The Plucky Plank: Green Slime on the Runway - 5/19/12

The fog hisses from the machine as colored lights dance through the haze and the rhythmic electronic beats thump from speakers above. Fabrics in vibrant colors and phony smiles are worn by women as they flaunt the newest designs of the season. Sweat beads on the foreheads of the designers, as they try to gleam some sort of reaction from the crowd. Will they be a success?

This month, I played an interesting mix of themes and games from classic fantasy to the fashion industry. Before I get to that, I wanted to take a moment to thank Chris Norwood from Gamerchris.com. He helped me with some answers to blog writing and photos questions I had. Check out his blog, he has an artistic eye for game photography and I enjoy his game session reports.

Defenders of the Realm

I started the day teaching 3 new players Defenders of the Realm. They all had played Pandemic, so basic game play was quickly understood by all. At first, the bosses didn't move as we all traveled around the map finishing quests or gathering extra cards from the inns. After a few turns, our sorceress and cleric choose to attack the demon general. Bad dice rolls hurt them and they failed to kill the demon general. As they healed, our rogue went after the orc general with 11 dice and only hit him 3 times due to rolling to many 1's.

A few turns later, the Demon general and Orc General were one step away from Monarch City and the Undead general was two spaces away. All looked bleak. The wizard joined the cleric and finally succeeded in slaying a general, the Dragon. He had not moved at all but we were heavy with blue cards. What ended up working out for us was a few quests that halted generals moves and a few well timed All's quiet. Soon the rouge killed the Orc general and the cleric and wizard teamed up again to slay the Demon general. One full round later, the Undead general fell and the game was won.

Defenders of the Realm is a good game but I find it to easy. I never lose and I thought this game was going to be my first loss. Since I am always teaching the game, I only play the basic version. I hope to try Defenders at a higher difficulty and see if there is a challenge. If not, I can see my interest in playing this game waning.



Playtime with rule explanation = 3 hours
Group Win!

Bohnanza

5 of us started...... bean farming. ZZZZZZZZZ! Huh? What?!!? Theme aside, I like this game. It's a fun set collecting/negotiating card game. Only Rhonda was new to Bohnanza so after a short explaination of the rules, away we went. Trades and donations in the first few rounds were nice and generous. Once a few people had their third field, the trades became tighter or were renegotiated to benefit one player. You could tell it was going to be a close game as coin piles looked to be equal around the table. It wasn't long before the we were through the deck three times and points were tallied. Suzanne managed edge a win by 1 point. Shenanigans!

Playtime with rule explanation = 1 hour
Suzanne-13,Jim-12,Rhonda-10,Kearn-10,Meri-9

Prêt-à-Porter

Now to my game of the day (thus the intro and title this month). Shawn and I were new to the world of high fashion and after a short overview of the game, we started designing clothes. At it's core, Prêt-à-Porter is an economic game with a few familiar mechanisms such as worker placement and area control.

We began placing our 3 markers in turn around the board. I will admit, several aspects of this game went over my head in the beginning. I failed to recognize the importance of certain employees or buildings. I also was a bit lost on how the loans worked and avoided taking them. I decided to focus on capturing one of the four areas our clothes were critiqued on in the shows. I choose PR with some light influence towards quality and trendy. After that I just choose to focus on buildings and employees who could help me achieve those goals.

Now clearly Zack and Mark had played before as they both knew exactly which employee or contracts to snag. They also were showing upwards of 5 outfits in the fashion shows, while the best I achieved was 3. So grabbing fabrics and new outfit patterns, I struggled and scraped to finish third in the game. You add up all of your money and stars you win from the fashion shows and the highest points wins.

When all the fabric had settled, Zack ended up in a commanding lead. He managed to snag quite a few victories in quality and second in PR. Looking back at my play, I know more plays and familiarity of the cards will help in multiple plays. My goal was to just earn more each show and not go into debt. I feel I accomplished those goals and hope with further plays to improve more.

This is a complex game with multiple paths to victory and iconography that once learned is intuitive. Not since Power Grid has an economic game grabbed me. I was ready to play it again but that wasn't meant to be. The area control and worker placement are so minor in this game. Very rarely did I fell blocked out of a location or that the remaining choices were poor. Prêt-à-Porter you have captured me and I must play you again.

Playtime with rules explanation = 2.5 hours
Zack-263,Mark-219,Kearn-218,Shawn-150

Hamburgum

The night was winding down and the players count dwindled into the few die-hard. The next choices of game was Dominion and I bowed out immediately and so did Suzanne. Looking through the stacks for something to play, she suggested a game with beer, bells and churches. I was intrigued and we proceeded to set up Hamburgum. The rules were quite simple and we began to play.

I opted to collect goods and start earning money so I could start building churches and guilds. Suzanne was on the same path so I felt I was making the right choices. I soon was building churches and gaining victory chips which influenced my guild choices. The interesting thing is when you build these guilds, you lower the price you will get when you sell the goods but you are collecting more of the goods. I started falling behind Suzanne as she started collecting multiple victory points for all of her boats in the harbor.

A few finished churches and a few scored guild tiles and I was right back within a few points. I choose to stop her control of the harbor and built multiple ships and forced her out. Around and around the rondel we went until all guilds and churches were built. My takeover of the harbor and guild control of sugar and beer proved to work and I won the game. I enjoyed Hamburgum and felt it played well with two players. I imagine the game has a much different feel once more players are added. This was my first time playing a rondel and I would like to try a few of the other games that have that mechanism.

Playtime with rule explanation = 1.5 hours
Kearn-192,Suzanne-165

A few of the other games played were, Nuns on the Run, Coreworlds x2, Mil, Sid Meier's Civilization, Five Crowns, Fluxx Pirates, Lemonade Stand, 7 Wonders, Penny Arcade and Dominion. Any players who wish to comment on the other games please do. I was surprised at the good turn out since warm weather has finally hit Michigan. We will see as summer comes how we fare.