The one with the sound of tumbleweed

Nothing is known about the mysterious night of 25^th February 2015. It may even be that no games were played at all, either that or everyone was stuck in a twelve day Agricola marathon. In any case, we at least have the Q&A session to keep us in touch with the goings-on at IBG!

IBG Q&A
On our Boardgamegeek Guild page James has initiated an open Q&A session with a new question each week. Feel free to play along at home, and even if you are not a regular IBG attendee you are more than welcome to join in with your own answers!

Last weeks question: “In all the games you've played, what is your favourite component...? Or to put this in another way... what part of a game do you secretly fondle under the table when no-one is looking... (anyone answering The King piece from El Grande, will be banned!”

Tonio: "I do like the pieces in Forbidden Desert, not the ship but the little tick markers for the cards. All the pieces in Tobago make me want to stroke them."
 
Dan: "That would be the dndeeples for Waterdeep. They were a totally extravagant purchase but well worth it, a cute little horde of mini adventurers marching to their doom. Otherwise, the completely redundant Mount Skullzfire. I mostly prefer good artwork over extraneous bits though. "
 
James: "the easy answers would be the plastic chips from Splendor, the metal coins in Libertalia or The Speicherstadt. The coins especially make a satisfying metallic 'chink' sound when dropped But I think my favourite components in a game are the little boxes you get to stash your jewels d10-7 in for Diamant. A genius touch by the designers. Simple, but so effective."
 
John B: "For me it's either the space ships in Starfarers of Catan or the dice substitute in Inkognito"
 
Paul A: "Favourite component? Looks across a bookshelf full of grey and brown. I've always admire the volcano from The Downfall of Pompeii as a completely necessary but lovely bit of bling."
 
Paul D: "Hmmmm - favourite component to fondle? I like the heavy wooden rectangles from Founding Fathers - in the same way as the heavy discs from Splendor. I like the look of the board in Airlines Rurope with all the plastic planes flying over it. "

This weeks question:  “I'm sure we all have our superstitions and habits... so I'm wondering from a gaming perspective what people like to do for the gods to smile on them while they play... a favourite colour perhaps... ?”

The one that's a bit like Seinfeld

Apparently a very quiet night way back on 18^th Feb, or just not a particularly memorable one! So this weeks post may appear to be a blog where nothing much seems to happen. Kudos to Noel though, who has managed to grace us with some fairly terse recollections of some of the evenings games.

Thanks to Noel for the following reports:

Scoville

AP inducing, nicely produced brain burner. Probably plays better 2/3 player. Soren won 2nd John B, 3rd Noel, 4th Jon
 

 

Medieval Academy

Great 45 min card drafting game won by John B, 2nd Soren, 3rd Noel & Jon

Also seen played tonight were… Asteroyds, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Mini Make’n’Break, Spyfall, amongst others.

  

IBG Q&A
On our Boardgamegeek Guild page James has initiated an open Q&A session with a new question each week. Feel free to play along at home, and even if you are not a regular IBG attendee you are more than welcome to join in with your own answers!

Last weeks question was: “What do you look for in a game that makes you really keen to play it... and on the flip side... what puts you off before you've even seen the game in action... ?”

James: "For me, I really like worker placement and negotiation games... I'll be keen to play anything with those mechanics. And also novel innovative themes... eg Waggle Dance, Arctic Scavengers, Tragedy Looper, Battle at Kemble's Cascade, Mysterium etc... even if the game sucks, I'd be interested to see how it plays. Alternatively things that make me look the other way include themes involving orcs/goblins... playtime over 100 minutes... medieval themes that we've seen 1000 times before, dry 'euro' mechanics... basically anything game that Gareth brings along (sorry Gareth ) "
 
Paul A: "Plus points: designed by Phil Eklund, asymmetrical roles, a "real" economic system, different or odd themes. Negative points: zombies. Boilerplate descriptions (e.g. "a challenging game of strategy and tactics with different paths to victory that requires planning in advance as well as skillful use of short-term opportunities"). "
 
Tom 1: "Plus points: Designed by Reiner Knizia; area control; card drafting; simple rule-set; player interaction. Negative points; two hours plus game time; lots of downtime between turns"
 
Paul D: "Things I look for
A theme that I find interesting (difficult to define, as I could go for many things, but generally I like realistic themes - even if they're historical - there's something about what we're playing being at least somewhat possible). I like party games and dexterity games too. An original idea is good as long as it the game isn't relying purely on originality and it has a good game in there too. Generally I prefer games that last up to 90 minutes, but I could easily enjoy a really long one if I've got the time and energy (I haven't Twilight Struggled for a long time and I'd love to find the time to try that again). I like randomness in games, as long as it is managed & balanced randomness. Things I steer clear of
There are a few themes that I shy away from, including fantasy, most war-games (although I have enjoyed some simple ones such as battle line or even Memoir 44) and a good proportion of science fiction (although I have found myself enjoying games within each of those genres). Most Wednesday evenings, I'd prefer to play 2-4 shorter games than one 3+ hour beast. Games that require too much reading of cards as you go along are not my favourite - the ones where different cards come out every turn and they're all different and they've all got different text one which needs to be quickly digested - must be my dyslexia. "
 
Dan: "No Ta: tired, derivative retreads of another game "but with a twist!" Anything with Zombies (Dead of Winter was my last tilt at giving a Z-themed game a chance, but it was a bit rubbish really). Anything where you have to impress some miserable noble f***wit from an indeterminate medieval kingdom by putting rubble into piles/trading cloth/harvesting grain. Pointless hobsons choice mechanics (hmmm, do I gain a victory point or make everybody else lose a victory point? Let me fetch my pipe and slippers and ponder on this for a few minutes) Speaking of which, the biggest no-no is paint-drying grass-growing shoe-staring downtime; I don't think this is so much to do with the players as much as a game being so terribly dull and lacking in meaningful interaction that there is no reason to pay attention during turns. Boy, I'm getting a bit ranty, better stop here! Yes Please: Anything a bit left field, whether in theme or design intent (although not so much where an unusual theme is pasted on to a dry puzzle). Asymmetrical gameplay, card combos, manageable randomness, tactical gambles with long-term strategic payoff. Anything where you get to punch the face of some miserable noble f***wit from an indeterminate medieval kingdom. I really get a kick out of family friendly and party games too, If we're laughing and having a good time then who cares about what the actual game itself was like? "
 
Tonio: "Like: Games with other people who don't pick on me too much. Shorter games that make defeat quick and easy rather than a long, drawn out affair where I know I have lost but I still have to sit tight for another hour while my opponent ensures that he beats me by another 27 points. Don't like: AP (in others, it's okay if I take ages) and playing against people who are better than me to a supernatural degree. I'll generally give most games a go. I don't mind not winning, thankfully! That's what I think this week. Ask me again and I will possibly contradict myself. "

This weeks question: “In all the games you've played, what is your favourite component...? Or to put this in another way... what part of a game do you secretly fondle under the table when no-one is looking... (anyone answering The King piece from El Grande, will be banned!”

The one where they all get amnesia for roughly seven weeks

Stalwart readers may have noticed that it’s all gone a bit quiet on the blog front for the past few weeks. Fear not! We are back online again and temporary blogmaster Dan will fill you in as much as possible on the missing weeks.

IBG Q&A

As a new feature, on our Boardgamegeek Guild page James has initiated an open Q&A session with a new question each week. Feel free to play along at home, and even if you are not a regular IBG attendee you are more than welcome to join in with your own answers!

The first question up is: “What do you look for in a game that makes you really keen to play it... and on the flip side... what puts you off before you've even seen the game in action... ?”

Answers will be posted on next weeks blog with a new question! As for game reports for 4^th February, please read on…

Thanks to Noel for the following reports:

Medieval Academy

The potential of a Mayday Mayday or Nanuk closer disappeared with Phil, Arturo and Chris making for home although with Arturo's maverick quadruple bluffing technique perhaps that was for the best. As it was Jon, Dan, James and Noel narrowed the choices down to Council of Verona, Red7 and Medieval Academy. A fine selection of potential offerings but with sound endorsements from Jon and Dan, Medieval Academy it was to finish the night (well apart from Le Havre which may well still be continuing...)

Noel concentrated his efforts on twice scoring the full 12 points for service to the King and staying out of too much trouble on the charity front. He also ignored the Dragon slaying business as far too much hassle and passed these cards alternatively off to Dan and James who battled for the 17 points on offer, Jon wisely choosing to stay out of it and keep his 4 points for 3rd place. The jousting wins alternated between James and Jon with Noel and Dan picking up some scraps and Dan pulling a late surge on the academic front to just miss several -3 point penalties. James finally won the dragon battle but it was Noel and Jon who were contenders for the win, with Jon's final decision to try to pull ahead on the princess pleasing gaining him the service bonus but meaning he lost the 5 charity points (enough of that at work I suppose!).
Noel 33, Jon 28, James 25, Dan 24

Artificium
Tonio left and Phil wandered in, looked longingly at the Le Havre table and settled in for Ora-et-Labora-lite with Artificium which requires you to chain your hand of cards to convert wheat to bread to ham to diamonds to banquets or knights or something. At the top of the converting pyramid of points were two peaks - either 8 points and a bonus that gained you more cards to potentially chain in that turn or 8 points and a bonus that sent another player back 4 points. The extra cards turned out to be a much better point gaining bohnanza - the other felt like the design meeting was running late and they had to shoot off for lunch so decided a 4 point deduction would be fine.
Gameplay was pretty smooth until 1 player gained their 5 card bonus (keeping 2) at which point it ground to a halt as that player decided how best to chain in their extra cards while the others looked on in keen anticipation (or checked their phones). Noel was able to get the 5 card bonus twice, Phil once and James not at all which was the critical factor in Noel's win. Nicely produced, short, but mostly pretty obvious and cant see this hanging around in James conveyor belt collection for much longer, especially when apparently it was the last copy in existence at Essen, signed by Mr Asmodee himself...get it while its hot, roll up roll up, you know it makes sense, bargain init..
Noel 74, Phil 65, James 57

La Isla

Noel had read some favourable reviews on La Isla as a gaming family's game he was keen to give it a go with James bringing along a copy hot from the shelves of a virtual warehouse.de. Tonio joined them while Jon decided to eschew a Stefan Feld point salad for a more thematic euro on the next table.
The rules were pretty simple, take 3 cards, play 1 for a lasting special ability, 1 to take a cube and 1 to move the stock of one of the animals that formed the set collection mechanic. Play two cubes to place an explorimeeple (pimped) and collect points if your explorimeeples surround an animal tile which are worth points in game and end game with a set collection bonus.
Working out which way round to play your 3 cards was a nice exercise in setting up future moves and stacking abilities but player interaction, in this game at least, was very limited. There were several opportunities to block other players but generally you had to be fortunate to be able to do so and would mess up your own developing plans.
Nothing particularly eventful happened in the game, points were collected throughout and Noel managed to most efficiently surround his animal tiles and pick up the set collection bonus at the end to win. A bit too fiddly with not enough interaction for couples/gaming family but an ok 45 min euro for games night! 
Noel 73, Tonio 53, James 44