Category: Board Games

We met at Keith’s house this month for the November, 2009 installment of Analog Game Night. We thought we’d have 7 which usually causes us to break up into two tables but a last minute “can’t make it” brought us down to 6. I was a bit worried that I’d only brought a few good 3-5 player games but Jared bailed us out by bringing Bootleggers and Bob was backing up with TransAmerica as was Keith with I’m the Boss and King of the Elves.

We decided to give Bootleggers a go since we’d not played that before and I was pleasantly surprised. It took us about 4 hours to play given rule reading and our normal methodical pace but I was surprised at how fast it went.

Each player acts in the role of a mob boss managing the production stills that generate crates of hooch. To sell your hooch you need to invest in different sized trucks to ship them to the speakeasies that are open for buying. Players also vie for the controlling interest in the speakeasies by placing influence “gangsters”. There is a pecking order as to who’s trucks of crates will sell before others and the speakeasy doesn’t necessarily buy all that’s for sale. Crates of hooch that sell grant the seller cash as well as bonuses paid out to the majority stakeholder in the speakeasy.

Players vie for turn order by simultaneously placing a uniquely numbered card. Higher numbered cards go before lower numbered cards but the higher the number the more you pay to play the card. Going early gives players dibs on the numerous “action” cards that are on display each round as well as a “buy a new truck” card. The “action” cards come in several flavors but in general they’re good for you (e.g. get a new hidden still in the woods, roll more dice for hooch production, get a “gangster” for placement into a speakeasy, etc.) or a “thug” card which is usually used to attack or modify the rules of engagement (e.g. place a hit on a rival gangster, steal an empty truck, take majority control of a speakeasy for a round, etc.) The game also features a negotiation phase where players can attempt to rid themselves of crates the can’t or are choosing not to load onto their trucks. Players are free to negotiate whatever terms for the transaction but there’s no guarantee that the players stick to the agreed deal. They are gangsters…if you remember and stabbing each other in the back is, well, part of the territory.

The game is relatively random and there are a lot of opportunities to screw your neighbor but that’s the game and with the right crowd it’s fun to play the role of putting the hit on other mob families. I knew I was in a losing battle for dominance in any speakeasies so I went for the all out production route and bought a large fleet of trucks and had lots of production capability usually producing 12-15 crates of hooch every turn. In the end, my sales were just driving up the bonus points for others and I couldn’t keep up and come in near the end of the pack.

Bootleggers is a fun game if you’re in the mood for some gansta-fun. The game has some great production qualities with the nice plastic trucks and gangsters. Copies of the game are currently inexpensive and relatively easy to find.

In a little more than 2 weeks, I’ll be able to take possession of my “grail” game. I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Great Lakes Games Convention at the beginning of November where not only many of the newly arrived Essen games will be unwrapped and played but I also found someone willing to part with their copy of Tal der Könige.

Tal der Könige is long out of print and it’s relatively difficult to find copies for sale in the states. It seems to be more easily found in Europe but as luck would have it I stumbled into this sale and I won’t have to pay shipping.

So what’s a “grail” game and what’s so special about Tal der Könige? A “grail” game is a game that, for an avid board gamer, falls in the “must have” category for whatever reason (rational or otherwise). They’re usually hard to find and/or very expensive and obtaining a copy represents the culmination of effort, patience, and unfortunately usually money.

Relatively speaking, Tal der Könige isn’t ranked very highly. But it isn’t a slacker either at 6.72. Designed by Christian Beierer, it was published in 1992 by Kosmos and supports 2-4 players for about 60 minutes. It comes in a horrific neon and triangular (yes…triangular) box but the game itself is very beautiful. The game requires players to bid, bluff, auction, steal, pillage, and scrape together materials to build pyramids on the large triangular board. The game presents some nice “screw your neighbor” opportunities so it may only play well in the right crowd.

But, for me, the biggest drive to obtaining a copy was that the game just looks damn cool.

The image above courtesy of Toynan on BGG

My latest BGG image upload for Primordial Soup.

I finally beat Lisa in a game of Dominion. Did you feel it? Yes…the end of the world is surely just around the corner.

I’ve been trying, although apparently without measurable progress, to contain my game collection to a cabinet/shelf unit to the right of a large armoire in a common area in our house. It was a losing battle and games had begun to pile up on top of the game cabinet. Where do you put 130+ games? At times I needed to stand on the arm of the couch, lean out, and stretch to grab some of the boxes perched precariously near the ceiling. For me, the guy that can throw out his back while flossing, the “maneuver” bordered on extreme sports. As my will power waned and as time progressed I ran out of room and, unfortunately, right next to the shelf was an expansive flat spot…the top of the armoire. In my house, flat spots emit light and sound proportional to their flat-spottiness. Light and sound like that found only behind cherubic halos coupled with choral music announcing epiphanies; a beacon to all that needs piling and stacking.

I’d recently gotten lazy (only recently?) and when returning “top shelf” games to the shelf, I’d placed them on top of the armoire rather than mustering sherpas, donning oxygen tanks, and climbing Mt. Everest to find a spot on top of the game shelf. I’d not taken the time to restack the games and the number of games on top of the shelf had dwindled to a respectable (is that even possible?) size numbering only 8-10 games; the treeline of my game mountain. However, the top of the armoire, proving to be a highly fertile area, produced games in numbers above 20; a side effect of not only lazy restocking but also the release of pent up board game acquisitional behaviors.

Lisa had mentioned that she’d noticed that my games (*my* games…honey…they’re *our* games) had recently grown quite dramatically. After stammering something unintelligible about stacking, good deals, generous friends, free games, and games I need to get rid of I think I blacked out. I could hear my voice saying things but my comprehension had dwindled to that only found when listening to a Peanuts school teacher. I snapped out of my surreal experience when Lisa said, “You don’t have to justify them. I just noticed.”

Thanks hon. Do you want to play a game? Let me get the ladder…

Click and thumb if you’re so inclined.

CABS held their 10th annual Buckeye Game Fest this past week(end) and I had a great time. I attended Thursday and Friday nights, worked in the games library and registration desk, and played games for most of Saturday. By Saturday evening I was exhausted and thought it best to head home. Unfortunately I started getting a sore throat by Saturday night so it’s probably a good idea that I didn’t push it and try to attend on Sunday.

You can usually find somebody to play about any game you can imagine. CABS has over a thousand games in their collection and available for check out with just a driver’s license or credit card. The convention is run relatively well and for the most part it’s a giant open gaming forum. There are some fixed events and small tournaments but in general it’s all about providing a big space for people to play games to their hearts content.

But it can be rather daunting to the uninitiated. Working at the registration/library desk exposed me to all kinds of people and I really tried to help the people that made the attempt to come to the con but seemed overwhelmed by the choices. The tables can be somewhat clique-ish and if you’re shy at all about talking to “strangers” or asking to sit in on games you’ll find yourself with nothing to do but stand around wondering why you came.

I think the convention could benefit from a bit more scheduled items catering towards the new people…the families and couples that like games and made the huge step of even coming but aren’t ready to drink from the gaming firehose. Something like reserving 3 or 4 tables for one “gateway” game being taught by someone who can manage all the tables but isn’t necessarily playing. CABS was giving away a free game to every registrant, why not teach those games to people?

I don’t have a lot to say about each of these images but they do represent a few of the games I got to play (when I remembered to snap a picture). I’m already looking forward to next year.

About two weeks ago I bid on a copy of Colosseum in an “anything goes” auction. I bid an amount of money that I suspected would not be enough but I figured I would test the waters. As I expected, I was quickly outbid by others offering comic books, DVDs, electronic games, etc. The winning bid was a board gaming friend of mine, Tim Thorp (berserkley) with a bid of:

1. 1 long M:tG card box (red) filled with sleeved red cards (commons, uncommons, lands, maybe even a few rares)
2. 1 sealed tin of NASA Apollo program metal collector cards (5 metal cards in the box)
3. 1 never played Wings of War miniature (Spad XIII Baracca), still in box
4. 1 boxed Hallmark Christmas ornament (1955 Chevrolet Nomad wagon)
5. 1 Crimson Skies Aces Pack, still sealed (set #2: Deadly Duo)
6. Alan Moore’s Miracleman, original issues 4,5,6,7 as well as Miracleman3D issue 1, with 3d glasses that came with the issue.

Tim occasionally comments on items here on Marquand.net and I feel like I’ve gotten to know him relatively well and I was happy to see that he won the bid. Not long after the auction closed, I received an email from him asking for my home address. As crazy as it sounds, he was wanting to send the game to me as an early Christmas present for the Marquand household. I was speechless! I’m extremely grateful for the gesture and it’s difficult to find the words to express my gratitude. Tim, I thank you and my family thanks you for your extreme generosity. There’s hardly a day goes by that I’m not amazed by the generosity and kindness shown by those on Boardgame Geek. What a fantastic group to be a part of.

Late Saturday night, we’d gotten home from a trip to Indiana and there, waiting for me on the front porch, was the game. After some yard work and clean up around the house today, plus packing away Valdora still set up on the dining room table, I couldn’t wait to set up Colosseum and start reading through the rules. Unfortunately, we’ve got some things going on tomorrow that will keep me from playing any test rounds tonight and I’ll have to pack it away before bed. But you can rest assured it’s coming out tomorring so that I can get the rules down for the upcoming Buckeye Game Fest later this week.

Thanks again Tim and remember, Santa’s sleigh travels in both directions…

My copy of Valdora arrived today along with a couple of games (A Castle for All Seasons and Sushizok im Gockelwok) I’ve got earmarked as give-aways for the Great Lakes Games convention coming up in early November.

I looked around numerous places for Valdora and given that it does not have a US publisher it was more difficult to find than your run of the mill Euro. However, Abacus, a German company, has done an excellent production job with the game and given that the rules and cards include the English translation I’m not sure a US publisher is necessary.

Valdora is a Michael Schacht creation (Coloretto, Zooloretto, China, Hansa, …) featuring a pick up and deliver mechanism and some very unique wooden “books” that are used throughout the game to reveal cards to the players.

Unfortunately, I’ve only gotten Valdora out on the table for a rules run-through and to play a few learning rounds…no real play yet. However, I’ve got the Buckeye Game Fest coming up next week and I’m really looking forward to getting this one to the table if not once, maybe multiple times. I’m a sucker for Schacht designs…maybe Die Goldene Stadt should be on the short list now…

I pulled out Java tonight and played a few rounds for three in solo mode. It’s been a very long time since I’ve played but the richness of the experience came back very quickly. My recent game night featured Mexica and with the “mask trilogy” juices flowing I just couldn’t resist blowing off the dust and seeing if it still felt like it did. I remember it feeling heavy, thinky, analysis paralysis prone, and relatively complicated. But with so many different games under my belt now, it’s really not that complicated. Now, playing well is another matter but the mechanics are downright straightforward. I need to get this to the table soon.

I’ve recently turned on a chess-playing coworker to Hive and his mentioning today that his order was on the way got me thinking about other two-player games that he might like. I’m not much of a 2-player abstract lover and unfortunately I don’t have any of the Gipf Project Series in my collection so I opted for pulling out Santorini for a quick run through and a solo play refresher. Taking it into work and see if he likes it.