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.