Recent Boardgames (Your Last Played Game Volume 2)

Boardgames
8504

Games were played at our Silvester party.

  • Tinderblox
  • That’s not a hat–a very loud game it seems (I wasn’t in it) but it’s an absolute hit with everyone that played, so thanks everyone who posted about it because I am the one who bought it (and gave it away as a present)
  • a friend brought along Fallout Shelter the Boardgame
  • Cat in the Box
  • Just One (I brought that out around 1am or so when the kids started telling jokes they were reading from the internet and I decided enough was enough, they needed to be funny on their own)

And the sweetest of all… they cleaned up the room before they left. I got in there later expecting to have to carry glasses and bottles to the kitchen and it was all perfectly clean and everything put away… I have an idea which of them did this (all 6 of them of course). But… kids these days…

Happy New Year’s Everyone! And Happy Games!

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8505

I played a couple of games of Maquis this afternoon. Only playing one game would have been silly, as I lost the first game on the second turn :). The Milice arrested one of my initial 3 resistance agents on the very first turn during the placement phase, when the three positions listed on the third patrol card turned out to be the previous two Milice positions and the position of one of my agents. In turn 2 I failed to play safe, and the patrols then went to both the Grocer and Pont Leveque spaces, blocking both of my remaining agents from being able to get back to the Safe House. So that was that! I hadn’t played this game for a while, and kinda forgot how to approach it :).

Game 2 was much better, and in the late stages I had almost all of my objectives accounted for; but with only two agents on the move I needed to execute a delivery to one of the mission cards and could only throw caution to the wind, and I once again found all of my exits were blocked.

Edit: Two attempts at a new pair of missions the next day, and I was crushed both times. Even with a better appreciation of the patrol distribution, even a single mishap can be catastrophic. Further tactical adjustments are required…

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8506

Maryse and I are apart for New Year’s, I’m in Quebec City with my family while she’s home. So no game YET, but she played a two-player game of Pandemic on her own yesterday. With the emergency planner and the dispatcher, she managed to get all four cures and eradicate the yellow, blue and red diseases, with only two black cubes remaining before she ran out of cards. No outbreaks, either! Stellar game, and a hell of a sign for the coming year! :star_struck:

Happy new year, everybody! From a personal standpoint, this year was way better than the last one, may this one be EVEN BETTER! Health and happiness all around!

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8507

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20231225_1521414080×3060 3.46 MB

Got and got to play Mountain Goats this Christmas. A few observations:

  1. I did not realize this was a reprint of a 2010 game (Level X). I’m really appreciating every time I find an older game that has survived the years. Something of Vasel’s law, something of what we’ve been discussing in our decade in review topics… looking back you tend to only see things of worth.

  2. I really thought that playing with a 3 and 6 year old, at home, would be a short season. The “oops I reached for my piece and knocked over EVERYTHING” phase. We played with my 10 year old niece and 13 year old nephew and same. Roll the dice, reach for one, knock all of them to new faces, startle and knock all the goats off the board… We’re THIRTEEN here folks. Was I like that at thirteen? The adults were like “DON’T TOUCH YOUR DICE JUST LOOK AT THEM” after a while.

  3. Still so impressed with AllPlay. They choose good games. They are cheap. They are top quality. I want to work for them.

  4. This is a good game. Hits way above its weight. It’s not going to replace anything in my top ten or anything, but it’s interesting, interactive, tense… no dominant strategy but open for a shifting meta that you have to shape and respond to. There’s a lot going on and it was both interesting and shouting-at-each-other fun and that’s a great combo.

In the end I lost at the tiebreaker. I camped on the 5 and 6 and milked them for points while others fought over peak 10. I later scrambled to get tokens from each peak before they ran out and was unable to get a 7 before we closed out.

Anyway, really pleased.

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8508

You probably were. Growth spurts can mean you’re suddenly a radically different size/shape to what you’re used to and just make you incredibly clumsy.

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8509

Hansa Teutonica or should I say Hansa Britannica? Played with the UK exp map. It introduced bottlenecks on placing cubes on Scotland and Wales. Good game in itself, but requires more plays to see what’s up with the UK map.

Innovation

Innovation

That’s Not a Hat

Trains - owner did a variant where there are route bonus cards for the base game, PLUS you can only score properties (yellow cards) up to the number of stations you are connected to in your network. This stops that strategy where you just buy trains and then buy housing properties. That’s the big thing that I really dont like about Trains. Seems that the variant mitigated that. It then shapes the game into network play at early game and then dabble at buying properties at late game.

Innovation

Pax Renaissance - played a 2 player game with @mr.ister . We both have strategies within the West, but I was going for Imperial Victory after making England fall to the Reformation. But suddenly backed out of the Reformation gang when various Catholic Crusade cards keep popping up. Even made England revert to Catholicism. Holy Victory was my back up plan at that point.

Then, the 2 comet cards from the Western deck showed up in sequence and mr.ister buried one of them, and triggered one to open the Renaissance Victory. I pretty much try to stop him setting up a republic in Europe, and have considered milling the Eastern deck for the other two comet cards. But on my last go, it was checkmate. Well played!

Easily the best Pax title and it is very good at 2 to 4 player count (unlike Porfiriana or Pamir). Other than Renaissance, only Transhumanity, I feel, works with all player counts. But playing Pax Ren at 3 to 4 is personal preference. 2 is a bit too sparse for my taste

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8510

Games night!

Oros, SpaceBiff captures my feelings accurately Milk’s Favorite Board Game | SPACE-BIFF! There’s some good ideas, with a bit too much fiddle.

Red Rising, Fantasy Realms with more fuss. Much prefer FR

Zoo Vadis, what a great game. 4 players

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8511

Interesting. I’ve only played PaxRen at 2 and 3, and was unsure which player count I prefer. I’d have expected 4p to be too chaotic but I’m keen to give it a shot.

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8512

Played Star Wars the Deckbuilding Game tonight and utterly destroyed my wife with the Rebels. Got Han Solo on my first turn, and kept getting good cards while managing to sabotage most of her good cards when they hit the galaxy row. Before long I had Chewie and the Falcon, as well as Jabba and a B-Wing, and she just couldn’t withstand that onslaught. Won 3 - 1. The deck just liked me better tonight.

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8513

Didn’t manage to play anything while visiting family over the holidays, but did get in a couple of games in with my partner.

Exit: Dead Man on the Orient Express - Enjoyed this one a lot, though it took us a while. A brief worry at the end when we identified the murderer, but I misidentified which answer card we were meant to look at and it told us we were wrong :laughing:

My Gold Mine - Played with the 2-player rules. We were equal going into the final round, but then both my miners got eaten by the dragon, so I lost :frowning:

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8514

Im not averse to chaotic gameplay. And the West gets the upperhand if someone opened up the Atlantic and/or the Novgorod trade routes. Opening both will starve the Med kingdoms.

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8515

Big Top, went a bit better this time, we all watched our money a bit more carefully. Got the win, thanks to a card that allowed me to add money to another card. Just edged ahead, 58 to 55. My first game of 2024!

Blackout: Hong Kong, been a while since we played this, so it took some time to go over the rules. I really had a terrible game. Stuffed up early by choosing objective cards that didn’t help with placing on the map. Ended up with zero points from area control. Finished in third by a single point, the winner had half the map done.

Seas of Strife, a trick taker where card has it’s own unique number. So one suit might be numbers 0 through 10, the next 12 through 20, etc. You have to follow suit if you can, but you can match any suit played, and whatever suit has the most played cards is the one you check. And you don’t want to win tricks, the lowest score wins. Good fun.

Race to the Raft, co-op game about saving cats, managed to win that ok.

Get Bit, which probably isn’t at it’s best with 3p. There’s a 3p variant, not sure if you’re meant to use that.

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8516

I had a games session on New Years Day from 3 to 8 pm, so we played a few interesting games:

51st State, this time with the Gangs expansion. Enjoyed it, the expansion gave new cards and makes easier to build some of them, but I still prefer other games that scratch that tableau building itch better (Everdell?).

Beyond the Sun. I played it at last. The tech tree game! I must admit that I was expecting more, but the fact that I played it with three very experienced players and I was a bit rushed to avoid AP with the million worker spots that develop so quickly, got me into a couple of really tough dead ends that really stifled my game.
I like the game theme, but I admit it is a tad too “euroified” for me, and I think the end comes rather too quickly, leaving most of us with a feeling of not having accomplished much. Willing to give it another go, but I must admit I definitely felt a bit meh with it.

Seas of Strife. Nice trick taking game, between 4. Funny enough, the three of us that are more into trick taking games were so much into avoiding each other win, that the non-lover ended up winning. Nice filler.

Also on Wednesday afternoon we had a go at home at TtR: Europe with my partner and my little daughter. Little one went for three tickets that were not that well connected, and between my partner an me we were on each other’s way in western Europe, so the scores were not anything out of this world. At the end of the game I should have gone for more tickets, as my partner had the longer route, and that cost me finishing the game as second, we ended 103, 89, 78.

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8517

Solomon Kane - 3 of us played SK including @EnterTheWyvern . I have no idea about this game nor the source material so it wasn’t easy to get myself immersed, but I thought the premise was funny and entertaining. I wasn’t into it that much as I was tired after work, no idea about the source material, and we screwed up the rules. But I’ll keep an open mind on a 2nd session

Ticket to Ride: Legacy: Legends of the West - we played 4 games out of 12 and everyone was really into it! Which is great news!! My fear is that I wouldn’t get any recruits and that they won’t be engaged enough that the rest of the campaign would feel like a chore to them. But it went really well. I brought this and Pandemic Legacy Season 2 to see which one would get picked up.

Gameplay: I really like 2 major changes in the rules (no spoilers). First, using a loco in addition to the cards used to claim a route, will give you 5 pts! This is interesting because players now pick up the loco cards from the shop. But the tempo loss is a good trade-off. Do you want to spend a turn to get a loco and get 5 pts and risk blockage?? Hmmmmm…

2nd thing is the end game scoring. None of the complicated scoring of route length/points. Instead it gives bonus points of the remaining trains left in your supply. We really didn’t bother with “hang on… did I score that route??”. It’s just end game points. For a simple game like TTR, this is a good change, imo. Some will disagree. But I thought the exponential scoring pretty much incentivised claiming longer routes. Taking a 4 route gives 7 pts and a turn to claim. 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 routes gives 4 points and 4 turns to claim. The changes skews it towards tempo and claiming tickets now.

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8518

Had a few games lately. The three of us played Lords of Vegas the other day, and it was one of the closest finishes we have ever had. Really, the closest possible to have. My wife and her brother tied, and my wife won the tie-breaker of money by just $1! We had a rematch a few days later and my wife won again, though this time by just outscoring us.

We have had some games of Star Wars the Deckbuilding Game, trading wins back and forth. We have also played Lost Cities, with the humorous score after the first round of 2 - 1, me leading. I ended up winning overall 139 - 44, so definitely a rough one for my wife.

Today we played Ethnos with Skeletons, Centaurs, Elves, Wingfolk, and Giants. I was 6 points ahead after the first age, but due to a couple of lucky draws near the end of the second age, she was able to play two size 4 bands, taking control of a region, giving her the win in the end by just 2 points.

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8519

My 12 Gamedays of Christmas challenge this festitve season is now completed. I almost didn’t bother trying it this year as I knew my work might interfere with the chance to play anything on certain days, including the week and weekend even before Christmas which were manic; I didn’t start wrapping my first present until about 10pm on Christmas Eve.

December 25th: Railroad Ink Challenge (Lush Green Edition)
A late night game when I got back home with what turned out to be the same game that started off the previous challenge. I played with the Forest dice but it had been a while and I forgot a key rule about scoring for forest sizes so should have scored more than the 80-odd points I ended with. Fun and quick but something I rarely get out when I have time to play a game properly.

December 26th: Flash Point: Fire Rescue
A quick game with the base (family) setup, playing as two regular firefighters as it had been a while since I last played. I focused more on rescuing victims quickly than putting out many fires, and managed to rescue 8 before the building collapsed - enough for a family win and I wasn’t too far off getting all 10 victims to safety. I must play this again more regularly, especially as it is one I might be able to introduce to others.

December 27th: Pro Golf
A matchplay game between Greg Norman and Fred Couples at Pebble Beach which worked out really well as a solo option. No real dramas off the tee or fairways but Norman’s putting (well, my dice rolling) was shocking throughout so it turned into a relatively easy victory for Couples 4 & 3. Good fun for quick gaming sessions, with associated memories of watching those golfers back in their prime.

December 28th: Obsession
A solo game trying the Ponsonby family against a relatively easy opponent and pretty comfortable win although I lost the final courtship after being unable to get the right types of rooms built. One of my favourite purchases of 2023 so will get regular table time this coming year.

December 29th: Pandemic Fall of Rome
My first game of this, trying it with three “players” versus the hordes. I never recovered from a tough start, with the players starting too far away from the initial revolution/invasion spots and too many cities sacked early so only had treaties with three tribes before the end. As it was my first game, I played on after defeat, completing the other two treaties without suffering another sacking. Good game and nice changes to the base Pandemic but will need more plays and doubt it will beat Pandemic Iberia as my favourite variant.

December 30th: Maquis
Just picked two 1-star missions as time and energy were limited, and was in a hole early after losing one of my operatives to Plod on Day 2, but managed to win quickly on Day 8 in the end. Still my favourite quick solo-only game, for its theme, mechanics and challenge.

December 31st: Viticulture
More bad luck with card draws - of all types! - lead to a narrow defeat at the end of the seventh round, but I played on for round 8 to finally get past 20 victory points with the final order. Still one of my favourite worker placement games and one I must play more often, even if only to finally get the Tuscany expansion to the table.

January 1st: Final Girl
A quick game against Hans at the Happy Trails Camp, and what proved to be a pretty straightforward victory. Hans picked off a couple of Victims in the first two turns but I found the Whistle and got the rest to safety soon afterwards, finding the Bow while doing so and was able to pick Hans off from distance regularly. My games of this are very luck dependant and this time the dice largely went with me, but when those rolls just aren’t coming it can be disheartening. It’ll get more plays though, as I have the Frightmare on Maple Lane scenario to try and, if I like that, many of the other scenarios from seasons 2 and 3 also look good.

January 2nd: Horrified (Universal Monsters)
A quick reminder of this as I have the Greek Monsters version on order too. Another relatively quick victory with the Explorer and Scientist facing off against Dracula, the Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. I find it more of a story-telling pastime than a challenging game, but the theme is great and sure I will love the latest version when it arrives in a few weeks.

January 3rd: Great Western Trail
Another solo trek against Sam and a more comfortable win in the end even though I thought I had done badly. Clearly my balanced strategy is working so far, but have other strategies to try out in further games after watching a few youtube strategy guides and suggestions; I’ve yet to even deliver to Kansas City, leave alone the recommendations to keep “spamming” it.

January 4th: Black Sonata
Another solo-only game but one I am not always in the mood for unless I am in the right mindset to tackle the deductive logic required. Luckily, this game worked out well, correctly identifying the Dark Lady after only five clues. Hopefully it will get more table time to try the harder challenges this year. Note: I almost didn’t play anything this day as I was going to count Darts as the day’s gaming experience after attending one of my team’s first practice session of the year. Nothing too Littlerian about my performance but a solid 20-dart victory in my first 501 match, winning all four of my matches and doing well in the few silly games afterwards including Killer and Burma Road, all of which will hopefully set me up for the resumption of the seasons starting this week.

January 5th: Firefly
I finished the season with a quickish solo game of this, playing as Malcolm and inlcuding Inara and Kaylee among my starting crew trying to build solid reputations with each of the five contacts. I managed to get three done within five or six turns and luckily avoided trouble with the Alliance cruiser or Reavers throughout, saving my last job for a break in at the Alliance vault on Londonium, which was completed on turn 13. Still fun, but can be a pain to setup just for a solo game, similar to titles like Eldritch Horror, A Touch of Evil and Fortune & Glory which is probably why I don’t play it or them often.

Overall then, I pleased at the gaming I got in and inspiration for more games in the weeks ahead before my work gets busier again at Easter. I have a few new titles that would have been played this holiday season if I had the time to learn the rules properly - looking at you One Deck Galaxy and Carnival Zombie - so they will get played before Easter, plus other recent purchases - Maracaibo, Legacy of Dragonholt and Calico as well as unplayed expansions for other games too.

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8520

I don’t think this is a universal rule change. I think this might be true with certain postcards only.

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8521

My partner and I played World Wonders. This cute little polyomino game where the tension mostly comes from a shared pool of tiles and trying to get things first but without blowing all your cash for the privilige. You end up with a cool looking board at the end where you have the Giza pyramids next to to the entrance at Petra a bit like something like age of empires I think.

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8522

Ah yes. It was a postcard

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8523

That’s good as I was going to have to take this up with Mrs DJCT (it’s her game)!

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