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Sterling Babcock's Yet Another Gathering of Friends List
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Well, I am back from the 2006 Gathering of Friends! It was a fantastic time and Alan R. Moon was a tremendous host as always. It was fantastic to meet Karl-Heinz Schmiel, Richard Borg, Friedemann Friese, and so many other movers and shakers in the gaming world! I am still working to recover from sleep deprivation, so it took me a while to get this together. It looks like I got in some 44+ games by my accounts. Whew! I will not cover them all, but will add the highlights, in order. My appologies in advance if I misspell your name. Please let me know.
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Posted Wed Apr 19, 2006 4:50 pm
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Vegas Showdown
With: Seana Miller, Tom Powers, Bryan Johnson (swedelad), Lisa Johnson.
With 2: Patrick Korner, Trond Braut, Piet Skjaeveland, Ward Batty
I had not played this before. I was initially turned off by Avalon Hill's advertising here on the geek. I found I enjoyed it more than I expected. I liked the bidding aspect, and the reduction in cost over the turns. It did seem like slots were a powerful start. It felt to me like the ending was rather abrupt, and I would like to see the game add an expansion or just a touch longer (perhaps to the 2nd stack being empty?)
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2.
Board Game: GemBlo
[Average Rating:7.04 Overall Rank:527]
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Gemblo
With: Andrea Meyer, Anthony Gallela, Rodney Somerstein, Mitch Thomashow, and Richard Glanzer
It was great to get a chance to play this. It was really colorful, but some of the pieces were hard to see, such as the crystal ones (clear). It took me to long to find the right piece and I felt more comfortable with Blokus more. Andrea Meyer ran away with
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Friedemann Friese's Prototypes
I played a few of Friedemann Friese's Prototypes and really enjoyed them.
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Thurn and Taxis
With: Mimi Walker, Tom Powers, and Doug Walker
I really liked this game a lot. It was pretty straightforward, and played pretty fast. Of course this may be colored by the fact that this was the first game (of 8 so far) that I won at the Gathering!
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Um Krone und Kragen
With: Valerie Putman, Kevin Gonzalez, and Mik Svellov
Game 2: David Fair, Scott Simon, Ava Jarvis, Daniel Karp
I won't add much to what others have said. I really liked this game more than I expected, and it does seem best with around 3 players.
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Fischmarkt Feilschen un Handeln
With John Palagyi, Rick Thornquist, Henning Kropke, and James Miller
The game was kind of interesting, but luck of the draw and limited trading ability really made this a undesirable game for me.
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Funkenschlag Atolla Modulis
With: Michael Robert, Ravindra Prasad (snoozefest), Michael Weston, Ava Jarvis (BilboAtBagEnd), and Mary Prasad.
This is Jean-Claude Adelmand's expansion to Power Grid. We played with Paul Jefferies's amazing creation of this game, complete with nice tiles, a matching box, and interior boxes for all the pieces.
The setup for this game took longer than expected in order to try to balance it. It was a good game, but I really felt that the pre made country maps were much more balanced. I also felt that the sea routes varied too much. One sea route cost only 1 across the center of the board, while others cost 16-20 in the corners. It seems like the sea routes should have more central values. But playing it convinced me not to put the effort into printing this expansion.
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Tales of the Arabian Nights
With Dan Blum, Fabio Tola, Ava Jarvis, and Joe Rashanan
This was the game I brought to put on the prize table (picked 4th!). It was the 1997 expanded German version completely translated to English with new Book of Tales, completely recreated cards, and all the fixings.
This is more of an experiential game, rather than trying to win. Dan got stuck with a lot of fate cards, which really turned off the game for him. I can understand, and after this game I am going to institue a rule:
"If you get a 3rd fate card, you may choose to keep it (to replace one of the other two), or you may choose to redraw until you get an encounter card."
This would keep the game going, rather than having Dan sitting there with nothing to do on his turn. Sorry Dan!
I might also start future games with 4 skills to start, and with fewer than 6 players to shorten the game. I might also make it easier to get into special places of power, allowing players to choose to "be" on the right terrain type for the card to see if they can get there. What do you all think?
Who won? I forgot to write it down! But my character retired near Stone Henge, as a Sultan of princely wealth, with Storytelling, Enduring Hardship, Beguiling, Wisdom, Master Piety, Scholarship, and 1 new skill. Pretty sweet ending even if I did not win!
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Werewolf
With: Frank, Terry, Roger, Benjamin, George, Corbon, Anthony, Richard, List, Meryl, Brian, Jay, Chuck, Brian, Bobby, Bill, Dennis, Christine, Matthew, Jessica, Paul.
With: Stephan, Nick, Bobby, Anthony, Leo, Jacob, Tom, Dave, and many of the above
(Right, like I am gonna type all the last names too. Wow!)
Well, I started out pretty much terrible at this game. Over the course of the gathering, I really think I got better with the help of Christine Simundson (did I get the spelling right?) and Frank DiLorenzo. This is a pretty skilled group of players and it is a treat to play with them. Christine plays an amazing werewolf. Roger B. Is really hard to read, Jay is convincing, and Frank? Well, Frank tends to jump to conclusions and latch onto them right or wrong.
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10.
Board Game: Tichu
[Average Rating:7.73 Overall Rank:37]
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Tichu
With Nataline Viray-Fung, Scott Simon, Larry Chong
Tournament with Dave Jones, Jessica, Rodney Somerstein, Ralph Anderson, Mario Pawlowski, Matthew Monin, Curt Carpenter
I really enjoy this game. I am not too good at it, but I think I am getting better. Dave was kind enough to play the tournament with me. It was a real slug fest, such that I was really loosing my concentration at the end of the 7 1/2 hours of the 3rd round of the tournament.
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Unpublished Prototype by Jacob Davenport
With Richard Glanzer, Paul Weintrab, Eric Brosis, and Jacob Davenport
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California
With: Charlie Davis, Larry Levy, Jared Scarbourough, Greg Daigle
I liked this more than I expected. It is a kind of a put your mind aside and play what you can kind of quality to it. As long as you do not expect too much of it, it is kind of fun.
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Timbuktu
With: Jay Bloodworth, Lotte Schuler, Scott Nicholson
I really enjoyed this (light in terms of deduction) (heavy in terms of play) game. As Scott? said, it is like 4 little deduction games, rather than 1 long deduction game. This may be too long with 5. 4 seemed about right, or perhaps 3. This is a definate buy.
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Cleopatra and the Society of the Architects
With: Logan Bretschneider, Stuart Bretschneider, Mary Prasad, Ravindra Prasad
With: Gerald Kirkby, Brian Yu, James Davis, Tim Isakson
This was a pretty fun family game, but really did not have the interaction or depth that I was hoping for. It pretty much seemed like build what you can and hope to come out on top.
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Ticket to Ride Marklin
With: Anne Norton, Joe McSweeney, Donna Balkan, Dave Jones
Tournament: Larry Chong, Tony Soltis, Donna Balkan, Christian Moffa
Tournament2: Dan Blum, Ravindra Prasad, Jeff DeBoer, Regina Kuhn
I liked it. It was a bit more of a strategic game. I won the first round of the tournamant, but I lost on the 2nd round because I lost out on the long routes to Regina.
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Battlestations
With: Scott Alden, Matthew Gray, Miller Ramos, and Anthony Sciola
Many thanks to Matthew Gray for running this fantastic game. He did a fine job of keeping the game going and making it fun. We managed to not only win, but to capture the ship with high success. I have a copy, but I doubt I could run it that well. I look forward to future oportunities to play with Matthew.
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Warm Up game to Battlestations: Chinatown
With: Matthew Gray, Miller Ramos, and Anthony Sciola
A good game with Anthony winning
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Wayfinder
With: Not in my book yet.
I am glad that Benjamin Corliss brought a few copies of this to sell. I remember looking at it and thinking it looked nice. This was a pretty cool abstract game. Nice neoprene mat kept the pieces in place, and I liked it more than I expected. All 3 of the other players wanted to buy it. I am glad that Shiela Davis was able to introduce me to Benjamin Corliss so that I coudl get it before I left.
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Crystal Faire
With: Did not get a chance to play
I watched a game of this in action and it looked pretty neat. So I purchased a copy. Now I see that it not well liked on the geek. Why?
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Hart and der Grenze
With Richard Glanzer, Bryan and Lisa Johnson, and Paul Jefferies
Smuggling goods across the border did not do it for me. Nice components, but it just seemed like smuggle what you can, bribe if caught, see who lucked out with the cards. No buy.
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Cash and Guns
With Matthew Monin, Paul Jefferies, Jessica, Josh Jefferies, Satish Pillalamari
A short game with some cool toy guns. But really too light of a game to hold my interest long. Don't buy.
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Railroad Dice 2
With Bill Masek, Scott Nicolson, and Alan E
Fun, and a win for Bill
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Caravans of Ahldarahd
With: Henning Kropke, Christian Hildenbrand, Friedemann Friese, and John Palagyi
It was OK and interesting, but really did not grab me.
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24.
Board Game: Masons
[Average Rating:6.74 Overall Rank:470]
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Mauer Bauer (Masons)
With Jeannie Hardie, Christine Simundson, and Brian Yu
It was ok, kind of light. Nothing particularly new I thought. I may need to play it again to see where it is.
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A group of games:
Zig Zag
With Scott Nicolson and Alan E.
With: Patrick Korner, Trond Braut, Piet Skjaeveland
A Cute, short filler
Tsuro
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/16992
With: Friedemann Friese, George Wild, Ulrich Bauer, Henning Kropke, Lotte Schuler
A light game and a good filler for 2-8. Buy.
Caylus
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/18602
With: George Michaels, Regina Kuhn, Mario Pawlowski, and Terry Egan
All my notes say is "Don't play defensively" I came in third, so that must mean something.
Caylus Tournament
With: Chris Moffa, Brian Bankler, Anne Norton, and Ralph Anderson
I pretty much just got smoked for this game.
Ra Tournament
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/12
With: Ed Fahrmeier, Sam Miuccio, Ian MacInnes, Eric Brosius
Crokinole Tournament
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/521
With: Richard Glanzer, Paul Weintraub, Frank Branham
I am just pleased Paul and I were able to keep this going to the 3rd tie breaker. Paul and I seemed to complement each other's style.
Liar's Dice Tournament
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/45
With: Kevin O'Brian, Alan Newman, Tom Powers, Richard Meyer, Scott Simon
By the end of the week, I was really not on my game. Too Tired.
Puerto Rico Tournament
With Jim McDonald, Doug Hoover, Zack Boatman, Ian McInnes
I had an excellent start, but flubbed it, so Jim took the game.
Poker
I managed to make it to 5th place on Wednesday. The tournament on Thursday, I did not get much of anywhere. Friday dealers choice was fun and I learned a few new games.
Lunches and Dinners
I really enjoyed going out to eat with people. I got a chance to really get to know everyone, and learn about them.
Dinner Sat at Starliner: Valerie Putman, Friedemann Friese, many others I forgot to write down.
Dinner Sun: Kris Gould, Dan Blum, Joe Huber, Bill Masek, Joe Rashanan
Lunch Mon: Curt Carpenter, Richard Rowen, Jesse McGraph
Lunch Tues at Mongolian Grill: Eric Brosis, Chris Moffa, Bruce, Jim
Dinner Sat: BGG Admin Dinner
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Posted Tue Apr 18, 2006 7:51 pm
