More Gaming with the Kids

Along with Star Wars Legion, I had ordered this board/card game, set in the Renaissance.

It is about gaining Prestige through Wealth... sort of.

Once again, we had a blast trying to outguess each other and thwart each other's plans.

I pulled another narrow victory, but I look forward to the whole family playing this (2-4 players in this version, expansions are available)!

First Game of Marco Polo...

...and probably my last.

The concept of the game is nice enough, but every move is governed by the compass-like 'wheel of fortune' on the board; you spin it, and it points to the number of spaces you may move your pawn - OR indicates that you have been assailed by bandits/pirates (in which case you don not get to move at all). and when you have spent 3-4 turns moving 1 space and/or fighting bandits (probably losing some of your precious trading goods along the way), all the while your opponents move freely across the board, amassing fortunes through trading, the game begins to feel a little dull.

If the game could be finished in less than an hour, I would not mind the randomness, but at this point we already played 2-3 hours, and were only about half way through (the players need to return to Venice with their amassed wealth after visiting Kublai Khan and carrying out a mission for him).

Well, at least the game requires players to read cards, and to do some simple math, which is good for the kids - especially Lea, at only 10.

Getting Ready for Marco Polo

All set for trying out the next of my recently purchased board games. It is a step up in complexity from Columbus, which is very simple, as Marco Polo includes trading, fighting bandits/pirates, accepting missions from Kublai Khan, and returning to Venice with a certain size of valuables.

Merchants & Marauders: First Game Finished

Lea and I finished our first game of M&M earlier today, and we called it a draw, as when I claimed victory by revealing my stashed Gold, Lea said that she was not aware of the Gold contributing to the Glory total, and that she was certain that she had sufficient Gold stashed away to reach 10 Glory before her first Captain died in an attack on Treasure Island.

I like the game very much - the option to earn Glory by trading, and not just by fighting, means that you can avoid the attention of the 4 powers' Naval Ships (and there is bound to be at least a couple of those patrolling the waters of the Caribbean early on with 16 of the Event Cards drawn at the beginning of every Game Turn bringing in a Frigate (or Man-o-War, should the owning nation be at war)).

Next time we play, we shall use the Glory Cards, and the special harbour rules (printed on the map), and, hopefully, persuade Anna to join the fray-

Merchants & Marauders: First Game in Progress

Lea got up early this morning (when she heard me rummaging in the bathroom), and she still has an age where she wants company (Anna has turned on full teenager mode and reads books in the seclude of her room), so I decided to skip most of my plans for today, and get out Merchants & Marauders.

I had hoped to lure Anna into participating, but when I finally managed to pull her out of her sleep (about 10.30 a.m.), she promptly disappeared into a book.

Lea and I played most of the day, and we still have not used all the rules, as the game is somewhat complex (not least because everything is in English, and Lea is not yet quite sufficiently versed in that) - but we traded a lot, and I only started raiding merchants after claiming a mission that required me to do so.

We have not finished the game, yet, and we shall not do so until tomorrow, as I had to take advantage of the sunny dry weather this afternoon to get the front lawn mowed (it has been raining a LOT, lately, and a trimming was long overdue).

Board Game: Merchants & Marauders

I purchased a couple of board games from Hyggeonkel the night before yesterday, and they arrived with the postal service while I was sleeping today - and luckily, my youngest daughter, Lea, heard the doorbell.

I have not had time to read through the rules, yet, but the game looks very good. Both plastic and cardboard components seem good quality, and this Danish Design game comes with zip-lock bags for all the small components - a first for me with this kind of game!

I am looking forward to try my luck as a daring privateer on the Spanish Main!