Labo(u)r Day & beyond - Monday & Tuesday Gaming Recap

I managed to play games Monday & Tuesday which was a very welcome change from my typical once (maybe) a week gaming opportunities, especially given that minor surgery a few weeks ago had resulted in a gaming hiatus. Not only did I get to game more, but I got to play nothing but really good games making it a very successful couple of days. I was remiss in writing up each day's gaming at the time, so you're getting them in one long post instead.

Monday

On Monday, Adam  came over to the house to get some gaming in. My husband Kit doesn't play a lot of tabletop games, and doesn't play many Euros, so i was excited when he expressed an interest in playing some of my games during the holiday weekend. Luckily Adam's an amazing teacher & we had beer in the fridge, so I knew chances would be good for having him enjoy them.

We started with Concordia as Kit had played it before with us, but chose to play the Britannia map from the expansion to try something new for us. I continue to love this game, & really cannot explain why i haven't purchased it yet. It was a tight game between Adam and I in the end, I chose to focus on Saturn cards and forced the game end but buying cards quickly to stop Adam getting any further. For once it worked, and I came out on top, but by a narrow margin - 137 to Adam's 131.

Starting off with a recap of how to play

We then we moved to Kit's fancy game table (his main hobby is woodworking which I continue to reap the benefit of). We pulled out Thebes which is another game I'm looking to buy. I hadn't played it since last year's marathon, but everything quickly fell into place & Kit was a quick study in learning the game from us. The theme in this one really does make teaching simple as everything you do makes sense. Despite my first excavation resulting in 100% dirt, I enjoyed every minute of the game. Well, perhaps not Kit's dirt songs that accompanied Adam & I's bag pulls as he attempted to sway fate to his side, but the rest was great. I came in a respectable second and everyone had a great time with it. Even better, Kit has expressed an interest in my owning the game as it was his favourite of the day - success!

Thebes during our first year

We finished up with Glen More, cracking the shrink on last month's birthday present from Adam. I still love this game & built up a nice little whiskey engine for at least a short while, but it didn't go down as well with the husband as he couldn't quite grasp how to approach the game. A future play may help now that he's seen how everything shakes out, but I'm glad Thebes was strong enough to not have this game bring down his enjoyment of the day as a whole.

So pretty now that I've upgraded resources - just need coins now

Tuesday

Eric had sent out a call on Twitter for people to play games on Tuesday afternoon & since I had the day off work, I answered. We met at The Gamer's Armory where he had already set up Viticulture (plus some Tuscany modules) for me to learn. This game is one I've been wanting to learn for a long time, and ranks number 1 on Eric's Top 11 list, so I knew I had the right teacher to help me cross it off my list. In fact, he apparently taught me too well, as I was able to beat him!

Man the glare on the Viticulture board/cards is tough to avoid

After playing, I can see why Eric calls this his "Zen" game. Everything flows beautifully throughout the game, and while workers and money are tight, you aren't left feeling hopeless as a result. Everything came together nicely & I enjoyed each time when I pulled a worker card and realized I had an even better means of fulfilling my plans (and amused Eric with my groans when a worker or building card was less than optimal). I cannot imagine ever choosing to play the base game having used the Tuscany board, and that's led to quite the conundrum for me. I had considered per-ordering the new Essential Edition but as it stands, it just doesn't have components I would consider to be Essential. And I'd hate to buy Tuscany & have duplicates, but have no idea when the expanded board & structures would be made available. It looks like I'll be trawling the secondary market for a second edition base game, but it is disappointing  that Stonemaier chose to include only the pieces they did.

My vineyards so pretty - yet I never hosted a single tour

With some time left before we had to leave, we broke out Imperial Settlers. I'm still exploring the base game, so chose to try the Egyptians for the first time while Eric tried playing with the Atlanteans. I took too long to get victory points rolling in & so Eric was able to beat me, but I had made a last minute push to end within 10 points of him. This was also my first play with the Exploration tiles, and I really like what this small expansion brings to the game by making passing earlier a potentially profitable choice. I'm looking forward to more plays of Settlers to continue figuring out the strategies hidden within each deck, and really want to get it played solo a few times to help me explore some of those possibilities.

Just couldn't get enough going in the first rounds

Games Played: Concordia (Britannia), Thebes, Glen More, Viticulture, Imperial Settlers
New-to-Me Games: Viticulture