Played Ethnos with my wife last night, using the Orc, Wizard, Troll, Giant, and Wingfolk. I was ahead by 12 points after the first age. Then she murdered me in the second, winning the game 128 - 75. She won every region in the second round, and got a number of 4-5 size bands out. I just could not compete.
5 Likes
Playtested a game from a friend of mine (Alchemist Apprentice) with dice chucking and positioning of different dice colours in a formula. Nice concept, but after three episodes of the five he sent my brain was ready for a break. Phew.
Happy to help, but definitely not a game that I think I am a target for. Still, very happy to try and give me him my opinion.
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Played a few games in the pub after work yesterday:
Tsuro: We have a new colleague who is Chinese, and he informed us that the Chinese text on the box reads āearth, wind, fire, waterā and āNorth, South, East, Westā. I had uncharitably suspected that it might say āstock artā or āchoose one of the tattoos belowā 
Ligretto: A fast card game where you have to get rid of your cards in ascending order by playing on to one of up to 25(?) piles. A good pub game.
Railroad Ink: quite a lukewarm reception to this one, which surprised me because quite a few of the group like Welcome toā¦ 
Dixit: Odyssey: Dixit, but more so
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Played Camel Up today, better than Downforce (not hard IMHO) and more laughs than Winnerās Circle.
WC is ābetterā than CU but I had more fun with CU. Donāt need both so bye bye Dr. Knizia
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Itās been a fairly slow month of gaming this month, but I have gotten a few games played over the last couple of weeks:
Schotten Totten, this is my current go to for short games for 2 players. Itās a lot of fun, scratches a similar itch to Lost Cities, but without the math (which for me is a definite positive!)
Machi Koro, my friend who picked this one up has been pushing for it every game night. This one was with both expansions. Iām still not a massive fan and feel justified in getting rid of my copy. I still think just the base game is the best version of it Iāve played.
Everdell, this game I ran into difficulty by filling up my tableau too quickly, and with too many basic production cards. I still came second but our winner played a great game so his win felt deserved.
Orleans, this was the closest game of this Iāve played, down to 3 points in the end. And with two very different strategies between us - I went heavy into goods and travelling, while our other contender went heavy into the development track and citizens. Our third player didnāt really commit to one strategy and so floundered a little. I really like this game, crunchy but not too heavy and dynamic enough that you need to react to how everyone else is playing.
Warhammer AoS: Crypt Hunters, our resident Ameritrash enthusiast brought this one for a quick game before others showed up. Itās not bad. The miniatures are unnecessary (but WH, soā¦). I liked it more than I expected but not particularly deep or compelling - thereās a lot of dice chucking.
Above and Below, broke out my newly upgraded version of this (though it was newish to the others so left most of the expansion stuff out) and itās still great fun. I wouldnāt mind the adventures giving slightly more predictable rewards - sometimes there are hints there but other times it can seem a bit random (while mattering a great deal!). Our winner hired heaps of villagers and then after I foolishly left the building that gives points for villagers available, picked that up and coasted to a solid win. Although I did the maths and I still wouldnāt have beaten him even if he missed out on that one. Keen to break out the expansion stuff next time, especially the Underforest and Desert Labyrinth to diversify the vibe of the encounters.
5 Likes
This is one where I fell in love with the original and have soured on it ever since I started playing Challenge. I think the extra kinks in the hose detract from what made the game work.
The problem being, both the app and what I own are Challengeā¦
1 Like
6 Nimmt!
Just One
Red Cathedral - end up being slightly more interesting than my first few games of this. For a ātowerā to score with the area majority, all the players involved would need to finish their bit. So as a minority player in that tower, you seem to have a lot of power. However, all player will score the VPs on the cards they built so it wasnāt punishing. This bit seems interesting and Iām curious on what can be done here.
Glen More - Weird game that isnāt fully old school and isnāt fully modern. Indeed, it came from 2010. Very weird scoring (in a good way) where you want to widen the gap in an area majority game.
Whistle Mountain - still a great game. I like the emerging game where players put out scaffolding, machines, and resource gathering spots. I am still unsure on what is a good play, how to play well, and how to play badly. Combos in your personal board are incidental it seems.
Still, itās a much easier game to play than either Brass
Brass: Lancashire - I am now seeing the same problems here as with Birmingham, except the problems are more muted here. It has both shared incentives game and efficiency game, but the latter seems to be stronger. With more and more plays, it is much easier to specialise and still get away playing a linear game.
I will downgrade Brass and maybe sell it as well. But I am keen on one more game.
Iām genuinely getting tired of Martin Wallaceās designs. I didnāt even bothered with Rocketmen
Age of Steam controversial spicy take
I still enjoy AoS mainly because itās clear the core design of it was designed by John Bohrer. However, it would be highly inaccurate to say that Wallace didnāt do anything with AoS as there are elements of it there The loan system in particular.
Princes of Florence - it was an okay auction game. You can tell roughly the value of each item. But the game seems to be about trying to avoid paying with that price and try to get it cheaper as the bid price of these items tends to go down or up. Probably need more plays to master and then thatās it. This is my least favourite work from Ulrich & Kramer. I highly prefer El Grande and Merchants of the Middle Age
Tempel des Schreckens
5 Likes
I do not believe this is accurate, but I will need to check the rulebook. My understanding is every tower will score the full amount (2 points per completed section + 1 point per decoration) to the player with the most control (completed sections + decorations), player with the next most gets half that, third half of that, etc.
Two player, the second place person gets 1/3rd of the points, but otherwise it is the same.
2 Likes
Yes. But the area majority bonus wont score until all cards are built. Is that correct?
1 Like
Went over to a friendās house last night and played some games with her and her partner.
Glow - Mostly just bought this because I liked the art, so Iām pleased that it turned out to be good. Very tight on the resources that allow you to manipulate your dice, so youāve got to be careful about how you use them. Lost by 1 point as Iād run out of rerolls by the last turn, meaning when I rolled a useless selection of symbols, there was nothing I could do and I scored nothing that turn.
Love Letter: Princess Princess Ever After - Standard Love Letter (well, the new 6-player version) but themed around a comic and with an extra rule where you can gain a favour if both princesses have been played.
Ethnos - @COMaestro mentioning it gave me the urge to play this for the first time in ages (2.5 years according to BGG). Missed out on some points at the end of the game thanks to drawing in areas and other players having troll tokens, but having played some big bands got me plenty of points to win.
Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game - Another I havenāt played in ages as it doesnāt work for a lot of people. Went well with my friend (her partner had dropped out) and now Iāve organised it properly and the expansions arenāt diluting it with impossible to use cards.
Dungeon Mayhem - Finished up with this as something quick that didnāt require much brainpower. My owlbear, Hoots McGoots, was no match for her gelatinous cube.
4 Likes
Nope, just looked it up. So each of the towers score at the end of the game, whether they are completed or not. So, from the rulebook (their bold, not mine).
Iām wondering if the person who taught the game misread the bit about āsections that are not completed are not counted at all in final scoringā as ātowers that are not completedā.
5 Likes
Gotchu. That might have been the case! Thanks!
I played a solo!
I played the actual solo mode of The LOOP, not a 4-handed game. The solo gives you multiple characters and you assign cards from the deck (in which all their character cards are mixed) until a character has 3 and so they become the active character. Itās quite goodā¦ I just couldnāt work out which cards made sense to add to the deck because while I can assign cards that are not character cards at willā¦ maybe with more plays I would get better. This time I took whatever was on offer randomly when I managed to be in an era that had a card.
I already had 2 vortexes / vortices (?) and two completed objectives and then in one turn my green girl managed to complete 2 objectives and the big question then was: would I survive another turn to claim that last objective or would I draw purple which had a whole flock of Foos DoppelgƤngersā4 to be precise. Instead I got orange which had already been vorticized and also had a couple of Foos. But I got lucky and the vortex remained dormant and I got to claim my objective.
I donāt remember the game being this hardā¦ I had to relearn a bunch of rules. Still, I like the game. But I actually prefer this with other players. Itās fine solo but much more fun with 4.
7 Likes
Friday Night Games session last night in Hastings. We were only 6 (a few people down with the flu, I hear) so I only played two games. First 7 Wonders Architects between 6. I am not a great fan of 7 Wonders to begin with. I am unsure which one I prefer. I like Architects fast pace, but seems too simple at times, becoming nearly a card game in pace and spiritā¦ I think I enjoy more how you sort of try to build an engine of sorts in the OG, while here everything seems very luck based. The great thing about it is that it ends in half an hour max. I think that I would rather play this with a larger group, and I would rather play the OG with 3-4 players.
Then we could not agree to what we could play after, so we split on two games of 3 (which I think it is becoming my favourite amount of players anyway) and I tried Ark Nova, to see what was all the fuzz about. I started with very low expectations, as I donāt really like Terraforming Mars and so many people say it is very similar. I can see some similarity, but there is way less player interaction in this game, it feels nearly a solo game.
My main complain about TM is how often you get so many cards to start with that are amazing and you have to throw away because first you cannot afford them and second they will keep you from getting others that are more affordable and easy to play on the first stages of the game. There is a small degree of this in Ark Nova, but you get to play so much more at the beginning, and the pace is faster, so that frustration goes away quickly. I loved the action selection system, with 5 cards that slide left every time you use one. The rest is very Euro, trying to adapt to resources that come up and build up an engine that keeps you going while scoring the odd final stage bonus here and there.
I did not get out of a negative score at the end, but I was not too bothered, I was happy with my little zoo at the end, and the score comparison sort of felt not so important. I liked the theme and the pace, the mechanism seems not to complex after a few turns, and I can see this is a gamers game, so that is why it is so high on the top 100. I donāt think it is the 7th best game ever, but it is a solid top 20. I would rather play this than TM any day, but I would very rarely would play TM, though (like, āit is the only game I got hereā kind of situation)
Then in the morning I had three games with my 10 yo daughter. Game of Life and Forbidden Island for starter (which we narrowly won with every tile flooded) and then Architects of the West Kingdom, which I won closely 45 - 42. I was not paying away debt to give my daughter a chance, but she did not have the luck on her side, as my cards were slightly higher scoring builds than hers.
4 Likes
Nabbed a copy of Xia: Legends of a Drift System and just about melted my brain playing three-handed solo to only 5 fame points, but I had a blast! It is interesting how quickly the ships take on a personality of their own as they evolve from basic tugboats to zippier, blaster, more durable versions of themselves. It is similar to watching the development of our youngest, now 2 weeks old.
(Please no one tell my wife I just compared our baby to a board gameā¦)
7 Likes
Res Arcana
Hansa Teutonica - argh! Iām still unravelling this game in my head. One must flow like the water. To travel along the path of least resistance, but with fewer points. But what if thereās a deadlock? What if itās a route with tasty amount of pts? Should one be like the earth and push through? When to go for the Key upgrade? When to shift your rhythm for the end game scoring?
We played with the objective cards, which is nice.
Arc Nova - I have complained once in this forum and I shall complain again. Really boresome and the decisions are so shallow and limited. It was misery. Boring.
Taluva Deluxe - very prettiful yet nasty game. Photo incoming
High Society - as usual, the newbie who never played it before splashed all the cash.
8 Likes
Weāve been playing a bunch of My Farm Shop. The box looks like an iOS app but itās a little bit more than that.
Itās a light engine builder which seems to go too fast and too wild to do anything interesting or cool but somehow also my partner keeps winning. Which means thereās something about what sheās doing compared to what Iām doing - I feel like if it was as light and fluff as it seemed the dice rolls would throw the results more evenly. But no itās more than that.
Also weāve been playing Arcana Rising which is LOT like Itās a wonderful world in fair few ways - you create a tableau through drafting and you choose whether to bin off cards or use them to add to an engine. I guess the slight twist is that the firing of parts of the engine is determined at random at the start of a round so you have to bake strict timing into your choices as well as the combinations you create. I like it a fair bit. Additionally this also goes at a fair My Farm Shop. The box looks like an iOS app but itās a little bit more than that.
1 Like
A few days ago, my wife and I played Lost Cities, which turned out to be a very miserable game for me. While the final score was 199 - 176, 144 of my points were scored in the last round. First two rounds were just murder.
Today, we all tried out my new copy of Taverns of Tiefenthal, which was a lot of fun! Even better, we all enjoyed it. I like the need to balance upgrades for your tavern, whether permanent or temporary, and getting new patrons. While they take different resources to purchase (beer vs. money), you are limited by the number of dice you have and what gets rolled. Plus the ability to thin your deck by using cards to discount permanent upgrades, or the various things that let you remove a guest is nice.
We did use the second module (Schnapps) right away, which I think makes the game more interesting from the outset. I think we may add in the reputation track in module 3 for the next game and work our way up to using the guest book.
I won this initial game, 99 - 93 (my wife) - 77 (her brother). We did make a few mistakes, but it was our first game, we noticed them, and corrected them going forward, so that may have inflated our scores a little. Looking forward to doing everything correctly for our next game.
2 Likes
Iāve always been surprised by your adherence to Lancashire. In my mind, thereās three real differences:
- Ports replaced by Breweries. Not a huge change, but breweries were a little more versatile and became more important in the endgame.
- Shipyards gone. No loss, they felt like an appendix to the game and were basically there to make sure newbies never got high scores as they undervalued the early investment.
- Loss of the cotton market - again, no loss as it made the early game predictable and the volatility of the card flip was out of place with the rest of the game.
I hear you saying, though, that the problem (now with both) is that the game hints at shared incentives but in the end is more easily won as a vanilla economic Euro. Makes sense.
I hear you on Wallaceās overall themes. I do like (not love) both London and Birm but itās a similar type of mathematical equation layered over different mechanics. Itās amazing how some designers, like Pfister (Broom Service, Oh My Goods, Isle of Skye, Great Western Trail) or Bauza (Tokaido, Ghost Stories, 7 Wonders) or hey, Knizia, can churn out such a wide variety of games while others (Wallace, Leacock, etc.) just iterate over the same idea and somehow make a career out of it.
3 Likes
I thought it was quite widely accepted that Brum is a more Euro version of Lanc, in which players can get away with playing it more like a solitaire game. If that doesnāt appeal (as it does not to me), it makes sense to prefer Lanc.
Thatās the same take that the local players here have (they prefer Brum), and that Iāve read several times elsewhere.
5 Likes