Thievery Most Foul

Nine on the roll call for this week with new attendee Peter joining us for the evening's frivolities.

Hamburgum and Chaos in the Old World were first up, Peter given free choice between the two choosing economics over degenerate corruption. Matt, Stu, Peter and Nicky thus settled down to compete for economic power and prestige in 17th century Germany.
Is it me or do certain euro games have a penchant for historical economic mastery ?
I'm not sure who won this, I wasn't paying attention as I was busying winning the mid game of Chaos, just so that everyone would have a new person to beat up on. Have a picture of the Hamburg action instead.

This left Tom, Moritz, Pete, Phil and myself to clash in Games Workshops setting of the Old World. Chaos in the old world is something of a favourite with the NoBoGers, and it gets an outing every once in a while, more often that not with the expansion included, bringing the Skaven to the table increasing the players from four to five.

For those not familiar with it, the game is an area control game, with each player having subtly different capabilities and goals. Whilst the main thrust of the game is the domination of a region by placing an ever increasing amount of your faction's corruption - effectively control markers, there is also the not insignificant competition for faction powers - winning enough of your faction's advancements can win you the game regardless of region control and victory points.

The game in experienced hands can tiptoe its way through a fairly tight contest as any faction gaining an advantage can be clawed back by the rest of the table. One arguable flaw with the game is that Khorne, having the most straight forward objectives of all the powers - kill things as often as possible - is perhaps somewhat overpowered and requires all the other factions to effectively team up and make sure first and foremost that Khorne is not provided with easy targets. Do not feed Khorne is the oft repeated mantra down the Ribs. This balance problem can be most noticeable with a new player or players who being unfamiliar with the consequences of their actions can hand even an inexperienced Khorne player a fairly straight forward win as the bloody god devours its way to victory.

Despite this the game plays out well, and with a few pointers to those new to it, or old hands that know what to avoid, the game can shine.

Tom managed to gain a victory with Tzeentch, with Pete as the Rats a single point behind, and me with Nurgle a point behind Pete. Just two points separated the top three players, but all players were fairly close, and Phil bringing up the rear with Khorne was very close to an advancement win.

With both games finishing at the same time the nine of us jammed together for another session of smack talk, jeering and underhanded shenanigans in Saboteur 2. Pete took the win with this with a total of 6 gold, myself Stu and Peter coming in second with 5 gold. However, it should be noted that I was robbed of a win - not once or twice, but three times. I had a total of 4 gold thieved away from my stash over several rounds which marred my otherwise efficient gold grabbing ways. The outrage of placing the perfect final card - a green door connecting to the gold - for a win, only for all my winnings to be thieved away. Shocking. It's enough to turn you into a Saboteur

Phil, of course, turned out to be a Saboteur, thus confirming the adage that Phil is always a shifty, untrustworthy Saboteur.