Navegador - 31 October 2012

Our Halloween game was Kieron's choice of Navegador (which Adrian also has, looking at the single recorded blog on this game from last December).  It has a number of familiar elements - the rondel, the market, and a range of optimisation options with different strategies to follow.  Unusually, there is no formal scoring until right at the very end of the game, so it's genuinely uncertain who is leading at any time.

Four of us went for very singular strategies and were surprised how close our final scores were.  Andy had a little bit of everything but didn't get the benefit of the multipliers that the rest of us got.  And it was so close that it was money (1 extra point for each 200 credits) that enabled Kieron to pull out in front.

Final scores (and strategy): Kieron 73 (factories), Stuart 71 (exploration), James 68 (churches), Orhan 67 (shipbuilding), Andy 30 (little bit of everything).

Black Powder - Zulu Wars, 22 October 2012

An extra half-term bonus figures game in the form of Black Powder Zulu Wars at Adrian's.  The scenario saw a British column advancing to liberate a Boer homestead overrun by Mblini's impis and deal a punitive blow to any of his warriors they came across.  The column consisted of two brigades, the first commanded by Orhan of 3 companies of the 24th Foot and a Boer commando in skirmish order.  The second, led by Kieron, was made up of 2 more companies of redcoats, a Royal Navy landing party, a skirmish unit of Natal Native levies and a Gatling gun and crew.

The British column advances, with Boer skirmishers out in front

The Brits, spotting Zulu skirmishers in the homestead, gave the order to advance and engage the enemy, with the rear company on the left flank forming up to screen the flank of the column.

The advance company of redcoats backed up by Natal Native levies as seen from the homestead.

With the British committed on their right flank, the Zulu commander (Jonathan) unleashed his impis against the British left, with the traditional clashing of assegais on shields.  Moving from off-table, the 'Right Horn' of the Zulu 'Buffalo' - 3 impis and a skirmish unit helped by a good command role - crashed into the midst of the column and massacred the Gatling gun crew (albeit at heavy cost having suffered pass-through fire from a company of the 24th), with one impi charging on past the wagon train hoping to cut off the lead British units.

As one impi charges across the road, the Gatling gun and crew is wiped out

Having undergone the shock of ambush, the British officers dressed their lines and massed volley fire saw two impis cut to pieces (with YouTube helpfully providing appropriate sound effects from the film...).

Volley fire from the thin red line about to give what for to two impis

But this turned out to be a false (zulu) dawn for the British column.  Mblini's elite warriors (the 'Head of the Buffalo') joined the fight from the left flank whilst the 'Right Horn' sallied out from the hills behind the homestead - and experienced the only command blunder of the game, sallying too far to their own right thus denying them the chance to run down the Natal levies.  In the centre the fight was hanging in the balance, the British volleys not quite managing to keep the warriors at bay, and the first British company going down under the stabbing spears.

Having despatched the first British company, an impi (left) turns to surround another British unit

With their backs against the wagons and the Zulus pressing on, the redcoats sought to keep the distance from their adversaries, but the weight of numbers was against them.

The British companies are assailed from all sides

The final British stand was made in the rough and hilly ground, the three remaining companies of the 24th and the Naval Brigade standing shoulder to shoulder but without any barricades to hold off the enemy.  As the distance closed to hand to hand it was all over for Her Majesty's forces.

The trap is closed

The game played through very smoothly and quickly - we were all done in 2.5 hours.  We realised we had made two main mistakes with the rules, one in the Brits' favour and one in the Zulus'.  For the Brits I permitted the infantry companies to use skirmish formation despite it not being specifically an attribute of these troops.  This allowed enhanced firing dice and mobility which made a key difference early in the game. But against the Brits we forgot for a few turns that natural 6's on shooting dice cause disorder, and we also forgot the inhibiting factor of disorder/being shaken when it comes to charging home - so the Zulus got off a bit more lightly in the early turns than by rights they should have done.  So perhaps these aspects more or less balanced out.  We also didn't really remember the special abilities of the redcoats or elite impis either, but there you go.

Overall it was a great game, which felt very plausible and was heightened no end by the film soundrack with Michael Caine and Stanley Baker crying out 'First rank, fire! Second rank, fire!" etc etc.  Definitely worth me continuing to paint up units for this period - perhaps for another outing at Xmas.

Notre Dame - 17 October 2012

A trip over to Andy's and a quick return to Notre Dame to try to embed this new game in our heads. This time we played it as a 5-player game and it played just as well.

This is one of those games where it doesn't pay to plan too far ahead. You need to have a flexible strategy to react to the card choices you face at each turn, and decide whether to risk short term gain against the chance of being stuck without cash or influence markers for a turn or two.

Orhan took himself out of the game early by making a big payment for a large number of prestige points, but then the fall of the cards meant he struggled to get back into the game. Plague struck early and James, Kieron and Andy chose to ride it out while David ended up with more hospitals than he wanted as he was passed them turn after turn.

The funniest thing for me was the perception that I had a grand plan involving the prestige bonus from the parks. It all came about by accident as I'd decided to avoid the park (following James' difficulties last time) but ended up being passed so many that I was getting +2 every time I earned any. This helped me squeeze into a win ahead of James who got to 86 with no park bonus.

Final scores: David 92, James 86, Kieron 70, Andy 76, Orhan 52

Kingsburg - 10 October 2012

Round at Orhan's for a game of Kingsburg this week - blogged about a couple of times before but the first time Andy and I had tried it.  I enjoyed this game - it has a great mechanism which at first, looks like there is more luck in the game than there really is.  But looking at other players' dice rolls and trying to work out where they want to place and either block them or finesse the placing of your own dice to maximise your collection of resources makes it much more thoughtful.

Orhan took an early lead by building along the bottom rank culminating in an Embassy which accrued points every turn.  Andy took the holy approach building chapels and cathedrals which took him up to second place.  Kieron, David and James had a more balanced approach.  The last battle saw Andy's non-aggressive stance shaken and his cathedral was destroyed, sadly demoting him to last place in the final throw of the game.  Final scores: Orhan 50, David 39, James 37, Kieron 36, Andy 32.

This looks like a popular game with a lot of awards under its belt and a number of expansions, although none of those I looked at expand it beyond five players.

Notre Dame - 3 October 2012

First outing from one of James' purchases from the Games Expo back in May - Notre Dame.  This Rio Grande game had a good BGG write-up and was a Spiel des Jahres recommendation (amongst other accolades) when it was released in 2007.

Utilisiing a clever modular board that fits neatly together for anything from 2 to 5 players, the game represents the boroughs around Notre Dame, with the players being Parisians who use influence to build a residence, a local park, and donate to the church to increase their prestige.  Played over three sets of three rounds, there are some neat mechanisms with action cards (choose from a few, then pass the decreasing choice to the player on your left), buying favours from character cards, and trying to combat the regular effects of the plague.

The best strategies (used by Stuart and David) seemed to work on building up influence, then money, and then chasing prestige.  Alternatives like prestigious buildings and travelling (James and Andy) didn't fare so well this time, and Andy and I did feel stuck at a couple of points.  But we all enjoyed it, and after running through the rules, we played it in around 1h40m, so easily time for a quick game afterwards next time.

Final scores: Stuart 89, David 70, James 48, Andy 44.