Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Session Report for 15-Sept-2016


Hi. This is Mike taking over the blog for John. On Sept 15th, we had a great turnout. Attendance was me, Ben K, our host emeritus John, Chris, Lina, my co-host Jason, Rouslan, Marian, Arnold, Tim, Eric and Rembert. We also had a first-timer Chris W.

The early attendees started by playing a new game, Thief's Market, but we stopped the game early once more people showed up. We broke into three groups. John, Chris, Lina and Jason played California Gold. Lina, who I believe was looking forward to playing won the game with 15 points. Jason came a close 2nd at 14, John came in next at 12 with Chris with 11.

The second group played ZhanGuo. Rouslin taught the game and won with 151 pts. Rembert came in next with 126, Chris W. had 121 and Marian finished with 114.

At the third table, we played two games. We started with Power Grid Benelux. The game was tight, with Tim being "the best" almost every round. Right after phase 3 started, Tim was able to build to 15 cities (it was a 5 person game) and was able to power 14. This was enough for him to get the win as none of us had more. In the end, Eric powered 13, Ben 12, Arnold 11 and yours truly, 9. All of us thought it was going to go one more round.

That game wrapped up in 2 hours and we started another game of Thief's Market. We had to call the game one round early but we still scored it. The game was deeper than we initially thought and quite cutthroat. In the end, Ben dominated the game with a score of 24 points. The next closest player was Arnold with 11, with Tim ending with 9 and Eric 8. I finished with only 3 pts.

I want to remind everyone that Congress of Gamers will be this weekend in Rockville. They hold a tournament that scores you across many different games. It's really tests you skill across multiple games. John W will also be teaching many new games over the weekend. I'll be helping by teaching Star Trek Ascendancy. Check the schedule on the site.

Also, as you can see from this, I'm experimenting with linking to BGG. I've looked up profiles for people I know. If you want me to link to your account, leave a comment with a link to your profile and I'll add it. See you Thursday.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Change in Hosts as of September 5


Just wanted to let everyone know that, as of Labor Day, after 11 years of service as Host, I am turning the Host duties over to my co-Host of the last several years, Mike Brazinski. Mike has agreed to serve as the new Host, and Jason Baker, a Laurel resident who has been a regular attendee for the past several months, has agreed to serve as the new Co-Host.

Just figured out how to give Mike access and posting privileges on this blog, so he can take over although there may be a bit of a hiatus.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

September 1, 2016 Session Report

Ten attendees for this session: Mike, Jason B, Alex, Ben K, Chris, Eugene, Lina, Arnold, Rembert and myself were the attendees. It was Chris' third session so he signed up as a GCOM Associate Member. Games played: Walk the Plank, Star Trek: Ascendancy, Settlers of Catan, California Gold and Sushi Go.

Walk the Plank was the quick warmup game with player elimination. Ben K was last one standing, so he won with Lina coming second. Jason B and Alex also participated.

Mike had been fortunate enough to attend a special demo of a brand new game and also to pick up a copy, so he set up Star Trek: Ascendancy. Chris and I were the other two players. Mike was the Federation, I was the Klingons and Chris, the Romulans. Chris appeared to get out to an early lead, so Mike and I both attacked him. Mike was more successful than I, so we declared him the winner although we didn't quite make it through the full game -- but it was obvious Mike was going to fulfill the winning condition before either Chris or I.

Other games and results:

Settlers: Jason B 10 followed by Eugene and Arnold at 8, Rembert last at 6.

California Gold: Alex and Lina tied for the win, Ben K also played.

Sushi Go: scores were Rembert 46, Arnold 42, Ben K 34 and Jason B 31.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

August 25, 2016 Session Report


Attendance down a bit this week, but we had Chris (back for the second week in a row) along with Jason A, Jason B, Arnold, Eugene, Rembert and myself for a total of seven. Games played: For Sale, Dead of Winter, Puerto Rico and Ingenious.

For Sale was the quick warmup game, we had a full table of six. It turned out to be a narrow win for Eugene. Final scores: Eugene 55K, Arnold 54, John (me) 47K, Chris 36K, Jason A 34K, Jason B 33K.

Dead of Winter was a three-player coop game, took most of the rest of the session. Word has it that the players (Arnold, Chris and Rembert) won.

The rest of us got in two more games. Puerto Rico, won by myself in a close one with Eugene second. Scores: John 47, Eugene 45, Jason A 39, Jason B 30.
Ingenious was another win for Eugene, with Jason B in second. Scores: Eugene 17, Jason B 13, Rembert and I brought up the rear at 11.