Sunday, November 25, 2007

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.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

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.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

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...

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

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!

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

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)

Monday, November 05, 2007

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.

Saturday, November 03, 2007

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