Hunting & Building Out West - Wednesday Gaming Recap

Wednesday night at the Armory (of last week, yes I'm behind thanks to some minor surgery) was a chance to learn a couple of new games and play a couple of "old" favorites. We started the night with a quick 8-player round of Codenames while waiting for various people to arrive. This game remains as much of a hit as ever, and in fact my copy saw other plays later in the night while I was doing other things, which lead to a few strangers thanking me for bringing it & requesting I keep doing so.

Once everyone had arrived, it was time to get into gaming proper. Josh had brought Gold West so Burke, Tom & I sat down with him to give it a go. I really enjoyed this game - components are really nice, I love the modular board set-up/jigsaw puzzle, and the gameplay moves along nice and quickly, even with 2 brand-new players. Setting up your resource track is a neat mechanic and led to some interesting decisions without bogging down the game. And in the end I was able to build every turn and so avoided what we had dubbed "Sadtown" which had become a personal goal. I ended up winning 92-81-73-62 and I'm pretty sure this game will find it's way into my personal collection once I end my buying moratorium.

The game rocked, but the parking situation sucked

There had been a game of New York 1901 going on next to us with players who had also been interested in Gold West. Since we all finished around the same time & the four of us wanted to try 1901, we just reset both games and swapped tables instead of packing everything up. I'd been interested in this first "gamer game" from Blue Orange since seeing a preview copy at Origins so I was glad to finally try it out. As for all their products, the components are gorgeous & I like the puzzle-y tile laying involved in setting up future upgrades. While definitely light, the game has enough edge when played with gamers to keep it interesting, and I got screwed over on a few builds as a result: Burke taking plots next to me kept me from expanding a few times and a legendary build was grabbed as I was working towards it preventing me raking in those points. The scores in the end were decently tight and overall it was a pleasant time. In fact, Burke had described the gaming so far as being like an evening of "smooth jazz" as both 1901 and Gold West flowed nicely without being bogged down by AP or brain-melting moments.

Our version of 1901 New York in progress

After 1901 we only had a short while before the store closed so we pulled out La Isla to end the night. It's been a while since I'd gotten this one to the table so I was happy to see Burke pull it out of his bag. I never did manage to get a card for a fourth slot which sucked but overall the game went decently well for me. Burke however, was on a roll and ended at 80 points compared to my 65 which got me second place. Overall it was a really good night of gaming & a great chance to learn some new things without leaving with a completely melted-brain.

Burke trying to muscle in on my animals...

Games Played: Codenames, Gold West, New York 1901, La Isla
New-to-Me Games: Gold West, New York 1901