What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

3 on 3 Wings of Glory is awfully nice. Which planes?

Spad XIIIs vs Neufelds, I think. I was on the Neufelds. Technically that is very imbalanced in favor of the Spads, but I figured it didn't really matter for a table of mostly newbs.

Annual draft of The Game of Thrones LCG Second Edition with the old crew. Fantasy Flight stopped publishing the game almost five years ago and I had moved from my meta even before that, but it’s still treat to see everyone again and hear about new babies, upcoming weddings and a new job in South Korea. The organizer worked hard to build the cube, even creating and modifying a few cards for a smoother experience, and took a special passion in previewing cards he included from the new fan sets.

I ended up building knights and ladies with Tyrell and Stark. It gained bonuses from winning challenges with a single character and could sneak extra strength a few different ways. Went 2-1, and none except the second game felt like blowouts.

Great time and great return to a game and community that were a lot of my time for four years.

Just finished a TTS game of Last Light. It's the "Space 4X in an Hour" game made by Roy Canaday of The Dice Tower. There were three of us (all named John), all brand new to the game. Overall, my thoughts are pretty positive so far. Probably my favorite part is how snappy the whole thing moved along. Its action system is basically Concordia with a hand of 6 cards that don't get added back until you play a Refresh card, which itself doesn't go back until all other players' Refresh have been played. Our play was under two hours and it can probably get even lower if we didn't narrate our own actions (turns should go simultaneously), perhaps even to that hour mark the designer espouses. A couple things I noticed initially were that the game rewards offensive play as there is no defending unless you play the attack card at the same time. It led to a tense mind game where I knew I was within range of an assault, but didn't know if my opponent would act this turn or next, which can lead to some hype preemptive strikes or sudden fortifications.

Additionally, movement seems BIG in the game. The guy who won by a couple points had a tech card early on that gave him a whole extra space to move his small ships, which led to him going for a zerg rush strategy to expand and snuff out incoming opposition. The board isn't super big, so the ability to snag planets early or give pressure from further away was massive. The board rotating at the end of each round can also help shake up stagnant board states or camping players to force yet more consideration of, if not interaction with, your foes. You can probably also anticipate it as a more advanced strategy which seems exciting. Interestingly, my friend who won said he didn't bother to think about anyone else until he saw my big fleet get closer which does sound similar to other reviewer's where it is a little more solitary at some points.

Overall, I am looking forward to another playthrough and this is the one game where I want to try this at the max of eight players (with the expansion) to see how crazy things get. It feels like it would go better than many other 4X-DoaM-war-whatever games like this. Will it be an all-timer? I doubt it, but it feels like it might fill a good niche for a faster game of this genre without many compromises.

Scrambling for a Cub Scout meeting idea two hours before go time, so I shoved Throw Throw Burrito, Ghost Blitz and Rhino Hero in a bag and called it sportsmanship. No belt loops were earned, but one dad was asking if he could find Ghost Blitz on Amazon before he left. Call it a win.

Two eldest boys joined me and my old group for Quacks of Quendlinburg. The eldest had incredible luck and superior tactical advice and broke 100 points. The youngest and I had inferior luck and tactical advice and barely broke 50. First time playing and pleasantly surprised. Wouldn’t mind it being two rounds shorter but that may be because the winner was clear by round five.

My reign of terror at Hansa Teutonica was finally ended by a single point. Thought it would be a stomping because I kept throwing tradesmen to block his clear merchants-for-points strategy and even stole a city on the route, but it wasn’t enough. Fully upgraded abilities paid gangbusters for him. My old group played six games since our last meeting, and it clearly paid off.

WANDERING TOWERS, 6p. Mildly fun game of wizards racing across floating towers to get to the super magical tower. Towers can stack on each other, preventing any wizards on that tower from moving. Cards either move wizards or towers. Weird theme and strangely bloodless. Everything only ever moves clockwise for some reason. For wizard duels, stick with Wiz-War. 2/5.

LAST LIGHT, 6p. Alien civilizations gather resources to be the first to escape a dying star system. Billed as 4x that plays in an hour. This is not quite accurate but might get close with repeat plays. Has the sprawling footprint and undeveloped feel of your average big Kickstarter. The way it gets the time down is by using simultaneous action selection, similar to Race for the Galaxy. You have six actions: collect resources, build stuff, research technologies, trade resources, move/fight, and get your cards back. Other than move/fight, none of that involves other people, so once it's all done simultaneously. Everyone chooses cards and flips them. Anyone with move/fight waits until all other cards are done, then any move/fight people go. There was a lot of confusion over when turns were done though -- people would resolve their card, wait a bit, look around the table and assume it was the next turn, so they'd select their next card and start playing it, etc. The game needs some kind of marker or token to denote when your turn is over. Overall the game has something going on but is overstuffed and rough. If it ever gets a second edition it might be great. As is, it's fun and I'd play again. 6/10.

I lucked into a play of PLUM ISLAND HORROR yesterday. Aaron, the guy I play with locally, brought a copy over along with the MAGIC Middle Earth Commander decks we've been playing the last few weeks. We had originally planned on Magic but when I saw Plum Island I said I'd rather try that. So we broke that out, sorta read the rules on the fly and started in on it. 


I still have to re-read the rules, as during play we missed a few things but I am fairly certain we got the majority of stuff right. After punching stuff out and setting up, we were playing. For variety's sake, each of us controlled two factions. There are six to choose from, each with 5 characters and one "compound", a non character piece like a bunker, paddy wagon, etc.  Each faction has a theme/play style. Military is good at combat, etc. I took the National Guard and police faction, Aaron took the sports faction and the civil servants.  Action order is via chit draw; each faction has a chit, then there is one Event chit and 3 Fate chits, which activate the bads and spawn more. 


When it's your faction's turn, every character can do a basic foot move ( most units can also move via Vehicle, but that costs supplies ) . Then the faction can do Actions ( fight, repair etc ) but not every character can activate. Each character has unique abilities on the faction player aid card; as you can imagine they are thematically linked to their character . The SWAT guy is good at ranged combat, the Golfer can hit stuff from 2 spaces away. The police dog is rather good at herding Civilians towards Safety, LOL. The goal is to get a certain number of Civilian VP off the board via a bridge ( which needs to be repaired first ) or via ferry or other boat or helicopter. They are worth varying VP. Some Civilians start on map, some get added via Search cards and are VIP with enhanced point values and abilities. For instance the Rock Star is worth good VP AND doesn't' count towards capacity limits. The yoga instructor boosts the VP value of other Civilians that evacuate with her. 


Opposing this are the hordes of Horrors, aka zombies. They move via Event and Fate cards via one of six tracks, a la States of Siege. Sometimes there are forks in the path, so their exact route is somewhat variable.  Combat is rolling dice to inflict hits/block their hits; terrain makes them less deadly ( don't get caught in the open, makes sense ) . 


We got about halfway through the game and so far are having fun. This was about 3.5 hours. But that includes punching out/set up and a fair but not excessive bit of rules look up. I think we missed the importance of Searching; it turns up Supplies ( needed for Ranged combat, Vehicle movement, and avoiding Hunger ) .  We'll either finish this game or reset next time we play. 


I was looking at some of the stuff after and there are a lot of amusing easter eggs. Many of the civilians are named after hobby people ( Lewis Family, Curtis Family are worth beaucoup VP ) . Many of the faction characters are riffs on archetypes or famous people ( the upcoming expansion has an Elon Monk ) .

Still playing Vampire: the Masquerade - Chapters. We were playing about once a month, but scheduling was too difficult in December so we skipped that month. We just reached the second interlude, which is roughly 60% to 65% of the way through the game. We have also unlocked the Banu Haqim (assassin) and Hekata (necromancer) expansion characters.

This most recent session featured a story that sprawled over three chapters without time to heal, hunt or re-equip in between chapters. We encountered a hostile necromancer vampire who summoned a bunch of zombies. We battled the horde for a few rounds but realized that only one of our group was likely to hold out against the horde. We fled up the wintery Mount Royal, the mountain/park adjacent to downtown Montreal, with the zombies in pursuit. Finally, we reached an outdoor concert near the top, and frantically tried to warn the crowd that they should flee. Our group is a bit weak in the social skills, both with characters lacking relevant skills and disciplines, and players making poor dialogue choices. Then our feral Gangrel vampire set off a bunch of fireworks on stage that were supposed to fired in the sky during the concert finale. A fire broke out and everybody fled before the zombies arrived.

Speaking of feral, our group is finally losing some points of humanity. The Hekata starts out a couple of point low on humanity, because of their horrid hunting style. The Gangrel and Toreador both lost some humanity due to some callous choices of actions. Lower humanity tends to make the character more intimidating and less able to resist the urge to feast upon blood. Our group also lost a point of status at the end of the previous session, so we are now feeding from lower quality targets before each chapter, like wino, prostitute, or my personal fav, the lonely guy at the bus stop.

The story is still entertaining. The combat system is okay, but tends to feel too easy, even though we only have one character in the current party who specializes in combat. The errata and typos continue to drag down the pace a bit, but we haven't encountered any problems that have completely derailed a session yet.

After this campaign is over, I might use the contents of the game to run some additional sessions for the other three players. With 150 standees, 30 miniatures, and a thick stack of two-sided encounter maps, there is a lot of content that I could potentially re-use.

It's been a minute for this FA:tie.
I still log plays on BGG, and 2023 was a bit slow for me. I credit my lack of table time to keeping my 18 month old alive.

Here's a cut and paste:
HeroQuest: The Frozen Horror 7
Masters of the Universe: The Board Game – Clash for Eternia 7
Onitama 7
Qwixx 7
HeroQuest: The Mage of the Mirror 5
Risk: Shadow Forces 5
Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One 4
Thunder Road: Vendetta 3
Camp Grizzly 2
Risk Strike 2
Wiz-War (9th Edition) 2
Disney Sorcerer's Arena: Epic Alliances Core Set 1
Love Letter 1
Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage “Game.” 1
Qwirkle 1
Return to Dark Tower 1
Robo Rally 1
The Silver Bayonet: A Wargame of Napoleonic Gothic Horror 1
Spartacus: A Game of Blood and Treachery 1
Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze 1
Wonderland's War 1


Take aways: I love Heroquest, as do my artist friends that play with me. This particular group are not heavy gamers and they really dig HQ's simplicity. That said, the Frozen Horror still punched them in the mouth.
MOTU is almost brilliant. A great distillation of Conan and Batman mechanics. But some characters and scenarios are totally whack, and one or two minis have glaring discrepancies in scale (Faker is 2/3 the size of He-Man. It's upsets me....).
Risk ShadowForces is a lack luster "sequel" to Risk Legacy. My old war gaming group are going to finish the campaign this year because we're stubborn bastards. We all agree: Risk Legacy was magic in a bottle for us. Interestingly, we had more fun with Risk Strike!

drewcula wrote: MOTU is almost brilliant. A great distillation of Conan and Batman mechanics. But some characters and scenarios are totally whack, and one or two minis have glaring discrepancies in scale (Faker is 2/3 the size of He-Man. It's upsets me....).

If you don't mind, can you expand on what scenarios / characters are messed up? My friend and I did a co-op battle against the AI for the mission in which all characters are separated by impenetrable rock walls. We put Ram Man up against the drones, making him basically invulnerable. In retrospect, we should have randomly distributed the heroes.

My 2023 gaming was slow due to joining a new club and having my house as a building site for 5 months so no gaming at home, still I found new blood for my mostly AT games including Battlestar Galactica (my years or prayer paid off !) ... and already one play of BSG for 2024 :

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Game 6
Heat: Pedal to the Metal 6
Coup 5
Adventure Tactics: Domianne's Tower 4
Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game 4
Hive 3
Wings for the Baron (Second Edition) 3
Arboretum 2
Biblios 2
Camel Up (Second Edition) 2
The Downfall of Pompeii 2
Heroscape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie 2
Khet: The Laser Game 2
Labyrinth 2
Lords of Vegas 2
Marrakech 2
PitchCar 2
Race for the Galaxy 2
Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume One 2
Annapurna 1
Atmosfear: Interactive App edition 1
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 1
Blue Moon City 1
CATAN: Starfarers 1
Catapult Feud 1
Coloretto 1
Cribbage 1
Crokinole 1
Dinosaur Table Battles 1
Dominant Species 1
Don't Be a Dik Dik 1
DungeonQuest 1
Era of the Ninja 1
Era: Medieval Age 1
Firefly: Shiny Dice 1
Firefly: The Game 1
First in Flight 1
Galaxy Trucker 1
El Grande 1
Happy Little Dinosaurs 1
Illimat 1
Imperial Settlers 1
Level 7 [Invasion] 1
Little Italy 1
Loot 1
Lords of Waterdeep 1
Lying Pirates: The Race for the Pirate Throne 1
Maria 1
Merchant of Venus (Second Edition) 1
Mission: Red Planet 1
Mississippi Queen 1
Monopoly 1
Mosaic: A Story of Civilization 1
Nexus Ops 1
Photosynthesis 1
Pirate's Cove 1
Power Grid 1
Primordial Soup 1
Puerto Rico 1
Ring-O Flamingo 1
Root 1
Secret Hitler 1
Splendor 1
Star Wars: Epic Duels 1
Super Mega Lucky Box 1
Survive: Escape from Atlantis! 1
Through the Desert 1
Thunder Road: Vendetta 1
Tortuga 2199 1
Trade on the Tigris 1
Wings of Glory: WW1 Rules and Accessories Pack 1
Zero Down 1

I love The Downfall of Pompeii. I haven't played in years but would likely never turn the game down. The first half is just set-up for the actual game of throwing peeps into the volcano. But its still fun.

Cappster is due to appear and agree with you soon. I’m fine with the game. I don’t think it’s stunning (I think I gave it a 7 on the podcast) but it’s always a good time.

It’s a great game to play when you start thinking you have everything under control. Resets your outlook a bit, brings you back down to earth.

Sagrilarus wrote: Cappster is due to appear and agree with you soon. I’m fine with the game. I don’t think it’s stunning (I think I gave it a 7 on the podcast) but it’s always a good time.

It’s a great game to play when you start thinking you have everything under control. Resets your outlook a bit, brings you back down to earth.

the Downfall of Pompeii is a spectacular game. I also rated it a 7 on the podcast. And what a wild ride that review was. IT went from a "near perfect game" to "a deeply flawed game" and back. Several times. I ended on it being a damn fine game that I would be hard pressed to turn down if someone suggested it.

Even with all the games that have come out in the last 20 years, Pompeii still ranks among my top games. Of the games we covered in the podcast last year, it was in the top 5, along with Wings for the Baron, Biblios, Heroscape, and Blood Blow: Team Manager - it's quite the pedigree.

Qwirkle 8
*Ark Nova 6
*Heat: Pedal to the Metal 5
Ticket to Ride: New York 5
*Unmatched Game System 5
Coup 4
Coloretto 3
Hadara 3
*Wings for the Baron (Second Edition) 3
*Biblios 2
*Blood Bowl: Team Manager – The Card Game 2
Cards Against Humanity 2
*Dinosaur Table Battles 2
*The Downfall of Pompeii 2
Glory to Rome 2
Labyrinth 2
Race for the Galaxy 2
Space Base 2
Sushi Go! 2
7 Wonders 1
7 Wonders Duel 1
Alien Frontiers 1
Atmosfear: Interactive App edition 1
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game 1
Betrayal at House on the Hill 1
*Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Game 1
Camel Up (Second Edition) 1
CATAN: Starfarers 1
Crokinole 1
*Dominant Species 1
Evolution 1
First in Flight 1
Galaxy Trucker 1
*El Grande 1
*Heroscape Master Set: Rise of the Valkyrie 1
*Imperial Settlers 1
*Ingenious 1
*Lords of Vegas 1
Lords of Waterdeep 1
Maria 1
*Marrakech 1
*Merchant of Venus (Second Edition) 1
Mission: Red Planet 1
*Mississippi Queen 1
*Monopoly 1
*Mosaic: A Story of Civilization 1
My City 1
*Nexus Ops 1
Pirate's Cove 1
Planet Unknown 1
*Power Grid 1
Primordial Soup 1
*Puerto Rico 1
Risk Express 1
*Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age 1
Scattergories 1
*Sentinels of the Multiverse 1
*Survive: Escape from Atlantis! 1
Terraforming Mars 1
Through the Desert 1
Trivial Pursuit: Genus Edition 1
Villagers 1
*Wings of War: Famous Aces 1
Winner's Circle 1

* Games that we covered on the podcast in 2023