I managed to get a few games in over the holidays.
Azul. This game plays great! It has a surprising amount of depth for how simple it looks with lots of advantageous non-obvious moves. This is one I have to get.
Forbidden Desert. It's a pretty good co-op game and it went over pretty well.
Century: Spice Road. This game has been a big hit every time I brought it out. It's easy to get for gamers and non-gamers alike, and since it plays so fast, it's the perfect wind down game to end the night on. If you're not interested in getting Eastern Wonders as well, then I'd suggest the Golem edition instead because the art for that game is so much more fun.
Through the Desert. I played this with a group of mostly non-gamers, and I think that it was a bit too much for them. I love it though, and I'd love to try it out again. It really feels like a variant of Go.
Codenames: Duet. It didn't go over nearly as well as I expected, but that may just be the particular words that came out.
Game of Thrones Risk. We played this with the advanced rules with the cards and objectives. Honestly, I think that the basic game probably would have worked better as the game is just too damned slow. We only managed 18 player turns over the course of around 3 hours. It's also unbalanced since the game ends on 10 victory points and I managed to score two 4-point objectives on turn 4. Nobody could have known what objectives I had, and no one could have done anything to stop me. I wasn't even winning the game up until that point.
My gaming group are mostly relative newbies so I'm trying to come up with new games for them. Unfortunately, most of the games I'm interested in are 2-4 player but it looks like the group will have 5 people. So far, I'm trying to get Concordia and Kemet played, but I would love more suggestions.
Thinking of picking up Tokyo Highway and Azul. Quick impressions?
I've only played the original version of Azul, but it's a great game. It plays 2-4 players, and it works pretty differently at each player count. At 4 players, it's a pretty chill build-your-tableaux game, but it becomes a cutthroat stick your opponent with penalties game.
My year in review didn't see nearly as many plays as 2017.
Plays: 161
Games: 75
I had my introduction to Roll & Writes this year, and actually enjoyed what I've played more than what I thought I would. I'll be on the lookout for more interesting ones in the future. I also want to try more solo gaming this year, so I guess that's going to my gaming resolution.
How would Folklore work in a bit of a newbie group? Does it play pretty smoothly, or is it a bit on the fiddly side?
My top plays:
1) Concordia (15 plays)
2) Skull (9 plays)
3) Battle for Rokugan (6 plays)
4) Tzolkin (6 plays)
5) Lords of Hellas (6 plays)
6) Architects of the West Kingdom (6 plays)
7) The Grizzled (5 plays)
8) Azul (5 plays)
9) Coimbra (5 plays)
10) Great Western Trail (5 plays)
Total plays: 142
We had a lot of Concordia games. It was a great starter to our gaming nights. Battle for Rokugan didn't have legs and most of those plays were early in the year. Tzolkin saw a bit of a revival which was nice. Most of those GWT games were later once we got the expansion as well.
What was the problem with Rokugan? I've heard that it has balance issues with the objectives but it was otherwise pretty good.
Also, how well do you think that Concordia will work with a relatively new game group? I'm dying to get it to the table, but I'm worried that it might be too much for the players. Also, do you have any advice on teaching the game?
