Curse of the Mummies Tomb

Last night Sally and I hosted Andy and Tiff, and between the stew, cheesecake, biscuits and booze we managed to squeeze in a game. Andy's a keen gamer - he introduced me to Carcassone back when Brass was just an alloy. But as he doesn't get many opportunities to play (having two little girls) I thought I'd introduce something he hadn't played before - Ra.

It's been a few epochs since we last played this, but the rules being pretty straightforward meant we dived happily in and began bidding for things just like your run-of-the-mill ancient Egyptian.

Rargh

I'd forgotten how good Ra is. The action is all down to the players, when they take a guaranteed - but diminutive - lot, and when they push their luck and try and maximise their return. Andy did the latter, and in round 2 also suffered the curse of the high bidding tiles - like Chris and Joe before him, he found himself unable to spend them as Ra was called on some feeble offerings. The problem with the high tiles is they feel like they're wasted on small lots, but often that's all that are available...

Going into the last round it was hard to tell who was going to win. I was in front, but Sally and Tiff were close behind. Andy pushed his luck again and was shat on by the Gods, trailing in last. Both the mummies managed their tiles well, and Sally would have won had she not been hit with minus points for her lowly bidding tiles in the count-up. Instead it was canny Tiff who ended up with title of Best Egyptian Tradeswoman:

Tiff     38

Sam    37

Sally   34

Andy  18

So the epochs ended with the Mummies on top. Very nice evening, although I'll have to keep a close eye on Tiff next time we play. She was up to speed immediately and played a very Hannah-esque game, quietly accruing points whilst the rest of us debated aloud.