I’ve got Living Planet all set up for a solo learning game. Not sure yet if I’ll just go 2-handed or play a full 4-hands. Hoping to get some sporadic turns in over the next couple of days before I need to be back to work (I’m on vacation right now, but that vacation is Babytown, not Acapulco).
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I did another solo, two-handed game of Summoner Wars on TTS during my lunch break today.
Man, I regret not finding this game sooner when I could be playing actual 2-player games with my neighbor or my good friend who I know would enjoy it. I’ll have to get both of them on TTS to try it out with me.
This time, it was Cloaks / Vlox versus Jungle Elves / Abua Shi. I don’t feel I was playing either side to their strengths. This game felt completely different to the last game I played (Guild Dwarves vs Mountain Vargath); it really is a great system with tons of variety to explore.
Vlox’s special ability targeting Violet turned out to be the winning strategy to really amp up the damage output (Vlox can target a Cloak unit to copy its name and special ability; Violet’s special ability is that her ranged attack can go through other units, damaging the target and each intervening unit).
Both of these factions have a movement heavy strategy and yet, due to my poor play, the battlefield remained quite stagnant. The Cloaks did manage to infiltrate one Thief to steal a card.
I’m really looking forward to playing Summoner Wars again. Maybe soon against a real opponent (whom I will feel sorry for because I probably won’t be a worthy competitor)
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Just played Twilight Struggle via the app for the first time in ages. I remembered a few more of the rules than my mate. Combined with me getting a strong USA hand first up it led to a bit of a trouncing. It’s an excellent game, one I will never play well (or aspire to I think) and the app sped things up nicely. I think it needs to be learnt at an equal pace to a regular opponent otherwise there will be many one sided games, which for a long, in depth game isn’t fun for anyone.
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So much easier on the app! If also provides you with ominous music so you don’t have to find your own 
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Just finished a game of Anachrony which was a birthday present from my older son. It’s a worker placement with lots of bells and whistles and a futuristic theme based on time travel, by David Turczi.
Pretty intimidating at first - iconography, busy graphics, multiple variables - but actually not too bad in the end. Enjoyed it, can see constantly changing board state and lots to think about, but perhaps not for everyone.
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If I were to make a list of games worth excelling at, Twilight Struggle would be at the top.
I actually enjoyed being destroyed while I was learning, and so have a handful of people I taught, at least one of whom went on to play ten times more games than I ever have. That said, I can’t deny there are people who didn’t want a rematch. I think there is a (mistaken) perception among some players that deck knowledge is hard to acquire, and that it needs to be rushed.
Still, it is nice that it also works between semi-casual partners.
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Twilight Struggle is definitely one of my “Twilight wanted game list” better representations. Games with Twilight on the title that I know I would love, but I will struggle like hell to find anybody to play with… let alone setting some time aside to play them.
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Played my new copy of Everdell using the solo rules. Got beat by Rugwort, mostly because I was unable to grab any of the special events, and in fact never even saw some of the cards asked for. Also failed to realize he got 2 points for every card in his city, rather than the printed card values, so that will teach me to fully go over the rules again before playing!
I enjoyed the game. On the first turn, I was worried that the game would be over very quickly, as when you only have two workers to use, you can’t get many supplies, and thus have less ability to play cards to earn points or bonuses, but as you get into the second turn when you get another worker and begin to realize how you can synergize the cards, you start having to make tougher decisions. By the end, you are scrambling for every point in an effort to win, trying to work some magic with everything available to you to eke out one more play. Interested to try again, and to play with some actual people.
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Grind House – first play, a vary light game where the players have to move around the rooms of a haunted house. As you get injured (and that seems unavoidable), you lose arms and legs, and if you’re unlucky, your torso and head. Losing the last two (unsurprisingly) kills you, but then you’re a ghost, and have abilities in that form. Its very light, but very short.
Heist : One Team, One Mission - first play. Ok this possibly doesnt qualify as a board game, since it has no board and no cards. What you do get is an electronic safe that you load up with gold bars. Each side of the safe has a button and a role (like demolitions expert, or money man). Each player takes a role. There are 8 tools (like a drill, or a laptop), and the safe will tell you to use an object (by pushing your button), or getting/giving/trading an object to another player. It all takes 5 minutes, and you can choose a difficulty setting (from one to five). Its pretty good fun, and can be tricky.
Quirky Circuits , first play. This is a cooperative game where you play movement cards to direct a figure around the board. You have 4 different figures to use, we started with Gizmo, a cat on a roomba. The mission book contains the board used, and any special rules, and of course the objective. The first mission was to guide Gizmo about, collecting dust bunnies, and returning to the start position. And you have to do it before the battery loses power. There are no turns as such, anyone can put down a movement card (face down). But each player must play at least one card, and you need to collectively put down five cards. The back of the cards shows basically what the card is (like movement forward/backward, or turning), but you dont know exactly what is going to happen. And you cant communicate. When all the cards are down, you turn them face up and resolve each one from left to right. Its pretty good fun, and I’m looking forward to more plays.
Rat-a-tat Roll , first play. A board and dice version of Rat-a-tat Cat, which was a card game. The idea is still to have the lowest total of your cards. The board has five cards around it, and you roll dice (from one to three) to move between the areas.
Bus , first play. We had all watched Rodney Smith excellent how to play video, so that made it a bit easier. The rules are pretty straightforward, the only confusing ones were the exceptions for placing new lines. It was a pretty low scoring game, i think the winner had 6 points. Good fun.
Letter Jam , first play. This is a cooperative word game. You all get a secret five letter word, then try and deduce your letters one at a time. You never see your own letters, the current letter card is placed in a stand so the other players can see it. On a turn, you all try and make a word from the letters you can see (not your own obviously). All you can tell other people about your clue is how long it is, many players it helps, and whether it uses the wildcard letter. Then you decide whose clue to use. Then the clue is given by placing numbered token next to the letter on the table. If your (unknown) letter is used, you write down the word, with a ? for your own letter. Hopefully you can guess the letter. We stuffed up a bit, twice managing to accidentally telling someone what their letter was, but it was still pretty good fun.
The Crew , played a few more missions.
Awkward Guests - and I won! (smug mode)
Silver and Gold
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@Benkyo @Chewy77 I’m Captbnut on the app. I’m happy to have an asynchronous game or two on the go. I’m not in any rush!
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Continuing the virtual games streak: We finished up our Tabletop Simulator game of Iron Dragon last night. It only took about another hour and a half after the four hours on Friday, which, you know, not bad! At the end everyone had seven cities connected, but vastly different amounts of money (ranging from my ~70 to the winner’s 251). It was a blast of course. We also discovered that the deck in the mod has some duplicate cards, so we spent the rest of the night documenting which cards were duplicates (and which were missing), and one of the other players is going to try and edit the deck object for next time.
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I came into it as a Robo Rally fan and it’s very different. Some of that might be the fact that online it was turn-based by necessity, but even IRL I don’t think the rush for initiative number would have the same pressure and chance for error as the timer in Robo Rally. Plus the fact that you can choose any dice face gives you a hell of a lot more control. So way less chaotic and way more trying to predict other players’ moves. Both good in different ways! I really enjoyed it.
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Indeed - I’m not getting rid of Robo Rally (2018) or Colt Express, but I think Volt may be entering my physical collection soon.
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Played a cracking game of Flash Point last night with the girlfriend. Had 3 damage cubes left, 3 civilians dead, with 5 left to save. Very tense to the end, but we managed to pull out a win with a cheeky chop through the wall to get to the ambulance with the last survivor.
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I also participated in the VOLT game along with InkyBloc and RogerBW. I think VOLT will maintain its position on my wishlist (or perhaps it’ll raise towards the top a bit) and may eventually land on a shelf if I find a used copy or a good discount if I don’t receive it as a gift.
It’s really good. I think to myself: why not also do a RoboRally challenge with the same system? I don’t see a reason you couldn’t.
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OK, that’s going on my “forum games to run” list after Leaving Earth I guess. (Or I might run a poll, when Tour de Peste ends. Do we have polls? If not I’m sure there’s a plugin.)
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Would you ignore the RoboRally directionality? If not, would you add a couple of spots in the programming registers?
Just curious what your thoughts are; I’ve not given it enough thought to have a strong feeling
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Are you talking about 2018 or pre-2018? Because I get on with the pre-2018, but actually like the 2018 better (apart from the one overpowered upgrade card) - and I’d probably run that pretty much as-is.
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Oh, I’ve only played pre-2018. I didn’t know there were significant differences
King’s Dilemma (via since removed TTS mod), mostly. It’s every bit as good as Quinns said, even if my group is less prone to roleplaying and arguing and bribing than his probably was. I’m playing the porcupine house, and I’m doing my level best to ruin the country. It’s great.
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