I am back from my pride week haitus and I had a lovely evening with a good friend Scott who is new to the Ludocrat scene. We played a game he got when he was a wee bairn called Mille Bornes. I’m excited about this week because I actually have some quality time for gaming coming up—possibly tomorrow for some wargames and a potential six player game of Dominant Species on Thursday. This weekend I may even convince Jeff or some of his family to play Washington’s War or Founding Fathers! Well, there’s a slim to none chance of that happening and Slim just got laid off due to the government shutdown (too soon?)
Anyway, back to Mille Bornes. We played six deals of this game before one of us got to 5,000. It was a barn burner nearly all the way. Scott won the first two deals pretty handily and I couldn’t draw a safety card for my life, but a three-coup-fourré plus a fourth safety card played by me in the third deal catapulted me to the lead (I wish I could remember the score after the third deal…Scott, correct this session report in the comments if you feel so inclined).
The fourth draw saw me get to 700km nearly ahead of Scott so I declined calling for an Extension and took some quick points. Scott won the fifth deal which set up a very close match with the score at 4464-4963 (I think. The picture is blurry). On the sixth deal, I pulled to 700km with Scott at 650. I was forced to call for an extension as Scott had laid a safety card. In the end, Scott was first past the post with me so closely behind… final score, 4972-5675… So close!
Mille Bornes is an awesome, yet nearly completely mindless, game. I love the high screwage factor, but loathe the long amount of time spent waiting for a Roll! card so you can actually play. Scott can attest that I screamed out with both delight and irritation during our six deals and I probably rate this game along with Apples to Apples—great for a party but dreadful if you want some mental stimulation. However, seeing as I have Dominant Species coming up this week and I’m still recovering from pride, Mille Borne was a great Monday night game. Also, who doesn’t love shouting COUP FOURRÉ!?
(Thanks, Scott, for the two classy pictures! I took the other three with the skyline one from my walk home)
