by Norbert Chan
Jasen had played this a few times, and taught the game to Don and I. Player order was Don, Jasen and myself. Jasen had seeded himself with the two tiles that let you adcance in theology: one tile was 2 corn/2 wood/advance one level in theology, the other tile was 5 corn/1 stone/advance one level in theology. Out of my four starting tiles, I chose one that gave me a mixture of corn/wood/stone and 1 skull.
The game at the beginning. Jasen is green, Don is blue and I am yellow. The dummy workers are red to deny the spots in a 3 player game.
Going first, Don's opening move was to put all three of his workers into Palenque, essentially denying Jasen and I a chance to go there and get early corn or wood. His next turn he emptied them all out and he was flush with corn and wood.
Early on, Jasen advanced himself one more time on the theology track which gives an extra skull when you get a skull, which he did when he picked up a worker off a Yaxchilan.
I was the first one to get an extra worker, though Jasen and Don would quickly follow suit. I advanced myself one level each on agriculture and resource extraction (get extra corn and extra wood). So I was able to get lots of corn in the game to feed my workers. In contrast, Jasen starting putting workers into Chichan Itza, and using his theology was able to fill up levels on Chichan Itza (once a skull has been placed on a spot, that spot can no longer be used). Then the lower levels would let him move up one level on the temples, for which he had the lead at the midpoint. Jasen virtually ignored corn, and when it came time to feed his workers he took a 12 VP penalty! At midpoint the scores were:
Jasen: 12, Don 7, Norbert 0.
However, Jasen would increase his lead by pupming more workers into Chichan Itza. There are 9 spots for skull placement, and Jasen would take 7 of them. Don and I were scrambling over the sloppy seconds on Chichan Itza, since only the 8 VP and 13 VP space were left after Jasen was done. Don had put a worker on first, and I thought I could get the sloppy thirds by putting a worker on after him. After 4 or 5 gear changes, I realized that Don was going to take the 8 VP space, and the game would be over before I could place my worker on the 13 VP space. That was an embarrassing revelation.
Both Don and Jasen had used their ability to turn the gears an extra time, to put pressure on the workers on the gears, I think.
One of the monuments was one that gave 9/20/33 VPs for how many tracks you advanced along technology. I bought that for 3 gold/stone/wood, which didn't leave me with much resources at the end to advance another track, so I would get 20 VPs for this. Jasen had advanced along the three temple spaces, so he bought the monument that gives VPs on each current step, and he would get 13 VPs for this one.
But Jasen had overwhelmed us on Chichan Itza, so it was all over but for .
Scores: Jasen 62, Don 36, Norbert 32.
As a side note, the skull that I was seeded with at the beginning of the game got scored for 3 VP, but obviously could have scored more on Chichan Itza.
Game end: Don has managed to take away two of Jasen's midgame lead on the temples. Jasen is green, Don is blue, and I am yellow. Jasen had advanced along the theology track to get the skulls and use Chichan Itza to his advantage. Sorry for the blurry picture, I was a bit dazed picking myself off the canvas.
Jasen asked us if this was comparable to Trajan, and he asked us if he thought this would be game of the year. I found the reference to Trajan to be interesting, since I really like Trajan, and Trajan would be my vote for game of the year in 2012. But for 2013, Tzolk'in might be the one. I really enjoyed this game, and I was thoroughly engrossed onto where to pick up my workers, even though I never should have put one into Chichan Itza earlier to avoid my blunder. I find myself wanting to explore if the other technology tracks are worth advancing on: none of us advanced on the third track which gives you goods when you build, so that maybe something to try. I wasn't very competitive on the temples either, and hope to rectify that the next time.
Each game is different with what you are seeded with, and which monuments are present. I look forward to more plays and getting my nose bloodied further.