Crowdbusting

I was hosting last night and Adam T arrived early enough that we squeezed in a quick 2-player in the form of Yokai Septet. I'd played this trick-taker before, but as a team game: the goal is to win four sevens from a deck of suits that vary in their number values. You can also lose if you win 13 tricks without winning four sevens... kinda nuts, but fun. I forgot to take photos though, so busy was I going from solid early-game promise to late-game collapse.

Adam wins
Sam doesn't

Martin knocked on the door first, and then was good enough to do greeting duties for the others - Ian, Katy - as we packed away. We debated options and decided on Klink while we waited for Adam H and Laura. 

Despite some pithy commentary from the table, I enjoy Klink. But maybe it's not best with five, as the passing-of-cards does outweigh the taking-of-cards and subsequent fun of joy/despair it entails. When Adam H rocked up we ended the game early, as Adam T picked up a mildly asterisked win. 

Adam T 18
Sam 26
Katy 36
Martin 56
Ian 61

Katy was keen on Trailblazers and between her and Adam H they were confident they could teach it to Adam T, whose Novocon nickname Big T has sadly not stuck. For a long-running club, we have a surprising dearth of nicknames outside of 'JB' and 'Space Cunt'. Meantime whilst I made tea or something Martin taught Ian the rules to the Fellowship of the Ring, and I joined them as we set out on Chapter 5, striking up a friendship with poet-irritant Tom Bombadil: left out of the movies, but back with a bang for the trick-taking. Inevitably - or perhaps thematically - I forgot to take pictures again, but here's Trailblazers. 

The road goes ever on and on and so my memories, thanks to subsequent games and a couple of glasses of whisky, are now murky over what happened with Tom. I think we initially failed and then triumphed, and triumphed again in Chapter 6. EDIT: Chapter 5. Go us! Meantime trails were being more aesthetically blazed at the other end of the table. 

Adam H definitely won - 81 points - but there was drama over who had came second. Katy demanded Martin and I adjudicate over some bonuses she'd gotten, but I didn't remember the game and Martin had never played it, so we couldn't assist. After the dust settled Katy claimed second with 73 points and Adam T was back on 68. EDIT: I remembered the exchange, but got the game wrong! This occurred over the scores of Fort, a bit later.

By this time, Laura has also arrived and she, Ian, Martin and I were bomb-busting, so they started playing Fort, the game of untrustworthy friendships.

In Bomb Busters we did rather well, even if I do say so my wirecutter-twirling self. After the next mission was successfully navigated, we even got to open a box! It contained some more fun stuff, and prompted a mission set to a 15 minute timer, which we initially rushed in a mad panic (actually in fairness, this was mostly me and Laura) before attempting a second time and pulling it off with over five minutes remaining!

Then Laura watched the first half of Cat Blues before going home. This is a set (or quartet) collecting game over three rounds, with the catch being the same cards you collect are used to bid, giving it a sort of lurching rhythm - and a lot of profanity. 

I took a narrow win in a very funny play, mainly because of Martin continuously ranting at my high bids. Ian was victim of the game's somewhat opaque decision space. 

Sam 31
Martin 26
Ian 8

I'm not sure what happened in Fort. It was a bit more sweary than Trailblazers though. Scores provided verbally by Katy:

Adam Fucking Hillmann 37
Big T 35
Katy 33

Maybe we do have another nickname after all. Laura had left by now, and Adam H was next to go. But with five of us remaining we moved on to our standard closer of So Clover. Initially Katy's clue of 'And' looked like another Just One moment, but when Big T spotted the words war and peace it came into focus. Adam T rescued my clover from doom when he spotted photo went with 'cheese'. Overall, a solid effort with just Katy's red herring denying us a perfect score. 

Another excellent night!

Animal House

Sam’s kitchen table, at eight o’clock, was already groaning under the weight of three nature parks. I arrived to find Sam, Katy and Ian playing Caldera Park, with Mel watching. Sam assured us that they were almost finished. During scoring, Ian had some big scoring animals but Katy’s consistency across all groups gave her a surprise win.

Katy 153

Ian 147

Sam 139

Ian described Caldera Park as Kingdomino crossed with Take It Easy, and Sam said it was growing on him.

Next we stayed in a natural setting, this time hiking, cycling or kayaking through woodland in Trailblazers. 

It was new to Mel, so she got a quick rules explanation. I listened in since I’d only played it once and then I spent my game trying to complete the hardest end-of-game bonus despite it scoring only 6 points. And I almost did it, just one card short of having two loops around two camps. Katy really wanted a bison, Sam admitted to sacrificing some animals, Mel asked a last-minute rules clarification and Ian was tired.

Katy 78

Mel 70

Sam 64

Andrew 34

Ian 28

After this, we chose something a bit less thinky and Mlem was brought to the table. Mel admired the roll-out board made from something like wetsuit material. She was taught the rules and we were off into space! Commander Ian must have still been tired, since his first rocket exploded on the first space. Katy, too, had teething problems with her space program, suffering two early catastrophes.

No one got even close to deep space, with Sam and Mel fighting over the same planet, having both commited their x2 Planet cat to the same place. 

Sam placed his cats quickly and was on his last cat while Katy still had five. I managed to get the 4-moon bonus on the last roll of the dice and I also got a very cheap six points by colonising the lowest planet with a bonus while everyone else ignored it.

Andrew 25

Sam 23

Mel 16

Katy 11

Ian 8

Mel left at this point and the four of us ploughed into the night with Misfits. I was exploiting my newly-acquired unemployed status to stay until the end for a change. Misfits is a game that defies explanation, with a whole host of “you have to be there” moments.

I was first to use all my pieces. Sam also used his last piece on the same round, but refused the title of joint winner.

Then we played Little Tavern. More dickish moves, as Katy couldn’t resist events which inevitably made her the poorest player. Something she mentioned whenever someone else had to give money to another player for an event. In round two we started reading out each character's little quote in the style of their race. Possibly offensive but luckily there were no elves, nobles, witches etc to witness this.

Ian 26

Katy 23

Andrew 22

Sam 22

Then we played So Clover. Sam had finished his clover by the time I’d come back from the toilet. But then we floundered on everyone’s clover except Ian’s. Only 16 out of 24 so we went again.

This time I was first but got hit by a bad decoy. My clue of Kabblammm!!! went better with Strong/explosion instead of the correct Physical/explosion. Everyone else went clear, despite controversy over Katy’s clue of “Apple” for “Heavy/Pear”. Immediately after we’d solved her clover, Sam went to get an apple and a pear and it was clear that pears are actually heavier than apples.

And hats off to Ian’s clue of “Any” for “Port/Storm”. Poetic.

22 out of 24.

And we were done. Thanks all. There’s a chance of a new venue next week, so let’s hope I’m still unemployed so I have enough time to get there and back.

Cakeblazers

After a last-minute change of venue, Katy and I (Sam) were first to arrive at Joe's, and our host set the tone for the evening with a lighthearted quip about masturbation. As we pondered what kind of day Joe might have had, Martin arrived and before long was setting up Accuse! the game that we all profess to be terrible at, but I definitely am. 

I was first to accuse, and got almost everything wrong. Katy followed me and missed out by just one factor. But of course with a murder, knowing where it took place can be critical and Martin's decision to go with the airport won him the game, and we all rued the fact we never challenged him when he said "Hairport".

Martin: Promoted

Joe: Passed over

Katy and Sam: Fired

Steve and Adam had arrived and although Steve briefly vanished again, we were now at our full capacity of six, so promptly split into two groups. Whilst Joe, Steve and Martin played Tajuto...

Katy was keen to try Trailblazers, and a freshly-shorn (but according to himself, grumpy) Adam was happy to give it a go. The game has three different 'settings' and we played twice, first on Adventurer mode and then Animal mode. 

On Adventurer mode, you're building two trails. They have to loop back to the campsite they started in to score, but the longer the better, because adventurers move along said trails, establishing campfires for points. I made it more complicated than it needed to be, panicking that I'd previously played it wrong - before later realising I hadn't - so we ended up with far too many campfires that we subsequently snuffed out. But it was fun anyway. 

Katy took a narrow win, as Adam's scheming fell apart on the final turn, possibly because we drafted our cards in the wrong order to be fair to him:

Katy 46

Sam 43

Adam 26

Tajuto was still going, with Martin complaining that all he'd achieved so far was an aneurysm. Steve went to the toilet and they marvelled at his collection of tiles (on the table, I mean). 

We Trailblazered again, this time forfeiting adventurers and campfires to just go animal mode: now, all your looped trails score points and distinct animals on the trails score escalating points, instead of the basic 2points-per-animal happening in Adventurer mode. Katy loved the animals. 

And I think they both preferred Animals mode, as creating numerous overlapping loops certainly had some agonising fun. Adam said he really liked it despite the fact there's some tangible luck-pushing in how far your trails go, and the fact we kept screwing up the card draft. But this time Katy completely mullered us, scoring so many points she needed to ask Martin to do the addition.

Katy 82

Adam 56

Sam 53

Tajuto finished at the time, with Martin and Steve celebrating their shared victory. I missed the fine beats of the drama here, but everyone seemed happily sated, even Joe.

Martin and Steve - 12 each

Joe - 6

We regrouped as a six and played Auf Teufel Comm Raus (or as my phone likes to call it, Said Refuel Comm Raid) the game of pulling coals from the devil's cauldron - obviously - until you are caught by the devil himself, and his 'disturbing' bellybutton  (-Martin). This was new to Steve, who requested a player aid and nobody seemed sure how serious he was. 

We seemed to get caught by the devil a lot, except when we didn't. Numerous busts would be had then suddenly someone - usually Katy or Adam - would pull out six hot coals in a row. Joe seemed to bust himself nearly every time, but despite a poor start, and serial lagger Martin constantly rinsing everyone for cash when they busted (-he made a deal with the devil) Joe recovered to sail off up the track courtesy of some preposterous bidding coming off, seeing off Adam at the death to claim the win as they both passed the 1600 finish-line:

1 Joe 1840

2 Adam 1710

3 Steve

4 Sam

5 Katy

6 Martin

At some point around the devil's bellybutton we also had cake, provided by Katy. Thanks Katy! Steve cut his slice into two, enjoying the fact he now had 'an extra slice' on everyone else. 

Post cauldron, Adam and Steve took their leave and the remaining four set up So Clover. Katy was even studiously gazing at her freshly-arranged cards when Martin swept all aside and announced we would play MLEM first. Katy's protests weren't strong enough to prevent her being assigned a cat, as we all suited up our catstronauts, ready for space travel. 

It was a first game for Joe, who may not have embraced the strategy but definitely embraced the sense of adventure, as time and again he sent his Deep Space x2 Cat onto the rocket, only to see it return one life down from multiple doomed missions.

It was slightly surprising the game didn't end from our serial failures, so many times did we crash. But Martin's eighth catstronaut making it into the cosmos instead triggered the finale, and unsurprisingly, with so many cats in space, he took a convincing win. 

Martin 33

Sam 20

Katy 13

Joe 12

Then we did play So Clover! And it was a triumphant set of leaves, even if Martin did hiss at us to look at all the words again. We'd missed the fact that 'dead' went quite well with his clue of 'extinct' but having had the ambient tip-off, rounded off the evening with maximum points. Thanks all!