Riverside | Nerdologists https://nerdologists.com Where to jump in on board games, anime, books, and movies as a Nerd Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:32:56 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://nerdologists.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/nerdologists-favicon.png Riverside | Nerdologists https://nerdologists.com 32 32 How Many Roll and Write Games Do I Need? https://nerdologists.com/2025/10/how-many-roll-and-write-games-do-i-need/ https://nerdologists.com/2025/10/how-many-roll-and-write-games-do-i-need/#respond Wed, 01 Oct 2025 20:30:05 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=9844 How many Roll and Write Games do you need in a collection? I'm looking to remove some from mine and am going through my criteria for it.

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I love Roll and Write games. I own a ton of them because they are easy to pullout and play solo. Though some of them don’t play solo or some are very similar to other ones. Let’s talk about my roll and write game collect and see which ones I need. Now just as of note, roll and write in this case also includes games that are flip and write which you’ll see when I get to the list.

And if you want to know the criteria that I’m using, or the conversation starting point, you can read that article here.

What Roll and Write Games Do I Own?

Two lists like every time. We’re talking of course, played and unplayed. It’s less likely that an unplayed game is going to be leaving the collection without having been tried first.

Played

  • Welcome To…
  • Cartographers
  • Ganz Schon Clever
  • Yahtzee
  • Long Shot: The Dice Game
  • Twilight Inscription
  • Welcome to the Moon
  • Railroad Ink
  • Fleet: The Dice Game
  • Doppelt So Clever
  • Three Sisters
  • On Tour
  • Paper Dungeons
  • Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade
  • Bargain Basement Bathysphere
  • Clever Hoch Drei
  • Metro X
  • Trek 12: Himalaya
  • Sonora
  • Super Mega Luck Box
  • My City: Roll & Build
  • Clever 4Ever
  • The Isle of Cats Explore and Draw
  • Patchwork Doodle
  • Criss Cross
  • Knister
  • Delicious
  • First Class Letters
  • Mind Space
  • Doodle Dungeon

Unplayed

  • Hadrian’s Wall
  • Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write
  • Silver & Gold
  • Get on Board
  • Sagrada Artisans
  • Welcome to Dino World
  • Riverside
  • Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama
  • Motor City
  • Cascadia Rolling Rivers & Rolling Hills
  • Pioneer Rails
  • Fliptown
  • Arabella
  • Merchants of Magick: A Set A Watch Tale
  • French Quarter
  • Zombicide: Gear Up
  • Boomerang
  • Number Drop
  • Vengeance: Roll & Fight
  • Lantern Dice
  • Astra
Sagrada Artisans
Image Source: Floodgate Games

Unplayed Games

This list is massive for both played and unplayed. I’m not 100% sure that I own all the ones still that I have yet to play. In particular I think Arabella might have left the collection as might have Number Drop and Kokoro. But looking at that list, is there anything where I think it should just leave? The only one that jumps out at me is that I don’t think I need both Rolling Rivers and Rolling Hills. From what I know they are basically the same game.

There are a few others that I’d want to get played on the list to see if they stay. Those are the ones that I mentioned that I might not have still. Also Boomerang is another one that I need to see about. It looks like a simple little game so that begs the question of if I need to keep it. Getting all these little roll and writes is easy, but often times they need a more limited player count, which means that for game nights even though they are easier to learn games they are hard to get played.

Played Games

So what on that massive list is at the danger of going away. And I think there are a number of them that fall into that category of maybe are similar to other games.

Easy Leaving

In particular I think of games like Metro X, while it’s not too similar, it’s not a game that feels that different any time that you play it. And while I’ve enjoyed it, it’s been in my Top 100 Games in the past, it’s also something that is a less appealing on future plays. Bargain Basement Bathysphere is another one that is going to be going because it’s fine but I have played it.

Another one that might be a surprise is Welcome to the Moon. I thought it is a fun game when I played it and streamed it. But as a campaign game, I now feel like there is only so much interest in going back to it. I haven’t even gone back to it recently on Board Game Arena. And Welcome To… is more fun with the same main mechanism.

I also think that Twilight Inscription is leaving the collection as well. This is one where it could stick around because it is really different. But honestly I don’t want to teach it to someone. And I don’t want to learn it again. I really had a lot of fun with it at Gen Con and if someone is up for teaching me again I gladly will play. But at the same time, it’s that category of I don’t want to do that.

Isle of Cats Explore and Draw
Image Source: City of Games

Easy Staying

There are a handful that are staying for sure, games like Railroad Ink, Cartographers, Sonora, Fleet, Three sisters, and Paper Dungeon are all games that I love. And with them also all of the “Clever” games. Yes, they are similar in some ways but they are different in other ways. So that is going to keep them around, plus I like them for that combotastic nature.

Isle of Cats: Explore & Draw is another one where it make it easy to keep. In fact it might be so easy to keep that it spells the end for Isle of Cats. But I want to play that one again at a higher player count. Because I like a lot of elements of the game. I think at two it is possible for it to just get out of balance score wise pretty quickly.

Questioning

So that leaves a handful that are in that questioning range. Some of them like Trek 12, Knister, and Criss Cross I know I like and are going to be kept as well. It is just less of an emphatic keep. Same can be said for at least some of Super-Skill Pinball: 4-Cade, though I might have sold expansions already and Super Mega Lucky Box.

The ones that I’m really thinking about right now are Delicious, Mind Space, On Tour and My City: Roll & Build. With all of them I enjoy the games. I think that Delicious is leaving because it is just simpler. Mind Space and On Tour are good, but in particular with On Tour it is not the best the score and I can always play it on my phone. So I think both of them are going to leave as well. And that leave My City: Roll & Build. I was through a campaign and half way through another. I think it goes because it is fun but I’ve played it.

What Roll and Write Games Do You Love?

Let me know your thoughts. Do you think that there are any of them that I should give another chance from what I’m talking about getting rid of. Just to recap that list:

  • On Tour
  • Mind Space
  • My City: Roll & Build
  • Delicious
  • Metro X
  • Welcome to the Moon
  • Twilight Inscription
  • Bargain Basement Bathysphere
  • Cascadia Rolling Rivers or Rolling Hills

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Ranking My Board Games to be Played https://nerdologists.com/2023/01/ranking-my-board-games-to-be-played/ https://nerdologists.com/2023/01/ranking-my-board-games-to-be-played/#respond Mon, 23 Jan 2023 12:29:52 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=7721 I own a lot of board games that I need to get played. I used Pub Meeple to rank them all and which ones make it to the top of my list I want to play?

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So, I’ve done my Top 100 Board Games, I’ve done games that are coming, but what about games that are here or almost here that I haven’t played. I have quite a number of those, 134 to be precise. Which ones do I want to play, which ones are lower on my list. Now, I say which ones do I want to play. Let’s be clear, I want to play all of them, and my hope is that I can. But some of them are higher on the list. I won’t be going into too much details, just short comments. But for example, towards the bottom is Coconuts, I want to play it, but if I just mess around with it with my kid and don’t actually play, I’m fine with that. It’ll still be fun.

To Be Played Board Games I Own Ranked

1 ISS Vanguard

This is one that I really want to play. It’s Awaken Realms and they make giant and amazing games, I really like all of theirs I’ve tried. And this one is a massive space adventure sandbox game. You can pick where you go as you try and figure out the mystery of why humanity was signaled about this information and what is going on. It sounds amazing. It sounds highly impressive and ambitious so I want to give it go. It might be one I stream, but I kind of want to do this in a group.

2 Lands of Galzyr (Already Played Since Writing The List)

Lands of Galzyr is one that I will be playing soon, I might even have played it by the time this article comes out. January 4th is going to be the first day on Malts and Meeples. So if you are reading this after that, you can checkout some game play. I’m planning on doing a few sessions of what feels like a nice relaxing board game. And one that has a story that you can play through without being as much of a campaign game. It’s more bits of story that happen over time versus a massive overall story .

3 Middara: Unintentional Malum – Act 1

But speaking of massive overall stories, we have another campaign game in Middara: Unintentional Malum. Just Act 1 is out now, but I have the other two pre-ordered. This like I said is a campaign and it’s set on another planet but is more fantasy. It’s a mix of both fantasy and sci-fi and real world which is interesting and probably best described as an anime setting. The game play looks fun, and it’s so big that I’m not sure it’s a candidate for Malts and Meeples. But I can’t want to get it to the table.

4 Clank!: Catacombs

A new game, just about arriving, or should be in the next week. Clank! Catacombs is just another version of Clank! But this time it has a map you build out as you go. I think that’s a cool twist, so I want to get it into my collection, give it a try and see if I keep all of the versions. But I love Clank and this isn’t the only time you’ll see it on the list.

5 Cthulhu: Death May Die

Another bigger game, this one is a cooperative adventure to defeat a great old one. But it isn’t a campaign game, this is a one off scenario game which is interesting and I want to get it to the table. This one might not be too hard to table because of that. But I need to learn the rules still. Plus I want to do the push for madness so I grow stronger, but not too mad so the character is eliminated.

Deep Madness
Image Source: Diemension Games

6 Deep Madness

To add to that, another one that’s been in my collection for a bit, and I think this is kind of a campaign and kind of not. You’re exploring an under water base where everyone has gone missing. A distress signal came through but what is going on. Of course there are monsters coming from a rift and now you’re fighting Lovecraftian monsters hoping to complete your mission and get out of there. There are a number of scenarios which is fun as each gives you slightly different things to do.

7 burncycle

Another one off game, kind of like the previous two. burncycle is a Chip Theory game that looks really interesting. You are robots trying to into a corporation, hack the network, complete objectives and do all of that without being seen. The story of the world is great too, robots took over, then humans made a comeback, and now you’re the robots trying to survive which I think is just fun.

burncycle
Image Source: Chip Theory Games

8 My Father’s Work

Yet another big game, there are some smaller ones for sure on the list and some coming up, but you know me. My Father’s Work is a worker placement game where you are ty ring to complete your father’s work in some experiment that is suspect at best. Think like making Frankenstein’s monster. It’s played over three generations which is cool because you can take some stuff forward but not everything. And there is a ton of story in the game as well.

9 Clank!: Legacy – Acquisitions Incorporated

The other Clank! Game on the list, this one is the Legacy version. It maybe should be higher, but I don’t know when I’ll get to it. I love Clank! In general so I want to get it to the table. But because it’s a legacy game, I need to find a group and time to play it with. I will get it played eventually.

10 Etherfields

Another big Awaken Realms game. I didn’t go all in on it, but I still have a lot to play. You are in a dream world, diving into different dreams to complete objectives. And from what I’ve heard the dreams are nice and different so the game gives you a good variety of what you are doing. Which I mean, they should be, because some dreams are nightmares and others are fluffy bunnies, so you want a good mix.

Etherfields
Image Source: Awaken Realms

The Rest of the List

And I’m stopping writing up on them, but you can see the rest down below. There is a wide variety of games. And some of them are more kids games which I’m going to be most apt to play as my kid gets older. So stuff like Rhino Hero Super Battle, though that might get played with adults. Or Coconuts and Hey That’s My Fish are all examples of ones I’ll get to eventually.

11 Hadrian’s Wall

12 Solomon Kane

13 Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition

14 Uprising: Curse of the Last Emperor

15 Welcome to the Moon

16 Aquatica

17 Sea of Legends

18 Terraforming Mars

Terraforming Mars
Image Source: Stronghold Games

19 Nemesis

20 Bullet⭐

21 Riverside

22 Get on Board: New York & London

23 Betrayal Legacy

24 Tiny Turbo Cars

25 Forgotten Waters

26 Descent: Legends of the Dark

27 Astra

28 Everdell

29 Maximum Apocalypse: Legendary Edition

30 The Ratcatcher: The Solo Adventure Game

31 Hanamikoji: Geisha’s Road

32 Bargain Basement Bathysphere (Played)

33 Ghosts of Christmas

34 Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin

35 Spirit Island

36 Folklore: The Affliction

37 Call To Adventure: Epic Origins

38 Imperium: Legends

39 Massive Darkness 2: Hellscape

40 New York Zoo

41 Chronicles of Crime

42 HEXplore It: The Forests of Adrimon

43 Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef

Tidal Blades Heroes of the Reef
Image Source: Druid City Games

44 GROVE: A 9 card solitaire game (Played)

45 Abyss

46 Western Legends

47 Mechs vs. Minions

48 Heroes of Land  Air & Sea

49 Radlands

50 Horizon Zero Dawn: The Board Game

51 18 Holes: Course Architect (Played)

52 Cascadia

53 Bloodborne: The Board Game

54 Fantastic Factories

55 Escape the Dark Sector

56 Valor & Villainy: Minions of Mordak

57 Dungeon Party: Starter Pack

58 Escape the Dark Castle

59 Zombicide: Undead or Alive

60 QE

61 Furnace

62 Space Base

63 Doodle Dungeon

64 Vengeance: Roll & Fight – Episode 2

65 Three Sisters

66 Formula D

67 Menara

68 Splitter (Played)

69 Welcome to Dino World

70 Marvel: Remix

The Bloody Inn
Image Source: Pearl Games

71 The Bloody Inn

72 Zoo-ography

73 Via Magica (Played)

74 Arcadia Quest

75 Flick of Faith

76 Adventure Land

77 Alien Frontiers

78 Time of Legends: Joan of Arc

79 Mythic Battles: Pantheon

80 Black Rose Wars

81 Catacombs & Castles

82 Kabuto Sumo

83 Shakespeare

84 The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged

85 Champions of Hara

86 Loup Garou

87 Boomerang

88 Wingspan

89 Chronicles of Avel

90 Camel Up (Second Edition)

91 Thornwatch

92 Pioneer Days

93 Cowboy Bebop: Boardgame Boogie

94 Tannhäuser

95 Crash Octopus

96 Mariposas

97 Dragonscales

98 Paper Tales

99 TAGS

100 The Faceless

101 Jamaica

Reichbusters
Image Source: Mythic Games

102 Reichbusters: Projekt Vril

103 6 nimmt!

104 Heaven & Ale

105 Periodic: A Game of The Elements

106 Silver & Gold

107 Star Realms

108 Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

109 Blueprints

110 Codinca

111 Can’t Stop

112 Rhino Hero: Super Battle

113 Longboard

114 Kingdom Rush: Rift in Time

115 Vault Wars

116 Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition)

117 Cockroach Poker

118 Danger Park

119 Summer Camp

Summer Camp
Image Source: Buffalo Games

120 WWE Legends Royal Rumble Card Game

121 Papillon

122 Palm Island

123 Starship Samurai

124 KeyForge: Call of the Archons

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

126 Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar

127 Journey: Wrath of Demons

128 Coconuts

129 Hey  That’s My Fish!

130 My Hero Academia: Plus Ultra! Board Game

131 Boy Band Builder: The Card Game

132 Dinosaur Tea Party

133 In a Flash Firefighters

134 What Do you Meme?: Family Edition

How Many Will I Get To This Year?

That’s a great question. My hope is to get my unplayed games below 100, that was my goal last year. And this is where I was at the end of 2022. So clearly I didn’t do that. Some of it is that I buy games as well. Some might leave never having been played. But I really do want to play most if not all of them. And some of them lower on the list will get played before ones higher on the list.

Do you have a favorite from this list that you think I should get to? Or which one of your to be played games do you want to get to first?

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Massive Board Game Unboxing – Featuring Marvel United X-Men https://nerdologists.com/2022/04/massive-board-game-unboxing-featuring-marvel-united-x-men/ https://nerdologists.com/2022/04/massive-board-game-unboxing-featuring-marvel-united-x-men/#respond Thu, 28 Apr 2022 13:54:05 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6960 So many board games to unbox. And Marvel United X-Men is the biggest one of them all. So many boxes and so many minis. Join me at the table.

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A number of Kickstarters, orders from retailers or publishers have come in this week. The biggest being Marvel United X-Men. So, it is time that I open up a lot of boxes and show off all that has come in. And there is a ton to look at, no doubt about that with Marvel United X-Men and I just start to show off some of those things. Let’s go through and see everything that I unboxed.

The Games

So let’s talk about everything that has come in that I need to find room for on the shelf. Some of it, though, I do have a creative solution for. So the big game that I unboxed was obviously Marvel United X-Men. And that, as well as Marvel United, have a ton of minis in those boxes.

So while the game isn’t huge, it is a lot to store all of the minis. So to store them, I picked up some make-up holders, wall mounted ones, that will fit the minis in quite nicely. I’m hoping that I can hang them and fit almost all of them in there and keep Marvel United and Marvel United X-Men down to one Kallax shelf, but we’ll see if that is possible.

Marvel United X-Men

I’ve got to talk about this first, because, well, it was the biggest thing that I unboxed. And I’m excited to get Marvel United X-Men to the table. Marvel United is a fun game that is great to pull off the shelf and easily get to the table. And for a game that has so much with it, that is great. It means that I can easily play it.

Actually, thinking about it, I might do what I did for Marvel Champions, get some extra boxes, clasp boxes, to store it so that it’s easier to get to everything. Though, I might need to get different dividers than what I have now. But it might be worth it because the actual boxes for Marvel United only work okay for storing stuff.

But if you want a good introductory game and you love Marvel, see if you can find a pledge. I love how I can pull it off the shelf, grab out a villain, a character, and really get to the table so fast. When I play it, it is two or three times in a row, each game goes faster, and you swap out characters each time. Plus, you do need more than the core box to really get the experience of the game.

Ghosts of Christmas

Ghosts of Christmas is a trick-taking game that I got interested in because of BoardGameCo. He put out a video with why he liked the game a lot as not a big fan of trick-taking. Ghosts of Christmas is going to be played as three tricks at one time. One is for the past, one is for the present, and one is for the future. And when you figure out the results the tricks, it goes in that order. But what the trump suit is can change, I forget how it works, but I believe based off of the previous trick. So that offers a unique challenge.

QE

QE is an odd sort of game where bid for businesses. But the weird trick is you can bid however much you want. I bid $200,000,000,000. Well, now you know what you need to bid in order to win any. However, the person who bids the most automatically loses. Even if they own all the businesses, in which case no one wins.

So I bid a massive amount, four times and I own those, you bid $1 than I do next time, now you’re in the lead. Then someone bids just under my total to get the next one. And all of a sudden the bidding continues to grow and goes crazy. I hope that this is a very fun game that has a good party feel for me. And I imagine that there will be a lot of laughing as we play and as bidding goes crazy.

Paperback

Paperback is a word building and deck building game. And I love my deck building games. As you can see, I kind of forget why I picked this one up. But I think it’s a deck building game, and from what I’ve heard not too hard of one, that my wife will like a lot. She and I are both big readers, and Paperback, about writing a paperback while deck building seems like it’ll work well for us. Plus our group of gaming friends likely will enjoy it as well.

Root
Image Source: Leder Games

Root Expansion

Just a little Root expansion. It swaps out some of the cards in the game. I don’t know how, but I needed something small to get to free shipping. And it is some of why I was talking about lifestyle games, though, let’s face it, I got very distracted. But Root, so me, is a lifestyle game because, well, you need to know the game. It’s not one that I pull off the shelf to teach just anyone, the game is too complex. So the group who knows the game is the one it gets played with.

Hadrian’s Wall

On my list as a roll and write games that I’ve wanted to try. I haven’t picked it up, though, because Hadrian’s Wall is not a cheap game. And that kept me from buying it for a while, but I finally caved. Why, everyone loves it as a solo game. So I’m in for that. Plus, I keep on playing more complex roll and write games and loving them. Paper Dungeons is fairly complex but is pushing to be one of my favorite roll and writes. Fleet: The Dice Game is one I want to try more.

I like light roll and write games for my gaming group. Stuff like Ganz Schon Clever, Welcome To… and others, which might actually be mid-weight roll and writes. But when I want to play solo, I don’t mind if it is a little bit heavier. And Hadrian’s Wall is definitely not a light roll and write game.

Riverside

Another roll and write game. And Riverside is definitely going to be lighter than Hadrian’s Wall. But I’m curious to see how heavy it is. There is an element of a river where the boat goes up and down the river. And you get passengers or items to take to certain stops. So you can push the boat down the river, but at the cost of passing some things up. I don’t know if that makes the game mean at all, but I’m curious. Plus, the game just looks peaceful to play with the aesthetic.

Doodle Dash

Doodle Dash is a party game that seems like a lot of fun. I get a bit of Just One as a drawing game. One person is it trying to guess a word. And players are drawing as fast as possible. The first person to finish drawing grabs a piece. The second person rolls a die until they get a stop, and that ends the drawing for everyone else. The first person wins showing their picture first. But it’s the fastest drawn picture, probably the hardest to tell what it is. But if it is guessed, they and the guesser get more points. Seems like extremely silly fun.

The Drink

Just a Negroni again. I really love that drink, very good for the summer too. I appreciate the bitterness of the drink. And because of that, and the grapefruit nature, I find it very refreshing.

Upcoming Streams

So what’s coming up. Next week I do want to do a Monday and Wednesday. On Wednesday, definitely going to be some gaming. And Monday, we’ll see, maybe Monday will be streaming some smaller games and Wednesday start my next bigger campaign game. See what looks good to get started. I want to play something bigger again, as long as I can figure out a fast way to get it to the table. Sleeping Gods is good that way that even as a big table hog, set-up and breakdown of the game is not that hard.

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Point of Order – Don’t Watch YouTube Videos https://nerdologists.com/2022/04/point-of-order-dont-watch-youtube-videos/ https://nerdologists.com/2022/04/point-of-order-dont-watch-youtube-videos/#respond Thu, 21 Apr 2022 15:18:32 +0000 https://nerdologists.com/?p=6936 There are a lot of board games that have come in or backed. Which ones are being added to my collection because of YouTube?

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So, this is a PSA, don’t watch YouTube videos where people talk about what games they have coming in. It is going to remind you that you wanted to pick up some of those board games and you will spend money on them. That’s what I did yesterday with Foster the Meeple YouTube Channel, very good channel, check them out here. But I can blame them for me picking up two games, kind of.

BoardGameTables.com Order

So this is the one that’s Foster the Meeple’s fault. Two games only, and that actually takes me to the point where I’ll have the games I want from BoardGameTables.com (which does make board game tables, but also board games, guess which one cam first).

QE

QE is a game where you are bidding however much you want to buy a company. The interesting thing about that is that you can bid however much you want. If I want to bid 120 trillion, I can bid that, if I want to go higher, I can do that. It does have a twist, though, in that the person who bids the most, well, they are automatically out of the running to win. So the prices are likely going to get crazy, but you can’t be too crazy. It seems like it shouldn’t work, but also, everyone who plays it likes it or loves it, so I want to play it.

Ghosts of Christmas

Foster the Meeple are the ones who pushed this over the edge for me, in terms of reminding me about it. But BoardGameCo was the one who brought it onto the radar. This is a trick taking game where you play tricks in the past, present, and future. And you can play to whichever trick you want in whichever order. Only once all are full does the winner get determined. And the trump suit can change on tricks, so it sounds mind bending but really interesting.

Kolossal Games Kind Of Order

So, I ordered these games from Kolossal because it’s about the first spot I’ve seen them available in the US. The games themselves aren’t put out by Kolossal, instead by Chilifox Games out of Norway. It’s a new game company, so limited distribution in the United States, but the two games I know of theirs are really interesting to me, so I wanted to grab them while I had the chance.

Riverside

Riverside is going to be roll and write game. But it has more going on than that. There’s not only the roll and write portion of the game, but also a little board that determines where the boat is on the river. Players are trying to take passengers on tours, drop them off at the right places, and score points. But that extra element of the river and boat position make it feel like a different sort of roll and write game than a lot out there.

Doodle Dash

This is a very different type of game than Riverside. Doodle Dash is going to be a straight up party game. In it, one person is the guesser and everyone else tries to draw a picture as fast as possible, based off of a word, for the guesser to get. But the fastest person gets to show their picture first, and then next fastest. And that second fastest player is rolling a die to limit how much time the rest of the players are going to get to finish their drawing. So there is a benefit to being fast if you can get the word across in a simple drawing. Seems like good chaotic fun for a party game.

All Systems Go

I like to call out the local game stores that I go to, and most of the time it is going to be All Systems Go. I generally trade in my games there, and while I didn’t this time. I did pick up one thing there.

Marvel Champions: Sinister Motives

I basically get all my Marvel Champions stuff from ASG (All Systems Go) and they know to set aside for me every time. Sinister Motives is going to give more Spider-Man characters, both heroes and villains to play as or against. And it’s just more content for Marvel Champions. Why do I keep buy it, because I love Marvel, I love the variety of characters you can play as and villains you can play against. And I really like the game. But it is one that I’m soon going to have to consider how much I want, because I don’t play it enough. The answer, though, is that I probably will want it all.

Railroad Ink Challenge
Image Source: Horrible Guild

Miniature Market Orders

I will say, it wasn’t my plan to have two orders that were close to one another from Miniature Market. But it just happened to workout that way. In particular, I can blame another YouTube channel, Quackalope for me getting the second order. Jesse and Devon, from Devon Talks Tabletop, did a solo game list, and there was one I wanted to get immediately upon hearing about it.

Res Arcana: Perlae Imperii Expansion

This is more content for Res Arcana. I haven’t gone through all the content that I have for the game, but I already know that I want more. And the expansions are not always the easiest to find. Res Arcana is an engine building game where you are building an engine off of eight cards. And you don’t add more cards to your engine. Maybe you get a monument, but often those just offer a one time effect. So how do you build the most productive engine you can from those cards. Not sure that Perlae Imperii adds, but hopefully more of what’s already there.

Railroad Ink Challenge: Engineer Expansion

A mini expansion for Railroad Ink Challenge. This is basically some extra dice that you can use that mess up the board as you go. I don’t know specifically what the Engineer Expansion adds, it is just the last one that I didn’t have, so I wanted to grab it.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game 2nd Edition

I’ve played the original version of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and I want to try this new one. Plus, I might have picked up some of the 1st edition, so I can compare. But I’ll talk about that soon. I’m hoping that this makes the game a bit smoother to play, but we’ll see. And I just like the fantasy setting and the interesting cooperative nature and card play in the original game.

Radlands

This is one that I don’t regret but also slightly regret getting. I regret getting it because it’s a small two player game, will I play it over Hanamikoji. On the flip side, it’s from Roxley, I like their stuff. And the artwork on the game is amazing. But I don’t know if Radlands is going to be one that’s easy enough to table often. I am excited to try it though.

Clank! Expeditions: Temple of the Ape Lords

An expansion for Clank!. I don’t know what this one adds in exactly. I’m assuming that it’s just going to tweak how the base game plays and add in some apes. I need to play Clank! some more before I add any more expansions to my collection.

Black Sonata

This is the one that Devon was talking about in the video I mentioned. I love the concept of this game. It’s a solo only hidden movement, deduction game. That sounds so crazy to be able to do as a solo game, but it works well. I’ve already gotten my copy and played it twice. Plus I picked up the Fair Youth expansion as well, so that adds in more or a new way to play the game as well. But the base game is going to keep my busy for a little while.

Amazon Order

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Skull & Shackle

I said I was getting some of the first edition of Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, and Skull & Shackles was the base set I landed on. This one is going to be a pirate based theme, which I like, and use the standard Pathfinder Adventure Card Game system. I picked this one up for comparison purposes, and I hope that I really like it because there are expansions I could get as well.

Coconuts

For something completely different, Coconuts is a dexterity based game. You use monkeys to launch coconuts into cups to try and get a certain number of cups stacked up. The whole point of this is to be a silly fun game. I had a chance to mess around with it a tiny bit at GenCon in 2019, and it’s a fun one. It’ll not get played for a little bit, unless I do it on the table, because kittens will most certainly chase and play with flying coconuts.

Sleeping Gods Distant Skies
Image Source: Red Raven Games

Crowdfunding

So there are a lot to talk about, seven in fact. Most of them are going to be pretty small ones because, well, I’ve been trying to do some backing of little roll and write games that are print and play. When a game is $5, for a print and play, and I get it immediately, I want to support the creators because it’s a cool way to get games out there.

Kaikoro

Kaikoro is one of those print and play roll and write games. The game doesn’t seem too complex, you try and keep Kaiju from destroying a city. That theme and the artwork are the selling point, but it’s also a $5 game that I can print, laminate, and play as much as I want.

The Dark Quarter

The Dark Quarter is most definitely not a roll and write game or a print and play. You can see a lot of that here. I think the system is fascinating that it is using. And I really like the dark/mature supernatural, monsters theme that Van Ryder is bringing to the system. For me this was an easy back.

Fortress of Terror

Back to more print and play roll and writes. This one is another $5 that has a fair amount of content with it now. But it looks interesting, almost a bit of a dungeon crawl nature to it, or exploration, something like that. So I’m curious about it, and the system that is being used for the game, it seems like an interesting one that could be fun to play.

Paper Railroad

Another print and play, this one is going to be a route building train game, I believe, with some pick-up and deliver elements thrown in as well. The route building might be secondary to the farming and getting farm rewards and shipping out those things. So I’m curious to see how it is for a roll and write. But it was $6, so one to back that I want to mess around with.

Pestilence – Escape the Plague

The final print and play roll and write game on the list. This one has the most interesting theme for me, or up there with Kaiju. The black plague is rolling through, and you are trapped in the city. You need to make connections, build up reputation and avoid the kings guard to get out of the city. That just seems so different, there are other games about the black plague, but to do a roll and write on it, it’s a different than normal theme.

For Northwood!

Speaking of something that is a bit different. For Northwood! is definitely a unique game. For Northwood is a solo trick taking game. That immediately caught my attention. Add in that it’s pretty cheap, it’s just over a deck of cards, I’m curious about it. They company is also the one that has done or distributed other solo games that I like, like Orchard and Black Sonata.

Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies

Finally, Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies from Red Raven Games just launched this week. If you want to read more about it, you can do so here. But I loved my play through of Sleeping Gods, and Distant Skies seems to build upon that system. And while I didn’t have an issue with Sleeping Gods for solo play, this seems like even simpler solo play. Plus some changes to combat as well, which I was fine with combat. But I’m super stoked for this one.

Final Thoughts

So what am I most excited for, well, Sleeping Gods: Distant Skies and The Dark Quarter. But those two are coming in a while. Same with For Northwood!. So of the stuff that I’ve gotten, or is coming much sooner, what do I want to play? I really want to try and compared both of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Games. They can be played solo, so I think I’ll be tackling them soon. Maybe I’ll even stream some over on Malts and Meeples coming up here.

Which would you want to play first?

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