Author Archives: nannyGOAT

Next Meeting – 8th January 2013

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

The “Feature Game” will be Ticket to Ride, which is a train game where players compete to make routes connecting cities. There are lots of different variations of this game, so we can choose which one we fancy on the night, depending on who comes.

And talking of trains…

Barek Obama, George Bush Jr., an elderly lady, and a well-endowed, young woman were travelling together on a train.

The train goes into a dark tunnel and a few seconds later there is the sound of a loud slap. When the train emerges from the tunnel, Barek Obama has a bright red hand print on his cheek.

No one speaks.

The old lady thinks, “Obama must have groped the young lady in the dark, and she slapped him.”

The young lady thinks, “Obama must have tried to grope me in the dark, but missed and fondled the old lady instead and she slapped him.”

Obama thinks, “Bush must have groped the young lady in the dark. She tried to slap him but missed and got me instead.”

George Bush thinks, “I can’t wait for another tunnel, so I can slap Obama again.”

27th December 2012

With Christmas day and New Years day both falling on a Tuesday (and players valuing playing games with their family more than with other GOATS – can’t imagine why!) we decided to have an extraordinary meeting on the Thursday.

This week there were six of us, including two new people. However, although we didn’t start until 8pm (as burgers and chips had to be dealt with), we still managed to squeeze in four games.

With Christmas so recent, everyone had new games to play, and the first one up was a Santa Special – Mundus Novus. This is a card game where players are seventeenth century Spanish ship owners, travelling to the New World and making their fortune. It took us a while to get started, but once we got the hang of it, everyone started to rack up dubloons at a steady rate. We were pretty much neck-a-neck when the game came to a bit of a shuddering halt because one of us played the equivalent of a Royal Flush, which wins the game outright.

Next we played the “Feature Game” which was PitchCar, a gorgeous, dexterity car-racing game. This game was also a Christmas Special and included the first expansion which has shicanes and jumps/bridges. For this game we used one of the standard layouts making full use of the special features.

Once everyone had completed their qualifying lap, we were off. Yellow, who won the qualifying, stalled on the grid, so Pink led into the first corner and got in everyone else’s way. Meanwhile, Black went for a pitstop and came out Orange. After about half a lap, Green had got his nose in front and despite the best efforts of Blue and White (who came from the back of the grid to finish second), this proved an unassailable lead.

Next up was The Resistance: Avalon. This game is a little different with players dividing into two teams, the Loyal Servants of Arthur and the Minions of Mordred, to go on a series of quests. Arthur’s team want the quests to be successful, whereas Mordred’s team want them to fail. The catch is, the Loyal Servants of Arthur don’t know who Mordred’s men are and players vote for teams to go on each quest. The first two quests were successful, before the Minions managed to sneak in a failure. After winning the fourth quest, the Loyal servants snatched defeat from the jaws of victory when Merlin was named correctly and assassinated.

The last game of the evening was an old favourite, Dobble and we played several chaotic rounds in different styles before we went home.

Learning Outcome: A little research before preparing your Christmas list goes a long way!

billyGOAT’s Birthday Boardgame Bash

It was billyGOAT’s birthday and he decided that what he really fancied was a day playing games with his mates. So, on a slightly damp afternoon in December, friends from far & wide converged on Challow Village Hall.

The first game up was a six player game of Pillars of the Earth. This turned out to be a rather long game and took most of the afternoon. However, since it was one of billyGOAT’s choice games, it was fitting that he ran out the worthy winner. Meanwhile, games of Discworld: Ankh-Morpork, Riff Raff, Apples to Apples Kids, Dixit, Hamsterrolle, The Great Balloon Race, Ramses Pyramid, Bohnanza, Incan Gold and Shopping List all went on as the masons slowly built their cathedral and the children played with the Scalextric and decorated biscuits.

Shortly after 6pm, everyone sat down together for a meal of Chinese takeaway (including dumplings) which was followed by a marvellous Jamaica Cake for those who had any space left. Then, the games recommenced with parallel games of Lord of the Rings and Formula D while games of Billy Biber (aka Log Jam), Dobble (aka Spot It!) and Loupin’ Louie kept the children occupied until it was time for them to go home to bed. Unfortunately, Lord of the Rings had to be terminated prematurely and the Fellowship failed to make it to Mordor.

Despite its apparently poor reputation to the contrary, the six player game of Formula D on the other hand finished in timely fashion and players moved on to a quick nine player game of The Resistance: Avalon. With a lot of new players everyone was a little quiet and Mordred’s Minions won easily.

By this time, the numbers were beginning to dwindle a little, but there was still time for a quick six player game of Roman chariot racing with Ave Caesar where everyone competed to show due respect to the Emperor. billyGOAT’s horse, “Dobbin”, made a very slow start, however, it managed a late charge for the line eventually coming second behind “Glue-pot Boy”, who had led from the off.

The last game of the night was another game of Avalon, this time with only seven players and victory went to Merlin and the Loyal Servants of Arthur. Then we had to tidy up the kitchen, sweep the hall and hand the keys back. A good time was had by all and everyone went home tired, but happy.

Finally, many thanks to everyone who helped out in the kitchen during the event, and kept food and drink flowing, while others played; it would not have been possible without them.

Next Meeting – 27th December 2012

With Christmas day and New Years day both falling on a Tuesday (and players valuing playing games with their family more than with other GOATS – can’t imagine why!) we have decided to have an extrordinary meeting on THURSDAY 27^th December. As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be PitchCar, which is a gorgeous, dexterity car-racing game.

And talking of cars…

A policeman sees an elderly woman driving incredibly slowly on the motorway, so he pulls along side and notices her knitting in the driver’s seat. She remains focussed on the road and keeps knitting and driving.

He beeps his horn to get her attention, but she is oblivious and carries on.

Getting more frustrated, he turns his siren on and, as she finally notices him, he signals for her to wind the window down.

After a time she finds the button and down goes the window.

Incensed, the cop yells, “PULL OVER!”

“Oh, no sweetie,” she replies. “It’s a scarf, see?”

11th December 2012

This week, freezing fog, work and family commitments conspired to reduce our numbers to four, none of whom were there much before 8pm. So we kicked off straight away with the “Feature Game”, Alhambra, which is a tile laying game where players are architects, competing to build the greatest palace.

With two new players, the realisation came slowly that leading in the early stages is not necessarily significant and a lot can change in the final scoring. In the end, the game was really tight between three players with a surprising, small lead for the winner (who had no idea how it happened).

For some reason, Alhambra which should take less than an hour took nearly two, so we only managed the one other game, which was Thurn and Taxis.

This is a game that is often describes as “being a bit like Ticket to Ride“, however, in reality it’s nothing like it and probably has more in common with games like Elfenroads or Elfenland. This game was probably best characterised by frustration with people waiting patiently for cards they wanted only to see them shuffled away just as they turned up. This game was also quite close, but it was clear that acquiring high value tokens was the key which meant that having played the game before was a significant advantage.

Learning Outcome: Patience is a virtue, but having multiple strategies is more often rewarded…

Next Meeting – 11th December 2012

The next meeting is on Tuesday 11^th December playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be Alhambra, where players are architects, seeing who can build the greatest palace.

And talking of architects…

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below.

He lowers the balloon further and shouts down, “Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don’t know where I am.”

The man below replies, “You’re in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field between 40 & 41 degrees latitude and 120 and 124 degrees West longitude.”

“You must be an Architect,” says the balloonist.

“I am,” responds the man, “How did you know?”

“Well,” says the balloonist, “Everything you have told me is technically correct, but it’s of absolutely no use to me and I still don’t know where I am.”

The man retorts, “You must be a contractor.”

“Well yes,” replies the balloonist, “But how did you know?”

“Well”, says the man, “You don’t know where you are or where you’re going. You’ve made a promise that you can’t keep, but now you expect me to solve your problem. You’re in the same position as you were before we met, but now it’s my fault.”

27th Movember 2012

This week, some of the group turned up early to sample the food the pub offers (which was really rather good), and two people managed to squeeze in a very quick “learning game” of Mr. Jack Pocket before it arrived. Mr. Jack is an asymmetric two player game, that is to say, the protagonists have different goals. One plays “Mr. Jack” who is trying to escape, the other plays “The Investigator” who is trying to deduce who Mr. Jack is masquerading as. This version was the travel version, but is still just as much a brain burner as its big brother despite the diminutive size of the box.

Just as the diners finished, the others arrived giving us a total of five people who had braved the flood water. After a quick game sale, we started the “Feature Game”, Eketorp. This is a game where players attempt to gather resources to build their Viking stronghold on the Swedish island of Öland. In this game players try to second guess which resources the others don’t choose, with a battle and a potential extended stay in the hospital as the reward for failure.

Next, after some discussion we decided to play Citadels. Citadels is a role selection and city building game. Each round, players choose a role to aid them building their city, and each is called in turn to perform their turn. The first of these is the Assassin, then the Thief, then Magician, then the King etc. You have to be particularly careful of the first three, as (for example) the thief seemed to think royalty was a good target.

The last game was a very quick game called Dobble (aka “Spot It”), so we had several goes. There are lots of different ways to play this, but basically it is Snap, except that each card has more than one symbol. The idea is to call a correct match more often and faster than everyone else. Apparently every card has exactly one matching symbol, though a number of disbelievers amongst us felt the need to check…

Learning Outcome: Beware the magician who steals all your cards (though perhaps you deserve it if you set the example).

boardGOATS are now on Twitter and FaceBook

boardGOATS now has a FaceBook page and Twitter feed (@boardGOATS). Hopefully all updates to the website will now appear there too…

27th Movember 2012

Next meeting is on Tuesday 27^th November playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

The “Feature Game” will be Eketorp, where players build Viking strongholds upon the Swedish island of Öland.

And talking of Vikings…

A famous Viking explorer returned home from a voyage and found his name missing from the town register. His wife insisted on complaining to the local civic official who apologized profusely saying, “I must have taken Leif off my census.”

13th Movember 2012

This week there were only four of us so we took the oportunity to play something a little heavier. So, we started out as soon as everyone had arrived at 8pm. The game was very new, only released in the last couple of months, and called Snowdonia.

In this game, players are struggling to build a railway up Mount Snowdon fighting the mist, rain and navvies that keep running back to the pub. It was clearly quite a big advantage to have played the game before as the two players who were familiar with it ended up in a very tight race for first and second. However, the game is so finely balanced that one or two errors early on by the others probably had quite a large impact on the two front runners. Definitely a game to give another go sometime after it has had time to sink in.

We only had time for one other game, and that was the “Feature Game”, Bohnanza. This is a card trading and set collecting game where players are bean farmers. Most of us had played this before, but it is such a nice light game that keeps everyone involved throughout that it was a great way to end the evening. The final score had everyone within five points and the winner decided on a tie-break.

Learning Outcome: Sometimes, Snowdonia can be very sunny (but only in board games!).