Games that start with the letter H

Taking a little longer than usual to report on our regular game night. This week we were at Jeff’s home and we had a total of 6 — a tricky number for game night. We decided to stick with one table and played Havoc. It was the first time for Dan and also for Troy (I think). I was able to win this one by winning Agincourt (8 to first place and no points for anyone else in the battle) and then calling Havoc on each of the last few battles right after each other so that noone had an opportunity to draw any cards. In 5 and 6 player games, I find that collecting sets (2, 3 and 4 of a kind) works far better than attempting to complete a straight and particularly a straight flush. There are fewer opportunities to draw cards (2 levels to the Peacekeeper card vs. 3 in games with 4 or fewer players) and with that many people in the game, it’s all too likely that you’ll be missing a key card in the middle of a straight because someone else is collecting a set of the number you need. Everyone in the group continues to enjoy this game and it is often suggested when we’re deciding on something to play. Personally, I think Havoc works best with about 4 players. More than that and the wait time between turns is a little long.

After Havoc, Troy headed out for the evening leaving us with 5. We played Hoity Toity. Needless to say, I may have ruined the game for Dan, Jeff and Leroy by recounting the introduction Chris Brooks gave us to the game back at BGG.con last fall. It’s about his least favorite game and it sort of rubbed off on Jill and I. A lot of folks like this one but the ‘rock, paper, scissors’ aspect can be rather frustrating at times. Kieron won with Jeff finishing second. General consensus was a thumbs down from the group. Could have been my story or it could just be the game.