Haven't had any sufficient time for gaming lately, actually...

Everybody says that boardgame retail sales is a tough business to survive. So I had to try it. Yes, it's tough - but it contains also lots of fun. Everybody says that publishing your own game is a road, better to avoid. So I had to try it. Well... the story continues... :)

Played only two games yesterday, although it was our store's official gaming night. Dunno, getting old or something.

Combat Commander: Mediterranean. It's basically the "good old" CC with just new maps and countries - and it means that it's still good! I'm even thinking of purchasing one copy of CC to myself - even when all the possible opponents I know here have already their own copy. Playable in 2-3 hours (one scenario), complexity of average eurogame, I just like it.

Dixit Odyssey. All this Dixit hype has missed me (played it only once before) but quite good mechanics it has. Not brilliant but still - an decent party game, despite I remained on last position :)

Some more recent plays...

Doom. I managed to purchase both this OOP copy and expansion from last Spiel; after some price negotiations got them both for 30 euros. Drawback is that base game is danish/norwegian print - but as components are language-independent, rules can be found from BGG and new card sets are included in English expansion - it doesn't matter at all. Anyway, it was quite fun to play after some long time and also first times for me to play there as invader.

Kingdom Builder. 51 logged plays now since last Spiel. 'nuff said. Managed to get the All-Time High Score with 103 points (2p game).

No Thanks. Localized version has 'No Merci' as its title and almost everybody - including myself - read the title first as 'No Mercy'. Really good fast but tense filler. Greed rules.

3 days of boardgaming with friends this weekend... some highlights:

HellRail - train game with ramming and derailing + special events. Every player is train engineer in Dante's Inferno with goal to deliver as much souls to needed rings as possible. Fast and easy track building game. Quite fun, actually, with good company.

Fortune & Glory - forget LNoE, this one is much better. Discover temples, pass dangers, get artifacts, fight nazis - this game has so much theme it's dripping. 10 games so far, every next one is more epic than previous. Have tried competitive and teams variant, should try the co-op version as well.

Valdora - pure excellence in eurogame. Have played it now 4 times, been last 3 times (by LARGE margin) but still think that it's one of the best current year discoveries. Quality components, fast game play, easy rules - eurogame I'm eager to play anytime. And now to think that it was on shelf almost 2 years, unplayed...

Pacific Typhoon - had 2 games in a row with really boring experience. You can't play this game with people who take it as a strategy game with main goal to win. Luckily third game was better.

Arcana - played only once, with 2p. Very strange experience. During midgame I still had no idea is there any depth at all - or just an bidding for cards. Should try with more players.

Attended local MUG event yesterday and run a workshop about boardgames. Surprisingly positive feedback. Of course, majority of listeners were Diablo/WoW/CS (ex-)players.

Two new games yesterday... FAB: The Bulge - wargame with blocks in 2nd WW era. Played the introductory scenario, 3 moves each - but the first impression was pretty meh. Playable, above average but something was missing from the game. Perhaps it was because of the reduced introductory scenario functionalities.

Rune Age was one of my latest purchases that arrived yesterday, so had a first try with 3 players. Well, if your wife beats you in the first game, it's quite intrigueing :) Anyway, seems to be quite a decent deckbuilding game, short, fast and violent with player confrontation. Me likey.

Soon to be tested: Hellrail, Arcana, Princes of Florence. Oooh, the benefits of running a store :)