Bought Everdell because I saw it for slightly cheaper than usual.
It’s been in my top 3 to get pretty much all year, so yay!
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I’m in a really similar boat (no roads…). Though I don’t have that amount of woodworking equipment I’ve easily enough tools and hopefully basic wood working ability, to construct a solid crokinole board. The thing stopping me is that I’ve never seen a board in person either and I’m not 100% sure that I’d completely stick the landing on a really nice finish for the playing deck.
So I’m really considering blowing my board gaming budget for the next year on a lovely board from Woodestic (as shown in the SU&SD review that Quinns did). It looks like a game I’d play A LOT at home, but it is a big chunk of cash to splash on a game I have never played!
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I’m very afraid someone on here is going to talk about how great Crokinole is after buying a board, because then I will absolutely be spending £300 on the Woodestic one. I’m barely holding back as it is.
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I’ve been like that for quite a while, re-watching the review and watching crokinole world championship finals on YT!..and enjoying them as well 
If I get one, it’ll have to be partly a Christmas gift. Another thread here put me on to https://www.mastersofgames.com/cat/table/crokinole-tournament-board.htm who appear to be a distributor for woodestic boards, and they come in a fair bit cheaper… though just 2 sets of discs… but I think about £215 stg. Still a whopping great price but cheaper than direct.
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In a case of I said it, I did it, I have Raptor in my collection. I’m noticing there’s a 2019 copyright on the box, so there was a sneaky reprint somewhere that even BGG managed to miss. Heads up for anyone who thought this might be OOP.
Forgot: I also got Air Land & Sea.
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A sale compelled me to add the Mosquito and Pillbug to my full-sized Hive so that I have the game fully-expanded at both sizes. Possibly unnecessary – the larger set is mostly played at home where not even the Ladybug is permitted – but this game is one of my three and so I am qualmless.
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I have some bad news. I bought a Crokinole board in September for ~£220 and it’s great. My partner loves it too, though she keep calling it tiddlywinks to annoy me. It’s faster and less fiddly than Catacombs or Flick 'em up, and there’s a bit of strategy in figuring out how to get your disks to ricochet into hard-to-hit positions, or how much risk to take with a tricky shot which might wipe out your own disks if you fail.
The board I got was one of the Masters of Games boards listed above. They’re relabelled Woodestic boards but inexplicably ~£100 cheaper. The core of it is plywood (you can see it underneath), but the finish on the surface and the ditch is lovely and the colours are quite bright. It comes with two sets of disk (plain and black), but I think Crokinole’s best at 2 anyway.
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After many hours of back and forth since the Merchants of the Dark Road PM opened, I caved and also added Honey Buzz. It’s just such a beautiful production, and charming theme. Plus I love worker (bee) placement games. The fact that I get to have beeples is just icing on the cake.
I think they’re still aiming for an early 2021 delivery as well, with some delays due to Chinese New Year (and likely COVID again).
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My copy of The King Is Dead (2nd Ed.) arrived today, and for the first time I’m disappointed by the physical design of an Osprey box. Mostly because the box is way too big and almost entirely empty space.
The height of the box is especially egregious, as it could easily have been less than half what it is. The other dimensions are constrained by the board size; however if they’d gone with two folds in the board instead of one, I believe the whole package could have been 25% of the volume in a lovely compact portable box.
For clarity, other than the board, the contents are 53 cards (no bigger than a standard deck), and 85 small wooden tokens in a (not-terribly-nice) draw-string bag, and the box height is 7 cm.
Secondly – and this is mostly just disappointing by comparison with the likes of the gorgeous London (2nd ed) box – it doesn’t have their common hinged box design that I like so much (and which makes the boxes so effortless to open and close); and the folded cardboard inlay, while seeming fairly robust for what it is, definitely isn’t as attractive as their usual moulded ones.
Everything else seems nice, but I’d become accustomed to them going the extra mile (or two) on the production values, and it seems like they’ve held back on this occasion. I probably wouldn’t mind so much were it not for the more expensive price-point of the new edition – I was just expecting more of a ‘deluxe’ production.
I’m still excited to play it, of course.
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Was cheap, so bought Crystal Palace
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Completely agree. I received my copy too and at least the insert is cheap cardboard that it’s easily recyclable.
I put said insert in the recycle and put some small games in that box. Maybe Sakura.
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This week’s “pillbox Bought A Bunch Of Stuff And A Lot Of It Arrived While He Was Moving And Organizing His Collection” is brought to you by: IKEA – because two 5x5 KALLAXs weren’t enough (more on that later in another thread)
- Mundus Novus -
What’s this? Yes, 2020 has been a strong year for Bruno Faidutti in my collection, but prior to 2020 the other French Bruno (a.k.a. Bruno Cathala) also had very little presence on my shelves. Enter: Mundus Novus. This has been on my wishlist since I first watch the SUSD coverage of it way back (though I was catching up in the backlog when I learned of this one). I’m sure SUSD coverage of it would be different today, but it’s a lovely production and a nice evolution of traditional card games.
- Raccoon Tycoon w/ The Fat Cat in Why Is This Box So Big? deluxe edition -
Present-day pillbox probably would have passed on this Kickstarter, and my excitement for the game has waned, it is a lovely production that may end up staying in my collection long term if it delivers an interesting game. The size of the box will likely frighten away potential opponents though… So… I’ll have to figure out how to camouflage it or something.
My ~1.5 yo daughter loves the cat and the dog on the box though, and she’s so adorable when she points to it and says “doggy!” or “meow!”… maybe it’ll stick around just for that alone.
- Paths of Glory -
Paths of Glory is, by all accounts, a great game. How can I tell? Secondhand copies are usually grabbed up in auctions for near-retail prices. Does that actually make it a great game? I have no idea. But I’ve seen it “BIN”-ed so fast so many times in so many auctions that it earned a permanent spot on my radar. Imagine my surprise when I put a lowball bid on a brand new “deluxe” copy, at less than half of what I normally see PoG go for, and end up winning? Who knows how that happened, so now I guess I’ll have to see what all the fuss is about (or maybe end up selling it for a profit?)
- Firefly: The Game – Blue Sun and Firefly: The Game – Kalidasa -
It turns out I’m weak when it comes to IP-based games for IPs that I love. I’ve gone all-in on Firefly: The Game, picking up the big box expansions as well as the smaller expansions when I see them at decent prices. It sounds like GF9 is clutching to the tail-end of this game, having tragically lost one of the game’s designers in 2016 and another moving on to a different company. Absent some promos, this is now a “completed” collection.
- Sail to India -
I paid more for shipping than for the game itself and still it seemed worthwhile. I don’t see it getting a lot of love, but it certainly seems to pack a nice punch in a small box. The biggest downside, then, is that it only plays at 3 or 4 players (particularly brutal during these, The After Times)
- Spirit Island w/ Branch & Claw -
I’ve mentioned before how expensive joining the 1PG (1 Player Guild) has been… and I attribute this purchase to that lot as well. I think eventually, this could be a good game to share in with my partner, at the moment I’m just not up for The Teach as much as she’s not up for The Learn. Still, a rewarding solo game to be certain (I’ve played 2-handed once, need to revisit as a solo spirit).
- Steam Works -
I’m a sucker for steampunk, tableau/engine building and TMG productions. This game has been on my wishlist for a while and I was happy to grab a reasonably priced (read: cheap) secondhand copy (that has NEVER been played)
- Bruges w/ City on the Zwinn -
This grail game is hard to grab for a reasonable price. I was hoping the “reprint” would knock old copies loose on the secondary market, but due to the “reimplementation” instead of straight reprint, it really didn’t. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of both currency exchange rates and economical Canada Post fees, I got this for a song (with expansion for less than most base-game-only secondhand auctions) If this doesn’t land well with my partner, I’ll be moving it along – based on my observations on the secondary market, it seems this is a hit-and-miss title, but fortunately enjoys a good resale price.
- Space Base -
I finally caved and bought this new on a sale at an OGS after not seeing it seemingly ever pop up on the secondary market.
- Downforce: Danger Circuit -
Theses “Deals of the Day” are brutal, especially when they catch me on a day where I could use some retail therapy. I haven’t even played Downforce… so it’s hard to explain this one… so… moving on
- Fields of Arle -
Venturing further into solo games has led this one to come into view. I originally passed over FoA because of it’s one-or-two-player only nature and, before COVID, thinking: what if it’s good and I want to play it with 3 or 4? Well, 1: I learned the expansion adds a 3rd player as an option… and B: I’m playing solo more than anything these days.
- Crystal Clans: Fire Clan, Gem Clan, and Light Clan -
Just some Crystal Clans clans that I used to hit free-shipping threshhold (I nearly have a complete Crystal Clans at this point… When did I become a Plaid Hat games fanboy?)
- Teotihuacan: Shadow of Xitle, Galaxy Trucker: Latest Models / Another Big Expansion / Missions, Mottainai: Wutai Mountain, Bargain Quest: Sunk Costs, 51st State Master Set: Scavengers/Allies, Pandemic: The Cure - Experimental Meds, Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar – Tribes & Prophecies, Nusfjord: Plaice Deck, Res Arcana: Lux et Tenebrae -
Oh, you know… just some expansions for games. I got a little carried away trying to fill out games already in my collection.
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The latest wargame/consim in my in-box wasn’t bought. I simply took it for myself. It’s designed by Rand Corp. and is used professionally by the US Defense Dept. and allied military and government personnel. It’s called Hedgemony, which is a portmanteau of Hegemony and Hedge (as in developing a “hedging strategy”). Unlike other Rand wargame products, they actually offer this one to the general public (and free of charge too), so I thought I’d post a link to their page for anyone who wanted to download the rules, player guide, and glossary of terms. I doubt I’ll ever actually play the game, but I consider it a worthwhile addition to my collection!
NB: The game is offered as a boxed product as well, but at $250.00 I think I’ll pass! Rand gets enough of my tax money as it is. 
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I’m intrigued! I’m also amused:
$250?
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That’s for the complete boxed game. The rules and guides are all I wanted. I have enough components from other games to jury-rig my own set-up. And I can always make my own maps.
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If the video on that page is indicative of the published product, I wanna know where they’re getting their sheets of paper that cost $5 each.
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Welcome to the wonderful world of gov’t think-tank contracting! 
Seriously though, I believe at least two computers are required for the actual set-up, so I assume one is paying for the software as well.
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Truthfully, the rules (all 74 pages of them) are both fascinating and incredibly dry. But it makes sense. This is not a hobbyist game, rather it’s a professional tool. Therefore, there’s plenty of purpose but zero (or very nearly zero) fun. I suspect very few here would be as interested in this as me, but it’s there if anybody wants it! 
I love this entry in the glossary under “Wargame”:
"Wargames embrace and leverage a concept expressed by Thomas Schelling: ‘One thing a person cannot do, no matter how rigorous his analysis or heroic his imagination, is to draw up a list of things that would never occur to him.’”
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This, in my heavily biased opinion, is no fluke. Enjoy!
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Was it Quinns who said it’s like it has the serotonin boost of playing slot machine? (Paraphrasing) Yeah. Agree. I like it. Just be prepared for the special cards. For a suppose family game, those cards are annoying to explain and I didn’t like the rule book on how it explains those cards.
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