Hey it’s February! The shortest month of the year, also the year where I get to add one more number to my age. Overall I anticipated very low gaming and was mostly correct with a few surprises. But who cares lets drop that picture and see how we did!
Everything I played
The New
Only two new games this months and both little tiny games. While these are new games and even my copies of the game, these were not purchased by myself. They were gifts I got from my kiddos for my birthday (I give them a list of small games I think that they would have fun playing with me, and maybe with others and I go with it.)
Flip 7: It’s a silly push your luck game. It goes great when you need that silly game that no one is taking seriously but you are all choosing to scream over. It’s fine, I don’t think it revolutionizes the genre but is also a quick and easy take on it. You aren’t getting any amazing decisions or calls to make, there is a little “take that!” thrown in with the action cards to try to catch runaway leaders who get a little too far away. It is inoffensive and pulled into the right situation does exactly what it needs to, lets you play a game without really worrying too much about the game you are playing.
Verdict: The Meh
Skull: So this one is kind of a lie. I have played Skull before, but it was long ago and it was never with an official version. I have always proxied it, either with actual bar coasters, though usually with a simple deck of cards (giving everyone three red cards and one black card). However, I always liked the big chunky board game version so I wasn’t unhappy to see it. I find that Skull is an exercise in hubris. Often early in the game everyone is loading up large bets and throwing their skull pieces in and it feels like the whole game is a landmine. Reasonable bets are soon overshadowed by unreasonable bets and you feel like you have to get in on the action or get screwed out of the game. Then about half way through the game this idea shifts, people start trying to actually make their bets so now those ridiculous bets (where someone bets 5 out of 6 or even 7 out of 7) suddenly start being made and you go from having no points to suddenly being the winner. This change is very stark, and being able to time it and read the other players well and capitalize on it is what makes a great game of Skull. I am not good at this game and I feel it never quite reaches the height of fun like cockroach poker, or in some cases even Om Nom Nom (I should write about this game at some point), but it definitely is fun and seems to be enjoyed by all.
Verdict: The Good
The Good
Core Worlds: Got my annual game of Core Worlds out, and this game never dissapoints. I managed to eek out a win this time but just because the player that usually wins was actually sick. Had to introduce it to a new player so still haven’t gotten to play with the expansion. We were able to play with the phase 0 cards and drafting and I feel like this added asymmetry adds so much to the early game and helps out a lot. I look forward to try this again with the expansion and particularly the rule that lets multiple players pick up the same Core World as long as they do it in the same turn.
Spirit Island: Yea I get it you are tired of hearing about this. In my response to calling myself a coward last month I decided to do a solo game against Brandenburg Prussia level one with a blight card. I played as Thundercaller and I DESTROYED!. Honestly I see why people rave about Thundercaller, you have this potentially debilitating requirement that Dahan don’t get destroyed but if you are careful you can just run around the board and grant just enough defence and all the offense you need to be several steps ahead of the invaders and as a bonus you get to use your innate to just move yourself around the board so you are where you need to be when you need to be there.
Tales of Arabian Nights: Pulled this game out at the request of my partner for the first play of this game in about three and a half years. Arabian Nights is one of those games where you just kinda take the game in stride and go with what it gives you. We found that playing to 15 points instead of 20 makes the game quite a bit faster usually so we go with that. My partner gave herself the goal of getting wealthy, which instead caused her to become peniless, then ensorcelled (which meant she couldn’t even go in the direction she wanted to) and then spent the last third of the game jailed as she continued to bash her head on trying to get out. The third player was out having some grand adventures just with a bit of hiccups and getting teleported around. Had master level skills that helped him out a lot. But, it was yet again myself who came out on top with the champion skill of the day Piety. My highly pious hero traversed the land and wonders and managed to rack up both considerable wealth and power and treasure and everything in between to become the champion, including a turn where I managed to succeed on both my normal encounter, and a wonder location encounter (using piety in both cases) causing myself to gain so many story and destiny points that I just jumped leaps and bounds ahead of everyone. I think that ToAN is one of those games you can’t take too seriously but it is fun to read about everyones misfortune (also take ‘weapon use’ if you plan on attacking everything!)
Fairy Tale: I swear every time I explain Fairy Tale to people their eyes glaze over, but by the second or third draft I feel like they get it and the understand what is going on and they are even enjoying the choices they are making. The eyes glazing over is what I can never seem to stop and what stops me from playing this game as much as I would like. That being said everyone who played it enjoyed it immensely, so who knows maybe more plays of this are in my future.
The Rest:
Nothing much to add in the remaining games, or as we call it kiddie corner. A game of Sky team continues to be quite fun (even when we get wrecked). I taught my oldest Battle Line, and while he seemed to get it, the game forces some hard choices and he made some poor ones causing him to get trounced by his father. Otherwise the usual kiddo game fare and mostly enjoyable too. You can’t always play what you want but you can work towards getting them to play what you want. My oldest also asked to play Lanterns again which he hasn’t done in a few years, so you may see that game showing up in the next months list (or not…kids are fickle)
Hopes for Next Month:
Oh boy, RamiCon is coming. It is here in just a few short weeks. I will hopefully have two posts about it. One about the idea and planning and thought put into trying to set this up, and a second that will be about how it actually went, with the games being played being included in next months roundup. Hilariously I also signed up myself to another monthly gaming commitment starting in April (so its a bit early to say “hope for next month” here) and I am finally after more than a year of stability looking to expand my board game group, which as you can guess will be a whole separate post on its own if/when it comes to fruition. I also managed to pick up a copy of Eternal Decks that I am really hoping to introduce to my partner and get it played as I feel like she would really enjoy it as a co-op, that being said this month is quite busy so this may be an April endeavour. Then there are more things that are being planned out further in the future but it may be a little too early to discuss those. So with that we end February and go into the hopeful warmth of March!