Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Session Report for January 19, 2017

We had another great turnout this week. We had Eugene, Jason A., Jason B., John, Phil, Ben, Chris, Marcia, Dave (a surprise to all of us), Neville, Rembert, Arnold and me. We got in games of Santorini, Istanbul, Scythe, Mr. President, Concordia on the Corsica map and Power Grid: The Card Game.

The night began with Eugene and I playing Santorini. This was the first time for both of us, with Eugene controlling the play most of the game, forcing me on defense. Eugene's control won him the game.

At this point, most everyone showed up and we broke into three groups. Dave brought Scythe. Rembert, Phil, Arnold and Neville joined him. The game went the entire session, with Phil winning as the center was closing.

At the next table, John played Mr. President. For this game, each played assumed the role of a different presidential candidate. Ben assumed the role of Mitt Romney with John as his VP Jeb Bush. On the Democrat's side, Marcia was John Edwards and Jason B was her(his?) VP candidate Hillary Clinton. The first debate was a VP debate on education that ended up a tie. The second debate was blown entirely by John Edwards, with Mitt being named the winner. John Edwards recovered and won the last debate. In a surprise, the GOP won California with 359 electoral votes with the Democrats only getting 179.

After this, the four switched gears to Power Grid: The Card Game. The game was incredibly close, with Marcia winning the game with 27 pts. John also had 27 but lost the tie breaker. Jason and Ben were right on their tails with 26 points each. I haven't seen it that close.

The third table started with Istanbul. I was the first to get 5 rubies, mostly by hitting the warehouses and markets and buying rubies for cash. The only ruby I got was by completing my wheelbarrow, which was my last. Chris and Jason A. each had 3 points and Eugene wrapped things up with 2.

Eugene had to leave to Chris, Jason and I play Corcordia on the Corsica map. The map was really tight. I managed to run away with all the Mercury and Mars cards and won with 130 points. Chris was next with 117 points and Jason A. finished with 101. The scores were all high because we stalled the acquisition of cards to finish our individual goals.

That's all I got. Remember, GCOM Winterfest and Prezcon are both coming up soon, with DeRail not far behind, if you're into train games.

See y'all next week.

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Session Report for January 12, 2017

Hi. After a hiatus, I'm back to updating the blog. I apologize for taking so long and one of my New Year's resolutions is to keep this up-to-date.

This week we had Ben, John, Joe (a first timer!), Jason, Chris, Rouslan, Tim, Rembert and me attend. We broke into three groups of three.

The first group played Egizia. Chris pulled out the win with 128 pts. Jason had 105 and Rembert finished with 90. That group played another game afterwards but I didn't get any info on it.

John led the second group down the Great Western Trail. I believe this was the first time the other players played. The game was a low scoring game with John eking out a win with 57 pts. Joe followed down the trail with 52 and Ben trailed behind with 50.

The last group was Rouslan, Tim and I. We got two games in. The first game was Railroad Revolution. Rouslan and I had played this before but it was Tim's first play. I won the game with 288 points by focusing on the Western Union and barely making it to the Mississippi. Tim and Rouslan drove west but just couldn't get the points. Rouslan finished with 230 points and Tim had 204.

The three of us wrapped up with Isle of Skye. The game was really close, with Rouslan getting the win with 52 points, me right behind with 51 and Tim at 45.

As a reminder of upcoming events, GCOM Winterfest is January 28th and 29th and Prezcon is coming up in late February.

By the way, my other resolution is to try to spell Rouslan's name right each week 😉