Germantown 04/02/2007

At our last session (03/19), we had three new people in attendance. This week, we also had three new people in attendance. Awesome! Some of the newcomers have come in "off the street" so to speak, while others have come through their association with members of the group. I really appreciate all of you spreading the word.

Attending on Monday night were me, Doug, Bill S, Eric, Laura, David R, Melinda, Ruben, Leslie, Kevin, Dan, and the three newcomers, Mike, David B, and Martha B.

Unfortunately, I didn't take detailed notes so my discussion of most games below is sparse. It's also likely I've gotten some details wrong. Please feel free to reply with any comments or corrections.

While others arrived, Doug, David R, Eric, Mike and I started out with a quick game of Coloretto. Coloretto is fast and very easy but nearly every turn presents a difficult choice. For a short filler, it's a winner. After one round, I was ahead and we called the game.

Meanwhile, Bill S, Leslie, Laura, Ruben and Melinda started an apparently epic game of Great Wall of China. Leslie and Melinda fought over an 8/2 spot for ages, putting more cards into that single battle than any I've ever seen in the game. It wasn't an effective strategy, though, as at the end, Ruben was the winner by a significant margin.

While the Coloretto group was setting up to play Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, Kevin arrived so I left to play the deep and fulfilling, two player, Hera & Zeus with him. Just after we started, Dan, David Band Martha B arrived so Kevin and I hurried through our game. I won after taking out all of Kevin's cards. Kevin and I then settled down to a game of Edel Stein & Reich with the new arrivals.

The Hunters & Gatherers game was won by Doug. Then, Doug, Mike, Eric, Ruben and David R started the great game, my favorite game, Taj Mahal, while Leslie, Laura, Melinda and Bill S played Blue Moon City. The one melancholy aspect of having enough people in the group to play several games simultaneously is that you can't play all of them. I love both Taj and BMC and it is a bit painful to see them played without me. :-)

After two rounds of Edel, Stein & Reich, Dan was in last place with 27 points to Kevin's 46 or so. Martha, David B and I were in the high 30's to low 40's. After a surprising and fantastic last round, Dan pulled off an impressive victory with 71 points! David B was his closest competitor with 63 points. Well done, Dan!

About that same time, Blue Moon City was won by Leslie while David R won Taj Mahal. Most everyone departed at that time.

The last game of the night was a very quick game of Cartagena played by me, Doug, Leslie and Kevin. The pirates ran crazily down the corridors, hoping to be on the boat before it departed (and Borders closed). I was first to get all my pirates aboard and we sailed with about two minutes to go before the store closed.

All in all, it was a fun evening with great companions and some great games.

Our next session is April 16. Hope to see you there!

Bob