracens because this meant the turn of the tide. However, upon their arrival the impetuous French army force marched to intercept one of my Saracen armies which was led by Saladin (very tempting target). They lost some soldiers during the force march due to the too hot weather, and also did poorly during the battle. So, unfortunately for Han, the arrival of the French crusaders did not manage to turn the tide for him afterall. The Franks conceded defeat in the middle of the final year because it was not possible for him to capture back enough victory cities by game end. </p> <p><i>A very long map</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20061220_4576.JPG"><img src="hcs_20061220_4576.JPG" width=280 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/822">Carcassonne</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>This was played at Hospital UKM on the day before Chen Rui was born. The doctor had recommended to induce birth. (No the doctor did not recommend playing boardgames) We went to the hospital at 8am on 20 Dec 2006. The doctor gave medication to induce birth at about 8:30am. And we waited almost the whole day.</p> <p>So I brought some games to play with Michelle at the ward. We played Mystery Rummy Case #1: Jack the Ripper, Mystery Rummy Case #4: Al Capone & The Chicago Underworld, Carcassonne and Lost Cities. </p> <p><i>Michelle still waiting for contractions.</i></p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20061220_4577.JPG"><img src="hcs_20061220_4577.JPG" width=280 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/822">Carcassonne</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Carcassonne is still one of our favourite games. We enjoy playing it with 2 players, because it becomes more strategic and less chaotic. Sometimes it still comes down to how lucky you are with the tiles you get, but luck is a much smaller factor compared to playing with more players. </p> <p><i>Baba, Mama, Shee Yun and Chen Rui. I have decided that Shee Yun will in future use the yellow pieces, and Chen Rui the blue ones. (I'm green and Michelle red)</i></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>