Chair Bears and Wood Pushers

Five GNN regulars arrived for this week's event: Joe, Sam, Jonny, Adam and myself. We began with Sam's new, intriguing card battling game, Condottiere. Sam and I had played this game only last evening, and found it interesting but a little simple for a two-player game. With five of us, it was a different prospect completely. Although Jonny missed the first round, since we hadn't done much we decided he could jump right in.

The battle was much longer with five players, and it ebbed and flowed as players who fought their way to an early advantage in a round then had to sit cardless and watch everyone else fight over areas they wanted. In the end, Adam won by cleverly linking three of his territories via a slim land corridor that some other players hadn't seen.

Once he'd been declared leader, there was a certain amount of debate about where the rest of us came. With some discussion about the merits of having adjacent territories or having more but disparate territories. In the end, the final placings were:

1 Adam
2 Sam
3= Andrew
3= Joe
3= Jonny

After this, we chose an old classic to end the evening. To our surprise, Jonny had never played Seven Wonders, so it was quickly explained to him. One can't expect a newbie to challenge seasoned campaigners such as us, and that's how it turned out. Any further reference to the rules was made more complicated by Finn the cat's decision to sit in the box while we played.

As for tactics, I miscalculated and let my strong position go to waste due to a lack of resources in round three. Joe expressed disappointment with his easy-to-build wonder of the world. Sam went for war and a bit of science, which almost won the day. But in the end Adam won by one point with the completely hypocritical strategy of military might and religious blue buildings.

Adam 56
Sam 55
Joe 46
Andrew 42
Jonny 29

At the end of the evening, with the realisation that Adam had won both games, we grimly noted that "Adam's back" before heading home. But the form table doesn't lie (unless I've done my sums wrong). He may have closed the gap, but not enough. Meanwhile, Jonny and I score exactly the same points as the points we lose, and so we stay where we were.

						Points
Sam	2	2	1	1	2	8
Joe	3	3	2	1	1	10
Adam	1	1	3	4	2	11
Steve	1	1	2	5	5	14
Andrew	4	3	3	2	4	16
Anja	2	2	4	4	5	17
Jonny	5	3	3	3	4	18
Quentin	1	3	5	5	5	19
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20

Meanwhile, the title refers to two potential nicknames for board gamers suggested during the evening. Which one are you?