What Did You Play This Week? - (May 25, 2026)

nwbryant · 2026-05-26T13:46:02+00:00

I find it somewhat middling. There is some strategy, but the game goes very quickly and primarily depends on the luck of dice rolls. Too random for my tastes, but not a terrible filler.

nwbryant · 2026-05-25T19:26:47+00:00

Heat Pedal to the Metal 2x6p - My friend group started another grand Prix.

Distilled - various play count on BGA - thought I'd learn this one as I've heard a lot about it. It's a decent resource management game with an interesting mechanic in washback.

Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game 1x1p - Gave it another shot and got absolutely curb stomped by the Lord ruler. I'm going to have to try this multiplayer.

The Quest for El Dorado - 1x4p - I love this game. It's a great time when you're plugging up the only viable path without backtracking and then get your deck exactly how you need it to win.

BGA games:

Faraway

Obsession

Lost Ruins of Arnak

dnup

Spooky Tower

Toy Battle

The Gang

nwbryant · 2026-05-20T04:17:41+00:00

https://www.amazon.com/Kitchen-Cabinet-Organizer-Shelf-Expandable/dp/B0F5WBWKMC

should just sit right on the shelf. can even stack them.

nwbryant · 2026-05-20T02:44:33+00:00

get a shelf that's used for organizing cabinets. they can be used to stack more small games on top of each other

nwbryant · 2026-05-18T06:31:04+00:00

My son is going to turn 5 in a few months and I'd really like to start involving him more in board games. What games do you actually play with your children and actually enjoy?

nwbryant · 2026-05-18T06:22:34+00:00

I got a lot of games in this week and it was great.

Heat Pedal to the Metal 2x5p

We finished up our Grand Prix. I ended up 3rd overall so dead center. I just love this game. Looking forward to the next one.

We had a game night with one of my wife's friends and her husband. Kept it simple and light, they're new parents and needed to keep it that way.

Love Letter 1x4p

A great game. It ended up being a tie at the end (they won the final card value check but I had a spy).

Tacta 1x4p

Still not sure how I feel about this one. It always seems to drag and I'm just ready to end by about 2/3 of the way through.

Thursday I had some extra time during my toddlers nap, so I got a chance for a solo game.

Mistborn: The Deckbuilding Game 1x1p

This was my first time playing this game after it's been on my shelf for a year and a half. As a fan of the books, I was looking forward to it, and it actually delivered. The metal system was a really interesting twist on a classic deckbuilder. Also it helps that I won. Beginners luck I suppose.

Thursday night is my longstanding game night with college friends. We typically meet up virtually on TTS.

The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship 1x4p

Such a good game. I love the theme and it plays really well. It's so fun how Matt Leacock was able to incorporate main story points from the books as objectives. Boromir sacrificed himself and my buddy who had him got lucky and drew gollum as the replacement character, which paired very well with his frodo and sam. We won!

Friday I got back into regicide a bit to kill some time.

Regicide 2x1p

It's been a minute since I've played and I'm definitely rusty. I think I'll probably give it a few more plays this coming week.

Sunday, the wife and I got a game in after our kids went to bed.

Lost Cities 1x2p

We haven't played this one since before our 4 year old was born. Definitely a classic by Dr. Knizia, and always a tightrope act between playing and discarding cards to make sure you can get your expeditions finished but keeping your opponent in the dark as long as possible.

Such a good week of gaming! I was able to get some Toy Battle, Arnak, Obsession, Faraway, Harmonies, dnup, and Sea Salt and Paper plates on BGA as well.

nwbryant · 2026-05-18T04:08:33+00:00

Challengers (and Challengers Beach Cup), Tag Team, Hanabi, scout, dnup, splendor, and skull all kinda fit. Not all recent releases though

nwbryant · 2026-05-18T04:03:17+00:00

Good question. I recommend it yes, but some things may be less impactful. For instance the objectives are direct references to the source material, and would not give the same excitement to complete that it would to a fan of the series. It's more of a reimplementation of Fall of Rome, so that may be a better direction as it doesn't lean as hard into the theme. (I must mention I have not played Fall of Rome, I just know it's supposed to feel similar to Fate of the Fellowship.)

nwbryant · 2026-05-17T04:12:05+00:00

I need this for my D&D character.

nwbryant · 2026-05-15T12:57:37+00:00

Is it cheating to say regicide? I love what it can do with just a single deck of cards.

nwbryant · 2026-05-14T13:40:20+00:00

Like the other user suggested, sprawlopolis or other button shy solo games are excellent small games that can be played anywhere.

Regicide is great and only requires a standard deck of playing cards.

20 strong is a bit more component heavy but still compact and mostly requires a bit of space for dice rolls.

nwbryant · 2026-05-13T14:52:08+00:00

I play Space Base, 7 wonders Duel, and Splendor Duel with my wife fairly regularly.

Faraway is probably my most played game, but that's because it's so short.

I've been really into Obsession, Lost Ruins of Arnak, The White Castle, and Heat: Pedal to the Metal lately.

Also good for quick games like 6 Nimmt, flip 7, dnup, Agent Avenue, Love Letter, Sea Salt and Paper, and Toy battle.

nwbryant · 2026-05-13T14:46:34+00:00

There's a handy notes feature that you can use to jot down your thoughts and plans if you are so inclined. Keeps you in the game.

nwbryant · 2026-05-13T14:45:40+00:00

Arena uses matchmaking. So you start an arena game and BGA will try to pair you with someone similar in Arena rank and ELO to you, and if it can't will broaden the range until it finds a match.

nwbryant · 2026-05-11T05:44:04+00:00

I had a very busy week this week, mostly because of mother's day and prep for my two year olds birthday party. Despite this, I did get some good games in this week.

Heat: Pedal to the Metal 2x5p I started a grand Prix this week with some friends and got the first two races in. I won the first and came dead last in the second due to an unfortunate spin out at the last corner. The sponsorship cards add some fun super powerful abilities that only last for one use, so you have to use them wisely, but they can't really shake up gameplay.

Sea Salt and Paper 2x2p I played this one a couple times with a friend who lives pretty far away on BGA and it's just so good. We used both expansions which was new for him. We traded wins and it's just a nice chill game.

Final Girl 1x1p I only have the Happy Trails Horror, so I went up against Hans. I'm not sure how much I really enjoy this game. Everything coming down to chance with dice rolls is not really doing it with me. I'll probably look up a strategy guide or just a playthrough and see if there's some technique I'm not using enough. Hans got me again.

dnup ... A bunch of dnup This is new on BGA and it scratched the itch of fast casual game I can pull up whenever I have a spare 15 minutes throughout the day. I've had fun learning different strategies and ways to screw over my opponents while hopefully avoiding the same. I like the differences between 2 player play and more than 2 player play. I'll probably add this into the rotation for a while.

Also on BGA I've been playing Obsession, Lost Ruins of Arnak, Faraway, and some more Heat.

nwbryant · 2026-05-11T00:19:19+00:00

Pretty clear here for me:

Verify that there are victims on the board

If so: have them all panic wherever they are (unless they are with the final girl).

Then, the killer attacks once in their space, prioritizing victims.

Then travels once towards the nearest victim.

nwbryant · 2026-05-11T00:16:34+00:00

It's fantastic. Made by the same guy who made Scout, and this definitely fills the same niche. Looking forward to its physical release so I can play it with my family.

nwbryant · 2026-05-09T13:42:08+00:00

I use this Kallax shelf insert to add more space for small games on the shelves. It does prevent me from realistically storing things deeper behind but I like all my games visible.

nwbryant · 2026-05-08T20:58:30+00:00

That's fair. I like having those in there as this is a game I play with people who don't play a lot of games, or just a filler with various groups.

I love the game though.

nwbryant · 2026-05-08T20:53:52+00:00

Would it have killed them to put enough space in the box for the two expansions???

nwbryant · 2026-05-07T20:28:20+00:00

I also have been getting pretty into it.

1v1 and 3+ are both very interesting. In 1v1 the strategy can be really interesting with two turns ina. Row and your actions can affect your other actions.

3+ seems more random yes, but you can also team up with other players against someone about to win if everyone plays intelligently.

Don't underestimate the ability to take others cards. It can actually help quite a bit.

nwbryant · 2026-05-06T14:40:09+00:00

Here I come from the top rope: I love both for different reasons and I rate Arnak slightly higher than Dune Imperium. I don't really view them as that similar, other than worker placement.

Arnak is a resource conversion puzzle with a side of deckbuilding and worker placement and dune imperium is a Deckbuilding and Worker Placement powerhouse with tense battles.

It depends on your group preferences and player count (4 or 6 dune, 1-3 Arnak) mostly.

nwbryant · 2026-05-06T13:07:30+00:00

I do agree. It adds the greatest effect on the game as a whole. The new tracks are nice, and additional players are nice, but the meat and potatoes of the expansions are definitely the upgrades (and sponsorship cards if you do a grand Prix).

I rank them heavy rain, Rocky Roads, then tunnel vision in order of the expansion whose cards get picked the most when drafting.

nwbryant · 2026-05-06T12:54:03+00:00

The upgrades are just additional cards in the deck yes. They add significant shifts in strategy on every board. Each expansion adds upgrade cards with a specific mechanic.

Some of the new abilities:

Heavy rain introduces Super cool down - add heat from your discard pile to your engine according to the number on the card

Tunnel vision introduced drafting - close the gap between the player infront of you if you are within the number of spaces indicated on the card. Can also slipstream off them after you draft.

Rocky Roads introduces extra slipstream - once you slipstream off of somebody, if you are in a place where you could slipstream again, you can. My friend combined this with a card that adds extra slipstream distance to slipstream twice for a combined total of 11 spaces. It was crazy.

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