So far this week I've been stuffed by two humans and three bots.

On Wednesday night Steve and Simon put me in my place over Euphrat & Tigris. Great game, as usual, and different again, with three corner kingdoms attacking each other across one central flashpoint. Scores: Steve(12) Simon(10) me(10).

Then last night I tried online Taj Mahal at GameBox. I played against 3 bots, to get some practise with the interface before I challenge humans. I was a bit stunned by how good the bots are - I've clearly got a long way to go before I master this game. I don't even want to tell you the scores. The other surprise was how quickly the game went - it only took half an hour.