It no longer needs to be said. Anytime @pillbox gets an online order, it can be assumed that there is also a copy of Roads and Boats along with it. His new house is actually built out of all of his copies of R&B. Later purchases are for further expansion of his home.
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Additionally, when I say, āmy children,ā what I actually mean is āthe copies of Roads & Boats that have attained sentienceā. So far, itās only two.
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Regarding Ashes, I think Iām in a similar boat. That said, reading the designer diaries for 1.5, I may take the hit on shipping and order the upgrade. It seems to address most (if not all) of my issues.
Besides some key word timing and such, it really address the combat; you can no longer use a unit to block, and not exhaust or take damage. Itās more inline with MtG, in that if a unit blocks it counter attacks and takes damage. Should help avoid the stalemates that often happen (at least in our games).
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Me, too. But i couldnāt get my inserts built smaller and still have the setup help I wanted and so I live with itā¦
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I think that @VictorViper could also be referring to the text on Paladins not aligning with the other boxes. I hesitate to point it out, because once seen, you canāt unsee it, and it may start to bother you when it previously didnāt!
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Oh, thatās right. Well, I can provide even more upsetting information.
The Architects box is the German translation from Schwerkraft who didnāt need a logo on the box.
The Paladins box is a 2019 preorder via Renegade who absolutely needed logos on the box apparently.
While Viscounts is the KS edition directly from Carphill games who also didnāt need a logo.
Itās just not a matching setā¦ although Viscounts does have a set collection mechanic.
I checked all the sides of all the boxes, there is no version that aligns. Also the outside box materials donāt match for Paladinsā¦
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Bought Everdell because I saw it for slightly cheaper than usual.
Itās been in my top 3 to get pretty much all year, so yay!
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Iām in a really similar boat (no roadsā¦). Though I donāt have that amount of woodworking equipment Iāve easily enough tools and hopefully basic wood working ability, to construct a solid crokinole board. The thing stopping me is that Iāve never seen a board in person either and Iām not 100% sure that Iād completely stick the landing on a really nice finish for the playing deck.
So Iām really considering blowing my board gaming budget for the next year on a lovely board from Woodestic (as shown in the SU&SD review that Quinns did). It looks like a game Iād play A LOT at home, but it is a big chunk of cash to splash on a game I have never played!
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Iām very afraid someone on here is going to talk about how great Crokinole is after buying a board, because then I will absolutely be spending Ā£300 on the Woodestic one. Iām barely holding back as it is.
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Iāve been like that for quite a while, re-watching the review and watching crokinole world championship finals on YT!..and enjoying them as well 
If I get one, itāll have to be partly a Christmas gift. Another thread here put me on to https://www.mastersofgames.com/cat/table/crokinole-tournament-board.htm who appear to be a distributor for woodestic boards, and they come in a fair bit cheaperā¦ though just 2 sets of discsā¦ but I think about Ā£215 stg. Still a whopping great price but cheaper than direct.
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In a case of I said it, I did it, I have Raptor in my collection. Iām noticing thereās a 2019 copyright on the box, so there was a sneaky reprint somewhere that even BGG managed to miss. Heads up for anyone who thought this might be OOP.
Forgot: I also got Air Land & Sea.
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A sale compelled me to add the Mosquito and Pillbug to my full-sized Hive so that I have the game fully-expanded at both sizes. Possibly unnecessary ā the larger set is mostly played at home where not even the Ladybug is permitted ā but this game is one of my three and so I am qualmless.
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I have some bad news. I bought a Crokinole board in September for ~Ā£220 and itās great. My partner loves it too, though she keep calling it tiddlywinks to annoy me. Itās faster and less fiddly than Catacombs or Flick 'em up, and thereās a bit of strategy in figuring out how to get your disks to ricochet into hard-to-hit positions, or how much risk to take with a tricky shot which might wipe out your own disks if you fail.
The board I got was one of the Masters of Games boards listed above. Theyāre relabelled Woodestic boards but inexplicably ~Ā£100 cheaper. The core of it is plywood (you can see it underneath), but the finish on the surface and the ditch is lovely and the colours are quite bright. It comes with two sets of disk (plain and black), but I think Crokinoleās best at 2 anyway.
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After many hours of back and forth since the Merchants of the Dark Road PM opened, I caved and also added Honey Buzz. Itās just such a beautiful production, and charming theme. Plus I love worker (bee) placement games. The fact that I get to have beeples is just icing on the cake.
I think theyāre still aiming for an early 2021 delivery as well, with some delays due to Chinese New Year (and likely COVID again).
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My copy of The King Is Dead (2nd Ed.) arrived today, and for the first time Iām disappointed by the physical design of an Osprey box. Mostly because the box is way too big and almost entirely empty space.
The height of the box is especially egregious, as it could easily have been less than half what it is. The other dimensions are constrained by the board size; however if theyād gone with two folds in the board instead of one, I believe the whole package could have been 25% of the volume in a lovely compact portable box.
For clarity, other than the board, the contents are 53 cards (no bigger than a standard deck), and 85 small wooden tokens in a (not-terribly-nice) draw-string bag, and the box height is 7 cm.
Secondly ā and this is mostly just disappointing by comparison with the likes of the gorgeous London (2nd ed) box ā it doesnāt have their common hinged box design that I like so much (and which makes the boxes so effortless to open and close); and the folded cardboard inlay, while seeming fairly robust for what it is, definitely isnāt as attractive as their usual moulded ones.
Everything else seems nice, but Iād become accustomed to them going the extra mile (or two) on the production values, and it seems like theyāve held back on this occasion. I probably wouldnāt mind so much were it not for the more expensive price-point of the new edition ā I was just expecting more of a ādeluxeā production.
Iām still excited to play it, of course.
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Was cheap, so bought Crystal Palace
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Completely agree. I received my copy too and at least the insert is cheap cardboard that itās easily recyclable.
I put said insert in the recycle and put some small games in that box. Maybe Sakura.
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This weekās āpillbox Bought A Bunch Of Stuff And A Lot Of It Arrived While He Was Moving And Organizing His Collectionā is brought to you by: IKEA ā because two 5x5 KALLAXs werenāt enough (more on that later in another thread)
- Mundus Novus -
Whatās this? Yes, 2020 has been a strong year for Bruno Faidutti in my collection, but prior to 2020 the other French Bruno (a.k.a. Bruno Cathala) also had very little presence on my shelves. Enter: Mundus Novus. This has been on my wishlist since I first watch the SUSD coverage of it way back (though I was catching up in the backlog when I learned of this one). Iām sure SUSD coverage of it would be different today, but itās a lovely production and a nice evolution of traditional card games.
- Raccoon Tycoon w/ The Fat Cat in Why Is This Box So Big? deluxe edition -
Present-day pillbox probably would have passed on this Kickstarter, and my excitement for the game has waned, it is a lovely production that may end up staying in my collection long term if it delivers an interesting game. The size of the box will likely frighten away potential opponents thoughā¦ Soā¦ Iāll have to figure out how to camouflage it or something.
My ~1.5 yo daughter loves the cat and the dog on the box though, and sheās so adorable when she points to it and says ādoggy!ā or āmeow!āā¦ maybe itāll stick around just for that alone.
- Paths of Glory -
Paths of Glory is, by all accounts, a great game. How can I tell? Secondhand copies are usually grabbed up in auctions for near-retail prices. Does that actually make it a great game? I have no idea. But Iāve seen it āBINā-ed so fast so many times in so many auctions that it earned a permanent spot on my radar. Imagine my surprise when I put a lowball bid on a brand new ādeluxeā copy, at less than half of what I normally see PoG go for, and end up winning? Who knows how that happened, so now I guess Iāll have to see what all the fuss is about (or maybe end up selling it for a profit?)
- Firefly: The Game ā Blue Sun and Firefly: The Game ā Kalidasa -
It turns out Iām weak when it comes to IP-based games for IPs that I love. Iāve gone all-in on Firefly: The Game, picking up the big box expansions as well as the smaller expansions when I see them at decent prices. It sounds like GF9 is clutching to the tail-end of this game, having tragically lost one of the gameās designers in 2016 and another moving on to a different company. Absent some promos, this is now a ācompletedā collection.
- Sail to India -
I paid more for shipping than for the game itself and still it seemed worthwhile. I donāt see it getting a lot of love, but it certainly seems to pack a nice punch in a small box. The biggest downside, then, is that it only plays at 3 or 4 players (particularly brutal during these, The After Times)
- Spirit Island w/ Branch & Claw -
Iāve mentioned before how expensive joining the 1PG (1 Player Guild) has beenā¦ and I attribute this purchase to that lot as well. I think eventually, this could be a good game to share in with my partner, at the moment Iām just not up for The Teach as much as sheās not up for The Learn. Still, a rewarding solo game to be certain (Iāve played 2-handed once, need to revisit as a solo spirit).
- Steam Works -
Iām a sucker for steampunk, tableau/engine building and TMG productions. This game has been on my wishlist for a while and I was happy to grab a reasonably priced (read: cheap) secondhand copy (that has NEVER been played)
- Bruges w/ City on the Zwinn -
This grail game is hard to grab for a reasonable price. I was hoping the āreprintā would knock old copies loose on the secondary market, but due to the āreimplementationā instead of straight reprint, it really didnāt. Fortunately, thanks to the wonders of both currency exchange rates and economical Canada Post fees, I got this for a song (with expansion for less than most base-game-only secondhand auctions) If this doesnāt land well with my partner, Iāll be moving it along ā based on my observations on the secondary market, it seems this is a hit-and-miss title, but fortunately enjoys a good resale price.
- Space Base -
I finally caved and bought this new on a sale at an OGS after not seeing it seemingly ever pop up on the secondary market.
- Downforce: Danger Circuit -
Theses āDeals of the Dayā are brutal, especially when they catch me on a day where I could use some retail therapy. I havenāt even played Downforceā¦ so itās hard to explain this oneā¦ soā¦ moving on
- Fields of Arle -
Venturing further into solo games has led this one to come into view. I originally passed over FoA because of itās one-or-two-player only nature and, before COVID, thinking: what if itās good and I want to play it with 3 or 4? Well, 1: I learned the expansion adds a 3rd player as an optionā¦ and B: Iām playing solo more than anything these days.
- Crystal Clans: Fire Clan, Gem Clan, and Light Clan -
Just some Crystal Clans clans that I used to hit free-shipping threshhold (I nearly have a complete Crystal Clans at this pointā¦ When did I become a Plaid Hat games fanboy?)
- Teotihuacan: Shadow of Xitle, Galaxy Trucker: Latest Models / Another Big Expansion / Missions, Mottainai: Wutai Mountain, Bargain Quest: Sunk Costs, 51st State Master Set: Scavengers/Allies, Pandemic: The Cure - Experimental Meds, Tzolkāin: The Mayan Calendar ā Tribes & Prophecies, Nusfjord: Plaice Deck, Res Arcana: Lux et Tenebrae -
Oh, you knowā¦ just some expansions for games. I got a little carried away trying to fill out games already in my collection.
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The latest wargame/consim in my in-box wasnāt bought. I simply took it for myself. Itās designed by Rand Corp. and is used professionally by the US Defense Dept. and allied military and government personnel. Itās called Hedgemony, which is a portmanteau of Hegemony and Hedge (as in developing a āhedging strategyā). Unlike other Rand wargame products, they actually offer this one to the general public (and free of charge too), so I thought Iād post a link to their page for anyone who wanted to download the rules, player guide, and glossary of terms. I doubt Iāll ever actually play the game, but I consider it a worthwhile addition to my collection!
NB: The game is offered as a boxed product as well, but at $250.00 I think Iāll pass! Rand gets enough of my tax money as it is. 
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