CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 12/08/2010

1.       We had 8 players in total, including some newbies so Mike looked after them to start with. On table 1 a group of 4 established players played “URSUPPE”, this being the ‘heavier’ long game. Players control a series of amoebas and try to survive as they evolve into life. Many pieces in the game and they propagate and drift around a pond according to the rules of nature and start to compete in the restricted space of the pond. Players then start to break the rules and have to modify to continue to exist.  For instance, instead of going hungry, your amoeba could learn to attack foreign amoeba for food. Or perhaps your amoeba could be taught to need less food to survive. Either way, this is a very interesting take on the game of life. Luke made an early blunder and was ‘abandoned’ by the other 3 players so had no chance of surviving. Roger took an early lead from Tony and Rob and maintained that with consistency and eventually gained a convincing win.

2.       On Table 2 the remaining 4 players played “AUF HELLER UND PFENNIG”, in which players takes participants to a medieval marketplace that looks remarkably like a plain 5 x 5 matrix for square tiles. Each turn, players place tiles onto the board that modify (either positively or negatively) the amount of money to be made by the shops that share that tile's row or column. They can add the wares of their chosen value (1-4) to any row/column in order to gain money when the grid is completely full. Once this happens each stall is valued and money paid out, or paid in if negative. Players get their wares valued 1 back but lose all other wares. Three times the board is filled with tiles and shop money is earned, after which the player with the most money wins. Mike gained the most in the first round with Richard and Tanya struggling. Maria made good progress in the following rounds to close the gap. However Mike scored enough in the final round to win by 11 pfennigs from Maria

3.       This same group then played “WINNERS CIRCLE”, introducing it to our new player Tanya. It’s about a series of horse races involving 7 horses and each round the players decide upon which horses to place their 3 bets in the hope of making money. The movement for each horse is determined by throwing a dice with different symbols on it and players choose which horse is to receive the benefit from the movement shown. The positions in the race are constantly changing as players advance a horse on which they have a bet or perhaps try to ‘nobble’ a horse in which they have no interest and therefore do not want it to win.  Mike and Maria made gains in the first race but Richard was really stuffed. Tanya soon picked up the mechanics in the game and made progress and in the final race she really cleaned up with a solo win which earned her enough cash to overtake Mike and Maria and win her first game. Well done Tanya !!

4.     This group of 4 played “TEACHERS PET” a quick card game about bidding cards simultaneously to try and win Positive cards or NOT to win negative cards. A simple enough aim but the way the cards are played causes much hilarity, with surprising results. As the owner of the game Mike won the first game so it was decided to play another game as we waited for the other table to finish .

5.     Mike was the target for the second game of “TEACHERS PET” and looked to be out of it by being ‘unlucky’ to pick up some negative cards early on. However, with some astute play he managed to gain some late positive cards at the end and just won by gaining 10 points to Tanya’s 9 !!

6.     We swapped formations and on table 2 a group of 5 played “HECK MECK” a dice game about gaining dominoes that contain a variable number of worms. Players place any gains in front of them but they can be stolen by other players if they roll the exact value of the tile, so the lead is constantly changing. A ‘push-your-luck’ game that caused lots of laughs but Rob was in fine form and won the game by a large margin.

7.     Table 1 played a 3-player game of “AUF HELLER UND PFENNIG” to introduce Roger to the game. Mike was unable to repeat his earlier success and with Tony being the owner of the game he skilfully placed his pieces with much more sense that the other two and really cleaned up, scoring heavily, laughing loudly, a veritable ‘Master Class’. Roger was a gallant second.

8.     Table 2 decided to have another game of “TEACHERS PET” to complete the evening. Once again some unusual card playing led to people gaining negative cards they didn’t want and much laughter could be heard. Richard finally gained his first win of the evening but for Luke it was another sad demise.  

Games played and Winners were:

Ursuppe Roger Skull;

Auf Heller und Pfennig –game 1 Mike Oakes;

Winners Circle Tanya Jurkiewicz;

Teachers Pet –game 1 Mike Oakes;

Teachers Pet –game 2 Mike Oakes;

Heck Meck Robert Piesse;

Teachers Pet –game 3 Richard Piesse;

Auf Heller und Pfennig –game 2 Tony Simons.