CHIPPENHAM BOARDGAMES CLUB - 17/03/2011

1.     11 members attended this week, so we played on 3 tables. Table 1 started with 4 players in “CHAOS IN THE OLD WORLD”, a game with lots of bits which has been reviewed before. The winner was Robert.

2.       Table 2 saw 3 players playing “LAST TRAIN TO WENSLEYDALE”, a railway game where the aim of the game is to move stone, cheese, and passengers from the Dales to the major trunk routes served by the North Eastern Railway and the Midland Railway. Valleys play a large part in dictating where you can build track. Once you have built a line you must acquire second hand engines and rolling stock to move the goods and passengers that your line connects to. Such a line quickly becomes unprofitable and it pays to have one of the two major companies take it over from you. With 2 of the players playing the game for the first time it was no surprise when Tony emerged victorious

3.       Table 3 played a 4-player game of “KELTIS”, a card game where each player is trying to lay down cards in front of them in either a descending or ascending sequence. The cards are in 5 colours and for each card laid the player advances one of their markers along the track for that colour. The track shows victory points to be gained at game end and at the start the positions are negative points, so you are encouraged to build in all 5 colours. Along the tracks there are hidden counters which when turned over reveal a bonus situation , which either be gain VP’s immediately, or Move another marker along its track, or keep a diamond for game end scoring. The game plays quickly and it’s not exactly straightforward which marker to move each turn. You want to get out of the negatives, but you also want to be the first to get those bonus tiles. Despite a slow start Mike managed to pull clear in the last few rounds to win from Jerry

4.       Table 3 then played “ON THE UNDERGROUND”, which was played a few weeks ago and Jerry and Poppy both liked it. Pamela was new to the game and Mike offered her help with understanding it. This proved to be a fatal error and everything went right for Pamela and she forged clear of the rest from the start. However Poppy made a late challenge by moving the Passenger over her lines in successive turns and close the gap to just 1 point at the end, to leave Pamela with a narrow victory..

5.       Table 2 played a 4-player game of “PUERTO RICO”, a club favourite. In a very close finish Richard had 49 points, with the runners-up on 47 and 45 points.

6.       With the departure of several players at 10.00 p.m. 3 players were left to play “MONTEGO BAY”, the game about obtaining barrels of rum to load on ships and thereby gain victory points. Due to a mistake by both Mike and Roger a ship was left in the harbour for Geoff to score and from what looked like a a hopeless position Geoff swooped through to win on the very last turn. 4 points covered all 3 players.

Games played and Winners were:

Chaos in the Old World Robert Piesse;

Last Train to Wensleydale Tony Simons;

Keltis Mike Oakes;

On the Underground Pamela Simons;

Puerto Rico Richard Piesse;

Montego Bay Geoff Williams.