Strategic Gaming Club at CCM: Wednesday, Oct 1st

Another theme day...

I wasn't sure if we could find enough games for that theme... but we had 25 that fit in EASILY (If you're interested: Alhambra, Bridges of Shangri-La, Bull in a China Shop (Hey. It's got "china" right in the name...), Chang Cheng, China, Dragon Parade, Dragons of Kir, Gang of Four, Gemblo, Great Wall of China, Honor of the Samurai, Ido, Lotus, Maharaja, Mesopotamia, Ming Dynasty, Oriente, Oshi, Samurai, Ta Yu, Through the Desert, Tichu, Trampel-Fanten, Tsuro, Ur), and we found a few others that were kind of stretch, that we threw in anyway. And, there was Quiddler.

Let's get right down to who was there, and what they did!

Ashley, Trumpeteer (n)
Brad2 (v)
Brian1, V-P, aka "Thing" (n)
Brian2, Overlord (n)
Can't-Stop (n)
Cengiz, Vizier (p)
Chris (unspecified affiliation, assuming "v")
Crystal (n)
Dan (n)
Fenwick (p)
Jess ("bunny" <-- not sure how this was allowed. I guess because we know a bunny vs. pirate or ninja = victim. Total victim.)
Joe (p)
Jon2 (n)
Liz (p)
May (p)
Mitesh (p)
Sara (v)
Victoria (n)

Bull in a China Shop
- As I said above, in case you didn't notice I will repeat here: the word "China" is right in the title! It fits the theme, dangit. I really like this game -- mainly a card game, few choices, every one painful, and everything done affects everyone else. It's quite popular among much of Game Club. Five of us played: Ashley, Liz, BrianThing, Cengiz, Fenwick. BrianThing actually ended up with NO China at the end of one round, causing him to have quite a low score. Liz and Cengiz were much better of, tieing for second-to-last. Ashley was next, but Fenwick won the game with 86 points.
Dragon Parade
- This is a little gem of a game. There's lots of luck, and lots of pain, as you watch your best-laid-plans get trampled by everyone else. It's basically a tug-of-war, and trying to outthink your opponenets' tugging. Four people played: Cengiz, Victoria, Joe, and Brian2. It was close, only a 4-point spread between the last place score and the winner, who turned out to be Brian2!
Gang of Four
- Trumpeted as "The #1 Card Game in Asia!" (not sure if that's true), we couldn't have an Asia-day without Gang of Four. It is in my top 20 fave games for sure, probably in the top 10. Fenwick, Cengiz, Liz, and Brian2 got down to business. Liz actually won the first FIVE hands in a row, making her look like the clear favorite. Fenwick took over the top spot, and then Cengiz had a few, too. After Cengiz managed to skunk Liz with all 16 of her cards, the game was ended. Liz ended up in last, and then Brian2, Cengiz, with Fenwick coming out on top with only 40 pts.
Gemblo
- One of the more beautiful games I own. It is imported from Korea, in case you were wondering the Asai tie-in. Two full games were played. The first, was a five-player game, playing with the ralaxed rule set. 5 players on the big board is actually kind of roomy, and with the friendly rules, we were almost all able to get all our bits on the board. Crystal was unable, but the other 4 playing: Ashley, Liz, Brian and Fenwick had a 4-way tie for the win.
- Ashley, May, Brian and Chris later played a 4-player version. You play on a smaller part of the board making 4-players a much greater challenge. In this game, Ashley wins alone, with only 8 gems remaining!
Honor of the Samurai
- Four peopled hopped on this game: Can't-Stop, Mitesh, Dan, and Brian2. This game can go on for a while, and it's tough to remember all the minutiae if you don't play it regularly. After about 25 minutes of explanation, the game got underway. Can't Stop immediately declared himself a target, and was killed by Brian2. Who was soon after killed by Mitesh, who declared himself Shogun, and was never unseated for the win!
Ido
- Another beauty of a game -- it's like playing a 3-d, shifting, Mondrian painting. It doesn't get pulled out enough for me. We had a 4-player game (the ONLY way to play, in my opinion...) with Brian2, Liz, Cengiz, and Fenwick. It was a tight game, with everyone getting one off the board pretty quickly. By Brian2 emplyed the very smart strategy of "get as much on the board as possible for maximum power of movement". And with a proud "Huzzah!" (I swear he said it) Brian2 moved his fourth piece off for the win.
Ming Dynasty
- This is a new one to Game Club. The rules seemed rather daunting, and after a rough start of playing incorrectly, we got the hang of it. The game only last 6 turns, only scoring on the even ones. You each play as a "prince" moving through the countryside, and settling folks in districts. If you dominate a district, you can move into a city, and earn points and tokens (sets of which get traded for points). There are Cloisters where you can claim a few points (but are at risk of being ousted by someone else), and elements of trail-building (a la Elfenland, which I love), as well. It's a well-built game with a variety of strategic elements. I'd love to be able to try this one again soon. Four of us played: Mitesh, Brian2, Dan, and Fenwick. The game actually lasted about an hour and 40 minutes. If we run it again soon, I'm sure we can pound it out in about an hour. Brian2 cashed in some serious sets early on, and had a huge lead, lapping a couple of us on the scoring track. The rest of us struggled to unseat him, killing as many of his Monks as possible. Fenwick got close, but Brian2 managed to keep a TWO POINT LEAD for the win.
Quiddler
- Two games of Quiddler were played (not surprising... it's the one game that comes to EVERY Game Club meeting.) First game had Brian2, Sara, Ashley, Brian, and Victoria. Brian2 won with a fairly decent margin.
- The other game had Chris, Brian, Ashley, Jon2, Brad2, and May. In this one, Jon2 just barely eked out the win by three points!
Tsuro
- We actually played three games of this back-to-back. It goes quick, and we had some new folks. GREAT gateway game: easy to learn, quick to play, lots can play. We had Crystal, Liz, May, Jess, Fenwick, Ashley, and Brian1. I can sum up the three games quickly: Brian1 WON THREE TIMES.