Just saw this post over at Boardgamenews.com, and I had to pass it along.
Carcassone is FREE on November 15th, and 16th.
Check it out here.
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Saturday, November 03, 2007
New Catan on the way
New version of Settlers of Catan on the way... Here's the box cover:
There some interesting information on the Mayfair Games website about the new version. Check it out here.
One very interesting rule change (from Mayfair site):
Q) Are there any rules changes?
A) "No" is the short answer. We have cleaned some text up in the rules for Cities & Knights, and we have changed a rule for The Settlers of Catan to match the new international standard. The changed rule affects the robber: "The robber may now return to the desert even after moving out. Thus, a player may choose to move the robber back to the desert rather than to an opponent's hex, if the player chooses to do so."
Your thoughts on this change?
There some interesting information on the Mayfair Games website about the new version. Check it out here.
One very interesting rule change (from Mayfair site):
Q) Are there any rules changes?
A) "No" is the short answer. We have cleaned some text up in the rules for Cities & Knights, and we have changed a rule for The Settlers of Catan to match the new international standard. The changed rule affects the robber: "The robber may now return to the desert even after moving out. Thus, a player may choose to move the robber back to the desert rather than to an opponent's hex, if the player chooses to do so."
Your thoughts on this change?
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Mom wins Catan
Played my fancy new "collectors" Catan, the monster hand-painted "treasure-chest" edition, in Toledo this weekend. And Mom won!
My parents have been played the Xbox 360 edition on-line, and have logged over 100 plays. I could tell in our 3-player game, both parents played a very solid game. Dad and I battled it out for longest road, he with brick-port and a nice 13-segment road. I had triple-ore (with city and settlement) on a "5"-spot, and an 11-segment road with Sheep and Brick port. The Longest Road bonus traveled back and forth between us until Dad finally yanked it permanetly away.
But Mom landed spaces on both 8's, both 9's and drew enough sheep and wheat that using her 3-1 port she was able to get to "7" and had 3 "1-point" development cards for the win.
It was a lot of fun playing on the 3-d board, and it did enhance the experience to for although my folks said that the poor visibility on the numbers made it a little difficult for them.
Funagain.com still has copies of the 3-d game of Catan, check it out before this hand-painted beauty is gone for good!
My parents have been played the Xbox 360 edition on-line, and have logged over 100 plays. I could tell in our 3-player game, both parents played a very solid game. Dad and I battled it out for longest road, he with brick-port and a nice 13-segment road. I had triple-ore (with city and settlement) on a "5"-spot, and an 11-segment road with Sheep and Brick port. The Longest Road bonus traveled back and forth between us until Dad finally yanked it permanetly away.
But Mom landed spaces on both 8's, both 9's and drew enough sheep and wheat that using her 3-1 port she was able to get to "7" and had 3 "1-point" development cards for the win.
It was a lot of fun playing on the 3-d board, and it did enhance the experience to for although my folks said that the poor visibility on the numbers made it a little difficult for them.
Funagain.com still has copies of the 3-d game of Catan, check it out before this hand-painted beauty is gone for good!
Monday, September 10, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Too many games?
Great article over on boardgamenews.com about the subject of "too many games." As a person with 140+ games in his collection, I've asked myself this many times. W. Eric Martin tackles it here, with the intro quoted below.
"W. Eric Martin: Too Much Is Never Enough
Occasional BGN columnist Ryan Bretsch took on the role of firestarter recently in an online mailing list about games and posed the following questions:
- Are there too many boardgame companies out there today?
- Are there too many game releases coming out each year?
- Do you feel the games hobby industry can support the number of new game releases that are now appearing each year?
- Do you feel that newly released games are labeled as “hot,” then quickly supplanted by the “next big thing”?
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Want list...
Boardgamegeek has a great "wishlist" feature that allows you to rank (1-5) your interest in any game on the site. As I become aware of new titles (usually through Boardgamenews or by surfing Thoughthammer) I'll head over to the 'geek, check them out, and rank them.
Here's some games that I am tracking and would like to own:
1. St. Petersburg Expansion
Expansion to the excellent St. Petersburg card game. Haven't played this face-to-face much, but I love the game on Brettspielcafe, probably have played it more than any other game than Settlers on-line. This inexpensive expansion is a must have, although not released yet from Rio Grande.
2. Roads and Boats
I was all pumped to get this when it was re-released last year. It's a monster game, that I've heard compared to SimCity, without the computer managing all the tiny details. I have too many complex games that never get played, but some day I have to get this nuts-and-bolts game and try to play it.
3. China - Das Duel
This two-player conversion of the 3-5 player China (Michael Shacht, developer of Hansa and Spiel de Jahre Zooloreto) is a must-have. I have an extra copy of China's pieces mounted in a shadow box in my game room along with the map in a frame.
4. Gipf Project - set 1
I love the Gipf series of abstract games. They are elegantly designed, beautifully constructed games that play in under 20 minutes. They can be connected together to form one large game by the use of "potentials", pieces that stack and connect various moves from other games in the series. There are three small expansions, and although I am not sure I'll get to play with them often (until Grayson gets a little older perhaps) they are inexpensive and easy to integrate.
5. Space Dealer
This game sounds wacky. Uses sand timers to control turns in some type of space-ship assembly game? I'm in!
6. Pitchcar
Racing game where you "flick" the cards around the track, and the bounce around off of rubber-band "walls". A dexterity game that has a couple of expansions (including a loop, and jumps), and sounds like a hoot! Would be a great ice-breaker for our Gathering of Friends.
7. Sid Meier's Civilization: the Card Game
Can only get this game inside a deluxe edition of the latest computer game. Someday perhaps it will be sold off the shelf, or I can grab it on closeout somewhere. I love Civilization, have played all it's versions on the computer, have the Avalon Hill edition, the Eagle Games edition... why not a card game?
Here's some games that I am tracking and would like to own:
1. St. Petersburg Expansion
Expansion to the excellent St. Petersburg card game. Haven't played this face-to-face much, but I love the game on Brettspielcafe, probably have played it more than any other game than Settlers on-line. This inexpensive expansion is a must have, although not released yet from Rio Grande.
2. Roads and Boats
I was all pumped to get this when it was re-released last year. It's a monster game, that I've heard compared to SimCity, without the computer managing all the tiny details. I have too many complex games that never get played, but some day I have to get this nuts-and-bolts game and try to play it.
3. China - Das Duel
This two-player conversion of the 3-5 player China (Michael Shacht, developer of Hansa and Spiel de Jahre Zooloreto) is a must-have. I have an extra copy of China's pieces mounted in a shadow box in my game room along with the map in a frame.
4. Gipf Project - set 1
I love the Gipf series of abstract games. They are elegantly designed, beautifully constructed games that play in under 20 minutes. They can be connected together to form one large game by the use of "potentials", pieces that stack and connect various moves from other games in the series. There are three small expansions, and although I am not sure I'll get to play with them often (until Grayson gets a little older perhaps) they are inexpensive and easy to integrate.
5. Space Dealer
This game sounds wacky. Uses sand timers to control turns in some type of space-ship assembly game? I'm in!
6. Pitchcar
Racing game where you "flick" the cards around the track, and the bounce around off of rubber-band "walls". A dexterity game that has a couple of expansions (including a loop, and jumps), and sounds like a hoot! Would be a great ice-breaker for our Gathering of Friends.
7. Sid Meier's Civilization: the Card Game
Can only get this game inside a deluxe edition of the latest computer game. Someday perhaps it will be sold off the shelf, or I can grab it on closeout somewhere. I love Civilization, have played all it's versions on the computer, have the Avalon Hill edition, the Eagle Games edition... why not a card game?
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Xbox, the new boardgame system?
My brother downloaded the Xbox version of Settlers of Catan just released, and has even played some games versus my dad. Now I hear Carcassone has been released!
Is the Xbox the new "boardgame system"?
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Gaming routine
Quiet on the posting front, and not much activity from me in the board gaming area lately. Thanks to some increase responsibilities as of late, and a decline in interest for some reason from my 9-year old (the first real decline since we started gaming when he was about 5 years old).
We broke out the Carrera slot cars also, which killed a couple of weekends.
There's a session planned for Saturday, which looks like an all-day affair... Kevin is asking about playing Twilight Imperium... now we're talking!
We broke out the Carrera slot cars also, which killed a couple of weekends.
There's a session planned for Saturday, which looks like an all-day affair... Kevin is asking about playing Twilight Imperium... now we're talking!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Railroaded at Northampton game night
Kevin and Marci hosted our 3rd Northampton game night last night. I arrived late, they had just finished a close game of St. Petersburg, Kevin winning by just 2-3 points over Dough. Kevin had 10 aristocrats, Doug had 8 in their four-player game with Caleb and Kim.
After a wonderful dinner, and some kidding around at Willie-Joe's expense (thanks Mike!), we got down to a 3 hour game of Railroad Tycoon, originally published by the defunct Eagle Games. Designed by the great Martin Wallace (Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires) this game ranks 19th on the geek, and is know for a huge board and great pieces.
Long story short, Caleb ran away with it, dominating in the Northeast. I built from NY to Boston, buy he controlled the NY to Philly to Baltimore/DC area, and was able to cheaply and steadily out-earn us all until his was buying level 5 rail upgrades for cash.
I was able to fulfill my secret objection (level 6 trains), and Doug racked up some great local bonuses. Kevin built junctures to some key routes and was carried along by his opponents needing the to finish longer lanes. Mike stayed in the Atlanta area.
Caleb won by what looking like 20 points ahead of the rest of us, who were clustered more tightly together. One of the key advantages he had was getting 4 moves in the first move due to the advantages of his age (lowest goes first) and a double-move card at start. We all agreed to play the game again, but bid for the right for first turn to eliminate any advantage here.
Thanks Kevin and Marci for a wonderful evening!
After a wonderful dinner, and some kidding around at Willie-Joe's expense (thanks Mike!), we got down to a 3 hour game of Railroad Tycoon, originally published by the defunct Eagle Games. Designed by the great Martin Wallace (Age of Steam, Struggle of Empires) this game ranks 19th on the geek, and is know for a huge board and great pieces.
Long story short, Caleb ran away with it, dominating in the Northeast. I built from NY to Boston, buy he controlled the NY to Philly to Baltimore/DC area, and was able to cheaply and steadily out-earn us all until his was buying level 5 rail upgrades for cash.
I was able to fulfill my secret objection (level 6 trains), and Doug racked up some great local bonuses. Kevin built junctures to some key routes and was carried along by his opponents needing the to finish longer lanes. Mike stayed in the Atlanta area.
Caleb won by what looking like 20 points ahead of the rest of us, who were clustered more tightly together. One of the key advantages he had was getting 4 moves in the first move due to the advantages of his age (lowest goes first) and a double-move card at start. We all agreed to play the game again, but bid for the right for first turn to eliminate any advantage here.
Thanks Kevin and Marci for a wonderful evening!
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