Knizia's Candy Coated Bloodbath

The last two weeks have seen no less than three gaming weekends (two on the same weekend), so I (Joe) wasn't expecting much gaming action this Tuesday. But in the event, four of us convened to keep the flame alive, as I was joined by Martin, then Andy M, and an hour later Ian.

At first it was just Martin and me - and we busted out a couple of games of Circle the Wagons. This is a current lunchtime favourite, and it usually plays out with Martin beating me - but last night bucked that trend, with me winning both games. I didn't take photos, but the second game was a proper pasting, I'm sure Martin won't mind me saying, due to my unerring accuracy with a six-shooter and many lined up beer bottles.

I had little time to bask in the glory of victory, as Andy arrived just as we finished up. We had 20 minutes to kill before Ian was due, and we quickly decided upon another firm favourite, The Mind.
It seemed it was going to be quite a toughie, as we lost a life in round one - but we soon hit our stride. We appeared to be playing a new variation called 'Sexy Mind', where you could augment your card placement with suggestive noises (often in the manner of Stephen Toast).

Whatever the reasoning behind it, it worked, as we rolled through the levels with relative swagger. Ian arrived somewhere around level 7, and got to witness a stonking level 10 - no hiccups and only  one star played.

Heading into level 10 in good shape

We battled on into the Dark Mind, or 'Dark, Sexy Mind' - like black velvet, Andy suggested. The fabric, and the drink. And the song by Alannah Miles? Had we considered that, and put it on in the background, it might have helped. As it was, we had a good couple of rounds but dropped our last life on level 3. Still, a pretty impressive performance. Ian was impressed.

Andy said he probably had one more game in him - and Martin was torn between Blue Lagoon, his new precious, and his even newer precious, a partnership trick-taker that could only be played with four. As Andy was only the second of four cans of Red Stripe we thought he might be cajoled into both, so we started with Blue Lagoon. 

Blue Lagoon, Andy (sans 'camera fingers') and Red Stripe.

My, what a beastly shit-fight! I've heard this billed as a great new gateway/family game, but it's really only fit for families who enjoy clawing each others eyes out. We all thought a sea of blood theme would be more fitting. 

During the first half, having mis-understood a scoring criteria (ahem), I found it a bit too much to handle. But I got my bearings after the first scoring round, and began to see some strategies. It seemed you could ignore the opportunities that weren't immediately threatened by an individual opponent - but as those built up, they risked being swamped by a combination of the other players. I enjoyed this room for emergent play and table-talk, as I co-erced Ian and Andrew into helping distract Martin (clearly on track for the win) so I could carry out my plans. The double-scoring nature of the game helps with this - whoever's in the lead after the first half is, it seems to me, fair game for a bit of coordinated bashing in the second half.

Despite my mid-game epiphany, I wasn't able to finish higher than third - but it was a fun if extremely scratchy (to use Andy's apposite phrase) game. I'd like to play again.

A charming-looking knife fight.

Martin 171

Andy M 152

Joe 150

Ian 117

Andy then surprised us all by sticking to his guns and leaving - paying his way out of the door by offering me his last Red Stripe. If it had been an either/or situation I feel sure I'd have picked the company over the booze, but I sensed steely resolve, so I gratefully drank his beer, and we remaining three tackled another new Knizia reboot - Amun Re the card game.

For the second time in one evening I forgot to take any pictures, but it wasn't much to look at. Still, it was a feisty little auction game, reportedly quite similar to it's big brother Amun Re. There were some shades of Ra in there, for sure, and a little hint of High Society in the restricted bidding cards. A little dry, perhaps, but undeniably blessed with the good Doctor's golden touch - I enjoyed it and would like to play again, despite coming a decisive last.

Martin 22

Ian 18

Joe 13

During the game, Martin suggested we'd need to play something riotous to finish, and as we packed it away, he added 'with dice-rolling' to the recipe. This trail of requirements lead us to the door of Can't Stop, which hasn't been played for too darn long.

Shiny, brittle plastic! But fun nevertheless...

It actually wasn't entirely riotous, as we found ourselves mostly quite able to stop. We all began cautiously - Ian most of all after he went bust on his first or second go. Martin and I were first to top out columns, and Ian struggled to catch up. Martin neglected to notice that I was poised to get my third column if I could manage to roll boxcars - if he'd realised it was probably his last chance he would have pushed his luck; but as it was I made my roll and won.

Joe 3

Martin 2

Ian 1

It wasn't quite the Can't Stop riot we were hoping for - still fun though. Perhaps the bruising beastliness of Blue Lagoon was too fresh in our minds; or perhaps it was the quite unpleasant brittle plastic of the board and bits. Whatever, it's still a deserving classic, and was nice to revisit.

With that we called proceedings to a close, and I waved Martin and Ian off into the night.

It was all lovely; even when it wasn't.