BEWC Meeting Recap 2/1/14

Attendees: Dan Carey, Michael Feinberg,Chris Cregan, Bruce Clark, Brandan James Alex Jordan, Victor Liu Dave Landon, Karen Landon, and Alex Wright

Club Business: None.

Games Played
1) A game of Medici started the day off.Dave ended up winning with 84 to Bruce’s 71 Alex W. at 74, Victor had 61 and Michael ended in 2nd with 76.

2) Bruce had brought his new copy of Caverna and a game was quickly set up.  Michael dominated with 88 points in the end.  Alex W had 65 followed closely by Bruce at 64 and Victor at 59.

3) Alex, Jim, Dan and Chris played a couple rounds of Warparty with a turn limit of 12, though neither game got that far.  The first game had Chris and Dan on a team as Dwarves and Humans respectively.  Jim played the Undead and Alex the Goblins.  Jim immediately got out his hero and levied a magic tax on the Dwarves to slow them down.  Chris moved in on Alex quickly trying to capitalize on his quest to kill goblins.  Alex pulled his entire army and all his heros to defend his outposts which let the dwarves teleport into a mountain range boardering his stronghold and promptly end the game prematurely for a Good Forces victory.

The 2nd game had Dan playing the Goblins with Alex on as the Undead while Chris played the humans with Jim on as the Dwarves.  This game saw a lot more dungeon interactions with heroes scooping up relics or allies from explorations.  The undead and humans both gained mobile forces, the undead with a powerful wizard and bone dragon duo and the humans with a stable of knights backed by mage and priest.  Both Goblins and Dwarves massed large armies and feilded all of their heroes, though at the cost of their more advanced units.  Both Undead and Goblin heroes joined together to take on the dungeon in Goblin territory and were rewarded with a powerful unit.  However, this was within striking distance of both Human and Dwarven armies who converged in an attack.  It was a decisive victory for Good whose heroes jumped in level and power.   With this power the dwarves expanded out and built their third outpost.  Evil conceded after it was clear they could not destroy a good outpost and the goblins could not match the Dwarves (humans and undead already had built their outposts).

4) Brandan Won Castles of Burgundy with 243 just edging out Michael at 229.  It was the Landons first time at the game with David ending at 181 point and Karen with 174.

5)Airlines was brought out with Michael winning at 82, Dave at 71 and a three way tie for 64 between Chris, Brandan and Karen.

6)The night finished off with two games of Unspeakable Words.  In typical Lovecraftian fashion everyone went insane for the first game.  In the 2nd game insanely only Michael went mad after getting to 82 points.  Chris, at 91, was the only lucid one not to break 100.  Brandon won at 106, Karen at 105 and Dave at 102.

BEWC Meeting Recap 1/18/14

Attendees: Michael Feinberg, Jim Halloran, Victor Liu,Ryan Frans, Alex Jordan, Chris Cregan, Maria and Matt Willey

1) Victor Michael and Jim started with a game of Haggis.  It was mearly played through in order to learn the game.

2) Flux came with Michael Victor, Ryan, Jim and Alex.  It was a slow game but eventually Michael had a good turn, able to play both keepers and plot card for a victory.

3) The first of two games of Firefly had Victor, Michael, Alex and Chris racing around the galaxy for money.  Victor spent the game ferrying passengers back and forth and neglected crime and crew a like and so ended up easily getting to the required cash value before anyone else ending with 12,400.  Michael had the fewest active missions and a large stack of cash reserves to end with 410 after subtracting his missions value.  Both Chris and Alex finished well into the red due to some high value, uncompleted missions.

4) Ryan and Jim had the longest and closest game of Twilight Struggle in club history.  Ryan managed to triumph with just a few points after the final turn though it required snatching enough points away from Jim in the last hand.

5) It was only fitting that the next game, Guillotine, was the shortest in club history.  With both the first and second days line ups getting cut short after only a couple executions each, Michael was just edged out by Ryan in the final day.  Ryan won with 12, Michael 10, Jim and Chris had 6 and Alex had 5.

6)Planet Steam was one of the two last games played.  Chris and Ryan had played before, with Chris edging out Ryan 464 to 433.  Matt ended with 254 and Maria 207.  (Scores were calculated with all lowest common value ignored)

7) At the other table Michael Alex and Jim played their last game of Firefly.  The mission this time was Harkons folly with Alex managing to finish first.

Club Business: The club voted in alignment with nominating committee from the meeting before.  The new President is Jim Halloran, the new Vice President is Michael Feinberg, the new Treasurer is Dave Olsen and the new/old secretary is Chris Cregan.

BEWC Meeting Recap 1/4/14

Attendees: Dan Carey, Michael Feinberg, Scott Harris, Brandan James, Dave Landon, Karen Landon, and Alex Wright

Club Business: None.

Games Played
1) Dan, Michael, Scott, Karen, Dave, Karen, and Alex started off with Unspeakable Words. Michael won with 109 points with Dave behind the 100-point threshold with 99. Alex and Scott went insane.

2) Dan, Michael, Scott, Brandan, Karen, Dave, Karen, and Alex then moved on to 7 Wonders with both the Cities and Leaders expansions. Nobody could stop Alex’s science machine and his 81 point victory, Dave came in second with 69, with the rest of the pack close behind with only five points separating 2nd and 5th places.

3) Michael, Scott, Dave, and Karen split off for Star Trek Catan where Michael made good use of McCoy’s support to go through the development deck and get the cards he needed for largest star fleet, edging out the win from Dave 10 points to 9.

4) Dan, Brandan, and Alex played Castles of Burgundy, which Alex one with a commanding 236 points over Dan’s 191 in second place.

5, 6) Dan, Michael, Brandan, Karen, Dave, Karen, and Alex played two rounds of Ca$h ‘n Gun$. In the first Dan one with $85,000 and Alex just behind with $80,000. For the second game, individual player powers were added, leading to a more brutal game iwht both Dave and Dan dying and Michael sneaking in with a $105,000 win with Alex in second at $95,000.

7) Dan, Michael, Brandan, Karen, Dave, and Karen hunted Alex in Scotland Yard, and despite a nice early breakout by Mr. X, Alex was hunted down in round 10.

8) Michael, Brandan, Karen, and Alex played Smash Up with victory being snatched from Michael’s Alien Zombies when Alex broke a base one round for Michael could break his. Alex’s Ninja Dinosaurs were victorious with 17 points, with Karen’s Robot Wizards in second.

9) Dave, Karen, and Alex finished up with a game of Samurai.

BEWC Meeting Recap 12/21/13

Attendees: Dan Carey, Michael Feinberg, Rhonda Frans, Ryan Frans, Jim Halloran, Dave Landon, Karen Landon, Victor Liu, Dave Olson, Beth Voss, Eric, and Alex Wright

Club Business: Dave Olson, Dan Carey, and Jim Halloran were appointed to the nominating committee for 2014 officers.

Games Played:
1) Dan, Michael, Karen, Dave L, Victor and Alex played Lords of Waterdeep with the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion. At the end of the game, Michael was slightly ahead in points, but Alex’s lord gave him 5 additional points for every 10 point quest he had completed, putting him over the top of Michael 120 points to 114.

2) Jim and Dave O settled down to Twilight Struggle where Jim’s USSR was forced to launch his nukes first, making Dave’s Americans the “winner” of the global thermonuclear war.

3) Jim, Dave O, Beth, and Eric moved on to City of Remnants with Eric just beating Beth by two points.

4) Dan, Michael, Dave L, Victor and Alex filled a couple of minutes with Trans Europa which Victor managed to end victoriously in the first round.

5) Dan, Michael, Rhonda, Ryan, Karen, Dave L, Victor and Alex played Robo Rally. Dave ran away with the game, getting to the 3rd glad while only Michael and Ryan had managed to reach even the first flag.

6) Dan, Michael, Rhonda, and Karen moved on to Puerto Rico, which Michael one, with Karen edging out Rhonda for second place by the tie breaker of having more money remaining.

7) Ryan, Dave L, Victor, and Alex played EVE: Conquests, where after a few too many mistakes and too much time, they decided to call and learning game and write off as a draw.

8,9) Dave O, Beth, and Eric played two rounds of Escape: The Curse of the Temple. From what we could hear over the soundtrack, they won one and lost one.

10) Michael, Rhonda, Karen, Dave O, and Beth played Ra, with Michael winning with 48 points and Dave in second with 36.

11) Michael, Karen, Dave L, and Alex finished up with Guild Hall. It was a close game that Dave might have one if Alex hadn’t stolen the cards he needed, and then Alex one on the next turn, just before Michael would have if the turn order had reached him.

BEWC Meeting Recap 12/7/2013

Attendees:Dave Landon, Karen Landon, Michael Feinberg. Alex Wright, Jim Halloran, Chris Cregan,  Alex Jordan, Ryan and Ronda Frans.

1)First off a game of Ticket to Ride: Europe – It was a frantic struggle for trains in the West at the start.  Mid game slowed down considerably and most everyone connected their routes with ease.  Karen, Alex and Michael took this opportunity to reach in for more destinations while Chris pushed on for some of the longer more lucrative train routes and ended up going out of trains.  Easily with longest route Chris ended with 130, Karen was incredibly close behind with 128, managing to reach all of her extra destinations.  Alex and Michael were less fortunate with their new destinations: Alex J 105 Michael 79.

2) Twilight Struggle Jim won over Alex W in the late era.

3) Terra Mystica: It was a close game, with mistakes made by everyone.  Michael managed to end in first with 115.  He took the dwarves and put their tunneling skills for great effect managing to connect all his cities and rival Alex for largest empire.  Chris played the alchemists and got bonuses for building dwellings and merchent houses and spent most of the game doing that and ended with 111.  Alex W also ended with 111 though would like it known that due to an oversight he should have won.  He played the swarmlings and built and built and built. Ryan picked up the cultists and despite being 1st in two different cult tracks only ended up 82.

4) Lords of Waterdeep was played with the Scoundrels of Skullport expansion. Karen won with 112 followed by Alex W with 10, Ronda with 102.  Jim’s score was “not so good”.

5) Dominant Species Michael as the arachnids dominated 95% of the entire game.  On his arctic shelf fortress he nearly lapped the reptiles before the last round.  Chris as the Reptiles had an incredibly slow start, and his species was endangered by the 3rd turn.  Ryan as the Birds was everywhere, picking up similar eating habits as the reptiles they fought for control of the greener lands for most of the game.  Then the last turn happened.  The Reptiles in mass migration swarmed the arachnids in the tundra hoping to drive them off.  While most of the reptiles died out they took several of the spiders with them.  The Birds did similar to the green lands.  Scoring over 100 points in the last round Ryan managed to not only catch, but pass Michael with a 232 over 222 win. Chris was surprised to find himself only 40 points behind at 183.  Both Chris and Michael were not fully aware of how end game scoring worked and so this game may have gone much differently.

BEWC Meeting Recap 11/16/2013

Attendees: Alex Jordan, Alex Wright, Bruce Clark, Dan Carey, Michael Feinberg, Jim Halloran, Victor Liu and Chris Cregan

1)Jim and Alex W. played a game of Twilight Struggle.  Jim as the Soviets came out the victor.

2) Chris, Victor, Alex J, Michael and Bruce played a round of Lords of Waterdeep with the new expansion Scoundrels of Skullport.  Chris came out in first with 178 points followed by Michael with 149, Alex at 145 Bruce at 143 and Victor with 132.

3) Chris, Victor, Alex J, Michael and Bruce then played a round of Citadels, substituting out the witch for the assassin.  Alex W. managed to end the game with 27 points followed closely by Victor with 25, Chris with 24 Alex J. at 17 and Michael with 16.

4) Jim and Dan played a round of A Distant Plain.  Jim played coalition and Dan played the Taliban, both players lost to the Afghani government.

5) Finally Chris Jim and Alex J played a game of Eclipse with the expansion.  Playing with ancient homeworlds all players found themselves fairly isolated for the majority of the game.  Adopting completely peaceful means no player against player combat occurred the entire game.  Michael won with a science heavy strategy, completely filling up his board with tech, and ended with 64 points.  Chris got 2nd with 56 due to a combination of high combat points from defeating ancients and a racial bonus for occupied orbitals.  Alex started completely surrounded by ancients and had his early fleet demolished in his first assault ending only at 12.

BEWC Meeting Recap 11/2/2013

Attendees:Dave Landon, Karen Landon, Alex Wright, Jim Halloran, Chris Cregan,  Brandan James, Dave Olson and Tyler Piersol.

1) In honor of it being Halloween weekend the first game out was Betrayal at House on the Hill.  Dave Landon, Dave Olson, Brandon Chris and Alex’s exploration of the house proceeded per normal, except no main stairs to the basement was found.  Instead a few luckless adventureres uncovered chutes, slides or outright fell through the floor to discover the lower chambers.  It was while most were down there that that Dave Olson was revealed to be the traitor, and roused a Frankenstein monster to try and hug his former allies to death.  The beast took off with a start and quickly he cornered Alex in the graveyard.  Chris and Dave left the basement through a discovered secret passage and frantically explored the upper floors in search of items to fight the monster.  Brandon wasn’t so fortunate in escaping the basement.  Dave O. and the monster cut him off from the secret route and slowely gained on Brandons slower character.  Though as fortune would have it Brandon found the stair well up at the last tile and quickly joined his two other companions in the upper floor.  The monster soon followed but was slowed.  For two consecutive turns Dave found his monster under attack as torch after torch was hurled at the monster, all landing with perfect accuracy.  The monster quickly took light and Dave was lectured about the errors of trying to kill his friends.  Everyone then left the mansion, well except for Alex who was still dead.

2.Next up Brandon doned the Mr. X cap as Chris, Both Daves Alex and Tyler attempted to catch him in Scotland Yard.  Starting off in North Western London, Mr X tried to cross the Themes via the bridge but was cut off by Dave Landon.  As the officers neared on his location though, Mr. X quickly cut back to the subway to the middle of the board and began moving east.  By then the officers had him surrounded.   After a series of secret moves the officers were growing concerned that he might have found an opening, Chris and Dave O.rushed East and South trying to mitigate any distance if he was heading back to the Themes.  The rest guarded against the subway, Dave L in the south Tyler in the West and Alex in the North.  It turned out Brandon had double backed since his subway stint and moved west, but ended up getting stuck by Alex and Tylers movements.  When his position become known Tyler was able to capture him in a turn.

3) Two game of Avalon were played with evil winning both rounds.  Tyler, Chris, Karen, Alex and Brandon were defeated in the first game by both Daves and Jim.  The second game Chris Jim and Alex managed to confuse Tyler, Karen, Brandon and both Daves.

4) Dave Olson was eager to try and play his new Kemet game.  Chris had already played the game and taught it to both Tyler and Dave.  Using a heavy blood strategy Chris won with 11 points though.  Tyler finished with six and Dave with four.

5) Karen, Dave O. and Chris played a round of Ticket to Ride: Switzerland.  Chris won with 97, followed by Dave with 88 and Karen close behind with 84.

6) Jim and Alex took on Tyler and Dave L in Warparty.  In a long, back and forth game Jim and Alex managed to triumph over the forces of evil.

BEWC Meeting Recap 10/19/13

Attendees: Alex Jordan, Michael Feinberg, Jim Halloran, and Chris Cregan

1)Michael Alex and Jim started off with a game of Tsuro.  Alex fell off early though both Jim and Michael managed to survive to the last piece.  Both players found their pieces staring accros the last blank space and it was determined both Jim and Michael would share victory.

2)Next up Eclipse was brought out with the expansion Rise of the Ancients.  Michael fell to a couple of early losses to some ancients and was not able to come back till considerably later in the game.  Jim and Alex both sent huge armadas to the galactic center on the same turn.  Jim’s fleet got a good volley of missiles off initially but Alex’s thick armor proved better in the long drawn out battle.  Alex then easily handled the new GCD.  Chris spent the majority of the game exploring and fighting the ancients.  In the end Chris beat out Alex 40-38 with both players taking control of several points from both of the weaker civilizations.  Michael fared better than Jim, 23 to 15, due to more tech and a larger empire.  Jim had more expensive techs but they were spread out, the majority of his points coming from the few remaining ancients.

*It should be noted that two rather large mistakes were made during this game.  The rules for combat were mistaken, victims were choosing causality’s instead of offender.  Secondly Alex, being new to the game, was double counting his income for the first half of the game.

3) Cosmic Encounter finished off the day with a shared victory between Chris and Michael over Alex and Jim.

 

BEWC Meeting Recap 10/5/13

Attendees:Dave Landon, Karen Landon, Alex Wright, Dan Carey, Michael Feinberg, Jim Halloran, Chris Cregan,  Brandan James,Victor Liu, Robbie and Frank Fulton

1) Alex, Michael, Brandan and Dave started off with a game of Lords of Waterdeep.  Alex won with 125 points followed by Michael, Brandan and finally Dave who got 106, 103 and 80 respectfully.

2)Jim bought Warparty and played a game with Dan, Chris and Victor.  It was the first time playing and the instructions though simple were poorly worded leading to a learning game.  Jim and Chris playing as the Goblins and Undead ended up winning over Dan and Victor who played the Dwarves and Humans.  The forces of evil had defeated the Dwarves and were set up to take the stronghold but not in the 12 turn time limit and so all agreed evil won a partial victory.

3)Alex won his second game this time while playing Antike.  Robbie and Frank joined the original group playing Waterdeep.  Alex got 7 points followed by Michael with 6, Brandan, Frank and Dave all received 5 while Robbie ended with 2.

4)Karen joined the Antike group for a game of 7 Wonders.  It was an odd low scoring game.  Alex thought his streak was broken with 62 but it ended up highest.  Robbie and Brandan ended with 58, Mike and Dave 57.  Frank got 47 and Karen got 44.

5)Chris, Alex, Michael, Brandan, Karen, Dave played a large game of Robo Rally.  It was a particularly gruesome game with a robot dieing nearly every round as everyone scrambled for the 1 Flag.  A long corridor before the flag it made it so Robots were bumping into each other as one would be advancing towards while another try and move away from.  Chris managed to pull out of the tussle early and finished as most people were just getting flag one.  Michael was the only other Robot to reach the 2nd flag.

5)Finally Chris, Alex, Michael, Brandan, Karen, Dave played a couple games of BANG.  The first was quite short with Michael as the Sheriff quickly killing Chris as the Renegade.  Dave, Karen and Alex then finished off the Michael while Brandan the Deputy was unable to help. The Outlaws won.

6)The 2nd game of BANG took considerably longer.  Brandan as the Sheriff had a good set up character which made him nearly invincible till a string of bad draws.  Alex the Renegade quickly took out Chris this time an Outlaw.  Brandan managed to take down Dave the Outlaw but Alex took out Michael as the Deputy.  The game reached a stalemate between Alex, Karen and Brandan.  The Outlaws won again after Karen ended finished Brandan with considerable help from Alex.

BEWC Meeting Recap 9/21/13

Attendees: Alex Jordan, Michael Feinberg, Jim Halloran, Chris Cregan, Dave Olson and Victor Liu

1) The main attraction for the meeting was Starcraft without the expansion.  Jim managed to win by getting 20 victory points during the switch into phase III.  Despite getting crushed by Michael’s forces the last round, Chris came in 2nd followed by Michael and Victor.

2)  Finally a quick game of Manhattan was played by Chris Jim Michael and Dave.  Jim managed to maintain the lead throughout the game and won with 42 followed closely by Chris and Dave both with 41.

Club Buisness:  It was determined the Club would purchase Tides of Iron and the Lords of Waterdeep expansion (once copies are back in stock).