Saturday Night Live

Thursday saw me playing Gaslands for the first time in nearly six months. The past couple of times it had come up as a game at the club I had been otherwise engaged, so missed it.

We were supposed to have five players, but two couldn't make it at the last minute so ended up playing with three, 50 Cans each. And two of us had gone for 50 Can single vehicles. So this was a small game by Gaslands standards.

We rolled up Saturday Night Live as the scenario, which basically involves grabbing Audience Votes by any means possible, including via a number of scenario-specific spot prizes. The teams were:

Caesar, running two Mishkin buggies
Other Daniel, running a single truck sponsored by the fire-themed Order Of The Inferno
Me, running a single Rutherford heavy truck with a turreted tank-gun (Siberian Khatru)

Here's Casar's opening move, as his best buggy zipped forward.

Siberian Khatru lumbered into life and blew the buggy away with a single shot. This scored Audience Votes for me (lots of damage) and for Caesar (having a vehicle wrecked).

Caesar's other buggy lasted one gear phase longer before being flamed by Other Daniel's vehicle. Don't worry; this scenario has respawn rules, so one of Caesar's vehicles could come back.

I plodded around firing my big gun, and picking up votes for damage. However I was running out of ammunition.

At this moment the ever-changing spot prize was for performing a t-bone ram on another vehicle. Ramming a heavy truck is never sensible, but points are points. Even if  Other Daniel scored them accidentally.

Look, I don't pretend that these photos tell much of a narrative. We had three vehicles in play and it didn't take long before we'd all been destroyed and had to respawn. Essentially we chased around the arena trying to pick up spot prizes (Lose all hazards? Done. Perform a hazardous manoeuvre? Easy). It was great fun, but hard to keep track of.

Here's a nice head-on collision that was no fun for either vehicle.

A lull in the hostilities when, for a phase or two, none of us had an active vehicle in play.

My big gun had limited ammo (although I could use Audience Votes to buy more, and did), but with a crew of four and some hull-mounted machine-guns I could still dish out damage without the main armament.

Into the closing stages of the game and I was doing well on points. A few good damaging shots would see me pick up the win. At that point I then failed to reach the point-score damage threshold with any shot; my gunner just couldn't do it. 

We chased around an obstacle for a bit.

Siberian Khatru was briefly inconvenienced by being destroyed. Again.

But it was soon back in action and failing to score damaging hits.

Actually I was still picking up plenty of votes thanks to my vehicle being a crowd-pleaser. This meant that I got an Audience Vote every time I wiped out from getting too many hazards. And having a low handling heavy truck with a big gun meant that I was wiping out a lot. Sure I sometimes flipped and took damage, and often ended up facing in odd directions, but when your gun is in a turret direction is often meaningless. 

Anyway, there was drama towards the end. Caesar had a good run of spot-prizes and reached a score on a par with mine (you need 15 victory points to win, with each Audience Vote you earn being worth one - so long as it's earned close to an opposing vehicle. There's no hiding in the corner and doing fancy shit in this scenario). He then collided with the central pillar, and was wrecked. 

I failed to wipe out or score any major damage in the interim, so couldn't pick up the ONE VOTE I needed to win. However on my next activation I would.

And then Caesar respawned. The spot prize was to be at maximum gear. So he used all of his spare votes to ramp up to full speed from the off. That left him with one Audience Vote required to win.

You get an Audience Vote if a vehicle is wrecked. So he drove at full speed into an obstacle, the subsequent twisted metal of his vehicle winning the event for his team.

Sneaky. And pure Gaslands.

Final scores were:

Caesar - 15 points
Me - 14 points
Other Daniel - 5 points

Other Daniel had problems with his team abilities in that he scored Audience Votes for setting other vehicles on fire, but none of the vehicles he did it to lasted long enough aflame to actually score he points. 

Anyway, for a small game with (mostly) three vehicles it was a lot of fun, with all of us finding creative ways to pick up points and lots of cat and mouse manoeuvre. Siberian Khatru proved to be a useful vehicle in this scenario, with it's many limitations kind of working to its advantage.

Siberian Khatru

Rutherford - Heavy Truck - 50 Cans
Max Gear - 3
Handling -2
Crew - 4

125 mm Tank Gun (Turret) - 4 Ammo
Machine Gun (Sides)

Perks: Headshot, Crowd Pleaser

Tour De France 1903 - Part 4

This is the final part of this short Flamme Rouge tour based around the stages of the 1903 Tour De France. 

The final two stages are mostly sprints, although there are a few small terrain challenges to keep the riders on their toes.

Catherine's Blue team is looking very strong in terms of current tour points, but if things get close then the overall winning team could go down to the bonus points for the sprint and mountain challenges, as well as fastest riders and teams. But, at the end of the day, winning races and winning them well will always put a team on top. My Blue team needs to press Catherine hard.

The fifth stage runs from Bordeaux to Nantes. There's a moderate ascent near the start but after that it should just be a sprint to the finish. Not a race where you want to get left behind.

Riders ready for the off. White and Pink are up front whilst the better-scoring Blue and Black teams sit behind them. 

Everyone stays close together as the riders deal with the ascent.

However the white made a break for it and my Pink sprinteur followed. A gap opened up.

The White rouleur and Pink sprinteur led the way, chased by the pack.

My sprinteur slipped back and Catherine pushed her Blue team forward to try and catch the White rouleur.

The Blue sprinteur put in a burst and ran for teh line, neck and neck with White.

But Blue had shot their bolt and exhaustion got the better of them. My Pink sprinteur put in an epic run to the line and finished first!

This increased my tour standings and gave me some much-needed sprint points. However my rouleur didn't finish so well and lost his yellow jersey to the Black rouleur. White picked up mountain points off the first ascent.

Going into the final race, these were the positions:

Tour Points

Blue - 11
Pink - 9
Black - 7

White - 6

Individual Times (m:ss)

Black Rouleur - 3:50
White Rouleur - 4:00
Pink Rouleur - 4:20
Blue Rouleur - 4:20
Pink Sprinteur - 4:40
Blue Sprinteur - 11:50

White Sprinteur - 13:20
Black Sprinteur - 15:00

Team Times (m:ss)

Pink - 9:00
Blue - 16:10

White - 17:20
Black - 18:50

Sprint Points

Blue Rouleur - 13
Pink Rouleur - 11

White Rouleur - 7

Pink Sprinteur - 5
Black Rouleur - 4

White Sprinter - 2

Mountain Points

White Rouleur - 8

Black Rouleur - 7
Blue Rouleur - 5
Black Sprinteur - 2
Pink Rouleur - 2

Stage 6. The final run from Nantes to Ville d'Auray, near Paris. A small ascent halfway through was the main challenge, but two small sections of cobbles early on could cause problems too.

I needed to finish well to stand a chance of pushing up towards Catherine's score. 

The current leader makes their first selections. It's a serious business. 

As predicted the cobbles did cause a small break. Both bot teams were in the front pack, whilst Catherine and I, who are more cautious, were at the back.

I got the drop on Catherine, pushing both my riders forward  and leaving her trying to catch up at the rear.

Things got more mixed before the second ascent. But I was still feeling confident.

Catherine's sprinteur made a break for it. A couple of good cards would see him win. Could I catch him?

The Blue sprinteur started to struggle on the final run to the finish, and we caught up.

Both of Catherine's rider now looked to be struggling, whilst I still had fast cards left in my deck.

A shame then that on the critical turn BOTH of my riders drew a hand of '2' value cards! I dropped right back and, whilst White won, Catherine's rouleur wasn't far behind. I failed to place.

One bad draw had cost me dear. The near-final points were:

Tour Points

Blue - 13

White - 9

Pink - 9

Black - 8

Individual Times (m:ss)

White Rouleur - 4:10

Black Rouleur - 4:50

Blue Rouleur - 5:00

Pink Rouleur - 5:20

Pink Sprinteur - 5:40

Blue Sprinteur - 12:50

White Sprinteur - 16:20

Black Sprinteur - 17:20

Team Times (m:ss)

Pink - 11:00

Blue - 17:50

White - 20:30

Black - 22:10

Sprint Points

Blue Rouleur - 16

White Rouleur - 12

Pink Rouleur - 11

Black Rouleur - 5

Pink Sprinteur - 5

White Sprinteur - 2

Mountain Points

White Rouleur - 9

Black Rouleur - 7

Blue Rouleur - 5

Black Sprinteur - 2

Pink Rouleur - 2

White Sprinteur - 2

Bonus Tour Points are awarded for the fastest rider, fastest team, sprint champion and King of the Mountain

Catherine's Blue rouleur won the sprint challenge, with the White rouleur second. 

The White rouleur won the King of the Mountain with the Black rouleur second

The General Classification (fastest riders) was won by the  White rouleur, followed by the Black rouleur and then Catherine's Blue rouleur. That final draw cost me points here.

However I'd done a good job at keeping my riders together in each race. So my team had the fastest total time, to pick up the team award.

Adding in the bonus points for the various classifications gave these final scores:

Blue (Catherine) - 16
White (Bot) - 15
Black (Bot) - 11
Pink (Me) - 10

The results were close enough that the final race decided it; a couple of changes in final position would have seen White with a win, and even Black in with a chance. So it was closer than it looked.

The tour sheets in the game are a little fiddly to use, but not too hard. And they make each race an interesting challenge beyond just Win The Race.

Catherine's keen to do another tour, and I have one all ready. I might not bore you all with it here though.

Tour De France 1903 - Part 3

The third stage of the 1903 Tour De France runs from Marseille to Toulouse. Unlike the first two stages it doesn't include any significant climbs; just a couple of little ones to be annoying.

I did include one of the new roundabout tiles near the end, just because I've got them now and wanted to try them out. I'm not entirely sure what they represent in terms of track design, but they are fun, even if there's two pages of rules and examples covering them, because of some of teh interactions they cause. Basically the roundabout splits the track into two separate routes, one longer than the other. Cyclists default to the short route, but if their final space on the roundabout  is blocked then they have to divert along the longer route. Each route slipstreams individually. It's not that complex once you get used to it. I thought the putting it near the finish might be interesting, as going the long way can throw off any  calculations a player has made on how to finish. 

Anyway, here's the stage:

Obligatory starting grid shot.

I tried something clever with my sprinteur. The card draws didn't cooperate and he got left behind on the first ascent.

He caught up again, but there were a few stragglers now.

Once again the Black bot made it look effortless. Catherine's rouleur was up with the front pack. Both of m riders were lagging behind.

I got my rouleur into the front pack as we headed into the final run to the finish. A small ascent slowed everyone down a little.

The roundabout didn't catch anyone out - everyone got to zip past on the inside lane.

The race for the finish. 

It was a fast finish. The Blue rouleur crossed the line first, with the other three rouleurs in hot pursuit. My rouleur came second and Black's rouleur came third. We got both the podium points and sprint points.

At the end of the third stage is a rest day. This allows riders (the human-played ones anyway) to ditch more exhaustion cards. with one exception. Any rider wearing one of the jerseys spends the day doing interviews and PR, so doesn't get to rest. However they do score a Tour Point for their team. Thus the Blue and Black rouleurs had a busy day, but Blue got an extra Tour Point for the yellow jersey and Black got two Tour Points for being fastest individual time and best on the mountains, leaving me equal bottom of the rankings with White.

These are the standings after three stages, and taking into account the rest-day.

Tour Points

Blue - 7
White - 4

Black - 5
Pink - 4

Individual Times (m:ss)

Black Rouleur - 0:50
White Rouleur - 1:20
Pink Rouleur - 1:20
Blue Rouleur - 2:20

Pink Sprinteur - 2:40
White Sprinteur - 9:10

Blue Sprinteur - 7:50
Black Sprinteur - 11:20

Team Times (m:ss)

Pink - 3:40
White - 10:30

Blue - 10:10
Black - 12:10

Sprint Points

Blue Rouleur - 7
Black Rouleur - 3
Pink Rouleur - 3
White Rouleur - 2

Mountain Points

Black Rouleur - 7
White Rouleur - 6
Blue Rouleur - 5
Black Sprinteur - 2
Pink Rouleur - 1

The fourth stage runs from Toulouse to Bordeaux. It's basically a flat sprint, but there are two sections of cobblestones to break up the pack, one of then preceded by a risky tight bend (a new tile from Grand Tour which offers the possibility of crashes). There are plenty of Sprint Points available for those who want to take them.

The starting grid. I realised that I'd been calculating who placed first incorrectly up until now; teams are placed in ascending order of Tour Points, not based on overall time. So as the team at the bottom of the table I got pole position, whilst Catherine was last team off the rank.

White forged ahead. It looks good but that's all their good cards gone early in the race. Once again I botched things and ended up with my rouleur leading the chasing pack. Which meant I was picking up a pile of exhaustion cards. Catherine just tailed both of my riders and didn't.

Bunching in the first cobblestone section. And I finally managed to let Catherine slip in front and take teh fatigue.

Sprinting into the middle section saw this great moment. After all movement is completed you check, starting from the back if a rider has a single space between them and the rider/pack in front. If so, they move up. Then *that* group checks, and so on, until you don't have one space gaps. It's teh slipstreaming rule. Have a look at this position. starting with the Black sprinteur at the back there's a series of one space gaps ...

... leading to this. The Black sprinteur basically got five points of movement for free. 

(On ascents and cobbles there's no slipstreaming, so you really don't want gaps there because they simply mean exhaustion)

White was burning out now, and the riders were back in a bunch. The best managed hand would sin the final sprint. But there was still the narrow village street and final cobblestone section to go.

We got through with no incident. Both of Catherine's riders were up front, with my rouleur keeping them company.

But I couldn't find the oomph for a sprint off the cobbles, and Catherine forged ahead.

The Blue rouleur was the only rider to cross on his turn, but thanks to a final burst of speed from the reserve my Pink rouleur was only twenty seconds behind in second place. Twenty seconds behind him was the Black rouleur. They picked up the Podium Points and the Sprint Points. 

The jerseys changed hands a little. My Pink rouleur is now the fastest rider overall (by a mere ten seconds), so wears the yellow jersey. Catherine's Blue rouleur has the most Sprint Points. The Black rouleur still leads the race to be King Of The Mountain, because here were no Mountain Points available in this race. In fact with only four points available to a single rider in the final two stages, only the Blue and White rouleurs could seize the crown from Black now.

These are the scores at the end of the fourth stage:

Tour Points

Blue - 10
Black - 7

Pink - 6

White - 4

Individual Times (m:ss)

Pink Rouleur - 2:20

Black Rouleur - 2:30
Blue Rouleur - 3:00

White Rouleur - 3:20
Pink Sprinteur - 4:20

Blue Sprinteur - 9:30

White Sprinteur - 11:20

Black Sprinteur - 13:00

Team Times (m:ss)

Pink - 6:40
Blue - 12:30

White - 14:40

Black - 15:30

Sprint Points

Blue Rouleur - 12
Pink Rouleur - 6

Black Rouleur - 4
White Rouleur - 4
White Sprinteur -1

Mountain Points

Black Rouleur - 7
White Rouleur - 6
Blue Rouleur - 5
Black Sprinteur - 2
Pink Rouleur - 1

With two races to go Catherine is looking hard to beat unless she really messes up. A couple of strong finishes by Black or myself could push her hard, and make it go down to the bonus points for sprints and mountain-climbing. But winning races is where the points are, and that's what she's doing.

Strangely, despite my lack of wins, my consistent finishing near the front gives my rouleur and, indeed, my team, the fastest overall times.