All in an evening's work for the core four members of Games Night News. Sam, Adam, Joe and me arrived at Sam's place for the night's cardboard entertainment.
We began with a board game without a board, if you can imagine such a thing. I think they're called "card games". However, this game straddled the world between the two. Some of the cards acted as the board, while other cards were... cards.
The game in question was Mutineer, a game in which players have to choose their role each turn in the hope that this will maximise their returns for that round. If you're captain (or a successful mutineer) you can get points for controlling the ship as it comes into harbour. A merchant gets favourable results if there's a tie in the trading section. That guy who carries things around (I forget his proper title) gets a wider choice of cards for the next round. Meanwhile, the Ships' Mate and the Cabin Boy are basically hangers-on, hoping that they can get points for helping the captain or mutineer respectively.
As we sailed around the table, we noted that this is a very social game, with a lot of opportunity for discussion and coffee-housing. The rules are confusing at first (there are no less than ten phases to a round) and it certainly needs a handy summary for each player. We did have one, but it was in German.
I liked it. As I said, a lot of banter, and there's certainly room for bluffing and counter-bluffing. I'm still not sure of the correct tactic, though. The trading bit is a little confusing, but I'm sure it'll become clearer with practise.
Adam 35
Andrew 26
Joe 25
Sam 21
After this, another new game was brought to the table. It was another card game, but this was simpler due to the fact that each card told you what it did. It was Plague and Pestilence, a silly game of disaster management in the face of everything the Middle Ages could throw at you.
Mongol hordes, Wars, Crusades, Floods, anything you can think of. Even the Pied Piper turns up to annoy people. In the first part of the game you roll dice and play cards to increase your population (while trying to stem the growth of others) and then the plague ship arrives, and then game changes. Although, frankly, with a name like "plague ship", I'm amazed they let it in the harbour. But I digress.
After this point, the dice rolls take population away, and it's a case of who can last the longest. Joe succumbed first to the plague with me in third. By the end, only Adam had people left alive although he wasn't sure why. It's another game that involves a lot of interaction, even if most of that is inflicting terrible things on your opponents.
1. Adam
2. Sam
3. Andrew
4. Joe
One last game was suggested, and then Joe remembered he had honey-roasted pretzel pieces! Was it too late for such a treat? Let's decide after we've eaten them! We chose Tsuro as a nice quick game to end the evening. This timeless classic of ancient light cycles is still a favourite of mine. But myself and Joe blundered desperately as we drew ourselves into the same corner with no hope of escape. After a few rounds of running parallel to each other, I was able to dispatch of Joe first, but only slightly before I feel off the edge myself.
The main tussle was between Sam and Adam. They had more space to play with, and as options ran out for Sam, it looked like Adam would take a third win of the evening. But no! He put down the wrong tile on his penultimate go, and was left with no choice but to send himself to his doom! Sam won!
1. Sam
2. Adam
3. Andrew
4. Joe
All of which sees a familiar face back at the top of the form table.
| Points | ||||||
| Adam | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| Sam | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Andrew | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 12 |
| Hannah | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 18 |
| Joe | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 18 |
