Wednesday, June 29, 2011

June 23, 2011 Session Report

Attendance was down as we only had six for this week's session: Doug H, Paul, Patrick, Mike, Rembert and myself. We played a total of six games: Ascension, Lost Cities, Ticket to Ride - Switzerland (played twice), Black Friday and For Sale.

Ascension was a four-player, won by Mike. Scores were Mike 55, Doug 51, Paul 47, Patrick 39.

Lost Cities, Rembert and I played two hands. First one was low scoring, John 37 Rembert 23. Next hand, scores were quite a bit higher: John 106, Rembert 60.

Ticket to Ride-Switzerland: Game 1, Doug doubled the scores of each of his opponents. Doug had 154, Paul (76) nosed out Patrick (72) for second. Game 2, Doug 135 Paul 102.

Black Friday, another three-player game, won by John (17). Mike was a very close second (16), Rembert was third with 10.

Final game of the evening, For Sale. Scores: John 68K, Mike 50K, Doug 45K, Rembert 39K, Paul 36K.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

June 16, 2011 Session Report

Hard to match last week's attendance, but we were still in double figures this week with a total of 10 attendees. Mike, Paul, Patrick, Doug H, Tim, Eric, Rembert, Doug M, Eugene and I were the group for this evening. We got a total of three games in: 7 Wonders, Airlines Europe and Black Friday.

First up, it was a full table of seven for 7 Wonders. Patrick emerged as the winner. Final scores: Patrick 62, Doug H 56, John 53, Paul 51, Tim 43, Eric 41, Mike 39. Patrick won with a fairly balanced set of scores, going negative in Military (-1) but garnering 22 points in blues, 10 in Science (green) and then a huge 18 for three Guilds in Epoch III to clinch the win.

By then, three others had arrived and we broke into two five-player games for the rest of the evening. One group played Airlines Europe, which Eric had brought. Eric was the winner with Tim a close second. The scores were reported as follows: Eric 98, Tim 87, Paul 80, Doug H 72 and Rembert 66. First play for Rembert and perhaps one or two of the others.

The other game was Black Friday, which I had brought. We barely finished before the 9 o'clock witching hour. Eugene won with 13 silver, others were John (12), Mike (10/76), Doug M (10/9) and Patrick 9. The second number is remaining cash which was the tiebreaker between Mike and Doug for third.

Hope to see everyone next week!

Monday, June 13, 2011

June 9, 2011 Session Report

A big crowd for this most recent session, total attendance of 14 -- our highest in a long time -- credit goes mainly to Eric, who brought his family. We had one first-time attendee (Ryan) along with Rembert (back for his third week in a row, qualifying him for GCOM associate membership) and the rest of the group, which included Doug H, Doug M, Patrick, Greg, Mike, Paul, Eugene, Eric, Mary Jean, Nathan, Ryan S (Eric's son) and myself.

With such a large group, quite a few games were played. Here's my best effort at a recap. Surf's Up Dude, a Moon/Weissblum game depicting surfing, was a five-player that came down to the wire with Rembert taking a narrow win. Final scores: Rembert 59, Doug M 58, Doug H 57, John 47, Patrick 42. Patrick and I got off to a bad start, while Doug M collected five (!) beach babes. Doug H had the early lead but kind of got hammered on the later waves due to the big bulls eye on his back by that time.

Ryan S won a three-player game of Monopoly Deal. The others in the game were Mary Jean and Nathan. Meanwhile, Ryan's Dad, Eric, won a five-player game of Airlines Europe (another Alan Moon game), nosing out the other Ryan (86 to 80). Others in the game were Paul (77), Greg (64) and Mike (51).

For the next round of games, Eugene joined Rembert, Doug M and myself for a four-player Vegas Showdown and came away the winner. Final scores: Eugene 72, Doug M 64, John 63, Rembert 49. I believe it was Rembert's first game.

The other games were Puerto Rico and Cheeky Monkey. Cheeky Monkey was won by Nathan, with a nice score of 36 ahead of his Dad, Eric, in second with 33. Ryan S (9) and Mary Jean (6) brought up the rear.

The four-player Puerto Rico game saw Paul try an unusual tobacco denial strategy (taking tobacco plantations during the Settler phase just to deny them to other players). The strategy did not work, and the final scores were Mike 44, Doug H 39, Paul 36, Ryan D 25.

Thanks to everyone for the good turnout. Let's keep it up.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

June 2, 2011 Session Report

Attendance hit nine for our first session of 2011 with the summer hours. Attendees included Patrick, Mike, Paul, Doug H, Tim, Rembert, Brian, Doug M and myself. Games played: Cheeky Monkey, Thurn and Taxis, Settlers of Catan, Ra, Cloud Nine.

First up was Cheeky Monkey, a relatively short game while waiting for everyone to show up. Patrick, who was the last to join the game, was the winner, with 23 points. Paul tied for first with 23 but the tiebreaker -- highest bonus tile -- meant Patrick, who had the most money, was the winner.

We then split into two groups as more people arrived. One group played Settlers of Catan. It was a close game, filling most of the remaining time, won by Doug H who came from behind. Final scores: Doug (10), Patrick (9), Tim and Rembert (7).

The other group got in two games: first, Thurn and Taxis, which we haven't played at the Laurel club for a long time. Winner was Mike (26) ahead of John (22), Doug M (19) and Paul (5). By then Brian had arrived, and we played a five-player game of Ra. Mike scored an even more crushing win, with a total of 68 (!) points, almost double that of second place, who was Doug M (38). John (32), Paul (31) and Brian (16) also played.

Finally, we wrapped up the session with a quick game of Cloud Nine which featured two 25-point balloon trips. Brian took the win with 63 points, ahead of Paul (55), Mike (43), Doug H (39), John (35) and Rembert (32).

After the session I learned Brian is planning on moving out of the area, so we will miss him at future club sessions and wish him well. He did say he will try to stop in from time to time if his future travels in connection with work bring him close to Laurel on Thursday evenings.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

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.