Mossy Top and Bottom

With Andrew one of the changing-season lurgy drop-outs (get well, everyone), blogging duties fell to me (Sam). I was also hosting. Adam arrived early again, and was treated to the sight of Stan and I eating our tea (and Stan making fun of my cooking skills, naturally). Ten minutes later the others began to arrive: Martin, Gareth, and Ian at first, which was enough of us for a quick blast at Strike. Despite Gareth - when forced to roll all his dice - taking five 2's straight back out again, Martin won and continues to convince that there's more to the game than blind/bad luck. 

As we finished, long-term absentee Andy Mosse arrived, and then Mel joined us too. We split into two groups, with Martin and Gareth teaching Andy The Crew and the rest of us setting up Flamme Rouge. 

From the start Mel led the peloton, alternating occasionally with my Rouller and both of us collecting exhaustion cards as Ian and Adam bided their time. It was an unusual course we'd chosen, as there were no uphills at all until a tiny slope right at the end. Halfway around the track Ian made a break for it and Adam went with him as Mel and I languished. Two-thirds of the way through it was a very obvious two-horse race as we were left far behind, playing out a fairly insignificant sub-plot to the main event. 

It was a dramatic finish as Adam realised his '9' card wouldn't take him over the line because of the last hill. Because of gravity, Ian pedalled frantically home to claim a 1-2 finish, with Adam third and fourth. Mel was fifth and eighth and myself sixth and seventh. Around this time, they finished The Crew as well:

And we swapped chairs as Adam set up Luzon Rails. for himself, Gareth, Mel and Ian. I gave them a brief and panicked precis of the rules before returning to Martin and Ian for a crack at Dandelions, a slightly chaotic dice-moving/placing/majority-claiming game. I profess to have no idea how, but I won:

Sam 62

Martin 51

Ian 41

And whilst Luzon Rails continued, we moved swiftly on to Sea Salt & Paper, a fast-moving set collection game. Like Dandelions, there's a lot of luck, but also a sliver of table-reading and deduction. Cards score points in various ways, including pairs that trigger extra turns/card draws/card thefts. Pairs are played to the table for the reward, but you can keep them hidden instead if you like. When you have 7 points (or more) you can halt the round, either by saying Stop (everyone scores) or Last Chance, in which case everyone else gets one more turn in which to try and beat your score. The latter is more rewarding (and more punishing for opponents) but carries more risk...

Not knowing what you're doing doesn't hurt either. I survived a dramatic last-round comeback by Ian to take the win (first to 35 points)

Sam 35

Ian 31

Martin 13

Luzon Rails were still under construction so we blasted through four games of Strike, winning one apiece before Ian took the decider (2-1-1) assisted by some preposterous rolling, including getting all but two of his dice back when forced to roll 15 of them. 

Ian left, and Martin and I blasted through a ding-dong battle of Schnipp & Weg which was so dramatic I didn't even take a picture, despite winning. Then Luzon rails finished!

early bids

Andy's worries that he'd overbid for shares at the start proved unfounded, as prices escalated and they ended up looking comparative bargains. Other than that, I'm not sure what happened, except to say he'd picked a debut win as Adam suffered (semi) explainer's curse:

Andy M: 57

Gareth 51

Mel 42

Adam 31

And with the hour approaching 10.30, Mel and Gareth left to make their way back to Easton. The remaining four of us played Polterfass, the game of beer pouring, serving, and greedily grabbing. My table-reading skills were abysmal and after a decent first round (16 points!) I was still on the same score several rounds later, as Martin surged ahead, Adam caught him up, and Andy and I floundered around in the dregs on the floor of the tavern. Andy quit on zero beer as the innkeeper caught us all out, and had Martin wailing "Why? Why???" as Adam surged past him for the win.

"I just thought it'd be funny" Andy said. 

And it was. 

Adam 77

Martin 51

Sam 26

Andy 11

That was that! Thanks all, see you next week....

Lose on rails

After  a detour due to a closed road and then trouble parking, I arrived at 8.10pm at Sam’s. I was surprised to find only three people waiting for me. Had the others got bored and left? Nope, it was just a low turnout, due to the extended bank holiday/half term, I suppose.

They’d already played Isle of Cats, which Sam won, and on my arrival they sat me down and began a game of High Score, Knizia’s reworking of his free print-and-play game Decathlon.

I was the early leader, but soon fall away. Joe had a late revival but steady Sam took the gold.

Sam 15

Joe 11

Katy 9

Andrew 7

Then Mel arrived, pushing up the number of attendees to a giddy five, and after a while of rejecting possible games due to having to relearn rules, we settled on Luzon Rails since we’d all played it.

Katy started in fine Katy-style, bidding high on pink shares because they were pink. Mel bought shares in red and green (three in total) early on and then didn’t feel the need to buy any more since they seemed to be doing very well. Joe, Sam and I shared ownership of three firms between us in the expectation that the other players would boost their value, with mixed results.

By round four it was intense enough that Sam and Katy both stood up. Once upon a time that meant an increase in concentration, but this time it was due to health issues (leg and back respectively). Such is life.

Katy ended the game in even finer Katy-style, bidding seven on a share even though she was told it’d only earn her six. Mel’s early eye for a bargain sealed the game for her.

Mel 37

Andrew 31

Joe 19

Katy 17

Sam 16

After this, Katy stayed true to her promise to go home early and the remaining four of us played Cross Clues.

As the words were dealt out Joe misread one of the clues as “Shropshire” which lead to a brief period of trying to work out what definition might suit phrases like “Shropshire laptop” (a paving slab?) or a “Shropshire ankle” (no idea but sounds painful).

Once we got started. Mel’s clues were next level, for example “Victorian” for “Ankle/surprise”. We slipped up on Joe’s clue for “Poos” which we thought was “Brown/surprise” and were so delighted that we didn’t realise that it was plural, which should’ve lead us to “brown/group”.

Disappointed at having run out of time and still got several wrong, we quickly set up again, persuading Mel to stay for one more. This time we were in much better form, speeding through the clues and finishing with a comfortable 25 out of 25.

With that, Mel and I left Joe and Sam to finish of the night. Joe beat Sam 21-20 on Wordpress

And then Joe won at Set & Match, 2-1.

Thanks all, have a lovely long weekend. Enjoy the Queen and I’ll see you next week.

Games in a Vacuum

With Andrew an eventual no-show last night, blogging duties fell to me (Sam) but I actually missed the first hour of games, as I was getting Joe (my Joe) ready for first day of secondary school this morning. Whilst we were knocking around the house doing various schooly things (eg bath) and non-schooly things (watching The Office) those present - Martin, Ian, Joe, Adam, Katy and Andy - played some games in the kitchen. I think they began with Joe's bonkers Nachtschwarmer game of erratic moth movement (-not sure who won) before Adam won Colt Super Express (the card version of Colt Express, where everyone runs around on a train shooting each other), with Joe/Katy/Ian and Andy bringing up the rear and Martin first off the train. 

I joined just in time to watch them spectacularly implode at Biss 20. It seemed a bit like Arlington Road at first, with numbers being said in scattergun order and people standing up to bow. Despite watching for a good few minutes, the number twenty was a distant dream and they packed up when Andy seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown. By this point we knew Andrew wasn't coming, so began our seven-player stuff splitting into two groups: whilst Martin introduced Joe, Katy and Andy to Daring Dustbunnies, Adam and I coaxed Ian into trying Luzon Rails. 

Daring Dustbunnies involves some hidden identities and trying to keep your dustbunny out of the vacuum. Even though it was short and silly, we'd started playing longer and not-silly Luzon Rails whilst they were still going through the rules.

Luzon Rails was the classic simple rules/tough decisions, with players owning shares in (up to) five companies, and trying to improve their worth for dividend payouts at the end of each round. Ian's early high bid for the yellow company (which has only three shares) looked like a strong early move until Adam and I got one apiece slightly cheaper. In fact as I was comparatively cash-rich in round one, I scooped up several shares cheaply, but outside of that clearly made a poor early-20th-century industrialist, as Ian and I sensed Adam pulling away mid-game like a Formula 1 car passing a couple of mid-range saloon drivers scrutinising a map. Ian did a lot of head-scratching as the classic cube-rail dilemmas weighed heavy. 

Meantime Daring Dustbunnies was over with Katy getting a debut win over Andy in a tie-breaker (-most static), with Martin behind them and Joe apparently "lost". The rules to DD are slightly beyond my recall now so perhaps he triggered the end of the game. They began playing another new title, Silencio. I've no idea what any of it was about, except that they finished, according to the rulebook, so near and yet so far. Clarifications in the comments please!

We wrapped up Luzon Rails around the same time with Ian grimly satisfied he had more cash than the 25 he started with. No much though:

Adam 87

Sam 68

Ian 28

We all came together again for not one, but two games of Fiesta de los Muertos, notable for how badly we did, failing to appease more than two of the dead in either attempt. I'm not sure this game of clue-chaining and deduction is an entirely unqualified success - it's fun, but much of the time seems to be spent wondering what happened, and why. Plus I kept forgetting to fill in my teeth. 

Adam and Andy then bade us goodnight, and as with last week, one word-connection game beget another, with So Clover hitting the table twice in a row as well. I can't speak for everyone but at this point I was drunk enough to laugh about Joe's suggestion being rejected for a reason, it transpired, I had completely imagined. Considering the state of us - or me, anyway - we did rather well, only struggling with Katy's clues, who after all Martin reminded us, once used 'the' as a clue in Just One. Even so, a reasonably coherent display, I think, though I didn't write down any scores...

With 11 now in the past, we wrapped up another delightful GNN - until the same time next week!

Don't let the sun tile go down on me

Today, Joe's new (unfinished) games room held three gamers: Joe, Sam and I. This new room is right next to the front door and so is much more amenable to gamers entering and leaving surreptiously. Now Joe's house just needs a peephole in the front door and a secret knock and the speakeasy will be complete!

I got to Joe's at about 7.45 and Sam let me in while Joe was downstairs finishing supper. He came up after a while drinking champagne. "What's the occasion?" I asked. "It's my 25th wedding anniversary," said Joe, airily. Surprised, Sam and I asked if we should go, so he could celebrate it, but Joe reassured us that they'd only just remembered yesterday.

And what better way to celebrate marital bliss than a game of Luzon Rails, the Philippines based game of stocks and railway building.

Only Sam had played it before, coming last against the two Adams, and he explained the rules which were pretty clear and straightforward. We did the usual vague dalliance with cheap double entendres (extending my pink, get cracking on the brown track) and we were slightly distracted by the cries of delight from elsewhere in the house when England scored. Simply put, it was standard eurogaming fare.

Sam 94

Andrew 79

Joe 55

Joe said he wished he was better at train based share games while Sam admitted he had little Idea what he did right.

Next up was an old favourite: Ra. Only this time it was a super deluxe version with large shiny tiles, a huge cloth bag to hold them all and Joe’s very own green baize playing area. It took a while for me and Sam to remember the rules, especially Sam who said he hadn’t played in years.

Round one was notable for lots of disaster tiles threatening to ruin civilizations and monuments. At the end of round two, Joe pushed his luck and failed as the Ra track filled up. “It wasn’t worth that much,” he rationalised. The round three ended with me bailing out early and Sam and Joe still unfinished when that last Ra tile was pulled from the bag. This turned out to be very lucky indeed. For me, that is

Andrew 37

Joe 36

Sam 35

Then we played Fae, which involves tiny pastel-coloured wizards who like to congregate, moving from one area to the neighbouring one until they are in an area with no one in any adjacent area. Once they’re sure they’re alone, they perform a ritual and score points. It’s an abstract puzzle game and pleasant enough.

Joe 59

Sam 55

Andrew 54

Thanks for the evening, gentlemen, and sorry for the late posting. See everyone in a few days.

Smug Too Soon

Another Tuesday, and yet rather than gathered around screens, six of the GNN brethren came together at my (Sam's) house for the still-slightly-surreal act of gaming face to face, around a shared table, touching wooden pieces, testing our wits and numeracy and - in this case - fondling Adam Hillmann's nuts. Thanks Adam. 

Also present was Adam T, Katy, myself and a slightly bewildered-looking Martin, appearing as though stumbling in from the mountains halfway through a Beckett play. It was kind of strange, but not so strange that we couldn't squeeze in a quick (new) game before Joe rocked up - as he rocked up, in fact, but he charitably let us continue - which was Whale Riders: The card game. 

This was a slightly Fuji Flush-esque undertaking of collecting cards in sets, and whenever a set was claimed (four 4's, six 6's and so on) by the collective owners, any other active sets imploded. There were a couple of other wrinkles, but it was very simple, and only took ten minutes to bash through:

Martin 42

Katy 35

Sam 31

Adam T 25

Adam H 16

Then with Joe present and happily amenable, we moved directly to another new game: Scape Goat, in which everyone is told (by the game) who the scape goat is, but it's lying to someone and nobody knows who. The air is thick with paranoia and the sound of pistachio shells cracking already, then Joe began talking about Steve Coogan's balls, which feature in a film he'd recently watched. We spent a good few minutes integrated the relevant testicles into the ongoing game, then I walked outside and realised the neighbour's doors were wide open. When I came back inside I decided I should warn everyone about the possible audience before the current goat impersonations really took hold. 

Scape Goat is simple on the rules, but trickier on working out what you should actually do. Definitely working out the scape goat isn't you is a good idea, but I failed miserably in game one, panicking and running to the cops when I suspected I was about to be framed. 

As it turned out, I wasn't:

Adam T (the scapegoat) wins!

Then we played again and Adam H worked out he was the scape goat before we could frame him. He - correctly - ran to the cops as well, and saved himself. 

Adam H (the scape goat) wins!

We then played Whale Riders: Not the card game, which comes with a board and little wooden whales.

 

It bore very little relation to the card game, with the only cards being contracts to fulfill as we - riding whales, naturally - swim around grabbing what we could to do so, in most Knizian fashion; all decisions tantalising and options designed to recede from sight like the tide going out before a tsunami. 

The big wave in this case was Adam H, who halfway through the game completed fifteen thousand contracts and scored a million pearls. That's what it felt like anyway, although it was much closer than we realised. 

Adam 18

Joe / Adam T 16 each

Sam 15

Martin 13

Katy 10

We split into two groups, with Joe, Katy and Martin playing new game #4 Renature, and myself and the Adams breaking out new game #5, Luzon Rails. I didn't pick up much of what was happening in Renature apart from some talk about neutral bushes and Katy's early-game confidence giving way to late-game doubt.

I was experiencing a similar narrative arc in Luzon Rails, in part because with both Adams assuring me I was winning, I let my iron grip on the isle of Luzon loosen like a railroad builder who got lucky with a first swing of the hammer and then spent the rest of the day admiring a single sleeper. 

As we build track we also control companies by owning shares in them. At the end of each round every company pays dividends so you're all trying to push their dividend value up by building track to prosperous places on the board. But companies can only build track with monies paid from auctioning shares, and there is the considerable rub, because you win the game by having the most personal cash. I shoulda bid for that last yellow share...

Adam H 109

Adam T 103

Sam 99

With Renature still puzzling the other end of the table, Adam T took his leave and vanished into the night. I tempted Adam H to stay by flinging all the luscious pieces of Project L (not a new game; we played it last week) onto the table. 

It's very easy to pick up and play, but you still want to win, right? And I thought I'd triumphed, but I may have been just a bit innumerate by this point.

Adam 22

Sam 17

As we packed that away, Katy reminded me that we should never invite Adam for this very reason. Renature concluded with Katy saying "I might have been smug too soon".

 Going by the scores, she was right.

Martin 78

Katy 72

Joe 50-something

The jury seemed to be out - but enjoying the debate, with all of them surprised how thinky it was for an alleged 'family' game, but perhaps impressed all the same. "It was long" Katy pointed out. Martin said he wouldn't even attempt it with four. Joe looked slightly rueful, whether at his performance or the purchase itself, he'll have to explain. I tried to get them to stay longer, but with 11 o'clock now past, it was time to wrap up another delightful evening. Lovely to be back!