board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 1st October 2009
Just the (slightly difficult) seven of us in the shop this week. It's the number that is slightly difficult. Not the people. Well ... most of them.
Players:
Alex, Darren, Dave F, Mike, Nick, Rachel, Sue
Games Played:
The first four were very keen to get frustrated by ....
Rachel:
(6 + 12 + 8 + 4) 30
Alex:
(3 + 11 + 8 + 3) 25
Darren: (4 + 7 + 6 + 3) 20
Dave:
(5 + 10 + 6 - 3) 18
This was played using the "unofficial" expansions MOTS (More of the Same, I believe that means) which uses boards 5 to 8, and is basically a tougher version of the original. Of course, Reiner Knizia has just released an "official" expansion using the same numbers, which I may have to download as well and confuse myself. Reports were that these boards are just as good as the originals.
Meanwhile ......
Nick:
18
Sue: 15
Mike: 14
I had played this little game before, which gave me a bit of an advantage. Oddly, none of our special stones came out until the game was almost over, which took away a lot of the stealing and interaction. Still undecided about this one.
Now we were seven, we thought we'd hang on to see if anyone else was coming ....
Mike:
362
Alex:
324
Darren: 302
Sue: 228
Dave: 179
Nick: 117
Rachel:
70
I don't know why I put myself through this. I know how badly it's going to go before it even starts! I was sitting to the left of Rachel this time, and she never passed me anything even remotely useful. Of course, Darren was to my left, which is where that argument falls down a little! A good win for Mike, who was the only one sensible enough to bank at the right times.
We split into two groups .....
Pandemic + Pandemic: On the Brink
Alex:
Containment Specialist
Dave: Medic
Mike: Researcher
Rachel: Scientist:
All won
Apart from the role of the Bio-Terrorist, I think all of the other new bits from the expansion were in this game, so they were playing with the new characters and the mutated fifth disease.
(Fields + Pastures + Grain + Veg + Sheeps + Piggies + Cows - Unused space + Stables + Rooms + Family + Cards + Bonuses)
Darren:
(2 +
4 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 2 + 3 - 0 + 0 + 6 + 12 + 8 + 0) 41
Nick: (3 - 1 + 3 + 2 - 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 + 0 + 10 + 15
+ 7 + 0) 36
Sue: (2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 2 -
1 - 2 + 4 + 15 + 1 + 0) 28
This was the first time that we'd managed to play with the K-Deck, and it actually proved really tough. I think there is a lack of wood in the three-player game, and none of us seemed to have any way of getting extra, and a lot of it also got used in extending houses before a renovation. I played the Wet Nurse early on, hoping to reap the great benefits of having an early large family, but in fact it just meant I needed lots of food. I was creating masses of grain and eating it raw, waiting to build a brewery. Meanwhile Darren was storing and killing animals fairly liberally, which meant he was the guy with the smallest family, but also the one with the most abundant food supply! We all could have done with one more turn (or two ....), but isn't that always the way ?
Mike had to disappear, which meant the rest of us tried to stay in one group for the rest of the night .....
Dave:
18
Rachel:
14
Darren: 11
Nick: 10
Sue: 9
Alex:
4
We hadn't played this for a long, long time .... And I think I'd forgotten just how chaotic it was with six players! Some of us had great big long turns, while Sue and Alex spent a total of about 2 minutes actually playing!
King Me! with King Me! - The Toilet Expansion (no, really)
Alex:
79
Sue:
72
Nick: 64
Darren: 59
Rachel: 50
Dave:
49
This was a load of fun, and another game we hadn't played for ages. I think I over-stressed the fact that we all only had two veto cards, as the first round ended very fast because I put a guy into the throne room, and everyone hoped someone else would veto his coronation! In the second round, we got the hang of it and killed about half the candidates before electing a King, but in the third round we mirrored the firs and elected the first candidate! And sadly, no one was left on the toilet in the game, which meant we couldn't use our "throne" jokes.
And finally ......
Dave:
(Werewolf) Alive
Rachel (Unknown) Alive
Darren:
(Daniel) Alive, but needed the Hunters to win
Nick:
(Emi) Last to die
Alex: (Franklin) Second to die
Sue: (Charles) First to go.
Another fun game of hidden identities. The shadows had it fairly easy here in a pretty bloody game - All of the weapons were out and changing hands pretty frequently, causing all sorts of mayhem. By the time Alex and I had figured out that Rachel must be lying when passed green cards, we were all so close to death that it was only a matter of moments before it was over. Not one player got to use their special ability either. Apart from Darren, I guess, who screamed like a girl when Sue died.
And that was all we had time for this week ... and we finished early too!
