steveslaw

So I promised myself that I wouldn’t buy any new board games this year.  Partly because I’m broke, partly because I already have loads of games I love that don’t play enough, and partly (and most sadly) because when I say “I don’t play enough” I actually mean that I hardly play games games at home any more on a regular basis [can you hear my wails of despair and cries of anguish].

However here I find myself, midway through March, with these beauties sitting on my table crying out to be played:

And on top of those I am waiting for a kickstarter project which I backed to finish production and land on the table soon:

I think we can class that as mission FAIL.

But fuck it – I’m happy! 🙂

Judge Dredd: The Cursed Earth is a game based on the very popular card game The Lost Expedition but rethemed and designed around 2000AD Judge Dredd (whom a younger Steve read the exploits of weekly).  Its a 1-5 player Co-op game where you chase some villains across a series of locations cards whilst dealing with an encounters decks that tries to slow you down, speed them up, or kill you with radiation or bullets.  I’ve only played it solo a couple of times now (and lost each time) but I love the art work and the theme so am very much enjoying it.  That said, the ability to tactically play the game seems a little limited and its more just a luck of the draw whether you survive…

Underwater Cities is card driven, worker placement, engine builder type game where you have to build an underwater city but are limited in what you can do as action spaces on the board quickly get taken by the other players which can really impact your plans.  It been billed as a potential for this years game of the year and is similar in concept to the very Popular Terraforming Mars, however I think this game has more interaction due to the worker placement aspect as that interferes so much with each others plans.  I’ve only actually played it once so far – but it has a solo mode which I will be exploring very soon.

Wingspan is a game about Birds.  Now who would have thought that would be a popular theme for a board game? Not me, I can tell you.  However it is lovely.  Its really well made with lovely components (feeeeeel that rule book) and the game play is very quick and easy to pick up.  All over it is just a lovely little game 🙂  You have to collect birds cards and then the food they require to be able play them into one of three habitats on your board (woodland, grassland and wetlands) and then they can lay eggs which you use to lay more bird cards or use for points.  Each bird has a special action which triggers at certain points in the game and the artwork and info on the bird cards is just great.  Currently the bird cards are US focussed but they are working on bringing out continent specific expansion packs so you’ll eventually be able to play with birds that you will see out your own window.  It’s also got a great solo mechanic so it is another one I can play on my own (billy-no-local-gaming-mates).

So although I may have failed in my promise to myself, what I have done is buy three great games and I can play on my own as well as in a group (as and when anyone comes to visit!).  So its not ALL bad.

I’ll let you know how I get on.  And if I buy any more 🙂

#boardgames #tabletopgames #bgg #geek #gamegeek #games