One of the Kiwi reviewers I follow referred to Spirit Island as embodying the Maori concept of Kaitiakitanga or guardianship/protector of the land, and I feel it definitely plops the colonists into gameplay as the bad guys.
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It’s a step in the right direction, but the aspects of it that some find odd are that the Dahan still lack almost any agency at all in the game, though the spirits defending the land plays nicely into the broader concept of many indigenous peoples beliefs regarding their gods/spirits. It’s still kind of limited in depicting violent resistance (although that definitely has its place), and personally I’m happier with satirical games like John Company that are openly mocking things we still do today, but it is an improvement.
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I may be on the older side of forum members here, but when I was growing up, colonialism in all eras was basically depicted as an unvarnished good with a few outlying issues. The books I read, the games I played, the movies I watched all reinforced that. Now, looking back and reassessing these things is a huge socio-political issue in the US, and it’s definitely had its effect on the gaming world. Remember when GMT canceled “Scramble for Africa” and the right-wingers went nuts on BGG? Like @OhBollox, I don’t mind if the designer knows what he or she is doing and depicts the game narrative in that light. I do mind where the basic idea of a game is “let’s exterminate the natives and take their stuff.”
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I’ve had it on my iPad for months. Like Terra Mystica and Scythe, I’ve just never found enough desire to learn a new game rather than play an old one to get into it, and it makes me feel like a failure. For some reason, Through the Ages, Eclipse, and Terraforming Mars were no problem to learn and great to play, but not these.
As far as the theme, eh. It’s anti-colonialist, and it’s nice to get that out there, but it doesn’t seem to offer a model of productive, desirable relations between nations, either. Trade has contributed greatly to humanity, so anti-colonialism which doesn’t make space for that is blunt enough that it’s not really an interesting critique. So, though I appreciate the respite from colonialist themes, I’m still looking for a game which develops some conceptual vocabulary for charting a just and beneficial way forward. But that’s a lot to ask.
Pivoting slightly, I really enjoy spirit island in all its complexity. I am by no means good at it, but I find that this is one of those games that only gets played because it is digital.
I own the box and the expansions and I always feel under pressure to get the rules right - like the event cards and the progress track.
On digital, I can just play. I can’t break the rules and make it easier or harder.
Another game I don’t think I could ever take to the table again…. And that’s Gloomhaven.
I am 30 scenarios in on digital and at around 55 hours. No way I could do that on a table
Jaws of the Lion is a much easier play, especially with prior experience, but it also has more interesting scenarios, as well as being the best intro to GH. The GH helper app is also great to save on fiddling and table space.
Now, if it were me, I would have created an intro box for GH that was similar, except it would cost about £10 and only have 3-4 very different scenarios, lowering the bar to entry as far as possible…
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Games like Gloomhaven or even its lesser ancestors like Descent and Imperial Assault really make me wish I had an area I can leave a game up ad infinitum. My son and Played Jaws of the Lion and really loved it, but after packing it all back up after a week on the kitchen table it’s been collecting dust. At this point we’d need to relearn quite a bit just to get it going agai .
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I have been thinking about Gloomhaven on Steam, it is on my wishlist. I have never played the board game. But the digital version is good I gather? This is a good solo game?
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As a fellow member of “the older side” (cough, wheeze), I agree with how you described the experience of this across all medias. And it has only been a relatively short time that this has shifted. The box covers for the original versions of Settlers of Catan that I bought (and still use because 3E has the best components IMO) were pretty clearly an homage to the proud history of colonialism. Today, I believe it is no accident that the manufacturer has happily shifted the title of the games to just “Catan” and enforced the idea that these islands we’re all settling are otherwise deserted. I still refer to the game as “Settlers” though, which is an old habit that I can’t seem to get out of : /
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It is an excellent and tough and hard and frustrating game.
Excellent solo- playing 4 handed solo but might drop to 3.
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Still one of the best deckbuilder+ games ever made, we ended up playing Tyrants of the Underdark a bunch of times, along with several other games, and staying up until after 5 a.m. Been quite a while since we’ve done such a late one outside of a holiday, and we were all severely refreshed by the end, as we had destroyed a polypin of beer.
Everyone loved Tyrants, I managed to get them to shake up the game with different half deck combinations each play, and I had a whale of a time. I am very tired today.
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Own it. Waiting to play it.
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I like deckbuilder+ games. I’d rather use the mechanic to advance other game systems (Clank, Dune Imperium, etc.) than as the sole mechanic (Dominion, Ascension, etc.). Somehow I missed this one and plan on taking a much closer look.
I think I may have assumed it was another in the D&D Adventure series.
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Recently been re-released with the expansion included, although it has counters rather than minis now, though I’d personally consider that an improvement. Superb game.
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Now the proud owner of Nemo’s War 2nd Edition and a gap of about 10 hours learning to play it.
Somehow managed to not completely lose it on my first play but I’ll probably be mathing out the victory points for another hour.
196 Points, so a “Failure” with his Anti-Imperialist motive but not a “Defeat”.
Brutal.
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Totally agree (though I haven’t played the 2nd edition with the counters yet). Tyrants of the Underdark is in my Top 5 games played of all time.
Almost got the chance to play it today but the other guy didn’t want to, so we played Viscounts of the West Kingdom (first time for all of us, and man is that good too!)
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Finally posted Mission #7 in my Storm Above the Reich campaign.
It went well! First play with the Advanced Pursuit rules.
I’m looking for something to replace Uno 
Ok, I’ll back up. My 8-year-old is great. He’ll play anything. He’s my Gloomhaven buddy, my co-op partner, and he loves him some Dinosaur Island.
The problem, though, is that he was given a deck of Uno cards from grandma. Now, whenever we have 5 minutes he asks if I’ll play. Waiting for dinner to finish cooking? “Dad, want to play Uno?” 5 minutes until the bus comes? “Dad, want to play Uno?”
I need something I can replace the game with. I’m not entirely sure my requirements but I think it needs to have minimal setup time and play briskly. It doesn’t need to squeeze into 5 minutes but it has to fill that pick up and play role.
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I replaced Uno with my daughter with both Sleeping Queens and Loot. Both have some of that “gotcha” type of fun that you get with telling someone to Draw 2 or Draw 4, but they there is actually some strategy involved.
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I think I’m most partial to Lovecraft Letter in that space, but The Fox in the Forest is nice. Dino Hunt Dice isn’t my favorite, but it’s a heck of a step up from Uno and virtually indestructible. I’m quite attached to SET for sentimental reasons, but I do think it’s a genuinely solid perceptual puzzle with some strategizing available which degrades well when interrupted or players join or leave mid-game. All of those seem to me to have some decisions but not much stress, and are very portable. Hive is a perfectly good, also very durable and low setup game, but it’s a bit more skill-dependent and chesslike, which may not be what’s desired for these moments. If something bigger but low-setup might appeal, you could consider Strike/Harry Potter Strike, or even just having a Crokinole board out at all times, calling your name.
But, yeah, TFitF is utterly beautiful and gives lot of opportunities to plan and outwit without being horribly punishing, and Lovecraft Letter takes the basic Love Letter scaffold, and builds onto it some wilder effects and more between-round considerations which give it more of an arc if you’re able to play a few rounds successively. Plus, for kids, there’s a frisson of excitement at something which they know is supposed to be horrible, but doesn’t actually look very scary. So those are my top two.