Category Archives: Game day

Big game weekend

Fenland Gamers, Game day, game night

This weekend I played only three games.

They were not short games.

It started off with an all in game of Dune Imperium.

Thanks to a bit of AP from a player this game took a lot longer than it should.

The game went to the full ten rounds with Dave managing to push his final score to a whooping 14 victory points. Very impressive for a first play.

We finally left the WSM Community Centre just before 11pm!

Still I really love Dune Imperium with both expansions. I must get the deluxe expansion. But the thing putting me off is the upgraded dreadnoughts are not available outside the US.

Saturday saw the regular D&D session happening. But the post mortem post will go into that. So I’ll spare you the pain here of me waffling on about it.

Sunday afternoon was a six player all in game of Scythe.

I foolishly forgot to make notes of who played what faction with which player board.

  • Republic of Polania (White) – Archie
  • Saxony Empire (Black) – Marcin
  • Nordic Kingdoms (Dark Blue) – Claire
  • Rusviet Union (Red) – Me (I had the agriculture board)
  • Vesna (Light Blue) – Rise of Fenris – Dave
  • Fenris (Orange) – Rise of Fenris – Charlene

For this game I used the War objective track, along with the modular board. The resolution tile for this game was Mission Possible. The two wind gambit cards thus game were Reap and War Correspondent.

I could have made the game more aggressive with the rivals module but decided that that, and the mech and tech modules were a module too far for the two noobs, and two partial noob players.

I had two great objectives for this aggression biased game. Sadly I completed neither.

The game was a blast.

I love just how much variability this game has meaning no two games are the same.

At six players we were in danger of running out of time before the community centre closed.

But still that was to be expected.

Not many games played over the weekend. But three great big games were.

Doomed Civilisations

Game day, game night, life, the universe, and everything

It’s been a great weekend of gaming.

Friday evening saw Doom the board game, 2004 edition get to the table.

We had a blast but you know I’m not going to say anything about that now. I’m saving that for a future Doom post (is anyone reading them, or finding them interesting?)

The 2016 edition and another copy of the 2004 edition with the expansion haven’t arrived yet. But I’m looking forward to their arrival.

Saturday saw Tapestry hitting the table with the third and final expansion Fantasies and Futures (F&F) thrown in with everything else. So it was a true all in experience.

We were using just the new civilisations from F&F so we didn’t need to take into account any civ adjustments.

Our starting civilisations

Also I used my usual trick of mixing the new cards in so that we get to see the new stuff during play. Which basically means the new cards were shuffled in with the top third of the respective deck.

The house rules were used for the game were the usual get two civilisations, choose one. The other being when drawing a tapestry card draw two, keep one.

I felt my first two tapestry cards were very thematic for my civilisation. But at a couple of points in the game I did top deck some pretty good stuff. One was the tapestry card Tapestry! Plus the Elder Ones civilisation, or a space tile that gave me 13 victory points.

My first two tapestry cards

Despite not going up on the exploration track that far. I didn’t get out of the first era. I still made it into space thanks to a tapestry card.

The Illuminati civilisation I can see being adjusted later in the year. It was very powerful in this game I thought. I’m either getting extra stuff if the opponents use the dice. Or I’m getting up to 18 victory points an income phase. It does force your opponents into making difficult decisions about what to do.

My final two civilisations (top) and Dave’s (bottom)

Add in getting the Elder Ones basically giving me an extra turn after I’ve done my fifth income phase.

I loved the new stuff F&F bought to the game. Charms are cool. Making the decision of which tapestry card to play and when even harder. Plus having stuff trigger on the fifth era income phase.

In terms of what it adds to gameplay it’s perfect as there is no real overhead to using them.

And OMG the new rulebook! So flipping good. Half the physical size. But the complete reference for the whole game including the expansions.

As you can see the final scores below show a comprehensive victory.

Final scores

That’s my highest score ever in the game. Wow!

Now all I’ve got to do is build the folded space insert!

My Weekends Gaming

bgstat, Fenland Gamers, Game day, game night

Just a brief post to share which games I played this weekend.

Friday was club for Fenland Gamers and I got to not only meet Dave and his partner Clack. But also got to play a couple of games with them.

I had a blast introducing them to Libertalia Winds of Galecrest and Survive Escape from Atlantis.

Libertalia was a four player game that saw the first two days with three of us playing the same cards. But more worrying for Clank was we played the same cards for the whole of that first voyage. No one wants to be on the same wavelength as me! That way leads to madness.

I did manage to scrape the win by a point, and introduced Dave and Clank to the name “first loser” for the runner up/second place. Jeff I will forever be grateful that you introduced me to that name.

Survive for such a mean game is so much fun for everyone playing. But I guess that does depend on whose playing to some extent.

All I know about our game Friday night was we had great fun playing the game. What’s more I some how managed to win! That’s back to back victories for me playing either of the Survive games. I’d like to claim it was due to skill but considering I don’t have a clue about the value of which survivors I get to safety it’s pure luck.

Saturday illness human and canine took out two of the three of our D&D group that could make the planned session.

So Luke and I met up, grabbed a burger (double quarter pounder with cheese, and cheesy chips), before playing Red Rising.

I really do like Red Rising and the choices you have to make during the game. How I ever thought this wasn’t for me I don’t know.

In our two games that we played (we both won one a piece) I needed a red card to trigger the end game bonus on one of my cards. Did any come up during either game? Not one. Between games I had to check the deck to make sure there was some there. Luckily I had a card that allowed during the end of the game allowed you to choose a colour.

I did use some new functionality within the bgstat app that is in beta testing and that is score sheets.

For some of the games in bgstat with the score sheets functionality enabled when recording a game play or viewing one you will see the little score sheet icon (see magnified bit in the image above).

Click on that icon and you are taken to the score sheet for the game, where you can enter or view the score sheet for that play.

I really liked how the score sheet worked for Red Rising. This is really cool. If they end up charging me to use this in the future when it’s ready for prime time (which it seems it is) I’d happily pay for it.

Bgstat just gets better and better.

Right got to end this post, plan next weekends gaming (hoping to get Doom to the table) and rearrange D&D.

A Pleasant Afternoon of Half Term Gaming

Game day

Tuesday saw a gaming session that would most likely not have happened if I hadn’t changed jobs.

In all likely hood I would have had a shift.

It sounds and looks like I’m hating on my old job. But I’m not.

I loved being a shift leader, and really loved the folks I worked with. And I miss them a lot.

It’s just that days off during the week shifted around, and usually when others were not free. It played havoc with getting together for D&D.

But this post is about the games we played Tuesday.

As this was a weekday daytime gaming session we needed to host the session somewhere other than our usual place (it’s closed during the day). Charlene very kindly opened up her home and played host.

We started off with a game of Trekking Through History.

There was only one way to describe how well I did in this game. Pathetic.

Lucky I enjoy playing the game. Despite doing really badly score wise I did take some really cool treks through time.

I do love that element of the game, and the stories you can tell with the cards. One moment you are painting in caves, the next helping write a play with Shakespeare.

But those history books will show Marcin won the game.

Our next game was one of the current hot games of the moment, Flamecraft.

Charlene’s daughter joined us for this game because she really liked the game.

I know Charlene said her husband was very competitive when playing games. But experienced gamers are a different type of competitive.

This would be a learning experience for the daughter.

I really liked Flamecraft.

The copy we were playing was a pimped out retail version. Which meant it looked pretty cool on the table. From the lovely plastic dragon figures to the wooden resources. I did like the gold coins. They had a nice weight to them.

But to pimp out the game like this takes it from an affordable, value for money game, to a too expensive for what it is game.

It’s definitely a gateway game.

Which if it looked like this at the retail price would be a must buy, and sell even more copies especially to non-gamers. But I can’t help feel that a non-gamer playing this pimped out version (or Kickstarter version) would feel cheated when they opened their retail copy.

Having said that I think this game easily stands up there with classic gateway games such as Catan or Ticket to Ride.

I like how completing an objective makes the shop you are currently in more rewarding the next time you or another player visit it.

I would like to see a bit more variation in the dragon powers.

Overall it’s a nice game that Jeff won.

How did Charlene’s daughter get on against three ruthless gamers? She held her own. But learnt that when given a resource we ain’t being generous. Especially when she can’t keep the extra resource because she already has the maximum allowed. So we get the bonus/reward and she gets nothing. I’m hoping in future games she uses that tactic herself.

We finished off the afternoon with a game of Dune Imperium with both expansions Rise of Ix, and Immortality.

I really do enjoy playing this game. Even more so despite it being a space hog on the table with the two expansions.

Since getting the Rise of Ix expansion this game saw the most tech tiles bought in a game. I think this was more to do with the tiles that came out.

None of us used our house token to reset the trade row this game. But this is something I’d house rule if I was just playing the base game. It fixes a complaint some have about the game.

I did trigger the end of the game with one round to spare.

My emphatic victory with 13 points was not only the highest score for all the games I’ve played to date.

It was made even more sweeter because I took an alliance token from Jeff. That point swing is massive in Dune Imperium where victory points are hard to get, and scores so tight.

Plus earlier when I got to take a random intrigue off of Jeff the one I got scuppered Jeff’s end of game scoring plans and gave me one to aim for. Which I was able to pull off with a slight change to my plans.

I had a great afternoon gaming with friends. And a really big thank you to Charlene for opening up her home to us, and for providing pizza.

At Last A Weekend of Gaming

Fenland Gamers, Game day, game night

A week into the new job and already I’m seeing a difference in what I can do in my spare time.

Finally I made a Friday Night gaming session in 2023. I know it’s only two that I missed but still that number would have gone up. In fact I don’t think I would have got any of this weekends gaming (apart from maybe todays) done if still in my old job.

My first game of the evening was Survive: Space Attack!

Somehow I managed to win the game. It wasn’t by design.

I don’t look at the values of the survivors at the start, or care which one gets placed where. During my turn if I get to place a monster/alien I combine the rules “shits and giggles” and “rule of cool” for placing it. I have no plan.

And yet I won this time. Don’t figure.

We followed up my victory with a game of Long Shot: the Dice Game.

I really do prefer this to Camel Up! for my racing, placing a bet, style game.

With four players the game has its backwards and forwards as everyone tries to manipulate the race. For a longtime I thought my two horses were going to take the top two spots, but in the end Colin and Jonathan managed to out manoeuvre me and get their horses into those spots instead, leaving me with a third place finish only.

Jonathan like his horse romped home with the win.

After nearly a two month hiatus our D&D group finally got back round the table on Saturday afternoon. But I’m not going to write about that in this post. You’ll get to read all about it in the post mortem.

This afternoon (Sunday) saw Julie and me meet up to play a game or two.

We started out with a learning game of Mariposas. Yeah the game by the Elizabeth Hargrave.

I think Mariposas was always going to suffer from what I can best describe as “second album syndrome” after having such a big hit with Wingspan.

What I like about Hargrave is her using less common themes for her games. Mariposas is about butterflies and their migration. I think her next game is based on some Russian experiment where they were breeding foxes to domesticate them. Themes that have a very broad appeal.

I have to say I was surprised how light Mariposas was. It felt very gateway like.

The game also played very quickly. It takes place over three seasons (aka rounds). You start off taking only four actions on the first round, five on the second, and finally six on the third and final one.

Add in end of round objectives, a bit of set collection, and you have a pleasant gaming experience.

At under £30 for a copy it’s not bad value.

Our next game was a first play of Motor City.

Once you get over the iconography this game feels very different to Three Sisters. Its definitely more puzzley and a lot less combotastic.

I liked the game a lot, and needs unpacking in-depth in another post after more games have been played.

We finished off the afternoons gaming with a game of the flip and write Silver and Gold.

It’s been a great weekend of gaming. Something I’ve not had in a long time.

Wait, am I the bad guy here?

Game day

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.

Two days of gaming

Game day

Sunday afternoon saw Charlene, Ben, and Harrison met up with yours truly to play some games!

We started off with Tapestry and both expansions. Yes an “all in” game using the new Tapestry neoprene playmat that Stonemaier sell.

It’s a beautiful mat.

You can see below who played which civilisations. We did apply the appropriate civilisation adjustments from the Arts and Architects expansion.

Who played which civilisation in Tapestry

Now I should really be posting the three minute video of Ben taking one of his goes. But that’d be cruel. But he was beautiful minding it at the time.

In the end Ben’s Futurists ran away with the victory. Falling short of breaking the 300 point barrier. But still a final score of 282 was pretty impressive.

Our second and final game of the afternoon was another Stonemaier game Red Rising.

Back when Red Rising first came out I wasn’t grabbed by what I saw of the game play. At the time I thought the game wasn’t for me.

Reflecting on this I think it was I had one image of what the game would be based on what Jamey had initial described the game as. Which I thought sounded right up my street. Then the actually game play details game out and it wasn’t what I thought. Feeling a little disappointed I decided that this wasn’t a game I’d enjoy. So I never got it.

However now I’ve played Red Rising all I can say is I was wrong. This is very much a game I enjoy.

I liked it a lot. So much so my next order from Stonemaier will indeed include Red Rising (ok I took a break from writing this to order it, along with the playmat!)

Who played which “faction” in Red Rising

This was a lot of fun. How many more ways can I say I liked the game?

I loved that each player had a unique power.

I thought the hand management side was cool. Towards the end I didn’t want to play any cards as I wanted to keep them all. Mainly because they triggered off of each other for end game scoring.

I liked how once you play a card for its ability you then have the tough decision (potentially) of which card to pick up. The card you want may not be in the right column for you to get the reward you want. Then you have to decide which to go for.

In the end Charlene triggered the end of the game and got the victory.

This was the deluxe version of the game, and as usual the component quality was very high.

Monday was a gaming morning with Diego.

Our first game of the morning was Long Shot the dice game.

I really do like this game. I needed a game like this in my collection. If there was a choice between this and Camel Up, this would win hands down every time.

Next up we learnt Silver and Gold.

Wow. This is a fun, quick, flip and write.

It’s definitely not even close to being a heavy roll/flip and write.

This is a nice little filler game. Yep twenty – thirty minutes to play. That quick.

Diego just pipped me to the win.

Finally our morning of gaming was finished off with a game of Splendor Duel, and a big thrashing by Diego. Yep my streak of having never won a game of Splendor in all its forms continues.

A distinct lack of wins the last two days. But still had great fun playing with friends.

Father Son Gaming New Year Edition Part Deux

father son gaming, Game day, game night

After tea last night Nathan and I did indeed play his favourite boardgame Star Wars Outer Rim and it’s only expansion Unfinished Business.

Nathan once again played as Boba Fett with the Crime Lord ambition. Which after the rather disappointing Book of Boba Fett seemed appropriate and in-line with the characters ambitions in that series.

I didn’t play Jyn Erzo but for a change I went with Doctor Aphra. A character I was unfamiliar with. But her ability was cool. I thought deep down Aphra wanted to be a Pirate Monach so that was the ambition I selected.

After taking an early lead on the fame track, and on my ambitions goals, Nathan soon started to close the gap on the fame track. It be a while before he made a late surge on his ambition goals.

In that time I quickly upgraded my ship and modded it so I stood a better chance of getting my ambition objectives.

A failed attempt to complete my goal of becoming the Pirate Monach was enough of an opening to allow Nathan to get his own attempt in to become a Crime Lord. Sadly that also failed. But my second attempt to become the Pirate Monach did not.

I snatched victory from what would have been a heroic comeback by Nathan.

It was a great ending with Nathan rolling six dice for my opponent in my final combat, and not rolling a single hit. I just needed a single hit to win. I got two. And I took no damage.

It was a glorious victory.

Today was my final day with Nathan before heading back.

After another relaxed start to the day. We played a learning game of Isle of Cats Explore and Write.

This is a flip and write that’s been on my radar for a while now. So to now have it in my collection and get it to the table with Nath is pretty cool.

I got some Cartographers vibes whilst playing the game. Mainly from drawing the polyomino shapes on the board.

How anyone fills all the rooms in seven rounds I have no bloody idea. Is it even possible?

I love the quality of the cards, and the linen finish.

I liked this flip and write. And definitely want to get this to the table again pretty soon.

Oh and I won.

I say this every time but our parting is always hard.

My mood wasn’t helped with the news of Lisa Marie Presley passing away yesterday. She was the same age as me.

I was a big Elvis fan back in the mid Seventies.

There has only ever been two times in my life when the death of a celebrity has really affected me. Those being Elvis and Steve Jobs.

I think with Lisa Marie it was a combination of the fact she was the daughter of Elvis, and the fact we were the same age.

It got me reflecting on my drive home on life, the universe, and coffee. Decisions made, not made.

I’m home now. Chilling out to some American Dad. Missing my son. Can’t wait until my next visit.

Father Son Gaming New Year Edition

father son gaming, Game day, game night

After a relaxed start to the day (which I’m totally allowed seeing as I’m on holiday) I taught Nathan how to play the two player game Splendor Duel.

As usual I didn’t win. If my bgstat app is correct (and why wouldn’t it be?) I have never, I’ll repeat that never won a game of Splendor in any of the editions I have owned or own! Bloody good job I enjoy playing it.

The rest of our day was taken up by a dentist visit for Nathan, cooking “not spaghetti bolognaise” (ask Diego why it was not the dish, ok adding baked beans, mushrooms, and using chorizo, may technically mean it wasn’t), and Nathan wanting to watch the evenings football match between Southampton and Man City.

Today saw us pop into town for a Burger King lunch and a visit the local boardgame shop.

I had gone there with the purpose of just getting the Mutant Genesis expansion for Marvel Champions. However the Storm character expansion joined it, along with the Agora expansion for 7 Wonders Duel.

As soon as we got home (after a coffee) we played an all in game of 7 Wonders Duel. That’s the core game plus the Pantheon and Agora expansion.

We both really enjoyed the game. Agora brings in a new decision, tactical element, and win condition.

Control all six senate chambers and you get an instant political win.

A victory I was one chamber away from achieving at the start of the third age. However Nathan only needed one more symbol for the science win. He was going first at the start of the third age, and was hoping for a science card as an option to buy.

Obviously the tension built up as I laid out the cards in the third age pattern. It was down to the last two cards to be drawn and placed. Indeed one of those cards was not only a science card but the sixth symbol he needed. Instant win for Nathan.

Yes playing with everything means the game takes longer to setup and play. But I think it’s worth it. I like the extra stuff going on. You can’t afford to not to be paying attention to what your opponent is collecting.

The area control element of the senate chambers is cool. Having the majority in a chamber gives you control and some sort of power up you get to use through out the game. Plus points for end of game scoring if it goes to the bitter end.

Yeah I think we’ll be playing all in from now on. Just need to get my own copy now.

Right time to make tea followed by Star Wars Outer Rim (Nath’s favourite boardgame).

Alien 2 Humans 0

Game day

Yesterday saw the start of a nine day break from work.

I should say a much needed break as well.

However I started my holiday off in style with a seven player game of The Thing boardgame.

There was some gamers remorse as I walked from the car to the community centre when I thought “wait I should have suggested playing Scythe”.

However that soon faded away as I was setting up for a six player game. Now I hear you all saying “but Darren didn’t you say you had a seven player game?” Indeed I did say that.

But when I got to setting up I set the game up for six players. That is how many I thought were coming. It wasn’t until I decided I’d start the bgstat play record before the others arrived that I realised there were seven playing. So I had to quickly adjust the setup for the correct player count.

This was the second time that The Thing has hit the table. And I have to say with the higher player count it was really great fun.

I thought the game played really well at the higher player count. I think it was just short of three hours play time. Which is pretty good for this type of game.

In the end the aliens managed to win by getting on the rescue helicopter first. It turns out only Diego and myself were the remaining humans in the base.

One word of advice. Don’t demonstrate that players need to shuffle their role cards and not check you put the correct one back. It does create a comedic moment for sure when you go to reveal at the end of the game you were a human all the time, you flip the card and it says you are an alien. Much laughter followed!

Everyone had a blast playing the game. And a great way to kick off my nine days of R&R.