Despite starting February with a gaming high, it went quickly downhill thanks to me becoming ill on the 2nd and not getting any better until the 16th. This meant that not a lot of games were played over the first couple of weeks of February, and our challenges were left wanting.
And what of that highlight at the start of the month before things went bad? Well that was BB40 Con, a gathering of instagram gamers returning to Mollyington (the annual site of MollyCon) to celebrate two members crossing the 40 line. We managed to get in our regular game of SCYTHE with Steve (@boardgamewaffle), learnt a whole bunch of card games (see below), and ended up in an aggressive 6-player game of TUMBLIN’ DICE.
Unfortunately, illness kicked in after that and stayed with me for the next four weeks. Other than a daily play of FINAL GIRL toward the end, our playing stats are down, and none of our challenges were touched.
Fingers crossed for March that we get back on track.
FINAL GIRL: SERIES 3 – This one was so close to making into last month’s epic arrival list, but missed out by a single day. While I arrived late into the Final Girl series of games, picking up all of Season 1 and Season 2 in a piecemeal way, I was hooked on the game by the time the third Season rolled around. This meant I was able to dive in for one of the Ultimate boxes for the first time.
LUDDITE – Were fans of Cotswold Games (formally Cogito Ergo Meeple) and this is one of their latest, a Roll ‘n’ Write game set in the same universe as SOLAR 175 and GONZA INDEX. We were fortunate to get a demo copy a while back and both enjoyed the game, but I was recently blown away by the production of the finsihed game in an unboxing video the team released.
GO NUTS FOR DONUTS – This was the first game we played at BB40 Con. It’s one I’ve seen around and felt it looked a little light, perhaps aimed more for younger gamers. Turns out I was wrong. While it is a light game, it’s actually a whole lot of fun. Players secretly big on a donut from a selection in front of everyone. You’re bidding with cards numbered to the donuts available. Once you reveal, anyone who has matched another players number loses out and that donut is gone. Anyone who reveals the only card of a number gets what they were after. The donut cards themselves have different scoring mechanisms, reminisant of something like SUSHI GO!. It was a lot of fun, and definitely a game I’d play again. It made a great opener.
TRIO – A small box card game that I’d seen a lot across instagram, but had no idea what the game was. Matt (of @shirtsandmerch) was eager to show it to us. It’s a fun, quick game where you’re asking players to reveal information about the cards in their hand (but only ever their lowest or highest cards) and then trying to do so in a way that means you’ve revealed three matching cards. This can include cards in your hand, as well as a 3×3 grid of face down cards in the middle of the table. I was terrible at it (I don’t work well with memory) but I still found it fun. And it’s brisk too, so it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. It’s one of those quick games thay you just keep playing round after round until you’re done.
TUMBLIN’ DICE – I beliebve this was rthe Eagle Griffen Games remake of a classic (old?) game. A bunch of wooden steps with numbers prointed on them that get bigger the further down you go. You take turned rolling a dice down the steps and at the end of a round you add up the scores of dice remaining on the steps. Because the damn thing has no sides, and players will be knocking your previous dice off, whether accidently, or on purpose. You dice score basaed on the step their on and the pips showing on the face up side. It started as silly fun, but a crowd gathered and our 3-player first game evolved into a 6-player gladatorial event with sepctators. Due to it’s size and novelaty factor, i’d never own it, but it makes for an amazing game when you have meet ups with groups of gamers. How we didn’t have a tournament that day, I’ll never know.
RIVER VALLEY GLASSWORKS – When this hit crowdfunding, it gave me FLAMECRAFT vibes, and that one of the reasons I didn’t back it. It’s a simple drafting game where you’re playing a pice in order to grab other pieces, and then you choose to slot these on you board based on colours and how you want to score. It’s relaxing. It’s easy to learn. But by the end I found it a little too simple and thought that the way to score best seemed kind of obvious. PLus the crowdfunded version was all sorts of deluxe which is what I think gets it in front of people more than the gameplay. It’s a nice game, but not one I’d chase to play again.
TINKER TAILOR – This was an intesting vard game where players draft character cards, each with it’s own ability, and then gets triggered in the order od the peom. It seemed like something I’d enjoy. But the game ended and I found that I personally had two issues with the ganme. First, for new players, it’s a nightmare. There are a lot of character cards (one for each character in the poem) and it can take a while for new players to read them all in order to make their selection. Sure, not all chaacters are included in each round, but the second round could contain characters that weren’t in the first, so it’s like starting again. So for new players, the drafting phase drags. The second issue is the number of characters. There is just too much that can happen in a round depending on which characters were selected, and if you’re the last to draft in a rtound, your chouice might be pointless.
HIGH SOCIETY – A classic Keniza game that I’ve never played but always wanted too. This one was a lot of fun. You have a hand of cards worth a value. Each round a piece of art worth various amounts is revealed and players use their cards to bid. The catch here is that, if at the end of the game, if you have the least amount of money left in your hand, you automatically get zero. So you want to bid high throughout the game to get the best stuff, but you don’t want to do it too often. What makes it more fun is occasionally there at different cards that add variables to the cards you’ve won. Maybe double your score, or half it. And it’s these negative cards that are the most fun because you have to bid not to win it. There’s a lot more to it, more than I can explain in txt without just copying the rulebock out. But if you get a chance to play it, I highly recomend it.
- Making it to BB40 Con
- FINAL GIRL Season 3 arriving
- Getting in another day long session of THE ELDER SCROLLS: BETRAYAL OF THE SECOND ERA.
- Playing the penultimate session of our 18 month D&D campaign.
Always Play Blue 