October 11, 2012 Session Report

Eight for tonight's session:  Mike, Ben, Tim, Jack, Jason (now up to three sessions and eligible for GCOM Associate Membership), John B, Helen and myself were the attendees.  Games played list:  Piece o Cake, Ticket to Ride - Asia, Power Grid, 7 Wonders and Straw.

Piece o Cake, a good opener which we played five-player for the first time, and the game seems to be even more difficult with a full table.  Another close one, with Tim winning by one.  Scores:  Tim 29, John W 28, Mike 26, Ben 21, Jack 15.

The two longer games of the evening were Ticket to Ride with the new legendary Asia map and Power Grid with the regular US map.  Ticket to Ride-Asia was a three-player, won by Tim by a wide margin.  He had 125 points, ending the game while Jack and I each had uncompleted tickets.  Jack took the 10-point Asia explorer bonus for the most connected cities to edge me for second, 86 to 84.

Power Grid came down to the money tiebreaker, and Helen built to 15 when she and Mike had the capacity to power 13.  Helen correctly surmised that Mike had less money, so final scores were Helen 13 (31 electros), Mike 13 (26), Ben 12, Jason 11, John B 10.  I believe it was Jason's first play, and he managed to finish ahead of an experienced player like John.

Jack, Tim and I managed to squeeze in a three-player 7 Wonders.  This was Jack's first play, and the finals scores were John W 61, Tim 48, Jack 41.  I managed to max out my military at 18, while Tim had over half his points (28) come from Science.

There was a half hour left, and we played a game called Straw, which Jack had brought, which was new to everyone except Jack.  Good quick filler, and Helen and Jack were tied for first at 86, I was next at 71, followed by Tim (56) and John B (48).  John B broke the camel's back twice, Helen never, while the rest of us each did so once in the five hands that were played.

Reminder that you have one week left (until Thursday October 18th) to pre-register for EuroQuest:

http://euroquest.gamesclubofmd.org

Pre-reg form here:

http://www.boardgamers.org/specific/registereq.htm