[update: And what are you playing over Thanksgiving holiday (24th-27th)?]
For the most part our news has been about what we’ve done on the site, what we’re going to do, and what games have been added. I’d like to bring some community togetherness to the news section. What’s our community up to? Who are we as gamers? Let’s share our interests, experiences, events we’ve gone to, thoughts, opinions, and more.
So… What’s everyone playing this weekend?
My brother and I had a game night last night and pulled out some Talisman and Blood Bowl: Team Manager. My brother played Talisman, but I got to try my hand at Blood Bowl! Around the table was me a power gamer, a newbie to games, an exercise junky that plays games when I invite him, and an avid gamer that plays games when he can. Each one had different expressions after I explained the rules, a couple had that expression of “I don’t know what the heck to do, and I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy this.” BUT, after 15 minutes of some brutal bashing, football steeling, injuries, cheating (cheating is mandatory in Blood Bowl!), everyone was into it and we had a blast!
Today my wife and little boy are out of town, so I’m going to tweak my green and red LOTR: The Card Game deck and try some questing! I’m addicted to that game, and am looking forward to using all the eagle cards for some epic battles. I’m totally geeked out about the tactics eagle card “Landroval.” If it’s in play, and a hero dies, you put the hero back in play with one damage token on it, and put Landroval back in your hand! That action can only be used once per game, but how epic is that!
Anyway, enough about my weekend. Please comment below with games your playing, what types of gamers you’re playing with, and any impressions, tips for others, etc. Whatever you want!
I need to check out Blood Bowl!
I introduced my Dad to Power Grid, he loved it so we played that a few times over. The weekend before my family showed Bananagrams to my girlfriend so we took that over to her parents house and grabbed at least a dozen rounds.
Oh, and @David? I’d give AH another shot. I wasn’t a huge fan the first time, but love it now!
I ended up playing way more Carcassonne than I had planned over Thanksgiving weekend. I brought it along to my inlaws’ (just in case). Forgotten how much fun it can be.
I’m also getting ready to start playing some play by forum games on RPG Geek. One is a Trail of Cthulhu game, the other Savage Worlds (in the Evernight setting).
This weekend I have my monthly DnD group coming over on Saturday and then probably play something new on Sunday. We’ll be at a hobby shop so we’ll have plenty of games to choose from, any suggestions? Looking forward to it!
Scott, I hope you get as much enjoyment out of Pitchcar as I do, it’s a fantastic game.
My Thanksgiving was mainly limited to Bananagrams and Ticket to Ride Pocket, with a few others interspersed.
I did get to play a few games this past weekend following an absolute drought for the prior 3 weeks. I played a 2-player Forbidden Island game with my sister and was able to grab victory from the jaws of defeat despite losing almost the entire board. Later that day, I was able to win a game of Small World Underground by a mere 2 points, and a friendly game of Cards Against Humanity (which is a depraved version of Apples to Apples) by a single card. I lost a 5-player game of Ascension with the base set and Return of the Fallen expansion with possibly my lowest score ever. We capped the evening off with a 3-player game of Defenders of the Realm, which we were unable to finish but had a heck of a time playing. I do believe that both of the other players, who were new to the game, are now DotR converts!
I didn’t get an opportunity to play as many games as I would like this weekend but as my birthday bookends the Thanksgiving week I did manage to pick up quite few titles. I am really excited that I finally got a copy of Pitch Car. Can’t wait to play it with my brother and his family.
Unfortunately I did not play Arkham Horror over the weekend, but I did get to play Mansions of Madness and had a rather disappointing 3 turn win against the investigators in scenario 5: Green Eyed Boy — they should’ve listened to the prologue and not gone off looting the mansion (hehe).
Our family played several games of “10 Days in Asia” for the first time and really liked it a lot — it’s sort of like geography Racko and is fast, fun and educational. Probably the family highlight was Flash Point which was quite tense and exciting. My wife needed a break after each game to recover. The theme really comes through strongly even after many plays.
We introduced Wits and Wagers to my relatives at a party and almost got Incognito out of the box (I’ve been waiting for years to try it, but once again, no luck).
We beat Pandemic/On The Brink by the skin of our teeth — thank goodness for the switch-role card and the Scientist/Researcher combo to make the last cure before running out of cards at the end of the turn.
And oh yeah… a group of us played a 12 hour bout of Twilight Imperium with all expansions until 6am in the morning – whew… but we had a blast!
@DavidPhillips AH can be disappointing the first time around. It was for me, although now I can’t get enough. I really enjoy playing the metagame (knowing where to go, what to do, how to do it) to maximize the chances of winning, then ratchet up the difficulty to make things extremely tense. Unfortunately, that isn’t something that comes with the first couple plays.
Unlike many games that become mechanical once you understand the gameplay, I find the theme still fresh and true in AH and the tension and horror more enjoyable since I’m literally using every tool at my disposal to stop the Ancient One from entering our dimension.
So I’d give it another try or two, read the FFG forums for tips, and find partners who’ll let you play and make mistakes even if they have to watch — that way you’ll learn the game’s intricacies. AH still may not be something you’ll love, but I’m sure you’ll see why people obsess over it so much.
Got to play a couple games over the holiday weekend. We played some Settlers, a game of Amazing Space Venture, Yatzhee and we even broke out my old copy of Clue: Master Detective. Then there was The Game of Life…. I can’t believe how much the game has changed in 20 years. Not for the better in my opinion, but more on that in my review 🙂 All in all though it was a really fun gaming weekend!
Ra, Wits & Wagers (I never win this game), Ingenious (partners won ), Bang! (actually helped sheriff survive as deputy), La Citta (didn’t finish), Ra (lost again), Shadows over Camelot (won as traitor), and maybe Battlestar Galactica.
Not really the week-end, but over the Thanksgiving holiday, I have been visiting family. I brought some games in the hopes that we might play. So far, we’ve played Survive: Escape from Atlantis, 4 times, Forbidden Island 3 or 4 times, Dominion twice, and even a round of Elder Sign. I’m enjoying intoducing the extended family to games other than Risk and Monopoly.
I played Arkham Horror, which I expected to love, and it turned out I did not. I feel let down right now 🙁
For Thanksgiving weekend, I am totally going to get some friends together to be the Co-op versions of Rune Age. Last weekend we finally beat Reiner’s LOTR game.
Won a copy of the Pathfinder RPG Beginner Box, so we busted that bad boy out and taught the kids the fine art of Dungeon Crawling.
Since my wife is a gamer and I game with her most, we’ve acquired and played Memoir ’44 like crazy.
The kids watched us play M44 and wanted to get in on it, but given it’s only a 2-player, I taught them and the wife how to play the Battletech table-top wargame. They love it so the wife and kids each have their own Lance or more of Mechs. I’m a FedComm, Jade Falcon and Word of Blake player. Wife is fielding tons of Assault Mechs as a Lyran player and the kids are each running their own small Mercenary Lances.
We also played Fortune and Glory for the first time with the basic rules. I’m hoping it gets better as there didn’t seem to be a whole lot to it. It seemed like the game, and the respective fates of the players, was too reliant on dice rolls. Roll too poorly and you might as well sit back and relax while the rest of the group goes on an artifact collecting spree. I found myself rooting for the leader, just so the game would end quicker. Not great for a game I spent so much money on.
I also taught the wife how to play Dune, but we held off playing until we could get a full compliment of 6 to make the game really shine.
Wasn’t much of a gamer weekend this last weekend, lots of work around the house in preparation for Thanksgiving, but I did get things prepped for our next DnD session in a week so that was fun. I will be playing some Texas Hold Em, Heroscape, Amazing Space Venture and Life this coming weekend, possibly some Settlers too. Looking forward to the next two weekends!
Lord of the Rings LCG is easily my favorite game right now. I tried to play a couple of other games recently and I honestly just felt, let down. Even getting whooped in LOTR LCG is fun. It happens so quickly that you can just start again if you do very poorly.
Played some Memoir ’44, Puerto Rico, Ticket to ride and Dominion…Introducing my wife to my collection one game at a time has been a very rewarding experience
Just got back from Games at Avondale (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Games-at-Avoncroft/122362401201830), where I did not get to play Agricola. Still, I did try King of Tokyo for the first time and won; Panic Station and won against the infective host; and showed people how to play Red Empire and Canal Mania. Two players were really keen to play the latter and it has been a while since I was able to get it out on the table.
Plus in a session or two, I have players keen to try Railways of the World. HURRAH!