The sun is shining which means I’m doing my best to stay indoors in the shadows and play boardgames with the curtains closed (can’t stand that sun glare off the sleeved cards, lol).
May has been a slower game month than usual for us. A cancelled meetup, Uni assignment deadlines, and that damn heat, all mean that not as much has gotten to the table as I’d have liked. We’ve also had a dry spell of Kickstarter arrivals, and not played as many new games for a few weeks. This months post will be a little shorter.
KICKSTARTER ARRIVALS
GLOOMHAVEN is one of my all time favourite games, so when this teenie toiny solo version was announced, it was an immediate back. GLOOMHAVEN: BUTTONS & BUGS was park of the epic Cephalophaire crowdfunding project on Backerkit last year, and I was originally dipping in for the Gloomhaven RPG. However, the tabletop RPG didn’t look as good as I’d hoped, and I couldn’t afford all the miniatures for the other Gloomhaven games, so this small box version was all I ended up going for. But it’s amazing how much they’ve gotten into the box and it looks interesting.
With funds being a little light during my ‘full time student’ phase, I’ve taken to backing much smaller and cheaper games. ButtonShy are great for budget gamers and their latest, THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE, recently turned up. It’s the standard fare of 18 cards being used to their fullest, and it’s another solo game for me to get stuck into on my days at home (thoughts below).
EZRA AND NEHEMIAH is the latest in Garphill Games ‘Ancient World’ series. While I’ve still to play the first two in this series (we mainly stick to the main trilogies) I did dip into LEGACY OF YU last year. After watching a couple of playthroughs of EZRA AND NEHEMIAH during the campaign, and backing and unbacking twice, I’m now very glad I stayed in. It looks beautiful and the components, as always from Garphill Games, are top notch. And it’s 3 months early, which is unheard of for 99% of Kickstarters.
NEW GAMES OF THE MONTH
I picked up LIVING PLANET during the year of the Pandemic when we just couldn’t stop buying games. Yet it has taken us three and a bit years to get it to the table. And what did we think? Well, meh, to be honest. It has a mix of mechanics that don’t all gel well as you try to make money from the resources of a planet that behaves like it’s from the ending of The Search For Spock. And it only really gets going just as it ends. It’s a slow game with odd design choices that we’ve both agreed can go straight on our cull pile. Thankfully I’d picked it up in a Sale.
While at Portsmouth Comic Con with friends we passed by the Dice Board Game Lounge stall and I couldn’t resist grabbing the last copy of FARAWAY. It’s getting a lot of buzz and I think it’s been hard to get hold off. We’ve enjoyed a good few games of it now, and while the luck of the draw can sometimes hinder your plans, it’s got enough to enjoy as a nice filler game or something simple to open a games night. I don’t think it’s as amazing as most folks make out, but it’s a short play time, has cool art, and is easy to teach meaning we’ll definitely keep it in the collection.
I spotted a guy on Instagram making his own game which eventually became BLOXO. It had a Qwirkle look to it and when his preorders went up I thought it would be nice to support and get a small box game out of it. We’ve played a handful of games since it arrived, and while I’m not blown away by it (too much luck in your starting cards, the first player can be at a disadvantage, and it’s not about plan and more of reacting) it is a nice small travel game we’ll probably chuck in the bag when we’re away.
Last day of the month and I settled down to finally try THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE. As rounds tick away, you’re using traps to stop Nightmares taking out your Lighthouse. It’s a puzzle each turn on how to work efficiently and tread water. You can’t defeat the Nightmares, instead doing what you can to hold out until the morning (end of draw deck). I really enjoyed it and will definitly be playing more.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Trying out multiclassing in D&D
- First time playing Call Of Cthulhu RPG
- The EZRA AND NEHEMIAH Kickstarter arriving 3 months early!!!
Always Play Blue 