I’ve been mentally recovering from the new-borns-don’t-sleep phase of parenthood. Last night, the new one slept for ten hours, and my other two children both managed to go the entire night without waking up and crying because the kicked their blankets off. A full night of sleep means this is the first morning in a long while that I had “spare” time to sit and think before starting work. And what did I think about? It was, of course, “I have too many games.”
I’m at the point where my shelves are completely full. I need to trim down the collection but need to play some games to figure out which ones make the cut. We were in isolation-mode for the last couple of months due to the new baby, but she’s doing fine now and we’re starting to be more comfortable about taking risks… hopefully I can get some gaming done soon.
However, it’s hard to resist BGG’s new marketplace free shipping!
It’s a Wonderful World: Heritage Edition – I’ve been seeing glowing coverage of this in a number of communities. I bought it mostly as a solo experience, and only then when I found it for a great price (honestly I think the person I bought it from confused the price for the retail edition)
War of the Rings: Second Edition /w Lords of Middle-Earth and Warriors of Middle-Earth – I already owned War of the Rings, but with free shipping, I’m hoping to be able to turn around and sell the extra copy and recoup most of the cost as a cheap (but complicated) way to pick up both of the expansions along with a promo or two.
Loopin’ Chewie – after the (quasi) success of playing this with my older kids, I decided to look into the 3d-printed 6-player mode. Currently contemplating trying to design my own 3d-printed adapter or just using the one freely available that requires drilling holes in the base.
A Billion Suns – My former neighbor and primary gaming opponent already has his fleet 3d-printed and has offered to help me print (on his resin printer) and paint a fleet for myself.
Honga – A Haba “children’s” game that received a very good critical reception, albeit somewhat short-lived (but that is the nature of this hobby). My kids are still quite young for this complex of a game, but I’ve heard/read that it’ll keep a table of adults entertained.
Factory Funner (BoardGameTables edition) – I already owned a copy of Factory Funner that I had bought secondhand, but it was missing a number of tiles. This new edition by BoardGameTables looks great, and I do like to support local businesses.
Bear Raid – I picked this up direct from BGT as well because I love stock-holding and speculation games. The production, as usual for BGT, is spectacular. The deluxe components are… in disagreement with the size of the box. I think there is a PDF with tuckboxes that BGT provided that can help
World Without End – thus completes my Ken Follet game collection (but not really, because there was one that was only released in German, and there’s an expansion I don’t own for Pillars of the Earth)
Cleopatra’s Caboose – the first, last, and only 18☥☥ (eighteen-ankh-ankh) game. It’s a train game set in ancient Egypt – why wouldn’t I buy it?
Top Gun Strategy Game – I blame this one on Mark Bigney (SVWAG). Looks 80’s-rad and I grew up watching Top Gun because it was one of my father’s favorite movies. I almost bought this secondhand. But then I did a price-check and found it even cheaper online.
Conquest of Paradise (Second Edition) – I have a tendency to listen/watch for people talking about solo-able 4x games. The second edition of this game came with a solo mode and it got a bit of fanfare in certain circles. I know very little about the geography or ancient cultures involved, but the game is a solid production (GMT, after all) and the solo mode looks quite interesting.
Mexica – finally found a SuperMeeple edition in the US for a reasonable price. Brand new, they were $50+ and going “out of print” didn’t help anything. Between free-shipping and the used price, this was a steal for a beautiful production of a very interesting (looking, since I haven’t played it yet) Kramer & Kiesling game.
18Magyarország: Hungarian Railway History – Kickstarter pledge finally arrived, along with some extra tile trays for it and 1840, 1824, and 18CZ.
Blue Moon: The Pillar, Blue Moon: The Aqua, Blue Moon: Emissaries & Inquisitors – Blessings, Blue Moon: Emissaries & Inquisitors – Allies, Blue Moon: Buka Invasion – GameZenter “found” some stock in the warehouse and put them up for a decent price (basically 10 year old pricing… which means the price is about what you’d pay in modern day if you were going through one of the discounted OGS). This completes my (tarot-size) Blue Moon collection except for 3 promos.
The Quest for El Dorado: The Golden Temples – Already own El Dorado (but not H&H) but read/heard that Golden Temples is a very robust experience on its own, and can be Voltron’d onto the base game.
Gods Love Dinosaurs – Another (cheap) one to blame on SVWAG. A nice family-weight game that I can probably get played with my partner.
Oriflamme: Ablaze – 3-5 players is a bit troubling, but Oriflamme caught my attention after SUSD’s coverage. This is an expand-alone that I got for practically free. Totally prepared to cut it loose if needed, but it’s a lovely small box.
The Hobbit – seldom-discussed Knizia title with a setting that I like, even if it is a waifer-thin veneer.
Concordia: Solitaria – I’ve been looking to get Concordia played some more, so hopefully this will allow me. I’ve heard really good things about this expansion, but also heard that it may be easy to learn its tells over the course of a few plays.
Cellulose: A Plant Cell Biology Game – Kickstarter arrival. I’ve tried a Genius Games game in the past (Subatomic: An Atom Building Game) and was not impressed. But this one seems different and I’m excited to get it played. Solo mode included! Now I just need the spare brain power to learn it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game – The Dark of Mirkwood – I have a modest collection of LOTRLCG products already, and this one brings some attention to the early content to bring it more in-line with the caliber of the more recent content
The Great Zimbabwe – this pre-order was placed over a year ago. It finally came! I forgot that Splotter makes not-huge games.
Spirit Island: Jagged Earth – this was held along with TGZ. I haven’t explored nearly even half of the rest of the Spirit Island content I own…
Unicorn Fever w/Royal Hooves – Unicorn Fever was also held by TGZ’s pre-order. But when they sent the order, they sent me the expansion instead of the base game. A quick email with their customer support offered another tracking number for the base game, and an invitation to keep the mistakenly-sent expansion.
Rail Barons of the World – another Kickstarter arrival. This time a solo-mode for Railways of Nippon (which means I can finally get it played!)
Looking back at this list, a lot of it was solo-oriented. That’s me coming to grips with the fact that my primary gaming opponent is now much farther away than he was pre-pandemic, and my partner doesn’t have the headspace for gaming after spending her days taking care of our 3 children.
