The horror of cooperative games

I've been lax in keeping the blog current so I'm making up for it today with a graphic recounting of the annual Border Board Games horror fest.  It's been our tradition to break out our monster themed games in October because, well, monster games are cool.  We were pleased to have some travelers from away as well as a few new faces at the Derby Line Village Hall this month.

Thanks to Evil Brad and Lia for coming along as well as a big thanks to Lee, Monique, Josh and Alton for coming by.  Alton has been a regular for the past few months but, due to my sloth, hadn't been mentioned yet.  The regular gang of Beth, Rob, Mike, Dennis, Homer, Neil and myself made for three tables of mayhem.

The longest game of the evening pitted Beth, Monique, Rob, Josh and Neil against The Dark Goat of the Wood itself - Shub-Nigurrath.  The gang battled bravely fending off repeated monster surges, travelling to the outer worlds and eventually sealing off the evil from Arkham.  having watched a few how-to videos on Arkham Horror prior to Saturday night enabled the gang to formulate a plan to help dig out the tools and knowledge the group needed to accomplish their task.

Lee, Lia and Alton tackled Betrayal at House on the Hill in the first installment of the game played.  Not sure how that went but it appeared that they enjoyed themselves thoroughly.

Meanwhile, Homer, Dennis , Mike and I tried to take on Evil Brad and his legions of undead in Last Night on Earth.  By some bizarre twist, this game turned out to be the worst Bible camp experience any of our characters had ever experienced.  With Father McFeely (or whatever his name was) leading the group of teens in Sally, Jenny and Billy, it was some old dude and a bunch of hormonal  kids against ravenous hordes.  The outcome was pretty much a foregone conclusion as Brad unleashed endless waves of zombies while the teens picked through the wreckage of the high school in an attempt to dig up anything useful.

What they managed to find was a chainsaw in the garage, a pair of flares guns and not much else.  father McFeely's flare gun lit up a zombie while Sally decided to use hers to send a signal for help.  Unfortunately, the only help that arrived smelled bad, looked worse and only wanted to eat us all.  No one is really sure what Billy did except to turn into a zombie and cost us the game.

In a strange twist, the transition from LNoE to Tammany Hall came as a great surprise to all of us.  But politics is a horror show of its own I suppose.  In the end, despite having trailed the pack for most of the game, Dennis pulled out the win based on the strength of his Irish votes.  Dennis winning control of New York is probably what triggered the zombie apocalypse that followed.

From Tammany Hall, Brad and I took the hearse of defeat over to join Lia and Lee for a game of Zombicide.  Our task was seemingly simple - gather some supplies, jack a car and get the heck out of Dodge.  Amy, Ned, Phil and Wanda had to break into the old store, gather up water, canned goods and rice, find a car and then drive off into the post-apocalyptic sunset.  easy-peasy you say.  Well, it kind of was thanks to a couple of sawed off shotguns, an early Molotov cocktail, my second chainsaw of the night and some timely sniping.  In the biggest surprise of the night, Evil Brad (or Brad the Beatific) declared that no one would get left behind.  Constable Phil was stuck on the other side of the building by the Pimp Mobile and wouldn't be able to make it to the squad car for the quick getaway.  Rather than abandon a fellow survivor, the gun toting maniacs decided to shoot Phil a path back across the Mega Mart.  In the end, hot-foot Wanda raced the car around the corner and to safety, all four survivors and the goods intact.

Meanwhile, round two of Betrayal was breaking out as Beth, Monique, Josh, Rob and Neil braved that creaking old mansion on top of the hill.  The haunt (Neil) turned out to be a pretty potent poltergeist.  As the heroes rushed around, somewhat ineffectually, trying to find and light candles to perform an exorcism, Neil floated around choking them out one by one.  In the end the poltergeist found the peace he sought, even if it was occasionally disturbed by the drip-drip-dripping of his victims' blood.

And that was how we spent our Almost-Halloween.  How about you?

New faces, a record crowd and something completely inappropriate

Saturday, May 18 was perhaps the biggest turnout for Border Board Games.  We had 16 folks come out including a new face and a few returning relative newcomers.  First off we would like to thank Tina, Patrick and the kids for coming back.  Glad to see that everyone enjoyed their first foray into Castle Ravenloft.  We also drew a new player  Geraldine who visited us from Quebec.

We managed to get in quite a few games between the three tables.  Along with our six new faces we drew the usual crowd of Mike O and St. Jay Mike, Dennis, Kim and Homer, Rob, Sue and Tim and of course Beth and myself.

Having enjoyed it so much last time, Tina, Patrick and company requested another go at castle Ravenloft.  Rob, being familiar with Wrath of Ashardalon and thus the game system, guided the group through the quest.  Their efforts to prevent Kevan from turning into a vampire did not turn out quite so well but it sounded as if everyone had a good time.

Skyline, a pick-up from the silent auction at Mega-Meltdown, proved to be a quick, fun and popular addition to the game collection.  It hit the table for a few go-throughs before the night was over.  What the game lacks in depth of play it more than makes up for in its approachability and speedy resolution - unless you are waiting for Dennis to finish his skyscraper of course.  Then you'll need to wait a long time. :)

While Beth led people through a game of Get Bit! and then a round of Carcassonne, Kim, Homer, Dennis and I visited medieval Europe and clawed and scraped our way to subsistence with Agricola.  Dennis secured the win by a single well-fought point.  Things started to go downhill shortly thereafter.

The Game of the Night title went squarely to Cards Against Humanity.  Irreverent, offensive on some level to almost everyone and sometimes completely mystifying "the party game for horrible people" lived up to its name.  If you don't believe me just ask Homer how World War IV will be fought.  He has a pretty strong opinion on the subject.  CAH hit the table a couple of times last night and each round was as wildly entertaining as the last.  I suspect it will be some time before I laugh, cry and hurt as much afterward as the result of a game.

I leave you with this one question from CAH: "Why am I sticky?"

All kinds of monkey business

One of our largest gatherings of recent memory brought a couple new, if familiar, faces to Border Board Games on Saturday night.  We were pleased to have Lia travel from Burlington and Tim from up the road to join us for gaming mayhem.

The games started earlier in the day with twin tables of Battlestar Galactica.  In both cases the cylons failed to destroy Galactica as the humans limped back to earth.  There was no food, half the people had died en route to cylon attacks and fuel was running lower than the gas tank on a teenagers truck but for whatever reason people seemed happy.  The fleet felt more spacious than it had before and a can of jellied meat seemed to last longer these days....

After a delicious meal of pub fare (it being St. Patrick's Day weekend it just felt right), we headed down to the Derby Line Village Hall for gaming.  We had Beth running a table of Spin Monkeys, a new-to-our-collection product from Rio Grande Games that places monkeys in bumper cars running over fruit.  It never having hit the table before it was a completely new experience for Rob, the Mikes, Lia, Andrew and Beth.  It's a rather light game, as one might expect from the theme, but accommodated a lot of people and much hilarity ensued.

At the next table, and by special request, Dennis, Homer, Sue, Tim and I tackled Tammany Hall.  As was the case in our previous experience, Dennis and Homer quickly struck a devil's bargain.  Slippery Dennis was elected the first Mayor of New York only to face slander from every direction over the corruption of the worst police chief the city has ever seen (Homer).  Tricky Dick served the next two terms as mayor despite a steadily eroding voter base, swinging a deal with Slandering Sue. 

Once again, however, clean campaigning and skillful manipulation of immigrant populations helped the winner, Honest Tim, surge ahead at the polls and in the hearts of the Irish and Italians alike.  Clearly the protestants were not his power base.  despite having lingered in the back throughout much of the game both Tim and Sue rode waves of popularity to surge ahead of the embattled Tammany Hall veterans.  Sue's surge fell just shy but did enable her to go from a distant fifth to second place behind Tim's impressive victory.

Afterwards Mike O, Rob and I tried Rob's game Sentinels of the Multiverse, a superhero themed co-op game.  The game features a variety of different heroes each with their own respective power and equipment decks squaring off against a dastardly super villain and his minions.  We may have inadvertently extended the length of the game at one point but our trio of masked avengers seemed largely incompetent in terms of dealing the villain a mortal blow.  Next time Citizen whatsyourface...next time.

At the other table Andrew, St. Jay Mike, Beth and Dennis played Dominion.  Apparently Mike and Dennis were slightly soured on he game based on their original introduction to the game.  Having gone through the game with people willing to teach them instead of just beat them appears to have made new converts to the former Game of the Year.

Who knows what merrymaking will accompany the Border Board Games in April but I for one wouldn't mind tossing out a Uwe Rosenberg title onto the table.

In the morass of 19th century politics, nice gals finish first

This month marked the unveiling of several new games from our collection.  The first to hit the table was the Kickstarter gem Tammany Hall.  History buffs and gamers alike will enjoy this rollicking romp through mid-19th century politics in New York City.  Joining me for the ride were Dennis, Kim, Homer and Mike O.  As this was our first play-through we had no idea what to expect and even less of an idea as to the best path to proceed.

What resulted was bizarre table-talk, double-dealing and treachery.  For anyone familiar with Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery, Tammany Hall maintains many of the same devices of wheeling and dealing.  Indeed, this element is what makes the game shine both for its crisp mechanics as well as a solid social experience.  Dennis and Homer jumped right in securing a deal that gave up wards to one another in exchange for considerations in other areas.  They also were the first to make use of their slander tokens, driving my poor, beleaguered gang bosses out of the largely Italian dominated Lower East Side.

Several battlegrounds emerged throughout the game as the mixture of immigrant populations ebbed and flowed.  As the German and English populations spread, the Italians became increasingly confined to only a few areas while the Irish presence remained hotly contested throughout.  In the end, Kim's practice of keeping her deals and avoiding using slander to best opponents as well as a single, well-timed deception enabled her to pull ahead of her less virtuous rivals and snag the victory.

At the second table St. Jay Mike, Beth, Sue and Noah competed in a good old-fashioned Power Grid throwdown.  Using the Germany map, Beth pulled ahead and St. Jay Mike admitted he saw the writing on the wall. Forty-five minutes before the game officially ended he said he could see that Beth's line placement and generation assets would propel her to the win.

After the first round of games we proceeded to break out At the Gates of Loyang where Beth once again displayed her vegetable mastery.  Though three plays, two being two-player games, Beth's unapparent strategy continued to serve her well.  Though Homer, kim and I managed respectable finsihes (all three of us tied for second place as it turned out), Beth's economic engine prevailed.

At the second table the Mikes, Noah and Dennis ran through a game of Navegador.  I am uncertain how it played through but it appeared that everyone seemed much satisfied at game's end.

I suspect that Tammany Hall will again return at the March Border Board Games game night as well as a few other favorites and new titles such as Urbanization and Netrunner.  I also suspect that if either Agricola or Ora et Labora were to be proposed it is highly likely that they too might hit the tables.

The Virtue of Being Rash

Strategic blundering has become a hallmark for our Heroes, enabling them to foil plots foul and sinister through a combination of dumb luck and bull-headed arrogance.  When last we left our heroes the group had discovered the ancient dwarven ruins but appeared unable to reach the doors to that ancient vault.  A mostly sheer cliff stood between our heroes and their prize.  Undaunted, the Elf Lorenot sensing trepidation on part of his dwarven and halfling companions took it upon himself to climb up.

When the ridiculous bath towel caped elf made it to the top, the jailer Anika soon followed and eventually, by a reluctant Axel as well.  Only dour Grim stood at the bottom unable or unwilling to trust his fortune to the dangling rope and dubious strength of his companions.  "Nay," he declared, "A proper dwarf tackles such things with engineering and cunning!"  Some half day later, with the assistance of a wandering elven scout, Grim had constructed himself a ramp of rubble enabling to clamber up to the ledge with body and dignity intact.

In the meantime the others had explored the great vault discovering first a gleaming bronze door replete with some symbol whose provenance turned out to be entirely unknown to any of the three members of the vanguard.  Unable to read and not caring much for matters scholarly anyway, all three charged through only to discover a volcanic flood had claimed portions of the ancient stronghold.  Slow moving rivulets of lava and crusts of cooled material created a zig-zag path that tested the heroes sorely.  Indeed, so paralytically slow was their progress that grim and the scout managed to catch up by the time they had navigated their way to the far end.

Upon reaching the first of the main caverns the group saw the remnants of a surface market.  Stalls with goods still very much in evidence lay abandoned as they had some millenia earlier when the ancient place had been abandoned after a particularly savage Greenskin raid.  The market had truly once been a wondrous place serving as a trading spot for rare and precious metals as well as quality dwarf-make metal goods.  The group plundered what few salvageable items were to be had with Grim making note of the remaining bits for later use in crafting.

Several caverns lead off of the market cave and, knowing that lava and dusty old tunnels inspire a powerful thirst, Lorenot charged down the tunnel ostensibly marked as a "tavern".  He was sorely disappointed with the offerings through Anika seemed more than happy to drain cask after cask, double-fisting tankards in so doing.  Further explorations revealed that some of the doomed dwarves had made their final stand here.  Trestle tables lay up-ended and bones and debris lay scattered about.  The heroes were especially pleased to discover that the defenders had held their position with the use of three blunderbusses.  A small store of shot and powder remained enabling the party to make use of the hand canons at least a few more times.

The group continued to wend its way deeper into the tunnels locating a secret store of documents.  The greater treasure, however, was found beneath secret panels.  Unfortunately, the group's ability to disarm traps was perhaps not entire up to the task.  Fortunately Grim was able to use his body shield to protect himself from the worst of the blasts on those rune-secured cabinets he was unable to efface.  The treasures within yielded a few more choice goods while the party stumbled upon n even greater trove.  A secret panel revealed an ancient armory, presumably belonging to the ancient ruler of the dwarven city.

Encouraged by their discoveries and armed to the teeth the band pressed onward.  Another secret door led the party into a portion of the stronghold still swarming with the descendants of the Greenskin horde that had taken the city so many centuries earlier.  The door was cleverly concealed as evidenced by the fact that the southern half of the stronghold had not been plundered quite so thoroughly as had the goblin infested areas.  The band tracked the goblin raiders back to the old king's throne room and blanched at the goblin town that had grown up within its borders.

Rude huts scattered across the great cavern and bands of lazy goblin warriors lounged idly, evidently unaware of their approaching doom.  Knowing that the Greenskins possessed superior numbers, Grim proposed that the goblins be lured into the tunnels where the narrow passages would impede and constrict their attack.  The heroes would unleash the fury of their new blunderbusses on the packed horde, retreating when necessary to reload.  Grim also boldly recommended that the fleet footed elves kick off the celebration by poking the goblin king full of elven arrows.  That, he surmised, ought to get their attention.

By some mystery of circumstance and astonishing good fortune, the plan came together like a well-oiled halfling.  The packed goblin ranks were decimated by concerted blunderbuss fire as the dwarves held the front lines chanting "It's Hammer Time - You Can't Touch This" even as the elves rained arrows on the mob and Axel steadily reloaded the blunderbusses. 

By the time the smoke cleared and the last of the warriors had fallen Grim's blood-rage was up.  he and Anika rushed forward putting the remaining survivors to the hammer though Anika spared a few by binding them with her trusty manacles.  Appalled at the slaughter but powerless to stop it, Axel could only look on in dismay.  the elf scout likewise stared on in horror at the savagery of the dwarven duo while Lorenot contented himself plundering the dead.

Just what new adventures, feats of barbarity or stunning incompetence the gang gets up to next, who knows?

The best things in life are worth killing for

Having freshly liberated Spookyton the heroes decided to go on a shopping spree.  Naturally, Spookyton itself was a poor choice given that most of its inhabitants were either dead, dying or undead so the band made its way to the nearest settlement filled with living people.  Lorenot the elf wandered off in his dingy bath towel cape doing whatever mysterious thing it is elves do in the forest by themselves while Axel, Anika and Grim did the actual shopping.

The band decided that getting a wagon might be a good idea ever since the soldier, the cook and the toll keeper absconded with the pony cart.  Recognizing that none of the band was particularly adept at driving wagons of any size, they wisely decided to hire a pair of mercenaries who could manage the vehicle.  After securing the necessary gear and supplies it was decided to venture back toward Evil Sausageburgh and its dreaded Black Keep.

En route, however, the band was assaulted by Greenskins as the company made camp for the night.  The Greenskins were accompanied by a Chaos caster whose fell magic appears to have soured the mercenary Ullrich's stomach (or so he would claim).  The pitched battle, fought mostly in darkness, left Axel once more teetering between life and death.  As the bold halfling would later recall events 'The tanks went into the forest as a group leaving the paper mache guys all by themselves."

Fortunately Lorenot chose this very moment to reappear.  Shouting the elven word of power "D'oh!" he caused the Greenskin menacing Axel to drop his great cleaver.  The elf followed up with a rain of arrows that combined with Axel's flurry of daggers finally felled the creature.  The Greenskins in the woods also came to a bad end but, as neither elf nor halfling witnessed the battle, the goblins may have just died of natural causes of their own accord.  Natural causes for goblins consisting of various stabbing and slashing wounds.

The band faced a dilemma at this point.  The Black Keep still lay a couple of days travel further along but the presence of Greenskins so deep in the territory bespoke of a different and perhaps more pressing need.  Grim convinced the mercenaries to return to Spookyton and to return in a week's time.  The Ill-Fated Brigade had decided to track down the goblins and exterminate them to the last monster.  Which proved easier said than done.

One major obstacle facing the group was their decidedly urban inclinations.  The group turned to Lorenot and trusted in his elven sense to lead them.  little did they realize he was more a Bath elf than a wood elf.  Still, heritage helped and he managed to guide the band toward some ancient dwarven ruins.  The Brigade had heard tell of dwarven riches materializing in the nearby towns though none professed to know from whence these riches came.

It took very little time for the company to unravel the mystery - the goblins had been plundering a long-neglected dwarven tomb.  This aroused much anger in both Anika and Grim and the thought of evil-slaying and gold gathering held distinct appeal to the mercenary hearted halfling and elf.  Besides, what else was there to do in a spooky, ancient forest filled with blood-thirsty Greenskins, dwarven ghosts and not a decent massage available for two days travel in any direction? 

The choice made, Lorenot discovered ancient magics at play and sensed that a greater evil than any they had yet encountered still lay ahead.  This knowledge did not cause the band to quiver or quail but instead hardened their hearts to the task ahead.  Would the Ill-Fated Brigade again triumph over evil or would their moss covered bones serve as a grim reminder to future adventurers? 

Tune in next month to find out....

Put a little "AaaahhhHHH" in your life

October 20 marked the return of Border Board games' annual monster game fest.  We were pleased to have Carlo and Kristin drive up from barre for the event.  Also in attendance, beside Beth and myself, were regulars Mike O., Andrew, Dennis, St. Jay Mike and Karl.

We quickly split up into two groups as Beth, Carlo, Kristin, Mike O. and Andrew started up with Betrayal at House on the Hill.  They played two scenarios with the first being the Ghost Bride and the second where Beth became a vampire.  The Ghost bride failed to bring her beloved groom to the altar while the vampire succumbed to the strength of daylight as the heroes emerged victorious in both cases.

Meanwhile Karl, Dennis, St. Jay Mike and I tried our hand at A Touch of Evil, all for the first time.  To anyone familiar with Arkham Horror and Last Night on Earth, the play of aToE appears to combine some of the best portions of both games.  It is not scenario driven but, rather, dictated by the nature of the villain which gives the game a less structured feel.  That is good if you want a game that has the potential for replayability.  The heroes travel around the board visiting spooky colonial-era locations while seeking to gain information about the town elders, gather loot and weapons and try to figure out where the baddy lives.

Through a few missteps, mistakes which reminded me of my own lapses in running the Elder God in AH, we still managed to gleefully bumble our way through the game.  It was definitely a game where learning through play might prove more effective than trying to digest the entire manual in one go.  Dennis the hobo (he called himself a drifter but we saw through it easily enough), managed to track down the Headless Horseman and defeat him with good old fashioned musketry.  My school marm was closing in on the Horseman's lair in the bog but the drifter snatched away the chance.

In the next round of gaming table one played a game of Zombicide while table two cracked open Betrayal.  In Zombicide the heroes barely eked out the win despite a huge, ravenous horde of monsters rapidly closing in on them.  In Betrayal St. Jay Mike turned into a giant, hideous spider only to fall before the mighty little girl with the really big spear.  In Mike's defence it was sheer luck that the character who would have been easiest to fight, having sustained major damage prior to becoming the host for the spider eggs, was unassailable owing to those eggs.  Using the mystic elevator to gain access to the basement was also a bit of a cheat for the good guys but, hey, no one likes spiders anyway, right?

The next Border Board Games event will take place on November 17th at 6 p.m. in the Derby Line Village Hall.

To the left, to the left....

With darkness impending and the child, whose name still escapes me, soon to fall prey to the evil infesting town, the heroes inexplicably split up.  Alic, Alfed and Bertold, unwilling to spend another night in the wretched town of Treva, decided to head west and establish a toll at the river crossing.  Alfred's cookies proved especially popular even if Bertold and Alice's menacing wasn't and the trio earned a decent living at the task. 

All of this, naturally, occured after Alice's discovery of a hair cutting bowl in the village.  Knowing that the dwarf Anika was training to be a barber-surgeon, she offered her the bowl and the use of Bertold's head to experiment with.  Bertold had taken a little too much of the sour drink passing itself as mead in the town inn.  Unconscious and looking somewhat shaggy, he seemed the perfect subject for the experiment.  besides which, the hair cutting bowl was sized to human heads.  After giving Bertold his new haircut Anika came to the conclusion that the path of the barber-surgeon was not one to which she showed any aptitude.  the path of the interrogator and torturer however....

Meanwhile, the remaining halfling, dwarves and elf decided to take the demon by the horns.  Grim refused to surrender the child to whatever dark forces possessed the town and tasked Anika with securing the child.  Apparently the party briefly forgot who the heroes were as the child was trussed up and gagged even as the count's sinister carriage came don the hill to collect his child bride.  The idea was to protect the child despite appearances to the contrary.

Knowing that no god could possibly come of this union, Lorenot the elf, learning a lesson from last time, opted to use his bow on the count's men.  Oh, if only they had been men.  The arrows slashed through armor and withered flesh only to reveal the horror of the truth behind these grim guardsmen.  The knowledge briefly incapacitated Axel even as Anika and grim prepared to defend the upper floor of the smithy.  Fortunately the guards were slow footed and Lorenot was able to down several of the creatures before they gained access to the smithy.

Even as Axel regained his wits and he and the elf continued to pelt the advancing guards, Grim and Anika became aware of a sinister undead captain forming in the room from foul mists.  Anika gamely charged the creature only to smack into the wall.  The mighty warrior raised his sword to smite the impertinent Grim but, through a combination of skill and good fortune, the dwarven rune bearer managed to escape certain death even as he smote the creature.

Meanwhile, the elf and hagfling toppled an armoire down the stairs, smashing one of the guards and badly damaging another leaving only a few of the things left standing.  The battle to dispatch the creatures was swift and bloody with Axel sustaining a near fatal wound in defense of the house.  An odd aspect of the battle, and of those that followed, was an almost supernatural tendency to hit enemies in the left arm.

Knowing that whatever evil magic the count controlled would only grow stronger with time Grim encouraged the others to strike at the count sooner rather than later.  Though Lorenot and Axel were still weary from battle and blood loss, they conceded the wisdom of his words.  gathering up their weapons and some hastily assembled equipment, they boldly marched on the ruins of the fortified mansion the count claimed as his own.

Through uncanny good luck and skill at arms, the band finally gained access to the inner sanctum.  In true heroic fashion, the band smashed and laid waste to everything even remotely evil looking (not to mention some perfectly innocuous and harmless trinkets and decorations).  Having bulled through a series of traps and dispatched even more undead minions, Grim at last confronted the evil necromancer Troy in his lair.  Grim managed to survive all manner of perils before finding a chance to smite the foul wizard.  Having suffered some grievous injuries en route, the others were somewhat slower in arriving.  As Anika dodged and weaved her way forward, Lorenot loosed a last arrow that severed a major artery in the wizard's causing him to fall dead at Grim's feet.

With the evil cleaned from the town, the weird, unwholesome mist that shrouded the valley dissipated as goodness was again able to infuse the region.  Over the next month the dwarves completed their restoration of the forge turning out and endless tide of crappy hammers and exceptional armor.  meanwhile Lorenot and Axel traveled to a nearby town whereupon Axel found religion and Lorenot discovered the rudiments of magic.  Armed with their new found powers, the band returned to Treva to plot their revenge against the wicked folk of Malcano and their ratmen allies.

The Misfits of Righteous Indignation

** Note** Due to simmering tensions, an expanding plaer base and the need to divert a potential player vs. player situation, our regular Song of Ice and Fire campaign has been temporarily suspended.  In it's place we journery to the dark and despicable Empire of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying (2nd Edition).

To see them traveling together, one would assume the band was a tarvelling carnival of some sort or another.  Three halflings, two dwarves, a human and an elf made their way along the mountain passes headed to the Sausage Festival in some wretched little town.  If not for the happenstance of fate and the foreknowledge that the roads were dangerous, perhaps such a group would never have found itself in one another's company.

As the dwarvess Annika proclaimed, "I just want sausage, dammit."

The band consisted of a confidence man, a cook, a soldier, a tollkeeper, a gaoler, a rune bearer, a failed entertainer and a shady toll keeper.  Each member of the troupe had its own reasons to be on the road.  Some were simply afflicted by wanderlust while others were escaping the drudgery of their past lives.  A deeper connection had to do with their own sense of propriety and justice, something the road ahead was sorely lacking.

That any of them individually could have survived the trek was never in doubt - they could not.  City bred or better suited to the company of others, they plodded along barely able to keep starvation and disaster at bay.  With their talents combined, however, it seemed this miserable band could at least make it from town to town.

What became apparent was that this part of the Empire has been in slow but steady decline for some time.  the roads were in poor repair and many travelers had fallen prey to banditry and attack.  This much was borne out by the fact that a warrior priest lay slain and abandoned along the roadside.  Lorenot the elf took advantage of the priest's misfortunes and salvaged what he could from the corpse.  many of his compatriots, though used to the carnage that accompanies the wilder areas of the Empire, found the elf's actions disturbing if not wholly distasteful.  Still, the glimmer of gold was enough to assuage their guilt at least for the time being.

Upon arrival, the band took note of the erratic and lackadaisical actions of the town guard.  Though protected by high, stout walls, the presence of voracious ratmen and bandits did not seem to engender any particular sense of urgency among the town fathers.  Indeed, it soon became apparent that this indifference may have been purposefully cultivated.  A pawn shop gathered and disposed of random wares, the type of plunder one would expect to harvest from travellers exposed to misfortune in the region.  Likewise, the sausage maker Hanse, though locally famed for his product, didn't strike the band as being entirely honest nor trustworthy.

This mistrust was put to the test during the group's first night in town.  The town gate shut promptly as evening fell and yet, a disturbance in the night aroused members of the company.  Looking out from the confines of the fortified inn, members of the group spotted a wagon making a meat delivery in the middle of the night.  Furthermore, the deliverymen had a decidedly inhuman gate that would later reveal them to be ratmen.

Lorenot and Bertoldt the toll keeper decided to confront the ratmen.  Respectable sausage makers did not receive mystery meat deliveries in the middle of the night, and certainly not from wagons that blithely enter the town after everything should have been closed up for the night.  Unable to contain their unease, the elf and the human pursued the ratmen as they attempted to make good their escape.

The battle was fierce but decisive with the pair managing to slay the foul beasts, though Lorenot sustained grave injuries in the process.  Fortunately, the combined care of the dwarvess gaoler Annika and the halfling soldier Alice were able to patch up the worst of his wounds.  Their attempts to confront the sausage maker with his foul deeds was briefly sidetracked by the cook Alfred's inability to confirm just what manner of flesh was contained in the ratemen's delivery.

"The meat is people!" Lorenot shrieked from deep inside the sausage factory's larder.

Though the band pointed out serious flaws in the town's defensive plans, the town fathers seemed to casually ignore the group's protestations.  Only after receiving recompense for their disturbed sleep was the band promptly booted out of town to await the town fathers' judgment.  Convinced that there would be no justice, the band made out for the north to the next town along the road - Treva.

The lure of the ruins of the Black Keep, though rife with possibility, also bore with it the high probability that adventurers were routinely sent there only to fall at the hands of the ratmen.  With the elf still in dire circumstance, the band decided to make for the next town as quickly as possible, there to rest and re provision for a return journey to the keep.

Upon arriving at treva, the band found this miserable hamlet to also be in an advanced state of disrepair.  the wall was barely sufficient to keep rabbits at bay, let alone attackers.  the surrounding fields and forests were virtually barren of wildlife, the animals no doubt frightened by the pall of despair and evil that hung over the area.  the presence of the unnamed and unnameable baron high atop the rocky crag did little to inspire confidence in the town's leadership.

This was further tested when the con halfling found that a lone child, probably an orphan of some predation or another, lived next door to the abandoned smithy.  The child eagrly awaited her marriage to the baron on the hill, despite being only eight years old.  The curious state of the hamlet's absurdly large cemetery only added to the growing unease of the band.

As Grimal the rune bearer pointed out "Those graves look like more things came out than went in."

Will the dwarf's proclamation prove prophetic?  Will Bertoldt gamble away the band's meager possessions before the next big payday?  Will Alice ever awaken from her seemingly inescapable nighttime reverie?  Is there anywhere that Axel and Alfed can't get kicked out of?  Can Annika ever get close enough to an enemy to bear him to the ground and produce a prisoner?  is an elven entertainer even capable of earning an honest day's age?

These and other questions will be answered in the next installment of the company's chronicles.

That AA game

The August edition of Border Board Games brought out some old favorites and brand new titles.  We'd like to welcome Karl to the fold and look forward to sharing some new games from his collection and ours in the future.  This month we had myself, Beth, Karl, Mike O., Andrew, Dennis and St. Jay Mike.  It provided us with enough folks to hit up two tables of games.

Castle Panic!, courtesy of Karl, occupied Mike, Andrew, Beth and Karl as the opening game.  the group valiantly struggled against the invading hordes but, eventually, a succession of giant boulders breached their castle walls and led to their downfall.

Meanwhile Dennis, Mike O and I tackled Agricola or, as St. Jay Mike calls it "That game with A at the beginning and A at the end."  needless to say, it is not one of his favorites.  It was the first time that Mike O has played though he has witnessed a few games of it in progress.  As is often the case, sometimes just not getting begging cards is a victory of sorts.  It was a surprisingly tight race at the end as Dennis managed to fill his farmyard in the late goings.  His early farm was a pitiful affair with a couple of rock strewn fields, a pig in his house and a surprisingly robust stone mansion to his name.  In the end, however, the early advantage of the Midwife proved the deciding factor.  having those extra actions courtesy of the additional farmhand allowed me to squeak out a 42-38 win.  Sadly, Mike O didn't do so well but finished with 20 points.  In his first game of Agricola, finishing with points in the twenties is a sort of victory in and of itself.

As Agricola wound down and castle panic! ended in crushing defeat, the first table switched gears to the ever popular Lords of Waterdeep.  It has proven to have enduring replayability with a slick and engaging theme.  Though there is only a superficial depth of strategy, it is sufficiently varied to keep the interest of repeat players, approachable and easy in concept and execution with just the right level of randomness to keep things interesting.  Beth proclaimed her first ever victory in the game, a fact which she made abundantly clear with her pronouncement of jubilation.

After Agricola and Lords of Waterdeep concluded we broke out into new groups with the two Mikes, Andrew and Dennis picking up a game of Power Grid.  Admittedly I didn't follow the progress of the game quite as much as I should have.  It did become apparent that Andrew developed a fascination for resource-less wind energy and rapid expansion.  Though he was poised to breach the cities controlled barrier, his free energy lacked the punch to power all of those towns leading to widespread blackouts in his sector.  While I believe St. Jay Mike eventually triumphed, admittedly, I don't know that for certain.

Karl, Beth and I brought out a game that hasn't hit the table in quite some time: Giants.  Thematically, it is one of the most excellent games in our collection.  Everything from the difficulty of getting hats and Moais to their pedestals to the deforestation of the island to make it happen play well with the Eastern Island mystery theme.  It was a tight race down to the end.  Indeed, if not for a miscalculation on his use of logs, I think Karl may have actually pulled this one out of the bag.  I was able to win the game despite a slow start.  Capping all of my Moais and scattering statues and hats on different sides of the Island enabled me to maximize my points.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the next Border Board Games game night will take place at the Lair (our home) on Friday, September 14th.  Keep you eye out for FB messages or e-mails informing you of changes in the schedule.

Pounding sand and raking in the big money

After an inexcusable delay in compiling Border Board games game logs, BBG returns with this installment of the July Olympics of gaming.  In addition to the usual crew of Kim, Homer, Beth, Dennis, St. Jay Mike, Mike O and I Rob popped in and Andrew returned for a second visit to the Derby Line Village Hall.  Things got off to a fast paced start as we whipped out our newest game Toc Toc Woodman.  The smash hit Korean game went over well even if some of us, most of us actually, never saw our scores rise out of the range of integers.

After a few rounds of Toc Toc we split up into two groups to tackle Thebes and Black Gold respectively.  Kim, Homer, Rob and I plunged into the deserts of the Near East to plunder the treasures of the ancient world.  It being Rob's first time playing, he appeared to be off to a strong start handily dishing out treasures.  As it turned out, his luck would eventually dissipate like a mirage and soon he was pulling nothing but sand.  Indeed, we began to suspect that Homer was the evil Sand Djinn sucking us down into his vortex of sand and despair.  Who needs treasure when you can enjoy a beer on the beach?  It eventually came down to a contest between Kim and I.  Having scored a five point show on the final turn of the final year I was able to pull out a two point victory 58-56.

Over at the Black Gold table Beth, St. Jay Mike and Dennis drilled for oil.  Dennis would emerge atop the heap amassing a sizeable fortune before the oil barons arrived.  beth finished a close second while, as Mike exclaimed in his own words "I finished a distant fourth."  In a three player game, such results are particularly dismal.

As the Black Gold game wound down, the Thebes table turned into a game of A La Carte.  Kim, Rob, Mike O and I attempted to create the most resplendent dishes possible out of cigars, elephant trunks and beret wearing octopus.  Rob demonstrated his early mastery of the game with Gordon Ramsay-like precision and attention to detail.  Though it took him some time to get used to the "one shake" mechanic of the ingredient containers, he turned out three perfect dishes to earn his Michelin stars and victory.  Indeed, he only ruined one dish and that early on.  It was the first time that I have ever seen a victory by stars.

Next up we split again into two tables featuring Lords of Waterdeep and Le Havre.  In LoWD Rob, Beth, Mike O and St. Jay Mike squared off to see who would rule the city.  Rob would emerge victorious with a fair margin of victory.  The table then set about playing a round of Thebes with Andrew, St. Jay Mike, Mike O and Beth heading to the desert.  St. Jay Mike possessed the finest collection of Egyptian antiquities anyone could ever hope to see.  Sadly, his collection paled in comparison to Beth prodigious talent at public speaking.  On the strength of a pittance of treasures and a solid hold on the Congress cards, Beth ran off with the win.

Meanwhile, Kim, Homer, Dennis and I ventured into the shipping trade with Le Havre.  Being a fan of Agricola, we thought this might be right up Dennis' alley.  As it turns out, it was.  Dennis boasted an impressive array of buildings and cleverly sniped the docks away from me and my mighty merchant marine.  Homer, as per usual, constructed a fine fleet of steel ships falling just short of the time necessary to build the HMS Homer luxury liner.  In the end Dennis claimed the win with a sizeable hoard of francs.

So concluded the July Border Board Games game night.  Based on post-game chatter, it seems highly probable that Age of Empires III, Agricola and Bang! will be featured at the August game night scheduled for August 18th at 6 p.m. in the Derby Line Village Hall.

Witches, oil barons and treachery oh my!

The March edition of Border Board Games saw the return of a lost son and a visit from the southern marches.  We were pleased that Rob was able to rejoin us and Bradford Brad journeyed north to join our merry band.  Also stopping by for the first time in ages was daniel, the chess guy.  I'm sure Shannon remembers him well.

We started the evening with a round of base set Dominion that featured Brad, Beth, Rob and myself.  It's been ages since we broke out Dominion and, not surprisingly, some of us had gotten fuzzy about what exactly each card did.  Our card set up was also less than ideal lying sometwhere between a bastard and a punch in the face.  We had only two 3 value cards and the awful thief made an early appearance.  Needless to say, coin was scarce in the latter goings with Rob the only player to acquire more than a single Province.  Despite being cash poor, my witches proved brutally effective clearing out the Curse deck as a way to spend a quick finish.  As it turned out, despite his collection of Provinces, the big pile of purple cards dragged down Rob's final score allowing me to squeak in the victory.

Next up was a game of Black Gold, the newest addition to our collection.  St. Jay Mike took one for the team replacing Dennis at the chess table.  It's still a fairly new title for us but it is a surprisingly simple game to play.  Hudson Oil appeared to fall on hard times throughout the game with its prices yo-yoing between average and terrible forcing most of the bid battles on Jet Oil and US Oil.  In the end, a key win for Brad gave him the edge and the win.  Despite a slow start including a noticeable lack of oil derricks, Dennis rebounded nicely to snag second place on the strength of a solid position of hi train in the final round.

Our final game of the evening proceeded after the departure of Brad and Daniel, one headed south, the other north of The Wall.  Shadows Over Camelot, aka The Traitor Game, was the choice of the night, both because of its ability to accomodate a large number of players as well as not having hit the table in a long time.  Not surprisingly, once again I was dealt the traitor card.  For a game with so much randomness, it is positively uncanny how often I am selected to try and sabotage the efforts of the noble knights.

My efforts would be quickly foiled, however, since only a single lasting sepcial black card ever appeared, Morgan, and it was eliminated in a single round as the Saxons were routed from England's shores.  The knights proved frightfully effective capturing both Excalibur and Lancelot's armor in addition to completing a few other quests.  Though I remained undiscovered until the end, the loyal knights had banked sufficient white swords that even a sudden reversal of fortunes was unable to swing things my way.

The next edition of Border Board games will be the BBG Roadshow in Lyndonville.  To everyone else it will be known as Spring Meltdown.  We return to the Derby Line Village Hall for the May game night.

The Howling Hag that got away and other timely misfortunes

It was a strange sort of Border Board games for February 18th.  With the village hall seeing some other use, the action moved to the newly re-christened Creaserton Abbey.  Mike and Dennis came up from St. Jay early to get their game on.  The afternoon started with Age of Empires III.  Beth and her Dutch legions staked an early lead that she would not relinquish over the ten turns of the game.  Racking up many points in the colonization rounds coupled with some fortunate capital buildings allowed her to run off with a commanding victory.  Dennis and his Portugese forces employed an interesting armed camp variation that effectively slashed into Beth's point total while bolstering his own.  While the French under my leadership explored like mad, my lack of a presence in the colonies hampered my startegy.  Though not sure what strategy Mike employed, his was at least as successful as my own despite a fourth place finish.

We then launched into a few rounds of Trans America at which point Mike O arrived.  As Trans America goes, it tends to end quickly and a disasterous secound game saw Dennis plunge into the Pacific in near record time.  I hink everyone saw the advantage ofusing the Screw You pieces and the second game saw frenzied placement in the rush to avoid a cliff-diving finale.

We then brought out Castle Ravenloft in a co-op frenzy to defeat the Howling hag.  It was, in my estimation at least, one of the more difficult scenarios I have played to date.  Having the party scattered to the four corners of the map forced us to rely on our own pitiful skills in the early going.  My wizard and dennis' rogue teamed up in the one two-man group while the Mikes and Beth had to fight their way out of their respective corners.  Dennis and I caught up to Mike O's ranger in short order while we blazed a path to the central summoning circle.  Dennis, amazingly, managed to draw four of the five zero monster tiles in our push ahead.

Beth had poor luck as she almost instantly drew the howling hag figure.  The tile placement was also working against her, locking her into a corner while Mike's fighter tried to cut his way down.  Eventually we managed to open the circle and start whittling away at the time tokens.  This is where things took a turn for the weird.  Mike O had already taken heavy damage, often as the result of unfortunate Encounter draws.    With two of the five time tokens off, the hag teleported Beth closer and herself further from the action.  This is where we thought we had it won.  Suddenly, my raggedy wizard was sucked off into a corner with two monsters including an Environment strengthrned ghoul.  I used my fire blast but managed to slay only the rat swarm.  The ghoul took one swipe and down I fell.

Meanwhile, the others battled an assortment of fiends near the circle as well as dealing the death blow to the hag herself.  sadly, two of our companions dropped as well.  All we needed to do to win was remove the final three time tiles by simply starting and ending our turns in the circle.  unfortunately, two of the four characters in the circle were lying in pools of their own blood and we had but a single Healing Surge remaining.  Thus, with the monster defeated, we still took the loss.

To cap off the night we rolled out an oldie but a goody: Settlers of Catan.  It went as settlers often does.  While most of us bickered amonst ourselves, the 8s were noticeably absent and the 4s and 10s obscenely prevalent.  This was good for virtually everyone at the table except for Dennis and myself.  Mike O pulled out the ninja victory by slowly but surely building up his roads and armies while everyone else concentrated on whomever built the latest city.  In a stunning final move Mike O connected his two neighborhoods snatching away the longest road from Mike while simultaneously laying down his third knight to claim largest army for the win.

A Game of Pwns

It was nice to have Carlo and Kristin come back to BBG, even if it was only to disappear into the hate-filled turmoil of Westeros for the evening.  Beth, Homer, Carlo and Kristin duked it out in a four player death match in A Game of Thrones.  Despite Homer's mocking jab at Carlo and his tented board, it appears Homer's may also be heading the same way.  In the first of the two games Carlo emerged victorious leading House Greyjoy to victory.  He semi-repeated the feat in the second game as he led the incestuous Lannisters to victory.  Apparently promises to wipe him out (even if it wasn't strategically necessary) failed to materialize.  As Homer remarked later "I tried to get to him but ran out of time."

Meanwhile, the Mikes, Dennis and I cracked open Thurn & Taxis to enjoy a little mail delivery mayhem.  Though it was the first time for everyone else, they caught on quickly and soon we had a heated race to capture victory points.  Inexplicably, the city of Lodz materialized far more often than it seemed it should despite the fact that St. Jay Mike was the only one to ever place a post office there.  Mike O had what would have been a first for T&T, if only he'd had the time to play it.  he was poised to land a massive suite that would have enabled him to place post offices in EVERY province in a SINGLE round.  In hindsight, on the heels of St. Jay Mike's rush to the seven carriage, splitting up that route might have been more prudent.

Next we decided to head across the ocean and plunder a bit of the Caribbean in Merchants & Marauders.  Apparently it was an ampersand sorta weekend.  For all of us it amounted to our second or third play ever so, in many respects, we were quite evenly balanced.  Mike O was the only one to pursue a pirate role but, at game's end, wondered if perhaps starting with a bigger merchant ship may have proven more advantageous.  Oddly enough, Dennis, SJ Mike and I all drew Dutch captains.

It was a bad season to be anything but Cap'n Dennis.  An incessant series of storms coupled with a baggage train of pirates kept most of us from making effective use of our time.  Dennis, however, enjoyed plenty of good fortune as he consistently drew three card sets of in-demand goods destined for nearby ports.  The rest of us hauled ass halfway around the world to sell two of something for next to nothing.  On a positive note, however, we were able to enjoy upgraded ships and avoided being hung as pirates or taken by same even as Dennis cruised easily to victory.

The next edition of BBG will be hosted at The Lair on February 18th due to a booking at the Derby Line Village Hall.  Earlier than usual gaming is liable to occur so please stay tuned.

Gunfight at the Derby Line Village Hall

Border Board games was pleased to see the return of the Mikes and Dennis to the monthly board game night on December 17th.  With the addition of Homer, Kim and Alexis to the mix, we boasted eight players on the evening.

First to hit the table was a favorite of St. Jay Mike and Dennis: Power Grid.  Some savvy moves and the establishment of a reliable nuclear network enabled St. Jay Mike was able to overcome his rivals for control of the French power market.  It was a closely contested game until the very end.

It is highly likely that either of Agricola or Le Havre will hit the tables next month.  If we can again draw eight or more participants, that likelihood increases exponentially.

Next up were several rounds of the wild west themed Bang!  It was the first time for several of the players but, given the inherent nature of the game, was quickly embraced by all players.  In the first game Sheriff Homer came to a bad end as the outlaws efficiently eliminated his deputies and marched to victory.  In the second game Sheriff Dennis fared little better.  His deputies struggled to acquire the gear necessary to defend him while the renegades and outlaws launched savage attacks on he and his allies.  Though close to a renegade win, the outlaws again triumphed on the evening.

The next Border Board Games game night is scheduled for January 21st at 6 p.m.  The week prior a Border Board Games contingent will trek south to Winter Weirdness in Barre for a day filled with gaming mayhem.

The Profits of Disaster

When last we looked in on House Drake the prospects appeared dim.  Lady Ella barely survived an assassination attempt, Torrhen was taken captive by the petulant Buckwells, the Drake army was defeated on the field and the Drake Household faced the onerous task of hosting a tourney commemorating the first official visit by Oberyn Martell.

the biggest challenges lay in completing the marriage pact with thedric and House Cafferen, freeing Torrhen from bondage and somehow gathering the resources to not only host the Martell tourney but, also to strengthen Drake's own forces.  Fortunately Garth's plundering of the Buckwell baggage train alleviated some of the financial pressure facing the Drake household.  Determined not to lose face, Lady Ella vowed to fulfill her obligations and restore the family honor.

Given her precarious state of health, the burden of managing the house during Ella's convalescence fell on Maester Gyles, the Drake house poisoner (though he denies his studies in that area with uncharacteristic vehemence).  As expected, the house fortunes flagged despite the opening on the new marketplace.  This was due in no small part to Gyles' insistence on continuing treatment of Ella leaving the running of the house to others during the mid-summer months.

Meanwhile, Torrhen began his captivity on a tour of the ravaged Buckwell lands.  Though the Buckwells triumphed at Pembroke, it did not come at little cost.  Indeed, Torrhen saw the untilled fields and the unharvested foods caused by excessive call on the region's peasant levies.  Sensing a weakness, Torrhen began a series of subtle jabs at the worthiness of a Buckwell suitor to a Selmy bride.  Though unskilled in the area of diplomacy, Torrhen's honorable behavior earned him the respect of his captors among the Boors and Selmy households.  At the same time Buckwell continued to rant and rave, exposing the flaws in his character that prevented him from earning his knighthood.

Garth, meanwhile, decided to employ some of the tactics that made his guerrilla soldiers infamous.  he encouraged banditry, working alongside some of the larger bands of brigands, hoping to further undermine Buckwell influence in the region.  he continued to shadow the party holding his half-brother hostage, inciting rebellion at every turn.  despite his best efforts, however, he found himself unable to make off with the ransom paid to Buckwell.  Though the source of the ransom remained unclear, suspicions point toward the involvement of Highgarden.

In spite of some philandering and a mysterious death of his newly betrothed, the youngest of the Selmy ladies, Torrhen managed to not only extricate himself from his captors but also land numerous marriage proposals in so doing.  Buckwell betrayed his base nature by becoming implicit in the death of Lady Selmy earning him a trial by combat against Torrhen.  Torrhen's skill at arms outclassed his foe and the last of the Buckwell heirs was duly slain in the name of justice.  he thereby earned his freedom on the eve of the Martell tourney.

Back at Castle Drake (colloquially referred to as castle Greyskull), Ella recovered and attended the marriage of her half-brother thedric.  At the same time she won a considerable victory against Lady Buckwell earning her the respect of the illustrious guests at the wedding celebration.  She was likewise popular among the visiting nobles of Dorne who attended the tournament held to celebrate Oberyn's assumption of his place on King Joffrey's small council.  Torrhen's victory in the lists likewise earned House Drake no small measure of influence from among the visiting noble families.

Having gone from the brink of disaster to the darlings of Sunspear, House Drake appears poised once more as a force to be reckoned with.  Lady Ella's dalliance with the Viper only enhanced her standing as a desirable match.  Garth managed to cement a friendship with the Martell spymaster Otho providing new avenues of revenue for his growing smuggling network.  With a stronger network of alliances brewing, House Drake continues to plot against their Buckwell rivals with their eyes set on taking Summerhall for their own.

The shit storm hits Shitville

The fortunes of House Drake were on the line as the forces Lady Ella Drake brought to Pembroke aligned on the hills west of town.  Arrayed against them were the combined forces of Houses Buckwell, Selmy and Hightower as well as a mercenary force of pikemen.

Not only did Drake's enemies possess superior numbers, they sought to stave off the conflict by first sending an assassin against Ella Drake.  Though Ella was able to fight off her attacker, she sustained grievous injuries in the process.  Sensing that the fortunes of the Drake household were at stake, Maester Gyles intervened, offering Ella a gruesome ticket to freedom if she should so choose.  Already things looked bad for the newfound house.

With Ella removed from the equation, Torrhen represented the house in a parlay with the attacking forces.  Though both sides had come prepared for a prisoner exchange, Torrhen's implacable attitude and the confidence of their foemen precluded an amicable cessation of hostilities.  The battle lines were drawn.

Drakes forces took the high ground but their lack of footmen would prove their undoing on this day.  The enemy launched a wild assault against the wooded hill with the scum from Hightower's jails pitted against the newly formed foot of House Fitzdrake.  The thin line broke and, despite terrible losses from the Drake archers, Torrhen's cavalry was forced to commit much earlier than anticipated.

Even as the cavalry routed the last of the convict brigade, they became enmeshed in vicious hand to hand with the mercenary pikemen.  Torrhen roused his battered troopers and took a Selmy commander prisoner shortly before his own horse was forced to disengage.

Garth and his irregulars held the long, low slope to the north and broke the peasant levies thrown against them but not before their own forces were broken in the melee.  As the ebnemy cavalry rode on Pembroke to take Ella and the unguarded Drake train, the Drake archers were forced to yield and the Drake cavalry broke to engage the new threat.

It was all down hill from there.  The enemy forces were badly abused in the attack but the lack of field commanders hindered the Drakes' ability to rally their men.  The irregulars disengaged and made for the woodlands where their superior stalking skills would have caused the enemy to pay dearly.  The handful of battered troopers remaining in the Drake cavalry were soon outnumbered and disarmed, unable to prevent the enemy from seizing the undercroft where Ella convalesced.

Seeing only death and dishonor, Torrhen surrendered his person in exchange for the freedom of Lady Ella Drake.  meanwhile, the irregulars circled back to sack the allied train, seizing the ransom which, hopefully, might help buy back Torrhen's freedom.  Even as the guerrillas returned to castle Greyskull with their booty, Garth set off to follow the enemy and his captured half brother.

Though free and, much to her surprise, still in charge of an intact army, Ella headed back home to try and salvage the house's fortunes.  With word having come that a retinue from House Martell was making a tour of the borderlands, Ella had to consider how best to position her house to restore its soiled honor.  She not only vowed to go ahead with the marriage of Thedric to Lydia Cafferen but also to work to free Torrhen from her enemies.

It will take skill, courage and more than a little luck to prevent the house from falling into ruin.  It would also take additional allies but would any house remain willing to hitch its fortunes to Drake's wobbling chariot?

Discovering exotic new lands and stealing all of the gold before anyone notices.....

Saturday (Nov. 19) was the annual Exploration and Colonization edition of Border Board Games.  We were pleased to have ten attendees to the event including several newcomers, some returning guests and core gamers.  Dennis and Mike traveled up from the Lower Kingdom while Orleans Mike made his second trip north.  Also attending were Rob and Travis (nice to see you again Travis), Kim and Homer and, of course, Beth and myself.

Having so many players available, we divided up into two tables.  Beth, Kim, Homer, St. Jay Mike and Travis sat down for an opening game of Age of Empires III.  Though Kim was unable to get her traditional spam Monk combo going, she was able to pull out the victory for the Portugese.  Like her nation of record, Kim's victory is largely attributable to an abundance of trade goods.

At the second table I guided Dennis, Shannon, Orleans Mike and Rob through one of our newest acquisitions: Merchants and Marauders.  The guys got the hang of the trading and raiding game fairly quickly despite only Dennis having managed to play the game once before.  Mike experienced some hard times as a merchant ship holed his sloop sending the S.S. Bassboat to the seabed.  Shannon was the first to upgrade snagging a nifty galleon after a few successful demand good runs.  Dennis likewise sported a pimped out flute boasting most of the available upgrades on what, by any definition, is not a very sexy sailing ship.  Though Rob was the last to venture into big boat territory, his galleon came very close to preventing Shannon's eventual win. 

Mauled after a scrape with a French warship and barely avoiding Dennis' galleon, Shannon hightailed it for the safety and rumored wedding of Nassau's governor's daughter.  Rob's galleon lumbered out of the port to engage Shannon.  despite a slight superiority of ship, Rob's superior seamanship enabled him to rake the Golden Hind-End from stem to stern.  Only at the last minute was Shannon able to win the sailing contest and escape into port.  Even then he required a desperate stab at a rumor to finalize the win.  It all came up skulls and crossbones and Shannon walked away with the Pirate Cup.

By This time the gang at table one had shifted over to Puerto Rico.  Though details are thin, apparently Mike was able to pull out the win, largely on the strength of capturing two major purple buildings.  The Age of Empires III game then swung onto our table.  The quick summary of events is that there was more bloodshed in the colonies than ever before (at least in games I've played in).  The Dutch-allied Indians in Virginia (my Indian Allies) seemed content to massacre Shannon's Englishmen at Roanoke while Rob's French troops happily picked off Dutchmen in Brazil.  In the end, the powerful Dutch economic engine was able to outpace the last minute exploration scramble and pull out the win.

The exact theme for the December game day is still somewhat up in the air though mention of Carson City and Betrayal at House on the Hill have both been mentioned as posibilities.  Dennis also mentioned interest in breaking out the venerable Pax Britannica at some future date.  Given the almost Diplomacy like length of PB, it may be better to schedule it on a separate, mutually agreed upon day.

A little blood between friends

When last we checked in with House Drake, the heir apparent and her bevy of half brothers boldly fought off an incursion by the covetous forces of House Buckwell.  having firmly established the town as the base for a new frontier, the Drake family headed south to learn what had become of their relief force.  rather than encountering Uncle Anders and the Drake Company archers, they found a deserted road and odd, over-sized footprints.  Lady Ella said upon seeing the tracks "This has a bad Hodor about it."

Returning to Castle Drake, the band found the bailey littered with idle armsmen not of their house.  Indeed, among the banners present were those of House Hayford, House Highgarden and the hated Buckwells.  Maester Gyles flew into a righteous rage, demanding that Celia present herself to the new lady of House Drake.  A war of words ensued as Celia insinuated something shady-nasty had gone on during the heroes' absence.  She had the lawful will of the departed Ondrew Drake whereas the unsealed letter borne by Gyles must be a fake.

Celia's guests stood shocked and dumbfounded as the Maester tore a strip off her hide (and pride) before berating the harpy back into the lair.  Ella reiterated that she was named heir even as Celia advanced her own son Torrhen as the new lord of the Drake Household.  In a fit of rage and sensing that his honor was about to be compromised, Torrhen snatched Celia's forged will and tossed it into the fire.  This act of defiance outraged his Uncle Anders and the two exchanged words.  Foolishly the exchange came to blows and Anders swung at his nephew, apparently disregarding the fact that the young knight was still clad for battle.

Torrhen easily turned aside the strike and returned one of his own.  Having sheathed his sword in Anders' gut (which caused an alarmingly loud belch a la Phil Collins), Torrhen turned angrily on his mother.  Her interference had nearly sold the house to its enemies and Ella into a marriage contract with Highgarden.  "The Silent Sisters are always looking for people," Torrhen declared.  Ella spurned the Highgarden offer knowing that marrying into a Westerosi family would mean surrendering her Dornish birthright and her ability to lead the house.

Having upset Celia's plans, the heroes seized the Hayfords and Buckwells as hostages.  Having already dealt the Buckwell's a serious blow, holding their heir hostage was a modest coup for the Drake family.  Maester Gyles dispatched ravens to the Buckwells offering to exchange their heir for a year's tithes.  The Buckwells agreed and offered to meed at Pembroke.  At roughly the same time news came from Pembroke from Ser Uther Frey of the Night's Watch.  Ser Frey claimed he was besieged in the village smithy, accused of foul murder.

Though the coincidence in locale was odd, the Drake's vowed to uphold the house honor and lend aid to the Night's Watch.  Knowing that the Buckwell's and their allies were also heading to Pembroke with treachery in mind, the Drake's drew forth their armies and summoned the forces of the newly founded House Fitzdrake to assist.  If the Buckwells thought the prisoner exchange could be warped into an ambush and slaughter, they were going to be terribly surprised.

Ella countered the Buckwell aggression by proposing a marriage pact with House cafferen, an ally of the Buckwells.  In exchange for remaining out of the fight, Ella promised cafferen a quarter of the Buckwell lands.  if they should actively support House Drake, they would gain a third of the Buckwell lands as well as join the two houses together by the marriage of her younger brother Thedric to the Cafferen's eldest daughter.  In theory, the cafferens agreed.  How the situation would play out in Pembroke is yet to be seen.

House Drake has outmanuevered treachery from within and aggression from without.  Will this last minute alliance with cafferen turn the tide of battle and destroy the Buckwells once and for all?  Has House Drake overstepped its place engaging in this most dangerous game of politics?  Have Maester Gyles' clever manipulations totally hodored House Drake?

Epic dice fail and other things that go bump in the night

Border Board Games' Monstrous Hallowe'en Monster Game Extravaganza took place on Saturday, October 15.  This month's crowd included visitors Bob and Christine (?), Carlo and Kristin, Rob, Beth and I and newcomer and hopeful returnee Mike.

Earlier in the day gaming at the Lair saw Carlo lose not one but TWO games of King of Tokyo as Beth pulled victory out of thin air.  In each case Beth waited until the last throw of the dice to send his beloved Krakken back into the watery Abyss while her Donkey Kong reigned supreme.  Added with Carlo's failure to murder "wretches" in Letters from Whitechapel before being apprehended by Beth and Kristin, his gaming got off to a slow start.

Having moved to the village hall at the appointed time, we set up for what would be many of our's first exposure to the newest Lovecraftian themed game Elder Sign.  The game follows the model of the Fantasy Flight series featuring familiar heroes from Arkham Horror and Mansions of Madness.  Unlike the other two titles, Elder Sign is a much quicker game to both set up and play.

In many ways this is a great introduction to the worlds of Lovecraft and horror gaming.  It's relatively light and, as a co-op game, engages all players in the successes, or failures, of their peers.  In our first journey into the realms of terror and madness our adversary was Nyarlathotep, who was sometimes confused with the goatee-wearing evil version of Beth, Ynahteb.

It is hard to say if we were just lucky with our dice or lucky with our adventure locations, but we seemed to breeze through Nyarly with amazing speed.  Indeed, not a single investigator went screaming into hell that I can recall.  not so on our second attempt.  The second time round Shub Niggurath was our adversary and, despite having more doom tokens prior to awakening, our luck fell apart early on.

While in our first game we seemed to succeed on our first try probably 80 percent of the time, it often took three tries to resolve a single adventure with Shubby.  This slowed down our collective rate of equipment gathering (basically, item cards and spells provided bonus dice or "hold" spots to help accomplish tasks) and accelerated our loss of sanity and stamina.

Mike endured a particularly gruesome sequence of deaths staggering around battered and bleeding from one disaster to the next.  It goes to show that volunteering to take the sanity hit to start the game doesn't always make you a hero - sometimes you just become a victim.  In the first game Mike's character Jenny Barnes (the purple chick) could do no wrong.  In round two, no matter what he had, he could do no right.

In time, after many agonizing attempts and failures, Shubby awoke and promptly devoured Mike for the last time.  As we had accomplished so few tasks and his battle condition required sacrificing trophies, our ranks were quickly thinned until only four of the seven remained.  Beth's magician Dexter Drake and then Kate Winthrop did a little damage before he disappeared and Kristin's character the Fuller brush vendor Bob Jenkins, who bravely tried to stop the worst of the bleeding among the company, also spiralled into the Abyss.

It came down to Ashcan Pete (Bob) and Harvey Walters (me) facing a wounded but still ferocious elder thing.  Bob rolled well but, ultimately, his lack of trophies saw him devoured moments after Kate threw herself into the maws of evil.  Harvey Walters, the professor from Miskatonic University, stood alone as the guardian at the door.  Weirdly enough, he had gathered plenty of trophies and, despite not having many bonus dice to rely on, rolled well.  His power to convert terror (tentacles) into scrolls (knowledge) proved crucial as he banished the elder thing with only a single trophy remaining.

The final game of the night was a round of Last Night on Earth which pitted Mike, Rob, Beth and Bob against Carlo the zombie master.  Just as Carlo's dice went quiet earlier in the day, so too did his zombie dice once he had rolled for his starting zombie horde.  Perhaps his plan to sacrifice half their number to make them invulnerable in the first round wasn't the best choice after all.  With the objected being "Burn 'em Out", the heroes had to gather explosives and destroy three of the four zombie spawning pits.

The characters were Jake the Drifter (Bob), Father McFeely (Beth), Sheriff Mr. Anderson (Rob) and Johnny Popular (Mike).  In what can only be termed an incredible string of luck, the humans would quickly find a trove of explosives in the school.  While the gasoline wouldn't seem such a stretch, the twin packs of dynamite struck people as a little odd.  The humans enjoyed a lot of success fighting off the zombie attackers.  With pistols, baseball bats, fire extinguishers and fire axes, they blew through the seething mobs, quickly destroying half of Carlo's spawning pits.  Father McFeely eliminated a Taken Over marker that protected one of the spawning pits and promptly ran out to deal with it.

The lone high point for the zombie master came when Jake stood defiantly outside the Plant as Father Grabass went into the light less building.  His dynamite having already been used, Jake went down howling as the zombies overcame him.  Though he would emerge as a zombie hero, the Father's task was already done as Sally emerged inexplicably from the barn just in time to see the final spawning pit blow.

While the zombie action was resolving itself, Christine and Kristin had a rematch of King of Tokyo.  The results of that contest were not immediately known at press time.