I’m a big fan of the game too, so its not just you 
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The “mini-games” aren’t really that different. And that’s because there is a canonical way to use the pieces: you stack them.
It just happens that in different rounds there are different rules about how you stack them.
A couple of times, I’ve laid out the city cards, looked up what they do, and said, “Wow. These are way too similar. I’d better switch these out so that we don’t get bored.”
Does that mean none of the cities have fiddly rules? No. Definitely there are cities with fiddly rules. But most of what happens in a game of Junk Art is just stacking—with some sort of new roadblock.
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I’ve never played the trick taking one, because I want to stack stuff not play a card game.
I took the kid for a (to her, anyway) epic trip downtown to enjoy the sun by the water. So what if the SkyTrain ride inspired me to pick up Maglev Metro while I was down there?
This is a weird one. The components are properly ridiculous, and yet the production isn’t what I’d call “deluxe” at all. The acrylic tiles have real function, and the 7mm hubs and stations ensure those acrylic tiles aren’t a nightmare to use. Same goes for the dual layered player boards - I would NOT want that much loose bookkeeping subject to an errant elbow.
That said, I realize I just claimed a game with dual and triple layered everything, with thick plastic tiles and 7mm tokens feels practical, which seems absurd. And that, at least, feels right. Opening this box felt absurd.
[EDIT] I forgot about the first player token and the “toenail clipper” trains. Ok, those are proper fancy.
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My copy of Orbital also arrived today.
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Ooh, lucky you guys. Mine won’t be showing up until Bucket of Bolts is shipped.
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I have also joined the Orbital club! Lovely printing, it’s a really nice production.
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I’d already placed my order by that point, but call me double-sold : )
I don’t know whether I’d otherwise have looked closely at this (while I sometimes watch and enjoy tennis, as a theme for a game it isn’t much of a hook for me, and I think I’d have assumed this would get dull quickly); but I enjoy a good dexterity game, and a bit of further research suggested that your enthusiasm was warranted!
Good to know in advance.
Because I was ordering this online, I obviously had to look to see if there was anything else I wanted that was smallish and which I hadn’t seen locally yet, so Set & Match will be arriving in the company of:
- Bruxelles 1897
- Air, Land, & Sea
- Orchard: A 9 card solitaire game
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I introduced my partner to Set & Match this morning for a quick game (we just did a single set) and had a blast with it for about 20 minutes. One of the things that’s really nice about it is that it’s very much a finesse game (mostly light shots), with heavy risk-reward (big points at the rear out of bounds limits), which is a fantastic equalizer, at least initially. We rallied a bunch and went two games each, with me finally taking the third. Really feels like an old cottage game.
[EDIT] Your quote is making me notice a mess of ambiguous language. What I meant to say is that the ruleset itself is excellent, but the manual makes a chore of it.
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My most recent purchase arrived yesterday. My go-to OGS allows for order holds, so I was able to spread out the purchases as items came into stock which was nice.
Anyways, no new games surprisingly;
- Unmatched Buffy the Vampire Slayer aNd Unmatched Little Red vs Beowulf - I’m all in for Unmatched. Haven’t tried Buffy yet, but Beoulf and Little Red are fun. Possibly the most complicated fighters in the system yet.
- Wildlands: the Ancients - a new faction, board, and co-op mode? Even if the co-op mode is “fine” the new faction seems awesome and plays very different from all the others, and the new board seems neat. Worth the purchase alone for those.
- Champions of Midgard: Valhalla - My son and I both enjoy CoM, but don’t love it. I think Valhalla will fix most of our issues with the game. It’s still not the best WP for 2-players, but it’s still fun.
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Folded Space Roll Player Insert - so obviously not a game, lol. I have everything for Roll Player in the big box, and while I love the game it hasn’t hit the table in months because setting it up gives me anxiety (not exaggerating). I’m hoping this insert helps with that.
If it goes well, they have a few others available or coming soon I’ll be looking into; Forbidden Stars, Isle of Cats, Champions of Midgard, to name a few.
Will probably be doing another purchase soon-ish as there are more Godtear Champions coming, and I also want to get started on Warhammer Underworlds Direchasm.
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The AH LCG investigator packs are back in stock, and it looks like Gaia Project is at non-silly prices. So 
EDIT: Oh yeah, and MicroMacro
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I bought a reasonably priced copy of too many bones from a Facebook group.
I also bought a copy of micro macro.
At least with micro macro once I’m finished with it I can pass it on and save it taking up shelf space.
My preordered copy of Cthulhu wars: duel turned up today also.
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Been hearing good things about the Lost Ruins of Arnak, so when my wife and I were discussing getting out of the house for a little bit and she asked if there was anything I was interested in picking up, I mentioned it. I had seen it at a game store nearby a while ago, but did not know if they still had it, but Barnes & Noble had it in stock according to their website, and I get 10% off there with their membership card.
So while looking for it, I saw Star Wars: Outer Rim on a shelf. I have been interested in it for a while, but the $65 price tag has always turned me off. However, this copy was on clearance and marked 50% off. And we did get our stimulus payment this week. So I stimulated the economy by buying both.
I know I said at the start of the year that I intended to buy fewer games, and focus more on expansions of my existing games if I purchased anything, but I am weak.
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Interested how that one turns out. We have too few Star Wars games in the house. (A friend has Rebellion and I could get it from him anytime and for some reason I don’t)
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The power of YouTube to educate us in boardgames* is awesome and should never be underplayed.
- and almost every tricky bit of DIY, knitting, etc…
We don’t have open game stores in the UK right now, which would mean I’d play the “unplayed” stack… except no-one can come round and play them… sigh…
I might buy 5150, a mixed solo, wargame, RPGs, story, SF engine.
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I made a trip of things yesterday to collect my copy of Rallyman GT, bought off a friend who works at a local game shop I had yet to visit.
Oh my god, it’s a paradise. Almost 10K games, tons of oddball stuff… our kid was a peach too, so I got a good long browse in. The place is like Disneyland for cardboard nerds though, no way you can digest it all in a single visit.
Anyway, to the point of the thread: I walked out of there with a copy of Far Away, which I was happy to snag at a good price. I’ll need to really digest the rules on this one and offer a careful teach to my partner. 2P-only co-op with only her in mind, so it’ll be do or die when it gets taken out. What a box of delights!
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Two new boxes. Well, one of them anyway.
I got a package from Japan yesterday. One of my more experimental Kickstarters arrived: Izayoi. A game in which you try to collect accesories (Wakemono) but definitely not more than the person who is your master:
So you want to recommend (play cards) accessories to someone by playing a card with one of the suits. But the scoring goes like this: you have one suit that ranks above you in secret and if that player has less points than you, you’re “insolent” and cannot win. Plays 3-5. My attempt at 3 handing to see the flow suggests it needs at least 4 players. I have no idea if this is going to work but the idea that you need to score the most but not more than one other player is neat.
I also left the apartment yesterday to drive across town and pick a copy of a game where the town I drove through is on the map. I blame @Chewy77 entirely. But it was just 10€ and it’s now the only game in my collection that has Karlsruhe on the map:
And as I was going through eBay Kleinanzeigen I also contacted another seller who lives “down the street” and from them I am going to pick up a copy of Ra tomorrow for 12€. One of the old alea ones (I believe it was alea.)
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It’s just incredible how cheap those older German eurogames are here in Germany. You can get a lot of older versions of the more popular Knizias for about 10€, El Grande goes for something like 5-7€. Basically anything with the SdJ mark prior to Azul is dirt cheap. These are games that get rediscovered by many modern hobby gamers and it’s quite astonishing that these were actually mass market games in these parts.
I am on a buying hiatus this year but I’ve been really tempted by somebody selling a package consisting of Taj Mahal, Alhambra, Attika and El Grande for 20€ including shipping. Also, I just saw somebody giving away an unpunched copy of Knizias’ Quo Vadis. @lalunaverde would love it here!
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That is exactly how I got my El Grande and Samurai copies. There is a lot of weird stuff on ebay Kleinanzeigen but every once in a while… I am still thinking if I should ask the guy tomorrow if he still has that copy of Chinatown for 24,- though I am not sure it would see play. Ra I already know and T&T has Karlsruhe on the map…
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