Northampton Picnic Post Mortem

Well! As it turns out, had a great time with the friends in Northampton this weekend. Played some basketball (Kevin injured his ankle, but managed to shoot my lights out despite the hobbling). No gaming by me there, but others were playing Scrabble and some card games. We enjoyed the food, visiting old friends, and the Sunday meeting as well. We had a fine lunch with Al and Pat, and two evenings with Kevin and Marci.

Saturday night's gaming was at Kevins, and of course we played Power Grid. Jared, Angie, Marci, Kevin and I played a 5-player game, and I won by $1 over Marci! That makes me 1-4, Jared 2-3 and Kevin 1-4.

I tried not to forget the 15-point endgame power requirements, and went out of my way to buy plants giving me enough power on the final turn. Jared bid me up to 50 on a 35-point coal plant, capable of powering 7. I almost lost the game because of this (and probably should have), as coal was to turn out to be rediculously expensive in future turns. I had to pay 19 for the three coal needed for this, almost enough to fund another station.

Kevin and Jared were caught short! Jared's desired plant never came available, and Kevin was stuck at 12 (3x4 size plants). He needed a 7 to come up to get to 15, and mine was the only one that showed. Marci had enough power, but I think not enough stations, Marci had enough of both, but was $1 short in the tiebreaker.

I was pretty much without competition in my station expansion. We played the German side of the board, and I had the Eastern side locked up. Kevin and Angie did well stuffed in the Western corner, blocked by Marci and Jared in phase 1. They still managed to stay in the race due to clever purchases, and had no trouble going from 5-6 stations to 11-12 stations when Phase 2 began. This tells me that location battles are probably not as serious of an issue as they appear, as starting up in highcost areas without competition is basically the same as waiting until Phase 2, and building lower connection cost sides on the 2nd part of the grid.

Very interesting game - I won (barely) and probably should have lost - Kevin and Jared fell victem to plants that came availble (none did). Angie and Marci did great for their first play!

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Sunday's game was the glorious Puerto Rico. Ah, what a beauty. I actually didn't play this one, but had a great time teaching it to Dave, Doug, Jared and Angie. It was Kevin's 3rd play (over a 2 year period I believe), and his copy of the game. Since I've played it f-t-f probably 5-6 times, and a few more on Brettspielwelt, I voltunteered to teach.

Glad I did, as everyone seemed to love the game, and was riveted for the 100 minutes or so that the game went. As of right now, I don't know how the game turned out, but it looked like Dave was in the lead with the corn/shipper strategy. He had the warf, and was cranking out points due to some excellent timing and seat position. Poor Kevin was in third place, and seemed to be ahead in $ or behind at the wrong time. He did pick up the games first 10-point building, but then sat for 3 rounds with no cash.

Update:

Dave did end up winning, with 54 points. Kevin finished second with 45, and Jared third with 44. Angie was fourth and Doug ended up 5th.

Some intersting notes about the game - Dave won his first play of PR, and his first Euro! He did very well, and it seemed that Linda had almost as much fun as he did watching and encouraging him throughout the match.

Kevin stayed close, but could not overcome Dave's incredible shipping machine. He did well with his 10-point building, as the game played on so he could purchase some large factories. Had the timing of the game gone a little differently, and the players ganged up on Dave to prevent his Captain pulls, Kevin would have won for sure.

Jared pulled really close to Kevin, and did very well for his first play. Heard he wants to play again soon... Angie though it a bit complicated, and Doug stated he like Power Grid much more. It was his first play, and in retrospect he got really hosed by his choice of plantations. Sitting to the left of Dave, he never got to ship corn, as Dave always beat him to the punch. Several times he lost out on the Craftsman due to shortages, and several times he was cut out of shipping. No small warehouse either (which Dave had).

I think a few new PR converts were made (Jared for sure), and Doug will come around if he gets to play it again.