Games Played - 29 June 2016

A lot of very regular attenders, even Dave D, just happened to all be missing tonight, leaving the survivvors to wonder if we'd be down to just one table, for the first time for a very long time.  We managed 7 though, including Moray who was a first- and possibly last-time attender as he was on a brief training course a long way from his home.

The two Marks and Steve W settled down for a long game of 51st State, and 150 minutes later Mark W had  won, followed by Steve W then Mark R, though the scores look close (44/41/37).

On our table we started with a 4-player Amun-Re, it plays well with 4 but after many games with 5 I'd forgotten that you're more likely to get camel money in the 4-player, studiously avoided the camel areas and so was virtually permanently poor after a predominance of low sacrifices (only the last one reached 3 I think) .  Moray got a good 1st Epoch start picking up both largest pyramid bonuses (were we regulars guilty of concentrating on each other ignoring the newby?), then trounced us in 2nd Epoch, finishing off with most cash and scoring 3 of the end 3Vp bonuses - very rarely seen at the Club, I think I did it once a long time ago and maybe a couple of others?  Scrupulous honesty, which always rules at the Club, robbed me of 2nd place, Steve H initially missed one of his farmers for game end income, it was pointed out, and the extra cash was a swing of 4 Vp against me, so it ended  : Moray 49/Steve H 39/Rob 38/Mike 36

We finsihed off with the excellent 45-minute filler Santiago de Cuba, owning the frequently-visited VP building and a very lucrative shipment mid-game meant I thought I was pretty sure of the win coming into the last shipment phase, but SteveH pulled a last 2VP cargo that I hadn't expected, to make it very close : Mike 29/Steve H 28/Rob 27/Moray 21

Anpther great night of gaming!

Playtest UK Birmingham Meeting

I know this is short notice (I only found out about it myself yesterday). Playtest UK are having their inaugural Birmingham event tomorrow Wed 29th June at 7pm in the Wellington pub, Birmingham city centre. This first meeting will be mainly to decide on the venue etc. for future events. Obviously I don't expect any of you will want to sacrifice a Halesowen Boardgamers evening for this - it'll take one for the team and attend (though the superior beer at the Wellington will make it more palatable for me). But if you are interested in attending future events, then you get a vote in absentia on what day of the week they will be held - please let me know about day(s) you prefer or cannot make. I expect that, initially at least, the events will be once a month. 
http://www.meetup.com/Playtest/events/232198465/

The Day of the Flood - 8 June 2016

I haven't written anything for some time, but I thought I'd post this about last night, I'm also writing something about our campaign of Pandemic Legacy which we finished last week, hopefully I won't take too long about that.

Wolverhampton Games Day - On Behalf Of Lee & Rach

Following on from Lee's email, Lee has asked me to post the below for those you may not have been included on the email distribution list and who may be interested

Lee has set up an additional games day in Wolverhampton for those interested, the first being Sunday 10th July, 10am-4pm at the below address

1st Tettenhall Wood Scout Hut
Compton Road
Compton
Wolverhampton
WV6 8AA

There will be a £1 charge towards hiring of the hut, tea and coffee making facilities are available

Entrance is down drive on the left before Tiger Wok restaurant with parking available on Oddfellows car park or limited space on the driveway outside

Initially there will 4 sessions a year so will be great if you could make it, contact Lee directly or post on here if interested

Thanks

Lee & Rach

Games Played - 01 Jun 2016

A really good turn out this week with 13 in attendance, we broke into 3 groups of 5-4-4

Lee, Rach, Rob, James and myself broke out Aquileia, this was new to the club and had been played only once before

After a recheck of the rules (and after enjoying that new cardboard smell) we were good to go, Rob raced into an early lead and his 'build then income placement' strategy worked really well, early signs looked like he couldn't be caught.........but.............BOOM!!!! Out of nowhere, and skillfully played, Rach was able to benefit from a huge end of game score due to holding multiple scoring cards and buildings of matching colour, Rach was able to pip Rob at the death with a huge final score

On the last round James was able to build some additional buildings and pull off a high scoring last move, Lee went all out for 'slave' cards which paid off towards the end and as for me - well as little said the better - damn you dice rolls!!!!!!!!

We ended the night with the classic Love Letter, Rach stormed into a 2 point lead but James pulled it out the bag with some good card play just pipping her to post with 3 points

Good fun!!! (apart from my dice rolls!!!!!!)