Lunar New Year 2015
What better way to celebrate the Lunar New Year than by playing lots and lots of game!
Just a quick blog entry of the games I've been tabling and have played during the festive season. Note that there will be no Play-by-Play written, instead I'll write a quick run down of what happened and provide a link to the Geek page of each particular game!
Lunar New Year Eve - 18th Feb 2015
The evening started off with a classic before it moved into quick ones to round off the night
This was the first time my sister and cousin had played this and I wanted to make it memorable by introducing them to the grand-daddy of resource management.
The game started off fairly slow with each of us powering 4-5 cities for a couple of turns. When Phase 2 started, sis started aggressively taking crucial cities away from cuz, maintaining her power plant lead while optimally buying off cheap resources.
The game ended on a very high note, as the little cuz sped pass by buying AND powering her 3 additional and last cities in one turn. But sis took the lead as her careful planning and hoarding of $$ over the last 2 rounds paid off.
Ok I have to admit we never really played this to completion as time was short and the relatives had to leave early, so we opted for the following small games instead
One quick round of Love Letter saw the younger cuz and sis take the tied lead as they "successfully" guessed the roles me and the elder cuz had laid out
Followed by another entertaining round of Tsschak! as the elder cuz took the lead with a mountain of rings, leaving me in the dust with a hand of bad cards and more bad monsters!
We ended the night with a quick game of Little Devils and How? Eat What? I was pleasantly surprised when they told me they haven't played my game before. It was a good opportunity to bring it out, and very apt too, as the feasting had just ended.
Lunar New Year Day 1 - 19th Feb 2015
Had to find games for 4 players - younger cuz, 2 aunties and myself. So the games had to be easy to understand and not contain too much text.
Started the night off with a number of games of No Thanks. Figured this game would be appropriate since it involved a "small" betting mechanic. The game was easy enough for the aunties to understand and even saw the elder aunt winning 3 out of the 5 games we played. :)
Decided to move on to something a little more thematic and cute. While a little harder to grasp in the beginning (the concept of moving Noah, I skipped the animals' special abilities) the game soon progressed smoothly with everyone getting into the mood.
Sis came back midway through the game so we decided to prep for a 5 player version, but decided against it after the 3rd round in favor of a more popular game.
I decided to add in one mini-expansion, which added no game rules but more funky tiles. The game was a hit with both old and young alike! The colourful tiles, coupled with the simple yet competitive and engaging gameplay, made this the game of the night. One we played for over almost 1 and a half hours :)
Requests were made for games to be brought over to the elder aunt's house the next day - Something loud and can accommodate more players. Hmm...
Lunar New Year Day 2 - 20th Feb 2015
A host of "loud and can accommodate many players" games were brought over to aunt's place. Of them included a few favourites, and a few new ones. One regret I had, was that we didn't manage to play all of them.
This was a favourite at our early reunion dinner a week ago, and so was one of the most requested game this season! For those not in the know, in this game, all of us are divided into Loyalist and Traitors. It is the Loyalist's job to succeed at 3 of the 5 missions, while the Traitors are trying to fail 3 out of 5. The Loyalists' task is made more difficult by not knowing who these Traitors are! But the Traitors, while outnumbered, know each other and are able to make subtle plans. This version of the popular Resistance game, includes a few special characters and we were able to try out Percival, Morgana, Merlin and the Lady of the Lake. They really add a lot to the variety and the game is really easy to learn and play!
Request for LOUD game approved! We played a few rounds before being told to keep it down by the mahjong group. We eventually stopped playing when we were worried about the state of our voice.
While stopping for a mid-Avalon break, the cousins were asking if there was anything they could play in a few minutes. Hmm, I told them to bring out devices and download this awesome team game! The cousin-hosts had to attend to guests who popped by so the rest of us broke up into 2 groups and more shouting ensured!
Another request for a "secret-role" type game made me think of this classic! While not a big hit with some cousins (and sis), I'm glad the others took to it quite well.
After an awesome and sumptuous feast provided by aunt and uncle, we were too full to move, but still wanted to game! They had suddenly thought of wanting to play Dixit! Unfortunately, that was not on my list of games to bring. We thought of an alternative and whipped out our phones and downloaded the mobile implementation of this popular game. Turned out to be a good move, as it allowed us to slouch and still come up with interesting stories and anecdotes befitting this game.
Lunar New Year Day 3 - 21st Feb 2015
Long day of gaming ahead and totally looking forward to it!
Started the afternoon meeting up with Cavalock, Techun and Funshine for one or two rounds of games.
One of my top games for 2014. We played through a few rounds of this as a precursor to the main game ahead. A light little romp to get us started.
On to the main course of the day. The last few games of Caverna I've played I always went the weapons/ore mines/ruby route, which got mixed results every game. This time around, I thought I opt for a more peaceful strategy. Deciding to forego weapons and ore completely, I focused entire on getting farm animals from the get-go. My cavern rooms were restricted solely to dwellings and rooms that increase my animal breeding potential. One drawback I noticed with the lack of playing weapons, was that the furnishing of rooms portion tend to be rather slow; only ONE space on the board to furnish non-dwelling rooms.
At the end of the game, I won with a small margin, and (as you can see from the photos above) a little mini-zoo happening at my farm.
After a bout of brain-busting gaming, I headed over to aunt's place for some light games.
An oldie but goodie, played this with sis while waiting for dinner and the cuzes to come back from their little play-date with the small one. I thought I had won by grabbing the smaller victory point chips around the board, but sis got the better of me and snagged less but higher valued ones and walked away with the victory
By popular request of one of the cuz, we broke out this crude game (to the disgust of the uncles and aunties present) and had a good laugh for most part. (The photos above should give you a clear indication of the hilarity that ensued)
Saw this on the shelf of our FLGS, and since I was in the Heroes of the Storm this couple of weeks, decided to pick it up for cheap. It plays exactly like BANG, but with the flavour of your popular Blizzard universe characters. Fun little "sabo" style game.
The much requested game of the evening, and one that has been dubbed "Most Stressful" game by both cuzes.This game is always welcome on our gaming table. Easy to learn and hard to master. The anticipation of saving up for a route, only to have it all taken away one turn earlier is a classic move that will always be savored. Like my cuz said, "Bernie korkor, you'd better watch out" :P
In fact, the intensity rubbed off on the little one too. While all he was doing was counting the number of cards in hand, here's hoping he'll be able to join us soon one day.
The night ended with a few very lively games of this recently introduced and popular digital game. We reached and almost beat my own personal record of 8 missions.
Lunar New Year Day 4 - 22nd Feb 2015
Final day of gaming before work begins anew tomorrow. So let's get this show on the road!
Started off the day with a brain burner! First time playing this game and found it quite interesting. One of the few games that takes worker placement, resource management and area control, spin them all in a nice little bundle and make each action count. The theme also shines through on this.
Decided to go for something lighter next. Very fun and fast moving stock market game. Although we played with 5 players, this game would only better with more!
Beautiful gameboard, shiny crystals and the cool looking "books" components drew me to this game. The is all about pick-up and deliver, and it does it well! I wouldn't mind tabling this game with the cousins next time around.
A great end to an awesome 5 days of gaming! We decided to hold a little unofficial Hearthstone tournament at the nearby Macs. I think the last photo says it all - "I'm Loving It!"