Your Last Played Game Volume 3

Phil · 21 June 2025 12:59

Wellycon plays:

Caylus – I’d not played this before, but a friend brought his Premium Limited Edition along, and my goodness is that a pretty production. Neat game!
Regicide Legacy – Badgers From Mars were there doing demo games. It wasn’t for sale, but apparently the production is all complete, and it’s on the ships and en-route. I was gutted that I missed out on playing the prototype the last time they were at Wellycon, so I made sure I got to try it this time! The first mission is just classic Regicide (the narrative that runs through the Legacy campaign begins with the events of the original game), so they were demoing the second mission, and we had a 4p game of that.

I really enjoyed it – the game is (I assume) going to be a whole series of variations on the original game, across a dozen different missions, with an evolving deck of heroes. Our opposition here was quite different to the original game (specifically: a multi-headed hydra, with heads that ‘grow back’ (returned to the bottom of their deck) unless killed with perfect damage, and each with a varying combination of dual-immunity. I was convinced that we were done for in the early going, but we just barely weathered the storm and managed to come back strong for the win, with the help of a new player ability.)

It’s a really lovely production. It’s slightly mad that they jumped from a standard 52-card deck game to such a big/fancy/(and consequently pricey) follow-up, but as a big fan of the original game I’m very much looking forward to diving into the finished product.

(Photos below.)

I then plonked a pile of games I’d brought with me on a table with a Players Wanted sign, and started teaching myself Courtisans. I’d barely started reading when someone wandered up, and as I was pretty sure we’d want more than 2 for Courtisans I suggested…
Hive x2 – they grokked it right away and seemed to really enjoy it, which was great. I always enjoy seeing someone wrapping their head around this game :). During the second game another person stopped to watch, and once the game was over we all decided to play…
The King Is Dead – I always enjoy this, and every time I play it goes differently. I haven’t played a game where one faction gained so much control so quickly, but Scotland had half the country after only 5/8 regions had been resolved. And that’s when I realised I was screwed, because although I was first-equal in Scottish influence at that time, there were no remaining blue cubes on the map, and there was no way anyone was going to add one without then taking it for themselves. I tried to pivot to a French invasion, but the others had the cards to counter my attempts. The others ended with exactly the same influence over all three factions, so the ultimate tie-breaker of “who had reached that position first” decided the winner.

Next we set up for:
Hansa Teutonica – initially intending the same 3p, but another person turned up so we played with 4p. I never feel I’m great at teaching H.T., but I think I did better this time, as we played some dummy rounds and I demoed each action using those example pieces on the map, and there were fewer questions and points of confusion than I’ve seen before.

This play through felt strangely slow to me, and part of that is just that I’m so used to 2p H.T. when it takes half the time for it to be my turn again, but I also found myself wondering whether the 4-5p map is maybe a bit too open with 4p, as it wasn’t quite as interactive as I wanted. I still enjoyed it as I always do, and I think all of the others did too.

We broke for dinner then, so I wasn’t expecting to play with the same group again, but after setting up quite a while later to (once again) learn the handful of rules to Courtisans, first one and then the other of our TKID group turned up and so we played…
Courtisans x3 – we all really enjoyed this. Super simple to learn and quick to play, with proper decisions to make, a bunch of second-guessing the other players, a dash of subterfuge and messing with the different card states around the table, a couple of random secret goals each, and all with very attractive components.

We decided to stop after 3 games, and one of the group had to leave in about 20 minutes, so I glanced at my other boxes and assured them that 20 minutes was loads of time to play…
Forks x3 – which I realised is an incredibly similar game to Courtisans. I was frankly confused that this didn’t occur to me while I was playing Courtisans, but the moment I opened the Forks box my brain went “hang on a moment… we’ve basically just played this”. Courtisans is rather like Forks with special powers, secret goals, and less maths. Forks is so quick and streamlined though that I’m completely happy having both games. We whipped through 3 games in about 15 minutes.

The others then left again, and I decided to remind myself how another of my two-player games worked, and then someone asked if I was looking for another player, so after a quick refresher we jumped right into…
Great Plains x2. Lovely little game. Another "quick to learn, quick to play, but packing a very solid amount of game into that short span of time (probably ~10 mins for a game?), and lots of set-up randomisation to keep things interesting.

Checking the time, I decided I could squeeze in one more thing, and as my new opponent had never played it, we played…
Hive – only time for the one game (I’d usually want to play at least two with a newcomer), but I was really happy to get to show it to someone else, and they seemed to like it.

That was everything. On Friday night I’d also attempted to learn/play Final Girl before leaving, and I got it set up ready to play, and read through the instructions, but in the end I packed it away after just one turn after realising that I was far too tired and literally in danger of falling asleep at the table.

I took almost no photos, but I did take these:

Marx · 21 June 2025 13:08

Last night was the final dive into Blackstone Fortress.

Everyone at the table said they had a good time, myself included, but they also all expressed no desire to Fortress more Blackstones in the near future. I… I could’ve easily have gone for at least one more of the modules (of which there are… 5? 6?), although I would’ve switched heroes.

The Hidden Vault at the very end of the first campaign was kinda neat. The mission was hard, and then our Rogue… sorry, our “Eldar Sniper Who Is a Treasure Goblin”… rushed the Statis Cube and opened it while the rest of us punched baddies by the front door. Strangely satisfying.

I won’t spoil what you get by opening the Vault, but it was neat, and thematic, and also a cool way to be like “Welp, we’re done!” or “Welp, guess we gotta keep going into the Fortress!” with equal emphasis.

All in all, the 2nd best GW product I’ve ever played (Space Hulk is still the best, but it is a class all its own).

Here’s the thing: I really enjoyed the game, but copies of BSF are selling for thousands of dollars USD (making it 40% more CAD), and I have a complete edition with all the optional extra gubbins (all the heroes, all the optional heroes, all the supplementary books… I think I may have everything). All painted, too… not exceptionally well painted, but tabletop quality for sure.

All this to say that if I sell BSF, I can probably expect thousands of dollars? And I wouldn’t let it go for less than that (my gut says it’s at least $5,000CAD, which is literally 3 months of salary pre-tax). I’d hate to let it go… I’d hate it… but it’s kinda nice to know I could if I wanted to, in theory. Maybe someday.

For now I’m just really happy we finished a full campaign! Woo! And again lamenting that they could’ve had something spectacular with just a little more work (basically the characters need more progression other than generic loot).

Ah well. Legit happy to be able to put it back on the shelf for awhile. The next questions is what do we play instead… I’m kinda hoping I can convince the group to do another dive into Imperial Assault, since like BSF I own almost all of it (I never did any of the Skirmish stuff, so I don’t have minis for anything besides the campaigns) and haven’t touched 98% of it (we played 1 base campaign years ago, and that was it). Or Level 7 Omega Protocol… anyway, lots of options.

So long for now, Fortress of Blackstone. You were definitely something.

Benkyo · 21 June 2025 14:12

Wow, that is quite the step up from Regicide. I kind of liked that the game was hard and repayable though, so I’m not sure how that pans out for a campaign. Fail-forward or too easy seem to be the two main flavours for campaigns, and the former is hard to get right.

Phil · 21 June 2025 15:18

You have to succeed in order to progress to the next mission; but at minimum there’s a deck of Mercenaries which can help you for your next attempt after you fail a mission (I was absolutely gleeful when they showed us some of those, and I realised that there are more native NZ birds in the game!)

I know very little about the bulk of the game, though. I could really only talk about the first two missions and a small handful of other features. There’s a whole heap of boxes in there that I know nothing at all about.

lalunaverde · 21 June 2025 22:34

SUMMER SOLSTICE EDITION

Castles of Burgundy - classic CoB. 3 players. I have the new edition and we played with the new tiles. Good reception from CoB veterans, especially the Inn tiles.

Hot Streak - Yep you’ve guessed it. We played Hot Streak

The 1st race started and then:
1st card: Dangle Turn Around
2nd card: Dangle Move 3 - DQ: OUT OF BOUNDS!!
3rd card: Mum Turn Around
4th Card: Mum Move 2, Swerve Left - DQ: OUT OF BOUNDS!!!

At that point, we all fucking lost it. Really the only games I would put higher than Hot Streak in my best new-to-me games of this year would be:

1.) Innovation Deluxe
2.) BattleCon
3.) South African Railroads

Absolute bullshit party game in 20 mins.

Star Wars: Rivals - it’s a nice lane battler, but nothing like Compile or Battle Line. I am not happy about how we roll a dice and that decides which locations will be resolved after we all commit where our troops will go. A bit bizarre design choice. But I suppose that was done as a leveller (I’m guessing this is designed for kids and early teens, which is fair)

Azul: Master Chocolatiers x2 - a new guy showed up and shows him Azul and he want to play agian and so we played again.

Puerto Banana - auction game that is just pure group think with very little rules. Amazing!

The Estates Top tier, Top 20, Tier S level game. Agonising rollercoaster ride in under an hour. Perennial fave!

Race for the Galaxy

Hot Streak - we were sweaty but fuck it, we playing Hot Streak.

Fate of the Fellowship aka LOTR Pandemic - still a blast to play, although I can’t help but feel that it is starting to become a “play-by-the-committee” kind of game where people solve the problem and the decisions are made for you. But it’s still a thrill due to the thematical immersion.

InkyBloc · 22 June 2025 03:09

How difficult is it to have a sense of which areas need dealing with? With the infection cards in base Pandemic you know which cities are a threat, but when @COMaestro and I played LOTR Pandemic on BGA, it felt impossible to keep track of the shadow cards, so after each turn it was like “Ok, and now some bad stuff we don’t know about will happen.” Curious how much of that is the game and how much was just BGA.

Captbnut · 22 June 2025 08:25

Damn you @lalunaverde

Copy of Hot Streak winging it’s way to Cardiff

lalunaverde · 22 June 2025 10:21

Repeated plays then gives you a feel on how the armies flow. We have abandoned Rivendell at some point because we know it’s not in danger based on how the line goes.

BertFill · 22 June 2025 11:11

Part of me is very tempted by this game, which mostly looks very much like something I’d enjoy a lot. I like Pandemic-style games (well, I like Pandemic: Iberia, and quite enjoy Forbidden Island). And I’m not against Lord of the Rings, suspicious though I am of things that become excessively nerdy and excessively cultish - I like the books and the films, and have two board games already (Confrontation and the 7 Wonders one).

But - part of me is completely put off by those plastic Nazgul figures, which make it look like the sort of thing I have absolutely no interest in. Less than no interest, to be honest - things that look like that are up there with the words ‘Cthulhu’ and ‘Dungeon’ in being the biggest, reddest of flags!

So I guess you could colour me conflicted on this!

Phil · 22 June 2025 11:33

I saw it being played on a few tables this weekend, and to me it all looked very striking and attractive (but I also enjoy Cthulhu: Death May Die, so the proverbial grain of salt applies).

I couldn’t help but wonder how stable those figures were, and whether they they were awkward to handle or blocked the view in practice. I didn’t ask any questions, though.

I’d certainly be interested in trying the game sometime.

BertFill · 22 June 2025 15:05

Ha! That could only be less appealing to me if it were called Cthulhu Dungeon: The Roleplaying game.

But then my dream game would probably be called something like Traders and Farmers: The cooperative island exploring game…

BertFill · 22 June 2025 15:06

Oh, me too!

BertFill · 23 June 2025 09:38

Having watched a couple of videos of Pandemic: Lord of the Rings, I’m now fairly confident in predicting that the appeal of every other part of the game is going to outweigh my instinctive disllike of plastic miniatures… if I don’t end up buying this I’ll be very surprised. The only thing that could put a spanner in the works will be if everyone says it’s utter rubbish solo.

raged_norm · 23 June 2025 22:29

Games Night, largely playng what our lovely Australian Sojourner wants to play

El Grande- absolute banger of game

La Isla - Would I suggest it? No. Would I play it? Yes. Funny set collection stock game themed around capturing Dodos and other animals

Schadenfreude. I won! IYKYK on this photo. Was o 30, got 10 on the third trick and managed to thread the needle.

BertFill · 24 June 2025 06:14

Presumably it was even more enjoyable to see the other people lose…?

raged_norm · 24 June 2025 09:15

Yellow went from last place to losing in the last round, which was very funny.

It’s chaotic, but in a good way. It’s changed my opinion on Fischen a lot.

bort · 24 June 2025 09:35

You’re not capturing them, you are photographing them I believe (more PC)

Acacia · 24 June 2025 15:55

I have had several sessions of 535 / Oh Meow Bow while up in Boston with my family. It’s good!

It’s a bit wild.

It’s the uncontrollable, schadenfreude, evil twin of Tichu. Which is its strength and its weakness.

So here’s the thing(s). In 535, you beat numbers (singles or sets) by playing higher cards. You beat runs by playing lower cards. So that right there makes your hand a bit hard to define.

Moreover, if you can expand a meld on the table, you can just tuck your cards in without beating anything. Someone down to just one card? Death, right? Maybe it’s just a four? Not anymore. Play a killer, unbeatable 1-2-3 run (low wins here) and they just tuck that 4 on and you’re suddenly the one who’s dead.

Similarly, you have that low pair of 3s but a strong pair of 14s. Lead the threes, take it back with the fourteens, right? Again, nope. You play your two 3s, someone plays two 5s, and then someone tucks another 5 onto the pair. Now you’re playing triples…

All to say it’s a very uncontrollable game. You can’t really plan or take the reins, things just happen. So it’s very much not Tichu, but it’s grand in its own way. When the player to my right was down to two cards and then just tucked a 1 and 4 around the 2-3 on the table to close it out (what are the chances… WHAT ARE THE CHANCES) that was a big moment for everyone, win or lose. That’s what 535 does.

So I enjoyed it, all the more once I understood what the game wasn’t.

lalunaverde · 25 June 2025 22:20

Gulf Mobile and Ohio - Cube Rail banger that feels more like an Old German game than a game like Chicago Express, but man, it’s great. It’s always timing issues again and again. Concluded that it’s not a Tier 1 Cube Rail, hence why I sold it, but it’s still fun.

Intrigue - glad to play it again. Still a top game. Negotiation game with an extreme focus on Diplomacy-type negotiations. I might house rule it to be simultaneous bribing from now on.

Come Sail Away - a game from Saashi & Saashi. It’s amusing. MPS where you try to mancala your way on filling up seats and rooms in your cruise ship with passengers.

Did we played Hot Streak? You bet we did

Dealt! - This is fine. But I am getting jaded with trick takers/shedders

The Bridges of Shangri-La - Top tier game from the early noughties. Excellent as always. Now that I have been culling and playing my shame pile, I am getting to play my faves again.

Moon - painful, boring, and awful game. It’s actually even worse than Villagers (same publisher), which is also a terrible game. Easily one of the worst games I have ever played this year. It’s going in the end of the year list, folks.

RogerBW · 26 June 2025 04:25

Hmm, I moderately enjoyed my two.plays of it, but I admit not to the extent of seeking out more.