As I wrote last week, “With yet another trip around the sun, my personal odometer has turned over and I am… sixty years old. When I was younger, 60 sounded really, really old… and sometimes the aches & pains of my aging body remind me that younger me wasn’t completely off base. But most of the time, I feel like my attitude about life is younger than my physical age.”

We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.

In that spirit, I welcomed Dale Yu (our illustrious leader here at the Opinionated Gamers site) into my home along with my two gamer sons (Braeden – age 23 and Collin – age 19) for a long weekend of gaming, laughter, and friendship. 

We played thirty-three different games (two of them twice) from Wednesday afternoon (after I got off work) until Sunday evening. Interestingly, after crunching the numbers, all four of us had a winning percentage between 31% (me) and 35% (Braeden). (Note: my non-gamer wife, Shari – who made sure we were fed & taken care of throughout the weekend – did actually play one game with us. More on that later.)

Wednesday afternoon

MegaCity: Oceania

Collin & I started LX Con off with a game of MegaCity: Oceania. MegaCity is both a dexterity game and a drafting game – and it requires steady hands and a decent understanding of the basic principles of physics in order to build and then move your creations into position in the city. (A table that isn’t prone to shaking is also a must.)

I like the game – but with reservations. Due to the tricky building process (satisfying the requirements on your contract card), the game can occasionally slow to a crawl as all players are working to solve the problem. This is more pronounced at larger player counts – so I prefer the game with two players.

I managed to edge Collin out by three points for the win. It would be 24+ hours before I’d have another win.

If you never did, you should. These things are fun and fun is good.

Thursday afternoon

After a great morning with my work team (two big thumbs up for Ralph’s Donut Shop in Cookeville, TN, y’all!) Dale arrived at the house and the gaming began in earnest.

Voidfall

I’d spent almost an hour of Wednesday evening setting up the tutorial scenario of Voidfall – one of my top 100 games (#68) as well as #7 on my best new (to me!) games of 2023 list. (Note: if you had two experienced players, set-up time would be about 25-30 minutes.)

That preparation let Dale & I jump right into a rules explanation and then into the game. I’m on record as being a big fan of the structure/design of the tutorial scenario, as it both helps players learn the game system (by reducing their choices in the early going) while still being a fully playable game. 

While I focused on a more militaristic attack on the Voidborn stronghold at the middle of the board, Dale worked on building and solidifying his basic society. I also wasted time on a couple of agendas that didn’t pay off points – thus letting Dale take a convincing win over me.

Photographic evidence of Dale playing Voidfall is included, as some of the OG writers were betting on whether or not he might spontaneously combust whilst playing the game. (I guess the first picture is his thinking face.) 🙂

[Dale: Umm what a way to start out. This is clearly not a game I would seek out but after reading Justin gush about it as well as Mark, I did want to try it, just to see if I was missing out on anything. After a nice run down of the rules (where I felt like I got most of it in a surprisingly short amount of time), we played through the intro scenario. As I often do with super complex games, I found a simple strategy and just played that out to the end. Only explored/fought once.  Got enough placed to poop out factories or whatever they are called, and then produced the heck out of them to get VPs. It was fine, but this one at the intro level was nearing my internal complexity limit. So many things to think about, so I ignored a bunch of them. And I did just fine in the game. So let me just play a game where I can manage everything and not have to consciously avoid things? But, it’s great that other gamers love this, and they can play the heck out of it.]

Captain Flip

At that point, Collin joined us to learn the SdJ-nominated Captain Flip. We played this twice over the weekend, trying two different boards (the ship & the raft, for those who’ve actually seen the game.) Both plays went swimmingly – and Collin won both times. 

My first play of Captain Flip online (not with this group!) was just meh – but subsequent in-person plays have convinced me that it’s a worthy nominee for Spiel des Jahres. 

[Dale: still my pick for SdJ]

Thursday evening

Karvi

After dinner, the three of us played Karvi – and as with many viking-themed games, I couldn’t get the classic Muppet Show sketch out of my head:

No Muppets actually appear during the game of Karvi… nor did my luck and/or skill, as Dale lapped me by more than 100 points in this old-school-feeling game of engine building and “delivery”. (Delivery is in quotes because literally half of the deliveries are your vikings beating up on locals & taking stuff.)

It’s a really solid design, though there are some concerns about game balance on your first game.

[Dale: I still really like this one. It feels refreshingly old school. As two of the three in the game were beginners, we used the random ship piece distribution, and again I feel like this gave at least one player an unfair disadvantage because their pieces didn’t work as well together as the other players. I think once you have all experienced people in the game, you can use the optional drafting rules and this “issue” will disappear. And, I would still recommend doing random pieces in your first game because honestly a newbie will have no idea what to choose anyway]

Catan: New Energies

Collin had been wanting to try Catan: New Energies so that was next to hit the table. Collin & I are both big fans of the Catan system and various off-shoot games, so we’re the right audience for this newest stand-alone version. (He & I attended the CatanCon events that happened here in Nashville back in 2015 and 2016.) 

While the energy production mechanic functions somewhat like the classic Fisherman of Catan variant, it’s the event system that slows the game down and – for the most part – punishes those who are not investing time & energy into clean power plants. After one play, I’m concerned that there’s a “rich get richer” problem leaning towards the clean option.

Collin & I tussled over the Longest Road – with him winning it and with it the game.

Mountains Out of Molehills

It is games like this (and others we’ll get to later in the weekend) that gave me the moniker “Fluff Daddy” – a lover of fluffy kid games and general silliness. In Mountains Out of Molehills, players are driving their moles around the underground board using a simplified draft + movement deck system akin to RoboRally which causes dirt (player tokens) to pop up on the aboveground board. At the end of each four-move round, the player on the bottom of each dirt stack scores the stack. 

This is the other game we played twice – both three player games. Notably, I managed to win both games. (Thanks again to my sons for getting this game for me for Father’s Day.)

Winning is only half of it. Having fun is the other half.

Friday morning

Keep the Heroes Out

Before the rest of the house was awake, I got out one of my birthday presents and set up the first scenario as a solo game. Keep The Heroes Out is a familiar genre trope reversal – instead of a dungeon crawl, you’re in charge of a dungeon and don’t want these dang heroes messing it up. (A personal long-time favorite, Dungeon Lords, uses the same storyline.)

I got about halfway through the first scenario before calling it in order to play games with Dale. My first impression is that the game works… but getting the flow chart of monster actions straight in your head is going to be the key to making it flow smoothly. It’s just tricky enough that learning the flow will take a game or two before I’m comfortable. (I will note that the wooden pieces for the monster clans are adorable – almost Root-like.)

[Dale: After I awoke, I saw this on the table, and wow, the flow chart is pretty intense.]

Magic Number Eleven

Dale & I started our Friday morning together with some two player gaming… including two soccer-themed games. The first was Magic Number Eleven… which I’ll go out on a limb and suggest that it’s the best “fast” (30 minutes?) soccer match game since my beloved Streetsoccer. I was very impressed with how it used a tile-laying-like mechanic to simulate the build-up of soccer play. There’s enough randomness to feel like an actual soccer game (I got a penalty trying to stop an overwhelming attack – then my goalie managed to block the penalty shot!)… but not so much that it overwhelms intelligent play.

I’m not sure where you find a copy except the Pluto Games site (which shows that they are waiting for restock.)

Yes, Dale won. Arsenal beat the Spurs 5-4. 

[Dale: Come on, you Gunners. This is a really neat tile-laying game that uses a soccer theme to sucker me in even more. I got this as a gift from my brother who happened to be at an Osaka Game convention, and I’m super glad to have it. So many good ideas in this game, and the draft at the start really affects how you will approach the game]

Uno Zero

On the other hand, there was Uno Zero (which I can’t even find on the ‘Geek). It was a highly abstracted not-very-soccer-y two-player game of tile placement that works but doesn’t have much oomph to recommend it.

And, yes, I lost this one too. 

Undaunted: Normandy

I’m already on record as a huge fan of the Undaunted system (#20 on my top 100 list for 2024)… so it was a kick to teach and play Undaunted: Normandy’s first scenario with Dale. I’ve previously described Undaunted as a blend between War Chest and Memoir ‘44 as it uses both deck-building and “old skool” roll-to-hit mechanics to create a fluid and interesting wargame that is still appealing to non-wargamer types. 

I can recommend both initial games (Normandy & North Africa) along with the Reinforcements box highly. I’m still playing around with Battle of Britain and trying to wrap my head around how to deal with dogfighting elements. There is an Undaunted: Stalingrad that is a multi-game campaign which I’d love to play – but I don’t have a regular venue for that. Finally, I’m very excited for the release later this year of Undaunted: 2200 Callisto, which will take the system into a sci-fi universe.

Dale’s bold offensive as the Germans paid off as he defeated me 5-0… you’re noticing a trend, right?!

[Dale: These sorts of games are pretty much in the opposite of my wheelhouse, but I like to see new games, so I actually requested this one. Again, like Voidfall, only dipping my toe in the water by playing the introductory scenario. This one has a lot of pleasing things, especially the multiple platoon management. If I were to play two-player games more regularly, I could see myself exploring this more. But I don’t. So I won’t.]

Distilled

Thankfully, the trend broke at the end of the morning with Distilled. Collin joined us for this well-produced game of running a distillery. There are both drafting & push-your-luck elements here, along with set collecting & a bit of engine building. That can sound like a mish-mash… but it actually pulls together nicely into a very playable game. 

I was heartened to see that Collin’s strategy of leaning into aging spirits (which denies you of a large income, particularly if you start early) didn’t doom him to fall behind. While he came in third, he was only one point short of Dale in second. I like when multiple pathways are available in a game of this nature.

And, yes, as a non-drinker, it always makes me laugh a bit when I turn out to enjoy games about drinking (The Red Dragon Inn) or owning a bar (The Taverns of Tiefenthal or Volle Hutte) or making liquor (Distilled).

[Dale: I was impressed by this. Need to get a few more plays in for review purposes.]

Friday afternoon

Cities

I’m always up for a good city-building game… and Cities (the 2024 from Phil Walker-Harding) was right up my alley. The game features four drafts each round (city tile, buildings, features for parks & lakes, and scoring cards)… and as each player looks to fulfill their scoring cards as well as satisfy the scoring goals for all players, making wise decisions on when to draft particular items can get tricky.

Of course, edging out Dale by a single point may have improved my already positive attitude about the game.

[Dale: I mean, it’s his birthday, right? City building is fun, and this one offers a nice balance between the luck of the draw as well as a bit of gambling with the face down options. PWH has designed a lot of games that I adore, and this one looks to be headed the same way.]

Chandigarh

We continued city-building with Chandigarh – this time with an Indian theme. Here, the cards you draft are placed in a line of up to three cards – and when you take the fourth card, the card you discard acts as the scoring card. It’s a bit more think-y than the aforementioned Cities, but that isn’t a knock against the game. Figuring out to use the drafted cards to move your builder effectively while setting up scoring plays can be challenging.

This time around, a tie between Dale & I was resolved in his favor by the tie-breaker. (Note: Collin was just one point behind us!)

Key to the Kingdom

Collin summed up his reaction to Key to the Kingdom a couple of years ago with this quote: “It’s like a shorter Talisman with actual strategy.” Nothing in my multiple plays has swayed me from that opinion. It’s also the only game I know of with a card that Rick-Rolls you. (Want to know more? I reviewed it a couple of years back for the OG.)

Note: this is definitely not Dale’s kind of game – but part of the joy of having him at the table is his willingness to try new things.

Collin & Dale both got to the Demon’s throne room – but Collin managed to finish the quest first.

[Dale: Yeah. Not for me. Let’s roll and move. And flip up random event cards. At least Mark injects a lot of enthusiasm into reading things from the adventure book, and that was at least amusing/entertaining]

Hot Potatoes

[Dale: I’ll note that this was so “different” that Mark didn’t even deign to write about it… This is an old Knizia where you roll dice and pass potatoes around. When the temperature gets too hot, you get burned and lose points. Be the last one to lose points. Umm, yay for German roll and move?!]

OK, Dale is correct – I did forget to write up our game of Hot Potatoes. It’s a horrific cover (seriously, just take a gander on BGG) and there’s not much game to it – but it works pretty darn well with non-gamers.

Stonespine Architects 

While Collin took a break before dinner, I pulled down Stonespine Architects, a game in the Roll Player universe that Dale had requested. While I bought it primarily to play solo (which works quite well), I’ve found that the two-player version of this drafting game of building and stocking dungeons with monsters, traps, and treasures is very good as well. You not only draft a card to put into your 16 card dungeon blueprint… you also “hate discard” a card from the remaining cards before handing them to your opponent. 

My experience at the game was not on display this time as Dale built a much prettier dungeon than I did.

Friday evening

Weirdwood Manor

After a delicious meal at a local staple (the oddly named Jumbo & Delicious), Braeden finally drove in from Huntsville and we sat down to our first four-player game. Or, better put, we attempted our first four-player game.

I have some concerns about Weirdwood Manor. While the graphic design of the game is well-done and there are some intriguing design concepts in the system, it did not seem to add up to a coherent whole for us. A quick check of the BGG entry shows discussion about the game not working as well at the higher player counts, so I’d advise those who are trying the game to give it a go with 1 or 2 players.

Lockup: A Roll Player Tale

To keep with the fantasy theme while playing a game I knew was solid, I put Lockup on the table (along with Breakout expansion). This game of warring fantasy prison gangs (set in the Roll Player World of Ulos) involves collecting resources, scouting out the catacombs, making a variety of useful prison tools, and recruiting goons to your gang… all without raising the suspicion of the guards. 

Both Dale & Braeden turned out to be slightly better (yes, once again, by a single point!) than I did at gathering a gang – with Dale’s aptitude for making fantasy shivs giving him the tie-breaker win.

[Dale: Actually, I think Braeden won this one. I did not have as many jailhouse weapons made as him. This was an interesting worker placement game, and it felt like the twentieth game in the Roll Player universe I played this weekend…]

Captain Flip

We closed the night with Collin’s second win at Captain Flip – which, btw, is the perfect weight as a closing game for an evening.

I have never been convinced there’s anything inherently wrong in having fun.

Saturday morning

Call to Adventure: Epic Origins

Saturday morning began with Braeden & I joining Dale for the fantasy character building game Call to Adventure – playing with a mixed set between the Epic Origins box and the original set. Braeden’s morally compromised “hero” turned out to be larger than life as we together defeated the High Priest Adversary as he took the win.

I really enjoy the storytelling element of this game – and the chance to reference the fact that my character was “chosen by the light” as many times as possible while we were playing the game. (OK, yeah, and later in the day as well.)

Both Dale & I have reviewed the Call to Adventure series here on the OG – Dale the base game and me the stand-alone Epic Origins box.

River of Gold

At first glance, the board of this Legend of Five Rings-themed game seemed really busy – what with the gold foil and all the extra artwork – enough so that Braeden & I both wondered if it would distract from play. We were both happy to be proven wrong – the tiles clearly stand out from the board and it ends up being a classy backdrop for a well-designed game.

Each turn, players take a single action based on their die roll at the end of their previous turn (yes, that die roll can be modified). They can move one of their boats downstream, they can build a building on the edge of the river (attracting boats and gaining from their visit), or they can recruit a person into their employ. Each of these can affect your cash flow, your influence in each of the six regions, and/or your victory points.

The River of Gold turned out to be running Braeden’s way… and despite coming in a distant third, I’d be happy to play this game again. (No knowledge of Legend of the Five Rings is required to enjoy it, btw.)

[Dale: Yeah, this one is neat. Lots of things to like about this on my first play, but more plays to come in the future – and then there will be a full review]

Monopoly: Tropical Tycoon DVD Game

So, in a world where DVD players are no longer quite as common (we only have one downstairs attached to our TV… and none of our computers have a built-in CD-ROM drive), how do you play a game designed for a DVD player filled world? 

Well, in my case, you watch the DVD footage over & over after it’s downloaded to your computer – taking copious notes. Then you spend a ridiculous amount of time building payout charts, card decks, and figuring out ways to simulate DVD functions in analog play. 

So that’s what the four of us played as our last game of Saturday morning – an analog version of a re-imagined Monopoly that has been a favorite for Braeden, Collin, and I for years. (Yes, it’s on my top 100 list at #52.) It adds four new kinds of developments, a way to calculate victory points rather than simply add up your cash & property value, and adds a number of things to the system to speed up the game. Ours was very speedy, as Collin went bankrupt at 35 minutes in and Braeden’s vast holdings dwarfed Dale & I.

[Dale: So I tried to rush the game. Amazingly, I had a dark purple monopoly on turn 2, so I spent all my money to upgrade to hotels and then tried to run them out of money. Two or three turns later, I traded 2 reds to Collin for Park Place; each of us building a monopoly. Unfortunately, I got caught out, had to mortgage everything, and as usually happens in Monopoly, one person’s death spiral triggers more death spirals and then we can say that we played Monopoly]

Saturday afternoon

The Red Dragon Inn

One of Collin’s recent game obsessions (along with Legendary: Marvel and SolForge Fusion) is the fantasy take-that fest that is The Red Dragon Inn. Each player is a character with their own deck of cards and special powers, gathered around a tavern table to drink, gamble, fight, and generally mess with each other. Each character has a Fortitude level and an Alcohol level – if they meet, they pass out and are out of the game. You can also be knocked out of the game for running out of money, which causes you to be tossed into the street. 

Surprisingly, it’s got some solid design elements undergirding the mayhem. Players can discard cards from their hand at the beginning of the turn and refill their hand – which keeps you from being stuck with useless cards. The play of strong action cards is limited, while there are plenty of counter cards to help keep you alive & upright. There’s also a good bit of solid humor writing in the game – each character has their own personality.

With all that, it’s a take-that game with all that implies… which makes it even more surprising that my non-gamer wife (Shari) enjoys playing it and joined us for a round. Collin came out on top, despite Shari’s character throwing maledictions into our hands and me playing a lovable if over-violent half-ogre (“Gog love everyone!”).

[Dale: Game #3 of unlikely Dale plays (after Voidfall and Undaunted). Mark’s son really wanted to play the new expansion character decks that had just arrived in the mail. A fun time of forcing people to drink things, and I got to give lots of amusing bombs to people. And, man, the way that the whole Jackson family embraces their characters and acts things out is a joy to see. It’s hard not to have fun when you see people really getting into it like that. Not my thing, but hey, I can see why people love it.]

Potion Explosion

While Dale & Collin had both played Potion Explosion before, Braeden & I were newbies. This was the new version of the game with the fully plastic ingredient dispenser. Collin describes the central harvesting mechanic as “reverse Zuma” (for those who’ve played the classic arcade-style game, Zuma’s Revenge) – and he’s not wrong.

Turns out I’m pretty good at reverse Zuma… and I managed to hold off Dale for the win.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal

Yet another game on my top 100 list hit the table (#88)… this time with Heavy Rain expansion included. That meant that the four humans raced against three Legends (aka bot) cars around the 3 lap Mexico track. We used weather, road conditions, and upgrades… and with all that in play, I was just happy to come in sixth place (and ahead of Braeden) after my disastrous spin-out in the third lap. Collin locked up the win at Heat with a spring from the final corner.

[Dale: Man, these bots are fast. When we started I didn’t think there was any chance that the humans would ever catch up; but it was close at the end. Heat is probably now my favorite auto racing game]

Heroscape

I will be the first to admit that I’m VERY excited about the upcoming revival of Heroscape… my #5 game on my top 100 list. (You can read all about that excitement in previous posts about the announcement, the Wave 1 reveal, and the Wave 2 reveal… and we’ll keep having more Heroscape coverage here on the OG!) But, for those of us who’ve been playing & collecting since 2004, we don’t have to wait.

An epic battle ensued, including a head-to-head encounter between the dragons and wyverns sweeping down and carrying off gruts to snack on. After nearly two hours (not including a dinner break) of dice rolling and tremendous amounts of fun, Dale & Braeden conceded the field to the superior forces of orc gruts and Roman soldiers.

I worked on a major map suitable for two large armies… or four medium-sized armies played 2v2. So the battle lines were drawn and Braeden & Dale contested Collin & I for control of this particularly swampy part of Valhalla. Dale brought a team from Aquilla with Wyverns, Fylorag Spiders, and dwarven heroes. His ally, Braeden, fielded a team of Marro, focused on Su-Bak-Na (the Marro “dragon”) and Tul-Bak-Ra (the Marro “teleport” glyph). Collin created a huge army of gruts, anchored by Swog Riders as well as Krug the Troll and Torin the Cyclops. My army was actually a human army – Roman legionnaires and archers, led by Marcus Decimus Gallus and featuring the majestic fire breath attack of Zelrig the dragon.

[Dale: Yeah, I probably should never be in charge of a 600 pt army again. In the future, I’ll take 150 and give Braeden the other 1050. That might work out better for us…]

Saturday evening

Big Top

I’d played this in the original Japanese version Suroboruos (actually at Dale’s house back in the day)… so was excited to receive Big Top as a birthday gift. The “what you bid affects the value of cards you’ve already purchased” mechanic is very cool… but my appreciation for the design of the game was not reflected in my score. Dale wiped the table with us.

Route 66

And now, with Collin once again taking a break, we come to “obviously Mark chose these games” portion of the evening… in which I subjected Braeden & Dale to three favorites of mine. The starting point was the very old school race game, Route 66, in which players speed from Chicago to Los Angeles, then try to go as slowly as possible back to Chicago to see as many sights as possible. There’s some take-that, some swings of luck, and honestly it’s not a deep game – but I enjoy it a lot. Dale was just one tourist short of tying me for the win.

New Frontiers

Favorite #2 is actually #31 on my top 100 list – Tom Lehmann’s New Frontiers. Surprisingly, Dale had never played this Puerto Rico/Race for the Galaxy mix… and I’d just received the Starry Rift expansion – so off we went. 

I’ve always enjoyed the theme of the Race for the Galaxy world (and the artwork)… and I think that the action choices offer more interesting decisions than Puerto Rico while the drawing of worlds from the bag add a random element that keeps the game from falling into the scripting problem that plagues serious PR players. 

My experience paid off here as I was able to build an Uplift empire.

Zoff im Hühnerhof

Our closer was another long-time favorite, the silly Zoff im Hühnerhof (English name: Chicken Squabble) from HABA. (I wrote about this wonderful game 15 years ago…) Players fling chicken feed into the grid in order to move their chickens – but only until the fox shows up and they all race back to the henhouse. 

The production of this HABA classic is really great… and, as I note in the review I wrote, the FPM (Fun Per Minute) quotient is very high. 

With Collin back to close out the night, I managed a convincing win – and there was a three-way tie for second place!

[Dale: They kept telling me I was flinging feed into the pen, but, umm, it sure looks a lot like poop]

People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.

Sunday morning

The Guild of Merchant Explorers

Due to its later release in Germany, The Guild of Merchant Explorers is up for the Kennerspiel award this year – and as much as I enjoy Matt Leacock’s Daybreak (and look forward to playing Ticket to Ride: Legacy), I do hope Merchant Explorers (#54 on my top 100 list) walks away with the prize. 

This extremely clever flip’n’write game doesn’t actually contain any writing – but it does have enough look-ahead to make wise decisions and enough luck of the draw to force you to hedge your bets. The “clearing” mechanic at the end of each round forces you to build villages to have multiple jump-off points later in the game.

Dale & I started the final morning with a game using the ice-filled expansion map of North Proylia… which Dale won by posting an excellent score with multiple trade routes, which my pile of treasure cards were not substantial enough to overcome.

[Dale: I still love this game. I had actually forgotten some of the rules, but it came back quickly. I should play this more often[

Niagara

There’s been a lot of griping/whining about the Spiel des Jahres win of Niagara amongst the OG writers. This kind of complaining is not a new thing – back in 2010, I wrote: “While some have decided that Niagara didn’t “deserve” to win – [whine] “There’s too much luck! It’s just about the pretty bits! The jury could have awarded Power Grid! I’m ugly & my mother dresses me funny!” [/whine]… I’m still a fan.”

Niagara is a stunningly beautiful game of gem collecting on a moving river… and lasts about 45 minutes. A nifty set of clear discs simulates the flow of the river towards the waterfalls, while wooden canoes & plastic gems round out the excellent presentation. Surprisingly, there is no actual “luck” in the game – only the randomness of the players choosing their actions at the same time.

I’ve come to believe that the expansion, The Spirits of Niagara, is darn near essential to the game – it adds some interesting wrinkles that increase the number of decisions you must make without noticeably lengthening the game. (It also can increase the number of players to six, but we don’t use that much.)

I was so close to winning… but a couple of ill-timed decisions let Braeden slide in for the win. Dale was, shall we say, not in contention.

[Dale: Yeah, my skill at reading what opponents will choose in this simultaneous selection game was quite poor. But I did get to go over the falls a few times! I asked to play it as I honestly couldn’t remember it from way back when – and while it’s not great, it was interesting enough. Maybe it was because we played with the Spirits expansion, but I can say that I’ve played it recently and it did not suck.]

Columbus

Dale’s final game of LX Con was another one of those games that got me the reputation of being a fluffy gamer – the weird 400th anniversary of Columbus’ voyage homage entitled, appropriately, Columbus.

Historical accuracy is not the primary focus here – unless the Atlantic Ocean is full of reefs & rocky outcroppings, sailors can control the weather for malevolent purposes, and the worst thing that can happen to a ship is that it loses a single mast. Instead, the game is a delightful romp – a game that uses luck management (via the position you leave yourself in & the judicious use of provisions for re-rolls) and “take that” elements to fashion a fast-moving & truly “fluffy” game.

Despite my attempts to shipwreck both Dale & Braeden, Braeden managed to get back to the Old World first.

[Dale: This was the end of the con for me, a great time was had. I’m blessed to have friends like Mark to share special occasions with. I want to thank them for their hospitality and their graciousness at letting me win some of the games. I hope someday to return to their place, perhaps once again leading them in worship of the Holy Croissant as we use the Divine Butter on it.]

Sunday afternoon

Unmatched: Battle of Legends

After church & lunch (family favorite: the local joint Longhollow Pizza & Pub), the boys and I settled into a 2v2 Unmatched battle with a smattering of characters from across the Unmatched universe:

• Team Good Guys: Braeden took Shakespeare and I took Dr. Strange
• Team Bad Guys: Collin took Tomoe Gozen and Bigfoot

The fight took place in the Globe Theater – and the wily Japanese archer and the shambling cryptoid knocked the Supreme Sorcerer and the Bard into next week. 

Yep, Unmatched is the #13 game on my top 100 list.

Mountains Out of Molehills

As noted MUCH earlier, we ended the weekend with a game of Mountains Out of Molehills… and then I curled up with my new rulebooks and began studying the rules for the week ahead!

If you’ve had half as much fun watching the show as we’ve had doing it, well, then we’ve had twice as much fun doing the show as you’ve had watching it.

Birthday gifts

My birthday haul of games was ridiculous:

• Big Top
• Boonlake: Artifacts
• Imperium: Horizons
• Keep the Monsters Out!
• New Frontiers: Starry Rift
• Paper App Dungeon
• Port Royal: The Dice Game
• Tiny Epic Galaxies: Blast Off!
• Umatched: Sun’s Origin

And, post-birthday, a generous benefactor sent me a copy of my long-sought-after expansion for Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters – the Creepy Cellar. (Thank you, kind sir!)

Last but not least, my Kickstarter pledge for Crossbows & Catapults has shipped and should arrive on my doorstep later today. (I’m counting it as my birthday gift to me from me!)

LX Con was an unmitigated success… thanks to Dale for his friendship and thanks to all of you who actually managed to read this whole thing. 🙂

Quotes attributed to (in order):

• George Bernard Shaw
• Dr. Seuss
• Bum Phillips
• George Plimpton
• Dale Carnegie
• Casey McCall (character on the TV show “Sports Night”)