SATURDAY Session 7th Jan @ The Red Deer

honest critiques are the best

I'd like to play your game, Rich.

As for Feld: I want to play them all, Paul! Anyone joining me, to help me narrow it down? I would prefer Castles of Burgundy or Bruges, I think, as I've played them before and want to get to know them a little better, and Amerigo looks very cool also. Looks like Rich fancies Aquasphere, and I could certainly be convinced.

Stephen Feld Game:
1. Sam
2. Rich
3. Meurig
4. Tom S

I like the sound of aquasphere as it's a novel theme. I've played castles of burgundy once before and would happily play it again.

I'll jump in on the feld game anyway!

In for Feld. CoB I've played a fair bit but not for ages, I've tried none of the others and would be happy to. Not actually helping you make a decision there, I realise.

Sam wrote:I'd like to play your game, Rich.

As for Feld: I want to play them all, Paul! Anyone joining me, to help me narrow it down? I would prefer Castles of Burgundy or Bruges, I think, as I've played them before and want to get to know them a little better, and Amerigo looks very cool also. Looks like Rich fancies Aquasphere, and I could certainly be convinced.

Stephen Feld Game:
1. Sam
2. Rich
3. Meurig
4.

I'd be up for joining if you've still got a space? I've got CoB the card game - which I actually prefer to the standard board game. But happy for any of them really.

I would definitely be up for your dungeon-crawling tile laying game Rich, if there are any spaces left.

Tom_S wrote:
I'd be up for joining if you've still got a space? I've got CoB the card game - which I actually prefer to the standard board game. But happy for any of them really.

Okay, cool. Well then, let's ask Paul if he will bring Aquasphere, and we could play the cardy version of Castles of Burgundy afterwards. And I'll try and play your game before or afterwards, Rich, whatever works best for you.

Now what do we play after that...

Samuel wrote:I would definitely be up for your dungeon-crawling tile laying game Rich, if there are any spaces left.

Yes, it plays up to 4. It depends if everyone who wants to test is free at the same time, but if there were 4 to play it I could watch and make notes, which would be really useful.

There's quite a bit of work to do on it so the more input the better!

I will bring Aquasphere for you! Might even wear my Stefan Feld t-shirt :-)

I'll be there on Saturday. On the playtesting front, I'll bring at least one game to try out and I'm looking forward to seeing how Rich's tile-laying cowboy dungeon-crawler and Spleeny's big sprawling alien invasion/diplomacy game have developed.

If I have time, I'd like to check out the Castles of Burgundy card-game that TomS mentioned. I've heard good things about it.

What time do we meet at the Red Deer? I've not been before.

Dungeon crawler sounds fun. I'll play if there is still a spot

Tom_S wrote:What time do we meet at the Red Deer? I've not been before.

From 12.30 onwards. I'll be there from 12.30ish.

paulyg wrote:

Tom_S wrote:What time do we meet at the Red Deer? I've not been before.

From 12.30 onwards. I'll be there from 12.30ish.

Looks like I can make it down but not sure there's a free game as looks all tied up ? Is there normally stragglers I can grab to play somet ?

Jon M wrote:

paulyg wrote:

Tom_S wrote:What time do we meet at the Red Deer? I've not been before.

From 12.30 onwards. I'll be there from 12.30ish.

Looks like I can make it down but not sure there's a free game as looks all tied up ? Is there normally stragglers I can grab to play somet ?

Yep, absolutely. And people turning up throughout the day.

I should be there between 12:30 and 1.

Sam wrote:I should be there between 12:30 and 1.

Gosh, you won't fit many games into 30 minutes!

I am funny.

I was there for a good nine and a half hours.

Hand of the King seems a little more tactical than most fillers and takes no longer to play.

Aquasphere is a busy board to look at, but had some mechanics new to me, like gates along the scoring track that require resources to pass through, and workers that must be prepared for work via a semi-linear chart. These are restrictive, so it's less broad and strategic than it is puzzley, and it's an exasperating brain-burner because of it. I mean that in a good way, and am looking forward to playing it again.

We had a pretty fun play of Rich's Dungeon Tile Laying Game! The two similar games came to mind when playing, that might be worth looking at if you haven't already, were The Cave and Dungeon Quest.

Paperback really is exactly what you expect: a deck builder combined with a word game. I liked it a lot. It engages the vocabulary storing sectors of the brain, still has all the "Is this a word?", "That's not a word!", "Surely this should be a word..." of Scrabble, but it's just more modern, less fiddly (memorizing two letter words won't get you very far), prettier, and all around a better time.

Ghost Blitz is genius and horrible and I love it.

After all that excitement Ultimate Warriors felt a little feebler than the last time I played it, but a fair way to end the day.

What's the best board game play tracking app for Androird?

I enjoyed Aquasphere even though it turned my brain to jelly. Seems like the kind of game you're always comvinced you could do much better at next time.

I've already come up with ideas for the next round of mods to my Dungeon Tile Laying Game™. Think I've found a good use for those snakes! Think I can shave a whole bunch of minutes off the playing time whilst enhancing the enjoyable elements.

Shame I didn't get to playtest the other prototypes, hopefully I'll be free for the next Sunday session.