The $1 Crowdfunding Pledge

Let’s talk about the $1 pledge level. Why do I pledge at that level sometimes, and how often do I get more?

So what is a $1 pledge? It is basically a cheap way to get the updates on a Kickstarter campaign. With Gamefound you can follow along if you subscribe to it. But Kickstarter, is is $1 and often times it gives you access to the pledge manager as well.

The nice thing about a $1 pledge is that you don’t need all the money at once. If both Final Girl and Marvel Zombies run at the same time – they did – then you don’t need to give both of them a couple hundred dollars right at the same time. You back $1 now you can get one now and save up for the other one later.

But how often do I back for $1, once in a while, and I’d say maybe 2 out of the 6-7 that I did that with, I ended up adding in the pledge manager. One, for sure, that I did was The Witcher: Old World. And I believe there was another that I added. I don’t care enough, most of the time, to do $1 and get the updates.

The Drink

A Negroni again. It’s such a good drink, again a warm day and one that is nice to have on a day like that. But a good drink to have stuff around for. It is really one that I like to sip while grilling as well. On a hot summer day it is refreshing and with some ice in there, it doesn’t feel water down when the ice melts.

Upcoming Streams

Tomorrow I’ll be streaming, I think my plan is more Paper Dungeons. So join for some fun to play along. I’m still working my way through that campaign.

I talked about this on the stream, and maybe I’ll talk about it more tomorrow. But I am getting a gaming table with a topper. That will allow for me to leave a bigger campaign game set-up on the lower level and put the top on when I want to play something else. So once that comes, I am going to be getting back to streaming a larger game.

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124-101

Unplayed Board Games – 100 through 76

100: KeyForge: Call of the Archons

KeyForge has been on my radar for a little bit, mainly because the concept sounded interesting. It’s almost a TCG (trading card game) but you can’t build decks. All of them are prebuilt but also are different. And it’s a two player head to head game, take out monsters, get keys, and first to a number wins. They were on sale around Christmas, so I figured it was time to pick up a few decks to give it a try.

99. Vault Wars

This is one that I backed on Kickstarter because I find the concept funny. And I suspect that the game play is going to be easy enough to get it to the table with my gaming group. Vault Wars is basically fantasy Storage Wars. You bid to get the best vaults to get you the most points or money by the end of the game. I hope it’s a goofy good time.

98. Mage Knight

Probably should be higher on the list, but I’m intimidated by the rules for this game. It is notoriously hard to get to the table and learn. But it’s also supposed to be one of the best solo games out there. And while big solo games can be tricky to get tabled for me. I feel like I need to give it a try.

97: Shadows of Kilforth

This one I bought because Rolling Solo did a play-through of the predecessor to this game, Gloom of Kilforth. It’s a fantasy game and one that kind of has a story emerge as you go. But you play as a hero going out into this dark fantasy world, fighting monsters, getting cards of companions and equipment to see if you can defeat the boss in the end. I like the ideas of the game, I just need to play it.

96. Sentinels of the Multiverse

Sentinels of the Multiverse is on the list for an odd reason, or this low on the list for an odd reason. In 2020 at the Holidays Greater Than Games had a crazy good sale for Sentinels stuff. So I got all of it, or most of it. And I think I paid $75 for all of it. So very cheap. But now I have all the stuff, and it’s a bit intimidating to pull off the shelf. I just need to do it and play it. Because super heroes and super villains are my jam for board games.

95. Narabi

This is a little card game that is hard to explain. You are trying to get all the cards into ascending numerical order. But with that, each card is only allowed to move in a certain way, or has a movement rule on it. So it becomes a puzzle where you can share limited information to swap cards around to see what they can do, until you get it into order. A cool puzzle of a game idea where you see how fast you can do it.

94: Quadropolis

This is an older game that I just got. But Quadropolis is one I’ve had my eye on. It’s a city building game that looks simple but intriguing. I really like the mechanics of how you determine what tiles you can get to add to your city. And Days of Wonder, while not everything is a smash hit for them, has made some of my favorite accessible games like Ticket to Ride, Small World, and Five Tribes.

93: Jamaica

Jamaica, when I heard about it, I knew I wanted to try. But it is not a game that has always been easy to get. When Fantasy Flight Game Center, now GameZenter, was clearing off their demo wall to rebuild it better, it isn’t better, they sold the games. So, I need to do a piece count and then play this, but it’s a pirate racing game, that sounds like a fun time, assuming the pieces are there.

92: Heaven & Ale

Normally I don’t get Euro Games, but again, a sale. Also, one of the reviewers I follow, Ryan from Man vs Meeple, is a big fan of this game. So that recommendation and a euro game about brewing beer, I was interested. And I say that I normally don’t get euro games, I don’t, but I don’t dislike them. So I need to do my best monk brewing beer impression sometime soon.

91. Silver & Gold

Silver & Gold is a roll and write game, another one that I need to try. And one that I think will be a lot of fun, because you get to fill out cards throughout the game. So like Super Mega Lucky Box, you get to use dry erase markers on the cards. And it has this treasure hunting theme, but is more of a shape filling in game. I think it looks like one that is easy enough to learn but still interesting to play.

90: This War Of Mine

I’m intimidated by this game, much like Mage Knight. I’ve heard it it hard to learn. But more than that, this is a game about a fictional war and trying to survive in it. The concept is cool, but also a dark concept. And it’s tough to want to sit down and play a game with story that you know you probably won’t survive. Especially if it’s a harder game to learn and get to the table. But the concept sounds very intriguing and different to try.

89: Boomerang

Not the last time you’ll see a Boomerang on the list. A roll and write game. Won’t say too much about it, looks like a good puzzle of a game, like the one you’ll see coming up. This version just doesn’t look at nice as the other.

88: Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Descent is an interesting one, and this isn’t the big box version of the game that just came out. This one has been out for a little while. But it’s interesting as I do want to play the game, but I mainly got the game so I could practice painting minis. That is something I that I need to get back to doing, and we’re getting close to the point where I might be able to prime them outside. But I do want to try the game, because fantasy dungeon crawl, I like those.

87: MonsDRAWsity

We go from a big fantasy game to a small fantasy game, a party fantasy game. MonsDRAWsity, has one person a monster that they look at and then describe. Everyone else draws the monster. And I believe, the person with the closest drawing wins. It’s a drawing party game, but one that looks silly and fun.

86: WWE Legends Royal Rumble Card Game

Speaking of silly and fun, I’m a professional wrestling fan. It’s true, I mainly just watch the pay-per-views with a group of friends. And the Royal Rumble is the best one. This one is a take that style game where you try and be the winner of the Royal Rumble. Your guy gets tossed out, you get a new one, and the last one standing wins. Clearly I already know the group I want to play this with.

85: Shadowrun: Sprawl Ops

I really like the world of Shadworun. This cyber-punk future where corporations run everything. And you go on runs, hacking into systems, and exposing dirty secrets, great idea. And I’d love to play in a Shadowrun RPG campaign. This is a board game version, and it’s about setting up for a run. I have a massive box of stuff, but how the runners of the Kickstarter handled distribution, there were lots of problems, I’m less excited to play it.

That’s probably not a great reason not to play it. I think that it looks like a fun game. I still love the theme. It’s just harder to get into wanting to play it. Though, I did get the cooperative expansion, so maybe that’d be an easier way to get it to the table.

84: Boomerang: USA

I told you Boomerang would be back. The first, more logically, it set in Australia, but using the system, the designer made more versions. This version just looks nicer than the version I own of Boomerang. Either way, I need to play one or both. And then decide which one I want to keep, if I keep one, because I doubt I’ll want both of them.

83: Palm Island

I don’t know why this one is still on the list. Mainly I think because I play Orchard most of the time when I want a small solo game. Palm Island is a solo game that fits in the palm of your hand. It’s a resource management style game, if I remember correctly. You are trying to build up your engine to get more cards flipped around to flip more cards. I need to give it a whirl.

82: Blueprints

Blueprints is one that my FLGS recommended to me. It’s an abstract game about getting dice to build buildings. This falls into that category of a game that looks like it’ll be an interesting puzzle every time you play it. And I like those games where there is a good puzzle to it. Will the puzzle last a long time for me, we’ll have to see.

81: Specter Ops

Specter Ops is a hidden movement board game. One player is infiltrating a base to get to different objectives and then get out. The other player(s) are trying to figure out where they are and take them down. I like the concept and the theme of the game. This one is just the matter of learning both sides so I can teach it.

79: Crash Octopus

From the company that made Tokyo Highway, a dexterity game that I love, Crash Octopus is another one. This one is about flicking treasure to your ships and balancing the treasure on them. It seems like a silly game and one that will, like Tokyo Highway, look cool on the table. I want to see if it works as well as Tokyo Highway does for my gaming group.

78: 6 nimmt!

I don’t think the first time I heard about 6 nimmt! was from an anime, Afterschool Dice Club, but that is where I learned the most about it. This is a card game about trying to avoid taking points. I picked it up on sale when I got No Thanks! and both of the games kind of fit into that same mindset of figuring out clever play. I hope that this one works as well for my group as No Thanks! did.

77: InBetween

Two of the last three I got because of Sam Healey liking them on the Dice Tower. His and my tastes in game often overlap because we both go towards bigger, Amerithrash style games. The two on this part of the list are not that. InBetween is a two player game that feels, from what I can tell, like Stranger Things. One player is trying to get everyone to one side, while the other player is trying to flip them into the “upsidedown”.

It’s not actually a Stranger Things game. But the theme definitely has that vibe to it, and I think it came out about the same time. So theme wise, I like it. And as a two player game, I should be able to get it to the table.

76: Heroes of Terrinoth

This is another game that I saw on Rolling Solo’s YouTube channel. And it also looks good, card play game from Fantasy Flight, I liked how you level up in the game. And I like that you can pick from a variety of heroes. It isn’t a dungeon crawl game, but it almost has that feel. You pick a scenario, you can move between places, and you fight monsters. Plus you level up to improve how you can do things, which was cool.

75: Codinca

The final Sam Healey recommended game on this part of the list is also small, and it’s abstract. So that’s probably why it hasn’t gotten played. I’m bad about playing my abstract games, even though I normally like them. Codinca is a game where you want to create a pattern.

Final Thoughts

We’re still not into a ton of the big board games. But I do think this will be a section where I can get a lot of games off of the list. Stuff like Boomerang USA and Boomerang, Silver & Gold, Codinca, and Blueprints, all of those shouldn’t be hard to table.

On the flip side, I’m also going to be a bit surprised if I do get This War of Mine or Mage Knight to the table as part of clearing off games. I am very intimidated by both of those rule books. And I’m generally the one learning how to play the games so I know I can. But those two look like beasts to learn and with not great rule books, probably tough to get rules right.

Which one should I play first?

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This is going to be a list article, with all my unplayed games ranked. But before I dive into that, I want to talk about some of the terms that I just used. Mainly shelf of shame and shelf of opportunity. They are the same term phrased in different ways. Let’s dive into them and then the big list of games to play.

Shelf of Shame vs Shelf of Opportunity

This is a term that I’ve heard thrown around for a few years now. The idea that games on your shelf have this title. First off, I think this is kind of silly. Games that you haven’t played don’t have a special spot in existence. Now, maybe they do have a special spot on your shelf, but they aren’t held in any sort of light. They are just a board game.

But the first term I heard is Shelf of Shame. The idea behind this is that you feel bad since you haven’t played all your games. This is silly. I go back to my talk about collection versus a hobby. Know what you have on your shelf. For me, board games are a collection and a hobby. That means it’s fine to not get to every game quickly. They are part of my collection. But I play them, as they are part of my hobby as well, and hobbies get used or worked on.

Then came the term Shelf of Opportunity. Shelf of Shame is very negative, and opportunity sounds much better. But I, again, find this not much better. Yes, they are games that you play eventually. And yes, it spins it in a positive light. But both terms keep a focus on the fact the games aren’t played.

What Do I Call Them?

I call them what they are. Board games to be played. A board game is just an object. In labeling them either way, it places power on that object. Yes, one puts it in the light of a game being an opportunity for something new, and new exciting opportunities are good. But it leaves the pressure on actually playing the game.

Like I said, I play games. I buy games. Board Games are a collection and a hobby for me. I own games that might take a long time to get played. Campaign games where I play one at a time or two, and I am already playing two. Those wait for when I have time, and that is okay. I feel like the label places a cloud, no matter what label, over the games, and in the end of the day, games are just games.

If I never play a game in my collection and it collects dust for five years. I shouldn’t feel bad about leaving that opportunity out there. I most definitely shouldn’t feel shame. It is a game and I play games. So I play other games and not the game that is sitting there. I am still enjoying the hobby without playing every game I own.

So Why Write This Out?

I gave myself a challenge at the beginning of the year. Not because I feel guilt about games that I haven’t played. But because it is fun to play games. And I want to play games, I want to experience new games, and I want to cover new games.

For me, my challenge isn’t to get all the games off the shelf. It isn’t because I feel like I miss out on an opportunity. And I care not about shame from it. For me it’s about trying new things and almost making a game out of it. If I don’t make it by the end of the year, I don’t care. I play these for fun.

Unplayed Board Game List

Let’s Talk About the List

124 Games on it, and my goal is to get it down below 100 by the end of the year. You add in a bunch of Kickstarter games coming in, and you can see why it is a big list and also a challenge. And of course, then, there are campaign games on the list. If we look at campaign style games, I think we’re sitting at 14 on the list. And that is a lot of games to play through a campaign of, so that isn’t going to happen. Though, with Sleeping Gods coming off the list to start the year, it will some over on Malts and Meeples.

There are also some kids games on the list. Right now, I don’t think I will play those this year. Monza looks fun, but the toddler isn’t quite ready for it. But the toddler is also three, so who knows, maybe by the end of the year, we can play those games a bit more. But right now I’m not expecting to.

I also think it’s important to note that a lot of big games are at the top. Those are the ones that I’m most excited to play and cover. And some of them should be getting played soon. Probably after this weekend I’ll be lining up a time to get started playing Roll Player Adventures.

To go along with that, there are a lot of solo games as well. I could play, in the top 20, around 75% of them solo and some of them are solo only games. So I need to start knocking those out first, because they are high on my list. That won’t be how I get under 100, though.

Final Thoughts

I think that it is fine to challenge yourself to play your unplayed games. I think it is fine to limit how many unplayed games you own. When that becomes the focus or the obsession, I think that is when we start to lose the focus on what we are doing. Or when tie to it other emotions, like shame.

When I see people post about clearing their shelf of shame, I am sure it feels good for them. But on the flip side, in the comments, you see people feeling guilty about their unplayed games. I am not that way. I don’t feel guilt over that. And you shouldn’t either.

This is an odd article, I wanted to talk more about the games, and I will soon. But before I could do that, I think it is import to talk about the shame or guilt that can be thrown around in the hobby. Not always intentionally malicious but always harmful.

Also, let me know what game you think I need to try first. What is your favorite on the list that I have too low, or that you know I would like or should try?

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Kickstarter

Vault Wars & Relic Road Show

So this is the Kickstarter. Vault Wars is a small card drafting game. You are picking vaults to bid on and get so that you can find the best stuff in them. If you know the television show Storage Wars, Vault Wars is very much like that. And I haven’t it gotten to the table but I hope it’s a fun small game to try out.

Miniature Market

Grimslingers

So, Miniature Market had a sale where a lot of small games and small expansions were discounted down to $5 or less. And I did a good job on that sale, I bought two items for a total of $8, plus a game that wasn’t on sale for $25. But we’ll get to those two other games soon. Grimslingers, I mainly bought it for the cooperative campaign play in the game. I heard that the game competitively is just another version of rock paper scissors but more work than just playing rock paper scissors. But Grimslingers has been on my radar for a long time because of the cooperative play and the art style which looks really amazing.

Blank

This is a game that I kept on putting in my cart and taking out. Not just with the cheap sale on Miniature Market but on any sale. It is one that the Dice Tower, in particular Zee Garcia has talked about, and it seems fun. You fill in the blanks on cards basically creating and editing the rules of the game as you go so that you eventually have your own game. It reminds me a little bit of Fluxx and possibly something like Uno. Now neither of those a great games, but it is a simple one that could be fun to play around with and at $3, it was the right time to get it.

My City

A legacy game that I don’t own, how did that happen? This one I’m excited to get to the table because it seems like a nice simple game that plays really fast. That was a knock of mien on Charterstone that while the game was simple, it lasted a while and just kind of convoluted itself with more story that wasn’t really story. My City looks like it’s going to play very simply throughout and I hope that it’ll be a lot of fun to sit down and play a couple of games of at a time with my wife or with friends to go through the whole game.

Lucky Duck Games

Destinies Expansions

So, I don’t have the base game of Destinies yet, it is in an order from Miniature Market. But with everything I hear about the game, I’m confident that I’m going to like it. It’s kind of a campaign game, but each scenario has different characters and doesn’t need to be played as that. Also it’s a story and adventure game, but is really simple to play. I’m hoping that it’ll work well for a wide group of players. I’m really excited to get this one to the table.

And I like that the two expansions are new settings. Well, at least the one is focused more on Africa. It is just a different setting and while I’m fine with traditional fantasy, I also want to see fantasy, monsters, and stories coming out of everywhere. I’m confident that Lucky Duck Games will be able to tell a good story in the expansions as well as the base game.

All Systems Go

Root

I’ve been waiting to pick up Root for a little bit. No real reason I haven’t grabbed it before, but I knew if it was in the store used when I came in I’d get it. Root is a great little animal war game. It plays really well and I want to try it more. The different actions are fun, and I know there are expansion I will pick up. The downside to the game is that it takes a long time to teach. If I can get a consistent group of players, that won’t be an issue though.

Space Cats

Nothing says exciting like a deep space adventure where you are fighting off aliens. Well, maybe if you can add cats to that. Space Cats is not a game itself, it is an expansion for Nemesis. I don’t know that I really needed it, but it’s cats. Overall, it’s more cute(ish) and fun, and I wanted it more than I needed it for the game. Now I need to get Nemesis to the table.

Which of these games would you want to play first?

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ISS Vanguard

This is a massive exploration adventure game set in space. I have some of those set on Earth or in a fantasy setting, but none in space. Plus this is Awaken Realms. I love the story in the games that I have of theirs, even Lords of Hellas which isn’t a story game. This one also is fully narrated and has an app that helps with some of the book keeping, but not that much. I like that it can help but isn’t needed, just makes it more immersive, like it does with Tainted Grail.

Excitement Level: 9.5/10

Chronicles of Drunagor

There is a chance that I will drop this one, but everything I’ve seen on this game, it looks like one that I’ll love. In fact, you can just read my Back or Brick from Wednesday (link coming) to see why I’m interested. This is a big table hog of a campaign game, but still looks like so much fun. And how you activate abilities is just great, makes it feel like a puzzle, which is like Gloomhaven that way.

Excitement Level: 8/10

Spire’s End: Hildegard

This one drew me in because of the artwork. What got me to back it though was that it’s a solo, mainly, game. But it isn’t a massive minis game, this is just 400 cards or so and you take Hildegard through an adventure, digging through four chapters, reading cards, fighting monsters and doing more things. The concept is fu and the artwork is amazing.

Excitement Level: 9/10

Isle of Cats: Don’t Forget the Kittens

Those cute kitty cats, don’t forget them on the Island. I’ve played Isle of Cats once and I really like it. The game play is a lot of fun, the drafting works well, though I want to try it with more people, and overall, just getting more stuff seems like a lot of fun. Plus a roll and write, plus an organizer to make it easier to get to the table.

Excitement Level: 7.5/10

Marvel United: X-Men

Marvel United has about 80 minis, Marvel United X-Men takes that total up to around 200. But it adds in a lot of cool things. It can take this cooperative game and make it team versus team. You can make it one versus all with one person playing the villain. And some of the villains can also be heroes, so just lots of awesome more stuff. Plus the amazing minis. I really need to start painting them.

Excitement Leve: 7.5/10

Canvas: Reflections

This game has gotten a lot of buzz as a simple but gorgeous game. There is no doubt that it’s gorgeous just looking at that artwork in it. And I like games that give you something pretty in front of you. This is like Sagrada in that you end up with something pretty in front of you when you’re done. I hope that it’s a good simple one for my wife and me to play.

Excitement Level: 8/10

Super Fantasy Brawl: Round 2

More characters for Super Fantasy Brawl, yes please. I love this game as a skirmish game where if you don’t fight, you’re probably going to lose, but if you only fight, you’re probably going to lose. It gives you enough to go for as you play to make it a blast to get to the table. And drafting teams is fun, this gives me more to draft from. If only the insert wasn’t horrible.

Excitement Level: 8/10

Zombicide: Undead or Alive

So, early this year I believe I traded in Zombicide Green Horde, why did I get more Zombicide? Well because zombies and the wild west, that’s way more interesting. Honestly, if it weren’t for the Wild West theme I’d have ignored it and passed on for another game. But I like a scenario big game. It reminds me kind of something like Village Attacks, which I’m still waiting on, where I can pull it out play a scenario and then be done.

Excitement Level: 7/10

Aeon’s End Legacy of Gravehold

It helps that I’m playing through Aeon’s End Legacy right now, but I’m super excited for this game. But I really like Aeon’s End. I like the deck building of it and I just want more of it. Especially something that’s a bit more story driven like Aeon’s End Legacy is.

Excitement Level: 9/10

Tiny Turbo Cars

Horrible Guild makes amazing games, and they make games with amazing toy factor. Tiny Turbo Cars looks to have that as well. Programming how your cars go as fast as possible each time. I think it’ll be good hectic fun and a good light game. There isn’t much to learn so once I’ve played it a few times it’ll be fast to get to the table. And maybe you’ll just get lucky and do well with a random pick.

Excitement Level: 9/10

Vault Wars: Relic Roadshow

This one is actually almost here. It’s a smaller game and actually a reprint of a game, Vault Wars. It just now has an expansion as well. It’s basically fantasy Storage Wars. Now, I hope it’s a good game, but the theme was fun for me, and it looks like a pretty light and easy game to get to the table. And like I said, it should be here in a day or so.

Excitement Level: 6/10

Alba

This one is actually a book, but it’s a game book. It’s not a book about games, it’s a game in a book. I tend to like these types of books where you have to puzzle through them. I mainly just need to find the time to play them. Between reading comics and Dresden Files books, I need to do better about just picking up the one I have.

Excitement Leve: 7.5/10

Primal

This was one of the first ones I backed this year. It is kind of a campaign game, but really a big boss battling game. What drew me in was the minis, but also how for a big game with massive minis, it wasn’t a game that had a million tokens. You just have health and you play out some cards. Plus it has a campaign, but you can just face off against a monster if you want to. Like Zombicide: Undead or Alive and Village Attacks, those big games you can get to the table that feel epic still are what I’m kind of looking for some right now.

Excitement Level: 8/10

For $1

• Deliverance
  Love the theme, but the base pledge level missed out on so many extras that it doesn’t feel worth it to back for me. But just in case I want to bump it higher, I kept it.
• The Witcher: Old World
  A friend is backing this one, so I can play their copy. I’ll wait on it because I didn’t want all the minis anyways.
• Valor and Villainy: Lludwick’s Labyrinth
  The original game looked interesting, this one has campaign and is fully cooperative and legacy, all stuff I love, but I’d love to try it before I commit the money.
• Mythic Battles: Ragnarok
  Deities fighting it out, wielding trees as weapons, that sounds amazing, but price is so high, right now I’m waiting on it.

What have you backed this year?

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Pros

• Aesthetic
• Deluxe Components
• Engine Building
• Simple Mechanics

Cons

• Deluxe only via Kickstarter
• Complexity

The Page

Floodgate Games has done a number of Kickstarters before. This falls into a category of Kickstarter company that knows how to create their page in a really nice way and how to lay out information so that you can see everything you want to see pretty quickly.

For big miniature games or games with a lot of confusing pledge levels I get showing off those first on the page before the rules. It is probably the information that people want to find most quickly, most often. However, Vivid Memories doesn’t have minis, they don’t have a ton of pledge levels, they just have the deluxe pledge available in English and French. So why are we showing that off first? I don’t get that, I’d much prefer to see them go with the game play first, which still shows off the components as well, than show me everything I’m going to get in my one option.

The Game

This game is interesting. They have put out a wide variety of games, including Sagrada which I love, and Vault Wars, which I have coming. When I look at this game, I feel like I should be getting Sagrada vibes from it. Though, that just comes from the drafting of the pieces and placing them on your board.

But there is definitely more complexity from Vivid Memories to Sagrada. In Vivid you are building up an engine of sorts with the cards you take, the memories you take, to get improved actions. Then you run that engine after the round is up to try and connect different paths on your board. So while I feel like mechanically this is simple, there are going to be interesting choices to make in the game.

But this is where I get into the simplicity and the complexity. I feel like the aesthetic and the basic mechanics of taken the tokens and cards is very simple. On the flip side, I think running the engine and managing those connections, that actually seems fairly brain burning. This can be a fun combo if it’s done well and the brain burning part doesn’t become the majority of the game.

Back or Brick

So is this a Back or a Brick for me? I am going to say, right now this is a Brick. I did watch the Dice Tower playthrough of this, or part of it, which I’ll leave below. And I thought it looked interesting. But do I need a deluxe version of this or can I wait for retail. Don’t get me wrong, the deluxe version looks cool, but I don’t feel like I need it. Now, if it looks good to you, Floodgate Games makes good games and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

I also want to try this game before I buy it, why, because of that simplicity and complexity balance. Sagrada, which I compare because of the company, is such a good family weight game. Vivid Memories, I wonder about that complexity of managing your board and engine if it’d take that out of the range for that. And I know the aesthetic would be appealing for my family, but would the game play be?

Is this a back or brick for you?

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Tannhauser

My used book store game. Half-Priced Books is a chain of used bookstores in the upper midwest. We go there somewhat often, it’s a good way to find some interesting books cheap. For example, I’ve gotten all of my Dresden Files there, or almost all of it. But they also do sell used board games that they get in, in trade. This is one that I’ve been keeping my eye out for for a while because Sam Healey, formerly of the Dice Tower now working for Mythic Games, was a huge fan of. What made it interesting to me was the kind of Eldritch World War 2 theme, now, I have another game that has that same theme with Reichbusters from Mythic Games, but I think I have room on my shelf for both of them. However, Tannhauser has been out of print for a while, so it was one of those “grail” games for me where if I saw it I knew I was going to grab it, up there with the Battlestar Galactica Board Game.

Vault Wars

For a while, right after college, I’d watch Storage Wars. It was an odd little show about people who buy storage lockers at auction in hopes of getting something great in it. Then I realized that they planted some of those things to make the show way more interesting. Meet the fantasy version of that. In this game you bid on vaults in hope to get the vaults with the most money, special conditions and more. Thematically it seems like a fun little idea. This one is on Kickstarter right now as almost a 2.0 version of the game, it seems, maybe fixing some issues that people had with it before. But it looks like it should be a lot of fun, and thematically I think it’ll work for a lot of people.

Heroes of Land, Air, & Sea: Chaos and Order & Pestilence

What, two expansions for a game I just got. Yes, I am getting two expansions. Firstly, the game really seems like one that I’ll enjoy, a big epic fantasy game with a lot of ways to get points and win. But also the base game comes with four races, you have Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Orcs. Those are about as generic as you can get in terms of fantasy. So bring on the Undead, Lionkin, Lizard Folk, Goblins, Birdfolk and Merfolk. Also, these two bring the expansion to even more epic heights as you are able to instead of only going up to four go up to seven now. Granted, that’d be a full day of gaming, but that’s kind of why I want it. I want to be able to decide to have a big group over for an epic game, have some food, take breaks, and just play throughout a day. This game also seems like it’d be great to take along to conventions, I could see bringing it to AcadeCon if/when I go back and just run a big game of it for people, or get in on a massive game of it at something like a Dice Tower Con or BGG Con.

Those are the newest additions, some of them still on the way, and Vault Wars will be on the way for a while. I’m excited for all of them, I have a big rule book for Tannhauser to dive into soon and see about getting it to the table. And I’m hoping that the two expansions for Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea will be here for Wednesday, so I can unbox them over on Malts and Meeples, you can see the previous unboxing of the base game there.

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