board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 18th September 2008
Fifteen of us in the shop this week, which means there was a lot of game played, most of which I haven't got the faintest idea about ....
Players:
Alex, Darren, Dave F,
Dave H, James, Jonathan, Mark P, Mel, Mike, Nick, Rachel, Rich, Roj, Simone, Sue
Games Played:
Three of us were in early(ish). We stood around for ages waiting for someone else, got bored and started this game. The place then immediately filled up, of course.
Mike:
Connected a group of 8 frogs
Dave
F: Connected 8 out of 9
Nick: Connected 6 out of 8
This was a very tricky little game, Excellent pieces, quite a lot to think about in such a simple set of rules, and fun to play. A good win for Mike in this one, as Dave couldn't find a spot to add a frog of Mike's without Mike being able to hop it into his group.
We were now six downstairs, and this is always a popular choice for that number ....
Mike:
10
Dave
F: 8
Dave H: 4
James: 4
Nick: 4
Simone: 1
This was possibly the friendliest game of Drakon that we've ever played. It was a bit weird really. People kept laying down coin tiles which would help everyone, rather than trying to keep them all to themselves! Dave H even used mind control to give Simone a coin (which was a bit fishy, if you ask me). With no stealing tiles or dragon tiles around, the coin collecting quickly gave Mike the four coins he needed for the victory.
Meanwhile, another six players were off round Jamaica ....
(Points + Gold +/- Cards)
Alex:
(-5 + 19 + 12) 26
Roj:
(4 + 15 + 3) 22
Darren: (15 + 3 + 0) 18
James: (15 + 5 - 4) 16
Rachel: (-5 + 16 + 3) 14
Barrie: (5 + 5 - 3)
7
This sounds like it was a fun game. The people who actually bothered to finish the race came third and fourth, mainly because Alex had just spent the game gathering treasure and gold, not bothering to race anyone!
While Jamaica was still going on upstairs, the 8 of us downstairs went off hunting shadows ....
Mel:
(George - Hunter) Alive
Nick: (Franklin - Hunter) Dead
Mark: (Emi - Hunter) Dead
Dave H: (Daniel - Neutral) Alive
Jonathan: (Charles - Neutral)
Dead
Mike:
(Werewolf - Shadow) Dead
Dave F: (Unknown - Shadow) Dead
Simone: (Vampire - Shadow) Dead
This was a lot of fun, as always. Six people died in total, which was more than we've seen before in any game. The game boiled down to a fight between Mel (the last Hunter), Simone (the last Shadow with her healing powers) and Dave H, who - having failed to die first - was desperately trying to stay alive as the Shadows fell. Jonathan was killed by slipping on a banana skin, much to everyone's amusement!
The other group tried this one with six players ....
Barrie:
(11 - 4) 7
Rachel: (9 - 3) 6
Darren: (6 - 1) 5
James: (6 - 2) 4
Alex: (4 - 3) 1
Roj: (1 - 10) -9
Apparently this works ok with six players, although that number did manage to produce a record low score of MINUS NINE for Roj!
We had a bit of a shuffle round now, with the fourteen of us splitting into two 5's and a 4.
The downstairs five were brewing potions ....
James:
(17 + 3) 20
Mark: (11 + 7) 18
Rachel: (12 + 3) 15
Nick: (8 + 4) 12
Mel: (8 + 3) 11
A good win for James in this one, which was pretty close between the top two (and the bottom two!). A lot of fun this one, but probably much better with five players than any other number.
This was one of the two games going on upstairs ....
Dave
H: 195
Dave
F: 181
Simone: 150
Mike: 134
I think Dave F was the only one who had played this before, and that was only once in the dim and distant past, so this game took a little longer than expected! Those score look pretty decent though, so he must have done a good job of teaching it.
And the other five were off to Egypt ....
Roj:
38 (9 pyramids)
Darren: 38 (6 pyramids)
Jonathan: 36
Barrie: 34
Alex: 33
This looks like a very tight game, with only 5 points separating first place and last.
A few left, a few moved about, Sue joined in ....
Nick:
Reached Carthage
Mel:
-4 steps
James: -13 steps
Mark: -18 steps
Sue: -23 steps
Rachel: -26 steps
Hmm .... I'm not sure if I've ever won this one before! This was an interesting game, as there had been 25 consecutive Tribute payments before I decided to let the Goths go, despite it doing me a little more damage than everyone else (thanks to bad planning). However, it all turned out well for me in the end, as I had a few steps for every food round, and - despite running out of the cards myself - it was all a couple of players could play, which got me to Carthage a few steps ahead of Mel.
Sargasso
Roj's prototype makes its first appearance ....
Barrie:
68
Roj:
55
Alex: 53
Darren: 45
I haven't the faintest idea. I mean, I've seen the board, but that's it really.
And finally, in honour International Talk Like a Pirate Day ....which we were well into by the end of this game:
Rachel:
81
Dave
F: 79
Sue: 66
Nick: 65
James: 46
I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this one, although we were in a little of a hurry. It feels like a light family game, but there's a fair number of choices in there. A good win for Rachel, who seemed to jump to a very early big lead, and then bravely hung on at the end.
And that was the lot for another week. Thanks to all who came along.
