Session Report for Saturday, 8/18/2007

11 gamers, 7 games

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Coloroetto

(Drew, Chris, Ty, Nick, Marshall)

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Duell

(August, Robert)

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High Society

(Drew, Chris, Ty, Nick, Marshall)

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Amun-Re

(Chris, Scott K., Drew, Nick, Marshall)

This was a very tight game of Amun-Re. Nick got out to a big lead in the Old Kingdom on the strength of winning most pyramids on a side and having a set. I think he had 18 Old Kingdom points which is pretty huge.

The sacrifices took some dramatic swings this game, we swung from level 1 to level 3 and back, once almost hitting level 4 which is rare.

Towards the end of the New Kingdom a big fight developed for most pyramids on the Abydos side of the board. Drew decidedly ended the fight by putting 5 and 2/3 pyramids on that province. That was beneficial to me though, as I won most pyramids on the other side of the Nile with 4 in Abu, but I was also able to make two sets.

After the final sacrifice Nick went fishing for Power Cards, using all three items of his reward to draw from the Power Card deck. He was probably looking for a specific scoring card but he didn’t find it as he sold back all three cards.

After most of the scoring Nick and I ended up tied at 35 points. We then scored the money and I had a few more gold then Nick so I got third place in the money total and an additional two points, which secured the win.

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Shogun

(Kevin, Ty, August, Karen, Robert)

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Through the Desert

(Drew, Scott, Chris, Greg, Marshall)

My oh my the board is tight with five players. There wasn’t much room to maneuver.

Scott boasted that he could pick the winner just based on the set up phase, but I don’t think he ever made his prediction so now we’ll never know how good his powers of prognostication are.

There was quite a run on purple camels this game and they ran out quickly. It looked like Greg was going to run away with it because he managed to get two longest caravan bonuses, but Scott edged him out on the strength of some good closures and touching lots of oases.

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Taj Mahal

(Scott, Chris, Marshall, Greg)

This was my first game of Taj Mahal and I’ll say that it’s definitely recognizable as a Knizia design. It’s a game of efficiency where cards are resources and you need to get the most out of each one by changing them into palaces and goods which score points. It’s also a game of chicken where knowing when to blink is the key skill.

It’s one of Knizia’s rare heavier designs (which also include Amun-Re, Tigris & Euphrates, Lord of the Rings, and possibly Modern Art) and there is a lot going on. You have to manage connections between your palaces, the white bonus cards, collecting goods, and keeping your hand size up all the while choosing your fights carefully against your opponents.

In this game I slowly pulled out to a lead based on a steady accumulation of connection points but Chris won some big rounds and at the end surged ahead with long connections of his own. I think it’s quite a fun game, definitely up there with Knizia’s best, but I wonder if it’s not too chaotic for its depth. It seems like a couple of rounds of bad luck in your bids can do you in through no fault of your own. But I’m sure that mitigating that luck is a key skill to be developed in the game.

-- MarshallPhilips - 19 Aug 2007
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