Railing against the Dying of the Light (Railway)

Once upon a time we may have laughed off the future as the trifling concerns of others, but last night Joe and I (Sam) rolled up to the kerb outside Martin's house swapping mid-life medical worries, before going inside to eat chocolate and bombay mix. We were joined by the host, of course, along with Ian - now living south of the river - and Andy.

Although before Andy joined us, the quartet snuck in a round of Yokai Septet, the team trick-taker that debuted a couple of weeks back. Martin and I were paired against Ian and Joe, and we pretty much swept the board in the opening/finale:

Martin and Sam: Three tricks, four Sevens
Joe and Ian: Two tricks, no sevens

Whether they would have come back at us to win a full game, only an alternative universe can tell. In this one, Andy arrived, and we started the evening proper with some Cadbury's Fruit and Nut and a five-player assault on Mini Rails. Assault is the operative word, too, as despite the exceedingly light rule-set, every action carries ramifications. Build track and you might help someone else. Take a share and it may cost you points.

But building track and taking shares are the only actions you can do, so you want to be careful that the companies you have shares in pay their taxes: companies that don't count against you.

We all negotiated that particular challenge, avoiding penalties, but table-talk was prevalent as we tried to talk each other into screwing over someone else, rather than us. Joe - was he the only player to take two shares in the same company? - saw his investments in the grey track pay off big time:

Joe 15
Martin 14
Sam 11
Andy 8
Ian 6

Ian then suggested Powerships, but Martin seemed reticent. I seconded, but Martin still havered. We kept saying Powerships as a kind of social experiement, and it turned out Martin's uncertainty wasn't about the game itself but the challenge of setting up the board, which always foxes him. Fortunately Andy was there to pitch in and in no time at all we'd constructed the solar system. Now all we had to do was fly around it.

I began well, shooting off into an early lead. Martin assured everyone I would "fuck up at some point" though, and I agreed he was probably right. But as first Andy and then Ian slalomed involuntarily around the cosmos, I circled buoy one and two and headed for three, with only the green ship of Martin visible in my rear-view mirror.  He was still sure I'd make a mistake, but I, foolishly, had begun to feel confident.

On the last turn around buoy three I needlessly rolled my die, hoping to turn my 2 into a 1. I rolled a 3 instead and ended in a cul de sac of yellow arrows, floating in space. Martin shot around right behind me, straight into an arrow. There followed a period of confusion, as the arrow was supposed to push Martin back - but I was in the way. Did he move back at the start of his next turn? Or stay where he was and ignore the arrow? Much frantic BGG-ing ensued, which ultimately made no difference. Either way, I now had fucked up, and ceded ground to Martin who claimed the win.

1 Martin
2 Sam
3 Joe
4 Andy
5 Ian

Ian, as he foretold, came last. Joe and I noted how the winning spaceships seemed to be engaged in some kind of group hug/orgy. Andy missed the fun as he was still reading the Powerships forums.

I went to the loo and when I came back unwittingly was the winning vote on Abluxxen, once often-seen on the table in these parts. We all needed a refresher, and Joe in particular seemed bamboozled by it. It's like Fuji Flush in a way, but without the teamwork: play a single card or set of (matching) numbers to the table, get busted if someone else plays a card or set of a higher number. The key is to try and build big sets by getting shot of singletons to pick up cards that match your hand.

We only played a single round, at the end of which cards on the table score a point and cards in hand score minus points. I thought I was on the verge of a spectacular seven '4's, (having just played seven '8's) to put me on 14, when Ian ended the game by getting all his cards down!

Ian 17
Joe 9
Martin and Andy 4 each
Sam 0

We ended our evening as a quintet with current trick-taking favourite Voodoo Prince. I think I usually do ok at this game but last night I fell victim to a first round last-out having no trumps, and then when choosing trumps on the next round had four sets of high numbers and a bundle of blacks - too many to safely imbue with trump power. I tried to bluff that I was going for an early trick, but nobody fell for it - I won the early trick. It fell apart swiftly after that.

For the others things were much tighter though, and on our third and final round the scores between them were tight - anybody could have won. In the end Ian - who was first out in round one - picked up his second win in a row as Martin and Joe tied for second, with Andy hot on their tails. I did at least win the last round to add a bit of respectability...

Ian 27
Martin and Joe 22
Andy 21
Sam 15

Martin enticed Andy to stay for one last game, whilst the decrepit (me and Joe) and the long-distance traveller (Ian, now headed for Bishopsworth) hit the road. Whilst we reflected on the evening and the state of the world - Bishopsworth in particular - Martin was whupping Andy at Patchwork:

Martin 46
Andy 10

Until the next time...