BGN Session Report 13 July 2011

Games played:
1. Cargo Noir
2. The Speicherstadt
3. Sneak & Snitches
4. The Resistance
5. Power Grid
6. Parade
7. Ascension
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Traffickers, Thieves, Spies and Power Mongers. 

Strange night – with themes revolving around various shady occupations.  🙂

This week was meant to be a bit of new and a bit of old.

This arrangement was inspired by the BGC retreat. Although I couldn’t stack them somehow… Hmm.

Boardgamecafe was gracious enough to lend us 3 new games but we only managed to get 1 to the table (more on that later).

Cargo Noir, Fresco & Power Grid Japan – More good stuff at BGC! 

I’m changing the format slightly, as it’s easier to report by tables instead of chronology. Getting a bit old I must say… haha.

Table 1

Cargo Noir
Players: James, Joshua, Mel, Jeanne, Chris

The happy smugglers. Heh.

Cargo Noir is the latest Days of Wonder (DOW) game about trafficking contraband across several ports of the world and trading them for lifestyle perks.. 🙂 It’s basically a simple auction and set collection game, played over 10-12 turns (depending on the number of players).

The setup for a 5p game of Cargo Noir. The production values of DOW games never seem to fail to amaze me.

Each player starts with 3 ships which he / her can send to various ports to collect goods ranging from weapons, cigars, art to cars! There is also Macao which gives players money and ability to swap / draw random goods.

Mel sending his ships out.

Goods of similar type are worth more but collecting a bunch of different ones isn’t too shabby either. These goods are then traded in for cards which either gives abilities or score points. Whoever has the most points win!

James the party animal. And you want to put your money in the bank?!

James took the game with 130 points. Got to say though that I taught the game wrongly, so the technically the game doesn’t count. 😛 The rulebook is a bit of a mess but thankfully we have BGC forums to the rescue! Erratas can be found in the rules section. The game took longer than predicted (5 new players) and so this was the only game at Table 1.
Despite that, Cargo Noir received great feedback, most wanting to play again. Joshua even bought a copy afterwards! 😀

Table 2

The Speicherstadt, Sneak & Snitches
Players: Elaine, Joey, Keith, Julia, Nikaila

Warehouse managing never seemed so…. intense. 

First up for this group of padawans was The Speicherstadt. TS is really a simple game, but is full of nerve racking decisions, clearly shown by how quiet this group became once they started!

The bidding wars started real early!

In the end, some shrewd purchases gave the victory to Julia! She had 2 x 11 point contracts that really boosted her score. It’s Julia’s first time at BGN so it must have felt good trouncing the “vets”.

Juila with a nice little score there. 

Next up for the group, Vlaada Chavtil’s Sneak & Snitches. Vlaada is one of the hottest boardgame designers to emerge in the past few years with hits like Galaxy Trucker, Through the Ages, Dungeon Lords, Space Alert, etc. He’s definitely proven he can design a vast array of games!

Sneak & Snitches in play. 

S&S is basically a bluffing game using cards – players have to send a thief to 1 of 8 locations to steal various precious items, and at the same time send a “snitch” to block others. The feeling of cat and mouse is prevalent throughout the game, as people have to double think just to make sure they are successful in stealing and also denying others.

Joey was the sneakiest of them all, managing to evade the keen eye of others and make away with the loot.

The spoils. 

The Resistance 

Players: Elaine, Joey, Keith, Julia, Nikaila, Bernard, Melchor, Chris

Later on, the guys from Table 1 and Bernard, who arrived late, joined the group for 2 games of The Resistance – a mafia / werewolf style game with no elimination. After a quick 1st game (was more of a run through), it was down to business. Bernard got the ball rolling by accusing several people of being spies, despite being a spy himself! You gotta give it to him for taking it to the resistance. In fact he even incriminated a fellow spy – but in the end, it all paid off as the spies won a tight 3-2.

I am not zeee spy! I svearrrr…

Table 3

Power Grid
Players: Sam, Nic, Dan, John, Moses, Justin

Off in the quiet corner of the room, a few young men gathered to harness the power of ….. TEH GRID!!1!!

TNB Employees of the month. 

The Japan was map supposed to be played but since Justin and his brother, Moses had yet to play power grid, we decided to go a bit easy on them by busting out the Germany map instead. Wasn’t around to watch but could hear loud cackles from across the room as the bidding became crazy.

In the end, it was John who schooled the rest in a lesson of energy distribution. 😛

Table 4

Parade
Players: Sin Cheow, Bernard, Chris, BSean, Kareem, Mel

After 3 games, most of the Table 2 crew were beat and called it a night. A few of us sat down for a quick game of Parade, which Sin Cheow won.

Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer
Players: Mel, Chris, Nic, Sin Cheow

Finally, the night was capped of with Ascension, a deckbuilding game, won by Chris with the help of his guru, Kareem. ;P

Sadly, Fresco didn’t get to hit the table, the group number just wasn’t right. But will definitely want to see it played in BGN as it’s a solid worker placement game.

Till the next meet up,
Puchong Bully