We’ve been playing a variation of Just One where the limitation is you must use a word with a first letter that matches the clue word. it’s reinvigorated the game for us.
3 Likes
This is one of favourite games experiences ever. I came a close second after having lagging behind most of the game, and it is not higher on my list because I have not played it much since. I am quite surprised that this game has not had a re-print, because to me it beats all the TtR improvement wannabes I’ve tried by a large margin (PanAm comes to mind).
4 Likes
Yesterday I was able to have another go at Marvel Champions Sinister Motives campaign, and this time, I managed to complete it. Rather handily, really, though it did take quite a while. I had some bad draws with Gwen, though Miles was pretty steady overall. Dealing with the sand environment issue, which when triggered caused discards from the encounter deck and at one point I had to discard something like 9 cards because it triggered twice back to back, was quite a hassle. Also, the Public Outcry, while it didn’t really do much as I was able to keep Threat in check, was something that had to be kept in mind.
It was nice getting some really big swings in with both heroes, though, as they have some really great cards! On to Venom!
5 Likes
It always makes me sad when someone has a strong negative impression on a first play, especially with a game as good as Pax Pamir 2e. Async definitely drags things out.
I also know from experience that it’s usually a bad idea to argue against such first impressions, but here I am:
There’s no agility.
We had a game in which I started with and played through the whole game loyal to the Afghan coalition, and that and the Prince made for a more stolid game than usual, but I think the board wipes and loyalty pivots allow for a lot of agility. It’s (usually) very unlike engine-building games where you just build up and wind up and go. You may have to lose most or all of your court, and often cycle through a lot because the impacts are important and you can only have 3 cards in your court.
Maybe you mean that you can’t achieve much with just two actions, and that’s true, but your hand is your source of flexibility. You do have to split your efforts between achieving something now, and building a reserve to do more in one turn later. The bonus actions also shake things up a lot - feels cool when you take 4+ actions in one turn through efficient suit use.
it isn’t a game you can catch up in
The final score was 12/6/5/0, from 6/6/3/0 immediately prior. Having a VP advantage means you have more options for winning, but you are very rarely ever immune to a final successful dominance check by a coalition you are not loyal to. If the British coalition had been dominant, and you had the most influence, you could have won (6/6/9/10). I know that seemed unlikely in our game, given how many rupees I had, and 21VN going for an influence war instead of switching sides, but it’s the kind of turnaround I’ve seen plenty of.
you need to be bartering and negotiating, but playing online makes that hard to actually do
Absolutely agree. I’m all for that, and it is harder to do. That said, I know plenty of people who prefer all the “negotiation” to be done without talking, and Pax Pamir 2e does actually support that well too. If everyone is up to speed. I could see something like that happening with LLV’s pivot to the British coalition - it looked like giving up a lot, but also necessary if the Afghan monolith remained strong.
Tigris & Euphrates is a good comparison, I think. I’ve seen a lot of similar criticisms and feelings directed at that, for similar reasons, and I think Pax Pamir 2e is similarly excellent and easily misunderstood.
5 Likes
Some plays in the last week and a bit, including a local game meetup:
Summoner Wars played a great game of this with a buddy - Phoenix Elves vs Tundra Orcs - the elves won it - they’re one of my favourite factions. And while I’ve still got plenty to explore between the starter set and master set, I’ve just recently ordered the Avian and Cloaks decks. But birds… how could I resist?!
Love Letter played this with some friends - the spy and chancellor are definitely more intersting in a larger group.
Dungeon Mayhem x2, friends brought there complete set of this over. It’s quick and silly but not a game of particularly deep strategy or even many tactical choices. Fine but forgettable.
Catan, got to introduce two new gamers to this classic. It still holds up - they both really enjoyed it, as did we who have played it before. I did miss my event cards deck, but I figured the dice is pretty key to the core experience, so wanted to keep that in. I did include the fish and harbormaster though - they’re pretty standard in my games.
Love Letter Batman x2, it’s basic love letter with an extra reward for guessing someones card. Was fine.
Herd Mentality, a silly party game, not one I feel the need to own, but I’d happily play it.
Long Shot: The Dice Game x2, the teach was rather lackluster so I fumbled through my first game. By the rematch I had more idea of how things go and ended up winning by a big chunk thanks to some heavy investment on horse 8 (who came in third). It was okay but a little clunky and obviously heaps of luck can either make or ruin your game.
Verdant, taught a full table of five, which was far too many. But it was still quite fun, even if it’s pretty hard to build a strategy with so many people and so much turnover of cards and tokens in the middle. I will have to try it again with a smaller (ideal) playercount of 2 or 3. But I think I can already tell it’ll land somewhere between Calico and Cascadia. Though more plays necessary to tell that for sure.
Railroad Ink:Deep Blue, 3 of us played this, our new player came in third but did very well for a first shot, the other two of us have played it a bunch. If I had used another special intersection I would’ve ended up 1 point behind our winner. As it was I ended up 5 points behind. I do miss the goals from Challenge though - I really wish they’d release a set of goals for this version.
Hanamikoji, longest game yet of this at 3 full rounds. I pulled ahead in the end but it was pretty tense throughout. I’m starting to see tactical decisions with more clarity, but certainly don’t feel I’ve ‘mastered’ it.
7 Likes
@Benkyo A part of me knew I’d draw you out to explain the game to me, and I looked forward to it 
That sounds closer than it felt. I think the VP track is so spread out. I was a lot of inches behind everyone else!
This feeds into that “everyone needs to already know the game and be an equal level” thing. Only if we’re all able to see the same threats and opportunities can we can communicate by how we engage them. I’ll file this in the “what the game could be” section.
This was one of those cases where it was so obvious what needed to happen but impossible (for me) to actually make it happen. I knew my win condition, or at least my not-last-place condition, but didn’t have the money, cards, or actions to effect it. Some of that is the game - what I needed was not in the market. I couldn’t get build or road actions to even start picking away at the Afghan pieces. But a lot of it was the first half of my own game. I threw all my resources into the ring during Q1 to rule Transcaspia, which ended up doing nothing for me and @lalunaverde wiped me off the board a few turns later. Q2 I should have either pivoted to Afghan to get some table scraps or invested in my tribes, but instead I built up a paltry British force to try to rein in the Afghans, and that was also wiped off the board after the second check. I was essentially starting from zero entering the second half of the game.
Last thing that is me is that I’ve been fascinated by these shared-incentive/semi-coop games, but still have very little practical experience with them. I’ve played Irish Gauge and now this but this kind of puzzle is still new to me.
So I haven’t given up on Pamir yet and I’ll take these comments in for whenever I try again. I should like it but I don’t (yet).
2 Likes
Last night my wife and I played Princes of Florence, and she utterly shellacked me! Final score was 65 - 47!
I jumped out to an early lead, managing to complete works on my first three turns and do a somewhat balanced approach to gaining money and prestige points. But she came back with a vengeance. She had a bit of an advantage in that all three of her starting Profession cards wanted Forests and the Opinion freedom for their work value, so after getting those two things, she was able to just focus on the desired buildings (worth 3 PP on their own), and then rack in the points from her works.
I had a last ditch effort to do one last work, but I was unable to play any of the cards I drew, which prevented me from getting 7 more points than I did, so while I still would have lost, it wouldn’t have looked like such a slaughter.
Really interesting game, and one I still think will shine with more people fighting over the various resources.
7 Likes
Sorry! Just read this. No. I cannot compare them, as I have only played Antike. To be honest, I have been so busy that I haven’t played any games for quite awhile. I’ll probably have to relearn Antike when I open it up again! 
3 Likes
Evergreen with my partner (first time with an opponent, first time for her) and a close loss for me! This fits a nice space for us right now with precious little time or energy for much of anything. It’s tricky, but not brain-melting, and the gameplay flows nicely. It feels tuned well for 2 players and the draft really helps confound the decision space (compared to solo). The game still feels open, but it’s a lie; you’ve really gotta keep up or get left in the shade.
3 Likes
Played a few games over Board Game Arena. Just some quick little ones to get a new player more familiar with the interface.
Started with two games of Can’t Stop, which I just picked up a physical copy of after… gosh… a decade of waiting for it to come back in print? An exaggeration, but not by much. Anyway, managed to win both with some very lucky rolls.
After that we played 6 Nimmt/Take 5, which I handily lost.
And then a couple rounds of Love Letter, which reminded me how much I like Love Letter.
Oh, and this morning I ran a livestream for the game store. In that we played Decrypto with 3 (worked better than I expected, although nowhere near as good as with 4+ players), then Monikers which was a tonne of fun, and then Jungle Speed which was great, and then a few sample rounds of Fake Artist Goes to New York and Wavelength.
9 Likes
Played Ginkopolis on BGA with @Acacia. It’s a good alpha implementation - shout if you want an invite to a game.
Sure! I’m in
1 Like
Played the Venom scenario of Marvel Champions Sinister Motives campaign. Venom and his scheme are pretty nasty, as any time you damage him with an attack, you put a face down encounter card on your hero, which then transfers to him whenever he activates against you, giving him the possibility of a lot of boost icons!
I realized just now that I may have been playing incorrectly, as I was keeping those encounter cards separate from those that you deal with in the latter half of the villain phase, when I suspect now that they are the same stack. So if you did not have to give the cards to Venom because he was stunned or confused, you would turn them face up in the appropriate step of the phase. Oops.
In any case, it meant that he got to have some really big swings at me, and both heroes were very close to defeat when I finally took Venom out. Overall I was pleased with my performance, though I may replay the scenario at some point to do it correctly. At least I realized my mistake now, so if this mechanic exists in the next scenario, I will do it correctly.
On to Mysterio!
4 Likes
Ginkgopolis: I really dig it.
The first half has a euro/tableau/resource puzzle to it, and then it tilts into full area control punching in the second half. Add in a sprinkle of some other goodies, like a Keyflower-esque choose-your-own-points-engine midgame and a variable end-game timer that all the players get to provide input to…
This game made me happy.
Good thing I already bought it…
5 Likes
No, you played it correctly! The cards on your hero are only ever used as boost cards for Venom’s next activation; if you could somehow keep him stunned/confused indefinitely, you would just accumulate boost cards until he eventually sneaks in an activation.
2 Likes
I have been playing the heck out of Adventure Tactics: Domianne’s Tower since I got it home the other day and I’m hooked bad. All it’s really offering up is a series of deckbuilding sessions between arenas where you (cooperatively) flex your new abilities, but wow is it presented and executed well.
Even though there’s a scripted narrative on offer, it’s mercifully light on text, and mostly serves to link the scenarios and drive the plot. That said, the scenario design is highly creative so far and my campaign has been full of thrills and spills after only three (major) encounters—the second encounter was basically gridiron football… with an infant child as the ball.
You can fail forward here, which is so refreshing I can’t overstate it. You can succeed too, of course, and they offer a success and +success condition for each scenario. The game isn’t especially hard (though I’ve found it challenging enough), but the +success conditions have all been incredibly tight so far and I haven’t managed one yet. I also barely got a (standard) success against the last encounter, so it’s no pushover. You’ve got to be on your toes, but you don’t have to be a tactician, which is great for this kind of game.
Time to go git my loot and level up!
5 Likes
I bought Café a while back to add to my quick solo-able card puzzle collection, and finally got around to playing it after noticing and watching this video on BGG the other day (being a full tutorial and solo play-through in around 20 mins by someone whose videos I’ve previously found to be very good).
It’s got the Sprawlopolis (amongst others) thing of laying cards partially over the top of other cards, except (a) you can play cards (which are 3x2 grids) horizontally or vertically; and (b) you must cover up either 2, 3, or 4 existing squares – which is generally a painful decision because you’ll only play 8 cards in the entire game, and you’ll usually need to cover up things you wanted.
On each of the 8 turns you draw 3 cards (or 4 cards if the expansion is added), select and play 1 of them, discard the others, and then perform as many actions as you have visible coffee cup squares (up to 8; you start with only 1). Actions are growing beans; harvesting+drying beans; roasting dried beans; and delivering roasted beans.
The ideal card positioning will leave you with contiguous areas of the same type of square/icon for growing, drying, or roasting, as a group of adjacent icons of the same type can be activated together as a single action. So the better your arrangement, the more things you’ll achieve in your limited actions. But trying to arrange for things to be next to each other will constrain your placement options even further, making it even more likely that you’ll need to sacrifice something else good to do it. There are 4 types of bean and, aside from meeting the requests of cafes, you will score at the end of the game for only the 2 types you have the fewest of; so ultimately you want to produce the different types as evenly as possible.
Because it’s only 8 rounds, it’s all over quickly as well, so you can play it a few times in a short time-span. So I did that… and after 2.5 games, I decided I just wasn’t feeling it, and packed it away without finishing that game. I have other games about fulfilling constraints that I enjoy more than this. It probably also doesn’t help that I don’t like coffee, as otherwise I might be drawn in by the theme more. The very spartan art design does little for me (except for the box art which is lovely, darn it), and all the blank space only emphasises that the over-sized cards are much bigger than they need to be (I imagine that with the maximum 4 players it would actually, and needlessly, be a table-hog).
The puzzle is certainly tricky, but the real killer is that I just couldn’t muster up much enthusiasm for it. This may be partly because this is an engine-building puzzle, and I’ve realised in the past that “engine building” just isn’t a thing I enjoy much in board games. I might try this again another time and see if I feel differently, and check whether adding the expansion cards helps; but I suspect this will go on the sell pile.
If a quick-playing card-laying engine-building puzzle game sounds like your cup of tea^H^H^Hcoffee though, check out the video I linked to. Lots of people rate this well, so it might very well be worth a look.
10 Likes
Last night with @Kyuss and others:
- Rallyman GT and multi-player in person rather than on BGA feels like discovering a whole new game. Love it.
- K2 … actually, quite a similar feeling. Played this on BGA, quite enjoyed it, then stopped; but it’s much more fun with the physical bits and the people to talk with.
9 Likes
Ha, I was searching to see again what you’d said about the game, and this was the exact mission combo that I randomly dealt myself tonight for my first proper game after the tutorial missions. I was just able to deal with the train on turn 9, and with that done I wasn’t worried about losing – until I got reckless on what was to be my final turn and found that, while I’d achieved my goals, my two remaining maquis were both going to be arrested, and I wasn’t sure if that was a win or a loss…
(It turns out it’s a win – if not the most resounding kind!)
First impressions are quite good. There’s not a lot to it in terms of gameplay, but it’s quick, and seems like it provides good variety and difficulty options with all the different mission objective combinations, and it packs a bit of theme in at the same time. I look forward to playing more.
6 Likes
That’s the game in a nutshell, yep! One of my favourite morning coffee solitaires.
4 Likes