Isle of Games

 Isle of games? We all love games!

Sam picked me up at 7.30 on a clear Friday morning. We set off to distant shores for a couple of day’s board gaming with the old London crew. We picked up Chris along the way, noting with disappointment that he wasn't waiting for us at the window like an expectant puppy, and we sped off across the south of England to Portsmouth and, from there: the Isle of Wight!

Paul had moved there a couple of years ago and now we had the rare chance of taking eight bags of board games across the seas to a whole new island! GNN’s plan of world dominance is working perfectly!

We took the opportunity at Portsmouth to peruse the souvenir stand in the coffee shop and decided to buy Paul and Isle of Wight pencil. A shocking pink one. After all, we couldn’t come empty-handed.

Once over the Solent, which was so calm that you could’ve played Bandu on it, we weaved our way through some country roads to Paul’s home in Shanklin. The only downside of living here is that the name suggested the Smiths song “Frankly Mr Shankly” which, in turn, led Sam to periodically sing “and I’ll meet you at the cemetery gates” throughout the weekend.

As for games, our first (at 2.20pm) was a historical one. Not just because 7 Wonders is set in the Ancient world, but because we were using the last page of the book of scoresheets. Chris said that you couldn’t buy replacements any more since the iconography had changed, so he’d buy a new one and leave this copy on a high shelf somewhere to see out it’s old age in peace. We used our new pencil to mark down the final scores and Sam’s sciences (34 pts) won.

Sam 59

Paul 54

Chris 50

Andrew 47

Paul then tried to choose a game at random by giving Chris directions (“Light green bag, third game from the back”) but that didn’t really work. Instead, I suggested Railways of the World and so we got out the old eastern US map and got to work. Paul chose his baron based solely on the man’s beard. Sam leapt into an early lead as he picked up bonuses and kept his bond count low. I went the other way, being bond-heavy and even having to pay money back once at the end of a round instead of taking income like everyone else. It kind of kept me in the game, as Chris and I fought over second until my seven bonds dragged me back. Chris ended on two bonds and $74,000. 

Sam 64

Chris 56

Andrew 50

Paul 34

Then we played a quick couple of rounds of Cross Clues (20 points and then 24) before I went for a half hour nap and the other three played Planet Unknown. I came in for the final third of the game and became fascinated at how people moved their cubes up the bonus tracks. Sam and Chris rolled them upwards, Sam with his index finger and Chris sometimes using his thumb, while Paul picked his cubes up and moved them square by square. In the end, Sam was one square tile away from completing the planet, hence his comprehensive win.

Sam 75

Chris 58

Paul 50

Then Sam cooked our first lovely meal of the weekend while us three played Cascadia. According to my notes, we indulged in a lot of bad animal puns while playing but thankfully I didn’t write any down.

Chris 98

Paul 89

Andrew 77

Then we ate Sam’s chicken fajitas which were delicious but Sam berated himself over the lack of chilli.

For the evening’s main event, we chose Keyflower. As is usual, Sam and I were taken by the artwork on the little cottages with individual interiors that allowed you to almost make up a story about the occupants.

After a rules refresher from Chris, we got playing. The only setback was caused by the meeple bag and tiles bag both being black such that when Chris went to draw some tiles mid game, he found it half-full of meeples. Paul won, despite having the smallest village. Or maybe because of. I’m not sure.

Paul 48

Andrew 44

Sam 38

Chris 34

Then we played Push It to clear the eurogaming fog in the air. We played twice as teams and Chris and Sam beat Paul and I twice, 11-2 and 12-3.

Paul got the nickname “the hammer” as his forceful play would usually send either the jack or his puck whizzing down the end of the table, occasionally bouncing off my tin of beer with a comedy “boinggg.”

Sam started to make moves for bed until he heard that we were going to play So Clover and he quickly retook his seat at the table.

We did well, 22/24, but were stymied by a cruel decoy on Chris’ clover that had words that would fit perfectly with three possible clues.

Then, with Sam definitely going to bed, we played King Domino. In fact, we played it so quietly that Sam popped back in to make sure we were actually playing.

I got a mine-monopoly for a win.

Andrew 56

Chris 52

Paul 30

And so to sleep.

Saturday morning was clear and limpid. We were all up by 9am and Chris made a fried breakfast before we went for a walk towards the sea, popping into a few shops as we did. 

Finally, at about noon, we played our first game. After a little discussion I said I was leaning towards Imhotep and so it was brought to the table. Paul played a cagey game, relying on the Burial Chamber and picking up cards such that he didn’t score at all until round 5. Chris won the obelisk, I tried to boss the pyramid and Sam relied on end-of-game scoring cards.

Chris 42

Paul 41

Andrew 35

Sam 34

Chris was delighted at his win at this game - his bette noir of board games. A then, after that, they went for a quick walk while I made pizza. On their return, Paul suggested playing Push It, but this time using an old magnetic football pitch that once belonged to Sam but Paul found it while moving house. The fact that it had borders seemed to dissuade Paul from his hammerish ways and he played a more measured game, posting a last minute comeback that was just a little too late.

Sam 12

Chris 9

Paul 8

Then, while the pizza was cooking, we played Cross Clues but did really badly: monkey and cow were both in play, as were plate, tomato and orange.

After pizza the table was slowly moved away from the wall to allow us enough space for a game of Xia: Legends of a Drift System. Sam set up the table and side table, requesting that no one ask him any questions while he did, so Paul and Chris did the washing up.

Paul (and I) got a rules explanation. Then, in the game Sam went exploration crazy while I just traded. I played a very chilled game, so that when I got a mission to kill an outlaw I rejected it for being out of character.

Chris was an early leader and the first to get a tier 2 ship. But Sam was close behind him, especially after he rolled a 20 and got another fame point. 

Paul turned rogue, after he was caught trying to transport prisoners across a planet border. Sam was out exploring when he was caught in a gravitational anomaly that dragged him into a star. 

While Paul chased after a non-player ship, Chris became an archaeologist, rolled a 20 and then reached 12 points, our target for this game. Sam needed to get two fame points to match Chris so he went on a crowd pleasing journey across as many borders as possible hoping to roll a 20. Which he did! But he picked up so much damage that the next scratch on his ship killed him. 

Paul went crazy with his last turn. Attacking me (but my shield, useless until then, repelled him) and then attacked Sam too. Finally he also tried a border crossing technique in search of the elusive 20, which he got but only slightly before his ship disintegrated.

Chris 12

Sam 10

Paul 8

Andrew 5

We ended at 5.15, a little under 3 hours of play. It's always a satisfying feeling after finishing a big game even if, as in this case, we lowered the winning score from 20 down to 15 and then 12. Still, a lot of fun.

Paul started prepping his chicken for the evening meal so Sam, Chris and I played Bandu. I thought I was being mean with my choices for Chris but clearly not being mean enough.

Chris

Sam and Andrew out in the same round

Then while Paul's curry was cooking, we played Fun Facts. We learned that we all have similar ideas about how grown up we feel (between 60-75) and that Sam and Chris hardly ever carry cash.

As Paul cooked, I took a shower and after a quick chat about politics, we sat down to eat. It was lovely although Chris bit on the only chilli in the mix and needed a moment to recover.

Next up was another epic: Northgard. Chris insisted on using the miniatures, not the cubes. "It needs the plastic vikings," he asserted. Paul quickly made three enclosed spaces and ran off into an early lead. It actually started very peacefully until Sam got his third big building and I was able to defeat him with the last card in my hand.

After that it was a ding-dong battle between me and Sam with Chris lurking nearby, hoping we'd weaken ourselves enough that he could pounce.

We made it all the way to round seven. REM on the stereo sang "The time to rise has been engaged," which seemed appropriate. Paul passed first, clearly the points leader. 

I get my third building off Chris but in the end only Sam has cards left in his hand. He attacks Chris first, but fails. Then me, but again fails. Finally, in an audacious tactic that even Napoleon would have loved, he took one solitary viking and sent it against my least defended building (only two vikings) needing some luck with the dice.

He didn't get it and I hung on for a win. Phew, another epic.

But, for the record the points were

Paul 84

Chris 64

Andrew 47

Sam 37

Finally we thought we'd wind down with Decrypto. Surely after two epics, this would last a more manageable length of time.

How wrong we were as it went all the way into round eight. Chris and I definitely got one of their words and were good at selecting another, but two of theirs eluded us. They, too, struggled to pin down our words. 

At one point Chris scared me by reading the wrong numbers when he announced his guess but he quickly corrected himself.

Finally in round eight, Sam and Paul had their second miscommunication and Chris and I were weary winners.

Chris and Andrew, tapping your phone line

Sam and Paul, tapping their feet

Another post midnight finish for the four of us.

Sunday began for most at about 9am although Chris had been up with a stomach ache for some time. Too much rich food and port, he said.

With an eye on our 11.30 departure time, we played only a couple of games. First was Alhambra. Among the money dealt to Paul at the start of the game were several '1's, giving him flexibility when buying tiles. Chris seemed to poo-pooh flexibility as he quickly built a wall around his small Alhambra, giving him a lot of early points for a long wall but few options for expansion.

Paul 120

Andrew 101

Sam 95

Chris 83

We packed up the car and had 40 minutes left so we ended with a game of So Clover. And what an amazing experience it was. All I can say is that So Clover is not a morning game. We all did badly, and we even managed to get every single guess wrong on Paul's clover and then only one right on our second guess. 

Everything is wrong

9/24

Shocking. We could blame the looming deadline but I don't think we'd have done much better with more time.

And with that we set off into the storm and back to home. Thanks for the weekend, Paul, and thanks to everyone for the memories. It was special.

The Glow of Dishonesty

An unusual games night in one way - no Martin, Joe, Katy or Andrew - but numbers swelled to six with Mel and Ben hosting and Gareth rejoining us after a short absence. Ian, Adam H and myself made up the sextet, and after comparing notes on general health and wellbeing, we kicked things off with Just One. 

It was easy at first. Too easy - we shrugged off the odd duplicate and advanced processionally towards maximum points, to the point that each correct answer seemed curiously procedural and lacked tension. But then, like a sneak thief, Just One crept up on us and dealt out a number of duplicates. Adam's word was Flintstone, and with two Bedrocks and two Wilmas cancelling each other out, Mr Hillmann was left with a single clue: knapping. Impressively, he knew what it meant in terms of definition. But he didn't know what it meant for Just One, and having stumbled once we did so again on Ben's final guess, leaving us with a merely reasonable 10/13. How the casually mighty fall.

Then we split into threes, with Adam leading Mel and Gareth to Mexico in Railways of the World as Ben, Ian and I set up Terra Nova. This is the short version of the epic Terra Mystica, which Ian said he'd attempted to play online and found a struggle. That mirrored mine and Andrew's experience on the table several years ago, but thankfully Terra Nova is considerably more accessible. 

Mechanically, you're simply building houses and upgrading them into trading posts, then upgrading trading posts into palaces. Thematically, the changing landscape of the board represents obstacles, as each of us prefer a different terrain to settle on, so we spend shovels to do a bit of preparatory landscaping. And, as there are rewards for chaining buildings together into towns, and having the largest chains at the end of the game, there are incentives to build in each other's way. 

Ben got off to a strong start, utilising his faction's abilities to outbuild Ian and I in the centre of the board. Terra Nova has round-by-round rewards which I tried to focus in on, possibly to my detriment. Ben and Ian were taking a longer-term, strategic view, possibly echoing Adam's progress on Railways next to us. 

I wasn't keeping track of this at all, except at one point Adam said "Oh. I forgot to tell you" and I sighed with relief inwardly that it's not just me who misses critical rules. There was some tense bidding at one point, between Adam and Gareth. Mel may have been struggling with cashflow, as she sighed as well: "I'm bidding nothing, obviously". Adam helped himself to another of Ian's kilo of Lindt.

On the Terra Nova board, we were nigh on hurtling towards the end. It's only five rounds and I'd been first to pass on all of them, I think. Meantime Ben's progress after a brief mid-game stall continued, and Ian ruminated on how badly he was doing - until he made a second town, joined his towns together for the biggest network, and accelerated past me into second. In the final scoring, it couldn't have been closer. Well, for Ian and Ben anyway. 

Ian/Ben 58 each

Sam 53

Terra Nova's tie-breaking suggestion is to play a game of Terra Mystica. We applauded the ambition, but passed. While Railways continued, we instead had a crack at Spots, the dog-collection game de jour. This was so fast-moving I forgot to take photos, but I survived a catastrophic bust to be first to six dogs.

Sam - top dog

Ben - hot dog

Ian - underdog

By which time, Mexico was fully networked and Railways had finished! Adam took the win here, shrewdly doing railway-y things I imagine. There wasn't enough time for a debrief...

Adam 55

Gareth 43

Mel 31

Because we swiftly moved on to Spicy, new to Ben and Mel. We played twice, and the first game was remarkable not only for how many times we challenged Adam, but how many times we challenged Adam on the number when he'd lied about the suit, and vice versa. Not only did he end the game by emptying his hand twice, he was also points leader by a huge amount at that juncture. I suggested we play again. 

Adam's confession that he found the duplicate peppers (red and blue) confusing, led to a lot of colour-announcing, which meant more words were being said and that meant it was easier, in theory, to spot a lie. But which part of the untruth was untrue? I felt confident on a few challenges - mostly on Gareth and Adam - but tended to challenge the wrong thing. Ben challenged as well, with a deal more success. Nobody emptied their hand twice (or at all?) but Ben's chiselling skills saw him take the victory on the last game of the night, as the mighty - Adam in this case - fell again:

Ben 23

Mel 14

Ian 12

Gareth and Sam 9 each

Adam 7

As we geared up for our walks and rides home, thanking our hosts, Mel remarked that Ben had the glow of victory about him. "I think it's the lying" Ben ventured happily. 

And with that, we fled to the night. Thanks to our hosts, to Ian's boss for the sack of chocolate, and everyone for another fun GNN night!

The Pits of Despair

Games night was at Hannah and Adam's last night, which proved a trial for a few of us; Hannah most of all, who had the unenviable task of settling an excited Arthur whilst rowdy gamers downstairs roared with various emotions. 

We began in the garden, where Adam encouraged us to wrestle Arthur on the trampoline. Arthur looked so full of beans we all demurred, and were then distracted by the cavernous pit of despair beneath the decking, which dropped a good fifteen feet or so to a dark and gloomy fate. After riffing on the pit of despair/slough of despond/wokingham of indifference etc, we stepped indoors for more cheery and colourful fare. Whilst Hannah began the uphill battle of Getting Arthur To Sleep, Adam H, Martin, Adam T, Katy, Gareth, Joe, and myself (Sam) sat around the table and tried to play Long Shot: The Dice Game. This is an allegedly simpler, shorter version of its predecessor Long Shot, but despite my boys and I previously blasting through it in a zippy 20 minutes, we found with seven of us the pace slowed considerably. 

The basics are simple, with 8 horses racing once around the track and the game ending when three of them cross the finish line. In each turn, two dice are rolled that determine which horse moves and how far. Each horse will also trigger another horse to move ('secondary movement') a single space, and players can manipulate these secondary movements as the game progresses. Then everyone takes a single action - betting on a horse (potential winnings), buying a horse (potential prize money) ticking off a helmet (additional betting opportunities) or jersey (additional secondary movements) or one of their numbers on a grid of concessions: when a row or column is filled on the concession grid you can grab a reward of cash, free bets, horse movements; even a horse. 

For a luck-pushing racing game, there was a lot of options, and the slightly fiddly nature of how one thing affected another caused much brow-furrowing puzzlement (everyone) and appalled harrumphing (Martin) especially as I inevitably got a rule wrong that deprived him of a horse. This was pit of despair #2, the befuddled atmosphere punctured only occasionally by Joe hopefully yelling "Come on, Scattershot!" and eventually ground to a relieved halt as Adam H claimed a win:

Adam H $106

Gareth $103
Katy $87
Joe $80
Sam $54
Adam T $40

Martin wouldn't even tell me what he scored, he was so disgusted (EDIT: he scored $95!). Whilst we'd been playing, Steve had arrived and listened to the slow-motion finish, and was now busting to play. I went off to cry in the bathroom while the next games were chosen: Joe, Katy, Martin and Adam T busted out the nightmare-avoidance fun of Sheepy Time whilst Adam H set up the more wakeful Railways of the World for the rest of us in the front room. 

This was new to Gareth, but he quickly picked up the simple-ish rules and the tactical nuances of controlling what parts of the board you can, snaffling up the areas around Florida and getting in Steve's way, as Adam and I contested things further up the coast. From early on Steve was finding himself cash-short and taking bonds, and suffering on the income track as result, going in sleeper-based circles into the Pit of Despair #3 as he seemed to build track more often than he delivered anything along it.

In the other room, it was a little more boisterous as the somnabulently-themed Sheepy Time was causing unthematic uproar.

uproar not pictured

Unbeknownst to us, this was also getting Arthur excited upstairs to find out what the hoo-ha was all about, possibly plunging Hannah into Pit of Despair #4 (-she was too polite to say) but whatever they were uproaring about, it ended with Adam T victorious. I didn't make a note of the scores so I'm not sure where anyone else landed, but they next broke out Scout:

...which Adam apparently won as well. Martin came into the front room asking "Has anyone not called Adam won a game tonight?" just as Front Room Adam was wrapping up victory on Railways of the World:

Adam 71

Sam 66

Gareth 59

Steve 39

Apparently not, although Gareth did briefly tie with one of them in Long Shot until a recount. 

Steve wondered what he was doing wrong in the Railways, and we debated how he could improve. Mainly I'd suggest he doesn't play any Adams, one of whom (Taylor) now headed off home, followed by Gareth and Steve, as the remaining five of us finished the evening with So Clover. Katy said she hated it because she always got things wrong, but in fairness she was the only person to get my (excellent, in my opinion) clue for MATCH THIEF (Cheater). Martin blamed her anyway, for not speaking up. Apart from that dent in our laterally wordy armour, it was an excellent effort: 28 out of 30. After an evening of highs and lows and many miniature dramas, it was time to end another chapter in the rich and varied tapestry of GNN. Until next time...

Elk! I need somebody!

 This week I arrived at 8 o’clock, my pace towards Sam’s house quickened by a text telling me that Railways of the World was already set up and waiting for me. Laura, Sam, Martin, Ian, Adam T, Adam H and Joe had already finished Cross Clues and now the table was crammed with two map-based games.

At the far end, Martin, Joe and Adam T were playing Brian Boru. This was the first time that no one needed a rules explanation, I think, and Laura noted that it was playing a lot quicker this time. This was despite Joe’s deviations into ruminations concerning the similarities between pistachios and mussels. There was also confusion when a phantom hand of four cards suddenly appeared on the table during the drafting phase. They finally worked out that Adam had put his two cards for Laura on top of Laura’s two cards for Martin.

The game ended at the same time as RotW finished and the scores (once I’d finally persuaded someone to tell me) were

Martin 41

Joe 29

Laura 26

Adam T 21

As for RotW, with four people on the Mexico map, it was bound to be a bit of a bun fight. Adam H started fast, picking up the Railway Executive card in the first round (two turns in a row) and immediately completed a delivery bonus and a service bonus. He and Ian tussled over the south of the country, turning it into a cyberpunk nightmare of twisted metal with barely enough space to walk.

I started very slow, which I blame on my lack of preparation: I only saw the board after I’d sat down at the table. Sam seemed to be distracted by the game’s use of the word “round” to describe what he’d consider a “turn”. There is probably a burning multi-page thread on BGG about this very topic.

But as for the game, Adam was unstoppable. By the end he had the upper half of the scoretrack all to himself and Ian’s reliance on bonds left him with what might be a lowest ever score.

Adam H 53

Sam 36

Andrew 23

Ian 12

Now we had all finished at the same time, there was a little rearranging and we all ended up playing what initially looked like two very similar games, Fjords and Cascadia. Both set in wild open countryside (Norway and Canada) and both involved tile placing, and they had artwork of landscapes that could’ve been done by the same artist.

I know little about Fjords apart from the occasional word drifting across the table (“Oh, poo,” said Martin and later “No!” said Sam) and at the end they agreed they’d all been too fast to put down tents.

Adam H 15

Sam 13

Adam T 12

Martin 10

Cascadia involves taking a terrain tile and an animal counter from a selection of four pairs available. Place the tiles to make large areas (like Kingdomino) but the different types of terrain don’t have to match. On top of that, place animals in certain formations to earn points: hawks not next to hawks, elks in a straight line etc. You can collect pine cones and then use them to change the available animals or chose tile/counter combinations that aren’t part of a pair.

Despite the random nature of drawing animal counters from a bag, there seemed to be a certain pattern emerging: elks were keen to come out in force while salmon barely made an appearance. And when they did, Ian was quick to pounce on them. 

Laura needed salmon as the game neared it’s end, but they just wouldn’t come out. Joe checked and there were four left after her last turn, but she hadn’t drawn any of them. As for me, I went big on elks and my Kingdomino instincts meant I couldn’t bring myself to not match up terrain types. This turned out to be a winning tactic as I just squeezed into first thanks to a single pine cone that I had left over for a bonus point.

Andrew 92

Joe 91

Ian 89

Laura 79

Then Adam T and Laura left. I didn’t have work the next day so I was able to stay until the end for a change. And, boy, am I glad I did. We played So Clover and ended the evening with a legendary perfect score! The first since Novocon, four months ago.

It wasn’t easy. I almost vetoed our guess of “Bite” for “Polar/mosquito” since I didn’t see how it related to Polar, but then someone reasoned: what else would you write? And it was a good call, as Sam, Martin and myself all got 6 points for our clovers.

So next Joe was up. And he’d been complaining that he had a pair of words that couldn’t be linked by one word. But it turned out Joe is smarter than he thought. His clue was “Rosa” which lead us to link “Forbidden/bus” for a very satisying 6. 

Ian’s was pretty straightforward. His clue of “Gallagher” for “Oasis/pair” was very nice. Another 6. Just one more to go.

Five down, one to go

“Don’t fuck it up, Adam,” we said supportively before we revealed his clover – the one that had taken longest to complete. We paused for thought over Adam’s spelling of “kids” as “kidz” and also “Eurgh!” as a clue. We considered and debated at length, causing Adam to lose his poker face and laugh. We couldn’t tell if that was a good sign or not. Afterwards he explained it was because Martin said the exact answer to a clue: “Sticky Salad? Eurgh!” but then hadn’t put the words in place.

But we finally got it and, thanks to Adam’s sticky salad, we clocked up another 6.

36 out of 36!

We all congratulated each other, people took photos and Joe added our names to the game’s Hall of Fame. Honestly, I don’t think the first people to climb Everest made as much of a fuss as we did.

But then, they didn’t get a full score on So Clover. A great way to end the evening. Thanks all, see you all soon.

Toad in the crokinole

On those rare occasions when GNN allows itself outside the confines of a single evening, it’s usually a cornucopia of different games. But this time, despite starting at eleven in the morning and ending after midnight, only six games were played in total.

I arrived at Sam’s in the morning, while he was strapping a bike to the roof of his car, sending his family off to a skate park while, inside, Coimbra was already set up on the kitchen table. This is a recent acquisition and seemed interesting enough that I asked to try it when Sam texted me at 10.10am to ask what I fancied playing.

Despite the board being the usual Euro smorgasbord of tracks, maps and icons, it’s pretty simple fare once you get into it. The storyline apparently concerns us being powerful families in the Portuguese town of Coimbra. Sam, determined to make the Pilgrim tactic work for once, sent his meeple off around various cities picking up bonuses while I dabbled in end-of-game scoring cards.

It was fun. The two-player version has spoiler dice placed in various sections, recreating the feeling of another player taking stuff you want, which makes for a tenser experience. I didn’t stand much of a chance but found it very enjoyable and suggested that it be put in Sam’s bag of games to take to Joe’s studio.

Clearly, this guy has just thought of a funny but entirely inappropriate joke

Sam 130
Andrew 101

Then, after poached eggs on toast, we had enough time for a game of NMBR9 before leaving the house. Sam shocked the gaming world by going up on only the third tile so I, foolishly, followed suit with the fourth.

He then had issues with keeping his tiles flat on the table. With all these distractions, it was a low scoring game.

3D NMBR9, anyone?

Sam 67
Andrew 32

Then we had a walk into town to Joe’s spacious studio, complete with shelf of daunting two-player strategy games at one end. One of the boxes wasn’t even a game – it was the rule book to a game you had to buy separately.

The three of us had a little time before Adam, the fourth and final gamer for today, arrived so we played a game of Ticket To Ride: Switzerland. This three-player version of the old familiar has a smaller map and much greater emphasis on getting tickets to score bonus points. In the end, I only had six tickets while Sam had fourteen tickets and managed to complete each one. But even this wasn’t enough to beat Joe.

Joe 145
Sam 131
Andrew 105

Then Adam arrived and here we all were: the core four, as we used to be. I couldn’t tell you how long it had been since the four of us crossed swords, but it seemed like a historical moment. So why not reflect that in our game choice: Time Of Crisis since now seemed like the only chance to introduce Adam to the joys of Roman upheaval.

Complete with dice terminus at the end of the table

I was the only one to not begin in Europe and from the start tried to defend myself with support rather than armies. This was mostly fine against the other players (apart from Egypt which Sam and I ruled on some kind of time-share basis) but the Nomads, Sassanids and even Goths didn’t seem impressed. In fact, it was a very barbarian-y game, with at least three of all types massed on our boards at one point.

Adam started well and was first Emperor after Joe couldn’t take advantage of the neutral emperor’s low support: he had five blue points, but no spare governor.

We paused for Sam, Adam and I to go out to get pizza and pop into Tesco (where I found someone at the back asking people if there was still a group of boys hanging around outside) to get more crisps. By the time we got back, Joe must have been studying the map since he soon pulled off an impressive move where he knocked Adam out of Thracia, beat Sam’s army in Italia and became Emperor despite forgetting that he had two basilicas.

Sam became emperor for the first time ever, when he unseated Joe using a Pretorian Guard, getting eight votes with nine dice. I pootled about in North Africa and the Middle East, far from any real action, constantly worried by the ever-increasing sassanid horde on my border. When the game ended there were five of them and a barbarian leader.

Joe was reinstated as emperor on the turn he passed sixty points and, at 8.00pm the game ended. I think it might have been a bit too long for Adam but I found that those four and a half hours flew past.

Joe 78
Sam 62
Adam 58
Andrew 45

Next up was Team Crokinole, Joe & Sam versus Adam & Andrew. J&S won the first round and A&A won the second, perhaps because Sam was distracted by trying to find evidence online of his belief that the hole in the centre was called the toad. He found it.

It looked like A&A were going to win the whole thing when we sped to 80 points in round three, but J&S are nothing if not persistent and they whittled our lead away. The score went from 95-55 at one point to 95-65, 95-85, 95-100. They’d stolen the win right at the end!

Joe and Sam 2 rounds
Adam and Andrew 1 round

At this point it was half past nine and Sam left for home, mindful of a drive to Devon tomorrow morning. The remaining three broke out Railways of the World: Mexico.

An early delivery bonus to Culican pushes up the opening player bid, and Joe finally got it for $9,000. He then built somewhere else, allowing Adam to take the delivery bonus and get an early lead. I went bond heavy which had the unintended effect of convincing Joe it was okay for him to take bonds too. I think my income only very briefly got into double figures.

But a railway executive and a delivery bounty to a city I was already connected to saved my bacon, and mid-game, I was the one to beat. Joe and Adam upgraded their engines in an unseemly display of funnel flaunting. My end of game strategy was to get the last route and complete my baron bonus, but Adam kept getting in my way. I spent a little more money than I’d anticipated but it turned out to be worth it.

Adam in my way part one

Adam in my way part two

Andrew 50
Adam 49
Joe 42

Although I think my best move was an early depot card, meaning I shared in the points from Joe’s network. That move must have got me ten points by itself.

And now it was almost midnight, it was time to pack up and go home. Thanks for a lovely day, and thanks to all for a lovely year!