Photosynthesis

The colors! The shades! The trees! Just looking at it makes one want to find out what is hiding beneath the artwork of Sabrina Miramon. Even more in these Autumn days, they too dressed in light and shadows, dyed with a broad palette of colours, both in the sky and in the falling leaves. Welcome to the world of Photosynthesis, a creation of Hjalmar Hach!

The principles governing this world, dependent on the Sun, are very easy to understand.

Tree leaves receive energy from the Sun. Larger trees have more leaves and, therefore, capture more energy. The trees cast a shadow, according to the Sun position. Larger trees cast larger shadows. Shadowed trees do not receive energy. Important detail: the position of the king star changes every turn, circling around the grove, so that light direction and, therefore, that of the shadows, are constantly changing. This is the first phase of each player’s turn: energy storage, counted in energy points.

The board game represents the land where vegetation grows. A seed is released into the ground. From the seed a small tree is born. The tree grows. Then, it grows even more. During the whole process it may release new seeds, and the higher the tree the farther away the seeds can travel. Finally, the tall tree is chopped down. Each one of these steps spends energy points.

This is very much the game: each player develops and chops downs trees of the same family, represented by a color. In order to do so one has to carefully choose where to sow, which trees to grow and when, the right moment to chop them down and how to manage your tree nursery and seed bed. All this taking into account the movement of the Sun, the light and the shadows!

After three full Sun revolutions the game comes to an end and the player with more victory points wins. These are obtained only when the larger trees are chopped down. Bear in mind that the wood land is not uniform: there are areas of richer soil, providing more victory points than others.

This is a game for 2 to 4 players, which you can start playing in 15 minutes, time required to assemble the trees included.

The rule booklet includes two advanced rules: have the Sun do another revolution, extending the game; and preclude the planting of a seed or the growth of a tree when in a shadow. Stuff to try out!

Only have played some 2 and 3 player games. Yet to test the 4 player game, which will lead to a much denser grove, adding to the struggle for light and to increased shadow effects.

I really love the aesthetics; the simple and carefully designed game engine; the nice and up to the point rule booklet; the player boards, containing all the information needed for a fluid game play; the box, large enough to store the trees without disassembling, and thus reducing the wear of parts; and not using plastic.

To play more!

Game: Hach, Hjalmar. Photosynthesis. Pont-à-Mousson, França: Blue Orange, 2017.

At InvictaCon2018

Saturday. Gray autumn day, tasting like rain. 4 PM. No one in sight, in the surroundings of Gondomar multipurpose hall (near Porto, Portugal), as to match the uninviting weather. No! There’s someone. A man heading for the entrance. He seems to be seeking the same as we. We followed him. Then, we just followed the voices heard in the distance. And, suddenly, we struck gold. More accurately, we arrived at the Golden Room. A big crowded room, warm, full of cheerful people, of all ages, sitting around tables. Playing!

Over the tables, some known games. And also games looking brand new, just arrived from Spiel2018, held in Essen, Germany, waiting to be opened for the first time. A corner holding tournament games. In other area, wargame miniatures are used to recreate combats. In another one, masters lead role playing games. And there are also creators, play testing their games. We just have to walk in, look around, pick up a free chair or request a game at the welcome desk. With the certainty that someone will always be around, readily available to help trough the rules. And add to the fun.

Welcome to InvictaCon2018, the 12th Porto National Meeting of Board Games and RPGs, of its full name. Three days of games, from 9 to 11 November, organised by the Boardgamers Group of Porto, with a staff of 21 volunteers for the occasion. With around 340 games available on location and an estimate of about 1000 participants, half of whom newcomers to the event, just like me. Board games are alive and kicking!

I challenged Ricardo Biscaia, one of the organisers, to choose no more than three games, among all the games in display. The choices were: Azul, by being, once again, the most requested; a game that uses, as theme, Portuguese tiles or stained glass. Brass: Birmingham, the InvictaCon cover photo, an economic strategy game whose action takes place in England, during the industrial revolution, illustrating the type of games that the Group prefers. Teotihuacan-City of God, one of the novelties brought from Essen, because of the wide consensus achieved, and where we manage a force of workers, developing the mythical town and building the Sun Pyramid.

I took the challenge one step further, asking Ricardo to choose his game "of the moment" and also one of the "classics", a game that stood the test of time and to which he returns time and again. These are the choices: Through the Ages: the New Story of Civilizaton, with its perfect combination of strategy, tactics, luck and "fortune management”, a game that will stay on top; and Settlers of Catan.

A couple of hours well spent but that, unfortunately, were not enough to try out a few games. Next time! Thanks to Ricardo Biscaia, for his availability and all the useful information, and to David Pereira, one of our guides at the event. 

For those looking for partners or games, at the “Invicta” City, the Port Boardgamers group gathers in Centro Comercial Cristal Park, every Thursday and on the last Saturday of every month.

And, just to wrap-up, some images of games, of course! You can find information on these and many, many, many more, at https://boardgamegeek.com/.

Cerebria

Scythe

Tzolk'in

Presidium

Pathfinder, a Role Playing Game

WW II miniature wargame

Raw material

The classic of all classics

Chess. Where to start, if not here? With this game much older than most Nations, and still very much alive! True symbol of abstract strategy games, for two to play; mind against mind; without any external factors whatsoever; without any possibility of escape and with an aura of complexity only within reach for a few. That may be somewhat intimidating.

"In chess you can't fool yourself or fool the other: your moves indicate your strength", said Dana Reizniece-Ozola, Chessplayer, Grand Master and, also, current Minister of Finance of Latvia. But the force is something that you learn, train and feel! The force is strong in this one.

It is not difficult to start: the rules are simpler than those of many other games. Try Advanced Squad Leader! The goal is clear: to capture the opponent's King. The terrain of game is small, eight by eight, so you can't wander around. The armies are in symmetrical positions. And with half of the squares occupied from the outset, the confrontation is almost immediate. Six different pieces: Kings and Queens, Bishops, Knights, Rooks and Pawns. Each with moving in different ways and with some specific characteristics: the pawns who walk slowly but without ever retreat, the jumping horses, the bishops making diagonal moves, the rooks moving in straight lights, the Queen’s going straight or diagonally, as Kings do, but in a much slower way and in need of protection.

One must start with the basics, meaning in chess to start at the very end, and take pleasure in the discovery. Learn how to capture the King with different pieces and combinations of pieces. Attack, defense, strengths, weaknesses. Harmonies. And from those foundations you only have to continue developing your understanding of the game.

To me, it is an over four decades long companion. The friendly games. The practice with friends. The first books and how the masters play becomes into game theory. The encoding of games. The problems to solve. The exercise of memory that gives you speed. A journey through Europe and the World with the Scotch Game, the Spanish, English or Italian openings, French or Sicilian defenses, the Indian Games. The names of the masters and champions. Time management. The competition.

64 houses, light and dark. Land on which Kings and Queens, Bishops and Pawns, Knights and Rooks are on the move. For minutes or hours, which can be short or long. Two players, apparently still. Except for their eyes, darting all across the board, running through imagination, devising futures, plausible, probable, inevitable. The opponent disappears. Becomes invisible. Leaving only the army. He's the opponent. Calculations. Unfathomable to many. But which are just a tiny part. There are themes and motifs feeding the score. Development. Speed. Initiative. Pawn structure. Open, half-open or closed columns. The Bishop pair. Good and bad bishops. Sacrifices. Speculation. Pressure. Load and overload. Detour. Diversion. Theory. Practice. Knowledge. Confidence. Surprise. Fear. And beauty, when it all comes together: the strategic principles, the tactical motifs, the blow that disrupts the balance, the variants under control. Victory. Defeat. More than a game.

Much more than a game. Raised even to symbol of supremacy, during cold war. As in the 1972 match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, two players, two people only, but with two opposed worlds behind their backs. United States of America and the Soviet Union. Or in matches between Karpov and Korchnoi, the soviet dissident, in 1978. And, just later on, with the coming of Kasparov, the third "K" on this trilogy, once again the rebel against the system, represented yet again by Anatoly Karpov. Stories within History, with some incredible episodes, featuring parapsychologists, yoghurts delivering messages, and all the fuss about chairs or the audience layout, as well as other behind-the-scenes acts.

2018. November. Day 9. London. The College. A new world title fight begins, between the first two players of the ranking: Magnus Carlsen, of Norway, defending champion, and Fabio Caruana, of the United States. A match scheduled for 12 games. A dozen battles. In black and white. Yesterday, Carlsen was the black, and Caruana the white. A game that had 115 moves, and took 7 hours. Much more than a marathon or five sets of tennis at the highest level. And it all ended in a deadlock. The Kings clinging to their pawns, the rooks blocking other possibilities. Carlsen’s extra pawn couldn't make a difference. A tie was agreed upon. And this was the final position, seen from the side of Caruana, the White. Today there is more to come!

Pictures of a countdown

The 13 steps of the blog launch countdown.
For those who missed it.
For those who want to see it again.
To run through and find out the games used in it!

In Black and White

The countdown has reached the end. D-Day has arrived. This blog starts.

To play or not to play?
To play, off course!
Always.
Since always.
Since almost as far back as I can remember.

To play. Discover new worlds, with landscapes, characters, rules and even languages of their own. Travel across the boards, roll the dice, deal the cards. Handle tokens made of many different materials, in all shapes and sizes; with strong colours or in plain black and white. Decipher riddles, design strategies, challenge the odds. Feel the pressure of time trickling away, measured with a watch, an hourglass or in turns of play. The thrill of trying to be first. The joy of observing an unfolding game, watching it gain life. The long holiday afternoons. The warmth of playing with friends, around the table.

Go

To play. In black and white. Literally, on the boards and on the pieces. As in the great classics, that have come across centuries and civilisations: Chess, Go, Draughts. Games in which everything is in plain sight, since the very beginning. With no hidden surprises whatsoever. But, even so, where it is not possible to foreseen it all, to the very end. Keeping the mystery alive. Which takes two to be solved.

In black and white. Figuratively, as in opposing sides. Me and the other. We and the others. Partners and rivals. Balance and imbalance. Calculations and decisions.

Black with white. Shades of grey. Nuances and uncertainties. All it takes is to add a dice, and everything changes. Hypothesis, probabilities, risk, caution. Every decision, every move, becomes dependent. Trying to make the best of what lady luck has to offer. As in backgammon.

In full colour. Games for three, four, five or even more players. In interaction. With themes and with roles to play. Cooperation or confrontation. Alliances and betrayals. Asymmetries. Simulating reality, fictionalising realities or remaining in the abstract domain. In outer space or on planet Earth.

Compete, negotiate, buy, sell, sow, multiply, build, destroy, cure, infect, fight, conquer, rule, travel, unite, take over, run, climb, descend, speed up, fly, grow, transform, transform yourself and plus everything else that might be imagined. Parallel worlds, in continuous creation.

A pallet of choices. For all and for each one. Even better, suited to each one’s taste. Simple or complex. Immediate or progressive in learning. To spend a mere fifteen minutes or a whole afternoon. To play a couple of times or to come back again and again. To think hard or just to push the pieces around. With luck or without it. To appreciate the aesthetics or the mechanism. The creation or the creator. To play or to collect.

Tresham, Francis. Civilization
Northampton: Hartland Trefoil Ltd., 1980. Gibson Games

In black and white.
Playing in black and white.
Symbolising all board games.
No computers involved, unplugged.
This is a travel blog in the land of games.

Wandering, aimlessly, throughout time and space.

Exploring distant pasts, measured in centuries or even millennia, reaching the deep roots of well-known games. Seeking memories from a less distant past, some decades or even few years ago, visiting "my" games. Trying out the games of today and, who knows, those that are being created for tomorrow.

Wandering through places where games are played, where you can find and buy them, and spaces for their creation and development. Traversing territories that may not be found on the city streets, but where games are present: photography, books, music, movies.

Opinion. Pictures. History. Stories. Rules. Tests. Modifications. Analyses. "My" games. The Classics. The New. The Old. Places. Creations. Creators. Disseminators. Languages. Books. Magazines. Publishers.

Everything will fit in here.
In the land of games.
Wandering.

Come on board for this journey!
Read, comment, suggest.
And, of course, play!

Wandering in the land of games. Unplugged. Fuelled by passion. Moving across time and space. Over boards and tables. In the company of tokens, dices and cards, of all shapes and sizes. Pathways with history and with stories. For sharing.

"My name is Gamer ... Board Gamer".

D-1

Wagon loaded. We're ready to go!

La Guerra de Nube Roja [The War of Red Cloud]

In “Juegos de Las Batallas 1 – El Salvaje Oeste”. Barcelona: Plaza & Janes, S.A. Editores, 1977