Wednesday, January 27, 2016

January 21, 2016 Session Report


Good Group of 11 for this week's session: Eugene, Mike, Megan, Alex, Greg, David, Patrick, Ben, Neville, Rembert and myself. Games played: 8-Minute Empire, Kingdom Builder, CV, Orleans (Deluxe Edition) and Palaces of Carrara. Some details follow.

Started with 8-Minute Empire as the quick warmup game. Took closer to a half-hour than eight minutes. We all were about even in terms of area control points but Mike had collected more endgame bonus points (the set collecting aspect of the game) and thus was the winner. Scores were Mike 12, Eugene 10, Megan 9 and me last with 8.

Other people began to arrive, and soon we had three tables going. At one table, a four-player game of Kingdom Builder broke out. It was won by Patrick (54) ahead of Greg (50), Ben (42) and David (23). This same group wen on to play of Palaces of Carrara, which Greg had brought. No surprise, Greg was the winner in a lopsided game, score-wise. Greg wound up with 105 points, outscoring the other three combined: David (41), Ben (36) and Patrick (3).

Neville, Mike and Rembert played CV. Neville was the winner (52) compared to 33 for Mike and 30 for Neville. Mike requested I include the following comment for the blog: "Rembert had happiness and one time but didn't know how to use it."

Finally, Alex, Eugene, Megan and I played the new version of Orleans that can go up to 5 players (but we only had 4). As in another recent game, Alex came out the winner. He concentrated on getting brown (the Wheels) early then shifted over to Red for more actions and to enhance city-building and movement. He added the Horse Wagon that helped him more more efficiently. Final scores were Alex 160, Eugene 138, myself 116, Megan 57. It was Megan's first play. I concentrate on the gray guys but only got one Wheel and was behind on Red as wheel. Tough to decide what to focus on (Black, Brown, Red or Gray) in the opening rounds when you can't do everything.

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

January 14, 2016 Session Report


Good attendance of 14 at this week, including two first-time attendees: Matthew and Megan, plus Mike, David, John B, Lina, Arnold, Neville, Rembert, Rouslan, Steve, Shira, Doyle and myself. Games played list included Greenland, Flip City, Mars Red Planet, Parfum, Ticket to Ride (with the new Pennsylvania map), Dominion - Dark Ages and Tiny Epic Galaxies and Parfum. Some details follow.

Flip City was the starter game that was actually played a second time as the wrap-up game for the evening. First game was won by myself, second game did not finish. John B, Megan and Mike (who had brought the game) were the other attendees.

Greenland was a three-player, won by Matthew. Scores were Matthew 68, David 43, Rembert 31.

Mission Red Planet was a four-player. Rouslan (70) was the winner. Neville (29), Arnold (21) and Lina (15) were the other players.

Ticket to Ride - PA was won by Mike (223) ahead of John W (173), followed by John B (158) and Megan (146).

Steve, Shira and Doyle arrived late and formed a fourth table. First game, Parfum, was won by Steve (116). Doyle (97) was second, Shira third (86). The group also got in a quick game of "speed" Dominion-Dark Ages. Doyle won that one.

Arnold, Neville and Rouslan played Tiny Epic Galaxies, but the game did not finish.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

January 7, 2016 Session Report


Started off the new year with some new games at this week's session. Total attendance of 10, and we split into three groups for the entire session. Mike, Patrick, Ben, Lina, Greg, David, Arnold, Rembert, Paul and I were the attendees. The New Science, Jaipur, Above and Below and the Russian Railroads: German Railroad expansion were the games played. First time I believe for all these games at the club, although it's possible that the New Science (which is a couple of years old) may have made an appearance or two before.

The New Science was played by Greg, David and Rembert. Greg won with 43, David and Rembert tied for second. These three then played Jaipur, which was won by David.

Above and Below, which I believe was brought by Patrick, and was also won by Patrick. This game had four players, scores were Patrick 48, Ben 41, Paul 39 and Mike 27.

Finally, three of us tackled the German Railroads expansion for Russian Railroads. This result comes with a big asterisk, as the officially recorded scores had me first with 310, Arnold a close second with 306 and then Lina with 236. However, Arnold in scoring his last bonus chip did not claim a second reward that most likely would have resulted in at least five more points and a win, but it was too difficult to reconstruct as we had already scored points for his other actions. But, probably should go down as a win for Arnold in his first play of either the expansion and the base game. (Also, note we played with the new board, new board sections as well as the new Income chips, but not with other elements, i.e. Coal or any of the new Engineers.)