Stop on Red

A bit of a Thursday night gaming sortie last night as Ian, Katy and I sat down to play Scythe. It had been a while for Katy and she needed a refresher, so we talked her through the objectives and turn by turn beats, and then were off into fictional Europa. 

I realised that in choosing three different factions from Saturday we'd ended up red (Ian), yellow (Katy) and green (me). As I spread across the board I could place flags, potentially doubling the value of controlled hexes for myself; a fact I kept forgetting. Katy could spend combat cards like resources and Ian had the oft-heralded power to not change slots between turns. 

Katy found it hard to get going, penned in her corner of the board and seemingly caught between two stalls at regular intervals. I was busy on my homeboard upgrading and enlisting; preparing for the future. But Ian was making geographic progress; sprawling out over the continent, banging out mechs and nabbing the factory for himself. His faction power of staying in the same slot was working well for him: he also got a couple of stars down before we'd done much of anything. 

And despite our increased activity and progress, it looked Ian's game to lose from fairly early on. He made no mistake, remorselessly advancing towards a sixth objective star and a reasonably convincing margin of victory:

Ian 63

Sam 51

Katy 46

It was only about 9.20 so we bashed through a quick game of Block Party which was notable for a serial failure to guess pretty much anything! Katy and I shared a win with a grand total of four points each - on a scoretrack that goes up to 20 (Ian had three, I think). I forgot to take any photos though.

Then we ended with a triple whammy of Zombie Kidz Evolutions.

We were only going to play once but each play is so rapid, and the next legacy envelope was so close, that we did two more, winning twice and losing once, and in the envelope was a special ability for Ian's nerf gun character. We'll try that next time. 

It's not a popularity contest

For the first time in a long time, Scythe made it to the table last night. It was a Saturday and I was joined by Ian and Laura, with Adam imminent. At least, we thought he was imminent. Our concern grew as we reached nearly 8 with no Adam, and no word from him. It turned out he'd forgotten. Forgotten! Games!! An already strange situation got even stranger: as punishment, we would take his first few turns for him, as he hopped on his bike. 

Everyone had played it before so the three of us began. One of the things I love about Scythe is how rapid it is. Turns flew by and we'd already been four times around the table when Adam arrived, breathless, apologetic, and needing a brief refresher. In fact the longest turn previous to his arrival had been his own, as we all debated what he'd do. But now he was here and could organise himself. Which he did. 

We'd begun in the corners, more or less, of the board. Ian was the only faction with a land route to the centre hex - factory bonus! - but didn't take it early, as he sought other pursuits. Adam's ability to swim - surprisingly rare in Europa - meant he spread early, or at least his workers did. And Laura and I found ourselves hemmed in on our own little land masses for a while, until we built mines.

Then things took a turn for the slightly combative, as we started bumping into each other. I benefitted from Adam's unlikely poor arithmatic as I ousted his mech from my route to the factory. He also got in Ian's way, but Ian stole around him to pick up and encounter card instead. I was feeling my early enlistments - which trigger bonuses from neighbouring player's actions - had stood me in good stead, but Adam was now building momentum, shrugging off a disappointing factory visit ("these are shit") to plonk down stars at a steady rate, as well as climb the popularity track.

Because of course it is a popularity contest, in many ways. You can be the most dominant on the board with a shedload of resources, but - if your popularity is too low - outscored by supposedly weaker players. Or - if you're Adam - you can do both. 

I triggered the endgame, not wanting to gift him another turn, but it already looked like we were all fighting for second. Despite turning up late, not having played it for years, getting his sums wrong and not even taking his own turns, Hillmann still had enough savvy to triumph!

Adam 70-ish

Sam 60-ish

Ian and Laura 46 each!

We tried to take the gloss off by claiming our early moves had set things up for him. Maybe, in some butterfly effect way, there's even a crumb of truth in it. But probably not. 

It was gone ten now, so Laura headed home as I introduced Ian and Adam to Block Party. 

This game is great fun. Essentially one player guesses what everyone else has built (if they get it wrong, other players can attempt to identify it as well) using the tiny blocks, and if they guess correctly both players get a point. But you only have between 30-60 seconds to do so, and each round has a potential bonus: use the most blocks, the least, be the quickest, build the tallest etc. When Adam was guesser we had build the tallest and Ian's door was magnificent, but I forgot to take a photo of it. Here's my lighthouse though:

Using the fewest colours we mistook Adam's pineapple for both a pumpkin and a carrot. Ian managed to successfully build Earth and I was super-pleased that he guessed my Mr Bump. I wasn't so successful with my attempt at a stick of dynamite though (two red cubes with a black one on top) and I think I finished last. Ian was definitely first: he had a knack for guessing (-Mr Bump!) and seemed to be guessed correctly the most too. Here he is having a triumphant glass of stout.

And that was that! Thanks all, prob won't see you Tuesday but soon...

Hottest Games Night on record

If Tuesday games nights are the moral boosting night out to help us past the first half of the week, then surely Thursdays are an act of impatience - a demanding that the weekend starts now. And as Ian, Sam and I began at six o'clock this evening with a glass of red wine, we reminded ourselves that we all had work the next day.

Sam's family were away and so he'd arranged an early start with the promise of a chip supper. After a brief text discussion, Scythe was chosen as our opening attraction and it was all set up ready for us to begin when we arrived.

It's been a while since this puzzley strategy game had been seen and there were a few rules to be refreshed but otherwise it was smooth sailing. Sam had a special ability that allowed him to go straight to the factory hex in the middle and he used it frequently. I was first to fight, trying to stop Sam from encroaching on the third of the board that I considered rightfully mine.

We paused at 7 while Ian and I went for chips and Sam phoned his family. Sam and Ian wanted small cod and chips but my order of large chips and a pickled egg seemed to confuse the chippy who slowly repeated "large chips and pickled egg," then turned to Ian to confirm his order of small cod and chips twice before ending on an unsure "... and large chips with a pickled egg." I started to think I had said something wrong but I stuck to my guns and we got there in the end. Before long we were sitting outside on Sam's decking, eating our meals.

Once back inside, Ian planted flags everywhere and quickly got his workers out. He had plenty of territory but few stars. I had little territory but more stars while Sam had both. He needed one last star to end the game and decided to attack me to get it. I managed to survive one onslaught but in doing so, I used up most of my power so it was a formality for him to beat me in battle next turn and finish the game.

Sam 84
Ian 56
Andrew 42

As if that weren't enough fiestiness, our next game was Quantum. My initial roll of 1, 3, 5 was almost perfect for a map of sevens, eights and nines with no ten planets. But Sam got off to a flier, with his Curious ability allowing him one extra action as long as it was a move. I added a fourth ship to my fleet which, because I was Arrogant, gave me an extra action. Despite all of this and Ian's heroics in trying to take down Sam in battle, Sam was able to put down his last cube first.

Sam 0 cubes left
Andrew 1
Ian 2

Another win for Sam. What could stop him? We chose Knit Wit as our next (and, as it turned out, final) game of the evening.

We played twice. In the first round, I cottoned on to the jolly wheeze that a lot of the adjectives could apply to seas, and so my replies were mostly bodies of water. According to me, the Dead Sea is Whimsical and the Irish Sea is Friendly. But I ended up with "a poo in the sea," such was my desire to keep the theme going. Maybe I shouldn't have been so restrictive. But I still won.

Andrew 21
Sam 20
Ian 17

In round two, a bit of earlier banter about "my granddad's cock" came back to haunt us when Sam and I both used it for Secret and Hard. Then Sam clashed again, this time with Ian as they both put Everest for Hard. He still won, though.

Sam 17
Ian 16
Andrew 14

At this point, Ian's bus was looming and rather than wait for the next, he called it a night. Suddenly faced with the prospect of an early night, I took it. We finished up at an all too sensible 9.50pm. But we had done a lot and, besides, the second hottest day on record is enough to take the wind out of anyone's sails. But thanks for hosting, Sam. And for attending, Ian.

Scythed Down

Today Stan and I found ourselves at home with a couple of hours before the next appointment (which happened to be his football team's awards ceremony). He requested a game of Scythe, and I readily agreed.

Stan set up as the Nordics, who are blessed with the ability to swim from early on, whereas the rest of us keep away from water until we've constructed at least one mech.

That's the tradition anyway, but I was playing as one of the 'Invaders from Afar' - the Orient, in this case (or as I referred to myself, purple), and my starting position meant I wasn't stranded until the evolution of mechs, I could just make my way to the interior as fast as I could go.

Unfortunately, I couldn't go very fast. The drawback of being purple is that your speed never increases, whereas others can go +1 on their movement by building the appropriate mech, who presumably gives everyone encouragement to give it a go. Movement in Scythe is pretty weird at the best of times, with characters and mechs being incredibly picky about where and when they can cross water.

But despite the lack of logic, it does have a lovely speedy flow of productivity about it. My special ability allowed me to leave traps, but we noted that in a two-player game it was easy for Stan to avoid them. He spread his workers and let his character roam, having encounters.

I was feeling pretty confident about the way things were going - I was well set for a few stars and had a strong hand of combat cards too. I warned Stan that - having stopped for lunch - we'd probably have to finish the game later. He nodded and abruptly put down his sixth star, ending the game with enormous popularity as I languished Tim Farron-like in the doldrums.

Stan 75
Sam 69

I was completely blind-sided by this, having been pottering about on my side of the board collecting wood to build a windmill.

This rude awakening was followed by the lads beating the dads at the dads v lads football match after the ceremony. Things have changed.

*

In the evening I introduced Sal to Honshu. She liked it so much, she held up the tablecloth for the last five minutes.

Christmascon!

Yes, it's the GNN celebration that sounds vaguely punitive.

The day began at my (Sam's house) relatively early: 10am to be precise, when Stanley's friend and Stanley's friend's dad arrived to play Scythe. This is not exactly a gateway game for 9-year-olds, but Stan was keen and everyone else was amenable. All the bits and pieces make it look pretty exciting too - mechs! eagles! planks of wood! We went on slightly longer than planned, but did finish the game. Stan looked like he had things sewn up when he went for a sod-popularity route, ignoring public opinion to bash down his stars as quickly as possible. But two fights went against him when he guessed that opponents would play low, and they didn't. Instead, competitive dad (me) beat him into second place.

As the newbies departed still looking reasonably sane, we chucked some egg sandwiches down our throats and prepared for the arrival of the GNN masses. Just like Field of Dreams, if you clear the table, they will come. First in was Big Joe, who had brought Captain Sonar! Then there was a flurry of gamers; Ben, Matt, and Hannah. Talk began of playing Captain Sonar, but the first game out of the box was Tumbling' Dice. Joe allowed Ben, Matt and Stanley a warm-up, which they all took with impressive unity:

While they then embarked on a tumbling' tussle, Hannah and I had a couple of games of Hounded. This was a birthday present to Stan and I really enjoy it: it's a two-player where one side simply has to avoid capture (the fox) and the other has to somehow surround the very manoeuvrable fox and trap it. I caught Hannah as the hunter then we swapped sides. Hannah discovered that the hunter's side requires a bit more thought, as opposed to the fox who simply gambols about, giving two fingers to the various dogs unable to catch him. The second game went on for a while, but eventually I had to gamble on flipping the final time tile (all three flipped wins the fox the game)  and I gambled wrong. Hannah had me cornered and closed in for the kill.

By the time that had ended, Tumbling' Dice had too, with Stan claiming a convincing debut win:

Stan 132
Joe 78
Ben 60
Matt 50

And the same gang had also managed to bash out a game of Mamma Mia:

Ben 5
Matt 5
Joe 3
Adam 3
Stan 3

And Adam and Arthur had also arrived. They were followed by Katy, and then Jon, as the house began to fill up! With nine of us now present, but one person required to keep Arthur company, the time had finally arrived: Captain Sonar! I almost expected Joe to pull off his normal clothes and reveal a special CS vest underneath. But he didn't. He set up and went through the rules, then we had a few moments to digest them as Chris, Jacquie, Ashton and Ava-Rose paid us a flying visit, generously dropping off a birthday present for Stan en route home. We had a flying catch-up, then it was down to the business of trying to kill each other.

Katy and Hannah took the role of opposing captains whilst Jon and Joe the engineers. Ben and Matt were first mates and Stanley and I the radiographers. Or something. Our job was to record what the opposing captains said, whilst our own dictated the direction we took. The Engineer kept track of various systems and told the Captain when she could fire a torpedo or drop a mine. And the first mate did something else, which I never totally picked up on.

I enjoyed being the guy-who-listens; it seemed less stressful to me than what the others were going through, which was a lot of people talking at the same time. As long as I listened to Hannah I could ignore pretty much everything else. We located their sub and blew them up for the win.

Then we changed teams and Stanley was now captain along with myself, Joe and Jon. Hannah stepped out so Adam could play along with Ben, Katy and Matt. This time the game was short and sharp - they located us and scored two direct hits before we even knew where they were!

Their followed a break for pizza, during which time Andrew arrived from work. The world was now our oyster with everyone present...

(screen goes wobbly signifying change of narrator)

When I arrived, the table was groaning under the weight of co-op pizzas and chip shop chips. Anja and Steve and Luther were there are the table too. During the meal, Stanley tried to drum up support for a third game of Captain Sonar, but to little success. Instead we split into two groups. Joe persuaded four to join him in a game of Adrenalin, winning people over by calling it “super fun”.

The rest of us went for Jamaica, but just before we began, Steve was called away so the rest of us played a game of Micro Robots on top of the game of Jamaica that was already set up to play. Decadence!

Stanley 5
Sam 3
Andrew 1
Jon 1

Then when we were ready to play Stanley was distracted by the lure of Seinfeld, no, Star Wars, no, PS3, so he set up camp in the front room for the rest of the evening.

Jamaica was fun, although both Jon and Steve were undone by a misunderstanding of the rules. Steve repeatedly so. For the most part, Steve sailed around the starting line, picking up gold. Unfortunately he hen tried moving, couldn’t pay for his space and ended up visiting the same “pay 5 gold” space twice.

Jon’s mistake was to take me on in battle, not knowing that I could decide how many cannons to use after he’d attacked and then he was surprised to discover that defenders could take from attackers if they won. But, as we explained, “that’s piracy for you!”

Meanwhile, everyone was else seemed to be very good at landing on treasures while I had none. And no money. My only hope was to end the game before anyone had a chance to amass a fortune, so I sped off to the finishing line and ended the game.

Andrew 13
Sam 9
Steve 6
Jon –8

Meanwhile, Adrenalin was apparently a board game version of a first person shooter. Adam found himself picked on (I can’t imagine why) and Matt impressed everyone with a move near the end of the game: he dragged Joe from apparent safety into range and then leapt into a neighbouring room, grabbed a flamethrower and used it to deal damage to everyone else on the board. Katy won by killing Adam.

Adrenalin, just before Matt causes havoc

Katy 40
Joe 38
Matt 37
Ben 24
Adam 21

Adam takes out his frustration on a 

chocolate Santa

Ben said that he was bad at real (ie, videogame, not REAL real) first-person shooters and he wasn’t surprised to learn he was bad at board-game versions too. He also said that he should be getting back since his girlfriend had only just got back from abroad. We said he should invite her along. He explained he already had. We dropped the subject.

Since we had all ended at the same time, there was a quick reshuffling of groups and the new line-ups looked like: Jon, Steve, Hannah and Katy played Broom Service and me, Sam, Anja, Joe and Matt chose Fool’s Gold.

Joe impressed us all with a high-quality dice-cup. Tall and lithe, it was a million miles away from Stone Age’s stinky receptacle. But, being so tall, it’s distribution of dice was too wide across the table and Joe put it away saying it needed a dice tray.

Joe's new dice cup

In the game, people kept getting in my way, especially Joe who ruined the mountain twice for me (and him, too) by drawing a Foul Weather card when we only had two cards to draw in the first place.

The other feature of the game was how often our player shields fell down. Whenever they did, I found it very entertaining to say “hellooo!”

Sam 30
Joe 23
Matt 21
Andrew 19
Anja 18

Once we’d finished, there was another reshuffle. Broom Service showed no sign of ending so we played a quick game of For Sale.

Doesn't look like a winning hand to me.

I was right.

Adam 59
Joe 51
Matt 49
Anja 49
Andrew 43

Finally Broom Service ended...

Jon 80
Katy 71
Hannah 65
Steve 58

... and we divided up again. Anja was keen on a big game, and so she, I and Adam got out Viticulture. Since I was now in the front room, away from the bustle of the kitchen, my notes get a bit confusing here, but I think there was a game of Junk Art at this time.

Matt 12
Sam 12
Joe 4

Then, just before we got going on Viticulture, we all got together for the GNN Quiz of the Year, hosted by Sam. There were categories like “games designers” and “player performances” (I think) which tested our knowledge of games in general and also events of 2016 at GNN towers.

With the most regular attendees me, Katy and Joe, nominated as captains, we split into three teams and it ended very close.

Katy, Steve, Adam 20
Andrew, Jon, Hannah 20
Joe, Anja, Matt 19

After this, it was 10.15 and we had to get cracking on Viticulture. In the main room, Katy took up photography duties so we have evidence of a game of Super Vampires...

Sam 9
Steve 7
Hannah 3

And Karuba...

Jon 23
Katy 20
Matt 19
Joe 19

As well as this mid-game shot of Viticulture.

Later, I went to check on progress in the kitchen and found a game of World’s Fair

Sam 76
Steve 70
Hannah 58

And a non-used half of the table, while people stood around talking!

Like... wut?

Sanity was restored in a short while with a game of Igloo Pop on one half of the table, and Escape From Aliens In Outer Space on the other half.

Igloo Pop

Sam 22
Hannah 10
Steve 10

The results of Escape From Aliens In Outer Space were, according to my notes:

Katy wins!!
Joe came second and went to get a Coke.
Matt died (by Katy)

Finally, Viticulture ended, thanks to Adam’s efficiency. I doubt it was on purpose, but he played a game using tactics that were the opposite of what we suggested to Anja. Adam said selling a field was a good idea, because you don’t need three fields. Then he used all three fields. I said it was a waste to sell grapes straight from the crush pads, and later Adam did just that. He’s so contrary, that boy.

The margin of victory was pretty immense and I only did as well as I did by using up all my point-scoring visitor cards once I saw that Adam was about to win. If the game had continued, I’d have been hard pushed to score any more points for ages. Anja came last, but said she enjoyed it. Adam really seemed to like it, though. Of course he did.

Adam 22
Andrew 13
Anja 9

And with that, the year was over. There’s no division for this evening and there won’t be the usual big end-of-year statistics run-down that I've done in the past, but there is the little matter of the division for 2016.

Well done Katy and Adam. Well done everyone. Big thanks to Sam for hosting and feeding us all. A marvelous end to a splendid year (GNN-wise, that is.) See you in 2017!

A Three-Game Weekend

Another weekend of cat-sitting for Sam meant another week of trying out some solo gaming. The main attraction for this week was Scythe, which Sam promised to leave behind this time.

I set it up on a wet and windy Friday evening on a day when the traffic had been so bad that I decided not to wait at a gloomy bus stop so I walked the four and a half miles home after work.

After this ordeal I was exhausted and it was a daunting challenge just to wrestle the Scythe board open and work out what was needed and what wasn’t.

The enemy AI works by means of instructions on cards. I was doubtful, having seen this method fail to work on Viticulture, but I was intrigued by how much there was on the card. Each on has a green half (which you use in the early part of the game) with orders and a more aggressive red half (which you use in the last two-thirds of the game) as well as a strip down the side which has orders in the event of any combat.

It’s a surprisingly flexible method, since it offers a number of options for the AI, and if the first isn’t possible, you move on to the next until you’ve executed its turn and got its reward for that round. This means it hardly ever gets stuck in a corner unable to move a la the dragons in Tsuro of the Seas, and it reacts with at least a semblance of intelligence.

In order to do this, it ignores most of the game outside territory and combat, producing no resources, completing no upgrades or recruits and placing stars only according to how long the game has lasted.

Since it was my first game, I chose the easiest setting: Autometta. This AI spends longest trapped behind water (until it’s allowed out after five rounds) and sometimes skips a turn completely. I also put our two bases on opposite sides of the board.

Once we got under way, I found it pretty intimidating. The AI, once allowed to cross water, makes a beeline for the factory hex. Meanwhile, I was still pottering around trying to build my first mech.

Combat is fun. Autometta’s choice of power and cards depends on the stats along the side of the next card from the top of the deck. It might instruct that if its power is 0-7, it uses 4 power, 8-14 uses 6 power and 15-16 uses 7, as well as how many combat cards to use (regardless of number of mechs it attacks with). However, there are some cards where it says to use 1 power, regardless of how much the AI actually has. This effectively fools you into using up a lot of power to win a battle when you didn’t need to.

Since Autometta plays a limited game, it misses out on a lot of scoring opportunities. This is balanced out by receiving an almost constant stream of money throughout the game.

At the end of the game, I launched two simultaneous attacks, one of which was on the central hex. I just got control of that which was enough for my sixth star and to end the game. It was

Me 56
Autometta 44

That was Friday evening, and then on Saturday morning I broke out the Caverna. It was my first time with the new bespoke wooden trays, and it made setting up a lot smoother.

Solo Caverna is more of a puzzle than a game, and did better this time. However, there were still moments when I regretfully made an inefficient move and I kept thinking I need to try again soon. Which is better: making everyone a warrior, or none of them? Lots of animals or lots of furnished caverns?

My score: 77

And on Saturday afternoon, while I listened to the football I thought about seeing if a one-player Eclipse variant existed but I found myself drawn to Scythe once more. The inclusion of four difficulty settings (along with the chance of placing the two factions nearer each other for a real challenge) made me wonder how I’d do against stronger foes. So I set up a game against Automa, the Normal setting on the difficulty scale.

I think I misread the rules last time, meaning that workers piled up on the central hex (meaning a big deficit in popularity if you want it) but it seems that instead, workers can’t share hexes. Rather, they should spread out across the board.

Before long I was cornered, and I was grateful for the yellow faction’s ability to hop to unused home bases. Out of three battles in the game, I won two and although I didn’t have the central hex I was confident and I ended the game by completing my hidden mission for my sixth star.

This turned out to be a mistake, since blue’s immense empire got it a huge bonus for territory (twice as much as mine) which gave it the slenderest of wins.

Automa 71
Me 70

Frustrating. But at least it shows that the AI is at just the right level for a challenge.

With that said, after I’d just lost to Automa I thought I’d try Scythe at its hardest difficulty, using two neighbouring bases. The hardest setting is called Ultimaszyna, which is a bit silly so in keeping with the GNN tradition of calling AI opponents “Dirk”, I’ll refer to the four levels of difficulty as Durk, Derk, Dirk and Dürch.

I chose blue, reasoning that the Swim special ability might be useful for a quick start. However, while my workers ran free and unfettered my mechs were stuck at first. This was important since by the time I got my ability to travel across lakes, Dürch had plonked one of his mechs in it.

I was trapped and, one by one, his forces hemmed me in. I had a flash of inspiration and built a mine so I could whisk myself over to the other side of the board.

Unfortunately, the next move, Dürch attacked and according to the list of criteria to decide which hex to chose, my mine was his target. I had one power, and Dürch had eight. I put it on the disk, and added my strongest card, hoping for a bluff on Dürch’s part.

It wasn’t a bluff. He crushed me. Then, just to add insult to injury, in his last move Dürch attacked a hex with three of my workers on it (the AI gets no punishment for attacking workers). I finished the game with seven pieces on my home base, doing nothing.

The final score sums it up neatly:

Dürch 100
Andrew 29

And so there was just enough time to sit down for some supper before I set out that evening to Joe’s for more games.

Games at Joe’s this Saturday evening initially looked like being a five-hander, maybe six. But people gave their apologies so when the hour arrived, we were down to three: Joe, Ben and me.

As it turned out, we only played one game. Or did we play a thousand and one games? See what I did there? We played Tales of The Arabian Nights, since Ben was keen to try and I (arriving last) was happy to oblige. It may have only been one game, but what a game. We laughed, we cried (with laughter), we cheated death, got repeatedly scorned and crippled, everything you’d expect from a tale from the Arabian Nights (even though the game itself, technically, never got past morning).

We set off, I as Ali Baba, Ben as Sindbad and Joe as Aladdin, I think. Hard to remember since those names weren’t mentioned again. During our adventures we had many experiences. I had a terrible run of luck at the start, being enslaved and ensconsilled (sp?) which meant I couldn’t control myself, nor could I keep my treasures and destiny points from whatever adventures I had.

Ben, on the other hand, had people throwing money at him. He may have been crippled but before long he was fabulously wealthy, with a mass of destiny and story points. It looked like he would surely win. But then he had to go on a pilgrimage and, being so rich, movement across land was painfully slow.

We had a series of anti-climactic adventures. I found The Crystal Palace, but couldn’t get in. I tried to woo a princess, but she turned me down flat. Wealthy Ben discovered the Cave of Wonders but then found out that he already owned one of the mythical wonders that it housed.

Joe went for odd choices, with great effect. He managed to drink a storm, which cured him of his ailments. He tried entering a glittering artefact, and ended up stepping through a mirror into an alternate reality. Although all he did there was look around the room for a bit.

He tried to impress a Learned Princess with his wisdom. She thought that books were all she needed in life and the pearl of wisdom Joe used to win this princess’s heart was “You can’t eat books.” It didn’t seem very wise to us, but it did the trick and got him twenty-four hours of rumpy-pumpy! For the rest of the game, whenever Joe thought a bit of wisdom would get his character out of a fix, he’d hopefully say “Er... did you know that you can’t eat books?” however the phrase didn’t come up again in the story. And, as a chat up line, I can’t imagine it working in real life either.

As Ben pottered across Asia, distracted by a pilgrimage, Joe and then even I managed to get enough points that, if we got to Baghdad before Ben, we’d win. Unluckily for me, I got married. This meant every time I had an encounter in a city, I had to go back home to check on ‘er indoors. Jealous type, you see. This involved a lot of unnecessary criss-crossing Europe.

It was Joe who got to Baghdad with the winning criteria fulfilled. All he had to do is stay in the city until the encounter was over, and hope neither of us got back, and he’d win!

It was surprisingly hair-raising. He uncovered a Strange Custom, which involved a widower being buried with their dead spouse. Joe’s wife then died, and although he tried to escape twice, he was buried alive along with her, with only a loaf of bread and some wine.

The game listed a number of talents that would be beneficial, but he didn’t have any so he had to wait til he passed out and a grave robber dug him up and stole his money. But he was alive and, crucially, still in Baghdad! He’d won the game! And in some style, too.

By now it was quarter past eleven! We’d been playing for over three hours (albeit with a half hour break while Joe gave his daughters a lift somewhere). And it was right at the end that Joe and Ben revealed they’d considered Brass as an option, but Ben preferred Arabian Nights, and they’d hidden Brass in case I came in and insisted on playing that! Makes you wonder what they think of me. I mean, I might have insisted, but not much.

Anyway, what a night of Arabian Tales.

All that was left for me this weekend was Sunday morning. Caverna and coffee. How civilized. First, just out of curiosity, I decided to see how big the board would be for a seven-player game. Pretty big...

As for the game itself, this time I noticed the Peaceful room which allows a player to remove weapons from a dwarf in return for food. I was able to use that to good effect, and get the bonus for weapon-less dwarves at the end of the game. And I got sheep breeding early and some nice fields yielding. I was confident of beating yesterday's 77, and I was right to be.

My score: 90.

Just ten off the “magical score” of 100! So close. Maybe next time.

Novocon Fun!

Only days after a large chunk of GNNers had spent a weekend away playing games, it was the turn of the four aging war horses of GNN to stagger out of their stables and stare, confused and short-sighted, across the green fields of this great nation.

Luckily, it was raining, which meant it was perfect gaming weather with no temptation to try “going for a walk” to distract us.

Sam and I arrived first, at about two thirty and I was impressed by how much like home it felt. Especially because the tablecloth was the same kind as the one in Sam’s kitchen. Sam got the fire going, made coffee and cheese on a bagel. I offered him a pickled egg for his efforts. He couldn’t finish it and would later insist that it gave him a headache. Then we spent about twenty minutes popping and sorting the various pieces for A Feast For Odin. It already looks like a beast of a game.

Then Paul and Chris arrived, and once they’d sorted themselves (and we noticed we had three copies of Love Letter and two of Istanbul) out we sat down for our first game at exactly 3.48pm! Then we had our first drink at exactly 3.58pm!

The game that accompanied our first tipple was Cosmic Run. It was Paul’s first, but it’s not the most complex game, so after a few rules clarifications, he was away.

With four players, there’s more time between turns for planets to be hit, and more emphasis on getting cards and crystals: two things I didn’t do very well. I didn’t land on any planets, either.

Paul 69
Sam 66
Chris 58
Andrew 52

After this, we were all hungry enough for Sam to start on an early supper while the other three of us tried Paul’s own creation: The Seven Bridges Of Königsburg. This is a game of demand and supply, where deliveries happen on the five islands of Königsburg according to the roll of the dice and the wishes of the player. On certain rolls (double six and double one) you have to move, and you can never cross the same bridge twice. There were a few rule tweaks to be made, and there’s something in it. It just needs a bit of pepping up.

We finished it while we ate Sam’s Chorizo and Prawn stew with rice, and it ended:

Chris 34
Andrew 26
Paul 23

Now it was the evening proper, we felt like something heavy. A challenge. We went for Nations. Not the simplified dice version, but the full epic game, taking in the entire sweep of human history. Not necessarily in the right order, though: I had built my first factory as Paul was finishing off Machu Picchu.

There are a lot of rules and icons to get your head around, and at first I didn’t enjoy it at all. But over time it started to click and by the end I was using my resources pretty efficiently. It was too late, and my mostly pacifist philosophy was proven to be the least successful social model to follow. Meanwhile, military-minded Sam did far better, starting several wars that cost Chris and I several victory points each.

Checking the rules

Sam 39
Chris 37
Paul 28
Andrew 26

It also gave us our first schoolboy-sniggering joke of the weekend when Paul placed a meeple on a card, innocently saying “I’m going to stick him in the aqueduct.”

After this epic, we went to the complete opposite of the scale, with a rousing game of Push-It. Chris sped into an early lead thanks to two two-pointers, and the rest of us couldn’t catch him, although it was close at times.

Chris 13
Paul 10
Andrew 9
Sam 8

There was still time on the clock, so we finished on an old familiar, El Grande. It took no time at all to set up and get started (if you don’t include the hiatus for cheese and crackers) and with only a couple of rules references (due to vague wording on the cards) we glided through the game effortlessly.

It was close after round one, but in round two Chris opened up a lead and, just like Push It, he couldn’t be caught. Sam and I tied for second.

Chris 104
Sam 89
Andrew 89
Paul 80

With that we were ready for bed. I shacked up in the games room, with only the dim glow of fading coal to keep me company. And the lights from the fridge, TV, clock etc.

On Saturday morning, I got up at 6.30 and pottered about a bit. Sam soon joined me at 7ish and we went for a walk in the crisp clear country air.

On returning, we sat down for a quick two-round game of Take It Easy. Sam’s subject for calling in round one was “Trees” and he even did it in alphabetical order. I chose “comics and magazines I read as a kid”. Sam had a nightmare second round (116) allowing me to steal the win.

Andrew 276
Sam 259

After this Paul and Chris emerged and while they busied themselves with coffee, showers and talking, I entertained myself with a swift solo game of Tiny Epic Galaxies. I won, defeating The Rogue Galaxy 13-12. Ha!

By now it was ten o’clock and time for the first four-player of the day: Heck Meck! Chris introduced it by reminding that his wife usually beats him thanks to some amazing good luck. However, I think Chris’s own bad luck might contribute too.

Sam 8
Paul 3
Andrew 1
Chris 0

It was quite a long game, with people preferring to steal off each other when they could rather than risk another roll and a better score. It was almost strategic.

This was followed by a journey to the nearest town for some supplies, and then back for the quick crossword (completed) and a brief sighting of a drowsy wasp in the kitchen. And I took a closer look at the strange carving in the garden, which was both phallic and vaginal at the same time.

The next game was Magnum Sal, suggested by Sam since it was a game that had sat unplayed in his cupboard for about two years. This game is set in the salt production industry of fourteenth century Poland, so I can’t imagine why it’s not grabbed our attention before.

It’s a worker placement game, as you seek to make chains in the mines to carry out salt mining. I found it quite combative, as new opened sections of mine would get quickly invaded by the next player, and if you had a bucket, it was possible to move water in your section to a neighbouring section. Chris’s early surge into a lead mid-game faded away as his orders for the king were taken by other players, and Sam surged from distant last into a close second with a profitable final round.

Paul 84
Sam 81
Andrew 69
Chris 33

We tried to work out the meaning of the icons on this card from Magnum Sal. We came up with "Touch the bottom of a cube. Touch the top of a cube. Stop touching the cube!"

This was followed by food: a wide range of cheeses and meats with bread. With a couple of tomatoes, as today’s vague gesture to healthy eating.

Then we went for a walk in the nearby nature reserve. In the fading country sun, it all looked so lovely that every few seconds seemed like an opportunity to take a photo. Chris and Sam saw a deer, but Paul was more transfixed by the trains that sped by occasionally.

Back home, there was a quick game of Perudo for money, and Sam won four whole pounds!

After this, I chose Eclipse as the next game. The epic game of space explosions is a favourite of mine, and perfect for a Saturday evening, before supper, about the same time that Dr Who is on. A bit longer than Dr Who, though.

Paul got a rules refresher, and played with great gusto, helped with a 11-power hypergrid source that he won in a battle. I went for my swarm of wasps strategy which I don’t think has ever won, but is lots of fun to play. Chris and Sam were both aliens, and Sam went heavily for research. He completed two tech tracks which we hadn’t quite understood the full implications of. One minute he was a plucky underdog, having a go at the Ancients in his sector, then Chris attacked him and within a couple of upgrades Sam’s ships had transformed into death machines of fear, bristling with guns and hulls.

In the final round, Sam also pushed into my area, since I was distracted by my attempt at attacking Paul’s ships in Chris’s central hex. Another impressive endgame from Sam handed him another win.

Sam 35
Chris 29
Andrew 22
Paul 20

Andrew and I (Sam) also did the Igloo Pop challenge

This was followed by a nice little parlour game that Sam introduced us to, in which someone chooses a book, reads the publicity bumf on the back to everyone, and then the other players secretly write what they think the opening sentence might be. Then these are all read out, along with the real sentence and people have to spot which one is the genuine article. Points are given for correct guesses or if someone guesses your sentence.

It was lots of fun, especially on one occasion when the real opening sentence was considerably worse than anything we came up with.

Sam 4
Chris 2
Andrew 2
Paul 2

After this little non-tabletop distraction, we got back into geek mode with Roll For The Galaxy. I haven’t played it before, but I remember being daunted by it when I shared a table with it a GNN evening.

It took a while to get around the rules which aren’t exactly intuitive, but I entertained myself by giving myself a difficult tile to develop right at the start, to see if I could do it before the game ended. I just about made it. And it game me lots of points, too, giving the impression that I was more involved than I actually was.

Chris 30 + dice tie-breaker
Sam 30
Paul 24 + dice tie-breaker
Andrew 24

Finally, Paul tempted us to stay up for one more game of Push-It. In the early stages it was pretty close at 4-3-3-3, and I remarked it showed that we were either evenly matched, or the whole thing was just random.

But then Chris pulled ahead and Paul sent the puck off the table while I proceeded to score no more points at all. It ended

Chris 11
Sam 8
Andrew 3
Paul 1

And so to bed…

Sunday morning, and I was up first again. Slightly cloudier outside, and colder but still nice outside. People slowly stirred and so our first game (sans Paul) was No Thanks! at about nine o’clock. We were all hoping for the final card to fit onto our runs of cards. It was the nineteen, which nobody wanted. So it just collected more and more coins until it was worth picking up.

Sam 43
Andrew 44
Chris 47

When we were all four together, we dug out Cosmic Run again. This time, only a little rule refresher was needed at the start. This time I went for planets, with a little side-dish of cards. It all ended with all of us rushing along the five-of-a-kind planet which was the only one left, finally getting to the end before it exploded. If that’s a good thing.

Andrew 61
Sam 54
Chris 52
Paul 44

After this, people did the shower thing and the rest of us played short games. Paul, Chris, and I played Love Letter, first to two. Chris’s one point came at the end of a remarkable round where I knew he was the Princess for three turns but couldn’t get him out.

Andrew 2
Paul 1
Chris 1

Then there were a couple of games of Cube Quest.

Paul 2
Andrew 0

And

Sam 2
Paul 1

Finally, with everyone clean(er) we set up the “long version” of Lords Of Waterdeep, ie the one with all the extensions. Paul stunned us all with an epic piece of AP on his penultimate move, as the rest of us were able to go to the toilet, get a drink, etc before he made his move.

In the end, his final moves were pretty good, but he said he thought he could’ve got another twenty points if only things were different.

Chris slightly over-prepares for a quest

I went skull-heavy, while Paul and Sam were the most noble of us. Or, at least, the best at getting rid of their skulls once they’d got them. But Chris showed why they almost call him “Mr Waterdeep”:

Chris 167
Paul 166
Andrew 147
Sam 141

Then we went for a walk in the rain, complete with rainbow.

Once we’d returned, Sam taught Paul how to play Scythe while Chris introduced me to Cartography. After a shaky start, my knowledge of Go held me in good stead and I won the second game handsomely.

Meanwhile, on the big table, Scythe was up and ready to go. Paul was yellow, Chris was white, I was black and Sam was red. While I got an early lead, Sam came charging up, getting to four stars and then ending the game with his next go by attacking Paul. Truly, it is the way of all things, that a student must one day defeat their teacher. But Paul didn’t win. Sam did, and then used Paul’s oil to upgrade for his sixth star.

Sam attacks his own protege

Although I had more territory and stars than Chris, his exemplary housekeeping meant he had plenty of money in the bank, which added to his paltry end of game bonuses ruined my hopes of a runner-up place.

Sam 77
Chris 42
Andrew 38
Paul 19

There was room for one more before Paul had to go and get his train. It was 7 Wonders, and I remarked it must make him nostalgic, playing this while keeping half an eye on the clock. Chris’s military might and high scores across the board meant the winner was never in doubt.

Chris 62
Paul 54
Sam 46
Andrew 38

And with that, Paul was off into the night, heading back to Clapham Junction.

After we ate Chris’s meal (made for four, but the three of us finished it off) we leapt back into gaming with Terraforming Mars. Chris said he liked it, but it was a bit long for what it was. I didn’t understand what he was talking about, it had always flied by for me, but tonight I understood. We began at eight and finished at half ten. Two and a half hours for three players is a lot.

The game itself was notable for people pushing up the temperature really fast while not putting down any city tiles. Chris had loads of titanium, but seemed unable to get titanium-feulled cards from the deck. Oh, how we laughed. By the end, it was a very populated Mars, with nine cities, an active volcano, lots of greenery and a commercial centre. You know, somewhere for the bank holiday shopping.

My sudden leap up the score chart with victory points on cards (24 pts) wasn’t enough to get out of last, but at least saved my blushes.

Sam 90
Chris 83
Andrew 71

We followed this up with a trio of small games. I won at Love Letter:

Andrew 3
Chris 2
Sam 2

And then Chris won his first ever game of For Sale:

Chris 72
Sam 65
Andrew 62

And finally my luck deserted me on Heck Meck as I went for three rounds without rolling a single worm. Sam was a clear leader midway through the game, but luck can go down as well as up, and Chris managed to overturn some of his recent poor form in the game.

Sam 6
Chris 6
Andrew 3

Finally, it was time for bed. Except for Chris, who sat down with a cup of coffee. Crazy.

Monday morning was a leisurely mostly Sam-less affair, as he had a lie in. Chris and I read rule books, with me taking on A Feast For Odin as my morning read.

After a while Chris and I decided to have a little game of Agricola: All Creatures Great and Small. It’d been a while for both of us, but Chris pig farming prowess made him look set for the win. In fact, that’s how we first counted it up. It wasn’t until afterwards when I was grumbling (good naturedly, I hope) about Smith’s way with a pig that he reconsidered that he might not have had fifteen after all.

We checked the photographic evidence, and he decided that he can’t have. This gave me a win, after a recount:

Andrew 45
Chris 44

Finally Sam woke up at 9.55, meaning his hopes of setting off at 10.00 were pretty much over. For our last game we chose Raj, the fun game of bluffing and accidental telepathy. It ended:

Sam 65
Chris 52
Andrew 27

All that was left was to tidy up and fail to find the recycling bins and we were away! Thanks all for a lovely long weekend.