by Bobby Warren
No raccoons or tree creatures were harmed during the writing of this blog.I didn't play any Relic Knights, Warmachine/Hordes, or All Quiet on the Martian Front this month. Marvel Dice Masters also saw a downturn in the number of plays, though I expect an uptick soon.
I played 26 games a total of 58 times and logged playing six expansions a total of 14 times. Five of the games and two of the expansions were new to me and I played eight of the games and four of the expansions in July. Here's what I played:
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 1/2014
My Rating: 8
I jumped out to a huge lead, but Mike almost caught me with his late-game and end-game scoring. This is still a terrific two-player game and a nice spin on Carcassonne.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 2/2014
My Rating: 7
Two games using the original cards but with the heroes and super-villains from Heroes Unite mixed together.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
Three players against the Pointe-de-Hoc map. We beat it.
Times Played:4
Last Month Played: New to Me
My Rating: 7
I backed this on Kickstarter and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It's light, simple, but just about all you really want from a dice game. We'll see how long this will play before it gets old, if it gets old.
Times Played:4
Last Month Played: 12/2013
My Rating: 9
It was great playing this with four. Josh and Paul hadn't played before and their initial placements weren't ideal, but they picked up the game after a few rounds. It's a terrific game and it is a shame that the current release has a cardboard pieces and not plastic.
The following week I broke it out and taught Alex and Ben. Amanda joined us for the first game which I won when I hit 18 in all six colors. I set myself up for it and tried to play it as cool as possible while the others took to their turns. Amada left to get back to her tournament and the three of us played a second game which Ben won. I doubt I will be able to pull off another 18-point game when either Alex or Ben are playing.
I managed to get it played another weekend, surprised that Nico had never played it. Now he wants a copy with the plastic as well.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 6/2014
My Rating: 9
Expansion Played:Extreme Danger.
We won a game when both Michael and Dave were playing. Twice! The world is still here. Who knew?
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: 6/2014
My Rating: 7
Mike and I played Amazons vs. the Cowboys. The Amazons really change the way the players need to manage the board.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 4/2014
My Rating: 7
I rolled five yellows on an early turn, which jumped one of my pieces up the harder column and gave me an advantage.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
Expansion Played:Power Up! and Halloween.
With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down
Helpless people on subway trains
Scream for God as he looks in on them
He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to Me
My Rating: 7
Mike, Jerry, and I defeated the Nostromo scenario. Barely.
This is a lot better than the Marvel game and I look forward to playing it some more. The total cooperative nature of the game and the hidden enemy (alien) movement are both improvements. The text on the cards is easier to read, though the icons on the corners could have been a little larger.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
Expansion Played:Machi Koro: Harbor Expansion for all the games.
When Hilary, Mike and I played, Hilary won, which is not unexpected.
Game two was on a Saturday at the store. Mike wasn't there, but I bet he felt his cash being sucked away by the red cards from 30 miles away. :)
Times Played:4
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
I only played these four games in our little mini league. Part of that is I didn't see Nico most of the Saturdays this month and Mike and I didn't play any games either.
Mike learned how one-sided Tsarina could be if the opposing teams weren't designed to stop her. He ran through and won all the games he played in just a few minutes and had a lot of down time waiting to play. Some of us with byes probably played more time in two matches than he did in three.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: New to Me
My Rating: 8
New in that we played with the newly released Skull & Shackles set.
Times Played:3
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
Mike and I played three games in a row. I won two and he won one.
Times Played:4
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
Expansion Played:Alien Artifacts for both of the games.
Michael and I played through three quick games, with him winning the series.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to Me
My Rating: 8
Like so many others, I backed this and am anxiously awaiting its arrival. Sure we don't have a pledge manager and FFP has been silent, but they did say shipping should start before the end of August.
Wait... Hopefully they didn't mean the end of August 2015 before shipping would begin. :shake:
Alex managed to get a copy of the Swamps of Death box from Gencon and brought it along so I could try it. I missed out on my first chance, but made it the second time. He, Ben, and I played the "Fistful of Brimstone" scenario and things did not go well.
That's not entirely correct. Things went well until we discovered a glowing portal to another world which was swampy and full of critters none of us had seen before. The preacher developed a head which grew from his belly and one of the rancher lady's leg turned into a giant tentacle. Then we were swarmed by a bunch of giant flying worm bats and then a huge winged monster appeared and ate the preacher in one gulp. Being the wise scout my father trained, I decided it was best to scout somewhere else and ran through the portal, heading back to town to fight another day. The last thing I saw was the rancher woman holding a lit stick of TNT and daring the big critter to come after her.
White women are insane.
Times Played:14
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 8
Lots and lots of fun including several two-player games with Dave who had not played before. He pumped up my win percentage which is still very low.
Times Played:1
Last Month Played: New to Me
My Rating: 7
Mike has this and we played it. I still prefer the DC version, but this is better than the LotR version.
Times Played:3
Last Month Played: 7/2014
My Rating: 7
Expansion Played:Into the Abyss
Mike and I sleeved his cards, combined the two latest sets and played a game.
We also played a couple of games a few days later with Jerry.
Times Played:2
Last Month Played: 8/2012
My Rating: 9
Really fun playing this again. Paul hadn't played before but Michael and Dave had. I ended up with a fairly easy win by jumping straight into the gray region because that was what was available for me.
I also got it to the table again the following week.