The Mine Shaft Gap

Venue: Richard’s place
Present: Andrew, Alex, Jeff, Brad, Richard, Paul
Played: Alex’s new game idea, King of Siam, Simpsons Slam Dunk, Limits, Iliad, Witch’s Brew.

The truncated rotation takes us back to Richard’s house again this weekend. Not too many pics tonight, but at least taken with my better camera.

Alex’s game: After some weeks of nagging on my part, Alex offered up a new concept for trial at this evening. No specifics will be revealed here in case he pushes ahead with more development, but I think it’s ok to describe this one as a trick-taking card game with a twist.
Concept is very nice; some of the various rules scenarios (ie., mechanics) and scoring need some adjustment.
About 45 mins for three hands.

King of Siam: Played at the other end of the table, but was over and done with so fast that I didn’t even get the chance to take a snapshot!
14 mins rules & setup; 26 mins game time.
Results: Brad: 5. Andrew: 4. Richard: 1.

Simpsons Slam Dunk: Two of three filler games played by the Siamese Kings.
1st game: Andrew: 46. Brad: 23. Richard: 20.
2nd game: Richard: 40. Andrew: 23. Brad: 18.

Limits: The third filler game by these guys. Apparently this one is like Bluff or Liar’s Dice but with cards.
Brad: 0. Andrew: -1. Richard: -3.
This game plus Simpson’s Slam Dunk filled about 20 mins.

Iliad - The Art of War: All six of us playing in three teams of two. The game mechanics are very straightforward: Play military unit (ancient Greek) cards from your hand to the table, one at a time, to gradually build your force for the round, OR, expend one of your melded cards to destroy another belonging to an opponent (according to the specific rules for each unit type). But your cards are a limited commodity and you’ll only gain another three each round, so you’ll want to preserve your plays for the rounds that give you more points. The earlier you pull out of a round, the larger the hero bonus you earn (and the more cards you preserve for use in later rounds), but you’ll also be less likely to score the game points on offer for the round.
I’m usually not a fan of such games with such a high chrome factor, but this one I quite enjoyed. And that’s not simply because my team mate and I stormed home with the win! Usually there’s too many variables to track, but in Iliad it doesn’t take too long to learn the basics, although the quick reference sheet is a definite help.
Brad and I had some well-timed plays, but also some bad luck and perhaps misjudgments on the part of our opponents to help us through.
12 mins rules; 57 mins game time.
Results: Paul+Brad: 15. Alex+Richard: 9. Jeff+Andrew: 0.

Witch’s Brew: Here’s another new(-ish) title doing the rounds at the moment, with this being the first opportunity for me to play it. It reminds me of few other games, with Hoax the one first coming to mind. But it is definitely an original and certainly very cool. I can see why it is a Richard game…
13 mins rules & setup; 60 mins game time.
Results: Paul: 27. Jeff: 23. Alex: 22. Brad: 17. Richard: 15.