Friday evening was once again a club night. Attendance was more pre-pandemic numbers than post. Whether that’s due to illness, time of year (it is the busy run up to Christmas) who knows?
Our first game of the evening was the classic, destroyer of relationships, Survive Escape from Atlantis.
This is such a fun game, and a members favourite.
Despite being victimised by the others (it’s so easy to make that claim in this game) I didn’t come last. I only got one survivor to safety but it was enough to put Marcin into last place with his lower scoring two survivors. At the other end of the survivor safety spectrum (more than three getting to safety) Ben managed to pip Colin to the winning line by a single point.
Our second and final game of the evening was Last Will.
Ben was declared the winner of this game. We still had a round to play. However with our hosts wishing to close up we had to finish the game.
The deciding factor in declaring Ben the winner was he needed one more action to trigger the end of the game, whilst the rest of us required more than that.
A fun evening, lots of banter.
Saturday afternoon saw me playing a two player game of Scythe with Charlene.
It was meant to be a three player game but illness meant the third player had to drop out at the last moment.
I was going to use the Automata as a third player. But I need to read the rules on running the Automata first before doing this.
We did use the modular board and that was the best idea of the afternoon.
After randomly placing the faction markers round the board (all but one go out if using the Fenris factions as well, I removed that remaining faction from those that can be chosen), Charlene and I randomly chose player boards. Despite having the higher board I let Charlene chose first.
This will amaze folks but I did not go with my one of my favourite factions. Instead I gave Vesna a try.
After choosing our factions we removed two of the modular boards. That was why using the modular boards was a great decision.
I had previously played Scythe two player with Jeff but that was with the “regular” board. Which isn’t best for a two player game. You can be on opposite sides of the map, never bump into each other.
With the modular board removing two of the boards shrinks the map so you are closer together, and you are more likely going to have to battle it out with the other player for spaces.
The way the map tiles were the Vesna river walk was useless and an early mistake for me. I should have built the tunnel first not the mech. Charlene had an easier time and was able to access more of the map without having to do either!
I liked the resolution tile Deja Vu. It was fun. And how our end game was triggered. If Charlene hadn’t triggered the end of the game this way I would have triggered it on my next go by placing out my sixth objective star.
After the dust settled and money counted, I won.
If I play Scythe two player again it will only be with the modular board.
We finished off the afternoons gaming with a game of Splendor Duel.
I hadn’t played Splendor Duel before, nor had Charlene.
This is a two player only version of Splendor. Yes Splendor can be played two player. But sometimes like 7 Wonders Duel, the two player version gives you the same experience as the original but just takes it to another level.
I really like this as a two player game. Like it’s bigger brother it appears I’m not very good at it. I haven’t won a game of Splendor in a long time. And this two player experience was no exception and continued my losing streak.
I can see this being added to the collection to play with Nathan. Or on the rare occasion I get to play a two player game with Jonathan.
That was my gaming over the last couple of days.
It’s back to work for me now, and gaming when it can be fitted in.