Tuesday 24th January

psychomansam wrote:Five Tribes:
1 Sam
2 Aneurin
3 Ant
4 TomS (tbc)

We can play something after. Medina?

It'll be in the bag... according to FB there are also a new group of 4 people coming down... so might be worth splitting?

Aneurin wrote:

psychomansam wrote:Five Tribes:
1 Sam
2 Aneurin
3 Ant
4 TomS (tbc)

We can play something after. Medina?

It'll be in the bag... according to FB there are also a new group of 4 people coming down... so might be worth splitting?

But who gets Ant and who gets Tom? I'll see you in court, sunshine!

psychomansam wrote:

Aneurin wrote:

psychomansam wrote:Five Tribes:
1 Sam
2 Aneurin
3 Ant
4 TomS (tbc)

We can play something after. Medina?

It'll be in the bag... according to FB there are also a new group of 4 people coming down... so might be worth splitting?

But who gets Ant and who gets Tom? I'll see you in court, sunshine!

So it turns out Tom can't make it.

I guess it depends on what game this new group brings? I do fancy playing Five Tribes and/or Alchemists

I'll take a flik em up spot.

I bagged my first victory in Risk Legacy, the world is run by K/Carls. Good game, thanks guys. So far it's very much been about pouncing on an opportunity to grab 4 stars, total annihilation seems a way off.

Secret Hitler was a lot of fun. I make a good Secret Hitler.

Some more enjoyable Mechs vs Minions last night. It was great to see so many people down and so many different games being played. And big thanks to Paul C for lugging an enormous box full of Santorini down - I'm looking forward to playing my copy!

I really enjoyed Isle of Skye last night, found it a thoroughly enjoyable game with enough moving parts to ensure (I hope) a decent amount of longevity. Pretty quick to play and very quick to explain... the only real knock I have is that the scoring can be a little fiddly with the varying objectives. Either way, I thought it was a pretty excellent light-medium weight game.

Duck Dealer was much better than it may have looked if you had the pleasure of seeing me play it. It was really fun (honestly), but I feel like after we finished I should've been given one of those foil blankets and a glass of orange juice or something.

During the rules I was seriously considering apologising to Meurig and dropping out as I knew I just wasn't really with it last night, and the game is obviously a deep game. Happily you all seemed to enjoy this rather than get seriously annoyed at my AP though, and my lack of concentration didn't prolong the game too much. Again, I'm sorry if I seemed unresponsive when a lot of you came up to the table, but I had finite brain space last night. Play Duck Dealer before you judge me.

If you like games where you have to carefully and minutely plan and then slowly build up to being able to do 15-20 (or 30) moves/builds (of different kinds)/trades (of different kinds) in one turn, this is for you. I particularly feel Sam and people interested in boardgame theory/design would enjoy "exploring" this, as even though some mechanisms at first appear to be the same compared to other games it is different in its design and feels extremely different to play.

One thing I was really fearful of though is that the player interaction, and basic crux and suspense of the game is generated by a "Will I actually get to do this massive action the way I want to or will Paul/Meurig screw me by doing an action of their own before I actually do mine?" and for a game in which you invest so much time and energy into such a few, but crucial actual actions to then have the chance of being screwed over before you actually get to do those actions is not something I could see myself enjoying in a game every week. There's just so much pressure. It's like Loony Quest all over again, but worse!

Yeah, I mostly agree with all that. Think you're slighty overstating the getting screwed potential, though. There generally seems to be another way around, as there was when I 'screwed' you. Although it make take an additional turn, which could be the difference between winning and not winning, so maybe you're right. The balance between taking actions more frequently or saving up everything for one super efficient mega move is totally central to the game, though.

Anyway, I loved playing it, but can imagine it being an absolute nightmare with AP prone players. We stayed on the right side of the line last night, just about!

Got to admire the Splotter guys. Totally uncompromising game design. Would love to try some of their others (Roads and Boats, The Great Zimbabwe, Indonesia).