- \n
- <\/a>Fische Fluppen Frikadellen<\/a><\/b>
![\"Fische](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/fischefluppen_t.jpg\")
\n
\n“Fische Fluppen Frikadellen” is this year’s Essen release of the man with
\nthe green hair and creator of the F games: Friedeman Friese. This time players have the
\ntask to acquire goods (fish, fags and French fries would be a good translation although
\nFrikadellen are in fact hamburgers, and in addition to the title: fusel and fennel) and
\ntrade them in for fetishes. The player who acquires his\/her third fetish wins the game.<\/p>\nThe game board is set up by randomly placing 12 kiosks on the designated spaces. Kiosks
\ncome in three types: one type sells one of the F goods or buys another type of goods. The
\nnext kiosk type trades a type of good into another type of good and the last type is the
\nkiosk trading in goods for fetishes.<\/p>\nKiosks are connected with pathways and waterways and players have three movement points
\nper turn to negotiate their route to the kiosks of their liking. Waterways usually
\nprovide shortcuts between distant corners of the board but they require the usage of a
\nraft which sometimes needs to be called to the footbridge which costs movement points and
\nmoney.<\/p>\nPlayers start with a defined amount of money (now guess what the currency is: Florints of
\ncourse) which they mainly use for buying goods at the kiosks. Once a player lands on the
\nfield of a kiosk that sells\/buys goods s\/he may buy any amount of goods that the kiosk
\nhas in stock at the current market price (there’s a rebate for buying more than one
\nunit). At the start of the game each such kiosk has 2 goods in stock. Alternatively, a
\nplayer may sell any amount of the good the kiosk can buy. These goods are returned to the
\nbank. A consequence of selling goods is a decrease of the market price of that good.<\/p>\nIf a player arrives at a kiosk which trades goods s\/he can trade in up to two goods of
\nthe kind kiosk accepts and receives 2 other goods for every good turned in. These 2 for 1
\ndeals are very important in the course of the game.<\/p>\nEach transaction at a kiosk triggers up to three secondary actions indicated on the
\nkiosk’s tile: either the market price of a good is increased or the player may
\nexchange the stock of two kiosks or a particular type of good is being produced and the
\nstock of the appropriate kiosk is increased.<\/p>\nPlayers also have tokens which they can use during their turn. A token provides a one
\ntime special ability like having more movement points or being able to exchange a good of
\none type for another type, and, very nasty, closing a kiosk for one complete round. Each
\ntime a player acquires a fetish s\/he get an additional token.<\/p>\nThe game started rather fast paced with all players rushing to kiosks which have goods
\nfor sale. Unfortunately, I was the fourth player in the first turn and was faced with the
\nsituation that no such kiosk was in easy reach. In fact it took me quite some time to be
\nable to acquire my first goods as I was not willing to spend money on calling rafts for a
\nfaster access to far away kiosks. Not a good tactic, I soon realized. At the time I had
\nreached a kiosk with goods, prices had already gone up and I had to spend too much money
\nfor too few goods. Walter at that time was already far ahead with 4 or 5 goods and in
\nreach of his first fetish.<\/p>\nG\u00fcnther seemed to follow a strategy of acquiring lots of goods at low prices and only
\nexchanging them for a fetish once he reached the holding limit of 7 goods. Peter’s
\nstrategy was to go for optimal good runs and to exchange\/sell goods at favorable prices.
\nSoon I found myself left with very little money and only a few goods because all too
\noften were kiosks sold out or prices had gone up to prohibitive levels before I could
\nreach them. I therefore had to revert to an exchange strategy changing goods on a 2 for 1
\nbasis. Luckily, I was able to find a good run between kiosks for this to work.<\/p>\nWalter was the first to have two fetishes as well as sufficient goods to exchange them
\nfor the third one and we thought that this would end in a clear win for him. Quite to my
\nsurprise G\u00fcnther was able to play one of his special ability tokens that allowed him to
\nbuy a good from Walter leaving him one good short for his final exchange. At that point
\nit became clear that by cleverly playing against Walter we would most likely have a
\nchance to steal victory from him. This in fact left me with a slight chance to win the
\ngame myself: in the meantime I, too had acquired two fetishes and had sufficient goods to
\nget the third one. However, my goods mix was not right (you need 5 goods in total, 3 of
\none kind and 2 of the other) which prevented me from becoming a target for
\ncountermeasures of my fellow players. The one thing they did not know was that I had a
\nspecial ability token which would allow me at any time during my turn to exchange one
\ngood for another type and that would yield the required combination for my third fetish.
\nSo I moved forward to the fetish kiosk and only needed one more turn when Peter decided
\nto stop playing aggressively against Walter and allowing him to make his final winning
\nmove. That was close…<\/p>\nI think that “Fische Fluppen Frikadellen” is one of the better games of
\nFriedemann Friese. It provides a lot of scope for different strategies. On the other
\nhand, in our game I felt that most of the time I was playing with minimal interaction
\nwith other players. Once you have found out what strategy the other players are following
\nyou can adopt you strategy accordingly and do your thing. There is also this effect of
\nbashing the leader close to the end which I do not like so much as you do not have
\nsufficient time (moves) to prepare for this appropriately.<\/p>\nOne thing I did not mention about the game: it is a 3 to 5 player game but can be played
\nwith up to 15 players if you buy the complete set of three games (type A, B and C). They
\ndiffer in board layout and tile mix as well as providing different colored pawns and
\nplayers are able to move their pawns between board. Provided you have sufficient table
\nspace and players this is certainly worth a try.<\/p>\nWestpark Gamers’ Score: 7.0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- <\/a>Mogul<\/a><\/b>
![\"Mogul](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/mogul_t.jpg\")
\n
\nMogul is a stock trading and auctioning card game. Players start the game with one share
\nand 6 money and their goal is to acquire victory points by selling shares.<\/p>\nAuctioning is done in a very interesting though sometimes nerve wrecking way: the top
\nshare is drawn from the draw pile, revealed and put up for auction. The start player (the
\nplayer who acquired a share in the previous turn) starts the auction by placing one coin
\nin the middle of the table. The next player has the choice of continuing the bidding by
\nalso placing one coin or to drop out of the auction. Here the interesting bit starts:
\nwhenever a player drops out s\/he collects the coins in the middle of the table into
\nhis\/her own pocket. The next player then bids again (1 coin) to stay in or drops out as
\nwell (collecting 0 coins!).<\/p>\nThe last remaining bidder has the choice of either taking the share or to sell shares of
\nthe color indicated by the border color of the share currently up for auction. The last
\nbut one bidder then executes the option not taken by the last bidder.<\/p>\nSelling shares is the only way to receive victory points and there is one victory point
\ngranted for every share of that stock on the table at the time of the sale, including the
\nshares of the other players. Since at the end of the game unsold shares count no VPs at
\nall and money is exchanged 5 coins for 1 point it is absolutely necessary to sell shares
\nat the best possible time. The game ends immediately when the CRASH card is being drawn
\nwhich has been shuffled into the draw pile among the last four cards.<\/p>\nThe bidding mechanism is so unusual that it does need some time to get used to it.
\nAlready in the first round I found myself in the position that G\u00fcnther sitting in front
\nof me decided to drop out and take the money and I had the choice to also drop out (for
\nnothing) or placing the first coin again. I decided for the latter only to be faced with
\nthe situation that now Walter dropped out (now in front of me). Again I placed a coin and
\nPeter dropped out and I decided to take the share since there was no possibility to sell
\nshares. The result of the first round was that I owned two share now but only 4 coins,
\nall others had one share with Peter owning 5 coins, Walter 7 coins and G\u00fcnther 8 coins.
\nG\u00fcnther seemed to have liked the possibility to make easy money and he decided to drop
\nout again when it was his turn in the second round, leaving him with 11 coins! Only too
\nlate did I realize that I would end up in the unfortunate situation that I had to drop
\nout of the auction because of lack of money at a point in time when there where no coins
\nin the pot!<\/p>\nFortunately, there is a rule which allows a player to exchange 2 victory points for 2
\ncoins at the beginning of a round. Since I was broke I had to take that option which, in
\nthe end, turned out to be so devastating that who ever has to do this will almost
\ncertainly lose the game. This insight came to late for me and I did not have a chance to
\neven come close to the leader throughout the rest of the game.<\/p>\nAlthough very much based on luck elements the game is full of suspense: will there be
\ncoins in the pot when it’s my turn to drop out of an auction? What is the right time
\nto sell shares? Will there be another possibility at all to sell shares of a particular
\nstock? Some of these questions can be answered by closely observing the number of shares
\nof stock still in play. Other, like the possible reaction of the other players are much
\nharder to determine or predict.<\/p>\nAs a fast paced, short (45 mins.) game with elements of “Schadenfreude” Mogul
\ncan be highly recommended.<\/p>\nWestpark Gamers’ Score: 7.0<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- <\/a>Imperium<\/a><\/b>
![\"Rome](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/rome_t.jpg\")
\n
\nAnstatt den Spielabend mit 6-nimmt oder Bluff ausklingen zu lassen, nahmen wir uns auf
\nG\u00fcnthers Empfehlung noch eine Runde Imperium vor. Angeblich dauert ein Spiel 20 Minuten.
\nDas war dreimal soviel Zeit, wie Peter bis zu seiner letzten U-Bahn \u00fcbrig hatte. Bei den
\nWestparkern geht aber auch ein triviales Auktionsspiel nicht so schnell \u00fcber die B\u00fchne.
\nPeter hatte Gl\u00fcck, da\u00df er sich nach 50 Minuten Spielzeit – als Sieger \u2013 auf den Weg
\nmachen konnte.<\/p>\nDas Spielbrett l\u00e4\u00dft zun\u00e4chst mal eine \u00fcberlange Spieldauer bef\u00fcrchten: es \u00e4hnelt ganz
\ndem klassischen “Civilisation”, das wir noch nie unter 4 Stunden beendet
\nhatten. Auf einer Landkarte rund um das Mittelmeer sind L\u00e4nder und Provinzen
\neingezeichnet, die von ferne ein bi\u00dfchen die Vision des Geographieunterrichts in einer
\naltr\u00f6mischen Grundschule aufkommen lassen. Da\u00df Athen ohne “h” geschrieben
\nwurde, und da\u00df das D\u00f6rflein “Cannae” zu einer ganz Unteritalien umfassenden
\nProvinz aufgewertet wurde, ganz zu schweigen von der Plazierung \u00c4gyptens an der lybischen
\nK\u00fcste und \u00e4hnlichen Unsch\u00e4rfen, sollte einen gro\u00dfen Geist nat\u00fcrlich nicht st\u00f6ren.<\/p>\nDas Spielgeschehen h\u00e4tte man auch viel einfacher plazieren k\u00f6nnen, und es damit sogar
\nnoch durchsichtiger gemacht. Denn das geohistorische Brimborium verdeckt nur das doch
\nrecht lineare Spielprinzip. Man denke sich die Zahlen 1 bis 8 irgendwie zuf\u00e4llig in einem
\nKreis auf dem Tisch verteilt, und schon hat man die Aufgabenstellung hundertprozentig
\nadaptiert. Es geht darum, m\u00f6glichst viele, m\u00f6glichst hohe und m\u00f6glichst
\nnebeneinanderliegende Zahlen (L\u00e4nder) in Besitz zu bringen.<\/p>\nWie macht man das?<\/p>\n
Ganz einfach: Jeder Spieler ist mit einem Kartensatz mit den Zahlen 1 bis 8
\nausgestattet. Davon w\u00e4hlt jeder jeweils drei Karten, sprich Zahlen, aus und bestimmt
\ndamit die Zahlen im Kreis, auf die er einen Spielstein der eigenen Farbe zu legen
\ngedenkt. Alle Spieler decken gleichzeitig die gew\u00e4hlten Karten auf und legen dann die
\nentsprechenden Spielsteine auf die Zahlen im Kreis. Das wird bis zum Spielende wiederholt
\nund so verteilen sich allm\u00e4hlich die Spielsteine der Mitspieler je nach Vorliebe oder
\nTaktik unterschiedlich auf den Zahlen im Kreis.<\/p>\nNach jedem Setzenvorgang wird eine Zahl gewertet: Der Spieler mit den meisten
\nSpielsteinen auf der Zahl im Kreis hat die Zahl in seinen Besitz gebracht, d.h. er erh\u00e4lt
\nden Zahlenwert als Siegpunkte gutgeschrieben. Der Spieler mit den zweitmeisten
\nSpielsteinen erh\u00e4lt, je nach Zahl, die es zu werten gilt, 1 bis 2 Punkte weniger, der
\ndritte 2 bis 4 Punkte weniger und der vierte und letzte 3 bis 6 Punkte weniger. Es gilt
\nalso, auf der Zahl, die gerade gewertet wird, eine Mehrheit zu erringen. Das geht
\nnat\u00fcrlich nur beschr\u00e4nkt. Jeder Spieler mu\u00df seine Auswahl auf bestimmte
\nZahlenkombinationen konzentrieren, um wenigstens dort dominieren zu k\u00f6nnen.<\/p>\nNach der Wertung wird das Zahlenfeld ger\u00e4umt: alle Spieler m\u00fcssen ihre Spielsteine
\nwieder an sich nehmen. Nur der Spieler mit der Mehrheit darf einen Spielstein als
\n“Prokonsul” auf der Zahl stehen lassen. Der steht dann schon mal f\u00fcr die
\nn\u00e4chste Wertung da, denn nachdem alle 8 Zahlenfelder gewertet wurden f\u00e4ngt die Wertung
\nwieder bei der ersten Zahl an.<\/p>\nDer “Prokonsul” hat aber noch eine weitere “einnehmende” Bedeutung.
\nDer Spieler, der bei einer Zahlenwertung die Mehrheit errungen hat, bekommt zus\u00e4tzlich
\nnoch einen Siegpunkt f\u00fcr jeden eigenen Prokonsul in einer benachbarten Provinz (Zahl).
\nDies ist ein Grund, warum man zusammenh\u00e4ngende Zahlen (Provinzen) favorisieren sollte.<\/p>\nPeter hatte sofort erkannt, da\u00df das unattraktive Zahlenfeld 1 neben dem maximal
\nlukrativen Zahlenfeld 8 etwas unscheinbar an der afrikanischen K\u00fcste lag und so dem
\nBlickpunkt der Mitspieler entgehen k\u00f6nnte. Er spekulierte darauf, da\u00df er relativ
\nunbehelligt die 1 belegen und sich mit K\u00f6rpereinsatz dann auch noch die 8 aneignen k\u00f6nne.
\nSo kam es dann auch: Er konnte das 8er Feld dreimal erobern bzw. behalten und kassierte
\ndaf\u00fcr noch zweimal mit seinen lausigen Prokonsul auf der 1 einen zus\u00e4tzlich Siegpunkt.
\nDas reichte insgesamt zum Sieg.<\/p>\nIch hatte mir die Zahlenreihe 3-7-2 an der illyrischen K\u00fcste ausgesucht. Es gelang auch,
\nauf der 3 Fu\u00df zu fassen und dann noch die 7 zu erobern. In den n\u00e4chsten Runden mu\u00dfte ich
\naber sehr viel zur Verteidigung der 7 investieren. Als ich dann noch mit St\u00f6rman\u00f6vern auf
\nder 8 versuchte, den Kriegsschauplatz auf Peters Besitzt\u00fcmer zu verlagen, hatte ich
\nunn\u00f6tig Pulver verschossen. Aaron machte mir mein 3er Feld wieder abspenstig und es
\nreichte in der Endabwertung nur zum zweiten Platz.<\/p>\nObwohl Imperium im Grunde ein einfaches Auktionsspiel ist, hatten wird doch deutlich
\nunsere Freude daran. Vielleicht lag es auch allgemein an der \u2013 durchaus nicht
\nselbstverst\u00e4ndlichen \u2013 allgemeinen Harmonie in unserer kleinen Vierer-Runde.<\/p>\nWestpark Gamers Wertung: 5,5 (von 10)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Session Report 18.12.2002 Author: Aaron\/Walter at the table: Peter, G\u00fcnther Walter, Aaron on the table: Fische Fluppen Frikadellen, Mogul, Imperium Fische Fluppen Frikadellen “Fische Fluppen Frikadellen” is this year’s Essen release of the man with the green hair and creator of the F games: Friedeman Friese. This time players have the task to acquire goods … Session Report 18.12.2002<\/span> weiterlesen
- <\/a>Mogul<\/a><\/b>