Training Games

Tonight's games saw four players begin with two helpings of 7 Wonders, a game that was once considered medium length challenge and is now treated like a piece of light hearted fluff that fills ten minutes or so. I set up two games with Ian, Katy, Adam T and myself. In the first one, Ian won by being the quietest, I think. In the other one, Adam T finally clocked up a win. Unfortunately I’d set it up as a training game and Adam’s ELO score remained untouched.

Ian 59

Andrew 51

Katy 49

Adam 39

Adam 59

Ian 49

Ian 44

Katy 43

After this Martin and Andy B arrived and we split in two groups. Adam, Katy and Martin went off to play Ninety-nine while after some idle indecision, we remaining three chose Russian Railroads. It’s been a long time since this was seen at GNN and Ian got a rules explanation that I also listened to, trying to get back up to speed. 

It was possibly not the ideal choice for an already exhausted Ian, but he quickly showed his tactical nous with some astute moves. I, on the other hand, made the same mistake that I used to do: forgetting about the engineers. 

Andy 320

Ian 222

Andrew 190

As for the other group, once they’d worked out which Google Hangout that Katy had gone to, played Ninety-Nine, which I kept an eye on long enough to see Adam T get off to a slow start and also note that Sam had arrived and was watching them play too.

Martin 374

Katy 233

Adam 154

After this they played Yokai. Technically, they played twice, but Martin quit the game that he set up and the result showed that he’d lost and everyone else had won even though Yokai is a co-op game. The second attempt ended in a shared defeat for all.

Then Steve and Anja arrived while Sam bowed out. The five of them now played For Sale.

Martin 57

Katy 57

Steve 53

Anja 45

Adam 42

Finally, the weary Russian Railroaders joined up with the rest and they ended on 6nimmt, in which Ian crashed out in two rounds, picking up an impressive forty cards in the process. In the closing stages, it was very close with the standings at Anja 59, Andy 58, Steve 56, Martin 55 with two cards left. It ended

Andy 58

Anja 56

Martin 55

Steve 55

Katy 36

Andrew 27

Ian –22

And that was all for this week. See you all soon.

Party to Something

GNN started 2020 in celebratory mode, with an open-door policy at mine and Sally's house, and as well as the usual massively-unhealthy snacks there was also the marginally-safer ones of crostini and tapenade, courtesy of Sally. There was also mackerel pate, a variety of cheeses, cloudy lemonade, and a bowl of salad that - as Martin noted nine hours later, slowly turned into a bowl of wilted leaves.

still lurking this morning

But before that could happen, Adam T and Celena were first to arrive, promptly joined by Martin, Sarah and Effie. After summing up the options, Effie left the adults to it and went to chill with Stan and Joe. Arthur joined her when he rocked up with Hannah (who came by bus), and then shortly after that Adam H arrived on two wheels. Then Joe walked in too.

But for a long time - literally, hours! - people talked. It almost reached the point where the blog would need to be renamed, but fortunately Andy Mosse arrived with his boy Finn, and brought Team 3 with him. After it sat glowing radioactively for long enough on the table, the collective curiosity of myself, Martin, the Adams and Joe couldn't be resisted any more and with Andy's help we cracked out a quick couple of plays.

The game takes the concept of see/hear/speak no evil and parcels out those communicative restrictions on three team-mates, one of whom must describe the structure they have to build (from tetris-type blocks) whilst not speaking. The second must communicate the message verbally to the third, who can't see anything. It can be played co-operatively or competitively, and our second game was the latter, with Andy, Joe and Adam H beating Martin, Adam T and myself. Maybe it was the combination of hosting, or too much cloudy lemonade, but I found it very stressful.

Later - I think it was later - Ian arrived, and as the daylight began to fail, so did Steve and Anja with Louie and Lennon. Whilst the older kids disappeared to the loft to watch Pixels, the younger crew stayed in the front room with more suitable viewing, as we were all charmed by Lennon distributing snacks, often directly into our mouths. By this point there were two rooms full of potential gamers. In the front room, Sally and I joined Adam, Hannah, Steve, Anja for what turned out to be a triumphant crack at Just One - not only scoring the maximum 13 but 2 bonus points as well. which is even more impressive considering the game probably took about an hour all told.

Meanwhile in the kitchen there was an epic game of Facecards playing out. It took even longer than Just One, so God knows what took place. Everyone seemed very happy with it though.

As the day faded away, so did the 'non-gamers' with various children and relieved parents making their way home so the regular GNNers could go full-nerd. Sally had nowhere to go, but seemed happy to stay. To be frank the order of events gets extremely hazy here, I think due to all the cheese I was eating, but I think this was when a huge game of 7 Wonders got played.

Andy Mosse had only played 7 Wonders Duel, but was otherwise new to things, and initially had Joe beside him as his trusty assistant. But then I stole Joe away to play two games of Blitzkrieg! which we won one apiece and celebrated in our joint mutual destruction. I think Martin won 7 Wonders, after which Adam and Celena departed... in the front room, Sally taught Steve and Anja Yokai. I'm not sure how they got on, but after the first game Sally was ashen-faced in the kitchen, muttering something about rules.

Somewhere around here Res Arcana got played.

I think it was while Adam, Katy - freshly arrived - Ian and I played Flamme Rouge. As we were setting it up, Chris walked in the door - passing Steve and Anja en famille on the way out - and happily sat down to join us. A while ago Flamme Rouge was a regular at the GNN tables, and it was nice to play it again even if the card system initially seems slightly counter-intuitive. I've personally found that the backs of all cards are the same colour a little bewildering, even if it's necessary to hide those exhaustion cards...

While we were pedalling through the Alps, a boisterous Medium was played out at the other end of the table, with much roaring of disbelief and approbation. I've no idea which team won, but they wrapped things up the same time as Adam H sailed over the line in Flamme Rouge.

I'm now exceedingly hazy on things but I think it was towards the end of these games that Andrew and Anna arrived to find a scene of game-related debauchery in full swing. Stan and Joe were so screened out they were taken for a walk by Sally, Andy and Finn departed, and a game of PUSH was initiated by Joe that Anna was shanghai-ed into, whilst at the other end of the table something else occurred. I'm not sure what. It may have just been wild consumption of cheese. EDIT: looking at photos I see we played Tiny Towns. This was after Adam and I tried to play Ecos: First Continent, only to have Martin rule it out by repeatedly barking "no!" even though he wasn't playing.

I think I blanked it out because of my awful building-site finale - Adam won this, followed by Chris and Ian.

However around mid-evening seat-changing occurred with Just One back on the table in the kitchen while Ian, Adam and Chris suffered the indignity of finding out a crucial rule I'd missed in Word Domination: the game of allegedly taking over the world but actually just spelling things.

It's a neat little system of claiming cards by using the letters on them, the catch being you need to claim them in subsequent turns, and may be bumped off in the meantime by other players. I'd not realised the board actually grows during play, however, and we hurriedly implemented the rule when I found it in round 5. Despite Chris' vocabulary and my alleged (by Adam) always-winning at word games, it was Adam's shrewd strategic brain and claimed another win.

In Just One, meanwhile, four people clued gatherer, leaving poor Katy to try and guess Hunter from Joe's clue Orion. There was a substantial bout of cheating here, none of which sadly helped.

Sally couldn't be persuaded to stay up for another game, and so we were reduced to eight - Joe, Martin, Katy, Adam, Anna, Andrew, Ian and myself - for what would turn out to be the last game of an epic session - Pairs. Although I was barely drinking, my cheese and sugar intake had reached gargantuan proportions and I don't know what happened here at all, although I do recall Martin serially going bust on his first card flip and Katy doing well. I think she won - I went to the toilet, and when I returned, it was all over.

And so was the night!

Although our incongruous - for GNN - start of prolonged chat was rather sweetly mirrored at the end, as we sat around the table almost like normal people before we realised the time was 11pm and Ian and I were starting to yawn.

I'm pretty sure I've missed out some games as well as plenty of high points. A big bundle of fun and lovely to have so many of us under one roof at the same time! Thanks to everyone for coming and look forward to seeing some/all of you very soon... Tuesday?

Troy Tempest

On a day when the BBC put an article entitled “Board Games: why are they becoming so popular?” four GNN regulars met up for a first attempt at Ancient Civilisations of the Inner Sea. In the BBC video, not one of the reasons given was that people wanted to be dicks to each other while playing a game of indeterminate but considerable length. But that’s why we were sat around Sam’s kitchen table.

Ancient Civilisations of the Inner Sea is set at the dawn of the Bronze Age around the Mediterranean Sea as each player adopts the role of a local aspiring empire. In our game, Sam was Troy, Adam was Egypt, Ian was Carthage and I was Gaul. It superficially resembled Time Of Crisis and I swiftly expanded into Rome almost out of habit. Sadly it wasn’t a game-winning move.

Adam, though, sprang into an early lead, building cities and using cards to put him onto four points, to Sam’s three and Ian and I sharing one. (Or should that be sharing two, since we had one each?) Sam sent Civil War into Egypt, removing five of Adam’s discs. Adam just drank slowly from his beer while regarding Sam coldly.

Why are board games so popular? Hmm. Good question.

Soon after this point there was an event entitled Breath of God which saw everybody instantly discard their hands and draw four new cards. Cue a chorus of grumbles at the unfairness of it all. Ian seemed to make the most of the new opportunities as he built loads of cities: so many that our attempts at stopping him were largely fruitless. He picked up ten points that round, jumping into first.

He retained his estate of ten cities for a while until Adam played the Bread & Circuses card which meant that the player with the most cities had to lose that many VPs, or pay for them with money or cards from his hand. That knocked six points of his tally. Finally the first epoch ended and it was 9.30. We’d been playing for two and a half hours! A full game lasts four epochs.

Epoch Two began with a general agreement that this could be the last. But before too long another event, Time Marches On, brought the epoch to an abrupt end. The score at this point was Adam 34, Sam 34, Ian 31, Andrew 27.

Adam was the main target of our ire, as we set about dismantiling his Egyptian/Palestinian empire. But we always had an eye on each other, as I sent barbarians into Sam’s lands and tried to stop Ian’s expansion into southern Spain.

Being in last, I was mostly unhindered by my opponents but the game itself still managed to get in my way. The event Resistance To Chance cost me three points for most cities just as I was about to score big.

Then, wouldn’t you know it, Time Marches On made another appearance. Epoch Three came to a sudden end and, with that, so did the game. It was 10.50, so we didn’t feel like risking a fourth epoch.

Sam 42
Adam 41
Ian 40
Andrew 37

While it had been long, it had never been boring with a remarkable lack of downtime between turns. There’s always something to watch and something to react to. It was fun, but the fact that there’s no real way to guess how long a game will be makes it an “event” game rather than one that’ll make an appearance at the weekly meet. Ian also noted that the name itself - Ancient Civilisations on the Inner Sea - was slightly too long. Sam promised to bring it to Novocon.

Then Adam decided it was time to go, but was persuaded to stay for one more by the wall of rain outside. We played Yokai. It was a breeze after the hardships of ACIS. And we did very well, hitting Legendary on the score track thing.

And then we set off, into the rain. Thanks for the evening.

Wrong end of the sticht

This week witnessed the return of Katy, so that seven gaming stalwarts sat around Sam's kitchen table (Sam, Joe, Adam T, Martin, Ian, Katy and me). In fact, we began with eight, since Sam's son Joe joined us for a round of Fuji Flush.

It had been a while since we had last played it, but our biggest concern was not being able to talk about dick points in front of a child. A real shame since we began by all putting down 2s until Ian cleared the table with a 15. A big swinging dick, and we couldn't even mention it.

Adam 0
Joe M, Joe B, Martin 1
Ian, Andrew, Sam 2
Katy 3

Then Joe M requested a round of Insider, which we quickly cranked out. I was the master, and the word was Thermal Power Plant. During the guessing round, Katy, Sam and Joe B all suggested power plants, seemingly out of nothing, but despite that it was Ian who was the Insider. He'd won by using the old "quiet and mysterious" method.

Now we split into two groups. Three of us (Sam, Katy and Martin) played Hats. Not the album by The Blue Nile, but a set collecting game that comes with its own cookie. With it being so far away (again, I was perched at the end of the table) I know little about it. Not even what the cookie is for, but they played twice with Sam winning both games. I only noted the scores for the second, though.

Sam 29
Katy 28
Martin 26

We (Adam, Ian, Joe and me) chose Was Sticht?, a game whose box has been taken to several GNN nights but was rarely chosen. Until tonight. It's a trick taking game, but to describe it like that is like saying Kafka's Metamorphosis is about a man who just doesn't want to get out of bed.

Instead of dealing out the cards, they are distributed through a sort of mini game in which each player chooses a card from a column of a grid displaying all of the cards face up and then the "dealer" (who knows the trump suit) tells everyone who won among those four cards. In this way we are expected to deduce what the trump card is and adjust our choices accordingly.

Once that is done, each player has to chose one of the five targets they selected right at the start of the game, with criteria like No Tricks or Last Trick. If you complete this target then you discard it and the winner is the first to discard all five. Although, right from the start, we had agreed to play just four rounds. On top of all of this, lots of other rules kept cropping up during the game like someone who can't admit defeat in an argument and keeps coming back saying "and another thing..."

I found it all hard going at first, but by round four I think we'd all got the hang of it as we had gone from hesitant questioning to silent contemplation before our turns. This was certainly a good sign and I'd like to try it again soon.

Andrew 3 targets completed
Joe, Adam, Ian 2

Was Sticht took long enough that the other three squeezed in a game of Yokai and Eggs of Ostrich while we were in the final stages. In Yokai, Martin struggled to interpret his colleagues actions, saying to Sam that "I thought you were being clever," to which Sam bluntly replied "No." Nevertheless, they succeeded and were Glorious according to the scoresheet.

Then, in Eggs of Ostrich, Martin complained about how brutal it was. I think the score was

Martin 8
Sam 5
Katy 4

At this point, we were all available for mingling and, astonishingly, Toad in the Hole was offered up as a snack. This beat even Adam's offering of bite size sausage rolls at the start of the evening. The whole snack scene is seeing a revival that even Knizia would be jealous of.

Anyway, as for games, Adam, Ian and I chose Impulse while Sam, Joe, Martin and Katy played Senators, despite Katy's attempts at steering them towards Hit Z Road.

Senators was notable for Joe offering to buy olives in a creepy tone of voice. Katy seemed to enjoy her first game so maybe there's a chance of a revival?

Martin 9
Joe 8
Katy 6
Sam 5

During Impulse we started slow and with a remarkable lack of fighting coupled with a large amount of available Build actions meant that our space sector got pretty crowded.

Ian declared that he'd cocked up his techs and I was looking forward to a win when Adam snuck in and hit twenty points before I got a chance.

Adam 20
Andrew 14
Ian 11

While we finished Impulse, the other four amused themselves with a quick burst on Belratti. With Sam, Joe and Martin playing, some of the deductions about which painting belonged to which theme had an air of cryptic crossword to them. Sam tried to link Recycle to "re-sickle" until Joe told him that the drawing in question was a scythe. Martin tried to link Eye and Saw because it made "eyesore". Despite all this overthinking they did well, scoring 13-3.

Finally, we played Just One. This is a word game that I just don’t get. I keep expecting normal words but instead I get pop culture references or, as was tonight, an actual name. Despite clues to the moon landing and the other clue “Lance” I couldn’t get “Armstrong.” Sorry. Joe gave away the word by saying it out loud (Zeus) meaning a re-deal was necessary. Martin’s word was “passion” and when he saw our remaining clues: Desire, Throes and St Matthew, he said “Jesus Christ…” with an air of despair. At the mention of JC, I sort of chuckled and from that he was able to deduce the clue. Phew.

After this,we were finished. Thanks all, and hope to see you all again soon.

Tap the Magic Dragon

This week's games night saw four of us regulars (Sam the host, Ian, Joe and myself) waiting for Adam T and Martin to arrive. With their eta still unclear (Adam had emailed to say ten minutes but no one saw it until hours later) we broke out Rollet, the panic-enducing table top action game. Sam and myself teamed up together against Joe and Ian. I made few notes but, then again, I didn't have much time.

Sam and Andrew 5
Ian and Joe 1

Then Stanley replaced his father and we started another game. We started it, but never actually finished it: the first point was an epic to rival Viking poetry. We battled and made last ditch defensive moves or threw everything we had in the hope of a goal, but for about two minutes we struggled to get anywhere.

Finally, Stanley got the vital touch and sent the ball into the goal and, at this point, we called it a game. Frankly, we were exhausted. Plus, Martin and Adam were now here.

Stanley and Andrew 1
Ian and Joe 0

Now we were six (Stanley chose to just watch the next game), and we all played a game of Frank's Zoo. As we got settled, Sam told us that he and his son were developing a game. Then, midway through the rules explanation, he interrupted to mention that, just like Frank's Zoo, the game they were designing was also based on animals eating each other and that chameleons were wild in their game, too. Must have been some weird deja vu when he was listening to Adam describe how to play.

The game was perhaps not best with six. We each had a limited hand size and I couldn't see any kind of winning strategy. Mind you, I was very tired. Joe and Ian got the hang of it much quicker and both went out in the style of a seasoned Tichu player, by putting down cards they knew couldn't be beaten.

1st Joe
2nd Ian
3rd Adam
4th Sam
5th Andrew
6th Martin

Now we split into two groups of three. Sam, Martin and Adam battled it out in Pax Porfiriana Pamir while Ian and I were introduced by Joe to the arcane delights of Res Arcana.

I had sneered at this game from a distance several times recently but now had it spread out in front of me. The iconography was easy to understand, at least, so even my sleep deprived mind could cope with it, but when Joe suggested we look for "synergy" in our hands of cards I admit I think I blacked out for a second or two.

The game itself, once it was going, was fine. I built, it seems, too many cards and never seemed to have much in the way of essences coming in like Joe and Ian did. I did, though, have options for drawing new cards and reactivating used ("tapped") cards, which helped a lot. I also sang "Tap the magic dragon" to the tune of "Puff the magic dragon." A joke I was so happy with I believe I did it twice.

Ian had a Dragon's Lair (complete with reminiscing about the gorgeous but unplayable 1980's arcade game) and a dragon to go with it, which he used to rack up points. Joe bought a Catacombs of the Dead and then filled it with even more death. It ended closer than I was expecting, and with a different winner, too.

Ian 11 plus he had more essences left over
Joe 11
Andrew 9

We had, somehow, managed to make Res Arcana last as long as a game of Pax Porfiriana Pamir since we finished at the same time.

Pax had begun (with metal coins!) mostly concerned with Russian and Afghan forces on the map and Adam stating "I'm not enjoying this."

Then, the next time I looked over, Adam had a large pile of cash in front of him while Martin looked distraught. I am also quite sure that, at one point, the map had no forces on it at all. Is that common? I've no idea.

The game went until the final dominance check.

Martin 11
Sam 6
Adam 4

So, since we were all together again, and with Ian and Adam making noises about an imminent exit, we chose Stinker! as our next game.

It's the game that throws up more laughs than can reasonably be noted. Adam scored early with his philosophical saying "Dis shit bites." During a round about something a mad scientist might do, I wrote down Joe's "Orbit a shit light" but omitted to write down the winner. Joe, by the way, managed to get the word "shit" into most of his answers. Sam's insult of "funp bungs" is also worth noting, if only for its unpronouncability. But Ian magnificently sailed to a null result, despite always coming up with something relevant but somehow never quite good enough...

Something about church slogans

Martin 53
Sam 29
Joe 28
Adam 26
Andrew 15
Ian 0

Once we were back down to a quartet, we played Yokai (妖怪 which means ghost. Doesn't seem to fit the game but oh well). This cooperative game is a bit Hana Bi and a bit Colour Wheel. There's a 4x4 grid of cards and each player looks at two cards and may move one (not necessarily the ones they just checked). The idea is to rearrange the cards so that the four colours are all orthogonally adjacent. To help us are clue cards that we can place on top of a card to tell the other players what colour a card might be.

It is a sweet little game. We cleared it pretty easily and scored 15 points which is Glorious, according to the score track. Highest is Legendary. I'd like to see that goal achieved one day.

After this, there was still time for one last game. We chose Heul Doch Mau Mau. Sam and Joe got a rules explanation and we were off. I got lucky with early sixes and sevens while Martin had to play two weeping onions in a row. "Give me the damn tissue," he growled, disgusted at his fate. And then, later, we all played weeping onions on the same round.

At the end, my luck continued. When the game was done and we counted up our weeping onions, I had four in my hand that cancelled out only one 4-card. All the rest of my hand scored.

Andrew 101
Joe 76
Sam 63
Martin 59

And then we were finally done. Thanks to all for yet another evening of exciting mental battles.

When you don't know your Mars from Uranus

Friday, and after a month pretty much out the GNN loop I (Sam) was looking to squeeze in a game or two, despite tonight's Time Of Crisis looming. Luckily for me, Chris and Adam were also keen, and after some debate over which space-themed game we'd play (Quantum and Sol were also under consideration) we settled on Orbit: The International Space Race. Three space agencies - Japan, USA and Russia, head for the stars to try and claim achievements of fly-bys, orbits, landings, and even the hard-to-do return to Earth. It was new to Chris, but the rules are pretty surmountable.

What wasn't surmountable - for me, as the CCCP - was distinguishing Jupiter from Venus, and I set off into the outer solar system towards one thinking I would reach the other. Adam and Chris graciously allowed me a do-over, but the Russians struggled for the rest of the game, unable to shake off their status as laughing stock of the international astronomy community.

Chris left Earth and headed for Mars, only to find by the time he reached it Earth had appeared again and Japan (Adam) launched to reach Mars before him. "Sorry" said Adam, but he didn't sound sorry.

I, as the Russians, found myself lagging and so picked up Mission cards. All of them pointed to doing things with the inner planets, something Adam was already busy with. "Adam, you're doing all my achievements!" I wailed. "Sorry" said Adam.

Meanwhile Chris as the firmament-newbie was actually playing a rather canny game. I realised when I was giving him some advice that I was probably, having mistaken Jupiter for Venus,  not qualified to help and left him to it. I think Adam gave a couple of pointers, but Chris ran away with the game and it was mostly his own work. I spent most of the time focused on an 11 point mission card, and realised three turns from the end I'd need an extra turn to complete it. Bah!

Chris 41
Adam 28
Sam 18

I do love Orbit. Even when it goes wrong.

Next up, after some discussion, was Villagers. Here everyone is drafting and 'building' their own village, with the eponymous villagers represented by cards; the catch being that, just like life, craftspeople need materials to craft with, so you can't have a cooper without a carpenter, or a glassblower without a miner. Stan has repeatedly rinsed me at this, but at least those experiences stood me in good stead here, as Chris and Adam were both new to it.

something like
Sam 61
Adam 51
Chris 50

Both seemed to like it and I think it may be seen again.

We ended our trio of trios with a couple of cracks at NMBR9. I can't remember what happened now, but I think Chris won the second game, and Adam said he had finished second in every game of the evening.

Adam left for home with the clock chiming eleven, but Chris and I had one last game in us, which was Yokai. This is part-memory, part-Mind as you co-operatively try and move four randomly-dealt 'tribes' of face-down cards to orthogonal adjacence in a 4x4 grid: every turn you can look at two cards, you must move one card (any card, it doesn't have to be what you looked at) and then either place a clue card on top of a tribe card (hinting at its colour) or flip a new clue card.

The clue cards though mostly tell you what colour the tribe card underneath it isn't, rather than what it is, so you need to watch your fellow player/s carefully and remember what you've seen. Run out of clues and the game ends - or you can declare earlier if you think you've achieved a victory.

It's quite easy to get wrong but we ended the night on a triumphant victory. I didn't take photos, but here's me and Little Joe playing it in France...

And with that, we were done! Thanks chaps.