We started with a game of Glory to Rome, where Lewis had an unstoppable free-energy powered VP engine and easily trounced us all.....so that wasn't fun.
Then, Lewis craved Tichu, which we were all interested in (it's one of my recent acquisitions), but I had a slightly stronger interest in the new tile-laying game, Monastery. Joseph suggested playing this first before Tichu (which never happened...).
So in Monastery, players represent a group of Monks of a color, that is trying to build a monastery with different buildings, gardens, paths, fields and such around a large central Abbey. Players also gain points for praying in certain buildings, for working in toil buildings, and studying in study buildings. These points are then used to buy/recruit more monks to your team, AND buy letters which are needed to complete the last sentence of the "Our Father" in latin. Yes, you read it right. Needless to say, I was intrigued when I heard the very unique theme. So these letters then become VP's. Add a dash of screw-your-neighbor mechanics, and a bit of luck, and you basically got it. We played one game that consisted of literally almost 2 rounds. Everyone had a taste of the mechanics, and unanimously decided to restart the game: many had made slight mistakes that were just hard to see if you'd never played before. The second game went well into the third quarter, but we had to end it prematurely because Joseph had to leave. So JD and Lewis were feeling enlightened and blessed and twisted my arm into playing a 3 player game of this. It went by super quick (after all, it was technically our third go with the game). It's amazing how the board changes with each game. By no means SUPER deep, but it's full of interesting decisions, screwage, and luck to keep me interested. The theme and mechanics work REALLY well together.
Then Lewis left, and JD and I finally got to play a game of Soccer Tactics World. JD's team just pummelled my guys to the ground with a score of 3-0 after two 30 min halves. My strikers had various chances for the goal, but it just wasn't their night. I demand a rematch.
Once again, it was a great night of gaming. See ya next week at Coffee culture. Joseph, I'll bring Power Grid.
9 comments:
Was blissfully ignorant of Monastery yesterday.
Now I have to have it.
Thanks Rob.
Monastery is a cool, fascinating game just the way it is.
But, if we ever get bored of it, we can try the Vow of Silence variant, where players can only talk during one of the phases.
I wonder what that would be like...if you can't talk then we would use hand signals. Hand signals to say its your turn(a friendly tap or punch depending on a players mood)...hand signals to say I don't like what you just did.
But...wait! what am I talking about...Robert never plays a game enough times in a row to get tired of it. hehe.
Way to go Rob, keep the new games coming!
I checked the BGG forums for answers to some of our monastery questions. I found the thread about the brewery, but am still not convinced that a praying monk can use the effects of the building. The rules state that only a standing monk or a monk that is about to pray can use the icon effect. The brewhouse IS an icon tile, ergo I disagree with the poster in that particular thread.
I also saw someone mention that you can only set ONE monk to pray each round. I don't have a copy of the rules so I don't know if this is accurate but I believe we played that wrong. Of course this would negat my brilliant praying strategy.
Anyway, I enjoyed it.I picked up a couple of new games last night (Knights, Cleopatra and the Society of Architects, High Bohn Plus, and Catan Dice). I also had my sights set on Cave Men and Cash N Guns but decided to try and keep it cheap.
Jeff, I thought of you when I played this game. It reminded me of y'all's (Amy's and yours) middle age, rennaissancy, resource gathering, building games (La Citta, Keythedral, etc).
JosephL LOL! I don't think I'll be getting bored of it any time soon, specially because EVERY game is guaranteed to be different because "the board" you create with the tiles, will always be different. But the Vow of Silence would keep interruptions and negotiations to a minimum (and sort of adds to the theme to boot).
keep the new games coming!
Me and this other guy from San Antonio (Ben) were usually the guys who would splurge on a regular basis on the new stuff, and I don't think that will ever change. As long as I can keep the size of my collection under control (by selling a few oldies/crappies here and there on the BGG marketplace), we are cool.
JD:
AAAAAAARGH!!!!! I get extremely annoyed when I mess up a rule. That would have changed the last few rounds for all of us. I'll never forget now.
AND, I'll go ahead and just ask the designer about the Brewhouse. I do think it is an exception the the rule you mention since "Icon Building" powers usually trigger AND are resolved during the scoring phase. The Brewhouse only comes to effect in Service and Night rounds, not in the scoring phase.
JD (2): Where did you get those games? I'm the Dice Despot...I wouldn't mind trying Catan. High Bohn gives you great Bohn for your buck (bu dum pish!). It has like 4 expansions in one. I'll play it any day. Never played Knights or Cleopatra (which sounds interesting)
I got the games from thoughthammer.com. I had a coupon and wanted to get some plane-friendly games for traveling. I think the dice games will work well although Knights also involves cards so we will see.
I have been really fond of dice games lately. I played another game of WOW the other day and enjoy the multitudes of dice that it has. I saw Knights while browsing for new games and thought it sounded a lot like To Court the King with a little more player interaction (I am looking forward to that one). I have been playing Bohnanza a lot lately with my family so I am interested in all the expansions. Cleopatra was on clearance for $25 so I picked that one up as a bonus.
I guess I won't be convinced on the brewhouse until you hear back from the designer (guess I'm just stubborn).
My only plane-friendly game is Ingenious (for 2 players), and it works well. I also recommend micropul, a free print and play on BGG, but it's another abstract.
I'm emailing the Ragnar Brothers as we "speak"...
BTW Jeff, I also recommend Canalmania (Ragnar Brothers too).
dice games...I'm not a big fan of Knights. I have the new Catan dice game now but I have not downloaded the updated map from the Geek yet.
Rob, Great job on the blog's title banner!
Cleopatra is a pretty neat game, I played it once at OwlCon.
Joseph: Yes, the banner is just some Photoshopping that I did. The name was the best I could come up with in the 5 minutes that it took me to create the blog on blogspot.com.
All monks: SO I have an answer, and it is the answer that makes sense. JD, your stubborn ways will get you far. The BGG post is what confused me. So basically, like any tile with an icon (ie special power), you need a working (ie standing) monk that will keep working throughout the scoring phase, or is about to pray on the scoring phase, to trigger the ability. Since the Brewhouse's ability only comes into effect in the Service and Night rounds (which are rounds were you can't put a monk to pray), a monk has to be working there for the effect to be triggered. A praying monk from a previous turn, never triggers a special power. Couldn't be more clear.
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