What game is hitting your table?

[celticgriffon]

I haven't had a chance to do much gaming lately but last night I was able to get the Village and Basari in play.

I like to give a punt to anything that wins an award.  I think the Village was interesting but to be honest I am kind of getting sick of worker placement and generic cube pushing as of late.  It is a decent game, however and it made me think of a lot of do differents next time which is typically a good sign.

Basari - hate the yellow box newer version (ugly).  I am so glad I have my pretty FX Schmidt german edition still.   For such a simple game it sure packs a lot of punch.

PS - Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective is fantastic... thanks for posting that - i have to get it back to the table again soon.

Michael

[Jolo]

5 player game of Railway Rivals, this is the SdJ winner from 1984 and it combines track building with racing.

[Bix Conners]

Well, finally getting settled back in from a 5 week vacation to Europe. Kathy and I had a great trip. Here are some gaming highlights from the trip:

Mexican Train Double Twelve Dominoes @ Hudson's Cafe in Berlin, Germany
We went to a British Cafe/Pub on a Trivia night and the two of us entered a team into the pub trivia... we sucked. However, over the course of the evening, we saw that the place had a few games so we played Dominoes. Kathy beat me handily. Fun night and we chatted with some folks staying in Berlin from England.

Hanabi @ our airBnB apartment in Berlin, Germany
Kathy and I were joined by our daughter Krystal who is currently living in Berlin for a quick three player game. We managed to score 20 points. Not bad.

7 Wonders @ Beyond Monopoly in York, England
Kathy and I played a 6 player game of this at the Beyond Monopoly games day. They have these on two Saturdays each month and also, on the opposite Friday evenings. We happened to be there for one of the Saturday events. A very welcoming group and a friendly place to play some games. Great hospitality.

AffenTennis x2 @ Beyond Monopoly in York, England
This was a real treat. John had checked my BGG Profile and noticed that I wanted to play this and made a point of bringing it out. I think this is a brilliant game that is loads of fun. I definitely need to locate a copy for myself now.

Kingdom Builder @ Beyond Monopoly in York, England
I am really starting to see the brilliance of this game. It certainly is an abstract strategy game and does that very well. I am enjoying this game more the more I play it.

Hanabi @ Colin & Catharine's place in Egham, England (Just outside of London)
We played a four player game of this with Colin & Catharine after a day of visiting, sampling ale, and BBQ'ing. We managed a score of 19 points.

Coloretto x2 at Hotel Turin in Berlin, Germany
Our last night in Europe, we were all packed and decided to play a couple of games of Coloretto to close of the evening. Our daughter Krystal was with us again so it was a nice way to end the evening and the trip.
Fantastic trip and full of fond memories. We normally pack a few boardgames (smaller ones) when we travel. I think now we will stick to iPad versions of boardgames for the convenience. I tend to dislike video games instead of boardgames, but when traveling they sure make sense. In addition to the above, we played the following on the iPad over the course of 5 weeks.
Ticket to Ride ~ 4 Games.
Carcassonne ~ 2 Games.
Kingsburg ~ 1 Game.
Kingdom Builder ~ 20 Solo Games.
Eclipse ~ 2 Solo Games.
Can't Stop ~ 10 Games.
Las Vegas ~ 5 Games.
Through the Desert ~ 1 Solo Game.
Battle Line ~ 2 Games.
Stone Age ~ 3 Games.

It is so convenient to use the iPad for Pass 'n' Play games on the plane or trains. Now I do not have to pack games in my luggage for these trips anymore.

[Jolo]

So I went to Saskatoon Blitz to teach some games, and run a couple of tournaments for Dragon's Den.

I played only two games all weekend, both were Sentinels of the Multiverse...

The first game was Iron Legacy against Tachyon, Bunker and Argent Adept. We lasted 5 rounds before he greased us, so we tried it again...
Fanatic, Legacy and Omnitron X vs. Iron Legacy, this time we won in a fairly close game, we ground him down.

Games we taught were:
Sentinels (one of the big hits)
Blokus (the other)
Small World
Settlers
Kingdom Builder
Ingenious
Munchkin
Liars Dice
Ticket to Ride

[Jolo]

Last night we played a 6 player game of Viticulture. It is ok...

It is a WP game of building a vineyard, and has not really changed my opinion of WP yet. I will give it one more try first.

[Tempest]

I got some of my friends to play Arctic Scavengers last Saturday. We definitely broke the game wide open this time. One friend and I both decided to rush as many scouts as possible; I got more and happened to win two sled teams early on which gave me some huge hands which allowed me to win a large amount of skirmishes. By the end of the game all the piles were empty; the junkyard was down to just junk and I think the schematics deck had 3-4 plans in it. I'll have to purposely not stockpile on scouts next time I play, because I think that's broken. Hahaha.

[Jolo]

2 plays of 2P Viticulture

Maybe I will keep this WP

[Commando Cody]

Planned on playing some Risk on the weekend but could only round up 2 other guys.  We ended up playing Nuclear Risk, which is where a nuclear disaster occurs whenever double 6s are rolled.  Whoever rolls the double 6s loses all of their armies involved in that battle and their territory involved in the battle becomes a nuclear wasteland.  Wastelands are passable, but you lose half your armies in the process.  Made for an interesting game, and I'd definitely play this variant again as it speeds the game up and allows for some crazy shifts in power.

We then played Castle Risk, which requires a total shift in thinking when it comes to Risk games.

[Jolo]

2 plays of Wits & Wagers, 1 of Small World. I am using that I was teaching Ankh-Morpork while playing this as my excuse for not winning...

[Jolo]

Formidable Foes, Friedemann Friese's dungeon crawl. It was ok, we played three player