Lost Carnival at the Whitechapel Crossroads
I always have a good time at game night, but this week seemed especially fun, both because I got to introduce a few new games to the guys there and because I actually played back-to-back sessions of one of my favorite new games. We had communicated some through the week in our guild about what to play, so as soon as I got there, I got ready and set up...
Carnival [BGG]
If you're plugged into this site, BGG, or almost anywhere else in the online boardgaming community, you've already heard about Carnival. But most of the guys at game night still hadn't had a chance to actually play it. Shawn had already backed the Kickstarter project, but also wanted to see it in person, so he and I were joined by Tom and Keith to try a 4-player game.
Shawn probably jumped out to the biggest lead early on, but it was close, and due to lots of action blocking in the late game, Tom actually came out on top. The only real weakness I see with the current rules to Carnival is this possibility of some "Kill Doctor Lucky Syndrome" to creep in at the end of a 4- (and maybe 3-) player game. But I made a suggestion to Cherilyn and Chris about it, so hopefully it will be smoothed out by production time.
Time: 47 minutes
Score: Tom* 4, Shawn* 3, Norton 3, Keith* 2
Ratings: Tom 7.5, Shawn 7.5, Norton 8, Keith 7
Again, if you're interested in supporting Carnival and Dice Hate Me Games on Kickstarter (and preordering the game, of course), check it out here. Oh, and you can, of course, read my full review of it for lots more information...
Crossroads [BGG]
After hearing a little about this game on BGG, I contacted the company and they sent me a review copy to try out. Crossroads is a light, cooperative family game in which you play out various stories from the Bible. Gwen and I had tried out two of the four stories included in the game over the weekend (we did the ones about Deborah and David & Goliath), so Keith and Tom joined me to play through the one about the Seven Seals.
The game is very quick, and at first it always feels like there's no real challenge at all. But almost every time I've played, by the end of the game, things get a lot closer and you feel the pressure that it may not work out. In this session, we got down to having only 2 seals left before achieving our goal, and I think we all had a pretty good time of it.
Time: 21 minutes
Score: The Travellers (Keith*, Tom* & Norton) - Win; The Seven Seals - Lose
Ratings: Keith 7, Tom 7, Norton 7
Crossroads has some random elements in it, but each player has a few "prayers" that you can use once per game to get some level of control/manipulation that you can use to get things done and mitigate and bad luck you might have. And so far, I've found it to be a nice, light cooperative game that is probably best for families. It's pretty abstract, but each story has its own little tweaks to the way you play, so the Biblical theme comes through nicely. And while I'm certainly a little baised (being a Christian), I'd also say that it doesn't come off as "preachy" or anything, if you're concerned about that. I plan on writing a full review soon, though, so check back if you might be interested in it.
Letters from Whitechapel [BGG]
After the complete surprise last week in how amazing Letters from Whitechapel turned out to be, I and a few others definitely wanted to get it back to the table. I wanted to see things from the other side of the table as an investigator, so Keith was happy to try out the role of Jack the Ripper. He and I were also joined by three new players (Chris, Tom, and Ian) helping me out on the investigator side.
In our first game of the evening (yes, we played more than one), we jumped all over Keith right from the get-go. He didn't use his special movements early enough, so we literally discovered every single location he had been to, and even though he tried to slip past using a carriage at the end, I made a educated guess about where he was (since it's where I would have gone as Jack) and arrested him on the very first freaking night!
Since that game only took 22 minutes, most of us were ready to set back up and try it again immediately. Keith wanted a chance to redeem himself, and Josh jumped in to take Tom's place (who went off to play a game of Homesteaders). On the first night, Keith did this really crazy and ultimately cool double-back move that had us completely flummoxed and searching in the whole wrong place. Near the end of the night, we sort of had a clue that we were looking in the wrong place, so I started heading around to the other locations he could have gone to, but overshot and never really picked up any new clues. We had a general idead of which half of the board he was on, but that's about as good as wel got.
On night 2, though, we were back on him like white on rice. He sort of evaded us for a few turns using some special moves, but then we picked up on a clue or two and were totally able to reconstruct his path within a few more moves. He led us on a chase across the board, but actually made a mistake at one point that made it impossible for him to get home before running out of time. It didn't matter anyway, however, because we eventually ferretted him out and made the arrest!
Time: 22 and 84 minutes
Game 1: Investigators (Chris*, Tom*, Ian* & Norton) - Win (on night 1); Jack (Keith) - Lose
Game 2: Investigators (Chris, Josh*, Ian & Norton) - Win (on night 2); Jack (Keith) - Lose
Ratings: Chris 8.5, Tom 7, Ian 9, Josh 9, Norton 9, Keith 9
Okay now, let me be clear that I think Letters from Whitechapel is just freaking awesome! While I think it might have some potential to be a little dry, these last 3 games we've played at game night have been nothing but tense, involved, and exciting. I've had a great time on both sides of the table with it, and have found that clearly either side can win (but as of now, I have no proof that I can be beaten
). I'm a little worried that it could get long if the investigators get too slow and analysey paralysey (since we were at 84 minutes at the end of night 2), but then again, I think that a good Jack is going to have at least one night where he is really close to his home and the night ends quickly, so I doubt it would run much over 2 hours regardless.
It's definitely everygthing that I wanted or really even hoped it would be, and I definitely want to keep playing!
Lost Worlds [BGG]
It was already something like midnight, but I really wanted to get in a few games of Lost Worlds (our Game of the Month!, if you'll remember). I had a good run, actually, beating Keith using the chick with a stick and then Kenny with both an over-compensating dwarf and a shiny, metal man.
Time: 14, 9 & 22 minutes (for best-of-3 matches)
Game 1: Norton (Woman w/ Quarterstaff) - 2 wins, Keith (Man w/ chainmail, sword & shield) - 0 wins
Game 2: Norton (Dwarf w/ 2-handed axe) - 2 wins, Kenny (Man w/ shortsword & dagger) - 0 wins
Game 3: Norton (Man in Plate w/ sword & shield) - 2 wins, Kenny (Gargoyle w/ scimitar) - 1 win
Ratings: Norton 8, Kenny 10, Keith ?
I bashed Keith's shield to bits before beating him about the head and neck...
It's cool. Play it if you get the chance.
Other Games Played
7 Wonders
Time: 15 minutes
Score: Matt 72, Ian 49, Brad 48
Ratings: ???
Ascension
Time: 45 and ?? minutes
Game 1: Matt* 75, James 66, Stacy 66, Chris 63
Game 2: Shawn 79, Josh 74, Alton 73, Sean 65, Tom 60
Ratings: Chris 10, Shawn 10, Josh 9, Alton 8.5, Sean 10, Tom 8
Carcassonne
Time: 35 minutes
Score: Shawn 127, Alton 97
Ratings: Shawn 8, Alton 10
Forbidden Island
Time: 25 minutes
Score: Forbidden Island - Win; Explorers (Yarden*, Steve, Ken & Tim*) - Lose
Ratings: Yarden 8, Steve 7, Ken 8, Tim 7
Homesteaders
Time: 101 minutes
Score: Alton 74, Chip 62, Ken 61, Tom 25,
Ratings: Tom 9, Alton 9.5, Chip 9, Ken 9
The Kaiser's Pirates
Time: 100 minutes
Score: Josh 29, Stacy* 48, Ken 51, Chip* 69
Ratings: Josh 8, Stacy 7, Ken 7, Chip 7
Lost Worlds
Time: 15 minutes
Score: Stacy (Man in Plate w/ sword & shield) - 2 wins, Chris (Woman w/ quarterstaff) - 0 wins
Ratings: Chris 8.5
No Thanks!
Time: 15 minutes
Score: Ken 13, Steve 21, Keith 30, Yarden 46, Tim 49
Ratings: Ken 9, Steve 8, Keith 7, Yarden 10, Tim 10
Notre Dame
Time: 47 minutes
Score: James 56, Matt* 47, Chris 46, Stacy* 27
Ratings: James 8, Matt 7, Chris 8.5, Stacy 8
Olympos
Time: 62 minutes
Score: Sceadeau* 61, Chip* 37, Ian* 37, Brett* 36
Ratings: Sceadeau 6, Chip 6, Ian 7
Parade
Time: 20 minutes
Score: Yarden* 2, Steve 8, Keith 15, Tim* 17, Ken 30
Ratings: Yarden 10, Steve 8, Keith 7, Tim 7, Ken 7.5
Race for the Galaxy
Time: 24, 25 & 27 minutes
Game 1: James 66, Chris 55, Alton 34
Game 2: Chris 47, James 45, Alton 43
Game 3: James 51, Alton 47, Chris 30
Ratings: All 10's!
Roll Through the Ages
Time: 25 minutes
Score: Keith* 24, Alton 24
Ratings: Keith 7, Alton 8
Zombie Dice
Time: ??
Score: Steve 13, Tim* 10, Ken 9, Yarden* 6, Tom 1, Keith* 0
Ratings: Steve 7, Tim 7, Ken 7, Yarden 6, Tom 7, Keith 6
Zombie Fluxx
Time: ??
Game 1: Alton - Win; Sean*, Josh* & Shawn - Lose
Game 2: Shawn - Win; Sean, Alton & Josh - Lose
Ratings: Alton 7, Sean 6, Josh 7, Shawn 8
* First play for that Person
Posted by Chris Norwood at 8/23/2011 3:37 PM 
Categories: Game of the month, Gaming Weblog, Hypermind BoardGamers
Tags: Carnival Letters from Whitechapel Lost Worlds Crossroads
Categories: Game of the month, Gaming Weblog, Hypermind BoardGamers
Tags: Carnival Letters from Whitechapel Lost Worlds Crossroads
Actually my Homesteaders score was 25 not 125.
I had a good time that week. I was wanting to play Ascension and dropped into one right to start. I didn't do so well but I'm learning the game and had fun. I was really glad to get a play of Carnival. I've been wanting to play it for a while and finally got to see it in action. And I won so that is good too. Chris had been raving about Whitechapel so I wanted to see what all his hubbub was about. It was very fun and thinky. I really enjoyed it and put it on my buy list. I wanted to play a game with Alton. We were going to play Carson City but Chip and Kenny wanted to play Homesteaders. Homesteaders is always fun even though I still haven't grasped it yet. We should make it a game of the month. Crossroads was fun and I think I will probably pick it up for the family.
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Well dang, Tom. I thought you had really given them a shellacking! I don't know if that was my mistake or if something was wrong on the report sheet (I'll check that out when I get the chance)...
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Hey Chris, I've never understood the hype about Scotland Yard and always found it mind-numbingly boring. How does 'Whitechapel' compare? I'm worried I may have an aversion to secret movement games (another reason I've stayed away from Mr. Jack).
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I've played both Whitechapel and Fury of Dracula, so I could compare those two, but surprisingly enough, I've never actually had the chance to play Scotland Yard. We were talking last night about maybe making Whitechapel our Game of the Month! for October, though, and I'll certainly write a review of it sometime, so maybe you can get what you're looking for in commentary from that.
I'd love to play Scotland Yard and make the comparison, though, if someone wants to show it to me...
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Chris - great wrap-up, as usual. I'm glad you guys enjoyed Carnival, and since I've seen that you've played it more since then, are still enjoying it! As for the "Syndrome," we have seen little evidence of it in a 3-player game, so we believe that the 3-player experience continues to be one of the sweet spots for individual play. We are currently debating on making Team Carnival the "official" 4-player method, with individual play and the Norton Maneuver as the advanced variant. If we hold tournaments at Origins or other events, 2- player, 3-player individual and Team Carnival 4-player will be the official brackets, anyway.
I seriously need to play Letters from Whitechapel. I should have bought it months ago!
I also need Lost Worlds. Seriously.
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Yeah, I actually tried out the "Norton Maneuver" variant with Gwen the other night... and she used it to beat me. Yet again. We ran out of time last night at game night to try out the Team variant, but I'll do that as well as soon as I can.
And I'll gladly play Letters from Whitechapel almost any time. I was a little hesitant to invest in it initially, but gladly let my love of Fury of Dracula prompt me to give it a try. Now, I'm having a tough time deciding which one I like more!
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Tell you what - you break out Letters for me sometime soon, and I promise not to call it the "Norton Maneuver" in the variants section.
Also, I've been trying to pick up a copy of Scotland Yard for awhile, so if I do we'll set a deduction day and check out the differences.
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I say "cool!" to both of these statements.
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I have a lot to be embarrassed about in my efforts as Jack the Ripper in Letters from Whitechapel. It was still a lot of fun.
In the first game I had this idea that I would delay using the special moves till the net started to close in then go whipping past them in a series of special moves that would leave them clueless about where my hideout was. Ha! All of a sudden they were all over me in depth and Chris read my “unexpected move” like a book (something he continued to do repeatedly later in Lost Worlds).
The first night of the second game want well. A deliberate move and backtrack then following a detective for a few moves worked very well. I went undetected for about half a dozen moves. My hideout location was very secure. For the second night I choose to strike at the location that was the closest to my hideout. I think it was 6 or 7 moves away. My idea was a quick rush home leaving little time to gather clues. Ian’s table talk about where I might be heading was right on target and I blinked, flinched, got spooked, and completely abandoned that strategy. I made my first 6 moves in such a way as to never be in range of being arrested. However, that meant going the long way around on a track that had little flexibility. Even with only a partial path known through clues, table talk by the detectives, particularly Ian again, had them guessing correctly where they would find clues while they were two moves away from confirmation.
One thing that differed in this group of detectives was that they were much more willing to attempt arrest early in the game. With our group of detectives going after Chris in the previous game were more concerned about not giving up clue attempts for arrest attempts early in the game as we tried to maximize our information about the location of his hideout for use later in the game. I don’t remember making any arrest attempts in the first two nights.
This second game did not start to run long because the detective team suffered any significant analysis paralysis. The detective players were prompt and decisive. It took time because of the number of moves. I took all, or nearly all, of the time track on the first night and was headed for the entire time track on the second night. I believe the total number of detective rounds in the second game was about the same as our entire previous four night game chasing you.
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I wouldn't say there's any reason for you to be embarrassed about your performance. If anything, these games taught me that investigators who really understand the game can do a very effective job of locating Jack, and then the final steps of arresting him come down to this really cool little head game of trying to guess where exactly he is. And while I knew how incredibly tense and exciting it was to play as Jack, I was very pleased with the experience of being an investigator as well.
It definitely makes me want to try out Jack again now that we have a number of people who have some experience with being investigators, just to see if I could be as effective as I was last time.
And yeah, I guess you're right about how many moves you made in each night. I'd agree that we weren't really prone to analysis paralysis, but we did do a good deal of strategizing, planning, and proposing possible movements for you that made us at least deliberate in our actions, and maybe at times even a little methodical. But it worked out and the game was still under 90 minutes, so there's nothing really to complain about, is there?
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