- \n
- <\/a>La Citt\u00e0<\/a><\/b>
![\"La](\"https:\/\/www.westpark-gamers.de\/Ressourcen\/lacitta_t.jpg\")
\n
\n For some reason we hadn\u2019t had a games evening for quite a while \u2013 this is
\nwhy the general mood was especially friendly. In fact, we never had a games evening with
\nso little bickering and quarreling in a long time. Might it have been the bottles of wine
\nthat Walter and Aaron freely distributed (it was a belated celebration of Aaron\u2019s
\nxxth<\/sup> birthday \u2013 I\u2019m not allowed to say, which…[Did I say
\nthat? Looking at Marcus Barnick’s “Who’s Who<\/a>” website my age appears to be public knowledge!
\nAaron]<\/i>)?<\/p>\nWe decided to play \u201cLa Citt\u00e0\u201d \u2013 Walter had been given this game as a
\npresent, and had apparently completely forgotten that we had already played this game
\nages ago, when it was newly published. Back then the game hadn\u2019t impressed us
\ngreatly, but this time we really had to admit that this is a great game (which shows,
\nthat the good game reviewer \u201calways has to play twice\u201d).<\/p>\nKosmos<\/a> published this game as a planned successor to \u201cSiedler<\/a>\u201d
\n\u2013 it is a lush edition, with absolutely fabulous game material, even for German
\nstandards. It probably wasn\u2019t the big commercial success they hoped for, but this
\nis a \u201cgamer\u2019s game\u201d, like \u201cPuerto
\nRico<\/a>\u201d, a treat for addicts like us.<\/p>\nThe huge map depicts an empty Tuscany landscape, that players hope to fill with
\nprosperous cities. Certain landmarks are placed on the map before play (the setup
\ndescribed in the rules gives each player about the same starting position, and is highly
\nrecommended for the first games). There are \u201cfarming\u201d (adjacent cities and
\nfarms get food markers, they range from \u201c1\u201d food to \u201c3\u201d food
\n\u2013 a city\/farm can touch a maximum of two of these tiles and earn the sum of the
\ntiles they touch), \u201cwater\u201d (give the possibility to build the all-important
\n\u201cfountain\u201d tiles that hugely increase population capacity) and
\n\u201cmountain\u201d tiles (each mine touching them gives money, it is very important
\nthat you build them early, like in \u201cPuerto Rico\u201d).<\/p>\nPlayers start with two cities each, hoping to expand them and to achieve a huge
\npopulation.<\/p>\nFor this it is important to know the \u201cwill of the people\u201d \u2013 people are
\ninterested in 3 traits: \u201cculture\u201d, \u201ceducation\u201d and
\n\u201chygiene\u201d, each symbolized through a colour. Each round 4 \u201cwill of the
\npeople\u201d cards are drawn: one open, the other three are secret. At the end of the
\nround the dominating colour will be found out by looking at the hidden cards (in case of
\na draw, both traits are \u201cprominent\u201d and the players can choose which one to
\nactivate with each of their cities). Now all cities within a certain distance (2 hexes)
\nof each other will compete for the extremely fickle and easily bored population. If the
\nneighbouring has city more cultural buildings than you, and culture is \u201cin\u201d
\nat the moment, it will draw away one population figure (which look suspiciously like
\nhobbits, by the way). You usually want as many people in your city as people \u2013
\nfirst they bring points at the end of the game, second city expansion tiles need people
\nto work- if they have no people on them, they are \u201ctorn down\u201d \u2013 the
\ncity shrinks!<\/p>\nBut there is also a drawback: people need to be fed, and if you have more people than
\nfood markers (described above) the game system will punish you heavily with having you
\nmiss out a turn next round, and also reducing your victory score in the final round
\nseverely. Peter, who has played this game more often than us, had warned as about this
\nfact, and we all played very carefully in this respect, but still people starved, as the
\nboard and the expanding neighbours limit your access to food tiles severely.<\/p>\nA round consists of 5 actions \u2013 you have 3 cards that you can always play, they
\nallow you to build basic buildings, get gold or start new cities. If you want to build
\nthe larger coloured buildings (that give you more of an edge in the populace competition)
\nyou need money and the abundant \u201copen\u201d row of action cards, that is
\nconstantly renewed from the deck. This means you can have a maximum of 3
\n\u201cself-decided actions\u201d , the other actions come from the deck \u2013 with a
\nselection. Some of these cards have other functions \u2013 they give you free extra food
\nfor the round, or strengthen your \u201ctraits\u201d for the competition. The most
\nimportant card is certainly the one that allows you to predict to or more of the hidden
\ncards \u201cwill of the people\u201d \u2013 played early this will give you an edge in
\nplanning your turn!<\/p>\nCities are limited to 5 citizens and therefore tiles. A \u201cmarket place\u201d gives
\nyou one \u201cgift\u201d citizen and the possibility to reach the populace of 8, a
\n\u201cfountain\u201d removes even this limit (this is why the water spaces are
\nextremely important \u2013 the winner needs two large cities, possibly more, no doubt
\nabout that). Each round ends with the mutual removal of citizens from the cities, then
\nyou check if you can actually nourish them.<\/p>\nThe game rewards good planning \u2013 If you pump up the traits of the cities (the
\nsymbols for these traits look suspiciously like \u201cMcDonalds\u201d-M\u2019s, by the
\nway :-), you might get a larger population than you hoped for \u2013 starving is bad
\nnews, as you lose an action next turn.<\/p>\nYou also want diverse cities \u2013 cities with all traits present get bonus points. It
\nis also a good idea to build last ditch cities in the final round (although there is very
\nlittle room on the board for additional cities) \u2013 each citizen gives you one
\nvictory point \u2013 and new cities come with 3 \u201cfree\u201d citizens!<\/p>\nTurns are quick as the decisions are limited but important, very similar to Puerto Rico.
\nWatching the board and planning your expansion is strategically very demanding \u2013
\nwhen will you cross the safe border of 2 hexes to other cities by building new buildings?
\nCan you be sure to beat them in traits this round? If not you might lose more than you
\nget.<\/p>\nCities can actually be completely destroyed by draining them of all cities, so beware!<\/p>\n
If you have farming land close by you should build as many farms as possible, they come
\nin very handy for the end game, when you suddenly build new cities to garner VP\u2019s.
\nThe same is to be said for mines \u2013 the good buildings can be very expensive, and
\nmoney is very rare. A tactic that usually works is to have a \u201cmoney city\u201d and
\na \u201cfarming\u201d city, both with different goals.<\/p>\nAll in all this is a very nice game \u2013 not too complicated, but with lots of
\nnail-biting decisions to make. Although it is \u2013 like \u201cPrinces of Florence<\/a>\u201d and \u201cPuerto
\nRico<\/a>\u201d essentially a solitaire game played by a group, the competition between
\nthe cities is THE all-important element of the game. The board is small, and the
\ncompetition is not sleeping. The game time is longer than the usual German game, I would
\nsay around 3 hours for newbies.<\/p>\nThumbs up to \u201cLa citt\u00e0\u201d!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n
- <\/a>Bluff<\/a><\/b>
\n
\nAfter a \u201cperfect\u201d victory in \u201cLa Citt\u00e0\u201d my strange lucky streak
\ndidn\u2019t stop \u2013 the two \u201cBluff\u201d games we played were won with
\nalmost no problem, the dice rolled where they should, and twice I beat Walter with
\nextremely lucky rolls that he just couldn\u2019t believe.<\/p>\nThat this was a lucky streak was proven 2 days later at the \u201cSpuiratzn\u201d
\n\u2013 I lost every game, and always came last!<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Session Report 08.01.2003 Author: Moritz at the table: Hans, Walter, Aaron, Peter, Moritz on the table: La Citt\u00e0, Bluff La Citt\u00e0 For some reason we hadn\u2019t had a games evening for quite a while \u2013 this is why the general mood was especially friendly. In fact, we never had a games evening with so little … Session Report 08.01.2003<\/span> weiterlesen
- <\/a>Bluff<\/a><\/b>