How many games did I play for the first time in February, or at least rate for the first time in February. That is going to be the big question. And I know it’s more than 20, because we’ll be doing the next 10 on my way to 1000 Games rated on Board Game Geek. Let me know which ones you like from this part of the list, or which ones you’d like to learn more about. Because there are too many games for me to do a full review of all of them.

February Games (Part 2)

Aquarius

This game is one of those games that is barely a game. Now that’s not a massive negative for some games, but in this case, it’s kind of just meh. I actually rated it a 4.5 which is low for me because I tend to enjoy most games. Some of it is that it has an element that I don’t love. I know what I need to complete and you don’t. So you need to try and guess that, but it’s really obvious in the game, and there just isn’t much exciting about it the game is too simple.

Movers & Shakers

I talked about a train stock game last time, and Movers and Shakers is the one that I told you I like better. This is a great game of trying to manage loading and moving goods on trains to deliver them. As well as beefing up your contracts so that you are completing things for more points and more money. There is a good amount going on in the game, but it’s not too complex and when you get into it, it chugs along really nicely.

Dale of Merchants

Dale of Merchants is a game that kind of disappointed me. I had high hopes for it as a deck building game where you could do some cool things. And now, I think it might be one that I prefer in person. It felt like it had enough going on that made it hard to keep track and see what ideal moves might be. I don’t need to (and rarely do) make perfect moves, but it’s one where you want to make a plan between your turns, and that’s just harder on BGA.

New York Zoo

New York Zoo is a game that I’d wanted to play for a while. And I think that it’s a pretty clever little tile laying game. I like getting more of the different animals and balancing that out with building out more pends in your zoo. The downside is that the game feels like it’s kind of the same puzzle over and over again. So it’s a good game, but with limited replayability for me.

Haiclue

A word game to get people to guess which word is yours. And you are supposed to make it smart by connecting the words in different ways as you build everything out. The game kind of works. But it also kind of doesn’t because it gives you words to create with and they are generally just so so and can make it really easy or impossible depending on what you get.

The Vale of Eternity

I like this game a lot, probably my second favorite from this chunk of games. It’s an engine building game where you either sell cards for coins and then spend coins to play cards and get points. It reminds me of a faster Ascension in some ways where it’s just all about optimizing the point scoring and pivoting to being able to score points depending on what comes up.

Dice Mission

Dice Mission is another of those games that is just okay. It’s a dice rolling game where you are trying to complete missions. And depending on how many dice you roll and how many times you roll, your opponents are locked into that many rolls as well. I like it for a simple game, but you often end up with turns where you can do nothing. You get a card with a power to help you, but they just don’t a lot of the time because it’s still dice chucking.

Overboss Duel

This is a fun game. I like the two player version of Overboss where you are trying to score as many points as you can while also trying to mess up your opponents scoring. In most games I dislike too much in your face negative interaction. But Overboss Duel gives you ways to work around that and it’s two players, so I mess with you and you mess with me. One that I think can hit the table pretty often with how easy it is to play.

Azul Duel

In January I played Azul for the first time and I like the game so much that I bought it. Azul Duel is not going to get the same treatment. In fact, I think that Azul is a better two player game than Azul Duel. There is just too much going on in the game that makes it feel like work to keep track of everything you can and should do and it loses that fast and fun game play.

Lodge

Lodge is a cool game and one that I like for how simple it is to play. Again, it’s easier to learn and play simpler games especially when you want to learn a lot. The game works as you build up your lodge and try and get rooms of colors together to score points from guests. And you get even more points if they are higher in your lodge and match the floor they are supposed to be on. It’s not my favorite game, but overall one that I’d gladly play.

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