Reinerlander

 I arrived at Sam’s house marginally before Ian did, giving me the rare privilege of being first to a games night. The three of us waited a few short minutes before Martin arrived and that would be the total attendance for this week. Sam mentioned that Martin was bringing him an old Reiner Knizia game, apparently in a huge box. The box, when it finally emerged from Martin’s bag, wasn’t quite as big as Sam was expecting, but it was colder. Martin explained it had been next to the beers.

The game is area control where you place your knights according to the cards in your hand, numbered 1-50-something. You can place a knight using this card on the relevant space or discard any card and then expand any already existing group of knights: a Duchy. Gaining control of castles allows you to add knights and strengthen your Duchy which is important because if they connect to an opponent’s larger duchy then you will lose control. Duchies get you points and, as the rulebook’s helpful strategy guide tells us, getting a high score is a good idea.

Ian and Martin battled over a large Duchy in the West while I collected castles – this used up my knights and threatened to trigger an early end to the game until the others picked on me and sent my castle-sitting knights back into my supply. Sam, meanwhile, built up his presence on an island, quickly dubbed “Samhatten” which remained a constant threat that he may be able to cross the river and join it to an opponent’s duchy.

He never did, though. He didn’t need to.

Sam 53

Ian 43

Andrew 29

Martin 27

Next up wasa welcome return for Montage, the crossword game, with Martin & Ian v Sam & I. We used the Bolivia set up which, we soon discovered, limits players to three and four letter words for most of the game. We clued as best we could, given the shortness of the words involved. Martin’s clue “old fashioned email” for Fax was nice, but failed. So did my “Cloth box” for bag. Shamefully, this logic was used again later when Martin clued “Cardboard bag” for box and I was too slow to knock and Sam and I lost the chance to intercept.

There were a couple of times when all three knocks came simultaneously but someone blurted the answer out anyway. We played on regardless, and Sam and I took the win but the tight Bolivian layout meant it wasn’t quite the smash hit that I recall. Hope to see it again soon, though.

Sam & Andrew, 4 quadrants

Ian & Martin 2

Then I decided to be sensible and leave early. It was only 10pm but since I’d got there first, I felt that I’d had my fill. The other three got out Mille Fiori.

Martin 197

Sam 195

Ian 183

And then they banged out three So Clovers!

16, 18, 18

Thanks all. See you next week!

Pass the Duchy

This week was an auspicious occasion as a new name was added to the GNN Roll Of Honour: Rob, Katy's patient and understanding other half. He was here, not for games, but because it was Katy's birthday and he wanted some cake and had agreed to play one game with us.

"Us" were Hannah (hosting), Katy, Andy, Joe, and me. Still to arrive were Adam (also hosting, upstairs putting his son to bed) and Martin. After an unusually long preamble of taking and some lovely cake, we chose For Sale as being just right for a newbie like Rob. Katy preferred Why First but we thought it easier to explain a game in which the winner actually wins.

Rob played a solid game, avoiding some of the common mistakes like Katy paying eight for a 20, but nor did he show any special aptitude, like when Andy spent all his money once he was sure the lowest cards had all gone.

In the second phase, Joe initially dealt only five cheques for six players, and no one noticed until it was time to distribute them. We decided to play that round again, to Katy's annoyance since she'd won that round.

The other notable event was when both $0 cheques came out at the same time. "I hope you didn't all go stupid," said Katy, just before we revealed our cards. Alas, we had all gone stupid. Joe and Katy picked up the zero cheques for 23 and 24. Ouch.

Andrew $52K
Hannah $51K
Andy $47K
Katy $41K
Rob $35K
Joe $30K

After this, Rob left and by now Martin was here, so the only question was, had Adam fallen asleep? Hannah didn't want to go and check, because that would risk resetting the whole bed-time routine back to the start. We pondered that Adam was currently existing in two possible states: awake and asleep, like a sort of Schrodinger's Adam. But then Adam came down, collapsing one of the probability waves and restoring order to the universe.

We split into two groups. Katy and Joe corralled Andy into a game of Isle Of Skye, while Adam and I were introduced by Martin and Hannah to Rheinlander, Martin's recent rediscovery that he wanted to play again before he forgot everything about it.

Rheinlander is a Knizia and, as you'd expect, it's a delicate balance between risk and reward. You can use cards to place shields and more than two shields is a Duchy, and you place a knight next to it, which is good. But if two Duchys (duchies?) join up, then the majority holder gets control of the whole thing. All is not lost for the victim, though, as their removed knight scores points.

It's all hugely confusing.Adam went for the archbishop card, which allows you to remove opponent's shields, so I did my level best to stop him. And it worked. In the final rounds he cursed his lack of archbishop in the way that only board gamers can understand. Also Martin decided to block Adam from doing something, but in the after match analysis, Martin decided it would have been better had he played elsewhere. All fine by me, is I was delighted by my not-last place against such strong opposition.

Hannah 40
Martin 37
Andrew 32
Adam 29

Meanwhile, Isle Of Skye ended in agony for Joe, who was just one coin away from forcing a draw.

Katy 61
Joe 60
Andy 54

Next, it was time for Hannah to meet Fuji Flush. And the concept of dick points.

She took to it very well, and came a comfortable first in our first game.

Hannah 0 cards left
Andy 1
Katy 2
Adam 2
Martin 2
Andrew 2
Joe 4

She was keen on another go, so we dealt again and this time Martin won.

Martin 0
Hannah 1
Andrew 1
Andy 2
Adam 2
Katy 2
Joe 3

Finally, there was time for one more round before Hannah retired for the evening. I began by mocking Joe's two last places, and he paid back my insult with interest.

Joe 0
Adam 1
Andrew 2
Martin 2
Hannah 3
Andy 4
Katy 5

In this game, Katy pushed through no cards at all (thanks to being next to this evening's dick point king , Andy) and we wondered if that had happened before. Well, I checked and it has. By Katy.

Finally, the six of us played Diamant, the Incan Gold remake which improves on the tents and hard to discern Go/Leave cards but then fails slightly with a lack of zombie ladies and some meeples that are a little too extruded, making look as if they are just warping in from another dimension.

Joe went for the 'get out early' tactic and it was almost perfect. Only on round three did he stay in due to peer pressure and we all died. He almost got an extra four gems. My tactic was to leave a dungeon the moment Joe suggested he turn over the next card. Knowing his poor luck, I did pretty well too. No idea what Katy's tactics were.

Joe 22
Adam 13
Andrew 12
Andy 11
Martin 7
Katy 5

And with that, we were gone. Into the night glowing like fireflies with the joys of winning and losing.

This week's Division is a special one for Katy's birthday. I've converted everything to base four and then replaced the digits 0, 1, 2, 3 with K, A, T, Y respectively. No Points Ratio, though because I couldn't be bothered to do decimals (quadrimals?) Thanks all, and special thanks to Hannah for the cake.

From Ostrich to Ore Storage

Tuesday night this week fell on Adam and Hannah's house. In attendance were the two hosts and Martin, Ian, Katy, Joe and me. We all arrived pretty much on time and, in a break from usual proceedings, we had only the briefest chat before the first game was chosen. Having seen that Joe had brought Caverna, Adam put his name forward as a potential player. Joe and I joined him and so we set up in the front room.

The other four played Reined Knizia's Rheinlander. A game about which I know nothing, except for the laughter I heard from the next room, and the final scores that astonished the pessimistic Katy who was sure she was last. Meanwhile, Hannah proved to be unstoppable.

Hannah 52
Katy 36
Ian 35
Martin 32

After this, they played Game Of Thrones: Hand Of The King. This ended...

Hannah& Katy 5
Ian & Martin 2

And this was followed by Rolling America.


Katy 8
Martin 10
Hannah 11
Ian 11

And then Eggs of Ostrich, after Hannah had retired to bed.

Martin 6
Katy 6
Ian 5

All of this excitement occurred quite without my knowledge. I was engrossed in the adventures of my little dwarvish tribe in Caverna. I was the first to have an extra dwarf, and this advantage lasted a couple of rounds so, early on, I was feeling pretty good about my situation.

Joe built the Office Room, allowing him to overhang his tiles off the board for two victory points. He frequently bemoaned his choice, gazing sadly at the wide open spaces in his tableau. But then, whenever he placed a new tile, he'd overhang again, unable to give up on the dream.

Adam went for plants in a big way, not bothering hugely with his caves. I was so impressed by his first moves (get veg, get grain, slash and burn, then sheep farming and build fences) that I copied them as soon as I could. And then, because they worked so well, I did them again. Basically, Adam's opening gambit became my mid-game strategy.

In fact, we all followed a similar path, often choosing each others favorite options. I didn't go adventuring, relying on rubies to get me stuff quickly, much to Joe's annoyance. Adam and Joe both had adventurers, so they were constantly jostling with each other for the best spaces.

While the folks in the other room sped through several games, we appeared to slow down as we approached the end of the game. In the final stages, it was clear that Adam had won (as Hannah had predicted, putting his chances at "100%") but the battle for second was far from over. But Joe's choice to build a Writing Room, absolving him of seven minus points when he had nine empty spaces on his board, proved pivotal.

Adam 88
Joe 75
Andrew 71

It was a great game and I can't complain about bad luck or anything since I thought I'd played a decent game. It was all about small margins. Between me and Joe, that is. Adam was far off in the distance. Plus, this gave him a unique Perfect Five. He'd only played five games this season and he'd won them all. A remarkable achievement, and one that pushed his points ratio up to a stratospheric 5.4, if only for a moment.

By now, though, the six remaining gamers were all together again and there was talk of Fuji Flush to finish the evening. It was new to Adam, but it's not a difficult game to explain.

We played two games, and both were characterised by Adam and Ian being first to get down to their last card and then everyone else trying to stop them or, failing that, join them.

The first game ended

Adam 0 cards left
Ian 1
Katy 1
Joe 2
Martin 2
Andrew 3

This result meant that Adam had matched my "Smug Six" of six wins in a row. And with his only six games of the season! One day, they'll build a statue to him. Although, someone did point out that this season he'd only played when he'd hosted and was well-rested. Hopefully we'll soon see what his away form is like.

Then we played again, and this time, Adam couldn't quite force his way across the finishing line in time.

Ian 0
Katy 1
Adam 1
Andrew 2
Martin 2
Joe 4

And as for those all important Dick Points:

Adam 5
Ian 4
Katy 4
Martin 3
Andrew 2
Joe 1

And if you're now saying “Look! Dick Points are a way to win!” then I wag my index finger in the air, say “aaah” and then wag my index finger some more before pointing out that Adam only had one Dick Point in the first game, where he won. The two aren't necessarily linked. Correlation doesn't imply causation. There. A statistics lesson for us all.

Speaking of which, here's the Division...

I was going to do something exciting with it, but it's already exciting enough. I'm going to go and have a lie down now.