Lane Taylor
United States
Everett
Washington
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This was the first time I have played this game in over a year, and I have only played it twice before.
We played with 4 players. D, who owned the game, L (me), K, and S, both of whom had never played previously.
The first phase went really badly for me, since there were two cities I had built in that no one else did. That doesn't sound so bad, but without at least one other person building, you're usually stuck breaking even, at best, and I lost a fair amount in both (because I had put my fortress in one). S and I ended with phase 1 with one warehouse, and K and D both had their warehouses on the board, but no fortress. No player paid back their loan at the end of phase 1.
So I was in a distant 4th place with 25 at the end of phase 1, while the other three players had points in the low to high 40s. I chose the player after me to be first the next phase, so I would be last to go.
The second phase went better, I placed my warehouse again, and managed to get the other players to at least play on the cities where I had warehouses, driving up the value. Again, I placed my fortress fairly early, but wound up having to take a turn to get another loan, as I had run out of money with 3 warehouses left. S also needed a loan on the last turn of the phase. All of us paid back our loans from the first turn, and I payed the 20 to get pay back the second loan as well.
The third phase starting getting more competitive, as we all jockeyed for position and warehouses started getting knocked out by the black squares. S managed to be the first to get a warehouse in all 9 areas, earning him the 15 point bonus, and I followed the next turn to get 10 points. I was actually surprised, as I had thought some of my warehouses had gotten knocked out, but I had the right cards at the right time. With three warehouses left, I stayed in port (Venizia, I think) two turn to build enough warehouses to get myself into second, and add a fortress.
At the last turn, I was sure I was in a distant fourth, but as we started counting up points, it looked better for me than I thought.
The final tally was:
K 185
L 174
D 167
S 164
I think that's a pretty tight game, and I was surprised that I pulled off second place after being pretty far behind for the first two turns.
I love this game, and need to get a copy of my own.
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Gareth Reynolds
New Zealand
Christchurch
Canterbury
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Wylann wrote: ...S and I ended with phase 1 with one warehouse, and K and D both had their warehouses on the board, but no fortress. No player paid back their loan at the end of phase 1.
...
The final tally was:
K 185
L 174
D 167
S 164
I think that's a pretty tight game, and I was surprised that I pulled off second place after being pretty far behind for the first two turns... That first (quoted) sentence reads as though you ended the first phase early. The phase is supposed to end when one player has placed all their Warehouses and their Fortress. So I read it as indicating you should have played another round.
That is a tight game, I think most of mine have had a spread of 50 or more.
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Lane Taylor
United States
Everett
Washington
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We may have played that wrong. I know we got the part wrong about not taking a loan on the first turn. I don't recall now whether the player that ended the first phase built his warehouses and fortress, or just the warehouses.
Thanks for the clarification, though. I'll make sure we get those two nits right in the next game.
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