Damascus 04/25/08

Got some catching up to do, as I want/need to post my GameDays report as well...

Fourteen hale and hardy gamers stepped out for a night of geekdom...

• David & Noreen Fair
• Rick & Linda Pasquale
• Jason Cheng
• Rose Byington
• John-Paul Pizzica
• Lance Jones
  
• Paul H.
• Nathaniel Klinger
• Rich O'Brian
• Luke Conte
• Martha & David Briggs

I got four people playing Stone Age, and then we played Aquaretto. Aquaretto is a sequel to Zooloretto, and while it can be played with that game, this time we played it standalone... Nathaniel won with a huge "let the kids buy fish and feed our animals" strategy, scoring 44 points, followed by Rick with 26, Linda with 25, and David with 19.

Stone Age ended shortly thereafter. As predicted, the end game bonuses were big deciders. Paul won with 225 points, followed by Lance with 168, John-Paul with 160 and Jason with 140.

A group played just a single round of Saboteur as everyone tried to coordinate the next round of games...

The three-player Nordic Countries map is one of the tighter and more competitive maps for Ticket to Ride. Martha won the game tonight, 118 to David B.'s 106 and Linda's 96.

Power Grid is always a favorite, and tonight we played on the prototype Korea map. Rick managed to get ahead in capacity, stay behind in cites, then build first and throw down 5 cities to trigger a surprise game end and take the win. Final scores/positions: (Cities/Capacity/Money) Rick (14/12/14), Rich (11/11/47), Dave (10/10/74), John-Paul (9/9/55), Jason (8/6/130), Rose (7/7/87).

A group of us knocked down several games of Dominion (aka "Game X"), which I recorded on the "official" playtest sheets, but i failed to write them in the log, so no word on who won. i think the game was overall very well received.

Back-to-back Tichu? Unheard of? Not here... A shortened game was played between Martha & Noreen and David B. & Linda. They called it after 8 hands with the score all-but tied at 490-510. game 2 was Linda & Rose over Rick & Noreen 1100 to 700.

La Citta is a brain-burny classic, and four valiant city managers set off to play. Luke managed a win in a tight race, scoring 33 to Paul's 29, Nathaniel's 28, and Lance's 14.

The same four played a pair of games of something I had never heard of, a new game from Mayfair called Bacchus' Banquet. the gek entry holds little info, so I hope someone who played can leave some comments and let us know how you liked the game... In game 1, Luke won as Messalina, in game 2, Lance won as Caesonia.

We played Glory to Rome, a game where the artwork hides a really good game. Jason won with the Forum, so points were ignored. Had they been useful however, David had 18, John-Paul 9, Rich 8, and Jason 6.

A 3-player game of China is almost always a good thing. Nathaniel won this won, 45 to Paul's 41 and Lance's 27.

The last game of the night was a two-player contest of Thurn & Taxis with the All Roads Lead to Rome expansion. John-Paul won 34 to 27 over Jason.

Next session is Friday, May the 9th... Hope to see you there!

Germantown 04/21/08

April has been an unusual month with smaller than average attendance. Nevertheless, we had ten gamers and that's more than enough for some good gaming.

• Kevin Bealer
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Dave Fair
• Todd Heidenreich
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob and Ben Jones
• Helen Powell
• and a new player, Richard Christin

First up, Dave Fair and Doug played a two-player game of Uptown. Uptown is a tile placement game where each player lays number, letter and symbol tiles, trying to have the fewest groups of tiles on the board at the end of the game. Dave and Doug proved equally matched as they tied with 6 groups each. Doug, however, won with the tiebreaker.

Richard arrived with a portable Go board and our resident Go fan, Todd, happily broke out his larger set for a game. Todd won this ancient and contemplative game.

When Helen arrived, she joined Doug and Dave for the beautiful new game, Stone Age. Players work as hunters, collectors, farmers, and tool makers to gather resources and raise animals to build their civilization. As it was the first time for Helen and Doug and only the second time for Dave, it took a while to finish. Final scores were Dave 309, Doug 214 and Helen 182.

Meanwhile, I arrived with Ben and we taught Dragonland to the other new arrivals, Dave and Martha. The dragons were mightily pleased as we rescued all of their eggs and most of their treasure from the imminent volcanic eruptions. While last to collect all my rings, I ended up with the most sets of gems and eggs. Final scores were Bob 44, Ben 34, Martha 34 and Dave 23.

Once Go and Dragonland were finished, Kevin arrived and Ben left, so we joined for a quick six player game of For Sale. As usual, bidding was somewhat crazy, and several players paid dearly for less than fantastic properties. At the end, Todd was the clear winning seller. Todd 56, Kevin 46, Dave B 45, Bob 45, Martha 36 and Richard 27.

With all games over, we had one hour and nine people. So we started a four and a five player game.

The four player game was Race for the Galaxy with Bob, Dave F, Helen and Todd. While I built a powerful blue planet produce and ship engine, I was several worlds and developments behind; the game ended before I could use the engine much. Todd actually played down thirteen cards to my seven. Still, he wasn't able to stop the RFTG juggernaut that is Dave. Final scores were Dave 36, Todd 34, Bob 33 and Helen 28.

The five players tried to get in a quick play of the tactical race through the London Tube game, On the Underground. Alas, they needed about fifteen more minutes to finish. When they quit at 10PM, Martha was ahead with 29, Kevin 26, Doug 25, Richard 24, and Dave B 16.

Thanks to everyone for coming out!

(All images from Boardgamegeek.com)

Damascus 04/18/08

With the spring, the weather has improved, and our attendance has dropped... We had 13 for our first Friday session in a few weeks...

• David, Noreen, and Corwin Fair
• Jason Cheng
• Rose Byington
• John-Paul Pizzica
• John Stup (Thanks for the reminder, Carol!)
  
• Rick & Linda Pasquale
• Bob, Carol, Rachel and Ben Jones

We started the night with a 5-player game of Darjeeling. While ostensibly about collecting and delivering Tea, the game felt very abstract. It has a clever scoring mechanism, but this, alas, was not enough to raise it above mediocre status. Final scores: Dave 105, Rose 94, John-Paul 29, Jason 29, Noreen 17.

We had more gamers arrive and settled into 2 games, and shortly after these got going, the Jones' arrived. Bob and Carol played a pair of 2-player games, Pick & Pack and Elchfest, as they waited for us to finish. Pick & Pack is a tactical game of moving a shared pawn to pick up crates of apples and trying to score more apples than your opponent, and trying to force them to end the game once you are ahead. Elchfest is a dexterity game that involves flicking stones to make a path for your Elk to cross the river. Carol reports that she "stunk on ice" though i think ice should have helped the Elk cross, unless it was thin ice...Bob won both games.

About this time, Surf's Up Dude ended. Rick won this contest, scoring 53 and followed closely by Jason (48), John (42) and John-Paul (38). No one seemed overly enamored of the game and it's reviews on BGG have been somewhat less than effusive so far. We will see if I can get it played and I will give you my thoughts then...

A back-and-forth see-saw game of Tichu finally ended. Linda & Noreen emerged victorious, 1155 to 845 over David & Rose, going out 1-2 on the final hand to cement the win.

Titan: the Arena is a rethemed and updated, and much more popular version of Grand National Derby by Reiner Knizia. In this betting game, players bet on monsters battling in arenas, killing the weak, and hoping the ones they have bet on survive. Bob and Carol tied for the win (with Bob getting the official Cheesy tiebreaker) with 12 points, followed by John Paul with 10, and Rick and Jason with 8 each.

In Hanging Gardens, players compete to take cards and build temple structures that allow them to grab scoring tiles. Then those tiles are collected into sets at the end of the game and scored. It is a fairly light and quick puzzle game with nice components. Jason won with 66 points, followed by John-Paul with 39 and Dave with 37.

More 3-player gaming goodness came with another Knizia classic, Samurai. Players use hexagonal tiles to surround cities, which have one to three different figures: rice paddies, buddhas, or high hats. The tiles represent influence on particular facets of the cities, and the highest influence on a figure when the city is surrounded takes that figure. The object of the game is to have more of any one else in one category, and then have the most remaining figures. Jason failed to achieve a majority in any one category and so was ineligible to win, while both John-Paul and I had majorities in a single type of figure. However, I had 5 pieces that were not in my majority, compared to John-Paul's three, and thus was I able to secure the win.

We had a few more minutes, so Jason, John-Paul and I finished with a three-player game of Sticheln. Despite a strong lead going into the third hand (17 vs 8 & -11), I was unable to hold on to the win when faced with the determination of my opponents. Final scores: Jason 16, David 8, John-Paul -8.

The final game of the night was a 4-player game of Agricola. The farming game from Uwe Rosenberg has been a huge hit with our group, and me especially. I have found that 4 player is a lot harder than it seems initially as the amount of resources that enter the game is lower per-player than almost any other form of the game. The final scores were:

• Noreen 16 (no fields or crops, no animals, 4 pastures, 5 empty spaces, 2 stables, a 4-room Clay Hut, 3 people, 7 points from improvements, and 1 begging card)
• Carol 33 (3 fields and a a good supply of grain and veggies, sheep but no other animals, 3 empty spaces, 1 stables, a 6-room clay hut, 5 people and 5 points for improvements)
• Rick 34 (no fields but 3 pastures, no crops, but 8 points for his animals, only 2 empty spaces, 3 stables, a 4-room Clay Hut, 4 family members, a 4 points for improvements and bonuses)
• Bob 45 (4 fields, 4 pastures, a few crops, but only 2 points from animals, 2 empty spaces, no stables, a 5-room stone house, 5 family members and 11 points from improvements and bonuses) (Bob gets a small asterisk here as it was discovered that he paid insufficient reeds to expand his house at one point)

Reminder - Gaming is on for Friday April 25 at Damascus, and for Saturday April 26 in Middletown. The following week is Games day in Timonium, and there will be no gaming on Friday night in Damascus.

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.

Germantown 04/07/08

Monday night was a rare two week in a row session due to March having a fifth Monday. Despite this, we had a good crowd of gamers.

Attendance:

• Leslie Barkley
• Kevin Bealer
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Shannon and Aubrey Bell
• Todd Heidenreich
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob Jones
• Carol Loman
• Mike Mullins
• Mattie Pascual
• Helen Powell

I arrived to find Doug, Todd and Carol setting up for San Juan. I figured more people would arrive shortly, so I declined to join them. That turned out to be something of a mistake, but eventually more people started to arrive. San Juan gets a good amount of play in our group and rightly so. It's a fabulous game. Final scores were Doug 50, Todd 32 and Carol 31.

When Mike, Aubrey and Shannon arrived, I taught them my favorite abstract game (a genre I'm not overly fond of) by my favorite designer, Reiner Knizia. That game is the fabulous Einfach Genial (Ingenious) in which your final score is your lowest score of the six colors. The players were fairly aggressive at blocking but I started getting "genials" and thought I had walked away with the win. Alas, while I got an impressive five "genials", my lowest score was 12 which meant that Mike's 13 made him the winner. Scores were Mike 13, 14, 14, 17, 18, 18, Bob 12, 18, 18, 18, 18, 18, Aubrey 8, 10, 12, 17, 18, 18 and Shannon 7, 12, 13, 18, 18, 18.

Dave and Martha arrived and so joined the San Juan folk for Metro, laying track in the Paris Metro to score your trains and make your opponents' trains finish prematurely. Todd came through with a commanding victory. Todd 58, Dave B 49, Doug 37, Carol 33, and Martha 25.

Mattie joined the Einfach group so we played three rounds of the quick card game Poison. The goal is to take as few cards as possible (especially the Poison cards) and the lowest score wins. Kevin arrived after one round so we gave him the average of the first round scores. Scores were Kevin 5+3+0 = 8, Mike 5+2+6=13, Shannon 0+7+10=17, Mattie 13+4+0=17, Aubrey 7+8+2=17 and Bob 10+6+2=18.

When Helen arrived, she convinced Doug and Todd to play Race for the Galaxy so the rest of us broke out the push-your-luck game Diamant. Diamant plays up to eight players who venture into the mines for gems and treasure, trying to avoid the mortal dangers within. Hilariously, I died in each of the first four mines while Martha's conservative strategy put her into the lead. In the fifth and final mine, with four revealed dangers, I pushed on after everyone else had fled. The strategy paid off big time as some high scoring cards were revealed. I had a tough decision on when to stop in order to pass Martha and I picked correctly, fleeing when I had accumulated 33 gems. Final scores were Bob 33, Martha 24, Shannon 22, Kevin 17, Aubrey 16, Mattie 16, Dave 11, Mike 9.

Meanwhile, in Race for the Galaxy, Helen put together a successful resource engine and won her first game. Helen 44, Todd 35, and Doug 32.

After Diamant finished and Mattie went back to studying, we broke into two groups. Martha, Dave, Aubrey and Shannon decided to play perennial favorite, Ticket to Ride. With many games under her belt, Martha is a serious contender now and took the win. Martha 131, Dave 122, Aubrey 119, and Shannon 89.

Meanwhile, I taught Mike and Kevin one of my favorite games, the tile laying influence game Samurai. It was a rather vicious game with many twists. To be eligible to win, you have to have the most of one of the three types of figures. Mike ended up with the most Buddhas, Kevin with the most High Helmets. Alas, after Mike's last turn capture of a rice field, I tied with him for the most rice fields and so was ineligible for the win. Mike won with the most remaining figures. Well played! Mike 6 (most Buddhas), Kevin 3 (most High Helmets), Bob n/a (tied for most rice fields with Mike).

After Race for the Galaxy, Todd, Doug and Helen were joined by Leslie. They decided to again play the very similar but still excellent San Juan. Final scores were Todd 41, Helen 35, Doug 33 and Leslie 24.

Thanks for a fun night! See you next time.

Germantown 03/31/08

Hey everyone! As the fifth Monday of the month rolled around, we found ourselves at Borders. What a shock!

• Leslie Barkley
• Shannon and Aubrey Bell
• Dave and Martha Briggs
• Dave Fair
• Doug Hoylman
• Bob and Ben Jones
• Carol Loman
• Mike Mullins
• Helen Powell
• Eric and Laura Reinhold
• and a new player, Mattie Pascual

First up was one of two known zoo-building games, O Zoo le Mio. We don't play this often enough as it's a fun, cute game with some strategy. Doug was the most adept at designing his zoo, with final scores of Doug 107, Laura 98, Dave Fair 91 and Eric 75.

Meanwhile, the Settlers of Catan dice game, Die Siedler von Catan – Das Würfelspiel, was taught to Carol, Leslie and first-timer, Mattie. Mattie charged right out of the gate, winning 88 to Carol's 69 and Leslie's 48.

I arrived with Ben in tow to find Dave Fair waiting. Ben is often reluctant to learn new games but loves Star Wars so we broke out the light card game of space warfare, Mag-Blast. I started out strong, adding ships to my fleet and taking some big shots. Sadly, my defenses failed at a crucial moment on the turn before I was to take out Dave's flagship. Instead, an attack on my aft flank resulted in the destruction of my flagship. Ben's demise occurred soon after, giving Dave control of the galaxy.

At another table, a battle for another galaxy was being fought in the wildly popular card game, Race for the Galaxy. This was a very close game with Eric winning over Laura by the tie-breaker. Final scores were Eric 32, Laura 32, Mike 30, and Leslie 17.

Meanwhile, Doug taught the hefty development and dice-rolling game, Kingsburg. This was a somewhat long game which ended up pretty close. Dave Briggs was the winner with 39, Mattie (an impressive second place finish in her second game with us) 34, Martha 33, Doug 32, and Carol 27.

Between games, Eric and Mike played the Moose skipping, flicking game Elchfest, where players try to move a moose across a river by flicking stepping stones for him to stand on. Mike proved the more dexterous and won.

With the arrival of Helen, Shannon and Aubrey, Dave and I broke out the game of mining development, saloons, and dynamite, Boomtown. I fared particularly badly while Shannon and Helen fought for first. In the end, Shannon won with 117, Helen 106, Dave 51, Aubrey 50 and Bob 42.

Ben taught Leslie one of his favorite games, the two-player Star Wars lightsaberin' card game, Clash of the Lightsabers. Leslie did what I can't seem to do and beat Ben in two games straight.

When we hit 9PM, we geared up for the last games of the night. A quartet of hearty folk decided to get in a quick second game of Race to the Galaxy. This was risky as the game can take more than an hour. To my surprise, they did manage to finish on time. Dave walked away with the victory using a heavy shipping strategy. Dave 58, Aubrey 32, Helen 28 and Mike 23.

Meanwhile, I took everyone left and we played a couple of quick filler games. First up was Coloretto, the card game on which Zooloretto is based. In a very close game, I won with 35 to Shannon's 33 and Eric's 29.

Finally, Dave Briggs, Leslie and Ben joined us for some card-slapping fun with It's Mine. In this quick game, one person starts laying cards face up on the table. When you want to collect them, you slap the mat. There are several different cards which allow different scoring, including negative points, so you have to watch carefully and slap quickly. I was ahead after the first scoring round, but collecting a huge pile of cards on the second round gave Leslie a narrow victory. Final scores were Leslie 18+33=51, Bob 25+25=50, Eric 4+30=34, Shannon 12+2=14, and Ben/Dave B 13+0=13. (Dave took over for Ben.)

Middletown March 29, 2008

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!!!

Damascus 03/28/08

We had sixteen gamers on Friday...

• David, Noreen, Corwin & Andrew Fair
• Jason Cheng
• Rose Byington
• Steve Lollis
• David & Martha Briggs
• John Stup
• Bob, Carol, Rachel & Ben Jones
• Helen Powell
• Dave Fogel

While the kids rocked out with Rock Band and Guitar Hero II & III and shot each other to pieces with Halo 3, we atarted out with the bargain-hunting game, Schnappchen Jagd. This is an excellent trick-taking game, and one we don't play often enough. Noreen (11) won over David (9) and Jason (4).

Next up was Alhambra (w/Expansion #2), and I had almost forgotten how much fun this can be with fewer players. I know i am one of the people who has, in the past, said that the game is fine with 6, but it really does play much better with fewer. We played with the City Gates and Diamonds from expansion 2, and it made things interesting. Jason had a big wall early on, and a lot of white buildings, and Steve took over Purple's by the third scoring, but this was not enough to overcome Dave's combination of lead in Red and Green, and long wall. Final scores: Dave 131, Jason 102, Steve 98, Rose 72.

We polished off a pair of back-to-back Race for the Galaxy games, with the first game going to Jason over Dave and Bob, 31-23-20, on the strength of his consumption chips, mostly. Game two went to Dave, who had a lot of points on the table, and a moderate number on consumption chips, and the only 6-dev card. Bob consumed for more than 2/3rds of his total points! Final Scores: Dave 38, Bob 29, Jason 26.

At this time, the Agricola game ended, and it seems in doing a Monday Morning Audit, the score sheet had a few errors... Namely, Noreen added points to David and Martha for empty spaces, while deducting them from her own score. This changed what was thought to have been a tie into a win for Noreen (30), followed by Martha (24), and David B (17).

Next up was Timbuktu, an interesting game from Dirk Henn. the theme is one of camels moving in caravans across the desert, carrying goods, but as we move, thieves will attack and steal from the camels. Bob showed once again that he is in league with the dark ones, making sure we were all stolen from while his camels traveled in relative safety. Final scores: Bob 164, Dave 143, Jason 141, Rose 64.

The theme of Diamant has the players scrambling in and out of mines trying to grab gems and avoid disasters. The disasters in this game were plentiful tonight, and it lead to some rather low scores. Final Scores: Martha 20, Noreen, 9, David B. 6, Dave Fogel 0. Ouch!

Another push-your-luck game, this time themed around birds chasing food, is Pickomino. This game uses dice, not cards, but it still takes a mix of luck and skill to win. Final scores: Martha 9 (and the tiebreaker), David B. 9, Noreen 0, David Fogel 0. Again, ouch!

Sequels rarely live up to the original, but that is not the case with Rails of Europe. A tighter board, a shorter game, and a more unforgiving economy make the game an excellent addition for rail game fans. Bob showed he can win on the continent even if not in the colonies. Final scores: Bob 71, Dave Fair 54, Rose 53, David Fogel 51. Look how the scores are grouped. Except for Bob, we all sucked about the same!

Finally, the longest game of Imperial in recorded history came to a close. this is usually a fast game with little downtime between turns, but something made this game go for almost 4 hours. In the end, Helen (201) won the marathon, over Carol (176), Steve (171) and a very tired John (131).

Reminder!
There will be no gaming at Damascus again until 04/18/08.
See you then, and everyone have some great gaming while we are gone!

Damascus 03/21/08

Twenty Gamers, Eighteen Games, and herein lies the tale...

• David & Noreen Fair
• Rick & Linda Pasquale
• Doug Hoylman
• Jason Cheng
• Rose Byington
• Lance Slifka
• Raphael Lehrer
• David & Martha Briggs
• Marshall Miller
• John Stup & Mary Lou Ballew
• Steve Lollis
• Bob, Carol, and Ben Jones
• Dan Hucker
• Chris Johnson

Corwin had a fever this evening and stayed home, and Andrew stayed home to take care of him. this meant Ben was on his own, but he played xBox most of the evening.

We started with a quick 4-player game of Dragon Parade... it uses a now-familiar mechanism of using the same cards to score that you use to move, but has a nice complex method of scoring to keep the tension up... Dave (16) won, followed by Rose (15), Jason (14) and Doug (8).

Rick and Raphael got in a quick game of Hive, the game of insect swarms which is better than it sounds like it would be, which Raphael won.

We played a game of Edel, Stein, and Reich. This is game in which you try to outmaneuver your opponents by taking actions no one else wants. It can be tough to out think everyone... Lance (64) won, followed by Jason (60), Rose (59), Doug (45) and Dave (40).

A game of Pow-Wow was started, but aborted early on...

Yspahan hasn't seen much light of late, but Raphael (102) made a run of it with Martha (76) and David B (38). i think 3 might be the sweet spot for that game...

We played Blue Moon City (sans Expansions) and had a nice close game of it. John (4) won one turn ahead of Dave's (3) ability to win, who was one turn ahead of Doug's (3) ability to win. May Lou (2) played well in her first game with us.

In Mykerinos, players attempt to gain favor with British Lords and Ladies, getting their help in making successful archaeological digs and shows. Bob (55) managed the process well, and took the win, followed by David B. (44), Martha (41) and Marshall (40).

It can be hard to get longer games to the table, but Raphael (270) and Lance (187) played Through the Ages, a lengthy but deep card-based Civilization building game.

Building Casinos and Hotels is the theme of Vegas Showdown, which sounds like it involves gambling, but does not. Rick (68) had a good game of it, followed by Chris (55), dan (53), Steve (49), and Carol (40).

Around the World in 80 Days follows (loosely) the theme of the Jules Verne book of the same name, buts pits the players as racers competing to be first. This day, it was John (61) who did it quickest, followed by Mary Lou (69), and Martha (78). David B did not, alas, ever reach London.

Not many games take the theme of serving drunks during Oktoberfest, so Goldbrau fills a rather interesting void. In reality, it is a stock manipulation game with a nice theme. Bob (85) managed the win followed by Jason (74), Marshall (57) and Doug (46).

A trio of Tichu games... the first had Jason & Noreen in a decisive win over Rose & Linda, 1020 to 280... The next two games pitted Linda & Dave against Noreen & Rose. It took a few hands but the first game was won decisively by Dave & Linda when they went on a tear, making 2 Tichu calls and getting 4 1-2's in 5 hands to win 1195 to 405. the next game was just a decisive, but for Noreen & Rose, who scored 3 1-2's of their own, and set their opponents twice to win 1035 to -135.

Dilbert: Corporate Shuffle is a fun game which re-themes the classic game A$$hole into one of corporate ladder climbing. Steve and Dan (15 each) shared a victory, followed by Rick (13), Carol (7) and Chris (4), who spent many rounds as a Jr. Intern.

A trio of Race for the Galaxy games were played. One of the nicest things about this game is how well it plays with differing numbers, and how fast it is for such a deep game. In game one, Marshall (46) won over Jason (41), Doug (37) and Steve (31). In game two, Raphael won 37 to 27 over Marshall, who got his revenge, winning game three on a tiebreaker, 52 to 52. A very high-scoring and close game!

Finally, Agricola was the last game of the night, and despite my trouble with the scoring, manged to be a very close and good game. David (58) won with a board filled with Sheep, Veggies and Grain, followed by Bob (50) who had a strong hand with good card bonuses. Dan (30) was next, scoring very high in his first game, followed by Chris (24) who likewise did very well. Carol (19) made a crucial error early, forgetting she had a Simple Fireplace in hand, and ended up losing several actions, and having to take a begging card. This hurt a great deal, and she ended the game in last place.

Looking forward to more great gaming... See you Friday!

In Memoriam

Jim Musser, a longtime Game Designer and Editor has passed away. Jim was Karl Musser's Father, and Karl is a contributor here, as well as a friend. My condolences on your father's passing, Karl.

Karl writes:

My father, Jim Musser, passed away today after a long battle with Cirrhosis. Jim spent most of his life working as an editor and journalist for the Chicago Tribune, but his real passion was games. He contributed to many aspects of the gaming industry; as a game designer for Mayfair Games; as a writer and editor for Mayfair, FASA, and TSR; and as a game store owner and manager in Chicago.

And of course as a gamer. I was pretty well doomed as he introduced me to both board games and role-playing games almost as soon as I could read. Thank you father for a wonderful hobby. Who knows, perhaps some of his unpublished games will see the light of day yet.

Gaming Credits:

• Game Designer for Mayfair Games: Designer of Alibi, Road to the Whitehouse, and the re-design of Cosmic Encounter and its expansions.
• Editor for Mayfair Games: DC Heroes and Chill product lines
• Editor and writer for FASA: Battletech, Shadowrun, Star Trek, and Renegede Legion lines
• Editor and writer for TSR: AD&D: Tales of Enchantment, Forgotten Realms: Cormyr
• Retail: owned The Gamer's Place in Oak Park, Illinois; managed The Emperor's Headquarters in Chicago, Illinois

Our thoughts are with you and your family, Karl. Your father touched a lot of people with the games he worked on and the stores he ran, and we are all thankful for his work.