Ok, wasn’t inspired to write this at all since no one took the pictures despite waving around humongous cameras. Proves that size does not matter unless you use it. I’m talking about you, Jun Hao and Tai Yong. We need more cam-whores like Alvin.
Enough said, this year Langkawi trip saw Jun Hao and Hooi Teng did an early morning drive to Bangsar where they meet me and we go together in my car to Kuala Kedah. Hooi Teng was a sport and kept me awake driving most of the way as we chatted about his job and my part time obsession: finance and economics. It ended with him wanting to borrow my books: Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham and the Snowball, the biography of Warren Buffet. Jun Hao also joined in the discussion about us getting older as I complain about my air in my stomach and Hooi Teng about his weakening liver.
We reached Kuala Kedah at about 10.30 and we had to wait for Tai Yong and spouse (they had driven up to Penang the night before) as well as Tyng Ruey, Kong Eng, Teng Hock and spouse coming from Penang. Same old lame excuse about Malaysian timing and delays saw them arriving late and neglected to tell us about the cheap parking at the mosque. Could have saved us a pretty penny there.
Jun Hao did the car booking and it turned out there were a shortage of cars due to school holidays. Ended up paying RM70 for an Iswara and RM120 for a new Saga. We took the ferry across, took the cars and off we go. First order of the day is to lunch in town then liquor shopping. Bought some Camus and Green Label but as we can see later, both sorta flopped and was left unfinished.
We drove to the hotel and due to some leaky memory, ended up doing some wrong turning before finally settling in Hotel Langkasuka. We took our room keys, rested a bit and then went to the pool to swim. Then it started raining. But since we were wet, we didn’t care much and kept swimming. The next few days would prove to be on the wet side as well.
Night time we went to have dinner at a place we went before on our last trip called Fat Mama’s Place, just off the end of Pantai Cenang. Had a nice dinner and we were wondering why there were no tourist as it was crowded the last time. According to the owner, that day was a Saturday and most tourist heads for Kuah Town as there is a night market there every Saturday. Oh. Which is all good since we had the whole place to ourselves.
Later we head back to the hotel and saw the start of our drinking session. True to my form, I took everyone through two games of Bang!, a game of Wits and Wagers and a game of Heck Meck. The first night was telling on our age and endurance as some of us went to bed early. All the while people were complaining about the liquor being too smooth or some such like nonsense and did not get to finish the bottle. Bullshit, we were getting older and I think our liquor tolerance has went down.
The next morning saw our usual breakfast of Milo, Maggi Cup Noodles, Tuna and Bread. Not a bad spread. We head towards the beach soon after. After dipping in the ocean, the guys head off to foot/beachball while I tried my hand at a sand castle. Tragedy struck as Tai Yong’s spouse put her foot wrong and the ball smashed her toenail. ladies and gentleman, sports is dangerous. We had to cut short our beach activities as we patch up Tai Yong’s wife’s toenail.
Later we took to town to have KFC for lunch and to send off Tai Yong and his wife as they had to be back in KL for work. We went back to hotel, swim a round a bit and then went out to have dinner at a Malay Restaurant. We wanted to have ikan bakar but ended up calling ikan masak instead.
The night is harsh again on us as we again felt our age and we struggled to stay up late. Only me, Jun Hao and Hooi Teng stayed up late this time as we discuss life, the universe and everything, including faith and religion. Heavy stuff, I’m sure only Larry would have appreciated staying late by then. Oh, and this is when I profess my undying hate for alchohol in how it taste bad and makes you feel bad. No redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Next morning saw us taking breakfast at the hotel cafe but it is safe to say all of us would have prefered the Maggi Cup Noodle then. We left for Kuah Town, take the ferry back, took lunch at Alor Setar and then head back home.
All in all a pretty relaxing and by the book holiday with no fuss and all kicking back in contentment mode.
Last night we played two rounds of Bang! and a game of Endeavor. As per my man blownfreaks’ request, we let lose ourselves a little and go all gun crazy in Bang!. First round saw David as the clueless new Sheriff and 6 other supposed deputies aiding him. I show my true colours early and jack208 followed suit immediately. With both of us gunning the Sheriff at range 1, there was nought the real deputies can do but to see their beloved Sheriff go down in a hail of close proximity bullets.
The second round saw crabzai as the Sheriff and we played the Dodge City characters to mix things up a little. Outlaw blownfreaks revealed his hand too early as he responded to the Sheriff’s duel of loyalty. blownfreaks, you do not respond to a Sheriff’s duel, just bite the bullet, bide your time and shoot her when her back is turned! Next, outlaw David bought the dust as he succumbed to Renegade jack208’s agressive demonstration of his loyalty to the Sheriff.
With two Outlaws down, the third Outlaw went into hiding and the remaining survivors played a game of “Will the real deputies please stand up”. waiyan the deputy got offed unfortunately by trigger happy jack208 as he mercilessly demonsrated his loyalty to the Sheriff by gunning down dubious suspects accused by the dead Outlaw blownfreaks.
With the dead Outlaw blownfreaks throwing red herrings left right and centre, Sheriff crabzai gunned her own deputy ayheng even as Renegade jack208 and Outlaw rhyen silently dueled each other, hoping to off the other before the Sheriff wise up.
With his ability to trade hardware for actions, Outlaw rhyen was able to gun down Renegade jack208 and a weakened Deputy ayheng. But with the Sheriff in good health, even the wily Outlaw rhyen went down soon after.
One thing I learned from this game time and time again is that: When everyone put their mind to it, everybody can be a Great Big liar! ![Innocent [innocent]](http://boardgamecafe.net/community/emoticons/innocent.gif)
Next we played Endeavor. This time, I focused on my effort to get level 5 Politics at game end and I came out doing pretty well. I understand now what jack208 meant when he mentioned that the game has more tactical considerations than a long term strategy. There are no long term setup combos to be pulled off that will leave your opponents in the dust. The frequent board changes require constant tactical adjustments to react to your opponents’ moves. The only long term strategic moves that might have the potential to come back and bite you are the building choices that you do each turn. The buildings’ abilities will determine the options that are available to you. However, I have not found the combo that will guarantee ultimate victory.
Edit: Added some strategy thoughts:-
In the last game (3rd game), I did not use Slavery to ‘jump start’ my empire and as I recall, neither did jack208 in the game before the last (2nd game). Both times, we did well without Slavery. Which calls into question for me whether Slavery is a necessary evil to win the game.
Another thing I also noticed is that I did not get to the last tier of building without Slavery. So it might be (or not) that the final tier of building is not necessary to win the game.
Last thing I noticed is that, I had a surplus of colonists in my last game and I found using the ‘war’ action very handy. In fact, I seem to recall that rhyen had lots of ‘war’ action in the 2nd game where he did well. So war, despite ‘costing’ 3 colonist, can be (or not) necessary to win the game.
There are lots of little things like these that makes one feel that the game is ‘balanced’. There are no obvious game killers. Which of course is interesting as it means the game is either ‘unsolvable’ or at least has difficult choices to make.
One thing I do recommend though, is to watch the politics track. They might not mean much in the beginning but they do mean the difference between ‘being in contention’ and ‘out of league’ when counting victory points. Regardless of what happens to the other tracks, Politics must be maximised. And corollary to that political cards must be maximised as well, don’t draw less than your max, and don’t keep too many level 2 or 3 political cards. Try to grab as many 4s and 5s as possible. Level 5s though are sometimes double edged swords as they give pure victory points without contributing to your tracks.
So yah, as a general strategy guide, try to hit those level 3 and 4 buildings with their double actions or flexible actions. Balance your culture and economy to ensure you have enough colonist but not too much until you have no more actions. Hit politics when necessary to acquire cards and maximise it at game end. Aim for level 4 or 5 political cards to ensure healthy score. The detailed strategy of which region to dominate, which buildings to get, though depends on your opponents actions. These are tactical considerations without any easy answers.
Just taking some time out to sing the praises of a Heng’s Family Sunday Morning breakfast ritual: Soya Milk Tong Yuen!
The name says it all: Soya Milk with Tong Yuen
First Tong Yuen looks like red bean - yum.
Second Tong Yuen looks like sesame seeds - yum yum.
last Tong Yuen looks like peanuts - yum yum yum!