2007 - Looking Back

2007 gave us a lot of gaming opportunities, and many changes and growth opportunities. Damascus moved out of it's roots in Dave & Noreen's home and into the Damascus Community Center. We had a lot of growth and a lot of new members join us. Here is a look back at what we played, starting on January 5 in Damascus, and going right up to the last Friday session on December 28 in Middletown...

The Fives
All of the following games were played five times in 2007:

• Alhambra
• Colosseum
• Diamant
• Factory Fun
• GemBlo
• Igel Ärgern
• Khet: The Laser Game
• Loco!
• Thebes
• Tikal
• Volle Wolle
• Zombie Fluxx
  

The Sixes

• Age of Steam
• Ingenious
• Power Grid - Benelux/Central Europe
• Showmanager

The Sevens

• BattleLore
• Caylus Magna Carta
• Notre Dame
• On The Underground
• Power Grid Power Plant Deck 2
• San Juan
• Zooloretto Expansions

The Eights

• Hive
• Imperial
• Thurn & Taxis
• Ticket To Ride: USA 1910

The Nines

• Blue Moon City Expansion Tiles
• Bohnanza
• Pillars of the Earth
• Qwirkle

The Elevens

• Agricola
• Race for the Galaxy
• 6 Nimmt!

The Twelves

• Ticket to Ride

The Fifteens

• Power Grid
• Yspahan
• Zooloretto

The Sixteens

• Blue Moon City
• Can't Stop
  

Most Played Game of the Year
At 69 plays, it will surprise no one who paid any sort of attention at all that the most played game this year was, indeed, Tichu. Not much more to be said about it except that if you have been bitten, you can expect to be if you hang out with us long enough.

The Ones
There were 138 games that we played only once, as well as 12 expansions.

Some More Stats
We also recorded 12 plays of things that were "Outside the Scope of BGG", which for us meant ping-pong, pool, etc.

We played 279 unique games, and 22 different game expansions. We played those 279 games a total of 774 times (for an average of 2.77 plays per game), and the expansions 71 times (average of 3.23 plays each).

We recorded 111 different people who gamed with us, a total of 1138 times (average of 10.25 sessions). The most ten most prolific (attending the most sessions) gamers were:

• (57) David Fair
• (44) Rose Byington
• (41) Noreen Fair
• (38) Bill Trac, David Briggs, Martha Briggs
• (37) Marshall Miller
• (36) Bob Jones
• (33) Kevin Bealer
• (32) Ruben Carbonell

Have a great new year! See you soon

Middletown 12/28/07

Quick report... Scott is having trouble logging in, so this is here just until he can log in and update it more fully. In attendance:

• Scott Fisher
• Jason Cheng
• Karl Musser
• Jenny Foster
• John Weber

Games Played:

• Pillars of the Earth
• League of Six
• Galaxy Trucker
• Olympia 2000

Damascus 12/21/07

The last gaming day of the year for GCOM-Damascus had 17 gamers arrive:

• David, Noreen, & Corwin Fair
• David & Martha Briggs
• Bob, Carol, Rachel, Ben, & Beth (Bob's Mom) Jones
• Luke Conte
• Rick Pasquale
• Raphael Lehrer
• Jason Cheng
• Philippe Hebert
• Marshall Miller
• John Stup

We played a good mix of old and new favorites. First up was a 3-player game of Race for the Galaxy. Jason and I taught Philippe to play, and then we set about on our tasks of dominating the stars. This game takes a few plays to get on track, but by the end, I think Philippe was getting it. David (62) won, followed by Jason (33) and Philippe (27).

Raphael taught the game R-Eco to David, Martha, and Marshall. It's a cute card game about recycling with some interesting scoring twists. David won, scoring 4 points, followed by Marshall with 3, Raphael with 3, and Martha with -3. Ouch!

Next up was the game McGartlin Motorsports Stock Car Championship Racing Game. I think I got a few rules wrong, as the game play was not right... I will have to read them off line and we can try it again... Jason came first in the race, followed by Philippe, Rick, Dave, and Marshall.

Raphael and the Briggs played 3-player Agricola, no word on which deck... Raphael won with a score of 50 points, followed by a tie for second place, as both David and Martha scored 26.

We played a 4-player game of Imperial, and it went very well. I usually like this with 5, but it was just as good with 4. In the end, Jason managed to grab the victory with 103 points, followed by Dave with 99, Philippe with 84, and John with 62.

Taj Mahal is a great game combining bluffing, bidding, and some board connection elements with set collecting elements. Bob taught it to Luke, and 3 others joined in the fun. At one point, I think Marshall had more cards than remained in the draw deck! Final scores were: Bob-52, Carol-42, Luke-33, Beth-30, Marshall-21.

Franz-Benno DeLonge has designed many great games, but his best, in my opinion, is Big City. In this game you work with the other players to build business parks, housing developments, civic properties, and a streetcar line. Whoever contributes most to the city, wins. Raphael did it this game, scoring 103 points, followed by Rick with 78, Dave with 63, and Martha with 58.

Was there any Tichu? You betchu. Noreen and Rachel paired up against newcomer Beth and Carol. It was a decidedly one-sided game, as the cards just seemed to fall right for Noreen and Rachel. They got 4 one-two hands, including the last hand of the night to win 1185 to 515.

David and Jason played a 2-player Agricola, using all the 1+ occupation cards (E, I, & K) and the K minor improvements. David was able to play the Reed Hut to get an additional person in to play quickly, while Jason scarfed the wood and built fences early. David also played an occupation that allowed him to take a grain every time he plowed a field, and he plowed 3 fields right away, then sowed and got both ovens so he could bake bread. Jason used the spindle (free food for having sheep) to keep his food costs low, and David built as many improvements as he could. In the end, David won, scoring 41 points to Jason's 26.

The final game of the night was Race for the Galaxy this time 4-player, with Bob & Raphael tying for the win with 46, but Bob getting the tiebreaker. Marshall took 3rd with 36, and Luke came 4th with 29.

We hope you all enjoyed the night, and indeed the whole year of gaming. We look forward to playing with you all again next week in Middletown, and in the coming year, every Friday, in Damascus, and alternating Mondays in Germantown.

Germantown 12/17/07

On the last gaming night of 2007 for the Germantown group, we had 11 gamers in attendance.

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Aubrey Bell
• Shannon Bell
• David Briggs
• Martha Briggs
• Dave Fair
• Bob Jones
• Mike Mullins
• Eric Reinhold
• Laura Reinhold

When I arrived, Leslie, David Briggs and Martha had just finished up the fun cheese hunt, Burg Appenzell. David had successfully poached the most cheese with his mice. Since it was all set up, I joined them for another game. What we learned is that we have been playing a couple of rules incorrectly. Nevertheless, we soldiered on and Leslie won a sadly bloodless game with no mice falling into traps. Next time!

Meanwhile, Dave Fair, Eric, Laura, and Mike were finishing up their game of Race for the Galaxy. Despite finishing only 7 planets, Dave's experience paid off with a big win. Dave 42, Eric 19, Laura 17 and Mike 13. Once everyone becomes familiar with the game, I expect those scores to converge greatly.

With the addition of Kevin, Aubrey and Shannon, we broke into two groups. The larger group consisted of Kevin, Mike, Eric, Laura, Bob and Leslie playing one of my favorites, Showmanager. I played a terrible game, soon running out of cash and having to rely on the kindness of the draw deck. Sadly, as an inanimate object, the deck had no kindness for me. My final show had a a value of 3 points! Meanwhile, Eric and Laura played a bunch of good shows. Final scores were Eric 57, Laura 46, Leslie 39, and Kevin, Mike and Bob, each with 26. Ouch!

Once Showmanager was done, Kevin, Bob, Leslie and Mike played the great San Juan. Kevin did quite well with the Chapel but consequently built fewer buildings than everyone else. Leslie and Mike did somewhat better, both finishing their 12th building, but my Guild Hall proved the margin of victory. I scored an extra two points for each of my seven production buildings for a whopping 14 bonus points. Final scores were Bob 32, Leslie 23, Mike 23, and Kevin 20.

Meanwhile, Dave Fair was teaching the current hot game, Agricola, to Shannon and Aubrey with David Briggs and Martha who have played before. Shannon came out of the gate kicking and with her first game not only filled every space on her farm, but she tied Dave at 48 points! A tremendous accomplishment. Aubrey did not fare as well in what is easily the most complicated game he's played, but he'll do better next time. David and Martha did very well with David accumulating more cattle than I've ever seen in the game. Once the game finished around 10:30, the final scores were Shannon 48, Dave 48, David 38, Martha 34, and Aubrey 14.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at our next session on January 7, 2008.

Damascus 12/14/07

Nineteen on a very cold Fourteenth:

• David, Noreen, Corwin, & Andrew
• Marshall Miller
• Philippe Hebert
• Bryan Snyder
• Dan Barnett
• Steve & Noah Meyers
• David & Martha Briggs
• Ruben & Melinda Carbonell
• Rose Byington
• Bill Trac
• Lance Slifka
• Luke Conte
• John Stup

Marshall and I started the ball rolling with a quick game of Schotten Totten, which I won, 5 to 2. We played without the "advanced" cards, which I prefer.

Next up was Agricola, of course. Noreen, Steve, and Philippe joined Marshall and I to make it a 5-player game. It was Steve's first time playing. Finishing order was: Dave 54, Philippe 44, Noreen 38, Marshall 17, Steve 15.

Next was Power Grid played with the new deck, on the Italy map. It was a tough battle, with to following scores (Cities/Capacity/Money): Philippe (15/14/3), Dave (13/13/43), Noah (14/13/22), Howard (12/12/135), Rose (11/11/19).

We followed this up with another game of Power Grid, this time on Benelux but still with the new deck. Howard won this one, after not buying a plant in what turned out to be the last round in the last game. Final scores: Howard (17/17/41), Dave (17/17/29), Philippe (17/17/16), Bryan/Noah/Marshall* (17/17/9), Rose (16/16/19) (*Player substitutions...)

Games that played out in an order I know not which:

Ruben & Noreen lost a Tichu match to Melinda & Lance, 1055 to 645.

Luke (124) won Ticket to Ride (not sure which map) over David (89) and Martha (62). Despite the low score from Martha, had she placed 3 more trains, she would have won, they report!

Zooloretto came out, with all of the myriad expansions, and Luke (26) won that as well, outscoring John (24), Martha (22), and David (16).

Fairy Tale is a unique game that does not get a lot of play, which is more the shame because it is quite good, as Ruben (67) demonstrated to Melinda (48), Lance (47), Howard (31), and Noah (31).

Howard (29), Ruben (22), and Lance (15) tried their hand at Ubongo Extrem, and they all learned that making little hexagons fit into tiny shapes in less than a minute can be hard!

Tikal is a perennial favorite, well loved by many, and this night, Marshall (96), Bill (92), Bryan (85), and Steve (81) tried their hand at exploring the ruins of the South American jungles.

Dan & Bryan played Duel in the Dark, an excellent tactical wargame with a deduction element, and while they report that they messed up the scoring, it appears Dan won in a close game.

Finally, we have a report on the abstract race game, Glik: Lance won over Ruben, Howard, and Luke. This is neat little game that uses Richochet Robot like movement to get all your pieces of an abstract board that resembles a crossword puzzle.

That is all, see you next week!

Brunswick Games Day - January 5th

Brunswick Games Day
January 5th, 2008
Brunswick City Park Building
600 East Potomac St.
Brunswick, MD 21716

An Open Gaming Event
Have Fun, Learn, Share, Grow, Play

• When:
  
• Saturday January 5th from 10:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M.
• What:
  
• One full day of gaming fun. Free and open to the public. Board games, Card games, Role-playing games. Have fun, learn, share, play, and make new friends. Play your old favorites and learn some new ones. Bring your own games and you'll find players to play. Experienced game masters will be available to teach most games. All ages are welcome, but children under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.
• Railroad Games:
  
• Age of Steam, Empire Builder, Eurorails, Express, Hell Rail, Iron Dragon, Santa Fe Rails, Silverton, Stephenson's Rocket, Ticket To Ride, Transamerica, Union Pacific.
• German Games:
  
• Attika, Bohnanza, Carcassonne, Caribbean, Citadels, Clippers, Corsairs, Elfenland, Lord of the Rings, Medici, Mississippi Queen, Pirate's Cove, Puerto Rico, Ra, Rheinlander, St. Petersburg, Settlers of Catan, Take 6, Web of Power.
• Classics:
  
• Backgammon, Checkers, Chess, Clue, Go, Mille Bornes, Monopoly, Pit, Risk, Trivial Pursuit
• Game Companies Represented:
• Steve Jackson Games (Chez Geek, Frag, Illuminati, Munchkin, Ninjaburger, X-bugs)
• Cheapass Games (Button Men, Capt. Park's Imaginary Polar Expedition, Give Me the Brain, Kill Dr. Lucky, Lord of the Fries, Save Dr. Lucky, Witch Trial)
• Looney Labs (Fluxx, EcoFluxx, NanoFictionary, Zendo, Chrononauts, Volcano, IceTowers, Aquarius, Treehouse, Are You a Werewolf)
• Mystic Station Designs (Chivalry & Sorcery, Traveller)
• Slugfest Games (En Garde, Kung Fu Fighting)
• Other Games Provided:
• 221B Baker Street, Acquire, A Game of Thrones, Apples to Apples, Chairs, Cosmic Encounter, Cthulhu 500, Hamlet, Hills Rise Wild!, History of the World, Junta, Lunch Money, Management Material, Nuclear War, Plague & Pestilence, Road to the Whitehouse, Tribond, Vinci, Who Stole Ed's Pants, Wiz War, Zombies!.
• Game Clubs Represented:
• Games Club of Maryland
• Monocacy Gamers
• Where:
• Brunswick City Park Building
• 600 block of East Potomac Street
• Brunswick, MD 21716
• Contact:
• Karl Musser
• 24 Gum Spring Rd.
• Brunswick, MD 21716
• 240-462-3029
• karl_musser@yahoo.com

Damascus 12/07/07

Fifteen games made it to game night:

• David, Noreen, Corwin, & Andrew Fair
• Howard & Nathan Wagner
• Jason Cheng
• Lance Slifka
• Bill Trac
• Rose Byington
• Bob & Ben Jones
• Marshall Miller
• David & Martha Briggs

We started the night off with Frank's Zoo. I can't find the slip for this, but Howard, Nathan, Lance, Jason, Corwin, and I all played. I think I came in last...

Next up was El Grande, we had a quick rules explanation for Nathan and Howard, and then got started. Jason jumped out to an early lead in round one, then never gave it up. The final scores were Jason-100, Lance-79, Nathan-78, Howard-65, David-65.

Burg Appenzell was next... This is a cute little game of mice running around a castle collecting hunks of cheese. Fun for both adults and kids, it looks great and plays well. Bob won, followed by Nathan, Dave, and Howard.

Agricola was played 5-player. David & Martha tied it out for the first time. It's a tough game and it takes at least one game to figure out what you are doing. Raphael won with 39 points, followed by Luke-30, Marshall-21, Martha-13, and David-11.

Yspahan followed, with Raphael posting another victory (72). He was followed by David-68, Martha-57, and Luke-44.

We played a 6-player game of Railroad Tycoon. The game was well-played and a tough battle. I squeezed Marshall hard in the SouthEast from pretty early on, and intruded into the NorthEast to mess with Rose as well. Bill started in the South-Central and build towards Chicago, while Jason started in Pittsburg, and built west. Bob got pressure from both as he started in Duluth and then built to Chicago.
Final scores: Dave-77, Rose-63, Bob-59, Bill-51, Jason-47, Marshall-40.

There was a game of Tichu, but I have no scores or even who played!

Raphael played a solo game of Agricola. I think he said his score was 59. Very good for his first solo play.
Thats all for now... See you next week!

Changes Coming in 2008

A few things to note in the coming year:

1. GCOM-Middletown is changing nights... Starting in January, GCOM-Middletown is moving to Saturdays. Sessions will happen on the last Saturday of the Month: Jan 26, Feb 23, Mar 29, Apr 26, May 31, Jun 28, Jul 26, Aug 25, Sep 27, Oct 25, Nov 29, Dec 27 -- mark your calendars now!
2. GCOM-Damascus is returning to a schedule of "all Fridays"... Now that we won't be making the road trip to Middletown on the last Friday, we will resume having game night on those Fridays at Damascus.
3. We have now been at the Damascus Community Center for 10 months, and by-and-large, things have gone very well. Having Game Night at the Center has allowed us to grow without concerns for space, parking, etc. Our agreement with the Center was never really formalized, and as you all know, we are, for the most part, an off-the-books operation for them. In order to make sure that our relationship with the Center continues to be beneficial for both sides, the following things need to be made known:
• Now that we are using the Classroom, rather than the Art Room, we need to put the tables back in their U-formation and stack the chairs back up before we leave. It would be nice if all of the cleanup was not left for the people who are the last to leave on any given night.
• Recreation facilities. If we would like to use other parts of the center (The ping-pong tables, the pool tables, etc.) then we are going to need to have a more formal setup with the center. This would involve getting all of our regular attendees a membership badge for Montgomery County Recreational Facilities (if you already have one, great, if not, we can get you one. If you are not from Montgomery County, we can still get one for you). If we don't wish to do that, it's OK with them, they just need us to restrict our use of the other rooms (this is due to insurance & liability concerns). Please feel free to discuss this, but as I don't see much use of those parts of the center these days anyway, I am likely to say that we don't want to deal with the hassle or (possible) expense. Please correct me if I am wrong.
• The center has asked that any kids stay with us in the Classroom, or that some of us stay with them in the Conference room. I think it would be best if we tried to move ourselves in with the kids rather than vice-versa, as the TV in our room is less accessible. Most of the time that they are not playing games with us, the kids spend
  watching TV or playing video games, but we do need to make sure they are respectful of the center we are using as guests. There are a couple small tables in there suitable for 4-player card games, and the large table is great for larger-space games like Railroad Tycoon or even Agricola. I don't want this to become any one person's burden, so it would help if everyone stayed aware and occasionally volunteers to have a game in there. That room has the nicest chairs, too!
• Parking... They have asked that we not use the handicapped spots in front of the building without an appropriate sticker or tag. I do this more than the rest of you, usually because I am bringing in games, but I wanted to make you aware of it. The existence of our shiny new game cabinet should help with the amount of game-toting-in, in any case.

Finally, there one thing I think it would be nice to implement, but that I (and Noreen) cannot provide all on our own, so I am looking for help from the rest of you.... Refreshments: I always find game night more enjoyable with a soda (or three) and something to snack on... Now that we have some on-site storage we can carry-over snacks and drinks from week-to-week. Please help us out by occasionally bringing snacks and/or sodas to share with the group and we will keep them in the cabinet until they run out. As supplies get low, I may remind people that we are in need of resupplying the cabinet. Please remember that everything that will be there is something that someone brought, so if you partake, please provide as well.

In fact, with this last item, there really is no reason to wait, so I will be bringing some things to share tomorrow night, please feel free to do so as well. Keep in mind that it is better to have small, single-serving bags/cans/bottles/packages rather than larger containers that, while they may be lower in price, have more danger of their contents going stale/flat.

Hope you all have a great holiday season, and we look forward to more great gaming together in the future.

Germantown 12/03/07

For our penultimate gaming session of 2007, we had a large crowd who played a large number of games. If you count the three girls whose names we didn't get, we had 20 people playing games, a new record!

Attending were:

• Aubrey Bell
• Leslie Barkley
• David and Martha Briggs
• Luke Conte
• Andrew Fair
• Dave Fair
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob Jones
• Carol Loman
• Helen Powell
• Eric and Laura Reinhold
• Bill Salvatore
• Alex Smith
• Bill Trac
• Howard Wagner
• Alex Smith's Sister and her two friends

The following games may or may not be listed in the order they were played.

Dave Fair, Leslie, Howard and Bill Trac started out with Glik, an abstract game reminiscent of Ricochet Robot where players race to get all their markers home before the others. Howard won, followed by Leslie, Bill, and Dave.


They followed up Glik with the delightful Burg Appenzell (Chateau Roquefort), a cute game with mice scurrying about trying to find 4 kinds of cheese. Dave and Leslie tied for the win with Howard and Bill tied behind them. (Image from BGG)

Meanwhile, the ever-popular filler 6 Nimmt was played. Final scores were David Briggs and Doug tied at 8, followed by Luke 13, Eric 17, Andrew 33, and Martha at 60.

Around this time, Doug taught If Wishes were Fishes to Bill Salvatore, Carol and Laura. Bill had his famous "beginner's luck" and won 87 to Doug's 71, Carol 65, and Laura 62.

Laura, Carol and Bill left so Doug joined another group for Coloretto. This simple, yet fun game is filled with tough decisions. Final scores were Luke 33, David Briggs 20, Eric 20, Martha 16 and Doug 12.

Alex and Aubrey were keen to play Blue Moon City, so I joined them for a three player game. Tiles were turned over remarkably quickly as we all raced to the finish. In the end, Alex won with 5, Aubrey had 4 and I brought up the rear with 3.

Alex's sister and two of her friends were in the store and wanted to play something. They grabbed Dave' copy of Battle of the Bands, read the rules and played a game. Final scores were "Stroodel" 4, Manni 3, and DC 2. Next time they attend, I hope to get their names and maybe get them to play a game with us.

Next up, the San Juan-esque game, Race for the Galaxy. I predicted that Martha's head would explode from all the symbols used during game play. It's a great game and plays quickly and easily once you understand the cards, but there is a steep learning curve. My prediction was generally accurate as Doug won with 36, Eric 23, David Briggs 11, and Martha 8.

The mice and cheese group then broke out the new game, Brass, a very good economic development game from Martin Wallace. Reminiscent of Power Grid in some ways, it was won by Bill Trac, followed by Dave Fair, Howard and Leslie.

After Blue Moon City, Luke joined Aubrey, Alex and me for New England. Unfortunately, Alex had to leave shortly after we started. Before we could do anything, Helen arrived and took over Alex's position. She played quite well, but Luke was the master. Final scores were Luke 35, Helen 31, Aubrey 29 and Bob 26.

Thanks to everyone for coming!

Middletown 11/30/07

Eleven gamers made the trek, over hill and over dale, to the Mecca of Meeples in Middletown, the Cradle of Cardboard, the Domain of Dice, the... I'll stop now... In attendance:

• Scott Fisher
• David Fair
• John Weber
• Raphael Lehrer
• Tom McCorry
• Katherine McCorry
• Marshall Miller
• Jason Cheng
• Bryan Snyder
• Karl Musser
• Kathy Hallahan

We started out the night with a game of Martin Wallace's newest economic game, Brass. This is a meaty game that offers a lot to folks brave enough to play it a second time. It is very confusing and hard to figure out in your first play, but it gets much better after that. John came 4th in this game, his first play, scoring 101 points. Scott was next (also his first play) with 112, then veterans Tom (114) and David (131). See what I mean about a little experience?

Meanwhile, some other games got underway... In no particular order: Raphael, Jason, Bryan, and Marshall played St. Petersburg (it was Jason's inaugural game). Scores were 94-Raphael, 86-Jason, 58-Marshall, 50-Bryan.

Katherine, Karl, and Kathy played Thurn & Taxis, developing postal systems across ancient Germany. Kathy was first with 26, followed by Katherine with 20, and Karl with 17.

Showmanager is one of my favorite games, but it got played without me this night, as Kathy, Karl, Marshall, Bryan, Jason, and John all competed to make the best of the actors who showed up in cattle calls for their broadway shows. Kathy posted another win with 43 points, followed by Jason-41, Marshall-36, John-34, Karl-34, and Bryan-32.

Uptown is a cute little essentially abstract game by Kory Heath that has been getting a bit of play of late. Tonight, Jason won, followed by Karl, Kathy, John, and Marshall.

There were 2 games of Race for the Galaxy, one with Jason, Bryan, and Marshall, and one with Jason, John, and Marshall. In game A, Marshall won with a score of 26 (the lowest winning score I have seen), followed by Jason-23, and Bryan-20. In game 2, Jason-39 won, followed by John-27, and Marshall-24.

We had a 5-player game of Agricola end at about this point. We played with the K-Deck, the deck that breaks the rules more than any other, despite having 2 new players in the game. Katherine (new) came 5th with 24, and Tom was 4th with 30. Next was Scott with 31, then Raphael (new) with 38. David came first with 48.

We ended the night with a pair of filler card games... Holzworm and Ziegen Kriegen. We aren't sure we got the rules right for Holzwurm, but in the other game, Scott was last with 6 points, followed by Jason with 9, Marshall with 22, and David & John tied for the win with 25.

A great night of gaming... See you next month!

Damascus 11/23/07

We had 26 people in attendance, for the Annual Day After Turkey Day Gaming Marathon:

• David, Noreen, Corwin & Andrew Fair
• Rachael & Luke Conte
• Bryan Snyder
• Jason Cheng
• Michelle Zentis
• Jeff Kahan
• Marshall Miller
• Tom McCorry
• John Weber
• Beth Raphael & Nicole Pysnack
• David Fogel & Gwen Alviani
• Bill Trac
• Melinda & Ruben Carbonell
• Judy Trent & Scott Fox
• Sheila Nelson
• Tim Rothenhoefer
• John Stup
• Raphael Lehrer

We played 17 different games a total of 23 times, and here is how it went...

First game finished was a 2-player game of Uptown, in which Rachael beat Luke on a tiebreaker.

Next game that ended was a 5-player game of R-Eco, which Luke won, followed by John W., Beth, Nicole, and Rachael.

Marshall, Corwin, and Andrew played a game of (deep breath) Order of the Stick Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan (whew). They said that fun was had by all, the quest was successful, but they weren't quite sure of the rules...

Jeff, Jason, and Bryan played Galaxy Trucker, one of my favorites from the new Essen crop. Bryan won by the slightest of margins over Jason, and Jeff (who wrote "I suck at this game") pulled up the rear.

Ca$h 'n Gun$ was the next game to end. Dave Fogel was dead by the end of round 3, and Nicole gathered most of the cash to claim victory. Beth was second, followed by John W., Gwen, and Luke.

Michelle, Tom and I had started a game of Antiquity as the say started, and it took until now for Michelle to beat us fairly throughly. It was a very interesting game, and my first play. I look forward to playing again.

Jeff, Jason and Bryan then tackled a game of Race for the Galaxy, and excellent card game with roots in San Juan. Jeff won, followed by Jason and Bryan, who described himself as confused, but liking the game.

Judy and Scott played a quick 2-player game of Caylus Magna Carta next, with Judy eeking out a narrow win in her first game.

Ruben, Bill, Melinda, and Marshall played Thebes. It was the first time playing for Bill & Melinda, and Ruben won, with Melinda next, then Bill, and Marshall. They played the by-the-book rules, rather than the variant that we have been using in most other games, where 1 dirt tile is removed from the bag after each dig.

Five-Player is the best way to play Power Grid, in my opinion, and it was played on the US map, with the new expansion deck. Dave Fogel won, followed by Gwen, John W., Beth, and Luke.

Ubongo Extrem is a new version that uses Gemblo-esque pieces instead of Blokus-esque pieces. Bill won this game, followed by Ruben and then Melinda.

Another game of Uptown, this time with Sheila winning, followed by Dave Fogel, John W., Beth, and Gwen.

Did someone say Tichu? Ruben & Bill triumphed over Melinda & Noreen, 1065 to 735.

Tom taught Brass to Michelle, Jason and Jeff, winning in a close contest, followed by the others in the order mentioned above. This is a really good economic game that players who like Power Grid shoul defintely take a look at...

Farming has never been more fun than in Agricola. It was a 5-player game with the E-Deck. David Fair won, followed by Bryan, Scott, Marshall, and Judy. My favorite new Essen game.

Another game of Race for the Galaxy (2nd of 5, in fact). This one saw Beth win over Sheila and John W. She used the Trade x2 card to great benefit, I am told...

John W. has made his own copy of Kingsburg since it is not available in the US yet, and he played a game with Beth and Sheila, finishing first.

A rousing success was Through the Ages, played by Jeff, Michelle, and Jason. They all rate the game a 10, so had a wonderful. This is a long, in-depth, and challenging game that meaty game fans need to play at least once.

John S. won a game of Settlers of Catan, playing with Andrew and Noreen, though they did not play the full game...

Game 3 of Race for the Galaxy... This one had Judy winning over Bryan, Tim, and Scott, in a very close game.

Another game of Agricola, this time 3-player with the E-Deck. David Fair won, followed by Tom and Marshall. This was my first game of 3-player Agricola, and I like it a lot. It played very quickly, and it was tight and tense throughout.

Game 4 of Race for the Galaxy... This one had Bryan victorious, followed by Tim and Marshall.

Raphael showed up, coming straight from his plane to play Wabash Cannonball with John W. and Beth, who bested the others in a game that saw her take stock in all 4 starting railroads, and B&O connect Chicago, Detroit, and Pittsburgh.

Tom showed Brass again, this time besting David Fair and Noreen in a 3-player version of the game. Excellent game, but it most assuredly takes one play to get a feel for...

And the final game of the night was Race for the Galaxy... This one had Jason victorious, followed by Marshall and Tom.

Thanks to everyone who came, who brought food, who brought games, who helped clean up (especially to you guys! Big Kudos To Tim, Marshall, Jason, Andrew, Corwin, and Tom), we all had a great time and appreciate the way you helped out.

Germantown 11/19/07

Bob was not in attendance, and as I arrived, I found a game of Zombie Fluxx already in progress...

Gamers in Attendance:

• David & Martha Briggs
• David Raley
• David Fair
• Howard Wagner
• Doug Hoylman
• Luke Conte
• Bill Salvatore
• Leslie Barkley
• Aubrey Bell
• Kevin Bealer
• Helen Powell

Games played...

The aforementioned Zombie Fluxx, which involved leslie, Doug, David R., Howard, and Bill, but which the Zombies won was the first game played.

Bill and Howard wanted to play Agricola, and Luke and Doug joined us. It was a very good game with the 3 new players doing quite well. Final scores were Dave 51, Howard 35, Luke 26, Doug 20, Bill 19.

David R., Leslie, and Aubrey played TTR: Switzerland, with David crushing it out of there at 152 points (OMG!), followed by leslie with 113, and Aubrey with 88

Helen, David R., David B., Martha, Kevin, Leslie, and Aubrey then played Shadows over Camelot. The game was not able to be finished, but there was no traitor and the game ended with 4 white swords and 2 black.

Damascus 11/16/07

Another short post, as I try to catch up...

Gamers in attendance:

• Tim Rothernhoefer
• Rick Pasquale
• David, Noreen, Corwin, & Andrew Fair
• Lance Slifka
• Kevin Bealer
• Dave & Gwen Fogel
• Jenny Foster
• David & Martha Briggs
• Philippe Hebert
• Howard Wagner

Games Played:

• Agricola
• Tichu
• Robotics
• Zooloretto
• Mamma Mia
• Tigris & Euphrates
  

I promise to get back to my wordier self soon... too much Agricola pasting up work this past week...

Euro Quest V Report on BGG

Carol just posted a Geeklist of the games she played over the weekend (mostly with Germantown and Damascus folk) at GCOM's Euro Quest V.

Check it out: Carol's EQV Geeklist

If you like it, give her a Thumbs Up!

Germantown 11/05/07

Once again, a crowded cafe and a fun evening of gaming.

• Leslie Barkley
  
• Aubrey and Shannon Bell
  
• David and Martha Briggs
  
• Rose Byington
  
• Dave Fair
  
• Doug Hoylman
  
• Bob Jones
  
• Eric and Laura Reinhold

First up for the night was Patrician. Dave Fair reports that it's a fairly innocuous and familiar-feeling game of building towers in Renaissance Italy. Not much to recommend or condemn it. And Dave won the game. Dave 32, Eric 31, Doug 30, Leslie 26, Laura 25.

With the addition of Rose, the same group set up for Circus Flohcati. Whenever she drew from the deck, Rose excelled at matching a card already on the table, thus ending her turn without getting a card. Otherwise, Doug won in a close match. Doug 47, Laura 45, Eric 43, Leslie and Dave Fair 39, Rose 19 (ouch).

Meanwhile, Bill Salvatore was teaching Ticket to Ride: Europe to David Briggs, Martha, Aubrey and Shannon. Since Bill had to leave early and the game hadn't started, he turned his place over to me when I arrived. What followed was a fairly fierce battle with Martha losing some critical routes early but making her tickets through detours and some judicious use of train stations. Aubrey made his tickets early and drew additional tickets two turns in a row. Unfortunately, he overreached and was unable to complete one of the additional tickets, despite using all his stations. Shannon built the longest train, edging her past David. But I came out on top, mostly due to completing all my tickets, including a monster 21 point Edinburgh to Athens ticket. Final scores were Bob 115, Shannon 111, David 101, Martha 81, Aubrey 70.

I brought Elfenland as I hadn't played it in a while and it handles six players. Since the other table had six, out it came. They misapplied the rule for playing a caravan over an obstacle, but otherwise ably maneuvered their Elf Princes through the land. At the end, Doug visited the most villages with 18, followed by Rose 16, Eric 16, Dave 16, Laura 12, and Leslie 12. Ties were broken by the number of cards left in hand.

For the record, here's the official Caravan rule, including how to deal with obstacles:

A) Caravan
If a player cannot play the Travel card(s) required by the type of transportation, he can play any three Travel Cards (including Raft Travel Cards) instead. This move is called a “Caravan”. “Caravans” only move on roads that provide a type of transportation. Caravans do not travel on rivers and lakes. If there is an Obstacle on the road, the player must play any four instead of three Travel Cards.

With Elfenland and Ticket to Ride done, Leslie, Dave Fair and Doug played the Traumfabrikesque Showbiz Shuffle while the TTR players tried Fantasy Flight's Quicksand. Doug completed fewer films than Dave or Leslie and fell behind. Leslie won just after Borders closed with 79 to Dave's 72, and Doug's 34.

Quicksand is a cute little maneuvering game from Fantasy Flight's Silver Line of games where you move explorers through a jungle to a temple, trying to avoid falling into (what else?) quicksand. The trick is that everyone can move each of the six explorers and each player's identity is hidden information. The game plays quickly and is reasonably fun. There is a weird bottleneck at the entrance to the temple making it important to get to one of the two spaces outside the temple first (where you will undoubtedly fall into the quicksand space or be hit with a quicksand card). Then it's a race to draw enough cards to free yourself and move into the temple. Play was very aggressive with everyone congregating outside the temple. Martha broke the bottleneck as her explorer leapt over two other explorers to win the game. Bob, David, Aubrey and Shannon were the also-rans.

Hope to see you at Euro Quest!

(All images from Boardgamegeek)

Germantown 10/29/07

I arrived at 7PM to find the Cafe crowded, with every table taken. To my surprise, our group had three ongoing games at three full tables. Attending were:

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Aubrey Bell
• David & Martha Briggs
• Rose Byington
• Luke Conte
• Dave Fair
• Philippe Hebert
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob Jones
• Carol Loman
• Eric & Laura Reinhold
• Bill Trac
• Howard Wagner

The new Essen release, League of Six, was in play with Dave Fair, Doug, Eric, Howard and Leslie. Leslie was way behind until the end-game bonuses were awarded when she scored an impressive 27 points (compare that to Doug's 2 points)! Doug was way ahead, though, and never in danger of being caught. Final scores were Doug 71, Eric 58, Dave 57, Howard 57, and Leslie 56. Very close game for everyone but the winner!

Meanwhile, Martha, David Briggs, Laura, Philippe and Luke were trading beans in Bohnanza. Luke and David B tied in a high scoring game with 16 each, followed by Martha 14, Laura 12, and Philippe 8.

At the third table, Rose, Bill, Carol and Aubrey were finishing up 6 Nimmt. Final scores were Bill 24, Carol 32, and Rose and Aubrey bringing up the rear with 67 each.

Kevin had arrived so he and I joined the 6 Nimmt group for the very tactical tile-grabbing game, Fossil. Fossil plays up to 6 but plays best with 3-4 players as fewer players means more control. Still, it's a quick, fun game with some nice bits. Experience won the day with final scores of Bob 97, Kevin 89, Aubrey 84, Bill 70, Carol 63, and Rose 54.

As League of Six and Bohnanza ended, the groups mixed for two new games. Luke, Martha, David Briggs and Leslie chose to manage animals to create the ultimate zoo in Zooloretto. Luke proved the most successful with 29 points, followed by Martha 25, Leslie 23, and David 18.

Rose joined Eric, Howard, Dave Fair, Philippe and Doug in managing electric companies in Power Grid with the Benelux map. It looks like nearly everyone anticipated one more turn to bring their full plans to fruition. Unfortunately for them, the game ended with Philippe on top. Final scores (capacity/cities/money) were Philippe 15/15/8, Doug 15/14/11, Dave 16/13/10, Rose 14/13/0, Howard 17/12/22, and Eric 15/12/3. According to Dave, had they played one more turn, the results might have been very different.

The final game of the night was my favorite game, the awesome, Taj Mahal, with me, Bill, Aubrey and Kevin. I was the only experienced player but everyone picked it up well. Bill won the +2 special card early and used it often. Aubrey started slow but constructed an excellent web of connections, as did Kevin, scoring big points in the last few rounds. I did something I rarely do and went after multiple province tiles, taking 5 or 6 of the 12 available. This gave me a considerable lead I was able to hold until the end. Scores were Bob 54, Kevin 47, Bill 40, Aubrey 37.

Next session: November 5.

Damascus 11/02/07

Only have a partial report here, sorry for that...

Gamers in attendance:

• Dan Barnett
• David & Martha Briggs
• Rose Byington
• Melinda & Ruben Carbonell
• Jason Cheng
• Luke Conte
• David, Noreen, Corwin & Andrew Fair
• Scott Fox
• Bob, Carol, & Ben Jones
• Rick Pasquale
• David Raley
• Lance Slifka
• Bryan Snyder
• Bill Trac

Games Played:

• Around the World in 80 Days
• Blue Moon City
• Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle
• Tigris & Euphrates
• Gemblo
• Mamma Mia
• Mykerinos
• Race for the Galaxy
• Raj
  
• Showmanager
• Tichu
• Ysphahan
• Zombie Fluxx
  

Middletown 10/26/07

Fourteen gamers in attendance:

• Calvin Fisher
• Carly Fisher
• Scott Fisher
• Steve Meyers
• Noah Meyers
• Katherine McCorry
• Tom McCorry
• Ben
• David Fair
• Noreen Fair
• Jason Cheng
• Marshall Miller
• Phil Kramer
• John Weber

Games played?

The evening started with Ben, Noah, Calvin, and Scott playing The Nacho Incident, a funny take on smuggling Mexican food into Canadia (Yes, Canadia). Scott won, followed by Calvin, Noah, and Ben.

Followed this up with a big game of Verflixxt! (That's Life!) with the following scores: Katherine 24, Calvin 19, Ben 5, Carly 1, Noah -1, Scott -17.

Pulled out the new Essen release, Wabash Cannonball, and David, Jason, Katherine, and Noreen played. An interesting game that plays quite quickly. Very enjoyable. David won with $108, followed by Jason $67, Katherine $64, and Noreen $64.

Cuba will be the "Hot New Essen Game" at EuroQuest, and Tom, John, Marshall, Steve, and Phil played. John managed the win with 84 points, followed by Tom with 80, Marshall with 73, Phil with 72, and Steve with 71. No word on what the game is like or how to play, so you may have to come to EQ to try it out!

Scott taught another new Essen release, League of Six, to Dave, Marshall, and Jason. The end game bonuses proved to be key for Scott as he won with 84 points, followed by David with 71, Jason with 69, and Marshall with 60.

Ming Dynasty is another new Essen release.
In the middle of the 14th Century the Chinese people succeeded to free themselves from the rule of the Mongols. With the accession to the throne of emperor Tai-Tsu they developed a rising country: China. Each player takes the role of an imperial prince and tries to gain influence with his family members at the growth of the Chinese people during the Ming dynasty. Place your fellow men securely into the 6 Chinese provinces, which are divided each into 3 prefectures. In order where your own family members get majorities into the administration you will be recompensed during the election rounds with gifts from the emperor.
The game was won by Phil 140, followed by Tom 133, Katherine 112, and John 94.

Oregon plays similarly to the older title, Hacienda, but is praised for having a more elegant and intuitive scoring, as well as more things going on in the actual gameplay. Three players joined together to tame the new western frontier, Jason scored 77, followed by Scott with 70, and Marshall with 68.

See you next week at GCOM-Damascus!

Brunswick 10/20/07

Since I'm a bad blogger and missed writing the last session report, you'll get two fro the price of one this time.

From last month we got together on 9/15/2007 - with just four players, Karl Musser, Brian Carpenter, Lije Bailey, and newcomer Charles Fout. Charles and I started off with a quick game of Kahuna. Once Brian and Lije arrived we decided to take our turns being pirates with Plunder and afterwards we closed out with a game of 6 Nimmt!

This past Saturday we met again with the same four plus Samantha Francis and my friend Raul who was in town from Columbus for a weekend. Most of the day was taken us with a game of Vinci. I was doing well until the mid-game when my civilizations got wiped off the board. Lije dominated the rest of the game and took the victory despite a late charge from Raul who got to within 2 victory points at the end. Charles had to leave, but we had a late arrival in Tim O'Genshain who joined us for another game of 6 Nimmt! - this one Brian walked away with.

Our next session is 11/17/2007.

Damascus 10/19/07

It was a warm evening, and we had 23 gamers on hand:

• Dan Barnett
• Rose Byington
• Jason Cheng
• Luke Conte
• Brandy Cunningham
• David, Noreen, Corwin & Andrew
• Philippe Hebert
• Bob, Carol, Rachel & Ben Jones
• Raphael Lehrer
• Marshall Miller
• Rick Pasquale
• David Raley
• Lance Slifka
• Bryan Snyder
• Jennifer, Justin, & Seth Weinstein

The (un-numbered) slips got completely out of order this morning when I dropped them on the way to the car, so this is in an order determined by entropy alone... Games we played:

There were 3 separate playings of Zombie Fluxx, the newest member of the Fluxx Family from Looney Labs. In one of them Bryan won while playing with Dan, David R., and Lance. In another, Philippe won while playing with Lance, Dan, and Bryan. In the final, Luke won while playing with Brandy and Marshall.

Zooloretto (with a mess of expansions) was also played, and Dan managed to grab top honors with a score of 27 to David R.'s 23, Lance's 22, and Bryan's 15.

In Blue Moon City (played with expansions), David R. Managed to win by contributing the most to the obelisks completion, followed closely by Brandy, and then Marshall.

Kingdoms involves placing castles to take advantage of scoring opportunities, and Bob got hammered in the first round of play, but recovered to some degree. Bill won (it was his first time playing) with 279, followed by Noreen (also her first time playing) with 214, Bob with 207, and Carol with 196.

Princes of Florence is a tense game of optimization and producing works. Carol produced 6 works, and had a Prestige card giving an easy path to a hard-fought victory with 61 points. carol was followed by Bob (57, also 6 works), Noreen (52), Bill (51) and Jennifer (first time playing, 27 points).

Brandy, Bob, and Marshall played the great 3-player game, San Marco. Brandy appears to have led the whole game, with Marshall passing Bob only on the final scoring. Brandy won with 66 to Marshall's 53 and Bob's 50.

David F, Corwin, David R., and Jason played Ingenious (AKA Einfach Genial), and it was the first time playing for the latter two. David R. ended with 9, Jason with 13, Corwin with 15, and David F. ended the game early by scoring all 18's. Corwin, had he another turn, could have matched the feat.

A fast-playing 6-player game of Power Grid on the Benelux map was called for, and Raphael managed things carefully to end the game quickly and decisively by building to 14. player order was as follows (Cities, Capacity, Money): Raphael (14/15/15), Philippe (11/15/17), David F. (10/16/3), Jason (9/15/13), Rick (9/17/7), Rose (8/16/18).

Building the cathedral in Kingsbridge is the theme for Pillars of the Earth, and 4 players set out to do that, garnering fame and wealth for themselves in the process. Luke had never played before, and it had been some time for Bryan and Rick as well. David F. got some early metal, but got shut out of the first two metal workers. It was looking grim. Luckily, he managed to grab the second two metal workers, and snatch a metal out from under Rick, to score 28 points on the last turn to grab victory, scoring 62 points to Rick's 52, Luke's 39, and Bryan's 37.

In For Sale, players work in two separate auction rounds to get profit in a volatile real estate market. Rick showed he had the chops, winning 73 to Bryan's 57, Luke's 56 and Dave's 55.

There were 2 games of Igel Argern, and in the first, Bill won while playing with Noreen and Jennifer, and in the second, David F. won over Carol, Luke, and Raphael.

Two games of Tichu were played, Jason & Bill vs. Noreen & Rose, with Noreen and the Rose winning both, though i have no score sheets to confirm that, Hmmmmm.....

In Dragonland, Carol and Raphael managed to end the game a bit early as David and Luke were caught unprepared, leading to dismal scores for at least one of them... Carol won with 42 points, followed by Raphael with 39, Luke with 27, and David F. with 24.

Finally, Das Zepter Von Zavandor hit the table again, this time had Raphael winning 67 to Philippe's 52, Rose's 49 and Jason's 46. It was a first play for both Rose and Jason, and they seemed to do very well in a game that has a significant learning curve.

Next week we are at Fisher's, and will get to paw hungrily over his stack of Essen acquisitions, join us there!

Germantown 10/15/07

Another good crowd gathered for some gaming on a Monday evening.

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Shannon and Aubrey Bell
• David and Martha Briggs
• Rose Byington
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob and Ben Jones
• Helen Powell
• Eric Reinhold
• Howard Wagner

(Images below from Boardgamegeek)

First up, Billabong, the game of racing kangaroos! Yes, racing kangaroos. I proved the most adept at maneuvering bouncing marsupials and was first to get my five kangaroos across the finish line. Following me were Eric 4, Rose 3, and Doug with 1. I won even though I wasn't yellow, which is a rather grand achievement I think.

Rose left for home so next up was a quick three-player game of Circus Flohcati (Flea Circus) with Eric, Bob and Doug. Doug completely routed us, finishing the game early by presenting a Gala Show. Final scores were Doug 84, Bob 58, and Eric 54. This is a very fun, quick, push-your-luck game that can be played on a very small surface area.

As a rather large group arrived at the same time, we got them playing Poison. Howard, the leader going in with only 8 points, had a terrible last round which cost him the game and gave it to Martha and Aubrey. Final scores were Aubrey 11, Martha 11, Shannon 17, Leslie 17, Howard 24, and David 31.

We then split into two groups. I taught Reiner Knizia's Rheinlander to Martha, David, Shannon and Aubrey. It was a somewhat conflict-free game, with only a few Duchy-fights. Still, the few fights that occurred were crucial. Some last minute merging of opponent's Duchies hurt both Aubrey and Martha, giving me the game with 35 points to Martha 34, Aubrey 31, Shannon 26, and David 21.

Around that time, Kevin and Ben arrived and played a game of Travel Blokus, coming to a hard-fought tie!

Meanwhile, Doug taught Anno 1503 to Howard, Eric and Leslie. Final scores were Doug 3, Eric 2, Leslie 2, and Howard 1.

While the above games were still on, Helen arrived and taught Transamerica to Kevin. They didn't finish as Helen stopped the game when Rheinlander was nearing conclusion.

After Anno 1503 finished, Leslie, Howard and Doug played Qwirkle. Doug won with 160 points to 140 points for Leslie and Howard.

The rest of us broke into two groups for the final games of the night. Ben and I taught Martha and David Cartagena, the game of pirates fleeing prison. This was a remarkably quick game with some pirates making it onto the boat during the second round! I've never seen a group of pirates move so quickly. Ben dominated and finished first. Final scores were Ben 6, Bob 5, Martha 4, and David 3.

The other group played On the Underground. Despite valiant efforts, they weren't able to finish before closing time. Aubrey was ahead when they had to call the game. Scores at the time were Aubrey 33, Helen 27, Kevin 26 and Shannon 22.

We have two consecutive Mondays coming up. Hope to see you there!

Damascus 10/12/07

We seem to have lost our records, so the following is being recreated from the memories of people who responded via email to a request for a summary of games played. We do have a list of who was there, and we had 24 in attendance:

• David & Martha Briggs
• Rose Byington
• Ruben Carbonell
• Jason Cheng
• David, Noreen and Corwin Fair
• Philippe Hebert
• Bob, Carol, Rachel and Ben Jones
• Raphale Lehrer
• Marshall Miller
• Linda and Rick Pasquale
• David Raley
• Tim Rothenhoefer
• Lance Slifka
• Bryan Snyder
• John Stup
• Bill Trac
• Howard & Nathan Wagner

Games played, and in no particular order...

Tichu: 3 games: Ruben & Rose lost back-to-back games (1090 to 710 & 1025 to 875) against Bill & Noreen, while David F. and Jason squeaked one out against David R. and Tim (1025 to 975)

Can't Stop: John, Rick, Linda and Noreen played, with Linda winning.

6 Nimmt!: Rick, Linda, Martha, David B., Carol, and Bob played, with Bob winning by a considerable margin.

Cave Troll: Ruben, Rose, Bill, and Noreen played, with Bill edging our rose for the win.

Corruption: Rick, Linda, Marshall, Martha, David B., Carol, and Bob playing, with Marshall staging a come-from-behind win.

Democrazy: Rick, Linda, Marshall, Martha, David B., Carol, and Bob again, this time with a victory for Martha.

Diamant: John, Rick, Linda, Martha, David B., and Noreen playing, with John winning, and Noreen not recovering a single gem.

Fresh Fish: Raphael, Howard, Nathan, and Bryan playing, with Howard edging out Raphael for the win on the tiebreaker (money)

Loco!: Raphael and Carol tied for the win over Bob, who didn't.

Railroad Tycoon: This one is in my journal, so was not lost, and has a fuller write-up... Nathan, Howard, David R, and Jason had never played before, while Bryan and I had. there was little battle over the first player early on, and everyone had a fairly standard opening and beginning. David F. made the first 3-link delivery, giving him the lead at that point, a position he kept for the rest of the game. Bryan and Nathan battled in the Midwest, though Bryan controlled all the links from Chicago. Jason was in the NE, with David F coming up the Midatlantic and eventually stretching from New Orleans to Baltimore. David R and Howard both occupied the South, battling over key connections for much of the game. In the end, despite moving back almost 3 times as much due to shares issued, David was able to hang on and win. Final scores: David F. 62, Nathan 57, Bryan 46, Jason 42, David R. 37, Howard 33.

Rat Hot: Raphael played with John and won, 16 to 9.

The Scepter of The Zavandor: Philippe and Lance played for the first time, with Tim and Raphael. Tim won by a large margin, and the battle for second was quite close, with Raphael managing just one point over Lance, who was a few points ahead of Philippe.

Senator: Rose won the game on a tiebreaker over Bob, Carol, and Ruben. Bill was the odd man out, being the only player not tied for first. Ouch!

Through the Desert: Raphael, Howard, and Nathan played, with Raphael winning, and Nathan taking second. This is a great 3-player game... I need to play it next!

See you next week!

Damascus 10/05/07

A smaller group of just 18 gamers... the same size group that was so large we had to abandon our townhouse for our new home at the rec Center, but not what we are used to now...

In Attendance:

• David, Noreen, Corwin, and Andrew Fair
• Jason Cheng
• Rose Byington
• Judy & Kayla Trent, with Scott Fox
• Kevi Bealer
• Bill Trac
• Marshall Miller
• Ruben Carbonell
• David & Martha Briggs
• Tim Rothenhoefer
• Howard Wagner
• Rick Pasquale

Dave, Jason, Andrew, and Corwin started with a too-long game of Can't Stop, won by Jason.

Rose, Dave and Jason played the excellent 3-player area-majority game, San Marco. Dave did very poorly at the outset, and watched Rose and Jason trade the lead back and forth until the end, when Jason prevailed slightly over Rose, while he remained far behind.

Martha, David, Scott & Judy played Settlers of Catan, with Martha winning with 11 points, followed by David & Judy with 5 each, and Scott with 4.

Jason, Dave, Rick and Tim played Expedition, setting off for travels around the world. Jason won handily with 13 points, followed by Tim with 7, and Rick and Dave with 5 each.

Rose & Noreen played Pickomino, Noreen winning 14 to 4, and Marshall joined for a second game, with Noreen again winning, 8 to 6 to 5 for the newcomer, Marshall.

Ruben, Bill, Kevin, and Howard played Masons, and while scores were not recorded, it was noted that bill had a 30-point lead at the end, winning over Ruben, Howard, and Kevin (in that order).

Dave, Jason and Rick played a fast game of Coloretto, with Jason winning 35 to Rick's 33 and Dave's 27.

Marshall, Ruben, Andrew, Bill, and Kevin played Last Night on Earth, but did not turn in a slip, so no idea who prevailed, the heroes, or the undead...

Next was 6 Nimmt!, with Jason winning with 28 points, followed by Judy (38), Dave (54) Martha (60), Rick (71), David (72) and Scott (86). Ouch! those are some painfully high scores.

Dave, Howard, Jason, and Marshall played Age of Steam on the Great Lakes Map, AKA the Rust Belt map. It was a very good game, and both Jason's and Howard's first time to play. Marshall followed a conservative shares strategy, while David was his normal aggressive self. Toward the end, Marshall had few cubes to move for significant income, and Howard and Jason were fighting over the same cubes. Dave had 4 6-link deliveries all to himself, and this proved enough to give him the win, with 85 points to Howard's 59, Jason's 54, and Marshall's 53.

Finally, there were 2 games of Tichu, both pitting Tim & Noreen against Bill & Rose, Age and experience trumped youth and enthusiasm both times, with Tim and Noreen winning 1005 to 895 and 1085 to 615.

See you next week!

Germantown 10/01/07

The first session in October saw a much smaller group than usual. Still, a lively group of ten gamers made for a fun evening. Attending were:

• Leslie Barkley
• David Briggs
• Martha Briggs
• Rose Byington
• Luke Conte
• Dave Fair
• Bob Jones
• Helen Powell
• Eric Reinhold
• Laura Reinhold

Before I arrived, Eric, Laura, Luke and Rose played the Rack-O-esque game of travel arrangements, 10 Days in Asia. Rose is credited with the win.

I arrived around 7PM and found David and Martha Briggs with Eric and Laura setting up for the immensely popular Zooloretto with all the expansions. When I checked in with them later, Eric had filled almost every spot in his zoo and by the end of the game he had actually completed the entire zoo plus the camel enclosure. A notable achievement. Final scores were Eric 30, David 28, Martha 21 and Laura 19.

Meanwhile, I joined Dave Fair, Rose, Leslie and Luke for the building and expansion game, Phoenicia. Only Dave had played before so we started out very slowly. One cool thing about the game is that it naturally accelerates, so the final playing time was shorter than we had expected. Midway through the game, I had a significant lead in income while Luke had a big lead in victory points. On the penultimate round, Luke had positioned himself to cross the 32 point trigger that signals the final round with me a few spaces behind and everyone else trailing. As expected, Luke was able to generate sufficient points on his next turn to reach 32 and trigger the final round. Unfortunately for him, he didn't count on me getting the City Walls and then having enough cash and workers to add to my Improved Hunting, giving me enough points to pass him. Final scores were Bob 34, Luke 32, Dave 28, Rose 28, Leslie 17. I should also note that Rose had a slow start but made quite a comeback. (The above image from BGG here).

After Zooloretto finished, Laura left but Helen arrived. So Eric taught the group Diamant with the Incan Idols expansion. David proved the master of the mines with final scores of David 51, Eric 31, Martha 29 and Helen 22.

At that point, Eric left so Helen taught David and Martha the number one BBG-ranked game, Puerto Rico. There wasn't enough time to finish, but they did get through quite a few turns.

Once Phoenicia was done, we had about an hour left so we pulled out Reiner Knizia's agonizing bidding game, High Society. No one did particularly well. Leslie got the 6 and 5 tiles but then took the 1/2 tile, effectively eliminating her. I took the -5 tile and the Thief early and so had to come back from a deficit. Going into the last round, the 8 was on the table. Anyone who took it had the best chance of winning, provided they didn't spend the most money. Rose took it, but had indeed spent more than anyone else and so was immediately out of contention. Of the three of us that tied with 10, Luke had the most money remaining and won. Final scores (with remaining cash on hand) were Luke 10 ($50), Dave 10 ($31), Bob 10 ($25), Leslie 5 ($37), and Rose (eliminated for having the least cash, $7).

Finally, we got in a quick game of No Thanks. Leslie managed to get a run of cards from 21 to 24 which saved her from lots of pain and gave her a good amount of coins. The rest of us were not so lucky. Final scores were Leslie 43, Luke 47, Bob 55, and Dave 57.