June 9 1999 RussCon Report

We were graced by an appearance by RussD, Little Russ, Russ the Bus, an original RussCon attendee now exiled to Dallas. Hoody-hoo!

That evil Heroes 3 program continues to suck my brain, though this report is also late due to taking time to clarify some confusion in the increasingly indecipherable results book. Spelling and calligraphy skills atrophy as the millenium approaches. Careless work by our field representatives leads to a difficult task for the boys in the RussCon Engineering Labs. The quality of the Report has suffered, and the RussCon Management will cheerfully refund the remaining balance of any unsatisfied subscribers, for we hold customer satisfaction to be of the utmost importance. Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery. Offer void where prohibited. Sorry, Tennessee.

=====

Game Results:

DurchDieWueste 5 Bob 3 JonathanB 3 RussD 0 JP -2 Curt -4
Medici 5 KevinH 4 Harry 2 TimC 0 Jeffles -2 Doug -4
Samurai 4 Harry 3 Doug 1 JP -1 Curt -3
Guillotine 5 Doug 4 Harry 2 Curt -1 JP -1 JonathanB -4
Money 5 Jeffles 4 RussD 2 Bob 0 KevinH -2 Tim -4
TrainsportAustria 5 JeffF 4 RussW 1 Jay 1 Clayton -2 Alfred -4
Manhattan 4 RussW 3 JeffF 1 Jay -1 Alfred -3
Money 5 Harry 4 Doug 2 TimC 0 KevinH -2 Bob -4 
Bluff 5 RussW 4 JeffF 2 Jay 0 Steve -2 Alfred -4
QuoVadis 4 JonathanC 3 JP 1 RussD -1 Curt -3
Money 5 Doug 4 Bob 2 TimC 0 Harry -2 KevinH -4
Money 5 Steve 4 JP 2 KevinH 0 Jeffles -2 Curt -4
Settlers 4 Jay 3 Doug 1 Bob -1 TimC -3
Rhinelord 4 Jeffles 3 Brady 1 JP -1 Doug -3
FerroPampas 4 JonathanC 3 Harry 1 RussD -1 RussW -3
Deadwood 4 Jeffles 3 Doug 1 JP -1 Brady -3

Good to see Durch die Wueste (aka Pastel Camel game) get played again. I want to play it again too. It's cool.

The new Knizia game Money seems popular. It's quick.

Ferrocarilles Pampas got played for the first time in roughly a year. It has the fundamental problem of "Why should I spend money to build track when I can hoard my money and buy stock instead?" Some of us talked about tweaking it; double the payouts, for example, so that you really would get back more money than you put in for the track. Anyone want to try that?

We'd evolved a lazy tradition of not bothering to mark off track that gets built in Trainsport Austria (due to a few games where no one reached 40 tracks anyway). I think that was a mistake, now, since I've played several games of it lately where people did indeed hit 40, and choosing where you build your last track can be an interesting painful decision.

Rhinelord (probably misspelled) is a curious anomaly: a new Reiner Knizia game, printed in German, but published by Hasbro/Parker Brothers! Could US boardgame publishers be getting a clue about the great quality of German designs?

=====

Name confusion abounds...

Last week, SteveZ was also recorded as Steve, but the "real" Steve (SteveH) wasn't here. Nor did JeffF play Euphrates. (JeffF was still the Devil, though.) We've also had a longtimer Tim, then 2 weeks ago there was new TimG, and this week new TimC? And 2 different Jonathans come regularly, but didn't always use a last initial in the book...

If your name is Steve or Jeff or Jonathan or Tim, put a last initial please! (Or use your nickname, Sea Biscuit and Squeaky...)

Or I could just assign everyone a unique ID#. Or nickname. "Your RussCon name is Flounder."

=====

Evening's Soundtrack:

Alice in Chains, Dirt
Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes
Bettie Serveert, Dust Bunnies
Govinda, O Earthly Gods
Mickey Hart, Planet Drum

If you think you know the common theme, you probably just have a dirty mind. Rock on.

Next RussCon, you can air your grievances about this elemental series of musical themes. Or you could just blow it off.

(This is all the fault of the 4 elemental schools of magic in Heroes 3.)

=====

Rank ratings:
 1.0000 JonathanC (2 games played)
 0.6364 JeffF (3)
 0.4545 Harry (6)
 0.3571 RussW (4)
 0.3333 Jeffles (5)
 0.2500 Steve (2)
 0.2143 Doug (8)
 0.2143 Jay (4)
 0.0000 Bob (5)
 0.0000 RussD (4)
-0.1250 JP (7)
-0.1250 JonathanB (2)
-0.2000 KevinH (5)
-0.2000 TimC (4)
-0.3333 Brady (2)
-0.5000 Clayton (1)
-0.8333 Curt (5)
-1.0000 Alfred (3)
-1.0000 Tim (1)

New Win ratings:
 1.0000 JonathanC (2)
 0.4444 Jeffles (5)
 0.3750 Steve (2)
 0.3571 RussW (4)
 0.2500 JonathanB (2)
 0.1818 JeffF (3)
 0.1364 Harry (6)
 0.0714 Doug (8)
 0.0000 Jay (4)
 0.0000 KevinH (5)
-0.0526 Bob (5)
-0.2500 Clayton (1)
-0.2500 Tim (1)
-0.2667 TimC (4)
-0.2727 Alfred (3)
-0.3333 Brady (2)
-0.3333 Curt (5)
-0.3333 JP (7)
-0.3571 RussD (4)

Sea Biscuit is the Devil! Hoody-hoo!

Doug wins the Dedicated Award.

=====

All we are is dust in the wind...

Russ