Woolly Thinking

With Andrew and Ian on their way to our semi-regular Thursday meet-ups; I texted Ian to ask what he fancied playing. He suggested A Feast for Odin or Covert. I began setting up the latter, but the background theme of the game - international hostility, nuclear proliferation - was actually making me feel nauseous. I packed it away until the point I am drunk enough to shrug off the existential angst, and set up the tetronimous Viking game instead.

I didn't take any photos of Feast last night, but this is Andrew's hand

This was Ian's first play, but he has of course experienced Rosenberg games before and knew what was coming. I talked him through the rules, and we were off!

Ian and Andrew both built boats early on. I was tempted to repeat the winning strategy of the last two games Andrew and I had been involved in, which meant a fleet of whaling boats. But there was more to explore so instead I tried getting animals early.

You have to hold your nerve when neighbouring vikings are sailing home from the sea with treasures and initially, all you have is a roll of wool. Slowly, my animals started generating more produce, but I felt slightly left behind in the early running, and never completely figured out this strategy.

Andrew and Ian regularly hunted, and occasionally pillaged. These involve die-rolling, which both of them felt the sharp end of, returning home with only a bow, or a snare. After initial success, Andrew swore to hum a Fountains of Wayne song whenever he rolled, but abandoned this promise with Trump-esque haste after a couple of low rolls.  I think I only rolled one die during the entire game. As the end neared and Andrew started building a shed, we realised he'd already filled up his home board! In a last-round scrabble for points, Ian and I emigrated, and I sheared some more sheep. It wasn't enough though: not only had Andrew filled his home board, he'd been accruing a hoard of silver that alone scored him 51 points!

Andrew 107
Sam 93
Ian 79

We packed away making approving noises, with Ian another convert to Feast.

It was relatively early, so we brought out an old favourite in Biblios. Andrew couldn't remember if the game played two, so Ian reminded him of the time he beat Andrew 18-0 and gained the as-yet-still-intact title of King Biblios.

sandwiches

His crown was never under threat from us, but I managed to regain the Mr Biblios title. The potential second-place decider of the final red die had a twist in the tail: none of us had a single red card! So  Andrew  Ian took second by virtue of the tie-breaker...

Sam 7
Ian 3
Andrew 3

There was talk of Push It to finish, but with Odin still fresh in our minds I thought Ian might enjoy Cottage Garden, which has a similar puzzley aspect to it without the plethora of choices. We bashed it out in just over half an hour - Ian took to it quickly, and despite his confession of drunkenness, only the bonuses for reaching the top of the score track first gave me the win:

Sam 61
Ian 58
Andrew 43

floral geometry

Another Thursday evening closed out in very pleasant manner!