Friday 3 September

Anna and Andrew showed up first and we started with

Frank's Zoo
Nigel showed up in time for the second hand and John in time to join in the third. Previously we played until two players reached 18 but this time we played by the rules which are that the game ends when two players reach 19. Only Nigel avoided going backwards at least once.

Anna   3 7 10 19 18 20
Andrew 3 5  7 11 15 12
Anne  -1 3  1  5 10 15
Ian    4 3 12 14 15 19
Nigel  - 6 10 12 21 26
John B - -  2  1  3  7

Attika
Anne says she romped away to beat Nigel and Anna. She says it was because she got half a dozen carrots.

Great Wall of China
I haven't played for years and I taught from memory, as I have mis-placed my English translation. My memory was vague on the end game rules. John and I wasted about 30% of our cards on one battle! No wonder Andrew won.

Andrew 40
Ian    26
John B 20

We played a second time. This time I tried to grab things cheaply and became the target of both John and Andrew's attempts to block me.

Ian    36
John B 31
Andrew 25

Tigris and Euphrates
Anna and Nigel had both played once before but needed a rules refresher. Nigel was working up to building a blue momument when Anne started a conflict with him which saw his blue tiles evaporate. Anna created a big civilisation in the centre of the board and Nigel tried to encroach on it. Anne created a black temple while Anna created more temples elsewhere. Anna did the final civilization join that ended the game.

Everyone agreed that they needed to play again soon while the rules were fresh in their minds.

Anna  9
Anne  8
Nigel 3

Beowulf: The Legend
While mesopotamian civilizations were battling it out at the other end of the table, John suggested playing Beowulf. Gvien how popular Beowulf is around here, strangely Andrew hasn't played before, on the other hand it was my third game this week. I did my normal cowardly strategy, but I also ran pretty short of cards and victory points. Andrew and I didn't do well. John says he like this game because it prompts more talking between players than most other games.

John B 43
Ian    17
Andrew 16