What game is hitting your table?

[Colin Dearborn]

Saturday afternoon+rain=boardgames.

It was a good day for some light filler games at our house.

BATTLE LINE
I was pleased when Alex pulled this off the shelf and asked to learn it. We played a couple games of this great little two player war/card game. I remember not liking it much after the first play but it has slowly risen into my top 10 all time for two player games.


QUARRIORS (with RISE OF THE DEMONS EXPANSION)
THe light dice building game still is enjoyable after a dozen plays. Had a 4 player game featuring Dragons and Hags. It was Michelle's first play and she did enjoy it, especially when her dragon ate both my Goblins. Played with the new rule from the next expansion that you have to cull any dice that scores......nice change.


GEM DEALER
A very light little auction/trick taking game with enough strategy to keep it interesting for the adults. Highly recommended for gamers with younger kids.


INCAN GOLD
Push your luck to gain more treasure than your opponents. Plays up to 8 and a game takes maximum 20 minutes. Great fun, especially when Dad pushes his luck and gets taken out by a rockslide, twice.

[Tempest]

Just started a game of Talisman last night, which was good, since I haven't played in a while. I think I need to purchase that rules update though...

[Jolo]

Descent Journeys in the Dark, along with Descent: Road to Legend, this is a continuation of a campaign that started last year. We took a hiatus of 6 months but have gotten back into the swing of it. THe group is currently at Silver level, and in two sessions will hit Gold

[celticgriffon]

At Strategy Saturday I was able to play a game of Dominion (with cards from all the sets).  it had been quite a while since I played this last and I really quite enjoyed it.  I find it a neat puzzle.  Trent had an assassin card (or something of that ilk) which kept hitting my stack... I lost a province (6 vp card), an estate?? (3vp card) and also a gold... this set me back enough to give John a win.

We finished the night with a game of Powerplay (slapshot).  I wanted to get this in once before the hockey season ended.  Powerplay is extremely light but it always generates a bunch of laughs.

Cheers,
Michael

[R Newell]

I got in a few sessions of some Victory Points Games solitaire games in the past week or so: Nemo's War and Astra Titanus (both by the designer of the Fallout computer game).  I think I prefer Astra Titanus, a game in which my fleet of starfighters is up against an invading, AI controlled Titan starship.  I'm now 4-0 playing the first 2 (of 9) scenarios, so I'm having an easier time than I thought I would, but I can see looking ahead that the good times for my fleet are about to come to an end.  Nemo's War is also a good one, but it seems that, no matter how well I think I'm doing, my ending narrative is always (and I'm paraphrasing here): "You suck."  (I've also been itching to dust off my other solitaire game, Hornet Leader, before I forget all the rules.)

I also got the wife to indulge me and put off cleaning out the basement storage and instead trying out Mansion of Madness.  We ended up playing through the first scenario twice and the second scenario once, with me as the Keeper and her playing two investigators.  Very fun, with some very cool narrative moments, but boy is it fragile.  It's also a quicker game than I expected it to be, though the set-up is a chore.

[Kurt Swekla]

Just got the newish Zooloretto Wurfelspiel which is a dice game similar to Roll Through the Ages. It isn't quite as fun as RTtA but still offers a fair bit of enjoyment in a short 10 minute game.
Also still playing a fair bit of Stone Age and Twilight Struggle, and played a TS game couple nights ago winning with USA with auto victory point win at the start of turn 5 which seemed really quick, I think mainly to some good dice rolls for me and bad rolls for my opponent.

[Jolo]

JUst finished a three player game of Airlines Europe. Neat game which I will play again.

[Bix Conners]

Monday Night I played a four player game of Merchant of Venus. I am really seeing a lot of replay value in this game. We played to $1500 and I did very poorly. I think I was prepping my ship and route for a $3000 game and was just getting rolling when the game ended. Will be playing this again soon. PS. Love the pimped up version of this from Print & Play Productions.

We finished up Monday night with a four player game of Ingenious. This is a clever quick game with decent components. Would not want to make an evening of this, but it is quite good as a filler game.

Tuesday night I went through the basics of Wings of War with Morty. We will likely set up a six mission league this fall with him running the league. That is great news. I think this game really can benefit from league play.

After that we played a quick two player game of Quarriors with the new expansion. I enjoy this game as a filler game. This is another game that I doubt I would want to make an evening playing, but I enjoy it as a condiment to other games.

The main event Tuesday night was HeroScape. Took our new map for a three player Test Drive.
Check out the map Here

[Jolo]

Descent Journeys in the Dark, along with Descent: Road to Legend, this is a continuation of a campaign that started last year. We took a hiatus of 6 months but have gotten back into the swing of it. THe group is currently at Silver level, and in two sessions will hit Gold

Another week of Descent, and the party is currently 3 points from Gold level (see, I told you 2 sessions!). It has been tough slugging for both sides as they have discovered that the third level is not always a place they want to go.

[Bix Conners]

Fighting Formations: Grossdeutschland Motorized Infantry Division
Cavan was over on Thursday and introduced me to this game. I really like the activation matrix and how it alters the initiative track. Would like to play this a couple more times to get a solid feel for the game system. This was a first play for me.

Dominant Species
Another first play. We had a Saturday full of boardgame goodness that started with a game of Dominant Species. Four player game. Very enjoyable and I would definitely like to play this again.

Risk Legacy
We played game #7 of our Risk Legacy World. Kathy has now got her name on the board. The fortress I have built in South America is getting dismantled, brick by brick. Brick by stinking brick I say. This was a five player game.

Cosmic Encounter
Played a five player game of this. Goofy race combinations and abilities. Three players tied for the win leaving Alex and I to despair in the icy cold vacuum of space.

Lords of Vegas
Another first play. We had four players. This game is best served with beer. Fun times with a bit of hosebaggery added for good measure.