Hi Rich,

> Who's ready to don a Pith Helmet and explore....

When I can find my wife I'll see if she would like to come.  "Dr. Markus, I
presume."

Kris

Lawrence and Dave arrived for games tonight.  After a roundabout discussion
of what to play (and what not to play), we decided to give Yspahan a try.

Yspahan is one of the latest games that tries to marry multiple means of
converting resources into victory points.  Players can gain camels, gold, or
goods.  The camels and gold can be used to make buildings (granting special
powers).  The buildings themselves yield victory points as more are built.
The goods can be used to occupy fixed areas (called souks) on the board.
Larger areas that are harder to reach worth more points than smaller areas
that are easy to reach.  In addition, the points can be moved to a "caravan"
again yielding points both for being early in the caravan or having goods
"high" in the caravan.  Finally, there are cards that grant certain powers
or can be used as resource.

The game will last 21 turns with scoring at the end of every 7th turn - so
in thematic terms - the game lasts 3 weeks, with the scoring at week's end.
The unique feature to this game is the unique resource generation method.
Nine dice are rolled and the die sorted by pips (all the 1s gathered
together, all the 2s, 3s, etc.)  These die are then assigned to a "tower"
board with 6 slots.  The lowest pip goes in the lowest slot, the highest pip
in the highest slot.  The remaining dice are then stacked in ascending pip
order from the lowest slot.  As a result, the lower slots are more likely to
generate resources then the higher slots.  This makes the areas/resources
for the higher slots harder to reach and more valuable.

With the rules explanation done, we launched into our first game.  Before
the first scoring, Rich focused on gaining cards and building a couple of
buildings.  Lawrence focused on capturing territories, while Dave also
captured territories and moved a few goods to the Caravan.  At the end of
the first week:

Dave had 9 points from his territories (souks) and 4 from the caravan: 13
Lawrence has 8 points in souks: 8
Rich: 0 (hoping to have a strong foundation for the later rounds)

In the second week, Rich started to gain territories and also move goods the
Caravan.  Lawrence continued to focus on souks (capturing 3).  Dave
continued in both souks and caravan points.  Rich and Dave also continued to
complete buildings and gaining the initial victory points for having at
least 3 buildings completed.  At the end of the second week:

Dave: 10 points in souks and 6 from the caravan: 47
Lawrence: 6+4+8 in souks and 2 from the caravan: 29
Rich: 7 from souks and 8 from the caravan: 31

The third week saw Dave move into the souks as well as gain goods in the
highest line of the caravan.  Rich managed to get into only a few souks but
filled the caravan to trigger scoring as well as emptying it of goods.  Dave
and Rich also completed the last building gaining the full VPs from
building.  Lawrence played a bit of catch up with some souks and only a
couple of buildings built.  At the end of the third week (and the end of the
game):

Dave: 28 points in souks (helped by +2 bonus for each of them): 100
Lawrence: 11 points in souks and 2 from the caravan: 46
Rich: 3 in souks: 69

So while Rich was able to gain points after the first round, to gain second
place, Dave was the most consistent and balance builder and generator of
victory points.  Finally, as is our tradition, we missed a rule in our first
playing.  In this case - it was using the caravan for 4 players (3 rows of 4
camels each).  Our 3 player game should have used only 3 camels per row.
This would have reduced the caravan points and likely emptied it sometime in
the second week allowing for different scoring going into the last week.

But the initial comments from Lawrence and Dave was that the game felt very
abstract despite the thematic elements drawn on the game.  Personally, I can
see this game following an arc a bit like St. Petersburg.  It will be
interesting to play a few games to see how best to manage the resource
stream.  But once a working pattern is identified, the game will probably
settle on the luck of the die roll (card draw in St. Petersburg) making is a
bit more of a luck-fest than a skill-fest.  There is a download one could
get (play against AI players) that is probably good to learn the mechanics,
but reports are already suggesting that the AI doesn't utilize the caravan
point mechanism, so is easily beating that way.

After Yspahan, we then opted for Wyatt Earp - the non-Mystery Rummy, Mystery
Rummy game.  As players can share in the rewards for capturing criminals,
this is a rummy with some nice twists that also works very well with three
players.

The first round saw some modest sharing of rewards, but the key was
Lawrence's sole capture of Butch Cassidy allowing Lawrence to take an early
lead ($10,000 to Dave's $7,000 and Rich's $3,000).  With money left on many
outlaws, the next round was quite generous.  Rich had a sole capture of Wes
Hardin.  Dave did the same with Billy the Kid and Bob Dalton.  Lawrence
captured Jesse with a nice carry-over from the first round.  As a result,
Dave and Lawrence were tied with $20,000 each while Rich continued to trail
at $12,000.

The final round saw Dave lead with 8 points against Butch Cassidy who had
not been captured the previous round and was getting more reward money
added.  Rich joined in with a single wanted card and a Stagecoach robbery,
but was still too far behind to share with Dave.  Dave increased his lead
with a Fastest Gun (11-3).  Rich added another wanted (11-5) and a bank
robbery (11-7) to finally pull into at least sharing the pot.  As Lawrence
had also played a Butch wanted, we both tried to put Dave's card into a
"hideout" but either couldn't make the required shot or Dave countered with
a Wyatt Earp card.  The final nail in the coffen was Dave's use of a Most
Wanted card to steal one of Rich's wanted cards for an 13-5 lead and sole
capture of Butch (and $9,000).  Rich had hoped to play Fastest Gun to remove
Dave's resulting in a 6 point swing, but realized after the fact that he
should have used Wyatt Earp to pull the card from the discard pile.  Hope I
remember that the next time I play the game...which isn't all that often.

But with the last round conviningly won by Dave, it was a minor exercise to
find the points:

Dave: $34,000
Lawr: $23,000
Rich: $15,000

And with that our evening of games came to an end.  Until next week,

Rich

On May 2, 2007, at 10:19 PM, Richard Pardoe wrote:

(regarding Yspahan)
> But the initial comments from Lawrence and Dave was that the game
> felt very
> abstract despite the thematic elements drawn on the game.
> Personally, I can
> see this game following an arc a bit like St. Petersburg.  It will be
> interesting to play a few games to see how best to manage the resource
> stream.  But once a working pattern is identified, the game will
> probably
> settle on the luck of the die roll (card draw in St. Petersburg)
> making is a
> bit more of a luck-fest than a skill-fest.

Well, there is the dice roll, but there is also using what you're
given to best effect.  I suspect that once everyone is up to speed,
it will end up being a game of incremental efficiencies rather than
simply one of dumb luck.  Is it better to get the souk worth 3, or to
add to the caravan, which might be worth 4?  What if you get the "+2
per souk" bonus?  Etc.

Personally, I rather liked being given the different options, and how
those options varied from turn to turn.  It really feeds my "how do I
get the most out of what I'm given" engine.

Dave

On Wed, 2 May 2007 23:16:20 -0700
David Wilson <daw65@...> wrote:
> On May 2, 2007, at 10:19 PM, Richard Pardoe wrote: (regarding Yspahan)

> Well, there is the dice roll, but there is also using what you're
> given to best effect.  I suspect that once everyone is up to speed, it
> will end up being a game of incremental efficiencies rather than
> simply one of dumb luck.  Is it better to get the souk worth 3, or to
> add to the caravan, which might be worth 4?  What if you get the "+2
> per souk" bonus?  Etc.

You're right, however there is a small exception at which the game
basically dissolves: a rash of camels.  If a player gets a fat rasher of
camels early in the game they've effectively insta-won.  As a quick
example in my last game one player on their second turn got 5 camels and
could thereby pretty much buy anything they wanted, increase their
earning and score rates and run away without ever looking back.

> Personally, I rather liked being given the different options, and how
> those options varied from turn to turn.  It really feeds my "how do I
> get the most out of what I'm given" engine.

You might also Like David&GOlaith then.  It is a clever trick taking
card game that also presents remarkably subtle hand management
decisions: high cards are good, mid cards good and low cards are good,
they're all just good in slightly different ways that overlap.

--
J C Lawrence                        They said, "You have a blue guitar,
---------(*)                        You do not play things as they are."
claw@...                       The man replied, "Things as they are
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/          Are changed upon the blue guitar."

Busy weekend here, so only a short note to aks who can attend....

Games....

      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
      My house in San Ramon
           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)

- Rich

Hi Guys

I can make it!!!

Lawrence




--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe"
<RPardoe@...> wrote:
>
> Busy weekend here, so only a short note to aks who can attend....
>
> Games....
>
>      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
>      My house in San Ramon
>           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)
>
> - Rich
>

--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe" <RPardoe@...> wrote:
>
> Busy weekend here, so only a short note to aks who can attend....

I can attend.  See you then.

Dave

Short notice, but I will be there.
Ben Johnson

Rich arrived home to find the newly released Winds of Plunder from GMT on
his doorstep.  As he was expecting this game to arrive, he had read the
Quick Start guide during the day.  A quick read of the rules, and Rich was
ready to try this game out when the others arrived. Dave, Ben, and Lawrence
arrived and agreed to play.

The Quick Start Guide at GMT (http://www.gmtgames.com/nnwp/quickstart.pdf)
provides a good rules summary.  Rather than requote it, let me summarize the
game just enough so that others can follow this session report.

Players represent pirates sailing around the Caribbean.  The Caribbean is
depicted as map divided into 4 regions with 3 ports per region.  As players
move around the Caribbean, they are attempting to beef up their ships (crew,
guns, provisions) and gain buried treasure while leaving a legacy of their
reputation behind.  Each of these items can (in some manor) be converted to
victory points.

The first part of a round is to determine the first player and the wind
direction.  Possible movement for a player's ship is dictated by the wind
direction.  If the wind is blowing North (South), ships can only sail to
ports north (south) of their current location in the same (or adjacent)
region.  If the wind is blowing East (West), ships can only sail to ports in
the next two regions in that direction.  At the start of a round, each
player indicates a preferred direction (simultaneously revealed by all the
players).  Once these indications have been revealed, players can then spend
resources (wind cubes) to decide how many votes to give to their indication.
The person spending the most votes decides who will be first player for the
round.  The direction getting the most votes is the wind direction for the
round.

Then each player will spend action points to buy or use cards which can aid
the player or hinder an opponent (or) to gain more wind cubes.  At some
point the player must sail a new port.  At the new port, they will gain
items (crew, guns, provision, treasure maps) offered by the port as well as
victory points.  Should the port be occupied by another player, they can
attempt to board the other players ship to steal items from them.  Finally,
if they are the "toughest" pirate in port, they may leave a behind a legacy
(aka reputation as indicated by a resource cube).  If a pirate leaves behind
a legacy (or gains a reputation) in each port of a region, they will gain
VPs.  More for the first pirate to do so, less for each successive pirate.
If a pirate sails into a port for which they have a treasure map - they gain
"booty" and increasing VPs.

Gaining guns for one's ship is important as one can only board another
player's ship by having more guns.  Guns also help leave behind a legacy
(reputation cube).  Having the most crew yields an additional action point
per turn.  Having the most provisions yields a VP everytime a ship enters
port.  Finally, each of these items (and resource cubes) can be converted to
VPs at game's end.)

I noted above that each port pays the player items and VPs.  After a player
sails to port and claims those items, the VP tile at the port is moved to
end queue of tiles while the first tile in the queue replaces it in the
port.  As a result, the value of the ports on the board is constantly
shifting as players sail each turn.

So a game with many ways to gain VPs as well as means of interfering with
other players also.  The game is played over 9 rounds with the player with
the most VPs at game's end the winner.

Round I
As it was the first turn, no one but Ben bid for the wind direction, so Ben
opted to be the first player as the wind direction was sent west.  Ben
headed to Cozumel to gain 5 VPs and cannons for his ship.  He spent most of
his action points buying back the wind cubes he had wasted in the bid.  Dave
headed to Havana gaining fewer VPs (2), but gaining a treasure map and
cannon.  Lawrence headed to Jamaica to gain cannons while Rich headed to San
Salvadore also gaining cannon and crew.
Ben:  5 VP
Dave: 2 VP
Lawr: 4 VP
Rich: 2 VP

Round II
Lawrence won the bid for first player as the winds swung to the East.
Lawrence sailed to Puerto Rico.  Rich started to see how the cards could be
used to advantage.  He first swindled guns from Lawrence (giving up crew) to
gain Most Cannons.  He then played a mutiny card on Lawrence so that the
just gained crew was lost also.  Sails to Puerto Rico to board Lawrence's
ship (taking VPs) while gaining additional crew gaining Largest Crew also.
Ben:  8 VP
Dave: 5 VP
Lawr: 7 VP
Rich: 6 VP

Round III
Dave won the first player and headed to Cozumel to gain booty from his
buried treasure card.  Lawrence sailed to San Salvadore, but also played
treachery on Rich in revenge for last turn and steal 5 of Rich's wind cubes.
Rich had an intrigue card, so switched port VP tiles to get desired items at
the port Ben was at.  Rich sailed in, boarded Ben to plunder some of Ben's
VPs.
Ben:  10 VP
Dave: 11 VP
Lawr: 13 VP
Rich: 10 VP

Round IV
Dave bid to remain first player and to force the winds South.  This allowed
Dave to sail to Belize and gain the reputation victory points in the western
Caribbean.  Lawrence (in Jamaica) can only sail to Santa Domingo as it is
the only port south of his current location.  Rich wanted to head to Nassau,
but must sail against the wind.  So he spends his action points to do so,
but gains the first reputation bonus in the west central Caribbean.  Ben
likewise spends action points to sail against the wind to Havana.
Ben:  17 VP
Dave: 20 VP
Lawr: 16 VP
Rich: 19 VP

Round V
Lawrence sails to Nassau follow Rich in the reputation bonus.  He had hoped
to board Rich's ship, but had forgotten to play his second cache of weapons
(temporarily increase cannons) prior to sailing.  Rich again is forced to
sail against the wind to head to Jamaica to gain buried treasure points
there.
Ben:  19 VP
Dave: 24 VP
Lawr: 24 VP
Rich: 24 VP

Round VI
Dave heads to Puerto Rico to get another buried treasure booty bonus.
Lawrence heads to San Salvadore to gain buried treasure there but is
followed by Ben who boards Lawrence's ship to steal VPs as well as to gain
the reputation bonus for the west central region.  Rich sailed all the way
to the East (Barbados) to gain the buried treasure there.
Ben:  26 VP
Dave: 33 VP
Lawr: 29 VP
Rich: 32 VP

Round VII
Dave holds on to the first player while gaining the reputation bonus in the
East Central Region by sailing to the Turks & Caicos.  Lawrence sails
against the wind to follow Dave and board Dave's ship.  Ben also sails
against the wind to also board Dave's ship.  Rich sailed unmolested in the
Eastern Caribbean gaining reputation in Guadeloupe.
Ben:  30 VP
Dave: 41 VP
Lawr: 34 VP
Rich: 35 VP

Round VIII
Dave heads east to Guadelope for the buried treasure.  Lawrence heads to the
Barbados while Ben heads to Santa Domingo.  Rich sailed to the southern most
port of Trinidad to gain his reputation bonus
Ben:  36 VP
Dave: 48 VP
Lawr: 38 VP
Rich: 45 VP

Round (X
Dave again wins the bid but opts to let Lawrence play first so Dave would be
the last player.  The wind direction is set to West.  Lawrence sails to
Nassau to claim buried treasure as well as Nassau's VPs while purchasing a
few wind cubes.  Rich sails with a gust of wind from the East to Belize in
the West to gain his last buried treasure   Ben also sails to Cozumel for
his buried treasure.  Dave also sails with a gust of wind to gain his 6th
buried treasure in Havana and ends the game by causing Rich to lose 1 crew
to mutiny (effectively costing Rich 1 VP.)
Ben:  44 VP
Dave: 59 VP
Lawr: 40 VP
Rich: 53 VP

So with the game over, we now add the end game scores.

Players gain 1 VP for every 3 wind cubes, 1 VP for every 3 cannon, 1 VP for
every 2 crew, and 1 VP for every 1 provision (fractions lost in each case).
Finally, the owners of the most crew, guns, provisions each gain 2 VPs per
majority

Ben:  44 VP + 6 + 2 + 1 + 2 + 2 = 57
Dave: 59 VP + 0 + 0 + 4 + 2 + 2 = 67
Lawr: 40 VP + 2 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 0 = 48
Rich: 53 VP + 3 + 1 + 0 + 3 + 2 = 62

A picture of game end:
http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic210463_md.jpg (though we do have
Rich's VP's incorrect).

As the VP progression shows, this is tight little game with the VPs
increasing at a pretty uniform clip.  Dave did a good job with the buried
treasure gaining 11 points from that which probably was a key reason he kept
and maintained the lead.  I enjoyed the various ways to score points and
felt we did a good job starting to explore how to use the cards to adjust
and interfere with others.  Our first play took just over 2 hours, but that
included a rules explanation as well as getting a feel for the game in the
first few turns.  The clip increased as the game progressed and I can see
subsequent games taking the suggested 90-120 minutes.

A quick note to ask who can attend....

Games....

      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
      My house in San Ramon
           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)

Looking ahead to next week (23rd) - I will be in Arizona that day returning
too late to host games.  If anyone wants to be an alternate host, feel free
to send out an invite later this week.  (Alternates would be gaming at Black
Diamond in Concord or Endgame in Oakland).

- Rich

Hi Rich,

> A quick note to ask who can attend....

Lisa and I will be there.

> Games....

We can't think of anything right now.

Kris

I can make the may 16th game!!!

Lawrence


--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe"
<RPardoe@...> wrote:
>
> A quick note to ask who can attend....
>
> Games....
>
>      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
>      My house in San Ramon
>           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)
>
> Looking ahead to next week (23rd) - I will be in Arizona that day
returning
> too late to host games.  If anyone wants to be an alternate host,
feel free
> to send out an invite later this week.  (Alternates would be
gaming at Black
> Diamond in Concord or Endgame in Oakland).
>
> - Rich
>

--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe" <RPardoe@...>
wrote:
>
> A quick note to ask who can attend....

I'll join the crowd!

Dave

I can play the 16
Ben Johnson

A full house with 5 arriving for games.  Ben, Lawrence, and Dave were the
first to arrive, so we set up a quick game of Piranha Pedro.  This is a game
Rich (and Dave) had played a few times on BSW, so we knew it would be easy
to explain and short enough to play to fill the time while we waited for
others to arrive.  But no sooner had the rules explanation finished when
Kris and Lisa arrived.  As the game was set-up, we just explained the rules
again and played 2 quick games.

In PP, each player has a hand of 12 cards that send the eponymous Pedro in
one of 4 directions moving 1 to 3 spaces.  In a movement round, each player
plays a card face down in front of them and then in turn, Pedro is moved
according to the card.  The trouble is Pedro is moving from a very small
island out into piranha infested waters.  Should Pedro be moved onto a water
space, players need to play a stepping stone from their supply (they start
the game with 4).  As there is an obvious first player advantage, the first
player moves around the baord.  Also, once played, a movement card can't be
replayed this movement round.  Movement continues until Pedro is either
moved off the board, onto a piranha, or onto water and the player is out of
stones.  Once Pedro is "ker-splunked", there is a replenishment phase where
players can gain more stones and they get to refresh their hand back to the
12 original cards.  A game continues like this until a single player has
"ker-splunked" Pedro twice.  That player is the loser, everyone else wins.

Obviously, the last player each round has the least control, so there is
quite a bit of non-control in the game.  But even the first player can have
some fun.  Do they make a safe move, or do they move in a different
direction hoping to catch one of the later players off guard.  Not much
strategy, but a light game that plays very quickly.

In our first game, Kris moved Pedro towards the map edge thinking we were
trying to get Pedro to escape the Piranhas.  This did cost him 3 of his
stones, but it was Lisa who did move Pedro off the edge towards the green
jungle to gain the first Piranha.  After replenishing stones, we found that
we had all selected to move Pedro up the board towards the village.  With
Pedro making a beeline for the opposite edge, it was Kris who had the bad
card gaining a Piranha as a result.  As we had only played a single card
each, we were all due (it appeared) for a large replenishment of stones, but
then noted in the rules that the stones in the game were limited.  (We were
using glass beads, and Rich had gone to grab another colour.  This makes
sense as it prevents the board from getting covered in stones.)  So without
enough stones to go around, we skipped replenishment, and then proceeded to
move Pedro one after another in another straight line to the waterfall.
Again it was Kris that was the unlucky player to dispose of Pedro gaining
his second piranha and the loss for the game.

With the game played quickly (less than 15 minutes), we decided to play it
again.  Rich would go last and thought Pedro would end up towards the suns,
so he played the opposite direction (the waterfall), but had his plan
thwarted when Pedro barely moved at all as he would move in one direction
then reverse back from whence he came.  As a result, Rich had to use almost
all of his stones.  In the next movement phase, he tried a smaller move, but
Pedro ended up on a finger of stones and Rich had 1 stone too few to use and
gained a piranha.  After replenishing stones, Pedro ended up edging to one
of the Piranha's on the board.  Ben moved one toward the piranha.  Lawrence
moved two, just stopping before the piranha.  Rich continued to trend from
the first game of continuing to move Pedro in the same direction and ended
up on the piranha - losing the game.

A quick game.  A very quick game if you play online, but might make a light
lunch game or a nice group game for those few minutes between games and the
like.  This one did get a bit of buzz and play when it was first released,
but appears to have since receded into the great obscurity of most games.
Glad we could get it to the table to play it live after a few plays online.

The group still wanted to play one game as a group, so we opted to conclude
our evening with a single lap race of Formula De.  I had downloaded the Fuji
Speedway track from BGG and had it printed and laminated.  Fuji's history is
that it was going to be a racing oval, so had a long straight built with
banked corners, but then the back portion of the track was made more into a
road course with twists and turns.  So here is a track with a 60 space
straight begging for that 6th gear dice that ends with a 2 stop 4th gear
curve.  And just to add to the fun, Sabrina joined us, making for 7 cars on
the track.

Lawrence had a bad start while Kris had a good start moving ahead 4 from the
middle of the pack.  Everyone else moved their usual 1 or 2 spaces towards
First Corner.  (The start line is towards the end of the straight, so the
first curve is quite soon.)  Dave from the back of the pack managed to get
up into 4th to screan past Lawrence and Ben into the curve to prevent being
blocked out.

The pack started to thin out a bit as we approached 100R and lined up for
the hairpin curve.  Dave had managed to work from the back to the front.
Rich, Dave, Kris, Sabrina were jockeying for corners and position.  Ben,
Lawrence, and Lisa were struggling to get a feel for their cars.  Lawrence
overshoot 100R by 5 spaces at a great cost of brakes and tires.  Rich held
the lead going into Dunlop corner, but fell short of entering the curve, so
had to stay in 4th gear.  Dave and Kris could upshift to 5th to catch up.
The jostling and positioning continued into 13th Corner.  Rich entered
first; while Kris stayed on the inside lane.  Dave roared into the middle
resulting in some severe bumping damaging both Kris and Dave's car.  Moving
into Netco Corner, Rich rolled low in 4th gear and cursed his luck, but then
he realized that this would allow him a shot at making the final stop in 5th
gear allowing him to roar out of the curve in 6th!  Kris and Dave had rolled
a bit better and were at the exit of Netco.  Rich rolled and end between
Kris and Dave, but slightly ahead.  He did bump Dave's car sending it into
the barriers resulting in more body damage, eliminating it from the race.
Rich then upshifted to 5th to roar through Panasonic Corner (spending brakes
and tires to hold the curve) and lined up for the 6th run down the
straightaway.  Kris was following but a gear behind.

While all this action occurred at the front, Lisa had slowly and steadily
moved through the pack in each of the curves and was racing with Sabrina for
fourth and fifth (which became third and fourth with's Dave's accident).
Ben and Lawrence were into Dunlop when Lawrence cut in from of Ben forcing
Ben to downshift hard, but still burning through his brakes.  At the front,
Rich roared down the straight in 6th gear for 2 rolls and then downshifted
into 4th to hit the first spot of the curve.  (Yes, he had crossed the
finish line, but we kept racing into the curve and beyond while everyone
else finished.)  Kris and then Lisa roared into 6th and were next to finish.
But as both entered into First Curve, Kris' car bumped into Lisa's resulting
in body damage and another elimination.  Sabrina hit the straight, shifted
into 6th and rolled the 30 (yes, she damaged her engine doing so), but was
4th across the finish line.  A few move later Lawrence followed as did Ben.
But Ben had too much speed and shot almost through First Corner.  With
insufficent brakes (ie none) and limited tires, his car careened into the
walls and was also destroyed.

Another fun race of Formula De.  I really liked the long straight on Fuji,
but would like to have time to run a 2 lap race to see if we can have the
cars last a bit longer.  I sense (from the carnage) we are a bit aggressive
in our driving.  With the need to last more than a single lap, perhaps we
are a bit more cautious.  But I certainly see the strategy of holding to
damage points until the last few curves, then opening it up to jump for the
finish.

Stepping back, I also like how the cars spread out on the straights but then
bunch up again in the curves.  A very simple ruleset does a reasonable job
of mimicing some of the aspects of racing.  And one can add various layers
of complexity as desired.  After resisting this game as too luck driven, I
am finding that I am warming to it and enjoy it when we do play.  The only
downside - it takes a long time to play even a single lap much less two or
three.

So a full house and fun games tonight.  A reminder - I won't be hosting next
week, so see everyone again on the 30th.

- Rich

I am in Arizona on Wednesday, so unavailable to host games.  Anyone who
wishes to host, feel free to post to the list.

Rich

On Sun, 20 May 2007 09:54:52 -0700
Richard Pardoe <RPardoe@...> wrote:

> I am in Arizona on Wednesday, so unavailable to host games.  Anyone
> who wishes to host, feel free to post to the list.

I'll be driving up to the gaming Endgame in Oakland on Weds evening,
starting from North First Street in San jJos.  Carpoolers that help me
use the carpool lanes are most welcome! While I haven't been making this
trek long, I usually leave San Jose around 18:00 and leave Oakland
around 23:00, arriving back in San Jose a little before midnight.

--
J C Lawrence                        They said, "You have a blue guitar,
---------(*)                        You do not play things as they are."
claw@...                       The man replied, "Things as they are
http://www.kanga.nu/~claw/          Are changed upon the blue guitar."

Sorry for the late notice, but I won't be able to host games this Wednesday.
If anyone wants to host, please volunteer by sending a notice to the group.

I hope to resume hosting next week,

Rich

--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe" <RPardoe@...>
wrote:
>
> Sorry for the late notice, but I won't be able to host games this
Wednesday.
> If anyone wants to host, please volunteer by sending a notice to the
group.


I can host game night this week.  So, who can join me for games?

Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
My house in Pleasanton
(Contact me off-list if you need directions)

Dave

Hi Dave,

> I can host game night this week.  So, who can join me for games?

I have to RSVP in the negative--not this week.

However I was looking at Grand Tribunal as a possible game in the future.

Kris

--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Kristian Miller" <gaming@...>
wrote:
>
> Hi Dave,
>
> > I can host game night this week.  So, who can join me for games?
>
> I have to RSVP in the negative--not this week.
>
> However I was looking at Grand Tribunal as a possible game in the
future.

Not a problem, Kris.  We'll miss another week of Wednesday night
gaming this week, but there'll always be next time.

Dave

So we have missed two sessions.  Hope that means folks are eager to play
this week.  I am ready once more to host this week, so who else is ready to
play....

Games....

      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
      My house in San Ramon
           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)

Looking ahead to next week (12th) - I will be in Houston that day returning
too late to host games.  And I believe Dave might be unavailable on the 12th
also.  I should be able to host again on the 19th.

- Rich

Argg!!  Maytee ! I can make it! Same time same place yer be!

Lawrence


--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe"
<RPardoe@...> wrote:
>
> So we have missed two sessions.  Hope that means folks are eager
to play
> this week.  I am ready once more to host this week, so who else is
ready to
> play....
>
> Games....
>
>      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
>      My house in San Ramon
>           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)
>
> Looking ahead to next week (12th) - I will be in Houston that day
returning
> too late to host games.  And I believe Dave might be unavailable
on the 12th
> also.  I should be able to host again on the 19th.
>
> - Rich
>

--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe" <RPardoe@...>
wrote:
>
> who else is ready to play....
>
> Games....


I'm ready.  See you there.

Dave

I will be there on the 6th
Thankyou Ben

Hi Rich,

We can't make it this week.

Thanks,
Kris

Dave, Lawrence, and Ben arrived to play games.  Wanting a quick warm-up, we
agreed to Sabrina's suggestion of Piranha Pedro...a game that last appeared
the last time we played games a few weeks ago.  With 5 people, we expected a
bit of chaos in the game and that was quickly confirmed when Ben ran out of
stones during his move in the second round...1 Piranha to Ben.  Sabrina
quickly walked off the edge after another two rounds....1 Piranha to
Sabrina.  Looks like our game was going to be just the right warm-up.  But
then we played a round, and another, and another.  And Pedro was still
standing on stones.  (By this time folks had gained 10~12 stones as a result
of so few cards played early on - so lots of ability to keep Pedro dry.)  In
fact, we then proceeded to go through all 12 cards in hand.  On the last
play of the cards, Sabrina ran out of stones and caught her second Piranha.
(When the other cards were revealed, Ben would have walked off the edge if
Sabrina had that one extra stone.)

Having gotten warmed up, we unpacked the game Dave had brought with
him...Railway Rivals.  This was last played March of last year in our first
playing and I suspect Dave has been trying to get it to the table again ever
since.  Tonight was the night.  Lawrence immediately jumped on London in the
Southeast as his start city, while Ben started at Hull in the Northeast.
Dave started at Preston to cover the Northwest corner.  Rich had a choice of
going to the Southwest but opted for the Northwest attracted by the desire
to build the tunnel.

As the initial tracks were built, Ben concentrated in the densely urbanized
northeast making numerous city connections before sending a spur line south.
Lawrence built up from London as well as crossing across the map at the
bottom.  Dave went into the few northern cities on his part of the map and
then shot a trunkline down the map to help give him better positions for the
upcoming races.  Rich seemed to focus on an east-west crossing line in the
top third of the map.  When the building was all done:

Rich: 43,000
Dave: 46,000
Ben:  66,000
Lawr: 69,000

And now the races began. The first two races were solitary affairs as Ben
was the only participant from Shrewsbury to Shieffield (paying 7,000 to Rich
to gain 20,000 for the race) and Lawrence the only participant from Bristol
to London (all on his own track.)  After building a bit more track, Lawrence
again gains being the only participant in a race for the Southern Run to
Gloucester.  The first competition was in the next race and Ben and Lawrence
formed a team to race Dave from London to Bursley.  With some good die
rolls, Ben and Lawrence win the race - but that means everyone gained 10,000
(except for Rich who had yet to participate in any of the races.) Rich did
come in second behind Dave in a 2 person race from Liverpool to York.  In a
short sprint from Leeds to Manchester, we had 3 participants (only Lawrence
abstained) with Ben rolling well again to win as Rich came in second while
Dave was out of the money.

The races continued to favour the south (Lawrence's lines) and the east
(Ben's lines), but fortunately each city must participate in a race at some
point in the game.  By the end of the game, the races were in the Northwest
where Dave and Rich had their networks.  When the racing was all done:

Rich: 137,000
Lawr: 149,000
Dave: 179,000
Ben:  190,000

So via the good networks and timely racing, the middle of the pack after the
first part of the game gains the most from the use of the networks to lead
the rest of the pack.  Dave gained 133,000 in the races, but not enough to
overcome Ben's lead gained by connecting to numerous cities at the start of
the game.

I certainly built to constrained of a network that didn't reach broadly
across the board to at least be considered for some of the races.  And the
few times that my tracks were in a good position, others could pay a modest
fee to race against me on the same tracks.  Not a way to get ahead in funds.
Dave and Ben seemed to get the best of both.  Winning races as well as
getting user fees from others trying to get a share of the prize money.
Lawrence had a good start, but after a few races in the south, didn't really
reach into the north to compete in other races.  Now I wonder how long it
will be before Dave gets this to the table once more....

- Rich

Reminder - no games next week as I (and Dave) will be out of town.  I should
be read to host again in 2 weeks time.

Just a reminder that I am out of town this week.  As I expect no one is
available to host, there won't be games this week.  I should be able to host
the following week (20 June).

See you then,

Rich

I'm back in town and ready to host games once more.  Who is not vacationing
this week and wants to play a game or two?

Games....

      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
      My house in San Ramon
           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)

- Rich

I can make it.. hopefully for A&A Battle of the buldge.  I tried the
web link yousent Rich but it failed for me.  Guess I'll have to
learn on the fly.

Lawrence


--- In trivalleygamers@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Pardoe"
<RPardoe@...> wrote:
>
> I'm back in town and ready to host games once more.  Who is not
vacationing
> this week and wants to play a game or two?
>
> Games....
>
>      Wednesday Night, ~18:30 to ~21:00
>      My house in San Ramon
>           (Contact me off-list if you need directions)
>
> - Rich
>