Finally played the final chapter of Expedition to Newdale, which I picked up at Airecon back in March.
It’s nice. I think we’ll keep it; I like it enough to play through it at least once more, probably more than that. The different boards and objectives in each chapter keep it different enough each time that it isn’t just the exact same game every time you play. Definitely prefer this to Oh My Goods, which we used to have but never really got on with, and sold on a while ago.
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Games! Lots of them!
- Eclipse: second dawn for the galaxy
- Sea salt and paper
- Splendor
- The King is Dead 2E
- Trio
- Verdant
- Race for the Galaxy
- Tzolk’in
- Schadenfreude
- Five three five
Enjoyed myself at Airecon Northwest. It was perfect weather for playing board games and terrible weather for going outside (thanks, Manchester). It was nice to see some forum people in person again or for the first time 
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Also had a fun weekend at Airecon NorthWest, although didn’t manage to have any games with @Whistle_Pig, did manage a few sessions with @KIR2 - lovely to lose to you in person!
Friday:
Camel Up! - wanted to play this for ages and it didn’t disappoint. Fun and quick and more tactics than I expected. Also a mad camel, which I think should be added to the second edition of any game at all.
Tinderblox - a lovely little game that makes me remember why I don’t do surgery any more.
Project L - first time I have played with all the expansions, all of which add to the game but don’t detract from the lovey squishy tactility. Ooh I just want to eat it!
Nokosu Dice - possibly my most played game this year. Therefore I have no excuse as to why I’m terrible at it, but I don’t think I’ll ever say no to a game of it. Lovely stuff.
Chaps in the Old World - second time I’ve got this to the table. I enjoyed it but I think it might need repeated plays to really understand the nuances and possibilities, and I’m not sure I liked it that much that I want to play it enough to do that. Considering selling at this point but I’ll have a think.
Furnace - shamefully I played this while still having a turn pending on the online game here. I’m sorry, all. I did much better here, and I think I need to add this to the list of ‘games I simply cannot parse in a forum but can in real life’.
Saturday:
Xia - I adore it. I know it’s silly and not very tactical, but it hits exactly in my sweet spot of gameyness and story generation. With 5 players there’s probably too much downtime and it goes on a while but it’s never outstayed its welcome with me. Another game I will pretty much always say yes to (although recently I’ve had a bit of a hankerin’ for Firefly too).
I performed the sun diving ritual, with some help from @KIR2 .
Sentinels of the Mulitverse - I loved the first edition, played it too much, gave up after Oblivaeon and am now loving it all over again thanks to @RogerBW . A tough fight against a giant angry stompy robot where we -nearly- snatched victory at the last. But not actually. Thematically perfect and generally fun even when losing, I like it lots (although tracking effects remains a bit of a problem, strangely - personally that was the number one thing I was hoping would be fixed for the second edition).
Revolution - @Gus is the absolute master at this, but I managed to be a decent apprentice. A bidding game the likes of which I’m usually terrible at but I seemed to get the hang of this one. Quick to learn and easy to play (the game, not me), enjoyed it. Maybe it’s time to resubscribe to Socialist Worker?
Nyet - played this at Airecon West, where it felt a pretty poor cousin to Nokosu Dice… but it turns out we hadn’t been playing with partners then. We did here and it made the game much better. Very good. Nyet? More like Da! (I am available for sub-chatGPT advertising copy).
Piepmatz - hot bird-on-bird action. Enjoyed and I have finally worked out that it’s quite thinky. The fact that this was my third game of it does not explain why I actually won the previous 2 games.
Sunday:
V Commandos - another one of the ‘can’t seem to work this out in a forum but very much enjoy in meatspace’ games. Two missions of this, both of which I thoroughly enjoyed (I do think it strongly runs the risk of alpha player domination, however - it’s hard not to suggest things if you’ve played it a few times before, and that can leave new players with little to do but to say ‘yes, okay’ and roll the dice. Flashpoint is a similar game but I think less at risk from this).
Nokosu Dice again, because really why not. I tried to ‘run up the walrus’ again, and failed miserably.
Showtime! - a home-made card game, surprisingly good quality and fun and thematic, if rather too swingy and slightly Munchkin-like for my tastes (although it’s a much better game than Munchkin).
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Thanks @Whistle_Pig had a great time with five three five. Turns out I had already ordered it with the Tricktaker Kickstarter, so just as well I liked it. Haha (and we’ll never get those rules wrong again!)
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For being a birthday weekend, I had three quiet evenings where I played a few solo games. Friday I played a solo session of Tales of Arabian Nights. I had a good adventure with Sindbad, with his seamanship being useful to travel all over the map. I managed to fulfil the two quests, but I was struggling to get the top tier of Wealth. Eventually I got a Treasure that I could sell to get there and finish at Bagdad (even though I married and my origin was in Alexandria, but never mind).
I followed with a session of Destinies.
Great app, simple enough to get you going in 20 mins tops, I was playing on my phone with my earphones, and the music did really get me in the mood. I had a good go and won against the boss on the first campaign on a solo session using the Noble. I enjoyed the mechanics and the dice chucking, and feel like there was a lot more to explore, which improves the re-play possibilities, I guess?
Saturday night everyone went early to bed after a day out and a movie night, so I had another go solo at Destinies. This time I used the soldier on the second campaign’s first scenario with the Soldier. I managed to defeat the baddie as well, overdoing it with his minions. This time I realised that you could only keep 5 items at a time, so I didn’t stack any one-use stuff, so the game went even smoother, I overkilled more minions than I needed for the final show-down, but still enjoyed the story and the ambiance.
Last night after getting ready for school and an intense weekend, I found myself feeling like another go solo at Tales of Arabian Nights. This time with Aladdin, I had a really easy way through my quests, even though I was forced to go on pilgrimage three times. I ended with him marrying some princess in the Underwater Kingdom and retiring Rich as Croesus.
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We played Mechs vs MInions with @EnterTheWyvern . Four games of it. We repeated one scenario because we failed it. It was very fun! I’m glad the scenarios got harder after Scenario 2.
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I’ve played Alchemists but felt the euro-gaminess was getting in the way of the deduction puzzle.
I’m still nibbling away at the edges of Turing Machine (also realising that very few people I know are interested in doing a deep dive on it).
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Yesterday the two of us playedTyrants of the Underdark, using the Demon and Dragon half-decks. It started out pretty even, as I got control of Menzoberranzan while she took total control of the city at the bottom of the board. She then got control of the city in the middle, but we started over it throughout the game.
While I did get total control of Menzoberranzan few times, she kept taking it away. Meanwhile, I never took total control away from her, getting her 13 points to my 8 for total control during the game. And while our control of sites was pretty even at first, she slowly took over areas I had controlled, and had total control over most of her sites. She was also able to promote a few of her cards, while I only got one promoted.
All this is a long way of saying I got my butt kicked, and she won 105 - 71.
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Yep! Such a great day of gaming. So glad you have it and we can play through the campaign together. The boss battle was cool to get a loss in, feels more interesting as a game, after we strolled through mission 2 I was worried.
I love the chaos of this game and having to crunch your way through each turn with the limited options. I think I simultaneously like and dislike the slow drip of movement and turn cards. Hopefully the future missions will stay tight so managing that stays tough. Cool toy factor is excellent as well.
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Always a perilous balance gamifying logic puzzles. Think everyone prefers a different ratio of game to puzzle.
My friends and I all agreed Turing Machine was very much a puzzle with very little in the way of game. Planet X and Strangers add a bit more game. Alchemists adds a lot more game.
The limiting part of alchemist’s is always in teaching a euro game AND a logic puzzle, so you need a new player to have a general understanding of logic puzzles. At least with the others, teaching logic puzzle is the majority of the game.
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Indeed, I think that if/wen I have a bit more time (har har) I may try getting into Turing Machine solo and regard it as a sort of puzzly exercise in the vein of Wordle more than as a game.
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Last night I had another two sessions of Destinies solo. They ran really smoothly, episode 2 and 3 in about hour and a half? Enjoyed both stories, one played with a Corruptor (how could I avoid picking that character) and episode 3 Joan of Arc play along with the Wise One (she had a raven, again, couldn’t stop myself).
I am having a bit of a feeling that the game may disappoint me regarding length… I can see in the app there are community scenarios and so, but… If I finish the game on my next session, and even though I have the expansion (Sand something, I haven’t got it handy) I will feel like it was a bit of a let down. Fingers crossed, I may be wrong…
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I hope this wasn’t a typo and you have a game where people wander round in top hats and monocles and say “spiffing” a lot
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I did a web search for Chaps in the Old World earlier, in the hope that it was a thing.
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I have an urge to photoshop a monocle and moustache onto a chaos god.
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Mecca: Insulted priest. Talked my way out of it. Sailed to Zaila. Tried to aid a pirate but awoke adrift in an empty ship! Somehow drifted to Rome?!
Rome: Dog chased me up a tree. I fell, and was wounded.
Adrianople: Thrown in prison for accidentally administering a fatal beating.
Prison: Conned jailer with fake treasure map drawn with ink made from TEARS & DIRT! Escaped on foot.
Kiev: Volcano! My house burned to the ground while a confused mob of onlookers failed to assist. I am feeling very determined as a result.
Kiev: Mild storm at the sex-change spring. Drank, but tasted ash (no doubt from the volcano). Decided to leave.
Kiev: Wise sage has offered me fabulous wealth if I travel to Gaya and back. I accept, and have already increased my wealth.
Kiev: The Sultans’s soldiers captured me at Magnetic Mountain – my crime, courting his daughter. Not only did I talk my way out of punishment, but she fell in love with me. We are now married, at home in volcano-stricken Kiev. I have promised to return to tell my new wife of any city I visit.
Rescued a demon from a well. It offers to let me no longer be married. As this would offer considerable travel benefits, I accept.
Discovered ancient hidden city while in Lhasa. Scholars very grateful, and I myself am now scholarly!
Palace of 400 closets: With my scholarly powers, I unlock the mystery of the 100th room, discovering a copper drum with which the beasts aid my travel speed in their thrall.
The sea calls me. I must sail.
My attempt at tricking an evil 'Efreetch comes to an expensive end. Where once I was rich, now I am poor.
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Okay, that sounds great. That’s going on the list.
(I’m aware it’s oop and stupidly expensive).
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More Jump Drive campaigns. I’ll admit I got stuck on campaign 2. Somehow I have been tanking every third or fourth hand (it works that you get exactly 7 turns, which should be enough, but sometimes I barely hit 30 points in that spread).
Finally cleared it. The first hand was the bad one, I only managed 37 points though I got a 10 point card out on the last turn which earned me the “easy” objective. I considered starting fresh but pressed on. Next game was a career high of 90 points in 7 turns. I was able to demolish the last two objectives (essentially, play a development (almost) every turn and focus on blue/brown worlds) without a hiccup to finally check the box.
The economy is a bit different than Race for the Galaxy. I’m finding that Contact Specialist is almost an auto-play in this game. Too many points to be earned with it.
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I thought it was a game about cowboy trousers,
The other version of the game is Chavs in the Old World, which is basically the opposite of the Chaps one.
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Chips of the World? Chips, Fries… no, I’m out. Probably works better for Americans
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