Bread

Anja and Steve were our hosts last night and Joe was kind enough to give me (Sam) and Martin a lift over.  Adam cycled from Easton and Louie greeted us on arrival. The first thing I noticed - after complaining that the lounge lighting didn't suit gaming - was Steve's lack of a front tooth, which prompted a fairly sorry tale of infections and operations, which Louie helpfully concluded "Then they yanked it out of his face". Steve nodded and maybe started thinking about pirates. With Anja upstairs settling Lennon, we kicked things off with the Allegedly Greatest Card Game Of All Time, Flip 7. 

I began a stolidly willing-to-stick journey towards 200 points whilst Steve regularly busted, and so did Martin despite being seemingly dealt a Second Chance card (or two) in every round. He unfortunately also drew several Flip 3 cards when he was the only player left in, forced to play them on himself. Joe pulled off an actual Flip 7: seven cards of different values, which instantly ends the round and gives him 15 bonus points. He was excited for a minute but I was a bit slow with the camera. 

This mini-spectacular was enough to push him past both Louie and Adam and over the finish line!

Joe 207
Louie 198
Adam 190
Sam 124
Steve 94
Martin 35

Steve was so upset he broke a chair. Around now the host's bread-making machine started some plaintive beeping that continued for a while as Steve wondered what it wanted, like a robot pet. I made a joke about it being needy that got mistaken for a pun about it being kneady, and we played Timeline.

As youngest player Louie kicked things off as Martin and I both pronounced ourselves happy with our cards - we just had one each we weren't sure about. Unfortunately we both got them wrong, and then their replacements wrong, and meantime Louie was bashing down the reliable combo of Emergence of the Dinosaurs and Extinction of the Dinosaurs. His young brain full of not only facts but retention, he wrapped up a joint win with Joe in pretty short order - Steve was second with one card left as Martin and I rejoiced in our shared misery.

We split into two groups. Louie was allowed one short game so he crewed up with Joe and Martin for Callisto, Knizia's iteration of Blokus, whilst the rest of us - now joined by bread-machine placater Anja, set about dicking each other over in the theme-devoid world of Inori. 

Callisto follows Blokus' rhythm up to a point - keep placing your pieces whilst you still can - but here they must be orthogonally adjacent, and you have up to three towers (two at the start) to build from. Leftover pieces score you points, and points are bad. 

In Inori, meanwhile, we are offering up sacrifices to <someone or other> and trying to be the most sacrificial, I guess. Mechanically it's a worker-placement game (the offerings) and you get rewards of various coloured tokens, and ways to score them: via one of the worker spots on a card, and/or if a card is fully populated at the end of the round, meaning there are temporary and reluctant alliances in order to score. I was too busy being screwed over to take pictures, but here's one from earlier:

On the left is the Sacred Tree, which also has worker offering spots for the juicy goodies there. Critical here is that the person in each spot gets to choose the colour assigned to it, which in turn will determine the worth of your tokens - if you have the most or second-most - at the end of the game. In the above example, blue and red tokens are valuable, and purple worthless. 

Adam cottoned on to things pretty quickly, but it was Steve who rattled away up the track with some tactical scoring. I suffered a little Explainer's Curse and we all came a cropper of the fact I forget when Anja joined to make it four-player we should have had one less offering each! Sorry all.

While the theme is about as tangible as yesterday's fart, the opportunities for dickishness could be felt and heard in our yelps of indignation. Callisto finished with a victory for Joe, Louie went to bed and as we hit our final round Joe and Martin played Marabunta, Knizia's roll-and-write knife-fight. I took no pictures again! Sorry. 

Inori wrapped up with a tragedy for Steve as he realised he'd blocked himself out of his own big move, and asked us why we didn't point it out to him. "I didn't notice!" I said.
"I didn't notice" Anja said.
"I didn't notice" Adam smiled evilly. 

I made a decent fist of some endgame scoring but Steve, who had specialised in the least valuable tokens, picked up just two points as Anja and Adam hurtled off down the track, eventually sharing a tightly-fought win!

Anja and Adam: 68 each

Sam 55

Steve 34

The bread machine began beeping again as Adam left for home and I got to see the frankly marvellous transformation of our hosts's front room. 

Then the three of us cracked through a quick round of Callisto: Anja and Steve got all their pieces down and I scored a disappointing 7 points. 

Joe beat Martin 12-10 at Marabunta, and announced he'd won everything he'd played so far. The five of us came together for a post-10pm bash at Bomb Busters. We got off to an underwhelming start as both Steve and I made imperfect guesses, losing two lives before we'd even completed round one. 

But we rallied, and never lost another thanks to our collective bomb-busting skills. But it wore Steve out, and after mulling over sawing off his leg to complete his Modern Pirate look, he actually went to bed. Is that a first for GNN? I know children have done it before. Anja stayed up with us to play So Clover, a game notable for its propensity to make everyone complain just by looking at some words. 

We all had our doubts that our combos were clue-able, with Martin and I in particular castigating our fate. But in fairness we did quite well! Our first three clovers were all maximum sixers, and on Martin's we just had a mini-stumble and picked up 4 points instead. 

Joe reviewed the latter part of the evening and decided that Bomb Busters and So Clover also counted as wins for him, giving him six <somewhat dubious> 'victories in a row. I think we perhaps refer this to Andrew, as Holder of the Spreadsheet, and see what he says. But either way, it was time to go home, before the bread maker started beeping again. 

Court off guard

 I was only ten minutes late, but that was enough time for a bunch of hardy adventurers take on Chapter 7 of Fellowship of the Ring. Alas, they failed with Ian unable to win a trick and Martin apologising for having a hand of almost all high cards.

Now we were five - Sam, host Joe, Martin, Ian and myself - with no one else expected we sat down for a game of Mlem. This sci-fi adventure featuring cats of varying usefulness in an expedition seems to have acquired a favored opening move: Joe and Martin took no time in placing Panet-doubler Cat and Moon-doubler Cat, making me wonder if people had been discussing Mlem strategies.

We flew and we fumbled. Joe prompted no confidence at all when he was captain, putting his Saboteur Cat in the driving seat. Saboteur Cat got the nickname Dick Cat, sparking badly sung renditions of the theme tune to Top Cat whenever it was played. My second time at the bridge was a disaster - a series of ones, followed by an explosion.

Martin, after starting well, found himself on a run of bad luck before his mojo returned. He just pipped Ian to the win as a result of some clever move he made a few rounds earlier that escape me now. Sam, meanwhile, kept sending out his Deep Space Cat, only to see it return forlorn and Earthbound and so he ended the game with five cats still on his launchpad.

Martin 31

Ian 30

Joe 26

Andrew 20

Sam 12

Next up was Court of Miracles which, at first glance, reminded me of Sam’s own boardgame Henchman, with its bird’s-eye view perspective and use of hidden values. In this game we are trying to gain areas of influence, allowing us to put down renown tokens. First to place all tokens wins.

Placing any token in an area of influence (not sure if that’s what they were called but never mind) allows you to use it’s special power, and whoever “owns” that area gets a coin. These coins (tiny cardboard tokens in the game, replaced by Joe’s poker chips tonight) are useful for paying to put down more tokens.

It’s an interesting game. With only three space in an area to fight with and five players in the game, I often found myself staring at a mostly empty board, with any fights having already been decided by the time it was my turn.

But I seemed to have a grasp of the game and, having put down a token in my first turn, was always first or threreabouts. When I saw my chance to put down two tokens in one go and win the game, Quantum style, I took it.

Andrew wins!

Not sure if there’s second, third etc in this game.

So with time ticking on, I bade my goodbyes and set off. The remaining four played Bomb Busters…

And then two games of So Clover, first scoring 19/24. And kudos to whoever had the balls to clue "ornate" and "golden".

And finally 20/24

A blue wizard and a purple giant walk into a bar

 Around 10 minutes late, I arrived at Sam’s kitchen with Adam T, Joe, Martin and Sam already playing Fellowship of the Ring. I settled down to watch the quartet struggle through a challenging set of criteria. They even needed two do-overs (or “Gandalf’s Magic”) to get as far as they did. But ultimately, the cruel forces of Mordor or whatever, foiled them.

As a five-piece we first turned to Ethnos. Adam got a rules refresher while the rest of us struggled with the game’s famously difficult-to-handle pieces. They fit together so snugly, but if you put any real pressure in your grip, they’ll slip apart and scatter themselves across the table.

As for the game, Martin spent round one playing very small bands that scored few points but got him a lot of presence on the board, especially two high scoring areas with points of 4, 8, 10. Sam made an early move for another area with points of 0, 0, 8.

Round two was very long, with the third dragon not appearing until the very last card in the deck. Round three, on the other hand, was over very fast. Too fast for Joe who had only played a single three-member band before the round ended. His disappointing third round meant that he barely moved on the score track, while Martin built on his already impressive lead. Joe was saved the ignominy of being lapped by only a single point.

Martin 105

Sam 91

Andrew 89

Adam 83

Joe 46

Next, we played Rebel Princess with Martin getting a rules explanation. We were all given our princess with their special powers. I was Cinderella with the, ultimately useless, ability to choose another player to lead if I win a trick.

And win them I did. Especially in round two were I completed a clean sweep of all tricks, picking up all fifteen points in the process. Except that points are bad and my chances of a win after a decent first round were in tatters.

After that bruising experience, I did okay. Sam evaded most pitfalls, arriving at the final round with just one point. But this round had a special power: points now counted as double, except for the player in last place. A final twist in the tale - Sam now collapsed to 14 points while second-place Joe went clear and took the win.

Joe 10

Sam 14

Martin 14

Adam 19

Andrew 26

I went home at this point, but the evening went on. The did two Bomb Busters missions (one success, one failure) and then after Joe and Adam left, Sam and Martin banged out a few two-players. They won one game each of Agent Avenue and then Martin beat Sam 2-1 at Schnipp & Weg.

Thanks all! See you next week!

Crowdbusting

I was hosting last night and Adam T arrived early enough that we squeezed in a quick 2-player in the form of Yokai Septet. I'd played this trick-taker before, but as a team game: the goal is to win four sevens from a deck of suits that vary in their number values. You can also lose if you win 13 tricks without winning four sevens... kinda nuts, but fun. I forgot to take photos though, so busy was I going from solid early-game promise to late-game collapse.

Adam wins
Sam doesn't

Martin knocked on the door first, and then was good enough to do greeting duties for the others - Ian, Katy - as we packed away. We debated options and decided on Klink while we waited for Adam H and Laura. 

Despite some pithy commentary from the table, I enjoy Klink. But maybe it's not best with five, as the passing-of-cards does outweigh the taking-of-cards and subsequent fun of joy/despair it entails. When Adam H rocked up we ended the game early, as Adam T picked up a mildly asterisked win. 

Adam T 18
Sam 26
Katy 36
Martin 56
Ian 61

Katy was keen on Trailblazers and between her and Adam H they were confident they could teach it to Adam T, whose Novocon nickname Big T has sadly not stuck. For a long-running club, we have a surprising dearth of nicknames outside of 'JB' and 'Space Cunt'. Meantime whilst I made tea or something Martin taught Ian the rules to the Fellowship of the Ring, and I joined them as we set out on Chapter 5, striking up a friendship with poet-irritant Tom Bombadil: left out of the movies, but back with a bang for the trick-taking. Inevitably - or perhaps thematically - I forgot to take pictures again, but here's Trailblazers. 

The road goes ever on and on and so my memories, thanks to subsequent games and a couple of glasses of whisky, are now murky over what happened with Tom. I think we initially failed and then triumphed, and triumphed again in Chapter 6. EDIT: Chapter 5. Go us! Meantime trails were being more aesthetically blazed at the other end of the table. 

Adam H definitely won - 81 points - but there was drama over who had came second. Katy demanded Martin and I adjudicate over some bonuses she'd gotten, but I didn't remember the game and Martin had never played it, so we couldn't assist. After the dust settled Katy claimed second with 73 points and Adam T was back on 68. EDIT: I remembered the exchange, but got the game wrong! This occurred over the scores of Fort, a bit later.

By this time, Laura has also arrived and she, Ian, Martin and I were bomb-busting, so they started playing Fort, the game of untrustworthy friendships.

In Bomb Busters we did rather well, even if I do say so my wirecutter-twirling self. After the next mission was successfully navigated, we even got to open a box! It contained some more fun stuff, and prompted a mission set to a 15 minute timer, which we initially rushed in a mad panic (actually in fairness, this was mostly me and Laura) before attempting a second time and pulling it off with over five minutes remaining!

Then Laura watched the first half of Cat Blues before going home. This is a set (or quartet) collecting game over three rounds, with the catch being the same cards you collect are used to bid, giving it a sort of lurching rhythm - and a lot of profanity. 

I took a narrow win in a very funny play, mainly because of Martin continuously ranting at my high bids. Ian was victim of the game's somewhat opaque decision space. 

Sam 31
Martin 26
Ian 8

I'm not sure what happened in Fort. It was a bit more sweary than Trailblazers though. Scores provided verbally by Katy:

Adam Fucking Hillmann 37
Big T 35
Katy 33

Maybe we do have another nickname after all. Laura had left by now, and Adam H was next to go. But with five of us remaining we moved on to our standard closer of So Clover. Initially Katy's clue of 'And' looked like another Just One moment, but when Big T spotted the words war and peace it came into focus. Adam T rescued my clover from doom when he spotted photo went with 'cheese'. Overall, a solid effort with just Katy's red herring denying us a perfect score. 

Another excellent night!

The Gang's All Here

 After last week’s happy coincidence of everyone congregating at Joe’s door before we went in, it was back to normal as I, a few minutes late, weaved past the bikes on the path to the front door. I was the penultimate gamer to arrive and, while we waited for Laura and established that Adam wasn’t going to attend (by calling him, which seemed strangely old-fashioned), we (me, Joe, Sam, Martin and Ian) began with a game of The Gang.

It’s a co-op version of poker where everyone bids on how well they’ll do. This is tricky as those who don’t play much Poker have trouble gauging how good their hand is and those who do play Poker keep playing as if it’s Poker and bidding according to what your hand might be if the right card comes up.

In one round, I bid high in a show of confidence...

Joe, on the other hand...

Confusing. We played four times, with Laura coming in after the first time, and failed three rounds.

After this, the six of us split into two.  Joe, Martin and Laura went to Ireland for a game of Rebirth while Sam, Ian and myself played Fellowship of the Ring, the co-op card game set in Tolkien's imagined kingdom. 

With just three players,  we often found that our choice of how to approach each round was limited. At the start of a round, each player picks up a character with a certain goal. But often, three of those characters are mandatory thus we were mostly robbed of the chance to vary our tactics. 

And they needed varying. We didn't do so well, struggling past rounds two and three before eventually beating round four and satisfying ourselves that we had, at least, equaled the score of the last GNN group who played it. 

In Rebirth, it sounded like Ian and Martin were in a tussle for the lead. “I can’t shake Ian,” declared Martin as Ian continued to nip at his heels on the scoretrack.

Martin 239

Ian 234

Kaura 194

At the point we reshuffled our seats. Laura made moves to go home but was persuaded to stay for one more game. Martin, Laura and Sam played Tower Up while Ian, Joe and me played Sunshine Lane. Lots of buildings on this kitchen table. Martin mentioned he was writing a review of Tower Up. Considering how late this blog is, I hope he wasn’t relying on my photos at all.

In Sunrise Lane, Ian and I battled over highest buildings in the blue quarters and most coverage in the red while Joe’s longest set of buildings wasn’t enough to keep up with us as we celebrated our joint victory, inseparable even after the tie-breaker.

Andrew 104

Ian 104

Joe 98

Tower Up ended…

Martin 56

Ian 52

Laura 41

And then Laura and I departed. The remaining four were setting up the next game, Bomb Busters, as I was pulling on my coat. 

I was later informed that they had two successes.

Before the ended with So Clover twice, scoring 21 and 21.

Thanks all. Another splendid evening.