Author Archives: nannyGOAT

16th April 2013

This week we started out with another new game called Love Letter.  This is a really cute little game that packs in a huge amount of deduction, risk, assassination, luck and bluffing, especially considering it comprises only sixteen cards and a handful of cubes.  Basically, each player has a hand of just one card and on a turn, players draw one card, and play one card, trying to expose others and knock them out of the game.  The winner of the round is the player with the highest value card or the last man standing.  We played four rounds, after which it was clear that beginners luck was ruling the day with the players who had played before all failing to win a round.

Love Letter

Due to work commitments and a stroppy horse our less experienced players were unable to attend, so we had a bit of a change of plan and decided to leave the “Feature Game” (Ticket to Ride) for another day.  Since we had another new (though experienced) gamer, we decided to play a new, deeper game called Village.  In this game, each player takes the reins of a family striving for fame and glory.  Village is full of difficult decisions, yet moves quite quickly.  However, what is particularly unique is the way the game uses the delicate subject of death as a natural and perpetual part of life in the village and a mechanism for dictating the flow and duration of the game.

The strategies players employed varied hugely, from exploring the outside world and going into the church, to remaining a penniless farmer, or even trying a bit of everything.  From the start it seemed that White was running away with victory as he left the Village and explored the shire.  Meanwhile Red decided that piety was the best option and sent his sons into the church, leaving Blue and Yellow splashing about in the mud on the farm.  However, towards the end it became apparent that Yellow was hatching a cunning plan in the council chamber and suddenly made a fortune trading in the market.  The final result hinged on Blue’s decision to sell a cow which started a market day giving White the opportunity he needed to effectively have an extra turn and win by two points, with Yellow, Blue and Red surprisingly close behind.

 Village

Learning Outcome:  When it comes to Village life, a single-minded strategy is often more effective than dabbling in everything.

Next Meeting – 16th April 2013

The next meeting is on Tuesday 16th April playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will again be Ticket to Ride, which is a train game where players compete to make routes connecting cities.  We have chosen this as we are uncertain who will be coming, but as we have a couple of new gamers showing an interest.  There are lots of different variations of this game, so it is very flexible and we can choose what variation to play depending on who comes.

Ticket to Ride

And talking of trains…

A man was on the northbound Caledonian night sleeper train.  Jeff, one of the attendants came and the man asked him for wake-up call, “I have to be off at Perth, I’m a heavy sleeper (no pun intended), but I must get off there. I want you to put me off, whatever I say.”

The next morning the man woke up at Inverness.  Extremely annoyed he found Jeff and gave him a piece of his mind.

After the man had left, somebody asked Jeff, “How could you stand there and take that kind of talk?”

“That’s nothing!” replied Jeff, “You should have heard the guy I put off at Perth!”

2nd April 2013

This week we had two new gamers, so we started out gently with the “Feature Game” which was Coloretto. This is a simple card game where players have to collect sets of coloured chameleons.  However, while the three largest sets contribute positively to the final score, any others are subtracted.  The game was really quite tight with only three points between first and second place.

Coloretto

Next up was Carcassonne which had its second outing in as many games nights.  In contrast to the last game, this was played very “nicely”.  We started out with a selection of tiles from the two river sets and then played with just the base game, without farmers.  The youngest player managed to draw city after city tile and built a massive, uncontested city.  Meanwhile, the other new player got meeples stuck in a city and on a road that required two tiles to infill a hole, one of which was quite specific.  In a masterpiece of courage, she waited it out and drew the last required tile in the penultimate round.  Despite these heroics, however, his seemingly never-ending stream of cloisters meant nobody was quite able to catch red, who ran out eventual winner.

Carcassonne

Given that the new players have an interest in horses, we then moved on to Turf Horse Racing.  This time, the new players ganged up, backing Roamin’ Emperor who had a one in six chance of moving 20 lengths. It started really well too, launching into the lead, only for Silver Blaze, Red Baron, and Desert Prince to eventually move ahead.  Mosstown Boy and Lagoon Lady hung on to the back of the pack while the old nag Raven Beauty seemed to be going backwards.  Lagoon Lady started to loose contact when, with a sudden burst of pace Roamin’ Emperor made a dash for the line winning by 15-20 lengths from Silver Blaze and Red Baron.

Turf Horse Racing

Finally, we finished with a few quick rounds of one of our old favourites, Dobble.  We managed three different riotous variations and honours were pretty much even.

Dobble

Learning Outcome:  When it comes to boardgames, playing on a tablecloth is a BAD idea as it moves and causes “earthquakes”.

2nd April 2013

This week we had two new gamers, so we started out gently with the “Feature Game” which was Coloretto. This is a simple card game where players have to collect sets of coloured chameleons.  However, while the three largest sets contribute positively to the final score, any others are subtracted.  The game was really quite tight with only three points between first and second place.

Coloretto

Next up was Carcassonne which had its second outing in as many games nights.  In contrast to the last game, this was played very “nicely”.  We started out with a selection of tiles from the two river sets and then played with just the base game, without farmers.  The youngest player managed to draw city after city tile and built a massive, uncontested city.  Meanwhile, the other new player got meeples stuck in a city and on a road that required two tiles to infill a hole, one of which was quite specific.  In a masterpiece of courage, she waited it out and drew the last required tile in the penultimate round.  Despite these heroics, however, his seemingly never-ending stream of cloisters meant nobody was quite able to catch red, who ran out eventual winner.

Carcassonne

Given that the new players have an interest in horses, we then moved on to Turf Horse Racing.  This time, the new players ganged up, backing Roamin’ Emperor who had a one in six chance of moving 20 lengths and it stared really well, launching into the lead, only for Silver Blaze, Red Baron, and Desert Prince to move ahead.  Mosstown Boy and Lagoon Lady hung on to the back of the pack while the old nag Raven Beauty seemed to be going backwards.  Lagoon Lady started to loose contact when, with a sudden burst of pace Roamin’ Emperor made a dash for the line winning by 15-20 lengths from Silver Blaze and Red Baron.

Turf Horse Racing

Finally, we finished with a few quick rounds of one of our old favourites, Dobble.  We managed three different riotous variations and honours were pretty much even.

Dobble

Learning Outcome:  When it comes to boardgames, playing on a tablecloth is a BAD idea as it moves and causes “earthquakes”.

Next Meeting – 2nd April 2013

The next meeting is on Tuesday 2nd April playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be Coloretto, which is a simple card game where players have to collect sets of coloured chameleons.  We played it once before and have chosen it this time because we hope to have some new gamers and it is a very accessible game that is easy for new players to get to grips with.

Coloretto

And talking about chameleons…

One day, a pet chameleon called Jeff fell off a table.  Being only a small chameleon who was easily stressed and the drop being quite large, he got very anxious and needed a lot of calming down.

The next day, Jeff was quietly sunning himself on a window sill, when a dog jumped up and barked giving him a real fright so his owner had to calm him down again.

The day after that was Guy Fawkes’ Night and Jeff heard some fireworks go off outside, so he hid under the table and it was midnight before his owner could calm him down and coax him back out.

The following evening Jeff got all worried when his owner was a bit late feeding him and he needed to be calmed down before he could be fed.

About a week later Jeff got stuck in the back of a cupboard and was all alone for a few hours and it was dark and scary, so, once he’d found him, his owner need to calm him down again.

Yesterday Jeff fell off a table again, but these days he’s a calmer, calmer, calmer, calmer, calmer chameleon…

19th March 2013

It was another quiet night as work intervened for many of us.  So first up was the “Feature Game”, Carcassonne.  This is one of the classic “modern” games where players lay tiles and play “Meeples” to score points.  Since the new gamers were unable to come, we played “nasty” rather “friendly”, with one player who kept getting road junctions and another who got all the got city ends!  It was a very close game that went twice round the scoring track and ended with only five points between first and last place.

Carcassone

The second game we decided to go with was Hamburgum which is a game set in Hamburg during the seventeenth century where players produce beer, sugar and cloth and sell them overseas. They compete for the best sites for their buildings and the best berths for their ships in the harbour, but ultimately they vie to make the most prestigious church donations, because only prestige decides the game. The game is almost completely luck free as it has no cards or dice and the actions are selected by your position on a carousel or roundel.

The game started quite slowly, until we realised we could build more than one building at a time, so, it took a while for the first church to be completed with all five donations.  The second was slightly quicker, but once we completed the third, the rest followed very quickly and the race round the roundel was on to get goods turned into money and then into resources to make the final donations to the prestigious last church. The margin of victory was much larger for this game than Carcassonne, but with about twenty-four points on that last church, the result could have been much closer.

Hamburgum

Learning Outcome:  When it comes to resources, “few but often” sometimes goes further than “lots but rarely”.

Next Meeting – 19th March 2013

The next meeting is on Tuesday 19th March playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be Carcassonne, which is one of the classic “modern” games where players lay tiles and play “Meeples” to score points.  We chose this game as it is we hope to have some new gamers and this is a very accessible game that is easy for new players to get to grips with.  Equally, if the new players are unable to come, it can be a fairly quick game and played “nasty”…

Carcassone

And talking about tiles…

A builder was talking to his assistant Jeff, “I have a question for you Jeff.”

“OK,” replied Jeff, “What is it?”

“We’ll,” says his boss, “What’s the difference between a tile and a crocodile?”

Jeff, who hates riddles, sighed and rolled his eyes.  “I don’t know,” he answered, “What IS the difference between a tile and a crocodile?”

“That answers that question then,” says the builder, “I guess I’d better not send you to the hardware store!”

We Play “Second Generation Games”

The BBC really seems to have picked up on boardgaming recently:  in January, BBC Breakfast reported a rise in game sales over the Christmas period and now You and Yours on BBC Radio 4 are getting in on the act.  The report interviewed Joe Jaques (from Jaques of London) and Steve Buckmaster (from Esdevium Games).  It is a nice article that explains the rise of “Second Generation Games” including Carcassonne, Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride and discusses their origin and how many of these games have iOS versions that have led to increased interest in the real thing.  The 5 minute article starts 22 minutes and 45 seconds into the program and is available from the BBC website.  There is also an online write up in the business section of the BBC Website.

BBC Radio 4

5th March 2013

Since people were there nice and early, we started off the evening with a quick game of Turf Horse Racing.  This is a clever little game where players bet on horses, but the return depends not only on the place and the “stake”, but also the number of people who bet on the horse.  Thus, if several people backed the same horse, the return would be a lot lower than one which only one player bet on.  Nobody backed Raven Beauty, but even it did better than Roamin’ Emperor who might as well have had three legs.  Up front however, the race was quite tight with Mosstown Boy making a mad dash for the line only to run out of steam and lose to Lagoon Lady, Red Baron and Silver Blaze.

Turf Horse Racing

Next we played the “Feature Game” which was Nollkoll (aka Speedybag), which is another quick, fun game, but was universally agreed to be the most stressful game any of us had ever played.  Basically, players turn over a card which has a shape on it and players have to feel in their bag and pull out a matching small plastic shape.  The first wins the card, the person with the most cards at the end wins.  It was a tight game, but oh soooo stressful!

Noll Koll

Then it was Queen’s Necklace.  We had one player who was new to it, but the rest of us played it a few weeks ago, so revisiting it was nice as it meant we could use what we had learnt the first time.  It was a much closer game this time with one round really making the difference between first and second place.

Queen's Necklace

Our fourth game of the evening was Coloretto, which strangely was new to most of us, though it is a well known game.  Play is very simple:  you can either draw a card to add to a “truck”, or take one of the “trucks” and add the cards in it to your collection to make sets of different colours. Each “truck” has a maximum of three cards and only the largest three sets score points with any others scoring negatively.  It is a fun little game closely related to Zooloretto, and in many ways much better as you don’t get side-tracked by cute fluffy animals, barns and vending stalls.

Coloretto

Finally we finished off with our old favourite, Bohnanza (known within the group as “The Bean Game”).  Since we all knew this one very well, we just checked the specific details for player numbers and launched straight into a game.  Unfortunately, the deck hadn’t been shuffled very well before it was put away, so the first time through the pack was a little strange, but we sorted that out for the second time through.  It was another tight game, but the “Queen of Cards” won by one card giving her a hat-trick for the evening.

Bohnanza

Learning Outcome:  Shuffling is a skill we all need to improve.

Next Meeting – 5th March 2013

The next meeting is on Tuesday 5th March playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be Nollkoll (aka Speedybag), which is a quick, fun game where players have to feel in their bag and match small plastic shapes with the pictures on a card.  We chose this game as it is similar to one of our most frequently played fillers, Dobble and we would like to play something a little more substantial that would depend heavily on who comes along (possible games include, Agricola, Village, Niagara, Mystery of the Abbey, Vasco da Gama, Keyflower and Snowdonia).

Noll Koll

And talking about bags…

A little paper bag was feeling unwell, so he took himself off to the doctors.

‘Doctor, I don’t feel too good,’ said the little paper bag.

‘Hmm, you look OK to me,’ said the Doctor, ‘But I’ll do a blood test and see what that shows.  Come back and see me in a couple of days.’

The little paper bag felt no better when he got back for the results.

‘What’s wrong with me?’ asked the little paper bag.

‘I’m afraid you are HIV positive!’ said the doctor.

‘No, I can’t be – I’m just a little paper bag!’ said the little paper bag.

‘Have you been having unprotected intercourse?’ asked the doctor.

‘NO, I can’t do things like that – I’m just a little paper bag!’ he replied, quite distressed.

“Well, have you been sharing needles with other intravenous drug users?’ asked the doctor.

‘NO, I can’t do things like that – I’m just a little paper bag!’

‘Perhaps you’ve been abroad recently and required a jab or a blood transfusion?’ queried the doctor.

‘NO, NO, I don’t have a passport – I’m just a little paper bag!’

‘Well,,’ said the doctor, ‘are you in a homosexual relationship?’

‘NO! I keep telling you I can’t do things like that, I”M JUST A LITTLE PAPER BAG!’

‘Then there can be only one explanation,’ said the doctor. “Your mother must have been a carrier.’