Category Archives: game night

game night

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.

Not the worlds greatest detectives

game night

Friday evening was not a club night but still gaming took place.

I like to think we had a themed game night. The theme being deduction games. In particular Awkward Guests and Cryptid.

After seeing a review, albeit an old review from the Dice Tower, for Awkward Guests I purchased a copy.

I knew Jonathan was a Cluedo fan. He has one or two versions in his collection. Awkward Guests was billed by the reviewer (Tom Vassel) as a Cluedo killer.

Jonathan would love this game I thought.

So having ordered it, I messaged Jonathan.

It turned out he owned it already, had played it once, and didn’t have a good experience.

Oh.

That kinda deflated my bubble a little.

But that didn’t put me off organising Fridays gaming session. I just knew that Jonathan most likely wouldn’t come.

So I was a little surprised when Jonathan said he was coming. Also a little relieved because until then I only had one person commit to coming along. Three was the minimum needed for the evenings gaming to go ahead.

The new normal for me is to go straight from work to the game night. I’m there early enough to not only set up the tables but to grab a bite to eat also.

So by the time Anthony and Jonathan turned up everything is set up waiting, and I’m well fed.

We started off our evening of deduction with Awkward Guests.

As I mentioned previously Awkward Guests is meant to be a Cluedo killer.

Now I don’t have any particular strong feelings about Cluedo one way or the other.

During my formative years aka as a child I remember playing Cluedo once or twice. But memory fails me as to if it was a copy we owned or a family members copy we played.

I certainly don’t have fond memories to reflect back on playing the game. At best I know I played it.

However we do know I enjoy deduction games. So the glowing reviews did make me curious to try it.

I actually liked the game. I particularly like the hand management side of it. Having to decide which clues you want to keep from the other players (and then bury in the discard pile), which you are happy for others to know.

The only real criticism I have of the game is the map of the house and suspects on the back cover of the rulebook should be a separate sheet/board. That way players can just check a rule without disturbing a players turn and moving the markers. A single card player aid summarising the turn structure would also have been nice.

We played using the official companion app. Which meant if you guessed wrong you weren’t eliminated from the game. However you were not allowed to make a guess at the end of the next turn.

The companion app is just that. It’s not needed. But it’s handy and offers many more scenarios to solve.

What I’d like to see for this and Cryptid is a cheap expansion that just adds more physical scenarios. In the case of Awkward Guests a pdf or booklet. With Cryptid a deck of cards.

That’s all these games need just for those that don’t want to use the app or can’t for some reason.

Jonathan solved the case. I’m sure Jonathan will read this post at some point and hopefully share his updated views and what initially put him off the game. Until then the tl;dr is he enjoyed the game this time around.

Next up was Cryptid. We actually played three games of this in a row. These were pretty quick games. Maybe twenty odd minutes each.

I wasn’t using the companion app (it’s not really an app more a website). Plus we were playing basic rules not the advanced. Jonathan doesn’t like the advanced rules with the negative clues. So we play the rules he enjoys. For me it’s a fun game either way. Besides Anthony had never played the game before so made sense sticking to the basic rules.

I faired much better at Cryptid by winning two of the three games. And Jonathan winning the third.

This was a fun evening of deduction. It’s nice to get these type of games to the table. It’s almost refreshing to play something that’s a bit more thinky.

Can’t wait until we have a similar themed evening again.

Cake, Mars, and Crows

Fenland Gamers, game night, life, the universe, and everything, still alive

I know my usual posting schedule has once again gone out the window.

Despite having had a half term to recharge the batteries. This past week I’ve been particularly tired in the evenings. Often falling asleep whilst watching something.

I’m not sure folks appreciate how draining the day can be. Especially when you are still adjusting.

However yesterday was the end of the week and once again the fortnightly Fenland Gamers Friday game night.

Which means I go straight from work to where we meet up and play some games. Well that’s the new routine for club night considering the time I finish on a Friday, and it’s on the way home.

Plus it means I get there early, and have time to get something to eat before the majority arrive. I also get to set up the tables ready for some gaming.

Last night I got to play a four player game of Portal.

I’d been wanting to play the game with more than two players.

Our game was shorter than I expected and not as cut throat. But I put that down to one of our players not being a “gamer” and not really paying attention to what was going on. More importantly putting all their eggs into one basket so to speak by having both of their test subjects in the same test chamber. Which opened them up to Ben placing a turret in that chamber and ending the game. At that point in time Ben had the most slices of cake out on the laboratory. Giving him the win.

The second game of the evening saw Ben grab his second win of the evening when he won Alien Frontiers.

The latest edition to the collection, Murder of Crows was my final game of the evening.

The game had only arrived the day before. So naturally I hadn’t had time to read the brief rulebook.

So as I shuffled the cards Ben quickly read the rulebook, and was first player. After all first player was meant to be the most shady looking person!

Murder of Crows is a nice light take that card game, that plays in less than thirty minutes.

It definitely has a spot in the roster of filler games in my collection.

Harrison won the game.

It was a good evening of gaming.

A roll & write trilogy

game night

Last night whilst some club members were playing Railways of the World or team choo choo as I named them. Ben, Charlene and Harrison joined me to play a roll and write trilogy of games by the designers Ben Pinchbeck and Matt Riddle.

We started off our evening of rolling dice and crossing off boxes with Ben and Matt’s first game in this series Fleet the dice game.

I had not played Fleet or Fleet the dice game before. So playing this was a first for me. But one I was keen to play as I enjoyed the other two games in the series.

Fleet the dice game is all about running a fishing fleet. Well that’s the theme.

But let’s face it with a roll and write you aren’t playing for the theme. It’s so hard to do theme in this genre of game.

This game of Fleet the dice game was just the core game, no thrills.

Having played the other two games in the series there are common elements that run throughout them all. So picking up the game was a cinch. You just need to know how it varies from the others.

In this case it’s the flow of the round, the two sets of dice that get rolled at different points in that flow. Plus what is generating you points and when.

There were some pleasing combos in this game. But I didn’t feel the game was as combotastic as Three Sisters.

Ben bought the most fish home for the win!

Next up was the follow up to Fleet the dice game, Three Sisters.

Our play of Three Sisters was an all in game. That’s not just the weather expansion. But also the new rock garden pad that was an extra on the Motor City Kickstarter.

This was a first for Ben, Charlene, and Harrison playing with these expansions. They’d played Three Sisters before. And a first for me with the new pad.

I like the new pad.

Completing a row or column in the rock garden gives you a bonus. You complete a row by marking off a number that matches the die you chose off the rondel.

This gives you an additional factor to consider when choosing that die. Now it’s not only which rondel action you want and the garden you are planting or going to water, but also what you need to mark off on the rock garden to get that bonus.

And you do have to consider things as you won’t fill the rock garden. At best you will fill eleven spaces, but more likely up to eight.

Somehow I managed to win our game of Three Sisters.

Our third and final game of the evening, and the latest to join the series (having only just been sent out to backers) Motor City.

Like Three Sisters this was an all in game.

So we had the unique certificate tiles, plus the Bob’s expansion.

What I like about the expansions in both Three Sisters and Motor City is that they can be added with very little additional over head to the actual game.

Obviously the unique certificates adds no overhead at all, but gives each player a unique sheet. I don’t think I’ll play without these.

The Bob’s expansion uses the auditor die to select a couple of bonuses that can be claimed during a round.

I do like how in both this game and Three Sisters a die is used by the expansion. There is no overhead in using it except remembering to do it.

Harrison won our game of Motor City.

I know for Charlene and I think Ben their favourite of the three is Fleet the dice game. But with the caveat that they need to play Motor City a few more times.

But for me Three Sisters is still my favourite. With Motor City not far behind. Fleet the dice game needs more plays, and to be back in print so I can add it to the collection.

This really was a great evening playing the trilogy. Something I hope we are able to repeat in the near future.

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.

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).

Oops forgot the title!

Fenland Gamers, game night

Last night was the first and only session of the Christmas gaming program for Fenland Gamers that I could attend this year.

Traditionally there are three gaming sessions organised. However work rotas meant I had shifts during two of them. It was just luck that I was on an early yesterday and thus able to attend.

It was really great to be seeing friends again and playing games with them.

After some catching up, Katie, Jeff, and myself played Dune Imperium ALL IN!

By that I mean not only was it the core game and the first expansion Rise of Ix. But also the second and latest expansion Immortality.

Wow is this a table hog now.

For me Dune Imperium is like Istanbul. A great core game, that gets better with the expansions.

Granted when teaching to new players things might look daunting. But after a couple of turns, or just the first round, everything clicks into place.

I love what Immortality brings to the game. More decisions to make, more options.

In our game it was looking like Jeff might trigger the end of the game on the ninth round. I had decided not to go for one of my intrigue cards end game scoring conditions as I just didn’t think I would get a chance to complete it.

I had decided instead to try and get as close as I could to ten points and hope that my end game intrigue cards would be enough to snatch victory away from Jeff.

In the end after some beautiful minding it, I managed to grab three victory points to trigger the end of the game, and get two more from end game intrigue cards.

But that moment was all down to stealing an alliance token from Katie, and grabbing a couple of others by winning the combat, and doing research that enabled me to progress up faction alliance tracks.

It was not an outcome I had planned on that turn. But as I got closer to triggering the end of the game, one false move and we’d have gone to another round. Which would have given Jeff a window of opportunity to grab the victory instead. Everything had to be done in the correct order. Luckily I didn’t slip up.

There is still plenty to explore with the Immortality expansion before I talk more about it. But so far after this initial game I love it.

It was great to be gaming again. Tomorrow I’ve spending New Years Eve with Nathan so there will be a game or two there (even though it’s a whistle stop visit).

Now to start putting dates up for the next regular Friday evening gaming sessions.