Category: Syndicated

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 b…

Tiny Epic Galaxoes is the last released, but they now run Tiny Epic Western on kickstarter.

Another card centric game that at least addresses part of the civ spectrum is **Progress: Evolution if Technology**. It concentrates on the tech tree part of civ games and abstracts the other parts heavily (military, population and prestige are reduced…

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 😉

Biggest is **Assault on Doomrock** which I rated a 2 for literally never wanting to play it again. Not really a fault of the game, which is neat and has some cool aspects, but a disagreement of my temper towards randomness and the way it is employed a …

by TheGargoyle
There are cards in age IV that give VP based on number of cards in a specific tech path.

Can vouch for both Tiny Epic Galaxies and Star Realms, both are lots of fun. TEG has the benefit of being really fun solo, too, if you want to get a SciFi fix when nobody is around to join. Star Realms only plays really 2, the two-pack option plays 4, …

by TheGargoyle
Darin A. Leviloff with Soviet Dawn has been really nasty to me after I got C3i #27 (where the game was included). In the near future I see Volko Ruhnke as my favorite enemy, because I have some COIN games incoming (one already at home…

by TheGargoyle

In the same boat as you regarding Mini games, but I didn’t go for just The 7th Continent, but went for Sword & Sorcery, too. But that was mostly because the minis from that one can at minimum be used to pimp out other fantasy games and it might be something I bring to the table with friends, too. And well, the dragon was shiny …

Other than that, I have lately discovered my love for more historical board games and so went a bit into the war games niche of gaming. I am especially interested in the COIN stuff, because it allows me to play with historical frameworks from different angles. So far I have Cuba Libre at home, doing my first rounds in it (no complete game so far, only reading up on rules and learning it). Really interesting system and some of the upcoming games (Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection and Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar) definitely interest me. Other than that I already am quite fond of the state of siege series, so there is some more history there. Latest one I really like to play (quick setup and fast and fun play): Soviet Dawn. But the state of siege games are on the border of what I will tolerate in randomness in my games.

I found out that I really like puzzly euro-style games for solo gaming. If it boils down to me having a hand of cards and the puzzle how to play them optimally, I am already interested. The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game is my favorite game ever and I guess it will be very high up there for a long time to come. Shadowrun: Crossfire is up there, too, and I actually prefer it over Mage Knight Board Game, because it gives me the same puzzly feel (as in how the hell do I turn this hand of cards into enough damage to survive another round) with much faster play time and much shorter setup time.

I am not too tolerant towards long setup times – if I do that, the game should provide something back that goes beyond just some dice rolls. Those games I often play solo tend to be on the shorter end off play time and setup time. The game really has to tell a great story or provide tons of history for me to go into a 2-3 hour game with half an hour setup.

by TheGargoyle
I find The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game great for that, but you need to have at least one of the saga expansions (either the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings stuff) for a campaign mode. You build your deck, then progress through Ad…

by TheGargoyle
Oh man, this expansion looks better and better with every look. Totally excited. That spirit event for example, really delicious for Noldor decks. And Galdor could be fun, too, in the right circumstances. Especially if you know what i…

I have two COIN games upcoming (**Liberty or Death** and **Falling Sky**), which I am really excited about. And I recently got hold of a copy of **Cuba Libre**, which will arrive in a few days and hopefully hit the table (solo) soon after, kinda as a p…

by TheGargoyle
Found someone willing to sell me his copy in Germany and now reading up on it to be prepared when it arrives in a few days. Really looking forward to this, especially since I have Liberty or Death: The American Insurrection and Fallin…

by TheGargoyle
Got it from C3i #27 as a lighter state of siege game (already have Cruel Necessity which I liked when playing, but was a bit more involved) to get out for smaller solo time. Already ran through it twice and quite like it.

by TheGargoyle
One game I didn’t see mentioned that recently has made quite a good solo impression on me is Soviet Dawn – it is quite fun and not really that long to play, games easily come out at 30 minutes after a few plays where you get comfortab…

by TheGargoyle
Definitely for me the most exciting entry and really looking forward to see this finished. I really like this take on a solo COIN game.