by Lee Benson
Session Report #16: February 10, 2013aka "Alfred, come down here and…"
The Players
Amanda
Collin
Kyle
Lee
Mike
The Rundown
Thanks for coming back to read another late edition of Alfred, Come Down Here, where your intrepid cabal of uncaped crusaders fights injustice (boredom) by being vigilantes of the night (playing board games). This week, we met at my own home for what turned out to be a long and fruitful day of games.
There was lots of sneaky underhandedness in this round of Carc. We were convincing each other to make moves "that would be good for them," only to mess them up later. Amanda's big meeple was trapped on an impossible-to-finish road; Kyle had three meeples on roads with inns on them; Mike was locked in a death struggle with Kyle for farm control; and I had meeples in various awkward situations. In the end, Kyle won the farm battle, but was unable to complete any of his roads. Mike lost a lot of points when a cathedral was placed in his sprawling city late in the game. Amanda extended her farming on the other half of the board for some extra points. I grabbed the win, mainly focusing on cities and short roads.
Collin arrived as we were wrapping up, so after cleaning up, we decided on what to play next. We warmed up with Mike's new copy of Gem Dealer. Gameplay was pretty easy and straightforward, but most of us were having problems remembering to draw cards. I was able to grab three gem colors after an intense bidding war with Amanda. A few other players caught up, but after a lot of card flinging, I was able to grab a win when people were low on cards. We called this "The Munchkin Effect."
Mike's new copy of Ginkgopolis was up next. He explained the game to us as he set up. It was actually quite straightforward and we caught on quickly. Gameplay was quick save for the card drawing and deckbuildling phase. There was a huge battle for supremacy in a large blue zone. I focused on a yellow zone which I mostly had to myself. In the end, we were all relatively close in points, with Kyle and Collin earning a lot of end-game "prestige" points. Collin won with a score of 43, but we we were all quite close.
Medici was a favorite from the week before, so we brought it back to the table. It was still fun and extremely easy to play. Everything went smoothly. We were a little more adept this week and pricing things just out of an opponent's reach or making it costly for them without leaving you with the bag. Collin grabbed the win here with the help of a big wheat bonus.
Next up was Incan Gold. Collin played a psychological game, doubting people's bravery when they left. Mike, Kyle and I pressed our luck a little too much and were lagging behind. We had no choice but to continue on in the last round, but with three of us in the temples, winnings were meager. In the end, it didn't matter because we were killed by a rockslide. Amanda won the game by a single point (24 to Collin's 23)!
We got back into the heavier stuff with The Princes of Florence, a game that had hit my table about a month earlier. In that game, I was essentially eliminated early on when I went bankrupt. This game went much better as I actually made it to the end. Amanda employed a strategy of taking about half her money as points throughout the game. Most of us took all money in the early game and all (or mostly all) points in the late game for completed works. Kyle earned a good number of points near the end: Kyle with prestige cards and Collin with two completed works in one turn. However, Mike managed the win through a hearty combination of both.
We decided to end the night with a round of Bohnanza. If you saw our statistics post, then you'll know that Bohnanza is our favorite game. Early game, I pulled in a lot of coins with high-yield, rare cards. Meanwhile, Collin was trading out his beans nearly constantly, grabbing a coin here and there. There were lots of bizarre trades (par for the course), including one where I would owe Collin a card with a number of 10 or higher and two cards if the number was 20 or higher. The scores in the end of the game were amazingly close. I had 15, Collin and Mike had 14 and Kyle and Amanda had 13!
That was it for the day. After collecting ratings, thoughts and game bags, everyone headed off into the night.
The Statistics
# of games played
8 plays of 8 games
Median year of games played
2003
Average playing time
48 minutes
Total Time Spent Playing (according to game lengths on BGG)
6 hours 20 minutes
The Ratings
:star::star::star::star::star: - Equivalent to a BGG rating of 9–10. Loved it and would play it every session.
:star::star::star::star: - Really enjoyed, but wouldn't want to play every week.
:star::star::star: - Could take it or leave it.
:star::star: - Did not enjoy it, but could be talked into playing it again.
:star: - Equivalent to a BGG rating of 1–2. Hated it and would not want to play it again.
Bohnanza - :star::star::star::star::star: (5.0)
Incan Gold - :star::star::star::star::halfstar: (4.6)
Carcassonne - :star::star::star::star::halfstar: (4.4)
Medici - :star::star::star::star: (4.2)
Ginkgopolis - :star::star::star::star: (3.8)
The Princes of Florence - :star::star::star: (3.2)
King of Tokyo - :star::star::star: (2.8)
Gem Dealer - :star::star::star: (2.8)
The Highlights
Amanda's one-point win in Incan Gold.
The Achievements
No achievements unlocked this week.
The Gallery
