My wife, two of my kids, and I all started teaching/learning online this week, and the prep for it has stretched a couple weeks back from this. It hasn’t left any brain power at the end of the day to game, or even paint. What I have rediscovered, however, is Fly Casual an independently developed simulator for X Wing: Miniatures that has a fairly challenging AI. Matches run about 30 minutes, including building a list, and I’ve been using it to unwind after grading, or extended Teams meetings. It’s still staring at a screen, but it’s staring at a screen full of tiny spaceships.
4 Likes
I had a quick game of Ticket to Ride: Europe with my 8 yo daughter before we took the little one to gymnastics (which is a lot of fun, by the way). She did not have much luck with her tickets, and I dominated central and northern Europe before she could get a foothold there, so there was a bit of a massive difference of points when I closed up the game.
She was a bit salty about it, but I think there was a lesson there, she should have ignored the route she needed between Paris and Edinburgh (she had to use a station in London) and should have focused more on all her tickets in Eastern and Southern Europe.
1 Like
Re: Diamant / Incan Gold …
The cards themselves look fine to me (I have the top pair, not the bottom pair), but I find the reveal process using cards is a little bit tedious, so switching to something faster sounds like a good idea to me. Thumbs up/down sounds like you could cheat if you wanted to – but so long as you trust everyone play properly, it would surely keep the game ticking along.
1 Like
It’s been a while, what with work and social commitments, but I finally got Architects of the West Kingdom to the table this morning - and what a joy it was.
Just choose a simple solo game for my first go with it, and I won playing as Ada against the bot Constantine by 32 points to 18. I was trying to stay virtuous throughout but had to dip into the black market once or twice and grab a big haul from the Tax Stand My focus was on building the Cathedral while also constructing the Aqueduct and both the Carpenter’s and Mason’s Huts, acquiring the Stonecutter and Acolyte apprentices along the way was a great help too. Loads of fun with this one solo so looking forward to trying it on the harder difficulty and testing other strategies.
With luck late this afternoon or evening, I’ll get Nusfjord to the table solo for its debut here.
5 Likes
I finally received my long-awaited KS copy of Obsession plus expansions. I just unboxed, learned and played a first game against myself (there is a solo mode but it is usually not wise to start out with that before knowing the basic rules).
Explanation and more pics inside
So this is the base game, two expansions & a bunch of promo tiles and cards from the three Kickstarters this game went through. One of the things that I appreciate very much is the attention to detail regarding the packaging. All of the game including the promo materials fit in the box in a neat an organized way. It was one of the major challenges the designer faced in the campaign because he very much wanted to achieve this. With a final weight of 3.7kg in a normal sized game box, you can imagine the complexity of the task.
There are six little boxes per playable “family” so you can pull out starting materials quickly (one could even pre-setup a game with those. And two bigger boxes for the tiles and cards and meeples. The first expansion box (Wessex) fits inside the box as well and is used to hold the family boards. It’s just lovely and all of the materials are really high quality, the card stock is great, the cardboard for the tiles is nice and thick…
There is just one criticism I have of the materials: in sum there are two rulebooks, one glossary and a number of loose leaflets. This is not the only game facing that particular challenge but I wish there was something I could do about the Zettelwirtschaft.
The rulebook is well organized though and after an initial “OMG how will I ever learn this” hiccup, it proved to be quite good.
This is the table after about half of a standard game (there is an extended version and about half a dozen variants). The game plays 1-4 players (up to 6 with expansions) and with all the variants (one of which aims to reduce swingines and randomness) I am reasonably sure that it works at all those player counts.
The theme is match-making among Victorian era gentry in Derbyshire, England in the tradition of Jane Austen and other authors from the period. I feel that theme is very nicely integrated into the Euro game underneath. My plan was to play this with an afternoon tea with my girls group… obviously this will have to wait. My partner on the other hand is scowling audibly when I mention I’d like to play with him.
So here’s the starting setup:
The goal of the game is to win the VP salad to become the most prestigious family around and possibly marry on of the eligible Fairchild bachelor/ettes. VP are (mostly) obtained from improving the estate (buy tiles for money) and having a lot of guests over (the gentry cards) and having a great reputation.
At the start, each family gets an estate with one tile in each category (essentials, service, estate, prestige and sporting) and 5 servants (who all have slightly different abilities and your butler can hire more later). Each family has their four members in their gentry deck at the start and starts with their reputation in tatters.
Each round every family is putting on an activity (the tiles) to which they invite guests (the gentry cards, including the family) which have to be served by the servants (meeple workers). As a result of an activity the family receives favors both from the activity and the participants. Favors come in three varieties (most of the time): money, more gentry cards and prestige.
Once a tile was used for an activity it is flipped over to the “improved” side which often means more VP or the ability to host larger gatherings. And finally before ending their turn, the player can use their money buy a tile from the market.
The standard game lasts 16 rounds, 4 of which are courtship rounds (some kind intermediate scoring). So it’s more like 12 rounds with some rounds having special conditions like giving players bonus money, allowing to ignore prestige requirements or buying more than one tile. This keeps things interesting, serves (partly) as catch-up mechanism and helps with the game’s arc.
The action each player takes each round is just putting on that one activity, using workers as required and then counting out what favors were obtained and finally buying a single tile from the market. It’s quite simple but a lot of things want to be considered. Many actions and guests require a certain prestige and the complexity of the decision space is only rising with each round. What helps is that the rulebooks suggests that one wants to use each tile once at the most because using it again doesn’t give additional VP. So unless one has a great combo this shrinks the decision space back to reasonable.
There are several mechanisms that are used in giving the game an arc where the start is rather slow and it feels like one will never reach the heights of prestige necessary to invite the Dowager Countess Fairchild (who needs 7) and a few rounds later you’re having dinner parties with 8 guests and are wondering how you hit the prestige ceiling.
One thing the game lacks is player interaction. Besides competing for the Fairchilds and buying tiles from the market there are only two other mechanisms that mess with other players (stealing prestige or workers) and I didn’t use either in my test game. But this is an issue with many such games and I don’t mind at all.
After only a single game vs myself it is too early to give a final verdict. So far I am impressed with the flow of the game and I think it has potential to see the table because I feel I can teach the game easily and playing it is not incredibly complicated but it seems to have enough depth to keep players engaged. It drips with the theme… and yet the theme doesn’t get in the way of this having solid mechanics.
7 Likes
As hoped, Nusfjord got its debut playthrough for me this evening. A simple solo two-hander with Red versus Blue, and a victory for Blue by 26 points to 16.
I think this is going to be a slow burner for me though: I liked it yes but I am not sure I ever felt certain of my overall plan for either side, and was a bit overwhelmed at times as to what to do or how to put a plan in place to get enough of the resources I needed to build. I’ll do a bit of reading up and watching playthrough and tips videos before my next play with it to see if that helps guide me. I can definitely see its potential but I didn’t find it as immediately accessible as Architects of the West Kingdom was to me earlier today.
5 Likes
it took me a couple of games to grok how different parts of the game interacted. all those buildings and what they do and how to make sure you have the resources to pay for them are a bit much initially.
3 Likes
This is the kickstarter I’m most annoyed at missing! Website says retail in the US in September. Keep us updated with how it plays!
2 Likes
Indeed it looks like it will. Was a bit complex at first but saw a few things towards the end which will change my approach for next time anyway and a couple of nice combos of building cards too. Need to finesse use of the shares and gold too.
2 Likes
and don’t forget to take gold when you serve fish. my biggest mistake for the first game
2 Likes
We had a couple of friends and their children over for the evening last night, and after a great helping of fish and chips, some salad and cake, they fancied a board game, so Pandemic it was.
Played with 4 players with random characters, and with some luck the researcher and scientist were there. Although the scientist only managed to cure one disease in the very last round, having a researcher makes a big difference for trading cards with. We managed to only get one outbreak (new players I think tend to want to cure too much disease) so we only managed victory by the skin of our teeth, but it was a very enjoyable experience. It’s funny how with more players the game feels slightly faster, as more cards get flipped between each of your turns. Based on this, I think definitely we will try and get Pandemic Legacy season 1.
4 Likes
Finally got Unmatched back to the table, my wife sticking with Medusa (and with her at the time 7-1 win-loss ratio, who can blame her) and Bruce Lee for me. I wanted to play Bruce as I am designing a character for the contest by Restoration Games and want to make sure they are not too similar.
Bruce was a lot of fun to play. A lot of his cards give him an extra action, so you can chain a lot of attacks and schemes together, barring the opponent playing a Feint card.
Medusa still won, but it was really close. In what was a tactical error on my part, I went for all out attack when she was out of cards, but I was a 1 health. Knocked her down to 2 HP, but emptied my hand in the process. So on her turn, she maneuvered, drew an attack and finished me off.
Still pleased with how Bruce played, especially considering how he took out four harpies and still almost took out Medusa all on his own, with just 14 HP to start. Want to try him again, then proxy in my contest entry to see how it plays and how it compares.
4 Likes
Thanks for posting about this. Instant download for me. Love X-Wing, but it just isn’t the type of game my wife enjoys and it was hard to get out to my FLGS’ bi-weekly league (especially now when they aren’t doing store events). Having an AI to play against, especially to learn the new stuff for 2nd Ed is great. Just need to learn the interface a bit better (running on Android).
3 Likes
My City, second game (so, episodes 4 to 6). Continued much the same way as the first game, ie same player winning most of the time (although he did lose one episode). I continue to flounder badly. I just cant work it out, I lose points late in the game by not being able to place buildings, and at the end of the round I’ll still have 10+ empty spaces (which you lose points for). I think I’ll start just playing randomly, I have nothing to lose.
Medici the Dice Game, first play. A quick enough diversion. You roll 3 dice, and use from 1 to 3 of them (your choice). You’re trying to have the highest total for the ship (there are three ships, aka rounds). But you’re also adding to a column for each goods type, and getting points for having the most there. So, fairly faithful to the original game. My biggest complaint is that the darker colours are very difficult to mark, at least with the pencils given. Which makes it difficult to see what others are doing – you can always ask them I suppose.
Kings Road, first play. A fairly light area control game. Each player has the same eleven cards – one for each of the areas shown on the map, and three special cards. Gameplay is simple enough – you choose three cards, and then resolve them. Then you add an influence marker to the map for the cards you’ve played. The King token moves clockwise through the areas, and scoring is done for the area he is on. Areas are worth various numbers of points for first and second (in a 3p game, third place scores zero).
The special cards are the Knight (which adds an extra influence token to an area), the Dragon (which forces an extra area to be scored), and the Witch (you can see what the other players have played, and then reselect your cards). Both the Dragon and the Witch are used once only. The Knight can be used as much as you like, and this seemed to be used most of the time.
It was pretty good fun, very quick, easy to play.
A la Carte, the cutest game I own. Each player gets an adorable little stove (with a temperature dial), and a little saucepan to put on it. You choose dishes to cook, which will have a desired temperature, and a number of spices required. The spices come from tiny little bottles, and you have to add them in one movement (so no tapping or shaking of the bottle over the pan). It feels a bit random, sometimes you just get nothing, or the wrong spice. Too much of a spice will overseason the dish and you’ll need to throw it out – same if the temperature gets too high. Scoring is a little odd, each dish is worth a certain number of points, thats fine, but you instantly win the game if you cook three perfect dishes (no extra spices). Which is how I lost, even though I was well ahead.
Pictures, always fun
Roll for Adventure, had another crack at this (after losing a few weeks ago). This time we were victorious! Slightly unexpected, but somehow we pulled it out.
Kobayakawa, a very quick filler game. Its so simple you can almost explain it in one sentence. You get a card each, and then the top card of the deck is turned over (this is the kobayakawa). On your turn, you only have two choices – take a new card and choose which to keep, or turn over another card for the kobayakawa. Then you decide whether or not to continue (and bet a coin), and then you reveal. The highest card wins, but the kobayakawa value is added to the lowest card. Very very simple, but still fun.
Babylonia, another crack at this, but with the proper rules now, missed a few on the first game. You have two types of pieces – nobles and farmers. You can either play 2 (nobles and farmers), or 3 (just farmers). Theres a few ways to score points. Farmers can take crop fields for victory points, and cities and ziggurats can be surrounded. Most of the points come from cities. They have either one or two symbols, which match your noble pieces. When a city is surrounded, you score for each matching pieces of yours, and this can follow a network of connected tiles. Whoever has the most pieces directly surrounding a city will get that city, and everyone this happens, each player scores for the number of cities he or she has already. That probably sounds complicated, but its actually pretty easy to pickup.
So, as far as I know, we played the rules properly this time, but still made one stuff: we let one player build up pretty much unopposed. Major mistake, as he made a huge network of tiles, and managed to lap us on the scoreboard. I’m keen to have another go and not allow it to happen again.
The Crew
Mord Im Arosa, the most unique game I own. The title means “Murder in Arosa”, and the Arosa is the name of the hotel. The hotel is represented by a tower of cardboard pieces, with a hole in each one. You start by dropping the two victims (red cubes) in a top, and trying to listen for which floor they land on. Then each player selects a floor by lifting it and seeing what cubes are on that level. Once the victims are found, the players either try and find the other players cubes, or find their own. What you DONT want is for your cubes to be placed on the investigation board against the victims floor, or close to it.
3 Likes
Today saw a friend finally agree to an in person game for the first time this year. So pleased they did as it allowed a 3 player game of 18Mex.
It’s great. I’ve enjoyed all the 18xx I’ve played but this might have snuck in to number 1 spot. I don’t yet know enough to really say much about what went in with any insight, but 2 yellow lays set things off at a nice clip. The stock market Has plenty by way of sharp edges. The NdM was interesting as was the train roster. This is up there with 1824 so far. The game was so tense and exciting we all ended up stood up for the last hour and a half of play. Also we played the game in just under 5 hours. I think with this group on the long run I Can certainly see some experience speeding these games up considerably. 
3 Likes
Played 1844: Schweiz - hmmm… more complicated than the other 18xx titles I have tried so far. There are 4 different types of companies - each have their own rules of capitalisation and some companies can only hold certain types of trains. There’s two types of trains - the normal ones that run based on number of stops, and you have the “H Trains” which run according to the number of hex. A 2H Train would then travel 2 hexes including its starting hex.
What I found interesting is the way trains rust. In 18xx, you discard certain older trains immediately once someone buys a certain type of newer trains (or is discarded). In 1844, they first downgrade into H Trains before they rust on the next phase. A 2 train will downgrade into 2H train. Another thing is the rule for capitalisation. Most only gets 50% capital (normally if you par a company at $100 per 10% then a company would have $1,000), and they only get the other half once they have a link to their “historic” destination.
And I really enjoyed it. Maybe because I have played 1824 before, which introduced me to the concepts of pre-state companies merging into state companies. So, whatever 1844 is throwing at me wasn’t hazy and unknown to me.
You can also purchase mountains and tunnels, which affects player behaviour during the game. 44 has a lot of fluff in it, but I felt that they are worth the investment of learning the complexity of it, because it made the game more interesting.
Now, 1844 is more into the operational side, compare to the stock manipulation side, but I am wanting to play this game again.
Today: we played:
Cockroach Poker Royal, Guillotine, Wacky Racers. With, Wacky Racers, I had more fun playing with tiny Mamma Mia, 6Nimmt and Coloretto.
Black Rose Wars. Didn’t liked it. BRW is your stereotypical kickstarter game that you assume it is: It has a big box chokeful of minis. With a big expansion box full of minis. A lot of beautiful art and production. And it has terrible game play and also terrible usability.
You can easily tell where their priority lies when you have great production of minis, but the game has NO player aids. It has a glossary but it is missing crucial terms that needed clarification on what a “Turn” means (turns out it’s when the entire round from the first phase to the last one) It has symbologies that you also don’t see in the glossary. I have picked up an objective card that says “You need a revealed card with a (wave) symbol and a (mountain) symbol”. Then no mentioned at all in the rules, in the glossary. And I have to check the codex to see which deck I have to mill to get those cards with those symbols.
The game also has so much timing issues and rules ambiguity that people consult the rulebook very often.
The way to score is also something I don’t like - well, some of them. The area majority on who gets to deal the most damaged (and 2nd most) to a defeated player or destroyed location is fine. But the other main way to score is to do quests, which is sizable. 2 - 5 VPs. But it’s randomly given to you - a la Twilight Imperium’s secret objectives. So the game forces you to play reactively, like TI4, rather than let players play creatively by forging their own strategic choice.
And, oh god. This game has “trap cards”. You thought I hated Tapestry’s Trap card. This game has worse ones. My friend spent 2 turns to achieve an objective, which scores them 5VPs, and I saw the opportunity to use the Yu-Gi-Oh quote “you just activated my trap card!” and said it out loud. I was proud on what I dweeb I was! And then, stole his 5VPs just like that. With a secret facedown card. It was funny to me, but gameplay-wise, it was utterly lame!
Lastly, it definitely doesn’t feel like an area control/influence game. It has elements of it in its scoring, but nothing like El Grande or Kemet. And I just prefer something pure, rather than a diluted game with mish mash of awfully done mechanisms like this.
4 Likes
I like 18XX enough to buy one and PnP another.
1 Like
Bugger! Thanks for pointing that out.
1 Like
Been very overwhelmed by professional and school (same thing?) responsibilities so far this semester, so it was nice to have a few hours today to just play a few things with my partner. We did Exit: The Sinister Mansion first, which she was brilliant at and really enjoyed. She’s really keen on getting more, so I was very happy I found something that excited her. Then she teased me for suggesting Cat Lady, but I think she fell in love with it. We played 2 games and she destroyed me the first time and just eeked out a win on the second (39-38). She found it rather charming and wants to try and get her daughter into it. We’ve been wanting to get her to try something out other than Survive: Escape From Atlantis. We’ll see how that goes, but all in all a lovely break today.
7 Likes