Well, after a busy month full of new games, I was hoping that we’d let off the gas a little going into October. But that didn’t seem to be the case. In fact, I think we might have played more new games this month instead.
So despite not playing as many games overall that we normally would have, I’ve spent a high percentage fof the last 31 days with my head in a manual. In other words, get ready for another long ‘New Games Of The Month‘ section.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
Our first new game was an epic one. My BGStats app showed us that we were fast closing in on our 1000th game played in our home. We decided that, as PALADINS OF THE WEST KINGDOM was my personal 1000th recorded play on the app, it would be a nice symetry to have VISCOUNTS OF THE WEST KINGDOM for this milestone. And what a game. We really enjoyed it. There were of course a few rules errors, but most got picked up during the play. I will say though, that the game went on for quite a while, and not solely because we were new to it. Hopefully it goes quicker next time.
While we have a fair few games on our Shelf Of Shame, we decided to priortise the Tiny Epic games that we’d not gotten around to yet, which was a fair few of them. First up was TINY EPIC DEFENDERS. This is a fun little co-op game, and quite a tough one (though I made it tougher by constantly forgetting that we had isometric player powers, lol). It was typical co-op fair, where the game feels pretty smooth to start, allowing overconfidence to creep in, before chaos launched it’s attack and overwhelmed us. We just about killed the Giant, and looking at the other monsters in the box, we had it easy.
Next up in the series was TINY EPIC WESTERN. I really like the mechanics in this with the Worker Placement mixed with playing ‘poker’ to win spots. I did pretty good on this one, while my girlfriend didn’t enjoy it so much. We did both love the bullet dice, but with just two players, there wasn’t much on the way of gunslinging, so they ended up only getting used once.
On Friday 7th, we visited Dice Portsmouth to join in celebrating their 4th anniversary. This led to a fair few new games being played, the first of which was SCHOTTEN TOTTEN. I’d been wanting to try this for some time, and had heard it was a great 2-player only game. Unfortunately, the mechanic of playing cards like Poker hands was again a turn off for my girlfriend, which is a shame because I could definitely see what all the fuss was about.
After trying to play a game that our table was two small for, we realised that it would mostly be an evening of small 2-player only card games. So next up was TEA FOR 2, a game that neither of us had ever heard off, and which turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The blind draw mechanic was interesting, having neither player knowing who will get to go first each turn. I also like the abilities to manipulate your opponents deck. We did mess up the scoring in the end, but still enjoyed this Alice In Wonderland themed game.
We took another shot-in-the-dark with CROWS OVERKILL. This is from EmperorS4, and as with HANAMIKOJI, it also involved ladies of the night. This time players have gone home with a ‘companion’ who threatens that the night of passion will end when the birds outside make a certain amount of noice. Cue you trying to get ride of the birds and sending them to ruin your opponents evening of shenanigans instead. The theme is odd, but the gameplay is really interesting.
After that we picked NICE BUNS, but quickly found that this must be a kids/family game, as it was incredibly simplistic, light on rules, and over fast. This was our only dud of the night.
One of the staff at Dice Portsmouth suggested we play ANKH’OR. This has a very SPLENDOR feel to it, and was really easy to learn. It uses little plastic chips as resoures that you then use to purchase tiles from the market. But it’s the placement of the tiles in front of each player that builds the scoring for end game. So as you get further in, you start needing specific tiles, giving you an urgency to gather resourses in the most economic way possible before your opponent takes what you need. This was the game of the night for me, and may end up on our shelf.
The final game we tried was another 2-player only classic I’ve wanted to play for a long time. RAPTOR is scientists vs dinosours with asymetric abilities and has a really clever mechanic where play turn is decided from card value, but the second player gets actions equal to the difference between the cards. This can be amazing if one person plays a 1, and the other player plays a 9. Sure, they go second, but that’s a turn with 8 actions. The tactics themselves felt a little light, and I’m not sure it would stand up to repeated plays, but it was great to finally tick it off the list.
The following day we got back to the Tiny Epic games with TINY EPIC QUEST. A playthough video later and we both were actually quite intimidated. But it turns out that the turn flow is quite simple. I really like the preperation day phase followed by the push-your-luck night phase. It was a close game as we chased getting those cool plastic weapons added to our Meeples, and my girlfriend ended up taking the win by a single point. Still only had one play, but it’s at the top of my Tiny Epic Games list so far.
GLORY was a left field birthday gift from my best friend. I’d never heard of it, and she didn’t know much about it either. But she’s always had a knack of picking pleasant surprises, and this one was a winner. It’s a casual jaunt around a fantasy map as players use skills to complete quests and fight monsters. It’s light on rules, and almost everything is dry wipe. It’s not deep, but that’s not a flaw. It does exactly what it sets out to do with it’s roll and move mechanic and easy combat system.
A more recent release that I’ve been wanting to try is LIBERTALIA: WINDS OF GALECREST and we were lucky to have the chance following a visit to family who own it. It was a lot of fun to play with five of us, and there were constant moments of us having our turns ruined by the machinations of opponents. The component quality is fantastic (obviously being a Stonemaier Games production), and the amount of cards is a boost for replayabilty. Though with that being said, we did find that sometimes you’d have a hand of pirates that didn’t really work well together. More plays needed.
Another game I’d wanted to try, and they also happened to have had it on our family visit, was DICE MINER. This is a fantastic dice drafting game with a fun rerolling mechanic and nice looking components. I know the Kickstarter has a plastic mountain which would probably last longer that the cardboard one we played with, and it would definitely be the version I’d want to get my hands on. This is another new game that I’d like to have in our collection.
The final new game of that particualr visit was classic fantasy dungeon crawler, DUNGEONQUEST. This is a proper 80’s hardcore classic with the game designed to let no player claim victory. And so it was as monster after monster and trap after trap slowly ate away at our health scores as we each raced to the centre to reach the Dragon’s treasure. I lasted the longest, but probably only due to my characters starting health being the highest.
First Kickstarter arrival of the month was KEEP THE HEROES OUT! which was on the table pretty quick. It’s a co-op Dungeon defense game that see players take a specific batch of monters and then fight off a bunch of heroes who are trying to steal the treasure (so a complete flip from the previous game). It was a great game, but it did seem to run long, and we ended up finishing our first play after only one pass through the deck (should have been two). A rules check should hopefully solve that if we were doing something wrong.
The Tiny Epic game that I was least looking forward to actually turned out to be an impressive little gem. TINY EPIC MECHS sees players program their turn and then alternate through those plans, hoping that things work out well. Which they often do not. I had a few turns where my girlfriend’s first move completely screwed my entire round because she bumped me to a different spot. It was so chaotic, and that was just with two of us. I’d love to play this at the maximum count. And god damn, those little mechs to put your Meeples in are so awesome.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
We got a nice bunch of Kickstarter games arriving this month, despite so many still being delayed due to shipping or having production issues (I’m so desperate to get my hands on ENDLESS WINTER).
First up was FALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING. This game comes with an absolutely amazing insert. As does the original, so I’m glad I added the Kickstarter upgrade kit for IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING too. Both games are stored so well in their boxes and come with fantastic components. Looking forward to learning this one soon, so expect thoughts on it in next months update.
Just a few days later KEEP THE HEROES OUT! turned up, along with the Cthuhlu character, and Guild Masters expansion. We really like Luis’ games, and this was an instant back based on the art and mechanics alone.
BLOC BY BLOC UPRISING was the first Gamefound project I backed, and it was the first Gamefound project to arrive. I’ve wanted to get my hands on this ever since I saw the video from 3MinuteBoardGames, but it was hard to find and/or expensive when I did. As soon as this Third Edition was announced I backed. Was pleasantly surprised by the size of the box, which is more Garphil Games sized than the standard I’d expected it to be. Everything fits perfectly inside, and the cloth playmat is a nice change to big old boards.
The final new arrival was SOLAR SPHERE from Dandra Games. This one was delayed due to component issues, which the team got replacements sent out to the distribution centres as quick as possible. This is another game publisher that I look forward to supporting, having since jumped on the ISLE OF TRAINS campaign, and eagerly awaiting the next project, PIONEER RAILS.
1vs1 CHALLENGE 2022
I continued to take a big bite out of the lead my girlfriend has had since January, and for the first time since the early part of this year, I had her down to a single figure lead. It’s getting a little epic now, and I get that it’s looking like it’s mine to lose. I’ve got to pick the games wisely. Though she still isn’t agreeing to a SPLENDOR marathon for the last month of 2022. Think she’s on to me.
Current score: (Me) 213 vs 223 (Girlfriend)
(Clarification: co-op wins count as a point to both)
HIGHLIGHTS
- Anniversary evening at Dice Portsmouth
- Getting back to our D&D game with our friends
- Getting another chance to join an online D&D OneShot with some great folks
- Pulling off a nice GREAT WESTERN TRAIL victory
- That epic (3+ hour) game of VISCOUNTS OF THE WEST KINGDOM
Always Play Blue 