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KL BOARDGAMES MEETUP REPORT @ OLD TOWN KOPITIAM & BOARDGAMECAFE.NET CHERAS 14/9/07
by jack208

After the rousing meetup last week (7/9/07) where we also hosted one of the Catan Qualifier Legs, we are back to a more quiet meetup week especially since a few of the OTK regulars could not make it due to other commitments.

We still managed to squeeze in a good range of games from the old classic Ticket to Ride to faves like Powergrid, new games as in Lifeboats and an OOP game in Die Handler.

Jorge and his wife Edel were the first to arrive to OTK. Ian (aka Shrapnel) joined him and together with Waiyan, they started one of the old classic, Alan Moon's Ticket to Ride while waiting for the others to arrive.

Alan Moon's bestselling game for 4p: Waiyan, Ian, Edel & Jorge

The remaining three - Wolfx, Henry and myself - started a quick game of Caylus on another table.

 
T3p Caylus between wolfx (in pic) henry & jack208.

Cheryl (c_mun) and Siew Hui were the next to arrive. They brought two other friends - Yee Ling & Dylan. After getting introduced to everyone (this was their first time to OTK Cheras) they settled down for a game of survivor ala LifeBoats.

Six new players for Lifeboats: waiyan, ian, cheryl, yee ling, dylan and jorge

The 3p Caylus game ended pretty quickly at our table and since wolfx has not experienced the joy of throwing meeples into volcanoes, we brought out The Downfall of Pompeii for him. Looking at the happy face on rhyen, this looks like a game he enjoys very much.

Time to chuck your fren's meeples in volcanoes.... aarrrgghhhh!

They were still Lifeboating when we completed our game of Pompeii. Redtag made a surprise impromptu appearance (he probably thinks we are playing TI3) and since the only 4p game we've were 18Scan, we decided it's time to introduce these two to the joy of 18xx.

rhyen was initially given the honor of doing the 18xx intro (via 18Scan) but halfway thru the game, the Lifeboats table finished theirs and shrapnel wanted to learn Colloseum.

rhyen, the 18xx teacher with new students redtag and wolfx on the Scandinavia map 

We concluded R1 at OTK with half-completed 18Scan and Colloseum. Some left but 5 gamers continued to BGC for Round 2.

Started off R2 with an old fave that has not been played for some time; Power Grid on the Germany map. The signs were indeed there that we haven't been playing this for some time as we forgot that with 5 players, we only play 5 areas - we played with all 6 areas hence the map felt "relaxed".

 
First Powergrid game for redtag

New Padawan trying out his jedi mind trick.... on the game components!

Manila (courtesy of wolfx) was next. This is a good filler game (though some games can take 1hr+) for 4-5 players, and since some have not played this, we decided to do this after Powergrid. Wolfx taught the game and off we go pushing our luck in Manila.

 
Jorge and Wolfx in a game of Manila.

Die Handler was next (and the last game for R2). This is one of my fave trading/bidding game where the objective is to climb the highest in the social status ladder. Money gets you there but money by itself does not win you the game.

 
The wooden wagon where you placed your trade goods to be shipped to another city to sell

In this game, each of us are traders... and we can buy any of the five types of goods, store them in warehouses (in any of the 6 cities) and later send them onto the wagons to other cities to sell them. From the sales proceeds (and hopefully not losses), we become rich and pay to get our social status updated.

Sounds reasonably simple yet the game is full of screwage almost in every round. It starts from the bidding to become the Wagon Master. The Wagon Master determines what goods can and cannot be loaded onto the wagon (before it rolls out to another city).. and at what price (yes, you gotta pay to have your goods loaded onto the wagon, and you pay the Wagon Master!)

Somewhat similar to Manila's bid for Harbor Master except in this case, you get to make money off the wagon loading and also control which types of goods are loaded onto the wagons. Usually if you have goods stored in the warehouse, you would want them loaded onto the wagon so that the goods can be sold.

.
Mr Blue's not keeping up with the Joneses...

Strangely some players dun quite get the game. This game is a big fave of the Pudu Gamers too but I think some OTK regulars (aanemesis, ayheng) have played the game and were lukewarm to it.

wolfx is probably joining the Lukewarm Club as he gave up halfway thru the game and became Mr Randomizer (ala LostBoyz in the last Railroad Tycoon game at BGC). He literally took out his frustration via random bidding for wagon master!! LOL Anyway rhyen won this game after piping Jorge in the last turn.

R2 ended 630am; Jorge went home while three amigos (wolfx, rhyen and jack208) went for dimsum at Yulek. Not a bad session considering we got to play about 8-9 games.

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14-09-2007

KL BOARDGAMES MEETUP REPORT @ BOARDGAMECAFE.NET CHERAS 8/7/07
by ayheng & jack208

It's our usual Friday Meetup at the Cheras area which we've been doing regularly for the past few months just that I've been busy and haven't been diligently updating this blog with meetup reports and photos.

We started off with yum-cha and chit-chat session at Old Town Kopitiam. I was there having dinner with another buddy of mine (Koh) to do some catching up. OTK's White Coffee is always a good companion to chit-chat with.

LostBoyz was the first gamer to drop in.... looking a bit lost (hehe) as he was scouting OTK 1st Floor looking for signs of any gaming activities. He joined us and chit-chat while having his curry chicken rice dinner.

Koh left, Heng arrived. Dinner for Heng while we changed topics to (what else) boardgames.... Surprisingly when Koh was around, we were actually talking about Xbox gaming; Xbox Live, Second Life, WOW all crept into the conversation.

Formula De reported by ayheng

Last night's session was a rousing success, guanranteed by Boardgamecafe.net's three stooges: namely Jedi Council jack208, Jedi Knight ayheng and Jedi Padawan-Knight-to-be-coming-soon lostboyz.

The session was dealt a terrible blow early on as people started dropping out like flies and ayheng was delayed by urgent work. lostboyz and jack208 soldiered on at 8pm at OTK with a starting meal.

9pm and an urgent message was sent out: where are you? ayheng finally made it to OTK and the three power figures started discussing the serious business of the (boardgaming) FORCE. (yeah well, we talked mostly about upcoming and favourite releases while I ate my curry chicken rice dinner).

10pm thereabouts we adjourned to BGC and enticed laiwah to a game of Formula De! This fun racing game uses dice in a creative way, namely, you get a progressively better dice with higher numbers as you shift gears up, until you are in a lean-mean-unstoppable racing machine flying down the straight at gear 5! (of course, that is before you realize the wicked corners that are coming up and you burn rubber and metal to slow down frantically)

Laiwah and Ayheng discussing the La Rascasse corner.

Each player got 2 cars and as a result, there were 8 cars racing on the board. This game amazingly can handle 5 players with 2 cars each, or 10 players with one car each! A good game to have for the occasion of having 8+ players.

Lots of reckless drivers abound as the newbie racers went neck to neck into the corners, scratching paintjobs and occasionally, doing damage to their own bodywork. In a car that's designed for two races, some of the (shall-not-be-unnamed-to-protect-their-identity) players limped past the chequered flag in the first lap with a badly damaged car.

[jack208] Lostboyz's Williams (blue) zooming past jack208's Ferrari (red)
in the final straight when Lostboyz threw a 20 in 5th Gear! jack208's Ferrari
was actually almost a total wreck; having gone into corners aggressively and
"bumped" into a few too many cars. :P

The corner mechanics are pretty neat as it forces the racers to stop a requisite number of times in the corners in a low gear before shifting up for the exit. The lane changing mechanic is also quite inspired as it often creates a situation where the front driver can benefit from an open lane to change lanes according to how fast his car is going. Whereas the back driver will find himself putting the brakes on his car when confronted by the blocking maneuver of the front car. Definitely a game to play for the experience of car racing.

[jack208] The two leading teams - Renault (yellow) and Williams (blue)
attempting to block off the corner from the incoming pack.

The game comes with two tracks and lots of expansion tracks to bid on e-bay. The tracks that came with the game are quite good as it features the technically demanding Monaco circuit and the (comparatively) more relaxed Holland circuit.

The game's a bit longish as it took the 4 of us about 2 hours to finish 1 lap. The rules are not particularly tough and the main strategy is in trying to get out of a corner fast enough to outrun the rest.

In our game, lostboyz's first car on the starting grid ended up finishing second last due to his prudent taking of the corners while his last car ended up finishing first due to his risk taking on going into the corners. jack208 also did well with one of his cars, showing us how to go into a corner fast and then take a minor fuel penalty to fast-downthrottle rapidly. I did okay with both my cars finishing consistently in the middle. laiwah took too many a safe approach and was thus left in the dust by other maniac pedal-to-the-metal drivers. Although, to be on the fair side, she would have won if we did two laps like we originally promised to.

 
The race result for 070608 Monaco

Jack208's comment on the BGC Monaco race. This was a 1st race for everyone (except me who had done a 2-lap race on Monaco a couple weeks back). We initially decided to do a 2-lap race so that we can use pitstop as part of our strategy. In the end, as the cars were limping towards the end of Lap 1 we decided it's better to just end the race there as.... i) this is a learning game and hence a 1-lap race is equally satisfying, and ii) a few of our cars probably won't make it till end of Lap 2. hehe.....

Obviously this kinda messed up the plans of those who were driving a little bit prudently as a 2-lap strategy (eg. laiwah's Honda) since they'll likely not be in the lead coming into the end of Lap 1, as compared to those reckless drivers who burn tyres like there's no tomorrow and scrapping each other's bodywork off by driving too close to one another.

The Mirabeau corner and the subsequent Loews Hairpin turn is the first test
for budding F1 drivers. 

We did a 4 team race on the Monaco track with each team having 2 cars. The roster of F1 cars and their managers.

• Williams (blue), manager: lostboyz
• Renault (yellow), manager: ayheng
• Honda (green), manager: laiwah
• Ferrari (red), manager: jack208

The Monaco track is a slow and tight track. You hardly get to test your car in 6th gear and there's only a couple of long straights where you get to zoom into 5th. But if you get into those long straights not at 5th gear then you'll likely lose ground. Therefore the ability to get into corners fast and sharp so that you can exit at speed would be key in determining how well you do in this track.

The Mirabeau Corner is often the first key - and in the first lap, it can be deadly as most cars would bunch in to this corner at the same time making it very congested. After Mirabeau you get a short straight and immediately you'll be confronted with the 180º Loews Hairpin turn. It's not uncommon to see cars dragging thru this in 1st Gear.

The Loews turn is also where blocking tactics can be employed to fend off the chasing pack. In the picture above, the two leading teams (Renault and Williams) were closing off the Loews turn to prevent the chasing pack from overtaking them.

 
The Ferrari managed to squirm itself into a good position between the
Renaults and Williams, coming into the Portier double-corners.

However fortune favors the bold and aggressive. If you can maneuver the Loews Hairpin and gain a good position coming out of the turn and into the Portier sharp-right, you stand a chance to open a gap with the chasing pack (or catch-up with the leading cars).

In another race also at Monaco (Landak Gamers), another driver did a very aggressive but sharp turn into this section and not only caught up with the pole leader, but overtook him as he sped out of the Portier turn into the tunnel straight....... he went on to win the race. Obviously if he mistimed his corners, he would end up a total wreck!

 
The leading cars once out of the Portier corners, speeding off in high gear
while the chasing pack is still navigating the double right-handers.

However Ferrari's aggressive driving in the Mirabeau-Loews-Portier section was not without cost as it sustained some bodywork damage due to minor collisions with the other cars as everyone jostled for position in those tight corners.

The cars speeding past the Piscine "S". You can see the swimming pool in
the middle of the photo.

Renault were driving a hard race with both their cars in the leading pack. Williams obviously still has one of its car in the lead while Ferrari managed to insert one of its among the leaders. Honda was driving more prudently obviously planning to go the distance in the 2nd lap. 

After Piscine is a very tight 180º right-hander named the Rascasse Corner. The corner looks rather "harmless" and "easy" but appearance can be deceiving. This is the corner that can win (or lose) you the race especially since it's just one more corner away from the final straight (grandstand).

 
Cars speeding into the tight La Rascasse corner which is a 180º-turner.

In this race, Renault was in pole heading into the Rascasse with Ferrari and Williams closing the gap. A combination of aggressive (and some said reckless) driving and sharp positioning allowed the Williams (blue-white) to close the gap and overtake the Renault (yellow-blue).

LostBoyz (right), team manager for Williams (blue) pondering on his next
move as he watched his leading Williams car being overtaken by a reckless
Ferrari in the Rascasse Corner.

Ferrari (red-yellow) taking advantage of a slight hesitation from Williams then cut across the corner and claimed pole for the first time in this race, coming out of the Rascasse. Thus in the blink of a corner, Renault has dropped from pole to third position. This is the importance of taking the Rascasse well. 

In another incident from the Landak Gamers race, the driver who was in 3rd position coming into the Rascasse Corner for the final lap, with the 4th placed driver in hot pursuit, attempted to take this corner too fast, spun and can only watched while his pursuer sped past him to a podium finish (3rd).

So neglect the Rascasse at your own peril.

Even tho' Ferrari did well to grab pole from Williams in the Rascasse, the Williams driver were not to be denied this victory! He floored the accelerator (rolled 20 in 5th Gear!) and raced neck-to-neck with the Ferrari in the final straight, piping Ferrari to the chequered flag by a nose-length.

Note: Oh, by then we'd decided to change this race into a single-lap race. Therefore the results don't really matter as we took this as a learning game for everyone. As Heng mentioned in his report (see above), Honda would have done better if we did complete this as a 2-lap race.

Williams taking the chequered flag. Ferrari lost by a nose-length while
Renault took the last podium finish.

MONACO STATISTICS
- 18 corners (15 marked corners in the Formula De track)
- 3.34 km in real distance (1+ hr per lap in Formula De time)

FORMULA DE LEAGUE
On the following day, the gamers at Mage Cafe also brought this game to the table and did the Zandvoort (Holland) track. They enjoyed this game so much we are planning to do a Formula De Championship which would cover a few different tracks such as Sepang, Shanghai, Suzuka, Imola, Buenos Aires, etc. Points will be scored for Drivers and Constructors. If you are interested to take part in our Championship, sign-up at this thread.

NOTE: For those wishing to buy this game, sadly it is already OOP (out-of-print) and also out-of-stock with us. The last (and final) reprint from Asmodee has now been sold out. You may scan eBay for listings but do expect to pay a lot for those listed there.

Wallenstein reported by ayheng

One game down, one more to go. Round 2 started at 12am with jack208 explaining the rules of Wallenstein to ayheng and lostboyz. rhyen temporarily got the boyz' hopes up by declaring that he was making his way from Mages to Boardgamecafe. Which however he did not turn up. And so we settle into a three player game.

The game's of area-control game with some wargaming elements settled by the infamous cube-tower! How it works is like this: you take your army cubes, you take your opponents army cubes, shake it up in your hand and throw them into the cube tower! some cubes will get stuck, and other cubes got stuck there before might come unstuck! So what happens is an interesting result which favors the person with the more cubes... MOST of the TIME. Not always. Sometimes your cube just don't want to drop out.

Cube towers aside, there's some planning to be had each round which seriously causes some mind-f*** going on. Players start guessing and second guessing other people's actions. As all actions are put down first and then revealed simultaneously, this will cause some serious screwage to happen as players' plan are thrown into wreck by unforeseen moves. Glorious!

[jack208] The Action Cards that determine the sequence those actions will
be executed. Players plan their actions for each season based on this sequence.

jack208 seems to get the strategy on this one as he finishes a respectable 2nd after losing precious points in the first year to a peasant riot. Myself did badly as I didn't manage to get building majority on many provinces. lostboyz with his devil-may-care attitude went on a province grabbing spree managed to finish first as he was able to put down his rioting-starving-peasants. Nice game.

[jack208] LostBoyz (blue) seems to be heading for a major peasants' revolt
during Winter coz his provinces haven't been producing any grain!

Note: Wallenstein is already an OOP game. However it has recently been republished as Shogun; fully English edition, improved game board with scoring track, and some enhancement to the rules. You can get Shogun here.

The Downfall of Pompeii reported by ayheng

The night finishes with more talk and finally a lite game of The Downfall of Pompeii to intro to lostboyz. This game is very lite and is right up 'litegamer' lostboyz' alley. Another satisfied tossing-meeples-into-da-burning-volcano customer.

Woo hoo! three games in a nite, we finished at 4-ish. Highlight for me tonite was Formula DE. But I don't recommend anyone to get it because I WANT IT (wait till my next budget, sigh).

The above report is also published in Heng's Gaming Blog.

Click here for more photos of this gaming session.
For more gaming reports, visit our Boardgame Meetup Reports Blog.
To discuss this gaming session, visit our forum in BoardgameCafe.net

If you wish to join our boardgame meetups, check out our Meetup Calendar and sign up now at KL Boardgames Meetup!

To buy the games played in this meetup, visit our Web Store. We carry over 200+ games and provide prompt delivery to anywhere in Malaysia.

KL BOARDGAMES MEETUP REPORT @ OLD TOWN KOPITIAM & BOARDGAMECAFE.NET CHERAS 9/3/07
by aycee, rhyen, and jack208

The usual Fri evening meetup at Old Town Kopitiam (OTK) after we managed to break-the-bank last week (report still pending, sigh). Our break-the-bank session last 7+ hrs last week and it was even mentioned in our forum that "doing 1856 in 3 hours is the Holy Grail of Boardgaming", but everyone's still keen to come back again for another 1856 session, which is fast becoming the HOTTEST game this part of the gaming world.

But I bet surely no one expected what happened next in this week's 1856 session. Read on and you'll find out.

Three gathered at OTK for dinner at 730 pm - Ainul, Alan and Jeff. No. 4 (Henry) joined us soon after and we quickly embarked on our usual appetizer for Fri evening - Caylus.

While the Caylus session was going on, gamer no. 5 Long (LostBoyz) arrived.

We ended Caylus quickly by pushing the provost forward. Henry won, Ainul continued to wonder at the game, and the rest of the gamers trickled in - Alvin (aycee) and Heng (ayheng). Ken (wolfx) was supposed to car-tag with Heng but he's not here yet. Forgot to ask Heng what happened (but Ken did arrive later around 10ish).

We quickly settled our bill and adjourned to Boardgamecafe.net centre for our main agenda for the evening - a 6-player session of 1856!

The shortest 1856 game ever!!! (In Malaysia that is) A.K.A.: Don't need to hotsun one to screw someone!!! A.K.A.: Learning to be a corporate raider!!! Basically, after letting me win another game of 4-players Caylus at OTK (I kid you not. The proof is to your right, I am playing BLUE), the gang headed back to BGCLand to do 6-players 1856. We have Jeff, Ainul, Ay Heng, Long, Aycee, Alan and me (7 people). So, how do you play 6-player game with 7? Easy, we paired up Long with Aycee as his consultant/advisor/schemer-in-crime (who somehow managed to also become the banker throughout the game, asking people to exchange dollar notes).

The Six who started - Alan, Long (his advisor Aycee hidden by him), Ainul, Henry, Heng and Jeff (holding camera)

The starting order went: Henry (why do I always draw first in 1856?), Heng, Jeff, Alan, Long & Aycee, Ainul.

Results of Bids for private companies:

• Flos Tramway: bought for cost $20 by Henry
• Canada: Alan for $45
• Waterloo: Long & Aycee for $55
• Great Lakes Shipping: Ainul paid $95 (interestingly, there were 3 bidders on this one, Henry, Jeff and Ainul. Henry pulled out leaving Jeff and Ainul to drive the price up on this one)
• Niagara: Heng for $105
• St Claire: Jeff for cost $100

1st round of profit taking (from private company) as per usual.

Private Public companies started:

• Alan: GW ($65 per share)
• Long: LPS ($65 per share)
• Ainul: CPR ($70 per share)
• Henry: GT ($75 per share)
• Heng: WR ($65 per share)
• Jeff: CA ($70 per share)

additional stocks brought:

• Henry: 1 share of CPR

Operating round #1:
All companies laid tracks and bought trains (5 level 2 trains were sold, 1 left.) in their 1st round (except for Jeff's CA since he has no legal train route and cannot be forced to buy). Everyone wonder whether he would connect to a city first before the last level 2 train is sold.

Stock round #2 (priority with Heng):

• Long: 1 share of LPS

*Please note that all photos of stock round are taken prior to any trading of shares

Operating round #2:
All companies laid tracks and didn't buy any additional trains yet (Jeff's CA still managed to avoid do any train runs at all). GT, CPR, LPS and WR issued dividends while GW withhold dividends. CA still can't run and watches its share prices decline in tandem with GW.

OR#2: Tracks laid by GW (Alan), LPS (Long) and CA (Jeff) in the West

OR#2: Tracks laid by CPR (Ainul) and GT (Henry) in the North-East

OR#2: Tracks laid by WR (Heng) in the South-East


OR#2: All companies earning $5 EPS except for CA which has no route yet.

OR#2: Stock market position. CA has no route but GW has $5 EPS but chose to withhold

Stock round #3 (priority with Ainul):

• Heng: 1 share of WR

Operating rounds #3:
There was 2 operating rounds in OR#3 as the 1st sale of the 3-train triggered Phase 4 (where there shall be two operating rounds).

1st OR: CPR bought the remaining level 2 train to maximise delivery, necessitating several other companies (LPS, CA and GW) to take on govt loans loan to finance their purchase of level 3 trains. Jeff's CA finally found a legal train route just in time for power through; two level 3 trains remaining.

Dividend: GT, CPR, WR, GW payout. LPS, and CA withhold.

2nd OR: All companies then started utilising green tracks up upgrade existing tracks rather than expand and everyone's dividends soar.

Dividend: GT, CPR, WR, LPS payout. CA and GW withhold.

(Please note that CA and GW have finally moved into the yellow zone, as noted in the next photo). CA took another govt loan while CPR joined the ranks of company with debts liable to the Chanucks.

EPS chart after OR#3: GW now performing best with $14 EPS while CA with its new level 3 train earned $7

Stock round #4 (priority with Jeff):

• Jeff: 1 share of GT at $75
• Ainul: 1 share of CPR
• Henry: 1 share of GT
• Heng: 1 share of WR
• Jeff: sells GT share at $90 (blast you Jeff, corporate raider)
• Heng: sell WR shares
• Jeff: buys 1 share of CA

Operating rounds #4:
1st OR: GT, CPR and WR upgraded key cities and maximised their runs. CPR & WR both take out govt loans to finance the purchases of the last two level 3 trains. LPS expanded GW's eastern route but neglected to place his remaining station marker, which GW dutily complied to hem in LPS (thereby necessitating LPS to break out northwest of London later).

Note from jack208
Here, LPS missed a good opportunity to completely cut out GW and make his life terribly painful. If LPS has placed a token in the city south of Barrie (see picture below), and CA (which runs after LPS) likewise placed another token, this would have locked out GW (which runs last of the three companies in the West) from i) being able to use both its level 2 and level 3 trains, and ii) unable to destinate until it breaks out of that deadlock.

OR#4: The three companies in the West building up a profitable network. CA and GW have placed their station markers to lock out LPS from going further south.

Dividends: GT, and WR issue dividends, CPR, LPS, GW and CA withhold dividends; GW share prices dropped into the dreaded brown zone). CA takes out another govt loan and buys the 1st level 4 train, essentially wiping out everyone's level 2 train.

Note from jack208
CA has been planning to get the level 4 train for a few turns earlier by intentionally not connecting to a route and withholding its dividend. By getting that first level 4, CA achieved a few things: i) Everyone's level 2 trains were rusted with the bonus of wiping out GT's only level 2 train and forcing Henry into a FTP situation which nearly bankrupted him but in any case the damage would have set him back a few many good rounds, and ii) CA with a level 3 and now a level 4 train, pumped its EPS up to $20. The early rust of everyone's level 2 trains may meant most companies did not get breakeven from the cost ($100) of purchasing the level 2 trains.

OR#4: WR has now connected to its destination city and has started expanding westward from Buffalo. Pity the game ended prematurely else it would be interesting to see how WR fared in this instance as it has established a virtually unchallenged network in the South-East.

OR#4: In the North-east, CPR has completed its link to Toronto while GT started branching out to expand (but were hobbled by the FTP situation).

OR#4.1: Both CA and GW has entered the Yellow Zone.

2nd OR: GT's FTP requires Henry to sell off another GT and CPR share, depressing their share prices. but he rummages enough cash to finance the purchase (thanks to earlier profitable dividend issue; but must remember to keep for rainy days, Henry!). GT was unable to issue dividends as its only level 2 train were rusted from the previous round.

Dividends: WR, CPR, LPS and CA upgraded their tracks, maximised their runs and issued dividends. GW withheld dividends (dropping it's share prices further into the dreaded brown zone, about $35 per share).

The finished board after the operating round is to the right (below).

OR#4: EPS table at the end of Op Round #4. CA has jumped to $20 due to its level 3 and level 4 train combo while GT dropped to $0 due to FTP situation.

OR#4: CA playing a dicey game with the Govn Loans (has maxxed out to 3 loans) but that's needed in order to quickly finance the purchase of the level 3 and level 4 trains.

Stock round #5 (Priority with Alan):

• Ainul: 1 share of CPR
• Jeff: 1 share of GW (he starts conferring in Heng to shut down GW through stock price manipulation)
• Alan: 1 share of GW
• Long: 1 share of LPS (Long was contemplating buying GW shares after observing Jeff without realizing Jeff's ulterior motive, but Jeff warned him off and he decided to reinvest his profits back into his own company)
• Heng: 1 share of GW
• Jeff: sells GW shares (GW share prices drops to $30)
• Alan: 1 share of GW
• Heng: sell GW share (GW drops into the white zone, closes down)

The Hot-Dip maneuver - If you zoom to the Stock Market, you would notice GW hanging precariously just 2 boxes above the White Closed Zone. Sale of two shares will push GW over the edge....

Note from jack208
It was Heng who first spotted the Hot-Dip possibility. He nudged me and we contemplated for awhile whether to do it or not. Well, since it would be a historical moment for 1856-MY (we did not have any player bankruptcy for 1856 yet), we decided to go ahead. The funny thing was Long's eagerness to snap up GW shares when he saw us doing so. That was classic herd mentality at work! :P 

The end result of the share price manipulation is shown on the right.

(Watch the hapless investor wind up his insolvent company)

Game ends: 1 hours 59 minutes. Why? Because a private investor has gone out of business!

Celebrating the Hot-Dip Moment when GW closes down after seeing its share price plummeted into the Closed Zone when stock raiders (Heng/Jeff) struck! If we were drinking Guinness, this would have qualified for the Guinness Moment photo.

Note from jack208
This was our 2nd 6-player 1856 game; the first was played some weeks back when most of us were still exploring the nuances of 1856. I've to say the dynamics of a 6-player game is so much different from that of a 4- or 5-player. With 4-player, there was more time for us to build our network, take some profits, then decide either to start 2nd company or grow current company long-term. With 6-player, the train rush comes quite early and each player has only enough starting capital (player starts with only $250) to barely form one company so FTP threat can be deadly. Can't wait to do another 6-player session.

Credits: This meetup report was cross-posted from Rhyen's Blog.

Wolf In Sheep's Clothings We'd heard stories about it, but all of us put it down as stories to scare the children, to make sure they go to bed early. All that changed when Goodman Jack was found dead, his throat torn out, his body a bloody mess near the village gates. Everyone remembered his accusation the day before, "There is a werewolf amongst us, and he holds post within the village council!" That morning itself the whole village met to discuss Goodman Jack's death. No doubt about it, the killings were the work of a -gasp- werewolf. It wasn't just any boogeyman story any more. Given that our little village was isolated from the rest of the world, there was no doubt that the werewolf was lurking among us.

All villagers in good mood, it seems. Well, photo was taken before the wolves first killing

It wasn't a comforting thought. None of us would be able to sleep soundly until the werewolf was exposed and killed. Already, looking at the crowd, everyone carried with them folklore safeguards meant to protect them: cloves of garlic, pieces of silver, crucifixes...Village leaders Father ryhen, Goodman Long, Matron Ain, loreweaver ayheng, trader Wolfx, Chief Alan, old man Vincent and lexicographer aycee headed the council in attempts to expose the werewolf.

Goodman Long putting his points across

Father ryhen spoke first. Everyone else was scandalised as Father ryhen spoke of contacting the Village Seer, the local witch. While everyone acknowledge her prowress (and the necessity of having someone skilled in the arts of midwifery, herbology and other secret magicks), no one openly talked about her. Whatmore Father ryhen openly suggesting working with a heretic!

Everyone seems to be paying full attention to the ongoing discussion

Goodman Long voiced out against Father ryhen, condemning him and leading a group of villagers to believe that Father ryhen has been possessed by evil spirits and needs to be cleansed...terminally. Father ryhen's quiet manner was drowned out by Goodman Long's speeches, but not before causing the villagers to split into to groups of thought. However, having the majority of people behind him, Goodman Long and his mob burned Father ryhen at the stake as a heretic.

And they LAUGHED again... after Father Rhyen was lynced... geez

Everyone then went home, secured in their belief that their village is no longer under threat.

Old man Vincent was then found dead next morning. Dread swamped the villagers. Was there another werewolf lurking in our midst? Or, more horrifically, did we kill innocent Father ryhen in error!

Back to serious discussion after finding out OM Vincent was dead too

Matron Ain was suspected. A girl of easy virtues, she was accused of sneaking out at night and wandering about near old man Vincent's hut. Her remarks that we were 'stupid old men who cannot see beyond our noses' was a scream of defiance that went unnoticed. She died at the stake as well.

Next morning, Village Militia Chief Alan was found dead in his office. The MO was the same - ripped jugular, claw marks. This time there was no doubt amongst the guilt-ridden villagers. They were murderers, manipulated by the werewolf (or werewolves) to kill their own brethren while hiding their own tracks.

The survivors deciding again who to lynch

Throughout all this, village trader Wolfx had heard mutterings against him, but having no other basis than having the family name of Wolfx no one openly confronted him about being the werewolf. But with the werewolf still at large mutterings against him grew louder, the source of it coming from Goodman Long. Things came to a head among the village elders with trader Wolfx and Goodman Long at each other's throats (figuratively speaking) while village loreweaver ayheng and lexicographer aycee kept quiet. Since no incriminating evidence could be produced, the village elders decide to put the matter off till the following day.

And they LAUGHED again after yet another villager was lynched. Is this their way of coping with the guilt of lynching one of their own?

Next morning Wolfx was found dead. That night, loreweaver ayheng was visited by Goodman Long and lexicographer aycee, only to witness a ghastly transformation under the full moon...

Credits: This meetup report was cross-posted from Aycee's Blog.

We did two rounds of Werewolves before ending R1 around 1230 am. Five of us stayed back for R2 - rhyen, ayheng, aycee, wolfx, vincent and jack208. Since both wolfx and vincent have not played Puerto Rico before, we took the opportunity to introduce them to this wonderful game.

Vincent has to take his leave after Puerto Rico but he'll be back next week. The four of us then did Antiquity before we said goodbye at day-break. And oh dim-sum at the nearby restaurant.

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