I can second The Gallerist, it’s a great game and astonishingly thematic for a deep euro game. And the game looks just gorgeous to me when set up. Very smooth mechanics that you grok in a few play throughs, but with tons of depth that keep you coming back for more. It does have a bit of a setup time, though, but I guess you are used to that if you play stuff like Eldritch Horror or Agricola.

I can second The Gallerist, it’s a great game and astonishingly thematic for a deep euro game. And the game looks just gorgeous to me when set up. Very smooth mechanics that you grok in a few play throughs, but with tons of depth that keep you coming back for more. It does have a bit of a setup time, though, but I guess you are used to that if you play stuff like Eldritch Horror or Agricola.

Last week was a bit slow, but still got some stuff in and some new stuff, even. I got C3i #27 recently and played a few games of Soviet Dawn from that magazine. Quite a bit fun, quick setup, quick play and lots of historical flavor. Funny enough, I got Hostage Negotiator from my KS, too, and played it a few times and one thing I noticed is that it plays quite a bit like the state of siege games in that you try to do your actions and a dice decides if that action goes through. Interesting to see a classic fog-of-war element outside war games. But obviously for solo games you need ways to counteract player actions and give something striking back. Normally I am not a big fan of this kind of mechanism in solo games, but for short ones like these two it works for me. Other than that my typical mix of Progress: Evolution of Technology and this time Waggle Dance. Progress still is top game around home with 4 plays in that week.

Political issues as in historical backgrounds with political structure: yep, lots of that. Currently the above mentioned Soviet Dawn and could ber counted in that area, Wir sind das Volk recently arrived and waits to be played, Cuba Libre could be counted in the same classification and the incoming 1989 would fit, too. Cruel Necessity fits in my mind, too, but of course it’s by now much more historical than political (although the theme was very political back in that time). I won’t mention stuff like Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, because that’s really totally historical by now. Oh, I did mention it. Sorry. In general, historical themes really grab me, but more often it is the really historical themes from ancient times or maybe up to the age of revolutions. But even more recent stuff from time to time grabs me, like for example the upcoming Mr. President – and I’m not even an american. But the game idea is just great.

I only veto games in the sense that I set the guidelines for our weekly game meeting. But well, I’m the guy with the collection, so the first limit is “I own it” and the broader limit would be “a player owns it and it’s from 2000+ and targets adults”. And I don’t mean “nude monopoly in a version printed in 2010” with that broader limit. Neither “nude” nor “monopoly” would work in our group that well 😉

Last week was a bit slow, but still got some stuff in and some new stuff, even. I got C3i #27 recently and played a few games of Soviet Dawn from that magazine. Quite a bit fun, quick setup, quick play and lots of historical flavor. Funny enough, I got Hostage Negotiator from my KS, too, and played it a few times and one thing I noticed is that it plays quite a bit like the state of siege games in that you try to do your actions and a dice decides if that action goes through. Interesting to see a classic fog-of-war element outside war games. But obviously for solo games you need ways to counteract player actions and give something striking back. Normally I am not a big fan of this kind of mechanism in solo games, but for short ones like these two it works for me. Other than that my typical mix of Progress: Evolution of Technology and this time Waggle Dance. Progress still is top game around home with 4 plays in that week.

Political issues as in historical backgrounds with political structure: yep, lots of that. Currently the above mentioned Soviet Dawn and could ber counted in that area, Wir sind das Volk recently arrived and waits to be played, Cuba Libre could be counted in the same classification and the incoming 1989 would fit, too. Cruel Necessity fits in my mind, too, but of course it’s by now much more historical than political (although the theme was very political back in that time). I won’t mention stuff like Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage, because that’s really totally historical by now. Oh, I did mention it. Sorry. In general, historical themes really grab me, but more often it is the really historical themes from ancient times or maybe up to the age of revolutions. But even more recent stuff from time to time grabs me, like for example the upcoming Mr. President – and I’m not even an american. But the game idea is just great.

I only veto games in the sense that I set the guidelines for our weekly game meeting. But well, I’m the guy with the collection, so the first limit is “I own it” and the broader limit would be “a player owns it and it’s from 2000+ and targets adults”. And I don’t mean “nude monopoly in a version printed in 2010” with that broader limit. Neither “nude” nor “monopoly” would work in our group that well 😉