Why rules are important

This fortnight’s gathering at Roll For The Soul saw Sam make his debut, along with other newcomers Katy, Gareth and two others who I didn’t speak to. They were very shy at first, perhaps put off by the bloodlust of Cube Quest, which is how the evening began. They played chess in a quite corner of the café.

Cube Quest is a great game if you want to meet random people at a café, as you may well find yourself asking permission to look under their table to find a knight or two. Stopping the cubes from flying too far from the table became an integral part of the game. Sam beat Gareth, and then I beat Katy.

After that, we were six (Adam and Hannah were also present) so we decided on Tsuro. I’d bought Tsuro of the Seas, but we decided to forego the dragons as unnecessary. We sped off around the table, with Katy unsure of which way round her ship should be facing. Of course, she didn’t win with that kind of navigating. In the end, Adam and I had no choice but to finish the game together, face to face, with no exit route.

Then Adam enticed the two newbies over for a game of Ticket To Ride. This meant there were now eleven (eleven!) of us, since Steve and Anja had arrived with Luther. Luther didn’t play much, but he did a great job of distracting Hannah.

Five people played Ticket To Ride while five of us played an interesting variation on Pandemic. First, there were five of us, instead of the regulation four. Plus, it had been a long time since we played it and we forgot one rule that allows the diseases to spread. As such, diseases stayed localised, and things never really got out of hand. Not so much a plague, more a coincidence that some people were getting ill at the same time.

This only dawned on us halfway through the game, since two early Epidemic cards had disguised the fact that we were playing a really easy version of the game. We decided to chalk this up as an introductory game, and ploughed on, trying to cure and eradicate all diseases. But we failed, with one disease left uncured by the time the cards ran out.

It was fun but a bit of a disappointment. For some reason, getting the rules wrong somehow ruins the game. Even though it looks exactly the same to any passer-by, it takes the heart of out the game. We weren’t fighting impossible odds, but going through the motions. Talking of passers-by, one of them said “Oh, Risk!” which is the second time someone’s said that. But to be fair, Pandemic does look a bit like Risk. Certainly, more than Ticket To Ride does.

I’d like to try and play it again soon so this doesn’t become my abiding memory of the game. Also, playing a co-op game needs lots of discussion but in a place of loud music this can become quite tiring.

On the other table, I’ve no idea how TtR was shaping up. Anja seemed to be winning but I didn’t stay for the end. In fact, I left after Pandemic, as Adam and Sam drew up a makeshift chess-board on a sheet of paper because the real one was being used. A morning text informed me that Adam had won.

Hammer of the Peckhamites

Whilst a number of the other GNNers were cavorting down south on friday, my family and I headed east to London, to stay with our friends Henry and Rachel and their three girls in Peckham.
After catching up and eating and getting drunk no-one was in the mood to learn rules, so we opted for our four-player favourite, Lords of Vegas.

I sped in to the lead on account of my brown casinos paying out multiple times, but then found myself floundering as the others caught up and overtook me. It was a tense, taut game, and it ended as it so often does, with the feeling that one player had it sown up, but that a couple of extra rounds could have changed the landscape considerably. As it was Henry was the clear victor, and I think I was third or fourth.

On saturday, Henry was keen to sample the various new games I'd brought along, and we played three games of Battle for Hill 218 followed by Traders of Carthage. Hill 218 is a brilliantly clever and unique WW2 card game where you try and creep round the titular hill (titular hill?) to infiltrate your opponent's base whilst they do the same to you. There's no bluffing, just alternate playing of different types of troops, and Henry took to it in an instant, winning the first game. I can't remember who won after that, but then we tried out Traders, last played by Andrew and me at Stabcon in Jan. I like it a lot, though it feels slightly odd going from two-player direct confrontation to the more oblique passive-aggressive euro tactics, and as soon as we finished we broke out Hammer of the Scots.

This seminal block war game from Columbia Games sees Edward Longshanks attempting to quash the Scottish rebellion fronted by William Wallace - I was the english, Henry the scots.
We both needed a rules refresher, and it is brilliantly simple for a war game, though there were a fair few visits to the rule book throughout.
Despite a strong opening couple of rounds, by round four Wallace was dead, and Henry, unable to crown a scottish king or send in the french knights, was on the back foot. I had learned an important tactic since our first game last year, that the English infantry and knights raised each turn need to be brought up and used to soften the scots, since they return to England each winter. This realisation formed the backbone of my strategy, and the game was over within six or seven rounds, unlike the last game which went the distance. It is a real classic, this one, and I can't wait to play again.

Playing in the kitchen whilst overseeing cheese toasties for ten! Truly heroic.

It's all but over for the Scots now . . .

After a brief sojourn into the freezing rain, we set up Commands and Colours: Ancients. Henry and I played this once in Wales last year, but after that stuck to old favourite Manoeuvre. Having re-discovered its charms recently I was keen to have another go.
We played Tacinus River, the same scenario Adam and I played a fortnight or so ago, and this time it was a decided victory for me, winning both games 6-4 and 6-3. I think Henry enjoyed it, and suggested  he'd like to play a different scenario next time.
Matilda had been itching to play Coup all weekend, and so we then played four four-player games back to back - this is a real favourite with my girls, and Henry's eldest two really enjoyed it. Can't remember exactly who won, but I think it was a different person each time.

My sister and her partner joined us for a fabulous dinner, but despite Henry's best efforts, were too exhausted to play a game, so that was it for Saturday.

Sunday was fairly busy, but my two eldest had been introduced to Pandemic by Henry and Rachel's girls, and I think they played four times over the weekend. I'm thrilled about this, since I've been thinking it would be a good one to play with them myself, but selling the theme would be an uphill struggle. Now they know they like it I expect we will get to play soon!

Around lunch time, Henry and I managed to find time to play 7 player Incan Gold with the girls, followed by four games of The Resistance. The latter was a real hit - all four games went to the resistance, which I felt bucked the trend, though I might be wrong.

Henry and I then played a best of three return to Hill 218, and then, whilst dinner was cooking, tried out String Railways. Despite it's uniqueness this hasn't seen a lot of play, and this was only my second game. In the two player game each person takes two colours, the best single colour wins. It was fun, but the best bit remains the emergent 'artwork' you end up with . . .

I love the way you can discern each player's strategy from
the final 'board'.

A grand weekend, and lovely that our kids went off and played by themselves too, racking up the afore-mentioned Pandemic, plus Shadows in the Woods, Coup and (I think) Zombies, alongside the games they played with us. JB