Finally got to play with advanced content. I was Babylonia, Eliyahu was Maya. I got early Engineering for extra food from Canals, while Eliyahu focused Education. He ended up in Democracy while I went Theocracy, getting some cheap temples. Barbarians spawned near me but eventually I got Hammurabi and an infantry. Pirates also spawned twice, Eliyahu actually defeated the one near him eventually. Mostly though we just kept to ourselves, I defeated the Barbarians near me losing an infantry. Eventually Eliyahu built Statue Wonder, I built Great Library. Since I went last, I completed some objectives by making sure to Influence one building and have one more tech category completed than Eliyahu. In the end it was close, 38 to 35 1/2 (Eliyahu had an early uprising Event).
Starting rather late, we opted for the short game to act as a learning game. I was pleasantly surprised to see diverging strategies once again, with Netanel focusing more on Theology, protecting him from my influence, while Eliyahu spread out between Science and Education with some Spirituality. I also went first for Education and Democracy, and had some cards I didn’t see myself using easily so got Bartering, and then Warfare as well since I was first to spawn Barbarians. Not long afterwards though the Barbarians moved towards Eliyahu, denying me some Combat Achievements. I managed to conquer a Barbarian city after a failed battle by using roads to move another unit to try again. Unfortunately we had to pack up before the second half of the game, and didn’t clash much. The water did not connect so much in the middle, and no one built ships or ports, so we did not get to see trade routes either.
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If we could get together more than once every six months, we may eventually be able to add on the expansion content, which makes everything more interesting.
When everyone goes to sleep early enough, that’s a good time to play games.
Barenpark
Earlier in the week I played this with Mom, first round without achievements, then 3 more rounds with achievements. She usually beat me to the achievements but I usually got bear statues earlier, which gave me the edge in most of our games.
Scrabble
Chavie got a 7 letter word pretty early (‘migrants’), and I got ‘quiz’ on a triple word, while Mom got lousy letters the whole game. Later on I spelled ‘ascribe’ and finished the game with 300 points. Chavie used up all her letters while I still had the K.
Clash of Cultures
Played a learning game first on Shabbat, but we didn’t get very far. So after Shabbat I played with Yair and Gavriel, using the shorter game variant where you start with settlers and learn two free advances each round. It was perfect timing for the evening, finishing by midnight. Yair got a slower start by not taking Irrigation, and we didn’t do any trading. Though my and Gavriel’s cities got flooded ,and we were all struct with plague, so everyone got Sanitation early. Gavriel went the Academy route early, while I though I would do Fishing or Bartering, but ended up getting Academy shortly after as well.
Yair spread out quickly to get the Happy Acheivement, while Gavriel stocked Ore and I stocked up on everything. I was the only one to spawn or move Barbarians and the took one of my cities which I had vacated to attack Yair in order to get an Objective. Gavriel and I both completed wonders towards the end, and then he influence one my buildings. Yair got hit by an Earthquake, but at least it was worth some extra points. In the end Gavriel and I tied at 32, though he had more buildings.
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Usually the kids make it difficult to get out and play, but last time I played with Yair was when the first kid was born, so maybe there’s something to it…or it’s that my Mom is here to help with kids…
Haifa Board Games Crew 