Nights of Camel-ot

Saturday games! Two words that don’t go together nearly enough. Sam’s injured foot meant he was unable to accompany his family on a brief camping trip. And so, with the house to himself, he and I met up during the afternoon for some gaming and writing shenanigans, with the evening open to all for some leaderboard activity!

We wrote a bit while the other set up a game. At first, I was typing away while Sam sorted out a game of Camel Up (at first we erroneously called it Camel Cup, a name that I’m quite fond of now I’m used to it) which is a quick and quirky betting game. Five camels run around a short circuit, propelled by dice that go from 1 to 3. But the catch is that if one camel lands on another, then it is carried on the second one if it moves too. Therefore, it is rare for a camel to be completely out of the running, and common for the possibilities for the eventual winner to be very complex.

Add to this plenty of mid-race betting, and other ways to get money, and you have a quick half hour gambling fix that reminded both Sam and me of Manila, but shorter and sillier and more tense.

Andrew 46
Sam 36

Then, with about three hours before Ian’s arrival at six, we decided to try one of the epic games that have been taking up precious space in Sam’s games cupboard. First, we went for Colonial, with it’s lovely design and promises of politics and diplomacy on the high seas. But, as we were setting up, we noticed the rules suggested that the first game shouldn’t be a two-player game, since that’s a variant of the “real” game.

Not to worry, we thought, and we switched our attention to Terra Mystica. However, after painstakingly separating out the pieces, lining up the scoring tiles, we discovered that first-timers needed to follow certain rules... which we couldn’t find in the rule book. With time pressing, we put it away too, and broke out another new game.

This one, Lewis & Clark (nothing to do with Superman - apparently they were two pioneers of the American West) was quicker to lay out and easier to understand. Sort of. Sam struggled with some of the maths, and with almost every card having a different power, the options available towards the end of the game meant there was some analysis paralysis.

The game is simple. You need to explore the wild west of North America (as shown by the progress of your scout along a river from Saint Louis to Fort Clatsop) and to do this, you need to activate certain cards by using other cards to support it and, if necessary, some native Americans too.

This allows you to collect resources, turn them into canoes/horses to help you progress, but be careful: if you end up with no cards left and having to “set up camp” (ie, take all your cards back into your hand) while you have lots of resources and Native Americans, then you can find yourself being sent backwards down the river.

It’s not very intuitive, with lots of obscure icons clogging up cards and tiles. I got the hang of it quicker than Sam but, ultimately, my winning move was actually an illegal move that we’d been getting wrong all through the game (the number of Native Americans able to use each space in the village: I thought it was unlimited, Sam thought it was two, it turned out to be one). It would’ve been wrong to suddenly play by the real rules, but it still felt like a hollow victory. But a victory nevertheless!

Andrew won!
Sam didn’t.

An interesting game. Interesting and worth a second look sometime.

By now, Ian had arrived, and we had supper (Sam’s chili – very nice it was too), completed the Guardian’s cryptic crossword (Sam had already done most of it) and set forth on a real game.

Sam and I were keen to get Camel Up (still called Camel Cup at this hour) back on the table. We explained the rules to Ian, and we were off!

Sam 28
Ian 24
Andrew 22

The first game whizzed by so fast that we couldn’t resist the lure of a second game. Like the cheesy nibbles I kept scooping into my mouth, it was impossible to just have one. So we set the game up again, and they were off!

Andrew 45
Sam 28
Ian 25

I played the odds and bet early on that the camel in last would finish last, and the camel in first would be first, and I turned out to be correct! That alone inflated my win to huge proportions.

After this, I suggested 7 Wonders, since Ian had just learnt the rules, I thought it better to get him back on the horse as soon as possible.

I had the Pyramids of Gizah, so I concentrated on building that, with some military and the occasional blue building here and there but little else. Sam had the Gardens of Babylon (which he said were shit) and went for sciences, a little warfare and a general spread of cards. I don’t remember what Ian had, but he went the pacifist route. Meanwhile his wonder’s power of copying guilds was annulled by neither me nor Sam building any guilds. Ah ha ha!

Sam 57
Andrew 56
Ian 36

As we were finishing off, the doorbell rang. Who could that be, we wondered? Perhaps a neighbour with some pressing domestic crisis? No! It was Adam! We welcomed our friend from Easton with smiling faces and open arms. And then, perhaps foolishly, we gave him the choice of game. He plumped for Railways of the World. This was brand new for Ian, but he’ll have to learn one day so why not today?

We guided him through the rules, but there’s no substitute for experience in this game. Adam rushed off into an early lead, with me in hot pursuit, with both of us picking up bonuses and bounties. Adam had the lucrative north-east seaboard mostly to himself but, for some reason, he wouldn't deliver the many yellow cubes in the vicinity to Baltimore where I had a hotel.

My operations focused around Charleston and Mobile, simply because that’s where the service bounties sent me. Sam went for the big link from Kansas to New York, which shot him into second place midway through the game – a gap I couldn’t close. Ian built around the Great Lakes and, as you’d expect for a first game, never really got going.

Adam 92
Sam 76
Andrew 66
Ian 35

To finish the evening, Camel Up (now properly called Camel Up, thanks to Adam reading the back of the box) was brought back to the table. The rules were explained to Adam, and before he could properly assimilate them, the camels were unleashed! Adam often claimed he didn’t know what to do, but he seemed to know how weigh up the probabilities.

Sam 39
Adam 32
Andrew 29
Ian 25

And after this, we were away into the night. Adam remarked that he should take more months off, because everyone seems to pleased to see him when he arrives. Speaking for myself, I don’t think he should be given choice of games next time. Or any time. Just saying.

Meanwhile, on the Form Table, my reign at the top comes to an abrupt end, with Sam and new-boy Adam fighting it out for top spot.

						Points
Sam	1	2	1	2	1	7
Adam	2	1	1	2	4	10
Joe	2	2	2	3	3	10
Martin	4	2	2	1	2	11
Andrew	3	3	2	1	3	12
Matt	3	3	3	1	4	14
Ian	4	4	3	3	2	16
Hannah	2	5	5	5	5	22

Cornish Pastimes

Last week Sally and I took the boys to Polruan, Cornwall, and though most of the time was spent on the beach we did squeeze in a few games. I'd taken Ice Flow, Flash Point, Hey That's My Fish and Sumeria, the latter an incongruously popular choice with the boys (usually; we didn't actually play it this time).

Castles of Beige

First out of the box was Hey That's My Fish, or Hey, That's My Fish as Jon correctly emphasizes it. This was a two-player with me and Little Joe. After some early shenanigans of Joe's penguins slaloming toward the more rewarding tiles, we settled into a neat pattern of Joe picking up the most fish while I made suggestions as to how he could block me off. It ended closely:

Joe 52
Sam 46
(two tiles left on the 'board')

My apple

Stanley had spotted Blokus at the cottage so we pulled it out. The board is a grid of 1cm squares and each player is given a collection of tetris-style pieces in their own colour. I looked for the rulebook only to find there wasn't one, and I was thinking ho-hum... until I realized the rules are printed on the back of the box. Genius. Here they are:

1. Each player starts in a corner.
2. On their turn players place a piece that cannot be adjacent to any of their own pieces (they can be adjacent to other players') but must touch one of their own pieces at at least one corner.
3. Whoever manages to play the most pieces wins.

The key is squeezing between the corners of opposing players pieces really, and making sure you don't have all your biggest pieces left in the endgame. It was so simple and the boys really liked it - even Sally did, in fact. What I don't understand is how it works as a 2-player - there's so much room on the board you'd have to make a concerted effort to not get all your pieces down. There's probably something on BGG about it…

We played lots of games of this and there were many winners. We also had some pub lunches and I messed about with my phone:




Stanley and I played Ice Flow. I'd remembered it as quite simple but it's actually a bit of a puzzle, trying to get three explorers across the Bering Strait while being pursued by polar bears and stymied by the opposition. There was a fair bit of head-scratching, and although Stanley won (a collaborative effort) it was not requested again.

The other popular game was Flash Point. Stan is not one for tantrums when he loses but he can occasionally get a little forlorn, so I think he liked the fact this was a team effort. Together we put out many fires and rescued many victims, but we also (courtesy of my longstanding blind spot) played a rule wrong, making it easier for ourselves than it should have been. Having corrected it we both died as the building collapsed on us. Oh well.

Finally upon returning to Bristol I suggested Lords of Waterdeep, which Stanley has played before. Joe did not play but was The Shopkeeper - in charge of cube distribution.

Last time Stan needed a little help with some of the reading, but no such qualms for him this time. In fact he shot off into a healthy lead, and although I assisted by 1. once pointing out he could get wizards by going to the harbour and 2. not nicking cubes off him when I could have, he pretty much bossed the game, picking up handsome endgame bonuses that I didn't see coming:

Stanley 145
Sam 122

Don’t Take No (ko) For An Answer

I arrived at tonight’s games night with a troubled air. In the last GNN bulletin, I scored my fourth win in a row. Thus the first game tonight was to be pivotal. I stayed quiet, hoping that no one would remember. There were five of us at first at Adam’s house. Adam (his first time back after paternity leave), Ian, Matt, Sam and myself.

7 Wonders was chosen. I thought “This is possible.”

I was given the Mausoleum at Harlicarnassus. This one gives the player the chance to build a discarded building for free when they complete a part of their wonder. A tricky one, easy to get wrong. But play it right, and it’s pretty powerful.

The game was new to Ian and Matt, and Sam explained the rules to them. Considering it was their first time, they did pretty well. They focused on armies, facing off over a steadily increasing pile of blood red cards. Adam went for sciences but found that he couldn’t build his science-friendly wonder because of a lack of wood.

I kept my wonder unbuilt until the very end of the second round, when I thought there may be some decent buildings in the discard pile. And then in round three, I was able to build three guilds and a last minute army (to stop Adam’s sudden conversion from non-violent research to blood-thirsty warlord. No doubt driven to violence by the lack of wood) to assure a comfortable victory and my very own Perfect Five!

Andrew 62
Sam 50
Matt 49
Adam 45
Ian 35

						Points
Andrew	1	1	1	1	1	5
Sam	2	1	3	1	3	10
Joe	2	2	2	3	3	10
Martin	4	2	2	1	2	11
Matt	3	1	4	1	1	10
Ian	5	3	3	2	3	16
Adam	4	5	5	5	5	23

After this hands were shaken, celebratory texts were sent out, and I could finally relax as I basked in the glory of only the second ever perfect five!

Then Hannah came down from putting their baby to bed, and we split into two groups of three. I found the Japanese stylings of Takenoko (which I guess is 竹の子, Child of Bamboo EDIT: I was too literal. It means Bamboo Sprout) irresistible and so Adam and Matt joined me in the front room, while Sam, Ian and Hannah chose Concordia.

Takenoko is a lovely game to look at, with tiny but perfectly formed Panda and Gardner pieces to move around. The rules are simple: you have two actions and a random action decided by a die each move. The aim is to score points by achieving particular formations of tiles (coloured pink, green and yellow) on the table, or particular combinations of bamboo that the panda has eaten, or particular heights of bamboo that the gardener has grown. You find out these criteria according to cards dealt to you at the start of the game, but you can pick up more cards as you go.

The first player to successfully complete eight (me) gets a bonus of two points, and the other players get one more go to try to finish what they can.

Andrew 38
Adam 35
Matt 34

And I’d won my sixth game in a row! An occasion so rare, that it doesn’t even have a name! The Splendid Six, perhaps? Although the Smug Six might have been a more accurate description of my attitude once the scores had been added up.

We’d finished but Concordia was still in full swing. When I went in to check, Ian had France all to himself, and there was still a largeish pile of cards to be bought. We went back into the front room and decided on Galaxy Truckers: a game that Matt actually owned but hadn’t played yet.

Adam explained the rules to him, but it is simply a game about a bunch of unlucky jigsaw puzzles. Once put together, they are beaten up by cards and dice. My fate was sealed in round two: I had looked at the cards beforehand, and had planned accordingly. But a mistake in my ship meant that one of lasers fell off immediately, and before long a stray meteorite had removed a second, leaving me at the mercy of the same pirates and slavers I’d seen earlier and had been so confident of beating. Instead I was desperately trying to slow my ship down, and let Adam go first. Cowardly, but necessary.

But my shoddy engineering left me in a distant second, my dreams of a seventh win in tatters. Adam added insult to injury by hitting three figures.

Adam 100
Andrew 47
Matt 35

The last round of Galaxy Truckers was played with an audience, as Concordia had ended and been packed away, so the three of them watched us rush through our final round of meteorites after meteorites. Adam remembered a rule that allows sideways facing lasers to shoot either side of their level, but he described it so badly that no one believed him. In the end, he found it in the rule book, allowing him to reinstate his previously destroyed engine.

But as for Concordia, Ian's Francophile approach did not pay dividends. Sam said that if Hannah had been fully up to speed on the tactics, she would have won. Hannah expressed surprise at how easily Sam had spread his influence across the map. He explained that he’d just moved around a lot. Ah, such depth.

Sam 155
Hannah 144
Ian 117

All of which leaves me at the top of the form table, but more importantly, it welcomes two familiar faces back to the world of games. Cross fingers that they can come again soon.

						Points
Andrew	2	1	1	1	1	6
Sam	1	2	1	3	1	8
Joe	2	2	2	3	3	10
Martin	4	2	2	1	2	11
Matt	3	3	3	1	4	14
Ian	3	5	3	3	2	16
Adam	1	2	4	5	5	17
Hannah	2	5	5	5	5	22

It's the 500th post

I hope no one wanted to use this special occasion to make a speech or anything. I decided to mark our 500th blog post with a division that covered the whole history of the GNN blog. Sam wins on points and the medal table, while Dan takes points ratio with just three games! Amazing. As we turn to the regulars (tipping a hat to Jon on the way) we see that Adam just beats Quentin by 0.02. Well played chaps. And well done to Bea and Martha, whose combined ages probably aren't even half of most regulars here, but they've both managed to win a game (Long Shot and that Ancient Rome bingo-ish one - I forget the name).

As for the rest, well, look at us all. Aren't we magnificent? 724 games on the leaderboard, and each one has its own story.

Yukon count on me

The summer recess is fully upon us, and a rag-tag bunch of four gamers assembled at my (Joe's) kitchen table last night for a spot of tuesday night gaming. As it turned out, four ws the perfect number, as Martin had brought his recently acquired copy of Lost Valley - a well-regarded 2004 game which has recently had a new lease of life via Kickstarter.

But while we waited for Martin, Andrew, Ian and I started with a quick game of Timeline. My set contains a massive jumble of inventions, animals, historic events and more (The Big Bang is a personal favourite). Martin joined us halfway through, but it didn't make much difference; Andrew closed out the game with the rest of us a three-way tie for second place.

An interesting note; the invention of the cork in 1695, the invention of the corkscrew a full 100 years later - what were people doing with all that wine for a century!? Poking the cork in with a knife I guess.

Andrew winner
Martin, Ian, Joe joint 2nd

So we set to and unpacked the plethora of bits that come with Lost Valley. It's hard to imagine a game with more bits, certainly one that actually coheres as well as this does. It helps when you've got Martin as your teaching guide of course, and I'd got up to speed via a comprehensive review on the Geek earlier in the day.

The theme is strong in this one. You are prospectors during the Yukon gold rush of 1896, discovering and extracting river and more precious mountain gold, some of which you'll trade for gear that makes it easier to get more gold. It's got elements of Carcassonne, the tiles that form the board being added by the players as they explore.

Here's me, for instance, thinking I was in clover as I found myself surrounded by untapped gold reserves:

Martin hovering in the background . . .

Unfortunately, you need to spend resources such as food and timber to mine the gold - so I had to wander off in search of these things, leaving others to snaffle my finds.

Ian with lots of precious mountain gold, and jerky. Oh look it's Martin lurking in the bushes again.

Ian's skill was the drunkard, meaning he could drink twice as much whiskey as us each turn, but at the expense of experience which gets you new skills.  As I mentioned earlier, it's a game with big ideas - there seem to be tons of things going on, but it's all very thematic and as a result it never feels overwhelming. In fact, for the first time in ages, I felt I was playing a game for the first time with a real sense of discovery, rather than stress at not fully grasping the mechanics.

The game can end in a couple of different ways, and ours was scuppered by the encroaching winter.

Despite all being fairly gold-rich at earlier points in the game, we'd all spent gold on gear, and not quite got round to using it, so the final tally was less than impressive. That said, Andrew had almost twice as much gold as his next nearest rival, and four times that of Martin in last place, so he was definitely doing something right.

The Yukon, as winter hits and the game ends.

I enjoyed it a lot. It was long, but there was a lot of consulting the rulebook, and we were taking our time exploring the options. It has a lot going for it though - feels like a very open space in which to explore different strategies, and that feeling fits so well with the theme that the net result is a game with real charm.

Andrew 18

Joe 10

Ian 8

Martin 5

Martin scooted at this point, as he had a plane to catch to America the next day. We three manfully pushed on with a quick game of High Society. Unlike our last few, this one played out in the way you might expect, with a decent showing of points cards interspersed with negatives and multipliers. Ian's greed got the better of him in the end, as he snaffled a multiplier for a whopping 32 points but did so with all his money, instantly disqualifying him.

This took the pressure off Andrew and I, and we fought over another multiplier. I should have taken it but I let Andrew pay a lot for it, hoping a few high point cards might come out next for me. But the card that came out next ended the game,and Andrew scooped his third win of the evening. 

Well played sir.

Ian 32 OUT

Andrew 10

Joe 4

A fine evening, and I hope to read of some gaming exploits over the next few weeks whilst away in Scotland. If I manage to bribe my kids in to playing any games with me, I'll be sure and let you know.

JB

						Points
Andrew	1	1	1	1	2	6
Sam	1	3	1	3	2	10
Joe	2	2	2	3	3	10
Martin	4	2	2	1	2	11
Matt	1	4	1	1	5	12
Ian	3	3	2	3	3	14

Carrara’s Advice Service

This Tuesday saw yours truly at the helm of GNN Towers, experiencing that exhilarating anxiety just before everyone is due to arrive and you’re unsure if there’s time to go to the toilet or not.

There were three of us tonight: myself, Ian and Martin. Martin arrived with a requested selection of games, cheekily slipping Palaces of Carrara into the line-up, hoping to bring it out of retirement.

First, I asked for Port Royal. This card game, quick but deep, is a great way to start a games evening. I went for +1 gold ship bonuses early on, but they never paid back their investment, and I watched as Ian and Martin fought for supremacy. And I ended up watching for longer than I thought, as both players found themselves becalmed on eleven points, unable to make the winning move due to going bust with ships. I was even able to raise my pitiful score from five up to something more respectable.

But Ian was able to close the game, having slowly built up cash reserves every time someone went bust, when he was able to grab a 2-point victory card, he did, leaving Martin with no response.

Ian 13
Martin 11
Andrew 8

After this, Palace of Carrara made a glorious return to the table (complete with Italian soundtrack). Martin explained the rules to Ian, but there would be no Explainer’s Curse tonight. No beginner’s luck, either. Just a slow, steady progress until you suddenly realise that Martin was about to end the game. He actually kept the game going two more rounds than he needed to, just so he could accumulate more points.

Martin 80
Andrew 49
Ian 42

Ian said he hadn’t played with much of a plan, so I suppose I should be disappointed that he came so close to me, with all my experience. But oh wells.

After this, it was still only nine o’clock. I considered something meaty to take up the rest of the evening, like Castles of Burgundy, but in the end we chose Abluxxen, a short trick taking game. Since it had foxes in it, we listened to Fox Confessor brings The Flood.

It was mostly between me and Martin, as Ian had a nightmare first round (no points at all) and couldn’t catch up. Highlight was Martin’s seven sevens which no doubt helped him win the round, but it wasn’t enough to win the game.

Andrew 44
Martin 42
Ian 13

So, with everyone having won one game, we considered a decider match. And then we thought about Hanabi. Wouldn’t that be lovely: everyone wins, and we end with a lovely co-op game about fireworks.

Ian was a newcomer, but Hanabi doesn’t need much explaining. I put on some Japanese music (mostly music from different film soundtracks) and we set off, our logical minds loosened by some soju (a Korean wine) which, despite being described as “mild” on the bottle, was 16.8%.

Things were going smoothly, but we were running out of time. As we got desperate, mistakes were made. Plus, we had some poor luck with the cards, starting with mostly fours, and having to patiently wait for the ones to come out. In the end we scored 17 out of 25. As firework displays go, it was no Bristol Harbour Festival closing ceremony, but it would do as a finale for us.

						Points
Andrew	1	2	3	2	2	10
Sam	1	3	1	3	2	10
Martin	2	1	2	4	1	10
Ian	3	3	1	3	1	11
Matt	1	4	1	1	5	12
Joe	3	3	3	3	2	14

Large Mahal

Sam was (is) unable to attend the usual Tuesday meet, so he sent out a call for a Monday get-together. Ian and I (Andrew) were able to make it.

First, we played Taj Mahal, a game of trick-taking set in the North-West of Iandia, although the map is somewhat lacking in detail or atmosphere and I noted it might as well be set in Staffordshire. It’s a game that doesn’t get to the table very often here at GNN towers but, when it does, it’s usually a treat.

Sam and I needed a big rule refresh, and Ian hadn’t played it at all, so Sam took the risk of getting Explainer’s Curse and went through the rules. It’s a nice trick-taking game of quitting while you’re ahead, but it would’ve been nice if it had been a little bit more in character. As we moved around the twelve unnamed provinces, taking anonymous cities and fortresses, it all seemed a bit shallow. Sam commented Taj Mahal would get played more if it looked nicer.

We also had to stop halfway through when we realised we hadn’t been scoring for links between provinces. We’d assumed that it was some big end of game bonus, but when Sam double checked the rules, he found we should have been doing them as we went. We spent a few minutes trying to recreate our moves, and readjust our scores accordingly.

In the end, it was the elephants what won it. Ian and I went for economic power, while Sam when for chains. Ian snuck it right at the death. Grrr.

Ian 61
Andrew 60
Sam 42

After this, we wondered what to play to finish the evening off. We chose Citadels, figuring that with three players, it wouldn’t be that long. Sam explained the rules to Ian, and we were off. The assassin seemed to have quite a grudge against the merchant and, as such, it was not a quick game. Halfway through, I suggested we finish on the seventh building, not the eighth and happily, Sam and Ian agreed.

But eleven o’clock, I was in a position to build three shitty districts and trigger the end of the game. It wasn’t quite enough, though. Sam only build six districts but they were all high-scoring and he got the rainbow bonus, putting him in first and cocking a snook to Explainer’s Curse.

Sam 27
Andrew 26
Ian 25

Three hours of play, and only two games. I won’t be fooled by Citadels again.

Hmm, the moment I get some free time, I’ll have to sort out the Form Table...