alli-alli-alhambra

this one is an interesting little card management, tile-laying game based on the andalusian moorish castle, the calat alhambra. each player is building one of the may palaces that makes up the alhambra by managing placement of tiles, each worth a certain number of victory points during the game and at the end.

to acquire more tiles each player has to pay a cost for them in one of four denominations (depicted by 4 different colors, orange, green, blue, and yellow).

each turn, a player can take one of three different actions:

•  draw a currency card. a player can take one card of a denomination above 5 and any combination of cards so long as the total denomination doesn’t exceed 5.
• purchase a building tile. if a tile is purchased for the exact amount, the player then gets another chance to take an action. no change is given for tile purchases, so if a tile cost 5 yellow coins, and all you have is an 8 yellow coin card, then you pay 8.
• rearrange or exchange a tile. players can move a tile from their reserve or to their reserve, or they can swap a tile between their alhambra and the reserve. the only constraint is that the new tile has to legally fit into the space of the tile sent to the reserve.

playing this game with me are jacob, jeff, and dave.

here is jeff looking dapper and debating the cost and placement of a tile...

..and here is dave contemplating his next action.

i like alhambra. It’s pretty easy to learn, game play is pretty straightforward, and it’s much easier to score than other tile-laying games like carcassone. i would recommend alhambra as a way to get new eurogamers to take the next step to something a bit more complex, but not overly so.

box image is property of queen games.  all other images property of little mens.

it's pretty much an homage to the entire sci fi ourve.

before last night’s game, i had only played race for the galaxy once before, and while i enjoyed the game, i didn’t really grasp the way that the rules and the cards worked together.  that point of view changed last night. 

at its core, race’s game mechanic balances card management and action choice, but there is a synergy between the various cards that a player can have in their tableau and the actions chosen by all players at the beginning of a round that rewards smart choices and flexible planning. 

playing are aaron, jacob, and i.  here you can see aaron explaining the various actions to jacob.

as we started and the game progressed, i continued to get more and more development opportunities…

… while jacob made a run collecting alien-centric worlds and developments…

…and aaron pulled some military, but seemed to miss out on the cards he really wanted. 

at the end of the game, jacob was the winner with a massive 54 victory points.  i was in second place with 34 victory points and aaron had 32. 

now that i’ve got a better grasp on how race for the galaxy is played and the various interactions possible, i think that this one will be a game that i play a heck of a lot more.

race for the galaxy is property of rio grande games.  all other images property of little mens.

well, that was weirdly prescient...

last night, i got in a game of cold war:  cia vs kgb with dave p. 

   

produced by ffg as one of their silverline games, cold war allows play as one of the two major intelligence agencies from the 60’s through the 80’s, the komitet gosudarstvennoy bezopasnosti and the central intelligence agency.  

the game is pretty straightforward:  a particular objective is revealed.  both intelligence agencies choose an operative who works to recruit groups to claim the objective.  each group has a point value and a special action that can be used as your agent tries to bring the objective into their sphere of influence.  the winner of the round then gets to add the objective score to their running total.  first player to 100 points is the winner.  

here the kremlin has claimed the objective.  which was a recurring theme for the entire game.  another point in favor of the game is that savvy play can stop a runaway victory by one player.  unfortunately, my play as the cia just wasn't good enough, and dave's kremlin took the victory.

while playing the game i kept getting a strong sense of déjà vu.  over a third of the objectives being fought over during the game are still global hotspots today:  libya, korea, egypt, et al.   kinda makes you wonder, how much longer those particular places will continue to have such a strong influence on global politics. 

like many of ffg’s silverline games, cold war is a a lot of fun, and the fact that it’s portable, has a neat game mechanic, and is quick to play means that cold war is definitely worth adding to your collection.

dominion

yeah, so what?  they can't all be super catchy titles.  jeez.

at the risk of sounding like a shill for rio grande games, today is yet another one of their games:  dominion.

a heck of a fun little deck building game, dominion has spawned several expansions, but the basic game is one that i would recommend to any gamer looking for a game that is both tactical and strategic yet quick to play.

the basic concept is that you are a motivated noble looking build the local area into your new kingdom (or dominion, if you will).  this is accomplished by building a deck of cards (that represents the entirety of your kingdom).  within this kingdom/deck are duchys, provinces, markets, villages, libraries, blacksmiths, and throne rooms, gold, silver, copper coins, et al.

this is all done by playing an action, buying a new card, and finally, cleaning up/discarding any cards in your hand and drawing new ones from your deck.   simple as:  a-b-c. 

The cards are broken down into treasure cards, kingdom cards, and victory cards.  the treasure cards are how you purchase other treasure, as well as kingdom cards (which have benefits all their own), and victory cards (which only give you vp at the end of the game).

to win dominion, you have to balance the acquisition of currency against the construction of helpful kingdom cards, and the purchase of victory cards.  too many of any one type will reduce how effectively you can build.

dominion is one of those games that pretty much everyone that has ever played it, is willing and happy to play it again.  and since a single game can be played in about 30 minutes (45 if there are new players), several games can be played in a get together.

in our first game, i was the winner, but during the second game where we substituted the militia cards with the witch and added in curses and gardens, jacob was the winner.  just look at him.  it's obvious.  he's a witch!

thanks to jeff, jacob, and adam for helping out with 30 games in 30 days, yet again!  and congrats to jacob on winning dominion!

next up is the game that kicked puerto rico out of boardgamegeek's #1 spot:  agricola.  this one will be played at chicagoland games (wednesday night is their board game night).  hope to see you there!

escaping the factory...

yesterday was scheduled to be rio grande games factory manager, but unfortunately i felt that between a long day of work followed by that sport of the gods (why, yes, i am referring to bowling!), i knew that starting factory manager around 10 pm would mean another long haul night of games...

...not that there's anything wrong with that. but after gaming late every night all last weekend, i opted for something lighter and easier:

cartagena? yeah, that'll do.

the game takes it's inspiration from the 1672 jailbreak of pirates from the prison-fortress in cartagena, colombia.  the game uses cards to move pirate meeples through a passage from the prison to a sloop waiting to set sail.  the players objective is be the first to move all six meeples to the sloop.

playing this time are ed, sarah, and i! 

since the battery on my camera died, i had to rely upon the cell for pics.  i know the quality is "meh", but that really is ed's face!

the rules are pretty simple.  use the cards in your hand to move your pirate meeples to the next open space matching the symbol on the card (bottle of rum, cutlass, tricorn, jolly roger, jail keys, and flintlock pistol).  if the closest symbol has a pirate on it, you can leapfrog the symbol and place yours on the next open one.  

to get more cards, you can fall back to the last occupied symbol.  if there is one pirate there, you get to draw one new card.  if there are two pirates there, you get to draw two cards!  a symbol can never hold more than three pirates.  each turn every player gets to take three actions to move their pirates or collect new cards.  

smart cookies that they are, both ed and sarah picked up on the rules quickly.  

but in the end, they were just a bit short as i moved the last three of my pirate meeples into the sloop in one go, but they did have some constructive criticism about my playing style:

 of course that could have been the pabst talking...

today's game?  dominion.

no ticket

actually, i'm lucky in that i do have a ticket...  a ticket to ride that is!

ticket to ride is a quick to learn card management game where your hand of cards help you build train routes across all of north america.  the challenge comes in that taking time to build a better collection of cards to claim routes gives your opponents the opportunity to claim the very route you want!

playing this one with me was adam, dave, jacob, and jeff. we got a bit of a late start due to a wedding i couldn't miss (congrats mike and mikey!) but wound up rollicking along pretty quickly.  unfortunately, that meant that i couldn't post this until the next day (as we wound up playing games from 9:30pm until about 3 in the morning!).  so there should be two posts for 03 april!

here we are after the first few rounds.  dave (red), jeff (blue), and adam (black) have started working the middle american routes, while jacob and i watch...

this is early in the middle game.  i'm still not on the map very much (i'm playing yellow), but notice that dave and jeff have started battling for the midwest, adam is working a midwest north/south route and claiming a nice long route from sault st. marie to montreal.  meanwhile, jacob (green) has started an unopposed run up the west coast. 

here are jeff and jacob looking so serious as they consider their next few moves...

...and here is dave mugging for the camera looking like he's caught a face full of cinders and dirty steam from a smokestack!

 

here's the end of the game.  it was a close run thing thing up until the end, with most everyone thinking they had a victory, but it was my last two routes (duluth to toronto and charleston to miami) and the fact that I had all of my destination tickets completed that put me over the top for the win and the longest route.  

all-in-all, it was a great game, and fun was had by all.  the general consensus is that ticket to ride is a great, lighthearted game that is easy to learn, challenging to play, and just cutthroat enough.  

next game up is rio grande games' race for the galaxy, a card game that chronicles your efforts as one of earth's colonies to settle the galaxy and build your galactic empire!

indiana jones and the last crusade is property of paramount pictures.  ticket to ride is property of days of wonder.  all other images are mine!