Boardgaming in New York City

So in case you don't know, I was in NYC to visit my wife who is currently studying in Columbia. That also allowed me to make a side trip to GENCON 2012 of which I am very grateful to be able to do. While in NYC, I managed to get some boardgaming done as well and meet up with a friend, Gil, who designed Prolix.

AGRICOLA: All Creatures Big and Small

I'm the Rhino btw.. no points for guessing why :P

Agricola:All Creatures Big and Small - I scored
50 points and won! Wife wants a rematch.

I have been wanting to play some games with Wifey for some time now but given that she is now in NYC and I am still in Singapore, that is kinda difficult. Also, I have been shunning from 2 player games mainly because I do prefer more people in my boardgame sessions. After trying out Twilight Struggle, I decided to stop avoiding them and embracing them instead. Thus I went on a 2 player games buying spree and when I visited my wife, I decided to try one of them. We tried Agricola:All Creatures Big and Small. I had Morels as well but did not have a chance to try it. 

Agricola:ACBAS is a light version of Agricola and focusing only on the animals. It is a simple game and plays within 30 mins. It is also relatively easy to explain but I think I fudged this up a little. 

Side note: I MUST find someway to improve how I explain games. During GENCON, I have had the opportunity to see how the volunteers demoing games explain games to people.. The best seems to be able to merge story and theme with the mechanics. In most of my explanations I tend to just go for the nuts and bolts (win by most points, how you win? do this and that) and I hope to improve on this in the future.

I will not go into details of the game because you can read a lot of the reviews online at BGG. It is a fun game and my wife demanded a rematch after our first play. I must say having very cute components is certainly a draw factor to me now when playing games. They could have easily provided cubes to represent the animals as they did in Agricola (without the animals expansion) but I am so glad they went with the horses and sheeps and pigs. Its light, fun and attractive, I highly recommend it for those who are into 2 players or hoping to draw their other halves into the world of board gaming!

GOA

GOA - I have heard so much about this and
finally manage to try it. Interesting Euro which
will definitely reward more plays so that you
get a hang of what is important. I am starting
to realise i suck at Auction games.

The last time I was in NYC, I attended a Meetup at the cafe Cosi. I decided to head on down again this trip as well as meetup with Gil who had helped me previously. I saw some familiar faces and when Gil was here, we decided to play his favorite game, Goa. Now I have been hearing about Goa for some time now but never had a chance to play it so I was quite excited to try it. Goa, like a lot of euro games out there, is all about obtaining resources and then using these resources to advance yourself and thus position yourself to score points during the end game. Each player usually have 3 actions per round and each round starts with an auction. The unique part of this auction is the market (center of the board) with which each player will choose a tile for auction during that round. Each player also has a player mat which shows the progress of each sections which will help the player in subsequent rounds and count towards the final score during the end game scoring. During the early part of the game, I thought I was doing quite well as I was proceeding at a steady pace. But nearing the end of the game I realize I was not utilizing the tiles in the market well and lost out in the end. Its a typical EURO game and kinda feels dated to me in a way. Still fun though!

VILLAGE

VILLAGE - One of my favourite games of 2012.
There were 2 tables of this being played and
I won handily as I had majority in 3 of the regions.
I am RED player btw.

After Goa I was looking around for another game to play before meeting my wife for dinner and Gil did break out Village to play. There was another player who wanted to play so I gave up my seat, since I do have a copy at home. Then another group brought out Village as well so I decided to join them. Village is a very fun Euro that is recently released and I was glad I snagged a copy from Germany. It is not too difficult to explain but perhaps needs a few plays to grasp what is important. It is colorful with good components (except when you have to stick the stickers right at the beginning). The unique mechanism is the killing of your own people which itself is a viable strategy and may score you points in the end as well! This also helps to speed the game along too. This game only 1 player concentrated on the customers whereas the rest of us tried the various areas. I was lucky in that I manage to have majority in the travelling section and the book of honors. I even managed to have majority in the Chapel which sealed my victory. A very good game and a good contender for my game of 2012.

All in all, I had a lot of fun while in NYC and I cannot wait to be back. I sure hope to be able to play some more 2 player games with my wife!