Great Western Trail is wonderful, one of the best games we’ve played. What’s great about it is that everything is worth pursuing, so you’re never stuck with nothing to do, but at the same time you never have enough to do everything, so there are interesting decisions everywhere.
Big hit here. Hope you all like it as much as we do.
@Deviates @Simfers there are some async games of Great Western Trail happening on BGA between people on this forum.
If you’d like to try it, give me your BGA usernames (you don’t need to be premium members) and I can add you to a game (if that sounds a bit gatekeepery it’s because it’s an alpha game at the moment and I’m the only one who has played enough rubbish games to get alpha access)
Thanks for the invite! I don’t have a BGA account (yet), but I may just look into that at some point. Time, as always, is the issue. 
Once I’ve learned the game in the table, I’ll be sure to take you up on that!
After deciding to retool my collection to better represent my personal gaming pursuits and desires—to say nothing of the realities of a child rearing lifestyle, the axe has come down hard on a number of holdouts. A couple of these were big ticket items, and more than a few were coffin boxes, so with space regained and a few fun bux earned, here I am in this damned thread. 
Fun weirdness though, both intended for solo play as is typical with my adventure trash:
Secrets of the Lost Tomb including Fate and Fortune. I’ve wanted this for a long time and a copy had been staring at me in a FLGS for ages and I never noticed it. The power of atrocious font selection. This is now my ugliest game, surpassing even Container, and inclusive of my other acquisition today.
Shadows of Malice with Seekers of a Hidden Light. I don’t know what the heck I’m going to think of this one, but it’s a Felli so I’m expecting something weird and special.
Yeah, they’re pretty neat! This isn’t as good a photo detail-wise, but I wanted to see what all of the Wildlands miniatures I now have looked like together. I really should have done this in daylight…
That’s the Helter Skelter teams on the single cards, with the Dark Judges behind them; the original Wildlands teams on the still-wrapped decks with The Adventuring Party behind them; and the Ancients in the back row. (All sitting on one of the half-sized boards from Map Pack 2.)
Although I’m still far more likely to be seen with an RPG than anything else I do occasionally pick up other sorts of game. A lightly used copy of Evil Hat’s Zeppelin Attack! with the expansion deck included arrived earlier in the week. Reviews seem to agree that it goes on a bit longer than it should, but the theme is appealing so I’ll see how it plays.
Kickstarter arrival for Aeon’s End… big box #6, is that? Original, War Eternal, Legacy, New Age, Outcasts, Legacy of Gravehold. Yup. I really ought to play this some more! In normal times I get in about 20-40 demo games of the latest version at Essen, and barely play it at any other time.
My useful box arrived with much delay… so much I had considered asking them if they had ordered any at all…
My resolution for the year to purchase fewer games continues strong (not!) as I just ordered Stronghold: Undead from CSI, which is on sale this week for $30.
I remember the SU&SD video for the original Stronghold and it looked really interesting (S2:E2 7:52 mark), if somewhat mathsy. Everything I’ve read says this is an improvement over the original game. I am hopeful I can get this one to the table now and then.
I lose my composure yesterday, and I nearly ordered Jaws of the Lion second hand plus stickers set (still in shrink) for $60. Luckily, when I enquired about it, it was already being sold to someone else. Phew…
I picked up Pitchcar Mini yesterday, which basically forces me into a hunt for whatever extensions I can find (potentially including a second core box). I’m very happy to have found a copy of this; (Big!) Pitchcar is a game I simply don’t have space to store or even play, yet that hasn’t kept me from considering it for several years. The mini version comes with some quirks associated with scaling down a game which uses physics for its mechanism, primarily the weight of the discs and the kind of power you can expect to put behind them; I happen to like this, however, and I think it makes for a better home experience… provided you can add some track complexity via the aforementioned extensions.
You definitely lose something when the scope of a design changes like this. In the full version you’re making shots that run so long, even big straightaway flicks can be a reason to cheer. There’s an element of “drive” to the shots that just can’t be replicated with a product less than half the size. What you don’t lose is the immediacy of play and the fun of direct competition. The time it takes to complete a race is also scaled back relative to the big game, so running a tournament is fast and easy, and the shots might be easier to make overall, but good luck making them (legally) when the board is a nightmare of traffic.
Anyway, suffice it to say I’m bloody thrilled to have acquired this one, and it goes proudly into my (frankly amazing) little dexterity games pile.
We sell it new in shrink for $47, and the stickers for $9.
Definitely don’t buy it 2nd hand for that cost!
(aren’t like NZ Dollars and Canada Dollars a bit different? I am still irritated by all these different currencies being Dollars…it’s still ~ 50 CAD )
It does beg the question: why so many dollhairs?
Well something has to be done with all the Barbie hair pulled out by little siblings!
I was going to post something similar, but then remembered Chewy is in NZ, and that it was probably a decent price. After looking, it’s something like $40 USD/$50 CAD.
I stumbled into Spirit Island. There’s this thing around here, on Facebook, called “buy nothing” where you can post things you don’t need/want, and others in the community can express their interest. Then you “award” it to someone by whatever rubric you like.
The Mrs was scrolling through and I saw one of the Catans in a picture so I took a closer look.
“Stop! Is that Spirit Island?”
[she’s not sure what I’m talking about]
“Are they just giving away Spirit Island?”
“Do you want it?”
[Insert a suitable pause for gravity]
“Yes.”
Anyway, she made our case for it, and we won, and I picked it up today. Somewhat insane. I kind of want to go back to the original post and look up all the other families that wanted it because, apparently, there are at least 2 or 3 others of us in the neighborhood!
SI has always been just off the edge of my wishlist. I never loved Pandemic and in general don’t like that kind of solo or roguelike where the world is stacked against you and sometimes you lose, sometimes you win. I’d rather have real players, a simulated opponent, or a puzzle that you can solve. But still, it’s supposed to be so good, and like minded people seem to like it. Now I can try!
[Warning: hard pivot]
The other thing that has always bothered me is how SI is held up as the game that “does Colonialism right.” On principle, I’ve kind of boycotted it. To me, Spirit Island is like posting a black jpg on social media for Black Lives Matter, then patting yourself on the back for being on the “right side of history” and “not being one of them” and going back to your couch. Sorry if I’m grating on anyone here.
SI is such a caricature of colonialism, historical or modern (e.g., gentrification). I turn to games like Dog Eat Dog or Archipelago to “do colonialism right.” It should make you cringe. It should be ugly and make you uncomfortable. It should ask you - are you going to play that card? You can invoke slavery and win. Will you?
Or maybe you are the lone sympathizer and you have to stand up to everyone else. But secretly, because they hold all the power.
It’s just a game, but it still does work on your heart. At least a smidge. It’s possible that the next day you might see an old situation differently. The next time you encounter someone who has been rolled over by the machine, you might listen differently. The next time you have the opportunity to make yourself comfortable at someone else’s expense, even in a small way, you might act differently.
SI does none of this. If anything, it risks numbing players, opium for the conscience. Colonials are the bad guys, indigenes are the victims, I’m right minded. Full stop. Back to the couch.
Sorry for unloading that here. And sorry, I don’t mean to suggest that playing Spirit Island makes you some flavor of bad person. Rather, to tie these scattered thoughts with some semblance of a bow, I feel there is a philosophy out there that encourages otherwise well-meaning people to disengage from, and disavow their complicity in, really hard problems in the world. And thus to perpetuate and entrench them.
That philosophy latches onto caricatures and insubstantial gestures like Spirit Island to do its work. And, in trying to distance myself from the philosophy, I’ve distanced myself from an otherwise innocent game like Spirit Island. Death by association.
[pivot back]
But I guess now I’m going to take the plunge! Death to the whiteys (me).
Very recently, JotL here was 95NZD. But it has dropped a lot on price after Christmas, now that I look, you can find it for 65… without stickers
I think our $60 NZD are about 52 CAD, but we don’t have the same supply you do, I guess?
Out of frustration with everything… I went on a shopping spree.
And bought the new iOS app for Maracaibo—a game I‘ve been meaning to try. I promptly lost against the automa 
