Game Session Report 2/12/2006

Last Saturday I gamed with gamers of my own race. Ever since my trip to KL I have been gaming with Malays more and more. It is a a rarity for me. Usually I am the only Malay. I hope this happens more often. New gamers are always welcomed.

This game was my first game at the Game Vault for a very long time and it is also to be my last game there for the year. New gamers came to visit the shop, They are having a tournament on the next day, Sunday, and to no surprise they drafted. The reason why board gaming here has a critical mass of about 4.

The rest of us who do not have money to burn played a few rounds of Carcassonne. Again proving that tile laying games are very easy to teach. Even the new gamers understand the game just by looking at it between drafting rounds. We did a few rounds of basic Carcassonne and a round of Carcassonne with the Inn and Cathedral expansion.

Games varied from 2 to 4 players. Surprisingly Carcassonne players very well even with 2 players. It was slow but it is not nearly as bad as most multi player games. It does not feel condensed and become a straight up duel. It retains almost all of the same characteristics of playing it multi player.

I only took a few pictures. I always forget to take the picture of the board at the end of the game. I always want to start a new round instead.

So that's it. Last game of the year, a few rounds of Carcassonne, new Malay gamers, and MTG is still a thorn. What am I going to do for the rest of the year? The Nintendo Wii!

News Update.

Here is an update on the current local gaming scene. One of the local gaming shops the Game Vault is going to be closed till the 23rd of this month and no one reading this blog is to know about it. This basically means that if you are a regular there, I would not see you tell sometime next year.

They got a few new games there at the Game Vault. There seem to be an open box of Citadel, Haste Bock, and El Grande.

Finally. I'm just too lazy to put up the Session Report for the Saturday game today. My last game there for the year! I did however update the Web Album. For those who know me the pictures should explain it all.

I hate CCG/TCG game/gamers... ZZZzzz...

Carcassonne Big Box Review - Part 2 - Inns & Cathedrals

The first major expansion to Carcassonne is truly an excellent example of an expansion. Inns & Cathedrals adds 18 new tiles plus 2 new tile types, an extra player making the game playable with up to 6 people, and giant meeples.

These simple additions adds just enough to the game without overwhelming it and the players. After playing a few games you should realize the power of sharing a territory. Points for an area is awarded to the player with the most meeples on an area. If there is a tie, all players with a meeple in the area gets the score. This is where the giant meeples comes in. Giant meeples counts as 2 meeples adding an interesting layer of gaming to sharing an area.

Connecting a road tile near a city is almost always a death sentence for the city. Road/city tiles are few but with Inns & Cathedrals chances of getting one of these tile is increased. Cities now has more chances to be completed.

The two new tile types , as you might have guessed, are inns and cathedrals. Inns are for roads and cathedrals are for cities but they both have the same idea. Each city or road tiles connected to these gives one extra point if completed but none if it is not completed. This adds a risk element to the game.

These additions from the Inns & Cathedrals expansion adds elements that are much needed but would not be missed to a game of Carcassonne. An exelent first expansion.

Carcassone Big Box Review - Part 1

I am going to split my review of Carcassonne Big Box into 5. The main game and the 4 expansions individually. I will begin here with the main body of the game. Carcassonne.

Carcassonne is a tile laying game for 2 to 5 players. It plays within 45 to 60 minutes.

The game set up begins with a fixed starting tile placed on the gaming area. Each player is given 8 meeples one of witch would be used on the score board to keep track of their score. The 7 meeples will be used to score in the game.

Each tile may have one, some or all of the 4 different areas/elements 1 on each of the four sides of the tile. These are roads, cities, meadows and monastery. The monastery tile unlike other tiles has a monastery in the middle with a meadow surrounding it .

Placing tiles adds to the “map” of Carcassonne. Players may place their meeple on an empty area. If the area is completed then it scores immediately. Meadows only score at the end of the game equal to the number of completed cities, a monastery scores when it is surrounded by 8 tiles, a road as complete and scores then both its ends are blocked, and a city is completed when it is completely surrounded by walls. Incomplete areas also scores but comparatively little.

The game ends when there are no more tiles to be laid.

It sound complicated but it will all make sense when you play the game. This game is a must have. It could be played with adults and children. It is rare in a board game that the end result of a session is something beautiful in this case a map.

The actual game play is very simple and intuitive but scoring could be tricky at first. Playes have to make decisions on tile placement and manage their limited meeples. The rules are straight forward and easy to understand and the components are few and will not disappoint.

Do Not Think!

I am back with the games. This will be a short post as I have 3 new 360 games right now. If you ever, ever think of buying Carcassonne, there is nothing to think about. Just buy it. The game is just that good.

Later!

Carcassonne Big Box

I am in KL and I have in my possession a copy of Carcassonne Bog Box. But it is in German. Why the hoopla did they not tell me that the game game is in German is beyond me. Big box, excellent components. Truly a must have.

For Ipoh

Here is a shot of the town where to the gamers I dedicated this blog and this hobby to. But I dedicate this post to Yehuda and Aik Yong for their kind words and advice.

I love you Ipoh gamers but for not posting here is a link to my Personal Blog.

HAHAHAHA!!!

Carcassonne Big Box

The Carcassonne Bog Box edition is now in Malaysia. And I just booked us one! Yup this limited edition version of Carcassonne plus 5 expansions in a box is now available at Imagine Games for only RM209. A freaking bargain!

So if you want one I'm heading down south and picking one up. Will post a review soon! Also look out my review of Niagara and its expansion Spirits of Niagara sometime next week.

From Essen With Love

Here is a list for games arriving on the 14th from Essen. From Imagine Games:

New Arrivals
-----------------
1st wave from Essen:
- Zoch - Hamsterolle, Haste Bock (Shear Panic), Heck Meck, O Zoo Le Mio, Villa Paletti.
- Eggertspiele - Imperial, Antike, Die Dolmengotter, John Silver.
- Z-Man - Santiago, Silk Road, Take Stock.
- Splotter - Antiquity, Roads&Boats, Indonesia.
- Others - Die Macher, Santy Anno, Settlers of Catan 10th Anniversary (3D pieces!) w exclusive Atlantis expansion, Emerald, Mr Jack, Niagara expansion, Power Grid Europe/Benelux maps, Himalaya, Hameln (SOLD OUT!!!), Evo, Timbuktu.

Don't forget, we had some kool new stuff before we left for Essen including ViktoryII (5-6 players), Mykerinos, Masons, Amun Re, all the new Dungeoneer series, Seismic, 10 days series, and even the latest funagain.com exclusives, Wayfinder and Control Nut.

Note: I'm going to Kuala Lumpur for the week and so if you want a game or two e-mail me.

From A Poisonous Tree to A Muddy River Back

Here is a piece of news you guys might want to know. I am heading up to Kuala Lumpur on the 19th. Although I am going not for pleasure I might get a chance to stop by the game shop there. Note that I say game shop not board game shop or video game shop. The first game shop that I get to that has interesting stuff gets my money.

November is a great month for Video Games!

So if there is a game you want me to pick up just drop me a line. I hope I could get my copy of BattleLore then but I doubt it.

I tried. I can not do a post a day on The Resident Meeple. I wish I could but I am not that good.

News Update

The Spiel episode 16 is out! My favorite board game audiocast it back with more games, news, and tips.

So sorry for the 4 day blog silence. I have no idea what to post. I was not too busy to post, and you should know how I hate that dishonest excuse, I just do not know what to post. I missed the week end games (exams) and I will most probably miss next week end games (more exams). Monday I was neck deep in Splinter Cell.

Sunday the 5th was the last chance of the year to get unlisted games from Imagine Games here. For the rest of the year all we are getting are games that are listed on Imagine Games. I did order a few unlisted games and pre-orderBattleLore for my family board game library. Expect more previews and reviews as I find the gaming group in my family.

Get To Know BattleLore

Want to know what BattleLore is all about? Then check out these links:

• The Official BattleLore Website
• Board Game Geek BattleLore Entry

Battle Lore Pre-Order Special!

Copied And Posted From Imagine Games:

We will be taking pre-orders for Battlelore: The epic fantasy battle game from Days of Wonder wef 1 November 2006.

Confirm your order via email and get an exclusive Hill Giant promo figure absolutely free! Then, attend our Battlelore Launch Party in December and get another exclusive Earth Elemental figure free! You only need to pay when you receive the game, estimated to be by the 1st week of December.

Our special play-test team comprising Ryan, Kok Keong, Shyam & Andreas (from Singapore Meet-up) tried the game at Essen and gave it a resounding thumbs up! They even exchanged pointers with the game’s highly acclaimed designer, Richard Borg.

For fans of Memoir’44, Battlelore is MUCH MUCH MORE of a game than Memoir. The rule book reads like an adventure story, and the use of magic and character abilities make it very rich. Also, Eric Hautement (CEO, Days of Wonder), took great pains to assure me that Battlelore is a system (ie. more than just a game), which means you can use with your own figures, and create your own scenarios. Also, while an exciting range of add-ons are planned, they will strictly be non-collectible. You should also know that many in the industry regard Eric and the DoW team as “genuinely nice people” committed to creating games of exceptional quality, and not follow the path of infinite expansions!

PRE-ORDER YOUR BATTLELORE TODAY!!!

Flashback :: Last year, we ran a pre-order for the World of Warcraft board game, giving an exclusive map & bronze figure from Blizzard. Many people DID NOT bother to pre-order, but then begged endlessly for a precious figure... Well, they got NONE!

BattleLore Estimated At 269MYR

Game Night ~ Friday, 3rd November!

Hey everyone,

We'll be having another game night this coming Friday at Game Vault! As usual, it'll be at 8.30pm and if anyone has any particular game requests don't be shy to ask!

See you all there!

BBG CON 2006

The Board Game Geeks own BGG CON 2006 is on next month. I wish I could go.

I heard that there is going to be plenty of giveaways from free games to free expansions. Check out the FAQs for some details and check out their game library for something to drool at.

My First Look At Niagara

Niagara was produced in 2004 by Zooch Verlag (Rio Grande for English version) . It is a board game for 2 ot 5 players. Niagara has won many titles in its name, it was GAMES Magazine Family Game Nominee 2006, it won MENSA Best Mind Game 2005, it won Spiel Des Jahres Game of the Year 2005, and it was Deutscher SpielePreis 2nd place winner 2005.

Niagara currently has 2 expansions, Diamond Joe, a free expansion which adds a trader canoe to the game, and Spirits Of Niagara, which adds new cards, new canoes, new game elements, and makes the game into a 2-6 player game.

The quality of the game components are excellent. Wodden canoes, thick cardboard cards/chits, clear plastic disc, colored plastic (crystal like) gem stones, and a very think double layered game board, are the components you should expect when buying this game. The game component holding trey that comes with the game is perfect, better then most of the board games I have seen.

The game revolves around collecting these gems stone located along a river (game board). There are only 7 gemstone at each of the 5 gemstone reservoirs along the river. Players needs to collect 5 different colored gemstones, or 4 same colored gemstones or 7 of any combination of gemstones to win the game.

Players needs to collect these gemstones while limited to the number on the paddle cards/chits in their hands (1-6 + 1 weather card/chit). The river always flows towards the fall at the same rate as the slowest canoe (the smaller numbered paddle played) plus the weather (-1 to +2). Canoes that have fallen over the waterfall could be rescued at a payment of 1 gemstone. Players however has to play all the cards/chits in their hands before replenishing their cards/chits.

Another twist to the game is intrigue in the form of weather control and thievery. Players can manipulate the speed of the river by playing the weather card/chit. Players may add -1, 0, +1, or +2 to the river speed. Empty canoes coming up river may steal another canoes gemstone by ending their move exactly in the same spot at another canoe.

These game mechanics makes this game a thinking gamers game. Players needs to balance their goals with the flow of the river and the options they have using math and logic. Even at first glance I could see why this game won so many titles and awards.

Perplexcity Game Of The Year

It takes hard work for a board game to get the game of the year award like Spiel des Jahres. A board game must be family friendly, reasonably competitive, reasonably challenging and has good components to win the game of the year award. A board game with the game of the year award almost guarantees a good fun time.

Out comes Perplexcity. Perplexcity is not exactly a collectible card game. You collect the cards, you sometimes trade them, and they do have rarity but that is where the similarity ends. You do not play duels with it but there is a game to be played.

On each card is a puzzle, and on its back is a piece of a clue usually a map. The puzzle if solved gives you points on the Perplexcity web site. The clue on the back leads to the location of a stolen object. A stolen object from the imaginary Perplex city. Who ever finds this object can win 20,000USD.


Because of the success of the game they decided to release a board game version of Perplexcity. A board game without an entry on board game geek (the moment I am writing this post). A board game that gave itself the game of the year award.

Is this the first kink in the integrity of board games awards amour? I hope not. I think such marketing ploys should be stopped.

FINAL ORDER!

Want to buy a game but it is not listed on Imagine Games? Then order now! It is the last shipment of the year. Order deadline 5th november 2006.

I'll be getting:

• Dawn Under
• Spirits Of Niagara
• Shogun
• Diamond Jack (Niagara Ex)
• Mystery Train (Ticket to Ride Ex)
  

The Spiel

Need an idea what board game to get? Then listen to The Spiel for news, reviews, and previews of games you will want to play.

I have always told anyone who would listen to me to listen to podcasts (audiocast as I like to call it now) instead. Free and easy you could listen to audiocasts and be informed anywhere anytime.

Now that we have upgraded to beta I have added The Spiel Enhanced Audiocast feed on to our site. The Spiel is an audiocast by Stephen Conway and Davis Coleson. You will need iTunes to listen to the enhanced version of this audiocast and I highly recommend you to do so. There is an MP3 version of the audicast but I think you will see why the Enhanced version of The Spiel is the board game audiocast to took forward to.

The guys at The Spiel has highly influenced my wish list of games and their reviews have not done me wrong. So give The Spiel a try and spread the word.

My First Look At Samurai

We know what a samurai is. I don't need to preview them. This however is my first look at Samurai a board game by Reiner Knizia and the English version of this game is published by Rio Grande. With both those names on a box you know you can't go wrong. I first heard of this game on my favorite board game audiocast The Spiel.

The game box is big mainly to accommodate the multi-piece map of Japan game board. Thick cardboard hex tiles, a fordable Japanese style blind to hide your tiles and winnings behind, and a bunch of plexiglass Buddhas, tall hats, and rice fields. The plexiglass pieces are very nice. I kinda wish all the wooded pieces from other games are made of the same stuff instead.

Basically Samurai is a tile laying game. At first glance it seems that the game came with too few components for what the game is suppose to be but I was wrong. The game plays very nicely. The goal of the game is to influence and claim the plexiglass pieces by placing tiles with the proper icon and number. when the piece is surrounded on land with tiles the number on the tiles with the proper icon is added and the one with the highest total claims the piece.

The only truly complicated part of the game is scoring. Unlike other games it does not matter how much pieces a player claims. The objective is to have the most majority of the type of pieces. A majority of 2 or 3 is a straight win. A majority of 1 calls for a comparison of other pieces that are claimed.

Salam Eid-Fitr

Salam Eid-Fitr to all muslim gamers out there! May your Ramadhan be accepted and your Eid be safe.

For some odd reason the local game store here want to keep it a secret that they are going to be open for gaming today on Eid and tomorrow. So do not tell anyone in the mood to game to come by ok?

My First Look At Timbuktu

Timbuktu is a game for 3 to 5 players. It is a deductive game, my favorite genre.

The game comes with very nice think card board, game boards (use 2 or 3 or 4 depending on number of players), camel tracking board, and item chits. There is also a lot of wooden camels and 2 short think cylindrical wooden tokens, a sheet of stickers for the camels and tokens, and a rule book.

The game box is large, the game pieces will not disappoint and they give you enough zip lock bags to keep all the game bits. Nice!

The game is simple. The goal is to move your camel caravan and save as many of your cargo as possible thus getting the highest score. Throughout the game your items are going to be stolen. Each item gives you points equal to the number of items that are stolen.

The detective work comes in when each round you get to see a set of three cards. These cards tells you which items from a camel in which stall, and in which lot it is going to be stolen from. Each round players will get to look at up to 3 out of the 5 sets of cards. Based on the cards and opponent movements players must deduce the safest place to put their camel.

It is a deductive game. Expect some downtime during the game spent deducing the best places to place the camels. Game time differs with number of players.

Resurrection

It is done. We have upgraded to Blogger Beta. I am sorry that to do this I had to remove everyone from the blog and re-invite everyone. Now we can categorise our posts. Something that I have always wanted to do. And we have a Web Album where we could put up pictures of our gaming activities.

Blogger Beta has many new features we have yet to try. So accept the invite to those who got it and let us try this Blogger Beta out.

First Look - Hoity Toity

I first discovered Hoity Toity on Board Games With Scott a board game videocast.

Hoity Toity is one of those deep but simple games. The game is a great gateway game. Introducing new players to many aspects of modern board games. It has very simple but useful high quality pieces. One small gameboard/score track,  6 small card decks for player actions, 1 large card deck of "collectibles" card, and six wooden meeples. Interestingly the game is very communal lots of player interaction with little to no downtime and for 3 to 6 players. The game seems to have perfect timing. It flows like it should it ends when it should. Overall a very well rounded game.

Gamers Heads Up!

For those of you who missed this month's board game order pool all is not lost. The next order pool is going to be made on the 15th of November.

Remember, if we pool our order there will not be a shipping charge and if our order is big enough, we could get a discount! Check for prices and availability at Imagine Games. All game prices are as printed.

Note. If you want a game sooner then just e-mail me. With cheap next day delivery you will have your game in no time.

Gaming Night this Friday the 13th!

Heya all,

I'm glad to report that Y!pp!e's mates had a good time during the game night we held last week, and were wondering when we could do another one.

Well, never fear, we can have one this coming Friday! As usual, it'll be at 8.30pm and all are welcome to join in the fun. Don't let the fact that it's Friday the 13th scare you off, we've got bright lights and nice people in the room haha

Alrighty then, see you all there!

Food for Gamers!

Yo gamers!
I know you guys have been having fun during Friday Games so good for you! But are you always gaming hungry? Is that dinner enough to sustain hours of gaming?

Check it out: McDonalds like every year in the month of Ramadan, holds a buffet dinner. For about Rm20 you could have as many of any McDonalds food you want. In Ipoh it is only available at the town Mcdonalds. It is not that far out of the way for cheap food is it?

So check it out.

New games have arrived!

Heya people,

Just a quick post to let you know that several new games have arrived at the Vault:

1. Power Grid
2. Power Grid expansion
3. Amun Re
4. Tempus
5. Byzantium
6. Railroad Tycoon
7. Conquest of the Empire
8. Attika
9. Samurai

We were also expecting 'In the Shadow of the Emperor' but unfortunately it missed the shipment so it'll be delayed for awhile.

Cheers!

Calling for a Game Night ~ Friday, 6th October

Hey all,

We're looking to organize a game night this coming Friday, 6th October, at the Vault.

Y!pp!e will be calling in his friends, and darkelf has also indicated that he'll be able to make it so it looks like we should be able to get another night on. We'll start at 8.30pm as usual. We've not decided on what to play but do feel free to suggest if you'd like to play something specific.

Also, a new shipment of games is likely to come in within a week or so, with some titles like:

1. Amun Re
2. Power Grid 2nd Edition
3. Power Grid expansion - France & Italy
4. In the Shadow of the Emperor
5. Tempus
6. Attika
7. Byzantium
8. Conquest of the Empire

With these added to what is already in store, there is definately a large selection to choose from. Something you're interested in that's not on the list? Tell us and we'll bring it in for you.

Alrighty then, hope to see as many of you as possible this Friday. Cheers!

EuroGame Retreat ON!!! - Copied And Pasted From Imagine Games

Finally, the EuroGame Retreat is ON!!!

Now scheduled for Awana Resort, 15 minutes before Genting Highlands, we have 12 confirmations after the first day, and more are expected in the next 24 hours.

Here is the schedule:
Saturday, 7 October
-----------------------
830-900: Arrival.
900-1100: Game #1 (including tea break).
1100-100: Game #2.
100-200: Lunch.
200-400: Game #3.
400-500: Game #4 (including tea break).
500-600: Game #5.
600-800: Break & Dinner.
800-whenever: Free Play.

Sunday, 8 October
---------------------
800-900: Breakfast.
900-1030: Game #6.
1030-1200: Game #7.
1200-1230: Wrap Up.

Game nominations will be mailed out tonight to all confirmed participants, who will then be given 48 hours to nominate 7 games they would like to see played in the 7-game tournament.

Participants will then be mailed the final nomination list for voting.

Rules for the 7 games will then be mailed to all participants one week ahead of the retreat.

Total cost for 1 night twin share accommodation, lunch, dinner, breakfast and 2 tea-breaks is only Rm200!

Please email now to confirm your place if you haven’t done so already :0

Originally posted on Imagine Games

Want To Buy A Game?

I am in the mood to get some new games. So if you want to save some money and pool orderes with me then head on to Imagine Games and choose your games. My pooling our order you will get free shipping. The price of each game is as printed on the site. I'm ordering somewhere in the begining of next month. The order, if in stock, will arrive the very next day.

Of Smartness and Railroads

Of course i can spell smrt....it is spelled as smart! See? You can't fool a smrt person and I are smrt!

Now for the Railroad Tycoon (RRT) short review. Got it last Saturday, tried it on Sunday. Mind you, the box size is deceiving. It houses the most freaking biggest gameboard i have ever seen AND it needs to be separated into 3 different pieces with each piece big enough for any boardgame you have. This gives an epic feel to the game. All the accesories are also top notch. Only complaint is 3 of my engines come with broken chutes but nothing some super glue can't fix:)

Tried it out with a 2 player game with Joey. It was a typical 1st game experience. Play and refer to the rulebook at the same time. We...erm...I mean I made a few mistakes that we didn't realize until later that night when i read the rulebook "thoroughly" most notably the following:-

- The 1st player "MUST" bid. I realized this is not right after I paid 1k for like 6 consecutive rounds. Wasted all my money.
- Each player can only do "ONE" action during a turn. This is because I smrtly concluded the player can only do the following, 1st action: auction, 2nd action: one round of any one of the actions (instead of 3 rounds), 3rd action: income & dividends.
- The 2nd point make me conclude we can only build a link with a maximum of 4 tracks.

The worst thing was I won the game. I just pray/hope Joey doesn't think i did the above on purpose coz he can whoop my arse with one hand tied behind his back. Sorry Joey! But it was fun though. Can't wait to play it again after the pre-release of Magic:TG Time Spiral this weekend.

p.s. Dope...I will prove to you guys my Puerto Rico victory is no fluke. Till nextime "warehouse boy"!

Puerto Rico is still cool!

Haha, I was contemplating putting up a post about our session last Friday but was too lazy. Good thing too coz Y!pp!e ended up doing it so that saved me the trouble :) As he mentioned, it was a good gaming night and darkelf & I made two new friends thru Puerto Rico.

As for Y!pp!e's victory in the first game, I feel he did play pretty well and used his astute strategy and positioning right from the start. From sitting right smack between the 2 new guys who didn't know what to do, to 'teaching' them how to play the game and 'what to do', the path to victory was inevitable..

Haha, just ribbing ya, mate!

Anyway, as Y!pp!e mentioned, I pretty much tuned out in the second game after making the darndest brainfart right in the first turn. I still cannot explain what made me do it, but someone chose Builder and my first building for the game? A small warehouse. Yup. So much stuff to store... wait a second, I'm not even producing anything yet so... arrgh! And from that point on the game was as good as gone for me. With no goods and no way to generate income bar prospector and other roles with gold on them, I couldn't get my first production building till a few turns later and by that time it was impossible for me to catch up. GG

Still, all was not lost as I still enjoyed the night and watching Peter hoard all the corn. Man, he had more corn than you can poke a stick at, and with a warehouse to protect it he was raking in the points. Definately a good victory for him.

After that game we were pretty much beat for the night and given that it was already past midnight we decided to call it a night. Hmm.. 3 nights in a sentence. Definately overusing it haha.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to organizing another game session with Y!pp!e's help so stay tuned to this blog. We'll post more info as it comes along.

P/s - Y!pp!e, waving fish snacks around in front of cat is not the smartest thing to do. You can spell smart, right. SMRT! hahahaha

Session report 15/9/06

A bunch of us had a game session at The Vault on the 15th. It was the 1st time we did it at night and in The Vault. Thanx to Wearn for opening up! The confirmed attendees for the night were Wearn, Peter, Conteng and yours truly. But to our utmost surprise Hans da' man showed up. Seems like my tactic of "making him feel guilty for abandoning us" did work:P After buying snacks and loitering around trying to settle down we finally started a 5 player game of Puerto Rico around 9pm.

Suffice to say, we spent some time explaining the rules to Peter and Conteng who were joining us for the 1st time. Once they got a grip of the game, it was pretty smooth flowing from then on. Halfway through the game Terrence dropped by but he gotta leave to catch a movie. THANX FOR DROPPING BY DUDE! Was really nice of him to show up just to show us some support. The game started Hans try to build Starbucks and make cigars but failed. Barely have any Victory Points halfway through the game. Wearn was trying to understand how the goes having played it before some time ago. He did make some good moves notably monopolizing tobacco. Conteng and Peter was spending their time getting into the groove. Me? I was multi-producing 4 types of crops just to diversify and building some of the better buildings available. The 1st game ended around 10.30 with me being the victor:)

Then Hans got to leave and to our delight, Joey showed up! sweeet! So off we go again trying to "make" the best island. With Joey showing up, my previous game strategy was basically screwed. He made lots of unexpected but wise decisions that left me reeling trying to catch up. But unfortunately, the player who benefited most from Joey is Peter who was sitting next to Joey. Peter even have the galls to build a large warehouse and store 80% of the available corn cubes. So during the Craftsman phase, no much corn is available for harvest. dang! Wearn kinda switched off from the game after confessing he made a wrong move and that demoralised him. Hope this doesn't scar him for life!:) Conteng did some cool moves too. He did Hospice and University so all his stuff comes fully powered. But it wasn't enough to stop Peter from running away with victory. Good Game!

Went back around 12+...it was an enjoyable gaming experience for all of us to say the least...Thanx everybody for showing up!!!

Stay tuned for a first session report on Railroad Tycoon!


p.s. Wearn's cat, AhBoo nearly bit me after i tried to save our snacks...scared the living hell outa me. Note to self, cut down on snacks during games.

Ticket to Ride - Online

Days of wonder web site lets U play 4 games online and T2R is one of them. The game interface is well laid out, all one has to do is drag and drop. The best thing is, "IT's FREE".

Yup! its not a typing mistake......"IT's FREE". One may register for a free account at www.daysofwonder.com, with limitations of course. One can only join a game created by other players.

The downside of this online version:-
1. 1st time loading is gonna be hell. (My advice, prepare some snacks and drinks cause U gonna need it).
2. People there usually don't speak English. Lotz of Germans.

Other then the 2 points mentioned above, all in all I think its ok.

Gaming Session

Heya,

Just a quick post to let people know that there will be a gaming session at the Vault tomorrow night, Friday (15 September '06) starting at 8.30pm.

HongY!pp!e will be bringing some friends so do join us if you can make it.

See you there!

Redesign

I really wished that we have gotten the invite to try out Blogger Beta. I never thought that I would consider catagorising our postings on the blog.

So I am trying this make shift thing. Changing to a better blog service is an option but that is silly.

My Look At - Ra

Ra! Ra! Ra! Only one game that could make completely innocent gamer chant the name of an ancient pagan Egyptian god. Ra is a Reiner Knizia game published by Rio Grande, a combination that will not wrong you.

Ra is at its core is an auction game for 3 to 5 players and could be played in about 60 minutes. The goal of the game is to be the one who scores the most points. The games comes in a medium small sides box, inside you will get a board used for auctions, hundreds of cardboard tiles, a bag to put it all in, scoring cardboard counters with denominations, a think wooden Ra silhouette figure, and some wooden sun disks (chips) used for bidding.

The game play is cunning. Players has to constantly evaluate the value of tiles and sun disk on the board. In the beginning of the game each player randomly chooses a fixed pile sun disks. Each turn a player may either draw a tile from the bag and place it on the board, play a god tile, or invoke Ra.

The types of tiles vary. The tile types are Culture, Monuments, Pharaohs, Flood/River, Gold, Gods, Catastrophe and Ra. Players gets points if the player posses at least 3 different culture tiles, players gets minus points for not having at least 1 culture tile. The player with the most pharaoh gets points while the player with the least amount of pharaohs gets minus points. River tiles gives one point each only if the player also posses a flood tile which also give one point. Gold tiles gives three points. Catastrophe tiles takes makes player discard tiles. God tiles lets player discard it for a tile on the board. Monument tiles only score at the end of the game, Monuments score for every set of unique and set of identical tiles. Ra tiles invokes Ra. All these tiles except Ra could only be obtained in auctions.

So what happens when one invokes Ra in the game? An auction. Beginning with the player to the left of the one who invoked Ra players place bets in the form of sun disks. Each sun disk has a fixed value and no two are the game. The auction is for every tile on the board plus the sun disk in the middle of the board. The winning disk replaces the central disk and is up for grabs in the next auction. If voluntarily invoked the player who called Ra must bid if every one else passes. If involuntarily invoked by drawing a Ra tile or by filling up the auction board with tiles all players may pass. The auction continues or all tiles are discarded if the board if full.

Constantly players have to weigh the value on the board. Is it valuable to me? Is it valuable to someone else? Should I call Ra and chance winning the tiles? Should I wait? Or Should I throw others game by calling Ra while the board is mostly empty?

The possibility is endless and balanced. Players with high sun disk must chance loosing it to someone else to be used in the next round and getting a risk a smaller sun disk for the next round. A player that constantly calls Ra might find himself running out of sun disks early and so on.

The game is played in 3 scoring rounds. A round ends when all sun disks are used or when the bard is filled with Ra tiles. In the last round Sun Disks and Monuments also scores.

The game is excellent. It has the element of openness, balance and deduction that I love in a board game. Like I said earlier: When you see Reiner Kenizia and Rio Grande on the same box, you can not go wrong.

Egyptian Games

Last weekend was a good gaming week for us. We did Ra, Citadels and a new addition to our library, Cleopatra! SWEET! I was late on Saturday so i missed out on a few Ra sessions but i managed to play it twice so i guess it was ok. Generally the 2 games i played in, i chanted Ra the most..RA! RA! RA! Have no idea how to play the game so just do stupid stuff to analyze the game more. Sad to say, i still know nuts bout the game. Missed out on Citadels coz was playing magic for a while. Check out the previous blog for a review on Citadels.

darkelf bought Cleopatra before the shop closed so we did it on Sunday. Building up the palace was nice. I did this game twice too. Well ntneko and darkelf did it thrice but their first game was more of a test run. I was fed to the crocodile in my first game for being too corrupt. Sad...i became a tasty morsel...i m not gonna go into details bout this game coz i think ankabut will do a better review when he experienced the game but it was fun trying to build stuff without being too corrupt. Makes me wonder if the local contractors are like that. Maybe our government can feed the contractors who put in "shady" tenders to our local crocodiles...That would be nice:)

Several moons ago, August 27th to be exact, LonelyGamer put up a comment on the blog posting. We are just wondering, LonelyGamer are you based in ipoh? If yes, do hook up with us. Mail me or something. You can reach me at bortacks@hotmail.com. Hope to see you around.

Also we have suggestions for Friday nites gaming. Any takers?

My Look At Citadels

Citadels is a highly recommended card game of intrigue, strategy and deduction. The game consist of a wooden crown token some plastic orange candy looking tokens for gold and lots of cards that are shorter in width then standard cards. The most current version of Citadels also includes cards from its expansion Dark cities hitch consist of 14 purple district cards most with special abilities and 10 cards representing influential characters of the kingdom. The expansion however does not actually feel like an expansion but more like a variation of the game as the expansion is meant mainly to replace cards and add very little to the deck.

The game seems very simple at first. The goal is to score the most points by being the first to build the most extravagant citadel (8 buildings) with the most variety of districts (5). Each turn a player chooses a prominent figure of the kingdom (9) to influence. The player may then either take 2 gold coins or draw 2 building cards, place one of the cards in the bottom of the building deck and the other into his or her hand. Now the player may choose to pay and build a building. Arther that the next player takes his or her turn.

But that is not all for there are twists to the game. At the beginning of each round the player with the crown marker (marks the first player) takes the deck of influential figures, shuffles it, place a fixed number of cards face down and a fixed number of cards face up, based on the number of players. That player then chooses whom to influence and then pases the deck to his or her left. The influential figures determent the players turn sequence, determines who gets the crown token next turn and gives each player a unique ability.

This element of influential figures and the special ability that they give that adds the intrigue, strategy and deduction to the game. Abilities ranges from making a player with the targeted influential figure skip their turn to the ability to add a gold for each building of the same district and the ability to destroy a building.

Citadels has the components, game play and price that makes it a must have in any game library. It does not take a long time to play making it perfect for a filler game or as a main game.

Welcome The Month Of Ramadan

My favorite month of the year is fast approaching. As a sign of respect to the holy month of Ramadan we will not be any Night Game Session until after Ramadan.

Happy Ramadan to all Muslims out there, may all your deeds during the month of Ramadan be plenty and is accepted by Allah and see you at the mosque!

New arrivals at the Vault

Heya all,

Is it me or is Ankabut the only person posting on this list? C'mon guys, show some support and blab on the blog. Interested in a particular game? Post about it and get some feedback. Want to request a specific title? You can do that here too!

Anyways, a bunch of new games are now in store at the Vault, here's the list:

01. El Grande Decennial Edition
02. Caylus
03. Settlers of Catan
04. Cleopatra & the Society of Architects
05. Warrior Knights
06. Thurn & Taxis
07. World of Warcraft
08. Pirate's Cove
09. Tigris & Euphrates
10. Princes of Florence
11. Ticket to Ride: Marklin Edition
12. Carcassonne
13. Goa
14. Ra
15. Beowulf
16. Railroad Tycoon
17. Lost Cities
18. Citadels

Whew, that's quite a list. New games/releases or specific requests can also be brought in so don't be shy to post a want list.

Okay people, see you at the Vault this weekend!

Guild of Board Gamers

Since when are we a League?

UPDATE!

Arthas will not be joining us for a while and no Bortacks you do not need to know why.

Ipoh gamers still have problems using e-mail mainly because it is easy to use and completely free.

I will change this...

Weekend Game On The Brink.

It is the first weekend of the month. A very busy time for all of us. It is not a bad thing and it has to be done. We are postponing our gaming sessions until the coming Tuesday. We might still be busy then but we will try our best.

So during this hiatus of games, please, spread the disease and bring the masses to Resident Meeple.

Hey Ipoh Gamers!

We need to plan a weekend gaming session this long weekend.  So the question is:

• On what day should we do a game session?
• And what at what time?

Please e-mail me or leave a comment so that we could plan a gaming session we could all attend.

I am composing another wish list. Yes I am doing another board game wish list. Why so soon? I am doing the list now to avoid any unwanted surprises like the game being out of stock or the price being different then expected.

So leave a comment with games you would like to play and we just might get it.

Library Update

2 new games has been added to our library. Citadels and Ra. So come to our next game session and you might have a chance to play them.

The Games Are In!

All the games listed previously has arrived. All the games seems to be bigger then expected.

So make your pick, choose a game, and let the play begin!

This Week In Gaming

Here is the list of games that are coming this week:

Samurai RM187

Ra RM165

Niagara RM198

Dungeon Twister RM143

Dungeon Twister 3 to 4 Player RM143

Dungeon Twister Paladin RM110

Bohnanza RM88

Citadels RM99

Maybe I Should Have

Only three gamers showed up yesterday and one of them was very hungry. It was raining.

It is times like these that shows the lack of games playable with small numbers of players our library. However we did a few hands of Texas Hold' em, Enchanted Forest (which needs some house rules), and an agreement to give Monopoly with The One Wau rule a chance.

Somehow I could not speak or make a coherent sentence throughout the session so we could not do a World of Darkness trial session.

Fury Of Dracula - Review

Fury of Dracula, like any game with one player playing the antagonist has its inherent strengths and weaknesses but its balance and intuitive game engine more then makes up for this.

The fun level of this experience is highly based on the players playing the game. The player playing Dracula must be cunning, using trickery to mislead the hunters, not afraid of loosing a few blood points to achieve the desirable ends. Hunters however needs to be cleaver, like detectives solving the mysteries of the whereabouts of the vampire, and intelligently spread their recourses in hunting the him down.

This is how the game should be if all the players are balanced.

Many complain that the game is unbalanced as hunters seems to have an advantage. The opposite is also true to others. This is the biggest weakness of games with one player playing the antagonists. If the antagonist is the one winning 4 other players are bored and if the hunters are winning, the antagonist usually the owner of the game would not want to bring the game to the table anymore.

The rules are simple and intuitive enough that players can easily take turns playing Dracula each game so that helps solves that problem.

Battles and Dracula phase may signal a long downtime for players. Although battles in the game are as simple as choosing a card, rolling a dice and checking the effects, but because of the consequences of battles players tend to take time to plan. This could easily be solved by planning ahead. Unlike the hunters phase where hunters may discuss and plan, Dracula's phase concerns only the Dracula player. This is another situation where forward planning could be the solution to.

Overall, I love this game. Some pre-game advice and player preparation could improve the game even more. I would bring this game out once every other gaming session. Play it twice per session and a different Dracula per session

ntneko's Game Wish List

Heya all,

So far only Ankabut has chimed in with a wish list so I thought I'd add my 2-cents in:

Cleopatra & the Society of Architects
El Grande Decennial Edition
Railroad Tycoon

There're plenty of games out there that are good, so have a look and post up what you may be interested in! We may have a supply for boardgames soon so don't hold back!

See you guys this weekend and c'mon, bring your friends!

M.I.A. This Week End... Maybe

I might not be able to make it to the gaming session this weekend. Although the actual cause of all this is tomorrow and it will end before noon, I do not like to do anything else until it is over and I might be too tired to make it for Sunday.

Game Wish List

Here is my current wish list of games. Mainly consisting of Euro-games, a genre that we are short of, this list also consist of some card games for those short gaming sessions.

Board Games

Samurai.
Ra.
Niagara.
Power Grid.

Card Games 

Dungeoneer: Tomb of Lord Lich.
Citadels.
Bohnanza.

If there is no other serious game list posted this might be the list of games that I will order in.

News Update.

Hello! Is anyone there?

My notebook adapter blew a puff of smoke and I was offline for a day. What happened in that day?

A tool Windows Live Writer was released. A free blogging tool that is easy to use and independent of any other programs. I use to use Performancing (Firefox Plug-in) and Word Blogger (MS Word Plug in). Download it and check it out. It will make posting a whole lot easier.

The Dwarfs expansion for Battlegrounds and at first glance Dwarfs seems to have an advantage in almost everything except speed. Thank you Bortacks for this info. now get the app from the link above and post!

Yesterdays gaming session was canceled I was busy. I got allot of stuff to do this wee and I might even miss this weekend game completely. I should however be free next week.

I sure hope you guys are reading this because I will not put whole stories on e-mail anymore.

Slow Week Huh?

Blog, it has been seven days since our last post. We have not game for a whole week and last Sunday we did a game of Fury of Dracula and a game of Ticket to Ride.

It was the first time that we played Fury of Dracula with some understanding of the rules and the first time we played a proper game of Ticket to Ride. I will need at least one more session with these games before I could honestly review it. Both are great games that I hope to see more game time.

PS: Do you think we should start posting pictures?

Game Session Cancled

I just finish my first look post on Fury of Dracula the newest game in your library (which reminds me...) only to find out that I have to cancel our gaming session tonight August 8 2006.

It is unavoidable.
Go visit one of our blogs, or post on your own blog, or kiss a girl or something.

Arranged in consistency of postage order:
http://residentmeeple.blogspot.com
http://riderankabut.blogspot.com
http://eagleheart-keep.blogspot.com
http://bortacks.blogspot.com

Or answer this question:
If you have RM1000 what Board Games and Card Game (no CCGs) would you get?

See you this week end at The Game Vault...

First Look - Fury of Dracula

Fury of Dracula is a 2 to 5 player game where 1 player plays the vampire Dracula and the other players plays as the vampire hunters. The goal of the game is to defeat Dracula before Dracula kills everyone or time runs out.

Fury of Dracula is brimmed with atmosphere. Each game engine and system fits well and with a reason.

There is a night and day cycle, at night Dracula is stronger.

Seating order is important, players gets their characters based on turn order. This might seems bad at first taking away the freedom of choosing your own character. There is a good reason for this, the game balances itself with the number of players and the players abilities balances out with the game. Not only that, each characters ability fits like a glove.

During the game players will be able to gather items and event cards. Event cards are your typical game modifiers. However the items has a very interesting engine, they balance out. Mundane weapons such as knives and guns works as you would expect with common enemies but does almost nothing to Dracula. There are only some event card and some rare items that are effective against Dracula. These cards are powerful more often only against Dracula. This makes the game epic and misunderstood. Some say that Dracula is too easy to be killed because he is weak. Actually he is easily destroyed because the only way to kill him is by powerful extraordinary means. Do not expect to damage Dracula in a fist fight, or a gun fight, he will own you. Players will need to search for Dracula avoiding his traps gather means to destroy him and actually defeating him within the time limit.

Like any board game the fun factor of this game is largely based on the players. Dracula player needs to be sneaky and with a plan. Hunters needs to be cleaver and choose their moves wisely.

The first impressions of this game is good. High quality components, beautiful art, good size with ample storage space, heavy with theme and atmosphere. Do not expect an expansion for this game, its engine is so tightly woven that I do not think that it is possible.

Tuesday Night Gaming Sessions

We are going to do a gaming session every Tuesday night at my house and every week end at The Game Vault. Look at the vertical bar on the right. I am only going to post if a there is additional game session or if a game session is cancel.

So please e-mail me if you are coming end even if you are not.
Help us make our game sessions sucessful.

What do you think?

Look what I found!
So you guys interested?

btw, can you all indicate your interest for the following:
"2-day/1-night" game fiesta...

location: some resort hotel (last time i organized this was 2000 in avillion, pd).
cost: room cost + food. (figure rm200 incl b/fast, lunch, dinner).
schedule: 1200 check-in. 100-300 game #1; 300-700 game #2; 700-800 dinner; 800-1000 game#3, 1000-100 game#4. next day: 800-900 bfast; 900-1000 game#5; 1000-100 game#6; 100-200 lunch; 200-600 game#7.

7 games of various durations from 1-4 hours each.

accommodation: twin share will be cheaper.
games: tba.
rules: to be read in advance.
number of gamers: target 4 per table.
rotation: players rotate according to position after every game.
points: awarded for each game.

prize: tba.

any interest?

PS2 For SALE!

I am selling off my PS2.

Yes, I am officially selling off my modded PS2 (not slim). For RM750 (~204USD) you will get the following:

1 Modded PS2 (not Slim) console with adapter (220 – 110) and AV cables
1 Original Controller
1 Third Party Controller
1 Wireless Third Party Controller
1 Original GunCon2 Light Gun
1 Original PS2 Memory Card (8MB)
1 Third Party PS2 Memory Card (8MB)
1 Vertical Stand/4 Port Controller Adapter

And maybe a few games
E-mail me if you are interested Ok?

Not our only

Click on our Profiles, give it a try.
Check out Resident Meeple members personal blogs.

Session Report - Tuesday August 1 2006

Only 2 Orks, and 1 Human deck left.

Today was another 101 session with Battleground. My place is not the place to do 2 Battleground games at once. We should practice and demo the game more at The Vault. Once we are good at the game then we can do scenarios and missions. Time is the biggest constraint in every of our gaming sessions. This makes war games a tough edition to the library. We need to refine the rules even further making it a faster game. We need more dice, some straight rulers, more sleeves and some markers.

After the game me and Bortacks tried out some Xbox 360. with the right game and the right situation I think there is no loss in getting more controllers.

This week end is going to be spent at the vault. I am going to give Ticket to Ride (five players) and Battleground a try and if there is a huge turnout I'm pulling out Bang!

So try your best to make it to our friendly local gaming store this weekend.

Aritime Bonus Scam: Att Celcom Users

This might not be new news but you should know. There is an SMS scam out there. Using Celcoms ability to tranfer credits scammers are sending SMS saying that if you send this to this number you'll get free Airtime. Actually they are stealling from your airtime.

If you get one of these SMS, report it to e-mail (info@idot.tv).

Session Report - Saturday 29 July 2006

The gaming session was a success. Dark Elf was the only one who made it, so he got Battleground 101. Dark Elf bought the Elven deck and a powerful deck it is.

I now understand more of Battleground rules but like Dark Elf said it would take time before everyone in the group would fully comprehend the rules. I must say that writing on these sleeved cards, an act unthinkable before, becomes natural after a while. There is ample space on the cards to mark modifiers and other markings important to a war game.

The game took only 2 hours and 30 minutes. We played using the quick start army and basic rules but without the command cards. 2 hours and 30 minutes is fast for a war game in my opinion and it shows our deeper understanding in rules of the game. It also shows how simple the game-play could be.

I am looking forward to the next game and after a few games in I think I will be able to do a full review of the game.

First Look - Battleground Fantasy Warfare

Battleground: Fantasy Warfare is a war-game that uses cards to represent battalions instead of miniatures. Players creates an army based on the agreed points. The game has elements of any miniature war-game and more.

The game utilities some very interesting engines.

Battle:
Players rolls a number of d6 to get a number of successes. A successful roll is equal or less then the target number. The target number is equal to a skill minus the appropriate opposite skill. (#d6) #/# versus -#/-#

Movement:
Each Battleground card is exactly 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches. These measurement are used to measure range for range attacks and movement. Measurement begins from ½S (1.25 inches) to LL (3.5 x 2) and so on. In short everything in the game could be measured using the long and short side of the cards. Each unit card has a half way mark making measurement and battles easier.

Orders:
The game also utilities a standing order system for giving orders to the units. There are basically 3 main types of orders:

R = range (unless there is a target within range move towards the nearest enemy, attack)
C = close (move towards nearest enemy then attack if possible)
H = hold (stay stationary and attack if possible)

Basically a unit that has been given the order will continue with the order regardless until the order is changed. Players has a limited number of command points. Command points are used to give/change orders take control of a unit and/or draw a command card.

Command Cards:
Command cards are tactical cards that bend the rules, boots stats, or degrade them. Typical in dual games.

A moral system is also implemented in this game. A unit flanked or badly damaged will have to make a courage/route check. Failure results in the whole unit turning around and runs away. Unit battling fearsome units must make fear checks or lose one point in all offensive stats.

These are some of the basic rules of the game. More advanced games may include a point based victory system, scenarios, terrain and much more.

Check out these PDFs for the official rules:

Basic Rules
Advance Rules

First Look - Curse of the Dark Pharaoh Expansion for Arkham Horror

Arkham Horror gets its first expansion. Curse of The Dark Pharaoh consist of hundreds of cards. Some are new categories of cards, Exhibit Items (new type of items), Barred from The Neighborhood (restricts your choice of destination), Benefits (added abilities), and Detriments (hindrance). Some adds to the old decks. The expansion almost doubles the amount of Arkham Location cards, Gate Cards, and Mythos Cards and Allies, and some new Spells.

Exhibit Items are powerful items that cannot be bought. Exhibit Items are items that can only be acquired during an encounter. Benefits are paranormal abilities that an investigator could acquire during an encounter. Generally it gives the investigator an ability that can be used on and is useful to all investigators. Detriments like benefits could only be acquired in an encounter. These generally slow you down preventing you from doing actions that you are use to do. There are limited about of benefits and Detriments and each of them unique. Barred from Neighborhood cards are acquired as a consequence of an encounter. Investigators who wronged the community gets barred from its locations. Each street has its own barred card.

Curse of The Dark Pharaoh adds bigger reward and penalties to the game increasing the games difficulty slightly. The expansion also adds a n element of decision making. Investigators are sometimes forced to make decisions, decisions with a high and balanced amount of reward and penalties.

The expansion is well worth it especially to experienced gamers. The added elements, especially the decision making element, grows the game like a true expansion should. I could not wait for the nest Arkham expansion: Dunwich Horror.

Need your feed back

We have a request to do a gaming session this weekend Saturday 2:30pm. This is mainly because our FLGS (Friendly Local Game Shop) is closed for the week end.

Please e-mail me your suggestions and your thoughts on the matter ok?

Game Sesion Report 25th July 2006

It was not the worst of sessions. It was not the best of sessions.

Considering some gamers came to the session tired and slightly peeved, it was not a bod session. It was so hot the fan and mosquitoes was doing nothing to help.

We did not finish a single game. We figured that Battleground would take too long and no one there was in the set of mind to learn. We also did not finish Arkham. Curs of The Dark Pharaoh adds many interesting elements to the game..Players are made to make hard decisions and it adds a higher level rewards and punishment into the game.

We need to to do another session at a better time with more players.

Gaming Session Tuesday 25th July 2006

There will be a gaming session at my house tonight.

Sorry for the late posting.

We are going to have a gaming session at my house tonight at 7:30pm. We are going to have a try at Battleground: Fantasy Warfare and Arkham Horror with Curse Of The Dark Pharoh Expansion.

Food? We could always order out be it nasi lemak, pizza or McD.

See you there!

In the "Ground"

I just received the news...BATTLEGROUND is in!!!keep an eye out for reviews on this site...

The War Is Coming

Battleground Fantasy
Warfare is coming!

Expect for it somewhere this week. We have
2 sets (starter and reinforcement) of each race (Human, Elves, Orcks,
Undead). Although some of the sets are pre-booked my some players
there are still some that are up for sale.

Check out these
standard links to some info on this relatively independently produced
game.

http://www.yourmovegames.com/bfw/battleground.htm
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/18985

Forward: Local Gaming Scene

Here is a comment that is worth a post. Since I put up our blog at BoardGameGeek we have recieved much support and news. And to think we missed all of it all this while. But seriusly we rarely go to Kuala Lumpur anyway.

hey ipoh gamers, do you know of the huge euro gaming scene in kl?
check out:
http://web.mac.com/imagine_newszine
for all the latest euro games, next day delivery to ipoh via city link express and cash back rewards program.

boardgamecafe.net
for the latest news on gaming group activities/events in kl, spore and thailand.

read NST saturday issue for "wanna play?", a column dedicated to euro board games. in addition to comics corner stores, check out york house (bangsar shopping center), room (klcc, midvalley & 1utama), games circle (damansara jaya), toybox (paramount garden) & trisha sasha (desa sri hartamas) who carry euro games.

imagine games is the official distributor of fantasy flight, riogrande, days of wonder,
eagle, gmt, mmp, atlas, zman, asmodee, zoch, kosmos, uberplay,
face2face, amigospiele, rackham (confrontation minis) for malaysia.

Note:

Feeling bad about our past orders I calculated and compared our pass orders from Thought Hammer and these guys. I am happy to report that the prices are too not far apart. Some are cheaper and some are expansive. I also compared these guys to ComicCor and on many items the prices are diffrent. So some games are cheaper in one shop then the other after adding everything like shipping of course.

So I promise on our next pool order we will buy from the shop with the best prices.

New Design!

How do you like the new look?

I did not do this from scratch but I did edit it a bit. I am learning to code this all over again and honestly CSS is new to me. If you have any suggestions or if you think I should change or add to the layout please do tell.

Coldsnap Release Party

Hi everyone,

Coldsnap is being released worldwide this weekend and as such Release tourneys are being held. We'll also be running one and here are the details:

Venue: Game Vault, 15A Jalan Medan Ipoh 6, Bandar BaruMedan, 31400 Ipoh.
Date: 22 July 2006 (Saturday)
Time: 2pm registration, 2.30pm start
Entry fee: RM50 (Entry includes 5 Coldsnap boosters)
Prizes: Booster prizes will be given out depending on turnout.

Players will also receive a special foil to commemmorate this event!

Ok, see you there!

Posted on behalf of ntneko :)

Ticket to Ride

Easy to learn and play but hard to master. This is the description that all puzzle and strategy type games strive for. Ticket to Ride is a very easy game to learn and play. A perfect intoductory to the world of Euro Games. Almost abstract this puzzle/strategy train game plays very well in almost perfect 60 minutes each time.

Players stars off with 4 train cards and 3 tickets (players may discard one). The ticket deck and the train deck is set aside. 5 cards from the train deck is displayed face open. The goal is to get the most points. Each turn Players get to do one of 3 things:

Claim a route

Draw 2 train cards* (blind draw or from open face cards, if player draws a wild card from open face cards then draw only one) *One at a time and immediately replaced.

or take 3 tickets and discard up to two.

Players discard sets of cards equal to the colour and number of tracks on the board (map of North America). Players gets points based on the chart and the number of tracks he or she claims. To get more points players has to fulfil their tickets by connecting the 2 cities on their ticket. Failing to do so results in negative points based on the ticket.

The player with the longest track gets a special 10 points ticket.

Game ends when one player has 2 or less trains left. Each other players gets their last turn and the tally begins.

Overall this game is very simple. It has its flaws for example the cards used are not standard sized cards and the luck of the ticket plays a lot in predetermining the winner. But the game is perfect for an easy enjoyable game, a game to teach beginners and newcomers, and when you have only an hour to play.

First impressions of Ticket to Ride

Hey all,

As Ankabut mentioned, he has acquired a new board game - Ticket to Ride. He came into the Vault with it on Sunday and we managed to run a 3-player game.

This is a fun and light game and it only took us about 5 minutes to learn how to play. I'm not going to be able to give a run down on the rules here, basically because I don't really know them well but suffice to say I'd be able to play it again without much problem after having gone thru it once. Our 3-player game lasted about an hour and it was good fun. I look forward to having another game this weekend, perhaps we can set up a gaming session on Sunday?

From Kuala Lumpur with plenty of stuff.

We got a new game!

Yes it is that time of the year again and this time we scored a copy of Ticket To Ride. This game won more awards that I gould pronounce! It is very simple and very good for lite beginer to intermidiate games.

I could not find a shop that sells Battleground Fantasy Warfare. I will place an order at Thought Hammer this Monday. This order will include the Dwarfs. If after a week the Dwarfs is still nor realeased I will cancel the item and we will get the stuff sometime in the first week of next month.

So please contact me if you want to place an order or if you have any thoughts on the order.

Board games from Comics Corner

I haven't checked the blog for awhile and so I was surprised to see Ankabut's post about the possibility of getting board games from Comics Corner. Well whaddya know, that's where I get the stuff for the shop from. I remember mentioning that I can also get boardgames from them although they mainly focus on games from Avalon Hill.

Anyway, if anyone wants to get boards from them I can certainly help out in that department. Let me know if you guys want anything from them.

Also, I'm glad to see you guys continuing to have fun on your Tuesday nights. Keep on rolling!

Session Report! 11th July 2006

What can I say about the last gaming session. It was one of the best ever!

I will not get into the details of the games here except that for games me did Bang!, Uno and Give Me The Brain, for dinner we had Nasi Lemak and McDonalds. If you want to know that happens in one of these gaming sessions, come to our next gaming session!

Thank You for those who made it.

Hang in there Dark Elf!

July 11th Gaming Session and Some News.

We are going to have a gaming session tonight! It has been a while and it is about time we rekindle our Board Gaming passion. Although no new games we still expect to have fun. Food? I am unsure we could order out as usual. I say we do whatever necessary.

Battlegrounds Fantasy warfare. As some of you know I am looking for buyers for the game so that we could pool our orders. A set of 2 decks (Starter and Reinforcement) plus shipping costs about 130MYR. There are 5 races although the Dwarfs are not released yet.

We have almost more then enough buyers which makes me want to order 2 sets instead. What do you guys think?

Anyone?

Are we dead?

Is there no one out there interested anymore? It is my fault. I will be in at the Vault if it is open this weekend. At the very minimum I will be there with a Uno deck. In all of my online game of Uno I have not won a single one. It is sad. Hope to see you guys this week end.

Let us get those games!

Now that we are deep in the month of June it is almost time to get some new games. I want to save money. After figuring out that buying new original videogames from Hong Kong is cheaper then buying Board Games from the US I took a look at Comics Corner. The prices are in proximity of the prices of games bought from the US (only wheih large orders). The faster cheaper shipping compansated for that.

They do not take Credit Cards! But they do take and prefer money order.

Tuesday Night Gameing Session Report 13th Jun

For those who attended the gaming session (Bortacks, Dark Elf): I am sorry if the session was not up to our usual. I have familiarised myself to the machine and next time if we don't have enough players we know what to do.

Controllers are only 44USD not bad with free shipping won't you say? HINT HINT.

Tuesday Night Gaming Session - 13th Jun

We have a request for a gaming session for Tuesday 13th Jun 1930hrs. We have no new game but it has been a very long since our last session. Expect a medium length game  consisting of games we rarely play. 

As my plans to get a new gaming system comes true we also might spend a few minutes gawking at it.

Visit my blog for stories about my trip to Bangkok.

I am back.

At long last I am back but I found no new game and no one else has been posting on the blog.

This is sad folks.

!Cancelled! Tuesday Night Game Session - 30th May !Cancelled!

Due to the lack of players who could join us tonight the game session is cancelled! No worries, there is a high cance that our next session will have some new games.

See you guys next time!

EPL off season, Saturday nights are cool!

Hey guys,

Yesterday a couple of us were talking and were wondering if people would be interested in gaming nights on Saturday at the Vault. I'm thinking of it as an alternative gaming night to supplement the existing Tuesday night sessions.

I'm happy to start it at 8.30pm Saturday nights if people are interested. This offer is good so long as Liverpool isn't having a live match telecast on Astro during the EPL season :)

Tuesday Night Game Session - 30th May

Hey it is still Saturday right?

I was having doubts of doing a Thursday night game because it is so close to my trip. But I guess its ok to here is the announcement of a Tuesday night gaming session.

There is no promise of food so I guess we will order some McDonalds or something? All I got is Pepsi. The games for this gaming sessions are going to be card games. Short and fast.

Bang! (with house rules on the “Jail” card. A player can only be held in jail for no longer then the amount of life he/she has)
Give Me The Brain
Uno 
Poker (Texas Hold'em)
and maybe Shadows Over Camelot.

Just small short games.

At first I wanted to use biscuits, or M&M's as something to play for in poker but “winning” food that has been passed around by multiple hands does not seem like a win situation. Anyway games are going to start as usual after twilight prayers (1930hrs) and if you have any ideas or news please e-mail me.

Finally what do you think, since it is usually the same band of gamers that participate in the games, if we do an RPG session once in a while?

Early to rise, early to bed, makes a man healthy, wealthy and dead.

--Rincewind, The Light Fantastic

Missing Spider.

I am going to be missing in action from the 2nd of June to the 8th of June. I am going on a trip to Bangkok. With the promise to visit the biggest shopping mall there I will try to get some games and stuff but as the name of the city suggested it is not really a place to be looking for board games. Anyway if you guys want me to look out for certain titles and stuff do e-mail me.

We are in a process of gathering players for a game this Tuesday night. No finalizations yet. I will post an official session post on Saturday if all goes well.

Thunder rolled. ... It rolled a six.

--Guards! Guards!

Color-fixing in Rav-Guild-Diss drafting

Righto, readers,

I just wanna deliver my report of my little draft on Saturday and a few tricks I learnt about how to draft multiple guilds and yet be able to play all the goodies from them.

Today was a Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension booster draft. Now booster draft is significantly different from Sealed Deck. In Sealed Deck you have a huge pool of lovely Limited bombs and your chances of hitting good Ravnica mana fixers like any of the guild Signets or guild two-mana lands (otherwise known as 'Karoos') are high. But in booster draft, no such luck. You'll be vying for signets and such other fixers with fellow drafters, and in the same breath you need to be able to pick quality creatures, quality Auras (the new terminology for local enchantments) and such other stuff.

So in booster draft, the set Ravnica features the Green-White, Green-Black, Blue-Black and Red-White colour pairs, while Guildpact features Black-White, Blue-Red and Green-Red, and finally Dissension wraps up with Blue-Green, Red-Black and Blue-White. With TEN colour pairs stretched across three sets it's obviously impossible you can stick to, say, Green-White alone, or Blue-Red alone. The only logical choice is to go tri-colour or if pushed, quadricolour.

Today, what did I pick??? Among my bombs,

1. Two Streetbreaker Wurms (6/4 creature for 3 colourless mana, 1 Green mana and 1 Red mana, huge beater)
2. Guardian of Vitu-Ghazi (4/7 vigilance for 6 colourless mana, 1 Green mana and 1 White mana)
3. Loxodon Hierarch (4/4 for 2 colourless mana, 1 Green mana and 1 White mana, gains you 4 life when it comes into play and can be sacrificed to regenerate each creature you control)
4. Leafdrake Roost (Aura - enchant land. Enchanted land has GU, Tap: Put a 2/2 Green and Blue Drake token with flying into play)

Now despite all the commitments to different colours (Red, White and Blue) I still managed to cast my bombs consistently and got a draw for one game, a win for another and lost the third game, my opponent 2 victories, myself 1 victory. How did I get all my bombs out consistently??? The answer - look to the colours of the bombs. They all share one common colour - GREEN.

Yes. Green, in Ravnica, Guildpact and Dissension, is one heck of a powerhouse colour, for Draft at any rates. It provides a VERY powerful mana-fixing base. Check out these Green or Green-based mana fixers I got today:

1. Utopia Sprawl (A common aura, enchant Forest. When Utopia Sprawl comes into play, choose a colour. Whenever enchanted land is tapped for mana, add one mana of the chosen colour to your mana pool)
2. Silhana Starfletcher (common creature. 2 colourless mana and 1 Green mana for a 1/3. When Silhana Starfletcher comes into play, choose a colour. Tap: Add one mana of the selected colour to your mana pool)
3. Silkwing Scout (common creature. 2 colourless mana and 1 Blue mana for a 2/1 flying creature. One Green mana to sacrifice it and search your library for a basic land card and put it into play tapped)

There's no denying it - you want to play multiple guilds, you sure as heck better draft Green mana fixers. Don't worry about being stuck with playing only Green-related guilds - heck, think about it. If you take the Gruul Signet (2 colourless mana for an artifact. 1 colourless, tap to produce 1 Green mana and 1 Red mana) and Golgari Signet (the same as the above except it taps to produce 1 Green mana and 1 Black mana), doesn't it open you to the possibilities of the Rakdos guild (the Red-Black guild)??? With Green as your mana base, provided you get enough Green mana diversifiers and fixers (including the ever-useful Signets) literally ANY guild's power cards can be played - heck, you can even go five-colour if it suits your fancy.

So now, I'll end this post with some creatures and spells you should keep an eye out for in Ravnica-Guildpact-Dissension draft (REMINDER: This list does NOT surpass powerhouse creatures or spells. Do NOT draft a colour fixer over a top-notch creature, then blame me for teaching you to do so. Colour fixers rank from 3rd pick to 6th pick and should stay there, but the occasional better-grade ones may pass as 2nd pick or even 1st pick if there's no better options)

General fixers (should be picked in all 3 sets)
The 'Karoo' lands (Simic Growth Chamber, Izzet Boilerworks, Orzhov Basilica, Dimir Aqueduct, etc.)
The Guild Signets (Selesnya Signet, Rakdos Signet, Gruul Signet, etc.)
The Dual lands (Overgrown Tomb, Hallowed Fountain, etc., but then again these are rares, so it's gonna be tough)

Fixers in Ravnica
Civic Wayfinder (excellent bargain - 3 mana for a 2/2 plus finding a land, AND IT'S JUST A COMMON. May qualify for 1st pick if there aren't any particularly powerful creatures)
Farseek (a lovely common, must-pick if you get it from 3rd to 7th. Allows you to play most guild cards with ease)
Birds of Paradise (Best fixer around, but it's rare so don't dream of it - hard to find, hard to draft)
Terrarion (Despite its one-shot nature it gets you a card when you sacrifice it and allows you to cast that totally off-colour bomb you have in hand, so yeah this goes from about 4th-9th pick depending on how many off-colour bombs you have...)
Perilous Forays (umm, this one goes lower, about 9th to 11th pick. Don't draft it unless you've got lots of Saproling production, this is kinda tough to use)

Fixers in Guildpact
Silhana Starfletcher (sorta like Civic Wayfinder, except if this guy gets killed, you lose your mana source. He can qualify for 1st pick but I'd really pick most creatures over him. Only worth his weight in gold as a 3rd-6th pick.)
Wild Cantor (1 mana for a 1/1 that can be sacrificed to add one mana of any colour... kinda like Blood Pet but a bit more potent. Qualifies as a 5th to 9th pick but I don't like its one-shot nature... can be used if you're desperate for fixers though, but watch it, this gal is delicate.)

Fixers in Dissension
Vesper Ghoul (surprise, surprise!!! What is a Black creature doing here??? Nonetheless it is a reliable colour supplier so this can qualify among the 3rd-6th pick range, and may go as high as a 2nd pick if you really need to fix your colours.)
Coiling Oracle (right, this isn't really a 'mana fixer' per se, but it's just wondrous if it happens to reveal a Karoo land or even just a basic land off the top of your library. At any rates it counts as a mana fixer, but if you're playing Green and Blue this can go as high as a 2nd pick for you. For all other colour combinations, 3rd-8th pick)
Utopia Sprawl (Very economical and encourages you to run more Forests to support your diversification. I can pick this as high as 3rd to 5th. It's really quite worth it)
Elemental Resonance (Not really the best, but I suppose could qualify if you're really desperate. 8th-10th pick for me)
Verdant Eidolon (4 mana for a 2/2 that DOESN'T fly is already a bad deal, and in addition I need to spend 1 mana to sacrifice it for 3 mana of ONE COLOUR?!?! I don't get to choose my colour combination?!?! Alright forget it. This is bad if you're seeking tri-colour or quadricolour. 9th-11th pick.)

Yeah so this is my advice to those who wanna play multiple guilds in Ravnica Block booster draft: Pay attention to the Green fixers coming around and pick them, and pick them well - they'll give your consistency in playing multi-colour a great boost.

Stats

Firstly, it seems like my brother can't find any interesting games in Hong Kong which was a surprise. I'd always thought one should be able to find any crap in Hong Kong, hmmm......

Secondly, 23rd May Tuesday night is not going to be my night off. But anyhow you guys go ahead and plan your meeting, no need to worry about me. I'll join you all on the 30th May.

(Yes, its another a Tuesday. It's the only night I'm off).