After dinner, we decided on one final game before calling it quits.  This time we tried Reef Encounter by Richard Breese published by ZMan.  This game had generated quit a buzz on BGG when it was released but RE had a very limited print run and it was very hard to get until ZMan re-released it.  Reef Encounter is about growing coral and then harvesting those using shrimp counters which also protect its adjacent coral spaces.  There are four boards where coral pieces can be placed and grown.  The central board also showed which coral type (color) can eat another type, plus served as the holder for replenishing counters and cubes.  Once one player had harvested 5 corals, the game ended and scoring is done.

     We had four players (Greg, Niall, Art and I) while Dave went over the rules since he knew the game.  Art had played previously while the rest of us are new players.  The game is typical Euro style in that you are limited to only two action per round, harvesting didn't count but it occurred first before any action can take place.  The action allowed is showed on the chart in the play order shown.  Coral pieces can be played from behind each player's secret pile (behind screen) or from public pile (in front of screen, from previous rounds where you ate another coral) but they have to be the same color group.  You have to turn in 1 color cube to play the tiles (up to 4) of that color. You can also deploy shrimp to guard against another player's coral from attacking yours.   You can exchange exposed tile (in front of screen) for color cube and spent cube to flip the color group to allow you to attack a different color or to lock down a tile color to prevent others from flipping it.  After two actions (or pass), you can replenish from the holding area.  When you harvest tiles, the total minus 4 pieces is placed in your mini-tower (hidden from others).

     The game is quite tactical requiring you to make the best of what you have based on other player's action.  This game reminded me of Puerto Rico in that your actions are most affected by the player to your right.  There is a lot of analysis involved in your decision and can cause real slow down in play if overdone.  We went at it for around 2 hours when Niall harvested the 5 coral sets causing the scoring round to occur.  Final score was Greg (22), Niall (19), Andrew (17), and Art (14).  The scores were fairly close but one more round would have allowed me to score another 5-6 points since I had a coral that I was planning to grow on my turn but unfortunately Niall ended it on his and he is on my right.  It was getting late and we were all fairly exhausted by that time.

     This game need further play for me to get a handle on it; I am impressed by the game but haven’t determined what the right strategy is for it.  For one thing, except for me, most the other players didn’t try to flip the color group.   None of us tried to lock down the tile group which would have been the logical thing to do if you have harvested a particular color type to protect the VP potential.  I noticed the use by the other players in their placement of two adjacent coral groups so that one protects the other coral; this seems more efficient since I didn’t deploy all my shrimps at all.  Instead I chose to deploy my coral with the guardian shrimp on different boards.  On the other hand, I was able to expand a bit more than the other players who seemed to be blocking themselves in with the two adjacent coral groups.  Overall, RF is a very nice brain-burner, probably best not to play it at the end of an exhausting day like we did.

     We kibitzed with Dave and he introduced us to this little dice game called To Court The King by Tom Lehmann (TimJim Games).  This one is an interesting game that reminded me of Yahtzee except there is card drafting there to give it more variation.  Each player started out with 3 dice and depending on the resulting roll, he can choose to draft a card with special ability that changes the dice roll result in subsequence rounds.  There is a limitation on the availability of each card so that you have to manage what you draft, the higher rank the fewer cards avail.  The player who drafted the King started the final round in which the highest dice roll result wins.  Of course drafting the King also allow you to have the Queen and her special ability, so ultimately usually the King player wins due to sheer number of dice rolls and special abilities.

     Normally dice game bores me since it's really just random results but this one is actually fairly interesting since you have to figure out what to draft as the availability of certain cards disappear.  You have to balance between increasing the number of dice rolled with ability to change the dice roll result.  In this game, I came close to getting the General which would have set me up for drafting the King and ultimately victory.  This was just before Dave's turn but ultimately my dice roll failed and I narrowly missed winning.  To me, the drafting part of the game is ultimately the one that carried this title which otherwise would have became another dice fest.  The game took us about 2 hours mainly because only Dave knew the rule and the rest of us had to try to figure out what card to draft.  To Court The King is overall a good fast game that may also appeal to beginning players.

     At this point Greg, Niall & Dave wanted to head to dinner, so I tagged along and we headed out to Max's Diner. 

     After a short food break, we returned to the Atrium level Open Gaming for more Euro games.  This time we tried out a card based one called Iliade, base somewhat on the Siege of Troy.  Each player represents a Greek force trying to win a siege with variable VP for the winner and a penalty for the loser with lowest army points.  If it's a Thantos Siege, the siege ends when all players have passed and you get the highest point hero avail when you passed.  If it's a Gorgon Siege, the siege ends during the round when a player has the highest total army points.  Trojan Horse is the only card not avail during Gorgon Siege.  Phalanx has the force points of the Hoplites cards doubled, but you can only stack those in force size order (4-3-2-1).

    The game is kind of bluffing and taking tricks (winning the siege).  You have to know when to cut your losses and hopefully not get stuck as the losing player with the lowest points.  The VP cards can be either City or Fleet points and the highest total points give you bonus cards (Athena & Poseidon) which are worth more VP.  The player with 12 VP wins.

    There are certain amount of luck involved since you are dealt initially 12 cards and the one you played are gone for good at the end of the siege, you gained back 3 cards at the end of the siege.  There is a bit of cards management since you have several rounds of sieges to play.  With three players, the game ended after 8 rounds.  Some of the special cards have to be played in a certain order and they contribute no point to your army.  The only one that had army points are hoplites, archers and chariots.  The phalanx is the best way to build up the army points but the hoplites have to be played in decreasing point order.  You can also use Chariots or the Archer to remove enemy forces by attacking at the beginning of your round instead of playing new cards.

     I was off to a really bad start since I had a handful of same values Hoplites and the specials.  I lost the first two rounds (Thantos -2 each time) and had -4 VP due to having the weakest losing force both times.  However as the game progressed, I got better cards and were able to win a 2 VP city, 3 VP fleet and 2 VP fleet.  My total was 6 VP (7 VP in cards, Poseidon 3 VP, Thantos -4 VP) and narrowly squeezed by Greg and Niall.  I was fortunately enough to win the last siege which had the 2 VP fleet needed to gain Poseidon which offset somewhat my Thantos cards.

     Well, not bad I thought since I actually won these two games where I had no idea how to play.  May be the God of Chance is smiling down on me or may be it was due to absence of Phil who usually figures out the winning strategy way before the rest of us.  My initial impression was the game depends on your initial draw of 12 cards, if you get some high factor hoplites and able to form Phalanx, you are almost assured of victory assuming someone didn't have those Elephant mounted Archers who can take out the large force point Hoplites.  Hand and risk management is very important since you have to cut your losses at certain point if you are not winning the siege but have to not end up having the weakest force.  I like to try it out again since it looks like you play in teams when you have 4 or 6 players, which may alter the play style.  Overall it's a keeper and I ended up getting a copy for myself at the Sunday Auction Mania.

     While we were taking a breather, a surprise guest dropped by our table...it was Dave Rohrl whom I have not seen for over a year and he had a little game called To Court the King(by Tom Lehmann, TimJim games) with him.

     Stay tune for the next part of my Kublacon 2007 blog...