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2016

The Re-Review: Birth of a Child!

·8 mins

Scythe #

Scythe

  • 1 play with 5 people
  • Played before

This was the third time I’ve played the game and the first time where it wasn’t truly a blowout for the winner. I’m happy to see that the scores can be a bit more balanced than previously thought and I’m still enjoying the game quite a bit. It’s smooth, easy to teach, and absolutely beautiful. There’s some interaction, but not too much for those that want to build up their territory and earn points more peacefully.

The Re-Review: WesCon Summer 2016

·6 mins

The Voyages of Marco Polo #

The Voyages of Marco Polo

  • 1 plays with 2 people
  • Played before

This is a game that seems to get forgotten about in our house for no good reason. Both my wife and I really enjoy the variety offered in this game along with the decisions you have to make. Rolling poorly isn’t a death knell, and you can typically come back from poor decisions. That being said, the game is rather quick and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome.

The Re-Review: Summer Doldrums

·6 mins

Sons of Anarchy: Men of Mayhem #

  • 1 play with 3 people
  • Played before

Sons of Anarchy

I’ve only played Sons of Anarchy a few times, but I’ve enjoyed it those times. It’s an interesting combination of dice, worker placement, and area control that I haven’t seen in this combination elsewhere. Also, the complete lack of victory points and desire for cold hard cash makes for an interesting difference from most games on the market.

The Re-Review: Stalled

·4 mins

Through the Ages #

Through the Ages

  • 1 play with 2 people
  • Played before

As we figure out how to play with wars and aggressions, our scores are slowly working their way up to peaceful-game-level scores. This game is so odd to me, that I’ve played it as much as I have in such a short time and the game takes hours to play. Most of my games have been online and that obviously helps, but even still, there’s a good number of face-to-face plays as well.

The Re-Review: Open Worlds and Dice

·3 mins

Food Chain Magnate #

Food Chain Magnate

  • 1 play with 2 players
  • Played before

I haven’t played a “full” game of this yet, but the more I play it, the more I like it. In the game, you’re building org charts, producing marketing campaigns (to drive demand of goods), and then satisfying demand (to make money).

The Re-Review: Dueling Caballeros

·4 mins

Raptor #

Raptor

  • 2 plays with 2 players
  • Played before

The more I play Raptor the more I appreciate how clever it is. Your choices are limited, but difficult and picking the right card is never as easy as looking only at your hand of three cards. Once you have a few plays under your belt, you’ll start to look at what your opponent has played and know what they need, with that in mind, you can play cards that directly counter those needs: know your scientist opponent needs more scientists on the board and he’s played his 6? Play your 2 so it’s a wasted card. I feel like this one has more depth the more I play it and I really appreciate owning it.

The Re-Review: Online Only

·2 mins

Russian Railroads #

Russian Railroads

  • 1 play with 3 players
  • Played before

I’ve played Russian Railroads before, but I hadn’t played the German Railroads expansion before, so I suggested playing a game online this week with my co-workers. I like the few changes made to the base game, but I realized that the game doesn’t do enough for me to bother keeping it. It’s a straight efficiency puzzle and I’m realizing over time that those kinds of games are interesting at first blush, but become old quickly for me.

The Re-Review: Istanbul and Constantinople

·3 mins

Istanbul #

Istanbul

  • 2 plays with 2 players
  • Played before

This was a game that my wife asked me to buy and taught me to play. That’s reason enough in my book to keep it and play it from time to time, but I do enjoy the choices I have in Istanbul: the path to take, the actions to use, how to reclaim your assistants and what to do with your wisecracking family member who always seems to end up at the police station for one reason or another.

The Re-Review: The A's Have It

·2 mins

Alchemists #

Alchemists

  • 1 play with 4 players
  • Played before

In a previous week, I played a two player game of Alchemists and didn’t have a great time with it mostly due to my own poor record keeping, but the game permits it and does nothing to help you out (an in-app history would be lovely). A friend of mine wanted to try it out and I agreed. I figured it would be a good reason to get the game back out to see if my dislike was founded.

The Re-Review: Back to Cosmic

·5 mins

Arcadia Quest #

Arcadia Quest

This was the fifth game of our six game campaign and the end is near. This particular play was bittersweet as it was the last one where got to buy new loot. One thing to keep in mind with these campaigns is that the games seem to get longer and longer as the game goes one. We could once play two rounds in one evening and getting in one is tight. I’m looking forward to the last game in the campaign and starting another campaign later this year.