A Solo Study in Emerald

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Despite A Study in Emerald (ASIE) being one of the first five games in my now too-large-to-play collection, I haven't ever taken the time to learn the rules and play through a game. The best I've been able to do is a learning game a couple of weeks ago. That went not-well. We really thrashed. In part, I think the thrashing, and in general not playing, is a result of my inability to understand the rules to these "euro" games by reading. I find wargame rules so much easier to read and understand. Fortunately, smarter people than I enjoy making Youtube playthroughs. I watched three to figure out how to play ASIE.

Enough jibba jabba, time to play.

I'm playing Agent Wednesday (AW, green, Restorationist) and Agent Friday (AF, purple, Restorationist).

AW starts in Zurich, AF starts in Paris.

Turn 1

AW leads with:

  1. 2 cubes on Vera Figner in Madrid,
  2. Purchase 1 cube for 2 gold.

AF:

  1. 2 cubes on Louise Michel in London,
  2. purchase cube for 2 gold.

So far, not too interesting. But that's ok, my main goal for this game is understanding the mechanics of how to do stuff on the board.

Turn 2

AW:

  1. Acquires Vera Figner.
  2. purchase another cube.

AF:

  1. purchase Louise Michel. AF is now "known to the authorities."
  2. 3 cubes on Hired Assassin which is in Paris. (This is probably a mistake this early in the game.)

Turn 3

AW:

  1. 2 cubes on Prince Kropotkin in Berlin.
  2. reclaim one cube from Limbo.

AF:

  1. Two cubes on London.
  2. purchase 1 cube.

Turn 4

AW:

  1. Playing Vera Figner "Assassinate Royalty" action in Madrid against Boaht Z'. This require four bombs. Three of the bombs are on two cards, Vera has a bomb for herself. Sanity marker is MAD! AW is now Known to the Authorities, with 2 VPs.
  2. 2 cubes on St. Petersburg.

AF:

  1. Claim the one-use Hired Assassin card in Paris.
  2. 3 cubes out of Limbo.

Turn 5

AW:

  1. Claiming St. Petersburg card.
  2. 3 cubes on Nadar airships card in St. P.

AF:

  1. Claim London.
  2. Blocking disk on Nadar.

AF:

  1. 3 cubes on The Black Hand in Constantinople.
  2. purchase 1 cube.

Turn 6

AW:

  1. acquire Prince Kropotkin in Berlin. Adds 1 VP for 9 total.
  2. 4 cubes from Limbo.

AF:

  1. Move Louise Michel to The Hague.
  2. 1 cube on The Hague.

Turn 7

AW:

  1. 1 cube on Shoggoth in Rome.
  2. purchase 1 cube.

AF:

  1. Claim The Hague for 3 more VPs, total 10.
  2. 3 cubes out of Limbo.

Turn 8

AW:

  1. Move AW from Zurich to Vienna.
  2. 1 cube in Vienna.

AF:

  1. Claim The Black Hand card from Constantinople.
  2. 2 cubes on Zombies in Zurich.

Turn 9

AW:

  1. Claim Vienna.
  2. Move AW to Berlin from Vienna.

AF:

  1. Claim Zombies card from Zurich, Sanity draw result is Sane.
  2. purchase 1 cube.

Turn 10

AW:

  1. Assassinate "The Burrower Beneath" using AW's one time action card, with AW himself and Prince Kropotkin. That's 5 more VP for total 19. I may have been able to use Vera Figner's action for this, and just the bombs on the agent card. See questions below. Sanity draw: Sane.
  2. pass.

AF:

  1. 2 cubes on Evno Asef.
  2. 2 cubes from Limbo.

Turn 11

AW:

  1. Remove blocking disk from Nadar.
  2. Place 1 cube in Rome.

AF:

  1. Move Louise Michel from The Hague to Paris.
  2. 2 cubes from Limbo.

Turn 12

AW:

  1. Claim Nadar.
  2. 2 cubes from Limbo.

AF:

  1. Assassinate "The Spinner in the Darkness" in Paris for 4 VP, Sanity draw Sane. Hired Assassin card goes out of play.

Turn 13

AW:

  1. Claim Rome.
  2. 3 cubes from Limbo.

AF:

  1. Claim Evno Asef in The Hague.
  2. 3 cubes from Limbo.

Turn 14

AW:

  1. Move AW and Prince K from Berlin to St P.
  2. place cube on Hired Assassin in Paris.

AF:

  1. 2 cubes on Nadar.
  2. 1 cube on Paris.

Turn 15

  1. 2 cubes on Baron U-S.
  2. purchase cube.

AF:

  1. Claim Paris.
  2. Move AF and Louise Michel from Paris to Zurich.

Turn 16

AW:

  1. Claim Hired Assassin from Paris.
  2. 2 cubes on Johan Most in Paris.

AF:

  1. Zombies!
  2. 1 cube on Necronomicon in The Hague.

Turn 17

  1. Move AW from St P to The Hague.
  2. 1 cube on William Steiber in Cairo.

AF:

  1. 2 cubes on Hired Assassin in Constantinople.
  2. Move Evno from The Hague to St P.

Turn 18

AW:

  1. Claim William Steiber in Cairo.
  2. Move Steiber to Rome.

AF:

  1. Claim Nadar from Berlin.
  2. 2 cubes from Limbo.

Turn 19

AW:

  1. Nadar AW from The Hague to Rome.
  2. Assassinate Rhogog. Sanity draw MAD! Steiber is removed.

AF:

  1. Claim Hired Assassin from Constantinople.
  2. 4 cubes from Limbo.

Turn 20

AW:

  1. 2 cubes on Peter R. in Washington.
  2. Move Revolution Track marker 1 space.

AF:

  1. Zombies in The Hague, Paris and Zurich.
  2. AF and Evno to Vienna.

Turn 21

AW:

  1. 2 cubes from Limbo.
  2. 2 cubes on William Morris in Cairo.

AF:

  1. Assassinate Nug and Yeb in Vienna, draw MAD! Evno is lost.
  2. pass.

Turn 22

AW:

  1. Claim William Morris in Cairo.
  2. Nadar William Morris to Washington.

AF:

  1. Zombies in Rome and Cairo.
  2. 3 cubes on Ravachol in Cairo.

Turn 23

AW:

  1. Claim Peter Rachkovsky in Washington.
  2. 1 cube on Washington.

AF:

  1. 2 cubes on Hired Assassin in Washington.
  2. 2 cubes from Limbo.

Turn 24

AW:

  1. Claim Washington for 5 VP, total 31.
  2. Discard 2.

AF:

  1. Claim Hired Assassin from Washington. This is probably too late in the game to matter.
  2. 3 cubes on Emma Goldman in Washington.

Turn 25

AW:

  1. Claim Shoggoth, draw MAD! Game is over, AW wins on points with 31 to 25 on the scoring track. ## AAR

Some questions:

  1. When playing an agent's one time action for assassination, do the bombs on that card count? From the Card Actions - Assassination section of the rules, it looks like either the action or the bomb must be used, but not both.

  2. If an agent card (e.g., Vera Figner) in the hand has an "Assassinate Royalty" action, can this be played without having the agent present for the assassination?

  3. Somehow, rescoring at the end of the game didn't result in the same score as what was on the scoring track. Is that normal, or did I miss something important?

Blunders

  • Forgot to remove the Vera Figner agent from the board as a result of drawing a Mad sanity token after the assassination.
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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.