Archive for Gary Heidenreich
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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May 29th
Timm, Kevin and I started out the night playing a couple of hands of Sheepshead. We dealt out four hands but two ended up being doublers as we all had crap hands. Kevin picked and stomped on the first hand, holding Timm and I to No Schnitz (I do not know how to spell it). Second hand, I got set. Grrrr.
Chris arrived so we played the game Kevin just picked up and played at the Geekway, Lords of Waterdeep. The theme is not my thing, but it didn't matter to me as I found I did like this game. It's a tight and quick cube pusher. Nothing new or novel in game play and you know what, that's okay. I did enjoy how this one played Kevin killed us with 114, Chris had 97, I had 86 and Timm had 72.
We moved onto the oft requested Louis XIV. I had not played this with four. I usually fight off playing this one...not that I dislike it, I actually enjoy it, but it just can be exhausting to my brain. So, we played. With four, it was interesting. We all were watching Kevin amass coats of arms but did nothing about it. In the end, Kevin crushed us with coats of arms. He scored 53, I had 38, Chris had 36 and Timm had something less than that. Timm was not pleased. Timm now hates this game (it was his request). The same thing happened to me with Carson City. One game turned me off and I haven't been able to get back to it (but I like the game).
We had time for a solid game but Louis burnt us out a bit, so we went with a standby, Some'R'Set. As normal, it was Chris and I versus Timm and Kevin (good guys versus bad guys). It was a tight game. Really tight. Chris and I started out setting the bad guys on the first hand, but the bad guys stormed back with two wins in a row but sandbagging back 10 points to take a 30 to 14 lead. We won a hand and then it went back and forth. The score was 50 to 49 (good guys with 49) and time for one more hand. The good guys (me) was a bit ambitious and got set. I called the 8's as trump and the only other person to have trump was not my partner. Ug. That killed us and cost us the win.
#185
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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Last year, Timm, Kevin and I attended our first Geekway and had a blast, So much of a good time, we decided to make this a yearly event to drive down from Milwaukee and partake in four days of games and fun.
Unlike last year, this year when I got there I immediately saw people I remembered and gamed with last year, who recoginized me as well. The more I go, the more people I will meet. For me, that is what makes this con...the people. I enjoy meeting new people and I'm not shy.
Anyways, we got there and immediately jumped into a game of Hab & Gut. Originally, it was to be Tammany Hall but we got down later than expected and DJ, who I scheduled the game with had another committment at 4pm. Chris Darden, who was playing Tammany later as well, taught us Hab. I liked this one and was probably the best new to me game I had played. Chris won pretty handedly, but we all enjoyed ourselves.
Tammany Hall was next. DJ left but Justin (Astroglide) jumped in and learned the game with four of us who had played before. Experience helps in this game as there are little nuances all over the place. I managed to pull out the win in this one. It helped me to play it within a couple of months of my last play to remember what I did last time.
I'm not going to go into tons of detail about other games, this would get really long (I also did not take notes, so it's off of memory).
Squeezed in some Schafkopf before going out dinner at the Westport pizza place in the Plaza. Say that five times fast. LOL
One of the things I have liked about the Geekway is last year, and this year, it was scheduled on a weekend where on Thursdays, they have live music in the Plaza. Two bands, actually. It was quite hopping with people from the hotels, people just off of work. The weather was awesome and the beers were cold. We hung out there for quite some time just enjoying the first day of vacation.
For me, it's as much of a needed getaway vacation as it is about games.
We head on back in when K_I_T found us with his new copy of Slappy Hands in hand. This year I packaged up nine copies of Slappy Hands to bring down. Two were earmarked for people, one for the game library and six to the prize table. K_I_T was one of those who played last year and got a copy from me.
So, the four of us grab a far off table to play. It wasn't long before a crowd formed and a super fun variant Kentaro came up with. A musical chairs version. New catch phrases for the game were created, such as "Slap Off". Lots and lots of laughing. My stomach hurt during and my arm was stiff the next day from frantically slapping at the caps.
The next day was tournment day. So, I squeezed in games as I waited for the Crokinole tournment. MilwaukeeTEG practiced a bunch this year.  We got into the second round this year and we were a tough out. I got in games of Poseidon's Kingdom (okay), Puerto Rico (Thirty-five minutes from opening the box to the finish), Last Will (It was a different as you were shedding money), more Slappy Hands, and the Peppino the Clown tournment. Note to self...if you have been drinking, you will not do well with Peppino. Eeesch. People were done erecting their Peppino before I even knew what I had. LOL Lots of fun!
Saturday was a relax day. Went out for lunch at a place called Lil Mickey's Memphis BBQ. It was the best BBQ I have had, and I have been to Memphis numerous times! Sooo good. I was such a pig, or was one after I ate all that pig. Got in a game of Zombie Ninja Pirates, taught and played a couple of games of Lexio. The cool thing with that was right next to our game, someone else was playing it too, but with the white tiles. I lust after the white tiles, I think they look much better. Also, the three of us TEG guys learned Belfort. Such a tight, tough game. Easy to pick up, but just brutal. I also went and did some karaoke and watched a band play 80/90s alt music. $5 taps of Papst, ug.
Sunday, we hung around untill all of the prize drawings were done. We did manage to squeeze in a game of Macao and to end games at the Geekway, we played a four handed game of Was sticht? with DJ (and the three of us). No Crokinole board win for us this year. But we will be back next year!
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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May 15th/May 22nd
I'm catching up as I missed last week as I wasn't at work (and despise typing this on a laptop) as I prepped for the Geekway.
So, May 15th. It was just Timm, Chris and I. Timm and I started out playing a couple of games of Crokinole as we waited, We split the two games. It was also good practice for the Geekway tournment.
Chris arrived so we chose Urban Sprawl. This specific game had a huge commercial section of town but not much in civic buildings. I think I have a pic on Facebook, but dont' have the pic to download here anymore. Regardless, it was the worst game of this that I had played, by far. I, personally, tried a couple of different things that backfired. Timm won with 217, Chris had 161 and I had 77. I still have fun with this game. I always do.
May 22nd
Last night the first two to show was Timm and Aaron. As we waited for Scott and Mike, we played some Sheepshead. Aaron had played, but many years ago, so he needed a refresher/reteach. He's a trick taking vet, so he was able to jump right in. I figured we got a good 6-7 hands in before Mike arrived. Timm ended up with the most points just as Aaron was getting his groove on. Luckily, for Aaron, this will get played again.
So, Mike arrived and we were waiting on Scott so we made our command decision, we would break out Power Grid. Scott hasn't played many German games but has played tons of AH and other games over the years. So, we gave him the run down and he picked the game up VERY quick. The game ebbed and flowed. Everyone, at one time or another thoughout the game, was a front runner. It was pretty tight. It came down to the last round and Mike ended up winning by firing up 16 cities. Aaron had 15, Timm and I had 14 (I had more $$ than he did) and Scott had 13. I like this one but only every so often. I have the original version and would some day like to play that.
#183/184
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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ImageID=947118]
May 8th, 2012
Sorry, just a little late this week as I was off work yesterday. Also, missed last week. I don't like missing weeks but it could not be helped.
Three of us this past week, Timm, Kevin and myself. Kevin brought over his sweet ass Crokinole board...
Yep, he won this in St. Louis last year for the Geekway (which is next week, finally!). So, since he was first, we started to play a game on it. Timm showed up about half way through the game so I gave up my spot so Timm could try the board, as well. I think Timm hammered the win home for us. Over the past few weeks I got my groove back so I'm hoping I'm not as miserable as I was last year in the tournment. I want to get out of the first round.
After that, since it had been awhile, we played a little bit of Sheepshead. I did not get a decent hand out of the six hands we played. Not one. Kevin got a monster hand at the end to end up way up, Need to play some five handed for cash really soon, I think. Call some of the folk who used to play.
So, it was time for the main game of the night. Since I said I would teach it in St. Louis and have been wanting to play again, we broke out Garden Competition. It's a tight game about gardening (with deduction involved). Now, that it's my second play, I discovered I *really* like this one. There are different ways to go about playing it. One thing to remember is to take care of the weeds or they will take care of you. You get 24 actions total in the game so each one counts. Kevin, in his first play, won with 17. Timm and I each had 13 points. Once you get the game play down, it's a quick game too.
We ended the night with Alea Iacta Est, a dice allocation game in the Alea series. And, quite frankly, one of my favorite of the dice games like this. Tough choices, interaction, fun, quick, and easy to teach. Also a really tight game, as well. So every choice matters (as you will see with the scores). Well, the scores. Kevin had 44, I had 43 and Timm had 42 points.
Next week, games on Tuesday and then St. Louis on Thursday!!!!
#182
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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April 24th, 2012
We started out with three of us...Timm, Chris, and I. Kevin was going to be a bit late, and we had some time. Lexio was that choice. So, we played a three player game where Chris killed with 127 and I had 86 with Timm grabbing 87. We start with 100 points of chips. As we finished up, Aaron arrived so since we were waiting for Kevin still, we played it again and taught Aaron. He's a card player so two minutes we were up and running. I did not note the scores, unfortunately, but we got in three, pretty damn exciting hands.
So, Kevin arrived and we decided, what the Hell, we played our third game of Risk Legacy. I'm not going to go into any real detail as if someone is playing it, I don't want to get into ruining anything for anyone playing. But, we had our third different winner, Kevin. He exploited something now that we all see. The next game is going to kick up to a new level.
This is so quick compared to the Risk I grew up with. We had time to get a game of The Princes of Florence in. We all had played before, obviously if you read this blog you know that, and jumped right in. I can't speak for the others, but I was going to try something different.I went and grabbed up bonus and prestige cards. The Prestige cards were going cheap. No, I did not win but I think that strategy needs to be mixed with something. Anyways, Kevin won with 66, Chris had 59, Aaron had 57, Timm 52 and I had 49.
#181
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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April 17th, 2012
One hundred and eighty meetings. I find that pretty damn amazing that this has went on this long with no signed of fizzling out. Thankful for the guys who join me each week. It's something I always look forward to (through thick and thin). Last night it was only Chris, Kevin and I. I gave Kevin my spare copy of Bazaar (yes, of course the 3M version) so we decided to play it. As Chris noted, it is sort of the reverse of Monad with both being Sid Sackson games. I jumped out early with some pretty efficient combos but Kevin really came on at the end (as well as Chris) to make it a battle to efficiently finish off the game. Chris ended it but Kevin grabbed the win with 23. Chris had 19 and I had 18. This game can burn your brain if you let it. But it's so fast and I like the retro look (it is over 40 years old).
It was time to decide on another game. After a little looking, throwing out names, etc., we hauled out San Marco. A nice pie-cutting, area control game. It's also pretty damn quick and the board looks awesome. We noticed the hidden cat on the board. Chris had not played before so we gave him the run down and away we went. It's not a difficult game, that is certain, but it has some great decisions, mainly in the splitting of the cards phase of the game. The start player gets action and limit cards and splits them into three piles, however they want. Then the other two choose which grouping they want, with the splitter getting what is left. This was a tight game but in the end Kevin pulled out the win with 61, Chris had 56, and I had 48. End game, I couldn't get cubes back on the board.
It was shaping up where everything is coming up Milhouse for Kevin. Kingsburg was what we decided on. I just found out last night, from Chris, what at least one of the expansions is about. Now, I have to get it. It sounds like it will vary up the board and my feeling is that would be huge. I dont' drag this one out much as it is sort of samey to me (but I like it). Anyways, we gave Kevin a quick refresher and on we went. To change things up, I tried to go dominate in a strategy (I went for the Chapel row full out, bank some cubes at the end and keep up with the military). It didn't work for me and Kevin, won again, with 41, Chris had 36 and I had 32. I need to track down the expansion for this.
#180
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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April 10th, 2012
Got a little play of my guitar in prior to games last night. I thought of an old, old, song Timm and I wrote when we were in early high school. Melting Walls. It's amazing that after 30+ years, I still remember lyrics and chords. No, this doesn't tie into anything...just something from yesterday I wanted to add (since I still need to replace The Skull). I sometimes think that talking solely about games gets a little dry. Some personality always helps (as the game group itsself has all sorts of personalities in it).
Four of us tonight, Kevin, Chris, Timm and myself. Kev was leaving at around 8ish so we weren't going to play anything long. It took us a bit but we decided on one that hasnt' made it to the table in awhile. In the Year of the Dragon along with the Great Wall expansion from the Alea Treasure Chest expansion. This game is so brutal, so Feldian. I think it was the first one of Feld's that I have played. The game was very tight. Everyone seemed very focused and taking different routes to success. We all commented on how we have forgotten how good of a game this is. It was a battle all the way to the end and it finished as the absolute tightest game of this I had played (online or in person). I pulled out the win with 106 points, Timm had 104, Kevin had 103 and Chris had 101. A satisfying win with a a satisfying game.
We still had time so when it's the four of us, we will break out Some'R'Set. Partners were Chris and I versus Kevin and Timm. We played four hands I belive. First hand, Timm and Kevin bid 19 (out of 24). Crazy. They had a great run, but only got 18 points. So, they were set and Chris and I jumped out to a lead. Chris and I won the next hand to give us more of a lead. The third hand, I had an awesome hand loaded with 10's. Timm, unfortunately, was loaded with 12's (those numbers are the suits). Got into a bidding war and I bid up to 23 (geez). I *knew* he had 12's and would have stomped if I let him call that suit as trump. I took a nice amount, but because I could not get rid of the 12's in my hand, we got set. So, the bad guys had the lead. We played one more hand before Kevin left. I bid up to 14 and got stuck with the bid (I was really just bidding it up). I called 2's. It was a struggle but we managed to pull out the win with some good card play by Chris. We ended with Timm and Kevin winning with 33. Chris and I got 32. Again, another very tight game.
Kevin left so Timm, Chris and I chose to play Saint Petersburg. I figured I didn't want to see Timm win and he NEVER wins this game. So, yeah, perfect! It was a really tight money game and of course, I went off that track trying to get a jump on points. It was working okay but I know I made two errors that sunk the game for me. Timm and Chris were battling but ultimately at the end, Chris won on the strength of his aristrocrats. He had 85, Timm had 79 and I had 51. If I did not make the mistakes I made, I would have been in the 70's, I believe.
I want to thank anyone who reads this for bids in the Milwaukee Auction that we ran the last couple of weeks. Those bids were much appreciated!
Geekway in a little over a month from now! Whooo!
#179
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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April 3rd, 2012
Election day again and once again we played a five player game of Tammany Hall. We all played once before (April 5th, 2011) with the exception of Aaron. I have not looked back at any detail of it, except the final scores. Those showed it was a tight two man race for first/second, third and fourth was tight with fifth way behind. How was it going to stack up?
All the districts were used and we were working with the people to gain power and favors. A lot of favors were gained as the population grew. After the first elections, I was slanderized early, putting me back as I was gaining a stronghold of people on the southern docks. Timm had a pretty good hold in the southern tip of NY. Chris was way out in front early with power in some of the northern wards.
This game works on a few different levels. You get points by ruling a ward. That is done by having bosses in the district and favors from people in the district. You gain favors by adding different groups (Italians, Germans, Irish, English) to the board. You add an Irish cube, you get an Irish favor. Those favors are used to take over districts. At the end of an election, if you are the boss for the most of a group, you get three favors from that group. That is huge and cannot ignore that (as it won the game). It is a unique area control type of game and I find it thematic as all get out.
Anyways, even though Chris had a nice lead, Timm was building his power pretty high. He had accumluated all sorts of favors and was flexing his muscle. I had laid back the first couple of rounds, gained some favors and by the time the third election rolled around, I was able to overwhelm the docks and have my bosses in place. Chris, Aaron and Kevin were fighting for some of the smaller wards in the north. They might have been getting points, but they were not able to amass favors as there weren't as many people in those areas. Because I consistently worked with the Italians and stockpile favors, I was able to use that to my advangate by adding Italians in other wards to gain an advantage. It worked well. as I couldn't really be stopped in the last election. I ended with 28, Timm had 17, Chris had 16, Kevin had 14, and Aaron had 8. I know that type of win will not happen again. We discussed it as the end was fairly anti-climatic. I think it comes into playing it more often. Remembering you need to watch and pay attention to how many groups you have control of. Getting those favors is huge.
We had time for one more so I pulled out The Prototype. I had not played it with five yet and was anxious to do so. Aaron was new to the game but learned it pretty quickly. I was worried that the points would be curtailed as we had max amount of players. Not that it matters, I guess, but something I was thinking about. Well, I should not have been worried. Timm ended up with 18, Kevin had 14, Aaron had 9, Chris 3, and I ended with -1. With five, all the cards are used. Also, with five, I think a wide range of scores is going to be the norm as it becomes more difficult to get points. We sat and brainstormed some on a name for the game...nothing yet.
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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March 27th, 2012
Alllrighty! First, I want to welcome Aaron to TEG. He came by for the first time last night as the newest member TEG. Welcome!
As we waited for Aaron to show up Timm, Chris, Kevin and myself squeezed in a few hands of Some'R'Set. Amazingly, we got three hands in, in a short period of time. We figured we would get one in so we did not keep a cumlative score. Kevin and I won one game, Timm and Chris won one. It fails me who won the third (I'm thinking Kev and I). I do know neither team was set.
Aaron arrived and I pulled out the classic, first time at TEG game, Fast Food Franchise. Aaron had not played so we have him the quick and dirty and jumped in. Kevin grabbed the Atlantic seaboard and started spreading Burger Bros. like roaches. I tried to squeeze in there with Ice Cream, but was blocked off. Aaron started chicken markets in the Mid West and Texas. Chris had started a high end steak house out in the Pacific Northwest. Timm owned the middle of the country with his pizza. Burgers got off to a nice start, stopping any Ice Cream growth. Chicken and Pizza were expanding nicely and Steak And Salad had a considerable chain in one area. They were an expensive choice for the game. Simce my ice cream stands weren't getting bigger, I expanded into the chocolate business in Cali. BOOM! They liked chocolate there. It grew, people visited. Steak and Salad eventually shuttered up their doors followed shortly by Burger Brothers. The need for burgers apparently stopped. Ultimately, at the end (15 minutes after S&S went down) we ended the game. I pulled out the win with Dark and Gooey with 755k, Aaron had 340k, Timm had 270k. Yeah, it's dice. But, who cares, I find it fun.
We wandered the basement looking for a game. Evo was a finalist, so was Santiago but we chose Atlantic Star. We did a rehash of the rules and taught Aaron and got going. Aaron missed a rule where he could not run a cruise a second time but he managed to salavge that mistake. I made it through the game without having to borrow on my past cruises but did it matter? Nope. Chris won with 53, Kevin had 47, Timm 37, Aaron had 32 and I had 29. Yeah, borrow.
As a note, next week the Guild will be having an auction and I will have the following games in the auction...
Memoir '44: Hedgerow Hell
Pony Express
The Downfall of Pompeii
Los Mampfos
Brass
Keythedral
Auction is here...http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/139649/the-auction-tha...
Hope something is in the bunch that you might like and bid on!
#177
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Gary Heidenreich
United States
Milwaukee
Wisconsin
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March 20th
Just Chris, Timm and myself again. Before they got here, I pulled out an alea series game, Augsburg 1520 to try and learn before they came over. It's supposed to be a tight, quick auction game and would like to get this to the table. But, after setting it up, I realized I did not want to hack through it (and neither did anyone else). So, we packed it up and Chris suggested The Settlers of Catan. That was definately agreeable so we pulled out the game.
This game was not one of my gateways to gaming (even though it seems like everyone else had played it hundreds of times. My gateway was Monopoly when I was 7. Right aboutn 40 years of gaming for me and here I am, gaming regularly with people I have met over the past three and a half years of gaming on Tuesday and a friend who I have been gaming with for 35+ years.
Back to the game...we set the board up randomly and laid the numbers down. The wheat seperated the board into two. Chris placed first, then I, then Timm. Chris and Timm ended up in the same area which allowed me to strike a long road from the wheat and brick fields over to the wood. Timm and Chris battled for settlements and Chris had the best of him and was at 9 points late in the game. I drove a pretty good army to take over the largest army late. And then I managed to trade for the one wood I needed which allowed me to build two road segments, grabbing the longest road and the win. After this play, I have to say I am liking this game the more I play it. I still don't see this as a gateway (I would never use it as one) but that's me.
Looking for another game, we chose what would be my second choice in a gateway. My first choice would be Fast Food Franchise as a gateway. It has worked for me over and over again. That needs to hit the table soon. Anyways, we chose Ticket to Ride. I use all the 1910 tickets in the game and when we started this one, we each had a big ticket and three smaller ones to start. Timm kept 3 tickets as Chris and I each kept two. Timm and Chris started in the Northeast which allowed me to take my time along the southern streches of the US, racking up long connection points. At the end, Chris earned the longest train bonus (he drove the game end) but ultimately, it wasn't enough as I did grab an extra ticket to complete, as well as Timm. I ended with 116 and Timm and Chris tied at 114. Really tight game! Great, quick game (35 minutes with three of us).
We broke out Monopoly Express as it had been awhile, I got a new, complete copy (lost a die in my other copy) so it was beckoning. First game, Chris just dominated scoring 19.3k. I had 7k and Timm had 4k. Second game was closer but I managed to hit 15.6k to end the game with Timm at 13.3k and Chris at 8.4k.
Still in the non-thinking mood and Timm was waiting for his wife to come pick him up, we broke out Can't Stop. Timm got Stormtroopers (6,7,8) and drove the 7's to be closed early. Chris had a lot on the board and I had nothing. I made a pretty sweet comeback by closing the 12's and driving the 8's all the way up in one turn. When I play this game, I either win in grand fashion or crash and burn badly. As I said last night once you pick up the dice and start to shake them, you WILL roll them. No doubt. It is law. Well, it got to a point where we all were pushing it as Timm's wife was waiting and we were trying to quickly end the game. We ended with no winner as we just wrapped it up. Still exciting!
As a note, next week the Milwaukee Guild will be having an auction and I will have the following games in the auction...
Memoir '44: Hedgerow Hell
Pony Express
The Downfall of Pompeii
Los Mampfos
Brass
Keythedral
Hope something is in the bunch that you might like and bid on!
#176
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