A blue wizard and a purple giant walk into a bar

 Around 10 minutes late, I arrived at Sam’s kitchen with Adam T, Joe, Martin and Sam already playing Fellowship of the Ring. I settled down to watch the quartet struggle through a challenging set of criteria. They even needed two do-overs (or “Gandalf’s Magic”) to get as far as they did. But ultimately, the cruel forces of Mordor or whatever, foiled them.

As a five-piece we first turned to Ethnos. Adam got a rules refresher while the rest of us struggled with the game’s famously difficult-to-handle pieces. They fit together so snugly, but if you put any real pressure in your grip, they’ll slip apart and scatter themselves across the table.

As for the game, Martin spent round one playing very small bands that scored few points but got him a lot of presence on the board, especially two high scoring areas with points of 4, 8, 10. Sam made an early move for another area with points of 0, 0, 8.

Round two was very long, with the third dragon not appearing until the very last card in the deck. Round three, on the other hand, was over very fast. Too fast for Joe who had only played a single three-member band before the round ended. His disappointing third round meant that he barely moved on the score track, while Martin built on his already impressive lead. Joe was saved the ignominy of being lapped by only a single point.

Martin 105

Sam 91

Andrew 89

Adam 83

Joe 46

Next, we played Rebel Princess with Martin getting a rules explanation. We were all given our princess with their special powers. I was Cinderella with the, ultimately useless, ability to choose another player to lead if I win a trick.

And win them I did. Especially in round two were I completed a clean sweep of all tricks, picking up all fifteen points in the process. Except that points are bad and my chances of a win after a decent first round were in tatters.

After that bruising experience, I did okay. Sam evaded most pitfalls, arriving at the final round with just one point. But this round had a special power: points now counted as double, except for the player in last place. A final twist in the tale - Sam now collapsed to 14 points while second-place Joe went clear and took the win.

Joe 10

Sam 14

Martin 14

Adam 19

Andrew 26

I went home at this point, but the evening went on. The did two Bomb Busters missions (one success, one failure) and then after Joe and Adam left, Sam and Martin banged out a few two-players. They won one game each of Agent Avenue and then Martin beat Sam 2-1 at Schnipp & Weg.

Thanks all! See you next week!

Two agents are better than three

My first games night in weeks and I arrived after 8pm, having driven around the block three times in search of a parking space. I was in time to watch Ian, Joe, Sam and Martin finish a game of Hit, with Joe doing so badly I (cruelly) asked him if he’d joined in halfway through.

Ian 112

Sam 91

Martin 84

Joe 31

Then Sam and Martin told me the night had begun with a game of Schnipp & Weg. Apparently it was very closed and they sounded like a couple of New York Jews reminiscing over an old argument. “I schnipped, he wegged.”

Then we had a protracted discussion about what to play but the five-player options weren’t really exciting us. Charioteer? Hansa Teutonica? Decrypto? Not even Railways of the World got much support. In the end, we spilt into two groups. Ian, Joe and I played Dune Imperium, a rematch from the Novocon days. Sam and Martin decided on a smorgasbord of two-player options, beginning with San Francisco.

Sam tried to play mean by taking things just so Martin couldn’t but by the end of the game, his over-emphasis on foundations had left him adrift on a number of point scoring possibilities and Martin took a handsome win.

Martin 16

Sam 4

Then they played Caesar! Battle raged across the Mediterranean until Sam cried “End it!” and so Martin did, and he won. I believe Sam ended with only three tokens and an unhealthy fixation on Rome.

As for Dune, I was first to score a point and Joe got his extra agent early on, but it was Ian who became the man to beat after a move mid-game when he chained together several intrigue cards and leapt into a commanding three-point lead. Conflict was often fierce, with Joe picking up third place reward with a single unit, saying he was “just dropping a dog” into the battle. This lead to a lengthy rumination between us about what kind of dog and what the actual consequences of such a strategy might be. “He looked at me as he fell!” I wailed in character as the soldier given the task of pushing a sausage dog out of a plane.

Sam and Martin had moved on to Spots, a dice-based luck-pushing game where you have to match your dice rolls to the spots on some dalmatians on cards dealt out to you, using a range of six possible options when rolling (thematically called Fetch, Beg, Stay etc). They played three rounds and Martin won 2-1, ending by saying “Anything low would be fine,” and then rolling a six, but then rolling the winning die the very next moment.

Back on the distant planet of Dune, despite his numerical agent advantage, Joe was lagging in third as I’d won a two-point battle and was right on Ian’s tail. Ian triggered the game end. I managed to drag him back one point but couldn’t overtake him. It was down to Joe, who needed water to do what he wanted. But his last move drew him level with me and it really couldn’t have been much closer.

Ian 9

Andrew 8

Joe 8

And Ian won this using only two agents for the whole game. Impressive.

As we closed out Dune, Sam and Martin played a game of Set and Match which I admit was quite distracting as they flicked a yellow puck back and forth across a tennis court. They exclaimed admiration for cross-court drop shots and made remarks about using “Hawkeye” when they scrutinised the puck sitting fractionally on the white lines of the court.

Sam 2

Martin 1

Then it was 10.15 and I was thinking about doing a Malmesbury but So Clover was mentioned as a nice way to bring the group all back together.

My heart sank when I saw my words. I was especially frustrated by “First/Salad.” For a long time I considered “Eden,” since the garden of Eden is, I supposed, where the first salad was made but it seemed a stretch too far. Then “Starter” popped into my head which was a much better fit so I wrote it down and finally finished my clover.

Dreams of a perfect start didn’t last long as we failed on both Sam’s and Martin’s. Sam’s clue of Garagin was an easy match for “Astronaut” but what kind of astronaut was he? We should’ve done better with Martin too. He’d written “Shooting” as one of his clues and we couldn’t bring ourselves to believe he’d be so tasteless as to pair that with “School/Bang” but our good intentions were misplaced. “I can’t believe you thought I wouldn’t be tasteless,” Martin remarked afterwards, almost offended at our high opinion of him.

We got Joe’s and Ian’s perfectly, although Ian’s clue of “Jedward” caused some debate. We got “pair” easily enough but then Joe wanted to add “old” because they were out of date. But surely “old/pair” would suggest something more ancient than two Eurovision entrants. Then we thought it might be “recent/pair” with Martin vetoing this idea because Jedward really weren’t that current. In the end he was overruled and the guess turned out to be correct.  Finally, I was surprised that my clover of torture was solved in maybe under a minute. All that hard work was worth it.

26 out of 30

Then I had to leave, despite murmurings of a second attempt and shots of whiskey.

Later I discovered that they’d completed the game with a score of 24 out of 24!

Then I was surprised at how long the Whatsapp messages kept coming as the whiskey flowed and Strike! Was played three times. No four... hang on, f- no, six times. Martin won games 1-3 and then Ian acted as combo breaker and won game four. Sam nabbed the fifth and the sixth was Martin again, and it was his 50th play of the game! 

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday.

Mossy Top and Bottom

With Andrew one of the changing-season lurgy drop-outs (get well, everyone), blogging duties fell to me (Sam). I was also hosting. Adam arrived early again, and was treated to the sight of Stan and I eating our tea (and Stan making fun of my cooking skills, naturally). Ten minutes later the others began to arrive: Martin, Gareth, and Ian at first, which was enough of us for a quick blast at Strike. Despite Gareth - when forced to roll all his dice - taking five 2's straight back out again, Martin won and continues to convince that there's more to the game than blind/bad luck. 

As we finished, long-term absentee Andy Mosse arrived, and then Mel joined us too. We split into two groups, with Martin and Gareth teaching Andy The Crew and the rest of us setting up Flamme Rouge. 

From the start Mel led the peloton, alternating occasionally with my Rouller and both of us collecting exhaustion cards as Ian and Adam bided their time. It was an unusual course we'd chosen, as there were no uphills at all until a tiny slope right at the end. Halfway around the track Ian made a break for it and Adam went with him as Mel and I languished. Two-thirds of the way through it was a very obvious two-horse race as we were left far behind, playing out a fairly insignificant sub-plot to the main event. 

It was a dramatic finish as Adam realised his '9' card wouldn't take him over the line because of the last hill. Because of gravity, Ian pedalled frantically home to claim a 1-2 finish, with Adam third and fourth. Mel was fifth and eighth and myself sixth and seventh. Around this time, they finished The Crew as well:

And we swapped chairs as Adam set up Luzon Rails. for himself, Gareth, Mel and Ian. I gave them a brief and panicked precis of the rules before returning to Martin and Ian for a crack at Dandelions, a slightly chaotic dice-moving/placing/majority-claiming game. I profess to have no idea how, but I won:

Sam 62

Martin 51

Ian 41

And whilst Luzon Rails continued, we moved swiftly on to Sea Salt & Paper, a fast-moving set collection game. Like Dandelions, there's a lot of luck, but also a sliver of table-reading and deduction. Cards score points in various ways, including pairs that trigger extra turns/card draws/card thefts. Pairs are played to the table for the reward, but you can keep them hidden instead if you like. When you have 7 points (or more) you can halt the round, either by saying Stop (everyone scores) or Last Chance, in which case everyone else gets one more turn in which to try and beat your score. The latter is more rewarding (and more punishing for opponents) but carries more risk...

Not knowing what you're doing doesn't hurt either. I survived a dramatic last-round comeback by Ian to take the win (first to 35 points)

Sam 35

Ian 31

Martin 13

Luzon Rails were still under construction so we blasted through four games of Strike, winning one apiece before Ian took the decider (2-1-1) assisted by some preposterous rolling, including getting all but two of his dice back when forced to roll 15 of them. 

Ian left, and Martin and I blasted through a ding-dong battle of Schnipp & Weg which was so dramatic I didn't even take a picture, despite winning. Then Luzon rails finished!

early bids

Andy's worries that he'd overbid for shares at the start proved unfounded, as prices escalated and they ended up looking comparative bargains. Other than that, I'm not sure what happened, except to say he'd picked a debut win as Adam suffered (semi) explainer's curse:

Andy M: 57

Gareth 51

Mel 42

Adam 31

And with the hour approaching 10.30, Mel and Gareth left to make their way back to Easton. The remaining four of us played Polterfass, the game of beer pouring, serving, and greedily grabbing. My table-reading skills were abysmal and after a decent first round (16 points!) I was still on the same score several rounds later, as Martin surged ahead, Adam caught him up, and Andy and I floundered around in the dregs on the floor of the tavern. Andy quit on zero beer as the innkeeper caught us all out, and had Martin wailing "Why? Why???" as Adam surged past him for the win.

"I just thought it'd be funny" Andy said. 

And it was. 

Adam 77

Martin 51

Sam 26

Andy 11

That was that! Thanks all, see you next week....

Sumatra enchanted evening

 I arrived at Sam's just as Sam, Joe and Ian were in the final stages of a game of Llama Land. I watched them voice their regrets at previous decisions and lack of future opportunities. Joe even said he thought the game was designed specifically so he couldn't do anything. But despite all this, once they'd finished, they all said and they liked it and would happily play it again.

Sam 62

Ian 57

Joe 56

Next, to fill the time before Katy arrived, we played Schnipp & Weg. This game of flicking dexterity is simpler than its brethren, Flick Fleet, Cube Quest etc. Despite the simplicity, we still overcomplicated matters by missing simple shots at crucial moments.

We paired up, Joe and Ian against Sam and I. I started brilliantly, taking out most of the opposing counters and for the rest of the game I sent my shots skimming harmlessly off the board. Joe, despite his reputation for the yips, did well, clearing one round single handedly.

Ian and Joe won

Then Katy arrived, back at games night for the first time in a month. She found herself recruited into a new game: Sumatra. It's from Reiner Knizia and we were keen to play it before Martin did, hoping a head start would improve our chances when we finally play against him.

The devilish detail here is knowing when to abandon a particular area and move onto the next. This means you leave stuff behind but you also get first choice of whatever tiles are drawn for the new area.

It was fun. Joe confused backpacks and volcanoes (understandable considering our earlier conversation about how bad our eyesight was getting), Katy went big on crafts while I ignored people almost completely. I did, however, score in every other category. It was very close.

Katy 45

Andrew 44

Sam 43

Ian 43

Joe 42

Then we broke out an old favourite: Bandu - the dexterity game whose name you have to say in an Australian accent. It had been at Sam's brother's house for two years so it at least deserved a welcome home.

I went unconventional right from the start, laying down curved surfaces because I'd noticed they were all the same height and could work as a potential surface.

Everyone else built upwards, trying to keep as much of the base as free as possible. All except Ian whose sculpture was even shorter than mine. But too many curves, it seems and he was out first. Katy fell next and then Joe. He nudged the table while picking up a piece off the floor, sending mine and Sam's structures toppling. We quickly rebuilt them and continued, though. 

Sam ran out as the eventual winner. Once my building fell down he then started showboating, adding new pieces to his creation at breakneck speed until, after four, it finally crumbled to his foundations.

Sam

Andrew

Katy

Joe

Ian

And with that, Ian and I left. According to Sam's texts, Joe Katy and Sam played Ninety Nine, which Katy won. Then they played Cross Clues and scored an astonishing 6 (six) points. I asked Sam what the words were, unable to imagine what they could be. 

He texted back...

Costume trailer chocolate spider fast 

And...

Shark mushroom goat tall blue

I can see their problem. Combinations like "fast mushroom" and "blue chocolate" don't suggest any obvious solutions to me either. Suggestions in the comments please.

But anyway, thanks for the evening. See you all soon.

oceans a-livin'

 Having missed Tuesday’s regular meet, I was pleased to hear of a Thursday meet up at Sam’s. This was, I thought, just a three-hander with Sam, myself and Adam H playing Dominant Species Marine. Imagine my (slight) surprise when I arrived at the uncommonly prompt time of 7.35 to find Martin also there, with Joe expected shortly.

Martin and Joe played each other at Watergate, a game in which one player is Nixon (Martin, possibly typecast) and the other plays the role of the journalists trying to uncover his evil plot.

I know nothing about it, nor who won. 

As for this end of the table, Sam talked us through DSM and it was a little complicated. When Sam was called away from the table on family business, Adam and I tried to work out what an"action space" might be. But once we began, it seemed to make sense and my source of AP was whether or not to dawdle at the top of the list of actions or head straight to the good stuff at the bottom. Tricky because once you play an action, you can’t choose another action from further up: you must keep going down. Unless you have a special pawn, then you can go anywhere.

I seemed quite good at choosing actions that Sam was relying on, which is a positive sign for a beginner. Adam seemed to get the worst of extinction events, despite him also being a newbie. But I think both Sam and I tried to be fair in who’s animals we killed off.

At the end (after the asteroid), we counted up the points scored for special pawns. I had none while Sam and Adam had three each. This pushed Sam into first place and he celebrated his win for a second or two until Adam reminded him (and me) that we needed to score the board too. Sam’s demeanor instantly fell, as he had little presence on the board whereas my clever use of the aforementioned asteroid meant I had plenty of high scoring land to myself.

Andrew 87

Adam 84

Sam 78

I think being a reptile helped, since I always won ties. Would be keen to play it again. Even though Sam slimmed out the deck beforehand for a shoreter game, it was still a substatial two-hour game that filled me up nicely and I set off home for the evening. The rest of them continued. According to Sam in a text later, Adam beat Sam at Clubs (not sure what Joe and Martin were playing when I left) and then after Sam beat Adam at Schnipp & Weg, Adam went home.

Finally, Martin beat Joe and Sam at Letterpress.

Thanks all, a nice little soiree. See you all soon.