Gaming at OTK Cheras

Hi people!

We just finished our exams a couple of weeks back, and now we're officially back in action! Well not that we've stopped gaming at any point of time, just that we took a break from posting.

The day after we returned to KL, we attended a session at OTK Cheras. Well, it's good to be back. Playing games without worrying about studies/exams is a luxury.

JC was ecstatic to find a present from her secret santa under the X'mas tree!

JC: LoL.. I think I look quite scary in the picture above but I guess it captured my true excitement when I saw the present =D! I did not expect it at all (CK is good.. I would've hinted something if I were CK =P) so I was jumping around and had that scary/happy smile on my face =P!

We joined both boardgamegeek and boardgamecafe's secret santa programme. More on that next time!

Game #1 - Glen More
Played this game with CK and Heng that day. This is my second game of Glen More, having played it once during the BGC Retreat.

JC: I think I was the only one who had no idea what was happening until a few rounds into the game xD! Jun Yet played it during the retreat and I think Heng has played it before too. I'm not sure about CK but he seems to be familiar with all games (0_o!). So you could imagine how I was just going with the flow, with that I mean I was just following what everyone else was doing xD!

This game has an interesting mechanics, along with logical tile placements rules that isn't too difficult to learn. Victory points are scored for 3 times throughout the game for each of the following categories - wine, chieftain (basically your extra workers), and special tiles. Points are awarded based on the difference of one particular resources you have with the player who has the lowest number of that resource. For example, if I have 4 wine and JC has 2, I would score only for 2 wine. More points are given per resource if the difference is greater. Throughout the course of the game you can also acquire VP chips by trading wool, meat, wood, stone etc by using a butcher or carnival tile.

Also, each tile you acquire comes with a 3-point penalty at the end of the game. So make sure you do things efficiently!

JC expanded along the river.

JC: Heng brought some colorful Mentos and was sweet enough to share =D!!

My meeples, ready to work!

 I managed to rush wine early game, which gave me quite a lot of VP for the 3 scoring rounds.

Heng and CK, planning their expansion.

The game was a close one. I won in the end by 1 or 2 points, mainly because I had prior training during the BGC retreat. I only had my wine to generate points for me 3 times, while other players kept converting their resources to an obscene amount of points during the game. I would have lost if the game lasted a little bit longer! 

It's quite a fun game, seems like a good gateway game.

Game #2 and #3 - Games with names I couldn't pronounce nor remember

Wai Yan brought out a game they play sometimes during boardgamekids, and we certainly aren't as good as the kids at this game! Basically there are 5 objects on the table, each with different shape and color. When a card is flipped over, you're supposed to pick the item that is featured on the card. Otherwise, pick the one that is not featured in the card, in terms of color and shape. Sounds confusing?

Example: Items on the board include: white ghost, blue book, red chair, green bottle and grey mouse. When a card is flipped and it has grey mouse and blue ghost, you're supposed to grab the grey mouse. That gives you one point. If the card has white book and red bottle, you're supposed to grab the grey mouse. Get it?

JC: Oh my goodness!! This must be the hardest game that I have ever played! Ever! Wai Yan is an expert in this game and she beat us hands down!

Kids are amazing. We struggled like mad!

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This is another interesting game. Basically the game revolves around dropping cubes in and guess which floor it landed on.

JC: Hahaha
! I actually made a really good guess in a trial run with Kareem and Jun Yet so Kareem was like "Whoa!!" but what is important in this game is also some concentration + memory in addition to good hearing but I'm easily distractable so later on, I realize I was bad in this game too xD!

Meanwhile, the big boys were playing 18xx series.

Game #4 - Panic Station

This game was on my Essen watch list, due to the traitor mechanic which I'm quite fond of. Thanks Kareem for bringing this game!

Sifu teaching the game.

Basically you control 2 units - human and your drone. Only your drone can attack. Aim of the game is to find the nest and burn it with 3 gasoline. The trick is that one person is infected by the host and can infect other people during the game - by the forced trading of cards whenever they meet.

I was the first to be infected. I waited for a chance to infect people in a manner that would not draw attention to me, but I failed miserably. I was not in a position to meet with other people freely when I was infected by the host. Eventually I infected Kareem too, but it was already too late. The nest was torched right after that!

The game was rather a disappointment to me. I think each player only had like, what, 3 or 4 rounds before the nest is found, which is much less than I expected. I barely had the chance to infect anybody in that short period of time! In fact, I barely did anything at all! Okay I'm bitter I know. Maybe I'm not playing it right. I'm eager to give this game another try, but for now, Battlestar Galactica still has the best traitor mechanic. If you have 4 hours to spare. :)

JC: Haha!! We all kinda guessed Jun Yet was the traitor from the start because he said "What does the Biohazard on the card mean" then from the start of the game, we already knew so poor Jun Yet didn't have a chance =P!

Game #5 - Singapore

This game also generated some buzz among boardgame geeks, thanks Kareem again for bringing all the new games!

Asian Meeples!

I lost horribly. I blame the red cubes!

Basically this game is about getting cubes/resources and converting them to points. Typical Euro. Granted, it has some twist - illegal opium gives better return - it's not a very interesting game to me. Love the Asian Meeples though!