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Gareth Madeley
United Kingdom
Wirral
Merseyside
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It's the first Monday in May, so that's May Day, another Bank Holiday and a longer game session: We managed to fit Outpost, and 18XX and a third game in, wow!
Having arrived at the Lion, I made numbers to 6, and having discussed options, we decided on Dominant Species, surprisingly quickly. Then a seventh player turned up, alright, 7 seven player Outpost. Again a quick decision scuppered by a Simon turning up. So instead we though of splitting into a 5 and a 3 as Simon T had brought Maria. Except another person was planning on coming and wanted to play that so we'd have 6 and 3. Six player Outpost, I'm not complaining.
I came second in the Outpost game, although I had quite high income, I didn't start turning that into points until quite late. Oops. This is a problem I seem to have when there are resources and points, finding that time to change from improving income to working on getting those all important victory points. Are there any good ways of seeing when that is (for any game)?
After that we split into Steam over Holland and a game of Agricola. an 18XX versus a game I'm not really interested in, hmm, not that hard really. With 5 people in it, there didn't seem much money, just enough to start a company with one private (then again we had one player who'd bought two, and he was unable to start a company). The money felt too tight from the start although that started ramping up, the early limit on finance resulted in only 4 companies throughout the game. I came third, which is my normal position in 18XX - we usually play three player.
With only a short bit of time left, we grabbed someone's copy of 7 Wonders while they were still playing Agricola. I tried to concentrate on getting the blue cards and massing the points while not bothering too much with green or red (as it seems that jack of all trades is master of losing in this game) I think I came second, so I don't think I did too badly. With University the next day, I thought I'd head off, but everyone left had another go at 7 Wonders.
As I look at these games (ok, maybe not 7 Wonders) I see that my tastes seem to lean towards the heavier games, with some interlocking and interweaving strategies with a degree of negotiation, diplomacy and, even though competitive games, cooperation. With orders from GMT and off eBay, I see that moving further into wargames like Here I Stand and Paths of Glory (which should be in a parcel heading in my direction), and I wonder about civilization games.
One of my favourite things about Here I Stand is the fact that it represents history without being constrained by it. So I wonder if there's a game like that over all of history. I know Through the Ages exists, and, regardless of the added time, I'd prefer a map to know where my civilization is, who I'm attacking where the battle is fought etc. I then hear some things about 7 Ages (of which I know very little) and that, for it's length, 7 Ages might well be a good title.
Are there any good "Whole of History" Civilization games that people can suggest?
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