December 17, 2015 Session Report

Here's the report for our final session of 2015.

Attendance: 12. Rouslan, Mike, Alex, Alec, David, Tim, Lina, Neville, John B, Moon, Rembert and I were the attendees. Games played: Strike (x2), New Haven, Keyflower (with Expansion) and BrewCrafters. There may have been a fifth game played but, if so, I didn't get the details.

Strike, a quick playing game, was played twice, won both times by Rouslan. Alex, David and Mike participated in both games, David participated in the second of the two games.

New Haven was a four-player. Final scores were Neville 44, David 34, Rouslan 27, Rembert 26.

Keyflower was also a four-player, I know it was played with one of the new expansions. Final scores: Tim 81, John B 69, Mike 59, Alec 57.

Last game of the year to finish was BrewCrafters. Moon, who had just recently learned the game, wanted to play again, and came out the winner, 80 points to edge Alex who was second with 77. Lina was next with 67, and I came dead last with 60 (after taking out three loans). But, hey, I had to do the teaching/reminding and tried to keep things moving so we finished in time. It still took us til almost a quarter past 9 to pick up the game, but the CC staff was generous enough to let us stay a bit late, after all we were missing the next two weeks due to Christmas and New Years holidays.

Any way, next session, the first one of the new year, will be Thursday, January 7, 2016.

December 10. 2015 Session Report

Eleven for this week's session: Mike, Rouslan, David, John B, Lina, Greg, Rembert, Arnold, Neville, Moon and I were the attendees. Quite a few games got played, the list includes Eight Minute Empire (played twice), Food Chain Magnate, Concordia (with Salsa expansion), Zombie Dice (with Xmas expansion), X-Com, Star Wars: Timeline and Manhattan Project.

With this much going on, it was hard to keep track of everything, but here's what I have in way of results.

Eight Minute Empire was the warmup game that was being played while I arrived. That game was won by Rouslan (12) on the tiebreaker over John B (12), with Mike (10) and David (5) also participating. A second game, played later, was incredibly close: Rouslan 15, John B 14 (3), Mike 14 (1).

Food Chain Magnate was a new game I brought. Three of us played the short introductory version that took a little more than an hour to complete. Winner was David (90), followed by myself (80) and Lina (60).

Concordia: Salsa was won by Moon (116). Mike (91), Rouslan (87) and John B (75) were the other participants.

Zombie Dice (Xmas Xpansion): John B 13, Rouslan 9, Mike 8.

At the third table, Arnold, Greg, Neville and Rembert played X-Com, a co-op game. Pleased to report that the players won. This same group then played Star Wars: Timeline, which I understand was won by Greg (but no scores available).

Finally, three of us played Manhattan Project, a game that didn't quite get finished last week. David managed to complete some high point bombs to take this one, with 62 points. Lina was second with 39, and I am sorry to report I was way way back in last with just 4.

December 3, 2015 Session Report

Ten in attendance this week: Mike, David, Alex, Rouslan, Tim, John B, Eugene, Rembert, Arnold and myself were present. Games played: Codenames, Orleans (x2), Isle of Skye, X-Com and Manhattan Project.

Codenames was once again the short warm-up game. Won by the team of Rouslan and David versus myself and Alex. Couldn't come up with a good set of clues this time.

Two games of Orleans broke out, one with Mike's Deluxe set and one with Rouslan's non-deluxe set that could only accommodate four players. Turns out, both games were 4P after John B broke off to join Andrew who arrived a bit late. First Orleans game to finish was won by Alex (190) ahead of Rouslan (142), with David (111) and myself (108) well behind. The other game was won by Eugene (127) with Rembert (105) second, followed by Mike (77) and Tim (73).

Two-player games were Isle of Sky, won by John B (55) over Arnold (37). Then they played X-Com, a co-op, and the game system won, reportedly on "easy" mode.

The final game of the evening that did not make it to the end was the Manhattan Project. Rembert, assisted by David, got a 18-point bomb done just before we hit the closing time. David, Rouslan, Tim and myself were the other players.

Two more sessions remaining in 2015 as the last two sessions are cancelled as the CC will be closed for XMas and New Year's Eve, respectively.

November 19, 2015 Session Report

Good turnout of 12 for this week's session: Mike, John B, David, Greg, Rouslan, Eugene, Alex, Patrick, Moon, Rembert, Tim and myself were the attendees. Games played: Orleans (the new TMG version), Codenames, Wings for the Baron, Voyages of Marco Polo and No Thanks.

Once again, Codenames was the quick-playing warm-up game. Greg and Rouslan bested David and myself in the opening game, then I teamed with Eugene to take on Greg and Mike, don't have the results recorded except I seem to recall it was a closer game. People either joined in or watched as we made all sorts of inaccurate guesses.

Mike had brought the new edition of Orleans, and it was a four-player, won by Eugene. Scores were Eugene 158, Alex 140, John B 113, Mike 88.

I brought Wings for the Baron, which David (being one of the playtesters) was familiar with. We taught the game to Greg and Rembert. Final scores were myself first with 29, followed by David (23), Rembert (22) and Greg (16). Technically, this was a win with an asterisk as David had to leave some time around 8, so we picked up the game a few turns short of the end -- giving Greg, Rouslan and I the chance to play another game or two.

Voyages of Marco Polo was another four-player, won by Rouslan, but just barely, with 75 to 74 for Moon. Patrick (63) and Tim (45) were the other players. Good effort by Moon in her first time playing the game, to come within a point of Rouslan, whom I have observed is quite good at the game.

Greg, Rembert and I played three games of No Thanks, each of us winning once, to wrap up the evening's festivities.

Reminder, due to Holidays coming up, only three more sessions this calendar year: December 3, 10th and 17th as the other Thursdays fall on Holidays when the CC will be closed (Thanksgiving plus Christmas Eve and New Years Eve).

November 12, 2015 Session Report

Eleven for this week's session: Mike, Patrick, Greg, Lina, Tim, Arnold, Alex, Rouslan, Eugene, Rembert and myself. Games played: Codenames (played twice), Star Trek: Five-Year Mission, Lewis & Clark, Essen: The Game, 7 Wonders: Babel.

Codenames was the opening game and also played a second time as a filler later in the session. Teams for the first game were Greg, Patrick and Arnold versus myself, Lina and Alex. Second game was Eugene, Rouslan and Tim versus myself, Mike and Rembert. Didn't keep track of winners.

Star Trek: Five-Year Mission was won by Rouslan. Scores were Roulsan 60, Eugene 51, Rembert 48, Mike and Tim trailing with 43.

Lewis & Clark was a three-player, won by Arnold. Greg and Patrick were the other two players.

Essen: The Game was another three-player. Final scores were John 100, Alex 80, Lina 78. First play for Alex, who has been to Essen, and seemed to enjoy the game.

Finally, 7 Wonders: Babel was a five-player. No guilds were built. Winner was Eugene (58), followed by Rouslan (44), Rembert (42), Mike (42) and finally Tim (29).

No Session Report for Thursday, November 5, 2015

Mike and I, and a number of club attendees, were at EuroQuest, so no session report. If anyone was at the Club last week, please pass on any information to report on attendance and games played.

Several club members did quite well at EuroQuest. Including past as well as present attendees, eight events in total were won by club attendees. Eugene Yee won two tournaments. Co-Host Mike won one (7 Wonders) as did John Barringer (Power Grid). Jay Boring (2 event wins) and Moon Sultana (two) had attended club sessions in the past. I finished third in the Wild Card event, and Tim Carnahan was third in the 7 Wonders final.

Sad news to report, however. Long-time club attendee Doug Hoylman passed away some time shortly before last week's EuroQuest. He was a regular attendee at the club since its very early days of existence, back in 2005. Doug was also Host at two GCOM locations in Potomac and Capitol Hill, and co-Host at two others. It has been a pleasure to know Doug and play many many games with him over the years. He will be missed. I plan to ask for a moment of silence to remember Doug at our next session tomorrow night.

October 29, 2015 Session Report

Good turnout for this week, 12 in attendance: Mike, David, Patrick, Lina, Alex, Rouslan, Tim, Eugene, Neville, John B, Rembert and myself were the participants. Games played: For Sale, The Producer: 1940-44, The Voyages of Marco Polo, and Power Grid: Stock Companies.

For Sale was the quick warm-up game, which I managed to win. Scores: John W 57, Patrick 47, Lina 43, David 42, Mike 38, Rouslan 31. At this point in the session we split into three groups for the remainder of the evening.

The Producer: 1940-44, is a new Essen 2015 release, that I had just received earlier in the week and volunteered to demo at EuroQuest. It's a game about making movies with real actors, actresses, directors and scripts from the 1940-44 time period. David and Lina were my two guinea pigs, and we decided to pick it up after two of the scheduled three years. (David had to leave after year one, but he had already ordered a copy of the game via the Internet while we were playing). Final scores (not necessarily reflective of what would have happened had we finished): John W first, Lina second, David third.

Voyages of Marco Polo was another win for Rouslan. Scores: Rouslan 88, Alex 82, Rembert 77, Neville 62.

Finally, another new game, Power Grid: Stock Companies, won by Tim (781) ahead of Eugene (715), John B (671). Mike (540) and Patrick (score unknown, but apparently less than 540).

Anyway, this coming Thursday session conflicts with the EuroQuest convention near Baltimore. Mike and I, and many club regular attendees will be there. Anyone showing up at the club is advised to ask for the key to the closest where the game collection is housed, assuming no one shows with their own games to play. See everyone on Thursday, Nov. 12th.

October 22, 2015 Session Report

Wow, just realized that with EuroQuest coming around the corner and a bunch of new games to try out, I have fallen a bit behind in posting these reports, oh well, better late than never ...

Thursday October 22, there were 11 gamers at the club: Tim, David, Mike, Eugene, Alex, Rembert, Lina, Greg, Neville, Rouslan, Arnold and myself were the attendees. Between Two Cities (x2), Shakespeare, Russian Railroads and Concordia were the games played.

Between Two Cities was a five-player. Scores were Tim and Rembert 59, Greg 51, Mike and David 46. The tiebreaker went to Tim, whose best city was a higher value than Rembert's.

Shakespeare was a four-player, won by Alex. Scores were Alex 20, myself 18, Eugene 15, Neville 14. Scores were higher than in the first play (won by Greg) but still lower than what the rulebook predicts (which is 22) for a "tight four-player game."

Russian Railroads (three-player) was won by Rouslan with 424. There was a tie for second at 295 apiece between David and Rembert.

Concordia was won by Arnold, his first win I believe at the club, and it was a really close game: Arnold 98 Mike 97 Tim 96 Greg 89.

Finally, Between Two Cities was played a second time. Another close game, won by Greg (58), followed by Tim (57), then Mike and Arnold, both at 54.

October 15, 2015 Session Report

An even dozen for this week: John B, Mike, Rouslan, Doug, Greg, Alex, Lina, Rembert, Eugene, Arnold (back for a second time), Tim and myself were the attendees. Six different games got played during the course of the session: Portal, Between Two Cities, Shakespeare, Lords of Waterdeep, Machi Koro and Valley of the Kings.

Portal was a new game that Mike had brought that supposedly mimics a computer game that I have never played. The four players were Mike, Rouslan, John B and myself -- the first four early arrivals. By the time we have played a few rounds, more people had showed so we broke the game up. Not sure who was ahead or even what you needed to do to win.

I was in a group of four that played a new game, an Essen release called Shakespeare that had just arrived the day before. It's about putting together a play, getting actors, seamstresses, set builders, building sets, designing costumes, keeping the morale and quality of your performers high to score VPs. Greg did the best, winning with 15, followed by Doug and myself at 13, Lina with 12. (Doug took second on the money tiebreaker.) With the rulebook stating that 22 is a good score with four players, looks like we all have some ways to go to improve.

Between Two Cities was another new game that had just come out. Mike and I had played a prototype last year, and one of the co-designers (Ben Rosset) has been to the club and was the designer of Mars Needs Mechanics and one of my favorites, BrewCrafters. The game was a six-player, won by Tim (58). John B, Alex, Rembert, Rouslan and Tim were the other players.

Eugene arrived and set up a four-player Lords of Waterdeep. This game was won by Tim (143), with Eugene (139) second, Arnold (117) third, Rembert (79) fourth.

Meanwhile, at the other table, Mike won a really close game of Machi Koro, played with the Millonaires Row expansion. John B, Alex and Rouslan were the other players.

Finally, John B and Rouslan played Valley of the Kings. Believe it was a two-player as Mike and Alex may have left early. Sorry, no scores available, I was focused on wrapping up the Shakespeare game, which ran until the 9 PM closing time.

October 8, 2015 Session Report

Attendance of nine this week: Mike, John B, Lina, Greg, Rouslan, Matt, Tim, Rembert and myself. We split into two groups and played a total of three games: Power Grid-India, Nations:the Dice Game and the new version of St. Petersburg.

Power Grid-India was a five-player and took most of the session time. A blackout on the next to last turn hurt Tim who then lacked the funds to build out to 15 citites. John B managed to come from behind and beat Tim by one dollar on the tiebreaker. Scores: John B 14 (8), Tim 14 (7), Matt 13 (73), Greg 12 (68), Mike 12 (55).

The other table got in two games -- almost. First up was Nations: the Dice Game, won by yours truly on the turn order tiebreaker (second time I have seen a game decided by this). Final scores: John 29, Rouslan 29, Lina 21.

Second game up was St. Petersburg, the new version with a fifth set of cards for the Market. Didn't quite make it to the finish line (ended with one turn left), but by that point Lina was the clear leader. Scores when we picked up were Lina 80, Rouslan 62, myself 59, Rembert 53. Playing the Noble strategy and ignoring the new stuff in this game does NOT work.

October 1, 2015 Session Report

Eight in attendance this week: Doug, Mike, Eugene, John B, Neville, Rouslan, myself and one first-time attendee at the club, Arnold. We played four different games: Viticulture (with Tuscany expansion), El Grande, Vault Wars and Cheeky Monkey (x2). Since we started out with two longer games (Viticulture and El Grande), unfortunately Arnold (who came in a bit late) did not get into a game.

Viticulture was a three-player, won by me. Final scores were John W 31, Eugene 19, John B 11.

El Grande was a four-player, won by Mike. Scores: Mike 117, Neville and Rouslan (tie) 110, Doug 104 -- close game.

Each of the two groups had time left for some other games. Vault Wars (three-player) was won by Rouslan 32, ahead of Doug (15) and Neville (14). Cheeky Monkey was played twice. First game: John B 41, Eugene 27, John W 17. Second game: John B 36, John W 31, Eugene 27.

September 24, 2015 Session Report

One first-time attendee (Angel) plus Mike, Rouslan, Alex, Tim, Lina, Neville, Will and myself were the attendees (total of nine) for this week's session. Games played: Founding Fathers (the Rick Heli version), Stockpiles and Bora Bora.

Founding Fathers was a 2015 of an earlier print-and-play version based on the early years of USA history, not to be confused with another game by the same name (co-designed by Jason Matthews) about the Constitutional Convention. After rules explanation, it took awhile just to complete the first full turn, which saw George Washington succeeded first by John Adams and then Ben Franklin, so we picked up the same and scored it as follows: Neville10, Lina 6, Will/Angel 6, yours truly 5 although Neville (who had scored most of his VPs with Adams) was likely to slide back and Lina (who had the newly-elected Franklin) was likely to surge forward.

The five of us then played a stock market type game that Neville had brought. Turned out to be a close fight between Neville and Will, with Neville the winner by two, 148 to 146. The rest were far behind: Lina 90, me 81, Angel 389.

The other four attendees played Bora Bora, a Stefan Feld design, that took up just about the entire session time. Scores were Mike 156, Rouslan 149, Tim 115, Alex 105.

September 17, 2015 Session Report

Ten gamers in attendance (Doug, Patrick, Mike, Will, David, Eugene, Rouslan, Tim, Alex and myself) and we played a total of four different games (Viceroy, Concordia: Brittania, Evolution and Viticulture with the Tuscany expansion. Some results follow.

Viceroy was a three-player, won by Rouslan. Scores were Rouslan 121, Doug 65, Patrick 61. Mike and Tim played a two-player Concordia on the new Brittania map. This was a close game, won by Mike -- 143 to 135 for Tim. Finally, all five joined in for a second game, Evolution. Tim won. I have the scores as Tim with 49 (could be 99, can't tell for sure), Patrick 48, Doug 42, Mike 29, Rouslan 21.

The other game, which took the entire session and finished one turn short of the finish line, was a very close Viticulture game that was won by Will (playing for the first time) as the result of some new endgame scoring for influence in the regions. Alex, who was well ahead playing by the regular route, wound up a close second. Scores were Will 28, Alex 27, Eugene 24, myself 22, David 8. David (like Will) was new to the game, but things didn't turn out so well for him.

A reminder that a local gaming event, Congress of Gamers, will be coming up this coming weekend, Sept. 26-27, in Rockville, MD.

September 10, 2015 Session Report

Attendance of 10 for this session. Attendees were Mike, Lina, David, Eugene, John B, Tim, Rouslan, Rembert, Paul and myself. Games played: Operation FAUST, Viticulture (with some elements of the Tuscany expansion) and Concordia. Some results follow.

Operation FAUST was a six-player, won by David. Winning score of $1.4 million. Mike, Rembert, Tim, Paul and Rouslan were the other players in this game. No additional details, other than it was the first appearance for the game at the club.

Viticulture was making a return after a long absence with some new expansions added from Tuscany. Four of us played, and I was well ahead (19) to 17 for Eugene, 13 for Lina and 10 for John B at closing time when we had to pick up with maybe one round remaining.

One more game, a five-player, which was Concordia with the Mediterranean expansion. Another very close finish, with Mike (115) edging Tim (114) for the win. Rouslan (108), Paul (87) and Rembert (82) rounded out the field for this one.

September 3, 2015 Session Report

Eleven in attendance for this session: Lina, Mike, Alec, David, Greg, Eugene, Doug, Tim, Alex, Rouslan and myself. A total of six different games were played, and one game was played twice: Exploding Kittens, Kraftwagen (x2), Tesla vs Edison, Manhattan Project, Machi Koro and Rattlebones. We had three games going at once for most of the session.

Exploding Kittens was the opener, won by David, followed in order by Alec, Mike, myself and then Lina, in reverse order of elimination, with David being the last person standing.

Kraftwagen was played twice, Greg winning both games. Scores. First game (3-player): Greg 91, Eugene 62, Tim 38. Second game (3-player): Greg 78, Tim 49.

Tesla vs Edison had a full table of five and took up most of the session time. Rouslan won by a wide margin with Maxxim, by building on the "1" spots then playing the Stock Market with an occasional Propangda, totally ignoring the Tech track. Final scores: Rouslan 702, me (Tesla) 546, Mike (Brush) 521, Alec (Edison) 505, Alex (Thomspon) 489.

Manhattan Project was a three-player, won by Doug (61) followed by Lina (48) and David (31).

Machi Koro was played with the Harbor Expansion, and won by Lina (6) with Doug (4) second.

Rattlebones did not make it to the finish line.

August 27, 2015 Session Report

Ten for this week's session. The group included Mike, Scott S, Brett (Scott's son), Lina, Rouslan, Patrick, Neville, Tim, Rembert and myself. It was the second time at the club for Scott, the first time for Brett. Games played: Churchill, Machi Koro, Exploding Kittens and New York 1901. A few details and scores follow.

Churchill was a three-player: Brett was the Brits (Churchill), Scott the Soviets (Stalin), I played the Americans (FDR/Truman). We played the shorter training scenario that, with teaching, clocked in at around two and a half hours. As with a prior game, the player with the most VPs did not win. Because the gap from first to last was over 22 points and the Axis powers were both conquered, the win went to the player in second place (me). Final scores were Churchill (Brett) 58, USA (John) 36, Stalin (Scott) 30. Everyone seemed to like the game, and it was nice that Scott and Brett could attend our club session coming all the way down from PA.

Socres of other games follow.

Machi Koro: 1st, Neville; 2nd, Lina; 3rd, Rembert.

Exploding Kittens: Mike and Lina each won one game. Rembert and Neville also played.

New York 1901: Rouslan 61, Patrick 50, Tim 29, Mike 37.

August 20, 2015 Session Report

Getting caught up after being away for a bit.

This session, which I missed, was ably hosted by co-Host Mike, who provided the following:

Attendees were 10: Mike, Rouslan, Alec, Tim, Greg, John B, Lina, David, Patrick and Rembert. Only two games were played, which took up the whole session: Tesla vs Edison and Voyages of Marco Polo. Because the two games had already started, unfortunately Rembert did not get in a game.

Scores:

Tesla vs Edison: Alec 586 Tim 516 Mike 480 Lina 456 Greg 434

Marco Polo; Rouslan 72 Patrick 66 David 46 John B 33

August 13, 2015 Session Report

Good group of 11 for this week's session: Patrick, Mike, Rouslan, Lina, Eugene, Neville, Will, Rembert, Paul, Rich and myself. We got in five games: Tesla vs Edison, Africana, Viceroy, Medieval Academy, Yunnan. I believe it was the first play at the club for all these games, as I can't remember any of them being played before.

Tesla vs Edison was played with the max number of players (five) and didn't quite make it to the finish line, as we were forced by time constraints to pick the game up halfway through the final round of actions. We scored the game anyway, and Will (as Tesla) came out with winner with 626, having succeeded in driving up his stock value to the top of the chart. I was second, as Edison, with 610, having had the most stocks (10 in total), all valued at 61 apiece. Close for third place, with Mike (Maxim) 418, Lina (Thompson) 416 and Patrick (Brush) 397. Mike and I both thought we could improve our position relative to Will with a couple of more rounds, but those were the scores as time ran out.

Another group of four played Viceroy and Medieval Academy. Viceroy was won by Rouslan (123) ahead of Eugene (92), Neville (76) and Rich (71). Medieval Academy was won by Eugene (37) with Rich (36) a close second. Rouslan (28) and Neville (26) rounded out the field.

Paul and Rembert got to the session a bit late but still got in two two-player games. These were Africana, won by Paul (48 to 30) and Yunnan (also won by Paul) but in fairness these were games Paul had brought and played before, and were new to Rembert.

I plan on being out of town on a summer vacation next week, so Mike will be in charge. Hope to see everyone in two weeks.

August 6, 2015 Session Report

The August attendance slump hit this week, as attendance was down to just seven. But we did welcome two first-time attendees, Jennifer and Jay, plus Doug, Rouslan, Neville, Rembert and myself to form the group. Four games were played: Biblios Dice, MobTown, Qwixx and Voyages of Marco Polo.

Neville was back with some new games in tow, so we played Biblios Dice, obviously a dice version of the card-driven Biblios game. Somehow, I managed to come out on top with 31, followed by Neville (23), Rouslan (18), Doug (15) and Jennifer (12).

Then we split into two groups after Rembert and Jay had arrived. One group of four played MobTown followed by Qwixx. MobTown was won by Rembert, ahead of Jay, Neville and Doug -- no scores reported. Qwixx was a one-point win for Neville with Jay second (100 to 99). Rembert (42) and Doug (30) alsoe played.

Voyages of Marco Polo made it through four of the planned five rounds, with Rouslan -- the only player who had played before -- coming out on top with 50 pts. Jennifer was second with 40, I was last with 36. Scores for Rouslan and Jennifer are approximate as we had to pick up the game rather quickly.

July 30, 2015 Session Report

Twelve for this week's session: one newcomer (Tammy) along with Mike, Patrick, David, Lina, Tim, Alex, Rembert, Eugene, Marie, Paul and myself were the group. Four games were played: Lanterns, Concordia, Churchill (a new release) and Power Grid with the Australia map.

Lanterns was the opening game, and it ended in a narrow one-point win for Mike, 48 to 47 for Alex with Lina (41) and Tim (40) not that far behind. Wonder if this game always produces scores this close.

Three of us played Churchill, which I had brought. With rules explanation, the three-conference Introductory Scenario barely made it to the finish line. Japan was conquered and the final scores were John 48, Patrick 40, David 23 -- and you might think that I won with the high score of 48. Wrong! Due to the unusual victory rules and the fact that this is a quasi-cooperative game where you don't want to beat down your fellow Allies that much. Under the game rules, Patrick (in second place) was the winner -- making this the first game ever at the club where second place actually won the game.

Other game scores are given without comment.

Concordia: Alex 130 Tim 121 Rembert 89

Power Grid-Australia: Mike 17 Eugene 16 Paul 15 Lina 13 -- No need for a tiebreaker in this one.

July 23, 2015 Session Report

Big group of 15 for this week's session, including two newcomers, Steve and Shira, plus David, Mike, Rembert, Patrick, Tim, Doug, Eugene, Alec, Rouslan, Rich, John W, Marie and myself. More games than in recent memory were played: a total of 10 games, 9 different ones: 8-Minute Empire, No Thanks, the Voyages of Marco Polo, Kraftwagen, Chrononauts, Concordia, W 1815 (played twice), Nations: Dice Game and Kingsburg, the latter of which did not make it to the finish. With four games going on at once, it was difficult to keep track of everything, but some scores and a few details follow.

Eight-minute Empire was the opener, and it took closer to 30 minutes than the eight advertised. Five players, and first-timer Shira was the winner on a tiebreak (tied with Mike at 9 VP). Others: John (myself) 8, Rembert 7, Steve 6.

While the Eight-Minute Empire was still going on, Eugene, Doug, Rouslan and Alec got in another quick game, No Thanks. Winner was Eugene (43 -- low scores are better) followed by Rouslan (46), Alec (65) and Doug (71).

The group of Shira, Steve, Doug and Marie went on to play two more games together: Chrononauts and Kingsburg. I heard Marie won the Chrononauts game, where history was changed with Hitler and Reagan being assassinated while JFK and John Lennon were saved. Kingsburg did not finish, lasting only four rounds, no word on who was winning.

Voyages of Marco Polo was a four-player, won by David (58), followed by Rouslan (46), Patrick (42) and Alec (no score given, probably somewhere around 40).

Kraftwagen was a four-player, won by yours truly with an incredibly high score of 82, followed by Eugene (64), Tim (44), Mike (22). The four of us decided to wrap up the evening with Nations: The Dice Game, won by Tim over Mike on the most swords last turn tiebreaker (both at 29 VP) followed by Eugene (22) and this time I brought up the rear (20).

Two game of W 1815 were played, with Rouslan doing the teaching and David and Patrick participating. I heard from Rouslan that the French won both times.

Finally, a three-player game of Concordia was played. Winner was John W (the other one) with 133, followed by Rembert at 92, Rich at 80.

Hope I was able to keep track of everything.

July 16, 2015 Session Report

Big group of 15 for this week's session. One first-time attendee (Hortencia), one second-time attendee (Demetrius) along with Mike, Patrick, John B, Greg, David, Tim, Matt, Eugene, Lina, Rouslan, Rembert, Paul and myself. Games played: Cheeky Monkey, the Adventures of Marco Polo, Homesteaders and Power Grid: Deluxe (North American edition) and Splendor.

Cheeky Monkey was a four-player, the quick-playing game while waiting for more people to show up. I managed first with 27 (bolstered by the 10-point bonus for most monkeys), followed by Demetrius (21), Mike (20) and Hortencia (13). One reason for the relatively low scores was the fact that four of the bonus tiles were not awarded (due to ties which are unfriendly in this game).

Power Grid: Deluxe (played with the North America board) was a six-player, which ended with no ties, as everyone powered a different number on the final turn. Scores were Matt 15, myself second at 14, then Mike (13), Demetrius (12), Rembert (11) and Paul (9). Matt built out to 15 with just 2 money left over while I had the capacity to power 15, I was short a few bucks of adding a 15th city and had to settle for second. Matt said it was the first time he had won a Power Grid game.

Homesteaders was a four-player, won by Eugene (61) with Lina, who had not played the game before, a close second at 58. Rouslan (49) and John B. (37) were the other players. This same group then had time for a Splendor game, won by Rouslan (17) ahead of Lina (13) with John B and Eugene trailing at 9.

The Marco Polo game managed to finish right before time ran out, with Greg (52) first ahead of Tim (47), then Patrick (38) and David (37).

Hope to keep up the good attendance next week as we hit the Dog Days of Summer.

July 9, 2015 Session Report

Attendance: 13 this week. We had one first-time attendee (Demetrius) and a dozen others: Mike, Patrick, David, Alex, Greg, Lina, Tim, Will, Rembert, Paul, John B. and myself. Five games were played: Mag Blast, Yedo, Kraftwagen, Concordia and Catan: Ancient Egypt.

Don't have any scores for Mag Blast, I seem to remember it might have been the warm-up game waiting for people to show up.

Yedo was a four-player. In the end, there was a tie for first -- David and Patrick each had 21. Will followed with 18, Lina with 11. No word on whether there's a tiebreaker in the game.

Kraftwagen was back for a second week, with three of the same players plus Greg, who had not played before. This time I managed to pull out the win with a score of 58, followed by Greg (45), Mike (42) and Alex (last week's winner) trailed with 34. Ironically, I scored more pts in the earlier game, but finished second to Alex as we both got into the 60s.

Concordia, the last of the first round of games to get started, grew from a two-player to a full table of five after more arrived. Final scores were Tim 136, John B 131, Demetrius 103, Paul 94, Rembert 82.

Yedo and Concordia consumed most of the remaining session time, but Greg, Mike and I had time for another game after finishing Kraftwagen. We played a Settlers variant, Catan: Ancient Egypt, that Mike had brought. Victory condition was first to 11 points. Greg managed to accomplish this, final scores were Greg 11, John 9, Mike 8. This variant added a quasi-cooperative element of building in a Pyramid which gave an advantage to the person who had built more recently plus an additional point to each player who had built more than others, so ignore the Pyramid at your peril.

July 2, 2015 Session Report

A dozen in attendance this week. Roster of attendees: Mike, Patrick, Doug, Will, Alex, Lina, Neville, Ben, Rouslan, Marie, Rembert and myself were the 12. Games played: Dogs of War, Kraftwagen, Nations: The Dice Game and To Court the King. Some results follow.

Dogs of War, no details except for the scores. Will was a big winner, with 49, followed by Neville (29), Lina (23), Ben (17) and finally Patrick (5), who was the person who had brought the game.

Kraftwagen was a brand new game about the German automotive industry using similar mechanics to Glen More, by the same designer. We played with four (the max for this game), and once again Alex proved himself to be the master of the new games, winning with 66. I managed a close section with 61, followed by Mike (46) and Doug (39). Really like this game as the mechanics flow quite freely.

Nations: The Dice Game, which I had brought, was a three-player, ending in a tie with Marie and Rouslan, both at 19, followed by Rembert at 15. No word on who won the tiebreaker (which would go based on turn order, i.e., most swords in the last turn).

Those of us who stayed and were not in the longer Dougs of War game got in a second game, which was To Court the King, which Doug had brought. I thought I was doing well but missed out on the key 6-of-a-kind guy. Mike got the King but didn't have enough dice to win the final round. Doug and Rembert each got to 10, Mike had 9, so that meant Rouslan and I trailed with 8.

June 25, 2015 Session Report

Ten for this week's session: Mike, Patrick, Lina, John W, Ben, Greg, Eugene, Rembert and myself, plus Diane (a first-time attendee). Games played: Power Grid Deluxe (Europe), Nations: The Dice Game, Baseball Highlights 2045, Firefly and TransAmerica.

Power Grid: Deluxe was a four-player, using the European side of the mapboard. Mike won by building to 17 when he could power the most cities, so it was a relatively quick game. Final scores: Mike 15, Eugene 13 (124 money), Ben 13 (115 money), Rembert 10.

Nations: The Dice Game, was a three-player won by the one newcomer, Diane. Scores: Diane 28, Lina 23, yours truly 19. Then Diane left, and Lina and I played a three-game series in the baseball game, with Lina winning all three.

The two groups then combined for TransAmerica, with Rembert winning both rounds while Eugene got knocked off the track. Scores: Rembert 13, me 9, Lina 5, Mike 3, Eugene 0.

Firefly was the long game that took almost the entire session and still did not finish. John W was ahead with 6900 (needing 8000 to win), followed by Greg (6200) and Patrick (5700).

June 18, 2015 Session Report

A bit of a down week, attendance-wise, as some stormy weather may have had an impact. Nine gamers (Doug, Mike, Patrick, Eugene, Rembert, John W, Marie, Paul and myself) were present, and we got in a total of three games: This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Two to Four of Us, Bruges and Russian Railroads.

The warm-up game (the one with the long name) had been brought by Mike, and it was a quick tile-laying game (reminiscent of Carcassone but a bit shorter, four plays apiece). Somehow, I managed to come out the winner. Scores were John 10, Doug and Mike 5, Patrick 4.

We split into four groups for the rest of the session. One group played Bruges, which was won by Paul (63) one point ahead of Doug (62), Patrick (58) ahead of me (58) on the tiebreak followed by Marie (53). I believe it was the first play for both Paul and Marie.

Russian Railroads was a runaway win for Eugene, who is quite an expert at the game. Final scores were Eugene 407, Mike 262, John W 243 and Rembert 227.

June 11, 2015 Session Report

Another good group 12 for this week's session: Mike, Eugene, Tim, Lina, Rembert, Ben, Marie (back for her third session), Neville (whom we haven't seen for awhile), Joseph (a first-time attendee), and the three Johns (John B, the other John W and myself) were the attendees. We had three tables going at once, games played were Risk, Concordia, Eggs and Empires, Camel Cup and TransAmerica.

Concordia was a five-player and ended in a three way tiebreaker! The ties were broken by reverse player order depending on who held the 2x production marker. Ben, Mike and Tim were the top three, all with 105. John B (92) and John W (91) brought up the rear.

Risk (which Marie brought) was another five-player. I was first one out, followed by Marie, but Joseph, Lina and Rembert did well enough to survive to the end of the session, so another three-way tie that did not get resolved as we ran out of time.

Neville and Eugene occupied the third table and played a couple of two-player games: Eggs and Empires, a quick-playing card game, which was one win apiece. Camel Cup was next, with Eugene winning over Neville by 54 to 43.

I joined Eugene and Neville for a couple of games of Eggs and Empires. Eugene won both. Game 1 scores: Eugene 31, John 21, Neville 18. Game 2: Eugene 48, Neville 23, yours truly 9.

I managed to bounce back with a strong performance in the final game of the evening, TransAmerica. The game only lasted two rounds, with Tim getting knocked off the chart. Final scores were myself 9, John B 8, John W 7, Eugene (best of the non-Johns) 3, Mike 2, Tim off the chart. A 1-2-3 finish for the three Johns, whoopee!

A reminder that the GCOM Family Picnic will be free to all GCOM Members, regardless of membership level. Check out the GCOM website (link to left of this page) and follow the links to "Family Picnic."

June 4, 2015 Session Report

Good attendance, a total of 15 this week. Patrick, Mike, Alex, Doug, Lina, Linda, Greg, Alec, Erin, Tim, Will, Rouslan, Rembert, Ron (a first-time attendee) and I were the attendees. This meant we got in quite a few games, including Cheeky Monkey, California Gold, Tash-Kalar, Power Grid: North America, Homsteaders and King of Tokyo. Details (if available) follow.

Cheeky Monkey was the warm-up game while waiting for more folks to show up. It was a five-player, won by Doug. Scores were Doug 31, Mike 22, Rouslan 19, myself 15, Alex 3. We then broke into three groups (which turned into four) for the rest of the session).

One group of five played California Gold. This game ended in a time between Linda (one of the new players) at Lina, each at 12. Once again, the money tiebreaker came into play, which meant Lina was the winner. I was third with 10, then Ron (the other new player) and Alex were at 9, and Ron had more money. Tough night for Alex, who is usually near the top instead of the bottom when reporting the scores.

Tash-Kalar was a four-player, with Will winning (with 6), Doug second (at 5). Although the scoresheet indicates they both won, so maybe it was a team game. Eri and Patrick (both at 0) were the other two players.

Power Grid: North America was played, another close four-player game. Greg emerged the winner with 17 cities and 15 left over for the money tiebreaker. Tim (17 with 7 money) and Alec (17 with 0 money) just missed out, while Mike overpaid for a powerplant and could only build to 16.

Rouslan and Rembert played Homesteaders, and Rouslan won, 36 to 28, it what seems to be a relatively low scoring game.

Those who finished up early got in one final game, King of Tokyo. It was six-player, and the game did not finish. Will (with 10 points) was ahead, but this may be misleading because he was low on health and bonus card abilities. Other players and scores at the time the game was picked up were Patrick (8), Erin (6), Doug and Rouslan (4), Rembert (2).

May 28, 2015 Session Report

We had 12 in attendance for this week's session: Mike, Patrick, Lina, Tim, Doug, Rouslan, Rich (whom we haven't seen for awhile), Marie (back for a second week in a row), Erin, Rembert, Paul and myself were the attendees. Games played: Castles of Burgundy, California Gold, Stratego, Samurai and Lanterns. Scores and details follow.

Castles of Burgundy was a four-player, won by Rouslan. Scores were Rouslan 229, Doug 219, Mike 191, Tim 167.

California Gold was a five-player, and the game filled up the entire time slot. It ended in a tie, myself and Lina at 12 but I had more money and was therefore the winner. Others: Rich (9) third ahead of Erin (9) with more money, Patrick (8) was fifth and last.

I had trouble keeping track of what was happening on the third table. Marie and Rembert played a game of Stratego, which Marie had brought. Then Paul arrived and there was a three-player game of Samurai. Then there was a game of Lanterns, which I believe Rembert won by one point (46 to 45) over Paul.

May 21, 2015 Session Report

Had a much larger than usual crowd of 14 for this week's session. David, Patrick, Lina, Rouslan, Greg, Will, Eugene, Ben, Tim, Rembert, Paul, Adam (who had been here once before), Marie (here for first time) and myself were the attendees. With this many, we had four games going for most of the session. Games played (at least the ones I was able to keep track of) were Elysium, California Gold, Brew Crafters, Lanterns, Cockroach Poker and Sys Hack.

Elysium (brought by Patrick) was a four-player, turned into a really close game which I was able to pull out by a narrow margin with Greg second. Final scores were John 48, Greg 45, Patrick 43, Lina 34.

California Gold was a four-player, won by Rouslan. Scores were Rouslan 15, Adam 14, Will 13, David 11.

When Eugene showed up, a game of Brew Crafters commenced. Eugene, Ben and Tim were the participants; since I was already in the Elysium game, it marked the first time Brew Crafters has been played at the club when I was not in the game. Eugene proved to be the Brewmaster once again, winning by a wide margin while Tim and Ben battled in out for second. Scores: Eugene 105 Tim 70 Ben 67.

Paul, Rembert and Marie arrived a bit later but still managed to get in three shorter games. First up was Lanterns, which Paul had brought. This was won by Paul, by just one point. Scores were Paul 44, Rembert 43, Marie 39. Then, after this and the California Gold game finished, there was time for a couple of six-player games. Next was SysHack, Paul's invention, with the hacker team (David, Marie and Rouslan) edging out the Professionals (Paul, Rembert and Will). Finally, Cockroach Poker (a game I am unfamiliar with) was played, with everyone (Rouslan, Paul, Rembert, Marie and Will) winning except for Dave, who managed to finish last at both Calfornia Gold and then Cockroach Poker, but at least he was on the winning side in SysHack.

May 14, 2015 Session Report

Nine for this week's session. Attendees were David, Mike, Alex, Rembert, Lina, Tim, Will, Paul and myself. Games played: Keyflower, California Gold (with Northern Expansion), TransAmerica and 7 Wonders.

Keyflower was a four-player, scores were close, Time first with 62, Rembert second with 61, Mike next at 59, David trailing at 48.

California Gold was played (without David for the first time) as I brought my set with the expansion. It was a four-player, won by Alex (15). Others were Lina (14), Will (13) with yours truly bringing up the rear at 11.

Paul arrived late but was still able to get in a couple of games that finished off the evening. First of these was 7 Wonders, won by Tim (61) ahead of Mike (57), Paul (56), David (47) and Rembert (43). Then, those that were left played a quick round of TransAmerica. Players were David, Tim, Paul, Mike and myself, can't remember who won or was leading when time expired.

May 7, 2015 Session Report

Ten for this week's session: attendees were Alex, Patrick, Mike, Tim, Eugene, Alec, Lina, Doug, Rembert, Will and myself. Games played: Scoville, Brew Crafters and Trans America.

Scoville was a full table of six, scores were very close. Lina and Patrick tied at 65, Lina had the most money and was therefore the winner (or was it least money, can't tell from the notes). Other scores were Alex 63, Alec 61, Mike 60, Rembert 54. All but Alex stayed for a final game of TransAmerica which did not finish.

Doug and Will joined Eugene and me for a game of Brew Crafters that barely made it to the finish line (we actually ran a few minutes over). Eugene was the winner, with an excellent score of 99. I was second with 87, followed by Will and Doug with 62 apiece.

Main St. Festival was last weekend. This weekend, on Sunday afternoon, May 17, is Beltsville Day, and there will be a table of games set up at the Beltsville CC as in past years.

April 30, 2015 Session Report

Ten for this week's session -- Patrick, David, Mike, Ben, Tim, Greg, Rembert, Lina, Paul and I were the attendees. Games played: Red 7, Quilt Show, California Gold (with Northern Counties Expansion) and Belfort.

Red 7 was the warmup game. It only lasted one round, and Mike won. Patrick, David and I were the other three participants.

One group played Quilt Show, which I had brought. Final scores were Greg and Lina (50), myself (45) and David (42). We checked the rules and determined that Greg was the winner on the tiebreak. This same group, joined by Paul, played California Gold, which David had brought. We played with the Northern Counties Expansion. We didn't finish and just counted the scores at the 9 PM witching hour. Turns out everyone was at 7 except for one player (me) trailing at 5. The tiebreaker was most money and, once again, Greg was the winner.

The other group played Belfort. Final scores were Tim 39, Mike 34, Rembert 31, Patrick and Ben tied for last with 28.

A reminder that this coming Saturday is Main Street Festival in Laurel, and once again the Games Club of Maryland is running a booth with open-air gaming (rain or shine). Should be near the same location as in past years, which is on the South Side of the Street between 5th and 6th Streets -- look for the GCOM banner and a double-spaced booth (20 x 10 feet). Rodney (the other Laurel host) and I plan to be on hand.

April 23, 2015 Session Report

An even dozen for this week's session. The participants were Ben, Mike, Tim, Doug, Neville, Rouslan, Eugene, Lina, Rembert, Will, Paul and myself. Games played included Automobile, Sons of Anarchy, Hive and Harbour.

Automobile was a five-player, with one new player (Ben) who had not played the game before. Turns out, the new player won! Final scores: Ben 4390, John 3930, Mike 3890, Tim 3380, Eugene 2700. Three of us (Tim, Eugene and I) were saddled with loans that hurt our final scores.

Sons of Anarchy was also a five-player. No details here except the final score report, which was Doug 28, Lina and Rembert 27, Neville 16 Rouslan 12.

Will and Paul arrived a bit after the others but did get in a couple of 2-player games: Hive (won by Paul) and Harbour (won by Will, 29 to 23).

April 16, 2015 Session Report

Count of 15 in attendance for this session: Eugene, Mike, Rouslan, Tim, Rembert, Zak, Ben, David, Greg, Doug, Erin, Neville, Lina, Paul and myself were the attendees -- have Zak and Erin down for three attendances which makes them eligible for GCOM Associate Memberships. Had a bit of trouble keeping up, but the list of games played included Roll for the Galaxy, Firely, Show Manager, Dead of Winter, Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Baseball Highlights 2045.

Scores and details (if available) follow.

Roll for the Galaxy was a five-player, won by Tim, who forced the game-end by building to 12. Final scores were Tim 40, myself 36, Eugene 33, Mike 29, Rouslan 24.

Firefly was won by Doug. Other players were Greg, Neville and Rembert.

Show Manager, scores were Line 49, David 48, Zak 45, Erin 37, Ben 35. Lina must still be unbeaten at this game ...

Dead of Winter, I heard was a co-operative that all the players lost.

Mad Castles of King Ludwig was won by Tim with 95, followed closely by Rouslan (94), Mike (71) and Paul (66).

Eugene and I played Baseball Highlights, which did not quite finish but Eugene was ahead, 3-2, in the best-of-seven final series when time ran out.

Seems to me I may have missed a game or two, I believe the group that played Firefly got in a second game but I have no record of it. So, that's the report as of now.

Reminder that Games Club of Maryland will be running a booth at the Laurel Main Street Festival, second Saturday in May, from around 10 AM to 4 PM. Open-air gaming in a festival-like atmosphere, what could be more fun?

April 9, 2015 Session Report

Thirteen for this week's session: Mike, John W, David, Greg, Ben, Zak, Matt, Lina, Bill (long-time gamer who was making his first appearance here), Alex (whome we haven't seen for awhile), Eugene, Rembert and myself were the attendees. The following games were played: Best Treehouse Ever, California Gold, Brew Crafters, Machi Koro, Firefly and San Juan.

Best Treehouse Ever was a four-player, won by Mike (43) with Greg a close second (42), followed by Zak (34) and John W (31). These same four kept playing more games: Machi Koro, won by Zak, and then Firefly, won by Greg. I also have Mike, Greg and John W down as playing a three-player San Juan, no results (perhaps the game did not finish).

Brew Crafters was a four-player, including Ben, Bill, Eugene and myself. All but Bill had played before. We didn't quite finish, barely getting into the third year before time ran out. Scores when we picked up the game were John 62, Eugene 56. Ben 43, Bill 29.

California Gold made its third appearance in as many weeks, this time with the Northern Counties expansion. The result was a four-way tie and the winner was Matt (with 44 money) followed by David (22), Lina (11) and Alex (0), all with 12. Rembert was the only one not to make it to 12, ending with 9. I believe Alex and Matt were new to the game, so a good first-time win for Matt.

April 2, 2015 Session Report

Pleased to report record attendance (at least for Thursday night sessions) at the Laurel club, with a total of 18 in attendance. The list includes David, Mike, Greg, Tim, Patrick, Eugene, Ben, Neville, Erin (back for a second session), Lina, Doug, Paul, Rembert. Moshe and myself, plus three first-time attendees: Daniel, Jedson and Scott. I spent some time scrolling through the archives and could find a couple of Thursday sessions in the 15-16 range, and then I recall one time we had a special Saturday session that attracted 20. Anyway, with all these people and four games going on at once, it was hard to keep up, but here's a list of what was played: Machi Koro, California Gold (played twice), Founding Fathers, Friday the 13th, Sys Hack, Dungeon Roll, Power Grid Deluxe (North America map) and Baseball Highlights 2045. Some details follow.

Machi Koro was a three-player, won by Mike (7) to Tim (6) in second with Eugene (4) third. I believe this was selected because Eugene had to leave early and requested a "short" game.

California Gold was back for a second week in a row and was well received once again, as far as I could tell. It was played twice by the same group of five players. Game one, won by Erin with Ben second, Patrick third, Doug and David tied for fourth. Game two, won by David, with Ben second, Erin ahead of Patrick for third, Doug last.

Founding Fathers was another five-player, won by Greg (20) with Neville close behind at 19, then Scott (best of the new players) next at 18. Then, Lina was 12 but ahead of me (at 9). I got 6 VPs from Ben Franklin to lead after the first round, but petered out after failing to gain any debate tokens the whole game.

Next game I have a report for is Power Grid-Deluxe, played with the North America map. It was a five-player, with a three-way tie at the end (16 cities apiece) won by Mike (102 money) over Tim (30) and Paul (10). Rembert (14 cities powered) and Jedson (13) were the other players.

David and Moshe arrived a bit later but got in a couple of games. One was Friday the 13th (no report on who won), and then I believe Paul's game (Sys Hack) also made an appearance.

Finally, with around a half hour left in the session, I introduced Lina, Scott and Neville two Baseball Highlights 2045. We only got in a couple of games, played simultaneously. Scott managed a 2-1 win over Neville's team, while Lina managed a 4-1 win over me.

March 26, 2015 Session Report

Total attendance of nine for this week's session: David, Mike, Lina, Ben A, Rich, Will, Rembert, Paul (back for his second session) and myself were the attendees. Games played: Furstenfeld, California Gold. Machi Koro and Sys Hack (a prototype game designed by Paul).

Furstenfeld, which Mike had brought, resulted in a runaway win for Ben. Will, Rich and Mike were the other participants.

California Gold, which David had brought, was an interesting new economic game about developing orange groves in California. It was a five-player, won by Rembert. Scores: Rembert 12, Lina 11, David 10, John 10, Paul 9. Victory condition was first to 12 wins, although there need to be an equal number of player-turns so you could have a tiebreaker (can't remember what that is). Enjoyed the game and am planning on picking up a copy -- looks like there's already an expansion that covers Northern California (the original game only goes as far north as Fresno).

There was a three-player game of Machi Koro, which Will won. Mike and Rich were the other players.

Finally, with a half hour or so left in the session, we got a chance to play Paul's prototype, Sys Hack, which is kind of a combination of Coup and Werewolf where players are either hackers attempting to hack into a computer system or professionals seeking to stop them. For this, we had eight of the nine attendees participating (everyone but Ben who had lost). We got in two games (one of which ended really quickly), and both times the hackers were caught.

March 19, 2015 Session Report

With a total of 13 gamers in attendance, it was literally a three-ring circus as we had to add a third table and a few more chairs to accommodate everyone. Two-first time attendees were Erin and Paul, plus Zack (who I believe had been here awhile ago, need to check the records) plus Audrey (back for a second session), along with club regulars Lina, Patrick, Mike, Doug, Greg, Tim, Neville, Eugene and myself made up the group. Hard to keep us with all the games played, but here's the list I was able to come up with: Splendor, Heroes Wanted, Essen: The Game, Ticket to Ride, Sushi Go, For Sale, Yardmaster, Ninja Dice and Timeline; Discoveries. Some details follow.

First game up was Splendor, played while waiting for more people to show. Scores were Mike 16, Lina and Zack 13, Patrick 7. This same group then played Heroes Wanted, along with Tim. That game took up most of the session, and scores were reported as follows: Patrick 34 Tim 32 Mike 30 Lina 28 Zack 25

Next game started up was Essen: 2013, the game about shopping for games at the big game convention in Essen, Germany. Once again, Greg emerged victorious (as he has done on a couple of prior occasions). Final scores: Greg 94 Neville 78 John 73 Doug 64; first play of the game for both Neville and Doug. This group then played a couple of more games: Yardmaster, which was won by Neville (scores were Neville 16 Doug and John 10 Greg 9) and, after Greg took his leave, Timeline: Discoveries which ended in a three-way tie after I came back from missing a couple of questions early on.

The third group formed with the two new players, along with Audrey and Eugene. They got in a bunch of shorter games. Sushi Go, won by Eugene with 52 to 49 for Erin, followed by Paul (39) and Audrey (26). Ticket to Ride was won by Eugene as well, followed by Audrey, Paul and Erin (no scores available). For Sale was a win for Erin (61) ahead of Paul (55), Eugene (53) and Audrey (51), and then Ninja Dice just made it to the end, with the order of finish being Erin, Eugene, Paul and Audrey.

Hope I got all the games down, as it was a busy night!

March 12, 2015 Session Report

Attendance was down, partially because of the overlap with the first day of Game Days. We had seven, including one first-time attendee (Audrey), John W, Mike, Ben, Lina, Rouslan and myself. We played a total of four games: Pairs, Newshound, Concordia (with the Germania map) and Show Manager.

Pairs was a card game that Mike brought where you didn't want to be the first one elminated. I believe I was first out, or maybe last out, can't remember and my notes don't help me. Anyway, it was the quick starting filler that we played until more people showed up.

We split into two groups. Four (Mike, Ben, John W and Rouslan) played Concordia, using one of the new maps (Germania), and that game took just about all of the session time. Final scores were Mike 130, Rouslan 124, Ben 107, John W 83.

The rest of us (Audrey, Lina and myself) managed to squeeze in two games in the same time frame. First up was Newshound, which Audrey had brought, and it's primarily a trivia game about historical and current events. Audrey managed to win, with Lina and I kind of tied for second. We then played Show Manager, persevering despite the fact that the dry erase markers didn't seem to work, plus the fact we each had to put on two of each show (which actually makes the 3-player game a bit longer). I have Lina coming away with winner: Lina 86, John 67, Audrey 64.

February 26, 2015 Session Report

Here's the report for Feb. 26, supplied by co-Host Mike Brazinski:

"We had another good turnout. I thought Prezcon might keep the numbers down but I was wrong. Eleven people showed up and we ran two tables over the evening. In attendance were: me, Patrick, the other John W., Ben, Greg, Eric, Rouslon, Timmy, Dave, Lena and Alex. The far table broke out Jet Set and played a close game (at least for the leaders). Eric was victorious in the end with 30 points with Tim on his heals at 28. Rouslon finished with 22 points, Lena 21, Alex 19 and Greg finished with 18. The other table played Concordia with the Mediterranean map. Ben pulled ahead of me at the end with 110 points. Patrick and I were close on his heals though. I had 102 points and Patrick had 97. Dave was close with 94 and John had 85.

At this point, it was about 8pm and we lost several people. Greg, Tim and Eric played a game of speed Vegas Showdown, with Eric with a strong 75 points. Greg was second with 64 and Tim had 54. At the other table, Dave, John, Patrick and I played a few hands of the new Cheapass game Pairs. This game differs from most as there is one loser and the rest win. We played three hands, with Dave, John & Patrick each losing once. It's a silly little game but it was fun.
That's about it. Hope to see everyone whose not doing Games Day this Thursday night!"

Thanks, Mike, for the feedback.

February 19, 2015 Session Report

Winter weather struck this week, keeping attendance down compared to prior weeks. We had a total of seven (Patrick, Mike, Tim, Lina, Laura, Rembert and myself), and we split into two groups and got in a total of just two games that each lasted the entire session: Brew Crafters and Concordia, played with one of the expansion boards (UK).

Brew Crafters was a three-player, consisting of Laura, Tim and myself. We played with the Interns optional space that was used quite frequently by both Laura and Tim and, quite effectively I thought, by Laura. I drew first player and took the Barley Grower skilled worker and went with a first-turn Farm strategy. Laure and Tim each took a local partnership and, with the two of them grabbing Interns right and left, I didn't get any but was the first to add a second brewery shift early in the second year. That, plus the Brewpub and the Brewpub Manager, enabled me to forge a fairly comfortable win in a relatively high-scoring game: 95 to 83 for Laura with Tim, at 55, trailing. OOPS, just re-checked the scoresheet and I made a math boo-boo. I only had 85 to 83 for Laura, a very close game, that could have gone the other way had someone beat me to one of the three gold label rewards.

Concordia, as mentioned before, was played with one of the new maps, for Britain or the UK, and it produced a fairly competitive game. Mike won with 97 to 90 for Lina, the difference being the 7-point bonus Mike got for triggering the game-end. Rembert (79) and Patrick (75) were not that far behind.

Next week will be PrezCon in Charlottesville, so I will not be at the club, so Mike will be in charge. Hoping for better weather and more people in the coming weeks, obviously. Don't forget about Maryland Game Days, which is coming up in about two weeks, March 12-15, and the Doubletree in Pikesville (a new time and new location for the event).

February 12, 2015 Session Report

Despite some cold weather, we still had a decent attendance as 10 hardy souls descended on the Community Center for an evening of gaming. One first-time attendee, Zak, joined Mike, Patrick, Greg, Ben, Alec, Will, Eugene, Neville and myself, and a total of three games were played: Sheriff of Nottingham, Concordia and Istanbul.

Sheriff of Nottingham was an interesting game where players take turns as the Sheriff, who can accept deals or decide to inspect any and all packages for contraband. Money changes hands during the game, and bonus points (money) are awarded for collecting specific goods and for having the largest sets at the end. Neville came away the winner. Scores: Neville 154, Greg 145, John 139, Patrick 138, Zak 122. The other group of five played Concordia. No details, just the results: 1. Mike 105 2. Ben 105 3. Eugene 103 4. Will 101 5. Alec 69 Finally, one more game, which was Istanbul, won by Patrick. Patrick was first with 5 gems, Zak and I had 4, Greg and Neville 3 at game-end.

February 7, 2015 Session Report

Group of 12 for this past week's session. In attendance were John W, Mike, Doug, Ben, Patrick, Greg, Neville, Will, Eric, Eugene, Tim and myself. Games played: Splendor (twice), Robinson Crusoe, Augustus, Roll for the Galaxy, Power Grid Deluxe: North America, Fidelitas and Yardmaster.

Some details on the games (scores when available): Started out with Splendor, a solid win for Mike. Scores were Mike 15, Doug 11, me 9, John W 7. We then broke into separate groups. One group (consisting of Greg, Patrick, Will and John W) played Robinson Crusoe. It's a cooperative game, and I didn't get a result. It lasted pretty much the rest of the session, and it either didn't make it to the finish or the players failed to fulfill the victory conditions. Afterward, I heard alot of "we should have done this or that," so I assume it did not go all that well for the players versus the game system. A five-player games of Augustus broke out. It resulted in a win for Eric. Scores were Eric 66, Eugene 37, Neville 30, Ben 13, Tim 11.

Doug, Neville and I played Roll for the Galaxy, the dice game sequel to Race for the Galaxy (one of the co-designers, Wei-Hua, is a former GCOM host). I managed to win with 33, ahead of Neville (28) with Doug (22) in last despite triggering game-end with most buildings but no shipping. Ben won a five-player Power Grid-Deluxe game using the North America map but it was an incredibly close battle for second among the other players. Ben had 17 powered cities, and everyone else was at 15. In order of money, it was Eugene second (14), Eric third (11), Mike fourth (10) and Tim (6). Four of this group played a second game of Splendor. Eric won with 18, ahead of Mike (11), Tim (7) and Eugene (6). Doug, Neville and I got in a couple of more games before time was up. One game, Fidelitas, was won by Doug (8) over Neville (7). I was far behind with 3, barely getting on the board in the last turn. We then turned to Yardmaster, and Neville proved to be the Yardmeister with a winning score of 20. I was second at 13, Doug trailing at 9.

January 29, 2015 Session Report

Despite some iffy weather during the day, we still had a good turnout of 11 for this week's session, with Mike, Kay (whom we haven't seen for awhile), Greg, Tim, Will, Ben, David, Lina, Eugene and one newcomer (Tom) and myself in attendance. Games played: Brew Crafters (first time with the finished product at the club), Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Splendor (twice) and Sushi Go (twice).

Brew Crafters was a four-player with three who were new to the game and myself. I managed to come home first with a score of 56, while Ben (best of the new players), perhaps aided by his past experience with playing Agricola, second at 50, followed by Lina (42) and David (32). Including time for teaching, this game took most of the evening. Another game featured was Castles of Mad King Ludwig, another four-player, scores were Greg (101), Mike (99), Will (95), Tim (83). Kay (who had some schedule issues and couldn't stay for the entire session), got into a couple of games of Splendor. First one, a two-player, was won by Eugene (15) with Kay second (12). By the time they had finished, Tom arrived, and so they played a three-player, won by Tom (15) to 9 for Eugene and 1 for Kay. The group playing Mad King Ludwig had time left for a couple of games of Sushi Go. Both came down to the final scoring with the player with the most pudding (a tiebreaker I am very familiar with) coming from behind to win. Game 1; Greg 37 Tim 35 Mike 32 Will 26 Game 2: Will 41 Mike 39 Tim 32 Greg 30

January 22, 2015 Session Report

Despite some snowy weather earlier in the week, we had a good crowd of 10 for this week's session: Doug, Mike, John W, Greg, Neville, David, Will, Rembert, Eugene and myself were the attendees. Games played: Scoville, Hollywood, Red 7, Biblios, Greenland, Yardmaster and Machi Koro.

Scoville was won by Mike (66) ahead of Doug (63), followed by Greg (56), John W (49) and Rembert (42). Hollywood, which Neville brought, was a new game about putting together movies which a weird bidding mechanism where even the losing bidder pays. Ties were also not friendly, as Eugene and I found out first time around when we went down to our last dollar. As it turned out, I got a lucky draw off the top and wen on to a narrow victory, 123 to 122, over David who was a close second. Will was third with 117, followed by Eugene (114) with Neville last (109). Second round of games, and for one group it was Red 7 (Won by Will, while Neville and myself also played), Biblios (won by Neville with 8 points, ahead of myself at 4 and Doug at 2) followed by Yardmaster (unfinished, I believe Neville was winning). Another group tackled Greenland, played by David, Rembert and John W, also unfinished. Similarly, no scores reported for Machi Koro (played by Mike, Greg and Will).

Again, a friendly reminder, if you are uncertain as to whether or not a club session might be cancelled due to inclement weather, feel free to call the CC and check out closing reports (if PG county schools and govt' offices are closed, then it's likely the CC will be closed as well).

January 15, 2015 Session Report

Second session of 2015, and a huge throng of 16 gamers descended upon the Laurel Community Center for what turned out to be our largest attendance in some time -- certainly larger than any of the sessions last year (when 15 was the high), didn't go back any further to check but I seem to recall we hit 17 or more once or twice. Anyway, the attendees were Alec, Tim, Mike, Greg, Will, Patrick, David, Eric, Lina, Eugene, Neville, Rembert, Moshe (back for a second time) and myself, plus two first-time attendees at the club, Laura and James. Games played (and it was tough to keep track of everything with four games going on at once): Scoville, Essen: The Game, Castles of Mad King Ludwig (played twice), Greenland, Biblios, Colt Express and Red 7.

Here's what I collected from the scoresheets and various reports: Castles of Mad King Ludwig: 1. Laura 114 2. Neville 103 3. Eric 79 4. Eugene 76 Scoville: 1. Will 66 2. Alec 64 3. Tim 50 4. Mike 37 Essen - The Game (it's a game about collecting the "hot" games at Essen): 1. Greg 86 2. Lina 70 3. John 58 4. Patrick 55 Biblios: 1. Eric 5 (+2) 2. Laura 5 (+0) 3. Eugene 3 4. Neville 0 Red 7: 1. Laura 2. Neville 3. Eric 4. Eugene Greenland: 1. Rembert ~ 40 2. James ~ 15 3. David 3 Colt Express: 1. Greg 1750 2. Patrick 1650 3. John 1300 4. Lina 0 (partial score, as we scored after three of five rounds, having run out of time) Not sure of the scores, but I believe there was a second Mad King Ludwig game featuring Mike, Tim, Alec and Will after they finished Scoville, perhaps the game did not make it to the finish line.

January 8, 2015 Session Report

First session of the New Year and despite some inclement weather earlier in the week, we had a group of eight hardy gamers -- Patrick, Mike, Ben A, Lina, Neville, Will and myself plus one first-time attendee (Manuel) -- and a total of three games were played: Nothing Personal, Imperial Settlers and Red 7.

Nothing Personal was a four-player, and Neville emerged the winner by a wide margin after a big surge on the last two turns of the game. I was in the lead, but of course my guys got bumped off or sent to prison. Final scores in this gangster-related game (reminiscent of Avalon Hill's Kremlin) were: Neville 74, John 38, Line 34, Manuel 31. Lina and Manuel got embroiled in a huge battle for control of the Capo on the final turn, allowing Neville to swoop in and claim just about all the other gangsters, while my strong early position faded badly down the stretch. The four of us also played a few hands of Red 7 but unfortunately we did not quite make it to the finish.

Imperial Settlers was played at the other table, and the winner (playing the Egyptians) was Patrick, with a score of 64. Second was Will, as the Barbarians, with a score of 57. Third was Mike, as the Japanese, with 49 while the Romans (played by Ben) brought up the rear with 30. Interesting, because I had heard that the Japanese and the Romans were the two strongest factions -- not true, if you go by the results of this one game. A reminder that the GCOM Winter GameFest is coming up soon, weekend after next, Jan. 17-18, at the Rockville Senior Center. Check out the link at the GCOM website, gamesclubofmd.org.