Six new Weasels helped funk up Game No. 324, played yesterday at Mick Johnson’s Uptown apartment. Two of the newcomers hit their hallelujah (whoo), sharing the board-top, while two others tied for second.
Don’t believe me? Just watch. The game ended by draw vote during the Spring 1907 turn in the following center counts:
Austria (Patrick Zaken): 0; 0.000 points.
England (Laurie Sartain): 6; 17.647 points.
France (Jenna Probst): 7; 24.020 points.
Germany (Mick Johnson): 3; 4.412 points.
Italy (Matt Adams): 7; 24.020 points.
Russia (Kevin Poemsch): 5; 12.255 points.
Turkey (Briget Diehl): 6; 17.647 points.
Kevin and Laurie found us on Meetup. The other four are friends of Mick’s and were all playing for the first time. Club vets Brian Shelden, Jake Trotta and Bryan Pravel were on hand to answer questions and help with the adjudications, as Mick himself is a Rookie of the Year candidate, having played for the first time ever this season.
Prime Weasel Shelden described the newcomers as savvy. We hope to see them again, perhaps as early as this week’s Red Wednesday at the Red Lion.
The supply center chart is here. Players, observers, how did it go down?
(Please note that Brandon Fogel, not me, dubbed this game Uptown Funk. I’m just playing the hand I was dealt. Aaaaaaow!)
This Post Has 3 Comments
Straight masterpiece, Jim.
I could not have won this praise without Google.
The Prime Weasel is right. The almost entirely new set of players had a very solid and fun opening phase of the game. They really didn’t start making mistakes until around 1904 when they started to get into the mid-game. Best play from a board of new players I have seen.
Jake, Brian, and I kept a running commentary of entering phrases we heard during play. A few highlights:
-Spring 1901 negotiations between Russia and Germany: “Well France and I are going after you guys eventually” (Perhaps an exception to the “high level” opening play mentioned above?)
-In Fall 1902 after Italy and France bounced in PIE every turn of the game so far, I asked Italy if he had considered arranging a DMZ in PIE with France. He replied “oh we arranged that last turn”.
-Germany to Russia: “I made a deal with England to exchange Sweden for Belgium. I gave her cake and she didn’t even give me a cupcake.”
-“Portugal is a sacred land”
-“You are the worst ally ever”
Fun game!