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2024 is over and my blogging backlog has not decreased. 2024 was a big in terms of playing board games - more games were played if my counting is correct. 2024 Number of different games played: 178. Of which were new (To me.): 78. Total number of gaming sessions: 704. Compared to '23 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. The number of games played were up by 20 which is nearly 2 a month. New games to me were 78 which interestingly is almost identical to '23. Sessions though, is up by nearly 130! This is quite a lot, it means nearly 5 extra game sessions occurred every week! How did that happen? The top 5 games I played in 2024 were:
50 sessions of Tranquility, nearly once a week! It's easy to understand why; Tranquility is a pleasant, slightly undemanding cooperative experience that we frequently play as a palate cleanser after something more high-intensity. We tend to win Tranquility when we play it but occasionally, it throws a curve ball! Just one remains popular with us, it's joined by Splendor and somewhat surprisingly (Considering it's disliked by 'someone' we play it with!) by Railroad Ink. The list is rounded off by Can't Stop, Roll'n Bump & Sushi Go!, all perennial favourites that are played as fillers or enders. OK, now on to what's really important - The 'industry defining' 'prestigious' 3 Spellcasters and a Dwarf annual gaming awards.
Game of the year: Daybreak Sometimes a game comes along that immediately announces its quality and in this instance it's Daybreak, a game about saving the environment. From the packaging and components, to mechanics and theme and even small details like putting QR codes on cards to provide extra info, Daybreak is something noteworthy. More than that; it's presentation highlights some of the stark obstacles we will all face in the future. Disappointment of the year: Horrified: Greek Monsters The excellent formula that powers the original Horrified just doesn't quite work in this iteration. I've played 4 different versions of Horrified and this is easily thematically the weakest. I never felt I was battling against the monsters of Greek mythology. It felt like what it seems to be; a reskin with slightly different monster mechanics. Surprise of the year: Sky Team I'm always a bit wary of 2-player only games, they often seem to resort to direct competition with your opponent. I'm happy to say that with regards to Sky Team, I'm wrong. Sky Team is cooperative dice-placement game where the 2 players take the asymmetrical roles of pilot and co-pilot. It has fantastic presentation with mechanics that fit it's theme. Honourable mention: Things in Rings Things in Rings is a wacky kind of party game about deductive logic and trying to discover the hidden phrases on 3 cards. It's a brilliant lightweight game, however, for me it's a semantic nightmare that drives me crazy and is unlike anything else I've played. it means I have to get a copy.
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My backlog of games to blog about has not lessened over 2023 - which is not a good thing! This was also a big year for playing games. Breakdown follows as: 2023 Number of different games played: 158. Of which were new (To me.): 77. Total number of gaming sessions: 577. 2022 Number of different games played: 139. Of which were new (To me.): 68. Total number of gaming sessions: 541. All the numbers are slightly up on '22, looks like I'm hitting peak playing! Most played games of 2023
Anyway - enough of that, I know the real reason you're here; for the influential, industry defining 3 Spellcaster & A Dwarf annual game awards!
Game of the year: Heat: Pedal to the Metal It wasn't a hard choice, when thinking about game of the year, this always immediately came to mind. This 50's/60's themed F1 game manages to provide players with some tricky decisions and risks to take using an elegant implementation of hand management mechanics. I'm a big fan of a certain other F1 game that's been around in some form or other for years and it seems blasphemous to think it but Heat: Pedal to the Metal is as good as Formula De/Formula D! There, I've said it! Disappointment of the year: Sushi Go!: Spin Some for Dim Sum It's not that this game is bad per se, it's just that it does not deliver any particularly new gameplay or as good a experience as its previous 2 iterations. Hard to believe, but it's just a bit meh considering the pedigree it originates from. It doesn't help that it's central premise (Or gimmick if you're less kind!) also makes the game a bit fiddly to setup, teardown and sometimes play. Surprise of the year: Bandido There's a heavy dose of luck that can apply to Bandido and I'm not sure if ultimately it's a good game or not. Even so, Bandido distils a cooperative gameplay experience into a single deck of strangely oblong cards in a package so small it easily fits in a pocket. With rules so simple and intuitive that anyone can immediately grasp play. I play games with people who have varying levels experience in table top gaming and this has been a big hit with a couple of them, which is why we've played it so much in 2023. Honourable mention: Joraku Deluxe Set in Feudal Japan, Joraku is typically what you'd expect it to be; a game amount warring factions vying for influence and control. However, all of this is achieved with abstract, almost minimalist trick taking rules and delivered in a fantastic looking package. 5th March 2023 It's a Sunday and we're logged into Board Game Arena for another evening of gaming goodness. Tranquility: The Ascent is the follow up to the rather good Tranquility and employs similar mechanics, only instead of crossing an ocean, in Tranquility: The Ascent, players are cooperatively climbing a mountain. Caveat: We've only ever played Tranquility: The Ascent digitally. What's in a game?
 There are 10 panorama cards.
 3 ascent cards, a campfire card and a bridge card. Tranquility: The Ascent features the same pleasant, colourful and slightly stylised artwork found in its predecessor. This time however, obviously depicting a variety of harsh hilly and mountainous terrain, up to and including a cold, inhospitable looking snowy peak. In the digital version unfortunately, much of the art is obscured by large numbers, which is a shame as I quite liked it. The game uses colours and numbers and other than the illustrations for campfire cards and the like has no iconography. Players should have no trouble at all comprehending Tranquility: The Ascent. How's it play? Setup
On to play In Tranquility: The Ascent, players are attempting to collectively create a pyramid of cards. This is done by playing a row of cards and then playing further rows above and so forth. In total, during a successfully completed game, there will be 9 rows of 44 cards. The game uses a traditional turn structure with the active player acting before play progresses to the player on their left. During their turn, the active player has a choice of 2 actions.
Endgame If during any player's turn they cannot play a card for any reason and do not have 2 cards to discard, then the players collectively lose. If a summit card is played and no uncovered bridge cards remain in the central playing area, then the players have reached the mountain's summit and collectively win! Overall
Tranquility The Ascent is a sibling to the original Tranquility and as such, they utilise the same name, I'm not sure that there's much 'tranquility' in Tranquility: The Ascent though! Gone is the lonely sense serenity and titular tranquility one might imagine the crossing of smooth mirror-like waters of an ocean would invoke. In its place are the rigours and obstacles of mountain climbing. A better name would've been Stress: The Ascent or Acrophobia: The Ascent! Joking aside, Thematically and visually, Tranquility: The Ascent actually works quite well, building upwards gives a nice sense of progress and I'm sure with the physical copy, a completed pyramid would look quite impressive. Mechanically, Tranquility: The Ascent clearly shares some DNA with its predecessor. Broadly speaking, both are about playing numbered tiles next to one another and discarding cards according the difference in numbers. Tranquility: The Ascent changes this up somewhat, adding colour and placement rules to wisely differentiate it from Tranquility and notably, also increase the difficulty a little: The original Tranquility was fairly 'solvable' once the mathematics involved were understood. This doesn't seem the case with the follow up. Tranquility: The Ascent also does away with that pesky 'start' card from the original! All of this means the challenges in Tranquility: The Ascent are slightly different. When playing cards, colours will now need to be taken into consideration as well as numbers and numbers now also have 2 parts to play, both when placing cards and the height of placing them. E.g., using a '5' on the 1st level can be wasteful since it could potentially be also employed on higher levels. However, the addition of campfire and cards adds some flexibility in this regard as do the bridge cards. While I feel this requires players planning ahead a little more, players must also recognise when to change their tactics as new cards (For better or worse.) appear in their hand. As already stated I feel the changes add to the difficulty a little. This may be to your liking or not. For me, I prefer the elegance of the original Tranquility and would choose that iteration over this one. I also have a preference for the sea faring theme. YMMV of course, Tranquility: The Ascent is a smart little game which presents some interesting problems to overcome and if the mountain climbing theme appeals and you're looking for a cooperative game, Tranquility: The Ascent is worth checking out. Despite first plays increasing by 2 this month, overall playing dipped. I think last month's figure were inflated by Wogglecon somewhat and February was a slightly shorter month. First plays: 7 Different games: 23 Total games: 33 Thursday 23rd Aldershot
HeroQuest - 12 Tuesday 21st at The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Durian - First Play! Dice Hospital - 9 Sunday 19th on Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers - 62 Can't Stop - 40 Nova Luna - 3 Just One - 15 Stella: Dixit Universe - 14 Paint The Roses - First Play! Friday 17th Woking Adrenaline - First Play! Thursday 16th Aldershot Nine Tiles Panic - 2 HeroQuest - 11 Tuesday 14th at The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Wingspan - 8 Machi Koro 2 - 6 Sunday 12th on Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers - 61 Can't Stop - 39 Roll'n Bump - 10 Railroad Ink - 45 Just One - 14 Nova Luna - 2 Sunday 12th at The Dice Tower, Basingstoke Cards against Humanity - First Play! The Resistance: Avalon Thursday 9th Aldershot HeroQuest - 10 Tuesday 7th at The Sovereigns with the Woking Gaming Club Horrified: American Monsters - First Play! Celestia - 5 Sunday 5th on Board Game Arena Lucky Numbers - 60 Can't Stop - 38 Martian Dice - 23 Carcassonne - 13 Nova Luna - First Play! Just One - 13 Love Letter - 68 Friday 3rd Woking Formula D - First Play! 21st February 2023 Tuesday evening again! We're with the Woking Gaming Club at The Sovereigns again for some more gaming goodness. Durian: The durian is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus Durio*. Durian is also game about a very, very angry gorilla who runs a jungle fruit shop, worse than that - he's your boss in this push your luck card game about managing inventory and stock. *According to Wikipedia What's in a game?
 Fruit cards.
 Big brother Mitch.
 Card holder.
 3 out of 7 anger, pretty angry.
 Bell and order board. Being exceptionally long, the cards feel a little flimsy but unless they are treated badly, it shouldn't be an issue. The order board tile and point tokens are made of suitability sturdy card, while the card holders are wooden and I always approve of wooden components. The bell works well enough but feels a little delicate but again, unless you treat it badly, it shouldn't be a problem and while it's a unnecessary component it's a welcome addition. I've never been one to resist gimmicks! There's a small amount artwork utilised for the siblings and the different fruits which is quite stylised and cartoonish. It all looks good enough, the gorillas look a little abstract but the fruits look suitably distinct from each other both in colour and shape Nearly all of the small amount of iconography used in Durian is straightforward. The 4 fruits are easily understood and differentiated from each other. The 3 sibling cards all have their own unique icons, which despite being fairy obvious will likely have players reaching for the rule book since they appear so infrequently during the game, which - as explained below is not necessarily a good thing. How's it play? Setup
On to play Durian is a bit of a curious beast where players are looking to see if the game has 'gone bust' using 'imperfect knowledge'. The game uses a traditional turn order with the active player taking their turn before play progresses to the player on their left. Before discussing the rules, it's worth stating that the deck of cards serve both as shop inventory and customer orders. Additionally, the gorilla sibling cards have different functions depending on whether they appear in the inventory or order.
Endgame The game ends when a player has acquired 7 or more points worth of point tokens. This could from the final 7 point token or a combination of lower valaue point tokens. Points are tallied, lowest score wins. Overall
Thematically, Durian could have been almost anything and gorillas running a fruit shop is as good as any, so why not, it suits the game's light nature. Mechanically. there are a couple of interesting things going on. Firstly, the way the game employs 'imperfect knowledge' is pretty good. Players will spend their time watching the behaviour of other players, seeing how they play the cards they draw and trying to deduct what is on their own card. For example: if another players decides to play a card which adds bananas to the order and you can see no bananas on anyone else's inventory cards, then it's generally safe to assume that you're the one with bananas on their inventory card! Of course, the gorilla cards can occasionally appear in the inventory and throw a spanner into the works. In the above example, the infinite bananas card could change everything. There's a weird drawback to the rules here though; since the gorilla cards appear fairly infrequently in the inventory. Players won't remember their rules and will ask to look at the rules - it's a clear tell that a gorilla card has been thrown into the mix. Gorilla cards can also have a big impact on orders. Allowing an order card to be changed round can cause the order to 'go bust' or vice versa. I will add that the rules feel a little counterintuitive here. In most games, going bust is a bad thing but in Durian it can be a good thing. Ringing the bell at the right time both prevents you getting points and also inflicts them on other players. This brings me to the mechanics for scoring. Escalating points works very well here and mostly keeps the stakes high until the game end. Mathematically, a game will last at least 3 rounds. If a single player gets 1+2+4 (or some other combination.) that will end the game. Since, as the game progresses the points given out will increase, it's entirely possible that if a game gets to 7 rounds, a player who was on '0' points may get '7' points, end the game and come last! This is especially so in games with a higher player count (Durian plays up to 7.). Because the scoring is about giving other players what are essentially negative points, usually at this point I'd criticise Durian for being well... negative but since the game is quick playing and light-hearted I don't feel an issue here. Durian is a mechanically lightweight game with for the most part only a single decision to make - ring the bell or not. Where it's depth comes from is in how to get to that decision. Players cannot afford to not pay attention during their opponents' turns, gleaning information from what moves they are making is vital to the decisions a player needs to make when it's their turn. This is one of those games that's as much about playing the players as playing the game. I found Durian an enjoyable game with a sometimes agonising central decision to make and this is good thing as it makes that decision meaningful, which is what I look for in a game. Durian is a bit of party game that also works as a filler. It's style and humorous theme fits it's quick unpredictable gameplay well. It's not a game to take too seriously. If this is what you're looking for, give Durian a try. 19th February 2023 It's Sunday evening again and we're logged into Board Game Arena for some gaming goodness. Paint the Roses, it sounds a strange thing but that's what you do when in the kingdom of The Queen of Hearts in this 'Alice in Wonderland' themed cooperative game of deductive reasoning. Caveat: We have only ever played this game digitally. What's in a game?
 Board at game start.
 Greenhouse board along with face-down whim cards.
 A scoreboard that helps players eliminate wrong choices.
Paint the Roses' artwork is pretty high quality, Art on whim cards and tiles look good and is easily understood but the standout art is on the game board. It's vibrant, colourful and eye catching, everything I think is good in game artwork. Only 4 colours and 4 shapes are used in Paint the Roses, these are straightforward to comprehend and there's no other iconography. How's it play? Setup
On to play In Paint the Roses, the players are trying to collectively fill all 16 empty spaces on the game board while staying ahead of The Queen of Hearts model. How is this done? By playing tiles, placing clues on them and using those clues to try and guess what is displayed on other player's whim cards. Players must keep their whim cards hidden from other players, only revealing them when they are correctly guessed. Paint the Roses uses a traditional turn structure with the active player completing their actions before play progresses to the player on their left. During the active player's turn, the following phases occur.
Endgame If the players manage to place shrub tiles in all 16 spaces and survive to the end of the round - that is; survive The Queen's final movement, the players collectively win the game! If any time The Queen reaches the same space as The Gardeners or overtakes them; it's off with their heads. The players collectively lose the game. Once a game is concluded, players can record their score, i.e., where they finished on the scoring track. Overall
Thematically I found Paint the Roses a little abstract. Having The Queen actually chase the player model around the out of the board was a bit silly (Which thinking about matches the absurdness of the source material.) but also reasonably clever. While I understand how the theme meshes with the mechanics, it all felt a little... detached. Mechanically though, Paint the Roses presents players with very tricky decisions and this is twofold. Firstly, the active player must decide which of 4 shrub tiles to draft and how they can place it on the board to convey the information on their card. I think that there's also a higher level of play here where the active player can choose to play a tile to potentially help another player to convey information. Secondly, once a tile has been put down, the players must make a guess. It's likely that this will involve a mix of deduction and also blind guessing. Easy whim cards are well... fairly easy to guess which is why players are limited to one easy card at a time, other cards are no so easy. Its important to successfully guess harder cards because it puts more space between the players and The Queen There's also the element of trying to guess another card after a successful guess but it's genuinely higher stakes: A successful 2nd guess will give the players more breathing room but a wrong guess means that essentially any progress made from a guess has been lost. Double or nothing really. These mechanics for guessing feel quite unique but also a little obtuse and harder to comprehend than they should be. I don't think it helped that we were playing the game digitally and clue tokens were added automatically which sort of distanced us from thinking about what was going on. I also felt being forced to guess every turn was quite harsh and The Queen advanced very quickly after relatively few failures. I feel that if players make a couple of wrong guesses in the early game, they'll be on the back foot for the rest of it - however long that lasts. This brings me to the rule with the White Rabbit that increases The Queen's speed is quite interesting - although I'm not sure how I feel about it. If The Queen has a high speed, an incorrect guess can move her a lot of spaces. It increases the stakes as the game progresses, meaning the players can never afford to be complacent. The drawback is that it felt frustrating and counterintuitive, like we were being punished for being successful. Between the difficulty and somewhat frustrating way the deduction worked, I found that I did not enjoy Paint the Roses, which is a shame, I like the idea of a cooperative, logic driven game. I would definitely be open to trying the game physically as I might chance my stance when actually handling the game but digitally speaking, this is not a game for me. 17th February 2023 It's a Friday and we're at Woking for a night of gaming fun. Adrenaline, a fast paced head-to-head game inspired by first person shooters. What's in a game?
 Board has been setup for 4 or 5 players.
 Player board with its various tracks.
 Damage tokens, action tile and model.
 Sledge hammer does 2 damage or for an extra red ammo dies 3 damage and pushes the target back. Lightning from T.H.O.R. hits a target for 2 damage and be chained to more targets for additional ammo.
 Tagback grenade; when the owner of the card is wounded, they can spend a blur ammo cube to 'mark' the attacker.
 Ammo cubes in primary colours.
 Skulls mean... death!
Adrenaline uses plastic damage tokens, card ammo tiles, transparent acrylic ammo cubes and skulls; it's an usual mix of materials but it works just fine. The components are all good quality, the cards are fine as are the tiles and tokens. The plastic components all feel solid. It's immediately apparent that Adrenaline makes good use of colour. This is particularly true of the game board, where bright colours are used to distinguish between different rooms - this is important for 'line of sight'. The component also look bright and colourful as well as easy distinguish. The game's art is fairly good if a little underused - illustrations on weapon cards are a little small. Other than that I think the artwork is mostly reserved for character portraits. There is quite a lot of iconography in Adrenaline, mostly on weapon and powerup cards, the game comes with a separate booklet to explain how they work - which is a little telling. Some of the iconography is intuitive and easy to comprehend, some of it not so much. Luckily, it's not a gamebreaker and not much of an issue to learn but I do feel it will slow down the game somewhat unless at least 1 person has previously played. How's it play? Setup
On to play In Adrenaline, players are trying to earn as many VPs as possible. This is done by killing and more importantly, damaging their opponents. During their turn, the active player can perform 2 actions, they can be different or the same action twice. The actions available are determined by what actions are on their action table and which actions have been unlocked on the players adrenaline track. Broadly speaking, there are 3 types of actions, several actions actually combine different actions
 Having been killed once, I've now taken 6 damage from the purple player and 2 from green.
Endgame Once the final skull has been taken from the board, it triggers the endgame. Depending on the game mode chosen, they are 2 ways the game can end. Sudden Death The game immediately ends and goes to scoring. Final Frenzy In this game mode, each player gets one more turn. All players use flip their player board and action tile to the other sides, using those moves and scoring opportunities for the final round. Regardless of how the game end is resolved, the game then goes to scoring. Players earn points from the following sources.
Points are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
I'm always a bit suspicious when a tabletop game tries to replicate a twitch based computer game or uses it for inspiration, thematically or otherwise. Fortunately, Adrenaline does a pretty good job of abstracting this for a board game. You run, you gun and you pick up, that's about it! Line of sight and range rules are kept very simple and consequently very quick. Attacking is also quick; play a card - that's the damage it does, some extra resources can be spent to tweak it but that's about it. Some of the situational rules regarding specific weapons are definitely a bit fiddly and may well require referring to the rules, as mentioned earlier it's not to much of an issue though. Rules for scoring kills are also a bit peculiar but the payoff is that you get a balanced scoring system that rewards attacking multiple opponents and encourages the free-for-all nature of a deathmatch. As they rulebook states, there's diminishing returns in constantly attacking one opponent, since because skulls placed on killed players' boards cover the higher scores, meaning less VPs are earned off them from then on. It's also worth noting that the damage mechanic is essentially an area control mechanic and that the areas being controlled are other players' damage tracks! Rules for picking up and reloading are also straightforward and adds an extra layer of decision making to consider. Should a player burn through ammo to press the attack/do more damage or try conserve or gain more ammo. It creates these moments where attacks are followed by short lulls. I also like the rule that when a weapon is used, it doesn't come back into play until the following turn. it stops powerful weapons being overused and incentivises players to look for synergy between weapon cards. Gameplay wise, Adrenaline is very much a game of reacting to what other players are doing and the landscape will change every turn. Especially as in relative terms, the game board is quite small, players will very much be in each other's faces a lot of the time. Players will look for opportunities to exploit, such as hitting multiple enemies at once (Damage diversification is key to earning VPs.) or minimising exposure to attacks to themselves (Although this can be very hard considering how focused the game board is.). It goes without saying that Adrenaline is very much an aggressive game of direct conflict and player interaction. If this isn't your sort of thing, then you probably won't enjoy Adrenaline The game also feels a little like a miniatures wargame game albeit in a very loose way. I think that's why I found it a little unengaging. Fun and clever but not quite what I want out of a game. I can't fault Adrenaline, it does what it sets out to do and if if you're looking for a first-person shooter inspired game with lots of aggressive interactive gameplay then Adrenaline is one to consider. Personally though, if someone wanted to play it, I would do so without hesitation but it wouldn't be a first pick for me. 12th February It's a Sunday afternoon and we're at The Dice Tower in Basingstoke For Ares' birthday party. So finally... Cards Against Humanity: the blog post. Cards Against Humanity has garnered a reputation for being wry, almost satirical humour and capacity to be outrageous. So is this game offensive and by offensive, I mean does it offend my sensibilities regarding well balanced and sharply honed gameplay... well read on. What's in a game?
 Examples of Cards Against Humanity cards. The cards are average thickness but seem plastic or vinyl coated and feel reasonably sturdy - they need to be for a party game. There's no art in Cards Against Humanity. Unless you count white text on a black background and vice versa. Again, there's no iconography in Cards Against Humanity as the game is entirely drive by text. Wow, so far this blog has written itself! How's it play?
On to play The objective in Cards Against Humanity is to earn 'Awesome Points' which are just victory points (VPs). This is done by answering the questions on the black cards in the most entertaining way, which can be funny, outrageous, offensive and probably even worse! Each player's turn consists of 4 phases.
Endgame I always thought that Cards Against Humanity concluded after the 10th black card was won but after skimming the rules, this doesn't seem to be the case and there are several different ways the game could end. Regardless of this, whenever the game reaches whatever its game ending criteria is, the game ends and Awesome Points are calculated Points are tallied, highest score wins.  What are the odds of this combo coming up? (Narrator: It happens every game!) Overall
First of all I'll say; it's sort of pointless to blog about Cards Against Humanity and discuss mechanics or strategies or theme in the way I would normally and that's because it's the epitome of a party game, albeit a very much adult themed one. That means it's loud and raucously humorous, easy to learn and easy to play. No one really cares about VPs or who wins and yes, it's also potentially offensive. Suffice to say that if you're thin-skinned or easily offended, Cards Against Humanity is probably not for you. The real question is: Is it fun? I'm going to say, yes and sometimes very much so. Obviously, much of the game's pleasure derives from the kind of people playing it. I imagine it's a game that gets a lot of play by drunk participants - there's a good reason why the cards are fairly sturdy. If you're concerned about anything other than basically cracking jokes, probably best to look elsewhere. Personally, I thoroughly enjoy the challenge of trying to craft the most outrageous answers and listening to other players' answers. I also think most people playing it understand it's just humour doing what humour does very well, which is bringing up stuff that would never be broached in conversation otherwise. There is a caveat here though: Which is Cards Against Humanity can definitely outstay its welcome. Initially, we played several times with the 10 black card limit and when that was reached, someone would invariably say: 'Why don't we play through all the black cards.' The first time was: 'Yeah, cool'. The second time: 'Oh Okay.' The third time: I had to stifle an inward groan. So if you want a shockingly funny and outrageous party game, Cards Against Humanity would be a good choice. Just play it short intense bursts. My massive backlog of games to talk about didn't lessen in 2022, only got worse. 2022 was a big year for playing games, bigger than 2021, which I thought was big enough! Below is the breakdown of games I played in '22 versus '21. 2022 Number of different games played: 139. Of which were new (To me.): 68. Total number of gaming sessions: 541. 2021 Number of different games played: 78. Of which were new (To me.): 46. Total number of gaming sessions: 333. Why have the numbers gone up so much? Two factors, 2022 saw the end of lockdowns and a full year of playing on Board Game Arena where not only could 5 or 6 games be easily played in an evening, some games could be played multiple times per session. Most played games:
Lucky Numbers, with it's simple, unpredictable, luck based and strategy mechanics replaced Lover Letter as our regular 'finisher' on Sunday nights. Now on to the industry-defining, glittering, 3 Spellcasters & a Dwarf annual game awards.
These are for games I first played in 2022, not necessarily games that were published in 2022. Game of the year: Cascadia Cascadia is a tile-placement game with fairly simple rules but a wealth of options, strategies and approaches to scoring points. Players have to manage and optimise multiple scoring vectors that use tiles and tokens but rarely do they get to draft both the tiles and tokens they need, forcing them into meaningful, compromising decisions. What more could you want? Disappointment of the year: Terminator: Dark Fate The Card Game This co-operative deck-builder had some interesting ideas but also seemed broken, so much so that we struggled to make any headway into the game. It felt like the game needed more playtesting and balancing. Surprise of the year: Akropolis Another tile-laying game! This time one with actual figurative multiple levels of gameplay! Simple rules, lots of decision and a quick playtime make this game a cracking package. Honourable mention: Parks For a long stretch of 2022 I thought that this worker-placement, resource-management game was going to be the game of the year until Cascadia came along. With limited workers spaces along the hiking trail, players are faced with trying to anticipate their opponents actions while also prioritising their own and gather the resources to buy point scoring cards. Parks also has some of the best components and artwork I've seen in a game for a while. 7th February 2023 Tuesday has come around again, that means it's time for more gaming goodness with the Woking Gaming Club at The Sovereigns in Woking. Horrified: American Monsters is the follow up to the excellent Horrified and you can read my blog on it here. Like the original, this is a cooperative adventure in which the heroes (In this instance investigators from the Federal Bureau of Paranormal Investigation) stop the encroachment of monsters from American folklore into a town/city. So how does Horrified: American Monsters game stack up against the original? Components
 A slice of Americana.
 Purple cryptozoologist.
 An attack with all dice results in 2 hits!
 A pig and shovel are the typical kind of thing that can be found in town centers all over America!
 Examples of monster and per cards. Monster mats: As with the original game, each of the game's monsters comes with their own mat that manages how to defeat them.  Monster mat for Chupacabra. Pretty certain there's a lollipop named after this dude...
 Banshee of the Badlands. All the components for Horrified: American Monsters are good. The tokens and tiles feel sturdy while cards are of a normal quality. Because the monster mats are fairly large, they feel a little flimsy but unless you go out of your way to abuse them, they should be fine. The game uses card standees for both players and citizen which means there's about 20 of them - which is a lot. They're constructed of thick card and will stand up to being handled. While plastic, the dice with their slightly rounded corners are good quality. As with the original, each of the game's monsters is represented by a plastic figure in their respective colour. The quality is fairly good, which is to say good enough for a board game. The game's artwork is high quality with good portraits for the heroes, citizens and monsters. Artwork on the tokens, cards and monster mats also look good and suitably moody. The game board contains probably the most notable artwork; a eye catching city with recognisable buildings but is importantly, also free of clutter. Wisely, the game has a sort of mid twentieth century theme to the art which gives it a sort of timeless quality. Most of the game's iconography can be found on the bottom of the monster cards and generally, the complexity is equal to that of the original. How's it play? Like the original, Horrified: American Monsters is a cooperative game about squaring up to monsters threatening the game's town/city, There's a few differences from the original, most obviously in the interactions with the monsters the manner in which they are rendered vulnerable and defeated The rules for frenzy work a little differently and the events on the monster cards are tailored for the game and possibly, so are the perk cards. Otherwise, the game is pretty much identical with its predecessor. I'm not going to blog about at length about the rules or game play. For that you can just read my original blog. Overall
Hmm, this is a bit of a tricky one. Horrified: American Monsters is a solidly good game but is it too similar to Horrified? From the perspective of gameplay, Horrified: American Monsters features the same well balanced cooperative action-point driven mechanics from the original which will have players moving across the map in a race against time, collecting resources, saving bystanders and contending with monsters until they complete the tasks that make them vulnerable and then hopefully, finally defeat them. In my option, that gameplay is very good and in short; if you liked Horrified, there's a good chance you'll probably also like Horrified: American Monsters. However, since the 2 games are so similar, it can be hard to justify having both unless you're a fan or the series/genre or a completionist, it's probably easy to justify having both. On a personal level, I prefer the original Horrified. Having to defeat the Universal monster like Dracula or The Invisible Man felt more compelling than having to deal with Bigfoot or The Jersey Devil. I think in part that's due to a little bit of unfamiliarity with those American cryptids. Consequently, I don't associate them with villainy As I do with the Universal monsters. To me for example, Bigfoot feels like a shy recluse, not a threat to be overcome. Of course your mileage may vary, it's not like Horrified: American Monsters is anything other than a very good game so you should go ahead and play it. |
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