Wonders and Citadels

Just a couple of short games, they said. It won’t last long, they said. But tonight, GNN was caught out by a game that seemed short when you remembered it, but lasted a long time when you played it.

But that’s all to come. We began with Anja and Hannah upstairs talking about babies or whatnot while three fellows (me, Steve and Jon ) played 7 Wonders downstairs. It was short and we all knew the rules (more or less) and we got stuck in. Although our memories were a little rusty, with a little reference to the rules, and Steve made a mistake which he didn’t realise until a few turns later. He didn’t ask to take it back, though, saying it was “ancient history” which got an appreciative chuckle from the other two players.

Marilyn the bunny admires my still-unstarted wonder

As it turned out, I ran out of money at the start of round three – a disastrous place to be broke. Jon and Steve were cash rich, but Steve was a late convert to the joys of war and science, while Jon was scoring in all categories. In the end, I was saved by some cheap blue buildings and my “copy guild” super power.

Jon 50
Andrew 46
Steve 40

After this game, Anja and Hannah came down with the baby and, after a little discussion and rule-telling and exchanging of babies, we were ready for our next quick game of the evening: Citadels.

Now, when I remember previous games of Citadel, they do seem fairly short. But then, they are usually two or three player affairs. It turns out that five-player Citadels is a bit of a beast. Everyone suffered a bit of AP, and the game took a little longer than we expected.

Citadels: not a photogenic game

Both Anja and Steve suffered from consecutive assassinations, and Hannah had her money stolen twice by Jon, but despite all that and having to feed his newborn child, Steve came out on top. Jon fell just short, and the eternal Warlord (which is why she kept being assassinated) Anja squeezed into third by attacking Hannah on her last go. An action which saw me earn fourth.

Steve 32
Jon 30
Anja 22
Andrew 20
Hannah 17

And so it was that our "two short games" ended at half past eleven in the evening. All of this means that Jon leaps up to fourth, while the three absent leaders enjoy another week in the penthouse suite of the Form Table.

						Points
Joe	1	1	2	1	2	7
Sam	2	1	1	2	3	9
Adam	1	2	4	3	1	11
Jon	2	1	2	3	5	13
Anja	3	1	1	3	5	13
Hannah	5	2	1	4	2	14
Andrew	4	2	3	3	3	15
Steve	1	3	4	4	4	16
Quentin	2	2	3	5	5	18
Will	3	3	5	5	5	21

And since it's the end of the month, it's time to look at The Division. Well, the core four are rewarded for their loyal attendance, by taking the top four places but that shouldn't detract from Adam's stunning run of form which has put him on top of the table. And Sam is the new Mr Consistency, having never placed outside the top three. It's very much between those two for the top of the table. In terms of Points Ratio, it's a little more clear cut, with Anja a full 0.92 above her nearest rival Steve.