My Kickstarter pledge for Root: The Marauder Expansion arrived. Since I was a “all new gameplay content” pledge, I suspected I’d be in the tail of the fulfillment, expected to wrap up in the US in July; so who knows how they actually prioritize (or not?) different pledges.
I’m currently contemplating buying a copy of 1849 from All-Aboard Games direct. I originally didn’t think it looked worth having, due to those of the “financial shenanigans” persuasion seemingly raving about it, and me finding myself in the “operational games are more interesting than, necessarily, stock round trickery”. But I’ve been watching it for the last year and change and it seems as though it has good promoter representation across the gamut.
But, I’m planning on pledging all-in for AAG’s Wave 5 (for the discount and the near-free expansions, and then try to whittle down the titles I keep and sell the rest to offset the costs). I’ve also been holding off on 1849 because it’s often compared to 1841, which I would absolutely rather have due to its peculiar chrome… and 1841 is supposed to have a new edition soon™.
Outside of trying to track down a copy of 1849, I’m not currently contemplating any new purchases. I have a couple of low-ball bids on BGG auctions at the moment, but I’ll be surprised if they stick.
I was able to offload my old Libertalia for the same price as a new Libertalia. It came a few weeks ago and I finally got a chance to unbox it this week.
Stonemeier
Anyone want to hear me complain about Stonemeier again? No one? OK, here we go.
Why do they give me seven decks of cards and an insert with 6 slots for decks?
Why do you give me a cool treasure chest with two dials, for the tens and the ones of your score, but print one of the dials backwards so you have to spin them opposite directions to increment them?
Is anyone looking at these things before they go out the door?
It’s not an attention to detail thing. Stonemeier picks a few details and attentions the living bejeezus out of them. And ignores so much else in the process. I really think this is the last Stonemeier anything I ever touch or buy. (oh wait, I’m still committed to learning Viticulture. That will be the last.)
The game should still be good as it is built on a proven game. Libertalia 1.0 had it’s issues, primarily around inconsistency of experience. Reviews on the refresh seemed positive. I have doubts, like the change in the Sabers abilities gives you less control over your hand and den while simultaneously taking one of the (interesting) wrenches out of “pathing” your hand for the round.
As @Yashima noted, I also have Mission Red Planet and am just delaying the day where I have to choose which stays and which goes. Oh, and Citadels, but it’s so small and twee it seems to wriggle out of every cull.
Separately, just put in a pledge for Ra. I had no idea that was happening but looks like today is the last day. They are also advertising a WAY oversized and overbudgeted edition of Castles of Burgundy on that site, which will put me at 3 editions and still waiting for one that does it right. Hands up everyone who needed miniatures for their Burgundy experience?
Backed RA, decided to save some money (save, ha!, I’ll just spend it on other games) and get the normal retail edition. Even though I do love metal bits.
I get a lot of stick for being the ‘beige cube’ aficionado among my gaming group, and to be fair, I do trend more towards eurogames. But I went slightly off-piste for me this week and picked up Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. I’ve never played the original but all that faffing about with tiles, huge box size and hefty price meant I was unlikely to ever pick it up.
So I’m looking forward to trying the mini version, and seeing what the fuss is about. However I also need to decide whether to solo it, play it with my kid (almost 10 and plays a lot of board games), or save it for a game group night now that I’m starting to return to that. I think the way they ramp up the learning as you go through the first 5 scenarios would help get kiddo playing, but not sure if it will get too crunchy beyond that…
I’ve gone through the first three scenarios of JotL, and I don’t think there’s anything in there that is too complex for a kid who is playing board games already. Scenario 4 is adding the elements, which is definitely a bit more complex, but probably not too much for your kiddo, especially with you there to help with it.
My problem is my plays are so far in between, I’m having to relearn a bunch of stuff every time I bring the game back to the table, and then also learn the new stuff for the new scenario. I think if the game is played regularly, though, this will not be an issue.
I do like what I have played, it’s just hard to get the time to do it.
Great, thanks for that feedback, much appreciated. That is my issue with keeping it for game night, it wouldn’t hit the table every time as we tend to enjoy a rotating mix of games and styles. At least with kiddo, if he gets it and likes it, I’d have a willing partner to go through the campaign with… I can probably continue solo anyway if he gets bored (…or he can if I do!)
Eh, I do disagree there, but hey, we all like different things.
I think his views on various conflicts are jarringly different to mine, and that might be a factor that negatively colours my enjoyment of his games. Almoravid might be a setting sufficiently far removed from anything I know to be an opportunity to see whether I can enjoy his game design without that “colouring” spoiling the experience.
Volko and I have very dissimilar views as well, but he has always interacted with me in a good-natured and personable manner. Especially when we disagree. That’s a rare trait these days.
Finally got Great Plains and Arkwright: the Card Game delivered to me by my friend who was carrying the games for me. Good timing as I just acquired Arkwright the board game last week from a club member.
Bought some Wave 5 stuff from All Aboard Games. The expansions are pretty affordable, it was the base game themselves that hurts the wallet
1817 expansions because 1817 is just utter nuts.
18New England expansions - I love this one so, anything that can make it a smaller game sounds great.
18SJ: Railways of the Frozen North set in Sweden and Norway. I hope the nationalisation mechanism is brutal and interesting here.
18GB - set in the UK, and it seems that the designer intended it to be a descendent of 1860: Railways on the Isle of Wight, which I really enjoy, and does share similarities with 1862: East Anglia so I am keen!
Picked up decorum from the shop. I feel like this will fly or die in one game because so much is internal and unobvious it’s harder to see where the gap for improvement is.
