Nibbling on the Hand That Has Fed Me (My Musings on Hasbro & the HeroQuest reprint)

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Mark Jackson

I have to come to realize that many of the things I write about board gaming now start with a decent chunk of personal history. This opinion piece (from, no surprise, an Opinionated Gamer) is no exception.

Some of that I credit to how long I’ve been in the hobby: 

And some of that I credit to just being old. Well, older. OK, old.

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Everdell Week: Series Conclusion

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Chris Wray

Just as seasons change, so do the games that are fashionable.  Everdell is, at least to this amateur game historian, a tidy encapsulation of the current moment in gaming.

We’re in the era where gamers demand more.  They want great mechanics and great art.  They want an engrossing first experience and a high degree of replayability.  They want theme, and upgraded components, and a wide range of player counts, including even a solo mode.  We’re in the era of “and,” where gamers want it all, and given the high cost of games these days, they deserve it all.  

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Report from Castle TriCon – Free and Open to the Public Sept 26-27

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Dale Yu

Well, in 2020, all the cons are apparently developed by James Halliday…   I did not really participate in Gen Con Online earlier this summer (as I had IRL work to do), and Castle Tricon is my first real venture into the online gaming convention space.  This particular con is normally held in a real castle with real people, but of course, this year that can’t be.  So, the game companies that normally meet at the castle decided to develop a virtual world to show off their new games.  CGE, Horrible Guild and HeidelBÄR have joined forces for a full weekend of gaming.  It really makes me feel like I’m in the OASIS of Ready Player One…

The convention is open to anyone this weekend – and you can get your ticket here: https://www.castletricon.com/

It is free to the public for Saturday Sept 26 and Sunday Sept 27, 10 AM CET–2 AM CET.  That’s 4AM US Eastern time until 8PM US Eastern Time

Thursday was set aside as a media day, and I had the ability to take a half day off from work to explore this virtual world/con and talk with some old friends.

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Everdell Bellfaire (Expansion Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on September 24, 2020 by Chris Wray

Author’s Note: I’m breaking with our traditional review format today, so this will be a review that integrates the gameplay description with my thoughts on the expansion.  Also, for the uninitiated, today is the fourth day of Everdell Week, a project I’m doing to commemorate the changing seasons.  This review is based on a review copy from the publisher.  

Everdell Bellfaire is the most recent expansion in the Everdell line.  The expansion is modular, meaning it comes with different pieces that can be mixed and matched.  While it changes gameplay less than Pearlbrook and Spirecrest, and is less thematic, I consider it the most functional of the expansions, since it has some cool elements that integrate nicely with the base game.  While Pearlbrook is my favorite of the expansions, if you’re looking primarily for a few extras (including components and rules for 5-6 players), Bellfaire is where you should look first.  

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Everdell Spirecrest (Expansion Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on September 23, 2020 by Chris Wray

Author’s Note: I’m breaking with our traditional review format today, so this will be a review that integrates the gameplay description with my thoughts on the expansion.  Also, for the uninitiated, today is the third day of Everdell Week, a project I’m doing to commemorate the changing seasons.  This review is based on a review copy from the publisher.  

Spirecrest is the second expansion for Everdell.  It was on Kickstarter along with the third expansion, Bellfaire, and together they earned 11,900 backers and more than $989,000.  Today, Spirecrest is the highest rated of the three expansions on BGG (earning an average rating of 8.46 out of 10.00), likely because it adds the most to the base game.  Of the three expansions, Spirecrest is probably the most thematic, and adds the most mechanically to the base game.  

Spirecrest is about a journey, and every player begins with the rabbit meeple of their color on the Mountain Board, which is placed below the main board of Everdell.  The Mountain Board controls the main actions of the expansion, and it is activated — with players travelling along it — at each new season.  

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Everdell Pearlbook (Expansion Review by Chris Wray)

Posted on September 22, 2020 by Chris Wray

Author’s Note: I’m breaking with our traditional review format today, so this will be a review that integrates the gameplay description with my thoughts on the expansion.  Also, for the uninitiated, today is the second day of Everdell Week, a project I’m doing to commemorate the changing seasons.  This review is based on a review copy from the publisher.  

When Everdell’s first expansion, Pearlbook, went on Kickstarter in September 2018, it was an instant success, earning 8,012 backers and more than $609,000.  Though today it is the lowest-rated of the expansions on BGG (with what is still a sky-high rating of 7.79 out of 10.00), I don’t understand why, because it is my favorite of the three Everdell expansions. To me, Pearlbrook best accentuates the gameplay I love in the base game, and it feels like a seamless addition to base Everdell.   

Pearlbrook is about a “mysterious civilization of waterfolk,” and you send your amphibious ambassador — a frog meeple — to interact with them.  This expansion may not change the base game much, but it does add a few different in-game mechanics and some cool new components.  

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