Irons Win - I Lose

As I arrived at the home of the Goldstone Gamers I discovered that the Hammers had made it back up to the Premiership which was a good start for me. Good food, good company, interesting conversation continued the pleasure. ...but then games began and things went downhill. Actually they were very enjoyable games but I think I must have played them rather badly because I lost the first and actually came last in the second.

This week we played Paul's de-luxe copy of Discworld: Ankh Morpork followed by Finca, both games I like.

Discworld brings together the world of Terry Pratchett and the game-designing skills of Martin Wallace. There are those that think this is not one of Wallace's best designs but my attitude is more along the lines of "It's Pratchett AND Wallace - What's not to like?". Not being po-faced "serious" gamers (surely an oxymoronic concept anyway?) we had a lot of fun with this despite a fair amount of "backstabbing" and revenge moves.

I made the mistake of giving away my intentions at a point where I seemed poised for a win quite early on. Of course, after this I was steadily knocked back by my opponents and then contributed further to my own downfall by playing a card with a random event, which destroyed houses and cost money, and then another which overfilled my hand with unhelpful cards, holding me back for several moves.

Meanwhile I unwittingly contributed to a very near win by Paultro but Sandsweeper luckily saved that situation by removing a trouble marker on her turn. However, Sitro had been quietly heading towards his own goal of controlling four areas and achieved it that same turn. Lots of fun and great to play with the nice metal and resin pieces. Not my finest hour as far as strategy was concerned though.

Things could only get better... Finca is a game I like and had played three times before, pretty successfully as far as I could recall. When I first played it I thought it might suit the Goldstone Gamers but I didn't anticipate ALL the newbies playing it better than me. Certainly my worst game of Finca so far. Despite being well aware of the game concepts I kept failing to get useful quantities of fruit, blew two of my special action tiles and failed to gain a single bonus. Dismal.

Which is not to say I didn't enjoy it but I did indulge in a fair bit of characteristic whinging as Sitro nudged me into last place on 30 to his 31 when unused actions were taken into account. Meanwhile Paultro and Sandsweeper had played a sensible game, picking up board bonuses and those for having all the different numbers. I have conveniently forgotten Paultro's score, probably because I was fixated on the lowliness of my own, however  I can say with confidence it was A LOT MORE.

A nice game though. Simple in concept and with nice wooden fruit, differentiated both in colour and shape.

Photo by Paultro received later

It was a really good evening and I would happily go for a re-match of both these games as soon as possible.

Viva il Terry

This week's main game was a new Martin Wallace game "Discworld: Ankh Morpork". This is unusual for Wallace in being a licenced spin-off from the hugely popular (not least among game-geeks) series of comic fantasy novels by Sir Terry Pratchett.

The game may not please all the Wallace fans as it may be seen as less of a "gamers' game" than his others. Since he is presumably hoping to market this to the legions of Pratchett fans, and to see it stocked by a much wider range of outlets than the normal "Eurogame", it is probably inevitable that it be given simpler rules and strategies.


Nevertheless, I enjoyed it and its card-driven action and found it easy to learn and play but not unsatisfying. It drips with Discworld theme, with the board being based on a map of the city of Ankh-Morpork and its various disreputable regions and with many of the well-known characters appearing on the action and event cards.

Image via WikipediaImage via WikipediaMy goal (defined by a random, hidden character card - Lord Rust) was to control 4 areas of the city at the beginning of my turn. After a number of rounds I was surprised to find that I had got away with my strategy and announced my win. What surprised me was not that I managed to gain outright control of the areas but that I was somehow allowed to keep control by the three other players (The Professor, MaOldie and Crabro) until my own turn again. Simply adding a minion, or removing one of my own buildings or minions, in one of the areas would have thwarted my plan. I believe that the others were simply too involved in their own strategies to notice the situation. Despite my motives being under close scrutiny a few turns before.




I enjoyed the game and would be happy to play it again. Stripped of its theme, there are many games to equal it but it is an enjoyable game and the theme, at least to a Discworld fan, takes it to a new level.

During the first game, Petra Pan and MrWendell arrived and having been issued with a hot beverage were seated at a second table where they amused themselves with a Mystery Rummy, while we finished Morporking. We then joined up for a six-player game which was Viva il Re.


Viva il Re, is a very simple game: a filler really. It is played simply by moving one piece one level up the building and voting (using a set of three cards) whether or not the person reaching the throne shall be ruler or shorter by a head. Each player is issued with a random card at the start, which lists the names of those courtiers which will bring points if they survive.

The voting cards consist of a returnable "yes" or crown card and two non-returnable "no" cards. Players take it in turns to position a piece on the board (a cross section palace building with several floors, each capable of holding four nobles) they then move one up each turn. When one is moved into the topmost room a vote takes place.

Possibly because I have played it before, I managed to win the first game quite convincingly but in the second I game only second having had several of my favourites beheaded. It is a very simple game and one with a high luck factor but it is attractive colourful and fun as a quick and simple filler.

We finished the evening with a quick delve into the mines of Diamant once more and either through bad luck or bad judgement (cowardice) I managed to lose, although it was quite a high scoring game.