I'm Still A Gamer, Really...

...I just haven't got to play many games lately. Between a homeschool field trip to Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Exponential 07 conference at Saddleback Community Church (I need to blog a bit about that), I missed two Monday game nights with the Fresno Gamers & was away from my primary gaming partner, my six year old son.

Like many of you, I've watched the Essen reports, trying to figure out which games will really hit my sweet spot. I'm on the fence about ordering Agricola - I'm a big Uwe Rosenberg (the designer) fan and the advance word on the game sounds wonderful - but the price tag is pretty hefty. I'm also interested in Giganten der Lufte (which will be called Airships in the international version, I think), but I figure I can wait on that. I can't decide whether I will love or hate Race for the Galaxy, which means someone else in my group needs to buy a copy so I can try it.

I have no questions WHATSOEVER about whether I'll own a copy of the Memoir '44 Air Pack... they just released a pdf of the rules today & I couldn't be happier about what this expansion will do to the game system. Now the question is whether I'll get it as a gift for Christmas or if I'll buy it for myself on December 26th.

I ordered the limited edition reprint of Mordred six months ago... and just received it yesterday. It looks wonderful, but I won't get to play until Friday (one of my gamer buddies - hi, Steve!) is hosting a Black Friday Game Day. (And, if I can't do that, it'll have to wait for Monday night. Sigh.) Best line from the rules: "This game should take about 1/2 hour to play... if you find yourself playing for two hours, you've done something horribly wrong."

We did get to play Ark on Monday night with the expansion cards - they lengthen the game a bit, but they also offer more ways to manipulate the loading process, which is fun. (I think they also help balance the game out a bit - all the players have a better chance of finding & playing specials when there are more specials in the deck.) For more on Monday gaming, you can check out this geeklist... or this one about our "Spooky Games Night" right before Halloween.

Braeden & I haven't got back to our Soulborg vs. Elves & Undead Heroscape battle, but that's the plan for this weekend. So far, it's about equal carnage on both sides... and the Undead are proving to be less effective than I'd like. OTOH, the Elves are pretty much keeping a posse of robots at bay, so I'm liking my chances right now.

I've already sent my BGG Secret Santa gift... since it is going overseas, I couldn't be quite as creative - but I did manage to stick in a couple of games that are tough to find outside of the U.S. Now... I wonder what my Secret Santa is doing for me?!

A bit of exciting news from designer Tom Lehmann (which came to my attention thanks to Brian Bankler's Tao of Gaming): there will be an expansion to To Court The King. How cool is that?!

And, yes, Virginia, there will be yet another edition of the Five & Dime reports in 2008... more on that as we reach the final days of 2007.