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Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Should I get it?

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by Tariff

Brilliant as 2 or 3 player game, a must get.

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Should I get it?

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by gillum

tumorous wrote:

aolimpi wrote:

Oh, what are you supposed to start the game with? I was a bit fuzzy on that.

Players start with 5 francs and 1 coal; the offers start with 2 francs, 2 fish, 1 wood, 1 clay; the town starts with Construction Firm and 2 Building Firms already built. Pages 2-3 of the rulebook is a step-by-step setup diagram. I recommend following it... very carefully. ;)

I wonder whether this group would enjoy the shortened game more.

For that, players start with 5 Francs, 2 fish, 2 wood, 2 clay, 2 iron, 1 cattle, 2 coal and 2 hides.

There are various other differences regarding what is in the Offer, which buildings to use, etc. It's all at the bottom of page 2 of the rules.

Page 1 of the rules suggest that, with two players, playing time for the shortened version is 63% less than the full game; with three players, 33% less.

Carcassonne in Carcassonne, ??????? In Berlin?

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by Frazer Eden

Yes it's nerdy but yes we have all done it or at least thought about it.

I got married to Betsy 5 years ago in April and on our honeymoon to the south of France. Where we spent 1 day in Carcassone looking around the lovely ancient city. Betsy got very excited and suggested play Carcassonne... In Carcassonne! Well I thought this was a excellent idea so on one of the walls we settled to play. I was a fun thing to tick of the bucket list and since then we've discussed various game combos from our collection we would like to do:

Ticket to Ride on a train
Le Havrein Le Havre
Colosseum in the middle of a real colosseum
Or the ultimate Fields of Arle in Arle! (We are doing this after Essen this year)



Recently we have booked a long weekend to Berlin, this is our first weekend holiday since we had a child. To celebrate we would like to play a regional game from the area/city. Betsy hates war games and anything to along those themes (so no Twillight struggle...)

Unfortunately after a brief search I can't seem to find and none war games for Berlin. Does anyone have any suggestions to what we could play?

Has anyone else done this and played a game in its natural habitat?

On Rosenbergs and the Intangibles of the Hobby

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by David Moffett

In a morning coffee fueled fit of writer's lust, I found myself going over my collection notes and updating my thoughts on various games when I got to At the Gates of Loyang. My thoughts on it were quite outdated and they referred to a time earlier in my journey through the hobby, when I had both relatively few games and was still experiencing the wonder of discovery a new hobby can bring. I've since accumulated 20+ plays of this wonderful game and was reminded of the awe I have for Mr. Rosenberg's designs, indeed, I own more games of his design than any other one designer by a large margin. I began writing my thoughts on Gates and I decided it was becoming too long for a comment, and reasoned that it was more suited as a blog post so, here goes:

Uwe Rosenberg is my favorite designer. I think Gates is the first game that made me realize this. There is just something about his designs that gets me on a very fundamental level; and because of this I can't quite articulate it. I love economics, and growing things, I like high quality components as this greatly enhances the tactile pleasure of a good board game, and I enjoy intricate systems. Uwe tends to deliver all of these and in themes that I think a great many people would find mind-numbingly boring (Medieval European farming?, German glass making?, Production and shipping of goods in France?, Monastery economies?, Bean farming?, Goods exchange in the Hundred Years War?.) They're... erudite or niche topics, mostly. But he manages to turn them into interesting and engaging entertainment pieces, some are more challenging than others of course, but Gates stands as the pleasant middle road for me.

As I mentioned earlier there is a certain something, a power to the designs that isn't quite something I can capture easily in words. It's the way they make you feel, like a great novel. The feeling can be expressed (for me) in colors, or in wisps of personal memory which would probably be meaningless to anyone else, and they again, like a good novel or movie are not always pleasant. Agricola for instance, is brilliant. It is tight, it is tense, it evokes desperation (especially in early plays before you learn to properly manipulate the mechanics). The important thing here is, the feelings and senses it evokes jive entirely with the theme. Eking out a living from the soil, and domesticated livestock wasn't easy. Only comparatively primitive agricultural techniques were at your disposal, there was disease and blight, your lord would undoubtedly have demanded a share of your produce and you would have mouths to feed, but you needed mouths to feed in order to support the mouths you already need to feed. Even if all or most of these historical aspects aren't actually touched on in the game, the same sense of anxiety and desperation is present in the design, or at least it is for me. As is common to say around here, YMMV. I understand Caverna is a natural evolution of Agricola, perhaps replaces the design as a sort of Agricola 2.0. But the scope and depth of the design intimidates me and falls squarely on the wrong side of my self-imposed purchasing rule of "Don't buy extremely complex games, nobody will play them with you".

Do Uwe's other designs evoke similar je ne sais quoi? I think they do, but Agricola's may be the strongest; or perhaps I merely think that because it was my first experience with his designs. Merkator is dry, there is no denying that and I highlight this strongly, though sometimes tongue-in-cheek, in my review Merkator: Is This Berg' For You? but it can argued that this is part of the theme. The few depictions of the people in the art look bored, the theme strikes me as the life of a business man. A paper pusher. A merchant. This isn't exactly the glamorous life of a spy, or a soldier of a same era (something that I'm positive has been touched on in other designs). This game seems to be about war profiteering. Sure, you can say this is an excuse and maybe it is, but for me nothing is worse than a theme clashing with the mechanics and in this, they don't, which you may argue is because the theme is barely there (which isn't a lie). But the mechanics are very fine, my best friend considers this one of his favorite games and certainly his favorite Rosenberg and I think it's criminally underappreciated by the community (but I also think that about Constantinopolis and that is pretty well universally considered the poster child for milk toast designs). Merkator is very German the old adage about Germans being super-efficient, cold as ice, automatons and this design rewards you for being just that, it doesn't hurt that you appear to play as a German either. And on a personal level I think the time and following mechanics are absolutely brilliant as they help keep people interested in what others are doing.

Now, lets talk about Le Havre, and Ora et Labora. These designs are my favorite, even if they aren't my favorite games... if that makes sense (probably not). There is something about taking raw goods and turning them into finished goods that I absolutely, positively, love. Objects are fascinating to me, how they are produced, where they go, where they came from. All of these things are often explored in Rosenberg games, but none more so than in his double-sided tile designs. Amassing a stack of hides, or pottery and shipping or trading them is immensely satisfying to me and I must assume to others due to the popularity of the designs. Le Havre and Ora et Labora do not evoke strong emotions in me, besides scratching that persistent economic itch, I don't consider feeding what must be your employees in Le Havre to be an especially compelling part of the design, as is feeding your family in Agricola (this is probably due to that usually being taken care of by boats, presumably fishing). And neither game evokes anxiety the way Agricola does, it is more about optimizing your particular money/point making engines, acquiring the right buildings and fully or partially denying them to your opponents. Agricola can make you feel like you're "losing", your family is struggling, starving. This doesn't really occur in Le Havre and not at all in Ora et Labora. They are different, but they do still feel distinctly Rosenberg.

Finally, lets examine a few of what I consider to be Mr. Rosenberg's "lesser" titles. This is not to say they are bad, I've never played a design by Uwe that I didn't like. But I guess I mean they are smaller in scope. Bohnanza is one of the oldest (by publishing date) games in my collection, but it is still obviously Rosenberg. It's the theme, it's bean farming. Bohnanza is a strong blend of trading, set collection, and hand management, mechanics not often touched on extensively in his other well-known designs. Interestingly, the two-player has an entirely different dynamic, trading is gone, but now you can "combo" off the discard pile by subtle manipulation of the order and timing of your discards as well as keeping track of the probability of any given type of bean being drawn during the draw phase. It shifts focus from a game about social interaction, to a tense duel of probability manipulation. It is also accessible, I've had more success introducing this to non-gamers than any other non-party game in my collection (Cards Against Humanity is always well received by an audience willing to accept it's brutality and crudeness in my experience and I've never encountered another tabletop game able to make people cry from hilarity). Now, Glass Road is a controversial title. I'd seen people saying Merkator was Uwe losing his touch and I thought maybe they were going too far. Then I saw comments of that variety aimed at Glass Road and I knew people had lost their damn minds. Glass Road is sheer brilliance, it is all of the wonderful parts of Uwe's designs condensed down into a shortened, concentrated form. It is Rosenberg for when you don't have time for a Rosenberg and it stand very well on it's own merits, too. Probably my second favorite designer Isaac Childres (which is remarkable since he's only published one game, Forge War and is in the process of publishing his second, the remarkable Gloomhaven) has come out with public praise for Glass Road, and the agreement of my two favorite designers on the same design (as I assume Uwe is fond of his own game) does nothing but reinforce my good feelings for it. The sheer number of possible strategies based on the combination of buildings that present themselves is the most interesting part of the design, however, the roundel mechanic (present too in Ora et Labora) makes resource management a breeze, and the forced production of finished goods like brick and glass causes you to consider carefully when you acquire certain raw materials (like sand, water, clay, etc.) my only criticism of this system is tied inextricably with it's novelness and usefulness: I'm not handling chits or veggimeeples with this system, and I like that (yes, I like some degree of fiddliness, shoot me). Overall it is innovative and fascinating how everything works tied into this deceptively simple, and fast game. And for the final game I'd like to touch on, lets look at Patchwork one of Uwe's recent designs and a 2-player only title. I acquired this recently, very recently, as in the day before I wrote this. I've only played it twice, both times with my wife and I love it, not least because she actually likes it too, it is "A Kristen game". It's very different from Uwe's other designs, I'd say it stands out the most among all the games I mentioned. I mean, it does have one of those odd themes (making a quilt), but the mechanics (fit pieces of patchwork together on a quilt to cover as much space as possible) are not typical fare. But of course, there is an aspect of economy here, marking it out as a Rosenberg. Buttons are the currency, and acquiring certain pieces of patchwork will increase your button "income". You use buttons to acquire patchwork, and they are also your points, it is an economic cycle. Obviously I have no idea how it will hold up to repeated plays, but I enjoy it and suspect I will continue to do so.

In closing this very long post, I'd like also mention that Uwe's designs often make me think and give a small measure of education, too. I didn't know what the hell a "Le Havre" was before I played Le Havre, of course I learned it is a very important French port. I didn't know a damned thing about German glass making, or why glass was/is so often green, now I do. And remember how I mentioned in Agricola a few lines ago that you need more family members to keep the food engine going? This reflects real life trends of population growth decline. We aren't an agricultural society anymore, most of us don't produce food (besides our humble gardens) we are mostly, at best, a cog in the machine of it's distribution. So one of the essentials to raising a family (food) isn't something we produce directly anymore. I think this contributes greatly to the decline in the size of families, but this a great digression from the point and has implications far outside a simple blog about games. I just love when a game teaches me things or makes me consider real life problems, systems, or scenarios and Uwe's games consistently do this for me for some reason.

But wait, you might say if you're still awake: You didn't really talk about At the Gates of Loyang, didn't that prompt this whole post? It did. However, I don't think there is much to add that I haven't already said. Gates is an economic simulation about being a vegetable merchant in a very large and important medieval Chinese city, it has excellent veggimeeples and tight, interesting mechanics. Isn't that pretty much part-and-parcel of Rosenberg designs? Good components, economic aspects, an obscure or arcane theme? Sure it has some mechanical aspects to set it apart, and I feel it's difficulty level sets it squarely in the middle of the pack of his designs and is a classic example of his touch.

Reply: Le Havre:: Reviews:: Re: Le Havre: A tightly balanced, highly replayable masterpiece

Reply: Le Havre:: Reviews:: Re: Multigenerational Gamer Reviews: Le Havre

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by razzmonid

Hmmm... click the link to this section, I am expecting to read a review of the game "Le Havre" but found out that the review is not here, what happened to it btw. Was it deleted?

Reply: Le Havre:: Sessions:: Re: My first play with two experienced players

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by razzmonid

So what happened then? Are you able to buy the game Le Havre? Where did you go to your 2 year church mission? Any boardgames you played?

Reply: Le Havre:: Sessions:: Re: My first play with two experienced players

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by dkearns

You did great for your first game. I played a three player game where definitely one but maybe both of my opponents had played before and I got stomped really badly.

Awesome game regardless.

Reply: Le Havre:: Sessions:: Re: My first play with two experienced players

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by kendahlj

razzmonid wrote:

So what happened then? Are you able to buy the game Le Havre? Where did you go to your 2 year church mission? Any boardgames you played?


I ended up buying the game and have played it several times since. It's in my all-time top five favorite games. I'll only play with three players though (maybe two). I've tried it with four and it just wasn't as much fun as you sometimes get one action in a turn. Also, it adds 30+ minutes. I can't even imagine playing with five players.

My friend Ben went to Ecuador for his mission. He's still there...hopefully when he comes home we'll schedule a massive game weekend so he can catch up on all the games he's missed while he's been gone.

Reply: Le Havre:: General:: Re: Should I get it?

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by Cro1

Bigdanorama wrote:

In my personal opinion, the "better version" is already out and it is Ora et Labora.

Edit: As far as I know, there is nothing in the pipeline from Uwe/Lookout that would seem to replace Le Havre. We have A Feast for Odin(?) and Nusfjord (spelling?) but it doesn't seem like those are in the style of Le Havre.


It's almost as messy as Caverna. Is it a 20 minute setup as well?

OxCon (Day 1) - 30th Jan

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by Stuart Burnham

06:15 - an alarm clock rings. On a Saturday?
A man merrily climbs from his warm bed and, after himself fixing a coffee, begins to ponder just what he shall shove into a bag to accompany him on the arduous 15 minute bus trip into Oxford for an entire bloody day of games playing.
Whilst there was no real need to get up so early for an event so close to home it did mean that I could walk the dog, get a couple of loads of washing done and a spot of ironing before fixing a cooked breakfast for the family, and thus neatly bank some "brownie points" before buggering off and leaving Mrs B for the day.
See; gamification - It's just allying age old marital best practice to modern boardgame experience and thus making sure you can pay your upkeep costs / feed your family etc and avoiding a hefty penalty in the grand battleground of a long time relationship!

With son Billy in tow we set off for The Mitre pub on the High Street right in the city centre. Arriving before 10 we found several friendly and welcoming faces in the large function room upstairs and picked a nice table right by the big window that offered a great view of the bustling street below.



No-one that we knew had arrived yet so we settled down for a game of Billy's choice and he plumped for Oh My Goods!. This was his first play of it and he did quite well, with both of us going for an industrial wheat strategy by each building a couple of mills. This meant that my mid game build of a bakery to convert my wheat and coal produced into tasty fresh bread was ultimately the key to the narrow win, as the extra income and the ability to purchase one of the extra workers helped me to just pip him.



Whilst we were halfway through playing esteemed designer, notable BGG attention seeker and good chum Tony Boydell arrived and joined us and analysed the endgame over a coffee.
We then peered into his bag of delights which contained almost exclusively "games designed or current prototypes of Tony Boydell" (plus a copy of
Food Chain Magnate that he hoped someone could teach and a couple of games that I was buying - Pickomino and Buccaneer) for something to try out.
He kindly gave young Bill a copy of Bad Grandmas, who was thrilled to be told that he was the second person in the UK to have a copy (after Tony himself, obviously!).
Of course we opened it up and got playing this quirky little game of conflict between the "Bad Grandmas" who have divided the care home into battle lines of "Knitters" vs "Bakers".

It's a fun 2 player micro game, there are 16 cards divided into "knitters" and "bakers" (plus a couple of grandads as little extra / variant) valued 0-7, each player plays a card and highest card wins; maybe. Each card has a different rule altering effect on the bottom of the card and the winning card defines the rule for the next card played. The winner takes "cookies" equal to the difference between the two cards played. Play next cards with the rule that was on the winning card.

The art and the puns on the cards are great (you might need to understand French to get the most out of them as this is a French published game, English language in rules and summary cards as well though) and the gameplay is pleasingly quick, funny and enjoyable.

Tony mentioned that he'll have copies at the UK Games Expo so get a copy when you pick up Guilds of London (of which he kindly handed me a test copy so the Games for a Laugh crowd are in for a real treat!)
:D :thumbsup:



Next up from Boydell's bulging bag (Snowdonia - Nice Cup of Tea, Danse Macabre (see reports from The Shed) and various others) Billy requested Paperclip Railways which he was quite taken with and is something that I'd never seen, let at alone played so I was was very keen to try out.
Bathed in bright sunshine (Oxford having sidestepped the high winds and torrential rain that other parts were enduring) we strung together said paperclips and built our little towns, factories and suburbs.



It being a design of Tony's there is obviously a variety of ways in which you can "interact" with your opponents and it was something that Billy indulged in with glee, destroying one of only two places that I could build out of with a late game move that almost totally destroyed me. I had fallen into a hare (as in hare & tortoise) gameplan but, as you might expect, I was overtaken by "Tortoise Tony" who had a HUGE number of end game scoring cards. Pleasingly he also overtook Billy for the win (which would become a nice habit for Tony throughout the day!).

There are also many puns, innuendos and gags upon the cards (my favourite below) and if you ever get a chance to play or, good lord, get a copy I'd urge you to do so!



During the play Ben Ross on Wye Boardgamers Blog and wife Becky arrived with an enormous, hernia inducing bag of games and we were also joined by an old gaming pal of Tony's, Robin, so a split into two trios was in order.
Tony, Robin and Becky went off to harvest tea and lay track with the excellent, imminent Snowdonia Tea Gardens (another Tony win!) whilst Ben made good on a promise to teach me and Billy how to play Troyes.



This is considered the formative game of the "dice placement" genre and it is excellent to play. I really enjoyed it and am confident that I can now get it to games nights regularly. There appears to be so much variety and opportunity in the game, yet it also is tight and restrictive at the same time. A brilliant game with fantastic art and table prescence as well.
Thanks Ben!

The "quest for sustenance" was now underway and Billy took full advantage of being out with dad rather than mum and managed to wangle a giant burger, fries and milkshake out of me.

Upon returning the Ross-Refugees were busy with Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King so we sat with recently arrived GFaL pal Terry and chatted whilst we waited for yet another Tony Triumph to play out before splitting into games of Concordia and favourite of Terry, Tony and me Glory to Rome. Billy also joined for his first taste of Chudyk craziness.



He did quite well, despite ignoring Tony's helpful advice (only several hundred plays under his belt - what would he know eh?!) so we might have yet another inductee into the fandom of this marvellously mad game. Terry managed to grab the win courtesy of some bonuses thus ending Tony's Tour of Triumph. For once I managed to construct some buildings of use and was reasonably competitive, stealing a building from Terry with the Prison and cards from all with the Bridge and use of the legionnaire action.
Excellent fun all round.

Tony then said his goodbyes and we resolved to arrange a halfway games session in the Cotswolds sometime soon.

Back at a group of six we then split up into two groups of three for Le Havre (Robin, Becky, Terry) and Saint Petersburg (Myself and "The Flowerpot Men").




I really enjoyed Saint Pete, despite my crucial error in dismantling an important part of my money engine early on - leaving me too short of money to buy more workers in a couple of rounds - it's a game that is right up my street with the engine / tableau building.
Bill was competitive with Ben until the last couple of rounds when Ben pulled away for a convincing victory.

It was now time to pack young Billy off on a bus back to Abingdon and home and after seeing him safety off I returned for a quick game of Mottainai with Ben, again as with GtR managing to construct (craft) a mean building (work) that allowed me to steal a handy end game point scoring card from Ben that also covered some extra sales. Nice! (Or Nasty depending on which side of the table you were!)



Dinner was now the order of the evening and unfortunately it appears that the eatery I had in mind had closed, depriving Ben of the opportunity to eat some "Posh Sausage" (ooo-er!) so a nearby Pizza restaraunt was visited instead.

Suitably nourished we then returned for a 5p game of Becky's favourite, Lancaster.



This was another first play for me and I found it to be yet another excellent game, all bullying each other out of spaces and self interest voting in/ out if laws along with jaunts over the channel for a spot of glory in bashing the French. Thematic in it's mechanics and quick and interactive in practice (even with 5, which is apparently an ideal player count) I thoroughly enjoyed it.
I wasn't competitive though with Becky shoving me out of a couple of key actions early on - lesson learned! Terry and Ben jostled for the win before Terry pulled away at the end courtesy of his large army.



Time to be off then, lest the terrors of a late night drunk bus ride home be endured if we stayed for one more game.
There's time enough for more plays Sunday.....

....to be continued.

25/01/16 - 31/01/16

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by Allen OConnor

What have I played this week?




Monday


25/01/16: T.I.M.E Stories: The Marcy Case


[o]On Monday, my TIME Stories group met up for our third run on the Marcy Case. The first run seen us waste most of our time trying different codes for the bunker door; and the second run seen us grab a bunch of subjects, one of which must have been Marcy, and fail as we tried to go up river, running out of time. We knew from our first two runs that the prisoner found at the start of the level had some relevance to the Lab and the Forest locations, as there were two spaces that required us to have the prisoner with us. We first grabbed the prisoner from the streets and opted to take him to the lab; turned out that he was a zombie and started to attack us, turned out that this was a complete waste of time. Then we got a few supplies and went to find out what exactly was at the end of the river; turned out nothing, unless we had a certain token that we were yet to find. We really didn’t achieve much on this run, but did learn a bit more about what not to do in our fourth run. Still love this game though.[/o]



[hr]



25/01/16: Guilds of London


Next up, a prototype for Guilds of London, designed by Tony Boydell. I’m a big fan of another of Tony’s game's, Snowdonia; Guilds of London has a lot of the same element for me. There is a strong emphasis on timing, and making clever combinations of actions. The game has a euro style, but still plenty of interaction, and chances to screw other players over. Essentially, players will hire liverymen in the central guild hall, and will manipulate their positions around the various guilds, hoping of gaining majorities in a guild to trigger it’s effect, or hoping to get second place for a different bonus. The game will start with a certain number of guilds, and will then will increase by six more randomly chosen guilds on every third turn. Players take their actions using cards with several different functions; one of any card can be used to hire a liveryman, can be used to move a liveryman to a guild of a matching type, or can be used for the effect printed on the card, at times at the cost of using other cards in your hand. Players will get opportunities to take mayoral reward cards, granting them end game scoring opportunities. The game has a feature that I really like in regards to player order; which is played from the highest to the lowest scoring player. Being last to play is the strongest, as you have the opportunity to respond to the actions of other players; but being in that position means that you have the least amount of points, and need to catch up to the other players.

The game really is very fun; players will get the chance to trigger sequences of moves, but will at times get dicked by another player replacing their liverymen with black neutral cubes. Anthony has dubbed these ‘fuck you’ cubes. Getting used to some of the symbols in the game does take a little while with new players, but they start to make sense after a few turns. Andy kept finding clever ways to keep his hand full of cards using different combinations; Anthony and I focussed heavily on end game scoring cards, and Shonna became a little bit too obsessed with neutral cubes, holding six at one point. Ant and I scored well at the end, but not near enough to catch Andy up. Everyone seemed to love the game. This will be getting a full release this year; if you liked Snowdonia, I’m sure that you’ll love Guilds of London.

1st - Andy 68
2nd - Anthony 59
3rd - Allen 58
4th - Shonna 27



[hr]



25/01/16: Hexago Continuo


I got home after playing the previous two games at Andy and Shonna’s place; then Amie and I whipped out a few two player games. After getting smashed at Hexago Continuo last week, I thought that I would give it another shot; to try and redeem my pride a little. It was a really tight game, I was even ahead for a little while, but Amie pulled off some great moves late game to leapfrog me and win by a measly ten points. I was devastated, again.

Amie 338 - 328 Allen



[hr]



25/01/16: Qwixx


Amie chose the next game for the evening, Qwixx. She loves this little game; I'm starting to get a bit burnt out on it. Maybe it's time to invest in some of those crazy score pads that I've seen people use on the geek. I actually scored well in tonight's game, unfortunately for me Amie scored more.

Amie 88 - 77 Allen



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Wednesday


27/01/16: Penny PressFirst Play: Game


Wednesday evening now, and I attended my local board game meet up at the Bull’s Head in Warrington. I joined Craig for a few of his games this week, starting with Penny Press. This is a fairly light worker placement game about journalism in New York at the end of the 19th century. New stories come and go, players can place their journalists on the stories, with a hope to publish them before the other players get a chance to. Each turn, players can move their workers around the board, assigning them to the various news stories, or they can go to print. When a player goes to print, they take all of the news stories that they either have a majority in, or that they are tied with the other players, and attempt to build a front page in order to score the most points possible. Demand for different news stories will rise and fall throughout the game, and players will score points at game end for printing the majorities in the various news subjects.

The game looked superb; the components, the theme, the colours. Penny Press has an excellent table presence. Unfortunately the game itself felt very chaotic and unbalanced, and really didn’t end up being particularly fun to play. I don’t know if it was the fact that we were playing with the full compliment of five players, but I felt like I had very little control of the board; the points that are awarded fluctuate so much between turns, that it negates much of the need to plan ahead. It’s a shame, I went into this with high expectations.

1st - Ami 60
2nd - Allen 47
3rd - Rob 46
4th - Jan 45
5th - Craig 23



[hr]



27/01/16: NiagaraFirst Play: Game


Next up, another game from Craig’s bag, and another game that was new to me. Niagara is fairly old game now, released in 2004. Players compete to ride up and down a river in search of different gems. Players each have a set of seven tiles, numbered one through six, and one to change the weather condition. Players must simultaneously select one of their tiles to play that turn, then one by one, they reveal their tile and take their action. Players can not re-use a tile until they have worked through the full set of seven. At the end of each turn the river moves equal to the lowest number played, modified by the weather that turn, this is represented by clear disks being added on one end of the river pushing the others along, even pushing them off the waterfall at times. The game ends when a player has a certain combination of gems. Niagara reminded me very much of Montgolfiere in the way that it played, and like Montgolfiere, I loved the game. It had excitement, humour but still enough in the way of control and strategy to keep me engaged. a couple of different players got to the point where they had six gems, and needed a seventh to win. It was tight, but I managed to get my sixth gem at the start of a new round to win the game. I’ll definitely want to play this one again.



[hr]



27/01/16: At the Gates of LoyangFirst Play: Game


My friend Frazer spotted this on sale at Travelling Man in York for £25, and grabbed me a copy while he was there. This is an Uwe Rosenberg from the original harvest trilogy, though it is lesser known than Agricola and Le Havre. I set the game up at my desk when I got home from board game club, and played through a solo game in order to learn the rules. I cocked up a few times, and the game only started to make sense after a few turns. It has two main focuses; the first is to make the most out of your fields and harvest as many vegetables as possible, the second is to manipulate the various cards in the game in order to generate money. Money can be spent acquiring points on a players point tracker, each new part of the point tracker costs equal to the points that a player is awarded; for example getting to thirteen points will cost thirteen coins. However the first progression in the point tracker each turn will only cost one coin; so it is in a player's best interest to try and progress as far up the tracker to get the biggest discount to gaining points each turn. The game had some interesting concepts, and my first impressions are positive; however the flow of the solo game is very different to that of the full multiplayer game, so I’ll have to wait and see how this plays in a bigger group. First solo game saw me score 14 points, which I’m pretty sure is a poor score in this game.



[hr]



Thursday


28/01/16: Glass Road


On Thursday I was sat in my office trying to get some uni work done, but after a while it started to burn me out, so I whipped Glass Road out for a quick solo game. The mistake that I often find myself making in the solo game is neglecting some of the end game scoring buildings if I don't like the look of them, rather than trying to build a strategy out of what is available. The buildings have no way of cycling in the solo game, so you have to put up with what you get. The first building that I spotted gave four points for having a 2x2 grid of woodland spaces at a fairly low cost, so I grabbed the building and started working on adding woodlands to my board. After I bought that, the next building to be added gave a point for each immediate effect building at game end; I built this followed by five cheap immediate effect buildings, some having very little effect other than points when they entered the game. To finish, I focussed on filling my supply of brick and glass for an extra six points. I ended the game on 26 points, not quite the 30 needed to ‘beat’ the game, but certainly a high score for me. This is still my favourite game to play solo; I think that single player might even be the best way to play Glass Road.



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Friday


29/01/16: Safranito


Friday evening, and Bobby joined us for a couple of games as he transitioned from day shifts to night shifts. We started the evening with a fairly new game to my collection. Safranito is a game that I tried at board game club and instantly liked, I knew that I had to get a copy for my collection. Players buy and sell spices in an effort to create blends from a collective pool of cards; the game has an economics element, in which players will try to buy spices low, and manipulate the markets to sell them at a higher cost. The first person to create three blends is the winner. The twist is that players take their actions by lobbing poker chips at a board with raised edges in the hope of landing on the action that they want; which nine times out of ten they won’t. In essence, Safranito is a dexterity game dressed up as a trading game. Bobby and I were absolutely awful, not only missing the actions that we wanted, but also missing the board entirely at times. Amie cruised to an easy win, making three blends before Bobby and I could make two. Love this silly game.



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29/01/16: Loopin' Chewie


Next up, a very quick game of Loopin’ Chewie, which is hard to adjust to when you have played Loopin' Louie so much. This game is built for three players instead of four, so the spaces between players is greater. We played multiple rounds using the tournament variant, and got to a point where everyone needed one more win to win the game; Bobby ended up being the one to win the game. I would probably play this game more, but Star Wars has been soured for me. Episode VII was just as disappointing as Episode I, totally ruined a franchise that was so close to my heart growing up.



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29/01/16: ...and then, we held hands.


Amie dropped out, so Bobby and I whipped out what is fast becoming one of my favourite two player games. Now that I am playing the game with the correct rules, it is much more enjoyable. This game is a two player cooperative abstract in which players must beat the game without discussing their moves with one and other; very unusual, but entertaining and engaging throughout. Bobby and I read each other's moves well in the early game, We nearly slipped up at the end of the game, but both managed to enter the centre space in balance to win the game. It almost felt a little bit too easy, but luckily there are a few advanced variants to try once you have mastered the base game. I highly recommend that you go out and try this wonderful game, I can guarantee that it is unlike anything else that you have played before.



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Saturday


30/01/16: Caverna: The Cave Farmers


Saturday evening, which is now dubbed as Cow-verna Saturday in my gaming group. There were only two of us this week, due to an outbreak of deadly man-flu; but luckily Caverna handles two players very well, certainly better that Agricola does. This was the first time that I went into the game with a firm plan as to how I was going to play. I built some more caves, used the stone to buy a wood supplier, and used the wood from that to buy a stone supplier the next turn. My aim was to build a full set of dwelling and try to get a sixth dwarf, in order to trigger the Broom Chamber and get the ten point bonus. Somehow I managed to pull it off, due partially to the lack of blocking between players. Matt did his usual trick of arming his dwarfs and trying to level them up high for better rewards; though he struggled to build an effective food engine, and started to struggle in the late game. I managed a high score for myself, and Matt managed his lowest score. Regardless of how we played, I’m really glad that this game plays so well with two people. I have tried to play Agricola a few times with two, and it felt like a bit of a let down.

Allen 89 - 44 Matt



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30/01/16: 7 Wonders: Duel


Next up, a game that Matt and I have played together more than any other, despite it’s recent release. I got really lucky in this game, picking up all three of the yellow cards in age one that grant brown resources for one coin; and picking up both of the grey resource cards. This allowed me to build my wonders and prevent Matt from getting what he needed. He managed to get back into it later on, after building a few yellow cards, and having a way to generate money; but it was too little too late. I had grabbed all three of the guild cards, and scored a ton of points for the money that I had at game end. Controlling the yellow building is really the best strategy that I have used so far in 7 Wonders Duel. That makes the overall score 6-3 to me.

Allen 85 - 43 Matt



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30/01/16: NetzwerkFirst Play: Game


Netzwerk is a game that I picked up a while ago from a geek auction at a low price. The game has an odd look to it that I quite like; minimal and abstract, while still maintaining an industrial euro-game Style. Players take turns in navigating a randomly generated hex board with their pawn piece, picking up resource cubes; then spending their resources making links between the black spaces, representing cities on the board. As players link cities together, houses are placed to represent the number of links connecting each city together. I liked the game, it wasn’t too taxing on the brain, and had plenty of choices for players to make. On the last turn of the game I managed to connect the last city to my grid, scoring points for every city on the table. The game was good, but I suspect that it would be a lot better when played as a four player game.

Allen 71 - 51 Matt



[hr]



30/01/16: Trambahn


Next up, another great two player game. Trambahn is quick, simple and very satisfying to play. The game has so many different choices and strategies for players to make, but never seems to seize up to analysis paralysis. I have started playing the game in the same way now, focus on getting at least 12 points in each of the four scoring colours, then start saving up to make some huge four-times-points routes to play in the late game. I got ahead pretty quickly and managed to keep ahead for the entirety of the game; beating Matt by a comfortable margin. I'd highly recommend this for two player game fans.

Allen 187 - 133 Matt



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30/01/16: ...and then, we held hands. (x2)


Matt got a bit sick of losing, so opted for a cooperative game instead. We had been thoroughly beaten by the game recently, but had been playing with an incorrect rule. In the game, players may choose to achieve an objective, or they can leave it for the other player. We were playing it so that you had to get the objective on every turn; no wonder we kept losing. The first game that we played seen me make a massive cock up and lose the game. Matt ended his turn between two green spaces, I ended my turn with no green cards available for him to play. Determined to beat the game, we set it up again for another round; this time paying close attention to the cards in our hand for our partner to use. We beat the game, and with that ended the evening. I had a great night.



[hr]
[hr]

What have I obtained this week?


Medici

I spotted this on Kickstarter this week. A new edition of Reiner Knizia's Medici with some great looking new artwork. I have played the game quite a bit in it's app form, but never in the flesh. I thought that it was worth a punt, as the game is fairly inexpensive at around £24 with P&P. Here is the link for anyone who is interested:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1986861668/medici

Matcha

aaaand while I'm backing Medici, I got the opportunity to throw this in for an extra £5. Damn Kickstarter, I fall for this stuff all the time. Tom Vasel speaks very highly of this game anyway, I thought that it was worth a go.

The Pursuit of Happiness

After spending so long away from Kickstarter, I ended up backing two projects on the same day. I already own the base game, which I grabbed from Essen, and which I absolutely love. I backed the $12 stretch goals pledge, which includes a bunch of new cards and a few new mini expansions. Hopefully we should see a few more open up before the end of the campaign. A link for those that are interested.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/241478362/the-pursuit-o...



Session: Le Havre:: First play for some well seasoned players

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by darthain

The wife () and I sat for our first (short) game of Le Havre last night. Having been forged in the fires of Dominant Species, Madeira, etc. It really didn't look that bad. What always baffled me about this game is I could never understand what made it so appealing. On paper this game looks as dull as watching paint dry, but then you have reviewers with a reputation for disliking dry euros raving about it, what us missing? Should I take the risk on a purchase? Clearly I did.

No rules mistakes, almost built an iron so without modernising the wharf, but caught the error. My wife played conservative, getting lots of fish, etc. U played loose, taking loans, buying all the boats I could, trudging bravely forward.

I paid off all my loans in this very fast paced game. The short turns are really engaging, and never feel limited.

I list by 8.... 108-116 , the wife takes the crown. Buy that is alright, because a good time was had by all. Foot veteran WP game players, this game was really neat in the turn limitations. The cycling blocked areas create a neat dynamic. A few more short games are likely before the long one, but fit now this session report will hold until a proper revue can happen.

So there is definitely something here the rulebook can't describe, the pace of this game feels swift, you are always limited in amount of actions wanting another. Tight is the name of the game, I can see how this one holds its own. The wife was apprehensive after Caverna flopped, but we can see the punt I've seen made once before, about how that one is all the worst bits of Agricola and Le Havre put together.

Containers, I really need containers....
Many more plays to enjoy, and for now, that is all.

Episode 21 - Our Top 5 Two Player Games

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by Travis Hill



Episode 21 - Our Top 5 Two Player Games

In Episode 21, the Low Player Count crew brings you their top 5 favorite two player games. They also reveal the Listener’s Top 5, the state of the podcast, and announce a new contest.

Times:

1:40 - A Twitter Contest
5:50 - State of the Podcast:January Edition
8:00 - Last Minute Bits
10:45 - Top 5 Two Player Games
17:36 - Honorable Mentions
24:23 - Number Five
31:05 - Number Four
38:54 - Number Three
45:11 - Number Two
51:00 - The Guessing Game for Number One
61:30 - Listener’s Honorable Mentions
64:00 - The Listener’s Top 5
74:20 - End Bits


Check us out
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Sponsored by: BoardGameTables.com

Reply: Le Havre:: Strategy:: Re: 400+ points in solo game

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by JokeToy

This is an excellent strategy guide for solo Le Havre without special buildings. It emphasizes picking up the maximum goods before building, first from the Marketplace/Clay Mound combo, then from the Wood/Clay offer spaces, then from the Colliery/Ironworks combo, and doing everything possible to build 2 buildings in one action using the Construction Firm. Buying the Construction Firm at the end of Round 1 is crucial because you need its Hammer to get good use out of the Clay Mound and Colliery, and because you don't ever want to pay "rent" while going on building sprees. Finally, never pick up or make food - those actions are wasted compared to the wealth accumulation power of building and shipping, using cheap loans as a way to generate the necessary "food". So thank you, Kung Fu Panda!

Once I got the hang of KFP's system, I was able to follow it to the letter and post scores between 380 and 400. But no matter how well I planned, I could ever hit 400, much less break it. Frustrating!

Then I read Ken Verzi's comments and I realized that I could save precious energy by only taking three pieces of iron for each visit to the Ironworks - you should end up with 14-16 pieces of steel after Round 6 by playing this way, which is plenty. You will ship quite a bit of coke along with your steel, but those are worth a handsome $5 each when shipped.

A more subtle recommendation from Ken turns out to be a powerful improvement. Save your craft buildings an extra round by not buying the first cheapo Wooden Ship at the end of Round 2. You give up 5 food every round and 6 slots of shipping capacity in Round 7 by doing this but the upside is highly favorable. You retain the full value of your craft buildings by not selling them AND every trip to the Marketplace in Rounds 2 and 3 yields maximum goods (there are only 5 of the 8 types you ever care about, namely wood, clay, iron, coal and cattle). If you can delay buying the 2nd Wooden Ship until after your visit to the Brickworks in Round 3 (where you will earn $7 to $9), you will only need to sell one small building like the Marketplace or Smokehouse to be able to afford buying that Wooden Ship. So thank you, Ken Verzi!

Your best scores happen when the first Wood offer is 3 and the Clay Mound can be bought late in Round 1 or early in Round 2. Getting the Colliery out as early as possible is also very helpful.

One final note. My best score is 411 playing this way. I sold the Fishery to buy the Construction Firm at the end of Round 1, sold the Smokehouse to buy the Wooden Ship at the end of Round 3 and I let the Town build the Abbatoir. I owned every other building outright, except Building Firms 4 and 6.

Reply: Le Havre:: Strategy:: Re: 400+ points in solo game

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by JokeToy

If I'm careful about timing all the way, I now never score less than 400 using the Kung Fu Panda / Ken Verzi combined strategy - thanks again KFP and KV!

There are a couple of minor scoring nuances you cannot control, like the exact locations of the wood, clay and iron re-supply tokens and the interest marker.

Reply: Le Havre:: Strategy:: Re: "The Game's Been Solved"?

*** VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL YEAR 2 * GAMING IN LOVE AND LOVE IN GAMING * PLUS HIS AND HERS TOP 10s OF ALL TIME * 2016 EDITION ***

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by Milena Guberinic

VALENTINE'S DAY SPECIAL YEAR 2 * GAMING IN LOVE AND LOVE IN GAMING * PLUS HIS AND HERS TOP 10s OF ALL TIME * 2016 EDITION




Hello everybody! Last year, I presented Peter's and my top 10 games of all time on Valentine's Day and wrote a bit about the benefits and drawbacks of primarily gaming with your significant other. This year, I've decided to present our lists again with a little :) :soblue: list at the bottom. I will try to make this a Valentine's Day tradition because I really enjoy learning about Peter's absolute favorites and Peter enjoys learning about mine and I think that Valentine's Day is the most fitting day for us to do this!


Peter's Top 10


Peter most enjoys games that are easy on the brain and quick to play, but offer plenty of strategic decisions. That said, he does love heavier games, but only ones that fit his thematic preferences. His appreciation of games is strongly affected by their themes and he typically cannot get behind games that contradict his thematic tastes. His preferred themes are real-life themes (like building cities or curing disease or running wineries or running airports), but he also loves space games. Peter created this list based on the games he most wants to play most of the time and games he could play every day. His "bubble games" include Kingdom Builder, Far Space Foundry, AquaSphere, Race for the Galaxy, and Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar. He really wanted to put those in his top 10, but a top 10 can only have 10 games.

1. Le Havre

This game was Peter's number 1 last year and it's here again this year.

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves the resource conversion and the challenge of Le Havre. He also likes the ship theme. Somehow, it manages to keep him engaged despite its relatively long play time.

Mina Says
This is one of my less favorite Uwe Rosenberg games. The feeding in this game stresses me out way more than that in Agricola and the game takes a very long time to play. I don't like to be that much on edge for that long.



2. The Capitals


The Capitals has not budged either.

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter LOVES the artwork in this game and he loves the challenge of balancing the various tracks (income, population, employment, culture, etc.). City building is Peter's all-time favorite theme and this is his all-time favorite city builder.

Mina Says
I enjoy The Capitals. It's another game that stresses me out. I really have to be in the right mood to play it, but when I'm in the mood for it, I love it.



3. Clinic


Clinic also holds its 2015 place in 2016 at #3.

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves Clinic because it's a modern theme and the game allows him to build something. What I wrote last year still stands. The clever mechanism of managing patient intake (sort of pick-up-and-deliver) in Clinic is akin to a mechanism Peter used to talk about for his imaginary board game of "Air Traffic Controller." So he loves the game because it does something that his own ideal board game would do.

Mina Says
Clinic holds a special place in my heart. Indeed, I was so inspired by this game, that I decided to make it my first review ever (Mina's Not-So-Mini Review - Clinic)! This was probably the start of Mina's Fresh Cardboard, so THANK YOU ALBAN! :)



4. Viticulture


Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves the wine-making theme, the uber high-quality pieces in our Collector's Edition, the artwork, and the sense of having built a winery at the end of the game. Peter does not care whether he wins or loses AT ALL in this game. In fact, much of the time, he doesn't even actively try to win; he just tries to make his winery the way he wants to make it.

Mina Says
I do love Viticulture, but I only truly love it with the Tuscany expansion. That expansion adds so many interesting decision points and so much game-to-game variability that it nearly turns Viticulture into a different game. I'm not typically a huge fan of racing games, but tension in this one is palpable and it isn't typically obvious who will win.



5. Deus


Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves how quickly this game can be played, how elegant the game system is, and how intense and interesting every decision feels. He loves the tableau building and the interaction between the cards and the pieces on the board. He loves the element of luck and the game-to-game variety.

Mina Says
I agree with Peter's assessment of Deus. I think the game plays like poetry; the rules and mechanisms are so simple and smooth and yet the gameplay is so intricate and interesting. The luck element has been a negative for me in a few games, but for the most part, I've had a lot of fun with Deus!



6. Subdivision


Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter could play Subdivision all day every day. He loves it that much. He loves the quick play time, the puzzle, the feeling of having built something, and the sense of having bested (or at least tried to best) his previous score. He also loves playing through the various scenarios, which make the game highly replayable.

Mina Says
I agree with Peter on all counts. Subdivision is one of my favorite fillers. I love the puzzle of trying to find the best positions for the various tiles and I love trying to outdo myself every time. I also love the different challenges provided by the various scenarios.



7. Cities


Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves the quick, simple puzzle of this game and he LOVES the artwork. He prefers the chunky cardboard pieces in Cities to the cardstock used in Limes, but he loves both games.

Mina Says
I love Cities and I love Limes. I agree with Peter, but I prefer the more vibrant colors in Limes.



8. Greed


Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves the theme of this game. It's very video game-y and Peter lovers his video games. He loves the fast play time and the strategic and tactical choices in the drafting. The various types of cards (Holdings, Thugs, and Events) and their availability in the draft create different choices in each game. The game has very high replay value.

Mina Says

I love Greed, but I don't love it as much as Peter does. However, tableau building and drafting are among my favorite game mechanisms and they are done very well in Greed. The drafting is reminiscent of that in Fairy Tale, where you secretly draft a certain number of cards before you actually play them. This generates some interesting mind reading and opportunities for risk taking. It's a great little game.



9. Ora et Labora


Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter LOVES Ora et Labora. It is his second favorite Uwe Rosenberg game. It is also the Uwe Rosenberg game that is most similar to his favorite Uwe Rosenberg game - Le Havre. Peter loves the resource conversion, quick setup time, and competition for buildings.

Mina Says
It's in my top 10!



10. Sanssouci


Peter says (in paraphrase)
This game is like a walk in the park. It's easy on the mind, but still stimulating and engaging. Peter loves the simplicity of the mechanisms and the sense of having build something at the end of the game. He also loves the quick setup and play time.

Mina Says
I agree with Peter. Sanssouci is an excellent game and one of my favorites to play when I'm tired and want a quick pick-me-up. It gives me some interesting decisions to make, but it doesn't burn my brain. I will happily play it whether I'm sick and have a headache or whether I just want a quick pleasant filler.



Mina's Top 10


1. Terra Mystica

Mina Says
TM has not budged since last year or the year before or the year before that. It is still my favorite game of all time and will likely continue to be for the rest of eternity :P. I'm sure something awesome will come along to dethrone it, but I haven't experienced anything that would even come close thus far.

TM is a game that makes me happy because of
:) Huge variety in unique player powers that strongly affect strategy and tactics
:) And consequently, a huge variety in the combinations of unique player powers that strongly affect strategy and tactics. No two games of TM feel the same and there are many routes to victory and directions to explore.
:) Incredibly deep with many strategies to explore
:) Playable in 45 minutes with 2 experienced players
:) Huge variety in in-game scoring and end-of-round bonuses that affect strategy and the value of the various races
:) Challenging network building that can get contentious even with just 2 players involved (certain race combinations make this more/less likely)

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves TM! It's not his favorite and he loses all the time, but he has fun trying to outwit me nonetheless.



2. Eclipse


Mina Says
Eclipse was on my top 10 last year and it firmly remains in my top 10 this year. Here is why:
:) Gorgeous
:) Huge variety in unique player powers that strongly affect strategy and tactics
:) Huge breadth of decision points
:) A fun dose of randomness
BUT
:soblue: Takes a long time to set up

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter thinks Eclipse takes too much effort to set up and tear down and finds it quite heavy. However, he thinks it's a great game and has fun when I set it up and put it away.



3. Fields of Arle


Mina Says
Fields of Arle was also on my list last year and it's on the list again this year.
:) Beautiful
:) Surprising amount of game-to-game variability generated, for the most part, by the slightly random assortment of buildings and actions of your opponent
:) Great sense of accomplishment at the end; you can look upon your farming empire with pride
:) Deep and highly strategic
BUT
:soblue: Takes a long time to set up

Peter says (in paraphrase)
This is not one of Peter's favorite Uwe games, but he thinks it's a good one. He thinks it takes a lot of effort to set up and tear down and finds it to be very heavy. It's not one he could play every night and will flat out refuse to play it when he's even a little tired.



4. Agricola


Mina Says
Agricola was also on my list last year and continues to remain this year.
:) The "draft" of Minor Improvement and Occupation cards that determines your strategy for the game is incredibly engaging and exciting. Selecting the optimal cards to combo with each other is a lot of fun.
:) Challenging
:) Features an incredible amount of variability with Minor Improvement and Occupation cards
:) Plays quite quickly (we usually get it done in under 60 min)
:) Each and every decision is crucial
:) Animals!
BUT
:soblue: Feeding people can be very stressful

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Agricola is bubble material for Peter. He loves how quick it is to set up and play.



5. Ora et Labora


Mina Says
Ora et Labora is making its debut on my list this year and at #5! It's a brilliant Uwe Rosenberg game that I neglected to pick up during the previous print run. Happily, it was re-printed this year and both Peter and I have enjoyed our time with it tremendously.

:) Intricate spatial optimization puzzle
:) Interesting interaction between players in being able to pay other players' available workers to work for you in their buildings
:) Interesting resource conversion chains
:) So engaging that the longish playtime (around 90 minutes with 2) seems to fly by

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Also in his top 10!



6. Mage Knight Board Game


Mina Says
Mage Knight dropped slightly since last year, but only because Peter likes some of my other favorites more, so they take less convincing to get to the table. The Mage Knight Board Game: Shades of Tezla Expansion expansion introduced a 45-minute Lost Relic scenario that makes the game playable even when we have less time on our hands.

:) Determining how best to use your hand each turn is a most fun puzzle!
:) There is a good number of playable characters with wildly different play styles and strategies
:) There is a huge variety of scenarios that completely alter the goal and progress of the game
:) Leveling up and acquiring loot happens at a good, consistent pace that keeps me feeling like I'm getting more and more powerful throughout the game
:) The game is very deep and filled with combos and strategies to explore

BUT
:soblue: Takes a long time to set up and tear down and in some cases, play

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter likes Mage Knight and plays it because I love it so much, but he wouldn't actively request it very frequently, if at all, if I didn't love it as much as I do.



7. Mombasa


Mina Says
Mombasa is a new game on my top 10 this year, which is fitting because it was a 2015 release.

:) Super cool and challenging action selection mechanism
:) Intricate interconnections between actions that create difficult decision points and demand a lot of planning
:) All the options are good ones; you just have to determine the best one for you
:) Interactive, but not mean
:) Plenty of game-to-game variability and replay value

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter enjoys Mombasa, but it's a wee bit too heavy and long to be one of his favorites.



8. Trickerion: Legends of Illusion


Mina Says
Trickerion is a wonder. It is so deep, rich, and intense.

:) Interesting take on worker placement; different workers have different amounts of action points and the worker placement spaces have action point modifiers
:) Breathtakingly beautiful
:) Incredible amount of game-to-game variability
:) Many interesting choices
:) Playable on two levels
:) Many opportunities to create exciting combos
:) Variable player powers!

:soblue: Takes a long time to play
:soblue: Felt like too much stuff put into one game at first, but not so any more

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter adores the artwork in Trickerion and he finds that the artwork helps to pull him into the theme. He really enjoys the game, but finds it a bit too heavy, long, and fiddly to be among his favorites.



9. Argent: The Consortium


Mina Says
Argent just grabbed me from the minute I first played it. The theme, the beautiful artwork, the breadth of options...it just spoke to me.

:) Vibrant, colorful, and high quality everything
:) Interesting hidden end-game scoring mechanism
:) Interesting take on worker placement, with multiple types of workers, each of which has unique powers
:) Huge breadth of options on each turn
:) Even though there is some negative interaction, it is typically not utterly devastating and you can get some positive benefit from it or protect yourself against it
:) Insane amount of game-to-game variability and through-the-roof replay value
:) Variable player powers
:) The theme really comes through and it's a theme I love!
:) FUN!

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves Argent, but he does not like having to fully open up our table to accommodate the ginormous entirety of the game. He is happy to play it because he knows how happy it makes me and he really gets into the theme.



10. Roll for the Galaxy[/thing]


Mina Says
Roll for the Galaxy was nowhere near my top 10 games of all time at this time last year. I had to bump it up this year because I just keep wanting to play it.

:) Takes 15-20 minutes to play
:) The tension of a race is present, but the winner won't be obvious until the end
:) It's fun to try to make the most out of the tiles you draw and to try to create the best combinations in the short amount of time you have available
:) Each and every game plays out very differently due to the plethora of starting worlds and developments and worlds and developments that are drawn
:) The luck of the dice can be mitigated
:) Gorgeous artwork

Peter says (in paraphrase)
Peter loves Roll, but I am so much better at it than he is that it makes him feel quite hopeless sometimes. It was on his top 10 last year, but dropped out this year due to...more games. Nevertheless, Peter does love Roll and he does love trying to beat me...most of the time.



Gaming in Love and Love in Gaming


Peter and I play board games each and every night. Whether we are at a hotel, on an airplane, or at home, we have played at least one game every day for the past 3+ years. And since my previous Valentine's Day post, we have acquired numerous new towers of games and enjoyed more time with games and each other than ever before. I feel very fortunate to have a willing and ready gaming partner at my disposal at all times and am well aware of the fact that he is the main reason I am able to play so many games each week. I repeatedly get asked about how I have time to play the number of games that I do AND write about them each week. Peter is the answer. He comes home from work, I go to the gym (which is in my building, so I don't spend any time going anywhere) while he works out on his bike in our condo, we have dinner, and then we have the rest of the night to play games. We stay up late. We play games while waiting for food to cook or laundry to get done over the weekend. Because I have Peter, the time I would have to spend traveling to and from a board game group is the time I can spend playing 2 or 3 board games instead. Peter is my board game group and he is all the board game group I really need.

So, here are some advantages to being a gamer couple that we have experienced. I wrote about some of them in my post last year, but others are new additions this year :).
:) You can play games whenever you have any seconds of free time! Waiting for laundry to tumble or stew to cook = game time!
:) You can play in pajamas and with no makeup!
:) You don't have to spend any time traveling to and from a location other than your home.
:) You can play with a warm puppy in your lap.
:) Games that can be played at higher player counts but also accommodate 2 players typically become significantly less random and more strategic when played with just 2. I enjoy strategic games.
:) Games played with 2 are less about negotiation and diplomacy and more about sheer brain power. I find out-thinking my opponent a lot more satisfying than bashing a leader or forming an alliance or doing other such things to get ahead.
:) Playing a game with only 2 players takes significantly less time than playing at a higher player count, so you have more time for more games!
:) Gaming at home means that you can finish at midnight or 2 am and go straight to bed.
:) Games help you learn about each other. They really do! Peter was not aware of how vicious I can be before we started playing games and he still loves me! :P
:) Games allow you to spend time interacting with each other rather than just sitting next to each other on a couch. They create a unique space in which to interact and grow together.
:) I worry about dementia. I'm only 32 and Peter is only 31, but his grandmother had Alzheimer's and my grandfather died of Alzheimer's at a not-very-advanced age; dementia is the most frightening thing in the world to me. Brain exercise is one of the best way to stave off the onset of dementia. I know I sound like a mother or teacher, but the fact that we are exercising our brains together and helping each other in the process is a significant plus for board gaming together in my books.
:) It's a lot easier to convince someone who loves you to play a game that you love and really want to play than it is to convince a dubious stranger, acquaintance, or friend.
:) It's a lot more satisfying to play a game you don't enjoy to please your partner than to please a stranger or acquaintance.

Now, it's not all roses and Valentines. There are flip sides to a lot of these :)...
:soblue: You can't play games that require at least 3 players.
:soblue: Some games that purportedly support 2 players simply don't. I call those games liars.

Is that it for the negatives?

Yup. Because my LOVE METER rating for couples gaming is :heart::heart::heart::heart::heart: ALL LOVE ALL THE TIME

If you'd like to read what I wrote last year,click here.

Uwe's Week!! Quality Over Quantity. **Weekly Update with Gaming Photography**

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by Steph

Hi Everyone!

This week Ron was sick almost the whole time. I got in far too few games because of this. We still managed a couple but ended up missing on a few different game days on Saturday. It still worked out since I got in a lot of favorites and won!

Monday night was a big disappointment as there was a pretty bad snow storm in our area. Monday night games was canceled but do not fret Ron and I still got in a few games! :D


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I was jealous of all the Caverna talk I have been seeing so I insisted on playing Caverna: The Cave Farmers to start the night off.

I went into this game planning on getting all of my 6 guys. This is a tall order, that is for sure. I hate getting more dwarves - the extra actions are awesome but the feeding is AWFUL! Giving up 2 points for 1 food is like crazy to me (and I had to do it two times!!!). So I got the dormitory pretty early I was a turn behind where I wanted to be in starting the guy train but I managed it ok. I was going to not do adventuring but I had to since I needed the extra pumpkins to plant and grow.

On the plus side it is VERY easy to fill up your board completely. I had a ton of actions I almost felt lost during the game. I know I needed a ton of food. I only regret not making my adventurers sooner to boost the benefits sooner. I needed those pumpkins to make the fields! All was not lost I had a ton of room for buildings and I built by board with yellow scoring tiles. It was awesome. I got a ton of point from those buildings. I ended up with a lot more animals than I thought I would since I had about 9 dogs it seemed. hahaha

All in all my strategy worked this game I managed to beat Ron by a single point I believe it was 82 to 81. Not the best scores I have seen and I knew I could do better. I messed up a lot of actions towards the ending. Hey I still managed to win! yay! I was just happy I got to play- it had been too long!











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We topped the night off with a game of The Ravens of Thri Sahashri. I have been looking at my calendar so I was wanting to play it.

So this game was going well until we clarified a rule indicating that we MAY have been playing a bit wrong in our past games. :P So, with that information we continued the game correctly and Ron was having a harder time playing the cards because of it. So perhaps we were playing the "easy" version. :P What we were doing wrong potentially, was covering the clear image but not necessarily covering the cloudy image too. So- in the game you MUST cover a cloudy portion of the card and you MAY only then cover the clear image as well. We might not have always done that.

This changed the game for Ron a bunch. But we continued correctly- we still managed to win but I was unsure we would have been able to. He kept pulling really terrible cards. He seemed to hardly make the "7" combo. I had to kill off a bunch of cards. It was kind hard.

We still managed to win :D But I look forward to next time when we make sure to play correctly and see how well we do! Great game!










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Tuesday night was Fields of Arle night! I wish every night was Arle night. I love it so much!

I went into this game saying I am going to get a vehicle in the first season and go with it. So I did that- I didn't have an plans AFTER that... So I worked on getting MORE vehicles. I ended up with 4/3/3 carts and a couple peat boats. I love that 15 points building that gives a wagon. That's a favorite of mine. I always strive for that if I see it. (we still only put 3/4 out each game with the mini promos added)

So I was failing on the track front. I needed to get higher on the tracks so I could get more material goods to ship. It didn't work out until far too late in the game. I was struggling to get the materials to ship and Ron was making it VERY difficult to do so. Kept taking my spots and grrrrr. I did manage to screw him up a bit too. But he was buying my buildings and I was buying his. It was a blood bath. :)

In the end I managed to end up with the victory! I had 125.5 to his 123.5 just by a few points! I will take it! I did much better than I thought too. I love that I can play this all the time. It is hands down a favorite for me.



















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Wednesday night Ron chose Le Havre to play. I was feeling good about it. I was leaning towards Ora Et Labora but was happy to play Le Havre. I was all set up to lose.

I ended up getting the market card right out of the gate. I enjoy this card since it lets me start stocking up on materials. I kept forgetting its benefit all game to look at the top 2 special cards. The first time I did remember and I worked it to my benefit. The card is awesome- it gave me 2vps for each cow I had at the end of the game! I got 34 points from that alone.

Ron was getting my favorite buildings but I was getting EVERYTHING ELSE! It was working out for me. I managed to ship 3 or 4 times in the game using Ron's Shipping line. I kept getting a whole bunch of material goods from my market card which was awesome- adding up all my cows. I got 1 wooden ship and 2 iron ships and 1 steel ship. I was golden! shipping 12 items in a go. I also had a card that allowed me to use Grain as 2 energy when shipping- I did that a time or 2 so that helped out.

I somehow managed to win this game. I was feeling good about it too. I knew I would be winning. Ron wasn't even close. He messed up some counting and needed 1 more brick in order to get a few really valuable building cards which would have put him much closer to me in the final scoring. He ended with just under 200 points and I was 301!!!!! At least that is what the calculator told me. I had 109 points in coins and 34 points in cows. And then 158 in buildings it seemed. I did have a LOT of buildings. :D

I did play well and I am proud I win this game like 30% of the time or less, so yay! Great game!
























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I still had time for another game so I selected Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King. It had been a long while since we first played it 2p. I seem to always play this game 5p. It is perfectly good with 5 players but I think 3 might actually be the best count for this game.

So we got to the cut throat nature of this game pretty soon. I fallen only slightly behind so I was getting the benefit of the additional income which helped me a bunch since he was already getting about double income than me! Gees. But I was keeping up well enough and going into the final round I actually passed him and he got the additional income.

I placed my bids high enough when I wanted the tiles and ended up not buying from Ron in the final round in hopes he wasn't able to buy from me. I was correct and he couldn't afford mine so that worked out. I got a TON of points in the final round ending with 81 points. Ron was further behind with about 70 points. I totally kicked butt!

Man I am on a Roll this week. Ron must be tired of losing so much!!! Welcome to my life, RON!!! Always the loser. :P How do you like it now!














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Thursday night was the Fun group!! I was happy since Riley brought along Scharfe Schoten.

I have been playing this one a bunch recently! I am not complaining! I really enjoy this card game.

I was teaching 3 others to play this. Riley had wanted to learn it so he was happy to get it played.

It took a while for Eric to see what was going on but he ended up destroying us. Perhaps because he was able to easily accomplish his goals each time since Victor, Riley and I kept picking the same or similar goals each round and Eric was totally different. So that definitely helped his huge win.

We ended up only playing 3 rounds since Eric had to leave but it worked out since we were all losing pretty handily. I think Eric managed to get 13 points average in each of the 3 rounds. He dominated that game! Riley was having a minor come back but it was still no where near Eric. I think Erica had 40 points and Riley was second with 20ish. haha I think I had 15 or something.

I love this game but apparently I am just terrible at it. I am sure I will figure it out sometime... I did pick up a copy so I should be getting that soon!! :D





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Riley also brought along with him The King of Frontier. He had some nice print out player boards and display for the building tiles to lay on... I need to print that out.

I took a picture- everything is so nice and clean - it really helps clarify the meanings for each building.

In this game I was going for strictly land tiles and trying to complete my game board. I found out pretty fast that wasn't going to happen so I picked up the building that allowed me to negate all of the minus points for the empty spaces at the end of the game. That totally helped me. I worked on producing a bit and collecting VPs that way. Riley was working on getting a pretty big city completed but that didn't work out for me. He couldn't find a final closing piece so that cause him the game.

Victor and I worked TIED with the win at 30 points and Riley at 20. I wasn't satisfied with shared victory so I looked up the tie breaker and since I went first last round Victor won. I guess I should have just shared the victory. :(

I always get sad when I pick up the fishing pond for 5 vps and can't play it. Ugh that was a huge downer. At least someone else didn't get it!

Great little game- I would play anytime. It is a winner for sure. The only downfall is the building barrier on what everything means. :) You can work around that though.






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The final game of the night was Steam Time. I was confident in teaching it- it is actually quite easy once you play- so I didn't have any troubles. :)

I did have to try and sell them on playing it. But, I finally just decided to pull it out and play it since we couldn't decide on another. Riley has his copy in shrink so he wanted to know if he should keep it that way.

I am pleased to report he enjoyed the game where he thinks he will keep it. It is hard to say after one play. This was my second play and it was great!! I am beginning to see the strategies and make it work. I definitely had the upper hand having had played but it didn't bother them.

I was going for machine parts early since they provide the income each round which is a nice benefit. Victor was working on the orange gems to get the benefits there.

Once the Omega cards revealed themselves we got owned. They always required 2 pinks and I was working on the pinks because that is what gives your he bonus action. All in all I got one or two extra bonus turn it didn't seem like enough. I was also working on collecting the green end of game cards. I got 5 of them! I managed to complete them all too. Definitely a viable strategy. I managed to get around 80 -90 points and the other guys were just under 60 points so I did much better. We were all about even but then I had all of my bonus cards to calculate.

In the end everyone liked it and wanted to play again. :) My job is completed. I am really loving that game. I look forward to plying it a bunch in the coming weeks! SO PRETTY!








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I was shocked to get an announcement over the speakers at work to call the operator. Why would they want me? Apparently Ron sent me flowers for Valentine's Day! He never got me flowers before so that was awesome. It was more awesome that they were Rainbow ones. :D I felt special- I thought I would share them :)









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Saturday Ron was still sick so we decided to stay home from all game days and just play games there. We kept up with the Uwe streak and played Ora et Labora.

This time we played the French side since last time we played the Irish 2p. he asked if she should play the long or short game. I just said the short game since that is always long enough... :P

This game I was all about Cloisters and setting up my board accordingly so I wouldn't get screwed over on space. I made the mistake of getting the coast when I should have gotten an early mountain. I ended up not even really using the coast and the mountain would have been the better way to go. Eventually I got the mountain and the quarry and the vineyard. I had very strategic placement of my settlements and ended up getting a TON of points.

I had a set up where I could get a bunch of special items from my cloisters. Pay 5 gold and get 14 points worth of goods!! I was essentially getting a wonder every other turn- I had 5 wonders by the end of it!! Ron ended up not getting any cloisters so I got them all- it definitely worked out for me. I creamed Ron this game! Keeping up with winning in Uwe's games- I not only won but I demolished him! :P

313 to 269- I am happy about that one! :D This is really a great game. It is quite long but I had a fun time and would like to see more plays soon!




























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I let Ron pick the next game and he choose Roll for the Galaxy.

I wasn't feeling it. I haven't been feeling this game for a while now. I still agreed to play but The tiles I was getting lead me in a direction I didn't want to do and ended up mucking it up big time. I am still shocked that I got over 30 points in the end.

I was really working on getting out another 6+ develop tile and was so close. Had I played a bit differently then I would have gotten like 11 more points to be closer to Ron's final score. He was at 57 or something I ended with 34 I think.

I didn't produce or ship anything ALL game! Ugh I hate that. I would much rather do the shipping strategy. So much better! I don't like digging for tiles and blah blah. Each time I play this game I like it less. I wonder why. I don't dislike the game I just don't want to play it.










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I doubted my luck for winning all Uwe games this week when Ron decided we should play Glass Road next.

I never win 2p Glass Road- ever. Ron always knows which cards I choose and I never have an idea on which cards he will pick. He does a good job of changing it up. I always think I do too but nope- he knows me.

After Round 1 when he was easily able to play all 5 of his cards I thought my luck had ceased with Uwe. I trekked through the game. I managed to pick up a bunch of end game scoring tiles and making it work as best I could.

In the next many rounds Ron continued to match me and I was not successful in matching him once in a blue moon it seemed. I tried so hard to pick the cards I thought it would choose. Failed.

I was sad when I counted my final score to be 18 I knew I was hosed. He said nope I did worse than you! He got 15 points!!! I HAVE NO IDEA HOW!? I managed to win that game! OMG CRAZY!!

Ron was telling me that Uwe is coming out with a heavier version of Glass Road- So I am very anxious to hear more about that...







 






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So after I wanted to try Eminent Domain. We ended up playing with Eminent Domain: Escalation and NEW TO ME Expansion Eminent Domain: Exotica.

This was really only my 3rd game of EmDo so it was a process to get set up and start playing. We played with Scenario cards this time which totally raised the bar. Loved those! Those are from the Escalation expansion. Ron and I played where we each get 2 and choose one to keep.

The new Exotica expansion was pretty cool. It added new gems to produce and more excited for the asteroid cards. Those cards are missed into the planet deck and you choose them like you would choose a planet. As an action you can discard your hand and defeat the asteroid (or you can defeat it by normal means if you want to spend the fighters or colonies.

There are a LOT of new cards added. I couldn't even possibly go into detail but a new alien symbol appears a bunch and different activations happen with it. It is a full on strategy I choose not to delve into in this game. Everything was like new to me so it is harder to tell what actually changed since I am not a regular to this one. In my final photo there is a card chart and this SAVED ME. Oh man this card chart is so important!!! Since you have full knowledge and access to the decks of cards. I actually started with "Scientific discovery" she allows me to play as an action and acquire ANY card from ANY stack with value 3 research or less. You don't need the required planets you just take into your hand. I was GLUED to that card chart.

This game I definitely felt I had the upper hand with that card as a starting card. I was collecting and forming my strategy from the beginning. I focused mainly on survey and military. I had the card that gave me the ability to survey and keep 2- so that was awesome. It only made sense that I went military too. I really should have focused on upgrading my fighters so I could buy awesome cards. I was just so overwhelmed with options I just kept the game going as best I could (even though I was SUPER AP- thanks Ron for putting up with me)

I definitely could have done a lot better job if I knew what I was doing. I was set up for greatness. As it turned out Ron and I tied with I think 43 points. We were also tied on both tie breakers. He was shooting for production vps.

I ended up just conquering a BUNCH of planets and that's about it. I had a Ton of fighters and should have used my Improved Fleet more.

There is a bit of a confusion with a single card I can't recall (Ron thinks it is called Economic victory) but you can pay 12 vps and win the game automatically or spend 3 BIG ships to auto win the game. But, in the rules you can't have more than 1 ship at a time- or that is how I understood that. Does anyone know what I am talking about and could clarify? Ron totally would have won the game A LOT sooner had that been the case.

Anyway, I am really looking forward to more plays. I am certainly enjoying this game more and more. I think the scenario cards are essential and there is so much to explore in this game It was overwhelming for me! That means there is a lot of replay value. I like it! :D I definitely need to play more frequently so I can remember how to play.




















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After dinner we got to playing a few more games. Ron choose Castles of Mad King Ludwig which was good since I wanted to play this anyway- being on the calendar and all.

We of course played with the expansion. This game is a B*tch to set up. So much separation and combining. Ugh, definitely not fun to set up and would benefit from a custom insert. I think they exist?

I still love the game. This time I went into the game saying "I am going to get all the moats!" I made it a point to do this.

I didn't plan very well because Ron ended up getting all of the blue and all of the downstairs rooms which happened to be both common goals. He got 16 points and I got 0.

It somehow worked out since I collected more Swans than he did. The moats got me a TON of points in game and the final pick from the stack allowed me to get another orange building and that was awesome. I ended up winning by 15-20 points. I guess Moats for the win! At the end of the game Ron and I both went "damn" we had forgotten to use the secret passageways. It would have helped me! I gotta remember them next time.

haha That is a great game. I certainly love it. I am pretty good at it too! :D Moats are hard- is the moral of the story.











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We played one more game that night and it was long forgotten Nations. We played with the expansion and I ended up just picking the nation on top the Vikings. I was planning on hurting Ron each round but then decided to upgrade my ability to be +3 raid value- that didn't help me AT ALL only 2 battles came out ALL game. ugh why must every time I pick something to go for the cards fail me.

I was high on military all game. All of the event cards were for stability. Of- course. It wasn't a particularly mean game Ron kept buying the war before me. It only hurt me once when he was ahead of me but I managed.

The game was very low scoring and Ron got a TON of in game points whereas I got a total of 3and I started with 4...*sigh* I had a major mess up in the final round where I had to pay 8 books but I only had 7 to pay. I ended up losing a point for that! I really messed that up. Either way I think I still would have lost. Ron and I both had pretty low scores in the 30s. I was just lower though. I think I was at 33 and he was at 39. I was doing okay in my game but just that final turn ruined me.

I was still happy since at least I got the Aurora Borealis :D I HAD TO. I make irrational choices like that and it is why I lose the game. haha It was not the best choice for me but I wanted it so I took it.

I am glad I played it again. Last time I played was just awful so playing again wasn't high on my list. I don't think the game is in my top 10 anymore but I need to re-evaluate that soon.

I still enjoy the game a bunch- I think there are too many choices in the expansion so I am not sure if I like the expansion as much as I did. Time will tell, I suppose.











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Sunday Ron and I drive up to Maine to visit with my grandparents. While that was great- we didn't get in much gaming.

Afterwards late at night we did get in a few games. I asked Ron to pick and he choose The Castles of Burgundy.

I really enjoy the mini promo expansion from the Advent calendar. It really changes up the game and in a good way. I kinda like that we have been playing this one more. It certainly plays very well with 2p and it plays very quickly.

This game I was banking on my 8 section city region and my 7 section animal region. I was planning on using a special building to make the 7 animal region an 8 region. Turns out Ron snatched up the building before I could get to it! Doh! I didn't end up finishing the animals but I did get closure of all of the buildings/ boats/ and castles. I got my 8 region completed pretty early too so that worked out!

Ron managed to get an 8 region too but I still came through in the end with 211 points to Ron's 201 points.

Fun game- I guess I will have to play more. :D It makes me want to play Helios!












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We played one for fast game before Downton and I choose Qwixx: Big Points.

The more I play this the more I like it. In this game I was rushing the ending- but failed to roll any 12's or 2'. So, I ended up pushing the big points rows and Ron was taking -5s He was sad since I kept being OK on my rolls. In the end I closed off one row and Ron closed another and we both scored pretty well.

I really thought I had him with my 270 but he managed to do the yellow and red rows crazy good!!!! He ended with 296. Damn and I was so good at this game!!!! I guess not so much.

Lovin' it! Great fast game definitely the best of all the Qwixx games.






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That was all for the week. A sad amount of games but some high quality ones. A lot of UR games take long then the norm so it is to be expected.

It was funny since on the drive home from Maine We played a pass and play version of Star Realms but Ron just read me the cards and I gave him my dictations on what to do. I totally creamed him. As I do.

I love Star Realms- I am glad the league starts back up today! #needmorestarrealms


I will definitely get to play more games this week!!! I am excited! :D Yay games!



I hope you all have a great week!!

Thanks for reading!


Until next week!


Happy Gaming!!!


-Steph

Reply: Le Havre:: Sessions:: Re: First play for some well seasoned players

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