Friday, October 31, 2014

October 23, 2014 Session Report

Sorry for the delay in posting, I had mispaced my notes but just located them last night ...

13 in attendance for this week's session:  Eugene, John W, Mike, Alex, Doug, Neville, Alec, Ben H, Lina, Rembert, Jeff, Rouslan and myself were the attendees.  Games played:  Vegas Showdown, Power Grid - North American (the new Deluxe edition), Heroes Wanted, Bruges and Top Promoter.  Some results and details follow.

Eugene was looking for a reasonably short game so Vegas Showdown was first up.  I was set up with a Fancy Lounge and just enough to get the Theater when Eugene (who had more money and no Fancy Lounge) bought it from me but had to keep it off to the side, where it stayed for the rest of the game.  Turned out both of us were losers in the end, tied for last (actually Eugene had more money) while Alex, who won, played a fine game (he might have beat me even if I had got the Theater).  Scores were Alex 50, Doug 44. Ben 42, Eugene and John 36.

Power Grid-Deluxe has just come out, and Mike introduced the new version to Jeff, Lina and the other John W.  Mike managed to win while building to 17 when everyone else was holding back, waiting for another turn.  Scores were Mike 13, Jeff and Lina 12 (Jeff was second with more money), John W 10.

Alec, Neville, Rembert and Rouslan played Heroes Wanted, which Neville had brought.  Rouslan ran away with the game, 34 points to 25 for Alec, 23 for Rembert, 16 for Neville.  Didn't get a good story how Neville, the teacher, came in last, maybe he was unlucky or he's just a good teacher.

Doug, Alex and I played Bruges.  Doug taught the game, which I hadn't played for awhile, while the game was totally new to Alex.  I got a really good card, the Jailer, which removed six threat tokens at a key moment, and managed to win, 53 to 41 for Doug and 39 for Alex.

Finally, Neville had brought a new boxing management game, Top Promoter, that he recently acquired via Kickstarter.  It was lots of fun and, although we didn't finish, I was ahead after two rounds of fights, 13 to 9 for Rouslan, 7 for Neville, 6 for Doug.  I liked the game so much I ordered it a few days later.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

October 16, 2014 Session Report

Big turnout of 14 for this week's session.  Mike, Patrick, Doug, Ben A, Lina, Neville, Andrew, Jeff, Rich, Evan, Rembert, Rouslan, first-time attendee Moshe and myself were the participants.  We had three tables of games going for most of the session.  Games played were Coup:  Reformation, Black Fleet, Praetor, Concordia and Love Letter.

Coup-Reformation was played while waiting for folks to show, and we actually wound up with eight players.  In order of finish, it was Ben winning, ahead of Jeff, Mike, Lina, Andrew, Neville, myself and Doug who was first knocked out.  Thanks to Andrew for clearing up a couple of rules I had messed up.

We then split into three groups for the rest of the evening.  At one table, Black Fleet was played, with Evan winning.  He had the only positive score (+6) while the three other players (Patrick and Rich at -10 and Rembert at -15) had negative scores.  Later on, the group was joined by Moshe and played Love Letter, with Moshe winning (3 to 2 for Rembert and 1 each for Evan and Rich).

Doug had brought Praetor, and Rouslan, Lina and I joined him.  Lina and I battled for the lead, but in the end I pulled away.  Final scores were John 110, Lina 87, Doug 67, Rouslan 58.  I believe we had to pick up the game a round earlier, and everyone thought Rouslan was in a good position to improve his standing if the game had lasted longer.

Finally, a five-player Concordia game barely made it to the finish line.  Final scores were Mike 126, Neville 98, Andrew 96, Ben 93, Jeff 83.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

October 9, 2014 Session Report

Eight for this week's session:  Mike, Alex, Ben H, John W (back for his second session), Rembert, Neville, Lina and myself (John, to distinguish from the other John with the same last initial) were the attendees.  Four games were played:  Machi Koro, Splendor, Viva Java:  The Dice Game and Legendary Encounters.  Some details follow.

We had two groups of four for most of this session.  At one table were John W, Mike, Alex and myself.  First game up was Machi Koro, which Mike had brought.  Alex raced to an early lead, had some good die rolls, and looked like the sure winner but the game did have a catch-up mechanism, and Mike and I began to pull back some ground.  I finally managed to eke out the win (first to complete all four advanced cards).  Mike and Alex had three of four, I believe John W. had only two.  Then we played Viva Java Dice, using just the base research board.  John W. had the early lead, and proved tough to catch although Mike had the double block which he used effectively.  Unfortunately, John W was too far ahead and managed to claim the victory.  Scores were John W. 21, Mike 16, John 15, Alex 8.

At the other table it was Splendor, and three of the four players made it to 15.  Final scores:  Ben H 19, Lina 17, Rembert 15, Neville 13.  The group then tackled a co-op, Legendary Encounters, which Neville had brought.  The game-system turned out to be a bit too tough, first claiming Neville and then Rembert.  The game had to be picked up at 9 but it looked like the bad guys (the aliens) were winning.

Alex is heading off to Essen next week, so hopefully he has a safe trip and brings back lots of cool new games for us to try.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

October 2, 2014 Session Report

Ten for this week's session:  Mike, Doug, Jeff, Matt, Neville, Evan, Lina, Stan, myself plus one newcomer to the club (John Wittkamper).  We played five different games:  Coup, the DC Comics Deck Building Game, Power Grid - Australia, Ticket to Ride and Love Letter.

Coup was a three-player, between Mike, Jeff and myself.  I managed to survive and come in first, Jeff was second.  We picked the game up as more people began to arrive.

Next game to finish was the DC Comics Deck Building game.  Evan won a close one, 36 to 34 for Matt and 33 for Doug.  Neville (21) also participated.

Power Grid-Australia was a four-player, won by Mike.  Scores (no ties in this one):  Mike 17, myself 16, Jeff 15 and the other (new) John W. could only power 13 because the needed coal was unavailable to power his remaining plant.

Ticket to Ride (four player), won by Evan.  Scores:  Evan 129, Doug 96, Matt 95 Lina 40

Love Letter (unfinished):  Lina and Matt 2 Doug 1 Evan 0.  Finally, they came up with a game where Evan could be stopped!