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Pasta night!
May. 27th, 2019 11:51 pmIt's been far too long since pasta night was a thing - for one reason or another, after the 8th April it wasn't until last week that I could make it to pasta night again.
Last week was mainly spent nattering and catching up, followed by a short session of Smash Bros wherein I reminded everyone to ph34r the pikachu, or at least take it semi-seriously. The final match of the night went surprisingly well for me - somehow, and I really don't know how, I achieved an almost flawless victory against Jonners, Matt and Kyle, taking most of the KOs as well. I haven't been practising, honest!
This week we ended up giving Power Grid a go. It's one of those games that comes with a bajillion complicated-looking rules, but actually has a fairly straightforward play sequence (though not helped by it continually mixing up "rounds", "turns", "phases" and "stages"). The aim is to buy and fuel power stations, and at the same time build cities to power. Buying power stations works by bidding in turn until only one bidder is left, fuelling then happens in a single pass in reverse turn order (so the last player gets the cheapest fuel), and then city building again happens in one pass of reverse turn order. Then everyone consumes fuel to power their cities (or as much as possible), fuel is restocked, and players get money based on how well they did. Simples!
The complication, as always, is from the strategy, and that happens on many levels. I ultimately managed to shoot myself in the foot by successfully bidding for a power station that I didn't want to get, which gave me cash-flow problems for the rest of the game (we ended it probably about two-thirds through due to running out of time). Beth on the other hand managed to do stunningly well both with power stations (concentrating early on renewable ones, which are more expensive to buy but don't need fuel) and city locations and was the ultimate winner. Definitely one to play again, though maybe when we've got a bit more time (then again, having played it once next time should go quicker).
Last week was mainly spent nattering and catching up, followed by a short session of Smash Bros wherein I reminded everyone to ph34r the pikachu, or at least take it semi-seriously. The final match of the night went surprisingly well for me - somehow, and I really don't know how, I achieved an almost flawless victory against Jonners, Matt and Kyle, taking most of the KOs as well. I haven't been practising, honest!
This week we ended up giving Power Grid a go. It's one of those games that comes with a bajillion complicated-looking rules, but actually has a fairly straightforward play sequence (though not helped by it continually mixing up "rounds", "turns", "phases" and "stages"). The aim is to buy and fuel power stations, and at the same time build cities to power. Buying power stations works by bidding in turn until only one bidder is left, fuelling then happens in a single pass in reverse turn order (so the last player gets the cheapest fuel), and then city building again happens in one pass of reverse turn order. Then everyone consumes fuel to power their cities (or as much as possible), fuel is restocked, and players get money based on how well they did. Simples!
The complication, as always, is from the strategy, and that happens on many levels. I ultimately managed to shoot myself in the foot by successfully bidding for a power station that I didn't want to get, which gave me cash-flow problems for the rest of the game (we ended it probably about two-thirds through due to running out of time). Beth on the other hand managed to do stunningly well both with power stations (concentrating early on renewable ones, which are more expensive to buy but don't need fuel) and city locations and was the ultimate winner. Definitely one to play again, though maybe when we've got a bit more time (then again, having played it once next time should go quicker).
