My college roommate Steve visited Israel with his wife Miriam and their children. I played a few games with Steve and his boys. They are familiar with old style games, like Avalon Hill, etc, and I used to play a lot of Bridge with Steve.
On the first night I saw him, we played two games of Nefarious. They enjoyed it, but not overly much. Seeing my audience, I taught them Antike. I explained that the game is about points, not only about conquest and battle, but naturally old Risk players are going to start with iron and armies, and so they did. I accumulated a few Know-Hows early, but they caught on and took the rest of them. It was neck and neck for a while. I ultimately won by diversifying to take the low-hanging points, rather than by concentrating on one track, which is slow (though one of them was producing 17 marbles every two turns near the end of the game). Oh, and the game took us to 1:15 in the morning, which was an hour and a quarter more than I wanted to stay up.
Last shabbat we got together again. Since I had to carry games to them in the center of Jerusalem, I brought some light cards games, the usual assortment: No Thanks, Parade, and Tichu. No Thanks went over well and we played twice. One of the boys (my opponent) didn't enjoy Tichu because it required thought. My partner and I lost the first hand 100 to 0, but we won the second 300 to -100 and the third 200 to 0. They also enjoyed Parade and we also played that twice.
Steve and I then walked over to Nadine's, where we also found Emily and Eitan. We played one long game of Hawaii. I taught Steve, and simultaneously refreshed the rules for Eitan and Emily. And, as it turns out, corrected a few rule mistakes that Nadine had been playing with (update from Nadine: One rule wrong!).
I'm still not sure what the best strategy is, especially with five players. Of course, the strategies will vary depending on what is cheap and who else is going for the same things. I generally aim for two boats as soon as possible with some extra foot productions; in this game, I also got extra fruit production. Since only Nadine was competing with me for boats, and since she used them mostly for high victory point islands rather than for the utility tiles that the islands provide, there was little competition for my strategy. I also had three villages with kahunas, a few bonus points for fruits, hula dancers, and boats/surfers, and a bonus of 4 whenever I scored at the end of the round, which I did four times out of five. I was usually second to last place in turn order. I ended nearly 50 points ahead of the other players, who were all within ten points of each other.
Showing posts with label antike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label antike. Show all posts
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Long Distance Antike with Chris and Jim
Last night I played Antike with two friends on a different continent. We didn't play an online board game; we played by video chat with four video cameras and three copies of the game, one at each location.
Chris lives in Oregon. Jim lives in Indiana. I live in Raanana, Israel. This was not our first long distance game. Four years ago, we arranged for Chris and Jim to set up a game at BGG.con so that I could play "at the con" when I wasn't able to make it. This year the internet reception at BGG.con was spotty, and scheduling was difficult, so we delayed the game a few weeks. On that occasion, we played Agricola.
Face to face is best, of course, since you get to see your friends, pass around a beer, and need control only a single board state. Online gaming generally has only text chat, which removes most of the social element from the game. Also, in online games, you are subject to the occasional implementation issue, such as an interface error. Playing by video chat neatly fits into the space between these two options. We could see the other person in a limited way when we looked at the screen, although we generally looked at our own board. We could talk in real time, and even wave at the other players' families in the background when they came in to gawk at us geeks. The copied board states ensured that no errors were made during play.
The game took two and a half hours, including setting up the communications and the boards, resetting the communications to remove some static and mic problems, and a bathroom break. We used Google+ Hangout (although we toyed with using Skype). Chris used two cameras, one for himself and one for the main board.
Pics that Jim's and Chris's wives took are on my Facebook profile.
We played on the Middle Eastern map. I played Arabia (southeast), Jim played Persia (central north), and Chris played Greece (central west). Chris and I had similar strategies of early Know-Hows; Chris beat me to the first one and stayed about a turn and a half in front of me until near the end of the game. We each took one south side of the board. Jim played a heavy expansion strategy, quickly expanding to 15 and then 20 cities across the north, and then he armed himself and created a military front to protect his territories, which bulged in an arc across the entire north of the board and down into the center. However, having missed all of the early Know-How points, he lagged behind in points for most of the game.
I get the feeling that both of them are used to more conflict in the game. In our game, not a single city was conquered. In fact, the only fight that occurred was when I swapped some ships with Jim so that I could place a ship near his city, not to conquer it but to get the second "7 ships" award. Near the end, Chris expanded to get the last "5 city" award, which brought him to withing a point of victory, but I collected the "All eight Know-Hows" (worth a free point) and then got my 14th sea location on my next turn. The game ended 10 to 9 to 6 (or 7).
As usual, this was a great time spent with two amazing people whom I rarely see or interact with face to face. The conversation was game oriented mostly, but the game was really an excuse to get together. Hooray for games, and for video chat, and for good companions.
Chris lives in Oregon. Jim lives in Indiana. I live in Raanana, Israel. This was not our first long distance game. Four years ago, we arranged for Chris and Jim to set up a game at BGG.con so that I could play "at the con" when I wasn't able to make it. This year the internet reception at BGG.con was spotty, and scheduling was difficult, so we delayed the game a few weeks. On that occasion, we played Agricola.
Face to face is best, of course, since you get to see your friends, pass around a beer, and need control only a single board state. Online gaming generally has only text chat, which removes most of the social element from the game. Also, in online games, you are subject to the occasional implementation issue, such as an interface error. Playing by video chat neatly fits into the space between these two options. We could see the other person in a limited way when we looked at the screen, although we generally looked at our own board. We could talk in real time, and even wave at the other players' families in the background when they came in to gawk at us geeks. The copied board states ensured that no errors were made during play.
The game took two and a half hours, including setting up the communications and the boards, resetting the communications to remove some static and mic problems, and a bathroom break. We used Google+ Hangout (although we toyed with using Skype). Chris used two cameras, one for himself and one for the main board.
Pics that Jim's and Chris's wives took are on my Facebook profile.
We played on the Middle Eastern map. I played Arabia (southeast), Jim played Persia (central north), and Chris played Greece (central west). Chris and I had similar strategies of early Know-Hows; Chris beat me to the first one and stayed about a turn and a half in front of me until near the end of the game. We each took one south side of the board. Jim played a heavy expansion strategy, quickly expanding to 15 and then 20 cities across the north, and then he armed himself and created a military front to protect his territories, which bulged in an arc across the entire north of the board and down into the center. However, having missed all of the early Know-How points, he lagged behind in points for most of the game.
I get the feeling that both of them are used to more conflict in the game. In our game, not a single city was conquered. In fact, the only fight that occurred was when I swapped some ships with Jim so that I could place a ship near his city, not to conquer it but to get the second "7 ships" award. Near the end, Chris expanded to get the last "5 city" award, which brought him to withing a point of victory, but I collected the "All eight Know-Hows" (worth a free point) and then got my 14th sea location on my next turn. The game ended 10 to 9 to 6 (or 7).
As usual, this was a great time spent with two amazing people whom I rarely see or interact with face to face. The conversation was game oriented mostly, but the game was really an excuse to get together. Hooray for games, and for video chat, and for good companions.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Shabbat Gaming
Nadine, Abraham, and Sara joined me for lunch. Nadine came early, and we played two-player Puerto Rico with my usual changed buildings (I changed Discretionary Hold to save one barrel, instead of three, but neither of us bought it).
Nadine had early corn and an early victory point lead. But my building was far overtaking hers, even though I let her take Factory and instead took Large Business (provides both Builder and Captain privileges). LB is underrated. It can't undo the victory point lead the way that Harbor can, but it can stop the erosion and still provide a building boost.
We didn't finish, but we were pretty sure that I was going to win.
After lunch, Sara, Abraham, and I requested Antike, which we played over Nadine's mild objections (she would have preferred Power Grid). Turned out to be a great game experience, even for Nadine.
I won the game 8 to 7 to 7 to 7 (we play to one point less than the suggested value); as you can see, very close. We played on the Arabian board. I started in Palestine, smack in between the other players. I kept tight control of my little area, using my first-player advantage (which offset my pathetic position) to nab Market for the first victory point. But I had competition for Know-hows, and Nadine ended up getting four of the VPs there. I build some temples, but Abraham destroyed one when he took Wheels. Luckily only one, as he was one unit away from sacking both.
The next round I placed dozens of units to protect the rest of my holdings and, together with Democracy, I was undisturbed for the rest of the game. Nadine floated around Greece, pulling ahead to 6 points over my 5, because no one was disturbing her. Abraham tried his opening triple temple strategy again. Sara built up a huge pile of resources and exploded suddenly from 3 to 10 areas in one turn. Then she sacked one of Abraham's temples, since he had left them open after he had sacked mine.
Then Abraham sacked one of Sara's temples, since she had left hers open to sack his. This left one of Abraham's temples open for me to sack, which gave me the one extra point necessary (together with 7 seas) to pull ahead of Nadine to 7 points. I was easily able to take my last point in the Know-hows (all 8) regardless of what the other players did, though all of them got one more point in the final round.
Nadine had early corn and an early victory point lead. But my building was far overtaking hers, even though I let her take Factory and instead took Large Business (provides both Builder and Captain privileges). LB is underrated. It can't undo the victory point lead the way that Harbor can, but it can stop the erosion and still provide a building boost.
We didn't finish, but we were pretty sure that I was going to win.
After lunch, Sara, Abraham, and I requested Antike, which we played over Nadine's mild objections (she would have preferred Power Grid). Turned out to be a great game experience, even for Nadine.
I won the game 8 to 7 to 7 to 7 (we play to one point less than the suggested value); as you can see, very close. We played on the Arabian board. I started in Palestine, smack in between the other players. I kept tight control of my little area, using my first-player advantage (which offset my pathetic position) to nab Market for the first victory point. But I had competition for Know-hows, and Nadine ended up getting four of the VPs there. I build some temples, but Abraham destroyed one when he took Wheels. Luckily only one, as he was one unit away from sacking both.
The next round I placed dozens of units to protect the rest of my holdings and, together with Democracy, I was undisturbed for the rest of the game. Nadine floated around Greece, pulling ahead to 6 points over my 5, because no one was disturbing her. Abraham tried his opening triple temple strategy again. Sara built up a huge pile of resources and exploded suddenly from 3 to 10 areas in one turn. Then she sacked one of Abraham's temples, since he had left them open after he had sacked mine.
Then Abraham sacked one of Sara's temples, since she had left hers open to sack his. This left one of Abraham's temples open for me to sack, which gave me the one extra point necessary (together with 7 seas) to pull ahead of Nadine to 7 points. I was easily able to take my last point in the Know-hows (all 8) regardless of what the other players did, though all of them got one more point in the final round.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Four Games and a Funeral
We had Abraham and Sara over for the weekend. At the same time, Nadine invited several local gamers for a gamers' lunch. So the weekend was filled with games.
Tichu
Friday night after dinner, Abraham and I played against Nadine and Sara. Sara had played two hands prior to tonight's game, and she was iffy on the game. She got into it tonight and enjoyed it.
I'm seen as a better Tichu player in these parts, so Nadine joked that her team would only need 500 points to win while we needed 1000. We took a commanding lead with me making two Tichus and a double down hand, starting us off at 540 to 60. Soon it was 810 to 90.
Then a strange thing happened. Nadine, who has probably only called Tichu two times ever, called Tichu three times straight. In the first two hands, she and Sara went double down both times, giving them +600 points. Now it was 810 to 690. Unfortunately, she missed her third Tichu (I had almost called it, but I was lacking one round's control). I then had an embarrassingly good hand, with all four aces, two kings, two queens, and the Dragon. In the final two rounds, we finished them off.
Antike
Emily and Eitan had never played this, and I was happy to teach them. Abraham and Bill joined us. Abraham has a history of aggression in this game that does not actually lead to his winning.
I ended up as Greece in the middle of the board and first player. I nearly always start with gold or marble, but this time I started with iron to see what would happen. Since it was a five player game, I was a little more concerned with space. Everyone diversified nicely over the next few rounds (Emily and Bill shadowed each other for a while).
This is another game at which I tend to do well, sometimes winning by three or four points. In this game I was sweating a lot harder. The Know-hows were shared by all the players and the others were keeping pace with me. At one point, I was one point behind. Oh no! Luckily, not for too long.
I pulled ahead by building a third temple and leaping two levels in sailing (for one point), which made my massive fleet now in range of several temples. I would have left conquering a temple for the final point I needed, but Abraham built too many ships too close to me, and I didn't trust him not to attack me. I took out most of his ships and one of his temples. After that I only needed one more point to win and I didn't care what the others did to my cities. I was one or two rounds from winning in either of several different paths. The others could have delayed me if they had made a concerted effort, but that would have left the field open at random to any of the other players and they still could not necessarily have gained two points before I got my last. Scores: 7 to 5, 5, 4, 4.
Castle Panic
I didn't play this, so I can't tell you about it. However I head Nadine enjoying herself. She apparently likes cooperative games. Castle Panic can be played as straight cooperative, cooperative with a single winner, or one against the rest, so it offers some flexibility with regards to taste.
Trias
Played after shabbat with Abraham and Sara. This is a game that Abraham and I like, but the others don't so much.
Abraham appeared to be pulling away rather sharply with the intermediary points. It was hard, but I managed to cut some of his islands off from him. Although I could see that Sara and I were on larger islands near the end, I feared that it wouldn't be enough to catch him.
In the end, however, we all ended up with 30 points. Abraham won on the tie, for having used less dinosaurs.
The Funeral
I'm pretty sure that there were several hundred people there, and by several I don't mean 2 or 3, more like 6 or 7. We packed the hesped hall, out into the parking lot,. People stood outside around the sides of the building trying to hear through the windows.
The hespeds didn't start until 10:15 or so, and several Rabbis, friends, and relatives spoke. Frankly, I think three hespeds is sufficient, and could have done without a few of them. The most important were the first - a young Rabbi who knew RivkA well (forgot his name) - and her brother, father, and husband. Moshe (the husband) spoke with a mix of anger, grief, shock, and loss. You had to have had a hard heart not to have been shedding tears by the end. He could have gone on for some time, too.
Near the very end, someone - I think responsible for the funeral hall, but possibly a member of another funeral party - accosted us to tell us that we're taking too long and have to leave. Apparently another funeral was scheduled for 10:30, and it was now already 11:20. As it was late, crowded, and threatening to rain, I didn't stay for the actual burial.
I must have seen 1/3 of the people I've ever met from my twenty years in Israel at that funeral. From every walk of life, from every disparate circle, from current friends and acquaintances to people I haven't seen in ten years. And we couldn't really socialize. It was like a room full of random Facebook friends.
Tichu
Friday night after dinner, Abraham and I played against Nadine and Sara. Sara had played two hands prior to tonight's game, and she was iffy on the game. She got into it tonight and enjoyed it.
I'm seen as a better Tichu player in these parts, so Nadine joked that her team would only need 500 points to win while we needed 1000. We took a commanding lead with me making two Tichus and a double down hand, starting us off at 540 to 60. Soon it was 810 to 90.
Then a strange thing happened. Nadine, who has probably only called Tichu two times ever, called Tichu three times straight. In the first two hands, she and Sara went double down both times, giving them +600 points. Now it was 810 to 690. Unfortunately, she missed her third Tichu (I had almost called it, but I was lacking one round's control). I then had an embarrassingly good hand, with all four aces, two kings, two queens, and the Dragon. In the final two rounds, we finished them off.
Antike
Emily and Eitan had never played this, and I was happy to teach them. Abraham and Bill joined us. Abraham has a history of aggression in this game that does not actually lead to his winning.
I ended up as Greece in the middle of the board and first player. I nearly always start with gold or marble, but this time I started with iron to see what would happen. Since it was a five player game, I was a little more concerned with space. Everyone diversified nicely over the next few rounds (Emily and Bill shadowed each other for a while).
This is another game at which I tend to do well, sometimes winning by three or four points. In this game I was sweating a lot harder. The Know-hows were shared by all the players and the others were keeping pace with me. At one point, I was one point behind. Oh no! Luckily, not for too long.
I pulled ahead by building a third temple and leaping two levels in sailing (for one point), which made my massive fleet now in range of several temples. I would have left conquering a temple for the final point I needed, but Abraham built too many ships too close to me, and I didn't trust him not to attack me. I took out most of his ships and one of his temples. After that I only needed one more point to win and I didn't care what the others did to my cities. I was one or two rounds from winning in either of several different paths. The others could have delayed me if they had made a concerted effort, but that would have left the field open at random to any of the other players and they still could not necessarily have gained two points before I got my last. Scores: 7 to 5, 5, 4, 4.
Castle Panic
I didn't play this, so I can't tell you about it. However I head Nadine enjoying herself. She apparently likes cooperative games. Castle Panic can be played as straight cooperative, cooperative with a single winner, or one against the rest, so it offers some flexibility with regards to taste.
Trias
Played after shabbat with Abraham and Sara. This is a game that Abraham and I like, but the others don't so much.
Abraham appeared to be pulling away rather sharply with the intermediary points. It was hard, but I managed to cut some of his islands off from him. Although I could see that Sara and I were on larger islands near the end, I feared that it wouldn't be enough to catch him.
In the end, however, we all ended up with 30 points. Abraham won on the tie, for having used less dinosaurs.
The Funeral
I'm pretty sure that there were several hundred people there, and by several I don't mean 2 or 3, more like 6 or 7. We packed the hesped hall, out into the parking lot,. People stood outside around the sides of the building trying to hear through the windows.
The hespeds didn't start until 10:15 or so, and several Rabbis, friends, and relatives spoke. Frankly, I think three hespeds is sufficient, and could have done without a few of them. The most important were the first - a young Rabbi who knew RivkA well (forgot his name) - and her brother, father, and husband. Moshe (the husband) spoke with a mix of anger, grief, shock, and loss. You had to have had a hard heart not to have been shedding tears by the end. He could have gone on for some time, too.
Near the very end, someone - I think responsible for the funeral hall, but possibly a member of another funeral party - accosted us to tell us that we're taking too long and have to leave. Apparently another funeral was scheduled for 10:30, and it was now already 11:20. As it was late, crowded, and threatening to rain, I didn't stay for the actual burial.
I must have seen 1/3 of the people I've ever met from my twenty years in Israel at that funeral. From every walk of life, from every disparate circle, from current friends and acquaintances to people I haven't seen in ten years. And we couldn't really socialize. It was like a room full of random Facebook friends.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Games at Keshet Yonatan / Nahal J'ilabun
To the weekend shabbaton with my synagogue, I brought an assortment of games for all occasions: Antike (as a Risk-replacement) and Dominion for the boys, Pit, Scrabble, a deck of cards, and some other light games for the adults, Puerto Rico for Rachel, Nadine, and me.
We didn't get to play all of them, but I didn't expect to.
Antike
I've won the respect of the boys enough to get them to try Antike. Thanks to the combat nature of the game and the elegance of the rules, they got into it. I opted to stay out and only guide the turns.
The brilliant rondel was a source of frustration for the boys, who often wanted to get iron, arm, and maneuver all on the same turn, but it was also grudgingly respected already by mid-game. It took them all a while to figure out that points were to be gained from more than just building and moving armies, but the game also elegantly guided them in that direction. So it was all good.
Still, the game played out quite differently from the ones I usually play. For one, one of the boys got beaten down quite badly after neglecting to protect any of his cities. He never recovered from this, but he still said that he liked the game. The boy who did the beating won the game. With his massive number of cities, he spent three turns gaining 6 of each resource, and then a fourth gaining six more cities. After that he built a string of temples and destroyed those of his neighbors.
It all looked ideal, but it was actually very close. One other boy was just a few ships away from destroying two temples on his last turn, which would have given him the victory.
Hormones
That was all they played. I took a nap, and when I woke up they had managed to find some girls staying in the field school who were willing to follow them around while they all discussed what they should do.
Scrabble
The adults played on Saturday night. With two other non-gamers, I tried Parade, but it didn't go over that well. While Parade has barely any rules, the implications were too confusing for one of the players, and not interesting enough for the other.
Finally, we played two games of Scrabble, one four player and one three player. The four player was a close affair that Rachel might have won if I hadn't brought only the Third-edition Scrabble dictionary with me. The other two players, both non-gamers, were overwhelmed by our modest Scrabble prowess and unfamiliar with any of the ridiculous Scrabble words. Rachel tried to end the game with QI, but the other players wouldn't accept it because it wasn't in the dictionary (it's only in the fourth-edition).
One of the non-gamers played truly pathetically, such as playing an R onto PURE to make PURER, with no bonuses. The other one played better, but had poor racks with lots of I's, and so wanted to try again. He, Rachel, and I played in the second game.
The second game I got ridiculously good tiles, including both blanks, Z, K, X, a few S's and all of the D's. I extended QUOIT to QUOITED, landing on a triple word score, placed TAX onto a triple words score (with the T turning HIS into THIS), and bingoed with a hand containing EGATION; I was looking for an N, but eventually found a free L. Their scores were close to each other (a few points), and I was impressed with his dogged determination.
Pictures and Thoughts
The weekend was lovely, as was the company of my fellow synagogue members.
This was a small pool created from a tributary spring that feeds into the Sea of Galilee.
Around this pool, though not entirely captured in my picture frame, were religious Jews, non-religious Jews, Haredi Jews, Bedouin, Christian Arab, Moslem Arab, and American Christian. Some rode in on dune buggies, some drove in, some hiked in, some smoked, some barbecued, some wore modest clothing, and some wore swim trunks.
The whole scene was a as cosmopolitan Israeli as one could ever expect to see, and it was all unremarkably peaceful and pleasant. Because that's what happens most of the time in Israel.
Rachel, the dolphin. Rachel is swimming 3.5 kilometers across a chord of the Kinneret this Wednesday, to raise money for Sadnat Shiluv.
Sadnat Shiluv encourages maximum integration of special people into the community. It works with children from kindergarten and elementary school until young adulthood. Currently, its only hostel houses six young adults and offers them a place to live, work, study and lead an independent life while being an active part of the Rosh Tzurim community.
Around 100 women will be participating, each of whom must raise at least 2,000 NIS. Rachel's entrance fee was sponsored by my employer, Tech-Tav Writing and Documentation Services.
Some of our synagogue members relax on a hike in Nahal J'ilabun.
Nahal J'ilabun
Nahal J'ilabun
Me (note the flower in the hair)
More pictures on my Facebook profile
We didn't get to play all of them, but I didn't expect to.
Antike
I've won the respect of the boys enough to get them to try Antike. Thanks to the combat nature of the game and the elegance of the rules, they got into it. I opted to stay out and only guide the turns.
The brilliant rondel was a source of frustration for the boys, who often wanted to get iron, arm, and maneuver all on the same turn, but it was also grudgingly respected already by mid-game. It took them all a while to figure out that points were to be gained from more than just building and moving armies, but the game also elegantly guided them in that direction. So it was all good.
Still, the game played out quite differently from the ones I usually play. For one, one of the boys got beaten down quite badly after neglecting to protect any of his cities. He never recovered from this, but he still said that he liked the game. The boy who did the beating won the game. With his massive number of cities, he spent three turns gaining 6 of each resource, and then a fourth gaining six more cities. After that he built a string of temples and destroyed those of his neighbors.
It all looked ideal, but it was actually very close. One other boy was just a few ships away from destroying two temples on his last turn, which would have given him the victory.
Hormones
That was all they played. I took a nap, and when I woke up they had managed to find some girls staying in the field school who were willing to follow them around while they all discussed what they should do.
Scrabble
The adults played on Saturday night. With two other non-gamers, I tried Parade, but it didn't go over that well. While Parade has barely any rules, the implications were too confusing for one of the players, and not interesting enough for the other.
Finally, we played two games of Scrabble, one four player and one three player. The four player was a close affair that Rachel might have won if I hadn't brought only the Third-edition Scrabble dictionary with me. The other two players, both non-gamers, were overwhelmed by our modest Scrabble prowess and unfamiliar with any of the ridiculous Scrabble words. Rachel tried to end the game with QI, but the other players wouldn't accept it because it wasn't in the dictionary (it's only in the fourth-edition).
One of the non-gamers played truly pathetically, such as playing an R onto PURE to make PURER, with no bonuses. The other one played better, but had poor racks with lots of I's, and so wanted to try again. He, Rachel, and I played in the second game.
The second game I got ridiculously good tiles, including both blanks, Z, K, X, a few S's and all of the D's. I extended QUOIT to QUOITED, landing on a triple word score, placed TAX onto a triple words score (with the T turning HIS into THIS), and bingoed with a hand containing EGATION; I was looking for an N, but eventually found a free L. Their scores were close to each other (a few points), and I was impressed with his dogged determination.
Pictures and Thoughts
The weekend was lovely, as was the company of my fellow synagogue members.
This was a small pool created from a tributary spring that feeds into the Sea of Galilee.
Around this pool, though not entirely captured in my picture frame, were religious Jews, non-religious Jews, Haredi Jews, Bedouin, Christian Arab, Moslem Arab, and American Christian. Some rode in on dune buggies, some drove in, some hiked in, some smoked, some barbecued, some wore modest clothing, and some wore swim trunks.
The whole scene was a as cosmopolitan Israeli as one could ever expect to see, and it was all unremarkably peaceful and pleasant. Because that's what happens most of the time in Israel.
Rachel, the dolphin. Rachel is swimming 3.5 kilometers across a chord of the Kinneret this Wednesday, to raise money for Sadnat Shiluv.
Sadnat Shiluv encourages maximum integration of special people into the community. It works with children from kindergarten and elementary school until young adulthood. Currently, its only hostel houses six young adults and offers them a place to live, work, study and lead an independent life while being an active part of the Rosh Tzurim community.
Around 100 women will be participating, each of whom must raise at least 2,000 NIS. Rachel's entrance fee was sponsored by my employer, Tech-Tav Writing and Documentation Services.
Some of our synagogue members relax on a hike in Nahal J'ilabun.
Nahal J'ilabun
Nahal J'ilabun
Me (note the flower in the hair)
More pictures on my Facebook profile
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Dominion Fever, Antike Down to the Wire
Dominion
I leant my three Dominion games to my brother Ben while I was in the US, and it took him an extra few weeks to get them back to me after I returned. He and his three kids, aged 6 to 10 or so, played around 40 games, probably more. They loved it. Now he has to find a way to get these bulky games to Israel.
I went to him and his wife for Yom Haazmaut, and so did my other brother David and his wife and kids. Turns out that one of David's kids had played Dominion: Intrigue at one of his friend's, and had told David about the game, but David hadn't played it yet.
After pulling random kingdoms, and then looking at David, I decided instead to play with the suggested ten basic kingdoms from the base set. Wise choice.
David took what is, I am fairly sure, the longest first turn in Dominion ever, by anyone. It must have been fifteen minutes. The rest of the first game was fairly similar: go, go, go, .... tap, tap, tap as David thought out loud about what the best card was. No amount of telling him that they were all good choices helped.
For all that thinking, he managed to achieve a singular lack of cohesion or synergy in his deck, and ended far away in last place. Ben and I tied at 35, while David's eldest (also first play) had 24, and David had 18.
However, David felt like he had a better handle on the game, and so we played a second game using the same cards. He did much better (and played a mite faster) this game. David was still in last, but this time David's eldest won the game by one point. However, the scores were all close - within 7 points of each other.
Antike
There was some talk of playing Taj Mahal, but I talked them into playing Antike, a game I dearly love and which doesn't hit my game group's table often enough. First play for everyone except for me, and this time two of David's kids joined in for a five player game.
In the first game, I gave some advice, but not an overabundance, I suppose; Nadine would probably have scolded me. I pretty much had double the second player's points, right through to when they all gave up when I was one point from winning (as usual, I suggested that we play until one point less than the suggested winning criteria, which is a Good Idea). I played the Phonecians in the corner, which I think is somewhat of an advantagous starting position.
I didn't think there was enough time for a second game, but David once again felt like he was getting the hang of it and inisisted that we play one more time.
The second game was near the quickest game of Antike I've even played, and everyone proved that they were up to speed. Now I trailed a point or two behind the leaders. By end-game, it was down to the wire. Ben was the first to be one point away from winning, and the quick game suddenly bogged down while he tried in vain to figure out how to win within a round or two. Finally he played, and then David and David's eldest also made it to one point away from winning.
Several times, either Ben, or David, or I were one resource away from gaining and extra victory point (which wouldn't have made me win, but would have made me feel better). A few temples fell. In the end, David's eldest once again pulled off the victory. He had played Greece and a strong naval strategy, and he won by destroying a temple (mine, I think). Ben was the player after him, and he had two ways he would have won on his turn. David was one additional turn away from winning (take gold, followed by a complete set of Know-Hows).
David enjoyed both games, as did everyone else, although David's eldest complained about the slow-down in the last game of Antike as Ben struggled to find his win condition.
I leant my three Dominion games to my brother Ben while I was in the US, and it took him an extra few weeks to get them back to me after I returned. He and his three kids, aged 6 to 10 or so, played around 40 games, probably more. They loved it. Now he has to find a way to get these bulky games to Israel.
I went to him and his wife for Yom Haazmaut, and so did my other brother David and his wife and kids. Turns out that one of David's kids had played Dominion: Intrigue at one of his friend's, and had told David about the game, but David hadn't played it yet.
After pulling random kingdoms, and then looking at David, I decided instead to play with the suggested ten basic kingdoms from the base set. Wise choice.
David took what is, I am fairly sure, the longest first turn in Dominion ever, by anyone. It must have been fifteen minutes. The rest of the first game was fairly similar: go, go, go, .... tap, tap, tap as David thought out loud about what the best card was. No amount of telling him that they were all good choices helped.
For all that thinking, he managed to achieve a singular lack of cohesion or synergy in his deck, and ended far away in last place. Ben and I tied at 35, while David's eldest (also first play) had 24, and David had 18.
However, David felt like he had a better handle on the game, and so we played a second game using the same cards. He did much better (and played a mite faster) this game. David was still in last, but this time David's eldest won the game by one point. However, the scores were all close - within 7 points of each other.
Antike
There was some talk of playing Taj Mahal, but I talked them into playing Antike, a game I dearly love and which doesn't hit my game group's table often enough. First play for everyone except for me, and this time two of David's kids joined in for a five player game.
In the first game, I gave some advice, but not an overabundance, I suppose; Nadine would probably have scolded me. I pretty much had double the second player's points, right through to when they all gave up when I was one point from winning (as usual, I suggested that we play until one point less than the suggested winning criteria, which is a Good Idea). I played the Phonecians in the corner, which I think is somewhat of an advantagous starting position.
I didn't think there was enough time for a second game, but David once again felt like he was getting the hang of it and inisisted that we play one more time.
The second game was near the quickest game of Antike I've even played, and everyone proved that they were up to speed. Now I trailed a point or two behind the leaders. By end-game, it was down to the wire. Ben was the first to be one point away from winning, and the quick game suddenly bogged down while he tried in vain to figure out how to win within a round or two. Finally he played, and then David and David's eldest also made it to one point away from winning.
Several times, either Ben, or David, or I were one resource away from gaining and extra victory point (which wouldn't have made me win, but would have made me feel better). A few temples fell. In the end, David's eldest once again pulled off the victory. He had played Greece and a strong naval strategy, and he won by destroying a temple (mine, I think). Ben was the player after him, and he had two ways he would have won on his turn. David was one additional turn away from winning (take gold, followed by a complete set of Know-Hows).
David enjoyed both games, as did everyone else, although David's eldest complained about the slow-down in the last game of Antike as Ben struggled to find his win condition.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Two Perfect Games for Two Perfect Groups
Thursday evening I roped one of Tal's friends into trying out Dominion. Tal had played once before, and her friend had played Magic once upon a time. They were looking bored, and it looked like the perfect pitch opportunity.
It was. We played with only the basic set, and I won easily. Then I heard from Tal this evening, while talking to her while she was on the phone at the friends house, how much he loved the game. I think there may be an immanent purchase.
Friday evening I had several guests over for dinner. After we ate some of them, the ones that were left were Nadine, Bill, and Shirley from the game group, Ksenia, a visiting Polish student, and Natalie, a visiting German student. I'd roped Ksenia into a few games so far, and Natalie claimed that she always won at The Settlers of Catan. I needed a meaty - but not too long - game for six players. Over Nadine's initial objections, I picked Antike.
First play for Natalie, Shirley, and Ksenia. We played from around 11:15 until 1:30 (I knocked the required number of cities down one from what was suggested, as usual, to a mere six) and it was a fantastic game; even Nadine ended up enjoying the experience. It was our first six-player game, and the first time that the "5 cities" cards ran out, which dramatically changed the strategies.
We played on the Arabian board. I had fleets sailing around Greece. Bill and Shirley bumped around each other around Saudi Arabia, and Nadine played cautiously in the middle out of Israel. Ksenia had the southeast corner in Africa, and Natalie the southwest corner in Asia.
We only needed six points. Nadine race ahead furthest to five points, but then got stuck. I wiped out her fleets and Ksenia took out all but three of her cities. Even after doing that, she still had a good chance of winning the last point, as was gaining a coin every round and had two gold producing cities remaining, which gave her the chance to get the bonus point at the bottom of the Know-How tracks.
Bill built a few temples on the sea, so I wiped out all of his fleets, in the hopes of getting to conquer them. I got one, and gained my fifth point. I was one round away from winning myself before Natalie won; well, actually Ksenia wiped out my second temple, so I couldn't get my third temple right away anymore, which put me back to two rounds from winning (build ships, attack Bill's other temple).
Natalie managed to avoid nearly all confrontations, and she never attacked anyone.
All in all, a fun, fine, and close game. The genius is that it is not the conquest, but the points you need to win. So when you lose things, like cities and ships, you adjust your strategy to another path to victory; you don't lose points.
I highly recommend the game as a better alternative to Risk.
It was. We played with only the basic set, and I won easily. Then I heard from Tal this evening, while talking to her while she was on the phone at the friends house, how much he loved the game. I think there may be an immanent purchase.
Friday evening I had several guests over for dinner. After we ate some of them, the ones that were left were Nadine, Bill, and Shirley from the game group, Ksenia, a visiting Polish student, and Natalie, a visiting German student. I'd roped Ksenia into a few games so far, and Natalie claimed that she always won at The Settlers of Catan. I needed a meaty - but not too long - game for six players. Over Nadine's initial objections, I picked Antike.
First play for Natalie, Shirley, and Ksenia. We played from around 11:15 until 1:30 (I knocked the required number of cities down one from what was suggested, as usual, to a mere six) and it was a fantastic game; even Nadine ended up enjoying the experience. It was our first six-player game, and the first time that the "5 cities" cards ran out, which dramatically changed the strategies.
We played on the Arabian board. I had fleets sailing around Greece. Bill and Shirley bumped around each other around Saudi Arabia, and Nadine played cautiously in the middle out of Israel. Ksenia had the southeast corner in Africa, and Natalie the southwest corner in Asia.
We only needed six points. Nadine race ahead furthest to five points, but then got stuck. I wiped out her fleets and Ksenia took out all but three of her cities. Even after doing that, she still had a good chance of winning the last point, as was gaining a coin every round and had two gold producing cities remaining, which gave her the chance to get the bonus point at the bottom of the Know-How tracks.
Bill built a few temples on the sea, so I wiped out all of his fleets, in the hopes of getting to conquer them. I got one, and gained my fifth point. I was one round away from winning myself before Natalie won; well, actually Ksenia wiped out my second temple, so I couldn't get my third temple right away anymore, which put me back to two rounds from winning (build ships, attack Bill's other temple).
Natalie managed to avoid nearly all confrontations, and she never attacked anyone.
All in all, a fun, fine, and close game. The genius is that it is not the conquest, but the points you need to win. So when you lose things, like cities and ships, you adjust your strategy to another path to victory; you don't lose points.
I highly recommend the game as a better alternative to Risk.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Abbagav Broke His Shoulder (Antike)
Plans sure have a way of changing.
Rachel was invited by the Beit Shemesh women's tefilah group to give a speech after Friday night services and a shiur at shalosh seudot (Sat evening meal). Services on Friday night were supposed to be at Abbagav's house, and Abbagav and family invited us for dinner afterward.
I invited my brother to come to Beit Shemesh this shabbat so that we could see them as well, and they could see Rachel before she leaves for OH. And their kids and my kids could see each other, as they haven't seen each other in a long time. Since my brother's family takes up a lot of space at my parent's house, Rachel and I needed to sleep at a neighbors. One of my first thoughts was family X.
That's the setup.
Sunday, we heard that Mr X's mother passed away. No problem as far as finding a place to sleep; we asked family Y.
Wednesday, My daughter Tal decided not to come for the weekend because 20 of her friends from around the country were getting together elsewhere this weekend.
At 2:00 on Friday, we got a call that Abbagav broke his shoulder in a bicycle accident (he'll get better, I'm sure, but right now he's in pain). No problem. Services and dinner invitation switched to family Z's house.
At 3:00 on Friday we got a call that my brother's son had a fever and the entire kit and kaboodle were staying home for shabbat after all. No problem. Called family Y and told them we're sleeping at my parent's house after all.
My parents had an empty house and lots of food. We would be finished too late to eat with them or for them to join us on Friday night dinner, but we convinced Abbagav's family to join us at my parents for lunch (they live two doors down from each other).
Gaming
I left my parents a copy of It's Alive; they hadn't received a copy yet. Maybe they'll take it out and play it, sometime.
I went back with Abbagav to his house after lunch to help take his mind off of his shoulder. Naturally I had a bag of games with me. I took out Antike. First play for him. It was a success.
As two players, we toyed with the right way to play, and ended up simply playing one nation each, with the pieces from two colors, until 14 points. Abbagav played Greece and built his temples close to his front, which proved to be a mistake. He built many more units and cities than I did, but I kept throwing units in his direction to threaten his temples, and that kept many more of his units pinned down for defense.
Meanwhile, as the Germanic tribes, I concentrated on Know-Hows, taking 6 of them first (6 points). By the end of the game, we both had complete sets of all Know-Hows (1 point). Add 10 cities (2 points), 14 seas (2 points), and 3 temples (1 point), and I was 1 point away from winning. Abbagav meanwhile had 2 Know-How points and 1 point for the complete set (3 points), 20 cities (4 points), 6 temples (2 points), and 14 seas (2 points). He was able to churn out three more temples, but I was able to built my 15th city and end the game.
He liked the game, but it's important to keep track of where your points are coming from and move toward that. And to remember that you don't lose points if you lose items (ships, temples, cities); you only lose the income and strength they bring to you.
Or, maybe I just won because his brain was fuzzed out from the painkillers.
Rachel was invited by the Beit Shemesh women's tefilah group to give a speech after Friday night services and a shiur at shalosh seudot (Sat evening meal). Services on Friday night were supposed to be at Abbagav's house, and Abbagav and family invited us for dinner afterward.
I invited my brother to come to Beit Shemesh this shabbat so that we could see them as well, and they could see Rachel before she leaves for OH. And their kids and my kids could see each other, as they haven't seen each other in a long time. Since my brother's family takes up a lot of space at my parent's house, Rachel and I needed to sleep at a neighbors. One of my first thoughts was family X.
That's the setup.
Sunday, we heard that Mr X's mother passed away. No problem as far as finding a place to sleep; we asked family Y.
Wednesday, My daughter Tal decided not to come for the weekend because 20 of her friends from around the country were getting together elsewhere this weekend.
At 2:00 on Friday, we got a call that Abbagav broke his shoulder in a bicycle accident (he'll get better, I'm sure, but right now he's in pain). No problem. Services and dinner invitation switched to family Z's house.
At 3:00 on Friday we got a call that my brother's son had a fever and the entire kit and kaboodle were staying home for shabbat after all. No problem. Called family Y and told them we're sleeping at my parent's house after all.
My parents had an empty house and lots of food. We would be finished too late to eat with them or for them to join us on Friday night dinner, but we convinced Abbagav's family to join us at my parents for lunch (they live two doors down from each other).
Gaming
I left my parents a copy of It's Alive; they hadn't received a copy yet. Maybe they'll take it out and play it, sometime.
I went back with Abbagav to his house after lunch to help take his mind off of his shoulder. Naturally I had a bag of games with me. I took out Antike. First play for him. It was a success.
As two players, we toyed with the right way to play, and ended up simply playing one nation each, with the pieces from two colors, until 14 points. Abbagav played Greece and built his temples close to his front, which proved to be a mistake. He built many more units and cities than I did, but I kept throwing units in his direction to threaten his temples, and that kept many more of his units pinned down for defense.
Meanwhile, as the Germanic tribes, I concentrated on Know-Hows, taking 6 of them first (6 points). By the end of the game, we both had complete sets of all Know-Hows (1 point). Add 10 cities (2 points), 14 seas (2 points), and 3 temples (1 point), and I was 1 point away from winning. Abbagav meanwhile had 2 Know-How points and 1 point for the complete set (3 points), 20 cities (4 points), 6 temples (2 points), and 14 seas (2 points). He was able to churn out three more temples, but I was able to built my 15th city and end the game.
He liked the game, but it's important to keep track of where your points are coming from and move toward that. And to remember that you don't lose points if you lose items (ships, temples, cities); you only lose the income and strength they bring to you.
Or, maybe I just won because his brain was fuzzed out from the painkillers.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Antike is Brilliant
Antike is, in my humble opinion, the next generation of game after both Risk (too much luck and too much conflict) and Civlization (too long and too had to catch up).
It's got no luck, but lots of chaos. It's long enough to feel really meaty. It has a bit too much conflict for me, but enough to satisfy nearly any conflict-interested player. And you don't have to have the biggest area to win.
I played it two-player with the dual-color/one-nation variant to 15 cards. It worked very well with starting players Greece and Romans. I was Greece and lost. I concentrated on the knowledges and first level in all the other areas. My opponent got first to Currency and Democracy, but I got first to every other knowledge.
He also expanded much greater that I did. I never got above 11 cities, while he had 16 by midgame and then hit 20 near end-game. I was one card ahead of him throughout the game. But at 12 cards, I finally ran out of steam. My opponent was only at 10 cards but was poised to crush my remaining two temples. From there it was a quick step to take the bonus knowledge card and then additional city or seas cards. I, on the other hand, had the possibility of maybe taking out one more of his temples, but was nowhere near any other cards. So I conceded.
If the card requirement was just one or two cards less, then my less expansionist/less confrontational strategy might have worked. It also didn't help that I accidentally bought Wheel in the early game when I explicityly meant to buy Sailing. When I went to use my Sailing, I found that I didn't have it. Oops.
This was my second game, my first two-player. Two-player Antike includes a lot of ship and legion kamikaze that doesn't happen in multi-player. I'm looking forward to more multi-player experiences. Maybe if the card requirement is reduced by one, or the defense power is boosted by 1, less-combat strategies could be serious possible paths to victory. As it is, I'm not sure that they're possible. Which means you have to be careful not to run out of steam.
Other
I played three games of It's Alive (one basic and two advanced) with my daughter and her friend, and lost them all. Still a great game.
I also taught my friend and his daighter Tichu. They are seriously the most difficult people to which to teach games; while very smart, they constantly interrupt. It took two rounds of play and they caught on well enough. Tichu is also still a great game.
It's got no luck, but lots of chaos. It's long enough to feel really meaty. It has a bit too much conflict for me, but enough to satisfy nearly any conflict-interested player. And you don't have to have the biggest area to win.
I played it two-player with the dual-color/one-nation variant to 15 cards. It worked very well with starting players Greece and Romans. I was Greece and lost. I concentrated on the knowledges and first level in all the other areas. My opponent got first to Currency and Democracy, but I got first to every other knowledge.
He also expanded much greater that I did. I never got above 11 cities, while he had 16 by midgame and then hit 20 near end-game. I was one card ahead of him throughout the game. But at 12 cards, I finally ran out of steam. My opponent was only at 10 cards but was poised to crush my remaining two temples. From there it was a quick step to take the bonus knowledge card and then additional city or seas cards. I, on the other hand, had the possibility of maybe taking out one more of his temples, but was nowhere near any other cards. So I conceded.
If the card requirement was just one or two cards less, then my less expansionist/less confrontational strategy might have worked. It also didn't help that I accidentally bought Wheel in the early game when I explicityly meant to buy Sailing. When I went to use my Sailing, I found that I didn't have it. Oops.
This was my second game, my first two-player. Two-player Antike includes a lot of ship and legion kamikaze that doesn't happen in multi-player. I'm looking forward to more multi-player experiences. Maybe if the card requirement is reduced by one, or the defense power is boosted by 1, less-combat strategies could be serious possible paths to victory. As it is, I'm not sure that they're possible. Which means you have to be careful not to run out of steam.
Other
I played three games of It's Alive (one basic and two advanced) with my daughter and her friend, and lost them all. Still a great game.
I also taught my friend and his daighter Tichu. They are seriously the most difficult people to which to teach games; while very smart, they constantly interrupt. It took two rounds of play and they caught on well enough. Tichu is also still a great game.
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