Tuesday 3 February 2015

History in the Making

It's been almost a week without games, and so Sam put out the call for a quick games night before the main event on Tuesday. Only Ian and I were available, so we indulged in our semi-regular habit of resetting our form table standings and ruining our points ratio with a bunch of shortish games squeezed into a few short hours.

We began with Sam on the brink of a Perfect Five. I knew about this, but stayed quiet. Sam and Ian didn't mention it, and I assumed they were doing the same. I suggested starting with 7 Wonders - a nice level playing field for Sam to try for his fifth win. They both agreed. Still no one mentioned anything about a perfect five. I was impressed by our stoic bluffing skills.

The game was swift and close. Ian went for blue buildings and military. I focused on sciences and guilds while Sam did a little bit of everything. Ian's mix of culture and war won the day.

Ian 56
Andrew 53
Sam 51

With that, Sam's dream of a perfect five was over. And still no one mentioned it. I thought that maybe not talking about a failed perfect five was the gentlemanly thing to do. However, when Sam suddenly remembered halfway through the next game, it became clear that absent-mindedness (rather than steely determination to make history) had been why no one had spoken about it.

Maybe we'd been distracted by Ian saying he'd worked out his top three games. I can't remember them all - perhaps he can tell us in the comments - but one of them was Quantum, and that's what we played next.

Ian and I made it easy for Sam, as we fought each other he got three cubes on the board. After that it was quite a feisty game, with ships going into battle just because they were near each other. Possibly because Ian forgot his master plan when he got up from the table to get another beer.

Despite Sam being down to one die at one point, we couldn't close the gap.


Sam 6 cubes down
Andrew 3
Ian 3

Then, since Ian and I had chosen a game, Sam got the next choice: Portobello Market. This quick and simple game has never had a decent run of games at GNN but it's always been lurking. We dragged it out, explained the rules to Ian and got started. I got my area multiplier down early, such that after three rounds I was seventy points in the lead!


Sam came charging up the score track later with Ian close behind, and when Ian got to place the last customer (and, therefore, the big scoring baron) he closed the gap.

Andrew 181
Sam 158
Ian 158

Next we chose Ra because the box was already out. It was a tense game, with Sam fighting off Ian for the buildings and battling me for moat pharaohs. He won these, and had the longest Nile, so the win was pretty comprehensive.


Sam 69
Andrew 46
Ian 27

As a nightcap, we decided on a quick game of Timeline, using Sam's next deck oh historical events. By his own admission, Sam got some easy cards, while Ian and I got confused over the dates of certain Chinese events.

Sam 0 cards left
Ian 2
Andrew 4

Then we had another go. Pretty much the same story.

Sam 0 cards left
Ian 1
Andrew 1

Looks like Sam's already putting together another bid for a Perfect Five. I'll leave the Form Table for after Tuesday, though.

3 comments:

  1. I forgot I was on the verge of a Perfect Five on Monday, but when I remembered on Tuesday (albeit two games away rather than one) I did disastrously. So absentmindedness actually served me better.

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  2. I think my top three games are Quantum, Istanbul and Lords of Vegas. 7 Wonders is almost in there too.

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  3. Lords of Vegas!!! Nice one Ian!

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