CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB – 18/08/2011

1.       10 in attendance at the start so we split into 2 tables initially, and then 3 tables. On table 1 a group of 5 players played “LAND UNTER”, the card game about saving yourself from drowning whilst on a lighthouse. The twist in the game is that each player gets to play all the different hands in the game once only. To the surprise of all Mike actually came out the winner by a narrow margin from Geoff.

2.       On Table 2 Tony led a group of 3 other players in “SMALL WORLD” the game of selecting a faction to gain VP’s by conquering territories and then sending them into decline when they have served their purpose.  Many combinations of faction are possible, which give the game its appeal. It has been reviewed before so is not repeated here. To her own amazement and delight Poppy was the eventual winner with 107 points from Jerry’s 98.

3.       With the arrival of 2 more players a third Table was created and 3 players played “OREGON” which was played last week. The winner by a single point was Rob Piesse from his brother Richard.

4.       Table 1 saw 4 players in a game of “NAVEGADOR”, which has been reviewed before. First-time players Imogen and Rachel soon grasped the mechanisms and everyone enjoyed the game. Rachel’s use of the Market gained her lots of cash with which to build shipyards so she was able to build ships cheaply. Paul went down the church route to obtain cheap workers but was unable to get the vital privilege tile he wanted before the game ended. Imogen had lots of colonies so scored well with those and Mike had lots of cash from his use of the Market. Rachel’s shipbuilding eventually paid off as she ended the game with a lot of ships on the board as well as gaining the last navigation tile. She won by 3 points from Paul, with Imogen 3^rd and Mike 4^th.

5.       Table 3 played a quick game of “JAMAICA” to fill in the time whilst they waited for other games to finish. The winner was Rob again for his second victory of the evening.

6.       As people left a final group of 4 players played “RA”, in an attempt to find something that Rob couldn’t win, as he had not played it. However he started with a good score in the first epoch and led at that stage. Seasoned gamer Tony soon corrected that position by scoring well in Epochs 2 and 3 and Roger was not far behind. Tony ran out the winner with 49 points to Roger’s 48, Rob scored 41 points and Mike was an embarrassing last with just 1 point !!

Games played and Winners were:

Land Unter- Mike Oakes;

Small World- Poppy Jabelman;

Oregon- Rob Piesse;

Navegador- Rachel Dunn;

Jamaica- Rob Piesse;

Ra- Tony Simons.