February Board Gaming

Sleeping Gods: 3 Plays

Lots of Sleeping Gods plays, and one of five with three plays. If you want to know what the game is about, I play it weekly on Malts and Meeples YouTube channel. Still enjoying the story, and I wonder how it’s going to end for me, I’m guessing I’ll wrap it up this month.

Tainted Grail: 3 Plays

Tainted Grail is another consistent one on the list. The game is a ton of fun, and the Last Knight campaign feels different than the Fall of Avalon. It’ll be on the list for a while, we still have another one after that to play through.

Squire’s End: 3 Plays

So, I just wrote about Spire’s End. You can read that here. But this is a good solo game, one that I’m going to stream once I’m done with Sleeping Gods. The game play is simple, and the story is good, but combined together, it makes an experience that feels very unique. And I like the mechanics with resting, and how you use health to determine what attack you do.

Project L: 3 Plays

Another one that I wrote about, Project L is a Tetris like game. But it’s also an engine building game. You pick cards and then use little pieces to fill in shapes on them. When you fill in a shape then you get those pieces used back and a new shape that gives you. You eventually want to start getting points, but how can you optimize your turns and actions.

Super Mega Lucky Box: 3 Plays

Another one that I’ve played before, 12 plays in January. I can see Super Mega Lucky Box being like Ganz Schon Clever last year where I’ll play it most months. Super straight forward roll and write game but in a good way.

The Quacks of Quedlinburg: 2 Plays

I held off on playing The Quacks of Quedlinburg for a long time and even getting it. But I wish I had done so sooner because The Quacks of Quedlinburg is a fun game. It’s a good push your luck game and bag building game. Which I can see playing this one with a lot of different people.

I think with the set-up of everything and the variability in that, the game, just the base game, is going to have a lot of replayability. And the ease of play, it definitely makes it more accessible to a lot of different gaming groups.

Fleet: The Dice Game: 2 Plays

Another one that I talked about recently, honestly, shouldn’t be a surprise, there were a number of games games. Fleet: The Dice Game is a big roll and write game. I think that it is solid, I’m not sure if it’s amazing. Not because I wouldn’t play it again or it won’t make the Top 100 for me when I do that later this year. But Fleet: The Dice Game is a lot to learn, so I can mainly see it being a solo game for me.

The Fox in the Forest Duet: 2 Plays

The Fox in the Forest Duet is a two player cooperative trick taking game. And I figured I’d like it, but I wasn’t sure how much I’d like it. Trick taking is generally something that works well for me. The cooperative nature is something else that is interesting. I think the push and pull of trying to get the fox to land where you need it to is a lot of fun.

Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write: 2 Plays

Most disappointing game of the month, Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write is an okay roll and write. Mainly, it doesn’t feel like it gives you interesting choices. Even something like Yahtzee offers more choices because you can push your luck. Imperial Settlers: Roll and Write doesn’t give you that, so most, if not all the options are obvious.

Skull: 2 Plays

Skull is another push your luck game, between this and Quacks it’s something I played a fair amount. Skull basically has you bluffing to try and get people to flip over roses and not hit a skull. But then you also read what other people are doing and try and guess what you can flip without getting a skull. That’s very basic for what it is, but a good simple push your luck game.

Floriferous: 2 Plays

Floriferous is what I’d call a relaxing game. The decision space is limited but not too limited. It feels like you do the right amount each turn. And I really like how turn order is determined. If you take something lower in a column, that means you’ll be going later. So there’s a decision that’s good, do you pick something high because you need a certain card in the next column and take a less ideal flower this turn. It falls into a nice and pretty style of game that is becoming more common.

Quoridor: 2 Plays

Good abstract game with nice pieces. I think that Quoridor works well with a lot of people, though, if everyone rushes across the board, it makes the game really odd. But, I think it works better when people meet in the middle and start blocking routes early. The game also falls apart a bit when someone is close to winning and you skip blocking them so the person before they needs to. Everyone can dictate who needs to block.

Aldarra: 1 Play

I got to play this one for the Kickstarter, you can see the play down below. And the play of another game as well. Aldarra launched and will be coming back, but I have to say, it is a fun game. It’ll feel different when it comes back at a smaller size, but that will make it cheaper which is good. It’s a nice area control game with a tight board, so you fight a lot. And you get knocked off the board, kind of, and then rebuild again. I like that Small World like feel to it.

Roll Player Adventures: 1 Play

I got to start Roll Player Adventures this month and I’m so excited. I had a chance to play this as a prototype at GenCon, as I always mention. And the game is a ton of fun, and that was my best gaming experience there. To now have it in my hands and for the expansion stuff as well, I’m so excited to play this. It takes choose your own adventure and then adds in some cool dice combat. The game isn’t that difficult, but the choices are really good.

Rogue Angels: Legacy of the Burning Sun: 1 Play

Another one that was on Kickstarter, and I was supposed to do a live stream while it was on Kickstarter. Rogue Angels launched the same time as Marvel Zombies and Final Girl Season 2 were finishing up. So it got lost in the shuffle. It is coming back. And I still played, and streamed it with the creator. Great game, I love the story and the differences in the scenarios. It does with the scenarios, something I think Frotsthaven is going to fix from Gloomhaven, where it isn’t so much just kill everyone.

Final Girl: 1 Play

When my local game store, All Systems Go, took in a trade of Final Girl, I was so excited. This is a game that I looked at on Kickstarter, but ultimately passed on. The backers started to receive their copies and people loved it. When it made it to my FLGS, I called immediately and had them set it aside for me, and I’m glad I did. I played once thus far, as you can see, but it is amazing. I love the theme so much.

No Thanks!: 1 Play

I enjoy No Thanks! a lot. Mainly because it is another one of those simple games where you don’t have a lot of decisions to make. But the decisions you do make, mainly take a card or pass on it, it matters a lot. I won’t say much more, it is one I’ve played and talked about before, but if you want a simple but difficult game, No Thanks is really interesting.

Year Totals

So, 34 plays in February, taking that with January’s 50 plays, I’m now at 84 (well, 86 counting two thus far in March). So it’s very strong in terms of a start and I hope I can end around 500 plays for the year, or maybe even higher.

And for the secondary goal of getting through a lot of my unplayed games, 9 of my plays were games on that list. Well, kind of, I don’t know that Project L was on the list, because I didn’t have it in yet. And Final Girl got picked up in February, so it wasn’t on the list. Still, the list is getting shorter, I do believe. And I actually knocked out another one last night.

Which is the most exciting game for you, or one that you’d want to play from my February list?

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How to Play Imperial Settlers Roll and Write

This game is a bit of an engine building roll and write. You roll dice that give you resources and then an action die that determines how many actions you can take. The main goal of the game is to get victory points by going down four different paths. At the same time you need to build buildings to improve your engine. After ten rounds, the player with the most points wins.

What Doesn’t Work?

The big thing for me is the decision making space in this game. You start down a path and you just see how far you can get down them. While you do build up a little engine and unlock other things, the engine is so small that it’s practically built for you. If you knock out those few engines in the first two rounds or so, now you just push down the tracks.

Plus, rolling for actions is dumb. It’s limited, and there is a power that you can use as well which might help with that. But I roll a die and get three every time, I’m going to score lower when playing solo. If I roll a five every time, I’m going to score much higher. It feels like randomness added for the sake of rolling more dice. And once in a while you don’t use all your actions, but most of the time you can.

What Works?

I like the three abilities that you pick one of to use each round. Like I talked about, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write is a very basic roll and write game. And you do the basic things that you can do. But the choice of which extra ability you use is a decision to make. There is going to be a better one option, but can you figure it out. And I think it’s the most interesting part of figuring out your engine for that round.

Who Is This For?

I think anyone who wants to play a roll and write game and really loves them? Honestly, for me this is not a great game. I think that it’d be decent for someone who wants to try a roll and write with a theme. But they only have played roll and write games like Yahtzee and Qwixx. Something very simple and they just want to try a game that is a little bit more or a game that has what looks like theme.

Final Thoughts – Imperial Settlers Roll and Write

This is not a good roll and write game. The best part of the game might actually be that the dice are wooden. But that also means that they weigh nothing which doesn’t feel right. Overall, the decision space in this game is tiny. It’s can you pick the right bonus for that round and do you roll to get a lot of actions are not? Beyond that the game basically plays itself. And the buildings that give you bonuses, the bonuses are not that intriguing.

I don’t think that people who like roll and writes and play a lot will like this game. Thinking about the game, I am not sure there is a good game in it or how to make it better. More powers, more bonuses, maybe, but it’d end up being a very different roll and write. Would I play it again, sure, if someone pulled it out. But my copy, I’m going to trade it away, maybe someone else will like it better than me.

My Grade: D
Gamer Grade: D
Casual Grade: C-

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Unplayed Board Games 124 to 101

124: Monza

This is a kids car racing game from Haba. It is one that I will play when the toddler is ready to play it. But, for right now, it has some cars in it. And the toddler can match up the cars to spots on the board. Or roll the dice and have fun with it. Not one that’s likely to get played this year, I’d think, but maybe towards the end of the year the toddler will be ready.

123: Dragon Tea Society

This one, and the next one, fall into that same category a bit. Though really Dragon Tea Society and Monza. Dragon Tea Society is a deck building style game. You draw cards, play them out, get more cards, but a simple one at that. It’s cute, I want to try it, but again, this is probably more apt to get played when the toddler is older.

122: Hey, That’s My Fish

As we get out of the games for younger or family audience, we have Hey, That’s My Fish. It is a game about collecting fish. And as you collect fish you break up the ice flow so that it limits where your opponent can go. That seems a little mean, but the concept is easy to grasp. It is one I could see waiting for the toddler to be ready to play it, or playing it with adults just for an easy game.

121: Danger Park

Next we have Danger Park. I bought this game when the company was going out of business. It’s about building out your amusement park, and clearly you don’t care that much for the safety of your park goers. I like the concept of pushing to see how you can build out the park so that it’s risky but you can make the most money or points.

120: The Faceless

This is a game I saw a while ago on Kickstarter, and it looked cool, in concept. I’m not sure what was going on, but I bought it cheap as the stock was being sold off. The Faceless has you playing as kids trying to avoid a monster. And the monster moves around based off of magnetic pull from where the kids are. The concept seems cool, we’ll have to see how good it is. Because I’d love to be able to manipulate where the monster goes via magnets.

119: 8Bit Box

This is one that I’ve owned for a while. And I keep on meaning to play it, or play one or two of the games in it to see how it is. 8Bit Box promises a game system that has a retro arcade feel. You can pull out some base pieces and a cartridge for a specific game, and that is what you play around with. I don’t know if it’ll be good, I expect it’ll be okay. And it’s a fun concept to mess around with.

118: The Terrifying Girl Disorder

Another one that is not new to my shelf. I bought this game when it was on a sale because it seemed intriguing. A small box card game, the most intriguing part is that you score based off of one of the girls. But you don’t know which it’ll be when you start the game. So you are looking to gather cards in a way that will score you points.

117: Boy Band Builder

My wife backed this one on Kickstarter. A game from a small and new company here in Minneapolis. It is about building a boy band, and it looks funny. It’s one of those games that we’ll see how good it is, but I also have it higher than some on the list, because I expect for one play, it is going to provide a bunch of good laughs.

116: Starship Samurai

Next up is Starship Samurai. I like mechs and this game has cool mechs. Beyond that it is area control, negotiation – it seems, set collection, a lot of mechanics that I enjoy in the game. I think that the game itself looks better than the box looks, which is a shame. The artwork on the box doesn’t sell me on the game.

115: Unicornus Knights

On the flip side, Unicornus Knights looks good. And I really like the concept of the game. The princess is traveling the land to get to a big bad and fighting as she goes. But you, as knights around her know that she can’t win every fight and shouldn’t get into them. So you manipulate where she moves and deal with threats for her. I like the concept of the main character, the princess, but no one plays her.

114: Copenhagen: Roll & Write

It’s a roll and write game. I got it cheap. I don’t need to say more than that. And honestly, I don’t know a ton more about it than that. It’s one that I should just bust out and play and see how it is. I need to get rid of a few more roll and writes as the roll and writes take up 3 full Kallax cubbies.

113: Journey: Wrath of Demons

This is another game that I should know more about. I keep on researching it, because it keeps on being on sale. Eventually a sale was good enough, and in person, so I grabbed it. It’s a cooperative adventure game based off of a classic Chinese novel. That little bit is enough to keep me very interested in the game, so I want to see how it plays. Plus the cover looks impressive.

112: Cowboy Bebop: Board Game Boogie

This one I picked up because of theme. I really like Cowboy Bebop. It’s up there for my favorite anime, and aesthetically, it is amazing. This is a cooperative game where you are all part of the crew and you try and complete bounties. Each character also wants to do specific things for their own story. So it’s a push and pull of that. I don’t know how great this one is, but it is worth it to me to play it for the theme.

111: Detective: City of Angels

Detective: City of Angels, on the other hand, I am very confident will be a great game. It is a crime solving game with a lot of cases. Each person plays a detective racing to solve the case first. Except for one person who plays the chisel, they basically decide on how answers are given. The reason this is low, even though I really want to play it, is that most likely I end up being the chisel. This is a game I want to experience the cases as the detective, but since I own the game, I’ll likely learn it and play as the game master.

110: The Ravens of Thri Sahashri

Another that isn’t new to my shelf. A two player game that I really should pull off the shelf when my friend who I teach a lot of new games to comes over. But the idea is that one person is playing out cards, the other person is trying to pull them back. I forget exactly how it works, but it’s a puzzle of a game to get cards split into certain groupings which looks really interesting.

109: Shadows of Kyoto

Shadows of Kyoto, from the same company as Hanamikoji, is another two player game. In some ways it gives me a little bit of a feeling of a Stratego sort of game. You try and capture enemy agents, or pass along fake intelligence, or escape an agent to win. It plays fast, and I hope that it’s as punchy and interesting a decision space as Hanamikoji, but I suspect it might not be.

108: Ascension: Immortal Heroes

This is a different version of Ascension, but more different than a lot of the expansion/standalone boxes. So I’m curious to see how this one plays. I hope that it keeps a lot of the core mechanics, but maybe makes the game more directly battling versus so purely deck building. I honestly don’t know that much, I got it on a good sale.

107: Pioneer Days

The second game I bought as a company went out of business, this time TMG (Tasty Minstrel Games). Pioneer Days looks like a dice drafting game, and I like dice drafting. It is supposed to have a bit of an Oregon Trail feel where you are heading up west, getting what you need but also having to deal with troubles, weather, sickness, and the like, as you travel. I like the concept of the game a lot, and the artwork on the box is great.

106: Imperial Settlers: Roll & Write

Another roll and write game. And there are a number more on the list. This one is a roll and write version of Portal Games Imperial Settlers. That is an engine building game, so I’m guessing it’ll be similar for the roll and write. Or in roll and write terms a combo building game. Another one that I just need to play to see if it’s a roll and write that sticks around.

105: Quarto

Part of a line of abstract games, it’s been on my shelf too long. And I really like the concept of the game. You are trying to complete a row that matches. But you don’t get to pick what piece you place, your opponent does. So there are shapes, heights, colors, hollow or not, that can all cause a row to be completed. Can you back your opponent into a corner where they need to give you a piece that lets you win.

104: Call of Cthulhu: The Card Game

One that is lower on the list because it was kind of a grail game for me. By grail game I mean a game that’s out of print or harder to find that you want to get, the holy grail. But it was only kind of one. I want to see how the game is, mess around with it, because it’s kind of a living card game that is done. And it has some nice designers on it. Plus, I like Cthulhu.

103: Escape the Room: Mystery at the Stargazer’s Manor

Escape room games are hard to know where to rank. I like escape room games, but even in my Top 100, they don’t make it. So when ranking them, it is harder to rank. This has a Lovecraftian theme, which is always a plus for me. And it is in a bigger box than stuff like Unlock and Exit. I don’t know if it means it’s a bigger game, but I’m curious, and I know I’ll like it when I get people over to play it.

102: Mesozooic

A smaller game, Mesozooic just looked like a fun game to get. And like a lot of games on my list, it was on sale. It’s about creating a dinosaur themed part, which is a common theme in games. But it’s in a small package, light, and fast, and the artwork looks great on it. Plus it’s a real time game for part of it and then drafting as well, so I think it’s going to be a lot of fun and a good filler to try.

101: TAGS

Finally, we have TAGS to round out this chunk of the list. TAGS is a party game where in teams, I believe, you try to come up with words that match a prompt and a letter. This isn’t that unique, but the game plays fast, and by that I mean you have 15 seconds to guess, then the next team gets 15 and the next. So you need to be very fast in the moment. Seems like a chaotic and fun time.

Final Thoughts

This chunk of the list I do think I’ll play a handful of games. I’ve love to play the escape room game as well as TAGS. And the roll and write games I can knock out solo as well. Mesozooic seems like a good one as well. There are others, mainly Detective: City of Angels that I really want to play, but do I want to put the time in right now to learning that game and playing as the chisel.

Which game would you play first from this group of games?

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But let’s talk about what I picked up.

Palms Island

I remember seeing this game on Board Game Geek, their live stream, I forget what convention it was for. It might have been the 2018 GenCon or 2018/2019 Essen Spiel. It didn’t seem that interesting to me then, it was a small solo card game that you could play in your hand. You “play” cards to get resources, rotating the cards to then get resources and seeing how well you can do. Now that I’ve played solo games like Onirim, A Gentle Rain, and Orchard, I’m interested in this game. So was glad to spot it hiding in a box with some cheap games.

Imperial Settlers Roll and Write

Shockingly, I know, I got some more roll and write games. This is the first, Imperial Settlers Roll and Write from Portal Games. It is based off of a very successful game of theirs, Imperial Settlers, which I haven’t played. But it’s a roll and write, and it was cheap, so I wanted to give it a try and see what it was like. It looks more involved than a lot of roll and write games. This is a both a good and a bad thing. I like involved roll and write games and like a challenge. On the flip side, they are harder to get to the table.

Hex Roller

Another roll and write game, Hex Roller is one that I’ve heard basically nothing about. That’s generally not a good thing, but it looks like an interesting enough game. And I’m hoping that it’s at least an average roll and write game. It, unlike Imperial Settlers Roll and Write, doesn’t look that complex. While that might not excite me as much, it is one that I hope to get to the table really fast because it is going to be simpler to play.

Copenhagen: Roll and Write

Final roll and write on the list. This one looks a little bit more complex again, though not too complex. It is a roll and write, like Imperial Settlers Roll and Write based off of an existing game. Another one that I don’t know too much about, but I’m basically always willing to try a roll and write game, and if it’s not for me, I can pass it on to someone else. But most likely I’ll find some enjoyment in the game, and it’s based off of a Euro Game, so clearly I like Euro games.

Mechs vs Minions

So, there was one big game added to the collection. I was please to find this one because I’ve been not hunting it down, but looking for it generally for a while. Mechs vs Minions has you playing at mechs who are fighting off waves and waves of minions. You program out what you want to do, creating an engine of actions that will hopefully keep the minions from getting to your base.

The interesting thing about this game is that it’s from Riot Games. They are known for League of Legends. They decided to make a board game. This game comes with tons of minis in it, which is cool, but the price point of the original game was amazing. The game has done well, but they had a limited run of it. So now it’s hard to find, and I’m really glad to have found one at a good price in great shape.

Which one of these games would you want to play first?

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