Yesterday I had a bloody great afternoon playing boardgames with my friend Jeff.

It’s been a while since I’ve played with Jeff. So it was really great that we could meet up and play a game or two.

After what has become a Sunday gaming thing for me of having a hot carvery roll (this week pork and stuffing) before starting, and a brief catch up. We played some games.

Our first game of the afternoon was Undaunted: Normandy.

Now those with a long memory will remember I had played Undaunted once before with Jonathan back in 2019.

On paper Undaunted should be right up my alley. Deckbuilding, modular board, World War 2 theme, etc. It ticks so many things I like.

But after my original play Jonathan and I were both left feeling a little meh! about the game. That’s despite at the time and since the majority of players loving it.

Yesterday Jeff and I played scenario 2: Montmartin-en-graignes. I was the bad guys, the German Army. Whilst Jeff played the forces of good, the Allies.

I had an enjoyable time playing Undaunted. But I’m still on the fence over it. It doesn’t for some reason rock my world. Which I can’t put my finger on why. As I wrote earlier it should.

Don’t get me wrong I’d play it again. But it’s not a game I’d go out of my way to play it.

Oh the Allies won.

Our second game of the afternoon was a new game to me Claustrophobia with the De Profundis expansion (or parts of).

For this first play I was the humans, which means Jeff was the demon forces.

Jeff chose the Survivors scenario for us to play. Which meant I had to find the exit and get at least two humans to it to win.

I was getting some Sub Terra vibes with the exploring and revealing tiles. I think the scenario helped with that.

But I also felt a Space Hulk like vibe too. With the one vs one, a small team trying to achieve a goal whilst facing off against insurmountable odds.

I like the map tiles being revealed and the demon player choosing the orientation. They can really screw over the human player. Plus the tiles can have a negative, positive, or neutral effect on either players when revealed.

It’s also a game that has gaming moments. Such as Jeff needing a single hit to kill one of my team. Rolling four dice and not a single hit. Oh the banter afterwards.

Our game ended in a draw because I managed to get a human to the exit. Whilst Jeff murdered the remaining three of my team.

How much did I like Claustrophobia? Enough to look into getting it for myself. However even the 2019 reprint is out of print. Which is a shame. I wouldn’t mind a copy in the collection.

Our third and final game of the afternoon was one from my pile of shame, Alhambra the dice game.

I got Alhambra the dice game a few years back now from Jonathan. And it’s sat on my shelf of shame ever since. It nearly got played on my last visit to Nathan. However it never made it to the table. But I did read the rules whilst there. It intrigued me that you had the “core” game, plus a variant that used the tiles from the original game.

However we were playing the “core” game with its two player rules. Which basically adds a third player.

The initial round of the game I wasn’t feeling the game. But then wow!

I really like this version of Alhambra. You have the whole push your luck Yahtzee dice rolling, majority area control, power ups.

Plus on each turn you have a hard decision of which building you are going to aim for. You can’t go for them all. At most you can try and get the majority on five of the six building types. Or you can try and get the top two majorities on one building pushing any other players out of the end of round scoring positions.

You may decide not to even go for a building type because you are too far behind on the scoring track for that building.

Then after round one, three, and five, points are awarded for how far up the scoring track you are for each building.

These are two simple mechanics that combine really well to present some interesting choices as you play.

Jeff romped home with the victory.

I can’t wait to play again, and try the variant using the original game.

I had a great afternoon gaming with Jeff. Who is just as competitive, if not more so than me. So no punches were pulled. However we both had fun.

But this was a rare two player game session. Which meant games we normally don’t get to the table because of the player count got to the table.

I look forward to repeating it soon.