Games Knight Knews

I arrived at Sams’s in the turmoil of a game of Cross Clues. I ignored the usual gaming wisdom of never playing until you’ve taken your coat off and sat down and I looked at my card which prompted me to give a clue for “Kinght/Night.” I said “homophone” and got an easy point and an idea for the blog post title. Other attendees apart from me and Sam were Martin, Ian, Adam H and Pete. Martin was a clue machine but Adam was stymied by two clues involving Cauliflower.

21 out of 25

The six of us split into two groups. I joined Ian and Sam in a game of Torchlit, a trick taking game in which you have to guess how many tricks you’ll win. You’re guess is hidden in the form of a face down card and your progress is shown as a meeple on a track.

If your guess is correct, you get 3 points but you can get extra points if that space on the track has cards placed beneath it. Of course, if you miss your target, you can still pick up the points from any cards placed on that particular space.

It was fun. I played the first round in a fog of confusion, trying to work out what was a good hand and what wasn’t. In round two Sam did badly as he won a trick he didn’t want that pushed him onto a low scoring space: just two points for that round. He couldn’t recover and, after three rounds, the scores were

Andrew 18

Ian 16

Sam 13

On the other half of the table, Pete, Martin and Adam played Maya. It’s minimalist design, pastel coloured hexagons with a distinct lack of Mayan flair, gave it a 90s look. I know very little about the game, apart from a typically Martin-esque phrase mid-game, “I have to do that to you to screw you out of ten points,” he said to Pete. Not that it made a difference as it ended:

Pete 157

Martin 147

Adam 131

After this some limited edition (for Easter, I think) chocolate and chili crisps were shared. They got a mixed reaction, but people kept eating them in a sort of fugue state of disbelief at the taste.

After Maya finished, the players discussed it and we soon realised that a lot of our geographical knowledge comes from board games. Although a lot of that knowledge was focused in Germany.

We then split into two groups once more. I stayed in my chair for the third game in a row and watched people move around me. Me, Sam and Adam played Dewan - placing our camps across a map to satisfy various criteria drawn at random from a deck of tiles. 

Adam seemed pleased when he heard there was no hand limit and, indeed, as he played he always seemed to have cards to choose from. I was living hand to mouth, cards-wise, despite my plan of putting camps in the middle of the board, hoping to get cards from anyone wishing to pass.

It was a close one and, to be honest, I was surprised I came last.

Sam 46

Adam 46

Andrew 43

There is a tie-breaker: player with most cards left over wins, but Sam disdained that rule and announced it was a tie, even though he would have won by it. I wonder if we can backdate that decision to my game when I drew with Martin...

At the far end of the table Rebirth: Ireland was in full swing. Clearly, Martin and Pete had not had enough hexagon-based map games for that evening. 

And as I stepped out into the evening, Sam picked up the blogging duties

After Andrew left, Rebirth was still continuing, and it sounded like Ian's early lead was getting pegged back by Pete and Martin. We had time for a two-platyer, so Adam and I stared at the alcove in the front room before deciding on card-shedder Chu Han, which Adam may or may not have played before. Even after beating me, he still wasn't sure.

I won the first round before Adam took the second. In the third round I had huge clutches of 4s and 5s and if I could just get rid of a single six, Adam would be in trouble. But shedding the six gave him the lead *and* doubled points for the round, something I came to regret when I just couldn't get it back and he went out to leave him poised for a win at 29-10. As Rebirth was packing up by now, we decided to award him the victory, as my comeback looked improbable at best. 

Adam - wins!

In Rebirth, Ian had been scampered past by late-game business from the other two, and on realising he had a forgotten objective Pete also realised he'd just completed it with his last tile - enough to take a St Patrick's Day win on the Ireland side of the board!

Pete 244
Martin 241
Ian 232

A triumphant but tired Adam now departed, but Ian said he'd be up for a So Clover. So we did that. Despite some hesitancy and trepidation, it was another Record of Legends night with a cement-hard 24/24. This was despite my putting Queenie for Perfume/Chess. Ian's cradle for Life/Grave was nice. 

Now we lost Ian as well but the three of us still felt we had enough energy for a crack at Biblios, with Martin and I introducing Pete to the Extreme foul-mouthed variant. I suspect Martin ate his own shit at one point, but he didn't say, and who can blame him. I tried to stay out of the battle for brown and blue and focused all my efforts on red and green. If they could outscore any other pair of dice I would be King Biblios once more! 

But this went wrong when I outbid Martin for a +1 Church card late on, only to find the very next auction was a +2 Church card. Pete and I were broke, Martin picked it up dirt-cheap, and with it the crown. 

Martin 7

Sam 6

Pete 3

And that was that for another GNN. See you all soon...