And Now You Pay Interest On Your Loans

Has it really been a whole month since the last update? Well, yes is the answer to that question. New job commitments mean I can't make it down every week and the last time I came I forgot my camera.

The big exciting game from that week was Food Chain Magnate. With it's terrible artwork and poor quality components it could only be the latest offering from heavy Euro ledges Splotter. Being such a long game the guys decided to cut the game short at the half way mark as they probably wouldn't have finished the entire game before Cult closed.

I tried my hand at Concordia. I'd heard it was a kind of deeper Havana, with the same hand management but the ability to add extra cards to your hand. To me it felt like a longer, slower Havana. It's Havana all the way for me.

But this isn't a review site and no one cares about my opinions so onto this week. I was excited to play Codenames: Pictures but only to find that original Codenames had been put into the Codenames: Pictures box. So we just played normal Codenames followed by some Roll for the Galaxy.

The exciting new game from this week was Concept. Although not a new game, it's never been played at IpBoG before (I don't think). And it is, obviously, very exciting. There was also some Secret Hitler and One Night Ultimate Werewolf (or some other variant, I can't keep track).

Mike brought another Mike style economic game with paper money, Wealth of Nations. At one point I heard him say "And now you pay interest on your loans". Of course you do Mike, it's your game, they always involve paying interest on your loans.

Three Weeks

Okay, so it's been three weeks since my last post but in my defense I wasn't there for one of the, I forgot my camera for another and this week I just popped in to take some photos.

At the one I missed Dan told me he played Dragon's Gold, Libertalia and Arcane Academy, all of which he enjoyed. I think Sasha and Mike played Monikers. Other people played other things but I have no idea what.

Last week I can hardly remember what I played let alone anyone else. Roll for the Galaxy and American Rails if memory serves. American Rails is like Chicago Express but with a duller board. Very euro!

This week people were playing Mission: Red Planet, Rock Paper Wizard and Concordia. Rock Paper Wizard is a brand spanking new game straight form Essen set in the world of Dungeons and Dragons. Concordia, although now new is new to IpBoG. It's a game I've been wanting to play for a long time and although I didn't get to play it this week I will hopefully get to soon. I'm sure a bunch of other games got played but I only popped in to take a few photos so I have no idea what!

Space Dice

Good news! I've managed to write a blog post within a week of the last one. It's as if it was 2015 all over again.

When I arrived this week Matt was setting up Mysterium, a game that got huge buzz around a year ago but I never got a chance to play myself. I jumped on the table (not literally) and sat myself down (literally) for a game. I often hear Mysterium described as kind of like Dixit but with cards. Which is a strange comparison as Dixit has cards. I also heard it described as cooperative which also seems a bit strange as, although you're not playing against each other, there isn't a whole amount of cooperation. For the most part it's like there are a bunch of two player cooperative games going on simultaneously. Until maybe the end when you maybe have to work together but we lost before we got there so I'm not certain. I often hear this game described as hard and, although it
certainly wasn't easy, I don't know if I'd describe it as hard. Perhaps more of a luck-fest where people move onto the next stage for the most part, not through the help of the cards, but by a process of elimination. But as I said we lost and I can only assume not everyone loses all the time so maybe we're just not very good at the game.

Second for me was a new game I'd acquired, Roll for the Galaxy, the dice based incarnation of Race for the Galaxy. Although this game appeared at IpBoG a few weeks ago I didn't get a chance to play it so this was my first time. To be honest this version of the game didn't grab me like Race for the Galaxy did, but maybe it just needs a few more plays to get the hang of it. Or maybe I'm just bitter because Joe won.

By pure coincidence Mike was playing another dice based board game from Thomas Lehmann, the designer of Roll for the Galaxy, Favor of the Pharaoh. This one however is some sort of Yahtzee variant. I also saw people playing Secret Hitler, Paris Connection and a bunch of other stuff that I've subsequently forgotten.

All the Spies!

Another two weeks since the last blog but this time I have an excuse, I couldn't make it last week :(. So this update is probably going to be pretty short and sweet.

There were a couple of exciting new games this week. One was Codenames Pictures, the new version of Codenames that uses pictures instead of words. And proving that it can still hold it's own the original Codenames was being played on another table at the same time.

Alex had brought along My Village, another title in the Village line of games. But this one has dice! That's all I really know about it. Mathew also brought along Dragon's Gold which, although not a new game, made it's IpBoG debut.

I played Mai-Star. Justine won with something like 30 points and most people scoring negative points. Afterwards I played Gold West. I came last. I never seem to do well at that game. A bunch of other games were also played including Pandemic, Splendor and a bunch that I didn't see.

Cthulhu, My Dear Watson

Another two weeks of exciting board gaming compressed into a single blog post. Your screen is literally bursting at the seams with excitement. You might want to duck. Or at least get a towel.

The first week first. Danny brought Monikers. It's a kind of party game where, if I remember correctly (I didn't play it), you have to act out some sort of character and everyone has to guess who you are. But there's a twist! In the second round you are only allowed to say a single word. But there's another twist! In the third round you're not allowed to say any words, you have to act it out. You have the same set of people in each round to stop things becoming insanely hard. I didn't play it though, this is just what I remember form the Shut Up and Sit Down review from a year or two ago.

I played Bohnanza. It actually made it's IpBoG debut which is pretty crazy considering what a good game it is. I'm blaming it on the terrible, terrible artwork. If any game ever needs a reskin it's this one.

Another tabled played Dead of Winter, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong made a welcome return and Captain Sonar was also played. It's always played at the moment.

The second week I played a few games of Skull and Roses followed by a game of A Study in Emerald, a game set in a Lovecraftian Sherlock Holmes universe. Although I'd played the game once before that was the first edition, this was the second edition. More streamlined and brand new artwork. It's a strange mix between social deduction, deck building and area control.

Lords of War made it's debut. It's a game I'm not familiar with. It kind of looked like Summoner Wars but I heard it played more like chess. Although maybe someone not familiar with Summoner Wars might think it was a bit like chess. I have no idea.

Thief's Market also made it's first appearance. Dominion was played with the Prosperity expansion. People also played 7 Wonders, Biblios, Welcome to the Dungeon, Choson and, of course, captain Sonar.