Shouting "llama, llama, llama"

Our weekly games night arrived through the cold June drizzle at Sam's house. It began with Sam, Martin, Ian and Adam T playing L.A.M.A. for a couple of rounds until Katy and I arrived ten minutes late. The game was reset and all six were dealt in but before we could play a single card, Joe arrived.

We split into two groups and played two new (to GNN) games. Martin persuaded myself, Katy and Ian to try Situation 4, a team-based, simultaneous play jigsaw war game from the sixties.

Joe, Sam and Adam T played Xanadu. I know little about it except for someone saying something about tea. Adam T's post game summary of "Honestly, sometimes it's fun" didn't inspire confidence.

Adam T 41
Sam 33
Joe 29

If a jigsaw war game free-for-all sounds like crazy knockabout fun, then prepare to have your assumptions overturned. There's a strange frustration in not being able to find the right piece you need in ordinary jigsaws and this is doubled by the presence of other people trying to find the same piece.

This is war

It was fast moving in my head but often slow moving on the board, as certain pieces eluded everyone at times. It was so new and unfamiliar that we didn't deploy our tanks efficiently, and didn't deploy our paratroopers at all. Perhaps it was only right that it ended in a draw because, as Ian pointed out, there are no winners in war.

Brown land with orange pieces, me and Martin, Green with yellow pieces were Katy and Ian.

Martin and Andrew 1250
Ian and Katy 1250

Adam H arrived at this point and joined us to make a cosy fivesome at one end of the table. We got out Beowulf, the fun game of Viking epic poetry. It was Adam H's first go, but the rules are pretty straightforward. We set forth on our journey, spending a lot of time with Sea Hags, and enjoying Katy and Martin's bad luck. Adam, though, kept winning auctions and before long, he looked like the one to beat. Adam didn't seem to be enjoying it, though, and when he saw that Xanadu had been replaced by Orbit, he asked if he could swap games. I'm sure he only said that to shock us.

Beowulf in the near distance, Xanadu in the far.

Katy kept picking up wounds and Ian used his special cards to good effect. I was very good at being the starting player on rounds where we get to choose new cards, but that didn't help much. Adam remained bemused: "I don't know what I'm doing," he insisted. You're winning, Adam. You should recognise it by now.

Adam H 24
Martin 19
Ian 18
Andrew 12
Katy 7

Orbit was still unfinished and Ian was looking pensively at his watch, so we had another game of L.A.M.A. Once again, Adam H won while Ian ended the game on purpose so he could go and catch his bus, but not before he spouted the line that became this blog post's title. Thanks Ian.

Adam H 6
Katy 19
Martin 24
Andrew 25
Ian 42

Orbit had ended too. There must have been a fair amount of AP since I remember Sam asking "would it help if I move the planets now?"

Sam 41
Adam T 35
Joe 24

While they were just finishing up, the other four of us played a single round of Kariba.

Martin 17
Katy 13
Andrew 11
Adam 10

Now Adam T bade his farewells and left us to our final two games. First was Zogen, a Dobble-esque game of playing similar cards and calling out the name of the item that has changed. Its a crazy game of lightning reactions and I stopped playing halfway through, not finding it much fun. Martin had an early lead but was challenged on an illegal move and had to pick up all his cards again. He started to steam-roll his way back into contention, but too late since Sam put down his final card.

After this, showing little concern for the late hour, we played Just One. We started brilliantly, and started to believe that this was the time: a clear round. But duplicates crept in and when I was left to guess "Cinderella" with only "charming" as a clue (I guessed "Prince") our dreams were sunk.

And so, having failed to crack the Just One code, we set off in the night in Joe's car. Thanks for the lift, Joe and thanks to all for the fun.