Catching Up on Games (12/11/24)

We went through a long period of not being able to meet up for games, but toward the end of the year, we have gone crazy, playing as often as we can. As a result, there’s a lot more here than I was expecting! It’s also nearly all replays. But coming up soon will also be my updated Top 100. Definitely going to be some big moves up and down.

I’ve also included scores for the games, though many are uncertain and some are just first impressions.

Great Western Trail: New Zealand

The final GWT game for us to play. We’ve played the original base game, 2nd edition base game, 2E with the expansion, Argentina, and now New Zealand. That’s a lot of GWT!

I think I enjoy Argentina slightly more. Lots to do, very tight resource management, and some interesting, very different things in it from other GWT versions. But New Zealand is really interesting too, with a greater focus on the deck-building and offering a more “sand-boxy” point salad design. It felt more open than Argentina, even more than the base game, so it was easier to do what you wanted.

While I enjoyed the base game with the expansion, for me, I don’t really see a reason to go back. I’d much rather play Argentina or New Zealand. Those versions just have more going on and more theme. I’m definitely less of a fan of the base game by itself: themeless, repetitive, and just dry as hell.

GWT Base game: 6/10
Base game +expansion: 7/10
Argentina: 8/10?
New Zealand: Probably a 7/10?

Champions of Midgard (+both expansions)

It was time to see everything thrown in (I mean, retail-wise. I have no promos). And including both expansions is definitely the way to go for us; the game feels so much more complete.

When we first played, not all that long ago, we had a bit of a feeling that it was starting to age. CoM had some rough edges that more recent light/mid-weight games had smoothed out. But Valhalla made huge improvements for making the game feel more modern. Dark Mountains is also really good, though it changes the game in much smaller ways, broadening the scope of things to do.

It’s still probably too random for Euro-gamers, even when compared to other hybrid games (though, worth remembering that Champions of Midgard was one of the first such hybrid-genre games in 2015, so some roughness is excusable), but it’s not overly long, and it doesn’t leave you entirely at the mercy of the dice.

Champions of Midgard w/both expansions: 8/10

Note: I forgot to get a picture of my player area in this game, so you can only see a little bit of it in the top left…

Undaunted 2200: Callisto (solo)

I had my eyes on the Undaunted series since it came out, but the original release didn’t have solitaire. Then one of the expansions added it, but I wasn’t really keen on buying the base game and expansion together unless I was sure I’d enjoy the solo mode. And, at the time, I wasn’t really getting head-to-head 2-player games played. So, when 2200: Callisto was announced, I needed it immediately! I mean, I at least watched a video on the previous solo mode to get an idea of what to expect.

It took a while for the game to come out, but I finally got it to the table. However, the solo mode was considerably more complicated than the previous mode. Callisto has actually swiftly gained a reputation for being an unwieldy solo game with dense, wordy rules and priorities that are difficult to process (mentally and at the table). I was no stranger to complex solo modes, so I knew to just take it one step at a time, and accept that the first couple games were going to be learning games.

Even with some major errors in the first game, I enjoyed it. And the second game was much better (played on the same map since it’s the simplest). The FAQ will be a huge help when I go back for game 3 (will likely start the campaign next), and shout out to David Digby, one of the two solo-mode designers, who spent a lot of time on the BGG forums helping out the many lost players trying to navigate learning the game.

Undaunted 2200: Callisto: 8/10 (first impressions from map 1; likely to go up to a 9)

Non-game: Kallax Shelves!

I’ve had more money this year than… well, just about ever, so I needed to do something about the board games. They were piling up all over because I had no central place to store them. My one white tower of shelves was a bit small for board games and had long ago filled up.

To IKEA! I’m really happy with the Kallax shelves. Very affordable, easy to put together, and there are so many versions, you can find the perfect size and arrangement.

In the photo below, there are Runebound expansions behind the base game, and there are some other games behind Undaunted. Off to the right out of view, there’s the white tower that has a lot of smaller games and all my other card games. The unlabeled white boxes below are my L5R LCG collection in one box and my LotR TCG in the other. My comic collection will go into the basket at the bottom.

Kallax shelves: 10/10, would buy more if I had more room.

Elder Sign (+Gates of Arkham, solo)

I’ve actually had the app for this for a handful of years; I bought when it was on sale. And I had come close to getting it and several expansions at once, but was never quite ready to drop $90+ on it. October rolled around, and I decided to take a more conservative dip into the game with just the base game (revised edition) and 2 expansions: Gates of Arkham and Omens of Ice.

I first played the base game to get back into it since it had been a while (and the app handles most of the rules for you). I didn’t do particularly well, but I remember it being difficult when first playing. Back when I played the app more, I had gotten pretty good at it, but clearly, I had gotten rusty.

When I played Gates of Arkham, though, I got wrecked. After the first couple of mild turns, I fell into a death-spiral of just failing at everything until death, then immediately failing with the next investigator. It was a sad affair.

I might get Unseen Forces before going back in since it has some ways to make the game a little easier. I had actually ordered it at the same time as the others, but then the seller cancelled the order because it turns out they didn’t actually have it.

Elder Sign: 8/10, might go up after more plays with expansions.

A Touch of Evil

I’m not a fan of this one. To me, it’s the worst parts of Talisman mixed with the worst parts of Arkham Horror. It’s long, random, overly simple in the wrong places while being overly complicated in the wrong places. But for some reason, my brother likes it (you get to roll fist-fulls of dice), so we played it during October using the new revised rules (but our old copy).

Eh. At least the co-op mode isn’t frustrating to play. You can still have fun with the game. But it is, most of the time, a mindless affair until you hit one of the many unclear or overly complicated parts of the game. Then it becomes a tedious chore trying to find an answer (which you very possibly won’t find).

A Touch of Evil: 5/10, and I’m feeling generous with that.

Robinson Crusoe

I’ve looked forward to this one for a long time, and not just because this latest crowdfunding of it was delayed for a really long time. We had previously played through most of the tutorial (ran out of time to finish), though it’s a strange tutorial that’s only playable by 2 players, so our friend was helping to run the game.

For October, my friend picked a more horror-themed scenario, Cannibal Island. Luckily, it wasn’t an overly complicated scenario, since it was our first real game of it. It was definitely difficult, and we nearly lost at multiple points. But we ended up winning. There were a few areas where we got lucky. For example, our friend had whiffed on building multiple turns in a row. So, he got a lot of the determination tokens. Well, at the end, it turns out he needed all of them to use his big abilities to help destroy the cannibal camp.

It might be a while before it comes back out, but I look forward to it. This satisfies my need for crunchy-ness, survival, and resource management.

Robinson Crusoe: 8/10 (first impressions from only one real game; the scenarios change so much, it could go up with finding the right scenarios)

Trailblazers

This was a quick game to play after Robinson Crusoe. It was… fine. A very simple tile-laying game with drafting. I think that combination could be a lot more interesting, but at some point, we’ll try out the modules, and maybe those will improve the game for me. The basic mode is decent, just nothing to write home about.

Trailblazers: 6/10, might go up with the modules.

Mythos CCG (solo)

Yet another old CCG I had been looking at for years. I never knew of the game back in the day, so it was very dead by the time I came across it several years ago. Back then, it was a bit too much to ask spending money on what was then a big gamble. But not only did Team Covenant end up covering the game during their throwback days, I have a bit more money for things lately. There were some decks and bulk lots available for a good price, so, for October solo gaming, I bought some.

Mythos is one of those old 90s CCGs, in this case, a game about the Cthulhu mythos where, in traditional Cthulhu-game fashion, you play an investigator trying to solve mysteries and survive horrible monsters. Unlike most CCGs, however, Mythos had a built-in solo mode! It’s a very simple mode that takes a little fudging for some effects, but it works pretty well.

It’s a very different approach to a card game. Your investigator travels between locations which dictate what kinds of cards you can play (similar to Middle-earth CCG). But the cards you play are part of an Adventure card, a sort of recipe, you’ll have included in your deck. Once you have the adventure in-hand and all the required pieces in play or in your “story deck” (cards previously played that weren’t outright discarded), you play the adventure and score the points. In the solo mode, you try to survive and complete all of your adventure cards.

My first game was with a pretty janky deck made from a single 2-player starter, so it was a rough game, but otherwise fun. I was defeated after a Ythian turned Sonia Lovecraft on me, hitting me for 4 when I had only 1 sanity left (and yes, there are real-world people, including the Lovecrafts, in the game). I’ve since gotten a bit more and played with a more refined deck (more on that later).

Mythos: 8/10 (from solo-only plays, though)

Pokémon TCG (sealed)

We conclude our sealed games after making further adjustments and trading some cards between our pools. I really liked the fire deck; I had gotten a couple of lucky pulls with some Magma Basins and a Kindler, not to mention the star of the deck, a Simisear V. It’s a shame the Battle Stadiums are discontinued; it seemed like the best way for us to play, but I guess most people just played the individual Build & Battle boxes and bought Elite Trainer boxes for collecting (and the MSRP for the stadium boxes was a bit too high)? But for me, the Elite Trainer boxes seem like a bad deal.

Pokémon TCG: 8/10.

Legend of the Five Rings CCG

We’ve played the LCG a few times (and I’ve played it more solo), but I was really interested in trying the old CCG. There was a sale at Category One Games, so I grabbed some starters and a few boosters from the last era of the CCG (when they had cleaned up the rules some).

The rules are certainly more complex than the LCG, but the cards and decisions felt more clear, and the interaction was a lot more engaging. Battles are more meaningful with the losing army getting destroyed, and the winner potentially earning a lot of honor. But the attacks and fear mechanics also add more interaction. Even the action cards are more interactive than the LCG. And it was nice not having to make several decisions at once when attacking that could all be undone by the flip of a province card.

Both of us felt we liked the CCG a bit more, but enjoy both games quite a bit. I’ll probably get some more from this era, but I’m also curious about previous eras of the CCG, especially early ones. Luckily, there’s a lot still floating around.

L5R CCG: 9/10.

Winds of the North Playtest

I hadn’t really been keeping up with written sessions of my playtests because they can really slow things down, so lately, I’ve only been doing write-ups after each Year. This current playtest pushes the combat a lot harder with a Survival/Combat focused character, trying to get the combat balance as perfect as possible. She began with low Wisdom too, I wanted to see if low Wisdom felt too crippling.

Thorunn’s first year was rough. Lots of difficult weather during Early Summer (spring), but at least some of it was taken care of with some good Fortune. She spent a lot of time hunting since her best starting Skill was Survival. Lots of Meat and Hide to bring home. She managed to build a Smokehouse early, converting Meat into long-lasting Preserved Meat. She also got busy crafting with some Wolf Pelts, making a Wolf Tunic and Wolf Cloak as well as a high-quality Bow. However, her Farming Skill is low, so it was a tough time getting the crops planted, especially with the volatile weather.

When Late Summer rolled around, she did a bit of exploring (found a mushroom cave and a place to buy cheap crop seeds) before she went on her first raid. Her gear was a bit on the low end except for the Bow, but she defeated the villagers and won over some fellow raiders afterward, increasing her reward. When she got home, she did some fishing since it’s better in Late Summer, and some repairs on her worn-out armor.

Early Winter brought a lot of rain, so she braved the weather on some weeks in order to get some hunting done. Luckily, her small farm was quick to harvest, but her Farming Skill proved a problem and the crop yields were low. At least she was able to get the Smithy built. And with her rewards from raiding, she bought a Cow. She also sacrificed her Goat at a festival but managed to win a new one in a mock battle during the same festival!

Then Late Winter happened. Oh the weather got bad. Most weeks were either Snow or full Whiteout, but that’s okay, a couple of bad months left the household with a lot of sick folks who needed time to heal (as well as some sick animals). Between healing, a bit of hunting for meat, some chopping down trees for more wood to keep the fires burning, there wasn’t a lot of time for other things. But the year ended reasonably well. Thorunn got a little sicker at the end, but her household and animals were healthy by the end. Sadly, her few Supporters died (it was a rough winter, so it wasn’t surprising), but she was easily able to pay off her taxes to the King with piles of Preserved Meat. She also had some silver and food to spare for training her Hirð (companions who adventure with you and provide bonuses). For surviving a year, she increased her HP by 1 and raised 2 Skills (Combat and Wisdom).

She goes into year 2 with a few seeds ready to plant, a little Iron Ore for crafting with, and geared up for some more rewarding hunts.

I wish I still had outside playtesters, but it seems everyone is done and waiting for the game to come out. I hope that means it’s in a good place and I’m worrying over nothing. This will probably be my last playtest campaign, but I still worry mostly about the endings. Not many of my playtesters reached an ending, so they feel under-playtested. Not much I can do; I either do what I can and finish up, or take another year or two playing it over and over to test the endings myself.

Winds of the North: 100000/10, of course.

Everdell (+Newleaf)

I’ve played base game Everdell a few times, and it was really starting to get samey. Just wasn’t enough variety in the base game for me; you’ll see all the same stuff each game, and there are only so many things to do.

Newleaf absolutely saved Everdell for me. Far greater variety of cards, more things to score, more things to do. The new cards felt powerful and comboed well with old cards instead of making them feel obsolete. I’m also glad that you don’t use the scoring cards that require specific combos of cards because those were always the hardest to do and didn’t really feel that rewarding.

For me, I don’t want to play without Newleaf, though the train part is easy to remove if we want to add a different expansion.

Everdell (base game alone): 7/10.
Everdell + Newleaf: maybe 8/10?

Note: I forgot to get a picture of the main board.

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