Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Obligatory “What I Played In…” Post Part XI: May 2016

Hey all, welcome to another edition of “What I Played In…” for the month of May.  It was another great month of gameplays and I’m excited to write up this month’s post about them!  We aren’t quite hitting the numbers of a couple months ago in plays as it has been a busy month, but we were still able to hit 70 plays.  There are some new ones to hit the table and one that blew all others out of the water!  Sit back, read on, and enjoy!  Thanks for your time!

Statistics:
Total plays in May 2016 – 74
Total unique games played in May 2016 – 23
New games played in May 2016 – 4
New games acquired in May 2016 – 1
New expansions acquired in May 2016 – N/A
Most plays of a single game in May 2016 – 34



Designer – Kane Klenko
Publisher – Renegade Game Studios
New to me
First play – 5/2/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 34

Okay, so this is the game that crushed the numbers of all other plays this month.  As a matter of fact, our plays of FUSE were almost more than all of our other plays combined.  This is a small, quick, dice drafting, real time game that is just fun and tense.  Em and I don’t really tend to like super tense games but this one really hits a sweet spot with us and has become out go-to filler game!  Love to roll those dice!



Designer – Fabien Riffaud/Juan Rodriguez
Publisher – Cool Mini or Not
New to me
First play – 5/5/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 5

Here is another new game for us and in second place!  This is a co-operative, hand management card game where you are playing as a group of World War I soldiers who have promised to make it through the war alive and get back together as a group of friends.  This is a fairly mean co-op (although it’s not quite as punishing at two players) that is a ton of fun.  I have always loved a good card game and this is definitely one.



Designer – Ignacy Trzewiczek
Publisher – Portal Games
New to me
First play – 5/10/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 4

Well, the top three games are all new to me!  This is a game that I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time.  Ignacy mentioned last year that he was going to rework his games 51st State and The New Era into one new master set.  This got me very interested as I love post-apocalyptic settings and Imperial Settlers is one of my favorite games.  When the pre-order went up I jumped at it and we just received it this past month.  I love it.  This game will go up on my list of favorite games with more plays, of that I have no doubt.  It also has beautiful art and amazing components.  Bravo Ignacy, bravo!



Designer – Rob Daviau/Matt Leacock
Publisher – Z-man Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/20/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 4

Oh man do I love this game!  We have fought through the epic scope and grandiose nature of this game and have completed the epic narrative journey.  We were able to do really well during our journey and had twelve wins to only three losses.  Our final score was 755 points and we were quite proud of it.  Lainey was actually the only one in our group who had previously played Pandemic so we were quite happy with our final score…although we were only on destroyed military base away from scoring over 800 points!  I highly recommend this game…it is just amazing!



Designer – Carl Chudyk/Chris Cieslik
Publisher – Asmadi Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/20/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 3

We only got three plays of this game in the month of May.  That just goes to show how popular FUSE was with Em and I this past month.  While we tended toward FUSE where we would have previously played Red7, that in no means lowers the game in our estimation.  We still love this one and pretty much carry it wherever we go as it is so quick to play and just a lot of quick, card-based fun.



Designer – Mike Fitzgerald
Publisher – Eagle-Gryphon Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/18/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 2

Oh man do we ever love this game.  I could definitely see this one rising up further on our personal top 10 lists.  We love theme, the mechanics, and the look of the game.  It certainly doesn’t hurt that we are huge baseball fans!  Also, as an interesting note, this is probably the game that frustrates Em and I the most out of all of our games!  I just think it is because we enjoy it so much and really want to win!  This is an amazing game and we’ll end up getting all of the expansions that come out for it.



Designer – Vangelis Bagiartakis
Publisher – Alderac Entertainment Group/Artipia Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/9/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 2

We were able to get two plays of this fun dice-placement game in May.  We brought it out with a couple of friends of ours and played a four player game.  This was a lot of fun although I do think the downtime may be a little high at four players.  We didn’t mind too much however as we just hung out and drank and chatted during the downtime.  The second game was a super-quick two player match between Em and I and she took me out with a heavy trade ship strategy.  This is becoming a go-to for dice rolling games.




Designer – Carl Chudyk
Publisher – Asmadi Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/27/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 2

We got two plays of this brilliantly designed, multi-use card game by the fantastic Chudyk.  This is the spiritual successor to Glory to Rome and I find it to be an amazing game.  This is one of the go to games on our Wednesday coffee/breakfast dates and it is awesome!  We had our second play of the month on the final day of May and I was able to win with a Haniwa strategy where my most played helper type scored me three points for every individual helper.  This got me the win 24-23 and was an amazing game!



Designer – Alexander Pfister
Publisher – Lookout Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/27/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 2

No surprise here.  We got a couple more plays of this wonderful little, multi-use card game and they were awesome!  Em is really good at this game and tends to win it more often than not and this month’s plays were no different as she won both of them!  This is a go-to, filler length game that we have over twenty plays in already in about four months.



Designer - François Gandon
Publisher – Days of Wonder
New to me
First play – 5/2/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 2

Another “new to us” game played this past month was Quadropolis.  This is a Days of Wonder production (actually, my first Days of Wonder game) and it has an absolutely wonderful table presence.  We have only played it twice so far but I’ll admit that it is one of those that I consciously want to bring to the table.  I loved my first couple of plays and hope to play it a bunch more!



Designer – Thomas Lehmann/Wei-Hwa Huang
Publisher – Rio Grande Games
Last play before May 2016 – 1/28/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 2

No!  I realized that it had been since January since we broke this game out and that is sad.  Roll for the Galaxy is such an absolutely amazing game and it is a bummer that it took us over three months to get another couple of plays in.  I hope to get the Ambition expansion sometime in the next couple of months and I think that will get this game back to the table more often!



Designer – Antoine Bauza/Bruno Cathala
Publisher – Repos Production/Asmodee
Last play before May 2016 – 4/6/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

We got one play of this game in during May and it was a super close one.  Em and I are very equally matched in this wonderful take on its big brother, 7 Wonders, and this one was no exception.  I was able to just barely edge her out by three points.  This is an amazing two player experience and I would highly recommend it to anyone!  I’ve heard they are working on the first expansion and it possibly has god powers in it.  I can’t wait!



Designer – Isaac Vega
Publisher – Plaid Hat Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/27/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Em and I got in a play of Ashes this month with the two new characters, Rin Northfell and Brennen Blackcloud.  This game wasn’t even close!  She drew into her best cards (as Rin) and I just couldn’t get the allies that I needed to start a good combo going with Brennen.  Em made pretty short work of me…but that is totally cool because I adore this game!



Designer – Maxime Rambourg
Publisher – IELLO
Last play before May 2016 – 3/30/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Em and I were foolish young magic users and we decided to pop down into the bottom floors of our magic school in order to open The Big Book of Madness.  Mistake!  Actually, it was totally okay because we crushed it!  We moved on to a medium difficulty and opened the book.  The evocative art of Naiade popped off the cards as we flipped each page of the fearsome book.  We really built our decks and spell books well in this round as we were able to beat the dragon on our final round and third turn.  It was an awesome game and I can’t wait to play again!  I am really starting to love this co-op!



Designer – Marco Pozzi
Publisher – Placentia Games/Post Scriptum
Last play before May 2016 – 1/25/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Em suggested we pull Bretagne off the shelf to play it for the second time.  I was all about it!  We played it and I realize how much I enjoy this form of worker placement.  You will place your workers right away and then decide if you want to pull them right off and score some small points or leave them on to possibly score a large amount of points later.  This is another game where Em and I seem to be very evenly matched as I beat her only by one point.  This is a fun game, but I could see it being punishing if you make a wrong move, so be careful!



Designer – Filip Głowacz/Ireneusz Huszcza
Publisher – Board&Dice/Stuntkite Publishing
Last play before May 2016 – 11/11/15
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

We pulled this fun dice-chucker out and had a good play.  We always enjoy our plays of this one but I definitely seem to have Em’s number in this one.  It is funny that Em usually takes me down in Oh My Goods! when multi-use cards is one of my favorite mechanisms and I usually take her down in Dice Brewing when dice-chucking is one of her favorites!  We always like chucking the dice and brewing some beer.  I would love to get the upgrade kit but still haven’t been able to get my hands on it.  I also look forward to the expansion that the designers have spoken about a few times.  On a side note, I would love to get Board&Dice's new game, Multiuniversum, but don't know if that will happen any time soon!  Sad Face!



Designer – Uwe Rosenberg
Publisher – Z-Man Games
Last play before May 2016 – 2/10/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

This is a game that we need to get to the table more often!  I absolutely love the sandbox nature of this game.  It is a ton of fun to play this with my wife and see what different paths we choose.  It is a game that I love winning but honestly don’t really mind if I lose because you get to look over what you’ve done and it is awesome!  Fields of Arle is a GREAT two player game and I’d highly recommend it!



Designer – Uwe Rosenberg
Publisher – Lookout Games/Mayfair Games
Last play before May 2016 – 4/27/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Yay for getting in another play of Patchwork!  This is definitely one of our favorite two player games.  This is one of those perfect amalgams of a simple rule set and deep decisions.  We bought this game in October of last year and have played at least one game of it every month since.  This is a game I would buy for anyone as it is super simple to teach and anyone could enjoy it.



Designer – Hisashi Hayashi
Publisher – Gamewright
Last play before May 2016 – 3/12/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Em randomly wanted to play this fun little dice game the other night so we pulled it out.  I quite enjoy a puzzle and that is what this game basically is.  You roll the dice and put the numbers on your little “board” in an attempt to completely cover the boxes with numbers and no “x’s”.  It is a super simple game but nonetheless quite fun.  Em and I tied on our play!



Designer – Régis Bonnessée
Publisher – Libellud/Asmodee
Last play before May 2016 – 2/8/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Em and I pulled out Seasons to play a round in May.  This is still one of my favorite games and I don’t think I’d ever turn down a game of it.  This was an odd round as I had a really good card engine rolling and was able to beat Em 189-127.  It isn’t very often that our games are this big of a difference but it was nice to win as she had been on quite a game winning roll!



Designer – Christopher Badell/Paul Bender/Adam Rebottaro
Publisher – Greater Than Games/Sentinel Comics
Last play before May 2016 – 2/10/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

I pulled this game out for a solo play and used The Scholar, Guise, Fanatic, Chrono-Ranger, and Absolute Zero against Wager Master in Insula Primalis.  This was a super odd game and I completely loved it!  Wager Master is a somewhat complicated villain but he has some really cool gameplay involved in playing him.  I also chose some of the more difficult heroes and was able to beat up on Wager Master before he sent the world in disarray!



Designer – Helmut Ohley
Publisher – Lookout Games/Mayfair Games
Last play before May 2016 – 3/30/16
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

We were able to pull this little, two-player card game in May and as always it was a great time!  This is one of our go to games when we just want a card game.  This uses one of my favorite game mechanisms, multi-use cards!  Ohley did a great job with this design and I hope he does future, small card games to add to his design credits!



Designer – Masato Uesugi
Publisher – IELLO
Last play before May 2016 – 11/23/15
Total plays in May 2016 – 1

Technically this wasn’t a complete play as we were interrupted while we were in the middle of it.  We had gotten to a point that I had a point and a wound and so did Em.  Sadly we needed to leave before we saw who ended up winning but that’s okay, we’ll pull it out sometime in June to make up for the incomplete play!

New game acquisitions in May 2016:
51st State: Master Set

Well, there you have it.  It was a pretty packed and very fun month of gaming for Em and I.  As you can see we only had one new acquisition in 51st State: Master Set.  We are pretty much out of high numbers of gaming additions until Gen Con and Essen Spiel games really start hitting the market.  There are a few I’d like to pick up but nothing that is pre-ordered.  I do have a couple of Kickstarter games that I hope to see in the next month or two.  The two that should be here by Gen Con at the latest are New Bedford and The Networks.  Both are very high on my interest list and I look forward to them getting here.  Keep your eyes on the blog as my next series will be Em and my top games list revisited.  We did this last year and are looking forward to the exercise this year to see what stayed on the list and what is new.  As always, thanks so much for reading!  I always love to see that people are enjoying the blog!  I think that is all for now.  Until next time, game on!

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