When Ben Rode the Snail

Tuesday, and despite a flurry of last-minute drop outs, there were still seven of us gathered around my kitchen table - Ian, Martin, Laura, Chris, Andrew, myself and long-time absentee Ben, who hadn't been seen in these here parts for a good half a year. Welcome back Ben!

We began the evening with a rousing game of Fuji Flush. This game's potential for volume is now nearing Hugo-like proportions, as the table regularly erupted in joy or dismay - but most often dismay. Andrew and Martin were down to their final card first, only for Laura, Ian and I to join them. Laura had the misfortune to pick up cards valued no higher than 4 though, which meant she kept going bust. My cards weren't much better. And fate was sealed when the Endersby/Griffith pair combined to win the game together:

Andrew/Martin 0 cards left
Ian/Laura/Sam 1 card left
Ben/Chris 3 cards left

With that appetiser out of the way, we moved on to the main courses of the evening. Ian seemed curious enough about Near and Far that we thought it worth recruiting another player, and Ben joined us at one end of the table as the other four played the barrel-rolling game that is Polterfass. I didn't see much of this, but I did hear that at one point Martin drank 46 beers. Really, the game should be called something else. It wasn't enough to out-booze Laura, either:

Laura 77
Martin 62
Chris 38
Andrew 6

 Nefertiti

They then set about haggling over presents for Nefertiti, whilst we continued adventuring in Near and Far. As explained in the previous post, there's a strong story element to the game, but the gist of it is that you're gathering adventurers to go off together and adventure, with the not-totally-hidden agenda of getting your camps down before anyone else - competitive tent-pitching, in a way. We don't mind bumping into each other on the road but if it happens in town, we have a duel, as appearances must be kept up.

Near and Far

Certain spots on the board trigger story elements where one reads out a passage from a book and something happens - or, as occurred to us, nothing happens. At least that was how the early stages went. Then Ben rescued a lady from a cage, and rode a giant snail. But his rewards were a phobia of caves and sores on his backside.

As you travel about you're gathering coins and gems - how many depends on how attentive your crew is - and spending them to purchase artefacts. Your crew can also help you fight and negotiate hazards. But somewhat perversely the adventurers don't like sharing space with other adventurers from their own faction, so there's a bit of personnel juggling at play.

Ian at the saloon

Over in ancient Egypt, they came to the end of Nefertiti before we finished Near and Far, and Chris won the Pharaoh's favour, despite buying the titular character a bunch of chairs - much to Martin's disdain:

Chriss 113
Andrew 89
Martin 88
Laura 84

They moved onto the trick-taker of the moment, Cobras, whilst we surged toward the end of our adventuring. It was a close-run thing, but in the end Ian won on his debut, whilst Ben was left to rue his decision to ride the snail:

Ian 68
Sam 65
Ben 54

Cobras was still in full swing, so Ben called it a night and Ian and I bashed out a couple of quick games in NMBR9 - the nines came out right at the end!

Sam 93
Ian 90

And 303, the Battle of Britain-themed bunfight in the air. Ian's job as the Luftwaffe was to reach London with his bomber, while my fighters tried to stop him. The Luftwaffe has fighters as well, but they are trying to shepherd the bomber forward and keep it from being attacked.

Ian attacks

It's a quite luck-heavy game (dice-rolling decides hits) but very-fast moving. Fortunately for London - and the world - I managed to blow up the bomber on round five:

Allies win
Nazis are defeated

By now they were scoring Cobras, and although Andrew had emerged the victor, every single one them broke the hundred mark!

Andrew 132
Martin 127
Laura 103
Chris 100

We polished off the evening with a game of Wibbell, notable in the main for Martin's alacrity of thought and Chris' silence until the last few rounds, where he suddenly burst into life and shouted out "Zither!" Or maybe that was Andrew. I don't remember now. I do recall shouting out "Moustachioed!" only to be beaten to the punch. If only I'd gone for Pistachio instead.

Martin 14
Sam 12
Andrew 8
Laura 6
Chris/Ian 4 each

It's a great game, Wibbell, but surprisingly tense. Possibly better as an evening-starter rather than an evening-ender? I was energised by it, but with the clock approaching 11, it was time to say goodnight.

Nefertiti say Nefertiti again

Another weekend games night at Sam’s. This time shifted forwards to Friday. At first, the was Sam, Joe and I around the table, along with Stanley (keen for another battle after his win at Lords of Waterdeep) and little Joe (in a team with Sam). This time the chosen game was The Art Of War, Knizia’s cunning game of luck. However, tonight was not Stanley’s night as time and time again he tried to take castles, only to end up one dice short when attacking.

Sam (and little Joe) 14
Andrew 9
Joe 8
Stanley 0

Then, with a disappointed Stanley retiring to bed (as gracious a loser as he was a winner last week) the three grown adults decided what game they should play next. We chose Nefertiti, the recent smash hit at GNN. I explained most of the rules to Joe while Sam was off doing other things, and when he came back it was simply a matter of tying up a few loose ends, answering some of Joe’s insightful questions, and we were off!

It was an interesting game. Sam felt it was more confrontational than before, and I noticed that the spread of money seemed to be quite uneven: either you were skint or rich and not much in between. Joe made a move that stretched our interpretation of the rule book. He asked if he could asks us to discard a card of a type that he didn’t have in his hand. We had previously assumed that a player needs to have one of a particular card in his own hand to make other players discard theirs, but the rule book didn’t explicitly say this, and the discussion on BGG seemed to agree with Joe: no need for the player of the discard action to have the card that he wants players to discard.

This move was perhaps enough to get him the win, while my unused royal seals just got me past Sam into second in a very close game.

Joe 151
Andrew 143
Sam 141

After this, we considered the next game. Railways of the World: Mexico was suggested, sicne it was still early, but with a phone call expected from one of Joe’s daughters around ten o’clock, we went for the shorter delights of Alhambra.

I like to think that we played it in the spirit it was meant to be played: in tense silence with an occasional Al Pacino impersonation whenever we felt another player was encroaching on our territory. In the end, it was Sam’s walls what won it. Joe’s walls kept him hemmed in for most of round two as he swapped tiles from his reserve.

Sam 143
Andrew 128
Joe 124

We felt there was still time for one game, so Las Vegas was brought out, along with a cheese board with crackers with Stilton  and a block of Cheddar heavier than a leather-bound Bible, along with an Indian pickle (or chutney, not sure which it was and I forget the name) which was very nice indeed. And Sam reaped the karmic rewards of his generosity with the scores ending as:

Sam 550
Andrew 470
Joe 310

Oh, how I regret that last minute double six that knocked me out of a first place and handed a cash reward to Sam in round two. But that’s Las Vegas for you. Cruel, but there’s no arguing with fate. Ah, board games: Every evening with them brings a new moral lesson.

And cheese.

On the form table, Sam closes in on Martin, Joe makes an appearance and not much else happens.

						Points
Martin	2	2	1	1	1	7
Sam	1	1	3	1	2	8
Andrew	2	2	2	2	3	11
Joe	3	3	1	3	5	15
Matt	1	3	2	5	5	16
Adam	3	1	3	5	5	17
Ian	4	2	5	4	4	19
Katie	1	3	5	5	5	19
Stanley	4	1	5	5	5	20
Hannah	2	5	5	5	5	22

Finally, we also have an Alhambra division, which sees Sam and Paul as the two Goliaths of this game straddling our great nation from Bristol to Croydon.

You Ankhers

Saturday night’s alright for fighting, according to Elton John, but recently it’s also been alright for gaming. Sam hosted while his wife’s absence meant he was housebound. The evening started early since Sam’s oldest son, Stanley, was keen for a game of Lords of Waterdeep, with little Joe in charge of distributing cubes.

Matt texted to say he couldn’t make it, so there were four of us around the table: myself, Sam, Stanley and Ian. Waterdeep is familiar enough to all of us that no introduction is necessary. I made sure I always had plenty of money coming in, while Stanley had a powerful machine for collecting Intrigue cards. At the end, Stanley came first, and I was trying to win quite hard.

Stanley 122
Sam 114
Andrew 112
Ian 103

Martin turned up and watched the end of the game. He noted with approval Stanley’s low-key celebrations on winning. After that, Sam put his children to bed, and the rest of us played Biblios. Martin told us that the real tie-breaker was amount of gold left in your hand (how boring). This game was remarkable for no one going for orange, and so it was discarded at the end of the game. Also, there were loads of church cards making things complicated.

Martin 7
Ian 3 (+7 gold)
Andrew 3 (+4 gold)

Sam rejoined us and we decided on a new game: Nefertiti. This is a game of bidding on cards at a constantly changing set of market places. Once the not difficult rules were explained, we were off. Winning an auction means you can take either two cards, or one card that has the royal seal on it. Then on your next go, you can trade these seals for special actions (or keep them for three point each). And after each turn, the player passes on the ankh to his neighbour so we can keep track of whose go it is.

Collecting sets is good, unless other people are collecting the same sets. Then the value of both sets goes down. We all started well, going for the same special action of immediately scoring a set in your hand. But Sam and Martin later managed to build up a new sets that only they had, sending them far ahead of me and Ian.

Martin 146
Sam 134
Andrew 98
Ian 82

It was a lot of fun, and with each market having different criteria for closing the auction, it never got boring or samey. I think we shall be playing this again soon.

Then, to finish of, Mutineer was brought to the table for the first time in –oooh – over a year at least. I was quite drunk by now, but as I recall we sailed round in circles while Sam was captain for most of the game. The least mutinous game of mutineer ever. His bribes for support were so consistent (always one point) that we decided it was more like a wage than a bribe. How anyone else ever had the right goods for the island we were heading to is a mystery to me.

Finally, we noted that the amusingly titled island Fingerhut is actually one of the duller places on the table.

Martin 53
Sam 31
Andrew 19
Ian 18

And with that, it was over. Nice to have a new game like Nefertiti that’s fun and challenging, and also nice to be reminded that Mutineer is a good game.

I’m too tired to do a form table just now, but be aware that Martin is just two away from a perfect five.