Yesterday Diego and I got to play some games.

We started off the afternoon playing a two player game of Dune Imperium Uprising with the House Haggle deck as the third player. Ok technically it was the Dire Wolf app replacing the deck but still it was the digital version of those cards.

This was a strange game. For starters I never bought my third agent. Something I always do as early as possible! I just wasn’t getting much solari in this game.

The game also went the full 10 rounds. Neither Diego or myself were close to triggering the end of the game. And until the last combat it was looking like the run away winner was going to be the AI!

The last combat was a power play by myself. And was crucial to me coming from behind and seizing victory. With a worm in the combat if I won I was going to be able to claim my rewards twice. That meant victory was worth 4 victory points for me.

During that final round I was the clear leader with the committed forces to that final battle. But Diego had intrigue cards he could play. There was the potential to turn the tide of war in his favour.

But that fear was for nought. When it came to resolving the combat Diego had no tricks to play to steal the victory.

I had my 4 points and shot up to 9 points and the lead.

Did Diego have end of game intrigue cards then? Sadly for him nope. My last gasp power play was enough to snatch victory.

We followed up Dune Imperium Uprising with learning to play the dice game Dandelions.

This is an unusual game in my collection. It is very specific on the number of players it supports. Dandelions only plays two or three players.

Dandelions plays very fast. We played three games in less than 40 minutes.

I think Dandelions appears deceptively simple. Roll your dice, select one to use, move that number of spaces, put dice on card you finish on. Doesn’t sound very complicated. However that glosses over the area control element, where to move opponents dice to, etc.

So yes the basic game play may be extremely simple. However although not TI4 level of decision making, there are some deeper decisions to make.

I love the dry erase score sheet. That’s a very nice touch.

The fact that we played three games back to back should tell you all you need to know. This is another small box game that makes it easy to just leave in the game bag ready to play at a club night.

Our final game of the afternoon was Senso Battle for Japan.

I like trick taking games. My teenage years were spent playing knock out whist. Having one of my grand parents run a pub for part of my childhood, and two pubs (now long closed and turned into rental properties) literally next to my nans. Where many a time was spent with nan and locals playing pub games like dominoes. So the old traditional pub games are in my dna so to speak.

Thinking about it maybe my years playing knock out whist, and Top Trumps is why I like card games like MtG. That competitive duel.

Anyway Senso adds in an area control mechanic to this trick taking game.

The art on the cards is gorgeous and thematic. Setup is the same no matter the player count. Which is nice. The only thing that changes based on player count is the number of cards dealt each round after the first.

I like how the number of tricks you win each round determines your action that you take after all the cards have been played. As the rounds progress the number cards in your opening hand goes up, and the more tricks to be won. This opens up the possibility of being able to do more powerful actions.

As a two player game I thought it worked well. I get the feeling at higher player counts it gets a lot more cut throat. Not only on taking tricks, but on the area control part.

Definitely a game I need to try with more players.

I am enjoying these Sunday afternoon gaming sessions. Hopefully lots more to come.

New stuff on the way or arrived

So yes it wouldn’t be a just after payday week without some new stuff on the way.

First up are the three latest promo packs for Rolling Realms, Wyrmspan, Obsession, and Crusaders. I can’t wait for Rolling Realms Redux with the larger box. To say there is a storage issue currently if you have all the promo packs, or a large proportion of them, is an understatement.

Next I pulled the trigger on the second expansion for Parks called Wildlife. This is described as the “more” expansion. So more cards for the various decks. Plus a “minor” game play addition that I’ll go over once it arrives and gets to the table.

Finally I bought three roll and write print and plays! I forget which YouTube video I watched that put me onto these. But I bought Voyages, Waypoints, and Aquamarine from Postmark Games. They were dirt cheap at £4 each. I just need to print out four copies of each and laminate them (so I don’t have to keep printing and wasting ink) before I get them to the table.

This afternoon gaming with Jeff, Charlene, and Annabelle (Charlene’s daughter) was such fun.

We started off playing Wyrmspan.

A second play of the latest game from the Stonemaier Games stable. I’m loving it. I love how I can do combos in the game. On one turn I was able to combo it so I played two cave cards from the trade row for free. A couple turns later in the same round I got three dragons out for free on one action.

At this point I didn’t care if I won or lost. I’d done a couple of cool things. I’d got that MtG feel.

In the end I didn’t win. I came last by a massive single point. The lore books will show that Jeff was the dragon lord.

We followed up Wyrmspan with a game of Can’t Stop. This was so much fun at the full player count. Lots of going bust. Lots of banter. Lots of fake sympathy when some-one went bust on their turn. It was a hoot.

And amidst all this banter and laughter Jeff claimed the win.

Our final game of the afternoon was Sea Salt and Paper. I’d only played this two players previously. But I really liked it at the higher player count. This will be staying in the game bag I think as a nice little filler game. Oh Jeff won getting the clean sweep of wins for the afternoon.

After a busy week it was great to have an afternoon gaming with my friends. Plus Liverpool won their first trophy of the season. An amazing day.