The Mine Shaft Gap

Venue: Paul’s place
Present: Euhan, Brad, Nick, Lindsay, Alex, Jeff, Rick D., Brian, Pat, Paul.
Played: Fairy Tale, Formula Motor Racing, Red November, Battlestar Galactica, Knights, Stone Age, Ghost Stories.

Some overdue catch-ups tonight, with the return of Nick, Euhan, Mark and Neil M. to the gaming tables.
Tonight was a night of co-operative games, with no fewer than 4 of such being played. And not a single one of them ended in a positive outcome for the ‘good guys’!

Fairy Tale: The standard opener.
Pat, Alex, Jeff, Lindsay.
Don’t know who won.

Formula Motor Racing: A second filler as more folks were coming in the door. Apparently Jeff and Pat were not targeted enough by the other players.
Results: Jeff: 10. Pat: 9. Lindsay: 4. Mark: 2. Nick: 1. Alex: 0.

Red November: Played by Pat, Lindsay, Paul, Euhan, Nick, Jeff, and Paul, and a first playing for all present (except me) with much frantic confusion. The first game was lost after about 28 mins in-game time (46 mins real-time), although Pat had escaped using his aqualung! A late rules check prompted by Richard confirmed that this act was actually illegal, as you can’t abandon the sub with the aqualung until after there is only 10 (in-game) minutes remaining. Oops.
We immediately played again, resolving to be more careful with turn actions and timing, but more ‘risky’ on fix-it die rolls. We discovered that having some rooms flooded at low water was actually a benefit in reducing the outbreak and spread of fires (although I still think there is some ambiguity in the rules, which I will look up later). More considered play saw us make it almost to the end, but we were out-done by the freakish drawing of multiple pressure events. Two or three of us had timed up, with the remainder inside 10 mins. I think we ought to have won this one! Actual playing time: 74 mins.

Battlestar Galactica: Meanwhile, in a galaxy far, far away…
Neil M., Alex and Brian were fighting the system and known Cylons in their midst, in the form of Mark and Richard. Morale was eventually beaten down to zero, just prior to the last FTN jump that would have taken them home…
~175 mins.

Knights: A filler type of thing that we bought at Cancon/AGE, mainly to amuse kids. This is a bit like Yahtzee or Risk Express, with a hint of Airships also thrown in. But its about castles, knights and jousting tournaments. Hurrah.
22 mins.
Jeff wins, against Paul, Pat, Euhan, Lindsay.

Stone Age: Some Euro pre-history, with first-time playings for both Richard and Euhan. It was almost inevitable, really, that those two would also get the best results. On the other hand, I find my score simply embarrassing.
Coincidentally, as we played this one on the table, Paula chipped out a few games of the same online, courtesy of BrettSpielWelt.
14 mins rules; 87 mins game time.
Results: Euhan (yellow): 177. Richard (blue): 165. Brian (red): 154. Paul (green): 96.

Ghost Stories: The fourth and final cooperative game played tonight, with a similar demoralising outcome for the participants, Lindsay, Pat, Jeff, Alex.
105 mins. incl. Rules. Game lost (to the ghosts…?)