Bracknell Weekly - Paul Smashes it.

Hi. Just remembered that I hadn't posted about our games session on Wednesday. I've been kind of busy with one thing and other and now I've found myself a few minutes on a Sunday afternoon to stick a few words down. The kids are out with Jacquie and I'm supposed to be cleaning the bathrooms but I did put a new fence panel in so I suppose I'm in a kind of credit.

On Wednesday I drove Jacquie to Reading in what turned out to be a wasted trip. In order to turn this around I visited the games shop for a nose round. I wasn't really in the market for a new game but I did see the Smash up expansions waving to me from the stacked shelves. The temptation was too great and a semi impulse buy was made. (I was rather pleased to see Jacquie had bought her self some cheap shoes when we met up again.)

The guys needed no persuading to try it out in the evening. We all agreed to choose one new faction and one old one. I got killer plants and Ninjas, Paul, Robot Steam Punks and James Zombie Bear Cavalry. I'm not sure why I like this game. I totally suck at it and it can very be mathematical. A type of game I struggle with. I'm more of a guestemate sort of guy who plays by feel rather than calculating the optimal move.

Having said that I started well, smashing my first base and coming second on another one however, this is where I have much to learn. In doing this I wasted a great number of my best cards. James and Paul held back and chose the best times to strike. James then nudged ahead by smashing a base using a neat Bear Cavalry transfer move. By becoming the leader he was starting to suffer withering attacks from both Paul and myself. Then Paul's star rose making use of a very strong action card that enabled him plus 5 strength for a turn. By smashing two bases in quick succession he managed to help himself to the win.

Paul - 16
James - 15
Chris - 12

With just under a hour left and since the box was already open we chose Kingdom Builder as our second game. Miners, Fishermen and Merchants were our scoring cards which promised a straight forward game. As is so often the case shrewd early placement can lead to a successful game. I thought I had placed well but in fact as events played out I hadn't. I became somewhat pinned in by a meandering river and the edge of the board. Paul had smartly spotted that certain areas denied expansion and had stayed away, dominating the centre of the board, creating various links and picking up useful bonus tiles.

The result was closer than it looked with each player dominating on one score card each. Paul's links were too powerful to over come as he strode to his second win of the night.

Paul - 56
Chris - 46
James - 44