Pot28pouri

So little to write about and so much time to do it in; it's no surprise that nothing gets posted.

An apology to Peter, who it turns out won his game of Dead Man's Hand at Triples despite what I wrote previously. I'm sure that you'll all join with me in condemning him for his outrageous lack of sportsmanship by not letting the poor young child win. I believe that we can safely assume that is another potential wargamer lost to the hobby forever; and we know who is to blame.

Peter savours his victory

 So the Punic Wars campaign resumed last week with one strategic phase card played followed by a battle. Astonishingly Hannibal was defeated albeit only just. And I think the closeness of the margin tells us something. Rome had more troops, the benefits of the triple acies, got all the cards they needed (especially at the beginning), only made one tactical error (not throwing their general into a melee because they were bound to destroy the Carthaginian unit and then not doing so) and Hannibal only had a small amount of lucky dice throws (a couple of melees and nugatory results from a Roman 'Darken the Sky' card; certainly nothing unusual). Despite all that the Romans still only won by the smallest possible margin. The number of cards Hannibal gets plus his double play make him almost invincible. Still, must be a bit embarrassing to lose with all those advantages.

Peter finds defeat hard to take

Other than that, it's been the usual. I spent two days in Hartlepool on a waste recycling facility in the rain reminding myself that accountancy really is glamorous. I went to see les Enfants Terrible perform 'Ernest and the Pale Moon' at the Carriageworks. Described as 'gloriously gothic' it was thoroughly entertaining and a nice length. One of the characters, Gwendoline, was a combination of Madeleine Basset and Basil Fotherington-Thomas and frankly deserved everything she got.

Boardgames played included Tsuro, Citadels and Family Business. One of the young ladies who turned up to the pub to play came dressed as the Statue of Liberty. Being British no one asked why, she never mentioned it herself and so, sadly, it must remain a mystery.