How To Play Snowfall over Mountains

Snowfall over Mountains is a path building or connection building solo game where you place out tiles around your cabin to create scoring opportunities. You score five different elements during the game. You score rabbit trails, bear tracks, bushes, trees, and ponds. Each of them have different ways that they can score. You also lose points if you build out trails that don’t connect back to your cabin.

On your turn you look at the two tiles that you have and you place one of them. It needs to connect to the tiles that are already placed. But it only needs to overlap in one spot, not the whole tile. So no diagonal connections allowed. You do that until all of the tiles are placed. Then you look at see how many points you scored based off of the cards that were out for scoring. As the scoring cards are one for each group, but are randomly selected for each game.

You also play with tools. Tools allow you to break the rules, basically. Generally it is going to be things like you can move a tile after you play it. Or it might be something like draw three tiles and play all of them before you go back to your hand of tiles. It isn’t going to be anything major, but it will allow you to potentially get yourself out of a spot if you are having trouble finding the best play for scoring.

What Doesn’t Work?

I find no major complaints with this. I think there are two elements though that might trip up people at times. Firstly, this is a familiar feeling game. Games like Sprawlopolis and Orchard give me similar feels to it. By that I mean, it gives you the ability to play out cards or tiles to complete different scoring objectives. This one doesn’t allow you to overlap, but there is certainly an element that puts it into a similar family.

The other being that it’s tricky to keep track of all the scoring and pay attention to it all at once. Generally I let one of them go to the wayside. I don’t know that it is the best move to do that. I think that I probably messed up with that and getting a higher score because I didn’t score all of them well and didn’t use my tools well. But as you learn the game, it is going to be part of what you need to think about.

What Works Well?

I like the variety in scoring a lot. I sit down and I randomly select five different scoring objectives. Yes, they can be tricky to remember all at once, but generally none of the scoring is that complex. So I think it is more of a matter of holding it all in your head and getting practice with that. I also think it is going to provide good replayability for the game because without the mini expansion there are three per scoring objective which gives you a considerable number of combinations.

The game is also very fast. I play the game twice in forty minutes on the video. And even that isn’t a true forty minutes. The first time it takes a little bit longer as I need to remember the scoring. And there is the introduction, outro, and a brief pause as I need to check on my kid. So the game is very fast, under twenty minutes per time which is faster than it says on the box. I think it may take longer depending on how much you analyze each placement. So there is that, but the game overall is quick.

The game also doesn’t take up that much room. Now compared to Sprawlopolis and Orchard, probably about the same amount as Sprawlopolis and more than Orchard, so it isn’t the smallest footprint. But it is not large though like something like A Gentle Rain which can grow quite big. So I like how it contains itself for a solo game. It means that it is the type of game I could carry in a backpack and reasonably play at a bar or on my work desk.

Final Thoughts on Snowfall over Mountains

Snowfall over Mountains is a fun solo game. It’s light, easy to play, but offers great variety in what it does. When I put it in the same category of Orchard, a game that I like a lot, and Sprawlopolis, a game that I find good, that is very good company. A number of solo games do this, so it feels like it’s in a genre with limited space. But what it does and the variety it offers, it does it well.

And Pencil First Games always makes games with good production value. And Snowfall over Mountains is no exception to that. The artwork and the tiles are great. You don’t even need to punch out the tiles, which I appreciate. That could have made this box a lot bigger. Instead, they keep it in a small box that fits the tiles and cards easily. And it even fits the expansion in well without any additional box lift.

Finally, I want to emphasize that the game is really streamlined and easy to get to the table. Get your five scoring cards, draw your three and keep two tool cards. And then you basically start playing. The time from opening up the box to playing the game is under three minutes. I like that a lot for a small box solo only game. It means it is way easier to play than some other solo gaming experiences.

My Grade: B+
Casual Grade: A
Gamer Grade: B

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Planet Unknown

Sometimes I pass on a board game and then realize that I really want it. Planet Unknown was on Kickstarter a little while ago and it looked like fun. But the main gimmick of the game was some polyomino pieces that were in a lazy susan. And how all of that worked, it was a bit confusing on the page.

Then Planet Unknown came out and people started talking about. And really enjoying this game that is fairly light and fairly thinky all at the same time. It falls into that camp, like I’ve talked about before and Tom Vasel talks about, of quick, snappy turns. Basically that the game does one thing or a clear thing on your turn, it’s a good decision, but it isn’t bogged down. Planet Unknown kind of does that, but definitely gives you a lot to think about.

How the game mainly works by going up on tracks. To do that, you need to put down terraforming tiles on the planet. And then the area that you terraform will push you up on tracks for civilization, biomass, water, recon, or technology. In multiplayer people pick what piece they get to place, or the person whose turn it is. In solo that lazy susan just rotates and determines for you.

It’s a big change that removes some choice. But it’s a big change that then speeds up the game because I don’t have a choice of 12 tiles to pick from. I pick from two. So Planet Unknown is probably a 45-60 minute game multiplayer, less maybe once people know the rules. I got it easily done in half an hour while I was chatting.

Upcoming Streams

So on Wednesday at 8 PM Central, I’ll be playing more ISS Vanguard from Awaken Realms. We’re onto the ship phase and will be setting up the next planet. Join me to walk through and see how the ship phase works for the first time. I’m excited to see what it adds to the game. You can find that stream here.

Then next Monday at 8:30 PM Central, I will be streaming another game. My plan right now is to pull out a new game, Roll to the Top and see how that goes. It’s a roll and write game about filling in numbers, not too complex, but based around how well you can maximize that and get it all the way to the top.

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The Game – Paper Dungeons

This is a roll and write dungeon crawling game by Alley Cat Games. As you play, you level up your heroes, explore the dungeon, fight the boss monsters, and take out minions. Plus even more with getting potions, crafting items, and trying to complete objectives all to get the highest score possible.

Let’s talk a bit about the campaign and a bit of discussion that happened in the chat, and then on the GlroyHoundd Discord server after the stream. If you want to continue chatting with me after the stream that’s basically always the spot.

But with Paper Dungeons, it bills itself as a campaign. But it is only kind of a campaign. Nothing you do in a previous game carries over, there is only a little bit of flavor text between. Now, that is nice, in some ways, because I might not want to play a campaign. I probably have played 4 to 6 other times without the campaign, just grabbing a set-up and playing. That is a nice feature, but I wish the campaign was more in depth. So time to come up with something that does that for me.

The Drink

Last night it was a beer from Pryes in Minneapolis. Their Pragmatic Pilsner is just fine. Though, the beer revelation from last night was that even if it’s a good beer, I’d prefer to have that foam up than just an okay beer. When it’s just an okay beer, now I have the annoyance of it foaming over with drinking an okay beer. If it’s a good beer, I still, at least, get the experience of drinking a good beer.

Upcoming Streaming

I think I’m going to continue with more Paper Dungeons, but with how easy it is to set-up and play, that might move to Monday nights. Then on Wednesdays, I keep on saying that I’m going to play a bigger campaign. So I need to pull one off the shelf and learn it. Though, I do have Hadrian’s Wall which I might show off for a solo play as well.

But I do promise, eventually I’ll get to a campaign again and it’ll be fun when it happens. I might even do Welcome to the Moon as a shorter campaign game that is easy to get to the table Maybe I’ll knock out two roll and write games because they are also good to chat through. Let me know your thoughts down in the comment section below.

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The Games

Like I was saying, these are two small solo games. Each of them plays fast, but they do hit different desires for me when it comes to solo gaming. What makes the two of them different, I talk about that some in the video but I’ll recap here.

Onirim

Onirim is a card game that has you creating a line of cards trying to get three of a color in a row to get dream doors while dealing with nightmares. That is the basics of it then with more rules thrown in as to how you deal with nightmares and and a few cards having special powers.

Onirim is a a solo game that you need to focus on more. The card play isn’t very complex, but when those nightmares come up, you have interesting choices that you need to make. And that can really determine how well the game goes for you. I use Onirim more when I want to have a game I can focus on more. If I need something to do while watching a baseball or football game besides look at my phone, Onirim gives me more to focus in on.

A Gentle Rain

A Gentle Rain is a tile laying game where you are just flipping a tile and putting it into play. The main decision space in the game is where do you put a tile. You are trying to get a spot where all four corners line up so you can put a token in. But of course, you are matching the sides with the different flowers on them, so you need to draw the right tile.

A Gentle Rain doesn’t feel as rushed as Onirim. When I play A Gentle Rain, it is more about the experience of playing the game, flipping around the tiles and seeing what you can find. It is meant to be peaceful as you play it and that comes across. So while Onirim can help me focus, A Gentle Rain can more help you unwind. Both of them are good for clearing your head but in different ways.

So is there a better one? I don’t know that either of them is better than the other. They meet different criteria for what I want to do. A Gentle Rain works better for more people, probably, because the game is simpler. However, it takes up more space. So Onirim is better for focusing and smaller areas. Both travel very well, as well.

The Beer

So no super new beer this week. Just drank more Fantasy Factory. It is a solid IPA that has grown on me the more I’ve drank it. It is a topic I’ve talked about with board games recently and changing taste, The same hold true for alcohol. For some people, they will never like it, and that is fine. Some people won’t want to try any, also fine.

But for some people, that is going to be something that changes over time. IPA’s are a great example of not judging a whole type of beer by one drink. Some IPA’s are extremely better, some of them have a piney taste, others tropical fruits, other citrus, it just depends on the hops. And judging all IPA’s by the extremely bitter is doing a disservice to that type of beer. Or it might be that you won’t like any, but it is worth trying.

Upcoming Streams

Next Monday, I won’t be streaming. But the following Monday my plan is to stream my Top 10 Games I Want to Play. This will be from my collection of games and the goal will be to get all of these games played ideally this summer. It might end up being this year, but we’ll have to see.

I will have a Wednesday stream, looking around at my collection, I think my plan is to play Aeon’s End. It’s a bit of a bigger game, but I want to start playing through all the content that I have for that game. And like Xenoshyft which I played recently, it is one that I talked about on Monday in my Top 10 Cooperative Games. So I really want to play it again after talking about it.

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Thank you for watching these videos, I check on my numbers at least a couple of times per week, and I know that there are some people watching the videos and hopefully enjoying them. Hopefully it’s fun watching Pandemic Legacy, and if you’re interested in more information on it, you can find it here at Board Game Geek.

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Last nights beer was Lingonstrom from Tin Whiskers brewery. It’s primarily just a cream ale, but you do get a little bit of Lingonberry flavor from the beer.

Bottoms up!

Last night we got into our third game of Pandemic Legacy Season 1.

I make a couple of corrections to mistakes that I’ve made before and try and correct them this time. If you aren’t familiar with Pandemic Legacy, you can find information here on Board Game Geek.

For the malts yesterday, I was drinking Southern Tier 2XSMASH Double IPA. This hoppy beer doesn’t really hit you in the face with the higher ABV, but shows off a good hop profile.

So join me for some Pandemic Legacy Season 1, and bottoms up!