Colosseum

Date: 18-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: Max finally came. ET suggested we play "Shadows over Camelot" becos we got 4 players now and she likes the Hidden Traitor mechanic. In the end, we played "Colosseum". Again, Phang is the newbie here. Max teach him how to play, me & ET setting up the game. After 10 minutes, all ready to roll! This time, the cut-throat level rises with players, especially in the Event Asset Tokens auction area and Emperor/Consul/Senators dice rolling movement phase. Everyone trying to back-stab everyone and in the end no one succeeded producing the biggest event (there are small, medium and big events). Starting player token passing clockwise every turns and everyone got a chance to be the most pity player every turn. Starting player always got persecuted in the Emperor/Consul/Senators dice rolling movement phase and it is really hurt especially if you have already move 2 or 3 Emperor/Consul/Senators pieces into your colosseum and all other players move them away during their turns and you got nothing left in the end. The only good side of being the starting player is during the Investing Phase becos you are the first one who can choose and purchase the Event Tokens. Anyway, to conclude this, all 4 of us having a good time playing "Colosseum" and we can't wait for another round.

Result:

ET (blue) - 73 spectators (WINNER)

Phang (green) - 66 spectators

Max (purple) - 63 spectators

Me (red) - 45 spectators

The board during the second round.

The board of the final round of the game.

ET's colosseum at the end game.

My colosseum at the end game. I've wasted money to expand my colosseum becos I don't have enough money to purchase the biggest event token and of cos I don't have a lot of event asset tokens that was needed for the big event token.

End game scores.

The board at the end game.

Kingsburg

Date: 18-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: A 3 players (Phang, ET & me) game of "Kingsburg", takes time around 30 minutes to finish this. Phang never play this before, so Ryan (shop owner) teach him how to play. Ryan wanted to join us for a 4 players game, but too bad there are so many customers came by at that time and he have to work. Phang always hated games with Dice Rolling for the main mechanic due to its heavy luck based, but he give it a shot anyway. "Kingsburg" is a moderate luck and light strategy game, you have to manage your dice rolled result, make good use of it even it is a bad rolled, this is where the fun came in. This is mostly like a gateway game to the casual gamers who haven't try out modern boardgames. For us, this is just a filler game while waiting for Max to drop by.

Results: Me (red/winner) - 24 pts, Phang (green) - 18 pts & ET (blue) - 16 pts

The board is just so colorful and the arts are just nicely illustrated, this really attracted me to play it.

Phang is trying to figure out how to make good use of his bad dice rolled.

My Building Sheet at the end game. 10 buildings constructed.

End game scores: me - 24, Phang - 18 and ET - 16.

Goa

Date: 18-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: To kick off our gaming session, "Goa" hits the table! We played a 2 games of 3 players game with a newbie - Phang. I explained the rules to him in 10 minutes and the game starts. I lose in the first game becos I was outbid most of the time during the tiles auction round, lose all the Additional Action Cards is one of the reason I lose. In the end, Phang won his very first try of "Goa". Second game started after our 5 minutes cigarettes break, again, this is a 3 players game too. This time I've won 2 red tiles during the tiles auction round which provide me 4 Ducats (currency) & 1 ship each turn and I draw a lot of Expedition Cards too. In the end, I won for the first time! With 52 points! That's a record, I'd never seen anyone won "Goa" with 52 points in all my previous plays.

Results:

1st game: Phang (green/winner) - 34 pts, me (yellow) - 32 pts & ET (blue) - 30 pts

2nd game: Me (yellow/winner) - 52 pts, ET (blue) - 33 pts & Phang (green) - 28 pts

First game started to kick off our gaming session.

Phang's playing area at the end game of our 2nd game.

ET's playing area at the end game of our 2nd game.

My playing area at the end game of our 2nd game, with 52 points!

Nexus Ops

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Old Town Kopitiam @ Wangsa Maju

Description: After a 3 players "Power Grid" game, me and Adam played a 2 players "Nexus Ops" game. Adam used blue pieces and me with red pieces. The game takes time around 30 minutes when Adam succeeded reaches his 12 mission points. "Nexus Ops" is an OK light Sci-Fi wargame to me, it's simple rules and gameplay are the shining point, but it felt into boredom after several plays. I bought this game few months ago 'cos I know it's out of print and surprisingly with a 50% discount for it. The time is around 2am and we pack up everything and wait for the exciting moment of the day - 2010 World Cup Final! Holland vs. Spain (my favorite team)! Anyway, BRAVO to all the Spanish players, you all deserved it! Especially Iker Casillas and Paul the Octopus.

End game scores:

Adam (winner) - 12 mission pts

Me - 5 mission pts

Adam with blue pieces and me with red pieces.

All the cards that needed for the game.

This is the battleground! Everyone rushed for resources and blood.

Adam's victory trophies.

BRAVO!!!

Power Grid

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Old Town Kopitiam @ Wangsa Maju

Description: After a full day gaming session at The Mage Cafe, I went for a dinner with ET & Max, then go home take a bath. Adam came over to Wangsa Maju Old Town Kopitiam for another gaming session with me & ET. We played a 3 players game of "Power Grid". "Power Grid" used to hit our table every gaming session back then, we all love it and enjoy playing it. It's been a long time we didn't play it and tonight it's on the table again. Adam used to win a lot back then, but now he's not 'cos he forgot some of the rules and his winning strategy. ET & me both powered 17 cities in the last round and we have to decide who is the winner by who is the richest player. In the end, I lose.

End game scores:

ET (winner) powered 17 cities (with 197 Electro)

Me powered 17 cities (with 144 Electro)

Adam powered 14 cities (with 151 Electro)

The game started. Power Plants auction market on the left, Resources market on the right. My first bought power plant at the bottom.

After I've spent 26 Electro to bid for this Windmill Power Plant (cost 22), another same power value with 18 cost Windmill Power Plant came out! And the last player bought it with only 18 Electro. Damn!

Adam's counting his Electros under the table. We usually play "Power Grid" with a house rule, which money are not visible to other players. This will make the game more intense.

Colosseum

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: Max, ET & me played a 3 players "Colosseum" game, a game where each player is a Roman impresario, who owns a colosseum and tries to put on the best event. The game last for 5 rounds and each round split in 5 phases which are investing, acquiring event assets, trading event assets, producing an event & closing ceremonies. The player who puts on the biggest event with the most spectators wins the game. I've learned the game from a video through the internet and I'd even download the rule book from Days of Wonder's website and read through it. We finished the game within 90 minutes and it was fun. I've heard that this game has only one linear strategy to win and I've find out that is true after only 1 play, but I still like this game and will play it more often if got the chance.

End game scores:

Max (winner) - 91 spectators

Me - 76 spectators

ET - 73 spectators

The game starts!

Here is a view of the whole board and playing area.

The Emperor (red) which will bring 7 more spectators for you if you succeeded roll & move him into your colosseum. The Consul (blue) & the Senator (yellow) on the far side will bring you 5 & 3 spectators.

All the bits that comes with the game are just awesome. The money chips(from bottom), event tokens, the board, the Emperor/Consul/Senator pieces & the dice are all in top notch quality production like what "Days of Wonder" always delivered.

These are my event asset tokens which needed to put on a good show. Any missing pieces for the need of the event will decease my incoming spectators (VPs).

This is my colosseum (green) and the tiles laying in the center board area are the auction market.

You can roll 2 dice to move the Emperor/Consul/Senator's pieces around the squares if you 've constructed the Emperor Loge earlier on. There are some Star Performers too that will boost your spectators level if you've collected more than 3 of the same kind.

The end game scores for all of us.

ET's colosseum with 2 Arena Expansions, 1 Emperor Loge & 1 Podium.

My colosseum with 2 Arena Expansions, 1 Emperor Loge, 1 Season Ticket & 2 Podiums.

Max's colosseum with 2 Arena Expansions, 1 Emperor Loge & 1 Podium.

The board at end game.

Kingsburg

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: It seems like Max is still on his RPG quest after we finished our 2 players "Agricola" game, so I pick up "Kingsburg" and teach ET how to play it. After 10 minutes of rules and gameplay explanations, we started to play it. This game didn't have an end, we stop playing it and wrap it up at year 2 when Max came over and say he wants to join in. I decided not to starts a new round, I said we should try some new game instead. So, next up, it's "Colosseum" time!

End game result: The game didn't finish.

The board of a 2 players game of "Kingsburg".

Agricola

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: Again, Max is still palying his RPG. So me & ET pick up Agricola and starts to play a 2 players "Family Variant" game. We both know how to play "Agricola" and we love it, especially with "Animeeples".

End game scores: Me (winner) - 37 pts & ET - 32 pts

2 players "Family Variant" game started.

The playing area near the end game.

My farm in the end game.

ET's farm in the end game.

Blokus

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: Max still haven't finish his RPG session after we finished 2 games of "Ingenious", then we decided to play "Blokus". A 2 players game of "Blokus"? I don't know, this is just not fun and interesting at all, or perhaps we play it wrong. I've learned how to play this through a video on internet too. Maybe there is some restriction or special rules for a 2 players game, but I just can't find the rule book inside the box, it was gone. Both of us had placed down all our pieces on the board, so who win?

End game scores: Me or ET? Who is the winner?

Did we played it wrong? I saw 2-4 players on the box, so this can be play by 2 players then.

P/S: I'd just read the rules from BGG, it seems like we have to use all 4 colors tiles to play, so we played it wrong :)

Ingenious

Date: 11-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: Me & ET played 2 games of "Ingenious" when we arrived at Mage Cafe while waiting for Max to finish his RPG session with his friends. I've learned the rules through a video on the internet a few days ago, it was very easy to pick up. I roughly go through the rules sheet that was come inside the box and we start playing it. In the end, I won both games.

End game scores:

First game - Me (10 pts) def ET (7 pts)

Second game - Me (11 pts) def ET (10 pts)

The game started.

My end game result, with 10 pts.

ET's end game result - 7 pts.

The board at the end game.

Second round started!

My end game score - 11 pts.

ET's end game score - 10 pts.

Goa

Date: 09-07-2010

Venue: Mage Cafe

Description: Ryan (shop owner) join us (Jeremy, Max & me) for a 4 players "Goa" game, a strategy gameplay with moderate/low luck based board game. Ryan, Max & me played this before, so we teach Jeremy how to play this. This is a easy to teach game, new player (casual gamer) will pick it up within 10-15 minutes. This time I tried to play with a different strategy that different from my previous game and I've failed in the end. I can't balance out all the resources I needed and I've failed the last round auction phase which Max got all 4 Additional Action Cards, and that was big, extra 4 actions to spend. I kept all my Ducats (currency) to try to win the 3 VPs bonus (the player with the most money in the end game), I should have spend it all to outbid Max for those Additional Action Cards, which can let me do some more Development upgrades and Expedition Cards collection.

End game scores: Ryan (Green) - 48 pts, Max (Blue) - 35 pts, me (Red) - 30 pts & Jeremy (Yellow) - 25 pts

The board during mid game.

Jeremy's play area, with a 3 VPs Mission Tile and a 4 VPs tile (if he manage to discard 6 spices before the game end).

Max's play area with a lot of development upgraded.

Ryan's play area on the far side.

My play area which I managed to colonized all 4 colonies and only with 1 development that is upgraded to the maximum.