All Hail Emperor Monoglodium Sutamate!

Notwithstanding my mispronunciation of everyone’s favourite food additive, tonight was a largely uneventful evening. I don’t mean that nothing happened - quite the opposite. But, for some reason, when rolling our crisis rolls, sevens never came out so the event deck sat largely unused for most of the game.

We planned on using the new Emperor rules, so we began with a brief description of each type of Emperor: Senate (much the same as before), Military (double points for Emperor’s army if victorious in battle) and Populace (double points for support in the region where the Emperor is based). We could’ve printed out and used the new expansion cards, but Joe decided he’d rather wait until their proper release.

We started with Martin in Gallia, Ian in Pannonia, Joe in Thracia and me in Hispania. Then the three of them played the usual 3 blue, 2 red cards. Martin took Macedonia, Ian took Africa and Joe went into Asia. I played 3 blue, 2 yellow, taking Britannia and boosting its support. So far, so normal. The only signs of clouds on the horizon was a lone band of Sassanids that had made an early trip into Syria.

Then in round two, they all bought level two governors and Basilicas while I was distracted by the unexpected sight of two Franks arriving in Britannia. That was supposed to be my ace in the pocket, an overlooked province on the edge of the map that no one bothers with. Instead, it became a hotbed of activity. I built an army there and also built a basilica, but was peeved to see my support in Blighty drop to one.

In round three, Martin (5B 1R) took Egypt while another Sassanid tribe left their borders: this time headed for Galatia. Ian (also 5B 1R) put a governor in the newly barbarianised Galatia while Franks invaded his homeland in Pannonia. He neatly killed off the Franks and paid tribute to the Sassanids in a very successful move.

And next it was Joe's turn. I’ve often thought that Time Of Crisis would lend itself well to puzzles, like Chess, and here we had a situation that could do just that. A brief pause here to look at the state of the board.

what to do... what to do..?

Joe had 3 red and 3 blue points, no governor in reserve (the cheapest was level two) but he did have a general. What was his best chance of becoming Emperor? We didn’t see it at the time but, later, Joe realised that he’d missed an early chance to be Emperor for the second game in a row.

Here’s what he did: he built an army in Thracia (1R), moved onto Macedonia (1R) and fought Martin’s army there (1R) to try and get control of the basilica there. It was a draw, with neither side doing any damage at all, so Martin picked up a couple of points as a victorious defender. Then Joe hired a new governor (2B) and using two dice (1B plus his basilica in Asia) tried to become Emperor. He needed four votes, and he got three.

So close, but what should he have done? Solution is below this picture of the board after round three...

How it ended...

What he should have done was move the army in Thracia the three spaces to Rome (3R) and then hired the governor (2B) and used two dice to try to get three votes to become Emperor. Assuming the same rolls, he would have done it.

Mind you, he’d have been quite a weak Emperor but, hey, it’s only a puzzle.

... and how it could have been.

After this I used 3 blue and 2 yellow to boost support in my increasingly irritating Britannia, hired a level two governor and failed to become Emperor.

The scores at this point were Ian 12, Martin 11, Joe 8, Andrew 8.

In round four, Martin used 6 yellow points to boost support in Gallia, Egypt and Macedonia. He couldn’t do anything with his two blue points, but did pay tribute to the nomads in Egypt. Then he chucked a mob into Ian’s Pannonia.

This proved decisive, since Ian had no yellow points. With four red and four blue he built an army in Galatia, foederatied the Sassanid inn Syria, then hired a governor, got him voted into Syria then used his new army (with Sassanid) to attack the Sassanid in Galatia. Martin was very excited seeing a Sassanid “turn on his brotherman.” And Ian won. It was as good a turn as he could’ve hoped for, except for losing Pannonia to the mob.

Now Joe (4B, 3R) moved the failed army from Macedonia into Rome and became Emperor at 20:57. It was at this moment he realised he could’ve done this on his last turn. Oh well. But what kind of Emperor would he be? Populace, riding in on a wave of anti-barbarian rhetoric? Military, picking up points for bravery in battle? Nope, he chose Senate, and stayed in Rome.

I rolled my best dice of the game with my crisis roll, sending four Sassanids pouring onto the board: three into Ian’s Galatia and one into Joe’s Asia. I was delighted with this and I think I might have giggled. I then used my 4B and 3R to build a new legion in Britannia and beat the Franks there, and then got myself voted into Ian’s Syria.

In round five, Martin used 3R and 3B to put a second legion in Egypt and killed off the Nomad he only just paid tribute to. Then he got himself voted into my Syria.

Ian sent some Franks into Martin’s Gallia with his crisis roll, then used 3B and 3Y to tribute the Sassanids in Galatia, then he got voted back into neutral Pannonia and Martin’s Syria and then pushed his support in Pannonia up to two.

Emperor Joe, with 4Y and 2R put a militia in Rome (2Y) boosted support in Asia to two (2Y) and built an army in Rome (2R). A sensible turn for a sensible Empire. I, by chance, also had 4Y and 2R. I boosted support in Britannia and Hispania (still my only two regions) and built and Army in Hispania, ready to do some shit since I was in real danger of being stuck on the western fringes of the map, doing nothing.

The scores now were Ian 23, Martin 23, Joe 22, Andrew 19

Round six began with two Goths invading Emperor Joe’s Thracia. Martin had 6R, 3Y and 3B. Quite a spread. He foederatied a Frank in Gallia and then killed the other one (1R). Then he used 3B to get himself voted into Syria. He then hired a level four general (4R) and built an army in Syria (1R). With the 3Y he boosted support in Egypt up to three. Then he mobbed Emperor Joe’s Goth-filled Thracia.

Ian’s crisis roll sent three Nomad’s into his own Africa. This meant that two of his three provinces had three barbarians in them. A tricky situation, even with a sizeable hand of 5R 4B 3Y. He foederatied a Sassanid in Galatia, used 2Y to boost support in Africa to a safe level. He reinforced Galatia with a new legion and attacked the Sassanids there, but neither side landed a hit. Unluckily for Ian, the Sassanids stayed put. Then Ian added a second legion in Africa, stuck a mob in Joe’s Asia and used those 4 blues to get voted into Syria even though it would never last. He then lost both Galatia to barbarians and Syria to Martin’s occupying army.

Joe had a hand of 3B 3R and 3Y. He beat the Goths in Thracia, then beat the Sassanid in Asia. I say “beat,” but they actually wiped each other out, but the area was clear of barbarians, which was enough. Then he used 2Y to hold a games and dispersed the mob in Asia, then 1R to forcibly disperse the mob in Thracia. His support fell to zero, but he had 1Y left to boost it back to one. Then he hired a level three governor.

I (3R 3B 1Y) moved my spare army from Hispania into Joe’s armyless Asia (3R), and then got voted in there (3B). My yellow point was useless. I used a tribute to help out Ian in Africa, with a vague promise of goodwill in return.

Round seven began with Martin saying he wanted to avoid a Sassanid invasion. His crisis roll brought another Sassanid onto the board and we waited to see if they would invade. They didn’t, and Martin breathed again. “Oh my God, it could’ve killed me.” With 2B 3Y and 2R he had a quiet turn, taking back Syria (why not?) boosting support in Egypt and then adding a second legion to Syria.

Ian had 4B 3R. He fought again in Galatia and won before getting voted in. He then tried to win an election in Thracia, but failed. He fought the three Nomads in Africa with his two legions, just to thin them out a bit. He did so, ending with one Nomad left and one wounded legion that he healed with his final 1R.

Finally, Joe rolled a seven on a crisis roll! After almost two hours, we would finally have some respite from the constant threat of barbarian invasion.

Well, not really, since the event card was Raiding Parties, which increased the likelihood of barbarian invasion. Great.

Joe had 4R and 4B. He built a brand new army in Italia and then sent his bigger army from Rome into Gallia. He attacks and wins, forcing Martin out of Paris. He then foederatied a Goth into his Thracian army and won an election in his new home in Gallia.

I had 5B and 3Y, so I boosted support in Britannia to three, hired a new governor and then, with nothing better to do, tried to get voted into Thracia. Failed.

Current scores: Joe 41, Martin 36, Ian 33, Andrew 29.

Round eight began with Martin showing a hand of 7Y 3R 2B. He got voted into Thracia and then boosted support there to two. Then he set up a Pretender Empire in Egypt. He added a militia to Syria, added a third legion in Egypt and mobbed Emperor Joe in Gallia.

Ian’s crisis roll, once again, blew up in his face. Those Nomads he’d tried to thin out in his previous turn suddenly returned. Three of them piled into Africa. Ian had 4R 3Y, so he added a new legion (2R) and a militia (2Y) or “human shield” as Ian called it and fought in a last ditch battle. With one hit on each side, he didn’t win and lost Africa to the barbarians.

Joe had 1B 2Y 4R in his next hand. He removed the mob in Gallia, beat Martin’s army that was still in Gallia. He defeated a Goth in Thracia and added a legion in Italia. He tried to get voted into Thracia but needing to avoid a one, he rolled a one.

My next crisis roll sent two Allamani into Pannonia. But that was no concern of mine. I had 2Y and 7R. I put a new legion in Hispania, and then sent that army into Gallia, leaving only militia to defend the capital. I fought and beat Joe in Gallia, but with no blues, had no chance of being voted in. So I added a legion to Britannia and boosted support in Asia to two.

As we headed into round nine at half past ten, the scores stood at Joe 48, Martin 43, Ian 36, Andrew 36.

Martin’s crisis roll sent another Frank into Pannonia and his hand of 10R 7B meant that the Pretender could be in a position to trigger the end of the game. He foederatied a Nomad from Africa into his army in Egypt. Then this army went into Rome. He fought Joe’s army there and won. He then recruited a new governor and became a Populace Emperor, based in Syria. He then added a second legion to Macedonia and moved that into Pannonia and fought the Franks there and won.

He sailed past the sixty-point mark. “A nineteen point turn,” said Martin. “One for every minute,” remarked Ian, pointing out how long he’d taken in his deliberations.

So, the rest of us had one last push. Ian’s last turn had only got him 3 points so he was in no mood to take risks. With 3Y 5B 5R he foederatied one of the five Sassanids from their homeland into Galatia. Then he added a third legion to that Army and piled into the Sassanids. Three legions and two Sassanids against four Sassanids. An epic battle. With use of a flanking manoeuvre, Ian was victorious, winning 4-2. Every Sassanid was wiped out, on both sides. A satisfying end to the tribe that had caused such trouble. Then Ian got himself voted into Africa and paid tribute to the Nomads there, and finally won an election in Gallia, boosting the support there to two.

Joe, with 5B 3Y 5R and four governors in reserve, needed to win three battles to beat Martin. He got himself voted into Thracia and Galatia, built a basilica in Thracia (just for points) and finally foederatied an Allamani into his Gallic army. Now for war: His wounded legion won a remarkable victory against the Allamani in Pannonia. He moved his Legion, with Gothic companion, into Allamani-land and won a battle there. But a third victory wouldn’t happen: His wounded legion and Allamani lost to a two-legion army in Gallia.

In the last turn of the game, I rolled another seven! The second event. And it was one that is usually enthusiastically welcomed, but right now it just seemed to be an absurd mockery of our efforts: Good Augeries. Roman armies hit on a lower dice value. No use to me, since the only army I was going to fight was Roman.

So, with my 3R and 7B I foederatied the last active Allamani from his homeland, moved into Italia and fought Martin’s army, forcing him from the capital. Then, using 9 dice (7B plus two basilicas) I got voted into Rome. I, too, became a Populace Emperor, setting up my home in Britannia. I was Emperor on the stroke of eleven o’clock.

It ended:

Martin 68
Joe 67
Andrew 58
Ian 47

How odd to have so many barbarians and so few events. And it was another game where the longest serving Emperor didn’t win. Looking back, was it Joe’s failed attack on Macedonia that gave Martin two points in round three the pivotal moment?

With that Ian left, and the three of us battled through a game of The Mind. We got to round nine and then gave ourselves an extra life and made it to round two of the Dark Mind. Martin and Joe complained about my habit of keeping the cards on the table rather than in my hand. As if that makes a difference!

And so, we were done. Another crazy night. Thanks all.

Sumter Enchanted Evening

On Tuesday nights we at GNN like to rock up a storm with some unhealthy drinks and cheap crisps. This week there were five of us: Joe (hosting, with German beer), Sam (wine), Martin (craft beer), Chris (passion fruit juice) and me (Korean soft drinks).

We began as a foursome, with Chris still on his way, playing a new game, Carta Impera Victoria. It's a tableau building game, where you play cards to the table in front of you, trying to get seven of a type or, failing that, the majority in several types. Each suit has its own power that you can use if you have enough of those cards in your tableau. There are also powers for discarding a card, which are more powerful but, then again, leave you with one less card.

It was a bit ho hum. Maybe on the first play the more subtle aspects aren't readily apparent, because it mostly drifted past. As I write, I'm having a hard time coming up with something.

Chris arrived mid game and we eventually finished, having doubled the suggested playing time on the box, when Joe neatly used some special powers to put down two culture cards in one go, such that he had seven and had won the game.

Joe wins!
Martin, Sam and Andrew don't.

So, what next with five? As is usual, I suggest Santiago, but it never gets much support. Ponzi Scheme was poo-poohed with lightning speed by Chris and I and I must admit I felt a little brotherly kinship at meeting another gamer who disliked it as much as I do.

Instead, Martin was keen to try Sam's copy of Fort Sumter, a two player game. It's from GMT, the company that brought us Time Of Crisis, and it looked like a war game, except there wasn't much of a map and a lot of talk about "breaching".

It ended with Sam calling the result "a whitewash."

Martin 10
Sam 5

The remaining three of us considered our, options. Welcome To Centreville was cautiously put forward, as was Lords Of Vegas (surely this game is on a year long sabbatical while Katy is away) but in the end we chose Azul.

It's such a lovely game to look at, it's hard to believe there's a dark underbelly of dickishness hiding below the surface. We were all constantly keeping an eye on our neighbour's player mats. I got hit in the final round. Joe was the only one who could trigger the end game that round and he did. I scrambled to complete my dark blues but, at the end, Joe decided not to take some tiles that would fill a row but actually score him no points while he could take other pointless tiles and force me to take those tiles, giving me minus twelve points. Very harsh but, in all honesty, his only sensible move. It gave Chris the win. Joe afterwards wondered why he'd triggered the end game when he was in no position to win.

Chris 76
Andrew 72
Joe 55

Then we were all together so we played Wordsy. This is a tense game of word creation was given an air of officialdom by the presence of a Scrabble dictionary on Chris's phone.

Sam (“exculpulated”) and Joe (“xenocidal”) fell foul of this dictionary early on as his word was successfully challenged, but since every player's two lowest scores are ignored, it wasn't the set back he'd initially thought. Part of me thinks that Joe's "xenocidal" maybe should be a word.

The presence of L and Y in the selection of letters gave rise to a lot of words ending in "ally". Meanwhile, the high scoring Q and W left everyone trying to come up with a word that included those to letters.

At the end, there was a lot of predictions of fifth place, including me. However when Joe was the first to announce his score I happily declared that I wasn't.

Martin 125
Chris 118
Sam 110
Andrew 110
Joe 95

Next up, we chose Decrypto. Sam and Martin teamed up again, still looking for their first win as a couple, while Joe, Chris and I formed the other team.

Decrypto is a difficult game to explain to a newcomer, and Chris did well to get into the swing as soon as he did. I do wonder, though, if Joe's lengthy ruminations on the use of a plural in Sam & Martin's first clue was actually the key to the word in question, was maybe a clever ploy to make them over-cautious. But, on reflection, it probably wasn't.

We won by the skin of our teeth, getting two interceptions to their one. It was close because I went a bit obtuse (although I thought it was obvious) in my final round. My team couldn't get it but, more importantly, neither could our opponents so we stumbled over the line.

Chris, Joe, Andrew: know their semaphore
Martin, Sam: bad at charades

Finally, there was enough room in the evening for one last game. It was Mamma Mia, and what a peculiar band of pizza chefs we were, contrasting moments of perfectly guessing the ingredients required with long stretches of getting in each others’ way. I don’t think anyone completed a 15+ pizza.

Sam 5
Joe 4
Andrew 4
Martin 4
Chris 3

And that was that. Another fun filled evening. Thanks to all, especially host Joe and hope to see you all soon.

An Acceptable Risk

Tonight Andrew and I made the journey east to Chris' house to play the inaugural Spheres of Influence, a clear descendant of Risk. A long long time ago I spent a happy summer playing a lot of Risk. I'm not sure we ever finished a game though, and its attritional spirit probably never matched up to the fun of breaking it out and hoping our experience would live up to anything beyond chucking some dice around and hoping for the best.

 Mid-game

In Spheres of Influence there's a lot of similarities - the board is a map of the world, you fight across it in an attempt to gain control, and indeed, chuck dice. But there are some important distinctions too - for one, Spheres plays over a set amount of rounds and at the end of the final one whoever controls the most spheres (there are eighteen) wins. A tie-breaker is most capitals.

Which territories you control are also important - every territory has a production number and your collective total will define how many units you add to the board on subsequent rounds. Some territories have a high production number, many are low. Other territories produce oil, and the more oil you control, the more turns you will get in subsequent rounds! And finally some territories are an area of interest, which means you get to take a special card that can be either used as an event, or discarded to help you adding units, or in battle.

Turns couldn't be simpler - move (into an empty territory), attack, or pass. Or in special circumstances, you might want to annex - that's one of your factions ceding control of a territory to another. After a delicious roast meal - kind of a last supper - fed to us by Jacquie, we all began with two factions; Andrew black and purple, Chris yellow and white, me blue and red. I started in the east, controlling Tokyo and Beijing. Andrew was in Africa and the Americas, whereas Chris - maybe recalling it's strength in Risk - nabbed Australia, along with the Middle East.

The first round was rapid, as we all moved our units into virgin territories and bumped up our various incomes. The second was equally speedy, albeit a bit longer, as we controlled more territories. A nice twist to the game is that although you know how many turns you'll get in a given round, the turn order is completely random, decided by flipping cards.

In round three things began hotting up as Chris and I clashed in Pakistan. In fact the region stayed a hotbed of friction for the rest of the game, as both Chris and Andrew realised my spreading over Asia needed to be halted, and Chris came at me from east and west.

Andrew also rocked up, taking Chris' capital. 

Chris took it back shortly after.

Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, Andrew was making hay, prevented from controlling half of Africa only temporarily by Chris. I sailed a couple of ships down there to cause some mischief, but Andrew sank them.

Then he breezed into Western Europe.

At this point my strong early running had been hauled back, and we were immersed in full on, dice-chucking war. In Spheres, you can roll as many dice (up to a maximum of five) as units you attack with, and every six (either a six, or combined numbers to make one) is a hit. But the defender gets a special die that can add an extra hit in return, or shield you from a casualty. And there's the rub of the green to consider too:

Pathetic 

...leading to much frustration and hilarity. Before we knew what was happening, the end game was upon us with Andrew and I tied on Influence, and tied on Capitals. We looked up what the third tie-breaker was, and it didn't exist. Instead, you play another round! As fun as it was, that was never an option for a Sunday night. But anyway a lot could happen in the final round, and it did.

Chris tried to take control of Japan and Korea to claim another sphere, but my red guys held out. I debated whether or not to try and spread into Russia, but Chris was there and Andrew was the guy I needed to stop. Especially when he surged into Central America, annexing his own territories to claim an out and out lead! His purple guys now controlled five spheres of influence, whereas my blues had four and Chris' yellows were on three. My reds were nowhere, but I could still use them to run interference. I sailed south and, despite being attacked from land en route, took control of Mexico City and held onto by my fingertips as Andrew attacked both north and south.

Chris meanwhile spread across Eastern Europe, which had remained curiously untouched by war up until this point. But he didn't have the momentum to get units in every territory, and thus couldn't claim another sphere to put him into a winning position, as he controlled more capitals than either Andrew or I.

Chris looking at Europe

It ended at 10pm with Andrew and I tied on spheres and capitals, and we agreed to rejoice in our shared victory - maybe not as realistic as the game's actual decider of fighting on til someone wins, but a pleasant enough denouement for us, and Andrew and I made the return home at a reasonable hour for a school night.

We all liked Spheres of Influence. It's close to its obvious ancestor in that it's simple and speedy to play, but with the additions of the two economies of production and oil and the randomized turn order, the game has enough nuance and tactical play to surprise.

Race for the Dairy Milk

This week, GNN saw the return of a familiar face after a lengthy absence: Adam. It was great to see him again and in the ten minutes or so before the last of us gamers arrived, there was quite a lot of conversation about things while Ian and I were distracted by a box in the kitchen that, sadly, did not turn out to be a new game.

At this point, we were five - Sam, the host, Martin, Ian, Adam and me. We were expecting Andy B any time soon, so we thought a quick game of Fuji Flush would fill the time. As it happened, as the game was being unpacked, we heard the front door open and voices of welcome, telling us that he had arrived and so he was dealt in before he'd even got to the table.

Fuji is as Fuji does. No amount of text can replace actually being there. Suffice to say, Martin drew scorn for suddenly abandoning his attempt at foiling anyone on one card left and instead he put down a 15 to join with mine. He said he did it to guarantee joint second, to which Andy dismissively replied there's no second place in Fuji Flush, only losers and a winner. Who, it should be said, is usually me.

Andrew 0 cards left
Ian, Martin 1
Sam 2
Andy, Adam 3

Surprisingly few dick points, though.

After this, we split into two groups of three. Adam was keen to try Root (or Sam was keen for him to try it, I'm not sure which) and, not wanting to be a party-pooper, I agreed to be the third. Ian, Andy and Martin chose The Quest For Eldorado.

There was a period of simultaneous rules explanation since Adan and Andy were new to their relative games. I took the chance to read about my faction, the Marquis de Cat. It seemed like a more resource management type affair, somewhat removed from the aggressive Eyre, who were Adam's faction. Sam was the Woodland Alliance.

Adam's strategic sense shone through, despite him learning the game almost on the fly. Stanley watched the early stages, giving Adam the benefit of his considerable experience. Adam flooded the board with birds, moving them en masse in a rather intimidating blue wave.

Adam sportingly rolled a couple of these to give us a chance

I had decided to get buildings down as soon as possible, and ignore half of the board. But Adam's presence needed seeing to, and here my inexperience showed. I tried to ruin his decree by moving out of Fox enclosures, meaning he couldn't fight there. Alas, I left behind one of Sam's sympathy tokens and Adam fought that, keeping his decree intact.

Then, in an astonishing turn of events, Adam ended the game sooner than anyone could have guessed.

He reached ten points and picked up a Domination card, meaning he could win if he controlled three Fox enclosures. He asked if he'd won and Sam explained he'd win if those conditions were met at the start of his next turn.

He took it anyway, saying if was"fighty". So then Sam and I had to stop him. Sam cleared him out of one Fox clearance but I misunderstood what "control" meant. I thought he needed a roost there, so I ignored him and attacked Sam instead. Meanwhile, an ill Sam hadn't seen the Fox enclosure on my side of the board where Adam outnumbered me (the real criterion to control an area) so he couldn't advise me.

As such, when it was Adam's turn again, he asked "Have I won?" and Sam realised he had indeed. A schoolboy error.

Adam wins
Sam and Andrew "let Adam win"

I enjoyed it more this time, since I had a better idea of what was going on. Not good enough, though.

This sudden end meant that we finished at the same time as Eldorado was finishing. That had been a close race with a remarkable ending. Ian had positioned himself perfectly, blocking off the only grassy path. All he needed on his final hand was a card to move through grass. Despite having special cards to increase his hand size, he mostly got nothing but money. This meant an end to his chances, since Martin had found another way round and won on a tie breaker.

Martin, first and foremost
Ian, at least he got there
Andy, stuck in a lake

So we rearranged, and Andy, Adam and Ian played Flamme Rogue. Martin, Sam and I faced off over Azul.

Flamme Rogue was close, with Andy using his two cyclists to good blocking effect to keep his opponents at bay. It was still close, even to the end, with Andy just pipping Adam to the post by one space.

1. Andy
2. Adam
3. Ian

In the time it took them to play Flamme Rouge, we played two games. The first was the aforementioned Azul. In this game, Sam started poorly and improved while Martin started well (although always one point behind me) and then fell back, thanks to starting the fifth round with four rows already started. I did well.

Lots of options for the first to pick up the Player One token

Andrew 75
Martin 57
Sam 53

Then we banged out a quick round of Cobras, the trick taking game that demands that each player time when they win and when they lose to maximize their scores. It took a while to remember the rules, but I’m glad this got back to the table after too long away.

Martin 59
Andrew 49
Sam 31

Now we were all together again, we decided on a six-player game of Powerships, which was Ian and Andy's third race game of the evening. But first, there was the little matter of the game of Laying Out The Powerships Boards. “Why is it so difficult?” wailed Martin as, despite constant reference to the instructions, they never seemed to fit as they should.

But eventually, all the gaps had vanished and Adam had kindly supplied us with Dairy Milk chocolate to get us through the late hour so we were ready to speed off across infinite space. With walls, of course. Sam was sent the wrong way by grim fate before he’d got round buoy one. “I don’t want to roll a three… there’s a three,” probably sums up his game. Martin and I sped off, with Andy and Ian in close pursuit, but despite moments when it all could’ve been very different, Martin seemed to have the right number to get past most of the solar system without re-rolling anything.

1. Martin
2. Andrew
3. Ian
4. Andy
5. Adam
6. Sam

Then we played the Getting The Board Back In The Powerships Box game, which Sam won.

Adam set off home at this point, while we remaining five played Texas Showdown, with whiskey! As it should be played. Frankly, I’m surprised it’s not mentioned in the rules. I got badly stung in round one, picking up 6 tricks. You know, if you ignore round one, I actually did best. Unfortunately, you’re not allowed to ignore round one, so I came third.

Martin 7
Sam 8
Andrew 10
Ian 11
Andy 12

And so we were done. Thanks for hosting, Sam and great to see Adam again. Cheers, all.

Andrew's Perfect Evening

Saturday night, and what better thing to do than play some games.

That was the opinion of myself, Andrew and Ian, anyway, albeit I lost track of time and they arrived on the street to find myself and Stanley attempting (and failing) to fit roof bars to our car. Whilst that was resolved, they stepped inside and broke out a 'ten minute' game of The Mind, that came to a dramatic end over half an hour later.

Having put the kids to bed, I watched the drama play out from level five onwards, at which point they had four lives but no shurrikens. It made no matter - an absorbing display of synchronicity played out right up to level 12, with almost no hitches at all, at which point Andrew - possibly distracted by Genesis - said "synch at 23" - giving away his lowest card. He discarded it and drew a new one, but the spell was broken and their tango turned into a drunken stagger home from the ballroom.

Nonetheless - they got through level 12 with two lives remaining, and played out an astonishing six levels of the Dark Mind before finally succumbing.

and look how close they were!

Nothing could live up to that, could it? Well, we gave it a go with Quantum. This is a favourite of mine and Ian's in particular, but hasn't seen the light of day in a while. I got off to a flier but was quickly caught. Ian surged ahead, before my dominance strategy saw me catch up, while Andrew somehow drew level as well. With all of us poised with a single cube to place, this particular three-way race went Andrew's way in a dramatic denouement - Andrew named it his dream before it happened, as he moved a 5 ship five spaces and needed to reconfigure his 6 ship to a 3 with a free action - he rolled a three, and Ian and I could only applaud.

Next up was Andrew's choice - Heaven and Ale, that classic game of brewmasters and ingredients needing to be as far up the track as they can so the position of the brewmaster can change the position of the ingredients by a certain amount depending on how far the brewmaster is itself and the poorest-performing ingredient defines your score although so does the brewmaster.

We were all a little ring-rusty and had to check the rules once or twice, but the game's seeming thinkiness suddenly drops away on the final round, which arrived sooner than we thought, somehow. Ian had neglected his brewmaster, whereas mine was at dizzying heights, but Andrew's middle path proved to be the winning one:

Andrew 29
Sam 28
Ian 16

With 11 looming we bashed out a quick game of Love Letter, where I fell foul of picking up the King in every round but one, and Ian found himself ousted before he could catch the man of the moment:

Andrew 3
Ian 1
Sam 0

Before we ended with the most ludicrous game of No Thanks that has possibly ever been played. Andrew picked up a card in the thirties, whereas I found myself tempted by two cards that were never going to combine. Another high card plopped out and Andrew took it - another lowish one for me. With both of us so card-happy, Ian ran out of chips, and it only got worse for him from there. Andrew had a seemingly inexhaustable stack of chips. I had an inexhaustable sense of optimism, and kept picking up cards before Ian could. Andrew needed the 32 to combine his high cards into one relatively harmless run. Ian picked it up because he had no chips. I needed the 27 to stop my score running away into the high reaches of acceptibility. It never came. The scores ended looking like we played the game all wrong - because we did.

Andrew 55
Sam 71
Ian 164

That's one hundred and sixty-four!

Brilliant.

Five wins in a row for Andrew if we include The Mind, which he shares with Ian. And I think we should.

Ian's final card combo

From a Growl to a Quack

Tonight Chris made his way from Chippenham to my (Sam's) house and Joe wandered up from the closer confines of Montpelier (Bristol version). Our plan: Root. Our factions: Joe was the Eyrie, I was the Marquise, and Chris was the Woodland Alliance.

We talked Chris through the turn structure (Birdsong; Daylight; Evening) and how each of our three factions functioned, assuming they functioned at all. Chris was commendably unbamboozled - at least at the start. Then with nary a pause, we were away.

Having been stiffed by cards before on the crafting front, I all but ignored building workshops and focused on pushing up my wood supply with sawmills. Joe began with an extravagant two-card addition to his decree, and started as he was to continue - uber-aggressively, as is the Eyrie's wont. Chris spread some sympathy - a modicum of jam to our slathers of butter.

I made the same mistake as in previous games - my memory should win some kind of prize (maybe it has) - of neglecting to address the Eyrie's building threat early, as I pottered away constructed little buildings in half-empty clearings. Before we knew it, Joe was holding a third of the forest, and looking strong. I countered, building a third recruiter and recruiting twice before spending a bird card for an additional action and attacking.

Chris came through a mid-game breakdown where he momentarily fell victim to cognitive overload; going from a turn bewildered to a couple more productive, first attacking Joe, then building a confection of officers and going on night manoeuvres to bump up his points.

 

Chris, with ears

I also attacked - but we'd left it too late. Suddenly Joe was ten or so points ahead of us, and looking good for the win. My canny strategy was to see where he had to recruit and make sure he couldn't, by eliminating the only rabbit roost he held. Only my canny strategy was let down by my basic sense of vision/attention/brain power, as he held a second rabbit clearing right in front of me that I somehow overlooked!

Joe's building decree...

That plan turned to mush, and Joe subsequently a mere two points from victory on his following turn, Chris and I combined to wipe out his other rabbit clearing, and ensure in his next turn he'd fall into turmoil. Even so, he was miles ahead, and even after turmoil, he was looking at a one point gain, which would put him on 29 points...

aieeeeeeeeeee

I launched into my cunning plan, which was to abandon the victory point track in favour of a Dominance strategy: all I needed to do was control to diagonally-opposed clearings at the start of my next turn! I controlled them already, so I recruited and piled extra cats in there for what I hoped would be a spectacular about-turn for the Marquise.

Unfortunately for me, it wasn't to be. Before Joe's decree fell apart, he managed to craft the extra point he needed - despite a points loss of 3, his haul of 5 overall put him on 30 for a much-deserved victory!

Again, Root provided us with a story and a post-game discussion. Joe's first win; Chris' first play, and in at the deep end really with the Alliance, and no pre-match grokking. Good fun.

But after the combative Root we went for something a bit silly - in the push-your-luck potion-brewing delights of Quacksalber Von Quedlingburg.

This is from Wolfgang Warsch, he of The Mind, Illusion, and Ganz Schon Clever, and I was interested to try it with three as my two-player experiences, whilst fun, hadn't seemed to justify the hype around the game (in Germany, at least). Over nine rounds you're pulling ingredients out of a bag to add to your potion, and you want it to contain as many ingredients (or as many powerful ones) as possible to score more points, and spend money on more, better ingredients.

But some of them are volatile, and if you draw too many your potion explodes - now you can either score points, or purchase more stuff, but not both.

It's fun in the drawing of the stuff and hoping that your good chits come out, and we enjoyed it. But it is a mite fiddly too, with no interaction at all - fun, but for me not as fun as Wolfgang's other games.

Maybe I'm just saying that because I lost though! Chris overcame droplet issues to nab a debut win, finishing his final round with a flourish:

Chris 55
Joe 53
Sam 47

And with the time just past 11, we called an end to the evening. Thank you gentlemen!

A table of two halves

After a day of persistent drizzle, three, then four, five and finally six gamers arrived at Sam's house for their weekly fix.

At first it was Andy B and me joining the host for a couple of rounds of Red7, to commemorate the fact that Andy had finally bought a proper copy of the game. Sam won round one and Andy won the second.

At this point, Joe arrived. He sat down and determinedly started drinking so that no one could ask him for a lift that evening. As he poured himself a large glass of wine, he recommended a TV programme he'd just seen, all about the dangers of drinking in middle age.

Sam wanted to know how long we'd be a quartet, so he texted Andy M (the third part of this evening's Andrew trilogy) to ask for an ETA. Almost immediately the reply came as a ring on the door bell. He was here and we were a five, with about an hour before our sixth, Ian, was expected.

Joe suggested and then self-vetoed a game of Chickwood Forest as being too long to learn. Instead, we played the simpler fare of Kimono. This game of "I cut, you choose" is fun, but any strategy still eludes me. In fact, I went completely Dirk for the first few rounds and I did well enough for Andy B to start picking on me. Sam and Andy M began in almost perfect sync, mimicking each other so often that at the end of round two, they had the same cards: a kimono and a three gold.

Andy M managed to improve his situation while Sam found himself constantly on the wrong end of our collective consciousness. "I thought nobody would go for this one," he said on more than one occasion. Joe took a few attempts to work out his final score.

Andy B 48
Joe 41, no wait 37, no actually 42
Andy M 23
Andrew 20
Sam 6

With Ian imminent, we chose a game of Illusion to fill the time. And then Ian arrived mid-opening round, so he joined in before he'd even sat down. There were some amazing mistakes, not least me putting a card with 23% green in a place where it needed a percentage in the low teens. There was general bemusement at my choice. My defence was that the green was all around the edges so it looked like less. Apart from that, most misjudgements were blamed on the drop shadow.

Andy B 3
Andy M 2
Sam 1
Ian, Joe, Andrew 0

Now we were six, we split into two groups of three. Joe persuaded me and Andy B to play Welcome To Centreville. Ian, Sam and Andy M took a very different route. After considering Photosynthesis, they instead chose a series of shorter fun games.

The first was Quest For Eldorado, which was Andy's debut on the game. He seemed to take to it well. Sam shot off into an early lead and seemed to have it all sewn up as he approached the river that lay in front of the goal. He needed his Capitan card to cross the water but, since he'd only just bought it, he'd have to cycle through his deck to get it.

He managed it just in time, with Andy in hot pursuit. Ian ended somewhat further back.

Sam, at the gates of Eldorado
Andy, wrong side of a river
Ian, wrong side of a desert

As for us, we were still in the early stages. We'd begun, after a rules explanation, at 9.25. Andy B admitted he didn't know what was going on, and he did make an early mistake by building on the river but not being on the tree track, so he scored no points. I'm sure any town planner would commiserate with him.

On the other half of the table they were now playing NMBR9. "I'm definitely losing," said Ian, which is now pretty much his catchphrase. I tried to cheer him up but on this occasion he had maths on his side.

Sam 90
Andy M 81
Ian 62

I think they played a second game, but I have no record of any scores.

Then, as if to fully contrast with our point-salady thinkathon, they played Mord Im Arosa. Genuine cries of jealousy rose from our end of the table. Maybe Sam felt guilty as he offered around some whisky.

I found myself quite distracted by the goings on in Hotel Arosa and its "shloppy investigations" and kept having to force myself to think about Centreville. Normally what had happened while I was occupied was that Joe gave Andy B another favor token.

Mord Im Arosa finished:

Ian 8
Sam 9
Andy M (for 'murderer') 14

In Centreville, my strategy of cities (gotta love those benches) and rivers seemed to be working. Joe admitted that he'd more or less forgotten about the city while Andy B was focusing on collecting sets of tiles, apparently because it was the part of the board closest to him.

As for the other "fun" half of the table, they played Heck Meck, interspersed with a discussion about funk. Andy M's success in pushing the GNN soundtrack in a more groovy direction was directly reflected by his lack of success in the game. As someone put it, "He was dicked by fate."

Sam 13
Ian 10
Andy M 0

By now we were entering the final stages of "the longest game of Yahtzee ever". I got a stroke of luck when two disasters hit while I was safe from them. Soon after this, the final scoring round was triggered (at 11.05) and, all told, I did rather well.

Andrew 90
Andy B 72
Joe 63

Now we were all together again, we decided on a game of Perudo to finish us off. Joe drained the last of his wine into his glass and fretted about how he was going to tell his new Drink Aware app.

Andy M insisted that Perudo is a loud game as he slammed his cup down on the table. Sam, meanwhile, rearranged the bags hanging from the handle of the kitchen door so he could close it properly.

It was an uneven game. I was down to only one die when Joe lost his first. Ian rolled lots of sixes early on. Sam made chicken noises after he bid "two twos."

My notes are a bit confusing but I think it ended

1. Sam
2. Ian
3. Andy M
4. Joe
5. Andrew
6. Andy B

And so with that we were done. Half of us, anyway. Andy B, Ian and I set off but as I was leaving the remaining three seemed to show no sign of moving. Thinking they were about to play a game, I almost joined them at the table again but it was a quarter to midnight and I was drunker than I'd realised so I bade my farewells and left.

Turns out, they didn't play a game and just had a chat. Whatever next?