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Archive Games Sessions - February 2002

22nd February 2002

Games Played: Mississippi, Ohne Furcht Und Adel, Gargon

Mississippi

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, John W, Garry

I've not played this game for a few years but have fond memories of it, so I suggested we give it a try as it was one of the few games that I had for six players. It is a race game up the river where you manoeuvre your hexagonal paddle steamer so that you bump off other boats to progress up the course. It involves players trying to work out their best move and this can lead to a fair amount of downtime. This was especially so with six players and, as we approached the finish line, I took so long over a move that Nige fell asleep. It still didn't do me any good as Ben crossed the line first. Nige commented again on Ben's ability to do well at games involving spatial awareness. Ratings probably suffered due to the downtime with six players.

Result: Ben, Mark G, no other places recorded

Ratings: Ben 6, Mark G 6, Mark K 5, Garry 6, Nige 3, John W 5

Ohne Furcht Und Adel

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, John W, Garry

Next up was this nice game from Bruno Faidutti, which I haven't played for a while. The idea is to build valuable buildings and have the most valuable set at the end of the game, which occurs when somebody builds their 8th building. The fun element is that each turn you pick a character to help you and different characters give you different abilities, which may help you or hinder others.

Much hilarity ensued when I used my thief to steal from the character that wasn't active on that turn, when I had been first to pick my character and so should have known which character was out of the round. Unfortunately, I hardly picked up any decent buildings so the ones I did build didn't give me that many points. However, Nige and Mark G both built 8 buildings to my 6, and Mark celebrated another victory.

Result: Mark G 30, Nige 26, Garry 21, Mark K 20, John W 19, Ben 14

Ratings: Mark G 8, Nige 8, Garry 7, Mark K 8, John W 8, Ben 7

Gargon

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Garry

At this stage, Ben and John departed so the rest of us tried a new card game from Rudiger Dorn (of Traders of Genoa fame). Gargon is quite unusual in that players try to play cards to win battles and gain amulets, but players know the colours of all cards played and can choose whether to join in battle or pass. High cards make you more likely to win battles but yield fewer (or no) amulets than low cards. So you try to play low cards when you feel they will not be opposed. Unfortunately for me, I must have been telegraphing my intentions because I kept getting caught out. It was difficult to judge who was doing better than the others, but the scores demonstrated that it was very close. Mark G came out celebrating his second win of the evening.

Result: Mark G 62, Mark K 60, Nige 57, Garry 55

Ratings: Mark G 6, Mark K 6, Nige 6, Garry 7

15th February 2002

Games Played: Broadway

Broadway

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, John W

I wasn't able to make it this week, but Mark K and Nige sent me some comments.

Mark says:

8th February 2002

Games Played: It's A Dog's Life, Where's Bob's Hat

It's A Dog's Life

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, Garry

First up tonight was this game of stray dogs competing to be the first to bury 4 bones on their home patch. The bones are acquired by delivering newspapers, begging for food or fighting other dogs for bones they are carrying, while also doing other typical doggy things like piddling up against lamposts and avoiding the dog catcher.

The idea behind the game is quite fun, but I obviously had my Nige hat on because I felt there was too much luck involved and it lasted about an hour longer than it deserved. We also weren't sure that all the dogs were of equal strength, as Ben's pooch seemed weaker than some of the other dogs. Nige and Mark K were the main contenders for victory and a lot of effort later in the game involved trying to stop these two getting the final bone they needed for victory. Eventually, Nige managed to evade us long enough to get his final bone buried.

Result: Nige 4, Mark K 3, Ben=Garry 2, Mark G 1

Ratings: Nige 7, Mark K 6, Ben 8, Garry 5, Mark G 6

Where's Bob's Hat

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, Garry

We then pulled out this new game from Alan Moon, which I kept referring to as Where's Ed's Pants for reasons that escaped me at the time ( however, I now remember there is another game called Who Stole Ed's Pants, so I no longer accept I'm psychologically disturbed - well not for that reason anyway). This is a prediction whist variant, with players bidding to take most cards in a particular suit or fewest cards in total. Also there is Bob's Hat which either adds or subtracts 10 points to the person in possession of it at the end of the hand.

We played five hands and Nige stormed out to an early lead. However Mark K and I pegged him back in the penultimate hand, only for him to outscore me in the last hand for victory. Mark G, by the way didn't quite get to grips with this scoring minus points on every hand. Perhaps we should award him Ed's Pants as a booby prize.

Result: Nige 21, Garry 11, Mark K -5, Ben -18, Mark G -35

Ratings: Nige 6, Garry 6, Mark K 6, Ben 5, Mark G 5

1st February 2002

Games Played: Titicaca, Lord of the Rings

Titicaca

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, Garry

First time for this unusual game by Corne van Moorsel. Good news is that it is published in English by Dutch company Cwali. Visually it looks similar to Settlers of Catan, but the gameplay is quite different, with the aim being to control the most profitable fields. As the game progresses you expand the fields to increase their value, but your opponents are looking for the opportunity to take over ownership of these fields as well. The scoring is quite unusual with not only the number of hexes the field occupies being important, but also the number of lakes the field is next to, the length of house chains and unused weapons points.

The game was very close and Mark K almost won through preserving weapons points. However, Ben just edged it by being present and hence scoring in most fields. Quite an involving game with good spatial awareness being a distinct advantage.

Result: Ben 87, Mark K=Garry 85, Nige 62, Mark G 54

Ratings: Ben 7, Mark K 6, Garry 6, Nige 4, Mark G 5

Lord of the Rings

Players: Mark G, Mark K, Nige, Ben, Garry

We then tackled a trip through Middle Earth with Sauron starting on space 12. It was hard to shake off the memory of the last time the others played this game when Nige sacrificed the others to triumphantly cast the ring into Mount Doom without any thought to the Fellowship. This was especially so with Nige conserving his own cards and managing to lag behind the other players on the corruption track. However, on this occasion, Sauron was more canny and the ring bearer was captured with us only having reached space 40.

Result: Mark G=Mark K=Nige=Ben=Garry LOSE

Ratings: Mark G 6, Mark K 5, Nige 5, Ben 6, Garry 5

This page was last updated on 22 November 2004