Oxford Plus Gaming

(pic shamelessly stolen from boardgamegeek)

In attendance:
Adrian Barnard
Simon Mawdsley
Steve Sykes
Janet Rintoul

Huw and Ralph were absent, since Hayseed Dixie were in town. Fortunately, there were still enough people for a gaming night. Simon M had been talking about playing Power Grid for some weeks, so that was brought out.

Power Grid
(Report from Adrian)
Germany map; North, North East, Central East and Central West
territories in play.

The game ran out of time just after stage 2 was attained with stage 3
set to arrive the next turn.

The game didn't start until later than normal awaiting arrivals from Steve and Janet from Reading, and in consequence perhaps should have been deferred for a shorter game. However it left a healthy discussion on how things could have panned out.

Adrian did well in the first couple of turns picking up two power 2 stations, but
then stalled due to no cash for a turn allowing catch up. As the game
continued on it was evident that Adrian had the south of Germany all to
himself with the others fighting it out in the north / central areas.
Simon M continued to stay near the front despite being in a poor position
- not good in this game! Janet got a bit hemmed in at the top but pretty
much always managed first purchase on anything in so doing and Steve who
had made the choice to expand north from the centre had made good and in
stage 2 pushed south and had a very successful network. The closing
positions were Steve 11 fully powered cities, Simon 10 fully powered
cities, Janet 9/10 powered cities and Adrian 8/10 powered cities. All
players were cash rich at this stage in the order of Steve, Simon,
Adrian, Janet. There was no real competition for resources given the mix
of stations out there, perhaps some pressure on oil and coal. All
players had room to expand and likely the game would have lasted two
more turns. Steve and Simon had efficient 5 power for 2 unit stations of
oil and coal Janet and Adrian had a less efficient set up but again the
next turn would have seen their improvements realised, whereas the
others would have had no reason to bid for 'improved stations'. The
discussion at the end leaned towards Steve carrying a win but all agreed
it could have gone in any direction.