Games Night 29th June 2017

Four of us again this week.
While there were three of us we had a quick game of Loony Labs’

PH of course turned up during the game and got dealt in.
KV went on to win due to the Rule stating that Creepers don’t stop you winning and by having the two required Keepers (the only 2 he had)

The main even was

by Arcane Wonders courtesy of KV.
After KV set it up and explained the rules we then went on to play the game…well duh!
KV chose to start with a level 3 Economy Pyramid.
MC edged his bets and went for a level 2 Economy Pyramid and a level 1 Defence Pyramid.
PH followed KV’s example with a level 3 Economy Pyramid.
DA chose to go for the Level 3 Defence Pyramid.
Temples were quickly snatched up with MC being the only player to hold more than one at the end of the first day, including the Sacrificial Temple.

Needless to say on the second day, MC got systematically hammered into prehistoria and never held a temple again.
The Sacrificial Temple was hotly contested starting with MC who lost it to KV who lost it to MC’s retaliation who immediately lost it to PH with an Elephant and held it against MC’s subsequent retaliation.
DA went largely uncontested for the majority of the game, brushing off MC’s Scorpion-assisted attack as nothing but losing a temple to KV and ending the game.
Final scores:
DA: 5
KV: 8
MC: 4
PH: 4
KV has clearly played this one before

Next up we all took turns to take on the persona of

by Matagot also courtesy of KV.
Not really a write-uppable game, you had to be there so I’ll pick out the highlights:

MC called KV’s bluff finding a contraband Bread in a batch of Cheese. KV had accidentally put the Bread in instead of the other Cheese.
DA played the greasy sheriff so well we all took our bribes back and told him to go without.
PH successfully lied.
Final scores in order of revelation:
MC: 109
KV: 125
PH: 171
DA: 204
MC thought he’d done quite well with triple figures…so did KV.
Well done DA.

Finally we had two games of Flatlined Games’

After a solid lead in the first two rounds, DA lost first place to KV.


KV continued his winning streak with the first two rounds of the second game. The third round saw a massive pile-up in the middle of the house leaving MC and KV in joint first place. DA, who caused the rumpus happened to find his two house-mates in the same room in the middle of the house and just piled house-mates in. A ploy that might have worked out, but didn’t.

Player of the night award goes to KV who won almost everything.
Noob of the night award goes to MC who could get to grips with the combat system in Kemet and failed at being a Sheriff.

Games Night 22nd June 2017

For the first time in ages we had the astronomical heights of four players.

by Fantasy Flight Games was the game of the night.
However DA was bang on time so while waiting for the others we had a quick game of DogEared Games’

Typically we had just got going when everyone turned up, but we played on regardless finishing with both Staks being destroyed.

On to the main event:
DA was reborn as the Queen of Blades
KV became cool and calculating as Tassadar
MC had deep thoughts as the Overmind
PH looked to gain every advantage as Arcturus Mengsk
After crafting the Kropulu sector into the shape of a Klingon Warbird the four factions quickly got into the business of building and expanding.

Conflict soon took the form of Tassadar and Kerrigan systematically hammering the Overmind into oblivion. At least MC got to play to see Phase II.

Mengsk quietly got on with building up his forces but forgot the very significant matter of transportation. However, he was sitting on a goldmine of points.

Tassadar quickly established his Special Victory condition and resolutely waited for Phase III. With Mengsk’s quick accumulation of points, Kerrigan and Tassadar formed an uneasy alliance to wrest some of the points away from him.
Phase III then came into being drawing the game to a close.
Final scores:
DA: 14 and with Special Victory
KV: 3
MC: 1 (eliminated)
PH: 13
Well done DA.

Games Night 13th June 2017

We had a games evening, just because that’s why.
A big hello to DA who joined us from all the way across the road having found out about us on the TableTop Gaming website. Thanks guys!
KV brought round Alderac’s deck-building game:

so we played that.
DA went into the Fertile Soil business in a big way.
KV showed how pushing your luck can actually work.
MC early on acquired a 3x VP field that generated a nice tidy pile of VPs during the game but found that pushing his luck was always a disaster.
DA joined with MC in the acquisition of the VP tokens with KV getting in there at the last minute and taking the last ones. Being the 3rd play of the round, the game ended there and then without any chance for DA or MC to try to catch up.
The final scores:
DA: 29
KV: 40
MC: 30
Well done KV winning the game you brought with you.
A fun variation to the deck-building game. MC was too engrossed to take a piccy of it though.

Next up DA chose Gamelyn Games’

The usual dice rolling stuff happened. KV was often thwarted at his attempts to colonise a planet.
MC was the first to get 21+ points. Like with the previous game, MC happened to be the 3rd play of the round so there endeth the game.

Final scores:
DA (Red): 16
KV (Green): 18
MC (Black): 25
Huzzahs to MC.

To finish up, we played two rounds of

by Calliope Games
After bending the rules a little to allow DA the chance to move the dragon in his path (they did like to follow him), MC rolled a 2 and took himself out with a dragon. DA soon fell foul of a dragon making KV the winner of round 1.

Round 2 saw MC rolling a 2 and taking himself out with a dragon…again. DA and KV then played on for a good while leading to this pivotal moment:

KV banked on DA not having a tile that would get him out of that situation but DA did and KV disappeared off the edge of the board.
Yay! DA won something!

Games Night 8th June 2017

The week KV dragged someone from his work. A warm welcome to PW.
PW brought Rio Grande Games’:

So we played it.
We went for a random deck: Pawn, Steward, Mining Village, Duke, Minion, Torturer, Harem, Nobles, Coppersmith, Saboteur.
It made for an interesting game. KV and PW wasted no time in getting high currency early while MC didn’t seem to achieve much at all. KV invested heavily in the Pawns while MC went for lots of actions. The most convoluted turn belonged to MC who ended up with fifteen cards played and a total of 8 coins – the only time he managed such a large number. MC also caused a little strife with the only Saboteur purchased in the game. PW got very vocal about that card and how many VPs it cost him (8).

With the last Province claimed by PW the game ended.
Final scores:
KV: 18
MC: 15
PW: 43
Of course we had to let the new guy win…that’s what happened…

The next game was from ever-growing Asmodee.

The garden spread languidly across the verdant blue table surface, under the kaleidoscopic array of colours emitted by the lighting embedded it the wooden sides. The hard-working farmer toiled his utmost best to grow a tranquillity itself in the form or a beautiful bamboo garden fit for the Emperor. Only the bloody voracious panda thwarted him almost at every turn, the bastard!
PW quickly got some scored cards down but then realised the low value of them compared to what KV and MC played out. Power tokens were played where no power tokens were needed, bamboo was eaten that would have preferably been not eaten and garden tiles were placed to infuriate and block landscaping initiatives.

KV was the first to play the 8th card and won the acclaim of the Emperor and MC was able to complete his set of 8 on his last turn. PW got a bit grumbly with 6 cards.
Final scores.
KV: 35
MC: 41
PW: 23
What is this, MC winning something? It won’t last, I tell you.

To round off the evening we did a spot of haunting with Tinkerbot Games’:

After MC explained the rules we then proceeded to play the game in a very different way. For some reason this was never picked up until the following morning when this write up was being considered.
Instead of taking turns to move our ghosts one room at a time, we each instead moved all three moves in one turn. It made for a very strategic alternative that worked brilliantly. The ghosts did become a bit redundant though, and it was contemplating this that I realised that we’d played it different.
Having played it both ways, I’d recommend this alternative version as a decent variant on par with the actual proper way of playing it.

MC dragged behind for the majority of the game, with PW in the lead. However, MC took a major
catch-up couple of turns and the game finished at:
KV: 169
MC: 172
PW: 165
What a very close game that was!
Oh and well done MC. That’ll be your winning done for the next couple of months…

Games Expo 2017

This year I went to a Games Expo for the first time ever.

One game that caught my eye was Lander.
It’s still in the prototype stage set for Kickstarter in 2018, but looks very appealing. I was allowed a small dark blue 3D printed component.

Of course you can’t go to a games expo and not play any games.
Beasts of Balance was the first one I got to try out. I’ve been watching this one since it’s prototype days and have been wanting to give it a go.

Next-up was the new multimedia game:
.
It’s a trading card game with an accompanying free app with articulated and equippable figures that can interact with the game. We had a go at one of the mini games using the figure as controllers. It can be played for free on the app without the figures.

I was encouraged to have a go at Stak Bots by DogEared Games. I’d already picked up the yellow expansion but never played it. Walked away from this with the base game and the red expansion.

Finally, we had a play of one scenario in the Walking Dead: All Out War. A miniatures game of zombie survival by Mantic Games. With numerous expansions and scenarios to play through. Based off of the comic series not the TV one.

Survived the encounter with all the living still alive and as a draw with SC who managed an excellent double head-shot with a baseball bat.

My Haul:

	A 2-4 player game of dice placement and point-breaking by Tinkerbot Games.
	A story-telling card game where players tell a story according to their cards. By Atlas Games.
	A card-drafting game played in 3 quick rounds. By Gamewright.
	A stand-alone expansion to Star Realms but if mixed with the original can now be a 2-4 player game. By White Wizard Games
	Another full game in a tiny box by Gamelyn Games. This one has resources, wars and building.
	Smash the other player’s stack of Stak Bots with your own Stak Bots. Can add the red expansion to the yellow expansion I already own.
	Expansion for King of Tokyo by IELLO Games. Adds Cthulhu to the game. Yay!
	Expansion to Cosmic Encounter by Fantasy Flight Games. More alien races, and now including the Space Stations.

All in all it was a good, eye-opening time. Very glad I went.

Games Night 1st June 2017

This week we kicked of with a lot of dice with

Despite putting in a good early lead of 1 point, PH (Green) soon fell behind leaving KV (Black) to take the win the MC (Blue) just behind.

Next up we faced off against some Xenomorphs in

Playing through the origional movie, we battled through the first round with no trouble at all. Easy.
Round two also proved to be of little consequence. Also easy.
Round three had one of those difficulty curves that was more like a solid wall. KV was the first to fall, then PH leaving MC to struggle on diligently but extreme death proved to be terminal. Even Jones that cat didn’t make it.

To finish off we tried our hands at

The usual Agricola-based stuff happened with some results.

The results were:
KV 34
MC 26
PH 34
Particular praise to KV who had never played this one before.