Your Last Played Game Volume 3

[lalunaverde]

Res Arcana + Lux et Tenebrae - superb as always. Euro drag racing

The Tales of the Arthurian Knights - 3 players. see 2nd play below

Wyrmspan - rubbish. This game is more suited for people who have played hobbyist games before and want more than Wingspan. But honestly, once you’re there, the field is so wide open that there’s so many choices. Finspan remains that “Newbie’s First Euro Game”

Tammany Hall - good. Liberte feels more compelling imo, more tense, and more thematic

Cabanga

Push It! - I bought two copies and so it is now possible to play 3 or 4 players with 4 pucks (because I’m like that). It was the last game of the session and all 3 of us were having the time of our lives.

The Tales of the Arthurian Knights - 3 players. I still enjoy the immersion in this game. But I feel that I prefer Arabian Nights. The stories are zanier and as a rollercoaster ride: Arabian Night’s highs are higher and the lows are lower. I mean, this is the game where you can be a pauper and the worst shit happens to you and then a series of events will turn you into a Sultan. I don’t need a “game-ier” Arabian Nights. I want a wilder rollercoaster ride and interesting stories.

However, Arthurian Nights did fixes my issue with Arabian Nights 1e. I might get Arabian instead and implement as much 2e rules in it. And in the future, I really hope that I can get Arabian Nights 2e.

Waterfall Park - aka Chinatown. I prefer this over Chinatown. The hex grid creates more trading opportunities. We now also have a club variant of a 5 minute timer. As the game is rather shallow in value evaluation, quick fire trading seems to be the way

That’s So Clever!

Hot Steak - THE HYPE IS REAL!!! 5 /5

[Marx]

Last night we played Blackstone Fortress again, tackling the 4th and final Stronghold. It was the Corridor of Doom (or somesuch nonsense name) with a room full of Ur-Ghouls at the end. It was actually a challenge, honestly, with a couple of us almost eliminated on the final run on the Stronghold itself.

But we survived, and now there is only the Hidden Vault (the final mission of the original campaign) remaining… unless we dip into Expansion Stuff, but that’s neither here nor there.

This is the… 5th or 6th time we’ve played, and it still surprises me how much better it is than Cursed City (which, again, is fine, but IMO a straight downgrade over Blackstone Fortress in almost every way possible). I finally had the opportunity to Inspire my Hero using their specific mechanic for doing so (UR-025’s specific rule is that they must punch a Spindle Drone to death) which is an interesting challenge because UR-025 really doesn’t want to be right next to enemies (their best range band is 2-3 hexes away, where a single 6 can result in 3 separate attacks).

Anyway, lots of fun, but I think the group is ready to put this game to bed for a while. Which leaves me with the challenge of trying to find a new co-op campaign game I can play with 5… my default thought is Imperial Assault with me playing as the GM, because I enjoy that (although I admit the app was the superior way to play… it only works with 4, I believe). Apparently LotR Journeys in ME also does 5 players, but does it fully co-op? That would be lovely… I had a great time with Journeys, and I have 3 or 4 expansions we’ve never tried.

Ooh, or Level 7 Omega Protocol. Gods, it’s been forever since I’ve pulled that one out. That might be worth a thought… it’s an All vs 1 again, but I’m okay with that.

Anyway! After we finished our game of BSF, I pulled out Race for the Galaxy and we played 2 back-to-back games. First one I did great with a military-Uplift strat that saw me crushing my two opponents, but I lost the second game handily when attempting a military-Rebel strat. Just the way the game goes.

We managed to avoid using Prestige, which I still don’t like (too fiddly and complicated), but I think we’ll add it in next time. Ugh. It’s fine, but the game is way cleaner without it. Ah well.

Finished gaming at 2am, and then this morning I dropped off 17 games for sale at a local tournament, and I’ve sold at least a few of them already! My shelves are looking so much more manageable.

[bort]

The Dark Quarter, our second game. It’s fun for sure. Definitely an adult story, in language and story. It feels like a physical board is barely required, the app tracks everything. If you don’t like app assisted games, this one is not for you. One criticism of the game is that there’s no time pressure, if you keep at it you’ll eventually explore all the options, or at least the really important ones. Also, we need some sort of a catchup at the start of the game, we forget what happened last week. We could probably takes notes or something.

Eternal Decks, another new stage (E), still on beginner mode. I didn’t think we were going to win, had a few hairy moments, but somehow we pulled it together for the win.

Cthulhu Death May Die, Fear of the Unknown. It was a bit of a slog, and I’m not sure we actually applied some of the Old One effects. But we managed the win, on the last turn. We thought we were stuffed when it took us a while to disrupt the ritual, and the Old One was out and we couldn’t damage him. But we pushed on for the win! Go us!

[Captbnut]

Couple of games of The Climbers, a thinky filler I bought from a friend who is having a cull (I believe @RogerBW is a fan).

It looks great on the table and is a very clever thing. It works with 2 players, but I don’t think it’s good - can’t wait to try it with 4 or 5

[RogerBW]

I find the rulebook a bit shaky (so of course I wrote a new one) but otherwise, yeah, I should get this out more often!

[Whistle_Pig]

We had a officially-sanctioned work board games night in the pub last week - the company even stood us all a drink. I spent most of the evening teaching people crokinole, That’s Not a Hat, or Skull King. That’s Not a Hat is still funnier than it has any right to be (I think at least one person bought their own copy afterwards) but the highlight had to be someone accidentally winning 5 tricks in Skull King, having bid 1…

[Simfers]

We had quite the weekend of games this time around. Had been a hot minute since we’d played something more involved that Patchwork (which, of course, also got played).

We got Everdell + Bellfaire + Newleaf back out after however long and boy oh BOY were we rusty. Silly plays after silly plays, I think we split the four games evenly, but it doesn’t even matter. It’s still my favourite game, I love it so.

Mandala! One of the few games where I have a winning record against Maryse, so of course she destroyed me. Clever little game, that. Always fun.

We finally broke out Splendor Duel, nearly a year after buying it after playing at our board game café here. This is SO good. Breezy, thinky, plus I won both games.

It had been a while since we’d played so many games, that was super cool.

[Marx]

Played in an Infinity the Game tournament today… lemme see if I can use my phone to put a few pictures here.

And now lemme see if I can keep typing on my computer…

A goddamns miracle, technology is, sometimes. Anyway. I’m not in the picture there, but a bunch of my opponents were.

I was playing a very simple ALEPH list: Maximus, who is extremely tanky and quite killy (he has a high burst, high damage gun with really good range and insane armour, plus an ability called “Immunity: ARM” which means that in most cases, regardless of what hits him, he’s saving 85-95% of every wound assuming he gets hit at all… which he usually doesn’t), and a bunch of really cheap orders that shore up Maximus’s weaknesses (a strong Hacker, a good Medic/Engineer to keep him on his feet if things go awry, and some cheap ARO robots to protect the flanks).

It’s a good list, built by one of the best players in Infinity today (a guy named Owen who used to be local but moved out to Alberta because he likes money. A lot). I… did not use it super well.

First game was close, but my opponent manage to pull out a victory on the last turn after killing Maximus (it took a LOT of orders, and some remarkably bad rolls on my part, but he did it). Final score was 3-2 for my opponent.

Second game wasn’t as close. My opponent had 3 really strong Hackers and kept Isolating and Immobilizing Maximus. I kept getting him out of it, but it meant I didn’t have enough orders remaining to do things, and despite some extremely heroic last minute heroics, I lost 7-3.

Last round was a very close loss again, with Maximus dying yet again on the last turn. I finally did things with Maximus, killing the opponent’s Lieutenant and all his specialists, but Eric is a very savvy player and figured out a way to pull off the win despite all odds. I lost 3-2, and had only 3 models left on the table when the dust settled.

Okay, so here’s the thing: Maximus is probably the single hardest to kill model in the game. And I kept getting him killed. I am almost positive this is a PEBKAC problem since I don’t play a tonne of Infinity any more, but it did make me sit down and wonder why I don’t play a tonne of Infinity any more. The games I played at Adepticon were really, really hard… I lost almost every game there (I may have lost every game while I was there), and here I am going 0-3 at a local tournament with an unquestionably good list.

I would do better if I practiced more. Almost certainly. But I don’t really want to practice more. Partially because the game has become popular enough that it’s always loud, and I don’t like shouting to be heard.

The games of Star Wars Legion I’ve played recently felt better, and I’m going to try out my first Battletech tournament this Saturday (although I suspect I will not do well, I am very curious to see how it goes!).

I dunno. It’s a few weeks off before the next regular Infinity night… I wonder how much of this is just general depression making me not enjoy anything as much as I used to? That’s probably it.

Anyway. Still had fun, and 2 out of 3 of my opponents were super nice and fun to play against (the other is a bit… try-hard for my tastes? He fudges a lot of his die-rolls and keeps “accidentally” forgetting rules in his favour very often).

[Griffster77]

@RogerBW

Lucasfilm/Disney had clearly lost it when they started having Stormtrooper cosplayers as convention security. Look, guys, these are not the forces of order even if they are the forces of law…

That’s just the rule of cool tho! They may be the pawns of a fascist empire and apparently can’t shoot for toffee but they look cool!

[COMaestro]

Got walloped again in my A Gest of Robin Hood tournament. Played as Robin again and lost at the end of the first ballad as the Sheriff had enough submissive parishes to get him +1 Order, bringing him to 5 which was just enough for an instant win. Sad thing was I had all but one parish revolting a couple turns earlier, but only had two by the end.

I’m really trying to figure out a good start strategy for Robin, as from what I’ve been seeing, the Sheriff hires, confiscates two carriages worth of taxes, and then just moves a bunch of troops into the forests, making it incredibly risky to try robbing them. Since Robin can only recruit one Merry Man in a space at a time (two if there’s a Camp), there’s not enough time to cover both pathways so the Sheriff is pretty much guaranteed at least one carriage getting through. Depending on the player, this will be either 5 shillings, or the tribute carriage which gains 2 Order if they’re pushing for an early Order victory.

In any case, 2 wins, 2 losses again. Currently in third in my bracket, but there’s one more match to go.

[felix]

Played some games over the weekend and last evening.

Barbecubes is a weird little dexterity game that I didn’t think much of. You place little wooden pixel-art meats onto a little barbecue made from the tin box and some wooden rails. There wasn’t much exciting about it - you either place a meat or drop it and maybe a couple others. I also really disliked the pixel aesthetic, which seems to only be there to enable the pun in the title (or maybe the other way around!)

Molly House is a wild ride. I think might be one of my favourites after a 3rd play. This time we all got a bit “catty” at the leader and desperately sabotaged the community to give ourselves a chance to catch up. Not sabotage with the included traitor mechanics but a refusal to cooperate to put on a party. Unfortunately for all of us that lack of cooperation was enough for the “community infiltration” ending. Which means everyone lost! Such a thematic game; as long as everyone is willing to roleplay a bit.

Rafter Five is a far better dexterity game after Barbecubes. It’s very basic - pick up a little guy, place a plank card and then put the little guy back on top along with a treasure chest precariously balanced on the end. It’s a far better spectacle than Barbecubes as you build out a little raft on the raised box, and when stuff drops it tends to upend the entire raft and send pieces flying. Much more exciting! Not going to change the world but it helps that it comes in a standard Oink box size. Good stuff and fun for casual play.

I was excited to play My Favourite Things and it didn’t disappoint. It’s a trick taker where your cards are numbered 1-5 but you don’t know which is which. The values are secretly chosen by the player to your left who has written their 5 “favourites” of a player-chosen category. So for example, if “Lord of the Rings characters” is your category you might be looking at a hand of Aragorn, Legolas, Merry, Galadriel and Gimli, without knowing which is rated number 1. Then you just play a simple trick taking game where the values are revealed only after the cards are played. Very silly and definitely counts as a “social game” as the real fun is the discussions about the cards in between rounds.

[Captbnut]

First play of my newly acquired copy of Sol (have played someone else’s - and actually this copy 4 or 5 times).

I think the graphic design of this game is utterly top notch - the functionality of moving your Mothership to mark your turn is so clever.

Still a great game with short but crunchy turns, cooperation and a load of special powers. Played with 4 in about 75 minutes.

Love bringing this to the table

Oh, and Kate absolutely smashed us. For the first time I just couldn’t get sundivers on the board and couldn’t get anything going.

[lalunaverde]

Haspelknecht: the Story of Early Coal Mining - mmmmmm beige game…

Anyway, it’s shit. I got lured by the beige and the German title. But there’s not much game here tbh. Very derivative. I gave it a 1/5.

Rattus

Hot Streak - still HOT AF

Big Shot - small box Playte. Very small rules weight and omg it’s surprisingly tense and interesting.

Bebop - on first impression, I do prefer this over Babylonia. The strat in Babz I now find linear. Still, I don’t think I’m keeping this one. Selling.

Hot Streak - yes more HOT STREAK

Keyflower - 3 player game and it was lightning fast. I went for Blacksmith strategy. So I have the Coal Mine and put the Blacksmith next door. I also own a transport tile from Summer (forgot the name) and literally just transfer coal from the mine and blacksmith next door. Happy days!!

Rafter Five - excellent dexterity. Top tier Oink game.

Hot Streak - GOBBLER YOU FUCKING IDIOT I LOST ALL MY MONEY! MY HOUSE WAS REPOSSESSED! MY WIFE LEFT ME!

Castles of Burgundy - classic beige nu-Euro. A game I should dislike but really this is THE point-salad nu-Euro game.

So Clover

Race for the Galaxy + Alien Artifacts - 5 player full house. Excellent game.

Compounded - old game that didn’t aged well. Really boring nu-Euro that was simply outclasses by other nu-Euros.

[COMaestro]

Played Lords of Vegas yesterday, and won by reaching the Instant Win space, though on the Game Over card.

At that point, we had what I would consider our first board game fatality:

I forgot about it until we played again today and the board came out in two pieces. My wife won today’s game. Took the picture when putting the game away. We’ll probably just tape up the back of the board, though just laying them next to each other worked pretty well as long as we didn’t have to adjust the overall position of it.

[SteveB_uk]

Canvas, which the local boardgame pub crowd absolutely loved, and 4 player Push It.

[RogerBW]

Last night at Thirsty Meeples:

We started with relatively new release Deep Regrets, in which you’re fishing for increasingly strange creatures, selling some of them to improve your gear, and accumulating Regrets (which, it turns out, are mostly removed with alcohol).

Physically it was quite a tight fit even on the larger of the available tables, and the setup felt rather “busy”, but we soon got the hang of it. I’m not entirely convinced that the claimed half-hour playtime is achievable, but I’m sure a second game would go faster.

Oddly, even though there are two double-sided reference cards per player, there doesn’t seem to be anything that lists the full turn sequence and how much of what you can do when. Ah well, a third party (me) will probably provide.

I had a good time with this, and while I want to play it at least once more first I think I may well buy it.

Then on to Tacta, which turns out to be a positional game: you add cards to the layour with matching connectors, and try to have more of your dots showing than anyone else’s. I’m not sure this has the legs to justify a place in my collection, but a first game was enjoyble and I’d be happy to play again. (The three-player game was about as much as the table could sustain, and I’m not sure six would work even on my table at home.

[bort]

The Dark Quarter, we finished the first scenario (of three). It’s been fairly entertaining, looking forward to the other scenarios.

Dorfromantik: Sakura, first play. We haven’t quite finished the first Dorfromantik, but we decided to have a go at this one anyway. I think we did ok – certainly better than the first game of the base game. Of course we’re used to the general play of the game.

The Same Game , enjoyed this, can be surprisingly difficult to think of good words.

Ghost Stories, another play, another loss. We did have a plan of using Buddhas more, but then we end up fighting fires every turn.

Sumida River, a fun little climbing game. Has some unique stuff – you can opt to trade your hand before any cards are played, which gives you the ability to add wildcards to your hand. Of course, you might trade your hand and come out worse.

[lalunaverde]

Food Chain Magnate - 3 players. Someone else’s copy. Amazing.

Hot Streak - board gaming couldn’t be any more dumber than this! 5/5 stars!

Hot Streak - we were cleaning up and a few came up to me and want a game. And so we did.

Lure

Kingsburg - finally! I have finally played Kingsburg. It’s not the worse thing in the planet, thanks to the tension introduced by the tight dice placement, but it’s really meh. Get resource; spend those resource into engine-building and/or points; rinse and repeat for 5 eras.

Greasy Spoon - incredibly pedestrian

[COMaestro]

Okay, give me the Cliff Notes on Hot Streak. You are raving about it every time you post here lately. What is it?

[SteveB_uk]

Top of my “to buy” list because Efka at NPI is raving about it too.

It doesn’t come over to the UK until August at the earliest according to Travelling Man, and most places don’t even list it yet.