board games & card games for all ages

board games & card games for all ages

Tuesday 29th November 2005

A pretty miserable night weather-wise, but a fun one games-wise .... and a Shire Gamers debut for Hazienda, where the two people who actually own the game got well and truly humiliated!

We got off to a bit of a late start, as the pub was busier than normal, so that's why there's a few fewer games than usual played this week.

Players:

Brian, Chris, David, Gordon, Jackie, Mark, Nick, Sue, 

Games Played:

Ra

If in doubt, start with Ra! There were four of us ready to go, and so we jumped right in to ancient Egypt ...

Gordon:    55
Sue:    44
Nick:    27
Mark:    23

A nice win for Gordon, as he managed to pick up some nice lots pretty cheap. Mark and I struggled to get anything going, and I was pretty surprised to find out I wasn't last! In fact, if I hadn't had to give up five points at the end to Sue (thanks to my stunning total of 7 suns), I might well have come tied second! 

Take

Jackie and David had brought this oldie with them, and had a couple of quick games while they were waiting for their food to turn up ...

Here's the BGG link to the game: www.boardgamegeek.com/game/15655

Jackie:    1 win
David:    1 win

A very friendly game, obviously, as David and Jackie took one win each and didn't play a decider! Maybe that's because the food arrived ...

Boomtown

With Ra and the food finished, it was time to split up and regroup. Two groups of four seemed the most sensible, and four of us went prospecting ...

(mines + mayors + cash)

Nick:    34 + 10 + 77    =    121
Chris:    53 + 10 + 54 = 117
David:    44 + 0 + 37 = 81
Jackie:    41 + 5 + 17 = 63

A really fun game again .... I knew I was weak in mines, but had more cash than I'd ever seen in this game! I was quite surprised that I only managed to sneak ahead of Chris by a few points .... but then Chris had been buying up mines pretty well. My Governorship swung it in the end, I think. 

Keythedral

While we were busy prospecting, the other four gamers were in Keytown helping to build the Cathedral.

Sue:    54
Gordon:    51
Brian:    44
Mark:    43

Mark and Brian went at each other a little with their workers, and it looks like they may have got a little more preoccupied on beating each other to spot Gordon and Sue busy building the Cathedral. In the very last turn, Sue made all the decisions about which cottages were activated when, and managed to stop Gordon building the final Cathedral stone, saving it for herself. A good, close win for Sue ...

Hazienda

Brian, Gordon and Chris left us at this point, which left us with about 90 minutes and a copy of Hazienda to play! A new game for Shire Gamers, but we went straight for the asymmetrical side of the board. Who says we don't know how to live dangerously!

Mark:    139
David:    135
Jackie:    128
Nick:    107
Sue:    95

Something makes me think the scoring track in this game doesn't have enough spaces, as four out of five people comfortably (in some cases) completed a lap! A very close game between the top three, with the water tiles again playing a key role in the scoring. The game was very well received and no doubt will make many future appearances in the pub and the shop.

And that took us to exactly 11.30 and chucking out time.

Thanks to everyone for coming out to play once again.