#43: Web of Power (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Web of Power 

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 337
• rating: 7.26

Print Status

• the original game is out of print... though it has just been re-published as Iwari

Why It's On The List

• An extraordinarily simple game of brinksmanship as various monastic orders struggle to influence medieval Europe. Quite possibly one of the best three player games ever designed.

Tips & Tricks:

• Web of Power was reprinted as China - with some board & rules changes. I like the original better. (I have not played another reprint - Han - nor the aforementioned most recent version, Iwari.)
• The designer (Michael Schacht) has an online gaming site where you can play not only Web of Power & China... but a series of 12 different boards using the same game system!
• Make plays that enable you to put pairs into your hand - since they act as wild cards.
• Tricky scoring tip #1: advisors only help if you win/tie on both sides of the connection. Don't get in a war you can't win - you're only helping the other guy.
• Tricky scoring tip #2: don't take all but one building site in a country - you leave a spot open for one player to collect a lot of points w/a single play. You only need a majority in a country to garner all of the points.
• There are a couple of expansions - both are print & play: The Vatican (which is ok) and Kardinal & Konig: Das Duell (which does a great job of making Web of Power work as a 2 player game).
• One complaint: a direct translation of the German name (Kardinal & Konig) would have been much better name than Web of Power... it would have been "Cardinals & Kings".

Extras

• Here's what I wrote about Web of Power for The One Hundred: personal & "official".
• This is the first of two Michael Schlacht games on my list.

#44: Favor of the Pharaoh (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Favor of the Pharaoh

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 1291
• rating: 6.82

Print Status

• available

Why It's On The List

• A re-imagined version of the classic dice game To Court the King - imagine Yahtzee crossed with Magic: The Gathering. You use dice to obtain card powers in order to manipulate dice to obtain more power (and dice) to finally win the favor of the Pharaoh.

Tips & Tricks:

• You need dice - and a few manipulation powers. Going the other way (dice manipulation powers and a few extra dice) will lose you the game.
• The game works well with 2-4 players.
• The variability introduced in this version is excellent - each game has its own feel.
• I do wish I'd sprung for a second set of dice... with 4 players, you have to do a lot of trading around of base dice.

Extras

• I had the privilege of Tom Lehmann (the designer) showing me the unpublished expansion for To Court the King some years back... many of those great ideas ended up in Favor of the Pharaoh.
• This is the second of five (5!) Lehmann designs on my list.

#45: Thebes (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Thebes

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 450
• rating: 7.14

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• One of the best example of a game design integrating theme & mechanics - drawing tiles from the bag "feels" like archaeology. As well, the use of the "time cost" mechanic makes the game fluid & gives each player a plethora of tactical options.

Tips &Tricks:

• The tile bags are a marked improvement over the card decks from the original version of this game, Jenseit von Thebes.
• If you're not going to collect the lecture series cards, just make sure no other person hoards them - that's some big points out there on the rubber chicken circuit.
• I like to jump out with one or two quick expeditions to harvest a few easy artifacts (and have a variety of colors for the various exhibitions) - but there's something to be said for making sure you have a couple of assistants & shovels before you do any serious digging.
• Don't forget about the bonuses for highest level of research into each site!

Extras

• The German video trailer for the game!

#46: Core Worlds (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Core Worlds

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 638
• rating: 7.20

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Andrew Parks created a space empire-building deck-builder - and combined it with a tableau system for deploying units that makes this game both deeply strategic and a challenging puzzle. And then he created two incredible expansions that make the game even better!

Tips &Tricks:

• I think the original Core Worlds game is a solid 7 - but when you add the first expansion (Galactic Orders), it's jumps to an 8 (or maybe even a 9). And the second expansion (Revolution) just locks that high rating into place!
• The game has enough components for 5 players... but I prefer it with 2-3, as the pace of the game is quicker.
• Building combos is important - as is managing expectations. You will not be able to do everything you want, so you will need to prioritize your energy and actions near the end of the game to bring in victory points.

Extras

• I wrote a big review of the two expansions for the Opinionated Gamers website.

#47: Unmatched: Battle of Legends (Mark's Top 50 -2020)

Unmatched: Battle of Legends

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 2094
• rating: 8.18

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• Take the basic card combat idea behind Star Wars: Epic Duels... add in the brilliant LOS board configuration system from Tannhauser...and infuse the game thematically with a "mix of characters across time & reality" vibe from Heroscape... and then do a top-notch production job... and you've got Unmatched.

Tips & Tricks:

• One of the biggest issues in Epic Duels (the need of some characters to turtle for multiple turns in order to make decent attacks) is fixed here... both by better balancing the decks AND by instituting a "getting to the end of your deck" penalty.
• Each character/team has different strengths and weaknesses... you cannot play each character the same way and be successful.
• The character receiving the least love out of the gate was King Arthur... but I've managed to pull off some wins with him by playing the cards in his deck, not the cards I wish he had.
• Currently, the game doesn't have a free-for-all mode... I don't think that's a loss.

Extras

• This is the first of four (4!) Rob Daviau games that will appear on my top 50 list this time around.
• The Bigfoot/Robin Hood expansion also works as a stand-alone 2 player game.
• Bruce Lee is price-y... but his deck is really interesting to play.

#48: New Frontiers (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

New Frontiers

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 748
• rating: 7.70

Print Status

• in print

Why It's On The List

• I wouldn't go as far to say that New Frontiers has fired the classic Puerto Rico... but it covers a lot of the same ground with better graphics and a more compelling theme. 

Tips & Tricks:

• New Frontiers does not seem to have the same "newbie automatically assists player to their left" problem as Puerto Rico... but players still need to pay careful attention to the downstream effects of their action choices.
• Don't put all your point-scoring eggs in one basket - especially when it comes to the 9 cost technologies. I have been known to buy a 9 cost tech that was only marginal for me in order to keep it out of the hands of someone who could really benefit from it.
• The Starry Rift expansion is due out later this year... I'm looking forward to it! It will add 16 home worlds, 10 developments, 13 worlds, and 8 goals - and Xeno worlds will add a risk/reward element to military conquest.

Extras

• This is the first of five (5!) Tom Lehmann games that will appear on my top 50 list this time around... and the first of 3 Race for the Galaxy universe games. Sue me.

#49: Ra (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Ra

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 158
• rating: 7.47

Print Status

• out of print? (I think)

Why It's On The List

• I'm not sure why Ra jumps on & off my top games list... it's a splendid auction game that scales well from 3-5 players and is filled with tension and constant reevaluation of values.

Tips & Tricks:

• Timing is everything. Seriously.
• My first play of Ra was 90 minutes - which was miserable and turned me off the game for a good year or so. When I finally got to play it at normal speed (30-45 minutes), it jumped considerably in my estimation.
• There are times (particularly in the final epoch) where winning an auction simply to trade up for a better sun is a good idea. These do not happen as often as I see people making these kinds of trades.
• There are two spin-off games from the Ra family:
• Ra: The Dice Game (which I enjoy and wish I owned a copy of...)
• Priests of Ra (which I do not - it just uses the same base engine & monkeys with the scoring)

Extras

• Here's what I wrote about Ra for The One Hundred.
• This is the first of four (4!) Reiner Knizia designs on the list.

#50: Codenames (Mark's Top 50 - 2020)

Codenames

BoardGameGeek

• rank: 65
• rating: 7.67

Print Status

• in print (with lots of different versions)

Why It's On The List

• Codenames is an extraordinarily clever word game - it's Password on steroids - that works with a wide variety of groups, ages, and gaming backgrounds. Even people who don't like word games like Codenames.

Tips & Tricks:

• I think the game is best with 4-6 players... though it will work with larger crowds.
• Pay close attention to the Assassin word - a perfectly good clue could lead your team to end the round prematurely! (I speak from experience.)

Extras

• For two players, the cooperative version (Codenames Duet) is also excellent.

My Personal Most Played Games of the Decade

The folks at the Opinionated Gamers blog are working on a post about the most played games of the decade... and as a part of my research for my input, I took a look at the patterns in my own game playing.

The chart above (and the list below) show the games that appeared in my top ten most played games for that year. Some of the patterns are not a surprise (Race for the Galaxy is continually played 5+ times each year... and often much more than that)... while others (I don't remember playing Quarriors that much) seem to come out of left field.

I'm not sure I have more to say about this... but I'm sure this might interest one or two of you. :-)

Appeared in my top ten played games for that year...

6 times

• Race for the Galaxy
• Star Realms
• Summoner Wars

5 times

• DC Comics Deck-Building Game
• Sentinels of the Multiverse
• The City

4 times

• Fast Food Franchise
• Memoir '44

3 times

• 7 Wonders Duel
• Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure
• Descent: Journeys in the Dark (2nd edition)
• Jump Drive
• Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age

2 times

• 7 Wonders 
• DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Rivals 
• Heroscape
• Quarriors!
• Suburbia
• Ticket to Ride

1 time

• 1st & Goal
• Abandon Ship
• Bounce-It-In
• Burger Joint
• Can't Stop
• Castle Panic
• Catacombs
• City Square Off
• Clank! In! Space!
• Colony
• Colt Express
• Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg
• Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend of Drizzt Board Game
• Eminent Domain
• Fabled Fruit
• Favor of the Pharaoh
• Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul-Kar
• Friday
• Gemblo Woodman
• Impact: Battle of Elements
• Innovation
• Keltis: Der Weg der Steine
• Machi Koro
• Marrakech
• Marvel Champions: The Card Game
• NEOM
• New Frontiers
• Numeri
• Pandemic Legacy (Season One)
• Port Royal
• Powerships
• Risk Legacy
• Roll for the Galaxy 
• Runebound (3rd edition)
• Scrabble
• Skip-bo
• Small World
• Team Play
• The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
• The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Deck-Building Game
• The Rivals for Catan
• Unmatched: Battle of Legends
• Wiz-War (eighth edition)
• Wurfel Bohnanza

It's Still Personal: Mark's Five & Dime Games for 2019

Hey, campers... I may have stopped collecting the Five & Dime stats for everyone else - but I haven't stopped collecting my own!

Here's my own personal Five & Dime list (the games I played 5+ and 10+ times in 2019).

As always, I include only face-to-face games and games played with human opponents over apps/online.

Games with an asterisk [*] were on my Five & Dime list last year, games with two asterisks [**] have been on my list for the past two years, games with three asterisks [***] have been there for three years, games with four asterisks [****] have been there for 4 years, games with a plus [+] have been there 5 years, games with a plus and an asterisk [+*] have been there 6 years, games with a plus and two asterisks [+**] have been there 7 years, games with a plus and three asterisks [+***] have been there 8 years... and games with a plus and four asterisks [+****] have been there (wait for it) for the past 9 years!

If you're curious, here's the games that have been on my Five & Dime list for 5+ years

• Race for the Galaxy (9 years)
• Sentinels of the Multiverse (7 years)
• DC Comics Deckbuilding Game (5 years)
• Star Realms (5 years)

Dimes

• Impact: Battle of Elements 21
• Wurfel Bohnanza 19 *
• Marvel Champions: The Card Game 16
• Unmatched: Battle of Legends 16
• New Frontiers 14
• Die Quacksalber von Quedlinburg 13
• Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure 12 **
• Jump Drive 12 **
• NEOM 12
• Star Realms 12 +
• Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated 11
• Roll Player 11
• Shards of Infinity 11
• Memoir '44 10 *
• Roll for the Galaxy 10 ***
• Wildlands 10

Nickels

• Nemo's War 9
• Call to Adventure 8
• DC Comics Deck-Building Game (includes Multiverse, Teen Titans & Forever Evil) 8 +
• Res Arcana 8
• Sagrada 8
• Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale 7
• DC Comics Deck-Building Game: Rivals - Green Lantern vs Sinestro 7
• Dice Throne 7
• Dungeonquest 7
• Friday 7
• Race for the Galaxy 7 +****
• Star Wars: Destiny 7
• 7 Wonders 6 ****
• 7 Wonders Duel 6 ***
• Catan (includes Rise of the Inkas) 6 *
• Heroscape 6
• Sentinels of the Multiverse 6 +**
• Suburbia 6
• Dungeon Alliance 5 *
• Football Highlights 2052 5
• Ice Cool 5
• Millennium Blades 5
• The Quest for El Dorado 5 *
• Sports Dynasty 5
• Teen Titans GO! Deck-Building Game 5

Just Missed (with 4 plays)

A caret [^] denotes that they were on the Five & Dime list last year... and a pound sign [#] marks games I'm pretty sure will return in 2020.  (Note: I was wrong about all the games I listed as returning last year... 0 for 3. Let's see if I do better this year.) A dollar sign [$] indicates that the game was on the "Just Missed" list last year.

• Aargh!
• Animal Upon Animal
• Betrayal Legacy ^
• Gelini Nightlife
• Heroes of Terrinoth
• Monster Lands
• Mystery Rummy: Al Capone $
• Pokemon Trading Card Game
• Rhino Hero: Super Battle ^
• Roll for Adventure #
• Star Wars: Outer Rim #
• Ticket to Ride #

Family Time

There are certain game systems that don't always show up in these lists unless you list them as a group... I thought I'd honor those games this year.

• Clank! 26
• Clank! 12
• Clank! Legacy 11
• Clank! In! Space! 3
• DC Comics Deckbuilding 17
• DC Comics Deckbuilding 8
• Rivals: Green Lantern vs Sinestro 7
• Confrontations 2
• Mystery Rummy 10
• Al Capone 4
• Escape from Alcatraz 3
• Wyatt Earp 2
• Jekyll & Hyde 1
• Ticket to Ride 7
• Ticket to Ride 4
• New York 2
• London 1
• Catan 6
• Catan 4
• Rise of the Inkas 2

After All These Years

These are game that fell off the list... after years of repeated play. I felt compelled to say a few words at their passing.

• Descent: Journeys in the Dark **
• The common theme this year is "oldest son going away for college"... which explains the drop-off in Descent play. I need to roll the app back out and play solo.
• Clank! In! Space! *
• We still played a lot of Clank!... just not the sci-fi version. The addition of the Cyberstation expansion should bring it back to the table for at least 5 plays this year.
• Flamme Rouge *
• This only comes out with 5-6 folks now... excellent game but I'm mostly playing with groups of 2-4.
• Trains *
• I like this better than everyone else in my family... and prefer it to Dominion. I need to bring it to game nights.

Four Games For Holiday Family Gaming

Christmas time is coming... and I will inevitably be asked by friends who are a little less obsessed with board/card games than I am what new (or new-ish) games I would recommend to them for holiday times with family.

You, gentle reader, now get to benefit from my need to answer that question. I present for your consideration four games that could be the key to a lovely evening with friends and family this Christmas season.

Just One

The winner of the Spiel des Jahres (Game of the Year) in Germany, this is a simple cooperative game of clue-giving (think Password)... except you do it as a group. And, most importantly, no clue can match. 

The game plays 4-7 folks... but it's probably best with 6 or 7. My play with a mixed age group (young teens & adults) actually went pretty well.

Team Play

A partnership game for 4 or 6 people... it's a rummy variant with card drafting and passing cards to your partner that plays in about 30 minutes. I find it completely addictive. 

I think it's best with 4 - less downtime - but it works just fine with six players.

Rhino Hero Super Battle

Yes, it's a kids dexterity game from a company best known for creating beautiful kid games... but it has been a hit with every group of adults I've played it with. Imagine combining building castles out of card (only easier) combined with whimsical art and a competition to be the hero highest up in the great building you participate in creating.

It maxes out at four players... but always attracts a crowd of folks who want to play (or just want to watch the silliness).

Cartographers: A Roll Player Tale

A roll'n'write game that can be played by 1-8 players. In roll & write games (well, technically, this is a flip & write game) you roll dice or flip cards to determine what each player is going to write on their play sheet. In the case of Cartographers, you are mapping a fantasy kingdom - trying to satisfy certain points goals by building the right kind of kingdom. 

There is some interaction with the monster cards (that let you write on the paper of the person next to you)... but it's a relatively gentle game that's a delight to play - especially when you use colored pencils to make your map extra special. 

Mark's Bundle of 2019 Essen Game Thoughts

This post was written in mid-November... thus, I have not just gotten home from a weekend of post-Essen gaming in "real time".

Just got home from a fantastic weekend of gaming (Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon) with friends… enjoying a truckload of new games straight from Essen. (OK, so not really a truckload, unless it was a small hand truck being pulled by a guy on a moped. Still, 32 new games isn’t a bad weekend – especially when you get to play them with great people.)

Here’s my ‘hot takes’… organized by day. (Disclaimer – the majority of these are based on one play, though under excellent conditions with experienced gamers and a rules teacher who had read the rules ahead of time and/or played the game previously.) There are some thoughts about games I didn’t get to play at the end as well.

Thursday

The “Essen games only” rule of this particular gathering didn’t kick in until Friday morning… so I had the opportunity to play Giant Azul (which is made me feel like a small child – dang, those pieces are huge) and an unpublished prototype from Bezier Games.

Cloaked Cats: Code 777 for children… that’s over-simplifying it, but this is a deduction game for kids & families. The cards in your hand determine what clues you’ll give and/or force out of other people. My only complaint is that the striped cats are sometimes tricky to see in the artwork. (BTW, I was horrible at this game… no surprise.)

Friday

Lux Aeterna: Played this solitaire real-time space adventure a couple of times… winning both times on “easy” setting. You pick up four cards, quickly assess them and assign them to one of four positions, then execute the good (and bad) stuff. Your job is to keep the space ship alive and not fall into a black hole. I like the art style but the rules could use a slight tuning and I don’t see it holding my interest for too many more games.

Mandala: Two player game of set-collecting… very abstract. Simple to play but I want more theme in my games. Note: board is a printed tea towel… I could feel the Ragnor Brothers smiling from across the sea.

What Came First?: Simple party game that was performing at its best (I think) with just 3 players. Bid 1-3 chips on which thing (Doritos or Pringles?) happened first. If you know the year for sure, you can “go big” to gain extra points. Find out actual answer, score, lather, rinse, repeat.

Kakerlaken Sushi: The first of two times I would be talked into playing the newest member of the Kakerlaken (cockroach) game family. Cross the easiest form of the dice game Bongo with an Arriba-like grabbing game… I was decent at it but I don’t play these kind of games much any more unless I’m at a weekend gathering. If you like these kinds of things, it works very well.

5er Finden: HABA does a pattern search game that is really enjoyable. Roll the dice then quickly find Tetris-like shapes that incorporate all five symbols on your personal mat. Outline them with a dry erase pen… and when you’ve got 5, flip the timer for everyone else. I liked it.

Die Crew: Do not be surprised if the copy of this at BGGcon this week is dog-eared from near constant play. It’s a cooperative trick-taking game that is really enjoyable. Die Crew (The Crew: was in near constant rotation this weekend – I personally played 3 different times… and can’t seem to find my way past Mission 7. (Other OG members have written about this in their Essen reports… and I’d expect to see a full review coming up soon.)

Electropolis: One of my highlights of the weekend… a relatively simple drafting/city-building game that still offered some really nifty twists. You draft from a circle of tiles… where you have to take the appropriate number of adjacent tiles. You know how many to take based on where you chose to end up in the turn order – go later & get more tiles or go early & get a couple that you want/need. Placement is determined by an action card that you draft with your tiles. I would love to play it again and see how it goes with 2 players… 4 was great – our game was just over an hour.

Ab durch die Mauer: This is right in Zoch’s wheelhouse… cool mechanic (magnets and rotating board lead to ghosts floating through the titular walls) coupled searching for costume cards for your ghost. Went just a little too long… would work best with 8-11 year olds, I think – the frustration level of your ghost traveling all over the board without your control would overwhelm some smaller kids.

Qwixx on Board: Take regular Qwixx, which I enjoy. Add a board that the active player can use to move on to cross off yet another space and move along to earn a few extra points. It sounds goofy, but I really liked the extra decision it added. I hope Gamewright will release a copy of the board to put in my nice Qwixx Deluxe box.

Age of Dirt: A Game of Uncivilization: Imagine, if you will, Stone Age if the guys designing it were junior highers who had just been given their first dice tower. That sounds like a snarky complaint, but we really had fun with this prehistoric resource-gathering game where sending cavemen out to harvest stuff doesn’t always mean they’ll show up. They can get stuck in “The Passage” (the dice tower) and appear at some later time. The invention cards are pun-filled and offer the “rock star points” you need to win the game. It ran right at an hour, which is about right for the weight of this game.

Fast Sloths: I understand it’s a game about sloth racing… but with five players it didn’t move quite fast enough to feel like a race. There are a lot of opportunities for clever plays and the game is mechanically sound – but there wasn’t a spark. I’d like to try it again with fewer players to see if I like it better with less waiting between turns.

Bubble Tea: Speed pattern building game with over-produced bubble tea shaker for dice cup. And that pretty much covers it.

Dust on the Wings: Beautiful production – but the game play is Five Tribes without any special powers and/or reasons to play more than once. Possibly my least favorite game of the weekend.

Dawn of Mankind: Prehistoric civilization creation… I liked the aging mechanic and the variety of ways to chase resources, points and innovations. There’s also nice variability in the action layout. I’d like to play it again with a different mix of actions.

Era: Medieval Age: I’m a big fan of Matt Leacock’s “Roll Through…” trilogy of games: Roll Through the Ages: Bronze Age, RTtA: Iron Age, and Chariot Race (on which I was a playtester). I had high hopes for Era… and though the components are gorgeous (with the exception of the base board which should have had the icons darkened), the gameplay does not live up to the previous incarnations of the system.

Nova Luna: I love Uwe’s Patchwork… and I adore Corne’s Habitats – in theory, combining those two games should be a winner. The problem? They’ve shucked all the theme and character out of Habitats, leaving just the placement mechanic. If you like abstracted placement games, this is excellent… but it left me cold.

Saturday

Coloma: The Wild West meets worker placement with an interesting action selection system and LOTS to do. It moves at a nice pace (even with six players) and the presentation is very good. I actually put it on my BGG Secret Santa wishlist… though I wonder how often I’ll get to play it. (Our first-timers six player game took 2.5 hours – I think a second game would clock in right at 2 hours.)

Kauchuk: Using rubber bands & a peg board for area control (in a stunning variety of modes) is genius. I want to clarify a rule (how big an area can you surround with completed areas and claim?) and I’m not in love with the cardboard scoring track – but I’d be more than happy to play again.

Miyabi: Puzzle-y game of building Japanese gardens from HABA… not really a game for kids – it’s got some tricky decisions and you can paint yourself into a corner. On the plus side, it’s enjoyable and (no surpise with HABA) has big chunky tiles for you to build up your garden.

Pictures: Cross Codenames Pictures with a variety of oddball ways to communicate the correct answer (sticks & stones, 3×3 colored pixel grid, shoestrings, etc.)… and what you get was actually an enjoyable party game for 3-5 players/teams. I think it might have a limited number of plays in the box (due to the number of cards and the sameness of the challenges) – but those would all be really enjoyable plays. This would be a great choice for holiday gaming with non-gamer family.

6 nimmt! Brettspiel: I’m a long-time fan of Tanz der Hornochsen, the previous 6 Nimmt! board game… so I wondered both (a) what’s different, and (b) does it work? Happy to report there are differences (mainly the addition of action cards and the shortening of the game by eliminating buying new tiles) and that they work like a charm. (Sadly, the relatively tasteful manure/poop jokes are gone… part of the bizarre charm of Tanz.) I honestly prefer either of these to the original game (which is good but more abstract) or the numerous variant decks (which complicate the game unnecessarily.)

Kushi Express: Speed dexterity game of making sushi out of 4 plastic blocks and two cloth pieces of “bacon” and “cheese”. I am awful at this… but it does photograph quite nicely.

Point Salad: Reminded me of King’s Breakfast a bit… inoffensive but I don’t need to play it again. Pretty much standard set collecting.

The City: I’ve played the German version of the The City 91 times… and Jump Drive (the Race for the Galaxy re-implementation of The City) 72 times. I’d call myself a fan. So this play with new English language edition was a treat – Tom Lehmann (the designer) has re-balanced some of the cards and added a few new ones. I don’t like the art (too pastel) or the graphic design – both of which make it harder to read the game across the table than the original Amigo version. But the game still works like a charm… and it’s really nice to have an English version available.

The Artemis Project: A six round engine builder of settling Europa (the ice moon of Jupiter)… it’s primarily a dice placement game that is reminiscent of Jeff Allers’ Order of the Gilded Compass/Alea iacta est games – only with more random events and sci-fi theme. I enjoyed our three player game but need to try it again with more players to see if it has more “sharp elbows” at those player counts.

Suburbia Collector’s Edition: Did I spend a lot of money on a box that is big enough (and heavy enough) to generate its own gravitational field? Yes. Was it worth it? Oh yeah. The new tiles are gorgeous, the bits are wonderful, the tower is silly but keeps things organized… and the sliding tray for tiles and Gamer Trayz for storage are top notch. (And I won.)

It’s a Wonderful World: A slightly more gamer-y 7 Wonders-ish card draftign game of civilization building. The major difference is that you’re drafting a set of cards that you then use as resources (discarding them) or construction (building them). We were just over 30 minutes with 2 players… but both Dan & I are “play by the seat of your pants” players. I saw other games with more players that lasted nearly an hour – which indicates that the game proceeds at the pace of the slowest player. Good news: it worked just fine with 2 players “out of the box”.

Silver: I know that lots of folks like these games… and the prototype deck I played had some crunchy tricky goodness in it. But I’m not the right audience for this one – while still acknowledging I’m in the minority here.

Sunday

Robin von Locksley: Uwe Rosenberg designing in the mold of Patchwork and his classic card games, rather than in Agricola/Caverna mode… and it’s very, very good. Great two player set-collecting game that involves the knight movement from Chess and a variable race track. I need to find a copy of this one!

Expedition to Newdale: I’ve never played Oh My Goods! (which Newdale is a thematic continuation of)… but if this game is any indication, I’ve been missing out. This was just the right side of think-y production engine building with interesting board play decisions and (bonus!) a campaign system that tells a story. The box actually contains 8 different boards and cards that are seeded into the deck as the story moves along. 4 players landed right at 2 hours… I’m wondering if it will work as a 2 player game for my younger son & I.

Rune Stones: My last game of the weekend… a beautifully produced Queen deck-building/deconstructing game. The theme is standard fantasy trope: collect creatures, use them to collect gems which you can turn into artifacts… which finally transform into points/rune stones (permanent powers). The game ran almost 90 minutes – which is too long for what’s there – but I think it might pick up speed quickly on a second play. Turns are very straightforward and the way in which you can un-build your deck to use powers on the cards is cool.

Didn’t Get To Play

I had three games I really wanted to try and didn’t get to:

• Flotilla
• Lockup: A Roll Player Tale
• Megacity Oceania

They all look very interesting in their own strange ways.

The game I most want to try from Essen 2019 wasn’t at the event: Sanctum (from CGE). Both my oldest son & I have it on our Christmas lists.

Observed But Not Played

Some quick hits on games that were played around me but not by me:

• Crystal Palace – long… very long.
• Maracaibo – popular and well-liked… but had a long running time for first-time players
• The Magnificent – the board is very murky looking
• Cooper Island – cool-looking board… but very much “play your own game” except for worker placement

This post originally appeared on the Opinionated Gamers website.