board games & card games for all ages

Monday 23rd April 2007

St George's Day in the pub, and another seven of us played a few games, although not a Dragon in sight! 

Players:

David F-F, Gordon, Mark, Nick, Rich, Sue, Tim

Games Played:

Don Pepe

There were five early arrivals, and Mark had recently picked up this older game in a trade, so we decided it would be a bit of fun while we waited for any others .... 

Nick:    $29,000
Rich:    $13,000
Sue:    $11,000
Mark:    $11,000
Tim:    $6,000

This was silly fun, which is exactly what it tries to be! Tim was unfortunate enough to be given a very strong starting position (owning 2 businesses and sitting by the cash register), and coupled with being last to play made him a bit of a target in the first round. I managed - not exactly on purpose - to be in charge of both Casinos, which meant I received an extra $4000 per turn for a few turns, which took me out of reach. Sue proved to be the most cold-blooded killer, although it was all done with pills in drinks and bombs in cakes, so it was very hard to pin the blame on her!

Age of Discovery

We were now up to 7 players, which looked like it was all we were getting, so we split into two groups. Four of us decided to try this new arrival.

Mark:    76
Rich:    75
Gordon:    69
Nick:    46

This was a pretty close fight between Mark and Rich, although Gordon wasn't too far behind, but his "secret mission" didn't net him quite as many points as the others. I was dealt what felt like a really poor hand at the start of the game, and - being the first time any of us had played - it took me a while to figure out how to play it, by which time I was a little far back! The game was interesting, and would definitely benefit from a few more plays, as there were times when it felt like it was rushing to the end, and then it seemed to slow down in time for us all to fill the expeditions. An interesting first play.

Pillars of the Earth

Meanwhile, the three others went building Cathedrals in this game which regularly appears at our games nights!

Sue:    51
David:    48
Tim:    43

As per usual, a spread of less than 10 points between first and last place. Not much is known about this one, although it looks like Sue's experience with the game just gave her the edge. I believe that she spent a long time with the Archbishop, while Tim and David suffered the effects of a bad event or two towards the end of the game. The game went down very well with everyone.

Wikinger

Meanwhile, back to the group of four, who were still sailing, only this time a little further back in time ...

Rich:    51 (3 gold)
Gordon:    51 (0 gold)
Mark:    34
Nick:    32

I enjoy this game more each time I play it, although it was pretty obvious I was out of this one as soon as I ran out of cash, which meant I was forced to take tiles I didn't necessarily want! Mark struggled with his choices, but the main battle was between Gordon and Rich. Despite Gordon making his landscape hard to complete (needing only certain tiles to fit), he managed to stay in touch with Rich, who made sure pretty early on that he had enough Warriors to see off any invading ships. It ended tied, and Rich's three coins "change" from converting his cash into points was enough to give him the game on the tiebreak.

Masons

With an hour left to go after Pillars, the group of three continued with a building theme  ...

Sue:    206
Tim:    183
David:    158

These are possibly the highest scores I've ever seen in a game of Masons. Glancing across at the other table, I was amazed to see how many pieces were on the board, as it looked as if every kind of piece was only one away from running out, which was prolonging the game way beyond the time when it would normally finish. Towers normally run out in this situation, but I guess some kept returning to the supply with merging cities. Another good win for Sue.

Carcassonne: The Castle

And finally, after a couple of departures, Mark and I were left with half an hour to kill, and this great little two-player game insisting we play it ....

Nick:    110
Mark:    101

In the end, this was a pretty close game, despite the fact that I took a massive leap about halfway through the game with a large tower, doubled by a bonus tile for 32 points. However ... that leapt me past a lot of the other bonus tiles, which Mark hoovered up behind me as he slowly clawed his way back into the game. The largest house bonus brought him within a few points, but luckily I managed to just stay out in front.

And that was all for another week. Thanks for coming out, and we'll see you all next week.