Onirim | Nerdologists https://nerdologists.com Where to jump in on board games, anime, books, and movies as a Nerd Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:27:28 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://nerdologists.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/nerdologists-favicon.png Onirim | Nerdologists https://nerdologists.com 32 32 Ranking My Solo Games https://nerdologists.com/2022/01/ranking-my-solo-games/ https://nerdologists.com/2022/01/ranking-my-solo-games/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2022 15:23:22 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6616 What solo games do I play? I have 28 that I've played as solo and I want to play more, so how do they rank? And which ones might be better with more?

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This list is games that I’ve played solo. It doesn’t mean that these are solo games only but that they have a solo mode, or can be played solo. One on the list doesn’t actually have a solo mode. And games that can be played solo, like Gloomhaven, but that I haven’t played solo, those aren’t on the list either. Let’s see how they rank.

Ranking My Solo Games

So, one thing that I haven’t talked about when ranking is how I rank them in each category. And that’s somewhat because this is the category that needs this explanation. In a lot of them, I can just pick my favorite game, which game is my favorite roll and write. Here, I am trying to factor in a combination of what my favorite is, but also what my favorites for solo are. So if something is harder to get to the table, I might rank it lower.

I think that is important because solo gaming is a different beast. I think that some very complex games might be high on the list, if I could leave them set-up all the time. So I could go and play them for thirty minutes to an hour in an evening every evening. But when it takes twenty minutes to set-up, that isn’t an option.

28. Sword Art Online Board Game: Sword of Fellows

This might be the worst game in the group, and I still own it. I have played it solo a few times and it’s a fun push your luck sort of game. But when you’re controlling three characters, or two, it isn’t as fun. And the theme of the game, Sword Art Online doesn’t come through.

27. Legacy of Dragonholt

I think I I had streamed Legacy of Dragonholt, which I had thought about doing, I might put this higher on the list. The game is fine, the mechanics are solid, but the writing on the story was just fine. And when the game play is solid and the story is fine, it wasn’t going to stick. I’d love to see Fantasy Flight use some of their IP’s and create a story in this vein. Or even an Arkham game that uses the same mechanic.

Second Chance
Image Source: Stronghold Games

26. Second Chance

Second Chance is easy to get to the table, but the game plays out the same every time. And with roll and write games, when I play them solo, I prefer that I can then compare a score, or something like that. Second Chance you just see how well you do. Sure, you can use the empty spaces as a score, but it’s not that interesting solo.

25. Criss Cross

This one is also one where you can just see how well you can score. I have it lower on the list, even though it is easy to play, because I have played it a lot. I don’t think I’d pull out Criss Cross to play solo again. Other roll and write games, yeah, those are higher on the list, but Criss Cross I’ve played a lot.

24. Marvel Battleworld

This one is easy to play and has high toy factor. But it is barely a game, the rules allow you to play some sort of game, but they aren’t that clear. You really play Marvel Battleworld to open up the little “Thanos Stones” to get new heroes and do the blind buy. It’s not a great game, but fun toy value.

23. Gravwell: Escape from the 9th Dimension

Gravwell is a game that generally would be higher in my Top 100 games but drops so solo, not because of set-up, but because the game is much more random solo. It feels like mechanically the game isn’t as good. So I don’t want to play it solo all that often. I’d play it with people, but solo is just okay.

Floor Plan
Image Source: Board Game Geek

22. Floor Plan

Floor Plan is another one where the solo seems added on and not fully planned. You get a certain number of rolls for solo play and see how well you do. But it lacks the tension of racing to complete different features that people want.

21. Pandemic Legacy: Season 1

This one I played through solo on Malts and Meeples, and it is a blast to play that way. Technically, it doesn’t have a solo mode, but no information is hidden, so you can easily play solo. But I wouldn’t play it solo again after doing that once. I would play it for the third time because the story and game are fun.

20. Marvel United

I was a little bit surprised that this one was lower on the list. But I prefer to play it with others. It again comes down to a solo mode that is okay. And you can play it solo like you’re playing multiple people, and it’s good. But the game is more fun with more players and working together cooperatively and discussing how you can set up the next player.

19. Tainted Grail

This is fun solo, and I’d love to have it higher on the list, but even three player, the game is a beast to get to the table. I’d maybe come back to it solo if I could leave it set-up. And I’d love to explore it again that way, which maybe I eventually will. But right now, three player play is great.

Onirim
Image Source: Z-Man

18. Onirim

Actually just got rid of this game, but I really enjoy Onirim and I still own the app. Onirim is a nice little puzzle of a game with a lot of shuffling. And I feel like the decision space is good. But as I get more solo only games, that are higher on the list, I know that I’m going to play it less and less. So the app is good enough for me, for now. I can always pick it up again.

17. A Gentle Rain

The first solo only game on the list. I think technically you can do two player, but it just means you split up half of the stuff, which means it’s less fun. The game is simple, but it is very relaxing to play. And for me, that’s nice. It comes in a small box, but plays large, in area, on the table. I wish it played a little bit smaller, so it was more portable.

16. The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

Now back to a bigger game, The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game, I like to play that one at two best. But three is good as well. And the game while having a lot of cards, is pretty fast to set-up and get to the table. I think it works best as a game in general, if you know the books. The theme is there, but it’s hidden behind mechanics.

15. Arkham Horror: The Card Game

One that I’d love to play solo more. And I think the game works really well solo for keeping the game moving. But Arkham Horror: The Card Game, it takes effort to get to the table. There are a lot of cards, and setting up each scenario takes time. I’d love for a faster way to get it to the table so I could play it more often because the story is good.

14. Doppelt So Clever

We’re going to see a lot of roll and writes now. Which makes sense because they are easy to get to the table. Doppelt So Clever is on the lower end because while it is easy to play, it is less satisfying than some. Mainly because I feel like I’m not doing as well as I should be. That is a function of the game and scoring sections, but still, it’s less fun.

13. Deadly Doodles

Deadly Doodles is a dungeon crawler roll and write, kind of. I’d say it is a more like D&D where you go diving into a dungeon, get some treasure and be done. Maybe more of a classic thing, here you find treasure, get weapons and fight monsters. Very simple game, but a fun one to play solo.

12. Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Now back to a living card game that is easier to get to the table. Marvel Champions works very well as a solo game. I prefer it two player, but either works. You play as a hero trying to stop a villain and thwart their evil scheme. Deck construction is fine, but I just like that this is a mechanically fun game, simpler than Arkham Horror, but still thematic game.

Welcome To Box
Image Source: Board Game Geek

11. Welcome To…

Back to roll and writes, Welcome To is a game that works as a solo game. Though, I will say that it is better with more players. And I’m not 100% sure, they might have improved the solo mode in a small pack. But base solo mode is go through the deck and eventually hit a point where it ends and see how well you did. It works, and the game play is still a lot of fun, just the overall experience doesn’t feel as robust.

10. Aeon’s End

Some people might disagree with me. You need to control multiple characters, I recommend only two. But I think this is fairly fast to get to the table. Use the randomizer, pick the market, grab two breach mages and a nemesis and get going. There is more than that, and there are tokens, but Aeon’s End is easy to control two at once. I think that’s a thing for a lot of bigger games, they might be better controlling two characters, but is that easy.

9. Clever Hoch Drei

The third of the Clever roll and writes, and the middle one on my list. It’s a good solo game and this one lets you feel like you can do everything. It is more rewarding than Doppelt So Clever, but almost too rewarding. You can do everything, like every track will be filled in a lot at the end. You can optimize it still, which is what I love about the game. But huge points.

8. Ganz Schon Clever

Last of the Clever trilogy or first if you read top down, Ganz Schon Clever is just fun. I still play it on the app. And I love the game two player. I think that it helps improve the game play and is less lucky than solo while still getting all the rolls and all the rounds. But at any player count, I always want to know what is going on during your turn. And the combos, it feels like the right amount.

Metro X
Image Source: Gamewright

7. Metro X

Metro X is a roll and write that has a great puzzle. It isn’t one that has many combos, but the game play feels so tight and restrictive. You try and complete routes, and as you fill in one route, it might help another route. But since you are filling in 4 spots, if you now only can do three before you hit a filled in spot, is that optimizing what you do. The game’s puzzle feels tense from the start.

6. Spire’s End

New to the list and new to me. When I did my cooperative games, I couldn’t put this one on the list. Since it technically is cooperative, though, it just splits it up so that a person controls each of the characters. I’ve even heard of three player with one person being the dungeon master. But Spire’s End, and I’ll talk about it more in the future, is a story driven game where you take characters into a spire for some reason. And you fight monsters in there, but game play is simple and smart.

5. Sleeping Gods

Hey, this is the one that I’m playing right now. You can what last nights stream here. For some people this might seem like a lot because there are nine crew you are in charge of. But you always control them as a group and I think makes it easier. Plus this game is so story focused that if you miss a mechanic, I don’t feel bad about it.

4. Super Mega Lucky Box

One that when I played it the first two times I thought might leave my collection quickly. But no, I really like this game. It’s basically binge, you draw a card, cross of a number. So roll and write mechanics with bonuses when you fill in rows and columns on your card. The game is very fast and so much fun. And there is depth to how you try and get combos working in the game.

3. Railroad Ink & Challenge

Another one that works well solo because you are just trying to beat your previous score. I like either version, so I think that Challenge adds some good stuff to the game. It’s mainly about connecting routes of rail and road. This one also has a strong puzzle to it and the right amount of luck, I feel. The app is a lot of fun too.

2. Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game

Another true solo game, Orchard is amazing. Orchard is all about laying cards on top of each other and growing fruit. It hits that great spot of simple but interesting. The combination of layering cards, creating a few dead spots to try and score more, it’s interesting. And I can knock out games so fast while watching something from sports to cooking shows. If I don’t need to pay complete attention, Orchard is great.

Super-Skill Pinball
Image Source: WizKids

1. Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

Finally, Pinball. I love Super-Skill Pinball, I haven’t played multiplayer yet. But the roll and write works as a pinball game. It is maybe the most thematic roll and write game that I own. And there are a lot of boards, pinball machines, you can play on. The production quality is high and game play is so much fun, and I’ll 100% be getting the Star Trek version when it comes out.

Final Thoughts

Solo gaming is something I want to do more of. And I know it’s goin to be a way to help me get through my goal of getting under 100 unplayed games in 2022. Right now, the number sits around 130, and when I can learn and play it solo, it helps. I’m curious to see how two, Village Green and Floriforous play solo. Mainly because it’d let me learn the game to make it easier to teach to others, if I’ve played it.

What are your favorite games to play solo?

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Point of Sale: Making More Shelf Space https://nerdologists.com/2021/12/point-of-sale-making-more-shelf-space/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/12/point-of-sale-making-more-shelf-space/#respond Fri, 03 Dec 2021 15:49:21 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6422 What board games are going to be leaving my collection to open up more shelf space for the games that are going to be coming in?

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I’ve got a bunch of games coming into my collection, and I don’t have a lot of shelf space anymore. It’s always sad to see board games leave the collection, but sometimes it is just time because they won’t get played or won’t get played again. I do have a bunch so expect some quick things here.

Tofu Kingdom, Brewcrafters Travel Card Game, The Mind & Cthulhu Fluxx

I lumped these together. They are all smaller games, I gave them a chance, and while they aren’t bad, I have a number of smaller games that I’m going to pull off the shelf before them. And often that’s why games leave, something like Cthulhu Fluxx was a great gateway game for me, but now I have others.

I think that most people might be surprised by the Mind. My experience with that was just okay at the best. The game with it’s, you can’t share information is fine. But also leads to long chunks of time of people not talking. I wish there was more fun and funny going on for a game that is so simple. The Mind is like Cosmic Encounter for me as well, where it is very group dependent.

Gloom

Gloom is a very fun game. It has transparent cards and you are trying to kill off your family with them having the most miserable lives possible. And you tell stories as you do it. It’s a blast to play, and I haven’t played it since before I was married. I was dating now wife but we were maybe engaged. That’s over 7 years.

So, you can guess why this one is leaving. I just don’t play it often enough, or at all anymore. If someone else has it and pulls it off the shelf to play, I will play it and love it. I might even buy it again at that point. But right now, even though it’s a small game, it opens up room for other small games to try and play.

Werewords

This one came into my collection not that long ago and now it’s leaving my collection. I am always trying to find a second social deduction game that I like. I even watched on Board Game Geeks YouTube channel Werewords played and thought that it’d be it. It’s a game of twenty questions with a traitor, the concept even sounds fun.

But it’s like so many social deduction games, when it comes down to it, you are just guessing. If you don’t guess the word you will take a random stab at whom the traitor is and probably be wrong. If you’re the traitor and the word is guessed, you’ll give a random guess on the seerer unless they were extremely obvious. I want more deduction in my social deduction is what it is, I guess.

Werewords is a solid game, it’s just not for me.

Onirim

Image Source: Z-Man

This one might surprise people. I like Onirim as a solo game. But it’s going away for three reasons. The first being Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game, then A Gentle Rain – another solo game, and finally, because I own the app. I can still play Onirim, but I’ll do on the app. And there will be much less shuffling.

I know that a lot of people even like the app better because it does all the shuffling. I still think I prefer the physical game, but if I’m going to play a solo game right now, it’s going to be Orchard or A Gentle Rain. They are easier to get out and play, so sorry, Onirim, you’re leaving the collection. Again another really good game and this one is for me, but I just have others to play now.

The Siblings Trouble

This is one that I never actually played. I picked it up because when it was on Kickstarter, I had backed the companies other game, Lift Off! and wanted to back another one of their projects. It’s a kind of RPG like game that is tailored for kids. But it came out at the same time as No Thank You, Evil! A kids RPG that has more support. And I likely would just play D&D with my kid eventually.

Hex Roller

I got this game quite recently, I played it, and I’m selling it. Hex Roller is not a bad roll and write. But it isn’t a game where what you do will change much. The dice rolls will change things up, but the mechanics don’t change. So I’ve played it, and I’m passing it on to someone else.

My knock on Hex Roller is that while the scoring is simple, the teach is not. The rules are a little bit weird for how you take dice and use them. It just teaches harder then a game that doesn’t have that much going on should. I understand that they wanted the game to be clever and give you lots to think about, but it’s just a solid game. Not good enough for me to come back to.

Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger

This is a really fun and goofy game. It is also a story game that has limited replayability. Now, I am not done with the story, so why am I getting rid of it. It’s easy, I know two maybe three people who own it. If I want to play it again or play it the whole way through, I can.

Choose Your Own Adventure: House of Danger is a great time. It’s goofy and fun to sit around and play. If you play lighter games, I definitely recommend it. But most likely, like me, you’ll end up selling it once you’re done with the story. The downside is I won’t get much for it, the upside is, someone can play it and enjoy it again.

Blossoms

Blossoms is a two player push your luck game. You are trying to grow flowers and then harvest them at the point that it’ll give you the most points. It’s a pretty little game, though in a larger box than really needed. But it is a two player game, so the question I asked myself, how many two player only games do I need?

The answer didn’t include Blossoms. When I look at my two player games, I would pick Hanamikoji before it, Skulk Hollow, 7 Wonders Duel, Fox in the Forest, Fox in the Forest Duet. All of those I’d play before Blossoms. Blossoms is just a little bit too simple for when I want to play a two player game. But if you have a parent or grandparent who likes more classic feeling games, Blossoms would be great.

Cry Havoc Box
Image Source: Portal Games

Cry Havoc

This is a tough game for me to get rid of. I really like Cry Havoc. This is another situation where I just own other games I’m going to play before it. Cry Havoc is asymmetrical area control. If I want area control that’s pretty complex, Blood Rage. If I want asymmetrical, well I own Root now. Cry Havoc is leaving because I own enough other games that do similar things. And I own enough other games that I’d play before it.

It is a bit of a casualty of my Top 100 that I just wrapped up, actually. When going through the Top 10 and seeing games like Lords of Hellas and Blood Rage, th ose will get played before Cry Havoc. So even with Cry Havoc just missing at 103 and being there last year, it’s time for it to go.

Castle Panic

This is getting bumped because of a future Kickstarter that is coming. It’s also getting bumped because it’s too easy a cooperative game. Now, some of that is that I’m older than the target audience. This is a tower defense game for 10 year old kids or younger. It’s not targeting someone like me. Village Attacks as a tower defense game is.

But this is a game that I win too often. And again, I think that’s with the target age. A 10 year old will want to win more often than they lose. I personally like to lose about 60-70% of the time when playing a cooperative game. In my Top 100 I have Say Bye to the Villains, I have yet to beat that game. I don’t think I’ve lost Castle Panic.

Lift Off!

I just talked about this one, it’s the first game that I backed on Kickstarter. I am greatly tempted to keep this one. I’ve played it a few times but it hasn’t been in years. It’s a fun little game, and I like some of their other games. I still have Skulk Hollow which won’t be leaving anytime soon.

This is one that I am tempted to keep to just play a few more times. It is also a game that isn’t going to come off my shelf all that often. It’s like Castle Panic in that it’s younger focused, not my gaming group, and there’s enough other games I’ll play before it.

Dicecapades!

For a mass market game, Dicecapades is generally a lot of fun. You get goofy things like stacking dice. Or you roll a die and need to do that many push-ups. Or you roll a die and there is trivia. Wait, there is trivia, what does that have to do with dice , the answer, nothing. And that’s why I don’t pull it out anymore.

Everything else in the game is fun, but you need to answer a trivia question on a random area that is determined by a die roll. If you get it wrong, you stay and then do it again next turn. Meanwhile, everyone else is doing goofy fun things, until they get stuck on trivia as well. And if I roll sports before you roll movies, because that’s what we know best, I get going faster just based off of luck.

It is a mass market party game, it is supposed to be lucky. But it’s just not that fun when you get to trivia. Remove the trivia from the game, I’d probably keep the game. It’s one that I can play with cousins and non-gamers. But with trivia, it’s annoying. If I want to do trivia, I own Wits & Wagers.

Star Wars: Imperial Assault

Now, this is the tricky one, and it might stay. I want to play this game. The intro scenario to teach you the game, I’ve played it twice. But it’s a campaign game, and it’s a campaign game with an app before apps were common. So the app itself isn’t great. Not bad, but not great. And I don’t have a group to play this game. So it’s a lot of work to play solo.

If I had a group, I’d play it. I might even play it solo, if I go through the introductory scenario again. But am I going to do that when I have Isofarian Guard coming sometime, Destinies coming that can be played solo, Middara, Roll Player Adventures, Solomon Kane, Deep Madness and more? I think it might leave like Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-Earth did. Not because it is a bad game, it isn’t, it’s a lot of fun, but because I own so many.

16 Games of Shelf Space

It’s a tough list to cut. I look at Star Wars: Imperial Assault, Cry Havoc, Onirim, and Gloom especially, and I really enjoy all of those games. But the question is, will I play them? Or am I just keeping them on my shelf because I like the idea of getting back to them sometime?

I think it’s more the latter than I’d actually get back to the games. And some of them, Gloom in particular, that depends on the group. If you like a tell a story, it works well, if you just play the cards, the game is fine. So, all of these are leaving, probably over the weekend, to get traded into my FLGS. And I’m looking at a few games, Escape The Room and Star Wars Unlock, that I need to play to then free up more space.

Which one, if you could get one of these games I’m trading in, would you want to play most?

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Board Games Holiday List – Solo Games https://nerdologists.com/2021/11/board-games-holiday-list-solo-games/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/11/board-games-holiday-list-solo-games/#respond Tue, 16 Nov 2021 15:40:48 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6313 What are some good solo games that you might want to put on your holiday list or give to others? I have a few that standout to me.

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I talked about big group games yesterday, but you might have a solo gamer in your life. What are some good solo board games, or board games that can be played solo for them? You could look at what I’ve been playing on Malts and Meeples, but here’s a list of a few of solo games you might want to check out.

Orchard: A 9 Card Solitaire Game

This is going to be a little solo game. It says it’s a 9 card game, so you’d expect a small package. In this game you are overlapping cards to grow fruit. The more fruit you get the more points that you have. But you need to overlap the same types of trees, so it makes it an interesting puzzle.

This is a very fast game to play. And while it says 9 cards, it comes with 18, so you split the cards and you can play it twice very quickly. Which I think works well for the game. This is a game that I sit down and play 4-10 times in a sitting because a game takes five minutes or maybe 10 if you are trying really hard to optimize everything.

Marvel Champions: The Card Game

Image Source: Fantasy Flight Games

A bigger game, this one can be played multiplayer, but solo you take a hero against a villain to try and beat them up and stop their schemes. I really like this one as a thematic Marvel game. Each hero plays very differently, and you can change up how they play through deck building. The villains play differently as well.

And this is a game where the base box comes with some heroes, but you can get additional heroes. Now, there are a lot of heroes and a lot of content out for the game. And while I own it all of it, you don’t need to. If someone you know likes Thor, get them the base box and the Thor expansion. Or maybe they like Spider-Man and his villains, give them the base set and the Green Goblin pack. You can customize who the person can get really easily.

A Gentle Rain

A Gentle Rain
Image Source: Mondo Games

Back to another small game with A Gentle Rain. This is for the casual gamer who might like that solo activity. A Gentle Rain is meant to be a relaxing game and it really is. You are flipping over tiles trying to match sides. If you can get it so that you match all the corners, you put a disc down. The goal is to get all of the discs out or as many of them as you can.

This one is a simpler game than Orchard and takes up a bit more space, but both of them fall into a category of fast and little games to play. This game also has a really nice aesthetic. This is even a solid one that you could give someone to take into work as something to fidget with when they get stuck on a work problem or something like that.

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade

Image Source: WizKids

A lot of roll and write games can be played solo. I could have picked Metro X, Ganz Schon Clever (or any of that trilogy) and a whole lot more. But Super-Skill Pinball 4-Cade is a fun one because it’s a thematic roll and write. In it, you are playing a pinball game basically seeing how high a score you can get.

The cool thing about this roll and write is that they have four different boards, plus four more coming in an expansion. Some of the boards are easier, or pinball machines, so you can learn the basic concept of the game on that, and then move onto harder boards. And even the harder boards don’t make the game much longer or more difficult. If you want a good thematic game in a small package, this might be it.

Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Image Source: Board Game Geek/Awaken Realms

On the flip side, this is a very thematic game, but in a very big package. It’s also going to be harder to find than some. I know places like Game Steward, I believe, still have copies of the Kickstarter available though, so not impossible to find. This is a big survival game that can be multiplayer, but also works well as a solo game where you control one character.

This is a dark retelling of the Avalon and Arthurian legends. And it has an amazing story. I recommend playing it in story mode because it’s a great story to experience and the survival in the regular mode can be very challenging. I’ve played through the main quest and started on the expansions and talked about it a lot because it’s an amazing game. It’s going to be more expensive but such a good experience.

Honorable Mention Solo Games

Of course, I can add in a few honorable mentions. Onirim is a fun little solo game where you are trying to deal with nightmares and create patterns in cars you play down to get doors. There is a lot of shuffling and A Gentle Rain and Orchard have replaced it for me. I could have put Gloomhaven or Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion on the list as well. Those can be played solo, but unlike Tainted Grail where you can play with one character, in Gloomhaven you need to control two.

What are some solo games that you’d want for Christmas or that you’d recommend to others?

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Point of Order: Board Game Market https://nerdologists.com/2021/09/point-of-order-board-game-market/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/09/point-of-order-board-game-market/#respond Mon, 27 Sep 2021 14:25:48 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6174 There was a board game exchange near my house, so of course I had to check it out. I wasn't a seller but I got a few games.

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You might be surprised, it wasn’t that long, a week, sine my last point of order with Pop-Up GenCon, but board game events wait for no man. And in this case, the following weekend there was a board game market (or exchange) at a local cidery. And I have to say, it was really cool, I think there were three stores there, but about 15-20 other sellers ranging from having a few games and odds and ends to probably a hundred games at some of the big tables. I was extremely impressed with the set-up and selection.

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
Image Source: Renegade Games

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.

Image Source: Riot 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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TableTopTakes: Orchard – A 9 Card Solitaire Game https://nerdologists.com/2021/08/tabletoptakes-orchard-a-9-card-solitaire-game/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/08/tabletoptakes-orchard-a-9-card-solitaire-game/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2021 13:38:21 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6082 Grow as many fruit as you can in the solo game Orchard - A 9 Card Solitaire Game, is it one as a solo gamer you should check out?

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It’s a big name for a very little game. Now, the name is a bit of a lie, you do have 18 total cards in the box, but that allows you to set-up play and then immediately play again as you’ll only ever use two cards. Orchard – A 9 Card Solitaire Game is one that I just picked up recently and I’ve really enjoyed my plays thus far. You can see some about when I picked it up in my latest Point of Order article.

Orchard – A 9 Card Solitaire Game

This is a pretty simple game. In it you are playing down cards to overlap them. The goal is to match the tree types, apple, plum and pear. As you stack the cards you put dice out on the matching parts. You start with one and then can move up to 10 if you have four cards with the same tree lined up correctly. The tricky part comes from the fact that you can only have two mismatched trees in the cards you play down. So how much you can overlap the cards can be really limited. And the cards have different layouts of apple, plum, and pear trees on them, but always two of each. In the end you are seeing how high a score you can get.

What Doesn’t Work

Honestly, this is a very simple game. My only negative for my copy of the game was that it didn’t come with a rule book. Now, this game originally was a print and play, so finding rules on Board Game Geek was extremely easy. But it’d have been nice to have the rules in the box like they were supposed to be. Granted, I’m not going to go to the publisher, like I said the rules were easy to find and I’ll print them off and be good.

What Works

Orchard - A 9 Card Solitaire Game
Image Source: Mark Tuck

I could actually start to use my – What I Look For In A Solo Game – article to determine if a game works or not. And I might later on, but I want to keep what I normally do as well. I really like that this game is small. It has a tiny box, I think 18 cards, 15 dice, and two bad apple tokens. And because you are overlapping the cards the nine cards won’t even take out that much space. I could see putting this in my pocket if I knew I was going to be waiting somewhere at a table for a while.

The card mechanic is also really interesting. The first few times I played the game I didn’t do extremely well, 22, 24, and 32 points. But then I got 42 points because there are a few different ways you can overlap the cards. Obviously the higher you stack the better because you go from 1 to 3 points and then 6 followed by 10. So if you can get a 10, that’s a lot of points. If you can manage to pull one or two off, that is a ton of your points there. However, you aren’t as likely to have all 15 dice out.

I also like that Orchard – A 9 Card Solitaire Game gives you a wide variety in your points. The one downside I have with A Gentle Rain, besides the amount of room it takes up, is that the points range from 0 to 8. If you get all 8 discs put out, it’s a win, really, but it gives you that score. Here you can score very few points, 22 to a lot of points 42, that I’ve done thus far. I like the feeling of scoring a lot of points. It feels better to have gotten 42 as compared to 22 than it does with 7 compared to 4 in A Gentle Rain.

Solo Game Score

As I write more of these “What I Look For” articles, I’m going to start adding in this section. I want to highlight how I use what I wrote about and to show you what matters to me to help you make an informed decision.

The three small box solo game criteria are, length, ease of play, space. Thinking about it, I want some interesting decision making as well, so I’m adding that as a criteria for a small game.

  1. Game Length – 5/5
    I played 8 games in a sitting one evening. That was about 1.5 hours, so just over 10 minutes per game. And some of that was learning the game. The game is extremely fast and it’s an easy to sit down and play.
  2. Ease of Play – 5/5
    This is a very simple game to play. It’s very easy to get to the table, it’s easy to shuffle up those 18 cards, take half of them and play the game.
  3. Space – 4.5/5
    A very small game with a very small footprint. Like I was saying, this is one that I could have with me if I was waiting somewhere. You do need a little table space, but not that much. It could even work on an airplane tray.
  4. Decision Making Space – 4.5/5
    This actually has some really good decisions in it. Yes, there is a lot of luck as to what 9 cards you have in your deck and what order they come out in. But there is a lot of decisions to make as you play out the cards.

What Is Orchard – A 9 Card Solitaire Game For?

It’s going to sound obvious, but solo gamers. This is not a game that I see getting people into solo gaming. The theme isn’t there. A Gentle Rain, I think, is more inviting, but this one is a ton of fun. This is for that solo gamer who wants to have more small games to take place. Or more small solo games to pull out in an evening. It falls into that category of game that someone would get who likes the Oniverse games like Onirim.

Final Thoughts

This is a fun small box solo game. I don’t know that I place it above A Gentle Rain in my favorites in that genre. A Gentle Rain is just so relaxing to play that it feels different. Orchard – A 9 Card Solitaire Game definitely has a little bit more going on to it. But your choices are limited in what you can do. Two cards and matching stuff, so it doesn’t offer too many brain burning choices. Definitely a small solo game that I’m really glad I picked up.

My Grade: B+
Gamer Grade: C
Casual Grade: B+

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What I Look For In A Solo Game https://nerdologists.com/2021/08/what-i-look-for-in-a-solo-game/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/08/what-i-look-for-in-a-solo-game/#comments Thu, 12 Aug 2021 14:47:43 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6022 What do I look for when I pick out a solo game? Are there things that I want to avoid or mechanics that are important?

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So, yesterday I talked about what I look for in a campaign game, you can find that post here. The plan wasn’t for this to become a series, but thinking about it, I think for a lot of new gamers but also people new to hobbies, there is a lot out there. I almost wrote about the speed that board games are coming out and how that’s extremely difficult to keep up with. But instead, I think I want to do a series of what I look for in different games or different hobbies. So we’re going onto what I look for in a solo game.

What Is A Solo Game?

A solo board game is a board game that you can play by yourself. There are a number of these, so what I’m doing with Aeon’s End Legacy, though that game doesn’t have to be played solo, it can be. Other games like Gloomhaven or Sword & Sorcery from the Campaign Game post can also be played solo.

There are a few different types of solo games, I tend to think of them as being in three categories. Firstly, there are the small solo games, these are things like A Gentle Rain or Onirim, games that can easily travel, play quickly, and are kind of filler. The next is the big solo games, a lot of these are going to be board games that can be played with more, but intentionally have a solo mode as well. These can be played with controlling a character but sometimes by controlling multiple characters.

Finally, we have some games that are just solo only and bigger games. These can be campaign style or just a one off game. It is becoming more of a common now as solo gaming is a growing part of the board game hobby. But it’s most often that other games have solo modes added to them than just being a purely solo game.

What Do I Look For In A Solo Game?

So, with campaign games yesterday, they are all pretty much the same. But as you can see from my description of solo games there is more variety in this type of game. Picking out a solo game for that reason is trickier. But let’s take a look at the two main types, the big box solo games and the filler.

Big Box

  1. Theme/Story
  2. Ease to Table
  3. Information To Track
Theme

This one I think an go without saying on a lot of my lists. I like my games to have a theme that makes sense, though you’ll see with filler it matters less. But if the game is in a bigger box, I am going to want it to have a theme that I can enjoy. And a lot of campaign games will have a solo, so in that case a story that I can enjoy. It seems obvious that you’d want to enjoy the theme, but I think no theme for a bigger game often gets it to the table less, and it’s not like I strongly dislike games not having a theme.

Image Source: Cephalofair Games
Ease To Table

This one is right up there, actually, all three are very important. This one is just how much set-up is there for this game. If I have to get out 200 tokens, set-up two characters or create a deck for the game to play as, that’s way less fun. I want to be able to get it to the table pretty quickly. Something like Aeon’s End Legacy takes a little bit but because they have dividers for everything it makes it way easier to get to the table. Something like Sword & Sorcery where I had close to 2 dozen baggies of tokens, that wasn’t nearly as fast.

Information To Track

This ties into Ease to the table, but how much do I need to track throughout the game. If I need to track two characters, their items, their abilities and their interactions that can be a bit much. Of the automated actions of the game take as long as my turn, that’s probably too much. Unless there is something interesting going on in what the automated actions are, some luck or choice involved it’s a hard sell.

Filler

  1. Game Length
  2. Ease to Table
  3. Space
Game Length

It’s a filler game, I want it to play like a filler. A Gentle Rain and Onirim play in 10 to 15 minutes. I don’t want it to take longer than 20-25 minutes. Why, because this is meant to be a filler game. I talk about, on Malts and Meeples, how solo fillers are a brain palate cleanser. They are going to be something I use to reset my brain, so lighter and faster.

Ease To Table

This one should be obvious for a solo game. I like that with Onirim I can pull out the cards, shuffle and go. A Gentle Rain pull out the tiles and shuffle and go. I don’t want to have much if any set-up for the game. Once you get into having set-up, that might take longer than the game actually takes. Minimal such as pulling out tokens is acceptable but I don’t want more than that. And if there are tokens, there shouldn’t be too many.

Space

Finally, I don’t want it to take up too much room. This again goes to how much stuff there is in the game. A Gentle Rain is pushing it with how much it spreads out, but I can play it on the floor and it works just fine. Onirim is just a deck of cards and a line of cards, which you can always compact the line. So it doesn’t have to be something I can play on an airplane, but I don’t want it to be too big, that’s why roll and writes with a solo work great as well.

Are All Criteria Equally Important

With campaign games, I said that some mattered more than others. Here, I honestly thing that all three are equally as important in each category. With filler, I’d say that space is the least important. I often play A Gentle Rain at my game table while I have a YouTube video on, so space isn’t that big an issue. And you might find that something as small a package as A Gentle Rain works well for you even though it spreads out as you play it. For the bigger games, all are important, though ease of set-up might matter less if you have a spot where you can set-up a game and leave it out.

Let’s Do An Example

We’re actually going to go with Chronicles of Drunagor again because it does have a solo mode to the game. Most cooperative games can really be played solo. This obviously falls into the bigger box category, so let’s get started.

Chronicles of Drunagor
Image Source: Creative Games Studio

Theme

Well, you can see what I wrote about that in the campaign games last time, so clearly I like the theme. It’s one that is going to be engaging to get to the table and one that I want to come back to the story that it is telling.

Ease To Table

But now we’re going to knock it a lot. This is not going to be a game that is easy to get to the table. Why, because it has a ton of pieces. You need to find tiles, you need to find monsters, you need to get characters out and set-up, get the darkness out, and more. It’s going to take a good amount of time to get it out of the box and to the table every time that you want to play it. If you can leave it set-up it wouldn’t be as bad, because you’d be only changing up the maps, but if you don’t have that space, it’ll be a lot of work.

Information to Track

This one I think actually might be okay. There is some information, such as where you are in a game that you might want to take note of between games. But during the game play itself, I think it’d be okay, much like Aeon’s End Legacy that way. I don’t know if you can play this truly solo with one character, but even with two, since the cubes that you are play match up color wise it’s going to be easier to see. Now it’s a lot of abilities, but picking those abilities will be a lot of fun during play. And combat seems pretty simple, so monster turns shouldn’t be too long.

With two things being positive, or at least neutral you’d think it might be good solo, and I might find that it is for me. But looking at it, the set-up right now is going to hold me back from playing it solo. If I were looking at Chronicles of Drunagor as a solo only game, I might have passed on it for the ease to the table issue.

Will This Work For You?

As compared to the campaign game, I do think that keeping these in the back of your head is probably going to be a good idea. There are a ton of different solo games out there, but unless it’s your focus some games are going to be harder to get to the table.

Filler games, you might be fine with the larger space. Bigger solo games, definitely take note of the ease to the table. And for campaign, take note how many character you need to control. I know that games, even smaller ones like Arkham Horror LCG, because of the deck construction and scenario set-up, it takes longer than Aeon’s End Legacy, a bigger box game to get to the table.

What solo game do you pull off your shelf to play?

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365 Days of Board Gaming – June Recap https://nerdologists.com/2021/07/365-days-of-board-gaming-june-recap/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/07/365-days-of-board-gaming-june-recap/#respond Mon, 05 Jul 2021 14:14:27 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=5861 How much board gaming did I get in during June as the weather got nicer? Was I able to keep pace with my goal? And find out what new games got played.

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June was actually down a little bit. As the weather got nicer, it wasn’t that I played games less often, it was more that I pulled out some new or bigger games. I did get a number played and I did get my #2 game of all time played and introduced to some new players. But that did then raise a question for me as I was playing that game, is it still my #2 game of all time? That’s something I’ll have to think about when it comes to redoing the list in October. But I wasn’t able to quite keep pace with where my board gaming needed to be to stay on my goal.

But let’s work our ways onto the games that I did get played and see which ones top the list for the month of June.

A Gentle Rain – 5 Plays

This one got played a lot on stream last month. A Gentle Rain is really such a relaxing game. I should probably pull it out and play it again some evening. The game play is simple, but I don’t feel like I need to think much about it. A good solo only game that is a nice quick play and a chance to relax and let my mind clear.

Tainted Grail – 2 Plays

Normally this would have given me a few more plays. I count each session we play as multiple games depending on where we go with the chapters of the story. But we are on Chapter 7 now, and our first session we finished up Chapter 6, second session started Chapter 7. That means only two plays of this. And I get to play it again tomorrow. I’m still really loving Tainted Grail. it is such an epic story driven game.

Merchants Cove – 2 Plays

A new game for me this past month was Merchants Cove. It is a fun asymmetrical game where players are running their own little engine to try and score the most points possible. You can read my full review of it here. The game play just works for me. It takes a bit to play for such a light game but I like how the engines work, and I like how the different characters play. Plus there is just enough interaction with loading the ships to make it interesting, but not so much to make it feel cut throat.

Xenoshyft Onslaught – 2 Plays

A game that I always love to play, I talked about it in my Top 10 cooperative games over on Malts and Meeples.

Then I immediately got it played the day after. Xenoshyft: Onslaught is so much fun. It’s a game that I don’t win often, but I still love it. And when I play it, I want to play it again. I think t hat I’ve played this game around a dozen times and maybe won twice. But it always feels so close. And it is a fun deck building game that does some different things.

Medium – 2 Plays

Another new game for me, Medium was picked up on a whim at Target. A friend had demoed it at GenCon and thought it was fun, and I thought the concept was fun. Medium has two players trying to match up words. Or come up with the same word between two words. If it’s cat and turtle, what is the word that links the two or is between the two? Animal would make a lot of sense for that, but pasta and turtle that might take a bit more time (shell) and cat and spaceship, might be even harder. Can you match it up in three guesses, it’s fun and good for a laugh.

Homebrewers – 2 Plays

Almost forgot to add this one to the list, in fact if you saw this right away it wasn’t there. Homebrewers is such a fun game. I got to play two players again and I love it for the engine building. You get to create crazy homebrew and see who is the best brewer. Plus at the end, I always like to decide if I’d try the beer or not. The answer is basically always yes, I’d try it, but there are a number where I’m not sure if I want to drink a full pint of it. If you want a fast and light engine building game, Homebrewers is great.

Railroad Ink Challenge – 2 Plays

Yet another new game, Railroad Ink Challenge is just another version of Railroad Ink, but it adds in even more to the game. Another one that I played on Malts and Meeples, you can watch it played below. It just adds to Railroad Ink in a really fun way. You now have goals you want to complete. Can you get them done in time, how well can you score, the game is just a blast and worth checking out for a roll and write.

Blood Rage – 1 Play

This is my #2 game of all time. And while I did have fun playing it again and it won’t ever leave my collection, I do wonder if it’ll stay at #2 come October. I like this drafting and dudes on a map game. There is a lot of strategy and a lot of fun in the game. And I got to play it four player which is pretty rare, I’ve normally played it two player. The winners both had different strategies and the two of us lagging behind were going for more of a Loki style strategy. It was fun to see all the different options, and I’m kind of ready to play it again just have some revenge.

Aeon’s End – 1 Play

Now, technically this was another new game for me. I have played Aeon’s End War Eternal several times. But now that I own everything for Aeon’s End, I finally played the base game. Aeon’s End is another deck building game that does some different things. I like fighting the giant monster, I like trying to keep the town alive, and I like how different each giant monster is. I think I will start playing Aeon’s End Legacy on Wednesday over on Malts and Meeples. Join me if you want to see more Aeon’s End there. I really think it’s a very good cooperative deck building game.

Clever Hoch Drei – 1 Play

Yup, I played all the Clever games again. They are just such nice roll and write games. And now I’ve taught a lot of people, so it makes it really easy to get to the table.

Hues and Cues – 1 Play

So Hues and Cues is a pandemic purchase. I got it because it was one that could be played via Zoom. But, I think it is more fun in person. Like most games, it is easier to just talk across the table and it helps up the silly level of the game. Sometimes you just want to play something is silly and a good time. Hues and Cues doesn’t force silliness, but gives a lot of good laughs. Plus it’s tricky to give one word clues or two to get people to guess a color. So there is lots of time to chat while playing without slowing down the game.

Super-Skill Pinball
Image Source: WizKids

Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade – 1 Play

Another o ne that I played on Malt and Meeples, I won’t post the video this time. But check it out over there if you want to see how Super-Skill Pinball plays. The game is a lot of fun and gives you some good choices. The thing I always come back to with Super-Skill Pinball is that it is the most thematic roll and write that I’ve played. Does it feel just like playing a pinball machine, it’s can’t really, but the mechanics all make so much sense, and as you get combos it just works so well. And it does truly try and have a theme and ends up with a solid theme to it.

Ganz Schon Clever – 1 Play

What, more Clever roll and writes? No shock there. I still think the first is my favorite, but I can get some really great games of the third one at times.

Doppelt So Clever – 1 Play

Yes, the final Clever game. Right now I almost always play them as a trilogy. It is fun to see how well I can do across all three of them. And sometimes the answer to that question is not well at all, and other times I end up with a really high score.

Sushi Go Party! – 1 Play

I got to play this two months ago and then this month. I actually like the fact that I had some time off from it. We were playing it fairly often, but now I’m ready to play it more. Sushi Go Party is a fun drafting game, and now I own 4 different promo cards for it. So I can play with even more variety than I normally would And I will say that some of the promos are a lot of fun. Sake gives you three points but then the next card is drafted blind. That one is just goofy, but somehow thematic at the same time.

Onirim – 1 Play

Final one that got played is Onirim. Another solo game, Onirim definitely gives you a bit more to think about than A Gentle Rain, but still not too much. I think my only real knock on Onirim is that it can be a bit fiddly. While I have streamed it, I almost prefer Onirim for when I’m watching a sporting event or something like that and want to keep my hands busy. I don’t need to be completely engaged but it gives me something to do.

Yearly Stats

Half way through the year and I have 166 plays under my belt. That is 48 different games and 18% of my current collection. This month was interesting because like I said, there were some bigger games in there. Blood Rage, Xenoshyft, and Merchants Cove were all games that might have gotten played twice or might have had more games played in those evenings if they didn’t take as long.

Tainted Grail still leads the way with most plays. Followed by Deadly Doodle, Dice Throne, Ganz Schon Clever, and Metro X, so a huge game and three smaller games. But 10 games are at the 5+ plays or more for the year. And I feel like 18% of the collection played isn’t that bad. Though, I hope by the end of the year to have that pushing into that range of 1/3 of my collection played or more.

Which of my games last month do you want to play most?

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Malts and Meeples: Onirim and A Gentle Rain https://nerdologists.com/2021/06/malts-and-meeples-onirim-and-a-gentle-rain/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/06/malts-and-meeples-onirim-and-a-gentle-rain/#respond Thu, 17 Jun 2021 14:42:56 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=5796 Malts and Meeples streamed two solo games that really hit a different need for me. Join me as I play Onirim and A Gentle Rain.

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Last night I did a fast stream, didn’t know what I wanted to play, so I pulled my two solo only games off the shelf and played Onirim and A Gentle Rain. Both are small solo games but play very differently and I think hit a different mood or feeling for how I want to game. I’ll dive into that more when I talk about the games.

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.

Image Source: Z-Man
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.

A Gentle Rain Tiles
Image Source: Mondo Games

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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TableTopTakes: A Gentle Rain https://nerdologists.com/2021/05/tabletoptakes-a-gentle-rain/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/05/tabletoptakes-a-gentle-rain/#comments Thu, 27 May 2021 16:00:00 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=5700 Play a relaxing solo game of tile laying and join me as I look at a new game, A Gentle Rain. Is this a good solo game worth checking out?

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I don’t have many board games in my collection that are purely solo. In fact, the closest before picking up A Gentle Rain was Onirim. That game technically can be played with two people but it really is a solo game. I have a lot of games that can be played solo, but only two truly solo games.

I have held off on getting many purely solo games. While I find it fun to play games while streaming, I generally want to share the games that I love with other people. Solo gaming can do that if you literally share the whole game with someone so they can play it, But it gives a different experience, one that isn’t shared. And that keeps me from buying many of them. But the small game, A Gentle Rain, looked too interesting, so I picked it up, which you can read about in my latest Point or Order.

A Gentle Rain

The Game

This game is extremely simple. You have a stack of tiles and you flip them over one at a time. You lay them out on the table matching sides of flowers. Eventually in your pond you get so you have four in a square. Then you place one of the matching flower discs on that corner and continue. Your goal is to get all 8 discs out, but that is easier said than done. All the flowers on the sides must match, so will you get the right tile to be able to place and complete a square. Thus far my best is seven, twice, and worst is four.

What I Don’t Like

There are two things that stand out as things people might not like. Firstly, is this a game or an activity. Well, all games are activities, so is this a game? I would say yes, but it isn’t a game like we think of when we think of bigger games. That actually leads into the second thing, the amount of luck. When I think of a big game, I want some luck, but some choice. This gives you some choice, but it’s mainly luck. Do you flip the right tile at the right time? I can see people calling this an activity because of that.

A Gentle Rain Tiles
Image Source: Mondo Games

What I Like

Personally, it doesn’t bother me either way if it’s an activity or a game. A Gentle Rain is a very relaxing and fun time. It gives me just enough of that itch for playing something that I really enjoy it. It is like Onirim but easier to get to the table in terms of how I feel when I play it. I don’t think either offers me massive amounts of choices, but there is just enough that keeps it interesting.

The game is also very fast. It says it plays in 15 minutes, I think that might be long. I believe that my one play, most recent, probably took 10 minutes, and this a great thing. I like that it goes fast because there are two types of solo games I want. Sometimes I want a big experience, but more often than not, I want a solo game that fills in 10-15 minutes of time. That game I can play when I want to clear my head for just a little bit, and A Gentle Rain gives me that option.

And while I do call this game simple and lucky, there are some choices. You don’t complete a square of four cards all that often. So you need to plan or think about how you are putting out tiles to create options for yourself. Now, you don’t use most of them, but you can at least try. I feel like there is a little bit to think about, but because it is solo there is no pressure on you to think about it. That, again, goes back to that mind clearing sort of experience for the game that I really like.

Final Thoughts

This game, I don’t think it’ll be for everyone. I like it, but for a lot of gamers, it is going to be too simple. For non-gamers, they are going to look at it and wonder why you’d want to play solo. However, if you are like me and playing a game helps stretch your brain in a different way and reset kind of what you are doing or how you are thinking, A Gentle Rain is really interesting.

Like I said, Onirim gives me a bit of the same feel, but A Gentle Rain is simpler and faster. With Onirim there is a lot of shuffling, which I don’t mind, but adds to the time. A Gentle Rain doesn’t have that, you grab a tile and get going. Now the one advantage Onirim does have is play size, as A Gentle Rain grows some. All of that said, I might prefer A Gentle Rain to Onirim which is saying something as Onirim has generally been in my Top 50 games.

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

So, I am updating how I do this grading at the end. I have always strived to put it in such a way that people can see if it works for them. That’s been an overall grade, the gamer grade, and casual grade. The only change is it now doesn’t have that overall grade, it has “My Grade” instead. Generally the “Overall Grade” has been my grade, but acting like that was a balance of both the gamer and casual grade didn’t work that well. Just a small tweak, but should make things clearer.

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Point of Order: More Pitchcar https://nerdologists.com/2021/05/point-of-order-more-pitchcar/ https://nerdologists.com/2021/05/point-of-order-more-pitchcar/#comments Fri, 21 May 2021 14:07:04 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=5692 From new Pitchcar to Dungeons and Dragons books, what has been added to my collection as I dive into a pretty big Point of Order.

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A double article Friday today, mainly because I have a tiny bit of catching up to do on my Point of Order. Yes, I have more board games coming in and a lot of them were bought on sale. You can see some of the Pitchcar at the start of my Malts and Meeples stream from Wednesday. Middara is certainly not one of them as that was Kickstartered early 2020 or late 2019. Let’s get into what is coming or has been picked up.

Pitchcar Extensions 1, 6 & 7

Pitchcar
Image Source: Self

I was able to play Pitchcar for the first time on Tuesday, but even before that, I knew I wanted to get more for it. In particular, I want The Loop. Extension 7, which I believe was on Kickstarter, is just a loop you can add to the track. This wooden track, so not sure how they make it, but it’s a new obstacle. Can you flick a disc with enough force to go up and around a loop? Or at least flick it hard enough so it will drop onto the next section of track? Then the other extensions add more pieces to create an even bigger track.

I’m not sure if it is still going on but Eagle-Gryphon had Pitchcar on sale.

Marvel Champions: Star-Lord and Gamora

Star-Lord
Image Source: Fantasy Flight

The last Marvel Champions expansion was The Galaxy’s Most Wanted. That was a campaign one that came with Rocket and Groot. So we knew when that was announced we would get more Guardians of the Galaxy characters. And yes, we did, so now you can take two characters this month and try and tackle the Galaxy’s Most Wanted campaign, or go four players and have a full team. I need to get them and a lot of other characters played, which I say every time. I should just set it up and play some evening soon.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything

Now, what is this? This isn’t a board game, instead it is a book for Dungeons and Dragons. I planned on getting this way sooner, but I was holding out hope to get the special cover. Unfortunately that was not in the cards. So, I broke down and I bought the regular one. This comes with all sorts of things, new spells, , some DM tools, but mainly I got it for the new character options. They add in a lot of new subclasses that the players can delve into. This just gives the players even more toys and more crazy things they can do.

Aeon’s End Expansions

You know the drill, I now have everything for Aeon’s End. Well, when I say everything, I mean, all the big boxes and all the small box expansions. I don’t need all the promo cards, that would just be silly to track down. But the last two expansion, small box, were consistently sold out, but then I looked on Miniature Market and they had both. So I grabbed them with another game, which I’ll talk about next. More Aeon’s End isn’t a bad thing, and it is a game I need to play more of as well.

A Gentle Rain
Image Source: Mondo Games

A Gentle Rain

Now, I don’t know if this is an activity or a game? A Gentle Rain has you flipping tiles and matching symbols on the sides of the tiles. Your goal is to place the tiles to get completed blocks of four tiles. When you do, you place a token. The goal of the game is to see how many tokens you can place. A Gentle Rain is a true solo gaming experience, but since it is so simple, you could play it cooperatively. I just like the sound of this game as another, like Onirim, really fast solo game.

Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

Another Dungeons and Dragons book has made it into my orders. This one I do get the fancy art cover for, because I pre-ordered it. I will say, with the fancy art covers for these books, order them ahead of time through your FLGS if you can, there is no guarantee how many Wizards of the Coast will make. This book will have some for the players, but it’ll mainly be for a Dungeon Master who wants to run a game in Ravenloft. Do I want to run one there, sure, but like the Eberron book, I want it for the information to add to my campaign.

The Oracles Betrayal
Image Source: Diemension Games

Deep Madness: The Oracle’s Betrayal

This might be about the end to what I get for Deep Madness, another game I need to get to the table. But I will own most of it and I can find the rest on eBay later if need be. The Oracle’s Betrayal just basically adds three more scenarios that you can play through. The theme of the game is cool, because while it is Lovecraftian in terms of the monsters, I don’t feel like monsters on a deep sea base is something that is done enough. Every time I think of the game I really want to watch The Abyss and The Sphere.

Danger Park

Now, this one is a bit sad. Story Machine Games, the publisher of Danger Park had to fold because of the Covid-19 pandemic. So they put all their stock on sale, including Danger Park. I picked up that game because it looks fun and I want a theme park game. Who doesn’t want to build a theme park that might be a little bit dangerous? Sure, there are risks but if something happens, maybe that’ll help you win the game. Who knows, this is a humorous game about building a theme park that unfortunately now will be harder to get. I checked their website, all their stock is sold out at this point.

Danger Park
Image Source: Story Machine Games

So, finally, which one is the most interesting to you? Is there a game that you can to try out of this bunch, or maybe you want to get one of the Dungeons and Dragons books?

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