Brian Mc Cabe
United States
Arizona
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This session occurred at game night two weeks ago, a five-player affair with three first-timers.
Young D
Younger D
C
J
B (me)
The only part of the expansion we did not use was the re-enforcement chits, opting to use the base game mechanic of the king deciding how much help to send.
There were a lot of excellent special abilities selected. J was able to use wood as gold; Younger D was able to collect one gold; Young D was allowed to re-roll all results of seven or less and C could trade resources from her supply to the bank (on a one for two basis?)
B jumped to a quick 6-0 lead by playing The Baron and replaced Strip A, building the first two buildings in the first two years, garnering seven additional points in a four-year game.
The first year saw no special action to which the players were subjected.
The next two years they were subject, advantageously, to Forest, the third year being a repeat of the second, keeping everyone well-supplied with wood, thanks to the good graces of J, who only failed us once.
Young D, in his first game, used the envoy/fewer buildings strategy, which also gave him an extra white die three years. This failed him once, when he rolled nine, with the white die brutally coming up as a five. He also attempted to monopolize the largest army, but was thwarted once by B and once by Younger D.
Younger D, also a first-timer, played quite well, rolling high consistently and gathering three resources the majority of the time. He influenced the 14th noble three times. The resources are great, but this can be a risk because of the lost point each time it's taken. Rolling high more often than not also has its pluses and minuses. Again, the resources, in a resource accumulation game, are great, but going last and next-to-last limits your other options and almost locks you into using everything on one noble. He and Young D built some very nice buildings at the end and finished second/third; although, which was which, I'm not sure.
J's special ability allowed him to all but dominate the wood-collecting spaces, but his great die-rolling kept the rest of us supplied with wood, so he wasn't really able to use it as a blocking strategy. He particularly helped B, who was resource starved as a result of consistently low rolls. He also suffered slightly from going late in the turn order, but did place second or third a few times.
C, the third new-comer, used her special ability to great effect, trading unneeded resources to those more valuble to her. Her turn-order placement was more evenly spaced; although, she was blocked once or twice with nowhere to place her last die. She made up for this nicely with a well-timed building which allowed her to influence one noble on either side the actual number on the die. Most of the other players built this building as well, which really limited placement options for others later in the turn order.
We also used a house rule that allowed more than one +2 chit to be placed on a noble, which allowed her to have seventeen available to her three different times. Despite the urging of veteran players J and B, she only opted to take advantage of the queen's influence once.
She played a strong game, though, made some nice choices and built some buildings that gave her extra abilities. She and J finished quite close together, fourth/fifth.
B's combination of Baron and Strip A proved to be insurmountable, allowing him to maintain a minimum five-point lead throughout. B rolled quite consistently low, going last once and either first or second every other time. He even managed to go first with a thirteen (not including a +2 chit). Going first is nice, allowing one to grab whatever is needed at any given point; but, the inability to influence three-resource nobles can be very limiting. B influenced the seventh noble once and the twelfth noble twice, giving him the +2 chit; but, if it hadn't been for J's delivery of wood in a timely fashion more than once, buildings would not have been built and victory would not have been secured, B finishing at the second turn. (Is that forty or fifty)? J also came through with re-enforcements every time and no one was defeated by the invaders.
B did not use his usual strategy, opting to build the third building on Strip A, for another four points, and the +2 chit building, which he normally does not do. He also did not build the crane, which is ordinarily a must have. Those thirteen bonus points from the expansion made his normal play moot.
I will say that The Noble is too powerful for the way I like to play and I won't be using it again. That's just me, though. Six bonus points at no resource expenditure is not really my style. Strip A is another matter. My inclination is to pass it by, too; but, I'm arguing with myself that it could be balancing in the case of an inability to roll high enough to gather the resources needed to truly compete, as would have occurred in this game without that strip.
It's true, also, though, that I would have used my usual strategy, which is quite high in point-production buildings and I may have been able to stay close.
This expansion has added a lot to the base game and helps keep it fresh and alive. We've used the re-enforcement chits once, and I liked that mechanic too; but, we have played the past few games with newer players and that is the one aspect we usually leave out with first-timers.
I was happy to see all three new players do well, make good decisions and seem to enjoy the game.
Brian
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I am glad to hear that you five had a good time!
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