Quote:
Originally Posted by eyebooger
Went to a convention this past weekend. Here's a TR with summary of all the games I played. Ones I actually signed up for are in blue.
For those that I had never played before, I'll give my first impression rating. My first impressions aren't always perfect. Some games I loved at first, but I now feel are middling to below (e.g. Ticket to Ride). Others didn't impress me at first, but now I love (e.g. Puerto Rico). But most of the time, I feel they're pretty good.
A = Would be very excited to play a second time
B = Would absolutely play again, but not as excited
C = Would play again, but would probably suggest other options
D = Would actively steer others away from playing, but would try again if people really wanted to
F = Would never play again even if it was the only game going
Friday:
Anachrony (BGG link) - I almost dropped this one from my schedule. I watched an online video and was confused as hell. It looked a bit heavier than most of the games I like. In the end, I just decided to go through with it. So glad I did. The GM of the game knew the designer personally, and did a fantastic job explaining everything. It's a worker placement game with a time travel element that allows you to go back to the past and supply yourself with resources. I didn't do too much of that and just supplied myself with a bunch of geniuses and buildings. Lost by a single point. Would have to play it again to really get a feel for it, but I'm truly amazed. First impression: A+
Blueprints (BGG link) - Roll dice, draft them and construct buildings with them. You get an architectural blueprint that you're supposed to follow, but you can often get more points by not following it, which seems dumb thematically. It's a decent enough way to pass 20 minutes. First impression: C-
Compounded (BGG link) - Credit for trying to be thematically cool, but it didn't hook me at all. You pull out random elements out of a bag and play them to score points. I saw very little strategy, as everyone can see what you have and what you're trying to do. Really disappointed, as I had high hopes for the theme. First impression: D
Terraforming Mars (BGG link) - This was THE hot game of the convention. They opened up many more slots of this, plus there were pickup games of it all over the place. Everyone wanted in. It's a combination card drafting and tile placement game. It lives up to the hype. There are so many different cards that you're bound to see something you like. Really liked the element of only 3/5 of the milestones and awards being available. Was able to score a lot of points there and win even though my initial TR rating had me in last. Lots of fun. The GM of the game had bought some Broken Token trays for the cube mats. These (or something similar) seem almost essential. Would imagine it's a mess without it. This would have easily been my favorite game of the weekend if Anachrony was not a thing. First impression: A
Sagrada (BGG link) - My second dice drafting game of the night. You roll dice and try to construct a stained glass window by putting dice of different colors on a grid. There are restrictions on what you could put where. Concept is far superior to Blueprints. Was probably too tired to fully appreciate it. First impression: B
Saturday:
Le Havre (BGG link) - A worker placement industry game. Had a horrible strategy that I’m blaming partly on my misunderstanding that others visiting your buildings would be a much bigger deal than it actually was and partly on the fact that it was 8 in the morning. Ended up in last place with less than half the points of the 1st place player. Need to play this again and try not sucking at it. First impression: A-
Power Grid (BGG link) - The only game I signed up for that I’m familiar with. For those not familiar, it’s a city networking and auction game with the best catch-up mechanism I’ve ever seen. 3 had played before and 3 hadn’t. Fastest game I’ve ever played. Only took 75 minutes. I won with the step 3 card still 7 cards away. Can’t really give a first impression, but this game has always been an A+ for me.
Visitor in Blackwood Grove (BGG link) - A still unreleased game where two people battle to figure out the pattern of the third player. The game mechanics are that one player (the Visitor) makes up a rule like “things found in the kitchen” and shows a few cards that are either in (e.g. a saucepan or a pie) or out (a whale or a tree). One of the players “tests” cards by asking the Visitor if the object is in or out; the other tries to guess whether the things are in or out. The goal is the same: to identify the pattern and test it on 4 new objects. If you get all 4 right, you win. It’s a fun filler that I definitely enjoyed playing; my biggest concern is whether it has much replay value. I don’t know how many different flavors of rules you can make without it getting boring. First impression: B-
The Oregon Trail Card Game (BGG link) - I was looking for a light ~30 minute game before I went into the pool. Some people grabbed this, and it looked cute and full of nostalgia. I joined in. Big mistake. The premise is that you play road cards on your way to Oregon. Some of these cards have calamities where you need to fix your wagon or take your medicine. If even one of your group survives, the team wins. On my very first card I played, the calamity read “You have died of snakebite”. That’s it. No way for me to avoid it or save me. The first player to die is supposed to take over the role of shopkeeper (basically the banker) so I guess I had something to do while I just waited for everyone else to die, which they did about 20 minutes later. Not that it matters, but the rulebook is terrible and full of unanswered ambiguities. Possibly the worst game I’ve ever played. First impression: F- (or lower if there’s any grade less than that)
Grifters (BGG link) - My favorite of the games of the weekend that I would consider "filler". A deck builder where you use your criminals to steal money. Great if you like being mean to other players. First impression: B+
Ora et Labora (BGG link) - My 2nd Uwe Rosenberg game of the day. I wish I had played this one first. I would have done much better in Le Havre. You have your own board and build various buildings that come out at certain times. There are a lot of different resources, and I was hurt by the fact that I confused two of them. This set me back a few turns. Ended up coming in 2nd of 4. Would definitely play this again, but I feel like this game isn't as good as Le Havre or Agricola. First impression: B+
Isle of Skye: From Chieftain to King (BGG link) – A tile placing game that looks a lot like Carcassonne, but plays much differently. Each turn, everyone draws three tiles and puts up two of them for sale at a price set by each player. After that, each player gets a chance to buy one of the tiles from another player at that price. Any unsold tile must be bought by the seller at the price he/she tried to sell it for. I played horribly, but it’s a great game. First impression: A-
Sunday:
Power Grid: The First Sparks(BGG link) – Power Grid might be my favorite game of all time, so I decided to give this spinoff a shot. It’s advertised as a more compact, faster game. It has a lot of the same feel as regular Power Grid in terms of mechanics. The auction mechanic is similar, but not the same. The first player puts out a technology (equivalent to power plants) that has a fixed cost. Then the second player says if he/she wants it or not. Then the third is asked the same question, and so on. The last player that wants it, gets it. As expected, a very interesting spin on the game. Had a lot of fun. Won by a fish (food is the tiebreaker). First impression: A
Cities of Splendor (BGG link) – This is an expansion for the popular game Splendor. I’m pretty middling on Splendor (it’s probably about a C for me). The expansion improves the game a little bit. It’s really four expansions in one; we tried two of them. Would be interested to try the other two, but this doesn’t rocket Splendor up to the echelon of games that I’m really excited about. It’s still easy to learn and goes quickly. First impression: B-
Mottainai (BGG link) – A game that I joined at the end while waiting for my ride. A seemingly simple little card game that is actually confusing as hell. Each player is performing tasks and collecting materials to make things. I might be so negative on this because I just wanted something simple before going home, but I didn’t have fun at all. The player who won had never played before, was just as confused as I was, and seemed to only win based on the luck of the cards. First impression: D-
Had a lot of fun at the event (except for that ****ing Oregon Trail game). Looking forward to next year.
Went to the 2018 edition of this earlier this month. Quick writeups and thoughts on all the games I played.
Friday:
BANG: The Dice Game (
BGG link) – Was waiting for the tables to be set up for the first slot of games. Just grabbed this off the shelf. You roll dice and shoot people based on the die rolls. It’s a pretty mindless way to spend 10 minutes, but had way too much downtime for me to really enjoy it.
First impression:
D
Five Tribes (
BGG link) – A board is laid out with three meeples on each tiles. Each turn you pick up all the meeples from a tile and travel to other tiles, dropping meeples off along the way. Depending on where and how you end your turn, various things might happen. It’s a very simple game to explain and isn’t very complicated. The biggest negative I see is that planning your move can be difficult if you are not first player, as the board could change dramatically. This caused a lot of slow downs in the game I played. Even with the changing landscape of the board, I found most of the decisions to be obvious, so I was wondering what was taking players so long to make their moves. Even with the delays, the other players weren’t even making good moves. At least I won by a gazillion points.
First impression:
C
Battle Line (
BGG link) – A two player game by the same designer as Lost Cities. The resemblance to Lost Cities is apparent, too. It’s basically glorified war, where you place a card near one of nine flags set up in a line. Whoever ends up with the best three card poker hand out of the players captures that flag. The goal is to get three flags in a row, or any five if that condition isn’t met. If you like Lost Cities, this game is worth a shot.
First impression:
B
Hoverkraft (
BGG link) – Think Geek’s take on Jenga. You roll a die and place or remove these translucent plastic pieces on this platform that is elevated by magnetism. Knock over the platform and spill the pieces on the table and you lose. It’s a lot more fun way to quickly pass the time than BANG The Dice Game, but it isn’t something that will hold my interest for any more than a few plays.
First impression:
B-
Shards of Infinity (
BGG link) – A game that plays as a hybrid of a deckbuilder and King of Tokyo. The cards in your deck attack the other players, heal or improve yourself, or buy better cards. Game play works very well and moves fairly quickly. A lot of fun if you like deckbuilders.
First impression:
A-
We Didn’t Play Test This At All (
BGG link) – For those who think Fluxx is too heavy a game. Seriously, what the **** is this ****?
First impression:
F
Scythe (
BGG link) – My first time playing a very well regarded game that blends area control, fighting and economics. Each player has their own starting faction (I was the Japanese contingent) and a board by which they perform one of four actions each turn. I made a countless number of mistakes early, but definitely got the hang of it as the game went on. You’re competing for popularity with your eyes set on one of ten goals that can be accomplished each game, for which you get a star. Earn six stars and the game is over, and the player with the most points wins. I ended the game, but ended up in second place to the Germans. It was a long game, taking us almost the full 4 hours for a 5 player game. Had a great time, but don’t think I’d get this one for myself, as I don’t think I’d find a dedicated group to play it often enough.
First impression:
A
Saturday:
Food Chain Magnate (
BGG link) – This was the game I was most excited to play, and the game that is hardest to assign a grade to. On the plus side, the concept is outstanding. You’re a restaurant CEO and hire workers to make drinks and food, advertise and expand your business. At the end of the round, each player earns money for the food that they sell. Eventually you have enough workers to outline a management tree of lower tier managers and expert chefs. At the beginning of the game, the host warned us that it was a very unforgiving game, and that if you made a mistake early, there might not be a way to recover. The game works through a series of milestones, where if you’re the first to do a particular task, you now have an advantage in that particular task for the rest of the game. It’s a mechanism that makes the rich get richer. I understood and was prepared going into the game to make a few dumb mistakes that would make me lose. What I didn’t plan on was the host of the game making a colossal mistake early that not only set him back a few turns, but also screwed
me out of two milestones that killed any chance I had of doing well. Not surprisingly, I came in 4th, only coming out ahead of the host, and well behind the runaway winner. I want to simultaneously praise the concept of the game while also making it clear that not having a way to prevent inadvertent kingmaking left a big of a bad taste in my mouth.
First impression:
B-
Blackout: Hong Kong (
BGG link) – The newest game from the designer of Great Western Trail (more on that later). The host brought it to Vermont from the Essen event the week before. There is quite a lot going on here. It combines dice rolling, card management and network building. The theme is that Hong Kong has been hit with a blackout and resources are scarce. You use your people to get these limited resources and also scout the districts of Hong Kong looking for ways to get bigger bonuses, but one of them will be injured and you need to use your doctor to heal them. I got a very early lead, but lost it mid-game after not adjusting to what was going on. I anticipate great things for this game when it gets a wider release.
First impression:
A
Great Western Trail (
BGG link) – My second straight Alexander Pfister game and at first glance, the more straightforward of the two. You’re a cattle rancher herding your cows to Kansas City where you send them off further west to various places to score points. Your “cows” in this case are your personal deck which will score based on the variety and type of cards in your hand. Along the way to Kansas City, you stop at buildings along the way to do things such as buy more cows, amend your deck to make your final delivery more valuable, or hire workers. In our game of first time players, our game was full of people just buying out the cow market and traveling to Kansas City as fast as possible. I tied for the win with a delivery to San Francisco on the last play of the game. It wasn’t until I walked over afterwards to another group of more experienced players halfway through their game that I really saw the beauty of this game. It looked nothing like our game, and I’m really eager to try this game again with a different strategy.
First impression:
A+
Sunday:
Smartphone Inc (
BGG link) – My second of the two games brought over from Essen. Definitely the “lighter” of the two. A good choice for an early Sunday game. You are the CEO of a smartphone company. You have two cardboard mini-tablets with various icons. You arrange them so that one of them partially covers the other, and the iconography that remains exposed determines what you are doing that turn, including pricing, production and investing in both new technologies and new markets around the globe. I started with an early strategy of just flooding the market and the world with cheap phones and didn’t successfully adjust when everyone else was selling fewer phones, but making a lot more money. There is enough strategy here to satisfy hard-core gamers, but it’s light and fun enough to not turn off more casual players. An instant buy for me if it gets mass produced.
First impression:
A+
Agricola: All Creatures Great and Small (
BGG link) – Marketed as a 2 player version of Agricola, but it doesn’t really play like that at all. Basically you’re just building buildings and making animals. It does have some of the same elements where the resources used will pile up until the action is selected. It sets up pretty easily and plays pretty quickly. We were finished in under 30 minutes even with reading the rules. A really smooth game where options are plentiful but the actions you can take are limited.
First impression:
A
Android: Infiltration (
BGG link) – Looking for a quick 45 minute game while waiting for my ride to finish up, I tried this card game set in the Android universe (which I’m totally unfamiliar with, though I did see a game of Android the previous night take nearly 5 hours at a table near where I was playing GWT). This plays much quicker and is based on the premise that you go into various rooms in a complex and steal the data from each room. It has a press your luck element where the winner is the one with the most data, but only of those players who escape the complex before the police arrive. A fun, light game to end the convention on.
First impression:
B+
