The First 9 Weeks

As this is a catch up entry to cover everything played so far at the club it will be just be bare bones and a simple summary list, I will do my best to flesh out further entries with any thoughts voiced either about the games played or possible games for the future. The entry is a bit wordy, photos and links will follow in due course once I understand how things work here.

The first meeting got underway  on 23rd April 2014 with a quick game of Pickomino (aka Heck Meck) normally a 20 minute filler game it lasted well beyond its normal playing time to the point where questions were being asked of me whether I was sure it was a quick filler game. With 5 attendees for the first meeting we moved on to Kingsburg (basic game) which played through quite. I am sure that we ended the evening with another filler but no-one I have asked recalls what (if anything) it was.

30th April 2014 had 6 attendees starting with a game of Incan Gold, splitting into two threes playing Santiago de Cuba, Taj Mahal, 8 Minute Empire, Rattus (base game) and Unexpected Treasures.

On 7th May 2014 there were 6 attendees with the warm-up games being Buccaneer Bones followed by Tongiaki, we then split into two threes to play Tobago and Twin Tin Bots.

On 14th May 2014 had 6 attendees who split into two threes without a warm-up – memories of Pickomino still being mentioned 4 weeks on may have been a factor. Table 1 played Santiago de Cuba, Tsuro of the Seas and the Alhambra Dice Game. Table 2 played Wongar, Claim it and Land Unter (aka Turn the Tide). The variety of games gave a nice mix of game mechanics including Area Control, Resource Management, Route Laying and dice rolling among others.

On 21st May 2014 7 players attended and the warm-up game was Camel Up, one of the three games currently on the Spiel des Jahres nomination list, a lovely game of chance which has gone on to my “To Buy” list.  We then went onto split 4 and 3 with Table 1 playing Felina and then Roll for it whilst table 2 played New Amsterdam (another on to the “To buy” list) and Unexpected Treasures.

On 28 May 2015 7 people attended and the warm up games were Fluxx (basic but latest edition) and Roll for it. The first game we played was a 7 player game of 7 Wonders (without expansions). The split after that was a little different in that Table 1 played a 2 player game of Memoir ’44, a close fought battle but at a basic level as I was still learning the rules. Table 2 played a 5 player game of Darjeeling (one of the games currently under offer in The Works).

On 4th June 2014 there were 5 attendees, Table 1 had 3 players playing Glass Road (plays1-4 only) followed by No Thanks and then Unspeakable Words, Table 2 played Maori followed by Samurai – the card game. The last game of the evening was Tranamerica. It was the first night I had remembered to take some pictures of what we were playing however when I looked at them later except for the Transamerica board, all I had were photos of card and tile games.

On 11th June 2014 there were 5 attendees who played Martian Dice, Ivor the Engine (a 2014 release), Great Wall of China and Spin Monkeys (on sale in The Works).  Spin Monkeys I have to comment on – the amount of control you have in the game is limited but for this it is a nice game to end the evening with, it is light, easy to learn and full of chaos.

Finally for this entry are last weeks games on 18 June 2014. Our first evening of 8 attendees and we quickly split into 2 sets of 4. Table 1 played Strozzi, followed by Taluva (2 games I have yet to play) and finished off with Midnight Party. Table 2 played Compounded a Kickstarter game, a nicely balanced resource management game. This was followed by Transamerica and Spin Monkeys.