Christmas Gaming - Stone Age

Christmas break is now over for me, and we didn't get nearly as much gaming in as I was hoping we would.  Sickness (kids, us and guests) kept us a lot more low key, and led to naps (especially by me) during our normal gaming times.  We did manage to get a few games of Stone Age in, but only two player. 

Stone Age is still a new game for us, so we are both still testing various strategies and playing styles.  In Stone Age there are two ways to trigger the end of the game; build the last hut in a pile or if there are not enough Civilization cards to replace all four slots on the board.  One thing I have noticed is that with 2 players, it seems to be the huts that end the game, not the cards.  Its not all that surprising considering that the number of hut piles changes depending on the number of players (though the amount in each pile stays the same) and the number of civilization cards stays the same.  We did have our first game with the civilization cards being the end game condition, but I have noticed that we the score from the cards seems to dominate the hut score, even with the huts ending the game.

My board at the end of the game where we ran out of civilization cards.

Christmas Gaming - New Game!

Christmas and New Years holidays often lead to a lot of gaming for me.  Time off, not so nice weather and a lot of planned visiting are probably the primary reasons.  This is the first time in a few years that I haven't had a couple of weeks off, so we will have to see how true this holds.

This is also a time I often receive new games as my family knows I like boardgames.   I never know what I am going to get, but I have also dropped hints here and there as to what new games I am eyeing.  This past weekend we had a Christmas gathering, and one of the gifts I received was Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries.

My collection already includes Ticket to Ride (original North America map), Ticket to Ride: USA 1910, Ticket to Ride: Europe, and Ticket to Ride Map Collection: Volume 2 – India & Switzerland.  The original, European and Swiss map are played regularly in our house, and most often as a 2-player game, so another smaller (max 3-player) map is exciting.  I am also of Nordic descent, so there is a thematic bonus as well, which I am sure wasn't lost on the gift giver.

Although we have played Ticket to Ride many times, and I have played this map a couple of times in the past with some friends, I decided to scan the rules before we played, and I am glad I did.  There are a couple of differences in the rules from the other versions we have around the wilds (can only be used on tunnels and ferries) and being able to use groups of cards as wild (on ferries and on one specific route).  I wasn't so sure about these rules but decided to try them for the first few games before modifying them if necessary.

After first game

Weekend Gaming - New and Familiar Worker Placement Games

Weekends tend to be a time when I get to play a few more games, and new games tend to be tried on the weekends due to this. This weekend I played a new (to us) game, Stone Age, with my wife a couple of times, and also had a chance to play this and Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small with a friend, who was new to both games.  Both are worker placement games.

Stone Age is a game that I have had my eye on for a while.  I had come across it on Board Game Geek while browsing for games, and having played and enjoyed Agricola I was checking it out.  Somehow this was suggested as a similar, but easier introduction, to worker placement games.  My wife and I had the opportunity a couple of months ago to play it at a board game café on a date night, and I really enjoyed it.  This led to a purchase a couple of weeks ago, but it wasn't until this weekend that we had a chance to play it.

Stone Age is a worker placement game where you represent your tribe, and try to score the most points.  Your workers are used to improve your tools and agricultural abilities, grow your tribe, gather resources, collect Civilization cards (end-game scoring mechanics with some immediate benefits) and build buildings (in-game scoring).  At the end of each round you need to make sure that you have enough food to feed your tribe, from agriculture or hunting.  The resource gathering is based on dice rolling, where you roll a die for each tribe member you placed at that location and divide by a factor (two through six) depending on the value of the resource.  The buildings and civilization cards are based on using certain numbers of any resources, or in some cases specific resources.

Board roughly mid-game

7 Wonders - Wasted plays

When playing any game, I find that there three situations that can contribute to a win or a loss; how you play, how your opponent plays, and luck of the cards/dice/etc.  One of the reasons that I enjoy 7 Wonders so much is that it is rare that I feel that the luck of the cards is the reason for a win or loss.  Yes, it can make some difference, and it definitely affects how you play, but there always seems to be decent options with the cards you are presented. 

I often let my wife pick which boardgame we play, as it is usually me wanting to play a boardgame in the first place.  7 Wonders is one of her favourites and is relatively quick to play, which is why we have played it so much lately.  This weekend we played again, and this was one of the games where in hindsight I realized that my play is what caused me to lose, due to wasted plays.

Like many of our games, and as I previously posted about, the leaders I ended up with affected my strategy.  This time my plan was based around Phidias (one point per brown card) and Imhotep (wonder stages cost one less resource), I also had a couple of leaders that were just straight victory points.  The conflict between these card should have been obvious; one directs you towards lots of resource cards, and one away from needing them.  It is an even bigger error when you consider that the wonder I had, Olympia, has a brown resource already, only needs common resources to build its stages, and a low number of them (only two per stage).  I used my leader for the 2nd age to build the 2nd stage of my wonder; this allowed one building to be built each age for free.  Because I had so many resources, I never ended up using it. Yes it allowed the 3rd stage to be built, but for 2 cards 7 points should have been easily achievable, even in the 2nd age. 

Final card layout (me at bottom)

It should be pointed out that my wife played well, and took full advantage of her wonder, which definitely contributed to the final score of 64-53.  It just goes to show, that even with a game you have played many times before, it is important to pay attention to your strategy!

Hearthstone - (free? or pay?) to play

Hearthstone is a game that I have been playing on and off for a while now.  Actually, to be fair, it has been pretty regularly (2-3 times per week), but for shorter (1/2- 1 hour) times.  It is a free game to play, but with options in the game to pay to accelerate access to some portions of it.  One thing I struggle with is whether to keep it free, or to spend a modest amount on it.

The items that can be purchased right now either the main single-player campaign (which was a previous expansion) or more card packs, which contain 5 random cards.

Opening a Card Pack

An upcoming expansion, Goblins vs. Gnomes, has over 120 additional cards, and come in separate card packs from the current cards.  I have been following the release of the cards a little bit and have been interested in the cards that I have seen so far.  This has led me to be even more tempted to spend some money on the game.  As part of the pre-release, all of the new cards were made available in the Arena portion of the game, where you build a deck by selecting one of the three random cards they present you (regardless if you have it in your collection).  They also gave a free entry, and I went on to have my best arena run ever, ending up with 6 wins before I hit 3 losses.  So far the new cards have lived up to my expectations.

Goblins vs. Gnomes Arena Announcement

Finished the Arena Run

Throughout my play time I have manage to save enough in-game gold to purchase 4 out of the 5 wings of the single-player expansion, and I haven't been saving for the last one since the cards gained through it don't seem as worthwhile for me.  I have been using the gold I earned recently to try and purchase as many card packs as possible prior to the launch.  I do not have a lot of the current cards, especially the more powerful epic and legendary cards.  This has led to times where I find that I am playing against a deck that just seems to have better cards and it really isn't a fair fight.  However, for the vast majority of the ladder games I play I find that I usually end up at a level where the other players have comparable decks and it is a lot of fun.

Playing my Mage Deck

The other option I have is to play the arena more.  For each entry of 150 gold you are guaranteed a minimum prize of one card pack, a 100 gold value.  The arena is designed to level the playing field as your card collection is irrelevant, but there is still some luck in which cards are presented for you to pick from.  As well, once the expansion goes live, all packs earned here will be of the expansion cards.  I could easily see myself doing this a lot more in the next little while.

For now my intent is to continue to try and play it as a free game, but we will see what happens once the expansion is released in full.

7 Wonders - Leaders Influence Strategy

When playing 7 Wonders, I find that the strategy I use is influenced by the wonder, leaders and early cards I get.  I find that with the 2-player version this is even more true, as I can control (to some extent) what cards my opponent gets to see.

Last night my wife and I got a game in, and this was a great example of the leaders influencing my strategy.  I drew Rome (A) as my wonder, which means that I was able to recruit leaders for free; this allowed me to pick the expensive leaders, with potentially the highest reward from them.  I ended up with Ramses, Justinian, Nebuchadnezzar and Sappho (leaders can be viewed in the rulebook here).  Throughout the game I ended up playing the first three, leading me towards playing a balanced game of military (red), science (green) and civilian (blue) cards.  This is a big change for me, as I tend to play by focusing on one area and almost never go for civilian cards.  The final results can be seen in the picture below; I am at the bottom, my wife at the top and the neutral to the left.

Completed Game

 

Justinian was a success, as I managed to get 3 sets of the red, blue and green cards, and in doing so even managed to win the final round of military combat, and complete a set of scientific cards.  The big disappointment was the guilds, which I was counting on scoring well with due to being able to play them for now cost with Ramses.  The 5 that ended up in this game just didn't work for many points.  I ended up playing just one, and for only 4 points as my very last play.

 

In the end the final score was 65 to 55, with me being on the losing end.  Even with the loss, a 55 score is not bad and has won games before.  I am enjoying the fact that the wonder and leaders I get can have such an influence on the strategy I employ.  It not only makes me try interesting combos, it also keeps the game fresh, as each one can be completely different than the previous.  There is also enough leaders (36) that you don't see the same ones game after game.