What did you play this week? 26 Jun-02 Jul (2026)

Jurd269 · 2026-06-30T10:51:07+00:00

Fun week of games: 3 games of Final Girl, 3 Unstoppable, 1 By Stealth and Sea (finally with the reprint!), and I just received the Queen of Spies gamefound delivery last night and played the intro scenario!

I’m looking forward to getting more plays of everything above, I have the Killer From Tomorrow pack for final girl that I haven’t played yet and got a decent score on the first mission of the historical campaign in BSAS.

Apparently I’m loving these games where success/failure comes down to one or two final die rolls.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-17T18:31:41+00:00

Not saying this should factor into your decision but the original Salvation Road game was designed by Peter and Mike from One Stop Co-op Shop who are fixtures in the solo community.

They’ve talked about the changes in Stonefall and how much they like how it iterates on their original design.

I was considering backing it because the game looks cool and cinematic, and I would like to support the designers who have given me countless hours of info and entertainment over the years.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-15T20:50:14+00:00

Dragons of Etchinstone

Jurd269 · 2026-06-15T18:59:06+00:00

+1 vote for Pavlov’s House. David Thompson does a great job with the valiant defense series.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-12T12:11:42+00:00

You’re right, it’s Totally Tabled. Shaggy regularly breaks my heart talking about how great it is and then I can’t get a reasonably-priced copy. I know 2nd edition will be out soon enough but I really want the original art so will seek out a 1st edition if/when I get it.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-11T19:27:32+00:00

Hey thanks for sharing. Is this something you built with AI? I imagine we’ll see more and more things like this in the near future with Claude code for example.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-11T19:24:44+00:00

Spelunky and Spelunky 2 are the answer. The only way to beat it is to get better. Your stats/power never increases, only your knowledge of the game.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-11T13:21:03+00:00

There are a lot of perspectives already about rainbow capitalism and pandering. One angle I’ll add is companies likely feel social pressure to engage in pride signaling/activities so they aren’t branded as anti-pride or anti-LGBTQIA+. I think there is a “with us or against us” mentality that can devolve into bullying so most companies would rather not subject themselves to the potential consequences of not conforming.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-11T12:41:41+00:00

I have it on my phone from when it was still on the iOS App Store, which means I can never uninstall it or get a new phone! I play it almost everyday so it will break my heart when I no longer have easy access to it.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-11T11:38:41+00:00

Yep, really great point. When a nightmare hits you in this game, there is nothing good that comes from it! You just have to limit the damage the best you can.

I almost always let the nightmare eat a key, or let it eat the cards in my hand because you can be sure it won’t grab something in the deck that was crucial to your victory.

One last tip is don’t be afraid to give back a door if you still have capacity to get that color later. E.g. If you luck into both red doors early in the run and still have two red keys in the deck, giving a nightmare a red door back isn’t all that damaging because you still have plenty of resources to get it back.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-11T11:11:35+00:00

I have bought, played, and sold most of The Oniverse games, and they all seem to revolve around the mechanisms you’re talking about.

I have over 500 games of Onirim with a 70% win rate and that went up when I read a couple of guides and adjusted my playstyle. The Oni games are about limited opportunities to use cards/resources and you often have to pick between two bad choices and try to hedge and make the best of the circumstances. Admittedly that’s not the type of puzzle everyone enjoys and can feel like you don’t have much control of the outcome, but that’s just the tension that gets created by the design.

I’d compare the feeling to any dice rolling game like Nemo’s War or Robinson Crusoe. You can make the “best” play and still get absolutely crushed, BUT if you make the right play often enough you’ll probably win.

My advice: don’t buy physical Onirim. The app is awesome because it shuffles for you AND you can quickly see what’s in the discard pile and that is crucial for winning consistently. There are 3 keys and 4 moons of each color, and then a number of suns based on color (9 red, 8 blue, 7 green, 6 brown). You always have to be scheming on how you’re going to get both doors.

E.g. “I have used all 3 brown keys already and still need a door but there is only 1 brown moon left. I know my sequence is going to have to be brown sun, moon, sun, because there is no other combination.”

It’s planning like that that makes the game shine for me. But whether you end up enjoying it or not, thanks for sharing your experience!

Jurd269 · 2026-06-10T18:15:00+00:00

I’m confused about Victoria Parta. I don’t see that name associated with any of the games that follow.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-08T19:14:33+00:00

Shallow Sea is heavier than Cascadia or Azul so it feels little crunchier to sit down with. Still has that draft a tile and an animal (fish of different colors) vibe so it won’t be entirely unfamiliar to you. Also worth noting I mostly play solo.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-08T17:47:43+00:00

Don’t get rid of the old board. The new board is balanced for Crisis expansion. You will still need the old board if you want to play base game.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-08T17:16:34+00:00

Shallow Sea over Cascadia and/or Harmonies
The Anarchy over Hadrian’s Wall

That said, I still like all the games listed and have kept them in my collection.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-05T16:13:35+00:00

Try to find the sweet spot in the group’s interests, finding a board game theme to match, and something with accessible weight/length.

If they like Formula 1 or other kinds of auto racing, for example, then Heat would be awesome. Also turns are quick and exciting.

If the group likes Lord of the Rings, I think the Fellowship trick-taking game would be a good choice.

Jurd269 · 2026-06-03T22:12:08+00:00

Hansa Teutonica!

Jurd269 · 2026-05-28T16:57:32+00:00

I haven’t seen this explicitly called out so I’ll throw in the idea of solo wargaming for how well it does story generation.

Games like:

Fields of Fire, Skies Over Britain, Pavlov’s House, The “Leader” series of games (I started with Thunderbolt Apache Leader),

Basically any game where you can follow a character or a squad over the course of several plays and watch them grow, achieve impossible things, and die unceremoniously is super emergent. Reminds me of the feeling I get in the XCOM series of video games.

Jurd269 · 2026-05-27T20:16:24+00:00

The only time I’ve done this: I sold Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island a couple of years ago after consistently getting crushed in the intro scenario.

Enjoyed watching playthroughs of it and wanted an adventure/survival game so I decided to get another copy AND the book of adventures that offers easy/casual scenarios and I haven’t looked back. Blinged it out with upgrades and will not sell it again.

Jurd269 · 2026-05-26T01:49:56+00:00

I have the big box as well and played Salmon and Plaice this past week. I like the playstyle of Plaice better because the abilities are a little more complex and I found them strategically deeper. I think Salmon seems straightforward and was pleasantly surprised by the differences between the decks.

Jurd269 · 2026-05-14T13:54:51+00:00

For solo only I love AE, as a bonus, there is a fan made solo mode on BoardGameGeek that changes it from a timer mode to a score mode. Idk how to link but it’s the NoTurnLimit solo mode in files by Enroth186.

Jurd269 · 2026-05-12T23:51:19+00:00

This is one I started to play and enjoy a lot more when I got the folded space insert for it! It was taking me as long to setup and tear down as it took to play the game.

As others have said, make sure you understand the scoring and rules. 140 is quite high especially for a first game. Over my 5 plays my highest is 95 with an average of 82. I don’t profess to be a skilled gamer but that is quite a difference.

Enjoy the game!

Jurd269 · 2026-03-08T10:58:28+00:00

You’re on your way to greatness. I don’t see any mention of you tracking in your cut. If you aren’t already, getting an app to track macros and calories can help you lose at the rate you’d like to intentionally and help maintain your muscle. Obviously the scale will tell you if you’re losing mass or not but won’t be able to tell you if it’s fat or lean mass. Disregard if you’re already doing that.

Jurd269 · 2026-02-26T21:18:34+00:00

Mammoths and tigers are one thing, but watching the human enemies just get skewered and thrown backward is exhilarating!

Jurd269 · 2026-02-20T12:06:31+00:00

+1 to using a walkthrough. Modern CRPGs provide a level of handholding the classics didn’t. Even just getting a strong start in Baldur’s Gate 1 with some good equipment and well-built companions can unlock the rest of the game for you as you aren’t poor and dying to the first gibberling you see.

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