We gathered at Sharon's house and split into two groups of 4 for gaming. Tamara joined us for her first experience in playing German/Designer/Euro boardgames. Sharon, Adam, Eileen, and Tamara started a game of Settlers of Catan since both Tamara and Eileen had never played it and it is a good "gateway" game. I don't have notes on this game other than a final score of Adam 10, Tamara 7, Eileen 4, and Sharon 3. After this, they played a game of Pickomino and Tamara dominated the final score (Tamara 12, Sharon 3, Adam 3, and Eileen 0). Looks like Tamara picked up this games pretty well finishing 2nd and 1st respectively...hopefully she had a good time and will join us again in the near future. Adam and Eileen wrapped up their session with a dice puzzle and some telepathic puzzles for Sharon to try and solve.
(Steve contemplates his next role in San Juan)I have been considering San Juan for a purchase, so I wanted to try it out during this session. Matt, Andy, and Steve were willing to give it a go. Soon we all were trying to produce and sell goods while building up our own sections of San Juan.
I have played many games of Puerto Rico and so San Juan was very intuitive and all of us were able to pick up basic strategy quickly. I like the fact that the cards are used as Money, Buildings, and Goods. Creative and intuitive design with a good bit of depth = something I will play again and probably buy for home since it should play well with 2 players.
Steve made good use of the Archiver early and Andy was able to leverage his Poor House to good effect. Matt made a little use of his Gold Mine but Steve's Gold Mine proved to be more profitable even though it was built much later. I had an early Library and I leveraged the Black Market to good effect but I was unable to build enough VP buildings. Matt and Andy finished just ahead of me, but Steve was able to utilize his Quarry, Smithy, and Library to build both the Guild House and City Hall. This proved too much for us to catch.
Final Scores: Steve 34, Andy 27, Matt 27, and Michael 26.
(Andy and Matt plan their strategy in a 3D battle for dominance on the Island of Catan)Neither Matt nor Andy had played Settlers of Catan and seeing the other group playing it prompted us to grab a copy and play it. We decided to pull out the 3D version and to teach Andy and Steve Cities and Knights and throw them right into the more complex version of Settlers.
A clump of Mountains slowed down the early development, but Andy got the idea right away and made an early Active Knight. The rest of us were not so lucky and our 3 Cities were sacked by the Barbarian Invaders! Matt used Medicine to rebuild his city quickly and I had been fortunate to get an Aquaduct before my City was destroyed. Andy grabbed longest road but I was able to get some key Victory points by defending Catan with the strongest knights. Matt prevented me from grabbing Longest Road by building 3 roads of his own to block my connection.
(My Active Knight defends Catan and my Settlement from Invaders and Robbers)Matt, Andy, and I all were able to each build a Metropolis during the game. However, I was able to build a late city and win another Catan Defender VP for the 13th VP and the win! It ran a little long, but I think Matt and Andy picked up the strategy quickly and finished with strong scores.
Final Scores: Michael 13, Matt 10, Andy 10, and Steve 6.
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