Happy Fourth of July, America! The guys and I gathered last weekend to play Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection, designed by Harold Buchanan, who I met at Strategicon in Los Angeles at the end of May. My friends and I love playing war games, and this is the third in the COIN series that I’ve had the chance to play. The previous two are Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt and A Distant Plain.
It’s super duper early Saturday morning in Chandler, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix, and a neon-pink sign in the church parking lot that says “Sellers” points people toward a building on the back of the campus. Outside the auditorium, another sign greets you: “Welcome gamers!” Today is Arizona Con.
I had so much fun playing Celestia at BGG Con last November that I bought a copy there. I mean, seriously, who can resist that adorable aircraft? Plus, I’m always on the lookout for fun games that can accommodate a medium-sized group of gamers. Celestia is a fun 30-minute push-your-luck game that plays 2-6 players. You are traversing the clouds of the kingdom of Celestia, and the adventurer who travels the farthest on multiple journeys wins the game.
I recently played a game I knew nothing about, that through the randomness of a Christmas White Elephant gift exchange in December had been sitting in my stack of unopened games. Upon initial inspection, TMG’s Steam Works looks like a whimsy board game that had a steampunk theme. But what I learned from getting it on table last weekend is that it’s actually quite a heavy worker-placement game. I was surprised, and the guys I was playing with (who are all heavy gamers) were, too, and we had a lot of fun!
Wow, where did February go? And how is it that it feels like the holidays were just yesterday? Well, here we are in March, and I haven’t been blogging as much I had hoped to. As I mentioned on Instagram, I got a new job early February, and my entire schedule has been non-stop and action-packed! With a bit of board gaming in there, naturally. So here’s a few things I was up to last month, and a few goals for March …
I love Trickerion so much that I purchased a wooden insert from Meeple Realty while I was at BGG Con in November. I just got around to building it. I actually started two weeks ago and realized that the set I had purchased was missing wooden sheets. I emailed the Meeple Realty folks, and they quickly sent me what I was missing. Love it when a company has great customer service!
If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you’ve noticed that I’ve been playing a lot of games recently, more so than usual. I think it’s been a way of decompressing from all the awfulness that’s happening outside in the real world. When your job requires you to stay informed with all the insanity that’s happening right here in our backyard, well … it’s upsetting and disheartening. Anyway, to combat all of that, I try to concentrate on simple pleasures and focus on uplifting things, such as family, friends and board games.
One game I’ve brought out a lot recently is Lotus. Lotus is a gorgeous card game that I purchased at this year’s BGG Con. It plays 2-4 players, clocking in at about 30 minutes. This isn’t a game I normally would pick up, but I couldn’t pass up on the artwork, and I’m always on the lookout for quality filler games. And truth be told, it’s actually a little bit cut-throat.
It’s been a depressing few months, and it’ll be even more depressing come Friday, but, hey, at least we can escape from the harsh reality of real life by playing board games, right? So … let’s all go back in time to 1960 to a very different presidential race that came down to Richard Nixon vs. John F. Kennedy.
Happy New Year, people of the Internet! I can still say that, right, even though it’s Jan. 11? I’ve been meaning to do this post for the past week or so, but life gets in the way — as well as board gaming. I just wanted to take a minute to celebrate hitting 1,200 followers on Instagram! Thank you for making the board-gaming community such a great one, and I can’t wait to see where our adventures all take us.
And with that, here’s a quick list of games I want to play soon!