viktor_haag (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
viktor_haag) wrote2008-09-15 01:59 pm
viktor_haag) wrote2008-09-15 01:59 pm
Entry tags:
Recently played: Indonesia and Age Of Steam
This Sunday was another boardgaming afternoon chez nous. With four players and not a burning desire to rush Agricola to the table (played approximately 10 times in the past three weeks), we decided to put first Indonesia on the table and then Age of Steam (rustbelt board) to introduce one of the players to AoS.
I was an alarmingly good host. Why?
With about one-sixth of the game left to play, I leapt from a commanding lead in Indonesia to third place by not ruthlessly ending the game when I had the opportunity. Instead, I let the game progress for two more turns, and watched my lead evaporate until I lost to two other players by a few hundred dollars. Wow.
Not daunted by my bone-headed generosity (fuelled by stupid greed, no doubt), we then moved on to Age Of Steam's basic board.
And I promptly went bankrupt on turn two. Yes, that's right, 20 minutes into the game, I looked up and said, that's it, I'm out; I can't avoid going bankrupt. After some brief analysis, our Resident Trains Guru said, "Well, you could break even at 0 income this turn, but ..."
Nah -- it was better for me to just quit, and then manage the bank and the tokens for the rest of the players for the remainder of the game. I think that session boldly marks my new low-water mark in Age Of Steam bungling. My previous low-mark was at least prompted by getting stabbed twice in short-order by the RTG; this time, I went bankrupt all on my lonesome.
On turn one, I failed to realize that, with the cube placements, I either had to (a) have some way to get four hexes in track, or (b) build first, I astoundingly snapped up locomotive after engineer and urbanization got taken by players one and two. Player four rubbed his hands with glee, and took build first. At this point, I was on the ropes, without anyone even building a single hex of track, and probably had been doomed not to win, modulo the play of other players. Then, to add insult to my own injury, I decided to forego a shipment on turn one, build "strategically", and bump my locomotive again. I'm not sure this would ever be a sensible plan in any game of AoS. In this one, it certainly wasn't. I entered the second turn with an overhead of 4 issued shares and 3 locomotive, and zero income. Bad, bad, bad.
And then, to put the coup de grace on my own idiocy, I elected to take only one share in turn two. Not realizing that I desperately needed capital to avoid bankruptcy, I tried to just in time build track on turn two. Yes, I could have raked four income in turn two, maybe even five. But it wouldn't have mattered, because my overhead and lack of cash had just made me slip back on the income track below zero and hand all my stuff over to the receivers...
My dunder-headedry in Indonesia was, surprisingly, quickly and decisively exceeded in Age Of Steam. I had fun playing games on Sunday, but smartly? Not so much...
Lessons to Remember:
• If you have more money than anyone else in the home stretch of an economic game, then, when you ask yourself "should I end the game now?" the answer is always yes.
• When you start the game in debt, your primary obligation is to get out of debt faster than you sink further into debt.
Any other policies, in either case, smacks of dot-commery and high-flying that will be ruthlessly dealt with.
I was an alarmingly good host. Why?
With about one-sixth of the game left to play, I leapt from a commanding lead in Indonesia to third place by not ruthlessly ending the game when I had the opportunity. Instead, I let the game progress for two more turns, and watched my lead evaporate until I lost to two other players by a few hundred dollars. Wow.
Not daunted by my bone-headed generosity (fuelled by stupid greed, no doubt), we then moved on to Age Of Steam's basic board.
And I promptly went bankrupt on turn two. Yes, that's right, 20 minutes into the game, I looked up and said, that's it, I'm out; I can't avoid going bankrupt. After some brief analysis, our Resident Trains Guru said, "Well, you could break even at 0 income this turn, but ..."
Nah -- it was better for me to just quit, and then manage the bank and the tokens for the rest of the players for the remainder of the game. I think that session boldly marks my new low-water mark in Age Of Steam bungling. My previous low-mark was at least prompted by getting stabbed twice in short-order by the RTG; this time, I went bankrupt all on my lonesome.
On turn one, I failed to realize that, with the cube placements, I either had to (a) have some way to get four hexes in track, or (b) build first, I astoundingly snapped up locomotive after engineer and urbanization got taken by players one and two. Player four rubbed his hands with glee, and took build first. At this point, I was on the ropes, without anyone even building a single hex of track, and probably had been doomed not to win, modulo the play of other players. Then, to add insult to my own injury, I decided to forego a shipment on turn one, build "strategically", and bump my locomotive again. I'm not sure this would ever be a sensible plan in any game of AoS. In this one, it certainly wasn't. I entered the second turn with an overhead of 4 issued shares and 3 locomotive, and zero income. Bad, bad, bad.
And then, to put the coup de grace on my own idiocy, I elected to take only one share in turn two. Not realizing that I desperately needed capital to avoid bankruptcy, I tried to just in time build track on turn two. Yes, I could have raked four income in turn two, maybe even five. But it wouldn't have mattered, because my overhead and lack of cash had just made me slip back on the income track below zero and hand all my stuff over to the receivers...
My dunder-headedry in Indonesia was, surprisingly, quickly and decisively exceeded in Age Of Steam. I had fun playing games on Sunday, but smartly? Not so much...
Lessons to Remember:
• If you have more money than anyone else in the home stretch of an economic game, then, when you ask yourself "should I end the game now?" the answer is always yes.
• When you start the game in debt, your primary obligation is to get out of debt faster than you sink further into debt.
Any other policies, in either case, smacks of dot-commery and high-flying that will be ruthlessly dealt with.