You know, at the end of every summer I think: "The board game playing group just doesn't work very well in the summer. Maybe we should take the summer off, and just start again in September..." And this is when you, dear reader, look at our last post, see it was in May, and think: "They took the summer off."
But we did not! Though things have been fairly haphazard. I'll attempt to recap what I can recall now.
LAST week, 'twas Easy and I and special guest Aussie Tim, in from Australia. We tried to keep things light + easy for our semin00b, and went with Galaxy Trucker, Kingdom Builder, and a new, Africana. [In retrospect, Easy, how did we not think to select King of Tokyo? We should have selected King of Tokyo!]
Africana had the feel of a slightly trickier Ticket to Ride, with a set collection aspect to scoring overlaid on the route completion mechanic. On the lighter side of things, but well done and quite fun. The end certainly came unexpectedly, and Easy won by a fair chunk, which wasn't how I thought the game was going, so there is some surprise there, also. [For the record, Easy swept that week, the third week in Aug]
Moving backwards, in the 2nd week of August, we played a 3 player round of *** some fantasy themed block game that Kozure owns, which comes in VHS style boxes *** Wizard Kings, which we adjourned w/ Easy in the clear lead. At the moment I don't have any clear thoughts on the game, as could be guessed by my earlier inability to remember it's name. I suppose I think it's a playable [meaning adequately non fiddly] fantasy wargamelite. And was fine, but kind of unmemorable.
Before that, Easy and I had a 2 player game of Vikings, the advanced version. [ The rules call this the "Progress Version", which nomenclature we spent a little time making fun of. ] The advanced version really does make decision making within the game much more difficult, particularly in the areas of resource management. Uncertainty is also upped through the special tiles won by buying the most expensive combo available. I like this version a lot, and managed to jump out to an early lead and hold on, thanks to picking up the tile that grants a bonus for nobles early on.
Further back, the 1st week of August, I wasn't there, and don't know what happened in Toronto. I did see this:
HM NOW JULY.
Fourth week of July, Last Will, along w/ MARIA. As Austria I pursued a bad strategy, and paid for it. Both other powers were in a victory position, tho I don't remember which technically took the game. I'm glad Last Will got another try, but don't think I'll be selecting it again. It's in the no man's land for me, too long and fiddly to be filler, not quite thinky enough or fun enough to be a main course.
Third week of July, BIOS MEGAFAUNA + Wildlife. A C&P: Megafauna, I knowingly took a risk and it failed due to randomness, throwing me into a spiral of larger risks, each of which failed. I'm OK w/ that, intellectually. Tho it stunk as an experience.
Wildlife, I played suboptimally, and would like another chance. Plus, it's fun and we hadn't played it in five years or somesuch.
Second week of July, I was absent, and am unsure of what happened. I DID hear that Bharmer has an impressive beard; the question remains, is it silky? I hope it's silky.
First week of July there was NO WAGS. NONE.
JUNE
Last week of June, I flaked, and Easy + Bharmer did something, I think?
Third week of June was RISK: LEGACY + Beowulf. I like the Risk Legacy. I need to get it on the table, w/ 4 or 5 players. I am kind of obsessed. In game three on our Earth, Easy in North America was targeted by the other 3 players, with Kozure attacking thru Alaska, Pablo thru Central America, and me through Greenland. I ended up winning by capturing the Easylander's HQ, which Kozure then fell JUST short of taking from me. Seeing that he was on the verge of trading in cards for a red star, I took a chance on launching 2 fronts from Europe, and took both remaining HQ's for the victory. Which means we got to open the "sign the board twice" packet, which is was pretty exciting.
Beowulf is always fun. Swedish betrayal, y'all. HM. Next RISK city is being put in Scandinavia and being named Betrayal. Book it. Unless it's something else of course.
Second week of June was three players, I was there, it happened. I don't know what happened. I am old. :(
First week of June we played 1812! I remember that week! Good game, really enjoyed it, and I'm not a wargame guy so much. Or I haven't been. Maybe en route to becoming one?
MAY
Last week of May, we played Luna, Innovation, and Kingdom Builder. I don't need to talk about Kingdom Builder, I am mostly indifferent towards Innovation, and I thought Luna was another middling Euro, but with neatish mechanics. Would play again.
Week before that, Civilization, with Kozure, Shemp, Pablo [does he have a nom de blog?] An email fragment: Went well, by which I mean: Miltary Victory by ME as the Germans. Kozure's Russia was, erm, less successful. Pablo enjoyed a learning game as the Americans, mainly getting the hang of the mechanics. Had an error in that the Wonders came out in random order, rather than sorted by era. Will look fwd to trying 4 players.
Week before that, was Eclipse, I was absent, there was a guest teaching the game - JOTORA?
Week before that, was Civilization and Last Will, with 3. AND that's as caughtupish as I can get us.
...post peters out here. Contributers who wish to expand in comments would be welcome. MOST WELCOME. -LONG ABSENT FROM BLOGGING SHEMP
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