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!