The first play of a game James bought at Birmingham's Games Expo in 2007. The original German name of this game is "Müll + Money" - or "Rubbish and Money", which isn't particularly enticing - but the environmental focus of the translation renames it Industrial Waste.
We consequently feared an overly "educational" game but this was unfounded and the game had some clever mechanisms, a fair bit of interaction, and a range of different strategies to pursue. In essence, each player is a factory owner who produces an item using a specific number of employees and raw materials. The side product is industrial waste. Research can be conducted into making the production cheaper and more efficient, or to minimise the waste. A careful balance between these options is needed. The competition is in the selection of action cards and the bidding for resources. And we learned to keep money aside to pay for the inevitable industrial accidents...
Final scores Stuart 56, David 45, James 39 and Kieron 33. The evening concluded with a nostalgic discussion of some great games we haven't played for ages. We agreed we should start the New Year with a stock take and remind ourselves properly of what's hidden away in our attics.
Wednesday, 26 November 2008
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Gnadenlos! - 19 November 2008
This was the first outing for Gnadenlos! or "Merciless" in English. Andy bought it for James at Colours in September after watching him pick it up and put it down about three or four times. In the game, players take the role of businessmen in a Wild West gold rush town who hire prospectors to work for them. These characters then compete to pan for gold, fight in shootouts, or play poker.
The cunning (and new to us) game mechanism is that these characters are acquired through bidding with IOU chits, and the IOUs are cashed in when triggered at later points in the game. There is also the possibility of retrieving IOUs, including those belonging to other players, which one can then use to bid again - but the IOU still has to be settled by the original player.
We felt this was a great Rivals game. Nice concept, neat mechanisms, good balance of skill and luck, and plenty of opportunities for interaction and laughter. Plus it can be played in hour.
Stuart won the first game, with Kieron and James joint second, and David bringing up the rear. In the second game, Kieron took first place, followed by David, James and then Stuart. Definitely a game to play regularly when we have only four players.
The cunning (and new to us) game mechanism is that these characters are acquired through bidding with IOU chits, and the IOUs are cashed in when triggered at later points in the game. There is also the possibility of retrieving IOUs, including those belonging to other players, which one can then use to bid again - but the IOU still has to be settled by the original player.
We felt this was a great Rivals game. Nice concept, neat mechanisms, good balance of skill and luck, and plenty of opportunities for interaction and laughter. Plus it can be played in hour.
Stuart won the first game, with Kieron and James joint second, and David bringing up the rear. In the second game, Kieron took first place, followed by David, James and then Stuart. Definitely a game to play regularly when we have only four players.
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