Recommend

There was some Mythic Mischief in the Canopy of the Amazoia during the Clone Wars over Mount Doom

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

25 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Now Available: Steph's Awesome Gaming Calendar 2024! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

There are a few games on Kickstarter right now that I wanted to shed some light on since I was provided with a preview copy. I will start with Canopy: Evergreen. This preview/prototype copy was provided to me by the publisher. New to me!

If you are familiar with Canopy I think you will find this game quite similar except now there are rules for more players. It is designed for more players and there are some slightly different mechanics regarding the animal cards and how everything plays out. You will still want to have the most points at the end and build up a luxurious rainforest.

During the game, you will be drafting cards from various stacks of cards. The pile you look at you will choose to take or move on to the next pile. Whenever you pass on a pile you aren't able to go back and claim it. You will always add a card to the stack once you look at it either to add another to the stack or the replenish the stack you take.

The cards come from a season deck and once the season deck has depleted then the season will be over and you will have an end-of-round scoring. After 3 seasons the game will end and you will add up your total points.

The game is all about set collecting and grabbing the cards you want when you see them. Some of the cards you draft will give you food. If you have enough food you can choose to purchase animal cards at the start of your turn. The animal cards might have a cool way of scoring points during the game or at the end, but they might also gain you a cool ability to use each season. Animal cards will give you points at the end of the game for the chain you have made for all of the land types, but also if you have collected 2 or 3 of the same animal type.

The game plays well with 4 players and with 2. Michael and I were able to try it with both player counts and it works very well. We love that you get to build up your trees in 3D. In normal Canopy, they were all just cards that you keep from round to round. Here, you will reuse the season cards each round and you will collect tree pieces to indicate that.

We all like the use of the tokens that you can collect from your forest board which might give you a leg up on some of the different scoring opportunities. They work well.

This is a smooth-playing game with lots of great choices. I love how you draft the cards. I am always one to push my luck on the next stack of cards that might just be what I am looking for. The unknown is so great. It makes for fun choices.

This is a great game and worth a look if you enjoyed Canopy or even if you just want a fun drafting game. I am super glad we were able to check it out and play it on stream. Take a look at the rules video if you want to learn more about the rules or see a live playthrough. Nice game!

Microbadge: All the Meeples of the Rainbow blog

Speaking of Rainforests, it was time to check out Life of the Amazonia. The publisher provided this game to me. New to me!

I love the Amazonia theme and the idea of building up a rainforest. It is what attracted me to Canopy and now this gorgeous game.

In Life of the Amazonia, players are trying to collect trees, flowers, and animals all in their rainforest habitats. You will be doing this by spending resources you have each turn. This is a bag-building game with various tracks to advance on and a bunch of different scoring opportunities.

At the start of the game, you will set up the animals on display. There are a bunch of animal cards for scoring so you will select one to use for each animal. You have a standard setup of tokens in your bag to start. There are ways to buy more and ways to cull tokens from your bag so you can focus on the strategy you want to work on.

Each turn you will use the tokens you have pulled from your bag to buy new tokens, gain various animals and trees, or even new land tiles to help expand your habitat.

If you want to focus on getting more tokens you need coins, if you want to focus on gaining terrain/trees/flowers you need more leaf tokens, if you want to gain more animals you need more food tokens, if you want to gain special ability cards and end game cards you need water tokens.

You will need a little bit of everything to do well in this game. The higher the valued tokens the faster you will claim the items you hope to get.

At the end of the game, you will score for your position on the waterfall tracks. These tracks you will advance on when you choose to gain more terrain/flowers/trees and as you advance on the tracks the items become more and more expensive. But you also get more and more points.

This is a really fun game with a ton of aspects I enjoy like building up my rainforest. I enjoy the bag-building aspect of the game as well. It works very well and it is difficult to do everything. You will want to focus on a few things. I like that the animals score differently in each game so you can mix and match those animals and that will provide new strategies to work on.

It is easy to compare this to Cascadia. But, this game has so much more going on and will be a longer endeavor for sure. I do think it will appeal to the gamers out there who like Cascadia but are looking for something more. I would say it is definitely worth a look. I have enjoyed my few plays so far!

At Tennessee Game Days I ran into Austin from IV Studio and he handed me the new Mythic Mischief Vol. II which is currently on Kickstarter! With about a week to go on the KS, it is doing very well! New to me!

Michael and I learned Mythic Mischief earlier this year and said we would be happy to do a preview for it on the Livestream (video below).

If you have played Mythic Mischief then you will be very familiar with this game. In Volume II you will find 4 new factions to mix and match with the base game for all new abilities and strategies to discover.

The gameplay is essentially the same. It is all just new factions and new solo modes to try.

If you aren't familiar with the game, it is designed for 1v1 gameplay where you are trying to get the other mythics in trouble by getting caught by the keeper. If you get to 10 points first you will win. You will only gain points if you get your opponents caught on your turn. The game could also end after the second phase of the game if the keeper makes it to all of his destinations and the night phase is complete.

Each turn you will use up your actions to move around the board and move hedges and opponents. you will want to pick up tomes to help increase your abilities. You need to position yourself well enough so your opponent can't easily target you for getting caught.

This is a thematic abstract game. You don't often find those, so I get why people are all about it and love it.

For me, I just wish there were more ways to score points during the game. I am not a big fan of all the take-that as it just doesn't feel good, for me. I prefer trying to set myself up for success with patterns and comboing other things. So, the game is only okay for me. If there were more ways to score points I am sure I would enjoy it more.

As far as quality goes, IV Studio has some outstanding quality with their titles. I am always impressed by their minis and inserts. If you are a minis person then this is a game you should check out since every mini is completely different and well-detailed. Gorgeous production and I think I have a pre-production copy.

I think if you know you like abstract take-that games then this might be the game you have been looking for. It is worth trying at least to see if it is something you might enjoy. Check out the Kickstarter since there is limited time left.

Ohhhh I am always looking for another Lord of the Rings game to try so I was very pleased to see a new title from Kosmos called The Lord of the Rings: Adventure to Mount Doom. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

Lord of the Rings vs Star Wars and I am LOTR all the way. I love love love this theme and it is even better when it is a cooperative game! Yes, Adventure to Mount Doom is a new cooperative game too with a gameplay of about an hour.

Kosmos generally has family-weight games so it doesn't surprise me that this is on the shorter side and will work great for families and kids. They do have the Andor series after all.

In Adventure to Mount Doom, players work together to move the party along the path and hit the different destinations. To do this you must roll dice and select which character is going to move with the selection of dice but you also have to roll an event die as well. 2 bad events can happen each turn, so you have to try and manage which dece you are selecting and who will move. Ideally, you want to move everyone about the same before moving on to the next section.

As you move to the different sections you will start to reveal new events and triggers that make it harder and harder to move through the land. Eventually, if you make it to the next to last stop, only Frodo can move to the very end of Mount Doom, you know, as in the movies.

It is a fun dice game to manage. You won't always roll what you need to and you will run into hard times. It is not a simple walk in the park easy cooperative game. There was a time I just kept rolling out Nazgul and I thought for sure we were dead in the water! We were able to maintain the evil and make it to the end.

I believe there are ways to ramp up the difficulty if you do find it too easy.

Michael and I both enjoyed playing this one and we will stream it shortly. Such a great theme, I hope they keep making more and more LOTR games since I can't get enough! Worth checking out if you love the theme as I do. It is an easy-to-learn and play game and I would recommend it. It would be a great family game too.

Back in April, we were all ready to play Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but we were too late and the game had to be packed up before we ever started! Fortunately, Zman was able to send me a copy so I could rectify that and get this game played! New to me!

Michael and I have been really enjoying the different varieties of Pandemic. There have been a lot of different games that use the Pandemic system and this new Star Wars Clone Wars game is also using that system.

What is so cool about the game is that it feels familiar but it stands on its own and has enough differences to make it unique.

First off, this is a Star Wars game, so it will appeal to all those fans out there! It is a Pandemic game so it will also appeal to all of those fans out there too! Seems like a perfect combo.

In each game, you will select your favorite character and have a cool ability. You and your teammates will join forces to try and take out the villain and the minions. There are missions to complete before the final battle happens so you have to work around the board to complete those missions.

Unlike regular Pandemic, The minions won't spread to surrounding planets. You will also get to keep your cards in play unless you take damage when you have to discard them. The cards will be used to move around and fight the different enemies on the planets.

I have been looking forward to playing this game since April and I am glad we were able to finally!

Michael and I were able to pull out the victory, but I wasn't sure we would be able to. We had a few early triggers and it was shaky. We will stream this game in the near future and on the next level up in difficulty. We will see how it goes.

This game is tons of fun and will remain in the collection. I am not sure I like it as much as Lich King, but it is still very good. Worth looking into if you enjoy the Pandemic games as I do!

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

0 Comments

Mon Sep 25, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

The Minotaur was By the Book with his Deadlines for the Overboss

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

22 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Some new vids!
Canopy: Evergreen

Mythic Mischief Vol. II

Michael and I are always looking for another cool cooperative experience and this time we tried out Minotaur. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

Minotaur is a dungeon crawler type of game where everyone will pick a character with cool abilities and stats and head into the labyrinth and try to find the medallions. Of course, you will encounter monsters that are looking to attack and kill you. If you die then the team loses. If you manage to find all of the medallion pieces and assemble them before that happens you will win!

During the game, players will take turns each then the minotaur will take his turn and maybe appear on the board. What is cool about this game is the small 3x3 maze map that you are traveling through. If you walk out the edge, you will remove the opposite edge of the map. It is an ever-changing grid of cards. You just don't know what will be on the other side of that door.

You have to pay attention to the different medallion pieces since if they disappear then you have to try and find it again which will take a whole bag cycle. That is a long time to try and stay alive!

Let's just say it is very easy to die. You have to be as efficient as possible! This is not a game you can just easy breezy walk into and win. Michael and I have now played two times and we lost almost immediately the first game. We had a better go of it on the live stream, but we were still far from succeeding. Perhaps you need a little luck with your token draw, but I think winning will be possible if you keep playing and find cool combos, and work well with others.

Michael and I have enjoyed playing this one and we will keep trying to defeat the game. It is a challenge. My one concern will be remembering all the rules. There are a lot of little nit-picky rules and if it isn't a game we return to quickly enough, we might just have to relearn it. It is kind of a lot for a smaller boxed game. But, it also means you get a lot of gameplay in a small box game.

Happy to give this one a few plays and I think it will be fun for a lot of groups. I like it!

During a recent game night, we decided to try out the new party trivia game called Deadlines. The publisher provided Thie.New to me!

Deadlines is a game where you have to try and arrange famous people by their birth year/age range/date of death. If you can end the game with the fewest mistakes then you will win the game.

Each category can hold 12 cards and you will try to place the people in the right slot. As you place more and more people the range becomes tighter and thus harder to identify accurately.

it is fairly easy to understand how to play. We could play with the chat on our live stream and had a great time of it.

The box says 20 minutes but there is absolutely no way you can play this game in 20 minutes. Maybe if you play a shortened version of the game, but even still, you have to consider your moves and all of the information in front of you. It is more like an hour-long game.

I don't ding it for being longer, but it is false advertising. Both of our games were a lot of fun and they both ran about an hour.

While I enjoyed our experience, I don't think it is a game that I will return to all that often. I am not great with dates so it makes it harder for me. I was mostly using my best judgment when placing cards. It was okay, but I lost both games and didn't expect to actually win the game. You will start to learn the cards after a while too.

Glad to play the few times I have so far and I would definitely play again in the future. I am not sure it is a long-term keeper though.

Michael and I were looking for a quick 2-player game and found Overboss Duel. The publisher provided this. New to me!

I haven't actually played Overboss: A Boss Monster Adventure but from my understanding, it works in a fairly similar way. This game, however, is designed for 2-players and has a lot of new factions and abilities. I also believe it can be combined with the first game if you just want to add new materials.

During the game, you will be placing tiles into the field and placing monsters too. You will want to try and fight off the heroes that show up. The more heroes you can defeat the better your side of the board will be looking for end-of-the-game points. Each monster type will score a little differently and have a different action associated with it.

When you play tiles you can play to either your side of the board or to your opponents. Maybe it will mess them up, but you don't have to provide a good combo of terrain and monster. Don't help your opponents out!

Everyone has a secret leader who will provide reveal abilities and end-of-the-game bonus points if you meet the conditions. These are things you have to keep in mind when you are playing those tiles!

I think this game will work well for those who don't take gaming too seriously and just want to do tricksy take-that moves. There is a fair bit of take-that in this game. it plays out pretty quickly so will work for casual gamers who just want something with a zing. Not exactly for the rules lawyer type of strategy gamers since I don't really think that is the vibe for this game.

It was fun to play once, but ultimately it just isn't a game that I would want to return to. It is just not my jam. I don't love the contestant bashing of the heads in order to make good moves that attack your opponent. Not my style. Happy to give it a whirl to make sure though.

I had time to try out a new solo puzzle game called By the Book from Foxmind Games. The publisher provided this game to me. New to me!

I am generally not one to play solo games, but I have always enjoyed such puzzles growing up. You might find the little solo puzzle games at restaurants or coffee tables at people's homes. This is definitely a game that would work for such an instance.

By the Book is a series of puzzles that will provide what books/cat you will need to solve it. You have to make sure once the books are stacked and the cat can fit just fine, then you will add the shelf on top and use the pot to make sure it is level.

There are plenty of levels to try out and they get harder and harder.

I played through all of the easy levels. That was a breeze so I am excited to see how it plays out with the harder levels. Maybe it won't be as easy.

Awesome components and is just a fun puzzle for those who enjoy such solo puzzles. worth checking out if so! Look how cute!

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:
Cascadia
Cascadia Landmarks
Minigolf Designer: Minigolf Empire Extension

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

2 Comments

Fri Sep 22, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

Come Sail Away to The Last Kingdom where the Number Drops into the Coral Reef

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

20 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

I am always on the lookout for a new Saashi & Saashi title so I was so excited to check out the new Come Sail Away!! The publisher provided this game to me. New to me!

From my understanding, this will be the first time that Saashu & Saashi will be attending Essen Spiel and will be showing their games with Oink and Itten. Be sure to check out their booth if you are headed to Spiel and pick up all their games!!

Come Sail Away is a new bigger boxed game with about a million meeples inside! You will want to gain the most points during the game as you place the guests in the locations they want to be on the ship.

During the game you you select people cards and you will have to place those people on the board. There is a dropping mechanic like you find in Mancala but you will choose where to start and whether to drop from the left or right side placing one meeple at a time.

Certain rooms can only hold red guests for instance. if you drop a green meeple on a red room then he will become disgruntled. There are facility tiles that will require specific types of people like pairs of the same color or perhaps a variety of colors depending on the patterns you see on that tile.

If you place a guest with a luggage tag into the correct room type you can advance on the luggage track and gain awesome new small room tiles and cool meeple abilities.

You just draft 12 cards and the game will be over. So many choices and it will just be fun every time. It plays so quickly too!

Since I first played this game, I have already played it 5 times!! That is a sign of a great game. Everyone wants to play it and because it is such a quick game, it is easy to pull out and play! The puzzly nature of placing the meeples down is fun and the drafting cards is fun. Lots of great things happening in this game which makes it approachable and enjoyable.

This is a game that needs to get a US distribution because I just know that everyone would enjoy playing this one if they could get their hands on a copy. That is why I highly suggest stopping by their booth at Spiel and picking up a copy before they run out.

One of my favorite games this year and I hope more people get to play it.

I haven't seen the show Last Kingdom, but I have heard AMAZING things about it. I was still curious about the new board game called The Last Kingdom Board Game which I found at GenCon and the publisher provided it for me to check out. New to me!

It says it can play 2 players on the box, but I wasn't sure how well that would work out since it was seemingly an area-control game. Fortunately, we found out pretty quickly that it works pretty well with 2 players, so don't let that deter you.

In The Last Kingdom Board Game, players are trying to gain influence over the regions and score points. The game is played over 2 eras and in each era, all of the regions will be scored. You need to manipulate your position to score the most points to be the victor in the end.

During the game, you have to manage your cards and your tokens really well because you are super limited. Since you only get a handful of cards to use for the entire era, you have to pick and choose when to actually use a card and gain the benefit. How important is the territory being scored this turn vs. the next turn? Will you want to use your really cool card early or save it for a pinnacle moment?

Each turn you will perform a number of various actions if you can afford them and you will choose one at a time until all players have passed. The target region will then be evaluated for influence to see which factions will win the region. If you align with the right faction that wins you will gain points.

What is cool about this game is that you are able to switch sides during the game. You might have a special card that allows for switching or you can take a basic action to switch. It is not EASY to switch, but it is possible and if you time it all correctly it might just fall into your lap everything you need to win the game. You have to be timely and pay attention to what is happening on the board.

I really like how you have such a limited number of cards each era and that you have to pick and choose when to play them. Do you play them early, seed them through the era, or hang on for a big ending? So much to think about and plenty to do to try and get the leg up.

The card play is fun and interesting, and I also enjoy the constant battle to try and gain those points from the region. It isn't bad to lose though since you get tokens for your troubles and the tokens help you take additional action in the next turn. Pick and choose your battles I suppose.

This game works well with 2 players since you are able to change sides if you have the right cards or enough tokens to do so. It isn't a direct combat as it might look if you were just passing by. There is definitely more going on which makes it more than a dudes on a map game.

Right now I have only played one time and I was very impressed. I would definitely like to play it again and then again with more players. I also definitely want to go watch the show since I think I would really enjoy the show too! It feels like a very thematic game, so if you enjoy the show then you will probably enjoy this one. Definitely a Game of Thrones-esque feeling. Check it out!

We have recently learned Ecosystem so I was looking forward to trying the new Ecosystem: Coral Reef. The publisher provided this game. New to me!

Coral Reef is really just like the original one but there are all new animals and powers. If you are familiar with Ecosystem, you are really able to just dive into this one. (see what I did there...)

If you aren't familiar with Ecosystem then why not? It is a lovely card-drafting card-placement game. You will simply draft 20 cards and as you draft them you will add them to your display. At the end of the game, you will compare 4x5 grids of cards and see who will score the most points based on the collection you have.

The fun part about this game is drafting cards that will work well for your ecosystem. You want to find the cards that work best and will score you the most points but you also want to stop your opponent from getting cards they are looking for. You will look for the 3 types of cards since the lowest of the 3 types will score extra.

Everything about this game is just fun and relaxing. There are no real complicated rules or anything. What you need to know is on the player aid, but I sort of wish all of the point scoring were on the actual cards too. otherwise, it is a nice game that I think will appeal to a lot of casual gamers who like quick and easy games. It will also work as a filler game for strategy gamers who are just looking for something fast to play. This is a game I would happily play more of.

Michael and I tried out the new Number Drop. The publisher provided this game.

I actually played this on BGA a while ago so it was not new to me. I am not sure if this was available overseas perhaps first? It was a long time ago that I first played Number Drop and it is only just getting released in the States.

In Number Drop, Dice are rolled and you have to assign the numbers rolled in a particular polyomino pattern. You are trying to get numbers in a grouping of the same numbers or in ascending/descending order. If you can make groups of 3-8 that is great and will provide points at the end of the game. You might also unlock a mean trigger for your opponent in the meantime.

You keep dropping these numbers/patterns in your board until someone has reached the game end-line trigger. You will tally up your score and whoever has the highest score will win.

While you want to great lots of groups, you also have to look out for filling up the rows for bonus points.

The game is very 90s. neon pink and blues and whites. It definitely gives me those vibes which I can appreciate.

The game works fine and is a game I would play again. It feels a bit forgettable and I feel like there will also be something else I would rather play. It is still fine and there is nothing wrong with it, but perhaps it just isn't that exciting. If you get the chance to try it, you can try it on BGA. So it is totally accessible to play.

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:
Senjutsu
Maximum Apocalypse
Brass Empire
Lawyer Up Season 2
Nucleum

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

2 Comments

Wed Sep 20, 2023 4:36 pm

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

The Art Society had a Match Madness that was just The Perfect Wave for Sanssouci

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

18 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Some new vids!

BOOoop.

Vivarium

There is so much to say about Art Society I don't even know where to begin. As a last-second text message during GenCon, I was asked to rush to a booth before the hall closed on Sunday. This little gem of a game was handed to me for a review from Mighty Boards. I was more than delighted. New to me!

Since it is still not even published yet, the copy that was handed to me didn't even have rules in it. So, I suppose what you see in the photos is subject to change, but I am fairly sure this is a mostly finished copy of the game. The quality I have is awesome so I would be surprised if they changed it. The cover of the game is actually duel-layered. So awesome!

Art Society has a mix of everything I love from the mechanics to the theme. If you have seen my New to Me blog I posted last week, you would have found this game in the number 1 spot because it just hits all the right notes for me.

In Art Society, players will gain artwork for their walls. if you have the best collection of art and thus gain the most points at the end of the game you will win.

During the game, the active player will select tiles from various sizes to put up for auction. The number of players plus 1. They are only revealed once all tiles have been selected for the turn. Once they are revealed, all players will select a bid card from their hand to play. The highest bidder will select first and so on until all players have a painting tile and one is remaining. The leftover painting will influence that type and increase in value.

The game is pretty simple, but it gets to be puzzly when you start placing the pieces on your board. The key is that you don't want the same types of paintings to be hung next to each other it will cause a faux pas and those paintings will score 0 points. You have to be careful to not make any faux pas connections on your board! You will want to match the frame types since they will give you bonus points!

Once someone runs out of bidding cards, or has two tiles in their excess painting stack, or that someone has completely filled their board the game will end.

Depending on the 4 types of paintings and their values you will gain between 2-5 points per painting unless there is a faux pas. The painting with the highest value will gain additional points for each in the line of sight.

I just love everything about this game. It has a bidding phase which is sort of like an auction mechanic. You want to get first dibs on the tiles, but you also sort of want to be last to pick so you can determine which color increases in value. It is a nice balance for how you use the tiles in the game. There is more to this game than meets the eye, and it is a wonderful discovery.

I love this game with 2 players, but playing with 4 players was so great too! It feels a bit more dynamic with the bid cards, but really I am happy to play at any player count.

This is a game I will always want to play and I wish I have played it more than 3 times. I have been consistently thinking about this one and wanting to get it back to the table. I already know this is going to be a huge hit and that everyone will enjoy it. It is an elegant game with so many great choices. I hope everyone loves it as much as I do!

Sanssouci has been a staple in my collection since I picked it up 10 years ago. I was delighted to see a reprinted version come out. This new edition was provided by the publisher so I could try it out and see the differences. The game is definitely not new to me, but they did include a new module in the box. I haven't tried that yet though.

This new edition of Sanssouci has new artwork for the box and for the tiles. It is a more realistic-looking artwork. The original version is a bit more cartoony.

The game hasn't changed at all. If you aren't familiar with the game then where have you been?

It is just a walk in the park!

Each turn you will select a card from your hand of 2 cards and then take a tile that matches it. You have to place that tile in a specific location depending on where you drafting it from on the main board. That tile goes into the column of the picture and the row of the right color.

After you place the tile you can move one of your visitors down a path and score points depending on where it landed.

Simple simple relaxing game of drafting tiles and trying to score the most points. You have hidden goals to work towards too.

I love the ease of this game and if more people can enjoy it, I would hope they can now find a copy! I got a comment from Alicia on my video and she said she taught her mom this game and her mom LOVED it, and that her mom is not really a gamer. So that just says it all. It will appeal to all people who just want an easy relaxing game experience.

Sanssouci is just a nice game. That is the reason it has been a staple in my collection all these years. It doesn't get played a whole lot but is always a welcomed game on my table. I would definitely recommend checking it out if you like tile-placement games.

We were able to have Jason over for our Livestream playthrough of The Perfect Wave! This game was provided by the publisher. New to me - ish.

I played this a few times in prototype form and Michael and I gave some feedback, but it was mostly ready to go. It is awesome to see the game published by The Op! The Op actually won a booth award at GenCon for having the best booth set up. It was because of this game it had a cool beach set up with the staff in Hawaiian shirts and everything. I added a picture below. It was a great booth!

This card game is very quick-playing, even with 4 players. The game is about creating the Perfect Wave and then being able to ride that wave in for the victory at the end of the game.

Each turn you will have 2 action points to spend and you can do a number of different things. You will mostly be drafting cards from the display and then playing them to your board. The wave cards have to be played in ascending order with values that are more or equal to the previously played card. This is only looked at when you catch the wave at the end of the game. You can actually play cards anywhere in your tableau to the right of where your surfer has already paddled out.

If you want to perform a trick you can also draft trick cards to place about the wave cards on your board. You don't need to have played a wave card in order to play a trick card, but you can only score for a trick if you have a wave card at the end of the game.

Sometimes a Paddle Out card will show up in the display and that is the best way to move your surfer out to prepare for the wave. If the game ends, you can only catch the wave from where your surfer is located in the water. It doesn't matter what other wave cards or trick cards you might have played further out, it just won't matter.

The further you paddle out the higher the points will be for the wave you do catch.

There are common goals you can work towards, but to actually make them possible to score you will need to spend your whole turn to activate one goal and then it is valid for all players to score points for that goal. you do have a hidden goal to work towards as well, so that is something to consider too.

For a quick game, you get a lot of awesome actions and things to think about. Games have been around 20-30 minutes even with 4 players since the turns are so quick. People are fast to jump on the chance for the Paddle Out cards as they should be since there are so few of them in the deck you have to take the chance when it arises.

You have the extra tokens that help to get cards you need that might be in the discard pile or extra paddle-out movement when you need it. The end of the game will sneak up on you when you least expect it so you will have to try and plan for it if you can.

Everything just works well and I have really enjoyed my recent plays. It is a fun bright theme and a game that I can easily pull out and teach and play quickly. I am happy that I can finally add this game to the collection. Such a lovely game I hope more people can try it out!

Michael and I tried out a 2-player game called Match Madness Duo. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

I haven't tried out Match Madness before, but I was curious to try this duo version.

If you are into puzzle-solving games then you have now found a game you need to check out.

During the game, you will have a collection of blocks to work with in order to try and solve the pattern before the other player. Each of the blocks will have 4 sides with various similar shapes. Your goal is just to create that pattern.

Very simple rules and you will just have a heads-down game. Very multi-player solitaire and quiet as everyone tries to figure out the puzzle. It is a race to get so many cards won before the other player. Or really until you want to quit.

It is a nice game, but you have to enjoy this type of game. Feels like more of an activity, but because you are each working on the puzzle it can be made into a game.

Glad I got to try this one, but probably not one that I will revisit very often because it is just not a game that Michael enjoys as much. I am happy to play it more. I like the challenge.

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:
Couture
Mind Space
Chomp
Sail
Fit to Print
Deep Dive
Point City
Salon De Paris
Pollen
Penny Black

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

8 Comments

Mon Sep 18, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

It was really a Block and Guess attempt by the Inoka - Pirate Tails, but they were Speedy Feedy about it

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

15 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Some new vids!
Junk Drawer

Waffle Time

Michael and I were looking for a quick game to check out one night and we pulled out Pirate Tails. This was provided to us by the publisher. New to me!

In Pirate Tails you are looking to collect lots of nuts to gain points. The more of the same type you get the better your score might be but it depends on the values of the cards you collect. After 3 rounds, the game will end and you will count up the different sets you have collected. whoever has the most points will win.

At first, this game reminded me a lot of Coloretto. But the way cards get into the display and the way you score sets is very different. Each turn you will take 3 actions. Draw a card and take a card to your supply, draw a card and place it face up on a location, and draw a card and place it face down on a location. The two cards played to locations have to be different locations. You must do all 3 of those actions on your turn but they can be done in any order.

If you don't want to draw cards you can simply take one island with all of the cards on the island. If all other players have taken from an island, you then must stake from an island and end the round. You start a new round and do that 3 times.

You want sets of 4 or more of the same nut since you will then score your highest card of the 4 cards. If you have one nut it will be 0 points. If you have 2 cards of the same then you score the lower card value. If you have 3 cards you'll score the middle value.

It is a very quick-playing game and easy to teach and play which is nice. I love the vibrant colors and fun theme.

I had a great time playing, but I think I would like it with more players even more. It can definitely be rushed by the other player if you just play with 2. If you think you are winning in a 2-player game then you can rush it by just taking an island card as your first or second action. Probably would have been better if you couldn't rush it. For now, it is a game I would happily play again. Not sure it is better than Coloretto, but I like that you place cards facedown. It is the unknown!! That is fun.

When James and Susan were over we were able to play a new party game for 3+ players called Block and Guess. This game was provided to us by the publisher! New to me!

In Block and Guess, players team up into 2 teams. The goal is to gain as many points as possible. And you play so that everyone can be the builder twice in the game. Whoever has the most points at the end will win!

Each turn, the active builders will pull a number card from their deck of cards and show it to the other builder. Both builders will then know each of the things they are both trying to do. There is an event card that will be revealed that will alter the rules slightly for the builders. For example, we had one that said you have to build with your eyes closed.

Taking turns, the builders will hand off items to each other. If I know Michael has to build a rake, I won't want to give him objects that will help him build that rake. I don't want to make it easy for the other team to guess.

Once each builder has 3 objects they will build their item. The guessing players will be able to look at the card with all the possible answers before they choose which one to guess. Once built, the guesses will make a guess and either get it wrong or right. if they are right they will get 2 points for the team. If they are wrong, then we proceed to the second part of the turn. The opposing team gives 3 more items and there is one more chance to get the right answer. If guessed correctly the second time the team is awarded with 1 point.

It is a pretty simple party game with lots of fun objects to try and get your point across by building something.

I don't think I love the fact that the other team will choose your objects for you, but I guess it makes the game more challenging. It already seems hard enough, but perhaps not. I like the different events that happen.

It is a cute game and I would be happy to play it again. I think I like other party-type games with similar ideas. I feel like the point structure isn't that great, like too many party games out there. But, I suppose you aren't playing for points, you are playing for funzies.

For me the game was fine and I could play again. I am not sure I would seek it out though. Glad to get it to the table and bring it to the stream. We had fun times playing it on stream with the chat.

Michael and I were looking for quick 2-player games and I saw Inoka to try. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

I was originally attracted to this game for the wonderful artwork. It is so very attractive.

Inok is a 5-10 minute 2-player rock-paper-scissors type of game. You can play with more players, but it is really meant for 2 I believe. If you can win 3 rounds first you will win the game.

Each round you will draft 5 cards to your hand and then each player will simultaneously choose one to play. If you win the clash you take the leaf. If after the 5 cards, you have the leaf token you will win the round.

It is a very simple game and it is small. I can't say it is doing anything new or exciting. It is a very basic rock-paper-scissors game. It really isn't my type of game. It was too bad since I think the artwork is just so charming. I am glad to have tried it, but it is not a game I would return to playing anytime.

Michael and I were looking for another quick game and found Speedy Feedy. This game was provided to us by the publisher. New to me!

You can tell from the cover of the box that it has a younger target audience. The cute artwork will draw any kid in or anyone who just loves adorable artwork. So cute!

This game is a speed game as you might have caught from the name. Each type of animal likes a certain type of food. Each turn everyone reveals a card the food type that has the most will be the animal you want to hit. You have to take into account the top of the deck too. If you hit the right animal you will win the cards for your score pile.

Once you get through the deck of cards the game will be over. Very simple. You can play with a few variants too if you want more of a challenge.

It is super light and easy to play. I can see families and kids enjoying this one for a quick game to play before dinner. I don't think it does anything special or new in terms of speedy real-time games, but it's good and solid. I would easily play this again. I love that the game had stickers inside the box. All kids love stickers!! I am glad we could play.

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:
Ensemble
Rich and the Good

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

0 Comments

Fri Sep 15, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

The Freelancers and the Tucana Builders in Neotopia loved the Aurum

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

13 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

I had heard so many fantastic things about Freelancers: A Crossroads Game so I was very excited to give it a whirl. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

On the box, it says it needs 3-7 players so I knew it would be a game to play with the group if they were up for it. If you so play with 2-players you can use the variant found on the website, or just use 2 characters each.

If you are familiar with other Plaid Hat Games, you will know they like to use a book and an app to drive a story and adventure for your game. I would compare this to other titles they have like Forgotten Waters or Familiar Tales.

What is absolutely fantastic about this game is that you can use their web app in order to learn the game as you go. It is so easy to use. They underline keywords so you can learn more about those actions if you need to learn more. But really, they walk you through everything perfectly.

In this game, you will choose a character and job. You have to fill in some mad libs to get your story going, but you and the other freelancers in your team will work together to try and accomplish whatever you have been hired to do. Along the way, you will have many encounters and events. You will gain various titles and level up your skills.

The story all unfolds as you journey your chosen path. The app will read it all to you so all you have to do is listen and figure out the best course of action.

I really love the app they have created and can see it being easily expanded.

I have now played through Map A and Map B and they were completely different stories. I could even replay either map because we left so much unseen. Who knows what might happen the second time through? New characters and new events will really just make the game totally replayable.

Everyone in the group loved playing through the first full game. We weren't sure if we would play the whole thing, but everyone was having a great time so we pressed on and finished out the story.

We all loved how the tutorial walked us through how to play so we could just set up and get going with ease.

It is very accessible and user-friendly. This is a great game for anyone who enjoys a fun adventure cooperative game. You will surely have a few good laughs! We had a great time so I am sure many others will find the fun too!

I was excited to check out Tucana Builders since I have been a fan of Trails of Tucana. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

There aren't that many roll-and-write games that turn into a boardgame, but hey, why not?! I will say that if you are a fan of Trails of Tucana, the new Tucana Builders will have a very similar feeling but now you are placing tiles.

In Tucana Builders, you will play over 2 rounds, and in each round, you will end with a scoring phase. If you have the most points by the end of the game you will win!

Each turn you will draw a tile from the bag and then someone will reveal the terrain you have to play on with that tile. Each round you will get to use your wild card once so you have to choose wisely.

The game is all about figuring out the best paths to connect the animals to the matching huts and the tucans match all of the huts. Each of the huts will score at each end of the round, but there are also common goals to work towards that will gain you more points if you finish them first.

It is a pretty simple game to figure out and play which makes it easy to pull out and play.

I have really enjoyed my first few plays so far even though I am so very bad at it. I can't say it is better than the roll-and-write game but they are definitely the same weight and playtime. I will likely end up keeping both games since they give me similar but also different feelings when I play. Sometimes I just want to play tiles! A bright and beautiful game that I would happily play anytime.

Neotopia is a beautiful new game that was excited to get to the table. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

Neotopia is a pattern game where you are trying to create patterns on the board in order to score points in the 3 different regions. You want to have points in all of the regions since you will get to score your lowest score multiplied by 3. The game ends once all of the center tiles have been removed. You will want to have the most points!

Each turn, you will perform 3 actions. The 2 different actions are to either draw a card from the display or to play an element tile on the game board. If you place a new element on the game board you can play a card from your hand if the tile you just played is part of the pattern on the card. It is tricky since you can't play the same type of card that was previously played in the same region.

You have to hope other players play into your cards, but you are also trying to set up your own cards and you hope other players don't use the spaces you want to.

Along the way you might collect special action tokens and you can use one of those each round if you want to. They are really great and you will definitely want to collect those.

We played this at a recent game night with 4 players. We also played it on stream with 2 players. There is definitely a different dynamic with fewer or more players, but I actually think the sweet spot for the game might be at 3 players.

With 4 there is a bit of a chaotic nature since you can't really plan for your turn as well as you can with 2 players. With 2 players you can set your plays up better, but there isn't as much change on the game board to play off of. It is a bit of a trade-off.

Either way, I still like the puzzle aspect of trying to score your cards and balance the 3 score tracks. It is a nice game. I have enjoyed my few plays and would like to play again with 3 players to see it at all player counts. I think a lot of people will enjoy this one if they give it a whirl.

At a recent game night we were looking for a card game to play and since we needed 3-4 players for Aurum it was a perfect fit for the end of the night. This game was provided by the publisher. New to me!

Aurum is a new card game where you play in teams. The catch with this trick-taking game is that you must never follow suit for any card that has been played. With each hand of cards, you have to wager what you and your teammate will take in for the amount of tricks, but only the highest value will be in effect. During the round, you will have a chance to change out the value to another value since you get more points if you can hit the correct bid exactly.

For each trick, the highest value card will win the trick, and the lowest value card will win a golden points card. The golden cards are going to be points, but they can also be used as a trump card in a later trick. The golden cards are the only type of cards that can be played in multiple during one trick.

I really do like partnership trick-taking games probably more than not. We actually all found this game to be super solid. I am not a big fan of not following. It makes it nearly impossible to predict how many tricks you think you will make.

We played the basic game to start out where everyone gets a golden 0 and I think that makes it a lot easier. I am 100% sure I would like to play this game again without using those golden 0's. I think it will be more fun to decide when to give up points or not.

I liked this game and would give it another go, but I think in general I would just rather play another card game. We weren't disappointed in our play though. It was good to get to the table!

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

4 Comments

Wed Sep 13, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

It was the Dawn of Ulos and the Inheritors were just Screaming at the Dahlias!

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

11 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Some new vids!
Freelancers: A Crossroads Game

Nautilus Island

I was excited to check out Dawn of Ulos which was provided by Thunderworks Games. New to me!

Imagine the awesome fantasy world for the theme and imagine an economic game kind of like Acquire. Perhaps this is the creation you will come up with - Dawn of Ulos!

In Dawn of Ulos, you are wagering on the different factions to succeed. You can wager on any faction but the more land that faction occupies the more expensive it will be to buy their faction cards. These faction cards are used in a number of ways, but will ultimately be worth its final value price at the end of the game if it isn't used in other ways.

During the game, players will take turns placing terrain tiles so a faction can start and grow. Not one person owns a faction, so you can always choose to buy into a faction you didn't start or expand it.

If you expand a faction you will boost their strength value on the power track when you expand to match their favorite terrain types. The Goblins like forest and desert so each time the goblins expand into a hex of either type it will advance one step on the power track. If they make it to the end of the track they are now a legendary faction and can't lose that status even if they lose some strength value.

The stronger the faction gets the more value their cards are worth and the better they can defend their territory.

On your turn, you will place one tile. Then you can take an action either by using a card from your hand, or you can buy up to 3 cards at the value of the faction on the power track. Finally, you have to draw one tile from the stacks to replenish your hand of tiles.

If you cause 2 groups to merge, then you have to resolve a conflict. A conflict will look at strength value, but will also be supported by players who wish to use faction cards to help boost that value. You might be giving up valuable cards to help your faction win, but could pay off big time if you can take over the land and become legendary.

The game ends once the tiles have run out or 2 factions have legendary status.

Michael and I have played the game with 2-players but I know this game will just shine if you play with more. I feel like the sweet spot will be 3 or 4 players.

I think this game and concept is a lot of fun. So many economic games like this are about companies and stocks. I love the theme of fantasy more so it is way more appealing. I like the multi-use cards. You might choose to perform the action on the card to get a boost, but you are then giving up that possibly high-scoring card to do it. The choices are hard. You want to buy into all the factions so you have that possible card to use for the action, since it might help you!

It is a dynamic game so having more players would be better and there will be more changes from turn to turn to play off of vs a very tactical feeling of 1v1.

I liked this game and would definitely play again. It is not my normal cup of tea, but every once in a while it is fun to try my hand at such games. I would be curious to know if this is a game that works for your group if you have tried it before.

If you end up getting the game I highly recommend the lovely coins that go along with it. They are fabulous!

I don't think I have seen the movie Scream but I saw Scary Movie which has the same character with a long face. In any case, I was up for checking out the new Scream: The Game since I heard some fun things about it. This game was provided by Funko Games. New to me!

This game feels super thematic even though I haven't seen the movie. It is a cooperative real-time game where we have to try and not get caught by the scary guy that is after us.

You will need an app to run the game since he will often phone in and say we have to do a side mission or we get caught. He calls in frequently!

During the game, we will have to try and complete sets of items to fulfill the different requirements we all have. Each turn we can draw a card, swap a card with another player, or complete the set you need to.

It is all real-time so you have to really pay attention to what people are saying and what people need to complete their goals.

If we can all get the goals completed and not get caught, then we will win the game.

I will say this game is super stressful! You feel the pressure of the clock and know he will phone in asking someone to provide cards. I like the stress. It makes the game move along at a brisk pace and you are completely in it.

We all had fun playing the game and I definitely think that fans of the movie will find this game enjoyable. It is a clever use of an app and it works well. I was very happy to give this game a play and for it to be as much fun as it was. It is worth checking out if it appeals to you at all.

I was excited to check out the new Bohnanza game called Bohnanza: Dahlias. This game was provided to me by Amigo Spiel. New to me - ish!

I call this one new to me because it is a separate entry in BGG and the biggest difference is that you have 3 planting fields the whole game. You don't buy one partway through.

For me, If you like Bohnanza then is a no-brainer. I simply love the flower theme way more than the bean theme. The beautiful artwork by Beth Sobel is worth picking up the game.

If you aren't familiar with Bohnanza, well it is a card game. In the game, you have a hand of cards that you can't rearrange the order of. You must always play the topmost card from your hand into your field, but you can choose to play the second card as well. Then you will reveal two from the deck and try to negotiate with other players to trade for the cards you want.

Ideally, you pick up a whole bunch of flowers in one set and then you can score coins to the set value. The catch is the fact that you have to always plant the card from your hand and from the deck that you reveal. So you might not get the full set you were hoping for.

It is a classic card game at this point and I think the flower theme is just great.

Definitely worth checking out if you also enjoy the flowers like I do. It's a nice game.

Michael and I tried Inheritors which was provided to us by Northstar Games. New to me!

Inheritors is a small box card game where you are trying to gain influence to become the next ruler.

Each turn you are going to do one action of many possible actions in order to try and gain the influence you need to win.

Here are the actions: You can play an influence card to your tableau but they have to go in order from 1 to 6 in the appropriate color. You can discard 1 card to draw 2 cards from the deck or discard 1 card to take all of the cards from one row in the market. Maybe you want to claim a quest by discarding 3 cards of the same color and you draw a card from the deck. Or you can play an advocate card for its ability.

Many possible options. What is cool about all of this is when you discard a card it will go into the market area so you are giving up cards that the other players might end up wanting to increase their influence.

If you have enough influence in one region you can claim a leader card which is also going to give you abilities going forward.

The game will end once all of the quests and honors have been taken, or the the last card has been taken from the deck.

Ultimately you will want the most points from your influence cards, tomes and epics, relics, quests, and honors.

For a small card game, there is enough going on to keep your attention. I find that if you can't get the lower cards early then you will likely start off in a weaker position than the other players. It is hard to come back from that. If I can gain a leader card much quicker than my opponent then I am just better off. So it is a bit restrictive to have to play cards in numerical order.

That being said, it wasn't too harsh and the game is fast enough where it may not matter in most games.

I had fun playing it, but I am not sure it stands out for me to recommend it to play off the shelf. I would happily play it again though. Definitely glad to give it a whirl. It is a charming game with cute critters and a colorful display which is always attractive to me.

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

4 Comments

Mon Sep 11, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

Oh No, Volcano went KAPOW and the Balloon Pop was a real Call of Nature

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

08 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Once I saw the Plinko drop in a board game I knew I had to play it. I am talking about the new Oh No, Volcano!! This game was provided to me by the publisher. New to me!

In Oh No, Volcano, players are trying to collect gems and if you can collect enough before the other players then you will win the game.

Each player will have 3 hikers they can use during the game to explore the volcano, but you have to look out for the fireballs that are getting tossed from the volcano! You don't want to be knocked off!

Each turn, the active player will play a card from their hand or gear pile and move the associated people up the volcano. If they land on a gem space they will collect that gem. If they land on a door space they can appear at the other door space so long as the other door space that matches is higher on the volcano. You can never move down the volcano, but you can go to the left and right. You can not land in the same space as another player.

Once you are finished moving, you might need to place a boulder if that is on the card you selected. The boulders can help create overhangs and protect your person from being hit.

Then you must drop the fireball onto the board from the position on the card 1-6. Any person that was hit off the volcano with this fireball will have to go back to camp and they will get a gear card.

The gear cards are slightly better than normal cards since they usually offer more steps so you can move around faster.

If you collect all of the gems then you will win the game.

I am not the target audience for race games, but I like the gimmick of this game with dropping the fireballs. I wish I got to drop more. I wish the game was more about dropping the fireballs and less about collecting the gems with movement cards. I am not sure the fun-factor is totally there, but I want to like it more than I do.

I have played a few times now and I am not sure about the longevity of the game either. It is a fine game, but I am already trying to think I could I spice up the gameplay a bit.

For a family game, this probably works just fine. For strategy gamers, I don't think it will hold up in the long run.

At GenCon, I was excited to see a new game that featured customizing your dice. White Wizard Games provided me with a copy of KAPOW! Volume 1! New to me!

KAPOW! is a 1v1 game where you are trying to knock out your opponent by dealing enough damage to get them to 0. Hey, sort of like Star Realms, but not.

In KAPOW, you will be rolling a handful of dice then assigning them to various actions provided you have the appropriate symbols to match the actions you want to perform. You are doing this at the same time the other player is doing it.

You have a wide range of actions from attacking to defending, but also ways to improve on your dice and gain new dice.

What I really like about this game is that all of your actions are laid out on the board in front of you and it explains everything you need to know. It all just makes sense. The shields are overly large and the player board is also very large so you just plot the dice right on the board and figure out your other moves.

For your first game, you don't have to play with the characters just to get a feel for how it works, but then you can start including character abilities/powers to offer up some more variety with your games.

I love the look and feel of this game. I have played a bunch of duel games that play out similarly to this, but I really like that you can customize your dice and gain more during the game. For me, the fun is trying to build up the dice to create the combos you want.

Ultimately, in my first play, I was able to successfully attempt the attack combo that I was building up for and made Michael KO. It was pretty cool. I had fun with it and I am sure others will have fun with it as well. It is simply fun to assign and hope everything goes according to plan.

For such a quick play-time, I hope to bring this to the table again soon and get in a few rounds trying out all the characters. If you enjoy epic dice dueling games and customizing your dice, then I think you have found a new game for your collection!

Back in April, I was able to try out Balloon Pop and was later asked to preview the game as well. I was delighted.

In Balloon Pop, players are trying to arrange the balloons so that they will pop in big groups of the same color. The more that pop together the more points you will score. You will also want to clear as many balloons from your display by the end of the game for extra bonus points from your player board.

For each turn, cubes will be pulled from the bag in groups of 4 so that everyone will be able to claim a group. Then players will use cards to bid for turn order in selecting the group. Each card can show you how you place the group. it will either go horizontally or vertically. You release the balloon group from the bottom and it floats upward. The balloons fill in the empty spaces if arranged horizontally.

When you create a group of 3 or more then you have to pop the balloons, you don't have a choice. The key is trying to create the sets of 3+ only once you are set up for a big group, if possible. The way you score is the number of cubes minus 2. There are special cubes with little bursts on them and they will score if they form a group or if it is in a color group as well. So you have to be careful to create the sets you want.

The lowest cards will have the option to pop a balloon in your group before floating them so that helps to control what you add to your player board.

This game plays out super quickly too since you have 8 rounds to select cubes and play. It is not supposed to be a game that takes a while to play. It is light and airy.

I love the way you bid for the cube selection. You might have to play a higher number to get what you want but then you are forced to align the balloons in one particular way which may end up not being what you want. It is clever how that works. It makes for a nice casual / family game.

This is a game I would definitely play again. It is a nice game and worth checking out if you like light puzzly games like this.

One night Michael was going to be late to game night so James, Susan, and I decided to try out the very funny Call of Nature. This game was provided to me by the publisher. New to me!

Yes, this theme is about having to go to the bathroom. It goes ALL OUT and everything in the game from the quotes to the various action cards really just gets to the theme. They hold nothing back.

I mean all of these emojis just work for this situation.

You are trying to be the player to make it back to the bathroom on time. There is going to be one person who absolutely doesn't make it in time and possibly others as well.

During the game, you will be playing to a stack of cards adding whatever value to the card you just played. If you make it cross a certain point value then you will have to start losing a bit of control. Don't be the player to cross those lines. There are also special cards you can play that will reverse turn order and send it back to the person who last played or other actions.

You just play a single card so the gameplay is very quick. There are a few other rules with starting the stack of cards over, but it is all-around pretty easy to understand and play.

I think we were laughing the whole time. I am not sure who has been in a situation where you just gotta go, but I have Crohn's so I am familiar with this theme. I was basically laughing to the point of tears. It is just such an absurd theme for a game.

I suppose it is fitting that I also lost the game. #typical. We had a genuinely fun time playing the game. While the gameplay isn't the best, It wasn't the worst either. I am glad we were able to check it out.

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:
Healthy Heart Hospital
Exoworld Survival

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

0 Comments

Fri Sep 8, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

The Calico came After Us in Celtae with a Vengeance!

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

06 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Please thumb deserving posts

Hia Everyone!

Some new vids!
9 Lives

I was excited to check out Celtae because that box cover is just striking!! Pythagoras Games provided this game to me. New to me!

Orlando Sá is always a designer I like to try new games from. He is always coming up with some clever new mechanic or idea to mash mechanics. Because of that, Celtae was high on my anticipated list.

In Celtae, players are taking actions around this rondel. There aren't many types of actions to take, but the faster you move the faster the game will progress. You only have 3x around the rondel per player and there are only 4 spaces on the rondel! It can be a very quick game if you aren't carefully planning each step.

During the game, you will be building citadels, farming for new cards, attacking the Romans, and recruiting tribe members. See not too challenging!

I think early in the game it is important to recruit tribe members because those extra discs will help you with everything else you do in the game to boost your strength values. The strength values for each of the areas will help increase your productivity and you will use fewer cards for actions.

Gaining points is how you win the game and there are just not many points to be gained so every point will matter. There are goal cards to consider as well. If you can plan for those goal cards during the game you will likely gain more points. You have a leader that will give you points if you fulfill their goal as well.

Each game will be different because you have to play what the game is providing you at the time and how other players react as well.

While the game can feel punishing at times, I think it makes up for that with the choices you are given. there is a lot to consider and you don't want to waste actions. You have to be tactical and take an opportunity when it is presented. I like those choices and trying to figure out the best course of action.

It feels different than other games, which I also appreciate and why I always enjoy Sá's games. After my first play, I didn't love it, but I after my second play it really started to open up for me. I could see it getting better with even more plays so I will have to bring it to my game group and give it a go with more players to see how I like it.

Right now, I think a lot of people will really enjoy this one when they pick it up at Essen Spiel. I would say it is a game worth checking out for sure. It will be a keeper for me. I look forward to playing more!

I was excited to get After Us to the table. I first played this game on BGA when it showed up so it wasn't actually new to me by this point. Thanks to Pandasaurus for providing me with a copy.

This game is such a great-looking game. Vincent Dutrait always has an amazing art style and you know instantly that he did the artwork. Vibrant and awesome.

After Us, is a card-driven game with some deck-building and combo-creating. The core of the game is resource management and finding the perfect combos for each turn.

You play the game until someone reaches 80 points, so it is a race and probably the thing I hate the most about the game. I just don't like racing to the finish games as much, but everything else in the game hits all the right spots for me!

With each turn, you will draw four cars and arrange them in a line. You are trying to fill boxes completely so you can gain the reward inside those boxes. If the box isn't filled you won't be able to activate it. Then you will activate each box from top to bottom. You have the resources row, then you have minor resource conversions, and then possibly big resource conversions. Resources are very important and you can use them to gain points on the cards, but you will also need them in order to buy cards after you produce.

Once everyone is done producing their cards, then everyone will select a token that will provide a benefit for that person. This token also represents the new type of card you can purchase for resources so you have to pick the right token so you can buy the right card you need. What is also cool is that you can spend 2 resources to activate another player's token ability.

When you buy cards you can spend 3 or 6 of the same to purchase one card and the valued 6 cards are going to have better abilities on the card.

If you produce enough rage, you can start culling your cards from your lineup which is important because you want to start seeing your better cards show up more often.

Besides the race to 80, the other thing I didn't find that helpful are the 3 items you can use. Maybe they are only there if you are in a pickle. They don't seem that great, and I wonder why they even included them. I wish they were stronger abilities and that there were more of them. I also kind of wish there was hidden goals or something that will help generate points at the end of the game so it isn't an auto-win for one person. I just don't like how the game ends.

The game is a lot of fun. I don't find that it outstays its welcome. I love trying to find the perfect combos to get what I need. It worked well online and it works well on the table. I was very impressed by this game. I look forward to exploring it more and seeing if it will hold up with repeated plays. For now, it is a keeper.

Michael and I tried out Vengeance: Roll & Fight – Episode 1. This game was provided to us by Mighty Boards. New to me!

I always love checking out new roll-n-write games, and while the theme isn't exactly exciting for me, I still wanted to give this one a go to see if I should play the board game.

The game is played over several rounds where you will roll dice and assign those dice to various actions you plan to take. You have to do this in real-time since you will refill back to 4 dice once you assign other dice. The resupply is from a common pool of dice so everyone is trying to grab at whatever dice they can to possibly gain more actions than the other players.

Your character is trying to take out minions and ultimately the boss. So, taking action to help move around the board and take out any bad guys possible will help gain victory points. Points are how you will win the game, so do what you can to make it count.

it is a quick game, but there are a lot of rules, so you might find you have questions during the game about particular situations and goals.

We didn't have an easy go of it. I felt I understood the rules well enough to play through the game, but we definitely got hung up on some things. We felt the rulebook needed work and clarity.

I didn't mind the game and I would definitely give it another go. I would even try the boardgame. I don't think this is one that we will be playing a lot of but I am certainly glad I was able to give it a shot! I actually wish it wasn't a rush to get the supply dice. I might have liked it better without that mechanic because it can feel a bit uneven if someone just keeps rolling poorly and can't grab more dice.

The theme really did come through though. It felt like a John Wick movie. So it has the theme down well and I think it will work for a lot of people who enjoy that!

I got to check out the new Calico Steam App that is being developed and it is super cool.

What I really like about it is the scenarios for solo play with different maps and challenges. There isn't a whole lot to explore on the beta version I have gotten to test out, but I really had a great time playing the first several levels.

I can see how this game will be expanded on in the app and who knows maybe it will translate into an expansion for Calico in the future. Well, wishful thinking amirite?

So, if you love Calico like I do, then I would keep an eye out for the Stream App that is coming soon!

Don't forget to pick up my Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023! https://stephsshop.ecwid.com/

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

New to the Collection:
Ivion
Dice Throne Santa vs Krumpus
Radlands
Life of the Amazonia

Thanks for following along!

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

3 Comments

Wed Sep 6, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Recommend

Steph's New to Me List for August 2023!

Posted by Steph

New To Me List

04 Sep 2023

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

Welcome to Steph's "New to Me" List 2023!

This year I have made the goal of learning 500 (600?) games!

Steph's Awesome Spectrum Rating System!

Steph's Sad Cloud Rating 1-2.5/10
Steph's Bland Rainbow Rating 3-4.5/10
Steph's Primary Rainbow Rating 5-7/10 (Solid Play)
Steph's Super Rainbow Rating 7.5-8.5 (Keepers)
Steph's Double Rainbow Rating 9-10/10 (Top Favorites)

August List
from Worst to Best

Prototype - Naval Boarding:

Top Secret prototype

-/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

no pic

Prototype - Motu-Nui:

Top Secret Prototype

-/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

No Pic

Inoka:

Simple Rock-paper-scissors game with amazing artwork. The gameplay is mundane. I just expect better. Perhaps you can make the cards into an art piece since it is really wonderful art.

3/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Channel WON:

Does not work for 2-players at all. Perhaps better with more players, but for a semi-cooperative game, it doesn't work with 2.

4/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Speedy Feedy:

Cute kid's game. It is a basic speed game that has been done before. Happy to try it and give it a whirl, but ultimately it didn't wow me.

4/10 After 1 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Overboss Duel:

I didn't play Overboss, so I can't compare the games. We had to scout the forums for rules questions so it wasn't the easiest game to get into. There is a bunch of take-that which I don't love, but it was fine at the end of the day.

5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Four Corners:

Pretty basic abstract game. It feels like it is totally luck-based. I don't love the race aspect to get the goals completed and you can't gain different ones during the game. It is a light quick game so it was just fine in the end.

5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Grail Cup:

Reimplmentation of Lost Temple. This game is so much better for many reasons. There is still a fair bit of luck involved, but this game actually ended. It is solid and will work for the right group.

5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

12 Chip Trick:

Found on BGA - The game is fine but definitely overstays its welcome. I didn't really care for it that much. It is give or take.

5/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

Block and Guess:

The game is interesting, but I really don't like that the other team picks your pieces. It makes the game less interesting. I think I would prefer maybe having them pick 1/3 pieces and not all pieces. It is already pretty challenging anyway. I wouldn't pick this party game over most other party games.

5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Match Madness Duo:

I never played match Madness, but this is a new 2-player game. It is definitely a puzzle! If you enjoy puzzles then this is probably one that you will enjoy.

5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

The Expedition:

Small pocket game. very quick abstract game to try and score goal cards. Doesn't really do anything new and it will be forgettable in the long run. It was fine though.

5.5/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

Call of Nature:

What an outrageous theme. This game went ALLLL OUT with everything written on the cards. The theme is absurd. I didn't actually mind the gameplay. it was actually better than I thought it would be, and we laughed a lot.

5.5/10 After1 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Chaotic Studio:

I like the look of this game a lot. It is fun to draw 3 sections of a single picture, but the way it scores and plays out needs a bit more development. It was an innovative idea though.

5.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Memo Rush:

Cute take on the Memory mechanic. Really fun for kids and families which is the audience. It's cute.

5.5/10 After 2 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Pirate Tails:

Sort of reminded me of Coloratto. It is different though since you have to play some cards face down and the game has a sort of rush feeling if you think you are winning. I feel it could have been slightly better without the rushing.

5.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Oh No, Volcano!:

I love the idea of this game. It is just fun to drop the marbles down the board and hope you stay standing. The actual gameplay is a race and less interesting to me. Didn't really feel complete. I wanted something more.

5.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Time Division:

2-player duel game. You have to kind of predict what your opponent will do in order to play well. It is hard to know if I like this game after one play, so the rating could go up or down with another play.

6/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

Pic by WEM!

Dawn of Ulos:

A solid attempt at a fantasy-themed stock game where your shares are also abilities that you can use. Sort of like Acquire in a way, but it's been 30 years since I played Acquire so - I probably need to give it another go. I like a lot of what this game is doing, but I need to try it with more than 2-players since I think 2-players is the worst player count and probably needed variant rules.

6/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Everything Ever:

Silly party game that I will never win. I just can't think of things on the spot. So many categories relate to music titles or names of people. I just don't have that sort of information stored away. Maybe if we had to answer board game categories for a board game edition of this game I would like it better. It was fun to play flash rounds during the Livestream though, so it is a good filler.

6/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

KAPOW! Volume 1:

I like that you can customize dice. I am not a huge fan of 1v1 games, but it works pretty well. I like the player board with all the options laid out. Makes it easy to figure out what to do.

6/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

CDSK:

This party game works because you don't necessarily have to know about different topics since you can just pick a range from 1-10 and that provides a lot of options. It is a fun game, but I am not sure I would pick it over some other trivia games.

6.5/10 After 2 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Deadlines:

A party game where you need to know the date of death/birth for all of the people. I am about the last person who would know any dates for anything. It is fun to see how accurate you are when you reveal a card's place in line. It is quite a challenge, but interesting.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Big Top:

Love the look of this game. It has a weird auction mechanic which I find intriguing. I don't really like the final scoring though. Wish the auction mechanic was used with another interesting followup mechanic. I would play again though.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Scream: The Game:

The app is cool and really gives you the pressure you need to move your butt! It is a stressful game, but it also felt thematic. I think fans of the movie would enjoy it.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Aurum:

Trick-taking game with a twist. No cards in the trick can be the same color, unless it is gold. Gold are your points though so you need to use those sparingly. I like that you need a partner to play the game. Ultimately, there are just other card games I would rather play.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Vengeance: Roll & Fight - Episode 1:

Many questions on the rules which makes gameplay subpar. I felt I understood the game well enough, and it was fine. I just really don't like the rush to get more dice because it feels uneven. Otherwise, I didn't mind the mechanics and crazy dice combos and rolling.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Inheritors:

Beautiful card game. not really sure about my final feelings about this one since the set collection is a bit weird. I can't say I loved playing this, but it was decent and I would want to give it another go.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Forest Shuffle:

Found on BGA - I see the appeal of this game. I don't love the mechanic of spending cards to play cards in general, so it automatically brings the score down for that. It feels impossible to catch the leader once you get behind. I would give it another go.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

Colorado:

Found on BGA - I like the card mechanic of asking for a card and gaining an action for everyone. There is a bit much going on with all of the possible scoring. It seems a bit messy. It's not bad.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

Caesar!: Seize Rome in 20 Minutes:

I am not really big on area control, but this game is quick and does a good job of giving you a lot of choices to consider each turn. Definitely liked this one more than I thought I would! Still, not really a game that will hit the table for me all that often. Super solid though.

6.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Bohnanza: Dahlias:

I would take this Bohnanza over the original. I really love the flower theme better. The games are basically the same, but this one has 3 fields for a 3 player game which I think you have to buy in the original? It's been a while. I think it just depends if you like this theme better than beans. Worthy theme.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

How DARE You?:

One of the better trivia games I have been playing recently. I love the small travel size and so many questions! You don't really need to know a lot about a topic, but it is almost like Price Is Right rules except you have to call dare if you think the person before you is wrong. Tricky stuff! It works well.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Hansel & Gretel:

Super cute cooperative games that would be great for kids and families too. It is a balance of moving Hansel and Gretel as well as Baby Yaga so they aren't caught. I like the challenge of trying to collect sweets.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

The Last Kingdom Board Game:

Not really a dudes on a map game even though it looks like it. There is definitely area control, but there are ways to change which faction you run with so there is almost a fluid feeling with what is happening and timing is everything. I like watching what others are doing so I can plan and try and counter what they might do. I like the use of cards in this game. Maybe I need to see the show.

7/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Chicken!:

One of the better dice games we have played recently. I like that the turns are quick and you still have a lot of exciting moments. I don't love the race aspect, but it is still fun.

7/10 After 4 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Express Route:

This is a cooperative pick-up and delivery game. It works very well and is quite challenging. This is the game that USPS: The Great American Mail Race should have been. It works well as a cooperative experience and would say its a game I would be happy to play again.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Neotopia:

It is an abstract game since it is sort of puzzly. But you have several actions a turn so you can actually get things accomplished if you plan for it. That makes the game work. it is nice, I like it.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

After Us:

Found on BGA - first played it on BGA, then played the real deal. I really like the use of cards and creating combos. This game was surprising and quite enjoyable.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Disney Animated:

I love Disney and cooperative games so this game appealed to me. I like how the mechanics work with the villains trying to stop the players from succeeding. It is quite a delightful game. I wonder if it will hold up with a lot of repeated plays. I can see it being expanded though.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Federation:

This is a big game and it is definitely not a feel-good game. That being said, I like a lot of the mechanics and find the choices very interesting. With more plays, this could go up or down. I think a lot of heavy gamers would really like this one. Really good for those who like player interaction.

7/10 After 1 play (Not Owned)

Beast:

I do wish more games had hidden movement. This game has it and has amazing artwork. I think the gameplay is super solid and interesting. I worry about the cards that are used for each scenario and will it feel different enough? Hard to say but with more time. For now, I have enjoyed my few plays!

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Celtae:

Rondel game with pretty simple options for strategies. You have to maximize your actions and try to stop your opponents. Good choices and a nice game. The game has potential to be rushed which isn't a great feeling, but otherwise it is super solid.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

9 Lives:

A trick-taking game that I will never win. I like to push-my-luck and you really have to do that here. It is hard to predict the number of tricks you will win since cards come back into play each trick. I like the challenge!

7.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Kiss the Goblin:

How well can you think of examples for an alignment chart? That is this game and it is a lot of fun. Way more fun than it had any right to be. I do think it needed a better scoring system, but I will still play it whenever.

7.5/10 After 3 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Sky Team:

Dice cooperation game for 2 players. Can you fly and land a plane? Not so easy. This game really shines as you play through the levels. It is clever how they add in difficulty.

7.5/10 After 3 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Tucana Builders:

A boardgame version of Trails of Tucana. I like the tile-placement. Would this replace the flip&write game? No, I still like both! Works similarly though. I think it is a really nice game and the choices are so tough!

7.5/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Tesseract:

Cooperative puzzle dice game. You just need to contain enough pieces of the Tesseract to win, so simple!

You really have to work with the other players and use your skills to full potential to win the game. So many levels of difficulty and I am sure they are very challenging. Good stuff.

7.5/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

The Perfect Wave:

Quick and fun card game. You have to try and catch the wave that will give you the most points. make sure to grab those Paddle Out cards when you can or you will be left behind! beautiful game and fun theme.

7.5/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Trash Talk:

This game is just so much fun. I love the toy factor to the game, but I just love the gameplay too. It is a cooperative game where you have to try and figure out what objects represent which words. It is clever and just fun and simple. Recommended for everyone. It is a party pleaser.

7.5/10 After 11 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Freelancers: A Crossroads Game:

I have really enjoyed the cooperative adventure book games that Plaid Hat Games has created and this is one that continues the awesomeness. I love the use of the website were you can control everything you need to. It works so well and the story is fun and crazy. We played the whole first game, but I can see replaying it because there is so much we didn't see. Very impressed by this game.

8/10 After 1 play (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Ensemble:

A cooperative party game where it is easy to have people join or leave. It is a perfect game to play with a bunch of people or not. You will have to try and get everyone on the same wavelength by comparing images and answering the same thing. This game is super challenging but loads of fun. I will have to look into getting a copy.

8/10 After 3 plays (Not Owned)

Oranienburger Kanal:

I honestly thought this would be ranked higher. I like a lot of what the game is doing, but it is not my favorite Uwe game. The amount of cards and replay is awesome, but the general actions are a bit samey after a while. I definitely need to play it some more. Will likely go up in ranking with some more plays.

8/10 After 1 play (Owned)

Come Sail Away:

I always love trying new Saashi & Saashi games and this one is really great. You have to try and get all the meeples into the places they need to go on the ship. It is a simple idea and it is puzzly. I really like it.

8/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Zhanguo: The First Empire:

I love ZhanGuo so playing this game was a no-brainer. They updated a lot of things and added a whole new mechanic with the river track. Nearly feels like a new game. Tons of variability with the setup which is nice. Definitely recommend this game, especially if you liked the first one!

8/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Game of the Month!

Art Society:

This game is one of my favorite games that I have learned this year (2023). It has a bidding phase that I love so much, but the really fun is trying to make sure you get the art you want to place on your wall. It is super puzzly. This is a fantastic game that I just want to play over and over again. Maybe with more plays, it will go up in the ranking. I would literally be playing this all the time if it were on BGA. It is a new favorite.

9/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

New to me Expansions!

Chicken!: Eggspansion:

Super cute small box that has a bag and 2 added dice. The dice are a great addition to the game and I like the bag for random draws. It all just works well.

7/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Prehistories: Evolutions:

Fun new expansion for Prehistories. You have 4 envelopes to explore for added variety in the gameplay and it is just simple fun additions. Well worth picking up the expansion if you are already enjoying the base game!

7.5/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

Cartographers: Map Pack 1 – Nebblis: Plane of Flame:

Any Cartographers expansion map pack is worth the grab. I love the volcanoes in this one and that lava actually might help you. Plan wisely! So fun.

7.5/10 After 2 plays (Owned - Provided by publisher)

The Tally

January: 54
February: 80
March: 40
April: 62
May: 54
June: 48
July: 48
August: 58

Total new-to-me games for the year: 443! 652 Unique Games & 1282 total plays for the year. H-Index: 10

If you want to watch Michael and I talk about our Top 10 Games learned in August!

Follow along this geeklist to see what tv shows and moves I have been watching:

Steph's Movie & TV Series List 2023!

Now Available! Steph's Awesome Gaming Calendar 2023!
https://stephsshop.ecwid.com

Thanks to Dfube, I now have a chance to sell some cool All the Meeples of the Rainbow shirts!
If you enjoy the blog and want to support me and my good friend Dfube you can check them out here: https://itsyourroll.games/collections/all-the-meeples-of-the...

Happy Gaming!!!

-Steph

If you like what you saw, please thumb!

All images in this post are copyrighted, owned, and controlled by Steph Hodge Photography, unless otherwise noted.
Please contact me if you would like to purchase or use my images in any way.
Disclaimer: I am a contract Employee of BGG. I often review games that are provided by the publisher. I am not compensated for my blog content.
Thank you.

29 Comments

Mon Sep 4, 2023 11:00 am

Post Rolls

[+] Dice rolls

Archive for Steph

There was some Mythic Mischief in the Canopy of the Amazoia during the Clone Wars over Mount Doom

The Minotaur was By the Book with his Deadlines for the Overboss

Come Sail Away to The Last Kingdom where the Number Drops into the Coral Reef

The Art Society had a Match Madness that was just The Perfect Wave for Sanssouci

It was really a Block and Guess attempt by the Inoka - Pirate Tails, but they were Speedy Feedy about it

The Freelancers and the Tucana Builders in Neotopia loved the Aurum

It was the Dawn of Ulos and the Inheritors were just Screaming at the Dahlias!

Oh No, Volcano went KAPOW and the Balloon Pop was a real Call of Nature

The Calico came After Us in Celtae with a Vengeance!

Steph's New to Me List for August 2023!

Search

Subscribe

Categories

Contributors