DATE:       Wednesday, January 15

PLACE:     Rick's

Attendees: DaveO, David Brown, Chris, Kim

Well, Wednesday night was a true event - the return of Mr. Dave O'Connor, back from a one month sabbatical in the Hell we Californians know as "Florida". Actually, the man once called Florida home, but that is a tale for another day....DaveO was ready for some gaming, considering he had spent his stint in the Sunshine state playing nothing but Lost Cities (coincidence?).

Enough FLA bashing...on to the games. CP had acquired Gang of Four over the holidays, and was anxious to display his skills honed playing the French on-line (go here for more info). We played four hands, and it was clear we were making very slow progress toward the goal of 100 points - someone commented that this was a game meant to be spent over an evening....like normal people! But in the dynamic world of OCBG, where one game in a night is not acceptable, it was not to be for GoF. We wrapped it up with no winner, but all seemed to enjoy the game.

Next up was the game Imperium, one of the three games included in GMT/Knizia's Rome offering - a reprinting of three games form Reiner's "Neue Spiele in Alten Rome". Imperium is a game of influence, played on a map of the Mediterranean. The game actually was a lot of fun and very quick, once we got the hang of it...the end was in doubt until the very end. Chris and DaveO tied at 43, with Rick two back at 41...the game cannot end in a tie, so another round was played - this time Rick won the territory, worth 4, with the other 3 tying and thus scoring nothing, giving Rick the win!

Rick    45

DaveO 43

Chris   43

DTDB   37

Dave Brown had time for one more game before retiring for the evening, and suggested Citadels. Hearing this, Kim decided to join in, as any game where potential backstabbing is involved is an enticement for her to play! This time, Rick somehow avoided the knife, and picked up a late 5th color to eek out a win

Rick    31

Kim     29

DTDB   23

CP       21

DaveO 20

Downtown and CP retired for teh night, as they had "real" work to prepare for..and then there were three. Kingdoms, a repackaging in English of Auf Heller und Pfennig, hit the table. In a close match, DaveO finally took down a win over Kim.

DaveO    251

Kim        234

Rick        193

It was nearing midnight, so one last game of 6-Nimmt...I barely grabbed the win

Rick    36

Kim     37

DaveO 59

All in all, a good night, and good to have the GaMeMaster back in the house!