The Embattled Bin Men of Bob

Nine this week, Rich, Moritz and Matt playing the well travelled Hansa Teutonica with Crocker suitably enticed to stay and join in before making a hasty departure.

Matt ended up as the most savvy of traders securing a civilised Hansa win, whilst on the other table, a noisy uncivilised game of Risk Legacy trash talked its way across the world - and heavily distracted me from observing the goings on of Hansa.

Game 11-ish in the Risk saga opened with some major nuclear polluting of the Americas - Pete's enthusiastic bin men turning up in the troubled continent for a few days of trash collection - the more polluted the better. Bring Out Yer Dead.

Phil's mecha and Dean's bears could not have followed refuse protocol correctly however - bins not at the kerbside, the wrong kind of trash in the wrong bin - as Pete's army of Refuse Technicians could not quite finish the job and pulled over somewhere on a deserted American highway for a tea break. Cue sad Pete.

With radioactive trash piling up, and both bears and mecha dying, the only sensible solution to the problem was more pointless war, ravenous bears wandering around America in search of picnic baskets and uncollected bins and Bondy's mercenary Europeans taking an American bear hunting vacation.

A ridiculous defence of the City of Bob by its embattled bin men saw the African hordes decimated - but not before they limped on into the American cauldron to wipe out the hibernating bears.  A struggling Phil broke free of the poisoned jungles of Petia to let his mecha stomp forwards and secure Phil's first win, the City of Bob changing hands once more to end the game.

Seas boiled, the land heaved and the end of days was brought forth, the mark of the unlikely win of Phil. America - now known finally, justly as Philtopia would see dark days ahead as the sun waned and a chill wind began to blow. . . . such is the cost of a Phil win. Woe be unto you all !

To finish off the evening, an eight handed game of Saboteur commenced, Phil was deemed to be a saboteur every game regardless of evidence and saw his tools broken before he could even play a card. Harsh some might say. But Phil has the definite look of a Saboteur.

Some particularly inspired and pre-emptive Saboteuring saw the player deck tampered with so that four saboteurs could be pitted against four miners and properly bring any excavations to a crashing halt.

A lot of smack talk and laughs later and Pete squeaked the win with 9 gold, Moritz and myself on 8, Bondy on 7.

Delusions of Philtopia

Yes, it’s been over a month since I last reported on the trials and tribulations of Norwich’s premier board games club. Yes, we are officially the best board games club in Norwich, which is a real kick in the face to those upstarts  at the People’s Gaming Republic of Norfolk. And the Larkman 18XX Club. And don’t get me started on those snobs at the Norwich Cheese & Wine Gamers Society.   So apart from faint delusions of grandeur, what has been happening at NoBoG?

Eclipse has taken the club by storm. It’s been racing up the game rankings on BoardGameGeek and it’s had a similar success story at the Ribs. Initially looked upon with trepidation, once it was established that this space epic could fit into three hours of gaming, it became a popular choice and has been played five times this year. I got my first taste last night and I like it. I be back for a second helping  next time it’s being served.

A few brave souls have clubbed together and committed themselves to fifteen games of Risk. ”They should be committed”, I hear you cry, “Committed to a mental asylum.” But, no, this is not normal run of the mill Risk, which you remember from your childhood. The days have gone when a game would last a  whole afternoon  and in the end you had to smack you brother round the head with the vacuum cleaner pipe in order to dislodge him from his fortress in Australia. No, this a new and shiny marketing ploy from Hasbro, where you play a campaign spread over 15 games, but you get to add stickers and scrawls to the game board and discover new rules and cards which are contained in sealed packs. Regions become permanently scarred or have cities founded in them. There are five different factions which develop though player decisions and victories.  And once the 15 games are over the victor writes his name in big letters on the board and gets to name the world – probably something like Alderaan, Spunkworld or Philtopia.

We’re six games into it and it’s great fun. Peter Silvertongue and John lead the way with two wins each. Dean and I both have one victory. While Phil has yet to claim a win.

In the last month we’ve also played Vinhos, 7 Wonders, Hamburgum, Ninjato, Reef Encounter, Space Hulk: Death Angel – the card game, Notre Dame, Hawaii, Royal Palace, Strasbourg, Hansa Teutonica, Frank’s Zoo and 6 Nimmt.