This month was more about challenges and getting back on track with those. We’ve ticked off a few more of our 20×5 games, and we’re getting close to hitting our one-a-week average for new games played (aka 52×1) this year.
But with most of our Kickstarters being delayed, and us buying less due to a lack of space, it has meant that we were able to also catch up with old favourites that get overlooked.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
Another drought month as all of my June arrivals that became July arrivals have now turned into August deliveries and beyond. It has gotten to the point now where, with a two week holiday in September coming up, I hope they get delayed one more month, just so I’ll have 8+ games coming all at once with lots of time to play them all.
We did get WAYPOINTS, a Print & Play from Postmark Games (the creators of VOYAGES and AQUAMARINE), which I’ll talk about later on in this post.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH (including our 52×1)
First new game of the month was UBIKE TOUR: TAIWAN, a review copy I was sent. This one didn’t gel with us as it took a while to get our heads around the rules, and then the gameplay itself didn’t seem to work at 2-player. It’s a little bit like the Nimmt games but with a bike theme wrapped around it.
Up next was the first game of the month off of our Shelf Of Shame, and that’s MOB: BIG APPLE. I’d received this Kickstarter over a year ago and I don’t know why it took us so long to try it. It’s a sort of area control game for 2 players that sees you sending Mob Goons out to control locations of crates. Three rounds later and whoever controls the most, wins. It reminds me of KAHUNA with its escalating three rounds where some things are reset and the rest is built upon. Plus the wooden components and poker chip mole tokens are beautiful.
I’d seen Kay (@kay_plays_games) post about COLOUR SQUARE and it looked like something I’d enjoy; a Roll ‘n’ Write with the constant adding up of numbers. You roll a bunch of coloured dice and choose two results to place on your sheet in one of the 16 matching coloured corners. The four corners around a number must eventually add up to that number for you to score it. Over or under and it’s gone. Oh, and if your opponent(s) complete one first on their sheet, you lose it on yours. I really enjoyed it, but Ali wasn’t so keen on constantly having to add up to see what she needed.
We really enjoy VOYAGES from Post Mark Games, so I instantly backed AQUAMARINE a couple of years ago. However, for some reason it just got lost. Being a Print & Play, it kind of goes out of your head if you can’t see it. But the other day I stumbled on some sheets I had printed a while back and we gave it a go. And it’s really good. Rolling dice and creating squares to dive deep, trying to contain certain things like fish and shipwrecks within your sqaures so as to score them. A lot of fun.
ROLLING HEIGHTS was a game I barely knew much about, other than the Meeple rolling mechanic. When we arrived at the 24 Board Game Marathon, I decided to dive in for our second game of the evening and picked this, despite knowing that it was going to be an effort to learn. And it was. Very stressful with some mistakes and a moment of almost quitting. But we persevered, and despite the negative experiance, I can see a game that I’d really enjoy. It has a feel of CUBITIOS (the push your luck rolling) and MEEPLES vs MONSTERS (gaining more and more different coloured Meeples). I don’t know if we’ll ever need to own it, but I would like to play it some more.
X NIMMT! was taught to us by our Marathon buddy Hilary as it was a game she’d brought with her. I’ve not played a Nimmt game before so I was keen to try. And it’s really good. Like ‘I want it in my collection‘ good. I don’t know how it compares to 6 NIMMT! but this version was a lot of fun as we tried to avoid having to pick up the cards each turn. I did really really badly in my first game, and then it clicked and I went all the way to the other end of the scale. I could happily sit and play multpile games of this back-to-back.
FUN FACTS was a party game that we suddenly found ourselves playing with four new people. We enjoyed it so much that I’m thinking of adding it to our wedding party games pile. Players get a statement and then secretly write a number that gauges their answer. One at a time you place your answer face down, guessing where you are in increasing value with the rest of the group. A lot of fun.
I waited almost a week after this turned up to sit down, learn, and play EXPEDITIONS, and it was worth it. A sort of sequel to SYTHE (same setting, some matching mechanics) it looks more complicated to play than it is. Players move their Mechs around the board, playing cards and activating map tiles. It builds towards the same result as it’s older sibling with those stars being the ticking clock of the game end, but the card play required to get there is very interesting with some cards having several possible uses. There is also a lot of replayability due to the games modular set up. We ended up playing it four times in five days, a good sign that we’re having fun with a new game.
And out final new game of the month was VILLAGERS. I picked this up as an add-on when I backed STREETS a while ago. But we’d never taken the time to learn it. So a quick Rodney video with lunch, and then we were all set up and ready to go. And it’s good. Not great like I’d expected, but good. My second play was a bit of a rough one with a really low score due to not many good cards turning up. I worry that the strategy hinges too much on things showing at certain points of the game, but it’s fairly relaxing to play and doesn’t go too long. We’ll definitely play this more, and maybe introduce it to some friends to see how higher player counts fair.
20×5 CHALLENGE
We made a little more effert this month and crossed the three quarters mark, so still on target. A lot of our smaller games are done now like AKROPOLIS and SPLENDOR DUEL, leaving those bigger ones to go in this second half of the year. We’ve also decided that two games on our list won’t be hanging around as they just don’t have much life left in them after this years challenge. So we’ll be saying goodbye to TRAILS and BIRDWATCHER now that we’ve ticked them off.
We’re currently at 80%
HIGHLIGHTS
- Making some big decisions on The Great Cull and finally making some space.
- Getting to try a preview of LUDDITE, the next game from Cogito Ergo Meeple.
- Finally pulling the trigger and buying MAGE KNIGHT, my grail game.
- Getting back into ARKHAM HORROR LCG.
- Winning a copy of FROSTPUNK.
- . . . and obviously, taking part in the 24 Board Game Marathon!!!!!
Always Play Blue 