I’m coming here to write a blog post of this week’s games, only to find a draft of last week… except there’s nothing else but the title. Sloppy me!
The sessions are, fortunately, compatible, as I played Homesteaders in both of them. I’ve been pushing the game a bit, because I like it and want to explore it a bit. It’s a good game. Last week I played a very typical game for me, Gold Mine and Bank and so on, and I wondered if I’m already stuck with a strategy in my third game. Well, this week I managed to do something else!
I picked up an opening from Geek: first round pass to get a trade marker, second round buy the Steel Mill and third round General Store. That’s a pretty good start and I continued acquiring buildings that require no workers. I played a large part of the game with just one worker and got a second one from an auction later on. Paying the wages was a pleasant task.
It was an interesting game, and a quick one: under an hour. Homesteaders is a very efficient game, it feels like a proper game even though it plays so fast.
Last week we also played two rounds of SNCF. This Winsome game is a gem, I like it. It’s fast, has interesting groupthink dynamic. We played two rounds and I even managed to win once. Ooh. This should do well, when the mass-market version comes out, the basic mechanism is so clever and intuitive, yet the results can be interesting. I should carry this with me more, it’s a good filler.
Speaking of fillers — we finished with two very quick rounds of Lamarckian Poker. Now there’s a great little five-minute filler! Five-player games are chaotic, but we did see a full house.
This week we played another game of Homesteaders and a five-player game of String Railway. It seems I can’t play the game with less… Last time we had a theory that being the last player is an advantage and going first is a disadvantage. That in mind, I told Petri to go first because that would make me last.
Well, I was last — I lost the game. Petri was second. So much for that theory…
4 responses to “Homesteaders, SNCF, others”
Never seen any of those guys in the Navegador table. And yes, the Navegador rondel is extra nasty.
Both Homesteaders and SNCF look interesting to me, but especially SNCF. I’m really hoping it gets released in the States.
It’s coming from Queen Games as Paris Connection.
Good news! Thanks.