All the Meeples of the Rainbow.

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Ark Nova was an Urban Legend in Sobek

Posted by Steph

Weekly Update

21 Mar 2022

Steph Hodge

(punkin312)

United States
Tennessee

Well, it's no Ginkgopolis...

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Hia Everyone!

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Oh my glorious Ark Nova!

I am so excited to have a copy of this game now! I definitely hyped up the game enough to where Michael was curious to get it to the table sooner than later. He was worried I might have hyped it so much that he would be disappointed with it.

I assured him that James really enjoyed it when he played at TGD a few weeks ago, and I was sure that he would enjoy it.

Ark Nova is a game I learned online a few months ago at the end of 2021. I recently got to try it IN PERSON at Granite Game Summit! So, playing with Michael was my 3rd game and it was great!

There are not many changes with 2 players. There are some cubes that are placed on the Conservation Projects and board to block the scoring, otherwise, play as normal.

If you aren't familiar with the game, why not?

Well, it is a big crunch euro game with a million cards and so many plans to unfold. You won't be able to do everything, but you do the best with what you have in hand.

During our game, we had some conservation that I just couldn't play into. I never saw a herbivore card the whole game. I was working hard to get the birds, but even those were hard to come by before the end of the game.

I think playing with 2 players was great, but the sweet spot would be 3 players since many cards have ongoing effects that trigger when the specific type of card is played in any player's tableau. Getting that light advantage with the extra person could make the difference.

We were definitely running a close battle to the end. Michael was in the lead for most of the game. I did have a couple of great turns at the end of the game where I got a bunch of tickets and Conservation Rep. I thought I might pull it out at the end.

Michael was too well set up that he had some killer final turns. He played the Elephant card that gave 10 appeal AND an additional end-game scoring card. It was insane.

He did end up winning 35 to my 24. Ouch! Maybe I should have ended it sooner since I could have ended it one turn sooner.

I can't wait to play this game more and more! I love it! On the plus side, it did live up to the hype and Michael really enjoyed it as well!

Please check out this game if you enjoy big games like this!

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Michael and I tried out the new small box game Cryptid: Urban Legends. New to me!

I have enjoyed my few plays of Cryptid so I was definitely interested in trying this 2-player Urban Legends game to see how they compare.

In Urban legends, one player takes on the role of the monster trying to escape. The other player is trying to locate the monster by cornering him.

This is a straight-up abstract game. The cubes need to be manipulated in a way to help the side you are on. If you are the monster you will want even amounts of colors and numbers. The other player will want different values and different colors. Each round the monster will say either a value of colors and every location with those colors or number of cubes will be a possible monster location.

Each turn the active player will play a card from hand and perform the action or draw 2 cards to a max of 4. There are 3 types of movement cards that will move the cubes to the opposite side of the streets. You just need to move them in a way that really benefits your goals.

It is an easy game to get into. There isn't much going on. You just need to outwit your opponent.

It is a pretty fast game. Michael and I played the first round really quickly. I wasn't really sure what I should be doing but trying to clump the cubes together to keep the monster isolated.

A few rounds in and Michael found the exits to either side and won the game. I suppose that I just don't have the eye for finding the patterns well enough. Maybe I didn't have the right movement cards.

The theme isn't really there for me. It didn't remind me of Cryptid at all. It is an abstract game with few mechanics. It works and I am sure some people will love it. For me, it was just boring. I didn't really care about what I was doing, I almost wish there were no cards at all and you could simply move the cubes as you see fit.

I could play it again, but I don't think it is a long-term keeper for me. If you are into 2-player abstract games, I would say to check it out. I was hoping for more of a deduction game. Cryptid is definitely more of a deduction game, so they feel very different to me.

Great artwork by Kwanchai Moriya.

A recent delivery from Pandasaurs Games and Michael and I tried Sobek: 2 Players.

I first learned this on BGA last year and really enjoyed it. So, if you like the sounds of the game you should check it out on BGA!

As you might imagine, this game is for 2-players. I never tried Sobek, but it is now on the radar to try at some point to see how they compare.

Sobek 2-Players is a set collection game where you will be collecting tiles from the game board and adding them to your hand. The way the Ankh is facing will determine the line from which you can take a tile. If you pass over any tiles when you go to claim one, then you have to remove those and add them as corruption. Obviously, that would be bad.

Instead of taking a tile from the board, you can choose to sell goods, they have to be the same type, and you must have 3 of them or more. The values of the goods sold at the end of the game are the number of tiles in the set multiplied by the scarabs on those tiles.

There are character tiles that you might collect along the way that have special abilities. As your action for the turn, you could choose to play one of those characters.

Those are the three possible actions on your turn. Only when the ankh is facing no tile will the board refill. If there are no tiles to fill it and it happens again, the game will end.

Can you hold those tiles long enough and risk scoring them at all. You can always add more to a set, but you still need 3 before you can add to it again. There is a bit of push-your-luck when it comes to the timing on when you play certain things.

The characters are interesting because they can be used as resources, or for their abilities. Forming sets early is great since they will provide additional rewards. Those rewards totally won Michael the game we played.

I was trying to hold out for some big sets and it ended up where Michael formed 3 sets before I even formed 1. He got so many additional benefits, I should have just formed sets!

Maybe I have learned my lesson for the next time. It is possible.

I am really impressed with this game. I think it is a definite keeper and one I would be happy to play any time! The rules are easy to follow and it offers a lot of interesting choices. If you are into 2-player games check it out!

New to the Collection:
illiterati (proto)
The Dark Quarter (proto)
Cryptid Urban Legends
Switch and Signal
Founders of Teotihuacan
Wonderland's War
Escape Deathrace 2182
wombat Combat

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.

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Mon Mar 21, 2022 12:00 pm

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