The last month and a half have been filled with board game nights. Normally, I get to play only once a month, sometimes twice. However, due to an interesting series of events, one of my board game groups ended up scheduling two game nights in both August and September. Toss in one more session with my other group and the result is three consecutive weeks of board gaming in September and five out of six consecutive weeks with a game weekend. Cool. :)
This gave me an opportunity to play many games for the first time and many other games I had played before. One of the most fun games I got to play is Wacky Races. This game, which is based on the cartoon of the same name, pits players against each other to try and finish the race first, amidst a plethora of traps set by Dick Dastardly. It has a simple game mechanic and while it does rely to some degree on luck, it is pretty tight and both times I played it, many folks were close to the finish line and there was no way to predict who would win. While it's ranked quite low on Boardgamegeek, it plays quickly, it is easy to teach, it has some really cool figures (the detail is pretty awesome), and up to 6 players can play. My friends and I really enjoyed it both times we played (and someone else in our group is now thinking of getting his own copy).
I also got to play two board games set in outer space: The Expanse and Horizons. While both are area control games, they have different game plays. The Expanse is based on a TV series which I had never seen before but my lack of knowledge of it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. I definitely wouldn't mind playing both again.
There were a handful of other games I got to play for the first time in the last month and a half. In Cryptid, you try to figure out where the mysterious Cryptid creature is through the clues you get from your opponents while they try to guess its location based on clues they get from you. I thought this was enjoyable enough to play. The Mind is kinda like The Game; as a group, everyone needs to successfully play all their cards following the rule that you can only play a card after a card with a lower value. I know this is very highly rated but I didn't quite like it. Between this and The Game, I like The Game more. Also, I got to play Tash-Kalar which is an abstract game where players try to place their tokens in specific patterns to beat their opponents and achieve the game objectives. It is really hard to figure out how to place the tokens to achieve the objectives, especially when your opponents disrupt you, but I really liked this game.
The game I have played the most is Grand Austria Hotel, which is a game I acquired last year. This Euro game is quite difficult to navigate since it gets tough to do everything you want to do in the 7 rounds that the game is played so when I played it with Denise, Katco, and Tegz last July, they said we should organize another game night soon so they could play it again. I brought it in our September session and that night, I got to play it twice. The week after, I played it with Myna and Mai and after the game, they both said they wanted to play it again. So I once again brought it last weekend and we got to play it again, this time with Karen. That's a total of 5 times in less than three months. I have to say, I'm really liking this game and I'm not surprised it is currently in the top 100 overall in Boardgamegeek.
Finally, I got to play Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle again. I played this co-op game once before and we completed Book 2. Someone suggested we play it again so two weekends ago, we did and we managed to tough out wins in Books 3 and 4 (we really almost lost Book 3). We all agreed to play it again last weekend, and thankfully, we managed to win Book 5. Two more books and we would have successfully finished the game. (Then it would be time to try out the expansions. :))
I might not be able to play this October because of scheduling conflicts so I'm glad that I had a lot of game nights over the last several weeks. I also planned a session in November where I will finally try one of the games I bought two years ago but haven't had the chance to play yet so I'm really looking forward to that.
This gave me an opportunity to play many games for the first time and many other games I had played before. One of the most fun games I got to play is Wacky Races. This game, which is based on the cartoon of the same name, pits players against each other to try and finish the race first, amidst a plethora of traps set by Dick Dastardly. It has a simple game mechanic and while it does rely to some degree on luck, it is pretty tight and both times I played it, many folks were close to the finish line and there was no way to predict who would win. While it's ranked quite low on Boardgamegeek, it plays quickly, it is easy to teach, it has some really cool figures (the detail is pretty awesome), and up to 6 players can play. My friends and I really enjoyed it both times we played (and someone else in our group is now thinking of getting his own copy).
I won my first Wacky Races game playing Private Meekly and Sergeant Blast
I also got to play two board games set in outer space: The Expanse and Horizons. While both are area control games, they have different game plays. The Expanse is based on a TV series which I had never seen before but my lack of knowledge of it didn't detract from my enjoyment of the game. I definitely wouldn't mind playing both again.
Horizons
There were a handful of other games I got to play for the first time in the last month and a half. In Cryptid, you try to figure out where the mysterious Cryptid creature is through the clues you get from your opponents while they try to guess its location based on clues they get from you. I thought this was enjoyable enough to play. The Mind is kinda like The Game; as a group, everyone needs to successfully play all their cards following the rule that you can only play a card after a card with a lower value. I know this is very highly rated but I didn't quite like it. Between this and The Game, I like The Game more. Also, I got to play Tash-Kalar which is an abstract game where players try to place their tokens in specific patterns to beat their opponents and achieve the game objectives. It is really hard to figure out how to place the tokens to achieve the objectives, especially when your opponents disrupt you, but I really liked this game.
The game I have played the most is Grand Austria Hotel, which is a game I acquired last year. This Euro game is quite difficult to navigate since it gets tough to do everything you want to do in the 7 rounds that the game is played so when I played it with Denise, Katco, and Tegz last July, they said we should organize another game night soon so they could play it again. I brought it in our September session and that night, I got to play it twice. The week after, I played it with Myna and Mai and after the game, they both said they wanted to play it again. So I once again brought it last weekend and we got to play it again, this time with Karen. That's a total of 5 times in less than three months. I have to say, I'm really liking this game and I'm not surprised it is currently in the top 100 overall in Boardgamegeek.
Finally, I got to play Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle again. I played this co-op game once before and we completed Book 2. Someone suggested we play it again so two weekends ago, we did and we managed to tough out wins in Books 3 and 4 (we really almost lost Book 3). We all agreed to play it again last weekend, and thankfully, we managed to win Book 5. Two more books and we would have successfully finished the game. (Then it would be time to try out the expansions. :))
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle (we beat Voldemort in Book 5!)
I might not be able to play this October because of scheduling conflicts so I'm glad that I had a lot of game nights over the last several weeks. I also planned a session in November where I will finally try one of the games I bought two years ago but haven't had the chance to play yet so I'm really looking forward to that.
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