If you knew Zeusy like I know Zeusy

No big pre-Christmas event this year, but Sam and I got together for an evening of games before the big day. Sam’s first suggestion was Olympos. It required some specialised two-player rules to be introduced, but otherwise the game played out the same. So with Sam already familiar with the rules (of which there are surprisingly few) he talked me through it and we were away.

A slightly embarrassed Zeus keeps track of his game

The game was far quicker than before. With two players, the amount of analysis paralysis was greatly lessened. On the other hand, Zeus barely shut up, with Olympos cards being triggered every couple of turns. With only two players, this meant that one player was rewarded while the other was punished. There was no third option of just doing enough to avoid those cards by not being last. This, perhaps, robbed the game of a certain subtlety. Sam came out a confident winner.

Sam 48
Andrew 27

But on its second outing, it still didn’t really impress Sam. I have the same opinion as Ian – I’d like to try it again to see if perhaps I’d missed something. Maybe three players is the sweet spot? Despite it’s map and swords, it’s not a war game. The aggressor always wins – it just takes them more time. And with Sam having the most Zeus tokens, he could push the game on, without fearing the wrath of the gods in the slightest, leaving me at a bit of a disadvantage.

After this, we played Linkee. This quiz game is aimed at the family market and contains four easy questions per card. The difficult bit is working out how the four answers are connected. Like a dumbed-down version of Only Connect, it’s a fun diversion: easy enough to make you feel smug about yourself while still hard enough that victory isn’t guaranteed.

One "E" away from victory

Having said that, Sam won this time, and then again when we played it at the end of the night.

But it was still early, so there was more games to be had. Castles of Burgundy was brought out. In round one, I looked at the tiles available and I decided to go for animals, since no one ever goes after them, and it seemed to work. One herd of cows got me 43 points during the game. Plus, I got a couple of useful bonuses. I led throughout the game and Sam’s last round of spoiling tactics and his large collection of tiles for completing areas wasn’t enough to complete the gap. The game was also notable for the constant battle for going first, since that seemed to be advantageous to our plans.

Andrew 192
Sam 179

And then we played Biblios.

Has this game lost some of its mystery? Sam and I sped through a game, fully at home with the rules and the strategies. But halfway through the auction round, I realised I was in a fix. I couldn’t possibly win two dice (which added up to six) while I was certain to win the other three (which only added up to four).

Since we don’t shuffle the auction pile in GNN Towers (and Sam and I reinstated the tie-breaker rule of leftmost die wins since I do believe it makes for a better game) I knew that the last card to be auctioned was a church card that allowed you to change the value of the cards. I thought it was a card that let you change two dice. This would’ve given me the win, since I had the brown dice in the bag, but when it was unveiled, it only changed one. And that’s how I lost by a single point.

Sam 6
Andrew 5

And that’s also why our tie-breaker is better than the official one. You try having a strategic battle like that when the tie-breaker is only “who has most gold left over?” Yawners.

Then there was one last game of Linkee, which I already mentioned before that Sam won, before Sam sped off into the night, Christmas stretching out in front of us. Season’s greetings, everyone.

Ruletide Greetings

Nine of us arrived at Anja and Steve’s house. Steve was out when we got there, but was expected to arrive just as soon as he got his fill of Palestinian cinema for the evening. Otherwise we were: Anja, Sam, Andy, me, Martin, Joe, Katy and Ian. We split into three groups and, thanks to Steve and Anja’s new dining table, it wasn’t a problem to give us all the required space.

It wasn't planned as such, but it ended up being the Christmas edition of GNN as most players won't be around for next week. There were snacks and mulled wine and mince pies on hand! A lovely cosy winter's spread.

As for the games, Andy and me went for Lewis and Clark, while Joe, Katy and Martin chose Ascending Empires. On the coffee table at the far end of the room, Sam, Ian, and Anja chose a new game Olympos with the option for Steve to join a game when he arrived.

All of which meant that every game needed a rule explanation, and the whole room hummed with the noise of criteria and options being described. By 8.50, Steve had arrived and no one had actually started their game (a situation that Martin found appalling). He chose Olympos, because there was enough space around that table.

Since I was sat at one end of the room, I can’t say much about Olympos, except that there was the occasional exclamation of “Fuck Zeus!” And, I have to say, my neighbouring game of Ascending Empires was every bit as foul-mouthed. Martin played an aggressive game, as he and Katy fought over one half of the galaxy, leaving Joe's half nearly untouched, with Katy using her very best swearing to try and ward Martin away from further attacks on her quarter. Joe, meanwhile, continued to have the yips, mis-flicking almost every move that meant anything.

As for Lewis & Clark, compared to the other games, it was relatively sedate. There was a bit of worker placement, and a bit of hand management. This sounds like a euphemism for a quick wank – what it actually means is that we were trying to build up a strong hand of cards that would allow us to win the game. Each card has a historical character and a vaguely related action. I was amused by Big Horse, who allowed you to turn two Native Americans into a horse: I imagined it being a pantomime horse, carrying your supplies through the mountains (“Oh no he wouldn't!”).

But Andy had a couple of cards that allowed him to build canoes for cheap, and then combine them with food for an extra two spaces. This was enough to beat my cards that got horses for cheap and then gave each one an extra space on water or land.

Andy won
Andrew didn't

When we'd finished, no one else seemed close to winning. So we started on a quick game of Red7. It was a close game, with the scores at 33-31 as we went into the last round. But Andy's attempt to wake the forces of darkness must have been enough to get him some luck.

Andy 41
Andrew 33

By now, games were entering their final stages, so we were able to watch the scores being totted up. In space, Martin had won by a very comfortable win, and his merciless aggression gained him the title of Space Cunt.

Martin 33
Katy 17
Joe 15

Finally, the scoring for Olympos was worked out. There were plenty of different categories and it all looked very complicated.

Sam 48 (wins on tie-breaker)
Anja 48
Steve 47
Ian 28

The overall impression seemed to be that learning the game with four players was a bit of a bump to get over. When I came over to watch the final stages, Ian looked like he'd just spent the evening doing squat thrusts since he was slumped back in the sofa, absently clinging onto his beer. He may have been shaking slightly. I didn't check.

Then we discussed whether or not to bring back the Game Of The Month, or have a system where the host gets the privilege of choosing one of the games to be played that evening. Something to slow the relentless march of progress as new games are brought to the table about once a week. I'm all for this, and I'd also like to suggest we play more two-player games. It would give us a little bit of flexibilty, at least.

I've been thinking about this for a while and I've put together a new two-player division so that two-player games aren't forgotten. Nothing like the old one that I tried about a year ago: this is based on football divisions. Three points for a win, one for a draw and none for losing. Then multiply this by the game length, and finally add one (so the person in last gets at least a point). This is what it looks like right now for this season.

It doesn't need points, just a winner and a loser. We could even play Chess!

And, of course, there's our old pal, the Form Table which looks like this. Martin maintains pole position, while Matt has been away so long, his score has started to decay.

						Points
Martin	1	2	1	2	2	8
Sam	1	1	3	2	2	9
Andrew	2	1	4	1	1	9
Jon	2	2	2	2	1	9
Katy	2	1	3	2	2	10
Anja	2	2	1	1	5	11
Matt	4	1	2	1	2	11*
Joe	3	2	1	3	3	12
Andy	3	2	2	4	1	12
Hannah	3	3	2	2	2	12
Chris	2	5	1	1	4	13
Ian	4	1	3	3	3	14
Adam	3	2	2	4	4	15
Steve	3	3	3	5	1	15
Stanley	3	2	4	1	5	15