It’s a new month, that means that it’s time to go through all of the games that I played in October. But of course, we focus on the games that are new to me for the month. Yes, I got to 1000 games and expansions rated in October. But now I need to get to that 1000 games total for my ratings on Board Game Geek. And I am about 80 away from that. So let’s see what was new for October.

New To Me Games in October (Part 1)

Tannhauser

This one kind of counts. I think at the end of what we played through one game of Tannhauser I was starting to get it. But it’s one of the games that’s on Board Game Arena without a tutorial or a good rules help section. I liked what I played though. I thought it was fun moving around the board, shooting at the enemy and I believe what we were trying to do is find an objective token and get back out. But that is the part that I didn’t think was clear. I’d like to spend time and read the rules and play in person. But I sold my copy and I’m not sure I care enough to get it back.

Scoville: 2nd Edition

I like spice. Though, I find that there aren’t many board games about spicy foods. Scoville is all about growing the hottest peppers and completing objectives with that. I thought that the game is quite fun. And that is enough so that I bought a copy of it. It helps that I used a coupon to get some off on it, or maybe it was the Trick R Treat Studio sale around Halloween. But I think it is fun to figure out how to plant, get the color peppers you want, and then use those to complete objectives and gain recipes. I need to get better at it, but I think it’ll be one that grows on me.

Drillers

I really love this game. I think that people compare it to Lost Ruins of Arnak because you do some deck building in it, but that is about all that is the same between the two games. In Drillers you are mining and getting resources that you then sell for cards to or improvements to your drill. You also are trying to get certain elements because they are going to give you points. But you need to spend drills on those elements, on point scoring tiles, and on drilling down deeper where better things are going to be. This one is going to end up in my collection for sure.

Earth

I own Earth, and I think I have playmats for it, or something like that. And I still have yet to play m y copy of this game. I played it on Board Game Arena. And I think it is one of those games I’ll like so much better in person than I do on Board Game Arena. There is a lot going on, and you do stuff every turn. I felt like I was just guessing as to what I wanted to do and what was good. If I were to see it on the table I could plan a whole lot more. I like, though, that you all do things on every turn, that is always fun.

Odysseus

I decided to learn Odysseus because it looked like one of the simple new games on Board Game Geek to learn. And I enjoy the game. I don’t find it amazing, but I think that it’s good. Mainly I like how the drafting works, how you select these quests for Odysseus to go on and how they give you points. You need to draft quests that you can complete, but you also need the right symbols at the bottom so you move up on the tracks that tell you if you completed the quests or not. This is not a complex game, but I think it’s a fun one.

Hell of a Deal

Hell of a Deal is one of the games that I’ve backed recently and it’s already here. I like that they basically had it ready to print as they were crowdfunding it. This is a cooperative poker game and I find that I like those games. It’s a good one where you are betting souls, and you can lose/run out of souls against some of the starting opponents but not against the last two. Of course, they give you ways to cheat, you got to be able to do that, but all of that is costing you temptation. It’s a big box game with great components and really fun play.

Cat Between Us

I stumbled upon this one at the GameZenter and I bought it for one reason, it is a game about cats. And I’m glad that I bought this one, I think that it’s the type of thinky but simple game that I really enjoy. There are a lot of games that get too complex with it, but this one just gives you two things.

You want the cat to get closest to to. To do that, you need to get the right toy combo. To do that, you play out cards that will give you points to the different toys. Once each as a number of cards, you are left with a few in hand. Those toys now you compare their value from the cards you played out under that toy and move up along the track. You want to get the closest to the value that the cat set, that round, without going over. Like I said, simple, but thinky.

The Adventurers: The Pyramid of Horus

I got to play this one in person, and it makes me kind of want the new CMON version, which I believe has three different versions in the one box. But this is just a push your luck game. You want to get as much treasure as you can without getting locked in the Pyramid. You can search for treasure on the ground but might find something bad. Or you can pick a lock or open a sarcophagus, but then you risk a mummy getting you. At the same time, you want to get as many different types of treasure as you can. Just a good push your luck game with cool minis and fun stone blocks.

Good Fortune

Good Fortune is an interesting little card game. In it you are just trying to create sets of colors of cards. The bigger the set and more pips on the dice on the card, the more points that you get. But how you get them is simple, but kind of interesting. You play a card to either side of a line of cards and you take the one on the opposite side. One of this games other interesting elements is how you pick cards. Sometimes the lowest number goes first, other times it’s the highest number. But you see the cards of your opponent, so you can try and make a strategic decision that way. What keeps me from loving it is that sometimes it feels like there isn’t a great strategic decision.

Echoes of Time

Echoes of time is the last of this part of the list and one that I come back to pretty often out of all of the games. This one is an engine building game that I think I’d like better in person. I mainly think that because I think that seeing everything more clearly in front of me is going to make it easier to take it all in, a lot like Earth that way. But in this one you are playing out cards to a moving time track. So you might get that card into your tableau quickly, or it might take several turns. You have ways to rush that along, but it’s always working along that track.

I think that’s a fun element, it reminds me of Ancient Knowledge, now that I think about it. And honestly, that might be what keeps me from getting the game. Ancient Knowledge definitely is a big dryer when it comes to theme, but also simpler, which might be worth it.

Which one of these games sounds the most interesting to you?

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