Season ends on an Indian Summer

The weather was balmy and warm, and while we enjoyed an Indian Summer outside, we also enjoyed an evening of Taj Mahal inside. I'll admit to feelings of apprehension as the board was set up on Sam's kitchen table but with four out of the five of us (myself, Sam, Quentin, Adam and Joe) keen to try, it was the only choice especially after the buzz created by last night's post.

But they say you learn from your mistakes, and since I made many mistakes last night, I must have learnt a lot. Early honours went to Sam, who sped off with the apparent aim of repeating his recent victory. I got into an early scrap with Joe, but with five players it was rare that there wasn't some kind of battle for one item or another during each round.

Halfway through, Quentin sat back and declared that he now understood the rules and that he thought it was a very clever game. Adam played a wildly romantic game, refusing to back down on battles, even if it left him with only two cards. Despite his apparent confusion with the rules, he proved himself to be the king of links, with a snaking line of palaces crossing many provinces which helped him pick up many points each time he added to it.

Meanwhile, I carefully nurtured my hand of cards which left me in a position of power for most of the later part of the game. By then I was able to exploit my collection of elephants and pick up some goods in several late rounds which catapulted me up the score track.

Andrew 60
Adam 40
Sam 36
Quentin 36
Joe 32

The offer of another quick game was declined by Sam who was suffering from daddy-fatigue and needed an early night, and so we went out into the sweet warm September evening with another season finished.

So, all that remains are the scores for these past three months. It's been another successful season for Adam, taking first in Points, ratio, absolute points (all points scored in a game added together) and in points weighted by length of game. Sam came second, and I scraped a third place position right at the end with my sudden run of form (three wins out of four). Hannah came first out of the irregulars, with Quentin a close second.

However, there was a surprise winner in the absolute points ratio in the shape of Paul, who scored an average 61.5 points in his two games. And Quentin won points ratio for games weighted according to length, showing his preference for long, involved tactical battles.

I won by points weighted by how well/badly players did last season, indicating that I made the best improvement in the last few months. But it's a sobering sight to see Adam in second place even on a leaderboard where he's penalised the most! Jonny won points ratio on this scale, coming away with a very creditable five points on average. Finally comes the Olympic style leaderboard, which shows Adam and Sam in first and second as usual, but also Hannah in third – clearly demonstrating her skill at table-top strategy and resource-management.


The leaderboard...

	Played	Points	Ratio	Absolute	Abs ration	Weight	Wt. ratio	Length	Lth. ratio
Adam	24	116	4.83	1071	51	69	4.31	88.3	3.68
Sam	26	107.5	4.13	982	42.7	67	4.19	84.5	3.25
Andrew	24	81.5	3.4	567	27	72.5	4.53	61.3	2.56
Joe	20	80	4	574	30.21	50.5	3.37	70	3.35
Hannah	10	44.5	4.45	504	56	21.5	3.58	30.9	2.81
Quentin	10	41.5	4.15	351	39	22	3.14	39.7	3.97
Steve	9	33	3.67	256	32	28.5	4.07	32.5	3.61
Jonny	7	28	4	284	40.57	25	5	26.5	3.78
Andy	2	7	3.5	120	N/A	3	N/A	4	2
Paul	2	6.5	3.25	123	61.5	6.5	3.25	4.75	2.38
Chris	2	5.5	2.75	116	58	5.5	2.75	5	2.5
Sally	1	3.5	3.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.88	N/A
Matilda	1	1.5	1.5	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	0.5	N/A

The Olympic leaderboard...

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Adam	11	9	4
Sam	9	6	3
Hannah	4	1	3
Joe	3	8	4
Andrew	3	2	11
Steve	2	0	4
Quentin	1	5	3
Jonny	1	2	2
Andy	0	1	1
Paul	0	1	0
Sally	0	0	1