This week felt a little biblical, not in the sense of the gaming (although this was epic as always), but as we continued to mourn the loss of so many of our brothers (and sisters). August continued to take its toll as we again had only four at the Hop Pole this week. It's hard not to take it personally...some days I wonder if it's worth carrying on..
OF COURSE IT IS! BOARD GAMES RULE! (not old men, whatever the t-shirts say). Unless attendance picks up next week I'll either be posting missing persons ads or wanted pictures, depending on my mood. Sam, David, Neil (the elder), Colin, Jon and Emma...you have been warned.
So, onto the games. Aaron and I warmed up with a quick round of Red7 and wondered if we'd better start setting up a 2 player game. Thank goodness for Peter M and Chris turning up. We setup and played Elysium for the first time at BBG, a nice little set collection game (no don't stop reading; it's ok, this is a good set collection game) with a little bit of a pasted-on-theme feel to it. It's true that you don't feel particularly drawn into a world of Greek civilisation and powerful Gods, but a nice set of mechanisms keep this one feeling tense and challenging. Peter M mastered the rules and got the win.
Last but not least, I finally got to play Discworld: Ankh Morpork, the deluxe collector's edition no less. Chris, the avid collector of the group, has of course ended up with 3 copies of this lovely little area control game, first upgrading to the collector's edition, then realising that it just wasn't quite deluxe enough for him. You'll notice in the photos above some beautifully made housing, minion and demon pieces. With the random role selection, no-one quite knew for a while what endgame goals we were all working towards and as it happened, Aaron, Peter M and I were all conventional lords wanting to be the first to have outright control of 4 territories while Chris (as Lord Vetinari) needed to have a presence in at least 9 territories. It was Aaron who looked smug in the end wondering if he'd counted correctly and won the game: unfortunately he now had control of 4 territories.
Red7
Aaron 31
Peter H 8
Elysium
Peter M 42
Chris 36
Peter H 34
Aaron 24
Discworld
Aaron* winner
Chris
Peter H
Peter M
My gamer of the week goes to Peter Measham for his convincing victory in Elysium.
OF COURSE IT IS! BOARD GAMES RULE! (not old men, whatever the t-shirts say). Unless attendance picks up next week I'll either be posting missing persons ads or wanted pictures, depending on my mood. Sam, David, Neil (the elder), Colin, Jon and Emma...you have been warned.
So, onto the games. Aaron and I warmed up with a quick round of Red7 and wondered if we'd better start setting up a 2 player game. Thank goodness for Peter M and Chris turning up. We setup and played Elysium for the first time at BBG, a nice little set collection game (no don't stop reading; it's ok, this is a good set collection game) with a little bit of a pasted-on-theme feel to it. It's true that you don't feel particularly drawn into a world of Greek civilisation and powerful Gods, but a nice set of mechanisms keep this one feeling tense and challenging. Peter M mastered the rules and got the win.
Last but not least, I finally got to play Discworld: Ankh Morpork, the deluxe collector's edition no less. Chris, the avid collector of the group, has of course ended up with 3 copies of this lovely little area control game, first upgrading to the collector's edition, then realising that it just wasn't quite deluxe enough for him. You'll notice in the photos above some beautifully made housing, minion and demon pieces. With the random role selection, no-one quite knew for a while what endgame goals we were all working towards and as it happened, Aaron, Peter M and I were all conventional lords wanting to be the first to have outright control of 4 territories while Chris (as Lord Vetinari) needed to have a presence in at least 9 territories. It was Aaron who looked smug in the end wondering if he'd counted correctly and won the game: unfortunately he now had control of 4 territories.
Red7
Aaron 31
Peter H 8
Elysium
Peter M 42
Chris 36
Peter H 34
Aaron 24
Discworld
Aaron* winner
Chris
Peter H
Peter M
My gamer of the week goes to Peter Measham for his convincing victory in Elysium.