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.

Novocon for the soul

Our fondness for squeezing as many board games into one cottage in the country has not happened recently. Instead, Anja and Steve have kindly offered to recreate the experience over a weekend

Saturday

Thanks to the appalling traffic on the M3, Chris couldn’t make it to Sam’s beforehand and had to go straight there. Due to some confusion over house numbers, he knocked on a stranger’s door before realising that the overall ambiance of paint pots and discarded ladder, this probably wasn’t the right place. He called Sam for further directions while people from inside the house stared at him. Obviously, Chris’ “Weekend Bailiff” look had unnerved the locals.

But he found the place, then me, Sam and Gonz arrived, followed by Adam and Hannah. We were ready to play!

We split into two groups. Four of us (Sam, Adam, Chris and Anja) chose Macao. The rest of us went Waterdeeping. For the first time in ages, I wasn’t black or purple, which meant I kept looking at the wrong players on the board for the opening rounds. I went for my previous tactic of only going for big scoring quests, while Gonz did the opposite, picking up small quests by the dozen. Steve relied on Intrigue cards, which he would gaze at longingly.

Hannah couldn’t get an engine started, and my quests scored big during the game, but low during the final bonus stage. Gonz, already in the lead by the final round, shot off into the distance, and Steve crept up on me right at the end.

Gonz 178
Andrew 131
Steve 131
Hannah 103

Then Jon arrived! The people on Macao didn’t seem anywhere near ending, so as Steve went off to do fatherly things, we began a new game, La Guerre des Moutons, otherwise known as Wooly Bully. This puzzle-ish game of tile placement requires that each player tries to build the biggest possible field with their sheep in. You have to match the sides of the tiles you put down, plus there are wolves in neighbouring forests who can ruin your flock, or hunters who can kill the wolves.

At the start of the game, no one knows who is which colour. Jon said this meant you could bluff as to which colour you were. As such, I began by trying to make people think I was yellow and helped build that field. Before I knew it, Hannah had completed it, and it was large enough to win the game for her. So much for bluffing. I could’ve equalled her, but I couldn’t find the right tile for the final space. Gonz stole the win from Jon by putting down a wolf in a nearby forest just at the last minute.

Hannah 18
Andrew 12
Jon 5
Gonz 3

They still hadn’t finished on Macao, so with Steve back at the table, the five of us went for 7 Wonders, with the Cities expansion. After my last dismal showing, I wasn’t confident but at least it wasn’t all new to me. My strategy was to get money and rely on my neighbours having lots of resources, and it seemed to work well. I got The Palace and some very nice black cards. Hannah and Steve built huge armies, at which point Jon got a dove token rendering him immune to attack and forcing Steve and Hannah’s massed ranks to combat each other instead. In my imagination it was a terrible battle of blood and revenge. In truth, it was mostly Steve sighing in disgust and picking up a “-1” token.

Andrew 73
Gonz 69
Steve 67
Jon 53
Hannah 45

By now the other table had brought their epic Macao session to an end after over two and a half hours.

Adam 65
Sam 47
Anja 44
Chris 42

After this, my notes get confused, not helped by the batteries in my phone running out, so no photos to help me remember what happened after what.

Cube Quest was broken out. This game is a simple knockabout contest, and we at GNN Towers are slowly realising we’ve been playing almost every rule wrong. This time, it was the role of the medic cubes to be clarified. Now we were playing by the real rules Steve beat John 2-0, and then Chris and Gonz shared the honours 1-1. And Adam beat Sam in a deeply thoughtful strategic game. Anyone looking at them would’ve assumed it was chess, but in fact it was Hey That’s My Fish. Adam 49, Sam 43.

Chris tries to flood the midfield, while Gonz goes for fast wingers

Even in Cube Quest, cultural stereotypes shine through.

Also around this time, Sam regained his title of Mr Biblios as he took first in a four-played game. Sam 7, Adam 4, Gonz 2, Chris 0.

Anja and Steve went into the kitchen to prepare dinner, we split into two. Chris, Gonz and Jon went onto the dining table to play a Discworld game, Ankh-Morpock. Chris won. In fact, he didn’t realise he’d won until two rounds after he’d actually done it. He finally worked it out just as Gonz was going to declare his own victory. Jon came third.

While this game carried on, the other four of us went for 7 Wonders sans expansions. This time, I failed to get going since the wonder I had, Stonehenge, was a bit rubbish, frankly. Hannah came second, to her delight, and Sam had two high scoring guilds to push him into first.

Sam 66
Hannah 53
Adam 52
Andrew 46

After this, Hannah and I played Mr Jack. I won the game but Hannah found it so stressful that she went home afterwards. I have that effect on women.

Finally, after food, people began their final game of the night. Adam, Sam, Anja and Steve went for a new option New England. The rest of us discussed and debated and finally settled on Spartacus. I’m not a fan, but it was either that or more discussion and debate. At least I wouldn’t have to learn any rules.

It was slightly better than before. Gonz’s rule of the loser of the first initiative roll goes straight to the middle of the board sped things up and avoided the humiliating sight of one gladiator chasing another one around the edge of the arena.

I’m still not a huge fan, though. The card game bit reminded me of I’m The Boss, and the fighting bits were just like the wars in Risk. It’s possible to win without winning any fights at all, which Gonz achieved.

Gonz 12
Andrew 11
Jon 10
Chris 9

On New England it finished,

Adam 37
Sam 36
Anja 35
Steve 21

We went home, tired but happy and very well fed.


Sunday


Today, Chris went home after he, Sam and Adam all played some Sunday football against the amusingly named Bathelona. Sam couldn’t make it today, and nor could Gonz, but Joe was able to escape from his lovely family for three short hours.

In attendance was myself, Joe, Jon, Anja, Steve and, finally, Hannah. When Joe and I arrived, Jon, Steve and Anja were giving Kingsburg a go. It was quite pretty, but hard going. Mostly because of the many interventions of baby Luther, who was not being the little angel he’d been the day before.

While they finished their game, Joe and I played Agricola: All Creatures Big and Little. Joe had recently been practising, honing his skills against his young daughter. And it showed. He glided through the game, twice picking up six lots of wood in one fell swoop, while I was left picking up scraps he left behind. He won 44-30.

When Hannah arrived as we were nearing the end of the game, she told us that Sam, Adam, Chris et al had lost 7-1. Adam would be along soon. He probably needed some time to himself. He had, however, won man of the match so that should have cheered him up.

Then the guys at the big table decided to give Kingsburg another go. Now they felt confident of whizzing through it at the sensible pace. Hannah, Joe and I played a new game, Spyrium, from the maker of Caylus. This game of putting pieces down and then picking them up again doesn’t sound great, but once you get going, it starts to make sense and it’s quite fun.

Hannah got the hang of it first, powering past us with two technique cards that gave her cheap buildings. So many, that Joe was pushed further and further to the corner of the table.

Hannah 75
Joe 67
Andrew 62

Our game ended as the game of Kingsburg finished and, now that Adam had arrived, we were ready to change partners, as it were. The two games of Kingsburg ended:

Anja 35
Steve 25
Jon 20

Steve 36
Jon 35
Anja 34

The winner of the second game was effectively chosen by a roll of a die at the very end. They could have saved all that time, and just said “1, 2, or 3, I win” right at the start.

Next, Steve and Anja went to start work on food and Joe returned home to force his kids to learn things. The four of us remaining decided on Power Grid: Jon’s favourite game. We chose it while he was out walking the dog, and you should’ve seen the look of joy on his face when he came in. It was like Christmas!

While we played, Steve and Anja found enough time to play three rounds of Cube Quest, with Steve winning 2-1.

As for Power Grid, I had a better idea of what I was doing, but it seemed awfully similar to last time I played it: Hannah didn’t have enough money to power all her cities and Jon spent way too much money on a power station and then sat there in a daze, saying “I shouldn’t have done that.” Adam showed us his blister. I’m sure that didn’t happen last time, though. I would have remembered that. It was quite a monster, and it explained why Adam was walking around on the heels of his feet, waddling along like a penguin with a magnificent beard.

At the end, Adam, Jon and I all built and powered 17 cities in the same round. It came down to the money tie-breaker. However, I had only one single note in reserve. Personally, I think this shows efficiency and good planning and therefore I should have won, but the rules said otherwise.

Jon 17 cities and £26,000
Adam 17 cities and £15,000
Andrew 17 cities and £1,000
Hannah 15 cities

After this, we all sat up at the big table and ate a lovely roast dinner. It was just after nine when we’d finished and cleared away the dinner things, so we decided to wind down with a quick game of The Resistance.

I say “quick”, but I mean “agonising”. This is a bunch of gamers who love discussions, and boy, does it show. The spies were me and Steve, and we were sitting next to each other. To make it harder, I had to start. First, I sent in innocent Jon, and we succeeded. Then, Steve sent in himself, me and Hannah. Another clear round.

Steve’s choice of sending in two spies seemed to work wonders as now everyone thought we were innocent. Unfortunately, too innocent, since both of us were sent on the third mission, too. We both put in fail cards. And now the discussions began.

The main debate argument in our favour was that Steve sent me on a mission with him, and a spy wouldn’t send another spy on a mission in case they both chose “fail” and blew their cover. The argument against that, from Anja, was that Steve may not have known what he was doing.

The whole game rested on how clever we thought Steve was. What should have been a jolly game of bluffing and guessing suddenly came very close to us dissecting exactly what we thought of our friend. Adam was the leader on the critical round, and he had to chose. He asked each of us our opinion. I simply said what he’d said earlier, thinking if I agreed with him, he’d send me. He did. But not Steve, thankfully.

I put in a Fail card. My cover was blown, and there was no point in hiding it. Now it was just a case of who the last spy was. Hannah thought it was Steve, so the rest of them went on a successful mission and the evil government was overthrown.

By now it was half past ten, and Jon had to get back, kindly giving me a lift most of the way. The crisp November aired filled our lungs as we stepped outside after two days of farming, quests, revolution, building, trading, and sheep. What a world we’ve built for ourselves!

On the division, it’s all about Adam, as he tops the table in Points and Points Ratio and also on my silly two-player division as well. This guy has to be stopped somehow. Maybe he’s trying to fit as many wins as he can into the time before he becomes a dad and he has more important things to think about.

We gamed, we swore, we conked-out

Games weekends are to GNN what oases are to Nomadic tribes in the Sahara. A chance to group together, shelter from the harsh realities of life and, mostly, have a drink. This weekend was called to squeeze in as much gaming time into Anja and Steve's lives before the pitter patter of tiny feet starts waking them up at ungoldy hours.

I forgot my notebook, so my recollections may be vague or even just plain wrong. I managed to squeeze all the results onto both sides of an Agricola scoresheet, but in no particular order. In fact, there's one set of results that I don't know what the game is. It's the one with Ghent in it. That's all I remember about it, really.

We arrived at the cottage on Friday afternoon and soon noted how much smaller it was than the last one. Sure, it slept five quite comfortably, but we were entertaining up to nine (ten, including little one-year-old Tristan) so it was a bit of a squeeze. Plus, the bathroom was Condensation City, with the walls almost permanently wet.

No room in the fridge? Lucky it's cold outside!

The first issue on arrival was the curious situation of: no mobile signal, but we did have wifi. We were, at the same time, connected and yet not connected to the outside world. Adam went out to payphones and high hills, looking for a way to call people, but with no success. He ended up going all the way to Jon's house to tell him where the cottage was, but while Adam was out, Jon, Steve and Anja all arrived.

As for the games, what were the highlights?

In Ascending Empires, Jon spends ten minutes convincing Steve to attack Sam, not him. Finally persuaded, Steve flicks his ships in Sam's direction only to find he doesn't have enough firepower. When Steve challenged Jon on this point, Jon responded with "Why did you listen to me?"

My gaming achievement of an otherwise poor weekend was beating Sam twice at Mr Jack within three rounds, once as detective, once as evil killer. Meanwhile, Steve enjoyed Mr Jack but he criticised the game's lack of genuine Whitechapel atmosphere.

Mid-Cuba

Power Grid: In the final decisive round, Jon, Adam and Morag were chasing two houses. Bidding wars were fierce and when Jon found out he'd paid too much for the house and couldn't afford to power it, he simply bought up everyone else's fuel as a spoiling tactic, thus handing the win to the forward-planning Hannah.

Stanley's taste in films proved to be a hit.

Stanley was adorable when he explained how he didn't usually play all the rules to Ascending Empires because he was "a little bit smaller". He did, however, come third in a five player game of Carcassone (above Steve and Morag) and beat his sleepy dad at morning games of two-player Agricola and Carassone. I hope that made up for him having to eat on the floor because there wasn't a scrap of table-space left in the house.

Trans America. In the third round, three of us had cities in the north-east but it seems that each was waiting for the others to build there first, allowing Anja to take the round, go from third to first, and send us all crashing out. In terms of proportion, it was the biggest win of the weekend (Anja 7, Steve 14, Andrew 15, Sam 17).

The Resistance offered up it's usual mix of drama and disaster. Drunk, tired and emotional. That's my excuse for accidentally playing a success card in the final round, when I should've played a fail. These sort of things happen all the time in espionage. Also, why didn't we see the signs in game one when Adam went to check something in the instructions, and his hands were visibly shaking?

Fimo cows and wooden sheep

And after a very long Saturday, which involved swimming in the morning for some and ended in The Resistance until half past midnight, there wasn't much energy for gaming on Sunday morning. I slept until ten, and Adam and Stanley mostly played games on Adam's computer before we packed up and ended the weekend at Jon's house with a big brunch and a final few games.

As for the ultimate weekend winner, let us all throw our hats in the air and give a loud "huzzah" to Hannah, who won both points and points ratio to walk away as the undoubted champion. Sam won on the medal table.