Six at the Ribs this week. Jimmy, Dave and Pete played Last Train to Wensleydale. A game about trains and cheese from the eminent designer Martin Wallace. Even though the board looks like someone has strewn fatty pigs livers across the board it got glowing praise from all at the table, even the Pete, who is renowned as a Wallace sceptic.
Our table played Hansa, which Ben won. New Rich and I then had a couple of games of Citadels. I won the first game, but Rich came back in the second game with some well timed thieving and assassinations to claim victory.
Scratchings Count: Just three bags. By the looks of it someone had some other bar snack. I will investigate further and name and shame the scratching shunner.
Beer. I was predominately drinking Rudgate’s Jorvik Blonde. An easy drinking flaxen blonde ale with a crisp and refreshing finish. Fairly good. Nice session beer. I give it an 8 and equate it with Battle Line – light, but good enough for repeated play.
Playing board games since 2005ish. Every Monday & Tuesday evening at St. Andrews Brew House/Louis Marchesi.
Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Taj Goodness - last week
Catching up with last week…
I took Taj Mahal to play at the Ribs. As expected there were the usual cries of “You always bring that”. Which isn’t far off the truth, but I’ve checked and only actually played it once so far this year.
Inevitably the prophecies were correct and I won. Ben was allowed to think that he might run away with it, but in reality he was my puppet and I was pulling the strings. He had an excellent mid-game, hoovering up the elephants, but it the final turns I smacked him around giving him real justification to whinge that he was being picked on. Andy and Dave got respectable scores and new/lovely Rich unfortunately didn’t.
Crushed and embarrassed, Ben retired home to his manor and left the remaining four to have an excellent time rolling dice and laughing at each other’s awful rolls (mostly mine) in Roll Through the Ages. Andy won with an empire that dwarfed all that had come before.
Scratchings Count: five bags of piggy goodness were consumed. A sterling effort for four mere mortals.
Beer. I was only drinking Robinson’s Wags to Witches. A seasonal amber coloured bitter. Fairly standard with a hint of fruit and ginger. I liked it and would rate it a 6.5, similar to the board game Cuba, as it’s decent enough in it’s own right, but doesn’t really stand out in an over crowded genre.
I took Taj Mahal to play at the Ribs. As expected there were the usual cries of “You always bring that”. Which isn’t far off the truth, but I’ve checked and only actually played it once so far this year.
Inevitably the prophecies were correct and I won. Ben was allowed to think that he might run away with it, but in reality he was my puppet and I was pulling the strings. He had an excellent mid-game, hoovering up the elephants, but it the final turns I smacked him around giving him real justification to whinge that he was being picked on. Andy and Dave got respectable scores and new/lovely Rich unfortunately didn’t.
Crushed and embarrassed, Ben retired home to his manor and left the remaining four to have an excellent time rolling dice and laughing at each other’s awful rolls (mostly mine) in Roll Through the Ages. Andy won with an empire that dwarfed all that had come before.
Scratchings Count: five bags of piggy goodness were consumed. A sterling effort for four mere mortals.
Beer. I was only drinking Robinson’s Wags to Witches. A seasonal amber coloured bitter. Fairly standard with a hint of fruit and ginger. I liked it and would rate it a 6.5, similar to the board game Cuba, as it’s decent enough in it’s own right, but doesn’t really stand out in an over crowded genre.
Monday, 2 November 2009
Pie Jesu Domine, dona eis requiem.
Last Tuesday we got to find out who the really devout members of the NoBoG flock were. With many other goings on in the region (the 32nd Norwich Beer Festival, the FA Cup 4th qualifying round replay between Lowestoft Town and Gloucester City, listening to music in the bathroom because it has good acoustics), there was a chance that the turn out might be low. In fact we had eight resolute souls with us on Tuesday, not least Brother Howard and Sister Darling who had returned from their pilgrimage to the Spieltag Games Fair at Essen.
Tarn taught Power Grid: Factory Manager to New Rich, Dave and Ben, whilst Dan ran a session of At the Gates of Loyang, for James, Pete and myself. Personally, I would have been happy playing either. Both were released last week at Essen and both have had praise heaped upon them. Power Grid: Factory Manager is the latest game from the green loving Friedmann Friese and is a spin off of the popular Power Grid. Set in the exciting Power Grid Universe you are a factory manager producing stuff as efficiently as possible, which sounds bloody awful, but I still want to play it. At the Gates of Loyang is the third in the “harvesting” series from Uwe Rosenberg (the first two being Agricola and Le Harve). Loyang is lighter than it’s predecessors and more tactical with reliance on card play, however we all spent the first hour of the game with absolutely no clue as to what we were doing or why we were doing it. I rate it higher than Le Havre, but lower than Agricola. I stumbled to victory, narrowly beating James (on the second count back) by a radish. Ben won Factory Manager.
Blessings to those that came. And because we are mostly a benevolent group, blessings to those that could not attend. We hope the light may guide you back to our church of games soon.
Pork scratching count: A dismally feeble two bags were consumed. Shame on you/us!
Beer: This week I was drinking Harviestoun's Hoptoberfest. A refreshingly light, almost green, beer with a citrus taste. I'd compare it to Fearsome Floors - seasonal, green, but not overly complex.
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