What did you play this week? (4/5/2021)
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R0land1199 Premium User5 days ago
I break my yard work into multiple sessions to make sure I get to play other games. :)
cbrady748 Premium User6 days ago
Hey 2 beers is nothing to scoff at! But no games?! Gotta work on that...
nwrex 5 days ago
Played two games of #Point Salad with our friends at game night. Their 10 year-old foster-son who said, 'I don't need to know the rules, I'll just do what everyone else is doing', won both games.
Then three of us played #Kingdom Builder. I was way behind in points, but it was so much fun!
Courageous Bob 4 days ago
I only recently came across Kingdom builder on Board game arena and it is such a clever game, especially with 4 players the map gets so tight and the powers let you do all kinds of satisfying things.
theDL Premium User5 days ago
Oh that is great. That game is definitely simple enough that that could be a valid strategy!
theDL Premium User6 days ago
Light week!
- #The Castles of Burgundy @ 2p with my wife. We finally were able to play a full game, and we both enjoyed it! I'm guessing we'll get it to the table again sooner than later, though maybe not this week.
- #Santorini with my father in law at a family Easter get-together. We got him this game for Christmas and it seems like he really enjoys it.
BoardGameHalv 6 days ago
How do you think #The Castles of Burgundy holds up as a 2-player game? I really enjoyed the back and forth.
theDL Premium User5 days ago
That's the only count at which I've played so far, but I thought it was great! I could see the jockeying for first player on the ship track being really fun at 2 players (or other counts as well). We didn't focus too much on that in our game, and mainly focused on filling our board.
BoardGameHalv 6 days ago
#New York 1901 - A classic. I love that the action happens in a communal area instead of on a personal tableau area like other similar titles.
#Pusheen Purrfect Pick - adorable set collection game but not much to it. That is why I just made a post about a proposed expert version of the rules. Take a look and let me know your thoughts.
BoardGameHalv 5 days ago
It is a ton of fun.
It plays like drafting and tableau building game with puzzle elements (#Alhambra #Patchwork #Suburbia)
But it takes place on the center communal board so players are fighting over space. On top of that there is the building up of your skyscrapers so it has a development component of a simpler engine builder.
There is nothing quite like it.
cbrady748 Premium User6 days ago
Played a few games this week.
#Clans of Caledonia - as @Courageous Bob said, finished up a long running game of this with some people on the forum. I think I got a pretty good idea of how to play now so of course we had to have a rematch. Pretty fun game.
#The Red Cathedral - played this a couple times solo. You can read my thoughts here if you're interested. Having a good time with this one, but definitely need to strategize better to beat the AI. Feels like an impossible task so far.
#Underwater Cities - finished up a game we had going on Yucata between myself, @boardgamegumbo and @TK2187. Added in @theDL to a new game just to see how it plays out with 4. I actually found myself enjoying the dynamic at 3 a little more than I like it at 2. Also played once in real life over Easter weekend with Sarah and my brother. That play counts towards our 10 x 5 challenge we're trying to accomplish by the end of the year. It was my brother's first play and he seemed to really like it. Want to try and introduce him to #Terraforming Mars next!
#Fabled Fruit - speaking of the 10 x 5 challenge, we played this as well. We're nearly finished seeing the entire deck of cards - I believe we are on card 55 of 59. It should only take 2-3 more plays max before we're done with it and I can finally sell the game. After that we'll need a replacement for our challenge...
R0land1199 Premium User5 days ago
Underwater cities is quite fun. I don't think it's terraforming Mars under water like I've heard but it does have some similarities.
cbrady748 Premium User4 days ago
Oh I don't think so either, I just think that TfM would appeal to my brother. Honestly I would have shown him that first but UC is on our 10 x 5 challenge, so Sarah wouldn't have joined us if we didn't play one of those games lol.
R0land1199 Premium User4 days ago
It's certainly a good one to move to from Underwater Cities. It has some obvious similarities to go along with the differences.
Nice to have people in your household & immediate family who want to game! It's all online for me right now.
R0land1199 Premium User6 days ago
Good week! Played a good variety of games!
- #The Hunters: German U-Boats at War, 1939-43 (solo, physical) x3: Picked this one up new. It's rare these days that I misfire on a game purchase but this is one of those cases. Now, don't get me wrong,the game is not horrible or anything but it was definitely not what I was hoping for. It's a solitaire game where you play through the career of a German submarine captain. The problem is that the game play has very shallow depth but the "story" elements and flavour is also extremely weak. For some people perhaps they can fill in their own story and use the game as a framework. But I was expecting something that would give me more story by itself.
- #Blackout: Hong Kong (solo, physical)x2: Picked this one up for $20 CDN. Alexander Pfister? Reviewed well? Why not take a chance on it? Glad I did! This is a fun game with a good solo mode! It's beat your own score which I generally don't like but it works in this one!
- #Race for the Galaxy with#Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm (multiplayer, board game arena) x2: Played a couple of rounds of this excellent game waiting for our 4th player so we could play...
- #Petrichor (multiplayer, TTS): second time playing this although the first time was ages ago. The game is fine. The theme is different but the game is definitely quite cut throat so don't expect flowers and dew drops. The only drops of liquid will be tears when someone messes you up big time. (I managed to win so no tears for me this time.
- #Pericles: The Peloponnesian Wars (solo, physical): Wow! What a game! I played one round only against the bots. It took a while to get the rules down and the bots down. I read the rulebook a second time now and highlighted all of the gotcha rules I missed. This game is beautiful, has a ton of history to it and has some excellent in depth game play that is going to take many plays to really get good at. Now this is what I want in a solo able war game!
- #Cuba Libre (multiplayer, TTS): my first COIN game and Ireally enjoyed it! I can see this getting better on subsequent plays. Especially now that we have seen the whole flow of the game. The interactions between the sides, the map layout balance to where you have to go out of your natural area to win. It's just great. I have #Andean Abyss coming for a follow up.
- #Russian Railroads (solo, physical): This one is out of print but I found one selling for a good price locally. I know a reprint is coming out but I am more than happy just to have this version. The official solo game is fun because the game is just so excellent in so many ways
Good week!
BoardGameHalv 6 days ago
wow, that is a good week.
If I had to choose only one, at this moment I would have to say #Russian Railroads but it is a hard choice.
I haven't had a chance to play #Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm yet. Are you happy with what it adds?
R0land1199 Premium User5 days ago
Russian railroads is just a perfect balance of tight board, different ways to score, and game length. It just nails all aspects for me and the other members of my group. It does what it does perfectly.
The gathering storm adds the solo mode which is good enough. Definitely tough to beat and simulates an opponent enough for me.
It also adds the objective tiles which are nice for the regular game. Some are first to get it keep it and some are in competition until the game is over.
And of course more cards and home worlds.
It's the only expansion I have so far but I'd say that one is worth it.
Courageous Bob 6 days ago
Played some #CuBirds which is a fun little set collection game new to BGA.
Finished off a long running game of #Clans of Caledonia on BGA with a bunch of the folks from on here: it's a beast of a euro. Lots of number crunching needed but a lot of fun and lots of ways to approach it.
R0land1199 Premium User5 days ago
I like clans for sure. We have played it a couple of times and it's definitely a crunchy but fun game!
Courageous Bob 4 days ago
Yeah for sure it is crunchy! I felt like I could have done with a spreadsheet at times with all the numbers running through my head.
R0land1199 Premium User4 days ago
If you like the numbers then definitely try #Power Grid. I've also heard Clans compared to #Gaia Project which I definitely prefer. (But I prefer it to most other games.)
Courageous Bob 2 days ago
I do really like #Terra Mystica, and I remember discussing the differences with you. I will for sure check it out at some point
WadeB1977 Premium User6 days ago
This week I got to play #yardchores. This rather rare game originated in Denton Texas and is a worker placement game with one worker to place similar to #Raiders of Scythia. In Yard Work, your worker is assigned to a task, and similar to #Pendulum, you can leave that worker at the same task for an indeterminate amount of time. If the worker completes a task (there a several types) then s/he scores bonus points with the spouse and earns end-game points.
Tasks include fixing the car, mowing the yard, building the chicken coop, creating a garden, etc. Some tasks are easy and take very little time while other tasks are more arduous and gain lots of spousal bonus points but also cause negative "soreness" tokens to accrue.
Sadly, the game is solo and the primary goal is to find a good balance between end-game objectives (drinking a beer and playing a game) and the accruing soreness tokens.
I did poorly this weekend scoring two beers and no games.
Better luck next weekend perhaps...