Thumbs Up

Last night's games began early as Adam T and I played a couple of head to head games as we waited for 7.30 to arrive. Adam had Hey That's My Fish in his bag, and so we began with that. 

Neither of us had played in a while, and we both remarked on how feisty the game is v it's cute and cuddly appearance. I played numerous dick moves, hampering his penguin movements, and kicked off the evening with a win:

Sam 59
Adam 36

Then we played Match of the Century, a chess game that isn't chess, but kind of channeling it in a Spassky v Fischer match-up, recreating the epic battle of 1972. This is essentially a lane battler where playing the higher value gets you the advantage, and a secured majority in advantage wins you the round. The catch is that whomever loses a particular lane activates the special power on their card, gathering pawns (power boosts!) more cards (more cards) mental strength (potentially both more cards and pawns) or occasionally - Adam made use of this a fair bit - negating any advantage to the winner. 

We were neck and neck when Martin knocked on the door, so called it an honourable draw. Ian and Joe followed in short order, and we had half-hour or so until Katy arrived, so began the official GNNing with Courtisans - new to Ian. 

This has been explained elsewhere already, but is essentially Biblios crossed with set-scoring crossed with extra dick. I thought Ian's relentless palming off of white cards onto me was going to put me in last, but I managed to negate the minus 7 points with my last turn, and that was enough for a win:

Sam 13

Adam 8

Joe 7

Martin and Ian 5 each

We followed that with Cabanga - new to Adam. This was the opposite experience from the last time I'd played - there was so little Cabanga-ing then the game felt a bit procedural. Now we couldn't stop shouting cabanga! and at one point Joe was cabanga-ed an entire new hand of six cards. Bad luck Joe!

I snagged another win. Not sure how really. 

Sam 1
Martin 5
Adam 8
Ian 9
Joe 15

Katy had arrived for the finale and now we split into two teams to play Turbo Kidz - new to everyone. 

This is a racing game where the driver is blindfold, and their teammates must guide them around the track, which is a laminated board. The car is represented by a marker, and the racing line the progress it makes as the team-mates 'steer' them by a. using the driver's non-dominant thumb as a steering wheel and b. yelling (sorry - I got excited) directions at the same time. If the 'car' crosses a white line at any point, that's considered a crash, and the driver is returned to the previous checkpoint. 

It's quite a surreal experience as the driver - losing sense of scale as well as direction - and also the thumbing co-pilot, as your movements get interpreted in semi-mysterious ways. A pretty bonkers experience all around.

First to two race victories wins the game, and the Joe/Ian/Sam team thought we'd won it, but there was a steward's enquiry regarding a white line, forcing a decider - and we lost!

Katy/Adam/Martin - Podium!

Joe/Ian/Sam - Odium

Then, after the usual shenanigans, we split into threes. Joe Katy and Ian set up Sunrise Lane, whilst Adam, Martin and I went to the haunted house in Spectral.

I'd found this game bamboozling on my first visit, with its cards-referencing-other-cards geography and deduction-with-area-control approach to gameplay. This time, it was Adam's turn to be bamboozled - although to be fair, with more decorum than I managed - as we diligently made our notes. Both Martin and Adam said they didn't really have a system down yet. Joe won Sunrise Lane and they began playing The Gang as we reached our finale...

Adam was undone by ghosts and Martin surprised by the lack of gems where he had investigators. 

Sam 57

Martin 45

Adam 36

Adam confessed he was watching our moves to see what we were getting up to, and both Martin and I said that was next-level Spectraling. "Well, it didn't work" Adam pointed out. We did some seat-swapping as Katy, Adam and Joe set up Mille Fiori and I suggested Cascadero, a proposal I would come to regret. 

We played the roving Heralds variant: only two of the heralds on the board, but whenever one is scored the active player can choose to move it to a neighbouring town. This apparently simple tweak was enough to send me into cognitive meltdown, and I sulked my way through "all of" (Martin) or "the middle twenty minutes" (me) of the game, as everything I did seemed to resonate with pathetic ineffectiveness. Happily, the other end of the table were making up for it, with Katy at one point complaining about "Cocks in my furrow!" in a loud voice. 

I attempted to rally, like a deranged patient briefly experiencing lucidity, but my grand plan to come less-feebly-third was kiboshed by Martin passing 50 points and ending the game instantly. "Cascadero is kind of like Mille Fiori crossed with a staple gun" Joe sympathised, adding "in the eye" for clarity. 

Martin 55

Ian 37

Sam 25 and DNF

At the same time, Katy wrapped up a win in Mille Fiori. It was close, though:

Katy 209

Joe 199

Adam 184

It was time for So Clover! We played twice, first as a sextet. I don't actually remember much about the first attempt apart from the seemingly endless ways the words went with my clue of priapism, although most of them everyone agreed would have made me write 'wank' instead. "Wank goes with everything" said Ian at one point, like he was seeing the matrix for the first time. 

We scored a decent 30/36 but lost Adam to hometime. Katy insisted the five of us play again, so we did. After Katy blamed herself for not getting a six on Ian's clover, she began rooting for us to score badly, but we actually did rather well again. Katy's clue of Bellend for dirty/hood was a highlight. Or lowlight. Either way, it was an excellent but imperfect 28/30 to round off an action-packed night of no less than eleven games! 

Animal Night Rate

Andrew wended his way to my door on Sunday with A Feast for Odin set up and ready to go. We have both been intrigued by this game - me after a solo play-through that left me initially bemused, followed by several plays of experimentation - whereas Andrew won his first game convincingly. We were eager to play again, and sat down just after half seven to play the 'long' game of seven rounds.

Viking water-cooler

As previously posted, Odin sees you place workers (Agricola), while also juggling tile placement  (Patchwork). Andrew seemed intent on trying new things this time, and even explored - a first in any of the games I've played, as it give you more spaces to fill and hence the risk of more negative points.

Andrew in Iceland, again

I took a leaf out of Andrew's book in the previous game and went whaling, whilst also nodding to Steve's tactic of shearing sheep and turning wool into blue stuff. In fact both of us embarked on animal business that set something of a pattern for the evening... We both emigrated near the end of the game, too, but come the count-up Andrews experimentation counted against him somewhat (though he still improved on his previous score):

Sam 103
Andrew  77

And the time was only 9pm!!!

There was still time to bash out three short games, so we did. First I introduced Andrew to Hounded, which Stanley and I like a lot, but has yet to win over anyone else. The fox (Andrew's) task was to skip around the board, avoiding the attentions of the Master of Hounds and his dogs (all me). He can win by outlasting the hunters: either turning over the three time tiles, or 42 tiles in total. I can win by catching him. My previous experience told as Andrew found himself blockaded into a corner...

Sam (hunter) wins
Andrew (fox) dies

me, with my dogs

Sticking with the animal theme, we bashed out an old-timer from GNN in Hey That's My Fish, which Andrew took the win at:

Andrew 52
Sam 46

It was only 9.30 so, with a bit of taunting, I managed to get Andrew to stay for long enough to play one of our favourites - Take It Easy. Andrew called books he read as a boy, whereas I called footballers I have played with and interesting/uninteresting facts about them. Andrew kindly suggested I could open a bespoke bingo hall, as yet another nugget of near-forgotten info from the late nineties about people he never knew assailed his brain. It didn't put him off his game though:

Andrew 318
Sam 315

A fun evening came to a close. I'm eager to play Odin again too. It still grows on me...

Novocon 2015

Friday

As the starlings gather in fields to set of across the continents on their yearly migration, so it is that the GNN faithful gather together on email exchanges, eager to swap city concrete for the feeling of fresh country grass under our feet. Or at least visible through the window.

Sam, Stanley and I set off from Bristol heading south-west to Devon which, apparently, sat under a giant black storm cloud. Day swiftly turned to night as rain fell. The journey was arduous, but not complicated and after a couple of hours, we had arrived in Croyde!

Adam, Hannah, Arthur and Katy were there to meet us with freshly cooked lasagna. And as we ate, Steve, Anja and Luther arrived, followed by Jon. Finally, we were all together so the games could commence!

The first game was Steve’s egg game, in which he had to balance eggs on a shelf in the fridge door, unaware that it would give way any second. It did, with Steve unable to catch them all. In the blink of an eye we went from eighteen eggs down to three. There then came the tricky matter of how to pick up albumen from a kitchen floor. Mopping it up with a sponge? Scooping it up with a spatula? Steve worked hard to clean it up.

The second game was Steve’s beer game, in which he had to pour a drink from his new Old Speckled Hen mini-keg without it suddenly spurting drink everywhere. He lost. More cleaning up.

Steve's beer. Fresh from the mini-keg!

Finally, while Arthur and Luther were being put to bed, we played a real game. You know, one that comes in a box with rules. We chose Forbidden Desert, a nice co-op game to ease everyone into the weekend. Jon, Stanley, Katy, Sam, Adam and myself all tried to find the pieces of the ancient flying machine in the shifting sands of the aforementioned desert. But we couldn’t. We were able to stave off thirst, only to die, buried under piles of sand.

Next, Adam beat Steve at Hive, and Anja joined the group on the Big Table where they broke out Celestia. Sam took out the special action cards, apart from the jet pac and spy-glass, I think. They sped through two games of high drama.

Jon 55
Katy 38
Sam 36
Stanley 30
Anja 29

Then...

Anja 52
Jon 43
Stanley 39
Sam 36
Steve 33

During the second game, Adam beat Katy at Hey, That’s My Fish, 59-38. Then, Adam took over Arthur-duties and Hannah and I did battle in 7 Wonders Duel. I explained the rules to her, and spent most of the game balefully believing she had beaten me easy. But then I picked up a number of guilds in round three to come out an easy winner, 76-51.

By now there was talk of trying something a little more substantial. Anja, Steve and I played Snowdonia. For a change, we tried the Blaenau Ffestiniog variant. This involves the players choosing which end they start from, with the events alternating between ends.

It only added frustration, as best-laid plans were scuppered by the game triggering an event to dig/build/lay tracks in exactly the place we wanted. I was unable to build any station buildings at all. However, we kept our spirits up in these arduous times by singing the hits of Bernard Cribbins. Yes, all three of them.

Steve 72
Anja 52
Andrew 25

While all this fraught contemplation was going on, the other half of the room indulged in light-hearted party games. First, they played Deep Sea Adventure, featuring Katy’s plaintive wail of “but I was being so careful!”

Jon 29
Adam 14
Hannah 13
Katy 0

This was followed by Spyfall, the game of using questions to try and deduce which player is the spy who doesn’t know the secret location. Who won? I’ve no idea, but it ended with Jon coming into the kitchen complaining that he’s always the spy.

This was followed by 6 nimmt.

Katy 23
Adam 26
Sam 27
Hannah 44
Jon 66

Finally for them, after Hannah and Adam retired, they played Raj.

Sam 59
Jon 54
Katy 25

Saturday

The very epicentre of the games weekend, and a whole day of games for all concerned. However, it was a slow start with people arising at different times, such that the thought of gaming was put to one side in preference for getting children to eat breakfast or trying to work out why the wi-fi/playstation2/TV/electric hob/wall socket doesn’t work.

In an attempt at getting us away from all this useless technology, we decided to walk to the nearby beach. Although the forecast was grim, the sun was out and myself, Sam, Stanley, Hannah, Arthur , Jon and Katy all set out defiantly into the buffeting wind.

The only game we played was pooh sticks between Jon, Katy and Stanley, which Jon won with his large chunk of branch beating Katy and Stanley’s twigs. Although we also played the running up and down the sand dunes game, which I was quite bad at and needed Jon to give me a helping hand.

As we were heading home we met Anja, Steve and Luther going the other way. After a brief chat and our friendly advice about which way they should go, we parted ways. We looked back and were impressed that they too were successfully attempting to scale the same huge dune that we had climbed.

We then paused at a local shop to buy pasties (English Breakfast Pasty was a big hit with me) before heading back.

Back at the house, there was still some time before lunch and so - at 11.45 - we began the first game of the day: Celestia!

Katy 52
Stanley 37
Andrew 37
Sam 36
Hannah 28
Jon 20

And this was followed by the serene delights of Takenoko. Hannah was the last to complete any actual cards, and was complaining how badly she was doing. Then she completed three high scoring cards in one turn and the game changed in her favour. Jon cursed his luck at only ever picking up green tiles (ironically, the colour that I wanted but never got). Katy was amazed at how badly she did at a game that she usually won. They seemed to find it a uniquely stressful game.

Hannah 38
Andrew 26
Jon 21
Katy 14

After Sam’s lunch of stuffed peppers, there was a kickabout in the garden for the more energetic of us, while others preferred to watch languidly from the sofa.

But soon we were back to the board games, and Hannah, Katy and Anja played Fauna while us guys hung out in the kitchen and played the slightly more boyish game of Cube Quest. We tried to complete a full league contain six players: Stanley, Adam, Andrew, Steve, Jon and Sam. We didn’t really get close but at the end the mini league looked like:

Sam 2 wins out of 2
Andrew 2 wins out of 3
Adam 2 wins out of 3
Steve 2 wins out of 3
Jon 1 wins out of 3
Stanley 0 wins out of 4

As grown men, should we be ashamed at how seriously we took our games against Stanley? Perhaps.

Cube Quest. A serious business.

Notable victories were Adam’s win over me, in which he picked out my king from a crowd of cubes. Also when Jon beat Stanley, his winning flick was so strong, the king flew off the table and hit Sam in the face.

Meanwhile, Fauna ended

Hannah 130
Katy 85
Anja 72

Hannah put down her comfortable win due to the fact that three animals came up that she already knew about, and she seemed somehow disappointed that she didn’t win by guessing. Surely rewarding knowledge is the whole point of the game.

Then I taught Adam how to play 7 Wonders Duel, and I didn’t patronise him by going easy on him just because it was his first go. I won 83-53. Meanwhile, Katy did not enjoy her introduction to Chocolatl, giving Dirk control of her game halfway through.

Sam 56
Steve 43
Hannah 43
Anja 33
Katy/Dirk 13

Then Steve and Anja broke away to prepare food, while Katy, Sam, Jon, Adam and me played a rousing game of Mystery at the Abbey. Adam found it hard going and, at two hours, it did last longer than I expected. Jon got a free revelation (ie, didn’t lose you points at the end of the game) and seemingly used it to confuse us, saying the murderer was a Franciscan, when it turned out to be a Templar. I successfully got the murderer, so I was happy at least. I don’t think Adam was impressed by how low-scoring a game it was for so much effort.

Andrew 2
Katy 2
Adam 2
Sam 0
Jon 0

Finally, I tried to teach Matcha to Adam, but the rule book text was too small and my brain couldn’t cope, and food was imminent. I apologised and gave up.

After a hearty feast of frittata, salad and something else I can’t recall, six of us played Midnight Party while the toddlers were being put to bed since this would be our last chance this evening to shout and scream.

Stanley 22
Katy 25
Steve 25
Andrew 27
Sam 34
Jon 44

Then Adam beat me twice on Hive, using the same tactic twice. Grr. Meanwhile, Jon introduced Hannah, Katy and Steve to Waggle Dance, another game of considerable length and low scores:

Jon 5 honey
Hannah 4 plus 5 nectar
Katy 4 plus 3
Steve 3

And Adam, Anja, Sam and me played a couple of games of No Thanks in which those who gambled on the high cards were richly rewarded for their bravery.

Sam 11 (with a run from 35-29)
Anja 15
Andrew 19
Adam 43

And then...

Anja 5 (with a run from 32-26)
Sam 19
Andrew 20
Adam 28

By now it was just past nine o’clock and anyone who wanted to play a long game needed to make a decision and convince others soon. Jon persuaded Adam and I to play Power grid with the promise of robots. Steve and Anja felt their chances of playing Wallenstein slipping away, as they agreed to an evening of short, fun games which would give Hannah the chance to bow out early if needed.

They played Celestia, the hit of the weekend.

Sam 51
Katy 43
Steve 34
Hannah 25
Anja 22

Then Bandu:

1. Steve
2. Anja
3. Hannah
4. Katy
5. Sam

And then, after a few retirements, Anja and Sam played a couple of games of Matcha, winning one game each.

On Power Grid, meanwhile, Adam played like a pro, quickly moving to trap Jon and me into a corner of the map. The robot, meanwhile, was actually a cardboard cut-out made up of several pieces with rules that the robot always obeys when it’s his turn. You can put this robot together from a wide selection, meaning it will almost never play the same way twice.

Anyway, there were a couple of hairy moments when the robot was in second place. The honour of the whole human race was at stake here. In the end, Adamn had such a good start that he could barely lose, even though Jon said Adam had made a big mistake in one of the closing rounds and might have ruined his chances. I hadn’t noticed anything.

Adam 17 cities
Jon 15
Andrew 14
Robot 13

And, with the time at midnight, the day was finally over. Phew.

Sunday

And, as we all know, after Saturday came Sunday. Known for its sleepy slow awakenings and quiet gentle breakfasts. Unless you’re us, in which case it involves a massive space epic. I mean Eclipse, of course, and because Sam, Stanley and I were scheduled to head home mid-afternoon, we pushed for a meaty epic before lunch. Railways of the World was mooted until a thirst for new rules and sci-fi adventures won the debate and Eclipse was set up.

Sam talked us (Jon, Stanley, Adam and myself) through the rules, with Adam referring to the rules throughout, much to everyone’s dismay. Indeed, he found a couple of rule clarifications which would have helped his military plans if he’d known about them. This, at least, counts as mitigating circumstances regarding his final placing.

We played a truncated game, since (lunch) time was pressing. When round six ended, we finished with the scores at:

Jon 25
Stanley 22
Andrew 19
Sam 18
Adam 17

After this, while I made pizzas Steve and Anja played two games of Matcha, winning one each while Jon, Adam, Katy, Stanley and Sam played football. This was followed by a swift one-round blast of Raj for some of the mud-crusted footballers.

Stanley 20
Adam 12
Sam 8

Then at around three o'clock, Sam, Stanley and I set off back to Bristol, leaving the rest to play the “Five adults with child care duties decide what to play next” game.

Adam emailed me with scores and a little description of the final games of the weekend. Adam's home made Settlers of Catan finally got an airing. He reports...

Settlers:
Katie 10
Hannah 7
Adam 6
Jon 5

Katie got a strong position picking on the turn and ended up getting 5 wheat everytime 9 was rolled. Hannah was Close behind while John and I grumbled and stumbled in soundly beaten. Don't let the scores fool you into thinking it was close...

Waggle dance
Anja 5 honey, fewest dice
Steve 5 honey, next fewest dice
Katie 5 honey, more nectar
Hannah 5 honey, dead weight

7wonders duel:
Katy 74
Hannah 68

Wallenstein:
Anja 62
Adam 52
Steve 47

Steve was unceremoniously squashed between Anja and I. Meanwhile she and I danced around cagily loading more and more troops into Sachsen until Anja finally struck in the second last round, taking one territory and reducing another to one cube. That victory proved decisive as I collapsed to farmer revolts in the second winter and we were definitely finished by midnight...

- - - - - -

Thanks Adam. All that remains is the division. Well done, Drs Katy and Anja. Looks like Anja was right to insist on that game of Wallenstein after all.

 And, since we played quite a lot of two player games, I made a division for those games too.

Thanks, everyone. A lovely weekend and nice to get some epics onto the table. It'll be a long time until we have a table large enough to host five-player Eclipse.

Quantums of Solace

On Thursday Andrew can usually be relied upon to make his way north for a game or three. But having played on Monday and Tuesday he was gamed out. Ian - spared Monday - was still tempted though, and - having played a couple of games of Age of War earlier with the boys (I won 9-8-7, then they thrashed me 17-8 playing as a team)- we assembled around a game of Quantum at half past eight.

 dangerous

The game began in exploratory fashion as Ian and I spread our cubes around the board, warily eying each other. Then like predatory bullfighters chucking dice around, we struck. A flurry of blows and the game ended with me beating Ian to the punch by a solitary cube - helped by Warlike, which meant if I destroyed one of Ian's ships I got an extra action... We'd enjoyed it so much - and finished so quickly - we played again, and this time it was to be something of an epic. Ian went on the offensive from the start, and pummelled me against the cosmic ropes until he'd established a 4-2 lead.

I came back into it courtesy of two things - I had a card that bumped my research up by two every turn, and having reached six research and placed a cube I picked up Warlike again and grabbed an Aggression card, allowing me to move my dominance up to six and place a second cube. It was beautiful, if somewhat fortunate.

Battle continued though with the tide of aggression swinging to and fro. And with us both down to one cube left I was again smiled upon by fate as with my dominance and research at four again, another Aggression card popped up. I increased my research to six, and grabbed the Aggression card to increase my dominance and finish the game (I appreciate if you've not played Quantum this is utter gibberish, sorry) (why haven't you played Quantum?!?) It was a slightly underwhelming end to an epic hour-long battle that's probably my favourite game of Quantum so far... basically whilst I had appalling luck with the dice rolls (almost constantly rolling sixes) the luck with the cards was the opposite. Great game.

tactical

We needed something lighter after that so bashed out a quick game of Hey That's My Fish, which Ian had never played before. It was a close finish:

Sam 47
Ian 43

Then we moved onto Take It Easy, supposedly to end the night. Ian's calling was Discworld novels - impressively sustained throughout - and I kept up the literary theme with Moomin characters. We both pulled great scores in round one and decent ones in round two, but my decent form in Take It Easy stayed intact:

Sam 389
Ian 248

We still had a little beer left though, so we ended with a game of Love Letter. I came back from 2-1 down to force a decider! But you know Ian - he's like the Darth Vader of the Love Letter world:

Ian - 3 cubes
Sam - 2 cubes

Cornish Pastimes

Last week Sally and I took the boys to Polruan, Cornwall, and though most of the time was spent on the beach we did squeeze in a few games. I'd taken Ice Flow, Flash Point, Hey That's My Fish and Sumeria, the latter an incongruously popular choice with the boys (usually; we didn't actually play it this time).

Castles of Beige

First out of the box was Hey That's My Fish, or Hey, That's My Fish as Jon correctly emphasizes it. This was a two-player with me and Little Joe. After some early shenanigans of Joe's penguins slaloming toward the more rewarding tiles, we settled into a neat pattern of Joe picking up the most fish while I made suggestions as to how he could block me off. It ended closely:

Joe 52
Sam 46
(two tiles left on the 'board')

My apple

Stanley had spotted Blokus at the cottage so we pulled it out. The board is a grid of 1cm squares and each player is given a collection of tetris-style pieces in their own colour. I looked for the rulebook only to find there wasn't one, and I was thinking ho-hum... until I realized the rules are printed on the back of the box. Genius. Here they are:

1. Each player starts in a corner.
2. On their turn players place a piece that cannot be adjacent to any of their own pieces (they can be adjacent to other players') but must touch one of their own pieces at at least one corner.
3. Whoever manages to play the most pieces wins.

The key is squeezing between the corners of opposing players pieces really, and making sure you don't have all your biggest pieces left in the endgame. It was so simple and the boys really liked it - even Sally did, in fact. What I don't understand is how it works as a 2-player - there's so much room on the board you'd have to make a concerted effort to not get all your pieces down. There's probably something on BGG about it…

We played lots of games of this and there were many winners. We also had some pub lunches and I messed about with my phone:




Stanley and I played Ice Flow. I'd remembered it as quite simple but it's actually a bit of a puzzle, trying to get three explorers across the Bering Strait while being pursued by polar bears and stymied by the opposition. There was a fair bit of head-scratching, and although Stanley won (a collaborative effort) it was not requested again.

The other popular game was Flash Point. Stan is not one for tantrums when he loses but he can occasionally get a little forlorn, so I think he liked the fact this was a team effort. Together we put out many fires and rescued many victims, but we also (courtesy of my longstanding blind spot) played a rule wrong, making it easier for ourselves than it should have been. Having corrected it we both died as the building collapsed on us. Oh well.

Finally upon returning to Bristol I suggested Lords of Waterdeep, which Stanley has played before. Joe did not play but was The Shopkeeper - in charge of cube distribution.

Last time Stan needed a little help with some of the reading, but no such qualms for him this time. In fact he shot off into a healthy lead, and although I assisted by 1. once pointing out he could get wizards by going to the harbour and 2. not nicking cubes off him when I could have, he pretty much bossed the game, picking up handsome endgame bonuses that I didn't see coming:

Stanley 145
Sam 122

The Bracknell mini meet

Nobody can surpass Paul's commitment to gaming - every other week he travels from Croydon to Bracknell to join Chris and James at the table. So the least Andrew and I (Sam) thought we could do was make the effort to trundle along the M4 and join them - the last time we made the trip was nearly three years ago, and another attendance was long overdue.

The games began in the car, as Andrew and I played our still-unnamed word game we devised about a quarter-century ago in Maidstone. In turn each player says a letter, and the first person to end a word (4 letters or longer) loses. But you can't say any old letter as your opponent can challenge, and if you don't have a word to back your choice up, you lose. Equally if you challenge and your opponent does have a word, you lose (Andrew challenged me on CRESC) We played first to 6 victories and it was a close-run thing:

Sam 6
Andrew 4

(if you play it on a table with scrabble tiles you can insert letters in anywhere, which is a much harder challenge - you might insert a Z into HP, making HZP, thinking your opponent will never think of cHutZPah, only to find they stick an N on the end (making HZPN) and are thinking of scHiZoPhreNia)

We arrived at the Smith's abode where Jacqui, Ashton and Ava were waiting for us. Ostensibly they were watching Enchanted, but as I'd brought them a little present of a game (the crazy-lookin' Galapa Go) the focus quickly changed and we ripped open the packaging. Then we saw there were 12 pages of rules and we packed it away again. However it looks quite easy after all.

Chris arrived having collected Paul from the station, and after a while catching up (I know! Talking!!) Paul, Andrew and I played a game of Hey That's My Fish with Ashton. Ashton knew the rules, but that didn't necessarily mean he was going to follow them like some brain-dead sheep. However, despite threats to fly his penguin over the ice floes, he stuck to the games established parameters, and not only that, pulled off a (joint) victory.

1. Ashton
1. Sam
2. Paul
3. Andrew

Then Paul suggested we try Samurai: The Card Game. We weren't averse to the idea and it has a certain similarity to its chess-ish big brother, in terms of scoring and winning. And also in terms of being very thinky and abstract.

Paul won his first game of his newest purchase: always a good feeling.

1. Paul
2= Andrew
2= Sam

Jacqui then served up a delicious bolognese and berated herself for overdoing the dough balls. It was all great Jacqui! Then there was ice cream and finally, like Victorian gentlemen retiring to the lounge to discuss matters of the world, we played a game whilst the Smiths put the children to bed.

Only the game was Max the Cat, a children's co-operative. As a team we were trying to get three little creatures - a bird, a mouse, and a chipmunk - from the back door to the safety of the garden tree. Potentially spoiling the fun, and alerting young players to concepts such as peril, death, and grieving, is Max. He's chasing them all the way and if he catches them they get devoured.

Fortunately as a team we also had three treats with which to tempt Max back to the house whenever he got too close to the wildlife. Thanks to the treats - and to Paul's canny idea to let Max go past his prey via the shortcuts on the board - we got everybody to safety. Thanks, fellow doomed mortals!

Then Chris returned, James joined us, Bristol and Bracknell truly merged, and we cleared the table in time to pillage the Incan Temples, like the exploitative bastards our forefathers were.

I bailed out early on the first round and watched in horror as loads of gems came out. Then I cackled with glee as most of the others died under a hail of falling rocks. James picked up an enormous cache in the second or third round which made him chip leader. I kept jumping out early which meant I finished the game safe, but of course Incan Gold really rewards - unless it kills them first - the risk-takers:

James 37
Chris 27
Sam 21
Andrew 19
Paul 4

After this we wanted to play something a bit weightier. Paul, enthusiast that he is, was pushing for Ticket to Ride, but it was only really me getting onboard with him. Chris mooted Lords of Waterdeep and despite Andrew and I playing it the night before, we agreed. It's never a trial playing this game.

In contrast to Monday's game I got off to a flier and managed to keep in either first or second place until the end of the game. Again I began with Lord-unfriendly quests but for whatever reason I managed to get a good thing going on - playing a lot of intrigue cards and completing a few relatively low-scoring quests.   Chris was pushing for the lead all the way as Andrew and Paul seemed to struggle James was playing a dark horse/unlit mule type of game, not seeming to do that much before suddenly hurling a load of wizards back into the city/plastic bowl and completing a high-scoring quest.

Despite being hit with Mandatory Quests twice by Chris, I grabbed a win:

Sam 147
Andrew 129
Chris 122
James 110
Paul 110

We'd breezed through the city of Waterdeep in no time and so without further ado we broke out 7 Wonders. Although the Bracknell crew know the game well, as with the previous game, playing with five players was a novelty to them. But there are no rule changes, just some new cards, so we jumped right in. I had the wonder which allows you to build discarded cards for free - which always seems really exciting until the moment you discover a load of abandoned bricks and a compass.

On the other side of the table Paul was building a strong military and Chris was cussing him out. James was specializing in blue buildings and Andrew seemed to be doing a bit of everything. The game ended and we were unsure who was on top - I thought it was me or James, James thought it was me. It was actually James, but nobody realized how well Paul had done until the final count-up:

James 58
Paul 57
Sam 54
Chris 42
Andrew 42

It was now 10.20 and Paul's train left at 11pm. What to do? As I went to the loo they debated, and I was surprised to find on my return they'd plumped for Medici. In half an hour?? Paul said there was a later train if necessary, and we started throwing stuff into the sea like renaissance merchants were prone to do.

Back when GNN was young - pre-blog - we played this A LOT. Then it lay fallow for a while, but it's seen the table a good deal in Bracknell, I believe. Thematically it's kind of nonsensical, as one would presume even in the infancy of trading, merchants would go down to the docks with some kind of mental shopping list and not just take whatever comes off the boat - but as it's a Reiner Knizia it inevitably plays well. I nabbed the gold on round one and scored the best boat. Then I subsequently concentrated more on the colours - specifically red and blue (or cloth and dyes). James and I shot ahead of the others and then James edged ahead of me and up along the score track. And he would have most probably stayed in first place had I not pulled out two jammy tiles at the tail end of the final round - a blue 4, and the gold again.

They say not to sell your soul to the devil but it's working out ok for me.

Sam 128
James 113
Chris 95
Paul 95
Andrew 66

There was just time for a coffee and another brief chat before James headed for home and Chris drove Paul back to the station. By this point I was a little tipsy, but I still managed to push Andrew all the way in a quick game of Hey That's My Fish:

Andrew 52
Sam 48

And then Chris returned. It was only about half eleven and at that hour, what else is there to do but play 7 Wonders again? So we did. This time my wonder encouraged me to go for sciences, so after some cussing out of the sciences, I did.

I don't think any of us played our A-game at this point to be honest, and I was certainly approaching the development of my civilization with a laissez-faire attitude. However my scientists took advantage of this fiscal freedom and went for it in a big way, scoring 40+ points for me in the green buildings. Sadly I cocked up my last move, otherwise I might have pipped Chris at the post:

Chris 61
Sam 59
Andrew 47

It was nearly pumpkin o'clock, so we called it a night, and Andrew and I only returned to games in the loosest of sense on the return journey when we attempted to name all the USA states. We missed out seven: Conneticut, Maryland, Nebraska, North Dakota, Vermont, Wisconsin and Oregon. It's harder than you think… I mean, I can't help thinking Maryland is totally made up.

But then I guess they all are.

Thanks to Chris, Paul and James and not to mention Jacqui and the kids for having us. Hopefully next time will be before 2017.