Yeah it’s pretty rare to find one where player count matters at all. Nice when it does though.
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Had a spontaneous gamenight with our Euro friends last night. Probably the last in person night outside our household for the year. I am sure there is a lockdown coming and soon.
We played 2 rounds of High Society—that is one down from my shelf of shame and what a shame I couldn’t get it played earlier. But it needs 3 and that has been so rare. I enjoyed myself a lot. It is one of those games where the players have to flesh out what the game is in that moment and it worked just nicely. First game all the *2 cards came up first, that was definitely weird and they all went to different people. So me and the other player who didn’t have one were trying to finagle out a way to get the negative cards to those same players. Ah what fun. Second game was so different. 2 rounds is enough though.
Then we played Winter Kingdom (their copy). She is a great fan of Kingdom Builder—her favorite game—and she got WK for her birthday and since I had almost bought it around the time… I wanted to play. She immediately said she liked the original better. WK colors were too garish and the game too thinky.
The basic loop remains the same: draw random terrain, place 3 houses. There are 3 conditions on what gets you points that game.
I really liked WK much better. It is the gamer‘s version I say. Not only does it have 7 hex boards instead of 4 rectangles. But it has a new type of terrain you normally cannot build on (ice). It has tunnels to help you move about the map and everyone gets a hand of cards for abilities to play and there is a condition on how to earn money to pay for the cards. Oh and you get four double houses as well to gain dominance or fill out a point condition or just give you more money when played for that.
The best thing though is the „twist“. Ours was that you couldn‘t build next to other players so blocking became even more effective and abilities that relied on being next to neighbors were useless.
I won by a few points before my partner with our hosts coming in last. He usually wins most games in that setup but and so when he came in last, his wife celebrated with no small amount of schadenfreude (all in good fun, he miscalculated on the point distribution of the winning conditions and while he was present on all the boards and dominated the one that gave the most points he missed the one connection towns to villages which I had focused on.)
I will definitely want to play Winter Kingdom again—I enjoyed the original quite a bit back in the day but it got a little stale after a few years and this one is fresh with new maps, scoring conditions and abilities and the twists are fun. But I will refrain from buying my own copy. Too often have both of our households bought games the other already had (Istanbul, Princes of Florence, Goa, Kingdom Builder, Wingspan are just the first few that come to mind) and I know we can loan each other games easily.
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Played Monikers with our American friends for their Thanksgiving dinner (yes. We had turkey). Monikers never gets old
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Got the Cold Turkey off this weekend. A close friend asked for help on Saturday to leave the house with his children for all afternoon evening so his wife could review for her finals, so we obliged with some BBQ and games.
I played Architects of the West Kingdom with them. I played it two handed the Friday night to refresh my memory, and then on Saturday I brought it along with Firefly and Spirit Island. Given that we started late and we were 5 (I know, not ideal) we went for Architects.
Gosh, that was a looooot of workers on the board. My friends are not gamers, so it took a bit to get them going, but soon they appreciated how quick it goes once you know what you are doing. I was too busy keeping tabs on everybody to really pay much attention to my gameplay, so I got smashed last on middle teens (just when I had picked two good building cards 4 people filled the guildhall in two rounds).
Everybody enjoyed it, although they thought it was a tad longer than expected. Obviously they never think that the teach can take a bit, and that a fifth unexpected person really made it long, but hey, I am not complaining. We were having a good chuckle putting people in jail and holding onto each others workers, and that is always a good laugh.
Then yesterday night I brought up the game again (after my better half packed up early), intrigued by its solo mode. And it was better than I expected. I smashed the bot 40 something to 30 something, but only because I managed to get the Palace and another 7 VP card towards the end, and built them last. The bot ability to generate marble points can be a bit intimidating, but considering it can only get points climbing the cathedral ladder or through marble generating cards, it was not too bad in the end.
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My partner and I nearly completed our first game of Cryo uninterrupted, but the kiddo woke up right at the finish line. Figuring with only a few turns left and no thought given to scorekeeping, I might as well log it now.
I seem to recall NPI dumping on this one hard, but it’s sure made a heck of a first impression on me. The central gameplay is feather light, but the resources are tight, migrating workers is a forward thinking affair, and the multi-use cards and custom player boards are the best kind of way to burn your brain. It’s super scrappy too, which I love.
The puzzle really cramps my partner up, at least initially, but I think it’s a good thing here. I’m going to be hot for more of this.
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Played another game of The Red Cathedral yesterday with my wife. Actually won this one, but only because she built a window in a tower she was already going to win, instead of won that would have made us tie instead of me winning it, which probably would have swung the game her way.
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Cryo is pretty high on my “interested” list despite several reviewers being not that positive about it. But one of them said it was the follow up design to Dwellings of Eldervale and what I have seen if gameplay seems intriguing.
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I like Architects precisely for the things you describe. Can be introduced to non gamers, plays fast and the prison twist makes it fun….
I am always baffled how the trilogy followed that up with Paladins…I like Paladins but the contrast in gameplay style and complexity is stunning.
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It’s interesting to learn that these games came out so close to one another, mostly because I had heard of direct similarities to their earlier (The Manhattan Project) Energy Empire. Cryo and Dwellings seem wildly different in scope, if nothing else.
Anyway, I can say it’s made a hell of a first impression with me, and my partner is definitely intrigued by it. Our game ended with much closer scores than anticipated, and the interaction at 2P is great, so I can foresee some heated battles for cave space in the future.
[EDIT] Needs to be reiterated: Cryo was dead easy to teach. 5 minutes tops for a comprehensive breakdown, and while the crunch certainly makes skilled play challenging, the rules get right out of the way and let players start strategizing immediately.
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I am yet to play Paladins, so I cannot compare. Somebody in the Gamer’s Guild has it, so I will ask him to bring it when we restart in December.
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We broke out Tzolk’in yesterday. My oh my, what a delightful crunch of a game, positively awash with possibilities every turn. Definitely a top-tier game.
I actually won that game, too! 60-50, or thereabouts!
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Got a couple intense rounds of My Little Scythe in with my wife and kids. The 10YO went full chaotic with no aims at winning, just constant pie fights. The 4YO collected hoarded spell cards, so consequently won every pie fight, and the 7YO stayed out of it, made deliveries, gave everyone resources, and ran away with the game both times.
Also some Dungeon Drop and a nail-biting session of X-Wing Miniatures solo, with the Falcon and Fireball taking out a Decimator and a couple of TIE Interceptors. Not bad for two buckets of bolts.
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Every time I see you chime in about My Little Scythe I’m further determined to add it to my collection soon enough. Honestly it might even go over better with my partner (than Scythe ever did) once our little one is of age to start wrecking her parents.
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I have a copy of My Little Scythe tucked away for when my oldest gets old enough for such a thing. On one hand, it seems like a long wait, but on the other hand, it seems like she’s getting too old, too fast. And on the third hand, I worry I may have too many hands games “waiting” for her. And, I have no idea how I’m going to get the oldest to the table without her younger sister also insisting to join us… which may mean an even longer wait.
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Had another pop at Architects of the West Kingdom solo last night, now on the hard mode. Took a while to get going, I got obliterated by Helena high 40s to mid 30s. Her virtue was through the roof most of the game, while mine was low, getting me some tax discounts, but money was never much of an issue. The 2 guildhall cards she pulled on a row at the end of the game caught me half way through building something else, so no chance of catching up there.
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We’ve had the youngest be on a team with another player before. Meant he could join in and also that if he got board and wandered off it didn’t matter too much!
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That is quite excellent advice!
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Yes, secretary or PA roles are great to involve the little ones. Mind you, they can get a bit bored and start playing by themselves with your components/resources, so games with little room for AP or not very slow paced are preferable.
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Whenever we have a game that we’re not sure one of the kids is ready for, they pick Mom’s Team or Dad’s Team, and we coach them through it. Sometimes it doesn’t work out, and we have to make up rules or bail, but more often then that, they are able to get the basics of play, and occasionally they surprise us and things just click. My 7YO clearly has an aptitude for ML Scythe, which was the case with my now 10YO and Gravwell. Weirdly, neither of them could wrap their heads around Dragonwood. Figuring our what clicks with them is half the fun.
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Also, Co-Op games are great for on-boarding kids. We’re on our third copy of Forbidden Island.
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