I’ll always take Blood Rage over Rising Sun, even if I do sprain a muscle rolling my eyes at the art…
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We played some castles of burgundy on boardgame arena.
That game really needs better graphics to be played in that format. Everything is so small and unintuitive (for example all the beige pieces look like houses but all the houses to wild things). I think it’d be better in real life but even then a pure theme less version might be better.
I traded up my original CoB for the anniversary edition - swayed by the (small) balance tweaks, more maps, and expansions. I agonizingly regret it to this day.
They are now two editions in, one app, and one BGA implementation. That’s four iterations and they still can’t figure out how to make the iconography clear and the board state readable. And for all the iterations, I think the original did it best. Yeah, the buildings didn’t have any inherent meaning, but at least they were distinct and visible.
The worst part of the anniversary edition is that they put a big monastery on the knowledge tile, and shrunk the improved iconography down to 1/3 the original size.
Not disagreeing but adding - why do we complain about the “idealization” of women (for certain definitions of ideal) in games but not the men? The impossible muscles and proportions, the epic beards that only @RogerBW could grow… It’s probably less egregious and less impactful than the female side of the coin, but it’s still a thing. As is male insecurity and the societal impacts flowing out of it.
I wish there was a conversation about that, too. I think it would help.
That conversation does happen. I think the imbalance is because, well, when I glance through the latest generic minis-heavy Kickstarter, the men are male power fantasies and the women are… male power fantasies. (He’s in full military gear, she’s in a belly-exposing vest and tight trousers.) But yeah, certainly the idealisation of men gets mentioned too.
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Just going to leave this here…
Edit: I agree that promoting unrealistic body standards in general is bad, but I was immediately reminded of this comic.
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Looks a bit like Robert pattinsons Batman.
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Played fort Tonight. REALLY liked it, a lot of game in a wee box and worked well at two players, could see it being even better at 3/4.
The night before we played the king is dead second outing for a few games of this and it is not really doing anything for me. Don’t know if it’s the two player aspect but it’s just a bit meh. Can seeing it hitting the sell pile.
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Fort did really surprise me. For a small box, it has quite the depth, I cannot wait to play it at higher than two count as well.
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My partner wanted to play games! With me! So we did!
We played three or four MicroMacro Crime City mysteries, and they were lovely. Each only took a few minutes, but there was some real “Ha!” moments as we realized what was happening. What a clever little game. I was ready for more, but Andy wanted to savour the game and leave some for another night.
So instead we played a round of Encore!, with Andy using the Blue expansion sheet and I used the Green. I kinda like the “same, but different” element from using different colours between the players. It was a close game, with both of us unable to do much near the end because we kept rolling too high numbers, but she ended up beating me 31 to 22. Still a nice, laid back, easy Roll n’ Write that I am happy I have in my collection, but I feel no need to get the sequel (Bravo!).
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Finished two solos of Paladins of the West Kingdom. It’s in that Terra Mystica / Gaia Project / Arnak family of games where you take actions until you run out of steam and pass, actions are prohibitively expensive, but each one gives you some “change” to help you chain into you next action.
After the first, I wasn’t overly impressed. I definitely felt it was the least of the four I’d listed.
Second play, though, it came together. While Arnak is lighter, it basically gives you a few different ways to scale the same tree. TM and GP offer variety via the races, but each one gives you a packaged puzzle to solve. Paladins, by contrast, feels like a box of legos that you can freely assemble according to your whims and ideas.
You’ve got six core actions, but only three of them matter each game. That said, you’ll likely need to specialize in a fourth as well, as each action requires some others for synergy. Which you choose will shape your board. Then you’ve got townsfolk that kind of bolt on to actions to give you a resource bonus, so you’re choosing which actions chain into what resources, etc. That’s all pretty vague, but the takeaway is that there’s freedom and variability in the puzzle unlike its cousins.
All in all, pretty neat.
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It is but I find the solo a bit fiddly or maybe I just didn‘t grok it in my small number of games. But I, too, find it gives you a satisfying set of levers to build up your VP. Especially with the way the different actions interact. You have to think about a strategy, this is not a game where round by round tactics is going to give you the big win if you do not have an overall plan.
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New high score on my print and play version of Crystallo (still poor, but the best I’ve managed so far)
The sun’s threatening to come out though so may go for a walk to the beach and save more games for when it’s raining/dark
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love camping
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We played a first round of Mysterium Park today. After a failed first attempt we decided my partner needed to play 2 colors. In the second attempt I early on found a perfect card for one of the three possible murderers and it ended up being the one… but it took the full six rounds and lots of eye rolling on the ghost‘s part to get there. I like it. I never played the big game except on the app which is weird. I have seen reviews and videos of Mysterium and somehow was never attracted but this short version is a good fit with my collection: I already own Dixit, Obscurio and Detective Club 
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Been playing Paper Back with my lady.
I think it is probably a better dominion clone than word/spelling game. It does work as the latter, but due to cycling your deck the variety of words is often limited. Not sure the attack cards really add much too.
What word building games, other than scrabble and Banagrams (which are great) do people recommend?
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Hey, welcome to the forums.
I haven‘t really played Paper Back but I have recently played Hardback quite a lot on BGA and I am really enjoying that one. Normally I am not a fan of these games but the deck building in Hardback is really fun.
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Welcome to the site, @renegade_master!
I’m not as big of a word game fan as others, but I do like Paperback quite a bit. I picked up Hardback a while ago but haven’t gotten around to playing it. I’ve also heard that Letter Tycoon has some problems when played by experienced players, but the designer has recommended some workarounds for high-level play – I have no idea how that actually pans out in the end. But both Hardback and Letter Tycoon can be played online for free(?)
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Welcome to the board!
The first time I played Hardback I tried to treat it as a word-making exercise but generally that part was pretty easy; it’s much more a multi-suit deckbuilder in the vein of Star Realms. (I don’t know how similar Paperback is.)
I enjoyed Letter Tycoon hugely for about three months, then burned out on it. Even with limitations on doubling effects, there are particular cards which generally lead to a win for whoever gets them first, and there’s not much in the way of actual tactics other than “make the highest-scoring word you can”. (Also I was playing on BGA where you can’t use house rules; there seem to be some interesting variants on the BGG forums.)
Both of those are on BGA.
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When you play hardback do you feel motivated to get anything but the yellow cards? Everything else feels like a waste of time to me.
Also I just back myself to gamble and make words. If you can do that the game’s outcome is set almost from the start and the strategy part feels a bit extra. (Having said that with most euros a maths genius will win so maybe it’s nice if a word man can win).
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