Major Improvement

Lucifer and all his little underling devils must have been pacing around the underworld this morning puffing out lungfuls of condensation and staring quizzically at the thermometer because last night I think Hell must have frozen over.

It was a Saturday night and I was expecting to be watching some of the poor fare served up by the terrestrial networks when Jacquie asked me "Did I want to play a game? Do you think I'll like Agricola?". Probably not was my first thought, remembering the time we almost got divorced over a Roll Through the Ages rules explanation. But there it was, a golden opportunity..... Apparently the cast of Orphan Black had been playing it in one of the episodes and it had peaked her interest. So set it up on the kitchen table and agreed that if at any point she was hating it we would stop, also that we would take the first game as a training game....

Proof

Anyway its Sunday evening and we've had four games of it already, the last one with the cards. This is such an unlikely event I had to blog it.

Six go even madder in Gloucestershire

A games weekend with children is neither a sprint nor a marathon. They’re an odyssey, an epic, a wide-eyed roller-coaster of emotions. Luckily, the kids were mostly distracted by a Nintendo DS or an iPad, leaving us adults to emote in relative peace.

Bad traffic and poor weather slowed down the journey to the venue for both cars: me Sam and Stanley coming from the West, and Chris, Paul and Ashton heading from the East. When we finally arrived (within a few minutes of each other) welcomed by the farmer’s wife and her dogs (one of which almost ran under Sam’s car as he was parking) we settled in to the cottage, pausing to look at the paganesque wicker sculptures of hares at the foot of a nearby tree. I hope that the rabbit's head we later found wasn't a sacrifice to some pagan icon.

Back in the house, Stanley and Ashton were very amused by the twin staircases that ran up either side of a supporting beam, and they soon decided which staircase belonged to who. Us grown-ups were sorting out more important stuff like filling the fridge with beers and sorting out the snacks.

Our first game was Timeline. You’d think that something so educational would be perfect for kids, but actually they were in the next room, watching TV. Chris won that, and then he won Tsuro of the Seas, which we played without dragons. We did try a three-player game of TotS with dragons and, after only two rounds, Paul won when an unlucky dice roll killed Chris and me at the same time.

(I won't put scores or anything like that on the blog post, but if you want details about the scores then you can download the spreadsheet from here.)

The first main game of the weekend was Quantum. I sped into an early lead, and so most of the third game was spent with the other three attacking me. Luckily I managed to get my final cube down just as Sam was threatening to sneak the win from me.

After this we played a series of shortish games. Sam won a Raj tournament, then I won Take It Easy and then No Thanks for possibly the first time ever! My run of good form was not to last, since we played it again and Paul won with only 5 points. I came last and order was restored to the universe.

The next day dawned bright and early, but Sam possibly dawned even earlier, as his energetic child was up and about before six. The rest of us we up and about by half past seven, and after various breakfasts, Stanley, Ashton, Chris and Sam played Astronauts, a card game about travelling the solar system and getting back again safely. Stanley won. Then Timeline was given another outing, with Sam finishing in first this time.

Then we decided to go for a walk, taking a closer look at some sculptures in a nearby field.

The cottage was near a pretty busy road into the nearest village, but a friendly passing horse-rider told us about a path into the village where there was a playground. We set off, buying supplies at a Post Office, and then found the playground. There we spent a happy half hour trying to throw a ball into the top of hollow spherical thing that would then sent the ball randomly out of one of four holes. At least, it would have if we’d managed to throw it in. In the 30 minutes we tried, I think we managed it four times.

Once we got back, we had lunch of meats, cheeses and a salad. Then Sam, Paul and I played Alhambra while Chris, Stanley and Ashton played Cube Quest. Sam went into a nearby town with the two boys to get some more supplies and give the rest of us some serious game time.

Acknowledging his sacrifice, we decided to play a game that he wouldn’t have chosen himself: Agricola. Although, with all the cards and boards, I doubt there would have been room on the table for a fourth player. Chris won, despite not having any animals at all on his farm, mostly due to me taking them and eating them as soon as possible. But he scored big on family, stone rooms and bonuses.

Following this, after Sam’s return, we went for an old favourite: El Grande. One of the earliest games we bought, and it prompted many memories of our earliest games weekend when barely a handful of games was enough to keep us going. El Grande was won in handsome style by Paul.

By now, the weather had stopped vascillating between rain and sun, and had settled on sunny for long enough for us to go outside for a while. First, the boys played on the trampoline, and then the six of us played Smite, the game of throwing sticks at other sticks.

Team Smith (Chris, Ashton and me) quickly took an early lead and it was a while until Team Morrison (Sam, Stanley, Paul) scored a point at all. They game took quite a long time until Chris finally threw the winning throw, and Chris later admitted he may have placed the oche a little too far away. Still it was fun.

After this, there were bangers and mash and Chris put Stanley and Ashton to bed with a story. Meanwhile, Sam and I taught Paul Love Letter. He proved to be a good student, since he won comfortably, 3 –1 –0.

Now it was the evening, it was time for something more serious. We went for Railways of the World. It’s a great game, epic in scale – both in terms of theme and the size of the map. Sam got an early lead, which he held onto since the end. Chris’ railway that hugged the southern coasts of the Great Lakes looked nice, but never run at a profit.

Then, for a complete change of atmos, we chose Dixit. This charming game of story-matching was the perfect way to wind down after the stresses of building railways. Chris won. And Chris was winner again in Incan Gold. Interestingly, in both of those games, Paul and I tied for second place.

Our last game of the late evening, which by now was turning into early morning, was Take It Easy. We battled through sleepy eyes, and our bingo calls became increasingly surreal as the game wore on. Chris won a close game, meaning he ended the evening with a hat trick of wins to lessen the hurt from Railways of the World.

The next morning, Sam said he couldn’t remember much about the last game of Take It Easy. That’s how we roll at GNN. Hard and fast!

There were no large scale games on Sunday. There was another game of Astronauts and then Chris beat me and Sam at Timeline. Paul, Sam and I sat down to try a new game, Fleet. Paul tutted at the olde-worlde style design paired with the pictures of modern fishing boats. We also tutted at the rules, and although we ploughed on until the end, we were never sure we were playing it right. We decided to research on the internet was necessary.

Then, another new game was brought to the table: Smash Up. Chris had bought this by accident when looking for King Of Tokyo. It didn’t inspire much optimism at first glance, with rules for each card and then rules for each area of the game. I had to stop to make pizza halfway through, and Sam admitted he wasn’t enjoying it, so the game was ended with Paul and Chris looking in best shape for the win. Paul’s robot zombie army seemed particularly powerful.

While I was cooking pizzas, we played Tsuro with Ashton as a fifth player. I forgot to write the results down to this game. Probably too excited from winning. And after food, the final game to hit the table was Raj. My run of poor form on this game continued, but Sam won, overcoming a 19 point deficit in the final round.

And so the weekend was over. We packed up and said our goodbyes. The roads home were much kinder, and we were back in Bristol almost before we knew it.

The Division shows how close it all was. I'm first in points, but I did play more games than anyone else. Chris won the medal table and Sam won points ratio, but both were winners by fine margins. Congrats everyone!

Cold Comfort Farms

To be fair to Andrew, he didn't actually want to play games tonight. I plied him with the promise of crisps and beer. In a ghoulish case of life imitating art, or more specifically life imitating our recently-created script, I had to pay a friend to play games (in crisps and beer).

However Andrew's initial pallor brightened when I arrived with Agricola in the car. I also had Railways of the World and Sutter's Mill, but as soon as I mentioned Uwe Rosenberg's classic, Andrew's eyes lit up. "We have to get you back on board with that game" he said.

this Farmer is royalty-free

I thought Andrew had played recently, but no: that's been mostly Adam and Gonz. So neither of us remembered all the rules, and it soon became apparent we didn't have a clue what we were doing. Of course Agricola is accessible from the get-go in terms of options, but when it came to strategy, well; we were both wandering around our farms, staring disconsolately at piles of wheat, ploughing fields that lay fallow and fencing pastures that lay empty, and in the unlikely event a sheep made it to lambing season you could bet your last bit of fence it'd be into the pot on the next round. Andrew charitably let me take one begging card when I should have taken two for the first harvest, as I didn't realise your family needed two food each, not one.

The score-pad showed when we'd last played a two-player - probably about two years ago - Andrew had beaten me 38 to 36 points. This time I beat him by 18 to 9. Although Andrew had built a large stone house he had quite a few empty spaces on his farm, whereas mine at least had some cattle milling about on them, surprisingly giving birth.

It was a shocking performance really, but in fairness we've both been out of this agricultural loop for some time... and although I enjoyed it, it didn't convince me I wanted to rush back to a lengthy 3 or 4-player experience. It's a lovely game, but I'd rather play Railways to be honest. I'm not sure why that is.

Much less imposing on this (lightweight) gamer's eye was Biblios, which we rounded off with. Halfway through Andrew was confident, and I less so. But as he used up his gold devaluing my objective dice, I junked lots of colour to pick up the gold in the auction phase and grab the available remaining colour cards:

Sam 9
Andrew 4

I departed a little after 9pm, glad to have refreshed my memory on Agricola, but also reminded of the stress of the game. It's like Year of the Dragon set in the Cotswolds.

Artifacts and Everything After

This was a special day. The day that after three years of waiting, the Race for the Galaxy: Alien Artifacts expansion finally arrived! I immediately texted Joe to see if he was up for a game and he responded enthusiastically. It turned out he'd just bought a copy too. So I headed round to his studio (aka the Afternoon Den of Fun) for a quickie before Roll for the Soul. We decided not to explore the Orb part of the expansion just yet and simply throw in the new cards and get going. In the first game I went the tried and tested production and consumption route, while Joe assembled a monstrous horde of aliens. In the final reckoning I had pipped him by a tantalising point!

Martin 50

Joe 49

An immediate rematch was necessary. Once again I favoured consumption while Joe liked military. This time he had an interlocking set of bonus cards for Rebel, Imperium and Uplift cards and we were both drawing a huge seven cards each time production happened. And again I scored a narrow victory, thanks to 14 points of consumption on the final turn. 

Martin 58

Joe 49

It was time to head off to Roll for the Soul, where we found Adam, Tom, Katie and new (I think) Andy taking their penguins fishing. While they finished off, Joe and I had a quick game of Romans Go Home! I'm not sure of the exact score in Hey, That's My Fish! but Katie came running over excitedly to tell us she'd scored her first win at 'games club'. Meanwhile, Joe dominated Hadrian's Wall with some neat tricks:

Joe 34

Martin 17

The six of us now teamed up for the terrifyingly thematic The Walking Dead Card Game.... wait a minute, this is just 6 Nimmt with pictures of zombies and bullets on it! The new artwork doesn't really get in the way of the same old great game. Joe, Adam and I showed that experience does count by alternating the lead between us while Andy raced to the finish line. We weren't entirely sure he was joking when he said he was going for most points. Thanks to a zero in the third and final round, I just sneaked past Joe for the win. I'm afraid I don't have the full scores as I didn't know I would be thrust into the role of narrator for the evening!

As the zombies lumbered off into the distance, Gonz arrived decked out in a voluminous cagoule that put Adam in mind of a World War One soldier. He had games with him but couldn't resist the lure of Agricola with Adam and Andy. They'll have to fill in the details in the comments, but I have been reliably informed that the final score was:

Adam 39

Andy 35

Gonz 35

I suggested Kingdom Builder to the others. Katie and Tom had played it at RFTS just before Christmas, but they seemed to be in that gaming honeymoon phase where they want to learn something new every time. So, what could I do but propose the other game I'd brought with me, The Palaces of Carrara? It wasn't my fault!

Joe and I agreed that with two new players we should stick to the basic game and off we went. It was a bit of a strange one with all the cheap buildings snapped up early, Katie having a fetish for flags and a few rules misunderstandings along the way. I finally managed to achieve the game-ending goals, but only with the very last building, which would have ended the game anyway. Again, I don't have the full scores, but I won, followed by Katie, one point ahead of Tom, and poor Joe trailing in last. "I'm done with this game!" he pronounced furiously. I hope he doesn't really mean it...

The others were on the final round of Agricola and closing time was drawing nigh. Just time for the four of us to have a quick bout of Love Letter. I took a 2-point lead, but couldn't close it out and when we had to stop the scores were poised at:

Katie 2

Martin 2

Joe 1

Tom 1

Into the night we made our way, our heads full of games and our bellies full of the delicious Everything Wrap (or maybe that was just me). 

Everyone feels a little blue sometimes

Tonight was a bumper crop at GNN, with eight people in attendance! Eight! And with a roaring fire, Christmas tree and the option of Walnut Liquor, it really felt quite Christmassy.

Sam, myself and Gonz had arrived in one car, Joe and Martin had turned up into another, and Adam made his own way to Steve and Anja’s. We split into three groups. Gonz had brought Agricola and Adam, after a run of poor form, was keen to get back on the horse. With no other takers brave enough to challenge the two of them, they set up camp at the far end of the big table.

Martin brought Palaces of Carrera, as usual, and he and Joe persuaded Steve to give it a try. Meanwhile, the remaining three went for Africana, the jolly game of third world exploitation. Sam explained the rules, and before long we were all running up and down the length of Africa like it was going out of fashion. Sam was white, Anja was red and I was blue.

And that’s where the title of this blog post comes from as I found that, if my opponents began their turn in the same city as me, they would frequently move my counter instead of theirs. Sam did this more than Anja. In fact, on one go, he began with his counter, switched over to mine and then completed the last leg of his journey by moving Anja’s. And to think he chose white because it would stand out from the red and blue.

I got a big stroke of luck mid-game as twice new expeditions were unveiled that started from cities where I already was. Plus, the books were kind to me, giving me an assistant and two matching artifacts without turning any extra pages. This was enough to give me a win. Anja’s lack of experience with the dusty African roads was evident, while Sam may be regretting hiring that extra assistant that took five points of his total.

Andrew 38
Sam 33
Anja 20

On the big table, Palaces of Carrera ended at about the same time as us. I’ll leave it to one of them to fill us in with the details, but Joe was heard to wail “I don’t understand this game!”

Martin 103
Joe 68
Steve 65

This marks Martin’s first appearance on the leaderboard. He asked me why the Roll For The Soul wasn’t leaderboard, and I explained that I felt awkward about writing down scores in the presence of non-gamers.

And before long, Agricola also came to an end. I watched them count up and was surprised by Gonz’s rather minimalist farm, but a lovely four-room stone house. Meanwhile, Adam’s farm was full of animals in lovely fenced stables, but his family of five was still living in a hovel.

I learnt later that the two had spent most of the game trying to ruin the other player’s plans. This does at least explain the relatively low scores. I guess this was as close to boxing that Agricola gets.

Adam 36
Gonz 26

When he heard those scores, Joe was heard to mutter “My daughters have scored higher than that.” However, Adam wasn’t concerned. After a run of three last places, he’d broken his Agricola curse. A pity that, since it’s only two-player, it’s not leaderboard, but Adam was fighting for his pride tonight. And he finally got it back.

After this, the eight of us joined together (nine if you include baby Lu, who was brought down mid-game) for a game of Kakerlakenpoker. But this time, the Royal version. With Royal cards and a few extra rules. It’s still enjoyable, but the extra rules don’t seem to add to the game. Perhaps because we haven’t played the basic version enough. Anyway, we dived in guessing or passing on our cards. I was glad to see someone challenge Adam and his tactic of passing on whatever he’s given. Thanks, Martin.

But it was Gonz who made everyone think he’d be good at poker, as he called every guess right. He finished with no cards, which sort of makes him the winner. But there are no winners in Kakerlakenpoker, so it’s not leaderboard. Which is good news for me, since I ended in last. Everyone else was in the middle.

After that, Sam, Gonz and I headed home even though the others were considering a final game. I hope they let us know what it was. In the meantime, the form table looks like this:

						Points
Andrew	1	1	3	1	3	9
Sam	2	2	1	3	1	9
Adam	2	2	2	1	3	10
Gonz	1	1	3	5	2	12
Chris	1	1	3	4	5	14
Joe	2	4	2	3	3	14
Quentin	4	1	1	5	3	14
Matt	3	2	5	5	5	20
Steve	3	2	5	5	5	20
Martin	1	5	5	5	5	21
Anja	3	3	5	5	5	21
Hannah	2	5	5	5	5	22

Hey That’s My Fifth! (win in a row)

For the second week in a row, Adam hosted. For the first time this season, Steve and Anja could make it and like a weird DC/Marvel crossover, Chris came all the way from Bracknell to Bristol for work, and stayed for the evening too. With me and Sam in attendance too, that made six of us.

At first we were just four, as we had to wait for Anja and Steve to arrive. We dug out Hey That’s My Fish! As a quick filler beforehand. It may have the appearance of a silly kids game, but it hides strategies and challenges that deserve deep ponderous thought. At least that’s how we play it.

At the end, it was Adam wot won it.

Adam 28
Sam 25
Andrew 23
Chris 19

And this meant that The Perfect Five had finally been achieved! Five wins in a row for the creeping custard, and this means an extra special look at the form table before this rare phenomena disappeared!

						Points
Adam	1	1	1	1	1	5
Joe	2	3	2	1	2	10
Gonz	5	2	3	2	1	13
Sam	2	3	4	4	3	16
Andrew	3	4	5	5	2	19
Quentin	3	5	5	5	5	23
Chris	4	5	5	5	5	23

Look at all those ones in a row! Look how pretty they are!

Anyway, the form table marches on, and with no sign of Anja or Steve, we broke out Bananagrams, an amusing game of wordplay, as long as your not playing against Scrabble experts who know all the two-letter words. I gave up halfway through the first game.

Sam
Adam
Chris
Andrew

I sat out the second, and watched as Sam and Chris battled it out, with Adam left in their dust this time.

Chris
Sam
Adam

After this, Steve and Anja arrived. To be sociable, we played a couple of games of The Resistance. Round one, the resistance won convincingly when Chris was one of the spies, and had no idea about how to react. He was quickly unmasked and the other spy, Sam, was never chosen to go on a mission. Viva La Resistance!

Then for round two, Adam began by asking people if they were spies. When Steve and Anja said yes, I thought it was a clever double bluff, especially when Steve kept saying he was a spy. In fact, it was Chris and Sam again who, by some nice acting and clever play were able to keep up the pretence. Viva la Dictatorship!

Then we split into two groups. Steve, Anja and Sam went for Tinners’ Trail, while Chris, Adam and I went for Agricola. Adam’s recent form on this game has been pretty poor, so maybe this was went he got his mojo back? Not when you’re up against Farmer Smith. We played with Occupations and Minor Improvements, and I started to get worried when he seemed to know what each card did after he’d only heard the card’s name.

Chris plays Agricola like Richard Clayderman plays the piano. Suave, smooth and in a nice suit. Everything went together nicely in Chris’ farm while Adam and I bickered over the starting player. Adam cursed his luck in the final round as Chris took an option that would’ve netted Adam a tasty seven points. He only had himself to blame, though. Him and his family of five farmers.

In the end, though, it wouldn’t have mattered. Chris reigned supreme.

Chris 45
Adam 31
Andrew 23

Tinners’ Trail ended

Sam 135
Steve 128
Anja 113

Then Chris, Sam and I drove away, reliably informed by Talk Sport that Arsenal are going to have to finish above Chelsea if they want to win the league this year.

						Points
Sam	1	2	1	2	3	9
Adam	2	3	2	1	1	9
Joe	2	3	2	1	2	10
Gonz	5	2	3	2	1	13
Chris	1	1	3	4	5	14
Andrew	3	4	3	4	5	19
Steve	2	5	5	5	5	22
Anja	3	5	5	5	5	23
Quentin	3	5	5	5	5	23

On the end of month leaderboard, surely it is merely a procession towards Adam’s ultimate victory.

Run, Nab it, Run

A late report by James.

The Bracknell Bunch are trying to like Android:Netrunner. It’s certainly rather swish. It’s cyber-cool. It’s mega-corporations and hacking. What’s not to like? One could wear shades and a trenchcoat while playing this game. But it’s not quite clicking with anyone though. ...Yet.

Since they played it last, Chris has studied and re-studied the rules. James prepared by watching the video tutorials a second time. Boy, they’re slick. All throbbing blue laser arrows and sound effects, with a futuristic female voice-over. Presented like that, it gets you gasping for a game. Then you lay it out on the dining table and it’s like when you tried to play Tron down the car park in 1982. With a Frisbee.  To compensate, James made a hacking run arrow, using paper and a blue felt tip. If only his wife would have done the futuristic voice-over. From behind the dining room door. 

Perhaps not entirely fair that, because the game really is supremely well illustrated. It’s just the gameplay. When you think you know all the rules, some cryptic instruction crops up on a card and heads need to be scratched. So this game (third time for Chris, second time for James), James was doing the hacking – all subversive, like. Chris was the corporate giant. James started extremely well. Chris’ servers were about as secure as an Etch-A-Sketch left next to an unattended hammer. James was in and out and it was all rather exciting, as everywhere that James dipped his crafty little cyberpunk fingers, he nabbed a scoring card. He roared into the lead.

But then Chris began to seal things off good and proper. James’ gameplay ground to a halt. While new to this it does seem like you get some cards and think, who in the world would ever use that? Even so, it’s quite exciting to build things up and during the game, the whole thing almost clicked. Almost.

It was quite the stalemate for a while, as James’ attacks were fended off. His early success with the ‘sneakdoor beta program’ had been shored up by Chris’ Hadrian’s Wall barrier. You do find yourself slowly immersed in the game’s world. At first you feel silly saying you’re ‘rezzing your ice’. But it seems a bit arsey not to say it. Then you’re in the zone, spouting all the jargon. But some of the game mechanics don’t seem to produce the fireworks you hope for. Some results feel like damp squibs. And when James won, his first thought was merely, “Oh, right then.”

But somehow, both players do fancy another go.   

James 9, Chris 4.

Next, Agricola. Now, to be politically correct, James seems to be Agricola-challenged. To be blunt, he’s crap at it. But he does enjoy it. This time, he mapped out a game-plan  that would amass a frenzy of bonus points at the end of the game, mostly through occupations. As the game rocketed to its conclusion, James’ master-plan hinged upon Chris not using the occupation space in the last round...

Chris used the occupation space in the last round. James’ recruitment extravaganza (worth a game-winning seven points in his mind) was blocked, so he planted a bit of grain instead. For three points.

But James had been utterly deluded. Because Chris’ little-bit-of-everything tactics  won him the game by a mile. Looking back, James was never really in the running. Plus, Chris kept nicking all the stone. It’s like he wanted James to lose.

Chris 46, James 31.   

If Bruckheimer played Santiago

Tonight saw an attendance at the regular weekly meet that would put Roll For The Soul to shame! The two newcomers from the Thursday meet arrived, Gonz and Martin. Along with Joe, Sam, myself, Quentin, Adam and Hannah, that made a healthy eight players.

At first we all played Incan Gold since that’s a game that works well with some many people. Although we were frustrated when turning over high cards, only to have to share all that treasure with plenty of other players. It was all about getting out while the getting was good. Sam played it cool at first, nipping out of the first two temples early on, and picking up what hadn’t been shared out. But Adam faced down fickle fate and stayed in a temple until he had it all to himself, including two relics.

Adam 43
Sam 40
Joe 27
Andrew 19
Martin 18
Quentin 15
Hannah 14
Gonz 12

After this we split up, with three playing Agricola (Adam, Gonz and Quentin) and five of us choosing Santiago (me, Joe, Martin, Hannah and Sam). We even had to go into different rooms, there were so many of us.

Santiago may be visually bland but with five it’s at its best. There always someone who suffers and that’s what games are all about! And that’s how it was from the beginning. The canal overseer may have been the guy who got the worst tile in the bidding round but, more often than not, there were few bribes on the table to fill his or her pockets in recompense. It was harsh. Sometimes the bribes were so low it was more like an insult. Like a Hollywood version of Santiago where mean-looking guys in dramatic lighting slap down single notes and yell “This is what I think of your stinking irrigation system!”

Martin played a tough game, but he was stymied when his field of choice didn’t come out when he needed it. Plus, he was the only one not to use their emergency canal. But Joe played it cool. Neither tortoise nor hare, he diversified, picking up scores for every crop. Santiago as it should be played.

Joe 73
Martin 63
Hannah 59
Andrew 57
Sam 55

During this game I often popped in next door, partly to admire Gonz’s laminated cards and partly because they still had crisps on the table. It seemed close halfway through, but Gonz ran away with it at the end with his extra family members. Adam ended in last, muttering something about having forgotten how to play.

Gonz 44
Quentin 36
Adam 27

While they finished off Agricola, Sam set off home and us four had a quick game of Timeline. The game of historical fun! It was short and sweet, and I do know enough about history that I feel at least fairly confident when I play this. I knew that the diving suit was invented in the 1600s, for example. Meanwhile, Joe’s last card was The Formation Of The Earth, which obviously came before everything.

1= Joe
1= Andrew
2. Martin
3. Hannah

After this, we wended our weary way back home. The end of the season draws near. Not completely near, though. There are a few days left, which leaves the Division in a precarious position...

I’m top in Points and on the Medals Table, which is nice, and the gap is big enough that I hope I’m not in danger of being overtaken. Currently Joe is second by a knife edge. But the Points Ratio also delicately poised. Adam leads at the moment, but will the Thursday meet at Steve and Anja's be leaderboard? Will he risk it, since James from Bracknell is hot on his heels? Did the Berkshire bunch get together for a three-player evening? Is there one more twist to this season? We await news from both camps...

On the form table, it’s a hard introduction for Gonz, with that eighth place in Incan Gold weighing him down. But hats off to Joe who timed his run of form to perfection, as he glides into first place.

						Points
Joe	1	1	3	1	3	9
Adam	3	1	1	3	2	10
Andrew	1	4	4	3	1	13
Sam	5	2	3	2	2	14
Steve	2	3	3	3	4	15
Anja	3	2	5	1	5	16
Hannah	3	3	7	2	1	16
Martin	2	2	5	5	5	19
Quentin	2	6	3	3	5	19
Miles	2	3	5	5	5	20
Jonny	1	5	5	5	5	21
Lizzy	2	5	5	5	5	22
Gonz	1	8	5	5	5	24

A great season (if it is over. There may be more.) and hopefully we’ll see plenty of you next week for the start of another exciting new season! No break for us hardy gamers. Those cubes aren’t going to push themselves.

Last weeks report, today!

Those cards in Agricola. They ain’t half bossy, aren’t they? You fan them out and do as you’re told. Or woe betide.

They told James to slaughter sheep. A lot. Use them and churn out butter, slaughter them, cook them up in a gypsy’s crock. The hedgekeeper, stablemaster and woodcutter would between them ensure there was no escape. The cards had decided. This could stand up in court.

Meanwhile, Chris had seemingly been told by his cards to make two tiny pens which acted like little funnels as he sporadically air-dropped cattle into his fireplace. James wanted the cattle, but no. Chris kept nabbing them to serve up an all-you-can-eat-buffet for his massively overbred farming family. He kept shaking his fist at his hand of occupations and James felt assured Chris’ huge empty spaces would work against him. Though James’ plans had faltered a little. The cards wouldn’t be pleased.

But then... Was it a herd? (Nope, no room). Was it the plane? (Nope, Chris wasn’t going to use that card). It was Super-Plough. Yup, Chris finally dragged out his riding plough and filled his farm with fields. With a well-developed farmhouse and a massive family, fed with minced cattle, Chris won.

Defeat for James. He doesn’t blame himself. It was on the cards. (He’s easily led).

Chris 43, James 27.

Then a quick blast at Roll Through the Ages. Chris was playing well. Then, four skulls and an invasion. So he brought the game to a quick close, meaning even James’ grab at The Empire wasn’t nearly enough. A thrashing.

Chris 28, James 18.

Good (Ritter) Sports

It was 1985 when mates would turn up at James’ house on a BMX. Almost three decades on, history was repeating itself as Chris arrived on his Raleigh Burner with his board games in a backpack. The games had been decided with little deliberation. Agricola, with Carcassonne for afters. Far more fretting went into choosing the night’s Ritter Sport flavour. Perhaps hoping to dull Chris’ game-playing focus, James fanned out four large-sized, hard-to-find blocks of Chris’ favourite chocolate, fingers crossed he’d soon be too euphoric to concentrate fully.

Abundance was to be the in-game theme too, as James’ hand contained the maid, the fruit tree and the animal pen. Soon, each remaining round card was stacked with a Vegas-style buffet to feed James’ farmers. That accomplished, what could he do to actually win? He’d never won before.

James says "balls" to the diet

Chris was snatching wood like a twelve year-old before Bonfire Night. And to befuddle James, Chris didn’t seem to be cultivating his usual crops. Instead, he was knocking up an array of pens and eying up the sheep. James didn’t know whether to cruelly release them into the wilderness before Chris bought them, but there were other things to be done. Once again, James was frightened near-to-death by the fast-approaching end of the game. How would he get everything ready?

Yet again, James fenced off his farm into one giant pasture to avoid penalties for unused spaces. Ho-hum. He added a sprinkling of finest cattle and did a touch of sowing, but concentrated on the bonus points his occupations and improvements would produce.

Chris had sheep, boar and cattle and stables; slaughtering the excess for food in his oven when his canoeist couldn’t bring back the goods. Watching James pick up the basketweavers major improvement at the end, already having a fair bit of leftover reed from his reed pond, Chris considered swiping the huge pile of reed that remained on the board to intercept the points. But with a whirring of brain cogs, he finished with an orgy of breeding, to end with five farmers for a huge 15 points!

They thought it would be close. It was. They thought there’d be regret. There was. With his card bonuses, his full farm-board and a few bonus points for the reed stacked up in his basketweavers’, James narrowly clinched victory. Chris had done well, but suffered from a misplaced stable, an unused square and from not pinching that reed from under James’ nose.

An Agricola win for James. More Ritter Sport next time.

James 35, Chris 34.

So Carcassonne was produced. The vanilla version that James prefers, though with the river addition to get things going. This was intended as a care-free distraction while they yapped about manly man-stuff. And BMXs. But soon the silence was thick with frustration as tiles hovered in shaking fingers and farmers lay prostrate on unconnected fields. Too many meeples were stuck in castles or on roads that refused to reach completion.

Cloisters always seem satisfying, but two came up and went down empty, all meeples otherwise engaged. James trapped one of Chris’ farmers in an empty field between roads and then called in a score of 48 when one huge castle was finally finished. Phew! Even so, he was concerned Chris’ farmers seemed to have the upper hand. They did, but it wasn’t quite enough to catch up. Very close again. And a long night. It was almost midnight when Chris launched out of James’ gate on his BMX. Like Street Hawk. Three decades late.

Now James wants a BMX.

James 97, Chris 94.