Farmers and the Moors

Tonight's games night was all about class warfare. When I arrived I found Chris and Paul (from the Bracknell branch on a special visit) playtesting Sam's game Luddites. With a new market system, it seemed to be moving smoother, except that the dice didn't seem as destructive as when Sam and I played it. Further tweaking required, Sam concluded.

Then, once Adam, Steve and Anja, we decided on a couple of high-stakes games of Tsuro. High stakes because anyone coming last risks a massive seven points on the form table. As it was, people tended to crash out in pairs (you know, like Thelma and Louise or Bonnie and Clyde. That's how cool board games are) so that the worst anyone got was five points.

1. Steve
2. Adam
3= Anja
3= Sam
4= Chris
4= Andrew
5. Paul

1. Adam
2. Andrew
3. Steve
4= Paul
4= Sam
5= Chris
5= Anja

After this, we split into two groups. Sam, Steve, Paul and Anja chose Alhambra while Chris, Adam and myself decided on old pre-blog favourite Agricola. And the set-up of the shared table reflected the social standing of the themes involved. The Moorish nobility one side, building their towers, arcades and seraglios, took up two-thirds of the table in spacious luxury. Meanwhile, us three poor farmers crammed our various boards and cards into what was left of the table top.

I'll leave it for someone else to fill us in with the details of the game of Alhambra, but it ended thus:

Sam 120
Steve 103
Anja 100
Paul 77

Meanwhile, in Agricola, I made the early running by playing a couple of cards which loaded the board with wood and clay for me to collect. In fact, I was the only one to really make use of my occupations and minor improvements. Adam, however, is an old hand at this, and his early statement of "I love it when you get rubbish cards because then you don't have to think about them" is not to be dismissed lightly.

I ran out of steam towards the end, relying too much on killing livestock to feed my family, so those points went begging. Chris seemed to be in a good position mid-game, with a bit of everything. But he seemed haunted by his last game of Agricola where he scored only one point, and didn't seem convinced by Adam's and my "advice" to avoid options that we so obviously wanted for ourselves.

In the final round, Chris debated whether or not to make a choice solely to stop Adam from winning, or go for maximum points for himself. Of course, Adam told him how he could get maximum points, which Chris then did. After the points were counted up, we did wonder if choosing to stop Adam might have put Chris into second place, because of the number of begging cards Adam would've had to take. But instead it ended:

Adam 39
Andrew 30
Chris 22

But Agricola is a great game, and it's been too long since I last played it. Chris and I were a bit rusty on the rules at first, but soon got into the swing of things. Plus, the "Wild Boar!"* joke is still as funny as it ever was. And always will be.

Meanwhile, Jonny holds onto first place, despite a spirited last minute dash up the table by Adam. However, there may be one more games night before the end of the month, so it's not over yet. Joe might be able to squeeze an evening into his busy diary. In the meantime, the Form Table looks like this...

						Points
Jonny	1	1	3	1	3	9
Quentin	1	3	1	1	3	10**
Adam	1	1	2	3	4	11
Steve	2	3	1	2	3	11
Andrew	2	2	4	2	2	12
Sam	1	4	3	3	3	14
Joe	4	4	1	3	3	15
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20
Anja	3	5	3	5	5	21
Chris	3	5	4	5	5	22
Paul	4	4	5	5	5	23

* said in the manner of "Wild Boys" by Duran Duran

** the decay rule – people with five results registered, after a while, will find their score go down one point per week if they don't attend for three weeks. It may sound harsh, but it stops the regulars getting resentful. If they attend another evening, all decay points are removed.

"One Snack Rule" yet to catch on

After last week's games night both Sam and I said how ill we'd felt the next day. We didn't blame the alcohol, but suspected the salt-heavy, MSG-laden snacks may have been a factor. But this week, rather than restraining ourselves to one snack like sensible adults, we munched our way through chips, crisps (Kettle Chips, though. They're almost healthy, right?), and two types of chocolate. Oh well. We'll see how we feel tomorrow.

Thanks to Sally being on bedtime duty with the kids, we were able to start a little earlier than usual, and Sam, Adam and I chose Stone Age. Even though Sam and I had played it only yesterday we agreed since Adam seemed keen. And the best time to play a game against Adam is when you've practiced it in the previous 24 hours.

Playing with a third player changes the balance of power. I abandoned my usual hut tactic after Adam got an early multiplier, and for a while I was at a loss as to what to do next. In the end, I plumped for fields after I was able to pick some multipliers for cheap. Adam, however, struggled with some terrible luck on dice rolls. Ones and twos were the order of the day whenever he went looking for food or wood, which on two occasions left him unable to complete a hut.

I admit, with that display of misfortune, I thought Adam wasn't a threat and spent most of my time watching Sam. However, when the points were finally added up, the result was as surprising as it was close.

Adam 147
Sam 145
Andrew 145

If he wins when he has luck as bad as that, what would he have done if he'd rolled fives or sixes?

Towards the end of Stone Age, Jonny turned up. For our next game we decided on a new but simple game – Portobello Market. This game of setting up markets and manipulating the police is easy to learn but takes a lifetime to master. If you only play it once every few years.

Adam's tactic was simple – put markets in the way so anyone who wanted to move the Bobby had to pay him. I went for putting down my scoring tokens as soon as it was worth it. Sam specialised in customer placement. Jonny did a bit of everything, and towards the end, he put down an aristocrat that scored for three of his streets at once. When the game ended (rather suddenly. Very much an "Okay, that's it! We're done!" kind of moment) Jonny's lead was insurmountable.

Jonny 109
Andrew 98
Sam 71
Adam 70

It still felt quite early, so we had a game of TransAmerica. It'd been a while since I'd played it and I sort of remember it being quite quick and light-hearted. Not tonight, as we studied the map, lost in thought, and our tracks seemed to act like repelling magnets whenever they came close. In one round, all four of us built parallel tracks for the first few moves, waiting for someone else to make the first move across the map.

In the end, the game ended when Sam accidentally finished Jonny's network for him. That was enough to give him his second win of the evening, and leave Sam and Adam at the tail of the pack again.

Jonny 9
Andrew 13
Sam 15
Adam 15


This changes the complexion of the Form Table quite dramatically. Jonny leaps up the table with just one week to go with a great performance to steal top spot from Quentin on the "best most recent score" rule. Despite an indifferent performance, Sam gains a point and I am the new Mr Consistency, with an evening of second places, edging me ahead of the old Mr Consistency, Steve. Adam sees both his pride and his position dented. And it all started so well...

						Points
Jonny	1	1	3	1	3	9
Quentin	1	3	1	1	3	9
Sam	3	3	2	1	1	10
Andrew	2	2	2	3	2	11
Steve	2	3	2	2	2	11
Adam	3	4	1	3	3	14
Joe	4	4	1	3	3	15
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20
Anja	5	5	4	4	3	21

The Tower of Murder

Monday rolled around, I decided to skip life drawing this week, and so Sam and I sent out a (fairly optimistic) call for attendees at an unofficial Games Night. No one else could make it, so it was just the two of us this evening.

First, as a little warm-up appetiser introduction, we chose Mord im Arosa, the detective game with sounds for clues. As a two-player game, it plays pretty quickly, so we able to fit three in before the main course feature main event of the night. On the first go, Sam was a comfortable winner, thanks to finding four of my clues on the ground floor. Second time around I ran out a clear winner thanks to Sam's obsession with floor six which, no matter how often he checked, was always clear of any cubes at all.

For the third and deciding game, it was a Titanic battle with accusations flying back and forth, and the occasional bit of subtly removing our own clues. In the end, we were both poised on equal points and nine cubes each when Sam found some clues of mine on a floor entirely unrelated to the crime. It seems that that's enough to send you down in this kangaroo court, so Sam ended as the winner.

We had discussed the Gates of Loyang as a potential option for the main game, but in the end, decided on the warm comfy presence of Stone Age. We'd played only recently, and Sam had been a narrow winner. This time he tried to bluff me by saying he'd go for hut multipliers. Well, that's my territory and so, like a dog in the yard straining on an old bit of rope barking at people who were only walking past anyway, I was quick to pay over the odds for an early hut x3 multiplier. Ha!

The game was notable for a complete lack of civilisation cards in the first part of the game, followed by a surplus of them in the second part. Sam built up an army of meeples and had the farms to feed them, while I had my huts and my axes. In the end, it was down to the civilisation cards, and I had eight compared to Sam's seven (the last one was the only unused card at the end of the game) which just nudged me in front.

Andrew 280
Sam 272

A pleasant evening and a useful warm up to tomorrow's meeting, when Adam returns to the fray.

Chocolate on the felt!

No, this is not a new euphemism for really needing a poo, but is in fact a reference to Steve's giant faux pas as he clumsily broke an aero bar into splinters over Joe's smart green baize-substitute table cloth. The embarrassed brushing of crumbs off the table was as swift as it was apologetic.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Five of us arrived at Joe's kitchen and we tried not to be disturbed at the pile of girls' hair in the corner. Myself, Sam, Steve, Anja and Joe (of course) were in attendance. We decided on a game off Joe's list of games he'd bought but not yet played: Hansa Teutonica. This had been suggested as a gaming option so often it was starting to feel like an in-joke: Joe suggests Hansa Teutonica, we all chuckle and choose something else instead.

But this week, we decided to give it a go. Joe patiently talked us through the rules and, although we weren't quite sure of the right strategy, we set about building routes and taking control of cities in Germany in the olden days.

It was a lot of fun, and taking control of the right cities paid dividends to those with foresight. I went for biggest network and a multiplier which, luckily, no one noticed until the end. Steve complained a lot about not understanding the rules, but was quickly in the lead alongside Sam.

But although I got bonus points for a particular route, I missed out on some other choice pickings, which left me just short of first. Sam luckily asked for clarification of a rule as the points were counted up which gained him enough points to avoid a draw with me and claim first place all for himself.

Sam 51
Andrew 47
Steve 41
Joe 39
Anja 33

As a nightcap, we decided on a quick round of 6nimmt. We tried to spice up the proceedings by talking in Italian "goomba" accents, until Joe pointed out that the mafia almost never play 6nimmt. We complained when we were dealt high cards, and we complained when we were dealt low cards. In fact, the only way to win the game is to be dealt no cards at all. But that's not an option so we struggled on.

It turned into a very close game in the end. Steve came in a poor last in the first round, but played well enough afterwards to bring himself up to second. I looked like being stoney last until I managed a clear final round. On the down side, Anja went from challenging for first to ending in last in the space of one round. Such is the cruel nature of 6nimmt.

Sam 36
Steve 47
Andrew 51
Joe 62
Anja 69

Thanks to Joe for a very enjoyable night. Hansa Teutonica was a success, and worth playing again now we know what everything does.

Meanwhile, it's an increasingly congested form table this week, with four gamers on eleven points. Amazingly, despite Sam's great performance, he stays on eleven points, but creeps up a place thanks to having a better more recent score. By the same method, Steve and I leap over Adam into third and fourth respectively. Anja, meanwhile, manages to fall to the bottom of the class, even below the mostly-absent Hannah.

						Points
Quentin	1	3	1	1	3	9
Sam	1	1	4	1	4	11
Steve	2	3	2	2	2	11
Andrew	3	2	2	2	2	11
Adam	3	3	1	3	1	11
Jonny	3	1	3	5	3	15
Joe	4	4	1	3	3	15
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20
Anja	5	5	4	4	3	21

First we were Henchmen, now we are Luddites

Despite Sam's double feature of gaming over the weekend, the fact that this week's games night has been put back by one day clearly left a gaping hole in his game-diary. As such he texted me this afternoon for a quick evening of games.

I arrived after a disastrous attempt at life-drawing to find his kitchen table resplendent with his own creation: Luddites! It was a game of Sam's own making, using a tower to send players' dice scattering across the game board at random, either supplying bountiful crops, or knocking down any signs of technological advance (hence the title Luddites).

At first we played with commentary from Arsenal vs. Newcastle on Radio 5 in the background. But when we realised that one of the players seemed to be called Santa we decided the comedy possibilities would distract us from the game on the table, so we turned it off (actually he was called Santon but we didn;t know that at the time).

Luddites uses a rondel to limit player choices to the next three options around the circle. You have to build up resources for selling on the market and building factories that bring in extra goods, while at the same time trying to trigger a tax round to hurt your opponent*. The factories are actual wooden silhouettes of buildings that can be knocked down by the rolling dice. These buildings then need to be repaired which cost money, and so it goes on.

It was pretty interesting, with rules being changed on the fly, as we realised that triggering a tax collection should get people more victory points to make it more appealing, since nobody likes taxes. And also that the market didn't quite work. Either the market was too generous, or too stingy. This needs a little work, but it can be fixed. Also the tower needs a smaller gap to put your dice into. Since Sam and I are both honest gentlemen who equate cheating with murder, we dropped our dice in dead centre to optimize random results, but the opportunity for cheating is too great for other less upright members of society who may drop their dice in towards one side to favour a particular outcome.

With these issues faced as we go, it was an occasionally tense and strategic game with certain possibilities. The market is the major thing to be addressed and we discussed various options during the game. We ended the game with:

Sam 51
Andrew 43

Or something like that. Possibly 53 to 41. Not sure.

Then we played Stone Age. I thought it'd be quick with only two players, but it comfortably took us towards eleven o'clock. I didn't take a note of the scores, but both of us were in the two-hundreds and Sam won by thirty points. Points that I'd have gained if I'd got a 3x hut multiplier instead of Sam. He picked it up in a typical "Hillman" move, just to spite me even though it didn't help him. And it worked.

But Stone Age is a great game. Putting all your men on gold still raises goosebumps on player and opponents alike, and that's what this game is all about. Gambling, but with opportunities to change the odds. Roulette could learn a thing or two from Stone Age.



* And possibly yourself. Hey, that's taxes, man.

Life in the Hotel Arosa

You know if you can't get your wives to play games with open invitations, one must use subterfuge. To that end, Joe and I arranged a dinner on Saturday evening at my house and underwent lengthy nods to polite society in the form of conversation, food (cooked by Sally - I'm shameless), glasses of wine, et cetera. But of course at some stage we had to get a game on the table, and our pre-arranged plan* meant that Joe was the one to propose it.

*Our pre-arranged plan was actually Joe suggesting it and me being too scared to, suspecting Charlotte secretly loathes me for introducing Joe to Settlers of Catan about 5 years ago. You know the rest.

I would have tried to work up to such a daring proposal, but Joe, his self-respect long-since burnt to hell in a household of game-skeptics, just came out with it. But as it transpired both Charlotte and Sally had been primed, and were resigned to indulging their goonish husbands... And so we played Mord im Arosa, the game where players listen out for the sound of tumbling wooden cubes in order to solve a mystery, and then accuse each other of the murders.

I'm not great at this game, as my method seems to be instantly forgetting anything I've just heard and guessing wrong, meaning more of my cubes go in the tower, and subsequently being more open to accusation. Sally and Joe, having played before, were alive to this in-built ratio, but Charlotte blew us all out of the water by constantly predicting where her own cubes where and eliminating all but the most minimal suspicion of her on the investigation sheet. Sally came in second, Joe third, and I was last, implicated as the most inept murderer ever, leaving my bloody fingerprints on the banisters as I made my way down the fire escape.

*

On Sunday we had Mark and Katie over for tea, and so the games commenced fairly early. I'd been hoping to show them The Downfall of Pompeii, but Katie had a hankering for Trans America. As that's fairly quick, we managed to squeeze in two other games as well.

We started with No Thanks, which was new to everyone but me. The rules are simple, though, and everyone was quickly up to speed. Especially Mark, who ran out a clear winner. Tactics now slightly clearer, we had another game, which I can't remember who won (I think it was Mark again) but Katie played a very nice final round, letting the card she wanted collect about 20 coins before picking it up as everyone cursed her chutzpah. She and Mark both liked this, whereas Sally was less enamoured of it, being innately suspicious of numbers.

Then we played Trans America as agreed, and despite Katie's first-round error of announcing her connections when she still hadn't reached Kansas City, it was another strong showing from the Chiseller. We ended after two rounds with Mark beating Katie by one space on the score track, Sally third and me way out in last place.

My gaming chops feeling particularly droopy, I wasn't confident of winning Mord im Arosa but was looking forward to playing, guessing that Katie and Mark would like it. And they did, though with some reservations. There's something intangibly confusing about the rules that disconcerts everyone on first play, and that was the case here, but after an extended search for the second corpse (who still seemed curiously mobile) we slowly got to grips with it, and were soon accusing each other like old hands.

I finally won a game too, despite leaving several clues next to the victims. We had thrown so many cubes in searching for that second victim that we had implicated ourselves on almost every floor - though of course, we still managed to do the odd sloppy investigation too. Mark was second, Sally third, and Katie was the murderer.

So a weekend of gaming came to an end and I hadn't, as far as I knew, alienated anybody. Katie and Mark were even talking about buying Trans America/Europa for themselves - and Katie mentioned again her temptation to come to Stabcon in January. We must work fast, friends, as going to StabCon too soon might be a tactical error. She doesn't joke about meeples yet or know who Dirk Henn is. The best tactic is to let the geek grow from within, so confronting a hundred hairy fat men quoting Blackadder will seem an inconsequential side-show to the pleasure that is gaming...

Pitch Cars and Jack Tars

Actually, Jack Tar is a sailor, not a pirate, but it's late...

As we enter the last month of the season, five eager players arrived at Chez Sam for the night's entertainment. Adam was to have been there but he had to attend someone's birthday do. A fact he only learnt during the email exchanges on Monday to ascertain who was going to turn up.

We began in a light-hearted mode with a game that Sam received as a birthday present that's suitable for small children as well as adults. Me, Sam, Joe and Quentin decided to play Pitch Cars while waiting for Jonny. In this game, you have to flick wooden disc "cars" around a track. It began jovially enough, but before long our innate competitiveness crept in.

Suddenly, we were lining up shots like snooker players and cursing our luck on unexpected kinks in the road or a crash barrier. In fact, during our two races Joe and Sam managed to get stuck for three goes in one place. The winning tactic seems to be get in the lead and then don't make any mistakes.

Race One
1. Quentin
2. Andrew
3. Joe
4. Sam

Race Two
1. Sam
2. Andrew
3. Quentin
4. Joe

During race two Jonny arrived so, after we finished, we settled down for something a little more involved. We chose newbie Rum and Pirates. Sam explained the rules – except for a brief interlude where he had to go and clean up some cat sick – and we leapt right in. To the game. Not the cat sick.

This game based around a pirate's life (beating up guards, politely declining invitations to the pub and having pillow fights for best sleeping places) is a lot of fun. When Sam and I played it a week or so ago, it did seem as if it would be more fun with more people. And it was, but perhaps five people was too many. It turned out to be quite a long game. I wasn't sure about any tactic, but going to the pub seemed to be a good move. Again, I did badly getting good sleeping berths in the ship, which might have been costly.

I miscounted the number of rounds and thought the penultimate round was the last. So I ended round four smugly with a move that completed a treasure map and set me up for a decent result. When I learnt there was another round, I didn't really know what to do. As it was, we ended with a dead heat, even after a recount. Joe scoured the instructions for a tie breaker, but none was forthcoming, so we rejoiced in their joint victory.

1= Quentin 73
1= Joe 73
2. Andrew 67
3. Jonny 61
4. Sam 53

It's a whirl of excitement on the form table as Quentin leaps from seventh to first. Adam holds on to second despite not turning up, and both Joe and I improve our standings. Jonny's score goes down by one because he got rid of that pesky decay point.

						Points
Quentin	1	3	1	1	3	9
Adam	3	3	1	3	1	11
Sam	4	1	4	1	1	11
Andrew	2	2	2	6	1	13
Joe	1	3	3	5	2	14
Steve	2	2	2	4	4	14
Anja	4	4	3	1	2	14
Jonny	3	1	3	5	3	15
Hannah	2	3	5	5	5	20