Plank's Volatile

Games! As August comes to a close some absentees returned: Joe and Martin from Wales, Adam H from Easton. Also joining us were a celebratory Gareth and a reliably neutral Ian. Your host (Sam) (me) made up a sextet, with Laura sadly having to bow out late. 

We kicked off with Phantom Ink, new to me but very simple - in terms of rules, at least. Adam, Ian and Martin faced off against Joe, Gareth and I, with Ian and Joe the 'spirits' whose job it is to give clues, letter by letter (see Andrew's post for clarity on rules) and Gareth and I both froze in the headlights of an H not followed by an O (I, at least, was expecting Horror). It took just two clues for Martin and Adam to make a successful guess, identifying Diamond as the word!

We went again with Martin and I as the spirits this time. The word was puzzle and I was concerned I'd given far too much away when asked what kind of book, tv show or movie would it feature in. I started writing Krypton Factor and got as far as KRY. But one forgets that it's only obvious when you know the word, and when I was asked what varieties it comes in I only had to write J before Joe cried Silencio! He and Gareth got it on the next guess. 

We moved on to what turned out to be the night's main course, Martin's new acquisition Show Manager. This deceptively prosaic title, with horrific illustrations and exceedingly dubious puns, was notable at first for how badly it seemed to be made. "By bad people" Gareth ruminated at one point. But swiftly the fun began to emerge. 

On your turn you either take an actor - those four cards at the top in the pic above, each with a price to hire them - or put on a show. But the value of the show you put on depends on the actors in it: some are excellent in one role but can't do anything else. Some are decent at a few roles. And some can do anything you like but be shit at it. 

Gemma Smile here can perform admirably in Moonlight and Queenie, but will just be making up numbers if she treads the boards anywhere else. And additionally each actor has a specific role in each play: it's no good having two or three actors who are all excellent playing Big Daddy in Lipstick: when you put your show on, you can only have one actor for each role. 

Performed plays are put on at New York, Paris, London, Berlin and/or Stockholm. The collective value of your actors decides the order they go in, and that order awards points at the end of the game. If all your actors enjoy being in your play, there's a bonus to be had, but that's pretty much it, except to say if you're short of cash you can take money from a previously performed play, devaluing it in the process, as represented by the lower number in the above pic: Gareth took $5k out of his own rats. 

There's a bunch of luck, but also some strategy in when to 'wipe' the available actors in favour of a fresh tranche, and how much to devalue your own shows. And when there's some strategy to be had...

Adam 49

Ian 45

Martin 38

Sam 34

Gareth 30

Joe 26 (edited!)

Longer than we all expected, but good fun, as we all embraced the opportunity to be slightly showy about our shows. We moved swiftly on to Fun Facts, the Wavelength-esque game of perceptions. The first question wasn't quite as Wavelengthy as some though - how many keys are on your keyring - and not bothering to check, I lazily deprived us of points. I don't think I had Charlie on my lap either - that happened a bit later. 

After the drudgery of keys though, we were subjected to more engaging questions, like What's the maximum amount you would you pay your favourite band to play in your house? (Adam: zero) And how satisfied are you with your day (Gareth had to change his score after remembering a good lunch). We were also asked what height we'd like to be, and - all staying within the realms of the everyday - stayed pretty much as we were. Only shortarses Adam and I wouldn't have minded a bit more elevation.

What year would you travel to for a single day was instructive: Adam headed off to the year 40,000 whilst almost everyone else headed to the past, for mostly romantic yearnings. I went to the year of my birth just to find out what the hell was going on. Overall we did decently but not amazingly, scraping about 32 points I think. Afterwards Adam and Joe shucked on coats and left us, but we tempted Ian into a game or three by waving whisky under his nose. That game was Stomp the Plank. 

Gareth's dejection here was down the fact - we later realised - that the engineering of his plank's magnet had gone somewhat awry, meaning it was predisposed to collapsing far sooner than anyone else's, so I don't know how official these results are. But either way we played three times and Martin won every time, despite myself and Ian taking him to the proverbial wire once or twice...

Dumb fun and a nice one to end the evening on. Apologies to Gareth for the inadvertent sabotage; hope to see you all next week. 

Bab alone

Some additional Thursday night gaming this week, as Ian and I (Sam) kicked things off with Zombie Kidz as we waited for Chris and Gareth to show up, the co-op game of rushing around locking gates before the undead overcome you. Whether it was fate, luck, our brilliance, or a bit of all three, we wrapped things up in ten minutes with an easy win. Chris arrived a quarter-way through it but didn't have long to wait.

After briefly catching up we set up Babylonia, knowing Gareth had played before. Because he was running late though we decided to begin, with me taking his opening move. I thought my second turn on Gareth's behalf was pretty good, but as he showed up then we reset to allow him autonomy, and he did something very different. 

It was an unusual game in that we didn't interfere with each other much at all in the early running, perhaps all hoping that the others would do so on our behalf. Instead everyone carved out a section of the board to themselves in a strange isolationist approach. 

Chris (white) and Ian (brown) did so the most effectively. Chris' final score of 153 beat Ian by a point! Gareth was back on 128 and my score wasn't worth speaking aloud. A dreadful effort on my part, especially considering I felt reasonably confident for the first half of the game. But excellent chaining from the others. 

I would extract some measure of revenge in our next Knizia: The Quest for El Dorado. I forgot to take photos at this point but my only strategy was gutting my deck of starting cards. Having a tiny set of cards (7), one of which allowed me to draw two more almost every time, meant I stormed off into a convincing win, although it should be noted that both Gareth and Ian were blocked in on two or three turns when they wanted to move - it could have been very different had this not happened...

Gareth had to head home so the three of us finished off with Thunder Road. 

The deliberately dumb racing game was as fun as previous visits, as we slammed into each other, shot each other off the track, and in one instance blew up our own car. Three cars each start on the finish line and the two ways to win are either last one standing (bully win) or first to the finish line (skill win) - but the finish line only appears the moment the first player is eliminated. Otherwise the modular tracks keep cycling down a never-ending road, presumably downhill considering the lack of petrol stations. 

I lost a car on the first turn when Chris shot me and I skidded off the track. Then Chris was victim to his own helicopter, then we realised Ian still had all three cars and began shooting at him and missing. 

If Ian eliminated Chris' last car, I was well-placed to reach the finish-line first. So he went for me and missed. I shot at Chris and missed. Chris shot at Ian and blasted his last car out of existence (I think - it was pretty hurly-burly at this stage). Then he eliminated me as well and didn't even need to reach the finish line as he blew the smoke from his muzzle. Bully win!

And that was that. Thanks chaps!

The hundred pound games night

Honestly, I wasn't going to come this week. I was exhausted but no one could host and the venue ended up being a games café barely ten minutes walk from my house.

Chance and Counters was packed when I arrived at 8. I found Sam l, Adam T and Ian at the furthest end of the café.

They were playing Photograph while I went to the bar. I asked for the darkest beer they have and was offered a taste of a cloudy yellow liquid that tasted of pineapple. In the end I chose an Arbor beer since I know the brand. This beer was actually darker but still tasted a bit like pineapple.

As for Photograph, I still don't understand anything about it. 'I can't count to 3" said Adam at one point but clearly that wasn't necessary for the win.

Adam 23

Ian 17

Sam 17 

Next, we play Shamans. The couple on the table next to us begin to set up Root. I'm impressed at first but then feel sorry for them as they start to learn the rules. A loud games café is not the place to learn a thoughtful asymmetric strategy game.

Sam was the shadow for the first two rounds which he found annoying but he must have learnt to love the dark side as he won the game outright when he's the shadow again later on.

Sam 8

Adam 6

Ian 5

Andrew 3

While I bought another fruity beer, Quantum was set up and Adam got a rules refresher.

I cock blocked Ian by getting a cube on a planet that he was moving in on. So he researched instead. Adam then also cock blocked Ian who changed tactics. He attacked Sam but was repelled. With only two cubes down, he wa in a tricky situation. So he turned on Adam and won a battle at last.

Sam, however, had been in the lead almost from the start. He used his dominance to put down his penultimate cube! The excitement was too much and I had to go and relieve myself.

While I was in the toilet Sam raised his dominance to 4. Adam failed to defeat me in battle and I put down my fifth cube, hopeful that Sam wasn't't able to put down his last cube on his next turn.

But he could! He defeated Ian in battle (Ian's dice rolls had been terrible all game and, true to form, Ian rolled a 6) and then Sam used a special ability to push his dominance up by one thus place the final cube!

Sam 6

Andrew 5

Adam 3

Ian 2

Adam left and the three of us set up a game of Carooka. Despite the name it's not snooker - the rules are identical to Pool except the table is round and on a lazy Susan. The three of us played three games of 2 players v 1.

Me and Sam won game 1, and then I went solo in game 2. I dashed in a lead but was then easily snookered while they whittled away my lead. I won it with both of us going for the black.

Ian went to the toilet and I noticed that the couple playing Root were midway through the game. Impressive.

Then Sam took on Ian and me and he won, although we kept forgetting whose turn it was.

After I left, Ian and Sam played Kingdomino (after which Sam absent mindedly put it into his bag, remembering just in time that it didn't belong to him).

Sam 117

Ian 106

All that left was to settle up with Sam the next day. He sent the receipt on WhatsApp. £99.49! Living the life, baby!

Inky Blinders

 I arrived at Joe's a little late but actually perfectly timed, as I was let in by Joe's daughters who had just popped out to get their cat.

Downstairs Ian, Joe, Martin and Gareth were playing Hot Lead. While I watched in bemusement, Katy arrived, followed shortly after by Adam in mirror shades.

Anyway, Hot Lead finished…

Martin 61

Gareth 90

Joe 55

Ian 29

Next up, all seven of us played Phantom Ink which is like Decrypto for dead people. We are spirit mediums trying to divine the object that a spirit (for example, Joe and Ian) knows. They both know a word (always a physical object) and the two teams of spirit mediums have to choose questions from a hand of seven cards that will help one team (and not their opponents) guess the word. The Decrypto ish part is that everyone has access to the same answers.

Martin, Katy, Ian and Gareth beat Joe, Adam and me twice.

It was a lot of fun. Although it wasn't as brain burny as Decrypto, it still involved a decent amount of lateral thinking and Joe would often ponder "There must be a good answer to this…" after we'd handed over our questions.

Then we split into two groups. Ian, Katy, Joe and I played Mille Fiori, a game now so well understood that we zip through it in about half the time we used to.

Gareth, Adam and Martin played Keltis: Das Orakal. I guess Reiner Knizia thought the world needed another Keltis game. Especially one with a German subtitle

Mille Fiori began with a brief discussion about whether being starting player in the first round is a disadvantage. Later, Katy was briefly in first but seemed disappointed that she hadn't used her finger to its best advantage. Soon after that Ian leapt into a big lead and Joe overtook Katy while she was in the toilet. 

As we both played our Knizias, there was a moment of curious synchronicity. Katy complained that her options were a choice of one point, one point or one point. Then Adam, playing keltis, complains about the same thing immediately after. We asked if he was making fun of Katy and he insisted he'd been completely oblivious to our banter.

Keltis ended…

Martin 73

Adam 72

Gareth 64

They watched the end of our game with Ian poised to finish the game. Gareth asked why there was such a disparity in the amount of counters we had left and I, in a distant last, joked that I was just more efficient than the other players, thus misleading Gareth into thinking I was in a massive lead.

But then my fortunes changed. After being in last for much of the game, I hit an "extra go cascade" and pass Katy and then hit another two high scoring options and went around the board in about three turns. My first win. Katy took solace in the fact that a tie between Ian and Joe meant she finished third.

Andrew 188

Joe 174

Ian 174

Katy 158

Then we played Doodle dash, the game of stupid pictures done quickly. The number of professional artists around the table (which included me, somehow) made Gareth and Katy cautious but there's no substitute for speed.

Katy's pyjamas 

My slippers 

More synchronicity, two identical restaurants 

I have no idea 

Talking of which, there was a couple of times when the die would not roll on the Stop side. I even had enough time to start shading my picture in.

Ian 9

Adam 7

Andrew 7

Martin 7

Katy 6

Gareth 5

Joe 4

It was a crazy blast and my last game of the night. I've no idea what happened next. Hopefully someone will elaborate in the comments.

Cheers all.

While the Sam's away...

 For once I didn't have to arrive at this week's venue because I was hosting. I was using my time looking after Sam's cat productively by hosting a games night in his kitchen. Anna was already there at 7.30, keen to try board games again for the first time since Christmas. Joe heralded his arrival by knocking over some milk bottles. Then Ian, Martin and Gareth arrived shortly after. 

While we sat down to a game of That's Not A Hat. This was my first attempt and it was a mind melting game of poor memory and worse bluffing. Everyone had a moment of pure bemusement as they failed to have a clue about the card face down in front of them. 

During this game Katy arrived early enough to be dealt in. Anna's technique was to tell everyone she had mild concussion and then try a process of elimination to remind herself what her card was. Finally, Katy picked up her third penalty card and ended the game, to considerable sighs of relief. Somehow, like Hooky, it looks very light and breezy but is, in fact, agony.

During That's Not A Hat, Laura arrived to everyone's surprise. It turns out she'd hit 'reply' instead of 'reply all' and so only Ian knew to expect her.

We split into two groups. First we needed a bigger table so I asked if anyone knew how to extend Sam's kitchen table. Luckily, Gareth is an engineer and tables are simpler than engines so he was able to work out the locking mechanism and we successfully enlarged our playing area.

Joe, Martin Gareth and Katy played Mille Fiori, which is a game that Katy usually excels at. She must have found it challenging as, during her thinking time one round, Joe drummed his fingers impatiently on the table.

"Is that drumming for me?" asked Katy.

"No," insisted Joe

"Because it ended when I took my turn," said Katy, delivering a devastating blow like Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney. Joe stuttered his lack of defence.

In the end, Martin came first in a strong field of players.

Martin 212

Katy 204

Joe 181

Gareth 169

Meanwhile, the rest of us played Raj. It was new to Anna and Laura so I explained the few rules that there are and we were off. In round one, Anna was confused by how to avoid negative numbers. Then, in round 2, we all tied for two rounds so there were three tiles available for the winner of one particular round and, by luck or judgement, Anna took them, putting her right back in the game. 

Round 3, however, was more straightforward and I did enough to push me from third to first.

Andrew 37

Ian 31

Laura 30

Anna 22

Surprisingly, Raj lasted only slightly shorter than Mille Fiori. A slight reshuffling of seats happened and we began again. Joe, Martin, Gareth and Ian played Sheepy Time while Anna, Katy, Laura and I played Kingdomino. Anna got a basic rules explanation to not overload her with the deeper strategies of Kingdomino. Katy, too, insisted she was all about aesthetics. Mind you, despite that, she still came second.

Andrew 61

Katy 48

Anna 45

Laura 39

Then Laura left and Katy, Anna and I filled in the time until Sheepy Time ended with a quick game of Tsuro. Katy got stuck in a corner ("You've left me all sausages" she said, faced with nothing but u-turns) and I was able to push Anna off the table for my third win in a row.

Sheepy Time ended:

Joe, 3 points past the pillow

Ian, on the pillow

Gareth

Martin, "fucking nowhere, just put me last."

Then we finished with Fun Facts, the game of trying to guess how much you know about your friends concerning uninteresting questions, for example, how much (on a scale of zero to one hundred) do you need the last word in an argument. Katy was, clearly, top of that one.

I should've been more confident about the number of languages that I can say "I love you" (6) but Gareth was so confident putting his down that I thought he must know loads.

During "how much do you like your haircut" Katy cheekily asked Joe if this question was upsetting him. 

We finished with 38 points which, in a seven player game, equates to "nice score".

And so we were finished. Everyone left after putting the table back as it was. Thanks all, hope to see you soon.

Late night raiders

August attendances are famously sparse and this week’s event could well have been a trio with only me, Sam and Ian as definite attendees. Mel was hopeful but then couldn’t make it, and then Adam T swept in at the last minute with a handful of games to raise us up to a quartet and probably save the three of us from an evening of games of Quantum.

 

I arrived a little late, and the other three had already played two games of Stomp the Plank, with Ian and Adam taking one win each.

Then we began the first of two main games of the evening. Shamans has been hanging around Sam’s cupboard for ages but it was Adam’s copy we played. He sold it to us by saying he had vague memories of enjoying it. That was endorsement enough for us, so we began!

 

Shamans is a trick taking game where a "shadow" is trying to play off-suit cards (legally) to move a moon along a time track to end the round prematurely and therefore score points. Everyone else is trying to detect and eliminate the Shaman but they need (a) a dagger and (b) to successfully trigger the action that allows them to use the dagger.

Ian was eliminated in round one, and then I won in round 2 as the shadow. I had a stroke of luck, though, after Sam ended with an extra card in his hand that he must have forgotten to put on the play area after he’d used it. At this point, I had 6, Adam 3, Sam 2, Ian 0. With a target of 8 points to win the game, I was looking good.

Adam T won in round three, leaving him also poised to win. In round four I’m the shadow again and I make no real attempt to hide that as I eliminate my main rival, Adam, even though he’d already revealed himself to not be the Shadow. Plus, I played off-suit cards and pushed the moon towards the end of the time track. It worked.

 

Andrew 9

Adam 6

Ian 5

Sam 4

 

It was a lot of fun and it’s interesting how it’s possible to be the Shadow without any subterfuge: you can just try to end the round so fast that no one has a chance to eliminate you. I was a little surprised that you’re allowed to ask, quite blatantly, if someone is the Shadow. They can lie, of course, but this rule seemed a little on the nose. Sam said he couldn’t believe he’s left it unplayed on his shelf for a year.

 

Perhaps the lack of Martin had gone to our heads because then we broke out a hefty Eurogame! It was about nine o’clock when Sam talked us through the fussy, icon-heavy boardgame Raiders of Scythia. It’s a sequel to Raiders Of The North Sea, except before the Vikings started at the bottom of the board and went up, whereas this time, we began at the top and worked our way down.

The top of the board has a range of options that’ll remain vital throughout the game. Chief’s Tent (or Chef’s tent, as I called it) allowed you to get food or go on quests. Barracks let you add to your army. And so on. One of the options was called Town Centre which made me think about hanging around shopping precincts and reading the comics in John Menzies. But, actually, the main aspect of the game is to raid settlements, get their stuff and then go back to farming for a while as you collect enough resources for the next conflict.

Adam was a trailblazer being the first to raid as far south as Assyria. Sam was last of us to raid at all but during the game he went big on quests. I got quite tired as the game pushed towards eleven o’clock. It was good, although I never seemed to have enough things to do what I wanted. I was usually okay for money, Adam had loads of little lantern things. It was close but Ian’s stash of gold and supplies scored him enough to edge him into a slender win.

 

Ian 52

Sam and Adam 49

Andrew 47

 

With that, Adam and I were allowed to skip packing away duties since it was late. Thanks for hosting, Sam, and see you all next week.