Malmesbury!

A return to Steve and Anja's in Easton occurred last night after a couple of weeks delay, caused by a) gaming fatigue and b) quite serious illness (possibly brought on by playing Feast for Odin).

A few regulars were missing, but by the time Katy and I (Joe) arrived we were seven plus little Louie: Steve, Anja, Martin, Adam H, Gareth, Katy and me. Conversation eventually turned to the business of the evening, with Louie keen to max out his promise of one game before bed into something an hour long. We quickly established that we had nothing for 8 players, so Anja, Martin, Gareth and I slunk off to the other side of the room and played a couple of hands of Hit. Fortune smiled on me in both games... not so much on Anja. We enjoyed the bittersweet delight of choosing to stick when the next card was revealed to be a bust, even though that inevitably meant you lost all those points to the next player.

While we made like grizzled Old West poker players, Steve, Katy, Adam H and Louie had settled on Barenpark, the lesser-spotted polyomino zoo-building game.

They seemed to have only just begun, so when Hit ended we four turned our attention to something a bit deeper. I'd brought my home-made deluxe Ra set, for which I've (finally) found the perfect draw bag. The bag that came with the deluxe tiles was too silky and gaudy, and the painted tube I replaced it with was too constricted and flaky. On a recent trip to Ikea I spotted a woven bag that seemed just right, and it is! Not too floppy, easy to delve into without looking; I can't now find it on the Ikea website, let's call it Göldiloks.

Anja had played long ago, and it was new to Gareth, so Martin taught while I assiduously stiurred the draw bag to mix the tiles. The only thing missing from my set is a player aid showing what scores what; in fact that's the hardest part of Ra to remember for new players, but Martin did a good job of teaching it, and Anja and Gareth an excellent job of keeping this in mind. With the civilisation tiles, Martin explained, it's theoretically possible to get all five for 15 points; "but that's never happened in any game I've played". 

The first epoch was notable for the absence of Ra tiles among those being drawn, which is always portentous. Anja and then Gareth bowed out fairly early, followed by me, leaving Martin to clean up on his last sun tile with five Ras still to come. And out they all came, leaving him to cash in his 12 for a meagre 4 tiles. Later he rued his lack of gumption, feeling he should have kept going. Personally I think he was wise - we can all instinctively tell when an epoch is on the cusp.

The second epoch was an absolute corker for Anja, who ended with the fabled five civilisations, and more points to boot. I was nursing the 1 tile, and showed the newbies what to do with it - call Ra whenever it's your turn, basically. Not that it worked out especially well for me, I think I scored 0 on the second epoch.

Barenpark had finished, and Katy and Adam dabbled in a bit of Strike (a tie, apparently) while Steve checked on Louie.

Barenpark

Katy 97

Steve 82

Adam 81

Louie 72

On his return, they sat around and seemed at a loss with what to do with their time, waiting for us to finish. "Just play a game!" urged Martin, and after another go at Strike, they eventually gave up waiting for us and got to work on Ticket to Ride Germany.

Strike

Adam 2

Katy 1

Steve 0

Meanwhile in ancient Egypt, I was sure the third epoch wouldn't last long - Ra tiles must have outnumbered everything else in the bag. The game was also notable for the large number of monuments that came out, and a decent three way fight over the Pharaohs, which I eventually won. As the third epoch closed out in a flurry of angry Ra's, it was clear we were fighting for second place to Anja. Gareth's third epoch was hurt by a lack of floods to hydrate his large stack of Niles, but he at least took 5 points from me for highest sun tile total.

Anja 62

Joe 47

Martin 36

Gareth 29

Ticket to Ride Germany was in full swing, and Gareth bowed out, saying something about Malmesbury. From now on I think anyone leaving games night before the end should just announce "Malmesbury" and disappear in a puff of smoke.

Keen for a Knizia triathlon, we broke out San Francisco. This was new to Anja, and we again settled into a routine of Martin explaining while I laid things out and handed him relevant bits like a bald little Debbie McGee to his Paul Daniels (Martin has not sanctioned this analogy).

I really enjoy this recent Reiner; the contracts provide just the right sort of tension in whether to add or grab, and we all admired the decision to keep the overall scores as low as possible by having half points. Anja focused on cable cars, and was lightly dismayed at the end to discover she got all of 2.5 points for them. Martin and I fought over Master Builder status, and in the end his win may have teetered on him dumping two cards that would have been good for me, and despite my ire at discovering that was even a tactic, me failing to return the favour on a subsequent turn, allowing him to grab a 3rd 'scraper and the master Builder point.

Martin 13

Joe 11.5

Anja 8

Whilst we were in the final throws of San Fran, Ticket to Ride Germany had ended. I know nothing of what happened, sorry. It seemed to involve a lot of meeples, which I've never seen in a TTR game. The scores are pleasingly uniform, unless I wrote them down wrong.

Adam 182

Steve 172

Katy 162

While we packed away, Adam H Malmesburied and Steve and Katy chatted.

We knew it was time to go when a weary Steve was overheard saying to Katy "All it takes is a child to have a poo at the wrong time and your whole day is screwed." We bade our lovely hosts goodnight and headed out into the chill. "The moon!", cried Katy, and told Martin and I that this week's full moon is called Alan. Alan R Moon, perhaps? Who knows. 

Thanks for a lovely evening, and sorry to miss so many regular faces. And especially big love to Sam, whose mum passed away earlier this week x

Halfling Cut

Saturday night, and Ian and Adam joined Stan and I for a quick-ish game of Ethnos. This is a new game that takes set collection and mixes in some area control - wrapped up in a fantasy veneer. On your turn you either pick up a card, or play a set of cards as a Band of Allies, and doing so allows you to add a control marker on the board in one of six territories. The catch is, when you play a Band, you have to discard all your other cards to the display, allowing other players to grab them...

At the end of each of three ages, the areas are scored, and your bands are scored too: larger ones take longer to put together, but will get you a lot of points. Add in some 'leader' abilities - each band has a leader - and there's enough strategy to keep it interesting. Our first time with four players was a smidgen over an hour, and my early front-running fell away with a poor third age where I tried to build a band of Halflings but got sidetracked with the Wingfolk. Whilst Adam built his presence on the board, Stan  and Ian cleaned up on the Band scoring, and the boy nabbed the win:

Stanley 96
Ian 93
Adam 91
Sam 84

His reward was instant bedtime. I enjoyed Ethnos: it's a mix of tactics and luck but plays up to 6 - and very quickly. Often you're grabbing a card á la Ticket to Ride, and cursing the presence of Halflings, who don't add anything to the board but can potentially build you a big band, as they're at it like rabbits.

We next played Barenpark. We blasted through the basic game, with no objective tiles at all, and whilst Ian got himself in a pickle with lots of spaces for toilets, Adam and I raced to finish in the same round.

I'd done enough to grab a win:

Sam 87
Adam 78
Ian 72

There was loose talk of NMBR9, but because it was still pretty early I suggested Glen More, as I imagined Adam in particular might like it. I'm not sure if he did in the end - or indeed if any of us did. It didn't help that I was slightly hazy on a couple of rules, but I think the main drawback of Glen More is its capacity for Analysis Paralysis. The hub if it is the turn order which functions like the time track in Tinners Trail, and when you move along the track you're picking up tiles and building your own personal point-scoring landscape. There's always a temptation to jump ahead to a juicy tile, but you need to think about how all your tiles interact.

I enjoyed it last time I played it but this was a bit of a grind! We should have played NMBR9, sorry guys! I did at least have the grace to finish last, and would have been even further back without Adam's help. Ian graciously pinned his victory on 'being spawn' but I'm not sure that's entirely true.

Ian 83
Adam 63
Sam 55

Thanks chaps.

Glen More and More

Chippenham, Friday night, and Paul Jefferies had made the long trip from Croydon, eager to play games. I made the much shorter one from Bristol, and Chris had to go nowhere - except to collect me from the station - as he was hosting.

Ashton, also hosting!

After a scrumptious roast courtesy of Jacquie, and some catching up, it was time to get down to the serious business of playing Glen More, our starter for the evening. We had nearly finished playing a rule slightly wrong when Andrew arrived, and saw enough of the play and general confusion to pick up what was meant to happen.

Me (blue), jumping rather far ahead

The conceit is we are competing clans in the Highlands, building a landscape of tiles, and the turn order is - like Tokaido - determined by who is the farthest back on the path. Jump far ahead to juicy tile and you're gifting other players more turns. But on the other hand, in the end-game scoring it pays to have taken the fewest tiles. Placement is key, as well, and it has a quirky scoring system. I enjoyed it a lot, but unlike the game with the rules played wrong, I didn't win:

Chris 56
Paul 44
Sam 43
Andrew 38

The Chief Chieftain now crowned, we travelled continents to another earlier time: Ninjato. This mash-up of Stone Age and something else I can't quite think of sees you raiding houses and claiming ownership of clans by bribing envoys.

Creeping around on Ninja toes

It's a slightly chaotic looking board when in play, but the mechanics are simple enough to get your head around. I put my regular thrashings by Stan behind me with a win this time:

Sam 118
Andrew 91
Chris 75
Paul 72

By which time the ale and crisps were freely flowing, except for Paul who was trying to shake off a cold. We inducted him into Barenpark, which is a game almost made for Paul.

Bears

Whilst Chris took early digger tiles and Andrew fretted over his tessellation skills, it was looking like a fight for first between Paul and I - or so I thought. But as it turned out, I wasn't really in contention:

Paul 93
Sam 79
Chris 71
Andrew 69

There was just time to, as Andrew put it, "squeeze out a quick NMBR 9" before we retired to bed. Chris ran out a comfortable leader this time, as the rest of us cursed our lack of elevation:

Chris 83
Sam 73
Andrew 57
Paul 53

And with that, the curtain fell on Chippenham for another night. Thanks all!

Goodnight!

Played in Wales

A week in Wales with Mark, Katie, and the four sprogs meant that as well as the beach, chips and ice cream, we got plenty of gaming time as well. I took a couple of bags worth and all but three got played at some stage. Daytimes were often taken up with surfing...

Joe gets a push from Mark

...whereas the night - or the odd patch of rain - was about gaming. The hit of the week with Stanley and Peppa was Ninjato. I touched on this previously, but have since delved further into its depths with another four plays this week. I remain utterly terrible at it, whilst Stan won every time, to mine and Peppa's growing despair. It's fun calling Banzai, though the more I play the less 'lucky' the game feels - it's a tactical battle to keep control of Envoys and start rumours, which are as pertinent here as the cards in Stone Age.

Four skills, but I got nowhere

The early evenings were dominated by Insider, which everyone could and did get involved with. We played too many of these to count, but I was the Insider only once and every other player accused me! The successful Insiders, I noticed, didn't get too vociferous about accusing anyone. Sally was a terrible Insider too, but that was only because as soon as anyone accused her she hid her face in her hands. Mark, Katie and Peppa had the most success, whilst I offset my serial defeats with the joy to be found in the natural world outside:

that black thing is a bottle-nosed dolphin!

The other game that all the kids played was In a Bind - this was the Junior version, where there is marginally less physical challenge but the addition of making animal noises/waving/talking in a deep voice etc when you pick up a card. This is more fun than it might sound after a couple of glasses of the good stuff, but obviously the kids played it sober and seemed to like it too.

Peppa and Joe drew

Peppa, Stan and I also had a few goes at Cobras, which is another one I enjoy without ever getting close to winning. The closest I got was second place with game abandoned due to the late hour and surfing fatigue. I have never been so reluctant to bail on a game!

We managed one game of Near and Far, which my win at made some amends for continual thrashings on the Ninjato board. Mine and Stan's campaign game continues with me holding a slender lead overall...

Peppa and Stanley, both Near

...often the evenings had some kind of dance focus though, with Just Dance 2017 on the Nintendo galvanising all ages - with the exception of Joe - onto the floor. I have promised not to add any photos or videos of this, though, and considering some of them involve a balding tubster with no sense of rhythm, I'm happy to stick to that.

After kids had been scrambled to bed, we struck upon a pattern of Barenpark and Bandu. I had far more success in these arenas than I did Ninja-ing, Cobra-ing or Dancing, although Mark picked up a couple of wins in Barenpark. Tessellating bear houses was Katie's game of the week; in fact, although we also bashed out Wibbell and Honshu as well, Barenpark and Bandu were the nightly staples. Bandu got typically tense, and everyone had to perfect their 'Bandu Breath' - breathing off to one side so as not to disturb the fragile structures on the table...

Katie, breathing east

Late in the week though I thought it was worth introducing Mark to Flamme Rouge, which he fell in love with. It was a drunken Thursday night with everyone else in bed when we played three games in a row, Mark winning 2-1 with a deathly finish on the final race to clinch it!

This tablecloth did my nut in all week

We tried to introduce Katie to this cycling classic on our last night, but she felt she had done enough rule-learning for one week. So we stuck with Barenpark and Bandu, and when the ladies retired to bed Mark and I set up Flamme Rouge for one last race/game of the week; which Mark won, again on the final stretch!

We returned - heavy legged from the beach and heavy headed from margaritas, but sated. A lot of fun - Can't wait for Novocon now!

Keyed up and Clued In

Andrew and Ian joined me this evening for some late-weekend fun, and first to the table was Unlock, the game that mimics an escape room challenge. Stan and I had had a crack at one of the three adventures it comes with, and succeeded in the end, albeit not within the hour the timer give you and not without resorting to several clues (the game plays with an app).

We began the second adventure, trapped in an evil clowns lair. The game serves up a few cards and you work out ways to combine them in order trigger new cards, which then present a similar scenario. But it's not just addition - there are hidden numbers on cards to spot, and a degree of lateral thinking too - definitely not a strength of mine, but between us we ploughed on - calling on the odd clue from the app, and keying in codes at certain points in the story to open padlocks and so on. And... we solved the mystery, saved the world, and did it all with moments to spare!

Very exciting. I won't go into any further details in case anyone wants to borrow it and have a crack, but this adventure did involve cheese and sausages.

Next up was Barenpark. This is the game that famously puts Cottage Garden in the shade, a fact Ian knew despite not having played it. But it's a simple ruleset and easy to pick up and play. We included achievements: all the cement mixer tiles, three panda tiles and three polar bear tiles. Each of us managed two of them, but it was Andrew who both ended the game, and won it:

Andrew 96
Sam 87
Ian 85

Next up: Las Vegas! Ian had his revenge here. I thought I might be in with a shout after Andrew's early showing faded, but no! Hickman cleaned up:

Ian $430k
Sam $350k
Andrew $280k

We then played another big hit of recent weeks - NMBR9. I just love this game; it's so simple, yet devilishly tricky in the manner of Take it Easy. Andrew picked up his second win of the night with a strong showing:

Andrew 90
Sam 82
Ian 67

Finally we played Push It, which hasn't been seen in a good while. It still maintains its potential for swingy scoring and inadvertent humour though. Andrew surged off with strong start, at one point with a 6-3-0 lead. But then the pendulum swung, and Ian and I pegged him back to 7-6-5. Ian though was often unwitting kingmaker, handing points to Andrew or I. And so it proved with the winning round, when with both of us poised on 9 points, Ian bashed the puck right next to both my discs with the final flick of the game!

Sam 11
Andrew 9
Ian 6

We were so energised by Push It that despite me writing 'finally' before that last paragraph, we played NMBR9 again. This time I made a bad start, building too early and being secretly pleased I had made room for a 7 that refused to arrive. Andrew and I spread our base while Ian remained compact, but towards the end of the game he bemoaned his strategy, saying he'd made a terrible mistake. The last tile - an 8 - had to go at level zero, whilst Andrew and I planted ours high up. But as it turned out, Ian's good early work - including 27 points for a 9 tile - sustained him:

Ian 88
Sam 87
Andrew 66

Nice night, thanks chaps.

Quieter than Dirk

That was Sam's description of Ian during a game of Insider this evening. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the start.

A new season of games dawned this Tuesday evening. A season free from the shackles of the Division and it's constant judging. A season that really puts the emphasis on fun.

There were eight of us: Sam, the host, Joe, Martin, Katy, Ian, Chris, Laura and me. We began as an eightsome, playing Fuji Flush. It began in convivial style with all of us pushing through our twos. All except Joe, who found it difficult to get rid of any cards in the early part of the game. He muttered "I am so going to win this," as he looked through the five cards in his hand.

He didn't win, but he did manage a bit of a comeback, thanks to giving me the win by joining with my and Ian's (I think) sevens. I pushed through and, post-game, Ian revealed he had the twenty, but never saw the right opportunity to play it.

Andrew 0
Chris 1
Katy 1
Sam 1
Joe 2
Laura 2
Ian 2
Martin 3

At this point the group split in two. Katy, Martin, Joe and Sam indulged in new pleasures and unknown games.

Martin was good enough to email me his report from that half of the table, otherwise all of their efforts would’ve been lost forever.

Joe and I were both brandishing new games and a group of four quickly formed with Katy and Sam hopping in. First up was Joe's Kingdomino, hot favourite for this year's Spiel des Jahres. I'd played once before with 2 players and quite enjoyed it.

It's a very simple tile-drafting affair in which each player tries to complete their own 5x5 grid from 2x1 'domino' tiles marked with different terrains. To score well, you need big areas of the same terrain-type that also contain crown symbols, since an area scores its size multiplied by its crowns. Each player gets one tile per round, and if you choose a 'better' one (more crowns), you'll be pushed down the turn order for the next round. It all flows very smoothly.

Joe and Katy couldn't quite complete their grids (a domino always has to match at least one adjacent terrain on your board) which left Sam and I with an advantage in the bonus scoring. Sam's healthy 10-tile/4-crown forest was enough for him to edge it.

Sam 69
Martin 64
Joe 42
Katy 38

I lobbied for Polterfass next, a game of bluffing and reading your opponents in which you take turns to be innkeeper and try to drink as much beer as possible without running the bar dry! It took us a little while to get used to the possible scoring scenarios but once we had that down it became a very enjoyable exercise in double-think. The beer-barrel 'dice' and beer mats are really cute too.

It seems that Katy's psychological powers are the strongest as she ran into an early lead and never looked back, while the rest of us repeatedly took one step forward and two steps back.

Katy 75
Joe 64
Martin 48
Sam 30

That theme continued into the next game, Santo Domingo. Here, each player has a set of the same 8 role cards, simultaneously selecting one each round. Some take money or goods from the centre, some let you trade goods for money at varying exchange rates and some let you profit from predicting what the other players will do. There's also a card which lets you recycle your used cards back into your hand again for fresh use, a la Concordia.

We had a false start when we realised we'd missed a vital rule, to Katy's chagrin as she had a big lead. However she picked up just where she left off and read our minds to victory in short order.

Katy 32
Sam 21
Joe 19
Martin 18


More from Martin later. Meanwhile, we at the conservative (small 'c', I hasten to add) end of the table chose a game because we all knew it - Quantum. Chris and I had a brief discussion as to whether the game was strategic or tactical, but if I'm being honest, I'm still unsure of the difference between the two.

We chose the Nexus map since it was the biggest we could get on half a kitchen table, but found we didn't have enough 9 tiles. We decided to use 10s instead and carry on. As an aside, the next day, Chris checked on Board Game Geek about the Nexus map and it turns out that it was a misprint and we did the right thing. Nice to have a house rule officially acknowledged.

As for the game, I quickly got a card Curious, which allows an extra free movement. As such, most of my game was spent hiding in corners, hoping to avoid fights. Laura fell behind at first but then fought her way back into contention. Conversely, Chris started well and then stopped making progress at some point.

Me, hiding, top left

It was me versus Ian near the end, with one cube each. It was at this moment that I made a brilliant move. Astute and well observed and, most importantly, I did it while Ian was on the toilet.

This meant when he came back to take his go, he hadn't noticed I'd taken the Aggression card (+2 on dominance) and his declaration of "I can win the game" quickly unraveled. He couldn't, and Chris couldn't reach me, so I was able to place a cube for a rare win for me at Quantum.

Andrew 0
Ian 1
Chris 2
Laura 2

After this epic (the other guys had completed three games and were into a third) we were in need of lighter fare, so we chose Raj for our light relief.

We played a three-round game and I placed first in every one, leading to a comfortable win. Ian was second after round two, but had a nightmare the final stages.

Andrew 64
Chris 33
Laura 27
Ian 20

Still aiming to synchronize game endings between the two groups, we chose NMBR9.

We played twice. It was Laura's first game and her inexperience showed. But she should be commended as being the player least vocal about their terrible choice of tile placement.

Andrew 84
Ian 82
Chris 73
Laura 46

We played again, since one game of NMBR9 is never enough. Once again, we wailed at our grim fate.

Laura flew into a convincing win, while Chris only managed to get one number on the third (ie, x2) level.

Laura 83
Andrew 69
Ian 61
Chris 47

The other four had ended their game of Barenpark. Over to you Martin...

The new acquisitions all having had their outing, we went back to one of Sam's new ones that all of us but Katy had played last week: Barenpark. This time we added the advanced 'achievement tiles' - a selection of 3 goals from a set of 10 that provide one extra factor to consider in this multidimensional race.

I focused on these from the start and ended up completing them 1st, 2nd and 2nd, while Sam deliberately ignored them, focusing on other aspects for his score. Despite that, we ended up with closely-matched scores, while Katy had been hampered by only realising half-way through the game that you can rotate and flip your tiles to make them fit better.

Towards the end of the game, I bemoaned my park's lack of toilet facilities, but we figured the tourists could just 'do as the bears do...'.

Martin 102
Sam 93
Joe 87
Katy 74 

Now we were all back together for a quick round of Insider, accompanied by Katy’s sticky toffee flavour popcorn. The sugar rush was big enough to be heard as we all tutted and shook our heads at how overly sweet it was, while taking extra handfuls of the stuff and pushing it into our mouths.

As for Insider, Joe was the Master and the word was “tennis court” which I correctly guessed. But only because Sam had guessed “squash court” so I suspected Sam as the insider. Also, Martin weirdly blurted out “Did you just say ‘swimming pool’?” which raised some eyebrows. Katy was first to mention sports, I think, so she was looking shifty, too. And I'd mentioned a football stadium, too.

We tried to piece where the first seeds of “tennis court” had been planted, but to no avail. I think Chris was voted to be the Insider, but it wasn't him. It was Laura! She had asked the question “Is it a regular shape?” which set us on our long and tortuous journey to success. With one innocuous question, she caused mistrust and doubt amongst friends. She should be a politician.

Laura wins!
No one else does.

Finally, we played Pairs. My only points came when I was away from the table on a toilet dash and everyone else played for me for one round. I should’ve stayed away longer. I came joint first that round.

It was Laura who came first, capping her evening with a hat-trick of wins, with Sam and Joe in close contention. Everyone else: must try harder.

Laura 23
Sam 21
Joe 21
Katy 13
Martin 12
Ian 11
Chris 8
Andrew 8

And so we left happily, trooping back to our homes, content in the glow of an evening well spent. See you next week!

Season’s End

This Tuesday was a grim looking one, with grey skies and vague suggestions of rain. But that wouldn’t stop seven gamers of dreaming of capping their season with a glorious run of form on its final day: Sam (the host), Joe, Katy, Ian, Martin, Andy and me.

I arrived bang on time, but found the fun was already underway, with Ian and Sam going head to head in NMBR9.

Sam 68
Ian 45

Katy was there too and before long, the rest of the gang had arrived. We split into two groups. At one end of the table, Sam, Martin, Joe and I began with NMBR9. This was mine and Martin's first go and, having watched baffled as other people played, I was keen to learn the secrets of this game.

The rules are very simple: just build up layers without overhanging or covering gaps. The shapes of the numbers, though, must've taken ages to get right during playtesting since they often seem to hint at a winning position without it ever really coming to fruition. This explains Martin's comment "It's already annoying.'

Sam mused on the role of the four: a low value, an awkward shape, but such a nice colour. I thought I'd done badly but I was quite pleased to have beaten Martin, whose maths skills are so strong he was able to tell us what he'd scored just by glancing at his tiles.

Sam 99
Joe 79
Andrew 50
Martin 46

"Right," said Martin in a tone of voice usually used before spitting on both palms, grabbing an axe and chopping down a tree, "we have to play again."

So we did. Sam had daddy duty to attend to upstairs, but we had no trouble remembering the few rules. Martin did slightly better this time.

Martin 103
Joe 84
Andrew 77

On the other half of the table, Andy, Katy and Ian began with For Sale. I was too engrossed in my game to pay it too much mind, but I did notice that Katy picked up both zeroes and lost a low bidding round with a decent highest card.

Andy 84
Ian 82
Katy 67

Then they dug out Port Royal which I think was Ian's suggestion. If so, it ruins my recent theory that the player most keen on a game does worst.

Ian 12
Katy 10
Andy 9

Then they whipped off a quick Beasty Bar. The scores, according to Katy's notes, were:

Andy 4 - 32
Katy 4 - 33
Ian 0

Katy left a note of explanation: "[Ian] went to the pub, night club too noisy!"

While this was happening, the four of us were knee deep in Montage, the crossword game from1973. It was Joe and me against Martin and Sam. Just like last time, I was very quick to get Martin's clues. For example, "every colour has one," I correctly guessed as "Vowel" because in the game, each of the five coloured tiles has a vowel. Both Sam and Joe complained that was far too meta.

In the end, though, Joe and I had enough of a connection to take the win. The general consensus was that it was a fun game, but very stressful.

Andrew & Joe 4
Sam & Martin 1

Then the trio broke out Flamme Rouge. The course (chosen at random) was completely flat: no hills at all. And while Katy and Andy set up, Ian took one of the little plastic cyclists, placed it on the neck of a beer bottle, stared at it, and then put it back on the table. Oh, the mysteries of Ian's internal workings.

Katy had an interesting strategy: one rider sped off ahead (using all three 9 cards in the first three turns) while the other lagged far behind in last. Andy was the only one to cross the finishing line, leaving the other two to rejoice in their shared defeat.

1st Andy
=2nd Katy
=2nd Ian

While this was going on, the quartet were playing Barenpark, the game that’s apparently impossible to play without saying it’s better than Cottage Garden.

Martin 89
Sam 82
Andrew 79
Joe 65

Finally we’d all finished together. Katy and I swapped seats and the gaming madness continued. The four of them launched into Cobras while Ian, Andy and I chose Hit Z Road.

I know little about Cobras, except for a dunken note of “stale peanuts” next to the results on my scrap of paper. However, Joe kindly gave Katy and I a lift home afterwards and he explained how satisfying the game was, especially since he always seemed to have the card that Martin didn’t want him to have.

Joe 109
Martin 92
Katy 57
Sam 46

Hit Z Road offered up the usual crazy and impossible escapes that your typical zombie movies have, complete with the ending of one guy still alive with no hope of escape as the credits roll. Ian rolled five targets to wipe out five zombies in one go, then Andy rolled four targets agaist five and later I rolled four against four.

Most impressively, though, was Andy’s last stand as his final survivor with his final die rolled one target after another and picked off six zombies. But then another six turned up and he died immediately.

I won merely by being last man standing.

Andrew: alive!
Andy & Ian: both dead!

Then we were all together for a game of Fuji Flush. I was too lazy to take note of the dick points but if memory serves, they were pretty rubbish, with 3s knocking out 2s and the like. Only Martin impressed, removing five 2s with an eleven, even though he could have joined in with a 2 of his own. Classic Martin.

Ian 0
Martin 1
Andrew 1
Andy 1
Sam 1
Joe 3
Katy 4

And that was that! We all sped off, eager to be back home far too late for a weekday evening. As for the Division, despite Katy’s poor showing, no one else was able to put together a challenge to unseat her from the top. Adam’s points ratio is invincible.

And I think I’ll rest the Division for the summer months, since attendance gets a bit sparse and it becomes, dare I say it, a bit silly?

But that’s for the future! Next week, to be exact.

See you then!

More than one can bear

Sunday! It's not Saturday, but it's still the weekend, so Andrew, Adam and Chris arrived at my house for some frivolous gaming. At least, that was the idea. It started out frivolous enough with Stan and Joe performing some kind of magic trick/abstract performance piece involving cards, which - going and fringe to the door - I never fully understood the process of. Shortly they were off to bed, though, and I sprang Bärenpark on everyone.

This is another in the tessellating line of recent games, with everyone charged to build a park to house bears. It's closest ancestor is clearly Cottage Garden, but we agreed - or I agreed with Chris - that it's the better game. You're simply taking pieces and adding them to your construction site, but when you cover a symbol on the site - and more often than not, you do - you get to take more tiles to add on subsequent turns.

It's very easy to pick up, but deeper than it first appears. I'd had quite a bit of practice with the boys over the weekend, but I'd not come up against the creeping custard yet... Chris was the only person to actually finish his park, but clearly the bear-loving public didn't mind the fact Adam had left a load of scaffolding next to the koalas:

Adam 88 (wins on tie-breaker)
Sam 88
Chris 84
Andrew 68

We perused the cupboard for choices and several games were pulled out. But when A Feast For Odin was suggested, there was a murmuring of approval like guitar players hearing a particularly tricky chord change. We set it up, and set off on an adventure that would take us the rest of the night.

At 9.20pm, we were on round five of seven.But those last three rounds took us right up to 11pm, as agonising decision after agonising decision seemed to suggest fate was trying to put us off the game and frivolity didn't so much take a back seat as lock herself in the boot and refuse to come out. I think everyone re-took a turn, with Chris going the whole hog and re-doing everything twice.

I tried to keep things light by reminding everyone how much I'd enjoyed Bärenpark, and Chris agreed it was a manly game.

I was pretty sure Adam would win, and as it happens this probably would have been the case had he not made a bit of an error, deciding in the final round to go exploring to Bear Island. With only a single round to fill the exploration board, it transpired he'd bitten off more than he could chew - and spent much time and several tiles trying to turn the expense into a profit.

In the final reckoning the minus points from Bear Island reduced Adam's initial lead - from his enormous hoard of silver - to a little bit below my final score:

Sam 105
Adam 101
Chris 91
Andrew 79

A mixed evening of bear-related gaming for Adam then, but nice to try Feast with four, if only to see Andrew ply his vikings with gallons of milk before putting them to bed.