Wow, August was quite a month! I was able to go to Gen Con 50 this year
which was just last month and it was amazing!
This was my very first convention and I’m glad that I chose to go to Gen
Con as I had a complete blast there!
Because of Gen Con I was able to get in a bunch of new games and also
just a large amount of distinct games.
My one regret is that I didn’t get even more demos in but I plan on
remedying that next year. Well, enough
rambling, here are my 10x10 stats before moving onto my plays for the month.
10x10 Challenge:
Arkham Horror: The Card Game (0 plays in August, 2 total
plays for 2017)
Cottage Garden (1 play in August, 8 total plays for 2017)
Five Tribes (1 play in August, 4 total plays for 2017)
Gloomhaven (2 plays in August, 11 total plays for 2017)
Great Western Trail (0 plays in August, 6 total plays for
2017)
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game (0 plays in August, 9
total plays for 2017)
Ticket to Ride (0 plays in August, 13 total plays for
2017)
Tokaido (1 play in August, 5 total plays for 2017)
Too Many Bones (1 play in August, 11 total plays for
2017)
Unfair (2 plays in August, 7 total plays for 2017)
Well now, with the 10x10 stats out of the way we can move
on the meat of my post. August was a
great month and it was the very first time I was able to go to a boardgame
convention as I went to Gen Con 50. Keep
reading to see what we played this past month!
Statistics:
Total plays in August 2017 – 55
Total unique games played in August 2017 – 34
New games played in August 2017 – 16
New games acquired in August – 11
New expansions acquired in August 2017 – 3
Most plays of a single game in August – 5
Designer – Hisashi Hayashi
Publisher – Tasty Minstrel Games/OKAZU Brand
New to me
First play – 8/19/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 5
This is one of the games that I picked up at Gen Con
50. I’ve known about this co-op card
game for a while but hadn’t had a chance to pick it up. While walking by the Tasty Minstrel booth I
demoed it with another guy and we just barely lost. That sealed the deal and I bought a copy and
have had the chance to play it a fair number of times already. It is a great little card game!
Designer – Adam Carlson/Josh Carlson
Publisher – Chip Theory Games
New to me
First play – 8/24/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 5
Em and I got this Kickstarter in just after Gen Con and
it is great! This is the first small
game by the publisher Chip Theory Games and it is just as high of a quality as
their big games. They are becoming a
company that I’ll look at everything they do and probably give them my money as
they are fantastic and have super high customer service!
Designer – Emerson Matsuuchi
Publisher – Plan B Games
New to me
First play – 8/18/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 4
This is another game that I picked up at Gen Con and man
is this one good! I love a good game
that is simple to teach and deep in decisions and this one definitely has
that! I also love that they decided to
go ahead and do this version as I love the art and the production. This will absolutely be a game that stays on
our shelf!
Designer – R. Eric Reuss
Publisher – Greater Than Games/Fabled Nexus
New to me
First play – 8/12/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 4
Okay wow…this game is absolutely amazing! I have been watching production notes on this
one for some time and was super excited to see it finally being released. It did not disappoint me at all! This game is one of the most amazing
co-operative games that I’ve played. It
has a feel of Pandemic but so much more rich and deep in the decisions. This will end up on my top 10 list when I
next update it!
Designer – Uwe Rosenberg
Publisher – AMIGO Spiele
Last play before August 2017 – 6/9/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 4
I pulled this game out and taught it to some friends this
past month and they really dug it! This
will always be one of those perfect games to just throw in your bag and bring
with you anywhere as it is quick, simple and takes up very little space on a
table. I’d highly recommend this game to
anyone.
Designer – Isaac Childres
Publisher – Cephalofair Games
Last play before August 2017 – 7/19/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 2
We got in a couple more plays of our current campaign
style game and they were awesome as usual.
This game continues to wow us and we are having a blast playing through
the scenarios and upgrading our characters to the point that we feel they are
super powerful! We have played through
11 scenarios at this point and we can honestly say we feel we haven’t even
scratched the surface of this game!
Designer – Ryan Laukat
Publisher – Red Raven Games
New to me
First play – 8/14/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 2
Here is another game that we picked up right around Gen
Con and were able to get in a couple of plays.
Em and I tend to really like his games and the worlds/art that he
creates so this game was a no-brainer.
We have really enjoyed the first couple of plays of this game and I am
really looking forward to more as I think it could possibly be my favorite of
his games.
Designer – Nigel Pyne
Publisher – maverick muse
Last play before August 2017 – 6/22/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 2
This game has always been one that confuses me. We really like this game but don’t play it
very often at all. The fact that we
played it twice this month is actually pretty impressive. I still would recommend this one to people
because it is pretty easy to teach and takes a small amount of time to
play. Plus, as a bonus, you don’t really
need a table as you can play with the deck in your hands. I hope to break this game out more and would
really love to find the expansion which I have had no luck tracking down.
Designer – Joel Finch
Publisher – Good Games Publishing/CMON
Last play before August 2017 – 4/22/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 2
Em and I pulled out this fun and quick card drafting game
this past month and played it a couple of times. This is such a fun card drafting game and we
are planning on pulling it out with some of our friends to teach them as we
think they’d love it! We just got our
replacement cards as ours were incorrectly sized so I think this may bring it
to the table even more as the cards will be much easier to shuffle!
Designer – Ryan Laukat
Publisher – Red Raven Games
Last play before August 2017 – 8/3/16
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
I brought this game along with me one night this past month
to teach a couple of friends. I realized
that it had been quite some time since I pulled this one out and wanted to play
it again. This is a really solid dice
placement, almost-race game and my buddies really liked it! I hope to get a few more plays out of this
one.
Designer – Isaac Vega
Publisher – Plaid Hat Games
Last play before August 2017 – 6/15/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
I pulled this out and taught it to my buddy Dustin (a
Magic: The Gathering player) and he really liked it. I love getting the chance to play this game
and we’re looking forward to trying out the drafting rules as we have four
people in our group who now know how to play.
Designer – Alexander Pfister/Andreas Pelikan
Publisher – Ravensburger
Last play before August 2017 – 6/12/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Em and I pulled this game out and taught it to Molly and
Dustin one night while they were over.
This is such a great game and just one of the reasons that Alexander
Pfister is one of my favorite designers.
I will always take notice when he creates a new game and looking forward
to more plays of this!
Designer – Frédéric Henry
Publisher – Bombyx/Asmodee
Last play before August 2017 – 2/3/16
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
It had been quite a long time since I’d played this game
and so I brought it out with a couple of friends who are just starting to learn
modern boardgames. They really enjoyed
this quick and fun game and I’m looking forward to showing them more in the
hobby.
Designer – Ole Steiness
Publisher – Grey Fox Games
New to me
First play – 8/5/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Another new pickup this month was this wonderful worker
placement and dice rolling game. We
played and really enjoyed it but I did feel something was missing. That missing thing was the Valhalla expansion
which we picked up later on and have since played. I’ll talk about the expansion more next month
but just know that it makes a good game great!
Designer – Holger Lanz
Publisher – Capstone Games
New to me
First play – 8/25/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
This is an abstract, block placement game where you are
climbing up a series of blocks and trying to get to the highest point and
stopping your opponent from doing the same.
This was a quick and fun abstract game that also looks very pretty.
Designer – Uwe Rosenberg
Publisher – Edition Spielwiese
Last play before August 2017 – 7/15/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Em wanted to get in a quick game of this 10x10 before we
headed to sleep. This is a one of those
games that I like because I can pick it up and teach it in a few minutes and we
can be up a rolling along. I’m looking
forward to the second game in this puzzle trilogy, Indian Summer, and how it is
different.
Designer – Isaac Vega/Jonathan Gilmour
Publisher – Plaid Hat Games
Last play before August 2017 – 4/29/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
On the Saturday of Gen Con we got a group of guys
together and played a full game of Dead of Winter. It was a fun time but I will say that I’m
glad we don’t play with a full contingent of people often as it does cause for
some large wait times in between turns although this doesn’t really bother me
all that much.
Designer – Régis Bonnessée
Publisher – Libellud/Asmodee
Last play before August 2017 – 7/31/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
This has become the game that we’ve played that most that
Em and I don’t even own! This past month
Josh pulled it out to play while another guy was there and we quickly taught it
to him and played. This is just a fun
game. There is pretty much nothing else
that needs to be said…go get it!
Designer – Corey Konieczka/Nikki Valens
Publisher – Fantasy Flight Games
Last play before August 2017 – 1/7/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
So here is a game that my buddy Josh owns and we play a
few times a year. This is a super fun
experience but definitely one where you need to set some time apart as they can
go very long. We played against Hastur in
this session and were able to figure out all of the clues and eventually close
the gates and defeat him before he woke up and destroyed the world.
Designer – Bruno Cathala
Publisher – Days of Wonder
Last play before August 2017 – 6/5/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Em and I played this game with Josh this past month and
it was a great round! The game ended up
being a lower scoring game as I really pushed the endgame by getting my camels
on the tiles and winning with less than 10 points difference between first and
third place. It was a great game and I
can’t wait to play again!
Designer – Kane Klenko
Publisher – Renegade Game Studios
Last play before August 2017 – 7/3/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Em and I pulled out this fantastic, real-time,
dice-placement game and it was mean this time!
We had a ton of trouble clearing some of the cards and that really got
us behind early in the game. We made a
bit of a comeback but weren’t quite able to finish it off by the time the round
counter was complete. This is a great
game and we love every play!
Designer – Antoine Bauza
Publisher – R&R Games
Last play before August 2017 – 12/18/16
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
I brought this game along and taught it to my friends
Zach and Stephanie and they loved it! I
love having a few games that I can just toss in a bag and quickly teach to
anyone. Zach and Steph did a great job
for their first time and we scored a solid 17 points. I look forward to playing it with them again
and seeing how well we do that time around.
Designer – Peer Sylvester
Publisher – Osprey Games
New to me
First play – 8/22/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
This is one of my Gen Con pickups and it is a pretty
sweet co-operative, hand management game that plays up to 5 people and can be
super mean. We quite enjoyed our first
play of the game and were able to win even…of course it was on easy which may
have skewed the results just slightly!
I’m looking forward to more plays of this game.
Designer – Bob Craig/Ryan Craig
Publisher – One Day West Games
New to me
First play – 8/18/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Josh and I grabbed a spot in the unpub room at Gen Con
and sat down to play this game. It is a
tile-laying and dice rolling game where you are trying to escape a monster
while he is stomping around a radioactive site.
The game was okay and Josh and I were able to give some things we
thought would make the game better…but hey…I’m just a player, not a designer,
so I only know so much!
Designer – Matt Leacock
Publisher – Z-Man Games
Last play before August 2017 – 6/12/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Em and I broke out this fabulous dice game this past
month and loaded it up. This was a
fantastic play of the game as we came down to the end and were just one roll of
the dice away from either winning or losing and Em rolled beautifully and was
able to cure the final disease before we were overtaken…it was awesome!
Designer – Larry Wickman
Publisher – GameWick Games
New to me
First play – 8/11/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Josh needed to get a refresher for this game as he was
running demos at Gen Con in August so we helped him out by booting it up. This is an interesting and fairly thematic
dice-chucker in the same vein as Larry’s previous release, Pittsburgh 68. While I probably wouldn’t own this game I
enjoy playing them with a good group and game master.
Designer – Thomas Spitzer
Publisher – Capstone Games
New to me
First play – 8/24/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Josh picked this game up at Gen Con and was excited to
try it out so we pulled it out in late August and learned the game. This is actually a really good economic and
pick-up-and-deliver game by the same guy who did Haspelknecht and Kohle & Kolonie (which I’m really looking forward to an English version!) and it is
really deep! This is a brain burner to
be sure, but in the best way possible. I
look forward to trying it out with more people.
Designer – Scott Almes
Publisher – Gamelyn Games
New to me
First play – 8/20/17
Total plays in August – 1
This was another of my pick-ups at Gen Con 50. I almost back this game back when it was on
Kickstarter but decided against it at the time.
Even though I didn’t back it I was pretty sure that I was going to pick
it up as it looked like a really fun push-your-luck, adventure style game in
the vein of the Zelda games. I was not
disappointed! I love the art and look of
the game and it plays really well. I
feel like we aren’t good at it yet but I look forward to playing it more!
Designer – Antoine Bauza
Publisher – Funforge
Last play before August 2017 – 7/15/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
We pulled this game out at a game night in early August
and I taught it to Josh, Tyler and Mary Beth.
This is always a fun game and I love being able to teach it to new
people as it is just one of those fun and chill games that everyone seems to
enjoy.
Designer – Adam Carlson/Josh Carlson
Publisher – Chip Theory Games
Last play before August 2017 – 6/28/17
Total plays in
August 2017 – 1
Well, I don’t know how much more I can say about this
game. It has quickly become one of my
favorite games and I’m sure that it will continue to rise as I just get more
and more plays out of it. Plus, as an
awesome bonus, they are doing a Kickstarter in October that will be the release
of the first major expansion to the game, Undertow. I can’t wait!
Designer – Jason Harner/Matthew Ransom
Publisher – Brotherwise Games
New to me
First play – 8/20/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
Here is another game that I picked up at Gen Con. This game started to gain some buzz shortly
before the convention as a quick dice-rolling game that had more than one way
to win. I decided to try it out and
really like it! It is very quick, easy
to teach and quite a lot of fun as well!
This is a game I’d absolutely take along to a gathering with people who
don’t play many games as it is easy to learn.
Designer – Seiji Kanai/Kuro
Publisher – Alderac Entertainment Group/Manifest Destiny
New to me
First play – 8/23/17
Total plays in
August 2017 – 1
This was a Gen Con acquisition and I was able to get it
to the table to try it out solo one night when Em was out with a friend for the
night. I had been looking at this game
for a while as its first edition has been available to tough to get. Finally AEG announced they were doing it and
I knew I’d pick it up. I really enjoyed
my first play and look forward to teaching it to others!
Designer – Alice Carroll/Thomas Cauët/Cyril Demaegd
Publisher – Asmodee
New to me
First play – 8/19/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
This was one of the few demos that I played while at Gen
Con and I’m glad I did. I’ve been
somewhat interested in the different escape room style boardgames for some time
and this is another of them. This game
was super clever in the way it was created and I think we would enjoy it quite
a bit although I don’t know that I love a game that could be played only one
time total. Regardless of my opinion of
the amount of plays of a game, the game was very fun!
Designer – Jonathan Gilmour/Ben Pinchback/Matt Riddle
Publisher – Pandasaurus Games
New to me
First play – 8/26/17
Total plays in August 2017 – 1
And the final game on this month’s list was also a new
pick-up! This is a highly and
beautifully produced pick-up-and-deliver game released by Pandasaurus and it is
awesome! This game is just such an
amazing blend of Euro-style mechanisms and some American-style theme and it
hits in all the right spots. I hope I get
to play this game a ton because it is just a fun game!
New game acquisitions in August 2017:
New expansion acquisitions in August 2017:
