Still October Thur – Being a Drax Report
7 in boardgaming is an unlucky number, well not so much unlucky as awkward. Most games are designed for a max of 4,5 or 6 players so when you get 7 people around a table the obvious thing to do (apart from ignore one person) is to split into two smaller groups but somehow last night that wasn’t going to work for us so it was 7 players all the way
First up was TSURO
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16992/tsuro
It’s a very simple game akin to pipe dreams where you lay ties with paths on them and move your marker and anyone on the same tiles marker to the end of that tile. go off the edge or collide with someone else marker and it’s game over. very simple and I THOUGHT practically no strategy, so… why do I still like the game? I don’t know. It intrigues me, I got it for the iphone and it still intrigues me.
The game itself if beautifully presented, nice quality pieces and a lovely oriental theme. It’s very light and you wouldn’t play a huge amount of it BUT it does have the one more go quality and it plays up to eight. Try it on the iphone first
Still with 7 in place we moved onto CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/50381/cards-against-humanity
This is a winner. Quite simply it’s Apples to Apples for grown ups. The box says 17+ age for players and it’s accurate. it’s also HILAROUSLY funny, bawdy and very cleverly written. Oh and it’s good value for money, I ordered it from amazon half way through the first game, it’s that good. if you haven’t seen Apples to Apples it’s a great party game especially for children but it works well with adults too. I recommend CAH it was the game of the night
Still holding fast with 7 we moved onto 7 Wonders
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68448/7-wonders
7 wonders is a card based civilisation type game with no map, a LITTLE like through the ages but way faster and a little like Magic the Gathering insofar as if you’ve ever played a grand melee it will be instantly familar. You can only attack the person left or right of you.
The players get a hand of cards, pick one and pass the reduced stack to their left, play the card and take the stack coming from their right. The idea is to build the best ’empire’ you can whilst messing up the other players turn. it’s fast, it’s very strategic and it’s good fun. Especially the crys as you hand a hand of rubbish to the player on your left
Then without a pause it was King of Tokyo
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-of-tokyo
This is a great little game by Richard Garfield. It’s nippy, it’s lite and it’s in your face. You take monster and duke it out with other players in Tokyo (where else) until all the other monsters lie dead and you do your victory dance.
After that we wound down with Love Letter
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129622/love-letter
A favourite of mine since Knavecon. Great little game and I learn more about it every time I play which is saying something since there’s only 15 cards in the deck!
So all good clean fun and more of that sort of thing next Thur
Huzzah!
Vic
Last Thur – Being a Drax Report
There are effectively two types of game nights, good nights and great nights. Last thur was a great night. We got a good group together and played some damn fine games
First up for me was Love Letter
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129622/love-letter
I’m a big fan of simple games, and this really is simple, 16 cards (15 really because you remove one before you start) and away you go with 2-4 players, over several rounds. The idea is to finish with the highest numbered card in a round and therefore win favour with the Princess either that or eliminate the others players in the round. do it four times and you win. Remember Fibonacci series in maths? it’s a bit like that where the previous played card affects the next played one.
I was introduced to it’s charms at Knavecon and was hooked after a couple of games. It does take a few games to get your head around it after which you’ll be won over. It’s also dirt cheap. €10 or so and it comes in a nice bag. What more could you ask for?
Next up was BOSS MONSTER
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131835/boss-monster-master-of-the-dungeon
Now THIS is something special. I WANT Boss Monster. I’m going to go and seek out a copy asap. It’s brilliant.
You start with the aforementioned Boss Monster and over time build a dungeon with traps which attracts increasingly powerful adventurers who’s souls you want to take (by bumping them off). It’s a bit Dungeon Keeper, bit Tower Defence. The real fun is where you stick a spanner in someone else’s works just as they’re about to bump off said adventurers. Typical ploys involve deactivating an opponents trap, buffing up a wimpy adventurer or a variety of sneaky nasty tricks all of which make for a brilliant gaming experience.
We played one game that lasted over an hour and it was a riot from start to finish. Everyone came away wanting more
While this went on the other group got to grips with a game called TRIPODS which is in beta, I didn’t get to play it but it looked really good.
Next was an old classic. Mag Blast. Truth be told we’ve played a LOT of mag blast and although it’s a super game it can drag on a bit and this was no exception. Also I didn’t win so it’s a silly game and we’ll never play it again 🙂 Oh and no-one made the sounds so it doesn’t count
Finished off with a bit more Love letter than we wrapped it up
Great nights gaming
More of that sort of thing
Huzzah!
Vic
Outdoor Thur – Thur – Being a Drax Reporte
Since there’s no sign of the wasps it seemed appropriate to play HIVE
Hive is very neat little chess like game, but with fewer pieces and fairly simple rules. It’s also very portable and robust. Perfect little game for a caravan or tent (although these are not essential), great one to bring on holidays out foreign and sit out on your balcony with along with a drink and bad light
The theme is very well done, it’s all about a swarm of insects trying to surround each others queen whilst protecting their own. So capture the flag with insects. Recommend it, it’s also cheap.
Next up was a favourite of mine since I borrowed it and didn’t return it
Dragonheart
This is very much Rock/Scissors/Lizard/Spock/Paper type game. It’s two player, fast moving and surprisingly good. you fill various spots on the board with your cards grabbing points, but also setting up the next player to grab the cards you just placed. It’s simple, fast and I sometimes win.
next up as old favourite
CATAN
One of our gamers had never played it. What never played it? seriously? never played catan? Despite asking this a number of times it turns out he had still not played it in the past so there was nothing for it but to the catan box and play a game of it. he won as it turned out…. ah well
Catan is a great little game, it was a great game when it came out a decade back and it remains good in person on the smart phone (although that cheats), online. it’s just a simple neat game and it’s one you really should play if you haven’t like john. what you’ve NEVER played it? never? ah come on….
More of that next thur
Huzzah!
Vic
Winning Legend Thur – Being a Drax Report
It’s a rare thing for me to win a game let alone ALL the games in a night. Some people may claim a mistake in the rules but we all played by it and haters have got to hate 🙂 But I digress
First up was
Sultan
I swapped, well let’s be honest I pawned off a game of mine (silk road) for this and letter of Marque. Never trust a gamer. Doubly so if you think you’re getting two for one. Sultan is a simple bidding game where you attempt to score points for bidding with a limited set of ‘coins’ for various valued gems. get sets of them and they become worth more. it’s a plain and simple filler game. it’s quick and if you can be bothered card counting you have an advantage. BORING. it may never see the table again. oh If I’m swapping it to you, it’s a GREAT game, well worth swapping something for 🙂
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31612/sultan
Next up was
Lords of Waterdeep.
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/110327/lords-of-waterdeep
Lords of Waterdeep is a VERY good game. Having played it a half dozen times I’m eager to play it again. For some reason the gods (one of the one that probably likes me) gave me good luck in this one and I was able to sneak ahead and stay there pretty much to the end. Usually I lose this game so I think I took the group by surprise by sneaking ahead and they probably thought it was a fluke. it wasn’t 🙂
Great game, I’ve spoken about it a before
https://mrtimewalk.wordpress.com/2013/04/26/bcon-lite-thur/
Get this game it’s a winner.
Finally we decided to have a crack at
http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/25554/notre-dame
I had read the rules carefully for this so we had no idea how to play it and having handed the rules over to Drax and put on more coffee we shakily made our way into the game. Notre Dame is a worker placement game in the classic euro sense. You attempt to gain as much influence as possible (score) through a variety of methods. Placing workers in your boroughs and hiring professionals to assist you (sets of which change round by round). The big negative is rats (the plague) which you have to control before they overun and reduce your influence. It’s a lovely little game
Card Counting – YES
Worker Placement – YES
Rats – YES
All those who took part (and lost to me) were eager for more of the same (apart from the losing to me bit), never a bad sign
so I reckon next thur we’ll be visiting notre dame. Practically no quasimodo jokes were harmed in the playing of the game
Huzzah
Vic
Conclave 2013
I’ll be making an appearance at Conclave 2013 in Thomand Park this year (15th June). Looks like it’s going to be a good one. I’ll be there from 2pm onwards on Saturday running a number of board and card games. If anyone’s about give me a shout
Vic
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/article/12064786#12064786
Someone was kind enough to stick Bcon on boardgamegeek
Victor Gannon Games 
