by Bobby Warren
Last month I played 20 different games a total of 49 times and six expansions a total 14 times. Four of the games and three of the expansions were new to me. I played four of the games and three of the expansions in August.We broke out some of the D-Day Dice expansions for the first time. I also played both of my current miniatures games and was obsessed with the Kickstarter for DreadBall. I hope that game dominates my December game plays which will mean I was able to get several friends to play.
Here is what I played and some thoughts on the games.
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 5/12
My Rating:: 8
Expansion Played: Cities for one of the games.
First up was our first playing with the new expansion. I liked that a limited mix of the cards is added into each age and the effects of the new cards and wonders. We'll see how this one holds up long term. I still really like Leaders, but it's popularity is hit or miss with other players in the group.
Later in the month, Michael, John, and I brought this out as a quick game to play while waiting on Kevin. To keep it quick we didn't pay with either expansion. I thought I had the game in the bag because I built so many of the blue buildings and had the Pyramids at Giza finished, but I ende dup five points behind both Michael and John, and John won the tiebreaker.
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 11/06
My Rating:: 7
I wanted to play Titan: The Arena, but found my unplayed copy of Colossal Arena first while rushing to get out of the door in time for a pre-gaming appointment. I was explaining the game while pulling out the eight creatures to use and mistakenly pulled the Seraphim instead of the Magus/Warlock.
I forgot how cheap the cards in theoriginal Silver Line box feel. Mine even are marked with a bunch of them having a small white mark on the backs of them. I will definitely use my copy of Titan: The Arena over the newer version whenever I have a choice.
It turned out to be a fairly close four-player game with my secret bet surviving the entire game to give me the victory.
I also got it played the next week with Katie taking Alex's place. This time Daniel won, using the power which let him bet in any open slot to add a bet to the Unicorn, which survived to the end. Well-played.
Times Played: 8
Last Month Played: 8/12
My Rating:: 9
Expansions Played: Operation Neptune for one game and Normandy for two games.
We broke Sword Beach. Badly. We stopped trying near the end and rushed the finish and the four of us had a total of well over 500 troops and 200 item points. We had spent courage on three or four awards, had pretty much every specialist, and rebought the Bangalore Torpedo almost every turn. It was a freaking awesome game! I just hope it doesn't happen again.
I also played one of the expansions for the first as Mike and I attacked the doubly-long, double-bunker of Operation Overlord. We zigged and zagged across the board because we wanted to set up a command post, which would make three other sectors easier to move through, made it to the first bunker, then charged up the heart of the map to capture the final bunker.
Mike and I also tried out the Gold Beach II map from the Normandy expansion. It beat us both times, which was actually kind of nice because I had won so many games recently that it had stopped ebing any kind of challenge.
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating:: 7
After playing Warmachine, Alex taught me how to play this new edtion. I was always interested in the game but the length scared me off of trying it out. The new edition did fix the length of the game.
I first played two heroes against his ettin and goblins in the introductory scenario. I did pretty well and managed the win.
After that, Michael joined us and we each played a hero against the Fat Goblin scenarios. Alex won both of them, though a lucky card draw let him escape with his big goblin and prisoner. That was right after my mage one-shotted the shadow dragon. Sweet.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating:: 5
Mike picked this up and we tried it two-player. It felt kind of flat, though we both think it would be better with three or four players. Hopefully we will be able to try it again sometime when his wife is in the mood to play games.
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 9/10
My Rating:: 7
Michael picked this up a while ago and hadn't played his copy. He broke it out for John, Kevin, and I and we played a game. Kevin had only played once a long time ago and John had never played. After we finished the first game, where skill reigned supreme (in other words, I won),
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating:: 7
It's a really fun game in the same family of games as Space Hulk. The real difference is both sides have objectives in the game. In the first scenario we played the objective was to be the first to exit at least one of your figures off the board at your exit point before the enemy did the same.
The second was a treasure hunt, with the winner being the player which took the most treasure off the board.
For games with combat I have become more and more in favor of opposed rolls, so I knew I would enjoy this once Mike explained the rules. Everything in this game is resisted actions, with the chance of getting multiple successes possible for better results.
The figures used in the game look to be repurposed Kings of War figures. The elves are a little thin and I know I would break the spears on them, but they are nicely detailed. They are a little smaller than the standard GW mini size of today and felt like they were more of a true 25mm figure.
I've seen some complaints about the thickness of the board tiles. They seemed sturdy to me. Maybe they could have been a little thicker, but they are not so thin that they are bendy.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 7/12
My Rating:: 8
Photographer Darrell Simmons, Dr. Vincent Lee, Dr. Carolyn Fern and Sister Mary were pitted against the fiends of Shub Niggurath. They fought a long, hard battle to prevent Shub from shuffling on into Arkham, but the gate opened and they had to fight the old one. It was a long and hard fought battle, but shortly after Sister Mary succombed to the demon, the others rallied and defeated him.
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 3/09
My Rating:: 7
We played a three-player game. Michael and I played this a lot, though not in a long time, and John was new to this game. I did a good job of collecting and selling goods early on and John thought he had to have the most tokens in a city to score it at the end, so he finished last.
Michael and I also played again later on with Kevin. This time I focused on getting out markets in every city and that made the different. The Magic Rat would be proud of how I'v eplayed these two times.
Times Played: 5
Last Month Played: 5/12
My Rating:: 8
Nico's "dice game of 2011" played the same day as we played his first and second favorite dice games of 2012. It was also played later in the month, which is no surprise.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 9/11
My Rating:: 8
Mike and I played a game and we both had fully-painted crews!
Mine were the Showgirls which I paid to have painted and Mike was running McMourning. We haven't played in almost a year and were rusty on the game mechanics, plus neither of us were too familiar with our crews' abilities.
It took a long, long time to play. A large part of it was the need to refamiliarize ourselves with the game and the lack of familiarity we had with out crews. Another part was us just BSing about the game, the DreadBall Kickstarter campaign which would be ending the next day, and other games. Now that we've played again, I need to spend some time going over the rules and looking at what the various Showgirls can do so I will go into next game wiht a plan.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 5/06
My Rating:: 8
We had a close finish in a five player game. I expected to do better than I did,but I still had a great time playing it.
Times Played: 2
Last Month Played: 7/12
My Rating:: 8
I jumped out to a big lead against Mike, who then proceded to kick my arse.
The second game was a more balanced game, though Mike won that one, too.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 6/12
My Rating:: 7
It was a three-player game with Kevin playing for the first time. I was in a position to buy Intelligence, but chose to pass on it so I could get "Speech". That turned out to be the game-winnning decision because it allowed me to spread to an extra area on the last turn with no food left.
Times Played: 3
Last Month Played: 8/12
My Rating:: 8
Expansions Played: Rise of the Demons & Quarmageddon for all games.
The Seraph is an awesome die! If this was a wild west game, we could say there is a new Seraph in town. :)
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: 8/12
My Rating:: 8
Expansion Played: The Gathering Storm for all the games.
I dropped my rating another point. It's just too predictable when Michael and I play it. After a couple of turns, you see who has their engine churning and who doesn't, and I can predict what will happen at that point. Of course, we've probably played 300 two-player games so it shouldn't be a surprise that we know what each other are luikely to do in most situations.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 5/12
My Rating:: 8
We played without the expansion. Michael and I had played before, but Daniel and Alex hadn't played. The siest of the experienced players won. (Really, me. I am wise. Iam! I am! I am!) :)
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating:: 7
This is a terrific two-player game! Mike and I played it a second time the first night we played it,and then played it two more times the following week.
Times Played: 1
Last Month Played: 11/11
My Rating:: 8
Alex and I finally had a battle. It was his Khador force led by Kharchev against my Rhulic Mercenaries led by Gorten Grundback. We had a fairly good battle which the newbie (me) made some mistakes and hopefully learned from them.
Times Played: 4
Last Month Played: 8/12
My Rating:: 8
There a dice game of Bohnanza? Who knew?