Have a Knizia. Have a-knother Knizia

I arrived at Joe's studio after seven to find the evening in full swing. Joe, Andy, Sam, Katy and Anja were playing a boisterous game of Money, the first of many Reiner Knizia games to grace the table tonight. Before I’d even got my coat off, Katy told me she’d been winning but wasn’t anymore. I sat down to watch and was so comfortable that I didn't get up to answer the door despite me being the only one not participating. It ended

Katy 1420
Anja 1400
Sam 1380
Joe 1360
Andy 1350

A close game, but I especially enjoyed Joe saying “that’s what I want” when picking up his selection of cards. Money: that’s what I want. Get it?

Never mind. During this game, Martin arrived and introduced us to In Vino Morte. Very simple. Everyone is dealt a card face down which is either wine or poison. The dealer chooses who gets what. Then they can either drink and reveal the card instantly or, if they think the dealer slipped them a mickey, they can swap with someone else who hasn’t revealed yet. Once everyone has made a decision, everyone reveals what they’ve got. Continue until one is left alive.

We played twice. Sam seemed to have struck upon a clever bluff when he dealt to me, Martin and himself by saying “oh no, I fucked up” leaving us wondering how you could fuck it up. Anyway, I won that won by taking Martin’s card in the final round and giving him my poison. Round two, it ended with Katy versus Martin and Katy drank straight away and won.

We split into two. Joe, Katy and Andy played Tajuto. All I know about this was it took a long time for anyone to score any points.

Joe 13
Katy 8
Andy 8

The rest of us played Babylonia for another Kniz fix. I put down five farmers early on and leapt into the lead. Anja swooped in and grabbed farm tiles and then she was in the lead. Sam went big in cities and got the city bonus tile and before long he was in the lead. Martin cursed me for scoring a city that got Sam nine points when he could have completed it without it scoring at all. I was pleased with beating 100 points, but I looked forlornly at my 18 point move which would never be played since the penultimate city was scored and the game ended.

Sam 152
Martin 147
Anja 116
Andrew 110

Then two quick games of In Vino Morte where the final rounds were Martin beating me and then me beating Anja. Four games and I’d been in the final three times. Finally, a game other than Fuji Flush that I seem to be good at.

Anja left for home at this point so two new groups emerged. Tajuto with Joe, Sam and Martin and Downfall of Pompeii with Andy, Katy and me.

Pompeii began with the usual rules check regarding the set up. Then we populated and depopulated the doomed Roman city with abandon. I got what meeples I could to safety pretty early on, but couldn’t draw the necessary lava tiles to stop the other two.

Katy 13
Andy 11
Andrew 10

I didn’t follow Tajuto at all, apart from noting down that Joe’s heavy sigh of “Fucking finally!” at one point of the game.I guess his point scoring came even later than before.

Sam 15
Martin 14
Joe 4

Then they played Letter Press, which is a reworked Moveable Type or something.

Joe 25 (“Wrecking”)
Martin 19 (“Quizzed”)
Sam 17 (“Whites”)

And we played Keltis, the card game. This now means I’ve played all three types of Keltis. I feel like I should have a badge.

Andy 24
Katy 19
Andrew 18

Then, with the eleventh hour approaching and an offer of a lift from Sam, Katy and I jumped ship and everyone else called it a day, too. Thanks everyone. It was a gem.

Rome burned, onions wept

Seven gamers and Joe's kitchen table came together this week in a resounding crash of bonhomie and rivalry. Joe, Sam, Martin, Ian, Adam T, Katy and me were all seated by 7.30 and we began with all of us collaborating in a game of Belratti.

This Dixit-ish game of detecting conscious choices from random chance is a firm favourite but are we getting to good? Since discussing our choices is not allowed, Sam hit upon a method of giving his cards a percentage according to how good a match they were for one of the two targets. This was quickly adopted by all of us except Katy who refused to reduce her art to a mere number.

We did well but, also, we got lucky. We linked wasp to a clapperboard because they had stripes, only for Adam to tell us that the real link was B-Movie. Too smart for us. And despite a lengthy discussion as to what was better matched to mouth: bread or cigarette, we got it wrong. Bread should have gone with the other topic - tiger. Tiger bread, you see. Well done, Martin. Sorry we didn't get it.

Us 21
Belratti 6

Then we split into two groups. The Was Sticht gang (Joe, Ian, Adam and me) regrouped for another attempt at the wily trick taker while Katy, Martin and Sam sat around the card table for a feisty game of Senators.

Was Sticht started hesitantly, with Ian having to have two attempts at explaining who won which trick during the opening matrix stage. Then the game was remarkable for a large number of no trumps, and for round three when I dealt out no green cards at all in the first half of the matrix.

The game was much smoother this time, with Joe cleverly choosing his cards according to one of the criteria ("no tricks", "no green cards," etc) he needed to complete.

But I won again! Is this the game for me? It was close, though.

Andrew 3 plus 16 on the tiebreaker
Joe 3 plus 13
Ian 2
Adam 1

While we finished that, the card table gang finished Senators and two other games too. From what I can gather, Martin was in the lead and then saw a sudden collapse in support, followed by the third war ending the game in dramatic fashion.

Katy 11
Sam 10
Martin 9

They followed this up with Heul Doch Mau Mau. I don't know what variant they were playing but when Martin said "balls!" in frustration, Katy replied "hairy or shaved?" I didn't note Martin's answer but judging by the final score, his frustration can't have lasted long.

Martin 114
Katy 85
Sam 83

They also managed to squeeze in one round of the word game Handsome. Sam won.

Sam 3
Katy 1
Martin 1

Then there was a period of reshuffling, with four crossword wizards (Sam, Adam, Joe and Martin) going head to head over a game of Montage. Although Sam did apologize beforehand that anyone paired with him would lose.

I tried to listen in to make notes but the only clue I heard was "Donkey" and its answer was "Ass". But I'm sure the rest of the clues were brilliant.

Joe and Martin won!
Sam and Adam didn't.

The rest of us played Downfall of Pompeii, which needed a little rule refresher but was otherwise smooth sailing. We were a little surprised when the rules told us that the owner of the game should set everything up but, since Joe was already playing Montage, we struggled on without him.

It was a memorable game Katy who got one Omen card after another, allowing her to throw her opponents into the volcano. She ended with no meeples left to put on the board when, luckily, Vesuvius erupted. I wonder if I got the Relative Rule wrong but it was wrong for all of us, so never mind.

It was enormous fun pushing lava into the path of our opponents so they died a fiery death. Kathy's early advantage lead to her victor.

Katy 7
Ian 6
Andrew 5

Around this time Adam left and the remaining three bashed out a quick game of Eggs Of Ostrich to fill the time until Pompeii was covered in lava.

Martin 11
Joe 6
Sam 3

Then the six of us played Stinker. Winning entries that I managed to write down were...

Why is a good man hard to find? Polio Death (Ian)
What's under the Pope's hat? Courgettes (Joe)
The name of a fairy tale? Alana and the Bum (Martin)
How to tell someone they have bad breath? Smell toilet to compare. (Katy)

Don't recall the category for this one.

Martin 32
Joe 27
Katy 25
Sam 24
Andrew 11
Ian 9

Then Sam and Ian left, while the final four played on past the eleventh hour with a rousing game of Krass Kariert, the card game of no winners, just losers. We all lost one life in the four rounds that we played and so we called it a draw and went home rejoicing in our shared non-defeat.

I don't need a lava

This Tuesday evening saw yours truly back from travels and keen to get back on the gaming horse. Joe was hosting and Sam, Katy, Martin, and Ian were also present.

We began with a six-hander, Auf Teufel Komm Raus, a recent new arrival and already making waves as the new luck-pushing game of choice.

Ian found he had very little luck to push. He tried his best to throw caution to the wind, only for it to blow back in his face. "No reason for me to stop now," he said, hoping for a run of luck. He immediately turned over a devil tile.

After a disaster of a second round, he had to go all-in on round three. Luckily it paid off, and the Deal With The Devil rule (those solely in last place get money every time someone goes bust) he was pushed back into contention.

Less lucky in his dealings with the devil was Joe. On those rounds where he was last, the rest of us played safe and few went bust.

Sam successfully guesses what he's going to pull from the cauldron

Martin successfully campaigned against any tactic that would benefit Katy, convinced that she was about to win. "I promise you I'm not going to win." When Sam asked if that was a genuine promise, she clarified "this round."

The final result found that Martin had not lost his touch in hedging his bets.

Martin 1600
Katy 1420
Andrew 1370
Sam 1290
Ian 750
Joe 450

After this was, we split into two groups. Martin, Joe and Katy chose Capital Lux, a card game about which I know nothing. They set themselves up on the green baize card table and got down to work. Katy looked pleased with herself when Martin responded to her tactics by saying "that was the only card that could have fucked me." Katy's delight was to be short lived as Martin stole the win by the narrowest of margins.

Martin 68
Katy 67
Joe 63

Meanwhile, we on the big table decided on Downfall of Pompeii as a fun way to pass the time, despite its unpleasant theme.

The only thing we needed to be reminded of was how to set up the deck of cards. But with that fiddly bit of detail done, we were off, populating the doomed city with carefree abandon.

It was a close game but, then again, most games of Downfall of Pompeii are. It was all down to the tie breaker, based on the number of Romans in the volcano.

I drew the majority of the omen cards and Ian, it seems drew the rest. While we both tried to be very fair in alternating between attacking our opponents, it looks like we would invariably lean towards the more populous Sam. With no further tie breaker, Ian and I shared the victory.

Ian 9 (7 in the volcano)
Andrew 9 (7)
Sam 9 (12)

When we'd finished, we found Capital Lux only five minutes from completion so we cooled our heels and waited. I recognised the singer on the stereo and I asked Joe "Is this Jonathon Coulton?"

"Yes," Joe replied.

"He's being more serious than usual," I remarked, referring to the poignant lyrics.

"Not really," said Joe, "it's about a giant squid."

So now we were six. Games were suggested until we agreed on the plan to end with three short games.

The first was For Sale, the game that Sam always agrees to, thinking they mean No Thanks.

The cards 30 and 29 came out in the first round, meaning the tense stand off began early. Luckily for me, Martin cracked first and picked up the lowest card for free. This set off a series of people grabbing cards which ended with me getting the 29 for half price while my neighbour Katy paid for the 30 in full.

Having a 29 and most of your money left is a good way to start For Sale, and played it out with little to worry me.

Andrew 55
Ian 47
Joe 41
Katy 39
Sam 37
Martin 35

Next in our late evening trilogy was Bemused. It intrigues us with its opacity. What are the best tactics? Nobody knows.

Maybe Ian does. He was a deserved winner, dismissing Poet Sam with the words "No matter how hard you try, orange does not rhyme with fromage." A devastating barb, that no one could match.

Ian 7
Katy 6
Sam 5
Andrew 4
Martin 3
Joe 2

Finally we played Chameleon. A guessing game that involves spotting which player knows nothing. Kind of the opposite of Insider.

We played three rounds. In the first, Joe was successfully unmasked as the chameleon. Although afterwards, Katy said she had known nothing about the subject (Stuart Little) and was kind of bluffing.

The second round was geography. Ian was the chameleon, but he was able to correctly identify the target word: Mountain.

In the third round, Wedding Anniversaries, I worried that my word was too obvious. The target word was Paper and my clue was First (ie, the first wedding anniversary is paper). But most of our attention was taken by Joe, whose clue made no sense, but he insisted he wasn't the chameleon.

He also couldn't understand our clues and, as suspicion against him grew, he realised he'd misread the dice, thinking the 7 was a 1. But we checked our cards telling us which dice rolls indicated which word only to find that, either with a 1 or a 7, Joe should've got the same word. Joe then said he'd looked at the wrong word on the card. Yes, that's what had happened.

But just as Joe was doing a riveting performance of a man hell-bent on incriminating himself, Sam quietly opined that Ian's clue was pretty vague.

Ian had said "leaf" which I had thought perfectly reasonable and not given it a second thought. But Sam had noticed that "leaf" could apply to a number of words on the card. This sparked a revision of our suspicion and it was enough to sway people. I think I still voted for Joe, but Ian was the majority choice and he was indeed the chameleon. He couldn't even identify the word - he'd guessed Gold. So, a win for most of us to end the evening, thanks to Sam's keen eye.

We set off into the chill of the night. Next stop, the games weekend on Friday!

Mmm, capitalism

Tonight we numbered seven in total as we gathered around Sam's kitchen table: Martin, Ian, Katy, Andy, Joe, myself and, of course, Sam.

We began without any of the usual warm up group game, and immediately split into two groups: Sam, Andy and I played The Voyages of Marco Polo, while the others went for the Downfall if Pompeii.

Marco Polo may be a new arrival to GNN, but Andy has a fair amount of experience playing online. In fact, this was his first time playing the physical version.

At first, it looked like Andy and I had plans in motion, while Sam was bereft of goods and camels. This panicked him into making a number of high point scoring decisions, convinced that he'd be pegged back by our end of game bonuses. In fact, even when his score marker was on the other side of the board to ours, he was still predicting his own demise.

And although we did close the gap in the final round (Sam’s lead of 26 dropped to 15 by the end), it wasn't enough to catch him.

Sam 72
Andy 57
Andrew 51

In ancient Rome, it was the usual kerfuffle trying to get everyone out of Pompeii. There was a moment of excitement when it looked like the first six lava tiles would match each of the six different starting locations. But then Ian drew a duplicate and the moment passed.

In the end it was close. It usually is in Downfall Of Pompeii, but not this close.

Ian 8 saved, 10 in the volcano
Martin 8 saved, 11 in the volcano
Katy 8 saved, 12 in the volcano
Joe 7 saved

According to Martin we still appeared to be “balls deep” in Marco Polo (oh dear) so they began Marracash. Something to do with shops and top-heavy meeples. It was this game that caused Katy to ponder "Mmmm, capitalim" and so a blog title was born (although she insisted it was more like "grrr, capitalism")

Ian 5750
Martin 3750
Joe 3400
Katy 2350

By this time Marco Polo had ended and we three had chosen Take It Easy. The topics of our bingo-style callings were Magazines (from Sam), things about parapsychology (from me) and songs from a particular band that we had to identify (from Andy).

We each had a round in which we scored the least, only Sam’s least was much better than our leasts.

Sam 509
Andy 460
Andrew 443

We followed this up with a quick game of Dragon Run (very quick, with the dragon lurking near the top of the draw deck nearly every time). Poor old Sam went in looking for treasure, but came out with a handful of useless potions and some loose change.

Andy 18
Andrew 11
Sam 3

At this point they were totting up the final scores to Castle Crush. I hadn’t seen much, but I did witness Ian missing completely with one of his attempts on an enemy castle, and also Joe’s last castle getting hit and standing up fairly well, except that the two meeples it housed popped out of the back.

Martin 60
Joe 56
Katy 49
Ian 49

Martin was glad that he finally won a game, while Katy’s run of form for this evening left her feeling very unimpressed.

Since we were all together, we decided on one last game together: 6nimmt!

And what an epic it was. Lady Luck took turns in slapping each on of us in the face. “Spiral of Death” was very much the word of the game, as people succumbed to multiple beatings. After three rounds, no one had less than thirty-one points and there was just twelve points between the top six.

Joe triggered the end of the game in the next round and Ian amazingly snuck in for the win, ending his game with two clear rounds.

Ian 39
Andy 42
Andrew 50
Martin 55
Katy 60
Sam 72
Joe 77

And with that we were gone, out into the night air, with the taste of Apple Cake (thanks Sally) and the GNN whiskey (thanks Katy) still on our tongues.

Meanwhile, on the exciting Division, we see that no one has changed places except for Andy who has just edged ahead of Joe.

The Unforgettable Fire

First five, then six and finally seven eager gamers congregated at Joe’s house for this week’s leaderboard shenanigans.

We began as a five (me, Joe, Ian, Sam and Andy) with Kobayakawa. This betting game is simple but complex. I remained true to my strategy of (mostly) doing nothing, thus starving the other players of vital information. And it worked. Or, at least, I won the last round, which was enough to push me into first.

Andrew 13
Andy 8
Sam 7
Joe 0
Ian 0

During this game, Joe’s friend Andy arrived for his first experience of the GNN lifestyle. No doubt he was impressed by our skill at guessing what cards other people had, and was keen to get started himself, but first we had to wait for one more: Matt. Until he arrived, we chose two games and then Matt could decide which he wanted to join.

Joe, Ian and new Andy went for the Downfall of Pompeii while me, Sam and old Andy chose Pergamon. Both thematically linked in the sense that the events of one game may well have been what was being dug up in the other game.

Sam hadn’t played in a while, so he got a quick rule refresher, and he was out of the blocks very quickly, posting a long exhibition made up of stuff from the upper levels which, nevertheless scored highly and kept scoring points until the end of the game. I was cash-rich halfway through the game, but not at a time when there was much to dig up.

In the final round, both Sam and Andy had plenty of money for some frantic last minute buffing to get their exhibits as far up the score track as possible. At the final scores were totted up, Sam had done just enough to win, beating Andy by a single point.

Sam 36
Andy 35
Andrew 26

Meanwhile, in Ancient Rome, the final resting place that we archaeologists were desecrating ended:

Joe 9 (wins on tie-breaker)
Andy 9 (2nd on tie breaker)
Ian 9 (3rd on tie breaker)
Matt 7

Happily, the two games ended almost at the same time so we were able to join together for a rousing game of Incan Gold. Joe quickly explained the rules to Andy and we began in high spirits, only to be burnt badly by fire in the first temple.

Well, not everyone. Sam decided on a tactic of getting out the moment there was some treasure worth getting in the temple. Not so much Tomb Raider as Foyer Raider. It did well for him, though.

Meanwhile, in the second temple, for the second time fire was the disaster that ended the expedition. At least now, with two fire cards gone, we were all immune to fire! That was nice.

As for the game, Regular Andy only did well in one temple, but he did very well indeed, going it alone through corridors or treasure and artefacts. Matt managed to pick up a couple of artefacts, too. New Andy, though, just seemed to be jinxed, and ended the game empty handed.

Andy 30
Andrew 27
Sam 22
Matt 15
Ian 15
Joe 6
Andy 0

Joe was keen for one more game: 6nimmt. Sam decided his evening was at an end and, just like in Incan Gold, he was the first to bow out and go home. Us remaining six diced with lady fate in an hilarious game of 6nimmt.

It was new Andy’s first, and with six players it can be especially cruel as it seems very easy get get stuck in a spiral of doom, picking up cards every round. It happened at least once to everyone called Andrew who played, but it happened most often to the least experienced one and it ended with him being the first player to hit triple figures. He made history in his first evening at GNN! Ian, meanwhile, got two clear rounds on his way to an impressively easy win.

Ian 20
Andy 39
Joe 44
Andrew 62
Matt 70
New Andy 106

On the Division, Ian clings on to top spot and Andy takes the medal table.

World War II - the short version

With Martin unusually absent due to a cough and a cold, and Adam unusually present, we were six at mine (Joe's) last night, with Katy expected later.

I seized the opportunity to offer up Quartermaster General, the crazy game of World War II in 90 minutes. It's a team game, with three players playing the allies - UK, US and Soviets - and three the axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. Although it can be played with fewer players taking on multiple roles, it plays best - and quickest - with a full six.

Last week, Andrew was last to arrive, and found himself being dealt in to a game of Pairs, much to his consternation. This week he was last again, and we upped the ante somewhat by dealing him in as the Germans in WWII. This may have coloured his appreciation of the game to follow.

Play is extremely simple, with each power having a small number of tanks and ships that gradually spread out from their home territory. Each turn, you play a single card, check all your units are in supply, score points for your side and discard/draw cards. The snag is that once your draw deck is depleted you get no more cards, so it's important not to rush through it. Added to that, some of the powers have fewer cards to start with.

Europe after turn 1 - (not our game!) from BGG user Noah Sheola

The game lasts 20 rounds, but either side can win instantly if they control two enemy home spaces, or score 400 points. As we began, the axis took an early but delicate lead thanks to Germany's occupation of Western Europe, scoring four points per turn to most other players two. Ian, as Italy, played some useful status cards which bolstered the axis scores each turn. Uk and Russia got stuck in in Europe, with the UK also creating supply bases in India and Australia. The US hung back, for want of build army cards, and surveyed the growing number of Sam's Japanese ships in the Pacific.

However, we realised that most of the Japanese navy were out of supply, and had to be dismantled, which allowed me, as the US, to steam in and 'occupy' the Western United States. An unorthodox approach, perhaps, but the midwest is crawling with rattlesnakes and bears - much better to travel by sea.

By the middle of the game, Germany were squished in Europe, not getting anywhere - the Allies had the upper hand, with UK scoring 8 points a turn; Japan was playing many mysterious face down response cards but cursing the lack of build army cards, and Italy was valiantly keeping the Axis end up.

We got to I think round 14, and Sam's Japan was about ready to pounce (I think), but the Allies managed to clear out Italy and Germany, and I played a card that let me redeploy all my armies, so we occupied both for the instant win.

I really enjoyed it, but it was perhaps a touch anodyne - there wasn't a huge amount of tension or intrigue. I do think that once you get to know the decks that would change, as you know what your opponents are capable of and can try to outwit each other. Sam said he'd be prepared to play again but would rather not play as the Japanese. Andrew hated it - something about cards and war not mixing - he'll have to explain.

I'd love to play again - it's always nice to have viable 6 player options, even if, as a team game, they mess with the leaderboard.

At the risk of damning it with faint praise, it certainly played fast. We were done and dusted by 9.20, and Katy had arrived, so we split into a three and a four, and Sam, Katy, Ian and Andrew played Pompeii, whilst Adam, Andrew and I played Through the Desert.

It may have been Adam's first game, but he got the measure of it pretty quickly, not side-tracked by the pretty pastel camels. I made poor choices with my caravan leaders, and found a couple fairly shut out form the start. It was a quick game, and a two-horse race by the end, with Andy just pipping Adam to the win. I lagged behind in third.

I do love me some pastel camels (not our game, but at least the pic is by me)

Pompeii finished at exactly the same moment, and Sam called it a night - the remaining six of us tried out my print-and-play copy of Spyfall. It's a simple game of trying to root out the spy amongst you - all players have a card showing a single location, except the spy, who doesn't know where you all are. Players ask each other questions, trying to ascertain who knows the location, with giving it away. Because as soon as the spy has worked out what the location is they win. Unless they can be unmasked first.

Dead simple, and very clever - I think we played three rounds; a good way to end the evening, but again non-leaderboard, I suppose.

A great evening, good to play a few different games too - a team war(ish) game, some regular Euro-fare and a deduction/party game too. Thanks all for coming, let's play again soon.

BTW there's an interesting post on BGG regarding playing the Japanese in QG. It seems there's a fairly key rule we may not have explored which allows for some more creative play - you're allowed to battle an empty space. So if you have a response or status card that is triggered by battling in China, you can do so even of there's no one there to trigger your cards. A bit gamey perhaps, but pretty useful.

Eclipse round the ear

Tuesday evening, mid October. Time for games.

Today we were six: Myself, Adam, Joe, Sam, Gonz and Quentin, who’d brought Eclipse with me. Well, when I saw that game on the table, my decision was made. It was time to go back to the stars!

Amazingly, people weren’t keen on my suggestion of six player Eclipse, so Joe, Sam and Gonz went into the other room to play something lighter and more fun, and they refused to take the twiglets with them. Adam, brave man that he is, was plunged headlong into a set of rules that, at first, make little sense even when explained patiently by Quentin.

We began, and Adam began by exploring the less risk/less reward III hexagons. I got a couple of lucky planets and ended up with lots of money coming in, allowing me to build up my fleet. Quentin sent his brave Interceptors into battle, only to see them shot to pieces by the implacable alien forces.

In fact, Quentin found himself stuck behind two alien sectors, unable to expand because Adam had taken most of the III hexagons. Instead, he busied himself in making his area as full of victory points as possible. I went for the big prize in the middle: The Alien HQ in the centre of the board! But by chance, Adam also wanted to have a go, too, and arrived at the same time. We we duty bound to fight it out amongst ourselves first.

What could have been a mighty and epic battle was over rather quickly, as luck favoured me and I shot down his two dreadnoughts. And if that wasn’t anti-climax enough, then I wiped out the alien base in one go. We stared at my collection of fives and sixes in stunned silence, before I took the spoils of (a very short) war.

By this time, the we were into the last round, and we tried to get as many victory points as possible. I went exploring, hoping to find more aliens to kill. Adam levelled up his technology and Quentin built a monolith.

Then, we added up the scores, and I’d won: Andrew 34; Adam 33; Quentin 33. But then Adam changed his last move, giving him the win: Adam 35; Andrew 34; Quentin 33. At the time I was so caught up in the excitement of a close result that it didn’t occur to me: You’re not allowed to take back your last go after the results are in. Maybe I’m being over-sensitive about this, but at least I should’ve got to change my last go too (which would’ve given me a win). Any thoughts? I’ll hold back on doing the leaderboard until it’s settled.

[EDIT] Joe has spoken. Adam's win stands.

Adam 35
Andrew 34
Quentin 33

In the other room, they played Kingdom Builder first.

Gonz 83
Joe 58
Sam 45

And followed it up with Downfall of Pompeii:

Joe 12 (fewest in the volcano)
Gonz 12
Sam 11

Hopefully, they'll fill us in with the details soon.

						Points
Adam	1	2	1	1	1	6
Gonz	2	1	1	1	2	7
Joe	1	2	1	2	3	9
Sam	3	3	3	2	1	12
Andrew	2	2	3	3	4	14
Quentin	3	5	5	5	5	23

Girls, girls, girls

Three of them! At a games night! Tonight Joe found he was babysitting his own kids while his wife was away, and so he decided that a game of Long Shot with his charming offspring along with his charming off-centre friends would be an ideal evening.

Long Shot is a horse racing game, in which ten horses race around a track spurred on by dice and action cards. We bet on them, and buy them, and hope that our choices earn us money in the end because in this game: prizes makes places.

There were six of us around the table. Me, Will, Bea, Martha, Matilda and Joe. Dice were rolled and horses slowly edge their way around the oval track. It was a lot of fun, and the interaction between cards and dice is nicely done. Obviously you end up supporting your own horse, but the ability to bet means you inevitably end up helping your opponents.

The dice were not kind to Matilda who found herself on the receiving end of having to give away a card four times. Although once she did convince her youngest sister to take a card that she herself chose, which is strictly against the rules of the game, even if it follows the rules of sibling rivalry.

It went on for quite a while, and I started to suffer a case of the Pax Porfirianas, in which I had a card which would have been sensible to play, but also would have extended the game, so I didn't. Quite a lot of the delay was caused by the Berger clan who, like a genteel Marx Brothers, caused havoc by accidentally throwing mini-cornettos across the room, inventing new things that the action cards say, and generally needing encouragement to concentrate on the game by their father.

Towards the end the youngest sister went to get ready for bed because she was getting bored, so Sam (who'd turned up mid-game) took over her place. For someone who didn't know the rules, and whose horse was a long way back, I'd say he coped quite well.

In the end, it was horse number eight that came in first. It belonged to Bea, who also had the foresight to bet on it heavily. I spread my bets across the leaders, plus my horse made its fifty dollar bonus by coming in third. This gave us first and second respectively. Will tried his best by spoiling other people's races, and Matilda had a hand of cards that got her money, but didn't move her horse. Not sure what Joe was doing. Maybe he was distracted by something.

Bea 390
Andrew 350
Will 270
Matilda 265
Martha/Sam 205
Joe 155

After this, the young section of the group went to bed and the four of us set up something a little more mature and thoughtful. The Downfall of Pompeii! What could be more fun that throwing your opponents into a volcano while darting between streams of lava?

Joe explained the rules to Will, and he picked them up pretty sharpish. He even encouraged us to chuck his meeples into the volcano, if he thought it was the most sensible move for us.

Sam 9
Will 8 (wins second on tie-breaker)
Andrew 8
Joe 7

After this, with neither Adam nor Steve present, we broke out the High Society, like recovering alcoholics having a swift one while no one was watching. It may be a love or hate thing, but Reiner Knizia's cunningly structured game of bidding and hoping on the next card is a tiny classic. Will took the first game by a country mile.

Will 22
Sam 11
Andrew 7.5
Joe BUST!

After this, Sam had to go home and Will, Joe and I played one last game. Once again, Will played like a master. Towards the end, he was left with one card and was cursing his luck, so we thought he was left with a mere one million or something. In the end, he had the $25m card left, which mean that first-placed Joe suddenly crashed out of the game.

Will 12 (wins on tie breaker)
Andrew 12
Joe BUST!

Was Long Shot leaderboard? Anyway, it's Joe's turn to suffer an evening of last places, which hits him hard. Will makes an impressive entrance.

						Points
Steve	1	1	2	2	4	10
Andrew	2	3	2	1	3	11
Hannah	4	1	1	2	3	11
Anja	4	2	1	2	2	11
Sam	2	1	4	4	1	12
Adam	2	2	3	2	4	13
Will	1	1	2	5	5	14
Joe	3	4	4	3	1	15
Jon	3	5	1	5	5	19
Quentin	1	5	5	5	5	21

Infamy, Infamy

Last night was mine and Sally's overdue rematch with Mark and Katie, Hotwell-dwelling gamers. There was cheese and wine, and smarties, and the catch up on all things family, including the current commodity of choice in our respective homes (sleep at ours, egg ownership at theirs). Then we broke out the cardboard.

I'd taken along Pompeii, Ra and Stone Age as options. I'd assumed as Sally had played it last week Ra might appeal to her in a non-rules-learning fashion, but she pooh-poohed it like the seasoned gamer she pretends not to be. Nobody fancied Stone Age, so after Carcassone was ruled out we set up The Downfall of Pompeii.

I think all GNNers have played this by now, but for anyone who's missed out: the first half of the game sees players repopulating the city of Pompeii after the earthquake of 62AD, and the second half comes after Vesuvius erupts in 79AD, when your families have to come scurrying out again. Apparently Klaus-Jurgen Wrede is planning a sequel where fascists chase you into Naples before the Allies drop bombs on you for four years.

We went through the rules and started quickly. What's nice about Pompeii is it's so easy to pick up, yet as we all noted it wears it's theme very well. Certainly Sally went through a roller-coaster of emotions, unable to decide if the lava raining down on us all was thrilling, or if it made her sad.

Some people strayed too close to the heat

I did well in the card stage, getting heaps of relations on the board that even the serial chucking of them into the volcano by the others couldn't halt. Katie fared poorly in contrast, and when Vesuvius erupted she still had plenty of family who hadn't made the post-quake return to the city.

It was now time to get out. Having a big presence on the board made me a likely target for any sentient lava, so I made an early decision to get out fast, without thinking about who to move too much. I reckoned that any thinking would be undone by A. giving away what I was planning and B. the lava tiles being so unpredictable. Sally and Katie both had issues with family members being wiped out in the chaos, during which I was unpalatably compared to an Guantanomo Bay guard.

Mark's yellow family run out of time

Mark meanwhile was doing what I'd done the last time I'd played Pompeii - amassing family by the gates. My undoing in that system was the lava tiles - in Mark's case though he unfortunately ran out of time, as the one completely nonsensical element to the game (no more lava = survivors in the city all perish) kicked in:

Sam 11
Katie 9
Mark 8
Sally 7

So no ties to resolve, but we looked in the volcano for carcasses anyway, and discovered that despite my many sacrificial lambs during repopulation, it was Sally who had suffered worst at the hands of the lava, possibly due to what she described as cardboard karma. A good game though, and a very nice evening.

On the occasional KMSS form table Mark hangs on to top spot, but I jump from 4th to second. Katie's impressive second place from a lowly presence on the board sees her stay ahead of Sally.

KMSS						Points
Mark		3	2	2	1	8
Sam		1	3	3	2	9
Katie		2	4	1	3	10
Sally		4	2	4	1	11

Batteries recharged

After the deflating experience of Stabcon, we convened at Joe's for the regular games night. At first it was the core four, me, Adam, Joe and Sam. Despite feeling jaded after the convention, we discovered that each of us had played board games in the time since we'd last met. Perhaps there's still life in this hobby yet.

While we waited for Steve and Anja to arrive we decided to play a game that Anja would never agree to if she was here: 6nimmt. This simple game of card placement has a winning strategy just as enigmatic as Biblios, but is funnier. We ended the game after the round when our two companions arrived, all rosy-cheeked and fresh from the winter air.

The most confusing cards on 6nimmt

Adam 42
Joe 48
Andrew 55
Sam 60

The sad news is that this is the last Tuesday for Steve and Anja, since pre-natal classes start next week. We all hope they'll be able to make the extra-curricular games nights that will crop up now and again.

We split into two groups: a game of four and a game of two (now that I've devised a two-player leaderboard, more of which later). Adam and Joe played two games of Aton while Sam, Anja, Steve and I played Downfall of Pompeii: The game of populating a doomed city and laughing at everyone's untimely demise. Sam explained the rules to Anja and Steve.

During this game, disaster struck. Not the volcano, a proper disaster. I knocked over my bottle of Bishop's Finger, and although the spillage wasn't great, there was a minute or so of holding the board gingerly off the table so the meeples didn't slip while some quick mopping was done. And on Joe's lovely green baize, too.

It's not a game for people who hold grudges, and sitting next to Anja, I was acutely aware of her barely disguised snorts of disgust whenever I chose one of her meeples to put in the volcano. However, it was Sam who was most picked on, and he came out the worst in the final count, with least escapees and most of his relatives in Vesuvius.

Steve 10
Andrew 9
Anja 8
Sam 6

During this time, Adam and Joe had played Aton twice. In the first game Adam won an "absolute victory", while Joe pipped Adam in the rematch.

Adam wins!
Joe didn't

Joe 42
Adam 35

Finally, with Stave and Anja's time on the car club running out, we decided on a quick game of Coup. This, too, was new to Anja and Steve but they seemed to catch on soon enough. Well, at least Anja did. We played one game, during which Steve extended their time with the club car. That makes me feel a little bad about being the one to kill him off first... but not that bad.

1. Sam
2. Anja
3. Adam
4. Andrew
5. Joe
6. Steve

Oh Captain, my Captain!

Then, since Steve had extended the time on the club car, they decided they had enough time for one more game of Coup. Unfortunately, since Anja was doing so well, they had to extend again. If there was a category on the leaderboard for most money spent during a game, I'm sure Steve and Anja would be top.

However, Anja was not to be victorious. I'm not one to boast, but I'm quite proud of the way I played a hand which would usually be considered the weakest: Two Contessas (who do nothing except stop assassinations). After the first (and only other) Contessa was revealed early on, I started to act as if I had an assassin. Since I knew they couldn't possibly have a Contessa, I felt confident and that confidence made a difference. As long as I made sure no one got enough money, I could assassinate with impunity and I ran out quite a comfortable winner.

1. Andrew
2. Anja
3. Joe
4. Steve
5. Adam
6. Sam

So the evening ended with our faith in board games reaffirmed. Sam takes a tumble on the Form Table, and Steve's season is still to get started.

						Points
Andrew	1	4	2	3	1	11
Adam	5	3	2	1	1	12
Joe	3	5	1	2	2	13
Anja	2	2	3	2	5	14
Sam	6	1	4	4	3	18
Steve	4	6	1	5	5	21

Meanwhile, there's the business of a two-player form table to sort out. It's always been a bother that the good people of Bracknell have not been able to pit their wits against ours, but now I've gone some of the way to put that right. The two-player system uses the same system as The Division, but it needs a third player to make it work. If the game is new, then an average score from the first session report that I find on Board Game Geek is used as a dummy player. If it's been played before then the previous scores of the player(s) act as a third (or even fourth) dummy player. So, make sure you improve on your last performance or else you may up with less than bronze in a two-player game!

This is how it stands to date...

With the most recent report from Bracknell being a three-player session, maybe those can be added onto the The Division as normal.

Farewell Stabcon

Three years ago, Sam had the idea of going to Stabcon as a means of doing some research for a sitcom we were working on. This year, on Saturday evening, as we drove down dark country lanes following the tail lights of a famous games designer on our way to the pub, we realised we'd become that sitcom.

We (Sam, Joe, Adam and I) set off on Friday, keen and eager. We arrived after a pleasant drive, stopping off for food at a service station famous for its ducks. We didn't see any, though. However, once at the Britannia, early signs weren't good. Behind us in the queue to check in was a man who smelt quite strongly of piss. He made idle chat with us during a hold up at reception, and I held my breath and nodded non-committally.

We then set up in the hall, and started to play. Downfall of Pompeii was first, as it encourages back-stabbing and betrayal in a light-hearted and amusing way. We followed that up with a new game, Singapore, which is a lot of worker placement and resource conversion. Nice, but not earth-moving. Joe did manage to miss his mouth with a crisp twice in succession, though.

Downfall of Pompeii
Joe 9
Sam 8
Adam 7
Andrew 5

Early days, empty tables...

Singapore
Adam 79
Sam 74
Andrew 60
Joe 42

Then we thought perhaps we should mingle a bit, but time was getting on and we'd be going to eat soon. Adam played on the internet, because he was in the middle of a game and it's rude to keep people waiting.

Not ostracised, just playing Civ.

Joe taught Sam Elk Fest, a flicking game where your have to get your tiny wooden elk across the table on stepping stones. And then we played Biblios. We spiced it up by rolling the dice before we began, meaning each dice started with a random value. We play hard and fast in Stabcon.

Beer, butter and elks

Following that, we went to the carvery, and a very nice man found us a table while we stood at the bar and drank the beer made by (?) the band Elbow. During the meal, we discussed what we wanted to play next so when we got back to the Hotel, we were all geared up to play Africana. It was Adam's first attempt at this game which involves doing laps up and down Africa while picking up adventures and treasures along the way.

Africana
Andrew 41
Adam 38
Joe 36
Sam 34

Then we took another break and wandered around for a while. After that, Sam and Adam played Elk Fest while Joe taught me Traders of Carthage.

Then eleven o'clock rolled around and we thought it was too late to mingle, so we broke out the Tinners' Trail – a game we knew and loved. Halfway through, Cuz from Area 51 came over to see if we wanted to join in a game of The Resistance. We were too far in to stop, so we declined, and he seemed disappointed that we were only playing amongst ourselves.

Tin-mining in Joe's forehead? Anyone? It's quite dry . . .

Tinners' Trail
Sam 96
Adam 92
Andrew 75
Joe 66

That was the end of Friday. On Saturday, after breakfast, a shower and a shave I was walking towards the games hall when I met Sam who told me we were about to play test a new Martin Wallace game! This is what Stabcon is all about! I was very excited that we four humble gamers would be in on the ground floor of designing a game. The game, Northern Empires, is set in a mythical Britain where the humans battle each other, calling for help from elves, goblins, giants, etc and even help from other players.

Martin planned it as mostly a bidding game, but I like to think we added something with our plotting and bluffing. We certainly added to the running time, since Martin thought the first round was too long, and in the second round he removed a lot of the bidding and negotiation. It wasn't as much fun, and also there wasn't much reason to help each other unless you had nothing better to do with your troops. Some nice ideas, though, and Martin seemed happy that he'd learnt how to improve it.

Northern Empires
Joe 58
Adam 52
Martin 51
Sam 47
Andrew 41

After a quick bout of Elk Fest, Sam went off to do some paperwork from his job, and Adam, Joe and I proudly rolled out Joe's green felt Pax Porfiriana playing area and sat down to revolutionise Mexico! We got a few admiring glances, but we were mostly too busy trying to plough through Pax's dense forest of rules and text dressed up as a card game.

Sam came back, and we didn't seem to be anywhere near finishing. Adam tried to topple the government and I almost let him, but I couldn't just let him win because we were tired so I played a card to see off his revolt. Joe happily said "I think I can end this game!" The fact he said "end" instead of "win" gives a good idea of our priorities at that point. Shortly afterwards, Adam did win and we couldn't do anything to stop him even if we wanted to. And we didn't really.

How we felt after playing Pax Porfiriana

After two pretty full-on gaming experiences, my brain was frazzled. Certainly too tired to do any socialising. Instead we dug out Manila, the jolly game of betting and piracy, and followed that up with Arkadia. Joe thought that the theme was a bit tacked on, and it was really just an abstract game with a historical lick of paint.

Manila
Sam 142
Joe 138
Adam 108
Andrew 104

Arkadia
Adam 79
Andrew 73
Sam 72
Joe 56

After this was a series of quick two-player games, mostly against each other, with one other passer-by playing against Sam at Elk Fest. Joe taught me Battle for Hill 218, and Adam taught Sam Mr Jack in New York.

We also played what was, for me, the best new game of the Con (not that I played many), Hana-bi. In this game, each player had four cards held out so the others can see them. You are then allowed to give your fellow players information about what cards they have in their hands (either colour, or number, both not both at the same time). The idea is to lay down the hands in numerical order. It's quite a test of memory.

Joe successfully traded a green jelly baby for a Nurofen.

The reason for this sudden run of short games is because we were waiting to leave the hotel to have dinner with Martin Wallace. He really wanted to speak to Joe about some work he may have, but the rest of us managed to be invited too. He said he knew a nice gastro-pub near here, and that's why the four of us were heading down unfamiliar roads following a man in his car just because he designed games.

The pub he had in mind was too full, but the pub across the road wasn't, and luckily the food there was pretty good. We discussed games and no one said anything crass or embarrassing, so all in all a very nice evening. Martin then went home, so we relied on Adam's GPS to get us back to the hotel.

At the hotel, we played Railways of Mexico, where I eschewed the more sensible tactic of short tracks bringing in quick profit and instead went up to my eyeballs in debt building a cross-mountain railway because it looked nice. Meanwhile, the tense rivalry between Joe and Adam concerning this game continued unabated.

Railways of Mexico
Adam 47
Joe 46
Sam 27
Andrew 22

We ended the day with Hana-bi, using the tone of our voices to indicate if a card was good or bad and, my, what acting skills we have! Didn't complete it, though. Then we played Biblios and No Thanks and went to bed.

Sunday morning rolled around and Joe and I were up nice and early. While we had breakfast, Joe dropped a bombshell. He and Adam hadn't gone to bed at 12.30 like Sam and I. Instead they tried the two-player version of Le Harve, thinking it was a quickish half-hour simplified version of the 3+ player version. But it took them up until two o'clock to finish and Joe didn't seem keen on repeating the experience.

After breakfast we found ourselves in a deserted games hall. We played some Traders of Carthage, and Sam and Adam, when they arrived, battled again over Elk Fest. Then Joe got invited to play Pax Porfiriana with Martin Wallace and a couple of others. Adam, Sam and I rather cruelly chose a game to try and make Joe jealous, so we broke out Brass. With departure time in a couple of hours, this would be our last game of the Con.

Adam gave Sam a quick refresher of the rules which extended quite a long way into the game, and I think everyone consulted the rule book a couple of times during the game. I decided this was to be my last try on the Shipyard tactic, and I really went for it, building three and selling a fair amount of cotton to ports, too. Did no good.

Brass
Adam 205
Sam 164
Andrew 161


After we finished, and Joe came back from playing Pax, we packed up since we were already behind our schedule. Once back in the car, we mused thoughtfully about our lack of socialising. While it was nice to play so many games, if we weren't going to mingle, there really was no point in driving all the way to a hotel in Stockport to do it. Perhaps it was simply too close to the festive season this year. After festivities with families and friends, did we really need more festivities? And the level of nerdiness seemed a little higher than usual. Joe told me how twice he'd said "hello" to people and they'd just stared back at him.

While games conventions are great, we may have to reconsider next year's trip. If we're being honest, the timing's wrong, the location's wrong and I don't like the carpet. Perhaps we will feel different next year. We shall see.

The final Olympic style leaderboard includes all the little games we played, and it's hat's off to Adam, who came top of the pile!

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Adam	9	5	2
Sam	5	9	3
Joe	5	7	2
Andrew	4	3	4

Maybe Beeching had a point

A new season, a new game. Last Train to Wensleydale finally took it's place on the hallowed tabletop of GNN. None of us were familiar with it, but we were prepared for a few hours in the company of a challenging Martin Wallace game we'd never played before.

Host Joe talked us (me, Sam, Adam) through the rules. In this game, the point is to build railways across dales and through valleys in order to deliver stone and cheese and serve passengers. However, in doing so, you leave a trail of unprofitable railways behind you that you have to sell off to the local council. We played as we read the rules for each phase, which meant that we weren't really sure of our targets at each stage. And Adam wasn't yellow. That was really confusing.

At the end of round one, after much fiddly adjusting of counters on so many sliding scales it looked like something used to produce a Pink Floyd album, we found ourselves a quarter of the way into the game without much more of an idea about what to do next. I was in the lead, simply because I was lucky enough to choose the option that no one else chose. I went into the expensive valleys looking for stone, while the other three ran into each other on the plains, searching for cheese.

By the end of round two, people were glancing at the clock and thinking if we stopped now, we could play something else. And so it was that the game was curtailed, with me in a commanding lead, and the other three separated only by their railways companies' profitability.

Andrew 18
Joe 9 (profit -2)
Adam 9 (profit -3)
Sam 9 (profit -4)

I think I liked it, but I think I was in the minority. Maybe that's because I got a little bit of the board to myself. Or maybe I'm more forgiving of Martin Wallace's self-indulgance. To maintain the Pink Floyd theme, if Tinners' Trail is Dark Side of the Moon, and Brass is Wish You Were Here, then Last Train... is Ummagumma. The over-ambitious one that never quite fulfils its promise.

After this, we used Adam's Spin The Bottle app to chose between three games: Ticket to Ride, Seven Wonders or Downfall of Pompeii. It chose Pompeii, so we set it up and had a quick run through of the rules.

Then we set about populating a doomed city, mostly with our own relatives apparently, before Vesuvius erupted and we all panicked and ran to the exits. A sort of board game version of shouting "Fire!" in a crowded theatre. Oh, what fun we had, sending our opponents' meeples into the tiny plastic volcano of doom while trying to guide our own meeples to safety. In the end, Sam was the winner, with the last three of us relying on the tie-breaker rule of "least dead".

1. Sam 8 survivors
2. Adam 7 survivors (6 dead)
3= Andrew 7 survivors (8 dead)
3= Joe 7 survivors (8 dead)

Ah, the thrill of a season's opening fixture! Only slightly dampened by Last Train's inscrutable opacity. Mmm, I like those words.

In the meantime, the tiny form table looks like this...

						Points
Andrew	3	1	5	5	5	19
Sam	1	4	5	5	5	20
Adam	2	3	5	5	5	20
Joe	3	2	5	5	5	20