April 24, 2008 Session Report

Well, it was just four of us in attendance this week as Clayton, Gabe, Paul and I played a total of four games: R-Eco, San Juan, Kingsburg and Empyrean.

First up was R-Eco. An environmental/recycling game seemed appropriate for Earth Week, but it turned out to be counterproductive as each of us (myself being the last) managed to visit the illegal trash dump more than once. Final scores were Gabe 14, John 9, Clayton 4, Paul 2.

Still thinking more people might show, our second game was another quickie: San Juan. I managed to build out to 12 buildings with the Guild Hall/City Hall combo giving me 17 bonus points for a total of 36. Gabe, who had the other Guild Hall, finished second with 29, followed by Paul (27) and Clayton (16).

At this point it was around 7, so we just decided to opt for a bit longer game -- Kingsburg. We played with the standard rules and, with some good "aid from the king rolls," noone suffered a defeat in the winter battles (making the game too easy perhaps?). Gabe was plagued by some low die rolls early in the game, while Clayton raced to an early lead with Gabe and I not far behind, with Paul trailing early. Then Clayton and Paul filled out the Embassy (bottom) row and started to catch up. I went for some good defensive buildings and, by the end of the game, three of us had a Wizard's Guild (plus 2 in battle) but noone had the Farm for the extra die but -1 in battle. Gabe was behind in buildings, but benefited from the extra die in the spring and use of the Envoy. The die rolls seemed to even out in the end, as Clayton's good luck turned sour, and Gabe got some better rolls. In the end, it was a really close finish: final scores were Gabe and John 45, Paul 40, Clayton 37. Gabe and I had to check the tiebreakers -- most cubes (still tied, we spent them all on soldiers and had none left) and finally, most buildings, so I came out on top.

We finished Kingsburg in just under a couple of hours and had time left for another game, so Gabe taught us Empyrean, Inc. which proved to be an interesting set-collecting card game with some different twists. The taxation phase is a great equalizer and, along with turn order considerations, proved to be a decisive factor in our game as I got a set started that Gabe really wanted for himself. The game came down to the wire with Clayton one card away from winning when I got the two cards I needed to fill out my sets and win the game.

Next week, a few of us will be at Games Days but the club will be open. We dropped off some flyers and will be promoting the club both at Games Days and at the Laurel Main Street Festival the following week.

Also, some good news ... there will be some funds available for purchase of new games, but we need to prioritize the list as not all the requested funds were approved. Please post suggestions here or forward them to me -- I plan to submit a list to John Goon (who is the key contact person) by Wednesday.