May 26, 2011 Session Report

Very good turnout of 11 for our last session before the shortened hours (6 - 9 PM) for the summer season. We had one first-timer, Rembert, along with Greg (who we hadn't seen at the club for awhile), Ron, Paul, Mike, Tim, Eric S, Patrick, Doug M, Brian and myself. Games played: Settlers of Catan, Cheeky Monkey, Power Grid, Ascension, 7 Wonders, Vegas Showdown.

One group opted for Settlers (second week in a row). Tim was the winner, first to 10 points, ahead of Ron (9), Paul (8) and Patrick (5). The other group, waiting for others to show, played Cheeky Monkey. Mike came away the winner (44) over Greg (40) in a close one; Eric and I were the also-rans.

The four of us were joined by Rembert, whom I had met at the Beltsville Day gathering a couple of weeks before. We taught Rembert Power Grid, and he managed to finish in the middle of the pack in his first game, played with the US Map, new deck. I had what could have been a winning position spoiled on the last two turns by being unable to buy needed resources (in this case, Oil). This enabled Eric to take the win ahead of Mike on the money tiebreaker, with both being able to power and supply 15 cities. Rembert who got to 14 cities, all powered with nukes, took third. Greg had the capacity to power 15 but could only build to 13, having bought some extra resources to extend the game. Meanwhile, I could only power 10 and wound up last.

The other group welcomed Brian and played 7 Wonders. Paul won with a high Guilds score. Final scores were Paul 68, Patrick 59, Brian 54, Tim and Doug 53, Ron 49. Four of this group then played Ascension, a game Doug H had introduced to the club a few weeks back. Doug M emerged the winner, with 57 points compared to 53 for Patrick, 49 for Tim, 48 for Paul.

Brian joined four of us at the other table for a game of Vegas Showdown. Brian is still new at the game, but he has an impressive unbeaten streak that he managed to maintain -- barely. In an extremely close game, it was Brian once again the winner (47) to John (46), Eric (44), Mike (43) and Greg (42). Five points top to bottom, one of the closest games of Vegas I have ever seen.

So, six different games played, six different winners. A really good session headed into the summer season.