by B.A. Campbell
Well, I did it again. I acquired at least one new game this month during Funagain Games' Warehouse Sale. On top of that, I pledged for at least one game on Kickstarter. In a slightly less shameful turn of events, I obtained several games for review on
Entropy and
NerdSpan, so at least they're for a good cause and didn't dig into my personal budget too much. One of those sets of reviews has already gone up (my review of
Storyteller Cards and preview of
Storyteller Cards Fantasy), while the other two either just arrived or are still in transit.
EDIT: And between the time I started making this list (May 1) and when it was posted, I went to Barnes and Noble and bought
Flash Point: Fire Rescue on 50% off clearance! Oh, I am so bad!
From April 1 to April 30, I logged 13 total plays, broken down as follows:
Board Game Title /
Current Plays /
Plays NeededArchipelago: Solo Expansion: 2 playsPrevious stats:3 /
7Current stats:5 /
5On Entropy, I started a monthly series of in-character session reports followed by critical takes on the games played (see Space Alert for example). Archipelago was one of the games I definitely wanted to include, because I think its simulation elements create a brilliant, if politically complicated, narrative. The session I recorded was one of the long scenarios, Pope Hull. The goal was to end the game with the maximum number of contented workers, which meant a back-and-forth between actions that increase population and actions that decrease rebellion. I believe I focused too much on decreasing rebellion, and ended up with a population of 38 and rebellion of 0, for a silver ranking. I followed this up with a quick play of the Barbe Bleue scenario (collect fish), but after a while it became clear I had no chance of winning it in 6 or 7 rounds, so I abandoned the game early.
Arkham Horror: 3 playsPrevious stats:10 /
5Current stats:13 /
2Well, it took a while, but I think I'm converted. This was a game I was seriously considering selling, the main impediment being that I had bought several of the large expansions and hardly touched them...I felt I needed to give them a decent shake before selling the game. I'm glad I did. These last few plays, I approached the game with the specific goal to minimize the elements that were making it unsuitable, for me, as a solitaire game: the table space, the length of setup and overall playtime, and the inability to play a single investigator (I normally don't mind this, but this game has too many fiddly modifiers to track). Luckily, I've had some breakthroughs recently with my OCD that was preventing me from discarding the inserts this game came with, which meant that I was splitting the cards needed just for the base game (which had grown due to expansions) across 4 boxes, unnecessarily inflating setup time to an hour or more. Out the inserts went, and I was able to reorganize it all into 2 boxes; setup is now a more comfortable 20-30 minutes. Second issue, space. I realized that if I rotated the board 90 degrees, it would still fit on my table, only overhanging it by about an inch on each side, meanwhile freeing up half of the table for the Ancient One and Investigator sheets (which previously had to be kept on a side table). Finally, I experimented with a few simple 1-investigator variants and found one that works. In my most recent play, I timed my efforts: 150 minutes, including setup and teardown, and much more enjoyable and immersive now that I'm playing a single investigator. Maybe next month, I will finally try one of the expansion boards!
Bruges: 1 playPrevious stats:3 /
7Current stats:4 /
6I didn't really record any details for this play, which occurred at the start of the month. All I know is that I beat H with a score of 51-41, most likely because I focused on canal-building more than she did. One thing I wish this game came with was a reference for which characters appear on which color cards, so you could have at least some way to go after specific professions or abilities, however unlikely, when drawing cards.
Castaways: 2 playsPrevious stats:2 /
8Current stats:4 /
6Another one for the Entropy session reports, and will probably appear next month. First, I tried a solo variant I was toying with where the fire is constantly and automatically lit unless the weather is stormy. Unfortunately, it did not address the core problems of the 1-character game for me. I then tried playing 3 castaways as though I were playing a 3-player game, with each "player" acting as selfishly as possible. It was a blast! This was my first attempt at playing multiple sides of a multiplayer competitive game, but I think it worked here, as long as I played each character as though they were a complete sociopath. It pretty much confirmed my earlier suspicion that this game is at its best when played as a cutthroat competitive game in which it is occasionally necessary to work together. I am still unimpressed with how the story elements work, but that's another topic.
Farkle: 1 playNot Included in ChallengeThis push-your-luck dice game was a surprisingly good stocking stuffer from my game-oblivious in-laws. I like Yahtzee, and reading through the rules, I liked the push-your-luck aspect (after you score dice, you can keep rolling, but as soon as you are unable to score anything, you lose all the points you made that round). In play, I felt like the push-your-luck element was a bit muted by the 500 point minimum, which makes it a non-decision most of the time, so I am thinking of house-ruling that out the next time we play. If nothing else, some more dice to access in case of emergency!
Galaxy Defenders: 4 playsPrevious stats:4 /
6Current stats:8 /
2Restarted the campaign again. I have this thing where I can't start something, walk away from it, then start back up again later, and that's what happened here. Not that I minded continuing to play the easier missions. I'm working on a set of
House Rules for a Gentler, Quicker Invasion (WIP) to make the game line up more with my personal preferences in terms of difficulty and total play time.
Legacy: The Testament of Duke de Crecy: 2 playsPrevious stats:3 /
7Current stats:5 /
5Working on a
solo variant that is closer to the 2-player game. I find it odd that there are 2 included solitaire variants in the game, but neither of them feels much like the multiplayer game, whereas this variant took seconds to cook up and feels so much closer. My first play was the standard variant, confirming my initial suspicion that there was too much blocking going on; the second was my variant. So much more freedom, but you still need to worry about the "opponent" stealing your action spaces, titles, mansions etc. Glad this worked out, since the multiplayer game is a favorite but the included solo variants weren't cutting it for me.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game: 1 playChallenge Already MetSince I nominated The Black Riders for Best Solitaire Expansion in the 1-Player Awards, I figured I'd better play it! Got to play the first scenario. Will have to rebuild my decks for more spirit; the Hide tests in this scenario are HARSH, and the final escape to the ferry (which can only be moved to if it's the only location in the staging area) is a tough nut to crack unless you have a lot of questing power. I recorded this play for Entropy, but I think I will go with a different scenario/playthrough for my session report.
Onirim: 1 playPrevious stats:18 /
3Current stats:19 /
2The first game I recorded for an Entropy session report. Like Lord of the Rings, I think I will go for a different play for my final session. This one was nothing special. I used all the included expansion modules and got some bad luck, but I did eventually get all 4 towers out...too bad I ran out of blue and green moons early in the deck, so I ended the game with 2 doors still to find.
Pay Dirt: 1 playPrevious stats:1 /
9Current stats:2 /
8A 2-player online game with my mom using the VASSAL module I made of the print-and-play. I had a huge advantage throughout the game because my mom made an early mistake, letting me buy Betsy Pretty for only $2k. Betsy gives you a discount on auctions for personnel, so I was able to purchase all the other discount-granting personnel as well, giving me a money advantage and a full worker force by midgame. I ended up winning 20-16.
Resident Evil Deck Building Game: Mercenaries: 1 playPrevious stats:12 /
6Current stats:13 /
5Played this one with my wife. We used the Mercenaries mode starting decks to accelerate the game. I played Rebecca, H played Wesker. My strategy focused on buying a couple of Boundless Battlefields early on to trim the fat from my deck, then minimize the amount of weapons I bought so that I could make the most of Tear Gas. H tried to go Big Money, but it was too slow compared to my strategy, and I won 26-8. I think I am starting to understand how to selectively buy and use Actions, which I previously considered almost useless. We've agreed to try playing with only 8 instead of 12 non-basic cards in the offer next time, because it's too much for H to take in.
Space Alert: 2 playPrevious stats:17 /
9Current stats:19 /
7My first session report and critical take posted to Entropy! Check them out:
Session Report: Space Alert and
Space Alert: A Critical Take. It was also my first play of a board game (or any game, for that matter) recorded on YouTube:
Space Alert Mission 2 Playlist. This session was really fun, made even more so by the fact that I recorded it during a power outage! I will laugh in the face of anybody who says Space Alert isn't a good solo game.
Space Sheep!: 11 playsPrevious stats:0 /
10Current stats:11 /
-1A new game purchase this month. At least I was able to meet the challenge relatively quickly! I was intrigued when I saw
Rahdo run through this one. Based on Space Alert, real-time solo games are a subgenre I really enjoy, but I would never have given the game a second thought based on the silly cover art. Once I saw his play, I felt that it would be a safe purchase for me, since it ticks most of the boxes for what I like in a solo game: puzzle-like atmosphere, small table space, quick setup, quick playtime, quick teardown, and real-time to boot. The price was a sticking point, though, until I saw it on Funagain for $15. I wish this used a soundtrack, like Space Alert, which would be more immersive but would probably require an app to work properly. Aside from that, it was a worthwhile buy that should offer lots of variability in the future.
We're almost at the midpoint of the year, and there are still a lot of games that haven't met the challenge. Starting next month, I am going to try focusing on one game at a time, just playing that game until it meets the challenge, then moving on. Perhaps I'll start with Resident Evil, since it's so close, then some games that are sorely lacking in plays, like The Swarm.
Games that have met the challenge:
SOS Titanic (January)The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game (February)Space Sheep! (April)
