Wingspan (Game Review by Brandon Kempf)

Posted on January 27, 2019 by Brandon Kempf

Designer: Elizabeth Hargrave

Publisher: Stonemaier Games

Artists: Anna Maria Martinez Jaramillo, Natalia Rojas, Beth Sobel

Players: 1-5 (While Wingspan does have a solo mode, as most Stonemaier games do, I will be focusing on the multi-player experience)

Time: 40-70 Minutes

Times Played: 5

Every day, more and more games are released into the wild, both in idea and physical form. In order for one to stand out from the rest of the pack, more and more publishers are leaning on fantastic production and special values to their devoted fans for that bump, for that something extra to stand out from the rest.

One publisher that does this better than most is Stonemaier Games. Jamey Stegmaier has built a devoted following from his days of running Kickstarters to now selling via his own website directly. He even has a “Champion Program” that grants those who pay the yearly $12 fee, early free delivery of the newest Stonemaier titles as they become available. He produces beautiful games and supports his community of fans. So everytime there is a Stonemaier release, it will be the topic du jour for the weeks leading up to and after release. This cycle’s topic du jour is Wingspan, a competitive engine building, card game of bird watching and collecting.

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Twilight Imperium, 4th Edition

Posted on January 25, 2019 by jefflingwall

Review of Twilight Imperium, 4th Edition

  • Designed by Dane Beltrami, Corey Konieczka, and Christian Petersen
  • Published by Fantasy Flight Games
  • 3-6 Players
  • Playing time: good luck

Forgive me for starting a review with a metaphor, but it seems to fit in this case. If games were pizza, the writers of this blog would tend to favor the margarita, a finely-honed, thin-crusted European-style delight, executed with amazing skill by a dedicated pizzaiolo using only a handful of ingredients. These are the Azul’s of the gaming world. They might shy away from a stuffed, deep-dish Chicago pizza, an overflowing, gooey mess of toppings and bread. If ever a game were deep-dish and  overstuffed, it is Twilight Imperium. It has too many components, too many systems, and is deeper than a pie from Pizza Due.

Yet … somehow it works, and creates a gaming experience unlike any other I’ve encountered in the hobby.

With that introduction, here’s a review of Twilight Imperium, 4th Edition, from Fantasy Flight Games. Continue reading →

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A Review of Foppen

Posted on January 23, 2019 by Joe Huber

Foppen

Designed by Friedemann Friese and originally published by 2F Spiele in 1995; updated and republished by 2F Spiele and Stronghold Games in 2018

Disclaimer: Played sixty times total, perhaps eight of those on a review copy of the new edition.

Review: We’re not going down this silly disclaimer to the disclaimer route again, are we?

Joe: No, wasn’t planning to.

Review: And there will be real opinions this time?

Joe: Yes, sure.

Review: And you’re going to mention that the English edition of the game is now called Fool, rather than Foppen, right?

Joe: Wasn’t planning to. After all, it’s a 23-year old game; everyone knows it as Foppen by now.

Review: No they don’t. Most folks have never heard of the game before, not to mention having experience playing it. And “Foppen” isn’t an English word in any way shape or form. So call it Fool…

Joe: But – the game’s been around forever. Not only that, for a 23-year old game, it has a following. And to me, it will always be Foppen…

Review: Fine, but I reserve the right to correct you every time you call it Foppen. And – sure, some old folks know about the game, but fewer than 400 people have rated it on BoardGameGeek. It’s no Catan.

Joe: Die Siedler von Catan, thank you.

Review: No, Catan. Just because you’re an old fogie who insists upon using decade old names doesn’t mean the readers of this review will be.

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Posted in Essen 2018, Reviews | 1 Comment

Patrick Brennan: Game Snapshots – 2019 (Part 2)

Posted on January 22, 2019 by pfbrennan


We’re well into our Essen Review weekend now, where there are no clocks in the room nor windows to the outside world, only windows into our souls.

If you’re a tennis fan, you’ve already been concentrating on Australia. Did you know that Storm Sanders is either celebrating a tennis victory or she just realized she had the most cubes in the Castillo in El Grande?

And our souls here are saying if you want to consistently play good new games, wait until the dust settles and the chaff has been winnowed from the grain. But here we are at harvest time anyway, doing some winnowing. And culling from the herd. And any other Rosenberg analogy you’d like to throw in, just as long as the family is fed at the end of the round.

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Posted in Commentary, Sessions | 2 Comments

T5: Day Four & これはトリテなのか？

Posted on January 21, 2019 by xitoliv

I think we ended up with 22 folks being able to attend for some period of time, and here are a few of us prior to some folks taking off Sunday afternoon.

I’m so grateful for those that came and made this reality, and also those who couldn’t make it, but helped out in other ways – like Rand letting us borrow some of this games, and @kumagoro_h and @_kazuma0221 for, well, what we did on Sunday.

Like I think I said a few days ago, @kumagoro_h had organized an event called “Is This a Trick-Taking Game?” to be held in Japan on Sunday, and you can read a good recap (in Japanese) here:

はてなブログに投稿しました #はてなブログ
『これはトリテなのか？展』訪問レポート – 雲上四季〜謎ときどきボドゲ〜https://t.co/nZ8cthxCVt— 秋山真琴＠ミスボド×n’Same 1/25 (@unjyoukairou) January 20, 2019

He and I conspired in recent weeks to arrange so that we could play the same games at T5 as the more than 60 people were playing at これはトリテなのか？I am very thankful for the translation work that @_kazuma0221 did, and to the designers for giving their permission.

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Posted in Convention Report | 10 Comments

T5: Day Three

Posted on January 20, 2019 by xitoliv

I think my view of the roll of pastries in other adults’ lives is probably skewed by watching too many episodes of The West Wing where there was inevitably a plate of pastries in the center of every table at a meeting, so when it’s my turn to host a meeting of sorts for adults, well, there are pastries.

What I’m saying is, wheat domesticated us.

Anyway, I started of the morning with 7 Symbols, and 7 Nations, one of my favorite trick-taking games, and one of my overall favorite games.

7 suits, with 7 cards each, ranging from 1-7, 2-8, 3-9,…7-13, and your goal is to collect 4 of the 7’s in one hand. Alternatively, if you take 7 tricks, without taking four 7’s, then your team loses. You score a number of victory points equal to the difference of the teams’ number of 7s, and the first team to you guessed it, 7 points wins.

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