June 20, 2013 Session Report

Total of nine this week.  Attendees:  Mike, Doug, Alex, Helen, Rembert, Brad, Alison, myself and -- back after a long absence -- Kay.  We played a total of three games, two of which were new to the club.  One was Viticulture, which Mike had brought; another was Credit Mobilier, which I had brought; then we also played Seven Dragons (two games), which Brad had brought but it's a game I seem to recall having played before.

First up was Viticulture.  Mike did the teaching and, after adjusting for a second group of late arriving gamers, it wound up being a four-player with Mike, the teacher, ending up last.  It's a game about wine production with seasonal turns.  Final scores were Kay 22, Alex 21, Doug 15, Mike 11.  Nice win for Kay on his return to the club, particularly in a close finish with Alex who has a penchant for picking up new games on his first try.

Helen, Brad, Allison, Rembert and I wound up playing Credit Mobilier -- a train game with dice.  Each turn, the player must select one of the colors (representing five different railroads) and choose among building track, buying stock, or moving cubes.  A fourth action (declaring dividends) is only possible with the roll including an orange die and one of the five other colors.  Purple plays a unique double role as representing the Credit Mobilier, but also an extra action for another color railroad.  The Credit Mobilier RR -- as in real life -- makes money when any track is built, scarfing up government subsidies to encourage development of transcontinental railroads in the 19th Century.  Anyway, in our game, some players (notably Brad and Rembert) focused on supporting a couple of RRs while others (Helen and I) tried a more diversified approach, buying up shares in all five colors.  Alison was the big stakeholder in the blue RR, but also had stock in three others.  Anyway, Helen wound up the winner, but the scores were all fairly close:  Helen 17, Brad 13, Alison and John 12, Rembert 9.  Interesting game, lots of strategy for a game that plays fairly quickly.

Anyway, there was time for a couple of more games so we played 7 Dragons, which Brad had brought.  I seem to have remembered playing it at least once before.  I managed to win game one, with Brad taking game two.  It's a quick-playing card game where you have to really be on your toes as winning objectives can change quickly.

Good session, a reminder that the club will be closed Thursday, July 4th, for the holiday.