board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 20th September 2007
A total of twelve gamers in the shop this week ....
Players:
Darren, Dave C, Dave F, Mark L, Mark P, Mel, Neil, Nick, Phil, Rachel, Sue, Tim
Games Played:
Before we started anything, we were already up to nine players, and so split into two groups from the outset ...
Darren:
8
Dave C:
7 (4 in volcano)
Mel: 7 (5 in volcano)
Sue: 6
It look to me like the volcano erupted a little earlier than everyone was expecting, due to the low numbers getting out of the city. Either that, or people were being very mean indeed! A narrow victory for Darren in a game which is always pretty close.
The same group finished up and added two more players. For a quickie, they went for the latest Shire Gamers favourite ...
Dave
C: Winner (1 stamina remaining)
Tim: 2nd=
Mel: 2nd=
Neil: 4th=
Darren: 4th=
Sue: First to drop
This was a pretty close one, with three people all on 1 stamina point when the final dance was revealed. Dave managed to keep going just a little bit longer ....
Meanwhile, there was a little auctioning of some very dubious paintings going on downstairs ....
Nick:
$449,000
Mark L:
$442,000
Dave F: $404,000
Rachel: $402,000
Phil: $378,000
This was a very tight game. The spread of cash at the end of the game from first place to last place was less than the value of the last painting to be auctioned, which was quite a pleasant surprise, as I think everyone thought they had a chance until the count. I didn't think I was going to make it, having been dealt a hand void of yellow paintings, and never seeing one in the game. Rachel triggered a double auction, which Mark and I couldn't add to, and therefore we both lost our turn at one point. Later, Rachel tried the same technique with the last yellow painting, which basically gave her a free $80k painting! A great game ... I really enjoyed it.
Dave C had to leave us, but the remaining ten decided to stay together and go back in time to 2002 ...
Sue:
(Germany) 7
Mark L:
(Japan) 3
Darren:
(England) 2
Darren: (S. Africa) 2
(England came 3rd -- 3-1 on pens)
Mel:
Neil: Out in group stages
This one is always a load of fun, producing the usual groans and cheers. Phil was the penalty king, getting most of the pens during normal play, and also winning two consecutive shoot-outs in the first knockout stage (ending my hopes!). Sue did a good job of keeping one of the fancied teams away from sabotage during the early stages (in fact, Germany's group was pretty dull), and coming into her own in the knockout phase, keeping some huge cards for the final.
As people got eliminated from the footy, they gathered upstairs for something a little more sedate ...
Nick:
46
Rachel: 44
Neil: 37
Mark P: 34
Rachel and I had played before. Neil claimed to have played before, but then couldn't remember anything about it; this is not unusual! Knowing the value of stuff definitely has a little advantage in this game, and you often see people doing much better in their second or third game of this excellent resource management game. I tried to carry over as many resources each round as I could, which is my latest strategy for this one! I got lucky with the Archbishop's office early on, whereas Mark opted for a card that he never got the benefit from. I was a fair bit ahead about halfway through the game, but slowly started to run out of stuff and watched everyone catch me up, using their metal for extra points. Luckily, I juts managed to hold on.
After the football, four guys went exploring the caverns ....
Phil:
17
Darren: 15
Dave F: 12
Mel: 9
I know nothing about this one at all really, although we did finish our game a little before this one and watched the end of it! It was enjoyed by everyone though .... and the game looks really nice, and seemed to be a lot of fun. Hopefully, we'll get to try this one again, as I fancied a bash at it myself!
Tim and Mark L had a game of this rugby game. It was a bit of a learning game, so things went a little slower than it would once you know all the rules. They called time at the end of the night with the score on ....
Mark
L: (England) 0
Tim: (New Zealand) 0
Apparently, Mark was all set to score a winning try right at the death, but his scrum-half knocked the ball on (by rolling a double 6!), gave a scrum to the All Blacks, and generally made a mess of things.
And to end the night, five of us went looking for luxuries ....
Darren:
10
Nick: 9
Dave F: 8
Rachel: 7
Sue: 14 ($3,000,000
left)
This is a great little auction game. Sue managed to spend an awful lot of cash, and sadly was eliminated for being too poor at the end of the game (but at least she had the most points!). Darren ended up with the thief on the very first auction, but then bought a cheap luxury to discard. After than, he bought the 10, doubled it, halved it, and that was enough for the victory. I had the most cash left, and was hoping to see a 2 or 3 luxury to put me in front before the game ended. Sadly, it didn't happen!
And that was all for another Thursday. Thanks all for coming along.
