Nights are getting longer as we close in on the end of the year. But board games are perfect for those rainy days and cold evenings.
November saw us finally complete our last challenge for the year, and we had a fun weekend in Taunton at GridCon 4. So not only did we play some fantastic games this month, but we got a higher than average try at some new to us stuff as well.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
The first arrival of the month was PIONEER RAILS from @drandagames which is a Flip ‘n’ Write with a Western theme. We’d played a Print & Play version back in May and really enjoyed it, and I knew I wanted it in our collection when I saw it at UKGE last year. Now that it’s here it’s a fantastic final product with great production value.
Next up was SLEEPING GODS: DISTANT SKIES. We really enjoyed our plays of the original SLEEPING GODS and I jumped straight in to the Gamefound campaign for the sequel when it popped up last year. I also added the small spin off game, SLEEPING GODS: PRIMEVAL PERIL (more on that below) as we definitely like playing these story based co-op games together. The production on both of these games is amazing. Distant Skies is a heavy box filled with cards, booklets, and even minis. I like that both these games have less player characters that the original, making it slightly easier to contend with. I’m hoping that we can get stuck into Distant Skies over Christmas and just leave it set up on the table for a few consecutive days.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
I’ve been into comics since my mid teens. Worker Placement is my favourite board game mechanism. Put these two things together and you have AGE OF COMICS: THE GOLDEN YEARS from Lirius Games. First off, this game is absolutely gorgeous. The components, the custom comic art, the insert. It just looks amazing all set up on the table. And it plays well too, with Editior meeples being used to take actions that work torwards hiring the talenet and producing the comics. There’s a sales chart where your income for issues drops over time so you always have to stay fresh. The only part that we didn’t really get stuck into was the orders section where you move around New York to rustle up more fans. Maybe it will come into play more in higher player counts, but at 2, and on our first play, we didn’t really dabble into it. But we enjoyed out first play so much that Ali added it to our 20×5 challenge for 2024.
We had some family visit us on the first weekend of the month and a handful of new games got played. First up was CAMEL UP. This is one of those games that I’m fully aware of and have an interest to try, but it never seems to come up. So it was nice that our guests bought it round to try. And I really really like it. From trying to work out all the permutations based on the info across the board, to watching camels go backwards suddenly means that there is thinking to do, but you’re constantly reminded that this is mainly pure chaos and just good fun.
The next game we played was 6 NIMMT! This is a fun little card game that plays really well at four. Constantly trying to out guess your opponents so as to not be left picking up a row of cards never gets old.
We’d seen GOOD FACE BAD FACE on an episode of No Rolls Bared and thought it would be a good game to add to our Wedding selection. This was a good chance to try it out and it plays pretty good. Players place down good and/or bad cards and pass them around the table in a face down pile. Each player then has the choice to pick up cards from the top of the stack. Good face is good, bad face is bad, Obviously. But the beauty comes from the rule where you have to draw the top card if any of the stack comes back to you, meaning that sometimes you end up outsmarting yourself.
The newest game from the Oniverse was released recently and I obviously needed to add that to the collection. And after my first few plays of CYBERION it might just end up being my favourite of the series. It has such a nice flow to it as you use robots to fix machines (esentially a contract completion mechanic). But each robot has a special ability that you can also spend completed machines on to upgrade. It looks really nice and gives me enough to think about each turn without getting to brain burning levels.
IMPERIUM CLASSICS is a game I’ve had on the shelf for too long. I think it’s nearly two years since we got it. We love Deck Building, but the added complexity here has meant that we always put off the learning. Well we finally bit the bullet this month, and while we had two false starts, it did eventually click. And overall I really like it. Some people complain about it’s length, but I think it’s a nice option when you want a meatier Deck Builder. Ali struggled with it at first, and she’s still on the fence about liking it, but I’m hoping another play or two and we’ll have the last few kinks ironed out so that the game can shine.
WOK AND ROLL is a relaxing Roll ‘n’ Write where players are using the food on the dice to fullfil orders on a menu board. While both players use the dice each turn, there are extra Red dice that only the active player can use. This, coupled with a YAHTZEE like “3 rolls” mechanic, allows you to plan orders in a way that your opponent(s) might not be able to use the remaining effectively, which adds an extra layer to the gameplay.
STRONG POINT was a quiz game where players bet on one person at a time to guess how many from five questions they’ll get right. The questions cards each have a theme, and all players will know the theme before they bet. So it’s great to play with friends where you all know something of everyone; their likes and dislikes, their hobbys, and so on. And while the questions are easy if you know the subject (I powered through the DC Characters card) when you don’t know something, you can definitely crash and burn (I know nothing about Cocktails).
EVENFALL is a new release and one we were lucky to get to try at GridCon. It didn’t look like much from it’s table pressence with some location boards and asymetric player boards littered around the table space. But the game was long and thinky and I really enojyed it. Using your cards in the outer and inner circles is key, and playing at four was great as it made decisions tough when it came to the shared worker spots and area control battles. Probably woudn’t own it, but would very much take up the offer to play.
We have a really nice subsection on our collection of 2-player only games. Yet BEER & BREAD is one that I never gotten around to adding, despite my interest in it. After our play at GridCon, I can say that I’d definitely like to get it now. It has the farming and resource management of bigger games, but plays perfectly at two with its varying seasons and three part card play. When we get more space on our shelves, this one is near the top of my list for a purchase.
At the end of our second GridCon day we were tired. So I thought it would be good to learn and teach UNDERWATER CITIES at around 8pm. Most of this came from the fact that I wanted to scratch off at least one game from my BGG Top 100 poster. But despite a slow start, my very patient fiance stuck with me, and we soon found our flow. Ali absolutely trounced me as I just didn’t go in on end game point cards. But the game itself is fantastic, and I can see why it’s in the top 100. Playing cards instead of workers, trying to match the card colour to the board space colour to maximize turns, and some really nice production on the player boards and some components meant this looked really nice all set up on the table and had people glancing as they passed our table. I’d really like to play it again, probably at a higher count (though it worked perfectly fine at 2). And I can see it being one of those bigger games that I rarely ever win, but enjoy getting stuck into for a couple of hours.
SPELLBOOK is another new release that I’ve had my eye on due to it’s comparisons to SPLENDOR. And I can see why it is paired with this classic, but it does have a little extra meat on it despite still being beginner friendly. I like the ramp up of gaining spell abilities, and you definetely have to plan you way through your spells (the first one I completed was pointless without another spell already completed so it slowed down my engine). It does have a second end game trigger by completing a Familiar board in front of you that I’m not sure is necessary. While the main goal is to compete 7 spells first, this Familiar board can be rushed at any time and end the game just when people’s engines are getting going. But overall the components and art are really nice and it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome.
LOST CITIES is a classic 2-player only game that sits on my list of “why haven’t we gotten around to this yet”. I think maybe the scoring mechanism put me off learning it. But it turns out that it’s really simple, and a single pass though the brief rule book had us going off on our expedtions. I stumbled on the first round , clearly not quite getting any tactics under my belt. But rounds two and three had it all clicking for me and I came back strong enought to take the win. This could definitely end up in our colection down the line.
PROJECT L is one of those games that stands out from looking so different to everything else. It’s basic art style and coloured pieces draw attention. And it’s also really easy to learn and smooth to play. I wonder how much replay value it has, though the version we played was the deluxe copy with loads of extras.
My only purchase from GridCon was SKY TEAM, which is a new release getting good buzz at the moment. And rightly so. After our first play I could see all the potential of the game and that’s without diving into all the extras and add-ons that come included. This game has great value and I can see it getting played a lot. Ali struggled with the stress of not being able to communcate, and we did talk a little more than we should have, but I think in a first play of SKY TEAM, it’s necessary as you learn basic tactics.
While the main event of my crowd funding arrivals was SLEEPING GODS: DISTANT SKIES, it was it’s small spin off SLEEPING GODS: PRIMEVAL PERIL that we got to the table first. And what an amazing couple of hours that was. We lost ourselves in an afternoon had one of my favourite gaming experiences of 2023. It has a few improvements over the original (which I think have been implemented in Distant Skies too, which is great). We failed at the end but had a great time together exploring the map and working together. While we will play the bigger version occasionaly, I think this mini version of the series will get to the table much more often due to it being playable in a single session.
20×5 CHALLENGE
Well, we did it. A little later than I thought we would, but the 20×5 challenge for 2023 is over.
Early in the month we used a free afternoon to play MEEPLES & MONSTERS before having a community voted game of GREAT WESTERN TRAIL in the evening. And then, towards the end of the following week we played TZOLK’IN: THE MAYAN CALENDAR before rounding things out with LORDS OF WATERDEEP on Nov 11th and ticking off that satisfying final play.
This year has been paced a little better than the previous two challenges. 2021 was a bit of a struggle with some games we’d lost interest in. 2022, on the other hand, was so focused that we finished in June! So this year it was nice to take it easier and spread it out while also mixing things up with a 20×5 instead of a 10×10. This means that there’s a bigger selection of games while also offering the relief of only 5 plays should you go off one of the selection.
We’ve already sat down and picked our 10 games each for next years 20×5. I’ve also set up another 52×1 for new plays as we still have a lot of unplayed games to get through. And because I’m at home a lot now, I’ve added a 10×10 solo game challenge for myself to help break up my studies for 2024.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Completing our 20×5 challenge for the year
- Going to GridCon!
- Starting a new D&D campaign with a new group of friends
- Selling more games (the great Cull continues!)
Always Play Blue 