I'm extraordinarily excited to get this to the table - ROLLING HEIGHTS, a game about city building where you throw meeples like dice. It looks super neat, I like meeples, I love city building themes &, well. I hope it's as fun as it looks.
I super-approve of this note in the rulebook of a game about marine science I'm learning.
I really like the combination of image & flavour text on this version of Curiosity. The last line showcases a little stylistic thing I think I first read the author Steve Aylett talking about: not using a question mark where grammatically you probably ought to, to make the thing stick up more because you're artificially flattening it. It works here particularly because it follows three rhetorical questions, then breaks the pattern. Small, but I like it.
Sorry to friends unfamiliar with Magic for whom this will be incomprehensible, but I am deeply enamoured with Izzet commanders at the moment. I really like spellslinging with lots of value & triggers, I love dragon tribal in Izzet, I think Izzet offers the most fun with tokens & hell, it's probably the best colour combination for artifacts too. My Izzet decks feel flexible & varied when I play them, but it doesn't shut other people down either. I like it a lot.
Played these 3 small box, 2-player card games last night & really enjoyed all of them. First game of BEER & BREAD - very impressed with the hand-management aspects: storing cards, drafting & using each card for 1 of 3 actions.
I was on the fence about MANDALA the first time I played it, but last night it clicked for me & I think it's terrific. An abstract area-control game with square cards on a cloth board.
GEISHA'S ROAD is my favourite 2-player card game. Superb.
Played LACRIMOSA last night, a game about finishing Mozart's final requiem after his death. The player boards are gorgeous & there's a nice action selection system each round where the top & bottom of each card do something different. Our scores were mostly tight by the end, though we got a few rules wrong & the reliance on language-agnostic components means there are a lot of symbols to learn. I like it & would like to play again.
Tried out HOLLY JOLLY this evening, a festive set collection card game. The artwork is really nice - retro 50s Americana vibe. I am very fond of set collection games - it's a fun design space that titles like SUSHI GO! do a lot with. Hopefully I'll be writing a review of this one in the not-too-distant.
Played TERRAFORMING MARS again this week. It remains terrific - just consistently a great game that feels absorbing & thematic. I didn't win but the player who did really earned it by creating an efficient machine. Even so, despite the fact it feels like you make radically different choices, games I play with equally experienced players generally end pretty tight score wise. Big fan, anyway. Deservedly celebrated.
Played AUTOBAHN again this evening. I have some niggles - long setup/teardown. Many fiddly small components. A few unintuitive rules that feel odd. Big first player advantage. BUT. But.
I really like this game folks. Each time I play I enjoy it more. Lots of interdependence on a central map. Pick-up-&-deliver that actually feels fun, plus engine building, some deck building, & a lovely progression as your reps first earn you money, then VPs as they get kicked upstairs.
Playing STARSHIP CAPTAINS at game night. Tried it at Essen, looking forward to having another go.
#boardgames #tabletop
