So you think you saw the last of Heng’s gaming report. Fat Chance! It’s time for another round of….
Boardgame Wars II: The Return to Kopitiam
(a.k.a. BGC OTK 19 Jan 07)
This gaming session lured two dormant gamers, Long (Lostboyz) and Ainul (aanemesis) out of the woodworks to join Jeff (jack208), Henry (ryhen) and Heng (ayheng) for a gaming session within the hip and happening crowd at OTK (Old Town Kopitiam). Yeah, yeah, we are vain, we know, we like to show off our hobby to the world. And we also happen to like our coffee to go with our boardgames. Long was lured out by the promise of ‘no traffic jam’ while Ainul was lured out by the promise of good 18XX game. Hopefully, they got what they want!
At 8.30pm, I arrived at OTK to find gamers Long, Ainul and Jeff already in the middle of a game of Coloretto.
This is a game of ‘chicken’ and collecting card sets. The objective of the game is to collect card sets of your own color while avoiding taking colors different from your card sets. The ‘chicken’ aspect comes when you are deciding between going for the easy points or building up your own set of cards at the risk of being tainted by other players’ intervention.
Ainul checking his cards to make sure he’s putting the orange card in the right set!
I was surprised to see the game being played as open information (cards revealed to all) rather than closed information (players’ cards are secret). This actually makes the game more challenging and less random. Thanks, Alvin, for teaching us the wrong gameplay during the Cameron trip! This original version of gameplay is more tense, and has a messing-with-other-players’-plans factor. Definately will play this version next time. (Btw, thanks Alvin also for the Coloretto b’day present!)
When the three of them finished up, I was still in the middle of my tasty Ipoh Hor Fun dinner. But that didn’t stop me as we start a four-player game of Blokus Classic.
me having dinner while playing… who says you can’t play with your food?!
The first Blokus game was rather peaceful as Ainul is new to the game and we didn’t want to show him all the dirty tricks in the book. Jeff won this one handily and we quickly played another.
a peaceful game… wide open spaces…
The second round of Blokus opened with a host of nasty opening moves by all the players. Long even gave some tips to Ainul at Jeff’s expense! This led to Jeff’s being assaulted on three fronts to an early defeat. This also led to Jeff’s claim that the game is broken! (Yea, when you are the winner of the 1st game, you are public enemy no#1!) This is all in good nature jest, of course. Thereafter, Long and Heng went at each other’s throats as they correctly surmised that Ainul posed the least threat as a newbie. However, Ainul played some good moves of his own, surprising Long and Heng, to eke out the win.
By this time, Henry arrived just in time to start a 5 player game of Caylus. Supposedly not a favourite of Jeff’s or Long’s, but definately a favourite of Heng’s and Ainul’s, due to the game’s complexity and mechanics. As a 5-player game, resources are scarce and the players have to scratch their head a bit harder to earn their victory points.
Long experiencing a bit of analysis paralysis as he try to figure out the best move.
Castle building is tight in this game, with many players taking their turns in the castle. Jeff made the first move in the castle while others scrounge for more resources. Heng decided that the castle is overcrowded and spent his time building the city of Caylus instead. As the first part of the game closes, the Bailiff called for the dungeon section of the castle to cease building. Although not all of the dungeon is built, the Bailiff cared not for such incompetence and moved the castle construction along. The dungeon scoring saw Jeff getting a favor from the King for helping out with two sections while Heng was penalised for contributing nothing.
The next construction stage saw the building of the towers and again Heng risk the King’s fury for ignoring the crowded castle. This time, however, the other players caught on and started building out the city of Caylus to win prestige for themselves. Jeff continued his castle strategy and complement it by sending his knight out jousting for the King’s amusement. Jeff continued to earn favors upon favors from the King with his strategy. Meanwhile, Henry concentrated on stockpiling his money for a big job in the future. Ainul and Long both went for a balanced strategy and had their hands both in the castle and city pie.
The end game saw Jeff, Heng and Henry in good positions as they built a prestige building each. In the end, Heng was declared the master of Caylus as he won (narrowly) by his city building strategy. As resources were tight in this game, right till the end, it’s difficult to come out with a sure-fire strategy for winning. The points were very close in the end as well. This game still takes some thought to plan and execute, particularly since the strategies and tactics are flexible depending on other players’ movements.
Our next game however, is pretty easy and refined. Some of us even have our own strategy down to a fine art. It’s a game of Puerto Rico, grand daddy of the Eurogame genre.
Henry, Heng and Ainul contemplating their moves in Puerto Rico.
In this game, there are two core strategies for playing. They are the building and shipping strategy. True to form, Jeff emerged victorious with a balanced approach between the two strategies (building early, shipping late). Henry went for a pure building strategy and finished second. Heng went for a shipping strategy and finished third. (Heng was also saved by a combination of good luck and bad plays by his opponents as he narrowly avoided being screwed by being shut out of key trades and shipping.) Long and Ainul saw their strategy went nowhere as their early hospice was nullified by Henry’s mayor tactics.
As the clock struck 12am/pm, Long bid the other gamers goodbye. The other gamers continued on, shifting operations from OTK to BGC (BoardGameCafe) premises with a heavy game of 1856. As everyone present was familiar with the mechanics of the game, Jeff plunged headlong into highlighting the difference between this game with other 18XX series. This took about 30~60 minutes and then the game begins!
Heng! What are you doing? Err… dunno… everybody watch out for the hot sun?
The auctioning of the private companies saw Jeff and Heng obtaining two companies while Ainul and Henry got one company each. Claiming priority, Ainul started up the first company, WGR. Henry started BBG while Heng scratches his head and started GW, the company with the best starting position. Unaware of the screwage to come, Jeff started LPS.
A little bit of comment here: Most players started their public company according to the private companies that they bought during the first round auction. This is not really a good play but since everyone was still blur as to the public companies’ capabilities, almost everyone sought to use the power of their private companies by setting up companies to benefit from the private companies. This was done regardless of the public companies’ potential profitability.
Second bit of comment: money is rather tight in the game and most players found it hard to invest in public companies other than their own. Most players again floated their company on too low a par value due to the money scarcity. This is not a good play as well, because the low capitalisation will cause problems in the future. When the public company requires funds to upgrade its trains, the public company’s capitalisation will go a long way into ensuring that it can continue to issue dividends while still having enough money to invest in trains.
As the public companies’ are being floated and operated, their first priority was to connect to its target destination as stated in the respective public companies’ charter. This is to ensure investor confidence and the bank’s release of public investment funds held in escrow. GW, WGR and BBG reached their target easily enough but Jeff’s LPS got screwed by an accidental track laying by Heng’s GW, blocking his railroad from further expansion. This placed a dent into Jeff’s plans as he has to now search elsewhere to invest his money temporily away from a stunted LPS.
Woohoo! Dividends time, money, money, money.
As the companies’ operation start ramping up and trains get sold out, newer models of trains started entering the market, promising greater efficiency and return on investments. By now, companies are starting to generate comfortable profits. New towns are being connected. Trade is bustling. Jeff’s LPS can now finally connect to the GW line courtesy of the invention of the combined track. 
Sorry for screwing you, man! Tension is starting to pile up, however, as CEOs start to watch their cashflow in preparation to upgrade obsolete trains.
Third bit of comment: GW with its repertoir of 4 train stations was reaping lots and lots of profit while other companies with less stations found it hard to expand and to block competitors. Again, train stations quantity is a serious consideration for investment and potential returns.
It is about this time that everyone grew confident to startup another company. Citing a dismal future with LPS, Jeff started WR while Henry started CPR. Capitalising at a par value of $90, WR drew a sizable investment from all parties. And it operates promisingly too, paying out good dividends to all loyal shareholders. But then, Jeff executed the dreaded HotSun manuever. What happens is a blur to all as it was quite late/early in the morning. What I can surmise is as follows:
1. Jeff used WR to buy all the trains in LPS for an obscene amount of money, effectively capitalising LPS and crippling WR in one stroke.
2. Jeff dumped all his shares in WR to the open market, effectively passing the controlling stake to Ainul. (all this while adhering to the Stock Exchange Commission’s ‘50% stock in open market’ rule.
3. Ainul now owns a useless company with debts. Ainul was effectively ‘HotSun-ed’!
4. In hindsight, Jeff planned it quite early on as he made some curious move of getting government loans but not using the money. It should have screamed: Hot Sun alert!
Stock dumping! WR shares rock bottom!
Jeff then uses the money to build up LPS to more glory. Ainul by this time was completely blur as to what had happened and went on playing with two debt-ridden companies. Jeff used his money to startup a new company, GT. However, due to the stunt pulled earlier, it did not attract outside investment and was unable to capitalise fast enough.
In a curious turn of events, Jeff made a blunder and purchased a level 6 train, triggering the formation of the CGR (Candian Government Rails). Jeff’s poor GT was stuck with debts while he was doing so and was so absorbed by the government. Ainul’s WGB was also beyond redemption and has to be absorb into what now appears to be a behemoth entity. The CGR apparently does not have to play by a few rules and its potential is staggering. Unfortunately the game have to be called here as it was 4.30pm. Luckily we have a photo to commemorate this momentous event:
CGR online!
the board is actually quite nice with all the tracks laid out towards the game’s end.
Now that we have reached the climax of the game, the next target is to continue the story of the CGR monster and finish 1856! Thanks to all for a great gaming session!
He didn’t have to worry… this is sweat drenched us posing after an hour trek in the jungle.
LoStBoYz: