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Anthony Boydell
United Kingdom
Unspecified
Unspecified
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In the lands of the North, where the black rocks stand guard against the cold sea*, in the dark night that is very long**, the Men of the Graenalands sit by their great log fires and they tell a tale.
They tell of a Prince and how he traveled in the forests and the hills, the mountains and, er, the forests again to collect wood, ore, cattle and grain to build at least six settlements in three different territories, have an army of power 3 or more and a minimum of two Buildings (a Church and a Keep, as it so happens). Boddle the Bod. Prince of the Bods, was his name.
The Bods built Boddle a long ship of oak from the va-lleys (isn't it): the mast a single perfect pine tree; the high prow carved, painted and gilded to look like a ferocious Golden Retriever***. Boddle and his band of warriors - Thor Bateson (Captain of the Guard) and Plant the Lofty (inventor) - sailed down the fjord towards the sea. Boddle's trusted adviser and Librarian: the 'Bird' Beckulus, however, was nowhere to be seen - dispatched on a mission of great (im)Port to forge an Ale-iance with Spirits.
As the people waved from the Quay; everyone was sad to see them go, all except one: BodBill The Bad - Boddle's wicked Uncle. Bodbill coveted the Crown of the Graenalands (well, he would - it's his copy of th'game).
They all knew the game would be arduous: it took 15 minutes to work out the setup - finally realizing that the lovely artwork on the back of the resource cards matched, sort of, the lovely artwork on the territory tiles.
They all knew it would be difficult: resources are gained by propositions about their distribution - the most powerful player in a territory chooses how they will be divided and everyone else with an interest there votes FOR or AGAINST. This generally breaks down into: "I propose, with my overwhelming majority, to have EVERYTHING - you lot can scrabble around on the granite beaches picking limpets off the cold rock" - or similar.
They all knew it would be awkward: from the first wave of Czech boardgames, Graenaland has a variety of stupidly-tiny wooden and cardboard bits.
Prince Boddle bade his time, bullied his way around the mountains and stiffed the others out of resources at every opportunity. Victory came about 90 minutes in - a perfectly-good Settlers-like affair, but hard to see how this would steal precious gaming time over newer, or more staple, games.
With the conquest complete, the band settled down to a more contemplative diversion: Biblios. A light, nicely-presented set collection card game with a Monastic theme, Biblios played in two halves - card distribution (to players or an auction pile) and then an auction. Victory points are awarded by having the highest value set of a colour, there are five colours; the points are represented by dice which can be plus-ed or minus-ed during the game. Money cards in the deck can be collected, along with the colour cards, and is used in the auction phase to buy more cards with which to make sets. Prince Boddle ended up in a tie with Thor Bateson who, much to the Prince's annoyance, claimed victory by having the most money left.
Most money? In a game where the purpose of money is to collect it and THEN SPEND IT on other (not money) cards? It's like playing Agricola and then scoring for left-over resources at the end of the game - why build when you can just hoard? I'm not bitter...but RUBBISH! A rubbish bloody tie-breaker. I'll jot that one down to a shared victory.
Exhausted by our travails, smarting from the drudgery of our religious studies and sorely in need of some pork scratchings, the weary party retired to The Red Dragon Inn for some alcholic comfort. For a quick-fire, comedic fantasy drinking game this plays rather too slowly - each player has a deck of effect cards and will be drinking drinks. Drinks affect your alcohol content and 'other pub stuff' reduces your fortitude - if ever the two meet on your score track, you're out (under the table). Throw in a little gambling and a lot of bad 'dwarf' jokes and that's pretty much it: great fun for the first 20 minutes and then it kind of tails off - I think I'd prefer Braggart in this 'slot'.
Still, I won THAT as well - so three out of three (waits for Thor Bateson's interjection) ain't bad!
*that'll be the overflow restaurant room of the White Lion pub in Ross-on-Wye, then
**yesterday
***Bailey - A mighty Beast: Guardian of the Snug Fireplace, Hound of Infinite Tail-wagging and Eternal Hell-Cur with a cold, wet nose
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