May 19, 2016 Session Report

We had a couple of new attendees, Jason and Joe, to help swell our attendance total to 14 this week; Patrick, Mike, David, Rouslan, Neville, Lina, John B, Eugene, Arnold, Rembert, Tim and myself filled out the roster. Four games were played -- all going on at once: Tin Goose, Quadropolis, Battlecore and Galaxy Trucker.

Tin Goose was back for the second week in a row, this time a 5-player. As last week, John B was the winner, having bid quite alot to go first, but it enabled him to build a highly lucrative airline route on the map. Final scores: John B 348, Nevile 310, John W (me) 292, Eugene 208, Patrick 173. 292 (my highest score to date) would have won other games but only good for 3rd here (later I managed to win for the first time but with a much lower score of 266). Every game is different, I suppose.

Anyway, Quadropolis made its first appearance at the club. Four-player game was a win for Rouslan (51), ahead of David (45), Mike (41) and Lina (30).

Joe and Arnold played a couple of games of Battlecore, the scoresheet says Joe won both.

Finally, a three-player game of Galaxy Trucker broke out. Tim was the big winner there (85) compared to 55 for Jason and 45 for Rembert.

May 12, 2016 Session Report

Eight for this week's session; the attendees were Mike, Ben, Alex, Eugene, John B, Rembert and myself, plus one first-time attendee, Anya. Games played were Camel Up (with some components from the new expansion), Tin Goose, Scoville, and we wrapped up with two games of For Sale.

First game while waiting for people to arrive was Camel Up. We had five of us (Eugene, Ben, Alex, Mike and myself) while Mike explained the game and the new stuff with the expansion. Main thing new that I recall was a Camera that gave the person placing it points for the number of camels to cross that space; I believe there were other aspects to the new expansion that we did not play with. Anyway, the game broke up after one of scoring round as more people showed up, plus it was a longer route around the track, so the game wasn't going to finish that quickly.

Three of us (John B, Rembert and myself) played a new release called Tin Goose which I had brought. Anya, who said she preferred to watch, observed for most of the game. It clocked in at close to the advertised one half hour per player plus a bit longer for rules explanation. I got my airline into difficulty and had to take out some emergency loans that sank my chances of winning. Final scores were John B 350, Rembert 325, myself 229. I intend to bring this game again as it seems to have the potential to develop into a new favorite.

The other longish game we played was Scoville. This was a four-player, with Mike, Alex, Ben and Eugene as the participants. There was a flatfooted tie for first plus a tie in the money tiebreak, and no further tiebreaker in the rules. Sharing in the victory at 83 apiece were Ben and Mike. Alex had 70, Eugene with 63 brought up the rear.

There was still time for two games of For Sale, which Anya had brought. Game 1 resulted in a win for yours truly with 63k, followed by Eugene (57K), John B (46K)0, Rembert (43K)0 and Anya (39K). Game 2 was really close and went to John B (57K) followed by Eugene (55K), me (54K), Anya (51K) and Rembert (41K).

Hope to see some of you next week who haven't been to the club for awhile. Lots of fun new games to play these days!

May 5, 2016 Session Report

Attendance was down a bit this week, only 7 of us -- Mike, Alex, David, Patrick, Arnold, Rembert and myself -- were present, and we played the following games: Kodama, Stockpile, Roll for the Galaxy (with some elements of the expansion) and Pax Porfirana.

First up was Kodama, which was a five-player, won by Alex. Scores were Alex 34, Patrick 30, myself 29, Mike 25 and David 11. The game involved building out picture cards to form branches of a tree. I believe we picked it up after one of three rounds or seasons.

We then split into two groups. One group played Stockpile, which I brought and won with 149. Other scores: Arnold 126, Rembert 119, Mike 114. This same group played Race for the Galaxy with one element from the new expansion, which Mike had brought. Rembert won with a score of 49, ahead of Arnold (44), me (41) and Mike (30).

That left David, Patrick and Alex to play Pax Porfirana, which David had brought. Patrick won with a successful overthrow (topple) of the Mexican government to win.

April 28. 2016 Session Report

Group of 10 for this week's session. Mike, Patrick, Eugene, Luis, Neville, Marion, Tim, Rembert, Ken and I were the attendees; it was the third session for both Luis and Ken who signed up as GCOM members. Games played: For Sale, Automania and Concordia: Salsa.

For Sale was the opening game, and Neville, Luis, Eugene, Mike, Patrick and I had just started the game when more people showed up, so the game was abandoned and we split into two groups.

One group played Concordia: Salsa, which was won by Eugene (107), with Marion (103) a close second. Tim (89), Mike (74) and Rembert (63) were the other players.

The other game was Automania, which Neville brought. Winner was Neville (66) and I managed to ease into second over Patrick on a tiebreaker (we each had 58) with Luis (56) not far behind. Everyone seemed to enjoy the game, and hopefully this will not be its last appearance. Unfortunately, both this game and Concordia ran a bit long and we did not get Ken into a game. Hopefully, next time.

April 21. 2016 Session Report

Attendance of 10 this week: David, Mike, Patrick, Neville, Moon, Rouslan, Arnold, John B, Rembert and I were the participants. Games played: Cvlizations (x2), Love Letter, BrewCrafters, Blood Rage and Eminent Domain.

Began with 5-player Cvlizations game (Mike, Neville, Patrick, David and myself) that broke up before finishing as more people showed up. Later on, the game was played to conclusion as a 3-player, with Mike (23) winning, ahead of David (18) and Patrick (17).

Love Letter was also a warm-up game, played by Arnold, John B, Moon and Rouslan. John B and Rouslan each one once before the game was called off.

BrewCrafters was a four-player that took the rest of the session. Moon (90) came out on top. I was second (75). John B (51) and Rembert (46) also played.

Blood Rage was won by Rouslan (86) followed by Arnold (80) and then Neville (67) who of course was teaching the game.

Finally, scores of Eminent Domain showed Patrick (20) in first, ahead of David (17) and Mike (15).

April 14, 2016 Session Report

Eleven for this week's session. The group included Mike, David, Alex, Arnold, Marion (back for her third session, signed up as new GCOM Associate Member), Eugene, Rouslan, Tim, Rembert, Ken (back for a second session) and myself. Games played: Rockband Manager, Turin Market, Bohananza, Power Grid: Japan and Codenames.

A couple of the newer games did not go over well, to be honest. Rockband Manager (which I brought) was kind of a glorified version of For Sale where you are discovering and promoting rock bands. The first six (Mike, Alex, Arnold, Marion, Eugene and myself) played this, but we picked it up as it was running way long for a quick starter game. Then, five of us tried a new prototype, Turin Market, that David had brought. It also did not go over well, as there were issues with resolving ties in bidding and kind of an all-or-nothing approach that meant four of the five of us wound up with less money than the 15 we started with. Scores, for what it was worth, were Rouslan 18, Rembert 11, David 9, me 5, Marion 4.

Power Grid was played with the Japan map. No ties in this one, winner was Eugene (17) followed by Tim (15), Arnold (14) and Mike (13).

Ken joined those of us who played Turin Market for a 6-player Bohnanza. Rouslan again emerged victorious. Scores: Rouslan 16, Marion 15, David and Rembert 13, myself 9, Ken 8.

There was still time left for a short game of Codenames. Teams were David, Rembert and Ken versus Marion and myself, and I believe Marion and I came away with the win as I think the other team hit the assassin word.

April 7, 2016 Session Report

Huge turnout of 16 (!) for this week's session. Attendees: Mike, David, Luis (back for second session), Lina, Tim, Ben, Alex, Moon, John B, Eugene, Arnold, Marian (also back for a second time), Rembert, myself and two first-time attendees: Alex C and Joe. We had three games going for most of the session, and full tables at that. Games played: Kraftwagen, Pax Porfirana, Vegas Showdown, Ra and Concordia (using the Brittania map). Some details follow.

Kraftwagen: won by Mike (54) with Ben (52) a close second. Arnold (41) and Tim (37) were the other players.

Pax Porfirana: won by Marian, who succeed in overthrowing the Govt. and declaring Martial Law. David (who brought the game), Arnold, Rembert, Luis and Alex C. made for a full table of six.

Vegas Showdown: won by Eugene (65) who got the best tile (the Theater) and ran away from the game. Alex (52) was second, Moon (45) third, and Lina (40) and myself (39) brought up the rear. Everyone had played before except for Lina.

Ra!: was a three-player, won by Eugene (57). Lina and I tied for second (33), but Lina had the highest sun and was therefore ahead on the tiebreaker.

Concordia with the Brittania expansion map: Ben got revenge on Mike for the earlier game, winning by a similarly close margin, 105 to 101 for Mike in second. Tim (81) and Joe (80) rounded out the field. I believe it was Joe's first play of Concordia.