The £400 box of cards arrived today
Still no idea what to do with it. Put it on the shelf. 
CCG players are strange
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Yes they are. It’s why I had to get out of MtG. It’s still probably my favorite game, but it was either that, or everything else! Lol.
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It’s all a bubble! Will probably keep it there until the price dive bombs, then I may as well open it. 
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So not a recent purchase, but Anachrony arrived today! No shipping notice so it was a bit of a surprise!!
As others have said, dat a big box!!! 
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Chip Theory had in stock some overly expensive things that I went for as I play the game so much and it remains a favourite after all this time. Pleased to finally have the map
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Picked up a copy of Mint Works secondhand. I’m a sucker for little games and the form-factor on this one is terrific. The game seems interesting if not super deep. Hopefully I can get it played soon 
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I so wanted the wee baby Gearloc, but shipping to Canada doubled the cost!
Nice set of add-ons though! The maps is such a nice piece to have…makes it a lot easier to track progress.
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I’ve been trying to decide which Chudyk game to try first and BGB’s devotion to Innovation (as well as some chat round here) finally got me to make that decision.
What I’m very excited about though, is receiving my copy of Obsession! I told myself I had to as soon as I mentioned to my partner that there is a game where you get to run a Victorian estate filled with matchmaking and romance and her response was “maybe you should get that.” I have also been swayed by the great words I’ve heard in a few places and particularly @yashima talking about it. It was absolutely lovely to open and see those nice little boxes for everything. Such a nice production and so much respect for how pleasant every correspondence from the designer was after ordering. I can’t wait to get this to the table and really hoping my partner will love this.
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Innovation is a good first choice. You also have to try Mottainai, and Glory to Rome if you can get hold of it (or make it). Then you are good. Impulse if you decide you really like Chudyk.
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I’ve heard Glory to Rome so much of late, particularly in regard to how much better it is than Fort. It’s generally spoken of with reverence, which has me very interested. I don’t know anything about making it, though I haven’t really read into it too much since I knew it wasn’t in print (the one ebay listing on BGG has it at a mere $800). Mottainai is so inexpensive that I should probably just go ahead and grab it as well.
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Glory to Rome plays like a longer, slightly more involved 3-5 player game of Mottainai. If you find yourself enjoying Mottainai at 2-player, and find yourself wanting a similar experience tailored to higher player counts, it is worth looking into ordering a print of GtR. I did, and it only came to about $20 IIRC.
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Honestly, I think a lot of the “Glory to Rome is such a great game and better than [new game that remotely resembles it]” is just gatekeeping snobbery by people who happen to own a copy.
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That might make sense if it were difficult to print your own or expensive to have a deck of cards printed, but it isn’t.
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Have you played any of the Mint games?
I had not - Mint Works seemed the most well regarded so thought I’d step in there.
I liked it though. Good but not amazing. Certainly pretty entertaining for like a 10-15 minute game though. It might feel a touch too short though - seven stars seems to happen quite quickly and makes the engine building less important, but we’ll see how it feels on repeat plays.
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I’ve played Glory to Rome once and had a good time, though I found it a bit fiddly. If it were trivially available I’d probably have bought it, but in the UK there aren’t any cheap options.
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Thanks for the insight. I think I’m going to give Mottainai a look and also see how it hits with everyone and maybe look into those prints of GtR.
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How I wish I could overlook Obsession’s visuals and graphic design. The designer seems like the loveliest dude and the gameplay sounds incredible, but it just looks so darn fugly to my eyes. I remember following along with the game on the bgg threads when he was finalising the visuals and would post updates and ask for suggestions. None of the options were any good and he admitted graphics weren’t his strong suit. When you can identify every generic font (and they’re mashed together on player boards so haphazardly), and the generic Photoshop filter effects on the box art and main board look like a High School project it’s hard to ignore. I would love to buy a copy to play with my dressmaker partner, but I know it’s visual design would pain her even more. 
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There are a few things about it that are too busy to me, but I can handle it on the whole. I can completely understand though. There are certainly a lot of fonts. I think Lords of Vegas was the big hump for me to start giving things that were not visually pleasing a chance, but there are some games I simply can’t, and I’m in the same boat. People think it’s great but my eyes burn.
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While being mostly ignorant of “good visual design” it’s hard for me to argue. I’ll say that the worst offending components in Obsession are the gentry card text. However, I found that during play, many of the visuals fade into the background because, if you are prone to such things, the actions the players take could likely tell an evocative (if disjointed) story.
I think Obsession’s gameplay is sufficiently singular to remain in my collection (though, that’s a fairly low bar, it seems).
And while many of the design elements themselves are problematic, the actual production value of the components is excellent. I adore the small boxes that are included for organizing the different families and also the cards and tiles.
So, yes, much of the art assets are sophomoric but those are likely to be covered by other components during gameplay anyway.
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