Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 29^th December, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Broom Service which won the Kennerspiel des Jahres this year.  The game uses the role selection mechanic from Witch’s Brew (a game we played a few weeks ago), but adds much more with a board and a delivery mechanic.

– Image used with permission of BGG contributor punkin312

And speaking of brooms…

It was just before Christmas and Jeff and his wife had to have that conversation.

“My mother is coming to stay with us for a few days over Christmas,” said the lady of the house, bracing herself for Jeff’s protests.

Much to her surprise, however, Jeff sounded positive, “That’s good,” he said, “Seeing as the vacuum cleaner has just broken down.”

Jeff’s wife was a little offended by this. “Well, she’s not going to be doing any cleaning if that’s what you mean,” she responded.

“Oh no,” said Jeff, “But we can borrow her broomstick…”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 15^th December, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Between Two Cities.  Set in the early 1800s, a time of immense construction and urbanization, this is an unusual game as players are paired with a partner with whom they discuss and execute their grandiose development plans.  We chose this quick, interesting, partnership-driven tile-drafting game as it should leave us with plenty of time to play other games.

– Image by boardGOATS

And speaking of city planners…

A judge, a bishop, and a city planner were having a discussion. All three were rather vain , and their talk soon turned to the question of which of them was the greatest.

“Well,” said the judge, “my position is one of dignity and power. When I walk into the courtroom, the bailiff says, ‘All rise!’ and all the people stand to pay me honour.”

“That’s very nice,” responded the bishop. “People stand in your honour, but when people have an audience with me they kneel, kiss my ring, and they address me as ‘Your Eminence.'”

The city planner snorted and said, “I think I’ve got you both.  When I walk into any room as a consultant, the people look down, put their hands over their eyes, and say ‘Oh, my God!'”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 1^st December, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Pandemic: Contagion.  Pandemic is a very well known cooperative game where everyone plays together to defeat the tide of disease that is overcoming the world.  Pandemic: Contagion is a lighter game and almost the complete opposite:  players are the diseases and compete against each other to be the most effective and take over the world – there is no cure.

– Image by boardGOATS

And speaking of diseases…

Jeff went to the doctor for the results of his blood test.  When he arrived, the doctor asked him to take a seat, before he took sat down himself and took a deep breath.

Jeff said, “Well, come on then Doc, give it to me straight.”

After a moment, the doctor replied, “OK Mr. Pie, but would do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

Jeff thought a moment before he responded, “Um, give me the bad news first please.”

The Doctor paused again, took another deep breath and said, “Okay well, I’m very sorry, it’s the worst possible news.  There’s nothing we can do for you.  There’s no easy way to say this, but you’ve only got days left to live.”

Jeff was obviously very shocked.  Lip trembling, after a bit he said, “Well, so, what’s the good news?”

The Doctor brightened up a little suddenly and replied, “Well, it’s actually very interesting and we’re naming the disease after you.”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 17^th Movember, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King, which is a tile laying game with some similarity to Carcassonne, except that players have their own map and the tiles are auctioned in an innovative way.

– Image used with permission of BGG contributor henk.rolleman

And speaking of Skye…

Jeff was on holiday in Scotland with his girlfriend, Josephine.  After fifteen years of dating, at last, on one beautiful evening watching the sun set over the beautiful Isle of Skye, Jeff thought it was time to ask the question.

“My love,” he breathed, “Isn’t it about time we were getting married?”

After a heavy silence. Josephine sighed, “Yes, Jeff, think it is.”  Josephine paused and then continued, “Yes, Jeff, it certainly is, but who would have us?”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 3^rd Movember, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Witch’s Brew, which is a set collecting and bluffing card game where players have to collect the ingredients for potions and then prepare them.  The game has been reimplemented as this year’s Kennerspiel des Jahres, Broom Service.

– Image used with permission of BGG reviewer EndersGame

And speaking of witches…

Jeff and his wife, Josephine were going to a masked Halloween party.  Unfortunately, Josephine had a bad day at work and by the time she got home had a terrible headache.  Not wanting to spoil his fun, she told Jeff to go to the party alone. He, being a devoted husband, protested, but she said she was just going to take some aspirin and go to bed, and so there was no point in his evening being spoiled by not going.  So Jeff took his costume and and Josephine went to bed.

After sleeping soundly for about hour, Josephine awakened without pain, and, as it was still early, she decided to go to the party.  Since Jeff did not know what her costume was, she thought she would have some fun by watching her husband to see how he acted when she was not with him.

Josephine joined the party and soon spotted Jeff in his monster outfit cavorting around on the dance floor, dancing with everyone he could and taking advantage wherever possible.  Josephine went up to him, and being rather seductive herself, Jeff left his partner high and dry and devoted his time to this new person.  She let him go as far as he wished; naturally, since he was her husband and he went all the way sneaking off to one of the bedrooms in the dark.

Just before the unmasking at midnight, Josephine slipped away and went home.  She put the costume away and got into bed, wondering what kind of explanation Jeff would make for his behavior.  So, she was sitting up reading when Jeff came in and she asked him what his evening had been like.

Jeff replied, “Oh, the same old thing. You know I never have a good time when you’re not there.” Slightly surprised by his brazenness, Josephine asked, “Did you dance much?”

He responded, “I tell you, I never even danced one dance. When I got there, I met Pete, Bill Brown and some other guys, so we went into the den and played poker all evening. But you know what?  The guy I loaned my costume to, well, he had a really amazing time!”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 20^th October, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Bellz!, which is a game picked up from the Game Fair last week in Essen.  A manual dexterity game, it is not the usual sort of game we play, however, its very quick and is really just a place-holder for all the games brought back from Essen.

– Image used with permission of BGG contributor SpeedD

And speaking of bells…

As Church Warden, Jeff was interviewing for a new bellringer for the cathedral carillon.  After observing several applicants demonstrate their skills, he decided to call it a day when a lone, armless man approached him and announced that he was there to apply for the bellringer’s job.

Jeff was incredulous, “But you have no arms!” he exclaimed.

“No matter,” said the man, “Just observe…”

He then began striking the bells with his face, producing a beautiful melody on the carillon. The bishop listened in astonishment, and a crowd had gathered outside the cathedral drawn by the beautiful music.  Then, suddenly, rushing forward to strike a bell, the armless man tripped and plunged headlong out of the belfry window to his death in the street below.

Jeff was horrified and ran down the stairs to the cathedral square, and rushed to the man’s side.  As the crowd parted, one of them voiced the thoughts of them all and asked Jeff, “Who was this man?”

“I don’t know his name,” Jeff replied sadly, “But his face rings a bell.”

The following day, despite the sadness weighing heavily in his heart following the unfortunate death of the armless campanologist Jeff continued his interviews for a new bellringer.

The first man to approach said, “I am the brother of the poor, armless wretch who fell to his death from this very belfry yesterday.  I pray that you honor his life by allowing me to replace him in this duty.”

Jeff immediately agreed to give him an audition, and the armless man’s brother stooped to pick up a mallet, and then began to create the most wonderful melodies.  When he had finished, he turned to Jeff, suddenly groaned, clutched at his chest and dropped dead on the spot.

The vicar who was in the nave, hearing the Jeff’s cries of grief at this second tragedy, rushed up the stairs to his side. “What has happened?” he asked breathlessly, “Who is this man?”

“I don’t know his name,” sighed Jeff, distraught, “But he’s a dead ringer for his brother!”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 6^th October, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Tokaido, which is a game where players are pilgrims crossing the Japanese “East sea road”, meeting people, tasting fine meals, collecting beautiful items, discovering great panoramas, and visiting temples.

– Image used with permission of BGG contributor henk.rolleman

And speaking of pilgrims…

Two pilgrims were going hunting.  One of them, Joe, was struggling under the weight of the two blunderbusses he was carrying.  After a while, his companion, Jeff, asked, “Why are carrying two guns?”

Joe explained, “I usually miss the first time I shoot. By taking a second gun I have a better chance of hitting it.”

Jeff thought about this for a while and then said, “Why not just take the second gun, and only shoot once?”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 22^nd September, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Notre Dame, which is a slightly older Euro-game, where players juggle the two main resources, influence and money, in an effort to translate them into victory points.  While working to score points players have to carefully manage the threat posed by the rat population and avoid the potentially crippling plague.

– Image used with permission of BGG reviewer EndersGame

And speaking of the plague…

Jeff had been ill for a couple of days, so, convinced he was dying he went to the doctor.  The doctor ran a whole battery of tests and then him down and said, “I’m afraid you have bubonic plague.”

Jeff was shocked, but after a moment or two, he hopefully asked, “Doctor, can you do something?”

The doctor answered, “Well, you’ll have to stay in the hospital… and we’ll put you on a special diet of flounder, pizza, and pancakes.”

Jeff thought that didn’t sound so awful, but he was curious, “How is that diet going to cure me?”

The doctor replied, “Well, it isn’t, but those are the only foods we can slide under the door!”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 8^th September, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Mystery of the Abbey, which is a deduction style boardgame where players take the role of monks in a monastery trying to discover who killed Brother Adelmo.

– Image by boardGOATS

And speaking of monks…

A young novice arrived at the monastery and was assigned to help the other monks copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.  After a while, he noticed that all the monks were copying from copies, rather than from the original manuscript. So, the young diligent novice went to see Abbot Jeffrey to question this and point out that if someone had made even a small error in the first copy, it would never have been picked up. In fact, he added that error would have been continued in all of the other subsequent copies.

Abbot Jeffrey said, “My son, we have been copying from copies for centuries, but you make a very valid point, I will look into it myself.”

So off he went down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where all the original manuscripts were held archived in a locked vault that hadn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours went by and nobody saw hide nor hair of the abbot.

The monks got a bit worried, so the young novice went down to look for Abbot Jeffrey and found him banging his head against the wall, wailing, “We missed the ‘R’, we missed the ‘R’…” His forehead was blooded and bruised and he was crying uncontrollably.

The young novice was horrified and asked the abbot, “Whatever’s wrong, father?”

With a choking voice, Abbot Jeffrey replied, “After all these years… the word was ‘Celebrate’!”

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 8^th September, at the Horse and Jockey pub in Stanford-in-the-Vale.  As usual, we will be playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.

This week the “Feature Game” will be Mystery of the Abbey, which is a deduction style boardgame where players take the role of monks in a monastery trying to discover who killed Brother Adelmo.

– Image by BGG boardGOATS

And speaking of monks…

A young novice arrived at the monastery and was assigned to help the other monks copying the old canons and laws of the church by hand.  After a while, he noticed that all the monks were copying from copies, rather than from the original manuscript. So, the young diligent novice went to see Abbot Jeffrey to question this and point out that if someone had made even a small error in the first copy, it would never have been picked up. In fact, he added that error would have been continued in all of the other subsequent copies.

Abbot Jeffrey said, “My son, we have been copying from copies for centuries, but you make a very valid point, I will look into it myself.”

So off he went down into the dark caves underneath the monastery where all the original manuscripts were held archived in a locked vault that hadn’t been opened for hundreds of years. Hours went by and nobody saw hide nor hair of the abbot.

The monks got a bit worried, so the young novice went down to look for Abbot Jeffrey and found him banging his head against the wall, wailing, “We missed the ‘R’, we missed the ‘R’…” His forehead was blooded and bruised and he was crying uncontrollably.

The young novice was horrified and asked the abbot, “Whatever’s wrong, father?”

With a choking voice, Abbot Jeffrey replied, “After all these years… the word was ‘Celebrate’!”