Friday 20 November 2009

Lance turned up to Friday games for the first time, which was lucky as otherwise we'd be down to three. After John and I had piled the table high with games, we kicked off with Beowulf. This time John B threw himself into the game with complete disregard for his body taking 5 wounds during the course of the game (and healing one). The rest of us were more cautious and Anne even finished wound free. By the half way point John had massive hand of cards and, unlike Jarratt and I, he managed to significantly offset his wounds with enough fame for an moderate score. There were a couple of encounters which lasted many rounds including one in which Anne and I seemed to use up half the deck in taking risks before I came unstuck. Lance brutally put us all down in the anti-penultimate major encounter with the 4 axe card, the 3 axe card and the 3 helmet card.

Lance  25
Anne   24
Ian    21
John B 17

After the blood and gore of Viking life we move the peaceful world of the Mongolian Oasis. Lance started off with a little meadow which grew and grew. I started with some camels and later branched into a little meadow and some grey stuff. Anne had a bit of meadow, some steppe and a few camels. While John collected multipliers. About the halfway point he had more multipliers than the rest of us put together though they were multiplying roughly nothing. Lance and John joined Anne in hemming in my camel herd, but I started to collect ovoos (stone multipliers) and by the time I collected 6 I was less concerned about the lack of room for my camels. John started his meadow, steppes and stone regions and given his stack of multipliers he was eager for most things. Ultimately Lance's lack of multipliers let him down. In the first half of the game Lance was often alternately first and fourth, while John's stack of multipliers shows that there were plenty available. So why did John end up with so many multipliers? Luck or choice? On the other hand I ran my self out of cards at one point, which I usually consider the kiss of death but this time I came back without too much trouble.

John B 128
Ian    117
Anne    81
Lance   66

Our final game of the evening was Attika. John got off to an early lead in a slightly off central position and at one point both he and Lance were threatening shrine-to-shrine victories at the same time, but Anne and I threw ourselves in the way and the game continued. John finally built all his buildings, and we continued playing for the minor places. Anne finishing second then Lance third.

John B win
Anne   2nd
Lance  3rd
Ian    last

Anne had to catch a 7am flight so we didn't play until 3am as someone suggested we should.