Could the box have an unfortunate “accident”, possibly involving a carelessly positioned mug of coffee?
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I might be having a rant, but that feels just wrong
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Or carelessly positioned fireplace?
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There’s also the risk that your generous friends might feel compelled to buy you a replacement
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I got through the game, starting in the afternoon while work was slow and finishing in the evening.
I didn’t struggle as much as you suggested I might, but geez is there a lot of admin fiddle running this game.
I definitely cheated because I struggled to remember all of the different admin steps required for different things. The costs and prerequisites for doing things are all over the place and I found myself fairly often undoing actions (sometimes not perfectly, I’m sure).
The AI was smooth to run other than just remembering to bump up the tracks when the resource tracker loops around.
I feel as though the beginning third of the game should have been replaced with a resource draft. I was bored for the first 3 or 4 rounds. I really enjoyed the last couple of rounds, and managed to hammer some key actions by way of the King’s Favour cards providing the necessary actions to create some really interesting decisions and combos.
The entire time I was playing Paladins of the West Kingdom, I felt like I was just playing minigames that should have been surrounding a central board where a core game should have been. Only at the end of the game did the minigames become interesting on their own.
I’m a little surprised at this one’s BGG rank, because I can’t imagine it feeling any more substantial as a multiplayer game.
Much as I felt, a while ago when playing Architects otWK that it was poorly named because architecture never felt relevant to the game, Paladins also is poorly named. It should have been called Sidequests of the West Kingdom.
Garphil Games, by my reckoning, needs a game developer. I didn’t dislike the game, but I felt it could have been a more focused, more interesting experience.
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We’re visiting my parents at the moment and seem to be doing a great job of convincing them to buy games 
So far we’ve played Lanterns and Railroad Ink Challenge, both of which are now on my Mum’s Christmas list. Everyone else also played a couple of games of Camel Up on Sunday while I was busy having a migraine.
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Both games have really grown on me. The Architects bot grows stale/exploitable quickly and the game needs humans to shine. But this one keeps growing in my esteem with every session.
Paladins took on life on the second and third play as I started finding more efficient paths. That said, I find I’m unable to contest the point, for Paladins. It’s squarely in the “not for everyone” basket so much that I have trouble thinking of anyone I would introduce it to. The huge player boards and massive table presence don’t really make sense. The rules are full of exceptions and one-offs. In many ways it’s a mess.
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7 Wonders Architects
Probably my most game this year (it’s this one or Camel Up, I don’t track plays). Is it the best game ever? Absolutely not, but it gets played.
Also Big City. It’s big.
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This is going on a plaque underneath at least one of my shelves.
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I braved it last night, and I had a two handed session of Endless Winter: Paleoamericans. And after a stuttering start (I was going to start a solo game, but then decided to change to two handed) I got through the motions and actually really enjoyed it by the end. My left brain beat my right brain big time (although probably it was the other way around, considering the way the central nervous system works, but anyway).
It is a combination of worker placement with deck building, in which each player has 2 workers and a chief that may give you either 2 extra food or 1 extra tools if placed in the right position. There are 4 placements possible, with one action that can be repeated as long as you have enough resources to use, then a one off action, and if you are the first player to place on that position, a bonus action at the end. These resources can come from your board or from your cards in hand.
Each placement focuses on different possibilities of expansion. One is for hunting (animals give you points, or can be tilted and give you resources), one is for crafting and improving your deck, one is for pathfinding and expanding your camps on a hex mini-board (reminding me of Catan, in a way) and a final one is a bit of a mix up for your idols (they improve your points for resources or buried cards at the end of the game). Finally, there is a monolith mini-board where you can get resources and points from placements of your monolith tokens.
After the three workers being placed, comes an eclipse phase, where you can use remaining cards to get resources and place monoliths and go up the idol track.
So it seems a mess, (at least from my explanation) but it is great for different ways to victory. My left side got 120 points against high 70s from my right side (Bear beat Buffalo, who would have thought), and I cannot wait to try it solo and play it with other players, even if the teach may be a bit daunting…
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So Poison is brutal, and the AI prioritises it, and I lost a game pretty quickly on account of that : )
Before that I had another easy victory with standard rules despite correcting my earlier rules mistake, so I’m definitely keeping the expansions in play for solo games moving forwards.
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I received my Verdant/Cascadia/Calico package yesterday.
But first I had to play the game I set up the night before:
Everdell with Legendary Cards, Extra! Exrtra!, Corrin Eversomething and bits and pieces of Bellfaire mixed in. I really just like the process of building my little village full of snails (this time). I stickered some more meeples and decided it was snails vs bees this round.
I did not use the market because I simply forgot and I also didn’t use the Bellfaire board, surprisingly, I kept the tree because it saves some table space. I need little card holders for the special events. I used those from Bellfaire and liked them better–they are less specific and still a challenge. (Get 5 common critters or 5 unique buildings, is better than just having 2 oddly specific cards and an effect you may not even get to use properly).
And then I played a solo round of Cascadia. It is much more enjoyable on the table than on the webapp and I am glad I finally have all 3 games. I hope I get to play Verdant tonight.
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Some games over the last week:
The Fox in the Forest, lost a game of this to my wife, but I was competitive at least. I’m still pretty poor at playing ‘humble’ games (losing most of the tricks).
Love Letter
Super Big Boggle x4
Mandala x2, got this one to the table with a buddy and it was really good! I had expected to like it but even still it exceeded my expectations. Lots of tough strategic and tactical decisions for such a concise playtime.
Regicide x2, lost two games of this (well technically three but that was because my friend had misunderstood suffering damage, so we retconned that one). We went out end of Queens and then start of Kings - so not awful. The second we hit King of Diamonds after Queen of Diamonds. And we nearly survived - that combo is pretty brutal!
Hadrian’s Wall x2, couple of solo games of this with decent but not amazing scores (like high 70’s/low 80’s). I am hoping to one day break 90, but I haven’t stumbled across a combo that could manage it (maybe gladiators if I get lucky?) Any pro’s able to advise me on their strategy? I tend to aim to finish the fort and the wall and cippi, max out production, scout heavily and use the theatre and gardens, and then either a bit of temples or market, depending on whether I have more workers or resources. I don’t tend to touch the baths or courthouse. I also rarely build the large buildings on the left sheet and typically ignore the roads. Oh and normally nab 2 monuments.
Hanamikoji, rematch with the same friend from last week. He won this one, which seems fair.
Age of Steam, friend brought his deluxe version over. I upgraded my locomotive a couple of turns earlier than I should have, and didn’t fight to control the center of the board, which left me hurting throughout. I lost, and game owner won by a decent chunk. Still decent if not super ‘my kind of game’.
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I’d suggest Fox in the Forest Duet which is co-operative instead, but you still need to lose tricks to your partner make your joint plan work, so it’s not any easier 
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I must admit I love Cascadia, if there is a game from last year that I would buy is that one. And I know it will work well and would be played. So on the wishlist it goes for maybe 2023 (very late, like in Christmas)
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Pretty good day of gaming today. We were having solar panels installed on our house today, as well as a new electrical box put in, so I took the day off work to deal with the workers, and since we had no electricity for a few hours, we gamed.
First, my wife and I tried out Caesar! Seize Rome in 20 Minutes! while the graphic design is pretty minimal, the game itself is quite good. It is always a risk leaving just one unclaimed spot around a region, as it is possible your opponent will be able to finish it, claim the bonus, and possibly even control of the region itself. At the same time, you really want those bonuses, sometimes even if you give control of the region away.
My wife had a pretty decent lead, but through some luck, I was able to chain some regions, and make use of a couple of Senate bonus tokens and managed to come back and win, when my wife was down to just two more control markers to place.
There is a lot of luck involved, as you are at the mercy of what influence tokens you pull from the bag. Still, the game felt like it had barely started when it ended, so I don’t mind swings of luck when the game is this short.
Afterwards, her brother joined us for our first ever play of Princes of Florence. I don’t know if I described the rules poorly, or if there is just a lot to cover, but they felt the game was confusing at first. However, I think they started getting it about halfway through. I think it just takes a couple of rounds to fully grasp what you are doing, but then you are stuck with any mistakes you made and have to work around them as best you can.
At the end of the game, the scores were pretty close. I won, with 56, my wife was in second with 52, and her brother brought up the rear at 50. It’s an interesting balancing act of maximizing your work value without wasting turns with too many unnecessary upgrades, especially in the auction phase, as you will only ever have an assortment of seven of those elements. Are three builders really necessary? Would it be better to diversify the landscapes, or take a bunch of the same for the points? Do I invest in a Freedom, or take a chance on a bonus card to get the best work value? Lots of interesting decisions, at least after one play, and I hope it sees the table again soon. We did not have a lot of bidding wars, so I think more players would help with that.
We finished with Lords of Waterdeep, a familiar game after the newness of the others. We had a real shortage of clerics, the base location being the only place to get them most of the game. My wife did her usual thing of being in last place for a while, then leaping ahead of the rest of us, after which I was stuck in last for most of the rest of the game, despite starting with a really good plot quest which gave me 2 gold any time I took an action which gave me rogues, and we had a LOT of rogue spaces come out over the course of the game.
The final round was kind of funny, as every space that could get a cleric was full. I had a 20 point quest that needed two clerics, but only had one. I did have an intrigue card that would let me steal a cube from another player, and my brother-in-law had some clerics, along with a 25 point quest for which he was also one cleric short, so I did not have to feel guilty taking one, as he couldn’t accomplish it anyway. However, on his turn he used the exact same intrigue card on me and completed his quest!
I then noticed that one of my other quests would give me two clerics as a reward, so I was able to complete it and my 20 point quest before the end of the game. For a moment, I thought I was going to come from behind for the win with the Lord bonuses (mine were Piety and Skullduggery), but my brother-in-law accomplished one more quest than I did for his Lord, putting him in first place with 156 to my 153 and my wife’s 152. Really close game.
This just tells me that I need to retire and have the power go out more often, as we play more games that way!
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Yesterday, I managed to play Verdant (badly), Calico (badly) and Cascadia (99 feels like a pretty good score) Love Calico solo, love Cascadia solo… both are easy and very satisfying. Verdant as well, except that the “sliding” market thing involves sliding 4 columns and that … is a bit much.
In Verdant, on your turn you choose a combination of token and card from the offering not unlike Cascadia and put both in your display of 3x5 cards. However each token gets paired with both a plant and a room card and you only get one of the cards while the other gets a “green thumb” (2 of those let you do bonus actions). Plants and rooms get placed in an alternating pattern and I messed up by building more rooms than plants which the game lets you do I think but makes little sense from a scoring perspective and I ended the game with a few very frustrating turns picking up rooms to fill the pattern while I had no more plants left that would benefit from the rooms. Rooms provide lighting conditions, with the right light, plants grow and when they are done growing they can be potted and score.
Of the 3 games, Cascadia is easiest to grok how to go for a good score. With a bit of practice I shouldn’t mess up as badly with Verdant anymore. Calico though… still the old brain burner 
PS: they all qualify as breakfast games (easy to set up and fast to play)
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I’ve now played 5 games of Caesar:SRITM! against the solo opponent with Poison+Centurions, and have won once. After losing the first 3 games yesterday, I was pondering how the AI works today and came to a few realisations regarding strategy, and that led to a victory in my next game… followed by another loss :)
It’s definitely a challenge now, so that’s good.
It sure can escalate quickly!
Since adding the expansions my games have gotten longer, though, as they significantly lessen the value (and likely the quantity) of senate tokens. In particular, with Poison tokens in play, the Wealth tokens become hugely desirable as a counter-measure, as Poison is so debilitating. Without the expansions, the game just tended to spread out from Italia, and I didn’t care about a lot of the map. Now things tend to populate from all corners, and fill up.
This was the game I won, and the senate tokens were barely a factor:
I envisage games playing out pretty differently/variably with a human opponent though.
I can definitely see the luck factor feeling excessive for some; but as you say, it’s all over quickly enough that a bit of misfortune doesn’t really get you down.
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I remember a while back everyone (internet everyone) seemed to be discussing Endless Winter, Lost Ruins of Arnak, or Dune: Imperium? At some point I stopped hearing about this one, but maybe it was availability more than preference?
100%. I fortunately bought it before trying it out. Can’t for the life of me figure out why the webapp doesn’t capture the experience, though.
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Basically their KS campaign was later, and got caught in the second pandemic wave mess that went through China early this year. I haven’t played the other two, so I cannot compare, but they were compared very often by youtubers back then…
I had another go last night, this time I played with the solo rules. And I won easily. I scored a very decent 110 points and the bot only managed to reach low 70s. I think the randomness of the bot (specially on the Catan-like map) didn’t do it any favours, most of the time the bot camps were on glaciers that didn’t reap any benefits, and even though the bot was very strong on the megalith side, I got away with a lot of points and resources every Eclipse phase, which gave me a great edge.
And considering that the bot goes up the Idol board first on its right side (which bumps up your buried card points) I could focus on the left side of the board to reach better final score rewards for my leftover resources at the end of the game.
I think I have read that some of the modules/expansions sort of fix this, so I may need to give it another try with those in, although I think the length of the game may be affected. I finished in about 1h 20 mins, which I think is perfect for a solo, I am unsure if I would want it to go longer, although if the bot improves drastically I may have to consider it…
Definitely looking forward to play it with more hoomans, though. I think this will be a hit with my fellow gamers from the local Guild.
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