Tuesday, May 29, 2007

May 2007 Recap

May included a trip to Game Days for many of our folks, but the games played there are not included in the numbers here... still, here is a summary of what was played in May:

Game Name

Plays

Tichu6
Yspahan4
Imperial3
Qwirkle3
Blue Moon City2
Blue Moon City: Expansion Tile Sets 1 & 22
Hive2
On the Underground2
Power Grid2
Princes of Florence, The2
Ticket to Ride2
To Court the King2
BattleLore1
Bison: Thunder on the Prairie1
Can't Stop1
Cartagena1
Fearsome Floors1
Friedrich1
Go1
Goa1
Great Chili Cook-Off1
Honeybears1
Jetsetters1
Kingdoms1
Klunker1
La Città1
Loco!1
Manhattan1
Marco Polo Expedition1
Medici1
Memoir '441
Pillars of the Earth1
Power Grid - Benelux/Central Europe1
Power Grid - Italy/France1
Puerto Rico1
Samurai1
San Marco1
Showmanager1
Thurn and Taxis1
Thurn and Taxis: Power and Glory1
Ticket to Ride - Märklin Edition1
Ticket to Ride: USA 19101
Tikal1
Traditional Card Games1
Volle Wolle1
Wizard Kings1
Wyatt Earp1


To sum up, that is 61 playings of 42 different games, and 6 playings of 5 different expansions. Of the games played, 31 games were only played once (4 expansions were played but once), and 11 had multiple plays (only 1 expansion was played more than once).

Which ones are expansions? Ticket to Ride: USA 1910, Thurn and Taxis: Power and Glory, Blue Moon City: Expansion Tile sets 1 & 2, Power Grid - Benelux/Central Europe, and Power Grid - Italy/France are all expansions to other games.

Good Gaming!

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Middletown 05/25/2007

This is a short recap of the last meeting of GCOM Middletown.


Attendees:

  • Scott Fisher (host)
  • Bill Trac
  • Ruben Carbonell
  • Malinda Carbonell
  • Judy Trent
  • Scott Fox
  • Bryan Snyder
  • Steve Meyers
  • Noah Meyers
  • Dennis Lee
  • John Webber
  • Marshall Miller
  • Raphael
Games played:

Sorry for the long delay in posting the summary but it has been the week from you know where. Between work, school and life I have been absolutely beat. The good news is/was I got a good grade on my final exam. I forgot to take pictures as well. I will do my best to be a better blogger on the next game night in Middletown.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Germantown 05/21/07

Another great Monday night of gaming! Attending were:

  • Leslie Barkley
  • Kevin Bealer
  • Aubrey Bell
  • Shannon Bell
  • David Briggs
  • Martha Briggs
  • Dave Fair
  • Todd Heidenreich
  • Doug Hoylman
  • Bob Jones
  • Raphael L
  • David Raley
  • Eric Reinhold
  • Laura Reinhold
  • Bill Salvatore

I arrived at 7PM and found games already in progress. Laura was teaching Kevin, Martha, and David Briggs the fun "run-through-a-dungeon-while-a-monster-tries-to-eat-you" game, Fearsome Floors. After much running and eating, Laura was first to rescue two of her guys from a gruesome death. They played out the game and finished Martha, Kevin and David.

Meanwhile, Bill, Leslie and Raphael were playing the very popular and quite fun dice-rolling game Yspahan. Final scores were Raphael 101, Bill 93, and Leslie 64.

Eric, Dave Fair, David Raley, and Doug had just finished the tile-laying game Qwirkle. Doug pulled off the victory with 130 points followed by David Raley 120, Dave Fair 83 and Eric 80.

I joined the Qwirkle group along with Todd and we played Knizia's great auction game, Medici. After the second round, I had a decent lead but some last round shenanigans and good play led Todd to leapfrog the rest of us by a considerable margin. Final scores were Todd 111, Dave Fair 85, Bob 83, Eric 80, David Raley 66 and Doug 38 (ouch).

Around this time, Aubrey and Shannon arrived. They played two games of Knizia's Kingdoms and each won a game, Aubrey 236, Shannon 310 and Aubrey 250, Shannon 211.

We then split into smaller groups. I joined Leslie, Martha and David Briggs for a confrontational game of Manhattan. After two rounds, I was ahead, but a last round, devastating assault on my buildings by everyone and a ton of buildings captured by Leslie gave her the game. Final scores were Leslie 54, Bob 53, Martha 47, David 43.

Kevin joined Todd for a game of good, old-fashioned Go. Kevin hadn't played in a while so Todd gave him a handicap of 9 stones. It wasn't enough, however, (I suspect Todd is a Go shark) and Todd won 89 to Kevin's 58.

Raphael, Eric and Dave Fair explored the far East with Knizia's underrated Marco Polo Expedition. Dave won with the tiebreaker and 16 points, followed by Eric with 16 and Raphael with 14. A very close game.

They followed up with a quick game of Flinke Plinke (aka Loco and Quandry). This was an amazingly close game with final scores of Eric 71, Raphael 70 and Dave 69. Wow.

Finally, Bill, Aubrey, Doug and David Raley played what has become our most played game at GCOM Germantown, Blue Moon City, with all expansion tiles. Bill was the first to contribute four cubes to the Monument and win the game.

Thanks to everyone for coming out!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Damascus 05/18/07

I was just about to write the we had "only" 14 gamers in attendance when something occurred to me... It was too many nights of having 14 or more gamers in attendance which led us to leaving behind my humble abode, and taking up residence at the Community Center. With all the weeks of 20+ gamers, I had forgotten just how big we had grown...

Those attending were:

  • David, Noreen, Corwin, & Andrew Fair
  • Philippe Hebert
  • Rick Pasquale
  • Ruben Carbonell
  • Rose Byington
  • Leslie Barkley
  • Raphael Lehrer
  • Marshall Miller
  • Bert Feliksik
  • Bill Trac
  • Kevin Bealer
Here's what our spies on the inside tell us:

Qwirkle, Game 1: Philippe, Leslie, Raphael and David played. I learned the next day that I had gotten a rule wrong (missing the phrase "or more" where it said you could play two piece on your turn). Even so, we found it quite enjoyable, and well worth it to give a try if you have not already. the game is an abstract tile-laying game where you attempt to score points by making long lines that are all either the same color or the same symbol. The tiles are nice and chunky, the play is tactical and relatively quick. I enjoyed this quite a bit. Final scores were: David 153, Philippe 150, Leslie 142, Raphael 109.

Qwirkle, Game 2: Another game of Qwirkle began, with Rick, Rose, and Kevin playing. Kevin noted that the game involved a different kind of thinking than many of our other games, and he particularly enjoyed it. Final scores were Rick 179, Rose 164, Kevin 156.

Hive: Rick sat down with Corwin and taught him to play Hive. I wondered how it would go, and Rick reports the Corwin learned the movements in game one, and played very creatively in game 2. Rick won both games, however. I really liked seeing Corwin playing a game, as he often refuses to play with me, but I see him more willing to play with others.

Klunker: Uwe Rosenberg has done several innovative card games (Bohnanza, Schnappen Jagd, Klunkre) and while this is the least well known, it is a great game with a set collecting mechanism that penalizes you if others have already made the same sets, so you must learn to branch out and take some risk. Very fun, and the artwork is quite nice as well. The final scores were Raphael 19, Rose 14, Marshall 10, and Bill 7.

Princes of Florence: Philippe enjoyed PoF enough last week to request it again this week, and he and I were joined by Bert, Ruben, and Leslie in building our renaissance manors. The game was marred for me when, on the first turn, as first player, I forgot to buy a profession card. This hurt me a great deal over the course of the game, but thanks to the magic of Prestige cards and careful planning, I managed to keep it close at the End. Ruben did very well in the mid-game, but petered out at the end, which is not a good idea in this game. Leslie and Bert both learned the game very quickly, and it was a tough competition all around. Final scores were Bert 52, Philippe 51, David 50, Leslie 48, and Ruben 39.

San Marco: Marshall, Raphael and Bill set off for the city of Venice, and played Alan Moon's San Marco. this is an interesting game, and great for three players. There is a map of the seven districts of Venice, and you attempt to score points by getting a majority of markers in the various regions. the play of the game is accomplished by cards, which one player splits into 3 piles, then the others choose which piles to take. The splitter keeps moving around the table, and you have to be flexible and work to ensure that most any cards can help you somewhat, as the method of distribution ensures you will rarely get exactly what you need. Marshall and Bill were new to the game, but that did not stop Bill from winning with 81 points to Raphael's 75 and Marshall's 74.

Tichu: Do I need to explain how to play this? Has anyone who comes not played this yet? this times, teams were Ruben & Kevin vs. Noreen & Rose. The ladies opened up a can off whup-ass on the boys, winning 1060 to 140. Usually you have to pay extra to get spanked like that.

Volle Wolle: David, Philippe, Bert, Leslie, and Rick played this game of shearing sheep, that has dice rolling, and a good memory is required. Cards are flipped over each turn, and players bid to go first at selecting cards they want. The highest bid goes first, but must roll 3 different dice (a d12, d10 and d8) trying to roll higher than he bid. If you roll high enough you may take from 1-3 cards, depending on how many rolls it took you. the lowest bidder always gets the cards that are left, which could be good or bad.... rick proved most adept, shearing th rest of us with a score of 59 points to David's 51, Philippe's 31, Bert's 29, and Leslie's 18.

Power Grid-Benelux: David, Philippe, Bert and Rick played PG, one of my favorites. We played on one of the newer maps, and despite forgetting to toss a plant each round (a rule specific to this map) the game progressed well. It was close, but with some stagnation in the plant market, things got a little out of hand in the bidding once the market opened back up. I recall buying the #39 plant for $80. Rick ended the game buying building to 17 cities, though he did not have enough cash to with the tiebreaker. Poor Philippe was screwed on the last turn when their was insufficient coal for him to purchase any, and he could fire only 2 plants. Final scores (Cities/Power Capacity/$) Bert 15/15/106, Rick 17/15/64, David 14/14/120, Philippe 12/10/251.

Goa: Raphael, Bill, Leslie, and Marshall set off for the Indian sub-continent and became spice merchants in this deep game. been far too long since I played this, but it is an excellent game with delicate balance. Each turn begins with an auction phase where each player gets to auction one item (and the starting player two items). The first item being auctioned is the right to go first the next turn (along with a card that gives an extra action). If you buy your own item, you pay it to the bank. If someone else buys the item you sell, they pay you.

After the auction, players get three actions to improve their plantations. Actually, plantations are one of the things that can be bought at the auctions, and doing so is necessary to get anywhere. There are five different types of spice plantation, and different spices are needed for different things. Each player has a board showing their advancement for various things: getting ships, planting new spices, getting colonists, etc. The more a player advances along one track, the better one is doing that particular action. The further you get along a certain track, the more points that track is worth at the end, and there are also rewards to the first player that reaches the last two levels along each track. Each player normally needs to use the actions for all the tracks, so it's not necessarily a good idea to concentrate on just a couple of them.

Goa is a game that gives plenty of opportunity for tough decisions, since one always has at least one action too little. It is a hard game to do well at in your first play, and experienced players Raphael and Marshall did much better than the two first-timers. The final scores were Raphael 59, Marshall 38, Bill 34, Leslie 32.



Yspahan: Dave, Kevin, Philippe, and Bert set off to be camel drivers and merchants in the ancient silk road. A really good game which has some excellent mechanisms for varying your path to victory, a healthy dose of luck, and very little downtime. Final scores were Dave 94, Kevin 81, Philippe 79, and Bert 71.

Next week is the last Friday of the month, so head to GCOM-Middletown, and enjoy the gaming there!

Game Days - Shadows over Camelot

I recently posted a recap of a great game of Shadows over Camelot I played with our group at Game Days. The post can be found here: Bob's Blog for SOC

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Games Day Report

I know this is a little late but as the saying goes "better late than never". I was able to attend Games Day 2007 on Friday and Saturday only. The actual event was from Friday through Sunday. I played a total of 17 different games with 8 of these games being new to me.

I played and socialized with many members of our normal groups that are part of this blog but I also saw so many that I only get the pleasure of interacting with at conventions. A big thank you to all who took the time to teach me new games. It is so much more enjoyable for me to be taught a game vs. reading the rules and attempting to play.

On with the summary. I am only going to list the games since I did not attempt to log the specifics of each game.

Friday

Space Dealer - played very different than I had played it in the past. I need to review the rules to find who played it incorrectly.
Metamophosis (prototype) - interesting but needs some fine tuning
Santy Anno - hilarious fun as usual
Space Station Assault - OK card game but not very exciting.
Qwirkle - abstract game (a little Ingenious like) -enjoyable but can be frustrating depending on tile draws.
die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg - interesting Adlung game. I look forward to trying this again.
Wizard - older card game but a little long for what it is.
Blue Moon City - I always this game. I like better with each playing.

Saturday

Sucession: Intrigue in the Royal Court - I was pleasantly surprised. It was a little slow but I think with repeated plays the cards and actions would be more familiar therefore faster play.
T&T: Power & Glory - felt different enough but also similar enough.
Goldland - 3 play of this underrated game.
Tsuro - got to play this game with the Jones (including Ben). It was very enjoyable to see him play a game with the family.
Fleet 1715 - a deduction game where we misinterpreted a clue that caused much laughing and head shaking. After finally figure the rules I found it very unique. I look forward to a replay.
Ave Caesar - first time I have ever played the game with a score of zero (only 2 races vs 4). The first race I could not make it into to see Caesar. The second race I was stuck with a 6 in my hand and in first place ... 1 space from the finish line.
Fiji - incomplete game played. I would like to try again to get a better feel of this game.
Wits and Wagers - Dom ran his usual fun game but the "Fish Stix" did not live up to our prior record as we placed 2nd.
Battle Lore - Played the scenario "A Complex Web" against Steve Lollis (actually a rematch from the last session here at Middletown). He won again but again I really am excited to play it again! It was a great way to end my convention.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Damascus 05/11/07

Great night for gaming, and we had a lot of folks there. In fact, we had 22 gamers in attendance:

  • David, Noreen, and Corwin Fair
  • Scott & Liz Percival
  • Raphael L.
  • Melinda & Ruben Carbonell
  • Bill Trac
  • Marshall Miller
  • John Stup
  • Bryan Snyder
  • David Raley
  • Philippe Hebert
  • Rose Byington
  • Judy Trent
  • Kayla Trent
  • Scott Fox
  • Kevin Bealer
  • Tim Rothenhoefer
  • David & Martha Briggs
The following games were played:
I am writing the update a little late, and I am entirely unsure of the order games got played, but here is what i do know...

Imperial

We played this 6-player, and it was a good game. i really feel that 6 might be too many, and 4 to 5 is a much better number. I started out going for the "own no flag" strategy, but i got bored, and decided to buy France, which killed me, as it was worthless. Ah what boredom will do to a guy... Final scores were (AH/I/F/GB/GR/RU/$): John Stup 111 (12/0/12/60/0/15/12), Marshall Miller 111 (36/8/0/45/3/15/4), Scott Percival 108 (20/60/0/10/2/9/7), Rapheal L. 96 (16/52/14/0/0/6/4), David Fair (28/20/12/25/1/0/6), Bryan Snyder 79 (0/4/4/40/4/21/6)

Ticket to Ride: Märklin

Melinda, Bill, Judy, and Ruben set about to play on the German map. This is, in my opinion, the most unforgiving and challenging of the series. Melinda won the game with a score of 159, followed by Bill with 148, Ruben with 132, and Judy with 127. No word on who got the most Tickets bonus, or any other details. If you played, please fill us in in the comments section.

Yspahan

Scott Fox, Judy and newcomer Tim Rothenhoefer set about playing Yspahan. It was Tim's first play, and Scott had a lot of trouble garnering camels, which helped hold him back. My feeling is that camels, Cards, and the Caravan are the keys to winning this one. Judy took the win with a score of 69, followed by Tim with 64, and Scott with 51.

To Court the King

Liz, Rose, Tim, Judy and Scott Fox played the game also known as Yahtzee: the Gathering. From reports it was a close one, with Liz grabbing the King and Queen by rolling 7 sixes, only to lose the King when Rose rolled 8 threes, and finally winning it back by rolling 8 sixes.

Ticket to Ride: USA 1910

Rose, Liz, Philippe, David Raley, and Noreen played this with the "All Tickets" variant, which puts almost 70 tickets in the draw deck. Liz won another game, with 116, followed by Noreen with 112, David with 83, Rose with 81, and Philippe with 71.

Tichu

Ruben and Bill paired off against Noreen and Kevin Bealer. No word on how long it took, but they proved a good team, as the scores show they blew past 1000 to 1130, and won 1130 to 470.

BattleLore

Melinda and Judy faced off over the fields of Agincourt, and Judy taught Melinda to play the game. they both seemed to have a good time, and Judy won with 4 flags to 3. One of the things I like most about being at the Rec Center is the ability to play more good 2-player games like this one (and the next one), so i am glad they enjoyed it.

Memoir '44

John Stup and Tim Rothenhoefer played a battle of WWII, but no word on which battle, who played which side, or how it went. What we do know is that Tim won 4 flags to 2. Any more info, gentlemen?

On the Underground

David Raley, Martha Briggs, David Briggs, Philippe Hebert, and Noreen Fair set down to build the London subway system. Noreen was the only one to have played before, and she taught the game. The score was clustered at the end, with people giving points away carefully at the end so as to not unduly affect their position. David Raley won, with a score of 41, followed by Philippe at 39, Noreen at 36, Martha at 30, and David Briggs at 29.

Princes of Florence

Philippe and Scott Fox joined Noreen and David Fair for a game of Princes of Florence. Philippe and Scott had never played before, and I forgot to remove the extra freedoms from the game, but otherwise things went well. I bought two prestige cards early, getting the ones for all 3 landscapes (8 points), and all three freedoms (8 points), and getting those items ASAP. Still, I was busy focusing on those, and we let the two new players stock up on cheap jesters and builders. The final scores were: David 56, Scott Fox 52, Philippe 48, and Noreen 35.

La Cittá

Raphael L, Kevin Bealer, Marshall Miller, and Bryan Snyder set about to manage cities in the Italian peninsula. No word on how it went, but the scores show it was quite close. This is a really good game, and one i need to play again soon. Rapheal won, with a score of 30, followed by Bryan with 29, Kevin with 27, and Marshall with 26.

See you next week!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Game of the Month

Any requests, recommendations, or ideas about the "Game of the Month".

Is it working? Should we continue, or just let it go?

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Germantown 05/07/2007

Last Monday was another big night at the Borders Cafe. Fourteen attendees, and several of our regulars weren't even there. We also were happy to see two other area gaming hosts, Todd Heidenreich from Rockville East and Cynthia Lewis from GCOM Frederick.

Attending were:

  • Leslie Barkley
  • Kevin Bealer
  • Aubrey Bell
  • Shannon Bell
  • David Briggs
  • Martha Briggs
  • Rose Byington
  • Todd Heidenreich
  • Bob Jones
  • Carol Loman
  • Cynthia Lewis
  • Eric Reinhold
  • Bill Salvatore
  • Bill Trac

I arrived at 7PM to find a game of Cartagena in full swing while Rose was getting another group set up for Ticket to Ride. In Cartagena, Eric, Cynthia, Bill Trac, Leslie and Carol vied to get their pirates onto the boat and away from the dread prison. Bill was the first to get his 6 pirates free, playing a strategy of keeping half his pirates in the first leg of the tunnel for over 2/3 of the game, using them to amass a large quantity of cards, then using that huge selection to catapult them to the end. Cynthia followed closely, with only one of her pirates left behind, two squares from freedom. All the players managed to get at least three pirates onto the boat.

I was about to join Todd for a game of Canoe when Bill Salvatore arrived and the Cartagena folk finished. So, we reformed into two groups. Leslie, Todd, Carol and I played Yspahan. Leslie had only played once and the game was new to Carol and Todd, so I took an early lead which I never lost. However, everyone caught on quickly and played quite well. I thoroughly enjoyed the game. Not to my surprise, only a couple of cubes ever made it to the Caravan. The Caravan is very powerful (some say it's the key to victory) but it's difficult to figure out how to use it until you're more familiar with the game.

Meanwhile, Cynthia, Bill Salvatore, Bill Trac, and Eric helped rebuild Blue Moon City, our most played game over the past year. Eric was the first to complete the necessary 4 offerings on the obelisk (helped greatly by managing to complete combinations of buildings that netted 7 or more crystals at once). Bill T offered three, Bill S and Cynthia both placed two.

As we were playing, I watched a young man and his Mom come to the table where my games were stacked, pick up Samurai, and start laying out the game. This happens occasionally so I went over to greet them and saw that it was Aubrey and Shannon Bell! Aubrey and Shannon have joined us a couple of times before. They're very nice people and it was a pleasure to have them back. They pretty much taught themselves the game from the rules (and an occasional tip from me) and played twice. I believe Shannon won the first game, Aubrey the second.

The Ticket to Ride game ended with Kevin and Dave Briggs tying for the longest railroad at 31 trains, but the 10 point bonus wasn't enough. Rose finished in first, followed by Martha, then Dave, then Kevin.

With all games finished, Dave, Martha, Aubrey, Shannon and I joined for On the Underground. I've played this very tactical track-laying game quite a bit lately and I really enjoy the quickness of play and the many choices you have each turn. I forewarned the others that I always try for a big loop to score lots of points and they very effectively cut me off from doing it. Unfortunately for them, I still managed to eke out a win only a couple of points ahead of Martha and everyone else in a pack. A very close game.

At the same time, Leslie, Rose, Cynthia, Bill Trac, and Kevin played the multiple-deck card game, Machiavelli. This is one of the most often played games at Cynthia's Frederick game nights. Rose won with only a few minutes left before closing.

Thanks to everyone for coming out. It was great meeting Todd and Cynthia and I'm happy the Bells were able to make it once again. See you next time!

Bob

Monday, May 07, 2007

Game Days 2007 Report

I had a great time this weekend, along with my family, at GCOM's annual Game Days event in Timonium. I played lots of games with fun people and really enjoyed it. Although the event ran from Thursday through Sunday, we were there only on Saturday and Sunday, so this brief recap is necessarily incomplete.

I was very pleased to see a good number of local folk in attendance. In addition to the entire Jones clan (Bob, Carol, Rachel and Ben), I saw Doug Hoylman, Leslie Barkley, Rick Pasquale, Scott Fisher, Steve Lollis, Tom McCorry, David Raley, and Eric and Laura Reinhold. (If I forgot anyone, let me know.)

Highlights were a fantastic game of Shadows Over Camelot on Sunday; my son, Ben, discovering Werewolf; a bewildering and unintentionally hilarious game of Fleet 1715 on Saturday, and a raucous game of Wits & Wagers narrowly lost in the last round by Scott, Steve, Rick and Carol.

These large GCOM events are well run, very relaxed and enjoyable. If you haven't been to one, I hope you'll consider coming to Euro Quest in the fall.

Bob

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Damascus 05/04/07

The night was cool and clear, and a nice one for gaming. Many in the group went up to Game Days, but we still had 12 gamers in attendance:

  • David, Noreen, Andrew and Corwin Fair
  • Lance S.
  • Raphael L.
  • Melinda Carbonell
  • Bill Trac
  • Dan Hucker
  • Philippe Hebert
  • Rose Byington
  • Marshall Miller
The following games were played:
We opened up with a quick game of Great Chili Cookoff between Lance, Dave, and Noreen. It is an interesting trick-taking game where players take a card from the trick (to use to score) based on having played the highest value of cards to the trick. They then use those cards to try to fulfill a recipe card in their hand, scoring points for how close they come. It seems like it will play better with more players...

As others arrived, it seemed a good time for Lance's earlier suggestion, Showmanager. Rose, David, Marshall, Lance, Dan, and Melinda all played. Rose absolutely crushed us all, getting excellent cards and carefully spending her money. The final scores were: Rose 58, Dan 41, Marshall 37, Dave 34, Melinda 29, Lance 23.

While Showmanager was getting going, Raphael, Noreen, and Philippe played a quick game of To Court the King. This game has been described as Yahtzee: the Gathering, and that is fairly apt. I got to see the prototype expansion that Tom Lehmann was working on while I was at the Gathering, and it looks like it will be a nice set of alternate and additional cards. I hope it comes out this year. Raphael won this game, having acquired the King by rolling 8-5's and holding off the other two who both tried to roll 8-6's but were unable to make it happen.

Raphael, Philippe, and Bill then played a game of Pillars of the Earth. No game notes, but the final score was recorded as Raphael 61, Bill 52, Philippe 46.

Marshall (seat 1), Dan (seat 2), David (seat 3), and Lance (seat 4) then set off for Puerto Rico. It was Dan's first play, and he did very well with a Factory-focussed strategy, combined with the Guild Hall. Marshall had money problems but used a Residence-Hacienda-Construction Hut in nice combination. Lance did a quarry-ship-build game, and David focussed on shipping, with a Harbor/Customs House setup to complement his tobacco. Final scores were all very good and were (Buildings/Shipping/Bonuses): David 54 (16/31/7), Dan 44 (18/20/6), Marshall 41 (18/15/8), Lance 38 (17/14/7).

Tichu began during Puerto Rico, right after Pillars ended, and Raphael and Philippe played a 2-player game of Power Grid on the France map. This was Philippe's first game, and it looks like it was a good one, as he was eager to try it again after Puerto Rico was over, but we couldn't get a quorum. Raphael won when the 21st city was built, as he could power 18 cities to Philippe's 16. Power Grid plays best with more players, but the 2-player game can be an interesting game occasionally.

Over at the Tichu table, Noreen and Bill played 2 games against Rose and Melinda. In the first game Noreen and Bill made 4 successful Tichu Calls, while setting the other pair twice to win 1005 to 285. In game two The unstoppable juggernaut of Noreen and Bill went 1-2 with a Tichu Call 3 hands in a row to win the game in only 4 hands, 1000-100. Ouch!

Dan joined on for some Tichu next, when Melinda had to leave, and he hooked up with Bill to beat Noreen and Rose in 2 straight games 1045-455, and 1000-300. At first Dan was tentative, not quite remembering the rules, but after a few hands he started calling Tichu quite a bit, with a very high success rate.

Meanwhile, Dave and Marshall were joined by Philippe and Raphael for a game of Imperial. It was a great game, very closely matched and with excellent play by all players. In the end it was Austria-Hungary that advanced to 25 spaces, and the yellow chips were all over the south of the board, even as far as Spain and Algiers! Final scores were (AH/IT/FR/GB/DE/RU/$$), Raphael 156 (60/52/6/1/5/12/20), Marshall (45/60/12/2/3/16/6), David (50/24/27/4/3/32/1), and Philippe (25/8/24/5/4/52/0). Excellent game, everyone.

We had a great week, and I learned that I need to remember to throw a few 2-player games in the bag, so we are better prepared for those times when shifting start and stop times leave 2 people hanging for a bit. See you next week!

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Germantown 04/30/2007

I arrived just before 7PM and found thirteen players already grouped around three tables with three games in progress! Wow. Attending were:

  • Leslie Barkley
  • Kevin Bealer
  • David Briggs
  • Martha Briggs
  • Rose Byington
  • Dave Fair
  • Doug Hoylman
  • Bob Jones
  • David Raley
  • Eric Reinhold
  • Laura Reinhold
  • Bill Salvatore
  • Bill Trac
  • Carol Loman

About to conclude was the city-building game Masons with Doug, Leslie, Bill Trac, and Bill's friend, and first-time attendee, Carol. It looked like a very crowded game with a lot of pieces already on the board and one huge city. Final scores were Leslie 105, Doug 82, Bill and Carol tied at 78.

At the second table, David Raley, Dave Fair, Eric and Bill Salvatore were playing Power Grid with the new prototype power plant cards on the German map. Near the end of the game, Bill saw that he, Dave and Eric each could build 13 cities and power all of them, meaning that the money tiebreaker would determine the winner. Bill ended the game only to fall short to Dave's stash of cash. Final scores were (cities/capacity/cash) Dave 13/13/63, Bill 13/13/56, Eric 13/13/21 and David 12/13/0. A very close game.

Meanwhile, David and Martha Briggs, Kevin, Rose and Laura were playing 6 Nimmt where the low score wins. Martha got to 62 points ahead of everyone else but managed to hold on for a few turns, ending in the middle of the pack. Final scores were: Kevin 37, Rose 41, Martha 62, Laura 63, David 73.

I joined the just concluded Masons group and we set up for the role-choosing game Citadels. Doug and I were the only experienced players but everyone caught on very quickly which made for a great game. Carol had a bit of a rough start with a lack of money but managed a comeback and did respectably at the end, while after placing a few buildings, Doug was getting a good supply of both money and cards. I took an early lead in buildings played, until the Warlord blew up two of my buildings. That will ruin your day. Leslie then moved ahead in buildings and worked inexorably towards her eighth building. She got there soon enough and Bill came from behind to build his eighth building on the same round. Final scores were Leslie 36, Bill 32, Bob 27, Doug 24, Carol 18.

With Citadels and Power Grid still ongoing, the 6 Nimmt folks finished and started bean-farming with Bohnanza. Everyone had played before so the game went quickly, ending with a victory for Rose with 13, David 10, Laura 10, Kevin 9, and Martha 6.

After Citadels, Carol left, so Doug, Bill, Leslie and I played a quick game of Easy Come Easy Go, Reiner Knizia's take on Yahtzee. I won three awards quickly, actually getting a fourth award on my subsequent turn, but then had two stolen from me, stopping an early victory. I believe that both Bill and Leslie had their moments with three awards and possible victory, but with some skillful dice rolling, they were stopped. In the end, I managed to reacquire three awards and hold on to them for two rounds, thus winning the game.

After Power Grid, Dave Fair, David Raley, and Eric took up the very popular Blue Moon City with the expansion tiles. Dave was close to victory but short on cards, requiring two turns just sitting on the tile which allows you to draw cards. It worked and he won with 5, David 4, Eric 3.

With Blue Moon City in progress, the remaining gamers broke into two groups. Martha, David Briggs, Bill Trac, Doug and Leslie played Igel Argern, the dice-rolling, hedgehog racing game. They raced right up until 10PM when David won with 3 points, Leslie 2, Bill 2, Martha 1 and Doug 1.

Meanwhile, Kevin, Rose and I played Knizia's Too Many Cooks, where we were all making soup in the same pot. Kevin and Rose hadn't played before and had a bit of trouble when I scored big in the later rounds. On the last round, all three players were collecting chilies which does no one any good. Final scores were Bob 23, Kevin 9, Rose 5.

It was a very fun night with some great gaming! See you next week!

Bob