Since Dave and Noreen were off conventioning at some boardgaming thing, we held the Friday night Damascus GCOM session at the Jones house in Germantown.
Attending:
- Leslie Barkley
- Aubrey Bell
- David and Martha Briggs
- Jason Cheng
- Luke Conte
- Doug Hoylman
- Bob and Carol Jones
- Rick and Linda Pasquale
- Eric and Laura Reinhold
Since Race for the Galaxy wasn’t available (sorry, haven’t bought it yet), Eric, Laura, Rick and Doug brought out its cousin, the excellent San Juan. One of the cool things about San Juan is that it’s very portable yet packs a good gaming punch. Since you can put all the bits into a deck box, Carol and I usually take San Juan when we’re traveling. Final scores were Rick 27, Doug 23 (tiebreaker), Eric 23, Laura 18.
Meanwhile, another group brought out the mid-nineties Euro, Manhattan, a building game with direct conflict between the players. Manhattan is a solid design but can be unbalanced if all four players aren’t watching their neighbors. In this instance, it looks like Jason and Leslie got the best of any conflicts. Final scores were Jason 38, Leslie 37, Linda 26, and Carol 26.
Martha and David had said they wanted to learn one of my favorites, Princes of Florence, so out it came. We were joined by Aubrey and Luke. This was a very close game and everyone did well. Aubrey only produced four Works but still had an excellent score. After the seventh round, there was a three way tie between me, Luke and Martha. Unfortunately for him, Luke hadn’t been able to complete his Prestige card when he ran short of cash during the final auction round. I had a Prestige card, “Complete the Most Works”, and Luke and I tied for the most with six Works each. That was worth 4 points, giving me the victory. Final scores were Bob 63, Luke 59, Martha 59, Aubrey 50. And David 46.
At the pub table, four players traveled the London Metro in On the Underground. The game took a bit longer than usual. Rick proved the best urban planner. Rick 44, Carol 40, Jason 37, and first-time player, Leslie 34.
Another group broke out Knizia’s fabulous auction game, Traumfabrik, set in the Golden Age of Hollywood. Amazingly, first time player Linda obtained six scripts during the game which paid off for the win. Final scores were Linda 101, Doug 87, Laura 52, and Eric 43. 101 is a huge score even for an experienced player. Nice job, Linda!
Luke expressed in interest in one of Carol’s favorite games, Attika, and Carol was happy to play, joined by Doug and Aubrey. Carol made a run for a two temple win early but was thwarted. As the temples were blocked, someone would have to place their last tile on the board to win. Doug did for the victory.
Meanwhile with seven players, Jason suggested another old favorite, Formula De. We chose the Japanese racetrack. The lead went back and forth during the game with Leslie having atrociously bad luck and falling behind. At the halfway point, Jason had a commanding lead. Coming into the final turn, however, he was passed by David, Martha and me. Eric took a big risk, trying to catch the leaders but overshot the turn and crashed into the wall. Of the three leaders, whoever was ahead after the next roll would easily cross the finish line the following turn. Martha rolled a seven, David rolled a seven, and I rolled a twelve for the win. The order of finish was 1st - Bob, 2nd - David, 3rd - Martha, 4th - Jason, 5th - Leslie, 6th - Laura, 7th - Eric.
At this point, most everyone departed, but four of us were still up for one more game, Agricola. My luck was consistent this evening and I pulled off a final victory for the night. Bob 42, Jason 38, Carol 28 and Leslie 25.
Thanks to everyone for coming out. We’ll see you at Damascus this Friday night!
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