Germantown 01/21/08

A smaller group than usual gathered on Monday night to play some games. Our smaller numbers didn't daunt us, though, and a good time was had by all.

• Leslie Barkley
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Doug Hoylman
• Ben, Bob and Carol Jones
• Eric and Laura Reinhold

Doug and Eric arrived a bit early and so got in a round of Lost Cities. No scores were recorded, but Eric won.

As more people arrived, they broke out Carcassonne: The Princess and the Dragon. Before they could start, the Jones clan arrived so Martha and Doug split off, leaving Eric, Laura, David and Leslie to play Carc. Once again, no scores were recorded, but it was a very close game with Eric winning by one point over Laura with both David and Leslie within 6 points or so. There was apparently much Meeple-munching by the Dragon.

Doug and Martha, meanwhile, joined Carol and me for Drunter und Druber, the 1991 Spiel des Jahres winner. This was the first time the voting/tile-laying game had made it to the table in Germantown. The rules are very simple but offer a variety of tough choices each turn. Players lay tiles representing city walls, roads, and a river, trying to build over the type of buildings favored by other players with occasional voting when a tile is being laid across an outhouse. At the end of the game, the player with the highest value buildings left standing wins. In the first game, Doug was deftly moving the tiles around his buildings, so I set it up for a wall tile to cover Doug's highest point building. Unfortunately, Carol and Martha didn't catch on to what I was doing and moved the wall in a different direction. By the second game, everyone had caught on and the game was much closer. First game scores were Doug 12, Carol 7, Bob 4, Martha 0. The second game scores were Bob 11, Carol 10, Doug 10, Martha 8. I'll be bringing this game back to the table soon.

Ben then joined us for another dragon game, the treasure hunt that is Emerald. Hearty adventurers explore a dragon's cave, looting gold and jewels while avoiding the patrolling dragon. There was actually not much dragon chomping as the players chose to pay off the dragon rather than be eaten and keep the treasure. This resulted in some big point losses, only to have the Dragon snack on the spared adventurer the very next turn. Ouch. Final scores were Doug 23, Bob 16, Carol 15, Ben 14, and Martha 11.

As Carc and Emerald ended at about the same time, we mixed up and started two new games. Ben was eager (very eager) to play Star Wars: Epic Duels again, so Leslie, Eric and I indulged him. Leslie and Ben teamed up as Mace Windu and Emperor Palpatine, respectively, while Eric and I were Obi Wan and Luke. Ben did a great job at keeping cards out of my hands which rendered Luke pretty powerless. In short order, Luke made a rather foolish assault on both Mace and the Emperor and was slaughtered. My minor character, Leia, fell soon afterwards, leaving Obi Wan at a huge disadvantage. The disadvantage didn't last long as Leslie and Ben made short work of the Jedi.

The other four brought out Blue Moon City with the expansion tiles which hasn't been played for a few sessions. Apparently, the group's BMC skills were rusty as Carol pretty much walked to victory, leaving a whole bunch of crystals, up to two cubes worth each, in Dave and Martha's hands. Final scores were Carol 4, Doug 2, Dave 1, Martha 1.

Having rebuilt the city, the same four brought out another popular game that hasn't been seen lately, Einfach Genial. The final scores don't indicate how close this game was, as Carol had all 18's but for her final color. Still, Doug had an impressive victory, Genialling (yes, it's a word) every color. Final scores - Doug 18, Dave 12, Martha 12, Carol 10.

For the final game of the night, Leslie and Eric joined me for the great three player trick-taking game, Flaschenteufel. Eric started out strong, scoring a mighty 55 points in each of the first two rounds while Leslie ended up with the bottle and negative points both times. But then, the tide turned and Eric made a couple of disastrous plays with the yellow 3 and ended up with the bottle in the fourth and fifth rounds, while I scored big and passed him for the win. Cumulative scores after each round were Bob (22, 53, 47, 116, 193), Eric (55, 110, 132, 126, 120) and Leslie (-8, -13, 10, 34, 44). I hope to play this game more often.

Thanks to everyone for coming out.