Just 11

Steve, Anja and Louie were our hosts last night, and joining them around the table were Ian, Gareth, Adam H, Martin and myself (Sam). Adam T was hopeful of coming but couldn't make it in the end, thankfully not down to me giving him the wrong address. While Anja was completing a job application/getting Lennon settled, we kicked off with Just One. 

And although Martin did some mild cheating, we started pretty well, hitting the marks consistently until too many duplicate clues left Gareth with an uphill task to identify Google, with only the clues Browser and Lens. Perhaps sensing his despair, Molly came to offer comfort. 

But Molly stuck to the rules giving no clues - my photo almost gave it away - and we lost a point. Then somewhere down the line we lost another, leaving us with 11/13, fatefully correlating with the correct address I hadn't sent Adam to. With Anja imminent, we split into two groups playing two short games: whilst Louie, Steve and I played Order Overload: Cafe, Martin introduced the others to Prey Another Day. 

Order Overload: Cafe is all about memory: each round, a bunch of orders are read out and then the order cards are dealt out to the players. Then the co-operative goal is to go around the table and call out the orders you don't have in your hand, and - assuming the orders exist - they get discarded. This continues until any one player is out of cards, meaning the level is complete! On Level 1 this is dead easy, the starting player just needs to remember one of the other orders. But every level the orders multiply, meaning by the time we reach level 6 there are no less than eighteen orders, including the bizarre Iced Coffee with No Ice. 

Another catch is that  if you call a non-existent order - which we all managed to do - you can't call orders any more in that round but can only answer them. Despite Louie's impressive recall, we stalled at level 6. Steve's face was a picture of agony, and he ruminated that he didn't have any truck with fun. 

At the other end of the table there was a similar boisterousness but more at each other and less at our failing brains. Ian won the first game with 6 points, (Martin 4, Gareth and Adam 2 each) then Adam took the second game, which Anja also played in:

Adam 5

Gareth 4

Ian, Martin, Anja 3 each

Not having Andrew's impressive table-wide vision or note-taking habit, I confess I was none the wiser to Prey Another Day at this point, other than Adam insisting it was a game of skill, in a tone that suggested perhaps it wasn't. Who knows? He did win. 

Louie now made his reluctant way to bed - along the floor - and we briefly flirted with Quantum + Noli (3 and 4) before settling on Hansa Teutonica and Aristocracy (4 and 3). 

I was excited to get Hansa played again and pleased for Gareth who had tentatively mooted it more than once in recent weeks. However my pleasure for Gareth was to slowly evaporate, as he took route-building advantage of us repeatedly, by getting in our Teutonic shit. Admittedly he wasn't alone, as this sabotage soon became a table-wide affair. I was so wrapped up in it I forgot to take any pictures of Aristocracy, sorry. That ended before we knew it:

Martin 71

Ian 66

Adam 58 

And also before we knew it, Ian and Adam were out the door - the evening had flown by. Hansa Teutonica, despite always making you feel like you want to do more than you can and each decision a minor agony, also sped by. I pushed Anja over the finish line before anyone could take any more turns, but although it kept me in third ahead of Steve, it wasn't enough to stop Gareth's impressive haul of networking points:

Gareth 42

Anja 35

Sam 25

Steve 21

Clearly Gareth has some kind Martin/Babylonia type knack for HT, and needs to be policed. 

The remainder of us fancied 'one more' game, so Martin brought out Prey Another Day again.

He talked us through the rules, which are like Citadels role-calling mechanic crossed with a competitive version of The Mind. Everyone has a set of (the same) cards and secretly chooses one, before all are called and revealed, starting with the Bear (1) and working up through the numbers - but down through seniority - to the lowly Mouse (5). If more than one person selected the same animal, nothing happens. But if you're the only person to select, say, the Wolf, you can announce which animal you're hunting, and eliminate any players who chose that animal. 

So players are eliminated - or not - until either there's only one player left (2 points!) or every left standing has played three cards, in which case the player with the highest collective value of their animal trio wins: ie, at this point the apex predator Bear is a damn sight less useful. 

Steve had a shocking game, thrice eliminated through hunting and scoring nothing. "That was fun" he said, in the manner of a man leaving the waterboard room.

Gareth 6

Anja 4

Martin 2

Sam 1

Steve 0 

"I could have had an extra 20 minutes sleep" he added, staring accusingly at the table. Nonetheless, he agreed to a rematch. This time it was Martin's turn to be serially dicked over, although he managed to avoid a zero. It came down to Anja and I poised for a win, but it was Anja who pounced:

Anja 6

Gareth and Sam 5

Steve 4 

Martin 2

And with that another marvellous Tuesday came to a close. Thanks all!

All Run Down by the Hillmann Express

The heat bore down like a big hot thing, so much so that Andrew was lost to us and Laura forgot to come and have fun, because she was having too much fun elsewhere. Keeping up slightly sweaty appearances at Martin's house were Adam H, Joe, Katy, Anja and myself. Anja was last to arrive so the rest of us played The Number, which despite the early hour conjured a number of insults, most notable of which was Adam getting called Dick Brain, who we decided sounded like a CIA operative. To be honest, with Adam it does feel like anything is possible. 

Despite ruminating on alleged mistakes he'd made, he still beat us all in a game that I find foggy to the point of breeze blocks. 

Adam 62

Katy 59

Martin 56

Sam 54

Joe 40

Then it was time for A game of selecting seven cards, speedily searching for synergies. I think this one genuinely takes longer to explain than it does to play, but that's not really a criticism as it was over in 90 seconds. I owe Martin apologies for more than once clinging on to cards as he attempted to take them. 

My dirty ways saw me victorious. 

Sam 18

Joe 15

Adam 10

Martin and Katy: 8 each

As I pondered inwardly how low I might stoop in gaming - especially against Martin (or Adam) - Anja arrived and we broke into two groups. Adam was gently cajoled into Mille Fiori by Joe and Anja as I inadvertently, but happily, signed up for Aristocracy thinking it was a six-player game. 

Andrew has explained the game on here before I think, but it bears repeating that the presentation slightly lets down an otherwise simple undertaking. On your turn you flip three tiles over, then choose one tile of any kind and harvest all matching kinds: this might be a literal harvest of resources, or trigger the placing of buildings, or evoke a kind of huffy harrumphing noise that all of us took turns at when we didn't flip what we wanted. "I'm swimming in fish!" Martin complained at one point. "I need to turn over two queens" I grumbled. 

Katy's pink buildings

Scoring is a bunch of overlapping objectives: sets of resources, sets of buildings both bunched together or widely dispersed, and connections made across the board. It reminded me of Sumatra, only the tile-flipping made it more fun. Martin was one tile away from winning when it ended - I was a little further back:

Katy 50

Martin 46

Sam 40

At the other end of the table it was Adam's turn to do a bit of harrumphing as things didn't go his way in Mille Fiori, and he expressed again his lack of enthusiasm for the game. Joe suggested he keep playing until he likes it.

Adam frowning

Joe's considerable record at Mille Fiori remains a thing, as the final count-up was agonising for Adam:

Joe 180
Anja 163
Adam 162

There was a quick bit of seat-shuffling and then Martin and Katy embarked on Mille Fiori with Anja, who was keen to play again. Adam, Joe and I did a pleasurable bit of game-discussing before Joe made the fatal error of suggesting Ticket to Ride and I the catastrophic mistake of agreeing. A strange, distant gleam came into Adam's eye...

We chose the Switzerland map which is best for three. The rules are the same except the usually-wild locomotives are no longer wild but only used for the (plentiful) tunnels; and as such you can pick up two of them instead of the standard one. I got off to a pitiful start when twice I tried to build a single section tunnel and found the roof caved in on me. 

Discard pile of shattered dreams

I distracted myself by taking photos and getting told by everyone that I always make them look terrible. I've no idea what they're talking about.

Just to show I can also take it, here's me as a chinny potato-head. See Adam scheming in the background? 

Adam didn't have time for such trifles as looking at a camera, as he was plotting a Ticket to Ride coup of such preposterous scale that, for Joe and I, it'll probably be our valedictory game, leaving us with not so much memories as PTSD. Things were looking ominous when he needed both hands to hold his cards, and then, like a carnivorous snake unravelling across a children's campsite, he built an enormous yellow train track from one side of the board to the other as Joe and I looked on in concern. 

moments earlier

The game didn't so much end as explode. Adam placed his last trains with a preternatural calm as Joe whitened. We had one last turn, and Adam already had a considerable lead thanks to his dastardly card-hoarding and thinking about things. I picked up routes, and it was a mistake, knocking back my score by a hefty chunk. I can't remember what Joe did. But he counted up all his routes and announced they were collectively worth minus one point. Adam lapped him.

Adam 146

Sam 93

Joe 43

Mille Fiori finished around the same time, I think, with Martin's incessant rewarding himself extra turns making the difference in the long run:

Martin 218

Katy 181

Anja 175

There was just time for So Clover to finish. We were surprised to find Anja had never actually played it and it was her debut game. As always, the act of playing opens with The Grumbling, wherein we all complain that our words are terrible.

Then we go off in wildly lateral directions before hopefully coming to a productive conceptual compromise. And after an uncertain start where the rest of us weren't quite in tune with Anja's clues, it was a more than decent attempt, scoring 30/36. Mainly though we got to tease Adam about taking ages over his clues. Does it make up for Ticket to Ride? 

Probably not. 

Discussion of Pants on Line

Oh dear - I was supposed to do the blog for last Tuesday, and what with one thing and another I haven’t got round to it, and it’s Tuesday again tomorrow!

So I’ll make this short and sweet…

At one point we thought we might have just three, comprising me, Martin and my friend Matt, who is an occasional visitor. But in the event we were up to 7, as Gareth and Andy Bate arrived with Martin, and Steve and Adam H trickled in a little later.

We played Rapido whilst waiting for Steve. I had the sort of game I’ve seen others have before, where luck smiled on me repeatedly and I made steady progress round the board. Others had markedly worse luck, with one of them (Adam?) back on the starting block by the time I rolled a double three and romped home. This was the only thing I thought to take a photo of all evening - funny that! Martin noted that I’d scored the same as everyone else put together. What can I say - pure skill.

Steve having arrived while we finished up Rapido, we split into two tables, with Martin, Gareth and Adam playing the unpleasantly graphicked Aristocracy. Andy, Matt, Steve and I pulled out the Martin Wallace push-your-luck classic Hit Z Road. Andy wasn’t sure he’d be able to stay til the end, and sure enough our journey to the West Coast fleeing zombie hordes did take us longer than it says on the box, what with rules explanations and everything. Thematically, I’m not sure having to leave to pick up someone from choir is quite as on point as being eaten alive by the undead, but Andy did the former, and then Matt and I both succumbed to the latter in fairly short order, just one round shy of sanctuary. This left Steve, the only person left playing, a very lonely winner. Well him and his band of survivors.

Steve alive

Joe/Matt dead

Andy B missing in action

At the other end of the table Aristocracy had finished, and Mapmaker had begun and ended. I think Adam won Aristocracy, and Martin Mapmaker, but I may be wrong - one of the players can add the scores in the comments if they can remember!

 

Aristocracy:
Adam 45
Gareth 43
Martin 38

Mapmaker:
Martin 4.3
Gareth 4.0
Adam 3.1

At this point Matt bowed out - perhaps demoralised that his interactions with the zombie horde hadn’t been more positive; the remaining five played Art Robbery. We played twice, because in the first few rounds of the first game, people were still acclimatising to the dickish nature of the game, and not doing enough robbing. That game ended with Martin having the least alibis, Adam winning, and everyone’s scores being strangely evenly spread.

Adam 32

Steve 24

Gareth 17

Joe 8

Martin X

We played again, with a much feistier vibe, and I won - a first for me with this game. I like it now. We should play more. Gareth took the fall this time.

Joe 28

Steve 25

Adam 14

Martin 11

Gareth X

Now Adam and Steve departed, and Gareth, Martin and I played a couple of So Clover’s. We didn’t do great - scoring first 9 out of a possible 18, then 14. Unsurprisingly, this being all but a week ago, I can’t remember any of the words or clues. I think I’d probably drunk quite a bit of white wine too.

Thus ended the evening. I did make one note along with the scores, which reads “Discussion of pants online”, as far as I can tell. Or is it “pants on line”? If anyone can remember why I wrote this, feel free to enlighten us in the comments.

Kiss and Tell

We lost Andrew but gained Andy M, had no Adam T but Adam H stepped in as a late responder. The venue floated around before settling at mine, but the first half hour or so was mainly chat. Ian told a story about sleeping in mulch - or 'a ditch' as Katy liked to interpret it - and then he told it again to late arrivals Joe and Andy. Martin was due about 9pm, but after a diversion into whether conking out drunk is the same as going to sleep and another diversion on Venn diagrams, we finally played a game. It was Viva Pamplona!

Katy suggested that the orange safe spaces should actually be safe, as one pays to be there, and we thought Why not. So you can't be pushed while in an orange space, but neither can you collect courage points if the bull attacks (nor lose them if you're behind him, which had ramifications later). Good thematic sense! I regretted not bunching my runners together in my opening turn as no less than three others immediately took advantage, shoving me all over the place, like a rank amateur bullied by seasoned pros. We all fell behind the bull - but some of us hid safely in the safe spaces. Then we realised that we could keep a runner in a safe space all the way to the end of the game and not lose any more courage points - which we did; Katy, Adam and I lingering way back on the course like cowardly custards.

But Adam's rolling didn't favour him and he found himself forced to run, way way back behind the bull, who only paid out 2 or 3 times the entire race! Very few of us made it to the arena, and Andy cleaned up on his debut, shrugging off everyone teasing him about cheating.

Andy 39
Katy 35

Sam 25
Joe 17
Adam 9
Ian 5

Joe and Katy then played Sea Salt and Paper while they waited for Martin, whilst I attempted to explain Terra Nova to Adam and Andy. I'm not sure what happened in SSaP, I missed the end. I also handed guidance duties over to Ian when I had to go away on bedtime patrol upstairs. 

For a reasonably simple game of build stuff to get in each other's way with a side order of tactical scoring, it does take a while to explain. Ian did a good job though, and we set off into the good hexagonal night, starting around the time Martin arrived and began setting up his latest Knizia offering, Aristocracy. I missed almost everything about this other the occasional expletive and Katy's happy air of satisfaction versus the boy's chagrin, but did manage to snap a photo:

At our end of the table Andy started well, but as we proceeded Ian's eye for scoring opportunities saw him streak ahead, establishing a solid lead. Terra Nova can be fruitful if you pay attention to the round-by-round bonuses, and try and time your actions on the board to them. Adam frustrated himself when he built a palace and a town earlier than was ideal, even though it catapulted him up the track: delaying would have been more productive in the long run. 

Despite building the largest network (12 point bonus!) after connecting two towns, I was struggling to stay anywhere near Ian. In fact I was struggling to keep up with Andy -(bonus points for towns!) and Adam (-being Adam). But it was Ian's day: he scored a shedload of points in round five as well and wrapped things up convincingly, seemingly unaffected - maybe even blessed - by his night in the mulch.

Ian 74
Adam and Sam 59 each
Andy 53 

Aristocracy finished as well, with Katy even more convincing:

Katy 66

Martin 48

Joe 47

And Martin telling Joe he should design his own version of the game. I've no idea what it's about, although the cover suggests a psychopaths-with-delusions-of-grandeur kind of vibe. Not something I would ever accuse the players of, of course.

EDIT: This morning Martin had to remind me that he Joe and Katy also played Spots around this point as we finished Terra Nova! Martin won. 

Ian took his leave triumphantly, whilst the rest of us debated what to finish with before settling on Wavelength. Memories are a little hazy now but I can vouch that at some point before/during the game, Joe revealed he had kissed Kylie Minogue "on the lips" (-because she's a kisser on greeting) having made some illustrations for her website back in the last century. "I've known you ten years, and this is the first time you mention this?" Martin cried. Joe confessed he'd been waiting for the right moment. There was also talk of foamy nipples and it was hard to tell what was the greatest emotion in the room - Joe's nostalgia, or his audience's astonishment. 

But we had business to attend to, and that was arguing about how much a grain of sand looks like a person (not at all? a little bit? a lot?) This was Joe's clue and he and Katy, post-reveal, debated what more looks like a person between a grain of sand and 'air'. "Air can look like a person!" Joe insisted, waving his heads around in what I supposed was meant to suggest that air can look like a person. I regretted my clue of snooker for mental activity/physical activity, and changed to to darts after they had set the dial. If nothing else this should prove to everyone that Andy is not the only one who can cheat. I waved away protests for not other reason than I wanted to. 

It didn't help much: we actually did rather badly overall, triggering no extra cards and only scoring ten points total. "You should have listened to me" Martin said, as the only person (other than me) who truly understands how physical darts can be. Lots of fun! Thanks everyone...