Gaming in front of an open fire

An open fire as in cosy, coal and logs and not in the guns n bullets variety. Anyhow we decided to crack open a few games with our backs to the lovely glowing fire. Firstly it was all time family favourite Zooleretto. It was a hard fought game between myself, Roshni and Maya. This time we used the proper "Remove an animal depending on the number of players" - we removed Kangaroos and Flamingoes. This made the game go so much better as we didn't end up with a surplus of animals each at the end. There was still room to make plays for each others spare animals and even run out of animals before we'd completed Pens. The game felt much much better. Roshni won in the end.

Then came a couple of games of Mayas all time favourite, Diamant. This involved all accept Kavita as she was doing homework. Such an easy concept yet devilishly addictive - it requires a combination of luck and nerves to make sure you outwit your opponents yet come out with enough gems to make the effort worthwhile.

Maya won the first round, whilst Anita won the second.

Gaming day jolly!!

Yay! Monday was a day of getting together with my best mate Matt at his place whilst he had the place to himself for a few days to play games, eat pizza and drink beer! It was also an opportunity to introduce him and his game-aspiring daughter to Euro gaming :) I had brought most of the games with me to try and squeeze in as much as possible.

Firstly we played Diamant as a good introduction. This went down a storm - very popular as it is very easy to learn but difficult to master - Hannah, Matts daughter, got the idea straight away and loved it - eventually winning the game.

Next out of the bag was Zooloretto - obviously it took a bit to explain the rules, but the game proceeded quite well, with only a few references to the rules - this game has a great system where although it is a fairly complex game, say compared to Diamant, there is no text in the game to get confused with; no cards to read or text to ponder over. Again highly enjoyed by all - and again won by Hannah. :)

It was time then to drop off Hannah to her grandparents; after which Matt and I explored the contents of 7th Fleet and Gunslinger, just to get an idea of what ye olde '80s punch counter games were like - actually Gunslinger looked quite attractive to play and if I'd known the rules we'd have given it a go.

So we had a go at Back to the Future the card game - I've played this a few times solo play, so this was a good chance to test out the rules with two of us. The concept of how to play took a bit to understand (even for me and I'd played a few times!) but after getting into the swing of it, it was a great game - won by Matt in the end.

Next was Niagara - Matt loved the idea of the plastic discs acting as the flowing river and there was much merriment in pseudo-Mexican voices. The ending was full of tension as we both had our fill of gems, me 5 different coloured gems, Matt his mixed collection of 7. We just needed to get one more gem each to the finishing line. With our last paddle cards and the end in sight, we raced for him - Matt pipping me to the post!! Another game lost! :)

Next was Memoir '44 - actually two games of Memoir as it was so popular with Matt. The only unfortunate thing I found was that set up took too long and was actually a bit confusing with two people on opposite sides of the table whilst looking at the map in the book. Something to consider in the future. But the games went off really well - the first an American attack against heavily entrenched German positions - including several elite German tank platoons; leading to a win by Germany that followed the course of History. Then it was another try at an Omaha beach landing, this time with Matt as the Americans. This turned into an unmitigated disaster for the Yanks as one after another unit and platoon were destroyed or mown down on the beaches of France.  Notch one up for me! this would turn out to be my only win of the day...

Finally we had a game of Last Night on Earth - and as I'd not played this before, game play proceeded a little slowly at first as Matt read the rules, counters were punched and cards were shuffled. The scenario we took was Get Petrol and Keys for the Truck! or something like that. This involved my humans searching for petrol and keys whilst fending off the undead! Unfortunately one character after another died and then the Sun set and it was game over man game over! A good game, if not 100% my cup of tea in its mechanics. Perhaps another couple of games will win me over.

In all, a hugely successful gaming day/night! Cannot wait to do it again!

Catan and Martin family game play

 Today proved a great success for getting new people involved in games - our family friends the Martins came over for an evening meal and then a game of Diamant and Eketorp - I thought I'd give them two very different types of games, a slow paced tension builder and a fairly fast paced resource management game.

Diamant proved to be a big hit with them - we were able to play with a full set of players (8) and our guests were surprised at how quick the game was over and how much fun it generated in that time. Eketorp had a mixed review, not bad in anyway, but some preferred Diamant, some Eketorp. All in all a great evening.

On top of that, I bought a couple of Settlers of Catan with my vouchers for Battlequestgames. It looked like quite a promising family game with a quick to quickish play length. It is only for 4 players, but there is an expansion for 5 to 6 players if its a family hit. Time will tell. Hope to crack on with a game of Dominion and Settlers this weekend.

Inter-family games night!

This coming Saturday will be the first inter-family games night to introduce Euro-style and non-mass trash gaming (As I refer to games like Monopoly, Cluedo, Game of Life etc) to our friends the Martins. Apparently it is also going to be a take-away night too, so food and games all round!

I've already introduced two of their family to Zombies!!! as they have an interest in that "field" via the Xbox, so they were interested to find out more about gaming that didn't involve Monopoly or Cluedo. They've also expressed an interest in going to visit Battlequestgames to take a look around and see what it is I'm always on about.

I think the first batch we'll take around to introduce them to the idea is Eketorp and Diamant. Hopefully it will become a regular family thing once every 2 or 4 weeks.

More sunday gaming

After Zooleretto it was straight onto Diamant and Formula 1. Diamant is one of Mayas all time favourites - one she asks for all the time. It is a super easy and super tense game to play - each turn of a card could bring danger or gem stones to split between all players, who then have to decide if to Stay or Go by revealing if their hand contains nothing or a little coloured wooden guy at the same time. Once the decision has been made, players who left collect their gems and these are safe, players who remained risk their wins against the next drawn card. If two hazards occur in a draw (not necessarily together) - rock fall, snake, gas etc, thats it games over for the people left in the mine. Once the decision to stay behind was made, its super tense as to what will happen on the next card turn... Maya is great at this game and is a superb bluffer and judge of when to leave - children have no sense of danger!! Once when we all ran and she stayed, the next card was 15 stones and it was cries and shrieks of Yay and In your face!!!

The look on her face says it all for the tension and when two hazards come up!

Bank Holiday Gaming Madness!!

Wow! What a bank holiday weekend! What do you do when it's the standard UK Bank Holiday fair ie cold wet and damp? Get out your favourite Euro games and start gaming like mad!! This was a weekend we wanted to spend time as a family, and gaming is one of the best ways we can do this.



Firstly, it was one of Maya's favourites - Gulo Gulo. A fun family favourite - nice quick and simple especially for the younger gamer - results: Roshni won! :)



Ok, then it was Ticket to Ride: USA version. An excellent tactical game with nice and simple rules. Last time we played this, the Europe version, the kids just didn't quite get it, so we thought we would play the simpler US one in teams. So it was Kavita and I vs Roshni and Anita with Maya playing with her own stuff by her own accord. They started to get a good idea of what was involved to play, especially Kavita who started to get into the tactical side. Still, it was an Anita/Roshni win at a crushing 131 to 57.

Then came another big family fav, especially with Anita, Zooloretto. This is a brilliant family game with so many tactical aspects that are very subtle and easily played by the kids, even Maya with a little help. Anita obsolutely loves this one and it shows! :) Final scores Roshni/Anita - 35, Maya - 29, Kavita 26 and me bringing up the rear at 17.

The addons really bring great new dimensions to the game and are thoroughly worth it. Cannot wait to get Aquaretto!

Up next was Queens Necklace - a great little 'Days of Wonder' Gem trading game set in the 1800s or something in France. The idea is to purchase gems that may well sell for large amounts at the Kings court at three sales that will occur during the game. And that is what I love about Euro style games - the time limit on the back of the box is how long it will last! When they say 1 hr, its how long it will last because of in built game mechanics and rules. Its an amazing principle. So if we know we have only 45 mins spare, we dig out Zooleretto knowing it will last 45 mins. Again Anita won this hands down - Kavita: £140, Anita: £480, Maya: £240 and me: £280.

Then there was time for quick game of Diamant - always a favourite with Maya - and yes, yet again she wiped the floor with us! Maya: 43, Kavita: 35, Anita: 25 and Me: 18...

Finally today we played Eketorp. Just a great game - all sorts of fun - although I tried lots of tactical gaming and Viking raids on other villages, yet again Maya won us out (She is 5 remember...!) - 5th place - Me 17 points 4th place - Roshni 26 points 3rd place - Kavita 30 points, 2nd place - Anita with 32 points and finally Maya with a whopping 47 points!!

A great gaming weekend for one and all.

When parents game.....

Crikey been a while since I blogged - is that a bad thing? Anyhow, introduced another member of the family, my mum, came to stay and was introduced to Zooleretto and Diamant - a highly enjoyable hour and a half for the kids. Haven't really gamed for a while which is bad....so intend to get in some more asap. Less XBox Live, more board gaming - although Anita is happy to participate in both - how many husbands can say that?!