Gameblog

Category: Session reports

  • Lautapeliopas Game Day #1

    Lautapeliopas Game Day #1

    Earlier this year I decided to host a small game day for the contributors of Lautapeliopas. I’ve been doing yoga, and the yoga school rents out the place. It’s a lovely place and good for small gatherings. For the first game day on 16.5.2026 we ended up with 21 people attending, which was a very…

  • Guàn Dàn or throwing eggs (or bombs)

    We played Guàn Dàn yesterday. John McLeod (of Pagat.com) was visiting Tampere recently and recommended this Chinese climbing card game to me. According to him, it’s very popular in China right now. It has a couple of outstanding features among climbing games. It’s a fixed partnership game like Tichu, and instead of counting points, it’s…

  • A good week

    This has been a good week of games. We started with afternoon games on Monday. One player dropped out, so the original plan of a four-player game of Imperial turned into a three-player game of Indonesia. I had not played Indonesia with three before, so I was curious to find out how it works. Turns…

  • 18GB with two and Indonesia

    This week has been good for board games. On Tuesday, I met a friend for a two-player game of 18GB: The Railways of Great Britain, and yesterday we played another game of Indonesia. Two-player 18GB is a fine 18xx experience for two. We played the E-W setup this time, cutting the board north of York.…

  • Return to Indonesia

    We had a great game session yesterday. We played Indonesia! The appearance of the new third edition made me realize Indonesia would be a great match for my current game group, so I quickly reacquired a copy. I got the first edition, from a friend who upgraded to the third. We had full five players.…

  • Return to Chicago & NorthWestern

    A friend suggested playing Wabash Cannonball, but when digging through my Winsome crate, I found Chicago & NorthWestern. This John Bohrer design from 2016 was released by Rio Grande in 2023, so it’s more widely available. It’s a funny game. This is a cube rails game where railroad companies spread out west from Chicago. Everybody…

  • 1825 with all Units

    1825 with all Units

    Setting up an 1825 game with all the Units has been an arduous task. I hoped to make it a yearly tradition in 2019, but then Covid-19 happened. After that, every attempt has failed somehow. Today, one of our players got stranded in Berlin, but as we had four players present, we made it. This…

  • Ropecon 2024

    Ropecon 2024

    Ropecon 2024 was a great experience for games. We played lots of good games, demoed Asian games and met nice people.

  • Railroads in the UK: 1829 Mainline

    Railroads in the UK: 1829 Mainline

    A decade after buying 1829 Mainline to support its creator, I played the game. It offers unique features in the 18xx genre, like an open tile selection from the start and trains that don’t rust. The game concluded with close final scores and a victory for me!

  • A Feast for Odin on BGA

    A Feast for Odin on BGA

    A Feast for Odin has been available on Board Game Arena for a while now. I’ve been mildly curious since it’s my favourite game. My interest has been diminished by the lack of The Norwegians expansion, which I’m very much used to, but the talk of playing solo games on BGA did sound fascinating. I’ve…