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!