“No, it really is milk powder. My boring-looking friend whom you just let pass while you were hassling me, on the other hand…”
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Relevant, if edging on NSFW
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Well, you need to measure the size of the milk powder particles to separate it out from all the cocaine.
The French cards have R D P instead of K Q J. We’re all pretty clear that the R is for Roi and the D is for Dame. It seems that usually it is V for Valet next and everyone (including the French lady who brought it) is stumped on the P.
Any help?
Could mean ‘Peon’. Idk if it is a French word, but I know it’s a Spanish one.
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Looking at an online version of the French rules, it seems the P stands for Prince(esse).
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Perhaps “Paje”, which is like a Valet, and traditionally would be the “Sota” in Spanish style cards. But if the rules say Princess…
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Perfect Alibi, can’t recall exactly how I found it, but my group (and I!) love deduction games. We played Awkward Guests to death. I like Search for Planet X, but it can be harder to get to the table. My group thinks I win at it too much. Which I don’t think is entirely accurate, but I’ll concede that I have won my fair share of games.
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I did a thing. I bartered!
If you have followed the Games I didn’t buy trend you saw my struggles about a drop on price on a still in shrink copy of D&D The Legend of Drizzt that had dropped in price through a Facebook sale. It had been a week on, then dropped 10 bucks. I did sweat, I waited, nobody was buying it, so I did an offer (undercutting by another 10 bucks). He seemed agreeable, but I had to find out how much was posting going to be.
Once I found out the price for posting it, I was nearly out (it is a big heavy box, after all). So the seller dropped another 5 bucks… 
I must admit I never feel right about bartering. So I stopped it there and bought it. And it is on its way to me.
EDIT: It is already with me. That courier service was good!
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I’m really interested in this and haven’t seen much about it. Thoughts welcome when you get to play it.
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I think I need to keep away from Facebook. Got Cryptid and Under Falling Skies second hand from a local guy. Picking them up tomorrow. And I haven even opened my last game.
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The Grand Austria Hotel expansion arrived yesterday! And I didn’t get hit by VAT! The gamble paid off (just expensive, rather than very very expensive!).
Does it all fit in the base box? Kind of, in that uncomfortable squeeze with lid rise sort of way. I’ve kept it in the expansion box for now to be on the safe side. The expansion has far too many boards! Not happy for my shelf 
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“One of us! One of us!”
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hey that’s my fish!
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The thread feels like a near-forgotten childhood home… As I dust off the cobwebs of my former Throne of Acquisitions, allow me to catch you up.
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War of the Ring (Second Edition) – A while ago, I was offered a copy of War of the Ring + Lords of Middle Earth expansion in exchange for my extra copy of Roads & Boats. I told the potential tradee that I needed time to think about it, and at the end of the day, I decided not to do the trade (mostly due to the cost of shipping a copy of Roads & Boats). Less than a week later, I see a copy of War of the Ring for half of what I would expect a copy of R&B to go for, so I feel I made the right choice. Knowing that the expansions are difficult to come by, I grabbed the base-game only confident that it won’t become a “lifestyle” game for me and I don’t actually need any expansions.
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1846 – Race for the Midwest – This was a P500 pre-order direct via GMT. The second printing includes a very small expansion to improve the initial random variance.
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Mystery of the Abbey – Out of print and still talked about occasionally means its been on my radar for a while. I found a low-cost secondhand copy on BGG. Normally when I buy a game that includes a consumable pad of sheets secondhand, maaaaybe one or two of the sheets will have been used. This original-fifty-pack of sheets was down to 6 – just exactly enough to laminate to accommodate a full player count of 6. There is a downloadable PDF to print more, as well. This was a well-loved game, I guess.
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Blue Skies – My birthday was last weekend and my partner went to our FLGS with my wishlist in hand (well, pulled up on her phone). This, I think, was the most recent addition to my wishlist; honestly I haven’t heard a lot about it. And, seriously, this is a dull-looking game. I mean, spreadsheets have more personality than this game board. Buuuuut, it definitely embraces the aesthetic of the late 70s (I mean, I assume, I wasn’t alive then).
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Agra – Another birthday acquisition from my partner, also from my wishlist by way of our FLGS. I cannot get over how amazing this production is. I don’t know a lot about the game yet, but I’ve read (very?) good things about the game. Also, I’ve seen Michael Menzel art before but this game’s artwork is absolutely amazing. I do worry about the game set in India that is designed by a Swiss designer, illustrated by a German artist and published by a Dutch (and US) publisher; nothing specific about the game strikes me as problematic, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t potentially a problem.
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And that gives me peace of mine, while I bought 3 games in a week, pillbox doesn’t let me down and announces 5 in one go.
I welled up in tears…
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Surely will do. I’ve seen one positive (Vasel) and one negative (some unknown dudes) review on YouTube, but there sure isn’t a lot to go on. Having read the rules, perused the cards etc., I’ll pop in a few comments/expectations and see how things line up after a few plays.
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The Discovery phase (initial draft) is going to be a huge part of the experience. Unlike most games that do this, I feel like we’ll start drafting immediately after our learning game. This is promising since we often ditch these elements for the sake of brevity until we’re well and truly familiar with a game. That said, the game’s place on my shelf will live or die on whether or not my partner enjoys this draft; too much strategy hinges on this being played out rather than randomly shuffled, and if we find the draft cumbersome, it’s going to get the axe.
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The theme and mechanics are nicely interwoven, and it seems clear that it was designed from the outset to be a courtroom drama duel. The cards are loaded with flavour text, and the emergent storytelling looks like it’ll be incredibly strong for the role-play-minded out there… We’re gonna play it flat-out abstract, of that I have no doubt. It’s another elaborate Battle Line/Air, Land and Sea/Lost Cities style duel with area control. For us it’ll be suits n’ numbers but I think that’s ok.
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On the above, the way in which area control is handled is incredibly interesting to me, and contains the main hook for the cardplay. The jury swaying (effectively 12 little tugs-of-war) element is fascinating.
Anyway, we’ll see how it all plays out, but I’m still really excited for it, in spite of being a little more familiar than I was expecting. My partner and I play purely for mechanics, and there are some really neat design choices which I think will enhance longevity (and which may not reveal themselves until we build skill). High hopes!
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It looks pretty excellent, but I have a hard time getting along with the theme. From Tom Vasel’s review, it seems there isn’t a “correct” verdict for each case, which means someone’s innocence has no real bearing on the outcome of their case. As a scathing indictment of the legal system I love it, but as the setting for a fun tug-of-war game I’m less sold.
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