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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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I have sort of a problem. My problem is that I am nowadays too picky when it comes to new board games. I am always willing to play new games, of course, so that’s not the problem. Not at all. New games are like free food to me, I just have to play them like I have to eat free food. But buying new games… Uh-oh. I always compare everything new to the games we already own, and the new games always lose the comparison. And I don’t feel like buying games that are not as good as the games we have. That’s the problem!
I guess I am perfectionist that way. I don’t want mediocre games to our collection, or games that are total bleh or games we never really want to play. I want out game collection to consist of carefully selected games we actually love and play, though it’s only natural that there are couple fails in the bunch. But you got the picture, right?
I could, of course, leave our collection as it is and carefully pick games every now and then when something good enough comes around. But the thing is that I want to expand our collection. I love to see how our collection grows, how it little by little takes over our whole build-in closet. I want our collection to grow until there is no room for new games. And maybe beyond that. I want to surround myself with those lovely little (or not so little) boxes. I guess I am crazy that way.
I still have this 12 month 12 games thing going on, but it’s difficult and now I’ve come to different solution: I should not try to find new games as it is almost impossible, but to expand the games we already have. Expansions! And I have already started by buying Dunwich Horror. And I will proceed to buy Arkham Horror expansions , big or small, unless I come up with something else or until I ran out of expansions to buy.
Yes. I kinda love Arkham Horror. It’s probably the coolest game ever. (If you know games that are even cooler, please let me know!)
Last weekend we played Arkham Horror with Dunwich Horror and Black Goat of the Woods twice and it was awesome. And Dunwich Horror fits our kitchen table, barely, but it still fits! I have been worried for nothing!
OK, we had to store encounter cards on the benches and have an extra stool for ancient one, but it’s totally manageable. And I guess you’re supposed to play with only one big box expansion at a time so no big deal. I can have them all and be able to play them too!
Yes. I am kinda excited.
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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The weather yesterday was absolutely crazy. Air was white with snow, at last it was snowing, but it was too warm for snow. It became slush. It made everything wet, shoes, clothes, hair. It certainly wasn’t the kind of weather that invites you to go out and about. But my boyfriend told me that it’s "just a little snow" and encouraged me to go yarn shopping after work. I needed yarn to knit mittens for a G+ knit-a-long, indeed I did, but that’s not why he wanted me to go. No. He wanted me to go so I could get him the yarn that he needed, so he wouldn’t have to make the trip to the yarn store.
I had a crazy day at work too. What you get when you work with user accounts and it’s the first day of the year? The answer is: expired accounts. My phone just kept ringing: "Hi, I can’t access my computer. I just got a new contract but when I log in, it tells me that my account has expired". It’s not fun after a while, believe me.
So after the crazy day at work I decided to go to the yarn store despite the crazy weather. I must have been crazy, crazy indeed. But I got what I needed: two skeins of nice and soft alpaca yarn. They’ll make nice colorwork mittens. I also found something else that made the trip even more worthwhile. My favorite nail polish brand is really expensive here, but I found one shade that was on sale! It doesn’t happen every day, especially for me, so it made me really happy.
Now you’re probably wondering what this blog post has to do with board games...
So I’ve been out and about for couple hours, my jeans had gotten wet from the snow already and my toes are feeling pretty cold too. But since I had gotten what I needed and even something extra, I’m pretty good mood. Especially since I knew that my boyfriend was already preparing dinner for me and it would be waiting for me at home.
But there was also something else waiting for me: a package. My boyfriend knew about it but he wanted to keep it as a surprise. He likes surprises, probably more than I do. I ate my dinner first and showed off my new nail polish. My boyfriend is not super excited about nail polishes, but probably more excited you’d think a guy could be. After all, my boyfriend sometimes does my nails, and he does it better than me.
But before I tell you what I got and from who, I want to show you my purchases. This is yarn I bought from mittens. They look brown-ish in the picture but they are actually purple and lilac. I love alpaca yarn; it’s so soft and warm.
The nail polish I bought is O.P.I - Chop-sticking to my story. It’s not a color I would normally wear, not at all, but I guess that’s why I was initially drawn to it. I already have so many cute girly colors with shimmer and glitter... but absolutely nothing like this:
There’s a little clue in the background!
And now back to the package. It was medium-sized, brown , quite light in weight and sent from Maelstrom games. Kinda like what you expect to get when you have ordered games online. Except that I haven’t, but before Christmas I got geekmail from Secret Santa’s creepier brother, Chtanta. Except that I haven’t even participated in Secret Santa.
I kinda like the idea of Secret Santa. But on the other hand, I don’t really get it. Maybe I have not been around long enough to learn what the thrill is? Maybe we’ll need to participate next Christmas. Thought that would mean that I would have to actually pay attention to my BGG wishlist. I just cleaned my wishlist little while ago and removed basically everything except the big box expansions for Arkham Horror. Because I really wish to have those one day! I just love the world of Arkham Horror. It’s my favorite game solely because of the theme. A monster appears! Who doesn’t love that?!
So you can guess how excited I was when I opened the package and found Elder Sign. I had played it before so I knew what it’s like. It’s like Arkham Horror... but compressed: It gives the same experience in shorter time, without fiddly set-up and most importantly, without game board that takes over the whole kitchen table.
See, much more manageable.
I wasn’t excited about Elder Sign when I first heard about it. It was a "card game". Then I got excited about it when we played it together with our gaming friends. And you know what? I am even more excited about it now. When I played it first time I didn’t pay so much attention to the story. I didn’t even know there was a story! But there is! There is a museum that comes alive at night! And stuff! When we played it last night (totally shouldn’t have, I am super tired right now) I read every adventure card that came into play carefully and admired the artwork. I really don’t know why I don’t do that with all the games instead of just playing them. It really adds a lot.
Loving the artwork.
By the way, I am sure I know who our Secret Chtanta is. Besides, there are only like four users on BGG who know our address, and only two who know my real name. Even without any additional hints it would have been pretty easy to narrow down the suspects. Either way: THANK YOU! This completely erases the memory of the crappy board games we got for Christmas!
BONUS
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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So yeah. I haven’t been exactly active with my blog for months. But I have a really good reason: I shouldn’t be writing some silly blog posts when I should be working on my thesis. Though I have not been working on my thesis either because I am always so tired after work and on weekends I’m too busy recovering from work and the last thing I want to do is to spend more time on computer. But I’m feeling inspired now, which is something I have not really felt for months. And it’s 3am in Finland and nobody can expect me to work on my thesis at 3am! Nobody. So I can justify blogging. Like totally.
I don’t have specific topic to write about today. Or should I say tonight because it’s so awfully late here. Yes, we have gotten some new games and played games and stuff and I could write something review-y, but that doesn’t tempt me right now. I feel more like babbling.
This year has been great because of board gaming. Technically we started board gaming last year when we got Ticket to Ride but I don’t really count that. We just got lucky with it. We just got a game we thought we might like. It’s different nowadays. Acquiring a new game is a serious business. It involves plenty of consideration and determination. We watch videos, read reviews, maybe even test play the game if possible... It’s more organized. More systematic. We don’t get new games because we might like them. We get them because we’re board gamers. If it makes any sense. It makes to me.
Possessing board games makes me happy. I own many other things, such as musical instruments, knitting needles, yarn, nail polishes, stitch markers, foreign coins... but they don’t make me feel as happy. Because board games are much more than just things. For me they represent what I call as "good times".
When I open our board game closet I don’t see boxes. I see more than just chits and tokens and ridiculous amount of figures waiting to be painted. It’s not the games I love, it’s the experience of gaming. When I open the closet I see game nights. I see endless hours of socializing and having fun and doing things that are beyond my imagination. I don’t know what else could give me the same enjoyment.
Board games has given me a better relationship with my boyfriend, better relationship with my parents and even new friends. What else could have done the same? We’re talking about quality of life here. When other people hear that we play board games they just think it’s something geeky and idiotic, but really... I think board games are one of the things that seriously make my life rock.
I am currently nibbling some banana chips that are left-overs from today’s game night. I think I should have requested our guests to take them with them since they brought them but I forgot. I don’t think they mind though.There seems to be plenty of banana chips from where they came from. We’re more like nuts and popcorn folks. Anyway. Did you noticed that I talked about a game night? Yeah, I just intentionally distracted you to think about banana chips.
This year we’ve experienced two major changes in our lives: we’re part of a small gaming group and we have something we can honestly call as a "social life". I don’t have to be shamed anymore when my mother call me on Sundays. Every now and then I can tell her that we’ve been gaming with friends and it’s pretty awesome. I can hear from her voice that my mom is happy for us. We’re no longer the strange isolated hermit couple in her eyes. We have a life.
And you know what’s even more awesome? Having board gamer friends. When some of our "regular" friends come over, which obviously happens once in a blue moon, we can’t suggest a game of Descent. Like no way. It would be like setting a trap. "There’s no way you’re leaving us now, you’re stuck with us until you’ve killed at least 20 beastmen, 3 bane spiders, 8 skeletons, 3 hell hounds... muahahahahahaa". You just can’t do that to regular people. But with board gamers...
I think the people whom I talk about the games we play kinda see me like that. Crazy look in my eyes, imaginary weapon (I mean that’s is probably a broom of some kind but it couldn’t be interpret as an imaginary sword) and mouth open and chanting some battle songs. But who cares. Life’s too short anyway.
I just keep on gaming.
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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My birthday was today. Or maybe more technically my birthday was yesterday because it's past twelve in Finland. Anyway. I like my birthday even though I don't exactly like to get older. I love birthday presents and the cake my boyfriend bakes me every year. It's very chocolate-y. He always uses the same recipe but the cakes end up looking and tasting different. I think it's magic.
This year my cake looked like this:
Some of you probably recognize the picture; I am a huge fan of 9Gag and so is my boyfriend... and he knows I love meme faces, especially the lol face. It's awesome that he put it in my cake too!
I also got a pair of pendant earrings from my boyfriend. He made them by himself. Yeah, it's pretty hard to compete with him. He's the best boyfriend ever. Just look at these beauties:
And he was actually worried that I might not like them! I love them! I also got some other presents, but nothing gaming related. We did visit a board game store today because it was a "lautapeli lauantai", "board game Saturday" at Lautapelit.fi, but we ended up buying nothing. I still have not decided what game to give to my mother next, or what game I want for myself this month. I'm so happy that I still have time to figure it out!
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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I always get really excited about new games but after a while the excitement simply fades away. And I’ve always wondered how many times I can actually play a game before I actually get bored with it. I have found my answer, at least regarding one particular game: Ticket to Ride Europe.
I gave Ticket to Ride Europe to my mother as a mother’s day gift. It instantly became her favorite game, overtaking Trivial Pursuit’s previous place as the number one. She wants to play it every time we visit my parents. She wants to play it on Friday. She wants to play it on Saturday. Sometimes she wants to play it twice. Sometimes she wants to play it on Sunday too. We have played Ticket to Ride with my mom and with my parents thirteen times now.
It looks so innocent, so innocent...
Thirteen times doesn’t sound much. And I guess it’s not much for some games, but it’s too many times for Ticket to Ride Europe. The thirteenth time was painful. I felt that I had already built each and every route like thousand times. There was no surprises left in the pile of ticket cards. My boyfriend starts to guess my routes, probably to lessen his own boredom. My mom, on the other hand, is oblivious. She still plays the game happily. I think she’s probably even more happy now when she knows the routes better. She really can play the game and she would win easily if she took more risks in the end.
But yeah, we are bored with Ticket to Ride. Royally bored. I would prefer not to play it for a year, though I think it would take even longer to forget the routes. I am not bored with the game per se just with the routes. Though there’s an app for that.. I mean, there’s an expansion for that. Apparently Ticket to Ride Europe 1912 has some new ticket cards. I’m just not sure if couple new ticket cards are enough to get me interested again. And it’s definitely not a long term solution. I would eventually get too familiar with the new cards too.
I have also considered giving her the original Ticket to Ride, though I have to admit that I’m not exactly excited about that. As a Finn and as an European I find the American map a little too... American? I believe that my mom would also find uninteresting. There’s some new maps coming out, Indian and Asian, but I’m not sure about those either. Got to wait for the reviews first.
Now, I am aware that there are plenty of fan maps for Ticket to Ride. We have even played one with my boyfriend. It was a map of Finland and I think he printed it somehow wrong and the trains didn’t exactly fit the routes and it looked very unprofessional... Maybe because we colored it with coloured pencils instead of printing it in color. Anyway. I am not willing to try that again! Unless someone is able to point me to a map of Russia. My mom loves Russia.
Basically there’s only one option left, one real mission impossible: to find another game my mom likes and agrees to play. Preferably something even better than Ticket to Ride.The problem is that my mom doesn’t really like board games. When I was a kid she never ever played board games with me even though we had nice board games like A-maze-ing Labyrinth. For 24 years the only two games she agreed to play were Trivial Pursuit, and for some rare occasions Ubongo. I am still flabbergasted by the fact that she wants to play Ticket to Ride and actually enjoys it too.
My boyfriend has researched some popular gateway games, but frankly, I have hard time imagining my mom liking any of them. Too simple, too much text (I’ve got the feeling that she doesn’t really enjoy wearing her reading glasses plus she only understands Finnish), too complicated, stupid theme... And so on and so on. I feel like I am looking for a game that doesn’t even exist, and at the same time I’m not even sure what I am looking for.The basic idea of the game needs to be easy to understand. Like in Ticket to Ride: "Get ticket cards, build routes, win the game by completing most ticket cards". She would get lost with games like Le Havre: "get cattle, make meat..." The game itself doesn’t have to be overly simple though. It just need to be very easily explained. Basically I am looking for a game that is about as simple or complicated as Ticket to Ride, with the same play duration, with the same number of players (at least 4 players but 5 would be nice too), engaging theme and some luck involved... and without elements I can get extremely bored with. Any recommendations?
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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Some time ago I assigned another painting job to my boyfriend. I asked him to paint Ghost Stories figures for me. I never really thought of painting them myself. They’re not particularly cool and their role in the game is not so significant. They just hop from one village tile to other village tile. It’s not like they have personalities. I mean, they all look identical. Even if the position was a coincidence, there’s no explanation for the clothes and hair. Or maybe they are quadruplets?
First he painted the ninjas:
I think the red one is my favorite, though I am equally pleased with them all. By the way, in order to write this blog post at work I downloaded and installed Dropbox to get an easy access to my Ghost Stories photo album. Once I was done with that, I remembered that I hadn’t adjusted the colors at home and that the pictures might need some cropping too and downloaded and installed GIMP. Gotta love admin rights! I don’t know why we’re granted with admin rights when we don’t really need it. Everything we need is preinstalled. I guess they just trust us. Anyway.
I watched my boyfriend when he started to paint the ghost and decided to join in. We ended up painting the ghosts co-operatively. It saddens me that I can’t say that I painted them, but it was fun painting them together. I painted them black and then I painted the belts and the skulls. My boyfriend painted the purple details in the head and together we fixed the mess around the belts. We were finished in no time.
Speaking of ghosts... When I was a kid, about five years old, I saw a nightmare of a ghost. I woke up absolutely terrified and ended up hiding myself under the blanket so that basically only my nose was visible. I still sleep that way. I gently tuck the corner of the blanket between my head and the pillow and wrap it around my head like a tight hood. For me that’s the only way to sleep. And yeah, I’m almost 25 years old now. At least I don’t suck my thumb!
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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New month, new game! For September we decided to get Descent. My boyfriend had thought about it earlier, many times actually, but before he couldn’t decide whether he really wanted it or not. He needed a little kick. One kick from me ("Let’s just get it already, OK!?") and one kick from BookDepository, where the game was in stock with a reasonable price and a free delivery.
So last week my boyfriend finally placed the order...and on Thursday the game came. But how it came! It was wrapped with plastic and that’s all. No box, no bubble wrap, no nothing. Naturally the game box had took some serious damage during the delivery. It was indeed far from mint condition, so my boyfriend of course sent very disappointed email to BookDepository. The next day he already got a response: they would refund the whole price of the game. When my boyfriend announced the news I was like "wait, doesn’t that mean that we got it for free?". A free copy of Descent. I’m so not complaining. Sure the box looks like it’s been through a lot, but there’s nothing wrong with the game itself. All the minis, board pieces and cards were intact. In Finland Descent costs like 100€ so it was pretty marvelous to get it for free!
Pile of chits after punching
Yesterday we played it for the first time it took about six hours to finish the game. It just takes time to teach the game and to consult the rulebook each turn. There was always something to check. What happens when you get poisoned. What happens when you get stuck in a web. How long does the effect last. And so on and so on. There was lots of little details in this game. I am sure that the next play will be considerably shorter in time.
Heroes starting their quest
By the way, It’s been our trend lately that I am the one reading the rules and teaching the game. I think it’s because my boyfriend rather spends time on BGG than reads some stinking rules. Though I’d like to mention that we got the revised version of Descent so the rules weren’t so stinking after all. In a matter of facts I think they we’re pretty clear for most part!
Bu that part does not include the part of playing and discarding Overlord cards. From the rules I got an idea that you discard one card to receive one extra threat token. So one threat token per one card. And somehow I didn’t noticed the green circle with a bigger number on it until we we’re in the midst of the game. I always used the lower value on the card as the threat cost. I didn’t notice my mistake because it was still somehow balanced. I still had to discard many cards in order to play pricier ones.
Our unwritten rule seems to be that I always play mean characters. In Earth Reborn I play with Salemites, in Last Night on Earth I play with zombies... So of course I played with the Overlord. And I liked the role. It was fun setting up traps, though it was annoying that my monsters seemed to be really easy to kill. Even the master monsters. That was one reason why my original way of playing Overlord cards made sense to be. I felt that I wasn’t supposed to kill heroes with my monsters but with the traps and stuff... So it was natural to me that the cards would be fairly easy to play too. Silly me with my silly logic.
Bring it on
I think in overall Descent is a nice little game. If I can call it little. There’s definitely nothing "little" in the humongous box or in the larger than life minis. The game play was good and even from the beginning to the end. And I won, which is always really, really important. I am looking forward to play more, though I think I rather play more Runewars before going down to the dungeons for the second time. Gotta get some fresh air every now and then!
It's a mess after the game
When I play together with my boyfriend, and especially when we play newer games, I have this habit of taking pictures of the game with my phone. It just helps me to cope with the downtime. My boyfriend is very prone to AP so his turns sometimes take a little longer than necessary... So I entertain myself by taking pictures and maybe by posting them on G+ too. I’ve never thought much about my habit. My phone is not just a phone, it’s an extension of me. I take pictures and I share them without giving it thought. My boyfriend doesn’t mind. He doesn’t have to wait for me to take pictures because I do it during his turns and when it’s my turn I put it away. But out there, in the gaming world, I think it would be considered to be rude to play with a phone during a game, am I right?
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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My boyfriend painted Alvin & Dexter for me. I just suddenly remembered they exist and since my boyfriend seemed to be in a need of an project I asked him to paint them. He spent quite some time painting them, but then he couldn’t decide how to paint the station and asked my opinion. I wanted them to be painted red because to me they look like Snoopy’s house. They really do, and on top of everything they’re on top of the stations. It would be more than suitable to paint them red. He refused for a while but finally gave in. And now they’re red.
I think he did a really good job. They look exactly like I imagined if not even better! It's quite sad though that we don't really play Ticket to Ride anymore so these little guys are getting pretty neglected. Actually, it's even more sadder now when they look amazing and still don't get out of the box. We just play enough Ticket to Ride with my parents so we don't want to play it at home.
Wed Aug 31, 2011 12:46 pm
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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I have a motto. It goes like this: "you can always do it tomorrow". And that’s why I haven’t blogged in ages. I have always indented to... but the pure laziness has gotten a grip on me. Besides, I feel awkward them I try to force blogging. It just doesn’t happen unless I’m in the mood.
We haven’t gamed much lately, but we have really good reasons. First there was the Assembly weekend. Unless you’re a Finnish nerd, you probably don’t have a clue was Assembly is. It’s a four day computer festival where kids bring their own computers with them and play videogames all day and all night long (though some people do prefer to do something more productive) and don’t mind if the sky falls down. I’m not a big nerd, at least not anymore, and I hardly play videogames, but I still find Assembly uniquely cool and geeky. Plus I get a free ticket every time because my boyfriend is one of the organizers!
Plus there’s always free stuff available. This summer we scored promo dice sets from Microsoft. Any ideas what to do with them? We have three of them.
Then there was the weekend when we visited my parents. My mom is still crazy for Ticket to Ride and we managed to play it three times. I won twice! I think Europe works best with four players. Three is definitely not enough: there’s not enough crowd and it’s too easy to build the routes. Five, on the other hand, is too much. It gets too crowded. But four is just perfect.
And I’m still happy that my mom likes it so much and it’s also fun to play with my parents. My dad always tries to sabotage everyone; He usually builds only one or two routes and then spends the rest of his trains building routes he doesn’t need. It drives my mom crazy because she takes the game very seriously and doesn’t like when he builds her routes just for fun. I’ve been thinking about getting them Alvin & Dexter, but I’m not sure if it’s a good idea considering how much my dad already sabotages everyone...
So there was two weekends when we didn’t play our usual games at our home. But we did have on game night in the middle of the week! My boyfriend invited his friend and his friend’s girlfriend to play games with us. We decided to play Arkham Horror. They had heard of it but not played it, so we thought why not. Arkham Horror is a wonderful game to learn with more experienced gamers. There’s no fear of playing in a wrong way when there’s someone guiding you all the way. And it was a good game... for everyone else except me. I got a boring character with no weapons, no nothing. She even lost her clue token stash early in the game. I think I now on prefer Arkham Horror as a two player game. It just so much more fun to have two different characters (we always play with two characters when we play together), one to go through the gates with clue tokens and elder signs and one to kill all the hideous monsters. Or maybe it’s just me.
And we’ve got new games! Like haven’t we! I got Space Hulk which we’ve played only like two or three times. I just don’t feel like playing short games often and I don’t feel like playing games after work. I like ridiculously long games on weekends, oh yes I do. My boyfriend complains me about this. He’s like "why do we even get these short games if you don’t want to play them?!" Honestly, I don’t know. I think I wish I wanted to play them more often, I just rarely do. It’s not the games, it’s me.
But we’ve got one long game too: Runewars. One fellow geek contacted me after my last blog post and offered to sell it to us. I think it was very kind. And very convenient too! I only had to carry the box like 200 meters because his wife brought it to the mall near us. Which is another funny story because I had actually met his wife before; I just didn’t know it until I saw her. She was a friend of a friend and she had actually visited my home for one time or two. Finland is such as small, small country!
We’ve played Runewars twice now. It was quite different than I expected, though I’m not sure what I exactly expected. Something more complicated, probably. The rules were nice and simple and I understood them right away. This time it was me teaching the game to my boyfriend and not vice versa like usually! I just liked it all, really. Though it might have been a mistake that we started to play our first game at 11pm. We tried to find the estimated play-time from the box and we couldn’t find it and we thought it can’t last more than couple hours anyway. And then we played. And played. And then it was over 4am. We still don’t know what happened. Apparently it was a really good game because we never noticed the time passing. Our next game didn’t last that long, probably because my boyfriend had already found a way to beat me. Hmpphm.
I am definitely looking forward to play this again next weekend. I might even want to play with the human race or with the elves. I just don’t get what I’m supposed to do with the heroes. Though I haven’t even got a chance to do much with them because my boyfriend is obsessed with dueling them. Anyway. I think I’m still pretty confused by the game. I feel that I want to play it couple times more and then maybe write a review of it. I definitely feel like reviewing it. Says the girl who wasn’t supposed to review anything. Hmphm.
By the way, I’m still on Google+. They tried really hard to get rid of me: I got suspended three times. Not for using fake name but according to them I was a business even though there was nothing business-y in my profile. And to be clear, I don’t have a business, I have never had a business and I don’t intend to have one any time soon. Eventually they advised me to get rid of my last name (which is weird because they insist people to use their "real" names) and now I have not been suspended for two weeks. I post quite much about board games there, so if you want to be added to my board gamer circle, drop me a comment. I’m Amoena O there.
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Amoena aka a girl likes games
Finland
Espoo
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Still remember my last post? If not, then you might want to read it first. So I asked for board game recommendations and got plenty of them: 36 distinct recommendations and 26 unique recommendations. During the last two days I have been going through them by reading reviews and watching pictures. At first I was going to share my thoughts as comment replies, but after a while I realized it would be much better idea to write a separate blog post about them.
So this blog post is about my thoughts of the recommended games. They are presented in the same order I explored them. I started from the most recommended games but after that the order is pretty random.
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Through the Ages: A Story of Civilization: Through the Ages was out of doubt the most recommended board game so I decided to check it first. This wasn’t the first time I’ve heard about this game, I even found an old list from google docs in which we compare this game to other games in order to decide what to get (we got Le Havre). If I remember correctly this is still on my boyfriend’s wish list too.
We have Sid Meier’s Civilization: the board game and I like it a lot, so I guess I’m good with civilization building games. I read couple of reviews of Through the Ages and it sounds quite interesting. I like the idea of juggling different things at the same time, opting for the optimal. However, there’s one serious flaw in Through the Ages: it makes my eyes bleed. It’s not pretty, not in any way. You might think I am crazy, but the appearance is usually the biggest deal breaker for me.I don’t want to invest €65 to a game that looks ugly in my eyes. It would be like buying a dress with a very flattering shape but with a hideous pattern. I am sorry but it’s just not happening, no matter how good the game is supposed to be.
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I have not exactly eliminated Agricola. I still think we’ll get in one day even though I don’t want it now. We have Le Havre and At the Gates of Loyang and I love them both, but we don’t play those two as often as we nowadays play Arkham Horror, Earth Reborn, Merchants & Marauders etc. I want to get Agricola once we get back to playing Le Havre and Loyang again.
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Commands & Colors Ancients / Napoleonics: Commands & Colors was recommended to me three times. I thought I excluded wargames, but apparently I wasn’t clear enough. I still read two reviews for each in case they’d start to interest me. And I did start to get a little fond of the idea because the reviews I read were so well written... but then I remembered that they were still wargames. I have nothing against wars in games, I think, but I want there to be something... more? When I was a kid I taught myself how to play Chess, but I ended up not liking it because there was only one thing to do: eliminating. I feel that wargames are kind of same. I have never actually played a wargame, so I don’t really know. I used to think I don’t like ameritrash and here I am. I think I am eventually obligated to get a wargame just to see how it is like, and when the time comes Command & Colors will be a very strong candidate!
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The boyfriend: he’s really real. And Arkham Horror, in my opinion, is a very girly game.
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Space Hulk: You guys have any idea how much this game costs in Finland?
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War of the Rings: You know why I can’t stand LotR? Before my most awesome board gaming boyfriend, aka my boyfriend, I had a long relationship with a guy who played LotR Online all the effing time. I’ve had enough of hobbits and the sounds of the dying elves. Also, I am forever bitter than I went to see the first LotR movie in a movie theatre just to find out it’s a trilogy and in order to know how it ends I would have to see two movies more. I also once tried to read the book but it was the most boring thing ever.
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A Few Acres of Snow: There’s only one review so far : (
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Carson city: This game isn’t really what I’ve been looking for, but I’m somehow very drawn to it. It’s a nice looking game and the idea is intriguing. I put this on my wish list under "thinking about it", I’ll research more when the game is actually available to buy. Right now it’s out of stock from our local board game store.
Who else finds it’s funny that the first game I’ve so far found most interesting doesn’t match the criteria I originally set in my post? US GIRLS!!
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Letters from Whitechapel: The board looks so pretty I want to roll on it. I read a review and it made it sound like a more interesting version of Scotland Yard. My sister had Scotland Yard when I was a kid, but I never had enough friends to actually play it properly. I played it anyway though but it wasn’t a very good two player game. Go figure. I think I’d be very interested in this game if I hadn’t played Scotland Yard as a kid. I might be a little traumatized.
Interesting fact: This games cost €50 in Fantasiapelit but €35 in Lautapelit.fi. That’s quite a dramatic price difference considering how close those two stores are to each other...
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Android: This is a really good recommendation. It’s really pretty, it takes time to play, it’s easy to get, a very nice two-player game... Fits my requirements very well. I just happened to get Android last month. We’ve played it twice so far and I really like it. It’s so arkham-horror-like without being anything like Arkham Horror.
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Horus Heresy: I remember watching a video of this with my boyfriend. I think we both ruled it out, but mostly it was my boyfriend who was against it. I could give it a chance if it wasn’t so expensive in Finland. Not because the game itself, but because it looks and sounds so crazy. I mean, I would really, really like to play this game, I just don’t want to pay €95 just to try it out.
(One review stated that the rule book of Horus Heresy is as confusing as Android’s. What? Android rule book wasn’t confusing at all!)
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Runewars: I used to think this game is not pretty but I’ve changed my mind. It looks pretty nice after those bland wargames I’ve been watching... I remember that my boyfriend had some major complain regarding this game, but I can’t remember what it was. Something about the runes maybe. Anyway. I’ve read couple of reviews now and I am interested. This game looks nice, sounds nice and it fits my criteria. I don’t know why I have overlooked this game earlier. There’s really no reason to. This could be the game. I just need to research a little more and watch some videos. And consult my boyfriend.
And there’s stuff to paint!
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1960: The Making of the President: Maybe if they rethemed it. You know, something not so American or something not so politic. I am a Finnish girl and I have zero interest towards politics. I don’t even vote.
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Dominant Species: I actually find this game really pretty. It looks so peaceful. I’ve known this game for a long time, but my boyfriend has zero interest towards it. Besides I’ve heard that’s not the best two-player game.
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I wish you pause for a second to think that I’ve been doing all this work at work, which means that I’ve been actually been paid to read board game reviews. My life is sweet sometimes.
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StarCraft: There are no dice in this game but the game mechanics list dice rolling. I am puzzled. I read a review and another, and this sounds like a neat game but I somehow put this in a same box with Runewars, and even though this game is far much prettier, I like the theme of Runewars better.
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Twilight Struggle: I tried but the pictures made me too sleepy. And what do you mean it doesn’t have a sci-fi theme?
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High Frontier: The board looks really, really pretty and interesting, but the theme doesn’t make me feel particularly excited. I think now that I like games with figures. I like them because when I see them I want to pick them up and move then and look them closer and... play with them. I need games that make my fingers itch. Yes, that’s for sure. But that board is pretty. Really, really pretty. I think this might be a game I’d be interested, just not right now because I have something else on my mind. And yeah, I did read reviews and I even read some parts of the rules.
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Time's up. If I want to be able to wrap this post during this work day, I need to stop reading reviews now and wrap this up now. So in total I managed to go through 15 out of 26 during these two days at work. It’s not exactly good, but I can continue my work on Monday and go through rest of the games. There’s still some titles I’m not familiar with, such as Duel in the Dark, Dungeon Twister 2, Innovation, Sekigahara: Unification of Japan, Shogun and Titan.
But if I have to make some kind of a conclusion now, it would be this:
I like games with figures because they make me excited and they make me want to play the game. If there’s no figures I don’t get so excited. I might me interested, but not excited. Also, I’m still not into wargames, but I think that’s only because I don’t have any experience of them. They can’t be as boring as they sound. People play games for fun, right? So basically no game should bore you to death. I guess.
Right now I’m into Runewars, it seems like a good candidate and it makes me feel at least a little bit excited. And my boyfriends said he eventually wants in anyway, so we could as well get it now. I also liked StarCraft, but I feel that Runewars is better theme wise. I’m not saying that these games really have anything to do with each other, in my noobster mind I’ve just associated them with each other. Carson City, High Frontiers and Letters from the Whitechapel are good runner-ups.
I am still interested to hear your thoughts and recommendations. And thank you all for your efforts! You’ve been a great help: I am now more sure what kind of games I like and what kind of games don’t spark my interest.
And maybe I’m still a damsel in distress, but there’s definitely light at the end of the tunnel!
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Just some afterthoughts. It sometimes make giggle inside when I think about myself. On the other hand I am a girly girl. I wear lipstick and make sure everyday that my hair looks nice and my clothes are clean. And I surely look like a girl and I am very motherly to my dogs and I love chick flicks. But then I have a nerdy side: I am obligated to know computer stuff because of my job, but I also know nerdy stuff that’s just for fun. I understand binary, I can code CSS "just like that" and I’m pretty good at making SQL queries. And I love geeky board games. It’s like two different worlds that shouldn’t exactly match but still they do.
PS: I am sorry for all the possible spelling errors and everything. I just wanted to get this posted now and my boyfriend didn't have time to proof read for me. This is probably the worst post I've ever written on my bgg blog.
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