Greetings Gamers, Jon a.k.a. Princess here again! Long-time no blog, but my services have been called upon once again, for reasons you’ll soon find out.
This week saw 6 and then 7 of us come down to the Ladybird for a wonderful evening of exploring, racing, surviving and escaping...and generally having a good laugh!
We started out breaking our half-dozen of gamers down to two trios. Pete H, Phil and I took the challenge of rebuilding our destroyed settlements in the story-driven Above and Below, while Colin and Peter M crossed blades as humans against Neil’s’ undead hordes in Last Night on Earth.
I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that Above and Below is rapidly becoming a favourite here. Peter H and I returned as relative veterans (with a rivalry!) whilst Phil was testing the water for the first time. Not that it affected his play much! Taking first player, Phil went with a mixed plan but more focused on exploring. I went back to my tested money recuperation and many building route, whilst Peter H went with his old faithful: lots of villagers, lots of reputation, and lots of trade goods. After a very quick-feeling 7 rounds, it was time to look at the final scores. This is done on several objectives, something I personally love in a game. Phil ended up coming third with 39 points (but vowed to get more next game!), I came second with my usual average 44 points, and Peter’s old faithful came up tops once more with 53 points…trade goods seem to be the way!
While we were busy exploring and building and racing, Peter M and Colin were simply trying to survive. I have to admit, I didn’t have much hope for our human heroes; Neil is a competent Zombie in his own right and Colin’s dice-rolling has a habit of turning against him (I still think he’s the Hood in disguise…just with a lot more hair!). But despite having their backs up against it for most of the game, our plucky heroes somehow survived. No record of their escape exists however…all the interviewing team got from them were murmurs and groans! *Editor's note. This was the second play of Last Night on Earth at BBG and had the identical result: 2 humans up against it for the entire game before gaining victory against Neil''s zombies.*
With the zombie apocalypse gaining momentum, we welcomed the arrival of player number 7 in the form of “Bean Counter” David. He joined the three of us for a game or two of Gravwell, a game that always brings discussions of luck, randomness, and predictability…but that’s a rant for another time. It is rare for the initial leader to hold onto that position, and sure enough in each game we had all gathered back up in a pack. Peter H managed to claim the first round, whilst David outwitted us for the second…from half the board away!
Having disposed of the zombies, Peter M, Colin and Neil tried their hand at Escape whilst we were still battling gravity. The players managed to win this tight contest. Then, with Peter H’s early departure, all 6 of us banded together to try and once more defeat the cursed temple. The result? A couple of very high-energy, rapid and slightly stressful 10 minute rounds of exploring and weakening the temples defences to try and escape, whilst saving teammates from cursed dice and sheltering from the evil effects that besieged us. It was brilliant fun, and an utter disaster in terms of us completing objectives, but we didn’t care!
That’s all from me folks, see you later!
Above and Below
Peter H 53
Jon 44
Phil 39
Last Night on Earth
Neil C (zombies)
Colin* *winners
Peter M*
Gravwell #1
Peter H* winner
David
Jon
Phil
Gravwell #2
Peter H
David* winner
Jon
Phil
Escape: The Curse of the Temple #1
Neil C
Colin *Players won
Peter M
Escape: The Curse of the Temple #2
Colin
David
Jon *Players lost
Neil C
Peter M
Phil
Escape: The Curse of the Temple #3
Colin
David
Jon *Players lost
Neil C
Peter M
Phil
Gamer of the week obviously goes to the handsome, dashing and early-leaving Peter H for victories in Above and Below and Gravwell.
This week saw 6 and then 7 of us come down to the Ladybird for a wonderful evening of exploring, racing, surviving and escaping...and generally having a good laugh!
We started out breaking our half-dozen of gamers down to two trios. Pete H, Phil and I took the challenge of rebuilding our destroyed settlements in the story-driven Above and Below, while Colin and Peter M crossed blades as humans against Neil’s’ undead hordes in Last Night on Earth.
I don’t think it’s a far stretch to say that Above and Below is rapidly becoming a favourite here. Peter H and I returned as relative veterans (with a rivalry!) whilst Phil was testing the water for the first time. Not that it affected his play much! Taking first player, Phil went with a mixed plan but more focused on exploring. I went back to my tested money recuperation and many building route, whilst Peter H went with his old faithful: lots of villagers, lots of reputation, and lots of trade goods. After a very quick-feeling 7 rounds, it was time to look at the final scores. This is done on several objectives, something I personally love in a game. Phil ended up coming third with 39 points (but vowed to get more next game!), I came second with my usual average 44 points, and Peter’s old faithful came up tops once more with 53 points…trade goods seem to be the way!
While we were busy exploring and building and racing, Peter M and Colin were simply trying to survive. I have to admit, I didn’t have much hope for our human heroes; Neil is a competent Zombie in his own right and Colin’s dice-rolling has a habit of turning against him (I still think he’s the Hood in disguise…just with a lot more hair!). But despite having their backs up against it for most of the game, our plucky heroes somehow survived. No record of their escape exists however…all the interviewing team got from them were murmurs and groans! *Editor's note. This was the second play of Last Night on Earth at BBG and had the identical result: 2 humans up against it for the entire game before gaining victory against Neil''s zombies.*
With the zombie apocalypse gaining momentum, we welcomed the arrival of player number 7 in the form of “Bean Counter” David. He joined the three of us for a game or two of Gravwell, a game that always brings discussions of luck, randomness, and predictability…but that’s a rant for another time. It is rare for the initial leader to hold onto that position, and sure enough in each game we had all gathered back up in a pack. Peter H managed to claim the first round, whilst David outwitted us for the second…from half the board away!
Having disposed of the zombies, Peter M, Colin and Neil tried their hand at Escape whilst we were still battling gravity. The players managed to win this tight contest. Then, with Peter H’s early departure, all 6 of us banded together to try and once more defeat the cursed temple. The result? A couple of very high-energy, rapid and slightly stressful 10 minute rounds of exploring and weakening the temples defences to try and escape, whilst saving teammates from cursed dice and sheltering from the evil effects that besieged us. It was brilliant fun, and an utter disaster in terms of us completing objectives, but we didn’t care!
That’s all from me folks, see you later!
Above and Below
Peter H 53
Jon 44
Phil 39
Last Night on Earth
Neil C (zombies)
Colin* *winners
Peter M*
Gravwell #1
Peter H* winner
David
Jon
Phil
Gravwell #2
Peter H
David* winner
Jon
Phil
Escape: The Curse of the Temple #1
Neil C
Colin *Players won
Peter M
Escape: The Curse of the Temple #2
Colin
David
Jon *Players lost
Neil C
Peter M
Phil
Escape: The Curse of the Temple #3
Colin
David
Jon *Players lost
Neil C
Peter M
Phil
Gamer of the week obviously goes to the handsome, dashing and early-leaving Peter H for victories in Above and Below and Gravwell.