by Ben Bateson
With Gary making the trek over to Ross from the mysterious 'other side of Hereford', we chose a 7pm start and a few games of Molkky to commence proceedings tonight. Unfortunately for five of us, this combination caught Tony in rampaging mood, and he quickly took down three straight games, only held up ever so slightly by the pub dog commiting a copious urination on his 'out' pin. The pins got a thorough run-out under the hosepipe once we got home!After we had all trooped inside and washed our hands, there was time for a quick playtest of Tony's party-esque game Off The Rails, newly adapted for the London Underground. This one is very welcome on a games night full table, at least as long as Tony resists the urge to shovel in lots of trifling little rules and keeps the whole thing simple. I always enjoy the silly 'one hand on top of your head at all times' silly twists on games, so this one is evolving nicely.
Gary had expressed a desire - highly apt for our usual six-count - to try out Le Havre, so even though we threw open the doors to everyone, I was quietly confident that it would be he, Tony and Becky playing with the Rosenberg ship-fest. With the prospect of the three of them being out of commission for the rest of the evening, Gerv, John and I had time for three full - and fully enjoyable - games.
We kicked off with my new Second Edition London. But, wait, did you notice something there? When you clicked on 'Second Edition London', didn't it take you through to the wrong game? NO, IT DID NOT! THIS IS A PROTEST AT BGG'S IDIOTIC POLICY OF CREATING A NEW GAME PAGE EVERY TIME A DESIGNER TWEAKS THE RULES OF THEIR GAME AND RE-RELEASES IT! It makes me very cross because I have no idea how I can coherently log plays and maintain my play statistics under such a policy. Do I care if I played my copy of Agricola or Tony's 'revised edition'? Like hell do I.
**breathes deeply**
Anyway, whatever my prejudices, it has to be said that the 'new' London has been smartened up very nicely. There is more emphasis on managing poverty, and less on obsessively buying boroughs. The whole thing feels more streamlined and less fiddly. We all enjoyed it massively, not least John who sneaked a narrow win after some exciting back-and-forth.
We moved on to Majesty: for the Realm, a game that had a successful debut the week after. John's enthusiasm for it didn't quite extend to his performance, but Gerv leapt onto a nice balance of Knights and Innkeepers and it looked like his game from about two-thirds of the way in. Indeed it was, but my carefully handled variety and two majority bonuses at least pushed him close. This is a smart filler that doesn't outstay its welcome and we shall have to take a look at the B-sides of the cards.