The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 14: Kingsburg

    (See previous entries HERE.)

Kingsburg is, hands down, a game I absolutely love to play. It is dice rolling and worker placement, which are two mechanics I absolutely love. So we pulled out this classic for today's game. What we didn't do, though, was play with any of the expansion material. I wish I was motivated enough to try some of the expansion stuff, but maybe next time. If you haven't played this game, it's really worth checking out and is a nice light worker placement. I really, really enjoy it and love breaking it out with my game club when I can. 

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 13: Viticulture

    (See previous entries HERE.)

I used to play Viticulture and loved it. It's been a while since I've played and today's playdate revealed how rusty my skills area. I wasn't even close to the winner's circle. Viticulture uses hand management and worker placement to help you be a successful purveyor of fine wines! You earn victory points in various ways, but primarily you want to fulfill wine orders. I am the little green piece and clearly did not make it to the 25 MAX points that my husband (blue) got. I will say, I kept getting super lame cards from the yellow and blue stacks, while he got quite a few cards that helped him, for example, get cheap extra workers. 

Ah well. I still like the game, but it was rough getting back into the saddle. 

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 12: Kingdom Builder

 

Kingdom Builder is a game that my husband has broken out quite a few times when we've had lock-ins with the tweens, but I had never played it. Finally, I got my chance to play. My husband explained that it's by the designer of Dominion, so there are tons of variables and options for how the game can unfold everytime you play. So for example, he held up all the different board times that you could randomly have and I was like "woah!" He's got expansions for dayz. 

What was nice as a two-player game was that the game play went quick, it wasn't overly heavy, and it offered a decent amount of options for earning points. Not enough, though, as I was ahead on the scoreboard until my husband counted up one of the points and he pulled ahead by one. NOOOOO!!!! Ah well. It was still a good game and is one I might recommend picking up again.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 11: The Captain is Dead

   (See previous entries HERE.)

The Captain is Dead is one of my absolute favorite games. I've run it at conventions. I've met the creators and publishers (who also are local to us - The Game Crafter). It is just a really fun game to play and tonight we introduced it to our daughter, who said it was like "Among Us." Oh goodness gracious! 

Playing, we lucked out with our variable player powers and I ended up having something useful! So I stayed in the Engineering Room, mostly, and kept bumping up the core so that we could engage. Since we were playing with my daughter, we played on Novice, but that's still pretty intense. We got all the way into the crazy orange cards and stuff started to go bananas!  

I can't recommend this game enough, especially if you're into cooperative games.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 10: 51st State

 

My husband absolutely loves this engine building game. He was also shocked at how quickly I picked it up. You can see from the scoreboard that we were really close, both scoring well over the required 25 points. It was my first time playing it, but I quickly caught on to the combinations you can play with the cards.

Ignacy Trzewiczek's 51st State utilizes card drafting, variable player powers (the organization that you're part ot), and hand management in order you to quickly build up your faction and start earning those victory points. The game has a competitive component where you can actually attack the other player, but it's not a required part of the game if you're not into that kind of competitiveness. 

Either way, the game quickly lept into a high ranking on my husband's Top 100 games and he is loving playing this. I, personally, feel that this game is much more up his alley than mine, because he loves deck building games, but I can see picking it up again. It was a good time and a fast play.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 9: Game of Thrones - The Card Game

  (See previous entries HERE.)

The Game of Thrones card game that I am playing is not the one that matches the box on the calendar. Ooops. My bad. It is the black box one put out by HBO, but Eric M. Lang was still the designer behind it. It is meant to be a two-player game just against Stark and Lannister, but there were fan made decks made, which is what my husband and I ended up playing with. Also, this game came to us in a Math Trade and my husband gave it a whirl.

We played with Martell and Baratheon. Sadly, the game play didn't go as desired, as my husband forgot that the person who wins initiative gets to CHOOSE who goes first and isn't the person who goes first. I was winning at the time and he decided that he could concede, because there was no way he was going to catch up with that mistake. 

It was fun while it lasted. If you like 2-player deck dueling games, it's worth checking out. I liked some of the neat mechanics of how you can attack. My husband really enjoys deck-dueling and this is up his alley.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 8: Covert

  (See previous entries HERE.)

Covert is a game my husband was very excited to play with me. He said, "this game is in your wheelhouse." So he was banking on me really enjoying it. It has some mechanics like Ticket to Ride, which is my signature game, and some mechanics like Tokanoko, which I love. 

Luckily, my husband wasn't wrong. This game was totally in my wheelhouse. I had to complete missions by gathering materials, which I could only get through certain ways. It was strategizing, but without the headache. It even offers variable player powers in the form of your spy persona. I enjoyed it, and, won AGAIN! I was surprised I won, because my husband had tons of code-breaker cards, but I beat him by a good 30 points. I had been taking high point value missions, so when I got 6 of then, it was 10+ points for all my missions, except one. (You need to complete 6 missions to trigger the end game.)

I can see this game being more intense with more people and that much more strategy would be involved. My husband and I wouldn't have been able to benefit like we did from the code breaker section of the game if there were more people. 

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 7: 1960: The Making of the President

 (See previous entries HERE.)

1960: The Making of a President focuses on the election between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. My husband played Nixon and I played Kennedy (randomly assigned). Essentially there is quite a bit of strategy involved in the game. You have to try to secure states to get the electoral votes. You have to think about media support in the various regions (to help you secure states). You have to think about the debate and building up your presence on the primary topics: Economy, Civil Rights, and Defense. And then you also had the think about endorsements. The cards you can use along the way are real events/people during the election and have certain benefits for Nixon, Kennedy, or both. Balance all of those things and use the cards to your advantage and you just might win the election! 

I somehow was able to manage all of these things and when we totaled up our electoral votes, I won with 318! I really hung on to some high vote states.

Regardless of the outcome, the game was intense. My anxiety was up with the competitiveness. It was also the first time I played, so I get a little anxious that I'm screwing up. I never expect to win. 1960 really gets into the election vibe and echoes the same excitement as election night. I'd definitely play this again under the right conditions (AKA time to play).

My husband says that it's like Twilight Struggle, but has a mini game in the middle of the game. So if that's you're think, this democratic historical take on strategy, area control, and hand management might be right up your ally.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 6: Freedom: The Underground Railroad

  (See previous entries HERE.)

Freedom: The Underground Railroad (2012) is a cooperative game where you are trying to run the underground railroad. You have to move slaves from the plantations to get them to Canada, but along the way you run into slave catchers. You also have to raise money in order to get your railroad going and be able to move slaves away from the plantations. The game uses historic background, events, and people in the game.

I enjoyed the game, but my husband kept saying we started off really poorly. Suffice to say, the Abolitionists didn't succeed at their goal and lost the game. It does generate a discussion about the real Underground Railroad during the game and after play. It's not too heavy and the cooperative aspect helps to carry forward the idea that we are all working together to fix the wrongs. 

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 4: The Voyages of Marco Polo

   (See previous entries HERE.)

We had originally played The Voyages of Marco Polo with a friend of ours and I apparently loved the goodness gracious out of it. So my husband put this on his list just for me. We played together and forgot how quickly it plays (5 rounds). I went all in on getting contracts and my husband was trying to do a little bit of everything. By the end of it, I came out victorious!  

Marco Polo uses numerous mechanics, but it fed into my need for set collecting and having variable player powers and using "worker placement". It can be frustrating, but I get my plan ready in my head and then go! It's great fun and with even more players, it's intense! Highly recommend. 

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 3: Francis Drake

   (See previous entries HERE.)

We played Francis Drake last year as part of the Around-the-World theme calendar I made for him. This year, he just wanted to play it again, because we had fun. We played the 2-player approved variant and we still hate the green guy. He is just such a jerk - always taking what we wanted next. The mechanics of the game really suit as, as it has a little bit of something for everyone: secret deployment, working placement, a little push your luck here and there. It's the kind of game that keeps me and my husband right on each other's tail as we move around the VP track. This time we weren't as close, but it was still a good game. I'm glad I was in the frame of mind to enjoy it and feel good about things. Francis Drake always looks like a heavy game, but is a quick play in three rounds.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 2: Bora Bora

   (See previous entries HERE.)

Stefan Feld is a #1 favorite of my husband. We played this for our last Advent Calendar together and had a ball playing it. Bora Bora uses dice rolling, set collecting, and working placement, which are mechanics I do enjoy. It is not a long, arduous game to place and works well with just two players. He was really glad we got to play this again together, especially since he won using his jewelry collecting strategy.

The Joy of Gaming: December Challenge 2020 - Day 1: Pandemic - Iberia

  (See previous entries HERE.)

Pandemic - Iberia is a great new take on the Pandemic model. Here you have the addition of traveling by sea, as well as building a railroad to help you get to all the locations. I really enjoy it and the cooperative aspects make me super happy. This time we ran out of cards before we could discover the last cure. All the colors we needed were at the bottom of the deck and made it hard to get the final cure. We had them all, but just didn't make it to the base on time. 

Tabletop Thursday #3

What a day or relaxation. I did get to finally sleep and feel rested so that I didn't want to pass out with a nap. I also got work done on a few projects. But it's game day, so it was really about looking forward to some games.

First we played Horrified (2019) which I picked. I was so excited to play it. Horrified is a cooperative game where you fight different classic monsters. It is really worth picking up and was even great for my 10-year-old daughter. We just played the first layout to learn the game, but I am up for another play soon. We won by defeating Dracula and The Creature from the Black Lagoon using the Archeologist, the Explorer, and the Scientist.

Raptors not included.

Then my husband wanted to introduce our daughter to Timeline Challenge (2015). I know Timeline is frustrating for kids, because they automatically just say, "I don't know it." I experienced this for years in my game club. I give them advice and strategies, but they just kind of stop caring, which is sad, because some of the things they'd learn are so interesting. My husband and I enjoy Timeline, so it was great to break it out. Sadly, my husband pulled ahead by getting the chance to earn points in a showdown against my daughter. I was ahead, but he earned the points to then put him ahead just enough to beat me. Boooo. Timeline Challenge is an interesting spin on the game itself and I like the new mechanics it gives you for how to earn points with the cards. It's worth it and I still keep recommending it to my friend, because it would be fun for him to play in his bro-gaming-scenarios.

Another fun game bonus is that my husband ended up trading for the Mr. Jack Extension (2007). I love the Mr. Jack games. They're fun and challenging in their own way.

And because I want to keep this thing short and sweet, I'm just going to paste the email I sent to my coworkers about my mom, because I don't feel like writing anything at the moment:

I hope you're all having a wonderful summer and enjoying the beautiful outdoors!

I just wanted to share some news that has come across the wire. First, my mom just celebrated her 70th birthday! We were so happy to be able to share that with her. We had a drive-by birthday. I am sad to say the house is still not cleaned out and I continue to find remnants from the 80s and 90s in closets, drawers, and basement spaces. If you need golf balls, I have promised them all to Blair, but he might be willing to share his plunder (I don't want to speak for him on that. Haha!).

Sadly, this celebration was followed by news that her cancer is still slowly growing, which means the treatment she was doing is no longer an option for her. She has been ousted from the study where she was able to take pills for chemo. Her tumors have also started inflicting pain, which is clearly troubling. Her two options are radiation for pain with no other treatment or going back to chemo with a port. From our last conversation, she still feels she has too much left of her house to clean out and is thinking of going back on the chemo. If the house not being cleaned out is what is keeping her motivated, I will no longer be helping. Haha! :-)

But as we know, chemo is hard to do on your own. We're trying to figure out how to move forward with that particular concern. 

While everyday for everyone is uncertain, I am so thankful with how things have gone and I'm hoping her next decision will give her enough time not only to see Isabelle turn 10, but see me turn 40 in December. Just one more day, one more week, one more month, one more year. She responded well to the liquid chemo the first time... we're hoping that will be what we're looking at now. 

Thank you for all your support and I hope you are all doing well during these uncertain times.