The Premise and Standings
Each week we’ll face off in a best of three series playing a different board game from our collection. The winner claims the moniker of C&C Clash Champ for the week. The loser can go count pigs. The lesser player also gets to choose the game for the next week.
We will maintain a record of wins and losses throughout the year to see who finishes 2022 as the ultimate board game champ in our household.
Our current C&C Champion is Chaos after winning last week’s Munchkin battle.
Pre-Clash Current Standings:
- Weekly Winner: 16 Chaos – 21 Confetti
- Individual game wins: 52 Chaos – 51 Confetti
After losing last week, Confetti has chosen Castles of Burgundy.
The Game – Castles of Burgundy
Castles of Burgundy is a quintessential eurogame as it has players building up their duchies to be the most prosperous and well-regarded in the land. With limited resources and time, it will be a contest to see who can implement the best strategy while staying flexible for what becomes available.
The game has players collecting different types of hex tiles (buildings, castles, livestock, ships, mines, etc) to place in their duchy. Different tiles will have differing effects which should be able to push players towards victory. When considering what to grab and place, players will want to consider specific tile benefits and the fact that completing an area or all of one tile type can earn bonuses. The sooner these bonuses are reached, the larger the points awarded will be.
Along with points and benefits from tile placement, players will also want to consider gaining points from selling goods. Gathering items will require ship placement, but then these goods can be used for both points and silver, which can in turn be used for gathering even more hex tiles.
The game is broken into five phases made up of five rounds. Each round, players will roll dice that will determine what they are able to do. The rolled numbers will correspond to tiles that can be picked up, spots where tiles can be placed, and goods that can be traded away. Players will need to make the best out of what they roll, but they may have some flexibility if they have workers to change their numbers (which can be gained through a few different means, including forgoing the use of a die).
As play progresses, new options will open up while others will become unavailable. There must be a well thought out strategy of choosing what matters now while also considering what may or may not be possible later.
In the end, only one will be able to proclaim victory through the accumulation of the most victory points. Bonuses, sold goods, building placement, special yellow tiles, silver, and workers are all paths to points and success, but it will be up to the player to discover where the best options lay this time around.
Chaos’ Pre-Clash Thoughts:
I’m a bit behind the weekly-wins category, so I’ll be doing my best to play catch up. Burgundy is all about strategizing with and maximizing the available resources in a limited amount of time. I can definitely see the two of us step on one another’s toes as we scramble for the same tokens. Here’s hoping I come out on top and my castle contains a throne for a winner.
Confetti’s Pre-Clash Thoughts:
Losing is never fun, so I hope I can come back this week in Castles of Burgandy. It’s a fun game either way, so there’s that at least!
Game 1 –
The first game saw both players emphasizing different strategies early on and mostly staying out of one another’s way as the game progressed.
Confetti’s early game involved grabbing ships and castles. Confetti seemed to like getting to roll the white die and take her actions first. She was also able to consistently grab the mines that enabled her to build up silver.
Chaos aimed more heavily on livestock and buildings. He hoped to build up points through pig collecting and chaining off buildings. He also dipped more into the yellow tiles before Confetti did.
The game progressed nicely, but Confetti feared that Chaos might be leaving her behind, so she started to attack his strategy by taking pigs and blocking a few other plays.
During final scoring, the point spread seemed pretty evenly matched, but the post-game yellow points really benefited Confetti and pushed her into a strong lead.
Game 1 Winner: Confetti
Game 1 Scores: 169 Chaos – 192 Confetti
Game 2 –
The second game saw both players diversifying a bit more while still doing their best to complete the smaller areas for early bonus points. Chaos again hit the livestock track harder, while Confetti stayed true to grabbing ships to remain in control of the white die.
This game also saw both players leaning more heavily into selling goods.
One of the largest points of interest this game was the high volume of doubles rolled on both sides, but especially for Chaos. During one stretch he rolled eight doubles in a row and four of those rolls were double ones.
As the game progressed, both players remained pretty even in terms of points, and even potential end of game scoring had a sense of being very close.
When the game finally did wrap up, things proved to be even neck-and-neck than imagined as only one point determined the win.
Game 2 Winner: Chaos
Game 2 Scores: 159 Chaos – 158 Confetti
Game 3 –
With a good handle on the mechanics and meta of the game, both players went into the third game hopeful. The biggest initial difference with this contest was that Chaos gained a yellow title that kept him locked into control of the white die and giving him first go on actions as long as he had at least as many ships as Confetti. This did change the dynamic quite a bit.
Whether it was due to poor rolls (a lot of doubles again) or poor planning, Chaos seemed to constantly be outpaced by Confetti as she continually grabbed what he wanted right before he could get it (sometimes just to keep them from him). He also bought yellow tiles that ended up being unfruitful as the tiles they benefited from never made appearances in this game.
Confetti looked to win by filling in areas for bonuses and using her silver income to give her an edge. She also ended up grabbing quite a few yellow tiles that paid off well in the end game (over twenty points).
In the end, Confetti pulled out the win as Chaos sat with a board full of “just one more title there.”
Game 3 Winner: Confetti
Game 3 Score: 137 Chaos – 166 Confetti
The Winner and NEW C&C Clash Champion: Confetti!
Chaos’ Post-Clash Thoughts:
Yep.
Confetti’s Post-Clash Thoughts:
Woo hoo, I managed to pull off the victory. Looking forward to beating Chaos again next week.
New Standings:
Post-Clash Standings:
- Weekly Winner: 16 Chaos – 21 Confetti
- Individual game wins: 53 Chaos – 53 Confetti
Next Week:
Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice
Chaos & Confetti 