Challenge Accepted

Knowing that Adam T finishes work well before 7.30, I (Sam) told him he was welcome to arrive early, and after consuming his own tea at the Lazy Dog, he was treated to my family eating the last of theirs. Adam's presence may have played a part in the boys not arguing over who wipes the table too: good work, Mr T. 

Martin joined us a little after seven, just as we were setting up the first game of the night: Akropolis!

It's a super-simple game, although not so simple that I couldn't get a rule wrong, as we discovered this morning. Martin may thus contest the results, but basically your cities score in different ways: residences like to be together, markets apart, temples surrounded etc. But each district only scores if you have matching plazas, who don't care where they go. Martin was indifferent to its charms; I rather like it myself for it's breezy play and weight of decisions. But liking it and being any good at it are two different things. 

Adam: 131

Martin: 129

Sam: never mind

By the time we were totting up, Joe had joined us and, with Ian and Adam H hot on his heels - sadly we lost Andrew and Laura to 'fatigue' and 'pyjamas' - it was time for a six-player crack at Challengers, the fun deck-builder and possibly-less-fun card-flipper du jour. 

Unbeknownst to me, Ian had been burnt on Sunday when his cards serially came out in non-combo-ing order, and having suffered a similar fate last Tuesday, he had my sympathy when history repeated and he took a battering over the first four rounds. I did better this time; enough in fact to cockily assume I was in the final, only to crestfallenly discover Joe had outscored me, at which point I hated Challengers again. Ian won his last two rounds, like Lazarus rising from a hardback chair, but Adam T was the man to beat, and he and Joe faced off over the final. With almost no power on my phone, I was like a disorganised journo intern, racing back and forth from charger to the table to try and record momentous events. 

Adam wins!

Joe runner-up

Sam third on points, if that means anything

Adam H

Ian

Martin

Then we broke into threes. There was talk of Pan Am again, but with four of us keen to play, it somehow never reached the table. Martin was pushing for Longboards, or Bonerz as it has been somewhat immaturely renamed (see pics). Having coaxed Joe and Ian into Reiner's phallic surfing bonanza, the Adams and I were left to peruse the alcove and settled on Ahoy. 

Last seen at the GNN Christmas shindig, Ahoy's mechanically-specific charms are how it interweaves two types of game into one: as Adam T and I battled (well, I hid) across the water for dominance, the Creeping Custard played a game of pick up and deliver: the aforementioned weaving is his deliveries increase the value of the territories we were fighting over, and he gets to wager each delivery on which of us he thinks will score that territory at the end of the game - getting bonus points if he's right. 

Adam T immediately loaded cannons and, not long after that, recruited crew who made coming anywhere near him a high-risk manoeuvre. I basically kept my distance, using my deck of Plans to run interference when I could. For a couple of rounds we scored equally, but Adam's visible strength and bonus half-turn each round was swinging things his way. Between us, that is. We were so busy circling each other, like boxers in a pond, that we neglected to stop Adam H running away with the game. Meantime Bonerz had subsided, to coin a phrase, and Martin had triumphed. I'll leave it at that. 

Martin 43
Ian 39
Joe 27

They were now playing Spots, but ten minutes in, still hadn't managed to claim a single dog. I think they tried a variant where the action cards keep changing, but found it made the pace a bit stodgy. I didn't actually see who won, in the end, but someone must have done because when Ahoy finished they were playing Sea Salt & Paper.

No such stodginess at our end of the table, however, as Ahoy wrapped up with Adam's smuggler easing to a win of non-sneaky margins:

Adam H 37
Adam T 25
Sam 20

The others graciously packed up Sea Salt & Paper (Joe was winning/won/delete as appropriate) so we could play So Clover as a six. Even for a game as marvellously bamboozling as So Clover, this felt like a high watermark of despair as almost everyone around the table complained that their combos were impossible (full transparency: my 'terrible' pairing was OCEAN/RAY and manta never occurred to me). Despite our misgivings, however, we did rather well. Martin's heehaw clue was nice, and I was quite pleased with Ahoy for ROOT/GATE. Joe's random card stumped us, as shirt/tail went rather well his office and surveillance clues, but despite these red herrings, it was overall a very respectable 30/36. 

I would have been up for a nightcap of the meeple variety, but with the hour approaching eleven and the night air chilly, we called it there. 

King of the Arables

I got to Sam’s at 7.45, just as Katy arrived too. In Sam’s kitchen We found Ian, Martin, and Joe to make up today’s sextet.

We began with King Up, a very simple game in which each player has a card with six (of a possible thirteen) kings listed and all you have to do is try to push your kings up the board. If a king gets to the very top, then there is a vote, and if no one vetoes this king then all your kings score according to the level they reached. But players only have two vetoes, so be careful when you vote. In round one, almost everyone voted against the first king to get to the top.

All the kings have names, but to use those names gives away the fact that you have them on your card, so they were given whatever name occurred to us. King Ian, for example, became King Isobel the next time they moved.

In round two, King Beatrice was pushed to the top almost immediately and no one vetoed her so the round immediately scored. This was good for Katy who was the only one to have Beatrice on her card. And, despite Martin winning round one and Ian winning round three, it was pivotal in her victory.

Katy 69

Martin 68

Ian 60

Sam 59

Andrew 58

Joe 40

Then we split into two groups. Ian, Sam and I played Terra Nova. I’d played it recently but was a little rusty. This time we played with Side B characters with more powerful abilities, and Sam’s used his character’s ability to use less power to do a special action to its fullest extent.

Sam 73

Ian 52

Andrew 49

Katy, Joe and Martin played Mille Fiori. It was Katy’s first go and it must be her kind of game, since she did very well. Well enough that Martin was very worried about letting her have the finger” for fear of what she’d do with it.

Joe 207

Katy 206

Martin  158

Then we rearranged. Four people wanted to play Akropolis, and in the end Joe, Ian and Sam played while Katy had to make do with Spots, the dice rolling dog game. Martin used one action, “Dogpile” (roll two dice and a buried dice) a lot right at the start and it did well for him. I used it and went bust. Katy was slightly less obsessed with treats than in her last game. The further behind I fell, the more I had to push my luck, and that never works.

Martin 6

Katy 3

Andrew 0

And Akropolis ended …

Joe 137

Ian 123

Sam 120

Then we played So Clover. Katy wasn’t keen since she always struggles but it’s such a good game that we simply can’t resist. For some reason our clues were quite agricultural. Sam had “Coop” for “Chick/Cabin,” Ian had “Farm” for “Hen/Carrot,” Katy also had “Farm” for “Country/Melon” and I had “Arable” for “Right/Ground.”

We got a perfect score but it was close at times. Katy got a cruel decoy that had two words that were a decent match for her clues, especially “sewer/clean” for “Dredge” but Sam wasn’t keen on it and he noticed that “lake/clean” was a better fit. Also, hats off to Ian who clued “Brie” for “Lady/Cheese” because, apparently, Brie is also a woman’s name. 

36 out of 36.

Katy was so pleased, she took my humorous suggestion of a group photo seriously and instead had to be content with a solo shot of her and her clover.

I'm not sure if Joe and Ian knew quite how sinister they looked.

Then I left and they played a couple of rounds of Hit

Katy 134

Joe 55

Ian 29

Martin 9

Sam zero!

Ian 100

Martin 82

Joe 59

Sam 39

Katy 10

Thanks all. See you next week.