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Landmark Trust - new games!
Oct. 12th, 2014 04:24 pmIn the last week, I have played 30 different board games, 14 of which were entirely new to me, which I think is pretty good going for a week's holiday!
Rokoko:
Worker placement, which is always my favourite style of game, with enough complexity to require brain use, and a fun theme of creating outfits for courtiers to show off at parties. I unexpectedly won, but would have enjoyed it anyway.
Alhambra:
I'd seem this on Tabletop but never played it. A different style of competitive jigsaw from Carcassonne, which each player building their own little town and scoring points for having the most of each colour of building. The planning of tile placement and management of what could legally be placed where made it quite tricky and I'd like to play again in order to get the hang of it better, but it's a good game, and also quite short, which can sometimes be useful.
Machine of Death:
Very, very silly and very free form - not really enough structure for me, but the co-operative aspect did appeal to me, and we came up with some very strange scenarios. At one point, Hitler was suspended in a giant fish tank, dressed as a mermaid in a parade, and we set his pants on fire with a huge laser...
Matchmaker:
Austen-tastic! Good game play, combined with really entertaining insider knowledge, made for an entertaining half hour. I gave up points to save Jane Bennett from having to marry Mr Collins, but it was worth it!
Pillars of the Earth:
Another worker placement game, but the complexity outweighed the fun a bit on this one. I enjoyed it, but it took a bit too much work with not quite enough reward for me to be particularly keen to play again.
Wasabi:
Fun theme of constructing sushi recipes, but a bit stressful, waiting to see if the other players would mess up the tile placement on the board before I got the chance to complete my recipes.
Louis XIV:
A game of influencing courtiers to obtain points, pieces and money. When it was being explained to me, it sounded like the kind of game I wouldn't like or be any good at, but I approached it with an open mind and actually really enjoyed it. I definitely got better at it as I went along, so would be happy to play again to consolidate my learnings and try to do better next time.
Filipino Fruit Market:
Basically whist with a twist. Trick based card game, but with the opportunity to place markers on fruit stalls instead of playing a card, so as to gain points by having the most markers on each stall, as well as the points for winning tricks. Interesting additional aspect to a fairly basic game.
Dancing Dragons:
Fun to a certain extent - you had to work with your partner to obtain a full set of dragon cards and then signal that fact so they could declare what you had. It was a bit stressful, having to grab cards, and try to figure out if they actually went together or not, and it was really hard to get a full set before the other teams.
Snorta:
Required remembering what type of animal each player was assigned, then making the correct animal noise if they turned over the same type of card as you. Very silly, but also very difficult!
Creationary:
Basically Pictionary but with Lego. It turned out to be a lot more fun and a lot easier than I had expected.
Ghost Stories:
A co-operative game, where the players try and stop a Japanese village from being over-run by hostile ghosts. It had its moments, but proved very difficult to beat.
Seasons:
I had seen others playing this before, but not played it myself. It rewards familiarity with the cards, but I managed to just about hold my own, and really enjoyed it. I'd like to play again, now I know how it all works.
Gormenghast:
Beautifully made, and appropriately weird and arbitrary, given the source material. It seemed fairly luck-based and as if there wasn't really much too it, but it was fun, and didn't take too long.
Rokoko:
Worker placement, which is always my favourite style of game, with enough complexity to require brain use, and a fun theme of creating outfits for courtiers to show off at parties. I unexpectedly won, but would have enjoyed it anyway.
Alhambra:
I'd seem this on Tabletop but never played it. A different style of competitive jigsaw from Carcassonne, which each player building their own little town and scoring points for having the most of each colour of building. The planning of tile placement and management of what could legally be placed where made it quite tricky and I'd like to play again in order to get the hang of it better, but it's a good game, and also quite short, which can sometimes be useful.
Machine of Death:
Very, very silly and very free form - not really enough structure for me, but the co-operative aspect did appeal to me, and we came up with some very strange scenarios. At one point, Hitler was suspended in a giant fish tank, dressed as a mermaid in a parade, and we set his pants on fire with a huge laser...
Matchmaker:
Austen-tastic! Good game play, combined with really entertaining insider knowledge, made for an entertaining half hour. I gave up points to save Jane Bennett from having to marry Mr Collins, but it was worth it!
Pillars of the Earth:
Another worker placement game, but the complexity outweighed the fun a bit on this one. I enjoyed it, but it took a bit too much work with not quite enough reward for me to be particularly keen to play again.
Wasabi:
Fun theme of constructing sushi recipes, but a bit stressful, waiting to see if the other players would mess up the tile placement on the board before I got the chance to complete my recipes.
Louis XIV:
A game of influencing courtiers to obtain points, pieces and money. When it was being explained to me, it sounded like the kind of game I wouldn't like or be any good at, but I approached it with an open mind and actually really enjoyed it. I definitely got better at it as I went along, so would be happy to play again to consolidate my learnings and try to do better next time.
Filipino Fruit Market:
Basically whist with a twist. Trick based card game, but with the opportunity to place markers on fruit stalls instead of playing a card, so as to gain points by having the most markers on each stall, as well as the points for winning tricks. Interesting additional aspect to a fairly basic game.
Dancing Dragons:
Fun to a certain extent - you had to work with your partner to obtain a full set of dragon cards and then signal that fact so they could declare what you had. It was a bit stressful, having to grab cards, and try to figure out if they actually went together or not, and it was really hard to get a full set before the other teams.
Snorta:
Required remembering what type of animal each player was assigned, then making the correct animal noise if they turned over the same type of card as you. Very silly, but also very difficult!
Creationary:
Basically Pictionary but with Lego. It turned out to be a lot more fun and a lot easier than I had expected.
Ghost Stories:
A co-operative game, where the players try and stop a Japanese village from being over-run by hostile ghosts. It had its moments, but proved very difficult to beat.
Seasons:
I had seen others playing this before, but not played it myself. It rewards familiarity with the cards, but I managed to just about hold my own, and really enjoyed it. I'd like to play again, now I know how it all works.
Gormenghast:
Beautifully made, and appropriately weird and arbitrary, given the source material. It seemed fairly luck-based and as if there wasn't really much too it, but it was fun, and didn't take too long.
