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R0land's Rambling Reviews: Alphabet Reviews V

by R0land1199 | updated 3 hours ago

Oboy...V is a real tough one. A real tough one. I have played only 8 games starting with V but 3 of them are favourites of mine...

...so I am going to cheat and give you a blurb on 3 games anyway. :)

#Village

The timing is fortuitous as Three Minute Boardgames just did a review of this one. He also mentioned there is a big box reprint coming. I won't be needing that as I have the game plus both expansions already.

In this game you are playing as a family as they go through multiple generations in the village. Family members may work the farm, learn a production skill, travel the world, join the church, run for mayor etc.

Points are gained through a variety of means. By selling goods, being a high ranking member of the church, travelling the world, etc.

The hook for this game is that many actions cost time and as time passes you will end up having to choose members of the oldest generation to die. If there is space in the town chronicle for the job they held in life they will earn you points, if there isn't they go in to a grave without points.

This creates a wonderful narrative to the game as well as interesting decisions.

It's probably NOT a good idea to try to get a first generation member to the top of the church because you would have to be VERY stingy with the time you spend to have them around at the end of the game which can hamstring you.

On the other hand you have situations where dear old Uncle Bob finally got in to the church only to immediately pass away and steal the last church chronicle entry from other longer term, more deserving, members of the priesthood.

The expansions are very good in my opinion although I consider #Village Port Expansion to be more important than #Village Inn. It adds more to travelling which I think is fine in the base game but improves with a bit more crunch to it. I'd still always play with both.

This is a wonderful game and I'm very glad it is getting a reprint.

#Viscounts of the West Kingdom

My favourite of the West Kingdom games, just edging out #Architects of the West Kingdom which is followed closely behind by #Paladins of the West Kingdom. (In other words, they are all great games, this one is just my favourite.)

This game sees you building up a deck of characters and choosing one to play each turn. As you play them you add them to your tableau. Each turn the characters move to the right and then off the end so you create your own flow of skills and abilities as you play.

You have to combine this with moving your main character piece around a double ringed rondel. There are inner and outer actions and if you play a character to your tableau showing 3 movement you MUST move 3 spaces.

It's a delicious interplay of building up a tableau of characters with, for example, a large number of merchant symbols showing, while also making sure that your player piece hits the right spot at the right time to make the most use of those symbols.

There is a large variety of ways to make points but for me the tableau/board interaction just puts this game to the top of the heap.

#Viticulture: Essential Edition

Viticulture has been around for a while now and likely most of you know something about it so I'll briefly describe it.

It's a worker placement game which has you planting fields, harvesting grapes, and making wine to fill orders. All the while working with interesting visitors as they come in to your winery.

The interesting twist is that you have a "Grande" worker who can be put on to spots that are already taken.

I've played quite a few games with my copy and on board game arena and I will say that the base game is good but you must play with at least the board from #Tuscany: Essential Edition for this game to shine.

The base game has some luck around the orders, visitors, and other cards you can get. It is easier to win without making any wine at all than it should be. The Tuscany board smooths out the wine making and makes it a lot easier to mitigate bad luck. Yes, you can still draw a dream combination of cards but it's a lot less of a guaranteed win.

Like all of the Stonemeier games the aesthetics and components are pleasing and it's a quality product through and through.

So, what are your favourite V games?

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State of your Collection - June 2022

by R0land1199 | updated 37 minutes ago

2 | 7 comments | [+]

Hi all!

Sorry I am a bit late but I was away on a much needed vacation with limited internet access.

But I'm back and ready to keep things rolling. (Tagging @cbrady748 who was waiting for this. :) )

So let's talk about the state of your collection for June 2022. What games have you added, removed, taken down from your shelf of shame, as well as any wishlist changes you may have had in the last tome.

Bonus question: Did you play any games for the first time in June?

Added

#Summoner Wars: Master Set: Bought it from some board game friends who are moving back to Germany. I quite like this one fast to play so the dice rolling luck factor isn't too aggregious and there are a ton of factions to play.
#Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin: Picked it up from the moving friends as well. Played it once solo. I'm not fully sold on this one so it might show up in the removed list in the future.
#For Sale: I quite like this one online and I think the light game gamer group we sometimes have over will like this one.
#Colonial Twilight: The French-Algerian War, 1954-62: I don't play a lot of two player games but I figured this one will play well solo and might be fun to play with a friend when there are only two of us.
#Marvel Champions: The Card Game – Ironheart Hero Pack: The addiction continues...
#Marvel Champions: The Card Game – Nova Hero Pack: ...and continues. And I'm fine with that. :)
#Ultimate Railroads: I pre-ordered this quite a while ago. I've played it a ton on boardgamearena as well. I love #Russian Railroads and this is just more of it which is awesome. Good solo mode too

Removed

None

Taken down from the shelf of shame

#Summoner Wars: Master Set: Got a couple of games in right off the bat and really enjoyed it!
#Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin: Got one solo game in. Jury is out still.

Wishlist changes

None although I did remove a bunch of games from the GMT P500. The shipping to Canada wipes out the P500 savings and it's actually way cheaper to just buy it online from a Canadian shop. Sure, I risk not getting a game but there are plenty more out there.

First Time Plays in June

#Thunderstone Advance: Towers of Ruin: Already mentioned
#Imperium: Classics: I enjoyed this game but I also agree with the reviews I've seen online. It is a bit too long for what you get out of it. Glad I played it and I would play it again if asked for sure but there are other deck building/tableau games I'd rather play first.
#Summoner Wars: Master Set: Already mentioned
#Jump Drive: Played it on BGA. Ok, I fully admit I didn't have full focus on it and playing it in person is the better way to make a judgement so take this with a grain of salt...but I really didn't like it. I'd rather play #Race for the Galaxy any day of the week.
#Tigris & Euphrates: I've played #Yellow & Yangtze before and really enjoyed it so when the older brother showed up on BGA I had to give it a shot. I like it quite a bit although I can see why people say it is meaner. It feels harder to get back in to the game when one of your leaders gets popped. That is said with not a ton of plays however.
#VektoRace: This one possibly captures the racing feel the best of the other games I have played on board game arena. Only #Formula D surpasses it from the ones I've played. That said, it's fairly simplistic so I'm not sure how fun a game it would be after repeated plays.
#Dungeon Petz: I know this game is well liked but it didn't do it for me. I wouldn't play it again unless someone in my group really wanted to.

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Planted

by marcnelsonjr | updated 27 hours ago

2 | 3 comments | [+]

ReviewKemet in about 3 minutes (https://youtu.be/RfKJq80cT7Q) [Kemet, Kemet: Blood and Sand]

by Jarrod Carmichael | updated 28 hours ago

2 | 1 comment | [+]

Shelf of Shame/Opportunity Quarter 2 Recap

by cbrady748 | updated 39 hours ago

3 | 4 comments | [+]

With the end of June came the end to the 2nd quarter of the year and also the second quarter of the shelf of shame/opportunity contest I've been subjecting myself to. As a quick recap, my goal through this is to play/get rid of 25% of my unplayed games. I started the contest on April 1st with 42 unplayed games. For those who are adverse to math, that meant I needed to play 11 of them by the end of June. I managed to play 7 of them by the end of April which was great progress...

Except I may or may not have added a whopping 24 games to my collection in May. Now some people in the contest strive to stick to their original goal which would have meant I needed to play 35 games by the end of June. Fortunately for myself, I am not some people lol. The contest is really what you want it to be and not anything serious. The real goal is to just encourage people to play the games they have and haven't gotten around to playing. Or at least that's what I told myself. Anyways in May I played a total of 11 more games for a grand total of 18 out of my "new" shelf of shame/opportunity of 66. For anyone keeping score..25% of 66 is 17 so I reached my goal! Oh wait there's another month left?

As far as June was concerned, I of course added games. Honestly whoever thought I wouldn't was lying to themselves. I added 12 games in total (excluding crowdfunding pledges backed as I can't yet play what I don't have). Or play what I do have...

Games added in June:

#The Castles of Tuscany - Picked this up from Barnes and Noble for cheap after watching some rules videos. Money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

#The King's Dilemma - I actually made a trade for this! More about that in @R0land1199's State of Your Collection post once he writes it. No pressure!

#Alhambra - Early in the month, I discovered Goodwill auctions. I don't know why I bid on this but here I am.

#Space Alert - Same as above. Actually got #A Game of Thrones: The Card Game along with it but have since traded that away. As far as Space Alert goes, So Very Wrong About Games loves it so I'm sure it's gotta be good.

#Q.E. - I knew I was going to buy this eventually having recently backed the expansion for it.

#Kombo Klash - Picked this up in the Asmodee sale I couldn't resist.

#Cupcake Empire - Ditto.

#The Magnificent - As above.

#Caylus - We had a quick weekend getaway in New Hampshire and as usual we found some game stores/cafes. I saw this in one of the stores and had to have it.

#ヒーフー!! (Hii Fuu!!) - Random Japanese trick taker I bought from someone on BGG.

#Three Kingdoms Redux - This has been on my wishlist since Hidden Gems mentioned BGG buying the remaining stock from the publisher. It showed up on their store in June so here I am.

#Keyflower - Was this necessary? Of course not, but again on my wishlist and I found it for relatively cheap.

Okay so clearly I just got 12 games and played 0 of them so far so my "shelf of shame/opportunity" was up to 78 games at some point. I ended up getting rid of 4 of them via trading/selling, so I'm "down" to 74. Therefore goal was now up to 19 games that needed to have been played by the end of June. Still 1 new game away from goat, let's look at what I managed to play:

#Glass Road - PLAYED 6/4/22 - Ended up resorting to playing a few games solo just to get them played. I don't think I'd want to play this again solo, so I'll need to rope Sarah into a game some day.

#Rajas of the Ganges - PLAYED 6/13/22 - We really liked our play of this. Next time we'll play with the "advanced" rules.

#Jaws - PLAYED 6/14/22 - Unsurprisingly, we were so so on this game. The first half was great. Second half, not so much. We plan to play it at least 2 more times but will ultimately part with it.

#Haggis - PLAYED 6/18/22 - Played with a friend and really really had a great time. I need to play this much much more.

#Tigris & Euphrates - PLAYED 6/23/22 - Thanks to @theDL and @docker37, I played this on BGA a couple times now. Really liking it despite having 0 idea on what to do as far as strategy. Not totally sure yet if it will stay in the collection going forward.

#Take It Easy! - PLAYED 6/23/22 - Another solo play and another one I want to play with more people. Pretty fun, ridiculously quick.

#Troyes - PLAYED 6/28/22 - Also digital on BGA with the aforementioned duo. This one I really struggled with. Not because I didn't understand how to play, but I didn't understand why I was doing anything. Definitely up for trade/sale.

That's it, folks! 7 more games played in June gives me a grand total of 25 games played throughout the 2nd quarter of the year. That's more than my 19 games needed to play 25% so I did it! Doesn't exactly feel like a win since I still have more unplayed games (51) than I originally started with (42). I guess that's why other people in the contest force themselves to play an extra game for every game they add throughout the quarter, but that feels like work lol. In mid July a few of us "losers" from the "don't buy board games" contest I was also in (and clearly lost by a lot haha) are starting that up again so maybe I'll stop buying games again here soon.

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HumorFunny Board Game Memes

by Board Game Halv | updated 4 months ago

25 | 23 comments | [+]

Worker Placement As A Life Action Philosophy

by WadeB1977 | updated 8 days ago

24 | 13 comments | [+]

Pass/Missed/Perfect - World Series of Board Gaming Lineup

by Atlas | updated 7 months ago

22 | 28 comments | [+]

My Top 50 Games 2021

by Skurvy5 | updated 9 days ago

21 | 29 comments | [+]

Hello to all! Is that wonderful time of year again when one has an opportunity to sit back and reflect and make board game lists! Last year I did a Top 20 but this year my collection has grown to the point where I can now confidently do a Top 50 list. Where possible I'll note how games have shifted from last year and at the end I'll discuss a few games that I haven't played yet that probably could push their way into the top 50. I'll do this list from great to most great.

50.#Everdell (Last year 14) Fun game, but for various reasons I traded this one away.

49.#Kingdom Builder Fast playing, lighter game that I enjoy playing with my daughters.

48.#Aeon's End: Legacy (Last year 18) Was a great experience but as a true legacy game there isn't much use for the box at this point. Yes, I guess I could play one off games with the legacy content but too many games, too little time.

47.#7 Wonders Duel A fun and surprisingly crunchy 2 player game. I just recently traded this one away as it unfortunately just never hit my table.

46.#CloudAge A good not great Pfister with a really cool theme and some cool ideas but manages to somehow not last long enough and yet is also too long at the same time.

45.#Dwellings of Eldervale I had enormous hopes for this one. And while it does have some awesome ideas, and is a pretty good solo game, at the end of the day it is less than the sum of its parts. Used this one as trade fodder and picked up some good value for trading it away.

44.#Trajan (last year 22) A fun Feld game with some cool mechanics that just doesn't hit the table as much as I'd like. I'm a sucker for Roman history so even though the theme is hardly there I seem to give it a bit of extra credit for that theme.

43.#Dominion A classic game that languishes at the bottom of my Kallax. Would play it a lot more if it had a solo mode or something.

42.#High Frontier 4 All I acquired this game shortly after Christmas last year and was so so excited to get it. There is so much good in this box. I love the map - it's an absolutely stunning depiction of our solar system. I love the simulation of orbital mechanics. I love the usage of realistic future tech. But as a game? It just doesn't quite all add up. I ended up using my copy as part of trade.

41.#Scythe (last year 16) A fantastic production with fantastic components and all kinds of fun in the box. But after loads of plays I ended up feeling like I was done with this game. The campaign from Rise of Fenris was fantastic. Ended up trading this one for Dwellings which then got traded for a bunch of other games.

40.#The Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth Another fantastic box of fun with great components. I wanted to like this one more than I did. Lots of cool in this package but at the end of the day it just had enough nagging little problems that I felt confident enough to trade it away. I think my biggest problem with this one is that the campaign didn't allow you enough time to explore all these cool locations. Lots of pressure to always push forward faster and faster. Also constantly shuffling those little cards got a bit old.

39.#Dune: Imperium This is a great game! It's a deck builder combined with a worker placement and area conflict game! And... I wish it focused more on one single mechanism. The deck building is fun, but the game is too short to really dig into the deck building. The worker placement is cool - but there isn't enough meat there. The area conflict is exciting! But there is only one space to fight over. I ended up trading this one away for great value.

38.#Underwater Cities (last year 9) Huge drop for this one. It's still a great game with an awesome theme. I would gladly play this any time. But I ended up getting a similar game from the same designer that pushed this one down.

37.#Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition Recent addition to my collection. It's an interesting combination of regular TM and Race for the Galaxy. Right now I still like both "parent" games more but this one is one to watch. I definitely appreciate the high component quality in this one.

36.#Empires of the Void II (last year 19) A fantastic game with some of the most beautiful artwork in my collection. This one is pushed down a bit simply because I just don't get it to the table very often. It's very good though.

35.#Maracaibo (last year 13) A fantastic Pfister that got pushed down by a different Pfister game that you'll see further up on the list. A lot to love in this game, especially the cool legacy style story, but also quite fiddly to set up.

34.#Neom: Create the City of Tomorrow.A fun and light city building game that I never hear anyone talk about. Some cool ideas in a nice package.

33.#Civilization: A New Dawn I absolutely love the Civ PC games and this is a surprising cool board game adaptation. I love the action selection mechanism in this one which is surprisingly underutilized across the hobby. I really would like to grab the expansion for this one.

32.#Viscounts of the West KingdomRelatively new add to my collection and I'm still getting into this one. I love the deck building and interesting decisions in this one. Fantastic solo mode too. Look for this one to climb in the future with additional plays.

31.#Oath: Chronicles of Empire and Exile Picked this one up over the summer. It's definitely unique and has lots of cool ideas. It's a beast to learn but is incredibly thematic and intense. Not sure if I should keep it in my collection as it's not really a solo game and I doubt I can get my game group to play it. It's fantastic though.

30.#First Martians: Adventures on the Red Planet (last year 10) I love the theme in this one and it tells cool stories. Just haven't played it as much in the last year and it's been pushed down by other games.

29.#SpaceCorp One of the 3 big "build a space program games" - the other two being High frontier and Stellar Horizons- and SpaceCorps is easily the most euro-style of those games. Definitely more of an abstracted game than High Frontier and probably more fun because of that fact. But also less realistic.

28.#Root (Last year 15) This one has been pushed down because I simply hadn't gotten it to the table very much. However I recently acquired the#Root: The Clockwork Expansion which makes me much more likely to play this game. I'm looking forward to playing this one a lot more this coming year.

27.#Black Angel Absolutely gorgeous game - artwork by Ian O'Toole - with some really interesting dice placement mechanics. I haven't played this one as much as I would like.

26.#Circadians: First Light (last year 8) Really great game that has simply been pushed down the list by even greater games. Has a phenomenal solo mode. I really should play this one more.

25.#Wingspan (last year 21) Beautiful game with a unique theme. Really enjoy playing this one with my daughter. Decent solo mode, phenomenal components.

24.#Hallertau A really strong Uwe game with great card play. Lighter than some other Uwe games and has a nice beat your own solo mode. Great for a lazy Sunday afternoon.

23.#Xia: Legends of a Drift System A grail game of mine for a long time and I can't believe it isn't in the top 10. Just haven't played it enough to push some of the other games down. Really fun space exploration game with all kinds of cool ships and is extremely thematic.

22.#Praga Caput Regni This is the game that replaced#Underwater Cities for me. A really cool theme with lots of fun euro content. Love the art work in this one too.

21.#Tawantinsuyu: The Inca Empire The first of many games that features a David Turzci solo design. This game is just a wonderful euro game with crunchy decisions to make every single turn. A little more thematic than you'd expect, but not really.

20.#Paladins of the West Kingdom(last year 11) - my current favorite of the West Kingdom games. Love the interconnected tracks and the various buildings and round goals. Very fun. Strong solo mode.

19.#Tapestry As "So Very Wrong About Games" so appropriately described: this game is tracks on tracks on tracks and it really speaks to me and my game group. A small amount of theme but surprisingly fun with a great solo mode to boot. Wish the miniatures looked better though.

18.#Barrage A cutthroat Euro Game about water management with a fantastic solo AI and some really cool mechanics. File this one under "game I need to play more".

17.#Tekhenu: Obelisk of the SunOne of the mighty "T" games with a delicious solo mode from David Turzci. Cool theme with this game and I enjoy the multiple mechanisms in this one.

16.#Leaving Earth Absolutely love this game. A realistic space game with involved mission planning and lots of brain burning decisions. The expansions really add a lot to this game and wow it's fun.

15.#Great Western Trail (Second Edition)

Wow! This is by far the best Pfister I've ever played. It blows Maracaibo and CloudAge out of the water. Meaningful deck building with amazing components and a unique theme. Amazing.

14.#Kanban EV. Starting to hit some really amazing games here. Phenomenal components, beautiful artwork, awesome theme, and a fantastic David Turzci solo mode.

13.#Middara: Unintentional Malum – Act 1. Woah. This is a game. Tons and tons of content, incredibly flexible and open ended character development. Lots and lots of dice. Great story. Haven't finished the campaign yet and had to pack it away to make some space to play other games.

12.#Hadrian's Wall

One of the only roll and writes I've ever played and what a game. I love all the interconnection between the various parts. It's an amazing solo game and really gives you a fantastic since of progress.

11.#Imperium: Classics

An incredibly thematic deck-builder with a crazy variety of play styles to pick from. Particularly great solo mode designed by - who else - David Turzci. Lots to explore in this game and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

10.#Star Wars Imperial Assault

Last year this was ranked number 5. Still one of my most favorite games of all time. Suffers from a lack of recent play time but really enjoy everything about this one. Really great Star Wars flavor and a ton of content. Great solo too, either with the app or using a fan-made variant.

9.#On Mars

Huge, sprawling, deep. Complex. Phenomenal. It's OK solo but really shined with my game group. We had a blast and can't wait to table it again.

8. #Race for the Galaxy

Deep, but not complex. Huge variety, but not overwhelming. A quick playing solo game with endless amounts of variety. I have finally introduced it to my game group too so I'm looking forward to many more plays multiplayer. Gathering Storm expansion is very high up on my "required" expansions list.

7.#Gloomhaven

Last year this was #4. I still love this to bits but it's been a while since I tabled it. I did play the digital adaptation which is amazing with my friends a couple of times and the card play is simply unmatched with this one. Truly a great box of fun.

6.#A Feast for Odin

Last year this was also ranked in the 6 spot. I haven't played all of Mr. Rosenberg's games but this is by far my favorite. The wide-open action board combines so beautifully with the polyomino system. The mild dice roll elements add just a little bit of randomness to the game. I doubt I will ever get to play this game enough to see all of the cards. Truly a great game.

5.#Gaia Project

Last year this was ranked number 3 overall. I still love this game so so much. The engine building and asymmetric factions combine for almost endless combinations of strategy. Also features one of the best non-David Turzci solo modes I've seen. Simple yet challenging. A great game all around.

4.#Terraforming Mars

Last year this was ranked 7th overall. I did get a fair few plays of this one this year, including adding in Venus Next, Colonies, and very recently Turmoil expansions. There is so much to love in this game, especially once you get used to the uneven card art and average component quality. I know it is a bit much asking folks to get past the art but if you ever find it within yourself to give this one a try I know you won't be disappointed.

3.#Mage Knight: Ultimate Edition

Last year this was ranked 2nd overall. I really need to play this one again. So many games, not enough time. This is an epic, amazing game. I can't say enough good things about this game. Still my absolute favorite solo game, even though it hasn't hit the table recently. I also honestly don't think the rule book is that terrible. Is it great? No, but there are so many other aids to help you learn the game at this point that rule book complaints shouldn't be used as excuses any more.

2.#Star Wars: Rebellion

Shocker! My number one game has been dethroned. I love love love this game but it is a beast to table. My good friend who plays this with me every year has been unable to come out to Minnesota for the last 2 years due to Covid restrictions and I have been sorely missing my plays of this great game. Really love everything about this game though.

1.#Anachrony: Infinity Box

A game great enough to unseat Rebellion. I initially picked up just the essentials edition of this game and fell in love immediately. After my first solo play I knew that I had to get all of the content for this game. I managed to snag the Infinity Box and WOW is this game great. An unbelievable solo AI designed by, of course, David Turzci, crazy amounts of modules to add in or take out, and incredibly thematic euro-style gameplay. What more can I say about this one? It's incredible.

So that's my list! 50 great games. I do have quite the list of games that I need to play (listed in no particular order):

#Bonfire

#Brass: Birmingham

#Pipeline

#Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar

#Kepler-3042

#Stellar Horizons

#Space Empires 4X

#Martians: A Story of Civilization

#The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

#Founders of Gloomhaven

#MicroMacro: Crime City