The Third of March

The 3rd of March 2026 was a Tuesday, so that means it was a time for games, and so convened at Anja and Steve’s. As well as the hosts, the expected gamers included Adam H, Martin, Paul (a visiting friend of Anja & Steve’s), Pete, and myself (Ian), and we also expected young Louie to join us for an early.

Whilst we waited for everyone to arrive or finish parental duties, we had a quick game of 6 Nimmt. It’s been a while since I’d played this once perennial game, so it was good to revisit. We were playing Adam’s Walking Dead themed copy, and I think somebody pondered that bullets were more thematic than the bullheads found on the classic design.

Regardless of theming I had started to slip into a typical death spiral. We ended the game early when others had arrived at the table at the scores were thus:

Adam 10

Paul 16

Martin 27

Anja 36

Ian 43

 

As our numbers had increased, we split into two groups. Martin enticed me, Pete and Steve to try out a new acquisition, Maya – so new that we had sprues to punch. On the other end of the table, Adam, Paul, Anja and Louie set up Cottage Garden. I didn’t really follow much of what happened in their game, but think it took longer to explain than Maya did.

Maya is designed by Gilbert & Benjamin, but if you’d said this was a Knizia I would have had no reason to doubt, as it did feel very much like a game from the prolific German designer. A tile laying game, it reminded me of Rebirth and Babylonia. The theme is that we’re cultivating various crops in the ancient Maya civilization, and the theme led to some interesting phrases being banded around, such as the chain of potato farms being referred to as both a “potato wall” and “the potato belt”.

I rather enjoyed it and put in a decent performance, but Martin proved victorious.

Martin 139

Ian 121

Pete 114

Steve 95 (ish, I forgot to get scores before we started packing away)

Cottage Garden was still ongoing, so we played a quick game of Jungo. I was first to shed my cards and won, with fortuitous timing as Cottage Garden was wrapping up. I can only apologise for my lack of notes, but the scores made it sound like a fairly close game for 2nd, 3rd and 4th, but Anja had a clear lead over the others.

Anja 51

Adam 43

Louie 41

Paul 40

 

As all gamers were present, we decided to mix things up and rotate groups slightly. Adam, Paul and Steve embarked on a 7 Wonders, whilst Anja, Martin, Pete and I tried the partnership version of Gazebo.

The partnership certainly added some interesting wrinkles. The game ends when one player has placed all their Gazebos, but the winner is decided by which pair has the fewest remaining once the game has ended. Players sit next to their partner and play continues in a clockwise fashion, and Martin demonstrated the value in setting up his partner, Anja, who getting her Gazebos down with alarming pace.

Pete and I couldn’t really keep up, and Anja had soon depleted her Gazebo stash. The scores were interesting, as whilst Anja had placed all 15 of her Gazebos, Martin had only placed 3. Pete and I had a more balanced split, as we had managed to play 5 each, but the victory was Anja and Martin’s

Anja / Martin – 12 Gazebos remaining.

Pete / Ian – 20 Gazebos remaining

7 Wonders had also drawn to a close. I had been too focused on the battle of Gazebos to pay heed, but the scores make it sound like a close run game.

Steve 52

Adam 50

Paul 48

After this we finished with a game of So Clover. Strictly speaking we had more players than the official player limit of 6, but Adam fashioned a makeshift clover on a notebook and away we went. Some clue highlights include “Halberd” for “Spicy” + “Axe”, “Longbottom” for “Wizard” + “Leaf”, but there was a bit of head scratching for “Spoor”. Fortunately, somebody had managed to remember that it was something to do with animal scent, which allowed us to eventually get to “Animal” + “Marker”.

It was all going extremely well, scoring 6 after 6, but alas we fell apart when trying to decipher Adam’s clues.

Strictly speaking though, as So Clover is only marketed as a 6 player game, you could actually claim this as a perfect 6 player victory…

And with that we stepped out into the night to make our various ways home (except for Anja and Steve who were already home, and Paul who was visiting.)

Manila favoured

This week's gaming was hosted by the ever genial Joe. At first we were six (Joe, Sam, Martin, Katy, me and, making his debut for 2017, Andy) with a seventh (Ian) coming later.

As a six , after initial greetings and conversation, we got down to the nitty gritty of deciding what to play. This process was made a little more difficult by the fact that the bulb in Joe's utility room had gone.  Lack of visibility aside, Joe offered up Dream Home. No one seemed keen and, for myself, I have difficulty with the rather prim artwork. Joe's sales pitch that his daughters liked it didn't sway me. Instead we went for Team Play with Sam graciously not vetoing the choice. He is not a fan of the game and by the end he was thinking of variants.

Joe and Andy sped out of the blocks, looking to end the game quickly by finishing off some cheap and easy objectives. Sam and I went for the opposite: high scoring but difficult. Not that we had a great deal of choice, it was just what we were dealt. I ended the game with the same mission card in front of me that I started with.

Katy and Martin, the two doctors, also went for quality albeit a little more efficiently than Sam and I did. They won, despite having two fewer mission cards than Andy & Joe. Plus, their average points per mission was the same as ours.

Martin & Katy 20
Joe & Andy 19
Sam & Andrew 16

After this, we split into two groups of three. Sam finally got his introduction to Imhotep, along with fellow newbie Andy being taught the rules by Martin.

Aware that Ian would be arriving at some point, Katy, Joe and I went for a co-operative game, Colour Wheel from the games compendium Pyramid Arcade. I explained the tiny amount of rules and we were off. We didn't play in silence, and a couple of moves raised some eyebrows in puzzlement, but we refrained from telling each other outright what to do.

During this game, Ian arrived and he was quickly enrolled on to the wheel. Perhaps too quickly, as he stared, baffled at the multicoloured pyramids for a good couple of minutes before he passed, saying his brain wasn't up to speed yet. Then he sat down. For the first time this evening. Sorry, Ian. Should've given you time to at least get your feet under the table.

Finally, Colour Wheel came to a close, with all of us confidently saying it could be done in two moves. All of us except Joe, whose go it was.But despite the last minute pressure, we cleared the challenge with two moves to spare.

We win!

So,with Imhotep still mid-game, the four of us chose our main course for the evening: Manila. A lovely game. Perhaps one of my favourites, as I somewhat oversold it as the board game Grand Theft Auto. I was asked how and I said, well, you can deliver goods or be a pirate or...

Anyway, the game involves betting on the arrival (or non arrival) of boats laden with goods. And while dice make move them along, being the Harbour Master allows you to alter the starting position.

The bidding for this privilege was harsh. I think it never went for less than ten, and sometimes as much as twenty. Also pivotal was the pirate option. Ian took it twice, with no reward while my two attempts both ended in success.

Joe went for shares and played, as I recall, quite a sensible game. Apart from when he started babbling about selling his bum at the harbourside. Not sure what prompted that. Also we discussed the unit of measurement known as the fuck-ton, and decided it was probably equivalent to five shitloads.

Around this time, Imhotep ended. Sam's mid-game bout of analysis paralysis perhaps pointed to a difficulty with the game, but he wasn't too far behind. Martin, meanwhile, loses at Imhotep by one point again.

Andy 46
Martin 45
Sam 35

Then they played Eggs Of Ostrich. All I remember about this game is whenever I looked over, they were all playing the same card.

They played two rounds:

Martin 11
Andy 9
Sam 7

Sam 11
Martin 4
Andy 2

Then, while we four were still bickering about silk and ginseng, they began a game of Cottage Garden. This passed me by as I was deep in the grip of Manila-fever, trying to squeeze profits out of the final rounds.

In the end, I went for the pirate route and it came off dramatically. I got a whole boat to myself and steered it in to port. As the final count was made, Katy seemed confident. You can imagine her dismay at the final reckoning:

Joe 145
Andrew 143
Katy 132
Ian 72

Cottage Garden, too, ended about now.

Martin 57
Sam 53
Andy 46

So with all seven of us together, we decided on Fuji Flush to end the evening, accompanied by some whisky from Lidl served in hot glasses straight from the dishwasher. Katy also wanted to play Dead man's Chest, but when Joe went to get it, the lack of light meant the box he chose was actually Hanafuda. A great game, but only plays two.

Anyway, Martin wasn't keen on DMC, so we charged through three raucous rounds (maybe a bit too loud) of Fuji Flush. As an addition, I also kept track of those infamous Dick Moves, when a player ruins other players' chances of success by only a single point.

Andrew 0
Sam 1
Ian 1
Martin 3
Katy 3
Andy 3
Joe 3

In this round, we started with six cards each which Andy pointed out was wrong: for seven players it should be five. We were all stunned by the sight of Martin getting a rule wrong. Sam seemed happiest as he sat back in his chair and said “Welcome to the club, Martin.”

And then...

Katy 0
Andy 1
Joe 1
Martin 2
Sam 2
Ian 3
Andrew 3

And finally, what a finale! Four of us checked out at the same time by playing four 10 cards!

Sam 0
Martin 0
Katy 0
Andrew 0
Joe 1
Andy 1
Ian 1

Phew. And who played the most dick points across the three games?

A photo of a dick, mid-move

Katy 7
Joe 6
Andy 6
Sam 5
Martin 5
Ian 4
Andrew 1

Oh, Katy, you're so cruel. Good thing dick points aren't Leaderboard.

Talking of which, this week's Division is full of treats and surprises.

Let me just explain these new categories. In Best Sport, a player gets a point if they agree to play a game they're bad at (“bad at” defined as: their average score is only one half or less of the leader's score). Cup Upset is when a player who until now was especially bad at a game (average score one third or less of the leader's score) actually wins it. And Total Dominance is awarded to a player if a result pushes or maintains their average score at 80% or higher of the leader's score.

Just for the record, Martin's points in Total Dominance come almost exclusively from Eggs of Ostrich, but also from Imhotep too. Even though he hardly ever wins it. Ian's comes from Eggs of Ostrich. Joe's is from Manila. And Sam's comes from Fuji Flush and Rolling America.

And the Cup Upsets were: Katy (Eggs of Ostrich and Fuji Flush); me (Imhotep); Sam (Mamma Mia and Eggs of Ostrich); and Matt (both from Eggs of Ostrich)

Hmm, Eggs of Ostrich seems to be quite a swingy game.

Anyway, thanks all. It was a pleasure.

Woolly Thinking

With Andrew and Ian on their way to our semi-regular Thursday meet-ups; I texted Ian to ask what he fancied playing. He suggested A Feast for Odin or Covert. I began setting up the latter, but the background theme of the game - international hostility, nuclear proliferation - was actually making me feel nauseous. I packed it away until the point I am drunk enough to shrug off the existential angst, and set up the tetronimous Viking game instead.

I didn't take any photos of Feast last night, but this is Andrew's hand

This was Ian's first play, but he has of course experienced Rosenberg games before and knew what was coming. I talked him through the rules, and we were off!

Ian and Andrew both built boats early on. I was tempted to repeat the winning strategy of the last two games Andrew and I had been involved in, which meant a fleet of whaling boats. But there was more to explore so instead I tried getting animals early.

You have to hold your nerve when neighbouring vikings are sailing home from the sea with treasures and initially, all you have is a roll of wool. Slowly, my animals started generating more produce, but I felt slightly left behind in the early running, and never completely figured out this strategy.

Andrew and Ian regularly hunted, and occasionally pillaged. These involve die-rolling, which both of them felt the sharp end of, returning home with only a bow, or a snare. After initial success, Andrew swore to hum a Fountains of Wayne song whenever he rolled, but abandoned this promise with Trump-esque haste after a couple of low rolls.  I think I only rolled one die during the entire game. As the end neared and Andrew started building a shed, we realised he'd already filled up his home board! In a last-round scrabble for points, Ian and I emigrated, and I sheared some more sheep. It wasn't enough though: not only had Andrew filled his home board, he'd been accruing a hoard of silver that alone scored him 51 points!

Andrew 107
Sam 93
Ian 79

We packed away making approving noises, with Ian another convert to Feast.

It was relatively early, so we brought out an old favourite in Biblios. Andrew couldn't remember if the game played two, so Ian reminded him of the time he beat Andrew 18-0 and gained the as-yet-still-intact title of King Biblios.

sandwiches

His crown was never under threat from us, but I managed to regain the Mr Biblios title. The potential second-place decider of the final red die had a twist in the tail: none of us had a single red card! So  Andrew  Ian took second by virtue of the tie-breaker...

Sam 7
Ian 3
Andrew 3

There was talk of Push It to finish, but with Odin still fresh in our minds I thought Ian might enjoy Cottage Garden, which has a similar puzzley aspect to it without the plethora of choices. We bashed it out in just over half an hour - Ian took to it quickly, and despite his confession of drunkenness, only the bonuses for reaching the top of the score track first gave me the win:

Sam 61
Ian 58
Andrew 43

floral geometry

Another Thursday evening closed out in very pleasant manner!

Beds, pots, and hand grenades

Friday night, and after a week of slobbing on the sofa downing tea and satsumas, I (Sam) was ready for a bit of gaming. Fortunately Chris, Joe and Andrew were happy to join me, so at 8.15 I talked them through the relatively simple (still not simple enough for me to get one thing wrong) rules to Cottage Garden, Uwe Rosenberg's multi-player update on Patchwork.

making your bed

You're all planting flowers in your garden, and on your turn you either plant a flowerbed, or add a plant pot, your choices restricted according to the picking-up parameters of the game. When your garden is complete, you score it: moving an orange marker along a score track for plant pots, and a blue marker for cloches.

lying in it

It's very simple, albeit less combative and more gentle than its predecessor. I've been playing it over the holidays with the family and my previous experience helped me:

Sam 59
Joe 52
Chris 49
Andrew 47

With that sedate - yet thoughtful - experience out of the way, we broke out Joe's cardboard version of a shoot-em-up, Adrenaline. As some GNNers discovered at Christmascon, in this game you're racing around the place trying to shoot each other - but, being killed isn't that much of a big deal, and what's key here is partly how much damage you do to the each players, and the timing of your damage: first and last to wound someone (i.e. first blood, and kill-shot) are more valuable points-wise than firing a couple of rounds into them in-between.

bang bang

The choices are simple and the gameplay involves a bit of luck, but also a fair bit of tactics too, which I failed at miserably. Andrew managed to throw a furnace at the rest of us; Chris shot at me through two walls; but Joe seemed to time everything to perfection in a game where timing is everything:

Joe 38
Chris 31
Andrew 30
Sam 27

I don't like shoot-em-up video games personally, so this wasn't my cup of tea, but the others all enjoyed it and plan to play again.

We had time for a quick dice-roller to finish, so introduced Chris to Las Vegas, playing the spoiler-dice rule. He took to it pretty well:

Chris $440k
Andrew $410k
Joe $330k
Sam $280k

And with that, the first gaming week of 2017 came to a close...