29h May - Leonardo Da Vinci

So, my first session after a very relaxing holiday in Austria, if you would like to see some pics go here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Colin.Jen/StWolfgang2007

It was Garry's choice and he had chosen Pillars of the Earth, but at the last minute Jo could join us and as Pillars only plays 4 he changed his choice to Leonardo Da Vinci. We have played Leonardo a couple of times and in the first game I didn't invent a single thing and came last, the second time I did a bit better, so this time I hoped to improve again. Before we had even started one of Richard's meeples was mysteriously suspended at an impossible angle. After several ribald suggestions as to what was keeping him at that angle we had a brief recap through the rules as Jo had only played once I think.


The incredible floating meeple

We played the advanced version where each player gets three picks of either 5 money, 4 resources, an upgrade or an extra apprentice. I chose 4 resources, an extra man and an upgrade. I think everyone chose a different combination of extras. Leonardo is an excellent game but this is the first time we have played with 5 and I found it a lot tighter than with 4. Steve went into the lead on inventions as he quickly got inspiration and had 2 or 3 in front of him in no time. As the game progressed I managed to invent something the same round as Jo, luckily we both went for different ones. Richard completed an invention but it was the same one as Steve and Steve won the auction for the card, that was the only thing that Richard completed until fairly late in the game when he completed a 15 weeker.


The game board

Going into the last 2 rounds I managed to get a look at the top of the inventions deck to see if there was anything I could build. I had the resources to build one and put it on the top, unfortunately I miscalculated the number of weeks and didn't have enough time to build it anyway...DOH!
So a good game, Richard never spent any money at all, only in the council to buy a resource for 1 a couple of times and in the end had a convincing win. I ended being last....again, ah well I enjoyed it which is the main thing.

Final Scores (money + bonuses)
Richard 42 + 0, Jo 35 + 0, Garry 23 + 8, Steve 13 + 13, Colin 21 + 0