And then there were four

It was a very old-school GNN last night in terms of numbers - no Andrew, no Katy, and several other potential attendees absent meant that by the time 7.30 rolled around, there were a paltry four of us perched in Joe's kitchen - or five if you count Sybil, who populated the evening with her Victorian harrumphs at well-chosen intervals. The host was joined by Martin, Ian, and myself (Sam) - we began with Bemused.

me

I'm hard-pressed to describe this game even now, having played it. The conceit is that each player takes some kind of creative role (painter/poet/singer/musician) and has a muse, which is one of the roles - perhaps even your own, if you're a complete narcissist. They also have a secret which describes how their muse inspires them. It might be love, but then again they might hate their friggin' guts. On your turn you cast Doubt or Dread on another player's role, or play your special ability which allows you to move or discard the aforementioned afflictions. If anyone hits a five-card affliction (doubt or dread) they go insane, and if three of them are dread cards, they also die.

me later

You can still win if you die, but you need to try and kill the other players in order to do so. Which is hard to pull off when you're dead.

I had no idea what I was doing, but the game was mainly notable for the table talk, with people exercising their doubt by saying Martin's last song was a little bit Dire Straits or Joe's recent poem was doggerel. Ian's rule clarification enquiry was to check whether being dead counted as insane, and Joe cut a deal with Martin where he promised if Martin made him sane again, he wouldn't kill him.

I was first to go mad, first to die, and in last place. It was kinda enjoyable but as Ian pointed out, mostly in terms of its bemusement. Because my muse was myself, I had no real strategy other than to pretend to target someone else - Joe, in this instance, as I had matching doubt cards - and I'm not sure I'm as enamoured of the game as everyone else. It felt like it was made by someone who detested creativity.

Ian 8
Joe 5
Martin 4
Sam 3

With that appetiser done, we blasted into the first - the only - meaty (ish) game of the night in Clank! the luck-pushing, deck-building adventurer of trying not to make too much noise. I went a risk-heavy route by picking up noisy cards, but planned to exit first having grabbed the (third best) 20 point artefact. With the fresh air in my nostrils though, I was tempted away to try and grab a bit of treasure, and it was to prove an exacting downfall.

Whilst I struggled to make it back to safety, Martin triggered the game end and Ian and Joe sashayed their way to the surface despite multiple dragon attacks. Meanwhile I dealt myself non-moving cards and succumbed pathetically, tragically, and greedily. Joe waltzed his way home with the most prized artefact of all for a convincing debut win:

Joe 94
Ian 65
Martin 55
Sam 42

If I'd only listened to the voice, maybe things coulda been different...

Spires was next, the new card game of tower-building where if you build more than three sections (cards) in a tower, they cease to be worth 5pts per card and become -1pt per card instead. This was a first play with four and the main thing to note was how many contests there were over the cards. Martin wrapped things up with a flourish at the end - the (possible) sting in the tail with Spires is your have to add any cards in your hand at game-end to your towers, which often makes them too tall. But Martin had saved the point-scoring symbols to ensure his over-building was substantially offset by rewards for swords and crowns. Joe took the points for scrolls:

Martin 56
Joe 54
Sam 47
Ian 46

We finished off with not one, but two - two! - games of Polterfass. I'm terrible at this game but I do really enjoy it; and fortunately (for me) this evening Joe was even terribler than I was. Falling behind, Joe repeatedly bid big in an attempt to catch up and went bust, handing over points to the opposition, often to Martin's appalled chagrin. Meanwhile we all bid fractionally too high for Ian's 25 beer haul (we bid 26!) ensuring him a solid win in game one:

Ian 79
Martin 63
Sam 49
Joe 26

Then in the second game - after we talked Martin out of playing Super Potato - I got off to a flier, up in the forties with Joe and Martin still hovering around or under zero. But Ian hauled me back to set up a dramatic finish. I needed one point, Ian needed eleven. But if he got more than eleven, he could potentially beat me. As innkeeper, I rolled again... and went bust! Disaster! As it turned out though, Ian had bid low, thinking I would play nasty. Now he was the innkeeper, and I bid low... it was enough for the win... just.

Sam 77
Ian 73
Martin 34
Joe 14

It wasn't yet eleven pm, but with Joe and Ian feeling a little under the weather, the most sparsely populated GNN in a while came to a civilised close.