Another great meeting for GBGers. We had 6 players- Tom, Chris, Jim, Eric, Rob and myself.

Tom and Chris played a scenario from Devil's Cauldron: The Battles for Arnhem and Nijmegen called Race to the Bridge. The battle focuses upon the British 1st Airborne Division dropping West of Arnhem in chutes and gliders. The 1st is tasked with populating Arnhem as best as they can as well as the road north out of Arnhem. Tom and Chris can talk about it much more of course. Seemed like they were having a great time.

Eric, Jim and I decided to play Race for the Galaxy while waiting for Rob. We got 2 games in- Eric and Rob taking one each. When Rob arrived we debated a 4 player game or 2 tactical ones. We wimped out and decided to play Agricola. Normally, I just don't like games like this- but, this one is a lot of fun, IMO. Since we were in Euro mode and we SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN we finished up with a warlike Euro, Byzantium. I really like this game. Only played it once prior. Eric had never played but did well in getting the W. All in all a great day.

Next month!
Andy

It should be noted that Andy had a relatively mediocre hand of cards (occupations and minor improvements) in Agricola, but he focused on using his actions efficiently and won a nice victory. A few useful cards are nice to have, but you're by no means out of it if you don't have a great hand of cards. Andy went into carrot farming in a big way. Rob ended the game with a 9-room wooden hut (!) but wasn't able to collect the clay he needed to upgrade for 9 VP.

Race for the Bridge was a blast and Tom was a great person to play with. He has good wargame endurance and patience! I really like the game, the rules are clear for the most part. I went home and watched the rest of the movie "A Bridge Too Far". The game played out a lot like the movie, with my British forces getting either surrounded or cut off/distracted from the main fighting. I'm really looking forward to playing the next scenario, which is supposed to be the first really good one, "The Empire Strikes Back".

Right now the games I most want to play are Devil's Cauldron, Bitter Woods, FAB Bulge, and Paths of Glory. Although watching the movie also made me yearn for some Combat Commander.... if anyone ever wants to play a game on a Friday or Saturday, Geekmail me!

Chris

(Tom: We played the paradrop/glider counters correctly - I emailed the developer and he filled me in. I just sent him the questions about reinforcements starting in column and about the definition of a city hex.)