Euro Quest 2012

Convention alert!  Euro Quest 2012 started today and continues through Sunday!  Tournaments, open gaming, prizes, lots of fun!

Details here:   http://euroquest.gamesclubofmd.org/

Hope to see you!

15th Annual GCOM Game Days!

GAMES CLUB OF MARYLAND
PRESENTS the FIFTEENTH annual

GAME DAYS

April 26th - April 29th, 2012

Holiday Inn
9615 Deereco Road

Timonium, Maryland 21093

When:	Thursday, April 26th at 10AM through Sunday, April 29th at 6:00 PM Over eighty (80) hours of available open gaming time!
What:	Four days of open gaming. Open to the public. Have fun, learn, bond, make friends and compete with the best group of gamers around. The camaraderie is great! The convention known for learning new games by experienced Game Masters.

Pre-registration:	Sign up on-line with PayPal Deadline: Friday, April 13th, 2012. All Four days $40. Any one day $15. GCOM Supporting Members: All Four days $35. Any one day $10.
Registration at the Door:	Four Days: $50, Three Days: $40, Two Days: $30, One Day: $20. Sunday Only Special: $10. GCOM Supporting Members: Four Days: $45, Three Days: $35, Two Days: $25, One Day: $15. Seventeen and under: $5 per day. Must be accompanied by a paying adult.

For more info:  GCOM Game Days

Euro Quest 2011!

The Annual Euro Quest Gaming Convention is coming up in a few short weeks. 

Nov. 3-6, 2011

Euro Quest
Hilton Pikesville
1726 Reisterstown Road
Pikesville, Maryland 21208

In addition to competition in 12 main event tournaments for the prestigious Harold L. Siegelman Trophy, there will be plenty of space for open gaming, a first look at some of the newest hot games from Essen and a unique Wild Card event with the opportunity to play as many as 15 titles in a free-form, unscheduled format.

Details are here:  Euro Quest Home Page

Congress of Gamers - September 26-27, 2009

Hey everyone! Next weekend is the Congress of Gamers at the Bauer Drive Community Center in Rockville. This is the second year for the CoG, following its very successful inaugural convention last year. Many of us are planning to attend and we hope we'll see you there!

All the info you need is here: Congress of Gamers

Game Days Report

Well, I got back today around 6pm-ish. The wife & kids were off seeing the new Wolverine movie, so I came home to an empty, quiet house. I went to bed almost immediately.

I had a great time at Game Days, arriving Friday around 11am. Played Vegas Showdown with Brian Carpenter, Howard Wagner, James & Paul. Brian crushed us all. It was great to see Howard again and play a game with him. Been too long...

We followed this up with about 6 games of Dominion/Intrigue/Seaside, and a game of Galaxy Trucker with Brian, Lije, and Tom McCorry who arrived right around 7pm. I had almost forgotten how much I liked Galaxy Trucker so it was great to play that again. Brian won again despite my stellar 3rd round. My 3rd ship was great looking at the end, and had lost NO pieces during the running phase. Truly a feat!

Ended the night by getting crushed at Tichu, 1040 to 160. We will not be discussing that any more. OK, maybe a little. I started making desperation calls when we were down 700-ish to 200-ish and made 3 of the 5, but it was not enough. We did manage to set them on both a GT and a Tichu call early on, so this was just Karmic revenge, I guess...

On Saturday I started the day with a game of 1861 with Jason Cheng, Dan Karp, Tom and Ray Pfieffer. We had a great game and it was very close. Dan did not have much investment in his second railway, and did not think I would sell a stock of my primary to take it over, but I did, and the ensuing run on its stock made it a rich company with a moderately low price, enabling it to buy and run one of the special trains for 3 rounds, making it a lot of money. The Russian State Railway never actually even opened (!!) which lengthened things a bit, but despite that, the game end caught us all a bit short when the first 8 was sold and there was a lot of cash in hand but no ensuing stock round. In a game with scores in the 3600 range, only 60 points separated me in first place and Ray in second, so it was quite a nail-biter.

I played 2 more games of Dominion/Intrigue/Seaside and then headed off to Overlord some Descent. I had selected a Tomb of Ice scenario, but the stellar play of the heroes combined with terrible dice luck for the overlord (I rolled 6 misses in a row at one point) meant that it ended up being an easy day for them.

By this point, I was a bit fried so I played Street Paintball with Brian, Lije, David Kudzma, Kathy Kudzma, and Eric Haas. Followed that up with a quick game of Six. Then we sat and talked about going to bed, but I was finally able to convince enough folks to play BSG and we started that at about 2am.

I was Athena, Dave was Kendra Shaw, Kathy was Tyrol, Logan was Helo, and new player Nathan was Roslin. We set about doing well early but after the sleeper phase, I began to suspect Helo and a subsequent toss of him in the brig failed when Kathy tossed in a hand of blue cards, so I suspected her as well. The humans were losing slowly, and progressing slowly, but when President Roslin gave suspected Cylon Admiral Helo a choice on a Crisis Card where he could force a Cylon Victory, and he didn't take it, my world got shook up. The shock was even greater when Helo revealed a few moments later and tossed Tyrol in the brig! at this point, we just needed to jump again, and Tyrol provided the orders to Kendra Shaw that made it happen, and we found our way to Earth despite the frakkin' Admiral and President being Cylons from day 1. Humans Rule. So say we all!

I headed back to the hotel room and hit the bed at 6:20 am, then turned around and got up at 9 and had breakfast and returned for more gaming. after a quick game of the Z-Man games 2-player abstract Magnet with Brian (he crushed me). I spent the next 2 hours manning the booth and the organizers found out how bad an idea it is to give a sleep-deprived Dave access to a microphone. I played a game of Race For The Galaxy while up there as well, with Brian Stallings, Josh Cooper, and Eric Haas. Eric won, IIRC.

It was then time for another game of BSG, and this time I played Romo Lampkin. Rodney was Apollo, Brian was Dualla, Sheila played Doc Cottle, and John was Aaron Doral. I started out as a Cylon but stayed hidden early on, encouraging bad decisions and only tanking 1-2 skill checks, but being very careful as Brian has an almost 6th sense about who is doing that. After the sleeper phase, I got XO's to draw Quorum Cards, but instead threw Apollo in the brig and made Doc Cottle the next to choose our jump. Then I revealed, tossing Aaron in the Sickbay and making Apollo the President (him finding the Pardon card in his hand but being unable to pardon himself was a juicy little knife in the back!). Shortly thereafter, Sheila revealed and we spent a few turns activating the dwindling Cylon fleet. A sudden rush of our brothers and sisters arriving in "Welcome Wagons" meant that there were a ton of Colonial Civilian ships on the board, and suddenly the fleet went from 4 Population, 3 Morale, 2 Food and 2 Fuel to 1 Population, 1 Morale, 2 Food, and 1 Fuel. All in the space of 1 round. 1 more round meant the loss of 2 more civvies and the Population loss meant it was a great day to be a Cylon. Cylons Rule. So say we all!

I drove home, fighting hard to stay awake. I had a great time and saw a lot of our regulars (Eric & Laura, Rick & Linda, Doug, David & Martha, John-Paul, Howard, Jason, Tom, Shannon & Aubrey, Tiffany & Chris) but didn't get to play with many of you guys. :( The time at these things is so short, and my predilection for long games makes it tough to play with everybody. I hope you all had as good a time as I did. I also saw a lot of our regular convention folk (Brian & Denise Stallings, Beth & Nicole, Jeff, Michelle, John & Sheila, Dave & Kathy, Kevin & Kat, Eric, Don, Will, Hal, Sandy, Rick, Keith and a lot of others) and only got to play games with a few of them. Almost everybody asked about Noreen & the boys as well as Bob & Carol. They were all missed.

It was a great time, and I look forward to the next one, almost as much as I do to getting back to bed...

GCOM Game Days is this weekend!

April 30 to May 3. Timonium, Maryland.

Four days of open gaming. Open to the public. Have fun, learn, bond, make friends and compete with the best group of gamers around. The camaraderie is great!! The convention known for learning new games and playing your favorites as well. Experienced Game Masters available to teach most games.

Check out the details here.

Game Days! May 1-4, 2008

Games Club Of Maryland Presents the Eleventh Annual

GAME DAYS

May 1 - 4, 2008
Days Hotel
9615 Deereco Road
Timonium, Maryland 21093

http://gamesday.gamesclubofmd.org/

An Open Gaming Event

Have Fun, Learn, Share, Grow, Play

When:
Thursday, May 1st at Noon THRU Sunday, May 4th at 6:00 PM. Seventy-eight (78) hours of available open gaming time!

What:
Four days of open gaming. Open to the public. Have fun, learn, bond, make friends and compete with the best group of gamers around. The camaraderie is great!! The convention is known for learning new games and playing your favorites as well. Experienced Game Masters available to teach most games.

Many of us will be there. Feel free to post any questions in the comments.

Euro Quest V Report on BGG

Carol just posted a Geeklist of the games she played over the weekend (mostly with Germantown and Damascus folk) at GCOM's Euro Quest V.

Check it out: Carol's EQV Geeklist

If you like it, give her a Thumbs Up!

Games Day Report

I know this is a little late but as the saying goes "better late than never". I was able to attend Games Day 2007 on Friday and Saturday only. The actual event was from Friday through Sunday. I played a total of 17 different games with 8 of these games being new to me.

I played and socialized with many members of our normal groups that are part of this blog but I also saw so many that I only get the pleasure of interacting with at conventions. A big thank you to all who took the time to teach me new games. It is so much more enjoyable for me to be taught a game vs. reading the rules and attempting to play.

On with the summary. I am only going to list the games since I did not attempt to log the specifics of each game.

Friday

Space Dealer - played very different than I had played it in the past. I need to review the rules to find who played it incorrectly.
Metamophosis (prototype) - interesting but needs some fine tuning
Santy Anno - hilarious fun as usual
Space Station Assault - OK card game but not very exciting.
Qwirkle - abstract game (a little Ingenious like) -enjoyable but can be frustrating depending on tile draws.
die Kutschfahrt zur Teufelsburg - interesting Adlung game. I look forward to trying this again.
Wizard - older card game but a little long for what it is.
Blue Moon City - I always this game. I like better with each playing.

Saturday

Sucession: Intrigue in the Royal Court - I was pleasantly surprised. It was a little slow but I think with repeated plays the cards and actions would be more familiar therefore faster play.
T&T: Power & Glory - felt different enough but also similar enough.
Goldland - 3 play of this underrated game.
Tsuro - got to play this game with the Jones (including Ben). It was very enjoyable to see him play a game with the family.
Fleet 1715 - a deduction game where we misinterpreted a clue that caused much laughing and head shaking. After finally figure the rules I found it very unique. I look forward to a replay.
Ave Caesar - first time I have ever played the game with a score of zero (only 2 races vs 4). The first race I could not make it into to see Caesar. The second race I was stuck with a 6 in my hand and in first place ... 1 space from the finish line.
Fiji - incomplete game played. I would like to try again to get a better feel of this game.
Wits and Wagers - Dom ran his usual fun game but the "Fish Stix" did not live up to our prior record as we placed 2nd.
Battle Lore - Played the scenario "A Complex Web" against Steve Lollis (actually a rematch from the last session here at Middletown). He won again but again I really am excited to play it again! It was a great way to end my convention.

Game Days 2007 Report

I had a great time this weekend, along with my family, at GCOM's annual Game Days event in Timonium. I played lots of games with fun people and really enjoyed it. Although the event ran from Thursday through Sunday, we were there only on Saturday and Sunday, so this brief recap is necessarily incomplete.

I was very pleased to see a good number of local folk in attendance. In addition to the entire Jones clan (Bob, Carol, Rachel and Ben), I saw Doug Hoylman, Leslie Barkley, Rick Pasquale, Scott Fisher, Steve Lollis, Tom McCorry, David Raley, and Eric and Laura Reinhold. (If I forgot anyone, let me know.)

Highlights were a fantastic game of Shadows Over Camelot on Sunday; my son, Ben, discovering Werewolf; a bewildering and unintentionally hilarious game of Fleet 1715 on Saturday, and a raucous game of Wits & Wagers narrowly lost in the last round by Scott, Steve, Rick and Carol.

These large GCOM events are well run, very relaxed and enjoyable. If you haven't been to one, I hope you'll consider coming to Euro Quest in the fall.

Bob

Gathering Report - Day 10 & 11

The last day of the Gathering started out with Noreen and I driving 4.5 hours round trip to get the kids, hoping we would be back in time for the Can't Stop Tournament, which I was the GM for.

In fact, we had plenty of time, and I got back to the hotel in time to play Alchemist with Kevin & Rhonda Bender and Bobby Warren. It was an interesting set collection game, but I am unsure how much control there was there, and how much was illusory. Bobby spanked us, winning 69 to my 58, to Rhonda's 56, to Kevin's 52. I liked it well enough, and if I get a chance to play it again and I feel more in control, then I will pick it up, but I won't buy it without another play first...

I then ran the Can't Stop tournament, which had 60 players. We had 8 boards, so there were a few who had to wait, but the games were not too bad, and everyone seemed to have fun. At one table, a player locked the 6 & 7 on her first turn, but then could not get any advancement for the next 20 minutes, she just kept crapping out by rolling 3-3-4-4 or some other roll that did not help her.

Noreen lost in the first round, and the eventual winner was Jeff Goldsmith, who ran the Duplicate Tichu tournament. I can't wait to see his choice next year.

After the tournament, I played a game of Yspahan with Jay Bloodworth, Noreen, and Rhonda Bender. I gave everyone a quick rules refresher, but I must have been asleep, as they all reminded me of stuff during the game that i forgot to mention. Sigh. Still, it worked out well for me as the scores were Dave 100, Jay 77, Noreen 74, Rhonda 70. That caravan can be a killer....

Next up was dinner. Sundays at the Gathering are capped by dinner on Alan at the Hunan House, a very nice Chinese place with excellent food. This year, 90 people attended. We sat at a table with Bob Downing, Jim MacDanold, Craig Feldmann, and Kevin and Rhonda Bender. Dinner was excellent as always, and we had a great time, reminiscing, planning, and talking.

After dinner, we met back at the hotel for a few final games. Kevin and I joined Sterling Babcock, Marcia Babcock, and James Davis (who has more than 12,000 games in his collection!) in a game of Colosseum, the new release due soon from Days of Wonder. I liked the game a lot. It is basically a game of set collection, but it has trading, auctions, and takes a great deal of planning. It feels a lot like a more interactive version of Princes of Florence. I held back until the final round, and then used a double-build tile I had collected earlier to acquire a new work card, and get a 5-point bonus "season-ticket" tile. I then acquired one of the three musicians I needed, and used a wild-tile to count as the second of those three, and put on my show one musician short, for 40 base points. I had two four-point bonuses from my Orators and Priests, I had three 5-point bonuses from my previous shows, I had two of the 5-point Season Ticket bonuses, and I got lucky on my dice rolls and was able to get the Emperor, a Senator, and a Citizen all to attend my show (15 total bonus points), and finally, I turned in two medallions for 6 more bonus points, netting 94 points, 25 points ahead of Marcia, who had 69, Kevin was third with 56, Jamed fourth with 52, and Sterling, who taught the game, had a terrible set of tile choices in the last 2 rounds, and ended the game with 40.

I went to bed after that. How could I have improved on that?

Today we got up at 10, got packed, and left the hotel by 11:30, and arrived home at 6:00pm. We are all exhausted, happy, and well. We can't wait to see you guys Friday.

Gathering Report - Day 9

This morning was the Flea Market, and I picked up a few items: Marracash, Graenaland, Pepper, and some Adlung card game. Then we went to Penzey's and lunch with the Bender's, then returned to the hotel, where we played Tichu again. Noreen & Jon Ferro against Michael Weston and I. It was 920 to 880 on the last hand, when Michael called Tichu on the lead trick (there was a 5 & he played a K). John called Tichu, laid down a played a Queen bomb, then a 10-card straight. Noreen was able to pickup the last 5 points they needed and we lost again, 1080 to 820.

We are heading to dinner, and the Prize Table ceremony is at 7:00. The best looking candidates for Noreen's pick are Nacht der Magier (which I have had trouble trying to get for some time now) and 1001 Arabian Nights. I am sure we will play more games after the ceremony.

At the time I wrote that, there was not all that much interesting and special up on the prize table, and there were some pre-release items but as i could get those soon anyway, they did not grab my attention.

HOWEVER, Alan was holding back, and several items came out at the last moment, and one of them was a beautifully constructed Ticket To Ride: Switzerland map (Switzerland is part of the PC game, and not available in a printed form) mounted on a 1-inch thick wooden base with painted frame and suitable for display. When we saw it, we knew it was what we wanted, and of course, it was our pick. We had Alan sign it, and had the maker, Jesse McGarth, sign it as well.

Noreen also got a copy of Quarto, and I got the new viking game Fire & Axe (a remake of Viking Fury), and a copy of the Ys+ expansion. We also got 2 copies of the Spielbox Thurn Und Taxis expansions (which we already have)...

Good news came during the Prize table ceremony, Jay Tummelson of RGG is springing for the sodas for next year, so instead of dropping about $25.00 on sodas for the two of us for the week (at $.75 per can), they will be FREE. Make sure to buy lots of Rio Grand games this year so he can afford it.

After the prize table ceremony, we settled into party game mode, as much of the Gathering does every year at this time. We played Cineplexity which Kevin O'Brien won (8), followed by Bobby Warren (7), Me (6), Rhonda Bender (4), Rob Smolka (2), and Kevin Bender (0). The game is a bit like Apples to Apples in that a judge draws two cards and decides who wins. The cards have different movie things on them: scenes, characters, locations, props, etc. and people have to name a movie that the judge knows contains both items. they then get one point.

We then played Smarty Party, and Kevin O' won again, followed by me, Rob, Rhonda, Kevin, and a three-way tie for last with Michael Weston, Noreen, and Bobby Warren.

Finally, we played 2 games of Act One, in which players try to get their teammates to name a movie based on their reading of lines from the movie. We had different teams each game, and i was the only player on the winning side bothe times:

Game One: The Annoying Kevins and A Couple of Dicks (Kevin O'Brien, Kevin Nunn, Kevin Bender, Richard Bethany, and Richard Meyer) scored 8 points...
The Witches, Bitches, and Us (David & Noreen Fair, Rhonda Bender, Rob Smolka, David Fair) scored 27

Game Two: The Fives (Kevin Bender, Kevin O'Brien, Richard Meyer, Me) scored 27 points... The Knot Fives (Noreen Fair, Rob Smolka, Richard Bethany, Rhonda Bender, and Evan Tannheimer) scored 24 points.

Gathering Report - Day 8

Awoke late, and had lunch with the BoardGameNews gang, had a great time. Got back to the hotel just in time for the Duplicate Tichu Tournament.

Each team played 2 pre-set hands against each other team, then moved to a different table and played a different set of opponents. We had 9 teams, so we had to play 16 hands, and Noreen and I did quite well. The winners were Nataline Viray-Fuong and Scott Simon with 2030 points, and The Fairs were in second with 970. Derk Solko and Dan Karp took third with 320 and Christine Simundson and Tom Lehmann were fourth with 110. .All other teams ended in the negatives.

PS. Ted Alspach and Matthew Monin won the regular Tichu Tournament.

Next up was a silly dice-rolling game called Volle Wolle, which I played with Eric Handie, Ava Jarvis, and Matthew Gray. I won with 56 points, Eric had 43, Ava 41, and Matthew 30. The game is light and quick and has a theme of shearing sheep and really cute artwork, so I may pick this up soon.

Played a game of Igel Argern with Mary Prasad, Rhonda Bender, and Terry Bailey. The game was a lot of fun, and Mary was able to ensure her victory despite crappy rolls for the first 2/3rds of the game.

Dragon Parade was next, and we played with the same group, with the addition of Larry Whalen. This one was a lot of fun, and we were being really silly and goofing around. It was great. Larry won with 16 followed by Rhonda 15, David 12, Terry 10, Mary 9.

We played Gemblo next, and it went over well. We added Kevin bender in and swapped out Mary for Ravindra. Bad move as Ravindra sat to my right and is a shark. He and Rhonda tied at 4, I had 5, Kevin & Terry had 15, and Larry 22.

We then played the Gathering Wits & Wagers Game Show, our team was Rhonda, Kevin, Noreen, David, Terry, and Larry. It was a lot of fun, with game trivia, gathering trivia, bgg trivia, and general trivia. We bet poorly, and ended the game with a single point, ahead of only one team (Derk Solko, Matthew Gray, Aldie, Dan Karp, and One Guy I Did Not Recognize).

I then taught Tichu to Julie Luxenberg, and we played against Jon Ferro and Mark Delano. We had them 890 to 410 at one point, but I was card dead in the last three rounds, and they went 1-2, 1-2/Tichu/ and 1-2 to win 1110 to 890. Ouch!

Gathering Report - Day 7

The first game played on day 7, was a 4-player version of Notre Dame with Noreen, Anye Sellers, and Jay Bloodworth. It was another Second Place Finish for me, as jay just racked up points like mad, and I floundered. Jay scored 65, I had 45, Anye 39, and Noreen had 36. I really like this game alot, definitely my pick for Gathering Hit.

Terry Bailey wanted someone to teach him Rette Sich Wer Kann, so we obliged, and made sure he was the first one drowned. He recovered somewhat, and the two of us tied for last place along with Thor Samuelson (we all had 12) Rhonda Bender scored 19, and Kevin 20, but Noreen had first place again, with 26 points.

We then took part in the Puzzle Hunt. I am not sure why. One of the reasons I stopped doing Tanga puzzles was the complete lack of direction, and this was more of the same. Only it lasted more than three hours. We played with Larry Levy, Jay Bloodworth, and Michael Weston. Some of the puzzles were clever, but trying to do 21 of them in that time, with little direction was more frustrating than fun.

Michael then taught R-ECO, and I played with Jim Fairchild, Michelle Corbin, and Earl Bailey. Michael was to my right, and I paid for that mistake, scoring only 5 points. Jim had 8, Earl 11, Michelle 13, and Michael 20. the game is interesting, basically a set collection game, but with able to force those coming after them to draw extra cards, and thus go over the hand limit and lose points, It had some interesting decisions.

We then did dinner at Schmidts Sausage House, a German eatery that has amazingly good food. We dined with Greg & Gail Schloesser, Kevin & Rhonda Bender, Craig and Jan Kim Berg, Earl Bailey & Michelle Corbin, Doug & Shelley Garrett, Anye Sellers, Ward Batty, Jay Bloodworth, and Jim Fairchild. It was great, and I highly recommend it for any trips to Columbus.

When we came back, we played Tichu, teaching Kevin & Rhonda how to play. Tichu went poorly for the team of David and Kevin.

We then played and unusual French game whose name translates to Found Objects. There we basically a bunch of strange things in the box (a rock, a toothbrush, a rubber band, a balloon, a feather, a key ring, a plastic astronaut, a wooden pawn, etc.) and you had to make one of six
items on a card and get the others to guess which it was. Early guesses scored more points than later ones, and the maker scored points equal the the number of people who guessed correctly. Rhonda won with 43 points, Kevin had 30, I had 28, and Noreen had 17.

We then played Can't Stop, and Noreen won again. It was tough towards the end and each of us had two columns locked, but Noreen just kept rolling fours...

Diamant was up next, and Rhonda won handily, with 41 points. Bobby Warren scored 24, i had 23, Kevin had 21, as did Terry Bailey, and Noreen had just 13. It was a lot of fun with tons of smack talk and laughing.

It was almost 3am, so we went to bed...

Gathering Report - Day 6

I started my day playing Deduce... Or Die! with Michael Weston, Larry Levy, and Ted Alspach. This is a really hard deduction game, and Ted and i were just learning, so we got spanked, hard, by Michael. Larry Levy is the designer of the game, but he wrote one of my answers down as an answer from Ted, and thus ended up sidetracked.

We then played an interesting poker-type game prototype called Rapscallion (not about a hip-hop green onion) that has a card drafting mechanism. Played with Jay Greer, Michael and Ted. Michael won this one as well, Jay and I tied at 60, and Ted had 45 points.

After dinner, Rob Smolka wanted to learn Sticheln, so Micheal and I taught him that while waiting for the Tichu Tournament. Michael won again, 70 points to my 54 and Rob's 28.

It was time for the Tichu Tournament. Eric Martin and I played Corbin Nash and Bryan Bowe in the first heat, winning 1020 to 980. The game was a blowout at first, with us up 830 to 370, but a 1-2/Tichu followed by another 1-2 brought things much closer. We reached 920 points but it took us three more hands to get to 1000. In the next round we faced William Attia (designer of Caylus) and John Garnett. They both played very well (they are in the finals today), and despite
some valiant efforts on our part, they won, 1160 to 640.

Noreen arrived on the Hotel shuttle, back from Washington while I was playing Tichu. You didn't think I was going to stop playing to go get her, did you?

Ended the night playing Thurn & Taxis - Power & Glory, the new expansion that I bought from Jay/Rio Grande. Bobby Warren placed first with 19 points, Noreen was second with 18, Satish Pillalamarri was third with 13, and I was fourth with 12. I really like the expansion as it gives you some options for hiding cards opponents may need, and for taking cards you don't really want while not screwing yourself over completely.

After sitting around and gabbing with friends for a while, we headed off to bed.

Gathering Report - Day 5

Started the day at 2:00pm, as I had gone to bed at 7:00am...

Terry Bailey and I Taught Taluva to Brian Fealy, and Terry won by building all his huts and all his towers. I had one tower and 5 huts left, and Brian had one temple, one tower, and 8 huts. The game plays better in 3-player than it does in 4.

Next, I taught Brian Fjords, which he won, 5 to 7.

I played Montage, and interesting crossword type game. I partnered with Randy Cox, and played against Stephen Glenn and Nate Beeler. It was a very close game, which we just squeaked out a win in.

Next I played Die Saulen von Venedig with Rob Smolka and Bobby Warren, and Rob won on the last turn 69 to my 66 to Bobby's 56. Rob has a habit of passing me just as the game ends...

Power Grid - Germany was next, in which we played with Freidemann's prototype expansion due out for Essen. It is basically just a new deck of power plants, but it was startling how much it changed the game. Jim Fairchild was shut out of coal on the last turn, and thus ended the game with $64 dollars, 5 capacity (15 potential), and 12 houses (shorthand: $64/5(15)/12) and ended up in 5th despite it looking like he was going to win... John Garnett ended with $76/7(7)/13 for 4th place, Warren Madden took third with $7/10(15)/12, Michael Weston came in second with $93/11(11)/14, and I snuck in a victory with $129/12(12)/15. The new deck is very interesting and adds a lot to the game. I will be making a copy for us to try until the deck is released.

Michael Weston and I teamed up for two games of Tichu against Curt Churchill and Rob Smolka. They were pasting us early on, but we found our rhythm, made back-to-back 1-2/Tichus to get right back in it, then they responded with a 1-2/Tichu, to make the score 920(us) to 980. On
the final hand I made a Tichu call again, and we scored every point to win 1120 to 980. Great game. Luckily, the next game followed the pace of the first, and we were in the zone... It took us only 7 hands to win 1050 to 250.

Followed this up with Outburst. Team "A" was Lisa Johnson, Nate Beeler, Dan Blum, Curt Churchill, and I. Team "B" was Rob Smolka, Jessica Robert, Tom Lehmann, Richard Bethany, and Benjamin Corliss. Outburst is like Speed family Feud, but you just shout your answers.
Through careful use of our passing chips (which allow you to decline a category) we were able to get categories like Cooking Methods, Cheeses, US Allies, and The Roaring 20's, while forcing our opponents into categories like Beers of the World, Janes and Jaynes, and British Actors. We crushed them by an astounding 65 to a paltry 63.

I ended the night playing Factory Fun with Eric Martin, Patrick Korner, and Larry Levy. Patrick Eric laid down the smack, only building one pipe the whole game, and scoring 82. Larry had 51, I had 50, and Patrick had 42.

It was now 7:00am, and I needed some cash, so I went to the car only to find one of the tires was flat. It had felt funny the last time I drove it, so I was not completely surprised. Luckily, there was an NTB 2 doors away, and I got two new tires on the front, and found the alignment was off, causing uneven wear and the flat was cause by wear on the inside down to the cords. After getting the car fixed, I got some cash, and came back to the hotel and hopped into bed at 8:30am.

It's now almost 2:00pm, and day 6 is starting. Tonight is the Tichu Tournament, and Noreen will be back around 10pm.

Gathering Report - Day 4

I awoke, and after breakfast I joined Brian and Jacqui Bankler and Tom Lehmann in a game of Yspahan. Tom was new and the rest of us had all played before. Tom won by building heavily and using the occasional caravan piece. Final scores were Tom:86, Dave:81, Jacqui:68, Brian:65.

Next up was another game of Notre Dame, this time with Scott Simon, Anne Churchill, Tony Soltis, and Brain Fealy. In my first game, I used my carriage a lot, and mostly ignored my rat problem, in this game, I used the park, the hotel, and the hospital almost exclusively, and
scored well, but was second again. Final Scores: Tony:70, Dave:57, Brain:51, Scott:46, Anne:30. I am really enjoying this game, and think it is the best Alea release in a while.

Next up was the eminently forgettable Zooloretto... Think Coloretto, redone with tiles, player boards and a lot more fiddly rules. I will not be buying this. I played with Buzz Aldrich (26), Lisa Johnson (19), Chris LaRue (17), and Kris Gould (15) - I came in last (14).

Then I played Guatamala Cafe with Buzz Aldrich, Dale Yu, and Matthew Baldwin. Ugh. Bad production values, and uninspired gameplay. The beginning 20 minutes were odd, and frustrating, the middle 20 were ok, but the endgame was just awful. Another I will not buy. Dale won with 42 points, followed by Buzz with 27, and Matthew and I with 11 each.

Played a 4 player Imperial game with Curt Churchill, Richard Bethany, and Markus Welbourne (the M in JKLM games...). It was a great game, with a lot of maneuvering and very fluid ownership. At one point or another, I had each of the 6 flags in front of me... Curt won with a
score of 150, followed by Markus at 144, Richard at 132, and me with 127.

Two games with Terry Bailey, Bobby Warren, and Rhonda Bender followed, first was Taluva, which i won buy building all my temples, one tower, and all but 2 huts, Bobby was next because he built all his temples, one tower, and all but 10 huts. Rhonda built all but 1 of each item, and came in third, and poor Terry, who kept getting built over by everyone as he played to easy to exploit places, came in 4th by building no temples, both towers, and all but 3 huts.

Can't Stop was next, which Rhonda won by advancing the 6, 8, and 2.

I then played 2 games of Werewolf, with a ton of people. Ted Alspach moderated the first one, and Heli Barthon the second. Bill Cleary won for the wolves in the first game even though he was outnumbered 9 to 1 when the village lynched the other two wolves on days 1 and 3 (I was lynched on day 1). In game two, the wolves killed me first, but the villagers battled on and won out in the end when Roger Breitenstein could not break up the Mason voting block...

I then played 2 games of Tichu with Christine Simundson and Tom Lehmann, and partnering with W. Eric Martin. Eric and i won both games, with score of 1035 to 265, and 1385 to -85. We had a 1-2/Tichu on the last hand. It was very ugly, and I was a card rack all night, getting 4-5 bombs total, and the 4-kings bomb twice.

I went to bed after getting breakfast. It was 7:00am

Gathering Report - Day 3

After breakfast in the hotel with Bobby Warren and Buzz Aldrich, I made it down to the game room about 11:00am.... Zack Boatman and Evan Tannheimer joined us and we played Notre Dame. Interesting game with a lot going on. There were a few points which produced the "Ah, so that is how I completely screwed myself over..." and the "Don't let this happen to you..." thoughts as well, but the game was a lot of fun and the board is ingeniously made so that the pieces fit together in 3 different ways to accommodate 3, 4 or 5 players.

Next up was a game of Pillars of the Earth with Brian and Rebecca Leet and Julie Luxenberg. This is new for a lot of players here, and Brian edged me on the final scoring by just enough to win by a point. I was followed by Rebecca, and Julie was just a few points back, her heavy investment in metal not paying off sufficiently when we took all the metal craftsmen, forcing her to go to the market and sell 5 metal for 25, then use it to buy stone and wood for her craftsman. Had she got a metalworker at the end, it would have gone much differently.

Next up was a (Full, not the shorter Advanced) game of Through the Ages with Doug Hoover, Kevin Bender, and Rhonda Bender. We started around 3:30, and finished around midnight, having broken for about 90 minutes to eat in the middle. Great game, and I whisked off to an early start, at the end of the Age of Antiquity scores were Dave:20, Doug:3, Rhonda:2, Kevin:1. After the first age, I was still doing well, scores were Dave:44, Doug:16, Rhonda:5, Kevin:4. Doug then got a lethal combination we dubbed the "Shakespeare Gambit", getting all the bonuses his leader (William Shakespeare) could get him, and began scoring 14 every time. I had a strong military, but could not seem to find any war or aggression cards to knock him back. After the second Age, scores were Doug:83, Dave:61, Rhonda:24, Kevin:20. My inability to use my military continued in the third age, and I could also not find a scoring card to add to the events to save my life, and all of the scoring cards were put in by my opponents, so the final scoring benefited them much more than I (they held back the ones for largest military, most Smiley faces, most spors complexes, etc, to prevent my scoring them). Final scores were Doug: 188, Kevin: 167, Rhonda: 166, Dave: 165. Oh how the mighty fell...

If I find that on the prize table, it is a must take...

Finally, i ended the night with a trio of light games with Rob Smolka, Sharon Madden, and Terry Bailey. We played Taluva (Rob won over me by a single hut, followed by Sharon and then Terry), Yspahan (Sharon won with 81 points, scoring 37 on the final turn alone!, followed by Rob, me, and Terry) and To Court the King (AKA: Um Krone Und Kragen) in which Sharon caught the king with 7-6's, only to be passed by Terry's 8-1's, which was passed by my 8-4's, which was passed again by Sharon's 8-6's, for the win. Rob played, but didn't understand the strategy of rolling what he needed. We pointed him to the strategy guide on BGG...

I hit the sack at 3am...

Gathering Report - Day 2

I started the day out by teaching Pillars of the Earth to Mario Lanza, and Jennifer Schicklenberg, and Jim McDonald joined us. It was a great and close game, with 1st-4th spread being only 8 points.

Next up was 6-player Imperial. I leaped out to an early lead when I was able to quickly grab 3 countries, tax them all, and have a ton of money. The early lead made me a target, so I ended up coming in second. great game. Joe Rushanan won, I was second, Brian Leet 3rd, Leo Tischer 4th, Ravindra Prasad 5th, and Mario Lanza, one of the 4 players new to the game, was 6th.

I then played Leonardo DaVinci with Dan & Julie Luxenberg (who live in Montgomery Village, and are going to join us at DGN soon, they said), Brian Stallings, and Bobby LaBoon. This was a learning game for Bobby and Julie. I got very lucky, winning all of the blind bids I was involved in and amassing 6 cards total at the end, with all 5 symbols, for a 19 point victory over second place. Yowza! Brian came in second, followed by Julie, Dan, and Bobby.

We then left for dinner at Buco de Bepo, and it was terrific: Escarole, Pesto Salmon, Chicken Glorioso, and Baked Manicotti followed up by cheesecake. Molto!

After dinner, I played Yspahan with Matthew Monin (octavian on the geek), Dan Blum, and Tery Noseworthy. I had another luck filled game, amassing much coinage and using both coins-to-VP's cards to get 19 points on the last day, and scoring the caravan solo all three weeks for 3, 14, and 27 VPs. I won with a score of 90, a 22-point gap over Tery, who beat Dan by 2, who beat Matthew by 4.

ShowManager was played next, and I did horribly, coming in 5th out of 6. I just couldn't ever get anything I needed. I had no show higher than 3rd in any city. Ugly. Tery Noseworthy won with an impressive 59 points, then it was Buzz Aldrich, Charlie Davis, Brian Leet, Me, and Zev Schlasinger. Fun time, and nice in that no one had to be taught the game for once...

Next we played Smarty Party, and I realized that we have been playing one or two minor things wrong, so we have to fix that for the next game. Warren Madden won, as he has a great grasp of geography and politics (he is a meteorologist for the Weather Channel) and there were a lot of cards in his areas of expertise. Also playing were Nate Beeler, Lisa Johnson, Kevin O'Brien, Ray Dennis, Matthew Monin, and Evan Tannheimer.

I played a quick game of Taluva next, with Kevin, Evan, and Warren. I was able to eke out a win by building all but one Temple, all towers, and all but 3 huts. Warren was second with 1/0/5, followed by Kevin with 1/07, and Evan with 1/1/2. Very close game.

The last game of the night was Santy Anno, which we played with all the tough expansion cards. It was horribly difficult, especially as late as we were playing..I did awfully, coming in 4th, followed by Evan, Warren, and Matthew took the win.

I called it a night at went to bed. It was 4:00 am...

Gathering Report - Day 1

Day one is over...

We left the house around 9:30 and drove here stopping only for gas and meals. Arrived around 5:30 after a bit of a mix-up finding the hotel. I had not printed directions, and we made 1 wrong turn, backtracked eventually, then found our way. Not bad...

After checking in and getting settled, we went back and got the games we brought, and took them down to the con hall. I wasn't in the room 30 seconds before a lumbering Ted Alspach grabbed me and asked if I would join him and Valerie in a game of Age of Steam - they had a prototype copy of the new Mayfair version. We played the game 3 player, and it was pretty good, though in many ways, it felt simply like a new map with a set of variant rules. Much of the normal tension was gone. I suspect that this sill go over well with non AOS fans, and not so good with AOS fans...

Went to dinner with the family, and then headed back to the game room while the kids went swimming with their cousins. Dan Blum invited me to join him and Tom Hilbert (who works for Hans im Gluck) in a game of Wikinger, and Tyler Putnam joined us. After a typically Gathering-esque confusing rules explanation, made all the more fun by the fact that Tom is not a native English speaker and he has a heavy German accent, we got down to play.

Wikinger has some interesting mechanisms, and we played the game and it was OK, but Tom explained the advanced options after the game was over, and we all felt they would have added a lot of depth to the game. In the basic game, luck overshadowed planning a bit too much.

After that, it was two games of Tichu, in which I got spanked (hard) once, but lost both times. I did make 2 grand Tichu calls, and made both of them (A-A-K-K-5-5-Dragon-Dog was my hand in one, and A-A-A-K-Q-Dragon-Phoenix-forget was my hand in the other) scores were 1035 to 35 and 1065 to 835. Ah the joys of getting great cards when you are desperately behind.

Went to bed around 3, after sitting around and shooting the shit for a while, rose at 9am. Noreen is already on a plane to see her family, and my kids will be joining their cousins and heading off to Indiana in a few hours.