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Caylus
Phil is soon to go on holiday (the joys of Anglesey), and as ever will be accompanied by wife, two daughters and mother-in-law (the monstrous legion of women, as John Knox was fond of calling his family - even the newly acquired male puppy is to be left behind in Yorkshire). But all is not doom and gloom – everyone is quite amenable to the occasional boardgame, which means an excuse to buy a new game. And after a lengthy search of the Geek, the lucky game is Zooloretto.
Daughters are not allowed a preview of it before the holiday, despite various begging sessions. But – dad’s privilege – the boys of Halifax are to be allowed a quick snifter – just to see how it works. You know.
Sunday evening, then, and first up is another bout of Caylus. Now, this has had a rough ride from the Ragnars (although the fact that both previous games seemed to last for ever did them no favours; why this was, heaven alone knows – probably the level of rabid ferocity with which the Ragnars play any game). However, Ian, Dave and Roger have continued to explore the intricacies of the game in a much more civilized fashion.
Caylus has never been properly reviewed, nor is it going to be here. For those who have never chanced upon it, it’s kind of complicated. You basically are acquiring Victory points, and there are a lot of ways you can do this. You get points for erecting buildings along the game track, for other players using them, for building parts of the castle, for earning royal favours, for having gold and money at the end of the game. As I say - complicated.
Suffice it to say, this the latest try plays through very well. Simon has turned up so we are five, but surprisingly this doesn’t seem to have much effect on the running time. It still plays in about two hours. Half way through the game, people decide that it’s time to drive the provost back down the line of buildings (no buildings operate beyond the provost’s position). “Don’t do it” moans Ian. “That will be me finished”. He’s right – it does effectively wreck his chances, but people carry on and do it, and he is quite correct – he’s out of it. This is possibly a weakness – games where people can be ‘out’ at the halfway point are Bad. Phil wins easily in the end – concentrating on massively building up resources and then building regularly in the later game. Pleasingly, the plug is pulled before the last turn – an admission that Phil has indeed romped away with it.
The jury is still out on Caylus. Roger loves it. Ian, Dave and Simon seem reasonably happy with it as a game and Phil feels that although it works as a game and is clever - he doesn’t know what he is supposed to ‘be’ in the game. Is he a castle builder, an artisan, an architect, a bit of all these? Phil wants to specialise a bit more and not flit one one aspect to another quite so much. Caylus is a juggling game with some bluffing and occasional skullduggery thrown in for good measure and undoubtedly appeals to lots of gamers, but it’s not a game that you’ll get out with your friends who occasionally play games to humour you that’s for sure.
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