by Bobby Warren
In November I played 27 different games a total of 41 times and six expansions a total 11 times. Eight of the games and two of the expansions were new to me. I played seven of the games and two of the expansions in October.DreadBall was only played twice as we come closer and closer to the release. I am expecting a shipping notice anytime soon and will be picking up the BattleFoam insert for the box this coming weekend.
I also made a little more progress in getting all the alea games played. It's looking like I will not make my goal of getting them all played by the end of the year. I still plan on trying to get them played so I can get the precious microbadges.
Here is what I did play last month with some thoughts, comments, and nonsense about them.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 4/07
My Rating: 8
Kevin won this game. Not me. It should have been me! :)
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 7
Nico, Michael, and I took on a dragon kin trying to capture a guard tower. Dragons is so stupid.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 9
More DreadBall goodness as we waited for the full game to be released.
Game 1: My Marauders went to Michael's Forge Father's field and lost a close game, 1-0.
Game 2: I played the Veer-myn for the first time and visited Mike's Marauders. I scored a four-point goal on the first turn and thought I might get that blowout win, but Mike whittled away and then we traded a few scores. On his last turn, he needed to score at least 2 to get the win and failed miserably.
Times Played:3
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 8
We started out the month losing to Ithaqua, then beat Yig and Azathoth.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 6/12
My Rating: 7
To quote Dr. Ian Malcolm, "Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming."
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 5
Some of the rules for this don't make a lot of game play sense to me, like launching multiple ships with one license and letting each of them fish. It feels like an incomplete Race for the Galaxy clone. There just wasn't that much tension in our game. I would play it, but won't ask to play it.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 8
This requires quite some planning and thought when playing, which is a good thing. I don't know how long it will be played, but for however as many times we do play it, I am fairly sure I will enjoy it.
Times Played:4
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 7
This is awesome dice-rolling fun. Much of the "game" revolves around the selection of characters and when to use the limited special abilities. The rest of the game is a fun ride where you try to out-roll the others and finish with the most gold. A must-buy for me when it hits the stores.
Times Played:3
Last Month Played: 5/12
My Rating: 8
In this month's first game I played Bloody Barnabas against the hideous and evil Sorscha leading an expedition of smoking machines into the swamplands. Barney did his best to beat back the smelly Khador humans and their machines, but failed when it counted most.
The following week I played Barnabas against Irusk. This time Barney had a giant turtle and a Croak hunter instead of a second Wrastler and the Swamp Gobbers. Too bad nothing Barney brought along would be able to ding the Behemoth, so Barney's boys did what they could to avoid it. The Croak tried for a killing blow, but failed, while Barney was left unguarded and the Behemoth pounded him to a pulp.
The third game had me once again playing Barnabas, this time against the Old Witch. I removed the Bull Snapper and the Croak Hunter and replaced them with two Feralgeists and the Totem Hunter. It was a game of failed die rolling which came down to me getting too close to the Old Witch with Barney who was noosed into range with the Juggernaught, which was a bad, bad thing.
I would have played another game the last couple days of the month, but the plague (i.e., flu-like symptoms) struck the host's home and we wanted to avoid spreading it to me. I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't play at least three more times in December since Alex and Mike are both wanting to play and it looks like we might have Ben and Nico interested enough in trying out the system.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 8/12
My Rating: 7
I think I would play this more if the box was a more standard shape. Even the little cube is difficult to pack when I am getting games ready to go to play.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 9/12
My Rating: 8
A single playing the week the expansion came out, but we didn't play with said expansion. No, we just fought it out like real monsters without any panda-come-lately monsters involved!
Times Played:3
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 7
Overly fiddly set-up and tear down times means I won't be buying this, but I will play it.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 6
Wow, this is long. It's not a bad game, but it takes a really long time to accomplish so little.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 8
Our brave band of mice, without the healer, managed to fight our way through the sewer into the kitchen, past the cat, and into the safety of the tree in the courtyard.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 6
Mike said it felt like a two-player Bohnanza, and he is right. You are collecting sets, but there really isn't any trading. it's a decent two-player game, but not one I would search out to buy.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 8
It looked like my luck had turned after the first hand as I managed a terrific lead. The second hand was even, and from then out I was back to not doing well against Mike.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 8/09
My Rating: 7
We ended up playing only one hand because people had to leave, but it was well-received and I hope we can play again soon!
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 6/06
My Rating: 6
I bumped my rating down a point on this. While it is fun, it really isn't a great game. That doesn't mean I plan on getting rid of it. Oh no, it will see table time again!
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 8
Expansions Played:Rise of the Demons, Quarmageddon&Quest of the Qladiator for both of the games.
I like the new Lock mechanism. It adds something else to the game, but it doesn't over-complicate things.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 6/11
My Rating: 8
We played Royal Turf. I always play with secret bets and recommended that we do not double the payout of the third race because it often means whoever wins the most money in that race wins the game. Speaking of that, after two races I was in a solid last place with 300 pounds to my name. But the last race was glorious and all three of my horses placed! When the final cash was tallied, I was only 200 pounds behind Kevin, who managed to hold onto the early lead by a nose.
I much prefer coming in a close second after having a miserable couple of races because it means those races mattered. If I had placed one more bet that managed to score, I probably would have won the game. As it was, Kevin, who had two really good races and scored just enough on the third race pulled out the victory.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 7
A three-player game with the advanced cards. I started slow, but managed a big swing near the end of the second year and looked like I might win, but I needed to have the most cards built in front of me and it just didn't happen and Nico pulled a one-point win out over Alex. I may need to up my rating on this.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 4/12
My Rating: 7
Expansion Played:Rook City.
Tachyon, Haka, and Legacy took on Ambuscade in Rook City. Abuscade is tough and from the very beginning the heroes had no chance.
Mike and I played with Legacy as the dummy third player.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 3/12
My Rating: 7
I taught this to Alex. He played Sand Goblins and I played the Mountain Vargar. The tricksy Gobbos won the day.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 8/12
My Rating: 8
Expansions Played:Caverns of Bane and Root of Corruption for both of the games.
The first game with the new set included finished in a dead heat with the scores being 38, 37, and 36. I'm irritated that I finished last. I guess I need to be better at clearing out scum from dungeons?
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 10/12
My Rating: 8
More bean dice. More Hilary winning.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: New to me
My Rating: 7
Plays like a slightly quicker Last Night on Earth. I like both of the games about the same and think I like the characters in LNoE a little more than the ones in this game. Either way, I'll play both games when asked.