Tuesday, January 27, 2015

January 22, 2015 Session Report

Despite some snowy weather earlier in the week, we had a good crowd of 10 for this week's session: Doug, Mike, John W, Greg, Neville, David, Will, Rembert, Eugene and myself were the attendees. Games played: Scoville, Hollywood, Red 7, Biblios, Greenland, Yardmaster and Machi Koro.

Scoville was won by Mike (66) ahead of Doug (63), followed by Greg (56), John W (49) and Rembert (42). Hollywood, which Neville brought, was a new game about putting together movies which a weird bidding mechanism where even the losing bidder pays. Ties were also not friendly, as Eugene and I found out first time around when we went down to our last dollar. As it turned out, I got a lucky draw off the top and wen on to a narrow victory, 123 to 122, over David who was a close second. Will was third with 117, followed by Eugene (114) with Neville last (109). Second round of games, and for one group it was Red 7 (Won by Will, while Neville and myself also played), Biblios (won by Neville with 8 points, ahead of myself at 4 and Doug at 2) followed by Yardmaster (unfinished, I believe Neville was winning). Another group tackled Greenland, played by David, Rembert and John W, also unfinished. Similarly, no scores reported for Machi Koro (played by Mike, Greg and Will).

Again, a friendly reminder, if you are uncertain as to whether or not a club session might be cancelled due to inclement weather, feel free to call the CC and check out closing reports (if PG county schools and govt' offices are closed, then it's likely the CC will be closed as well).

Monday, January 19, 2015

January 15, 2015 Session Report

Second session of 2015, and a huge throng of 16 gamers descended upon the Laurel Community Center for what turned out to be our largest attendance in some time -- certainly larger than any of the sessions last year (when 15 was the high), didn't go back any further to check but I seem to recall we hit 17 or more once or twice. Anyway, the attendees were Alec, Tim, Mike, Greg, Will, Patrick, David, Eric, Lina, Eugene, Neville, Rembert, Moshe (back for a second time) and myself, plus two first-time attendees at the club, Laura and James. Games played (and it was tough to keep track of everything with four games going on at once): Scoville, Essen: The Game, Castles of Mad King Ludwig (played twice), Greenland, Biblios, Colt Express and Red 7.

Here's what I collected from the scoresheets and various reports: Castles of Mad King Ludwig: 1. Laura 114 2. Neville 103 3. Eric 79 4. Eugene 76 Scoville: 1. Will 66 2. Alec 64 3. Tim 50 4. Mike 37 Essen - The Game (it's a game about collecting the "hot" games at Essen): 1. Greg 86 2. Lina 70 3. John 58 4. Patrick 55 Biblios: 1. Eric 5 (+2) 2. Laura 5 (+0) 3. Eugene 3 4. Neville 0 Red 7: 1. Laura 2. Neville 3. Eric 4. Eugene Greenland: 1. Rembert ~ 40 2. James ~ 15 3. David 3 Colt Express: 1. Greg 1750 2. Patrick 1650 3. John 1300 4. Lina 0 (partial score, as we scored after three of five rounds, having run out of time) Not sure of the scores, but I believe there was a second Mad King Ludwig game featuring Mike, Tim, Alec and Will after they finished Scoville, perhaps the game did not make it to the finish line.

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

January 8, 2015 Session Report

First session of the New Year and despite some inclement weather earlier in the week, we had a group of eight hardy gamers -- Patrick, Mike, Ben A, Lina, Neville, Will and myself plus one first-time attendee (Manuel) -- and a total of three games were played: Nothing Personal, Imperial Settlers and Red 7.

Nothing Personal was a four-player, and Neville emerged the winner by a wide margin after a big surge on the last two turns of the game. I was in the lead, but of course my guys got bumped off or sent to prison. Final scores in this gangster-related game (reminiscent of Avalon Hill's Kremlin) were: Neville 74, John 38, Line 34, Manuel 31. Lina and Manuel got embroiled in a huge battle for control of the Capo on the final turn, allowing Neville to swoop in and claim just about all the other gangsters, while my strong early position faded badly down the stretch. The four of us also played a few hands of Red 7 but unfortunately we did not quite make it to the finish.

Imperial Settlers was played at the other table, and the winner (playing the Egyptians) was Patrick, with a score of 64. Second was Will, as the Barbarians, with a score of 57. Third was Mike, as the Japanese, with 49 while the Romans (played by Ben) brought up the rear with 30. Interesting, because I had heard that the Japanese and the Romans were the two strongest factions -- not true, if you go by the results of this one game. A reminder that the GCOM Winter GameFest is coming up soon, weekend after next, Jan. 17-18, at the Rockville Senior Center. Check out the link at the GCOM website, gamesclubofmd.org.