Our last Game Day had a new addition, Jamison. He apparently enjoyed himself so much that he offered to host the June Game day.
Jamison is part of his own game group which refers to itself as the Bearded Boardsmen, and this particular Game Day would be a meeting of the groups; Booze, Beards, and all.
All was scheduled to start at noon and we straggled in over the course of half an hour or so, with one of the Beardsmen announcing he would be a couple hours late. The first hour or so was sans any gaming and was more of a meet and greet; Al providing both entertainment and refreshment by plying us with his latest liquid concoction.
Something involving mint, lemons, and gin; a drink which at first is nameless.
Jamison is part of his own game group which refers to itself as the Bearded Boardsmen, and this particular Game Day would be a meeting of the groups; Booze, Beards, and all.
All was scheduled to start at noon and we straggled in over the course of half an hour or so, with one of the Beardsmen announcing he would be a couple hours late. The first hour or so was sans any gaming and was more of a meet and greet; Al providing both entertainment and refreshment by plying us with his latest liquid concoction.
Something involving mint, lemons, and gin; a drink which at first is nameless.
Deciding what to play is a bit of an issue, as both groups seem to be used to smaller gatherings; three to four people. Starting off with five with a sixth showing up later limited our game selection somewhat. We settled on a game called “Keyflower”, a worker placement game that gives you the opportunity to screw over your opponents. We like screwing each other over, and that was the deciding factor that made us choose this one.
There are some similarities between Keyflower and Caverna, but it seems that you’re able to screw yourself over more easily in Keyflower; because you can lose your meeples and not get them back. Each turn you bid with your meeples, which is pretty standard for worker placement games, but unless you own the territory you are bidding on your meeples go back into the bag. Conversely, if you own the territory and people place meeples on your tile you get to keep them.
I managed to win the bids for a couple of popular tiles which led to one turn near the end of the game where I had a massive pile of meeples; and by beating out Mike on those, the last turn of the game he had very few. Having a ton of meeples will not help if you make some bad judgment calls like I did towards the end which cost me a bit.
I managed to win the bids for a couple of popular tiles which led to one turn near the end of the game where I had a massive pile of meeples; and by beating out Mike on those, the last turn of the game he had very few. Having a ton of meeples will not help if you make some bad judgment calls like I did towards the end which cost me a bit.
I would like to point out that my bad moves did not prevent me from winning the game, I still would not have won; I just would have had more points and not had such a poor score.
Dave had showed up while we were still playing Keyflower, and played audience while he waited for us to finish. By now it was after 4:00 and we decided to break for … well honestly we’d been snacking all day but what the hell the ribs were done.
Jamison had slow cooked ribs, some barbecue chicken, and cooked some sliced potatoes with butter and onions in tinfoil on the grill. It was all very good and for a while talking subsided to mumbling around our forks. Good job Jamison!
We spend a while on food and talk, some talk it is probably for the best that it not get repeated; especially put into writing where it can be read by one and all (which is probably a good sign that the Bearded Boardsmen will fit right in with the Booze and Boardgame crowd …. Or not so good depending on your viewpoint).
Dave had showed up while we were still playing Keyflower, and played audience while he waited for us to finish. By now it was after 4:00 and we decided to break for … well honestly we’d been snacking all day but what the hell the ribs were done.
Jamison had slow cooked ribs, some barbecue chicken, and cooked some sliced potatoes with butter and onions in tinfoil on the grill. It was all very good and for a while talking subsided to mumbling around our forks. Good job Jamison!
We spend a while on food and talk, some talk it is probably for the best that it not get repeated; especially put into writing where it can be read by one and all (which is probably a good sign that the Bearded Boardsmen will fit right in with the Booze and Boardgame crowd …. Or not so good depending on your viewpoint).
However one topic I will touch on is Al’s mixed drink. He had been adamant that we think of a name for it. Lots of names got bandied around but none of them seemed quite to fit. Trying to think of something topical, I shouted out “Kaitlyn Jenner”, which Rob quickly amended to “Kaitlyn Ginner”. Al has mentioned that he will post the recipe online, with potential alternates for a “Bruce Ginner”.
We opted to play “The Resistance” for the next game, in part because it was one we knew everyone could play, including Jamison’s brother who had showed up while we were still eating and discussing what to name Al’s drink.
It was either that, my copy of Kill Doctor Lucky, or we break up into two groups.
It was either that, my copy of Kill Doctor Lucky, or we break up into two groups.
Resistance is a bluffing game where a number of people are part of the rebel resistance and a number of people are spies. The resistance tries to complete missions by secretly voting to pass a mission, spies try sabotage the mission by secretly voting to fail the mission. Players try guess who the spies are so they can avoid choosing them for missions.
Mike is notorious for immediately and enthusiastically accusing people of being a spy (Al being his favorite target). He did not disappoint. We played several rounds and Mike and I were both spies for every hand except the last. The spies won the first round, but the resistance won all the others. Mostly because of bad decisions on the part of the spies. Twice the spies should have failed the mission when they accidentally voted to pass, once I voted for a mission when I should have voted to reject it. I think I did something else stupid too, but I can’t seem to pin it down.
Oh well, what’s one more stupid decision on my part? Happens all the time.
It was now around 7:00 p.m. and though we hadn’t played many games we did have a lot of fun. And we ate a ton of food, and if I may be honest, probably drank a bit more than was wise. Between the seven of us we emptied a bottle of gin. I wisely stopped drinking mixed drinks and started nursing a beer a couple hours earlier, but I can’t speak for the rest of them.
Mike is notorious for immediately and enthusiastically accusing people of being a spy (Al being his favorite target). He did not disappoint. We played several rounds and Mike and I were both spies for every hand except the last. The spies won the first round, but the resistance won all the others. Mostly because of bad decisions on the part of the spies. Twice the spies should have failed the mission when they accidentally voted to pass, once I voted for a mission when I should have voted to reject it. I think I did something else stupid too, but I can’t seem to pin it down.
Oh well, what’s one more stupid decision on my part? Happens all the time.
It was now around 7:00 p.m. and though we hadn’t played many games we did have a lot of fun. And we ate a ton of food, and if I may be honest, probably drank a bit more than was wise. Between the seven of us we emptied a bottle of gin. I wisely stopped drinking mixed drinks and started nursing a beer a couple hours earlier, but I can’t speak for the rest of them.
Oh, I almost forgot that Rob made stuffed chili peppers with bacon. Ordinarily I might have eaten one or two, but large amounts of cream cheese were involved so I declined.
All in all, despite only two games played, this Game Day was a lot of fun. We all laughed and ate and drank and played for almost seven hours. I think that the Bearded Boardsmen will become regular invitees to our monthly Geek Day sessions, and I think they’ll be a good fit as well. As long as they can stand us that is.
Later
Tuna
All in all, despite only two games played, this Game Day was a lot of fun. We all laughed and ate and drank and played for almost seven hours. I think that the Bearded Boardsmen will become regular invitees to our monthly Geek Day sessions, and I think they’ll be a good fit as well. As long as they can stand us that is.
Later
Tuna