Posts authored by Rachel

Input Error

Input Error published on 2 Comments on Input Error

In programming games like Lords of Xidit, there’s a big chance that some things don’t go as planned and that your entire “plan” falls apart.

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Lords of Xidit can be quite unforgiving on this part. If, for example, another player first takes away the last of the units and then walks right up to that enemy you planned to defeat, you end up just walking one step behind that player without getting anything. We personally didn’t really mind, because the rounds play out rather quickly – better luck next time! We really enjoyed our first play, the game really surprised us and we are looking forward to playing it again. The only downside to this game is that it requires at least three players, so we can’t “just” play it whenever we want.

So we managed to squeeze in some board games last week! We played a game of Fog of Love and for the first time, lost the game! David and Roxanne both were really unhappy in their relationship. We’ll see if our characters are more in tune next time we play the game. A friend of ours also brought a game called “Castle Flutterstone”, it meant for children, but that should never stop you from playing something, right? In this dexterity-game, you launch fabric bats at the cardboard castle, or rather, you try to shoot them through the windows. Like this.  It’s fun and silly and will keep you entertained for at least ten minutes. 😉
We ended that night with an amazing game of Clank! in which one of the players delved deeper into the dungeon to grab the most valuable artifact of the game WHILE THE OTHER PLAYERS HAD BOTH LEFT THE CASTLE. And despite this act of foolishness the player managed to escape on the very last turn with only one health left. And… he… won. I would describe that as the best first game of Clank! experience one could have, period.

We also played our second game of Rajas of the Ganges and this game really elegantly fixes the problem of counting up points for 10 minutes after the game is over. By turning the victory condition into a race it retains all the fun of a worker placement game but it adds the excitement of a racing game.

ICYMI: The latest extra comics, sponsored by CoolStuffInc.com:
#016 – Nowhere to run

What was the last game that pleasantly surprised you?

Expanding Fog

Expanding Fog published on 2 Comments on Expanding Fog

These are just some of our suggestions for some Fog of Love expansions. We are looking forward to the Alpaca one in particular. 😉

 

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Last week we rearranged our living room and in doing so, wanted to create a little more storage space for board games – without having a wall filled with boxes from top to bottom. So we decided to create a place in which we could store games and as a place to chill on or just use as extra seating when we’re having friends over – and this is what we’ve done!

We don’t think it’s necessary, but you could make the ‘seating’ more spacious by attaching a wooden panel to the top and side and combine that with some support beams behind the cabinet. That way you can easily make the furniture look fancier and you can make the seating less narrow. And if it looks cluttered, you can always add some doors. 🙂 You can also make some interesting corners with old fruit crates, like this!

We’ve had a busy week again and only played Azul, Root and Lords of Xidit. Azul is always fun to play and with Root, we finally tried the factions that come with the expansion. It was clear how to play the Riverfolk, but we couldn’t get a grip on the Cultists. They somehow stayed far behind on the scoring track, so we might have to look into some strategy guides to figure out how to play them better.

Lords of Xidit was a real surprise and had been on our to-play list for quite a while! It was a way “lighter” than we thought and we simply loved the scoring at the end of the game.

ICYMI: The latest extra comics, sponsored by CoolStuffInc.com:
#014 – Darkest secrets
#015 – Math checks out

What would be your suggestion for a Fog of Love expansion?

Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo

Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo published on 4 Comments on Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo

… But what if all board games spark joy?! 😀

 

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We’ve purged our collection a little last year and gave away some games we knew we would really not play again. But I will be honest that I have a hard time letting go of most games, even if we haven’t played them for over two years. Now, we do have the luxury that we have space for a lot of board games, so there’s no dire need to be very selective. But the whole Marie Kondo hype did get me thinking about it.

I’ve been a little under the weather last week, so we’ve played not too many board games. We did play one hysterical game of Gloomhaven in which our strategy was to RUN. I think we only took out maybe 5 of the 18 enemies on the board, but we all made it!

We also played our first Exit game! To be more precise, The Sinister Mansion. It was a fun experience and had some creative puzzles in there. At this point, I still prefer the Unlock series – but I really need to play more of the Exit games to form a fair opinion.

 

ICYMI: The latest extra comics, sponsored by CoolStuffInc.com:
#013 – Critical Lol

 

Do all the games in your collection spark joy? 😉

Until Distraction Do Us Part

Until Distraction Do Us Part published on 3 Comments on Until Distraction Do Us Part

Browsing Instagram, looking at #boardgames, for example, can be very nice and inspiring but also slightly addicting – so it’s important to keep in mind that it’s also fun to actually play games. Don’t fall for the infinite scrolling trap! 😉

 

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Last week, we finally revealed what we’ve made and send to our $10 patrons – and it was… a pocket dice tower! Most dice towers we see are quite large and we liked the idea of making a Semi Co-op dice tower, so Heinze put on his inventor’s hat and designed a dice tower that fits in a deck box, it weighs only 40 grams and can it can also be used to transport/store up to fourteen dice! We engraved them with some fun illustrations and personalized them with the patron’s names.
Everybody we’ve sent it to really liked it and we really enjoyed getting creative so we’re already brainstorming about what to make for the December surprise of 2019!

Also last week, we finally, finally started our Charterstone campaign! Hurray! Our BGG Secret Santa gifted us Charterstone more than a year ago, but at that time we were playing three or four other campaign games. We’ve finished two of those now, andnow felt like we were ready for Charterstone! The first game took a little long, but that was due to the tutorial, the actual player turns were really quick and we all excited to play it again. We’re playing the game with four players and probably won’t add any automas.

Last week we received a copy of Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth from Osprey Games! We’ve played it once so far and noticed that we find it way harder than The Lost Expedition, the game on which this game is based. We’ll certainly play it some more to form a good opinion about it, maybe we did something wrong or maybe it really just is that hard! 😀

To prevent us from endlessy scrolling on Instagram, what game should we definitely play?

The Golden Standees 2018, Part 2

The Golden Standees 2018, Part 2 published on No Comments on The Golden Standees 2018, Part 2

And we present part two of the Golden Standees!

It’s very handy to be able to think of your own awards and we used this power to also award Root with a Golden Standee for its meeples! Not the best, but the cutest meeples! 😀 Potatoes, potatoes, we just wanted to award both games. 😉
Cerebus turns out to be a little more under the radar than we thought and isn’t for sale yet. It’s a game we picked up at Essen and we think it’s a really fun semi co-operative game. Granted, none of the people we play games with, hold a grudge when you push them in front of Cerberus in the last moments of the game as you’re running towards the boat. In the end, it’s a game and nothing personal.
Heinze is always looking forward to being creative with laser cutters or 3D printers, so it’s perfect you can just buy & play the single Keyforge decks – a perfect excuse for him to get crafty!
And then there’s the final award for Martin Wallace. A name we’ve been seeing a lot on big titles lately. We think that’s an achievement that certainly deserves a reward.

The holiday season is definitely over and that’s a shame. Although I had hardly any time off due to work, between the family visits, Heinze and I tried to play a lot of board games and we did! We even played Great Western Trail, twice! This game has been sitting on our shelve for a very long time and we even called it our Great Western Fail. With us being the fail-factor because the game truly is really great and not even as complicated as I thought.

Last week, we also played Rhino Hero: Super Battle, Dragon Castle, Mysterium, Unlock: The Elite (a mini-scenario), Nemeton, Lost Cities, Gloomhaven and we finished our Near and Far campaign! Great times and so many different games – I love it!

ICYMI: The latest extra comics, sponsored by CoolStuffInc.com:
#010 – Christmas Spirit
#011 – Shared Joy
#012 – New Year’s Resolutions

What Golden standee should we award in 2019?
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