board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 1st November 2007
I haven't counted how many were in the shop this week yet. My guess is thirteen ...
Players:
Darren, Dave F, Jen, Jonathan, Mark L, Mel, Nick, Phil, Rachel, Russ, Stewart, Sue, Tim
("Woohoo!")
Games Played:
Four people were in very early, so we jumped straight into one of my favourites ...
Mark: 38Mark showed what a little good timing can do in this game, ducking out of the final round (just to improve his suns by a few points) just before a huge run of disasters and Ra tiles, which stopped anyone else getting any more tiles for the rest of the game! I had only rivers and monuments, losing 11 points throughout the game for lack of other stuff, so I was just pleased not to come last!
The next four in nipped upstairs to shoot some ducks ...
Rachel:
4
Dave: 3
Darren: 2
Mel: 1
I don't know much about this one, sadly. I have played it in the past, so I'm kind of hoping I've got it right, and it's the highest score that wins!
Mark and Darren decided to play a little rugby, while the rest of us started a couple of longer games.
Mark:
(South Africa) 7
Darren: (Wales)
0
I think this match was abandoned at half time!
This was the choice of the four players upstairs
(Cash + on ship + in harbour + on island - loans)
Tim:
(4 + 15 + 0 + 66 - 0) 85
Stewart: (0 + 6 + 0 + 76 - 11) 71
Jonathan: (6 + 9 + 4 + 42 - 0) 61
Rachel: (4 + 3 + 6 + 54 -
22) 45
Again, another game I know nothing about, and another one that I am yet to play (when the score might make a little more sense!). However ... It looks like finishing the game with outstanding loans is a bad idea.
This new Alea game got its Thursday night debut ...
Phil:
86
Nick: 84
Dave: 81
Mel: 66
Sue: 41
This was another fun - and yet incredibly harsh - game of this excellent new addition to the Alea "big box" range. Sue got herself in the Catch-22 position of not having enough cash and needing 1 more coin to allow her to choose the "tax collecting" action and get the cash! This has taught us all a lesson: Don't run out of money, unless you can guarantee going first in the next turn! Dave had an early lead, and it took quite a while for Phil and I to reel him in, but Phil's extra "bought" points each round slowly pushed him further and further ahead. My extra employees and Buddha's at the end drew me close, but I had to settle for second place, as Phil was just too far in front.
Meanwhile, two new arrivals and the rugby players tried this fun little auction game ...
(Cats + Cash)
Mark:
(34 + 17) 51
Russ: (32 + 5) 37
Jen: (6 + 25) 31
Darren: (-5 + 36)
31
Another game that I know very little about, despite it taking place about 2 feet from where I was sitting! It looks like Darren spent most of his time ducking out of auctions and collecting cash, but it seems all of the big cats were spread between Mark and Russ.
Games were all finishing at different times tonight, so we only got the chance to mix the groups up very occasionally. With seven of us standing around, this was the choice of three ...
(Points + Coal/Gold)
Nick:
(68 + 21) 89
Sue: (50 + 30) 80
Mel: (35 + 35) 70
This was a fun game .... I'm really looking forward to trying this with four players, where I think the scores will be so much higher due to the crowded board. I got a huge lead in points, thanks to a handy couple of churches and harbours, but the girls tried to catch up with gold and coal, but luckily I was far enough ahead to hang on.
And this was the choice of the other four ...
Phil:
43
Darren: 39
Mark: 35
Dave: 35
A good win for Phil as this game makes it's fourth consecutive Shire Gamers appearance. Again, the Embassy was credited with helping the victory .... We're hoping someone is soon going to win this game without having built it!
Stewart brought this new Cwali game along with him, and the upstairs crew were reduced to three people for a couple of quick games ....
Rachel:
112
Stewart: 103
Jonathan: 84
Nothing is known about this one. I saw it being played in Essen and it looked like a very simple, and yet quite engaging little game. We hope to have some in the shop pretty soon.
And another appearance of this fun dungeon-crawler:
Jonathan:
10
Rachel: 7
Stewart: 4
What looks like a fairly comfortable win for Jonathan, although he was severely reduced in tiles, as Stewart decided to try and steal his whole hand from him before the end of the game. Of course, this allowed Jonathan to concentrate on collecting gold coins, while Stewart was too busy building a big map!
Felix - The Cat in the Sack (2)
And finally, a couple of games of this fun little auction game for those that were left waiting for Kingsburg to finish ....
(Cats + Cash)
Sue:
(69 + 3) 72
Rachel: (37 + 21) 58
Nick: (3 + 36) 39
Stewart: (9 + 10)
19
Sue grabbed all the big cats in this one, all in the final auction of the game!
Felix - The Cat in the Sack (3)
And the last game for the night ....
Rachel:
(37 + 12) 49
Sue: (28 + 13) 41
Stewart: (20 + 11) 31
Nick: (-13 + 27) 14
This last one was a bit of a nightmare for me, as I picked up most of the mangy cats and ducked out of the auctions worth a bunch of points! A good win for Rachel in the final game of the evening.
And that was everything for this week. See you all next week, hopefully.
