My other mage is a necromancer

Martin hosted and Joe, Adam H, Katy, Ian and myself guested in this week's games night. Joe and I were late and got there just as Katy lost a game of L.A.M.A. Deliberately so, she assured us, so that Joe and I wouldn't be standing around waiting. How clever of her especially since she managed to lose just as we were walking into the kitchen.

Adam 7
Martin 12
Ian 16
Katy 42

We began with a period of chat, during which, Adam and Katy kept the games torch burning by flicking coasters across the table at each other.

There were six of us and so a 3-3 split seemed sensible. Adam, Joe and Martin chose Res Arcana while, after some struggling with indecision and my implacable refusal to play Discworld, Ian, Katy and I went for Azul.

It was a ding dong battle in Azul between Ian and I, swapping the lead while Katy insisted she was bad at this game. I lead after round four but collapsed in the final round while Ian racked up a major score. A score he took several attempts to calculate properly. "It IS important," he insisted, refusing to be satisfied with a rough approximation of his convincing win.

Ian 66
Katy 52
Andrew 51

Over on Res Arcana, things were still ticking along after Adam was introduced to the rules. Joe announced his intention to "tap my horn of plenty" to childish giggles around the table.

We three tried a game of Divinare, the game of being a Victorian psychic (and which takes up more table space than I remembered). Ian, though, found his energy levels waning and he was unable to get much of a grip on the game. He always seemed to be in the right place just before he was forced to move somewhere wrong. Katy did better, getting the hang of it after the first round, once she knew the rules.

Katy 25
Andrew 20
Ian 3

Res Arcana had ended during Divinare and Joe had managed to finish the game just before Martin could do his mega move.

Joe 11
Adam 7
Martin 5

While explaining his winning strategy, which mostly involved tapping his horn of plenty, Joe uttered those words now adorning the blog title but which would also make an amusing car windscreen sticker.

They squeezed in a quick game of Ticket to Ride London and Joe had the unique opportunity to play a TtR game against two players who hoard cards. "I'll just shuffle the discard pile, shall I?" he said, picking up the few cards lying there, which had mostly been played by himself.

Martin 36
Joe 31
Adam 19

Now we were all together so a rousing game of Team Play was suggested to shake Ian from his torpor. The teams were Adam and Katy, Joe and me, Martin and Ian. J&A went into an early lead while Martin got stuck on his opening mission card (is that what they're called?) of a full house. Katy, likewise, couldn't clear her "pair of ones, pair of sevens" and was not pleased to see Adam use those cards to finish the communal mission card instead of passing them to her.

In fact, that was Adam's tactic, as he focused entirely on the communal cards and never finished the mission he was dealt at the start of the game.

Then Joe finished our eighth mission card by drawing a card blind from the deck. A bit of luck but expertly managed luck, I like to think. Ian and Martin's collection of high scoring missions threatened to unseat us from first, but it was not to be.

Joe and Andrew 26
Ian and Martin 23
Adam and Katy 20

Martin then pushed for Karate Tomate, while Katy pined after 6nimmt. Joe was keen to see if Push was any good with six, so we chose that.

The dice were brutal, and Ian, Joe and I all banked but this time fortune favoured the brave as the non-banking Martin took first place.

Martin 53
Joe 43
Adam 42
Ian 36
Andrew 34
Katy 32

Finally we played the oft suggested Karate Tomate. It was a bit of a damp squib with six. It only took two players to decide they wanted to pick up cards and everyone else would instantly get to pick up trophies. And knives. This made for some very short rounds and a sudden ending when Adam revealed he'd scored twelve trophies. Joe, Katy and myself had not picked up any knives at all,

Adam 12
Martin 8
Ian 5
Joe, Katy, Andrew 0

And then we were done. Time to head home with the heady thrill of victory still coursing through our veins. Thanks all.