I’m writing this round up a couple of days earlier than normal because there will be no gaming before the end of the month. But posting on the last day of the month. Which is also known as my birthday!
Biblios Dice: I think this is the first time I’ve played this game since buying it years ago when it came out. It’s out of print. So was miffed a brown cube was missing. But it’s not going to be hard to replace that. Still this was a fun game to play. Love the drafting of dice, and the auction.
Skull: Colin had expressed a desire to try this game. Luckily I was able to find my copy of this bluffing game. We had fun, Colin liked it.
Pixies: Safe to say this is or is it has become a favourite.
Vegetable Stock: Love this drafting, market manipulation game. Just a great, quick, light game.
Twilight Imperium 4: In the end this was a rushed game cut short by clashing with an evening event going on. But still an epic four player game. The 3D printed insert made a massive difference in setup and breakdown.
3 Chapters: a fast trick taking game. What separates this one from the crowd is the drafting. Yep you start off drafting your hand to play for the trick taking round. Which is pretty cool because it starts you off with some tough choices. You don’t just draft on value but trying to get combos that will score you points not only during the trick taking round but also the final scoring round. Some cards score only during the trick taking round, others during the final scoring. You are hoping that others drafted cards you need to combo off. However it’s almost a dark draft where you are not 100% sure what’s been drafted because you don’t draft all of the cards, one goes back unseen.
Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring Trick Taking Game: although I like how this game handles two players with the dummy hand. It really does need the minimum of three players. We got to chapter 7. But the game kicked our butt too many times.
Bohnanza: a three player game that was just as good fun as the five player game.
After what I can only describe as dismal March for gaming, April has got off to a flying start. In fact this first half of the month has seen me play more than February and March combined!
Obviously I’m not expecting the later half of the month to be the same. But TI4 should be hitting the table twice! Which will be amazing.
Ok so this is what has hit the table.
Star Wars Unlimited: a visit to Dave saw us playing the spotlight decks from the last two releases for the first time. The “rebellion”/hero decks in these two releases do seem stronger than their opposite deck. I played a couple of times using the “empire”/villian deck from the last release and came closer to winning than Dave with those decks. But still I lost. I’d be interested to see the play testing data for these decks.
Pili Pili: a fun trick taking game. One rule sees you bidding the number of tricks you think you will win, and then pass your whole hand to your right. I got royally screwed on that one. But in the following game I was able to return the favour. Chaotic trick taking at its finest!
Pixies: an interesting drafting and set collection game. It’s rather cheap as well. So I can see this joining the collection.
Snow Colony: an interesting race to build an engine game with dice drafting. The penguin pieces are minuet, I’d say too small. It was fun.
Joyride: Survival of the Fastest: Chaotic! That is the only way to describe this. The chaos reminds me of Robo Rally. It’s fun. It helps not to make any plans and embrace the chaos. The state of the board is so fluid between turns you can only decide in the moment what you are going to do at the start of your turn.
Bella Vista: this game has table presence. Each round you are “building” one of your buildings in a city according to the rounds placement rules, and scoring to that rounds scoring rule and if you are the highest building compared to adjacent buildings. It’s pretty and puzzle like. I like it.
44 BCE: I warmed up to this game. However it seems too con-fluted for what it is! I think a misplay in the penultimate round cost me the game. But in the end the theme doesn’t really come through. At its heart it’s a bloated area control game that is ok. It didn’t blow me away.
Tir Na Nog: we played with the mini expansion subplots, and from the Blessings and Burdens expansion the Blessed Realms module. Although the Geas cards have been mixed in with the others, we were using the recommended first play Geas cards. I liked what the Blessed Realms module adds to the game, it makes the card you disguard at the end of each round matter. The colour and value of the card influence the positioning of the respective colour on a track. At the end of the game the colours position decides how many points that colour is worth for the biggest block in that colour.
Trio: a memory game that also didn’t blow me away. At best it’s ok. I won. But it was not by having a good memory.
Bonanza: set collection with trading. This was a blast. And I lost on the tie breaker! I think this is one of those games where your experience will vary depending on who you are playing with. Like other games you can’t change the order of the cards on your hand, and can only play the front card. Trading cards from your hand helps you get rid of cards. Going through the deck three times seems like a lot at the start. But the final two times that happens very quickly due to cards being removed to track points. This will be in the bag each club night I think.
Heat Peddle to the Metal: a six player championship game. We played the 1961 Championship. Which is the British, American, and Italian race tracks. This was crazy fun. I liked the advanced rules we played with. Each track in the championship also having a unique rule was cool. The sponsor cards were super powerful. The drafting an upgrade each race was fun, and saw the car get better each race.
Keltis: I’m not sure what the theme of this Knizia game is. It’s none existent really. The basic board is a quick race up the various tracks. However the “expansion” board on the reverse is much more gamer oriented with its more variable setup, collection of gems, and tracks that cross and swap colours. It’s the side I prefer, and not just because I won. The playing cards in ascending or descending order in their respective suit is a nice mechanic that can see you just discarding on your turn as you look for a card you can play. Yeah a nice game sadly out of print.
Nations the dice game: 9 years since this hit the table! But Ben had expressed an interest in trying at the weekend. So here we were playing with the expansion. It’s a fun, light, civ game that plays very quickly. Both Ben and Charlene liked it. But like Keltis is out of print. I might take this along Friday, it deserves more love (like every game in the collection).
Furnace: Played with the expansion. Just a great game that we enjoy.
This month has been really bad for gaming. It seems March is the new February. Is this the new normal as well?
Anyway this is what hit the table in the later half of the month.
Heat: Peddle to the Metal: we had a seven player game! Weather tiles were used along with the British map. For time we stuck with the default upgrades. Seven players doing three rounds of drafting would have just taken up too much time. Great fun. The weather made some interesting choices going round and was very inconvenient in one or two sections of the track.
Havana: a four player game that turned into a three player game when Anthony had to go home part way through. Some confusion over the rules for a couple of cards. One due to a YouTuber giving an incorrect rule on their video for the architect. Why Marcin took their version over the actual words in the rulebook I don’t know. But we eventually played it the correct way (as intended by the rulebook).
Anno 1800: An interesting but enjoyable game. A bit of an engine builder where you are completing “contracts” from your hand of cards. End of game is triggered when a player has no cards left. Fiddly to setup with lots of tiles to put out in sorted piles. I liked it and would definitely play again.
Hooky: alphabet based deduction game. Work out what the three letters in the middle and what letters your opponents have by asking players how many letters they have in a five letter word you give them. By the end of the second round you know nine letters. Because at the end of round one and two one of the two spare letters (not the middle three) gets revealed. At the end of the last three rounds (four, five, and six) you write down your guess of the middle three letters. You’ll score points for these guesses at the end scoring. I actually liked this game a lot. In away it reminded me a lot of the old Mastermind game. Don’t be surprised if this ends up in the collection.
Fliptoons: kinda want to call this a deck builder. It’s fun and quick.
Wyrmspan: played with the expansion. For me I prefer the theme and that it’s more gamer oriented than Wingspan. Don’t get me wrong I like Wingspan just I prefer the theme and extra mechanics. Ok I did not so great this game. But that’s the nature of the cards.
Pili Pili: a new arrival and yet another trick taker. Quick to play, and lots of variety with 40 rule cards. The rule cards do give the game a Rebel Princess vibe. Very good fun.
New Arrivals
Marvel Champions Hercules Hero pack
Marvel Champions Wonder Man Hero pack
Star Wars: Unlimited – A Lawless Time Spotlight Deck (Leia Organa)
Star Wars: Unlimited – A Lawless Time Spotlight Deck (Jabba the Hut)
Netrunner Ashes: Downfall – Remastered Edition
Netrunner Ashes: Uprising – Remastered Edition
Netrunner System Gateway: Remastered
Android Netrunner 2017 Core Set (second hand without box)
Tannhauser plus a lot of expansions/character packs
Not gaming on a Tuesday has had an impact for sure. Who knows if that will start up again.
So here are the handful of games I’ve played up to this midpoint of the month.
Subastral: an interesting quick set collection game. It was ok, I was left a bit cold about our first play, despite winning. I don’t think I was feeling much more positive about it after the second game.
Root: once again Jeff managed to snatch victory from within my grubby mitts. We used the expert setup to select our factions. We used the Exiles and Partisans deck, and the Landmarks expansion (selected the Tower because I thought it would encourage more conflict!)
Viticulture: basically an all in game using the Bordeaux board, expert workers, and the structures modules. I think it’s taken as read we were using the Visit from the Rhine Valley decks. I won by a point. This was the first time ever playing with the structures modules. And during this game I was the only one drawing the structure cards. I actually liked this module.
Tokaido: yeah I’m really glad that the reprint by Stonemaier games was the excuse needed to get this to the table on what is proving to be a regular basis.
So let’s start with a look at the games I played in the second half of the month.
Viticulture: I really do like the Bordeaux board. This time we added in the special workers expansion. It’s not a big addition and makes the decision when training a new worker a little bit more interesting. I think I can take or leave this expansion. It’s not essential.
Rebel Princess: ‘nuff said. We know how I feel about this game.
Euphoria: with the Essential edition coming out later in the year (I think April/May time) I wanted to try the game first. Luckily Charlene had the game. I rather liked it. So yes when the Essential edition is released I’ll pick a copy up.
Innovation Ultimate: we played with the Unseen and Cities expansions. Which is the maximum number of expansions you can play with at one time, and the two easiest ones. Once we got over the hurdle of the rules for the two expansions, the game with them was a lot of fun. It felt like there was a lot more take that going on. Which was needed to prevent a run away winner.
Heat Pedal to the Metal: Really liked this card driven race game. It’s a car version of Flamme Rouge. Which I enjoyed also when I played it years ago.
Scout: such a great card game in such a small box.
The Stats
Looking at the overall stats for the month the numbers aren’t the best. You can see the impact of not playing on a Tuesday has.
It’s the middle of the month, which means it’s time to look at what I’ve been playing so far.
Wingspan: I carted the nesting box to Charlene’s to play. We played with the new Americas expansion and the Asia expansion. Mainly because they were unsleeved (waiting for the sleeves to come back in stock). I liked the hummingbirds mechanic. Charlene liked it so much that she is considering getting Wingspan (again) and the Americas expansion, and only playing it that way.
Viticulture: I think this was the quickest I got a new arrival to the table. The Bordeaux expansion arrived at 16:45 and 18:30 I was setting up the game with it. We enjoyed the new board, especially the specialists element, the extra starting resources, and the mini trade rows. Naturally we were using the Visit, from the Rhine Valley expansion as well. Which meant I was forced to make wine! I have won a game without making any wine. I call it the Tory win (after an MP or their friend were given a contract by the government to their ferry company that had no boats!)
Rome and Roll: Finally after owning this game for years I got to play it. It was lighter and faster to play than expected. We were expecting a game up there with Hadrian’s Wall or Three Sisters for complexity. And it wasn’t. It was enjoyable, and fun. I even went and ordered the three expansions I didn’t know existed. They give asymmetrical player boards.
Halo Flashpoint: I wrote a post about this just after playing. It’s probably best to go read that than I repeat it all here. The tl;dr for those that can’t be bothered to read the rather long post is we had fun, I won.
Sniper Elite: This was rather good fun. I was playing sniper. Gavin and Anthony played the Germans. The objectives I drew were the furthest apart that you could get on the board at opposite ends. I managed to get my first objective and blow up a guard with a mine. It was then with my position blown that things went to pot. I thought by cutting through the building of guards would fool them. Being the route they least expected. But they figured it out and managed to shoot me twice.
Machi Koro 2: just fun, not much more I can add that hasn’t been said before.
Imaginarium: an engine builder at heart. The theme is light at best. But the production was good, the player pieces large plastic busts of your character.
Ashes: I introduced Gavin to the game. I selected two of the thirty available phoenixborn decks, Dimona Odinstar (me) vs Lulu Firststone (Gavin). I couldn’t find a suggested first five so we had to blindly guess. Gavin eventually won a back and forth between our battlefields. I was getting through my deck faster than Gavin as I dived for cards. Gavin isn’t a big fan of this type of game but he did say he’d play again. So a kind of win.
Forest Shuffle Dartmoor: I think I won my first game of this after falling into a bats and dragonfly strategy.
Age of Galaxy: I think describing this game as 4x game might be over selling it. There is barely any conflict. Ok none. However it is a very enjoyable game. I like that you start with seven faction cards, and that’s it for the whole game. You then have the hard choice of how you’re going to use them during the five rounds.
Mistborn: finally got this deckbuilder to the table. I liked it. I liked how as the rounds progress the more you can do on a turn. The target mechanic in the three player game worked well. Ben tried to eliminate me first. However my purchases were wise, giving me health or movement on the mission tracks. So while thwarting Bens plan with healing of my character I advanced on the mission tracks, completing all three to win the game.
Rebel Princess: fun, ‘nuff said.
Formidable Farm: a collect resources to complete contracts race game. Complete your pile of contracts before the others to win. Light, a bit of luck (a lot actually) but still enjoyable game.
War: I introduced Gavin to this literary unknown game. I wish it had a wider audience to appreciate how great this game is.
New Arrivals
Wingspan Nesting Box
Root The Riverfolk Expansion
Root Underworld Hirelings Pack
Root Upgrade kit
Root Marauder Hirelings Pack and Hireling Box
Root Landmarks Pack
Root The Marauder Expansion
Root The Vagabond Pack
The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers Trick Taking Game plus Horses and Haradrim promo pack
Bombbusters: I’m not a big co-op player. I have one or two in the collection but they don’t get to the table that often. There is some very limited information, lots of deduction, and a “campaign”. I like the “tutorial” levels at the start that teach the basics and introduce new mechanics gradually, whilst upping the difficulty. It was basically these that we played through. This was a surprisingly pleasant experience.
Root: Well I definitely enjoyed this two play of the game. I’m looking forward to getting deeper into the game.
Medici: a very nice Reiner Knizia auction game. It’s fairly quick to play even at five players. I like you are bidding with your points. So you have to balance the amount of points you are spending and the amount of points you will gain. Plus this thinking feeds into your bidding if you want to push up a bid for another player. A nice game.
Seasons: I’ve been wanting to get this back to the table for a very long time. We played the base game only, with the suggested starter decks. It’s nice, can’t wait to play again with the expansions.
Furnace: we all know this is a new favourite, dare I say classic. Any excuse will do to get this to the table.
Fields of Green: a welcomed return to the table. The only draw back is it’s a table hog as you build up your farm.
Havalandi: a game that shares some of its dna with Rebirth. Both by Reiner Knizia, with Havalandi being the earlier game. I like the ballooning theme, the rolling dice to move controlling where you can place your balloons can be a little frustrating. It’s a very enjoyable game but I think I prefer Rebirth out of the two.
Machi Koro 2: My worst game ever. I never even got close to purchasing a landmark. Dice rolls and losing money to the others made sure I never got close. Very frustrating.
Rebel Princess: Do I need to say anything about this? We had a blast and introduced a new player to the game.
Well I did get some gaming done in December and the run in to the Christmas holidays.
Ashes: with my all in pledge from the Plaid Hat kickstarter arriving it was only natural that I’d want to get this to the table at the earliest opportunity. Marcin and I played what effectively would be considered the new starter set. Which has a lot going for it. You get two phoenixborn (ie decks), a great intro rule book that takes both players through the first few turns of the game introducing various elements of gameplay, and a comprehensive rule book too. We worked through the intro rule book, and then continued the game. It was great to be playing the game again. Now to slowly work my way through the other 28 phoenixborn and eventually the co-op stuff.
Wyrmspan: played with the Dragon Academy expansion. The fledglings and having to train them was interesting. Luckily having new caves and dragons that allow you to accelerate the training was very handy, and needed. Otherwise I’m not sure how useful or fun these new fledglings would be. Obviously so that we experienced all that the new expansion had we rigged the decks so that we saw the new stuff.
Tokaido: I’m so glad Stonemaier took over this game. It’s bought the game back to the table, and reminded me how much fun it is. Plus it’s been a hit at the club. Glad it’s getting the love it deserves.
Tir na nog: my kickstarter copy with the expansion arrived and it was great getting this to the table. We played just the base game. Which was great fun. Love the drafting mechanic, and the clever way to keep track of how many rounds are left. This was a big hit with Charlene.
Machi Koro 2: what’s to say a great almost filler game. We had some close games where everyone at one point could have won the game. Great light fun.
Splendor Duel: love this two player version of the game. Maybe more so than the full blown game.
Furnace: this worked surprisingly well as a two player game. Love the auction mechanic, and using the gamer variant for running your engine.
Qwirkle Flex: still a fun game now with the tile backgrounds relevant for scoring too.
Take Time: a co-op game in the same vein as The Mind. It was ok.
Stone Age Anniversary Edition: thanks to a fortunate dice roll about three quarters of the way through the game, Ben was able to grab victory without progressing on the farm track. If he had failed on the hunting roll he’d have never recovered. Instead he did amazing and got enough food to see him to the end of the game. He gambled and it paid off.
Rebel Princess: Probably my worst game in a long time. I got 18 points in the final round alone. Needless to say I came last.
In Flanders Field: Jeff’s World War 1 themed push your luck game. Quick, good fun.
Life definitely got in the way of gaming this later half of the month.
However the day before greeting Diogo in the family I got to have a game day with a Ra theme. Charlene, Ben, and myself met at hers to play the three Ra games plus we had time to sneak in another game.
Ra: played with the new Traders expansion. Some new tiles that add another way to score points each round. Adds no overhead to the game.
Ra and Write: a light roll and write version of Ra. Quite enjoyable.
Ratzia: the card version of Ra themed around anamorphic characters and crime. Relatively quick to play that captures the feel of the original.
Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor: I’m glad I got this. It’s a great way to get into Forest Shuffle without buying the original and trying to get the expansions. Plus I love the Dartmoor theming. I love the actual Dartmoor and have fond memories walking and camping on it.
Netrunner: still a classic. We played using the original FFG core set default decks.
Marvel Skirmish in New York: I liked this two player game. The asymmetry of each player having their own decks is nice. It joins the growing list of great two player games in my collection that will sadly not get the love they deserve.
A Study in Emerald: a fun game nearly spoilt by a subpar rule book. Definitely a game I’d play again. But the rule book requires work.
Discworld Ankh-Morpork: this was a big hit with Ben and Charlene despite them not being familiar with the books. They took delight in card names and the art work. They enjoyed it so much we had to reset and play a second game straight away.
Furnace: I picked this up after seeing a video for the impending two player version. Boy am I glad I did. Quick to teach and play. The auction mechanic is simple, fun and very strategic. Then running your engine which can be made more gamer like by a variant. A very nice quick auction engine builder.
Fate of Witches: This was not a great experience. I found the game initially very frustrating. Reflecting on it over night I think this was due to a combination of things. Firstly the teach wasn’t very clear and didn’t explain a couple of key points properly. Some of the scoring hadn’t been explained clearly. Terms used to describe actions did not accurately describe what you did. For example one action you can take is called upkeep. What it actually is, is play a card into your tableau. Very confusing. I also felt that opportunities to get cards into your graveyard were very limited. This needed to be easier. There seemed too much downtime between turns, and the game felt overly long for what it is.
And that was the later half of November.
New arrivals to the collection
Qwirkle Flex
Marvel: Skirmish! In New York
Battletech: Gothic
BattleTech: Inner Sphere Fire Lance
Stone Age Anniversary Edition
Furnace
Both Star Wars Unlimited Secrets of Power Spotlight decks
