Games Played: Merchants of Amsterdam, 6 Nimmt!
Gamers: Josh, Chip, Mark, Lewis, Eric
Thanks to Mark for hosting, thanks to Lewis for driving.
MERCHANTS OF AMSTERDAM (1:20 + 0:20 rules)
Mark: 1,180
Josh: 1,140
Chip: 1,060
Lewis: 820
Eric: 670
I had requested this game, having played it once before, to cement my opinion of it. Josh brought his copy and, after explaining the rules, we began.
I remember that people tended to over-bid the last time I played, and this was certainly the case at the start of the game. I believe the first auction went to Eric for 240,000 (or something similar). I think I got most of my auctions at the bargain price of 180,000 or less, but, of course, that means I didn't win many auctions.
Early in the game almost everyone (except for Josh and I) took the loan token when it was offered. I don't think this benefited any of them, with possible exception of Eric, who was cash-poor after his first auction. It seems that the loans only serve to punish new players.
I believe a good card distribution strategy at the start of the game is to hold out for the 3 commodities card, which seems better then the others. Almost any card will help you when you are just starting out, so there's little fear of getting stuck with a useless card.
Ideally, one would advance equally on all three fronts: commodities, global trade centers, and warehouses in Amsterdam. If you were to sacrifice one in order to concentrate on the others, I would give up the global trade centers. They are finicky at best, as you may end up taking a commodity that you don't particularly want in order to have a presence in that area. Also, the commodities bonus is an extra warehouse, not an extra trade center.
So, next time I play, I'll hope that I remember to not take the loan, hold out early for 3x commodities card, and ignore the trade centers completely. And I would like to play again. I don't think this will make it to my purchase list as long as Josh is willing to bring his copy to SOG sessions.
6 NIMMT! (0:45)
Chip: 36
Josh: 57
Lewis: 61
Mark: 69
Eric: 77
We discussed playing Bohnanza, which I was initially in favor of, but we decided to play something quicker to end the night. 6 Nimmt! is something of a staple at SOG, we've played it more then any other game.
I've only played it with exactly players once before, and it struck me as a bad number of people to play with. Once most of the four piles are dead or unplayable, each round plays exactly the same: The player with the lowest card takes a stack, and everyone else plays on that stack, leaving the board exactly as it was before the round began. I noticed that this was the case in the last 3 or 4 tricks during a few of the rounds.
In the last round in particular, I was nervously holding onto the 3 (I believe the 1 had already been played). During the last trick, however, Mark played the 2, saving me from taking any cards that round.
posted by FlyingSheep @ 10:02 AM
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