Now playing: Bruce Broughton - Tombstone (Main Theme)
via FoxyTunes
Just finished out with Track Bits, Episode 5. I ended up digging out an old Top 10 list and fleshing it out, as I was having trouble writing the 5th episode. So what was going to be the 5th will now be the 6th, with this one to tide everyone over until then.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XS7YLJCO
Enough, More Later.
- James
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009
Fun with Folk Music
Now playing: Bruce Broughton - Arrival In Tombstone
via FoxyTunes
While working today I started listening to the Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale's singing of various sea shanties, which is always a treat, and came across one that I hadn't heard before, but very much liked the tone of. So you all could have an idea of it, I quickly threw together the video below. Have a listen!
Having looked up the song on question on it's wikipedia page, it became apparent that there were a bunch of different sets of lyrics that the tune could go along with, some of which have nothing to do with Santa Anna. However, the lyrics that the MotRSC sing in the above video, sounded a little...off...when it came to the Mexican general. For instance:
He beat the Prussians Fairly,
Way ah, me Santa Anna
He whacked the British nearly,
Along the plains of Mexico.
First off, the battle in question is The Battle of Monterrey, which is already mixed up by the main versions of this song (the British, at the time, were fond of the idea of the Americans being beaten up, so they swapped out the Mexican defeat for an American rout in the lyrics). And secondly, the battle was purely an American/Mexican Affair. If the British ever got involved, they would probably have been on the Mexican side. And even if the stanza in question was about Santa Anna's life in general, I doubt he had much to do with the British, much less the Prussians.
I did some digging online and found an excerpt from an eBook copy of Shanties from the Seven Seas on the song in question ("Santiana or The Plains of Mexico (The benevolent sailor version)"). The author quoted the odd lines in question from another source, saying that it "gives Santiana as having fought the special enemies of Napoleon!" and that "These of course are stanzas from Boney." Being, of course, a shanty about the life and times of Napoleon.
I'm not sure of the how's and why's of the version I've put in the video, but every other version I've heard (in sample form, online) from other groups have used the other sets of lyrics. Whatever the case may be, it was interesting delving into the world of cataloging of folk songs. Remind me to rant about the jig "The Pipe on the Hob" some other time.
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
While working today I started listening to the Men of the Robert Shaw Chorale's singing of various sea shanties, which is always a treat, and came across one that I hadn't heard before, but very much liked the tone of. So you all could have an idea of it, I quickly threw together the video below. Have a listen!
Having looked up the song on question on it's wikipedia page, it became apparent that there were a bunch of different sets of lyrics that the tune could go along with, some of which have nothing to do with Santa Anna. However, the lyrics that the MotRSC sing in the above video, sounded a little...off...when it came to the Mexican general. For instance:
He beat the Prussians Fairly,
Way ah, me Santa Anna
He whacked the British nearly,
Along the plains of Mexico.
First off, the battle in question is The Battle of Monterrey, which is already mixed up by the main versions of this song (the British, at the time, were fond of the idea of the Americans being beaten up, so they swapped out the Mexican defeat for an American rout in the lyrics). And secondly, the battle was purely an American/Mexican Affair. If the British ever got involved, they would probably have been on the Mexican side. And even if the stanza in question was about Santa Anna's life in general, I doubt he had much to do with the British, much less the Prussians.
I did some digging online and found an excerpt from an eBook copy of Shanties from the Seven Seas on the song in question ("Santiana or The Plains of Mexico (The benevolent sailor version)"). The author quoted the odd lines in question from another source, saying that it "gives Santiana as having fought the special enemies of Napoleon!" and that "These of course are stanzas from Boney." Being, of course, a shanty about the life and times of Napoleon.
I'm not sure of the how's and why's of the version I've put in the video, but every other version I've heard (in sample form, online) from other groups have used the other sets of lyrics. Whatever the case may be, it was interesting delving into the world of cataloging of folk songs. Remind me to rant about the jig "The Pipe on the Hob" some other time.
Enough, More Later.
- James
Thursday, December 03, 2009
Thoughts on Carcassonne (and its expansions)
Now playing: Jerry Goldsmith - The Mutant
via FoxyTunes
I must say, I am quite taken with Klaus-Jurgen Wrede's Carcassonne and all of it's add-ons. It's a nice, kind introduction to the world of German-style board games, and is refreshing after one too many games of Catan. Building a countryside piece by piece and capturing points for completed features manages to be both competitive and very gentle, due to almost no penalties in the scoring process. For a further description of the main game, go check out the link to the wiki-page at the beginning of this paragraph: from here on out, I'm going to give my thoughts on the many, many expansions.
Regular Expansions
1. Inns & Cathedrals
The first expansion to get if you're just starting out, the additional pieces are easy to understand and the additional rules are easy to follow. The inclusion of score markers helps for this and all other expansions, when it's very easy to score over 100 points and thus fly off the original score-board. ***
2. Traders & Builders
Here we start the tradition of additional play mechanics bringing nothing more than egregious point expanders (the Trade Goods and Pig being the main offenders), but the main draw of this expansion is the Builder, which can really shake things up by allowing people to take two turns in a row. Making it easier for players to aim for larger features, although once again being a point multiplier, definitely changes how one plays the game. *****
3. The Princess & The Dragon
Despite owning a copy, I still haven't had a chance to test this expansion out! From what I've read of the instructions, I'm liking the idea of a communally moved dragon that can remove followers (and the additional twist of knight-removing Princess tiles), but the Fairy mechanic seems like it would engender more of a tug-of-war than actual game play. I hope to try this one out this weekend.
4. Abbey & Mayor
This is the poster child for "new game mechanics designed solely to garner more points," but I like the mechanics none-the-less. The "wild-card" Abbey tile is an interesting addition, along with the farmer-shuffling "barn" and traveling "wheelbarrow" pieces. While this expansion might not do anything big in terms of changing game play, I've found enjoyment in it. ****
5. The Tower
Now here's a real game changer! While I found the premise to be interesting, I found the practice to be a bigger change than I thought: The ability to capture other player's pieces changed the whole tone of game play, and much of the easy, kindly nature of the game was replaced with a much more cautious and bitter outlook by the players. My main problem is how unbalanced it feels: it's far too easy to capture other players meeple. Towers can only be built on tower tiles, but the sheer number of these tiles makes the point almost moot. While the original emphasized clever tile placement to edge other players out of points, it seems that the Tower has more emphasis on yoinking meeple back and forth than building interesting features. The one time I played I found the whole affair to be much more spiteful than before, with the spirit of the original (rewarding clever players without penalizing others) almost non-existent. **
Mini Expansions
1. The River I and II
An interesting addition, the starts by laying down a river tile by tile, forming a bigger starting area. The second River expansion adds a split in the river (as well as support for the other expansions). Well worth it for some easy variety. ***
2. King
A sort of port-over of the "Longest Road" and "Largest Army" mechanic from Catan. Whoever builds the largest city gets control of the King, who nets them additional points from every completed city at the end of the game. Ditto for the Robber Baron with roads. More simple variety, but once again in the "earn more points" section. ***
3. Cult and Siege
Here are some interesting additions: Cults are Anti-Cloisters, scoring the same but considered "in contention" if each are placed within a certain distance of each other. Whichever one gets scored first deprives the other of earning points upon completion. Siege tiles, like the "Cathedrals" of the first expansion, deprive cities of any partial points at the end of the game if the city remains incomplete. Instead of knights being stuck, however, players have the option of removing a knight from a besieged city if a cloister is nearby. I'd pick this expansion over "King" if I wanted a more interesting game. ****
4. The Count of Carcassonne
By far my favorite of the mini expansions, this one also changes the nature of the game, but succeeds where The Tower fails. The game starts with a twelve-tile City of Carcassonne that everything gets built around, but players can choose to place one of their meeple in one of the four sections of the city instead of on features as normal, in addition to moving "The Count" to one of the four city sections. Whenever *any* feature is completed, players have the option of "paratrooping" any of their meeple in to the feature from the corresponding section of the city (unless The Count is in that section), forcing the sharing or stealing of points depending on the final meeple-count. Confusing, initially, but incredibly fun when people start using the mechanic. *****
There is a new expansion out called "The Wheel of Fate" that I hope to get my hands on, but it isn't quite an expansion because it can be played by itself in addition to the regular game.
Now, back to bed, I'm still recovering from some nasty bug. :(
Enough, More Later.
- James
via FoxyTunes
I must say, I am quite taken with Klaus-Jurgen Wrede's Carcassonne and all of it's add-ons. It's a nice, kind introduction to the world of German-style board games, and is refreshing after one too many games of Catan. Building a countryside piece by piece and capturing points for completed features manages to be both competitive and very gentle, due to almost no penalties in the scoring process. For a further description of the main game, go check out the link to the wiki-page at the beginning of this paragraph: from here on out, I'm going to give my thoughts on the many, many expansions.
Regular Expansions
1. Inns & Cathedrals
The first expansion to get if you're just starting out, the additional pieces are easy to understand and the additional rules are easy to follow. The inclusion of score markers helps for this and all other expansions, when it's very easy to score over 100 points and thus fly off the original score-board. ***
2. Traders & Builders
Here we start the tradition of additional play mechanics bringing nothing more than egregious point expanders (the Trade Goods and Pig being the main offenders), but the main draw of this expansion is the Builder, which can really shake things up by allowing people to take two turns in a row. Making it easier for players to aim for larger features, although once again being a point multiplier, definitely changes how one plays the game. *****
3. The Princess & The Dragon
Despite owning a copy, I still haven't had a chance to test this expansion out! From what I've read of the instructions, I'm liking the idea of a communally moved dragon that can remove followers (and the additional twist of knight-removing Princess tiles), but the Fairy mechanic seems like it would engender more of a tug-of-war than actual game play. I hope to try this one out this weekend.
4. Abbey & Mayor
This is the poster child for "new game mechanics designed solely to garner more points," but I like the mechanics none-the-less. The "wild-card" Abbey tile is an interesting addition, along with the farmer-shuffling "barn" and traveling "wheelbarrow" pieces. While this expansion might not do anything big in terms of changing game play, I've found enjoyment in it. ****
5. The Tower
Now here's a real game changer! While I found the premise to be interesting, I found the practice to be a bigger change than I thought: The ability to capture other player's pieces changed the whole tone of game play, and much of the easy, kindly nature of the game was replaced with a much more cautious and bitter outlook by the players. My main problem is how unbalanced it feels: it's far too easy to capture other players meeple. Towers can only be built on tower tiles, but the sheer number of these tiles makes the point almost moot. While the original emphasized clever tile placement to edge other players out of points, it seems that the Tower has more emphasis on yoinking meeple back and forth than building interesting features. The one time I played I found the whole affair to be much more spiteful than before, with the spirit of the original (rewarding clever players without penalizing others) almost non-existent. **
Mini Expansions
1. The River I and II
An interesting addition, the starts by laying down a river tile by tile, forming a bigger starting area. The second River expansion adds a split in the river (as well as support for the other expansions). Well worth it for some easy variety. ***
2. King
A sort of port-over of the "Longest Road" and "Largest Army" mechanic from Catan. Whoever builds the largest city gets control of the King, who nets them additional points from every completed city at the end of the game. Ditto for the Robber Baron with roads. More simple variety, but once again in the "earn more points" section. ***
3. Cult and Siege
Here are some interesting additions: Cults are Anti-Cloisters, scoring the same but considered "in contention" if each are placed within a certain distance of each other. Whichever one gets scored first deprives the other of earning points upon completion. Siege tiles, like the "Cathedrals" of the first expansion, deprive cities of any partial points at the end of the game if the city remains incomplete. Instead of knights being stuck, however, players have the option of removing a knight from a besieged city if a cloister is nearby. I'd pick this expansion over "King" if I wanted a more interesting game. ****
4. The Count of Carcassonne
By far my favorite of the mini expansions, this one also changes the nature of the game, but succeeds where The Tower fails. The game starts with a twelve-tile City of Carcassonne that everything gets built around, but players can choose to place one of their meeple in one of the four sections of the city instead of on features as normal, in addition to moving "The Count" to one of the four city sections. Whenever *any* feature is completed, players have the option of "paratrooping" any of their meeple in to the feature from the corresponding section of the city (unless The Count is in that section), forcing the sharing or stealing of points depending on the final meeple-count. Confusing, initially, but incredibly fun when people start using the mechanic. *****
There is a new expansion out called "The Wheel of Fate" that I hope to get my hands on, but it isn't quite an expansion because it can be played by itself in addition to the regular game.
Now, back to bed, I'm still recovering from some nasty bug. :(
Enough, More Later.
- James
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