Session Report – 19 August 2009

7 adults this week. In the absence of Dave C, the youngsters in attendance also played board/card games, I don't have records for these but there was a strange Dominion game going on at the end of the evening.

The rest of us split 4 & 3. On one table the first game was Stone Age, which I don't like, followed by San Juan, which I do.

Stone Age 100 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Gordon	152
2	Donald	110
3	Mike	103
4	Andy	97
San Juan 40 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Gordon	35
2	Andy	32
3	Mike	26
4	Donald	21

Over on the other table Steve, Dave F & I played Arkham Horror. This being the first time the game has appeared at the club, although I did get to try it out with Dave C the Saturday previously. Since March I have been playing online games of Battlestar Galactica in the forums of Board Game Geek and many of the players in those games enjoy this one, on this basis, combined with the fact that I increasingly am seeming to prefer highly themed American games such as this plus the afore mentioned Battlestar Galactica and Fury of Dracula (compared with many of the more recent Euros (e.g. Le Havre, Comuni) which have left me cold) I decided to get the game.

The problem just diving in to a game like this is that there are really no strategy hints in the rules, so we spent much of the unfinished game wandering aimlessly closing gates as they appeared. We had no idea of things like how to get money and the importance of sealing, rather than simply closing gates.

There was also the odd rules mistake, but despite everything the game was an enjoyable experience and one that I look forward to exploring further. There is a great amount of material on the geek and I have been reading some of it, hopefully the money issues that Steve particularly had problems with should not be issues in future.

Arkham Horror 160 mins.
Posn.	Player
1=	Dave D
1=	Dave F
1=	Steve H

Sessions – 5,12 August 2009

5 August

With various holidays intervening and Dave still confined with Swine Flu (although he was able to get Ben here), we had 6 this week with the attendance of Steve Perkins and Nigel. We only played 1 game, which was 6 player Race for the Galaxy and then spent some time in general gaming discussion which was an interesting change of pace.

The game was a fairly long one, as would be expected with a couple of new players; I gather it was Donald's first chance to play, despite owning the game and both its expansions. The scores were generally high and it was a very close finish with Steve's goals and developments wining out over Nigel's generally military approach. We played with both expansions although left out the takeover rules from Rebel vs. Imperium.

Race for the Galaxy 90 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Steve Pe	60
2	Nigel	59
3	Dave F	48
4	Dave D	40
5	Donald	31
6	Ben C	16

12 August

A higher attendance this week with 2 boardgames as well as role playing downstairs, which I gather Ben C was running, although Dave was back with us this week.

Upstairs on one table we had Fury of Dracula; I wanted to give the game a go as Steve had done such a wonderful job painting the figures. Steve & I have been playing a series of games and it was his turn to be the count, although in this case, there were actually 2 of us playing the hunters, it being Dave F's first game.

It took a little time for us to get on Dracula's trail, until we were able to track him down in the Prague area, there then ensued a chase that would continue for the rest of the game as he first ran south west towards Spain before heading north and then back east before setting sail into the North sea as the hunters converged from the south. He was followed by Lord Godalming who dealt him severe damage when he caught up with the count in Edinburgh. Dracula fled south, but with Mina Harker landing in London and cutting off Swansea, he was forced to head for Ireland, lacking the blood for a longer sea voyage, with Rufus Smith in play.

The game ended as Dr. Seward moved with a sense of emergency to meet the count in Galway and 2 strokes of a knife were enough to bring an end to his evil schemes.

Fury of Dracula 170 mins.
Posn.	Player
1=	Dave D
1=	Dave F
3	Steve H

On the other table was Le Havre.

Le Havre 160 mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Gordon	184
2	Steve P	170
3	Donald	120

July 2009

1 July
Down in the bar this week, there being the normal first Wednesday of the month committee meeting upstairs. Donald and Steve trying out Martin Wallace's Waterloo. This was not finished.

Waterloo - 150 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
NR	Steve H
NR	Donald

That left 4 of us and we opted for a number of shorter games, first up Dominion, with 2 games played and me still trying to make a Chapel strategy work with conspicuous lack of success, the first game was close though.

Dominion - 30 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Andy E	27
2	Dave F	21+
2	Mike	21+
4	Dave D	21
Dominion - 55 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	41
2	Andy E	35
3	Dave F	34
4	Dave D	32

Next up was Fzzt! From Surprised Stare games introduced at the recent Games Expo. We quickly realised that we were making a mistake in the first try and restarted. We terminated the second game early as Mike & I had had enough of it. The game seemed to have a horrible case of runaway leader syndrome, although looking at the online rules later I think we may still have been getting something slightly wrong. I'm not sure how much difference that would have made though.

Fzzzt! - 15 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Andy E	29
2	Dave F	28
3	Mike	20
4	Dave D	11

I left at that point and the others played what I think was a single round of Der Ausreisser (Breakaway Rider), which hasn't been played here for quite some time.

Der Ausreisser - 10 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	2
2	Andy E	-3
3	Dave F	-11

8 July
The evening started with a quick game of Animal Olympics, while waiting to see if anyone else would appear.

Animal Olympics - 10 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave F
2	Mike
2	Dave D
2	Steve H

After that Donald arrived and Donald and he and Steve played another game of Waterloo, which again went unfinished. They both seem to like this 2 player game, but I think they have come to realise that it is probably not playable in an evening session.

Waterloo - 150 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
NR	Steve H
NR	Donald

The rest of us played Industrial Waste, which was a very close game, Mike taking by virtue of getting to the end of the growth track and having a bit more money than me. It was Dave's first game and he was a little held back at the beginning due to a misunderstanding of the fact that accidents happen immediately the card is drawn rather than at the end of the turn, so he did not have a chance to get his waste back into the green.

Industrial Waste - 60 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	60
2	Dave D	55
3	Dave F	28

Finally we introduced Dave to San Juan, which I gather he was so impressed with he went and got it and has also been playing a PC version a lot. Mike and I were on pretty much the same sort of strategy with City Hall, Palace and Chapel; I won, despite Mike being the one to finish the game by virtue of having more monuments.

San Juan - 40 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave D	41
2	Mike	40
3	Dave F	26

15 July
First up was 7 player Tsuro

Tsuro - 10 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Ben C
1	Gordon
3	Dave D
4	Daniel
4	Mike
6	Donald
7	Steve H

Then we split 4 & 3, with 4 of us going with Race for the Galaxy, first time with Rebel vs. Imperium, although we left out the takeovers.

Race for the Galaxy - 70 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave D	56
2	Steve H	36
3	Daniel	27
4	Ben C	25

Also we played Dominion, which I won for a change using Throne Room/Council Room.

Dominion - 35 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave D	44
2	Ben C	24
2	Daniel	24
4	Steve H	20

Over on the other table, they played Chicago Express

Chicago Express - 60 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Donald	142
2	Gordon	123
3	Mike	119

And also Dominion

Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	39
2	Gordon	31
3	Donald	15

22 July
We had 3 tables this week, with Dave taking on the youngsters at Runebound; I don't have results for this one.
4 of us played Metropolys; this has been played once before with 3 of the same players. I ended up second again.

Metropolys - 75 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Andy E	37
2	Dave D	35
3	Dave F	29
4	Mike	26

Then it was 2 games of Dominion, the first being very close (3 way tie) and the second, after Andy left, less so, basically being decided on curses. Mike did very well chapelling away most of his while dumping quite a few on Dave and me. I made the mistake of staying out of the Witch game and again proved totally incapable of getting Chapel and curses together in the same hand.

Dominion - 45 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave F	31
1	Dave D	31
1	Mike	31
4	Andy E	25
Dominion - 30 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Mike	48
2	Dave F	36
3	Dave D	23

Over on the other table the game was Le Havre and it went on for the entire evening, still going after I left (which was fairly late). Gordon sent the following in an email.
The result for our game of Le Havre was Donald 118, Steve P 110 and me 83. We had to rush the last couple of turns which resulted in me collecting 3 loans and minus 21 points on the last round which I could probably have avoided. I knew from the reports I had read that it would be the kind of game I would enjoy and it lived up to the billing. It is however a big undertaking and I quiet understand Mike's view that we have enough barely understood games without taking this on. It is going to take at least 3 games to feel comfortable with the way the game plays out. I only have room for 1 or 2 games of this weight a year because of the need for multiple plays. I hope to drag some others into the learning experience. I suspect Steve Hilton will like it and young Andy and new Dave. I would not want to play a game with more than 3. We played Donald's copy but I also have the game.

For myself, I played the game at Midcon and didn't enjoy the experience, see here.

29 July
5 this week, plus Munchkin for the youngsters (I don't have any info on that)
To a start with Andy introduced Tulipmania, which has been somewhat delayed, I believe it was supposed to be out at Essen last year. It is an interesting game, but I think will require further play to determine whether there is anything there or whether it is just a case of speculating and hoping for the best. In this game, I thought I was right out of it when I wasn't involved when the first bubble burst and speculated that there might be a bit of Acquire there, where if you miss out on the first merger and can't make another one fairly quickly, you can really lose out. As it turned out I finished third, when I was expecting to be last, being particularly surprised to beat Steve who did very well out of that first burst.

Tulipmania 1637 - 60 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Dave F	22175
2	Andy E	21675
3	Dave D	16400
4	Steve H	15750
5	Mike	9050

After that we had a bit of a quandary due to a lack of 5 player games that would play in half a session. Many thanks to Mike for agreeing to play RftG, when I know he is not a fan of the game. Steve won this one with his military juggernaut and Improved Logistics.

Race for the Galaxy - 75 Mins.
Posn.	Player	Score
1	Steve H	42
2	Mike	25+
3	Andy E	25
4	Dave D	20
5	Dave F	14