Games Night

An old-style games night which only occurs infrequently nowadays. Jon and Ray coming around for some easter gaming.

Formula De

Running two cars each and dicing off for pole position with second cars at the rear. Montreal track is brutal on the car's tyres and brakes. A bit bland in the corner types which are basically all painful two stop corners, everybody pitted after the first lap of the two-lap race.

Metro

The track laying by committee game where longest routes win and direct lines are bad. Two games played with much confusion in the second, as sides were swapped but people initially kept playing as their original colour.

Sequence

The traditional way to end a games night. Connect4 meets Poker. Three player version seems to take slightly longer than the two player\team version but not by much. Four quick games.
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Race Night

On of those quite nights at the club in the lull between Xmas and the New Year. So Craig brought some boardgames along and the winner was Formule De, in it's Formula D incarnation. Two one lap races with seven drivers and plenty of wreckage. Both races on proper tracks and helmeted drivers rather than the chavy street racing option.

Raymondo Returns

After much cajoling by me over a number of weekends Ray finally decided to show his face at the Tueday club, probably for the first time in over a decade.

Ray had a chat with Martin about Battletech, plus a natter with Jim and Graeme, the surviving old timers from Ray's original time at the club back in the 80's and 90's.

Singapore Sling

Martin was missing so a lot of idle (i.e. more idle than normal) Battletech players hanging around. So the old favourite Formula D(e) got rolled out.

A new map set bought on the cheap by Craig, Singapore GP circuit and a Docks street race circuit.

Street Formula

Craig wanted to do a big player game of Formula D, the new version of Formula Dé, so I decided to join in as it's been sometime since I've played a boardgame. Rolled for pole position and ended\started up in mid-field which I was happy with. Have never thought of pole as being much of an advantage in this game, it's often better to reach the corner at race speed, particularly if the next corner is within one turn\gear shift reach.

Was going to be a three lap race, but the decision was made to shorten the race to a single lap half way through the first lap, due to not wanting some late turn ups to sit out the game, so people started burning their tyres more. Some how I managed to take the lead by taking a risk out of the penultimate corner and burning all my tyres out of the final corner to be able to reach sixth gear and the finish line. Was surprised by the over cautious approach of the two lead cars in the penultimate corner as both had tyres and brakes left.

Next couple of races were one lappers on street circuits, a new feature with this version of the game. This was the first time for me in playing the street circuit rules. Chicago, the flip side of Sebring, was the first. Rather than hot rods the vehicles were more clown cars\keystone cops as ramming and excessive debris caused vehicles to fall apart quickly. The rain in the second street race, using the original race track with all the gimmicks, lead to even further devastation; with four cars being knocked out before the fourth corner and only three finished, including one who had to limp home in low gear to survive.

Turns out Craig's desire for a Championship season is taking a bit of a hammering given the lack of availability of different tracks, the new releases are few and far between and the old version maps are going for funny money on eBay. Shame as running a near full season can be great fun.
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Magic Formula

At a loss for games on Tuesday, didn't fancy a small DBA tournament, set in what looked like Egypt judging by the pyramids and sphinxes, and the Uncharted Seas game was already full.

Didn't bring my usual selection of games and unfortunately everybody thought likewise so we were sort of stuck at what to do. Craig normally brings something along but as he hadn't currently arrived, it was decided to do the 'summon Craig ritual' and send me out to get my games. True to form the ritual worked and by the time I got back Craig was there setting up a game of Formula D (De as was).

Use to play this game enough in the past (with Jon, Ray and Ian) to actually have full World Champions and running two cars each, but this is the first time playing the new version.

The new version has flashier components than the old, with peg based dashboard rather than the paper and pencil pads formally used. The cars look smaller than previous and are one piece but coloured rather than the old with their clip on wings which you could mix and match.

The race was a two lapper on a proper racing circuit (Hockenheim) rather than one of the gimmicky street racing ones included in the new version. Six players racing one car each.

Didn't get off to a good start, taking two collision damages in the first third of the track and leaving most of my tires on the tarmac.

Everybody bar Craig headed into the pits at the end of lap one, and being within a turn of each other a large tailback ensured. Not sure that the pit rules were done properly as I didn't think you could stall in the pits; either fast or slow stop and out in Fourth gear (or lower) regardless of the pit roll. Another new thing in this version is the limited ability to fix two damage to other areas of the car as well as renewing the tyres.

More carnage going around the second lap but not from my car. Jim's Tractor ended up falling apart half way round the second lap with Keir's soon to follow. Did manage to use up all my tires and brakes to just survive the last corner, and putting myself one step ahead of my rival for third\fourth place. Thought I had blown it at the end as I rolled one short of the finishing line, but thankfully the guy behind was just as bad at rolling the die as I was and came up two short of the line. So staggered across the finish line in third.
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Gaming Galore

Had boardgames session on Saturday, to commiserate Ray on his forthcoming birthday, and we managed to get a surprising number of games completed.

Formula De: A quick two lap race around the Imola track, two cars each for six in total. A fast but high wear circuit if your unlucky. No crashes but a totally trashed car managed to cross the line. The new version of this is now out under the title Formula D, but not sure about it as it includes gimmicky street racing with characters, unlike the pure racing game which has a simplicity of play. Also I'm not sure that that the previous race track expansions are going to be re-released.

Metro: A Eurogame nominally about building underground railways, but really a longest pipes win game. Actually nicely aggressive for a Euro. Managed a couple of games of this.

Sequence: Another old classic. Poker meets Connect 4. In one of the games we came within a couple of rounds of a stalemate (something I've only ever seen once before.)

Cityscape: Wooden block placement game where you have to guess the final 'skyline' to earn points. Closest game of the evening ending in a two way draw with third close behind.
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