Yeah I saw that and was tempted (even though I’ve not got a copy of the base game yet - it’s a sickness). They don’t deliver to the UK though.
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Very keen to hear your thoughts on Arnak. This is quickly making its way to the top of my must-buy pile.
Edit: should have checked the recently played thread first!
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How did you order it if they don’t deliver to the UK? Is there some workaround?
I have a friend who sends them to me over the Atlantic.
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We’re so close to getting caught up! Let’s see how far we can get this week…
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Scepter of Zavandor –
I did it! I completed the set! (well, actually, no… there’s a German-only game in the Zavandor setting). I did hear Scepter was slated for a reprint/retheme. Honestly I don’t really know much about this game other than it came out 8 years before its author published a little game called Terra Mystica.
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La Isla –
Lovely looking Feld game that hit clearance shelves here in North America several times over the last few years, so it very well may move along once I get around to checking it out.
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Embark –
I really want to like these small box TMG games. I really struggled to see where the game was when I tried Harbour solo; because of that lackluster experience, it’s been hard to pitch Harbour as a multiplayer game, so I still don’t know if there’s even a game there. This one is by Philip duBarry whom I really don’t know much about other than always somewhat regretting not checking out Spirits of the Rice Paddy.
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Column of Fire –
I have Pillars of the Earth already. Ken Follett is my father-in-law’s favorite author and I’ve started reading his copy of Fall of Giants (because he misplaced his copy of Pillars of the Earth). In an attempt to appeal to his intermittent interest in boardgames, I have now procured the two easier to find of the Kingsbridge series boardgames (I don’t know if I’ve ever seen World Without End pop up in auctions?)
The preceding 4 games all arrived from a group auction nearish me, so with the combined shipping from multiple sellers and the regional shipping rate, the lot of 4 was amazingly cheap to grab.
Shortly after that, I received a couple of OGS orders that had been held up by 2 different pre-orders, both of which fulfilled at the same time:
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Command & Colors: Medieval –
I’ve been trying to grab a used copy of C&C: Ancients for a long time, but it always brings a significant price on the secondhand market. So, instead, I took advantage of a pre-order price for C&C: Medieval. I do have a preference for “older = better” when it comes to conflict games, but I feel both Medieval and Ancient are “old enough” to make no difference. This adds to my C&C collection of both M’44 and BattleLore… so, the first of my C&C collection to be a legit C&C game.
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Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954-62 (COIN Volume VII) –
So, I prefer older conflicts, right? Well, I made an exception for this one. I really want to get into Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar (COIN Volume VI), but it is just too deep for me to wade into. Colonial Twilight, even though the setting is much more recent, has the benefit of only requiring 1 bot. Still, looking at the playing pieces and knowing that they represent people who were alive at the same time as my grandparents… that’s not so great… and it really inspires me to ensure it’s an educational experience, rather than purely for fun.
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Paris (Retail edition) –
This is one of the 2 pre-orders that was holding up the rest. I think I let my excitement for “ooh, new Kramer & Kiesling game!” get the better of me. It looks “good”… but I don’t know if it’ll be “great”.
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BattleCON: Devastation of the Indines (4th Edition) –
This was the other pre-order. This one I am very excited about. I don’t think I mentioned it ever, but shortly before a good friend of mine welcomed his first child (a beautiful daughter) into the world this past summer, we managed to get together on TableTop Simulator and play a few games. One of those games was BattleCON: Devastation (the mod also had Trials and War… both of which I own (not 4th ed though), but we chose Devastation because of the larger number of “low difficulty” fighters it offered). Not only did I justify the purchases I had already made for Trials and War, but it convinced me I needed to own a Devastation set due to the generous number of fighters included. So, I missed the 4th edition Kickstarter, but still managed to find a good price on a pre-order.
So… what’s next? More OGS orders that have been sitting around for months waiting on pre-orders!
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Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Baker Street Irregulars –
In my last update, I had mentioned I erroneously received this game from another OGS instead of the the Van Ryder Games’ Baker Street Irregulars game. So, shortly after returning their copy of this, I received this one from the place I had actually ordered it from.
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Legendary: A James Bond Deck Building Game w/expansion –
I probably like James Bond movies more than they warrant. I’ll blame my upbringing… and then we’ll move along!
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SPQR (Deluxe Edition) –
So… I really have no business owning this. I’m not a wargamer. But I got a great deal on it! Moving along!
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Sidereal Confluence: Remastered Edition –
This is the one holding up the others… Finally the remastered edition of the game that… [sigh] needs 4+ players to shine. Oh well; I’m patient… and so are my shelves.
And… next on the agenda… another OGS order held up by a pre-order!
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Secrets –
Faidutti? Lang? pillbox you’ve lost your mind! Yes, yes… well, hold on. I fell in love with this game due to SU&SD’s coverage of it and put it on my wishlist… and nobody ever bought it for me. So I grabbed it when it went on a deal-of-the-day sale. I’ve said before my partner and I aren’t much for games where you have to lie… but in this game… who knows if you’re actually lying or not? Not even you know
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Ticket to Ride: Amsterdam –
This one will be wrapped up under our Christmas tree come Christmas morning for my partner. She loves Ticket to Ride, so she gets at least 1 TtR game every Christmas (I have a few TtR expansions hidden away that she’s yet to receive… she may get one of those too!)
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Mysterium Park –
Another game that will be waiting for my partner under our tree! She also loves Mysterium, and this purports to be a “shorter, smoother Mysterium”. I’m not sold on the fair setting… but I will look forward to a 2-player game being more streamlined.
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Cosmic Frog –
Another game that I let my excitement get the better of me. I love the theme of this so much, I just couldn’t stand to wait for one of my trusted news sources to cover it. What a strange game! I sure hope it’s good!
Alright, so what’s left…
- Spirit Island: Promo Pack 1 & Spirit Island: Promo Pack 2 –
I recently got Spirit Island (and pre-ordered Jagged Earth retail, being help up by a different pre-order), so when I saw the Promo Packs were available… well, I jumped on it because, Promo Pack 1 at least, has some cool stuff in.
And that’s all for November. So let’s talk about December so far! Well, it’s a short list, but it represents a large investment:
- Lord of the Rings: The Card Game saga, deluxe and adventure expansions –
I got a taste of LotR:LCG and decided to look for some more content. I probably went a bit crazy, but some of the highly rated content is hard to track down, so I jumped at the opportunity and now I have way more than I think I’ll play through. I have all of the Saga expansions (because they were highly recommended), the first 3 Deluxe and all accompanying adventure packs. Also, a good helping of the standalone “promo” adventures.
and… that’s it, for now! All caught up!
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Aaaaahhh. Quick! Order something!
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Too late! Between online game store orders awaiting pre-orders for fulfillment and Kickstarters, I don’t feel the need to buy anything. But, chance would have it that one of those OGS orders did arrive today! Let’s take a look:
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Pandemic Legacy: Season 0 –
I haven’t played Season 1 or Season 2… and in general I stay away from legacy games (because I think unless you already have a solid gaming group, the idea of playing a legacy game can come off sounding gatekeepery or elitist). But the SU&SD coverage of this one showed that it’s different enough from the traditional Pandemic formula that I felt it was worth checking out. I think this one I’ll pitch to my partner as one we can play just the 2 of us… after the craziness of the holidays passes.
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Great Western Trail –
This has been on my wishlist for a while, so I grabbed it on a deal-of-the-day. After watching the SU&SD gang play this on a livestream, I know I never want to play the expansion, Rails to the North, but the base game looks solid (and I need more Pfister in my collection!)
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Under Falling Skies –
This is the culprit holding up everything else; I had placed this pre-ordered long before SU&SD’s coverage of the retail product… going mostly on what Quinns said during his print-and-play mania. The box is delightfully hefty and considerably larger than I expected; but, then again, I didn’t realize it was going to come with a campaign! Very excited to try this one out, finally.
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Heh. This was not my interpretation of “all caught up” : )
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So I ordered as Christmas presents for my wife two games because they were on sale:
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Cottage Garden: She will enjoy the theme a lot and @Scribbs told me it isn’t too cutthroat, because she is not a fan of that, so it should be a good fit.
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Dragon Castle: I really like the look of it and the way you have to build and how the points score reminded me of Nmbr9, a favorite of ours. So it looks beautiful and it plays a little bit similar, so I got it. Though I heard that you can deny other people their moves pretty easy but I hope that it will be fine
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Because I have poor wallet control
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Babylonia - based on excellent words from SpaceBiff, my local curmudgeon and @lalunaverde
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Beyond the Sun - Another SpaceBiff write up convinced me. This looks like the game I want SpaceCorp to be. Hopefully I’ll be able to play it before the expansion gets printed and make my mind up
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For me, the 3rd best tile laying Knizia
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And the better two are?
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Tigers & Pots
Through the Desert
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Ahh,
My regular group aren’t fans of Tigers and Pots. Had a bad play of Through the Desert that put me off.
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Babylonia is high on my wishlist, right below Quest for El Dorado: the Golden Temples.
Babylonia sounds far more up my alley than T&E, and also scales better (which is key as I usually play at 2).
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Had B’Day BBQ yesterday and some friends brought me 221B Bakers Street: The Master Detective Game. Looking it up on BGG it is not very inspiring. Anybody has had any experience with it? I still got it in shrink and can exchange, so I thought I’d ask…
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Since you ask… If there was something, anything I could do to wipe this “game” out of existence, I would do it. It’s an abomination that should be purged from existence for the love of all things good. To quote The Dunwich Horror, “It’s such as are not human, nor healthful for human folk.” (not an exact quote)
Okay, so more helpfully, here’s a summary: It’s based off Clue. Not a great start, but actually I quite like Clue. Unfortunately, the only aspects it keeps are the shape of the board, and the roll and move “mechanic”. Yeah. The absolute worst part of Clue is the basis of the entire game. Then there is the book. It could have been good. There is an actual story for the mystery you’re trying to solve, and instead of just cards for person/place/thing, you get an actual character, weapon, and motive from the story. That could be good. But that’s where the mystery element ends. You find the answers to these questions not by any sort of deduction, but by crossword clues. “Weapon part 3: The number after seven” Eight! So the weapon was a ??-??-eight. Not a real example but close enough. Then you just hope that you roll high enough to actually go somewhere, and that the clue you get is the one you need. If you happen to get lucky, you could win, and feel like you had fun! It’s okay for people who don’t like thinking, but that’s about it. The only game I’ve given a “1” on BGG.
There! Now concludes my solicited rant!
tl;dr - It’s real bad 
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Paperweight!
Sorry…
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For the first time since… February(?), I went to my friendly local game store; in part, to buy a couple of Christmas gifts, in part because I missed going there and looking at collections of games larger than my own.
We bought two games for gifts:
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Piñata - my partner and I really enjoy this one, which is a colorful remake/retheme of Balloon Cup (which I’ve never played, but also appreciate the setting/aesthetics of); this’ll be a gift for my partner’s brother and his partner; they enjoy the lighter end of gaming and this should be right up their alley. They had Wavelength on their wishlist after we played it via Zoom, but Wavelength appears to be out of stock everywhere we’ve looked, so Piñata will have to do for now.
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Honga - This one is for my nephew… and I am jealous! This Haba game is on my wishlist… so of course I’ll buy it for my nephew in hopes that I’ll be the one that gets to play it with him (eventually… stupid pandemic)
I also pointed out to my partner a couple of titles that were on the shelf at the store that I would be interested in… so maybe those’ll be waiting for me under a Christmas tree soon.
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I’m not sure that’s possible…
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