Late night raiders

August attendances are famously sparse and this week’s event could well have been a trio with only me, Sam and Ian as definite attendees. Mel was hopeful but then couldn’t make it, and then Adam T swept in at the last minute with a handful of games to raise us up to a quartet and probably save the three of us from an evening of games of Quantum.

 

I arrived a little late, and the other three had already played two games of Stomp the Plank, with Ian and Adam taking one win each.

Then we began the first of two main games of the evening. Shamans has been hanging around Sam’s cupboard for ages but it was Adam’s copy we played. He sold it to us by saying he had vague memories of enjoying it. That was endorsement enough for us, so we began!

 

Shamans is a trick taking game where a "shadow" is trying to play off-suit cards (legally) to move a moon along a time track to end the round prematurely and therefore score points. Everyone else is trying to detect and eliminate the Shaman but they need (a) a dagger and (b) to successfully trigger the action that allows them to use the dagger.

Ian was eliminated in round one, and then I won in round 2 as the shadow. I had a stroke of luck, though, after Sam ended with an extra card in his hand that he must have forgotten to put on the play area after he’d used it. At this point, I had 6, Adam 3, Sam 2, Ian 0. With a target of 8 points to win the game, I was looking good.

Adam T won in round three, leaving him also poised to win. In round four I’m the shadow again and I make no real attempt to hide that as I eliminate my main rival, Adam, even though he’d already revealed himself to not be the Shadow. Plus, I played off-suit cards and pushed the moon towards the end of the time track. It worked.

 

Andrew 9

Adam 6

Ian 5

Sam 4

 

It was a lot of fun and it’s interesting how it’s possible to be the Shadow without any subterfuge: you can just try to end the round so fast that no one has a chance to eliminate you. I was a little surprised that you’re allowed to ask, quite blatantly, if someone is the Shadow. They can lie, of course, but this rule seemed a little on the nose. Sam said he couldn’t believe he’s left it unplayed on his shelf for a year.

 

Perhaps the lack of Martin had gone to our heads because then we broke out a hefty Eurogame! It was about nine o’clock when Sam talked us through the fussy, icon-heavy boardgame Raiders of Scythia. It’s a sequel to Raiders Of The North Sea, except before the Vikings started at the bottom of the board and went up, whereas this time, we began at the top and worked our way down.

The top of the board has a range of options that’ll remain vital throughout the game. Chief’s Tent (or Chef’s tent, as I called it) allowed you to get food or go on quests. Barracks let you add to your army. And so on. One of the options was called Town Centre which made me think about hanging around shopping precincts and reading the comics in John Menzies. But, actually, the main aspect of the game is to raid settlements, get their stuff and then go back to farming for a while as you collect enough resources for the next conflict.

Adam was a trailblazer being the first to raid as far south as Assyria. Sam was last of us to raid at all but during the game he went big on quests. I got quite tired as the game pushed towards eleven o’clock. It was good, although I never seemed to have enough things to do what I wanted. I was usually okay for money, Adam had loads of little lantern things. It was close but Ian’s stash of gold and supplies scored him enough to edge him into a slender win.

 

Ian 52

Sam and Adam 49

Andrew 47

 

With that, Adam and I were allowed to skip packing away duties since it was late. Thanks for hosting, Sam, and see you all next week.