Apparently this week was in fact destined for lots of gaming opportunities as multiple invitations were extended on Twitter for the weekend. As a result I got to game on both Friday night & Saturday afternoon.
Showing posts with label gaming recap. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gaming recap. Show all posts
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Friday, September 11, 2015
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.
Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Island Dynasty - Wednesday Gaming Recap
Wednesday night at the Armory was my first gaming in a while (excluding a few rounds of Tides of Time) & it was nice to sink my teeth into some tricky decisions in both of the games we got to the table.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
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.
Friday, August 14, 2015
Nonsensical NC - Monday (& Tuesday) Gaming Recap
In an amazing twist, I managed to game 2 nights in a row this week! I know, it's almost unheard of outside of a convention, but there it is. And speaking of conventions, both nights offered the chance to play more of the goodies that had worked their way back to NC from GenCon. Not only had the games traveled in recently, but Matt of The League of Nonsensical Gamers was in town for a week of training for his real job, so he had put out the call for NC gaming & we were glad to answer him. As a result, this recap is going to be a long one, so feel free to go make a coffee or something before I get going.
On Monday night, we met at the Atomic Empire to start the week off right. The turn out in general was pretty impressive for the store's weekly open board game night & a good number of us had made sure to be present to welcome Matt to one of our FLGSs so the place was pretty packed. Matt & I started with a game of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn while we waited for the others to arrive - Matt then switched out/teamed up with Chris when he arrived so he could also learn the game. I had randomly grabbed Maeoni Viper's starting deck, and thanks to a couple of pumped-up Silver Snakes (and the use of counter-spells) was able to destroy Noah Redmoon before Matt & Chris were able to get more than a couple of wounds on my phoenixborn. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and am looking forward to exploring some of the other decks. I don't know that I'll ever deck-build as there's plenty in the box to keep me occupied for a while. Though, saying that, I may check BGG to see if anyone's suggested a good deck to try out Dimona Odinstar, the promo phoenixborn I received as part of the pre-order.
After that Burke joined us, and we moved to Chris's bag of GenCon goodies, opening up his still-in-shrink copy of Artifacts, Inc for a 4-player game. I was nominated to read & teach the rules, which is always a bit nerve-wracking, but this game isn't particularly complex so we were able to get going fairly quickly. We did have a few questions that we couldn't find answers for (for example, do bought cards refill immediately or at turn-end?), but we just house-ruled & kept going. I ended up pulling out the win, but the scores overall was fairly tight. It was a solid game & strategy-wise, definitely a step or two above Machi Koro, but I don't know that I'll be searching a copy out any time soon - it was good, but not great & honestly, Ryan Laukat's art-style is pretty enough but just doesn't do much for me. The downtime was also a bit much, though I've been informed since that there's an official variant on BGG that may fix this.
After Artifacts Inc, we pulled out Riff Raff & swapped Josh in for Burke. This is my favourite dexterity game (though I'm not really all that good at it) & I was glad to finally break out my copy. As ever, the game draws a crowd, and so, after Chris had won our game, 4 new competitors were quick to jump in and play a game of their own while we moved on to another GenCon purchase - a 5-player game of Warehouse 51. This is a game I will absolutely be adding to my wishlist in the hopes of adding a copy to my collection. It's an auction game, which normally isn't my thing, but the addition 2 twists made it a game I really enjoyed: the addition of counterfeit items (known only to a few people) & the money for successful purchases being paid to the next player both add a social element to the game that works extremely well.
In an effort to cram as much gaming into Matt's NC trip as possible, some of us decided to meet at the bar in his hotel on Tuesday night to play some more. We started by setting up a 4-player game of The Village Crone, figuring out the rules & then abandoning it for another table where we played 2 rounds of Codenames 5-player - Adam & I vs. Chris, Matt & Josh. BOTH rounds ended with the assassin being guessed which was just insane! However, based on multiple sessions, I will always choose to team with Adam for this game - for some reason we do really well (other than that whole assasin thing, sorry!).
Then we moved back over to The Village Crone - Adam chose to spectate/eat/read rulebooks while the rest of us played. Our game went faster than I'd expected based on other peoples comments, but there wasn't much counter-spelling in our game which was likely why, as that would have considerably lengthened the game. In the end Matt reached the point goal first, ending the game. I have mixed feelings on this one and want to play at least once more now that I have a better idea of the value of different ingredients - who knew soil was so valuable?! My initial impression is that the game doesn't quite live up to its potential.
Finally Adam taught us how to play Chicago Express which he described as being to 18xx games "what Ticket to Ride is to Euro games" - having now played both, I can see that's a fairly accurate statement. I really liked how the action selection worked and the game as a whole was a lot of fun. The board was tough to read, even after we moved the table a few feet to get better lighting, and I misjudged the timing of a large purchase which took me out of the running, but I can't wait to get another chance to play this economic game as I'm sure I could significantly improve my performance.
In all over the last 2 days I got to play 7 games, of which 4 were new to me & 5 were GenCon releases. Ashes, Chicago Express, & Warehouse 51 were games I want to add/am happy I added to my collection, while Artifacts and The Village Crone will stay firmly in the "meh" camp until I get a chance to play them again & see what a second round does now that the teaching game is out of the way. But really overall, a successful couple of days gaming and a really great couple of days hanging out with friends old & new.
Games Played: Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, Artifacts Inc, Riff Raff, Warehouse 51, Codenames, The Village Crone, Chicago Express
New-to-Me Games: Artifacts Inc, Warehouse 51, The Village Crone, Chicago Express
On Monday night, we met at the Atomic Empire to start the week off right. The turn out in general was pretty impressive for the store's weekly open board game night & a good number of us had made sure to be present to welcome Matt to one of our FLGSs so the place was pretty packed. Matt & I started with a game of Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn while we waited for the others to arrive - Matt then switched out/teamed up with Chris when he arrived so he could also learn the game. I had randomly grabbed Maeoni Viper's starting deck, and thanks to a couple of pumped-up Silver Snakes (and the use of counter-spells) was able to destroy Noah Redmoon before Matt & Chris were able to get more than a couple of wounds on my phoenixborn. I thoroughly enjoyed the game and am looking forward to exploring some of the other decks. I don't know that I'll ever deck-build as there's plenty in the box to keep me occupied for a while. Though, saying that, I may check BGG to see if anyone's suggested a good deck to try out Dimona Odinstar, the promo phoenixborn I received as part of the pre-order.
 |
| My snake on the right is getting pretty big... and will only get bigger |
After that Burke joined us, and we moved to Chris's bag of GenCon goodies, opening up his still-in-shrink copy of Artifacts, Inc for a 4-player game. I was nominated to read & teach the rules, which is always a bit nerve-wracking, but this game isn't particularly complex so we were able to get going fairly quickly. We did have a few questions that we couldn't find answers for (for example, do bought cards refill immediately or at turn-end?), but we just house-ruled & kept going. I ended up pulling out the win, but the scores overall was fairly tight. It was a solid game & strategy-wise, definitely a step or two above Machi Koro, but I don't know that I'll be searching a copy out any time soon - it was good, but not great & honestly, Ryan Laukat's art-style is pretty enough but just doesn't do much for me. The downtime was also a bit much, though I've been informed since that there's an official variant on BGG that may fix this.
 |
| Josh makes his move (Photo from @dicehateme) |
After Artifacts Inc, we pulled out Riff Raff & swapped Josh in for Burke. This is my favourite dexterity game (though I'm not really all that good at it) & I was glad to finally break out my copy. As ever, the game draws a crowd, and so, after Chris had won our game, 4 new competitors were quick to jump in and play a game of their own while we moved on to another GenCon purchase - a 5-player game of Warehouse 51. This is a game I will absolutely be adding to my wishlist in the hopes of adding a copy to my collection. It's an auction game, which normally isn't my thing, but the addition 2 twists made it a game I really enjoyed: the addition of counterfeit items (known only to a few people) & the money for successful purchases being paid to the next player both add a social element to the game that works extremely well.
 |
| I played Oksana Kasperskaia in Warehouse 51 - LOVED the art |
In an effort to cram as much gaming into Matt's NC trip as possible, some of us decided to meet at the bar in his hotel on Tuesday night to play some more. We started by setting up a 4-player game of The Village Crone, figuring out the rules & then abandoning it for another table where we played 2 rounds of Codenames 5-player - Adam & I vs. Chris, Matt & Josh. BOTH rounds ended with the assassin being guessed which was just insane! However, based on multiple sessions, I will always choose to team with Adam for this game - for some reason we do really well (other than that whole assasin thing, sorry!).
Then we moved back over to The Village Crone - Adam chose to spectate/eat/read rulebooks while the rest of us played. Our game went faster than I'd expected based on other peoples comments, but there wasn't much counter-spelling in our game which was likely why, as that would have considerably lengthened the game. In the end Matt reached the point goal first, ending the game. I have mixed feelings on this one and want to play at least once more now that I have a better idea of the value of different ingredients - who knew soil was so valuable?! My initial impression is that the game doesn't quite live up to its potential.
 |
| My view of the village |
Finally Adam taught us how to play Chicago Express which he described as being to 18xx games "what Ticket to Ride is to Euro games" - having now played both, I can see that's a fairly accurate statement. I really liked how the action selection worked and the game as a whole was a lot of fun. The board was tough to read, even after we moved the table a few feet to get better lighting, and I misjudged the timing of a large purchase which took me out of the running, but I can't wait to get another chance to play this economic game as I'm sure I could significantly improve my performance.
 |
| Check the mood lighting - & Josh's murderface (photo by @dicehateme) |
In all over the last 2 days I got to play 7 games, of which 4 were new to me & 5 were GenCon releases. Ashes, Chicago Express, & Warehouse 51 were games I want to add/am happy I added to my collection, while Artifacts and The Village Crone will stay firmly in the "meh" camp until I get a chance to play them again & see what a second round does now that the teaching game is out of the way. But really overall, a successful couple of days gaming and a really great couple of days hanging out with friends old & new.
Games Played: Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, Artifacts Inc, Riff Raff, Warehouse 51, Codenames, The Village Crone, Chicago Express
New-to-Me Games: Artifacts Inc, Warehouse 51, The Village Crone, Chicago Express
Thursday, August 6, 2015
Spies in the Trenches - Wednesday Gaming Recap
Wednesday night at the Armory was the night for all of our local GenCon attendees to share their new purchases with those of us who weren't able to make the trip to Indianapolis. Everything I played was fresh from the con, so it was nice to experience a little bit of what I'd been hearing about.
Sunday, August 2, 2015
GenCant - Sunday Space-faring
For the last day of GenCant, I had arranged to spend the bulk of the day playing Forbidden Stars with Eric, Chris M, and Burke. Since we were meeting when the hall opened at 1pm, I was able to sleep in after Saturday's late-night long movie marathon. I got up & grabbed food on the way, ensuring that, by the time everyone arrived, I was caffeinated, fed & ready to go.
Friday, July 31, 2015
GenCant Coverage - Friday
I was slow to get moving on my first full day of GenCant - I was tired & achy from the last few days of work, so I decided to treat myself and hit snooze a few more times. This con isn't really about getting in early or rushing to a particular booth first, so I could afford that simple luxury.
Once up, I donned my PJ pants and wandered in the direction of coffee - this con's lax dress code is a winner in my book! I then settled down to catch up on the latest gaming news, tuning into W. Eric Martin & the Board Game Geek crew on Livestream as they shared live interviews from some other convention going on in Indianapolis, or some such place. I haven't been to it, so clearly whatever this other con is, it's not that special. While watching the latest releases, I caught up with some fellow GenCant attendees on Twitter and made plans to meet up at one of the con's satellite locations for some gaming after lunch.
More coffee and a quick lunch of delicious nachos later, it was time to put on real pants & make my way to the gaming. When I arrived at the satellite gaming area (a short drive), I was happy to see there was plenty of free parking close by. This meant I was first to arrive, and so I was able to grab another coffee and ponder the games for sale in this area. Once Daniel and Linus arrived, we settled down to teach Daniel Abluxxen. The scores stayed close during the 3 rounds, but in the end, Linus pulled off the win with scores 30-26(Daniel)-20(me). We then set up a 3-player game of Yspahan, got through the teaching, and started the first turn when James walked in. Luckily it took just a few min to shift the set-up for 4-players and get him up to speed so we could restart to include everyone.
I've wanted to learn Yspahan for a long time and so I was really glad to get it checked off the list. I really liked the dice mechanic for determing available actions, and had fun figuring out the nuances of different strategies. Daniel destroyed us, but I felt like I performed relatively well and am determined to get another game of it in the near-ish future if at all possible to see if I can beat my score of 56 with more experience (& possibly better rolls). Next we pulled out Arboretum in which I failed to score much of anything but did manage to stop others scoring many of their high-potential paths, so at least that was something. This game is gorgeous, and the component quality was impressive - I'm just glad the gameplay seems to hold up to the promise of the bits,
By the time we finished Arboretum, Falcon and Eric had arrived so we split into two groups - the others started Viceroy while Daniel taught me Akrotiri. This 2-player game from Sen-Foong Lim and Jay Cornier was sooooo good. The randomness of the tile draws was frustrating but in a good way, as all of the water icon-containing tiles apparently ended up on the bottom of the stack, which made it super tricky to excavate temples in relation to those. Plus we had a ton of islands that were literally impossible to reach making it tough to find an open island on the map. I ended up buying a TON of maps in order to increase my chances of getting all my temples down, despite those issues and in the end I was able to pull out the win. This is one game I will almost certainly be adding to my collection at some point.
After grabbing some food, I joined in a 6-player game of Age of War which is actually the only game of the day that I'd actually played before. After that, I headed back to grab a cup of tea and watch some of the streams & videos from GenCon. All in all, not a bad first full day of GenCant, and I have plans in place for Forbidden Stars on Sunday so I know I'll be getting some more good gaming in this weekend. Hopefully there'll be more tomorrow but with a Beer, Bourbon & BBQ festival going on this Saturday in the area, I may have to take a break & check that out.
Once up, I donned my PJ pants and wandered in the direction of coffee - this con's lax dress code is a winner in my book! I then settled down to catch up on the latest gaming news, tuning into W. Eric Martin & the Board Game Geek crew on Livestream as they shared live interviews from some other convention going on in Indianapolis, or some such place. I haven't been to it, so clearly whatever this other con is, it's not that special. While watching the latest releases, I caught up with some fellow GenCant attendees on Twitter and made plans to meet up at one of the con's satellite locations for some gaming after lunch.
 |
| Tons of parking outside Hall GA |
More coffee and a quick lunch of delicious nachos later, it was time to put on real pants & make my way to the gaming. When I arrived at the satellite gaming area (a short drive), I was happy to see there was plenty of free parking close by. This meant I was first to arrive, and so I was able to grab another coffee and ponder the games for sale in this area. Once Daniel and Linus arrived, we settled down to teach Daniel Abluxxen. The scores stayed close during the 3 rounds, but in the end, Linus pulled off the win with scores 30-26(Daniel)-20(me). We then set up a 3-player game of Yspahan, got through the teaching, and started the first turn when James walked in. Luckily it took just a few min to shift the set-up for 4-players and get him up to speed so we could restart to include everyone.
 |
| Setting up Yspahan |
I've wanted to learn Yspahan for a long time and so I was really glad to get it checked off the list. I really liked the dice mechanic for determing available actions, and had fun figuring out the nuances of different strategies. Daniel destroyed us, but I felt like I performed relatively well and am determined to get another game of it in the near-ish future if at all possible to see if I can beat my score of 56 with more experience (& possibly better rolls). Next we pulled out Arboretum in which I failed to score much of anything but did manage to stop others scoring many of their high-potential paths, so at least that was something. This game is gorgeous, and the component quality was impressive - I'm just glad the gameplay seems to hold up to the promise of the bits,
 |
| Akrotiri mid-game |
By the time we finished Arboretum, Falcon and Eric had arrived so we split into two groups - the others started Viceroy while Daniel taught me Akrotiri. This 2-player game from Sen-Foong Lim and Jay Cornier was sooooo good. The randomness of the tile draws was frustrating but in a good way, as all of the water icon-containing tiles apparently ended up on the bottom of the stack, which made it super tricky to excavate temples in relation to those. Plus we had a ton of islands that were literally impossible to reach making it tough to find an open island on the map. I ended up buying a TON of maps in order to increase my chances of getting all my temples down, despite those issues and in the end I was able to pull out the win. This is one game I will almost certainly be adding to my collection at some point.
 |
| The final map - with my excavated temples & goal cards in front |
After grabbing some food, I joined in a 6-player game of Age of War which is actually the only game of the day that I'd actually played before. After that, I headed back to grab a cup of tea and watch some of the streams & videos from GenCon. All in all, not a bad first full day of GenCant, and I have plans in place for Forbidden Stars on Sunday so I know I'll be getting some more good gaming in this weekend. Hopefully there'll be more tomorrow but with a Beer, Bourbon & BBQ festival going on this Saturday in the area, I may have to take a break & check that out.
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Racing for Second & Playing Tricks - Monday Gaming Recap
I got to the Atomic Empire earlier than usual as traffic decided to be nice for once, leaving me with time to kill. I hit a nearby drive-thru & grabbed some dinner before heading into the store to eat & pick up my comics. I grabbed a beer (Fullsteam's Summer Basil - so freaking good!) & waited to see who all was going to make it. While waited, I resisted heading to the front of the store where they had a copy of La Granja just sitting there taunting me - I'm trying to save money at the moment, but man was it tempting given that my FLGS sells it for just $6 more than CoolStuff & I could have it right now! |
| I wants it, the precious... |
Monday, July 27, 2015
Pub Euros - Building Cars & Farms
On Sunday evening, I left work & headed straight for a fairly-local Irish pub to join some friends for some great food, drinks, & gaming. We ended up with 7 people showing up to hang out & play, which was awesome for a super last-minute invitation via Twitter. After grabbing something to eat, we started a couple of games. Daniel, Eric & Megan started a 3-player game of Cacao while Adam, Linus, Chris and I sunk our teeth into Kraftwagen.
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Moonrise with Lanterns in the Cherry Trees - Monday Gaming Recap
I finally made it back to the Atomic Empire after a while and was able to get in some small but fun games. When we got there, the others were already occupied setting up a learning game of Parfum, so Kit & I settled down with Sky Tango. After a two-player game, we were joined by Graham for a three-player round. We love this game that I picked up at Origins, and the third player definitely shifts strategies slightly. I lost both games, but continue to love this gem from Johann Rüttinger & Jacques Zelmet.
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