July 16, 2009 Session Report

Highlight of the session was the appearance of Corey Kliewer, a local area game designer who brought his card game PowerMage 54 which was played in the second part of the session. We were also pleased to welcome back Sarah to the group. Greg, Paul, Doug, Ron, Clayton, Neil and myself were the other attendees, for a total of nine.

PowerMage 54 is a card game where cards come in four suits, either Health, Attack, Defense or "Thump" cards. Thump cards need either a leader (one of 12 face cards) or a joker to take effect. The object is to knock down the other player's health to zero or less while avoiding that result. We had a large group of eight playing the game (everyone but Clayton) so Corey added some cards from a second deck. First out was guess who, me, guess I attacked the game designer one too many times, and he wiped me out with a strong attack. Next to go was Greg, who was teetering on the brink with just four health for a long time. Then Corey and Sarah got knocked out in quick succession, and then it was a four-player game that went back and forth while several runs through the deck meant everyone's health was cut in half then halved again, speeding the game along to its inevitable conclusion. In the end, Doug emerged the winner and promptly purchased the game. Second was Neil (who had already bought the game), followed by Ron and Paul.

In addition to PowerMage 54, we played Can't Stop (won by Sarah over Clayton, Greg and Doug) and Roll Through the Ages (won by John over Ron and Paul, close game 20 for John to 18 for Ron). Next round of games saw Wasabi, another close game and another win for John (25) to 23 for Sarah and 21 for Doug. The other game was Carcassone-Discovery, the light blue box game which limits the number of meeples in play. Ron won with a score of 50; Neil, Clayton, Paul and Greg also played and finished in that order, scores not available. This same group of five got in one round of TransAmerica, which was won by Ron.

The final game of the evening was Qwirkle Cubes, which could also be called the "PowerMage losers' table." Greg, Sarah and I competed for the consolation prize and the game was won by Greg who came from behind after Sarah had built an early lead. Final scores were Greg 131, Sarah 111, John 104. (The only way I got over 100 was the six-point bonus for ending the game, putting me out of my misery.)

Big thanks to Corey for bringing his game, he also made a few sales as well.