And that was May 2025

How unbelieveably hot it’s been in the last month. Despite a wet final few days, most of the month has been windows open to gain some sort of breeze.

It’s also been quite stressful due to two factors. The first as the ongoing (and now slightly delayed) building work on our garage conversion. The new game room should have been complete, or very close to it, by the end of May. But a delay in the door and window being delivered means we’re now looking at the end June.

On top of all that, I’ve been crunching away at the last two modules for my second year of Uni. It’s getting tough now, and next year will absolutely be crazier.

But, while all that has been going on, May also our return to UKGE after a two year break (which you can read about here). Something nice to look forward to among all the craziness of the previous 31 days.

VILLAGE: BIG BOX – This one came out of the blue. It’s a game that has sat near my wishlist, but not exactly on it. It’s intrigued me enough to sit on the very edges of my radar. Then one day I saw it on a good deal and pulled the trigger. From what I’ve seen of it, I was sure it would be something we’d like, and the deal was just good enough that I’d have kicked myself months later if I’d passed.

BOONLAKE – The theme continues because this was another game that I’ve always been interested in since it was first announced, but I’ve never grabbed it when I’ve had the opportunity. And again, a sudden stumble across a very good deal and I used that as the excuse I needed to finally add it to our collection.

HIT Z ROAD – This was one of the first games I picked up during Covid. We were coming up on the 5th anniversary of it landing in our collection. I’d been intrigued by the cool theming of the game but it was always forgotten about when picking things to play. Well, this month saw us finally try it, at both 2-player and 4-player. And it’s a fun and simple little game. The bidding mechanic is interesting with the all important resources needed in the game also being your bidding resource. There’s plenty of push your luck with overly simple yet effective combat. The first few rounds make the game feel like it might be too easy, but the level 2 and level 3 cards rank up the complexity as you head from the west coast to the east.

STAR WARS: DON’T UPSET THE WOOKIE – My wife purchased this for me a couple of Christmas’ ago based solely on the fact that a small card game comes inside a Chewbacca. He’s always sat on our gaming shelves while the contents of his stomach faded from memory. When May 4th arrived and we found ourselves busy, we figured it would at least tick off us playing a Star Wars themed game for the day (though by the evening we found time to play OUTER RIM). The basic card game hidden within is just that; basic. But more than that, I found it incredibly frustrating. The luck of the draw is all that is needed as I was blocked for three entire games, unable to shed more than a couple of cards while my wife just breeze through each of her hands to go 3-0 before I roared like an angry Wookie. Suffice to say that I doubt we’ll ever play it again.

VILLAGE: BIG BOX – First off, the insert for this game is amazing and made set up for our first play super simple. Because it comes with a bunch of expansions, I was worried it would be a pain to work out what was and wasn’t just base game. But what of the game itself? Well, it’s a little different to things we’ve played before. While there is a sort of Worker Placement thing going on, your turn is dictated by the taking of a resourse from a spot. You Meeples might not be placed every turn. The other selling point of VILLAGE are the generations of Meeples. Time is a constant resourse in this game as your Meeples will eventually pass on to either be remembered in the Village Chronicle, or forgotten about in the cemetary behind the church. We really enjoyed the first play and are both looking forward to getting into the expansions now.

FRENCH QUARTER – We both really enjoy THREE SISTERS, and have had a good time with MOTOR CITY, but for some reason, in the years since it arrived, we never got round to trying FRENCH QUARTER. It’s more Roll ‘n’ Write from 25th Century and Motor City games and it might just end up being our favourite of the three. The dice selection mechanic, while having the flavour of the other two games, is a little simpler. The actions too are straightforward and, while the sheets look a little busy, it becomes second nature quite quickly, with the chaining being less fiddly.

THE GIG – We continued with the new Roll ‘n’ Write games and tried this, the one and only game I’ve ever late pledged. While it’s supposed to have a real time dice rolling aspect to the first phase, we ended up going through it with the more relaxing turn based option. And it’s a nice little Roll ‘n’ Write game. It’s simplicity and shortish turns mean that it doesn’t outstay it’s welcome, and there is a decent amount of variability in the box with the different instrument boards (each with it’s own asymetric ability).

SKYLANDS – This was one of the four games we were gift last year when we attended Dice Portsmouth’s birthday bash (along with AEON’S END, WENDAKE, and THE BIG SCORE). I wasn’t sure what we’d think of it, and it was perhaps the one I was least bothered about from the ones we walked away with. But it surprised me with it’s simple turn actions, follow mechanic, and tile placement. While it in no way shoots to the top of any of my lists (mainly becase the action board it too weird and unnecessary), it’s a game we can introduce to our non-gamer friends and looks to play well at all counts.

BOONLAKE – Now this is a good game. It’s only our third Alexander Pfister game after GREAT WESTERN TRAIL and PORT ROYAL, both amoung our favourites, and this one immediately joins them. From the interesting action selection mechanic to the constant flow of cards, coin, and wooden pieces, the game manages to feel like you’ve got a lot and that you’re barely scrapping by at the same time. There is never really a wasted turn as you’re always getting something and always moving on the river, itself a fun little race between players as you’re reach each turn dictates the game length. And it works just fine at 2-player. We’re both very glad that I ordered this on a whim and, if it carries on impressing, it’s a game that has the potential to join my top 50 this year.

For the rest of the new games played in the final few days of the month, check out the soon to be released UKGE post in one week.

• Work continues on our garage to board game room conversion.
• UKGE 2025!!!
• Adding the awesome BOONLAKE to our collection.