Recent Boardgames (Your Last Played Game Volume 2)

Boardgames
2226

We’ve played a few games of Rune Stones this weekend. I’ve lost every one. Part of this is my partner got a good machine going and I feel it’s slightly cheating to try and replicate that.

I quite like that game. It’s got this kind of tension you get when there’s one sweet left that you want and you’re hoping for the person before you to avoids it.

You also have to sacrifice parts of your engine constantly. I thought this idea of building an engine and then dismantling it by chucking out the best bits would be the most agonising part But mostly I think it doesn’t feel that tense. It’s really the high energy race to get the pieces you need quick and get them out faster.

Good fun game.

2227

Russian Railroaads - very simple and straight forward Euro. Worker placements are limited, which is great. But got tired of it after a few plays, as the game “tells the same story” again and again. Which is disappointing. Glad to play this online before I could even think of buying the Ultimate Railroads.

Quantum - still rocks. I love it! The fan generated maps are nice

Thurn & Taxis - suddenly it’s one of my go-to light game. It’s very satisfying.

Quartermaster General: Victory or Death - the Peloponnesian War - At first I thought the game is more straight forward with the rules than QMG 1914 by reading the rule book, but it turns out to be more complicated with how supply system works. The addition of cities which works both as VPs when scoring round happens and as base of supply is nifty. Basically, the strategic points in 1914 are now created by players rather than static icons on the map. But you can only place cities through event cards. And so, deck mastery is stronger in this title. Not only you have to remember the number of certain cards, but there are events too. (the player aid is very informative though)

The first game was quick defeat against the Peloponnesian League. Delian League dominated the sea (historical) and end up playing status cards and event cards that build cities on the Aegean and additional points for having those. Sparta lost by 10 pt gap TKO, despite dominating the mainland, with Athens holding their main city.

2nd game was a more interesting with both leagues building up cities and attacking them. Sparta got some slave revolts in their homeland but still competitive on the mainland. The Peloponnesian League manage to destroy the city of Athens, which stops the recruitment of units there and as a supply point. But the Delians continue the pressure on Sparta’s homeland. Eventually the Peloponnesian League won with more cities that allows them consistent net of points throughout the game until end of game. The loss of Athens is pretty significant.

I was happy to play a 4 player QMG and it’s fun. But I think I’ll stick with 1914. You can still play 1914 with one player playing as the Central Powers against 3 Entente players. I’m eager to try QMG 2nd ed and QMG the Cold War next

Alhambra - fun, but not something I want to play every time. It doesn’t give me enough control at 4 players. There’s always Carcassonne for tile laying and Web of Power/Han for light area control

Also played Race for the Galaxy, Terra Mystica, Paris Connection, and Taluva

7 Likes
2228

You should try lightspeed variant

You pay for a couple of cards from an income and speeds up the game a little

1 Like
2229

Yep, it’s unforgiving. The order has to be: get vines and new workers, think about buying the buildings that let you plant advanced vines, then plant the vines (sell a field of you have to), then everything else.

It’s amazing once you’re up and running, but extra workers as an early priority are a must. Awesome if you can get one from a (Papa?) card.

I promise it gets very fun and more random than that (especially with all the visitors) but the teach needs to include “workers and vine buildings as early as you can”.

2 Likes
2230

Just as a potential tip, my partner and I play 2P Space Base all the time, and we implement a simple dummy roll system to spice (and speed) up our games. Basically we do our turn as usual, then do a dummy roll where the dice are available to both of us for our flipped sides only. It works really well.

2 Likes
2231

Such a good game. Shame it’s out of print, I think it is the next step up from Ticket to Ride that should have had that series’ success. One of my highlights from last year.

2 Likes
2232

I’ve been interested in T&T since first getting into the hobby. At the time it was one of those games that people talked about but never seemingly played. I thought it’s gotten a few mentioned in the last year or so (probably because it’s coming up on 20 years since its release). I’m really hoping they come out with a sensible 20th Anniversary edition (so I can grab a nicely-priced copy of the original on the secondhand market)

1 Like
2233

If anyone is desperate for a copy… German copies on ebay Kleinanzeigen are plenty, I’d be willing to assist in mailing it wherever.

3 Likes
2234

It’s also on both BGA and yucata should people want to try it.

2 Likes
2235

@yashima something I didn’t think about (re: Space Base) is that the original printing of the rulebook didn’t include the “light speed variant”. Just in case you don’t have that in your copy, the (simple) rules are in the current manual available from AEG as a PDF download.

It cuts the chase to the middle game, though do note that it can be a bit AP inducing for new players (basically you pick out some starting ships, thus choosing a basic strategy right away).

2 Likes
2236

I am not sure… it is the German edition and I tend to only read the rules until I feel that I have understood enough to play so I may have missed it :slight_smile: Thank you for bringing it to my attention anyway and the dummy rolls as well :slight_smile:

1 Like
2237

The dummy rolls let you capture some of the excitement of a full player count, since your (weaker) red bonuses will pop more frequently, and as a side benefit, speed up the game. As a result, we’ve never actually used the formal variant.

That said, house rules don’t sit well with some folks so it’s good to have a written option.

[EDIT] We are very suggestible with this game and we’re all set up for a play this aft.

2238

Had a second game of viticulture. It went a lot better. I lost 20 to 19. Stressed the importance of workers and vines going in and seemed to get the engines up and running a lot faster. I do like the length of it took probably just over 45 minutes for a game.

I can see how with more players it could be a really strong game as the importance of turn order really would shine. With two it’s decent and more of a race to get your engine going with a bit of the luck of the draw on the available cards.

Keen to give it another shot and might eventually give Tuscany a swirl too.

6 Likes
2239

Introduced girlfriend to Parks and she not only loved it, she was 9 points up in no time.

She won 26 to 23 in the end, having taken the first player token each time and gone super aggressive while I took photos (for 1pt each) and concentrated on buying equipment.

She now also wants to visit Yosemite, which I’m sure is the other point of the game.

2 Likes
2240

This evening with the local game group: Dingo’s Dream (a sort of competitive 25-puzzle, broke in Chromium on BGA) and lots more of The Crew. Much harder with five…

4 Likes
2241

Had a game of Love Letter against my daughter, which I won 7-5: lucky with my cards, my last hand was a Princess to start and I got a Baron from the deck, which kind of killed it, it was neck in neck…

Then onto two games of Oceans, one with my daughter without the Deep cards (reef mode, I think it is called) and then another one with my partner full on. Besides having to do two teaches, it went very well. The first game was a bit marred by my shuffling (I started with 4 filter feeders, so we shuffled again), but the second one was so tight, introducing the Deep cards gives the game a really interesting edge. Once you get your engine going, the game speeds up. We finished that game 46-47 (which after a recount it was 45-47 still in my favour) and I was convinced that my partner’s megapredator (Behemot + Apex Predator + Speed + something else) was going to give her the edge, specially accompanied by a shark feeder, but my bottom feeders crabs did well with my oceanic filter feeder being predated on an on. What a lovely little game, cannot wait to play it again.

5 Likes
2242

Wizard. Picked up this truck taking game in the Maths Trade. It’s basically Whist with comedy art. You start with 1 card each and play up to having 20 each.

At the start of every hand you nominate how many tricks you’re going to win. If you hit that number you get plus points, if not you lose points.

Quick, simple fun in a very small box. Excellent

2 Likes
2243

Love that you’re enjoying Oceans. It’s a favorite at my table. One of the things we love is how you can make the game just as mean or… less mean as you want. That you can pull out a win when it feels certain that your opponent(s) have evolved an unstoppable behemoth by leeching off their success is soooo satisfying. I think it speeds up at just the right time and the tension that comes with whether or not you want to pay for that deep card and how it’s going to affect you at the end is just delicious. It’s also pretty rules light, and once you get it, you get it.

3 Likes
2244

Yes, I love the give and take it has. And how it is not necessarily mean, but it can be set up by the conditions of the game. In our second game one of the scenario cards asked you to pay two fish from your score into the reef every time you played a migration. Transparent cards became al the fashion all of a sudden, to stop being predated or leeched on. Before we knew it, 3 out of the 4 species had transparent, and the other one, inking, and predating stopped. Not for long, but still, quite lovely how you feel your actions and reactions create a little ecosystem in the game. I cannot wait to see it with higher counts of players.

2 Likes
2245

The ecosystem development is such a fun part of it. I’ve only played at 3 and there are some very fun swings that happen. You’re never quite sure what’s going to come your way or what play you’ll be able to take advantage of. I’d really love to play it at 4 just to see how wild it gets. With 3 the deep cards can create some interesting frenzies when a lynchpin species wipes out or has some wild trait added to it and everyone is scrambling not to see their systems completely fall apart. Four would be madness, but a wonderful madness.

1 Like