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lords of waterdeep

TableTop Day 2017 – We Played Some Games

Fenland Gamers, Game day, lords of waterdeep, TableTop Day, waterdeep

Well my International TableTop Day started the same as all others. Coffee made with my Hario V60 Dripper, using a limited edition roast called Kigoma Natural (with hints of black grape and blueberry) from Pact Coffee (yes I’m that coffee hipster/snob guy). I save the good stuff for weekends. Like all the other days I had the usual two chocolate chip brioche. I love my morning routine. 

After dressing I got a selection of games together to take along to the Fenland Gamers International TableTop Day Event, and then headed off to The White Lion.

When I got to the hotel there were people still eating breakfast. So I enquired if breakfast was still being served. It was. Result. I ordered a full English. Which was great value. It not only included the titular dish, but hot drink (tea/coffee), fruit juice and cereal.

Jonathan turned up just after I ordered my food. So we chatted about games, life the universe and other stuff, while we waited for my plate of goodness, and then devouring of said plate of food.

We had just started playing Jaipur when Lucia and the walking injured also known as Will turned up. I hadn’t played Jaipur before, but its been on and off my radar for a while. Jaipur is played over three rounds before a winner is decided. We only had time to complete one. But there was enough in the game for me to want to play again. It is a nice two player game, that combines set collection, drafting and hand management really nicely.

With Will and Lucia we played Archer: Once You Go Blackmail Love Letter. There was a slight hitch to the start of the game. Jonathan and I hadn’t realised Will and Lucia hadn’t played Love Letter! It just didn’t register that we hadn’t played the game with them. Oops.

During the game Chris arrived. Just in time to see Jonathan come back from behind and win.

It was time to be corrupt sheriffs and dishonest tradesman in Sheriff of Nottingham. This game is such a hoot. There was not that much bribing to get your own goods through, but lots of bribing the current sheriff to open someone else’s pouch. Somehow in all the chaos, lying and treachery Chris won.


Our final game of our TableTop Day session was Lords of Waterdeep. I think this was my worst play of the game ever! It has been nearly a year and a half since I last played the game physically, and nearly a year the app (which does not work properly on iOS, and needs a massive update). We did have one misplay. The first round was played with too many meeples. After that I just didn’t complete Quests as quick as the others or use the intrigue cards well. Mind you I did draw some turkeys. Oh Lucia won. 

When I got home Amazon had delivered the stuff I bought with the very generous gift from my friends and colleagues at work yesterday. 

So that was TableTop Day for 2017, and day two of Darren’s birthday celebration weekend.

The Little Train That Couldn’t

expansions, Fenland Gamers, game night, lords of waterdeep, new arrivals
Yesterday really did turn out to be an awesome day. It started off me getting a coffee bought for me. Free coffee is always good. Then at break time there was chocolate cake and banoffee pie! from Doreen (mother of a colleague and friend who makes these to die for cakes) for the staff room. Yes I had both, it would have been rude not to. Both were amazing. But I handled the sugar rush that followed, I'm a serious cake addict so my fix needs to be larger than this.
When I got home two more kickstarters had arrived. One Night Revolution and Coup Rebellion G54 were in one box. Wow this version of Coup was a tad larger than the original. It certainly isn't portable anymore in the same way that Coup is. Coup Rebellion G54 is the sequel to Coup, and is stand alone from the original game. While One Night Revolution is a version of One Night Werewolf, but with some tweaks! Oh and naturally set in the Resistance/Dystopian Universe.
The Diamonster promo cards for Machi Koro also arrived, along with the final expansion that I needed (if we don't include the original Mutant Boss sculpt) for Run, Fight or Die, the Zombie Horde expansion.
The second Kickstarter to arrive was the long delayed and over due (although not by some Kickstarter projects standards) King of New York tee. Doesn't it look awesome? This just had to be worn for the gaming evening.

Fenland Gamers

Snowdonia a beautiful part of Wales. Sadly during the Summer so over crowded, it's hard to find that quiet remote spot away from the maddening crowd. But it is possible.
The Snowdon Summit is probably not my favourite, with the cafe and train line scaring it (despite the rebuilt cafe that is meant to be less intrusive). However its popularity can not be denied.
Last night Jonathan, Mat and myself got together to play a game of Snowdonia. Where we are trying to build that train line I described as a scar from Llanberis to the summit.
This was the first time any of us had played the game, which meant there was regular referring to the rules, and taking a round or two before things started to click.
Jonathan had two promo engine cards for the game, the kids favourite Ivor the Engine, and Jimmy and the Little Old Engine (a character I've never heard of). I think these are a pretty cool promos for the game really, and the publisher did really well getting permission to do them. Maybe I'll get Blood Rage when they produce a Noggin the Nog promo for it (I was more a Noggin the Nog fan than Ivor the Engine, but I did really like Ivor the Engine too).

The final turn of the game involved Jonathan stealing seven points from me by claiming a fourteen point rail slot that I was going for. I thought he didn't have the resources to get it! Mind you even I had got it, I still wouldn't have come close to coming second let alone winning. On that front Jonathan and Mat well and truly beat me.

So what were my initial impressions of Snowdonia? I enjoyed our game of it. But there is a but. I think I need a couple of more plays. It took me a little bit longer than I liked to get the hang of the game. I enjoyed the weather mechanic effecting what actions can be used, I liked the bag of resources with the use of white cubes mixed in that when drawn from the bag trigger certain events.

We finished the evening off by playing Lords of Waterdeep. With the amount of time we had left sadly we couldn't use either of the two modules from the expansion. It's well known how I feel about Waterdeep, and Jonathan and Mat had not played the game before, so after setting up it was time to teach Waterdeep.

Waterdeep isn't a difficult game to teach, and can be picked up very quickly. Which both Jonathan and Mat did.

I made a token attempt at trying to complete quests that would earn me extra victory points at the end of the game from my Lord of Waterdeep. Instead I kept going for high value quest cards, and trying to deny them from the others. Obviously this tactic was doomed to failure, even though it gave me the lead score going into the final round of the game.

During the final tallying of scores from the left over workers, money and bonus points from the Lords of Waterdeep cards that lead just slipped away. Jonathan just ran away with an amazing winning score in the one hundred and forties, while Mat got a comfortable second place, leaving me trailing far behind in last place.

Luckily Waterdeep didn't disappoint Jonathan and Mat. Which was my biggest fear. They enjoyed the game itself, and were impressed by the high quality of the components and packaging. Which to be fair is very good. Next time they both want to play with the expansions.

So free coffee, cake, stuff arriving, and an evening of great gaming. Yes yesterday was a truly great day.

 

Scoundrels hit Waterdeep

lords of waterdeep, new arrivals

I like Lords of Waterdeep a lot. Plus using the excellent iPad app I can get my fix when I'm not able to get the game to the table.

Previously when playing the game with Jamie and his wife Alison I was introduced to the expansion for the game Scoundrels of Skullport. Which I enjoyed so much I bought the expansion for the app as soon as I got home from that gaming session.

Finally after ordering the expansion on Amazon at the tail end of last month they got the expansion in and sent me a copy.

Scoundrels of Skullport is not a single expansion but two, plus adding all the bits for a sixth player to the game.

The two expansions in the box are the Undermountain module, and Skullport module. Both bring new Lords, Quests, buildings and Intrigue cards to the game. Plus their own mini game boards to expand the main board and options available to players.

As the rule book describes them, the Undermountain module “focuses on new quests with great demands and greater rewards“. While the Skullport module “focuses on a new resource, Corruption, and the risks associated with being corrupt“.

The base game can be played with either module or both. To be able to play the base game with the sixth player (the Gray Hands) you need to use at least one of the modules.

Playing the base game has been something Jonathan and Mat at my gaming group Fenland Gamers have wanted to play for a while. Due to illness a planned session had to be cancelled, but I'm sure it will be hitting the table very soon.

I'm tempted at that session not to just use the base game but also to use the Undermountain module. It keeps the same base game mechanics the same without having to worry about teaching the corruption side of things.

I'm glad I've got the physical expansion now. It really does make a great game better!

 

Father and Son Become Lords of Waterdeep

lords of waterdeep, waterdeep

So what gaming did Nath and I get up to in this way too short visit?

Well if you don't count the game of tidying up Naths bedroom ready for it to be painted, which had the mechanic “do you still want this?” then we only played one boardgame this weekend. Which was today.

Sadly Nath was working Saturdy night and was closing up which meant I had to pick him up at two in the morning. Which means by the time he gets home, has something to eat, unwinds a little it's gone three by the time he hits the sack.

So naturally this meant Nath didn't surface until nearly midday. After we had eaten (lunch for me, breakfast for Nath) we had a game of my new arrival Lords of Waterdeep.

After setting up, it was teach Nath the game. Luckily between the two physical plays and the excellent iOS app I was familiar enough with the game to teach Nath.

Lords of Waterdeep isn't a difficult game to explain and can be done in a fairly short time. Once you start taking your first turns it soon becomes very obvious what to do. I think the limited things to do each turn like take an action by placing an agent on it and possibly completing a quest make it a very fast learning curve.

Nath picked up the game really quick, and after three rounds I tested the water and asked Nath if he was enjoying the game. Nath responded in the positive to my question.

Sadly I got well and truly thrashed by Nath.

I've now played the game with four, three and now two players. So which is my favourite number to play with?

I liked playing two player with Nath, and found the game was fun. So when it comes to choosing what to take down to play at Christmas Waterdeep will be a strong contender to make the trip.

I also thought the game is even better with more players. A bit more challenging, and more to think about.

For me I'll happily play this game with any number of players, I don't think I do have a favourite number. I just like playing the game. When Nath is playing then it just takes the game enjoy ability to new levels of awesome.

Oh well back to the real world. A games night this Wednesday to look forward to, and hopefully some of the second hand games I bought will turn up or against the odds finally Ashes Rise of the Phoenix Born.

 

Bank holiday gaming

lords of waterdeep, netrunner
This afternoon Alison, Jamie and myself became shadowy figures pulling the invisible strings of power as we took on the roles of the Lords of Waterdeep.
Above photo courtesy of Jamie
Our game of Lords of Waterdeep this afternoon also used the Scoundrels of Skullport (SoS) expansion. Which was a first for me. Well this was only my second time playing the physical game, so it was bound to be.
The SoS expansion isn't a single expansion but in reality two expansions for the price of one. Between the two expansions they add three small boards to sit alongside the original playing board. Two of the boards add new actions for you to select from with your minions out doing your bidding. While the third is a corruption board that homes the corruption tokens that players get for doing some of the new actions, and tracking how many negative victory points those corruption tokens will be worth at the end of the game. Yes corruption tokens are negative victory points if you have them sitting in your tavern at the end of the game.
As I pursued a tactic of playing intrigue cards, getting lucky to have an intrigue card that protected me from intrigue attack cards and intrigue compulsory quests early on, I was able to secure a victory of 143 points I think it was in the end. I think I built one building in the end, that allowed as its action the ability to remove two corruption tokens from your tavern. Which once I had got rid of the four corruption counters I had accrued using this building and an intrigue card that also removed up to three corruption counters, using an intrigue card I had I was able to remove the building and replace it with another one for free. This stopped Jamie and Alison from getting rid of their corruption tokens.
I did play a shed load of intrigue cards. Which also gave me lots more actions than Jamie and Alison. On the last three rounds I also started amassing lots of coins, I ended the game with thirty five coins worth seventeen victory points, and twelve cubes, only five victory points from building, four completed scoring quests that got me six points per one, and three none scoring completed quests.
I was surprised how effective this tactic was. It felt like an aggressive tactic.
I really did enjoy playing Lords of Waterdeep with the SoS expansion. This will definitely be going on the wish list on bgg, and be high up on my priority list. In the meantime I will get the expansions for the iOS app, although they are two separate purchases.
Afterwards it was a “quick” game of Netrunner (yes I took my decks with me on the off chance, I had tweaked them – details on tweaks to follow in another post).
The first game was Noise up against Jamie's Jinteki. I lost this match up due to net damage wiping me out. I had three servers to choose from, I went with the middle one that was a trap. If I had gone either side I would have scored an agenda.
Second game was NBN taking on Kate. I won this when Jamie did two runs on R&D hitting two snares! On the trot and wiping himself out with net damage. The first time he hit the snare! I only had three credits so couldn't pull the trigger. But second time the pop up window guarding R&D gave me that fourth credit I needed to do the net damage and the win.
Thanks Jamie and Alison for a great afternoon gaming.

A Visit to The Hobbit Hole

Midday saw my first visit to The Hobbit Hole in Chatteris. When I arrived at Chatteris I thought I may have to google the shops location, but it was easier to find than I thought, because I drove right past it on my way into the centre looking for it.

I have to say I liked the friendly helpful owner, who welcomed me to the shop, let me browse and was helpful and gave me info on local gaming groups in the area.

The small band of I'm assuming regulars who were playing the Warhammer Conquest LCG were also friendly and helpful.

I enjoyed my first experience at the shop. I can see myself going back to the shop on a regular basis. Chatteris is roughly a thirty minute drive for me, free parking when I get there. So a lot more convenient for me than Peterborough.

The range of games on sale isn't as comprehensive as other lgs. But that will improve I'm sure.

Yes I may have parted with hard currency while there so let's look at my guilty purchases.

I blame the contents of the photo below on my mate Duncan and his “nagging” to paint my miniatures. Yes I admit I set it as an aim for the year to learn how to paint figures. So ok, you can argue that Duncan was only helping me to meet an aim of mine.

Plus the main reason I made this trip to The Hobbit Hole was to see what painting stuff they had in stock. I have to say the owner and the shops resident painting expert (sorry can't remember his name) were really helpful in advising me in what I needed brush wise as a starter, and initial paints for painting storm troopers and zombies.
The above photo is proof I am a weak willed fool, who has no self control. I swore to myself I was going to skip the Age of Ultron set of Dicemasters, because of the insane release schedule Wizkids have. But heck if I didn't crumble and buy five boosters for this set.
Which now means I'm going to have to buy the starter set, and then the inevitable gravity feed!
The nice thing is that The Hobbit Hole has just got in some of the OP kits, so will be hosting some Dicemasters OP soon. The owner did say that he is easy to beat, that the one or two of his regulars who play have the likes of Gobby.
Easiest way to combat this and even up the playing field is make the OP events draft only. Having played draft at the Games Expo earlier in the year, this is a fun format to play. Ok so you pay a tenner to enter but you are getting ten boosters worth of cards of the latest set.

Out This Week

A once in a random time section to a post that I thought I'd run. It won't be everything coming out but stuff I've been waiting for.

First up according to the Esdevium (Probably the main distributor of games in the UK) weekly coming out newsletter is Machi Koro Millionaires Row. This is the second expansion for the popular card game of city building. The question is how big will the box be?

Valley of the Kings Afterlife is also out this week. A standalone game and can also be used with the original Valley of the Kings game. No new mechanics to learn for players of the original.

Tides of Time have to admit I was confused by this one unless it's a restock because I thought it had come out earlier in August.

 

Lords of Waterdeep the app Initial Thoughts

iOS, lords of waterdeep

So remember from yesterday's post about the weekend I said I liked Lords of Waterdeep after getting to play it for the first time?

Well I've added the game to my BGG wishlist so I don't forget it (fat chance of that). But then I discovered there was an app version of the game.

So for the sum of £4.99 I was able to purchase the app and have it installed on my iPad in minutes.

My initial impression is very positive.

What eased the decision in buying the iOS version of the game was that it supported online play. Specifically asynchronous play. So after playing a game against the AI that I lost (well it was only my second game) I decided to try the online side of things.

This meant I needed to set up “yet another account” to be able to play using this mode. The system at the developer once you have entered your details for the new account is meant to send you an email. An email it claims is your account information, but I suspect also has a link in it to confirm the activation.

Guess what I haven't received yet almost twenty four hours after entering my details? Yep that email.

Every time I try and use the online mode, it simple tells me to check the email and kicks me back to the main menu.

So I have now raised a support call to get this sorted so I can play online.

As for the game I played, well it does a pretty good job of reproducing the game. The interface is pretty good, and it has the nice feature of being able to zoom in and out of the board.

As I said in the title this is an initial impression of the app. It is infuriating that I can't try the online mode against real people. But this will test the developers support I suppose.

Right I'm off to play against an AI.