Arle be the judge of that

There is a legend that says that if the Core Four of GNN (Sam, Joe, Adam and Andrew) ever have a games night to themselves again, then King Arthur will rise up, the River Thames will flow backwards and all manner of strange omens will be seen in the sky. Such an event almost happened tonight, except that Sam was absent and Martin and Ian were there instead. Still, it was nice to see Adam again.

You would think that, with five, we would be sociable and sit around the same table, but Adam was keen to try Fields Of Arle, Uwe Rosenburg's two-player homage to his ancestry. That much history takes up quite a bit of space, so Martin, Ian and I set ourselves up on the card table to play Yellow and Yangtze. I was keen to play again before I forgot all the rules, but as I listened to Martin giving Ian a quick rules refresher, I realised that I already had.

Ian got off to a poor start, with Martin building a blue pagoda quicksticks, me trying to muscle in on his patch and Ian mostly tucked away in a corner, losing battles.

He seemed quite distraught, but as the beer flowed, so his mojo returned as he set off wars between me and Martin or him and Martin or him and me. Often it seemed like he didn't know what battles would take place until Martin explained it to us.

This method, coupled with the tactic that we all used of dismantling/building a bridge connecting the main bloc of action to a useful patch of four red tiles, seemed to work for Ian. I felt myself drifting further away, with more leaders off the board than on it.

This lead to my declaration that I wasn't keen on the game. I said at the time that it wasn't what I wanted in a game (which is, broadly speaking, a sense of narrative). Y&Y is too swingy, too random and too often I found myself simply trying to put things back the way they were, which maybe demonstrates my lack of understanding of the game. I suppose I need more practice to appreciate it because it often felt like a boxing match on a bouncy castle and I did pretty poorly. A purple patch mid game when I picked up more points saved my blushes, though.

The game itself was an odd one, since almost all of the action centred around the starting point in the middle of the board. This cluster of activity only took in other centres once it had expanded close enough to make it worthwhile. Ownership of pagodas changed regularly and leaders shamelessly leapt into battle. There were plenty of Peasants' Revolts and perhaps the best was one of Ian's, who removed a previously overlooked tile and then dropped in a leader in its place, right next to three black tiles, instantly making him very powerful. Despite this, Martin ran away winner once again.

Martin 16
Ian 13
Andrew 11

What happened in Fields Of Arle? Despite my frequent (and slightly jealous) glances in their direction, I know little about the flow of the game. We sniggered when we overheard Joe saying "you get wood at the end of every summer" but that was about it.

In the end, Adam's uncanny empathy with Uwe Rosenberg gamers propelled him to a debut win.

Adam 102
Joe 90.5

While Fields Of Arle had been finishing, the three of us on the card table played Ganz Schön Clever. It was my first game and all previous references to fireworks or bingo or pinball suddenly made sense. I would add the analogy of rows of dominoes falling, and setting off clever displays in a world record attempt. That's how this game feels.

I came last, although Martin assured Ian and I that over 200 is a good score.

Martin 239
Ian 209
Andrew 207

And so, with Fields of Arle back in its exquisitely packed box, the card table was vacated. Ian was persuaded to stay for one more game and we all set off on a rousing finale of Texas Showdown.

We all enjoyed giving Martin a nightmare first round, but that did mean Ian got through clean. Although he couldn’t keep up this high standard, at least he didn’t collapse. After three rounds, it ended:

Ian 5
Joe 6
Adam 7
Martin 9
Andrew 9

And with that, we were done. Off into the warm Spring night. Thanks all. Let’s do it again soon.

Yellow River Blues

This week's games night occurred in a whirl of domestic activity as Sam's son, Stanley, was preparing for a camping trip the next day. As such we (Sam, Martin, Ian, me and Sam's other son, Joe) played a game of Fuji Flush, sharing the table with piles of carefully chosen clothes and a check list.

The game itself was unaffected. We started with the traditional "all play twos" opening, which was followed by the just as traditional spoiling move, as Sam swept them all aside with a nine. We got our revenge, though, as we proceeded to play four threes, to beat his nine.

In the end, it was between me and Joe, both on one card. I was lucky enough to piggy-back onto a couple of sixes for a win. I commented that Fuji Flush was one of the few games I am actually good at, and since Martin asked to see the division, here it is.

A bit closer than I had imagined, but in terms of wins, I'm in a clear lead. Hooray!

Then the four grown ups played another short game in anticipation of two more gamers. We chose Knister, the dicey Take It Easy. Last time, the dice kept almost exclusively to values between five and nine. This time we had twos and twelves, with proper agonized groaning over where to put things.

Sam's son, Joe, had been a spectator for most of the game until the last roll of the dice. Sam handed them to his son and asked for a six. Joe rolled them and it was a six! Good for me, but pretty much life-changing for Sam, as that one roll netted him twenty or so points.

Sam 73
Martin 50
Andrew 42
Ian 24

During this game, Andy and newcomer Laura arrived. With Joe otherwise occupied with getting ready for bed and finding his brother's hat, the six of us sat down for the next game.

We chose Texas Showdown, and after a rules explanation for the debutants, we were off. Laura found herself perhaps thrown by the idea of not winning tricks and by the time she'd got used to it, she found herself on the wrong end of five tricks in round one.

Suffering a similar fate in round two was Martin, who was dealt a hand with the highest cards in five of the eight suits. I, on the other hand, went through round one and two without picking up a single trick. Meanwhile, Ian went clear in round three. Andy hit a bad patch in round three to ruin his chances, and Sam was quietly efficient throughout.

Andrew 2
Sam 5
Ian 6
Andy 7
Laura 10
Martin 10

At this point, we split into two groups. Sam and Laura were going to play Azul while Martin and I favoured Yellow And Yangtze, the new Knizia, not even released yet. Ian and Andy both claimed to be fine with either choice but when Y&Y was described as a game similar to Tigris And Euphrates, a game Andy doesn't care for at all, Ian graciously chose the heavier option.

Since Martin's pre-release copy didn't come with its own bag for drawing tiles, he had to use the one from the copy of Azul Martin had brought with him. With a genuine Azul draw bag on the table as well, we had to make sure we didn't pick up the wrong one.

Since I was concentrating on Y&Y, I didn't really follow Azul, apart from noting Sam's apology mid-game for "congregating the blues".

Andy 79
Sam 50
Laura 36

Then they played Heck Meck/Pickomino as a light game to end Laura's evening.

I noticed Sam's remarkable pile of tiles had been whittled away by the end of the game, but not enough for either of his opponents to stop him from winning.

Sam 12
Andy 7
Laura 2

After Laura had left, Sam and Andy filled the time until the end of Yellow And Yangtze with two games. The first was Letter Tycoon. Sam cautiously asked Andy if he liked word games and got the reply that it depends what they're like. Judging by the scores, Andy liked it enough to push Sam to the end.

Sam 54
Andy 53

Then they set up a game of Santorini which, I believe (but I may be wrong), that Sam won.

As for us, Martin had talked us through the rules and even started the game so us two could see what an opening move looked like.

It is, mostly, Tigris And Euphrates on a hexagonal grid as opposed to squares, but I found my limited experience no advantage over the total newbie Ian. He complained he had no idea what he was doing at a time when he owned two pagodas to my none. And shortly after, he stumbled upon the tactic of placing tiles to force wars between the three of us, just to change things around a bit.

Martin seemed to struggle with trying to not think about it like Tigris And Euphrates. But I think the basic similarities helped him more than hindered him.

It was close in the end. Martin said he was about to make a move to swing things decisively in his favour when warmaker Ian messed things up.

Martin 14
Ian 13
Andrew 9

Finally we all got together for a game of Voodoo Prince. Initially, we said we'd only play three rounds but halfway through we all decided to play the full five.

In round one, Sam went out second from last with a flurry of trump cards, leaving Andy with just one point for that round.

In round two, we were all on two tricks at one point. The final two players in were Ian and Martin. Ian played a 13 purple and a relieved Martin out down a 14 purple to win the that all important third trick.

However, in the next round, Martin crashed out early when we let him win a trick with a seven card, netting him two tricks for the price of one. At the end of that round Sam had a commanding lead, which may be why he was out first in round four.

In round five, Sam, me and Martin had a chance of winning but Sam smartly cashed out late enough to consolidate his lead.

Sam 41
Andrew 40
Martin 38
Ian 28
Andy 22

And so, on the same evening when we'd assured the newcomer that we almost never stay up until half past eleven, we ended bang on 11.30. But it was all worth it. Thanks to everyone. It was a pleasure.