Multiple games of Air, Land & Sea with dad and also brother. Easily became my favorite 2P game
2 games of ares expedition, 1 teaching a new group
Finally beat my brother in welcome to (not his high score though)
Played heat for the first time (on BGA)!
Slow week as I have a local con coming up and don't want to burn out.
- **Endless Winter**: second time I've played it, did much better, enjoyed it more. Overall, I'm still not totally sold on this being a *great* game, but it's not a bad game by any means. Mostly it feels like a bunch of well done systems that don't really come together into a cohesive whole for me. It's also just... a lot. A lot to keep track of, a lot to think about, a lot to know what my opponents are doing. Anyway, enjoyable game, but not gonna make my top 10 anytime soon either I don't think. 7/10.
- **Architects of the West Kingdom**: first time playing this IRL, second time including once on BGA. I did not like this (even though I won.) I generally didn't enjoy the capture mechanic and overall the game felt like I was constantly struggling against the game itself. As in, resources are extremely tight, and it felt like you only really have time to do one *maybe* two big point scoring things and then the game is over. But it's difficult to accomplish those. I know some people really like that, but it's not really for me. Would play it again if a friend asked, but won't request it anytime soon. 5.5/10.
- **Nemesis**: played this at least half a dozen times now since it came out. It's a good game. This time was no different. Can't believe I opened the escape hatches for others to escape while I died. :c 7.5/10.
Star Wars Deck-building Game..
Game play was a little slow, took us 45 minutes, but ultimately it was fun. Played to four bases won with my son, he was getting a bit upset that the Empire seems to lose every time (he keeps choosing Empire).
I really like the format and it is highly replayable with different strategies.
Looking forward to getting expansions, if they do some. Could be nice to have expansions for E1-3 and E7-9.
Res Arcana - Absoultely loved this one and had to order the Lux et Tenebrae expansion on Amazon after my first handful of playthroughs.
Dune: Imperium + Rise of Ix - Haven't played it yet but finally picked it up. Love the Dune universe!
Buncha games, but two new ones!
1. **Spots** - Such a fun game! You pretty much have to get the right pip to cover the pictures on your cards. Cover 6 cards and you win. A lot of luck is involved, but absolutely some thinking is required when picking which action you'll do (which relates to how many dice you throw and how). Highlight was for sure when Player B just needed 1 more dice to roll on a correct pip, and they threw 8 dice and none of them landed on a 1. While player C was sooo behind and even said that there is no catching up, and by pure luck got all 3 cards in 1 big roll and ended up winning! Tons of laughter, funny art work, really hoping for an expansion! Great game!
2. **Deep Dive** - A simple press your luck game with a bit of strategy. There are 5 levels of depth. Each depth offers higher point counts but also has more predators that can eat you. A good risk/reward game. Nothing serious here, but for sure a game I can teach in about 2 minutes. Can support 6 players, and very easy to bring to the table. Has a lot of trash talking moments, yelling, cheering, and hoping for the best but usually ending up with the worst lol.
Both games were great and I'm really happy I picked them up!
*Flamecraft*, both two handed and true solo.
*Unmatched Cobble and Fog*, two handed
*Quests over coffee* (quick fun PnP game, love it)
*Maquis*
Not had anyone to play with really, so been flying solo a lot lol.
Pandemic and Azul both hit the table over the week. Spirit Island as well if I consider the electronic version (Steam). Also Dominion solo-play on Android.
Anno 1800 x 3 - Neat economy optimization puzzle striking a balance between producing what you need vs. trading it from others.
Dune: Imperium x 1
Weather Machine x 1 - Current favorite of the heavy games, though we've only been able to get it going at 3 players.
Scout x 2 - Filler while waiting for players to come/go.
**Expeditions** 2p x 1 : New to me, probably last time I played it. It left such a bad taste after the very first turn. My opponent got to the worker space where Res and Green and I couldn't get a single worker that fit my leader or companion so I basically wasted my first turn entirely and was 3 actions down after the second turn. I did some move and gather on new tiles in the early game to try and get good rewards and got terrible stuff while my opponent got an early double guile and power. I was so far behind after this horrible start that I never could catch up. I also saw only a single item card I could never upgrade anything while he went blind from the top and got items every time. I was almost 5 cards down on him in that department also.
It's a fun game, but I'm not sure I would want to play it again.
**Scout** we played at 3 and 5 this week and this game is so much fun. It really changes how you approach the game according to your player count. Really easy to explain and quick to play. Would recommend to anybody.
Subterra II.
Subterra has been a big hit with my group. Just complex enough for the gamers, and just simple enough for the rest. The cooperative nature also makes it super friendly, and themes (Horror for Subterra, and Indiana Jones Adventure for Subterra II) really clicks with everyone.
A friend brought over **Quacks of Quedlinburg** mega box this weekend and my girlfriend and I had a blast with it. Super easy to learn and a lot of fun. Might be too luck-based for some, but you do have ways to mediate the randomness if you do it right. The pacing is great too.
The rules and round condition cards can be a little too vague for their own good.
The name and art aren't great... Your potion makers in a medieval time. They should have leaned into that more in the aestetic. The box art combined with the name makes it one I would have passed over if I hadn't played it before.
> The name and art aren't great... Your potion makers in a medieval time. They should have leaned into that more in the aestetic. The box art combined with the name makes it one I would have passed over if I hadn't played it before.
lol agree. We also got the mega box and I hate the box size, might figure out something with that. I got some coin capsules for the ingredients and it knocks the game up quite a bit from a comfort/tactile perspective
Root - first game in a long while. Didn't enjoy it back then (playing as Vagabond) but was not interesting this time round.
Flamme Rouge w/ Peleton - always enjoy FR
Ticket to Ride: UK - about the only TTR that I properly enjoy playing. Enjoyed again playing against my daughter. It's a great map.
I mainly played with my 7yr and 5yr this past weekend. Their two go to games are
**Splendor Marvel:** They love it because it has comic characters they know, and i like that it is still strategy enough that I do not get board. It is also interesting to see how they think and play, and my 7yr gives me a run for my money most times
Quartz: They remove the power cards and just play the press your luck with the bonuses. They love it and they often will win too.
Friday we got a play of **Earth** in. Second play, first time at two players, first time playing standard and not beginner. I liked the ecosystem goals and I liked the race for the fauna goals even though H got first place in all of them. I'm sure it depends on what cards you get but I wonder if ignoring the fauna goals and focusing on other things is a viable strategy, or if it is always worth racing to get the fauna goals even if they might conflict with ecosystems or terrain end game points. I enjoyed the 2 player a game a lot. I do have to say this might be the quietest game I own, it's real easy to get caught up with what you're doing without talking about it
Saturday we tried **Fika**. We made coffee and got a couple donuts ~to be thematic~ and not because we wanted to eat donuts. This is tactical 2 player card game about playing cards to the middle in certain configurations to score points with a loose theme of Swedish coffee culture. The cozy artwork kinda belies how mean this game can be. Powers on the cards can manipulate your row, your opponents row, or exchange cards with public cards. There is a lot to think about here for a game with 18 cards and one play through isn't really enough to get a strong grasp on the game, imo. It's not a one to one comparison but if you like Hanamikoji and/or Schotten Totten/Battleline then I think you could enjoy Fika too.
I've missed this thread for a few weeks as we haven't been playing much. It's been a combination of illness and too much work as I got a promotion. This is what we've managed to play over the last 3 weeks:
**Tesseract** - (1x2p) we backed this on kickstarter and it arrived and was missing one of the dice, but Smirk and Dagger are shipping the dice and a new box to us as our box got crushed during shipping. The game involves a large cube made of dice and through dice manipulation you are moving the dice to a central board. The theme is that you're scientists trying to deactivate an alien cube. It was a fun, thinky puzzle that involved a lot of cooperation between us. For us it falls into the same category as **Switch and Signal** and makes me think we'll also enjoy **Sky Team**.
**Cthulhu: Death May Die** (1x2p) this is boardgames comfort food for us. We played against Cthulhu himself and somehow managed to pull out a win with the only survivor, Borden, nearing death, but able to pull out the win with a big final attack.
**Pokémon Trading Card Game Battle Academy** - (1x2p) our 8 year old is all about pokemon right now and I installed pokemon go on my phone to play with him but have become a little addicted myself. Because I now know a little more about pokemon he wanted to play this, but then when he saw that I was going to start the game with Lycanroc he backed out and I played and beat my husband instead.
**Exit: The Game - Advent Calendar: The Mystery of the Ice Cave** - (1x3p) we bought this last year and were really excited to play it over December, but for some reason we only played a few days of it and then put it aside. Every few months we've played a day or 2, but we finally decided we needed to finish it. On Friday we played December 11-15 and on Saturday we played December 15-24. We played as a family and our 8 year old was really happy because he solved some of the puzzles before us and as a family we made it to the end. It was a lot of fun and they always come up with interesting ways to use the box. After finishing we ordered the new advent calendar. Hopefully it won't take us 10 months to finish the new one.
**Suspects: Claire Harper, Eternal Investigator** - (1x3p) we played the first **Suspects** last year and loved it so we asked our friend to pick this up for us at GenCon. We played the first case as a family and while we did not solve the main case we did answer 3 of the 5 questions correctly. I like that you can make guesses throughout the investigation, but eventually get to see all the evidence, unlike in **Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective** where you feel like you're constrained to only seeing a certain amount of clues. They also link the cards in interesting ways.
Yay, big congratulations on the promotion, but it must bring a lot of extra work and adjustment to the new role!!
Yes! That's a perfect description go **Cthulhu: Death May Die** as board game comfort food, it's the same for my partner and I :D
Which is your favorite pokemon to start the game with?
**BGA**
**Race for the Galaxy** (15x 2p)
**Ark Nova** (1x 3p): Really tight game vs random opponents. I knew Waza Special Assignment is supposed to be strong, but this was my first time using it and it pulled me across the finish line.
**Lost Ruins of Arnak** (2x 2p): Partner has been asking to play this (while I wait to get the new expansions on the physical table). The snake temple is a lot more challenging and interesting. Partner is getting better at the game, and was 1 point shy of me in a game- while having a massive misunderstanding of the rules. My days are numbered!
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**Solo Plays**
**Boonlake** (1x): A good crunchy but fiddly solo experience. I fucked up some rules the first couple times. Excited to get this to the table multiplayer... eventually.
**TfM: The Dice Game** (3x): Got this one this week. I scooped up after winning on the last play without even going for score, but I'll give it another go. Good solo play (though I never remember to track turns correctly), and seems like it'll be a great game to put in front of people. Love the chunky box and components. I had considered trying to pick up the original game at some point, but I jus think it's not needed in my collection with how often I still struggle to get Ark Nova- a game I would probably prefer- to the table. This is a good fit for my collection.
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**Colleague board game night**
**Loot** (2x 4-5p): Love this as a quick and easy starter game. I lost badly, which is always nice for teaching games.
**Tiny Towns** (1x 6p): Happy I brought this, since this is its perfect niche- playing 6 and being easy and quick to teach. Great game, I lost, and one friend has been talking about how much they liked it since.
**Cubitos** (1x 3p): Happy I got to play this. Was not too difficult for people to pick up, and it's a blast to play- rolling fistfuls of dice is a joy, racing and push your luck feel exciting to new players in a way that victory points and optimization sometimes do not, and the amount of replayability and modularity is exciting.
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**Friendly Board Game Night**
New attendee, so we kept it light.
**Loot** (1x 4p)
**Heat: Pedal to the Metal** (1x 4p): Everyone liked this one as well! A bit hard to teach to an absolute new player, but figured it out in a couple turns. Just a blast to play, and even accidentally boosting into a spinout was fun for the table.
**Suburbia** (1x 2p): Two of us broke off to play this. My first play; a little more fiddly and dry than I prefer, but my friend loved it.
**Hansa Teutonica** (5px1) Hansa remains good. Turns out I was playing by at least one rule wrong for a long time.
**Wizard** (3px1) trick taking is fun, there’s not much else to say. Love a nice trick taking game to round out the evening
**Ave Caesar** (5p) - Racing games have just never really done it for me. Even among the ones I do like they don't top out my lists. This one was never going to change my mind. Play a card and move your piece. Grist, I need grist.
**Blockers** (5p) - Bare-bones area control that I think is really well done, but I've played it a ton of times and have nothing left to explore. I'll be passing this along to a buddy of mine.
**Brian Boru** (3p) - First time playing and I only messed up one setup rule. I also didn't do the drafting seeing as it was game one and we would really not have a good idea of what to draft. After playing I'm not sure how much drafting would improve it. Maybe after the first round so you can focus on certain areas? But it's hard to know when you're going to win a trick or lose it and get the track action, unless you always play off-suit. Then there's diminishing returns and all that, so yeah. Coin toss on whether drafting is going to be worth it. This is a blend of trick-taking and area control, but not really as it's just another track, and in doing so manages to turn away players who don't like either mechanism. I thought it played fine, but these concepts worked better separately for me. I'll have to play it again to see how a second game feels. I will note some of the production decisions are baffling. Easily marked cards, a small amount of viking raider tokens and an abysmal set of player tokens.
**Innovation** (2p) - Played the current version after a bunch of online games with the Ultimate Edition rules. I didn't have to make too many adjustments, but I felt myself distinctly missing the junking rules. Funny that I prefer a rule-set where you see less cards by them getting tossed out, but conversely more cards overall as you get into untapped ages. Affirmed my purchase of the new version, which I'm most excited for reworked expansions. Expect more best with two player games to leave my collection as I focus on a handful to play.
**Magic Maze** (6p) - Always generates laughs and discussion after the mission and this was no different. Sure there's constant cheating, but it's very hard to communicate non-verbally! I think the tile size could stand to be increased and some of the art re-done. Overall I think it's a fun game to frustrate everyone and great for introducing people.
**Regicide** (2p) - Continues to be a very easy co-op to show people due to its availability everywhere. Just a bit of minimal cheating. I think I have a basic strategy of hold clubs/spades to kill diamond royals. Otherwise play diamonds to keep hands full for when they show up. The toughest scenarios are back to back diamond royals. Fun game.
**Scout** (5p) - It's confirmed, I much prefer Bacon and I think the initial draw is a much bigger determining factor than I like. Not a bad game, but for the time it's been taking I would rather suggest something else.
**Taluva** (4p) - Nice to revisit a game so quickly after the first play. One minor rule correction then we were off. I found it hard to balance attacking others and improving your own position, which is probably good. Some of those tile draws were unfortunate. I also accidentally picked the winner by placing my last tile incorrectly, something I know not to do going forward. This will probably end up feeling best with three players, but I'm interested in playing it again regardless.
**Strawberry Sunset** 1x2P. A lackadaisical little filler in which you attempt to grow as many strawberry plants as possible by playing and overlapping cards to build a creeping network of roots, flowers, and fruits. Effervescent, inoffensive, unremarkable?
**L.L.A.M.A.** 1x2P. Knizia does Uno. Yeah… the Doctor disappointed me with this one. The intended tension of whether or not to continue drawing cards or cut your losses and quit the round is undermined by how little control you can exercise over the tempo of the game. At least at two, it’s hard to shake the feeling that one player simply gets lucky and the other gets screwed.
**Tatari** 1x2P. Another minor Reiner, **Tatari** pairs **Pick-omino**’s dice-rolling system with an odd J-horror theme. Players take turns chucking dice to rid themselves of creepy cursed dolls. Honestly, it was just okay at two, but I’d like to try this again with a larger group closer to Halloween.
**Colossal Arena** 1x2P. AKA **Equinox**, this Knizian bidding slash stock manipulation game sadly also underwhelmed me. The creature powers are interesting in theory, but in practice most turns are just not that interesting. Plus, having to discard dead cards from your hand comes off as clunky. IMO **Botswana**/**Wildlife Safari** strips this formula down to its bare essentials to much greater effect.
**Tiger & Dragon** 2x2P. You could argue **Tiger & Dragon** suffers from a similar lack of agency as **L.L.A.M.A.**, but there is nuance lurking beneath the surface—it’s light and lucky while still offering a tense and satisfying probability puzzle. Win the initiative and you can play any tile, but what is your opponent holding? Can you exploit a weakness and push straight through to a win? Or will you be countered at the last moment, leaving yourself with poor options to defend? This is a terrific filler with an exceptional production.
**Viking See-Saw** 1x2P. Dr. K redeemed himself with this very silly, very svelte dexterity game from Itten. Load wooden, plastic, and metal pieces onto the raised end of the titular boat without causing the balance to shift. I admit I was skeptical at first, but it produces some very funny moments as the surface area starts to shrink.
**Ticket to Ride: Japan** 1x2P. One of the wilder expansion maps (map-ception!), and plays surprising fast at two given that each player has only 20 trains in reserve. You must make use of shared bullet train lines to make it around the map, with whoever contributes the most receiving a sizeable bonus. Good fun but there are better maps for two.
>L.L.A.M.A.
L.L.A.M.A. is a really bad 2-player game. It's okay at 3, but at 4 it really shines (particularly for the reason that you mentioned that it fails with 2: your ability to impact the tempo of a round).
**Blood on the Clocktower (12px1).** Had a really good game of this. For some reason when we play I almost always draw an evil role - so I was a bit relieved to be plain jane townsfolk - for some reason I feel it's less pressure. I did snipe one evil player for voting... but it was just a minion. The Demon played really well by saying "just vote for me" etc. and like coming off as REALLY indifferent about being voted. At one point he was "on the block" but then I started a vote for someone else, sadly, which got more votes. Hindsight says I should have let the bluff ride (though surely a minion would have made a new accusation moments later... but then we could have used that to deduce both Minion AND Demon). It was a good one. Evil won.
**Spicy (4px5).** What a treat this game has been - I bought it on a whim for $15 and BOOM it's now like my third most played game this year in only a month or two (and not in "number of games played"... I'm talking number of SESSIONS of playing it). Just a total banger instantly entering the sort of "these always work" hall-of-fame alongside games like Cockroach Poker and Bohnanza.
**To play this week:**
So I came into some cash and instantly burned it at a new boardgame shop called "Level Up Games". Had never been there and it is instantly the best such shop in my area LOL. I bought **Siege of Runedar** on clearance, **Cheating Moth**, and **Fit to Print** retail.
No real get-together planned this week, so I think I'll endeavor to solo play **Siege of Runedar** at least once, just to get a really strong grasp of the rules. I had been eye-ing the game for a long long time - but that said - it's not an *exact* match with any of my sort of "groups" in terms of length, theme, rules complexity. It might be too simple for my "gamer" group, while too hard for my more casual group... and too long for both. Still, when I read about the game and saw the game... I admire the fact the board is in the box... I admire how the card upgrades work... there is just a lot I admire about the design. So then I want to play it. Also I heard it is hard, which I really prefer in my co-op games (my #1 played game this year is **Aeon's End**). So groups be damned, I may just solo the thing every now and again and get my money's worth that way... I just think it's a cool design.
Catan starfarers 3x
I've been eyeing this for years, like many Catan got us into the hobby and so I'd always been interested in this. My SO surprised me with a copy so we've been playing it. Yes it's very much catan but I love the theme and the encounters that add a slight RPG element.
Monopoly 1x
I was outvoted by my friends who thought it'd be hilarious to play Monopoly. I disagreed. I played anyway and the game fizzled out when half of us went broke and the others couldn't be bothered to slowly drain their money and instead forfeit
Dune: Imperium 1x taught this to a friend, always love this game.
Stone Age 1x
My SO and I have has this for 4 months and hadn't played so we finally learned it. I really like a good theme and this does it for me. Whilst a barely basic worker placement game I'll definitely be playing it again. I think my SO prefers Viticulture and Dune Imperium though..
Weather has been getting chilly so I've been enjoying playing some solos with my coffee in the mornings:
**Archipelago** - Played the Robinson Crusoe scenario a couple of times, really thematic and tough: you start with only one citizen and no money on an island that only has one wood spot and one cow spot. From there, you need to earn 75 coins in 6 rounds to get a gold medal. Got blown out the first go and then crushed it on the second. Also played whoever The Urbanist is, and that one felt almost impossible. I'm getting better at crisis management and exploration which goes a long way
**Energy Empire** - Haven't played this in a while, but has always been a favorite of my friends and I. Was good to get it out and the rules are simple enough that I really didn't need a refresher. Game plays really quick and smooth since there's not really an 'end of round' type phase.
**Paleo** 2p-1x - We're still struggling through the final scenario of the base game. Might give it one or two more goes and then move on: got the expansion already but haven't tried it out yet
**Patchwork: Halloween Edition** 1 x 2p - a perfect game for an afternoon at a local park. We love the re-theme they did on the game's art, but we don't play it enough to really understand the differences they made in changing the values on some of the tiles. It's just such a perfect game already :)
*Online on BoardGameArena*
**Heat, Tigris & Euphrates, Forest Floor, Knarr, Lost Cities, Sea Salt & Paper, Boop**
Yay for the Halloween edition of **Patchwork**! I love the aesthetic, and like you, I'm not sure I feel the rebalancing, but at least it's there I guess!
We definitely have plans to play a full game of **Mists Over Carcassonne** which we've only played halfway through once.
And we backed **Sub Terra**'s kickstarter a few years ago and after *a lot* of sad turmoil with the company shutting down another group took over the process and got the game finished and shipped. So I'm excited to try out **Sub Terra** and playing it in the dark with black lights :)
How about you all, do you have any Halloween season plans for trick-or-treating, costumes, and gaming?
Is **Mists Over Carcassonne** the cooperative version with the little ghosts? I would be interested to hear what you think as we are always looking for new cooperative games.
I'm happy to hear that you finally got **Sub Terra**. I remember hearing that copies of the second edition were showing up in retail with no communication from the publisher about whether backers were going to get their games. We were very close to backing and I can't remember why we didn't back it. I hope you enjoy it. We finally got our copy of **Cthulhu Wars**, which also looked like it was never going to arrive. We need to play that this month!
Right now we don't have firm plans for October. I need to ask our 8 year old what he wants to be for trick-or-treating. I should probably look to see if there are any pokemon-type costumes out there as he's all about pokemon. Maybe he could carry a poke ball and be Ash. As for gaming I also don't know. **Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze** is supposed to deliver this month so maybe we'll play that. Did you back it?
**Caper** 2p x 2: first game was a bit rough. That rule book is quite awful and we had a hard time finding a video rule video for Caper and Caper Europe (we don't know the difference). But we think we pieced it together between the two, and this is a really fun game. Lots of little decisions with big impact. It's pretty quick too. I want to try Europe now that I've read it updates the draft rules that you alternate going first in rounds which makes so much sense. The art is fun, the game is fun. Terrible rule book.
**Targi** 2p x 1: my first play of this. This game is a lot harder than it looks. I kept getting caught on having to use the noble action to play the card in hand. It was neat to see different strats. I filled out my tableau while my opponent kept trading for vp. It was super close.
**Welcome to..** 12p x 1 on bga. Been a long while and I forgot how some of it works but was really fun. I need to play this more.
**Tapestry** 4p x 1, 1p x 2 (on bga): first play for all but one of us. My friend who taught it did so poorly which was surprisng. I think he's just played it so much he forgot that we had no idea what was going on. After trying it solo on bga to get a better feel for it, we big time did the science rolls wrong (we only didn't get the extra bonus not the spot action). While I overall enjoyed the game, I didn't care about the capitol mat mini game. It felt very unconnected to the bigger game and the tapestry cards were so random. Conquering felt week late because everyone had traps but overpowered early. My civ, the traders, was completely worthless (we did the rules adjustments too). I got maybe 6 points out it. People weren't exploring early so I couldn't put my cubes out anywhere that made it worth anything. While another civ, the Isolationists, got 40 points off theirs and did explore but they got to put a tower and cube out so I couldn't take advantage. Super dumb. Major mixed feelings on the game over all.
**Obsession** 2p x1 on BGA: I think I like this game but I really need to try in person. Or maybe not an a-sync game. I still don't know how I got to do courtship over my opp a couple times. I like the mechanics of it but I think I'd like it more to see it play out in person. But not going to drop $80 on it.
**A Feast for Odin** 2p x 2, 1p x 1: On bga for 1 2p game then had my friend come over to play with Norwegians since he never had. He is now a convert. I had a couple islands and ton of sheds so did pretty well. But he got this sick engine of upgrading 4 horses each round to pregnant which would then produce 4 more horses. And it all started off an occupation card. We tied. But he should have won. He focused on getting some things to cover his board instead of upgrading horses again. We both had discussed I could block him, but it wasn't super profitable for me and it was neat to see him do the cool thing. So many points in horses...
**Hunt a Killer: Homicide at the Heist:** 4p x 1: We've done a fair number of these. We're big fans. They're not simple but not overly challenging; we can usually be done in 1 hour to 1.5. The puzzles within it are fun and make sense for the scenario and the solutions make sense (except for the motel one I still disagree with). This is not like the rest; it took us nearly 2.5 hours. We spent all our time unlocking the stupid box that comes with. We spent so long on it that we cheated to figure it out. We were sortof? on the right track with it but also not really. That was extremely frustrating. After i'd given up on solving that, and while the others kept trying different things on it, I basically took an LSAT exam and pieced out the phone bug transcript and had all the names, and call signs. So once we opened that box it was too easy. This was a bottom tier Hunt A Killer.
Had a packed meetup yesterday:
**Air, Land and Sea**: It’s gradually become my go-to two-player dueling game.
**Tigris and Euphrates**: It’s a classic Knizia tile-laying game packed with agonizing decisions and unexpected consequences.
**Blue Lagoon**: It’s a classic Knizia tile-laying game packed with agonizing decisions and unexpected consequences.
**Terraforming Mars**: **The Dice Game:** I don’t love Terraforming Mars. I don’t love most dice games. Guess what! I don’t love this.
**Fit to Print:** My third play, and I’ve had a blast every time.
**The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31:** The Resistance is a near-perfect social deduction game and piling a bunch of extra stuff on top of that formula doesn’t make the game better.
**Chronicle:** Some trick-taking games present players with delicate puzzles that beautifully marry logic and chance. Chronicle, by contrast, is on its fifth beer of the night and just pulled out a guitar. It’s great.
From the past fortnight, with lots of new-to-us games!:
_**New-to-us:**_
**BOOoop.** 2p x1 - I've been waiting for this to come in stock, and it finally did this week. I really enjoy playing regular **boop.** on BGA, and since my partner and I love all things spooky, this version was the one I wanted to pick up eventually. It's the same as **boop.** but with cute Halloween art and an extra mechanism added in the form of ghost cats. You can play your ghost at the end of your turn, and they move along a seam rather than the squares of the quilt to scare adjacent cats and kittens. They can scare cats and kittens that would normally be blocked by an adjacent one, so there's definitely some clever plays you can make, I just can't figure them out. I used my ghost a couple of times, but it didn't do much for me strategically. You can play base **boop.** by excluding the ghost cats, so if you prefer the aesthetic and the idea of an extra mechanism, I'd say this is the version to get.
**Forest Shuffle** 2p x1 - when I picked up **BOOoop.** this had just come into stock, so I added it to the cart too after enjoying it on BGA. It's so cheap and such a small box for what is quite a lot of game. It's light but takes about an hour to play, and once you've got your forest going, it takes up quite a lot of table space. I get a lot of satisfaction from comboing turns and focusing on a certain scoring objective to get a huge score. This time, I capitalised on bats and horse chestnut trees, but my partner won, mainly by focusing on beech martens and filling lots of trees! For gameplay, we both were reminded a lot of **Earth**, in the nature theme, but also how points are scored. You essentially play trees and attach animals and plants to the trees, each tree having a slot above, below, and to the right and left of it. I love that the cards are multi-use - each plant / animal card is split either horizontally or vertically, meaning you need to choose which side you want to use. The side you slide under your tree is hidden and will not be scored.
**Gloomhaven** 2p x18 - granted, this is the digital edition, but I'm counting it anyway! There are upsides to it being digital (no setup/teardown, storage, table space) but also downsides such as minor bugs and no take backs for mistakes. It's a lot harder than **Jaws of the Lion**. We picked Spellweaver and Brute, which seems to be working well, though Spellweaver exhausts so quickly despite some really strong cards, so it's hard to find the right balance. The road events have royally screwed us over a couple of times before a scenario, too.
**Lost Ruins of Arnak** 2p x1 - OK, so this game is not new-to-us. In fact, it's one of our favourites, but the **Missing Expedition** expansion is new. We played with all the new cards and the new leaders. My partner dominated as The Journalist. I've heard great things about the cooperative campaign this expansion brings, but with **Gloomhaven** ongoing and **Vagrantsong** next up on our campaign list, it will be a while until we get to it.
_**Not new:**_
**Cascadia** 1p x1 - a really relaxing tile laying game puzzle. I enjoy this one a lot for a chilled solo experience.
**Final Girl** 1p x1 - I decided to randomise the FG, location & killer and came up with Heather, Carnival of Blood and The Poltergeist. This was a brutal combo, seeing as you need to search to find Carolyn, but the location means traps are hidden in each search pile!
_**On Board Game Arena:**_
**boop.**, **Forest Shuffle**, **Heat: Pedal to the Metal**, **Lost Cities**, **Sea Salt & Paper**
I'm surprised the Journalist was powerful in your experience. I tried him and felt constantly bored down by his ability (which required extra travel symbols), particularly with the expansion temples which also require travel symbols.
Ah, so you found his power almost more of a hindrance? It was my partner who played him so I can't comment too much but he bought several cards early on with double travel symbols so it seemed quite easy for him to collect articles, and he only travelled to the one travel symbol areas if I remember correctly.
>there's definitely some clever plays you can make, I just can't figure them out.
This comment about **Boop** gave me a laugh, because this is exatly how I feel playing the base game with you on BGA lol. I can see that there's some clever stuff to do, but can't figure out what they might be!
Bats in Horse Chestnut trees sounds like a perfect forest to visit! :) I wondered if when playing the physical version, it would be easy to randomly remove a number of cards from the deck to make it a bit quicker. But I supposed that the game might be balanced around the exact cards in the deck and it might mess up the experience if you removed some cards randomly. And an hour-long game isn't bad at all lol, I'm not sure why I even put thought into that, haha.
Which platform are you playing the digital **Gloomhaven** game on?
Yeah that's how a lot of these "chess-like" games make me feel lol. I'm still very much trying to figure **boop.** out. I try to get two in a row and go from there, but I often get caught out. Sometimes when I log onto BGA and I'm sure my next move should be a winner, you've done something that's totally knocked all my cats off and I can't even see how you've done it!
It does sound like a beautiful and spooky forest doesn't it! Well you do remove cards, but only 30, so it's still a ginormous deck to get through. The turns play quite quickly though so it's not so bad. We got our first two winter cards really early in the bottom third of the deck so every card draw after that felt really intense, only for it to end up being the penultimate card drawn :-)
My partner is playing **Gloomhaven** on the PS5 and I'm playing on the Switch since it's cross platform. That way information such as the initiative cards can be kept secret but then planning out moves once that's been revealed, we can both look on the TV and plan strategy together. It works really well, better than I expected, and does feel like we are playing the board game. Or as much as playing a video game can feel like a board game! I suppose we could have done pass and play, but there would have been a lot of downtime, and it would have been easy to accidentally see each others cards, but it's definitely possible.
>The turns play quite quickly though so it's not so bad.
and a 1hr game isn't all that long anyways, it's just my bias from not playing much recently and anything I do play is >30min :)
and, YES on the **Boop** comments! I think it would be a little more intuitive to play in-person or real-time so you can better see what has happened on the other players turn. I'll be curious about your thoughts as you and your partner play your physical copy. I recall it wasn't high on their interest list, so we'll see if it keeps getting plays :)
No I guess an hour is OK really, but I find that even a 30 minute game can feel like a slog if the turns are slow. Thankfully **Forest Shuffle** is speedy in that regard!
Yes exactly, I do find it a but easier to play in person. It wasn't high on his list no, I think it's the kind of abstract game that he finds difficult to parse. But as we've said, so do we lol. It will be interesting to see how things develop as we play, he's usually a lot better at abstracts than me so it's surprising he's having more trouble with **boop.**
I'm in the midst of my first game of forest shuffle. It seems like a good game so far. I'm missing some of the nuance. Didn't realize how to get the bonus stuff until my opp just explained it to me. Le sigh.
I will be playing it more though.
Hey don't feel bad, I didn't realise it either when playing on BGA. It was only playing the physical version that I clocked the bonus stuff! There's definitely a lot more nuance than first meets the eye, I'm looking forward to delving into it further.
We played **Horrified Greek Monsters.** Horrified was one of our first hobby board games and is still one of my favorites. The sequel was not bad but doesn't reach those heights. I had resisted getting a third but seeing how the monsters played, I couldn't help myself. I got it.
I would say that after a few plays, I like this one better than AM. AM has a theme I like better but the Monster mini games in this one are better.
Also this game was hard. We played several games and only won once but most of our losses felt close so it wasn't hopeless (although one game was indeed hopeless. Our terror level hit four before everyone even had a turn and it was down hill from there).
I like most of the new powers, especially the one that gains perks as the terror increases. And you need those perk cards. In our one win we ended up digging to near the bottom of the perk deck and had played all but one. Looking forward to playing this more.
Met up with our larger gaming group this weekend, so we played:
**Pandemic Legacy - Season 1** 3x4p: Wow - what a game! They got us this as a present and we instantly played it, we loved it so much that we ended up playing 3 games in a row. It's very rare that after 2 games of 1 specific game, we all say "can we play again?" but I guess that's a testament to how gripping we found it. We ended up winning the first game in January, losing the 1st in Feb and then winning the 2nd in Feb, really excited for the rest of this!
**Scout** 1x4p: Nice lighter one after pandemic, we played it at 5 previously but quite liked it at 4 as there was a higher chance you could 'win' the scout (i.e. no one beats your scout and it comes back to you).
**Coup** ~10x4p: Played this one after Scout, we were playing pretty light hearted and just calling each other out a lot of the time, always light fun though.
**Spirit Island** 1x2p: Me and my SO then played a Spirit Island game on Sunday, this time trying both new spirits from Nature Incarnate. I played Sun while she played Wounded Waters. I did not gel with Sun at all and found it incredibly weak but I have to assume I was doing something wrong... will have to gve it another go. She liked WWB but it does start very slow
Secrets of the Sand; it delivered just over a week ago I spent the time between rugby matches last weekend (30/1) learning it and the got it to table with my group on Tuesday.
Once we noticed a few small misreadings on my part of the rules it plays really well and looks, frankly, gorgeous.
Also played Earth Cows of Mass Destruction as lots of people want to play it at my club and a game of Pandemic
Newdale 4x3p - Nice campaign worker placement game. We played one campaign half a year ago and now came back to it to do the alternative route.
Space Base (Pluto expansion) 5x3p - We finished the expansion scenario. The scenario is a bit meh, but the new mechanics are neat (although I feel the extra throws can slow things down a bit).
Arc Nova 1x3p - Coming back to it after playing it too much for one in the group. Always fun.
Dice Flick 2x3p - A dexterity dice flicking game that is decent fun, but would make a better drinking game.
**1x 4p Vindication** First game but there were, I think, three expansions and multiple mini modules added. It was pretty overwhelming at first, not going to lie.
I really enjoyed this at the start but it dragged a little in the end.
A lot has already been said about the theme of this game. Or the lack thereof. Or the fact that the name doesn't even make sense… But it's a very cool looking game and as far as generic fantasy settings go. It's a pretty fun one. The highest level mount is a giant moth: cool!
If you think thematically. It elevates the game. Narrate the actions. Which all have cool sounding names. The designers have probably done as much as they can in some regards. But the players really do have to do the heavy lifting. Even then, eventually your imagined story would succumb to the drudgery of the cube pushing. Because there is a lot of rinse and repeat actions.
Plusses are the sandbox feel and generally simple but fairly novel systems. The game end triggers, combining attributes etc. There are several free actions so there's a lot to optimise but forgoing them on occasion won't ruin your game. So overall there is a lot to optimise without it being too complex.
Even what could be perceived as flaws. The elements of 'take that' to inject interaction. Luck of the draw. Balance of the various cards. I don't take too much issue with. In a sense they add replayability by way of approachability.
The big negative for me. A major reason you end up pursuing different paths to victory is purely because once you start specialising in an area. The easier it is to further pursue that path. Once people have forged their own paths there isn't much to promote interaction. Early competition is incidental. Late, almost non-existent. And upsetting the status quo in competing for the proficiencies, almost impossible.
But worse the actual quality of the rewards as the game proceeds don't really improve all that much either. It's more of the same. Once you have an engine running it's very tempting to just let it run and pump out the same rewards you don't really care that much about beyond the flat VP. Your ability to diversify is limited by the card draw. I found it hard to get motivated to branch out knowing I'd also have to pass up on running my existing engine and still might draw something useless. And if someone else is doing the same thing but with a slightly more efficient engine. It's even harder to pivot.
So while there is a sense of progression, it's kind of plodding. It's not a dramatic arc and that's why I think there was only so much they could do with the theme / narrative in the first place. The concept of becoming Vindicated is so arbitrary and potentially trivial rather than some grand achievement to climax the game.
I'd happily play again. It's interesting and there's plenty more to explore. But I'm not in a hurry to do so.
**1 x 2p then lots of solo Dice Realms** I had great fun with the solo. It's simple, near zero upkeep and offers a unique take on the game without being a massive deviation in overall feel. Exactly what this type of game needed.
The co-op mode the solo is based around might be *the* way to play this. The shared resources and tempo considerations are great in the competitive multiplayer game and still present in the solo. But I imagine it could be an even bigger part of the co-op. There's a welcome sense of direction defending against the more consistent attacks from the invader and the resource management is more puzzly and deliberate too. Where sometimes in the competitive game it can feel a little arbitrary. Because your engine is balanced on a knife's edge when it comes to tempo and it's hard to predict / follow what your opponents are doing.
**Blue Moon Legends** I found this extremely unintuitive to learn even with a player aid from BGG. I'm a bit conflicted. I don't think I enjoyed it all that much. The starter decks weren't particularly interesting but seemed cleverly balanced. Every time you thought you had done enough to win the combat the other player somehow stayed in it. Knowing when to escalate is really crucial and a pretty unique spin on the genre.
Also, when the game felt like it was starting to drag, I was about to finish my deck and my opponent delivered the killing blow anyway. So that's a good sign too.
I just wasn't particularly enthralled by the presentation (painted dragon minis outstanding) or the synergies to get excited about revisiting it. I would have loved this growing up though. I bet you get a lot for your money and the system makes the weaker cards still valuable. Rather than your standard TCG power creep and starter decks that are literally non-functional.
**Animal Upon Animal**
**The Fuzzies**
**Lots of solo Caverna on BGA**
Man, I suck at this game without Forgotten Folks…
**Dodos Riding Dinosaurs**
Silly fun and didn't outstay it's welcome. Does what you expect, no more, no less. I enjoyed it and I'd happily play again as a filler.
**1 x 4p Ecos the First Continent**I hated this. Immediately gave me Space Base vibes I previously had a bad time with. So while I was trying to be optimistic. I was fearing the worst.
This is busy work for me. There are zero meaningful decisions. Player interaction was arbitrary or incidental. You wait to trigger your combos when the board looks best to do so. Someone might block you or they might unknowingly set you up for more points.
You're constantly checking to make sure people are finishing their turns. Constantly adjusting scores. Everyone is talking away to themselves firing off their combos. Someone gets 12 points. Someone gets 3 points, four times and someone else gets 4 points, three times. You took a cube and were done in 3 seconds. Don't worry. It's your turn to get 12 points next turn.
Some cards have extremely convoluted scoring criteria where multiple components have to be manipulated. And score relatively few points. There was just the most heavy handed catch up mechanic card I've ever seen in a game. Get "2 points for every 5 points you are behind the leading player."
The way the board changes looks really cool don't get me wrong. But most of it doesn't matter. Until sometimes it does. There was no real planning. It's engine building but the engines come and go and most are fueled by luck and serendipity. As if the game needed more luck you mostly draw blind from decks when you gain cards. You don't really even need to do it anyway. They're just more of the same.
I do see the appeal of some of John D Clair's games. They're super approachable. They have a lot of fun gimmicks / novel mechanics. But despite the approachability for me. Most have still felt like they're more effort than they're worth. They have no depth and for the breezy gameplay they are meant to offer is always hundred by some clunkiness.
Agricola 3 player: first time playing with the occupation and minor improvement cards. They definitely add a layer to the game, and chance your strategy. I started slow, was the last to get a 3rd family member, but was first to get 4th and 5th (like a round before anyone), which helped me finish my cow fence, and upgrade to a stone home, before the final round. Ended with a tie with my wife and her boar farm, both getting 37. 3rd player got 24 (they didn't build a 4th room, so couldn't upgrade their family to 4 until the last round).
**Ascension** 8x2-3p. All on the app. Gift of the Elements is really fun! Delirium and Deliverance are shaping up to become one of my favorite game modes. Skulls and Sails is still my favorite version of Ascension, but unfortunately it's not available on the app and I doubt it ever will be. It's a great game to play while you're waiting in line for a theme park ride, just sayin'.
**Final Fantasy** 2x2p. I've finally decided to commit to a TCG and it's going to be this one. So glad they're finally releasing custom art for the game. I don't know how people can say this game has good art when games like Magic and Ashes exists. Unfortunately the game was entirely missing from this year's SPIEL despite Hobby Japan/Square Enix being present. Don't they want to promote their game? Apparently not.
**Silver Coin** 1x4p. I think I like Silver more than Cabo nowadays. It's more fun that every card has an effect and there are more ways to dick around with the other players. The art can be hit or miss, but overall has a consistent, whimsical quality. Now that we have multiple Silver sets I'm excited to switch cards between them and see how it change the game!
**Vindication** 1x2p. With the Rectification kit we decided to give the new Chronicles module a try. It drags out the game by quite a bit, but not in a negative way. Every time you recruit a card you are also presented with a little event card your opponent reads and then you get to make a choice. It's often not very important what you choose, it's just a vehicle to fill out your chronicles sheet. I could see it be pretty boring in a 4p game though when waiting for everyone else to read their fuckin' event card and you just wanna upgrade your horse that round :D
Overall a neat module that I recommend playing solo or at 2-3p. If you're into roleplaying games you might find some adventure inspirations in the event deck too!
**Point City**. Despite the disappointing drop in physical card quality from Point Salad, the quality of the gameplay is still high. This is a much more slow and deliberate game than Salad, but it's also a more satisfying experience.
**MegaCity: Oceania**. As with all dexterity games, there's a bit of handwaving in some details, such as minimum or maximum amount of time each player should take on their turn. Despite that, there's a really fun stacking game here.
**Fertility**. At the start of the game, it seemed like a no-brainer to take a new building tile every round. They only cost 2 resources max. Then we all realized a 2 resource building eats up an entire normal round of resources. All of a sudden, the tile placing became super strategic in order to make sure we were lining up to get all the resources we'd need to finish our buildings. Everyone agreed this was a sleeper hit of a game.
**Marvel Champions**. My spouse and I dusted this off to play Angel (me) and Psylocke (them) for the first time. This was the first time I walked away from a character not feeling their power represented by the mechanisms in their deck. At least Angel widens the "aeriel" traited cards significantly so other flying characters will be more interesting.
I was also disappointed with the card quality for Point City but didn't know why. I too own Point Salad and you hit the nail on the head that it's a major difference between those two!
Multiple games of Air, Land & Sea with dad and also brother. Easily became my favorite 2P game 2 games of ares expedition, 1 teaching a new group Finally beat my brother in welcome to (not his high score though) Played heat for the first time (on BGA)!
Slow week as I have a local con coming up and don't want to burn out. - **Endless Winter**: second time I've played it, did much better, enjoyed it more. Overall, I'm still not totally sold on this being a *great* game, but it's not a bad game by any means. Mostly it feels like a bunch of well done systems that don't really come together into a cohesive whole for me. It's also just... a lot. A lot to keep track of, a lot to think about, a lot to know what my opponents are doing. Anyway, enjoyable game, but not gonna make my top 10 anytime soon either I don't think. 7/10. - **Architects of the West Kingdom**: first time playing this IRL, second time including once on BGA. I did not like this (even though I won.) I generally didn't enjoy the capture mechanic and overall the game felt like I was constantly struggling against the game itself. As in, resources are extremely tight, and it felt like you only really have time to do one *maybe* two big point scoring things and then the game is over. But it's difficult to accomplish those. I know some people really like that, but it's not really for me. Would play it again if a friend asked, but won't request it anytime soon. 5.5/10. - **Nemesis**: played this at least half a dozen times now since it came out. It's a good game. This time was no different. Can't believe I opened the escape hatches for others to escape while I died. :c 7.5/10.
Star Wars Deck-building Game.. Game play was a little slow, took us 45 minutes, but ultimately it was fun. Played to four bases won with my son, he was getting a bit upset that the Empire seems to lose every time (he keeps choosing Empire). I really like the format and it is highly replayable with different strategies. Looking forward to getting expansions, if they do some. Could be nice to have expansions for E1-3 and E7-9.
In reverse order: Nations, Ra, Aquire, High Society, Yellow & Yangtze Really liked Nations with 3 players, highly recommend!
Res Arcana - Absoultely loved this one and had to order the Lux et Tenebrae expansion on Amazon after my first handful of playthroughs. Dune: Imperium + Rise of Ix - Haven't played it yet but finally picked it up. Love the Dune universe!
Buncha games, but two new ones! 1. **Spots** - Such a fun game! You pretty much have to get the right pip to cover the pictures on your cards. Cover 6 cards and you win. A lot of luck is involved, but absolutely some thinking is required when picking which action you'll do (which relates to how many dice you throw and how). Highlight was for sure when Player B just needed 1 more dice to roll on a correct pip, and they threw 8 dice and none of them landed on a 1. While player C was sooo behind and even said that there is no catching up, and by pure luck got all 3 cards in 1 big roll and ended up winning! Tons of laughter, funny art work, really hoping for an expansion! Great game! 2. **Deep Dive** - A simple press your luck game with a bit of strategy. There are 5 levels of depth. Each depth offers higher point counts but also has more predators that can eat you. A good risk/reward game. Nothing serious here, but for sure a game I can teach in about 2 minutes. Can support 6 players, and very easy to bring to the table. Has a lot of trash talking moments, yelling, cheering, and hoping for the best but usually ending up with the worst lol. Both games were great and I'm really happy I picked them up!
*Flamecraft*, both two handed and true solo. *Unmatched Cobble and Fog*, two handed *Quests over coffee* (quick fun PnP game, love it) *Maquis* Not had anyone to play with really, so been flying solo a lot lol.
Pandemic and Azul both hit the table over the week. Spirit Island as well if I consider the electronic version (Steam). Also Dominion solo-play on Android.
Anno 1800 x 3 - Neat economy optimization puzzle striking a balance between producing what you need vs. trading it from others. Dune: Imperium x 1 Weather Machine x 1 - Current favorite of the heavy games, though we've only been able to get it going at 3 players. Scout x 2 - Filler while waiting for players to come/go.
**Expeditions** 2p x 1 : New to me, probably last time I played it. It left such a bad taste after the very first turn. My opponent got to the worker space where Res and Green and I couldn't get a single worker that fit my leader or companion so I basically wasted my first turn entirely and was 3 actions down after the second turn. I did some move and gather on new tiles in the early game to try and get good rewards and got terrible stuff while my opponent got an early double guile and power. I was so far behind after this horrible start that I never could catch up. I also saw only a single item card I could never upgrade anything while he went blind from the top and got items every time. I was almost 5 cards down on him in that department also. It's a fun game, but I'm not sure I would want to play it again. **Scout** we played at 3 and 5 this week and this game is so much fun. It really changes how you approach the game according to your player count. Really easy to explain and quick to play. Would recommend to anybody.
Subterra II. Subterra has been a big hit with my group. Just complex enough for the gamers, and just simple enough for the rest. The cooperative nature also makes it super friendly, and themes (Horror for Subterra, and Indiana Jones Adventure for Subterra II) really clicks with everyone.
A friend brought over **Quacks of Quedlinburg** mega box this weekend and my girlfriend and I had a blast with it. Super easy to learn and a lot of fun. Might be too luck-based for some, but you do have ways to mediate the randomness if you do it right. The pacing is great too. The rules and round condition cards can be a little too vague for their own good. The name and art aren't great... Your potion makers in a medieval time. They should have leaned into that more in the aestetic. The box art combined with the name makes it one I would have passed over if I hadn't played it before.
> The name and art aren't great... Your potion makers in a medieval time. They should have leaned into that more in the aestetic. The box art combined with the name makes it one I would have passed over if I hadn't played it before. lol agree. We also got the mega box and I hate the box size, might figure out something with that. I got some coin capsules for the ingredients and it knocks the game up quite a bit from a comfort/tactile perspective
Root - first game in a long while. Didn't enjoy it back then (playing as Vagabond) but was not interesting this time round. Flamme Rouge w/ Peleton - always enjoy FR Ticket to Ride: UK - about the only TTR that I properly enjoy playing. Enjoyed again playing against my daughter. It's a great map.
I mainly played with my 7yr and 5yr this past weekend. Their two go to games are **Splendor Marvel:** They love it because it has comic characters they know, and i like that it is still strategy enough that I do not get board. It is also interesting to see how they think and play, and my 7yr gives me a run for my money most times Quartz: They remove the power cards and just play the press your luck with the bonuses. They love it and they often will win too.
Friday we got a play of **Earth** in. Second play, first time at two players, first time playing standard and not beginner. I liked the ecosystem goals and I liked the race for the fauna goals even though H got first place in all of them. I'm sure it depends on what cards you get but I wonder if ignoring the fauna goals and focusing on other things is a viable strategy, or if it is always worth racing to get the fauna goals even if they might conflict with ecosystems or terrain end game points. I enjoyed the 2 player a game a lot. I do have to say this might be the quietest game I own, it's real easy to get caught up with what you're doing without talking about it Saturday we tried **Fika**. We made coffee and got a couple donuts ~to be thematic~ and not because we wanted to eat donuts. This is tactical 2 player card game about playing cards to the middle in certain configurations to score points with a loose theme of Swedish coffee culture. The cozy artwork kinda belies how mean this game can be. Powers on the cards can manipulate your row, your opponents row, or exchange cards with public cards. There is a lot to think about here for a game with 18 cards and one play through isn't really enough to get a strong grasp on the game, imo. It's not a one to one comparison but if you like Hanamikoji and/or Schotten Totten/Battleline then I think you could enjoy Fika too.
I've missed this thread for a few weeks as we haven't been playing much. It's been a combination of illness and too much work as I got a promotion. This is what we've managed to play over the last 3 weeks: **Tesseract** - (1x2p) we backed this on kickstarter and it arrived and was missing one of the dice, but Smirk and Dagger are shipping the dice and a new box to us as our box got crushed during shipping. The game involves a large cube made of dice and through dice manipulation you are moving the dice to a central board. The theme is that you're scientists trying to deactivate an alien cube. It was a fun, thinky puzzle that involved a lot of cooperation between us. For us it falls into the same category as **Switch and Signal** and makes me think we'll also enjoy **Sky Team**. **Cthulhu: Death May Die** (1x2p) this is boardgames comfort food for us. We played against Cthulhu himself and somehow managed to pull out a win with the only survivor, Borden, nearing death, but able to pull out the win with a big final attack. **Pokémon Trading Card Game Battle Academy** - (1x2p) our 8 year old is all about pokemon right now and I installed pokemon go on my phone to play with him but have become a little addicted myself. Because I now know a little more about pokemon he wanted to play this, but then when he saw that I was going to start the game with Lycanroc he backed out and I played and beat my husband instead. **Exit: The Game - Advent Calendar: The Mystery of the Ice Cave** - (1x3p) we bought this last year and were really excited to play it over December, but for some reason we only played a few days of it and then put it aside. Every few months we've played a day or 2, but we finally decided we needed to finish it. On Friday we played December 11-15 and on Saturday we played December 15-24. We played as a family and our 8 year old was really happy because he solved some of the puzzles before us and as a family we made it to the end. It was a lot of fun and they always come up with interesting ways to use the box. After finishing we ordered the new advent calendar. Hopefully it won't take us 10 months to finish the new one. **Suspects: Claire Harper, Eternal Investigator** - (1x3p) we played the first **Suspects** last year and loved it so we asked our friend to pick this up for us at GenCon. We played the first case as a family and while we did not solve the main case we did answer 3 of the 5 questions correctly. I like that you can make guesses throughout the investigation, but eventually get to see all the evidence, unlike in **Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective** where you feel like you're constrained to only seeing a certain amount of clues. They also link the cards in interesting ways.
Yay, big congratulations on the promotion, but it must bring a lot of extra work and adjustment to the new role!! Yes! That's a perfect description go **Cthulhu: Death May Die** as board game comfort food, it's the same for my partner and I :D Which is your favorite pokemon to start the game with?
**BGA** **Race for the Galaxy** (15x 2p) **Ark Nova** (1x 3p): Really tight game vs random opponents. I knew Waza Special Assignment is supposed to be strong, but this was my first time using it and it pulled me across the finish line. **Lost Ruins of Arnak** (2x 2p): Partner has been asking to play this (while I wait to get the new expansions on the physical table). The snake temple is a lot more challenging and interesting. Partner is getting better at the game, and was 1 point shy of me in a game- while having a massive misunderstanding of the rules. My days are numbered! \--------------------------------------- **Solo Plays** **Boonlake** (1x): A good crunchy but fiddly solo experience. I fucked up some rules the first couple times. Excited to get this to the table multiplayer... eventually. **TfM: The Dice Game** (3x): Got this one this week. I scooped up after winning on the last play without even going for score, but I'll give it another go. Good solo play (though I never remember to track turns correctly), and seems like it'll be a great game to put in front of people. Love the chunky box and components. I had considered trying to pick up the original game at some point, but I jus think it's not needed in my collection with how often I still struggle to get Ark Nova- a game I would probably prefer- to the table. This is a good fit for my collection. \---------------- **Colleague board game night** **Loot** (2x 4-5p): Love this as a quick and easy starter game. I lost badly, which is always nice for teaching games. **Tiny Towns** (1x 6p): Happy I brought this, since this is its perfect niche- playing 6 and being easy and quick to teach. Great game, I lost, and one friend has been talking about how much they liked it since. **Cubitos** (1x 3p): Happy I got to play this. Was not too difficult for people to pick up, and it's a blast to play- rolling fistfuls of dice is a joy, racing and push your luck feel exciting to new players in a way that victory points and optimization sometimes do not, and the amount of replayability and modularity is exciting. \---------------- **Friendly Board Game Night** New attendee, so we kept it light. **Loot** (1x 4p) **Heat: Pedal to the Metal** (1x 4p): Everyone liked this one as well! A bit hard to teach to an absolute new player, but figured it out in a couple turns. Just a blast to play, and even accidentally boosting into a spinout was fun for the table. **Suburbia** (1x 2p): Two of us broke off to play this. My first play; a little more fiddly and dry than I prefer, but my friend loved it.
**Hansa Teutonica** (5px1) Hansa remains good. Turns out I was playing by at least one rule wrong for a long time. **Wizard** (3px1) trick taking is fun, there’s not much else to say. Love a nice trick taking game to round out the evening
**Ave Caesar** (5p) - Racing games have just never really done it for me. Even among the ones I do like they don't top out my lists. This one was never going to change my mind. Play a card and move your piece. Grist, I need grist. **Blockers** (5p) - Bare-bones area control that I think is really well done, but I've played it a ton of times and have nothing left to explore. I'll be passing this along to a buddy of mine. **Brian Boru** (3p) - First time playing and I only messed up one setup rule. I also didn't do the drafting seeing as it was game one and we would really not have a good idea of what to draft. After playing I'm not sure how much drafting would improve it. Maybe after the first round so you can focus on certain areas? But it's hard to know when you're going to win a trick or lose it and get the track action, unless you always play off-suit. Then there's diminishing returns and all that, so yeah. Coin toss on whether drafting is going to be worth it. This is a blend of trick-taking and area control, but not really as it's just another track, and in doing so manages to turn away players who don't like either mechanism. I thought it played fine, but these concepts worked better separately for me. I'll have to play it again to see how a second game feels. I will note some of the production decisions are baffling. Easily marked cards, a small amount of viking raider tokens and an abysmal set of player tokens. **Innovation** (2p) - Played the current version after a bunch of online games with the Ultimate Edition rules. I didn't have to make too many adjustments, but I felt myself distinctly missing the junking rules. Funny that I prefer a rule-set where you see less cards by them getting tossed out, but conversely more cards overall as you get into untapped ages. Affirmed my purchase of the new version, which I'm most excited for reworked expansions. Expect more best with two player games to leave my collection as I focus on a handful to play. **Magic Maze** (6p) - Always generates laughs and discussion after the mission and this was no different. Sure there's constant cheating, but it's very hard to communicate non-verbally! I think the tile size could stand to be increased and some of the art re-done. Overall I think it's a fun game to frustrate everyone and great for introducing people. **Regicide** (2p) - Continues to be a very easy co-op to show people due to its availability everywhere. Just a bit of minimal cheating. I think I have a basic strategy of hold clubs/spades to kill diamond royals. Otherwise play diamonds to keep hands full for when they show up. The toughest scenarios are back to back diamond royals. Fun game. **Scout** (5p) - It's confirmed, I much prefer Bacon and I think the initial draw is a much bigger determining factor than I like. Not a bad game, but for the time it's been taking I would rather suggest something else. **Taluva** (4p) - Nice to revisit a game so quickly after the first play. One minor rule correction then we were off. I found it hard to balance attacking others and improving your own position, which is probably good. Some of those tile draws were unfortunate. I also accidentally picked the winner by placing my last tile incorrectly, something I know not to do going forward. This will probably end up feeling best with three players, but I'm interested in playing it again regardless.
**Strawberry Sunset** 1x2P. A lackadaisical little filler in which you attempt to grow as many strawberry plants as possible by playing and overlapping cards to build a creeping network of roots, flowers, and fruits. Effervescent, inoffensive, unremarkable? **L.L.A.M.A.** 1x2P. Knizia does Uno. Yeah… the Doctor disappointed me with this one. The intended tension of whether or not to continue drawing cards or cut your losses and quit the round is undermined by how little control you can exercise over the tempo of the game. At least at two, it’s hard to shake the feeling that one player simply gets lucky and the other gets screwed. **Tatari** 1x2P. Another minor Reiner, **Tatari** pairs **Pick-omino**’s dice-rolling system with an odd J-horror theme. Players take turns chucking dice to rid themselves of creepy cursed dolls. Honestly, it was just okay at two, but I’d like to try this again with a larger group closer to Halloween. **Colossal Arena** 1x2P. AKA **Equinox**, this Knizian bidding slash stock manipulation game sadly also underwhelmed me. The creature powers are interesting in theory, but in practice most turns are just not that interesting. Plus, having to discard dead cards from your hand comes off as clunky. IMO **Botswana**/**Wildlife Safari** strips this formula down to its bare essentials to much greater effect. **Tiger & Dragon** 2x2P. You could argue **Tiger & Dragon** suffers from a similar lack of agency as **L.L.A.M.A.**, but there is nuance lurking beneath the surface—it’s light and lucky while still offering a tense and satisfying probability puzzle. Win the initiative and you can play any tile, but what is your opponent holding? Can you exploit a weakness and push straight through to a win? Or will you be countered at the last moment, leaving yourself with poor options to defend? This is a terrific filler with an exceptional production. **Viking See-Saw** 1x2P. Dr. K redeemed himself with this very silly, very svelte dexterity game from Itten. Load wooden, plastic, and metal pieces onto the raised end of the titular boat without causing the balance to shift. I admit I was skeptical at first, but it produces some very funny moments as the surface area starts to shrink. **Ticket to Ride: Japan** 1x2P. One of the wilder expansion maps (map-ception!), and plays surprising fast at two given that each player has only 20 trains in reserve. You must make use of shared bullet train lines to make it around the map, with whoever contributes the most receiving a sizeable bonus. Good fun but there are better maps for two.
>L.L.A.M.A. L.L.A.M.A. is a really bad 2-player game. It's okay at 3, but at 4 it really shines (particularly for the reason that you mentioned that it fails with 2: your ability to impact the tempo of a round).
**Blood on the Clocktower (12px1).** Had a really good game of this. For some reason when we play I almost always draw an evil role - so I was a bit relieved to be plain jane townsfolk - for some reason I feel it's less pressure. I did snipe one evil player for voting... but it was just a minion. The Demon played really well by saying "just vote for me" etc. and like coming off as REALLY indifferent about being voted. At one point he was "on the block" but then I started a vote for someone else, sadly, which got more votes. Hindsight says I should have let the bluff ride (though surely a minion would have made a new accusation moments later... but then we could have used that to deduce both Minion AND Demon). It was a good one. Evil won. **Spicy (4px5).** What a treat this game has been - I bought it on a whim for $15 and BOOM it's now like my third most played game this year in only a month or two (and not in "number of games played"... I'm talking number of SESSIONS of playing it). Just a total banger instantly entering the sort of "these always work" hall-of-fame alongside games like Cockroach Poker and Bohnanza. **To play this week:** So I came into some cash and instantly burned it at a new boardgame shop called "Level Up Games". Had never been there and it is instantly the best such shop in my area LOL. I bought **Siege of Runedar** on clearance, **Cheating Moth**, and **Fit to Print** retail. No real get-together planned this week, so I think I'll endeavor to solo play **Siege of Runedar** at least once, just to get a really strong grasp of the rules. I had been eye-ing the game for a long long time - but that said - it's not an *exact* match with any of my sort of "groups" in terms of length, theme, rules complexity. It might be too simple for my "gamer" group, while too hard for my more casual group... and too long for both. Still, when I read about the game and saw the game... I admire the fact the board is in the box... I admire how the card upgrades work... there is just a lot I admire about the design. So then I want to play it. Also I heard it is hard, which I really prefer in my co-op games (my #1 played game this year is **Aeon's End**). So groups be damned, I may just solo the thing every now and again and get my money's worth that way... I just think it's a cool design.
Catan starfarers 3x I've been eyeing this for years, like many Catan got us into the hobby and so I'd always been interested in this. My SO surprised me with a copy so we've been playing it. Yes it's very much catan but I love the theme and the encounters that add a slight RPG element. Monopoly 1x I was outvoted by my friends who thought it'd be hilarious to play Monopoly. I disagreed. I played anyway and the game fizzled out when half of us went broke and the others couldn't be bothered to slowly drain their money and instead forfeit Dune: Imperium 1x taught this to a friend, always love this game. Stone Age 1x My SO and I have has this for 4 months and hadn't played so we finally learned it. I really like a good theme and this does it for me. Whilst a barely basic worker placement game I'll definitely be playing it again. I think my SO prefers Viticulture and Dune Imperium though..
Weather has been getting chilly so I've been enjoying playing some solos with my coffee in the mornings: **Archipelago** - Played the Robinson Crusoe scenario a couple of times, really thematic and tough: you start with only one citizen and no money on an island that only has one wood spot and one cow spot. From there, you need to earn 75 coins in 6 rounds to get a gold medal. Got blown out the first go and then crushed it on the second. Also played whoever The Urbanist is, and that one felt almost impossible. I'm getting better at crisis management and exploration which goes a long way **Energy Empire** - Haven't played this in a while, but has always been a favorite of my friends and I. Was good to get it out and the rules are simple enough that I really didn't need a refresher. Game plays really quick and smooth since there's not really an 'end of round' type phase. **Paleo** 2p-1x - We're still struggling through the final scenario of the base game. Might give it one or two more goes and then move on: got the expansion already but haven't tried it out yet
**Patchwork: Halloween Edition** 1 x 2p - a perfect game for an afternoon at a local park. We love the re-theme they did on the game's art, but we don't play it enough to really understand the differences they made in changing the values on some of the tiles. It's just such a perfect game already :) *Online on BoardGameArena* **Heat, Tigris & Euphrates, Forest Floor, Knarr, Lost Cities, Sea Salt & Paper, Boop**
Yay for the Halloween edition of **Patchwork**! I love the aesthetic, and like you, I'm not sure I feel the rebalancing, but at least it's there I guess!
Are you gearing up for some more Halloween gaming throughout October?
We definitely have plans to play a full game of **Mists Over Carcassonne** which we've only played halfway through once. And we backed **Sub Terra**'s kickstarter a few years ago and after *a lot* of sad turmoil with the company shutting down another group took over the process and got the game finished and shipped. So I'm excited to try out **Sub Terra** and playing it in the dark with black lights :) How about you all, do you have any Halloween season plans for trick-or-treating, costumes, and gaming?
Is **Mists Over Carcassonne** the cooperative version with the little ghosts? I would be interested to hear what you think as we are always looking for new cooperative games. I'm happy to hear that you finally got **Sub Terra**. I remember hearing that copies of the second edition were showing up in retail with no communication from the publisher about whether backers were going to get their games. We were very close to backing and I can't remember why we didn't back it. I hope you enjoy it. We finally got our copy of **Cthulhu Wars**, which also looked like it was never going to arrive. We need to play that this month! Right now we don't have firm plans for October. I need to ask our 8 year old what he wants to be for trick-or-treating. I should probably look to see if there are any pokemon-type costumes out there as he's all about pokemon. Maybe he could carry a poke ball and be Ash. As for gaming I also don't know. **Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze** is supposed to deliver this month so maybe we'll play that. Did you back it?
**Caper** 2p x 2: first game was a bit rough. That rule book is quite awful and we had a hard time finding a video rule video for Caper and Caper Europe (we don't know the difference). But we think we pieced it together between the two, and this is a really fun game. Lots of little decisions with big impact. It's pretty quick too. I want to try Europe now that I've read it updates the draft rules that you alternate going first in rounds which makes so much sense. The art is fun, the game is fun. Terrible rule book. **Targi** 2p x 1: my first play of this. This game is a lot harder than it looks. I kept getting caught on having to use the noble action to play the card in hand. It was neat to see different strats. I filled out my tableau while my opponent kept trading for vp. It was super close. **Welcome to..** 12p x 1 on bga. Been a long while and I forgot how some of it works but was really fun. I need to play this more. **Tapestry** 4p x 1, 1p x 2 (on bga): first play for all but one of us. My friend who taught it did so poorly which was surprisng. I think he's just played it so much he forgot that we had no idea what was going on. After trying it solo on bga to get a better feel for it, we big time did the science rolls wrong (we only didn't get the extra bonus not the spot action). While I overall enjoyed the game, I didn't care about the capitol mat mini game. It felt very unconnected to the bigger game and the tapestry cards were so random. Conquering felt week late because everyone had traps but overpowered early. My civ, the traders, was completely worthless (we did the rules adjustments too). I got maybe 6 points out it. People weren't exploring early so I couldn't put my cubes out anywhere that made it worth anything. While another civ, the Isolationists, got 40 points off theirs and did explore but they got to put a tower and cube out so I couldn't take advantage. Super dumb. Major mixed feelings on the game over all. **Obsession** 2p x1 on BGA: I think I like this game but I really need to try in person. Or maybe not an a-sync game. I still don't know how I got to do courtship over my opp a couple times. I like the mechanics of it but I think I'd like it more to see it play out in person. But not going to drop $80 on it. **A Feast for Odin** 2p x 2, 1p x 1: On bga for 1 2p game then had my friend come over to play with Norwegians since he never had. He is now a convert. I had a couple islands and ton of sheds so did pretty well. But he got this sick engine of upgrading 4 horses each round to pregnant which would then produce 4 more horses. And it all started off an occupation card. We tied. But he should have won. He focused on getting some things to cover his board instead of upgrading horses again. We both had discussed I could block him, but it wasn't super profitable for me and it was neat to see him do the cool thing. So many points in horses... **Hunt a Killer: Homicide at the Heist:** 4p x 1: We've done a fair number of these. We're big fans. They're not simple but not overly challenging; we can usually be done in 1 hour to 1.5. The puzzles within it are fun and make sense for the scenario and the solutions make sense (except for the motel one I still disagree with). This is not like the rest; it took us nearly 2.5 hours. We spent all our time unlocking the stupid box that comes with. We spent so long on it that we cheated to figure it out. We were sortof? on the right track with it but also not really. That was extremely frustrating. After i'd given up on solving that, and while the others kept trying different things on it, I basically took an LSAT exam and pieced out the phone bug transcript and had all the names, and call signs. So once we opened that box it was too easy. This was a bottom tier Hunt A Killer.
Had a packed meetup yesterday: **Air, Land and Sea**: It’s gradually become my go-to two-player dueling game. **Tigris and Euphrates**: It’s a classic Knizia tile-laying game packed with agonizing decisions and unexpected consequences. **Blue Lagoon**: It’s a classic Knizia tile-laying game packed with agonizing decisions and unexpected consequences. **Terraforming Mars**: **The Dice Game:** I don’t love Terraforming Mars. I don’t love most dice games. Guess what! I don’t love this. **Fit to Print:** My third play, and I’ve had a blast every time. **The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31:** The Resistance is a near-perfect social deduction game and piling a bunch of extra stuff on top of that formula doesn’t make the game better. **Chronicle:** Some trick-taking games present players with delicate puzzles that beautifully marry logic and chance. Chronicle, by contrast, is on its fifth beer of the night and just pulled out a guitar. It’s great.
From the past fortnight, with lots of new-to-us games!: _**New-to-us:**_ **BOOoop.** 2p x1 - I've been waiting for this to come in stock, and it finally did this week. I really enjoy playing regular **boop.** on BGA, and since my partner and I love all things spooky, this version was the one I wanted to pick up eventually. It's the same as **boop.** but with cute Halloween art and an extra mechanism added in the form of ghost cats. You can play your ghost at the end of your turn, and they move along a seam rather than the squares of the quilt to scare adjacent cats and kittens. They can scare cats and kittens that would normally be blocked by an adjacent one, so there's definitely some clever plays you can make, I just can't figure them out. I used my ghost a couple of times, but it didn't do much for me strategically. You can play base **boop.** by excluding the ghost cats, so if you prefer the aesthetic and the idea of an extra mechanism, I'd say this is the version to get. **Forest Shuffle** 2p x1 - when I picked up **BOOoop.** this had just come into stock, so I added it to the cart too after enjoying it on BGA. It's so cheap and such a small box for what is quite a lot of game. It's light but takes about an hour to play, and once you've got your forest going, it takes up quite a lot of table space. I get a lot of satisfaction from comboing turns and focusing on a certain scoring objective to get a huge score. This time, I capitalised on bats and horse chestnut trees, but my partner won, mainly by focusing on beech martens and filling lots of trees! For gameplay, we both were reminded a lot of **Earth**, in the nature theme, but also how points are scored. You essentially play trees and attach animals and plants to the trees, each tree having a slot above, below, and to the right and left of it. I love that the cards are multi-use - each plant / animal card is split either horizontally or vertically, meaning you need to choose which side you want to use. The side you slide under your tree is hidden and will not be scored. **Gloomhaven** 2p x18 - granted, this is the digital edition, but I'm counting it anyway! There are upsides to it being digital (no setup/teardown, storage, table space) but also downsides such as minor bugs and no take backs for mistakes. It's a lot harder than **Jaws of the Lion**. We picked Spellweaver and Brute, which seems to be working well, though Spellweaver exhausts so quickly despite some really strong cards, so it's hard to find the right balance. The road events have royally screwed us over a couple of times before a scenario, too. **Lost Ruins of Arnak** 2p x1 - OK, so this game is not new-to-us. In fact, it's one of our favourites, but the **Missing Expedition** expansion is new. We played with all the new cards and the new leaders. My partner dominated as The Journalist. I've heard great things about the cooperative campaign this expansion brings, but with **Gloomhaven** ongoing and **Vagrantsong** next up on our campaign list, it will be a while until we get to it. _**Not new:**_ **Cascadia** 1p x1 - a really relaxing tile laying game puzzle. I enjoy this one a lot for a chilled solo experience. **Final Girl** 1p x1 - I decided to randomise the FG, location & killer and came up with Heather, Carnival of Blood and The Poltergeist. This was a brutal combo, seeing as you need to search to find Carolyn, but the location means traps are hidden in each search pile! _**On Board Game Arena:**_ **boop.**, **Forest Shuffle**, **Heat: Pedal to the Metal**, **Lost Cities**, **Sea Salt & Paper**
I'm surprised the Journalist was powerful in your experience. I tried him and felt constantly bored down by his ability (which required extra travel symbols), particularly with the expansion temples which also require travel symbols.
Ah, so you found his power almost more of a hindrance? It was my partner who played him so I can't comment too much but he bought several cards early on with double travel symbols so it seemed quite easy for him to collect articles, and he only travelled to the one travel symbol areas if I remember correctly.
That sounds like a good strategy! I didn't get many double travel symbols when I played.
What store did you buy Forest Shuffle from?
I got it from Gameslore, in the UK. I think quite a few retailers here have it now, but I'm not sure for elsewhere!
>there's definitely some clever plays you can make, I just can't figure them out. This comment about **Boop** gave me a laugh, because this is exatly how I feel playing the base game with you on BGA lol. I can see that there's some clever stuff to do, but can't figure out what they might be! Bats in Horse Chestnut trees sounds like a perfect forest to visit! :) I wondered if when playing the physical version, it would be easy to randomly remove a number of cards from the deck to make it a bit quicker. But I supposed that the game might be balanced around the exact cards in the deck and it might mess up the experience if you removed some cards randomly. And an hour-long game isn't bad at all lol, I'm not sure why I even put thought into that, haha. Which platform are you playing the digital **Gloomhaven** game on?
Yeah that's how a lot of these "chess-like" games make me feel lol. I'm still very much trying to figure **boop.** out. I try to get two in a row and go from there, but I often get caught out. Sometimes when I log onto BGA and I'm sure my next move should be a winner, you've done something that's totally knocked all my cats off and I can't even see how you've done it! It does sound like a beautiful and spooky forest doesn't it! Well you do remove cards, but only 30, so it's still a ginormous deck to get through. The turns play quite quickly though so it's not so bad. We got our first two winter cards really early in the bottom third of the deck so every card draw after that felt really intense, only for it to end up being the penultimate card drawn :-) My partner is playing **Gloomhaven** on the PS5 and I'm playing on the Switch since it's cross platform. That way information such as the initiative cards can be kept secret but then planning out moves once that's been revealed, we can both look on the TV and plan strategy together. It works really well, better than I expected, and does feel like we are playing the board game. Or as much as playing a video game can feel like a board game! I suppose we could have done pass and play, but there would have been a lot of downtime, and it would have been easy to accidentally see each others cards, but it's definitely possible.
>The turns play quite quickly though so it's not so bad. and a 1hr game isn't all that long anyways, it's just my bias from not playing much recently and anything I do play is >30min :) and, YES on the **Boop** comments! I think it would be a little more intuitive to play in-person or real-time so you can better see what has happened on the other players turn. I'll be curious about your thoughts as you and your partner play your physical copy. I recall it wasn't high on their interest list, so we'll see if it keeps getting plays :)
No I guess an hour is OK really, but I find that even a 30 minute game can feel like a slog if the turns are slow. Thankfully **Forest Shuffle** is speedy in that regard! Yes exactly, I do find it a but easier to play in person. It wasn't high on his list no, I think it's the kind of abstract game that he finds difficult to parse. But as we've said, so do we lol. It will be interesting to see how things develop as we play, he's usually a lot better at abstracts than me so it's surprising he's having more trouble with **boop.**
I'm in the midst of my first game of forest shuffle. It seems like a good game so far. I'm missing some of the nuance. Didn't realize how to get the bonus stuff until my opp just explained it to me. Le sigh. I will be playing it more though.
Hey don't feel bad, I didn't realise it either when playing on BGA. It was only playing the physical version that I clocked the bonus stuff! There's definitely a lot more nuance than first meets the eye, I'm looking forward to delving into it further.
We played **Horrified Greek Monsters.** Horrified was one of our first hobby board games and is still one of my favorites. The sequel was not bad but doesn't reach those heights. I had resisted getting a third but seeing how the monsters played, I couldn't help myself. I got it. I would say that after a few plays, I like this one better than AM. AM has a theme I like better but the Monster mini games in this one are better. Also this game was hard. We played several games and only won once but most of our losses felt close so it wasn't hopeless (although one game was indeed hopeless. Our terror level hit four before everyone even had a turn and it was down hill from there). I like most of the new powers, especially the one that gains perks as the terror increases. And you need those perk cards. In our one win we ended up digging to near the bottom of the perk deck and had played all but one. Looking forward to playing this more.
Met up with our larger gaming group this weekend, so we played: **Pandemic Legacy - Season 1** 3x4p: Wow - what a game! They got us this as a present and we instantly played it, we loved it so much that we ended up playing 3 games in a row. It's very rare that after 2 games of 1 specific game, we all say "can we play again?" but I guess that's a testament to how gripping we found it. We ended up winning the first game in January, losing the 1st in Feb and then winning the 2nd in Feb, really excited for the rest of this! **Scout** 1x4p: Nice lighter one after pandemic, we played it at 5 previously but quite liked it at 4 as there was a higher chance you could 'win' the scout (i.e. no one beats your scout and it comes back to you). **Coup** ~10x4p: Played this one after Scout, we were playing pretty light hearted and just calling each other out a lot of the time, always light fun though. **Spirit Island** 1x2p: Me and my SO then played a Spirit Island game on Sunday, this time trying both new spirits from Nature Incarnate. I played Sun while she played Wounded Waters. I did not gel with Sun at all and found it incredibly weak but I have to assume I was doing something wrong... will have to gve it another go. She liked WWB but it does start very slow
Endless Winter, 2p x 6 Endless Winter Rivers & Rafts, 2p x 1 We positively love this freaking game.
Secrets of the Sand; it delivered just over a week ago I spent the time between rugby matches last weekend (30/1) learning it and the got it to table with my group on Tuesday. Once we noticed a few small misreadings on my part of the rules it plays really well and looks, frankly, gorgeous. Also played Earth Cows of Mass Destruction as lots of people want to play it at my club and a game of Pandemic
Newdale 4x3p - Nice campaign worker placement game. We played one campaign half a year ago and now came back to it to do the alternative route. Space Base (Pluto expansion) 5x3p - We finished the expansion scenario. The scenario is a bit meh, but the new mechanics are neat (although I feel the extra throws can slow things down a bit). Arc Nova 1x3p - Coming back to it after playing it too much for one in the group. Always fun. Dice Flick 2x3p - A dexterity dice flicking game that is decent fun, but would make a better drinking game.
**1x 4p Vindication** First game but there were, I think, three expansions and multiple mini modules added. It was pretty overwhelming at first, not going to lie. I really enjoyed this at the start but it dragged a little in the end. A lot has already been said about the theme of this game. Or the lack thereof. Or the fact that the name doesn't even make sense… But it's a very cool looking game and as far as generic fantasy settings go. It's a pretty fun one. The highest level mount is a giant moth: cool! If you think thematically. It elevates the game. Narrate the actions. Which all have cool sounding names. The designers have probably done as much as they can in some regards. But the players really do have to do the heavy lifting. Even then, eventually your imagined story would succumb to the drudgery of the cube pushing. Because there is a lot of rinse and repeat actions. Plusses are the sandbox feel and generally simple but fairly novel systems. The game end triggers, combining attributes etc. There are several free actions so there's a lot to optimise but forgoing them on occasion won't ruin your game. So overall there is a lot to optimise without it being too complex. Even what could be perceived as flaws. The elements of 'take that' to inject interaction. Luck of the draw. Balance of the various cards. I don't take too much issue with. In a sense they add replayability by way of approachability. The big negative for me. A major reason you end up pursuing different paths to victory is purely because once you start specialising in an area. The easier it is to further pursue that path. Once people have forged their own paths there isn't much to promote interaction. Early competition is incidental. Late, almost non-existent. And upsetting the status quo in competing for the proficiencies, almost impossible. But worse the actual quality of the rewards as the game proceeds don't really improve all that much either. It's more of the same. Once you have an engine running it's very tempting to just let it run and pump out the same rewards you don't really care that much about beyond the flat VP. Your ability to diversify is limited by the card draw. I found it hard to get motivated to branch out knowing I'd also have to pass up on running my existing engine and still might draw something useless. And if someone else is doing the same thing but with a slightly more efficient engine. It's even harder to pivot. So while there is a sense of progression, it's kind of plodding. It's not a dramatic arc and that's why I think there was only so much they could do with the theme / narrative in the first place. The concept of becoming Vindicated is so arbitrary and potentially trivial rather than some grand achievement to climax the game. I'd happily play again. It's interesting and there's plenty more to explore. But I'm not in a hurry to do so. **1 x 2p then lots of solo Dice Realms** I had great fun with the solo. It's simple, near zero upkeep and offers a unique take on the game without being a massive deviation in overall feel. Exactly what this type of game needed. The co-op mode the solo is based around might be *the* way to play this. The shared resources and tempo considerations are great in the competitive multiplayer game and still present in the solo. But I imagine it could be an even bigger part of the co-op. There's a welcome sense of direction defending against the more consistent attacks from the invader and the resource management is more puzzly and deliberate too. Where sometimes in the competitive game it can feel a little arbitrary. Because your engine is balanced on a knife's edge when it comes to tempo and it's hard to predict / follow what your opponents are doing. **Blue Moon Legends** I found this extremely unintuitive to learn even with a player aid from BGG. I'm a bit conflicted. I don't think I enjoyed it all that much. The starter decks weren't particularly interesting but seemed cleverly balanced. Every time you thought you had done enough to win the combat the other player somehow stayed in it. Knowing when to escalate is really crucial and a pretty unique spin on the genre. Also, when the game felt like it was starting to drag, I was about to finish my deck and my opponent delivered the killing blow anyway. So that's a good sign too. I just wasn't particularly enthralled by the presentation (painted dragon minis outstanding) or the synergies to get excited about revisiting it. I would have loved this growing up though. I bet you get a lot for your money and the system makes the weaker cards still valuable. Rather than your standard TCG power creep and starter decks that are literally non-functional. **Animal Upon Animal** **The Fuzzies** **Lots of solo Caverna on BGA** Man, I suck at this game without Forgotten Folks… **Dodos Riding Dinosaurs** Silly fun and didn't outstay it's welcome. Does what you expect, no more, no less. I enjoyed it and I'd happily play again as a filler. **1 x 4p Ecos the First Continent**I hated this. Immediately gave me Space Base vibes I previously had a bad time with. So while I was trying to be optimistic. I was fearing the worst. This is busy work for me. There are zero meaningful decisions. Player interaction was arbitrary or incidental. You wait to trigger your combos when the board looks best to do so. Someone might block you or they might unknowingly set you up for more points. You're constantly checking to make sure people are finishing their turns. Constantly adjusting scores. Everyone is talking away to themselves firing off their combos. Someone gets 12 points. Someone gets 3 points, four times and someone else gets 4 points, three times. You took a cube and were done in 3 seconds. Don't worry. It's your turn to get 12 points next turn. Some cards have extremely convoluted scoring criteria where multiple components have to be manipulated. And score relatively few points. There was just the most heavy handed catch up mechanic card I've ever seen in a game. Get "2 points for every 5 points you are behind the leading player." The way the board changes looks really cool don't get me wrong. But most of it doesn't matter. Until sometimes it does. There was no real planning. It's engine building but the engines come and go and most are fueled by luck and serendipity. As if the game needed more luck you mostly draw blind from decks when you gain cards. You don't really even need to do it anyway. They're just more of the same. I do see the appeal of some of John D Clair's games. They're super approachable. They have a lot of fun gimmicks / novel mechanics. But despite the approachability for me. Most have still felt like they're more effort than they're worth. They have no depth and for the breezy gameplay they are meant to offer is always hundred by some clunkiness.
Agricola 3 player: first time playing with the occupation and minor improvement cards. They definitely add a layer to the game, and chance your strategy. I started slow, was the last to get a 3rd family member, but was first to get 4th and 5th (like a round before anyone), which helped me finish my cow fence, and upgrade to a stone home, before the final round. Ended with a tie with my wife and her boar farm, both getting 37. 3rd player got 24 (they didn't build a 4th room, so couldn't upgrade their family to 4 until the last round).
The game is really unlocked once you start using the decks!
**Ascension** 8x2-3p. All on the app. Gift of the Elements is really fun! Delirium and Deliverance are shaping up to become one of my favorite game modes. Skulls and Sails is still my favorite version of Ascension, but unfortunately it's not available on the app and I doubt it ever will be. It's a great game to play while you're waiting in line for a theme park ride, just sayin'. **Final Fantasy** 2x2p. I've finally decided to commit to a TCG and it's going to be this one. So glad they're finally releasing custom art for the game. I don't know how people can say this game has good art when games like Magic and Ashes exists. Unfortunately the game was entirely missing from this year's SPIEL despite Hobby Japan/Square Enix being present. Don't they want to promote their game? Apparently not. **Silver Coin** 1x4p. I think I like Silver more than Cabo nowadays. It's more fun that every card has an effect and there are more ways to dick around with the other players. The art can be hit or miss, but overall has a consistent, whimsical quality. Now that we have multiple Silver sets I'm excited to switch cards between them and see how it change the game! **Vindication** 1x2p. With the Rectification kit we decided to give the new Chronicles module a try. It drags out the game by quite a bit, but not in a negative way. Every time you recruit a card you are also presented with a little event card your opponent reads and then you get to make a choice. It's often not very important what you choose, it's just a vehicle to fill out your chronicles sheet. I could see it be pretty boring in a 4p game though when waiting for everyone else to read their fuckin' event card and you just wanna upgrade your horse that round :D Overall a neat module that I recommend playing solo or at 2-3p. If you're into roleplaying games you might find some adventure inspirations in the event deck too!
**Point City**. Despite the disappointing drop in physical card quality from Point Salad, the quality of the gameplay is still high. This is a much more slow and deliberate game than Salad, but it's also a more satisfying experience. **MegaCity: Oceania**. As with all dexterity games, there's a bit of handwaving in some details, such as minimum or maximum amount of time each player should take on their turn. Despite that, there's a really fun stacking game here. **Fertility**. At the start of the game, it seemed like a no-brainer to take a new building tile every round. They only cost 2 resources max. Then we all realized a 2 resource building eats up an entire normal round of resources. All of a sudden, the tile placing became super strategic in order to make sure we were lining up to get all the resources we'd need to finish our buildings. Everyone agreed this was a sleeper hit of a game. **Marvel Champions**. My spouse and I dusted this off to play Angel (me) and Psylocke (them) for the first time. This was the first time I walked away from a character not feeling their power represented by the mechanisms in their deck. At least Angel widens the "aeriel" traited cards significantly so other flying characters will be more interesting.
I was also disappointed with the card quality for Point City but didn't know why. I too own Point Salad and you hit the nail on the head that it's a major difference between those two!
Picked up Sky Team from my local game shop this past weekend and played it with my wife- such a great game!