P-p-p-p-p-p-p-pancake day!

In the words of Barrington “ It’s Pancake day, yes it's pancake day, it's p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pancake day!”
Yes, it was Shrove Tuesday. But no-one gave one jot about using up the last of their flour, milk and eggs and decided to come down to the Ribs of Beef to play games instead.

As promised, Kev brought Settlers of America: Trails to Rails with him. Hailed as a cross between the Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride, it boasted a seemingly massive board presenting a hex-grid of the United States and a swathe of chiselled wooden pieces. Players collect and trade resources, in order to purchase, migrate and build settlements, forge railroads and acquire locomotives.There was a lot of interest in the game, but Sharon, Tom and Punk Rich managed to snag the choice seats at the table. I hope to play it next week and will be able to tell you more about it, but hose of you with a filthy mind will be pleased to know that the phrase “I’ve got wood” is still applicable; in fact, not only did Kev have wood all throughout the game and but he declared that he had numerous erections as well. Pfnar. I hear it was a close run thing, but Punk Rich rose above the smut to claim the win.

Rich was not be outdone and brought down more hot property in the form of Fantasy Flight’s new horror game – Mansions of Madness. In this story led, investigative style game, loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos, Rich took the role of the Keeper - a games master type guy that controls the monsters and other malicious powers within the story. The plucky investigators with the dubious task of exploring the seemingly abandoned buildings in Arkham were Christine, Dylan, Luke and Lovely Rich. I didn’t see how the game played, but I heard a lot of talk about an axe-wielding maniac, shrivelled limbs and pools of blood. Ultimately, the intrepid band failed to complete the story and defeat the looming menace within the mansion – two died and the other two were undoubtedly consumed by some indescribable horror. I was told that the story closed with Dylan hiding in the basement with a bottle of whisky, a bottle of sedatives and a shotgun. Rich described it as a cross between Arkham Horror (mainly for the theme) and a simplified Descent. I liked the look it , more so than the sprawling mess that Arkham Horror has become, but then again several expansions for Mansions of Madness can’t be far away.

I played none of these new shiny games. Instead, I gathered up Steve and Aaron and we played an enjoyable game of Ys, which I won, and a closely fought game of Small World, which Steve deservedly won.

Beer: Just good old Wherry for me, but it wasn't as brilliant as it's been on the last few occasions.