Let's start with wargame(s). I managed to pick up Panzer General: Allied Assault for cheap from last year Essen fair and now I had finally time/place/motivation to try it out. Solo, to get the rules straight. Rules are quite short actually (when compared to other wargames, I'd say it's semi-light by complexity) but the contents were... oh my god. Don't get me wrong, when you first read the rules it all makes sense and you get quite good overview about the game flow... but when you start playing you need also all the details (you can't find). I played this game actually twice, with different scenarios and both times I had to search BGG for answers to my (quite trivial) questions. Appears there is updated rulebook somewhere... but didn't bother to search it. But about the gameplay: it's quite good. Simple but good. You move and/or (depends of unit) fire - that's all. Solo AI is a bit clumsy but I don't see it meant to be played solo, it's 2p with hidden units etc. And of course you have plenty of action cards that add replayability.

Era of Inventions - solid eurogame. This time we played it with 5 players so the situation on board was going to be pretty tight. I decided to try out something new - to use only 4 out of 6 areas available, so I did not buy any factories and also didn't run my factory. Most of the times my actions were just collecting one free development cog from passing in market exchange. And to my surprise - it turned out to be a winning strategy :) When I had enough cogs available, developed the plane, collected material, built the plane (without bonus points), let others build the plane and that's how it went. I won by only 1 point but still - good game, especially as it was played in a bit unusual way.

18GA - after good start a bit slowdown during midgame (bad company selection) and then again rise. Unfortunately (or should I say luckily?) game was left unifinished, as 2 (out of 5) players had to leave suddenly, force majeure.

I don't know why but I had always thought so far that Lords of Waterdeep is some dry eurogame... man I was wrong. Excellent game, especially with good company. Definitely would like to try this one more.

Age of Industry showed that I haven't played it for too long... now when I finally had a chance to try it, I had actually no clue about what I should be doing. I just stared at my cards and hummed. It may be also related to the amount of beers I had already consumed (it was played at friend's birthday party)... not. Good game, though.

With Tikal, on the other hand, those beers seemed to help me instead :) I managed to get quite good amount of trinkets/jewelry/artifacts/younameit early into the game and this gave a good boost during each scoring.

Gave Agricola another try - but it's still boring as hell. It's like doing accounting or so. Or I still don't get it.

Sumeria is another game that was left unplayed since last year Essen so I was happy to bring it on table. It's quite abstract set collection with very simple rules - you put one of your traders on board or you move one of your traders or you take one of your traders off board. That's it. Every turn three areas get scored with majority bonuses - and that's the game. Simple - but I like it.

And finally Trains. After quite a long break it was refreshing to give it a new try. Not that I had played it a lot earlier (just once or twice). This time most of the points came from the board, so the one who was playing for cards (me, i.e.) was left third in 4-player game. Still it was fun to play.

And now, off to UK.

I don't consider myself being in Cryptozoic's target group, so I was a bit sceptical when we started playing The Walking Dead Card Game. I was correct this time - it's not much fun to play - but luckily the "alternative" rules included were much-much better than "standard". With those there were actually some meaningful choices available.

I have also avoided (i.e. not looking for playing) Escape: The Curse of the Temple, as I don't find time-triggered actions interesting enough... but man, I was wrong. Escape is really fun to play, especially with good crowd and the time-counting really creates pleasant tension.

Going, Going, GONE! has received lots of hype (and being Nicholson's Twitter follower may have increased it as well) so I was really eager to try this out. And again, it was fun to play. I was hoping it to be more strategical but it appeared to be more party-game - so for me Tulipmania is still best from Scott. Also, always when I play something new, I try to evaluate the underlying mechanics, and it was really refreshing to see that with some simple additions ordinary set collection can be quite fun to play.

As I promised to myself, while writing previous blog post, I managed to play again one Cuba Libre. In Estonian review is available here, I won't translate all the text but just say that it was truly quality time. Another win to Syndicate, as well.

Age of Gods is, in my opinion, best with 5-6 players. This time we played it with 3 players and it was still enjoyable but not the mayhem it would've been with 6.

Kings of Air and Steam is like Roborally with pick-up-and-deliver mechanics integrated into it. In a good way. During first half of the game I had absolutely no clue about what I should be doing (except, well, delivering goods) but during second half it was already really splendid. We played it with maximum number of players (7 I think it was) but I'm not sure if this is the best number to play with... from that one play I'd say that 3-4 would be best. Or 4-5 perhaps.

And finally, some Lost Legends - or "drafting game done right" as I call it. We played it twice and both times second dungeon was the toughest. In first play we also forgot the rule that you deal the monsters before drafting, so everybody had a little surprise when entering the dungeon... but during second play we included this rule as well and a good game got even better. Woohoo.

Next stop - UK Games EXPO.

Too long have the COIN-series gathered dust on my shelves. Too long have some games been left unplayed. Too long, changes must be made.

Meanwhile, in parallel universe...

7 Wonders is still good for casual play (but I have a latest Wonder Pack still unopened). Tzolk'in still feels quite bland. (And I still don't understand why? Being "too euro" hasn't bothered me before liking some games). Tsuro, Guess Who, Roundhouse Kick, Get Bit are still good to play with kid. As well as For Sale (with some house rules).

In other news...

Making Profit: The Boardgame has now online-version. Yes, all you millions, who haven't been able to get a physical copy - now you have a chance to try how does the gameplay look like. But beware - AI is not the brighest (read: dumb as myself). And there are no in-game hints/tutorials, so read the rules first :)

Over and out.

Couple of wargame fillers - first Stand at Mortain. I was a bit sceptical first when I saw that standard 53-card deck (incl. 1 Joker) is used with the game - but the game was surprisingly decent. It's not perfect, as I find Allied side a bit overpowered, but considering it being a 'postcard wargame' there is plenty of opportunities/depth available. For more balanced gameplay there is also a variant where some of the cards are removed from the deck - and I believe this would create even more tension.

Second game we played was Field of Glory: The Card Game - and again, decent wargame filler. First you have to build your deck with very simple mechanics and then control 3 out of 5 terrains. As simple as that. Also game ends after both players have played through their draw deck twice - and when considering that after your first turn you've drawn already 12 cards (out of 24 in draw deck) it's really fast to play.

Yeah, that's true...

2009 January+February 45 games played. 2010 - 63 games. 2011 - 69. 2012 - 90. 2013 - 68 games. And this year it's... 31 games. Out of these 15 were Risk Legacy, so the actual number is even smaller, 16. Kinda sad. Must try harder! :-)

I got Risk Legacy as birthday gift, so it was quite natural to start the year by playing it. 15 games were played in 6 sessions within two months. And it's quite fun, for a Risk, and - it's main virtue - short to play. Sometimes we managed to play 3 (once even 4) games during one 4-5 hour session. One envelope was also left unopened... so there is still some replayability left! I'm not sure I'd play it 2-3-4 times in a row anymore... but occasionally, why not.

Also managed to play one 1830: Railways & Robber Barons. Runaway leader (in terms of company value) paid out dividends like there was no tomorrow and when inevitable (purchase of first Diesel) happened, game ended with banktruptcy for that player. Like a textbook example :) But if that player would've succeeded in avoiding bankruptcy, things would've gotten quite interesting, as another player received from him presidency of company with (another) brand new Diesel. This, in addition to her own company, would have made quite a difference.

Copycat. I seem to like Friese's designs and this is not an exception. It's worker placement with parts from Agricola, Through the Ages and Dominion - and it's quite fun.

Indonesia - more I play it, more I like it. I don't know why but so far in all three games I have played, I've always been in charge of shipping companies most of the time. This also means that my development options are quite limited but it's still interesting. I'd also say that this game should be played always with maximum players as it speeds up gameplay (in terms of rounds) and also creates more tension/interaction.

Couple of more Cuba Libres. Two 4-player games, both won by Government. First one was a bit shock for everybody (during first Propaganda spent most of the OPs for securing the support/points from the cities and couple of provinces, then just hold the positions until next Propaganda - which arrived fast!) but second was quite narrow - both Government and Syndicate achieved the victory condition but Government had slightly better margin - by 1 point! Love this game. When playing solo, Syndicate has loads of money but when played by player (like I did this time) the situation is suddenly totally different. Perhaps I should play them by following strictly the non-player AI chart :)

Gears of War: The Board Game is a forgotten gem we have. Started the scenarios from the beginning and after fifth try succeeded in completing the first mission. Especially good if you have played the GoW on console - you can imagine then how Boomers make those "Boom!" sounds and why Tickers should be kept at distance.

I believe I have mentioned earlier that I'm probably one of the few people who don't like Agricola. It's too long for what it is and too boring as well. 2-player Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, on the other hand, is a game I've played already 11 times and I strongly believe there will be lots of plays in the future as well. Base game alone can become a bit repetitive after some games but expansions add a lot of replayability. A lot. Really like them.

Last time I played Indonesia was something like 3 years ago - and yesterday had another chance to try. Excellent game. I was left last (in 3p game) despite my oil monopoly and shipping network that covered most of the board. Seems I spent too much when acquiring the monopoly :) Nevertheless it was interesting game with practically no downtime and multitude of decisions - really good one. Recommend for everybody who likes something meatier with mergers and acquisitions but not 18xx-heavy.

And also...

...please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2014, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures.

Aaaaaaaaand, we're back.

COIN has been the magical word here lately, with Andean Abyss and Cuba Libre sharing similar gameplay but being totally different beasts. I'm not even sure if they are 'proper' wargames as there are basically no battles but - hey! - they're fun to play! Actually I haven't played the full game (i.e. with 4 players) of Cuba Libre yet, just a couple of solos and one 2p game - but even based on those I already like it. This is also a game that restored my faith to playing solo - so far I thought that soloing is (mainly) analytical math/probability exercise but CL proved that it could be fun as well. I have played two 4-player games of Andean Abyss and I believe this gives me enough experience to declare this game completely utterly broken: ARC has 100% win ratio. And yes, it's sore loser speaking :)

Managed to try out Nations, as well. It is often referred as "TTA light" but in my opinion it isn't. As a friend described - "Nations and TTA are like Brass and Age of Industry - they are similar in theme but still with different gameplay". I totally agree and I like this game. I also understand why it is described as 'the game that hates you from the beginning' - but I wouldn't call it 'hating' but 'decisions' instead :)

Trains and Stations, on the other hand, is a game I don't get. I have played it only once but the feeling was... meh. Usually I like innovative mechanics but this one... quarriors meets track building... well... there shouldn't be dice in a proper train game! Yes. I said it out :)

I bought second game from Discworld series - The Witches - from Essen already and now have several times played it as well. First it seemed like a bit disappointment as "the lightest game evar" but after using advanced rules it's quite proper push-your-luck game. So far it keeps going better and better more I play it. Haven't tried the coop version yet.

And lets finish this post also with wargaming - Musket and Pike Series. I was happy to try out one of the scenarios from Under the Lily Banners - and was completely hooked, as a result. It has quite logical (after you manage to get through the rules) gameplay with interesting command chain and wing activation - and lots of decision. At least in my opinion it simulates well the battles of this era (although I haven't researched how they might've been fought) and gives players a multitude of decisions. Normally (i.e. with other games) when you have some über-strong unit opposed by several lightish units, you just keep crushing them one-by-one. But no, not in this game - because you'll never know when your cavalry feels like it's enough fighting for a day and better to have some looting instead :) Excellent series, high on my recommendations list.