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!

November 7, 2013 Session Report

This was the week before EuroQuest and, as promised, Mike and I brought some new Essen games we are slated to demo at the convention next week.  That enabled us to draw a nice crowd, total of nine gamers present:  Mike, Patrick, Doug, Tim, Alex, Rembert, Helen, Karl and myself divided into two groups to play Coal Baron (with Mike doing the teaching) and Lewis & Clark (my game to demo).  Then, Mike's group got done first and had time for another game, Augustus.

Coal Baron, according to the scores, was a really close game and, according to Mike's notes, the endgame changed the order, much in the same way as Thurn and Taxis.  The final score counts were:  Rembert 103, Tim 98, Mike 96, Patrick 91.  This same group fit in a second game, Augustus, and that one, like the first, was a win for Rembert:  Rembert 74 Mike 70 Tim 58 Patrick 56.  Rembert seems to be on a bit of a winning streak as I believe he won the last game played on our Halloween session.

With Lewis & Clark, I wanted to allow time for teaching and hope to finish a longer game without pushing, so I limited the number of players to four (the box says a half-hour per player).  So, I sat out, prodding everyone to move quickly to keep the game from getting bogged down.  The game is a card-driven race game that simulates the historic Lewis & Clark expedition.  Helen made a big early move and shot into the lead, only to get bogged down when the Rocky Mountains appeared on the horizon.  Doug got off to a really poor start, but made a big move to gain much ground on the other players, all of whom faltered in the mountains.  Karl seemed to be in a position to challenge Helen for the win, and it looked like we wouldn't finish in time, until -- all of sudden -- Alex, the master of new games, shot past the finish line to take the win.  Karl and Helen were very close for second, with Doug still trailing but not as much as earlier.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the new games, which will be featured at EuroQuest next week. ... which brings me to the following subject:  Mike and I, along with several club regulars, will be at EQ next Thursday night, so while the Community Center will be open, those of you attending will be on our own.  Hopefully someone will send me a report on what games (if any) get played.  In the meantime, everyone is invited to attend EuroQuest which starts with a Wednesday night Pre-Con and runs through Sunday, November 17.

See everyone back at the club in two weeks, or one week before Thanksgiving.

OOPS, forgot to add that someone from the Community Center staff actually video-taped part of our gaming session last night.  It's supposed to be posted on the Parks and Recreation Facebook page some time soon, there will be a link at the Community Center home page (see link to left of this blog).

October 31. 2013 Session Report

Turnout of six for the first Halloween night club session in memory.  Mike, Ben, Doug, Tim, Rembert and I were the attendees.  We played a total of four games:  Gipsy King, Power Grid -Quebec (three players plus the robot), Global Warming and Maori, and I am pleased to report that (1) I got to play three of them and (2) we had four different winners and a couple of very close games.

First up was Gipsy King, a nice short game while waiting for more people to show up.  It was a four-player, won by Ben who came storming from behind with a 36-point caravan after I had seized an early half-time lead.  Final scores were close, six points top to bottom:  Ben 66 John 63 Mike 61 Doug 60.

Rembert and Tim arrived, and we split into two groups of three for the remainder of the session.  One group (Mike, Tim and Ben) played Power Grid with the robot four-player and the Quebec map.  Resources (especially coal) got real tight as the robot implemented a hoarding strategy.  In the end, Tim built to 18 but could only power 15, so the winner was Mike at 17, followed by Tim at 15, then Ben and the robot with 11 but the record should show that Ben had more money than the robot.

I brought a game that was shown at Essen a couple of years back called Global Warming, and Doug and Rembert decided to give it a try..  It has a US designer but hadn't hit the mainstream market but I recently discovered it listed at Funagain, so I decided to order it.  Like CO 2, the game has differing ending conditions depending on how much global pollution is generated.  I may have benefited from having done a couple of solo plays and managed to win, hitting the endgame goal of 25 compared to 19 for Doug and 12 for Rembert; had the alternate scenario (of too much global warming) taken place, Rembert would have won because he contributed the least damage to the planet.

The three of us wrapped up the evening with Maori, which Doug had brought, and it was the closest game of the evening:  31-31-30 with Rembert edging me out on the tiebreaker for first (one shell to zero).  Doug had three shells remaining, so he would have won had he been tied for first.

A reminder that next week, the session before EuroQuest, and Mike and I will be on hand with a couple of the Essen games that we have volunteered to demo -- we obviously would like to do a dry run to familiarize ourselves with the games.  Mike will be demoing a game called Coal Baron, I will have Lewis & Clark.  Hope we get enough attendance to get both games going at once!  (We will be setting up around 6, so everyone is encouraged to arrive on time.)

October 24, 2013 Session Report

Low attendance this week, don't know why, maybe it's the cold weather.  Tim, Neville and I were the three attendees, and we only got in one game:  Global Mogul, which seems to have become an instant hit at least with serious gamers in the gaming groups I frequent.  Since all of us had played before, we bumped up the level of intensity and went with the Standard Rules.  Tim managed to be the first to get all six of his action markers in play (perhaps as a result of his Agricola background), I believe on round three, while Neville and I followed a round later.  Competition for control of regions was fierce.  No one took turn order for the final turn, as we all needed to bring on more agent cubes.  In the end, I won with 57 while Tim and Neville wound up tied at 47, with Tim having more money left over to break the tie for second.  A brief post-mortem followed, and we found some better moves for Tim on the last turn that may have gained him a couple of points, cost me some, but the rankings at the end would not have changed.  I managed to win without controlling any regions, something that happened in another recent play, so maybe that means people are focusing too much on controlling regions and not other things (like some juicy contracts or 5 VP markets that emerge late in the game).

Anyway, word from the CC is that they will be open next week, Halloween Night, so everyone is welcome.  Also, EuroQuest is just three weeks away and the pre-reg deadline is coming up soon.  Go to www.euroquestcon.com for details.

October 17, 2013 Session Report

Much bigger turnout this week, total of nine:  Mike, Ben, Doug, Neville, Andrew (he's new to the club, works with Neville), Tim, Helen, Rembert and myself.  We played a total of four games:  Ultimate Werewolf: Inquisition, Race for the Galaxy, Lords of Waterdeep and Agricola.

Started off the evening with Ultimate Werewolf: The Inquisition, which is the first published design by Legend Dan Hoffman, who I imagine many of you know from his business (Canton Games) and/or at various GCOM gaming events and conventions.  The game is a Werewolf variant with no player elimination, as the teams remain intact as the number of inhabitants of the werewolf-infested village shrinks until one side is control.  In our game, we had seven (Helen and Rembert had yet to arrive) which meant three on the Werewolf side, four for the Villagers.  A pretty deal for the Werewolves, if you ask me, since I was one of them. We got off to a good start when my fellow Werewolf, Ben, drew the #1 position and took the Seer.  Tim, one of the Good Guy villagers, immediately took Sorcerer and vouched for Ben, who of course had taken a laid back approach to conceal his identity.  This got Andrew confused, and he mistakenly called out both Ben and Tim as Werewolves. Then everyone kind of starting pointing fingers at everyone else -- good for the Werewolves, right?  Well, something strange happened in the middle of the game.  On one of the Night time turns, I passed two cards, one of which was a Werewolf, keeping the Villager (the character due to be eaten) on the bottom. But, by the time the cards were revealed, someone (presumably one of my fellow Werewolfs) had put the Werewolf on the bottom, meaning we were consuming one of our own!  This may have helped, however, as it got some votes removed and four of the remaining six cards shuffled around and confused the Villager team even more.  In the end, it came down to a 50-50 shot and Ben, as the Hunter, put three votes on the last remaining Villager to cinch the win for the Werewolf team of Ben, Doug and myself and with just about all the strong Villager characters having been lynched or eaten, the Good Guys couldn't stop us.  Victory for the Werewolves!  Hurray!

Anyway, in addition to the lack of player elimination, the other cool thing is just about everyone has the opportunity to be a special character, something you don't see in the regular game.  Definitely superior to the regular Werewolf, and it plays alot quicker; our game, which clocked in a just under an hour, took about as long as possible as we had seven, several people new to Werewolf in general, and we went down to the very last two cards.  I think some people (like me) who aren't big Werewolf fans will like this game, which plays a bit more like a regular Euro. Only down-side is the bit about passing the cards and closing your eyes; some of us did this better than others.  (Not sure there's a better way to do this, though.)

On to the other games.  Helen and Rembert missed out on Werewolf but ran through a few quick turns of Race for the Galaxy; it was mainly a teaching game for Rembert, who hadn't played before, so no scores were kept.  We still had about two hours left in the session, and four of us opted for Agricola while the other five played Lords of Waterdeep.  I was in the Agricola game with Tim, Ben and Andrew, who claimed to have an affinity for the game, until a Tim pointed out a rule he had missed about how the animals reproduce.  For my part, I floundered around and was not as efficient in most of my actions, although I did manage to build two rooms at once at get them converted to Clay.  In the end, though, it was Ben, who had grabbed a bunch of Wood and got all 15 fences down in one play, who edged Tim for the win.  But my performance was not all that pathetic, as I managed to finish ahead of Andrew, getting all my spaces filled (albeit with no animals).  Andrew just wasn't able to bounce back after the rules miscue.  Final scores:  Ben 35, Tim 33, John 26, Andrew 22.

No details on the Lords of Waterdeep game, won by Neville, except for the fact that the scores indicate it was really close:  Neville 108  Rembert 106  Doug 102 Mike 99 Helen 95

I have been reminding everyone about my favorite time of the year, the EuroQuest convention, which is now less than three weeks away.  Pre-reg deadline (with cheaper prices!) is Nov. 1.  See www.euroquestcon.com for details.  The club session the week before EQ -- Thursday, Nov. 7 -- I hope to have a few Essen games on hand.  The following Thursday, though, many of us will NOT be at the Club although the CC will be open, and the club games will be accessible for anyone who shows up.

October 10, 2013 Session Report

Just five for this week's session:  Neville, Rembert, Alex and myself, joined by Karl midway through the session.  We started off with Love Letter, a quick-playing card game that Neville had brought.  We picked it up with Neville winning, 3 to 2 (John), 1 (Alex) and 0 (Rembert).

Next game was Vegas Showdown, using the new edition which fixes the Sports Book printing error and also has a bit of thickness added to the player mats.  This game went to Alex (45) ahead of John (39), Rembert (35) and Neville (28).  The game seemed to end sooner than usual due to one particular stack running out fairly quickly.

By this time Karl had arrived, and we wrapped up the session with a game of Legendary, a quasi-cooperative.  Didn't quite make it to the finish, but we scored anyway, with Karl ahead.  Scores:  Karl (15), Neville (13), Rembert (12) and John (6).

A friendly reminder, only a few weeks left to pre-register for EuroQuest at the cheaper rates (prices have been reduced this year!).  Website:  www.euroquestcon.com

October 3, 2013 Session Report

Eight for this week's session:  Neville, Patrick, Mike, Doug, Karl, John B (whom we haven't seen in awhile), Rembert and myself.  We split into two groups for the entire session.

Four of us played a new release that is a meaty economic game that I believe will become fairly popular:  Global Mogul.  It's about investing in oversea markets, raising venture capital and producing goods to fulfill private and government contract.  In our four-player game, the award for the top Mogul went to Mike.  Final scores were Mike 56, John and Neville 52, Doug 45.  I edged Neville on the tiebreak for 2d, but Neville was the best of those new to the game since Mike and I had played at prototype at EuroQuest before.  Pleased to announce that Global Mogul will be the Hot New Wild Card game at this year's EuroQuest, and game designer Bill Crenshaw will be on hand to teach anyone that wants to learn the game.

The other four (Patrick, Karl, John B and Rembert) wound up getting in two games, although one got restarted once or twice as new players arrived.  First game was Pastiche, and the winner was Karl (46) to 36 for John, 31 for Rembert and finally 30 for Patrick, who was teaching the game.  Then they got in a game of Augustus, and this time Patrick did manage to come out the winner.  Scores were Patrick 64, Karl 58, Rembert 56, John B 44. 

September 26, 2013 Session Report

Alex, Mike, Neville, Tim and I were the attendees this week.  We played three games:  Gipsy King, Escape:  Curse of the Temple and Power Grid, with the Scandinavia Map.

Gipsy King was a win for Mike, but we only played one round as it was a quck filler while waiting for more people to show up.  Scores were Mike 58, John 50, Alex 48.

Escape:  Curse of the Temple was a cooperative game that Neville had brought, with a built-in real-time component.  We played through one round and managed to lose as most of us were unfamiliar with the game system.

Finally, there was enough time for Power Grid, using the Scandinavia map.  I managed to convert a good board position near the center of the map to win with Mike, who also had begun in a good location (near Denmark) coming second.  Scores were John 17, Mike 16, Neville 13 (+4 on tiebreak), Alex 13 (0 on tiebreak), Tim 11.

September 19, 2013 Session Report

A good time was had by all at this past week's session. Attendees were Doug, Karl, Patrick, Tim, Ben, Rembert and myself for a total of seven.  We got in a total of four different games:  Show Manager, Puerto Rico, Augustus and Guillotine.

First up was Show Manager; we had a full table of six for this musical themed game.  Final scores:  John 52, Tim 42, Patrick 37, Karl 32, Doug 29, Ben 28.  Doug and I had played before; everyone else was new to the game.

Rembert joined us, so we split into two groups for the next round of games.  One group played Augustus, which was a win for Doug.  Scores:  Doug 78, Patrick 54, Rembert 44, Karl 34.

Tim, Ben and I played Puerto Rico.  I got the Guild Hall and came out on top.  Scores:  John 49 Ben 37 Tim 35.

Final game of the evening was Guillotine. Doug, Tim and I were the participants.  Doug edged Tim for the win (28 to 25) in this free-wheeling game of the French Revolution, while I brought up the rear with 16.

September 12, 2013 Session Report

Only four for this week's session:  Ben, Mike, Neville and myself.  We played three games:  two games of Trains and one game of Gipsy King.

I had brought Trains a couple of weeks earlier, and Neville had been one of the players then.  In the first game, Neville and I tied at 29 while Mike and Ben tied at 27.  Tiebreaker is most train cubes on the board, don't remember who won but obviously, a close game.  Second game was not quite as close, with Ben (30) finishing first ahead of Neville (25), myself (21) and then Mike (21).  At one point I remember getting frustrated because of not being able to do anything with my turn (drawing 3-4 waste and very little money).  Subsequently, I was reminded of a rule that you can dump all your waste if you do no other actions (i.e, card buys, station or track builds, action cards, etc.)  Sorry for not remembering this.

We then played Gipsy King which Mike won with 69. Second was really close, scores were John 55, Neville 53, Ben 52.

Despite the poor attendance, everyone had a good time. I believe both these quick-playing games were well received by the group, so look to see both again.

September 5, 2013 Session Report

We had nine attendees for this past week's session:  Patrick, Doug, Mike, Rembert, Karl, Tim, Neville, Helen and myself.  We played a total of four different games, and one game was played twice:  Gipsy King (x2), Formula De-Baltimore, Augustus and Lords of Waterdeep.

Mike had brought Gipsy King which turned out to be the one game that was played twice.  The game seemed to move rather quickly, maybe half-hour or 45 minutes.  Results of game 1:  Mike 66 Tim 63 Karl 57 Doug 44.  Game #2:  Doug 57 Mike 53 Tim 53 Karl 41, with Mike finishing 2nd ahead of Tim on the tiebreaker.

Patrick had just been to the real-life Baltimore Grand Prix the weekend before, and he brought the new Formula De track.  We only got in one lap, and the winner was Helen.  Patrick took second, Neville third, Rembert fourth.  I went off the track and did not finish, but some excitement for the fans.

The other games played were Augustus (which can best be described as "Roman Bingo"), which was won by Patrick (70) by a wide margin over Helen (47), Neville (46), John (45) and Rembert (17), and Lords of Waterdeep (I assume with the new expansion), final scores were Karl 129, Tim 126, Mike 125, Doug 119.  Congrats to Karl for what I believe is his first win at the club, and in a very close and competitive game, judging by the scores.

August 29, 2013 Session Report

Final session before Labor Day, and we had a total of six for this week's session:  Neville, Tim, Alex, Karl, Helen and myself were the attendees.  We wound up playing a total of three games, including two new games: Libertalia, Trains and the Agricola - 2 Player.

First up was Libertalia, which Neville had brought.  It features a mechanic I like with simultaneous card play, but the game did not go well for me.  As usual, the master of new games, Alex, was the winner, but it was a really close finish, top to bottom with me on the bottom:  Alex 83, Tim 81, Karl 79, Neville (who did a nice job teaching the game) 78 and John 74.  It was a fun game and I would be happy to play again.

By this time Helen arrived and we split into two groups.  Four of us played Trains, a Dominion knock-off with a train-building theme that gives you points from building to certain locations as well as for drafting certain cards during the course of the game.  Once again, Alex came out on top and (like the first game), I was in last.  Scores:  Alex 41 Neville 37 Helen 34 John 30.

The other game was an Agricola 2-player played by Tim and Karl, but I didn't get a report on what happened on that game. I recall Tim going to his car to get the game, then later I heard they played some computer version. Sorry, I was so engrossed in our Trains game, that I wasn't able to keep up and provide a fuller report on what happened.

August 22, 2013 Session Report

Attendance hit double figures this week, as a total of 10, including Lee (new to the club) and Neville (whom we have not seen for awhile) along with Mike, Patrick, Alex, Doug, Tim, Rembert and myself.  I also count Karl (back for his second week) although he arrived late did not get in a game, unfortunately, as both games (Lords of Waterdeep and Sid Meier's Civ), both played with new expansions, did not finish in time to start another game.

Mike brought and taught the latest LoW expansion (I believe it goes by the names Scoundrels of Skullport) to Neville, Tim, Doug and Rembert.  Neville wound up the big winner, and by a fairly wide margin.  Scores were Neville 172, Tim 151, Mike 144, Doug 137, Rembert 130.  The game seemed to run a bit longer than the regular game, probably because of the new stuff (which adds a meeple per player and more locations) plus the fact it was a five-player.

Patrick, Lee, Alex and I played Sid Meier's Civ with parts of two expansions that Patrick had brought.  Patrick had the game nicely organizes with everything sorted out, but when we had to rush to put the game away at the end of the session, all that went out the window.  The game added a few new aspects, like different special abilities and, of course, we didn't come close to finishing.  I managed to get a level 3 tech in the game, and Lee also seemed to be doing well.  Alex drew alot of water which slowed down his ability to explore.  Patrick looked like he was going for the Military but suffered some unexpected losses in combat, so it was unclear who was going to win if we had been able to play it out until the end.

One more session this coming Friday before Labor Day.  Hope to see everyone there.  

August 15, 2013 Session Report

We had two newcomers (Jenn and Karl) to boost our attendance to six this week, with Alex, Tim, Mike and myself rounding out the list of attendees.  We managed to get in three games:  Village (with the new Village Inn expansion), Carcassonne: New World and Hoity Toity.  A few details follow.

The Village-Inn was a new experience for the four of us who had played Village before.  Mike made the most use of the new stuff (the Brewery and the Inn) but it turned out to be the tried and true that worked out for Alex, who came through with the win, mainly through serving lots of customers at the Market.  Final score counts:  Alex 58, Tim 45, John 45, Mike 44.  (Tim took second on the "most customers served" tiebreaker.)

By this time Jenn and Karl had arrived, and they came prepared with a two-player game that was completed just when Village was finishing up  It was a two-player Carcassonne expansion, called New World, and Jenn came away the winner, 153 to 133 for Karl.

All six of us joined in for the final game of the evening, the art-collecting game, Hoity Toity, which barely finished in time.  It was an incredibly close finish, all three players within three spaces of each other. Alex came away with the win, narrowly over Jenn, who had the best set of art (14 pieces!) after pilfering three on the next-to-last turn.  Remaining order of finish was John, Tim, Karl and Mike, who closed up alot of ground with some fine detective work.

August 8, 2013 Session Report

Six for this week's session:  Patrick, Helen, Tim, Doug, Brad and myself.  Three games were played:  Puerto Rico, Dominion:  Dark Ages, Eminent Domain.

Five of us were there for the start, and so we played Puerto Rico.  Final scores were John 52, Helen 43, Tim 43, Doug 39, Patrick 28.  Doug and Patrick did not get a large building, I had the Guild Hall, Helen and Tim each had two large buildings.  Helen took second on the money plus goods tiebreaker.

By this time Brad had arrived, so we split into two groups of three for the second round of games.  Doug, Patrick and I played Dominion-Dark Ages, using one of the pre-recommeded sets.  (Something about playing Chess with Death because Patrick and I were talking about chess.)  Anyway, Doug got into the Rats early but it didn't work out for him.  Patrick ended it by grabbing the final Province but I had picked up three Duchies and that was enough for me to prevail in a close finish:  John 33 Patrick 30 Doug 23.

The other game (Eminent Domain) lasted just about the rest of the session, and Brad won it:  47 to 29 each for Helen and Tim.  So, Brad and I went undefeated for the evening while Helen and Tim were tied for second in VPs in both of the games played.

August 1, 2013 Session Report

Five at this week's session:  Doug, Alex, Ben, Rembert and myself.  We played two games:  Copycat and Hoity Toity.

First up was Copycat.  Doug, who had played before, grabbed an early lead and held on for the win.  The rest of us were fairly close for second:  Alex 68, Ben and myself at 61.  It was the first play for Alex.

By this time Rembert had arrived, and he was patiently waiting to get into a game but no one else showed.  So, to wrap up the evening, we played an old favorite, Hoity Toity.  The game was incredibly close, with everyone in contention down the stretch.  I managed to win despite not having first or second best set at the end.  Doug, who had the best set, was second.  Alez finished third ahead of Rembert in fourth.  Alex and Rembert were both new to the game.

July 25, 2013 Session Report

Attendance was up this week, partly due to two first-timers (Vince and Eric) whom we hope to see at the club again in the future.  Mike, Patrick, Rembert, Helen, Brad and myself were the others bringing the total attendance up to eight for this week.  We played three games:  Can't Stop, Lords of Waterdeep and Village.  I managed to go undefeated, winning both Can't Stop and Village.

Can't Stop was a four-player, with Vince and Eric joining Mike and myself.  I managed to use a conservative approach to win, although Vince was close, getting two numbers to the top.  Eric and Mike each managed to get one.

For Village, the players were Mike, Rembert, Vince and myself.  Final scores were:  John 50 Vince 47 Mike 43 Patrick 39. I believe it was Vince's first time playing, so he did well to come close to winning.

The other four of us were in the Lords of Waterdeep game that wrapped up just before closing time.  Helen won by just two from Brad (161 to 161).  Eric and Rembert were the other two players..

July 18, 2013 Session Report

Despite a disappointing turnout in total numbers this week (four), we still had a good time.  In honor of the 100th edition of the Tour de France taking place this week, I brought one of my prize possessions, a rare out-of-print cycling game called "Maillot Jaune."  Doug, Mike and I each took one of my hand-made all-time great national teams to compete on the simulated course tackled by the real-life Tour that same day, featuring a dual ascent of the legendary Alpe d'Huez.   Doug and Mike were giving me blank stares while I explained the rules but, after a little bit, everyone got into the swing of things, and the attacks started and never seemed to stop.  However, even after all this attacking, the Peleton was still intact halfway up the first ascent of the Alpe, save for a few sprinters who just didn't have the legs to tackle such a tough climb.  While Doug's Belgian team featured the great Eddy Merckx, Mike's USA team featured the disgraced Lance Armstrong, and I had the great "Big Mig" Indurain leading the Spanish team, none of these figured in the final sprint for the win, with Doug outrolling Mike and taking victory with Belgian climbing ace Lucien Van Impe.  Mike was second with Greg LeMond (now the only American TdF winner after Landis and Armstrong were stripped of their titles), while I came in third with Spaniard Luis Ocana. 

By this time Brad had arrived, and we still had plenty of time for a meaty Euro, and Brad wanted to play Tzolkin:  The Mayan calendar game.  In this game, everyone seemed to try different strategies.  I focused on Temple tracks, Doug focused on crystal skulls, Brad expanded to six workers and focused on building.  I had an early lead that somehow managed to hold up for the win, despite not getting the monument I had hoped for.  (In fact, only one monument was bought.)  Final scores were John 66, Brad 53, Doug 52, Mike 40.

Hope to see attendance bounce back next week.

July 11, 2013 Session Report

Back after a week off due to the 4th of July holiday.  We had eight for this session: Patrick, Tim, Mike, Peng, Ben, Rembert, Brad and myself.  Three games were played:  Agricola, Dark Horse and Race for the Galaxy.

Agricola was a tight three-player game, with Peng coming out on top.  Final scores were Peng 33, Tim 32, Ben 31.

Dark Horse was a four-player, and we had to end the game a turn or two short of the finish line due to time.  Mike, who managed to build all his towns and cities and connect them, came from behind to win, with 23 points.  I was second with 20, followed by Patrick (19) and Rembert (19).  It was the first play for Mike and Rembert, and Patrick and I had played before.

Brad arrived late and taught Race for the Galaxy to the players from the Agricola game, which finished in less than two hours.  Final scores on that game were Brad 44, Peng 31, Ben 25, Tim 23.

This coming Saturday is the GCOM Family Picnic, hope to see many of you there.

June 27, 2013 Session Report

Eight for this week's session:  Mike, Patrick, Alex, Neville, Rembert, John B, Brad and myself were the attendees.  We got in a total of three games:  Viticulture (second week in a row for this new game), Lords of Waterdeep and Cloud Nine.

Viticulture was a six-player, consisting of the six of us who arrived at or close to the 6 PM start time.  Mike (once again) taught the game, with Alex (runner-up in the first game last night) winning this time, with 21 points with everyone else far back.  Patrick was the best of the newbies, coming in second with 13.  Three of us (Neville, Rembert and myself) had 11; Mike once again brought up the rear, this time with 7.  Interesting game, looking forward to try it again, looks like going through the visitor cards (as Alex did) can be a strong strategy.

John B and Brad couldn't make it until 7 PM or later, so they played a 2-player which was Lords of Waterdeep.  A close contest, this one went to John B, 153 to 143.

Four of us from the Viticulture game stayed to play a very quick game of Cloud Nine. Rembert was the winner, getting to 58.  Others:  Mike and Neville 46, John W (me) far back at 34.

No gaming at the Laurel CC next week, as Thursday falls on July 4th and the CC will be closed.  For those of you looking for some gaming in Laurel, I would suggest the Laurel Middle Earth location hosted by Rodney, which has a session scheduled for Sunday, July 7.

June 20, 2013 Session Report

Total of nine this week.  Attendees:  Mike, Doug, Alex, Helen, Rembert, Brad, Alison, myself and -- back after a long absence -- Kay.  We played a total of three games, two of which were new to the club.  One was Viticulture, which Mike had brought; another was Credit Mobilier, which I had brought; then we also played Seven Dragons (two games), which Brad had brought but it's a game I seem to recall having played before.

First up was Viticulture.  Mike did the teaching and, after adjusting for a second group of late arriving gamers, it wound up being a four-player with Mike, the teacher, ending up last.  It's a game about wine production with seasonal turns.  Final scores were Kay 22, Alex 21, Doug 15, Mike 11.  Nice win for Kay on his return to the club, particularly in a close finish with Alex who has a penchant for picking up new games on his first try.

Helen, Brad, Allison, Rembert and I wound up playing Credit Mobilier -- a train game with dice.  Each turn, the player must select one of the colors (representing five different railroads) and choose among building track, buying stock, or moving cubes.  A fourth action (declaring dividends) is only possible with the roll including an orange die and one of the five other colors.  Purple plays a unique double role as representing the Credit Mobilier, but also an extra action for another color railroad.  The Credit Mobilier RR -- as in real life -- makes money when any track is built, scarfing up government subsidies to encourage development of transcontinental railroads in the 19th Century.  Anyway, in our game, some players (notably Brad and Rembert) focused on supporting a couple of RRs while others (Helen and I) tried a more diversified approach, buying up shares in all five colors.  Alison was the big stakeholder in the blue RR, but also had stock in three others.  Anyway, Helen wound up the winner, but the scores were all fairly close:  Helen 17, Brad 13, Alison and John 12, Rembert 9.  Interesting game, lots of strategy for a game that plays fairly quickly.

Anyway, there was time for a couple of more games so we played 7 Dragons, which Brad had brought.  I seem to have remembered playing it at least once before.  I managed to win game one, with Brad taking game two.  It's a quick-playing card game where you have to really be on your toes as winning objectives can change quickly.

Good session, a reminder that the club will be closed Thursday, July 4th, for the holiday.

June 13, 2013 Session Report

Seven for this week's session:  Mike, Tim, Patrick, Ben, Helen, Rembert and myself.  Three games were played, two of which were racing games:  Agricola, Legend of the Mille Miglia and Formula De (Monaco track).

Agricola was a three-player, and Tim continued to demonstrate his prowess at this farming game.  Final scores were Tim 42, Ben 33 and Mike 19.

The rest of us played a new game I had just bought, Legend of the Mille Miglia which simulates an open-wheel road race across the roads of Italy that covered the years 1927 to 1957, the race being abandoned after a fatal crash killed several spectators in the 1957 edition.  The game played at this session featured cars from the very first event in 1927, and so the final average speeds reflected this (we only completed one of the scheduled 15 stages):  1. John 85 Kph, 2.  Helen 83 kph, 3. Patrick 81 kph and Rembert (who never really recovered after a stalled start), 74 kph.

The final game of the evening was Formula De on the Monaco circuit.  We ran only one lap due to time constraints.  Tim started on the pole but ran into trouble and eventually finished last after Chief Steward Patrick gave him a reprieve from what should have been an out-of-race result.  The winner was Helen, who took a one-turn lead heading into the tunnel hairpin and never looked back.  Patrick edged yours truly in a close battle for second.  In poetic justice, Rembert outrolled Tim on the final straightaway to claim fourth.

Some bad weather in the area may have adversely affected attendance, so hope to see the numbers improve this coming week.

June 6, 2013 Session Report

I had to miss this session, so Mike has provided me with some information about attendance and games played.  Still awaiting more details (possibly), but here is what I have so far:

Attendance (7):  Mike, Ben, Alex, Doug, Tim, Peng and Brad

Games Played (4):  San Juan, Lords of Waterdeep, For Sale, Copycat.

Scores:
San Juan:  Mike 33, Alex 31, Doug 29, Ben 28 (first time playing for Ben)
Lords of Waterdeep:  Peng 152 Doug 133 Tim 123
For Sale:  Peng 105 Doug 83  Tim  62
Copycat:  Brad 109 Ben 47 Mike 44

May 30, 2013 Session Report

Nine again for this week's session, with Ben, Tim, Mike, Eric, Ryan, and Neville (who has been away for awhile) plus myself along with Alison and Brad (back for their second session) in attendance.  Games played were Fleet, Agricola:  All Creatures Great and Small, Power Grid - Spain and 7 Wonders (played twice).

Fleet is a fishing-themed card game that I had learned recently.  Final scores in this four-player game were John 63, Neville 61, Tim 51, Rembert 48.

Brad and Alison were the protagonists in the 2-player Agricola game, All Creatures Great and Small, scores were Brad 45, Alison 35.

Finishing just after Agricola was the Power Grid game, won by Eric on the money tiebreaker from Mike.  Scores:  Eric 17 (56), Mike 17 (23), Ben 16, Ryan 15.

The evening wrapped up with two games of 7 Wonders.  First was a six-player, won by Neville with an excellent score of 71.  Second was Brad (67), followed by Rembert (59), John (56), Tim (40) and Alison (46).

Mike joined us for the second game.  This time Rembert was the winner with 65.  Other scores:  Alison (60), Mike (53), John and Neville (49), Brad and Tim (40).

I will be out of town for a few days so if you don't see me next week, Mike will fill in as Co-Host.

May 23, 2013 Session Report

We had nine attendees this week, including two first-time attendees, Alison and Brad, who had just moved to the Laurel area.  Others were Doug, Mike, Ben, Tim, Alex, Rembert and myself.  We played a total of five games:  Puerto Rico, Settlers of Catan - Germany, the Settlers dice game, Tzolkin:  The Mayan Calendar game and Gemlok.  We had at least two games in progress for almost the entire session.

At one table, Rembert had a really good evening.  In a very close Settlers - Germany game, he came from behind to win after Doug and I had threatened victory.  In the end, Rembert placed his ninth point on the board and then flipped a 1 VP card for his tenth point to claim the win.  At the time, I had 9 VP on the board but none in hand.  Doug and Ben, the other players, also had 9 VP -- one in hand plus 8 on the board, so any one of us was poised to win the game had Rembert not done so.  Then, Doug, Rembert and I played Gemlok, which Doug had brought.  It was another close finish.  I triggered the endgame while ahead, but everyone had one more turn so Rembert managed to come from behind to win another close game.  Final scores were Rembert 48, John 45, Doug 41.

The other table started up with a game of Puerto Rico, which for some reason I missed out on.  It was another nail-biting finish, with Alex edging Mike by one, 44 to 43, followed by Tim with 36.  (Mike had originally thought he had won on the tiebreak until a recount showed Alex with one more point.)  By this time Alison and Brad had arrived, and they bided the time for the next game by playing the very quick Settlers dice game, which Brad won.  Then they joined Mike and Tim for Tzolkin.  The game did not quite finish and was scored at the 3/4 mark, before any monuments could be procured.  Anyway, this truncated game had Brad as the winner, with 38 to 32 for Alison, followed by Mike (27) and Tim (13).

It's good to see some new people who are gamers moving into the area, so I hope to see both Alison and Brad at future sessions.

May 16, 2013 Session Report

There were seven of us for this week's session:  Mike, Alex, Tim, Doug, Rembert, Ping and myself.  We played a total of five different games:  Cloud Nine, Puerto Rico, Lords of Waterdeep, Tsuro and For Sale (played twice).

Mike, Alex, Tim and I were the first to arrive, so we started a game of Cloud Nine (which had been the last game of the prior week's session).  Doug joined in a few minutes later, but by then Alex and Tim were off to a strong start and they finished 1-2.  Scores:  Alex 53, Tim 40, Mike was third, Doug and I were even further back.

We then split into two groups.  Four of us played Puerto Rico, and once again Alex was victorious.  The scores in that game were Alex 44, Rembert 33, Doug 32, John 25.  A forgettable game for me where nothing seemed to work, including getting the Guild Hall late but not getting it manned ....

The four of us then locked horns in a game of Tsuro while waiting for the other group to finish.  This time I managed to win and the results were the opposite of the prior game:  John first, Doug second, Rembert third, Alex fourth.  I even had one more tile I could play after everyone else crashed out.

The Lords of Waterdeep game was very competitive, and Peng won with a builder strategy:  Peng 134, Mike 129 Tim 120.

There was still time left in the session, and the four of us that remained got in a couple of games of For Sale.  First game ended in a tie between Rembert and myself, and we checked and the tiebreaker in the rules was most money, which favored me as I had more left over from the earlier bidding round.  Doug won with a really good score in game two.

Game 1:  John and Rembert, 63K; Doug 54K; Mike 50K.
Game 2:  Doug 71K; John 58K; Rembert 57K; Mike 53K.

Final reminder:  This Sunday, May 19th, there will be a gaming table set up by our sister club at the Beltsville Community.  It's part of the annual Beltsville Day event there.  The time is 12 Noon - 5 PM at the CC in Beltsville.

May 9, 2013 Session Report

A bit behind on the weekly reports, but here's the one for last week's meeting.

Attendance of eight this time:  Mike, Doug, Tim, Eric, Nathan, Ryan, Rembert and myself were the attendees.  We played a total of four games:  7 Wonders, Settlers Explorers and Pirates, Lords of Waterdeep and Cloud Nine.

We started with 7 Wonders as Eric's two sons (Nathan and Ryan) had another engagement that evening.  The scores on that game were Doug (the winner) 58 Mike 55 Tim 53 John 49 Eric 44 Nathan 34 Ryan 33.

We then split into two groups of three for some longer games.  Doug, Rembert and I played the new Settlers expansion, Explorers and Pirates, although it was one of the shorter rules with the pirates being activated on a roll of 7.  Doug managed to win, I was second and Rembert third.

The other group played Lords of Waterdeep.  Tim one that one, 182 to 172 for Mike and 164 for Eric.

This left us with around 20 - 30 minutes left in the session, time for a quick game of Cloud Nine.  Eric managed to win, 51 points.  Doug (40), John and Rembert (tied at 30) were the other participants.

Saturday was the Laurel Main St. Festival, which went well despite some soggy weather early in the morning.  Rodney and I ran the booth for GCOM and Eric, Nathan and Ryan joined us, and I got to play a couple of games with Sarah (a regular attendee at the club from years back) and her mother, Joan, who also attended at one time.  A good time was had by all.

This coming Sunday, from Noon to 5, there were will be a similar event at Beltsville Community Center (as part of the annual Beltsville Day), except it will be indoors.  Hope to be there as well.

May 2, 2013 Session Report

We had six on hand for this past week's session:  Mike, Tim, Ben, Patrick, Rembert and myself.  Only one game played, and it was a new one, Chicken Caesar, which I had just bought.  Mike proved to be the best able to negotiate his four roosters through the politics of the chicken coop.  Final scores:  Mike 51  John 39  Tim 35  Ben 33  Patrick 22 Rembert 20.  Patrick and Rembert were down to just one live rooster by the end of the game, and their scores likely were hurt as a result.

A reminder:  this coming Saturday is the Laurel Main Street Festival, and once again GCOM will be running a booth there from 9 AM to 4 PM.  Rodney, who hosts at the other Laurel location, and I will be manning the booth.  Stop in and join us as we expect to have several tables of games set up.

April 25, 2013 Session Report

Seven for this past week's session:  Tim, Patrick, Mike, Alex, Kristina, John B and myself (John W).  Two people showed up later and unfortunately did not get in any game, so only two games were played:  Tzolk'in (Mayan Calendar game) and Ground Floor.

First game to finish (after about two hours playing time) was Tzolkin.  Tim (continuing his winning streak from the prior week) won that one, with 48, followed by Mike (40) and Patrick (38).

The Ground Floor game was a four-player.  We didn't quite make it to the finish and picked the game up after 7 turns when Alex had the most floors (5).  Alex won, but it was reasonably close:  Alex 36, John W 33, Kristina 31, John B 23.  Everyone but Kristina had played before.

Just a reminder that the regular club session will take place this week, despite the overlap with day one of GCOM's Games Days convention at the Holiday Inn in Timonium.  Also, a reminder that GCOM will once again run a booth at the Laurel Main St. Festival.  The date is Sat. May 11th, hours from 9 AM to 4 PM.  Don't have the booth assignment yet, but it should be somewhere near the prior years, close to 5th and Main Street.

April 18, 2013 Session Report

Attendance took a nose-dive this week, as only three of us (Tim, co-Host Mike and myself) showed.  We got in two games (Ground Floor and 7 Wonders).  Tim was the big winner, taking first in both games.  I  was last in both games.  Scores:  Ground Floor, Tim 59, Mike 48 John 44.  7 Wonders:  Tim 62 Mike 57 John 44.

Hope to see more people this coming session!

April 11, 2013 Session Report

It was a good week, with attendance hitting 11.  Patrick, Mike, Doug, Ben, Alex, Rembert, Eric, Nathan, Tim and myself were joined by Adam, making his first appearance at the club.  (Adam actually has come both the shortest and longest distance, as he is home on vacation, two blocks from the Community Center, but stationed in China where he works for the State Department).  Anyway, we got in five different games, with three tables going at once for most of the session:  Catan-Delmarva, Suburbia, Guillotine, Timeline and Clash of Cultures.

Catan-Delmarva was one of the new Settlers variants.  Winner was Doug (12) followed by Alex (9) Mike (8) and Rembert (7); Doug managed to get to 12 points without either the longest road or biggest army bonus.  Next game to finish was Suburbia, and it wasn't very close:  Eric 129, Tim 90, Nathan 54.

Next game to finish was Guillotine.  Tim won (21), followed by Mike (15), Alex (14), Doug (13), Rembert (10).  Rembert also killed off my personal favorite, the Piss Boy.  Sad.

It was down to two games for the rest of the session, and two games of Timeline were won Doug and Rembert.  Mike and Tim were the remaining two players.

Clash of Cultures got through five of six turns and we scored:  John 31 Patrick 27 Ben 21 Adam 19.  I did well with objectives and also got a level 5 city while Patrick had the most advances. 

April 4, 2013 Session Report

Another small group, just six this week:  Doug, Patrick, Mike, Tim, Rembert and myself.  We just got in one game, Ground Floor, that took some time to get the rules down so we didn't get to the finish line.  I believe we got through 6 of a possible 8 or 9 turns and scored it.  Patrick with 20 had renovated all his basic rooms and was the leader although perhaps others may have been better positioned for the long run.

March 28, 2013 Session Report

A small group of six for this week's session, as it was Patrick, Mike, Greg, Tim, Helen and myself.  We only got one game in:  Aeroplanes:  Aviation Ascendant, which was already underway when Helen arrived so she did not mange to get in a game, unfortunately.  The game ended in a win for Mike, scores were fairly close:  Mike 38, Tim 35 ahead of John (also 35) on the tiebreaker, Patrick 32, Greg 27.

Hope for a bigger turnout for this coming week's session.

March 21, 2013 Session Report

I had to miss this week's session, but co-Host Mike has provided the following report:

"At last week's session we had seven people. While we were waiting for more people to show up, Jonathan, Alex, Doug and I started with a game of Timeline on my iPad. I won the game fairly quickly. While we were playing Stephen and Rembert showed up and we played an oldie, but with the newest edition, Acquire. Alex managed to get some early bonuses and easily cruised in for the win. The final scores were Alex ($41,700), me ($34,100), Rembert ($30,200), Stephen ($27,500), Doug ($25,400) and Jonathan bringing up the rear with just a bit more than $16,000.

While we were playing, Helen arrived. Jonathan ducked out and we played a game of Transamerica to wrap up the night.  Helen won with 9 pts. Behind her (or in front of her as the game is scored) came Doug with 8 pts, Alex with 7, me with 6, Rembert with 5 and Stephen ending the game with 1 measly pt."

March 14, 2013 Session Report

Ten for this week's session, including one first-time attendee (Johnny V.) along with Alex, Patrick, Mike, Doug, Tim, John B, Rembert, Helen and myself.  We played a total of five games:  Piece o Cake, Tzolk'in. Thurn and Taxis, Imperial and Fresco.

Piece o Cake was the warm-up game played while waiting for people to show.  Relatively close, final count was John W (me) 33, Doug 30, Alex 27, Mike 15.

We wound up in three groups for most of the rest of the way.  Four of us (Patrick, Tim, Johnny and I) played Tzolkin, which all but Tim had played before.  I used my use temple-building strategy and managed to return to winning form, but Johnny had all six workers in play and made a nice comeback after falling behind early.  Final  scores:  John W. 73, Johnny 58, Patrick 51, Tim 39.

John B, Mike, Alex and Doug got in a game of Thurn and Taxis that ended on carriages when everyone had plenty of houses in stock, indicating a low-scoring game.  Winner as Doug (11), Alex (10), John B (8) and Mike (7).  There was still plenty of time left in the session, so Mike, Alex and Doug got in another game, a three-player Fresco which was won by Alex by just one point (88 to 87) over Doug with Mike in third.  Mike did observe that his performances tonight were a model of consistency (last in every game).

One more game was played but picked up early because of the time constraint.  Rembert and Helen, the two latecomers, were joined by John B in a three-player game of Imperial.  When the game was picked up, it was John B 30, Rembert 28, Helen 26 but of course the game was far from over, so anyone's game at that point.

March 7, 2013 Session Report

Biggest turnout in a long time, a total of 11 for this week's session.  This included Steven, a first-time attendee at the Laurel club, along with Mike, Doug, Alex, Tim, Ben, Eric, Rembert, Patrick, Helen and myself.  We had three games going most of the time.  Games played were Suburbia, Attika, Too Many Cooks, Tzolkin:  The Mayan Calendar and Myrmes.

The group of Doug, Eric, Ben and Tim got in three games.  First up was Suburbia, which was a win for Doug.  Scores:  Doug 98, Eric 85, Ben 84, Tim 70.  Then they played Attika which turned out to be relatively short, as Tim won by connecting two shrines, something the other players should have done a better job of preventing.  Anyway, that gave everyone a chance to play a third game, which was Too Many Cooks.  This one was scored just as the room was being cleared, and Eric won with Doug a close second.  Scores were Eric 27, Doug 25, Ben 11 Tim 3.

The other two groups just played the one game.  Tzolkin was won by Steve, who wound up with two monuments and six well-used workers.  Scores were Steve 84, Mike 69, Alex 53, John 50.  (I tried a different strategy and focused on technology which didn't work too well.)  The other game, Myrmes, didn't quite make it to the finish line.  With a couple of rounds to go, the scores were Patrick 14, Helen 12, Rembert 10.

February 28, 2013 Session Report

We had eight for this week's session:  Patrick, Mike, Ben, Helen, Tim, Rembert, Peng and myself were the attendees.  Games played:  Power Grid (using the new Quebec map), Clash of Cultures and Piece o Cake.

The Power Grid game was a four-player, consisting of Mike, Helen, Ben and Rembert.  It came down to the wire when Helen built to 17 when she could only power 15.  Mike, who could also power 15, had more money.  Ben and Rembert powered one city less (14) and were one dollar apart in money.

The rest of us played Clash of Cultures which lasted the entire session and, in fact, we only got through three full turns of a scheduled four.  Scores at that point were Tim 19.5, John 17, Peng 13, Patrick 12.  Tim and Peng were playing the game for the first time.

Helen and Rembert played a two-player Piece o Cake game after the Power Grid game finished.  Helen won that one by a score of 42 to 33.

A reminder that the special Saturday Beltsville Games Day event is now less than two weeks away, Saturday March 16, at the Beltsville Community Center, from 9 AM to 4 PM.  There will be refreshments and game prizes.  See flyer at:  http://beltsville.com/events/Games%20Day%20Flyer%20UPDATED_v2-2.pdf

February 21, 2013 Session Report

I was away at PrezCon and missed this week's session.  Co-Host Mike filed this report:

"We had a good night Thursday. Most of the regulars (Ben, Doug, Patrick, "Biker" John, Helen, Rembert, Tim and me) and we got 5 games in.

The night started with a warmup game of For Sale by the early arrivals (Doug, Patrick, Ben and me). During the phase where properties are purchased we had the unlikely flop for the 2,3,4 and 5 properties together. Not surprisingly, no one bid. Bidding wrapped up with everyone practically broke except Doug who had 9 coins left. But it didn't help him in the end as Ben won the game with 63 points. Patrick came in second with 59, I had 55 and Doug brought up the rear with 49.

While this game was being played, Tim and "Biker" John arrived. When we finished with For Sale, Patrick joined them in a game of Agricola that took them the rest of the night. Towards the end, Tim reminded John that he has the thrasher in front of him and the points gained with it pushed John to the win with 41 points. Tim came in second with a respectable 35 points and Patrick ended with 23.

Doug, Ben and I played a round of Puerto Rico. Doug gained a lot of points shipping while Ben and I played mixed strategies. I think an early harbor and coffee production helped me because at the end Doug and I each had 55 points but I won the tie breaker with 9 coins and no barrels and Doug just had one barrel. Ben wrapped up the game with 46 points.

While we were all playing, Rembert and Helen showed up and played a half game of Loot. They weren't really worried about score since they stopped before they finished.

Doug, Ben, Helen, Rembert and I wrapped up with a game of Lords of Waterdeep. Helen's Lord was the one that wanted buildings and with the Plot Quest card that allowed her to place an agent were another player had won, she broke away from the pack and won. The final scores were Helen 114, Mike 96, Doug 95, Rembert 90 and Ben 84. We wrapped up just before 9."

February 14, 2013 Session Report

Seven in attendance for this week's session:  Patrick, Mike, Doug, John B, Rembert, Peng and myself.  We played a total of three games:  Timeline, Clash of Cultures and Tzolk'in.

Timeline was first up while waiting for people to show up.  Doug and Mike tied for first, getting all five events completed on the same turn.  John W, John B and Patrick were the remaining participants.

We then split into two groups for the rest of the session.  Clash of Cultures was a three-player, won this time by Doug.  Very close game, though.  Final scores were Doug 19, Patrick 17, John B 16 but I believe it was John B's first play while Patrick and Doug had played each other the week before.

The rest of us played Tzolk'in, the Mayan calendar game with the moving gears.  Having some prior experience with the game helped alot, and I managed to score a runaway victory by focusing primarily on the temples plus a monument that let me score temple bonuses at the end.  Final scores were John W 84, Peng 41, Rembert 36, Mike 28, so Peng was the best of the three first-time players.  (Mike claimed to have watched the video but I guess it didn't include strategy tips.)

Anyway, next Thursday I plan to be in Charlottesville for the PrezCon convention so Co-Host Mike will be in charge.

February 7, 2013 Session Report

Six for this week's session.  Attendees:  Tim, Mike, Doug, Patrick, Rembert and myself.  Games played:  For Sale, Power Grid:  Northern Europe and Clash of Cultures.

First up was For Sale.  Four-player game, won by Tim (61).  John (58), Doug (55) and Mike (48) also participated.

We then split into two groups for the remainder of the session.  The Power Grid game used the new Northern Europe map, and was won by Tim, who was the only player to build to 18.  Rembert and Mike tied for second at 17, but Rembert had more money, so he was second and Mike was last.

Clash of Cultures, which Patrick had brought, is a new civ-building game.  Patrick chose a military route and captured one or two cities, but in the end he only finished third out of three.  Final scores:  John 27, Doug 22, Patrick 21.

January 31, 2013 Session Report

Seven for this week's session:  Mike, John B, Eric, Alex, Rembert, Tim and myself.  Games played were Keyflower, Copycat and Suburbia, all new releases from Essen 2012.

Keyflower (which Eric brought and taught) was new to Alex and myself, Tim had tried it at EuroQuest.  Nonetheless, Alex and I finished 1-2 with Alex earning 42 points from one bonus multiplier tile alone.  The final scores were Alex 76, John W 70, Eric 59, Tim 50.

Back for the second week in a row, Copycat provided another close game.  Final scores were Mike 97, John B 86, Rembert 83.  First play for John B and Rembert.

Mike, John B and Rembert started up Suburbia but did not have time to finish.

January 24, 2013 Session Report

A cold, wintry day so only five showed for this week's session:  Patrick, Doug, Mike, Tim and myself.  This session featured all new games:  Tzolk'in:  The Mayan Calendar Game, Copycat and Myrmes.

I had brought Tzolk'in which is "dynamic worker placement" using a unique set of moving gears, and played with Patrick.  Patrick killed me, using the Chicken Itza crystal skull wheel to pile up an unassailable points lead.  Final scores:  Patrick 72, John 54.

Copycat -- the Friedmann Friese title which borrows heavily from other games, like Dominion, Through the Ages, Power Grid, Agricola and Puerto Rico -- was a three-player, and I remember during the game hearing "Doug is killing us," but the final score report shows a close game, with Doug not being the winner:  Mike 86, Doug 84, Tim 81.

The final game was Myrmes, the ant colony game which Patrick had brought, which unfortunately only made it through a couple of turns.  So, no report although I believe Patrick was ahead when we had to pick it up.

January 17, 2013 Session Report

Eight for tonight's session:  Patrick, Ben, Mike, Eric, Nathan, Ryan, Tim and myself.  Games played were 7 Wonders, Village and Suburbia.

7 Wonders was (guess what?) a 7-player, with Tim showing up a few minutes late so he missed out.  Scores were Mike 50, Eric, John and Nathan at 47, Ben 46, Ryan 39 and finally Patrick at 31.  Tim was supposedly helping Ryan some but apparently Patrick was the one that needed the most help.

Anyway, after this we split into two groups.  Three of us played Village, which finished with about a half hour left in the session.  It was an intense, close game that went to Mike, with 68 to my second place score of 63 while Ben, who hit all the neighboring villages, was third with 55.  Mike combining some big time scoring at both the Market and the Church to score the win.  After the game, Mike observed that only player meeples (no neutral meeples) were drawn out of the bag at the Church.

The last game to finish (and I believe they had to cut it one round short) was Suburbia.  Patrick bounced back from the 7 Wonders debacle to score a nice, solid win, with 83 points, Tim a distant second at 64, followed by Eric (58) and Ryan (51).

January 10, 2013 Session Report

Nine in attendance for this week's session:  Patrick, Ben, John B, Alex, Mike, Tim, Doug, Rembert and myself.   Three games were played:  Suburbia, Eclipse and Masons.

First game to finish was Suburbia.  Mike had obviously sharpened his play from last week's game, taking a decisive win over Alex, Doug and myself.  Final scores:  Mike 140, Alex 95, John W 90, Doug 61.  Not sure about Doug, but it was Alex's first play. Mike and I had a couple of plays under our belt.

The four of us from the Suburbia game then played Masons, which Doug had brought.  To my surprise, I eked out a win in a very very close game.  Final scores:  John W 124, Doug 123, Mike 117, Alex 108.  First play for both Mike and Alex, I believe.

The Eclipse game managed to get 7 of the scheduled 9 rounds complete before the 9 PM stop time.  Scores were counted, and Patrick had the most points:  Patrick 33, Tim 26, Ben 15, John B 13, Rembert 12.

For this week's session, there's some inclement weather on the horizon but the forecast suggest most of the snow accumulation will be further South.  If you are in doubt as to whether or not the session is on or not, please call the Community Center at (301)-497-0300 by around 5 PM of the day in question.

January 3, 2013 Session Report

First session of the new year, and we had eight in attendance:  Mike, Doug, John B, Patrick, Eric, Helen, Tim and myself.  Games played:  Martian Dice, Suburbia. Anno 1503 and Cloud Nine.

First game up was Martian Dice, which was the warm-up game while waiting for people to show up.  It didn't last long, one time around the table.  John B had the high score of 7, Doug 6, Mike 4, Patrick and John 0.

We split into two groups for the rest of the evening; Mike, Tim and I played a recent Essen release that Eric had brought, Suburbia.  Tim won a close game with Eric and I not far behind, while Mike tried a different approach which didn't work.  Scores:  Tim 87, John W 84, Eric 83, Mike 52.

Doug, Patrick, Helen, John B played Anno.  John B was the winner, while all the other players only managed to accomplish one of the victory conditions (it takes three to win).

Finally, we wrapped up the evening with Cloud Nine, which barely managed to finish.  Eric won with 52 after I jumped out of the balloon a bit too soon, placing second with 48.  The also-rans were Helen (31) and Doug (28) who crashed after Eric established a high bar for the final balloon trip.

December 27, 2012 Session Report

We ended the year with a really down week, attendance-wise.  Co-host Mike couldn't make it, so it was just three of us:  Patrick, Ben and myself.  We played three games:  Piece o Cake, Village and Netrunner.

Piece o Cake was the quick opener while waiting for others to show up which, this week, didn't happen, unfortunately.  Scores were John 45, Ben 37, Patrick 28.

We then played Village, which Patrick had brought.  The game was new to Ben, who played a really competitive game and almost won.  Scores (with an asterisk) were John 43, Ben 42, Patrick 36.  The reason for the asterisk is we got the turn sequence wrong one time after Patrick had taken the ring but, by mistake, I went first since I had been going first on the prior turn.  This probably hurt Patrick the most, so he might have had a much higher score, but we were already too far into the turn to go back and reconstruct.

Final game was a two-player, as Ben left and Patrick taught me another game he had recently bought, Netrunner.  Or perhaps the name is Netrunner: Android.  Anyway, it's a card game where one player is a Corporation and the other is a Hacker trying to break into the corporation's computer systems.  We didn't get very far into the game when time ran out.  Patrick was maybe a turn away from scoring two points for getting an Asset to the scoring pile, so I guess you could say he was the winner.

Anyway, good wishes to everyone for a Happy New Year.  Let's get 2013 off to the right start with some good attendance this week!