Variable Pig The Meishan Issue
The “Happy New Year” issue, featuring the 177th issue of “Polar Pig”, “The Universe Is A Pink Blancmange Called Simon” 95 and on- the-shelf vol. XVI, issue 46.
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VARIABLE PIG (MEISHAN PIG)
POLAR PIG 177
Happy New Year, everybody. I hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas and holiday season and wish you all the best for a happy and healthy New Year. We had a very enjoyable Christmas day. Hannah and Tyler came on Christmas Eve and joined the 10.30 Church service where Jacqueline was singing with the choir. They left Christmas morning to visit some of Tyler’s relatives that live close by but came back for lunch. Thomas and Kelsey arrived around 1pm. Jacqueline cooked probably the best turkey we have ever had; it came out so well. We had a lot of fun opening presents and playing some games.
Like most years, I was able to take the week between Christmas and New Year off to relax and recharge my batteries, as well as producing this issue. I saw Hannah again on the 27th when we went to see “All Time Low” in concert in New Jersey. They were celebrating the 10th Anniversary of their “Nothing Personal” album, which was their breakthrough. The concert was a lot of fun, even if I only recognized a few songs (“Lost in Stereo” is classic modern pop-punk) but a rather late night as the venue was a long way away. We also saw Thomas and Kelsey on the Saturday when we went to see the new Star Wars movie together. We all enjoyed the film that I thought wrapped up the series well.
We didn’t get out as much as we would have liked, as the weather warmed up and turned very wet and rainy. We celebrated New Year at home, as the children both went to parties with friends. We did spend the afternoon and early evening at friends for their annual open house event and had a good time catching up with friends.
Otherwise, it’s been peaceful since last issue. We finished in the top half of our bowling league in the first half of the season, having recovered from a pretty miserable start. My average has crept back into the 150s, still lower than last year but much better than my miserable opening. We’re also volunteering again at the Bethlehem Emergency Shelter on Thursday nights, where we’ve helping >30 guests per night, a much higher number of guests than expected for this early in the winter. There was some confusion at the start of the Shelter season, as BES had hoped to open in mid- November, but were prevented from doing so when a neighbor took out an injunction to stop the early opening. Our church stepped in and operated as an emergency warming center for one week while the problem was resolved. I also played my first game of badminton in years just before Christmas and hope to play some more in the New Year, now the Fitness Center at the Air Products campus has set up courts.
One sad note was the passing of Grace Stephens, a long-time family friend whom I knew for most of my life. When my parents took their assignment in the Philippines in 1980, I stayed at a friend’s house in Farnham to finish my A-levels and Grace (and her husband Roger) were there for me as support. I always thought of Grace as posh, probably due to her accent, but she was also a lot of fun. She gave me an alarm clock for Christmas that year that is now my oldest possession still in regular use, having traveled to Warwick and around the World with me. Rest in Peace, Grace.
It’s a busy issue this time, with a couple of games finishing and quite a few game starts. Both Richard and I have been busy developing new maps for Railway Rivals and Bus Boss and my thanks for all the positive suggestions and input I received developing these. It’s also good to see more of the waiting lists starting to fill. Alex Richardson published the 2020 Zine Poll results and it was another good result for Variable Pig, although we were beaten into second by John Marsden’s long running ODE. My congratulations to John for an excellent win and my thanks to Alex for running this again. Thanks also to everyone who voted for the Pig.
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Letters
John Hopkins A Happy Christmas to you and yours. Judy Ferguson Hope all is well, and you have a good Christmas. Martin Walker Wishing you and the family a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year. Steve Ham I hope you and yours have a lovely Christmas. Allan Stagg Anyway, I wish you, Jacqueline and your family a joyful time over the festive season, and thanks for the Variable Pigs you have produced through the year. Looking forward to the first 2020 pig. Thanks for all the seasonal greetings. I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas and wish you all the best for the New Year.
Mike Townsend I wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2019 Hope you have a fabulous Christmas and best wishes for 2020. See you at Croppers (what a great looking line-up).
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Mike Townsend Have you already got your Cropredy tickets? Line-up looks pretty "safe". Full House will be interesting. A few cracking songs but I think I need to listen to the whole album a few times to remind myself of the less played songs. Good to have RT on stage with them too (I think) We always buy our tickets early, having had delivery problems in the past, although I may be buying some more tickets for Tyler and Hannah. I agree that it is maybe a safe line-up, but there is a lot I’m looking forward to.
Steve Ham Hope you are well. It is a busy time when all I want is to get to Christmas and stop. I know the feeling; we were shopping right up to Christmas Eve. Hope you’ve been able to relax afterwards?
Allan Stagg We are slowly getting ready for Christmas - Julie has done the Christmas cake and puddings, and we have produced a first draft of our Christmas letter. We haven't done much present shopping yet, and definitely not got down the decorations from the attic - a joy yet to come! We were late decorating again: most people put their lights up over the Thanksgiving holiday. This makes sense given the long weekend and potential for winter storms, but it still grates to see the lights before December. There are, however, some very nicely lit up houses in our area, which makes the winter driving more enjoyable.
Tom Howell Happy Boxing Day! Yes, nice and quiet here. Got some programming done, and some debugging of the program I wrote to print calendars for my check book every year with local tides and sunrise and sunset each day. Bad data as it turned out... :~ Good to hear that all is well out West. I’ve used the post-Christmas break to finish this issue.
Michael Pargman Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I will leave for France in a week. Excellent – we’re hoping to visit France in the summer as it’s been 15+ years since our last trip to France. Where did you go?
Mike Townsend Have now returned from China and just about caught up on preparations for Christmas. China trip was a longer one than the first one including a weekend. In the first week it got exceptionally cold getting down to somewhere around -16 Celsius. At this temperature one even struggled on a fairly short walk to a restaurant. Fortunately, it warmed up a little for the weekend. Sounds like another great trip to China. You’ve certainly got to see some different places to those I visited. I think the old water city of Wushen is still my favourite place in China, although Hangzhou is also very nice. I do remember that the North can get very cold. I think there is a very famous ice festival up there (Harbin?) in the New Year. I can’t remember the details, but I believe it’s well worth seeing if you have the chance. We went to the snow festival in Sapporo, Japan which was very enjoyable,
Mike Townsend On Saturday I managed a little shopping in the huge Wuai market which features a number of 5 storey buildings each bigger than any department store I've ever been in. Each floor seems to have a theme - e.g. shoes; so, you find literally hundreds of stalls selling shoes all together in the same place! On Sunday two of us took the bullet train to Dandong on the North Korean border (220 km about 1.5 hours). The train service is fantastic being punctual, comfortable, regular, cheap and very fast. We then took a taxi to the Hushan section of the Great Wall (most Eastern section). We found a nice walk along the wall and then back along the river bordering North Korea. Interesting to peer across the river at the guard posts on the other side keeping us out or the locals in! The wall itself is a wall and as such is not that exciting. Interesting the way it exactly follows the contours of the land sometimes making the steps exceptionally steep. Returning to Dandong we explored the Broken Bridge which half spans the Yalu River to North Korea. It was bombed by the Americans in the Korean War and they have just left it as it was after the War. You can even see the mangled ends of the structure at the broken end of the bridge. I’ve still not taken the train in China, sadly. I’ve used the Shinkansen in Japan (often) and the Taiwanese equivalent from Taipei to Hsinchu and Tainan, but never the China equivalents. I have taken the Maglev train from Shanghai Pudong airport to Longyang Road, which is well worth trying. It used to be the quickest, easiest and cheapest way for me to travel from the airport to our old office.
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My Asian colleagues from our sister business have asked if I can go again next year, but not officially, so we will see what happens. One day, Jacqueline and I will go back to Japan, but probably not next year.
Mike Townsend Going to these sorts of places definitely makes me think that I should get out of Europe more often! Travel broadens the mind. There are so many great places to see.
Natalie Amery Now I must rush off and get a train because we're visiting my Brother-in-Law and family in the Cotswolds. Very nice – a pretty part of the country. I hope the train ride was enjoyable.
Brad Martin (after his long EU vacation) Yes back into the old routines. I think I’m getting addicted to European travelling - a Great Little Trains of Wales expedition is being planned for next August-September. Thanks for the travelogue. It sounds like you had a great time and packed plenty into your trip. We’ll almost certainly be in England until the middle of August, as the Cropredy festival is scheduled for 13 – 15 August. Maybe we could meet up for lunch if you arrive before we head back to the States.
Allan Stagg We have had a couple of long journeys last month to visit Julie's stepparents, both of whom are in homes. Her stepfather is in a home near Swansea, and her stepmother is in a home near Rochdale, so not close enough to make a combined journey. Unfortunately, the weather for both journeys was not good - it has been a rainy and cold November - but we were able to meet up with her stepfather’s son in Swansea, and her cousin in Huddersfield. Add to that a visit to London to tend her Dad's grave and visit her oldest uncle in Barnes, and then a visit to my Mum, and it has been a lot of miles in a short time. Perhaps little wonder that the car's battery decided to give up the ghost on Sunday, although it was willing to show a full charge and start first time when the breakdown man came this morning. Sounds like some stressful travel. I hope that the visits were good and that everyone is doing as can be expected. I had a lot of flight delays this week for my final work trip of the year to Detroit and Charleston, with flights in and out of Detroit delayed by 5 and 3 hours. This led to some very late arrivals at the hotel and a lack of sleep this week.
John Marsden Has winter arrived there yet? Two, light snowfalls so far and a few chilly days and hard frosts, but it’s mild (and rainy) right now.
Mike Townsend Yes it gets even colder in January and February. Harbin Ice Festival is a "must see" from Shenyang as it is not too far. However, it does not open until early January, and so I missed it. It is also apparently unbelievably cold! That’s for sure! Talking of which…
Andy York On the weather front, last week we were 30 degrees below "normal", this week 10 degrees above. Odd weather patterns, even having the first freeze almost 30 days earlier than normal and setting some daily low temperature records early in the month. After a couple mild winters, I don't think this will cooperate. It’s cold here now, but not unexpectedly so. I think the Northeast hasn’t had very unusual weather so far.
Tom Howell It's raining here, as I type. Makes me feel like not doing much of anything. On the other hand, if it keeps up all day, I won't be out moving firewood closer to where it gets burned... Which will make me feel even less like doing something as strenuous as generating a page of drivel. Besides, I have some clocks to assemble. :) Have fun!
Brad Martin Not even officially summer and we are experiencing temperatures up to 40C (although this week is pleasant) with bushfires in the Eastern States. I hope you’re surviving the heat OK. It sounds pretty nasty in Australia right now.
Brendan Whyte Weather: 14 today, low of 4. forecast for 36 next week. Whew! Snow falls and bushfires here. It's mad. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 7
It’s 5 here and going to get colder next week. No snow so far. I hope that you aren’t affected by the nasty sounding bush fires that I’ve been reading about.
Brendan Whyte Thick smoke over Canberra last night and today. A lovely cool breeze about 9pm but had to close the house to stop the smoke blowing in which was a shame. Batemans Bay is cut off from Sydney to the north, but still accessible via Bega it seems, but they're running out of fuel, and farmers can't get their produce to market. No more deaths thankfully but heading for 43 degrees in central Qld (Julia Creek), where the whole state is experiencing temps 10deg above average. Yikes! And summers only just started.... It sounds grim and getting worse. Stay safe. I think I prefer the Pennsylvania winter.
John Marsden Hope you're feeling better. Richard Smith Allergic reactions are scary! Some people say they are more common these days because kids are not eating enough dirt, but that seems unlikely in the case of antibiotics. Allan Stagg Sorry to hear about your rash. I hope it wasn't too painful and/or embarrassing for you, and that it has now cleared up. I’ve mostly recovered from the reaction, although the itching got worse before it got better. I’m now enjoying the cold weather itchiness.
Murray Egan I was concerned to hear about your last allergic reaction.... prayers answered that it wasn't an allergy to Beer! That would be serious.
Richard Smith I was wondering if you get to vote in the UK General Election. There is a 15-year limit on expats, and I guess your total time in Holland, Japan and the USA probably exceeds this? Of course, with no proportional representation your vote might be worthless anyway, depending on which constituency you were last registered in. I wasn’t aware there was on any time limit on voting, but I would certainly be unable to vote with a 15 year limit. I used to vote when we lived in Holland, casting votes to the Stalybridge constituency which was held by Labour but not with a large majority. I liked the local MP who had a good reputation as a local MP, representing his constituents, but stopped voting when he retired. I don’t think it fair when we don’t really suffer the consequences of our vote. There has been some controversy about expat votes for this election as the short timing combined with the busy postal season means that many are unable to vote, even if legally allowed. I don’t know whether this will have a significant impact or not, but I think it is another abuse of the democratic process by the Tories. We were definitely blocked from voting in the Brexit referendum, which really annoyed me. I’m sure that this was because they felt that most expats would vote ‘remain’.
Natalie Amery I'm sending you these orders half asleep after staying up last night to see the coverage of an election that's been disastrous for pretty much everyone except the Conservative party. The Liberal Democrats and Labour are facing new leadership elections in the new year, and the SNP has the challenge of trying to express a strong mandate for something the party of government strongly disbelieves in. Whilst I'm sure a lot of people are very happy (some of them Pig readers I suspect) with the result I still can't see any way we can actually bring this country back to even a semblance of coherence or unity over the things that so visibly divide us. Oh well, it's nearly Christmas and maybe I can forget about politics for a week then... I saw some of the results coming in during the evening at home and was reminded of the Brexit vote night – the result was sadly predictable.
Natalie Amery Appropriately (but things here aren't that bad yet!) the first game on my list is (Der Fuhrer) I really hope it doesn’t get that bad…The historical notes about the Germen elections of 1932-33 in the game rules make for interesting reading.
Martin Walker Won't mention the election except to wonder how Brexit supporters think it will improve our country, Johnson is looking hopelessly naive and is hoping it'll all work out in the end. I’m more surprised that people voted for the party that imposed austerity to bring them out of it.
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Andy York Trump arrives in town tomorrow and will be visiting the Apple plant a mile or so away. The motorcade will affect my major route I generally take. On the plus side, I should be home from my errands and lunch gathering about the time he hits northwest Austin. I'm staying home in the afternoon! I hope you survived the POTUS visit without too much inconvenience. I’ve had flights delayed by Obama visits, but not from the current administration. We’ll see what happens next year as Pennsylvania remains a swing state. However, based on previous experience, I doubt we’ll have much to worry about – Donald seems to prefer Pittsburgh and Western PA. Joe Biden will probably visit though.
Andy York As for Trump's visit, I was running a bit late returning from my lunch gathering and was a bit worried. Fortunately, he was running late so didn't run into the motorcade. However, I drove by the turnoff from the highway that he was expected to use, traffic slowed to a crawl as folks were looking at the protesters and supporters. Saw a number of pro- and anti- signs, folks in Handmaid's Tale costumes and such. Rubbernecking for different reasons – maybe more interesting to see than the main event. I’m glad there were no problems.
Andy York Regarding baseball, nothing new to report on the Astros/Express (well, except the investigation into the sign-stealing that is in the news). The next event is likely the Caravan in January. You did see the articles about the potential reduction in the minor league system teams in 2021? If not, it's not something to look forward to at all. I saw the news about the changes to the MILB make up, although it was pretty light on detail and reasons. It did note that politicians on both sides were against the changes. It doesn’t sound like a good idea, although without knowing more, it’s hard to say. I’ve also seen the claims about the Astro’s and sign stealing but will wait for the investigation to conclude before commenting.
Carolyn Townsend Just recovering from a cold (like the rest of the UK population) and getting ready for Brexit and the confusion this will generate. I hear Trump is planning on the same election campaign as Boris as he was so successful!!! Well, it was successful. Living in a swing state, I’m not looking forward to this year’s elections.
David Cowie I heard on the radio that Britney Spears is 38 today. That means that it's now 20 years since the Daily Star had BRITNEY SPEARS COMES OF AGE as its front-page headline. Most important story in the world that day! Slow news day or are we showing our age?
Martin Walker Maybe it's my second childhood or midlife crisis but Panini are releasing their English football sticker collection this week, their first for ages. There better be a hard cover album available. Do they still publish them the World Cups?
Murray Egan Also, was great to see the Facebook pics rollup following Jacqueline and Hannah's trip to Boston. That place has loads of history from an American perspective, but sadly has been overrun by Massholes of late (says the jealous baseball/football/hockey fan). You mean, you don’t love the Cheatriots? Andy York As you noted, pretty much waiting for more info on the Astros before making much commentary. And, I agree, with potential reorg of MiLB is not a good idea. It’s gone quiet again on the MILB reorganization, so hopefully they are reconsidering. About 100 days to go…
Murray Egan The big excitement here is a new dog! I adopted Sophie back in October (3-year-old Treeing Walker Coonhound) from a local rescue shelter. She had been living rough in trash dumps in Tennessee and thus she had no house social skills. She was very emaciated/underweight, and she couldn't even be spayed because they wouldn't do the operation at her weight. Slowly (and at sometimes not so surely) she has become more domesticated and is better behaved by the week. She has obviously been abused as she is very skittish with new people. Last month she got trained on the invisible fence so no more standing outside during a rainstorm with dog on a lead waiting for her to poo. It has been a journey, and my therapist informs me that it is getting better ;-) Good to hear that Sophie is starting to settle and that you have got the invisible fence ready before the Chicago winter.
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Richard Smith If PowerPoint works for you, that's cool. However, I suspect you'd be better off drawing your map using Inkscape (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WveZ-kyoUiA) if you can find the time to learn to use it. I've not tried Inkscape yet, but I've heard it takes a bit of getting used to, just like GIMP. The main reason why Inskscape should be better than GIMP for BB and RR is because it's a vector-based tool rather than raster, which is what Christian pointed out. But will he use it for his new Westeros map? I suspect that you’re right, although the comment about finding time to learn how to use it is probably critical. PowerPoint and Paint are very crude tools, but I’m familiar enough with them to be able to use them. The map is coming along nicely, although it’s taking a little longer than I expected.
Martin Walker I'm reading the short stories of John Cheever and enjoying them very much, reading up on him he seems a bit of a character himself. I don’t think I know this author – what genre(s) does he write?
David Cowie BBC news told me that Rod Stewart had the number one album, making him the oldest man to have a number one album. The same story also said that "Dance Monkey" by Tones & I was the number one single for the eleventh week, making her the woman with the longest run at number one. This was the first that I had heard of this record, and it's been number one for eleven weeks. I looked it up on YouTube. Middling dance-pop with a moderately entertaining video. Mostly harmless, but ELEVEN WEEKS? Watching the review of 2019 on TV last night, they covered the “best” songs of 2019. I knew one of them and maybe a couple of the artists and this despite listening to pop channels on the radio most weeks.
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BY POPULAR DEMAND
Round Three – Letter T
1. A Famous Author: John Roald Reuel Tolkien (12), Leonid Tolstoy (4), Mark Twain (3) and Henry David Thoreau scores 1. I think Tolkien will do well, but I wonder how many others will appear. 2. A River: Thames scores 20 It’s a clean sweep for the London River. 3. A Profession or Job: Teacher (15), Tailor (3): Tinker and Tattoo Artist both score 1. I had a brain freeze trying to answer this – not sure why I found it so difficult. 4. A Winner of the best Actress Award: Elizabeth Taylor (12), Emma Thompson (4) and Charlize Theron scores 3. I found four, although I didn’t check best supporting actress. I think Elizabeth Taylor is the most famous, but it was a long time ago. 5. A Musical Instrument: Trumpet (13), Trombone (4) and Tuba scores 3 Quite a few brass instruments to choose from here. 6. Something you might see at an office: Telephone (11), Typewriter (4), Table (4) and Terminal scores 1. I wonder how many votes we’ll get for older technology.
Congratulations to John Walker and Steve Guest who both scored the maximum 83.
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Player Famous River Profession Best Actress Musical See at an Author Oscar Instrument Office John Walker Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Trumpet Telephone (83) 226 Michael Tolkien Thames Teacher Thompson Trumpet Telephone (75) Pargman 221 Steve Guest Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Trumpet Telephone (83) 220 Martin Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Trumpet Table (76) Walker 215 Roger Tolstoy Thames Teacher Taylor Trumpet Typewriter (68) Trethewey 205 Dane Maslen Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Trumpet Table (76) 197 Allan Stagg Twain Thames Teacher Taylor Trombone Typewriter (58) 189 Steve Ham Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Trumpet Table (76) 186 Mike Pollard Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Trombone Typewriter (67) 184 Richard Tolkien Thames Teacher Thompson Tuba Telephone (65) Smith 183 Brendan Tolstoy Thames Tinker Taylor Tuba Typewriter (43) Whyte 169 Murray Egan Thoreau Thames Teacher Theron Trumpet Telephone (63) 169 Bob Gingell Tolkien Thames Teacher Taylor Tuba Telephone (73) 161 Jacqueline Tolkien Thames Tattoo Artist Theron Trumpet Telephone (60) Reader 155 Arthur Owen Twain Thames Teacher - Trumpet Telephone (62) 154 Chris Hibbert Tolstoy Thames Tailor Theron Trumpet Table (47) 151 Andrew York Tolkien Thames Teacher Thompson Trombone Telephone (66) 150 Tom Howell Twain Thames Tailor Taylor Trombone Terminal (43) 144 Brad Martin Tolkien Thames Tailor Thompson Trumpet Telephone (64) 141 MY Leo Thames Teacher Elizabeth Trumpet Telephone (75) CHOICES Tolstoy Taylor 177
Players Comments
Mike Pollard It was funny trying to think of office items and only coming up with stuff that no longer exists in offices, like typewriter, typist and telex machine. but hopefully the other players will have the same experience!
Dane Maslen Could you please forward this email to Mike Pollard to let him know that DG has been running various BPD variants for about 24 years! Actually, that's not strictly true. The first eight games I ran were in Cut & Thrust. Only the most recent 16 have been in Dane's Games. The one variant I never run is By Almost Popular Demand. Conversely, I don't think I've ever seen any other GM run any of the variants I do run, other than the Joker variant. Dane asked me to forward this to you. He’s been running BPD games longer than I have, although I’d have to go back through the archives to see when I started. DG refers to his email zine Danes Games Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 11
Mike Pollard Many thanks Jim, I've contacted Dane and asked to join. I can always do with more games! I had to rack my brains for a minute to remember what "BPD" was. For some reason, my mind went straight to bondage and domination, but I couldn't work out the "P"...... probably just as well.
Brendan Whyte Tolstoy (Thackeray? Trollope? I've read 'em all...) Thames (Tyne, Tees... TV...) Tinker! (tailor, talkback host, tradesman, train driver, tea lady...) Elizabeth Taylor (Emma Thompson, Jessica Tandy, and some bint called C. Theron (who??)) Tuba (triangle, tympani, theremin...) Typewriter (tape-dispenser, office twat...)
Allan Stagg 6 Typewriter (although with my civil service background I should have put teacup)
Bob Gingell 4. Elizabeth Taylor [only 4 to choose from, and of those only Taylor won twice]
Dane Maslen The first two seemed fairly obvious for a Brit, but thereafter things got rather more difficult. It took a minute or so to think of the third, which I suspect is a decent choice, whereas for the fifth I quickly thought of several possibilities (e.g. trombone, trumpet, triangle, tuba) none of which struck me as being the most obvious, though some clearly weren't. Research was needed for the fourth, though Elizabeth Taylor ought to have come to mind unaided. But is she a better bet than some of the more recent winners such as Emma Thompson? Once again, I found myself largely at a loss for the 'Something you might see' category.
Tom Howell 4) Elizabeth Taylor - also Jessica Tandy (who?), Emma Thompson, Charlize Theron -- not a lot of choices here... Jessica Tandy is (was) the oldest winner of an Oscar for her role as Miss Daisy in “Driving Miss Daisy” 5) Trombone - also Trumpet 6) Typewriter - naw. anachronistic. How about Terminal as in Computer terminal.
For the fourth round, the letter is H. The categories are
1. A President of the USA 2. A Fish 3. A Medical Condition 4. A Flower 5. A Town or City in the UK 6. An adjective
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Lyric Quiz
Game Fifteen – Round Four
1) “Well it's one for the money, two for the show, Three to get ready, let's go, cat go, let go” (50s) “Blue Suede Shoes” by Elvis Presley Andy York, John Hopkins, Jacqueline Reader, Brendan Whyte, Tom Howell, Richard Smith, John Walker, Steve Guest, David Cowie, Dane Maslen, Murray Egan (song only)
2) “She was afraid to come out of the locker, she was as nervous as she could be, she was afraid to come out of the locker, she was afraid that somebody would see " (50s) “Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini” by Brian Hyland (Timmy Mallet) Andy York (song only), John Hopkins, Jacqueline Reader (song only), Brendan Whyte (song only), Tom Howell (song only), Chris Hibbert (song only), John Walker, Steve Guest, David Cowie (song only), Martin Walker Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 12
3) “That's when I saw her, ooh, I saw her, she walked in through the out door, out door” (80s) “Raspberry Beret” by Prince Andy York, David Cowie, Martin Walker, Murray Egan
4) “I wear your granddad's clothes, I look incredible, I'm in this big-ass coat” (2010s) “Thrift Shop” by Macklemore Andy York, Jacqueline Reader, David Cowie, Murray Egan
5) “There's an endless story, There's the man I chose, there’s my territory, and all the things I deserve, for being such a good girl honey” (2000s) “Underneath Your Clothes” by Shakira Andy York, John Walker
6) “She had dumps like a truck, truck, truck, Thighs like what, what, what, Baby move your butt, butt, butt " (1990s) “Thong Song” by Sisqo Andy York, Jacqueline Reader
7) “Gold watch, diamond ring, I ain't missin' not a single thing, Cufflinks, stick pin, When I step out I'm gonna do you in " (80s) “Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top Andy York, Jacqueline Reader, Richard Smith, Steve Guest, David Cowie, Murray Egan
8) “We are the goon squad and we're coming to town, Beep-beep Beep-beep” (80s) “Fashion” by David Bowie Jacqueline Reader, Brendan Whyte, Richard Smith, Steve Guest, David Cowie, Martin Walker
9) “But they didn't understand, and I tried to make them see, one is only poor only if they choose to be " (70s) “Coat of Many Colours” by Dolly Parton Andy York, Jacqueline Reader
10) “And I have never seen that dress you're wearing, Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes, I have been blind” (80s) “Lady in Red” by Chris de Burgh Andy York, Jacqueline Reader, Brendan Whyte, John Walker, Steve Guest, David Cowie, Martin Walker, Murray Egan
The theme, was, clothes.
Comments
Andy York Oh, yes, theme is clothing in the Lyrics Quiz.
John Hopkins And the theme is "mush too modern for me" I was wrong about the previous Round being my worst-ever score, clearly it was only my worst-ever score thus far.
Brendan Whyte 2. Itsy Bitsy Tiny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini. It's on a children's singalong record I had...
Chris Hibbert 1) I oughta know this
Richard Smith 2) Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Timmy Mallet? (50s) Yes, sadly he did do a cover of this – I tried to forget. 9) Vincent by Don McLean ??? 10) Feel I should know this one
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John Walker 2 Itsy Witsy Tiny polka Dot Bikini - I have to admit I only know the Timmy Mallett (bombalerina) version Theme= Clothing
Steve Guest Theme: fashion 1. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins (also Elvis Presley)
David Cowie 6) "Baby got back" by Sir Mix-a-lot Theme: clothing.
Martin Walker 1. Rock around the clock - Bill Haley & comets 9. Vincent - Don MacLean
Dane Maslen Er, first impressions aren't encouraging: only one or two lyrics that are at all familiar, and I don't think I can't identify either the group or the title for even them.
1) “Well it's one for the money, two for the show, Three to get ready, let's go, cat go, let go” (50s) I certainly recognise the song. Pity I can't think of the title or identify the performer(s). Let's try ELVIS PRESLEY. And if I'm going to guess the performer, I might as well guess the song too. How about "Blue Suede Shoes"?
Scores
Andy York 18 (64) David Cowie 16 (58) Steve Guest 10 (58) Jacqueline Reader 15 (48) Martin Walker 8 (47) John Hopkins 4 (39) Murray Egan 9 (38) Richard Smith 7 (36) John Walker 9 (33) Brendan Whyte 7 (32) Dane Maslen 2 (26) Jim Reader` 0 (10) Chris Hibbert 1 (3) Tom Howell 3 (4)
Game Fifteen – Round Five of Five
Anyone can play. Score 1 point each for the artist and song title for each song below. There is also a bonus point for identifying the common theme to the songs below.
1) “All our times have come, here but now they're gone” (70s) 2) “I was feeling insecure, you might not love me anymore, I was shivering inside” (70s) 3) “And so, Sally can wait, she knows it's too late as we're walking on by” (90s) 4) “Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing, didn’t have a dime but I always had a vision” (2010s) 5) “When all hope is gone, why don't you tune in and turn them on” (1980s) 6) “When the day is long and the night, the night is yours alone, when you're sure you've had enough, of this life to hang on” (1990s) 7) “Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty, what would life be without a song or dance, what are we” (80s) 8) “Tongue-tied or short of breath, don't even try, Try a little harder” (80s) 9) “And resentment rides high, but emotions won't grow, and we're changing our ways, taking different roads” (80s) 10) “Early evenin', April 4, shot rings out in the Memphis sky, Free at last, they took your life” (80s) Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 14
6 Nimmt! 13
Not Round Three
Quite a few people spotted different mistakes in last issues round 2 report, so I have decided to rerun round two and hopefully fix all the mistakes. My thanks to Bob, Steve and others for spotting these. I have orders on file from Bob G, Bob P, Dane, Kev, Arthur, Carolyn, John and Tom, but will accept new orders if people would like to reorder based on the revised scores and boards.
HAND 1 HAND 2 HAND 3 HAND 4 42 98 50 61 53 97 102 100 31 92 35 60 50 71 90 99 8 29 41 88 31 57 38 46 70 88 92 6 28 39 85 86 30 56 37 40 60 81 32* 86! 4 27 8@ 84 73# 19$ 49% 29 55 3^ 33 35& 59 10 1 10 3 5 3 10 2 1 1 10 13 1 11 6 9
Carolyn Townsend plays 6 in Hand 1, 61 in Hand 2, 24 in Hand 3 and 6 in Hand 4. Score = 0 Tom Howell plays 8 in Hand 1, 63 in Hand 2, 18 in Hand 3 and 34 in Hand 4. Score = 0 Bob Pitman plays 100 in Hand 1, 58 in Hand 2, 15 in Hand 3 and 11 in Hand 4. Score = 0 Bob Gingell plays in 92 Hand 1, 86 in Hand 2, 25 in Hand 3 and 40 in Hand 4. Score = 1 Steve Ham plays 11 in Hand 1, 56 in Hand 2, 14 in Hand 3 and 3 to row 1 in Hand 4. Score = 2 Kev Lee plays 99 in Hand 1, 8 to column 2 in Hand 2, 61 in Hand 3 and 7 in Hand 4. Score = 2 John Walker plays 32 in Hand 1, 39 in Hand 2, 47 in Hand 3 and 46 in Hand 4. Score = 12 Arthur Owen plays 13 in Hand 1, 73 in Hand 2, 19 in Hand 3 and 53 in Hand 4. Score = 19 Dane Maslen plays 86 in Hand 1, 41 in Hand 2, 49 in Hand 3 and 35 in Hand 4. Score = 25
* John takes column 2 of hand 2 for 12 points (5, 7, 10, 11 and 13) ! Dane takes column 3 of hand 1 for 5 points (16, 18, 19, 31 and 34) @ Kev takes column 2 of hand 2 for 2 points (48 and 49) # Arthur takes column 4 of hand 2 for 11 points (55, 56, 58, 61 and 63) $ Arthur takes column 1 of hand 3 for 8 points (10. 12, 14, 15 and 18) % Dane takes column 2 of hand 3 for 10 points (22, 23, 24, 25 and 47) ^ Steve takes column 1 of hand 4 for 2 points (29 and 32) & Dane takes column 3 of hand 4 for 10 points (5, 6, 7, 11 and 34)
Reminder: This game will again have four hands. The first two will be regular 6 Nimmt games with all 104 cards used for the initial deals. The third hand will be only use cards numbered 1 – 94 so all cards will be in play. The fourth hand will be a perfect distribution game – each player will get one car in the range 1 – 10, another from the range 11 – 20 and so on.
Questions
I have included these as a check for me to ensure that I corrected everything (hopefully)
Bob Gingell Query on Hand 1 Row 4 as you have missed out two of the cards played - 11 and 13 which would fill up the row and raise the score for that row to 9. The 11 and 13 were played to the 10 on row 2. Query on Hand 2 Row 4 as you have had me picking up the row instead of Arthur's 73. Cards played on that row from 55 were 56, 58, 61 (not marked in bold in the report), 63, and then 73, 86. Correct – fixed in readjudication.
Steve Ham In Hand 1, should my 11 and Arthur's 13 be included in row 4? No, these were played onto the 10 in hand 2 that was picked up by John Also, on Hand 4, should Carolyn's 6 Kev's 7 and Bob's 11 be on top of my 3 on row 1? No, they were played to the 5 on column 3 that was picked up by Dane. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 15
Tom Howell In hand 2, Bob (which one?) is reported as taking column 4. Bob P. played 58, which should have been safe (third card in column); and Bob G. played 86 which should have been the second card in column after Arthur's 73. Shouldn't it have been Arthur who took column 4 with 73? I think all it needs is to make column 4 of hand 2 show the 73 and 86 and shift the eleven points from Bob G to Arthur. Correct – fixed in readjudication. Thanks also for the reminder to specify which Bob when scoring.
Dane Maslen I thought I'd found an error that meant I shouldn't have taken one of the rows, but it proved to be wishful thinking. I've failed to spot the real errors. I'm guessing that it's Kev that's spotted them. He's certainly always been very good at spotting errors in the games I run!
* * * * *
Work Rest and Play
Game 12 – Game End Statements
Roger Trethewey Congratulations to Steve for the win
Work Rest and Play
Game 13 – Round One
Steve gets off to a cracking start, winning both the work and play credits as Roger and Arthur adopt the same plan. Arthur took the Rest credit on the tiebreaker.
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Roger 50-49-1 Steve 56-39-5 Arthur 50-49-1
Roger: 0 x 0 x 0 = 0 Steve: 1 x 0 x 1 = 0 Arthur: 0 x 1 x 0 = 0
Teadance
Game 8 – Round Four
It looks like the Labour Party has everything wrapped up. The final group of punters consists of 4 men and 1 woman.
Bids Bids for Bids for 3 Total Men Total Grand Remaining 5 Men Women Women Total Labour Party 4, 8 7 + 1 0 - 1 11 4 44 Steve Ham Conservative Party 3, 4 7 – 1 5 + 1 0 7 0 Roger Trethewey Liberal Party 5, 6 4 7 0 3 0 Arthur Owen Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 16
Backpacks and Blisters 3
Round Five
12.40 – 13.00
Brad Berry decided to go back to Grange for lunch, while Honor Kleedae took the bus back to Keswick. War Keys wanted to keep exploring and made his way to his desired target High Tove. Tarn Hallow was the latest to enjoy Blea Tarn while Eddie Inclowds lugged the rucksack up Bleaberry, while Arthur made his way down from Skiddaw.
13.00 – 13.20 (Lunch)
It was time for sandwiches and some Kendal Mint cake in the rain, but most enjoyed their breather. Some also took the opportunity for some first aid. Brad, War and Arthur were all too full afterwards to vote for the rucksack. Honor voted for Arthur, Tarn voted for Eddie who voted to Honor. Eddie had the casting vote and the rucksack returned to Honor. It was time to decide who would carry the rucksack next.
Player 12.40 – 13.00 13.00 – 13.20 Location Goods Score War Keys Maiden Moor (3T3O) to Discard High Tove (2T) High Tove 2 x 50p 32 Brendan High Tove (secret Whyte desire) Tarn Hallow Dash Falls (2T4O) to Discard Ullock Pike (3T) - 35 Brad Martin Blea Tarn Chocolate Eddie Inclowds Bleaberry (3T2O) to Discard Blister - 42 Bob Gingell Bleaberry (secret desire) Lords Seat (3T1O) to 83 Discard Blister 2 x 50p 32 Arthur Owen Brad Berry Ashness Bridge and Discard Striding Edge 1 x 22 John Walker Chocolate (2T4O) to (3O) Chocolate Grange Honor Kleedae Takes 79 bus to Discard High Seat (2T, - 25 Steve Ham Keswick, discards blister 2O) Rucksack!
In most cases, movement order is not important, but this can be important when players reach a target in the same interval or wish to overtake. You may make your orders conditional on other players movement, if they move before you. We are using the secret desire rules. Please can players send orders for next time including their walker’s name and moves for 13.20 – 13.40 and 13.40 – 14.00. The weather for both 13.20 – 13.40 and 13.40 – 14.00 is rainy. Steve will move first from 13.20 – 13.40 and Brendan will move first from 13.40 – 14.00. The next vote for the Heavy Rucksack will be at 14.20.
The targets are Skiddaw, Grisedale Pike, High Rigg, Blea Tarn and Dale Head. Reminder: Ferries move at 20 minutes past the hour and buses at 40 minutes past the hour. Lunch is at 1pm and Coffee at 3pm.
Places Visited Brendan: High Rigg, Walla Crag, Bleaberry, High Seat, Blea Tarn, High Tove Brad: High Rigg, Greathow Wood, Thirlspot, Wythburn, Blea Tarn Bob: Dale Head, Blea Tarn, Walla Crag, Bleaberry Arthur: Lords Seat, Doll Wood, Skiddaw John: Fortinscale, Catbells, Grange, Dale Head Steve: Stone Circle, High Rigg, Thirlspot, Blea Tarn, Rathwaite
Questions
John How are the secret desires determined? To score a secret desire, you need to either play the card to reach the destination or have it in your hand. In the example you gave, you could still score the location by playing another card to reach the Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 17 place while keeping the card in your hand. Note, you must include mention of reaching a secret desire with your orders as I will not always check this.
Steve Shouldn’t Rathwaite be on the list of places visited? Did I score 2 for getting there? Yes, to both questions – I have updated the list of places visited.
Brendan In the write-up you say, "Note that the 1300 to 130 period is lunch so there is no movement... 2 sentences later you say, "All moves during lunch will be made simultaneously". How to reconcile these contradictory statements? The answer to your question is that I failed to let Jacqueline proof-read the zine before sending it to Richard . What I meant is that I will adjudicate the lunch round for all players (essentially discarding cards and collecting points, plus location actions simultaneously as there are no interactions that are player order dependent). No worries, I reckoned 'move' did not mean 'move' but 'adjudication of orders'. but just in case the others were going to sneak off while I was still digesting my sarnies...
* * * * * Breaking Away 10
Round Six
The race order inverts…
Square Replacement Riders 56 3 Ada, Jon Pertwee, Boaty McBoatface 55 6 Brexit, Pascal 54 8 Norway, David Tennant, Neves, Haskell 53 12 Ruby 52 13 Jodie Whitaker 51 14 Jota, Coady, 50 15 Tom Baker, Flash, 49 15 Zippy, President Trump, Dash, 48 15 Canada Plus, 47 15 President Putin, Boly, Speedy 46 - 45 - 44 3 Checkers
Press
Software Engineers: Python is a good age for a cyclist at 28 but is ranked as the 157,386th most popular given name in the United States so was not chosen for the team. Haskell (29) and Ruby (24) are in their prime but Ada (39) and Pascal (49) are getting on a bit. Julia (7) is too young to replace either of them.
NO RUSSIAN MEDDLING (Allan Stagg) 6 points SOFTWARE ENGINEERS (Richard Smith) 0 points A. President Putin 15, 8, 3, 3 A. Ada 3, 15, 2, 3 B. President Trump 5, 15, 5 B. Ruby 12, 15, 10 C. Brexit 3, 6, 3 C. Pascal 6, 4, 4 D. Boaty McBoatface 3, 3, 3 D. Haskell 8, 3, 6
NOT THE WILL(Steve Ham) 13 points SPEEDY TEAM (Chris Hibbert) 13 points A. Canada Plus Plus 5, 5, 5, 15 A. Zippy 15, 4, 5, 5 B. Norway 7, 3, 8 B. Dash 10, 15, 3 C. Checkers 14, 10, 3 C. Speedy 9, 12, 15 D. No Deal WTO dropped D. Flash 3, 3, 15
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 18
THE TIME LORDS (Kev Lee) 4 points WOLVES (Arthur Owen) 0 points A. Tom Baker 4, 5, 15, 3 A. Boly 15, 12, 3 B. David Tennant 8, 3, 3 B. Jota 15, 14, 3 C. Jon Pertwee 3, 3, 3 C. Neves 8, 4, 4 D. Jodie Whitaker 13, 4, 3 D. Coady 14, 15, 14
Breaking Away 11
Round Two
Roger and Steve both spotted that there were some mistakes in the rider’s cards in last turns report, as I failed to replace some rider’s cards correctly. A corrected report was sent round to all players. My thanks to Roger and Steve for letting me know so quickly.
Square Replacement Riders 18 3 Talking Heads 17 - 16 - 15 3 Father Christmas, Major Clanger, Harry Potter, Tiny Clanger, Blondie, Boxing 14 9 EFL, Mary Poppins, Pretenders 13 12 Racing, Romeo Void 12 14 Mother Clanger, Whitstable, Canterbury 11 15 Pegwell, Dumbo, Soup Dragon 10 15 Margate 9 - 8 - 7 3 Art, Cliff, Cricket 6 6 Butch 5 7 Diane
COOL PARKRUNNINGS (John Walker) 0 points ALPHABLOCKERS (Roger Trethewey) 0 points A. Pegwell 13, 15, 6, 7 A. Art 15, 10, 3, 1 B. Whitstable 13, 14, 3 B. Butch 15, 7, 6 C. Margate 10, 15, 3 C. Cliff 13, 11, 3 D. Canterbury 14, 4, 3 D. Diane 11, 3, 7
CLANGERS (Steve Ham) 0 points BANDS (Chris Hibbert) 0 points A. Major Clanger 12, 3, 11, 3 A. Talking Heads 3, 11, 11, 1 B. Mother Clanger 13, 14, 3 B. Romeo Void 12, 12, 3 C. Tiny Clanger 13, 3, 1 C. Pretenders 9, 6, 3 D. Soup Dragon 15, 5, 3 D. Blondie 9, 3, 1
FANTASTIC FLYING PELONTASTICS (Bob P.) 0 pts SKY SPORTS (Arthur Owen) 0 points A. Father Christmas 11, 6, 3 ,4 A. EFL 15, 9, 4, 3 B. Harry Potter 10, 4, 3 B. Racing 14, 12, 2 C. Mary Poppins 3, 6, 9 C. Cricket 13, 3, 3 D. Dumbo 8, 5, 15 D. Boxing 3, 3, 1
* * * * *
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 19
Bus Boss (Cyprus) BB375CYP
Round Nine
Two solo races for Green put him in the lead as the positions reverse.
MED MARS Green Brad John Roger Blue Yellow Green 13) Platres (13) – Nicosia (42) 15 15 - 2 + 2 - 5 + 5 14) Limassol (31) – Famagusta 5 16 9 (62) + 2 + 2 - 2 - 2 15) Polis (21) – Kyrenia (51) 30 + 6 - 6 16) Kyrenia (52) – Trikomo (64) 10 10 10 + 2 - 2 17) Paphos (11) – Pedhoulas 10 20 (23) + 5 - 5
18) Larnaca (35) – Morphou (46) 30
Total from Last Turn 167 155 143 Points from Races 47 59 74 Builds - 12 - 8 - 9 Total 202 206 208
Green Limassol - Troodos MARS: Kalokhorio - Nicosia MED Nicosia - Larnaca - Athna
The fourth set of races is 19) Kilana (15) – Larnaca (34): 20) Paleokhoro (26) – Morphou (46) 21) Limassol (32) – Kythrea (54) : 22) Kalokhorio (24) – Theodhoros (65) 23) Nicosia (44) – Athna (61): 24) Paphos (12) – Kyrenia (52)
Enter up to four races. The build order for round ten is Brad, John and Roger. Normal Bus Boss rules will apply, except there will be 6 races each round in the racing phase featuring two towns from each sector.
Bus Boss (Easter Island)
Game Start
The following players have bravely signed up to try my new Bus Boss map – Richard Smith, Bob Gingell, Brad Martin, John Marsden, Roger Trethewey, Kev Lee and Martin Walker, so there will be two games. Usual Bus Boss rules will apply for both games, except that there will be 7 races per round using Railway Rivals town numbers. Players will be allowed to enter 5 races per round.
BB389IDP
This will be a four-player game with Roger Trethewey, Bob Gingell, Brad Martin and John Marsden. There will be only 5 building rounds in this game with the player with the most money (least lines built) building first in the fifth building round. Please could players send their round one builds as well as company names and colour preferences for next round – build order is Roger, Bob, Brad and John.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 20
BB391IDP
This will be 3 player game with Richard Smith, Kev Lee and Martin Walker. There will be the usual 6 build rounds. Please could players send their round one builds as well as company names and colour preferences for next round – build order is Richard, Martin and Kev.
Here are some of the discussions made during the development of this map. If anyone is interested in seeing the earlier versions, please let me know.
Bob Gingell This is an interesting map that looks to have a good mix of alternative strategies. What leaps out is the large number of moai sites - I thought initially that I would suggest that you do not include ones in double number locations, but see from your latest email that two of those are also two of the major sites to see moai. I would still thin out others - e.g. not at petroglyph sites. Have you made Rano Raraku, Ahu Tongariki and Ahu Akivi doubles because of the moai there, in which case should they be doubles? How about limiting the moai special to those important three sites (maybe adding one or two more distant ones such as North Coast (36) if no petroglyphs and Vinapu (13)). The earliest moai were apparently created at Tahai (see last paragraph), Vinapu and Anakena, so Vinapu seems an appropriate one to keep. Cabo Cummings is pointless for Special #5 as the other two locations must be crossed to get to it. Rano Raraku seems to be one of the most significant tourist destinations on the island and you have made it two numbers but is only accessible by two single track routes both of which could be grabbed by one player. It might be better to have double routes there, and maybe insert the track that maps show to the north to give more options for access to it. It looks like "Rano" (not 'Ranu') is used where there is a volcanic crater lake, "Maunga" for a mountain peak and "Ahu" where there is a platform with moai. Since there are very many locations with "Ahu" in their name these look likely to just refer to spots where there are moai, so for a separate 'moai' special run it seems a bit unnecessary to include all those smaller sites. On the south coast Vaihu is marked as a location with tourist residences and if you are dropping some of the 'ahu' moai icons then Ahu Hanga Te'e could be replaced by Vaihu; there are only three settlements marked on some of the internet maps - Hanga Roa, Mataveri and Vaihu, although some others add Anakena to make 4. Petroglyphs: You have 5 locations - my only query is North Coast (Ahu Papa Tekena) (36) which is good for a moai special, but I think would be too good a destination if also offering petroglyphs. 3 petroglyphs in the west and 1 in the east? Alternatively keep it as petroglyphs but not moai, and think about an alternative moai to make 5 - Tahai / Mahuana or Anakena even though they are also beaches? Tangata (14) also has petroglyphs but it makes no sense game-wise to count that and so obstruct the value of the bigger site at nearby Orongo (11). Orongo (11) looks interesting because of the ruins of an old settlement and its closeness to the Moto Nui island with both being centres of the birdman cult and carvings (so petroglyphs look good there). It might justify a double number, and it is given special treatment as a main attraction of the National Park along with Rano Raraku. The track to it looks full of twists and turns so maybe is worth more than 3, but I do not think it matters that much. Google maps shows a track from Ahu Vinapu (13) south of the airport to 14 and given the distinct lack of tracks in the north-west of the island I wonder whether it is better to include those that do exist. Should Orongo be both petroglyphs and volcano? I would suggest that you limit the three big volcanoes to one spot each (so not Ahu Akivi or Orongo). Ahu Akivi already has a special run being an important moai site so it is a bit of overkill to also make it a volcano site. Ririkiri then stands in for Rano Kau, and just Maunga Tea for Poike, and just one special run could be to a volcano. Interestingly some of the maps show Maunga Teravaka distinct and to the north of Rano Aroi - not sure what to advise on that. A single volcano special creates a need for more special runs - and one of those special runs could be quarries which were particularly important and are also tourist draws. Rano Raraku (61/62) is one, Rua Tiki is near Nau (42) so a quarry could replace the moai icon there, Puna Pau (31) is another (and I do not see a problem with two different specials to 61/62 and 31, so long as the access is improved to 61/62). I could not identify other quarries although I am sure they may be another one. I thought of anchorages, but all of them are already identified as specials (Hanga Roa, Vinapu, Tongariki, Tepu and Anakena) so dropped that idea. Note that I could not find 'Tepu' but there is Te Pito Kura which might be the same place, and it is very close to Hekii where there are some unusual moai. One map marks Ahu Te Pitokura as a main moai site, but as Tepu is a beach site I would not add moai. Anakena was also marked as a main moai site on that geological map so could be added as both a moai and a beach, making two special run icons which seems ok to me if it remains a single number: it is clearly a significant location on the island and more significant than Te Pito Kura.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 21
Wording - I suggest your blurb top left final second para should read at the end "of Polynesian descent" rather than 'descended from Polynesia'. Icons - Bottom right you have missed out the volcano icons. Google spells location 14 as Ana Kai Tanata rather than Tangata, but other maps say Tangata so I would leave it as it is. I could not find any mention of Mahuana (25) (other than in India) whereas Tahai close by is a major archaeological site, moai site and historic clan capital (as were Anakena and Te Peu) which appears on all the maps. Tahai / Mahuana looks to have a pebble beach but its location fits well for the beach special along with the two northern sites, so I do not suggest making it also a moai or petroglyph site, although that is not impossible. Another possible name change based on an internet tourist map is Ahu Moto Opope (63), which I could not find on any internet map, to Ahu Akahanga (which on one map is marked as the one nearby location for tourists to stop at and which on other maps is in the middle of a coast full of ahus). Looking back, I can see that I am proposing a few adjustments or name changes, but most significantly I proposed to drop a load of moai special run destinations and to reduce the number of volcanoes runs and destinations. As that requires the creation of more special runs, I have proposed a run to quarries even though these may create some double special locations (which you already had allowed), and I am left with one further missing special. How about two to the volcanoes? Two to the moai sites would create some destinations with 3 special runs so I do not favour that. As Rano Aroi is easier to get to than the others then it may be worth creating Maunga Terevaka as the volcano (3+3 from Rano Aroi to Ahu Papa Tekena and maybe dropping the 5 from Ahu Papa Tekena to Rano Aroi?) but that would mean deleting a different destination and I am not sure what could easily be dropped, save perhaps Cabo Cummings (although that does offer a nice edge destination) or Ana Raakal (keeping the route but just dropping the village). Overall, it is your design based on your own tourist map and your own observations on the island, so I am happy for you to ignore all the above suggestions. I got a bit carried away looking up things on the internet. Easter Island was a major topic that I covered at the start of teaching a course in International Environmental Law: an object lesson in the need for environmental controls. You can put me down for the first game on the map. Thanks very much for the detailed reply. I will go through these and see what changes best fit. It’s always good to have someone review the map before completion, especially regarding playability. My trip to Easter Island lasted two days. I arrived at noon on a Friday and after checking into my hotel (walkable from the airport), I walked the mile or two to Hanga Roa, the museum and the Moai North of the beach at Mahuana (not a big beach, but I did paddle there the next day). I took a tour the second day (https://www.easterisland.travel/tours/, the express tour) that took in Orongo (fascinating – I had forgotten the Bird Man cult and the crater of Rano Kau is impressive), Rano Raraku (the main quarry and one of the most amazing places I have ever visited), Ahu Tongariki and Anakena. I also had an excellent dinner watching sunset over Mahuana before taking in the cultural show in Hanga Roa. Last day, I took the sunrise tour back to Ahu Tongariki before shopping at the local market (where I bought the map) and then flying back to Chile. These are the main and most accessible sites, other than Ahu Akivi, which is why I made them doubles. Rano Raraku, the quarry where most of heads were dug out and carved, is one of the two places where access is controlled as a National Park, so the only entrance is to the South. I do agree though that it needs more access. After much searching, I finally found Ahu Tahai on the map (I did visit there), but it is very close to Mahuana – I might add the name for reference. I included the Moai at Anakena – it is slightly offset from the beach as Ahu Nau Nau. Anakena is the best beach on the island, so better known for this although the Ahu in the sand is pretty. I don’t recall any settlements at Vaihu (Ahu Hanga Tee), but Vaihu is marked so this is a good way to reduce the number of Moai. The North Coast is remote and the best-known place for the Petroglyphs, so removing the Moai would be better than removing the petroglyph special. I included both as I didn’t want the North to be too unattractive – maybe not a valid concern. I think you are right about Maunga Terevaka. I think I will remove Maunga Pui (not significant) and add a track from Rano Aroi up to Terevaka. This would be a one-track connection, as my map has no routes North of Terevaka, although for map balance it may be better to include another to the North Coast. Ana Raakal is a cavern site, which is why I added it. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 22
The only two quarries I have marked are Rano Raraku and Puna Pau – I could not see the one near Ahu Nau Nau, but I could convert the Moai there for better special balance. I think that would work. The final special could then be caverns. Thanks very much for your help and great suggestions. I have incorporated many of them in the revised map. Some additional comments – I swapped the beach from Mahuana to Hanga Roa (Pea beach) and changed Mahuana to Tahai and moved the Moai from Hanga Roa there. I have reduced the number of Moai, by only using those marked as important Moai sites. Combining this with changing Rano Raraku, Puna Pau and Ahu Nau Nau to quarries also helps. I also removed Maunga Pui and added the peak of Terevaka for the volcano. I also moved Maunga Tea Tea, a hill below Poike to Poike itself, extending the route. I then consolidated to one special for volcanoes as Bob suggested – Rikiriki, Terevaka and Poike. I added caverns for the final special, removing Cabo Cummings and replacing it with a cavern (Ana) on the South side of Poike. This also allowed me to extend the route. I extended a few other routes as well, notably around Rano Kau as these roads are quite windy as Bob correctly noted and increased the routes to Rano Raraku. I think it looks much better balanced now. Please could I ask you to check one more time for errors or concerns, then hopefully this will be ready to go.
Richard Smith Looks great! Yay for PowerPoint - who needs Inkscape / GIMP / CorelDraw / Cyberboard? Of course, I won't add it to the VP website until you've done the changes you mention, and any others needed. Having printed the map in A4 I would suggest reducing the margins / borders to fill the page better (low-res example file attached).
Having a look on the internet https://imaginaisladepascua.com/en/getting-around-easter-island/ it seems that bus travel is available on the island, but not the first choice for tourists. Thanks for the feedback. I had some problems with printing the map as the margins were set automatically by my computer. I’m not sure why, but I will probably forward to my work PC to fix this for the final version. There are a few minibuses on Easter Island, but the only real roads run along the South Coast (Hanga Roa - Ahu Hanga Poukura – Ahu Tongariki and up to Anakena) and the central route (Hanga Roa - Hotels – Vaiitea – Anakena). I can’t remember how far the NW road goes, but I don’t think it goes past Ahu Te Peu. If I ever visited again, I would just hire a bike or walk. I have wondered about also trying to make a Backpacks and Blisters map based on this. There is a lot more to see on Terevaka (the central volcano) that could be used for this. Most of the heads (Moai) are on platforms (Ahu) and the most famous are Ahu Tongariki (most Moai and shown in the little picture) and Ahu Akivi (the only place where the heads face to the sea – all the others face inland). The usual pictures of Easter Island with the heads in the grass and on their sides is the quarry at Rano Rarako, which is one of the most amazing places I have ever visited. PowerPoint worked well, although there were a few minor issues with it trying to join shapes at odd angles. However, it really did make annotation and the towns much easier. I’m thinking to try a map of the Lehigh Valley next. This is all inland but would be marked out by the Lehigh and Delaware rivers. I’m struggling with the scale a little, as I’d like to go all the way up to Jim Thorpe, but without it getting too big. This way I can capture the development of the early industry in our region, with the flow of key raw materials (Anthracite Coal and Iron Ore from the upper river) and Portland Cement to the North, to Bethlehem and Allentown and their heavy industry, then down the Delaware to Philadelphia and it’s ports. I can just about squeak in Coopersburg too .
* * * * *
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 23
CAFÉ INTERNATIONAL 9
Round Eighteen
The bar is getting crowded and expensive.
John plays fJOK to AFR1 scoring 8 points Kev plays fTUR to the bar scoring – 16 points Brad plays fGB to the bar scoring – 18 points Steve plays mRUS to the bar scoring – 20 points
fJO mJO mCH fCH mES mAF AFR1 mJO ITA1 mIT ITA2 fIT CHI1 mCH CHI2 fES ESP1 fES fAF fIT fCH mGB mES fAF AFR2 mAF GB1 fGB mGB GB2 fES ESP2 fES mAF mGB fGB mES mCU CUB1 fCU fRU RUS1 mRU fCU Bar fRU - 1 mCU CUB2 fCU fRU RUS2 mRU mCU mFR mFR mIN mTU TUR1 fFR FRA1 mFR fFRA FRA2 fIN IND1 fIN fTU fDE fDE fUS mFR mIN fTU TUR2 mTU DEU1 fDE DEU2 mUS USA1 fUS USA2 fIN IND2 fJO mTU mDE mDE mUS mUS mIN
Bar: mITA, mITA, mRUS, fAFR, mAFR, fCHI, fITA, fUSA, mTUR, mCHI, mIND, fFRA, mUSA, mCUB, fUSA, mDEU, fTUR, fGB, mRUS
Steve Ham female: DEU, FRA, AFR male: ESP, score 20 John Walker female: GB, male: ITA score 48 Kev Lee female: TUR, CUB male: CHI score 29 Brad Martin female: IND male: GB, DEU score 18
The game end conditions are met as the bar is now full. The final scores are
Steve: 20 – 20 = 0 John: 48 – 10 = 38 Kev: 29 – 15 = 14 Brad: 18 – 15 = 3
Congratulations to John Walker Game end statements welcome
* * * * *
Der Fuhrer 6
Round Five
Rhineland (6, 3, 2 – v, lr, sw) It was close going into the final set of elections. A few sponsors were a little unhappy about the lack of focus on social welfare, so both the Centre and Nationalist parties were forced to pay it some attention. The Communists were more than happy to do the same, spending big while their workers picketed the Social Democrat HQ. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 24
Chancellor Brad spent his last propaganda to bring out the army and push his message on justice. The Sturmabteilung defended Nazi voters as they bought into the big lie.
Somehow, the Communist message fell flat, as voters went all in on Reichsfuhrer Walker’s evil message. The Centre party took second place and the Communists somehow got third. The Nazi’s took the lead in the overall race.
Hesse Nassau (6, 3, 2 – lr, sw, ju) After it worked so well in the Rhineland, Reichsfuhrer Walker stayed on message with plenty of Sturmabteilung out to defend his vote. Mobs in support of Chancellor Brad tried to defend his anti-red stance but were outnumbered by workers. The Nationalists stuck on Social Welfare, but the Centre decided to return to the issue of jobs.
Once again, the Nazi’s won big as voters turned out in droves looking for someone to blame. The Communists narrowly pipped the Centre party for second as the Government vote melted away.
Wurttemberg (4, 2, 1 – v, ju, sw) The final election proved a coronation as the Nazi win was already secured. Herr Arthur finally decided to speak on his best issue of jobs, while his namesake was forced back to speaking on Social Welfare. The Communists closed out by continuing their successful focus on social welfare and no-one was surprised by the Nazi strategy. Losing Chancellor Brad returned to the Justice theme. There were huge street battles between Communist Workers and Nazi Sturmabteilung with pro-Government mobs tilting the balance against the Nazis.
The fighting put off many voters, especially those from the right who celebrated quietly at home while the Communists romped home and the Centre got another second place.
Party Platform Issues Propaganda Street Election Total Mobs Results NAZI Demagoguery 2 v, 2 ar 10 – 4 18 – 5 12 + 6 95 2 no, 9 BL - 3 - 5 15 + 6 John Walker 0 sm - 3 = 0 - 8 = 0 1 COMMUNIST Socialism 3 v, 2 j 9 – 3 13 – 4 4 + 1 + 2 86 Natalie Amery 2 lr, 6 sw - 3 - 4 8 + 1 + 3 2 sm - 3 = 0 - 5 = 0 8 + 1 + 4 CENTRE Liberal 2 v, 5 lr 13 – 4 4 – 0 5 + 1 + 3 77 2 sw, 6 j - 6 - 0 7 + 2 Cian Owen 0 sm - 3 = 0 - 4 = 0 4 + 1 + 2 SOCIAL Conservative 2 v, 2 fa 5 – 5 8 – 0 4 71 DEMOCRATS 2 ar, 7 ju - 0 - 2 1 Brad Martin 2 sm - 0 = 0 - 6 = 0 1 + 1 NATIONALIST Liberal 4 v, 6 lr 8 – 3 5 – 2 2 + 1 66 2 sw, 3 j - 4 - 1 3 + 1 Arthur Owen 0 sm - 1 = 0 - 2 = 0 3 + 1
Next round will be the start of the next election season. Please let me know what political platforms that you would like to stand on. The die roll for Propaganda will be 4. Please could Chancellor John also order which three provinces will be used for the first round of the second elections.
* * * * *
Grand National 2
Round Twelve
A rough couple of jumps for Sleepyhead as he stumbles from one to another, but manages to keep going, while two other horses fell at the Canal Turn. Up front, it’s now neck and neck between Norfolk Enchants and Rigel, with Spiced Rum not far behind.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 25
GM Note: Two horses (Eeyore and Norwich Porridge) played 41 at the Canal Turn so I split the 30-point bonus between them, as the rules were not clear on this point. If anyone has seen other means for resolving ties at this fence, please let me know,
JP at Fence 24 JP at Fence 23 (Canal Turn: TN is JP after Fence Player Horse Comments Penalties Starting JP (Plain: TN is lowest) lowest JP and lowest Twenty Four JP + 1) Steve Ham Norfolk Enchants 14 16 287 257 Michael Pargman Rigel 12 14 282 256 Steve Guest Spiced Rum 12 13 Stumbles Fence 25 10 285 250 Tom Howell Not Again 11 14 261 236 Richard Smith Jay Trump 12 15 261 234 John Walker Horse 16 18 262 228 Chris Hibbert Freedom Fighter 11 12 Stumbles Fence 24 20 266 223 John Walker Individualization 14 16 249 219 Richard Smith Gay Trip 13 16 241 212 Roger Trethewey Sleepyhead 5 12 Stumbles Fences 23 and 24 40 262 205 Mike Townsend Hopping Mad 8 13 Stumbles Fence 24 10 226 195 NPC Middle Man (Median) 14 16 217 187 Bob Gingell Donkey 14 15 212 183 Bob Gingell Eeyore 15 41 -15 214 173 Dane Maslen Red Bum 18 20 201 163 Steve Ham Norwich Porridge 15 41 -15 203 162 Dane Maslen Ankle 17 19 190 154 NPC Slow Riser 20 20 192 152 Cian Owen CO 1 17 20 169 132 NPC Lounge Lizard (12+d6) 18 15 154 121 NPC Mr Consistent 16 16 148 116 Cian Owen CO 2 19 21 150 110 Arthur Owen Amazing Queen 17 20 146 109 Arthur Owen Another Oddity 18 19 141 104 NPC Aquarius (2d6+9) 21 16 121 84 Kev Lee Custard Tart 14 12 Falls Fence 24 Brendan Whyte White Night 10 11 Falls Fence 24 NPC Chaos Theory (5d6-1) Fell fence 22 Mike Townsend Crazy Frog Fell fence 22 Roger Trethewey Lazy Susan Falls fence 21 Steve Guest Overproof Rum Falls fence 19 NPC Mediator (3d8) Falls fence 18 Tom Howell (NMR) Oh No Falls fence 17 Brendan Whyte Black Boy Falls Fence 16 Kev Lee Humble Plum Falls Fence 15 Brad Martin Alert Fall Fence 13 Brad Martin Alacrity Fall Fence 14 Jon Carter All in a Whirl Falls fence 12 Conrad von Metzke Egbert Falls fence 11 Jonathan Amery Prince of Wales Falls fence 11 Jonathan Amery Queen Elizabeth Falls fence 10 NPC Metro Gnome Falls Fence 9 Jon Carter Lady Gs Nag Falls Fence 9 John Marsden The Red Planet Pulls Up at Fence 9 Chris Hibbert Man O Peace Falls fence 8 John Marsden The Next Ode Falls fence 7 Jacqueline Reader Sauron's Summit Falls fence 6 NPC Fade Away Falls fence 6 Jacqueline Reader Cyclips Cyclops Falls fence 5 Conrad von Metzke Ethelred Falls fence 4 Michael Pargman Rapid Falls fence 2 The following horses, played by the GM, will also start the race and move as described below.
MISTER CONSISTENT (16 at each fence) SLOW RISER (9 at the start then increasing by 1 at each odd numbered fence thereafter) AQUARIUS (36 at Water Jump, 2D6 + 9 at all other fences) MIDDLEMAN (20 at first fence, then median of JPs used by other horses at previous fence) LOUNGE LIZARD (12 + d6)
The next fences are Fence 25 (Valentines Brook – TN is highest and lowest JP) and 26 (Plain – TN is lowest). Note that there are only four more fences to go (2 rounds) – the open ditch (TN is determined by roll of d8 and d12) at 27, followed by 3 plain fences. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 26
Hare and Tortoise 5
Round Eleven
Arthur got this round moving by charging to the Hare by Big Bertie. Big Bunny continued moving backwards and collecting carrots. John finished off his last lettuce, but his carrot supply is also low. Big Bertie added to his enormous collection of carrots, before moving closer to the occupied Lettuce patch. Arthur forgot his second move, so jugged the hare and got to eat his second lettuce.
Player Start Square Finish Square Carrots Lettuces Next Turn Big Bunny 41 46 164 1 1 and 5 Brad Martin 23 23 29 0 2 John Walker Big Bertie 30 24 153 2 3 Kev Lee 38 31 77 1 4 Arthur Owen
64 Hare 63 Carrot 62 Hare 61 3 60 Carrot 59 Hare 58 Lettuce 57 Tortoise 49 1 50 Tortoise 51 Hare 52 Carrot 53 3 54 Tortoise 55 2 56 4 48 2 47 4 46 Tortoise 45 3 44 Carrot 43 Lettuce 42 2 41 Tortoise 33 1 34 Hare 35 Tortoise 36 2 37 3 38 4 39 Carrot 40 Hare 32 Carrot 31 Hare 30 2 29 3 28 Tortoise 27 Carrot 26 Hare 25 Carrot 17 1 18 2 19 Hare 20 4 21 3 22 Tortoise 23 Lettuce 24 2 16 Carrot 15 Tortoise 14 Hare 13 3 12 2 11 4 10 Carrot 9 Tortoise 1 Finish 2 Hare 3 Lettuce 4 Hare 5 2 6 Carrot 7 Hare 8 Lettuce
The rules for jugging the hare are also different. A six-sided die is rolled, and the results depend on the players position in the race – see table below.
Die Roll Position in Race 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 1 Miss a turn Miss a turn Miss a turn Chew a carrot
2 Move back to carrot Move back to carrot Move back to carrot Move back to carrot square square square square 3 Drop back one Drop back one Move up one position Move up one position position position 4 Chew a carrot Chew a lettuce Chew a lettuce Chew a lettuce
5 Your last turn is free Your last turn is free Your last turn is free Your last turn is free
6 Take another move Take another move Take another move Take another move
All other rules are the same, other than a player cannot reach the finish line unless he has less than 20 carrots and has eaten all his lettuces.
* * * * *
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 27
Puerto Rico
Game Nine – Round Eight
Allan takes the Craftsman (+1 doubloon) and produces 3 corn, 1 indigo and 2 coffee. John produces 2 corn, 1 indigo and 1 sugar and receives 2 doubloons from his Factory. Richard produces 2 corn and Natalie produces 1 corn, 1 indigo and 3 tobacco. Allan then produces another coffee as his privilege. John takes the Trader and trades his sugar for 4 doubloons. Richard trades corn for 1 doubloon, Natalie trades tobacco for 3 doubloons and Allan trades a coffee for 4 doubloons. The trading house is then emptied. Richard takes the Prospector (+ 2 doubloons). Natalie takes the Mayor and mans two spaces in her Large Indigo Plant. Allan mans his factory, John mans his Small Warehouse and Richard mans his Tobacco Storage and moves a Settler from his Indigo Plantation to the Tobacco Storage. Four more settlers board the Colony Ship.
Player Doubloons VP Goods Buildings Plantations Allan Stagg 8 2 3 corn Hospice (√) Indigo (√) 1 indigo Small Indigo Plant (√) Corn (√,√,√ ) 2 coffee Coffee Roaster (√, √) Coffee (√,√) Factory (√) Quarry (√, √) San Juan (√,√,√) John Walker 8 4 1 corn Small Indigo Plant (√) Corn (√,√) 1 indigo Small Sugar Mill (√) Indigo (√) Small Market (√) Sugar (√) Factory (√) Quarry (√, √) Small Warehouse (√) Tobacco (√) Coffee (x) Richard Smith 7 1 2 corn Construction Hut (x) Corn (√, √) Hospice (√) Quarry (√, √, √) Hacienda (√) Tobacco (√, √, √, x) Small Market (√) Coffee (x) Tobacco Storage (√,√, x) Indigo (x) Natalie Amery 3 10 1 corn Construction Hut (x) Corn (√) 1 indigo Small Indigo Plant (√) Tobacco (√, √, √) 2 tobacco Tobacco Storage (√,√,√) Indigo (√, √, x) Hacienda (√) Quarry (√) Large Indigo Plant (√,√, x)
The play order for the eighth turn is John, Richard, Natalie and Allan. There are 4 colonists on the colony ship. The 6 and 7 ships are both empty while the 6 ship holds 5 indigo and the 5 ship holds 3 tobacco. The trading house is also empty. The plantations available this turn are sugar, indigo, indigo, sugar and sugar. There is a +2 doubloon bonuses on the Settler and + 1 bonuses on the Captain and Builder roles.
Building Cost Victory Points Game 9 Small Indigo Plant 1 1 1 Small Sugar Mill 2 1 3 Small Market 1 1 0 Hacienda 2 1 0 Construction Hut 2 1 0 Small Warehouse 3 1 1 Large Indigo Plant 3 2 2 Large Sugar Mill 4 2 3 Hospice 4 2 0 Office 5 2 2 Large Market 5 2 2 Large Warehouse 6 2 2 Tobacco Storage 5 3 1 Coffee Roaster 6 3 2 Factory 7 3 0 Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 28
University 8 3 2 Harbour 8 3 2 Wharf 9 3 2 Guild Hall 10 4 1 Residence 10 4 1 Fortress 10 4 1 Customs House 10 4 1 City Hall 10 4 1 Tiles and Goods Quarry 0 Corn Tiles 0 (2) Indigo Tiles 0 (5) Sugar Tiles 4 (3) Tobacco Tiles 0 (1) Coffee Tiles 0 (4) Corn Goods 2 Indigo Goods 9 Sugar Goods 11 Tobacco Goods 4 Coffee Goods 7 Colonists 18 Victory Points 89
* * * * * Rail Baron 6
Round Fourteen
There is a rich man warning from Jon as he closes in on the target amount, but Brad isn’t too far behind. Jon or Brad can declare when they reach a city and have more than 200K, in which case I will stop the round there to allow players to adjust their orders if they wish to try to intercept the declared player.
Jon Carter Cash 132.0K Home City: St. Louis (North Central)
57. 2W Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh (B&O) 1K to bank, + 15.0K 57 bonus. Pittsburgh – 3W Pittsburgh (B&O) 58. 3W Pittsburgh – 3W Omaha (B&O, C&NW, UP) 1K to bank 59. 3W Omaha – 2W Pocatello (UP) 1K to bank 60. 2W Pocatello - Portland (UP) 1K to bank, + 26.5K 60 bonus: Portland – 5NW Pocatello (UP) 61. 5NW Pocatello – Las Vegas (UP) 1K to bank
Cian Owen Cash 62.0K Home City: Reno (Southwest)
57. 1NW Butte - Seattle (CMStP&P) 1K to bank, +16.5K 58. Seattle – 1N Butte (CMStP&P) 1K to bank 59. 1N Butte – 8W Minneapolis (CMStP&P) 1K to bank 60. 8W Minneapolis – 1W Minneapolis (CMStP&P) 1K to bank 61. 1W Minneapolis – 1NW Indianapolis (CMStP&P, PA) 1K to bank, 5K to Brad
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 29
Brad Martin Cash 84.0K Home City: Los Angeles (South West)
57. 5NE Phoenix – 2SE Oakland (AT&SF) 1K to bank 58. 2SE Oakland – Oakland (AT&SF) 1K to bank, +22.0K 58 bonus: Oakland – 3SE Oakland (AT&SF) 59. 3SE Oakland – 3N El Paso (AT&SF) 1K to bank 60. 3N El Paso – 1NE Kansas City (AT&SF) 1K to bank 61. 1NE Kansas City - Buffalo (AT&SF) 1K to bank, + 28.0K
Arthur Owen Cash 38.5K Home City: Columbus (North Central)
57. 2W New Orleans - Birmingham (SP, SOU) 1K to bank, +25.5K 58. Birmingham - Louisville (L&N) 5K to Jon 59. Louisville - Indianapolis (PA) 5K to Brad, + 5.0K 60. Indianapolis – 1E Minneapolis (PA, CMStP&P) 5K to Brad and Cian 61. 1E Minneapolis – 4W Fargo (CMStP&P, GN) 5K to Cian, 1K to bank
Player Arrival Train Railroads Cash Jon 21 Superchief C&NW, NYNH&H, NYC, L&N, B&O, ACL, RF&P, UP, WP 173.5K Cian 17 Normal D&RGW, CRI&P, CMSTP&P, MP 78.5K Brad 16 Superchief PA, B&M, AT&SF, SAL, GM&O, T&P, SL&SF, CB&Q, NP, 139.0K C&O, IC Arthur 15 Normal GN, SOU, SP 42.0K
The following line is still available for sale – N&W (12K).
PLAYER FIRST DESTINATION PAYOUT SECOND DESTINATION PAYOUT Jon Los Angeles (South West) 12.0K Oklahoma City (Plains) 16.0K Cian Birmingham (South Central) 27.0K Cincinnati (North Central) 5.0K Brad Seattle (North West) 31.5K Kansas City (Plains) 19.5K Arthur Spokane (North West) 20.0K Richmond (South East) 26.0K
Jon’s third destination is Oakland (South West) for 16.0K Cian’s third destination is Portland (North West) for 25.5K
Turn Die Roll Bonus Priority 67 6 + 6 3 Cian 68 4 + 1 3 Brad 69 4 + 2 3 Arthur 70 6 + 5 2 Jon 71 6 + 1 3 Cian
* * * * * Railway Rivals
RR Game LXXIV – RR2325DM – Denmark Map – Round Ten
Builds:
LEGO (L52) - M52 - M51 - M50 - M49: (P59) - O60 - O61
Enter up to 4 races and build up to 4 points.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 30
The fifth set of races is 25) Frederikshafn / Vordingborg (14) – Odense / Holstebro (33) 26) Slagelse / Fredericia (26) – Grindsted / Frederiksvaerk (44) 27) Odense / Nykobing Mors (34) – Aalborg / Kobenhavn (54) 28) Horsens / Kalundborg (41) – Flensburg / Laeso (61) 29) Thisted / Stege (16) – Kobenhavn / Aalborg (55) 30) Kolding / Skaelskor (24) – Hadeslev / Bornholm (66)
TENC Red NNA Loki VR LEGO Chris Roger Jon Judy Arthur Richard Yellow Red Black Purple Green Blue 19) Hjorring / 0 15 15 Rodbyhavn (15) – - 3 + 3 + 3 - 3 Varde / Ringstod (22) 20) Vejle / Korsor (25) 20 10 – Ringkobing / Faborg (32) 21) Svendborg / 20 0 10 Thyboron (36) – + 6 - 6 Herning / Rorvig (43) 22) Hobro / Helsingor 10 0 20 (53) – Abenra / Fano + 1 - 1 (65) 23) Silkeborg / 20 0 0 10 Frederikssund (45) – - 4 - 1 + 4 – 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 1 - 1 Viborg / Kobnhavn (56) 24) Hjirtshals / 10 20 Nykobing Falstof (12) - 1 - 5 + 1 + 5 – Langeland / Ribe (63)
Last Turn 168 50 154 185 187 70 Points from Races 50 0 4 69 18 39 Builds - 4 + 1 + 2 -1 - 2 Points Total 219 50 158 254 207 102
RR Game LXXIV – RR2348AG – Argentina Map – Round Eight
AB (V12) - U12 - Dean Funes: (Q19) - - - - - Parana: (M18) – L17 - K18 - J18. CASTRO (D50) – E51 – F51 – G52 - H52: (K10) – K9 – K8 – K7 – K6: (M18) – M17: (N14) - N13. TOP GEAR John, you ordered the same builds as the previous round. EVITA (Posadas) - - - Paraguay / B65: (Tabacal) – I51 – H50 - G50 - SS de Jujuy
Question
Bob Pitman Did I get +6 for Concordia connection – it’s not listed as a + cost and I think I am the only player connected to it Yes, you should have got + 6 for Concordia.
Bob Pitman Also thanks for noting that missing (P20) start! I skipped to P21... and I’M AHEAD IN MONEY!!!! WOOHOO! That never happens in RR! Can we stop the game now please!! No, sorry.
The third set of races is 14) Cordoba (52) – Paraguay (Sp3) 15) Buenos Aires (13) – Santa Fe (41) 16) Bolivar / Olivarria (23) – Cordoba (51) 17) Rio Cuarto / Rufino (31) – S.M. de Tucuman (61) 18) Buenos Aires (14) – Catamarca (56) 19) Mar del Plata (24) – Pres. R.S Pena / Las Lomitas (63) 20) Parana (42) – Chile (Sp1) 21) Villa Maria / San Francisco (36) – Bolivia (Sp2) Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 31
Enter up to 4 races from races 15-21 plus the held over race 14 and build up to 6 points.
AB CASTRO TOP GEAR EVITA Brendan Bob John Natalie Blue Red Black Green 3) San Rafael (33) – 20 10 Concordia (43) - 4 + 5 + 4 - 5 4) Santo Tome (44) – La 20 Rioja (54) 6) Iturbe / Tabacal (66) – 10 20 Brazil (Sp4) 7) Rosario (16) – Uruguay 20 10 (Sp5) + 1 + 6 - 1 - 6 8) Rosario (15) – San Juan 20 (35) 9) Santa Rosa (25) – 20 10 Resistencia / Corrientes (45) - 3 - 2 + 3 + 2 10) Mendoza (34) – La Banda 20 10 / Anatuya (53) - 7 + 3 + 7 - 3 11) Posadas / Formosa (46) – 20 Salta (64) 12) Buenos Aires (12) – S. M. 10 20 0 de Tucuman (62) - 3 + 1 – 2 + 3 – 1 - 2 + 2 + 2 13) Telen / General Alvear 10 20 (26) – Seaport (Sp6) 14) Cordoba (52) – Paraguay Race not possible (Sp3)
Last Turn 72 85 57.5 56.5 Points from Races 72 83 61 54 Corrections + 6 Builds - 10 - 10 0 - 7 + 1 - 1 - 1 – 1 - 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 Points Total 134 161 120.5 104.5
RR Game LXXV – RR2347SDW – South Downs Map – Round Six
HMM 6a) 6. (R9) - R8 - Q8 - P7 - P6 / Selbourne Common – SELBOURNE: (P6) - O7, Richard Smith 6b) 4. (O7) - N7 - M8 - L8 - K8, Green 6c) 3. (K8) - J8 - I8 – Cheriton. BANK: 58.5 + 3 + 6 + 1 (B) + 1 (FEAR) = 69.5
B 6a) 6. (D38) – E39 – F39 - - - G40 - G41, Roger Trethewey 6b) 4. (G40) - - - H40: (G41) - G42, Black 6c) 3. (H40) - - - I41. BANK: 110 – 1 (BOG) – 1 (HMM) = 108
BOG 6a) 6. (Buriton) - - - P12 - - - P13, Brad Martin 6b) 4. (P13) - - - -P14 - O15, Blue 6c) 3. (O15) – N15 - M16 - L15. BANK: 14.5 + 1 (B) – 3 + 1 (FEAR) = 13.5
FEAR 6a) 6. (Singleton) – Y18 / Goodwood Country Park: (P45) – Q46 - - - R45; (H16) – H17, Kev Lee 6b) 4. (R45) - - - S45 / Mill Hill: (Lavant) – Y20 Red 6c) 3. (S45) - - - S44. BANK: 71 + 6 (correction) + 3 + 3 + 3 – 1 (BOG) – 1 (HMM) = 84
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 32
Question
Kev I think my total score should be 77 rather than 71 – points forward from round 4 should have been 65 rather than 59? Correct – score adjusted below.
The first set of races is 1. Twyford (15) – Chawton (31): 2. Hambledon (26) – Northchapel (42): 3. Milland (36) – Storrington (52) 4. Singleton (45) – Ringmer (62): 5. Cheriton (14) – Eastbourne North (65) 6. Wickham (22) – Portsmouth (Sp2) 7. Fulking (55) – Brighton (Sp5)
Enter up to 4 races from races 8 – 14 plus all the held over races and build up to 12 points. Note that all race entries must pass through a scenic spot or park. The specials are
S1 Southampton S2 Portsmouth S3 Farnham S4 Bognor & Chichester S5 Brighton S6 Crawley
RR Game LXXVI – RR2378PE – Pern Map – Round Two
Corrections
1. PERN should have paid 1 to DRAGON for connection at I11. 2. BIEN buillt one extra point of track last round, so I have reduced his 2a build allowance by 1 this turn.
DRAGON 2a) 5. (F13) - NABOL - E15 - E16 - E17 - CROM, Bob Gingell 2b) 4. (Crom) - E19 - E20 - E21 - E22, Purple 2c) 3. (E22) - E23 - TELGAR HOLD - D24 BANK: 20 + 1 (correction 1) + 6 + 6 + 6 + 15 max (PERN) = 54
BIEN 2a) 4. (H32) – I32 - - - J31, Christian Bien 2b) 4. (J31) – K32 - - - IGEN WEYR, Orange 2c) 3. (Igen Wey) - - - M33. BANK: 20 + 6 + 1 (BEAR) = 27
BEAR 2a) 5. (F32) – LEMOS – E30 – FAR CRY: (F40) – G40, Kev Lee 2b) 4. (Lemos) - - - F29; (G40) – BITRA, Black 2c) 3. (F29) - - - F28. BANK: 20 + 6 + 3 + 6 – 1 (BIEN) = 34
PERN 2a) 5. (High Reaches Weyr) - - - H10 – G11 – F11, Arthur Owen 2b) 4. (F11) – F12 – F13 – Nabol – E15, Green 2c) 3. (E15) – E16 – E17 - Crom. BANK: 29 – 1 (correction 1) – 23 (DRAGON) = 5
The third-round die rolls are 3a) 4, 3b) 4 and 3c) 4. Please note that all weyrs, except for Ista Weyr (41) are mountain towns. We will use Bus Boss scoring for this game.
RR Game LXXVII – RR2379PE – Pern Map – Round Two
Correction
I somehow managed to mess up Andy’s round 1 builds.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 33
These are shown below; all players were notified by email.
1a) 6. (Fort Weyr) - - - O10 – N10 – M11 – L10 1b) 3. (L10) – K10 – J10 – I11 1c) 4. (I11) – H11 – G12 – F12 – F13.
APT 2a) 5. (F13) – NABOL - E15 – D14 – OGREN: (O11) - P9, Andy York 2b) 4. (I11) - - - HIGH REACHES WEYR: (P9) - Q9, Black 2c) 2. (N10) – N9 - SATTLE. BANK: 20 + 3 + 3 + 6 + 3 = 35
DRAGON 2a) 5. (Plains Hold) - K34 - - -K33: (I35) - I34, Judy Ferguson 2b) 4. (K33) - - - IGEN WEYR: (I34) - I33, Gold 2c) 2. (I33) - I32 - H31. BANK: 24 + 6 = 30
F’ARTED 2a) 5. (G36) – G35 – G34 – G33 – G32 - G31, Bob Pitman 2b) 4. (G31) - - - H30 - I30, Red 2c) 2. (I30) – J29: (G31) - LEMOS BANK: 25 + 6 = 31
THREAD 2a) 5. (F13) - NABOL - E15 - E16 - E17 - CROM, Richard Smith 2b) 4. (Crom) - E19 - E20 - E21 - E22, Blue 2c) 2. (E22) - E23 – TELGAR HOLD. BANK: 20 + 3 + 6 + 6 = 35
The third-round die rolls are 3a) 3, 3b) 3 and 3c) 6. Please note that all weyrs, except for Ista Weyr (41) are mountain towns. We will use Bus Boss scoring for this game.
RR Game LXXVII – RR2380PE – Pern Map – Round Two
Corrections
1. WR was paid 6 for connecting to Fort Hold 2. WR should have paid 2 to FOOR for the parallel build from Fort Weyr to O10.
WR 2a) 3. (O10) - O9 - O8: (Harper Hall) - R13, Natalie Amery 2b) 3. (O8) - - - O7, Blue 2c) 6. (O7) - P7 - P6 - P5 - P4 - Q3 - TILLEK, BANK: 26 – 2 (correction 2) + 6 = 30
GREEN 2a) 3. (F42) – F41 – F40 - F39, Roger Trethewey 2b) 3. (F39) – F38 – F37 - F36, Green 2c) 6. (F36) – F35 – F34 – F33 – F32 – F31 – F30 - Lemos, BANK: 32
RIDE 2a) 3. (G39) - BITRA; (G36) – G35 - G34, Brad Martin 2b) 3. (G34) – G33 – G32 - G31, Brown 2c) 6. (G31) - LEMOS; (G31) - - - H30 - I30 - I29. BANK: 23 + 6 + 6 = 35
FOOR 2a) 3. (Nabol) - E15 – E16 - E17, Martin Walker 2b) 3. (E17) –CROM – E19 - E20, Red 2c) 6. (E20) – E21 – E22 - E23 – TELGAR HOLD – D24 – Miners Hall. BANK: 26 + 2 (correction 2) + 6 + 6 = 40
The third-round die rolls are 3a) 3, 3b) 6 and 3c) 6. Please note that all weyrs, except for Ista Weyr (41) are mountain towns. We will use Bus Boss scoring for this game.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 34
RR Game LXXVIII – RR2403OT – Otago and Southland Map – Game Start
The following players have signed up for this game - Steve Guest, Michael Pargman, and. The map can be found at http://variablepig.org/maps/rr/NZ-Otago-SouthlandRR.pdf. Please can you send company names, colour and start preferences for next round.
Brendan advised (by email to all players) that the starts were as follows - From memory (I ran it in DtC years ago) Oamaru seemed at a disadvantage, so 2/2/1 with the 1 being Oamaru or up to 1 in Oamaru and any number in the other 2. As this is a six-player game, there will be 3 starts from Invercargill, 2 from Dunedin and 1 from Oamaru. The company starts are as follows
Brendan Whyte Company Name: Oamaru... The Biggie... 2 Days, Three Days Max. (OTB2D3DM) Colour: Blue Start: Oamaru (1st) The company name is a reference to a TV ad from the 80s!
Roger Trethewey Company Name: Garaging Railway Engines Ensures Nothing (GREEN) Colour: Green Start: Dunedin (1st)
Bob Gingell Company Name: Majestic Oviparous Archaism (MOA) Colour: Brown Start: Invercargill (1st)
Michael Pargman Company Name: Mountain Area Railways (MAR) Colour: Red Start: Invercargill (2nd)
Steve Guest Company Name: Pants! I'm Not Optimistic this Time (PINOT) Colour: Orange Start: Invercargill (2nd)
Jon Carter Company Name: No Name Again (NNA) Colour: Black Start: Dunedin (3rd)
The first-round die rolls are 1a) 5, 1b) 4 and 1c) 6,
RR Game LXXIX – Bolivia Map – Game Start
The following signed up for the Bolivia RR game - Richard Smith, Brad Martin, Roger Trethewey, Bob Gingell, Chris Hibbert and Dane Maslen. Roger indicated he would be happy to play in both games, so we have enough for two four player games. These will be as follows
Polar Pig RR2405BO (GM – Jim Reader): Richard Smith, Roger Trethewey, Chris Hibbert and Dane Maslen. Universe RR2406BO (GM – Richard Smith): Jim Reader, Bob Gingell, Roger Trethewey and Brad Martin
The map can be found at http://variablepig.org/boliviarr.html . Please can you send company names, colour and start preferences for next round to the appropriate GM.
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Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 35
Robo Rally 5
Game Start
A few more players have joined the game. The start positions and Robot Names are as follows –
Andy York Dalekbot L2 Steve Ham Cannon Fodder I2 Bob Pitman HBZS#1 D2 (Horribly Beweaponed Zirzla Starcruiser #1) Chris Hibbert Mario Androidi K2 Bob Gingell Baymax G2 Michael Pargman Robbie F2 Brendan Whyte BluBOTtle A2 Richard Smith Big Data B2
We are using the Sparta map, (http://spacebug.50webs.com/robo/sparta.jpg). For board reference, I shall use the letters A – L along the y-axis (North – South) and the numbers 1 – 28 along the x-axis (West – East). Cards should go out with this issue, so please send your round one orders next time.
Questions
Bob Pitman No Special options just repair stations? Correct.
Chris Hibbert Please confirm the following: Looks like there's a wall around the outside. Correct – the board is surround by a wall on all side. All lasers do 2 points of damage every turn you're stopped in their path. This is correct for board lasers as these are all double lasers. Note that for positions like C6, these contain 2 lasers, so robots ending the turn there will receive 4 damage (2 from each laser). Robot lasers only cause one damage. Do lasers hurt robots that are shadowed by another robot? Board lasers will shoot through robots so all robots in line from a board laser will receive damage. Robot lasers cannot shoot through another robot, so shielding by another robot is possible, Is there a finish marker? No, the game will end when a robot reaches its third flag.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 36
Bob Gingell I assume that we can touch flags in any order, and that single spanners give repair but do not give options. Correct – there are no options on this map.
Do the flags also count as spanners? Since there are no spanners marked but flags normally do give repair then my presumption is that they do give repair. No, they do not the only repair spaces are the spanners.
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Snowball Fighting 5
Round Four – Holdover
Last turn’s report was missing from issue 176 so I have included this here. The report was emailed to all players, but I did not receive orders from Arthur or Bob G, so will hold this over. I have orders on file from Andy, Bob P and Richard but will accept new orders as needed.
Phase A: There was a lot of movement and reloading, with only one snowball thrown – another doozie from Icy Yew at the perennial target Simon.
Phase B: The movement continued but there were two snowballs thrown this time, Simon and the Texas Tornado both charged for the snowman at Q3 with the American winning the race. Walter Whiteout tried to stay out of trouble. Walking in the Air tried a tricky shot over the corner of the shed at Simon but missed wildly and was lucky not to fall over. He may have been distracted by another direct hit from Icy Yew.
Phase C: Walking in the Air and Simon rearmed, while Icy Yew moved to another spot. The Texas Tornado could hardly miss his challenger for the snowman, and he hit with ease. Walter let fly at Walking in the Air but missed badly.
Character Position Ammunition Hit Victory (player) Points Points Walking in The Air A. Move H8 to K7, collect 1SS 2 simple snowballs 8 0 (Arthur Owen) B. Rattlesnake at Simon C. Collect 2 SS Icy Yew A. Rattlesnake at Simon 3 simple snowballs 9 4 (Bob Gingell) B. Rattlesnake at nearest (Walking) C. Move R12 to N12, collect 1SS Walter Whiteout A. Move B12 to B10, collect 1 SS 1 simple snowball 10 1 (Bob Pitman) B. Move B10 to E9, collect 1 SS C. Rattlesnake at nearest (Walking) Simon the Snowflake A. Move N8 to L6, collect 1SS 2 simple snowballs 4 1 (Richard Smith) B. Move L6 to P4 1 dirigible C. Collect dirigible Texas Tornado A. Collect 2 SS 1 simple snowball 10 3 (Andy York) B. Move S1 to Q3 C. Rattlesnake at nearest (Simon)
Rules and map can be downloaded at variablepig.org/rules/snowball.html.
Press:
Walter These snowballs are a pretty good simulation of the Uncertainty Principle!
Simon Ooh that's cold and wet! But I want it to be known that I do not purport that these concepts should be taken as having less value to our society than being warm and dry.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 37
Questions
Bob Gingell For the Snowball Fighting game wasn't it Round 2 re-done not Round 3? I think I should have 4 not 2 snowballs (as I collected 2 twice and did not move afterwards). The others look right, with Richard's Simon losing one of his 3 remaining snowballs when he moved, Arthur topping back up to 2 and the others spending what they either started with or collected. Correct on both accounts.
However, Andy's Texas Tornado should have been in Q3 by the snowman not his starting hex S1. Which hex did you calculate the shots from? Since one shot hit anyway it is only the roll that missed that might be significant. “Shots are allowed over "The Shed" but hit probability is halved.” I calculate hit probability based on a centre hex to centre hex track. If this takes the snowball through an area marked by the shed, I will treat is as a lob. S1 or Q3 to H8 is over the shed, so I calculated the probability as a lob over the shed with halved probability. I do not keep records of the die rolls I made for each shot, so I cannot recheck exactly what happened.
I am still a bit uncertain as to how much cover is given by a tree although I agree it should be kept simple. The rules merely say that snowballs cannot pass through a conifer hex (meaning trunk hex). It would help to clarify descriptions as trunk hexes and branch hexes since all 7 hexes could be described as 'conifer hexes'. I asked if it was all the trunk hex that counted. Your earlier reply could be interpreted as saying that only the dot in the centre of the trunk hex counts, but that was then confused by reference to cover given by branches. For example, if a player in H8 targeted a player in Q13, which goes through much of a conifer hex including narrowly part of the asterisk but not through the centre point, would the shot be allowed? Or smaller amounts of the conifer hex such as O13 (which still goes through a significant amount of the trunk hex).
I suggest it is simplest to assume that just the asterisk blocks throws, since we do not want to create substantial hide-out zones but the dot alone would mean that the conifer trunk has no effect at all unless in a precisely straight line from thrower to target as was the case for me and Simon last round. Both throwers and targets could in theory be anywhere in a hex and can move to maximise that cover as shown by the protection given by being in the same hex as a snowman even if targeted simultaneously from two different directions. However, as a player can be in the same hex as a conifer trunk I do not think it should act as a big obstacle to targeting players behind (despite the potential advantage shown in my last round cowering behind a tree). My own view is that limiting the blocking of shots to the asterisk when tracing a line from centre point of thrower hex to centre point of target hex should be enough, which would block a shot from H8 to Q13 but not a shot to O13.
I acknowledge that two or three branch hexes give no greater protection than one branch hex since it is where you are standing that counts not how many branch hexes are between the target and the thrower. As a snowball can target someone in the open standing behind a branch hex without that target gaining any protection from those branches there should not be many opportunities to hide behind the tree trunk, even if the target can dodge about behind it as is possible with a snowman. However, there are some similar and possibly greater issues about the shed. I note that Texas Tornado (in Q3) targeted Walking in The Air in H8 in this last round and a direct shot would have passed through the corner of the shed in hex M5. Was it treated as a lob over the shed or as a direct shot? The same concerns arises with the shed as with the conifer over direct throws, save that you can lob a shot over the shed (and so "line of sight" is irrelevant given that you know where everyone is) while you cannot lob over a conifer and must throw in a direct line through the various 'conifer hexes'. My gut feeling is that since TT's shot passed through the drawn part of the shed (and the shed in M5 is not drawn as angled diagonally so as to divide the hex in half) then it ought to have been a lob, in which case it is not so surprising that the shot missed.
Effectively I suggest that the drawn images of conifers and shed on the map are intended to be actual representations of the size of the elements which block direct shots and so it is not the whole of the hex concerned that blocks shots nor just the dot in the middle. Regarding Snowball Fighting, I use the hit point adjustment table when calculating hit probability.
Summary of Hit Probability Adjustments Target on conifer hex (*) - 25% Target adjacent to conifer (.) - 10%
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 38
My interpretation is that the conifer hex is specifically the central hex – the surrounding hexes are adjacent, although affected by a conifer storm. This gets the 25% reduction hit probability - the surrounding hexes are adjacent and get the 10% reduction. I was referring to the 6 surrounding hexes when I mentioned the cover from the outer branches. The earlier rule that a snowball throw may not pass through a conifer hex is ambiguous and unnecessarily confusing. I agree with your suggestion that a snowball cannot pass through the centre of conifer hex in a straight line.
By comparison, the drawn snowmen images are merely virtual representations of elements which are stated in the rules to affect the whole of the hex they are in, so that principle cannot apply to them. Similarly, the path is a virtual representation since the rules say that the whole of each path hex is devoid of snow for making snowballs even though the image of the path does not fill the hexes. Regarding snowmen, I will continue to apply the adjustments based on the table in the rules “Target on snowman hex -10% “.
Regarding the path, this is trickier. However, I will allow players to collect snowballs along the path, considering that they are collecting them from the sides of the path. I realize that this may not be the correct interpretation, but this is easier for me lest I forget.
I repeat my objection to your suggestion of allowing gathering of snowballs on the path since the rules clearly say you cannot do that. Orders in Round 1 (and 2) could have been different if players knew they could have stayed on the path and gathered snowballs. Re-reading the Snowball rules online, I have seen the rule COLLECT. The player may collect up to two simple snowballs, or one Doubleday Dirigible per segment. The player states which type of snowball they wish to collect. Snowballs cannot be collected on the path. I’m not sure I spotted this in my paper copy, as I thought the rule applied mainly to the movement. I will apply this from now on, but I will not redo the previous rounds. You do have 4 snowballs.
Bob Pitman Question! Somewhere (and I can’t recall where or if this memory is accurate) did I read that the snowmen’s heads at A12 and Q3 can be used as premade Doubleday Dirigibles? Regarding the Snowball question in your second e-mail, Snowmen’s heads can be used (once) as Dirigibles.
Suggestion... there are a few games like Snowball fight and the Railway Rivals games where there’s a current map in the hands of the GM... I try to keep track on my own maps but they aren’t always accurate... for example on the Argentina map I had missed ABs run of track out of E49 to SS de Jujuy, and in Snowball fight Walking In the Airs actual moves look like the ones I had recorded for him in round 2. Would it be Regarding publishing maps online, I don’t think that I can do this easily. I still use paper maps marked up with pens that don’t always scan well. I’m happy to scan maps on request, but the quality won’t be great. I know that Richard marks his maps up electronically, so he can maintain these online, but I’m not that advanced. For Snowball Fighting, I usually don’t mark up the map at all – just check players positions and moves each round.
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Sopwith T-365VP
Round Sixteen
With only two planes left in the air, there wasn’t too much to report. Cameltoe greeted his ground crew and enjoyed a cup of tea, while his crew re-armed the plane and checked for damage. The Ode-ace-ious One headed away from his falling opponent and was a little surprised when the Gossamer Heron fired a hail of bullets just ahead of his flight path.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 39
3
5
2
Pilot Starts Moves Ends A:D:P 2 Gossamer Heron 13) L13W 13) LT - LS fA - A fA 13) O14SW 2:8:4 Chris Hibbert 14) O14SW 14) RT - RS – RS 14) M11W Start: A1 15) M11W 15) LT, fL – LT, fL fA – A 15) P13SE 16) P13SE 16) LT – LT, fA, fL - LT 16) N13NW 3 Cameltoe (ACE) 13) H12W 13) RT – A – A 13) E9NW 16:12:7 John Walker 14) E9NW 14) RT – RS – A 14) C10NE Start: A10 15) C10NE 15) A – A – Land 15) A10 16) A10 16) Re-arm and repair 16) A10 5 The Ode-ace-ious One 13) Q12E 13) LS – A – LS, fL 13) O13E 3:4:12 John Marsden 14) O13E 14) LS, fA, L – A – A 14) N15E Start: S19 15) N15E 15) LT – LT – LT, fL 15) L13W 16) L13W 16) RS – A - A 16) K10W 1 Avey Ate Her Shot down Brendan Whyte turn 15, 6 Start: J1 points 4 The Mystery Pilot (ACE) Shot down Brad Martin turn 10 Start: J19 11 points 6 Red Baron Shot down Arthur Owen turn 4 Start: S10
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 40
on-the-shelf vol. XVI, no. 46 4 January 2020 Brought to you by Tom Howell: off-the-shelf at olympus.net. Welcome to on-the-shelf, volume XVI, number 46. on-the-shelf is looking a bit thin, don’t you think? Let’s start the Machi Koro game which has been waiting in the wings. See the back page: if you aren’t in the list, we can take up to three more, just let me know. We’ll start the next Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki? when the WIMM? game ends. I could also run: Banquette of Borgia (an all-player game, it should wait until Grand National has run its course), Breaking Away, Dream Mile, Golden Strider, Love Letter, Origins of World War I, Eat Me, Diplomacy (yeah?), and I said I’d do 1830, but I’m having second thoughts on that one. See the back page for some of these already listed. Round 8 Snakes and Ladders Just for Richard Roger narrowly retains his lead; can he avoid the fate of Chris? Three of you appear to have found the same snake. I once found a video on the Internet of a python regurgitating a cow. Don’t think that’ll happen to you folks. Probably a good thing, as the cow was most definitely dead. +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | Roger | 3 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 51 | 75 | 70 | | Bob | 36 | 3 | 29 | 33 | 39 | 59 | 64 | 67 | | Richard | 3 | 7 | 29 | 34 | 40 | 59 | 63 | 64 | This space reserved | John | 36 | 39 | 45 | 50 | 51 | 48 | 51 | 55 | | Brendan | 1 | 6 | 29 | 32 | 36 | 59 | 43 | 48 | for future rounds. | Judy | 4 | 6 | 9 | 14 | 19 | 19 | 51 | 44 | | Martin | 5 | 11 | 12 | 16 | 18 | 51 | 55 | 44 | | Steve | 5 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 19 | 51 | 56 | 44 | | Chris | 3 | 4 | 9 | 11 | 15 | 51 | 22 | 10 | +------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ During turn 8, there were no trapdoors activated. In My Neighborhood The lawyers had told Barb, “The judge would want to see,” an asset listing showing who got what. That wasn’t the reason we should have done one. The Commissioner didn’t care. If he had, he’d have asked. We each discovered the real reason to have done so when we asked our financial institutions to remove the other’s name from the accounts we’d made joint when we were married. My Credit Union wasn’t a problem, but the rest of ‘em: “This account isn’t listed in the Decree.” Off the Reference Shelf CDs The Sentence is Death, by Anthony Horowitz Someday the Rabbi Will Leave, by Harry Kemelman Upheaval: Turning Points for Nations in Crisis, by Jared Diamond – in which the author repeatedly cites the human tendency to self-deception. How the Bible Actually Works: In Which I Explain How an Ancient, Ambiguous, and Diverse Book Leads Us to Wisdom Rather Than Answers – and Why That’s Great News, by Peter Enns – in which the author makes a compelling argument in support of evolution but denigrates the concept whenever he actually mentions the word itself. House of Spies, by Daniel Silva Time Enough for Love, by Robert A. Heinlein Unfreedom of the Press, by Mark R. Levin - in which the author correctly diagnoses the press’ problems but fails to see that the right wing press has the same problems. Call this one ‘Blame’. Gone Too Far, by Suzanne Brockmann The Defector, by Daniel Silva DVDs Maya to Aztec: Ancient Mesoamerica Revealed, by Edin Barnhart, from the Great Courses Game of Thrones: eighth season, from HBO Introduction to Paleontology, by Stuart Sutherland, from the Great Courses Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 41
#95 The Universe is a Pink Blancmange Called Simon A subzine by Richard Smith – [email protected]
1st January 2020
And they say spam is a thing of the past. Not for BT customers it seems, who get phished more than a cod in the North Sea. The picture above shows the suspect emails collected in my "bulk mail" folder. Thunderbird doesn't always get it right but in this case they are all bogus and the real one went into the inbox. Huzzah!
I'm running out of zines to make the final decision on the new name, assuming my plan is still to heroically fail to reach 100 issues with the old one.
So here's my last two ideas before I plump for something. The first comes from the French post rock duo Alcest (featured on my 2019 mix) who did a beautiful track in 2014 called "La Nuit Marche Avec Moi" (check it out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tfnHiiVbLQ) which could be massaged to make "Les Dés Marche Avec Moi" (the dice walk with me). Pretentious, moi?
The second is a rather boring one. "Richard Smith's House of Games" was a game I ran recently based on the cheapo but great BBC game show. Sometimes the obvious just works, though the Beeb might sue me.
Also, with the new decade upon is, I did spend a bit of time thinking about fonts (as all zine editors do from time to time). I have been using Tahoma for years because it looks neat and tidy on screen and printed, including when reduced for A5 booklets. It also comes with Windows, and is quite common on the Mac, but it doesn't ship with Linux and is not easy to install on that OS. Of course with today's PDFs the reader not having the font doesn't matter too much as you can bundle most of 'em without bloating the file. Perhaps, in honour of Brexit, I should choose a font with a British place name such as "Chipping Sodbury Condensed Semibold"?
Finally on to game lists - Bolivia has filled up (that's global warming for you) and I am opening a new list for GS Tarnished V2 (rules on next page). GS Robot has been run, report in this ish and Postal Kubb abandoned for now (may try again later to get 6 for it). More wanted for The Great Brain Robbery, and Fragments: Movie Madness is still available to join in, though now is the time for any lurkers to reveal themselves as points have just been scored: Huzzah again!
Richard
In The first known spam email, advertising a DEC product presentation, was sent in 1978 by Gary Thuerk to 600 addresses, the total number of users on ARPANET was 2600 at the time though software limitations meant only slightly more than half of the intended recipients actually received it. As of August 2010, the number of spam messages sent per day was estimated to be around 200 billion. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 42
Golden Strider - Tarnished Variant - Revised Rules
Overview Each player is the manager of two runners, so the game is for 3-5 players to give 6-10 in the race. Managers may decide that both their runners will run clean, or that either of both of them will cheat by taking performance- enhancing drugs.
To Cheat Or Not To Cheat There are two drugs available, but athletes can only take one or the other (a cocktail of the two causes nipple droop and / or winky shrinkage, both a dead giveaway in the changing room): 1) Enduron - gives the athlete greater endurance, automatically adding 1 to the Banked number (maximum 10). Because this drug has to be taken over a long period before the race, the user also gains an extra two points on their starting cards (32 instead of 30, no card over 10 though). 2) Energiza - gives the athlete a boost on demand: They can choose to add 0, 1, 2 to any Movement number (default is 0, total move can exceed 10). A final lactic-defying boost of up to 4 can be used when crossing the finish line. The drug is taken as a power-up before the race, it has no effect on starting cards.
The Race The race is the same as the standard game except • the cards are secret • only positions and squares are shown in the turn report, example below P S Runner 1 36 Sandra Loan 1 36 Steve Roids 1 36 Non Chi Ting 1 36 Jeff O'Dreen 5 32 Mary-Joanna Plant 6 31 Colleen McClean 7 28 Arsene Gere 8 25 Harry Earp • cards and overtake costs for next round are sent privately to players • the race is 60-70 squares in length, a longer race will benefit Enduron users • the runners are identified by their racing name only, the manager of each runner is not revealed
Disqualifications At the end of the race, each manager may accuse one athlete of cheating. The default is not to accuse anyone. Collusion between managers is not allowed, so they might end up accusing the same runner. The UKPBMAF will test the accused athletes and the test is infallible - cheats will be caught and clean runners will not test positive.
Scoring Disqualified athletes score no points. Remaining athletes shuffle up and score as follows:. • 1st = 6 points • 2nd = 4 points • 3rd = 3 points • 4th = 2 points • 5th = 1 point • 6th+ = 0 points In addition, managers get +1 point if the runner they accused is disqualified and -1 point for accusing an innocent runner. The manager with the highest aggregate score is the winner. If there is a tie the manager with the highest placed runner wins. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 43
King of Tokyo - Round 4
King of Tokyo is a hugely popular tabletop game by Richard Garfield, published by Iello Games. F2F rules for the 2016 edition area available from http://iellogames.com/downloads/KOT2-rulebook_EN.pdf Rules for the postal adaptation https://variablepig.org/rules/kingoftokyo.html (3-4 players only.
Rumble Report Bout 1: Megakitty1 gives Brexitator a nasty scratch, which is not quite enough to force him from Tokyo (so he'll get 2VPs next time).
Bout 2: Cyclops quietly absorbs energy leaving Cretosaurus unscathed.
Bout 3: Cretosaurus has a little nibble at Cyclops who remains in Tokyo (+2VPs and 2E from card next time).
Bout 4: Brexitator ends up with exactly the same 6 dice as he did last time in bout 3. Several theories about the fine tuning of the universe are thus shattered. Cretosaurus takes no damage and also remains in Tokyo for +2VPs next time.
Turn 4 Bouts Table Bout 1 Bout 2 Megakitty1 rolls 1, 1, 2, 3, E, H Cyclops rolls 3, E, E, E, H, H Megakitty1 rolls [E] 1, C, E, E, H Cyclops rolls [E, E, E] 1, 2, E Megakitty1 rolls [E, E, E, C] 1, 3 Cyclops rolls [E, E, E, E] E, 3 Megakitty1 inflicts 1 damage on Brexitator who Cyclops inflicts no damage on Cretosaurus who remains in Tokyo remains in Tokyo Megakitty1 saves 3E for later Cyclops saves 5E for later Bout 3 Bout 4 Cretosaurus rolls 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, E Brexitator rolls 1, 2, C, E, E, H Cretosaurus rolls [2, 2, 2, E] 1, C Brexitator rolls [] 1, 3, 3, 3, E, H Cretosaurus rolls [2, 2, 2, C, E] E Brexitator rolls: [3, 3, 3] 3, E, H Cretosaurus inflicts 1 damage on Cyclops who Brexitator gets 4VPs for the 4 3s remains in Tokyo Brexitaor inflicts no damage on Cretosaurus who Cretosaurus saves 2E for later remains in Tokyo Brexitator saves 1E for later Heart no effect
Status Table (italic monster in Tokyo) Turn Bout 1 V H E Bout 2 V H E Bout 3 V H E Bout 4 V H E 1, 5, Brexitator 4 5 1 Megakitty1 1 4 1 Cyclops 1 8 0 Cretosaurus 3 7 1 9, 13 (John Walker) (Bob Pitman) (Kevin Lee) (Jim Reader) Cards: None Cards: Media Cards: Battery Cards: Solar Friendly Monster (6 left) Powered 2, 6, Cretosaurus 0 10 4 Brexitator 3 10 1 Megakitty1 0 10 0 Cyclops 0 10 2 10, 14 (Jim Reader) (John Walker) (Bob Pitman) (Kevin Lee) Cards: None Cards: None Cards: Armor Cards: Energy Plating Hoarder 3, 7, Cyclops 0 10 2 Cretosaurus 1 10 1 Brexitator 4 10 1 Megakitty1 0 10 2 11, 15 (Kevin Lee) (Jim Reader) (John Walker) (Bob Pitman) Cards: None Cards: None Cards: None Cards: None 4, 8, Megakitty1 0 10 3 Cyclops 0 10 5 Cretosaurus 0 10 2 Brexitator 4 10 1 12, 16 (Bob Pitman) (Kevin Lee) (Jim Reader) (John Walker)
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 44
Card Descriptions [Onwed by Monsters] Name Type Cost Description Armor Plating Keep 4 No damage when taking exactly 1 damage Battery Monster Keep 3 6E in reserve, move 2 into bank before turn Energy Hoarder Keep 3 get 1V for every 6E in bank at end of turn Media Friendly Keep 2 +1E when buying cards Solar Powered Keep 2 +1E if no E at end of turn
Turn 5 Bout 1: Brexitator (John) to play (+2V). Brexitator (John) is in Tokyo. Cards 1-3 on sale, 4-6 reserve (see rules). # Name Type Cost Description 1 Tank Discard 4 +4VP -3H 2 Jets Keep 5 You don't lose H if you decide to leave Tokyo 3 Alien Origin Keep 3 Power cards cost 1E less to buy 4 Even Bigger Keep 4 +2H when card bought, can have up to 12H as long as card owned 5 Energy Hoarder Keep 3 Gain 1 VP for every 6E in hand at end of turn 6 Acid Attack Keep 6 Add 1C to roll
Turn 5 Bout 2: Megakitty1 (Bob) to play. Cretosaurus (Jim) is in Tokyo. Cards 1-3 on sale, 4-6 reserve (see rules). # Name Type Cost Description 1 Extra Head Keep 7 You get 1 extra die 2 Spiked Tail Keep 5 If you roll at least 1C add 1C to your roll 3 High Altitude Bombing Discard 4 All monsters (including you) lose 3H 4 Rapid Healing Keep 3 Spend 2E any time to get 1H 5 Made In A Lab Keep 2 Can buy cards from reserve 6 Energy Drink Keep 3 Spend 1E to get extra dice roll
Turn 5 Bout 3: Cyclops (Kevin) to play (+2E, +2V). Cyclops (Kevin) is in Tokyo. Cards 1-3 on sale, 4-6 reserve (see rules). # Name Type Cost Description 1 Shrink Ray Keep 6 Give 1 Shrink Ray token to each monster you wound. At the beginning of their turn monsters roll 1 die less for each token. Rolled Hs may be used to remove tokens instead of damage. 2 Commuter Train Discard 4 +2VP 3 Giant Brain Keep 5 1 extra dice roll per turn 4 Heal Discard 3 +2H 5 Camouflage Keep 3 Roll die for each H lost, if H rolled do not lose that H 6 Evacuation Orders Discard 7 All rival monsters lose 5VP
Turn 5 Bout 4: Cretosauraus (Jim) to play (+2V). Cretosauraus (Jim) is in Tokyo. Cards 1-3 on sale, 4-6 reserve (see rules). # Name Type Cost Description 1 Burrowing Keep 5 +1C on roll when in Tokyo, when yielding new monster -1H 2 It Has A Child Keep 7 If you lose all H, lose all VPs and restart on 10H outside Tokyo 3 We're Only Making Keep 3 When you lose 2H or more gain 1E It Stronger 4 Frenzy Discard 7 +1VP when you roll 111 or better 5 Gourmet Keep 4 Gain 1 VP for every 6E in hand at end of turn 6 Rapid Healing Keep 3 Spend 2E any time to gain 1H
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 45
Fragments Movie Madness - Round 4
This somewhat bonkers game is up and running with 5 players and more can join anytime. Rules to the Fragments game and variants are available at https://variablepig.org/rules/fragments.html
Points have been scored! Woohoo! John and both Bobs get off the mark.
Meanwhile, Another attempt to poll the players on a rules change / clarification proved inconclusive (a bit like Brexit votes in the UK), so I'm sticking with the original proposition as follows: Rules Addendum: • Partially right guesses (such as getting one out of the two movies in a Cougar Town) will be reported simply as incorrect, but the guessing player will be informed privately that the answer is "warm". • Players are free to use internet resources such as search engines and crossword solvers.
Guesses: Fragment 1: Correct guess from Bob P, Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom is incorrect; Fragment 2: Correct guesses from Bob G and John W, Logan's Run is incorrect; Fragment 3: Correct guess from John W (note that more than one title variation is accepted for this one). Fragment 4: Dracula: Dead and Loving It is incorrect. Analysis Requests: Fragment 1: Bob Gingell; Fragment 3: Chris Hibbert; Fragment 4: John Walker; Fragment 6: Bob Pitman; Fragment 7: Bob Gingell. Type Requests: Fragment 1: Brendan Whyte; Fragment 2: Chris Hibbert; Fragment 5: John Walker. Year Requests: Fragment 2: Brendan Whyte; Fragment 3: Bob Pitman. Scoreboard: F1 F2 F3 F4 F6 F7 F8 F9 F10 F11 F12 Total A/T/Y John Walker 7 8 15 6 Bob Gingell 7 7 6 Bob Pitman 7 7 6 Brendan Whyte 0 5 Chris Hibbert 0 6
Fragment 1 - 6 Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P - - h - - - o - - c l - m - y - - n s p u - - y
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 P a r k
Fragment 2 - 6 Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Y o - k - n - A g - t - - - e n - - - - m a - - -
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 h o - - - e s - - p - p - - m a - - r - d e - - -
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 - t - - - h - - d s - - - n o v - - w - - - h t j
76 77 78 79 80 - l t - -
Fragment 3 - 7 Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 L - - - C - o f - p - u - d e - s h - - r g - - o
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 - i - g p - - d - - t - f - - m B o - - s
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 46
Fragment 4 - 7 Points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I - h - - k D r - - u l - - - d - p - e - - e d a
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 - a l - h - d - e - - - m - p - a r - - - d - n -
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 - - c - y - t
Fragment 5 - 8 points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 - f - - c a - - o - - c a - g - t - - o p - - y c
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 - - - - - i - h h - - - - - d f - t h - -
Fragment 6 - 8 points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 D - - k i - B - - - m - - e - o - - v e - - - - -
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 c - - - t - - c r - - k - t ------a b u - -
51 52 53 54 - - i m
Fragment 7 - 9 points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I - - e ------s - l ------m - - o n -
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 m b - - j ------e B - - - h - - -
Fragment 8 - 9 points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 - - u - - - r - - - p - - - - - t - - - - u - - -
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 - n - v ------t - d - - - - - y - - - - p a
51 52 53 54 - - - s
Fragment 9 - 10 points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 - - - m ------n ------u -
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 - - n ------R ------
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 ------D ------s
Fragment 10 - 10 points 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 - - - y ------g ------
26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 ------k ------a s ------
51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 - - - - - v ------f - -
76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 - g ------Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 47
Golden Strider - Robot Variant
Algorithms
I was hoping for a few more, but I've got the minimum 6 by using the simple example from the rules and one I created myself some time ago. Note that I didn't ask for silly names so I've made some up. I had considered writing a computer program to run the race, but in the end did it by hand so hopefully no mistakes.
Steve Ham (Robot Name: Radio Ham)
• Start with 4/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 8/0 • For the first 4 hands and starting with 5 (increasing card played by 1 each turn), M (x-4) where X is the value of the card played. • On Round 5 play the replacement card in round 1 (and move x-4 spaces) and then use oldest card (4/0 first) each turn and use maximum moves.
Arthur Owen (Robot Name: Arthur Terabyte)
• Start with 5 6/0 cards • For 4 rounds play 2 move 4 bank 4 • 5th round play move 3 bank 3 • Deduct overtakes from movement • Round 6 oldest card bank 4 rest movement / overtakes • Round 7+ oldest card all movement
John Walker (Robot Name: Walker Robot)
• Cards: 5/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 7/0 • Play 5/0, 7/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0 banking 4 each time • Then play lowest card banking 4, until I can reach target (i.e. 60 + position). Then movement only using the oldest card each time.
Bob Pitman (Robot Name: Bot Pitman)
• Start cards: 7/0, 7/0, 6/0, 6/0, 4/0 • For the first 2 rounds play 3 movement, 4 bank (deduct overtakes from move). • For rounds 3 and 4 play 2 movement and 4 bank • Round 5 play 1 movement and 3 bank • From round 6 play the oldest card balanced to return a 10 movement replacement • If the finish line distance is less than the card movement totals in hand play cards with 0 banked • If any cards that must be played cannot yield a 10 play as all movement.
Rules Example (Robot Name: Three Laws)
• Start with 5 * 6/0 cards. • For the first 5 rounds play 2 movement, 4 bank (deduct overtakes from move). • For round 6 play the oldest card, 4 bank, rest movement. • For subsequent rounds play the oldest card, all for movement.
Richard Smith (Robot Name: Robo Dick)
• Start cards: 4/0, 10/0, 4/0, 7/0, 5/0 • R1: M0 B4, R2: M5 B5, R3: M0 B4, R4: M3 B4, R5: M2 B3 • R6: Play oldest card. Calculate 60 (or other race length) - square - total value of cards + position + 1 for luck. Divide this by 2 (round up) to get bank number (max 4, rest carried forward). • R7+ play highest legal card (oldest if tie) all move (except R7, bank number = cf from R6) • Overtakes always off move in preference to bank
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 48
The Race
Round 1 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 3 Bot Pitman 7/0, 7/0, 6/0, 6/0, 4/0, 8/1 7/0 0 3 4 8 0 2= 2 Three Laws 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 9/1 6/0 0 2 4 9 0 2= 2 Arthur Terabyte 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 9/1 6/0 0 2 4 9 0 4= 1 Radio Ham 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 8/0, 4/0, 10/1 5/0 0 1 4 10 0 4= 1 Walker Robot 5/0, 7/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 10/1 5/0 0 1 4 10 0 6 0 Robo Dick 4/0, 10/0, 4/0, 7/0, 5/0, 10/1 4/0 0 0 4 10 0
Round 2 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 6 Bot Pitman 7/0, 6/0, 6/0, 4/0, 8/1, 8/2 7/0 0 3 4 8 0 2 5 Robo Dick 10/0, 4/0, 7/0, 5/0, 10/1, 10/2 10/0 0 5 5 10 0 3= 4 Walker Robot 7/0, 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 10/1, 9/2 7/0 0 3 4 9 0 3= 4 Three Laws 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 9/1, 9/2 6/0 0 2 4 9 0 3= 4 Arthur Terabyte 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 9/1, 9/2 6/0 0 2 4 9 0 6 3 Radio Ham 6/0, 7/0, 8/0, 4/0, 10/1, 10/2 6/0 0 2 4 10 0
Round 3 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 8 Bot Pitman 6/0, 6/0, 4/0, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3 6/0 0 2 4 8 0 2= 6 Three Laws 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3 6/0 0 2 4 9 1 2= 6 Arthur Terabyte 6/0, 6/0, 6/0, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3 6/0 0 2 4 9 1 2= 6 Radio Ham 7/0, 8/0, 4/0, 10/1, 10/2, 9/3 7/0 0 3 4 9 4 5= 5 Robo Dick 4/0, 7/0, 5/0, 10/1, 10/2, 10/3 4/0 0 0 4 10 0 5= 5 Walker Robot 5/0, 6/0, 7/0, 10/1, 9/2, 10/3 5/0 0 1 4 10 0
Round 4 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 10 Bot Pitman 6/0, 4/0, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3, 8/4 6/0 0 2 4 8 0 2 8 Robo Dick 7/0, 5/0, 10/1, 10/2, 10/3, 9/4 7/0 0 3 4 9 3 3= 7 Three Laws 6/0, 6/0, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4 6/0 1 1 4 9 0 3= 7 Arthur Terabyte 6/0, 6/0, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4 6/0 1 1 4 9 0 3= 7 Walker Robot 6/0, 7/0, 10/1, 9/2, 10/3, 9/4 6/0 0 2 4 9 2 6 6 Radio Ham 8/0, 4/0, 10/1, 10/2, 9/3, 10/4 8/0 4 0 4 10 0
Round 5 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 12 Radio Ham 4/0, 10/1, 10/2, 9/3, 10/4, 8/5 10/1 0 6 4 8 5 2 11 Bot Pitman 4/0, 8/1, 8/2, 8/3, 8/4, 7/5 4/0 0 1 3 7 0 3 10 Arthur Terabyte 6/0, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 7/5 6/0 0 3 3 7 0 4 9 Three Laws 6/0, 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 10/5 6/0 0 2 4 10 0 5= 8 Robo Dick 5/0, 10/1, 10/2, 10/3, 9/4, 6/5 5/0 3 0 2 6 0 5= 8 Walker Robot 7/0, 10/1, 9/2, 10/3, 10/4, 10/5 7/0 2 1 4 10 0
Round 6 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1= 15 Bot Pitman 8/1, 8/2, 8/3, 8/4, 7/5, 8/6 8/1 0 4 4 8 1 1= 15 Arthur Terabyte 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 7/5, 8/6 9/1 0 5 4 8 2 3= 14 Three Laws 9/1, 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 10/5, 10/6 9/1 0 5 4 10 1 3= 14 Robo Dick 10/1, 10/2, 10/3, 9/4, 6/5, 10/6 10/1 0 6 4 10 2 5= 13 Walker Robot 10/1, 9/2, 10/3, 10/4, 10/5, 10/6 9/2 0 5 4 10 0 6 12 Radio Ham 4/0, 10/2, 9/3, 10/4, 8/5, 0/6 4/0 4 0 0 0 1cf Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 49
Round 7 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 23 Three Laws 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 10/5, 10/6, 0/7 9/2 1 9 0 0 2 2 22 Arthur Terabyte 9/2, 9/3, 9/4, 7/5, 8/6, 1/7 9/2 2 7 0 1 0 3 21 Radio Ham 10/2, 9/3, 10/4, 8/5, 0/6, 1/7 10/2 1 9 0 1 3 5= 19 Robo Dick 10/2, 10/3, 9/4, 6/5, 10/6, 8/7 10/2 2 5 3 8 0 5= 19 Walker Robot 10/1, 10/3, 10/4, 10/5, 10/6, 10/7 10/1 0 6 4 10 0 6 18 Bot Pitman 8/2, 8/3, 8/4, 7/5, 8/6, 10/7 8/2 1 3 4 10 0
Round 8 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 31 Arthur Terabyte 9/3, 9/4, 7/5, 8/6, 1/7, 0/8 9/3 0 9 0 0 1 2 30 Three Laws 9/3, 9/4, 10/5, 10/6, 0/7, 1/8 9/3 2 7 0 1 0 3= 29 Walker Robot 10/3, 10/4, 10/5, 10/6, 10/7, 1/8 10/3 0 10 0 1 2 3= 29 Robo Dick 10/3, 9/4, 6/5, 10/6, 8/7, 1/8 10/3 0 10 0 1 2 5 27 Radio Ham 9/3, 10/4, 8/5, 0/6, 1/7, 2/8 9/3 3 6 0 2 0 6 22 Bot Pitman 8/3, 8/4, 7/5, 8/6, 10/7, 10/8 8/3 0 4 4 10 0
Round 9 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1= 39 Arthur Terabyte 9/4, 7/5, 8/6, 1/7, 0/8, 0/9 9/4 1 8 0 0 0 1= 39 Three Laws 9/4, 10/5, 10/6, 0/7, 1/8, 0/9 9/4 0 9 0 0 1 3= 37 Walker Robot 10/4, 10/5, 10/6, 10/7, 1/8, 1/9 10/4 2 8 0 1 0 3= 37 Robo Dick 9/4, 6/5, 10/6, 8/7, 1/8, 1/9 10/6 2 8 0 1 0 3= 37 Radio Ham 10/4, 8/5, 0/6, 1/7, 2/8, 1/9 10/4 0 10 0 1 2 6 30 Bot Pitman 8/4, 7/5, 8/6, 10/7. 10/8, 2/9 8/4 0 8 0 2 0
Round 10 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 48 Three Laws 10/5, 10/6, 0/7, 1/8, 0/9, 0/10 10/5 1 9 0 0 0 2 47 Walker Robot 10/5, 10/6, 10/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10 10/5 0 10 0 1 1 3= 46 Arthur Terabyte 7/5, 8/6, 1/7, 0/8, 0/9, 1/10 7/5 0 7 0 1 0 3= 46 Robo Dick 9/4, 6/5, 8/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10 9/4 0 9 0 1 0 3= 45 Radio Ham 8/5, 0/6, 1/7, 2/8, 1/9, 1/10 8/5 2 6 0 1 0 6 37 Bot Pitman 7/5, 8/6, 10/7. 10/8, 2/9, 2/10 7/5 0 7 0 2 0
Round 11 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1 58 Three Laws 10/6, 0/7, 1/8, 0/9, 0/10, 0/11 10/6 0 10 0 0 0 2 56 Walker Robot 10/6, 10/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11 10/6 1 9 0 1 0 3= 54 Arthur Terabyte 8/6, 1/7, 0/8, 0/9, 1/10, 1/11 8/6 0 8 0 1 0 3= 54 Robo Dick 6/5, 8/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11 8/7 0 8 0 1 0 5= 45 Radio Ham 0/6, 1/7, 2/8, 1/9, 1/10, 2/11 0/6 0 0 0 2 0 5= 45 Bot Pitman 8/6, 10/7. 10/8, 2/9, 2/10, 2/11 8/6 0 8 0 2 1
Round 12 P S Runner Cards P D M B R O 1F 66 Walker Robot 10/7, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11, F 10/7 0 10 0 - - 2F 60 Robo Dick 6/5, 1/8, 1/9, 1/10, 1/11, F 6/5 0 6 0 - - 3 58 Three Laws 0/7, 1/8, 0/9, 0/10, 0/11, 1/12 0/7 0 0 0 1 0 4 55 Arthur Terabyte 1/7, 0/8, 0/9, 1/10, 1/11, 2/12 1/7 0 1 0 2 0 4= 54 Bot Pitman 10/7, 10/8, 2/9, 2/10, 2/11, 2/12 10/7 1 9 0 2 1 6 46 Radio Ham 1/7, 2/8, 1/9, 1/10, 2/11, 2/12 1/7 0 1 0 2 0
So Walker Robot strides to victory with Robo Dick just poking over the line for second. Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 50
Rounds 13+
In a scene reminiscent of the Duracell advert, Bot Pitman zooms past his flagging rivals for the bronze. As for the minor placings, the rules don't say if the finished robots count when determining the replacement cards. Assuming they do, Three Laws finally gets to square 60 with Arthur Terabyte on 59 and Radio Ham on 54. If not, Three Laws gets stuck on square 59 and never finishes the race, whilst the other two robots limp over the line.
So did we learn anything from this race? I did wonder if there needed to be at least 7 robots so the one in last place does not get a +2 replacement. Minimising overtake penalties is important and Steve's robot suffered a biggun* for blasting into the lead from the back of the pack in round 5. With few penalties, 6 rounds of banking a high number might just be enough, but it does look like 7 is needed or some clever conditionals (the rules state that any information that would be reported in a normal game can be used).
* If a runner cannot pay the full overtake penalty, the rules https://variablepig.org/rules/golden.html state in the cf column "This will appear is the player has been unable to pay overtaking restitution (i.e. a zero or low value card was played) and indicates that the overtaking restitution has been carried forward to be paid in the following turn" which could mean the whole penalty is carried forward if it cannot be paid, though I've gone with the balance being carried forward after paying as much as possible.
Congratulations to John Walker, Gameend comments welcome.
Railway Rivals South Downs Way (RR2346SDW) - Round 5
As previously stated, in the interests of playtesting the map, this game does not allow leapfrog (as the game in the main zine does).
FBR finds it tough going going east (the narrow section between Steyning and Ditchling is under consideration for opening up a little in the next version of the map). BLACK and GODOWN, meanwhile continue west towards the steadily expanding GREEN empire. An in-game map showing the latest builds is available at https://variablepig.org/maps/rr/ingame/RR2346SDW.jpg
GREEN 5a. [6] (H12) --- Beacon Hill; (Twyford) --- B11 Brad Martin 5b. [4] (Fenhurst) - A35 --- B34 Blue 5c. [3] (N12) --- Butser Hill BANK: 110 +3 +3 = 116
FBR 5a. [6] (P45) - Q45 --- R45; (D10) - Twyford; (K44) - K43 Jim Reader 5b. [4] (R45) --- Mill Hill; (K43) - Storrington Red 5c. [3] (Mill Hill) --- T44 BANK: 44 +1(BLACK, G44) -1(GODOWN, Q45) -11(BLACK, R45-T44) = 33
BLACK 5a. [6] (L44) --- I46 - H45; (X43) -- Z44 Roger Trethewey 5b. [4] (H45) --- G45 - G44 Black 5c. [3] (G45) --- F44 BANK: 43 -1(FBR, G44) +11(FBR, R45-T44) = 53
GODOWN 5a. [6] (C42) --- Z14; (L42) - M42 [S6]; (Z14) - Y14 - Cocking Bob Gingell 5b. [4] (E40) --- E39 - PETWORTH Purple 5c. [3] (C72) - B72 -- ROTTINGDEAN BANK: 57 +6 +6 -1(FBR, Q45) = 70
Rolls for Round 6: 6a) 3 6b) 6 6c) 5
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 51
Railway Rivals Xanth 2.0 (RR2375XA2) - Round 4
BREXIT doesn't reach any islands but does stock up on lots of spells, prompting his train driver to ask "what should I do with all these scrolls?" GREEN and GOBLIN both head towards the North East corner (and connections to Mundania) whilst GREEN also completes his crossing of the invisible bridge. Meanwhile, DST extends his mountain route and joins a tangled skien of lines between North Island and Ogre territory. I hope the payments are correct! Map showing the latest builds is available at https://variablepig.org/maps/rr/ingame/RR2375XA2.jpg All the previous questions are summarised in a FAQ at https://variablepig.org/xanthrr.html
DST 4a. [5] (T26) --- MT. PARNASSUS; North Village -- N7 Arthur Owen 4b. [2] (N7) - N6 - M6; Red 4c. [6] (O11) - N11 - CENTAURS; (M6) - L5 - Ogres; M6 -- O5 DR=1; EP=1 BANK: 26 +6 +6 +1(BREXIT, R12) +1(GOBLIN, W25) -11(DST,N8-N6) -4(DST, N5-O5) -3(GOBLIN, N8) -4(GOBLIN, M6-L5) = 18
GREEN 4a. [5] (N7) -- N5 - O5 - OGRE-FEN-OGRE; (L6) - L5 Roger Trethewey 4b. [2] (L5) - OGRES; (V13) - Gap Village Green 4c. [6] (S16) - S17 - R17 - Com-Pewters Cave; (G5) -- TALL HASSLE; (G5) - F4 BANK: 49 +6 +6 +6 -1(GOBLIN, R17) -1(BREXIT, S17) +1(BREXIT, R12) +1(GREEN, M7) +11(DST, N8-N6) +4(DST, N5-O5) = 82
GOBLIN 4a. [5] (S18) - COM-PEWTERS CAVE; (N8) - M8 -- M6 - L5 Steve Guest 4b. [2] (L5) -- J4 Orange 4c. [6] (J4) - I4 --- H3; (Gateway Castle) - W25 DR=1; MP=1 BANK: 31 +6 +1(GREEN, R17) +1(BREXIT, T17) +1(BREXIT, Q13) -1(DST, W25) - 1(GREEN, M7) +3(DST, N8) +4(DST, M6-L5) = 45
BREXIT 4a. [5] (U19) - T18 - T17 - Good Magician (Buy 3 Dragon repellents, Buy 4 Elemental protection, Buy 3 Mystic portals); (T17) - S17; (O15) - P14 Michael Pargman 4b. [2] (P14) - Q14 - Q13 Blue 4c. [6] (Q13) - R12 - GRIFFINS - Q8 DR=3;EP=4;MP=3 BANK: 75 - 43 (SPELLS) +6 -1(GOBLIN, T17) +1(GREEN, S17) -1(GOBLIN, Q13) - 1(DST, R12) -1(GREEN, R12) = 35
Questions:
Roger Trethewey - Mountains: Are the mountains impassable, or do they count as hills for build purposes? They can be built through using the standard rules (3 in 3 out, 5 to run across two, and -1 to climb when racing). Locations 61 and 62 are mountain hexes.
Roger Trethewey - Grey Hexes: The greyed out squares at the top of the map. I presume they are out of bounds and not buildable? They are part of Mundania and Mr. Trump will not allow magical weirdos to build railway lines there!
Michael Pargman - Spells: When do you need to have the spells in order to use them during a race? If you pass Good Magician in race 23, can you buy a spell then and use it in race 24 in the same round? Or could you even buy it and use later in the same race? When you buy a spell during a race it is available for immediate use (or can be saved for later, of course). I have updated the FAQ page to clarify this. Note that races in RR are directional so for Magic Dust Village to Gap Village via Good Magician, a Dragon Repellent could be bought "just in time" but not the other way round.
Rolls for Round 5: 5a) 4 5b) 3 5c) 5 Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 52
Railway Rivals Xanth 2.0 (RR2390XA2) - Round 2
BIEN, the current king of the North, recruits several creatures to his cause (despite the disappointing reviews of season 8).
BADPUN and STORK NAKED cross swords between the Good Magician and the Faux Pass. Both buy spells.
STORK NAKED continues south, thus far resisting the lure of the Gold Cost and BADPUN makes a second crossing of The Gap.
Map showing the latest builds is available at https://variablepig.org/maps/rr/ingame/RR2390XA2.jpg All the previous questions are summarised in a FAQ at https://variablepig.org/xanthrr.html
Correction: BADPUN did not receive 6 points for Gap Village last time.
BIEN 2a. [6] (R12) - S13 - DRAGONS --- U12 - ELVES Christian Bien 2b. [5] (Elves) - T10 --- GOBLINS - S9 Orange 2c. [2] (S9) - GRIFFINS; (N7) - N6 BANK: 32 +6 +6 +6 +6 = 56
STORK NAKED 2a. [6] (U25) -- FAUNS - NYMPHS - Y27 -- Y29 Jim Reader 2b. [5] (Faux Pass) - Q17 - R17 - COM-PEWTERS CAVE; (R17) - S17 - T17 Green 2c. [2] (T17) - Good Magician (Buy Elemental Protection and Mystic Portal); (Faux Pass) - O17 EP=1; MP=1 BANK: 30 -9(SPELLS) +6 +6 +6 -2(O17, BADPUN) -5(Q17-R17, BADPUN) -2(T17, BADPUN) = 30
BADPUN 2a. [6] (Good Magician) (Buy Elemental Protection and Dragon Repellent) - T17 - S18 - R17 - Q17 - Faux Pass - O17 Bob Gingell 2b. [5] (O17) -- O15; (U15) -- U13 - Dragons Black 2c. [2] (Gateway Castle) -- W25 EP=2; MP=1;DR=1 BANK: 19 +6(CORRECTION) -8(SPELLS) +2(O17, STORK) +5(Q17-R17, STORK) +2(T17, STORK) = 26
Note: Due to careless copy-pasting Christian got the wrong company name listed in the last two turn reports, it should of course be BIEN (Bien's International Express Network).
Rolls for Round 3: 3a) 5 3b) 4 3c) 5
Railway Rivals - Bolivia (RR2406BO) - Gamestart
Brad Martin, Jim Reader, Roger Trethewey and Bob Gingell are taking on my new nice-looking-but-tricky Bolivia map.
Map image files are available here https://variablepig.org/boliviarr.html - note there are A4 half-maps which you can tape together to make a nice big one. Not very 2020s, I know, but neither is our hobby.
As usual, players need to supply company name / acronym, and choices for colour and start location (Santa Cruz, La Paz, Sucre or Trinidad).
Note that the two games starting in VP are both 4 players and I think the starts are pretty even. I was a bit concerned about the 5-player starts but this won't be tested just yet unless another zine runs a 5-player game.
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 53
Postal Three Handed Chicago 3 - Round 4
The game is for three players. Three hands are played simultaneously. https://variablepig.org/rules/threehandbridge.html
Hand 1: Nobody vulnerable, player 1 = Tom Howell is dealer (S). Hand 2: Anyone who made a contract in hand 1 is vulnerable, player 2 = John Marsden is dealer (S). Hand 3: Everyone vulnerable, player 3 = Roger Trethewey is dealer (S).
Player numbers were determined randomly, with hands dealt (using a real pack of cards) and emailed out to the players.
First Play Round
Now the opening leads go down and the dummies are revealed...
HAND 1: John is declarer in 5C HAND 2: Tom is declarer in 2H, HAND 3: Roger is declarer in 2H, (doubled), Tom leads S6 John leads SJ Tom leads S8
Dummy Dummy Dummy K Q 10 7 10 8 2 K 4 J 4 10 7 3 K 9 5 3 2 J 4 A Q 3 Q 10 6 2 . Q 8 5 4 3 . K 10 9 5 . 5 4
TOM ROGER JOHN ROGER TOM JOHN 6 J 8 JOHN TOM ROGER
Second Play Round
... and it's time to plan the play as declarer or defender. As before I will try to follow orders faithfully, but if necessary my fallback is to ask EasyBridge (version 4.0.4 which does work on Windows 10, available at https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/13285/freeware-easy-bridge-software) to choose - it allows you to switch between manual and auto card choice at any time during the hand.
Nerdy Wordy Spacefiller
In the editorial I mentioned the House of Games all-reader I ran a while back. I was originally intending to have a round on synanagrams but couldn't quite make it work.
The term synanagram was first coined by a writer called Murray Pierce in 1971. The idea is that they are words or phrases that are anagrams of each other and synonymous at the same time. Angered and enraged, statement and testament are single word examples, and below are three amusing multiple words grams. The first is mathematically perfect, the second contrived for Harry Potter and the last exercises a bit of artistic licence...
1. Eleven plus two = Twelve plus one 2. I am Lord Voldermort = Tom Marvolo Riddle 3. HMS Pinafore = Name for ship
Variable Pig – (Meishan Pig) 54
Crossword Answers
Brendan Whyte and Roger Trethewey both successfully tackled this beast. Answers explained below...
Across (* = chemical element, ** = female name) 1. Was in first place, reportedly (4)* LEAD - sounds like "led" 4. I toss ma up in the air (9)* POTASSIUM - (I toss ma up)* 9. Ruth's pleasant mother-in-law (5)** NAOMI - biblical reference (Ruth) and Hebrew (pleasant) 12. Half of Hergé's hero (3)* TIN - half of Tin-Tin 13. Key after swan is blue (6)* COBALT - cob = male swan, alt = key (on computer keyboard) 14. Asians at top of legs, it's said (5) THAIS - sounds like "thighs" 16. An endless trump a long way away (4) AFAR - a + far(t), trump is British slang for breaking wind 18. Tantric opium smoked (12)* PROTACTINIUM - (tantric opium)* 19. See you or I in upturned soft drink (5) ADIOS - I inside soda reversed, see you = goodbye 20. Messy, then I'm cute (10)* TECHNETIUM - (then I'm cute)* 21. Love is like this? Sweet music! (6)* OXYGEN - reference to Love Is Like Oxygen by The Sweet 22. American coin stolen in England, 500 replaced by 50 (6)* NICKEL - nicked with L replacing D (Roman numerals) 25. Made from Quartz in Canada (4)* ZINC - hidden answer (capital Q is a nod to the zine) 26. Say I'm not straight? Come on! (6)** EILEEN - sounds like "I lean" and ref. Dexy's Midnight Runners 27. Black fluid used by Cephalopods and Rorschach (3) INK - squids and famous psych test 29. 10-rated actress (2)** BO - Bo Derek in movie "10" 31. Brogues aim to be contrary (10)* SEABORGIUM - (brogues aim)* 34. Natives: Retrograde group holding bone (6) TRIBES - set reversed around rib 37. The one U better call, not U (3)** SAL - reference to TV show "Better Call Saul" 38. Penny policeman? (6)* COPPER - double definition 41. Sir Mutton chopped (9)* STRONTIUM - (sir mutton)* 42. Magic cone at start of fairy tale (4) ONCE - (cone)* 43. A pressing thing? (4)* IRON - cryptic definition 44. One can, inside fruit, it's expensive (8)* PLATINUM - a tin inside plum
Down (* = chemical element, ** = female name) 2. A Communist is said to be this? (8)* ANTIMONY - sounds like anti-money 3. Platform on which things are said madly (4) DAIS - (said)* 5. Granular dike rock, albeit it is metamorphic (8) ALBITITE - (albeit it)* a fairly obscure geology word 6. Menus lie about origin from moon goddess (8)* SELENIUM - (menus lie)* Selene is moon goddess 7. I'm mad on air broadcast with Robin (4,6)** MAID MARION (I'm mad on air)* 8. Butter portion is strangely apt (3)** PAT - (apt)* 10. No going back (2) ON - no reversed 11. Facts found in thin folios (4) - INFO - hidden answer 13. Small places from opening of nook and 16D (8) CRANNIES - (n + arsenic)* 15. Mad dog Henry is No.1 (8)* HYDROGEN - (dog henry)* 16. Minor buttock injury, we hear (7)* ARSENIC - sounds like "arse nick" 17. Thousand withdrawn from cash machine (2) - AT - ATM - m 20. Nine tenses confused (10)* TENNESSINE - (nine tenses)* 23. Monty Python fans' symposium? (7)* SILICON - sounds like "Silly Con" 24. Spicy meat from two oxen (4) TEAM - (meat)* 27. Number type made from 12A (3) INT - (tin)* 28. Fancy carp: Knockout one (3) KOI - K.O. + I 29. Mark King's funky ass bits (7) BASSIST - (ass bits)* Mark King is famous bassist 30. African ruler found in Morocco bazaar (3) OBA - hidden word, fairly obscure 32. Here be dragons! (3,3) OLD MAP - cryptic definition (and subzine) 33. Hesitation after Italian town makes meal (6)* BARIUM - Italian city = Bari, hesitation = um, Barium meal = medical test in which the patient swallows a radioactive isotope 35. Pipes up in the morning (5) - RISER - double definition 36. Bishop replaces maiden at head of idiot (5)* BORON - b + (m)oron 38. Maiden name of wild killer whale (4)** CORA - Greek for maiden, (orca)* 39. 38A avoids offense? (1,1) PC - cryptic definition 40. Lowly worker? Nope? Truly? (4) PEON - (nope)*
VARIABLE PIG (MEISHAN PIG)
Polar Pig 177 on-the-shelf vol XVI, no 46 The Universe…95
JIM (CJ) READER, TOM HOWELL RICHARD SMITH, jim_reader”of”hotmail.com off-the-shelf”of”olympus.net richard530smith"of"btinternet.com
Jim Reader is the editor. Richard Smith does the printing and distribution from the UK. Back issues of the zine and most game rules are avalable from the website https://www.variablepig.org. Variable Pig also has a Mailing List primarily for announcements. Send a blank email to [email protected] to join (posting address [email protected]). This mailing list may be moving soon but for the time being the administrator (Richard) will have to approve joiners.
PIG WAITING LISTS
BUS BOSS – Two game starts inside (Polar Pig) BROTHERHOOD – Richard Smith and John Walker. 4 more wanted (Polar Pig) FAIR MEANS OR FOUL – John Walker, Brendan Whyte, Brad Martin and Arthur Owen. 1 more wanted (Polar Pig) RAILWAY RIVALS – new Bolivia map: Richard Smith, Roger Trethewey, Chris Hibbert and Dane Maslen. Gamestart Inside (Polar Pig) PUERTO RICO – Chris Hibbert, Kev Lee and John Walker. 1 - 2 more wanted (Polar Pig) GOLDEN STRIDER – Arthur Owen, Richard Smith, Steve Ham, Chris Hibbert and John Walker. 3 more wanted (Polar Pig) MANEATER – John Marsden, Roger Trethewey, Kev Lee and Arthur Owen. 1 more wanted (Polar Pig) ORIGINS OF WWI – Arthur Owen, Brendan Whyte, John Marsden. 4 more needed (on-the-shelf) 1830 – Brad Martin and Natalie Amery. 2 - 4 more wanted (on-the-shelf) MACHI KORO - Roger Trethewey, Richard Smith, and Steve Ham. Gamestart inside, 1 - 3 more can join (on- the-shelf) FRAGMENTS MOVIE MADNESS – All Reader anyone can join in (Universe) GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY – Bob Pitman, Bob Gingell. 2 - 4 more wanted (Universe) RAILWAY RIVALS – new Bolivia map: Brad Martin, Roger Trethewey, Jim Reader, Bob Gingell. Gamestart Inside (Universe) GOLDEN STRIDER TARNISHED VARIANT V2 - new rules inside - 3-5 wanted (Universe)
THE DEADLINE FOR VARIABLE PIG (BASQUE) is Friday 24th January 2020
The Basque Pig is a domestic breed native to the Basque region of Northern Spain and Southern France. The breed has piebald colors of black and white. It was originally .one of several historical breeds kept by Basque locals and consolidated in the 1920s.The breed nearly died out in the 1980s but has been preserved by small farmers in the region dedicated to traditional Basque foods. The breed grows relatively slowly compared to modern breeds, but the meat is ideal for cured meats like Bayonne Ham. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basque_pig