Just a short note to divert people to my new blog:

www.aikyong.com

... continued from Gaming Blog I http://aikyong.blogs.friendster.com/hengs_gaming_blog/2006/10/eurogames_retre.html...

At this resort, on level three, in Jelatek Room, an amazing event is happening:

Eurogame Retreat is here!










A group of grown ups gathering to play boardgames!








Over the course of one and a half days,

The gamers are kept occupied with an organised schedule








The results of every game tabulated and recorded













I myself get to play:

Pickomino (a.k.a. Heck Meck, a dice rolling game)









Caylus (a castle building game)










Through the Desert (a camel caravan laying game)










China (an area influence/control game)









Santiago (a plantation and canal laying game)









Torres (tower building game), and










Acquire (company merger and acquisition game)









In between break times, I get to:

try Pompeji (toasting-citizen-by-lava game)










learn 1856 (stock & train game)









teach Thurn and Taxis (postal service game)









watch a Pirates Cove game in progress








joke around










lie down on a soft retreat-sized bed










win some prizes










make lots of new friends! From left: Ryan, Denise, KP, Ric, Alvin (old friend), Jen Fai, Melissa, Chris, Shaun, Edwin, Teddy, Melody, BK, Rob (GC regular), Heng (myself), Jeff (GC regular)


Pleased to meet all of them and look forward to seeing them in next year's Eurogame Retreat!

First, we take the stairs up the office. And what's that we see through the doors on the right hand side of the 2nd floor? Let's take a closer look...

















Why, is Heng Aik Yong's personal desk! Look damn clear because is my last day at work... (No, normally I had plenty of work, thank you...)















This is how it looks like from my desk (left picture showing towards front of office, right picture showing towards back of office)












Here are two of my colleagues. John Hon (Gandalf) on the left and Liau Bee Ling on the right. (no, don't ask me why his name is Gandalf)
















Here's another picture showing the front of the office, taken from the back. And here is Ms 2nd floor - May Lai. But sorry guys, rumor says she is dating...













James, whom I personally find is one of the better speakers around. (Also a pastor doing some part time work) Leong Pei Khim, one of the very capable and hardworking project leaders of the company, soon to be married...














A view of the old wing of the 2nd floor office (I'm in new wing) left picture - looking towards back of office, right picture - looking towards front














Residents of the old wing: Gimmy - fun loving guy who keeps all the office IT equipment in ship shape, Gary - newcomer to the office who is adapting well.













Kuok Seng, an outspoken and another fun guy, surprisingly camera shy. Majidah, friendly girl who is a good draftsperson.














Group photo here, (from left) Ira, Li Mei, Sue, Me, Sam, Ivy, Ms. Chin. Sam does bah kut teh with a group of us colleagues in klang for a few times, is dependable and in running for employee of the year with his weekend overtime. Sue is a simple and happy, but can be very hardworking, everyday kena tease by Chen. Li Mei and Ira are dependable draftsperson, quiet, but steady, really save your life with their timely work. Ms Chin is friendly head of darfting dept. Everything can sit down and discuss with her.













Jessie (on my left) and Ivy (on my right) Ivy is another lifesaver, never grumble, fun, happy go lucky, does all my administrative task. Without her work, a lot of contractor will not get payment on time. Raja Shariman (right picture), an old hand in office, we used to sit across the table from each other.














Kevin, trainee turned employee. Rumor say he also dating. Right hand side is picture of Boss' office door. Boss not in, so no picture of Boss.












Christine Lee, friendly HR assistant, caught with her hand in my resignation letter envelop. Yoke Lian, Master Commander of Admin Dept. very friendly, very efficient.


















Christine Lee, not happy with 'hand in cookie jar' picture above demands another photo. Michelle here, with Yoke Lian again.














Accounts dept. crew, working hard to make sure everyone got salary on time: Wai Leng, Kam Thai, Lee Yong. All very friendly. Kam Thai can be quite outspoken and was a great help in last year's company trip. Lee Yong can tease people well and is sharp in her observation. Ms. Wong Wai Leng, very friendly, runs a tight department. Michelle here again wants a personal photo, she is very photogenic! (camera friendly).

















Christine Lim, not my replacement but my successor, a masters holder, I can safely say she beats me in every department (brains, athletics, hardworking, resourcefulness, including height). Leong, another one of my project team which pretty much does his work under Mr. Lee Yee Seng's guidance. I just sign his claims form :P


















Michelle here again, this camera angle now shows the front of office while the previous one shows the pigeon hole area. Ms Ang, HR and Quality department lady. Is capable and hardworking, but can be strict and stern looking at times. You have to get to know her to know that she can't help it!














Tony Fong Sai Yuk (that's his name!), resident office joker and lifewire. Office will be boring everytime he goes out. In this photo he's serious while I'm joking. Front office ladies - Sofea Catherine and Eliana Yeoh - tough ladies who had to deal with Alongs during a frightening period.














The office cleaner kak, with Tony now showing his true self. Ng Hian Eik, a Christian which is almost there and a general good guy, he even left me a parking spot one day even though he got to it first!














Magen, resident office Indian superstar! Engineer with looks to kill. The whole Admin dept. now turns out in full force for complete group photo in front of whiteboard where we inform the admin where we had gone for the day so that they can turn people away...














Tay, quick mind, eager learner, person I go to just because I know he keeps lots of useful engineering info. Guan Ming, in his quiet lot at the far end of the office.














Lastly, sitting across from Pei Khim, is Lee Cheng, another power lady, experienced project leader. Took her photo last as she just came back from meeting (busy busy).

















For those people I missed out, like Leon, Andy, Chen, Chew Han Poh, Susan, Ho Min Khang, Boss, etc. sorrilar. I still thank you for a memorable time in office!

And since I haven't been posting pictures of pretty girls on my blog, here's

And who are the pretty ladies? Why, it's the girls in my office. Or should I say, ex-office. I have just resigned from my old company to join my father's company. Following are the pictures I took on my last day. For you guys who are interested to know the pretty girls' names, be sure to pay attention when I introduce them ;P If you're interested, I can refer you to the HR department...

Sit back and relax, here's the first stop of the tour:

*to be continued...*

Boardgamecafe.net @ Cheras 22 Sep 2006 - Part 1

Games - Samurai, Railroad Tycoon, Powergrid - Italy, Die Handler

Gaming session starts at 9.00pm with Jeff, Henry and myself. As Christopher and Kirshen were on their way, we did a 'light filler' game of Samurai!

Another game from the German master designer, Reiner Knizia, Samurai is a simple tile-laying game. It plays under 1-hour, and has some interesting surprises.

Basically, players are feudal lords vieing for control of ancient Japan.

The board is a map of Japan, divided into parts. Depending on the number of players, some parts of the board are fitted together to make a larger board to play on.


A fully constructed 4-player Samurai board (not our game)

On the board are Japanese cities, each with one or more of the following figurines:
1. High Helmets (government officials)
2. Buddhas (priests)
3. Rice Fields (peasants)

Figurines in contest

To capture the figurines, the players have the following influence tiles at their disposal:
1. High Helmet tiles
2. Buddha tiles
3. Rice Field tiles, and
4. Samurai tiles

A player's full range of tiles

Players take turns placing one of their tiles onto the board. The tile influences on neighbouring figurines goes according to the following simple rule:
- High Helmet tiles influences the High Helmet figurines.
- Buddha tiles influences the Buddha figurines.
- Rice Field tiles influences the Rice Field figurines.
- Samurai tiles influences ALL figurines.
After a city is totally surrounded by players' tiles, the players add up their influences for each of the figurines in contest. The player with the highest influence for whichever figurine wins that figurine!

Surrounding Edo with influence tiles

The 'surprise' element in the game comes from a few game mechanics:
- A player have only five tiles at any one time and these are kept hidden behind a screen from the other players
- There is a special tile available which lets a player reuse a strong tile on the board
- There are 'ninja' tiles available which lets a player swap the figurines in contest or place additional samurai influences which does not counts towards the one tile limit!
As a result, there is tension in the game where a player can be completely caught out by surprise attacks from the other players.

Secret tiles behind the screen, what deviousness!

The game ends when all figurines are captured or when the fourth ties occurs during a contest of influence. The players then total up the number of figurines they captured. The player who have a majority in one of the figurine types wins, if the number of figurines in his other types is more than everyone else! Confused? No worries, just make sure all your figurines are roughly equal, you'll stand a good chance of winning!

Here I am, looking at the board, planning my moves and treachery. Mostly treachery!

In this particular game at boardgamecafe, I outplayed, outwit and outlast Jeff and Henry, gaining majorities in two figurines and tie in the third! Granted that they did not see it coming from a first timer, but a timely 'ninja' move saw me gain three figurines in one swoop using three tiles. From now on, the 'ninja' tiles in Samurai is my favourite game mechanic!

Me laughing behind my screen, treachery scheme emerges!

As Christopher and Kirshen has arrived, we quickly tie up Samurai and moved to Railroad Tycoon (RRT)!

Kirshen, first time player, trying to look at the operations card in RRT and assessing their implications.

There is a twist in this game in that Christopher and Kirshen are relatively new to RRT but they have played Age of Steam (AOS)! Experienced gamers will know that RRT is a simpler version of AOS with just a few new mechanics. As the game progresses, we found out that Christopher and Kirshen can hold their own in the game!

The early game saw RRT veterans Jeff (purple) and Heng (black) battle over the north-east New York area.

Kirshen (yellow) started south-east to dominate the Charleston area, with an eye on some lucrative operations cards in the area.

Christopher (right) jumped in the east to fulfill some operations card before settling in the mid-west. Due to the size of the board, players often find it more convenient to stand up and do their planning...

Of course, veterans Henry (middle) and Heng (right) find it just as comfortable sitting down. (Notice how the humongous board barely fits onto the table with all the cards and the components...)

In the mid game, Heng found the competition stifling in the east and broke westward through the mountains using the cheapest route available: Washington to Wheeling. Henry (blue)'s monopoly on the northern Toronto line is starting to see some competition but is still in good shape to reach chicago first.

A confluence of players in the west, with Henry, Christoper (red) and Heng connecting to Chicago.

Henry putting all his effort into fulfilling the New York-Chicago-Western Link major line, grabbing it after some snafus and Heng's blocking move. The move also finally puts him back into the contention after a long and difficult investment period.

The final score: Christopher (red) grabs the lead by fulfilling his Tycoon secret objective, followed by Heng (black), Jeff (purple), Kirshen (yellow) and Henry (blue).

Thoughts: This game taught me one thing. I had played the 'hotel' operations card rules wrong with my group! I played it as a permanent bonus for anyone delivering to a city with a hotel. Instead, a player should pick up the 'hotel' operations card first as an action and thereafter gain points for any delivery into the city with the hotel. This introduces some tension into the bidding for first chance to grab the hotel. Christopher owning the hotel in Chicago also manage to squeak out a significant number to points to boost him into the lead. Good play!



*images courtesy of Jeff and also various photo uploads at boardgamegeek*

Just a short initial post to welcome all to this blog of mine, which is actually my second blog. My first blog at friendster: http://aikyong.blogs.friendster.com/hengs_gaming_blog/ will still be my primary blog. However, due to the limit friendster puts on the number of pictures uploaded per month, I will sometimes post here WITH a link from friendster blog.

So without further ado, here we go: