The other day we played a game from my last shopping excursion: Mandala
My partner won round one easily with me just staring at how he raked in the points. I demanded a second game… and he destroyed me even worse. I have no idea what is going on in this game. But it’s cute and fast and if it means we can start the game night with my partner in a good mood because he’s winning I am all for it 
7 Likes
I really enjoy the Nusfjord solo… have yet to convince anyone to play with me (bought too many games last year and lockdown “put a strike across my invoice” aka sabotaged my efforts getting them to the table.) But I have to say the perspective on this photo… is giving me a highly upside down vibe.
1 Like
Yeah, I tried to take it from the side I was sitting but I cast a huge me-shaped shadow on the table. I had to face away from the sun or I’d have gone blind, it’s so lovely and bright.
1 Like
Living on the edge! I’d be collecting cards from assorted bushes if I tried that today.
2 Likes
This is possibly a function of a table full of first time players. If the table lacked experience to ruthlessly exploit the mistakes they won’t seem so consequential.
2 Likes
Could be the case. But the game feels too wide. We had a guy who got knocked out of contention due to series of bad plays (offering luxury pizzas on a hotly contested garden house?) To be fair, he forgot the rule that you have to pay everyone, even the ones “on the beach”, which killed his engine. I see many options out of that position: take a couple of turns to engage in price wars or change the demand.
On the other hand, another player got his turf invaded and missed out on CFO bonus (+50% revenue) spent a few turns reforming and caught up with the 2 leaders.
But we’ll see after I play it some more.
As for the experience gap where the newbie will be beaten by veterans. I dont see a problem with it, especially on a no-luck game.
1 Like
Hopefully you aren’t too discouraged by the butt-whooping! There’s a surprising amount of strategy in Mandala and it took me a few games before I could compete with my partner in any kind of meaningful way (she still routinely stomps me though). She takes like 45 minutes a turn, mind you. But that’s not unique to this game.
4 Likes
I’m playing practice games of Pandemic Legacy S2 before I kick into the campaign solo.
I’m so bad at it! It’s so much harder to defend against incidents, and then avoiding starting turns there make it that much harder! I’m determined to get good but I’m apprehensive that maybe I’m coaching myself too hard and need to get started before I math it out.
Edit: OKAY! Finally started the campaign! It’s good!
1 Like
We went pretty quick playing mandala. Apart from occasionally pausing to do some impromptu maths.
It definitely has some surprising depth.
“Great card games are everywhere, you just have to look for them” Quinns, Brighton hallway, pandemic Britain.
3 Likes
I’m just sayin’, I was pushing the fabulousness of the game about 2 months before those noobs got hold of it. 
Seriously though, there’s just so much to chew on with it! I’m going to need to implement a timer with my partner eventually though. Mathing out your moves is one thing but being sporting about it is another. It’s like running down your chess clock just figuring out the opening gambit with your pawn in chess.
2 Likes
Unless you want a copy in the UK at the moment unfortunately 
. I’ve been after Mandala for a little while and can never find it in stock.
1 Like
I think part of the issue is that the game released with absolutely no fanfare, and then the SUSD effect hit. I’m sure the first run was probably severely limited. Lookout is a pretty solid publisher, I’m sure they’re going to be reprinting if they aren’t already. I happen to be a fan of Trevor Benjamin’s work so I had my copy at home on launch day.
2 Likes
This past Friday night, I got my solo game group back to the table; the founding member is a bit of a putz, but his heart is in the right place.
First up was Rallyman GT: ISGOYTRA 2020 Cup - March Madness!
The course design is brutal- not necessarily in its layout but due to the weather change half-way through. I opted to race with Asphalt tires, allowing for better Coast dice but definitely cutting down on my ability to brake on the second lap.
Be Sure To Drink Your Ovaltine
March
Special: Special 1
Class: GT6
Starting Weather: rain
Changeable Weather
Starting Tyres: asphalt
(08:20-01:07) = 07:13
1cc23(5):234cbb1c:123(3):b12c345(6):4b23cb1c(6):123cc(5):321cc(5):1234cc(6)[weather=rain]:3b1cc2(5):321cc(5):1c2c34(6):432cc(5):12345(5):43c21(5):123456cc
Total Time: 07:13
I thought I was taking risks, but apparently I wasn’t pushing the limit hard enough. With corner-after-corner stacked one after the other, I found it hard to get above 3rd gear, meaning each of my rather short turns was capped with a severe time (your time is the accumulation of seconds accrued between turns based on the gear you end your turn in). I think I would have done quite well against live opponents because I had good race lines through the corners, but I guess I should have figured out how to improve my turn-end gear (honestly don’t know what I could have done differently).
I followed up Rallyman GT with the obvious choice:
Two-handed Solo game of Quacks of Quedlinburg
I’ve been intimidated by Queds von Quacklinburg ever since it arrived (which apparently didn’t stop me from picking up the expansion). “Holy component count, Batman” I’d say to Batman out my window as he climbed up the side of my house. Between the hundreds of bits of cardboard and the strange choices in the rulebook, my eyes just always glazed over whenever I thought about trying to The Teach™ it to my partner. I figured a bit of immersion therapy would be the sure solution to a game that so many tout as a quick, fun riot of a game.
I set up for 2 players using Book Set 1, as simple as it gets. I quickly internalized the rules (though I still feel the rulebook is poorly organized but I can’t quite articulate why I feel that way). I felt the need to talk (to myself) through the after-round steps because the iconography still isn’t second-nature.
The actual gameplay was rather blah. Certainly it would be amped up with some good ol’ fashioned schadenfreude which was certainly missed as one of my hands, Lefty, played very safe while my other hand, Correct, pushed his luck a bit more (not enough to get an explosion, but definitely in the danger zone several times.
Lefty took the win, but mostly with a very lucky final round rather than better planning or execution; this is probably one of the highest “luck factor” games in my colleciton - but that’s the role it has been designated to fill.
I think the other book combinations will likely add more interesting decisions but I haven’t even looked at them. I will say I did prefer the Book 1 Blue strat over the much spottier Orange/Red strat. But I could see how either one could be interesting to optimize… but definitely not in a solo setting.
4 Likes
A lot of this game revolves around Schadenfreude I dare say. As you see other players pushing ahead, you want to keep drawing, too. It’s a bit difficult to simulate this with two of your own hands.
3 Likes
Tonight I finished up Monochrome Inc. I’m not sure what I was expecting when I opened the box, I really didn’t see how they’d create a physical point n click game, but they really have.
I really enjoyed it from start to finish, even solo. I think if you don’t play this solo it could take a lot longer to play through, although there is scope for more points at the end of the game, but not enough to make solo pointless.
I’m so used to the Exit games that are by the same bunch, that I was pleasantly surprised when I finished that I can pack it up and give it to a friend to try.
Those of you who played it, what did you finish up on? I ended on 122 points and I’m pretty pleased with that.
1 Like
Oh man! Panleg S2 spoilers:
January
So I practiced a tonne, but avoiding any incidents is so difficult after an epidemic card! Got through with 2 cities with incidents, and managed to recon early enough to set up a supply line in the same game. 10 cities on the grid! Upgraded my admin person to set up a station with one fewer card and set up a black and a yellow city card to count as 2.
February
Cake walk! Both the city cards I upgraded showed up in the opening hand. So got 3 cards to the laborer in the first turn. Then the admin with the build for 4 cards got 3 and palmed the fourth easily. Took a little bit of a game to set up a few supply lines, but finished with only 2 epidemics and no incidents! Probably could’ve withstood another round of setting up as many supply lines as possible, but didn’t want to look a gifthorse in the mouth. Now have a permanent supply station in Sao Paulo (for easier recon of S America), the radio guy is a runner (for easier supply lines deep into the grid), and another yellow card counts as 2 cards. Something tells me this is the month that they make really easy to make the bump later feel a bit softer. I was a bit nervous about not making the Laborer a super builder, but I think diversification makes getting two centres out earlier a lot easier. It seems to be a good idea to just use the laborer for the last build so you can Hoover cubes on the board with no consequences.
Well, after a very active beginning of the week, my board game activity has nearly frozen. Thanks to the Twilight Struggle app I cannot say it is absent. And what to say about Twilight Struggle?
It has been surprisingly different to what I expected. I have played several games against the computer, and I am running through my second game with @Captbnut, and on all occasions, I have been obliterated. The weighing of all the different possibilities, the feeling of spreading too thin and being weak, or concentrating too much on one region and that making me weak as well, has given me nearly a proper brain ache.
But I loved it so far. I can see how much depth it has, and how difficult to master it can be. When I was a kid, I remember starting to read the Memory Sorrow and Thorn books, and the protagonist, Simon, stays a period of time with this fantastic people called the Sith’a, and they play a chess-like game called Shent, where Simon always managed to get beaten by the wise long-lived Sith’a. I felt like that.
In the book, Simon always has great ideas about his moves as a triumphant strategy, only to get squashed by his lack of consideration of all the consequences of his action and his adversary surroundings. So have I so far. But you know what? Far from putting me off, the Struggle (what a great name, by the way) has made me wanting to play more, and wanting to learn. No matter how many times I lose. Is not easy to achieve that.
So hat’s off to the devs. You got me hooked.
4 Likes
So after far too long, my son is with me for a week (booked holidays). Going to be a fair amount of gaming over the next 7 days, and we’ve already had a fair bit.
I’ll try to be brief! Lol.
Unmatched already 2-3 games this weekend, all good fun. My son got the first play of Bruce Lee today, and he seems like a blast! He also rocked my face!!!
Street Masters - finally got to play this with him, and it was awesome! We played the into setup 3 times with the same fighters before finally winning. During the 3rd game, we realized some of our recurring mitakes and avoided them. Tomorrow or Tuesday we’ll try some new elements. Maybe all 3? Fighters, stage AND boss??? Why not,?! What could go wrong!!!
Rum and Bones 2nd Tide tried out 2 “all mercenary” teams… it was interesting, but not ideal. I thinking using 1 (maybe 2) is a better option, as the Tide Decks don’t work as well as with the specific crew. That said, they had some great abilities and were a ton of fun!
Isle of Cats still great! Such a lovely little puzzle.
Tomorrow we are hoping to try either Godtear or Oceans. Yes, very similar games!!! 
5 Likes
I glad to hear you’ll have some great bonding time after so much time apart!
3 Likes
Thank you!!! We’ve always been really close, so it was extremely tough at times. Definitely trying to make the most out of this week, and anytime we get to spend together before we get hit with another wave.
3 Likes