Saturday, January 29, 2011

January 27, 2011 Session Report

Some inclement weather kept some people away (perhaps also because the CC center had an erroneous message on their automated answering line suggesting that activities might be canceled), but four intrepid gamers made it to this week's session: Patrick, Eugene, Mike and myself.

Mike and I got there first and fooled around with a two-player game we had both bought, Railroad Barons, but we didn't really play it. Then I introduced the group to Era of Inventions, and we had fun inventing stuff for much of the evening -- Patrick invented the telephone and the camera, Mike invented the typewriter, Eugene the phonograph and eventually the airplane, I came up with the cash register, sewing machine and automobile. Eugene and Mike expanded their factories, while Patrick and I spent time recycling cubes and money by cashing in on bonuses for producing inventions. Final scores were John 34, Eugene 30, Patrick 24, Mike 20.

Then we wrapped up the evening with 7 Wonders, which wound up a runaway win for Eugene, who had 47 just in science. Final scores: Eugene 60, John 49, Mike 48, Patrick 41.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

January 20, 2011 Session Report

For the third week in succession we had nine attendees, including (making his first appearance at our club) Karl Musser, the host at GCOM-Brunswick. Rounding out the attendees were Greg, Mike, Doug, Paul, Erik (back for his second week in a row), Patrick, Tim and myself. We played Word on the Street, De Vulgari Eloquentia, Tales of Arabian Nights and Ingenious (twice).

First up was a two-team tug-of-war of words, Word on the Street, which Greg had brought. It was a close contest, won 8-7 by the team of Greg, Doug and Paul over the team of myself, Mike and Patrick, after my word "fluff" which would have dramatically shifted the balance of power was rejected.

We then split into two groups after more people arrived. I had brought a fairly new game, De Vulgari Eloquentia, where players were scholars in Renaissance Italy going around collecting stuff, possibly becoming Cardinals and even Pope. Five of us started the game, but Karl had to leave around 9 and the game still had a bit to go. The game actually went the entire 16 turns and turned out to be a very close one, ending a tie: John 50 Paul 50 Patrick 49 Mike 44. I managed to eke out the win on the most knowledge tiebreak, but Paul ended the game as Pope. Just call him "Pope Paul" when he shows up next week.

The other group (consisting of Doug, Erik, Tim and Greg) played Tales of Arabian Nights which was won by Doug. They then had time for a couple of games of Ingenious, which were won both times by Erik.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

January 13, 2011 Session Report

For the second week in a row, we had nine in attendance but not the same nine as the prior week. Erik (first time at our club) was there, along with Mike, Doug, Paul, Lee, Greg, Rodney, Patrick and myself. Games played: 7 Wonders (three times!), Princes of Florence, Power Grid - Japan, Navegador. Some details follow.

First game up was 7 Wonders. After some shuffling, we wound up with a five-player game and I recorded my first win after about 10 tries. Not a high score, however, final count was John 49, Rodney 46, Doug 45, Paul 40, Eric 33. The other group of four played Power Grid-Japan, which was won by Lee (15 cities powered) ahead of Mike and Patrick (12 cities each) after Greg, who came in last with just 9 cities powered, kingmakered the game for Lee. At least that's what I was told.

Erik, Doug, Rodney, Paul and I played Princes of Florence -- the newer version (which Greg had brought) but without the new rules. Erik was new to the game, but he managed to come in second. Final scores: John 62, Erik 53/200 florins, Doug 53/100 florins, Rodney 50, Paul 31. By then the Power Grid game was finished and we re-split into two groups.

One group played 7 Wonders two more times. Final scores: Erik 55, Mike 51, Rodney 44, Doug 43, Paul 40. Second game: Doug 65 (high score of the night and perhaps at the club thus far), followed by Mike 56 Rodney 53 Erik 51 Paul 29.

The other game was Navegador, Patrick and I introduced it to Lee and Greg. Greg seemed to catch on, Lee did not. We only managed to get into the third shipping age when time ran out. We scored anyway: Greg 52 Patrick 51 John 48 Lee 35

Sunday, January 9, 2011

January 6, 2011 Session Report

Started off the New Year with a nice jump in attendance -- a total of nine, and we had a literal three-ring circus with three games in progress for much of the evening. Joining me for this initial 2011 session were Mike, Greg, Doug, Patrick, Paul, Neil, Eric and Tim. Games played: 7 Wonders, Poseidon, Navegador, For Sale (played three times) and Railways of the World, using the Mexico map.

First up was 7 Wonders, which is rapidly becoming a new club favorite. Paul, who had won the prior week, continued his winning ways but this time it was much closer in the final scores: Paul 62, John 60, Doug 50, Patrick 49, Greg 49, Neil (assisted by Eric) 47, Mike 45. My game score was improved by 48 points in Science, good enough for second but not good enough to win, given my lack of Military points.

Tim arrived and, after a few minutes of discussion, we split into three three-player games. At one table, it was Greg, Mike and I playing Poseidon, an 18xx-style game based on shipping to ancient Greek islands that Mike had brought. Since I had pre-ordered the game, I was interested in seeing how it went. Pleasantly surprised, although it turned out we missed one rule and also were unable to reach the finish, getting to the start of the final set of operating rounds. We counted up and had a really close finish: John 2764, Greg 2538, Mike 2538 -- a virtual tie for second!

The Railways of the World game, which Eric had brought, also took up most of the rest of the session time. Final scores were reported as: Eric 87 Doug 77 Tim 67.

The other group, consisting of Paul, Patrick and Neil, played Navegador, and Paul continued his winning streak, but Patrick came much closer than the game from last week. Final scores were Paul 83 Neil 78 Patrick 67 -- heard Paul used the Explorer strategy which once again paid off. This threesome then played three games of For Sale to wrap up the evening, the first two of these were won by Paul, but then Partick succeeded to take the final game, thus preventing a clean sweep for Paul, who had won four games in a row to that point.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

December 30, 2010 Session Report

There were just three of us (Patrick, Paul and myself) for the final session of 2010. We played three different games: 7 Wonders, Navegador and finally Family Business.

First up was 7 Wonders, as we went for a short game in the hope that others might show up. Paul won, playing just for the second time. Scores were fairly close, Paul 48, John 44, Patrick 41. Paul had a perfect 18 pts in Military, completed his Wonder, added some blue points while ignoring Science and Guilds. I had 25 points in Science which wasn't enough to make up for weaknesses in other categories. Patrick did well in blue, green and purple but was the weakest in military points.

We then played Navegador, the fourth in the series of rondel games -- other games include Imperial and Hamburgum. This was a close game, Paul coming out on top again, scores: Paul 85 John 84 Patrick 69. Paul dominated in the Explorer category, collecting seven tokens with a multiplier of 7. I was strong in Factories and Churches but weak in exploring and shipyards. Enjoyed the game, think it will play better with four or five.

Final game was a Mafia game, Family Business, brought by Patrick. I got out to an early lead and was targeted by Paul, which made me the first one to have his gang eliminated. But Patrick had the last laugh, as he had the most gangsters remaining when the Mob Wars accelerated toward the end, thus preventing Paul from sweeping all three games.

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year and looking forward to seeing more of you at our sessions in 2011!