Afternoon Struggle

Stanley's intrigue with Twilight Struggle seemed to end at the high rating on BGG, as repeated threats to play it with me had morphed into a kind of bedtime-avoidance meme. I couldn't ask Sally - she'd once suggested that 'the twilight struggle' was what preceded 'the insertion of the twilight imperium'. Instead we all played Burgle Bros a couple of times (great game!)  before I set TS up again at Sally's folks house this afternoon.

Just like when Kevin Costner cut the grass in Field of Dreams, baseball players Stanley materialised, hypnotised by the chits, and played a couple of open hands before we graduated to standard hidden-cards play.

Stan was the US and I the USSR. Over forty-five years (or ten rounds) we play cards to grapple for influence and control of the political world. There's very little actual fighting - any open warfare has a cloaked feel to it, as one side or the other (possibly both) funds battles in climes far-flung from their home territories, for ostensibly unrelated reasons. In fact if you get too cantankerous and cause nuclear war - a danger tracked by the DEFCON status - you instantly lose.

So it's less melee, and more slippery political machinations. At the start of each round both sides play a 'headline' card, which is an event that - when played optimally - you hope swings the game, or at least a region, toward your control. Then players take turns with the rest of their cards playing them either as operations points (the number) or the event, with a crucial caveat - if you play a card for operations but it contains an event 'owned' by your opponent, it gets triggered anyway. Played events usually go from the game, whereas cards used for points will be reshuffled into the deck when it runs out.

All the events and operations are geared towards the same goals though - adding (or removing opponent's) influence from a country, or having enough influence there to turn it into outright control.

Some cards will score a region You can win by reaching 20 victory points, or having total control of Europe.

 Light side up is influence, colour-side up is control

My mini-playthrough last week (4 rounds) stood me in reasonable stead at the outset, as I focused my efforts in Europe and took an early lead. In fact Stan was convinced I was going to win, until I pointed out to him that my strong position wasn't enough for an outright win - but it would be a dramatic points swing. However when the Europe scoring card it came into Stan's hand, and I didn't realise that his chipping away in Europe was anything more than stubbornness. Suddenly Europe was scored and I realised that my near-total-control was nowhere near what it had been.

Meanwhile Stan had been spreading himself across the southern hemisphere and hot on the heels of Europe, he scored southeast Asia and catapulted himself up the score track.

I knew it was coming

As we entered mid-war, my stranglehold on Europe was deteriorating and Stan was sitting pretty on 11 points. I pushed into Central America and waited impatiently for Africa scoring. Stanley was developing his space flight technology, which acts as a kind of grease to the wheels of politicking, giving him little advantages on the map and triggering small points rewards. He also played Central America scoring which gave me a measly three points before I could do anything more exciting with it.

He was on the receiving end of some rough luck though when no less than three times a decent die roll could have given him victory, either by moving him up the space race track or winning a battle on the map. But when the end came in round eight, it was self-inflicted on my part as I gambled - despite my controlling more regions than Stan, he won the Summit battle and claimed a victory for the US.

Africa never arrived.

Both Joe and Martin really rate Twilight Struggle and I can see why. Compared to our COIN experience with Cuba Libre the play is very speedy and I would never have guessed how funny it is - Stan's cries of despair on his appalling dice rolls were matched by both us gnashing our teeth at having hands full of the other side's event cards. There's a slight lack of control (dice rolls, card hands) I found much more appealing than a heavy-thinking, zero-sum approach. That does mean fate can crap on you from a height at times, yes, but the game moved so fast we could forgive it that.

Stan gave it an "8.5, maybe 9" saying he liked how you're forced to change plans during the game. I'd agree! And be keen to play again.

The Boogie Woogie Burgle Boys

As I approached Joe's house, I wondered what we might play tonight. Judging by the responses in the emails yesterday, there would be five of us. Hmm. Five. A tricky number.

However, when I arrived I found Joe's kitchen table already bedecked by a wide choice of games for five. Railways of the World was tempting. So was Santiago which is perhaps best with five. Joe also brought in Colosseum and I reminded him that the last time five played it, it was so long that someone left halfway through.

Instead we began with a game that Sam brought with him, Burglar Brothers. This simple but evil co-op game is proving to be a hit in recent times. We adopted our safe cracking personae and leapt into action.

Alas, our early endeavours were slowed down drastically by the high number of alarm tiles on the first floor. In fact, none of us could move until Sam used his special power to blow up a wall. As you can imagine, with all these alarms and explosions, the guard on the first floor soon sped up to six moves at a time. It became imperative that we get onto the next floor. Luckily, Ian's raven successfully slowed the guard down enough that we got out of a few tight spots.

When the first of us started exploring the first floor we were delighted to find the next safe right at the top of the stairs. Joe observed that this would explain why there was so much security on the ground floor.

Katy had to crack a key code by rolling a six. After one failure, she asked for a dice arena, thinking that would assure success this time. So Joe went to get one so she could roll in confidence. She got her six with her first try. Amazing scenes.

After about an hour, despite having thieves on every floor, we still couldn't find any safe except the one on the ground floor. And we were running out of stealth tokens. Sam was even reduced to hiding in the toilet for one turn.

Meanwhile, Joe managed to crack open the one safe we did find and inside he found... a cursed goblet. He instantly lost a stealth token and now none of us had any left.

In the end, soon after we decided to give up on the other safes and make our escape with this cursed goblet, I get caught. I had to duck into an unrevealed tile to avoid an oncoming guard and the tile turned out to be another alarm.

Failure.

Despite the baptism by fire that this game offered up, we all enjoyed it. Next time is bound to be kinder, right?

After this, we decided to have a night of short games. My suggestion of For Sale was accepted and we watched as Ian showed us what professional For Sale might look like. He picked up high cards for free or half price through phase one. Meanwhile, in phase two, I somewhat waste my 30 card by placing it too confidently, causing everyone else to reassess their choices. Katy did badly again and Sam had to swiftly mop up a minor spillage.

Ian 62
Andrew 54
Joe 52
Sam 46
Katy 42

Next up was Polterfass. How odd to play this game without Martin. Sam shot into an early lead and then played a canny game for a win.

To be honest, the battle for second was more interesting. Katy was in hot pursuit of Sam, ("I benefited from a shafting," she said after a round when she picked up points despite her expectations) until Joe edged past her into second. Katy fought back, only to be pushed back into third by Ian on the final round.

Sam 75
Ian 64
Katy 60
Joe 52
Andrew 27

After this was Perudo. We used mats from Skull and Roses to deaden the sound of dice against Joe's wooden kitchen table. We are nothing if not resourceful. Katy, with three dice while others floundered with one, won with a bit of luck, rolling lots of aces or the number that the other player bid. As Ian discovered, there was no point trying to bluff her when she already had all the dice.

Katy wins!
Ian second
Sam third
Joe fourth
Andrew fifth

Then Sam left and, for some reason (sleep, perhaps), we collectively decided that half past ten wasn't that late and launched into a game of Exploding Kittens. This piece of potential Kickstarter crap turned out to be a rather fun if slightly random card game of survival. I'm afraid I can't remember much about it, except for the sense of potential betrayal every time a bomb card is returned to the pack. This is the game's defining feature for me: being able to put the card back in the deck in such a way that it targets a player (in secret) with a bomb was the main source of tension. Unless someone had a shuffle card.

Katy wins
Ian second
Joe third
Andrew last

And then back out into the streets of Bristol. Thanks for hosting, Joe, and thanks to the guests for entertaining. See you next week!

Pie Faces

This week me and the boys spent a few days with Mark and Katie and their girls in Devon, with Sal joining us at the weekend. We arrived on Peppa's birthday!

eleven!

This meant that as well as the fresh sea air and salty breeze, there was also the occasional whiff of cardboard and margaritas, with Animals on Board hitting the table a few times, as well as Avenue, Heck Meck, Fuji Flush, and numerous plays of Insider, with Stan effortlessly deflecting attention when he was the insider. I was the insider twice and although I was collared in my first attempt, I successfully implicated a nearby infant in my second.

waves were great

Mark and I played Flamme Rouge with Peppa as well, which we both enjoy a lot - and Formula D also hit the table. Burgle Bros got played three times - a co-op where you attempt to pull off the heist of three safes on three floors of a building. Twice we failed, but on our third attempt Peppa, Stan and I made off with the loot - which happened to be a cat, if I recall. We had some gold bars too, but dropped them.

cheery burglars

At the end of the week everyone sat down to play Pie Face, the brilliantly-titled game of getting hit in the face with whipped cream. The cream goes onto a lever, you place your face in the target - there'c a chin rest - and then spin a wheel which denotes how many times you crank the lever.

pie....

At some point the lever will crank too far and spring up, depositing its load into your mush. But it's not a case of cranking too far, as sometimes it will spring up first time (as it did with me).

...face!

Katie actually wore swimming goggles to play, and I have photographic evidence. But I promised I wouldn't post it.

Lucky

I think everyone bar Joe and Lula took a hit. Joe, in fact, decided early on that Pie Face was an activity best observed rather than indulged. He might be right, but all the same - a lovely end to a lovely week. The view from the cabin was amazing.

complete with tiny man walking along balcony

Bungle Bros

With Ian still under the weather, the occasional Thursday Night Club was reduced to myself and Andrew, which gave us the opportunity to trot out Rajas of the Ganges again. This is the game Andrew currently requests, and I'm always more than happy to oblige. We're still discovering nuances to the play, such as Andrew's boat-crafted dice via the medium of karma. 

While he was doing that I was selling lots of spice at the markets, and the game moved at a brisk pace. Half an hour in, Stanley roamed down from his bed to watch a couple of rounds, and after he went back upstairs the game was pretty much done! I triggered the end of the game with my fame and money markers passing each other (they travel in opposite directions in order to do this) but Andrew still had one last turn... I spotted a way he could beat me, but to be fair the options in Rajas are so bountiful there were probably numerous ways to do it!

Andrew : top Raja

Sam: second-best Raja

My markers (yellow) and Andrew's (blue) in the background

With the hour still early, I introduced Andrew to the delights of Burgle Bros, a co-op game where you're trying to pull off a slightly farcical heist - cracking three safes on three floors of the same building - as three guards wander around and you try your best to avoid them: if you're in the same 'room' as them a fourth time, you're caught and immediately shop your accomplices. 

We began trapped in a corner as a guard wandered to and fro, unaware of what pain he was causing us. Then we broke free and cracked the first safe. Andrew made his way to the second floor whilst I moved on to the third - separating like this helps a lot, as it means the guards move about a bit less. 

Andrew did travel up through a duct to help me crack the third floor safe, but then returned to his task as I escaped through the roof. He needed to flip a tile to reveal a number to crack the safe, and flipping the tile involved rolling a single six. It was a pity Martin wasn't there to see how many times Andrew rolled one, two, three, and then four dice (using up his four actions) over and over before he finally rolled the needed six! It was bizarre. And all the time it ate up saw the guard stumble on him, franctially rolling dice and appealing to the Gods. He was caught - and so was I!

Andrew and Sam: in chokey.

And then we played Biblios! And what a Biblios it was, with Andrew convinced from early on that he'd lost, and me increasingly optimistic that I'd won, as Andrew ended the auction phase with bugger-all cash and I had the pick of the last few cards. Unfortunately though, it wasn't enough! If I'd just bid higher on the 2 Blue card, things could have been so different...

A classic trio of games. Thanks Andrew and see some of you Saturday...