You though I lost a bunch of weight, didn't you!? Didn't you!? :p Nope. At around 5'7 and 100lbs, I cannot afford to lose any, but I did manage to lose a lot of other stuff this week! Like lots of games. And the first version of this post. Ugh. This version of the post will be comparatively brief because I just didn't have the time to redo everything to the same extent I did the first time. :( I was really stupid and decided to work straight into bgg rather than into Word. And I ALWAYS work into Word first! I am really unhappy with this blogging system. I need auto save!!!
And before you ask, YES I DID WRITE 90% OF THIS OUT TWICE!
What's New?
Uchronia
Uchronia is an interesting game. Dubbed "lobotomized Glory to Rome" by one bgg reviewer, Uchronia's history of development suggests it to be an "improvement," but it's reception on bgg suggests it to be a "devolution" of the game upon which it was based. I have not played Glory to Rome, so I have no context upon which to base my opinion in either direction, but I can say that Uchronia is a great game in its own right. Whether it improves upon or "lobotomizes" Glory to Rome is irrelevant to me, as I have no way of obtaining a copy of that game, as much as I'd like to do so.
Uchronia is a resource-management tableau-building card game with multiple-use cards, akin to games like Race for the Galaxy and San Juan. What sets Uchronia apart from these is the fact that cards all have their multiple functions depicted on them and can switch functionality mid game. Uchronia also has a different take on role selection, whereby players may not necessarily have the option of "following" another player's actions; they only get to follow when they take a plotting action (drawing cards instead of performing an action using cards) AND an opponent played a card on their previous turn that is the same color as one of their own cards that have been promoted to the top of their board as activities (essentially multipliers that increase the strength of actions).
In Uchronia, players take turns either performing an action with one (or two) of their cards or drawing cards. Options for actions are as follows:
1. Explore (orange) - transfer a card from your hand to your stock (these become resources for building or to be converted into activities)
2. Produce (green) - transfer a card from the forum (common pile) to your stock
3. Trade (blue) - transfer a card from your stock to your activities (activities increase the number of times an action of the same color can be taken by the number of activities of that color a player possesses and become points for the player with the greatest number of activities in each color)
4. Draconians (red) - show a card and transfer a card of the same color from the forum to your stock and each player who played a card as an action on his previous turn must transfer a card of the same color from his hand to your stock
5. Build (grey) - either transfer a building of the same color as a card in the forum (and throw out that card) to your "works in progress" area or add a single resource from your stock to a building of the same color in your "works in progress area."
If a player opts to draw a card instead of taking an action he gets a free action of the same color as that played by his opponent on the opponent's previous turn provided the player himself has a card of the same color in his activities. He also gets to either draw up to 5 cards or take 1 card from the draw pile if he already has 5 cards in hand.
A very interesting aspect of Uchronia is the fact that the common forum pile is not replenished automatically. Rather, it is refilled with cards that players play. At the beginning of his turn, each player must transfer the card he played on his previous turn to the forum. This makes the decision of which card to play a very interesting one. Players want to play actions that will benefit them immediately and in the future, but they also want to keep cards that might benefit their opponent away from the forum. Uchronia thus renders timing a type of resource to be manipulated by players.
The game ends when one player reaches 20 points. Buildings are worth points equal to the number of resources required to build them and may be worth extra points depending on their special abilities. Each activity of a certain color is worth a point for the player with the most activities of that color.
Uchronia is a smart and challenging game. The first time we played, I took actions because I knew how to perform them rather than because I had an idea for a strategy. Needless to say, I ended up losing. However, our first play did make me aware of the interconnections and dependencies between various aspects of the game and the importance of timing and paying attention to what other players are doing. It is vital to pay attention to the forum and opponents' hand sizes and tableaus to decide when and which actions to play because playing a card of a certain color can make a certain building available for building and it can allow an opponent to take a free action if he has an activity of the same color. Timing is also important in terms of deciding whether to play an action or draw cards; getting a free action AND drawing a card/cards can be quite powerful. It's hardly surprising that timing is so important in a race game that is all about optimization. But it is an interesting and challenging aspect of the game.
Uchronia's components are OK, but the art is fabulous! It is so beautiful, but it is kind of wasted because the game is pretty abstract. Peter kept complaining about the dinosaurs. I have no problems with an abstract game with pretty art.
The only thing I did not enjoy about Uchronia was the need to keep track of both my own and Peter's scores throughout the game. Because the game ends when a player reaches 20 points, it is vital to keep an eye on scores, but this is difficult to do because points are sprawled out between buildings and activities. Keeping track of scores thus slows the game down. I downloaded a Magic: The Gathering life counter prior to our second game and this made the entire experience much quicker and smoother. I really think some sort of score tracker should have been included in the game.
Overall, I really enjoyed Uchronia. It is challenging, engaging, interactive, and fun! What peaked my interest in it was Carl Chudyk and my love for Innovation. And Uchronia did not disappoint. It is definitely another winner from Chudyk and I look forward to exploring it further. I am very excited to discover more Chudyk games in the coming weeks!
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2. Tournay
Tournay, Tournay, Tournay. I have had this game on my wishlist FOREVER and kept forgetting about it. Well, I finally got it!
Tournay is a beautiful and engaging tableau builder in which players build their Tournays (?) with military, religious, and civil buildings, persons, and citizens. Sound familiar? That's because it is a cousin of Troyes, a game I absolutely love! Tournay did not disappoint! We only played the game once, so I will reserve my extended opinions for next week, but so far so good! :)
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What's Old?
Terra Mystica + Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice
We've played this game so much it's ridiculous, but we always discover something new. We drew the Dragon Lords and Swarmlings for this game and I really didn't want to play as the Dragon Lords because I was afraid of losing power tokens for terraforming. And so I bid 4 points and selected the Swarmlings. I quickly regretted my decision. The Dragon Lords are quite powerful. I played well and made the most of all point-scoring opportunities, but Peter's Dragon Lords were just so strong. He managed to win both of the building end-game bonuses (the extra one of which was the furthest distance between two of your connected structures) and I only managed to tie the cult tracks. It was quite a close game, but I was surprised to lose because I always win at TM. Peter was happy because it is his goal in life to beat me at TM.
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Olympos + Olympos: Oikoumene
I had a serious losing streak on this day. We played TM and then we played Olympos. I lost both games and I always win at them! Peter got majority over the Zeus tokens at the start of the game and managed to hold on to it for about 3/4 of the game. That hurt me pretty badly. He was also the first to complete BOTH objectives, so that lost me 6 points. It was pretty sad.
This game is so challenging because it is over so quickly. It creates a serious sense of urgency that begins at the outset and doesn't subside throughout the entire game. Absolutely outstanding!
Fairy Tale
So much Fairy Tale! It never gets old.
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7 Wonders + 7 Wonders: Leaders
I definitely prefer 7 Wonders to Fairy Tale as a drafting game, but Fairy Tale has no setup time and is so quick to play that it's easy to play on a daily basis. It was so good to play 7 Wonders again. We hadn't played it since last summer. I got Babylon and Peter got Alexandria. I didn't even realize I was playing with the A side of my board and Peter was playing with the B side of his until the end of the game. I still won!
Peter collected military and lots of blue civilian buildings. I went with science because Babylon! It was great. Our game made me want to try the new Babel expansion, but I prefer 7 Wonders without too many extra rules and things (which is why I prefer to play without Cities even though we have it) so I don't think I will be getting it any time soon...
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The second time we played 7 Wonders this week, Peter got Rome and I got the Maneken Pis. I tried to get into military early and to hold onto it, but Peter was able to take over in the last round. I also had a leader who gave 2 points per grey production building, so I tried to collect lots of those, but that cost me dearly in the long term because I had no brown production buildings and brown production is kind of important. I ended up losing by 3 points. Oh well. I am still the biggest loser.
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Fantastiqa + Fantastiqa: Fantastiqal Landscapes Expansion
Despite being one of my favorite games, I don't play Fantastiqa very frequently. But when I do, I enjoy it thoroughly and get out of the game a sense of contentment that no other game is able to provide. Fantastiqa makes me feel like a child wandering through a beautiful fairy tale. Even Peter, the self-professed fantasy-hater, loves it for its clever gameplay and beautiful components. I am always surprised at how much I enjoy the gameplay of Fantastiqa because I quite dislike deck building games and I generally dislike race games. Fantastiqa is essentially a deck-building race game, but it takes the best of those two mechanics and combines them in a way that is very satisfying to me. The fact that points are essentially hidden during the game could contribute to making me like it a little more as a race game. One of the things I cannot stand in race games is being able to tell that you have no chance. I never feel hopeless in Fantastiqa, even when I probably should. Actually, the game always fills me with hope.
We played with the flex variant of the Castle in the Air expansion, which is my favorite way to play the game. The Castle of the Air expansion adds a "Castle in the Air" space to the board that can only be reached by spending "cloud crystals." The Castle in the Air allows players to either use the market and select the card they want to purchase from the entire deck rather than drawing two and selecting one and it presents players the opportunity to present the landscapes drawn by their Dragon Artistes. The flex variant allows all players to present their landscape drawing collections (which need not be complete), rather than just one player presenting a complete set of landscape drawings as per the base rules. I love the entire story of this expansion and have been trying to make good use of the Castle in the Air, but to no avail. I ended up winning the game by finishing a quest because it was easier to do so than get to the Castle in the Air at the time. Oh well. Maybe I'll have better luck next time!
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Kingdom Builder + Kingdom Builder: Crossroads
We played KB three times this week, but I could play it every day. The Crossroads ability that allows players to draw two cards and select one became available to us for the first time this week and it was pretty cool! I went straight for it and enjoyed the additional placement option it provided. This was especially important because none of the other abilities provided movement. I find the movement abilities to be the most important a lot of times. I love this game and I love the Crossroads expansion! The fact that each of the Crossroads boards has two different abilities rather than one and that additional scoring cards are added for each Crossroads board in play mean that this expansion really amplifies the strategic possibilities in KB and I love that! This is definitely my desert island game!
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Bangkok Klongs
Peter and I had our second game of Bangkok Klongs and ended with quite close scores. The first time we played, I won by a lot because I had played it online and he had no clue how to strategize his moves. He knew what to do this time and really gave me a run for my money. We played the tactical variant that divides the boats into occupied and unoccupied ones and allows players to select which boats to draw on each turn. This nicely raises the level of tactical thinking that goes on each turn. In our game, we ended up exhausting all the unoccupied boats before we drew the occupied ones, so the first part of the game was quite long and the second quite short, but it was very interesting. Peter said that he likes the game, but that it felt like Checkers at the beginning. I don't know about that. I think there is definitely a back and forth that is like Checkers, but it didn't remind me of Checkers otherwise. Oh well. Either way, I love this game for its combination of beauty, simplicity, and agonizing choices. Simple games with tough choices are always my favorites and this one is no exception! Also, it is SO, SO PRETTY!
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Troyes + The Ladies of Troyes
We finally played Troyes after a much-too-long break! In fact, our break was so long that I forgot quite a bit about how to play the game. Peter had to remind me about a few things at the beginning and then we were off. Despite forgetting a lot about the game initially, I played very well and ended up winning by A LOT! My secret people were the money guy and the church guy, so I started off by securing good money production and ended up by making points with surplus money I didn't need to satisfy the money guy. I also used the ramparts effectively and ended up at the 4th one (which was the one that provides 3 points+1 point per each of your cubes on it) with 6 of my cubes on it at the end of the game. And I fully satisfied all of my people demands and even outdid Peter on his! Our game reminded me that I must get Troyes played more frequently. I hate looking up the icons on the buildings, which are quite cryptic to me, so that deters me from wanting to play Troyes all the time, but otherwise, it is an outstanding and challenging game that I want to play more frequently!
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Mage Knight Board Game
I won! And how! We played the blitz conquest. I was Arythea and Peter was Krang. I think this might be the last time Peter selects Krang :p. To be fair, I did get lucky by having a keep right beside the city I was about to take over, so my hand size was quite large when I was doing so. And I had a bunch of units!
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Dog does not think highly of Mage Knight
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Innovation + Innovation: Echoes of the Past
This was yet another game I lost this week! I really wasn't paying attention when we were playing this game. The thing that made me want to play it was, oddly enough, listening to Garbage songs that were coming from Peter's Gran Turismo game earlier that day. For some reason, Garbage sounds like Innovation. And no, that is not to say that Innovation is Garbage, just that it sounds like 90s alt rock to me. Anyway, I wiped the dust off my 1995 Garbage CD and put it on while we were playing. The music totally distracted me from playing well, but at least I was having a good time. It REALLY distracted me though. I played like garbage!
I dominated the first two eras and then Peter started eroding my score pile. When he was done with that, he got an effect that allowed him to add a card from my hand to his score pile. For some stupid reason, I kept drawing cards. And not low cards either. Oh no! I was drawing 8s and finishing my turns with a couple 8s in hand! What an air head move! I was just hoping I'd get something that would let me win the game...and I almost did with all the musical instruments, but Peter was playing well and I was not. Oh well. I learned a valuable life lesson: Don't listen to Garbage while playing Innovation...or maybe ever!
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The Staufer Dynasty
Won! Yay! A game I won!
Like Olympos, Staufer is a game of highly limited actions. Players only get three actions each round and there are only five rounds. But the amount that players accomplish in those 15 actions is amazing! I don't really agree with claims that Staufer is a purely tactical game. I think there is a lot of strategy to it. Indeed, I find myself planning out my entire game at the beginning based on my end-game-goal cards, bonus cards, and the outline of the game. The bonus chests that come out do force me to re-think and adjust my plans sometimes (especially the chest that prevents your dudes from being taken off the board after scoring), but I don't think it's fair to call Staufer purely tactical. I don't know whether that's something I made up or heard somewhere, but I feel like I heard/read someone say that and I just think that is complete baloney. Anyway, I love the breadth of possibilities in the dearth of actions Staufer presents and I hope to play it more frequently.
[The only thing that really irks me about this game is the score track. Why 25!? WHY!? And no, I will not stop whining about the stupid score track!]
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Sanssouci
I managed to tie this one! It was such a funny game. I ended up getting a lot of mazes, which were one of Peter's purple cards and he ended up getting a lot of snails (I'm not sure what they're called but we call them snails...those snail-like flowery things), which were one of my purple cards, so we both ended up with only 3 extra points at the end of the game for those. This game is so happy and enjoyable and is over in under 20 minutes, so I really don't mind all the luck in it. It has definitely become one of our favorite fillers.
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Viticulture + Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture
Monday was “Peter’s day” so he got to pick the games we played. He picked Viticulture and Suburbia. We both enjoy Viticulture and have been having a lot of fun adding one "piece" of the expansion with each play. This time, we added the new board! The new board adds a “star” resource that thematically represents distributing influence among various regions of Italy. Playing a star to a region on the map depicted on the lower left corner of the new board provides an immediate benefit (drawing a card or getting money) and acts a source of victory points at the end of the game for the player with the majority of star markers in each region. The new board is also divided into 4 seasons, with specific action spaces for spring, summer, fall, and winter. All these changes are more subtle than I anticipated them to be and the game remains not a recognizable cousin, but a fraternal twin of the base game. Peter and I both enjoyed the new board and will probably continue to play with it in the future. It might not be very different, but it does add some new choices that increase the interest level for me at least.
In our play, I went straight into ramping up my production of grapes and wine and collecting orders, while Peter got distracted by the small points available to be found here and there. The end result was that he got ahead early in the game and I screamed past him at the end. We ended at 28 to 15 points. I enjoy this game every time it comes out!
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Suburbia + Suburbia Inc
This was Peter’s second pick and I'm starting to fall back in like with it. The goals were most industrial buildings, least cultural buildings, and least buildings overall (nomad) and we had the population bonus and border challenge. Peter met the population bonus and started hemorrhaging money pretty early in the game, while I set up my economy and secured the majority in industrial buildings (i.e. heavy factory row with railway and bay) and then went for getting population without cultural buildings. This was actually more of a challenge than I thought it would be because the cultural buildings were an ever-present temptation with their easy population increasing abilities. My suburb was very successful. I attribute my success to heavy industry row. Gotta get industry going early!
At the end of the game, Peter asked when the Suburbia 5★ expansion would be available. It is a rare occurrence for Peter to inquire about a game's availability and rarer still for him to offer to buy it. I guess he's looking forward to it! I think I am too! :)
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Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends + Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends – Everfrost
We played Tash again! I have been really itching to play this game for a while, but other games kept getting in the way! It is actually a hard game to gauge in terms of timing because it can be quite quick or it can be quite long. That's one thing that keeps it from coming out too often.
I played with the wolf deck, while Peter picked the Everfrost deck. We played with the open Legends variant, which we love. I am very comfortable with the wolf deck and find them to be the most powerful (or perhaps easiest to play). I ended up winning quite quickly, with about 12 points to Peter's 2. The Everfrost deck is very difficult to play. I think he will be switching to something else next time.
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Glass Road
I wasn't exactly in the mood to play Glass Road, but we couldn't quite agree on anything else on Tuesday, so we settled on this Uwe favorite. Our new Jackie glass player marker felt right at home in the fields and forests of Bavaria. Peter got her to start the game and proceed to hose me on the first round; I didn't manage to play 2 of my cards. It was a good game. I got the Mason's Guild replacement for the Brotherhood of the Masons, so my bricks were worth 3 points each AND I replaced my Glassworks with a 2-point tile that provides wood. I also stole an awesome tile that provides 4 points + 1 point for each empty space next to it right from under Peter's nose. That was very satisfying! Usually, I'm the one groaning when he gets something before I do, but it was my turn to gloat this time! I did lose though. I ended up with 27 points to Peter's 27.5! We always end half a point apart! It's nuts! The sad thing is that we both thought we'd break 30 and neither of us did. Oh well. That just means we have to play again.
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Glass Jackie is the best start player marker EVER for a game about glass making! Also, Jenefer Ham is the best for making it for me!
Amerigo
Last but not least, we played Amerigo again last night. After our several positive experiences last week, we decided to give it another go. It was a lazy night and neither Peter nor I wanted anything too heavy (though I was REALLY tempted to take Patchistory out. I cannot believe we didn't play it this week!) so we settled on Amerigo.
Our cube tower kept spitting out single cubes during the entire game, so that made it quite quick and the pirates went easy on us, with the first two being zeroes, so that made the game quite easy. I got the Jackie first player marker and went straight for the big island and a little island. I completed the little island in the first round for maximum points. I also gathered coconuts and lots of coconut multipliers (I ended up with a 14x coconuts multiplier!) throughout the game and collected easy money by defeating the puny pirates. I also gave Peter some extra pirates and got a 7-point tile. The infinite bonus of +2 for brown is quite useful when you get it early in the game. It, and money spending, helped boost me to the end of the brown track. I ended up more than doubling Peter's score. I guess Peter will need more practice with Amerigo after all. It's a good thing he enjoys it!
Amerigo gives me a bit of a The Castles of Burgundy vibe. You get a few limited options based on what dice (in Burgundy's case) or cubes (in Amerigo's case) come out each round and you have to make the best of them. Tile laying is present in both. And both seem to be of relatively similar weight. I really enjoy both when I want to think, but not put my brain into overdrive. Castles IS easier to set up, so it does have that over Amerigo, but it's nice to have the added option. I think Amerigo might be a forever keeper. I also think it has infiltrated Peter's top 10.
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Jackie is stranded on a desert island!
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I was mean :devil:
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Really!? That's what you're going with Mr. Tower? Really!?
Fresh Cardboard
1. Evolution + Evolution: Flight - I am so excited for this game! I was going to back the Kickstarter, but Peter offered to do so instead. YAY! I love the art in this game and the evolution theme really takes me back to some my favorite classes in university (Evolutionary Biology).
2. Tournay - See above
3. Limes - Cities is one of Peter's favorite games. I love it too! Limes is very much like Cities. We can't wait to try it!
4. Eminent Domain + Eminent Domain: Escalation - I picked these two up because I've been contemplating them for a while, and though I dislike deck building games, I do like role selection and tableau building, so it might work out. And I wanted to get something that Peter will enjoy. The theme is perfect for him and it seems to come out. He won't be able to complain about random dinosaurs (as in Uchronia). :p
And before you ask, YES I DID WRITE 90% OF THIS OUT TWICE!
Uchronia
Uchronia is an interesting game. Dubbed "lobotomized Glory to Rome" by one bgg reviewer, Uchronia's history of development suggests it to be an "improvement," but it's reception on bgg suggests it to be a "devolution" of the game upon which it was based. I have not played Glory to Rome, so I have no context upon which to base my opinion in either direction, but I can say that Uchronia is a great game in its own right. Whether it improves upon or "lobotomizes" Glory to Rome is irrelevant to me, as I have no way of obtaining a copy of that game, as much as I'd like to do so.
Uchronia is a resource-management tableau-building card game with multiple-use cards, akin to games like Race for the Galaxy and San Juan. What sets Uchronia apart from these is the fact that cards all have their multiple functions depicted on them and can switch functionality mid game. Uchronia also has a different take on role selection, whereby players may not necessarily have the option of "following" another player's actions; they only get to follow when they take a plotting action (drawing cards instead of performing an action using cards) AND an opponent played a card on their previous turn that is the same color as one of their own cards that have been promoted to the top of their board as activities (essentially multipliers that increase the strength of actions).
In Uchronia, players take turns either performing an action with one (or two) of their cards or drawing cards. Options for actions are as follows:
1. Explore (orange) - transfer a card from your hand to your stock (these become resources for building or to be converted into activities)
2. Produce (green) - transfer a card from the forum (common pile) to your stock
3. Trade (blue) - transfer a card from your stock to your activities (activities increase the number of times an action of the same color can be taken by the number of activities of that color a player possesses and become points for the player with the greatest number of activities in each color)
4. Draconians (red) - show a card and transfer a card of the same color from the forum to your stock and each player who played a card as an action on his previous turn must transfer a card of the same color from his hand to your stock
5. Build (grey) - either transfer a building of the same color as a card in the forum (and throw out that card) to your "works in progress" area or add a single resource from your stock to a building of the same color in your "works in progress area."
If a player opts to draw a card instead of taking an action he gets a free action of the same color as that played by his opponent on the opponent's previous turn provided the player himself has a card of the same color in his activities. He also gets to either draw up to 5 cards or take 1 card from the draw pile if he already has 5 cards in hand.
A very interesting aspect of Uchronia is the fact that the common forum pile is not replenished automatically. Rather, it is refilled with cards that players play. At the beginning of his turn, each player must transfer the card he played on his previous turn to the forum. This makes the decision of which card to play a very interesting one. Players want to play actions that will benefit them immediately and in the future, but they also want to keep cards that might benefit their opponent away from the forum. Uchronia thus renders timing a type of resource to be manipulated by players.
The game ends when one player reaches 20 points. Buildings are worth points equal to the number of resources required to build them and may be worth extra points depending on their special abilities. Each activity of a certain color is worth a point for the player with the most activities of that color.
Uchronia is a smart and challenging game. The first time we played, I took actions because I knew how to perform them rather than because I had an idea for a strategy. Needless to say, I ended up losing. However, our first play did make me aware of the interconnections and dependencies between various aspects of the game and the importance of timing and paying attention to what other players are doing. It is vital to pay attention to the forum and opponents' hand sizes and tableaus to decide when and which actions to play because playing a card of a certain color can make a certain building available for building and it can allow an opponent to take a free action if he has an activity of the same color. Timing is also important in terms of deciding whether to play an action or draw cards; getting a free action AND drawing a card/cards can be quite powerful. It's hardly surprising that timing is so important in a race game that is all about optimization. But it is an interesting and challenging aspect of the game.
Uchronia's components are OK, but the art is fabulous! It is so beautiful, but it is kind of wasted because the game is pretty abstract. Peter kept complaining about the dinosaurs. I have no problems with an abstract game with pretty art.
The only thing I did not enjoy about Uchronia was the need to keep track of both my own and Peter's scores throughout the game. Because the game ends when a player reaches 20 points, it is vital to keep an eye on scores, but this is difficult to do because points are sprawled out between buildings and activities. Keeping track of scores thus slows the game down. I downloaded a Magic: The Gathering life counter prior to our second game and this made the entire experience much quicker and smoother. I really think some sort of score tracker should have been included in the game.
Overall, I really enjoyed Uchronia. It is challenging, engaging, interactive, and fun! What peaked my interest in it was Carl Chudyk and my love for Innovation. And Uchronia did not disappoint. It is definitely another winner from Chudyk and I look forward to exploring it further. I am very excited to discover more Chudyk games in the coming weeks!
2. Tournay
Tournay, Tournay, Tournay. I have had this game on my wishlist FOREVER and kept forgetting about it. Well, I finally got it!
Tournay is a beautiful and engaging tableau builder in which players build their Tournays (?) with military, religious, and civil buildings, persons, and citizens. Sound familiar? That's because it is a cousin of Troyes, a game I absolutely love! Tournay did not disappoint! We only played the game once, so I will reserve my extended opinions for next week, but so far so good! :)
Terra Mystica + Terra Mystica: Fire & Ice
We've played this game so much it's ridiculous, but we always discover something new. We drew the Dragon Lords and Swarmlings for this game and I really didn't want to play as the Dragon Lords because I was afraid of losing power tokens for terraforming. And so I bid 4 points and selected the Swarmlings. I quickly regretted my decision. The Dragon Lords are quite powerful. I played well and made the most of all point-scoring opportunities, but Peter's Dragon Lords were just so strong. He managed to win both of the building end-game bonuses (the extra one of which was the furthest distance between two of your connected structures) and I only managed to tie the cult tracks. It was quite a close game, but I was surprised to lose because I always win at TM. Peter was happy because it is his goal in life to beat me at TM.
Olympos + Olympos: Oikoumene
I had a serious losing streak on this day. We played TM and then we played Olympos. I lost both games and I always win at them! Peter got majority over the Zeus tokens at the start of the game and managed to hold on to it for about 3/4 of the game. That hurt me pretty badly. He was also the first to complete BOTH objectives, so that lost me 6 points. It was pretty sad.
This game is so challenging because it is over so quickly. It creates a serious sense of urgency that begins at the outset and doesn't subside throughout the entire game. Absolutely outstanding!
Fairy Tale
So much Fairy Tale! It never gets old.
7 Wonders + 7 Wonders: Leaders
I definitely prefer 7 Wonders to Fairy Tale as a drafting game, but Fairy Tale has no setup time and is so quick to play that it's easy to play on a daily basis. It was so good to play 7 Wonders again. We hadn't played it since last summer. I got Babylon and Peter got Alexandria. I didn't even realize I was playing with the A side of my board and Peter was playing with the B side of his until the end of the game. I still won!
Peter collected military and lots of blue civilian buildings. I went with science because Babylon! It was great. Our game made me want to try the new Babel expansion, but I prefer 7 Wonders without too many extra rules and things (which is why I prefer to play without Cities even though we have it) so I don't think I will be getting it any time soon...
The second time we played 7 Wonders this week, Peter got Rome and I got the Maneken Pis. I tried to get into military early and to hold onto it, but Peter was able to take over in the last round. I also had a leader who gave 2 points per grey production building, so I tried to collect lots of those, but that cost me dearly in the long term because I had no brown production buildings and brown production is kind of important. I ended up losing by 3 points. Oh well. I am still the biggest loser.
Fantastiqa + Fantastiqa: Fantastiqal Landscapes Expansion
Despite being one of my favorite games, I don't play Fantastiqa very frequently. But when I do, I enjoy it thoroughly and get out of the game a sense of contentment that no other game is able to provide. Fantastiqa makes me feel like a child wandering through a beautiful fairy tale. Even Peter, the self-professed fantasy-hater, loves it for its clever gameplay and beautiful components. I am always surprised at how much I enjoy the gameplay of Fantastiqa because I quite dislike deck building games and I generally dislike race games. Fantastiqa is essentially a deck-building race game, but it takes the best of those two mechanics and combines them in a way that is very satisfying to me. The fact that points are essentially hidden during the game could contribute to making me like it a little more as a race game. One of the things I cannot stand in race games is being able to tell that you have no chance. I never feel hopeless in Fantastiqa, even when I probably should. Actually, the game always fills me with hope.
We played with the flex variant of the Castle in the Air expansion, which is my favorite way to play the game. The Castle of the Air expansion adds a "Castle in the Air" space to the board that can only be reached by spending "cloud crystals." The Castle in the Air allows players to either use the market and select the card they want to purchase from the entire deck rather than drawing two and selecting one and it presents players the opportunity to present the landscapes drawn by their Dragon Artistes. The flex variant allows all players to present their landscape drawing collections (which need not be complete), rather than just one player presenting a complete set of landscape drawings as per the base rules. I love the entire story of this expansion and have been trying to make good use of the Castle in the Air, but to no avail. I ended up winning the game by finishing a quest because it was easier to do so than get to the Castle in the Air at the time. Oh well. Maybe I'll have better luck next time!
Kingdom Builder + Kingdom Builder: Crossroads
We played KB three times this week, but I could play it every day. The Crossroads ability that allows players to draw two cards and select one became available to us for the first time this week and it was pretty cool! I went straight for it and enjoyed the additional placement option it provided. This was especially important because none of the other abilities provided movement. I find the movement abilities to be the most important a lot of times. I love this game and I love the Crossroads expansion! The fact that each of the Crossroads boards has two different abilities rather than one and that additional scoring cards are added for each Crossroads board in play mean that this expansion really amplifies the strategic possibilities in KB and I love that! This is definitely my desert island game!
Bangkok Klongs
Peter and I had our second game of Bangkok Klongs and ended with quite close scores. The first time we played, I won by a lot because I had played it online and he had no clue how to strategize his moves. He knew what to do this time and really gave me a run for my money. We played the tactical variant that divides the boats into occupied and unoccupied ones and allows players to select which boats to draw on each turn. This nicely raises the level of tactical thinking that goes on each turn. In our game, we ended up exhausting all the unoccupied boats before we drew the occupied ones, so the first part of the game was quite long and the second quite short, but it was very interesting. Peter said that he likes the game, but that it felt like Checkers at the beginning. I don't know about that. I think there is definitely a back and forth that is like Checkers, but it didn't remind me of Checkers otherwise. Oh well. Either way, I love this game for its combination of beauty, simplicity, and agonizing choices. Simple games with tough choices are always my favorites and this one is no exception! Also, it is SO, SO PRETTY!
Troyes + The Ladies of Troyes
We finally played Troyes after a much-too-long break! In fact, our break was so long that I forgot quite a bit about how to play the game. Peter had to remind me about a few things at the beginning and then we were off. Despite forgetting a lot about the game initially, I played very well and ended up winning by A LOT! My secret people were the money guy and the church guy, so I started off by securing good money production and ended up by making points with surplus money I didn't need to satisfy the money guy. I also used the ramparts effectively and ended up at the 4th one (which was the one that provides 3 points+1 point per each of your cubes on it) with 6 of my cubes on it at the end of the game. And I fully satisfied all of my people demands and even outdid Peter on his! Our game reminded me that I must get Troyes played more frequently. I hate looking up the icons on the buildings, which are quite cryptic to me, so that deters me from wanting to play Troyes all the time, but otherwise, it is an outstanding and challenging game that I want to play more frequently!
Mage Knight Board Game
I won! And how! We played the blitz conquest. I was Arythea and Peter was Krang. I think this might be the last time Peter selects Krang :p. To be fair, I did get lucky by having a keep right beside the city I was about to take over, so my hand size was quite large when I was doing so. And I had a bunch of units!
Dog does not think highly of Mage Knight
Innovation + Innovation: Echoes of the Past
This was yet another game I lost this week! I really wasn't paying attention when we were playing this game. The thing that made me want to play it was, oddly enough, listening to Garbage songs that were coming from Peter's Gran Turismo game earlier that day. For some reason, Garbage sounds like Innovation. And no, that is not to say that Innovation is Garbage, just that it sounds like 90s alt rock to me. Anyway, I wiped the dust off my 1995 Garbage CD and put it on while we were playing. The music totally distracted me from playing well, but at least I was having a good time. It REALLY distracted me though. I played like garbage!
I dominated the first two eras and then Peter started eroding my score pile. When he was done with that, he got an effect that allowed him to add a card from my hand to his score pile. For some stupid reason, I kept drawing cards. And not low cards either. Oh no! I was drawing 8s and finishing my turns with a couple 8s in hand! What an air head move! I was just hoping I'd get something that would let me win the game...and I almost did with all the musical instruments, but Peter was playing well and I was not. Oh well. I learned a valuable life lesson: Don't listen to Garbage while playing Innovation...or maybe ever!
The Staufer Dynasty
Won! Yay! A game I won!
Like Olympos, Staufer is a game of highly limited actions. Players only get three actions each round and there are only five rounds. But the amount that players accomplish in those 15 actions is amazing! I don't really agree with claims that Staufer is a purely tactical game. I think there is a lot of strategy to it. Indeed, I find myself planning out my entire game at the beginning based on my end-game-goal cards, bonus cards, and the outline of the game. The bonus chests that come out do force me to re-think and adjust my plans sometimes (especially the chest that prevents your dudes from being taken off the board after scoring), but I don't think it's fair to call Staufer purely tactical. I don't know whether that's something I made up or heard somewhere, but I feel like I heard/read someone say that and I just think that is complete baloney. Anyway, I love the breadth of possibilities in the dearth of actions Staufer presents and I hope to play it more frequently.
[The only thing that really irks me about this game is the score track. Why 25!? WHY!? And no, I will not stop whining about the stupid score track!]
Sanssouci
I managed to tie this one! It was such a funny game. I ended up getting a lot of mazes, which were one of Peter's purple cards and he ended up getting a lot of snails (I'm not sure what they're called but we call them snails...those snail-like flowery things), which were one of my purple cards, so we both ended up with only 3 extra points at the end of the game for those. This game is so happy and enjoyable and is over in under 20 minutes, so I really don't mind all the luck in it. It has definitely become one of our favorite fillers.
Viticulture + Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture
Monday was “Peter’s day” so he got to pick the games we played. He picked Viticulture and Suburbia. We both enjoy Viticulture and have been having a lot of fun adding one "piece" of the expansion with each play. This time, we added the new board! The new board adds a “star” resource that thematically represents distributing influence among various regions of Italy. Playing a star to a region on the map depicted on the lower left corner of the new board provides an immediate benefit (drawing a card or getting money) and acts a source of victory points at the end of the game for the player with the majority of star markers in each region. The new board is also divided into 4 seasons, with specific action spaces for spring, summer, fall, and winter. All these changes are more subtle than I anticipated them to be and the game remains not a recognizable cousin, but a fraternal twin of the base game. Peter and I both enjoyed the new board and will probably continue to play with it in the future. It might not be very different, but it does add some new choices that increase the interest level for me at least.
In our play, I went straight into ramping up my production of grapes and wine and collecting orders, while Peter got distracted by the small points available to be found here and there. The end result was that he got ahead early in the game and I screamed past him at the end. We ended at 28 to 15 points. I enjoy this game every time it comes out!
Suburbia + Suburbia Inc
This was Peter’s second pick and I'm starting to fall back in like with it. The goals were most industrial buildings, least cultural buildings, and least buildings overall (nomad) and we had the population bonus and border challenge. Peter met the population bonus and started hemorrhaging money pretty early in the game, while I set up my economy and secured the majority in industrial buildings (i.e. heavy factory row with railway and bay) and then went for getting population without cultural buildings. This was actually more of a challenge than I thought it would be because the cultural buildings were an ever-present temptation with their easy population increasing abilities. My suburb was very successful. I attribute my success to heavy industry row. Gotta get industry going early!
At the end of the game, Peter asked when the Suburbia 5★ expansion would be available. It is a rare occurrence for Peter to inquire about a game's availability and rarer still for him to offer to buy it. I guess he's looking forward to it! I think I am too! :)
Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends + Tash-Kalar: Arena of Legends – Everfrost
We played Tash again! I have been really itching to play this game for a while, but other games kept getting in the way! It is actually a hard game to gauge in terms of timing because it can be quite quick or it can be quite long. That's one thing that keeps it from coming out too often.
I played with the wolf deck, while Peter picked the Everfrost deck. We played with the open Legends variant, which we love. I am very comfortable with the wolf deck and find them to be the most powerful (or perhaps easiest to play). I ended up winning quite quickly, with about 12 points to Peter's 2. The Everfrost deck is very difficult to play. I think he will be switching to something else next time.
Glass Road
I wasn't exactly in the mood to play Glass Road, but we couldn't quite agree on anything else on Tuesday, so we settled on this Uwe favorite. Our new Jackie glass player marker felt right at home in the fields and forests of Bavaria. Peter got her to start the game and proceed to hose me on the first round; I didn't manage to play 2 of my cards. It was a good game. I got the Mason's Guild replacement for the Brotherhood of the Masons, so my bricks were worth 3 points each AND I replaced my Glassworks with a 2-point tile that provides wood. I also stole an awesome tile that provides 4 points + 1 point for each empty space next to it right from under Peter's nose. That was very satisfying! Usually, I'm the one groaning when he gets something before I do, but it was my turn to gloat this time! I did lose though. I ended up with 27 points to Peter's 27.5! We always end half a point apart! It's nuts! The sad thing is that we both thought we'd break 30 and neither of us did. Oh well. That just means we have to play again.
Glass Jackie is the best start player marker EVER for a game about glass making! Also, Jenefer Ham is the best for making it for me!
Amerigo
Last but not least, we played Amerigo again last night. After our several positive experiences last week, we decided to give it another go. It was a lazy night and neither Peter nor I wanted anything too heavy (though I was REALLY tempted to take Patchistory out. I cannot believe we didn't play it this week!) so we settled on Amerigo.
Our cube tower kept spitting out single cubes during the entire game, so that made it quite quick and the pirates went easy on us, with the first two being zeroes, so that made the game quite easy. I got the Jackie first player marker and went straight for the big island and a little island. I completed the little island in the first round for maximum points. I also gathered coconuts and lots of coconut multipliers (I ended up with a 14x coconuts multiplier!) throughout the game and collected easy money by defeating the puny pirates. I also gave Peter some extra pirates and got a 7-point tile. The infinite bonus of +2 for brown is quite useful when you get it early in the game. It, and money spending, helped boost me to the end of the brown track. I ended up more than doubling Peter's score. I guess Peter will need more practice with Amerigo after all. It's a good thing he enjoys it!
Amerigo gives me a bit of a The Castles of Burgundy vibe. You get a few limited options based on what dice (in Burgundy's case) or cubes (in Amerigo's case) come out each round and you have to make the best of them. Tile laying is present in both. And both seem to be of relatively similar weight. I really enjoy both when I want to think, but not put my brain into overdrive. Castles IS easier to set up, so it does have that over Amerigo, but it's nice to have the added option. I think Amerigo might be a forever keeper. I also think it has infiltrated Peter's top 10.
Jackie is stranded on a desert island!
I was mean :devil:
Really!? That's what you're going with Mr. Tower? Really!?
1. Evolution + Evolution: Flight - I am so excited for this game! I was going to back the Kickstarter, but Peter offered to do so instead. YAY! I love the art in this game and the evolution theme really takes me back to some my favorite classes in university (Evolutionary Biology).
2. Tournay - See above
3. Limes - Cities is one of Peter's favorite games. I love it too! Limes is very much like Cities. We can't wait to try it!
4. Eminent Domain + Eminent Domain: Escalation - I picked these two up because I've been contemplating them for a while, and though I dislike deck building games, I do like role selection and tableau building, so it might work out. And I wanted to get something that Peter will enjoy. The theme is perfect for him and it seems to come out. He won't be able to complain about random dinosaurs (as in Uchronia). :p