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Pub session: Tower of Babel, Aqua Romana, Celtica, Elefant
I’ve been on vacation this week, and took the opportunity to have a small game session in a local pub. It was a decent environment for games, though there was exactly two tables on the non-smoking side that were lit well enough. Not an ideal environment, and if possible, I’ll still prefer places where you…
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Games with Olli: Gipf, Zèrtz, Crystal Code, Celtica
Olli made a quick visit yesterday for some games. We started with Gipf. Now, played face-to-face with a real board and the correct rules, I think the game’s actually pretty good. My play-by-email experiences didn’t do the game justice, I suppose. Now it was definitely fun. I think I’ll be playing more of this, especially…
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Helcon 2006
Helcon 2006 was a blast, and the most successful event of the Board Game Society history with almost 100 participants. I was there for the Saturday (limitation caused by being a parent; unfortunate for the gaming, but rewarding in other ways). I didn’t play that many games, but as you will see, sometimes (well, often)…
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Die Säulen der Erde first thoughts
Played a game of Die Säulen der Erde with Johanna yesterday, while the baby was sleeping. It was reasonably enjoyable. Nothing special — I’ve rated the game as 8 right now. As many of you have heard, there’s more than a passing resemblance to Caylus, but I think the comparison doesn’t hold too far. At…
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Da Vinci’s Challenge
I played Da Vinci’s Challenge with Johanna yesterday. She hated it, and I didn’t like it much better. Basically it’s a simple abstract game, where pieces are laid on a board with a Flower of Life pattern. It’s nice, except the game is somewhat boring, counting points is tedious as you must check carefully to…
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Quick touch with Pentago
I played Pentago, the Finnish game of the year, yesterday with Johanna. My darling wife was amazed when she heard that was the winner. She may not be a hardcore gamer, but she isn’t clueless either! The game sucks, simply put. It’s your typical naughts-and-crosses on six by six board; one board quadrant is rotated…
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Celtica
I got a review copy of Celtica, the much-dismissed game from Kramer and Kiesling. I don’t get the really bad ratings; the game has an average of 5.2 now, I’d expect something above 6 (like the 6.4 for That’s Life! — I think the games are on pretty equal level). We played with Johanna, and…
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Age of Steam in Pennsylvania
Yesterday I went to the Board game club with a mission: I want to play Age of Steam! It took some trying, but I got a group of four together to play 1830’s Pennsylvania. It immediately leaped to the top of the ranking: it’s one of my favourite AoS maps. The trick of the map…
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Board game club: Terra Nova, Viva Topo!
Board game club was a big hit yesterday, with almost a record crowd of over 20 gamers. I made a quick visit and had time for just a few games. I’ve wanted to play Terra Nova to get it off my system. Now I tried the game with four players and found out my expectations…