The second shipment (Container, Domaine)

We liked Container so much the first time, it was picked again this week, along with a game we haven't played in quite a while... Domaine.

Container

Our second session was quite different from the first. The biggest difference was the length... this one lasted 2.5 hours, which felt too long. The dynamics of the economy where different as well, though it's hard to describe what. I personally felt that I saw opportunities I missed the first time. For example, the advantage of buying from the factory store on your left revealed itself this game (freeing up space in the factory store encourages that player to produce more, and when they produce they pay a dollar to the player on their right). Similarly, it became apparent that a player can become blocked if they produce and store all they can, and then no one buys from them. Shemp found himself in this situation for quite a while, ultimately having to firesale his goods to get himself out of it. It was in intriguing situation, and it made me see that it would be possible for the game to choke if too many people miscalculated demand and then simultaneously started playing defensively.

Luch started out the game with a huge lead. He literally filled his section of the island with containers while we only had 1-3 of a single colour (so, you know, 0$ worth). Unfortunately for him, he couldn't capitalize on it. Although I don't know the exact reason, he couldn't finish the game as quickly as it looked like he was going to (it may be that he was saddled with debt... carrying as much as three shares at a time. And yes, we did figure out that the limit is supposed to be two, but since we started the game that way, and since other players had done the same, we finished it that way). Regardless, since he was SO far ahead with his goods, every other player had no incentive to finish the game until we could approach a similar stash. It took a long time, but ultimately myself and Kozure got a lot of goods to the central island. When the scores were tallied, it turned out to be unbelievably close: Me: 104, Luch 102, Kozure 101. Shemp, well, Shemp tried hard (kidding aside, he had a monstrous amount of cash in hand, but couldn't bring himself to bid the required amounts to get containers on the central island. He only netted 1$ from his containers there).

Still quite a good game, but if the next session lasts this long, I'll be removing some containers from the pool to make it shorter.

Domaine

Wow, it turns out I really suck at this game. Luch boxed-in one of my three castles a few turns into the game (in a move that happened to me in a previous game as well, apparently). I couldn't get anything going with my other to castles. Meanwhile, Shemp and Kozure were jockeying for first place, way ahead of me. Shemp had an impressive economic engine going, with three mines producing for him every round. Unfortunately, I was the kingmaker in my last move, either giving Kozure the win or Shemp, depending what I did. I played the move I was planning to make before I realized what was happening, and that meant Kozure won. Sorry Shemp!

Glad to get that one out again. There's a lot of game there in one hour. And we even managed to play it correctly!