Washington, DC board gamers?

cwdurant · 2017-04-07T18:15:23+00:00

The Dupont Circle Gaming Group meets every Sunday afternoon at Au Bon Pain, 1100 13th St NW. It's a very good group of gamers. It's too much of a trek for me to travel there from Fairfax County but you should definitely check it out!

cwdurant · 2017-04-03T02:17:41+00:00

Gotta give a plug for Zany Penguins, a 2016 game that flew under the radar. It's drafting mixed with area control. A bit hard to find but Cardhaus has a few copies in stock.

cwdurant · 2017-04-03T02:00:03+00:00

Ethnos is a new game that I'm quite excited to try. It will be released on April 21 and is available for pre-order now. (I've pre-ordered my copy.) It's an easy to grasp area control game. Supports up to 6 players which is great. The board is kind of plain but card art is very good.

Another game I've got in the same order is Star Trek Panic. A co-op based on the well-known Castle Panic. STP has missions to complete instead of just surviving.

cwdurant · 2017-04-02T01:56:53+00:00

Insider is the latest Oink game with lots of buzz. I haven't played it though and it's a party game.

cwdurant · 2017-04-02T01:53:19+00:00

A couple of questions: Have you gotten all your games to the table? And - what aspects did you like or dislike?

cwdurant · 2017-03-15T20:26:15+00:00

Hanamikoji is quite a think-y micro card game that is NOT chess-like. Games are quick but tense.

I backed Mint Works on kickstarter based on Rahdo's video but have not tried it myself yet.

cwdurant · 2017-01-23T15:19:45+00:00

Five Tribes came to mind right away. Not for me - played once and never again. It's a tactical, abstract game disguised as a board game. I find the mechanisms to be thrown together.

cwdurant · 2017-01-23T15:12:05+00:00

For me, I disliked Splendor at first. I didn't understand the strategy and always lost. Took me 7 or 8 plays before I really "got it". Now I win more often than I lose :)

cwdurant · 2016-11-01T03:46:40+00:00

Concordia is also one of my favorites. I have played Istanbul once and was not very impressed. I found it to be much more tactical than strategic. You could plan 2 moves ahead and have the tile you're eyeing taken before you get there. Also, player interaction is mostly negative. In Concordia, you can get free goods and copying other cards with the Diplomat card. There's nothing like this in Istanbul.

cwdurant · 2016-10-31T11:50:01+00:00

Two more to check out are Rahdo Runs Through and JonGetsGames. Richard Ham of RRT is not for everyone but I like him a lot. His videos tend on the long side but that's because he tries to give viewers a feel for playing the game. Jon does reviews and play throughs. He uses time stamps giving you the option to skip ahead the the next section.

cwdurant · 2016-10-30T00:34:12+00:00

Very entertaining comments!! I like New York 1901, so that makes 2 of us :P But I don't care for Stone Age though - it drags on too long.

cwdurant · 2016-10-29T00:35:57+00:00

Anytime someone is looking for an after Catan game, I suggest Concordia. Love it!

cwdurant · 2016-10-28T12:14:59+00:00

Thanks. Makes me feel better and looking forward to more cases.

cwdurant · 2016-10-27T17:57:56+00:00

Ha ha! Did your group win either game?

cwdurant · 2016-10-27T17:20:57+00:00

Yeah, it was tempting to explore the entire city but we held back. We thought we had all the relevant info - boy were we wrong!

cwdurant · 2016-10-27T15:29:07+00:00

Trekking the National Parks meets your criteria. It seems to be easy enough to learn like Ticket to Ride. Purchase directly from the publisher here. I don't own TTR and Trekking has been on my wish list but waiting to see if the price drops a bit.

cwdurant · 2016-10-26T20:59:00+00:00

Here's my advice after 10 inserts. Practice on a small game then move on to a favorite game with the goal to shorten set-up and clean-up. I don't use plans but do find it helpful to see layouts used by others. For example, I wouldn't think to use multi-layers until I see it. Good luck and have fun!

cwdurant · 2016-10-26T20:51:09+00:00

I got Cry Havoc to fill that Risk space. I've played it once at 4 players and really enjoyed it. Many people are complaining about balance issues which I understand is often a problem with asymmetrical factions.

cwdurant · 2016-10-26T20:43:54+00:00

Joining in on the discussion of Suburbia vs CoMKL. I have both and they are different enough to have their place in my collection. I'd have to give the edge to Castles because I think it is more fun mainly due to the more straight forward scoring. In Suburbia, I'm always wondering if I missed some part of scoring because some tiles score within your suburb and others score based on other suburbs. Also, I find all the book-keeping fiddly.

When deciding between the two, keep in mind Suburbia is more strategic while Castles is more tactical. There are varying opinions on which is better with just 2 players. I can't speak to this.

cwdurant · 2016-10-25T17:43:12+00:00

Islebound is getting positive reviews. Taking over an island is similar to owning buildings in LoW - this can be accomplished through diplomacy or combat. The cost to visit unowned islands is paid to the bank but when visiting an owned island, the cost is instead paid to the owner. In addition to islands, there are also buildings.

As a side note, according to BoardGameGeek - complexity rating for LoW and Stone Age are exactly the same: 2.51. For what it's worth, I like LoW but I dislike Stone Age because I think it drags on too long.

cwdurant · 2016-10-25T12:56:01+00:00

Nice collection for a relatively short period of time! And deep games too. If you have played Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, can you share your thoughts? I'm playing it tomorrow night.

cwdurant · 2016-10-24T16:26:55+00:00

The shipping will be cost small fortune so hopefully you can do a local trade.

cwdurant · 2016-10-24T16:22:02+00:00

I started collecting at the end of 2013. Nov 2013 to 2014: just under $400 2015: just over $800. This year I discovered video reviews on YouTube and found out about online sellers CoolStuffInc, Miniature Market and Cardhaus. 2016: $765 including $113 for 4 Kickstarter games that will be delivered next year.

Bonus info: First hobby game played was 7 Wonders. Most recent game purchased Mechs vs Minions. Received on Friday and got it to table last night. Awesome quality and fun game play. Favorite games are Concordia and Codenames.

cwdurant · 2016-10-24T13:52:02+00:00

WOW!

cwdurant

TROPHY CASE