tiny little crown

I popped down to the ribs tonight, as a blue moon rose above the city. I had heard, pretty much, that no bastard was going, so I was planning on setting a solo wargame up on the tables and gaming on my own. This plan fell apart, as I got a lift down there off Punk Matt, and it wasn't that likely that Punk Matt was just passing the Ribs on a Tuesday night and happened to offer me a lift. So unfortunately I had to play a few games with these bastards. Such is life.

We opened up on the left hand table with Nexus Ops. This game involved Punk Rich, Punk Matt, Punk Pete, and Punk Andy. OI OI! Nexus Ops is a ludicrously simple game of territory grabbing, trash talk, dice rolling and foolin'. We did a lot of foolin'. Punk Rich took an early lead but Punk Matt figured out how to play this game pretty quick. Punk Andy and Punk Pete struggled, duking it out for last place. Punk Andy built some dragons but it was a bit late. Punk Matt was in Punk Rich's bases, killing his dudes, and suddenly Matt had enough VPs to win. Much of this game revolves around being in possession of the Monolith and earning "SOME KIND OF CARD" (which I forget the name of). After victory, we (I) made Punk Matt wear the "Monolith" on his head.

After this, we played Manila, or I made everyone play Manila, one of the two? This involved no-one playing it very well, but Punk Matt basically was on form tonight and he tried out this new strategy which ultimately won him the game. Have you played Manila before? If not, I can't be fucked to explain it, but if you have, Punk Matt won by winning auctions and being the harbour master early on. This is a good strategy, but Punk Matt took it a step forwarder by mortgaging his shares a lot. The winning tally was barely over 100, this is low for Manila. Punk Pete said he wouldn't buy the game, but then again he spent most of the evening moaning to Punk Rich about Punk Rich's bloody Orc Blood Bowl team.

Punk Matt gave me a lift home, I made the most of not driving by drinking beers. This was a good evening of trash talking, drinking beers, consuming salt, rolling dice, foolin', being punks and wearing tiny little crowns. The way it oughta be. GOOD GAMING, PUNK BROS!

Not the title I was going to use.

Adam, who we have not seen at the Ribs of Beef for many months, had bought inadequate paint. That was the reason given for Rachael and Chris arriving at NoBoG a full 15 minutes earlier than I've come to expect. Obviously, the greyhounds hadn't understood the concept of emulsion paint and so Rachael had come to the Ribs to find a sympathetic audience that would shake their heads in disapproval as she explained how Adam had bought paint that had separated in the can and, which despite being stirred, would not form a substance suitable for painting a bathroom. I completely understood her pain; only the other day I had opened a strawberry yoghurt, which had "separated" and despite claims on the packaging, I felt it would probably not aid my digestive system or the well-being of my stomach. In fact, if I had eaten it, I have no doubt that I would have violently redecorated my bathroom in Strawberry Pink, which incidentally is the shade Rachael and Adam had chosen for their bathroom.

Anyway, there were 13 in attendance last night. Other tables played Small World and Race for the Galaxy, whilst I played Power Grid with Jimmy, James, Pete and Rich (ha! and you thought that it would be Pete and Rich playing Race and Small World). Anyway, I won Power Grid and for the second week in a row the legitimacy of my victory was questioned by Rich, as we forgot a small piece of maintenance halfway through the game, which may or may not have changed the outcome. Jimmy came second, Rich third, followed by Pete and finally James, who deservedly came last for advocating the cutting down of all of the rain forests in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The other table finished off with Bohnanza and we finished off the evening with a few rounds of Land Unter.

This week I was drinking Special Ale, brewed by a brewery that has thankfully slipped my mind. The barman said it wasn't very nice and I ignored him and bought a pint of it anyway. It was O.K for a few sips, but by halfway it was clear that it wasn't special, but shit. I compare it to Zombies!!! - looks promising, but it's horrible and you really just want the experience to end.

Scratching count: Seven bags! (I only ate one bag, but I'm sure I've got salt poisoning).

Hairy Snacks

The Crocker is on extended leave from NoBoG as he is taking a course learning to appreciate David Lynch. This leaves us free to usher in a new era. A new era where the winner is not a forgone conclusion and I get to push my perversely skewed perceptions of the evening on you unsuspecting readers.

Dave joined us this week. His first visit to the Ribs on a Tuesday found him pitted against myself and Student Luke in an effort to out-farm each other in 17th century Germany. I refer of course to Agricola. Proving to be an adaptable beast, this game works well anywhere on the scale between the printed 2 to 5 players - a rare thing with most games, which may claim to be good with a variable ranges of players, but usually have a sweet spot or are near damn unplayable at the extreme ends of the suggested player range. Anyway, I embarrassingly finished with a model farm and strolled home to victory, mostly because neither of my opponents had played before and, as Rich pointed out, I'd supposedly cheated. Final scores: Me 43, Dave 20 and Luke 19. I'm sure that having got to grips with the system a re-run would see a much more competitive game. Anyway, new boy Dave enjoyed it and Luke didn't so much.

On the other table Jimmy brought along the new Eurogame poster boy, Endeavour - a game of world exploration and empire building. Players represent a European empire colonising the Mediterranean and shipping to all parts of the world to increase the empire's glory and status in Industry, Culture, Finance and Politics. It's a game of area control and variable player powers and from what I can gather garnered praise from all at the table. Ben, back from Indonesia, won.

As the lightweights wandered home to bed, the hardcore bought another round of drinks and scratchings and finished off the evening with a few hands of the Chinese card game Tichu. Jimmy and Luke hammered Dave and me with a series of good hands and a few surreptitious winks and nods.

This week I was mostly drinking Brew Dog's 77 Lager (4.9%). A hoppy, slightly malty, pilsner brewed in Scotland. It had a decent flavour with a slightly bitter after taste and I have been hard pressed to recognise it as a pilsner without seeing the label. Pretty good stuff. I'd rate it an 8 and equate it with Imperial as it's not quite what you're expecting, but still turns out be very good.

And finally our new feature where we highlight NoBoG's contribution towards Walsall's economic recovery by eating pork scratchings (or as the bags say; Pork Crackling). Scratching Count: Six bags were consumed by three members this week.