Anniversary Plans

It's nearly been two years since the first ever IpBoG. We should probably do something fun. Well, board games are always fun, but something a bit different maybe. I was throwing around the idea of having a two player game day and people seemed pretty into the idea. Our anniversary is the last week in March which is two weeks away from now so don't forget to brush off your copies of Star Realms and Andriod: Netrunner. I'll probably be bringing Imperial Settlers, okay it's not a two player game but I'd never play it with any more than two people.

Anyway, to the blog proper. We got something like 21 people this week, it's getting hard to count the exact amount. I arrived to fine people already playing Ca$h 'n Gun$ and also (I think) Zombies!!!

I brought Mythotopia again and we got through it much quicker this time and cleaned up a couple of rules errors. I snuck in late for the win but it was pretty close and could have been anyone's game. Afterwards I played Tiny Epic Galaxies. I game Philip a hint as to what he could do and he did it, losing himself (and me) the game. This is the last time anyone takes any of my board gaming advise.

Mike brought Quartermaster General which made it's IpBoG debut. It's a team game with three people on each side, each player controlling a different country on either the Axis or Allied side.

Dan brought For Sale. He'd been holding out for the recent Asmodee version which has super nice art and super nice components and, not wanting show show off but, is the one that I own.  It's pretty hard to get hold of though, at least for a price that isn't totally extortionate so he finally caved and bought the English version.

Danny had bought the Revolución expansion for Mafia de Cuba which I think went down well. A bunch of other games were played including, but not limited to, Coup and Blueprints. I'm sure others were played but I was caught up on the other side of the bar so didn't get to see them all.

Swapping Bodily Fluids

The rain must have kept attendance low as we dipped back below twenty this week. Never the less there were plenty of tables in use and plenty of games to choose from.

Mike brought Patchwork, a two player Ewe Rosenberg offering, and played a couple of games of that. Rebecca brought The Viking Game. At least that's what it said on the box. it's also called Hnefatafl but I wouldn't know how to pronounce it. Luckily this blog comes in textual form so I don't have to.

I started off with Abyss a game that's been getting a lot of table time recently. It was Justine's first time playing it but she managed to beat us all, finishing with 109 points, the highest I've seen anyone score.

After Abyss I played a couple of games of Biblios with Dan winning both of them. The second game was a four way tie with all players scoring four points but Dan had the most money which won him the tiebreak condition.

I finished off the night with Blueprints. We had to cut the game short and end after two rounds but Dan was so far ahead I don't think anyone could have caught up with him.

Across from us Johnny was playing Betrayal at the House on the Hill. The haunt was some sort of aliens thing where it wasn't open information who the betrayer was. It was probably Yevonne. The game ended with victory for the aliens when she swapped bodily fluids with someone. I assume in the game, not in real life. I for one welcome our new insect overlords.

A bunch of other games were played too. Skull, Among The Stars, Citadels and a probably a bunch more that I've missed.

Game Of The Year

Another two weeks, another blog. And in the past two weeks the Dice Tower Awards have come and gone. Dead of Winter picked up three awards including best game so in its honor I brought it along. I was the betrayer but never got a change to do any betraying because the game beat us too quickly. So many deaths and so little morale. It was a harsh winter.

Demetri made his not so triumphant return to IpBoG, where he played Citadels and was assassinated for something like five turns in a row while Alex had a run away lead.

Alex brought Rattus, which made its IpBoG debut. I played a quick Sushi Go before finishing off the night with a few games of Lost Legacy. Matt won all of them. Others played Luchador!, Fluxx and Tragedy Looper.

This week the stars finally aligned and Gemma came on a night that I'd brought Abyss so she finally got to play it again. For some reason I quite like winning at Abyss. I think Dan does too and this time he won. I scraped second place. His turn came just before mine and he kept sweeping in and recruiting the lords I'd planned on getting.

But this was to be the end of Dan's winning streak and the start of mine. We played Blueprints next and I won by a mile. Followed by Biblios which I won by another mile. And then a couple of games of Sushi Go which I won both of.

Danny was playing his usual affair of Luchador! and Tragedy Looper. I hear rumours of people playing Pandemic although I didn't witness it myself. This week also saw Zombicide, a game that's not made it to IpBoG in around a year.

The night was finished off with a few games of The Resistance including the Hostile Intent expansion. If there's a correlation between how loud a group is being and how much fun they're having (which sounds pretty likely) then Hostile Intent must be the funnest expansion around.

All Hail The Kingmaker

Two weeks since the last blog, this means you'll be getting a double dose of IpBoG goodness this week! The weekend before last was the UK Games Expo and a few IpBoG regulars attended. Johnny and Danny had both picked up new games while they were there, both of which I think are by English designers.

Johnny had picked up Frankenstein's Bodies and Danny had got Luchador! Mexican Wrestling Dice. I played Luchador while the others played Frankenstein's Bodies. Luchador comes with the option of laying a flat two dimensional wrestling ring or a full IMAX 3D ring. Naturally we donned our 3D glasses and and played in the maximum number of dimensions the game would allow. Games last about ten minutes and I lost both games I played. The game is a kind of Yatzee style luck-fest. But a fun luck-fest never the less.

Afterwards we played Modern Art. It's an auction game and a pretty pure one. It was Mike's game and he was the only one that had played before but towards the end of the game he'd hardly won any auctions. However, it turns out he knew exactly what he was doing. Everyone else had been vastly over valuing the items and Mike had wiped the floor with us.

The others were knee deep in Lost Legacy. I'm not sure which one, I think Alex may have bought a new version. Or perhaps two new versions. So we played a few games of The Resistance. Some people said some things, some stuff happened. You know? The Resistance.

Now on to the the next week. Danny had brought along Luchador and some more of that was played followed by Tragedy Looper. Danny was the bad guy as always but this time he was foiled in his evil deed. Danny had pimped Tragedy Looper since the last time it had appeared at IpBoG. The cardboard tokens had been replaced by wooden cubes imported from Germany. That's dedication!

Mike once brought Taluva for me to play as he thought I'd like it. It turns out I did and wanted to get myself my own copy but it was pretty hard to get hold of. Well, I finally managed it and so brought my copy along. It almost feels like an abstract game although it's not abstract, it has a sort of island settlement building theme. It's so nice, we played it twice! The first time it was either going to be me or Alex to win and it was basically up to Dan. If he blocked me Alex would win but if he didn't I would win. He blocked me, thanks a lot Dan. In our second game it was getting to the last round of the game and it looked like Alex was going to win but on my final turn I managed to play all of two types of building which ends the game and is an instant win.

We finished up the night with Blueprints which made its first appearance it IpBoG. It's a game where you build towers out of dice and Danny is actually some sort of real life architect. This must have helped in some way because he ended up winning by a mile.