Weekly Online Game

[danisthirty]

I should be in and ready to play at 8:30. Shall we rendezvous on the IRC channel 5 minutes before? Also, we should probably all agree to be using the same version of JCZ. I'm using 3.0.1 which is the most recent release I believe.

A & M + P & D sounds good to me. Perhaps River 2 since P & D is included, and maybe I & C or T & B as well (but probably not both)? Also, The Phantom?

Dan

[jungleboy]

Yes to River 2 and phantom. For the other one, I think I&C might be better so we don't have to keep track of trade goods, builders and pigs as this is already a complicated game (barns! wagons!).

So:

I&C
P&D
A&M
River 2
Phantom

The game starts in just over 2 hours for those who would like to play. The chat room address is:
http://sydby.com/carcassonne/irc/index.html

[danisthirty]

Sounds good. See you in 20 minutes or so... 

[danisthirty]

Great game guys! One of the closest I've played for a long time. Although MrNumbers started building up a bit of a lead during the final quarter of the game, I still thought jungleboy had it because of his early barn placement. In any case, I was surprised I wasn't much further behind on farm scoring, although I guess this includes farmers that were scored before the end of the game...





I've written to the grieving widows of the farmer and the monk that were eaten by the dragon (the monk heroically surviving his first encounter with the dragon only to be eaten again in the same cloister). They're not happy... 

[MrNumbers]

But my upper right thief somehow survived till the end of the game, in spite of the Dragon was sneaking nearby all the time!

[jungleboy]

This was a fun game for me too and hopefully the start of a nice weekly game.

The game included Inns & Cathedrals, Princess & Dragon, Abbey & Mayor, the River 2 and the phantom.

In the river and immediate post-river period, I was quite cautious and didn't play many meeples, while Dan and MrNumbers began a battle for the city with the river bridge (I opted to stay out). Instead my most important early move was to place my barn in what looked like a good location near the river. This turned out to be the biggest farm and neither Dan nor MrNumbers joined their barns to it, choosing instead to place them in other farms much later in the game.

The other interesting aspect of the early part of the game was that no one pulled a dragon tile for a very long time. I find that the dragon typically does his most damage early in the game (especially if using a river) when there aren't as many tiles and therefore not as many opportunities to divert him. So this didn't happen in our game, but eventually the dragon was on the move and did a reasonable amount of respectful damage in the middle part of the game.

The river-bridge city was eventually won outright by Dan through use of his abbey for a 30-point score, giving him the early lead. Meanwhile, MrNumbers and I began a battle in the east of the countryside for a city that was not epically large but did contain both cathedrals. I had my mayor in it (with four pennants) and my double meeple so I was in control, but Dan used the dragon to eat my mayor and reduce the control of the city to a 2-2 tie. Once I had a chance to close the city, I did so rather than try to win it outright. As a 'consolation' for 'only' tying the city, I added the fairy to my double meeple to score three extra points, 54 to MrNumbers' 51.

As we got into the middle of the game it became apparent that it would be very close. At one point the scores were 149-148-147, then a little while later 160-160-159. Dan and MrNumbers began some fairly intensive farming in the west which ended with MrNumbers placing his barn on the second biggest farm. Dan got his barn into a nearby farm a little while later. In the end our barn farms supplied 11 cities (mine), 5 (MrNumbers) and 4 (Dan).

As we all edged towards 200 points the game was very close, and with about 25 tiles to go I thought I was in the best position, with the biggest barn farm and with several closeable cities under my control. But MrNumbers managed to surge ahead and quickly take a lead of about 35 points, mostly due to the completion of several cloisters. Indeed, cloisters (or the lack of them) were my big downfall in this game. I scored only 9 points from cloisters (which was actually an abbey), while MrNumbers scored 45 and Dan scored 33. Also, my final advantage on farms was not as large as it perhaps should have been, given my large barn farm. Maybe I got too comfortable with my big farm and didn't work hard enough to score some secondary farms.

Congratulations to MrNumbers and to everyone for a well-played and spirited game. The dragon did some damage but I think we all decided not to use the dragon to eat meeples just for the sake of it if the meeple was not an important one, so that was nice. Our apologies to quevy and rosco who joined the chatroom after the game had started, and the three of us were so engrossed in our game that we didn't see them until after it had finished! The game took over 1.5 hours to play.

[jungleboy]

In any case, I was surprised I wasn't much further behind on farm scoring, although I guess this includes farmers that were scored before the end of the game...

It would be nice if, when using Abbey and Mayor, the farm scoring could be broken up into three parts:
1: End-game barn scoring
2: End-game regular farm scoring
3: In-game barn scoring

[danisthirty]

Nice one jungleboy! Merit for that report...   

In the river and immediate post-river period, I was quite cautious and didn't play many meeples, while Dan and MrNumbers began a battle for the city with the river bridge (I opted to stay out).

Opted to stay out? You were so determined to stay out that you had to lure yourself out of it with a Princess tile at one point!

This turned out to be the biggest farm and neither Dan nor MrNumbers joined their barns to it, choosing instead to place them in other farms much later in the game.

For me it wasn't so much choice as that I couldn't really see anywhere to place my barn that could eventually be joined on without being easily blocked. It was a very "safe" farm you had. All credit for claiming it when you did!

The river-bridge city was eventually won outright by Dan through use of his abbey for a 30-point score, giving him the early lead.

Although I used it early, I was satisfied that this was the best point of the game for me to have used this. It also led to MrNumbers having his Mayor trapped for most of the game and helped me towards the other large city I won.

I had my mayor in it (with four pennants) and my double meeple so I was in control, but Dan used the dragon to eat my mayor and reduce the control of the city to a 2-2 tie.

This was the daftest thing I did (that I'm aware of) throughout the whole game. I wasn't really thinking ahead and ended up letting you both have an equal share of the points which was the worst thing I could have done! Still, I won my second large city soon after this was closed and I think the scores were fairly even at that point so I didn't lose too much ground.

Dan and MrNumbers began some fairly intensive farming in the west which ended with MrNumbers placing his barn on the second biggest farm. Dan got his barn into a nearby farm a little while later. In the end our barn farms supplied 11 cities (mine), 5 (MrNumbers) and 4 (Dan).

I had hoped to merge our barn farms (and almost did) but you scuppered this with a t-junction!

Maybe I got too comfortable with my big farm and didn't work hard enough to score some secondary farms.

You did have a reasonably good second farm but I out-farmed you on it with my mega-meeple.

Congratulations to MrNumbers and to everyone for a well-played and spirited game.

Yes, very well done! I enjoyed the spirit of the game as much as anything else, and the banter especially.

Our apologies to quevy and rosco who joined the chatroom after the game had started, and the three of us were so engrossed in our game that we didn't see them until after it had finished!

Indeed. Very sorry guys. 

[jungleboy]

My replies in green.

In the river and immediate post-river period, I was quite cautious and didn't play many meeples, while Dan and MrNumbers began a battle for the city with the river bridge (I opted to stay out).

Opted to stay out? You were so determined to stay out that you had to lure yourself out of it with a Princess tile at one point!

Ha! Yes, that's true. I tried to start a separate (but nearby) city, but you guys joined it up, leaving me with one tiny meeple against your double meeples and mayors! So I got out of there as quick as I could!

The river-bridge city was eventually won outright by Dan through use of his abbey for a 30-point score, giving him the early lead.

Although I used it early, I was satisfied that this was the best point of the game for me to have used this. It also led to MrNumbers having his Mayor trapped for most of the game and helped me towards the other large city I won.

I also think that you don't like the way that the abbey works in JCZ so you like to play it ASAP just so you don't have to see it pop up every turn. I think this can be exploited in the future

Dan and MrNumbers began some fairly intensive farming in the west which ended with MrNumbers placing his barn on the second biggest farm. Dan got his barn into a nearby farm a little while later. In the end our barn farms supplied 11 cities (mine), 5 (MrNumbers) and 4 (Dan).

I had hoped to merge our barn farms (and almost did) but you scuppered this with a t-junction!

I don't remember that so it might have been an accident!

Maybe I got too comfortable with my big farm and didn't work hard enough to score some secondary farms.

You did have a reasonably good second farm but I out-farmed you on it with my mega-meeple.

Yep, I was trying to join that farm to my barn farm but came up one tile short. But at the same time I could have tried to add a second meeple to it as well.

[danisthirty]

Are we playing again this week?

[MrNumbers]

Are we playing again this week?

Obviuosly, I can't - I will be in Essen this Thursday

[danisthirty]

Exactly! That’s why I’m keen to see if the game is still on as someone else will be able to win it for a change... 

[jungleboy]

I would still like to play this Thursday. Hopefully there will be another player or two to replace MrNumbers.

[MrNumbers]

to replace MrNumbers.

Hope, only for this one time

[danisthirty]

Hope, only for this one time

You will be missed MrNumbers, but I’m sure you will be having even more fun meeting with people in Essen and may even be able to play a game in real life (whatever that is - people keep talking about it; is it a hidden sub-forum that I’m not aware of?  )

What expansions are we going to try? I think it would be good to include Traders & Builders (since we didn’t play with that last time) and perhaps Bridges, Castles & Bazaars (I’m not fond of bazaars but bridges and castles can add a certain amount of colour to a game)? Maybe we could include a couple of the smaller ones too, like Wind Roses and/or Die Belagerer and/or The Festival? King & Robber Baron? The Phantom? I’m excited already! Is it obvious?