Slice ‘n’ Dice

As the classic ballad goes: "We had joy, we had fun, flicking bogies in the sun" except it wasn't bogies, but tiny circular spaceships. And we were inside, not out in the dying rays of the day.

Outside: lovely

Inside: even lovelier

There were eight of us. The co-hosts, Adam and Hannah, and the co-guests, Sam, Joe, Ian, Katy, Martin and me. Before Joe and I arrived, the others (minus latecomer Martin) were introduced to Passe Trapp, and game that's short in length but high in tension. It became a feature of the evening, as the go-to time-filler for the waiting gamer.

But first, we had to decide what to play while we waited for Martin. We chose 6nimmt, inviting Dirk along too so Martin could jump in if he arrived mid-game.

The first round began in a strange fashion: the four cards showing were 3, 4, 6, 101. A pattern soon emerged, whereby everyone would play high cards, but lower than 101, which would quickly fill up any potential places to play. A peculiar situation, and one in which Adam thrived, picking up no points at all. Dirk did okay, and was placed fourth. Ian came off worse, with 49 points.

All bases loaded

Round two was more typical and poor old Dirk struggled, as did Hannah who got caught in a dreaded spiral of death. In round three, Martin arrived and took over from Dirk, arresting his slide. In fact, Martin won the only round he played, and he extrapolated his score of 2 across an entire game giving him a hypothetical victory. In his mind. Adam and Katy, though, had a collapse in form, and Katy crashed down to last.

Joe 19
Sam 24
Hannah 34
Adam 44
Andrew 45
Dirk 49
Ian 65
Katy 67

After this, we split into two groups of four. Katy, Ian, Joe and Hannah chose Ascending Empires while the rest of us went for a pot pourri of shortish but devilish games. First was Flamme Rouge. It was Adam's first go, but the rules aren't complicated and we were off before too long.

It was a cagey start until Martin broke away from the pack. After that, Sam and were mostly blocked by Adam's two riders and Martin's second cyclist. Adam could've won right at the end, if he'd drawn a five to get him over a small mountain. But he didn't, so the game lasted one more round and Martin edged ahead in the final reckoning.

1. Martin
2. Adam
3. Andrew
4. Sam

Then we played, at Martin's suggestion, New York Slice. It was new to all of us except Martin but, again, the rules aren't massively deep although the strategy is. Can't say I was too impressed, though. I felt that, like King Of Siam, the last stage see your options shrink dramatically. Nice, though. It does make you hungry, so the strange cheesy crisps were much appreciated.

Adam 35
Martin 29
Andrew 26
Sam 24

Next up was Dicht Dran. Adam and Martin got rules explanations and we began. It was a two round game, and Sam's quick and effective win in round one was enough to see off Adam's surge in round two.

Sam 8
Adam -4
Martin -7
Andrew -13

By now, Ascending Empires was almost at an end. After repeated comments about how civilised it had been, Katy turned on Joe with all the rage of a woman who didn't want to come last twice in a row. She got a five point swing from him to her, changing the standings significantly (but not the winner).

Ian 39
Katy 30
Hannah 27
Joe 25

While the final stages were played out, scores totted up and the game packed away, Passe Trapp was brought out again. Sam and Martin had an epic battle, with Sam repeatedly crying "Martin, stop it!" which made Joe comment that it all sounded a bit non-consensual. When Sam finally won, he lifted both arms up and gave a full blooded cry of joy and relief. And then apologised, because there was a young child asleep upstairs.

Other games were played. Martin got his revenge on Sam. Then Martin beat Adam twice, and then Adam beat Sam. There may have been other games, too. I’m not sure.

Now we were all together again, it was time for some big group fun. Except for Hannah, who bowed out at this point, preferring to head up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire.

First we played Dead Man's Chest. Sam was out first on an ignoble manner. He called Dead Man, and Ian challenged. It turned out to be 3:1. Sam had mis-read the dice. There was quite a lot of blind bidding going on, around the 6:X range, as people gingerly edged from Safe Bet to Unlikely Bet in tiny increments.

Finally, it was against Katy and Adam, both with two gems. Adam made sure to tell everyone that Katy was bound to win, and then he won the next two rounds. His victory came when he bid 1:1 and Katy challenged... it was Dead Man!

What a way to win!

1. Adam
2. Katy
3. Joe
4. Ian
5. Andrew
6. Martin
7. Sam

Then we played Fuji Flush. I kept track of the Dick Points this time, and good thing too since Joe came close to an early Big Swinging Dick when he cleared the whole table (but not every player by one point. Ian had preferred to go home, since he was very tired but we bullied him into a final game. His fatigue showed, when he played the 20 card, thinking it was a 2. Sam, meanwhile, played nothing but sevens for most of the game.

Adam and I got down to our last cards first, the others did everything they could do to stop us. When I jumped on a series begun by Martin and Katy, Katy implored the remaining players to beat them, in a scene reminiscent of that bit in Aliens when someone in the wall of alien gunk suddenly comes to life and begs the marines to kill him.

But no one could. And, at the risk of being targeted for the rest of my life in Fuji Flush, I feel I should point out that this was my third win in a row in this game. (Adam won dick points: Adam 3, Joe 2, all others 1)

Andrew 0
Adam 1
Joe 1
Martin 2
Katy 2
Ian 3
Sam 4

Bombers

Last night Andrew, Matt and I assembled primed to journey back through history to the time of Henry V - intrigue in the courts, and blood on the battlefields of France: Lancaster. Because I had neglected to tell him, the first Matt knew of this was when he saw the game set up - but it's reasonably easy to explain, so having guided him through the high spots we were off.

 Lancaster!

In Lancaster there's worker placement (your knights, going to the aforementioned courts/battles) but there's also worker bumpment, as your knights have levels from 1-4 and a more experienced or highly regarded knight can kick a lower-level one back home. Lower-level knights can counter this by bringing squires as their wing-men, but squires are a flighty lot, and will bugger off after one use. 

The courts bring you little tasty morsels  (more squires, gold, votes) or a nobleman to eat at your table, reflecting your increasing political clout. Or, if you have a few coins to pay, you can take both. Heading off to battle the French gets you an insta-reward from the King, plus 'power points' (points) if and when the battle is won. Making sure you win the battle is also, like life, a better outcome than  losing it, points-wise.

my unavailable Knights

What gives Lancaster intrigue though is the laws. At the end of each round players vote on three new laws, a majority or tie meaning that law comes into effect - bumping an old law (the King only likes three laws at any time) and potentially rewarding everyone, or more likely, only one or two. Getting a law passed is a way of pushing your points up - the law that rewarded knights battling the French got me 15 points all told - a big swing. 

After the laws the courts and battles are resolved and you get rewards from your hopefully expanding castle. And after five rounds the jig is up: everyone scores points for the values of their knights, castles, and something else I've forgotten. We didn't write down the scores but the places were

Sam

Andrew

Matt

Having foisted Lancaster on them, I stayed out of choosing the next game, pouring myself a large glass of celebratory wine. They returned from the cupboard with Ascending Empires, the space-subbuteo mash-up. I'm not sure what the choosing mechanic was, but Matt didn't know the rules so I talked him through them, and we were off!

Matt builds a city

As ever with Ascending Empires, the early hours are marked by cautious expansion and developing tech for the inevitable punch-up to come. To mix metaphors slightly, I was first out of the blocks when I blew up Andrew's ships, and following that both Matt and I came lurching into his territory: I was after the silver planet - I'm not sure what Matt was after. Matt's flicking was reminiscent of Joe Berger's: time and again he flicked too hard, or (more likely) rather gingerly, as though he was trying to bump-start a galactic Ford Anglia. 

Andrew got his purple tech up to maximum (stop sniggering) and began ramming our ships to pick up victory points. This collective suicide by his people did enough to give him a convincing win, despite having to cope with Matt and mine's shenanigans. 

Andrew 29

Matt 25

Sam 22

I poured a glass of consolatory wine. Then we played Cosmic Run! This seems to be the new Biblios - our go-to game for the last half-hour of the evening. And kudos to Matt for agreeing to learn yet more rules! 

Cosmic

Give Matt a space game though, and he consumes rules like a sponge. I forsook my usual tactic of playing reasonably safe and went for several optimistic moves, none of which I recall paying off. It was a battle between the others, and it was Matt that won it by the finest of margins:

Matt 65

Andrew 64

Sam 41

We night capped the evening with Push It. I have no idea what the scores were because my glass of optimistic wine had by this point been consumed, and although I think I won, I can't be sure. The boys headed off into the night as Sally returned, and I stumbled into bed with the age of Henry V now seeming a long time ago...

Battleship Tempting

Joe's, Tuesday. Longstanding absentees from Easton were joined by Matt (working) and Andrew (tired). Chris, having joined us last week, found his work schedule a rather stymieing affair and was also ruled out. So Martin, Katy, Ian, Andy, myself (Sam) and Joe's friend Tim sat down at 8pm to play Codenames.

permanent, one

Joe and I were Spymasters. Joe's team consisted of Andy (who doesn't like Codenames) and Tim (who doesn't know Codenames). My team was Katy, Martin and Ian. Joe began with a doozy of a clue and suggested (pledged?) four words. Tim and Andy got three and passed. I went for three and the team got them. After that it got messy. Joe suggested refreshments which went wrong when one of our words were clued. I suggested crowd hoping that as well as match (which they got) my team might put together Mexico and Wave (Mexican wave, yeah?) Although Martin graciously approved of the clue after the fact, it was a bit ambitious.

Nonetheless we were still in a strong position, unless Tim and Andy could get three words in a single round... they did.

Joe, Tim and Andy: win
Sam, Martin, Katy and Ian: don't

We debated what to play with Lords of Vegas mooted. Despite several people agreeing to it though, it didn't get played for some reason. Katy was pushing for Ascending Empires, so myself, Tim and Ian joined her whilst the others played Joe's new purchase, Roll for the Galaxy.

I attempted to explain the rules to Tim and did a semi-reasonable job. At least, I didn't leave any vital rules out. But it's a lot to remember on a first play. My strategy - such as it was - was to get plenty of movement points by developing grey technology, then try and spread early and build fast. I managed that, and didn't really know what to do afterwards, so spent the second half of the game picking off easy targets.. usually Tim. Sorry Tim.

space-time continuum

Ian also spread handsomely around the table. Katy tried to develop all her technologies and our monopolisation of the grey planets got us labelled as "space c**ts", but she later took it all back... except for me. I remained a vacuum because after Katy built a battleship my starships kamikazed into every chance they got. It was pre-emptive stuff really, to stop her attacking my cities, but fairly brutal.  Tim meanwhile flicked himself into oblivion.

Sam 32
Katy 27
Ian 26
Tim 20

On the other table they were deep in their second game of Roll for the Galaxy after Andy had won the first. When I asked what it's like Joe paused, then said "fiddly" and Martin made an elongating grunting noise. Andy merely stared at the table, hypnotised.

space-time, continuing

I was still trying to shake off a cold so I left, while the rest of them played 6Nimmt. The Roll for the Galaxy scores were:

Andy  42
Martin  40
Joe   32

followed by

Martin  38
Andy  35
Joe  30

Martin then ran up another 6Nimmt win, as Tim was thrown in at another deep end... what happened to easy games for the newbies?

Martin 17
Ian 22
Katy 32
Joe 48
Andy 57
Tim 60

I'm sure Roll for the Galaxy will be discussed in the comments. Thanks all!

Ascending Order

A new week, and a window opened up for a bit of Monday Night Action. Normally Andrew can be relied on to manifest at my (Sam's) door, but he was mysteriously 'not up for it'. Eerily unnerved at the prospect of No Games, I was comforted by the fact that Ian made the journey from Easton, and after a short discussion we broke out Fresco, which has been away from the table for a good while. I promised Ian that it was the game about not wanting to get up in the morning, and he agreed that as it was also about artists, that seemed thematically appropriate.

In keeping with the laziness theme, I packed Fresco away again when I realised there were extra rules to learn for two players, and we set up Ascending Empires instead. Ian was new to it, but had been present during the historical occasion when Katy christened Martin "space c**t" due to his incessant attacks on her, so he kind of got the idea. And the rest of the game is fairly straightforward to explain. 

There was no such badinage last night, however, as Ian and I cagily explored the firmament in a kind of overlapping solitaire, moving around the board with - aside from the odd underwhelming shuffle - the confidence of space pilots who are never going to fly off the edge of the universe and onto the tablecloth. But eventually, space was inhabited, and it was time to kick the shit out of each other. I started proceedings by attempting to blow up Ian's city but having flown in two starships successfully, my third one didn't quite make it into orbit.

just like NASA

Ian countered, and the rest of the game became a battle royal around the centre of the galaxy, as we flew back and forth, successfully demonstrating the pointlessness of war (unless you count victory points). Ian provided a moment of genius when, having realised his ship's route was blockaded by a planet, he deliberately tried to ricochet off another planet and into firing range - and pulled it off! Now he just needed to bring his other ship into play - unfortunately it cannoned into both my ship and his own, wiping all three out, but a memorable bit of derring-do nonetheless. 

Explorations

Ian had managed to build up his 'grey' technology to the point where he had four movement points and another turn, as long as the free turn was not a move itself. We both thought - as Andrew had a while back - that it seemed overly powerful, as Ian kept on moving and recruiting to bolster his defences and take the odd point off me. As the game ended, he had the larger stack of chits and we'd both built cities in every quadrant. I thought he'd won. What saved me was my own level 4 technology (brown) which had allowed me to recruit on unoccupied planets. Stuffing four guys on shitty asteroids in my last move meant I led the occupied worlds 17-9 and overall, I'd done just enough:

Sam 44

Ian 42

Though we both agreed the board seemed too big for two, I'd forgotten what fun this can be. 

As I'd chosen Ascending Empires Ian chose next, and elected to stick with the space theme in Quantum. No introductions needed! We went for the 'circular' set up that I thought I'd played before, but now I'm not sure. Apart from your starting worlds all the planets have a value of eight, and I was given a huge advantage by fate: rolling a mathematically advantageous five and two threes. Ian had low value dice, and kept rolling more low value dice when he reconfigured, so I simply ploughed my way around the board to the point where I had one cube left and Ian was forced to defend the available planets to try and hold me up. 

Science!

Having flirted with high value dice he was back at the ones and twos though, and I managed to sneak around the other way and finish the game.

Sam - no cubes left

Ian - three cubes left

We reckoned Ian had been dealt a shitty hand so quickly set up and played again. This time it was closer - Ian went on the attack early, and even though I managed to get the first cube down, the game swung to and fro like an excitable pendulum. Ian got his dominance up to five quite fast, but luckily my redeployed ships were low value and I counterattacked, knocking him back down again. Crucial to my success this time was picking up Agile, which let me move all my ships an extra space. And just as in the first game, the warping power of the three-pipped ships proved invaluable:

Sam - no cubes left

Ian - two cubes left

Space!

We'd bashed through two games of Quantum in under an hour, so there was still time for whisky and 7 Wonders. I picked up Babylon, the sciencey wonder, and decided early on to go for sciences in a big way. I'd never attempt this in a four-player game, but I was pretty sure Ian wouldn't go for them and just hoped Dirk would keep his scientists in check too. 

Not space!

I'm not totally sure the sciences justify the amount of cards you have to spend to make them worthwhile; though I managed to pull off a win it was in the end down to the last card I built for Dirk - a military building, which meant he took 5 points away from Ian and I squeezed past him, scoring 36 points for science and not a whole lot else:

Sam 51

Ian 50

Dirk 32

With space conquered and wonders built, it felt like a bit of an epic evening. But maybe that was the whisky talking. 

Ruletide Greetings

Nine of us arrived at Anja and Steve’s house. Steve was out when we got there, but was expected to arrive just as soon as he got his fill of Palestinian cinema for the evening. Otherwise we were: Anja, Sam, Andy, me, Martin, Joe, Katy and Ian. We split into three groups and, thanks to Steve and Anja’s new dining table, it wasn’t a problem to give us all the required space.

It wasn't planned as such, but it ended up being the Christmas edition of GNN as most players won't be around for next week. There were snacks and mulled wine and mince pies on hand! A lovely cosy winter's spread.

As for the games, Andy and me went for Lewis and Clark, while Joe, Katy and Martin chose Ascending Empires. On the coffee table at the far end of the room, Sam, Ian, and Anja chose a new game Olympos with the option for Steve to join a game when he arrived.

All of which meant that every game needed a rule explanation, and the whole room hummed with the noise of criteria and options being described. By 8.50, Steve had arrived and no one had actually started their game (a situation that Martin found appalling). He chose Olympos, because there was enough space around that table.

Since I was sat at one end of the room, I can’t say much about Olympos, except that there was the occasional exclamation of “Fuck Zeus!” And, I have to say, my neighbouring game of Ascending Empires was every bit as foul-mouthed. Martin played an aggressive game, as he and Katy fought over one half of the galaxy, leaving Joe's half nearly untouched, with Katy using her very best swearing to try and ward Martin away from further attacks on her quarter. Joe, meanwhile, continued to have the yips, mis-flicking almost every move that meant anything.

As for Lewis & Clark, compared to the other games, it was relatively sedate. There was a bit of worker placement, and a bit of hand management. This sounds like a euphemism for a quick wank – what it actually means is that we were trying to build up a strong hand of cards that would allow us to win the game. Each card has a historical character and a vaguely related action. I was amused by Big Horse, who allowed you to turn two Native Americans into a horse: I imagined it being a pantomime horse, carrying your supplies through the mountains (“Oh no he wouldn't!”).

But Andy had a couple of cards that allowed him to build canoes for cheap, and then combine them with food for an extra two spaces. This was enough to beat my cards that got horses for cheap and then gave each one an extra space on water or land.

Andy won
Andrew didn't

When we'd finished, no one else seemed close to winning. So we started on a quick game of Red7. It was a close game, with the scores at 33-31 as we went into the last round. But Andy's attempt to wake the forces of darkness must have been enough to get him some luck.

Andy 41
Andrew 33

By now, games were entering their final stages, so we were able to watch the scores being totted up. In space, Martin had won by a very comfortable win, and his merciless aggression gained him the title of Space Cunt.

Martin 33
Katy 17
Joe 15

Finally, the scoring for Olympos was worked out. There were plenty of different categories and it all looked very complicated.

Sam 48 (wins on tie-breaker)
Anja 48
Steve 47
Ian 28

The overall impression seemed to be that learning the game with four players was a bit of a bump to get over. When I came over to watch the final stages, Ian looked like he'd just spent the evening doing squat thrusts since he was slumped back in the sofa, absently clinging onto his beer. He may have been shaking slightly. I didn't check.

Then we discussed whether or not to bring back the Game Of The Month, or have a system where the host gets the privilege of choosing one of the games to be played that evening. Something to slow the relentless march of progress as new games are brought to the table about once a week. I'm all for this, and I'd also like to suggest we play more two-player games. It would give us a little bit of flexibilty, at least.

I've been thinking about this for a while and I've put together a new two-player division so that two-player games aren't forgotten. Nothing like the old one that I tried about a year ago: this is based on football divisions. Three points for a win, one for a draw and none for losing. Then multiply this by the game length, and finally add one (so the person in last gets at least a point). This is what it looks like right now for this season.

It doesn't need points, just a winner and a loser. We could even play Chess!

And, of course, there's our old pal, the Form Table which looks like this. Martin maintains pole position, while Matt has been away so long, his score has started to decay.

						Points
Martin	1	2	1	2	2	8
Sam	1	1	3	2	2	9
Andrew	2	1	4	1	1	9
Jon	2	2	2	2	1	9
Katy	2	1	3	2	2	10
Anja	2	2	1	1	5	11
Matt	4	1	2	1	2	11*
Joe	3	2	1	3	3	12
Andy	3	2	2	4	1	12
Hannah	3	3	2	2	2	12
Chris	2	5	1	1	4	13
Ian	4	1	3	3	3	14
Adam	3	2	2	4	4	15
Steve	3	3	3	5	1	15
Stanley	3	2	4	1	5	15

Week-ending Empires

Post-Rushay, I (Joe) almost - almost - felt gamed out. But our friends Henry and Rachel arrived on Halloween for the weekend, and that could only mean one thing - more gaming. Henry is a joy to play with - he's super-keen to try out anything new I might have acquired since his last visit, is a very gracious loser and gloats delightedly over each and every win. The perfect gamer!

Though he brought 1989, Dawn of Freedom with him, which we had played in the summer at his, the gaming ops points this weekend weren't really long enough to delve back in to anything that lengthy. That didn't stop Henry suggesting Julius Caesar, Hammer of the Scots and Warriors of God at various points. We also had Lost Valley out of the box several times, which Henry loved the look of; but without Martin to untangle the rules (particularly the two-player variant, which requires each player to control two prospectors), it also fell by the wayside.

Here's some gaming snacks, against a background
of the game of 1989 we played in the summer 

We did play was a lot of Machi Koro - which remains a current favourite of mine. We played in the garden, as this was the unseasonably warm Halloween - but as dusk fell and the kids all went off to the annual Bristol zombie march, we attempted a 2 player game of 1944: Race for the Rhine.

The circumstances weren't ideal, as I had to go upstairs and answer the door to trick-or-treaters every 90 seconds, but even so it didn't feel any less arbitrary than the 3 player game Martin, Sam and I played a few weeks ago. It's going on the next BGG Math Trade . . .

On Saturday we all went on a long walk in the Cotswolds, but in the evening we found a sizeable gaming window while waiting for supper to cook. First up was Razzia, with Flo and Matilda.
Razzia is the gangster-themed card-only version of Ra, with no disasters. Henry and I have splayed a lot of the iPad version, and I guess it's only real USP is the portability, but I really like it as a quick alternative version of its big brother. Not sure anyone else was that enamoured . . . though Flo won.

Henry and I then played a quick game of Race for the Galaxy, including the Alien Artifacts expansion, which is always a pleasure. Then we opted for Russian Railroads. Half way through explaining it I panicked that I'd over-reached; we were playing on the kitchen table and supper was not far off. But Henry's a quick learner, and we knocked out the game in little over half an hour. It was really good to play it again, actually - it's a very neat game, if a little one-dimensional.

Once the kids were abed Henry and I tried to entice Cha and Rachel to play a game. Neither were terribly enthusiastic, but agreed to play Long Shot, which I'd recently played at Rushay. Charlotte said that hearing us play a few days before had reminded her how much she doesn't like it, but graciously agreed to give it another try; and Flo joined in to make five. In fact Flo won. Next day Charlotte said she was now convinced she actively dislikes the game, but I think it's great, and in fact is particularly good for a late night session where you don't want to have to think.

The ladies left us to it at this point - it had gone midnight, after all. But Henry was still willing, and I, hapless dolt that I am, couldn't resist the chance to play another old favourite that he hadn't tried: Ascending Empires! It wasn't great with two; despite the relative simplicity of the rules, it's easy for a player to exploit a given strategy if the other doesn't know the way to combat it. But it reminded me what a great game it can be with three or four, and I'd really like to get it to the table again soon.
Just take an action and it's the next player's turn; the play is super fast and really interesting, despite my inept flicking.

Sunday morning we gazed longingly at Lost Valley, and then confusedly at the rules, before packing it away and playing Russian Railroads again. We both tried for the Trans-Siberian this time, but Henry spread his energies amongst the other three tracks as well and I was allowed an easy win.

After lunch another three rounds of Machi Koro, and our good friends had to hit the road. I hope Henry does pick up Lost Valley, so that when we next get together, around Christmas, we can have another game. Martin, your special trays are now secured with rubber bands - I'll bring it to the next games night I'm able to make. Hey perhaps we could even play it!!

While the cat’s away

... the cat will play.

Sam’s on holiday, but left me with the task of feeding his cat, Finn, for one day until his neighbours can take over. I decided to take the opportunity to peruse the games cupboard and look for a little gem for solo play.

Lords of Waterdeep was sadly missing, but I checked on BGG and saw that Macao had a one-player version. I downloaded the rules and sat down to play.

Instead of having some kind of AI or rule-set guiding a dummy player, it was a version of Macao where you had to score as high as possible. In your way is a number of new conditions and rules to bear in mind. It really is a terribly boring experience. Macao already has quite a lot of rules, and it really doesn’t need any more. Playing this was like listening to someone trying to convince you that the 100m sprint would be better if everyone had to wear a duffle coat and corduroy trousers. It was just a series of annoying new obstacles to overcome. I gave up in round four after I had that epiphany that all board gamers dread: the realisation that I was just moving bits of wood and cardboard around a table for no good reason.

After this, as an antidote to Macao’s regophilia (love of rules? Is that right?) I got down Ascending Empires and played it, removing all of the rules completely. The idea was to hit each planet once (flip it over once you've hit it). If you hit two planets with one flick, score a point. Miss a planet, or go off the board, minus one point. Hit a friendly spaceship, and you upgrade to a bigger spaceship - all the way up to using a home planet as a ship (or a Death Star, as I imagined it). Hit an enemy ship, and go down to a smaller ship.

It was simple and fun and my best score was minus 1. You see, rules turn toys into games, but too many rules will turn toys into work.

We gamed, we swore, we conked-out

Games weekends are to GNN what oases are to Nomadic tribes in the Sahara. A chance to group together, shelter from the harsh realities of life and, mostly, have a drink. This weekend was called to squeeze in as much gaming time into Anja and Steve's lives before the pitter patter of tiny feet starts waking them up at ungoldy hours.

I forgot my notebook, so my recollections may be vague or even just plain wrong. I managed to squeeze all the results onto both sides of an Agricola scoresheet, but in no particular order. In fact, there's one set of results that I don't know what the game is. It's the one with Ghent in it. That's all I remember about it, really.

We arrived at the cottage on Friday afternoon and soon noted how much smaller it was than the last one. Sure, it slept five quite comfortably, but we were entertaining up to nine (ten, including little one-year-old Tristan) so it was a bit of a squeeze. Plus, the bathroom was Condensation City, with the walls almost permanently wet.

No room in the fridge? Lucky it's cold outside!

The first issue on arrival was the curious situation of: no mobile signal, but we did have wifi. We were, at the same time, connected and yet not connected to the outside world. Adam went out to payphones and high hills, looking for a way to call people, but with no success. He ended up going all the way to Jon's house to tell him where the cottage was, but while Adam was out, Jon, Steve and Anja all arrived.

As for the games, what were the highlights?

In Ascending Empires, Jon spends ten minutes convincing Steve to attack Sam, not him. Finally persuaded, Steve flicks his ships in Sam's direction only to find he doesn't have enough firepower. When Steve challenged Jon on this point, Jon responded with "Why did you listen to me?"

My gaming achievement of an otherwise poor weekend was beating Sam twice at Mr Jack within three rounds, once as detective, once as evil killer. Meanwhile, Steve enjoyed Mr Jack but he criticised the game's lack of genuine Whitechapel atmosphere.

Mid-Cuba

Power Grid: In the final decisive round, Jon, Adam and Morag were chasing two houses. Bidding wars were fierce and when Jon found out he'd paid too much for the house and couldn't afford to power it, he simply bought up everyone else's fuel as a spoiling tactic, thus handing the win to the forward-planning Hannah.

Stanley's taste in films proved to be a hit.

Stanley was adorable when he explained how he didn't usually play all the rules to Ascending Empires because he was "a little bit smaller". He did, however, come third in a five player game of Carcassone (above Steve and Morag) and beat his sleepy dad at morning games of two-player Agricola and Carassone. I hope that made up for him having to eat on the floor because there wasn't a scrap of table-space left in the house.

Trans America. In the third round, three of us had cities in the north-east but it seems that each was waiting for the others to build there first, allowing Anja to take the round, go from third to first, and send us all crashing out. In terms of proportion, it was the biggest win of the weekend (Anja 7, Steve 14, Andrew 15, Sam 17).

The Resistance offered up it's usual mix of drama and disaster. Drunk, tired and emotional. That's my excuse for accidentally playing a success card in the final round, when I should've played a fail. These sort of things happen all the time in espionage. Also, why didn't we see the signs in game one when Adam went to check something in the instructions, and his hands were visibly shaking?

Fimo cows and wooden sheep

And after a very long Saturday, which involved swimming in the morning for some and ended in The Resistance until half past midnight, there wasn't much energy for gaming on Sunday morning. I slept until ten, and Adam and Stanley mostly played games on Adam's computer before we packed up and ended the weekend at Jon's house with a big brunch and a final few games.

As for the ultimate weekend winner, let us all throw our hats in the air and give a loud "huzzah" to Hannah, who won both points and points ratio to walk away as the undoubted champion. Sam won on the medal table.

Techs as instruments

Tonight Sam and I had plans of writing, but at the same time, Sam had brought Ascending Empires with him. I was easily swayed to play the flicky game of intergalactical invasion. We set up, with it sitting snugly on my table and began well.

I thought it was quite evenly matched at first, comparing my spread of different tech levels to Sam's specialisation, but before long I discovered that his level four in grey technologies gave him effectively two goes to my one, and I saw him speed off into the distance. And when you're in space, "into the distance" is a very long way.

I think this was the first time that I've played when someone got level four grey so soon, since it rendered the game unplayable. By the end, I was grimly watching him fly about and then perform another action, leaving me largely trapped where I was. I can't see me playing Ascending Empires any time soon. Not now that I know it's busted.

Got a nice pun out of it, though.

Between a rock and a big space

It was with welcome arms we celebrated the return of Quentin last night: The Strategist, as he is hardly ever known (but should be) had been away for too long. Also away, but not of his own accord, was Andrew, who spent the first half-hour of the evening trapped in his flat waiting for a locksmith. This raises the bar as to what one goes through to attend games night - I rarely have to leave the house, but I do have to contend with a lifetime of cocked eyebrows. Who is going to be dropped off by ambulance, with their clothes caked in arterial blood? If it's Adam, I hope he brings chips.

Anyway with five us present pre-Andrew, we indulged in a spot of tomb-raiding with the in-vogue Incan Gold. This is very much a game of luck, with some very minimal strategising based on the liklihood of what card is coming next - something you more often than not get wrong anyway. I was resolved to change my habit of dashing out first, hoping the others would perish, and after a hesitant first round I pushed my luck so much in the second one - successfully - that I could play a fairly laid-back final three rounds. The highlight though was Steve's evil cackling anytime somebody crashed and burned - usually Joe. A new side to the apparently sanguine charity worker...

Sam  51
Steve 37
Quentin  27
Adam  18
Joe 7

Andrew arrived toward the end of the game and now six-handed, we debated how to proceed. Joe got as far as laying Maria out on the table, but only Adam really bit (Andrew and Quentin were tempted, but put off by the relatively late hour) so it was folded away again. Following some 'after you' style negotiation - we really need someone bossy at these moments - we finally split into two groups of three. Steve, Adam and Quentin played Ascending Empires and Joe, Andrew and myself began building our Alhambra's.

My luck continued at the start of the game and lasted throughout - it's a less random game than Incan Gold, but you are often at the mercy of the non-negotiable correlation between cards and tiles, and things just seem to offer themselves up to me: I swiftly created a long wall and found myself in the lead on Towers. When the first scoring round arrived Joe had only placed two tiles, and his position didn't look that healthy. But he pulled it back to nab second from Andrew, courtesy of his maze of Arcades and Chambers.

Sam  157
Joe   103
Andrew 94

Over in deep space the others were in deep thought, and the description of Ascending Empires as 'a bit of fun' looked to have taken on a majestically dark hue, as Quentin played a game of combat and Adam fought to keep him in check. Steve meanwhile was lurking around the edges, picking up scraps like a good adaptive lifeform should. But they were a long way from finished, so we broke out Mammut, inspired by Chris' recent game in the Bracknell branch.

I like Mammut, but it can melt your brain. It's a game of juggling possibilities, where one advantage negates another, and you can never get everything you really need. But the mechanic of choosing your hand through negotiation is really nice, and no matter how far you are behind if someone has a bad round and you have a good one, the game can be turned on it's head. That said, Joe's early lead disintegrated in the face of his reluctance to ever get a decent fire going. Allied to always being last on the mammoth track, it meant he fell too far behind to stand a chance of catching us on the final round, and was faced with the choice of either maximising his own points or shunting Andrew in front of me. Honourably, he chose the former, giving me a somewhat fortuitous 1-1-1 spread for the night.

Sam  96
Andrew 83
Joe   62

Andrew and Joe left and I turned my attention back to Ascending Empires. I remarked how it looked an even spread of planet occupation across the board, but Adam noted fatalistically that that was about to change. And all it took was the time for me to wash up some beer bottles for the whole political make-up of the galaxy to swing to McPhee green, as Quentin went on the rampage, destroying Adam's civilizations with merciless abandon. Steve's elusive approach got him a very healthy second:

Quentin 40
Steve     35
Adam    20

A fine evening, thank you gentlemen.

						Points
Sam	1	1	1	1	3	7
Steve	2	2	1	5	2	12
Adam	3	4	2	1	2	12
Hannah	1	1	3	5	5	15
Andrew	2	3	4	4	3	16
Joe	3	2	5	3	4	17
Anja	5	2	2	4	4	17
Quentin	1	3	5	5	5	19
Jonny	2	2	5	5	5	19

Five go mad in Stockport

Friday
Imagine unfolding a board game, and it doesn't stop. It covers the whole table, then the floor, then finally a whole conference hall of a medium sized hotel! This would not be dissimilar to Stabcon. Games which usually sit in a cupboard only to be allowed occasional visits to the kitchen table are suddenly given free reign to run around and do what they like. Now the players are not sat at the edge but are suddenly surrounded.

This environment seemed to affect some of the attendees. At Stabcon they were no longer geeks on the margins of society but were now in their element – they had status, walking around with all the confidence of a meeple who knows exactly what his next move will be. Some of them also dressed with confidence, albeit misplaced, with a wide selection of figure-hugging t-shirts, low-slung jeans and hats that were a couple of sizes too small for the wearer's head.

It was Steve's first Stabcon and as we pulled into the hotel car park, his first impressions can't have been good as the first identifiable gamer we saw was a guy with long greying hair and beard. Meanwhile, after only thirty seconds in the Stabcon hall, I heard someone cry out "Panic not!" and I wondered if it was going to be even geekier than last year. We signed in at the hotel, registered at Stabcon and grabbed a table.

Our first game was Wallenstein, a strategy game which involves moving coloured cubes around a map and in times of warfare, pouring the conflicting armies of small coloured cubes into a tower, hoping that yours will come out of the bottom while your enemy's cubes get stuck. It's a nice mechanic, and kind of random but not bad random, like dice. Plus, if you lost one battle, you could console yourself that your stuck cubes may be dislodged by your next battle, giving you an advantage.

We played quite happily, with a little help from a passing gamer who watched for a while and pointed out whenever we got a rule wrong. Joe also tried to count the number of women present since his wife was curious as to how many women turned up to these things. But on his first attempt, someone asked him what he was counting and he was too embarrassed to finish, and then on his second go he gave up saying "It's too difficult to tell!"

After Wallenstein (all results on the image at the end of the day's report), Joe suggested High Society. Reiner Knizia's cunning twist on bidding games. In this each player bids for cards numbered 1-10 or for a card that'll double your score. They also bid to not pick up bad cards such as –5, lose a card, or halve your score. The twist is that the person who has the least money remaining automatically loses, so there's no point in throwing your cash around like Mr Moneybags. It got a good response from me, but Steve admitted to not being sure what was going on. This was to become a recurring theme of the weekend.

We went to a nearby carvery for our dinner, just as we had done last year. They didn't remember us, though. Steve had the vegetarian option – a Wensleydale Bake which turned out to be mostly onions under it's thick layer of cheese.

rapt attendees

When we got back, we split up for a bit. Joe and Sam played another new game: Mr Jack. A cleverly devised game where one player has to guess which of the eight characters is Jack The Ripper, while the other player has to help Jack escape or evade detection. At the end of every round the detecting player asks if Jack is in the light or in the dark (ie, if he is next to a street light or next to another character then he is in the light) and thus the culprit is slowly revealed. There are eight rounds for Jack to escape/be caught. This is a very nice game and for once a proper detective board game. Although it's only for two players.

They then played Inka, which Joe wasn't too keen on, since there were simply too many variables to keep track of. Sam won this tile-sliding/rotating game too.

Meanwhile, me, Steve and Adam played Ascending Empires for some flicking fun. This Subbuteo in space got a few comments from people passing by who were interested in the game (and perhaps curious as to why Steve and Adam had large piles of victory points in front of them, whereas I seemed to have none). I was behind almost from the first flick, as Adam and Steve built up on techs. Eventually, I picked up three victory points after an exciting space battle with Steve. A battle which, according to Steve, cost him the game. Oopsie.

Then Area 51 regular Big Mike arrived asking if he could join a game. Joe and Sam were in the shop, and Adam, Steve and I were unsure what their plans were, but we agreed to a quick game of Tsuro. Easy to explain and fun to play and quick to finish – it was the perfect option. After we finished Big Mike seemed amazed that I was writing down the scores for future reference. "Live for the moment!" he exclaimed, which in any context other than a board games convention may have been life-affirming and exciting. As it was, he said it just before suggesting a game of Notre Dame.

After that there was a quick reshuffling of competitors. We chose Tinners' Trail but Big Mike was put off by the idea of a Martin Wallace game, so he went to teach Joe and Steve Priests of Ra.

Meanwhile, Sam, Adam and myself were joined by Simon (another Area 51 gamer) for his first ever tin-mining based game. He picked up the rules fairly quickly, and he kept up a commentary on his thought processes, perhaps hoping for us to jump in and offer a better option. Which we did... sometimes. Our game ended just before Joe and Steve's Priests of Ra, which they did not seem keen on. In fact, they walked out of the hall with all the relief of a half-drowned man crawling onto a river bank.

By now it was nearing one o'clock in the morning and so we ended our first day.

Saturday

Saturday is the day when most people attend Stabcon, and by the afternoon, every table was taken. At one point we left our table clear at lunch and lost it to another band of gamers. This relegated us to the wobbly table at the side. Nearest the bar, though, so not all bad.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. In the morning, after breakfast, we chose another new game, the eternally mispronounced La Cittá. I never really pressed people on the proper way to say it (Chi-TA, rhymes with pitta) and I'm glad I didn't because I doubt I'll ever hear it mentioned again. This game did not go down well, although we knew we weren't playing it in optimal circumstances: Five players, none of who had played it before.

This meant there was a lot of thinking in silence, and Adam quietly played Angry Birds on his phone between his goes. After a little under three hours, we decided to stop the game after the fourth round. Obviously the slow pace and unfamiliar rules can't have helped. I felt I had a fairly good grasp of it before too long, and perhaps as a three-player it'd be more interesting. Sam didn't seem keen on hanging onto it, so perhaps we'll never know. His quote, as we put it away, was a plaintive "Oh God, it's hideous!"

La Chitta (translation: 'the shitter')

After our lunch of sandwiches, Joe played Last Will with some other gamers, Sam and I played Mr Jack while Adam and Steve decided to tackle Twilight Struggle. I thoroughly enjoyed Mr Jack and I think it may be my favourite game of the weekend – short and simple, but very cunning. I lost both times, though.

Considering that Steve had already struggled with the rules of several games so far, I thought his choice to try and recreate the entire latter half of the twentieth century was a bold one. Especially against arch-tactician Adam. At one point I heard him ask Steve "Are you sure you don't want to invade Pakistan?" and I felt very grateful that he never joined the army or went into politics.

Despite Adam's warmongering, the game played out almost in real time and was abandoned after three hours, with no sign of Glasnost happening any time soon.

Meanwhile Sam and I chose a game of Alhambra. Perhaps he wanted to avenge his recent collapse in form. Dirk, once again, joined us and, once again, made the early running. But this time, Sam played a solid game, running out a clear winner.

Joe came back from his game of Last Will, declaring his affection for the game and the silliness of its theme. We played Ticket to Ride Switzerland – a map especially for three players. I really enjoyed this. It puts more emphasis on picking up more routes (which I did three times) which gives it an aspect of gambling, and the wild cards are only useful for tunnels. Of which there are a lot. Despite being the same game, TtR Switzerland has quite a different feel to the regular version. Meanwhile, Adam had got caught up in a short game with some other people, which he won.

Frequently during the weekend, between games, I'd wander around to see what other games where being played. I'd pause at each table to take in a little of the atmosphere and see if it looked interesting. At one table, I saw people sitting around a table without a board between them, and I wondered what game they were playing. It took me all of five seconds to work out that they were just chatting.

The five of us reconvened for a game of Joe's new game Mammut. Sam sat it out, happy to just watch. This game is a cleverly devised game of acceptable greed. Each game begins with a collection of Stone Age goodies (food, fire, animals, furs) from which each player may take as much as they like. But if they take too much, the next player is allowed to take their stash, returning one item to the centre. So each player needs to judge what is advantageous, but still doesn't look so great that someone else will take it. Added to this part of the game is a scoring system that confused Steve a bit, but we played on quite happily.

After our second visit to the carvery for dinner, we set up a game of Navegador on our wobbly table. Area 51 stalwart, Cuz walked past and said "I love this game. It's totally busted", meaning there's a sure-fire way to win the game. Since it was new to all five of us, it was slow going at first and Cuz's words hung heavily over the table. But as we got the hang of it, we started to enjoy it. I was black, and I was keen to recreate the historical arrival of the Black Ships from Portugal and their arrival in Nagasaki. But Steve beat me to it, and he was blue. Whoever heard of the Blue Ships from Portugal?!

By now, it was getting late. We played two games of High Society and then Sam and I called it a day at around half past eleven. But Joe, Steve and Adam weren't so easily satisfied. They hung on for one more game of Mammut.

Sunday

attendees playing Roads and Boats — a sunday Stabcon stalwart 

Me, Adam and Joe were the early risers and, after breakfast, we got ourselves a decent table. Steve arrived before long, and we discussed what to play while waiting for Sam. In the end we decided on Reiner Knizia's Decathlon because it's easy to learn and you can just stop when you want.

This game – a ten-event collection of dice games loosely themed on the events of a decathalon – was certainly easy to learn. Adam didn't like the lack of strategy, but it was certainly popular with other gamers. It was the only time in the whole weekend that we had spectators watching, Up to five people at one point.

Adam considered joining in with a game of Eclipse that was just setting up, and asked if any of us were interested. Eclipse was the top game of the convention, with as many as six games going on at the same time. It looked like an over-complicated monstrosity to me and the wide variety of plastic bits on the table didn't inspire confidence. Steve said he may try it next year if people are still playing it after all the hype had died down.

the ubiquitous Eclipse

Sam arrived, and we gave Navegador another try. As we played, I felt my gaming legs giving way. I was disadvantaged early and seemed unable to do anything about it. Two new tactics came into play, as Sam kept his boats near colonies allowing him to quickly claim them if anyone came close, while Adam sat on the advantageous Navegador card until it really helped him a lot.

Steve had trouble telling the difference between selling and processing goods, and I always wanted to do the action that I had just gone past. At the end, I thought Adam was the clear winner, but that turned out to be wrong! Sam won, with Joe in second. Then, as we were packing away, Joe realised he'd put a vital multiplier token on the wrong part of his playing board, costing him four points and first place!

Finally, we started to pack away and take things to the car, but there was time for two last games of Tsuro with a passing gamer from Sheffield. This was her first Stabcon but not her first gaming meeting, and we learnt that it wasn't very well publicised compared to the other board game conventions. After hearing this we wondered if we'd somehow stumbled upon a hardcore clique of gamers. And, if so, is it bad that we felt quite at home?

Sam and Joe finally got to chat with board game designer Martin Wallace, which must've been nice for them. As we drove away from Stockport, Joe surprised me by asking us if we thought Stabcon could last another day? I don't know about Stabcon, but I don't think I could have.

The final leaderboard puts Adam at the top of the pile for this year's visit to Stabcon! Congratulations.

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Adam	8	7	2
Sam	8	3	4
Andrew	3	8	3
Joe	2	4	7
Steve	1	4	4

The Season's End

The final games night of the season arrived with mulled wine, mince pies and a selection of pizzas. Sadly, Joe wasn’t in attendance, but the numbers were swelled to eight Steve, Anja and Hannah, as well as two wise men from the East (cut-backs, you see: couldn’t afford the third) Paul and Chris.

We split into two groups of four. My half (me, Sam, Adam, Anja) decided on Stone Age since Anja hadn’t played it before. The other half of the table (Steve, Hannah, Chris, Paul) decided on Sam’s still-in-its-wrapper Ascending Empires. This involved a lot of stickers being stuck, and a certain amount of searching under tables as pieces were knocked onto the floor with alarming regularity. I commend Sam’s calmness, since he didn’t suddenly yell “What are you doing to my beautiful new game!!” at any point during this farrago. Which is what I would have done. Hopefully someone from that end of the table can update this post or add a comment describing their adventures in Fingernail-Powered Space Exploration.

On my end of the table, Adam was talking Anja through the rules of Stone Age. She took most of it in, but seemed a little worried when she learnt that this was the most-played game of recent games nights. And perhaps it was a little unfair of her to compete against Adam and Sam who’d both proven their worth on as hunter-gatherers many times in the past. Especially as certain rules were still being explained to her as the game went on.

Four player Stone Age is a very different beast to the versions with fewer players. I spent most of the game thinking I hadn’t really made any progress and looking nervously at Sam’s pile of cards. Anja made the newbie mistake of trying to get a bit of everything, although she was the axe queen by the end of the game. Meanwhile, Adam kept forgetting he needed food and Sam kept insisting his cards weren’t that good.

When it came to adding up the scores, Sam did well on the civilazation cards, but missed out on the multipliers. I got some useful field multipliers and was boosted by my usual reliance on huts. Anja couldn’t turn her axe monolpoly into many points, and so ended in fourth, but hats off to Adam who showed a bit of his old flair with a multiplier that got him forty points, sending him to an easy win.

Adam 147
Andrew 117
Sam 112
Anja 89

After we finished, we watched the closing stages of Ascending Empires. It was clearly between Paul and Hannah, with their two piles of victory points sitting in front of them. Soon the game came to a close, and points were totted. Hannah ran out a much more comfortable winner than you may have thought at first glance, which made Paul consider the chilling thought that next time he’d start on warfare even earlier.

Hannah 40
Paul 23
Steve 22
Chris 19

So it’s the end of the season. As season that, in many ways, belonged to one man. Quentin. His visits to the table were few, but comprehensive enough that he takes most categories in the old style leader board. In the new Form Table, Sam takes top spot, as he does in the Leader Board. But Quentin shows how he is Mr Consistency with firsts in Points ratio, Absolute points ratio and Weighted points ratio. Five wins out of six is not a record to be scoffed at, and it also put him third in the Olympic-style leader board.

Other performances of note: Hannah, in her one appearance, scored the most overwhelming victory, stastically speaking, scoring almost twice as much as her nearest rival. Steve took highest points ratio according to the length of the game: he only played three times, but each time the game went on for ages. We at GNN salute that kind of stamina. The leader board will now be put in cryogenic suspension until the New Year. In the meantime, Happy Christmas!!

						Points
Sam	3	2	1	2	1	9
Quentin	1	1	1	2	1	9*
Joe	1	2	1	4	4	12
Adam	1	3	2	4	3	13
Andrew	2	4	3	3	2	14
Steve	3	3	2	5	5	18
Dan	3	1	5	5	5	19
Jonny	3	2	4	5	5	19
Hannah	1	5	5	5	5	21
Andy	2	4	5	5	5	21
Paul	2	5	5	5	5	22
Sally	2	5	5	5	5	22
Anja	4	5	5	5	5	24
Chris	4	5	5	5	5	24

The leaderboard...

	Played	Points	Ratio	Absolute	Abs ratio	Weight	Wt. ratio	Length	Lth. ratio
Sam	28	125	4.46	1500	53.57	91.5	4.16	95.84	3.42
Adam	26	113.5	4.37	1423	54.73	82	3.9	96.68	3.72
Andrew	29	106.5	3.67	1346	46.41	75.5	3.15	85.85	2.96
Joe	19	72	3.79	1003	52.79	84	4.94	70	3.35
Quentin	6	31	5.17	367	61.17	32	5.33	23	3.83
Steve	3	11	3.67	156	52	9	3	18.75	6.25
Jonny	3	10.5	3.5	284	40.57	25	5	9.8	3.13
Dan	2	8	4	21	10.5	5	N/A	6.5	3.25
Andy	2	7	3.5	68	34	3	N/A	4	2
Hannah	1	5.5	N/A	40	N/A	5.5	N/A	8.25	N/A
Paul	1	4.5	N/A	23	N/A	4.5	N/A	6.75	N/A
Sally	1	4.5	N/A	26	N/A	4.5	N/A	1.49	N/A
Anja	1	2.5	N/A	89	N/A	2.5	N/A	2.5	N/A
Chris	1	2.5	N/A	19	N/A	3.5	N/A	3.75	N/A

The Olympic leaderboard...

	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Sam	11	9	7
Adam	10	7	5
Quentin	5	1	0
Joe	3	6	5
Andrew	2	9	14
Dan	1	0	1
Hannah	1	0	0
Steve	0	1	2
Jonny	0	1	1
Andy	0	1	0
Paul	0	1	0
Sally	0	1	0

Note re scoring methods: Absolute points/ratio refers to the number of points scored in a game. This is obviously a very silly criteria, since your success depends on how generous the game is with giving out points. Weighted points: this is your points adjusted to how well you did last season, so people who did well are penalised and those who did badly get a boost. Weighted for length: your points are multiplied according to how long the game goes on for.