Session Report: Monday at Paul's

Last night I went round to Paul's for Monday night gaming and, for the first time, The Wife joined us - yay!

There was no Vin this week, but Lisa joined in and Greg and Spence made it so it was a full table. We started before Spence arrived, so we set up a 5-player game of Guillotine to get us in the mood. It seemed like my run of bad Guillotine luck (or ability) from the previous night was due to continue, as I struggled to get any valuable nobles. But it was good fun as ever, and the good company made up for my inability to behead the rich and famous. The Wife did remarkably well, storming through the bourgeoisie, and as a result stormed to an impressive victory. The final scores: The Wife 24, Lisa 18, Greg & Paul 16, me 14.

Spence arrived during Guillotine, so we had to choose a 6-player game next. Luckily Greg had brought Power Grid, so we broke that out and started explaining the rules to The Wife who was the only person not to have played it before. The Wife and I lagged a bit to begin with, no bad thing really as you get first access to the fuels and the connections, while Spence, Paul and Greg steamed ahead. Somewhere around the middle I thought I was in with a chance, but unfortunately I peeked too early. I connected to twelve cities when I could only power ten, and that put me first in the turn order for the final turn. The good news was that I was able to get the power plant I needed to power the fourteen cities needed to win the game. The bad news was that I was last to buy fuel and make connections and so I had to pay over the odds once everyone had tried to screw me. In the end I was four cash short of connecting to fourteen cities while Greg did it with plenty of cash to spare. Still it was a very close game, and I enjoyed it - I think Power Grid scales up to six surprisingly well. Final Scores: Greg 14, me 13 (24 cash), Spence 13 (22 cash), Paul 12 (105 cash), Lisa 12 (36 cash), The Wife 12 (22 cash).