June 2015 new and noteworthy


Age of War: Horrible game. Simple filler game, roll dice and conquer tiles by rolling the right symbols. In theory pretty good, but gets really annoying really quick, because conquering the tiles is seriously difficult. Avoid.

Age of War, an exercise in frustration. #boardgame #boardgames

Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

Nations: The Dice Game: I first tried this in November, but finally got my own copy in June. It’s pretty good, and whatever concerns I had based on the four-player game are non-existing in the two-player game. That’s what I’ll mostly play in the future, it’s a decent game that way – less so with four players. Suggest.

The Roman civilization is amazing, as usual. Nations: The Dice Game is fun. #boardgames #boardgame

Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

Cacao: Family-friendly tile-laying game. Simple, looks pretty good, is fun to play – but I’ve now played ~5 games and am somewhat bored, already, so not a keeper in the end. But if you’re looking for something for the family, this might be worth trying. Indifferent.

Cacao – seems like a fun little tile-layer. #boardgames #boardgame

Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

At the Gates of Loyang: I’ve had good experiences with Uwe Rosenberg games recently and this was no exception. Kind of fiddly, so I get it why this hasn’t received the love Uwe’s better titles get, but I like this: the game suits my tastes quite well. Suggest.

Serving customers, unhappy as they are. At the Gates of Loyang is a fun game. #boardgames #boardgame Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

Lost Legacy: Advanced Love Letter. Not quite as good, but this’ll see at least ~10 plays before I’m done with this, the interplay between cards seems fascinating enough. (My kids really like Love Letter, by the way.) Suggest.

Serving customers, unhappy as they are. At the Gates of Loyang is a fun game. #boardgames #boardgame

Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

1862: Railway Mania in the Eastern Counties: I had skipped the kickstarter (well, at least the second, successful one), but when people started talking about stock running low, I decided I have to get this. Mike Hutton does wonders, I really like 1860, so this seemed like a good move. I got to play the game, and yeah, it wasn’t a miss. Lots of stuff in it, and it is quite confusing to begin with, but everything makes sense in the end and as is typical for Hutton, the end game, often the weakest part of 18xx games, is well done. Suggest.

Been a while from my previous 18XX game. 1862 seems like a good game. #boardgames #boardgame #jycon #18xx Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

1846: Noteworthy, not new. I had owned this, then sold it, then repurchased it from Golden Spike Games, skipping the queue. It was worth it. This is one of the best 18xx games and I really want to have this in my collection. Couple of reasons: there’s good variability in the setup; I really like the private draft instead of an auction; the game can be played in less than three hours, and it still doesn’t feel like a short game.

Survey Party is an interesting helper app for playing 18xx games. #boardgames #boardgame #jycon #18xx

Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

Roads & Boats: Another bought-sold-rebought game. I got this one last year, and today had a chance to get it on the table with my son. We played a game, he seemed to enjoy it and I managed to produce my first share ever (that’s the ultimate achievement in Roads & Boats, the best thing you can do; of course, then you can set the goal to producing more shares). So, success. Next, I’ll introduce him to Antiquity

Two competing kingdoms in Roads & Boats. #boardgames #boardgame #splotter Kuva, jonka Mikko Saari (@mikkosaari) julkaisi

I decided I’ll try to give this old blog a bit of a boost, so I’m going to post these posts once a month. Let’s see how many months I can do; I’m betting on three.

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