Carcassonne Central

Carc Central Community => Online Games and Competitions => Leagues (including expansion leagues) => Topic started by: danisthirty on May 31, 2016, 03:21:58 PM

Title: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on May 31, 2016, 03:21:58 PM
Group B:

Please read the following tournament notes/ guidance/ rules before continuing:

1. Players have already been divided into four different groups (Groups A to D). Each player will play one game of Carcassonne against every other player in their group individually via a series of 2-player/ head-to-head games. The winner of each game will be awarded two league points whereas the loser gets nothing. If the game is tied, both players receive one league point each.

2. Players in each group will be ranked according to the number of league points they have scored. PD (Points Differential) will be used as an initial tie-breaker if there is no clear winner based on league points alone, and total combined score (from all games) will be used as a second tie-breaker if necessary. Your PD is calculated by taking the total number of points scored by you and subtracting the total number of points scored against you (combined across all games).

3. Games will be played online through the latest stable version of JCloisterZone (currently 3.4.2). Please ensure you have downloaded this and are familiar with its controls and features before the competition begins. It is also recommended that you have played at least one practice game against a live opponent (as opposed to a dead one) in order to identify and resolve any technical problems before your first game.

4. JCloisterZone includes a number of artificial aids such as farm hints, projected scores and even tile-counting assistance. I can't stop you from using any of these, and won't know if you do, but I do urge you to play under "exam conditions" as far as possible so that you're relying purely on your own wits, knowledge and experience rather than using anything else to help you. I know it's a competition and we all want to win, but let's keep it fair, fun and friendly as far as possible...

5. Each game will include the basic tiles plus the Tower expansion only (no other expansions please). This is 90 tiles including the start tile, so 89 tiles will be shuffled and randomly drawn for you and your opponent in turn. The starting player should be chosen at random through JCZ by selecting the “Randomize seating order” checkbox on the pre-game screen.

6. If any unexpected behaviour occurs during your game (for example if you think you have discovered a bug within JCloisterZone which may have altered the course of the game for you), please consult with your opponent and the CAR/ anyone else who happens to be in the chat room at the time to determine whether it appears to be a genuine bug. If it is, please save your game and post details of the bug along with anything else relating to how it came about on the forums. If however, you and your opponent are both happy to continue with your game despite the bug then feel free to do so, but don’t forget to mention the bug afterwards no matter how minor it may have seemed!

7. Please post a screenshot of your game, including final scores and score breakdown, back to your group thread as soon as your game is complete. It's always interesting to hear what happened during the game too, so please feel free to post any thoughts/ comments at the same time if you wish. If you're not sure how to capture/ post screenshots, please ask on the forums and either myself or someone else will explain how to do this (we're a friendly bunch!)

8. It is the players responsibility to liaise with their fellow group-members in order to find a mutually convenient time to play their game. This is expected to be done predominantly through Private Messages but feel free to use your group thread (here) too if this is easier. Please do keep any appointments you make, or at least give your opponent as much notice as possible if something occurs which prevents you from playing at the agreed time (more on the "Unwritten Rules" is available here (http://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2700)).

9. Each of the 4 initial groups contains 5 players so the first stage of the competition will end when every player (all 20 of us) has played 4 games. At this point, the pool will split into 5 groups of 4 depending on finishing position in the initial groups. So, the top-ranked players from groups A - D will form group E1, and those who came second in each group will form group E2. The same will be true for groups E3 to E5.

10. Play in groups E1 to E5 will constitute the second stage of the competition which will run in the same way as the first except with more groups and fewer people per group. League points, PD and total score will be reset at this point (but remembered for overall stats) so that no single player in any group has any kind of advantage. Finishing positions in groups at the second stage will determine overall rank: 1st=E1-1, 2nd=E1-2, 3rd=E1-3, 4th=E1-4, 5th=E2-1, ..., 16th=E4-4, 17th=E5-1, 18th=E5-2, 19th=E5-3, 20th=E5-4.

Finally, you may find the following links helpful:
Carcassonne Central IRC Chat (http://sydby.com/carcassonne/irc/index.html) and JCloisterZone (http://jcloisterzone.com/en/).

The competition is now on! Good luck everyone... :) :(y)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 01, 2016, 12:38:56 AM
Good to see who's in this group.
I'll be available the next 2 weeks from about 2pm german time. After that it will be mostly the evening times.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 01, 2016, 12:46:59 AM
Hi Chuck.

I should be free on Thursday or Friday. Which of those days is best for you?

Dan
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 01, 2016, 01:05:32 AM
Hey Dan,

both are fine, since im Home alone.... ;-) I would say let's play on Thursday.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 01, 2016, 06:54:10 AM
Hi all,
I'm usually free 19.00-23.00 EDT (00.00-04.00 in UK or 1.00-5.00 in Germany) Monday through Thursday. I should be free on Friday evening until late night and all day on Saturday and Sunday.
It'll be good for me if I can play games in the afternoon (evening/night in Europe) over the weekends, but I'm okay with mornings if it's needed.
Tonight I need to have dinner with fellow students in our group and I don't know when it'll end. So, we can start making appointment starting from 19.00 EDT Thursday June 2.  :)

Yi
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 01, 2016, 07:48:05 AM
So let's plan a weekend as last time on P & D. :-)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 01, 2016, 02:47:15 PM
Halfling and I got the ball rolling this evening:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Halfling_Scores.png)

(I didn't do well with cloisters) :(

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Halfling_Map.png)

Thanks for the game Halfling! :) :(y)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 02, 2016, 06:43:39 AM
Hey Dan,

both are fine, since im Home alone.... ;-) I would say let's play on Thursday.

It's Thursday! What time did you want to play? Evenings work well for me, so maybe 9pm my time would work? This would be 4pm for you I guess...
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 02, 2016, 06:54:03 AM
Hey Dan,

both are fine, since im Home alone.... ;-) I would say let's play on Thursday.

It's Thursday! What time did you want to play? Evenings work well for me, so maybe 9pm my time would work? This would be 4pm for you I guess...
I thought you are in Britain. Since I'm im Germany, that would mean 10 pm for me. But I'm available right now.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 02, 2016, 07:03:19 AM
Really? Are you certain you're not in the US? I was pretty sure you were for some reason...

Yes I am in Britain. Would 10pm be too late for you?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 02, 2016, 07:06:07 AM
Just let me check......
Nope, no Americans around here and my neighbors are Germans as well!  ;D

10pm is fine with me.  :(y)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 02, 2016, 07:16:18 AM
 :))

Excellent. Sounds like a plan...
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 02, 2016, 11:13:08 AM
Great game, shame the elo ranking is going south. Whose next?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 02, 2016, 12:27:07 PM
Just let me check......
Nope, no Americans around here and my neighbors are Germans as well!  ;D

10pm is fine with me.  :(y)

I'm available a little earlier than anticipated and am waiting in the chat room :)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 02, 2016, 01:46:04 PM
I'm available a little earlier than anticipated and am waiting in the chat room :)
I saw your post so I figured I'd go to the chat room. And as soon as I went there, I got stuck in a conversation in the office, and I just realized that I'm in the chat. Anyway, I'm sorry that I wasn't responding. What's a good time for our league game? :)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 02, 2016, 02:01:53 PM
I played Chuck this evening:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Chuck_Scores.png)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/Chuck_Map.png)

It was another hard-fought game. The last 15 tiles or so were very tense as we both had just 1 tower foundation left with lots of appealing opportunities to use them. Chuck played well considering that he was at a 3-meeple handicap from very early on, although it was something of a mistake on his part that he ended up with 3 trapped meeples rather than just 2.

I'm available a little earlier than anticipated and am waiting in the chat room :)
I saw your post so I figured I'd go to the chat room. And as soon as I went there, I got stuck in a conversation in the office, and I just realized that I'm in the chat. Anyway, I'm sorry that I wasn't responding. What's a good time for our league game? :)

I wondered why you disappeared so quickly but guessed it might have been down to a connection problem.

Sorry for not replying to your PM yet. This weekend isn't going to work for me for various reasons and I'm not sure whether tomorrow will either. Hopefully we can get together next week?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 02, 2016, 02:16:43 PM
Hi Dan,
Sure, we can try to schedule next week. I'm not foreseeing anything else happening next Saturday and Sunday.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 03, 2016, 04:02:27 AM
Hi Dan,
Sure, we can try to schedule next week. I'm not foreseeing anything else happening next Saturday and Sunday.

Depending on how the week goes I would probably be able to have a late night and play you at midnight my time if playing any earlier would be difficult for you.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 03, 2016, 08:41:46 AM
Depending on how the week goes I would probably be able to have a late night and play you at midnight my time if playing any earlier would be difficult for you.
Same here, depending on how the week goes, I may be able to start a game at 18.00 EDT (23.00 UK time). If you email me (as opposed to PM thru the forum), I should be able to get last minute notice on my phone.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 04, 2016, 12:09:37 PM
Partytime!!!!
 :blue-meeple: ny1050220 -  :black1-meeple: Chuck  93 - 103

My first league victory!!!!

ny got a very good start, dominating a large city and trapping almost all of my meeples. He placed his so, that I couldn't reach him with the towers, but he was able to take mine, which had me play with 3 meeples most of the time. I could close a city with about 18 points and I was trying to block his city but he finally got the needed cfcf tile to close his. By that time he was ahead about 30 Points and all my hope was gone because he was dominating the farm, too.
But the last tiles were in my favour, so I was able to reduce his farmers and bring my guys on that farm. We weren't sure if towers can capture over a hole, but that brought me the victory because I could take his meeple out of a unfinished city, which would have brought him four points and take away the adjacent farmer, so I got the majority on the farm.

Thanks for the very good game.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: kettlefish on June 04, 2016, 12:13:54 PM
The x-score list T-League - CarcC-B - 04 06 2016:
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 05, 2016, 11:31:47 AM
Halfling, Monwil, what would be the best time for you to play?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 05, 2016, 01:50:58 PM
Halfling, Monwil, what would be the best time for you to play?
I might ask the same question to Halfing and Monwil.
To Monwil: we are in the same time zone (EDT), so I imagine it'll be easier to play a game in the evening of the weekday. I'm usually free after 7pm.
To Halfing: I'm 5 hours behind you, so I assume weekdays don't work for us, unless you can start a game at midnight. In that case, I'm more than happy to start before 7pm my time. Otherwise weekends would be easier.
Also to Dan: I don't think we have a specific day to look at this week, right? Wednesday night is usually not the best day for me to play games, but it's available if you are busy otherwise.

Thanks guys!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 06, 2016, 01:18:41 AM
Also to Dan: I don't think we have a specific day to look at this week, right? Wednesday night is usually not the best day for me to play games, but it's available if you are busy otherwise.

My wife is out pretty much every evening apart from Friday this week which means I'll have the evenings to myself. I could even play tonight if it's not too short notice? I'm happy to stay up late if necessary so that we can fit our game in? Please let me know. :)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 06, 2016, 06:42:03 AM
My wife is out pretty much every evening apart from Friday this week which means I'll have the evenings to myself. I could even play tonight if it's not too short notice? I'm happy to stay up late if necessary so that we can fit our game in? Please let me know. :)
I should be able to start a game at 6pm EDT. Would that work for you?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 06, 2016, 09:17:37 AM
It sure would. See you in about 6 hours!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 06, 2016, 09:32:59 AM
Deal!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 06, 2016, 10:44:55 AM
Wow, what time are you two playing.....I can probably do same time tomorrow night, as a one off if you fancy it NY1050220?

Any evening good for you this week Chuck & Monwil.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 06, 2016, 11:02:17 AM
Wow, what time are you two playing.....I can probably do same time tomorrow night, as a one off if you fancy it NY1050220?
We are playing at 23.00 UK time (18.00 EDT). I can do the same time tomorrow evening. Does that work for you?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 06, 2016, 11:07:26 AM
Absolutely.  looking forward to it.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 06, 2016, 11:39:34 AM
Deal! Deal!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 06, 2016, 01:54:34 PM
Okay. So lets say we play tomorrow before your intercontinental match? What time would be good for you, Halfling? I'm one hour ahead of you.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 06, 2016, 02:33:08 PM
It sure would. See you in about 6 hours!
In case you are checking this page, I'm having troubling entering the chat room, but I'm ready for the game.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 06, 2016, 02:49:53 PM
It sure would. See you in about 6 hours!
In case you are checking this page, I'm having troubling entering the chat room, but I'm ready for the game.

Emailed you connection details.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 06, 2016, 03:31:41 PM
Here is my game with Dan. 108:126. I won.
Looks like I've recovered from the shock of losing last league game. The tower tiles helped me a lot in capturing Dan's farmers. I ended up with one farmer left in the big farm. Dan tries to connect his farmer from the left in the last few tiles, but I placed my second one to ensure that this farmer will connect in the same time.
I kinda feel I took advantage of Dan by having him play at late night, but I got really luck in tiles.
Thank you for the game, Dan!
BTW, when did you pay that ransom? I didn't notice that.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 06, 2016, 03:47:32 PM
Congrats on your win ny1050220, it was well-deserved.

Obviously it was the farm that made the biggest difference. You took me off of it in 3 or 4 places, and each time I had a farmer on it you seemed to draw a tower piece and removed it again on the next turn. This also meant that all the best places to join the farm were covered with tower bases so I was stuck trying to find anywhere to join on. As you pointed out, I did manage to make one opportunity but you quickly drew what you needed to negate this as was the theme of this game... :-\

My best hope of winning without the farm hinged on me completing my city in the south-west near to your cloister. This needed a ccrr tile to complete and I think there were 2 or 3 of these left when I got it to within one tile of completion. However, you drew all of these and placed them elsewhere so I failed here too.

However, my final tile made a big difference as I could remove your most valuable knight. If not for this then the scale of my loss would have been even greater so I can't complain too much! ;)

Don't worry about the late hour, I had coffee to keep me awake!

PS - The tower ransom was paid when I drew the fffr cloister which I played in the centre of the map. I didn't want to lose out on the 9 points so bought a meeple back from you so that I could claim it there and then. :(y)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 06, 2016, 11:31:33 PM
Hi Chuck,
How about 9pm UK?

Halfling.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 06, 2016, 11:57:51 PM
Okay, sounds good!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Andrew the Ambo on June 07, 2016, 01:38:30 AM
I thought we were not using farm hints or other helping aids?

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 07, 2016, 02:54:51 AM
I thought we were not using farm hints or other helping aids?

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk

That's certainly what I state in the rules and what I believe most people stick to. I know some people tend to turn farm hints on at the end of the game for screenshot purposes and I believe that this is what ny1050220 has done above...
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 07, 2016, 03:04:39 AM
Halfling, I will make sure I am available to host your matches this evening at 9pm and 11pm. It will be interesting to see how things end up after that as 4 of us will have played 3 games...
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 07, 2016, 03:15:20 AM
What I learend so far from this League: Tower matches are unoredictable. I hope for a win, but for the case, that I lose, I hope for a small PD!
It's interesting, how different everybody is playing. I saw Dan as not so aggressive and ny was straightly going for my meeples...
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 07, 2016, 06:58:20 AM
I thought we were not using farm hints or other helping aids?

Sent from my ASUS_Z00AD using Tapatalk
I find the farm hints in screenshots very useful to help other people read your game. When you play the game you know the dynamics and you constantly monitor your farm. When you simply look at a screen shot, it's really easy to miss a short road that divides the field or miss a city very far away from the scoring meeple.
I'm not blaming people for not turning on the hints for the screen shots in the two games in page 2, but I did not figure out where all the cities are for the big farm in either game when I only look at the picture. What's more, I was in one of the games.

What I learend so far from this League: Tower matches are unoredictable. I hope for a win, but for the case, that I lose, I hope for a small PD!
It's interesting, how different everybody is playing. I saw Dan as not so aggressive and ny was straightly going for my meeples...
Chuck is right. I'm very aggressive in Carcassonne. I pretty much always try my best to prevent my opponent from scoring rather than boost my own score. So a quick advise for people who play with (against?) me, I'll actively attempt to trap your meeple in a city that awards you 1 point at the end of the game.  >:D
That's why my housemate has to play mega-carc with me.  ;)
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 07, 2016, 01:58:11 PM
 :yellow-meeple: Chuck and I had a very tight game which I managed to sneak with the last tile closing the city at the top, claim the road and add to the farm and then edge ahead by a mere 5 points.

Thanks to Dan for hosting and restarting when JCZ hung midway through the game.

 :yellow-meeple: 130  Halfling
 :blue-meeple: 125  Chuck
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 07, 2016, 02:02:05 PM
It was a pretty tense game! Congrats to you, Halfling! Nobody of us got far ahead and the last tiles brought the decision.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 07, 2016, 03:12:33 PM
A second win of the night and just as tight and tense as the last one from my point of view.
 :yellow-meeple: 145 Halfling
 :blue-meeple: 135 ny1050220

Thanks again to Dan for hosting, game didn't crash this time.

Was it 30 tiles before the first Tower tile was played?
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 07, 2016, 03:27:45 PM
It's a good job there wasn't much on the TV tonight as I was glued to the JCloisterZone channel!

After watching two great games tonight, 4 of us have all played each other, and none of us have played monwil yet! Pleased with our rate of progress though: 6 games in less than a week!

Here's a quick summary of where we all are (based on some quick calculations that are probably wrong):

danisthirty (2W/ 1L = 4pts) +34 +25 -18 = PD: 41
Halfling (2W/ 1L = 4pts) -34 +5 +10 = PD: -19
ny1050220 (1W/ 2L = 2pts) -10 +18 -10 = PD: -2
Chuck (1W/ 2L = 2pts) -25 +10 -5 = PD: -20

Depending on our final games, anyone can still win this group but it's nice that everyone so far has had at least one win! :) :(y)

@monwil - please post here when you have some free time. ny1050220 is in the same time zone as you so organising a game with him shouldn't be too tricky hopefully!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 08, 2016, 02:53:14 AM
My game with monwil is scheduled for 10pm tonight UK time! Looking forward to it...
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 08, 2016, 11:25:18 AM
I can play another evening Monwil.  Good luck to you both this evening.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 08, 2016, 12:43:07 PM
Monwil and I are scheduled to play at 7pm on Friday.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 08, 2016, 03:19:34 PM
It looks like my dreams of topping my group for once are now somewhat shattered... :'(

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/monwil_Scores.jpg)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/monwil_Map.jpg)

This game was a painful one. I ran out of meeples very quickly and then couldn't seem to draw the tiles required to finish anything. So, my score stuck on 7 for a very long time, while monwil gradually increased her lead over me.

I did manage to set up a neat trap that required an rrrx tile to escape. I desperately wanted to make it rrrr as there were none of these left, but for once in my life when I actually needed a straight road, I couldn't draw one until immediately after monwil had drawn a crrr and got a meeple back. Similarly, I was just about to capture one of her meeples from a long road and couldn't think of any tile that would end if for her before I had the opportunity to place my tower piece. I'd forgotten about the cfrf though! So, she closed her road, scored it and got a meeple back before I could even cackle evilly and capture her. >:D :(n)

I had plenty of plans for getting myself back into the game, but the tower tiles have a nasty habit of ruining anything you try to plan ahead. After drawing the crcr (2 city) tile I was able to complete a city and get a meeple back, and managed to reduce monwil's huge lead slightly. At this point in the game there was one cccf tile left, and whoever drew it was guaranteed an instantly complete city with it for 18 points. As I said at the time, if I'd drawn it and taken the city it could have made things really interesting but unfortunately (for me) monwil drew it and extended her lead to almost double my score. >:(

I diverted my attentions elsewhere and attempted to work towards closing another large city which I had 2 vulnerable but protected meeples in, against just 1 of monwil's. It was very close to the end of the game by this point but a tile was left that could have completed it. Again though, monwil drew this and didn't use it to complete my city...

With some luck, and with the final tile of the game (ffff cloister) I was able to win the main farm outright. But this wasn't enough to win me the game and I finished 19 points behind. Obviously I've blamed this mostly on the tiles, but monwil was a formidable opponent who made some great decisions and kept the pressure piling on so I certainly wouldn't try to take anything away from her as she was the rightful winner. Congratulations!

danisthirty (2W/ 2L = 4pts) +34 +25 -18 -19 = PD: 22 (finished)
Halfling (2W/ 1L = 4pts) -34 +5 +10 = PD: -19
monwil (1W = 2pts) +19 = PD: 19
ny1050220 (1W/ 2L = 2pts) -10 +18 -10 = PD: -2
Chuck (1W/ 2L = 2pts) -25 +10 -5 = PD: -20
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: kettlefish on June 08, 2016, 11:46:50 PM
The x-score list - T-League - Group B - 09 06 2016
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 10, 2016, 04:00:14 AM
Just sent a PM to monwil to arrange our game.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 10, 2016, 01:15:32 PM
Scorpionssong coming in:

Is there anybody there ( ;) ) to host, because the online server seems to be down.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: monwil on June 10, 2016, 01:18:40 PM
Is anyone to host our game
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: rfielder on June 10, 2016, 02:15:59 PM
monwil VS chuck

Monwil for the win!  148 - 71
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 10, 2016, 03:00:12 PM
I got the tiles at the right times and could do no wrong.
 :yellow-meeple: 124 Halfling
 :red-meeple: 68 monwil

thanks to rfielder for hosting
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 10, 2016, 03:59:06 PM
Here my game with monwil. I won at 104:81.
We both started well.
When there were 22 tile left, we both had 62 points, and fight for the big farm. Monwil had two farmer ready to connect to the big farm with one tile each on the NE corner right after I put a farm right next to a tower in the SE (for I didn't see the tower foundation). For those who were in the chat room, that was when I said I were losing. Then I drew two tower foundations (the cfff and crcr tiles at the NE corner), and they saved me.
After that it was a second fight over the farm at the NW corner. We both got two farmers. With a series lucky draws, I managed to dominate a smaller farm. Without the topmost rrff with my farmer, I'd lose the big farm.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 10, 2016, 04:03:06 PM
Congrats to monwil, Halfling and ny1050220 on their victories this evening, and a huge thanks to monwil for playing 3 games in one evening! This concludes our initial group now, after just 9 days, so we'll wait for everyone else to catch up and then see where we all end up...

Obviously I shall wait until kettlefish has declared the official scores, but based on the numbers I was tracking as the group played out, I think this is where we all ended up:

1. Halfling (3W/ 1L = 6pts) -34 +5 +10 +56 = PD: 37 8)
2. danisthirty (2W/ 2L = 4pts) +34 +25 -18 -19 = PD: 22 :D
3. ny1050220 (2W/ 2L = 4pts) -10 +18 -10 +23 = PD: 21 :)
4. monwil (2W/ 2L = 4pts) +19 +77 -56 -23 = PD: 17 :(
5. Chuck (1W/ 3L = 2pts) -25 +10 -5 -77 = PD: -97 :o

Congrats to Halfling for topping the group with 3 wins! I can't believe how tight it was in the middle, with 3 of us finishing on 2 wins/ 2 losses and so settling our differences on PD. 1 point between ny1050220 and I, and only 4 between him and monwil. Commiserations to Chuck at the bottom, but one thing I've learnt in this league is that the Tower is truly unpredictable and I know from how well he played in our game that he will put up an equally good fight in the next round!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Halfling on June 11, 2016, 01:08:10 AM
I second Dan's sentiment as I only scraped a 5 point win over Chuck with a final tile that completed a 6 point city, added 3 points to my farm and allowed me to claim a 4 point road.....without that tile we would all be on 4 points......

The Tower is brutal.  It is also a great leveller and for tournament play I have a new respect for this expansion.

Thanks to all in the group for the outstanding commitment to finish our 10 games in under 10 days.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: ny1050220 on June 11, 2016, 07:37:57 AM
I would repeat what Dan and Halfling have said. Thank you everyone for your commitment to play your game with me. Special thanks to those who play late night, specially Dan and Halfling this time (and many others in previous leagues/cups), as time different and work prevents from starting the game earlier in the day.
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Chuck on June 11, 2016, 08:04:47 AM
Commiserations to Chuck at the bottom, but one thing I've learnt in this league is that the Tower is truly unpredictable and I know from how well he played in our game that he will put up an equally good fight in the next round!

Thanks, Dan. And thanks to the others in this group.
As I mentioned yesterday in the Chat, the game against monwil was a brutal one. Almost every time I put a meeple on the board, she drew a Towerfoundation and took it away. She had 6 of my meeples and I couldn't get any of hers. I think I took two of hers and that was it. I wouldn't pay ransom because of the points and wouldn't want to close the towers because of my meeple shortage. She played very good! I made a mistake once, when I had a foundation and could take on of hers out of a big city, but I pushed the wrong button....
In this league or any other league it depends much on the tile distribution, how to play. I was in defensive mode in this and the game against ny; vs. Halfling, I was lucky with tile drawing and against Dan it was almost even.
Now, I'm waiting for my last three games in this league and I am curious who it will be!
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: kettlefish on June 12, 2016, 01:40:57 AM
The final x-score list - T-League - Group B - 12 06 2016
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: Jéré on June 16, 2016, 09:05:08 AM
Elo update for Group B:
(participants sorted by finishing position)

1. Halfling1261+24
2. danisthirty1341-35
3. ny10502201151+13
4. monwil1171+3
5. Chuck1072-5
Title: Re: The Tower (B)
Post by: danisthirty on June 25, 2016, 02:38:48 PM
Although we'd hoped to get a 5-player game in, we didn't quite manage to find a time that all 5 of us could make (although Halfling was very much a "maybe" rather than a "no"). In any case, monwil, ny1050220, Chuck and I did manage to get together this evening for a game:

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/4-player_scores.jpg)

(http://www.dan.tehill.net/4-player_map.jpg)

Although it was a very tough game for all of us, it wasn't quite as chaotic as I'd been expecting despite everything that was happening. monwil and I were definitely much more eager to capture than ny1050220 and Chuck, but I certainly had my fair share of meeples captured too!

In the end it was a 32-point city that won it for me, and this was purely down to good luck as there was only 1 cccf left in the deck and I was the one who drew it. This single tile was worth 31 points to me, plus 6 more for the farmer I placed. Crazy. However, I was the first to place farmers on either of the more valuable farms and in both cases they got kidnapped so I still felt it was a moral victory!

Thanks for the game everyone! :) :(y)