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.