Welcome to a new blog post series that rounds up all the gaming fun that was had in the previous month.
Today I’ll talk about how well our 10×10 is going, what new games we’ve played, and how our 1vs1 challenge is going so far.
10×10 UPDATE
Okay, so we failed in our 10×10 last year.
For a while, it looked like we might do it. But a mix of Covid taking us down, Christmas fast approaching, and a certain someone thinking it was funny to put WAR OF THE RING on the list, meant we could tell before time ran out that we wouldn’t make it.
Well, I don’t think we’ll have the same issue this year because my girlfriend has taken charge of the challenge for 2022.
First, she made sure that we didn’t include any brand new games just in case they turned out to be duds that we didn’t want to play multiple times.
Next, she implimented a rule where we don’t play the next round of games until they’ve all caught up. Last year, all our favourites completed first, so we were left with the ‘cold vegatables’ of the challenge, making it harder to find the willpower to carry on.
And finally, we semi-prioritised the challenge.
To give you an idea on how much better things are, by the end of January last year, we’d completed 6 of 100 plays. Illness and a house move did keep us apart, but that pace remained.
This year. . .
(Red = my girlfriend’s wins & Blue = my wins, of course)
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
The new game playing started almost immediately by settlinging down and setting up my girlfriend’s brand new Kickstarter arrival, LIZARD WIZARD. It’s an absolutely beautiful looking game, with big cards covered in gorgeous art (amazing work by Annie Stegg) and some nice tokens and coins with the Deluxe Version.
It plays pretty well at two, though even at that small player count, it’s a table hog. It was a close game, only four points in it. My girlfriend did a better job at matching Wizards and Towers (I’m not great with bidding mechanics), while I had some amazing spells (that a better shuffle next time will prevent from happening ever again) that let me Dungeon Delve almost like a god.
Definitey look forward to playing more, and maybe finding some friends with a gaming table two or three times the size of our kitchen table.
Next up, on Jan 3rd, was KAMI-SAMA. This is an area control game with a Japanese theme. It was a gift to my girlfriend when she got a new job earlier in the year. It took a bit to get our heads around the rules, and it’s definitely one that I’ll probably only play at the max 4 player count, as I didn’t think it worked well at just 2 with a bot. My girlfriend smashed me on this, despite that fact that I thought I’d won. Turns out I completely misread the Peasant cards I’d horded. Lesson learned.
On Friday 14th we had some friends over that we normally go to our FLGS with. One game we’d been waiting to try was SWEET EXISITENCE: A STRANGE PLANET CARD GAME, due to it’s minimum player count of 4. And what better people to play it with than the very ones that got it for my girlfriend as a gift.
It’s a pretty fun game, where you know one of the three face down cards in front of you is a game ender, and you need to get rid of it without letting anyone else know that it’s now in front of them. There’s a cool team-up mechanic, and the aim is to have the most sweetness (little cookie tokens).
On the 16th, following a morning of GLOOMHAVEN, we spent the afternoon learning two games we’d had for a while.
First up was TREKKING THE WORLD, which I’d backed on Kickstarter back in 2020. I hadn’t been impressed by it’s predesessor, so maybe that is what caused the delay in trying this one. But once we’d got going, I found it a lot more fun. The game is bright and colourful, the components are great, and the insert is one of the better ones in our collection. My girlfriend did better at getting souveniers, but I grabbed the most Destination Cards and grabbed a win.
After that was RES ARCANA. I’d heard so much greatness about this one. I’ll admit that after the first two or three rounds, I was wondering what the fuss was about, or if I’d missed something in the manual. But a few rounds later, the game clicked, and it is fantastic. So much so, that we now have both expansions (which I’m happy to say, both fit in the core box when sleeved).
On the 23rd it was the turn of another game that had sat on our Shelf Of Shame for far too long; UNDAUNTED: NORMANDY.
After a quick view of Rodney’s ‘Watch It Played‘ video the previous day, we got everything set up and going. It went pretty well. One of my girlfriend’s Machine Gunners got through and claimed an objective before I could stop her, and she claimed the victory.
The first scenario is quite limited in the objectives and units you use, so the play felt short and ended a little suddenly. My girlfriend wasn’t overly impressed, while I’m hoping it gets stronger as we progress, much like MEMOIR ’44 did.
1vs1 CHALLENGE 2022
As soon as we met in person in 2020, we started playing games, and recording the stats on the BGStats app. Due to the Lockdowns, it was mostly just the two of us, so we had a little side challenge going of who would win the most games by the end of the year.
In 2020, my girlfriend dominated. While I led after the first meet 5-4, I never had the lead again.
2021 looked to go the same way, but around April, we hung around zero difference and the lead changed a few times. Then in May, I took the lead, and managed to keep it, sometimes by the skin of my teeth, until the end.
One month into 2022, and it looks like my girlfriend is back to full strength. I’ve been getting the odd win here and I know it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Hopefully some of the new games we learn this year will play to my strengths.
Current score: (Me) 20 vs 32 (Girlfriend)
(Clarification: co-op wins count as a point to both)
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
- We managed to play at least one game every day this month.
- Our gaming group won our second attempt at May in PANDEMIC LEGACY: SEASON 1.
- My girlfriend and I completed the main story quest in GLOOMHAVEN. 😦
- Finally ordered some Custom Meeples for LORDS OF WATERDEEP.
Always Play Blue 