ÿþ<html> <header> <title>My boardgame hobby</title> </header> <body bgcolor="#FCFCCC"> <center><h2>My boardgame hobby - Oct 2005 to Feb 2006</h2></center> <hr> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>Jan - Feb 2006</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060108_1226.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060108_1226.JPG" width=250 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2453"> Blokus</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p> In January a batch of games I ordered from USA in Nov 2005 arrived. They include Blokus, Age of Steam, Tower of Babel, Pickomino and Mystery Rummy #4: Al Capone and the Chicago Underworld. Han also ordered 5 other games together - Crusader Rex, Lightning: Midway: Dungeon Twister, Things In My House, Rat-a-tat-Cat (last 2 are for his son).</p> <p>Han came to my place to play some of the new games and I also went to his place to try his new games. <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2453">Blokus</a> was played at my place on 8 Jan 2006. It is very simple and easily-taught. It's a good game to introduce to new players.</p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15510">Tower of Babel</a>'s rules seem pretty simple, but actually the strategies are not that straight-forward and there are multiple aspects to consider. It's not really a "introductory" game. It's quite clever and it takes a few games to get a better feel for the strategies. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060108_1227.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060108_1227.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/4098"> Age of Steam</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>I have read many times that <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/4098">Age of Steam</a> is a very unforgiving game. Maybe because I was prepared for it, it wasn't too bad for me on my first play. And also probably it's because I played a 2-player game (minimum is actually 3 players) just to get a feel for it. </p> <p>At the start of the game, you have just set up a railroad company. You have some cash, but you are already in debt because you owe your investors money and you have to pay them at the end of every turn. So, from the beginning you need to plan how to break even. You can issue more shares to raise money, but every share issued means more money to be paid out at the end of every turn. If your income does not catch up with your expenses soon, you will end up in a downward spiral and go bankrupt. Sounds pretty scary for a game, doesn't it? </p> <p>Well so far I've only played that one test game with Michelle and I like it so far. I look forward to playing more and exploring the strategies and tricks. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20060108_1228.JPG"><img src="hcs_20060108_1228.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/4098"> Age of Steam</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>My sister worked in USA for 2 months - Dec 2005 to Jan 2006, so I took the opportunity to order yet another batch of games. This batch included Elasund, Hacienda, Power Grid expansion (Italy/France), Age of Steam expansion (Korea/Scandinavia), Amun-Re and Lord of the Rings: Confrontation (Deluxe edition). Most of the games are still in Penang, but I asked Mei to bring Elasund to KK during CNY time. So I've played <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/19526">Elasund</a> twice now.</p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/19526">Elasund</a> is by Klaus Teuber, designer of Settlers of Catan. Elasund has some similar elements, and yet is still quite different. The complexity is similar. The use of influence cards is a bit confusing at first, but it'll help a lot if you're learning the game from someone else and not learning by reading the rules yourself.</p> <p>Feb was a poor month for gaming. Up to 18 Feb I have only played 4 games. I thought I'd be able to play many games during the CNY break, but turned out CNY break was a busy time, now that we need to take care of Shee Yun. It was actually quite tiring making so many CNY visits.</p> </td> </table> <hr> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td><u>Nov - Dec 2005</u></td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051127_0003.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051127_0003.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2651"> Power Grid</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p> Han came to play on 27 Nov 2005. We found there is a tendency for Michelle to win Power Grid because we always try to fight each other and leaving Michelle to take advantage of that, nºN—_)Rÿ </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051127_0002.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051127_0002.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2651"> Power Grid </a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Power Grid is a game about managing a power company - you buy power plants, buy resources (coal / oil / garbage / uranium) to power your plants, set up connections to cities to supply power, and make money. It is one of my favourite games. There is quite a bit of strategising and planning ahead required. </p> <p>I think this is a game that Michelle is good at because she likes games about making money.</p> <p>We don't use the paper money that comes with the game. We play using plastic money chips, which I think is much better. </p></td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051210_0004.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051210_0004.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076">Puerto Rico</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p> Puerto Rico is the Number 1 game at <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com">www.boardgamegeek.com</a>. I haven't played it for quite a long time. The last time I played was in December 2004, when I was still in Taiwan. I played it with my boardgang at the little wooden house belonging to Jessy's aunty.</p> <p>In December I started playing this with Michelle, using a 2-player variant (originally it was designed for 3-5 players). I found that I like it more than I previously thought. </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051210_0005.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051210_0005.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076">Puerto Rico</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Puerto Rico is a game about cultivating and growing your colony. You grow plantations, build buildings, bring colonists in to work at your plantations and buildings. And you produce goods - corn, indigo, sugar, tobacco, coffee - to be shipped back to the "old world" (Europe), or to be sold to make money. </p> <p>Like many German games the winner is determined by victory points (VP). And also like many German games, you can make money and earn VPs during the game, but victory is determined mainly by VP. So it is interesting how you need to balance between gaining these two things. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051210_0006.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051210_0006.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3076"> Puerto Rico </a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>My little colony!</p> <p>The rectangular cardboard tiles on the top left are the buildings. The square cardboard tiles on the bottom left are the plantations. The brown round flat cylinders are the colonists. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051212_0008d.jpg"><img src="hcs_20051212_0008d.jpg" width=300 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13">The Settlers of Catan </a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p> My colleague Russ came to play on 12 Dec 2005. He found <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3201">Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation</a> confusing. He won his first game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9674">Ingenious</a>, which is impressive (maybe because he's a Go - ôVËh - player), but his favourite among the games tried that day was <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13">Settlers of Catan</a>. Unfortunately he wasn't very lucky with the die rolls, and didn't make good use of the trading element of the game. So he didn't do very well in both games that we played. Michelle said we shouldn't have bullied him. :-P </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051214_0009.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051214_0009.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10814">Dawn Under </a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p> This is a memory game for children. It won the German Game of the Year award (Spiel des Jahres) - the children's game category. I bought this to be played with Shee Yun when she is older. Am I nuts or what? :-)</p> <p>Michelle and I played this a few times. She is better at this than I am. </p></td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051214_0010.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051214_0010.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10814"> Dawn Under </a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Everyone gets some young vampires. The objective of the game is to find graves for your little vampires to sleep in before dawn comes. So you need to find graves of the matching colour of your vampires. </p> <p>There are some twists that add a bit of variety and spice to the game. If you open a grave which already has another little vampire sleeping in it, you are punished by being given a stake (that black piece of wood in the centre of this photo). If you collect three stakes everyone gives you one of their vampires. </p> <p>You can place garlic in empty graves so that anyone who opens it will get a stake, but if you open it yourself later you get an even more severe punishment. And there are rat plagues which allow you to open multiple graves in a turn. </p> <p>When teaching children, probably it's better to omit some of these rules to keep things simple first, and only add them back when the children are familiar with the game.</p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051225_1056.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051225_1056.JPG" width=300 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/855"> Java </a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p> Java is a game you need to think in 3D. I have not played many games of this. I think it plays better with 3 players than 2. I think this applies to all 3 games in this series - <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/54">Tikal</a>, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/855">Java</a>, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/855">Mexica</a>. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051226_1064.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051226_1064.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br>Shee Yun</center></td> <td valign=top> <p> Shee Yun enjoys pulling things out from bookshelves. Hmm... I should be putting my boardgames on higher shelves.</p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1147">Outrage</a> is a game I bought in UK in 1997 when I visited Michelle. It's a game about stealing the royal crown and jewels from the Tower Castle. It's a simple roll and move game. I haven't played it for a long time. </p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/46">Medici</a> is an auction game. I think it's the simplest among Reiner Knizia's auction trilogy. The other two titles are <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/12">Ra</a> and <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/118">Modern Art</a>. </p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051226_1068.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051226_1068.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br>Shee Yun</center></td> <td valign=top> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1822">Wilderness War</a> is a wargame. I bought this end of 2003 (if I remember correctly) and still have not played it. Wargames and usually much more complex than German games. When I bought it the most complex "wargame" experience I had was <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/98">Axis & Allies</a> and its variant versions. I didn't realise that Axis & Allies are at the easiest end of the wargame spectrum.</p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3685">Hammer of the Scots</a> was inspired by the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart. I learnt from the rulebook that actually many aspects of the movie are fictitious. </p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/9625">Struggle of Empires</a> (the one Shee Yun is pulling with her left hand) is a game by Martin Wallace which I still haven't played. It needs more players to be good. </p> <p><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/13">Settlers of Catan</a> - the version I have is a Chinese version published by the Japanese company Capcom and is called "Catan". I bought this in Hong Kong in Oct 2003 and played it with Ah Chung and Ah Ben from 11pm until 6am. We played 6 games straight. </p> </td> </table> <hr> <table cellpadding=10> <tr><td><u>Oct - Nov 2005</u></td></tr> <tr><td> <p>October turned out to be quite a good month of boardgaming. I played 80 games! It's because I had a one week break back in Sabah and I brought back some games. I squeezed 6 games into the Ingenious game box after taking out the box insert - Ingenious itself, Mystery Rummy Case #1: Jack the Ripper, For Sale, Sticheln, Lost Cities and San Juan. Mostly it was Michelle playing with me, and we played Ingenious and Mystery Rummy the most. I also played For Sale and Sticheln with Simon, Ah Sheng & Ah Vin. Michelle and I played Sticheln with my mum, and she is very cunning. She won! (It was her first time playing)</p> <p> In November there were two good sessions. One with Ah Chung on the day before his wedding day, and also on his wedding day itself (Sat 5 Nov 2005), in Seremban. We played 12 games of Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation and 6 games of Lost Cities. The other session was on Sun 13 Nov 2005, when Chee Seng was back from Singapore. Chee Seng, Ricky and Cin Yee came to my place to play. </p> </td></tr></table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr> <td width=410><center><a href="hcs_20051016_0403.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051016_0403.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/106">Mystery Rummy - Jack the Ripper</a></i></center></td> <td valign=top> <p>Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper is one of the games that I have played the most. Based on my records, I have played this 110 times, and this is the third most played game in my collection, after Carcassonne and its expansions (165) and Ticket To Ride (116). The reaons? Michelle likes it because it's fast and we can play this on auto-pilot, i.e. do not need to think too hard because we're very familiar with it.</p> <p>In this game you can only play one gavel (hammer) card per turn, so when you have that many gavel cards... not good!</p> </td> </table> <table cellpadding=10> <tr><td> <center><a href="hcs_20051016_0405.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051016_0405.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/106">Mystery Rummy - Jack the Ripper</a></i></center> </td><td valign=top> <p>Shee Yun was sleeping on our masterbed so we played on the floor, using Shee Yun's cloth diaper as a "tablecloth". We lay our discard deck in a line rather than a real face-up discard deck so that it's easy to look through when we want to play a Scene card. A Scene card lets you pick any card from the discard deck.</p> </td></tr> </table> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td> <center><a href="hcs_20051022_AxisAndAllies.jpg"><img src="hcs_20051022_AxisAndAllies.jpg" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/10093"> Axis and Allies (Revised Edition 2004)</a> </i></center> </td><td valign=top> <p>On 22 Oct 2005 I went to Han's place for a game of Axis and Allies. This is the 2004 edition, which improved much on the previous Milton Bradley edition (which I also own) published in 1984 (I think). I played as the Allies and Han the Axis. This photo shows the situation in the first round during UK's turn. </p> <p>Unfortunately we didn't finish the game due to time constraint. But it was enjoyable all the same. </p> </td></tr> </table> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td> <center><a href="hcs_20051030_0490.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051030_0490.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/823"> Lord of the Rings</a> </i></center> </td><td valign=top> <p>In this game Michelle was Frodo, Mei was Sam and I was Pippin. We started Sauron at Level 13, which is slightly easy (Hard=10, Normal=12, Easy=15). We won easily, and no hobbit had to sacrifice him/herself for the greater good. We were pretty lucky with the tile draws.</p> <p>In this picture, I had a LOT of travelling cards, so I was well-prepared for the next (and last) scenario board - Mordor.</p> <p>Having played Lord of the Rings 18 times, 3 of which were with the Friends and Foes expansion, I find that I still prefer just playing the base game. The expansion makes it so much harder and I felt very constrained and do not have much choice. When so many foes appear, there is no choice but to defeat them. Maybe it's because I usually play with 2 players, so perhaps adding the Friends and Foes expansion makes things too hard. </p> </td></tr> </table> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td> <center><a href="hcs_20051031_0510.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051031_0510.JPG" width=320 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8051"> Attika</a></i></center> </td><td valign=top> <p>Attika is a game I like a lot, but have not managed to play as often as I'd like. So I still feel I'm not familiar with the strategies available and the tricks available. </p> <p>This game was inspired by the Age of Empires computer game (if I remember correctly). You build buildings and can make use of resource cards that you have or the resources on the map. If a resource on the map is covered, that means it has been exhausted. You can discover new terrain, which will reveal more resources.</p> <p>There are two ways to win, either you build your buildings to connect two shrines, or you are the first to build all your buildings. Connecting is hard because it is always easier to block someone else, but having it as a possible victory condition is a touch of genius, because while most people will try to build all their buildings as fast and as efficiently as possible, they cannot totally ignore the risk of someone connecting two shrines. That adds good tension to the game. </p> </td></tr> </table> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td> <center><a href="hcs_20051110_0536.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051110_0536.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/6351"> Gulo Gulo</a></i></center> </td><td valign=top> <p>Gulo Gulo (which means "wolverine") is a children's game that I bought for Shee Yun (although it'll be quite some time before she can play it). </p> <p>This is a racing and dexterity game. You race along a track and try to be the first to save the young gulo. To do this you need to steal eggs from the nest, without triggering the "egg alarm" - the long thin pole. On your turn you need to steal an egg of a specific colour, and these eggs of different colours also come in different sizes.</p> <p>This is a game that gives a natural advantage to children, because their hands are smaller and more nimble. It is colourful, and there is also some simple decision making.</p> </td></tr> </table> <table cellpadding=10><tr><td> <center><a href="hcs_20051113_0570.JPG"><img src="hcs_20051113_0570.JPG" width=400 border="0"></a><br><i><a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/354"> Sticheln</a></i></center> </td><td valign=top> <p>We had a good session on Sun 13 Nov 2005. We had 4 players - Chee Seng, Ricky, Cin Yee and me. We played Jambo, Sticheln, China, Halli Galli, For Sale and Ingenious. </p> <p>Sticheln is an interesting card game. I introduce it to other people as "something like bridge, but with a twist". "Sticheln" is German for "Needle". In this game everyone must choose a "pain" colour. During the game you try to win as many cards as possible. Each card not of your pain colour earns you one point, but every card that you win which are of your pain colour earns you negative points according to the face value of the card. That's why it's called the <font color="#FF0000">PAIN</font> colour. </p> <p>There is another twist which makes it the opposite of bridge. The first colour played instead of being the trump colour, is the weakest colour. All other colours played will the trump. It takes a few rounds of playing, and usually some PAIN too, before you can see how the game works. </p> </td></tr> </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> </body> </html>