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A Night of Gaming with the Reverend revgiblet
Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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So there I am, on leave from work. All alone. The wife is in the fem-cave scrapbooking another album of slobbering babies. The night outside is cold, dark and still. I start to go insane and mutter something about Cthulhu eating the world with a dash of HP sauce when I realise there is, yet again, absolute rubbish on the idiot box.
I am slowly descending into a madness I can not escape. And then... my rescuer enters. The Reverend himself. He raps on the door once, twice, three times. As I slide the door open he leans forward and whispers those life enhancing words...
"Are you free for some games tonight?"
All I can manage is a feeble nod. And yet I feel my strength rising. The colour returns to my pale face as my fists unclench and my toes are once again warm with glee.
"I'm going out to game, Hun!" I yell in the general direction of the fem-cave as I sprint out the door with my trusty box encased in my arms.
And so it began. A night of gaming with the Reverend himself. The Right Honourable Reverend revgiblet and I would make this a night of blood and fury. A night which was sure to put the 'revs' back into Reverend.
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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We begin our hallowed night with San Juan. I am quietly confident after playing the Java version approximately 20 million times over the past month. The Reverend draws the library early and starts his dirty work. I go the poor house, gold mine and chapel early. Things are going very evenly and then revgiblet gets the guild hall. This could be bad. Very bad. I get the City Hall with a stack of violet buildings, all the while slipping cards under the chapel. I build a tobacco storage to end and we count the points.
Thiessi- 34 points
revgiblet- 36 points
Argggh! What a close game! A 2 point difference! If this was an early indication then we were going to be in for a good night.
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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I demand a rematch due to the Reverend's clearly lucky victory. He again gets the library very early. I don't see one all game. No chapel this time for me. But I do get a guild hall quite early. Ha ha! But then my joy turns to sorrow as revgiblet also builds a guild hall. To cut a long story short I didn't play well this game and he unfortunately (for me), did. 7 resource cards with a guild hall. Need I say more?
Thiessi- 34 points (again)
revgiblet- 41 points
To put it simply, I had lost twice. One was a marginal loss, the other a thrashing. Could I improve? I needed to, for honour's sake.
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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I had choice of first game. The Reverend gets to choose next. He looks for about a minute and selects Ticket to Ride: Europe. Now, this choice surprised me a little as my Rev. Friend has been, shall we say, a little (*cough* a LOT) scathing of the Ticket to Ride franchise in the past. Obviously fooled by its apparent surface simplicity, he decided to give it another shot.
I select three destination tickets which form a massive link across from one side of the board to the other. From memory I essentially had to link Moscow to somewhere in Spain (Madrid I think...). The Reverend had a similar mission in mind, so it turns out. After much train placing, jolly banter and station building, I run out of trains first and we count up the points.
revgiblet is 3 points ahead of me on tracks and destination tickets. Whoever has longest route will win the game. Oh the tension!
I count the length of my route.
39.
The Reverend takes his time, and double checks.
"I also have 39", he announces.
So he wins by 3 points.
NO!!!!!!! I can't believe this. Three losses in a row!!! ARRGHHH!!!! What a night this is turning out to be!
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4.
Board Game: Bus Stop
[Average Rating:4.64 Unranked]
Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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At this point I receive a call from a friend who politely asks for a lift from the bus station. Seeing as it is only a ten minute drive, and he lives right near me, I do him a favour. The Reverend joins me for a drive and gloats for twenty minutes (actual gloating may or may not have actually taken place).
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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My turn to choose. After three losses in a row I needed a nice, light, fluffy game. A nice little filler. With some form of dice (or die).
I select Aquadukt and off we go. Let me say that my rolling was simply tremendous in this game. The Reverend's was... not tremendous. It was quite ordinary. Even though he spitefully turned the water away from my houses as a last resort, there was nothing the little 'giblet could do. This one was mine to take. And take it I did. I can't remember exact scores, but I know I won by over 10 points.
Finally, a victory. I know that gaming is all about having the experience with friends, but man it feels good to win once in a while. I won't comment on the fact I needed a game with dice that favoured me to do it...
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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We move onto Alhambra for something different. I really like the concept of a dummy player. It kind of forces you into playing well in order to avoid the embarrassment of losing to a non-existant entity.
We named our dummy player 'Daniel' in honour of a good friend from our old gaming group in another location. Daniel is one of those 'I always play green, and if you don't give me green I will tackle you and destroy your privates without mercy' type of gamers. The kind of gamer who subscribes to the old school of thought that the best way of teaching a game is to crush your opponent without mercy, to the point of agonsing tears in those who are prone to show such signs of weakness.
We had to beat Daniel. To make up for all those times in which his namesake had beaten us. Repeatedly.
The details of this game are a little hazy in my mind. Daniel drew most of the gardens to start with, and by the end of the game had about 7-8 mezzanines. Much banter was had by all (including trash talking Daniel). I ended up on exactly 120 points, the exact end of the scoring track. The Reverend actually broke the scoring track, and ended up on 132 points. Daniel, however, had only a measly 67.
TAKE THAT DANIEL!!!! HOW DOES IT FEEL!!!! (repressed anger released)
Thiessi- 120
revgiblet- 132
Daniel- 67 (TAKE THAT!)
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7.
Board Game: 10
[Average Rating:4.39 Overall Rank:7420]
Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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At this stage we both glance at the clock and realise it is 10pm. Do we do it? Do we risk playing another game and possibly endure the horrible icy stare and silence of our respective wives when we return home? Of course we do, we are gamers after all... We would need to be quick though. Our very lives might depend upon our choice.
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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We need a nice quick game to finish. So what do I choose? Fury of Dracula of course. "Oh boy.", thinks revgiblet. "We could be dead." But does he unpack the box? Of course he does. We are gamers after all.
We had played Fury of Dracula once before at my place. It was an amazing game, really epic. Dracula ended up getting forced to land due to a storm, then his location was revealed. It ended up as a mighty showdown on turn 6, at Castle Dracula at night with all four hunters taking turns trying to kill Dracula. In the end, Dracula managed to roll better and escape into the night, cackling as he went to turn Europe into an army of undead minions.
"Not this time.", I thought. "I will slay the foul beast with my own hands. Nothing less will suffice."
The Reverend plays as Dracula (of course- he does own the game) and I take all four hunters. Lord Godalming starts in Madrid. The doctor starts in Munich. Van Helsing starts in Bucharest and Mina starts in London. All the hunters start exploring, taking items and events as they go. They find a few nice items, including a stake and garlic for Mina. I also get an ally which means Dracula loses a blood for every turn he is at sea, instead of every second turn.
Early in the piece, Van Helsing runs into Dracula's trail at Genoa. He uncovers a vampire which, since it is night, leaves him with a nasty bite. First blood goes to Dracula. Luckily, Lord Godalming is able to perform a blood transfusion and take away the nasty stinging sensation.
At this point Dracula goes to sea for a while, merrily reducing his blood supply due to my ally. On a whim, Mina decides to go to sea from Plymouth. She wanders around sea for a bit before deciding, again on a whim, to go to land at Lisbon.
I reach for the item and even decks when the Reverend yells out "WAIT!"
"For what?", I ask.
Then it hits me. On a total whim, Mina has run into Dracula himself.
"YES!!!", I whoop in delight. Half the battle is over. But Mina will have to do it on her own, as the nearest hunter is 5-6 spaces away.
"Take that you foul beast!", yells Mina as she whips out a clove of garlic. Dracula cowers, and then lets out a hiss, diving at Mina with his claws slashing. Mina counters by plunging a stake deep into Dracula's heart. The beast screams, and then strikes again. Mina counters with her rifle, and again plunges a stake deep into Dracula's heart.
The beast screeches in pain, and then slahes Mina across the cheek with his claws. Mina takes the blow, composes herself, and plunges the stake into Dracula's heart a third time.
An agonising scream, frenzied writhing, and then there is silence. Mina has slayed the beast. She collapses to her knees and waits for her friends to find her. She is too tired to go on, but she rests happily knowing that the scourge of Dracula has been removed from the Earth forever.
Until next game.
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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I couldn't believe it. I had won Fury of Dracula as the hunters. I didn't think it could happen. I thought that Dracula had way too many advantages in the first place. When I do find Dracula I can never seem to roll well enough. But I did tonight. With a stroke of luck it all fell together nicely.
And quickly.
We once again glanced at the clock and found that it was only 10:30pm. An entire game of Fury of Dracula, including set up time had taken only 30 minutes. That had to be a record, and was probably testament to the amazing luck I had at several stages of the game.
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Jason Root
Australia
Dubbo
NSW
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Well, what a night we had. We would even live tonight as we would even get home before 11pm. I have to thank the mighty Reverend James Webb for humouring me and even allowing me to win once or twice. Thanks again mate. And I hope we can do it again soon.
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Canowindra
NSW
As it is, I reckon we'll be able to fit in another mammoth session later this week.
Dubbo
NSW