Batteries recharged

After the deflating experience of Stabcon, we convened at Joe's for the regular games night. At first it was the core four, me, Adam, Joe and Sam. Despite feeling jaded after the convention, we discovered that each of us had played board games in the time since we'd last met. Perhaps there's still life in this hobby yet.

While we waited for Steve and Anja to arrive we decided to play a game that Anja would never agree to if she was here: 6nimmt. This simple game of card placement has a winning strategy just as enigmatic as Biblios, but is funnier. We ended the game after the round when our two companions arrived, all rosy-cheeked and fresh from the winter air.

The most confusing cards on 6nimmt

Adam 42
Joe 48
Andrew 55
Sam 60

The sad news is that this is the last Tuesday for Steve and Anja, since pre-natal classes start next week. We all hope they'll be able to make the extra-curricular games nights that will crop up now and again.

We split into two groups: a game of four and a game of two (now that I've devised a two-player leaderboard, more of which later). Adam and Joe played two games of Aton while Sam, Anja, Steve and I played Downfall of Pompeii: The game of populating a doomed city and laughing at everyone's untimely demise. Sam explained the rules to Anja and Steve.

During this game, disaster struck. Not the volcano, a proper disaster. I knocked over my bottle of Bishop's Finger, and although the spillage wasn't great, there was a minute or so of holding the board gingerly off the table so the meeples didn't slip while some quick mopping was done. And on Joe's lovely green baize, too.

It's not a game for people who hold grudges, and sitting next to Anja, I was acutely aware of her barely disguised snorts of disgust whenever I chose one of her meeples to put in the volcano. However, it was Sam who was most picked on, and he came out the worst in the final count, with least escapees and most of his relatives in Vesuvius.

Steve 10
Andrew 9
Anja 8
Sam 6

During this time, Adam and Joe had played Aton twice. In the first game Adam won an "absolute victory", while Joe pipped Adam in the rematch.

Adam wins!
Joe didn't

Joe 42
Adam 35

Finally, with Stave and Anja's time on the car club running out, we decided on a quick game of Coup. This, too, was new to Anja and Steve but they seemed to catch on soon enough. Well, at least Anja did. We played one game, during which Steve extended their time with the club car. That makes me feel a little bad about being the one to kill him off first... but not that bad.

1. Sam
2. Anja
3. Adam
4. Andrew
5. Joe
6. Steve

Oh Captain, my Captain!

Then, since Steve had extended the time on the club car, they decided they had enough time for one more game of Coup. Unfortunately, since Anja was doing so well, they had to extend again. If there was a category on the leaderboard for most money spent during a game, I'm sure Steve and Anja would be top.

However, Anja was not to be victorious. I'm not one to boast, but I'm quite proud of the way I played a hand which would usually be considered the weakest: Two Contessas (who do nothing except stop assassinations). After the first (and only other) Contessa was revealed early on, I started to act as if I had an assassin. Since I knew they couldn't possibly have a Contessa, I felt confident and that confidence made a difference. As long as I made sure no one got enough money, I could assassinate with impunity and I ran out quite a comfortable winner.

1. Andrew
2. Anja
3. Joe
4. Steve
5. Adam
6. Sam

So the evening ended with our faith in board games reaffirmed. Sam takes a tumble on the Form Table, and Steve's season is still to get started.

						Points
Andrew	1	4	2	3	1	11
Adam	5	3	2	1	1	12
Joe	3	5	1	2	2	13
Anja	2	2	3	2	5	14
Sam	6	1	4	4	3	18
Steve	4	6	1	5	5	21

Meanwhile, there's the business of a two-player form table to sort out. It's always been a bother that the good people of Bracknell have not been able to pit their wits against ours, but now I've gone some of the way to put that right. The two-player system uses the same system as The Division, but it needs a third player to make it work. If the game is new, then an average score from the first session report that I find on Board Game Geek is used as a dummy player. If it's been played before then the previous scores of the player(s) act as a third (or even fourth) dummy player. So, make sure you improve on your last performance or else you may up with less than bronze in a two-player game!

This is how it stands to date...

With the most recent report from Bracknell being a three-player session, maybe those can be added onto the The Division as normal.