board games & card games for all ages
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Monday 28th April 2008
The numbers halved from last week, so - for those not paying attention - there were six of us in the pub this week!
Players:
David F-F, Gordon, Neil C, Nick, Rich, Sue
Games Played:
The first five of us decided to have a race around the island ....
(Score + Gold +/- Bonuses)
Gordon:
(15 + 16 - 2) 29
Sue:
(15 + 10 + 3) 28
Neil: (-5 + 18 + 13) 26
Rich: (2 + 12 + 0) 14
Nick:
(-5 + 14 + 5) 14
Another fun game of this one. I took an early lead and was halfway round the island before the others really got going, but somehow it all went wrong after that! Gordon and Sue started to edge their way past the pack and, despite a couple of fights along the way, managed to arrive at the finish at the same time. The rest of us were stranded some way back, although Neil wouldn't have had to get much further to win the game himself, thanks to all the treasure he'd collected. Rich was a couple of steps ahead of me, putting me in last place thanks to the tie-breaker!
Now six players, we split into two groups of three .....
(Points + Resources + Symbols + Tools + Huts + Shamen + Farmers)
Neil:
(96
+ 7 + 9 + 25 + 21 + 0 + 48) 206
Rich: (86 + 5 + 25 + 0 + 25 + 48 + 6)
195
Sue: (105 + 5 + 36 + 18 + 6 + 6 +
0) 176
This was a pretty quick game of this one, with the cards flying out of the game as all four were chosen every round, more often than not. Despite Sue building the most during the game, she came a little unstuck with the bonuses and Neil and Rich nipped past in the final scoring, thanks to their Farmers and Shamen.
The other three of us thought we'd try out this new one ....
(Swords delivered + Swords not delivered + Paintings - Movement Tiles)
Nick:
(17 + 0 + 3 - 2) 18
Gordon: (12 + 0 + 3 - 0) 15
David:
(8 + 2 + 2 - 0) 12
This was an interesting game, as I felt that I was behind the other two, thanks to not getting as many businesses on the board. However, my hand (which I thought was rubbish) of high cards came into its own when I realised that I could - with the help of the flexibility of the movement tile - rush the game to an end before the other two had the chance to forge more swords and get them to the Alcazar. An interesting game ... I can see this playing quite differently every time.
We mixed the groups around a little, and played a couple of others ....
Rich:
(32 + 6) 38
Sue: (27 + 3) 30
Gordon: (15 -
3) 12
I don't know a lot about this one, but I did hear Gordon complaining about his cards! A good win for Rich at his first attempt.
And the other three were off building skyscrapers ...
(Height + Trendy + Metro - Archaeological + Colour + Bonus)
Nick:
(10 + 12 + 2 - 1 + 12 + 12) 47
Neil: (5 + 3 + 1 - 3 + 12 + 12)
30
David: (5 + 6 + 6 - 3 + 10 +
5) 29
This was a fun and intriguing game yet again. I'm not quite sure how something so simple (from the rulebook) becomes so tricky to play, but this one manages it very nicely. I managed to get two of the height bonuses as I placed my last three towers unchallenged, which gave me a massive boost, as I could pretty much put them where I wanted. I managed three of my bonus card (buildings in each district), as did Neil (bridges), but David struggled with his and only managed one group of buildings around a lake.
Gordon had to rush off, and the remaining pair managed to squeeze this quickie in ...
Rich:
7
Sue:
5
You wouldn't know it from the scores, but Sue was the one to win three of the sets, while Rich only picked up two of them. However, some sneaky use of the Bishop cards gave Rich the win by a couple of points.
And to end the night, the five of us were back in Rome) ....
Nick:
(Cassius)
Rich: (Octavian) Win ... three Daggers
Neil:
(Messalina)
David: (Claudius)
Sue: (Caligula)
Stabbed by the conspirators
This was fun, although the cards came out in a very strange order. There were a load of the presents early on, but - luckily for us - neither of the "gift-collectors" were in the game. Rich made a very conspiratorial move early on as he used his ability to bring a dagger into play, and then I used my special ability to end the game and give us the win by retrieving a dagger that Caligula had chosen to throw away. Neil and David were busy eating and drinking, but couldn't eat quick enough!
And that brought us to 11 o'clock, and closing time. Thanks for coming out .... Don't forget there's no pub meet next week, as it's a Bank Holiday.
