I think the 140-point achievement might be easier to do in the solo/drafting mode; instead of the regular piles, you draw 3 cards every turn and use one card for the number and one for the power. It gives you a little more control over your turn, especially when it comes to filling it the pools.
2 Likes
We played some Itâs a wonderful world yesterday. Itâs one of those games where you win if you can do maths into the future. But itâs also extremely breezy to set up and fast to play. I quite like it.
2 Likes
My wife and I played our first game of Cairn yesterday. She started strong by getting into my village allowing her to build a megalith and score. I returned the favor, and then built a megalith by transformation. The game lasted a few more turns, and I accidentally won by another transformation, just before she could have scored her second point. I enjoyed it she didnât seem to love it. It was too late for us to go best two out of three, but I hope to get some more games of this in soon.
1 Like
I played a solitaire game of Wild Space to learn the rules this morning. Running it with the solo rules seemed easier to manage than two-handing it (my usual practice for learning games), and it was a breeze.
Itâs a bit of a curious AI setup, for two main reasons: First, the player always has a choice between two options for the AI, meaning you can directly manipulate the timing of their actions, and get a limited view into whatâs coming next. Secondly, you have a hard lose condition and a direct opponent, yet the game still boils down to a high score chaser (âget pointsâ is the ultimate goal, afterall). In practice this establishes a sort of âfloating parâ for the player.
On this second point, importantly, it doesnât reduce the playerâs strategy to minimizing the AI for the win. Your control of their actions doesnât go much beyond simple mitigation, so itâs not compelling to game the opponent just to âpull offâ a victory with a low score. On the contrary, affording some minor leeway with respect to the timing of card cycles and discards offers a tantalizing added dimension to a playerâs personal decision space. I suspect this is very much in line with the multiplayer experience.
This is a lot to say for a first play, but I thought it was a fairly unique spin on a fairly standard automa opponent and worth considering a little.
3 Likes
London , had my worst ever game of this. Had no money, had a handful of cards I couldnt play because they all cost money, and by running my city (to get money), I racked up a ton of poverty. And things just got worse from there. Ended up with something like 25 poverty. Didnât bother adding up my score at the end.
Trajan , great game. Theres a few different ways to get points, and its a fun puzzle. Gotta love the roundel.
Heist: One Team, One Mission
5 Likes
Another game of Calico, this time solo over coffee this morning. I improved over my last score (and used the standard, variable setup), but still landed short of my partnerâs score from yesterday. This is a puzzle of the highest order and I can see myself needing hundreds of plays before it gets stale, if ever. If Flatout/AEG decide to commission an app for this thing, they will need to buy rakes.
For all of the money. Money rakes.
6 Likes
That sounds delicious 
I couldnât decide so far between Calico and Isle of Cats but somehow reading the forum in recent days Calico sounds really appealing (I had seen it on KS back when and thought it might not be deep enough and so didnât back)
4 Likes
A 4 player game of Root with lizards, birds, cats and the vagabond. The cats forgot we were playing a war game and didnât slap the vagabond. The vagabond replied but lighting a napalm torch under the cats and wiping out 3 warriors and 3 buildings in one go. Having made the cats hostile this was worth a ridiculous 12 points and catapulted him to victory.
I managed to not go into turmoil until my final action. Playing the birds melts my brain.
Iâm still not sure weâre getting every rule right. The complete asymmetry means itâs very hard to keep track of what other players are doing. Good game though.
5 Likes
The scope of Isle of Cats is what ended up swaying me. The box is enormous, and there are a lot of bits to lay out and keep sorted. Iâm still very much interested in it, but thereâs no doubt in my mind I made the right choice considering my primary goal of getting a âmorning puzzleâ back in the collection.
Case in point, Iâve already played another game since my post (beat my score again by one, still under my partnerâs).
[EDIT] I should address the concerns about depth! So this really depends on what youâre after. In my opinion, Calico is a puzzle with a scoring mechanic and it isnât trying to be more than that. Itâs the kind of game that lives and dies on its challenge, and is meant to be infinitely replayable. To that end, it comes with a wealth of challenges and special setups, achievement tracking, etc. to keep things fresh and ensure thereâs always a carrot in front of your nose.
Shorter answer: itâs dead simple, but the components and mechanisms provide an amazing brain burn in an increasingly restrictive decision space.
My favourite part so far: You finish always knowing there were places you could have played better, but the game always, always ends with the satisfying snap of a fully filled-in board.
That is bloody delightful and it probably represents a terribly embarrassing score. But ooooooooooooh. Yes. Yum.
6 Likes
Have you tried it on Steam? It does help getting the rules right.
4 Likes
Itâs A Wonderful World solo. Works surprisingly well, but I guess it shouldnât be so surprising. Iâm terrible at it! Getting in the 40s when itâs 60+ for a proper ranking. 
Really enjoying the game. The resource management is a lot crunchier than I expected. Really want to get into the expansion additions. Read the rules and it sound like it gets a sharp edge.
5 Likes
Played my first game of Everdell. It was great.
It looked close going into Autumn so I (as someone way more familiar with worker placement) pulled back to let my girlfriend win, which she proceeded to do by LOADS thanks to last-minute combos and dropping the Fool on my final city space, denying me a planned last-turn run!
The production quality of everything in the box is fantastic. The box itself is a delight even just on glossy feel. Will try the solo mode next.
7 Likes
My husband and I played Star Wars Rebellion for the first time in a while. We used the cinematic battle tactic rules from the expansion (much better than the original rules). Itâs a nice asymmetric war game. I was the Empire and he was the Rebels. I captured one of his leaders, tortured the location of the rebel base out of the leader, and wiped out the base for a pretty decisive early victory. There were a few lucky dice rolls and cards draws that helped. Itâs weird, I swear my brain naturally matches better the rebel style of play but I win far more often as the empire so maybe I donât know my own brain as well as I think.
8 Likes
Played Space Base with my kids. The 8 year old has massive loss aversion and never bought much other than colonies. She lost to my 4 year old âbuy all the cheap stuff and slowly creep up the points strategyâ. I came second, itâs a good but not brilliant game, may end up on the sale pile.
The afternoon was simplified Rallyman, the eldest won that one.
Also my wife and I recently got a magnetic Scrabble for the kitchen wall. Thereâs something rather pleasant about having a game doing on in the background.
7 Likes
Oh magnetic scrabble. I had no idea such a thing existed⌠now that I know⌠I would need to figure out if there is a German version. (I own both language versions in cardboard)
1 Like
For Calico, I am only concerned about puzzle complexity⌠and that seems to be present (Zee Garcia did a very nice review about the game which I watched just before the game started coming up here on the forumsâŚ)
Definitely moving up on my wishlist⌠or onto it firstâŚ
2 Likes
I really like rebellion, but then I love Star Wars. Can you play the core game with the cinematic rules?
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The cinematic rules are in the expansion. Thereâs new cards and new battle dice.
I imagine thereâs a fan made option somewhere. If you like the base game, itâs a worthwhile purchase
3 Likes
Iâd love to know what someone who didnât like Star Wars thinks of Rebellion. I think the theme is superb. Our games tend to go on a bit, with the base coming down to the final 5 or 6 planets.
IIRC the first time we played it, the Empire captured a leader, but that allowed the Rebels to do a rescue mission which pretty much won them the game. All of our Empire plays have been wary of capture ever since.
I want to play it again now!
4 Likes
In the UK, magnetic sets tend to be small âtravelâ sets. But a casual look on Amazon found a âScrabble memo boardâ that appears to be about 40cm square.
3 Likes