The Lure of the Games

Halloween, and a weary traveller stumbles into the Ribs of Beef. He’s not sure why he’s here or how he even got here. He orders a beer, not really taking note of what the barmaid serves him. A twitchy faced man stares at him from his perch at the bar. So Jeff, for that is our traveller’s name, decides to take refuge downstairs, away from the prying eyes of the locals. “NO, don’t go down there!” shouts the barmaid. Alas Jeff doesn’t hear. He’s drawn down the stairs, into the bowels of the pub, as if some unearthly power had a hold of him. At the bottom of the stairs is a large red door from which he can hear howls of anguish. Still drawn, he cautiously opens the red door and peers inside. ARRRGGHHH! Unspeakable horror! He see’s Stu trying to wedge Tom’s Small World board under a table leg to keep the table straight. Oh my! Tom dances to and fro squealing at his tormenter. Next he sees Nicky placing her full to the brim drink perilously close to the edge of the Shogun board (the glass even leaves a ringmark). This is too much for Jeff. He turns to flee, but comes face to face with the hideous, shambling malformed shape of [insert NoBoGer of your choice here]...

OK, so it was November 1^st and Jeff was already there when I arrived, but you get the picture. Jeff’s first night at NoBoG - all the way from America, though he’s now living in Thetford. Welcome Jeff (or maybe Geoff or even Djeph).

Jeff said he liked Fantasy Flight games and so Chaos in the Old World was the obvious choice. He joined a game with myself, John and Pete. It was an embarrassingly quick win for Khorne, who double dial clicked every turn and had won before even a single region was ruined. It was so quick that we even had time for a three player game of Hansa Teutonica, which was a much more competitive affair as I only just nudged past John and then Pete in final scoring.

Jimmy had been to Essen and rolled off two games that none of us had seen before: Hawaii and Die Burgen von Burgund. The latter was chosen by Crocker, Tom and Stu. It seemed to be a hit with Luke and Stu and I’m sure Tom enjoyed it as he won.

Phil’s copy of Shogun had finally arrived and he settled down with Diane, Nicky and Moritz to battle for control of Japan. It ended with a win for Phil, who clawed his way back from a dodgy start by initiating a non-aggression pact with Diane.

Beer: Wolf’s Werewolf. This is a seasonal premium bitter. Chestnut in colour. Slightly malty, hint of biscuit and pretty quaffable. Nothing exciting, but very good. A bit like 7 Wonders – there’s nothing overly unusual or different about it, but it does the basics very well.