When Ben Rode the Snail

Tuesday, and despite a flurry of last-minute drop outs, there were still seven of us gathered around my kitchen table - Ian, Martin, Laura, Chris, Andrew, myself and long-time absentee Ben, who hadn't been seen in these here parts for a good half a year. Welcome back Ben!

We began the evening with a rousing game of Fuji Flush. This game's potential for volume is now nearing Hugo-like proportions, as the table regularly erupted in joy or dismay - but most often dismay. Andrew and Martin were down to their final card first, only for Laura, Ian and I to join them. Laura had the misfortune to pick up cards valued no higher than 4 though, which meant she kept going bust. My cards weren't much better. And fate was sealed when the Endersby/Griffith pair combined to win the game together:

Andrew/Martin 0 cards left
Ian/Laura/Sam 1 card left
Ben/Chris 3 cards left

With that appetiser out of the way, we moved on to the main courses of the evening. Ian seemed curious enough about Near and Far that we thought it worth recruiting another player, and Ben joined us at one end of the table as the other four played the barrel-rolling game that is Polterfass. I didn't see much of this, but I did hear that at one point Martin drank 46 beers. Really, the game should be called something else. It wasn't enough to out-booze Laura, either:

Laura 77
Martin 62
Chris 38
Andrew 6

 Nefertiti

They then set about haggling over presents for Nefertiti, whilst we continued adventuring in Near and Far. As explained in the previous post, there's a strong story element to the game, but the gist of it is that you're gathering adventurers to go off together and adventure, with the not-totally-hidden agenda of getting your camps down before anyone else - competitive tent-pitching, in a way. We don't mind bumping into each other on the road but if it happens in town, we have a duel, as appearances must be kept up.

Near and Far

Certain spots on the board trigger story elements where one reads out a passage from a book and something happens - or, as occurred to us, nothing happens. At least that was how the early stages went. Then Ben rescued a lady from a cage, and rode a giant snail. But his rewards were a phobia of caves and sores on his backside.

As you travel about you're gathering coins and gems - how many depends on how attentive your crew is - and spending them to purchase artefacts. Your crew can also help you fight and negotiate hazards. But somewhat perversely the adventurers don't like sharing space with other adventurers from their own faction, so there's a bit of personnel juggling at play.

Ian at the saloon

Over in ancient Egypt, they came to the end of Nefertiti before we finished Near and Far, and Chris won the Pharaoh's favour, despite buying the titular character a bunch of chairs - much to Martin's disdain:

Chriss 113
Andrew 89
Martin 88
Laura 84

They moved onto the trick-taker of the moment, Cobras, whilst we surged toward the end of our adventuring. It was a close-run thing, but in the end Ian won on his debut, whilst Ben was left to rue his decision to ride the snail:

Ian 68
Sam 65
Ben 54

Cobras was still in full swing, so Ben called it a night and Ian and I bashed out a couple of quick games in NMBR9 - the nines came out right at the end!

Sam 93
Ian 90

And 303, the Battle of Britain-themed bunfight in the air. Ian's job as the Luftwaffe was to reach London with his bomber, while my fighters tried to stop him. The Luftwaffe has fighters as well, but they are trying to shepherd the bomber forward and keep it from being attacked.

Ian attacks

It's a quite luck-heavy game (dice-rolling decides hits) but very-fast moving. Fortunately for London - and the world - I managed to blow up the bomber on round five:

Allies win
Nazis are defeated

By now they were scoring Cobras, and although Andrew had emerged the victor, every single one them broke the hundred mark!

Andrew 132
Martin 127
Laura 103
Chris 100

We polished off the evening with a game of Wibbell, notable in the main for Martin's alacrity of thought and Chris' silence until the last few rounds, where he suddenly burst into life and shouted out "Zither!" Or maybe that was Andrew. I don't remember now. I do recall shouting out "Moustachioed!" only to be beaten to the punch. If only I'd gone for Pistachio instead.

Martin 14
Sam 12
Andrew 8
Laura 6
Chris/Ian 4 each

It's a great game, Wibbell, but surprisingly tense. Possibly better as an evening-starter rather than an evening-ender? I was energised by it, but with the clock approaching 11, it was time to say goodnight.