Kluster is pretty great. My friend has it but we can’t play it much because the noise of the magnets clacking together scares their dog 
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A bit ago, I made some low-ball (below soft-reserve) bids on some auction items. The seller contacted me via GeekMail and offered to do a bundled-BIN at the prices I had bid. Typically I don’t mind throwing low-ball bids out because a) if I can get a game that cheap, I (of all people) would definitely do so but, more importantly, b) it likely helps out the seller by starting the ball rolling on those items – more often than not, me throwing a low-ball bid on something results in nearly-immediate counter-bids by those that may otherwise stay quiet (the psychology of auction bidding is interesting and frustrating)
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Nuns on the Run - This was the one item that made me decide, “Yeah, I’ll bid in this auction”. It was the only Hidden Movement game on my wishlist before SUSD convinced me (by showing me) that I needed Whitehall Mystery (which I received as a gift this past Christmas). I think the irreverent theme helps sell this game and, I think, gives it a nice charm.
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Imperial Settlers w/Aztecs - I picked up 51st State Master Set and I’m certainly excited about that (I’ve actually printed out a solo variant for it), but while sorting and organizing State51, I realized that the theme and art design will just not work whatsoever with my partner – Imperial Settlers has a much brighter theme that will have instant appeal. Fun fact: when Quinns did his Nations vs Imperial Settlers review, I thought for sure that Nations would be the game for me; I was wrong - I played Nations once and it immediately fell off of my wishlist (though Nations the Dice Game is on my shelf and it’ll stay there forever)
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Elder Sign - Way back in the mysterious before times, back before I was “in the hobby” and was just dabbling on the perimeter, I put myself in a position to make a choice between Elder Sign and Eldritch Horror as my first foray into buying games. I bought EH; sleeved it (the guy at my FLGS said I definitely should because the small cards are hard to shuffle - I took his word for it), made some foamcore organizers for it, played it once (well, half of once) solo and then packed it away. I really need to try it again. However, Elder Sign seems to offer a much lighter experience that will definitely be more my style and definitely more my partner’s style. I could also see this easily playing well with 8+ kids (which my own are still quite far from that, but I have some nieces and nephews that already qualify)
Additionally, doing a bit of wishlist crunching before we make a move to a more expensive house, I finally figured out how to buy a copy of (basically your choices are “direct from the publisher” or “secondhand but from a very limited supply because not many are in circulation”):
- Hands in the Sea - I used to have A Few Acres of Snow on my wishlist; that is, until I learned the game had some fundamental flaws (well, perhaps just 1 glaring flaw). When I learned of HitS, AFAoS immediately dropped from my list. Not only does HitS not have flaws but the conflict in which it’s set is way older (which I prefer in my wargames – the older the better).
I also failed to mention, when discussing my birthday haul a week ago or so that my partner took my oldest to Target to go shopping for me. We typically let her pick a gift on her own for special occasions for myself or my partner; usually this generates a bit of nonsense – for Mother’s Day 2019, my wife recieved a “Little People” Disney Princess float parade set. This time, my daughter selected a 10-count Hot Wheels box. Little did either of them know: I own Gaslands and I was THRILLED
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Elder Sign was a milestone game for me, as my intro to the Arkham Horror setting. I ended up buying All the Things for it, but mostly play with the core set locations, and the extra dice/investigators/Ancient Ones from the expansions. I love the museum setting.
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Yes! I think the Library setting is a very fun choice. I don’t know if they did it accidentally, but libraries always strike me as slightly arcane and unknowable. (I should also mention that I have a mild phobia of public libraries… I have no idea why – unless, perhaps, I actually exist only in someone’s Elder Sign game)
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So, big changes afoot. I found a nice price on the latest starter kit for Kill Team, and this on the heels of a fairly big paint and supplies purchase, so Core Space has already been put up for sale.
These aren’t exactly the same kind of game, so technically there’s room for both, but Core Space was bought to get the minis-with-terrain experience without the hobby bit. Flipping on that pretty hard here as I’m realizing I’ll have more hobby time than game time for the foreseeable future.
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This is an interesting perspective. And one that I identify with.
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The second half of my spree came in so I got some expansions the Raptors for Unmatched, the river folk expansion for Root, and the herbal witches for Quacks of Quedlinburg. As well as some new games Bargain Quest, Taverns of Tiefenthal, and Clank. I’m so excited for everything, Unmatched has been such a fun time, Quacks is one of my favourite games now, and I can’t wait to try out my new ones!
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This is basically me whenever my son isn’t over. I really need to get some more paint gear, so that I spend less time on my PS4.
Though admittedly I play often with a friend, so at least we get to chat! 
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Yes. @VictorViper, My wife and I are both teachers, and are suffering from some extreme planning burnout for the upcoming school year. Each evening this week we’ve looked at the game shelves, sighed, and then she’s worked on a puzzle as I paint, and we put on a good-bad movie in the background. We just don’t have the bandwidth for pretend strategy once the kids are in bed.
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I spent most of college working in a public library, and they are legitimately arcane and unknowable. Horrors around every corner! The public internet browser histories I’ve seen! shudders
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Saw Viticulture: Visitors from the Rhine Valley expansion for £10. Would have been even cheaper if I needed an order from Zatu to balance the shipping - but I’m not falling for that rabbit hole.
Heard people say Tuscany + Rhine Valley is their favourite variant of Viticulture, so thought I’d give it a try.
…I’m tempted to order more Aristeia expansions in case the prices go up soon with all the announcements of ‘price adjustments’ from various distributors/publishers - got three 2 character packs and one 4 character pack left to buy. I’m pretending to hold strong, but I’ll probably order them anyway.
Or should I just get base set of Godtear or Skytear instead for the same money? I don’t know!
EDIT: I compromised. Bought the two last Aristeia expansions that I thought looked cool, and left the two I’m unsure of.
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Nova Luna popped up in stock on a store where I had some loyalty credit needing to be used up, so I grabbed it. And it plays solo, so I’ll get to play it!
This will actually be the first Rosenberg game I’ve owned 
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Kluster is pretty damn fun.
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Elder Sign is a MUCH quicker and simpler game, but is really great. It also has an excellent phone app version.
I got Eldritch Horror out again when lockdown started and… I like it. It doesn’t try to be the same as Elder Sign. Very atmospheric, but slow - first games are usually 4-5 hours. Two players each controlling two heroes is best, because the difficulty curve means that it’s actually easier with 4 heroes (but 4 players can be a recipe for 6+ hour durations). Has a unique place between Arkham and Elder Sign. Definitely give it a go and see what you think.
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I’m pre-order mad currently.
Just did it with Fort
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Well, I suppose it had to happen at some point. (Actually quite excited to have a copy of the most influential of the genre grandparents)
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Every copy comes with a long grey beard for each player?
(I can’t see myself ever owning an 18XX game, but a couple of months ago I didn’t expect ever to play one, so…)
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Oh god, my “no games until Anno 1800” rule is struggling already.
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Nearly, 4 long grey beards, a set of mutton chops and a handle bar moustache.
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We’re in 2020, 1800 was like 220 years ago. You’re fine.
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