Games from Miniature Market

Bonfire

This is a game about gnomes building a bonfire, well, maybe that’s some of it. But it’s a Pegasus Spiele game, like the next one. And Miniature Market had a sale on them. Pegasus Spiele got on my radar because they put out First Rat, a game I wasn’t sure I’d like, but then I really did. Bonfire looks more complex, so I was interested in trying it.

Raccoon Robbers

This one I bought because it looked like a fun, more simple game from Pegasus Spiele. So I wanted to give it a go and see if it would work for me. Plus it’s about raccoons, a fun theme and comes with 3D (ish) houses that they climb up on, so fun components.

Via Magica

This is a light game that I wanted to try because I thought when I heard about it on the Dice Tower a while ago, Camilla is a fan of it there, it sounded fun. You can read my whole review here.

Mesozooic: Jurassic Mini Expansion and Triassic Mini Expansion

I’ve written a review on some of the games. Mesozooic I actually bought the base game a while ago. The two expansions were unlikely to be around much longer, on closeout, so I bought them. You can read my review on Mesozooic here.

Abyss: Kraken Expansion

This is an expansion, I own both, for a game that I need to play. It is probably not the smartest plan, but I have them now, so I need to get Abyss to the table soon. Abyss looks like a massive epic game, one you’d expect a lot of minis for. Well, it’s a much smaller simpler game than that type of game. More of an engine building from what I know. So I hope it’s one I really enjoying.

Escape the Dark Castle

This is one that just came back into stock recently. It and Escape the Dark Sector or games with fun dark looking artwork and, well, a dark theme. I want to play them and see how they stack up against something like Spire’s End. I know both can be played solo, so I’ll be getting to this one soon to really know.

18 Holes: Course Architect

18 Holes: Course Artchitect actually needs to get a review written about it. Same with the next one though that one I need to play more. But 18 Holes is about building out a golf course in a roll and write game and seeing how well that you can do. It’s a bit rules heavy for how simple the game is, but the more I play, the easier it is to pick up each time and faster games go. So it’s one that might just stick around as a solo game for me.

Bargain Basement Bathysphere

Bargain Basement Bathysphere is a solo game. And you can watch me play it on Malts and Meeples. It’s a roll and write game that is a campaign. So I want to see how it is over the long run before I write a review. It’s definitely very loosely a campaign. But the two games I played of it were a lot of fun, with really simple mechanics.

Clank! Catacombs

Clank! Catacombs I knew was a game I would buy. I waited until after Christmas, and then when I was told about Bargain Basement Bathysphere, I used Catacombs to get it to a level where I could get free shipping. It’s just another version of Clank! but one with a modular board which is build every time. Clank! In! Space! has a modular board, but that one is set to start the game. This could come out differently every time.

Three Sisters

A roll and write game from the people who did Fleet and now Motor City. I am curious about this one. I like Fleet, but it is a lot of mechanics, especially solo. Though I wonder if I will feel the same with Three Sisters. But it is one that I want to get to solo.

Star Realms Deck Building Game

Star Realms is the space version of Hero Realms, kind of. They are different games and Star Realms came first. But it’s a two player deck building game. I wanted to try it and see which one I like better. I think I’ll enjoy both, but will both stay in my collection?

Thornwatch: The Dark of the Wood Expansion

Thornwatch is a game that I picked up on a sale, probably hasn’t been in a Point of Order yet. I got it around Black Friday from the publisher. It looks like an adventure dungeon crawl sort of gaming experience. And it has some work done on it from Penny Arcade guys who I like their stuff. So I am curious about it and if it’ll be a dungeon crawler for me.

Planet Unknown

This one got an order all by itself. And I still need to play it. But Planet Unknown is a game about terraforming a planet. Yes, I own two games like that already. But it uses polyominoes and a lazy Susan. Though mine doesn’t come with it. But as you select pieces for your planet, you rotate a this central piece. And where I decide to stop rotating it, that determines what you get. So there is a bit of a puzzle where I might take a slightly worse for me piece to stop you from getting the perfect piece.

Star Trek: Super-Skill Pinball

I own two, no three, versions of Super-Skill Pinball. It is a roll and write game that I really enjoy and one I should play more. It is playing pinball and this one has a, you guessed it, Star Trek theme. There is a Christmas one as well with Christmas movies that I’m less interested in. But I do like Star Trek so I wanted to play this one.

Featherlight

Featherlight, another one that I played on Malts and Meeples with Bargain Basement Bathysphere. So you can find that in the video above. I like it as a way to optimize how you are scoring. It’s kind of a puzzle with some randomness. And I think that works really well for the length and weight of the game. It is very light, but offers you good choices as you play.

Unmatched: Marvel – Redemption Row & Hell’s Kitchen

I hadn’t planned on getting into Unmatched. But Marvel is what drew me in. And I have made a promise to myself that I won’t buy other sets, unless they are Marvel. So I am trying to get my hands on Deadpool, just waiting for someone from a Discord to ship it. But their lives are busy, so I understand. And there are upcoming Marvel sets, but I will talk about those later.

The Librarians

This is one that I got to try in 2020 when I did the digital GenCon. But it is a game around the Librarians TV show. The game is good, and I didn’t back it because I was backing too many things. So when it hit retail and hit a sale, I wanted to get it into my collection. It is a cooperative game and a fun theme that I want to play.

Ascension X: War of Shadows

Ascension, I’ve talked about it, this is my favorite introductory deck building game. I have two expansions, this one and a nature themed one, that I need to play still. But more is good because they are standalone or can be all mixed together. Well, maybe not all, but somewhat mixed together.

18 Holes: Second Edition & Expansion

You saw the roll and write, this is the tabletop version. It is still building a golf course. But you do that as a group. And then you play that course to see how well you do. I’m excited to try it. Sports games often aren’t the right match for board games. But I think that a golf theme works better than a faster spaced sport like Soccer or Football.

Starship Captains

Starship Captains is one that I played at GenCon in 2022. And I enjoyed it, but it is one that I want to spend more time with. It is a fast game, and I think that end snuck up on me in my one play. Is it one for me, or will it always feel too short? We will have to see, but I want to give it more of a try.

Relics of Rajavihara & Expansion

I just wrote a review on Relics of Rajavihara and you can read that here. But it is a fun puzzle game and I hope that this week or in the next two, I can fully wrap up the game. It’s fast and fun and a great puzzle.

Solomon Kane Expansions

Mythic Games is getting rid of their extra stock as they try and raise funds to complete and ship out other games. I could explain it more, but basically the pandemic hit them harder than a lot of companies. So this is a chance to grab the last of the stuff I don’t have. I think I own basically all of it now.

Enchanters

Another Mythic Games, another one that they sold the rights to. So it is discounted as they move their stock. A deck building game, but one I wasn’t super interested in. But when it is on sale and I can get the all in Kickstarter, or near that, it is worth buying and trying.

D&D Books

Just some more setting books and different books for more D&D content. I am there for that, and I want to mix it into my game.

Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama

This is one that Zee mentioned in his Top 100 Games. It is a rework of an existing game, with a theme that Indie Boards & Cards has used before. So I want to try it with that theme. The rest of the Kodama games are less interesting for me. But this one because it’s an existing theme is interesting.

Exit: Lord of the Rings

It’s an Exit escape room board game. And this one my wife wants to try because of the theme. And in all fairness I’m excited for the theme as well. Exit games are not my favorite of the escape room style games because they are destructive. So it’s a one time use thing. But the theme in this case pulled me in.

Skyrim: The Adventure Game

Another one where the theme pulled me in. I avoided backing it on Gamefound. The game play looked fun, but I can only back so many games so often. Then as more came out about the game, the more interesting it became to me. And I hope that it’s a pretty narrative driven game that feels like Skyrim.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood of Venice

And to wrap it up, another video game one. And one that I wouldn’t have looked at too much. But it turned into one that I was very interested in because it has that big campaign feel to it, and cooperative play. And we know that is what I like in games.

Pre-orders

Plus there are a few pre-orders to talk about.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition – Discovery & Crisis Expansions

This one I should have added to my other set of pre-orders, but both of these are expansions to a game I really like a lot. Ares Expedition. One gives you ways to upgrade your action selection which will make you different and unique in the long run. The other one is going to offer a cooperative or solo play opportunity. So two things that I’m very interested in. There is a third one as well, but when it was on Kickstarter, it just didn’t interest me as much.

Earth

Another one coming from Kickstarter that I am picking up now. It’s an engine building game that looks like it should be pretty on the table. I find that I really like engine building games. And this one looks like it is in that framework of being light, but not too light. I’m hoping, mainly, that the rules are in a place where it is easy to teach and get to the table.

The Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom

See what I said about Lord of the Rings before. This one is going to be an adventure book style game where you play through different scenes. Besides it being Lord of the Rings and based off of the same or similar system to the one used in the Princess Bride game I don’t know a ton more. But I’m more excited for this one than the escape room game.

Final Thoughts

Some of this has just been catching up on games that I’ve had an eye on and have been on my wishlist. The Librarians, Skyrim, and Assassin’s Creed were all on that list. And you can see a number of expansions as well.

But if it were you, which of these games would you play first? Of course, I’ve played some already, but I tried to call those out.

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Eagle-Gryphon Games

Tumbling Dice

This is one that has been on my radar for a long time and I wasn’t sure where to buy it. But it’s a cool looking, pretty big game, that is really simple. You take turns rolling a die down a track. And once everyone has rolled their dice, whatever dice are on there and the face they it is on determine how many points you get. Is it a serious game, not at all, but it looks fun.

And the further that you can roll it down the higher a multiplier you get. So if you have a 4 at the top it’s worth 4 times 1. If it’s at the bottom it’s 4 times 4. Of course, you might roll a one as well.

I went with the Tom Vasel method from the Dice Tower, too, I bought some roll playing dice sets. And I’ll probably make up some more as well. That way you aren’t just rolling 4 four sided dice. You can roll the full set of seven dice and get crazy numbers if a 20 lands on the times 4.

Miniature Market

This was over a couple of orders. Miniature Market did sales throughout the month of November, plus then Black Friday sales.

Imperium Legends

This was the one from the first order. It’s a solo game, or multiplayer that I’ve heard good things about. I mainly grabbed it because it was solo and I wanted to try it. I’m not sure it’ll be a solo game for me, because I’ve also heard okay things about Imperium Legends from some reviewers who I tend to match up with taste wise. But on a sale it was worth a try.

Dragonscales

Dragonscales is another one that I’ve heard some about and I’m not sold that it’s for me. But it was on a good sale and in this case it was the last piece to get to free shipping. It’s a push your luck game, and I am hoping to find one that works well for my group I do have Can’t Stop that I need to try as well. But Incan Gold worked okay, we just have some people that really like to push their luck.

Chronicles of Avel

Chronicles of Avel I’ve seen on shelves for a while, not like a super long time the game is pretty new, but every time that I see it, I want to buy it. It’s a lighter more family focused adventure game. And the artwork on the game looks amazing. And it’s supposed to be a lighter game, really good Board Game Geek rating, that gives you the same upgrading and creating characters to play, but for the whole family.

Paw Patrol Spot It

This actually was the main reason that the Black Friday order from Miniature Market happened. I have a kid who loves Paw Patrol, and Spot It is a game that he might not quite be ready for, but I would guess in the next six months we could start playing it. I think Spot It is fine, but to get a version that he’ll love and we can play together as a family, I’m all for that.

Ascension Gift of Elements

I’ve been eying this one for a long time as well, Gift of the Elements has been on sale a lot. I don’t think that I need to get all of Ascension, but I have two other expansions and I want to add this one into the mix. Why, because I think the stuff it can add in looks cool. Really what I’m noticing about Ascension right now is that I need to get it back to the table again. I really love it as a basic deck building game.

Journey Through the Radiant Citadel

And this is D&D adventure book. I don’t tend to buy those, but part of me is wanting to pick them up and grab story elements from my own campaign. Plus it was the alt art book cover. If this one doesn’t work for me, I can trade it in, or I can glean what I want from it and then trade it in. But in terms of adventures, the book seems more interesting than some.

Lone Shark Games

Thornwatch

I know Lone Shark Games for one game, Apocrypha. I actually forgot that they had made more. And this one is with Jerry Hawkins from Penny Arcade. It has solid ratings but again, it was really cheap, cheap to the point with very cheap shipping that it felt bad not to give it a go. I want to know if it has that Penny Arcade humor in the game and if it’s going to be a fit for me, because the cover and description make it look like something I should enjoy.

Snowdale Design

Lands of Galzyr

I blame, directly, Meet Me At the Table, YouTube channel for this one. He had a really good playthrough of one game, and this looks like a choose your own adventure big game, with fun tests and characters, that I love. And it doesn’t just look like that, but it also looks relaxing. A lot of the big games like it tend to offer big decisions and big consequences, whereas Lands of Galzyr offers you good choices but the stakes, at least early on, don’t seem as high.

Brotherwise Games

Call to Adventure: Epic Origins

I almost backed this one on the Kickstarter. And yes, ordering it later means that I missed out on some of the exclusives, but it was also cheaper. And I don’t care too much about the exclusives I missed out on. But I do want to get the game to the table, and I want to see what it adds in, as a standalone game.

Chip Theory Games

Too Many Bones + Tink Bundle

Too Many Bones and Chip Theory got me on this one. It is a good way to start building up the collection. I have Undertow. And I backed the last one that Gamefound that they had about a year ago for two new characters. Now I’ll have a ton of characters to play with and explore the weird world of Too Many Bones.

Amazon

Get on Board

I almost picked this one up at GenCon this year. iello brought it over to the US. But it’s a roll and write, sort of game. There is a main board where everyone is creating bus routes to pick up and drop off people. But you don’t want to overlap with other people and other routes because then you are creating traffic and slowing things down.

That is on a joint main board but then you each have your own board that you are filling in things on that are tracking who you pick up, points that you are getting and possibly other abilities. I like that it has roll and write elements but overlaps more.

Abyss

Abyss is one that I wanted to demo at GenCon, though maybe was a good thing I didn’t or I’d have been tempted to buy it then. Plus Abyss has great artwork, and I think I’d have been disappointed if I bought it when it came out because it looks so epic. The game itself is a smaller game in what you are doing and now knowing that, I think it’s the type of game that I’d enjoy.

Mansions of Madness Expansion

In this case, I finally decided to grab an expansion for a game that I love and is in my Top 10 Games of all time. This is just going to add in a little bit more that I can play, give some new tiles new characters things like that. Definitely makes me want to get Mansions of Madness to the table again though.

Dice Conquest

I thought, when I first looked at it that Dice Conquestjust looked like an okay game. And I suspect I don’t find it amazing but will find it fun, and for a game that I can play solo, I’m excited for that. I always want to find small footprint solo games, and Dice Conquest, while it can be multiplayer, is also small footprint for solo.

In this game you are rolling dice, you standard D&D combination of dice, and fighting off monsters, taking damage and trying to make it through the dungeon. Or at least I think of it was a dungeon, where you will then face off against the big bad guy. Each monster is a bit different, and the characters have unique powers, so it should offer fun repeated plays.

All Systems Go

Cascadia

Cascadia is one that I’ve known that I want to try. I actually went into my local game store not to get this game, but the used game I was interested in was already bought. And I have been wanting to try this one. I like Calico, from the same company, which has simpler game play but more punishing.

I am hoping that Cascadia is still easy enough and with the expanding board will work well for a nice relaxing and fun game to play. To me, I think I’ll enjoy that it has a good amount of variety as well. It might lack the tension that I’ll get from Calico but be more relaxing to play.

Thousand Year Old Vampire

I also grabbed this solo RPG book, Thousand Year Old Vampire. I’ve heard about a handful of times and a solo RPG just sounds interesting to me. You are a vampire and it is basically giving you prompts and things like that which you can answer. It might not be for me, it is mature in theme as you’d expect from a vampire, but I want to give it a try.

OOMM Games

Stars of Akarios Minis

Final item on the list is minis for Stars of Akarios. I love Stars of Akarios, and the standee ships are cool. But to have minis for them, for the enemies since your characters have minis already, is going to be awesome. It’s just going to make the board look more epic, and I’m not going to lie, I kind of want to get it back tot he table when it comes in.

Final Thouhts

It’s a lot of games coming in for sure. And some of them are already here. Plus some Kickstarter and Crowdfunding games that I’ve ordered are starting to come in. Mainly I had Tiny Turbo Cars show up a couple of weeks ago. And I just got confirmation that Zombicide Undead or Alive is on it’s way as well. Plus I know Frosthaven is shipping so there are a ton of games.

In fact, there are enough that I’m actually going through and rearranging my game shelf, sorting things again, and possibly finding some to trade away because I need to get more room on the shelf for everything. I’m disappointed though, I have some time off, and Ikea doesn’t have a 4×4 Kallax available, otherwise I’d run and get one of those to get even more shelf space to use.

Which game out of these would you try and get to the table first? I suspect the first might either be Get on Board or Tumbling Dice.

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Fortunately there are board games that can give that feel or smaller pen and paper experiences that might offer more of a one off game play. And you can do a one off game play with Dungeons and Dragons as well a one shot, but that might not be what you are looking for.

Fiasco

Fiasco is a pen and paper RPG, but it is one that is meant to be played in a single sitting. It is also one that you are meant to play with everyone as a player. So you lose the need for someone to be leading the story and basically having a different experience than everyone else.

Fiasco leans into the roll playing side of an RPG with impro focused prompts and collaborative story telling. It is also a game where things aren’t supposed to go that great. As the same, Fiasco, would suggest, the situations you are in and the story that is generated generally aren’t the best for the characters.

Spire’s End

Spire’s End is going to offer you more of a mechanical combat in a game though very luck heavy. In this, you and another person, or just playing solo, delve into a spire that has appeared in your town. Of course it isn’t full of nice things. In fact, it is where almost everyone in the town is being held. So can you explore, fight monsters, and find an end where you save the day?

Thus far, that is beyond what I’ve been able to do, But if you want to see how it plays, you can watch my game play below.

Legacy of Dragonholt

One that I had in my collection for a while, Legacy of Dragonholt is a choose your own adventure story combined with some character building. And I think out of all of these, it might be the most RPG like well, after Fiasco, but Legacy of Dragon holt has more of a standard feel to it.

Now, my one knock on it is that the writing is just okay. It toes a line where it seems like it should be more serious in it’s story. And sometimes it is serious, but it is meant for families to be able to play. Mom, Dad, a kid, and you can pass around the book and let people read passages. You spend tokens and players take turns making decisions. But one that I think is pretty solid. I’d love to see a new version or a new setting just with better quality writing.

Destinies

Now for something with very good writing, we have Destinies or soon coming out The Dark Quarter. You can still late pledge that one. But Destinies is a competitive game where each player is trying to fulfill their destiny. You explore the world, unlocking more of the map, rolling dice to complete challenges, and interacting with story.

Destinies uses an app to tell the story. Now you might not like apps at the table, but it does a great job. Mainly, it can keep answers to the story hidden while you play. And it can be played solo, that you can play without spoiling yourself. The app also allows for simpler interactions with items. You don’t need a massive book to cover every combination, just the data in the app.

Clank Legacy

Next up is the most board game out of all of them. Clank Legacy is going to be a game built upon the Acquisitions Incorporated crew from Penny Arcade and elsewhere. But this is a legacy style game which means to get the full story you and a group need to play it several times. However, it isn’t as long as playing a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons or something like that.

At the heart of it, Clank Legacy is a game where you build out a deck of cards as you play. Using those cards you are going on quests, maybe, I don’t know all the details for Legacy. But in the regular version you delve into a dungeon trying not to make too much noise. But the legacy version adds on to that.

Dungeon Party

Finally, if you want something silly, and a number of these are silly, Dungeon Party is a great option. It is a dungeon crawling game where you just get to go in and beat up monsters. But you do that by playing quarters. You bounce your token, though recommend you use actual quarters, to get to land on monsters and defeat them.

As you defeat them you get treasures that give you new abilities that you can use. This is not a drinking game, but it could easily be made into one. And that is kind of the point of it. A chance to just be goofy and have a good time around the table with that fantasy theme.

Final Thoughts

RPG’s are hard to emulate the whole experience outside of a big game. And I kept games like Gloomhaven, Folklore The Affliction, Tainted Grail, and Sword & Sorcery off the list because they are all games that require more commitment.

But I think that they are good options. And even the longer ones here, Legacy or Dragonholt, Destinies, and Clank Legacy are all shorter than your standard campaign. Plus, there is some level with them that they are easy to get to the table. For someone who wants that feel but doesn’t want to remember a plethora of stats and abilities, these attempt to make it easier.

What are some experiences that feel like an RPG without that big time commitment. Let me know your favorites in the comments below.

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The Games

Well, no spoilers like last time, the list will be at the bottom for those who don’t have time to watch the whole video. But let’s talk a bit about how I picked these games. This is a bit different than a lot of lists. The other two I’ve done, they were cooperative games and small box games. A game is either in a small box or not, though small can be debated. And a game is either cooperative or not. Or at least it has a cooperative mode anyways. For this list, it was my choice of what I had on my shelf.

There was an even split of cooperative and competitive games on the list which surprised me. And if you know my taste in games, there were five campaign style games on the list. Though, that’s only half the list, I thought I might have picked more. And there were some games that I left off the list that definitely could have made it.

So they are honorable mentions that I didn’t mention, but Forgotten Waters and Dice Throne Adventures are two of the top ones on that list. Lost Ruins of Arnak , Yggdrasil Chronicles and Detective: City of Angels also could have made the list. I skipped games like Vienna Connection because while I haven’t played it, I have played Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game which is the same system.

The Beer

Last nights beer was a local one again. This time from Lift Bridge brewing, it was a Kolsh beer, Lemon Bar flavored. It is an okay beer. I saw lemon in the name and I was excited for it, but like the pink lemonade beer that I had from Tin Whiskers a stream or two ago. While a lemon bar should be sweeter, the sweetness basically overwhelmed the lemon flavor. The lemon should have been a stronger punch of flavor with a sweet finish versus what it was to make it a more enjoyable drink. Still, for a hot summer day, I think it’d be a solid option, just not the first one I’d reach for.

The List

1. Nemesis
2. Dwellings of Eldervale
3. Middara: Unintentional Mallum Act 1
4. Clank Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated
5. Reichbusters: Projekt Vril
6. Solomon Kane
7. Deep Madness
8. The Reckoners
9. Kohaku
10. Heroes of Land, Air, & Sea

Upcoming Streams

So a few options for what’s coming up next. No Monday stream next week, but I’m thinking some reviews and maybe a topic instead of a Top 10 for my next stream. So let me know what topic sounds good.

And on Wednesday, I think my plan is to play Railroad Ink Challenge, but I had so much fun playing Aeon’s End last Wednesday that following that up, I mght actually start playing Aeon’s End Legacy two handed for a bigger playthrough. Let me know your thoughts on that, I as I learn how to play it, I might have some polls for whom I should play as.

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Point of Order is going to be me running down the game(s) that I ordered and why I picked them up. The reason for doing this is kind of a sneak preview as to what’s going to be coming for reviews in the future, but also help show why I thought some games might be a good fit for me and maybe, give you some insight if into if they might be a good fit for you.

So let’s run them now, it’s a bigger order this time, so it’ll be a bit of reading to get through it, but hopefully enlightening.

Silver
So, this is one that I got a chance to play at GenCon and since it was such a small game, it kind if paled in comparison to some of the other games I played there, and I thought it was just okay. But then I downloaded it to my phone, and I’ve had a lot of fun just knocking out a fast game of it against the computer. What keeps drawing me back to it is the simplicity of the game. In Silver, you are trying to get your village to score the fewest points, there are werewolves because it’s Bezier Games, but that’s a mute point to the game. You do this by swapping cards out from your face down group of five cards. However, you don’t know what all your cards are. At the start of each round, there are four, you look at two of your cards. Then on your turn you look at the top card and either swap it with a card in your five or use it’s power, or you can use the top card of the deck to swap into your row. Now, the swap is 1 for 1, unless, you have two of the same card from the five in front of you that you can swap. So if I had two sixes, I could swap it for a five, now I’d have four cards in front of me and be scoring 7 less points. Once you have less than four cards, you can call for a vote if you want, and if you have the fewest points on your villagers, you get 0 points, but if you’re wrong or you didn’t call for the vote, you get the points on your villagers, and plus 10 if you were wrong when calling for the vote. It’s a push your luck, bluffing (kind of), and memory game. It plays fast over four rounds and because of enjoying it more on my phone, I decided to pick it up.

Cartographers
This one one will be way shorter to write about, because I’ve already don’t a TableTopTakes review of it. This is a flip and write map making game with some fun scoring. The map making part is pretty loosely themed on there, but the scoring puzzle is a lot of fun, and the fact that it’s an interactive flip and write is great. So for the scoring, you have four different scoring things, A, B, C, D. And you score two each season, for A & B, then B & C, C & D, and eventually D & A. So you have to think about both short turn and long term scoring. Plus, then, you have your own board, but if a monster comes up (and they will) you have to pass your board to the left or right and that player will put a monster somewhere on your board in spot that’ll surely mess things up for you. I really enjoy roll/flip and writes, and this one stands up as one that has a fun theme and some more interactivity going on.

Ascension: Delirium
Now, some of why I got this was because I needed to make it to $100 for free shipping and nothing was jumping out at me. But I really love Ascension, in my Top 10 Gateway game list, it was #10, because for me it’s an ideal introduction to deckbuilding for the base game. And the expansions add more and can be combined with it. So I’m excited to try out this one and to try out Dreamscape the other expansion that I have. I’m curious to see how the strategies might change, and sometime play a massive six player game with one of the expansions mixed in. This is one where I know I’ll enjoy the expansions, and even if they don’t come off the shelf a lot, I’ll still get them played once and a while.

Silver & Gold
So, this isn’t related to Silver. Instead it’s a flip and write game where you are drafting island cards and trying to fill them in, which scores you points, and combing covering up palm trees, treasures, and I think more to allow you to cover up more things. This game was interesting to me after I watched Board Game Geeks Game Night Youtube Show with it. What was interesting about it was that you don’t have your own play sheet that you’re filling in. You are drafting/taking island cards and actually writing on those cards. The cards are dry erase so that you can play, score, erase, and play again. That just seems like a novel idea and I’ve really been digging roll or flip and write games recently.

Clank! Acquisitions Inc Legacy
Multiple things drew me to this game, first it’s a legacy game. I think I own, have owned, or have played most legacy games out there. They are just a blast generally in my opinion, and are very fascinating to see how they end up working. With Clank! Legacy, I already know that I like Clank! In! Space! and while this is fantasy themed, that’s fine because I love Acquisitions Inc. podcast/video series that Penny Arcade does at their #PAX conventions. From what I’ve heard about this, it implements it really well and creates an interesting story throughout while being a really fun game to play. And while none of the others take themselves seriously in the Clank! line of games, this one I’ll get more of the in jokes because I’ve watched all of Acquisitions Inc. And easy purchase, just was waiting to have a group to play it, but it was on sale, so I decided to pick it up anyways even before having a group lined up.

Forgotten Waters
This one I’m really excited for, but it’s a pre-order. So one of my favorite games is Dead of Winter. And what makes it a lot of fun is that it uses crossroads cards. These cards get triggered sometimes where you go some play, do some action and all of a sudden you’re interrupted because you triggered this crossroads event where you have to make a decision that will affect the game in some way, but you don’t know how. Forgotten Waters is a pirate themed game that uses that, plus it has an app that tells you things to do and helps you set-up scenarios, plus you’re using a storybook type thing, similar to Mice and Mystics, Aftermath, and Stuffed Fables. I think all of that combined together sounds really cool, and I’ve been looking for a cool pirate themed game that is a bit more tongue in cheek than something like Merchants and Marauders which is a fun game, but a bit heavier.

Marvel Champions Neoprene Playmat
Final item on the list, and it’s not a game. There are several reasons that I wanted to get this, the first is that it looks cool, and it’s big so you can play with a bunch of people using mat. The other is that whenever I cut my finger nails, I can never pick up cards. So on a neoprene mat which I’d be able to use for other games as well, though it does have a layout for Marvel Champions, I won’t be trying multiple times to pick them up or scooting them to the edge of the table so I can grab them. I won’t say that this really makes Marvel Champions that much easier to play, but it can help keep the table neater, plus easier to pick up cards.

So, that’s the order that I have coming in. I’d say that some of that is thanks to Covid-19 because I’m bored and I think that some of these games will be good ones that I can play with my wife while waiting for board game nights to happen again.

Are there any of the games that seem the most interesting to you? Any that you’ve picked up or want to pick up?

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