February 16, 2012 Session Report

Seven in attendance, and a total of four different games were played at this session. Jay (who was attending for the first time) joined club regulars Mike, Doug, Ron, Tim, Rembert and myself.

We started off with a quick game of Cloud Nine. The Gods seemed to be on the side of the balloonists this evening, as there were some fairly successful trips which meant a short game. Winner was Ron (56) followed by John (43), Mike (27), Doug H (22), Jay (19). I made the mistake of bailing out early when in second place, allowing Ron to float a bit higher and cinch the win as everyone else was too far back to catch him.\

Jay had brought Shadow Hunters, which we played with a full table of seven. I got lots of clues but had trouble figuring out who was who right until the end. Doug revealed himself to be a 14-point shadow, but everyone took shots at him. I was a neutral and my victory condition was to take out a high-hit guy, so I went after Mike who was a 14-point hunter because Doug had some defensive ability, but the dice foiled me. Jay, who was revealed as a Shadow, was taken out, and then Mike managed to take out Doug, who was the last remaining Shadow, so the Hunters (Mike and Rembert) won. At least that's what my notes say. In addition to the fact that Tim, by remaining alive until the end, was a winning Neutral.

We split into two groups for the rest of the evening. One group played Puerto Rico, with the new 10th anniversary edition. The four-player game was won by Mike (56) who executed a big shipper strategy with lots of corn, a warehouse, no wharf, but yet he rarely got blocked out of the boats. Jay (49) had three large buildings to place second, while John (39) and Tim (33) brought up the rear. The other game was Roll Through the Ages, and the result there was a very close game, won by Rembert (28), just ahead of Ron (27) with Doug (20) in third. I believe it was Rembert's first play against some experienced players, so well done by Rembert.

Next week I am planning to attend the PrezCon convention in Charlottesville, so Mike (the official Co-Host) will be in charge of tracking attendance and games played.