2nd March 04..................................................5 Players

Finally we have a trophy. Thanks for sorting out a cup for us Dave C. Dave D has naturally laid claim to it at least until the end of the month.

Medieval Merchant - 90 minutes

Sitting at the board and hearing a explanation of the rules for this game is fairly daunting. Claire and the kids would vacate the room in seconds if I was to try this out on them. Medieval Merchant has a multiplayer puzzle feel about it with a relatively light quick pace. I hope we find time to play it again while I still have some ideas on strategy in my head. I thought it played very well with 5 and I suspect it would also work well as a 6 player game.

Guillotine - 20 minutes

Mike ended the first day before the rest of us even had a go, this put him 3 pts up with a target on his head. The 2nd day saw 12 heads roll. The 3rd day was cut a little short by Dave D. This was one of the shortest games of Guillotine I have played.

9th March.......................................................3 Players

Attila - 80 minutes

This is only my second game of Attila but I am told by Dave it played rather weirdly. Basically with 3 players you are less likely to champion a tribe because a first or second place seems achievable in any of them so stitching up a tribe seems foolish. The result is that all tribes get a fairly even spread across the board and not many regions get to fight and go to peace. A whole side to the game was lost, placing of pieces was rather discretionary and not the strategic challenge it should have been. I suspect we will go back to playing this as a 4 player game.

Web of Power - 60 minutes

By contrast to our game of Attila this game seemed to work elegantly. Dave was coming last in the first scoring round with Peter first. By the end of the second scoring round the scores had swapped with Dave taking the lead due to his linking Advisors. I though my advisors were looking good but Dave must have been near to scoring the maximum amount of points possible with his advisors, they all counted and they interlocked to score on more than one boarder.

16th March......................................................3 Players

Vinci - 140 minutes

This is the first time I have played this game with 3 and it seemed to work just fine. You get a lot more units with 3 and with less competition for space, civilizations seem to spread quickly then go into decline. The key to doing well appeared to be the need to keep up a momentum that sees you through the 150 point finishing line. Invade, spread, score big, decline, new civ and do it all again. Somewhere around the 110 point mark I lost the rhythm, I had been winning up to that point. Dave swept through to take the lead and kept it till the game end.

On the final round I had an interesting dilemma. It was almost certain Dave would win so should I hit Mike to strengthen my chance for second place? I went for Dave as did Mike but Mike and I could have fallen on each other. I am not absolutely straight on what gamming etiquette dictates in this situation.

You missed out on Vinci Steve! I am sure Dave will bring it along again soon. I think this is also a game Keith will like.

24th March......................................................5 Players

I have to get these summaries submitted as soon after the event as possible so I can get some work done. Gaming can occupy my thoughts at inappropriate times particularly after an intense session like last night. What a great game Ra is.

Ra – 120 minutes

We played with my newly acquired, out of print, German version of Ra, brought from e-bay and received at the weekend. I had already played 2 3-player games with Claire and Daniel and I was certainly up for playing 5-player last night. The first Epoch went on for an unusually long time with few Ra’s drawn. I retired first with most Pharaohs, a nice collection of rivers but no Civilizations the rest of you all collected well. The scores are hidden but I guess we were all fairly equal at this point. The second epoch saw me retiring first again with a bit of everything but no longer dominating the Pharaohs. Mike took a dive on his 2^nd epoch score to build monuments for the final round. Steve notched up the only showing of 3 Civilisations for the bonus 5 points. The final epoch was as usual the most agonising. Mike bowed out first with a nice collection of monuments. Dave C had entered the epoch with low value suns which cut him out of most of the good stuff. Dave D did not quiet get the feast he might have expected, given his high sun values, because Ra was regularly summoned. Steve was left in alone at the end to play Russian roulette with Ra. The tiles were not kind and Steve lost a gamble which could have added around 8 points to his score.

Steve gamble at the end, if it had paid off, could possibly have lifted him to 2^nd place. (For the records can someone please confirm Steve’s score was 29 and not 24, I am struggling to read my own writing?)
 

I completely lost track of the individual scores by the end of the game. I was very surprised at the margin by which I was ahead. I had also not taken in just how much Mike had given up getting his monuments. I thought his healthy 20 monument score would make him a contender for the lead. In the past the game has usually been clinched by the player with the most impressive monument score.
 

31st March 04..........................................................7 Players
It was a good turnout last night with 7 players allowing us to run 2 tables. It would be great if we could get a showing like this every week.
 

We all have our preferences as to which games are played and we all have the right to veto a suggestion. With only one table there are many games that don’t get played because they are not to the fancy of one or other of us. Steve and Peter never complain or show a preference this is appreciated and thank you for being so obliging. The 2 Dave’s like older games. Dave C has an interest in unearthing older out of print games. Dave D is strongly anti Settlers and has strong opinions on many of the popular games. I understand Dave D’s preference to be towards longer games particularly railways games that unfortunately we don’t have time to play on a Tuesday night. Mike has broad tastes with a preference to variety. I like to play anything I have played before and new release’s at a rate of no more than one every couple of months. I am anti playing out of print games I consider I am unlikely to get the chance to play more than once or twice. So to an extent we are each at odds with each other. I am meandering towards a point. Over many weeks I feel I have largely had my way and the Dave’s dusty old games have not been given an airing.

Dave C - I will not be the one to say “no thanks” when you next bring an old game to the table J

San Juan – 90 minutes

This is a new release I have been looking forward to playing. The game was not what I expected. Just because it is not what I expected does not mean I don’t think it is a neat game. I thought they would make a card game of Puerto Rico more assessable than its parent game which is very much a gamer’s game. I don’t think San Juan will get played outside gaming circles. This game is sure to get played often presuming the game length will drop now we know what we are doing.

Stephenson’s Rocket – 90 minutes  bgg

Londoner Ben dropped by while working a couple of days in Brum. He seemed to walk this game looking at the scores.

Carcassonne: The Castle – 30 minutes  bgg

Mike and I played this 2 player version of Carcassonne using a timer. 15 minutes to make all your moves. I kept forgetting to press the button at the end of my go which rather messed up my experiment about how this game would play with a timer. I found the timer a little distracting but with practice I think it will work well.

Scotland Yard – 50 minutes  bgg

Dave D just escaped as Mr X. I am not too sure how points should be awarded for this game. I have given Dave D the points for winning a 2 player, 50 minute game and given the rest of you points as if you had come second.

Final points for March. Hand over the trophy Dave!:

Average attendance 4.6

Trophy points are calculated separately for each game played by multiplying the game length in minutes by the number of participants and dividing that figure by a player’s final position. All player’s points go back to zero at the end of each month.