Monday 19 August 2013

Four by four

This week, games night moved to Monday, since Joe was unable to make this Tuesday and for him to miss another GNN meet would be unbearable. As it was, three of the core four arrived at Joe’s house within seconds of each other, for an evening of quality entertainment.

We began with Metro, the recent table-topper of choice. It was Joe’s first game, but someone as game-savvy as him eats rules like these for breakfast, and we were off before we knew it.


Metro is a very confrontational game. Even if you’re trying to keep yourself to yourself, you can’t but help finish other players tracks for them. Inevitably, feathers get ruffled and people turn their thoughts to evil. For such a quaint looking game, it would be dangerous in more sensitive hands. As it was, Joe picked his way through the shrapnel of attack and counter-attack, just edging out Adam at the last minute.

Joe 70
Adam 69
Andrew 49
Sam 38

After this, we returned to the games shelves to decide what to play next. Adam was drawn towards Endeavor. This game, which hasn’t seen the light of day for years (making its first appearance on the blog!), involves exploring and exploiting less civilised areas of the world for personal gain. Joe talked us through the rules again, notwithstanding a giggling fit from Sam which wasn’t helped by Joe explaining what he could do with his bags. Of money, that is. In the game.

The game is faintly immoral, and certainly there’s a slight air of Imperial arrogance since Africa is the smallest area on the map. Joe fought bravely to make sure that Adam didn’t abolish slavery and, indeed, when it became clear that he wouldn’t be able to, Adam picked up some slaves for himself. At least the theme of the game matched Cybil the dog's Victorian-style harumphing whenever she wasn't allowed to go outside.

Pre-Patterson projection maps, I suppose...

Sam, meanwhile, went for shipping in a big way, picking up two lots of goods at once. I was worried at first that no one else was picking up the same buildings that I was, but at the same time I was keeping an eye on other players and trying to second guess them. It seemed to work. Joe totted up the scores on his electronic scoreboard...


Andrew 59
Joe 58
Sam 54
Adam 51

It was nice to get it back to the table again. I enjoyed but maybe because I won, even though I couldn't tell who was winning for most of the game. Sam seemed cool about it, but then liked it more and more as the rest of the evening wore on. By the time we had to leave, he was saying he really enjoyed it!

And then we played Biblios. But no ordinary game of Biblios. One of intrigue, subterfuge, bluffing and luck. Actually, most games of Biblios are like that, but this one ended with a score that will live in the memory for a long time.

Sam 4
Joe 4
Andrew 4
Adam 4

Sam won on the tie-breaker, by having most brown cards, and Joe came second by having most blue cards while I was third due to having most orange cards. What a game. And what a night. Thanks chaps!

Joe returns to the top of the form table. Sam replaces a first, a third and a fourth with another first, third and a fourth. We at GNN Towers salute such symmetry!







Points
Joe 2 2 1 3 2 10
Sam 1 3 4 2 2 12
Adam4 4 2 1 1 12
Andrew 3 1 3 4 4 15
Steve3 3 3 4 3 16
Hannah3 4 1 4 5 17
Anja2 5 1 5 5 18
Miles2 3 5 5 5 20
Lizzy2 5 5 5 5 22

2 comments:

  1. Nice write-up Andrew. I enjoyed Metro I think - Tsuro with screwage. Though I don't think those kind of tile-laying games are my favourite.
    Good to play Endeavour again, and I'm amazed it's been as long as that! Don't know if it's a game I'd want to play a lot, though. Very similar territory to Age of Empires III, but with less theme and epic arc.

    As for morality, it's arguably more moral than AoE3, since you may get penalised for taking the slavery route - in the latter game you slaughter the indigenous peoples without a backwards glance. Then again, as we've previously discussed, neither game ignores the issue, which is a good thing.

    Good to be back, though I can't complain of having had a games-starved absence.

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  2. I'm still as unsure about Endeavor as I was last night - vacillating between thinking it's great and thinking it's just a bunch of mechanics. And I must apologise for my extended bout of hysteria - it was a long weekend and it all caught up with me.

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