Our hosts The Luxe are not quite there yet with the refit. But they sure are a lot closer than they were back in May. But more importantly now in a position to start hosting us again for game sessions.

It felt good to be back.

We advertise our meet ups on the clubs Facebook page as events. Members then say Going/Maybe/Not Going in response. Well some do. However the responses to events, or even questions such as “what days would you like sessions to be run?” is very low (about a 7% of members responded when I asked that question recently).

Before Jonathan and I leave the house we usually have checked the event to see how many are attending. It helps us decide which games to take along for the evening.

Last night we were expecting 5 in total. It’s that awkward number. Not large enough to split into two groups, and not small enough for the majority of games that are usually 4 players maximum.

With that player count in mind, I decided to take Lords of Waterdeep, and some smaller “filler” games that supported that number of players.

So after arriving early and getting the table and seating set up with the help of the lovely on duty staff. Imagine my surprise when The Usual Suspect turned up, after the day before specifically changing his Maybe attending status for the event to Not Attending. He’d changed his mind!

WTF?!

Gavin arrived with news that Jonathan was going to be late.

So instead of starting a game of Lords of Waterdeep, we cracked open Coup.

I blame Game the Game on YouTube for me throwing Coup into the bag. They had recently put up two episodes of it being played (base game and with the Reformation expansion).

I could have thrown in the Reformation expansion. But considering that the majority hadn’t played before I stuck with the core game.

After losing the first game, Jonathan arrived just in time to join in for the second. Which I also lost.

Our main game of the evening was Lords of Waterdeep. Which hadn’t seen table time for two years. It was long over due.

It was lucky for The Usual Suspect that I also had the expansion with me so it could support 6 players. But to do that I’d have to use one or both of the expansions. I went with just mixing in the Undermountain expansion.

It’s the logical expansion to go with when two thirds of those playing hadn’t played the game before. It doesn’t introduce anything new to the game mechanic wise. You basically get three new actions spaces, and some more intrigue, quests, buildings and lords to shuffle in. Unlike the skullport expansion that introduces corruption, and just over complicates things for the first time player.

So after setting up and explaining the basics of the game, we set off recruiting adventurers, completing quests and hopefully expanding the influence of our secret lord of Waterdeep.

I managed to get the win. Not my best score. But I broke the 100 barrier, so that was something.

Everyone but The Usual Suspect enjoyed the game. But I’m beginning to think he’s not a worker placement type of person. His plays are sub optimal. Like giving me a mandatory quest on the final round, when I had no open quests left. And no intention of getting another one. His optimal play would have been anyone else but me. Because they all had quests they could complete. It’s something I’ve noticed with Viticulture as well. And we won’t mention the Stone-age debacle. There is something about worker placement not clicking there.

Anyway another great evening of gaming.

Games Played: Coup, Lords Of Waterdeep