Present: Bill, Ron

A combination of factors, including illness, exhaustion and inclement weather among others, reduced the group to its core once again. And we came so close…

No matter, the promises of future attendance are still there, from some of the old and several new, so I remain blindly optimistic. I can’t really complain after Friday’s six-strong session. As Napoleon said at the gates of Moscow, "Don’t worry lads, things can only get better."

There was only one thing we were going to play first, our fifth attempt to destroy that blasted plastic ring. [click here for full game review]

We were both pretty psyched up for it this time, discussing each move in detail and determined to wring every last advantage from our play, rather than rely overmuch on the luck of the tile draw.

Things did not start well. Frodo rolled the dreaded three spot in Bag End and Moria thumped us around. Fortunately we had a pretty good haul of cards from Rivendell and Lothlorien. With two players the main disadvantage is the loss of eight of these bonus cards from the havens. This time we picked up most of the yellow feature cards on offer, which are probably more useful than the double movement cards you can get.

Helms Deep went well, and we picked up plenty of shields, helping us in our determination to fully utilise Gandalf, something we had failed to do in previous sessions. Shelob’s Lair also passed quickly and to our benefit, a Gollum-based card combination getting us through.

As we faced the finale in Mordor we were in with a shout. Although Sauron was only two spaces away from Frodo, Sam was Ringbearer and had a little more leeway. Also, we had plenty of shields left to call on Gandalf.

Rather than attempt to race to the end of the walking line we decided on a more deliberate approach, aimed at insulating ourselves from the early event draws. With the appropriate resources to throw away these events can be turned to advantage, usually keeping Sauron at bay and harvesting some vital extra hobbit cards.

Things started very well. By using Gandalf’s joker and a good card combination we managed to get the Eowyn card (for the first time). Some feature card play replenished my hand and we were looking good after only two tile draws. We knew we could afford a run of four events and still be in with a chance.

Oh, how this game can kick you in the teeth. Seven consecutive event tile draws! I would defy anyone to survive that. The feature cards were sucked away, as were Gandalf’s powers. Frodo sacrificed himself to give Sam one last chance, but it was not to be.

Cracking this game is becoming a major priority. First, with any number of players (I suspect three gives you the best chance) and certainly with two, when it is a real challenge.

There is no point getting into an argument about the luck factor in this game. Of course it is there, in huge dollops, but it is part of the challenge to take advantage of it when it goes your way and to protect yourself from a bad trot as best you can.

Concerns about longevity remain, and have probably increased. I don’t know how keen I will be to keep playing it once the Ring has been destroyed a couple of times – the game is very much a linear progression and so is sure to become a bit samey after a while. I am nowhere near this point yet, however.

Even when it is finally consigned to a corner ignored by the domestic staff it will have notched up more plays than at least 90% of my collection. It will also remain as a fine introduction for newcomers to gaming (and for the kids when they are old enough to have read the book).

Scores: Ron 50, Bill 50

Ratings: it is still a 9 in my book, Ron is keeping mum until she has buried the Ring and can finally smile again.

Lost Cities

We wrapped the evening up with a couple of Lost Cities adventures, fast becoming the traditional closer for two. Remarkably, given her skill and the luck of the draw, Ron has never beaten me at this game, despite at least ten attempts. This is a source of constant frustration for her, mirroring my feelings toward the Settlers Card Game.

It looked as if my run was coming to an end in both games we played. In the first game, going into the final round, Ron held an 85 point advantage. I had no choice other than to go for a high scoring expedition while attempting to negate any big scores Ron tried to accrue. The strategy just about worked as the cards fell in my favour. I managed a 100-point trip to the South Pole and got home by 13 points.

In the second game, I repeated the trick, going into the final round 18 points adrift, only for a 65 pointer to get me home.

Much more of this and we will have to get the lawyers in.

Scores (cumulative by round)

Game 1: Bill 20, 12, 125. Ron 62, 97, 112

Game 2: Bill 33, 77, 169. Ron 34, 95, 149

Ratings: Bill 8, Ron 0 (likely to go to a 10 when she wins one!)

Present: Lyn, Sarah, Judith, Richard, Ron, Bill

The second session for the Meeting of Minds irregulars – a group which seems to be getting quite enthusiastic about this odd game thing. Is it the games, or the chance to junk out on booze, crisps and pizzas? Judging by the cutthroat intensity that grips the entire table as the evening wears on, I suspect the former, which is encouraging – although the latter certainly helps.

The option to replay the games of the previous session was available (Scotland Yard and Union Pacific) but everyone was keen to try some new titles. At this rate my range of six-player games will be soon exhausted. I had not spotted this before, but the six-player format is under-represented in my collection. Four player – you could play a different game every night for a year; five player – ditto; even games which work well with three are plentiful. But six player, probably only around ten or so, and half of these are light filler card games. Is this me or is six an unfashionable number for designers? An investigation will be mounted.

Whatever, the problem of choice is not going to be relevant for a few sessions yet.

To get the evening moving we went for Metro, Dirk Henn’s odd little tile laying game which takes the construction of the Paris Metro as its theme. This is no engineering simulation, however, and it could as easily be about a plate of spaghetti or a competition between balding men to effect the most efficient comb-over.

In short, the game is played on an 8x8 grid of squares surrounded by overhead depictions of railway stations – owned by the players – with a cluster of neutral stations in the middle of the board. The aim of the game is to link your railway stations to any other railway station (including the station of origin) with as long a track as possible.

The heart of the design lies in the tiles, laid one by one on the grid. These picture various configurations of track, drawn in such a way as to always connect with the lines on adjacent tiles. When joined together a maze of continuous lines spread across the board. Some of these tiles have a bewilderingly complex arrangement, which sees lines loop over and under each other, switching back or turning away. In placing a tile to benefit your own progress or to stymie another player, you will often unwittingly create opportunities for fellow engineers to extend their own projects.

As the swirl of rail track takes shape connections get made. As soon as a station connects with another, that line is scored, one point being gained for each tile the line crosses (or recrosses). The stations in the middle of the board are valuable targets, as any line connected to them scores double.

It is a simple game to explain and we were soon off. The only delays in play come from calculating the benefits of alternative placement. Fortunately the tiles can only be placed in one direction, through aligning an arrow on the tile to an arrow on the grid. This simplifies the options to a tolerable degree. One of the variants allows for unrestricted tile placement. While challenging, I will not be queuing up to give this a go – the game is analytical enough as it is, increasing the options by such a magnitude could turn it into a marathon.

With six players this game can be quite brutal, as stations get cut off from any profitable expansion very quickly. Lyn suffered from this, while I simply suffered from a lack of spatial awareness. The key line belonged to Judith, which she somehow managed to guide to a central station past all attempts to balk her. It scored a massive 46 points on its own, more than all of the other player’s total scores.

It was a decent warm-up but Metro hardly jumped off the Richter scale as far as excitement was concerned. While we are hardly talking multi-player chess here, it is still a dry game which can get quite fiddly as you attempt to trace a path through the maze. Unfortunately, it does not really compensate with its tacked on theme. While it is a clever and clean design, and it made a hit with Richard, judging by most of the other reactions it could only be described as inoffensively solid. It even managed to claim that doyen of faint-praise adjectives – pleasant.

Ratings: Ron 7, Judith 7, Bill 7, Lyn 7, Sarah 7, Richard 8

Vinci stood up to the plate for the main event. I was a little apprehensive about this choice. Our previous experience was underwhelming, to say the least. While it played smoothly with five it suffered the killer problem of downtime drag – players forced to drum their fingers while waiting for their turn to come around, having worked out the pretty obvious strategies in about two minutes flat. [click here for full game review]

This problem remained, although it was certainly less pronounced this time around. The pace seemed pretty good and, even though the game clocked up an impressive three and a half hours the time went by quickly enough. Still, good company and unlimited stocks of booze always helps.

I suffered from the drag factor more than most, although I can hardly blame the game. I badly miscalculated the potential yield from my first two civilisation choices, leaving me behind the pack from the beginning. Sometimes, playing catch-up can be fun, but not in Vinci, where major recoveries are unlikely. Sometimes you can benefit from the leaders stalling as they fight it out amongst themselves, but this is the exception rather than the rule. The key tactic is to maximise your own victory point yield. If this means stomping on a rival, all well and good; but if it means stomping on the back markers, well, you do it anyway.

I did manage a late surge but it was not likely to threaten. Ironically, Richard, who came last, had much more the competitive game. He was in contention for about two thirds of the race but sacrificed all in an attempt to boost his position by buying a promising civilisation for 10 victory points. Unfortunately, the combination did not repay his faith and he fell away badly.

The others stayed in the leading group where a tense race developed between Ron, Judith, Lyn and Sarah. Ron eventually stretched into a lead which she held on to ferociously, largely through some good timing of civilisation switches and an incisive grasp of which territories would best protect her declining empires for repeat points (generally the forests).

While the downtime was an issue for some, the game went down well. Sarah and Judith were the most taken with it, and actually thought the time flew by.

I can’t help but think there is a variant in there somewhere. Something to break up the moves a bit, keeping the interludes to a minimum. Perhaps taking it in turns to choose civilisations, and then everyone expanding one province at a time, in turn, with the players with the largest civilisations getting the benefit of a few extra unopposed moves at the end of the round. Everyone scores up simultaneously once all expansion is complete. This has not been tested anywhere other than in my imagination and it probably wouldn’t work. Even if it did come off, it would lead to a completely different game. It might be worth a try, but then again…

Ratings: Lyn 7, Sarah 9, Richard 8, Ron 7, Judith 9, Bill 7.5

Anyway, no harm done and still they want to come back for more. I am going to have to work hard to keep any dud games off the table. I don’t want to burst this particular bubble of enthusiasm.

Present: Federico, Bill, Ron, Andy

Tonight we welcomed Federico, the latest addition to the family. With Project X reaching its conclusion (read here for details) we should be up to six next week, a first for a Monday night meeting. There is even a sniff of interest from another couple, which could see us enter the lofty realms of a second table. And there you were, thinking you would only ever see reports of three-player games on this site. Oh ye of little faith…

Federico’s introduction came courtesy of our friends at Dice n’ Duel, where he had bought a copy of Lord of the Rings one morning, to return in the afternoon to buy another copy for his friends. Once bitten…

Understandably keen for a first attempt to destroy the Ring, Federico made a gallant effort to hide his disappointment when the game got the veto torpedo during the selection preliminaries. Andy signed the death warrant, preferring not to play the game two weeks on the trot, particularly since he was not that enamoured of it in the first place – a harsh decision, but fair.

At least Federico had the newcomer’s privilege of getting the choice of the remaining games, and plumped for Euphrat & Tigris, aware of the title’s monumental reputation. (Click here for full review.)

It is a nervous time when explaining rules to a newcomer: will he understand; will this game turn him off the idea for good; will he play like an idiot? Fortunately, all concerns soon disappeared and Federico proved an able and sharp competitor, guaranteeing he will not get any new boy favours from now on.

The game developed along a different line to the group’s previous playing. Rather than a relatively quiet session with separate single-player kingdoms developing in each corner of the board, this time a sinewy empire spread across the middle of the playing area, soon incorporating three monuments. This was obviously the place to get the big points and internal and external battles were fast and frequent.

I was first out of the blocks, building a blue-black pyramid in my own little province before attempting an incursion into the big central territory. My fortunes soon waned, however, as I failed to wrest control of crucial positions from either Federico or Ron. My own little kingdom could only churn out black and blue cubes, of which I had more than enough already, while doing nothing to help me get hold of green or red.

Federico was next to reach prominence, building an excellent position, both in the major kingdom and his own satellite state. For a while he had control of monuments producing one cube of each colour every turn.

This threat was eventually countered by the other players – Federico’s leaders gradually succumbing to repeated attempts at displacement.

Ron, meanwhile, quietly built up her power base and became the main beneficiary of Federico’s fall from grace, as she was able to grab influence over more monuments while ensuring her leaders were adequately protected from attack. Her defences were sound and she fought off several late attempts to dislodge her grip on things.

Andy, unfortunately, suffered some early setbacks and found it difficult to establish any sort of position on the board.

After about 90 minutes of play the tiles ran out. The consensus was that it would be a close-run thing between Federico and Ron. When the tokens were revealed it came as no surprise that Ron ran out the winner, although the margin of her victory was a bit of a shock to all.

Scores:

Andy: Black 7, Blue 4, Green 4, Red 7. Total: 4

Federico: Black 9, Blue 7, Green 9, Red 7. Total: 7

Ron: Black 11, Blue 12, Green 14, Red 12. Total: 11

Bill: Black 12, Blue 21(!), Green 7, Red 8. Total: 7

Andy has given the game two tries now, and hated it each time. Hence the following:

Ratings:

Federico 8, Ron 8, Bill 8.5, Andy 3.5

Well, three out of four isn’t bad. Federico liked it, particularly the absence of dice. It was good to see Federico enjoy his first game, which should guarantee a return visit. E & T has always been one of Ron’s favorites, although she does not subscribe to the theory that this is a luckless game, seeing the tile draw as pretty critical – a few poor hands can really set you back. I think it’s a great game that pulls off the difficult trick of being different each time you play and with enough depth to guarantee longevity. 

Federico was keen to play another game (in order to avoid his arm becoming totally twisted out of shape) and with Ron’s departure we played a three handed round of Samurai, another of Knizia’s tile laying designs.

After going through the strange scoring system a couple of times (and getting it right the second time around) we were soon off. The game plays quickly and the prime tile locations were soon used up. Even though we were using the starter rules (in which everyone starts with a random hand of tiles as opposed to a freely selected set) the game seemed to balance well.

Going for an automatic win with a majority in two categories should not be relied upon, even in a two player version. I think the key to the game is to devote the minimum resources necessary to get a majority in one of the three categories. With this efficient play maximum effort can be directed at picking up tokens in the other categories, which will determine the final score.

The game took about an hour. Andy managed his resources best and leapt to a clear two point win, with Federico and I tied (again).

Scores:

Andy: Buddhas 4, High Helmets 2, Paddy Fields 4. Total: 6

Bill: Buddhas 1, High Helmets 5, Paddy Fields 3. Total: 4

Federico: Buddhas 5, High Helmets 2, Paddy Fields 2. Total: 4

I like Samurai. It is quick, not too brain burning for what is a pretty dry game and has nice bits and a pretty board. But it is does seem to lack the necessary chemical to make it a truly addictive experience.

Ratings: Andy 7.5, Bill 7.5, Federico 7

I know, only three again. I may risk sounding like a warped nutter but trust me, it will not always be this way. I am pretty hopeful about our progress. Project X is stumbling through a few obstacles, but it will not be long before Helen and Alex return to the fold. With a bit of luck and a following wind we will soon be welcoming a new player, and, to cap it all, next week will see an extra session as we do a repeat run for the newbies we hooked from the pool of Ron’s work colleagues.

Trust me, in a few months we will be hammering down the doors of the local hostelries, demanding to rent a large space to cope with the dozens of gamers flooding to Totnes every week…

In any case, there is no reason to moan. Three is not the game killing number it used to be as we continue to catch up with the never-ending production line of quality games from the continent.

There was not much doubt as to which game we would be playing this evening. Still, we went through the steps of selection anyway, just for form's sake.

I have had a couple of emails asking me about our game of game picking so now is an appropriate moment to outline how we go about this tricky task.

True to type, we have turned the whole thing into a Byzantine voting procedure. Over time it should prove fair to everyone, but perhaps it is a little fairer to me than to everyone else, which is how it should be!

My role is to select an initial range of games to choose from, plucked out from my personal collection. The only restrictions being that the games must be playable by the number of people present and the minimum number of games in the initial pool must equal the number of players plus one.

The next step sees each player deciding whether to exercise the option to veto one game (since I have already exercised a fair degree of control in the initial selection this option is unavailable to me). This helps prevent anyone being bullied into playing a game they absolutely hate.

Lots are then drawn to decide who gets the final pick of the remaining games. The only restriction being that no-one is allowed this position for two consecutive selections.

And there you have it. The system is not without its flaws, a rules lawyer would have a field day with it; but it’s quick, it works and it is needlessly complex in a comforting sort of way.

Anyway, moving on to Lord of the Rings.

For Ron and I, this marked a fourth attempt to defeat the mighty Sauron. This does not add up to a massive amount of experience, but I have gone ahead and written a review anyway. If you don’t know the game, it is probably worth reading the review before going on with this session report.

It did not take too long to go through the rules, although I was careful not to skim the explanations too much. With Ron and I both having played before it would have been easy to just tell Andy what to do during the game. While this might work, it would be a particularly unsatisfying experience for the player being told what to do. I think there was probably an element of this during the first couple of scenario boards, but Andy soon picked it up.

We avoided total disaster as we got through the first and second boards. The extra cards a three-player hand gives the group really seemed to make a difference. By the time we got to Mordor we were in pretty good shape, although none of us had enough shields to use Gandalf. But we did have plenty of cards, and just enough of the joker and travelling variety to get us to Mount Doom, if combined with the Gollum card and a quick pull on the Ring.

Ron’s turn proved critical. She was playing Frodo, the Ringbearer for this last board. Ron wanted to advance along the fighting track using one of the jokers she held, to pick up the Life token she needed to avoid having to roll the dice when the next event came up. I argued that she should ignore the Life tokens and move along the main track as fast as possible. Against her better judgement she listened to me. An easy mistake to make, and one she has made more than once before.

One bad trot of event tiles later we had all run to embrace Sauron as if he was holding a wedge of cash and offering to buy a round for his mates.

So there we are. Yet another failure. It was a bitter pill. Coming into the final board we really felt we had a chance. In the end we could not even equal our previous best two-handed score. It is possible we would have been doomed even had Ron taken the Life token, but it would have been closer.

Scores: Bill, Ron, Andy: 52

The game took about 90 minutes, once the rules were digested.

The response to the game was mixed, and represents the wide spectrum of feeling this game has generated.

Ron likes it to the point of now owning an embarrassing compulsion to keep playing it until she finally sees the bloody Ring destroyed. Her main concern is that once this objective has been achieved, the desire to play it again will greatly diminish. Mind you, the way things have been going, we will probably be playing it nearly every day for the next couple of years.

Andy, meanwhile, did not catch the buzz. If this is the sort of game you will either love or loathe, Andy falls into the latter category. He does not like the players v the system element in general, particularly in the way it leaves you dissatisfied after you have hacked away at it for ninety minutes and still nobody wins. Also, and he is surely not alone in this, Andy did not like the way the event tile pack can be completely stacked against you, leaving you no escape route.

I have to say I love it. The theme is spot on and really comes through in the game. I like the mechanics in that they give you plenty of difficult choices to make, often with no way of knowing which choice is best. I really like the tension in the game. It can get quite exciting as you draw the tiles, knowing a couple of bad ones will finish you off while a good one could see you through to the end. The pacing too, is excellent, and really moves like the plot of a book, as excitement levels rise as the game nears the conclusion.

I certainly understand the criticisms of the game, particularly in the luck of the draw department. Usually such a feature in anything other than a very short game would be enough for me to stick it into solitary confinement for bad behaviour. Yet somehow the luck element seems excusable in this game. I actually like the idea that you are up against the fates, as well as Sauron’s machinations. The truth is, to win this game you must play your cards very well, (we didn’t), plan pretty far ahead (no, not us), and appreciate the ramifications of all the available options (embarrassed cough). Even if you do all this, you still need a couple of lucky breaks to get through. For once, this seems right to me. I can understand how others might not feel this way, however, and will simply see the whole game as an elaborate method to build up a bit of tension for a couple of tile draws and die rolls.

Ratings: Ron 8; Andy 6.5 (7 for the artwork); Bill 9 (could come down with time, but we will see)

There was still time for a quick game of Lost Cities and a chance to avenge my defeat of the previous week. My thirst for revenge was made more acute when Andy revealed that in our previous encounter he had banked on me treating him as a novice. He deliberately fed me an attractive card, assuming I would put his play down to inexperience, take it on and start an expedition. All the while Andy had held the really juicy cards in this suit and watched gleefully as my trip to the volcano got smothered in the ashes.

Quite a neat trick really.

Anyway, a different feel to this game as we both went for some pretty big expeditions in contrast to the cat and mouse affair of the previous week. By the end of the second round I had built up a 24 point lead which I managed to sit on for the last round, which I spent trying to cover Andy. A tactic which just about squeaked out the win.

The most notable thing about this game was the second round, when, for the first time I can remember, I actually started all five expeditions, managing a positive score in four of them, and a level 0 points in the fifth. Only 54 points in total, but pretty nonetheless.

Scores, cumulative by round:

Bill 115;169; 180

Andy 105; 145; 167

Ratings: Bill 8 Andy 7.5

Andy’s rating is moving up steadily. He is seeing this as a good and quick 2-player fill-in, of which there are not enough. I have always liked it. There really is not too much to it but there are some nice plays you can carry out. It is an excellent way to introduce a novice to the weird and wonderful world of German games. Most of all, to the untrained eye, it can make you look a lot cleverer than you really are: a big plus in my book.

Another threesome tonight, although those involved in Project X (more details to come) assure me things will soon return to normal. No matter. Sitting on the table was the game responsible for the hole in the bank account – Reiner Knizia's Lord of the Rings. This is definitely playable with three and I was pretty confident I would be among the first wave of reviewers of probably the most anticipated game of the year.

Unfortunately, as the game of game selection progressed, I was to be disappointed. After the veto rounds had ended, Lord of the Rings was still in with a shout, but when the final word fell to Andy, he plumped for Tikal. Considering this is a man who still recollects the adventures of his 117^th level Paladin/Necromancer/Thief/Cleric/Window Cleaner from his Dungeons and Dragons days as if they happened yesterday rather than a decade ago, this came as a bit of a surprise.

Biting my tongue at this lack of ambition, I gave in gracefully.

To be honest, I was not too crestfallen. Tikal is a lovely game, which Ron and I had played only once before. Also, according to a recent thread on the games newsgroup, it is a good three hander.

Andy is a bit of an expert at this, at least in our terms, having played it a whole four times, so he started off as the one to watch. To be fair, he gave us due warning that to ignore collecting treasures could be a mistake, as they can be critical point earners.

We decided to play the basic game, rather than opt for the advanced version in which the luck of the tile draw is mitigated by an auction mechanism. Andy has tried this once and saw it is a bit cumbersome. While it may reduce the luck factor he thought it also introduces a disproportionate level of drag – something we were all keen to avoid after recent unfortunate experiences. I have heard this opinion from several other sources too, although I would like to give the auction game at least one try sometime.

After a quick rules refresh – it is an intuitively straightforward game to learn – we were off. The first wave of treasure tiles came out early. These were fought over by Andy and Ron who were in the best position to exploit them, with Andy gaining a slight initial edge. My early draws were temple tiles, so I decided to ignore Andy’s advice and concentrate on an excavation strategy, hoping to carve out a corner of the board for myself where I could dig away without interference from the other two.

The first scoring round looked pretty ominous for my contrary strategy, with Andy zooming out to a ten point lead over Ron, while I languished a couple of points further back.

The middle game was crucial. Despite a few redundant tile draws Ron managed to pursue and overtake Andy on the treasure front as she built up a few nice sets, although her board position seemed quite vulnerable, with no real concentration of expedition members who were scattered all over the place. Andy had built up a strong position in the south, but could not come up with enough new and accessible temple sites to exploit his early lead. Meanwhile, I had developed a nice concentration of force in the north, backed up with a good camp site and some useful temple tile draws. I had also managed to nab the ten point temple, sticking a guard on it before anyone could respond. My boom in temple building catapulted me into the lead, closely followed by Andy and Ron.

The last section saw consolidation all round, as Ron and Andy completed more treasure sets while I lucked out again with a couple of 4-point temple tiles which I placed in a position no-one else could get to. This proved to be the critical move, keeping me just in front of the chasing pack, where Ron’s superior treasure collection and a couple of late temple grabs moved her into second place.

Scores: Bill 131; Ron; 123; Andy 120

An excellent game that remained close to the end. There is no way of avoiding the fact that the luck of the tile draw is going to play a big part in this game (although you do need to be in a position to take advantage of the luck). And, to be fair, the designers admit as much in the rules when introducing the advanced game. Once you accept this, however, the game plays so well, at a good pace and is such a delightful visual experience, that the random element is easy to forgive.

Ratings: Andy 9; Bill 8.5; Ron 9

What a relief! After the mediocre responses of the last couple of weeks, everyone goes home happy!

Well, not quite. Before he is allowed out, I introduce Andy to Lost Cities, Knizia’s classic two player card game of expeditions. After all, what else is there to play after Tikal.

Andy picks up the rules in about three minutes and we are soon off. This was a strange game. Initial hands in all three rounds seemed to dictate a defensive style. At no time did either of us have the card combinations to risk mounting a large heavy point scoring expedition. As a result the game became a nip and tuck affair, with each of us concentrating on stuffing the other’s attempts at glory. A good tight game which Andy played well to win.

Scores (cumulative by round):

Andy 22; 59; 99

Bill 38; 63; 97

Ratings: Bill 8; Andy 7 (very much an initial impression)

Anyway, there was not a hope that Lord of the Rings would remain unplayed for a whole week. So the next evening Ron was dragged to the table for an initial run through. Look, she is my wife, she loves me and it is not as if she didn’t know what she was letting herself into when she married me. Consider it a gamer’s version of conjugal rights.

It took a while to get the rules pegged down – they are not the best organised set I have ever come across – but once we got started the pace was relentless. What a great game! An innovative system, thematically excellent, wonderful graphics and an atmosphere which is spot on. Ron loved it, I loved it and I am pretty sure that, this time next week, you will be reading a much more detailed report.

I have some minor worries about its longevity but I am also sure this is going to be one of those rare games which will be played often enough to fully test this concern.

In brief, the game lasted about 90 minutes. We got mauled in Moria, kicked Saruman’s arse in Helm’s Deep, narrowly escaped Shelob’s trap only for Frodo to finally give up the struggle against the Ring’s corruption halfway to Mount Doom.

Scores: Ron 57; Bill 57

Ratings: I think we will wait a bit on that one.