This is a recap of the GCOM Middletown session held on March 29, 2008. This is the first session that has been held with the new day and time of the last Saturday of the month at 3PM. It was very well attended so I think the Saturday experiment may have been a good idea.
Attendees:
- Scott Fisher (host)
- David Fair (co-host)
- Noreen Fair
- Judy Trent
- Scott Fox
- Scott Percival
- Liz Percival
- Carly Fisher
- Calvin Fisher
- Rick Pasquale
- Linda Pasquale
- John Weber
- Bryan Snyder
- Jason Cheng
- Steve Lollis
- Leslie Barkley
- Helen Powell
- Kayla Trent
Games Played:
R-Eco (David Fair, John Weber, Bryan Snyder, Jason Cheng and Scott Fisher)
Show Manager (David Fair, John Weber, Bryan Snyder, Jason Cheng, Scott Fisher and Steve Lollis)
Bang (Leslie Barkley, Liz and Scott Percival, Scott Fox, Judy Trent and Helen Powell)
Coyote (David Fair, John Weber, Bryan Snyder, Jason Cheng, Steve Lollis and Scott Fisher)
Pacific Typhoon X2 (Game #1 Liz Percival, Leslie Barkley, Scott Fox, Steve Lollis and Scott Fisher) & (Game #2 Calvin Fisher, Leslie Barkley, Scott Fox, Steve Lollis and Scott Fisher)
Roads & Boats (Judy Trent, Scott Fox, David Fair and Scott Percival)
Imperial (John Weber, Bryan Snyder and Helen Powell)
San Juan (Bryan Snyder and Helen Powell)
How Ruck! (Jason Cheng and David Fair)
Ticket to Ride (1910 version of tickets) (Helen Powell, Steve Lollis, Scott Fisher and Bryan Snyder)
Race for the Galaxy (Jason Cheng, Scott Fisher, David Fair and Helen Powell)
Tichu X2 (Game #1 Rick and Linda Pasquale vs. Liz Pervical and Noreen Fair) (Game #2 Calvin Fisher and Carly Fisher vs. Noreen Fair and Leslie Barkley)
The first game of the evening was
R-Eco from Z-Man Games. Jason continues his winning streak at this game with the final scores being David (-2), John (9), Bryan (3), Scott (7) and Jason (12). I also broke my streak of finishing last in every game I had played previously. :)
The next game was
Show Manager. We (or maybe I should say I) chose this game because Jason said he does not usually win at it. Poor Jason oh well but he was correct because again he did not win it! The final score was David 54, Scott 45, Bryan 36, John 29 (tie break with $1 remaining), Jason 29 and Steve 27. David claimed about a 70% win rate at this game which I have to believe since he has won most of the games I have played with him.
Bang was brought to the table since six of us were in the middle of Show Manager and a few more gamers had arrived. In this game the sheriff was Scott Fox and fittingly it was Judy Trent who killed him. I am sure she has had that inclination before this game? This game was new to Leslie Barkley and Liz Percval.
The next game for the
Show Manager table was
Coyote. This was my first time with the optional rules. These rules are add a another card to players head band, reverse the order and agree to with the prior guess. I won the game with only 1 coyote marker when
David Jason received his 3rd and final marker.
A shuffling of the players happened at this time since the
Bang and the
Coyote game both had now ended.
The following description was provided for me by David since he was involved in the
Roads and Boats game.
Roads and Boats: Played on the most basic 4-player map, since it had been so long since Scott, Judy or I had played, and it was Jason's first time. Scott and Judy got off to a fast start, getting a raft factory and a paper mill down faster than Jason and I. I waited until Jason built the raft factory, then used it to quick advantage. Judy ended up wasting a bit of space on a clay pit and stone factory that she later wished she had used for other things. I waited too long to build my oil rig to get coal/fuel, but once I did my coin production started in earnest. Jason seemed to have a good coin and gold production going, only to have it stolen by Judy's Pirate Ship. Scott pointed out that i am ultimately responsible for Judy's pirate ways, having stolen her iron, coal, and then her brick to block her out of the mine she had built. With three mines, and no one encroaching, I set about making mucho paper and converting that and coin into stocks. With my stock exchange pumping out one stock each turn, it became hard to catch me. In the end, the scores were (Points from Stock, Points from Coins, Points from Gold, Points from Bricks): Dave (727=600+80+10+37), Jason (379=240+40+50+49), Judy (334=120+80+90+44), Scott (322=240+40+40+2). A great long and meaty game.
While R&B was going on the first of two games of
Pacific Typhoon were played. The first game was won by the host (that would be me)! The final score was Scott 43, Steve 30, Leslie 23, Liz 22 and Scott Fox 20. The second game Liz decided it was time for some
Tichu and since Calvin had arrived he replaced her. This did not bode well for me since he is a shark at the precursor for this game
Atlantic Storm and in fact has won the championship at
PrezCon. In the end I did in fact win again this time the score was as follows: Scott 38, Leslie 36, Calvin 33, Scott Fox 24 and Steve 20. Scott Fox really enjoyed this game and said it is on his "to buy" list. Steve Lollis had pre-ordered this game from GMT. I later found out that he had ordered 2 copies and was kind enough to give me a copy. THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! If you have not played either of these games I recommend give them a try. These are definitely in my Top 10 of all games.
The first game of
Tichu was played with Rick and Linda vs. Noreen and Liz. I did not get any information about the game other than the final score of Rick/Linda 1060 and Liz/Noreen 340.
The second game involved Cal and Carly vs. Leslie and Noreen. The final score was Cal and Carly 1000 vs. Leslie and Noreen 600.
Imperial was a closely contested game with the score being John 187, Bryan 183 and
Leslie Helen 178. Here is some commentary provided by John, "I was about to end the game with France but a quick calculation suggested Bryan was in position to win so I delayed advancing France on the rondel so that 2 other countries (Italy and Germany) could catch up." Good calculation John since that provided you with a narrow win!
A couple of games that were played head to head. The first between David and Jason was
How Ruck! or
Heave Oh!. Jason was victorious with a score of 3 to 1. The next game was
San Juan between Helen and Bryan. The final score was very tight with Bryan edging Helen by a score of 26 to 25. Wow a very tight score.
Ticket to Ride: USA 1910 was a tight game as well. This is the first time that I have played this version with the new tickets. I won with a score of 130, Helen 116, Steve 90 and Bryan 70. The difference was I had the 15 point bonus for most tickets completed.
The last game of this session was
Race for the Galaxy. This is only my second playing but I really enjoyed it again and can see why this game is so popular. I tried to rush the finish by building to 12 as quickly as possible. I thought I might be able to "steal" a victory before others could get their engines running. I was close but not quite over the top. The final score was Jason 23, David 19, Scott 18 and Helen 12. At one point I could have "developed" a bonus card that would have provided me enough points to win (though I am not sure I could have gotten to 12 at the same point in the game).
A great session after a couple of canceled sessions. I hope all will join in the next scheduled session which is April 26. See ya then!!!
