Recent Boardgames (Your Last Played Game Volume 2)

Boardgames
1542

Had a buddy over for some games for the first time in ages, hopefully the first of many more if Covid remains under control where we’re at! We played:

Welcome To…, Still an amazingly fun game - scores were tight and we played with roundabouts for the first time, which are cool but also tricky to know how to utilize well. I won off the back of finishing 2 of the parks and 2 of the plan cards in the end, and more pools than I normally manage.

Brass Birmingham, My friend brought this one with him and I was happy to indulge him. It’s a solid game (I think this was my second play), but unfortunately my first play was too long ago for me to have learned how to play decently - I lost by a fair chunk. It’s not a game that excites me, but I recognise it is very clever, if a bit ‘gamey’ at times.

Morels, I won this one - banking a bunch of fairy rings and some apple cider doused hen of the woods went a long way toward that. I was one turn off an even bigger score thanks to a lucky night mushroom draw but it was not to be :frowning:. I really like it - there’s not a heap to it but it flows quickly and has a great push-your-luck kind of tension at times. Also - first game I’ve seen someone deliberately draw a destroying angel in order to discard unwanted cards. I’d never even considered that as a possibility, I just dismissed them as bad and to be avoided always. I wonder if you could make it work in your favour?

5 Likes
1543

With the return of the UK lockdown I returned to TTS and played Callimala. Still a really good game. Feels heavily inspired by Troyes but a game I prefer.

Good decisions, good player interaction, light rules, quick play time. Excellent medium-light euro! Usual euro caveats of theme and artwork apply, makes it feel classic :wink:

5 Likes
1544

Broke the cherry of my new Brass: Lancashire copy yesterday afternoon, having a quick game with my better half till the end of the canal era (which coincided with the 4yo getting up from her nap in one hell of a bad mood, so we left it there). Nice, although I still need to check a few rules properly (selling coal, for example). I don’t think it is my OH kind of game, but I cannot wait to take it to the Geek’s Guild for a good session.

2 Likes
1545

I’m told the community variant is essential for 2-player, did you use it?

1 Like
1546

It’s funny, the instructions kind of put us off from it, so we just reduced the deck of cards with the normal map. But it is an option I could explore…

1 Like
1547

Couple of quick games this afternoon/evening with the family. First Love Letter, when I thought I was going to be thrashed with a 4-0 winning start from my daughter, I managed to recover and win the game 5-7.
Then a nail biting Splendor with my partner, that ended up 15-14 to my favour. I think it is the first game of Splendor I won competitively, I eventually seem to be getting it…

1 Like
1548

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, we won

Riff Raff, a cool dexterity game, where you try and add cargo to a swinging pirate ship

Quantum, always fun

The Crew

Ohanami, had a few games of this over the weekend. Did ok at it, won a couple of them. Great little filler.

Fort, played it a bit quicker this time, went about an hour and 15 minutes (3p). Box reckons 20-40 mins, which sounds like bollocks to me. Close game, winning margin was a single point, I was a few points back.

The Search for Planet X, low scoring game. Friend found Planet X after only 6 turns, which was a good effort. Unfortunately, he only had one theory out, so only scored 12 points. I had absolutely no idea where Planet X was, chose to add theories for my last turn, jagged a gas cloud and ended up with the win with 17 points.

Nova Luna

London

7 Likes
1549

Played a lot of Innovation over the last few days at 2,3 and 4 players. I definitely prefer it at 2.

It’s really fun, chaotic with tons of interaction. Some cards seem to be favourites, but each game is so different from the last.

I’m not sure we’re playing it well though. We rarely seem to get combos where multiple actions occur from one action (Kellen at BGB who is a huge fan of this mentions combos a lot). I suppose playing cards to get symbols to allow other cards is a combo? It’s more a game of, ‘get a good card out then hammer it repeatedly until you can’t or a better option comes up.’

For experienced players (@benkyo?) any suggested avenues to get even more out of this game?

1 Like
1550

Surely that is per player?

1 Like
1551

Played a couple of quick games of Ticket to Ride: London with my wife yesterday. We each won one, and a good time was had. May have played a tie-breaker, but our kids were getting a bit rambunctious.

2 Likes
1552

Another virtual catch-up and games session with my friend today.

We played Targi for the first time and both really enjoyed it. I won by the barest of margins and can definitely see myself playing this again.

Then we moved into a few rounds of Jaipur for something a bit quicker. Some more close rounds there but my friend was the eventual victor.

2 Likes
1553

It is a game of hammering an advantage while you can, but getting any kind of advantage usually requires quite a bit of setup, so that’s where the challenge lies.

My only advice is to always play with teams at 4 player. And maybe throw in the first expansion to throttle the game clock a bit.

2 Likes
1554

I have only played Innovation 3 players once - I always play it with 2. And I think I prefer it with 3.

1 Like
1555

I think they are all good and fun in their own way, except for 4 player free-for-all, which is too messy.

3 Likes
1556

Doesnt say so, maybe? I have heard of people doing a 3p game in 45 minutes or so.

1 Like
1557

Interesting! I was under the impression that it was a more complicated game, but if it’s more in the Race for the Galaxy vicinity then I’m more interested in trying it.

2 Likes
1558

Played two games today with my wife. First up, one of my newer favorites, Unmatched. She stuck with Medusa, I tried out Robin Hood again. We played on the Yukon map, which is intended for 2 players.

Due to my not paying attention during setup, one of my Outlaws was killed by Medusa right at the beginning of the game, as she can do 1 damage to a fighter in her zone at the beginning of her turn. Oops.

I pretty quickly lost all my Outlaws, due to drawing no defense or versatile cards, while only getting rid of one of Medusa’s harpies, and nicking Medusa for 3, bringing her health in line with Robin’s at 13.

Robin’s special ability was my saving grace, allowing me to maneuver into Medusa’s zone, attack, and then move out again. However, she did hit me for 7 when I was unable to defend. I was able to make that up with a pair of attacks, one of which she was unable to defend, which also let me draw a number of cards equal to the damage dealt, givimg me a good hand advantage.

We managed to ping each other back and forth, until we were at 1 HP each. I just happened to get the next attack card which let me win the game. Definitely our closest and most thrilling match yet.

Afterwards, we played Arboretum, which felt really strange with the card draws for the first half, as both of us later mentioned that we really did not know what to play and what to discard. My draws near the end were great, though, letting me extend my all maple path by two to have the 2 through 7 all adjacent, get the 1 and 8 of willows in a full line and the same with the cherry blossoms. Final score was 32 to 18.

A good couple of games in about an hour of play.

4 Likes
1559

No, its definitely not complicated

I find it a bit difficult to plan any kind of strategy, because you may lose any cards you didnt actually play (they go into your yard, where other players can recruit them).

3 Likes
1560

We’ve got to the end of July of pandemic and I think it’s pitched perfectly for 2 players. The balance the game seems to have (for us) is that we always feel like we are dead but then the ending comes together so quickly that we have managed all of the goals (apart from a rancid January).

For some reason even though every game is different it feels like the lessons you learn are universally applicable which I think is a nice thing.

2 Likes
1561

Just finished a game of Brass: Lancashire for two with my other half (no Games night as it is raining like hell in Napier, the city is half flooded, I didn’t even try to get there and drove back), and well, even though I was trailing badly in the rail era, with hardly any money while she was getting away to the high teens and twenties on her income, she only won 115-112.
I managed to build a level 2 shipyard that put me really close on the final tally, even though the last two turns I only had money to build sets of 2 £5 rails at a time, my income being only £9 per turn.
It is interesting to play between two, we hardly ever had to use coal or iron from the market, and hardly did any sales to it. I went more for Iron Works and Ports given my cards, and she was getting more mines and Cotton Mills. Not having some of the cities in the deck of cards limits the playing options.
Definitely looking forward to play with 3 or 4 players. I don’t think the game will slow down that much, it stills keeps your attention while it is not your turn, and I think he market will open up more.
Definitely happy with my acquisition. :smiley:

2 Likes