Germantown 03/03/08

Hey everyone! Attendance was back to its usual levels, seating was plentiful, and all was right at GCOM Germantown!

• Leslie Barkley
• Aubrey, Shannon and Tammie Bell
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Dave Fair
• Todd Heidenreich
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob Jones
• Carol Loman
• Doug Mercer
• Eric and Laura Reinhold
• Howard Wagner

First up, Oregon with Dave Fair, Laura, Carol, and Doug Hoylman. Dave won in a close race with Laura. Only Dave's lucky gold mine and coal mines saved him, since few mines were built and he collected more of those chips than the others did. Final scores were Dave 71, Laura 68, Carol 60, and Doug 41.

When I arrived, Aubrey, Eric, Howard and Leslie were travelling the globe in 10 Days in Asia. Aubrey best managed his travel itinerary and pulled off the win.

We then split up into several groups. I played the fabulous Race for the Galaxy with Todd, Dave Fair and Doug Hoylman. Dave went for a consume/VP strategy, while I built a starship load of developments. Dave's strategy paid off as he consumed a whopping 31 victory points! I managed to pay off three "6" bonus cards for a similar whopping 19 victory points, but it wasn't enough. Final scores were Dave 49, Bob 39, Doug 35, Todd 25.

Meanwhile, Howard, Shannon, Aubrey, Eric and Leslie played the wacky voting game, Democrazy. Players start with a number of colored chips and vote on rules that assign victory points to their chips. At the end of the game, the rules are applied and whoever has the highest value in chips wins. This night, Howard proved the master of voter manipulation. Final scores: Howard 8, Shannon 4, Aubrey 3, Eric 3, Leslie 0.

At the third table, the foursome of Dave Briggs, Martha, Laura and Carol were up for the rummyesque capture of outlaws in the fantastic card game, Wyatt Earp. Laura was the only one who had played before and her experience paid off in a solid victory. Final scores were Laura 31, Martha 21, Dave 17, and Carol 16.

After Race, Doug Hoylman and I joined some of the Democrazy group for the Hedgehog race game, Igel Argern. The lead shifted a couple of times and for a while it looked like Aubrey might manage a win over the leader, Doug. But Doug got the rolls he needed and won. Scores: Doug 3, Shannon 2, Aubrey 2, Leslie 2, Eric 2, Bob 2.

Four player games were the ticket for the rest of the evening.

As soon as the first ended, another game of Race for the Galaxy started with Dave Fair, Todd, Doug Mercer, and Howard. Once again, Dave proved the victor with another impressive amount of VPs from consuming, 27. Dave 39, Todd 30 (won tiebreaker), Howard 30, and Doug 26.

I taught the tile-laying, town-building, outhouse-protecting game, Drunter & Druber. It became pretty clear early on who was protecting which building except for Leslie whose building preference remained hidden. At the end of the game, we were shocked to find out why; most of Leslie's buildings had been demolished. Final scores were Aubrey 6, Bob 5, Shannon 5, and Leslie 2.

After finishing, we were joined by Shannon's sister, Tammie for the quick game of suburban warfare, Escalation!. You're trying to collect the least cards and although I had a lead for most of the game, Shannon edged me out in the final round. Final scores, Shannon 6, Bob 7, Leslie 10, Aubrey 15, Tammie 17.

Sadly, two games started with about an hour to go but didn't finish before Borders had to close. When we had to leave, Doug Mercer was ahead in Masons with everyone else tightly bunched behind. Doug Mercer 102, Howard 86, Doug Hoylman 85, Todd 84.

Dave Fair again taught the Carcassonne-esque building and cowboy placing game, Oregon. When time was up, Martha was ahead in a squeaker over Dave. Scores were Martha 57, Dave 56, Eric 50, and Dave Briggs 35.

Hope to see you next time!