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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: The All New Mornington Crescent Show
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
The grownups have very kindly agreed to go into the loft where they hid the Mornington Crescent set after the last time we played. However, in order to have it retrieved from its secret hiding place, I had to promise on cubs' honour on behalf of everyone that we'll put it away when we're told to and play nicely and not disturb the grownups and put away our dirty clothes into the wash bin like what we've been told to and not leave them scattered all over the place.
Oh, and we've got to make sure we don't get silly and just randomly call out names of railway stations, so in the traditional manner for online MC play, make sure you justify your moves - it helps to predict and forestall likely objections as well - for example:
Euston Square - standard weekend opening, instantly declares Northern Line wild and no Nidd for four moves.
Next player:
Kings Cross St Pancras - yes, according to the pre-2010 rule revision this would be considered a reverse shunt, but firstly Northern Line is wild, and secondly it's expressly allowed without penalty where no moves have yet been played on Circle.
Get the idea? The grownups are likely to make us put the game away if they get bored.
So what better starter than the aforementioned Euston Square, with the above justification.
[ 18. May 2013, 13:31: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Oh Karl, what are you doing! That opening, with Northern Line wild, can draw the MC equivalent of fool's mate.
As this a whole ship of fools, I have to do something about it, therefore:
Hammersmith
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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LeRoc
Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
Justify my move? Justify my move? Hah! Only so you can guess my whole strategy before I've even started! You'll find out about my 'justification' soon enough when I'm laughing all the way to Mornington and there's nothing you can do about it!
Aldgate
(There's a Barkinggate Gambit somewhere in there from the 1997 Book of Unexpected Strategies. Or maybe I just want you to believe that...)
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I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Japes
Shipmate
# 5358
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Posted
Yes, but the little-known Book of Sneaky Strategies of 1745 would demand a cross-diagonal back-flip to
Whitechapel
To avoid any unintentional possibility of slipping off to Europe on Eurovision Night, of course.
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Blog may or may not be of any interest.
Posts: 2013 | From: Somewhere in the middle | Registered: Dec 2003
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
The sun has set, so I can play Willesden Junction, with an overground bonus for Gospel Oak. This puts Lambeth North out of play for the next three turns.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
I'm going to have to play my joker now aren't I?
Gospel Oak - because the recent repeal of the Deep Line Green Chip rules means (despite what the Leamington Spa Crowd might think) that there are four undertricks along the Jubilee line, and that's two of them firmly in check.
Incidently, it's quite difficult at the moment - Giro d'Italia, First Test, Eurovision *and* the Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire MC Regional Finals all on at the same moment. I have a live feed direct from Mansfield Civic Centre, where Angela Zerlington is playing an absolute blinder. Four blue chips in as many moves.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Dollis Hill. No explanation is ever needed for this move, it is self-evidently self-evident.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Dollis Hill? You realize the only way I can avoid the splinch is to take an episcopal transfer to Southwark and that closes the river until after Vespers.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Karl: Liberal Backslider:
The grownups have very kindly agreed to go into the loft where they hid the Mornington Crescent set after the last time we played.
What grownups?
Anyway, just because I don't think that last attempt at escape actually worked, Dollis Hill
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“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariston:
Anyway, just because I don't think that last attempt at escape actually worked, Dollis Hill
You're right - the episcopal transfer is only valid on a major feast day.
In which case I will have to assay Featherstonehaugh's Gambit, and take a sideways shunt to Dollis Hill.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
It has to be after Vespers somewhere, so instead of wandering aimlessly around Dollis Hill I'll take you too ...
Perivale (substitute Night Bus service!)
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Net Spinster
Shipmate
# 16058
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
It has to be after Vespers somewhere, so instead of wandering aimlessly around Dollis Hill I'll take you too ...
Perivale (substitute Night Bus service!)
Following the eve of Pentecost rule and the step zone rule, West Croydon.
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spinner of webs
Posts: 1093 | From: San Francisco Bay area | Registered: Dec 2010
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
... the only way I can avoid the splinch ...
I'm sorry, LC - I didn't have my spectacles on and read that as "avoid the spinach" which would obviously have put Covent Garden into spoon and caused general vegetative havoc.
However, talking of gardens, Island Gardens should be reasonably quiet at this time of night.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Opening up Docklands allows me to take a river cruise to Kew Gardens.
Horticulturist's bezique scores double after closing time, and puts Theydon Bois in crump.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Well, that's the entire Central Line in Knid, however it's a lovely morning (well it is where I am, I don't know about London) and so a gentle ride in Rotten Row is clearly called for. Hence Marble Arch - although you may have to carry your horse up the escalator to comply with the bye-laws.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Imaginary Friend
Real to you
# 186
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Posted
Isn't horse-carrying banned on the Sabbath? Regardless, you've put the District Line into Spoon so I think I'm left with no option but to start waaaay out west at Heathrow Terminals 1,2,3.
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"We had a good team on paper. Unfortunately, the game was played on grass."
Brian Clough
Posts: 9455 | From: Left a bit... Right a bit... | Registered: May 2001
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Which doesn't help anyone, as the Lyttleton & Garden Ruling from 1985 makes quite clear. If you recall, Barry Cryer had just made exactly the move you've just made (well, parallel equivalence given the way the honours trumps are split). Probably distracted by Samantha, who had earlier related about how she'd been playing cards with Sven earlier and was holding a Full House when she was persuaded to drop them. But anyway, the result was, as I'm sure you've realised by now, that the only possible next move was Dollis Hill.
It's Bradford and Haworth Semifinals from 2004 all over again, I tell you.
[ 19. May 2013, 13:02: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
It's Pentecost now, so the episcopal transfer is valid. Southwark, but note that with the central line still in Nidd, we're in danger of being stuck with hanging corners.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Dollis Hill
Tricky situation, what with the requirements for explanations and the move being the only one available and therefore requiring little explanation.
Incidentally, was anyone else at Bradford that year? Lovely chap there from Bali called Tik Etspliese who narrowly failed to take third seed Noah Ntri from Mozambique out in the opening round. Shame about the trouble caused by the Leamington Spa faction again; I understand that accommodation for MC fans is now hard to find in Todmorden and one pub landlord's parrot is permanently traumatised and keeps on repeating "Tottenham Court Road" in ever more excited tones of voice - the guilty parties know why.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Well. That kind of a move would usually call for a balancing action on the Metropolitan Line, but it's a Sunday in May, so the gasworks is closed for cleaning. Theydon Bois is still in crump, which blocks the widdershins route, so I'll have to trade two blue tokens for a red, and proceed to Dollis Hill.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
I do think that we are in the throes of a Semantic Deviation here, not to mention a Signal Failure: while there may indeed be an intent to proceed from Dollis Hill to Dollis Hill, in practice this is very difficult unless one does a reverse shunt onto the Down Line. Which, as you will all know, demands prior authentication from the Line Controller not to mention Hand Signalling and the Laying Down of Detonators under Rule 55.
Best to escape all that and head for the verdant pastures of Whitechapel.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
We've just had the triple-whammy of Pentecost, the Dean's birthday and the eve of a national holiday which, under Rule 1365(b), amendment [v] (Decanal Anniversaries), will take the Central Line out of knid and make Chancery Lane a viable option.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
St. John's Wood is a traditional play after Chancery Lane, but it's too risky in the wider context. So instead I'll invoke the compass point rule, and make a northerly transfer to Wood Green.
With the lumberjack extension, this takes Theydon Bois out of crump and primes the arboreal accumulator.
[ 20. May 2013, 04:38: Message edited by: Leorning Cniht ]
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Well, I'm glad you got us out of St. John's Wood as the First Test Match finished a day early and we could have been stuck there till close of play in the Varsity Match otherwise.
The Arboreal Accumulation rule - which has come in late this year due to a combination of the late Spring and a Points Failure at Lillie Bridge Depot - nudges one imperceptibly towards Seven Sisters, of course.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
I've got this nasty feeling that I'm wrong here, but I think that Mudchute is the canonical play here.
Given the diagonals being occupied, the depots really hold the key at this point. Now, Mudchute would safely hold off any spoon on the Central line, but that play is well known and can ultimately lead to a full ruff on Northern, with all its undesirable consequences for the Red Queen.
Consequently, I'm going to play Bank.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
It was General Schelling-Trench who first discovered that the transfer from Bank to Monument is blocked with the accumulator in play. He was said to favour an excursion to East India in these circumstances, but a more refined view suggests that the correct play after Bank is Swiss Cottage.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
The Colonel was a bit of a maverick, and whilst a move to India is of course unnecessary, it does open up an oversea jump option for four turns.
Hence Ventnor. Ferries are in Nidd for two turns, but all closed Isle of Wight stations are of course open.
Licky cream anyone?
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Easy peasy
Havenstreet
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Mmm ... we're supposed to be being good children, so that may incur the wrath of our Fat Controller.
However I propose a solution which will hopefully satisfy all parties, both on and off the Isle of Wight: Ryde (St. John's Road) - because, of course, the only trains that call there are Tube Trains.
Change at Smallbrook Junction!
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Under river symmetry, that's equivalent to a play of St. John's Wood with the Jubilee Line offside. Which means my obvious move is to give the accumulator another spin at Elm Park.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
...which racing reference takes us straight to Doncaster, opening up Northern Rail services for four turns. Trans-pennine routes are in Nidd, of course, and there's the normal three-way spoon at Crewe.
Interesting though. I seem to recall a big argument about this scenario on ISIHAC once, which resulted in Humph being called upon to rifle through Samantha's drawers for a copy of that year's rule amendments.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
The equine connection does pose a problem as so many of the stations near Yorkshire racecourses (Wetherby, Ripon) are closed.
However salvation for us lies at Pontefract (Tanshelf) which is apparently very convenient if you want to watch the geegees.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Putting us fairly in the Rhubarb Triangle. A bit of crumble and custard takes us straight via Appleby back into that London at Euston
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Is Euston a viable option at this time on a Tuesday? ![[Confused]](confused.gif)
Oh, hang on a minute, where you are (or possibly where I am) it isn't actually this time, is it?
Invoking the International Time Discrepancy (Places with a Half-Hour Difference) Excuse, I'd better play Cutty Sark, where it'll be God's Time™.
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
... which is presumably measured out by one of Mr. Harrison's Longitude clocks, conveniently housed nearby at the Royal Observatory.
Knowing that possession of a valid Travelcard gives one a discount on the Thames River Services, let's head back upstream to Tower Hill and leave Samantha's drawers untouched.
[ 21. May 2013, 14:43: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Aha! Did you expect me not to notice that you were avoiding a lateral shunt there?
Can I point out that it was clearly laid down in the 2011 Dove Holes and Thorpe convention that use of river services to circumvent otherwise prohibited moves is not valid? As the player on the left, I believe that I could put the cueball back where we started and make you take it again, but instead I'll have a free ball, pot Morden and hie me directly to MORNINGTON.... - only joking, Goodge Street
[ 21. May 2013, 15:18: Message edited by: Karl: Liberal Backslider ]
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
Cockfosters.
Sir Humphrey fforde-Rivers, the well-known explorer, established that playing Cockfosters was acceptable at any time in a private game, in the course of his 1937 sessions with the Duke of Buccleuch. Modern authorities, however, caution against playing Cockfosters willy-nilly in tournament play, owing to the risk of being stuck with Clapham Common on the next turn.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Oh dear.
Clapham Common.
(By a strange coincidence, within 2 seconds of my writing those words, Paul Merton uttered them during an interview on Radio 4's "P.M." programme. Weird, eh?)
[ 21. May 2013, 16:55: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Wet Kipper
Circus Runaway
# 1654
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Posted
Sorry everyone. By joining in at this precise moment - having missed my earlier attempted connection, the only move i have left is to go to Dollis Hill again, though I'm sure a seasoned veteran will know which of the 3 available moves will prevent a further loop.
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- insert randomly chosen, potentially Deep and Meaningful™ song lyrics here -
Posts: 9841 | From: further up the Hill | Registered: Nov 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
Well, at least you got us back north of the River.
But a better player than I will have to take us forward. ![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Is Finchley Road and Frognal one of the three?
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
Is Finchley Road and Frognal one of the three?
It is, but it's an odd choice. I'd not personally want to leave myself open to a peak-hours terminating screw into the top pocket, but that of course is your choice. Suffice it to say that at tournament level I'd be looking for some skulduggery.
And indeed at this level - very clever Sioni, and you know exactly what I'm talking about. I think that we can put a stop to your little game with a quick hop to Watford Met
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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AndyB
Shipmate
# 10186
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Posted
*sighs* Predictable, oh so predictable.
Lurgan
Please remember that for your next move you need to have the right number of green and orange tokens - too many of the wrong sort and you'll not be able to go anywhere, in which case you'll not so much be looking for white tokens as the white flag.
Posts: 149 | From: Belfast | Registered: Aug 2005
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
You think?
So if I now suggested that you put Blaenau Ffestiniog in your pipe and smoked it, what then?
Don't even think of trying for Porthmadog on a weekday. Llandudno Junction is in Nidd for the Holyhead line and you'll be waiting for a long time for a bus from Pwllheli.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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AndyB
Shipmate
# 10186
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Posted
Pah. Aldwych should settle your hash, and don't bother trying to tell me you can't use a closed station if you have precisely three red tokens, they arranged a special filming.
Posts: 149 | From: Belfast | Registered: Aug 2005
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Use them if you will, but it only takes one bright spark to hit Down Street and I think it's Mate in three.
You can resign now if you like, or prolong the agony.
It's just like the controversial (at the time) 2003 grudge match in Langwathby between Wimble "The Womble" Don Park and Wes Minster. Wim had just played a triple diagonal reverse shunt, when Wes chimed straight in with the Aldwych play. Of course, this was the start of all that trouble with the Leamington Spa faction, which we shouldn't revisit here, save to remind everyone how Wim's Yorkshire Terrier never really fully recovered. Suffice it to say that their attempts to overturn Wim's win had less chance of succeeding than my ambition to become Emperor of the Universe. Not that that stopped them from trying. I sometimes wonder if the game is permanently tarnished.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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AndyB
Shipmate
# 10186
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Posted
If you haven't played with Dave Wooding and Alison "Crusher" Hall, you haven't lived.
Back to Aldwych again.
{Edit: apologies to everyone who has never heard of Dave or Crusher... Old MC mailing list on mono.org yonks ago, including a wonderful IMCIT I had the privilege of playing in!}
[ 22. May 2013, 12:01: Message edited by: AndyB ]
Posts: 149 | From: Belfast | Registered: Aug 2005
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
And of course that's the last few plays' hard work wiped out isn't it?
No trumps. Deep-level stations wild. District and Circle in Nidd.
So.
Dollis Hill
Well done. ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
![[Frown]](frown.gif) Sighs ...
Some people never learn, do they? So we'll have to go somewhere which runs Tube Trains outside London to resolve this.
We've already used up the Isle of Wight, so that won't do (and the Steam Railway is well and truly out of bounds anyway - remember that THEY are watching us!)
Fortunately we still have one option to play: our trump card of Braye Road (Alderney) ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
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Posted
Didn't I say mate in three?
Just warning, there's still a way out before I actually make the play that effectively seals this round.
Because I'm so nice, and it's a bit of a slow game, I'll not play it yet...
(NB note that cut and cover lines are +5 to hit against Chaotic Neutral at the moment)
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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