Yesterday I got invited to join Jonathan and his dad for an afternoons gaming. Upon arrival I got greeted by a puppy called Bonnie. Who was very bouncy and friendly. My ones will being giving me that betrayed look when I get home when they smell Bonnie on me.

Our afternoons gaming started off with the teaching Batman Love Letter to Jonathan's dad. For which he cashed in his beginners luck chip to win!

We followed up with a game of Brew Crafters: The Travel Card Game. A game I hadn't played before, but has been in my collection in the pile of shame for a long time.

So I was very glad to have this opportunity to play the game.

I enjoyed the game. The dual use of cards, either as a resource to complete recipes, or for its ability, is pretty cool. Which means you have to make a decision whether to use the card to complete a recipe and get points that way, or play the card for its ability and build up an engine that might get you more points when you complete a recipe, or get a free card after completing a recipe, or bonus points at the end of the game. It gives that brew crafting experience without having to go through the full on brew crafters game. It's a pretty quick to play game, I think it was about thirty mins most.

Yeah this is a nice light filler card game, which Jonathan's Dad won, leaving Jonathan and myself last with equal points.

We followed up with another first, this time for all of us, by breaking out one of the 18p (plus postage) games Jonathan got from Amazon US when they accidently priced up a load of games incorrectly, The Struggle for Catan. Which is Catan the card game basically, or Catan light.

Ok I liked this one too. I love that this gives that Catan feeling in a filler game. There are some nice touches in the game, like the destiny card which decides the direction that cards are “stolen from” if all of a card type such as roads, knights are taken. The city cards having different affects on the game such having players discard down to seven cards is nice. Plus there is a city expansion card that gives an on going ability such as protecting a road from being stolen.

I romped home with the win. I can see this game being added to the collection.

Next up Ladybug Lunch hit the table to refresh Jonathan's dad on the rules, because he was going to be teaching it soon on a trip. Three adults playing this game meant the game took on a surprise cut throat tone. Once again the spoils of victory went to Jonathan's Dad.

Our last game of the afternoon was Bohemian Villages. This was my fifth play of the game this month. I love this game. It's just a shame the game is not widely known. From my understanding there is no US distributor, which means none of those big video bloggers over that side have covered the game yet. Which means hardly anyone knows this game exists. If Stephen Buonocore of Stronghold Games was faster off the mark he'd be signing this game up before anyone else gets it. The game is bi-lingual (English/German), so technically doesn't need any work done on it, just needs getting out there.

I managed to beat Jonathan by a point, but his Dad once more walked away with the victory once again.

Finally thanks to Jonathan one of those rare photos of me playing a game. In this case Ladybug Lunch.