Ben Wins - Officially not a Newbie

Late arrivals caused a rearrangement but eventually we settle on a four player game of brass (Jimmy, Tarn, Luke and Tom) three player ticket to ride Europe (Dan, Richard H & Ben) and a four player game of Medina (Luke minor, Matt B, James and Jack). Later in the evening space dealer was played to the sound of the official soundtrack 'pumping' from Dans phone.

We much derived the movie Watchman and celebrated Ben winning a 'proper' game and the return of Richard H. Ben has now officially ceased being a newbie after popping his 'playing with Jimmy' cherry last week. Hazzar!!!!

Probability goes out the window

Whilst Jimmy, Matt, Ben and Rich where playing a euro conflict game that Jimmy had owned since before any other of us had been born. Jack, Hal, James and myself played through several games.

We started with Oasis which went down well and then Torres which was also popular. Both games where won by me Jack was second in Oasis and Hal was piped by a very small margin in Torres. We smiled at the remarks coming from the other table and Rich getting medieval on Ben and deciding in for a penny in for a ‘pound’.

But the evenings entertainment increased immeasurably when I took out the infamous ‘coach roach poker’ as an end of evening filler. We played 3 games all of which Jack FANTASICALLY lost. It wasn’t even close. Time and time again, Jack acquired numerous cards in front of himself as we rolled around in laughter as he haplessly pushed cards to me and was repeatedly challenged. The game got to the point where James and myself where choosing cards randomly from our hands with ZERO knowledge of what they where, pushing them to Jack and having him lose. When he challenged, he was invariably wrong. With only a one in nine chance of us being correct to have him be wrong FIVE times in a row was very freaky. This is a fun game which only Derren Brown can pretend to play with skill. I always smile and laugh when playing it and for that reason alone it should be played more often.

Masters of Efficiency

If you wanted heavy-weight euros, with worker placement and efficiency engineering, then last night at the Ribs of Beef was where it was at. Caylus and Le Havre were plonked onto the tables. Hard fought socio-economic battles raged throughout the Wherry Room. Crocker dominated Le Havre with a score which tripled last placed Jimmy. I'm not sure who out scraped and bowed the others to claim the Caylus title (perhaps someone can let us know). The only surprise of the night was that Crocker didn't straddle both tables and give everyone a serious lesson at both game simultaneously.

Beer: I was drinking Elgood's Thin Ice. A thick and warming, full-bodied premium bitter. Malty and slightly darker than my usual choice of beer, but much like Railroad Tycoon it's not as heavy as it would first appear.

Blinded by the Light.

And we’re back…

The Ribs has had a facelift. It’s a little trendier, a bit lighter, but has the same beer and on a Tuesday evening is still full of idiots – well, it is once we arrive.

The Wherry Room is much unchanged. It’s had a lick of paint, the benches have been re-upholstered and we now have two televisions to resolutely ignore. I also think it’s a bit lighter in there. There were comments that the new basin in the toilets is rubbish. Tom ventured back to the table with a wet leg blaming the new basin, but we all know he’s crap at dexterity games, so I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that he might also have problems at the urinals…

Anyway, ten appeared on Tuesday; all the same old faces. I played the teutonically named Preußische Ostbahn (Prussian Eastern Railway). It’s like Wabash Cannonball – same low-grade production, high-grade gaming goodness – but even better. There’s more going on and although it’s not as subtle as Wabash, there seems a lot more variation. Tom, beat the four of us, to be crowned king of stock buying games, however the outcome was closer than we feared and Tom probably cheated.

Across the room the other five played Puerto Rico in Space/Twilight Imperium Lite, depending on who you listen to. The game is actually called Galactic Emperor and it sounds like it got decent reception. In all honesty I only got an appraisal from Crocker. He didn’t suggest any rule tweaks and it seems like he wants to play it again, leaving me with the impression that all went to plan, he won and that he probably enjoyed it.

We are now mentioned on the Ribs of Beef website.

Beer: I had a pint of Marston’s Sweet Chariot. A full and fruity flavoured beer, with a spicy aroma and the sweet taste of success for every Englishman to savour. So it’s nothing like the England Rugby Team then? I compare it to Ra, gets tried by me every year and is fine if there’s nothing more interesting around. 6/10.