Chippencon!

Friday

With Paul J the quiet instigator of the idea, the old London branch of GNN coalesced this weekend at Chris's house in Chippenham: as well as the host, Paul J and myself there was Paul H for the duration, Stuart on Friday night and then Andrew on Saturday. 

But all this was ahead of us as I arrived at midday on Friday and after catching up with Jacquie and the kids, Chris and I shot off to collect Paul J from the station. Then after a second-wave newsbeat, we started gaming! We kicked things off with Babylonia, new to both Paul and Chris but a relatively easy teach. 

We played slightly too open, having the full board instead of the slightly condensed one for three, but that made it an easier learning game:

Sam 149

Chris 147

Paul 99

And now familiar with it, both were enthusiastic for another crack.

My long and arduous master-and-apprentice defeats at the hands of Martin stood me in good stead once more:

Sam 123

Paul 99

Chris 96

Lovely to find two more converts! We moved on to Sushi Go, the game of card-drafting Japanese foodstuffs. Owing to a misunderstanding over chopsticks, I ruled myself out of contention after round one, but it's not exactly a grind.

Paul 72

Chris 59

Sam 46

 Paul began a four-game winning run here, following his Sushi Go triumph with victories in Alhambra:

Kingdomino...

And Kingdom Builder.

Chris was appalled to finish third in every instance, voicing aloud his regret at the very idea of Chippencon. Things didn't improve immediately for him when Paul H arrived, as we kicked off with Tournament Raj and despite a huge last-round haul, he still finished last. Paul J and I slugged it out for first place, but he shrugged me off to claim a fifth victory in a row!

Paul J 60

Sam 51

Paul 45

Chris 33

With tea consumed - thank you Chris and Jacquie - and Stuart freshly arrived, we fancied something a bit feistier now, and so I talked them through the rules of Hansa Teutonica. 

Despite my encouragements to get sabotaging. everyone was very polite at the start and the first couple of rounds were slightly after-you-sir. But soon enough we were getting in each other's way and the cussing ramped up slightly. The initial sense of being hobbled by two actions fell away as we proliferated across the board and engines kicked into gear. 

After an hour of cross-postal interference, Stuart leapt from an innocuous fourth place into joint first with Chris, and I couldn't quite catch them. We checked the rules for a tie-breaker and Chris' fewer actions-per-turn won him the game!

Chris 38 wins tiebreaker 

Stuart 38

Sam 37

Paul H 29

Paul J 25

Now into the meat of the evening, we debated our five-player options. Paul J was understandably reluctant to learn another set of rules at this point, so we alighted on Istanbul, needing a mostly-fringe-area refreshment on rules. I forgot to take any photos at this point, but suffice to say Paul H was now warmed-up and moved through the gears to wrap up a relatively straightforward win, grabbing his fifth gem with the rest of us at least two turns away from doing likewise:

Paul H five gems!!!!

Sam  4 gems 31 cash 

Paul J 4 gems 6 cash

Stuart 4 gems 1 cash 

Chris 3 gems 13 cash 

The hour was getting late so with the request for something 'silly' I suggested Block Party.

Although this meant another set of rules, the fact they only take about 45 seconds to explain meant we were off and running quickly. And Chris made a banana. 

"I tried to bend it" he cried, but it mattered not: Stuart identified it. I guessed Paul H's spider and he saw the fire engine in my creation. We all ran the highs and lows of emotions - my milk bottle was alleged to be a snowman, a mountain, and an igloo - but ultimately the last game of the night saw Chris triumph:

Chris 11

Sam 10

Paul and Paul 8

Stuart 7

Saturday

I surfaced at around 8.15 to an extremely muggy day. We threw opens doors and windows to try and get some air into the house. Chester enjoyed having all these access points to the house. 

As well as the visiting articles to investigate. 

After breakfast, Jacquie liked the idea of trying out Block Party, so we did. Despite some creative performance anxiety, her debut creation was this beautiful pineapple:

However despite a frankly shambolic attempt at a door (in dubious colour choices of grey and pink) Chris triumphed again. I lost track of where Jacquie, Paul J and I finished.

Apart from that intense Block Party workout it was a fairly lazy morning. Paul H returned at 11am and while Chris prepped the chilli for later, he talked Paul J and I through the workings of Imhotep.

I think I played this about eight years ago, and I found it's piece-of-string machinations just as opaque this time, as players choose whether to add cubes to boats, or sail a full-enough boat to one of several possible destinations. It's fun, but I am really awful at judging anything being a good decision, and my focus on building a massive Burial Chamber didn't match up to the canny shenanigans of the Pauls, with Paul J claiming a debut victory!

Paul J 49

Paul H 41

Sam 39

Then with Chris back at the table, we returned to Babylonia. 

This was a corker, as leads between the Pauls and Chris ebbed and flowed whilst I languished back on a measly five points, hoping to draw enough farmers to use my ziggurat power. They didn't arrive and I had to focus my efforts building a central network that Chris spotted was going to haul me in some juicy points when they started paying out. I agreed, but I didn't think I'd close the now huge gap between Paul J (at this point) on something like 110 while I was back in the 30's somewhere. But as it turned out, it was damn close!

Chris 138

Sam 136

Paul J 130

Paul H 107

A baptism of fire for Paul H, then, but the next game - after our classic Lunch of Beige - was one he knew intimately: Eclipse! 

This was Chris's second-edition version, with some minor rules modifications (and one less round) and some faction asymmetry, but largely the same narrative: early rounds are developing tech and kitting out ships, building towards a massive bunfight at the end. Except here the bunfight never really materialised: Paul H and I established an alliance, and Chris and Paul J did the same.  Chris considered attacking Paul H, but decided against it because it looked like a death wish.

My dreams of peaceful expansion were undone by poor planning and ill fortune and I spent a few rounds only doing two actions and then passing early. The others expanded more successfully and built monstrously-violent death machines of the cosmos in a sort of cardboard cold war.

Then at the death Chris attacked the central hex and quickly reenforced his dominance there. He tried to take some hexes off me but didn't roll what he needed and we all eyed him warily. Oddly, his aggression went unrewarded in the sense of point-scoring, with Paul H's 'In Bed With the Ancients' faction grabbing victory:

Paul H 33

Paul J and Sam 32 each

Chris 30

Though it was certainly not a damp squib, I didn't enjoy Eclipse as much as I used to. It's a long haul to get to the more-exciting finale (caveat: my adjacency to that was more my fault than the games') and at times it feels a bit like a slightly protracted drum-roll. There's a lot to consider as well, and if it's a more elegant construction than Xia's everything-by-dice, it doesn't feel as stupidly fun. 

Speaking of dice, though, next up - after the very delicious chilli, and a quick sortie to the shops - was Las Vegas. It's not a game that supplies quite the epic narrative Eclipse does, but it was a nice pallet-cleanser:

Sam $510k

Paul J $470

Chris $380

Paul H $280

We knew Andrew was imminent, but just had enough time for another four-hander in the little-seen (by me at least) Timeline! I couldn't help but notice a seam of dark comedy in the images, with a number of characters looking vaguely psychotic.

Paul H won this. I discovered the refrigerator was invented much earlier than I'd anticipated, but now with crushing inevitability the exact year escapes me.

Paul H wins

Sam and Paul J 1 card

Chris 2 cards 

Andrew arrived just as we finished and after the briefest of catch-ups the discussion of what to play as a five began. Dominant Species? A bit long. Twilight Imperium? Very long. Istanbul? A bit short. We settled on Lords of Waterdeep. With no Martin or Ian present I elected to play green, so the colour/game combo made it feel a bit like 2010, as Prince used to sing.

Early on it was fairly even - I shot off on the scoretrack to 32 but had a bunch of skulls that made my actual score a current 14. Paul H pulled ahead and played some dastardly intrigue that balanced out revealing his Lord with the fact we couldn't target him all game. That was a bummer. Meanwhile I pulled ahead again, and Chris targeted me with one of those bastard mandatory quests that I'm definitely not still sore about. Andrew mostly chuckled at the names of the quests.

Incredible scenes at the end as Paul H pulled so far ahead it was almost embarrassing. My late game recovery wasn't enough to catch a resurgent Chris, and a briefly-dominant Paul J found Andrew had enough to sneak past him in the final count.

Paul H 166

Chris 148

Sam 144

Andrew 134

Paul J 131

After twelve hours of gaming I suddenly got hit by an ocular migraine, and had to play my final game (Incan Gold) with my eyes largely closed and Chris communicating events to me ("Zombie Lady!"). Paul J and Chris lacked our frugal conservatism and, falling behind, risked life and limb - and ultimately lost life and limbs - in wild attempts to recover.

In the end, however, it was Paul H who took yet another win!

PH 34

Andrew 32

Sam 26

Chris 20

PJ 0

And at this point, with my vision no better, I had to take myself to a dark room. It was a bit of a underwhelming way to end Chippencon and I was gutted to miss Chris and Andrew take on the Pauls in Decrypto! The Pauls won, though what the words and dramas were maybe we'll learn in the comments.

Thanks to Chris Jacquie and kids for putting up with us all, and everyone attending for making it fun.  

Shortest evening of the year

Today I was stretching modern technology to its limits. NASA may boast about being able to put a rover down on the surface of Mars, but that's peanuts trying to juggle an old smart phone, my current phone and a kindle fire while trying to play games online/cook supper/get drunk.

Joining me on this evening was Ian, Martin and Andy. We were expecting Adam T but early on we got an email from him saying he'd just woken up and he had to eat. 

We began with Marrakech, and we initially stayed strictly to the three right hand columns, sending poor Assam round in circles. Martin was so taken with this new "variant" that he was disappointed when I broke out from this area and set off across the rest of the board. 

This evening's notable moment was when Andy made a carpet several squares upwards, with two squares either side at the bottom. This prompted Martin to remark that he didn't want to land on Andy's giant cock.

In the end it was between me and Martin. The final player was Andy who tried to cover up bits of carpet so as to end the game in a draw, but didn't take into account the tie breaker, so I took the win by a single coin.

Andrew 50
Martin 50
Ian 28
Andy 24

Next up we played Kingdom Builder. Something for my kindle fire to really get its teeth into and it did okay, unless I tried full screen mode, when it wouldn't render the whole board properly.  Martin built a sprawling spider of a village whose spindly legs connected castles to villages for points. Ian, though, ended up mostly stuck in one corner, unable to make any connections at all.

Martin 60
Andy 57
Andrew 53
Ian 30

Finally, we chose Buttons as our nightcap. It's a fun game, I think. I'm still to crack the winning strategy, though. Martin opted out in a winning position meaning Ian had to push his luck, just as he'd had to do last time. He couldn't manage it and Martin took a slender win by just 98 points.

Martin 106
Andy 8
Ian 6
Andrew 5

And so we were done. One of the shortest games nights on records, not even reaching ten o’clock, but still a lot of fun.

Dog Carlo

After last week's no-show, we reassembled ourselves as a sextet. Martin, Joe, Ian, Katy, Andy and me. After a little bit of chat where we confirmed with each other that nothing had changed or happened in the last fortnight, we began with an intriguing word game, Haiclue. In this game there are four shared words and each player has to make a clue from the random letters in front of them. It’s like Dixit with words, as Joe explained. Sometimes, it was easy and sometimes you were left struggling. Andy’s main struggles were with the internet. Joe was left baffled that his clue wasn’t a huge success: his word was “daily” and his clue was “Start prey exit wolf.” No one got it, and no one was massively persuaded by the explanation - at the start of the day you pray and at the end of the day, wolves come out.

Martin 27

Katy 26

Joe 25

Ian 22

Andrew 22

Andy 20

Then we split into two groups of three. Joe, Martin and Katy set off for a game of Don Carlo, complete with mafia dogs. They played twice and Katy won both times. The second game was closer and that ended…

Katy 60

Martin 58

Joe 49

Meanwhile, Ian, Andy and I dug out Kingdom Builder. We got a spectator mid-game, but they didn’t stick around very long. Before long, Andy B predicts his own last place. I say that at least he’s having fun and he replied that he doesn’t like this game online. Oh well.

Ian 43

Andrew 39

Andy 28

Next up was a little Lucky Numbers, which is a rip snorting game of luck and cruel fate that we played in near silence. 

Andy 16

Andrew 14

Ian 12

Next played Coloretto, mostly notable for Andy losing his internet connection twice within the first six cards.

Ian 45

Andy 36

Andrew 32

Now we were all back together we had a game of For Sale. Martin was appalled at his play: he paid 3 coins for a 3 card which he later sold for 3. Symmetrical perhaps, but not a winning strategy. Instead that belonged to Katy who came first despite never having won a single buying round. 

Katy 53

Ian 49

Andrew 48

Joe 46

Andy 33

Martin 30

Martin’s last place saw his ELO rating drop below mine and Ian’s!

And on that bombshell, all that was left was for us to say our goodbyes and go. Cheers all, see you soon.

Niagara Falls, attendance plummets

The world outside might have been churning up a froth over the US Election, a new lockdown in the UK and Wimbledon AFC returning to Plough Lane after 29 years, but GNN ploughs on regardless like a short sighted old aged pensioner driving the wrong way down a main road.

Tonight there were just three gamers crammed into that car: Ian, Andy and myself. Elsewhere, Katy, Sam and Joe were grabbing a few minutes of quality time together before social mixing is outlawed again and Martin was taking a break from screens before launching himself into some early-morning news coverage.

The first game of the evening was Kingdom Builder. This was played in almost complete silence and it was only Ian's sighs of disappointment that reassured me that I was still connected. Andy, meanwhile, hoovered up the tiles and quickly ended the game.

Andy 76
Andrew 53
Ian 46

After this, I was in the mood for something a little more conversational, so I suggested Niagara. Andy had mentioned several times recently and I had vague memories of it being slightly combative and silly, so Andy ran through the rules for us, and away we went.  

It was fun, trying to judge what the likely lowest card might be (and therefore how quickly the river will move). I'm pleased to say that no one went over the falls. I'm even more pleased to say that just as Andy got back to shore with his fourth identical gem, I arrived back too, carrying the final gem for a last minute game winning set of five different gems.

Andrew wins on tie breaker
Andy a close second
Ian, one gem short

Next was Piraten Kapern, a luck-pushing dice game. Roll eight dice as often as you please to collect sets or coins and diamonds, but skulls are frozen and once you get three skulls, you go bust. On the plus side, if you roll four skulls on your first roll, you go to the Island of Skulls (figuratively speaking) and now have to roll as many skulls as possible, which will take points off your opponents.

So it went as you’d expect luck-pushing dice games to go, until Andy hit the game-winning 5000 points. Then I rolled four dice and I was off to the Island of Skulls! In the end I did 1200 points of damage to my two opponents and the game didn’t end after all. And then I sailed to 5400 points and the game ended with my victory. Andy seemed puzzled as to why they hadn’t had a chance to roll some negative points against me, but put it down to the game still being in Beta.

Andrew 5400
Andy 4400
Ian 1600

Next was 7 Wonders, just to finish off. Ian said he’d screwed himself over in round two and then spent round three burning science cards for money just so I couldn’t build them. It worked.

Ian 52

Andy 50
Andrew 44

Thanks all. See some of you next week, I expect. 

Where there is Discord, may we bring harmony

The evening started in familiar manner -- Ian, Katy and I (Martin) chatting while watching Andy B sign in and out of Discord until he could finally hear us and vice versa. As we waited, an expected Adam (T) and an unexpected one (H) appeared too and then Joe made seven. And we all know what seven means...

Adam T selected his preferred old-school 7 Wonders artwork over the new-fangled version now available on BGA and also discovered an option that lets each player choose their side of the wonder instead of having it assigned randomly. Joe may have regretted his choice, given what transpired. Half-way through Age 2 much cursing was heard as he realised that although he'd assembled all the resources he needed for the second, third and fourth stages of the Wonder, he was one wood short of being able to build the first. 

Adam H - 69
Andy - 65
Martin - 55
Ian - 53
Adam T - 45
Katy - 43
Joe - 23

Joe pointed out that he'd have got 20 points more for completing his wonder, prompting Katy to tactfully note that he'd still have been in joint last. 

Next we split into the three As on BGA and a gang of four on playingcards.io. BGA tells me the former played two games of Kingdoms with rather similar sets of scores.

Kingdom Builder

Andy - 73
Adam T - 67
Adam H - 50

Kingdomino

Adam H - 73
Andy - 60
Adam T - 49

Meanwhile on pc.io we fired up my implementation of Senators. The curse of early wars that plagued our face-to-face games has eerily continued in the virtual realm, and this one was all over before Katy even got to take her 3rd turn. Bad luck for her as she'd probably have overhauled my tie-break win. 

Martin - 8 (9 money)
Katy - 8 (1 money)
Joe - 7
Ian - 5

I'm pretty sure I never cashed in a set of cards at all, relying entirely on extortion for my income and blind bids for my senators. 

Next we tried a new one I've implemented - Knizia's game of the classic battle between robots and ducks, RevoltAAA. The game play is about as odd as the concept and the title and I think we all felt a bit baffled and perhaps underwhelmed. I'd try it again though!

Katy - 10 
Joe - 4
Martin - 4
Ian - 3
Dirk/Deck - 2 (but we cheated it out of a few points I think)

Adam T had dropped offline, having warned us that the start of "Bake-off season" would mean an earlier departure and the other two joined us for a rousing 6-player Texas Showdown. 

Andy - 4
Ian - 5
Adam H - 5
Joe - 7
Martin - 9
Katy - 10 

After Ian and Joe bade their farewells, we finished with yet another of my pc.io games (I got paid for doing this one!): Salvage, the new trick-taker from the family team who brought us Coup, Senators, The Chameleon and Hurlyburly. The bidding in this one is rather perplexing and got the better of me early on, but I managed to pull it back to a three-way tie with Katy's boat first to sink.

Andy - 4
Adam H - 4
Martin - 4
Katy - 0

See you next Tuesday!

Quadruple ‘A’ gaming

 “Who would have thought, six months ago, that we’d still be doing games nights online?” Martin asked as we logged onto our rather choppy Discord server. Certainly, we’ve come a long way. Tonight we were six in number: Martin, Katy, Adam H, Adam T, Andy and myself (“Too many ‘A’s,” complained Katy.

First we played 7 Wonders, as it’s somehow now almost a reflex action. Martin found himself unable to change his mind over his choice of card and asked Adam H to wait until he’d sorted it out. Adam did so, despite it ruining his “average thinking time” statistic. Andy went big on military and won. Adam T found some solace in the fact that he at least beat Martin.

Andy 62

Andrew 53

Adam H 51

Katy 50

Adam T 47

Martin 40

Then three of the ‘A’s left for one Google Hangout to play Kingdom Builder while Katy, Martin and Adam T set up on another Hangout for a game of Ninety Nine. This game ended

Martin 310

Adam T 228

Katy 43

In Kingdom Builder, Adam and I make the same mistake. Adam made it first, when I was distracted by sorting out my drinks which is why I didn’t learn from his failure. But while Adam was able to bounce back, I lay moribund and spent the last third of the game building as quickly as I could to keep things moving on.

Adam H 66

Andy 55

Andrew 34

With Ninety Nine unfinished, Andy suggested we play Lucky Numbers, a simple tile placing game in which the numbers in the grid have to increase in value from left to right and top to bottom. Easy to pick up and enjoyable enough that we played two on the bounce. Adam won both times.

With Ninety Nine still unfinished, we had a choice: another game of Lucky Numbers or a return to Rallyman GT. We went for Rallyman GT, only to have Martin pop into our Hangout asking if we’d finished before we’d even got to the first corner. Seeing as how we were a whole lap away from finishing, he went off and the three of them played Kingdom Builder. This was, apparently, Katy’s first go at the game since the old Roll For The Soul days.

Martin 70

Adam T 47

Katy 43

As for Rallyman GT, I think we all span off and it started to rain (immediately after Adam crashed. Coincidence? I think not), requiring that we all make a pit stop to change tires.

After I spin off, I have some catching up to do.

1st Andy

2nd Andrew

3rd Adam

I left after this game, but the remaining five stayed around for a game of For Sale…

Andy 59 

Katy 56 

Martin 53 

Adam H 48 

Adam T 38

After this, the three worst placed players left and the two top players battled it out in a game of Chakra…

Katy 14

Andy 8

Kingdom Rebuilt (in beta)

I logged on to Discord around twenty minutes late, with a game of For Sale in full swing with Martin, Ian, Andy, Adam H and Katy. I let them chat in the background while I sorted out my candles and alcohol.

Martin won, having spent on average only 1 for his cards. And having spent least thinking time, he pointed out.

Martin 61

Andy 55

Adam H 48

Ian 45

Katy 43

After this it was almost 8, and we were expecting more arrivals. But time waits for no game, especially when that game is Kingdom Builder in beta on BGA. Me, Ian, Adam H and Martin swiftly leave choppy old Discord for the sanctuary of a Google Hangout, only to be followed by Steve who’d just arrived and didn’t quite understand the exclusive nature of our little enclave. He is dismissed back to another Google Hangout where he, Anja, Adam T, Andy and Katy played 7 Wonders twice with Steve winning both times. In fact, everyone replicated their standings twice.

Steve 59

Adam T 58

Anja 48

Katy 41

Andy 31

Steve 61

Adam T 57

Anja 55

Katy 54

Andy 37

Kingdom Builder was a quiet game. Banter was at a minimum, as you’d expect in such a clash of the Titans. If Titans used barns and paddocks to gain territory. I don’t think they did. The beta program worked fine except for when we drew a grass card and it told us we “must build on a Grass.”

When Adam played his final house, I still had ten left. Never stood a chance. Good to play KB again, though.

Martin 63

Adam H 61

Andrew 38

Ian 31

We change Google hangouts, but I’m too busy pouring myself another drink and Katy, Martin Ian and Adam T zip off for a game of American Bookshop. This game is notable for the mid-game update posted by Martin with a quote from Katy “If I was allowed to touch you, Adam, I’d touch you and not in a nice way.” It was notable enough that Joe texted us about it when he got the notification from Discord.

Meanwhile, we (Steve, Anja, Adam H, Andy and me) played Rallyman GT, which was new to most of us so we got a rules explanation from Andy B. I led at first but was swiftly overtaken by everyone. Anja was first to spin off the track so at least I was no longer in last. There was a lot of downtime, and I worried how long this would go on for as we turned the third corner after about half an hour. By the end, Andy crossed the finishing line and then he estimated another ten minutes before we all end. I span out, and got frustrated. I creep across the line in fourth. And I showed such promise.

Andy 25

Adam 18

Steve 15

Andrew 12

Anja 10

In the time we took to play that, American Bookshop finished. Not sure who won, nor if Adam T ever got touched or not.

They then banged off a triplet of Eggs of Ostrich once Ian had left (Adam T 10, Katy 8 Martin 4 and then Adam T 15, Martin 12, Katy 4 then finally Martin 13, Katy 11, Adam 9) before they joined us for 7 Wonders. I got a phone call and decided to bow out, as did Martin and Katy. The remaining players played twice.

Adam T 53

Adam H 45

Andy 41

Adam H 66

Andy 54

Adam T 42

Well done to all. See you next week.