First full week in Canada!
Tuesday, my wife and I were at the store so she could preorder some of the new Magic set when a man came in and happened to ask about their game night. It was that night! Like... what? So I got the details and applied to some jobs and went back! Arrived just in time.
The group was pretty good! We share space with one of their Magic nights at the store, and there's only about eight or nine of us or so we only take up a couple tables. At least half of us like or don't mind heavier games, so I'm pretty sure I'll be back.
King of Tokyo
I haven't played King of Tokyo in a long time since I realized I don't like it all that much. The dice are wholly unmitigated and the blatant extreme "Push your luck" of the dice to score victory points is just not fun for me. Thankfully, it's a pretty quick game, and other players can/will stink at it as badly as I do.
Camel Up Cards
After that, I got to teach Camel Up Cards, a game that still holds its place as my go-to 6-or-less filler game. The way the game toys with letting you have very limited information while also not knowing when cards can/will come out is interesting to me. It's exciting, surprising, and seems to be fun for most people I've played it with.
Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island (2nd edition)
I finally got to try this much-lauded co-op worker placement game! We played with 4, and tried the basic scenario. There was much attempting the exact same tasks round after round only to be stymied by dice sometimes and others not. Robinson Crusoe is one of those story-based games where the tale the game tells over time is what everyone is really accomplishing together, much like Arkham/Eldritch Horror. There's no real strategy or mitigation of much of anything outside of the abilities of your rolls.
The problem with my enjoyment of this game is that I've played Orleans: Invasion. Because everyone is tailoring their bags and trying to make the right choices to accomplish the group's tasks, the plans form, are thwarted by token draw, and then adapted on the fly instead of round after harsh round. Everyone knows where they stand at any given time as well as usually one thing they need to do and a couple backup things that would also be helpful in case that one thing can't happen. It is a bit on rails, sure, but the greater variety of player goals/specializations and the ability to customize the event deck's difficulty makes Orleans a much less complicated but also versatile co-op Euro experience.
I'll play Robinson Crusoe again if it hits the table, but it's no big rush. At least we finished it in 2-3 hours instead of the 5-6 the Horror games tend to take.
Hanamikoji
I FINALLY got to teach this one to my wife!!! And she liked it!! I think I've already noticed the similar feel to Battle Line this game has in the Geisha influence tokens, but the way that each player doesn't WANT to offer cards in their hand to their opponent but HAS to also evokes another well-loved Knizia classic: Lost Cities. Hanamikoji is truly a fusion of the two (the tug of war element possibly calling Blue Moon to mind as well), and also not in any way lesser than the sum of its parts. Still great. Tiny box, long, long legs.
Villages of Valeria
I also got to teach her Villages of Valeria. I think this one suffers a bit at 2 players, especially right on the heels of a game as fast, simple, and deep as Hanamikoji. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but the flavor of only having one player to consider as far as determining how beneficial or not an action is to you isn't as rich as it is with more. This comes into play most when you build, and a little less so when you recruit and a little less so when you develop. It is starting to feel a little mechanical, I guess? But you still have to steer your little engine right to finish line, which is something I do tend to enjoy in my games - finesse.
Arkham Horror: the Card Game
SHE LIKES THIS, TOO!!! We're two scenarios into the intro campaign, and I really like the way we approached it:
1) Build basic decks for base game characters
2) Play the first scenario
3) RE-build decks using all available cards now that we know what we're doing
4) Spend XP to improve that deck
5) Play the second scenario
This is great because it lets a new player learn the game, but also doesn't punish them forever for playing a basic deck right out of the gate. I'm not sure we're going to carry these (Agnes and Roland) over to Dunwich Legacy, but I might still let us keep track of our XP and do the same thing heading into that. She really wanted to build Jenny instead, and she might still. Who knows? Maybe she'll play as both Agnes AND Jenny and I can build a second too? We'll see. I know there are a couple recommended starting builds for the Dunwich Legacy characters, but I haven't looked into them yet.
This Roland deck is only the second I've tried to build (also the second Blue-focused deck), so it's interesting forming a team with her and keeping her character's desired strengths in mind while also figuring out how I want to build mine. My Roland happens to be focused on Investigating and Healing, though it's hard to deny that Fighting is very much an inherent part of Roland's character given his stats and his special item (his Revolver). My weakness is Indebted (and in the game! Thanks, college!) so I'm pretty resource-weak and I miiight have ditched one of my favorite cards (Dynamite Blast) from my deck for that reason.
La Granja: No Siesta
And she liked this one too! This game does seem to peter out towards the end in a two-player situation, or in a game where hats just simply don't come up very often, as was the case for us. We were completing all kinds of things left and right, and taking advantage of our fun combos. I do have to say I'm very much looking forward to playing this again with her with one set of color helpers and one set of the gray helpers in play so we can't both take advantage of the same things at any point during the game. It should definitely serve to make it more interesting and bring the teeth out! And we like our games with a little teeth. Rahdo and Jenn we are not!
Magic: the Gathering
As I mentioned at the top, I seem to be getting dragged back into Magic. Our FLGS had a Magic Open House saturday night and I got to go and play for the first time in six or seven years and got the lowdown on what's changed in the rules since I was last in. Got a nifty welcome deck and snagged a few boosters from the latest sets to spice it up a little. As long as my wife's the one who buys most of the cards, I don't mind using her dregs to do my own fun stuff on the cheap.
That's it for this week! Thanks for reading, and I guess that Gamestorm report gets another little pushback!
Tuesday, my wife and I were at the store so she could preorder some of the new Magic set when a man came in and happened to ask about their game night. It was that night! Like... what? So I got the details and applied to some jobs and went back! Arrived just in time.
The group was pretty good! We share space with one of their Magic nights at the store, and there's only about eight or nine of us or so we only take up a couple tables. At least half of us like or don't mind heavier games, so I'm pretty sure I'll be back.
King of Tokyo
I haven't played King of Tokyo in a long time since I realized I don't like it all that much. The dice are wholly unmitigated and the blatant extreme "Push your luck" of the dice to score victory points is just not fun for me. Thankfully, it's a pretty quick game, and other players can/will stink at it as badly as I do.
Camel Up Cards
After that, I got to teach Camel Up Cards, a game that still holds its place as my go-to 6-or-less filler game. The way the game toys with letting you have very limited information while also not knowing when cards can/will come out is interesting to me. It's exciting, surprising, and seems to be fun for most people I've played it with.
Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island (2nd edition)
I finally got to try this much-lauded co-op worker placement game! We played with 4, and tried the basic scenario. There was much attempting the exact same tasks round after round only to be stymied by dice sometimes and others not. Robinson Crusoe is one of those story-based games where the tale the game tells over time is what everyone is really accomplishing together, much like Arkham/Eldritch Horror. There's no real strategy or mitigation of much of anything outside of the abilities of your rolls.
The problem with my enjoyment of this game is that I've played Orleans: Invasion. Because everyone is tailoring their bags and trying to make the right choices to accomplish the group's tasks, the plans form, are thwarted by token draw, and then adapted on the fly instead of round after harsh round. Everyone knows where they stand at any given time as well as usually one thing they need to do and a couple backup things that would also be helpful in case that one thing can't happen. It is a bit on rails, sure, but the greater variety of player goals/specializations and the ability to customize the event deck's difficulty makes Orleans a much less complicated but also versatile co-op Euro experience.
I'll play Robinson Crusoe again if it hits the table, but it's no big rush. At least we finished it in 2-3 hours instead of the 5-6 the Horror games tend to take.
Hanamikoji
I FINALLY got to teach this one to my wife!!! And she liked it!! I think I've already noticed the similar feel to Battle Line this game has in the Geisha influence tokens, but the way that each player doesn't WANT to offer cards in their hand to their opponent but HAS to also evokes another well-loved Knizia classic: Lost Cities. Hanamikoji is truly a fusion of the two (the tug of war element possibly calling Blue Moon to mind as well), and also not in any way lesser than the sum of its parts. Still great. Tiny box, long, long legs.
Villages of Valeria
I also got to teach her Villages of Valeria. I think this one suffers a bit at 2 players, especially right on the heels of a game as fast, simple, and deep as Hanamikoji. I enjoyed it thoroughly, but the flavor of only having one player to consider as far as determining how beneficial or not an action is to you isn't as rich as it is with more. This comes into play most when you build, and a little less so when you recruit and a little less so when you develop. It is starting to feel a little mechanical, I guess? But you still have to steer your little engine right to finish line, which is something I do tend to enjoy in my games - finesse.
Arkham Horror: the Card Game
SHE LIKES THIS, TOO!!! We're two scenarios into the intro campaign, and I really like the way we approached it:
1) Build basic decks for base game characters
2) Play the first scenario
3) RE-build decks using all available cards now that we know what we're doing
4) Spend XP to improve that deck
5) Play the second scenario
This is great because it lets a new player learn the game, but also doesn't punish them forever for playing a basic deck right out of the gate. I'm not sure we're going to carry these (Agnes and Roland) over to Dunwich Legacy, but I might still let us keep track of our XP and do the same thing heading into that. She really wanted to build Jenny instead, and she might still. Who knows? Maybe she'll play as both Agnes AND Jenny and I can build a second too? We'll see. I know there are a couple recommended starting builds for the Dunwich Legacy characters, but I haven't looked into them yet.
This Roland deck is only the second I've tried to build (also the second Blue-focused deck), so it's interesting forming a team with her and keeping her character's desired strengths in mind while also figuring out how I want to build mine. My Roland happens to be focused on Investigating and Healing, though it's hard to deny that Fighting is very much an inherent part of Roland's character given his stats and his special item (his Revolver). My weakness is Indebted (and in the game! Thanks, college!) so I'm pretty resource-weak and I miiight have ditched one of my favorite cards (Dynamite Blast) from my deck for that reason.
La Granja: No Siesta
And she liked this one too! This game does seem to peter out towards the end in a two-player situation, or in a game where hats just simply don't come up very often, as was the case for us. We were completing all kinds of things left and right, and taking advantage of our fun combos. I do have to say I'm very much looking forward to playing this again with her with one set of color helpers and one set of the gray helpers in play so we can't both take advantage of the same things at any point during the game. It should definitely serve to make it more interesting and bring the teeth out! And we like our games with a little teeth. Rahdo and Jenn we are not!
Magic: the Gathering
As I mentioned at the top, I seem to be getting dragged back into Magic. Our FLGS had a Magic Open House saturday night and I got to go and play for the first time in six or seven years and got the lowdown on what's changed in the rules since I was last in. Got a nifty welcome deck and snagged a few boosters from the latest sets to spice it up a little. As long as my wife's the one who buys most of the cards, I don't mind using her dregs to do my own fun stuff on the cheap.
That's it for this week! Thanks for reading, and I guess that Gamestorm report gets another little pushback!