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It’s an odd one. I like word games generally and was hoping to immediately have a good time with Letterpress; but after one game the multiplayer rules just seemed wrong. Or at least more aggressive than I’d ever want from a word game. The losing player felt continually punished and put at an excessive disadvantage each turn, and consequently had no fun at all. I immediately decided to house-rule future games to make the penalties far more minor, so that the challenge remained relatively even throughout. I think whoever is better at finding words is liable to win regardless, so additionally punishing the players who aren’t as good seemed pretty brutal.
The solo game was ok, as I recall.
It takes up much less table space than Paperback, OTOH, so it has that much going for it.
1 Like
Played more Razzia - I remember why I sold Ra. I prefer Modern Art and Medici
Metropolys - underrated auction game. Not “yet another auction game” as you bid with buildings and what you guys bid for changes every time someone bids. Very simple rules yet every bid is tricky. Not sure if Im keeping this. The decisions are not as interesting as the other auction games I have.
Mamma Mia! - It’s not as fun if you’re the only experienced one against all newbies. But it was quick enough that we played it again.
Lord of the Rings - nice co-op game. Has the same problems of other co-op games but I thought this one is thematic, for Knizia’s standards. Howe’s art looks great! I have concern about replayability.
Medici the Card Game - Medici without the auction. Prefer Medici the board game. The removal of the auction was a big deal, but this is still good. I’m glad to have it.
Cousins War
Star Wars: Destiny - not a Star Wars fan but this one is pretty decent straightforward dueling card game. I prefer Summoner Wars, Ashes, or Netrunner
4 Likes
I know someone who is really good at Ghost Blitz. She just slowly picks up the correct item without any rush, every time, while all of us are hopelessly staring at the game. 
2 Likes
I really enjoy SWD. It’s a fun casual toss around compared to other 2 player card games of its ilk. Everything about it is a lot faster for more of a pick up and play experience. Even if you’re crushed by your opponent it’s quick and relatively painless so no harm no foul. And because of that I find it a lot more fun to play around with deck building without having to worry too much about balance. Even wonky decks are playable!
I definitely prefer the fuller experience of other card games, but getting a deck together for those is much more of a chore. Netrunner is my favourite, but also the highest barrier to entry. Building a deck takes longer than the game itself.
The format of SWD would have fit a standard box + expansions format to CCG though. They just seemed to make it more convoluted with each cycle. And seeing what it would have cost at RRP is terrifying!
3 Likes
Picked up Talisman:Legendary Tales as a deal of the day from MM. It was a slam dunk with the kids. I’m going to have to come up with some homebrew scenarios, as they are going to go through the 5 included on no time.
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My 6 year old daughter is SO quick at spotting when there is an item with the right colour. I mean SO quick.
Struggles when working out something that ISN’T shown but the speed so spots it when a correct item is shown is unbelievable.
3 Likes
I won a game of The Lost Expedition for the first time!
I played three solo games this evening. The first game saw my team hurtling through the jungle at an unprecedented rate in the early game, only to stall just one card away from the Lost City. Having sacrificed a lot of health in the early going in order to make progress, they succumbed quickly once they encountered some tricky obstacles; but it was nevertheless my most successful attempt to date.
The second expedition was a dismal failure, barely making it half way.
In the final game I lost my jungle expert relatively early, having made little progress, and I assumed the party was doomed; but somehow my navigation and camping experts kept going, always just managing to manipulate their circumstances enough to survive another disaster, or catching a lucky break right when they needed it. A final push through the night saw them near to the end, but with the last of their supplies whittled away, and on their last legs. The next morning saw the pair reduced to one, when a deadly set of rapids washed them down river – but clambering ashore, Bessie, my navigator, bedraggled yet alive, stumbled into the Lost City…
I hadn’t played in a while, and for the first couple of games I was really just dealing with the game mechanics and not paying a lot of attention to the (gorgeous) artwork and thematic flavour, and the game did feel a bit lifeless as a result, so it definitely helps to make more of an effort in this regard. You could even establish a narrative for an entire game if you wanted to, but you’d probably have to write it all down. I found it satisfying enough in my third game to just look through the cards I was resolving in sequence, and picture how each scene had occurred and led to the next (or enabled some dangerous situation to be bypassed). I don’t remember all of the events, but I do know that it felt more enjoyable to play that third time through (regardless of the outcome!)
I’ve not yet played with any of the extras from the expansion, but it’s tempting to break it out – I want to go exploring with Rinty! : )
7 Likes
Gawd, I’ve played at least 10 times and never won… I was beginning to wonder if it were even possible.
3 Likes
Age of Empires III the board game, not the video game. Area control goodness with set collecting with it. Another “Euro-medley” that I end up liking like Ginkgopolis and Rococo.
It sits awkwardly between El Grande and Dominant Species. It has interesting decisions on the worker placement. But it seems to sacrifice the nuances of area control as a result. The latter two have a more interesting area control mechanism.
I will play it more as I end up enjoying it. Regarding Euro-medleys, Ginkgopolis and Rococo are tighter more cohesive designs.
Raccoon Tycoon - Another Glenn Drover game. Awful. Drover seems to be a mixed bag to me. From the top of my head, had 2 bad ones and 2 good ones from him.
The game mostly being set collecting means that you’ll relatively lose more by competing with other people for sets rather than focusing on your own sets. Boring.
Waaay too tactical for a “heads down” game.
Theres talk about the Auction House being OP. I disagree.
Bees - meh
Smile - not sure if I want this more than No Thanks. Both are great to me. Michael Schacht continues to impress.
5 Likes
I let myself beat the game once in its base form, then started folding in the expansion. I never looked back. In particular the new dynamic trail cards are a 100% must-add. Glad it’s clicked with you, it took a little perseverance for me as well.
2 Likes
Had our first play of Cry Havoc at (I assume) a not ideal 2 players. My wife utterly destroyed me, to the point I’m ashamed to say I got stroppy. She was just pulling comically good cards and explorer tokens through the game.
I want to play again, especially with a higher player count. I promise no sulking!
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Actually played a few games today, just me and my wife.
First up was two games of Ticket to Ride: London. The first game was really close, 34 - 31 in my wife’s favor. In the follow up game, I kept my initial two high value tickets, knowing there was nearly zero room for error in order to achieve them both. When she took one of the route I had calculated I needed, I thought I was screwed, but then I saw a way to shorten it by a couple of buses. As such, I was able to complete my tickets and despite my wife having four of her own, Instill pulled off the win, 42 - 34.
Finished off with a game of Kingdomino, which we have not played in quite a while, so it took a minute to re-learn. After a few turns we got up to see what our older kid was yelling about in his room. While we were gone, our younger kiddo decided he needed to get up on the table and turn on the ceiling fan. He also decided he needed to have a closer look at the little cardboard castles. Thus, when we got back, I found the castles disassembed and a bit battered on the ground, and our grids totally messed up. I could not remember exactly how my tiles had been placed, but did my best. So my win of 41 - 38 is a bit tainted, but I honestly don’t think I benefitted much, if at all, from the rearrangement.
It was nice being able to play a few games with minimal interruption.
4 Likes
My City, went a little bit better this time, actually won an episode, and scoring was very close in the other episodes
Bausack, another stacking dexterity game. The components are beautiful, wooden pieces of all sizes and shapes. Unfortunately, the game didnt seem to be much fun. The basic idea is that you select a piece and offer it for auction. The auction can be highest bidder, or by refusal (where players bid NOT to take the piece). This is all fine, but you only start with 10 money, which doesnt last long. And after everyone is out of money, each auction becomes a bit pointless. I’d like to try it again, using one of the variants from BGG.
Santa Maria, an excellent euro where you build up your own player boards. Its also a dice placement game, where taking a die allows you to activate all the buildings in a row or column. Buildings give you resources, or allow you to move up on one of the two tracks. And you can take a shipping card, which all activate when you end your round, giving you money, track movement, or victory points. Theres a lot to think about here. Moving along the prayer track lets you place your monks on special spaces that give you either a special ability, end game points, or an instant reward of resources. Moving along the conquistador track gives you gold, and a bonus at the end of the round. Its fairly easy to learn, but as I said, a bit to think about. The winner managed to get a special ability that allowed him to reuse his buildings again and again. It seemed a bit OP (even the player thought it was), but we couldnt find anything in the rules that said he couldnt do it.
Pictures
The Crew
Nova Luna, in spite of my group saying I win this all the time, I was waaaaaaay off the pace in this game
Forks, first play. A very fast playing game. You have 40 cards, across five different companies. Your player turn is: draw three cards, keep one, and pass the other two to the next player. That player then has to keep one card, and play the other one face up on the table. Once all the cards are drawn, you sort the best three companies, and the bottom two. From your hand, you’ll score positively for the best companies, and negative points for the lower ones. Very easy to learn, takes about 10-15 minutes for a game. Reminded me a bit of Startups, another excellent filler game.
Byzanz, if you like auction games, this is great, very clever.
Silver and Gold
4 Likes
I haven’t posted much recently, but have certainly been playing a lot. 36 plays in August according to ScorePal, so I’m happy with that.
Nufjord (Campaign) - I still love this game, and the extra challenge of the campaign mode makes it feel like this is the way the game should be played. Playing a single game just feels like too little now.
Teotihuacan - I picked this up a few weeks ago, and I really like how the various randomisers available make the game very difficult to solve. The online Teotibot for solo mode makes it play much faster too. A fantastic, glorified rondel of a game with worker placement feelings.
Watergate - This is my favourite two-player game now. The asymmetric gameplay feels great, the theming and graphic design is awesome, and it’s just really good fun. Highly recommended if that’s your bag.
Maracaibo - I’m still playing through the story mode and still love this game. Given that the upcoming CloudAge builds on the mechanics and tile-placing story-telling of this one, I can’t wait for it to release!
Paladins of the West Kingdom - It might be too early to say, but I think this is going to end up being my favourite game of 2020. I just love it to bits 
Spirit Island - I only picked it up recently. but I really like it. It took me a few games to really get what’s going on and what I should be trying to do with each spirit, but it’s a great game. If you play with a single spirit, you can get through a game in under an hour too, which is great for weeknights.
Anachrony - I got a major bargain on this, and it’s my current darling. The theme, the gameplay, the brilliant time travel mechanic, tons of routes to victory - I love it. There is SO much in the box, and a massive rulebook, but inside of my first game I found I only needed the book for reference on some of the tiles and iconography.
Other than those I’ve been slowly chipping away at Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Baker Street Irregulars. Not because I don’t like it - because I love it, and I don’t want it to end
7 Likes
Can’t you just house rule it so everyone gets 20 money instead for example? I do similar with Men At Work, and give everyone more safety certificates, so the game doesn’t end too quickly.
2 Likes
I tried Through The Ages 2 yesterday. It was fine. I had a good time playing the game but haven’t walked away wowed and wanting to play again. I wonder if it’s just showing it’s age a bit.
I found the admin and organisation ponderous more than challenging grit. I’m a little unsure about the military cards random draw. Only first play so I won’t judge the military cards fully.
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You need steadier hands! Ours last a reasonable amount of time with 3. Well it does until I start getting cocky…
I usually play it with my brother and some friends with a few drinks, so coordination can go out of the window, or with my immediate family, and my son is only 7 and has no patience.
The other house rule I’ve used is when a beam or brick drops during building, retrieve and try again, only workers or girders lose the certificates. I guess it depends on your group at the time, but for me those keep people engaged and enjoying it the longest. One of the most satisfying things is seeing how big the structure can get, so it’s a shame to end the game too soon.
1 Like
@IssiNoho77 wow that’s a lot of games played. My August was dominated by a local heatwave…
Last Friday we had another session of The Crew on TTS with just 3. It is sooo much easier.
And still it’s never getting old. I tried to teach Parks but we were interrupted several times during the teach and at some point we decided to just play The Crew. The two highlights:
- the mission in which there are six Contracts and the leader has to distribute them among the players without communicating with anyone. We did that one first try. My friend who distributed the contracts seemed to have some otherworldly power seeing what would work.
- the mission with five contracts in no particular order and no communication for 3 tricks which we finished in 3 tricks
We usually play one or two rounds in the lower end of missions and then try to get back to where we left off. So we’re up in the late 20s now. The scripted TTS module that automates setup is so great.
Last night I played Spirit Island. My first ever play with Heart of Wildfire. Lightning’s Swift Strike accompanied him vs Level 5 Sweden.
One thing that I dislike about the opponents is that there are so many details to keep track of and so in the next to last round I made a mistake not placing an additional village when the invaders attacked. It hadn’t come up because both spirits were awesome in destroying villages so the invaders never really attacked–I still lost a lot of Dahan to the Swedish special of taking over by just converting Dahan to villages and several events. I still count it as a win because I know some of my damage that round fizzled because there weren’t enough invaders left.
Level 5 is nearly beyond me. It was very very close.
I am really looking forward to getting the aspects for the basic spirits because outside of a game without an opponent those spirits are just a little too … boring?
However I will have to wait some more for Jagged Earth because some parts for the all-in pledge I did were delivered late and my copy has only just left port or so. I expect it’ll be late October until I have all the new things.
2 Likes