Wales Riders

Friday

The long-awaited Novocon was finally here, and if we'd lost one or two along the way there were still nine of us headed to Crickhowell on a autumnal Friday afternoon. The early drama was Katy waiting on a PCR test result, which inevitably seemed to never arrive. Joe, Martin and I (Sam) took our time getting going in the hope she'd get the go-ahead, but two hours later Jon and Adam were already at the cottage and Katy was still waiting. 

Meanwhile Joe, Martin and I ambled around the nearby Waitrose and spent reasonable amounts of money on crisps and cheese. We joined them at the house shortly afterwards and pottered around for a bit debating sleeping arrangements and such before we realised... games! We'd brought about a hundred so surely there was something we could play. And the opening of the weekend's playful marathon was Cross Clues, which Jon hadn't played before, but one can pick up by merely watching. It was a spectacular effort - our first absolutely perfect score:

Quite a dashing way to commence. We then continued the great GNN debating tradition by spending the next ten minutes working out what to play, with a number of titles suggested and very nearly played before we settled on Ticket to Ride: Team Asia. Martin and I took on Adam and Jon whilst Joe and Ian teamed up. It's basically Ticket to Ride except in teams, with some shared information/objectives (tickets) and shared resources (cards: you have your own hand as well as a shared hand that either player can utilise).

 Martin and I looked at our shared routes and then each other in horror, as we'd basically given ourselves the task of reaching all four corners of the board. Jon and Adam took very different approaches, with Adam's classic hoarding countered by Jon's yearning to build. Only Joe and Ian seemed to click gently into place, never exclaiming in surprise at each other as we were doing at the other end of the table. 

Joe even began picking up more tickets remarkably early, causing consternation everywhere else (except Ian, who was consternationingly sanguine about it) and late game there was more gambling as others looked to maximise the returns from already-built networks. Jon and Adam claimed the longest route, but even without the most tickets bonus, Joe and Ian would have had enough to win convincingly. 

Joe and Ian: 185 / Jon and Adam 132 / Martin and Sam 128

Adam and Jon celebrated by pottering around the kitchen, and playing Polytopia on their phones. So the rest of us put our brains and nerves to the test playing Montage, of the underserved crossword-clueing area-control gaming genre. We were still in out TtR teams, with Joe and Ian taking on Martin and I: on your turn you 'clue' a part of the board according to certain letters there, and hope your team-mate knocks (indicating they think they've solved it) before both the opponents' do. I think it's fair to say Ian and I were the weak link in each team, but we played our part in the drama. 

It's fun, but you do spend a lot of time being marginally stressed. As you can see, even overhearing the game was having it's effect on Jon, while he wasn't playing:

After the craziness of Montage (which Martin and I won) there was another team game, the aptly-monikered Team Play. We stuck with the same teams as TtR, and as with Ticket to Ride. Jon was explained the rules and away we went, drawing, passing and completing sets for points. I confess I find the seemingly broad appeal of Team Play tends to pass by me, but it was certainly fun to be sat in Wales playing games. 

Adam and Jon 28

Joe and Ian 27

Martin and Sam 24

Then we ate tea! Adam's pottering had evolved into a delicious lasagne, with garlic bread. I was so distracted by the layers of cheese and what Adam called 'splodge' I took no photos. Delicious. After which a game of Las Vegas sprang up on one table:

Whilst on the other, we blasted through no less than two games: Point Salad...

Which Steve won, after I forced Jon to pick up some lettuce: Steve 56 / Sam 54 / Jon 53 / Louie 40, and Jon had some watery revenge in Cartegena when I paved a path for his pirates to board the boat first...

And Steve was left stranded on the island as his own son abandoned him: Jon / Sam / Louie / Steve. Las Vegas ended around now too, with Katy victorious: Katy $320k / Joe $300k / Adam $270k / Martin $250k / Ian $220k.

Louie was packed off to bed despite mild protestations, and there was a quick splitting into groups with Dune Imperium at one end of the table, and Lords of Vegas at the other despite mild protestations from me - in fact, I even set it up. While Dune sat waiting patiently for players, Lords of Vegas sprang into life quickly, particularly so for Martin. His early casino kept dinging like a cash register as we watched him race off into an early lead. 

Ian and Katy sped after him whilst I watched from the start line with the air of a man who put all his money on black and got punched in the face by the croupier. All of us came back into it, but my threatening to be relevant was fairly brief: whenever I wrestled control of the big casinos off Ian and Martin, the colours never came up. Meanwhile Martin built a silver casino that imitated his early golden one, repeatedly coming up and showering him with cash (and points). Steve reappeared, and Joe began explaining Dune. 

As we approached a climatic finale, Dune started.

I'm not sure what transpired, but having played before I do know that Joe, Jon, Steve and Adam were mildly asymmetric factions placing workers to both further their causes politically and also have a punch-up at the end of each round. Then Lords of Vegas finished!

Martin 40 / Ian 29 (second on tie-breaker) / Katy 29 / Sam 20

We started playing Senators.

It was Ian's turn to take the role of forlorn spectator, as some early bids made him cash-poor at the worst time. I got off to a good start and then events favoured me - although Katy caught me up, a now slightly drunken quartet bashed through the game in about half an hour and finished Sam 14 / Katy 10 / Martin 9 / Ian 3. We also bashed through about half a game of oil-spill-themed trick-taker Salvage, too, where Ian exacted revenge for his Senators experience:

Ian 19 / Katy 16 / Martin 12 / Sam 10

Dune finished, although the comments will have to illuminate us as to what happened. I did hear Joe saying Oh no fucking hell though.

Jon 11 / Joe 10 / Martin 9 / Ian 3

It was gone midnight and I was well ready for bed, although I heard the crazy cavortations of Midnight Party playing out above me. Ian won, and it was a shabbily-hosted party for Joe and Martin: 

Ian 9 / Jon 13 / Katy 16 / Steve 20 / Joe 37 / Martin 39

*        *        *        *

Saturday

Almost everyone got up super-early to complain about how terribly they slept, except Steve, who slept worst of all. Whilst Joe went off for a run with the hour not even yet 8am, Louie, Martin, Ian and I played the Whale Riders card game. Louie won, and we played again. Louie won again. Katy was fleetingly seen before she went for a walk, so we  - apart from Louie - did the same.

We saw some interesting headstones.

And inspired  by the air and scenery, Martin agitated for a trek up table mountain. Ian happily agreed. After returning to the house, Jon and Katy decided to join them and they disappeared into Wales. Steve appeared, and rustled Louie off for some air whilst Joe, Adam and I cracked into Magnate, the game of being complete money-obsessed dicks at everyone else's expense. We bought and built and rented and, eventually, sold. Just in time, as the market collapsed.

I picked up a win: Sam $35.1m / Adam $31.6M / Joe $29.4M. Adam said he made mistakes, but liked it. Joe was less enthused, but broadly there was a positive reflection, with Adam and I hoping to play again later. But meantime as we wrapped up the walkers entered, having reached the mountain top as we neared the end of our game...

And returned in time to taunt us with egg sandwiches. After these refreshing elevenses, some people went out for yet another walk. I couldn't keep up, but got a bit of a workout playing table tennis with Martin. Upstairs Steve gathered Adam and Ian together for a game of surviving shark (and whale) infested waters in Survive. 

Ian was the least bitten: Ian 20 / Steve 16 / Adam 15

At the other table, we were playing Hurly Burly. Louie - with much encouragement from Martin - was more interested in knocking towers down than building them, and that may have played a part in the winners being Martin, Joe and I over the three games. I think he enjoyed himself the most though.

Then - the memories get hazy - I had a little break while Mamma Mia got played. Martin thrashed the others (except Jon) Martin 6 / Jon 5 / Katy and Ian 1 each. They only played two rounds though, so Katy suggested it not count. Then lunch arrived. Steve's spectacular soup was abetted by flavourful bread and cheese and what people were calling 'horse butter' - the reason for which escaped me. The butter was delicious so I wasn't sure I wanted to know where it came from. 

After lunch we split into three groups. Whilst Joe and Martin explored the idiosyncrasies of Faiyum, Jon Adam and Katy played Yokohama. With the space of a heavy-ish euro stretching before us, Ian, Steve and I played four games: two Whale Riders, followed by two Quantum. I snaffled both Whale Riding victories - one racing, one dawdling - and the first Quantum, which was astonishingly Steve's debut game. Ian not so much won the second as scrunched us underfoot.

Yokohama went Katy's way: Katy 115 / Jon 104 / Adam 98 while Martin took the laurels in Faiyum, putting his victory down to 'busting out two palaces'.  All this fun had taken a big chunk of the afternoon, so Joe began making our dinner. Jon taught Ian Cubitos, and beat him in a photo finish...

While Steve and Louie embarked on an absolutely epic battle in Flickfleet, with me doubling as rules referee and second-in-command to Louie as he sought to destroy his dad. Although I wasn't officially playing, and the game was officially abandoned after an hour, this was something of a weekend highlight for me. It's like a playbox. I didn't take photos during our battle, but Louie kept playing by himself afterwards for some time...

Before we eventually had to eject FlickFleet (and pause So Clover, which was starting to get weird after Katy linked Milk and Sense with 'hulk') in favour of Joe's pasta and chickpea medley. Again, the food was so delicious that I forgot to take pictures, but here's me and Steve looking like amateur spies on their first undercover mission. Somewhere around here Cross Clues got played again as well, with a fairly decent score of 22. 

After tea there was more games! Martin, Joe and Ian played Joe's bespoke Ra set whilst the rest of us (bar Louie) played an utterly bananas game of Evolution Climate, where Katy evoked the most confused carnivore ever thanks to being hopped up on cookies. It seemed like she was caught in some real-world nightmare, but she insisted she was having fun and she wished we were too. "Well, stop eating us then!" cried Jon. 

I played a fairly cowardly game, hiding in burrows and borrowing food from the ants. Adam insisted I was winning to the point even I thought I was, but I wasn't:

Steve 68 / Jon 65 / Sam 62 / Adam 54 / Katy 48

At the other end of the table, Martin had triumphed in Ra (60) with Joe second (55) and Ian third (44) and they'd also played Great Wall of China, of which I know nothing other than the scores:

Martin 37 / Joe and Ian 55 each

Now Katy insisted we all play Midnight Party and then she would go to bed. It was only 10.30 though so Adam changed the clock and away we went. 

Not sure about anyone else but I was pretty tired, and recall is fuzzy. I do remember Joe's hopelessly optimistic tactics proving ill-founded, and me being incredibly spawny. Five times I simply stepped directly into a room, and the other turns I walked once and hid in a cupboard on my next turn. 

Sam -2 / Steve -16 / Martin -21 / Jon -22 / Katy -25 / Ian -29 / Adam -31 / Joe -36

Hugo was as boisterously hungry as ever, and we were all so energised by the experience that we immediately followed it with 6Nimmt, which saw Joe not only invent his own catchphrase (Holy Macmoly schmoly poly) but decided it would be his murdering catchphrase, giving the police a kind of homicide/game-show vibe to the investigation. Joe was a bit drunk at this point.

Not that he was alone. It was a faintly chaotic experience, with some people getting the giggles and others shuffling their minus point cards into their hands. Our inelegant bonhomie was too much for Jon, who asked "Do people actually enjoy this game?" although credit to him, he stuck it out until the end.

Sam 24

Jon and Katy 35

Steve and Joe 47

Martin 54

Ian 61

Adam 67

I staggered off to bed while they played Push It. Martin and Katy lost to Joe and Ian 10-7.

Sunday

Another morning of early rising for most, and almost all were up by the time we headed out for a walk. Adam and Jon stayed behind, but shockingly didn't play any games - mainly because Adam was asleep. Meanwhile we were gawking at the beautiful landscape, and the local signage.

A man watched me take it, and then made a noise (and a face) that suggested he would be happy to shoot me too. Despite my imminent doom though, we saw some lovely sights on the walk.

Including this redwood. It was nice to be out of the city and in the fresh air, although I was conscious it could all end abruptly any second. But an hour walking felt plenty, because there were still numerous games to be played!

We kicked things off with Faiyum (myself, Joe and Martin) Beyond the Sun (Jon, Adam and Ian) and FlickFleet (Steve versus Louie with Katy overseeing things). Louie had apparently set up an enormous never-ending battle, that ended all the same when Steve called time on it.

Martin was triumphant in Faiyum, a game I'd find hard to describe, even though I enjoyed it. Jon won Beyond the Sun, with Adam and Ian following. We re-split into two groups - Adam and Steve plumped for Evolutions Climate again before they had to leave, and I joined them. At the other end of the table, an epic Modern Art played out in the same time. 

Jon won Modern Art with $350k, Ian and Joe joint second then Martin and Katy bringing up the rear. In Evolution, it wasn't quite as feisty as the night before - we all played with a lot of caution, growing horns and frills and burrowing or hiding to keep predators at bay. Only when Adam and I realised Steve was harvesting shitloads of food each round did we belatedly kick into gear, both going carnivorous. But whereas I went after the leader, Adam attacked me instead, reasoning not unreasonably that he was closer to second. By the time we finished, he was right:

Steve 72 / Adam 71 / sam 67

Although I'd like to stridently note they were playing the migration rule wrong, which swing a few points in both their favour! To be fair though, it was Adam who noticed it. There was time for a quick blast through Marrakesh (won by Katy) before Steve Adam and Louie left for Bristol... and shortly after that, Andrew arrived!

- - - - - - - 

I had indeed arrived. Even though there was a convenient parking space right outside, I hadn’t twigged that some people had already gone until I walked upstairs and found Martin, Sam, Ian, Jon and Joe around a table. Where was everybody? Katy had gone for a nap and Steve, Adam and Louie had already gone. I probably passed them on my way here. I say "probably" because Steve had got directions here accidentally leaving the "avoid motorways" setting on and had gone via Gloucester. I hope he didn't go the same way back.

Jon, Ian and Joe were playing Kribbeln In Space, which is identical to regular Kribbeln but using Joe’s space-themed play mat. Meanwhile I got my feet under the table with my first game: Maskmen, against Martin and Sam. I was in first until the last round when all I needed to do was avoid last place to win. At least it was close.

Martin 3

Andrew 3

Sam 2

Then a couple of games of So Clover were played. Joe, Jon and Ian began the first and then all six of us played. We actually managed to get a perfect score. Hats off to Sam for cluing “bread” and “airport” with Sandwich. And well done to Jon who pointed out that the only bread in an airport would be a sandwich.

Then Katy woke without looking very well rested I was introduced to a novel called Work, Sex and Rugby (“Read it - it will keep you entertained” said Wales on Sunday) and Sam spent about ten minutes unpacking and repacking Flick Fleet.

Six of us played Cash and Guns while Jon prepared food. A quick game of targeting other people for greed and personal gain. I was convinced that Joe was winning due to the pile of cards he had in front of him, so I usually pointed my gun at him. Joe usually went for Martin, and even if he didn’t, in the post-hold-up discussion, Joe found that his gun would slowly veer from whoever he was pointing at towards Martin. He clearly couldn’t stop himself. But it was Ian, in the corner and sitting on the ground, that snuck by without anyone noticing.

Ian 175,000

Sam 115,000

Martin 109,000

Andrew 102,000

Katy 92,000

Joe 70,000

Turns out Joe hadn’t been in the lead at all.

Then we played Stinker. This game was a regular favourite until the lockdown made sharing plastic word tiles (or, indeed, a room) untenable. It was great to play it again. The point system remains unnecessary, although I’m obliged to point out that Katy won. Although I remain intrigued by Martin’s response to “the greatest lie”: “Red is not a word”. It could definitely be a premise for a film. Kind of like Yesterday was, only with colours instead of music.

Anyway, after that we ate some lovely food and then settled down for the evening’s main game. After some debate and cajoling, Joe overcame his strangely ill-defined reluctance to play Time Of Crisis again with Martin, Ian and me. Sam, Katy and Jon played Magnate.

In Time of Crisis I get into an early fight with some Sassanids and their leader in Galatia, but I’m singularly unsuccessful in getting rid of them. Then Ian becomes Emperor, while everyone (except Martin, I think) has barbarian issues to deal with. Joe becomes Emperor but if he did so promising to clear the Empire of those barbarians, he did a terrible job since a horde of Goths invade Galatia and even spill over into Syria, there are so many of them. At Martin’s suggestion, I move out of Galatia.

Martin becomes Emperor but then the Priest King arrives in (my) Syria. With this rival emperor on the board, Martin’s grip on Rome is too weak and Joe gets himself voted in, passes sixty points and triggers the end of the game. He’s so far ahead that we end the game there and then rather than play out the final few turns.

Joe 61

Ian 35

Martin 34

Andrew 24

Magnate, which I only paid little attention to and I heard Katy complain about Jon buying up properties in her neighborhood, ended...

Jon 25m

Katy 22.5m

Sam 21.9m

Then they played Whale Riders.

Katy 26

Sam 25

Jon 23

Now it was nearly the end. But not too late. Jon suggested Decrypto and everyone swiftly agreed. We played twice, because the first game ended swiftly in shame and ignominy and Martin, Sam and I (the Wooden Nostrils; a reference from the Stinker game earlier) crashed out after two quick miscommunications. We did better in the second game, where we actually won, beating Joe, Ian, Katy and Jon (what was the team name? Unexpected Juice Explosion?) even if one of our interceptions was a fluke. I liked Jon’s clues of “Island” which was “after the flight”.

Then we played Cross Clues twice. It was late, that’s all I can say, after I vetoed everyone else from saying E4 to Martin’s clue because I thought I’d already had E4 (but I hadn’t, I’d had E2 and B4). Apologies. But we did okay. Not well enough for me to bother writing the scores down, but okay.

The next morning was breakfast and clearing away. No other games were played and we set off at the early hour of just after eight. I took Ian home while Joe drove Sam (with pillow in the back), Katy and Martin. Since we were all going back to Bristol, we shared the same road for most of the time, waving whenever we overtook each other. A sweet way to end the weekend.

Thanks all. Let's do this next year.