This left me at a loose end... what does an average gamer do when there is free time at hand AND a gaming event happening just 15 minutes away (by train and ignoring the 20 minute walk to and from the station)?
So a brisk walk and a swift train ride later and I found myself at the Oakford Social just opposite Reading station. A snip at £4.50 for a return ticket too. The night was being hosted by a Reading based game club called 'The Reading Boardgame Social." In all, there were about 12 of us there, with three games on the go.
The group I was with started the night of with a co-operative game called Flash Point: Fire Rescue (I think we played the base game, but not the beginner rules). Daryl (the organiser) had never played a co-op game before, which surprised us all. Personally, I am a big fan, but this was a bit of a let down. I wasn't really feeling the 'rescue people and put put fires' vibe. I don't want to go into a review of the game here, but in short I was not taken with the artwork or the miniatures and the game was just never that exciting. The other co-op options available were 'Countdown: Spec Ops' and 'Pandemic' (neither of which I have played, but certainly Pandemic is something I really want to have a go at).
The game was however fairly short and easy to teach, clocking in at about 60 minutes for 5 players. We did ride our luck a little and came in with a perfect victory. 7 people saved, no deaths.
After much debating we then had a quick 4 player game of Tsuro. I had never played this either, but a friend speaks highly of it (as a quick filler) so was keen to give it a go. I was up against 3 experienced players, so did not hold out much hope of survival. A neat, quick game.
I made a few tentative moves and placed myself in danger of going out by my fourth tile placement. Luck was on my side and the opponent, who I was certain would take me out of the game, only had cards that would take us both out. He elected to stay in the game and so for a turn I was safe. With that little scare in mind I changed tactics and moved away to relative safety. In the end it all came down to the wire. The first player to go out was after all the tiles had been drawn. With three of us left, I headed off to the corner and prayed that it did not spell my demise. My luck held out and I was able to happily place tiles and survive while my two remaining opponents killed each other off. An unexpected and very enjoyable victory/
For the final game of the evening we decided upon a 4 player game of Revolution by Steve Jackson games. I had heard bits and pieces about this game, so it was definitely another I was looking forward to trying (and no Munchkins in sight).
The games owner was the only player to have played, so he quickly ran through the rules. It all seemed straight forward enough and so we set off to influence our way to power through blind bidding, bluffing and generally terrorising the people of the town.
It was fairly even for the first half of the game with myself and another player vying for the lead (in terms of support) and a third player making a nice start in terms of occupying buildings. However, one player started off quite poorly, in part due to being outbid on all fronts and then in round two misunderstanding the effect one of the townsfolk has. He won the right to swap two pieces on the board (the only action he won that turn), but thinking that meant with two of his own not two existing pieces in play (of which he had none). This lead to a complete waste of an entire round for him and put him firmly on the back foot from which he never managed to recover.
I should say that bidding occurs with Force, Blackmail and Gold (Force > Blackmail > Gold). Midway through the game I had secured 2 x Force and 2 x Blackmail a turn and from then on it made it a one way street for me. I have pondered how that happened, because it did make me nigh on unbeatable until I chose to give up the four top slots. While other force and blackmail is available in the game, it mean the other three players were trying to outbid each other for the two remaining slots. More often than not it resulted in a stalemate between them and when that happens none of the bidders get anything. With this happening frequently it just strengthened my hold on the game. I stormed to victory on just under 200 points (with my final turn losing 2 of my locations, worth another 80 or so points, by some astute play from the player who eventually came in second).
I thought this was an excellent game, only marred by the fact through limited bidding options when you only have gold, players can end being totally unsuccessful in a round, resulting in no progress and ending so far behind that pack that the game becomes a chore to play. Going through the motion of bidding, knowing in all likelihood you will get nothing at all (again) is not much fun for anyone.
With the game over, the evening drew to a close and I headed home.
Thanks to Daryl for organising, Wendy, Mark and others for an enjoyable evening.
If you want to learn more about any of the games features, or think you might like to join in one evening just click on the links below to get more information.
Game Happy
Chris
Chris
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