🇬🇧 Although a rather busy June, still got to play some nice games. I played a lot of new games. Maria is a war game that surprised me and Coffe Traders had some really nice interaction with 5, only took a little to long. Project L will definitely hit the table again at my house. Las Vegas was my biggest surprise, but I'll get back to that in a first impressions post. Scout it still going strong at work 🔥
Do you have any recommendations for during noon at work?
🇧🇪 Alhoewel juni een heel drukke maand was, toch nog enkele toffe spellen kunnen spelen. Ik heb ook heel wat nieuwe spellen kunnen spelen. Maria is een oorlogsspel dat me verraste en Coffe Traders had toffe interactie, hoewel het wat lang duurde met 5. Project L zal thuis zeker nog op tafel komen. Las Vegas was de grootste verrassing voor mij, maar daar zal ik nog op terug komen met een first impressions post. Scout spelen we nog altijd vaak op het werk 🔥
Hebben jullie nog aanbevelingen voor tijdens de middag op het werk?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played a couple of games lately of Project L from @boardcubator . These are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In project L you put open in the middle 4 white puzzle tiles and 4 black puzzle tiles. The purpose of the game is to collect them and fill these tiles. If you do, you get bonus pieces and score the points on them. The white tiles are the easier tiles, getting you more interesting pieces but less points, the black puzzle tiles are the inverse. Once the last black tile is put open in the middle, you'll have a last possibility to complete your puzzles. You start with 1 first level puzzle piece and 1 second level piece. In turn order you can perform 3 actions on your turn. Five of these actions can be repeated: take a level 1 puzzle piece, upgrade a puzzle piece to a next level, Take a puzzle tile, add a puzzle piece to a puzzle tile or recycle a row of puzzle tiles. The master action can only be performed once on your turn, allowing you to put a puzzle piece on all of your puzzle tiles. At then end count your points and the person with the most points win.
I played the game with 2 and 4 players. Thanks for introducing it @jagu1ar and thanks @bordspelavond_herent to be able to borrow it! It's quite an easy game to teach, everybody immediately grasped it. The player board also summarises all actions. It plays very fast and it's fun with the tetris like puzzle and trying to find the perfect balance between going for some new tiles with less points or going for the big points. You can easily play it with kids as from 8y. My eldest immediately liked it, so it will probably get on the wish list 😄. For me it's more a game for in between, but I enjoyed playing it.
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played Coffee Traders from @capstone_games yesterday at @bordspelavond_herent . These are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Coffee Traders you play 3 rounds with 6 phases. Everybody plays that phase in turnorder. In the first phase you focus on the plantages by building, adding donkeys or workers... In the second phase you assign workers to unoccupied plantages. In the third phase You send contractor to build additional buildings that give you benefits or place a trader to get coffee during the next phase. In phase 4 you harvest and get the coffee. In the last phase everything is in reverse player order and you try to fulfil your contract for some bonuses or deliver to coffee bars. To pass will determine player order next round. Between each round you do a refresh. After the 3 rounds you get to scoring over everything you did, buildings you build, contracts you did, the majority in the plantages or the coffee bars, the goals...
Wow, what a table presence. You really need a big one to play Coffee Traders. We played it with 5 players. I liked the interaction we had in the game with 5 where you try to score majority, blocking each other in some plantages and in the meanwhile piggy bagging on each others actions in other rounds. It's really the strength of the game, because I can imagine nothing else really changes with each game. Only the goals change each game and these were hard to get to. But on the other hand, there are a lot of small rules to check and we did play some things not fully correct at first. Also the game length was too long in my eyes. Although you can use the time in between turns to think ahead for some strategies to take, I think that will be the main reason it won't hit tables a lot.
Did you have the possibility to try Coffee Traders?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played Maria from histogame yesterday. These are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Maria 3 players play 3 different positions in the war for the Austrian Succession. One player plays Austria, a second one France and a third one Prussia and the Pragmatic army. On one part of the map France is fighting against Austria allied with the Pragmatic army and in the other part Austria is fighting Prussia allied with France. It's a war game where you try to get all your victory markers on the board, the first one accomplishing this wins. You have a politics phase, trying to influence alliances, an actions phase were you are conquering and fighting. During winter you can reinforce your troops and have some intermediate scoring in case there won't be a winner with thr victory markers. Because you are allied, but not playing cooperatively, you also have some possibilities to negociate peace and let other players focus on each other. Everything of the game is driven by cards.
I haven't played many war games, so it was an interesting experience. I played the Prussian and Pragmatic army. I liked the gameplay, although having different allies and enemies on the 2 maps takes some time to get used to. Austria looks definitely the hardest to play, as both me and France really were battling Austria and weakening it. The amount of card possibilities in your hand is really key in the game. At a certain moment we depleted a suit of cards from Austria's hand and that was really the end of the game. From that time we saw who took over Austria the quickest. Politics didn't influence the game that much, I think this will probably be more important in a longer game. It truly feels a game you have to play a lot in order to grasp the correct strategies. We also didn't negociate and I think you really need to, for example by offering peace and letting Austria focus on the other player. All in all it was an interesting game I'd certainly try again.
Have you played Maria? What are your experiences?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played Antike II from @pdverlag at @bordspelavond_herent yesterday. These are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Antike II you try to get points through achievements, for example build 5 cities, learn a new technology first, destroy a temple,... and the first one to reach a certain number of points wins. Although an achievement might no longer be true, you will still keep it. But the next achievement will be harder, for example you need to have build 10 cities after you had the achievement of 5. At your turn you have to choose an action from a rondel system, up to 3 further on the rondel is free and otherwise you need to pay a coin for each additional one. These actions can be to gather resources, to get units, to move them, to build a temple or to learn a technology and all need specific resources. The gathering resources depends on the number of cities you have for that resource and the temples you have on them. You all start on a part of the map and to gather all necessary points you will hinder each other. You can battle each other, trying to take over territory, destroying cities and temples.
It's not a difficult game to learn, the rules are simple and clear. But it was quite a strange and very quick game yesterday. I think the game itself might have just taken up 1 hour. One player really had optimised his actions, scoring lots of points at once by learning multiple technologies, destroying more than 1 temple... At the end the points were the double on everybody else. I had the impression the game ended before it even started 😄. If there is a next time, it's certain that everybody needs to play a lot more aggressively against the others. The gathering of the necessary resources to have some meaningful actions takes a lot of time in the game, making rounds go very quick using the roundel system. But it also means it takes quite some time before you start to get more actions with impact but then it can go very fast. Difficult to say from this first strange impression if it's a game I'd like to play more...
What are your experiences with Antike II?
🇬🇧 I had a blast this May with some nice gaming nights. I had the opportunity to play quite some bigger games, really enjoyed getting Root to the table again and playing Nemesis with 5! I almost even got my objective that everyone except me should be dead, except for me. Played also some nice new games, like Obsession, Project L, Cellulose and Pictures. Axis and Allies was quite an experience to play for a first time.
What's your favorite from the list?
🇧🇪 Ik heb een heel toffe spelletjesmaand mei achter de rug met heel wat spelletjesavonden. Ook heel wat grotere spellen kunnen spelen, het was er tof om nog eens Root op tafel te krijgen en zeker ook om Nemesis met 5 te spelen! Ik heb zelfs bijna mijn objectief gehaald dat iedereen dood moest zijn behalve ik. Ook weer enkele toffe nieuwe spellen gespeeld, zoals Obsession, Porject L, Cellulose en Pictures. Axis and Allies was een hele ervaring om voor een eerste keer te spelen.
Wat is jullie favoriet van deze lijst?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played Pictures from 🇬🇧 @pdverlag last week, these are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Pictures you start by laying out a grid of pictures. Everybody receives some materials and each round you draw a point on the grid and you try to hint the other players to that point with the materials you have. You score if you guessed correctly the hints of the other players, but you also score for each player that got your hint correctly. Then everybody gives their materials to the next person and you start a new round. The person with most points at the end wins.
It was a cool game last Friday. The game is really easy, the fun is in trying to build something good with the materials you get. You might get some cubes with some colors, shoe laces in 2 different lengths, some blocks in different sizes.... In the end you try highlight some things from the pictures and it's so much fun if the other notice that. Each round you get other materials in combination with other or maybe the same pictures, making it again a fun puzzle. Really a game you can play easily with everybody.
Have you played Pictures already? What are your thought on it?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played Fossilis from 🇬🇧 @kidstablebg ( 🇧🇪 @happymeeplegames ), these are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Fossilis🦕 you are a paleontologist trying to find as many different dinosaur bones as possible and try to score as many points as possible doing that. You will get each turn 4 energy to perform actions like take plaster, move yourself, move tiles, add a tile, dig up a bone... after these actions you can buy tools or supplies from the market for an ongoing effect or one time addition. You try to score as many of these dino's as possible. Finally you can claim a dino🦖 in your lab. After all plaster is depleted, an event is triggered. And after the fourth time this happens, the game ends. There is still some end scoring, for example for majority of the characteristics on the dino's or if you have at least 3 time the same characterstic...
I played the game twice with my kids. It's a fun game, with the digging of the bones and placing it on your dino's you really get a feeling of a paleontologist. It's easy to learn and looks really nice with all components. It is fun to try to get all the bones for the dino's, but be aware during setup not to shake everything to much or you might end up with all bones at the same place... or maybe don't ask the kids to do that 😄 . Everybody scored quite some points by the end of the game, also with the end scoring. There are also 6 small expansions in the box, so stil some additions to explore.
What do you think of Fossilis?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) Yesterday I played Nemesis for the first time with 5 players, cerainly something I'd like to try again! But my first impressions are about the Void Seeders expansion of Nemesis from @awakenrealms that I also played recently - #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
The Void Seeders are a new alien race. On your player board you will get an insanity track as these hallucinations will drive you crazy through the panic cards you will have to draw. You cannot kill a void seeder to have a corpse as they are hallucinations they will just return later. Instead you have to find the lairs and kill those. But if you encounter a lair, you'll have the add noise each time your turn ends there so spawning void seeders while you are there. There will be other event cards and other weaknesses for you to discover, also some rooms will behave a little different, but for the rest it remains as the base game.
As I played with the base alien race already a couple of times, I wanted to try out a new alien race. I do say I think I prefer the base race after this first play. You will mainly focus on the new insanity track in the Void Seeders while you are getting panic cards. During bag development this was quite often. Maybe due to pure luck, I don't know, but we didn't encounter the new aliens that much in the game. It gave less tension for me as in the other games I played.
Any same impressions with the Void Seeders? Who played the Carnomorphs? Would you recommend this last alien race?
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) We played Cellulose from @gotgeniusgames for the first time this week , these are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Cellulose you will try to get as many points possible, for example by building the cell wall or though the plant board or cell components cards. Each round has 3 phases: sunrise where you get resources, daytime where you perform actions and evening with cleanup of the board. Resources are received from you position on the plant tracks or through some cards. During daytime each player has 3 action markers and will one by one perform a worker placement action with them. With that action you can gather resources, perform photosynthesis, build de cell wall, move up on the shoot or root growth track, take first player or take a card. You might have to pay a cost for the action and after you performed a worker placement action, you can also play a card from your hand. In the end you might score some additional points from some end game cards.
I got gifted the game from the publisher and this week I got to play it with my family. At first it seemed a little complex for my kids. In the end they grasped the actions without a problem and there are some nice choices to take. Apart from the worker placement and the cards, there is also a little area majority were you can get an additional action through contributing the most water. Because it's not to difficult, I think it's nice for family gaming or people that like some medium weight games. Next time, I already have some different strategies I want to try out, always good if you gave that after a game. There are also 2 scenario's and a mangrove plant board, so still a lot to discover. I also like the fact that it's scientific game, but presented in a really nice way. It looks really good. There is even a booklet in de box to describe the science behind the game, how cool.
What did you think of Cellulose?
🇬🇧 My giveaway from @gotgeniusgames & @tabletopping arrived, thanks again! I couldn't wait to check it out 😁. A little reverse unboxing in this post, can you guess the game? The final picture is the answer 😉.
🇧🇪 Mijn giveaway van @gotgeniusgames en @tabletopping is aangekomen, dankjewel! Ik kon niet wachten om hem uit te pakken 😁. Een kleine omgekeerde unboxing in de post, wie herkent het spel? De laatste foto is het antwoord 😉.
🇬🇧 (🇧🇪 in comment) I played Obsession from @kayentagames at @bordspelavond_herent yesterday. These are my first impressions for #firstimpressionsfriday🎲 , started by @kay_plays_games .
In Obsession you are trying to improve the reputation and fortune of your family. Each turn you will do 2 things: perform an action and if you want buy a tile from the builder's market. As action you can play a tile from your estate or pass. While playing a tile you will also play guests and be sure to use your servants to provide the correct service to get prestige, money, new guests. While passing you get back your played guests and you can get money, new servants or refresh the builders market. We also played with the Wessex expansion, a new family and the upstairs/downstairs expansion with a lot of new cards, 5/6 player possibility, new servants with new possibilities, milestone cards... In the end you will check multiple scoring conditions, the winner will be the one with the most points.
We played a 5 player game last night and I think that was the biggest problem. I liked the game, it was fun trying to figure our my strategy of play with my goals and reaching the milestones. It has a good difficulty and I even liked the randomness of the draw with the guests, there are really some very bad guests in the deck! But there was really a lot of downtime between my turns, only getting bigger in the following turns. Maybe because we were playing it with a lot of players, but it looks to me that a lesser player count is better. I did have quite some luck with the monuments drawn right before my turn, while the scoring card for the courtship phase were for these room types. We used the higher scoring monuments and it was impossible for anybody to go past these points. I think it's better to use the lesser point scoring monuments. I played with the Wessex expansion family which was nice, starting with a tile of reputation 2. I also liked the new servants from the upstairs/downstairs expansion. All in all, I would play again but with less players and the lower scoring monuments.
Did anybody else play Obsession?
