The Pits of Despair

Games night was at Hannah and Adam's last night, which proved a trial for a few of us; Hannah most of all, who had the unenviable task of settling an excited Arthur whilst rowdy gamers downstairs roared with various emotions. 

We began in the garden, where Adam encouraged us to wrestle Arthur on the trampoline. Arthur looked so full of beans we all demurred, and were then distracted by the cavernous pit of despair beneath the decking, which dropped a good fifteen feet or so to a dark and gloomy fate. After riffing on the pit of despair/slough of despond/wokingham of indifference etc, we stepped indoors for more cheery and colourful fare. Whilst Hannah began the uphill battle of Getting Arthur To Sleep, Adam H, Martin, Adam T, Katy, Gareth, Joe, and myself (Sam) sat around the table and tried to play Long Shot: The Dice Game. This is an allegedly simpler, shorter version of its predecessor Long Shot, but despite my boys and I previously blasting through it in a zippy 20 minutes, we found with seven of us the pace slowed considerably. 

The basics are simple, with 8 horses racing once around the track and the game ending when three of them cross the finish line. In each turn, two dice are rolled that determine which horse moves and how far. Each horse will also trigger another horse to move ('secondary movement') a single space, and players can manipulate these secondary movements as the game progresses. Then everyone takes a single action - betting on a horse (potential winnings), buying a horse (potential prize money) ticking off a helmet (additional betting opportunities) or jersey (additional secondary movements) or one of their numbers on a grid of concessions: when a row or column is filled on the concession grid you can grab a reward of cash, free bets, horse movements; even a horse. 

For a luck-pushing racing game, there was a lot of options, and the slightly fiddly nature of how one thing affected another caused much brow-furrowing puzzlement (everyone) and appalled harrumphing (Martin) especially as I inevitably got a rule wrong that deprived him of a horse. This was pit of despair #2, the befuddled atmosphere punctured only occasionally by Joe hopefully yelling "Come on, Scattershot!" and eventually ground to a relieved halt as Adam H claimed a win:

Adam H $106

Gareth $103
Katy $87
Joe $80
Sam $54
Adam T $40

Martin wouldn't even tell me what he scored, he was so disgusted (EDIT: he scored $95!). Whilst we'd been playing, Steve had arrived and listened to the slow-motion finish, and was now busting to play. I went off to cry in the bathroom while the next games were chosen: Joe, Katy, Martin and Adam T busted out the nightmare-avoidance fun of Sheepy Time whilst Adam H set up the more wakeful Railways of the World for the rest of us in the front room. 

This was new to Gareth, but he quickly picked up the simple-ish rules and the tactical nuances of controlling what parts of the board you can, snaffling up the areas around Florida and getting in Steve's way, as Adam and I contested things further up the coast. From early on Steve was finding himself cash-short and taking bonds, and suffering on the income track as result, going in sleeper-based circles into the Pit of Despair #3 as he seemed to build track more often than he delivered anything along it.

In the other room, it was a little more boisterous as the somnabulently-themed Sheepy Time was causing unthematic uproar.

uproar not pictured

Unbeknownst to us, this was also getting Arthur excited upstairs to find out what the hoo-ha was all about, possibly plunging Hannah into Pit of Despair #4 (-she was too polite to say) but whatever they were uproaring about, it ended with Adam T victorious. I didn't make a note of the scores so I'm not sure where anyone else landed, but they next broke out Scout:

...which Adam apparently won as well. Martin came into the front room asking "Has anyone not called Adam won a game tonight?" just as Front Room Adam was wrapping up victory on Railways of the World:

Adam 71

Sam 66

Gareth 59

Steve 39

Apparently not, although Gareth did briefly tie with one of them in Long Shot until a recount. 

Steve wondered what he was doing wrong in the Railways, and we debated how he could improve. Mainly I'd suggest he doesn't play any Adams, one of whom (Taylor) now headed off home, followed by Gareth and Steve, as the remaining five of us finished the evening with So Clover. Katy said she hated it because she always got things wrong, but in fairness she was the only person to get my (excellent, in my opinion) clue for MATCH THIEF (Cheater). Martin blamed her anyway, for not speaking up. Apart from that dent in our laterally wordy armour, it was an excellent effort: 28 out of 30. After an evening of highs and lows and many miniature dramas, it was time to end another chapter in the rich and varied tapestry of GNN. Until next time...

King of Vegas

 I arrived at 8, interrupting a little game of Mhing between Adam H, Katy, Martin and Joe. Since we were just a fivesome today, Lords of Vegas with its expansion was suggested. It received general agreement, so before too long we were dazzled by the bright street lights along The Strip and also dazzled by Joe’s plan for a green-baize version of the board, complete with recessed area along The Strip to be used as a dice arena.

The game started quite amicably, with players happily swapping lots in order to concentrate their resources in a particular block. Before long, two things were apparent. It was me versus Martin in one area, Joe versus Katy in another and Adam had a corner of the board all to himself.

Purples where the early winners, much to Katy’s delight. Martin went big on brown casinos since there were fewest revealed and, when they refused to pay out, he said “Joe, you’ve done it again,” referring to the last game when browns where mostly clustered after the Game Over card in the deck. I had two casinos on The Strip but they rarely paid out, while Joe was last to score at all.

Then things got feisty. Adam sprawled and made a 5-tile casino and then Joe got a 4-tile and a 3-tile casino in one turn. Martin took over Joe’s 3-tile casino and I took over Adam’s 5-tile casino which Adam took over again but only after it paid out. Then, towards the end (which comes quickly in a five-player game) I join my casinos to Martin’s to form a 7-tile casino which I then re-roll. Amazingly, Joe’s lone die beat everything and he was suddenly sitting pretty.

The then-leader Katy with her high-rise casinos got a little nervous and, after saying earlier that she didn’t want to lose to Adam or Martin but was fine with losing to Joe, suddenly found her words coming back to haunt her. Neither Martin nor I got the chance to re-roll Joe’s (by now) 8-tiler since Martin pulled the Game Over card from the deck.

Joe 36

Katy 29

Martin 23

Adam 20

Andrew 10

That was a new record low score for me but, in my defence, I don’t feel like I had many turns at all. And if something goes wrong in a five player game then you have a hell of a wait before you can do anything about it. Still, it was fun to watch.

After winning on Lords of Vegas, Joe put on his cowboy hat in celebration.

Then we player Verflixxt. I picked up an early +6 but then got nothing but negatives, with a last-minute clover saving my blushes. Katy picked up two clovers and was never seemed like being caught.

Katy 21

Adam 16

Joe 11

Andrew -8

Martin -9

My last game of the evening was Whale Riders, not the card game. I dawdled at the back and was only just at the turning point when Martin started buying pearls at the finish line. Katy discarded three contracts, saying they were bullshit, and then somehow picked up three more she couldn’t do and spent another turn discarding them too.

Martin 22

Adam 17

Joe 16

Andrew 15

Katy 9

With that, Katy and I left. I don’t know what the remaining players played. But thanks for the evening, chaps. See you next week.

Do you know what's Swat?

 I arrived at a little before 8 and found four gamers around Sam's kitchen table: Sam, Martin, Ian and Katy. They'd just finished a game of Spicy in which Katy didn't score until the final round and Ian didn't score at all.

Sam 35

Martin 33

Katy 13

Ian 0

Then we set up Cross Clues as the ideal game to play while waiting for Joe to arrive since he could just join in once he was here. He arrived mid game and initially misread Airport as Apricot but luckily that didn't hinder his clue giving.

We didn't do very well. I'm not sure but I think we got six wrong. 

Then we played Formula Motor Racing, an old Knizia game that showed it's age in the instructions that referred to the players as "gentlemen (and ladies)". It might be a Knizia game, but there’s player elimination, even though each player has two cars so if one spins out, you can be more cautious with the other.

Martin was the first to spin out and he did so in spectacular fashion. He used the spin out card in which the active player rolls a 12D die and the car in the position indicated by the die is out of the race. If the roll isn’t favourable, the player can roll again.

Martin rolled a 1. No good for him, since he was leading at the time so he rolled again. Martin rolled another 1. How we laughed. 

Katy also crashed and took Sam out with her but she recovered from that to win the race and the game.

Katy 10

Ian 7

Sam 6

Joe 2

Andrew 1

Martin 0

The game’s instructions suggest running seventeen races to recreate an entire Grand Prix. Maybe not.

Then we split into two. Martin, Katy and Joe played Tajuto during which Joe boasted about how good he was at pulling the pink and that “I’m known for my lucky drawers.” In among this Carry On Tajuto type humour, Joe seemed to be looking good for the win until the final count which saw Martin and Joe rejoicing in their shared victory.

Joe 19

Martin 19

Katy 11

Ian, Sam and I dug out Tin Goose again. Just like our last game, I was frugal again and I even passed on a chance to buy a plane when I thought the price had got out of hand. And this happened a fair amount as the auction prices were much higher than before.

Andrew 324

Sam 303

Ian 210

The two games ended at the same time, so we finished with Swat, a sort of cross between Ra and Snap. The aim of the game is to collect scoring sets while avoiding negative cards. The cards are dealt from the top of the deck by one player while the others wait until they’re happy with what’s on offer at which point they slap the player board in the centre of the table. Often this would be accompanied by cries from the other players, annoyed at having missed out on a promising haul. Sometimes it was accompanied by the cries of the player who claimed the cards only to find a last minute -4 fly card added to the pile.

Sam once slapped so slowly that Martin was able to get his hand under Sam’s to claim the cards. Ian managed to underslap (is that a word?) Katy twice, much to her frustration. However, Katy scored 41 in the first round and no one else got close.

Katy 75

Sam 65

Martin 55

Joe 52

Ian 52

Andrew 45

Then Katy, Ian and I went home while Martin, Sam and Joe finished on Sheepy Time. According to Sam, “Martin won, Joe in second and I was miles back in third.”

Thanks for the evening, guys. See you all soon.

This Goose is Raw

Saturday night, and Tin Goose sat on the table awaiting the attentions of Andrew and Ian: the history of American's airways playing out over several decades, as players expand their networks, build their fleets and rid their reputation of the bureaucracy of Regional Management. 

Tin Goose's interesting aspect is that as Fleets become available, everyone bids on them. As the end goal is to be the richest polluting airborne industrialist, the bids both tempt and appall you: the last thing you want to be in the game is cash-poor, as someone - probably Ian - will play an Event card that costs you money you don't have. 

Over seven rounds everyone takes a single turn. This consists of playing a card, either to auction off a fleet (active player bids last) or prompt the event on it. Then you've three actions to spend: pushing up your income, expanding your network, taking Labor chips (in case of a shitty event) or serving the financially alluring (but action-heavy: it costs two actions) international destinations:

Everyone begins with five shitty cards that hamper your airline: Regional Management, Rural Stops, Hazards and so on. If you add a fleet to your airline (as opposed to upgrading an existing fleet) you get to shed one of these cards and get two new planes. But upgrading is also tempting, because improving your planes gets your hazards and oil consumption down: events won't hit you quite as badly.

The planes come with hazards and oil consumption, as well as tiny descriptions: "This fleet is prone to metal fatigue" Ian announced at the start of an auction, perhaps trying to keep prices low. "This one's a bit crashy" said Andrew. Timing of events is everything, and Ian did it well, forcing me to take a bond at the worst moment. I'd managed to establish a lot of overseas connections, but having two bonds was not good news. Ian only had one, and Andrew none at all. In the end, his shrewd frugality made the difference:

Andrew $289
Ian $283
Sam $236

I think we all liked Tin Goose. Outside of a modicum income-track management, it's an accessible set of rules and a deceptively interactive and screwy game. 

It was still early so although Andrew had an early start he suggested Raj, and we played three rounds with winner's reward. Ian won the first convincingly, as Andrew's enormous set of tiles gave him the sum total of one point:

Then I took the second and third rounds as Andrew briefly flirted with negative points!

It ended with some measure of Goosian revenge:

Sam 80
Ian 46
Andrew 12

And we moved swiftly on to the lesser-seen Tsuro, as the second part of Andrew's one-two request of short games to finish. 

It was so short  - Ian won, with me second - we even had time for a three: Dragon's Breath, where players take turns as 'Daddy Dragon' melting the top ring in a tower of ice:

As the ice melts, everyone gets to predict what colour gems will fall on this particular turn, and the player with the most gems wins. Andrew proved Best Dragon by a considerable margin:

Andrew 24

Sam 17

Ian 14

And then with his 5am alarm call looming, Andrew bade us goodnight and headed out the door. Ian and I still had a little gaming in us, though, so I introduced him to Paolo Mori's (of Ethnos fame) CAESAR! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes. Terrible pun, but an excellent game as it turns out, as Caesar and Pompey battle for control of the empire.

The board is a map, and the short-term goal is to control regions of it; the winner is the first player to get all twelve control markers on the board. Turn by turn, players lay influence tokens on the borders of regions: there's a number either side that denotes the influence you're playing into both regions. As soon as all influence markers are played to a particular region, the player with the most influence there gets to place their control marker on it, and a control marker on the border of any adjacent regions they might already control. 

There's a twist in those yellow tokens, though: the player who plays the last token to a region grabs them, even if they don't win the contest there. These are kind of manipulation-manifesting moments, as you get extra turns, extra tokens to choose from, flip an opponent's control marker face-down or - best of all - the Senate tokens let you place extra control markers. 

Ian took the first game with a convincing win: it was so fast we had a rematch, which I - as Pompey - snuck a much tighter victory in a close-fought finale. We'd packed a lot of games into three hours, so although it was only 10.15 (on a Saturday!) we called it a night. Thanks chaps!

Eine Brücke zu weit

Thursday night, and Katy, Joe, Martin and myself (Sam) reconvened at my house again to revisit the bonkers German trick-taker that is Doppekopf. A reminder: there's two of every card from 9-Ace (no 2-8 cards at all) Diamonds are all trumps, but so are the Queens and Jacks, and the Tens of Hearts. Unless something changes the trump suit, trumps is all they are: you completely ignore any other symbol but the number. 10's are higher than kings, and each round - unless it's a solo - is played in temporary partnerships, with the two players holding the club Queens forming the Re team and the others the Kontra. 

One of multiple catches is that although you know which team you are, you don't know for sure who your partner is until that second Queen comes out. Meantime different cards are worth points, and the partnership with the most points wins the round (unless it's a solo). There's a point per round, plus a point for the Kontras if they win, plus two points for calling a win, plus points for mad things like winning a fox (Ace of Diamonds) winning a 'Charlie Miller' (taking a Jack of Clubs with the last hand) or even  doing a doppelkopf: winning a hand entirely made up of the big-scoring tens and aces. 

Even though it was our second session, we all needed a refresher from Martin and Katy insisted she was confused throughout the evening. As well as the weird order (rogue tens) and chaotic trumps (diamonds + others), players can also - in fact, must also, at least once - attempt to solo a round and win it by themselves. When you do this - hopefully because you have a good hand - you can either use the standard rules or change the trump: to a different (standard deck) suit, or make all the queens trump, or all jacks trump, or call no trumps at all. Solos are hard to win, but that didn't stop Katy trying one on the very first round. She failed. I did the same on the second - I had a lot of high trumps - and failed as well. At this point, we were both on minus points whilst Joe and Martin had three points each. That was as good as it ever got for Joe. 

After a duff start, things improved considerably for me. I managed to align myself with Martin and Katy when they had good hands, and Joe and and I even briefly flickered into life as a round-winning partnership, despite Joe's almost relentless parade of weak cards. Katy called Re and I, with a strong Kontra hand, immediately called Kontra off the back of it; Joe and I hauled in six points each. 

Then things began to fall apart for me. Katy was Re and I (secretly) Kontra, but Martin's early card-laying made me think he was Kontra too - I gifted him several high-scoring cards before his dastardly Re identity was revealed - I'd stiffed myself, and Joe too. From my leading two rounds earlier, Martin had now pulled level... and subsequently inched significantly ahead. Joe's solo ended badly, and now only Martin had a solo to play and two rounds to do it in. He called solo on the 15th round, made Queens trumps and beat us all by a single point! Disaster!!

Joe was now back in the points dungeon on -35. Martin set for victory at 19, with Katy on 7 and me 9. Triumph was still possible, as a five point win for me would also knock five off Martin, but it would have to be a big win. Katy and I partnered and we took the round, but for a meagre points haul, and it ended after 2 and half hours, Sally's apple pie and some concrete-hard ice cream, with Martin a deserved victor:

Martin 17
Sam 11
Katy 9
Joe -37

Joe had been shafted by fate all night and was understandably less enthused than the rest of us, pronouncing Bridge - of which he has some crazy all-night session looming - far less complicated and more accessible. He promised to teach us all soon. I was more forgiving of it, although there's certainly a tangible crestfallenness to receiving a hand of cards with clusters of points in it but very few trick-winners. But I like how nuts it is, and the tension of the partnerships: there's some deduction involved (which I wasn't very good at) when you know you're not with X person, for instance, but you don't know which of the other players are on your team. The earlier this information is given, the easier the round is to play for you, but you're also making it easier for the opposition. It's a funny one.

Old dragon drawers

I arrived at about 8.15, I think, and found five players: Joe, Laura, Sam, Mel and Martin trying out a new Oink game, Scout. But as I entered, they put it away and got out something more substantial for six: Auf Teufel Komm Raus. This game of luck pushing and devil dodging involves betting on how many points someone will be able to pull out of a furnace without taking a devil tile by mistake.

It is as cruel as luck can be. If round one was generous, then round three was devious, leaving Martin with just 20 points. Mel lead for most of the game, despite pulling mostly only devils. In round six, Laura was in joint last and needed to do something spectacular. She managed to fulfill her bet but did so by pulling 8 tiles, slowly edging towards her target. "It's like crawling a marathon," she exclaimed when it was all over. Then Joe scored 225 with only three tiles. I know it was random but it seemed like he was making a point.

In the final round, Joe bet low, only needing 100 to finish the game. Martin needed to reach his bet and he pulled one low tile after another, just as Laura had, only somehow worse. After 10 tiles he still hasn't reached his target so he pulled another tile. A devil. So cruel. 

Joe 1600

Mel 1480

Sam 1440

Andrew 1410

Laura 480

Martin 430

Next up was Ethnos, another six player game. This game was as quiet as Teufel was rowdy, but that was mostly due to the spicy peanuts that Joe offered. Instead, Sybil the dog kept us, shall we say, entertained with a constant stream of disapproving noises.

Round one ended in the most sudden way possible - all three dragons came out one after the other. Sam insisted he shuffled them properly after putting them in the deck separately.

At the end of round two the scores were Sam 39, Martin 36, Mel 31, Andrew 28, Joe 27, Laura 22.

I mention this because Laura suddenly embarked upon a rousing comeback that almost got her the win. She got a band of four trolls which meant she won any ties for area control. And there were a lot. She sped past almost everyone and came to a rest just short of triumph. Amazing scenes.

Sam 79

Laura 78

Martin 61

Mel 53

Andrew 46

Joe 37

This game also gave us the blog title as Joe referred to people who drew dragon cards as "dragon drawers" which we thought sounded like a nickname for someone. A mother in law from the 1970s, perhaps.

Then Laura and Mel left and we ended with So Clover. Dreams of another perfect score were shot down early as Martin's clue of "boom" seemed to fit equally well with "gas", "war", and "bang." It took us two attempts for us to get it right.

Another notable clue was "sweater" for "wool/oasis" It was Joe's clue and we thought was a lovely poetic name for a sweater: a wool oasis. The guess was right but Joe explained that sweater linked to oasis in that it was somewhere that you would sweat. 

Score 22 out of 24.

Then I left and the remaining three played Letter Press. A late night text told me the score…

Martin 24

Sam 22

Joe 16

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday.

A Noise for Trouble

Nemesis was back on the table last night, as Adam, Laura Ian and I attempted to survive the six million ways to die on this cursed ship: wounds, contagion, fire, hull disintegration, slime, inertia, blind panic. I talked us through most of the rules before we dove in, gravelly-voiced and foul-mouthed, except for Laura who let the side down a little by saying Oh Poops when things went wrong. 

Games generally attempt some kind of USP and Nemesis' is that it's trying to kill you. Despite being lost, afraid and confused, players are unable to stop making noise as they traverse the ship, like a bunch of weaponized toddlers cartwheeling through a deadly library. You'd think being slimed might provide some kind of sound-cancelling lubrication, but no, you're now even even noisier. And noise is bad, because too much of it means the Intruders come out, so-named just possibly to avoid intellectual property issues with a certain movie. I was the scientist, Ian the captain, Laura the scout and Adam the pilot. We combined co-operation - working together can be very helpful, especially keeping the noise down - with independence, as everyone had secret, distinct goals. As with Thursday's game though (see prev post) we filtered out the nastier ones (eliminate player X etc) so the introductory game wasn't at 100% harshness: there's quite enough bad stuff without it. 

The captain was first to encounter an intruder, in the aptly-named Emergency Room. But it was the pilot who dealt with it, as Adam began, despite my advice to run, a campaign of killing, successfully wiping out no less than two (or was it three?) intruders, and happily reminding us of his success at every opportunity, with thinly-veiled digs at our comparative cowardice/ineptitude. 

My secret objective involved finding the nest, grabbing an egg, lugging it to the lab and analysing it, all of which meant I would win (although more than one player can win) if the ship didn't explode (engines) implode (fire/malfunctions) or go to Mars. Adam had check the co-ordinates and assured us it was headed for Earth, but could we trust him? There is a secret objective that asks you to steer the ship to the red planet... We decided we could, as he was happy to hibernate (on the ship) rather than evacuate (in an escape pod). Meanwhile more Intruders were popping up, the ship was littered with noise and we only belatedly, thanks to Ian, located the lab. Ian and I set off for it, dragging various dead things to be examined, trying to avoid being bitten, scratched or slimed on the way...

Adam's die-rolling luck had already ran out - ours never got going - when I was the first to die. Having picked up two Serious Wounds already, I succumbed under attack. I was texting Chris (who had requested updates) to tell him when Ian died as well. The ship was sinking! We didn't know what Adam and Laura's objectives were but at this point it didn't look good. They were both making their way to an evacuation pod when Laura, much to Adam's chagrin, triggered an encounter and picked up a contagion card. Displaying all the humanity of a billionaire playboy, he hopped into an evacuation pod and when asked if he had room for Laura, said 'No way' and left the ship. In fairness, and perhaps reflective of these viral times, Adam didn't want to bring Laura back to Earth if she was contagious. As it turned out, though, she wasn't, and they would have had a slightly awkward reunion a bit later at home. But at least they were alive! And what's more, they were alive victorious. Adam needed an egg and had one. Laura just needed seven items and had gathered them. It was a resoundingly triumphant debut from them, as on our side of the table mine and Ian's only reward was the sad reflection of our final hours being spent in a bowel-loosening panic, as Laura's cries of Oh Poops rang through the air. 

Nemesis is long, and a bit fiddly, with plenty of down-time. But I never felt impatient as I was always interested in what was occurring on the ship, and we agreed that considering the entire thing is a firefight, mixing in a bit of bunfight (the nastier objectives) might be no bad thing. Next time!

This Spaceship is Broken

Last night I wended my way to Chris' for a four player crack at Nemesis, with Paul and Stuart joining us. Essentially Alien writ large as board game, everyone has distinct, hidden objectives (although we discarded the eliminate player X type ones) but work at least semi-co-operatively to achieve them.

You also have a distinct deck of cards: I was the pilot, Chris the captain, Paul the mechanic and Stuart the scientist. On your turn, you take two actions, either discarding a card for a basic action (move, shoot, etc) or playing the action on the card itself (close a door, search for kit, scan for infections, etc) You might be scanning for infections if your deck contains unwanted contamination cards, which both clog it up and possibly kill you, but don't worry: it's just as likely you'll be dead already. 

We initially agreed to pair up as we explored the ship: the deadly intruders hear noise as you move around, so keeping together at least mitigated how much to some degree. If you make too much noise, they attack, springing out of the woodwork and towering over you terrifyingly. This happened to Chris very quickly. Paul was covered in slime, but had managed to shoot a larval intruder and wanted to analyse it, for science. Chris agreed to meet him halfway to the lab, but his unfortunate luck with noisy doors meant his way became barred:

Paul and Stuart both came to his aid - I was at the far end of the ship, checking the engines - but in their panic, they shot holes in every wall but managed to miss the intruder itself, who dealt a serious wound to Chris at the end of the round. In the following round he took another, then as Stuart scarpered the intruder lashed out wildly, and Chris bought it. We were only four rounds into the game!

Oh no

Our early luck in not triggering attacks now very much evaporating, we found the buggers coming out all over the place, and rooms we needed to use were malfunctioning. I managed to Send a Signal, which I needed for my mission, but I also needed that alien carcass analysed. The three of us reeled between rooms, getting hit by attacks as we ducked under flailing tentacles, and then we accidentally started the self-destruct sequence. Shortly after Stuart halted it - a one bright shaft of hope in the gloom, Paul bit the dust too. The ship was awash with noise.

Stuart plotted a course for Earth as I dragged a carcass to the lab. He needed to get to the hibernatorium; I needed a petri dish. Neither came to pass, as fire burst out in all the malfunctioning rooms and instantly spread, compromising the hull of the ship: the thing fell to pieces, and we were sucked into the vacuum of space. As it turned out, if I'd survived I may well have been infected anyway... it's an absolutely brutal game, this, with everything that can possibly go wrong almost certainly happening. I didn't help by getting the slime rule wrong either, but that was the least of our worries...

We followed the madness of Nemesis with something a little gentler in Rosenberg's fishing paean, Nusfjord. It's a very Rosenbergian thing of developing your fishing industry, using Elders for wisdom, Buildings for varied uses and a triplet of economies in gold, fish and wood. To be honest I don't remember a huge amount about it now, as my head was whirling from both Nemesis and Paul's Giant Chocolate Buttons, but I do recall the level of humour sank to schoolboy altitude, largely thanks to me. Apologies for that; there's just something about the way Chris says Trigger your bonus though. 

I eschewed issuing or buying shares at all and focused on buildings. I'm not sure why, other than they always seemed more alluring. Paul built shedloads of boats and Chris cursed his decision-making (so did I, in fact, about my own) whilst Stuart pondered his final moves cautiously. It's nice seeing your board come together, even if it doesn't quite have the same cosy vibe as Caverna. 

Stuart's ruminations proved worth their while: he took the win with a huge haul of gold:

Stuart 32

Chris 30

Paul 25

Sam 21

And with that we were done. So it's good night from me, and it's goodnight from him: