July 21, 2016 Session Report

We had 11 for this week's session and played a total of three games. Attendees: Jason, Eugene, Ben K, Ben A, Patrick, Rembert, Arnold, Neville, Tom (who was here for the first time), David and myself. Games Played: Abradawha, Fire and Axe and Manhattan Project: Energy Empire (the PnP version).

Abracadawha was the warm-up game while waiting for people to arrive. Six of us took part, and we only managed to finish one round. Patrick knocked out Ben K and wound up the winner with 3 points. Jason, Eugene, Rembert and I also participated.

The longer games were Fire and Axe and the PnP of the yet to be released sequel to Manhattan Project. Fire and Axe I had the scores reported as Jason 98, Patrick 90, Eugene 87, Arnold 82. But I also had Ben A listed as an attendee, so I believe he must have been in the game as well. I know they had a full table.

The Manhattan Project: Energy Empire was a full table of five, and I let David play my position which I took over when he had to leave. Our combined efforts resulted in 86 points, good for the win over Neville and Rembert (78), Tom (77) and Ben K (76). Due to time constraints, we picked up the game without playing the final round, and Ben K said he was about to score some major points, so things certainly could have changed. Also, I later discovered a rules miscue: Only one player could get to the final rung of the UN track. (Three of us did it in the game, which should not have been allowed.)

A reminder that next week our numbers will dwindle a bit as Mike, Eugene, David and I plan to be at WBC. The following week I plan to go to GenCon so will hope to see everyone in 2 weeks. Jason will be in charge of tracking attendance next week, then Mike should be back the following week.

July 14, 2016 Session Report

Attendance of 12 this week: Mike, Ben K, Jason B, Jason A (someone who attended a couple of years back but returned this week), Lina, Tim, Eugene, Arnold, Patrick, Rembert, David (who showed up late and didn't get into a game) and myself were the attendees. Games played: Niya, Lords of Waterdeep, and Acquistion: Empires (a prototype that Jason A had brought).

Niya (which Jason B had brought) was a quick-playing, warm-up game for just two players. Kind of chess-like, seemed like a glorified version of Tic Tac Toe. Ties were possible. In one game, Mike defeated Ben K while I drew with Jason B.

Jason A had brought a prototype of his own design, Acquisition: Empires, that eventually attracted six players. It was kind of a space travel game where you needed to make it home with a stipulated set of money, but it also had a stock market and space combat aspect to the game. Took the rest of the time, and we decided Lina was going to be the winner the next round with Rembert coming in second. Patrick got his spaceship blown up twice in combat, mostly with Jason whose special characteristic was a die roll bonus when attacking (the rest of us had various economic type advantages).

The other game was Lords of Waterdeep, and it also ended up taking most of the session time. Scores in that one were Eugene 142, Arnold 116, Tim 110, Ben K 98 and Mike 97.

July 7, 2014 Session Report

Eight for this week's session. The group included Patrick, Mike, Jason, Ben K, Tim, Marion, Rembert and myself. A total of four games were played: Here Kitty Kitty, Founding Fathers, Keyflower and Last Spike. Results follow.

Here Kitty Kitty was the warmup game. Jason, who brought the game, wound up on top with 70 points. Mike was second with 40, I managed 38, just ahead of Patrick last with 35.

We then broke into two groups. Five of us played Founding Fathers, which Jason had brought. At the start, I drew James Madison which meant I went first. Marion had William Paterson, Ben K had Roger Sherman, Jason drew Charles Pinckney while Rembert took on the role of Alexander Hamilton. Winner was Marion -- who had not played the game before. She had 24 points, with Rembert (who was also playing the game for the first time) in second with 17. Jsaon (another newcomer to the game) was third with 14, while the so-called "experts" Jason and I were fourth (12 points) and fifth (7 points), respectively. Not one of my better games, as I had Ben Franklin for the last round but Marion and others kept removing my blocks, but I thoroughly enjoyed the game anyway.

The other group, consisting of Tim, Mike and Patrick, got in two games. First was Keyflower, won by Tim (65) ahead of Mike (51) and Patrick (46). Then the evening wrapped with Last Spike, which Patrick (who brought the game) and I had played last week at the Summer PrezCon tournament. Winner was Mike (113) ahead of Tim (83) and Patrick (55).

June 30, 2016 Session Report

I missed this session (away at PrezCon's summer convention, as was Patrick), but Co-Host Mike provides this session report:

"Attendance: me (Mike), Ben A, Alex, Jason, Tim, Ben K, Rouslan, Arnold,

Ben K, Alex, Jason and I started the evening with a game of Game: The Game. It's a co-op where the players are trying to empty their hands of cards numbered from 2 to 99. We almost made it but boxed ourselves into a figurative corner and just lost right after the draw deck emptied. It was close.

As others arrived, we broke into two games. The first group played Marco Polo. Rouslan won with a a score of 87 with Jason next at 75, Alex at 60 and Ben K at 40.

Poseidon was the other game, with me teaching in to Ben A and Arnold and refreshing the rules to Tim. This was the first exposure of any 18xx style game for Ben and Arnold. I was leading most of the way but the gods of stupid moves blessed me with the idea of starting a third company in the last round and my game collapsed. Ben A pulled out the win (which is news to him as he had to leave before we summed up the scores) with $4,179. Tim came next with $3,760, Arnold with $3,587 and me with $3,061. We finished just at 9:00."

My only comment, was Mike once again proved what a great teacher he was, finishing last in Poseidon while the new player finished first.

Hope to see everyone this coming week. Remember, the deadline for signing up for the GCOM Family Picnic is this Thursday, July 7th, as well.

June 23, 2016 Session Report

Group of ten for this week's session. In attendance: Mike, Rouslan, David, Alex, Lina, Patrick, Jason, Ben A, Arnold and myself. Games played: For Sale, Russian Railroads, Orleans: Deluxe Edition, The Gallerist and Seeland.

For Sale was the quick warm-up game. Winner was Mike (62K) followed by myself (50K), Rouslan (48K) and David (46K). We then split into three groups for the rest of the session.

Russian Railroads was a 4-player, won by Rouslan. Scores: Rouslan (470), Mike (292), Ben (273) and Rembert (220).

Alex, Arnold and I tackled the Orleans: Invasion expansion, a 3-player co-op version. Things looked bad about midway through when Alex realized that houses built as forts didn't count for his individual victory condition, which required four houses as trading posts. In spite of this, we managed to pull out a win on the final turn of the game although it was close (we needed something like four or five Soliders in the last turn or two).

The Gallerist was another three-player (Patrick, David and Lina) that did not quite make it to the finish line.

Finally, Rouslan and Rembert broke out Seeland after the Russian Railroads game finished. No report on how the game turned out, not sure they finished it.

Will be at an out-of-town gaming event next week, so co-Host Mike will be in charge.

June 16, 2016 Session Report

Ten for this week's session. Jason, Mike, Rouslan, Ben K (back for session #3), Alec, Greg, Patrick, Tim, Rembert and I were the attendees. Games played: Too Many Cinderellas, Walls, Automobile and Power Grid Deluxe (North America) were the games played.

Too Many Cinderellas, which I brought, and Walls, which Jason brought, were the warm-up games. Too Many Cinderellas was a four-player, went for just one round, I managed to win versus Jason, Mike and Rouslan while we waited for more people to show up. Ben K and Alec were added for the Walls game, which was kind of kind going through an ever-changing maze, and that game was picked up once we got up to 10.

We then broke into two five-player games for the rest of the session. One game was Automobile, which Patrick brought. Winner was Rouslan, who claimed not to have played before, with a fine score of 4930. I managed to finish second at 4320, followed by Rembert (3620), Patrick (3330) and Jason (3010), who was also new.

The other game was Power Grid: Deluxe, with the North America map, which Mike had brought. Two people tied with 15 cities, and winner based on most money was Ben (15 cities, 14 money) ahead of Mike (15 cities, 1 money). Other scores: Tim (14 cities, 0 money); Greg (13 cities, 15 money); and Alec, 13 cities (12 money).

June 9, 2016 Session Report

Good attendance this week, total of 13 (14 if you count Steve, who stopped in briefly but did not get in a game). Rest of the list is Mike, Ben K (back for a second week in a row), David, Jason, Alex, Rouslan, Arnold, Neville, Greg, Eugene, Tim, Rembert and myself. Games played: Onitama (x2), Stockpile, Love Letter, Ticket to Ride - Pennsylvania, Russian Railroads: German Railroads, Quadropolis, Biblios Dice and Fuse. This report will provide some details and results on some, but not all, as there were quite a few games going on.

Onitama was a two-player, chess-like variant with cards that Jason had brought. I believe Rouslan played a game or two with Jason at the outset, plus there may have been a couple of other games, maybe with Rembert playing a game or two as well.

Stockpile was a five-player, with each of us choosing a special character. Final scores: myself (as Golden Graham) 164 first; Alex (as Billionaire Bill) 145 second; Arnold (as Mayknow Martha) 115 third; Neville (as Secretive Stewart) 104 fourth; and finally David (as Wise Warren) 71 fifth and last.

Ticket to Ride - Pennsylvania adds a UP-style stock market majority aspect to the game. Winner was Mike with 191, followed closely by Greg (186), Ben (172) and Tim (165).

Finally, certain people got in their Russian RR/German RR fix. Winner (and by a wide margin) was Rouslan (438) followed by Eugene (330) then Jason (260) and finally Rembert (230). I believe this was a first play for Jason and Rembert, although one or both may have been familiar with the basic Russian RR game.

Second round of games saw Quadropolis (won by Greg wth 53 over Mike at 49, Ben and Tim at 46) and Love Letter (a four-player, David had 3 wins to 2 for me, 1 for Arnold, 0 for Neville). But, as Neville, pointed out, "the Princess loved me most." In fact, Neville got the Princess so often that the last round David got him out early by playing a Guard and guessing Neville had the Princess.

Final games of the evening were Fuse (a co-op game) played by Rouslan, Jason and Rembert, and also Biblios: Dice, won by Arnold (30) with me nosing out Neville for second (24 to 23).

A reminder that we're less than a month away from the pre-registration deadline for the GCOM Family Picnic. Details can be found by clicking the link at the GCOM website, gamesclubofmd.org