Perfidious Albion

In this hastily arranged tête à tête à tête, Sam hosted Ian and I for a little games night. I arrived, for once sans rucksack, since Sam had offered yo buy me beer as a thanks for me recently looking after his son one morning.

I suggested Concordia and since no one else had any objections, it was brought to the table.

We played on the British map, and before long we were all experiencing that familiar feeling of never having enough time to do what you want. Ian said he had no real plan, and was just doing whatever seemed right at the time. Sam went for the meeple multiplier, and I sort of went after the bonus for different types of city.

No one was hugely confident of the win but surprisingly it went to the most pessimistic player, Ian.

Ian 99
Andrew 91
Sam 90

After this we got down good old 7 Wonders. This old reliable never lets us down. Every game is different. This time Sam was resource-rich while Ian and I went for a more streamlined approach. The consequence of this was that at the end of the game he scored a whopping 14 points for money. Ian and I could not keep up after that.

Sam 58
Andrew 48
Ian 46

Next up, Sam suggested Small Print or Fair Play or whatever name it'll finally have. Keen to try it with three players, Sam started explaining the rules to Ian before realising the problem he and I had found when we played it (a lack of reward for anyone playing honestly) would be even worse with three. In a surprisingly accurate re-enactment of the opening scene of our sitcom pilot, Sam started putting it away, saying “It's not ready.”

So instead we went for another old familiar: Love Letter and whiskey. Ian won the first two rounds and shot into an early lead. Mind you, the second win was mostly due to Sam being away from the table making toast. As such, he was unaware the Ian had seen my card. I swapped with Sam who then picked up a new card and looked at his hand without knowing what his original card was. When he played a different card to eliminate me, it was child's play for Ian to pick him off with a guard.

Perhaps it was harsh for him to lose while he was making us food, but as the old gaming adage goes: He who leaves Love Letter loses logic and lies last.

But Sam wasn't down for long. He and I got the score back to 2-1-1, but then Sam won two in a row to wrap up the game.

Sam 3
Ian 2
Andrew 1

Finally, as we left, Sam offered us some cereal that he received for free and had stacked high in his hallway. Ian took a few. I'm not big on cereal, but I might have taken a couple if only I had my rucksack with me. Oh well. What you gain in alcohol you lose on the breakfast table, I suppose.

The Reich Stuff

A brief two-player evening was arranged between Sam and I on Thursday. I arrived as he was packing away Lords of Waterdeep, ruefully telling me that his son, Stanley, had beaten him again.

First to the table was Small Print, Sam's own creation. Although meant for three or four players, but Sam wanted to give it a test run. It was okay, but with only two players, it was pretty easy to remember who played what. Also, very little chance of going bust. But Sam seemed happy that a few wrinkles had been highlighted, and what he should do next.

After this came Memoir 44. The tiny plastic soldiers were enough to bring back memories of playing as a child with miniature soldiers. But the game itself has nothing to do with trying to retake the sofa and footstool from the enemy. It's a fairly lightweight recreation of various military episodes from 1944. The game comes with a number if scenarios, each one of which should be played twice, with the players swapping sides after the first go.

Orders are given to your troops by playing cards, and battles are decided with dice. Towards the end of both games, I had a hand of cards which didn't let me give any orders to the troops I needed to move. I suppose there are finer details about hand management. Instead of just using the strongest card, I might have held some back. Sam seemed happier with it, but I'm not so sure. Cards and dice is a tricky combination, and I'm not convinced this game got it right. Maybe my cynicism is due to my sound 12-3 thrashing, though.

We then considered our next game. At first we considered 7 Wonders, but instead chose The Castles of Mad King Ludwig on the grounds that it was already out. We like this game so much we decided on a “long” game, with only ten room cards removed.

But now it was my turn to get lucky with cards. I got two bonus cards early on: 8 points for a castle with each room size and 7 points for a castle with each room type. In a normal game, these two would be very difficult. But with so many cards available, I felt confident. And, in fact, I did it. It was close though: only one 450 room came out and I had to nab it fast. Meanwhile, Sam did not get his bonuses working, and I came out a distant winner 152-116.

Small Print

Long-time GNNers will recall having my embryonic game thoughts periodically thrust upon the table in the form of scribbled paper and basic photoshop skills, before I inevitably retreat with tail between my legs. THE TIME HAS COME AGAIN.

Let's be fair, it's been a couple of years. You've got off lightly.

I've been developing (i.e. thinking about) a game inspired partly by Raj and partly by High Society. Last night I play tested lengthily it with some like-minded folk (i.e. myself) and I think it's ready for a sortie out into the wider world of GNN. It only takes ten minutes to play (i.e. it won't waste as much of your time as Henchmen or Year of the Sheep).

the stuff

It's a game of buying businesses and gaining the monetary value. Just like real life, you can do it straightforwardly, or operate with nefarious duplicitousness.

SET UP

Each player (2-4) is given a set of Paperwork cards: they are mostly Shares but they also have three Contract cards - Small, Big, and Total. The backs of the share and contract cards are identical. Players are also given wooden contract markers also labelled Small, Big and Total.

On the table there's a deck of Business cards that have a monetary value between £1m and £15m. These are shuffled and placed face-down.

PLAY

Play breaks down like this:

1. Reveal three business cards
2. Place paperwork cards face down (up to three per player)
3. Reveal paperwork cards.
4. Assign money.

Over a set of rounds (four for 2 or 4 players; three for 3 players) three of the Business cards are flipped face-up in a row, and players take turns placing a Paperwork card beneath them - face down. The cards will determine who gets what money from the business, and the Business cards have numbers on them to show how these divide between big and small contracts. Once everyone has played up to a maximum of three cards (or passed) the cards are flipped over and the business value is divvied up.

A Total contract will claim all of the business. Big and Small contracts will split the business according to the numerical values shown on the business card. And Share cards divide whatever is left over (or split/claim everything if no contracts were played).

But the contract cards under one business can be declared Illegal under certain circumstances.

A total contract and no other contracts is legal. Shares are ignored.

A big and small contract with no other contracts is legal. Shares are ignored.

One or two small contracts is legal. Any shares claim the remainder.

Any other combination of contracts will have over-valued the business and they are all declared null and void - the business is now split between share cards, if there are any. Share cards will also swoop up or divide anything left over from contracts that haven't claimed all the business. Any remainders after this divvying up go into a pool in the playing area labelled Small Print. 

Also note: any business valued at over £10m splits the first £10m only between the contracts/shares; the rest goes into the small print pool.

There are also the Contract Markers. Players can choose to play these honestly, and put the marker on top of the corresponding contract card to announce to other players what they have played.

But they can also play any other marker, or no marker at all, or put a marker on a Share card (for instance, claiming to have played a Total contract to try and keep other players away). Markers are always returned to players after each round, though cards are not. So it's up to all players to try and remember who has used up what contract cards…

END OF A ROUND

At the end of the round any player who played a contract marker dishonestly has to take a penalty chit for each instance into their hand.

The business cards and any played contracts and shares are now discarded, and the next round begins with a new starting player.

END OF THE GAME

At the end of the game the player or players with the fewest penalty chits claims any money in the small print pool, and the player with the most cash wins.

Ties are decided on fewest penalty chits followed by most cards left in hand.

It's a celebration of rampant capitalism!

What it doesn't look like yet