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'Mexica' by Keisling and Kramer
Games Night is at Dicken's and just the three desperados are expected. Dicken scratches around for a game to play and Kendall suggests 'Mexica'. Dicken looks non too keen, which is a shame as Kendall paid a hefty sum for the game as last year's Christmas offering. This will be only the third time of playing, which will come as something of a surprise if you happened to have read the review of 16th January. It also means that Kendall has to set about the rules like a dog with a bone. Fortunately Spiller is somewhat late.
Some time later and Spiller is very late. Dicken suggests that he is lost in cyber space trying to acquire yet more millions by playing 'Runescape'. For those not initiated (including Kendall), this is an on-line, interactive game which resides in the twilight world between compulsion and obsession. Dicken recently spent several hours on an island picking bananas. Spiller could be anywhere.
He arrives. 'I've had a result!' he announces. Dicken perks up expecting tales of internet mugging. But no Spiller has collared the guy who did a hit- and-run job on his car last week. A fair cop, just around the corner from the scene of the crime. As an upright citizen, Spiller will be sounding off to the police on the morrow and hoping to cash in big time with the insurance. He's already looking for an up-grade on his chosen model of new car.
So to 'Mexica'. The previous review gives quite a lot of detail on the style and mechanics of the game. Third time around and the abstract quality of this game begins to hit hard. There is precious little theme to get hold of and therefore a lack of humour generated in the play. The Ragnars are thrown back on their old repertoire of bad language, moaning and whingeing. And there's a lot of game to be played yet.
Highlights of play:
- Dicken struggles to 'found a district' on turn 1, announcing how difficult this can be
- Kendall casually tweaks Dicken's nose and effortlessly scores points
- Dicken completes a big District and heads into an early lead
- Spiller gets his act together and draws level
- Dicken invades one of Spiller's Districts and a mild building war ensues
- Kendall takes the lead and announces that he has never yet failed to win at 'Mexica'.The gauntlet is greeted with mute concern
- Spiller reveals that he has little or no understanding of how points are being scored
- Dicken builds his last Temple (of the first batch) and moves into another bit of scoring
- Dicken leads at the turn
- Spiller accuses Kendall of inferring that he (Spiller) might be cheating
- Kendall explains that he is trying to help Spiller not to make mistakes
- Dicken makes a nasty blocking move - the gloves are coming off
- Kendall builds a big District then blocks off the Bridge entrances and teleports out
- Dicken seals a big district
- Spiller applauds Kendall's last move, but still teleports in to steal control
- Kendall gets another rule interpretation spot on - wild jubilation
- Dicken cruises around grabbing slices of cake
- Kendall bemoans having only 4 point Temples left and nowhere to challenge Dicken.
- Spiller bemoans the expense of teleporting
- Dicken moves into another big District ready for the coup de grace
- Kendall builds another 4 point Temple for no gain. He goes to the toilet a defeated champion.
- Spiller teleports into Dicken's District, builds a couple of cheap Temples and smirks as Dicken has nowhere left to build
- Kendall returns to build his last Temple
Spiller is a woeful third, Dicken a recriminatory second (blaming Spiller for handing victory to kendall), Kendall a gleeful first.
Christina arrives and shares Spiller's coffee. Time for a chat, before a rather late end to a decent evening - despite the obviously contrived teleporting rule that stops players from being hemmed in forever.
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'Mexica' by Kiesling and Kramer - again.
Kendall arrives at Dicken's house carrying a huge Argos bag full of those air-bag things that are so useful for packing around small numbers of games in large cardboard boxes. Dicken has a porch full of this and other packaging material - being a Ragnar can damage your quality of life. Kendall will leave with the same bag full of newspapers - having a rabbit can also be humbling.
Spiller is already in situ and proudly showing off his new web site. It took no less than 6 ½ hours to launch this onto the web earlier in the day and if you want to hire a band for that special occasion, this is the place to go. www.1311events.net . Very impressive indeed, with visuals of stunning viola players and audio to boot (or rather, download). Kendall mentions his days (two of them) as a member of a 'professional' barn dance group and Spiller laments the difficulties of finding such a group for his site - too many amateurs like Kendall fiddling away.
Tonight's game is set out, 'Mexica' by'Kiesling and Kramer'. This one of the three sister games, the first one of which was 'Tikal'. Dicken received 'Mexica' as a Christmas present from Kendall and Phil was given 'Tenochtitlan'. Generous indeed, as they're not cheap! They're not lightweight either, in fact 'Tenochtitlan' weighs in at 2 - 3 kilos (lots of cardboard).
It's all about canals and temple complexes and Dicken's gentle narrating of the rules seems to capture the atmosphere of sunlight on water and the occasional bloody sacrifice. Actually it's got nothing to do with sacrifices and the canal building has an industrial revolution feel to it, but whatever!
Spiller tells a joke about a biker and an old lady. It's an old joke, so if you think you know it - you probably do.
The board shows an island. Players each have a Mexica chappy who wanders around the place 'founding' areas of land and building Temples. The founding of areas involves cordoning off squares with Canals. These areas should be made to correspond with the founding tokens set out at the start of each half of the game. The token denotes the size of an area and it's value in points to the Mexica founding it and to the player who controls it at the end of each half of the game. Areas are controlled by the player having the highest value of temples in the area.
Phew! And of course that's nowhere the half of it! Anyone familiar with 'Tikal' will immediately notice similar systems cropping up. Most notable is the six points expenditure per turn. These can be spent on movement or building or (and this is different) can be saved for later via the purchase of 'action chips'.
Dicken goes first and heads East (young man). He slaps down a few canals and that's it. Kendall goes next (South) and immediately cordons off a small area and 'founds' it. 'Founds'?, 'Founding'? - not the best of gaming words, perhaps better in German. Spiller's turn is to the North and his Canal building looks suspiciously like Dicken's, if a little more ornate. The biggest area is a whopping 13 pointer, the smallest is 3 (of which there are several). Dicken is thinking big. He founds a 10 pointer. Spiller is disparaging. 'Kendall will thank you for that!' Kendall hasn't a clue what Spiller means and founds a 5 pointer. Spiller looks bemused - Kendall could have tied-in to Dicken's canals and gone for an 11 pointer.
But that's the sort of game it is. Lots of neat possibilities and jolly satisfying making some of them happen. Anyhow, going for the big areas is by no means the best tactic in all circumstances. Big areas mean quick points for founding, but are quite a headache (and cost) to control.
The beer and Pringles are going down well and this feels like a return to good Ragnar gaming. What with 'Taj Mahal' and 'Puerto Rico' things were getting a bit too intense. It's all very well insisting that no advice be given, but this had led to an absence of gaming banter and an explosion of comments about what had been done rather than what could be done. What the hell if you're winning and everyone starts to pitch in with suggestions to aid your ruin. Take it like a man. And if you can't manage that, then have a good whinge - somebody will fall for it.
The first half of the game ends when all the Founding tokens for that half have been used AND one player has used up their initial allocation of Temples. Spiller completes the job in record time, having founded two big areas and banged all his Temples into them. At least that meant he didn't have to spend many points moving (a Mexica must be in an area to build a Temple there) and his edge of the board has a Manhattan skyline to it. What he didn't realise is that there are more Founding tokens to play for in the second half (this had been clearly explained, so there is precious little sympathy).
Scores are totalled at this juncture and Kendall and Dicken have a slight lead over Spiller.
'How does a Mexica get out of an area once it's founded?' I'm glad you asked. It's all in the Bridge building. And this is where the game does have a kind of surreal, disjointed feel. OK, it is only a game, but how come a Mexica has to be in an area to build a Temple and yet can build a Canal or a Bridge anywhere on the map? Strange indeed? Spiller finds it very hard to take. But then again he's having difficulty with a Bridge having to be built with land on both ends of it. AND there's the matter of the Mexica being able to jump from Bridge to Bridge, sometimes even using huge swathes of sea as well.
'Think of it like this.' says Kendall in his most patronising tone. 'You go over the bridge from land to land. You go under the bridge ('Tie up your boat', interjects Dicken silkily) when going from one Bridge to another'. Spiller is tempted to throw the game.
Instead he goes head to head with Dicken in a Temple building war. 'You're playing into Kendall's hands!' And they are. Kendall romps home by some twenty points.
Very enjoyable and a game that will be coming out pretty often. Most impressive is perhaps the distinctiveness when compared to 'Tikal' and yet nicely related. It's also jolly good fun when you can secure an area by filling it with low slung, one point Temples. From board level these areas look like POW camps.
10.15 p.m. but another game isn't suggested. Instead it's time to plan the Ragnar bash in Derbyshire. Dicken will drive, Kendall will design one of the big games. The usual problem of which other games to take will resolve itself in due course. Meals, beer, sleeping bags etc......
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