The Mine Shaft Gap

Venue: Richard’s place
Present: Alex, Jeff, Pat, Brian, Neil F., Andrew, Tommy, Richard, Paul
Played: Hazienda, Nexus Ops, Goldland, Fresh Fish, Phoenicia, Shazamm, En Garde, Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg.

While there were a lot of games played tonight, I only played three biggies as I turned up late. In the first of those I didn’t do too well at all, but in the latter two my performance was so shockingly bad that I’m embarrassed to enter the results here. As an excuse I offer up that I have been out of practice for a few weeks. But the record must show the facts and therefore I report the following…

Hazienda, Nexus Ops: Both of these games were under way maybe 15 mins or so before I arrived so I merely cheered from the sidelines.
Hazienda: Pat: 107. Brian: 83. Alex: 68. Jeff: 50.
Nexus Ops: Richard (orange): 13. Andrew (blue): 8. Tommy (pink): 6. Neil (green): 4.

Goldland: After being asked to make a suggestion for the next game to be played, I selected this one from Pat’s portable collection then promptly insulted not only this choice but all the other games that Pat had brought. My slurs were more about my general ability in each game rather than the games themselves and of course were in jest. But some might assert that karmic forces were in play tonight as the results from my other games will show. But I do not believe in karma so the unreserved apology I now offer up is some attempt at atonement for my rudeness!
Regarding the gameplay itself I forget and/or can’t be bothered with the details, except that Alex and Pat (mainly Pat) scooped up most of the adventurey goodness. My score was just higher than Brian’s and Jeff’s, but this is no point of pride since they had not played before.
15 mins rules and setup; 55 mins game time.
Results: Pat (blue): 23. Alex (white): 16. Paul (black): 13. Brian (red): 12. Jeff (green): 11.

Fresh Fish: Played at the other end of the table by the Nexus Opians.
About an hour, I think.
Results: Neil: 11. Tommy: 10. Andrew: 3. Richard: -2.

Phoenicia: This was awful. I made a number of wrong choices from the get-go and found myself hobbled for the whole game with a desperately low productivity. I had wedged myself into a vicious cycle from which I could not break as the other players raced ahead, effectively excluding me from any meaningful participation in the card auctions. Alex drove the knife in further by acquiring both Smelters, after I had invested in two Prospectors (which was another mistake, despite getting them at or near their base price).
To put a positive spin on things, I’ll call this a learning experience. If I were to play again soon I would expect to provide a more respectable showing and not make the same mistakes. Kudos though to Brian, who won convincingly.
15 mins rules and setup; 65 mins game time.
Results: Brian (red): 37. Alex (yellow): 33. Jeff (green): 31. Pat (blue): 30. Paul (purple): 16.

STOP PRESS: This just in from Brian:
Oh the guilt! During Phoenicia I inadvertently (yes it was a genuine mistake, and I feel bad about it) gave myself a 10 coin discount instead of 8 coins on 3 of my auctions. I think I would not have been able to win at least 1 of the auctions I was in at the end of the game, which gave some VP & income advantage at the end. So to be fair, I think Pat should have been declared the winner. I probably would have come in 2nd, but possibly 3rd, since Jeff would have had a higher score.
At least I knew which team I was playing for at the time! ;-)
(The last remark is a reference to Die Kutschfahrt. Read on…)

Shazamm and En Garde: Both Neil and Andrew baled out after after Fresh Fish, leaving Tommy and Richard to conduct a few duelling activities. Apparently Richard won the best of 3 Shazamm battles. Don’t know the result of En Garde but I gather it was a less-than-serious bout.

Die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg: In short, I think I actually played this game quite well… for my opponents.
Here’s my story (and I’m sticking to it). We were all dealt Association cards and I spent a few very deliberate moments studying mine. Then (because Pat had to opt out before we started) they were collected and re-dealt. I neglected to study my new card, presumably because I was distracted by looking at the other cards dealt. This is no excuse of course – the guilt is all mine. But the result was that I played the entire game assuming I was allied with my enemies and not my friends and it was only at the end when Associations were revealed that I realised my error. I can only apologise again for this. Although, despite the game being spoilt in the true sense, I think some of us were able to extract some meagre enjoyment from the experience (even if it continued to be at my expense). Sorry again.
Sorry. Really.
52 mins game time.

(Anyone else want to share…?)