-
Phoenicia and Fairy Tale
Another game of Phoenicia, this time with five players and just one newbie. It was a roaring success: most people got it and enjoyed it. It only took us 70 minutes, too, and that with no particular rushing and pushing. It was a good, close match. I was almost there, fighting for the victory with…
-
New blogs
There’s a new Age of Steam blog, run by Alban Viard and Michael Webb. The initial entries are mostly about the designs of their expansions, which is always interesting. There’s an RSS feed, too. I’ve started a new blog myself: Mikko reads has short book reviews in English.
-
Leonardo da Vinci and Phoenicia
I met the boys at the university for games. First up was my second go at Leonardo da Vinci. This one solified my opinion and dropped my rating to six. I can see it’s a good game and I would recommend it to people who like resource optimization games, but I don’t like it myself.…
-
Small session: Portobello Market, Der Elefant, Yspahan
I met some guys at the university for games. We started off with Portobello Market, now with full set of four players. It’s clearly better with four than with two, that’s for sure. The one thing that defines the game is that it’s short. There just isn’t that much time, especially if you want to…
-
Madness, madness!
Damn you, Bézier Games!
-
Caylus Magna Carta
Caylus Magna Carta reviewed in Finnish. Caylus Magna Carta is the card game version of Caylus, the big hit from 2005. Caylus is a good game, but for some reasons it just didn’t work for me that well. One thing is definitely the length: 30 minutes per player is just too long. Magna Carta definitely…
-
First games of Portobello Market
I’ve now played Portobello Market twice, both two-player games with Johanna. She likes it, and so do I, to some extent. It’s a pretty game, but what do you expect from Michael Menzel? The man knows his trade. The mechanics work as well — I suppose you can expect that from a Hippodice winner. The…
-
Neuland and Attika
Ah, Neuland! The land of strange, yet soothing line art and wide open spaces ready to be filled with pointy little buildings, free for all to use! How have I longed to wander through your fields, moving resources around! So, I met Olli H. for some games, and got him to play Neuland. He had…
-
Yspahan
Yspahan reviewed in Finnish. Yspahan is a game of camels and trading from Ystari Games. The initial buzz over this one wasn’t that big, and I would’ve missed the game altogether based on that. However, Westpark Gamers did a brilliant Windows version of the game (see Yspahan for Windows website), which caused a lot more…
-
Hot games for Q2/2007
After a very slow quarter, I’m back with a bit more action. Phoenicia rules the list, after five online games. It’s good, and I’ll buy it as soon as it appears in Finland. Caylus Magna Carta — forget the board game, the card game has all the Caylus you’ll need and it’s packed in a…