Rob McFadden
United States
Cherry Hill
New Jersey
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For about a year, I'd been stalking Jenseits von Theben. Naturally, I was pumped when Queen Games produced Thebes. During a recent blitzkrieg of game acquiring activity, I added Thebes to my collection.
Over the weekend, I took the game out of the box, piece by piece, in our dining room. The table in this room rarely gets used, and neither the cats nor the baby have much of an interest in this room at all. I felt all the bits were safe, and could be neatly displayed to lure interest from my primary gaming partner (my wife). So... first the time wheels, then the board, then the bags and their booty. Like a moth to the flame she was drawn in, and I knew she'd be begging to play soon. (reality check - my birthday is this week and I knew she'd feel obliged to give a new game a try)
I solo-played one year to get a feel for the application of the rules. I simply tried each of the four different turn options as they emerged as legal moves. It became obvious that most moves in the game would be option #1 (move to a city and spend weeks to acquire a card). My solo game moved quickly, and I felt I had developed a good method for teaching.
As I knew she would, Rachel inquired about "Thieves" (my sloppy pronounciation had misled her) after dinner. With the cats banished to the cellar, and the baby in her lap, the coast was clear and the game began.
I set up, but explained hardly any of the game pieces as I did so. I started by teaching her how to do action #1, explaining the powers of the different cards as they were flipped up, and beginning a 2-year game. I suggested that she focus on collecting specialized knowledge of one or two sites early. She was satisfied that the reasons for this would become clear soon.
In week 15 I explained action #2 (wiping the board), but this option didn't get used until the second year. Even then, I was the one using this option to try to prevent her from picking up easy exhibition points.
I didn't bother explaining anything about the digs or exhibitions initially. Digs were explained in week 20, and exhibitions after the first year ended.
At the end of the first year, I took out a copy of Tim Harrison's Thebes Score Sheet v2.0.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/file/info/27475
I showed her how we would be tallying up VP's to decide a winner when the second year ended. She barely looked up from her 8 week dig in Crete, and waved over one of her geeky assistants to gather up the form I was babbling about.
She ended with 52 points in artifacts to my 27 (she got amazing draws in Egypt). I had points from small exhibitions and congress cards, but not enough to significantly close the VP gap. To add insult to injury, she had three knowledge majorities to my two. Final score: Rachel 67, Rob 51.
Overall, this game was a breath of fresh air. Teaching may have been facilitated by the fact that Rachel knows Around the World in 80 Days.
I hope someday soon to reach into my game collection bag, and feel the sand of Thebes between my fingers.
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Wes Hitchens
United States
West Windsor
New Jersey
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Nice session. I had a similar experience. I taught my grilfriend how to stomp me in this game. She enjoyed it thoroughly, and I must say, so did I. She has real life experience digging artifacts in the holy land, and declared expertly that there was no advantage found there. I am too proud to blame my loss on her obvious deceptions.
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Rob McFadden
United States
Cherry Hill
New Jersey
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TheSquatch wrote: I am too proud to blame my loss on her obvious deceptions.
Classic.
We are going to play again tonight with a dinner guest, so I'll get a chance to see how it goes with three.
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Wes Hitchens
United States
West Windsor
New Jersey
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I'm interested to hear how the winning strategy changes when the game length changes.
Upstream red team! Red team upstream!
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Rob McFadden
United States
Cherry Hill
New Jersey
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Well, we had four for dinner tonight. Since our visitors had enjoyed some wine (where did that bottle go?) I decided for significantly lighter fare in Shipwrecked
(BGG entry http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/644)
Like most of the OTB games, it almost teaches itself, and it was a fun alternative.
I wrote a session report about our game... check it out if you'd like!
I'll have an update when I have three or four gamers who are up for a slightly more complex rules set.
Ra! Ra! Rutgers Ra!
(who know Rutgers was a fan of this Knizia classic?)
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