Methnos

Tuesday night and Joe, Martin and I rolled up at Anja and Steve's house to be admitted by Lennon, who was showing some skills on the Diabolo, reminding me slightly of Andrew's juggling years, when we shared a flat and he used to go to festivals with his clubs. I can't remember what I did with my time. I probably played a lot of Playstation. 

With Lennon and Louie and Louie's pal Jago also present, we quickly split into two groups. Joe entertained the kids with Change Up, his own luck-pushing design, and Anja and I took on Martin and Steve at Agent Avenue. I took some quite bad photos. 

As we approached a finale, Steve and Martin were catching us in Agent Avenue but Anja pulled off a fine bluff to hand them a Daredevil defeat. The gang next to us were still playing Change Up so we went again, and this time my gamble backfired and we lost!

Our second game had taken long enough that Change Up had ended with Joe falling victim of Explainer/Designer's Curse:

Louie 8
Lennon 7
Jago 5
Joe 4

And Joe and Lennon had blasted their way through no less than four games! Joe won three sets of Dobble 2-1, but Lennon had revenge in the speed-reaction-game Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza. 

There was now an interlude of sorts, as Steve was tasked with Lennon's bedtime as Anja cleared up the post-dinner detritus in the kitchen, from where we occasionally heard her yawning melodically. We filled the time with a breezy-ish Ticket to Ride: Berlin.

This game remains a mystery to me. Even when I feel like I'm doing well and complete my routes plus extra routes, I always come last. Maybe I should book a tutorial with Adam. But it's fun regardless, a Ticket to Ride experience but condensed into 20 minutes, with the additional quirk of five of your trains being trams. I came last as expected, but it was close. Both Martin and I anticipated a win for Joe, but though he'd completed a trans-Berlin expressway, he had also failed on a smaller route:

Martin 49
Joe 46
Sam 44

Anja and Steve rejoined us and we debated what to play. My hopeful suggestion of Luzon Rails got no traction, especially after Anja called it Luton Rails. Martin's Bomb Busters was also proffered, before we settled on Ethnos, Paolo Mori's Slovakia-shaped area-control band-builder. Martin went through the rules and we were off.

This was our evening's main event, and in the early running things were tight. The first era ended with Steve in the lead courtesy of a couple of large bands. But his presence in Slovakia was light, something he would come to regret as the second era saw him fall behind. It was a curious thing: Steve led while bamboozled by the rules, then sank to fifth once he understood them. This is a malaise I fully recognise.

I made hay with the Giants, earning me a chunky ten points or so over the first two eras, before Anja claimed them in the third. I also harpooned a whopping nine points for Joe when I pulled the last dragon to end the first era. Sorry Joe. He had a strong second era but going into the final one I had a sturdy enough lead to hang on for victory:

Sam 88
Joe 79
Martin 73
Anja 69
Steve 60

It had been an epic, but we still had time for one more game, and plumped for Knizia's Take-That-athon, Art Robbery. 

We're basically either taking cards from the haul in the centre of the table, or stealing them from each other. Or you can steal the dog and have it protect your cards. I twice ended round when I had a reasonable haul, and it seemed like perhaps Martin was the main threat. But in the final round Anja and Joe stole his shit and I ended the game. Initially I thought I might have too few alibis (fewest alibis and you're eliminated) but Anja took that unwanted distinction:

Sam 24
Joe 20
Martin 15
Steve 10
Anja: Takes the fall! 

And with the time hitting 11 o'clock, I was tired enough to drag Martin and Joe away (sorry all) and bring an end to another fine night of ludological delights. 

Lazy Susans in Spaaaace!

 I knocked on Joe’s front door at 8pm and while I waited, Sam sent me the results of the game they’d just finished which meant I was able to congratulate Joe on his victory at Oh My Brain as he opened the door.

Downstairs sat Sam, Martin and Adams T and H. Since there were six of use we began with Challengers. Sam wasn’t hugely keen and so he was given the seat where he didn’t need to move for each match. I started well, but a victory in round one is barely a victory at all when you consider the rich pickings later in the game. I didn’t win again, consistently losing as my bench overflowed. I slimmed down my deck in round five and then consistently lost due to running out of cards.

Martin decided to go big on pyrotechnicians who then never came out at the right time so their super power never triggered and Adam T used UFOs to draw extra cards and had two overpowered Stable Boys. These were the winning tactics, it turned out, as they both qualified for the final.

Martin 37

Adam T 37

Joe 30

Adam H 17

Sam 8

Andrew 3

Martin and Adam T faced off in the grand final while the rest of us packed away the rest of the game in a faint display of disinterest. Sorry about that but at least we didn’t start putting chairs up on the tables. In the end Martin won when he played a Villain and caused Adam T’s bench to fill up.

Then we split into two groups. Sam, Joe and Adam H chose Planet Unknown, whose huge box put me off slightly as I imagined a Feast For Odin style epic. By contrast Martin, Adam T and I went for the tiny-boxed Impulse. In between these two space-themed games sat a bowl of snacks that, if I recall right, Joe described as being “over-flavoured” and he wasn’t wrong. They were a shade of red that, if you saw it on a plant, you’d assume it was poisonous. And when we ate them, we went through a journey of saltiness, spiciness, overwhelming aftertaste and finally an almost automatic desire for just one more.

The reason for Planet Unknown’s large box was revealed when they set up – in the middle of the play area was a large circular receptacle for all of the pieces that the player would need to tessellate across their planet’s surface. And this rotated! Finally, a game that comes with its own lazy Susan.

I know nothing about the game, nor if you can turn the lazy susan as you wish or if there are rules guiding its use, but they seemed to have fun.

Adam 67

Joe 58

Sam 51

As for Impulse, it was very pacifist with no battles at all, even if Martin and I sabotaged each other. Not that we were picking on each other deliberately. It’s just that Adam T was always out of reach, sitting in his corner mining and trading for points.  Most of my points came from trading too. And then Martin went from 12 points to the game-winning target of 20 in a single turn and the game ended.

Martin 20

Andrew 9 (? I think)

Adam T 8 (ish)

Since Planet Unknown was still being explored we played Kingdoms, a very simple Knizia game that is as mean and cunning as you’d expect. Place tiles with values on the board and then put your castles next to them to score an entire row and column. But beware negative numbers, dragons that scare off positive numbers, mountains that split rows and columns in two and goldsmiths that double your score, for better or worse. Adam sighed that he wasn’t doing enough to hurt Martin, and he was right. I had a good round three to make myself look like a contender for a while.

Martin 183

Andrew 176

Adam T 169

After Planet Unknown had finished they played Art Robbery. Don’t know what happened except for the result

Adam H won!

Joe 2nd

Sam: most points but least alibis.

At this point everyone was together again but not for long as it was half past ten and I had to dash. Even the sight of Not That Movie could tempt me. I’ve no idea what happened but according to the late night messae from Sam, they didn’t do very well: just a score of 24.

Then the Adams left and Sam, Joe and Martin played So Clover twice: 16 out of 18 and 13 out of 18.

Thanks all. See you next Tuesday.

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.

The Death of Brian

 I (Sam, our de facto blogger Andrew being a late drop-out) arrived at Joe's place a little later than usual to find just three gamers at the table: the host, Ian, and Martin. They were puzzling out hidden codes in Break the Code, a game that broke my mind when I played it. All I can remember at the time is thinking what the fuck do all these numbers mean just as Joe announced he'd cracked it. Martin and Ian had no such qualms, though, and whilst I munched through a sandwich they all won the game at the same time. 

What next? Martin began campaigning to play Brian Boru, the trick-taking game of Irish border control. Despite my emerald heritage, Joe's love of trick-taking and Ian's fascination with borders, nobody really bit. Both Joe and I said we'd be up for playing it again, but it wasn't high on our wishlists. 

"Yeah" Martin sighed. "That's the problem with games" 

He rattled the box seductively one last time, and then put it away. But for how long?

Instead we played Babylonia, reducing Martin's chances of victory from 100% to a more competitive 90 or so. Joe began well, harvesting point-scoring opportunities in a kind of guerrilla-esque approach. Martin and Ian schemed. I attempted to build a connection of tiles all the way across the map, and found my plans regularly harpooned by three dickheads who kept getting in my way.

Or possibly it's more correct to say I sucked big time. As Joe's momentum slackened a little mid-game, it became a fight between Martin and Ian, and Martin snuck his farmers into operation a fraction before Ian could, pushing his narrow lead into a more substantial one. 

Although Ian was scoring plenty for cities, it wasn't enough, and he ended the game before Martin could scalp any points for himself:

Martin 168

Ian 141

Joe 127

Sam 114

Next up was Set & Match: Doubles, as Martin and I took on Ian and Joe.

This was hilarious. The scoring is identical to real tennis, and the court is pretty much the same too. Where the game comes to life is in both the flicking, and the clever way momentum swings during rallies, pushing one side further towards the point if your 'shot' lands in a tricky-to-get-to place: the corners of the court; right by the net and so on. 

Joe and Ian kept getting the yips and hit multiple double-faults. Joe managed to serially flip the tennis ball disc over and send it rolling off court. I was more at home with this game (push something with your finger) than Babylonia (use your brain) and enjoying thwacking the 'ball' diagonally cross-court: Martin and I ran out winning three sets to love.

We then swapped Wimbledon for the Mariana, and crewed up for Mission: Deep Sea. My notes here say

1 Sam fucks up

2 twice

3 we succeed

which is probably as succinct a way of putting it as any. Computing all the possibilities in a round of The Crew is a struggle for me at the best of times, and I was starting to feel tired. I'm glad we managed to succeed in our mission, even though I've no idea what it was.

Joe had insidiously laid out Memoarrr! on the table and we were tempted. I'd forgotten how much fun it is - a simple memory game where whatever the player before you turned over, you must now reveal a card that matches either the animal, or the colour.

We all struggled at times, Martin most of all, and cursed the seeming absence of tortoises. And although Martin won the last two rounds, thanks to the skewy scoring system it didn't do him much good:

Sam 6
Joe 4
Martin 3
Ian 2

It was only just gone ten but I was shattered and had to head home. In my absence, they played Art Robbery (not sure who won) and after Ian left, Joe beat Martin at LLAMA. Until next time!

The Wife of Brian

As I approached Joe’s house at 8.00, I heard a voice calling my name. It was Katy, cycling along, just arriving for the second time that evening, having just gone to search for a cable she’d left behind at Adam’s house. Another eight o’clock arrival was Steve. The three of us joined Martin, Sam, Ian, Laura and Joe who’d played one game: Fly. Martin hated it and Ian won. This brought up the issue of Joe’s perfect five – he’d been on the brink of winning his fifth game in a row since the middle of December and appeared to have lost his chance. But because the game is meant for four players, max, and they played it as a quintet, it was declared void. Joe had one more shot at immortality.

The eight of us split into two groups. Joe, Martin, Laura and Sam chose Brian Boru, the ancient Celtic game of area control and flirting. Steve, Ian, Katy and I chose (after some deliberation and Katy’s observation that we were the worst people at deciding what to plat) Whale Riders. This was my first game, despite it being a regular at GNN for some months now. I got a rules explanation from Ian and Katy and was soon foraging for treasures in the waves like an expert. Sort of. I soon spent all my money and had to spend one action completing a single contract just for the cash. Katy kept picking up whatever was free and was still able to complete a couple of contracts. I dawdled at the back, picking up leftovers while Steve was first to dash home, sparking debate about which end of the row of pearls he should buy from. Katy said it was obvious – the cheap end – but Steve was unhappy about making the better tiles cheaper for other people. Doesn’t matter, said Katy definitively. Argument done.

Katy 16 + cash

Steve 16

Andrew 15

Ian 13

Brian Boru was still in its early stages, so the four of us played Team Play. Steve got a rules explanation from his team mate Ian. I was paired up with Katy who shocked me by putting discarded cards straight at the bottom of the draw pile instead of making a discard pile. As for the game, Ian and Steve started strong, but then Katy and I drew level before S&I hit eight tricks and triggered the end of the game.

Steve and Ian 25

Katy and Andrew 25

We looked for a tie breaker and I said it might be fewest completed cards wins. This would have given Katy and me the win, but no matter how often Katy read the rules, she couldn’t find it.

With Brian still midgame, we played Spicy. I was all excited when I played my last card and Steve didn’t challenge me, but that was because he was putting down his own last card. Katy challenged and was wrong, handing Steve three points on top of the ten point bonus for clearing your hand. Three points that she came to regret. If she’d just let him put the card down, she would’ve won! Fine margins, and all that.

Steve 23

Katy 22

Andrew 15

Ian 0

Brian Boru finally came to a close with everyone married and Laura sighing as the final round began. Nothing to do with the game but it was, she explained, after her bedtime. It ended with a win for Martin and the end of the road for Joe's perfect five.

Martin 36

San 31

Joe 29

Laura 21

After this we split up again. Laura set off home and Joe, Ian and Martin played Ra and Katy, Steve, Sam and I played Full Throttle. This is a very basic betting game in which a player lays out seven cards from a deck and moves the motor bikes on the circuit accordingly. Then, they take a card from the deck that corresponds to the colour they think will win. Or at least top three. It's like a very pared down Downforce. Despite the simple game mechanic, Steve always overthought his choice of cards, weighing up what was available with what was already in his hand.

It was kind of boring at first. Yellow sped off into an early lead. Then orange caught up. But as the race continued and we reached the end of the penultimate lap, the pack had become much more tightly packed. "Almost as if it were all random," I pondered out loud. In the end blue became a surprise winner. A surprise to everyone except Katy who had four blue cards in her hand.

Katy 26

Steve 18

Andrew 16

Sam 9

Ra, meanwhile, ended on a knife edge with the final tiles to be played being 10, 11, 12 and 13 and everyone on equal pharoahs. At the end Martin pushed his luck. As the last player he wanted to load up the auction track before the final Ra tile came out. He daren’t go too far but in the end his margin of win was greater than he’d expected.

Martin 56

Joe 48

Ian 30

At this point I left, despite Sam trying to persuade me with the promise of So Clover. But I was a little tired so I passed and bade them all farewell. Sam later texted me that they scored 29 points. He also told me they finished Art Robbery.

Joe 23

Sam 21

Katy 14

Martin 9

Ian BUST

Thanks for another special evening. See you all soon.

Busted and broken

What with both Adam T and Martin falling foul of Covid and Andrew a late withdrawal, it was a sparsely attended GNN last night. Indeed, at 7.30 we were a mere quartet, with Katy, Laura, Ian and myself sat around the table as Sally and Stanley cooked and Joe orbited scooping up crisps. We nonetheless embarked on a quick game of Ticket to Ride: New York, before Joe joined us a little later. 

Katy's yellow cabs carved a worryingly easy path through Manhattan, as the rest of us looked less in control of our destiny. Laura and I both fretted over our turns and picked up extra routes that didn't work. They mainly didn't work because Ian - more in control than it seemed - ended the game, giving everyone one last turn when we needed at least two to complete the extra routes. Despite Katy's yellow highway, Ian took the laurels:

And we ended things just as Joe arrived, with Reiner Knizia's new card game Art Robbery in his bag. We set up and started playing straight away. 

In this feisty game, the players have made off with the loot from the robbery and are now 'debating' - via cards - how to split it. There's four rounds and in each round you play cards to either grab a number tile from the communal pile or, possibly, off someone who's already taken one. Cards match the numbers (which equal points) but there are some Knizian wrinkles, like the 'Boss' card only scoring if she's attended by a 4 or 5, the guard-dog protecting your tiles, and some of each set containing 'alibis', which are relevant come the end of the game: the player with fewest alibis automatically loses. 

It was fairly chaotic-feeling compared to something like High Society, but fast and fun, with dick moves aplenty and a reasonable amount of swearing at each other as tiles kept getting stolen. Joe and Laura lost with joint-fewest alibis, and Ian took his second win of the night:

Ian 28

Sam 26

Katy 16

Joe and Laura - Nicked!

After that, we kept to the breezy-games-pace with a blast through Cross Clues, scoring an impressive 24, despite numerous discussions where someone or other initiated the finger of executive decisions. So close to that perfect score!

Then, after some pondering, we introduced Laura to the charms of QE. It's simple, right? Just bid on everything, but make sure you don't spend the most. This almost blew up in my face when everyone was appalled that my opening bid (as auctioneer, so a public bid) was £10M. My protests that I was auctioning the financial system of one of the world';s biggest countries and this was a comparative pittance moved nobody, and Joe - usually so non-evil - encouraged everyone to bid zero to shaft me over before the game had even got going!

There followed a succession of low public bids just to ram home my mistake, but inevitably the prices began to rise, and Laura seemed unable to control her impulses as the winnings piled up in front of her: she was clear points leader, but at what cost? Even my opening salvo was beginning to look like a bargain by the end, when Katy priced her final auction at £30M. As expected, Laura blew us away on points, but was hamstrung by financial ruin. Ian spent by far the least (£19m!) but it was Katy who claimed victory, as I realised my hidden industry wasn't the one I thought it was. 

Katy 39

Ian 36

Joe 31

Sam 15

Laura - Bust!

I wanted to make a note of Laura's spectacular score, but my notes here say "Laura goes home as Katy yells at her" which is probably putting it a little dramatically (and I think she was yelling at me) but not that far from the truth.

Now high on alcohol, crisps and Ian's snack mash-up of dark-chocolate coated nachos, we played Skull. I took one frankly rubbish photo...

And then forgot to take any more. Joe took us to the cleaners, wrapping up a game win before anyone else won a round. With the hour now pressing towards half-ten, we cracked into co-operative Wavelength, playing twice partly because we did so badly on game one, and partly because I drunkenly hectored everyone into trying again (sorry everyone). Inevitably there was mention of Gwyneth Paltrow, and many discussions along the lines of is X thinking of everything in the universe, or just all types of fatty snacks? There was a long debate about Skips, and I discovered that I was the sole member of the party who thought Monster Munch are unhealthy. "It's natural maize!" cried Joe, almost as if he was in the payment of Walkers, like a covert Gary Lineker. 

In the second game everyone started yawning and I felt so guilty I made snacks. Then I discovered I was the only person who didn't think toast wasn't the least meal-like snack. What was happening?!?!

Despite the inebriation, fatigue and stupidity (mine) we triumphed in the second game with a card to spare, coming back from the near-dead. I finally lifted the portcullis and allowed everyone to leave.