Well, after the quiter than normal August, we have swung back the other way and had a massive gameplaying month for September.
Part of this is because of my birthday, a time where we typically up our play count and usually visit a games cafe. This time we were having a weekend away in Oxford so had two sessions in Thirsty Meeples. We also booked a week off work around the same time which meant gaming more than just in the evenings.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
An increase of game playing also meant an increase in new games being played. Some new games were gifts I received for my birthday, while others were off of our Shelf Of Shame. And the rest came from the fact that I’m now part of an Instagram group reviewing boardgames.
With all those sources of new games, this months blog will definitely be longer than normal, so strap in.
I backed the Starter Kit for CLASH OF DECKS but we still hadn’t gotten round to it when the second season of cards turned up. So we got it to the table for a little 8 card head-to-head battling. It has an interesting mechanic of each player placing cards in two rows on opposite ends of bridges. The tactics come from placing your minions in a certain order to maximize there attacks. The 8 card limit means games are short, and I think the amount of cards we now have means we’ll have plenty of combinations to try out.
Settling down at a table in Thirsty Meeples (Oxford), we got stuck into games we’ve never played before. First up was TRAILS, from the people behind the gorgeous looking PARKS. TRAILS plays very similar with hikers heading along the path and taking resources, but this one sees you going back and forward, changing day to night which affects the resources available. It was a great little game and worked nicely at 2-player.
A much hyped game this year is AKROPOLIS, and I really wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Essentially a tile laying game where each tri-hex tile is made up up of different city areas (like temples or merchants). Each colour has it’s own scoring method at the end of the game and it’s up to you to place as efficiently as possible. It’s a little like KINGDOMINO or CARCASSONE where it is a simple game with simple turns, but the strategy comes in the placement. Really enjoyed it.
We’ve become obsessed with GANZ SCHON CLEVER and as soon as we spotted one of it’s sequels, we grabbed it. CLEVER CUBED has a nice mix of new puzzles that aren’t complicated to understand. It’s a close second for us in the series, so much so that we grabbed our own copy the next day.
Another game we really enjoy is STAR REALMS. I went in on the Big Box last year, so feel tied to it now. But I’ve heard good things about it’s Fantasy set cousin, HERO REALMS, and have always wanted to at least try it. So that was our final new game of the afternoon that day. Being so similar it was easy to pick up and play, and we both walked away realising we like this version better. Question is, do we have room for Star, Cthulhu, and Hero? Only time will tell.
We ended up going back the next day, just to buy some games, and ended up staying for a few hours to play once more. The only new game we tried was CAVERNA: CAVE VS CAVE. We’ve never played the original, so can’t compare, but I really like the resource managment and actions to open up the cave before planning your room build. Not sure we’d need to own, but really enjoyed it.
As we entered our week off work, we started working on the birthday present games, and the new review games that had turned up during out weekend away.
First up was MEEPLES & MONSTERS. We love Deck Building, and this bag building varient offered a nice twist. I’d wanted to back it on Kickstarter, but the shipping cost put me off (unfortunately, I later learnt that this cost would become the norm). The game itself was an immediate hit. I love the slow early turns with the White Meeples, before you start getting the other colours into your bag that can do some damage. And then leveling them up to make them even better, as well as gaining cards to make them have asymetrical abilites? It ticks a lot of my boxes.
THE GUILD OF MERCHANT EXPLORERS is one I’ve had my eye on for a while, so it was a nice surprise as a gift. It’s a Flip ‘n’ Write without the writing as you lay cubes and explore our from your capital city. What makes the turns good are that each player gains asymetrical powers to use once per turn which then evolves to make everyones stratergies different. And, despite the lack of bright colours across all the components, I like the art style to it all.
SMALL FARMER (also know as VEGETABLE STOCK) was the first of the review games, and it turned out it was a bit dissappointing. I requested a copy because of it’s POINT SALAD vibes, but it doesn’t really reach the family fun heights of the AEG classic. In SMALL FARMER you draw cards with Vegetables on them from a small selection, with the remaining card left over by players affecting the stock prices for each Vegetable. So, what you don’t take is as important as what you do take. This is because the points for the Vegetables get multiplied by how many you have in your hand at the end. It sounds good, but you have very little control over things, and the game is very short.
THE THREE LITTLE WOLVES was next, and another review game. This one sees players picking cards from their hands and building up to three different coloured houses. But your cards are coloured and numbered, limiting where they can go. It looks like a simple family game, but there are quiet a few tactics in this deceptivly cute looking game. While I might not own it, I would happily play a few games if someone else pulled it out.
Last year I bought ALUBARI for my girlfriend because a) she likes ‘Train Games’, and b) she likes tea. Seemed like a no brainer. And then it gathered dust on our Shelf Of Shame. Well, turns out we were sitting on a really good game. There is a lot going on with how you can score points, and you can definitely be ruthless and block players in various ways. But the mix of resource management and building your goal cards for game end works well. Plus the game has various things in place to balance all player counts which is nice.
Back to the review games, and we tried asymetrical 2-player battle game, KUNG FUR FIGHT! This one sees Cats (Ninjas) vs Dogs (Monks) as they battle it out to win more powerful cards. Its a good mechanic as your using the fighting abilities as a sort of bid to try and win the three cards in the arena. And you have to manage your hand well to make sure you don’t get left with only weak cards in your hand. Plus the art is cute, and the componets are good quality.
Another birthday present was a copy of CAPE MAY. I’ve seen this one played and it looked interesting. You move around the town and build up houses and businesses, hoping to have the best score based on building type and placement. I like the balance of costs being more expensive the closer you get to the water front. And the art style works great for the setting and theme.
More review games, and this time it was Flip ‘n’ Write game, MAJOLICA PAINTING. It looks like a relaxing game as players have to colour in patterns as they go. I thought I would really enjoy it, but my eyes struggle with it, and I felt rushed to colour my patterns. A fellow Instagramer suggested that it works better as a solo game, so I’m going to give that a try.
Next up was worker placement KINGDOM OF MIDDAG. A smaller board than most games of this mechanic, the game is all about hunting animals to use for various points scoring methods. I liked the theme and the mechanics, though I found that the hunting can get bogged down if players can’t or won’t progress it to end each season. But definitely my favourite of the review games so far, and one I want to play at other counts.
A change in pace after that with REEF RESCUE, a sort of Memory game with an action mechanic similar to CAIRN. Players flip tiles to try and gather fish with different actions and you have different collection rules controlling how you’re able to do that. It was good fun, and would be a great family game on a rainy afternoon, but not one I’d play a lot.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
Kickstarters have been thin on the ground recently. I did get the sequel book to COLOSTLE, which is a beatuifl looking solo RPG. And CLASH OF DECKS turned up (see previous section).
A lot of the games are getting both small and big delays, and I had a few that were due September that have gone and been pushed back to October or further. Hopefully not much longer as I’m looking forward to ENDLESS WINTER, as well as MIND MGMT and FALL OF THE MOUTAIN KING.
1vs1 CHALLENGE 2022
After falling further and further behind in recent months, my birthday seemed to give me a boost as I went from occasional wins to having a week where I was almost unstoppable. In the space of four days I manged to only lose 5 of 21 games played. While it still keeps me off the lead, it’s made a definite dent. Three months to go. It could be close.
Current score: (Me) 197 vs 212 (Girlfriend)
(Clarification: co-op wins count as a point to both)
HIGHLIGHTS
- An awesome birthday weekend with just my girlfriend
- Having two awesome afternoons back-to-back at Thirsty Meeples
- Hitting my first anniversay for my Instagram reviews
- Being part of the TRG review group
- Beginning work on my homebrew world for some upcoming D&D sessions
Always Play Blue 