And I would walk six thousand miles

With the mud of old Japan still clinging to my shoes, I found myself at Steve and Anja’s place after a day of planes, trains and Bristol traffic jams. Steve and Anja had recently been to visit Snowdonia and were now inspired to play the game of the same name. There was even talk of a double-header, with two tables of Snowdonia competing simultaneously. Such decadence!

Joining us tonight were Andy (complete with his unused copy of Snowdonia), Martin, Adam, Hannah, Katy, and Sam. Some of us began with a rousing game of Pairs (keeping the score on a child’s blackboard) as others of us were caught up in baby duty or still stuck commuting.

Pairs invited people to tempt fate as they ask for just one more card. Martin did especially well, confidently saying “The mushrooms are all in here” (meaning the discard pack) before being dealt another mushroom to go with the one he already had.

Katy did so badly in her first few rounds that she decided to shoot for the moon and go out each round. Meanwhile, Anja had started the game but was called away before too long. We kept dealing her in and guessing what she might have done if she’d still been playing. There was also a lot of quick dealing, with a couple of occasions were cards were given out before the word “twist” was uttered. Martin was handed a card just because he thoughtfully said to himself “I need...” He went bust. It’s a cruel world.

Andy 25
Adam 24
Andrew 14
Martin 14
Sam 13
“Anja” 10
Katy 0

Then we split into two groups. Andy, Steve, Anja and myself set up Snowdonia, while Adam, Katy, Martin and Sam tried Sam’s new family game Relic Expedition. Although in the capable hands of Martin and Katy, there’s no such thing as a family game as the swearwords flew thick and fast. Or maybe I misunderstood what I overheard, and they were actually discussing Balzac. I know nothing about the game though.

1. Martin
2. Adam
3. Katy
4. Sam

By the time that had finished, we’d just about set up Snowdonia. Adam went home to complete his daddy duties and the other three played The Game, a co-operative card game using a pack of 6nimmt. They succeeded, with Sam declaring “This game’s too easy!”

Next they played one of the games they’d asked me to get while in Japan: Deep Sea Adventure. This game of risk and reward, where people dive for treasure while risking running out of air, has been such a hit with Katy that it became the first board game she ever bought. There were cries of despair and joy (about a 3:1 ratio, I think) and it ended with Katy pointing out how much she liked it, even though she lost.

Sam 24
Martin 21
Katy 11

About halfway through the evening, us playing Snowdonia noticed that we had overlooked the very part of the game that triggers the end: building the track up Snowdonia. All we had were some very well appointed but remote stations dotted along the route, with no means to get to them. It was already getting late, so I bit the bullet and started building tracks with Andy following suit.

There was enough time for the other group to play another new game from Japan: Go Stop. I don’t know anything about this, and Martin has only a rudimentary knowledge of the rules with some details still unknown.

Sam 3
Katy 2
Martin 1

Snowdonia was still not quite complete, so the other three had a conversation! Amazing! Nobody noted the scores, though.

Snowdonia finally ended. My trainless/coalless strategy did not work.

Anja 107
Andy 101
Steve 100
Andrew 77

And that was that for the evening. Having used the power of board games to fend off jet lag, I got a lift back home and fell into bed.

We point at games we like

Thursday is the new Tuesday, say all the new fashion predictors and trend-setting guides. And Friday is the new day-before-yesterday. Or something.

Anyway, eight of us were at Steve and Anja's place. An unprecedented amount. Jon was able to join us and Hannah, too, made it. Of course, the more people there are, the more agonising is the debate over which game we should play. This time we struck upon the idea of all of us placing a finger on the two games we wanted to play, leading us into a Twister-esque situation which, in the seventies, would've seemed quite risqué.

In the end we split into three groups. Steve, Jon and I chose Snowdonia; Sam, Hannah and Anja went for Macao; and Joe and Adam went head to head on Commands and Colours: Ancients.

Steve and I expertly described the rules to Jon. In fact, we did so well that he was soon reminding us what they were. We built, we cleared, we bought trains. Mine broke down almost immediately, so a fat load of use that was. In the end, Steve fell just one track short of a handsome bonus and Jon won on his maiden voyage.

Jon 84
Steve 78
Andrew 69

Scipio and Hannibal were engaged in a two-leg battle. Although the game is set up in favour of Hannibal, Joe explained to me afterwards that the dice rolls had been such that Scipio had defied history and won both times: Once with Joe in charge, 6-2 and then again with Adam at the helm, 6-0, giving Adam an overall win.

Adam 8
Joe 6

Over in the lounge area, Sam, Hannah and Anja were locked in battle. "Locked" being the operative word, since apparently they all found it hard to build at first and start those bonuses rolling. I looked in on them at around the halfway mark, and Sam was in the lead, but only just. At the final count, Anja won a close game thanks to being furthest along the wall.

Anja 60 (+wall)
Sam 60
Hannah 55

As Macao ended, The five of us at the big table decided to play Coup! The hilarious game of lies and murder. It was Jon's first go at this game, but he must've used up all his beginner's luck on Snowdonia, since he was out first. Joe impressed everyone when he correctly challenged Adam, and then correctly identified the card that Adam really had. A masterful win.

1. Joe
2. Steve
3. Andrew
4. Adam
5. Jon

Finally, there was still time for one more game. Five of us chose Coup! again, and three went for Biblios. In Coup! the husband and wife team came first and second, while in Biblios Jon found himself outbid on the only two colours he was going for.

Coup
1. Steve
2. Anja
3. Joe
4. Sam
5. Andrew

Biblios
Adam 9
Hannah 7
Jon 0

And so the statistics. I take a big hit on the form table, but Anja rises to the top with Joe in close contention.

						Points
Anja	2	1	2	2	3	10
Joe	3	1	2	4	1	11
Adam	1	4	1	3	4	13
Steve	1	2	2	4	6	15
Sam	4	2	1	2	6	15
Andrew	5	3	3	2	3	16
Jon	3	5	1	5	5	19
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20

It's the end of the month, so let's take a look at The Division. Apart from this evening, my good form has put me in first in terms of points won. Anja has the best points ratio, and Bracknell regular James takes the medal table. Meanwhile, Chris impresses with his consistency.

On the two-player table, it's almost a complete whitewash by Chris. First in points and points ratio and sharing the medal table with Adam.

A brave new stat to the year

Hastily convened, but adequately attended. That's the only way to describe the opening fixture of this new season. Stabcon may be just two days away, but nobody waits two days to scratch an itch if they don't have to. At first, there were four of us (me, Sam, Anja and Steve) but that happy chance meant that football was cancelled and Adam could join us too.

Me, Sam and Adam began with Biblios. Time and experience shall not dull its attractions. Nor will it tell us how to win. After a hesitant start, with rules forgotten and cards put onto the wrong piles (seriously, they'll chuck us out of the Britannia if we're like this at Stabcon) we got into the swing of things.

Adam 8
Andrew 5
Sam 3

During that game, Anja and Steve arrived, carrying Snowdonia. All of us except Adam had played, and since they'd brought it all this way, it was chosen as the night's main game. Anja explain the rules to Adam, and there was frequent reference to the rule book throughout as we wished Joe was with us: He'd know what to do!

But we managed. We told Steve to stop putting resource cubes on the cards instead of his own cubes. We mostly allowed people to retake their goes. We mostly played the game as it was intended. There was a lot of one-upmanship over owning a train, which I felt acutely having never bought a train. And Sam and Steve and Adam felt too, having once owned trains, only to have them cruelly snatched away.

By the end, I had no idea who'd won. I suspected Adam had, but maybe that was just out of habit. When the scores were totted up, I could hardly believe it myself. Anja scored in every category, and Steve had 47 points for buildings alone but thanks to my surveyor plus bonus for surveyor (36 points, just for that) I managed to edge into top spot.

Andrew 89
Anja 86
Sam 82
Adam 78
Steve 77

And that was that. The new season baptised with a couple of games that defy prediction. It's nice to play two games that leave you guessing right 'til the end, especially if you win one of them! It leaves me on top of the form table. Steve's fifth place means he may as well have not turned up at all (except we're glad he did - he's a lovely man).

						Points
Andrew	1	2	5	5	5	18
Adam	4	1	5	5	5	20
Sam	3	3	5	5	5	21
Anja	2	5	5	5	5	22
Steve	5	5	5	5	5	25

And now, the new system to replace the Q-system: The Division. This was introduced at the end of last season and from now on it will be popping up at the end of the month, alongside the trusty form table. It includes the Olympic style medal table, and the points are based on the golden trinity of gaming: length of game, number of players and size of win. Points ratio will come in once you've played three games or more, I think.

And this is how it would look if it was in an old newspaper...

How very retro!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it Snowdonia

Due to the vagaries of the Gregorian calendar, this year the final day of the season came round fully two weeks before the end of the month. With Christmas and New Year falling on a Tuesday, family and friends and festivities have curtailed the gaming for 2012. At least until our non-leaderboard Christmas special on the 28th.

We were expecting six on the final evening, but Adam texted saying he was ill, and as me, Sam and Joe were playing Biblios as a warm up we received a late cancellation from Steve and Anja. A real shame, especially as it meant we couldn't dislodge Steve from his perch atop the form table without some kind of miracle occurring.

Meanwhile, Biblios remains as intractable as ever, with Sam convinced throughout the game that he'd played it all wrong. Of course, he won.

1. Sam 7
2. Andrew 5 + brown cards
3. Joe 5

Then, since we were three, we decided to play a new game. Snowdonia is the game that Joe received in return for a trade with City of Horror. If nothing else, we were looking at a net gain, right?

Well, yes. This is a game very much in the style of Tinners' Trail or Village: worker placement to collect goods/do deeds/win end-game bonuses and finally build a railway all the way up to the peak of Mount Snowdon.

Near the start of the game. Most meeples still in the pub.

It was our first game and I wonder how much we understood. I was frustrated by Joe consistently playing a move that gave Sam a chance to grab starting player. Meanwhile, Sam hoarded goods for much of the start of the game, and I picked up bonuses and tried to make sure I completed them.

In the end, my doubts over Joe's strategy were unfounded as he won. Not by a little, but by a comfortable margin thanks to his 60+ bonuses, which neither Sam nor I saw coming at all. And for all our sound and fury, we rattled into the sidings at the top of Snowdon as empty vessels, joint second.

1. Joe 113
2= Sam 95
2= Andrew 95

Cubes on cards... Joe's favourite thing in the world

It was still relatively early, so we decided to break out the whiskey and end on Las Vegas, the gambley dice game that isn't Lords Of Vegas. In this, you roll a number of dice and then chose a value to place into a casino, hoping that at the end, you have the most dice in that casino so you can claim the money that was dealt out to it at the start at the game.

It's a cruel game, with ties cancelling each other out, and every player is given two dice which will act against them, so be careful which value you choose. I never got started, and soon found that I was being picked on by the two wheeler-dealers who mostly split the winnings amongst themselves.

1. Sam $540,000
2. Joe $470,000
3. Andrew $250,000

And so it ends! No more games for 2012, and we now receive the final judgement on our efforts to appease the gods of board games. On the form table, Steve stays in first place with Sam just falling short in second. Who knows, if his request for one last game this evening had been granted, he may have won.

						Points
Steve	2	1	1	1	2	7
Sam	1	2	1	2	2	8
Anja	1	2	3	3	1	10
Joe	2	1	3	3	1	10
Andrew	3	2	2	1	3	11
Adam	3	4	1	2	3	13
Hannah	1	1	5	5	5	17
Paul	1	3	5	5	5	19
Jon	3	5	5	5	5	23
Chris	6	2	5	5	5	23

As for the Q system, a late flurry of games means that Sam pushes himself into first place, ahead of Adam. And then me and Joe also barge past Adam too, just for good measure. Paul win on points ratio.

On the Olympic style leaderboard, the story is very similar. Adam, who lead for much of the season, is overhauled by his closest rivals packing in as many games as possible at the last minute. Sam nabs top spot here.

But before Adam loses all hope, allow me to introduce next season's scoring system. I'm afraid we'll be saying goodbye to the Q-system in favour of something that allows for the three main aspects of a win: number of players, length of time and size of win. As such, this new system uses Adam's method of transforming any score to a scale between zero (loser) and one (winner), and then multiplying that by the number of players, and then multiplying again by length of time in hours (according to boardgamegeek). This is, I think, the most accurate reflection of a gamer's worth and I say that despite coming last in points ratio. And congratulations to Adam and Hannah for winning this new scoring system.

And thanks to this new system, we're able to recognise the best performance of the season, which was Adam's victory over four of us in Game of Thrones, where none of us managed even half of his score. A remarkable acheivement that ranks alongside any overhead kick from the edge of the box into the corner of the net in the last minute of a World Cup game.

A bit.

Anyway, congrats to all our winners (namely Sam, Adam, Hannah and Paul, but we're all winners if we play board games, right?) and I hope to see you on the 28th!