board games & card games for all ages
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Thursday 4th March 2010
Just the seven of us in this week ......
Players:
Darren, Dave F, Mike, Nick, Rachel, Richard, Sue
(Path + Stones + Bonus)
Richard:
21
Rachel:
19
Darren: 17
Mike: 14
Dave: 11
Nick:
5
I really have no idea why this one is so popular as an opened. I think it's a silly game. To be honest, I'm not sure if I've ever been to the tail-end of the board, as I always seem to be stuck on the first arm. And I'm sure I was trying not to push my luck too much tonight ... It's just that I kept being knocked off the ladder the turn before my go. And talking of being knocked off the ladder - Darren had managed a "X-X" and was sitting on the ladder with enough points to give him the win, when Richard rolled a double-2 and got there first!
We then split into two groups .....
Three of us stayed downstairs and played this classic Ystari game .....
Mike:
101 (28)
Nick:
101 (23)
Sue:
90
This was a fun game, and much faster with three than it is with four .... although we all pretty much knew what we were doing, and just got on with it (I think Mike was afraid of being shouted at by Sue again). The funny thing is, I was never really in this game - I'd picked up much fewer gems than both Mike and Sue, and thought I was comfortably in last place! But I did manage to collect the final gem, which meant that I could take a high-ranking yellow gem (which we were all tied in), giving me first, and Mike & Sue a share of third. And that happened a couple more times - Mike and Sue had very similar collections, so they ended up taking points of each other while I benefitted. In the end, Mike and I ended dead level, but Mike's larger collection won him the tie-breaker.
Dave:
129
Rachel:
113
Richard: 102
Darren:
97
Meanwhile upstairs, this new one was taking up three tables, as it is absolutely
huge! A gorgeous large board in the middle, and then each player's player board
and impressive screen means you need a lot of space to play this one! Apart from
that, I really don't know much about how it played .... but Dave managed a good
win in what was a first game for all of them.
The downstairs gang were finished first, and had time for ...
Sue:
49
Nick:
38
Mike:
34.5
Wow! This was a tough game. All of the events seemed to be bad ones, and I struggled throughout to get any cash at all (of course ... it didn't help that Mike and I had forgotten that the "healing" card can get you money, which would have helped!). Sue seemed to take the whole thing in her stride and slowly edged away from the pack as Mike and I struggled to get anything going. I lost about 9 points in unpaid taxes, and even had to skip an action in the final round. A tough game, but really fun and again played very quickly.
Mike had to leave, but the six of us pulled out an old classic ....
Darren:
(20 + 3) 23
Richard: (19 + 4) 23
Rachel: 22
Sue: 21
Dave: 14
Nick: 14
This was a lot of fun, and a game we hadn't played for a long time! We played up to 7 buildings to speed it up a little, and we threw a few of the expansion cards in for a bit of variety. Oddly, when we found out there was a tie for first and last, we had a quick look at the rulebook to find out what the tie-breaker was ... and not only is there no tie-breaker mentioned, but there's nothing in the rulebook to say who actually wins. So I think Dave and I tied for the win, as it's obviously much harder to do badly at this game than it is to do well! Darren was the first to seven buildings, but Richard managed to catch his score thanks to the variety of buildings in his district.
And finally .....
Nick:
166
Dave: 144
Richard: 144
Darren: 28
Rachel: 0
Sue: 0
Always a quick and fun way to end the night .... Although this game was a little odd, as Q6 was one that most of us knew the answer to, so we all got to multiply our scores by 7 (apart from Sue, who had no score to multiply). But it was nice to end the night with a game of skill, where only the best and most skillful players are likely to have a chance at a well-earned victory.
And that was all we managed this week .... thanks to those who came along.
