And that’s goodbye to the year that was 2022.
For December we challenged ourselves to play at least one game every day, and despite a few busy days (and a fair bit of illness on my part), we managed it.
We also had a weekend away for my girlfriends birthday which saw us playing a lot of games, and of course New Years Eve is all about having friends over and gaming until gone midnight.
The one thing we were light on were new games, and Kickstarter arrivals, but it was nice to concentrate on some games that have been neglected of recent.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
Only two new Kickstarters arrived this month, but they were both games I’ve been really looking forward to. So we got the latest Garphill Games entry WAYFARERS OF THE SOUTH TIGRIS, as well as hidden movement deduction game, MIND MGMT, which has some top level production for the KS version.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
We’re big fans of the North Sea trilogy and the West Kingdom trilogy, and had been eagerly awaiting the arrival of WAYFARERS OF THE SOUTH TIGRIS, the first game of the new series. I was determined to not let it sit on the Shelf Of Shame for even a second, so we played it just a few days after it turned up. And we both really enjoyed it. It’s a longer, busier game, more akin to Paladins and Viscounts. Lots of different directions you can focus your efforts as you build your caravan tableau to help make your dice placement easier to carry out. It’s another Garphill Games table hog, even at two, but we’ll be playing this a lot, no doubt.
I’ll admit that I passed on MIND MGMT the first time around, not really ‘getting’ it. And I’ll also admit that Quentin’s SU&SD review grabbed my eyeballs, screamed at my wallet, and made me wish I had backed it. So when the reprint campaign popped up, I went all Fry GiF and backed without hesitation. And it was worth it from the time we’ve spent playing so far. I hoped it worked as well at two as it did at other player counts, and I was rewarded so. It gives you half your powers each in what are basically training modes, and then you can run off and enjoy the whole thing once you’ve got the basics. And it’s the bees knees when it comes to design and Kickstarter production. The box, the art, the insert, and the components; they are all top quality. It’s a fantasic game to own. My only gripe is the rule book. It’s a tough one. But I believe it’s being fixed for future prints, which will only make the game even better.
AGROPOLIS was the first ButtonShy game I backed, and it’s the last to play out of the six I now own (7th on the way). It’s mosty becasue I just wanted SPRAWLOPOLIS, and the two are so similar that I’d just played that up until now. Of course this sequel offers different score conditions, so it’s nice to mix up every now and then. Basically placing cards, over lapping sections, and trying to score based on the three conditions you drew at the start. It’s quick, small, easy to teach, but still has a nice bit of crunch to it.
The last 18 months have seen my girlfriend discover Roll ‘n’ Writes as her top genre of board game choice. Now, if we see one we don’t own, it’s only a matter of time before it’s in our collection. DUNGEONS, DICE, & DANGER was a new one this year, designed by Richard Garfield, and offering a Fantasy theme. And what a fun Roll ‘n’ Write it is. Using the numbers to delve deeper into the dungeons, with the goal being to fight all the monsters within. Along the way there are bonuses and treasure to be had. The sheets look busy, but the game is quite simple to learn. And it’s good for a longer game if the only Roll ‘n’ Writes you have are all done in 10mins.
HUNGRY MONKEY was an impulse purchase when we visited Forbiddon Planet a few weeks ago. I can’t help myself when I’m in a place that sells games, but I do my best to pick up something small. I’d seen HUNGRY MONKEY on a Before You Play video, so I’d only recently been made aware of it. Small card game. Cool art. Blue box. It was inevitable. And the game is good. Playing cards equal or higher to the previous, trying to be the first to empty your hand. The twist here is that each player has four face down cards that need to be gone too.
Roll ‘n’ Write game? Check. Cat themed? Check. So that’s how CAT CAFE ended up in our collection. We’ve had a few plays of it, and while it’s not one I thoroughly enjoyed, I’m happy to play it from time to time. The small sheets, rules amberguities, and race to complete towers put me off a little, but it’s got a few clever tricks with the toy abilities and how the cat houses are utilised. Not the worst game we own, but there are better Roll ‘n’ Writes in our collection.
COSMIC COLONIES has been sat on my Shelf Of Shame for almost two years. And when I saw how few new games we’d played this month, especially ones off of that Shelf, I knew I had to pick something off of it to play. Two years is enough time to almost forget what the game is about, or what drew me to it orignally, but thankfully it was an easy learn (10 minutes from opening the box to having it set up ready to play). It’s a resource gathering and Polyomino game where players have cards to play that decide turn order and give abilities. The catch is that these cards get rotated. So if you use a good one this turn, you’ll be giving it to an opponent for the next round. It looks nice all set up, and the resource tokens are a step above what they need to be. This is another one we’ll be playing much more of in 2023, and we’re sad that we didn’t get to it sooner.
Sticking with the theme of learning games that have been in our collection forever, after two years we also finally got around to playing RED OUTPOST. This is a Worker Placement game where players share the Workers, but also potentially inflict negative affects on the Workers when they are used. There is also a sort of area affect mechanic where players who use a Worker the most get a points value, which can be positive or negative. It was a pretty good game that plays in about 30-45mins. It’s different enough to other games we have to definitely stay in the collection. And our first play was so close, we tied on the tiebreaker for a shared victory.
Our last new game of 2022 was DINOSAUR WORLD. A fellow Instragram board gamer mentioned that they were trying to get through a bunch of Shelf Of Shame games between Christmas and New Year, and the only one we owned but hadn’t played from their selection was this one. So I vowed that I too would at least get it played before 2023 hit. So after two long hours on New Years Eve, I found myself mentally exhausted, and torn between whether I liked the game or not. My main two issues came from being in last place from the very start and not really feeling like I could catch up. The other niggle is what put me in last from the start, and that was trying to spread your Meeples over three rounds (Public, Private, and Tour). The first few rounds saw me either running out and forgetting I needed one or two more, or holding back, and then realising that I had excess, which I would lose. Hopefully I’ll do better next time now that I’m more aware of this, but I can see my turns taking longer as I account for each Meeple in each phase.
1vs1 CHALLENGE 2022
Final score: (Me) 260 vs 293 (Girlfriend)
(Clarification: co-op wins count as a point to both)
Well, if last month was the start of me slipping away from the challenge, December sealed it. I was losing games left, right, and centre (despite winning the game LEFT CENTRE RIGHT). I was in the loop of playing games I like but am not very good at, and enjoyment cost me victory. With just a few days to go I was 30 wins behind, and no matter how hard I begged, my girlfriend wasn’t willing to play 31 games of SPLENDOR in a row.
We’ve also decided to discontinue the annual challenge as it sometimes dictates the games we bring to the table, and puts self impossed pressure on each play. I’ve had more fun winning AND losing since September when I realised the challenge was chipping away at the fun of playing.
So my girlfriend takes two titles (2020 and 2022) while I managed to take 2021. From now on our challenges will be cooperative.
Speaking of . . .
CHALLENGES FOR 2023
This year we’ve decided that a 10×10 prevents us from spreading out and enjoying our collection, and was something else we didn’t enjoy in 2022. So instead we’ll be doing a 20×5 Challenge to still give us something to chase, but less stress on focusing on a small number of games. We’ll also be doing another 52×1 Challenge like we did in 2022. This is where we play at least one new game per week in a bid to get our Shelf Of Shame down.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Finally putting together a cull pile so that we can start getting rid of games and get some room back.
- Playing 15 games on our two night stay away, despite me being extremely ill.
- My dice Advent Calander.
- Getting our own copy of SCYTHE for Christmas.
- A New Years Eve games night with friends.
Always Play Blue 