-Khalil Gibran, The Prophet
This week saw 7 of us at The Hop Pole Inn where great fun ensued but was tinged with some sadness as we said goodbye to Neil (the younger) Urwin who is moving to Dorset for work. In tribute to his time with us, we obviously allowed him to win a few games starting with a 7 player 7 Wonders. Neil has an impressive knack for winning games on his first play and this was indeed the case yesterday as concentrating on military paid dividends in the final scoring. The battle at the other end of the contest saw Neil (the elder) unsuccessfully attempt to claim 1403 victory points by doctoring my notes whilst actually collecting a meagre 40; this left the rest of us as the unwilling meat in a Neil sandwich, not something any of us had envisaged or welcomed.
We then split into 2 groups; one continued the Roll for the Galaxy run of consecutive plays whilst the other played Cosmic Encounter for the first time. Jon "Princess" Gameson once again proved his tactical acumen with a convincing victory over David and Peter M in 'Roll' before claiming another victory in Love Letter; this one was close and came down to the wire. Meanwhile, Neil (the younger) and I shared a victory in Cosmic Encounter, reaching 5 foreign colonies while Neil (the elder) and Aaron managed 4.
And finally, in a fitting send off we played 2 rounds of 7 player Bang! the dice game. The sheriff and deputies won both games and somehow Neil (the younger) was on the winning side in both! The first game was particularly memorable as the inevitable arrow storm ended up killing 3 outlaws, the renegade and a deputy in one fell swoop to hand victory to the Sheriff and his posse.
7 Wonders
Neil (the younger) 68*
Aaron 64
David 60
Jon 57
Peter H 55
Peter M 54
Neil (the elder) 40
Roll for the Galaxy
Jon 37*
David 31
Peter M 29
Cosmic Encounter
Neil (the younger) 5*
Peter H 5*
Aaron 4
Neil (the elder) 4
Love Letter
Jon 4*
David 3
Peter M 3
Bang! the dice game #1
Peter H (Sheriff)*
Aaron (Deputy)*
Neil the younger (Deputy)*
David (Outlaw)
Jon (Outlaw)
Peter M (Outlaw)
Neil the elder (Renegade)
Bang! the dice game #2
Neil the younger (Sheriff)*
Peter H (Deputy)*
Peter M (Deputy)*
Aaron (Outlaw)
Jon (Outlaw)
Neil the elder (Outlaw
David (Renegade)
*Winners
My gamer of the week is a non-contest thanks to Neil (the younger's) fantastic clean sweep. We'll miss you!