Wichita Boardgamers

Session Report for Friday, 01/06/2006

MarshallPhilips -

19 Players, 22 Games

Wow, that was some game night last Friday! I counted 19 players (that’s more unique players than we had all of last year!) and 22 games (at one point 5 going on at once). Welcome to all of the new players I hope you had a good time and will be back again.

As you might expect this session report is going to be a little longer than previous ones. I tried my absolute best to get everybody’s name right and to record which games were played. I apologize in advance if I got anything wrong. Please correct any mistakes I made, I would genuinely appreciate it if for no other reason than to keep the database accurate

As usual feel free to add your comments.

---

Ticket to Ride (Cristy, Kevin L., Richard, Marie)

MarshallPhilips -

Richard and Marie were the first new players to show up. They were very enthusiastic and motivated to learn some new games. I intended to play in this game with them but some more new players came in and I had to excuse myself to greet them and get them started. From what I heard of this game it was a great success and that Richard and Marie really loved it. If you’ve never heard of Ticket to Ride it is a train game where you’re goal is to connect various cities across America and Canada. It is generally considered and excellent “gateway” game which means it is perfect for introducing to people not used to designer games. If you are new to designer games I do highly recommend getting this one, it’s hard to go wrong.

---

Rumis (Marshall, Joan, Landon, Jordan)

MarshallPhilips -

I had to excuse myself from Ticket to Ride to meet Joan and her two children. They had read the article and were excited to learn about these games. Initially they wanted to try Settlers of Catan since that is a game they had read about and we actually began setting it up. But as we were laying out the tiles Joan mentioned that they had come across a game called Blokus and had loved it. At that point I said we should set Settlers aside and try a game called Rumis. I know I said Ticket to Ride is a great gateway game but nothing beats Rumis in this category. The rules can be explained in less than one minute, the game is simple yet compelling and visually gripping. It never fails to please new gamers. Joan’s kids took to it right away and were quite good at it. It is basically like 3D tetris in which you’re trying to place your blocks of various shapes in a pyramid getting them as close to the top as possible in order to score points. You can imagine that it’s best to cover up the blocks of other players but you are required to touch one of your existing blocks with every new block you place. So keep your options open!

---

Rumis (Scott K, Greg, Shelly)

Scott K. -

We wanted to play a game of Guillotine with Joan and her children, but they were deep in a game of 10 days in the USA, so we decided to squeeze in a game of Rumis while waiting. It is a nice quick game that is easy to explain. I am not a very big fan of Tetris, and the first time I played this game I wasn't too sure if I liked it or not. The more I play it though, the more I like it. I really need to bring my wife to one of these game sessions, because this is one (out of many) games I think she would enjoy.

---

Ra (Scott K., Mike, Kevin K. Chris, Drew)

MarshallPhilips -

Let’s see what I can remember about the one time I played Ra about two years ago. It is a pure auction game set in ancient Egypt. You are trying to acquire various tiles in order to score points, there are River tiles, Monument tiles, God tiles, Flood tiles, and others I’m sure. They all score points in what can be a bewildering variety of ways. The real trick to this game though is the way the auctions work. Basically you are not free to bid whatever you want, you have a set of Sun tiles with different values on them and you can’t make change. The neat thing is that when you win an auction the Sun tile you use to pay for it becomes part of the pot for the next auction. So every time you win an auction not only do you get the tiles you wanted you also get another Sun tile! In this way the Sun tiles circulate around among the various players and everybody is rich and poor at some point. The key then seems to be to get more out of the auction than the tile you are using to pay for it is worth, not an easy thing to do! This game is highly regarded on BGG and two copies entered the group over Christmas so I’m sure we’re going to see it a bunch going forward. Rah Rah RA!!

---

10 Days in the USA (Tim’s wife, Joan, Landon, Jordan)

MarshallPhilips -

After Rumis I set up Joan’s family with a game of 10 Days in the USA, Tim’s wife (Tim owns the store) was nice enough to join it. 10 Days is a neat game of plotting a trip through the United States. There is one card in the deck corresponding to each state and as you collect the cards you put them in your rack in any order you want. The goal being to construct any valid 10 day trip where a valid trip is one that moves from state to adjacent state. The restriction is that once you place a card in your rack you can’t move it, no matter how much you may want to (and you will want to) all you can do is replace and discard it. Once you get 10 cards in order such that they constitute a valid trip you win. Things are spiced up a little bit with some special cards like automobiles and airplanes but that’s the gist of it. This is a great game to play with the kids because you can’t help but learn a little geography while you play but all they know is they’re having fun!

---

10 Days in the USA (Scott K., Greg, Shelly)

MarshallPhilips -

Am I imagining things or did I see this game going on? I’m not sure if these players actually played this game but I think they did.

Scott K. -

Yes, Marshall, we did play of game of this. This is a game that has rather simple rules, but I seem to have a lousy time explaining them. Due to that, I believe this game was not enjoyed as much as it could have been if we would have had a better teacher (like Marshall perhaps?).

---

Guillotine (Marshall, Greg, Shelly)

MarshallPhilips -

After Rumis I met Greg and Shelly (friends of Scott K. I believe). They were interested in trying Guillotine, I guess Scott had been talking it up to them! We set up for a three player game and I explained the rules to Shelly. Guillotine is meant to be a humorous game in which you’re trying to “collect” the heads of revolutionary era French nobles. The more famous the noble the more points his head is worth! So if you manage to “collect” King Louis that’s 5 points, the piss boy is 1 point, and the Hero of the People is minus 3 points (apparently the mob is angry if you cut his head off). The game is played by forming a line of nobles heading for the guillotine and then players take turns playing action cards from their hands in order to manipulate the order of the line. The goal is to move the valuable nobles forward and the innocent ones to the rear. After an action card is played the player “collects” the head of the first noble in line and play moves to the left. If you get the humor of this game then it is quite fun, I think Greg and Shelly really liked it.

---

Guillotine (Scott K, Greg, Shelly)

MarshallPhilips -

Once again am I imagining this game? Did it happen? Was anyone else involved? The database wants to know.

Scott K. -

Once again, you are correct. This was the game we were going to play with Joan and her kids, but I believe they were looking at the miniatures that some people in the store had and then I believe you talked her into a game of Tower of Babel. This is a game Greg and Shelly really enjoyed. I believe we played two games of this, with myself winning one and I think Shelly stomped us in the other.

---

Tower of Babel (Marshall, Richard, Marie, Joan, Landon)

MarshallPhilips -

Tower of Babel is a new game I got for Christmas and it has all the makings of a good gateway game. The rules are simple, the artwork is evocative, the decisions are interesting, and the play is fast paced. The players’ goal is to complete the eight wonders of the world (yes I know there were only seven in real life, that’s the funny thing, the mechanics of the game guarantee that the eighth can never be built). In order to build a wonder the requirements for stone workers, camel caravans, cargo boats, and cranes must be met. These requirements are provided by cards from the players hand but the requirements are generally too steep for one player to satisfy all by himself. Thus when the active player decides what he wants to work on he entertains offers of assistance from the other players. He can accept or reject any offer he wants in order to get his work done. Offers that are accepted allow the offering player to get workers onto the wonder (workers are converted into points) whereas offers that are rejected are awarded points immediately as compensation. The amount of points awarded being proportional to the size of the offer. There’s another layer of rules about collecting and trading construction chips which I won’t go into here. Suffice it to say the decisions about how much to offer and which offers to accept or reject are quite compelling and make for a thoroughly engaging game. I look forward to playing this one many more times.

Scott K. -

I have to get a chance to play this at one of the game sessions. I really enjoy Knizia's games and seeing as how Marshall really likes this game, I am sure I will as well.

---

Samurai (Cristy, Kevin L., Clint)

MarshallPhilips -

Clint is another new player who showed up but he already had some experience with designer games having played Settlers and Puerto Rico. Samurai is another visually interesting game that is quite elegant and great for new gamers. The goal in Samurai is to gain influence in the three castes of feudal Japan. There’s the religious cast (represented by Budda’s), the peasant caste (represented by rice paddies), and the warrior castes (represented by ceremonial warrior hats). Players use their influence chips to capture figures of each caste from the board. The twist in this game (there’s always a twist isn’t there?) is that your score isn’t simply the sum of your captured pieces. First, in order to win, you must have a majority of figures in one caste, if you don’t you can’t win the game. If you do then you are still eligible for the win, next you set aside that caste in which you have the majority and count the remaining figures, that is your score. It sounds complicated but it’s not and it leads to some interesting decisions on what you want to go after during the game. If you haven’t played this yet then by all means request a game next time, you won’t regret it.

---

Torres (Mike, Kevin K., Drew, Chris)

MarshallPhilips -

Ok, somebody help me out here. I know nothing aboutthis game.

---

Through the Desert (Clint, Patrick, Chanelle, Richard, Marie)

MarshallPhilips -

Two new players joined us at this point Patrick and Chanelle. It turns out that Patrick is the President of the WSU game club. They mostly play RPGs but they do also play boardgames of all types. Patrick, I hope to see you again and any of your members who are interested at our future sessions. At this point I suggested Through the Desert but sat out because there wasn’t enough room (and to recover a little bit to be honest). Through the Desert is another Knizia game (along with Samurai and Tower of Babel) that is considered an excellent gateway game. In it you control a certain number of caravans and you are trying to extend them so that they reach oases, watering holes, and so that they cordon off areas of the desert for themselves. But you can’t cross through opposing caravans so there is a certain “race” element in trying to cut off the other caravans before they cut you off. The thing of note about this game is the color scheme which I can only describe as pastel. Frankly I love it because it is something different; the camels look like little delicious pieces of candy! This is another game that has quickly become a favorite of the group and if you missed it last time I’m sure you’ll get another chance.

---

Through the Desert (Scott K., Greg, Shelly)

MarshallPhilips -

I’m pretty sure this game happened as I was sitting right next to it!

Scott K. -

You're correct, Greg, Shelly and I were able to sneak a game of this in. I really enjoy the speed of this game. I do not win very often, but I enjoy it and many people I have introduced this to have liked it as well. My wife absolutely hates this game, but I chalk that up to my lousy teaching and the fact she was the first one to play against me. My kids love it and even my five year old understands the basic rules and can play it. Marshall always seems to manage his different camel carvans very well and I think that is the key to this game. Greg won this game by doing just that, he was able to enclose a decent size area and get three out of the possible five longest lines for a good amount of bonus points.

---

Boomtown (Mike, Kevin K., Drew, Chris)

MarshallPhilips -

I’ve been wanting to try this game. I believe it has something to do with auctioning off mining rights in an old west setting. The auction payments are unique in that you pay one half the cost to the person on your right and he passes one half to his right and so on. Or something like that I’m not really sure.

---

Coloretto x2 (Scott K, Greg, Shelly, Cristy, Kevin L.)

MarshallPhilips -

Coloretto is a fun and light card game about collecting sets of colored chameleons. The more chameleons you get of a matching color the more points they are worth but watch out because only three colors score positive points, the rest are negative points (fortunately each player gets to chose which colors will be positive for him). There are 7 different colors so it’s difficult to limit yourself to just getting 3. The way you get the colored cards is that on your turn you take the top card off of the deck but you can’t keep it. Instead you have to place it in one of the rows in the center of the table. Each row can hold three cards. If, instead of drawing a card, you want to take all the cards in a row you may do that and add them to your scoring pile. You are then out for the remainder of the round until everyone has taken cards from a row. The strategy is in placing cards in rows because if you place them poorly you will make a very profitable row for somebody and they will snap it up before it gets back around to you. This is a good filler game that plays very quickly; it’s great for opening up the session and for killingtime waiting for another game to end.

Scott K. -

As Kevin Li mentioned, he also played this and we plyed two games of this. This is another quick, somewhat easy game to learn and another game of the many I think my family would enjoy.

---

New England (Drew, Kevin K, Chris)

MarshallPhilips -

Uh oh, I didn’t hear good things about this when the game was finished. It seemed there wasn’t much interaction. I believe I had read that the game was only considered really good with 4 players so perhaps it should be given another chance. I’d be willing to try it as it looks interesting. Check out the picture I took of the game here:

http://games.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/wichita_boardgamers/photos/view/6d87?b=1

---

Yinsh (Marshall, Cristy)

MarshallPhilips -

Yinsh is a two player abstract game that most resembles Othello (although in truth only superficially, it is much better than that game). Yinsh is part of the Gipf project and if you’re wondering what all these strange sounding names mean then read this session report where I described what the Gipf project is:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/wichita_boardgamers/message/104

I’ve been getting more and more intrigued by games in the Gipf project and I so I had ordered Yinsh and picked it up that very night. I’m very happy with it. Games in this series are completely themeless and have perfect information, just like chess. However they require only about one tenth of the mental effort that playing chess does and they generally can be finished in only 10 to 30 minutes. It makes for all the fun of chess with much less of the work. I think that’s why I like them.

---

Betrayal at House on the Hill (Patrick, Chanelle, Kevin L, Clint, Richard, Marie)

MarshallPhilips -

Patrick had brought with him this game which is kind of a hybrid rpg. It looked very interesting but I knew I was going to have to leave soon so I didn’t join in. Maybe someone involved in the game can give an account of how it went. At the time I left it looked like everyone was having quite a fun time. I snapped this picture just before I took off:

http://games.ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/wichita_boardgamers/photos/view/6d87?b=2

KevinLi -

The point of this game is to act out a bad horror movie. The six of us played explorers who were trapped in a haunted house. We all started in the foyer and as we explored the house, a random room tile was drawn and added to the board. Many of these rooms had special effects, or required drawing Event or Omen cards. The results were what you might see in a movie -- we discovered secret passages, heard bone-chilling screams, had the floor collapse under us and got trapped within the rubble, discovered mysterious old books, and so on. For each Omen card that was drawn, a Haunt roll is made to see whether this is the omen that sets the plot of the story in motion. In our case, the Haunt was triggered when my character discovered the mysterious book. The book turned out to be notes for creating a Frankenstein monster. My character was driven mad and became determined to create another monster, using the other players' characters as spare parts. My character and the Frankenstein monster I discovered ran around attacking the others. Pretty soon, everyone was dead except Marie's character. She waited in the chasm room with the narrow bridge and lured my monster there. After a short battle, her character managed to push my monster off the bridge and into the bottomless pit. This broke the spell on my character and saved a win for the heroes.

---

Transamerica (Scott K, Greg, and Shelly)

Scott K. -

To finish up the night, we played a game of Transamerica. Another game with fairly quick rules and this was a game I had played with Greg before. Basically this is a train track building game where you are building a train track to five different cities in the US. Each player takes five cards that have cities listed on them. Each card must be one of the five different colors that are available. Then the players take turns placing track pieces to try to connect all five of their cities before the other players do.

---

And that’s it. If there were any games that I missed then please let me know.

Also, I want to thank Tim from Agents. He went above and beyond in accommodating our group. Both game stores have done us a fine service by providing free space and support. Stores like these only exist if they sell games; every game I’ve purchased since I’ve moved here has been through either Agents or PDC, that’s the only way I know to pay them back.

Scott K. -

I would also like to thank Tim for the great accommodations. I really enjoy playing at Agents and always look forward to our meetups there.

---

With the smashing success of our first game session I think we’re in for a big year. I can’t wait for more.

MarshallPhilips
to top