Merry Christmouse

Christmas comes round earlier each year, they say, and this year it came round at two o’clock in the afternoon. I arrived only a little late and found Laura (masked, overcautious, due to being a contact of a contact of a covid case, but asymptomatic (something like that, anyway)), Katy and host Sam. The first game was the Lateral Flow Test Game which has some pretty harsh player elimination rules for those who fail, but both Sam and I won so that was okay.

Our first real game was Whirling Witchcraft, a game I’d watched last week but couldn’t quite work out. It’s pretty simple: you have to keep using ingredients in your cauldron to make more ingredients, but the stuff you make ends up in your neighbour’s cauldron. If they can’t fit it in, then it comes back to you as points. There’s more to it than that but that’s the jist. 

We were mid-way through the first turn when Adam H arrived so we paused the game while he was given a rules explanation from Sam. Katy took the opportunity to indulge in some snack demolition, cleverly combining two separate snacks into a soft cheese and Japanese cracker sandwich.

Once Adam was up to speed, the game commenced and we swapped cubes with cheese-feulled abandon. Katy was first to reach four points, just one off the game winning total, but then she stalled and, two rounds later she found herself very disappointed with the final result, complaining that “all that cheese has gone to my head.”

Adam 8

Andrew 7

Sam 6

Katy 4

Laura 4

Next we played a co-op game: Siege Runedar, in which four players (Katy and Laura teamed up) try to escape from a castle that is under constant attack from orcs.

Before long we remembered why we rarely play co-op games, as failed dice rolls were greeted with sarcastic comments regarding the rollers suitably at orc-repelling. Adam was first to kill, but after that his luck ran out. Given his lack of fondness for dice rolling and co-op games we should have cut him a little slack. But we didn’t.

Mid-game Laura had to go somewhere and while she was away Katy kept the orcs at bay by herself, stating “Laura would be proud” after a particularly successful roll. Then we thought the game had ended, killed by a catapult while Katy was answering the front door, but we checked the rules and found that we’d been far too hard on ourselves: a quick reset and we recommenced.

We lasted long enough for Laura to return (in a new mask) but were soon in a hopeless situation, as we were only one mistake away from triggering any one of four of the game’s criteria for losing. In the end, the monster deck was exhausted, which did us in. Still, lots of fun.

I had to dash off at this point, promising to be back later. In my absence, more games hit the table...

They played Wavelength and got a world record [citation needed] 23 points. Ian won Tsuro, beating (in order of bestness) Adam, Katy, Sam and Laura. Sam won Heck Meck: Sam 7, Laura 6, Adam 4, Ian 1, Katy 0. Finally, Adam won Avenue: Adam 66, Katy 44, Ian 26.

By the time I get back it was 7.30 and Laura had gone, replaced by Martin and the aforementioned Ian. The next game had already been decided for me: Tinners' Trail, and I was up against Ian and Adam. Martin, Katy and Sam played Brian Boru, the game of medieval Irish matchmaking, or something.

In Cornwall, it had been so long since we last played that we had to reference the rule book several times. I started in audacious fashion by selling a pastie. Not sure if that’s a good move. Anyway, Adam bossed round one while Ian was king of the hill in round two. I was in dead last, worried that I might not even hit 54 points – the score you’d get if you only sold pasties all game. But I did have four mines on the board, compared to Adam and Ian’s two each.

Brian Boru was ticking along nicely. “It really builds up,” commented Martin. “Yeah,” agreed Sam, “as the board fills up, those high numbers become really important.” And then Martin said he was referring to the spicy crisps. Sam clarified he was merely externalizing his internal monologue rather than replying but, still, that’s one for the sitcom.

Back in Tinners' Trail I made a comeback of sorts (even getting past the 100 point on the money track), and I scored more in round four but by then the gap was too big to bridge. In the closing stages, Adam was convinced Ian had nabbed the win and he was surprised at his comfortable margin.

I am the Elon Musk of Cornish tin mining

Adam 148

Ian 135

Andrew 120

But if he was surprised by his win, then that was nothing compared to the surprise when cries for help emanated from the front room. Sam leapt into action and Adam followed. The rest of us stayed seated, not wanting to intrude, and soon found out that Sally had seen a mouse. Charlie the house cat, meanwhile, was nowhere to be seen so Sam had to catch it. Which, amazingly, he did and he took it, in a cereal box, outside to the end of the garden.

What an exciting episode. And after that, he sat down and finished of Brian Boru. By now, Martin had married twice (Niall and Connell) while Sam bagged himself Estrid, Princess of Denmark but it didn’t seem to help him.

Martin 45

Katy 41

Sam 28

Getting ready for the quiz

Finally, with mice ejected and everyone calmed down, it was time for the annual Christmas quiz. With five of us, it didn’t make sense to split into teams so we sort answered as a co-op team. Round one was “Spot the fake BGG comment” which we did well at, detecting 7 out of 8. Sam simply doesn’t have the sort self-righteous stupidity that the true internet hermit possesses. Then we did a GNN round, based on the post-online meetings. I was surprised how much I couldn’t remember but it was nice to be reminded that “cock-flavoured sand” was once used in Wavelength as the Worst Thing To Put In Your Mouth.

With the quiz done, we played a couple of six-player games. First was So Clover. We got 32 and we could’ve done better with a little more thinking. Ian’s clue of “Webber” made us think of Formula One, but we really should have noticed “cat” and “theatre” to make us think of Andrew Lloyd Webber. Adam’s clue of “Fishnet” for “String” and “screen” was well received.

Martin's

Finally we played Texas Showdown. For a long time it looked like either Ian or Katy would be the ones to go past the game-ending score of ten tricks as the game was swiftly rechristened Texas Bullshit. But they both had good fourth rounds and the game went on long enough for Martin’s form to collapse. Meanwhile, Adam and I vied for first place until I got stung in round four meaning the final round was a cakewalk for Adam.

"The sphincter of safety" (c) Sam 2021

Adam 2

Andrew 5

Sam 9

Ian 11

Katy 11

Martin 12

And with that, Katy and I were done. And, after I came back from the toilet, I discovered that so was everyone else. But what a great day. Sorry that so many weren’t able to attend but there’s always next year. Or did I say that last year...?

Thanks Sam for hosting and quizzing. See you all soon.

Missing whirled

 When I arrived at around eight, I was surprised to see only three people around Sam’s kitchen table: Sam, Joe and Ian. What with people ill, isolating or absent for some other reason, we were down to a quartet for this week’s gaming. The three of them were midway through a game of Whirling Witchcraft and I sat down and tried to work out the rules but, apart from turning cubes into other cubes, I was kind of baffled. People said things like “My toads are overflowing!” which didn’t help. In the end, Joe won so easily he admitted he wasn’t sure if he’d been playing it right.

Joe 8
Sam 4
Ian 1
 
Then the four of us brought out Search For Planet X, the app-based game of logical deduction. Each player, via their phone, is drip fed a number of clues such as “no comet within two sectors of a gas cloud” or information about how many of a certain astronomical object are with a certain number of sectors. With these facts, we are left to deduce the location of Planet X, the only astral body to elude our sensors.

The board came complete with dazzling sun in the middle

It was nice to play it again, and I went scanning for gas clouds while Sam targeted two sectors with his first two moves. And I was progressing quite nicely and had worked out the comets, gas clouds and asteroids when Joe asked what he should do if he knew where Planet X was. He followed the apps instructions, typed in his guess and a little jingle told him he was correct. All that was left for the rest of us was the make two final guesses on whatever we thought we knew for sure, and that was the game. Well done, Joe.
 
Joe 22
Andrew 14 + tie breaker
Sam 14
Ian 7
 
Next we played Art Robbery, a quick game of stealing points from your opponents while trying to make sure you don’t have least “alibis” (little white dots on certain tiles). It was fast and mean and Joe won again with the highest score and most alibis. He ruefully noted, however, that having lots of alibis isn’t necessarily a good thing. “I was ice-skating and…”
 

Joe 29

Andrew 25
Ian 23
Sam, fewest alibis
 
Could Joe continue his run of form? We would have to wait and see as the rest of the evening belonged to So Clover. We played twice when I was there. I didn’t right the scores, but neither was a full house. A couple of guesses made me sad when they turned out to be wrong, such as “Friend” and “Moist” wasn’t loveheart although it surely should have been. It was fun as always, and I did have the interesting feeling of watching my friends guess every single one wrong before they reconsider and end up with three out of four.

Ian did not hint at "dirty" with "sister" although we felt confident he had

A tricky one, especially with Sunday, school, brother and religion all possibles for "Church"

 

Then I left, and the three of the kept going with scores of 10, 13 and 16. Finally, after Joe and Ian went home, Sam and Sally played and got 21. Or maybe they played 21? Anyway, next week is the Christmas do. Assuming it’s not illegal, of course.

Vi-kingmaker

A Friday night before an evening shift allows me a little freedom regarding bed times so when Sam sent out a call for four potential gamers to play Viking 878, then I was happy to accept.

Ian and Steve were the invading Vikings while Sam and I were the defending Saxons and the game starts in 865 when the first invasion hit English shores. Ian and Steve went further south than is historically accurate, sensing that East Anglia was full of easy pickings. And they were right. The Viking hordes cut a swathe down through London and on to Winchester.

Sam and I looked on grimly as city after city fell and our sources of reinforcements dried up. The local fighters, who only appear when defending a city shire, were pretty useless. They either ran away or just gawped at the battle, motionless.

The turning point in the battle was, I think, Oxford. Perhaps roused by my observation that Radiohead came from there, I rolled five hits and suddenly sent the Vikings packing. News of the defeat must have spread, since the Vikings seemed to put up less of a defence than before.

Ian and Steve’s late excursion into Northumbria threatened to tip the game in their favour again, but during round five King Alfred popped up and the end-game trigger was activated – both Viking tribes playing their treaty cards. All Sam and I had to do was reduce the number of Viking-held cities to below nine and that would count as a victory to the Saxons. And we did it! Sam played a card that meant his “running away” dice rolls became “active in battle” dice rolls, and his victories were decisive in reducing the Viking Occupation to acceptable levels and no doubt the two factions went on to live together in harmony.

With history firmly rewritten, I set off home at a late (by my standards) half past ten. I strode down a busy Gloucester Road when a young woman took me by the arm and walked with me, saying that we’d met that day on Redland Road and said something about e-scooters and inflatables. I had been on Redland Road, but I was oblivious to any inflatable. Must have been someone else, and she unlinked arms and went back to her friend.

But Vikings 878 was good. It’s a bit fire-fighty, with not much long term strategy. At least, not how we played it. When ever Sam or I put an army in the way as a blocking tactic, the Vikings just walked around it.

*             *              *

Narrator changes to Sam...

Before Andrew - or Steve, or even the fictional vikings - had even arrived, Ian and I had tried out Whirling Witchcraft, the game of demented Wiccans trying to explode each other's cauldrons. It's really simple - each round you create a new potion, and then use all your ingredients to brew potions - which is basically turning them into other ingredients, like Splendor eating itself. The somewhat dickish catch is that everything you brew goes to your neighbour, and if they don't have room for the ingredients on their 'workbench' you get points, and first to five points wins. 

Apart from three 'arcana' abilities, that's the entire game, and it took Ian about thirteen minutes to cause my cauldron to explode, at which point we set up the Vikings board, and Andrew and Steve arrived...

We also played some games after Andrew left, being as it was a Friday and all. Ian won both games of Spicy, surviving many challenges simply by virtue of being truthful.

Then we rounded out the evening with Cross Clues, where we might have done a little better (was it 13?) but we ran out of time! And likewise, the evening came to a close as well. Good stuff - I very much enjoyed 878: Vikings, which conjured plenty of conversations as well as battles. 

Busted and broken

What with both Adam T and Martin falling foul of Covid and Andrew a late withdrawal, it was a sparsely attended GNN last night. Indeed, at 7.30 we were a mere quartet, with Katy, Laura, Ian and myself sat around the table as Sally and Stanley cooked and Joe orbited scooping up crisps. We nonetheless embarked on a quick game of Ticket to Ride: New York, before Joe joined us a little later. 

Katy's yellow cabs carved a worryingly easy path through Manhattan, as the rest of us looked less in control of our destiny. Laura and I both fretted over our turns and picked up extra routes that didn't work. They mainly didn't work because Ian - more in control than it seemed - ended the game, giving everyone one last turn when we needed at least two to complete the extra routes. Despite Katy's yellow highway, Ian took the laurels:

And we ended things just as Joe arrived, with Reiner Knizia's new card game Art Robbery in his bag. We set up and started playing straight away. 

In this feisty game, the players have made off with the loot from the robbery and are now 'debating' - via cards - how to split it. There's four rounds and in each round you play cards to either grab a number tile from the communal pile or, possibly, off someone who's already taken one. Cards match the numbers (which equal points) but there are some Knizian wrinkles, like the 'Boss' card only scoring if she's attended by a 4 or 5, the guard-dog protecting your tiles, and some of each set containing 'alibis', which are relevant come the end of the game: the player with fewest alibis automatically loses. 

It was fairly chaotic-feeling compared to something like High Society, but fast and fun, with dick moves aplenty and a reasonable amount of swearing at each other as tiles kept getting stolen. Joe and Laura lost with joint-fewest alibis, and Ian took his second win of the night:

Ian 28

Sam 26

Katy 16

Joe and Laura - Nicked!

After that, we kept to the breezy-games-pace with a blast through Cross Clues, scoring an impressive 24, despite numerous discussions where someone or other initiated the finger of executive decisions. So close to that perfect score!

Then, after some pondering, we introduced Laura to the charms of QE. It's simple, right? Just bid on everything, but make sure you don't spend the most. This almost blew up in my face when everyone was appalled that my opening bid (as auctioneer, so a public bid) was £10M. My protests that I was auctioning the financial system of one of the world';s biggest countries and this was a comparative pittance moved nobody, and Joe - usually so non-evil - encouraged everyone to bid zero to shaft me over before the game had even got going!

There followed a succession of low public bids just to ram home my mistake, but inevitably the prices began to rise, and Laura seemed unable to control her impulses as the winnings piled up in front of her: she was clear points leader, but at what cost? Even my opening salvo was beginning to look like a bargain by the end, when Katy priced her final auction at £30M. As expected, Laura blew us away on points, but was hamstrung by financial ruin. Ian spent by far the least (£19m!) but it was Katy who claimed victory, as I realised my hidden industry wasn't the one I thought it was. 

Katy 39

Ian 36

Joe 31

Sam 15

Laura - Bust!

I wanted to make a note of Laura's spectacular score, but my notes here say "Laura goes home as Katy yells at her" which is probably putting it a little dramatically (and I think she was yelling at me) but not that far from the truth.

Now high on alcohol, crisps and Ian's snack mash-up of dark-chocolate coated nachos, we played Skull. I took one frankly rubbish photo...

And then forgot to take any more. Joe took us to the cleaners, wrapping up a game win before anyone else won a round. With the hour now pressing towards half-ten, we cracked into co-operative Wavelength, playing twice partly because we did so badly on game one, and partly because I drunkenly hectored everyone into trying again (sorry everyone). Inevitably there was mention of Gwyneth Paltrow, and many discussions along the lines of is X thinking of everything in the universe, or just all types of fatty snacks? There was a long debate about Skips, and I discovered that I was the sole member of the party who thought Monster Munch are unhealthy. "It's natural maize!" cried Joe, almost as if he was in the payment of Walkers, like a covert Gary Lineker. 

In the second game everyone started yawning and I felt so guilty I made snacks. Then I discovered I was the only person who didn't think toast wasn't the least meal-like snack. What was happening?!?!

Despite the inebriation, fatigue and stupidity (mine) we triumphed in the second game with a card to spare, coming back from the near-dead. I finally lifted the portcullis and allowed everyone to leave. 

Into it. Clover it.

I arrived at Sam’s and Katy answered the door, having only just arrived herself. In the kitchen, Sam, Martin and Ian were playing Whale Riders which is currently my most-watched, not-played game of the year. Still don’t know what’s going on but Sam went from “I’m feeling confident” to “I might be third” in the space of one round.

Ian 24

Sam 23

Martin 21

Then Laura arrived and, after the table was dragged from the wall to make more room, the six of us played So Clover – Laura’s introduction to the game. It was a mixed bag: Martin and Sam gave clues that netted six points, Katy and Laura got four points each with their clovers while Ian and I, last to finish writing our clues, only got three points each. My clue of “Casino” for “Luck” and “Patio” wasn’t a huge success.

26 out of 36

Next we split into two groups of three. Martin, Katy and Laura played Biblios while Sam, Ian and I once again crashed on an inhospitable alien planet in Cryo. Katy remarked that, after she’d played it, the game had given her nightmares, or at least some sort of fever dream in which she was playing it. A tleast, I think that’s what she meant: the mime she did to describe it involved plucking things out of the air. Also, she thinks she may have cheated the last time she played, but I don’t think anyone was that bothered except her.

Laura was given a rules explanation and she seemed to get the gist pretty quickly, judging by Katy’s wail of “Are you yanking my chain?” midway through the game. Also, everyone seemed keen on the brown die as it soon rose to six in value with everyone putting it up. I think Katy got it in the end, but it must’ve gone down by the end.

Martin 11

Katy 4

Laura 2

We were still halfway through Cryo, with Ian schooling us on how to max out a super power, rescuing an extra man each time while also spending less. I kept running out of resources and scrapped three ships to get me out of a tight spot. As we still had a way to go, Martin, Katy and Laura played Biblios again.

This time was much closer with it all being decided on the final red dice, which people had been ignoring or discarding for the whole game. In the end, Laura picked it up for 3 reds.

Laura 5

Katy 4

Martin 4

Finally, we finish Cryo when Ian cuts his turn short by returning the only drone he’d used, thus triggering the end of the game with Sam and I still with unfinished plans in progress.

Ian 36

Andrew 28

Sam 28

We’d finished at the same time as the second Biblios so, after Laura left, we played Ten. This is basically a simple push-your-luck game with a few slightly confusing rules regarding money and the circulation thereof. Halfway through, Martin was still unsure we were doing it right while Katy said she liked how it worked. Honestly, will those two ever agree?

Sam 20

Ian 16

Martin 16

Katy 16

Andrew 13

Then I left, but the night was far from over. According to the late night text from Sam they played Spicy.

Sam 21

Ian and Katy 18

Martin 1

Then Ian must have left, unless he was just happy to watch them play Whale Riders the card game.

Sam 78

Martin 70

Katy 48

And then again…

Katy 50

Martin 49

Sam 40

Finally with a win under her belt, Katy left and then Martin ended the evening by beating Sam 21-12 in Letter Press.

Thanks all. Do it again soon please.

Trent Derbys

I always feel one games weekend is never enough, so less than two weeks after the Crickhowell Marathon, I left Bristol bound for another three days of non-screen fun; this time with Chris, Paul J (hereafter referred to as PJ) Paul H, and Stuart. Like a Chauffer of Fun, Chris materialised at my door early (ish) Friday morning to spirit me away to darkest Dorset... we looked so excited Sally insisted on taking a photo. At least I think that's why she took it. There was some giggling on her part. 

First stop was Chris' house, where we were joined by Paul and Stuart. Everyone had the day off and, although check-in wasn't until 4pm, we saw no reason not to begin the fun sooner. After a brief catch-up the first box to spring its lid open was Kingdom Builder.

I was pretty rusty on the rules, but - even though I always misunderstand at least one scoring criteria - they're pretty simple. Play a card, place three settlements. Play any extra abilities to move settlements. Over the course of the game the bucolic landscape turns into a nightmarish housing estate, with everything but mountains and water crushed underfoot. Fun!

Chris 57 / Paul 50 / Sam 46 / Stuart 41

While Chris' cat, Chester, embodied a different type of relaxation...

...we moved on to NMBR9, the Take It Easy-esque game of geometric architecture and swearing. Paul won this one with an impressive 92, followed by myself (87), Stuart (71) and Chris (70).

Now getting warmed up, we broke out something a little more spicy, the Darwinesque Hey That's My Fish, or as Chris inadvertently christened it, Hey That's My Fish You Arsehole. It always strikes me how incredibly brutal this game can be for something that seems squarely aimed at the family market. 

More by luck than judgement, I took the laurels here, followed closely by Paul with Stuart and Chris not far behind. We then swerved from confrontational to utterly abstract as Chris presented us with Ganz Schon Clever, Wolfgang Warsch's game of bonus-balls gone wild. I've played the sequel about 30-odd times over the last year, and there was something nostalgic about revisiting the original.  

Then it was time to go! We snaffled down some lunches (thanks Chris) and hit the road, bound for the small village of Trent, just outside Sherborne. 

Thanks Google

The cottage was a rather delightful centuries-young affair, with a fireplace so huge someone could have slept in it. Fortunately this wasn't necessary though, and the living room saw very little action. The kitchen was an enormous L-shape with one aspect of it, if you'll forgive the estate agent lingo, featuring the perfect games table: long, wide and chunky, with an unintrusive grey finish. After gathering PJ from the station and stocking up on supplies, we celebrated this furniture triumph by playing 7 Wonders on it. 

My Halikarnassus was looking good for raising buildings free of charge, but as so often in 7 Wonders, dreams of triumph proved short-lived. Chris' military might and guilds of amazement got him a 65/62/55/51/41 win, with Paul threateningly second: Paul's winning of the games, or threatening to, was a feature of the weekend, with both Chris and Stuart assuring us that Paul would win. On the other hand, the penalty for saying a game was 'clever' was suffered most by Paul, so we take our minor victories and lick our wounds... 

Next up was PJ's choice of Downforce, which saw regular online play during our Covid year, but was new to Paul and Stuart. I made the habitual mistake of betting on myself in the first instance and then throwing good money after bad by attempting to rescue my driver's inevitable struggles alongside the other tail-ender, Chris. Meanwhile a battle royale was being fought ahead of us, with PJ at one stage so far ahead of the others he stopped moving his car and was surprised to suddenly find himself second. The only player with two cars was Stuart - it worked out for him:

Stuart 19 / Paul 17 / PJ 14 / Chris 10 / Sam 9

With the evening upon us, Paul seconded to the kitchen and began rustling up a chilli. The four still at the table played Kabuto Sumo.

Chris and I faced off in our insect wrestling match with PJ and Stuart, not bothering with any special powers. For a while it looked like Chris and I were on the verge of a win, as we pushed Paul and Stuart in turn to the edge of the arena. But our lack of forward planning left egg on our faces as we ended up with no pieces to push, and lost by submission. We consoled ourselves with the chilli, which also fired us up for the meat of the evening: Spheres of Influence.

If you were ever pining for your younger days playing Risk but didn't want to experience it again because you knew in your heart of hearts it's a bit cack and never ends, Spheres is the fix for your nostalgia. It's got the map, the armies, the battles, the slings and arrows of fate. But it plays in two hours instead of two days and is just ten times the game Risk is. 

Players fight over (and win by) controlling the titular spheres of influence, meaning they occupy all the of that region. Certain territories (areas of interest) get you tactical cards to play in battle, others (oil production) get you additional turns in each round and each area has a number value: the higher the number, the more troops you get to add at the start of each of the five rounds. I went troop-heavy and boasted an impressive presences early on, only to find my nose rubbed in it repeatedly whenever I engaged in battle in more tactically-endowed opponents. Stuart started in north America and headed to Europe, Chris occupied the Middle East, Paul snaked around the Phillipines and PJ started in Australia but began crossing oceans early to expand. 

Spheres of Influence has a wonderful turn-order system that imbues each round with tension: turns are cards: you always get two but can add more by controlling oil territories. All turn cards are shuffled and revealed one at a time, so nobody knows whose turn it will be until it arrives. My seeming-dominance of the Eastern hemisphere began to crumble mid-game as attempts at expansion imploded, and what's more Chris and Stuart fought back. PJ's conquest of South America looked an open and shut case early on but he found both Paul and Chris on his case. And we should really have got in Chris' face more in Africa, where he swanned around taking control like some kind of Victorian expeditionist with small man syndrome. Despite belated efforts to get in his face, Chris was spherical king:

Chris: 4 spheres, 4 cities

Stuart: 3 spheres, 3 cities

Paul: 3 spheres, 3 cities

PJ/Sam: 2 spheres, 2 cities

If that wasn't adventurous enough, we headed off to Waterdeep.

Chris, happy with his lot

To be frank, I don't remember a huge amount about this game, coming as it did hot on the heels of such an epic. My big-chinned lord rewarded me for every quest I completed, so I just set about completing as many smaller quests as I could, only occasionally barking disdain when one I had my eye on was snaffled by someone else. It was a breezy hour and a bit of saddling up the mythical mounts and placating various statues et cetera, that Stuart and I almost both won. As it happened, the almost was more descriptive of Big Chin:

Stuart 99 (wins on tie-breaker)

Sam 99

Chris 96

PJ 95

Paul 83

Paul's last place was something of a surprise, but he was about to have his revenge, in Perudo!

I didn't take a photo of Perudo, but here's the enormous stereo Chris brought with him

This is even fuzzier than Waterdeep, as we'd been gaming for hours and consuming reasonably-restrained amounts of alcohol for the final furlong. But Paul beat me off to claim the win after many shenanigans: Paul / Sam / Chris / PJ / Stuart. 

I then retired to my chambers - literally, a different building out the back - whilst they played Skull. Paul Jefferies won. 

*                    *                    *

The night was bonkers, as the wind rattled every part of the outbuilding and, seemingly inspired, the boiler made various Heath-Robinson type noises which occasionally reached almost heroic levels of clanking, swishing and clicking. I eventually staggered back into the house at the rather belated time of 10.40am, only to find that what I'd thought was a storm of outside-chamber proportions had been doing the same to the house - everyone had been up half the night. We took our time getting going, with the gentle tetrominoes of Silver and Gold first to appear, as Stuart (110pts) Paul (107) and PJ (98) began cranking up the gamesometer.

note the coffee

Chris and PJ then headed off to Sherborne on a mission of mercy (supplies) whilst Stuart, Paul and I tried out TEN, the game of collecting runs of numbers in suits but also currency and pushing your luck but also auctions. It's quite the confection for a short set-builder, but we all rather enjoyed it. 

Stuart rinsed us, managing to finagle an entire run (1 through 9) to nab ten bonus points: 

Stuart 31 / Sam 23 / Paul 19

Paul may have done better if I'd not discovered an extra rule halfway through the game. I know it's tedious of me but it is my calling card! We followed that with (Extreme) Biblios, where I nabbed a win on a tie-breaker (Sam and Paul 7, Stuart 4)

Then I looked at the map, pondering the wisdom of a walk.

But with all of us in various states of fatigue, it never quite manifested. Instead we regrouped as a five and played Las Vegas!

Stuart won this one, with Chris and I following and PJ and Paul's luck abandoning them to fourth and fifth. We broke for a lunch of stuff - bread, cheese, various meats - and, refuelled, felt ready for the afternoon's endeavours. To be truthful, Saturday morning is even more blurry than Friday night, but by this time we were ready for the second Really Big Game of the weekend: Dominant Species. 

Thematically, it's similar to Evolution: animals jostle for position, only now across a map rather than a watering hole. Species develop in abundance, and also adaptability. Animals mess with each other on the map, eating up a food source or - less thematically - pushing glaciers in a certain direction. There are no less than 13 phases to each round and by the time Chris explained the thirteenth I'd forgotten numbers 3-7. It was bonkers, and complicated, and long, and crazy. 

It was also dastardly, and sneaky, and all manner of good feisty stuff I like. Critical are the cards - you can only play one (usually) each round, but they're not so much fringe benefits as molotov cocktails (or worse) causing all manner of shenanigans across the board. 

Four hours after we embarked on the odeyssey, it came to an epic conclusion with Paul sailing to a comfortable lead but Chris racing past me to claim second: 

Paul 138

Chris 116

Sam 108

Stuart 92

Paul 80

What a beast! After that we needed something silly, and Chris kicked things off by saying that my fart sounded like someone "standing on a malteser". I wasn't sure I agreed, but was too impressed to contest it. Stuart went off to cook a luscious curry and we played Kakerlaken Poker.

Chris lost that, then we ate curry and prepared for our next Fairly Big Game in Magnate. 

I wish I could tell a different tale to this one: how my canny strategising, tactical chicanery and clever brinkmanship pushed me to a fantastic last-second victory just before the crash. But my crap strategising, tactical buffonery and decidedly-unclever brinking meant I held off as everyone sold, and the two of the next three Risk card - game-end triggers - caused the stock to plummet. Curses!

Paul £42.5M

Stuart £37.7M

PJ £28.3M

Chris £24.9M

Sam £23.1M

Woulda, coulda, shoulda...

My ineptitude then spread across all of us as we attempted Just One and royally screwed the pooch, ending up with a derisory score of five!!

Now in the mood for some more silly stuff, we cracked into competitive Wavelength, with Chris and PJ taking on the rest of us. Chris' appalled disdain whenever PJ thought differently to him was a sight to behold.

They lost, 10-3, to the trio. But we enjoyed it so much we played again, this time co-operatively, and triumphed on the final card!

The night ended on a classic: 6Nimmt. This was a shitshow for most of us, but Paul emerged with head held reasonably high, and PJ took the plaudits: PJ 29 / Paul 37 / Stuart 60 / Sam 65 / Chris 92. Ninety-two!! That's one deathly death spiral.

*                    *                    *

After an oft-drizzly Saturday, Sunday dawned bright and true. 

It was a great day for a walk, but although we all managed one, we didn't manage it together, trundling off in ones and twos to explore the locale and witness preparations at the village hall for some kind of tombola event/goat sacrifice. We did, however, cram in a few more games. There was Love Letter...

Which Chris both won and lost, playing tag-team with me (losing) and Stuart (winning). Paul and PJ also lost, but more sensibly, numerically-speaking. Then four of us (sans PJ) played Mission Red Planet, which I last encountered about eight or nine years ago, I think? Anyway it's a race to Mars, with steampunk astronauts boarding ships, launching them, occasionally sabotaging them and jostling for position on the planet (and it's moon) when they arrive. 

Chris was best steampunk astronaut, with Stuart and I following behind and Paul - ruthlessly targeted by the rest of us - bringing up the rear. PJ then schooled Chris in the art of Kingdomino...

And they played High Society whilst I took my turn to go out for a stroll around Trent...

Before returning to find Chris had won High Society, with Paul going bust and Stuart having to calculate zero times two. We played again as a quintet, and I went bust this time. Paul triumphed, and Chris found himself with the same sums as Stuart previously. 

Then it was time for the Final Big Game of the weekend, with PJ suggesting Railways of the World. It was new to Stuart and Paul, but the rules aren't overwhelming and before long we were laying track and getting ourselves into debt like we'd done it all our lives. 

Even though it's a top ten game, I'd forgotten exactly how much I enjoy Railways: so simple, and yet so compelling, occasionally excruciating, in the paths it forces you to wander down. Chris bid high and took a demon first turn, careening up the score track. But PJ was getting in his way down south whilst Stuart and I contested the north-east. 

I built a hotel in New York and struck west. Stuart completed the New York to Kansas route. Paul and PJ simply kept delivering cubes; down south and in the Indiana-Illinois area. Chris built the Western Link and immediately regretted it. Mid-game I surged ahead, and managed to keep myself there as Stuart, then Paul, pursued me to the death:

Sam 71

Paul 67

Stuart 60

Chris 53

PJ 49

Whew! That was another beast, so we had a pallet-cleanser in Heckmeck where Paul utterly destroyed us - except for Chris, who had gone off to cook risotto. 

With risotto imminent, I introduced the others to the delights of Texas Showdown. I'm not sure Stuart found it as delightful as me: with a fistful of high cards he was doomed from the start. There was no time to continue though, as dinner arrived... and after that, Paul and Stuart had to go!!

What an awesome weekend! 

But three of us still had a few hours of Sunday left. We filled them - first with the rocket rescuing of Cryo...

...won narrowly by Chris. Then the Lisbon-based tram-shunting of Lisbon Tram 28...

...won narrowly by Paul. Then, to finish, a games night classic: Take it Easy. 

Chris called Rush songs, I did Al Pacino movies (I switched to D eNiro after a particularly crummy tile) and PJ did Sean Connery movies. There were many bad Pacino, De Niro and Connery impersonations, mostly by me, but I did at least win the game. Other things that happened before we left: more boiler madness at 3am, people dreaming of games and Aga toast in the morning.

And that was that. A marvellous compendium of good games, good food, good times. If we came home a little exhausted from our alleged break, it was well worth it. Thank you chaps!