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My fun at Euroquest V
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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This is a list of games I played at Euroquest V, in Timonium, Maryland. The con was held Nov 9-12 at the Days Hotel. It was very well attended and organized. Thanks to Keith Levy and all the GCOM officers and volunteers for their great efforts!
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Posted Tue Nov 13, 2007 1:46 pm
Edited Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:30 pm
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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After arriving from rush hour traffic around 4pm on Friday, we started with a good game of Alhambra (one of the wild card events). Bob and Carol Jones (me) were joined by Eric and Laura Reinhold, Jason Cheng, and Michael Thompson. This was Michael's 1st game of Alhambra, and he completely crushed the rest of us. Way to go Michael!.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Now that we were rolling, it was time for us to make fools of ourselves for the first, but certainly not the last time this weekend! Out came Pow Wow, our new favorite light game. Played by Dave and Noreen Fair, Bob and Carol Jones, Eric Reinhold, Jason Cheng, Doug Hoylman (looking sharp sporting those feathers), and Terri Kidd.
Eric had some bad luck, and went out fairly quickly. The game came down to Carol and Terri. We both had used our markers and had full feathered headbands. I guessed 16, Terri called, and it was 16 exactly. My first win of the weekend and a grand time was had by all.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Next, Dave Fair wanted to teach the new Essen game Race for the Galaxy. This game is too similar to San Juan, and I found it pretty complicated to follow all the symbols and such. I don't play San Juan that often anymore, so I think I would prefer to stick to that. However, Dave, Jason, Bob and I enjoyed playing it. Jason won because of a large quantity of shipping points. Thanks for teaching, Dave.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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League of Six is another game that Dave Fair was kind enough to teach to Bob and I, Gwen Alviani, Dave Fogel, and Noreen Fair. In this game, we are tax collectors trying to win the favor of the King by collecting the most taxes from 6 cities. The game plays 5, and each round 1 city is closed. The bidding system in this game plays very similar to Amun Re. Dave Fogel was ahead the whole game, until the last turn, when Bob passed him on the final civic leader score. Final Score: Bob 74 (1st) Fogel 64 (2nd) and the rest of us.
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5.
Board Game: Blokus
[Average Rating:7.26 Overall Rank:117]
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Saturday morning started with a game of Blokus with my son Ben and Noreen Fair and her son Corwin. I won with a score of 14.
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6.
Board Game: Tichu
[Average Rating:7.73 Overall Rank:38]
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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After Blokus, My daughter and I took on Noreen and Tom McCrorry. It was a very close game, with both teams being set at least once. On the final hand, Tom called Tichu and led a 1-9 straight. I followed with a 6-A straight. Having nothing left of my hand after that, I punted to my partner. She played a low full house, and Tom followed, going out with a kings full of AA (with Pheonix). Noreen managed to go out next, giving them the 1-2 and the game victory. A very enjoyable game.
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7.
Board Game: Agricola
[Average Rating:8.31 Overall Rank:1]
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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We hit the big time, with the new favorite, Agricola. I really liked this complicated game a lot. Dave Fair spent hours in preparation to translate over 300 cards to English, so we could play this game at Euroquest, not to mention mastering all the rules! I think everyone will agree it was worth it. The players were Dave Fair, Dave Fogel and Gwen Alviani, and Bob and Carol Jones.
If you have mastered Caylus, it's time to move on to this similar but more complex game. Every player starts out with a hand of 15 role cards, chosen out of a deck of 300. Needless to say, this will have a huge replay value, because every game will offer new options. The game lasted over 3 hours, including the rules explanation. Another group said they played it in under 2 hours, though. The game offers many choices and paths to victory.
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8.
Board Game: Bohnröschen
[Average Rating:6.90 Unranked]
[Average Rating:6.90 Unranked]
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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After Agricola it was time for something a little lighter so we could clear our heads. This new Bohnanza expansion filled the bill nicely. Dave Fair taught Bob, Carol, and Rachel Jones this fairy tale expansion.
The game is played the same as the original, except that there is a stack of quests cards, and 5 are laid on the table in a row. Each player has a wooden character that follows the quest cards down the row. In order to move your character, you must complete the quest on the card. An example quest is "have at least 1 green bean field planted in your fields", or "at the beginning of your turn, any player must have a soy bean planted." When you fulfill a quest, you immediately move your character past that card. In lieu of completing the quest, you may pay 1 coin to the discard pile. When the person in the lead moves ahead, another card is added in front of him, so there are always five, until the deck runs out. To get to the last card, the lead player must surrender 5 coins. All others must pay the 5 coins, plus 1 coin for each space behind the leader they are when he crosses to the last card. After, the payoff, the person with the most coins left over wins.
Dave, Bob, and Carol all took turns in the lead, with Rachel perpetually it the end of the pack. Near the end, I felt I had the most coins, with Rachel in 2nd, but she was so far behind me, she would have to spend most of hers in the final scoring. So, I paid off the last couple of quests with coins, and ran to the end. The final score was Carol 10, Rachel 2, Bob 0, and Dave not having enough cards to make it to the end of the quest.
This was a lot of fun, and I am looking forward to playing this and teaching it to others soon.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Dave Fair taught Eric and Laura Reinhold and me this quick game while we waited for our pizza to arrive. I had heard a lot of positive buzz about this over the years, but I found it a little lacking. Still, we had a few laughs. Dave Fair won with 8 pts.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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My son's favorite game was brought out, played by all 4 Joneses, Dave Fair and Eric Reinhold. Rachel had the Uzi, thus making her an immediate target and was the only one killed.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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The Red Baron strikes again as I chose it for this fantastically fun game of Wings of War with the Germantown/Damascus contingency. 11 people (5 allies and 6 axis) battled using Dave Fair's new miniature airplanes. These planes made a fun game even better, with the 3 dimensional element. Dave was the 1st player out, but since his side started 1 player light, he returned and the final battle came down to Dave and Laura Reinhold battling to the death. Dave's luck turned out to be better, as they shot each other but Dave took no damage and won the game.
Bob and I took each other out with direct frontal hits in a very tense battle for 6th place.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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A quick game of Zooloretto (another wild card) was next with several expansions, including the new Polar Bear expansion. I won the polar bear chip for being the first to complete my 6 animal pen. It effectively won the game for me, because I had 4 animals in my barn, and was able to cut the points lost from 8 to 4.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Bob and I ended the evening with Noreen Fair and Eric Haas. As usual, Eric crushed us in this with 106 points. Noreen 96, Carol 93, and Bob 58. Bob couldn't get any tiles to help him out.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Sunday morning arrived all too quickly, and Bob and I joined Dave and Kathy Kudzma and Rodney Sumerstein for a game of Medieval Merchant. I hadn't played this in at least 5 years, and it was new to the Kudzmas, so it required some heavy review. Thanks to Rodney for teaching it.
After playing, I would have to say this is certainly a forerunner to Power Grid. I think our local group might find it to simplistic given how popular Power Grid is. I won in a close game of 1 pt over Bob, who was 1 pt over Dave, who was 1 pt over Rodney.
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15.
Board Game: Cuba
[Average Rating:7.36 Overall Rank:111]
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Eric Haas joined the Jones and Kudzmas for the Euroquest demo game, Cuba. It was really nice being able to play a complicated game and having it all set up for us to begin. It took me awhile to catch on to this, but I eventually settled on a water strategy, turning water in every turn for victory points. Bob and Dave focused on shipping. The game was tight every turn, making it quite exciting. The final scores were Dave 62, Bob 61, Carol 59, Eric 59 (lost tiebreaker), and Kathy 53.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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Rachel and I joined Andrew Gerb and his son Matt, along with Eric Haas for a play of this (another wildcard event). It was my first time using the Hollywood Blockbuster version, and I found the color scheme alarming and more difficult to follow. I made a couple of stupid mistakes (fatigue taking hold) and lost splendidly. Andrew won with 90 pt followed by Matt with 74. Thanks for playing everyone, it would have been disappointing not to get this one in.
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Missy Jones
United States
Maryland
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While waiting to leave, I battled Jason Cheng in Lost Cities (also a wild card). Jason had lots of experience playing this on the computer, while I have played it face to face on many occasions. It was a close battle with Jason inching me out, 161 to 160. Ouch--Great job Jason. It was a fun way to end a great weekend of family and friend time, with a little gaming on the side.
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Posted Mon Nov 12, 2007 5:32 pm
