tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59510510164721801252024-02-20T04:47:28.049-08:00Laurel Community Center Games ClubThe Laurel Community Center Games Club has sessions every Thursday starting at 6 PM, lasting until 9 PM. The Community Center is located at 7901 Cypress Street, Laurel MD 20707. Phone: (301)-497-0300. The Laurel Community Center Games Club is affiliated with the Games Club of Maryland ("GCOM"), which has over 30 locations in Maryland and the surrounding states and the District of Columbia.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.comBlogger483125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-26197274849288446402017-03-01T18:56:00.003-08:002017-03-01T18:56:40.298-08:00Session Report for February 23rd, 2017Attendees: Ben Jason, Tim, a new Dave (1st time!) to replace the old one, Rembert and me.<br />
Games played: Money, Union Pacific, Honshu and Power Grid: The Card Game<br />
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Jason, Ben and I played a quick hand of Money. The three person games tend to score higher. I won with 730 pts. Ben was close with 380 and Jason had 370.<br />
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At this point, Tim and David showed up and I pulled out Union Pacific, Ticket To Ride's under-appreciated little brother. Jason won solidly with $107. The rest of us were significantly behind with David at $90, Ben with $89, me with $84 and Tim with $77. I think this was the first play for everyone else than me but they got the game quickly.<br />
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After that game, we broke into 2 games of 3. Rembert, Jason and David played Honshu, with Jason being ichiban with 72. Rembert finished next with 57 and David had 50.<br />
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With Power Grid: The Card Game, it was really close. I won with 26 pts. Ben also had 26 but I won the tie-breaker. Tim was really close with 25.<br />
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Hopefully with Prezcon over, attendance will bounce back this week.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-71298098241204291982017-03-01T18:46:00.001-08:002017-03-01T18:47:14.058-08:00Session Report for February 16th, 2017Attendees: Jason, Ben, Patrick, Arnold, Eugene, John and me<br />
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Games played: Roborally (2016), Great Western Trail and Honshu</div>
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I brought the latest edition of Roborally. Patrick, Arnold, Jason, Rembert and I played on a map with 2 boards and three flags. The route was basically up and back a couple times. I broke away from the pack around the 2nd flag and won. Rembert was right on my tail and Patrick was recovering. Arnold was next in line and Jason sacrifice position to try to stop me from finishing.</div>
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John, Eugene and Ben played Great Western Trail. Eugene had a strong showing with 156 pts. John came up next with 111 and Ben had 77.</div>
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Patrick brought Honshu and we got 3/4's of a game in. We scored at that point and Ben had 46 pts. Jason was next with 45, I had 43 and Patrick had 41. We don't know how it would have finished but we were all really close.</div>
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-56939815918950851922017-03-01T18:39:00.001-08:002017-03-01T18:39:23.255-08:00Session Report for February 9th, 2017Attendees: Jason B, Patrick, Ben K, Eugene, John, Rembert, Tim, Phil, Arnold and me<br />
Games: Onitama, Great Western Trail (twice), Thurn and Taxis, Concordia Salsa & Money<br />
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Jason and I where at the club and he introduced Onitama to me. We got one quick game in that I won.<br />
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As people showed up, we broke up into three groups. John and Eugene played a couple games of Great Western Trail. John won the first game 98-77 but Eugene made up for in the second game 64-49.<br />
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Patrick, Ben, Phil and Jason played Thurn and Taxis. Patrick won with 19 pts, Ben had 18, Phil 16 and Jason finished with 11.<br />
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Tim, Arnold, Rembert and I played Concordia Salsa. Tim and Arnold tied with 103 pts, with me and Rembert far behind with 77 and 69 pts respectively. Unfortunately, I forgot to record who won the tie breaker.<br />
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The night wrapped up with a couple quick hands of Knizia''s Money. Tim won solidly the first hand with 380 pts. I won the second hand with 390 but the scores were a lot closer.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-73919363924107780342017-02-15T19:06:00.002-08:002017-02-15T19:06:43.248-08:00Session Report for February 2, 2017<div style="text-align: justify;">
This week we had two groups playing for the night. John, Eugene, Chris and I started Great Western Trail. John won the game solidly with 81 points with some strong cow points. Eugene was the next closest with 73, Chris had 63 and I brought up the rear with 57.</div>
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At the other table, Rouslan, Patrick, Jason B, Rembert and Ben K played Manhattan Project Energy. The game ended with Rembert and Ben both ending with 72 pts. Jason and Patrick ended with 68 and 67 respectively and Rouslan had 51.</div>
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As the night wound down, I taught Ben, Jason and Rouslan Knizia's Money. We just played one hand. Rouslan had the high score of 510. I came in next with 450, Ben had 380 and Jason had 270</div>
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-38209208546811447542017-02-01T19:13:00.001-08:002017-02-01T19:13:48.293-08:00Session Report for January 26th, 2017Another great turnout! We had Jason B, Ben K, Rembert, John, Chris, Patrick, Eugene, Neville, Ben A,, Lenny, Alexis, Rouslan and me!<br />
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While waiting for people to arrive, several started a game of Zombie Fluxx but we abandoned it as everyone showed up. At this point, we broke up in to what seems to be becoming a pattern of 3 groups.<br />
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At the first table, Jason, Rembert, Rouslan, Lenny and Alexis played Scythe. Jason and Rouslan both ended the game with 46 points but I don't know the tie breaker works, so, they both get a win in this blog.<br />
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Table two featured John, Neville, Patrick and Chris in a game of Railroad Revolution. Chris pulled out a strong win with 274 points. John came in second with 248, Patrick was close with 240 and Neville finished with 216.<br />
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The final table had the Bens, Eugene and I play Power Grid on the Central Europe map. The game started with all four of us gathered near the middle. This look like it was going to be bad for Ben and Eugene but we managed to grow out different directions. It wasn't looking good for Eugene but he got the right plants and the right time and won powering 17 cities. Ben A and I both powered 15 but I had 20 dollars, err... electros, more. Ben K powered 13.<br />
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The night wrapped up with Jason beating Rouslan in a game of Tzaar.<br />
<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-32028243776635733282017-01-25T16:50:00.001-08:002017-01-25T16:50:17.145-08:00Session Report for January 19, 2017We 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.<div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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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.</div>
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See y'all next week.</div>
Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-58067543270553433652017-01-18T18:24:00.001-08:002017-01-18T18:24:39.508-08:00Session Report for January 12, 2017Hi. 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.<br />
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This week we had Ben, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/John%20Weber" target="_blank">John</a>, Joe (a first timer!), Jason, Chris, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/Rouslan" target="_blank">Rouslan</a>, <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/CptUnreal" target="_blank">Tim</a>, Rembert and <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/brazz" target="_blank">me </a>attend. We broke into three groups of three.<br />
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The first group played <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/58421/egizia" target="_blank">Egizia</a>. 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.<br />
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John led the second group down the <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193738/great-western-trail" target="_blank">Great Western Trail</a>. 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.<br />
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The last group was Rouslan, Tim and I. We got two games in. The first game was <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/207691/railroad-revolution" target="_blank">Railroad Revolution</a>. 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.<br />
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The three of us wrapped up with <a href="https://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/176494/isle-skye-chieftain-king" target="_blank">Isle of Skye</a>. The game was really close, with Rouslan getting the win with 52 points, me right behind with 51 and Tim at 45.<br />
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As a reminder of upcoming events, <a href="http://winterfest.gamesclubofmd.org/" target="_blank">GCOM Winterfest</a> is January 28th and 29th and <a href="http://www.prezcon.com/" target="_blank">Prezcon </a>is coming up in late February.<br />
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By the way, my other resolution is to try to spell Rouslan's name right each week 😉Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-77758800458385809292016-10-26T19:10:00.000-07:002016-10-26T19:10:11.336-07:00Session Report for 10/6I'm a little late with these reports. Apologies.<br />
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Attendees this week were my co-host Jason B, Jason A, Chris B, Chris W, John W (only one this week) Ben, Eugene, Lena, Arnold, Rouslan, Rembert, Eric & his daughters Rebecca and Rachel, and me.<br />
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Those of us who got there early tried a new press-your-luck game called Satakku (Stack, in Japanese, I think). The goal of the game was to roll dice and place equal or higher dice on top of each other to form a stack. Jason B had a couple really strong rounds and won with 238 points. I gave him a run and got close with 190. Ben was next with 140 and the dice just were not Jason A's friends, leaving him in the dust with only 60 pts.<br />
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Eric and his girls played another press-your-luck game of Cheeky Monkey. Eric won with 47 points. Rachel was really close with 43. Rebecca came a distant third with only 9.<br />
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After this we broke out the heavier games. Thanks to Rouslan, we played a game of Power Grid Germany with the best name of an expansion I've seen in a long time, The High Voltage DC Transmission Passage C expansion. The expansion is based on real events going on in Germany. Arnold pulled out the win powering 15 cities. Eugene was close with 14. Ben and Eric tied with 13 cities, with Ben winning third with $4, err, Electros, more than Eric. I came up at the back of the pack with 12.<br />
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Terraforming Mars was played at the other table. This game went most of the night because a mistake happened and too many cards were used. John won the game with 68 pts. Chris came in next with 62 and Lena was a close 3rd with 59. This game wins player quotes of the week. Overheard from the table were "Ya gotta get those microbes" and "I have titanium coming out my wazoo." I can't decide so they both win quote-of-the-week.<br />
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The third big game was Empires at Sea. The game ended up with Rouslan with winning with 52 pts. Chris was really close with 51 pts. Jason A and Rembert came in close with 46 and 45 points respectively. Jason B finished in the back of the pack with 26.<br />
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The night wrapped up with one last press-your-luck game, Cloud 9. Given lucky draws of wild cards, I won the game with 52 points. Arnold, Eugene and Ben were close with 44, 42 and 39 points respectively. Eric wrapped up the night with 30.<br />
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<br />Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-81074075230698050352016-10-05T19:00:00.001-07:002016-10-05T19:00:34.468-07:00Session report for 9/29Hey, we had another good night. I looks like the game room in the community center is our new home.<br />
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Attendance this week was me, my co-host Jason, Jason A, Ben K, Chris, John, Eugene, Tim and Rembert.<br />
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We started the night by splitting into two groups. Jason, Chris, Ben and I played Tiny Epic Western. Chris dominated the game by making the right purchases each round. He easily won with 24 points. Ben and Jason were close with 19 and 18 points respectively and I was a distance last with only 10.<br />
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The rest of the group played Power Grid: First Sparks. Tim won the game with 13. Eugene had a close second with 12, John had 11, Rembert 10. Jason had some serious problems midgame and was never able to recover and ended with 6.<br />
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Both games wrapped up about the same time and we shuffled the players. Eugene, I, Tim and Rembert played Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big Cities. Eugene got his engine going pretty early. I almost caught up but the dice didn't betray him and he built all his improvements first. I was close with 6. Tim had 5. Rembert fell victim to the red cards and was last with 3.<br />
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Potion Explosion was played by the rest. John won with 72 points. Chris had 60 pts, Ben 50 and Jason 48.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-85113501163331413992016-10-05T18:47:00.003-07:002016-10-05T18:47:36.395-07:00Session Report for 9/22/16We had another good night. In attendance were me, Ben K, John W., another John W, Chris, Eugene, Jason A, my co-host Jason, Arnold and Rouslan. The first game was New Bedford. Many people started to play this. As new people arrived, people kept breaking off into other games. A full game was played the original John W, Jason A., Rouslan and Rembert. Rouslan and Jason both ended up with 30 points but Rouslan won the tiebreaker with most total whales. John came in third with 25 and Rembert's ship sailed off with 17 points.<br />
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Eugene, Chris, co-host Jason and Ben played Castles of Mad King Ludwig. Eugene came in with a strong win with 121 points. Jason came in next with 108, Chris with 102 and Ben with 96.<br />
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The other John W, Arnold and I played Corcordia Salsa. We played with salt but skipped the forums this time. I made a quick play for the salt and my results were as usual when I try that. Arnold won with 109 points, John was right behind him with 108 and I pulled up third with 99.<br />
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As things were wrapping up, two shorter games broke out. Rembert, host emeritus John W, Arnold and Rouslan played Love Letter. Rembert was declared the winner after winning 2 rounds. Rouslan won 1 round. There was no love for either John or Arnold :(.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-54548526454177195912016-09-20T16:54:00.002-07:002016-09-21T07:58:28.811-07:00<h2>
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Session Report for 15-Sept-2016</u></h2>
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Hi. This is Mike taking over the blog for John. On Sept 15th, we had a great turnout. Attendance was <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/brazz" target="_blank">me</a>, Ben K, our host emeritus <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/John%20Weber" target="_blank">John</a>, Chris, Lina, my co-host Jason, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/Rouslan" target="_blank">Rouslan</a>, Marian, Arnold, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/CptUnreal" target="_blank">Tim</a>, <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/user/esok" target="_blank">Eric</a> and Rembert. We also had a first-timer Chris W.<br />
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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 <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/139236/california-gold" target="_blank">California Gold</a>. 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.<br />
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The second group played <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/160495/zhanguo" target="_blank">ZhanGuo</a>. Rouslin taught the game and won with 151 pts. Rembert came in next with 126, Chris W. had 121 and Marian finished with 114.<br />
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At the third table, we played two games. We started with <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/25031/power-grid-beneluxcentral-europe" target="_blank">Power Grid Benelux</a>. 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.<br />
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That game wrapped up in 2 hours and we started another game of <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/182351/thiefs-market" target="_blank">Thief's Market</a>. 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.<br />
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I want to remind everyone that <a href="http://emsps.com/cog/" target="_blank">Congress of Gamers</a> 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 <a href="http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/193949/star-trek-ascendancy" target="_blank">Star Trek Ascendancy</a>. Check the schedule on the site.<br />
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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.Mikehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04760952938075716354noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-10974738647093625352016-09-19T09:23:00.000-07:002016-09-19T09:23:48.773-07:00Change in Hosts as of September 5<br />
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.<br />
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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.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-40981213828135789442016-09-07T13:31:00.000-07:002016-09-07T13:31:16.235-07:00September 1, 2016 Session ReportTen 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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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Other games and results:<br />
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Settlers: Jason B 10 followed by Eugene and Arnold at 8, Rembert last at 6.<br />
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California Gold: Alex and Lina tied for the win, Ben K also played.<br />
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Sushi Go: scores were Rembert 46, Arnold 42, Ben K 34 and Jason B 31.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-16418860553880294572016-09-01T12:00:00.000-07:002016-09-01T12:00:02.164-07:00August 25, 2016 Session Report<br />
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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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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.<br />
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.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-59186101064532793042016-08-23T16:41:00.000-07:002016-09-01T12:01:01.941-07:00August 18, 2016 Session Report<br />
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Attendance of 12 for this week's session, including one first-time attendee (Chris) along with Mike, Jason A, Ben K, Greg, Arnold, Lina, Tim, Rouslan, Rembert, Neville and myself. This week we were in a different location (the gaming room) and had three tables going for most of the session, including a game on the Ping Pong table. Games played were Keyflower, The Networks, Switching Tracks and Sanssouci.<br />
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Keyflower was won by Tim (56) ahead of Mike (53), Jason A (41) and Chris (23). Game notes indicate that not a single green producer or shipping tile ever came out, a rarity.<br />
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The Networks produced an exciting finish, with Neville coming from behind to eke out a close win over Arnold and Greg. Scores were Neville 245, Arnold 243, Greg 242, Lina 222 while I brought up the rear at 205. I got dinged pretty hard by some last turn events (Network cards) and am thinking the main reason I came in last was I didn't invest in taking those Network cards during the game.<br />
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The third group -- at the Ping Pong table -- got in two games. First was Switching Tracks -- scores were Rouslan 4, Ben K 4, Rembert 3 -- then Sanssouci, final scores were Rouslan 86, Ben K 76, Rembert 74.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-817379568593921572016-08-17T11:02:00.000-07:002016-08-17T11:03:39.886-07:00August 11, 2016 Session Report<br />
Eight for this week's session: Jason B, Mike, Jason A, Rouslan, Eugene, Arnold, Rembert and myself were the attendees. Games played: Cockroach Poker, The Networks, Keyflower, Seeland and Pyramix. Some results follow.<br />
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Cockroach Poker was the warmup game that ended quickly when the first player -- me -- was eliminated. We then split into two groups for the longer games. One group chose Keyflower, which was won by Eugene (69) ahead of Mike (56), Jason B (50) and Rembert ((39). <br />
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The other group played The Networks, a new game which I had brought. Winner was Rouslan (242). I managed second (235) ahead of Arnold and Jason A who tied for third at 221 (Arnold had more money and would have placed ahead of Jason on the tiebreaker).<br />
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Late games were 3-player as some people left early. These were Seeland, won by Rouslan (175) ahead of me (149) and Arnold (106); and Pyramix, won by Jason B (27) ahead of Mike (24) and Rembert (20).<br />
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Good to be back after missing a couple of weeks.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-17867028099287894002016-08-11T10:45:00.000-07:002016-08-11T10:45:19.937-07:00August 4, 2016 Session Report<br />
I had to miss this session, but Co-Host Mike provides this report:<br />
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"Attendees: me, Jason, Jason Abovsky, Greg, Dave, Rouslin, Marian, Patrick, Ben, Tom, Rembert and one other person I forgot to record (sorry!)<br />
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We broke into 3 groups for the evening. The first table was me, Dave and the two Jasons. We started with New Bedford, a game that arrived during WBC. We had a couple rule issues with payouts but once we got started, two strategies appeared. I started whaling as quick as possible and the rest went with buildings. Over the course of the game, everyone else started whaling except Jason A. who just built stuff. In the end, he dominated the scores ending with 34. Jason B got 27, Dave got 22 and I wound up last with 17. I'm still not sure we played everything right but looking on BGG afterwards didn't show any errors.<br />
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The four of us then played a Vegas Showdown game. The game was new for both Jasons with Jason A once again winning after Dave completed filled his board completely. Jason A won with 64 pts, I had 54, Dave had 41 and Jason B ended with 39.<br />
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At the second table was Ben, Rouslin, Patrick and Tom (I don't recall see seeing him before). They started a full Machi Koro with both expansions. The game went over 2 hours with Tom finishing his city after a long, drawn-out fight. That table finished up by playing Cockroach Poker, with Rouslin being the first player eliminated.<br />
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The rest of the players played Switching Tracks. I don't know anything on how that game finished."<br />
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Hope to be back tonight for the August 11 session.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-59112319016390591602016-08-01T11:40:00.000-07:002016-08-01T11:40:09.429-07:00July 28, 2016 Session Report<br />
As previously reported, Mike and I attended WBC convention this past week and missed the club session as a result. However, Jason ably filled in for us in terms of the hosting duties and reports the following:<br />
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"Attendees: Jason B.,Alex P.,Patrick C., Rembert S.<br />
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Games: Matcha (Jason 1, Alex 0), Imhotep (Jason 36, Alex 32, Rembert 31, Patrick 27), Mystic Vale (Jason 43, Patrick 19, Rembert 18)"<br />
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Curious as to people's thoughts on these new games, none of which I have played yet (have heard alot about the last two, not much about Matcha which I guess was a quick starter game).<br />
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Obvious reason for the low attendance was the conflict with WBC (and perhaps vacation plans for many regular club attendees). In addition to Mike and myself, I saw Tim, David, Eugene and Moon at WBC and, since it's a rather large convention, I may have missed some of you who were there. Congrats to Moon who won two tourneys (Castles of Burgundy and Tzolkin) at her first WBC, but since results aren't religiously posted I have no idea if there are other winners from among our group. Speaking for myself, the closest I came was semis in both Tin Goose and Churchill, but no plaques and probably no laurels as my second place in the Tin Goose semis was probably not among the closest seconds to place me in the top six.<br />
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For next week, I have a trip planned to an even larger convention (GenCon, in Indianapolis) so Mike will be in charge, hopefully Jason will be there to assist.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-63321430049615196892016-07-25T10:11:00.000-07:002016-08-01T21:52:14.505-07:00July 21, 2016 Session Report<br />
We had 11 for this week's session and played a total of three games. Attendees: Jason, Eugene, Ben K, Ben A, Patrick, Rembert, Arnold, Neville, Tom (who was here for the first time), David and myself. Games Played: Abradawha, Fire and Axe and Manhattan Project: Energy Empire (the PnP version).<br />
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Abracadawha was the warm-up game while waiting for people to arrive. Six of us took part, and we only managed to finish one round. Patrick knocked out Ben K and wound up the winner with 3 points. Jason, Eugene, Rembert and I also participated.<br />
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The longer games were Fire and Axe and the PnP of the yet to be released sequel to Manhattan Project. Fire and Axe I had the scores reported as Jason 98, Patrick 90, Eugene 87, Arnold 82. But I also had Ben A listed as an attendee, so I believe he must have been in the game as well. I know they had a full table.<br />
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The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire was a full table of five, and I let David play my position which I took over when he had to leave. Our combined efforts resulted in 86 points, good for the win over Neville and Rembert (78), Tom (77) and Ben K (76). Due to time constraints, we picked up the game without playing the final round, and Ben K said he was about to score some major points, so things certainly could have changed. Also, I later discovered a rules miscue: Only one player could get to the final rung of the UN track. (Three of us did it in the game, which should not have been allowed.)<br />
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A reminder that next week our numbers will dwindle a bit as Mike, Eugene, David and I plan to be at WBC. The following week I plan to go to GenCon so will hope to see everyone in 2 weeks. Jason will be in charge of tracking attendance next week, then Mike should be back the following week.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-57589584581069248272016-07-19T17:22:00.000-07:002016-07-19T17:22:15.394-07:00July 14, 2016 Session Report<br />
Attendance of 12 this week: Mike, Ben K, Jason B, Jason A (someone who attended a couple of years back but returned this week), Lina, Tim, Eugene, Arnold, Patrick, Rembert, David (who showed up late and didn't get into a game) and myself were the attendees. Games played: Niya, Lords of Waterdeep, and Acquistion: Empires (a prototype that Jason A had brought).<br />
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Niya (which Jason B had brought) was a quick-playing, warm-up game for just two players. Kind of chess-like, seemed like a glorified version of Tic Tac Toe. Ties were possible. In one game, Mike defeated Ben K while I drew with Jason B.<br />
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Jason A had brought a prototype of his own design, Acquisition: Empires, that eventually attracted six players. It was kind of a space travel game where you needed to make it home with a stipulated set of money, but it also had a stock market and space combat aspect to the game. Took the rest of the time, and we decided Lina was going to be the winner the next round with Rembert coming in second. Patrick got his spaceship blown up twice in combat, mostly with Jason whose special characteristic was a die roll bonus when attacking (the rest of us had various economic type advantages).<br />
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The other game was Lords of Waterdeep, and it also ended up taking most of the session time. Scores in that one were Eugene 142, Arnold 116, Tim 110, Ben K 98 and Mike 97.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-17932932598363310572016-07-13T10:53:00.001-07:002016-07-13T10:53:28.936-07:00July 7, 2014 Session Report<br />
Eight for this week's session. The group included Patrick, Mike, Jason, Ben K, Tim, Marion, Rembert and myself. A total of four games were played: Here Kitty Kitty, Founding Fathers, Keyflower and Last Spike. Results follow.<br />
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Here Kitty Kitty was the warmup game. Jason, who brought the game, wound up on top with 70 points. Mike was second with 40, I managed 38, just ahead of Patrick last with 35.<br />
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We then broke into two groups. Five of us played Founding Fathers, which Jason had brought. At the start, I drew James Madison which meant I went first. Marion had William Paterson, Ben K had Roger Sherman, Jason drew Charles Pinckney while Rembert took on the role of Alexander Hamilton. Winner was Marion -- who had not played the game before. She had 24 points, with Rembert (who was also playing the game for the first time) in second with 17. Jsaon (another newcomer to the game) was third with 14, while the so-called "experts" Jason and I were fourth (12 points) and fifth (7 points), respectively. Not one of my better games, as I had Ben Franklin for the last round but Marion and others kept removing my blocks, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game anyway.<br />
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The other group, consisting of Tim, Mike and Patrick, got in two games. First was Keyflower, won by Tim (65) ahead of Mike (51) and Patrick (46). Then the evening wrapped with Last Spike, which Patrick (who brought the game) and I had played last week at the Summer PrezCon tournament. Winner was Mike (113) ahead of Tim (83) and Patrick (55).John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-87574181115835213882016-07-05T06:35:00.000-07:002016-07-05T06:35:39.744-07:00June 30, 2016 Session Report<br />
I missed this session (away at PrezCon's summer convention, as was Patrick), but Co-Host Mike provides this session report:<br />
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"Attendance: me (Mike), Ben A, Alex, Jason, Tim, Ben K, Rouslan, Arnold,<br />
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Ben K, Alex, Jason and I started the evening with a game of Game: The Game. It's a co-op where the players are trying to empty their hands of cards numbered from 2 to 99. We almost made it but boxed ourselves into a figurative corner and just lost right after the draw deck emptied. It was close.<br />
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As others arrived, we broke into two games. The first group played Marco Polo. Rouslan won with a a score of 87 with Jason next at 75, Alex at 60 and Ben K at 40.<br />
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Poseidon was the other game, with me teaching in to Ben A and Arnold and refreshing the rules to Tim. This was the first exposure of any 18xx style game for Ben and Arnold. I was leading most of the way but the gods of stupid moves blessed me with the idea of starting a third company in the last round and my game collapsed. Ben A pulled out the win (which is news to him as he had to leave before we summed up the scores) with $4,179. Tim came next with $3,760, Arnold with $3,587 and me with $3,061. We finished just at 9:00."<br />
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My only comment, was Mike once again proved what a great teacher he was, finishing last in Poseidon while the new player finished first.<br />
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Hope to see everyone this coming week. Remember, the deadline for signing up for the GCOM Family Picnic is this Thursday, July 7th, as well.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-44960131105761143252016-06-28T16:52:00.001-07:002016-06-28T16:56:26.710-07:00June 23, 2016 Session Report<br />
Group of ten for this week's session. In attendance: Mike, Rouslan, David, Alex, Lina, Patrick, Jason, Ben A, Arnold and myself. Games played: For Sale, Russian Railroads, Orleans: Deluxe Edition, The Gallerist and Seeland.<br />
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For Sale was the quick warm-up game. Winner was Mike (62K) followed by myself (50K), Rouslan (48K) and David (46K). We then split into three groups for the rest of the session.<br />
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Russian Railroads was a 4-player, won by Rouslan. Scores: Rouslan (470), Mike (292), Ben (273) and Rembert (220).<br />
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Alex, Arnold and I tackled the Orleans: Invasion expansion, a 3-player co-op version. Things looked bad about midway through when Alex realized that houses built as forts didn't count for his individual victory condition, which required four houses as trading posts. In spite of this, we managed to pull out a win on the final turn of the game although it was close (we needed something like four or five Soliders in the last turn or two).<br />
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The Gallerist was another three-player (Patrick, David and Lina) that did not quite make it to the finish line.<br />
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Finally, Rouslan and Rembert broke out Seeland after the Russian Railroads game finished. No report on how the game turned out, not sure they finished it.<br />
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Will be at an out-of-town gaming event next week, so co-Host Mike will be in charge.John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-70239045464373275042016-06-22T17:31:00.001-07:002016-06-22T17:31:08.571-07:00June 16, 2016 Session Report<br />
Ten for this week's session. Jason, Mike, Rouslan, Ben K (back for session #3), Alec, Greg, Patrick, Tim, Rembert and I were the attendees. Games played: Too Many Cinderellas, Walls, Automobile and Power Grid Deluxe (North America) were the games played.<br />
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Too Many Cinderellas, which I brought, and Walls, which Jason brought, were the warm-up games. Too Many Cinderellas was a four-player, went for just one round, I managed to win versus Jason, Mike and Rouslan while we waited for more people to show up. Ben K and Alec were added for the Walls game, which was kind of kind going through an ever-changing maze, and that game was picked up once we got up to 10.<br />
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We then broke into two five-player games for the rest of the session. One game was Automobile, which Patrick brought. Winner was Rouslan, who claimed not to have played before, with a fine score of 4930. I managed to finish second at 4320, followed by Rembert (3620), Patrick (3330) and Jason (3010), who was also new.<br />
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The other game was Power Grid: Deluxe, with the North America map, which Mike had brought. Two people tied with 15 cities, and winner based on most money was Ben (15 cities, 14 money) ahead of Mike (15 cities, 1 money). Other scores: Tim (14 cities, 0 money); Greg (13 cities, 15 money); and Alec, 13 cities (12 money).John Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5951051016472180125.post-89216213062616940802016-06-14T11:47:00.001-07:002016-06-14T11:47:45.467-07:00June 9, 2016 Session Report<br />
Good attendance this week, total of 13 (14 if you count Steve, who stopped in briefly but did not get in a game). Rest of the list is Mike, Ben K (back for a second week in a row), David, Jason, Alex, Rouslan, Arnold, Neville, Greg, Eugene, Tim, Rembert and myself. Games played: Onitama (x2), Stockpile, Love Letter, Ticket to Ride - Pennsylvania, Russian Railroads: German Railroads, Quadropolis, Biblios Dice and Fuse. This report will provide some details and results on some, but not all, as there were quite a few games going on.<br />
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Onitama was a two-player, chess-like variant with cards that Jason had brought. I believe Rouslan played a game or two with Jason at the outset, plus there may have been a couple of other games, maybe with Rembert playing a game or two as well.<br />
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Stockpile was a five-player, with each of us choosing a special character. Final scores: myself (as Golden Graham) 164 first; Alex (as Billionaire Bill) 145 second; Arnold (as Mayknow Martha) 115 third; Neville (as Secretive Stewart) 104 fourth; and finally David (as Wise Warren) 71 fifth and last.<br />
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Ticket to Ride - Pennsylvania adds a UP-style stock market majority aspect to the game. Winner was Mike with 191, followed closely by Greg (186), Ben (172) and Tim (165).<br />
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Finally, certain people got in their Russian RR/German RR fix. Winner (and by a wide margin) was Rouslan (438) followed by Eugene (330) then Jason (260) and finally Rembert (230). I believe this was a first play for Jason and Rembert, although one or both may have been familiar with the basic Russian RR game.<br />
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Second round of games saw Quadropolis (won by Greg wth 53 over Mike at 49, Ben and Tim at 46) and Love Letter (a four-player, David had 3 wins to 2 for me, 1 for Arnold, 0 for Neville). But, as Neville, pointed out, "the Princess loved me most." In fact, Neville got the Princess so often that the last round David got him out early by playing a Guard and guessing Neville had the Princess.<br />
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Final games of the evening were Fuse (a co-op game) played by Rouslan, Jason and Rembert, and also Biblios: Dice, won by Arnold (30) with me nosing out Neville for second (24 to 23).<br />
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A reminder that we're less than a month away from the pre-registration deadline for the GCOM Family Picnic. Details can be found by clicking the link at the GCOM website, gamesclubofmd.orgJohn Weberhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16251847921660379466noreply@blogger.com0