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!
We’re almost at the end, folks! 2016 is coming to a close. It’s been one of my most interesting years, for sure. I’ve met so many new folks in the board-gaming world, and I myself have gone through a lot of personal and professional changes. I’m glad to move on to bigger and better things in the upcoming year, and to leave behind 2016, aka “celebrity killer” year (I’m still super bummed about David Bowie, Prince, George Michael and Carrie Fisher — and hopefully nobody else). So without further ado, I’m counting down the best games that I played for the first time this year.
I recently played my new copy of Russian Railroads: American Railroads that I picked up recently at BGG Con. I’ve had the base game Russian Railroads for a few years, and while I always enjoy playing it, the game’s winner, for the most part, is determined by who advances the most on the Trans-Siberian railroad.
With American Railroads, that is no longer the case. This mini-expansion is great! It makes the original better, and I really like the new added mechanics, which allow different ways to score. I won’t be going over how to play the original Russian Railroads here, but I think I’d like to revisit how to play that game in a future post.
Guys, I’m totally having BGG Con withdrawal!! I had such a fabulous time, and I just want to spend another 5 glorious days of just board gaming. This past BGG Con was my third one I’ve attended. I think back to how I went to BGG Con for the first time in 2014 ALL BY MYSELF and didn’t know a single soul, to how busy I was this year gaming and hanging out with people. I feel eternally grateful for finding great friends who are obsessed about this hobby as I am.
I remember telling local friends three years ago what I was going to do, and they were like, you’re going on vacation by yourself and doing what for how many days?!? Turns out, it was one of the best things I’ve ever did, as it allowed me to jump straight into the deep end of the hobby. And I can’t wait to see where this hobby takes me.
BGG Con 2016 came and went, and it was a blast! It still blows my mind that five days can go by so quickly! And I can’t wait to do it all again next year.
I’m planning to do two posts on BGG Con. In this post, I’m going to write about all the games that I played. The next post will be about gaming with friends and the overall con experience, and, most importantly, which board games I came home with. My board-game play total for the convention: 23. And away we go!
Two weeks ago, my friend @idontknowrules purchased this game Leaving Earth, which sounded like a game theme he and I were randomly talking about a few weeks before that. He still isn’t quite sure how he ran across the BGG listing for it, but we’re so glad he did. The guys and I have played the game twice this week. And we can’t get enough of it. My other friend even printed out a copy of the rules so he could make his own notes!
My friends and I decided to host a second-annual Friendship Con last week, and I had so much fun. It was nice seeing friends who moved away from Phoenix and those friends I haven’t seen since last year’s event.
We played a lot of games, though sadly we didn’t get through all the games on our uber ambitious list. There were a couple sleepless nights for me (I am so not a morning person, and, not gonna lie, it was rough getting somewhere by 8:30 a.m.), but in the end, I got some good gaming in with fun folks!
One fewer board game is off my Shelf of Shame. For those unaware, the Shelf of Shame is what we call board games that have never been played and have been sitting on your shelves forever. Sad little games, hoping that one day they’ll get picked up and put on table.
That such game is Trickerion: Legends of Illusion.
As you guys know, I’m a huge fan of the Cthulhu/H.P. Lovecraft universe. One of my gaming groups and I try to play Arkham Horror about once every other month. These are the guys I’ve dubbed affectionately as the Arkham Guys. So when Pandemic re-themed its game in that world, I was totally excited.
I’m pretty indifferent to the original Pandemic game, but I do recognize its place in being a great gateway game to get more people into the hobby. And I did a Pandemic Legacy campaign earlier this year, which was a fun experience. And funny enough, my friends who I played Pandemic Legacy with got me Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu for my birthday this year. Woohoo!