On The Table – July 2022
Little late getting this one out but you can’t blame me for being excited about my final return to the convention scene. Tabletop Scotland was a blast and you can read all about it here. As with previous articles I am going to link all the games alphabetically, provide a BGG link, and a link to my review of the game if relevant. I’ll also indicate if I played the game in real life or via BGA or equivalent.
7 Wonders Duel
I really like this 2-player version of 7 wonders, much more than I liked the original. Picked up the Pantheon expansion recently and really looking forward to seeing what that brings to the game.
Agricola (BGA)
Ah misery farm. I hated this when I first played it many moons ago. As regular readers know I’ve been enjoying trying out more worker placement games on BGA as they fit the asynchronous play very well. You can see why this was the game that kicked off the worker placement genre proper. It’s a tight puzzle that feels just that little bit different every time because of the card play and order of actions. No I am still not adding it to my collection as I won’t ever get it played.
Barenpark (BGA)
If you like polyonimoes and bears, look no further. No longer in my personal collection, but great fun still even with the slightly odd BGA implementation.
Can’t Stop (BGA)
Jamie can’t.
Seriously though, this is push your luck distilled down to its base. Always fun.
Century Spice Road (BGA)
It’s alright as engine builders go but it ironically lacks spice for my tastes.
Crokinole
There are games like Crokinole all over the world. You can see the appeal. Simple rules, dramatic play, lovely components. I’d been wanting to try this for ages and I would like to thank Terry from Crokinole Scotland for showing me and the Juniper Green Board Gamers how to play.
Everdell
Would love to give the recently released steam version a go. This is fast becoming one of my go to games when I want something interesting to play but light on the mental load. It’s a beautiful production and a lovely game to play and interact with.
Godtear
Steamforged Games sent me a bunch of this and I’ve enjoyed what I have seen so far. Teaching game and then into the thing proper. It’s a tight game with interesting decisions and a lot of room for building odd combos and fun moments. The rulebook leaves a little bit to be desired. Review once I’ve gotten it to the table a few more times.
Hardback
I recently picked this one up after becoming taken with it during a play on BGA. I’m hoping it will fit the word game gap in my collection. I really like the ‘any card can be any letter’ mechanic and the push your luck element introduced by the ink mechanic. One of my friends isn’t a word game fan but the deckbuilding element chimed with him. It’s interesting to see a game able to draw someone in who isn’t a fan of the core mechanic.
Inspector Mouse: The Great Escape
Juniper Green were gearing up to teach games at Tabletop Scotland and I was only too happy to check out some more of Haba’s range. These are absolutely not the sort of games I would look to review in a full piece but they are excellent all the same. I find that Haba strike that balance between kids game and ‘intro to the wider hobby’ quite well. This is a memory game pretty much with a gorgeous, if slightly sticky in terms of the physical mechanism, production.
Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest
The game name may be a mouthful but I love this game and I am keen to play it more. Next time I hope to play it with people who know it so I can try out the stormier side of the board which has a bit more player interaction.
Living Forest
This was the Kennerspiel des Jahres winner this year, meaning it was considered a more hobbyist title than the game awarded the main prize by Spiel. It’s alright is my first play judgement. It felt to me like the three ways of scoring weren’t fully joined up so that I felt like I was sort of playing 3 different games just mashed together. Just didn’t quite come together for me.
Moonlight Castle
Another of the Haba games that was winging its way to Tabletop Scotland this is a fun worker placement, engine efficiency game with a brilliant table presence.
Riftforce
Finally got more of this played and it’s still an impressive game with some great decisions and simple mechanics. Lots of replayability here, but I am maybe not quite as blown away by it as I was back in 2019.
Zuuli
A drafting game about building a zoo from publisher unfringed. A small box game that has a good focus on its aim. I’ll be reviewing this in September along with a an interview with the designer.
What did you get up to in July? Come and talk to us about the games you played, let us know what you think is good right now.
