tempers flare as hot heads clash over the end of the triumvruate

it was a night of bitter incriminations at the ribs, as Ben, Rich and Andy tangled in the well considered, light weight, euro area control shenanigans of End of the Triumvurate. Andy was to cause much of the trouble, playing an aggressive, combat driven game as befitted someone who was playing Caesar. Ben became bogged down in a war of attrition and words with Andy, and Rich calmly hoovered up the gold, and won a political victory whilst Andy and Ben bickered and battled. the game came to a head at several points, perhaps causing eyebrows to be raised most when, after repeatedly attempting to regain vital territory that Ben had raided (particularly those with the useful civil servant counters), Ben accused Andy of "not playing to win". gasps went up from the room, how could one dare to make such a comment. calling into the very question of the high moral fibre that Mr. Malcolm displays at all, ALL, times. of course, Mr. Malcolm is slightly prone to playing Euro games that feature combat as if he is a reckless, marauding barbarian, throwing caution to the wind and fighting wildly. in EotT, it is a reasonable tactic, as owning 9 territories guarantees an auto win. yet, Andy and Ben's war was ultimately a waste. two proud armies, refusing to back down, refusing to bend and fall under the others yoke. this bitter war presented the game to Rich, who seemed a little disheartened that his easy victory was essentialy due to the rivalry that raged in the north of the map. to this end Rich, i apologise for the lacklustre game and the ill tempered discussion of actions between Ben and myself. but this was war. Caesar does not relent in the face of opposition, he attempts to stamp his own mark on the game. alas, this time he failed. Caesar will rise again.

this game? well, i am not enamored with it. i dislike that it panders to euro tradition, i dislike that the loser in battle is far too well compensated, so that losing can become an effective tactic, i dislike that it is balanced to the point that you could use the game as a spirit level. i rate it a weak 7 (translated: 5). over on the other table, Jimmy, Matt and Pete built boats in shipyard. given the duration of their game, i suspect that they were hand crafting the hulls themselves. i do not know who won, but the game had lots of nice looking bits. they may well still be playing, matt even had time to drive me home during one of the turns (at least i think that's what happened).

revelation of the week: you no longer need to bring an air raid floodlight to see half way across the room, due to new lamps being installed on the walls.