The Opinionated Gamers

As someone who usually wants to play board games that are 10-20 years old, like Stephensons Rocket or War of the Ring, I don’t tend to get excited about many new games these days.  But recently, I’ve found myself looking forward to a number of games, rather than back to longtime tried and true favorites, like Hansa Teutonica or Notre Dame.  Here’s the abundance of games that I’ve got on the way and why:

Just Arrived

Three games have just arrived and I’m excited to try all three of them:

• Forbidden Jungle: As a fan of the Forbidden series, I really wasn’t sure if I needed another Forbidden game.  Forbidden Island is a perfect intro cooperative game, and Forbidden Desert is a nice step up.  I ended up selling Forbidden Sky after a few plays because it never quite clicked for me, and I figured I was done adding to the series, but then the design diary came out for Jungle, and that changed everything.  I’m a sucker for a good design diary, and this one was particularly intriguing and enticing.  So now the game sits next to me waiting to hit the table hopefully soon.
• Next Station Tokyo: I enjoy a good roll-and-write (like Railroad Ink or Penny Papers) or a good flip-and-write (like Cartographers or Silver & Gold), so Next Station London was an obvious fit for me.  I’ve enjoyed several plays of London, and I love new maps for games generally, so Tokyo was an obvious pick up (not to mention that really thoughtful designer diary).
• Sea Salt & Paper: Everyone that I follow seems to be raving about this little card game, and it’s gorgeous, so I’ve got to try it out, and thankfully it just arrived.

In the Mail

Four more games are on their way to me now…

• Apiary: I just ordered this one yesterday, after learning the game from the local DC designer last weekend, and I’m really looking forward to playing it more later this month.  I learned it as a four-player game, which was a blast, but as someone who usually prefers my worker placement games with minimal player counts, I’m excited to try this two-player when it arrives.  The mechanisms fit together so well, the decisions are difficult and meaningful, the variability is remarkable, the theme is well integrated, and the components are top notch.  I’m here for it.
• Lacuna: As with Sea Salt & Paper, everyone I follow seems to be really buzzing about this game.  The video on the publisher’s website makes it seem like a nice, novel addition to the collection, but we’ll have to see if it has any staying power.
• Fit to Print: Yet another game that I ordered because of the designer diary.  Galaxy Trucker is one of my all-time favorites, and I love Extrablatt as well, so an absurdly adorable game that combines the two is right up my alley.
• For Northwood: Shut Up & Sit Down made me order it, I swear.

Continue reading →

Yes I know that Tuesday is a little early to start reporting on the fair, but I ended up helping out some friends set up a booth, and I ran into the nice Folks at Matagot.

I was able to sneak in a quick chat while they were setting up their booth, and I got a look at some of the new games to come.

We have already seen and reviewed a number of their SPIEL releases

How Dare You

Block and Guess

Revive call of the abyss

You can click on the links above to read the reviews. I will also give a short review of Orion Duel, a neat two player abstract game set in outer space.

Says Matagot :

Will you be able to cross the universe and join one of the Orion nebulas? On the way, you will find black holes that will weaken you to death or galaxies that will make you stronger. Plan your maneuvers well because each of your moves can give your opponent an opportunity to get closer to victory.

Your tiles possess two colors, yours in majority, and your opponent’s color as well. Try to connect your tiles smartly while not giving too much opportunities.

You can win in 3 different ways: by connecting 2 opposite sides of the board with an unbroken chain of hexagons of your color; by collecting 4 GALAXY PIECES on connected hexagons of your color; or by making your opponent get 3 BLACK HOLE PIECES on connected hexagons of his/her color.

This clever 2p game gives the player the usual abstract dilemma. Do you make a play to further your own victory? Or do you instead make a play to hinder your opponent? Double bonus if you’re able to do both of them in a single move, but this is honestly unlikely as all but the single hex piece will have both your color and your opponent’s on it.

There is a constant give and take therefore, and it really gives you some difficult decisions in the short 10 to 15 minute game length.

Though the rules are quite simple, the three different end game conditions make you constantly reevaluate the board, looking for ways to perhaps capture the victory, but also to make sure that you are not surprised when your opponent announces that they have won the game.

The deluxe edition which I received has a very Swanky neoprene mat that serves as the board, and it certainly looks beautiful on the table. If you are looking for a nice two-player abstract, I would certainly look at this one. There is both the deluxe version pictured here as well as a nice small regular version.

So what other things are on tap?

Expedition northwest passage HMS Terror Edition. Updated and now with solo version

Rankster now with AI judging! I first played this game with the designer back in January at a local trick-taking convention in Cincinnati. (by the way, I discovered that if you want to curry favor with Rikki, just bring him some fresh fruit at a con!) This game asks the players to rank three celebrities in how they would fare against a particular question. For instance the question might be who would you want to share a jail cell with? And the choices might be John lennon, super mario, and Charlemagne. The players cooperatively discuss their choices, and then input the order into the smartphone app. The AI then gives you its ranking, along with a surprisingly detailed explanation for why it put the celebrities in the order it shows. You may not agree with the AI Ranking but at least you get an explanation!

Neat wallet game – le roy des ribauds. I played this at Gencon and the finished version is sure pretty. The gold foil accents on the cards is quite nice.

Bottle imp in 2024. New art, and wow it’s pretty amazing. The big change here… It now plays up to 6. You need two bottles and some x.5 cards. I definitely remember seeing a 2.5 and a 28.5

Takenoko oyako, a new version coming to KS soon

Then, I was kinda blown away by a yet unnamed carl Chudyk trick taker/combination shedding game where there is also flipping cards around in your hand (think Scout). Also, a cool oriental theme. In short you play a shedding / climbing game, always keeping the cards you play in front of you. When a trick is finished, the winner discards their cards, and everyone else takes back their losers, but they get to flip them around to a more powerful side. This totally changes the feel of the game as you often want to lose tricks early to convert average cards into good cards (or manipulate the value in your hand to generate better combos or even bombs). Of course your opponent knows your tricks and will sometimes yield unexpectedly to cause you to lose those cards and thus destroy your hand. I only played a few hands but I’m drooling for more.

Chu han. Different game but again a Chinese theme,this time historical. 2 player Tichu is the elevator pitch . It also looks gorgeous.

If any of these catch your eye you can find Matagot in Hall 3.

Until your next appointment

The Gaming Doctor