board games & card games for all ages

board games & card games for all ages

Thursday 3rd August 2006

A slightly less chaotic 12 people out to play tonight. Here's what went on:

Players:

Dave, Jen, Jon, Kev, Mark L, Mitch, Neil, Nick, Philippa, Sam, Sue, Tim

Games Played:

Ra

Five people were in nice and early, and this favourite hadn't seen much play in recent weeks, so how could we refuse?

Philippa:    27
Nick:    26
Sue:    26
Mark:    21
Jon:    20

Philippa was the only one amongst us who hadn't played before, and stole the victory with an impressive 9-point river on the third round.

Niagara

As others arrived, they disappeared upstairs with last year's Spiel des Jahres winner.

Tim:    Win with 4 purple gems
Kev
Sam
Mitch
Dave:    All lost (the will to live)

A game that didn't go down well with the crowd playing it, which just goes to prove that you can't please all the people all the time!

St. Petersburg

As the last two people arrived and Ra finished, we split into a four and a three. The game was chosen by the three:

Sue:    86
Philippa:    68
Jon:    59 

Sue was the only one to have played this before, which for St Pete can be a slight advantage (as proven by the scores!)

Canal Mania

This new favourite was almost guaranteed to get a play tonight ... and it did.

Mark:    91
Neil:    74 (Engineer 5)
Jen:    74 (Engineer 2)
Nick:    68

Although the scores looked pretty close for a while, I always felt I was one jump behind everybody, and Mark looked like he was setting himself up well for some good shipping options later. And it played out a little like that. Neil was the most prolific canal-builder, and Mark the least ... which shows how well he did with the goods!

Streetcar

As St Petersburg came to an end, the three players jumped on a tram and went off to San Francisco (I think that's where this one is set)

Philippa:    1st place
Sue:    2nd
Jon:    Last (hadn't actually started!)

This turned into a race between Philippa's and Sue's trams, although Philippa always had the edge and managed to get home a couple of turns before Sue.

Antike

Meanwhile upstairs, those that survived the trip to Niagara Falls went off to the Mediterranean (and also back in time a little) for some Civ-building fun

Kev:    9 Characters
Tim:    6
Sam:    4
Dave:    3

Kev went for technology and peace, and looked like he was always a step or two ahead of those that chose to fight ...

Saboteur

And finally .... our closer of choice at Shire Gamers is still a visit to the mines with the good and evil dwarves.

Jen:    8 Gold
Sue:    6
Jon:    6
Philippa:    3
Kev:    3
Nick:    0

I was the only one to draw a blank, managing to be a Saboteur in the two rounds where the dwarves succeeded, and a good guy when we failed! Jen, on the other hand, was a good dwarf three times, winning twice (whereas Sue won three times), but managing to find the treasure on both occasions and getting first choice of the nuggets available. 

And that was it for another week. Next week may be a little chaotic, as we get ready for the big weekend!