After Action Report – Strategic & Adventure Game Association @ El Toro Public Library, October 12, 2013

There was a good turnout for the Strategic and Adventure Game Association event at the El Toro Library There were 15 people at the event and four games were being played at any given time.  There were no new people at the event but a number of newer faces from recent events returned which is always good to see.

I was able to play three games at the event.

The first was Alhambra.  In Alhambra players are trying to build the best palace complex by acquiring buildings that enhance increase its value.  The more expensive the building the more versatility it has in the way of being able to build more additions to the complex.

At the beginning of the game the players start with a single fountain tile that all buildings that are build must have a path to or they may not be placed, and 20 – 28 coins to be able to purchase buildings with.  Coins come in denominations of 1 – 9 in one of four different currencies.  There are four different buildings that will be up for sale during each players turn, the currency that is used to purchase the building is dependent on where it is placed in the market. 

The player may perform one of three actions during their turn.  They can purchase a building, take more coins, or take a tile from their reserve / redesign their palace complex.  If they purchase a building for the exact amount during their turn they may take an additional action during their turn.

There are three scoring rounds during the game.  During each scoring round the player with the most of one of the types of building scores they points for that type of building.  In the first scoring round, only the player with the most buildings of a type gets the points.  In the second round the players that have the most and second most score points for the type of building.  In the third round the top three players get points.  In addition each player scores a point per segment for their longest wall.

This was a teaching game for me.  Those that have read my after action reports in the past know that in a teaching game, I focus more on if the other players are understanding the game and helping them make sound decisions whether it affects my position or not.

I started out with a decent amount of money but it was all in higher denominations so through most of the game, I was struggling to pay for things with exact change to be able to get extra actions.  Getting the extra actions is usually what helps people win the game because they are able to get more building or collect more cash during each turn.  I was also running into problems with not having a lot of diversity in types of buildings.  It was not a play on my part it was just that when I had enough money to buy a building it would be of a type I already had.  As a result during each scoring round, I was only getting top scores on one or two types of buildings which was not enough to give me a good score.  I ended the game in third place out of three players.

In the next two games I fared much better.

Next up was The Hanging Gardens.  The theme in the Hanging Gardens is that the players are architects in ancient Babylonia that are trying to design the best monument in the city.  As they complete areas of their monuments, they are given rewards that are worth victory points.  The more of any type of tile a player can get the more victory points the tile is worth. 

It is a game that has tile placement and set collection elements in it.  The players take turns adding tiles which are actually cards divided into six sections.  1 – 3 of the sections will have features on them that the player needs to combine in groups of 3 or more sections.  Once a player gets a large enough group of tiles together, he can then earn tiles that score points depending on the number of similar tiles he collects.  The larger the section the player can build before scoring it the more options the player will have in scoring tiles.  The player must then block one of the spaces in the section they scored with a temple.  This space is blocked and cannot be covered with a new card.

I started the game strong and was able to keep on going.  The most important thing in the game is to make sure that you are getting as many scoring tiles as possible.  The best way to do that is to be able to complete a six or greater area of a type before they score it, they can get two tiles when they do score it.  You also want to spread out your play area as much as possible so that when you start to reuse your temples, you leave open an area that can be scored again if you can get the right card the next turn.  If you can get this engine going you are almost guaranteed to win.  I was able to do just that and won the game.

The final game of the day was a new game for me called Pyramidion.   In Pyramidion the player are foremen that are trying to put together resources that need to be shipped to the construction sites at Cheops.  There are eight areas that the players need to compete over during each turn.  The players in turn order put an area up for auction.  Then the players use a set of nine cards that they have to compete in 3 different areas for dominance.  The player that has the most points over the minimum necessary to compete wins in that area and gets resources.  The first area you get any resources there outright, the second you are able to take a resource of your choice from the area in the following turn after production occurs.  In the third are you are able to take a resource from the bank that the area produces during the shipping phase.  The trick is that you have only the nine cards to use during the entire turn during which each player puts up two areas for auction so you need to be careful where you choose to fight for resources.  Players gain victory points by sending shipments to Cheops on a barge.  Each barge is worth 1 – 5 victory points.  The more complex the demand the higher the victory point reward is.  After the shipping phase, the player who has the most victory points once someone reaches 12 points wins the game.

During the first turn the road to victory was not clear to me so I was competing for as many spaces as possible and not really focused on what items were the most important to get to capture barges.   As a result all I had was a few of a variety of different resources that would not get me any barge and end the round with no victory points.

In the second turn the way to win the game clicked into place in my head.  I figured out that I really should focus on just getting the resources I needed to complete the shipping demands and only bid for them.  This limited me to only caring about three areas during the turn.  I was able to get what I needed out of each auction I participated in and passed on the rest.  Armed with a bunch of resources, I was able to get two barges and was tied for first place at the end of the round.

I did the same thing in the third round and was able to get three barges and win the game.

My results for this event are:

Game	No. of Plays	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	Avg.
Alhambra	1	-	-	1	-	-	-	-		3.00
The Hanging Gardens	1	1	-	-	-					1.00
Pyramidion	1	1	-	-	-	-	-			1.00
Totals	3	2	-	1	-	-	-		-	1.67

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