Yet another tick in the column arguing that @TheDukester and @OhBollox are one and the same…
Also, agreed.
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Superb. Amazon show is, believe it or not, even better.
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Betrayal Legacy from the Rob My Daviau.
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Got some plays in, including Twilight Struggle with a beautifully petty slapfight in South America.
Narrowly lost a game of Terraforming Mars, corporate era type. I forgot how quickly it sprawls, and while I used a thick block of events it wasn’t enough to win out over efficient use of projects. Two-player, so it took a while as the goals remain the same, there’s no scaling, but quite a lot of fun regardless. The sheer amount of stuff you do is amazing. This play alone almost made me buy Venus Next. Smashing asteroids and comets and moons into Mars, colony ships of immigrants, bootstrapping grasses and lichen, orbiting nuclear power stations and giant lenses, it’s relentlessly imaginative.
Had a few games of Kahuna, superb little filler that has stood the test of time.
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I’m getting ready to start playing the fan-made campaign Heroes of the Aturi Cluster for X-Wing. It looks, um, bizarrely good?
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I don’t even know what half of that means but it sounds awesome!
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Taught a new player the COIN ropes with Colonial Twilight.
We’re currently trying to get together a regular epic games session; naturally it’s not going well as large, long games tend to be inconvenient, but it looks like we’re having our first this weekend. We’re still hashing out whether it’s going to be Twilight Imperium or Civilization.
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I know nothing about he COIN games, but every screen posted here sure is beautiful. Are there any that are shorter and easier than others?
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Colonial Twilight is actually the one you want in that case. It’s two-player, so there’s really no negotiation, and the FLN faction is an absolute doddle to control. The French faction is a little more difficult as they have a four-way split in their units between French/Algerian and Troops/Police, but they’re not hard to learn either.
If you want a four-player experience then the simplest is Cuba Libre, with a tight map providing inescapable close quarters. It’s about the same length as Colonial Twilight (about two hours) but offers a lot more complexity in the gameplay because of the interplay of four factions.
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There’s no easy and definitely no short in the COIN series. Unless you enjoy watching analysis paralysis occur every turn, steer clear…
ETA: I own A Distant Plain and Fire in the Lake, but the sheer amount of time required to play them is bananas. I much prefer Labyrinth for a 2p, similar feel (and think it’s a better game, IMHO).
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TL;DR first part is a hopefully funny story, skip down to the second act if you only care about actual family/party game discoveries.
Part I:
This week in Prague, I went to a game night with about 20 compatriots, most of whom are casual gamers at best, at a cool pub called Brews and Boards. True to their name, they had a library of about 500 board games and almost as many beers on their menu, and a banquet style table set up to accommodate all of us.
So, I’m thinking, I know games, this is my time to shine, I got this. I go straight to the library and carefully pick out a few that are new and fun, easy to explain and learn, and have mechanics that might entertain and delight, and can be played in a reasonably short amount of time.
I get back to the table with my thoughtful selections, and another dude is already there, saying, “who wants to play Scrabble and who wants to play Clue?” Clearly he rolled a higher initiative. I get it, we grew up playing Scrabble and Clue, they may remind us of childhood, perhaps even fondly. But there is a reason new games keep being created since then.
So, at that moment, as I walked up with other games, resplendent in their novelty, I probably should have said , “and who wants to try something new?” Instead, I blurted out to my Scrabble/Clue friend, something like, “wtf, are you from the 1930s?” As you can imagine, I lost the crowd with that comment and we played a friendly, tedious game of Clue.
Part II:
Then there was a heated game of Ghost Blitz at our end of the table, which I just watched, in between smoke breaks. Seemed potentially really fun for kids, or for somewhat inebriated adults, or for people who don’t like strategy.
Then we all played, 5 Second Rule. The pace was lovely for a closing call game, we could add more people anytime as they defected to our side of the table, miffed by losing their Scrabble game that took 2 hours. It was fun, especially to be a ruthless timer, and a comedic judge of answers. We all enjoyed it and played through the whole deck and didn’t even count up the score at the end. Many laughs were had.
Epilogue:
Happy Thanksgiving! Board games are right up there in my childhood memories of this holiday, mostly Risk. I’m thankful nobody insisted on playing that.
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So, at that moment, as I walked up with other games, resplendent in their novelty, I probably should have said , “and who wants to try something new?” Instead, I blurted out to my Scrabble/Clue friend, something like, “wtf, are you from the 1930s?” As you can imagine, I lost the crowd with that comment and we played a friendly, tedious game of Clue.
I feel your pain.
We put Twilight Imperium 4th edition on the table today. With three of us, it took almost exactly five hours including set up and rules teaching. It is slimmed down from 3rd, but it’s never going to be something you knock out casually. I can see what attracts, and we’re playing it next week with more people, but I don’t think I’ll buy it. Buying a game in hope of getting it played is something I’m trying hard not to do.
Also got some Ice Cool and Dungeon Fighter done this week, and I think Dungeon Fighter might be the funniest dexterity game I’ve played.
Well ladies and gents, I certainly hope Your Week in Cardboard was better than mine. I had two cancellations, one late show, and I had to finally talk to a member of my group concerning their drinking problem.
I’ve got Twilight Imperium tomorrow after work (I won’t be in the mood to sit down for another 5-6 hours, but there you go) and perhaps some Terraforming Mars on Sunday if my opponents don’t cancel.
Less than stellar.
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Sorry to hear that! It sucks when game day doesn’t work out as planned.
I actually did my November “New to Me” post about November games played.
This last week, I played City of Iron by Ryan Laukat and then Azul
I’m not really into abstract games, but I really liked that one!
Tried to get a game of Modern Art in yesterday at lunch, but we got a late start so I could only teach them and play a round.
Should be a good one for lunchtime games in 2 weeks.
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Did you get the new Modern Art? Nice edition?
It is amazing.
I did a First Impressions post if you’re interested.
But basically, it looks great and plays fast.
I really enjoy it.
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I hear that there is a new space movie coming out in a few weeks. That’s cool. I guess they are using CGI for Patrick Stewart since he passed away after filming the first Harry Potter movie?
Anyways, I’ll be getting geared up by teaching my cousins how to beat me in X-Wing.
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I have an edition from the mid 90s which looks like crap next to that, but I was dead set against buying it again until I saw the Oink Games edition. Swines.
I’ve heard the Oink edition is good too.
In fact, I got this in a Math Trade, and the guy who traded it to me (who happens to be a friend anyway) was trading it because he got the Oink edition.
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