Three Weeks

Okay, so it's been a while since the last blog. Three weeks ago my camera malfunctioned (what's the point in words without pictures?) and two weeks ago I couldn't make it to the club. Last week I did make it down and we got an amazing 21 attendees. That's pretty much the number we got on the first ever night. If we were to graph attendees over time it would probably look like the smile that crept onto my face when I heard the news.

Now the bad news. I remember very little about three weeks ago. I'm pretty sure I wrote some stuff down but I'm also pretty sure it went missing. I managed a single photo of Tzolk'in so I'm pretty sure that was played. I'm also pretty sure Alex won. I also brought along Dead of Winter. We beat the game pretty easily with everyone winning their secret objectives except for me and Kenny who was the unsuccessful betrayer.

The week after I know very little about but I hear people came and games were played. Somehow, without me, the group can still function.

It was pretty busy in Cult this week and we almost had trouble finding tables for us all. I was relegated to a small table at the back, away from the main group but I still managed to get a small grasp on what was played. No worse than other weeks at least. There were a bunch of new games this week. Alex had brought The Sheriff of Nottingham and Johnny had come with XCOM. It had arrived in the post that morning and still had the plastic wrap on.

I started off with a couple of game of Biblios. I came last in the first game, scoring only a single point. With a new found determination I won the second game. We followed this with Citadels and K2. Embarrassingly enough I won those too.

Even though XCOM is a timed game it took most of the night. In place of a proper rule book it comes with a tutorial on the app. In the tutorial the first three rounds are played without a time limit so you can get the hang of things. Even still the game was lost and Earth was invaded. I for one welcome our new alien overlords.

Andy had brought Splender and Lords of Waterdeep along with the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion and both got a play along with No Thanks! Mike turned up a bit later than usual but still managed to squeeze in a game or two of Quantum.

Pirates of the Caribbean

We got a low turnout this week with just ten people. Surely this is the calm before the storm and next week we'll hit the mythical twenty one.

I started off with a couple of games of Biblios, winning the first and getting beaten by Alex in the second. We followed this with Eight Minute Empire. I went hard on carats. At least, as hard as I could. Dan seemed to be doing his best to keep them for himself. Alex earned himself his second win of the evening.

While we were playing these the others played Dixit and Get Bit! Both their first showing at IpBoG. They followed this up with Skull, a game that seems to be having a bit of a renaissance here recently.

Previously Alex brought Libertalia along for me to try but I ended up having to teach a game to some newcomers, so it was played without me. Only a few months later, Alex got round to bringing it again, finally making good on his promise. I started off well in the first couple of rounds, leading the game. My final round however was not so good, I played my highest value card, wanting to get first pick of the booty and not paying attention to the action I would have to take. I ended up coming last with Cath sailing into the lead for the win.

The others finished up the night with the classic co-op, Pandemic and saved the world once again, much to the jealousy of Cath, who is still yet to beat the game.

Anti Humanitarians

I think in total we had thirteen people this week. A sharp drop from the dizzy heights of the previous week but still respectable all the same.

I started off with Skull and did pretty badly. Player elimination is usually quite rare but I was the first to be taken out followed soon after by a couple more. After the first game James arrived having heard about IpBoG from Mike when attending the Colchester Board Game Club, and joined us for a second game. Again player elimination ensued but someone ended up winning. It was a few days ago now and I've forgotten who. Please accept my deepest apologies and a promise to try harder next time.

Philip had brought a newly purchased copy of Forbidden Desert (unless it turns out to be Forbidden Island, I've not played either so they both merge into the same game in my head) and Dan, owning the game himself, offered to show them how to play it. And by show them, I mean show them how to lose.

After Skull I played a couple of games of Biblios. After getting a stern telling off for getting the card distributions the wrong way around when I was explaining how to play, I won the first game. The second game was won by someone that wan't me. Yeah, I remember my own wins, what of it?

The usual group that had been turning up recently to play cards against humanity didn't show up this week. Still, it got some play this week by another group along with Fluxx. Zepplin Attack also got some table time.

I ended the night with Quantum. Last time I played this with Mike, I won with Mike barely being able to place a cube. This time the tables were turned with me not being able to score and Mike storming ahead to a quick victory. He'd built himself an almost unbeatable combination of command cards.

Twenty Fifteen

Although we started a week later than expected we've made it into 2015. When people arrived last week we found out that Cult was closed for a private function. Apologies to anyone that turned up, we only found out ourselves on the night. Although I hear a few renegades played games in Isaacs that evening. But the good news is that with the addition of Matt's wife, we finally managed to break the 20 attendee mark that has eluded us for so long.

I brought a couple of new games; Imperial Settlers and Biblios. I launched into Imperial Settlers with Muir, Dan and Danny. I'd played the game a few times before but only with two players. This was my first time playing with four people and will probably be my last, it ended up taking us over two hours. I like the game a lot but it's possible to get a lucky streak of cards and have a runaway victory. I'm not saying that's what happened with Dan but it's kinda what happened with Dan. He was able to build so many production faction cards early on there was no way to compete. Danny made a valiant attempt but Muir and I trailed behind. Afterwards I played a quick game of Biblios with Dan and he destroyed me again, with twelve points to my embarrassing four.

Johnny was the betrayer in Betrayal at House on the Hill. Some kind of invisible man haunt was triggered but he was beaten by the forces of good. Afterwards they played The Witches, based on the Terry Pratchett novels.

Alex played Eight Minute Empire followed by Domaine, a game with a name and a box cover very similar to that of Dominion. In its defense it did come out years before Dominion. And is also a totally different game. Alex won Domaine and went on to play Carcassonne which was won by Dan.

Andy had brought Pandemic with the On The Brink expansion. After the game defeated them they played again, winning the second time. Afterwards they played a couple of games of Coup and a couple of games of No Thanks!.

And as usual a group played Cards Against Humanity all night.

Festive Break

I turned up to Cult last week to be greeted by a lonely Craig. Usually there are a couple of people that arrive before me. As time passed we became increasingly worried that no one else would make it so close to Christmas and it would turn into some sort of awkward, online dating gone wrong scenario. Luckily a bunch of people turned up. Two of them berating me for not writing the blog for last week, so this will be some sort of combined entry for the both.

In the last post I said something about if the cards against humanity players turned up next week I'd count them in the numbers. Well, as it happens they did turn up so true to my word I'll include them. That meant about 19 people two weeks ago and about 13 last week.

In all honesty I can barely remember what happened a week ago let alone what happened two weeks ago. I do have a small amount of photographic evidence to jog my memory though. It kind of goes a bit like this; Cards Against Humanity, Dominion, Betrayal at House on the Hill, The Resistance, Lords of Waterdeep and Settlers of Catan.

I won Dominion, which I was pretty pleased about. I'm always pleased when I win Dominion. I started off strong in Waterdeep but ended up coming last, if memory served. I think Dan came first. Mike declared it one of the few worker placement games he didn't hate so if anything it's a win for the game itself.

Surprisingly it was the first showing for Settlers of Catan at IpBoG, the game which inspired its logo. I'm sure other games were played but I don't remember what. However I do know a drink was spilt, but this time not over a game, just a bag. We have to start paying attention to the drinks on the table rule.

So last week we started off with Fluxx while we waited for people to arrive. The rules explicitly allow people to join part way through so it seemed like a good choice. After a while we had a terrible rule set where we could play only a single card but that card had to be chosen at random by another player. This started to drag so when Dan got a chance he dealt one of his keepers to me, winning me the game. Sometimes Fluxx outstays its welcome and just has to be ended.

Other Dan had brought Eight Minute Empire. I jumped at the chance of a go at this. It was a pretty fun little area control/set collection game. I've heard people call it a 4X game but it really isn't. It also isn't 8 minutes, at least with the full compliment of players. It's still pretty quick at around half an hour.

We played another 5 player game of Hanabi and did very well again (23 points, I think). Dan wasn't sure if there was a rule change for more players but we didn't think so because we hadn't played it differently last time with 5 players. I've more recently been told that we have less cards in our hands with more players. I've not verified this but it sounds likely. We probably accidentally cheated both times, it was kind of easy.

Quarriors made its first appearance. We only made it about half way through the game before closing time. Again so many more games were played but I don't have photos of them so I forget what they were. I'm pretty sure Johnny played Bang! However I do know a drink was spilt again, but this time not over a game, just a crotch. We really have to start paying attention to the no drinks on the table rule.

We'll be taking a festive break from IpBoG next week (the 29th) as Cult is closed. We'll be back with a vengeance in the new year, no doubt with a whole host of new board games we received for Christmas. See you there!