Artificium & Ra - 29 June 2017

Another play of Artificium, a clever resource chaining card game.  David scored 62, Andy and James both 54.  The rules claim that "if two or more players have the same number of victory points the game is tied and all tying players win!" which suggest Andy and James were the joint winners, but we generously allowed David his victory.

We played Ra - for the first time in quite a long while.  Lots of fun and winding up as usual.  Andy just squeaked a win by a single point.  Final scores Andy 50, James 49 and David 31.

Mamluk Egyptian DBA Army

I finally finished the Mamluk Egyptian DBA Army that Adrian bought me a couple of birthdays ago.  They are opponents for the Knights of Malta among others.  The original pack was a V2 army so I bought a number of additional figures to address the changes and flexibility required by the new V3 army list.

The Cavalry General is accompanied by four compulsory and two optional Mamluk cavalry units:

Other mounted are Turkmen and Bedouin light horse:

And the infantry comprises (from left) Psiloi archers and naffatun throwing incendiaries (which I converted from Assyrian slingers), Auxilia javelinmen and Warband ghazis (armed with swords and kite shields), an element of mutatawwi'a horde, and two halqa Bowmen.

Ready for battle!

Clash of Clans - 15 June 2017

Andy and I met this week to fight for the first time with the Samurai armies that Adrian painted for us.  The leaders of our clans first met on the battlefield to discuss peace terms but then decided to roll their aggression dice instead.

As defender, Andy (top of photo) laid our the terrain and James (bottom) decided to attack over the difficult hill and hold the banks of the river within reach of the initial deployment.

Unfortunately, when testing the river, James rolled a 6 (one of few he rolled ;-) which meant the river slowed progress and could only be crossed by single elements or columns.
 

A series of 2 PIP dice from James and sixes from Andy, meant James couldn't safely get across the river and Andy pressed up on his right flank and repositioned to hold the difficult hill on the left.

Soon Andy burst across the river in numbers and pushed James off the bank, taking casualties.

On the other flank, James started attacking Andy's Auxilia in the difficult hill - which we accidentally allowed to fight as Blades but they still started taking losses.

Both clans had lost two elements each but James left flank was in disarray and under a lot of threat from Andy.  So James managed to get in and around one of Andy's blades and his general for a couple of 50/50 rolls that would either win it - or leave him even more vulnerable.  Sadly for Andy it paid off, with rolls of 5/2 and 5/1 killing off Andy's 3rd and 4th elements, and giving James' Hojo clan the win.

A slow game as we're still not acquainted fully with the V3 DBA rules but a lot of fun.  Key learning points were:
 - a difficult river isn't a particular class of Going that means elements use their Bad Going speed, everything moves at 1 BW per turn
 - we forgot about command distance which is important when Generals are in terrain or troops behind hills
 - and Andy's Auxilia who played as Blades made us wonder when we would ever use the 4 Auxilia option over Blades, since the latter are so much better, and none of the Samurai historical enemies have Knights.  We decided we'd just agree to both use them or both not in future civil wars!

Phalanxx - 8 June 2017

Another play of this interesting game.  Andy was building up his army strength to play a particular card but unfortunately (or fortunately for us) there wasn't enough game time for him to attack - which is necessary for the end game bonuses.  So David and James pulled away in the final scoring, with David just inching ahead.

Final scores: David 60, James 57, Andy 37.

Peloponnes and 7 Wonders - 25 May 2017

James and Andy at David's and we settled on old favourite Peloponnes to start the evening. A number of extreme strategies ensued as James (faced with the increasing population civ) went for high wheat producing tiles. David went all-in on wheat resulting in a peak of around 40 luxury goods. Andy approached things with more balance which is arguably an extreme strategy for him.

James found it hard to keep his population fed and expand his empire at the same time. Andy was able to pick up a final round tile to boost the points for his low population bringing him into contention, but David's massive luxury goods stockpile enabled him to weather the disasters and just edge ahead.

Final score (Pop/Prestige): David 36/31, Andy 28/36, James 27/22


With some time to spare we played a round of 7 Wonders. James played extreme again, ending up as the only person collecting science cards. David tried to do a bit of everything else, but didn't get much traction. Andy went for military and prestige buildings and managed to secure victory.

Final score: Andy 55, James 52, David 51

Puerto Rico - 17 May 2017

A welcome return for Puerto Rico (still number 12 on Boardgamegeek) for James, Adrian, Stu and David.  Two rounds of exceptionally well timed production and sales set David up for what proved to be an unstoppable victory.  At some point we'll play it regularly enough to try out the expansion pack with a new set of buildings that has been sat in the box, unplayed, for about 15 years...  Final scores: David 45; Adrian 40; Stu 37; James 32.

Imperial Settlers - 10 May 2017

Second play of Imperial Settlers.  Stuart won with the Romans, using their Engineers to destroy other players' cards.  David was second with the Japanese, with the reduced opportunity for trading this time with the threat of trade disruption from James' Barbarians, who came last.

I was concerned that the result was exactly the same as last time we played it.  I was partly right - but not about the settlers.  I managed to come last with the Romans the first time we played it, and Adrian won with the Barbarians with a huge score!  So it's me not the game... or at least possibly my bad luck in which cards in the deck actually come out.  Definitely one to play again soon.

Final scores: Stuart 51, David 44, James 40