Played Little Secrets with 3 other adults and then later with 2 additional teenage children. Super fun game, easy to learn, easy to play and was a lot of laughing.
Made by the same people as exploding kittens.
Also for context we play games every weekend, some intense and some relaxed. This is a relaxed game for end of the night or when the group is a little tired but wants to play something without a lot of rules.
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Camel Cup - This one has been on my radar for a long time but this is the first time I’ve actually played it! Was as light and chaotic as advertised! The production quality of the second edition was top notch.
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Mindbug - Felt a lot like the Epic card game where every card was overpowered. Being able to steal a card in that game is kind of wild.
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Azul
We’re still working our way through LOTR the Trick Taking Game (almost done with Moria now). Other than that, I’ve played, among other things: Harvest, Molly House (on TTS while I eagerly await my physical copy), Pax Penning (just played a partial game to learn the rules, doing a full play tomorrow night), Flamecraft, and Oath (I’ve been play testing the upcoming expansion). It wasn’t this week, but a recent highlight was attending an online teach and play of Hellraisers, Wehrlegig’s next game designed by Matilda Simonsson.
Also recently got the LOTR game. I like games that can be played single player too
Myself, I’ve been running Frosthaven AND Jaws of the Lion with 2 separate groups, just to confuse myself with the rule differences.
Got in a quick session of Dorfromantik, which is nice and chill.
Also managed my 2nd game of Pax Renaissance. I’m not sure how to feel about it. The rules are simple enough (as long as you ignore the horrible rulebook), but none of us players really had any overall strategy or plan. Just blundered into a win.
And another game of Dune Uprising, always happy to get it on the table. Can’t wait for Bloodlines to arrive.
Bloodlines is adding tech back in! I’m pumped :D
Tech AND Sardaukar, which if you think about it is just tech in a different form.
We’re into Zombie Kidz lately. It’s great how fast the turns go, and the game is always changing. Very ADHD friendly.
Is that the original or evolution?
Was just looking it up, it seems the easiest to find is the Evolution version and that’s a “legacy” style game.
I was pretty sure but just double checked - it’s Evolution. As you play there are heaps of progressions, unlockables, alternate rules, and achievements that unfold. Also all the complexity is optional so it’s no biggie if anything is overwhelming.
Normally “legacy” style games you only get to do things once. You put permanent stickers on the board, open secret packages, and even cut up cards. It’s a different style of play where you only get to play once. Sometimes you can try to play again but most of the fun is gone because you already know the surprises.
Is that the case with this one? Or is it replayable (and fun to replay)?
They don’t specifically use the term “legacy” but that’s what some if the reviews say.
I wasn’t aware of this convention in gaming. We’ve played half a dozen games so far, and there’s nothing that would stop us from replaying it the same way as the first time - and it would still be a fun game. The way ZK:E might be describable as a “legacy” game is that each time you play, there is progression towards unlocking new game features. There are also achievements for certain things for which you can put a sticker into the rulebook. Fun things to reach for, if you need more of a challenge. All the un-lockable things are merely in envelopes, and nothing is stopping us from simply opening them, and nothing would be ruined either because all these extras are optional each time you play. When we unlocked a new power there was a sticker for updating the rulebook, so it’s all quite tidy. We’ve no complaints at all.
That’s great to hear!
Risk Legacy was the first time this concept was used (to my knowledge), but I think the Pandemic Legacy series is where a lot of people know of it. I watched a video about it and the creator talked about the concept and what they were trying to do.
I haven’t actually played a Legacy style game as I can’t bring myself to spend that much money on a play once game (also it’s not great buying something knowing you’re going to be throwing it out soon).
Really happy to hear that this one has replayability, I’ll put it on my list of things to check out!
Thanks for clueing me into this legacy thing, it sounds like a thinly veiled cynical industry tactic to make people buy more stuff.
Nah it’s apparently a really unique thing that people love. The talk gave a lot of insight into the kind of thing they were going for, but I can’t find the video anymore. I found this one, but that’s not the one I watched. It might have similar stuff though.
I haven’t played one, but I think the idea is not that you only get to play one game, but that you are working your way through a narrative. You get to play 10 or 15 or 20 games, but each game is different because you are unlocking things and going through a story line. Different player groups get a different experience depending on what decisions they make or whether they are winning or losing the games. E.g. for Pandemic Legacy I believe it has a sort of auto-balancing of the difficulty. But once you’ve played through the story line then you can’t play anymore. That sort of permanency means you bring a different attitude to the game and are a bit more careful or deliberate, and the emotions are different.
It sounds like fun and I think I will get to it one day, but locally Pandemic Legacy Season 1 costs more than 3 times what Zombie Kidz Evolution costs, so I haven’t pulled the trigger yet.
A lot of newer legacy games now come with ‘recharge packs’ available for sale, which let you reuse most of the game.
Got in a Shadows of Brimstone session. It’s an alternate wild west/horror dungeon crawler with a bunch of campaign potential.
Having a lot of fun with it and hope I can get some of the expansions worked in soon.
Ooh I’ve been looking at that one for ages, how was it? Was there a lot of prep work needed in terms of painting minis? And have you played Gloomhaven? How do they compare?
There is a little bit of prep for the minis, but they provide tokens to use in the meantime if you’d like to play beforehand. What we did is just have everyone be responsible for their character, but it isn’t strictly necessary.
I’ve also 3d printed card & token holders to speed up setup.
I haven’t played Gloomhaven, unfortunately, but I’ll have to give it a try at some point.
That being said, I’m loving the theming of SoB a bunch! I can’t wait to learn enough to start making homebrew stuff.
The minis look awesome and would add a lot, but it is a lot of prep needed. How did it feel with just the one set, you said you’re already looking to add expansions? Another worry I’ve had about SoB is the cost, I’ve heard said before that it is better the more sets you’ve got but they do add up price wise.
Once set has plenty of replayability. I did pick up a couple of character packs to try out the roster.
Compared to Warhammer, at least, I feel I’m getting much more of my money’s worth, and everyone’s a bit less salty if we happen to get out collective teeth kicked in.
If you’re in the States, you can order from the devs to hopefully save some cash, but I have a FLGS to hit up, myself.
I’m mainly looking at adding the Frontier Town, which adds a ton of stuff to the non-dungeon-crawling past of the game, and the werewolves expansion because, well, werewolves. But other than that the base game has everything for more than a couple of games of fun!
Been toying with a few original games this week actually. I’m particularly excited about one of them!
Of your own design?
Yep, I’m publishing one now, and working on a couple more for later this year hopefully.
Cool!!! Good luck!
Ooh, good luck! Post some pics here and tell us about it!
Battleship
