Well, my challenge of playing two unplayed games per month is off to a rocky start, as I only got one to the table, namely Kiri-ai: the Duel.
Unless I count our play of Star Wars: Jabba’s Palace from New Year’s Eve…
What I really should do is aim to play some one-off games, like our one Exit game, or Echoes, something I can play and then get rid of or pass on to thin my collection a tiny bit. Two birds with one stone and all that.
Anyway, it was a busy month with a lot of canceled school days for the kids, meaning my wife was tired a lot and she does not like trying to learn new games when tired. I appreciate her even learning Kiri-ai. Here’s hoping February may be better, at least after we get through next week (we’ve got stuff going on).
It’s very light but quite fun: [players + 1] image cards, pick one and try to indicate it by copying it with your 30 identical cubes. Points for: being guessed on first round of guessing, guessing correctly on first or second round, being the only player to have picked a particular card (and it was guessed). 10 points to win, and you score them with your cubes, so it’s self-handicapping.
Newsboys
Hex grid r&w, tick off X of symbol Y with some choice. Very tight scoring. Not sure I’ll keep it but quite fun; completely non-thematic.
Hit! (new) Great Western Trail: New-Zealand (we actually moved this one to our classics list, since its foundation is a classic game) Terraforming Mars (classic) Quacks of Quedlinburg (forgotten)
We’ve since added:
Ticket To Ride: Rails & Sails (new) Ark Nova (classic)
Look at us making progress!
For the record, I won our game of Ark Nova by about 20 points. We also played agame of Ticket To Ride begore, and I lost that by about 120 points, so it evens out, LOL
I’ve been doing good on my solo challenge
That’s kind of nice. I also have a nice streak of playing a game every day since Feb 9th. That’s one of the longer streaks I’ve ever managed. It happend accidentally (until I noticed a couple days ago).
Daybreak 10+/10
Sprawlopolis 10/10
Terraforming Mars (App b/c lazy) 9/10–I have won 2 solos in a row with Venus included. Might be I finally grokked how to play Venus? One was with Viron for full terraforming and the other was with Morning Star Inc for TR63
Naturopolis 8/10 (I’ll probably fold this into Sprawlopolis or decide to do an 11/11 challenge, because having two of what is basically the same game in the list seems a even more lazy than playing TM on the app)
Tetrarchia 7/10–I have graduated to playing intermediate level difficulty. Everything without an initial Barbarian army now seems too easy (says the person who just lost her first game of Pandemic Iberia on super-easy mode by running out of turns)
Cascadia 5/10–I am too lazy to set up the landmarks, so I’ve been doing the challenge modes from the expansion the first few are without the actual landmarks, just new animal cards and new tiles
Planet Unknown 4/10–I still like this a lot for solo. I don’t quite see that multiplayer gains much beyond the solo. I just really like the tile laying + tracks. I tend to play the default planet and switch around the corporation. I think the corps are far more interesting than the different maps.
Insel-Express 3/10. I am not sure this one will stick. It’s a nice game. And very portable. But the puzzle presented by the solo mode is not the type of challenge that intrigues me much. I prefer the engine building of Terraforming Mars.
Grove: 2/10. I like it a lot. I like the tile placement puzzle. This one will stick I know it.
Earthborn Rangers 2/10: I really hope that this one will stay in here. The first “comeback” game was quite horrible. I had completely forgotten how this works–not the rules so much but how to use my cards properly and when to call it quits. The 2nd game was much better. I keep forgetting to read the story parts…
Other possible games to get into this challenge include the new Pandemic Iberia, Assault on Doomrock. I have yet to play Spirit Island or Revive this year -.-
Too many other commitments at this time of year means there’s little time for longer games.
Opportunity 50 x 2 Challenge
Game
Month
Total
Status
The Gardens
3
[3/2]
Black Angel
1
[1/2]
Lost Ruins of Arnak
-
[1/2]
Progress
4%
While Black Angel is more of an optimisation exercise than a space expedition, I’m loving it anyway, particularly as the second hand copy I bought came with the Tower Rex insert which makes it quick to set up.
It’s taken me a while to play The Gardens, as the accompanying roll and write A Walk in the Park was initially quite disappointing. Seems a bit random when played solo, but perhaps it will grow on me as A Walk in the Park did.
KeyForge Grim WoE 100 Challenge
Set
Deck
Month
Total
WoE
Poole of Saliseat
6
6
WoE
Rumpleadder, the “Protector” of Curses
1
1
GR
Arrowshadow, Spawn of Superval
1
1
GR
LumiluLibrarian, the “Traitor” of the Past
3
3
Progress
4 of 31 decks played
11
[11/100]
Grim Reminders Gamefound has arrived! Quite impressive that Ghost Galaxy learned from the first Gamefound debarcle, addressed the issues and delivered earlier than expected this time.
Got a game of War on Arrakis in, and boy it’s a doozy. Big fan, looking forward to another game (or two!) in March.
Got a couple more games of My Island in, which continues to be good but I still like My City better, and a handful of games of MicroMacro City: Full House. Good times!
Went to a (pretty) small board game convention in my area and played the new (?) Dune board game which is a deckbuilder worker placement mix. Was fun, really enjoyed it.
So 2 months and every month had one gaming session. Better than last year but I feel like still something to be improved on
Rallyman, GT and Dirt are locked in because of challenges, and I think it very likely that I’ll get in three more plays of Nokosu Dice because I play it at pretty much every convention I go to. It would be lovely to get in five more of Imperium, or seven more Xia, but those are more situational.
I’ve switched over to a solo 12x12 (up from 10x10 because I am too lazy to exclude wither Naturopolis or Sprawlopolis).
Current going is:
Daybreak 12/12
Naturopolis 12/12
Sprawlopolis 12/12
Terraforming Mars 12/12
Trailblazers 11/12
Planet Unknown 9/12
Tetrarchia 8/12
Cascadia 7/12
Food Chain Island 5/12
Dune Imperium 3/12
Imperium: Classics/Horizons 3/12
Earthborne Rangers 2/12
Not a few BGA games in there that I play on work breaks.
I also had a streak going that lasted from the end of January until last Thursday when I played Baldur’s Gate 3 all day and didn’t even manage a single short game of Sprawlopolis. But as I wasn’t actively trying for a forever streak anyway… in any case: this is surely the longest ever “a game every day” streak I’ve had. (And now I need to get back to BG3, I have another day off today and it was meant to play that game…)
A 200% increase in the total is good progress, surely?
Opportunity 50 x 2 Challenge
Game
Month
Total
Status
The Gardens
-
[3/2]
Black Angel
2
[3/2]
Lost Ruins of Arnak
-
[1/2]
Progress
5%
Nothing much to see here.
KeyForge Grim WoE 100 Challenge
Set
Deck
Month
Total
WoE
Poole of Saliseat
2
8
WoE
Rumpleadder, the “Protector” of Curses
-
1
GR
Arrowshadow, Spawn of Superval
11
12
GR
LumiluLibrarian, the “Traitor” of the Past
-
3
GR
Gasga, the Cobbler of the Tower
8
8
GR
Bourdet, Mauallan’s Conqueror
4
4
GR
Saint-Germain of Saurtonne
1
1
Progress
7 of 31 decks played
[37/100] plays
Excellent KeyForge progress in March. Grim Reminders is fun! The haunting mechanic and the associated cards to manipulate the draw deck and discard pile lead to plenty of shenanigans.
Netrunner 15 Challenge + 2 = [5/15]
Slowly improving at in person play; even won a couple of games this month. However, with the new set Rebellion Without Rehersal just released and the Borealis Cycle rotating out, it’s back to the drawing board for my Startup decks. Humph.
Only got one new game to the table last month, so I am behind. Busy month for April too, so not sure if I will be able to to catch up, or even meet my monthly goal of trying out two unplayed games. Time will tell.
+2 = [3/15]
+2 = [2/20]
+ 2 = [5/15]