Fish For Laundry

Every major city has one - except for Hobart.
One day maybe, but for now I'll have to settle for this:

Click the image for this weeks review

Blood Rage - To Buy Or Not To Buy?

A bit of a quieter than normal week - but NHL has just started :)
Let's Go Rangers!

Here's What I've Been Playing This Week:

Splendor: Yes still loving this gateway engine builder. We've had nearly a dozen plays already this month and I wouldn't be surprised if it comes out again next week. Just a solid game and great with any number of players from 2-4 - give it a go if you haven't tried it yet!

Lanterns: When I first saw Lanterns I was intrigued until I read a little about the game.  Maybe it was the theme that put me off, but something just seemed a bit dull and boring. Months later after continually hearing how great of a family game Lanterns was I decided to give it a go and added it to the library.  Well, I need to play it more but my first play I didn't see what any of the fuss was. I was placing my tiles as cleverly as I could, collecting favor tokens, trading in my laterns in for victory and basically felt like I was just going through the motions. I found nothing about the game exciting.  I've heard a fair few comments about how beautiful looking its supposed to be, but aside from the box I found the rest of the game to be fairly ordinary.  Eventually I'll give this a couple more tries but my first thoughts have me rather unimpressed and wishing I had tried it before buying.

Board Games Purchased This Week:

After last weeks splurge I've got a few games now in my pile of shame waiting to be played. I can never knock back a good sale but didn't come across any. There's a few expansions in the pipeline and I've been that close to purchasing Blood Rage a few times now but haven't pulled the trigger yet. It looks amazing, seems to play really quick and could be a lot of fun!  Or it could be as ordinary as some of the reviews say it is, im on the fence for this but leaning and might just fall off shortly!

What's Gold And Incan..

..My latest review!

Yes the title is simple but it works for this game.  Click the image above for this week's review

We're Onto Something Now

After last week's review of 7 Wonders Cities I figured it would only make sense to do a review for this..

As always the picture is the link

More games and plays

Its the AFL grand final weekend but unfortunately for us in Tasmania we don't get a public holiday like Victoria does.

So just before I head off to watch the grand final - here is the weekly recap..

Here's What I've Been Playing This Week:

Istanbul: I've had this for a few weeks now but couldn't seem to get it out on the table. Well it was worth the wait. Really enjoyed it! Only have played it with two players but I like the mechanics of this game and it's simple enough for most people to be able to play so it definitely wins in being accessible with some depth.  Looking forward to playing it some more!

No Thanks!: Not my most favourite of fillers, but playing in a group of non-gamers this is an easy one to pull out as its just cards with numbers and a few chips. The game gets going after about two minutes of explaining and it moves along fairly fast paced.  There isn't much depth but there's the odd choice to make of whether to grab a card you need or try pass it around to collect more chips first - which can occasionally back fire.

Incan Gold: Just bought this and had our first play last night.  Simple. Easy to teach. Fast to play. Basic choices mixed with a lot of luck.  This press your luck game is another that can be pulled out with anyone and followed on from our No Thanks! session to which I was surprised when most of the group preferred Incan Gold. I love the little tents and its a bit more exciting collecting precious stones rather than chips.  A perfect filler game of fun for everyone.

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Camel Up: Finally got around to buying this. To be honest I think it's a little over rated but it can have a place in your game library for a bit of light gambling fun.  Gotta admit, Camel Up does look pretty cool and it's good to have a game ready to pull out no matter who's at the table.  This will be for one of those nights with mostly non-gamers as I try introduce more into the hobby.

Incan Gold: Similar to Camel Up only I had never tried Incan Gold before purchasing it.  Cool components, simple press your luck mechanics and a game to play with anyone.  Think this might be an easier one to pull out than the aforementioned so might make it to the table more often.

Betrayal At The House On The Hill: Long name but supposed to be an excellent game. I'm yet to try this but love the idea of exploring a haunted mansion that changes each game and the fact that one of our group will end up as a betrayer and try to stop us all from escaping!  It sounds like a lot of fun, I've yet to crack it open or read the rules but imagine this one may be played sooner rather than later.. This is the one I was most excited about in this week's purchases!

Weekly Cap

Okay we are back from the delays and non posts!  Again sorry to interrupt the regular system but we should be sorted now.

First things first.. for any AFL fans - especially cats ones, well it wasn't our year. Some good success and some frustratingly disappointing lows which was capped off by the weekends poor first quarter showing to the swans who eliminated Geelong's chance for glory in next weeks grand finals.

There's always next year though!

Here's What I've Been Playing This Week:

Telestrations 12 Player Party Pack: So I've played this before but now officially own it.  First play of my own version of telestrations and it went down a treat with a group comprised of mostly light gamers and first timers.  Lots of laughs, random sketches and horrible guesses contributed to a good night.  We did keep score but just all personally gave out 'best picture' and 'best guess' awards to make people feel special about themselves and well try a bit harder to be a little more clever in each aspect.

Pandemic Legacy: ***SPOLIERS*** The second half of December, also known as the end of the game, end of the legacy and end of our adventure which started way back on Feb 29th.  There was some nerves coming into the last game that a loss would have been a waste of how ever many nights we spent playing, but after we knew we were going to lose last week everything we did was to set up and make this week a success.  Ultimately it was. We won by what felt relatively easily and finished our Legacy with 17 games played and a lowish score of 543 points which was greatly let down bravo team coming in to help with one task left to go.  Good fun and I'll post a review in the next couple of weeks.

Elder Sign: Never actually played a solo game before but after reading about how many people play Elder Sign solo, I decided to give it a go.  I'll be honest.. I didn't finish.  It feels a bit strange to me as I'm not used to it but the whole fun of board games to me is to share the experience with someone else.  So as Amanda Sharpe I started my quest to stop Hastur and well to be honest it felt like Hastur wasn't going to have a chance and I decided to stop and wait for someone else to play with. Nice to go through the game first however as it should make it a lot easier to teach now.

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Telestrations 12 Player Party Pack - As briefly mentioned above I've played this before but only recently was able to find somewhere that I could purchase it from in Australia.  I decided to go the upgraded edition which just adds enough boards and markers (as well as a few new cards) to make it a 12 player game. The more the merrier - this sits nicely for those nights where most of the group wouldn't normally play board games.

Elder Sign - Cthulu is a word I actually don't know how to pronounce. I'm new to the lore and the world of H.P. Lovecraft but it seems massive so its gotta be good?  Mansions of Madness was a total impulse buy and I only bought it because of a 40% off sale not really even realising what I was getting myself into.  Elder Sign however was a planned purchase after 'investigating' a little it seemed to be the best 'gateway' to Cthulu and the ancient ones being on the simpler end of the spectrum.  I like dice games and figured this would be a good starting point for our group before dropping Mansions on them.

Fury Of Dracula - Here's a game that wasn't even on my radar. Yes I had heard about it, seen pictures and read the basics - but I wasn't fussed for whatever reason.  Nothing wrong with a vampire theme and may as well be about Dracula the most famous and powerful vampire of them all, but the length of the game was a bit much to see this get a lot of table action and I didn't know enough about Fury Of Dracula to give it a second thought. Until the announcement that Fantasy Flight games and Games Workshop were splitting and a select range of games previously released would all be going out of print.  Suddenly there was a bit of panic. What if I decided down the track that I wanted Fury Of Dracula?  How much would I have to pay on EBAY for a copy?  Would I regret not buying it when I had the chance?  Well now I'll never know because I bought it.  And, I don't regret the purchase one bit! After reading the rules and working out how the game actually plays, I'm excited to get it to the table and try it! I've got a night already planned for five which can't come soon enough, but unfortunately isn't until October 21st.  Expect to hear more then..

Weekly Cap

The Geelong Cats won!
:)

Here's What I've Been Playing This Week

Roll For The Galaxy: Yes more Roll for the Galaxy, but its quickly becoming a favourite game! The rules are quite simple to pick up but I'm still learning the strategy of when to do what, and what side of the tiles to build etc. There's a lot of decisions every turn and a bit of guess work based on what you think your opponents will do - occasionally that leads to some dud turns, but when your plan pays off its a great feeling! Definitely recommend you give this a go if you haven't tried it yet. Once I feel I know the game well enough I'm sure I'll post a proper review.

Pandemic Legacy: After what seems like the longest of breaks we finally got back together to play December in what we were expecting to be our last game. But nope. December had it's way with us and has left us with one final chance. It's going to be a long shot to complete December successfully, but if all goes well our campaign will end on a good note come Monday. Well either way its going to end as its the last possible game we can play. Bittersweet!

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Mansions Of Madness 2nd Edition - Total impulse buy like most of the other games in the library.  A fellow instagrammer sent me a link to Barnes and Noble 40% off a single item sale which brought the total price of this game to just $96 AUD including shipping. An absolute bargain so I couldn't resist. Have never played any game in the Lovecraft world, no idea if I'm starting with the right one, but eager to see what the fuss is all about! Love how the game is driven by an app (at least in theory.. yet to try it) which I'm hoping leads to some more immersion. Don't know when it will make it to the table, but I know I'll be loving it when it finally does! P.s. How big is the box?!!

Dead Of Winter: The Long Night - I purchased this stand-alone expansion the same time I ordered Mansions as I figured saving a bit on shipping never goes astray.  I love the first game and have had some good sessions with it (including my first one while in Canada), but it doesn't get out to the table often.  There's a bit involved and you gotta have a decent amount of time committed which unfortunately means Dead Of Winter gets left out a bit. Did I need this in the library? Well seeing as I've only played the original 3 times in about 6 months of owning it - I don't think I should have bought this.  But there's something pretty awesome just seeing The Long Night next to Dead Of Winter in the library, so I can justify it..

All is revealed October 23rd!

If you like playing board games and also can't wait until the end of October to find out exactly what the story with Negan is and more importantly - who Negan killed..

This is your edition of this well made dice game.
Click the image for this week's review

Footy Finals

Before I start with the weekly recap - it'd be an injustice not to give a quick shout out to the beloved Geelong Cats as they start their quest for glory tonight against our arch-nemisis Hawthorn. 

For most of you I'm sure that means nothing, but as an australian its a big deal when the AFL finals start and I've got a sneaky suspicion the cats may just do alright this year, but onto board games we go!

Here's What I've Been Playing This Week: 

Odin's Ravens: 2 Player games are some of my favourite games. First, they are often easier to get to the table and not matter how good a game is - if it doesn't make it to the table its a bit of a waste! But along with being easy to get to the table, I love the 'me vs you' nature of them. Odin's Ravens is one of my newer two player games and while I find it more on the relaxing side of tension, it certainly have its moments as the race often gets down to the wire. Odin's Ravens plays simply, looks good and mixes it up by putting players on an equal level with both players having the same cards, but leaves it to the player which type of cards to take into their hand (Odin cards or land cards) and players quickly can have very different looking hands. When the end game comes around, most of the time you've done very similar things as your opponent just at different stages in the game but I still find Odin's Ravens a decent two player game that fortunately my wife enjoys making it even easier to come out onto the table. Expect a review after a few more plays. 

Lords Of Waterdeep: I have played a few worker placement games but Lords of Waterdeep is the first one to make it into my library and it's already been worth it. Two nights of Waterdeep this past week and everyone seemed to enjoy both nights. Not sure I'm the best at explaining how to play this one as both groups seemed to think it was going to be a complicated game, but like most games once you start playing everyone realised Waterdeep wasn't complex and played out fairly quick. As often discussed, the theme is fairly pasted on with most players calling the cubes by their color rather than their type and players just looking at quests by their cost and their reward.. but my initial thoughts of this game are very positive and I'm looking forward to playing some more! 

Board Games Purchased This Week: 

Istanbul - Had this on my to get list for a while so finally decided to pull the trigger and add it to the collection. As I already mentioned above, a good game for me is one that I can regularly play and from what I can tell of Istanbul, it will certainly meet that criteria. Light-Mid weight, easier to learn, quick to play, up to five players (6 players is ideal for me, but 5 is a must for our main group) and some different board game mechanics made Istanbul a purchase for me, as well as generally positive feedback. There's some stiff competition to overcome at the moment with the final month of Pandemic Legacy to be played out, as well as Lords of Waterdeep, Roll for the Galaxy and Codenames all having been recently introduced to our main playing group and all being requested to get played again - however I'm confident I can sneak Istanbul in shortly for a few plays..

 

Heads Up

What does a clown, a land lord, a spy, a bishop and King Louis XVI have in common?

Click the image for this weeks review and to find out!

We've Joined The Modern World

Mostly Board Games is now on instagram!
If you use instagram come join us as we go through our game nights, latest additions and more..

Follow us at: mostlyboardgames

Or click the image below for a link!

Crisis Of Stranger Things

I'd like to start this weeks cap with a shout out to something not board game related.

Im actually pretty late to the party with this one, but there may be someone just like me reading this who somehow didn't hear all the hype for one of netflix newer shows.

This is a brilliant throw back to a cross between 80s adventure movies - the kind some of us grew up watching as kids, and something steven king would have made for us back in the day.  Just in case of spoilers etc I won't actually say anything about the show. But after starting this week, im 3/4 of the way through the first season and certainly enjoying it.  So do yourself a favor, if you have netflix and you like Sci-Fi, give it a go!

Here's What I've Been Playing This Week:

Roll For The Galaxy: Finally managed to not only play Roll For the Galaxy this week, but arranged a 2nd follow up to play it again!  I've never played Race FTG before, but as my first entry into the series im intrigued.  The rules were relatively easy to understand and I'm pretty sure we were playing properly within 10-15 minutes of actually playing (after a few minor mistakes).  While initially easy to play and enjoy, I wasn't really feeling like I was playing properly.  All my turns were correct and within the rules, but as everyone I was playing it with had never played before, I wasn't sure how effective our turns actually were.  A few games in, and I think we've got a bit of a grasp on the strategy and which tiles are more beneficial, which actions to activate and which your opponents prob will etc.. like most things the more you play the better you get. Look forward to a review eventually!

Exploding Kittens: Introduced this to a few more people this week,  Playing in a bigger group means you have less cards, less cards means less chances to push the kitty down the pile resulting in earlier deaths.  I enjoyed it a bit more this time but that may have something to do with the fact I won every game.. Might need a few more games but right now its sitting at about a TRY.

Coloretto: A new game for me.  Picked the rules up and how to play in about 30 seconds and won the first game (beginners luck seems to happen a bit in simple games!).  I just found it ok. Nothing wrong with it, but there's a lot of simple games and card games even going around in my collection that I don't feel the need to add coloretto to it. I'd play it again, but don't see myself ever suggesting it or going out of my way to get it to the table. Not really enough to it and as I said there's other simple games I prefer.

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Crisis - I've decided to put Kickstarter games in the purchased games list.  Technically I've purchased it as I've already paid for it - I just don't have it yet.  Why Crisis?  Well a couple things drew me to it. The first was the components, with basic and a deluxe versions available it was a no brainer that playing on the deluxe edition was the way to go.  Custom tokens, a cool looking board and a sci-fi theme had me interested.  But the real hook was the limited nature of the kickstarter. Im a bit new to KS but I've never seen a campaign thats capped at a certain amount of copies.  Only 1750 people were able to back Crisis making it feel a bit like an 'exclusive' club.  By the time I properly noticed Crisis, it was already sold out.  Lucky for me, after constantly refreshing and checking someone dropped out towards the last hours of the campaign and I was able to snatch myself a copy.  Yep I got conned by pressure sales.. but I'll find out soon enough if it was worth it!

Do You Feel Lucky Punk?

What starts with the letter 'G' and rhymes with 'Funs'

I know funs isn't a word but you get what I'm saying..

Enough said.

Click the image for this weeks review

So Sick Of Being Tired, So Tired Of Being Sick

The plague has spread like a zombie outbreak in dead of winter infecting everyone in our house. Lots of runny noses, coughing and we've even had a burst eardrum =/

We've been a bit light on gaming this week as a result but hopefully will be back to normal after some much needed rest this weekend.

Here's what I've been playing this week:

Ticket To Ride Europe: I met up with my sister one last time before she returns to her home on the other side of the world - and of course she wanted to play 'trains'. Our last match for who knows how long ended up as a draw between me and her.

Exploding Kittens: Newest purchase so we tried a few rounds. Initial thoughts are OK, there's fun to be had but I'm not blown away. Might be more fun with 5 players but the few games we had the strategy seemed to be to collect cards and keep pushing the exploding kittens to the end, and then it was whoever had the most skips, attacks and nopes who seemed to win.

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Exploding Kittens - Being one of the most successful kickstarter games ever has drawn a fair bit of intrigue from many gamers - including myself. So after a fair bit of curiosity (that killed the cat), I finally added Exploding Kittens into my library of games, getting the standard version.  Some light humor and nice artwork. Will do a review eventually when I've played it enough..

Odin's Ravens - A two player race to see which raven can fly around the world the fastest in yet another two player game for the collection!  This game has a bit of history originally being a funded kickstarter campaign that somehow never got finished.  Osprey Games - even though they had nothing to do with the original kickstarter, stepped in and not only produced the game but sent a free copy to everyone who funded the original kickstarter campaign.  Knowing that was enough to warrant me spending my hard earned cash to support Osprey, and I'm secretly hoping it to be a good one but yet to try it!

Click the image to support Osprey Games and purchase Odin's Ravens

Listen All Y'all It's A Sabotage

Miner: Why did you just break my lantern - your the saboteur!

Sab: No way I'm the saboteur, look at what you just built

Miner: I only built that because I had nothing else to build, every other turn I've been helping and then you go and break my lantern?

Sab: Im still not convinced your not the saboteur

Miner: If I was the saboteur why would I tell everyone the gold is in the middle?

Sab: Yeah that's exactly what I'd say if I was the saboteur

Miner: I'm serious I am a miner!

Sab: Ok, I'll believe you now - but if you do anything else strange I'll destroy your cart, we gotta get to the middle.. *smiles to himself..

Click on the bones for this weeks review..

Jack You Ripper!

I love two player games and the strategy behind them.
Its you vs the other player, and often 2 player board games revolve around you outwitting your opponent with not a whole lot of luck involved.

Mr Jack is often praised as an excellent 2 player game but its one that I've never seen in stores and even online its hard to track down in Australia.

Until recently anyway..

I'm a bit late to the party on this one, but I've only just seen that Mr Jack has revised 10th anniversary addition just released!

That will mean more copies should be available everywhere and I'll soon finally be able to get my hands on it!

Onto the cap..

Here's what I've been playing this week:

Jane Austen's Matchmaker: Yep played this one a little more than I wanted to this week, but was nice to get a refresh on the game for this weeks review.  Yes the theme won't excite many but its actually an OK game worth checking out if you know anyone who loves Jane Austen.

Dead Of Winter: Introduced this to two new players - their first impression was 'this game is way too complicated'.  10 Minutes into the game 'this game is cool, we need to try it with..' Great success!

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Roll For The Galaxy - I've never actually played Race for the galaxy, but figured after everything I've heard about Roll that it was the better version of the game to get.  Haven't been able to arrange anyone to play it with yet though!

For Those Who Think They Are Cupid

If you know who this is..

Then you should already have this game in your collection.

Click the image for this week's review

Weekly Cap

This week I nearly contributed to another kickstarter.

See: THIS GAME (Dwarves In Trouble)

It looks fun, its quick to play, easy to pick up, some cool artwork, a fantasy theme. Everything about the game looks to be a thumbs up from me except one thing.

Shipping!

I live in Australia and the shipping was estimated at $20+ USD
Unfortunately that would bring the total price to about $60-$70 when converted to AUD (I wanted the extras to have up to 6 players) and with so many games to buy and so little money.. I couldn't justify that kinda cash on a what is essentially just a card game.

And thats my story.
Also am still waiting to see what happens with the last two games I helped fund through kickstarter before I get too carried away..

But onto the week of gaming!

Here's what I've been playing this week:

Between Two Cities: 7 Wonders Lite Edition with the neat bonus of working with two players.  Easy and fun but I think I'd rather just play wonders..

Citadels: Am still fairly new to this classic game. I love the strategy and guessing who is which character etc but feel its just a bit too long for what it is! Always enjoy playing it but don't feel the end payoff is worth the 90 minutes we spent playing

Pandemic Legacy: November month replayed and this time successfully beaten! Hope to finish off our last month on Monday night and get a win the first time around.

Dead Of Winter: So this takes about 90 minutes to play as well - but you expect it! Just look at how many pieces there are and how much there is to do. Love the hybrid co-op competitive nature and throwing in a potential betrayer ups the ante.  Enjoy the game but wish there was a way around the downtime waiting for your turn.. (first world board game problems!)

Board Games Purchased This Week:

Lords Of Waterdeep - I've played Tzolkín (really enjoyed) and Stone Age (enjoyed) - but Lords Of Waterdeep is the first worker placement board game I own in my collection. Looking forward to introducing it to a group of friends who will be first timers to the genre!

Now With 6000 More Words*

After some feedback I've decided to change the review format slightly again with..

Pictures!!

*They say a picture is worth a thousand words - so happy reading/looking!

I've yet to decide on the proper positioning/formatting, but for now they are just at the bottom of the page which looks okay unless your viewing on a phone in which it looks a mess.

Not sure what I'll do to make it look better in future but for now click the image for this weeks review now with plenty of photos

And Now Back To Our Regular Programming

So after last weeks lack of gaming, this week certainly made up for it.

My sister was over visiting from the other side of the world and I was able to convert her on a couple of games

Here's what I've been playing this week:

Ticket to Ride Europe: My sister absolutely loved this game so we played it 5 times during the week. I've been meaning to get around to a review of this for a while now so may even be inspired for this weeks upcoming one

Biblios: My sister didn't really rate this one too highly, she didn't think the theme had anything to do with the game and just thought it was ok.

Chinatown: After initial hesitation and complaints that it seemed too complicated, this game of negotiating was enjoyed by all including my sister who had a personal vendetta to make sure I didn't win.

Guillotine: Fun and simple card game that my sister felt went for too long

Coup: My first games of Coup and I was the only one who didn't win a game and also the only one who didn't just play the cards I actually had. Kinda hoping it works a bit better next time we try it as initial impressions were just OK.

For Sale: Only one game of this great filler and my sister dominated. Needless to say she liked it!

Jamaica: Lastly.. I finally was able to purchase Jamaica!  Of course we tried it the same night I bought it.  Need a few more plays to accurately gauge my opinion but initial thoughts were positive although my sister didn't like it and wanted to play ticket to ride again..


Board Games Purchased This Week:

Jamaica - As above, after waiting a few weeks I finally was able to find this.  Expensive but hopefully a decent addition to the collection!

Splendor - Lots of hype for this so I decided to get it and see what the fuss is about. Still haven't tried it yet though!