Author Topic: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges  (Read 9518 times)

Offline danisthirty

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #15 on: February 27, 2017, 02:32:14 PM »
danisthirty :blue-meeple: (134) - Rosco :red-meeple: (80)



This game was all about the farm, which I eventually won 5 - 3 (for 34 points) although Rosco had 2 further farmers waiting in the wings needing a crrf to join on. I seemed to draw all of these, which was especially unfortunate for Rosco as he needed another one of these to complete his cloister. Not much else I can say about this game other than that Rosco put up a good fight but my cunning plan to bribe my computer paid off and ensured that I got all the tiles I needed...
« Last Edit: October 25, 2017, 09:16:18 AM by danisthirty »

Offline danisthirty

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #16 on: March 02, 2017, 03:27:21 PM »
A tough game with Jere, as expected:

Jere :yellow-meeple: (100) - danisthirty :blue-meeple: (97)





This game started off very close with a lot of thought going into each placement on both sides. I took a risk trying to complete a big city, and Jere certainly punished me for this by making my life as difficult as possible. But fortunately I drew the cccr splitter tile and later a cccf tile which allowed me to complete the city and get two meeples back. This didn't put me ahead though as Jere had been taking advantage of a tough patch I was going through with the tiles I'd drawn, but at least we were even again.

As the game progressed past the halfway point, Jere was very clear about one thing: he wanted to win the main farm. I couldn't really fight back very well as I'd used up all of my bridges elsewhere and struggled to anticipate sufficient ways on to the farm in the traditional way. So even though I had one on the farm and two adjacent to it (against Jere's 4) I didn't attempt to join the other 2 as they were worth 3 points each as long as they didn't join.

As we got towards the end of the game, it was clear that Jere had the farm but I had a small lead and had built up a decent lead from odd cities scattered about the place and a couple of roads. I hadn't worked out how close the game was going to be, but right up until the final tile it seemed that I had a chance of finishing ahead after completing a 10-point city and having a few more points hanging around in other incomplete features. As Jere decided what to do with the final tile of the game I started to add things up and worked out that I was 4 points ahead! Jere had a very convenient tile though, and was able to use it to claim a small city on his farm. This got him 4 points to equal my score, plus 3 more for the extra city on his farm have him the win... :'(

Annoyingly, there were two occasions where I could have generated sufficient points to have won the game but chose something else. One such case is my northern most farmer who ended up being joined to the main farm (by Jere) and so became worthless. If I'd claimed the city on that tile instead of placing a farmer it would have been +4 points. Similarly, when I claimed the 10-point city in the top-left corner I ignored a 4-point road (with bridge) that was completed at the same time. If I'd claimed this and then the city when I drew the tile to complete it... well, you get my point. Obviously you can't predict that Jere would have made the decisions that he made if I'd made a different set of decisions too, and ultimately it could have ended up being a completely different game. But that's just Carcassonne, and I'm pleased for Jere that he got such a well-deserved win.

I think 4 of us have played 3 games each now, and 1 of us has played 0 games. Here are the current standings before anyone plays Merlin_89:

danisthirty 4pts (143 PD)
Jere 4pts (33 PD)
Rosco 2pts (-75 PD)
Deatzoseol 2pts (-101 PD)
« Last Edit: October 25, 2017, 09:16:39 AM by danisthirty »

Offline Merlin_89

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #17 on: March 04, 2017, 10:08:22 AM »
Hi all! Please forgive me, for my absence here... I hope to play all my games this week, I can show up in chat room and play each weekday evening. You can also write to me and tell me, when you're free.

I guess, I limited my chances against you... I see, you've already practiced a lot. Good work on games in our group!

Offline MrNumbers

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #18 on: March 04, 2017, 12:57:43 PM »
6 games played, 4 left (all involve Merlin_89).
"I never lose. Either I win or I learn." (Nelson Mandela)

Offline Jéré

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Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #19 on: March 06, 2017, 01:28:28 PM »
:yellow-meeple: Jéré    148
:red-meeple: Merlin   98

Great start from Merlin_89, I felt I was in trouble. Main field was getting more valuable and he had 2 more farmers than me at some point... while I was trying to finish fairly large cities. Then the second half was kind of disastreous for Merlin as I managed to finish my cities and counter attacking in the main (battle)field... got the tiles I needed, can't complain! Well played Merlin!

« Last Edit: March 06, 2017, 01:31:21 PM by Jéré »

Offline danisthirty

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #20 on: March 06, 2017, 02:26:45 PM »
So. This was a nice surprise... :D

danisthirty :blue-meeple: (114) - Merlin_89 :yellow-meeple: (111)





Merlin_89 got off to an overwhelmingly good start and I felt like I'd lost the game within the first 20 tiles. I managed to rescue one of my trapped meeples with a bridge and a cfff but the other was gone for good. I was however quite successful in developing his city and managed to win some good points for him. In fact, I think he ended up being the most valuable meeple left on the board at the end of the game!

I think because I already felt like I'd lost I was able to play a few riskier moves and mostly they paid off, allowing me to match Merlin_89 on most of his farms even though he was already ahead.

None of the bazaars felt particularly significant although I did spend a lot more points than Merlin in these. There was an ffff cloister that came up in the final bazaar though and I needed it to join a 3-point farmer onto a 10-point farm. If Merlin had it he could have neutralised a lead I had on another adjacent farm so I thought it would cost me dearly, but in the end I got it for 2 or 3 points, most of which I got back immediately by claiming the cloister (albeit with my last meeple).

Merlin spent a very long time deciding what to do with his final tile. I knew that things were close by this point, but I couldn't quite work out how close as the situation with the bridges was a little bit mad. Merlin needed 6 points to win the game, and there were a couple of 5-point roads he could add the tile to that would give him the 6 points he needed. BUT - in doing this, he would also have joined a spare farmer of mine onto the farm (regardless of where he placed it) so he couldn't claim either of these without losing more points than he would win. Eventually he placed it elsewhere and took 3 points for a farmer. I got 1 additional point by adding my final tile to my trapped knight's city and was delighted and surprised in equal measure when the final scores came up in my favour!

I feel bad for Merlin that this was the second game in a row he lost. But I can only feel so bad for someone who beat me by over 100 points in a World Cup (of CarcC) final ;) But thanks for the games and good luck with your final two games Merlin! :(y)

So this is how things are with 2 1 games left to play (one of which is currently in progress):

1st: danisthirty 6pts (146 PD)
2nd: Jere 6pts (83 PD)
Merlin_89 2pts (-9 PD)
Rosco 2pts (-75 PD)
Deatzoseol 2pts (-145 PD)
« Last Edit: October 25, 2017, 09:17:16 AM by danisthirty »

Offline DeatzoSeol

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #21 on: March 06, 2017, 02:49:45 PM »
:red-meeple: Merlin_89 128 vs  :yellow-meeple: DeatzoSeol 84

Third time's the charm for Merlin_89, as he finally eked out a comfortable victory. To be honest, Merlin played it hard very early and ran away with all the points while sacrificing some of his own meeples to trap mine. I know, I probably shouldn't have tried building a massive city that could have been blocked so early, so it's partly my fault, but I didn't expect Merlin to sacrifice their own meeples - those two meeples for example, in the upper part on the neighbouring cloisters, were there from the very beginning.

On the other hand... Merlin got dealt a string of very lucky cards that allowed them to complete pretty much whatever they wanted. I was left with roads roads roads and the special BCB three-way splitter cards that were essentially useless, because I didn't have anything to complete in the first place.

And still, the 40-point difference is a lot narrower than the true beating I got. Near the end of the game, I had given up the battle for the farm and decided to try my luck in the south-east corner, where Merlin themselves had started building lots of 2-tile cities. Not all farms are created equal and placing that one farmer in a sea of tiny cities helped me save my ass from a 100-point difference.
« Last Edit: March 06, 2017, 03:02:16 PM by DeatzoSeol »

Offline MrNumbers

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #22 on: March 06, 2017, 03:24:00 PM »
One game to go!
Congratulations to danisthirty on winning the group!
Jéré secured second place.

Offline danisthirty

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #23 on: March 13, 2017, 01:57:08 PM »
Any sign of that last game Rosco and Merlin_89?

Offline Merlin_89

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #24 on: March 16, 2017, 03:12:01 PM »
Here we are! Last game of the group... not that it was important or sth...

93 :yellow-meeple: Merlin_89 - Rosco  :red-meeple: 57

I played this game like my last one, no castle in use, one bridge... I'm not fully convinced, I play this expansion the way it is meant to be played, but whatever... I can only hope, I learnt... something.

Congrats to Dan and Jéré on their advancement to Final Round. I believe, it was indeed Death Group of Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League! Good luck and have fun!

Offline MrNumbers

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Re: Bridges, Castles & Bazaars League: Bridges
« Reply #25 on: March 16, 2017, 03:23:09 PM »
Well done, group Bridges!
Here is the final x-score list.


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