Phrasell jolly good fellow

I arrived ten minutes late this week (missing a game of Happy Salmon, won by Katy) , knocking on Joe's door just as they'd decided to play Fuji Flush. Clearly this game has mystical powers to make tardy gamers suddenly arrive, simply by thinking about playing it.

But once I'd sat down, the Flush was passed over in favour of something a little more involved. We chose Condottiere, since Joe had just come back from Italy. Martin had brought his Maxi-sized (but with fewer rules than Sam’s pocket version) copy of the game. It was new to Ben and Katy, but Martin explained the rules to them and we were off.

We started by fighting over the regions in the corners and Katy showed little interest, passing early or not playing at all. But then a more central region was chosen, and Katy leapt into action. After she won that, she then won the battle for a neighbouring region so she had two adjacent areas, with the choice of next region and only she and Martin had cards left: her two against his one. Could she win the game in the first round?

She couldn't, but it was mighty close as they drew 5-5. We sighed with relief (at least I did) and prepared for round two.

Martin annoyed Katy by playing his third Bishop of the game, but Joe provided the real drama when he had to chose a region (or risk being cut off completely) that would give either Katy or Ben the win. Katy passed early, hoping that Ian or Joe would beat Ben. When the battle was poised at Ian 22, Ben 27, Joe 28, a key was played (can't remember who by) and Joe saved both Katy's and his own campaign.

Joe's great escape

In round three, I found my southern stronghold in a good place to win the game, but Joe played a Bishop and rendered my efforts useless. But that meant Katy got the choice of region, and chose one that would give her the win. It was Ian versus Ben versus Katy, when Ben played a key to win, even if the region was no use to him.

Finally, the war was decided in the North, which was useless for me centred around Rome, despite my sentimental conquering of Torino in the North west. Martin won it, and took the game!

Martin 3 in a row plus another one
Katy 2 in a row plus another one
Andrew 2 in a row
Joe 2 in a row
Ben 3 separate regions
Ian no regions at all

Next up we decided to play Team Play. And we brought out the crisps! Ben's choice of wasabi and ginger crisps was especially appreciated.

Ian & I started slowly, while Ben & Martin and Katy & Joe sped off to a quick 4-4-2 lead. I say "Ben & Martin" but in truth it was all Ben picking off cards while Martin got stuck unable to clear the one sat in front of him.

Ian & I pick up steam, and Ian clears a 6 point ABCDE card. And also, while Joe was revealing a new central card we could all compete for, he revealed a "Blue + Blue = 7" and I involuntarily went "Ooooh" so of course he discarded it immediately.

In the later stages, Ian & I actually reached seven cards completed before the others. But then Martin finally completed his first card of the game and then got lucky drawing from the deck and finishes another to trigger the end of the game. That left us with once more around the table to try and finish any last cards. Then we counted up the final scores, which we did by revealing one card at a time simultaneously and adding as we went. Not at exciting as we thought it might be, since Ian & I sped into an early lead and stayed there.

Ian & Andrew 28
Martin & Ben 26
Katy & Joe 25

Hopefully this was a modicum of revenge for Ian after his drubbing at Condottiere.

At this point Ben said he had to go, but we all insisted he could stay for a quick game of Perudo. Maybe his heart wasn't in it since he was first to pallathiko (still don't know the correct spelling) and he bet 5 6's. But there were only two.

So, with Ben dashing for the bus, the rest of us played on. Ian is next to pallathiko and his bet of 3 1's fails. Then Joe fails with a bet of 4 6's. Katy survived her pallathiko , but went out soon after. This left me versus Martin and his greater number of dice proves pivotal.

1. Martin
2. Andrew
3. Katy
4. Joe
5. Ian
6. Ben

Despite the late hour, we decided to try “just one round” of Phrasell, one of the many games that comes in the Wibbell pack. In this game, one player turns over a card which has two letters. Those two letters should inspire a topic (ie, R and D could be Road or Research and Development or Red etc) and then two more cards are revealed. Then the other players have to use the four letters to come up with a four-word sentence about the topic. The best sentence gets all three cards to keep as points (the cards can be split as two-points for the best and one point for a noble second).

It was so much fun, that we forgot the “just one round” and played right through the deck. There were some great sentences. For the topic of Time and the letters ODOU, Ian came up with One Unit Of Dimension. SG became seagulls and the letters were EZLN. Think the Z put us off? No! Well, it did a bit. But two suggestions were Zealous Eagles Like Nibbles and No Litter Eating Zones.

TL was Tower of London and I’d love to know how Ian’s Where Beefeaters Enter Nightmares beat my William Erected Norman Battlements, but I’m not bitter or anything.

Ian 14
Joe 12
Andrew 8
Martin 7
Katy 7

Such fun. And then we set off into the night. Because by now it was most definitely night. Well past eleven, and time for bed.

Thanks all!

What a klunker!

In a comment recently, Adam compared the new non-Tuesday games division to the Champions' League. However, given that the big hitters are usually absent, a more apt analogy would be to the Johnson's Paint Trophy: something for the lesser gamers to aim for.

The evening began early with Sam, Stanley and Ian fighting it out over That's Life, and it's only right that the player with the most life ahead of him should end the winner.

Stanley 12
Sam 11
Ian -4

After that, it was Stanley's bed time. Meanwhile, three more gamers arrived in the shape of Martin, Andy and myself. We pondered on what to play, before agreeing on Klunker, a new game that Martin brought with him. In this card game (has to be a card game if Martin bought a copy) you have to collect sets of four of a type of jewellery. Once you have four they instantly turn into money. But if you receive less money if you have any unfinished sets. You collect cards by being dealt them or by buying from other players. Martin noted that it was basically a card management game with three hands of cards.

It's not very intuitive. You'd be hard pushed to come up with a winning strategy on a first play. I think it needs a few plays before it's secrets come out. I can't say I had much fun, though, spending the last two rounds with a hand that contains one of everything isn't a good way to build sets. Sam got off to a flier, being dealt a set of four at the start. Any hope Ian had of winning was doomed when Andy bought some jewellery just to stop Ian from picking it up and scoring seven points.

Sam 16
Martin 11
Andy 9
Ian 7
Andrew 6

Next we considered more five player options. Ra, Colossal Arena and Taj Mahal were all brought to the table, but Condottiere was choice de soir. I was glad that this tiny game was getting some proper attention, and not stuck on the end of an evening in the mistaken belief that small box equals quick game.

Andy said he thought he hadn't played it before, and Ian needed a refresher, so Martin went through the rules for them, helpfully pointing out the differences between this version and the original version.

During the game, Andy realised he had played it before, and the fact he'd forgotten about it tells you all you need to know about how much he enjoyed playing it again.

Condottiere is a tough game to play when dealt a shitty hand. The best you can hope for is that the other players cancel each other out and maybe you'll pick up some cheap territories. Luckily for me, I got a hand in the third round with a key card (that allows me to end a battle when I chose) and two adjacent territories on the board. When my chance came I took it, using my key to finish a battle with me in the lead. I got my third adjacent regions, ending the game in my favour.

But what about the rest of the placings? Martin was convinced that he was joint second, and he greeted the news that he was third (because he had no adjacent territories) with a hearty bout of well-chosen expletives. But a rule is a rule, even if it hasn't been used since its invention, over three years ago.

Andrew 3 adjacent cubes
Sam 3 cubes, two adjacent
Ian 3 cubes, two adjacent
Martin 3 cubes
Andy 2 cubes

Finally we chose Abluxxen as our fun way to end the evening. Our third card game of the evening! Are we indulging Martin too much? He needs to play more worker placement games – something a bit more point-salady. Do we still have Ora et Labora? Anyway, I have a pretty decent record on this Roll For The Soul favourite, and I maintained that tonight. I lead from the start and took the win. Sam was second up until the last round, when a hefty negative score knocked him back two places. Harsh, and not terribly fair: that's Abluxxen.

Andrew 41
Martin 37
Andy 25
Sam 23
Ian 20

Finally, here's a Division. Since the number of games played is so lop-sided, it's a bit silly. Nevertheless, Sam is top on everything except points ratio, which goes to Adam.

This is a LoW

Five players. Such a delicate number. Splitting into two and three is an option, but seems a bit mean when there’s a chance to play some five player games properly.

We were myself, Sam (hosting), Gonz, Ian and Matt. Joe and Martin couldn’t make it, with Martin preferring to watch the Brazil – Mexico match. Well, I hope he enjoyed his nil nil draw while we played games of skill and socialising.

We began with Coup as a nice short warm-up game of bluffing. Sam explained the rules to Ian and Matt and then got hit by Explainer’s Curse right away, after he was out almost immediately after two challenges. We slowly whittled players away until it was me and Gonz, and he had seven coins. This meant on my next go I could use a captain to take some money and postpone his coup.

Except I didn’t have a captain. In fact, I was sure that whatever I did to stop him, he would challenge and win. But if I didn’t, then he would trigger a coup and win. He won.

1. Gonz
2. Andrew
3. Matt
4. Ian
5. Sam

After this, we played Avalon, the medieval-themed Resistance. It’s identical, except for one rule: one of the players on the good side is Merlin. Merlin knows who the evil people are, but they don’t know who he is. If they fail in their mission, then the evil people have one chance left: if they can unveil who Merlin was. Merlin, of course, should be subtly guiding his colleagues to the right answer. We played happily, inventing scenarios for each quest (ie, killing a dragon) which quickly became more mundane (mending the castle wall).

Trouble was that I was Merlin, and I’d chugged my first two drinks, which left me a little confused. I saw who the spies were (Gonz and Matt) but during the game, I became so convinced that Ian was acting suspiciously that I wondered if maybe I’d misremembered. I started to cast doubt on Ian, until round four when me, Sam and Ian went on a mission together (a mission that I’d voted against!) and succeeded. After that, the solution was obvious. Plus, thanks to my insistence that Ian was a spy, no one guessed I was Merlin. Perfect.

1. Sam
1. Ian
1. Andrew
2. Gonz
2. Matt

Now for the main event of the evening: Lords of Waterdeep. It was chosen because everyone had played it, and it it works well with any number of players. Maybe Avalon put us in the mood for some questing.

I started quickly, picking up a few easy quests early on, but I was quickly pegged back. Gonz and Sam both started slowly, but Gonz had buildings bringing in a constant income. Sam had... well, not much.

It was a packed board, especially with the Ambassador in play. On one turn, Gonz couldn't use his final meeple in Waterdeep Harbour, since everywhere else was full. There were a few mandatory quests flying around the place. We did consider taking them out, but Gonz insisted they should stay in. In which case, it only seems right that he got the first. But as the game entered it’s final stages, Gonz began completing quests and pushing himself into a distant lead. It was a lot closer in the battle for second, with Ian’s bonus missions getting him the silver.

Gonz 128
Ian 108
Andrew 103
Matt 100
Sam 98

After this, I left. The others considered a short game to finish the evening, but when I saw it was Condottiere, I left. It’s not that I don’t like it but, despite the small box, it is not a small game. I later got an email from Sam telling me that Matt had won with three adjacent territories. Sam had passed in the final round, hoping that Gonz would beat Matt, and then leave Sam in a strong position with the cards left in his hand. But Matt won the battle, and ended the game.

Matt 3
Gonz 2
Sam 1
Ian 0

						Points
Gonz	2	1	2	1	1	7
Andrew	3	1	2	2	2	10
Martin	3	2	1	1	3	10
Matt	1	4	2	3	2	12
Ian	4	2	1	4	1	12
Will	2	4	2	3	5	16
Sam	3	5	1	5	3	17
Joe	4	3	4	4	2	17
Anja	2	5	5	5	5	22
Steve	4	5	5	5	5	24

Rules for fools

This week’s Tuesday saw a new venue marked on the wallchart of GNN Towers. But was the venue ready? FIFA officials had passed it as fit only recently, but the other day one of Gonz’s friends lent on part of the table, and it broke, making part of it a bit wobbly and not suitable for scorecharts, piles of meeples or too many drinks.

Zooloretto was first on the rickety table. Sam explained the rules to Gonz while Adam arrived and locked his bike up. It was the dice version, which is small and smart and has hidden depths to it. All of this was enhanced by the new surround-sound effect of jungle noises that played in the background. A new extra dimension to gaming: instead of music, choose sound effects. I don’t know if it made a difference, but Adam squeezed a win by a narrow margin.

Adam 13+5 coins
Sam 13 +2 coins
Andrew 13
Gonz 12

After this, we considered a different game. Sam was keen on Condottiere. Adam and I were keen on Gonz’s games cupboard. Turns out the games were on top of and next to the cupboard, but close enough. In the end we went for Kingdom Builder. With the Nomads extension. Sam wasn’t keen on an extension to a game that already confused him. Adam tried to reassure him by saying “The rules don’t change, they’re just different.”

Anyway, we ploughed on, despite Sam’s misgivings. Gonz put on some suitably over-the-top orchestral music that you would expect to hear when kingdoms were being built. And as the strings cut through the air, so Adam vanished off into the distance. Gonz was right behind him, though. Meanwhile, Sam and I huffed and puffed over last place, with my largest area giving me that coveted third place.

Adam 55
Gonz 51
Andrew 30
Sam 25

I had avoided it since the last (and only) time I’d played it. I won back then, but that was only because of a misunderstanding of the rules from my opponents, if I recall correctly. And I did quite like it the second time round. It’s not amazing, but it’s a decent amount of game that doesn’t last too long. I may play it again one day.

After this, Condottiere finally made it to the table. Gonz was given a run through of the rules by Sam, aided by his glamorous assistant Adam, who arranged the cards for Gonz to see. It was a harsh war. With winters sapping everyone’s strength, and bishops telling the best soldiers to go away. In the end, though, it was decided in the time it took me to go to the toilet! I went, still with a chance, and came back a loser. Sam had conquered most of Italy!

Sam 5 (+3 adjacent)
Andrew 3
Gonz 2
Adam 1

We ended with Love Letter, the Coup-esque game that we’d played once before and sort of enjoyed but couldn’t remember. Gonz explained the rules, and off we went: accusing and spying and swapping! What fun! After four hands, we stood at one apiece, so we said that next round wins. In the end, I got lucky with (another) guess about what card an opponent had, so Adam crashed out first. Then I got outed, before Gonz took first place in a final comparison of numbers.

1. Gonz
2. Sam
3. Andrew
4. Adam

My stay at the top of the form table is short lived, and Gonz takes first place after an evening in which no one really put a run of form together. In fact, every game tonight was prefaced by some rule explaining to at least one player.

						Points
Gonz	1	3	2	4	1	11
Sam	2	1	4	2	2	11
Andrew	3	2	3	3	1	12
Adam	4	4	1	1	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

We could have played Wallenstein

But at the last minute, out of deference to the absent Anja, we decided not to.

But first, to set the scene: Anja and baby Luther were away, giving Steve free reign of the house. Sam and I arrived and promptly played two games of Cube Quest while Steve ate his supper. 1-1.

Then Adam arrived, minus a poorly Hannah. So, with the four of us assembled, the only question was what to play. At first, we veered towards Wallenstein, but without Anja it seemed a bit mean. Instead we went for A Castle For All Seasons: Sam and I were experienced in it, Steve knew about it and Adam was a total newbie. Perfect!

We set up, Sam went through the rules (oh, how we miss Joe!) and we got stuck in. This was the first time that the game was played with the maximum four players, and it becomes quite a different beast. Relying on other players became paramount, and knowing where you were in relation to the starting player was also worth bearing in mind.

In the end, I juggled those aspects better than the others. I played a Master Builder in a round when two players built, and I went for bonuses for unbuilt buildings and money. Sam found himself bereft of resources for most of the game, Steve was awash with resources but strangely reluctant to build anything with them. Adam’s gaming instinct homed in on the better bonuses on the board and he cruised to a comfortable second place.

Andrew 65
Adam 41
Steve 28
Sam 15

Afterwards, Adam said he felt the game was unbalanced, and he searched the rules for clarification on the “unbuilt buildings” bonus, believing it to be too powerful. It was an odd game, though, because very few people played the Trader (or is it Merchant? You know: the guy on the cart), meaning resources weren’t flowing as much as they normally would.

Phone calls to wives, mid game.

After this mind-melting experience, we went for something that we thought was a little lighter: Metro. The recent newcomer to the table is rife with opportunities to sabotage your opponent. Especially if they’ve just won at A Castle For All Seasons. I found myself at the end of some very short railroads, and I was frustrated by the rule that says you can’t send an opponent off the board in one move even if it meant the best possible fate for my stunted network.

Adam was unstoppable and maybe that’s the secret to the game: slip past when no one else notices. Make no enemies, don’t rock the boat and before you know it, you’ve won.

Adam 75
Sam 56
Steve 41
Andrew 36

After this, we fancied something a little lighter. 7 Wonders, perhaps. Or Biblios. No. We went for Condottiere. Perhaps we forgot that this pocket Risk is a heavy game in a light game’s clothing. It is not a late-night closer, and I found myself quite exhausted well before the end of the game. My main problem with it is that I just don’t care who wins. I find myself making half-considered decisions, and not being bothered when I lost. Which I did. Perhaps the best bit is when other people get caught up in battles, and I did enjoy seeing Sam and Steve face off with Steve on 32 points against Sam’s 2.

Adam 5 territories
Sam 3
Steve 2
Andrew 1

An evening of three quite heavy games (apart from Cube Quest at the start). This leaves Adam top of the pile, with Joe still in second after his three week holiday.

						Points
Adam	1	1	2	1	4	9
Joe	3	2	1	1	3	10
Sam	2	2	4	3	1	12
Steve	3	3	3	4	3	16
Hannah	3	4	1	4	5	17
Andrew	4	4	1	4	4	17
Anja	2	5	1	5	5	18
Miles	2	3	5	5	5	20
Lizzy	2	5	5	5	5	22

Brand new, you’re Metro

The first GNN Bristol meet for two weeks, and the first appearance this season of Steve and Anja. Joe and Hannah were away in far off places, so it was the five of us: the two hosts,Sam, Adam and I. After a brief spell of entertaining a laughing baby Luther, Steve took him off to bed while the rest of us began with a little No Thanks.

Sam went for my usual tactic of picking up low cards, while Anja went for the high-risk, high-reward strategy of going for the 30+ cards. And it worked. She got the cards 30-33 and at one point needed two hands to hold her coins. In the end, it was a convincing win.

Anja 10
Sam 31
Adam 33
Andrew42

Next up, with all five players round the table, it was a new game, freshly arrived that day: Metro. The Tsuro-esque train game involves building tracks for each of your trains, with points being earned depending on how long the track is. I found it quite frustrating. I wanted to turn my tiles to get the best outcome for me, but that’s against the rules: each tile has to be a particular way up. Then again, the game does allow for plenty of spoiler tactics as you can divert other trains back to the side of the board.

Sam picked up two big scoring tracks (20+) leaving the rest of us to splutter in his steam and smoke.

Sam 67
Andrew 41
Steve 38
Adam 37
Anja 36

After this saw a rare sighting of Condottiere. This simple yet difficult game of trumps over a map of Italy was new to Anja and Steve, so Sam talked them through the rules. Baffled at first, they soon understood the various cards. Several long-winded battles took place, usually during winter – when cards are mostly only worth one – which was exciting to watch, especially since it meant your opponents were using up all their cards.

Adam was master tactician extra-ordinaire: the game stipulates that three adjacent territories are needed, but he put together four. Anja came second with four territories, Sam next with three and Steve and me last with just two each.

Adam 4 in a row
Anja 4
Sam 3
Andrew 2
Steve2

Finally, what else to play just to round of the evening? Why, Cube Quest of course! Steve and Anja haven’t played it yet, so it was the obvious choice. We split into two teams of two and three, taking turns to flick our tiny hexahedrons of doom into each other. Or, more often, over the top of each other and onto the floor.

We played two non-leaderboard games, and Adam was on the winning side both times. This will go some way to compensate for his making the worse shot of the evening: while trying to position a cube to a more advantageous position, he flicked it so gently that it didn’t move at all.

A lovely evening, complete with Sam and I bringing identical packets of crisps and the hosts laying on the style with bowls of Hula Hoops. Blowing two weeks’ dust off the form table, and we see that Sam has nabbed first place in a very tight contest.

						Points
Sam	3	1	2	1	3	10
Joe	3	2	1	1	3	10
Andrew	4	4	2	2	1	13
Adam	1	4	3	2	5	15
Hannah	3	4	1	4	5	17
Anja	2	5	1	5	5	18
Miles	2	3	5	5	5	20
Lizzy	2	5	5	5	5	22
Steve	4	3	5	5	5	22

Can't think of a title. At all.

Adam and Hannah's house. No Joe, Anja or Steve. But Adam and Hannah were there. And so was I. And Sam. Four of us, then. The guinea pigs were safely in their hutch, and the housemate was slipped a fiver and told to go out and have fun.

After some polite discussion, followed by a round of voting, and finally an executive decision by Adam, we chose Puerto Rico as the night's first game. This game has an interesting twist to the usual worker-placement method, since when you chose and action, it affects everyone. Usually beneficially, so you have to be sure it is more advantageous to you, or that it helps them in a way that actually hinders them.

It had been a while since we'd played, so Adam talked us through the rules and some tactics. He poo-poohed a particular building's usefulness, so Hannah decided to build it and use it to its fullest potential. Meanwhile Sam seemed to resign himself to a lowly third place during the game, but his repeated use of captain (with its bonus victory points) pushed him past Adam into second.

Hannah 55
Sam 44
Adam 41
Andrew 37

After this, Biblios was brought to the table in the faint hope that light would dawn on us and we work out what the winning strategy was. But it remains an enigmatic beast. We can't even be sure when we're losing! Sam seemed to have thrown away the game when he made a bid for a card that he couldn't afford. After each player took a card at random as punishment, he was left with three cards in his hand and no option but to pass for the rest of the game.

Amazingly, this left him in second since he retained enough points to pick up two dice. I, too, got two dice of a slightly higher value to pip first place. Adam came third to Sam only because Sam had better monks. Meanwhile, Hannah scored no points at all.

Andrew 6
Sam 5 (plus monks)
Adam 5
Hannah 0

It was after ten o'clock by now, so we chose a quick game of Condottiere. This is a game of trumps with special cards and a map of Northern Italy to fight over. The idea is to conquer adjacent regions of Italy, but like a lazy Garibaldi, once you have three regions you stop. Perhaps you think that's about as united as Italy will ever become. And you may have a point. Who knows?

Hannah used her bishops a lot (against me, it seemed) and Adam seemed to have an endless supply of mercenaries in his hand at the end. His wall of numbers was unbeatable and got him that final region.

1st Adam: 3 connected
2nd Sam: 2 connected and 1 other
2nd Andrew: 2 connected and 1 other
3rd Hannah 1 region

Sam's three runners-up prizes have put clear blue sky between him and the seething mass of gamers beneath.

						Points
Sam	2	2	2	1	1	8
Steve	1	2	1	2	5	11
Hannah	3	4	1	2	1	11
Joe	4	2	3	1	1	11
Adam	1	3	3	2	3	12
Andrew	2	1	4	3	4	14
Anja	2	2	1	4	5	14

Nein Danke please, we're British

Due to Valentine's Day, games night was moved forward one night this week. This meant for the first part of the games night, I was absent. So while I was struggling with some life drawing, Joe, Adam and Sam struggled with Condottiere. Although I wasn't there, Sam told me that he blames his poor showing on a mistake. After Joe had passed Sam believed he'd won and withdrew a card. But this then left him weaker than Joe, allowing him an early win. As it was, this was enough of an advantage for Joe to continue his run of good form and take the win.

1st Joe
2nd Adam
3rd Sam

Then I arrived at just the right time, and I sorted myself out while Adam was taken through the rules of The Downfall of Pompeii.

We began by suspecting that Adam's innate gaming sense would give him an advantage with this game's unique "populate, then de-populate" mechanism, so he was the initial target of any sacrifices to the volcano. Then we noticed Joe had a lot of people on the board, so he became Public Enemy Number One. After a short while, we saw that Sam was in a strong position, but by then it was too late to do anything about it. I snuck by without anyone noticing.

Sam 9
Andrew 8
Joe 7
Adam 6

After this, a new game was brought to the table. 6Nimmt (which means "Take Six", according to the internet) which is a cross between Poison and Sevens. We tiptoed through the apparently simple rules, but Adam obviously had a better grasp than the rest of us as he ran out as a winner with perhaps the largest winning margin that GNN has ever seen.

Adam 1
Sam 50
Joe 61
Andrew 70

With three games under our belt, we were keen for a fourth game to be played. So, as a nightcap, No Thanks was brought out. The predominant feature of this game is for other people to mock my apparent lack of understanding of the strategy of the game, as I happily pick up low-scoring cards with coins on. But this time, for once, someone else had a weaker plan than mine. Which means, of the three players that laughed at me for picking cards up voluntarily, only two had any justification. To avoid any shame on his part, the name of the third player will not be revealed.

Sam 27
Adam 39
Andrew 46
Joe 62

On the form table, Sam reclaims top spot, while Adam is in serious danger of dropping a place down to an unthinkable fifth.

						Points
Sam	1	2	1	3	2	9
Joe	4	3	3	1	1	12
Steve	4	4	1	1	2	12
Adam	2	1	4	2	5	14
Jonny	1	3	5	3	3	15
Andrew	3	4	2	3	4	16
Anja	2	2	4	4	5	17
Quentin	1	3	5	5	5	19
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20

Chair Bears and Wood Pushers

Five GNN regulars arrived for this week's event: Joe, Sam, Jonny, Adam and myself. We began with Sam's new, intriguing card battling game, Condottiere. Sam and I had played this game only last evening, and found it interesting but a little simple for a two-player game. With five of us, it was a different prospect completely. Although Jonny missed the first round, since we hadn't done much we decided he could jump right in.

The battle was much longer with five players, and it ebbed and flowed as players who fought their way to an early advantage in a round then had to sit cardless and watch everyone else fight over areas they wanted. In the end, Adam won by cleverly linking three of his territories via a slim land corridor that some other players hadn't seen.

Once he'd been declared leader, there was a certain amount of debate about where the rest of us came. With some discussion about the merits of having adjacent territories or having more but disparate territories. In the end, the final placings were:

1 Adam
2 Sam
3= Andrew
3= Joe
3= Jonny

After this, we chose an old classic to end the evening. To our surprise, Jonny had never played Seven Wonders, so it was quickly explained to him. One can't expect a newbie to challenge seasoned campaigners such as us, and that's how it turned out. Any further reference to the rules was made more complicated by Finn the cat's decision to sit in the box while we played.

As for tactics, I miscalculated and let my strong position go to waste due to a lack of resources in round three. Joe expressed disappointment with his easy-to-build wonder of the world. Sam went for war and a bit of science, which almost won the day. But in the end Adam won by one point with the completely hypocritical strategy of military might and religious blue buildings.

Adam 56
Sam 55
Joe 46
Andrew 42
Jonny 29

At the end of the evening, with the realisation that Adam had won both games, we grimly noted that "Adam's back" before heading home. But the form table doesn't lie (unless I've done my sums wrong). He may have closed the gap, but not enough. Meanwhile, Jonny and I score exactly the same points as the points we lose, and so we stay where we were.

						Points
Sam	2	2	1	1	2	8
Joe	3	3	2	1	1	10
Adam	1	1	3	4	2	11
Steve	1	1	2	5	5	14
Andrew	4	3	3	2	4	16
Anja	2	2	4	4	5	17
Jonny	5	3	3	3	4	18
Quentin	1	3	5	5	5	19
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20

Meanwhile, the title refers to two potential nicknames for board gamers suggested during the evening. Which one are you?

Italy, the 16th Century

Plagues of battle-hardened Italians jostle for power in a land made of several city-states that sometimes ally themselves, and sometimes fight. It's a dirty, dirty war, full of intrigue, death and well-dressed smart-alecks.

London, the 21st Century. The complex time described above has been neatly packaged up in a teeny cardboard box and labelled Condittiere, after the manipulative bastards who led the mercenary armies. Having read the rules and found their brevity to my liking, I invited Andrew over to play last night.

The game is fairly simple. As players you're representing the Condittieres and trying to occupy a certain number of regions on a map of Italy to win - with two players it's 6 regions, or 4 adjacent ones. And to do so you simply line up the mercenary troops (valued 1-6 in the main, but there are some much-valued 10's as well) from your ten-card hand and try and outscore your opponent. Having done so, you place a marker in the region to say it's yours, and having been occupied, that region may not be contested again.

But wait. What sounds like a rather ambitiously themed Top Trumps game is made more subtle with the 'special cards'; of which there are many. The Bishop gets rid of the highest-level mercenary on display, the Scarecrow allows you to nab a card back into your hand (either having bluffed someone out of play or to save it for another day if you foresee defeat). The Surrender card allows you to end a battle immediately - and somewhat perversely, win it, if you have the strongest troops on show. Those crazy Italians, eh!

There is also Winter and Spring cards that can weaken or strengthen troops, the Drummer doubles the power of any mercenaries, the Courtesans who add a bit of power to your army but more importantly, if you have the most of them, allow you to choose the next battleground, and finally the Heroine, who scores ten and is kind of unstoppable, unaffected as she is by any of the other special cards.

There's also a 'Favour of the Pope' counter that protects an unoccupied region from battle (which you move by playing a Bishop) to add a little extra smattering of strategy.

We were intrigued. Aesthetically there's a weird imbalance between the Renaissance-art of the cards and the slightly ugly board. Mechanically we liked the speed of it, and the fact it can play up to six. But for two players it felt a little bit luck-heavy - sure, you can be as canny as you like early on, but if you're fighting over a region that will win somebody the game, it can basically come down to who has the best hand - which was how it felt as Andrew won the first game and I the second. I think though, with 3 or 4 players this downside would be negated, as there'd be more than one person trying to stop an imminent victor.

We also played Citadels, which I won by being a sneaky mo'fo.

Sam 36

Andrew 22