One more time around the world before she leaves

This week's games night was Katy's last one before setting off on a crazy bike ride across America. It seems only fitting that the games we played had a globe-trotting theme, taking us to deepest Cornwall, the Scottish Hebrides, South American jungles, Japanese bamboo groves and a slightly dubious re-imagining of some Caribbean Islands.

Adam and Hannah's house was the venue and, along with the hosts, we were: Katy, Sam, Ian, Matt, Stuart, Martin and me.

We split into two groups. Martin, like a jovial shepherd of fun, corralled three other players into a game of Tonga Bonga. This is a race game where four players speed around some regrettably named Caribbean Islands ("Samboa Bay"? Really?) and the richest player wins. In that sense, at least, it is a remarkably accurate portrayal of the development of modern sport.

I didn't watch it much, but at the end Sam was surprised to see how far off the pace he was and Katy was just pleased to not be in last by herself.

Martin 149
Ian 121
Katy 110
Sam 110

On the big table, we were playing Isle of Skye. With five players. What an adventure! We had all played it before, but so long ago that we needed a rules refresher. Cue Adam and his laid back method of pointing at things and saying what they are while others point at other things and ask what they are.

Before long, we were off. Despite the high number of players, it went pretty fast. I lead for most of the game, which meant I was cash poor. But I kept scoring every round. Stuart began slowly before charging up the score track in the final two rounds. Hannah impressed everyone with her extensive collection of lighthouses, bothies and farm houses but not a huge amount else. Matt was in contention mid-game but slowed down as the game wore on. In more ways than one. He fell into analysis paralysis in a big way on his final turn, prompting me to declare "This is going in the book!" as I grabbed pen and notepad. All that thoughtfulness couldn't save him. Adam won the game having spent the whole game at my shoulder in second place before easing past me during the end of game bonuses.

Adam 55
Andrew 50
Stuart 49
Matt 42
Hannah 42

Before we'd ended, the four on the other table had started a game of The Mind. I feel I should apologise for their weak showing, since just as they started round six I announced I'd brought A Fake Artist Goes To New York, and I waved it about a bit. This was enough to distract Ian who failed to put down his 4 before the 6 and 7 went down in quick succession.

Then again, to be on your last life on round six... Poor show, despite their elaborate method of 'palms on the table, lifting them up together' method of synchronising psychically.

There was now a bit of a reshuffle. Adam, Martin and Ian chose The Quest for Eldorado. Sam, Stuart and Matt went for Tinners' Trail. Katy, Hannah and I, for old times' sake, chose Takenoko.

There were rules explanations for Tinners' and Eldorado, and a rules refresher for Takenoko. In fact, the reason Takenoko has been away for so long was due to the fact there was always a rule we'd misunderstood or misapplied.

I think we got it right this time, though. We didn't move the panda so much, meaning the bamboo grew strong and fast. Katy triggered the game end and was far enough ahead that neither Hannah nor I had any chance of catching up.

Katy 37
Andrew 32
Hannah 29

The Quest For Eldorado ended in uproar, with Martin declaring that Adam had broken the game and there was no point in playing it any more. At least not with the tile containing two base camps next to each other. Since these allow you to trash cards, Adam went back and forth between them to give himself a supremely efficient hand of just five very powerful cards. He ended the game a full two tiles ahead of Ian or Martin, who were languishing in a second or third place so distant there was little point in distinguishing between the two.

Adam wins
Martin/Ian not even close

They finished before we had finished Takenoko, so they had a one round sudden death game of Krass Kariert. Ian lost, apparently.

Then us Takenoko-ites joined them while Tinners' Trail played out its final stages. Hannah retired to bed so the rest of us played a one round sudden death game of Zero Down.

Katy 0
Martin 7
Adam 7
Andrew 11
Ian 19

Now we were all together, since Tinners' Trail had ended. Despite sharing a table with it and actually being quite jealous that they were playing, I didn't follow the game. Where it was won and lost will remain a mystery. Unless someone tells us in the comments.

Sam 71
Stuart 58
Matt 43

Now we were all together again, and keen to end on Fake Artist. After a quick rules explanation to the newbies, we began with me deliberately choosing Matt as the fake artist, and Theatre as the subject to be drawn. But Adam was chosen as the fake, apparently because he doesn't know how to draw a stage with one line. Matt couldn't guess the word, though, so we won!

In round two, Katy shuffled the clue cards so she didn't know the fake. The topic was "places" and the actual word was Mexico. Cue lots of abortive attempts at drawing a cactus or sombreros. A circle in the sky became a sun and then a football but all this was not enough to distract the fake artist, Martin. He was correctly identified, but was able to guess what we were drawing.

In the third and final round, the word we were drawing was "helicopter" and, between us, we pretty much drew a helicopter. I seem to remember that it was identified as the fake artist. Wrongly, of course. The true fake was Stuart (memory is a bit foggy here) but he was easily able to guess the word.

And once that was done, so were we. And so was Katy! There were hugs and goodbyes and a promise that she will blog if she gets the chance to play a board game or two in America. Bon Voyage and Happy Trails, Katy, or whatever they say these days. As for the rest of us... same time, next week.

Novocon 2015

Friday

As the starlings gather in fields to set of across the continents on their yearly migration, so it is that the GNN faithful gather together on email exchanges, eager to swap city concrete for the feeling of fresh country grass under our feet. Or at least visible through the window.

Sam, Stanley and I set off from Bristol heading south-west to Devon which, apparently, sat under a giant black storm cloud. Day swiftly turned to night as rain fell. The journey was arduous, but not complicated and after a couple of hours, we had arrived in Croyde!

Adam, Hannah, Arthur and Katy were there to meet us with freshly cooked lasagna. And as we ate, Steve, Anja and Luther arrived, followed by Jon. Finally, we were all together so the games could commence!

The first game was Steve’s egg game, in which he had to balance eggs on a shelf in the fridge door, unaware that it would give way any second. It did, with Steve unable to catch them all. In the blink of an eye we went from eighteen eggs down to three. There then came the tricky matter of how to pick up albumen from a kitchen floor. Mopping it up with a sponge? Scooping it up with a spatula? Steve worked hard to clean it up.

The second game was Steve’s beer game, in which he had to pour a drink from his new Old Speckled Hen mini-keg without it suddenly spurting drink everywhere. He lost. More cleaning up.

Steve's beer. Fresh from the mini-keg!

Finally, while Arthur and Luther were being put to bed, we played a real game. You know, one that comes in a box with rules. We chose Forbidden Desert, a nice co-op game to ease everyone into the weekend. Jon, Stanley, Katy, Sam, Adam and myself all tried to find the pieces of the ancient flying machine in the shifting sands of the aforementioned desert. But we couldn’t. We were able to stave off thirst, only to die, buried under piles of sand.

Next, Adam beat Steve at Hive, and Anja joined the group on the Big Table where they broke out Celestia. Sam took out the special action cards, apart from the jet pac and spy-glass, I think. They sped through two games of high drama.

Jon 55
Katy 38
Sam 36
Stanley 30
Anja 29

Then...

Anja 52
Jon 43
Stanley 39
Sam 36
Steve 33

During the second game, Adam beat Katy at Hey, That’s My Fish, 59-38. Then, Adam took over Arthur-duties and Hannah and I did battle in 7 Wonders Duel. I explained the rules to her, and spent most of the game balefully believing she had beaten me easy. But then I picked up a number of guilds in round three to come out an easy winner, 76-51.

By now there was talk of trying something a little more substantial. Anja, Steve and I played Snowdonia. For a change, we tried the Blaenau Ffestiniog variant. This involves the players choosing which end they start from, with the events alternating between ends.

It only added frustration, as best-laid plans were scuppered by the game triggering an event to dig/build/lay tracks in exactly the place we wanted. I was unable to build any station buildings at all. However, we kept our spirits up in these arduous times by singing the hits of Bernard Cribbins. Yes, all three of them.

Steve 72
Anja 52
Andrew 25

While all this fraught contemplation was going on, the other half of the room indulged in light-hearted party games. First, they played Deep Sea Adventure, featuring Katy’s plaintive wail of “but I was being so careful!”

Jon 29
Adam 14
Hannah 13
Katy 0

This was followed by Spyfall, the game of using questions to try and deduce which player is the spy who doesn’t know the secret location. Who won? I’ve no idea, but it ended with Jon coming into the kitchen complaining that he’s always the spy.

This was followed by 6 nimmt.

Katy 23
Adam 26
Sam 27
Hannah 44
Jon 66

Finally for them, after Hannah and Adam retired, they played Raj.

Sam 59
Jon 54
Katy 25

Saturday

The very epicentre of the games weekend, and a whole day of games for all concerned. However, it was a slow start with people arising at different times, such that the thought of gaming was put to one side in preference for getting children to eat breakfast or trying to work out why the wi-fi/playstation2/TV/electric hob/wall socket doesn’t work.

In an attempt at getting us away from all this useless technology, we decided to walk to the nearby beach. Although the forecast was grim, the sun was out and myself, Sam, Stanley, Hannah, Arthur , Jon and Katy all set out defiantly into the buffeting wind.

The only game we played was pooh sticks between Jon, Katy and Stanley, which Jon won with his large chunk of branch beating Katy and Stanley’s twigs. Although we also played the running up and down the sand dunes game, which I was quite bad at and needed Jon to give me a helping hand.

As we were heading home we met Anja, Steve and Luther going the other way. After a brief chat and our friendly advice about which way they should go, we parted ways. We looked back and were impressed that they too were successfully attempting to scale the same huge dune that we had climbed.

We then paused at a local shop to buy pasties (English Breakfast Pasty was a big hit with me) before heading back.

Back at the house, there was still some time before lunch and so - at 11.45 - we began the first game of the day: Celestia!

Katy 52
Stanley 37
Andrew 37
Sam 36
Hannah 28
Jon 20

And this was followed by the serene delights of Takenoko. Hannah was the last to complete any actual cards, and was complaining how badly she was doing. Then she completed three high scoring cards in one turn and the game changed in her favour. Jon cursed his luck at only ever picking up green tiles (ironically, the colour that I wanted but never got). Katy was amazed at how badly she did at a game that she usually won. They seemed to find it a uniquely stressful game.

Hannah 38
Andrew 26
Jon 21
Katy 14

After Sam’s lunch of stuffed peppers, there was a kickabout in the garden for the more energetic of us, while others preferred to watch languidly from the sofa.

But soon we were back to the board games, and Hannah, Katy and Anja played Fauna while us guys hung out in the kitchen and played the slightly more boyish game of Cube Quest. We tried to complete a full league contain six players: Stanley, Adam, Andrew, Steve, Jon and Sam. We didn’t really get close but at the end the mini league looked like:

Sam 2 wins out of 2
Andrew 2 wins out of 3
Adam 2 wins out of 3
Steve 2 wins out of 3
Jon 1 wins out of 3
Stanley 0 wins out of 4

As grown men, should we be ashamed at how seriously we took our games against Stanley? Perhaps.

Cube Quest. A serious business.

Notable victories were Adam’s win over me, in which he picked out my king from a crowd of cubes. Also when Jon beat Stanley, his winning flick was so strong, the king flew off the table and hit Sam in the face.

Meanwhile, Fauna ended

Hannah 130
Katy 85
Anja 72

Hannah put down her comfortable win due to the fact that three animals came up that she already knew about, and she seemed somehow disappointed that she didn’t win by guessing. Surely rewarding knowledge is the whole point of the game.

Then I taught Adam how to play 7 Wonders Duel, and I didn’t patronise him by going easy on him just because it was his first go. I won 83-53. Meanwhile, Katy did not enjoy her introduction to Chocolatl, giving Dirk control of her game halfway through.

Sam 56
Steve 43
Hannah 43
Anja 33
Katy/Dirk 13

Then Steve and Anja broke away to prepare food, while Katy, Sam, Jon, Adam and me played a rousing game of Mystery at the Abbey. Adam found it hard going and, at two hours, it did last longer than I expected. Jon got a free revelation (ie, didn’t lose you points at the end of the game) and seemingly used it to confuse us, saying the murderer was a Franciscan, when it turned out to be a Templar. I successfully got the murderer, so I was happy at least. I don’t think Adam was impressed by how low-scoring a game it was for so much effort.

Andrew 2
Katy 2
Adam 2
Sam 0
Jon 0

Finally, I tried to teach Matcha to Adam, but the rule book text was too small and my brain couldn’t cope, and food was imminent. I apologised and gave up.

After a hearty feast of frittata, salad and something else I can’t recall, six of us played Midnight Party while the toddlers were being put to bed since this would be our last chance this evening to shout and scream.

Stanley 22
Katy 25
Steve 25
Andrew 27
Sam 34
Jon 44

Then Adam beat me twice on Hive, using the same tactic twice. Grr. Meanwhile, Jon introduced Hannah, Katy and Steve to Waggle Dance, another game of considerable length and low scores:

Jon 5 honey
Hannah 4 plus 5 nectar
Katy 4 plus 3
Steve 3

And Adam, Anja, Sam and me played a couple of games of No Thanks in which those who gambled on the high cards were richly rewarded for their bravery.

Sam 11 (with a run from 35-29)
Anja 15
Andrew 19
Adam 43

And then...

Anja 5 (with a run from 32-26)
Sam 19
Andrew 20
Adam 28

By now it was just past nine o’clock and anyone who wanted to play a long game needed to make a decision and convince others soon. Jon persuaded Adam and I to play Power grid with the promise of robots. Steve and Anja felt their chances of playing Wallenstein slipping away, as they agreed to an evening of short, fun games which would give Hannah the chance to bow out early if needed.

They played Celestia, the hit of the weekend.

Sam 51
Katy 43
Steve 34
Hannah 25
Anja 22

Then Bandu:

1. Steve
2. Anja
3. Hannah
4. Katy
5. Sam

And then, after a few retirements, Anja and Sam played a couple of games of Matcha, winning one game each.

On Power Grid, meanwhile, Adam played like a pro, quickly moving to trap Jon and me into a corner of the map. The robot, meanwhile, was actually a cardboard cut-out made up of several pieces with rules that the robot always obeys when it’s his turn. You can put this robot together from a wide selection, meaning it will almost never play the same way twice.

Anyway, there were a couple of hairy moments when the robot was in second place. The honour of the whole human race was at stake here. In the end, Adamn had such a good start that he could barely lose, even though Jon said Adam had made a big mistake in one of the closing rounds and might have ruined his chances. I hadn’t noticed anything.

Adam 17 cities
Jon 15
Andrew 14
Robot 13

And, with the time at midnight, the day was finally over. Phew.

Sunday

And, as we all know, after Saturday came Sunday. Known for its sleepy slow awakenings and quiet gentle breakfasts. Unless you’re us, in which case it involves a massive space epic. I mean Eclipse, of course, and because Sam, Stanley and I were scheduled to head home mid-afternoon, we pushed for a meaty epic before lunch. Railways of the World was mooted until a thirst for new rules and sci-fi adventures won the debate and Eclipse was set up.

Sam talked us (Jon, Stanley, Adam and myself) through the rules, with Adam referring to the rules throughout, much to everyone’s dismay. Indeed, he found a couple of rule clarifications which would have helped his military plans if he’d known about them. This, at least, counts as mitigating circumstances regarding his final placing.

We played a truncated game, since (lunch) time was pressing. When round six ended, we finished with the scores at:

Jon 25
Stanley 22
Andrew 19
Sam 18
Adam 17

After this, while I made pizzas Steve and Anja played two games of Matcha, winning one each while Jon, Adam, Katy, Stanley and Sam played football. This was followed by a swift one-round blast of Raj for some of the mud-crusted footballers.

Stanley 20
Adam 12
Sam 8

Then at around three o'clock, Sam, Stanley and I set off back to Bristol, leaving the rest to play the “Five adults with child care duties decide what to play next” game.

Adam emailed me with scores and a little description of the final games of the weekend. Adam's home made Settlers of Catan finally got an airing. He reports...

Settlers:
Katie 10
Hannah 7
Adam 6
Jon 5

Katie got a strong position picking on the turn and ended up getting 5 wheat everytime 9 was rolled. Hannah was Close behind while John and I grumbled and stumbled in soundly beaten. Don't let the scores fool you into thinking it was close...

Waggle dance
Anja 5 honey, fewest dice
Steve 5 honey, next fewest dice
Katie 5 honey, more nectar
Hannah 5 honey, dead weight

7wonders duel:
Katy 74
Hannah 68

Wallenstein:
Anja 62
Adam 52
Steve 47

Steve was unceremoniously squashed between Anja and I. Meanwhile she and I danced around cagily loading more and more troops into Sachsen until Anja finally struck in the second last round, taking one territory and reducing another to one cube. That victory proved decisive as I collapsed to farmer revolts in the second winter and we were definitely finished by midnight...

- - - - - -

Thanks Adam. All that remains is the division. Well done, Drs Katy and Anja. Looks like Anja was right to insist on that game of Wallenstein after all.

 And, since we played quite a lot of two player games, I made a division for those games too.

Thanks, everyone. A lovely weekend and nice to get some epics onto the table. It'll be a long time until we have a table large enough to host five-player Eclipse.

Hillmann’s Imps

Due to a lack of potential attendees on Tuesday, this week’s official GNN meet was brought forward to Monday, with Adam and Hannah offering their humble abode as the venue. There were nine of us: the two hosts plus Sam, Martin, Katy, Ian, Matt, myself and Martin’s friend Tamsin.

We started while we waited for Tamsin and Matt with a hilarious game of In A Bind, the meanest Twister since Sharknado (see what I did there? Twister: Tornado: Sharknado: Comedy) except that everyone’s sitting at a table. Matt arrived mid-game and was promptly invited to join. His first card was “Top teeth always showing” which he failed to maintain the moment he took a sip of his beer.

In the end, it was the two rivals Katy and Martin, who cared enough about winning and little about how they looked, that ended first and second.

Martin 11 cards
Katy 10
Sam, Andrew, Adam 5
Ian 4
Hannah 3
Matt 1

Tamsin arrived after we’d finished (thank goodness) and was present for the game discussion. Since we were nine in number, it made sense to split into three groups of three. Katy, Hannah and Matt went for Takenoko. Ian, Adam and Sam chose Caverna. Normally, I’d be keen on either of those games but I was tempted by a return of Kingdom Builder. It was quite the regular when Gonz was a GNN member, but little has been seen of it since.

Plus, we decided to play the game outside, in the balmy rays of the evening sun. It was delightful. It was also Tamsin’s first game in a long time, and she needed a rule refresher. Perhaps the worse that can be said of KB is that it doesn’t lend itself to excitable commentaries. The main aspect of the game was that Tamsin kept to the third of the board nearest to her, while Martin and I focused on half the board furthest from us.

Andrew 53
Martin 46
Tamsin 28

Since Takenoko was still mid-game (and Caverna just about in its early stages) we chose Red 7 as a nice filler until we could join up with them as a group of six (and also go inside, since the balmy rays of sun had long since sunk under the rooftops by now).

However, there’s no such thing as a “nice filler” in Martin’s gaming vocabulary, and he cruelly took us to the cleaners, hitting the target of 35 points after just three rounds.

Martin 39
Tamsin 6
Andrew 0

During Red 7, Katy came out to tell us about her triumph at Takenoko:

Katy 38
Hannah 37
Matt 27

So now we were a group of six, and the three of us “outsiders” (literally) decamped to the front room, passing the kitchen table groaning under the weight of Caverna’s tiles and meeples.

In the front room, we decided to play A Fake Artist in New York, to give it a proper airing after last time. I took a note of the scores, but to be honest, it doesn’t lend itself to serious strategies, as each drawing brings forth new waves of hilarity. During the six rounds, all of us were the fake artist at least once except Martin. Katy crashed out worst in her turn as fake artist, trying to represent Pictionary (Category: games) by drawing a hill underneath a stick-man that someone else had drawn. Despite this, she was able to guess the subject and, technically, mark up a win. Not that I really understand the scoring system.

Then we played Pairs, the game that rewards facing down cruel fate with a steely-eyed glare. Matt and Katy didn’t score until the final two rounds, but even so they matched my slow-but-steady approach. The trouble was that no one got out. Twist followed twist followed twist, as Hannah, Martin and Tamsin collected impressive collections of fruit. After four round, those three were tied on 17 points each, effectively making round five the last round.

And it was Martin what won it, as Tamsin and Hannah both went bust before him. Once I went bust too, he just had to stick and collect his four points for the win.

Martin 21
Tamsin 17
Hannah 17
Katy 10
Andrew 9
Matt 8

After this Tamsin and Martin decided to end their participation. But Caverna was still half an hour from completion, so the remaining four played Deep Sea Adventure. This was, I believe, Katy’s first attempt at explaining the rules to a game (to Hannah), and it mostly involved explaining the basics while remembering other rules and then finally saying that we should just play it.

Don’t knock it, though. It worked. While Matt constantly drowned inches from the boat, Hannah proved herself adept at diving for treasure and getting it back. It was a low scoring game, with everyone drowning on the fourth round. Matt was especially disappointed that his last round haul would’ve won him the game.

Hannah 20
Katy 16
Andrew 10
Matt 0

Finally, we went into the kitchen to find the Cavernites counting up their final scores. After a little confusion about which shields to count and when, Adam was a clear winner with a new high score for the game.

Adam 92
Sam 76
Ian 51

Chuffing Great

Eight gamers assembled at Adam and Hannah's for the weekly game fix. At first we considered the tantalising idea of two concurrent games of Railways Of The World, since Joe had brought his copy along with him. But not everyone was sold on the idea, so I suggested Takenoko as the 'other' option in today's gaming multiple choice. Hannah wanted an early night, so she agreed. Andy wanted to see what he'd missed, having been too late to pick it up second hand, and Katy is not a big fan of RotW so we broke away into the other room while Adam, Joe, Matt and Ian set out to find their fortunes on Joe's new Europe map.

We went through the rule book of Takenoko to refresh our memories, and we kept asking ourselves if that's how we played it last time. But once we were on our way, there was no stopping us. Apart from the long pauses whenever Katy rolled a '?' on the die, meaning she could choose the weather. This triggered off lengthy bouts of AP and she admitted she preferred it to when the die made the decision for her.

During this pauses, I popped into the kitchen to see how Europe's railway system was shaping up. Although I was disappointed that Moscow wasn't a red city,  I was impressed by Ian and Adam's matching slightly train-driverish hats.

As for Takenoko, Katy triggered the end of the game by playing a gardener card that got her seven points and pushed her into the lead. Andy couldn't catch her, and neither could I. In fact, I only just beat Hannah by the little known tie breaker rule of best-fed panda.

Katy 36
Andy 28
Andrew 25(plus fat panda)
Hannah 25 (not as fat panda)

After this, we went into the kitchen where Hannah inadvertently insulted me by telling Adam she'd lost terribly. I reminded her that she'd only just finished behind me. I guess her standards are higher than mine.

Hannah retired to bed, and my suggestion of us watching the end of RotW was not favourably received so the three of us tried Welcome to the Dungeon. A simple game of chicken, as we tested each others’ steely nerves. At least we would have if we’d been better acquainted with the game. Katy didn’t care for it, and I wasn’t sure what was going on.

In the game, each round has a character (mage, warrior, etc) and their collection of beast-beating equipment. In the bidding round a player either (i) picks up a monster card, looks at it and puts it face down on the dungeon pile; (ii) picks up a monster card but discards it. To do so, a piece of equipment must also be discarded; or (iii) passes and plays not further part in the round. The last player to not pass then enters the dungeon. Each monster card is shown and is killed or takes HP off your character, with the aim of living until the end. First player to successfully got through two dungeons wins.

Andy 2
Andrew 0
Katy –1 (ie, one loss)

I’d need to play it again to be sure about it. I didn’t really get to grips with it. Andy seemed better suited and won the game after three rounds.

Finally, RotW had ended. The game was tight and the winner was unexpected: Ian won, for his first ever victory on Railways. A night he will always remember, I expect. The rest of the field were hot on his heels. Adam seemed pleased with the game, though, as he described it with the phrase used as the title of this blog post.

Ian 64
Adam 58
Joe 56
Matt 55

Another lovely night. Although I was surprised to hear that Adam is yet to use his copy of Railways of the World! This situation can’t be allowed to go on. Railways back to the table soon, please.

On the division, Ian’s success sends him from second from bottom to first place: such is the power of a win at RotW.

In search of the perfect five

Sam was ill and Joe couldn’t make it, so it was up to me to don leather gloves and buy a tin of boiled sweets for a long car journey, as I gave Martin a lift through Easton’s annoyingly busy tiny roads to Adam’s house. Of course, this meant I wasn’t drinking this evening. I started to worry. What if it turns out I hate board games when sober?

Adam and Hannah were there, and so was Ian, Matt and Katy who was keen to make a larger impression on the various leaderboards and form table. At first, Hannah was putting baby Arthur to bed so the six of us played 6nimmt. All eyes were on Martin, as he had three consecutive first places in the bag and was keen to get two more for a Perfect Five.

He started well, getting no points in round one, but after round two was in close competition with Adam and Matt. The final round was tense, especially since it was Martin’s worst. But he did just enough to steal the win from Matt by a single point.

But the best performance (at least, the most symmetrical) was Katy who scored 21 in her first round, then 21 in the second round before getting a single point in the last round. With the card 21. Poetic, almost.

Martin 23
Matt 24
Katy 43
Adam 43
Andrew 64
Ian 72

Then, with Hannah joining us, we split into two groups. Hannah, Katy and myself played Takenoko while Adam, Martin, Matt and Ian faced off over Kingdom Builder. Would their collective might be enough to stop Martin’s fifth win in a row?

In our room, we explained the rules of Takenoko to Katy. At first she was a bit confused, but soon powered into a mid-game lead. But, then, this game was notable for each player suddenly scoring plenty in a single turn. Also, I found a rule that had previously gone unnoticed: that in order for a set of tiles to score, they all have to be irrigated. Unfortunately for Katy, I found this rule just after Katy declared that she’d scored a set of tiles.

But she wasn’t to be put off, and when I finished the game, she powered past both me and Hannah with a final turn that clocked up 14 points.

Katy 42
Hannah 36
Andrew 33

I enjoyed it. I found it strangely relaxing, in a way. Although there’s a lot going on, it all seems very sedate, especially at the beginning. A lovely little game.

Before we’d even got halfway through Takenoko, the kingdom in the other room had already been built. I’d heard wails of anguish from Martin earlier about a tactic used by Ian that screwed him over. Perhaps that was pivotal, since the final results couldn’t have been closer.

Adam 52
Ian 51
Martin 51
Matt 46

One point away from the perfect five! How cruel life can be.

Since Takenoko was nowhere near finished, they began another game of KB. This time, there was no nail-biting finish, as Matt used a bonus to score point after point during the game, meaning his lead was unassailable by the time the end game bonuses were added up.

Matt 87
Martin 63
Adam 56
Ian 51

After this, we decided to squeeze in a very quick game of Kakerlakenpoker. This time, though, the loser was the first to get two of the same insect in front of them, instead of the usual four. I was out first and, even if I say so myself, I finished myself off in some style. A card had been passed around to three people, all of whom said it was a fly, before it came to me. At the time I had a rat in front of me (as well as others), and I said “I think it is a fly!” But then just as I was about to turn it over, I said “Unless it’s a rat.”

It was a rat. I lost. It took three of them to gang up on me, though. I guess that means they respect me.

Then it was time to go home. I got lost in Easton’s labyrinthine streets, finally got to the M32, only to discover the slip road was closed. Instead, I tried to emulate Sam’s weaving through darkened back streets and luckily Martin recognised a bus in front of us, so I just followed that back to the centre.

On the form table, Martin rules the roost by a mile.

						Points
Martin	2	2	1	1	1	7
Andrew	3	4	3	3	3	16
Matt	1	3	2	5	5	16
Sam	2	2	2	5	5	16
Adam	3	1	3	5	5	17
Ian	4	2	5	4	4	19
Katie	1	3	5	5	5	19
Stanley	1	5	5	5	5	21
Hannah	2	5	5	5	5	22

Finally, we have a division for Kingdom Builder. Gonz is still top, but it’s only a matter of time before his sterling efforts are eclipsed. Amazingly, I win on points ratio.

Don’t Take No (ko) For An Answer

I arrived at tonight’s games night with a troubled air. In the last GNN bulletin, I scored my fourth win in a row. Thus the first game tonight was to be pivotal. I stayed quiet, hoping that no one would remember. There were five of us at first at Adam’s house. Adam (his first time back after paternity leave), Ian, Matt, Sam and myself.

7 Wonders was chosen. I thought “This is possible.”

I was given the Mausoleum at Harlicarnassus. This one gives the player the chance to build a discarded building for free when they complete a part of their wonder. A tricky one, easy to get wrong. But play it right, and it’s pretty powerful.

The game was new to Ian and Matt, and Sam explained the rules to them. Considering it was their first time, they did pretty well. They focused on armies, facing off over a steadily increasing pile of blood red cards. Adam went for sciences but found that he couldn’t build his science-friendly wonder because of a lack of wood.

I kept my wonder unbuilt until the very end of the second round, when I thought there may be some decent buildings in the discard pile. And then in round three, I was able to build three guilds and a last minute army (to stop Adam’s sudden conversion from non-violent research to blood-thirsty warlord. No doubt driven to violence by the lack of wood) to assure a comfortable victory and my very own Perfect Five!

Andrew 62
Sam 50
Matt 49
Adam 45
Ian 35

						Points
Andrew	1	1	1	1	1	5
Sam	2	1	3	1	3	10
Joe	2	2	2	3	3	10
Martin	4	2	2	1	2	11
Matt	3	1	4	1	1	10
Ian	5	3	3	2	3	16
Adam	4	5	5	5	5	23

After this hands were shaken, celebratory texts were sent out, and I could finally relax as I basked in the glory of only the second ever perfect five!

Then Hannah came down from putting their baby to bed, and we split into two groups of three. I found the Japanese stylings of Takenoko (which I guess is 竹の子, Child of Bamboo EDIT: I was too literal. It means Bamboo Sprout) irresistible and so Adam and Matt joined me in the front room, while Sam, Ian and Hannah chose Concordia.

Takenoko is a lovely game to look at, with tiny but perfectly formed Panda and Gardner pieces to move around. The rules are simple: you have two actions and a random action decided by a die each move. The aim is to score points by achieving particular formations of tiles (coloured pink, green and yellow) on the table, or particular combinations of bamboo that the panda has eaten, or particular heights of bamboo that the gardener has grown. You find out these criteria according to cards dealt to you at the start of the game, but you can pick up more cards as you go.

The first player to successfully complete eight (me) gets a bonus of two points, and the other players get one more go to try to finish what they can.

Andrew 38
Adam 35
Matt 34

And I’d won my sixth game in a row! An occasion so rare, that it doesn’t even have a name! The Splendid Six, perhaps? Although the Smug Six might have been a more accurate description of my attitude once the scores had been added up.

We’d finished but Concordia was still in full swing. When I went in to check, Ian had France all to himself, and there was still a largeish pile of cards to be bought. We went back into the front room and decided on Galaxy Truckers: a game that Matt actually owned but hadn’t played yet.

Adam explained the rules to him, but it is simply a game about a bunch of unlucky jigsaw puzzles. Once put together, they are beaten up by cards and dice. My fate was sealed in round two: I had looked at the cards beforehand, and had planned accordingly. But a mistake in my ship meant that one of lasers fell off immediately, and before long a stray meteorite had removed a second, leaving me at the mercy of the same pirates and slavers I’d seen earlier and had been so confident of beating. Instead I was desperately trying to slow my ship down, and let Adam go first. Cowardly, but necessary.

But my shoddy engineering left me in a distant second, my dreams of a seventh win in tatters. Adam added insult to injury by hitting three figures.

Adam 100
Andrew 47
Matt 35

The last round of Galaxy Truckers was played with an audience, as Concordia had ended and been packed away, so the three of them watched us rush through our final round of meteorites after meteorites. Adam remembered a rule that allows sideways facing lasers to shoot either side of their level, but he described it so badly that no one believed him. In the end, he found it in the rule book, allowing him to reinstate his previously destroyed engine.

But as for Concordia, Ian's Francophile approach did not pay dividends. Sam said that if Hannah had been fully up to speed on the tactics, she would have won. Hannah expressed surprise at how easily Sam had spread his influence across the map. He explained that he’d just moved around a lot. Ah, such depth.

Sam 155
Hannah 144
Ian 117

All of which leaves me at the top of the form table, but more importantly, it welcomes two familiar faces back to the world of games. Cross fingers that they can come again soon.

						Points
Andrew	2	1	1	1	1	6
Sam	1	2	1	3	1	8
Joe	2	2	2	3	3	10
Martin	4	2	2	1	2	11
Matt	3	3	3	1	4	14
Ian	3	5	3	3	2	16
Adam	1	2	4	5	5	17
Hannah	2	5	5	5	5	22