Seven Wonders, Sushi Go, Ra - 18 July

Five player games at Adrian's saw us fit in two old favourites and a new try-out.  First up was Seven Wonders with Adrian and Kieron returning to the fold in first and second place (Adrian 62, Kieron 55, David 50, Stu 49 and Andy also 49).  We then tried the beautifully designed Sushi Go for two rounds of raw fish fun: Andy won the first, and Kieron the second (Andy 54, 41; Adrian 53, 42; Stu 51, 44; David 48, 46; Kieron 42, 53).  Finally David stormed to victory with Ra with Adrian barely breaking even (David 58, Stu 30, Kieron and Andy 17, Adrian 13).  A fun evening.

Clank! & Medici - 24 April 2019

Back to the dungeon for original Clank!  With his very noisy robot causing lots of clank, James made a quick smash-and-grab and an early (low-scoring) exit.  David wasn't far behind.  Stuart and Andy made it above ground with Stuart collecting enough money and gems to more than make up for not securing the bonus 20 points for exiting.  Final scores: Stuart 87, David 73, James 68 and Andy 55.

Then we dusted off an old classic from Reiner Knizia, Medici.  Andy usually wins this (with luck and his Derren bidding skills) and managed to continue his run of winning a game each week.  Final scores: Andy 125, David and James 117, Stuart 57.

St Petersburg, 11 April

A textbook play-through of St Petersburg.  High scoring all round yet no one could fault Andy's technique.  Scores Andy 121, Adrian 116, David 111.

Japanese ladies, palanquin and a shop!

The impending Salute prompted me into some more painting last week.  I finished off the bearers for the palanquin:

and painted several Japanese ladies, one in the same kimono as that inside the palanquin so she can be represented on foot or carried.

I also put together another MDF kit from Salute....

...this time a shop in the machiya style of a traditional wooden townhouse.

As usual, the roof is removable.

Another building... almost

My break from MDF buildings didn't last long!  The cardboard Wild West town has now been completely replaced by MDF (see here and here) but a kit from 4Ground caught my eye at Salute.  It's a building under construction and so will look a bit different on the gaming table.

The roof is removable so figures can be placed inside.  Don't think the walls should provide much cover though!

Salute - 6 April 2019

Andy and I travelled to Excel yesterday for another Salute.  A long journey but a good venue and so much to see.  Some of the highlights:

Cavemen hunting mammoths

Battle of Danholm 1807 (French vs Sweden)

The Williamite Wars in Ireland 1688-1691

A lunar battle in 10mm

Academics from University of Edinburgh wargaming attacking a crusader castle to understand more about how they were defended.

A fantasy/ancients game with fantastic scenery.

GORDON'S A-BRICK!  Flash Gordon in Lego!

And the highlight of the show for me... the Back To The Future trilogy in model form with two participation games: a hoverboard race for the second film and a Wild West shootout for the third film.  All three used the same location in different times and had an amazing light show controlled by an Arduino device which counted down the years, controlled the lightning in 1955, and set the Delorean tyre marks aflame in all three time periods.  Enjoy the video (includes a special bonus for David).

Clank! In! Space! - 3 April 2019

Another play of this fun new game.  Adrian made a swift dash for the treasures and ejected early in an escape pod with 81 points.  Andy wasn't far behind but collected a few more counters before his exit and won the game with 87 points.  David made it to the cargo bay with 57 points before succumbing and James, after acquiring a huge 97 points, had this reset to zero as he didn't even make it back to the cargo bay!