What BOARD GAME(s) have you been playing?

I think the most unfortunate thing about the game is that the items that you’d want to put in peoples faces if you were in charge of marketing it are the ugliest parts, the box being the exception. Most of the game isn’t ugly at all, and I kind of like just how ccomic book-y in the classic sense the tokens and graphic design is. But then you have the Spider-Man/Peter Parker character card, which features a pretty bad pic of Spidey and one of the worst Peter Parkers I’ve ever seen.

Say what you will, it looks better than any Marvel Legendary set.

Went to a friend's birthday party on Friday night. For some odd reason, my friend decided to have two birthday celebrations this year, with the same invite list. The first one was two weeks ago on a Friday night, featuring dinner at his favorite middle eastern restaurant followed by dancing at the local gothic industrial bar. But all of his friends are middle-aged now, so everybody bailed on the dancing for other plans. Birthday party #2 had a low turnout, and I was the only other person who showed up for both parties. This one was at his apartment, with everybody bringing a snack or beverage plus he supplied both. One of his female friends brought party games that included Jenga and Cards Against Humanity.

From a demographic standpoint, the party was amusingly awkward. The host and two of the guys were all white. All three women, including the host's girlfriend, were black. The other guy was Indian-American (family from India), and the only Republican present. The guys were all in my big D&D campaign from a few years ago, while the women were more geek-adjacent than geeks like us.

Jenga was mercifully short, possibly because people were drinking alcohol. On the first turn, the third player accidentally knocked down the whole Jenga tower, and some of the wooden blocks crushed nearby snacks. There was no second game of Jenga. The Indian-American guy left because he had a family commitment early in the morning.

Cards Against Humanity could easily have been awkward due to the race/gender divide of the group, but Cards is funny enough to allow people to get away with edgy humor unless there is somebody painfully uptight or woke at the table. Instead, the game went well, and the usual laughter ensued. Thanks to my monthly hipster boardgame group, I have played several Cards-inspired games, but this session was a reminder that the original Cards is still the best of this kind of game. The humor is easily edgy, but rarely gross. We played until someone won seven black cards. It was close, but I finally won with one of the more obnoxious cards (Pac-Man, for your experienced CAH players).

Another thumbs down for TAPESTRY. just played for the first and only time. Not quite as dull as SCYTHE, but that’s damning with faint praise.

I hear you Josh, I don't think anything is wrong with the non-illustration presentation. FFG knows their shit.

Imagine being a designer/product manager at FFG and knowing the iconic art out there of, say, Black Panther, and being forced to put this nightmare terrible art of a product instead:

images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_...16/mvs04_playmat.png

I played chess with my son last night, who just joined his middle school's chess club. I've got about 29 years on him, but it was a close match that I ultimately won. That kid's good. And much faster than me - I need to think for a minute per move and then he responds in seconds. Makes me feel like such a slow, old fart. He'd destroy me if we used a chess clock.

I don’t understand what’s awkward about white, black, Indian, men and women all hanging out and playing games together.

Concerning Tapestry, I'm in a weird position in that St. Louis is Stegmaier central. He does a lot for the local community and he's really a fantastic human. Very easy to talk to, will give you his full attention and respect, exceedingly polite and can get along with anyone.

Everyone loves Tapestry and Wingspan around here. Wingspan was the hottest game at Geekway and impossible to find in the library as it was always checked out.

His games aren't really for me (although I do like Scythe, perhaps less than when it first came out though), but I have two guys in my group that love Tapestry. They're omni-gamers and love Feld as well as Konieczka, and one of them keeps pushing for me to try it, if for no other reason to at least discuss it on Ding & Dent. I don't think that will be happening though as I have too many other things to play and don't want to waste time on something I know I won't enjoy.

TRASHFEST, BABY! Here's what I played (* means it was new to me)

Marvel Champions* - I'm not a Marvel fan (or superheroes in general) but had a good time with this, playing as Captain Marvel until I was killed by The Shocker of all people. Tough but satisfying game, with a lot seemingly packed into the starter set. We (well, they who didn't get killed by the damn Shocker) triumphed over The Rhino.

Deep Sea Adventure - Introduced this push-your-luck game to a bunch of people who all pushed their luck way too far. A lot of drowning happened and only I ever got back to the sub (and only once at that). I think people enjoyed it.

Path of Light and Shadow* - I was not familiar with this deck building dude-on-a-map game (you just have the one dude). I chose the path of light, going with a big deck strategy and ran out an early lead until them with better decks hammered me back in line. The winner rocketed past all of us in the final round, just leaving us in the dust with a finely honed attacking deck. Nice game that deserves more attention.

Untitled Kaiju Prototype* - Al and Josh's SEKRET PROJEKT got a couple plays and I didn't play earlier iterations but this one seemed to work really well. I was the Kong analogue and I got to huck buildings and tanks at monsters so I was happy even though I got pummeled in return. The asymmetrical powers mean I wasn't sure what my opponents could do, but that's true to the theme. Kong has no idea that Gigan can hit him with a cyclopean eye laser (and nor should he care; he should throw another building). Tons of fun. Great job guys.

The North - Got in a play of this weird 2p game that I still haven't made up my mind about. It's interesting, but it's another 2p-only game in a crowded field, partly crowded by its designer. I got it because I like Omen so much but would I rather just play Omen?

The Devil's Level - The dumbest yet funniest game. Thanks to Mindy for putting up with this. We had a hilarious time reading the cards and thankfully the game didn't overstay its humor. A light game, but this was the crowd for it.

Chronicles of Crime* - I really enjoyed this app-driven mystery game. We were all engaged and had a good time following the clues. One player said it could just be an app, but I disagree, I think the social aspect of it is what makes the game. Would like to see more mysteries in the box, and am considering it as a purchase.

Pret a Porter - This one needs an asterisk not because it was new to me but because I royally screwed up the cards at one point. Still, I don't think it made that much of a difference. Taught this and the players picked it up right away, with one of them blowing past the rest of us in the final accounting. Not terribly trashy unless you count the vivid colors on this release.

And that was it! Had a great time and enjoyed everything I played!

Gary Sax wrote: I hear you Josh, I don't think anything is wrong with the non-illustration presentation. FFG knows their shit.

Imagine being a designer/product manager at FFG and knowing the iconic art out there of, say, Black Panther, and being forced to put this nightmare terrible art of a product instead:

images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_...16/mvs04_playmat.png

Jesus. He looks like a man made in the "Ball and Socket" approach.

I played this game with special mission cards that give kind of a point salad way to win. I liked it a lot though. It's called Nexus Ops.

I also played King of Tokyo and Shards of Infinity.

Legomancer wrote: T
Chronicles of Crime* - I really enjoyed this app-driven mystery game. We were all engaged and had a good time following the clues. One player said it could just be an app, but I disagree, I think the social aspect of it is what makes the game. Would like to see more mysteries in the box, and am considering it as a purchase.

I have a copy of this with both expansions (Noir and Welcome to Redvale) that I am about ready to sell. It is missing one energy token from Welcome to Redvale that was missing when I purchased it (it just wasn't on the punchboard) and I could not get a response from the publisher on a replacement.

Legomancer wrote: Untitled Kaiju Prototype* - Al and Josh's SEKRET PROJEKT got a couple plays and I didn't play earlier iterations but this one seemed to work really well. I was the Kong analogue and I got to huck buildings and tanks at monsters so I was happy even though I got pummeled in return. The asymmetrical powers mean I wasn't sure what my opponents could do, but that's true to the theme. Kong has no idea that Gigan can hit him with a cyclopean eye laser (and nor should he care; he should throw another building). Tons of fun. Great job guys.

Our first write up!

Thank you for giving it a go, I know playing prototypes can be a chore sometimes, so we really appreciate it.

charlest wrote: Concerning Tapestry, I'm in a weird position in that St. Louis is Stegmaier central. He does a lot for the local community and he's really a fantastic human. Very easy to talk to, will give you his full attention and respect, exceedingly polite and can get along with anyone.

Everyone loves Tapestry and Wingspan around here. Wingspan was the hottest game at Geekway and impossible to find in the library as it was always checked out.

His games aren't really for me (although I do like Scythe, perhaps less than when it first came out though), but I have two guys in my group that love Tapestry. They're omni-gamers and love Feld as well as Konieczka, and one of them keeps pushing for me to try it, if for no other reason to at least discuss it on Ding & Dent. I don't think that will be happening though as I have too many other things to play and don't want to waste time on something I know I won't enjoy.

I'm surprised you didn't get a tapestry reviewable via one of your gigs.

I could have gotten one I'm sure but I'm already backed up on stuff for Ars and have deadlines at other outlets I need to hit. I passed on Charterstone as well.

Need more time in the day.

Michael Barnes wrote: The games I’m playing and enjoying lately have NONE of that- Aeon’s End (19 plays so far), Undaunted, Wildlands, Aristocracy, Dragon Market, Terminator. Fuck all those chart games. It’s become a lazy way t design a game for al of these wannabe Eurogame designers. Kramer, Knizia, and Teuber never did that kind of shit.

Is Wildlands pretty good? I keep going back and forth about buying it.