(This comic was based on a meme of the movie Pacific Rim)

When we first saw Gloomhaven: Buttons & Bugs we weren’t sure if we were looking at a very late April Fool’s joke because Gloomhaven in the size of a pack of cards seemed impossible. But after we saw Nikki Valens was co-designing it we got very excited because Nikki has designed a lot of great games. It’s a perfect announcement during the Gloomhaven Grand Festival as it’s small enough that it breaches the “ohh, it’s so cute”-threshold while also being a no-brainer add-on to everyone that is already backing it for the RPG, miniatures or other Gloomhaven-related goodies.

It’s almost summer, which means my job as a teacher is busier than usual, which combined with our hiking practice means that gaming time is a little more limited. This week we only played three games! We played the MIND MGMT which was a resounding victory for the rogue agents after they very quickly sniffed out the route of the recruiter. It’s a shame we don’t get to play this more as we would really like to explore those Shift cards but so far we’ve only played the base game.

We also played a round of Block Party which is Big Potato’s twist on Lego Creationary but instead of Legos, you use the classic euro game-sized wooden blocks. I love how Big Potato games are party games you can explain in two minutes but the presentation and the sheer reaction at the table are off the charts. I think that more designers and publishers should study them to see how they can incorporate some of the Big Potato joy into their games.

Lastly, we closed off the weekend with Onitama, which after all these years is still an abstract delight, it’s also a game in which Rachel will keep complaining she doesn’t know what she is doing until suddenly she wins. I’m starting to suspect this is actually a part of her strategy, so maybe I should start playing with earplugs to prevent her sneaky ways of securing her victory.

After a slow week of gaming, this week we’ll overcompensate with loads many games. Tonight, we’re having a six-player game night, so we secretly hoping for a big game of Heat, tomorrow we’re continuing our Descent campaign and Saturday I’m playing my fourth game of War Room, which we’ll still probably won’t get to finish within the twelve hours we have reserved for it. 😛