Bremen over with enthusiasm

 I arrived at 8, during a four player (Sam the host, Ian, Joe and Gareth)game of Kiitos. They cut it short for my benefit so I only got to see one word completed: "Codger" whose points went to Gareth.

Gareth 6

Sam 0

Ian -5

Joe -5

Since we were a fivesome we chose Hansa Teutonica as our main event. It’s a recent returnee to GNN and, after ten years, I needed a rules explanation and so did Ian and Gareth who were both new to the game.

We began in feisty mood, getting in each other’s way, hoping to have our counters bumped off routes so we’d be able to place two counters in adjacent routes. Gareth seemed to be a quick learner and made some shrewd moves but then, a few rounds later, he was still in last, with Joe a distant leader and Sam, Ian and I clustered around the mid-point between them.

We listened to Nick Lowe, who sounded like a number of different artists, and who Spotify believed only has a few songs. We were slowly getting to grips with Hansa Teutonica when Gareth completed the east-west route, pretty much in a straight line. We really should have stopped him earlier. This nabbed him a whole bunch of points and pushed him into joint first. Then my twin towns around a privilege action started scoring me pairs of points and I edged into the lead. In fact, the game ended when I reached 20 points, thanks to Joe completing a route with a town of mine on it.

But my lead was short-lived. Gareth’s bonuses pushed him further and further ahead, leaving us all with a sense of having been thoroughly schooled.

Gareth 51

Joe 37

Andrew 32

Sam 27

Ian 27

Next up was So Clover. Alas, we fell well short of perfection thanks to some unfortunate decoy cards. My clue for “feed/poison” was “Assassinate” but I was distraught when the decoy had “witness” on it, especially since it had a second word that kind of fitted another clue too.

Ian was also tripped up. His clue was “wattle” and we paired it with “rooster/mud” and just as we were congratulating him on such a clever clue, he reached over and removed the “mud” card. We got the right answer next go, but that was a cruel stroke of luck. Only Gareth and Sam got 6 out of 6, with Joe struggling with the pair “cream/needle” and finally he went for “vinyl”. Because of Cream, the band, see?

30 out of 36

Then Ian and I set off home while Gareth, Joe and Sam polished off a quick game of NMBR9

Sam 76

Joe 68

Gareth 38

And then finally, after Gareth had also departed, Sam and Joe played Kiitos again.

Sam 29

Joe -16

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday.

The only way is F6

 By the time I'd arrived at 8 o'clock I'd already received a picture of the evening in full swing, as Ian, Martin, Katy, Sam and host Joe began with Cross Clues, scoring 24/25.

By the time I'd arrived (seconds after I received a second photo of them having finished another game 22/25) Martin, Joe and Sam had settled on Hansa Teutonica while Ian, Katy and I pondered our options. Quite limited options, as it happened, and Katy rued not bringing Isle of Skye. In the end we chose something we all knew: Lords of Vegas. 

My initial plan was to sprawl early, nabbing F6 and F5 to make a lovely six-tile casino up on Harmon Avenue and Strip. Ian started well while Katy tried to boost her meagre cash reserves by gambling, failing three times in a row. But then the strip paid out and then her three tile gold casino paid out twice in a row. This meant she was able to exploit all those empty lots near Ian's casinos and before long she was in an unstoppable position. 

Ian and I jostled for second. Ian completed an audacious reroll of my five tile casino with only one of his dice in it. But I got it straight back. Katy ended the game building more casinos than she had dice. Finally the game over card appeared just as I was about to unleash my winning strategy (which would've still only got me a closer second place).

Ian's amazing reroll

Katy 49

Andrew 36

Ian 32

As for Hansa Teutonica, I remember little except remarks about how boring the food was on the little plate tokens and Sam remarking that the person complaining most was the one in the lead, before clarifying that they were all complaining.

Martin 54

Sam 52

Joe 38

Martin remarked it'd probably be a really good game once you knew what you were doing.

They'd finished before us and they filled the time with a quick game of Don Carlo. A game so apparently simple that you may be able to work out the rules just by looking at the photo.

Joe 76

Sam 51

Martin 50

My departure was growing near so I was pleased to hear So Clover as a suggestion. We played with the usual amount sighing, especially from Joe who took so long that Katy suggested he just pass. But everyone struggled and I took the chance to be the first one to complete all four clues.

Ian and I - a solid start

Meanwhile, Sam had to resort to googling something to help him out. My clues and Ian's were successfully deduced. Then Katy, too, scored six out of six, but I'm not sure how since one of her clues relied on a film titled "the silence of killing" only to later be told it was actually called "the act of killing."

Sam's googled clue was a success but he was undone by trying to clue "beer/detergent" with "toilets". Finally, after Martin went clear, we came to Joe's Clover that almost defeated him. And we cleared it! The tricky couple in question was "royal/flour" which he eventually decided on "chapati" because… Indian food is sort of regal. Something like that. It worked, though.

34 out of 36

With that, I set off home. They finished with American Bookshop which Sam won. Joe second and Martin last, with Ian and Katy somewhere in the middle. Results to follow, maybe.

A la Karten

 It's been a while for me since I was in Martin's kitchen, but this was a welcome return as Martin was keen to offload some old books that he'd left on the pavement outside. I didn't see anything I wanted, but once inside, Martin obviously had one already in mind for me. "There's a Japanese one," he said, and went to get it for me. I think everyone picked up something.

And by "everyone" I mean Joe, Steve (arriving later), Adam H, Adam T, Ian as well as myself and the host.

We began as a sextet with Heckmeck am Kartenmeck, which is a bit like For Sale and Raj and, of course, Heckmeck. The first chance we got there was stealing a-plenty with everyone involved, either as theif or victim.

Then in round three, three zero tiles came out. A tricky situation, except for card-poor Joe who passed instantly and used a zero to cover his 34 tile.

At the end, I only had three tiles. Meanwhile, Adam H only had five and he showed us all how the game should be played.

Adam H 30

Adam T 27

Joe 21

Martin 21

Ian 20

Andrew 16

By now it was getting quite warm and the seven of us moved outside to admire Martin's dusty garden furniture and rubber chips on the ground.

We split into two groups. Joe, Steve and Adam H played La Corsa. The rest of us were introduced to American Bookshop. Martin explained the rules and that we should never play against Katy whose supernatural ability at this game defies explanation.

It's an interesting game. Very swingy, with each round offering up differing amounts for the winner. I came a distant last despite winning one round and coming second in another.

As we entered the final round, Martin was on 11, Adam T 1, and Ian 6. A small margin for this game, although I, back in last with -14, was only playing for pride.

It was a photo finish, with Martin foiled by the last card as Adam T nabbed 11 to take the win.

Adam T 12

Martin 10

Ian 5

Andrew -7

By now it was quite dark. La Corsa was in its final stages too as Steve put down his cards and said "read 'em and weep" and Adam H remarked "I can't read 'em."

I asked afterwards what the score was and Adam and Steve gave two different answers. Both agreed he came last, though.

Joe 20

Adam H 18

Steve 15 or 12, depends on who you ask

Back inside and Adam T, Joe and Martin played Sumatra, and Steve, Adam H, Ian and I played Whale Riders. It began in controversial style as I picked a dolphin as my piece, not realising it was yellow and I had to swap with Adam.

I sped off, zipping past lots of cheap pots in order to get first dibs further along the track. Adam, meanwhile, hung back, picking up what he wanted at his leisure while he completed contract after contract. He even ignored a free pearl in order to more efficiently finish another card. He did six in the end, compared to my three. But it was Ian and his middle way who took first prize, leaving Adam to rue his earlier choice: if he’d taken that pearl, he’d have won on a tie-breaker.

Ian 21

Adam H

Andrew 19

Steve 18

I left after Whale Riders, with Sumatra still in full swing. According to a text, Sumatra ended…

Joe 65

Martin 64

Adam T 62

Ian, Adam H and Steve were sill perusing the games closet when I left and it seems they chose Marrakech. Adam messaged me the results and it looks like Ian pipped Adam to first place again.

Ian 58

Adam H 56

Steve bankrupt, owing Adam two coins that would have won him the game

Then I think Steve must’ve gone since they played a five player So Clover, scoring 28/30 after a mix up with Forcefield and Magic/Sheild/Bubble. I saw some nice clue/couplets in the photo. Good work, chaps.

Finally, Joe and Martin ended the night with a game of Cinderella's Dance, which sounds delightful but I really have no idea.

Joe 3

Martin 2

10cc on a plane ordering snacks

 This week’s GNN started unusually early for two lucky gamers, with Ian joining Sam at around half six for a two player game of Quantum before Joe and Katy arrived and enjoyed a rousing game of Perudo.

When I finally did get there, the table was set up for a five player game of Free Ride, with Joe, Katy and Ian the newcomers on board.

Compared to the only other time I played it, we started much more centrally, which meant a lot more blocking and nationalising of routes. Ian barely moved at all, preferring to stay in Napoli and make lots of money with his sensibly placed routes.

Katy went through a smorgasbord of emotions, at one point saying she was pleased and angry at the same time. She also said she enjoyed it. Joe was the other moneybags, as he almost monopolised East Europe and the Urals. My track in the UK was totally ignored for the entire game.

Sam zipped around the map, only briefly distracted by a wine spillage which dampened an Oslo card and some coins but not his enthusiasm for the game. At the end, as we counted up our scores, he revealed he had no duplicate cities in his stack of cards. Professional level gaming.

Sam 100

Joe 92

Ian 86

Katy 82

Andrew 81

After this the next (and my last) game was a co-op game of Wavelength. In this variant you score points for being in the Segment of Correctitude (possibly not it's official name) but only a perfect hit will get you another card and the chance to increase the score further.

It was fun as always. Katy wanted to know how long a clue could be; could it be a sentence? And that's when Sam uttered the blog title by means of an example of how long a clue could reasonably be. Trying to ignore the image of Kevin Godley and Lol Creme arguing over peanuts or olives, we began.

There were a few duds. I can't remember if we thought Katy's example of "buying your mother imported flowers" was more or less ethical than she did, but we were definitely wide of the mark.

Sam's clue of "day old bread" for "smelly in a good way/smelly in a bad way" seemed very specific but a bullseye eluded us. My clue "beer" for "guilty pleasure/openly love" was the shortest of the evening and was close but still no cigar.

Ian's clue for "normal greeting/weird greeting" was to say "helloooo" in a high pitched slightly Irish accent. Our mistake was misjudging the frame of reference, thinking it only slightly weird especially compared to a punch in the face as a greeting, and we put the Indicator of Opinion in the normal half. But Ian thought that slightly weird meant it should go in the weird half. 

I think we scored 11. And Katy discovered that you could run on custard.

By now it was 10.00 and my choice was a sensible early night or risk a late one, so I took the easy option and went home. Sam messaged me the late results.

The rest of them played For Sale twice.

Joe 62

Sam 61

Ian 51

Katy 40

And...

Sam 79

Ian 59

Katy 49

Joe 37

Then they ended with good old Tsuro.

Joe and Ian die in first 

2 Sam

3 Katy

Thanks all. Special as always.

Wien about it

I arrived bang on time this week and experienced the pre game chat that I'm usually absent for. 

Present were Ian, Joe (hosting), Martin, Gareth and Adam T followed by Sam. We were expecting Laura and tentatively began setting up a couple of games before we learnt she couldn't make it. 

This meant that Joe, Ian and Adam put away their potential four player game of La Corsa and instead had a three player game of Conspiracy, the game of espionage and bluffing. Under the sea. And it comes in a tin box which still doesn't fit well with us at GNN.

On my half of the table, Martin, Gareth, Sam and I played Free Ride. This game feels like someone wanted to play Ticket To Ride but wanted to get rid of the random card choices or building the longest track and concentrate solely on completing journeys.

It was nice. Very simple. Build track that allows you to get your train to a starting city, pick up the route cards and then try and get to the destination. Certainly basic enough for me to get my head round, apart from a bit of brain fog midway through. We’d all started at the edge and then slowly moved into the centre. As a consequence no one’s track was “nationalised” until near the end of round two. 

In the end, Gareth and I tied on points and then on the tie-breaker too. Gareth wondered if his incomplete railway counted against him, but apparently not.

Andrew 121

Gareth 121

Sam 115

Martin 95

Conspiracy ended 

Adam T 54

Joe 49

Ian 48

And with that, sad to say, I had to leave. Pity that my early arrival was matched by my early departure, but life won’t go away. I’ll hand over to Sam to finish off the evening…

*        *       *

Without Andrew's immense power of recall, casting my mind back to Tuesday now - on Friday - is like stumbling around in a fog of victory points. When I texted him the scores of our final games, I'd already forgotten that we'd played Ra. That was the same night we played them.

But play Ra we did - or Joe, Ian and I did - whilst Martin Adam and Gareth turned their minds to Mille Fiori. I'm not sure what occurred there other than Gareth winning: 

Gareth 217

Adam 199

Martin 165

Meanwhile in ancient Egypt Ian was taking short-term pummellings but building a hefty collection of monuments. Joe's last-out tactics worked well for him in the first epoch, but in the final one Ra decided enough was enough, and his bag-scraping resulted in nothing more than a red face, and his chance of snatching the wind was blown away in a sirocco. Ian beat me on some kind of stupid tie-breaker.

Ian 53

Sam 53

Joe 247

Then we negated the leaving noises emanating from Gareth and Adam by breaking out So Clover and tempting them to stay. 

We got off to an okay start, but my clue of Fairground for Wheel / Mirage foxed everyone because I was too distracted/drunk to remember that I'd written Safari for Lion / Attraction. They not-unreasonably assumed Fairground and Attraction went together whilst I tried to keep a poker face, and the disdain when I removed the card hung in the air unvoiced (except for Martin, who voiced it). However despite one or two other shaky moments we recovered to score a more than decent 30/36. I can't remember who wrote it but I particularly like Mr Blobby for Jelly / Father.

Gareth and Adam then did leave, and we were now a four. Joe's mooted LACORSA now made it to the table, and we faced off over a wooden track that, like Martin's Formula Motor Racing game, is solely there to establish positions relative to each other.

It's pretty simple - in each round the car at the back begins by challenging the one immediately in front of it. A challenge consists of both players choosing a card from their hand and revealing at the same time: if the car behind wins, they move up (and can challenge again if there's another car immediately in front of them). If the car in front wins, or it's a tie, positions remain as they are and it's now this player's turn to challenge the next car. You can do up to two challenges per turn - as long as you win the first one.

The cards are numbered 1-12 plus a Redline that can be played in combination with a number to boost it's value by two. The crappy-valued 1-3 cards can be played as extends: move into an empty space ahead of you. It's quite luck-driven in terms of what cards you get (my hand above contains more 4's and 5's than ideal) but as a beer-and-pretzels game it's pretty fun. And like Formula Motor Racing, it's probably at it's best experienced over a number of races...

Martin came home winner with Ian in second. Joe upheld Explainer's Curse by trailing in behind me. And that was that!

Garden of Delights

Last night's GNN coincided with Adam H's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than by playing some games and swearing gaily at each other? As the insane heat of the last two days slowly subsided, we gathered in Mel and Ben's back garden: as well as the hosts there was the birthday boy, Ian, Katy and Martin. I (Sam) was last to arrive, coming from a school gala (Stan played bass on Ain't No Mountain High Enough!) drenched in sweat and trying not to sit too close to anyone as a result. In fact my first ten minutes were pretty much recovering from getting there, as we kicked things off with Just One.

As there were seven of us we abandoned the game's suggested 13-card structure (and the scoring, in fact) to deduct - or attempt to - two cards each. There were duplications ahoy, with sine appearing twice for wave, waffles for potato and so on. Katy and Martin both seemed to feel we should be able to read each other's minds and avoid these situations, showering the culprits with disdain when it occurred. Just One remains as fun as it's always been.

Then we split into two groups with Martin leading Adam and Ian on a sortie to Babylonia whilst Katy and I introduced Ben and Mel to Llamaland. But first we sang Adam happy birthday and were all treated to cookies and ice cream!

Katy ambitiously thought we'd get Llamaland and Whale Riders both played whilst Babylonia ran its course, but the former, even without objective cards, proved to be something of an epic. Mid-game Ben appeared to have manoeuvred himself into a strong position, with more llamas than anyone and a heap of coins to go with them. Katy took the tile I needed and I called her a dick.

"A dick, but not a cunt? Smash the patriarchy!" she cried.

I reassured her I was happy to insult her in whatever way felt appropriate.

The llama-ing, meantime, had passed peak-Ben as we hit the the last couple of rounds: he ran out of land and we caught him up in llamas. It was close, but on this occasion I was Llamafarmer Supremo:

Sam 71

Katy 70

Mel 68

Ben 64

At the other end of the table they'd completed Babylonia, with Adam threatening Martin's now-alarming run of consecutive victories without quite pulling it off.

Martin 162

Adam 151

Ian 122

And they'd also bashed through a three-player game of Overstocked. 

Locking furry swords with Katy at this point, I missed the ins and outs. Adam's first play of this had seen him finish with minus points. He did better this time, but has yet to properly channel his inner toy investor:

Martin 28

Ian 22

Adam 2

Not only that, they'd played Eggs of Ostrich so quickly I didn't even get a photo (Martin won that too, edging out Adam 12-11, with Ian back on 8points). I did manage to snap a picture of Mel and Ben's frog though, who was rustling about in the bushes, probably wondering what all the noise was about. 

It was suddenly dark, so we heaved the table inside, got confused counting chairs and then shook up the groups a bit. I was keen to play Kiitos, and Martin and Ben joined me. Katy cajoled the others into the Knizian delights of Whale Riding. 

Kiitos is a word game where you're trying to get your own word spelled. Whomever starts a round lays announces the word they'd like to spell and lays down the opening letter from their hand. If the next player can play the next letter, they must do so, and we keep spelling the word. If they can't, they can announce a new word as they lay the next letter (with the caveat that you can't announce a word and finish it on the same turn). 

If you can't see an option on how to proceed (eg in the above, you don't have an n for locating or an o for location, and you don't see a way to make a new word) you get the cards as minus points. If anyone's word gets completed, the cards are taken as plus points by the player who announced it. The game gets more interesting when you mix in the Super Kiitos (add a letter at either end of the word) and Squeeze (add a letter anywhere!) rules. We agreed it would be best with two, but I love the scoring system and how it suggests you can play defence: Ben won despite never getting a single positive point!

Ben -11

Sam -12

Martin 16

There was more talk at that end of the table, but I missed most of it, as I was cursing letters, or sometimes Ben, who was sat to my right. But whilst we were ruminating, Adam was getting a birthday victory under his belt in Whale Riders. It was tight, though:

Adam 22

Katy 21

Ian 19

Mel 18

Ian then bowed out, feeling the fatigue of an early morning catch up with him. Could the rest of us do one last game? We felt we could, and cracked into So Clover. Instantly cries of dismay echoed around the room as everyone felt they'd been dealt impossible word combos. I was looking at crap like quilt / Switzerland and soap / ray. It sounded like others had similar issues. "I used the write the first word that came into my head" Katy explained to Mel, "But now I write the second. Or sometimes even the third!" 

We took a long time to figure our linking words - so long, in fact, that Ben migrated from the room. In the circumstances, though, we did pretty well, getting everyone's clues with just a few initial missteps. Martin was apoplectic that we didn't get assassination / region from his clue of Dallas first time, however, going into a sweary rant about Kennedy like a history teacher berating a bunch of talented but stubbornly unapplied pupils. I was more disappointed we didn't see the pet / cemetary link sooner.

So Clover: 22/30 - not bad considering our initial chagrin. And with that, another delightful, if foul-mouthed, chapter in GNN history felt the whispered breath of the curtains falling. The visitors stepped out into the night to feel the blessed relief of an air that didn't feel like hot cardboard on your skin, and we made our various ways home. Until next time!

Plain or assaulted

 I went to Sam’s this Sunday to try out Plains Indian Wars. This game is based around a period when settlers and the US cavalry were trying to build an infrastructure across some land held by Native Americians. The board has a (non-accurate) map of the mid west, and it is across this theatre that the dice-based battles will take place. The basics are pretty easy. Play a card, do what it says, resolve any battle. There are often moments where we weren’t sure of the official rules (such as where to retreat to) but we never let ourselves get bogged down with unnecessary details.

I was the invading settlers and, from the start, I concentrated on building the railroad. The wagons seemed to look after themselves and I didn’t need to pay them a great deal of mind. Sam got some tough rolls during combat and I was able to wipe out the North Plains Indian tribe by the end of the game, except for a couple in the far north-west who’d been diligently beating up enemy Indians for points.

And, in fact, I almost didn’t win because I went for a thematic victory (ie, complete the railroad) and paid scant attention to the actual business of gaining points. I didn't note the exact results but it was something like 25-21, with the wagons helping to push me into the winning position.

A very nice game, very fast moving. A little bit of brain burn as ideal strategies are formed on the fly, but not too much to slow things down. Those wagons seem a bit overpowered, though.

After this, I requested Bandu. Rare to see it as a two player game, but I was just in the mood. It was much the same as the last time we played. I went unconventional early on, and it almost worked too. But I was too ambitious with my plans of a new flat platform held up by a rickety x-shaped block and the peak of a cone. It gave way beneath the second piece I put on it.

Sam, meanwhile, played an excellent game. I thought my choices for him were pretty mean with one curved surface after another, but he piled them up with aplomb. Additionally, once he'd won, he started stacking up extra pieces with gay abandon, as they used to say. This lap of honour lasted four or five pieces before his edifice finally collapsed.

And with that, I was done. Thanks Sam, nice to get some gaming done before the heatwave hit the following day.