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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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BookMooch
This is off-topic, but interesting enough. Reading is one of my passions outside board games. My tastes can be a bit difficult: many of the books I’d like to read are not translated (or are translated with quite a delay) and the availability of English books in libraries is pretty weak here. Buying all the…
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Finnish Players’ Picks 2006
Finnish Players’ Picks have been chosen for 2006! The winner is Caylus. Nice surprise, I’d say. I wonder how much the fast release of the Finnish edition helped… A GeekList of top 25 games is once again available, as are the complete results.
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Terra Nova
Review of Terra Nova in Finnish. Terra Nova is a fairly abstract game of fence-building. Players try to move their men on the board and fence off as much land for themselves as possible. If the land features just one landscape, it’s even better. The game reminds me a lot of Amazonas, but there are…
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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…
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Einfach Genial with Johanna
Johanna wanted to play something, so I offered Einfach Genial. I know she doesn’t like abstracts, but instead prefers more imaginative, theme-rich games, but I thought this could work… and it did! It’s not one of her favourites, but she enjoyed it. Of course, Einfach Genial is far from the world of serious high-skill abstracts,…
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Finnish Game of the Year awards
Finnish Game of the Year awards for 2006 are out now, and what a huge disappointment they are! Best children’s game is Build-a-Burger (I would’ve given the award to Das kleine Gespenst, but I don’t know anything about Build-a-Burger). Best family game is Quackle, which seems to be a clone of Snorta!, or at least…
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New Age of Steam maps
Like I need more temptations: Bézier Games has published two new Age of Steam maps: London and Sun. Both are designed by JC Lawrence, one of the more interesting people in the web board game scene. The maps seem fabulous, both offering tough, challenging games. Looks like there might an Essen courier available to avoid…
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Hacienda
Another review up: Hacienda. Hacienda is a solo work from Wolfgang Kramer, published by Hans im Glück. That’s quite a combo: one of the esteemed professional designers and one of the most appreciated publishers known for quality games. This definitely sets up the expectations. While Hacienda isn’t a particularly great game, it’s good. What Kramer…