Thursday, May 24, 2012

May 24, 2012 Session Report

A huge throng descended upon Laurel Community Center for this week's gaming session:  no fewer than 15 (!) attendees, for our best attendance figure in a long, long time.  Roll call included three Dougs (Doug H, Doug M and Doug G), Jay, Tim, Neville, Mike, Alex, Rembert, half the Sokolowsky clan (Eric, Nathan and Ryan), Kay (a first-time attendee), Ben (back for his second session) and myself.  We played a total of eight games, seven different titles:  Ingenious, Star Trek-Catan, Village, Outpost, 7 Wonders (played twice), Dice Town and Puerto Rico.  We had four games going on for most of the session, which was held in the games room as our regular meeting space in the pre-school room was being used for a one-time event.

Details and scores of the games played follow.

Ingenious was won by Eric.  Scores were Eric 16, Ryan 12, Kay 10, Nathan 6.
Star Trek Catan was won by Mike.  Scores were Mike 10, Neville 6, Doug H 6.  Neville had 8 but Mike took a 2-point bonus card from him to win the game.
Village was a three-player.  Scores were John 52, Ben 39, Alex 31.  Lower scores than usual probably meant we were much more efficient at killing off our people sooner than most games.
Outpost took a bit longer to finish, and it was a close game, a battle of the two Dougs, going to Doug G (81) ahead of Doug M (78).  Jay (66) and Tim (53) were not that far behind.
 Second round of games started with 7 Wonders, Rembert joining Eric, Kay and Ryan while Nathan sat out.  Eric won by just a single point (50 to 49) with Rembert a close second.  Kay had 45, Ryan 39.
The second 7 Wonders game was even closer with even higher scoring:  Doug G 60, Jay 55, Tim and Doug M 54.
Neville had brought Dice Town which he taught to Doug H, Rembert and myself.  Neville was sheriff for most of the first part of the game, and he stole a nice property from me to coast to the win.  Rembert was best of the newcomers.  Final scores:  Neville 46, Rembert 43, John 38, Doug H 37.
Wrapping up the evening was a three-player Puerto Rico.  Mike won with 40 to 39 for Kay and 37 for Alex.  Mike had the edge in shipping while the other two players had multiple big buildings. I believe it was Kay's first play of the game and, if so, he did very well to hang in with PR sharks like Mike and Alex.

Excellent weather and excellent attendance, let's hope both continue after Memorial Day as we head into the summer months.

Monday, May 21, 2012

May 17, 2012 Session Report

Another good week attendance-wise, once again in double-figures, with 10 this session.  Thanks to Jay, Alex, Tim, Mike, Doug, Neville, Patrick, Alan (whom we hadn't seen for awhile) and one newcomer, Ben Auer, for joining me as the club host for an interesting evening of gaming.  We played five games:  Pairamid, Trajan, Agricola, Settlers of the Stone Age and 7 Wonders.  We also had three games going for most of the session, filling up the table space fairly well.

Doug brought Pairamid, a Knizia design I had not seen before, and taught it to Neville and myself.  I managed to eke out a narrow win, 21 to 18 for Doug and 17 for Neville.  The other games were still going on, so we then played an old favorite, Settlers of the Stone Age.  The game was new to Neville who was familiar with basic Settlers so the game was a snap for him to pick up.  I had an early lead which began to erode as the other players traveled successfully to Australia and the Americans while I was stuck in Europe and Asia.  I got to 9 VP but ran out of city-sites in Asia and Europe and belatedly moved to the Americas.  But Doug, who had the max allowable movement, got to claim the last VP token there to take the game, which was extremely close, well-played by all.  Final scores:  Doug 11, John 9, Neville 8.

Ben, Mike, Tim and Patrick played Agricola and managed to finish in less than 2 1/2 hours.  Patrick was the winner.  Final scores:  Patrick 34 Tim 32 Mike 29 Ben 27.

Alan had brought Trajan, and Alex and Jay joined him for a game of this new, hard-to-get ahold of 2011 Essen release.  First time the game has made an appearance at the Laurel club, I believe.  This game finished around the same time as the Agricola game, and it was a win for Jay.  Score counts:  Jay 111, Alex 103, Alan 97.

There was a little more than a half-hour left in the session, and those remaining played a 7-player game, 7 Wonders.  The game moved quickly, for some of us -- too quickly.  The winner was Mike with yours truly in second.  Scores were Mike 64, John 56, Ben 55, Jay 49, Tim 48, Doug 43, Patrick 42.  A nice 1-2 for the club Co-Host and Host.

Thanks again to everyone for coming.  Ben, the one newcomer, had learned of the club at the Main St. Festival so I hope to see him at future sessions.


Tuesday, May 15, 2012

May 10, 2012 Session Report

Nine in attendance for this session:  Jay, Mike, Doug, Rodney, Patrick, Tim, Eugene, Rembert and myself were the participants  Games played;  Cheeky Monkey, Slapshot, Serenissima, Lords of Waterdeep. 

Cheeky Monkey was first up, we had five players.  Jay won a relatively close game, with 28 points.  Following in order were John (23), Doug (20), Mike (10), Rodney (9).  We then broke into two groups.  One group -- Tim, Eugene, Patrick and Jay -- played Serenissima, which Patrick had brought.  The game didn't quite finish, I believe they scored after 6 of 8 turns with Jay (32) the winner, ahead of Patrick (28), Eugene (22) and Tim (15).

The rest of us got in two more games.  One was Slapshot, which was a four-player:  Mike, Doug, Rodney and myself.  Everyone went after Doug's team as it was perceived to be the weakest, until Doug started winning some games and became a threat to make the playoffs.  Rodney's team got off to a strong start and led the way into the playoffs.  I managed to take second and then defeated Rodney's team to take the Stanley Cup!  Good comeback by Doug to be competitive after a miserable start.

We also played Lords of Waterdeep, joined by Rembert to make this one a five-player.  Rodney led most of the way, and he had the most buildings, but somehow I came from behind in the end to win a very close game with Mike and Rodney right behind.  Final scores were:  John 97, Mike 94, Rodney 93, Doug 79, Rembert 75.

Thanks to Rodney, the Laurel Middle Earth host and Mike, the Laurel CC co-host, and everyone else who participated -- including Laurel club attendees (current and past) Eric, Ryan, Nathan, Mary Jean and Sarah -- we had a very successful outing at the Laurel Main Street Festival.  Just learned that there will be a similar event this coming Sunday at the Beltsville Community Center, it's called Beltsville Day, from 12 noon  to 5 PM.  I believe this time the games club will be set up indoors, a good thing if there's bad weather.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

May 3, 2012 Session Report

We had a really good attendance of 11 for this most recent session, including one first-time attendee (Matthew) along with Doug, Neville, Alex, Mike, Jay, Tim, Patrick, Eric, Rembert and myself.  Games played were:  Martian Dice, Lords of Waterdeep, Tikal, Racko, Quarriors and Tsuro (x2).

The Martian Dice game, which was on-going when I arrived, was won by Alex.  We then split into two groups for two longer games:  Lords of Waterdeep and Tikal.  Lords of Waterdeep was a five-player, with Alex nosing out Mike for the win.  Final scores:  Alex 123, Mike 116, John 98, Doug 81, Neville 80.  Neville had jumped to an early lead but faded near the end.

The Tikal game was won by Eric, but the scores were close:  Eric 107, Jay and Patrick 100, Tim 88.  This same group played two games of Tsuro, both won by Eric, which means Eric went unbeaten for the night.

Rembert and Nathan arrived while Lords of Waterdeep and Tikal were on-going, and they hooked up in a really old game, Racko, which Nathan won.  The final game for this table was a four-player Quarriors game, which was won by Matthew, with John, Alex and Neville as the other players, which meant Matthew went undefeated for the evening.

Doug, Mike and Rembert played another game, I believe it was a second game of Racko, not 100% sure. But I did have the final scores as Doug 375, Mike 360, Rembert 335.  Very close game, I guess I was focused on Quarriors.

Anyway, this coming Saturday will be the Laurel Main Street Festival.   Rodney, who is the host for the other Laurel location (Laurel-Middle Earth) and I will be running a booth for GCOM.  The event lasts from 9 AM to 4 PM and our booth location (512 - B and C) will be situation on the South Side of Main Street, near 5th street, in front of the Laurel Playhouse and the Cork and Bottle (formerly Highs).  We will be handing out club flyers and introducing new people to board games.   Stop in and join us!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Info re. Laurel - Middle Earth location

I should mention that there is now a second games club in Laurel!  The host is Rodney Bacigalupo, and the next meeting will be this Sunday afternoon.  Here is the webpage with all the details:

http://www.gamesclubofmd.org/locations.asp?location=69

April 26, 2012 Session Report

This particular session conflcited with Game Days, and I later learned that at least four of our regular and semi-regular attendees (namely Doug, Eric, Greg and Jay) were at Game Days.  So, our overall attendance was just five (Alex, Mike, Patrick, Rembert and myself).  This meant we had just one table going, with two games being played.

First game was Power Grid: First Sparks which has been played quite a bit recently.  The winner was Mike with 13, followed by Alex 11, John 11, Rembert 10 and Patrick 9.  Alex beat me for second on the "most food" tiebreaker but was foiled by the rule that limits you to five cities per build, otherwise he might have had a shot to catch Mike.

The other game was a long-time club favorite, Vegas Showdown.  I am thinking it may have been the first play for Alex as I recall having to teach the rules.  Unfortunately, we didn't finish although one stack ran out.  We scored as if the game had finished, with a couple of us (notably Mike and I) having altered our strategy just to try to get the game in.  Partial scores showed a close game, with Patrick ahead (32) of John and Alex (31), Roland (26) and then Mike (22).

A friendly reminder -- a week from Saturday, i.e., the second Saturday in May -- May 12 I believe is the date -- GCOM will be renting a booth at the Laurel Main Street Festival.  Rodney and I will be there promoting the state-wide organization as well as the two local clubs in Laurel.  The Main St. festival is a huge, open-air event held every year, sponsored by the Laurel Board of Trade, here is a blurb from their website about this year's event:

http://thelaurelboardoftrade.com/calendar.html#mainfestival