January 9, 2014 Session Report

Good turnout tonight, and I am pleased to report that everyone was able to get in at least two games, plus the fact that we had two games going throughout the session.  Attendees were Mike, Tim, Neville, Eric, Ben, Karl, Rembert and myself.  We played the following games:  Power Grid (India map), Russian Railroads, Augustus (played twice) and 7 Wonders.

Power Grid with the new India map was a five-player, using the basic deck.  The game ended in Phase 2 when Mike saw he could build out once Eric, who had capacity to build one extra city, lacked the funds to do so.  It came down to the money tiebreaker between Mike and Eric, and Mike won.  Final scores:  Mike 12/37 Eric 12/18 Ben 11 Tim 9/269 Rembert 9/143.  Looks like Ben, Tim and Rembert were left sitting on alot of cash waiting for the Phase 3 card which never came.

Russian Railroads, which was the #1 rated game at this year's Essen (according to the Fairplay poll, made its first appearance at the club.  The game was really close headed into the last turn, and the endgame scoring turned out to be a decisive factor, plus some good industry development which gave me the win.  Final scores:  John 315 Karl 273 Neville 267.  It was everyone's first play, and the game seemed to get a thumbs up from everyone.

Still almost an hour remaining, so the second round of games were  Augustus and 7 Wonders.  The Augustus group whipped through the first game (a 5-player) in something like 15 minutes, and had time for a second game.  The winners were Karl and Mike.  Scores:  Game 1, Karl 60 Mike 52 Neville 47 Eric 27 Tim 23 and Game 2, Mike 51 Tim 44 Karl 39 Eric 14

The other game was a 3-player 7 Wonders.  Ben was the winner.  Scores in that game were Ben 50 John 46 Rembert 38

January 2, 2014 Session Report

Six of us braved the snowy weather and arrived at the club this week for the first session of the new year.  Patrick, Mike, Ben, Neville, John B and I played Caverna:  The Cave Farmers, which is a new game by Uwe Rosenberg that has been billed as the sequel to Agricola.  The game was well received by the group, but we didn't make it to the finish line as a couple of folks had to leave early.  We got through eight of the 12 rounds and scored the game.  I came out the winner, Mike was second, Neville third, scores withheld to protect the innocent but of course things could certainly have changed had we made it through to the end.  Mike, Neville and Patrick chose to go the armed dwarf/Expedition route while the rest of us tried a more peaceful strategy.  John B had been the first to expand to 4 dwarfs, with room for a 5th, so his 5th place position after 8 rounds may have been much better had the game gone to completion.

Two events coming up this weekend: The annual Brunswick Games Day is Saturday, and Sunday is the 1st Sunday of the month which means gaming at Laurel Middle Earth (Rodney Bacigalupo's place), check the GCOM website for details.

December 26, 2013 Session Report

We had six (Mike, Helen, Alex, John B, Patrick and myself) for this week's session.  We played a game Mike had brought, called Euphoria.  It was a race game (first to 10 VPs) using a rather unique looking board with four different areas or tracks that provided different resources and/or different ways of scoring.  In the end, Helen managed to win the game by earning her last two VPs on Patrick's turn.  Final score counts were Helen 10, Alex 8, John B and John W 7, Patrick 6, Mike 4.  Guess Mike was too busy teaching the game to concentrate on his own play.

Anyway, the session wrapped up a bit early.  On into 2014 then, first session this coming Thursday, January 2nd.

December 19, 2013 Session Report

Seven for this week's session:  Tim, Helen, Mike, Neville, Doug, Alex and myself.  We played three different games:  Global Mogul, Francis Drake, and two quick games of Cardline - Animals (a new version of TimeLine which Doug had brought).

Global Mogul was a three-player, and all three (Tim, Mike and Doug) had played before.  This time, the winner was Tim. Scores:  Tim 53, Doug 46, Mike 40.

The other long game was Francis Drake, played by Helen, Neville, Alex and myself.  Helen and I had played before, while Neville and Alex were new.  Helen shifted strategies from the earlier game and came away the winner.  Scores were Helen 110, John 98, Alex 97, Neville 85.

There was still a half-hour left in the session, so some of us stayed to play Cardline, a new version of Timeline that Doug had brought.  It involved all different types of animals, placing them in order, either by age, size or weight.  Helen continued her winning ways, taking the first game in just four rounds, tying with me for the win in game 2.  Other players were Doug, Neville and Tim (game 1 only).

Once again, the center will be open the day after Christmas so we will have gaming on the 26th and again Jan. 2.  Happy Holidays everyone.

December 12. 2013 Session Report

We had seven (Mike, Karl, Neville, Patrick, Rembert, John B and myself) for this week's session.  We split into two groups and got a total of three games in:  The Hobbit, Lewis & Clark and Agricola.

The Hobbit is a cooperative game that was played by Patrick, Rembert and John B.  Unfortunately, the game system defeated the players.  So, they set up a game of Agricola that did not quite make it to the finish line by the 9 PM close time.

The rest of us played Lewis & Clark, which I had been fortunate enough to score a copy via Canada as it was one of the more popular new Essen games at this year's EuroQuest.  I managed to win, although Neville was within one turn of reaching our destination, Fort Clatsop on the West Coast.  Karl (who had played once before) and Mike were the other players.

Once again, a reminder that the club will be open on Thurs. evening Dec. 26th and again on Thurs Jan. 2, so no sessions will be missed due to the Holidays this year (but check with the Community Center in case there is inclement weather).

December 5, 2013 Session Report

Six for this week's session:  Karl, Patrick, Mike, Neville, Helen and myself.  We played three games:  American Rails, Trains and Gipsy King.

American Rails, which Mike had brought, was up first.  Five-player game, it was a streamlined version of Chicago Express/Wabash Cannonball.  Patrick bought some good shares early on and then rolled to a decisive victory.  It was fairly close for second through fifth.  Final scores:  Patrick 163, John 109, Karl 106. Mike 97, Neville 87.

We were joined for the second round of games by Helen.  Patrick continued his winning ways in a game of Trains, a three-player.  Final scores:  Patrick 38, John 34, Helen 28.  Helen and I had played before, but Patrick was new to the game.  Mike dominated the remaining game, Gipsy King, which finished in about 20 minutes.  Scores were Mike 73, Neville 61, Karl 51.

Just got my copy of Lewis & Clark in the mail today, so hope to have that one on hand for next week.

November 21, 2013 Session Report

Five for this week's session:  Mike, Neville, Alex, Rembert and myself.  We played just one game:  Brew Crafters, a print-and-play version of game that is currently available for pre-orders on Kickstarter for just about two more days (closes at midnight Nov. 24th).

I liked the session so much that I wrote up this report for BoardGameGeek:

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/1075436/5-player-game-at-local-games-club-in-laurel

Congratulations to Neville, the winner!

Remember that we are off next week for Thanksgiving, next session will be Thursday December 5. Happy Turkey Day to everyone!