This weekend a few friends and I got together to play some German style boardgames. For me this was a bit of a warm up for ManorCon next week at Birmingham University. We started Friday evening and got through quite a hefty gaming session. Most of the games we'd played before, however, there were 2 new games worthy of note.
Way Out West - a strategy game, where the idea is to populate the towns and have gunfights. I quickly sussed the only way to play the game was to accummulate wealth, by inticing people to stake various claims of property and cattle in each town. However, the others decide to dominate towns. Somehow we managed to finish the game, with each of us never getting above $20 (the cost to buy a train to move cattle). The others eventually realised my strategy was the only way to play the game properly. The player testers included several ManorCon regulars, so we were surprised that they hadn't spotted our scenario and adapted the game play accordingly. We've decided to change the rules next time we play it.
San Juan - a card game version of Puerto Rico, San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico. I really like Puerto Rico, and the card game is even better. We ended up playing it several times at the weekend, so I think I'll be investing in a copy. If you haven't played Puerto Rico, it's about building production plants and selling goods. A very enjoyable game.
Next week I'm looking to have a few tournament games, and better my ranking from last year. I only got to play one game at last years event, and still managed to come 11th in the Die Siedler tournament :)
