Arle be the judge of that

There is a legend that says that if the Core Four of GNN (Sam, Joe, Adam and Andrew) ever have a games night to themselves again, then King Arthur will rise up, the River Thames will flow backwards and all manner of strange omens will be seen in the sky. Such an event almost happened tonight, except that Sam was absent and Martin and Ian were there instead. Still, it was nice to see Adam again.

You would think that, with five, we would be sociable and sit around the same table, but Adam was keen to try Fields Of Arle, Uwe Rosenburg's two-player homage to his ancestry. That much history takes up quite a bit of space, so Martin, Ian and I set ourselves up on the card table to play Yellow and Yangtze. I was keen to play again before I forgot all the rules, but as I listened to Martin giving Ian a quick rules refresher, I realised that I already had.

Ian got off to a poor start, with Martin building a blue pagoda quicksticks, me trying to muscle in on his patch and Ian mostly tucked away in a corner, losing battles.

He seemed quite distraught, but as the beer flowed, so his mojo returned as he set off wars between me and Martin or him and Martin or him and me. Often it seemed like he didn't know what battles would take place until Martin explained it to us.

This method, coupled with the tactic that we all used of dismantling/building a bridge connecting the main bloc of action to a useful patch of four red tiles, seemed to work for Ian. I felt myself drifting further away, with more leaders off the board than on it.

This lead to my declaration that I wasn't keen on the game. I said at the time that it wasn't what I wanted in a game (which is, broadly speaking, a sense of narrative). Y&Y is too swingy, too random and too often I found myself simply trying to put things back the way they were, which maybe demonstrates my lack of understanding of the game. I suppose I need more practice to appreciate it because it often felt like a boxing match on a bouncy castle and I did pretty poorly. A purple patch mid game when I picked up more points saved my blushes, though.

The game itself was an odd one, since almost all of the action centred around the starting point in the middle of the board. This cluster of activity only took in other centres once it had expanded close enough to make it worthwhile. Ownership of pagodas changed regularly and leaders shamelessly leapt into battle. There were plenty of Peasants' Revolts and perhaps the best was one of Ian's, who removed a previously overlooked tile and then dropped in a leader in its place, right next to three black tiles, instantly making him very powerful. Despite this, Martin ran away winner once again.

Martin 16
Ian 13
Andrew 11

What happened in Fields Of Arle? Despite my frequent (and slightly jealous) glances in their direction, I know little about the flow of the game. We sniggered when we overheard Joe saying "you get wood at the end of every summer" but that was about it.

In the end, Adam's uncanny empathy with Uwe Rosenberg gamers propelled him to a debut win.

Adam 102
Joe 90.5

While Fields Of Arle had been finishing, the three of us on the card table played Ganz Schön Clever. It was my first game and all previous references to fireworks or bingo or pinball suddenly made sense. I would add the analogy of rows of dominoes falling, and setting off clever displays in a world record attempt. That's how this game feels.

I came last, although Martin assured Ian and I that over 200 is a good score.

Martin 239
Ian 209
Andrew 207

And so, with Fields of Arle back in its exquisitely packed box, the card table was vacated. Ian was persuaded to stay for one more game and we all set off on a rousing finale of Texas Showdown.

We all enjoyed giving Martin a nightmare first round, but that did mean Ian got through clean. Although he couldn’t keep up this high standard, at least he didn’t collapse. After three rounds, it ended:

Ian 5
Joe 6
Adam 7
Martin 9
Andrew 9

And with that, we were done. Off into the warm Spring night. Thanks all. Let’s do it again soon.