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We got through our first game, it went pretty well. I think we played at least 95% right, have to check the rulebook for some minor things I...

We got through our first game, it went pretty well. I think we played at least 95% right, have to check the rulebook for some minor things I am not sure about. The flipside of the map is totally different with some rule changes and there are some optional modules so tons of replayability in the box.

Learning Skymines which is a retheme and rework of Mombasa. A lot going on and a very unique feel but many of the mechanisms are familiar...

Learning Skymines which is a retheme and rework of Mombasa. A lot going on and a very unique feel but many of the mechanisms are familiar from other games we've played before. Always fun to make these connections between games.

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Seaside is a simple game with some fun push-your-luck decisions. No setup required, plays great at all player counts. Would make a great...

Seaside is a simple game with some fun push-your-luck decisions. No setup required, plays great at all player counts. Would make a great outdoors or pub game. I always love high quality screen printed wooden tokens and drawing them from a nice bag is even better.

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I took some player sheets for Next Station London and Cartographers for my current trip so we played a few games remotely. Next Station...

I took some player sheets for Next Station London and Cartographers for my current trip so we played a few games remotely. Next Station London works very well as long as you have some color pencils. For Cartographers the only clunky part is the Ambush cards. We dealt with that by sharing a picture of our maps and having the other person describe where they wanted the ambush.
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Artist Diary: Farawayhttps://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/169018/artist-diary-farawayGreat read especially for those interested in...

Artist Diary: Faraway
https://boardgamegeek.com/blog/1/blogpost/169018/artist-diary-faraway

Great read especially for those interested in boardgame art and graphics design.

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We are trying the expansion maps for The Guild of Merchant Explorers.The first one is Xawskil, a larger map that comes with an extension...

We are trying the expansion maps for The Guild of Merchant Explorers.
The first one is Xawskil, a larger map that comes with an extension tile because it doesn't fit on the sheet. It rewards exploring its many islands. The new island marker tiles add a little bit of extra fiddliness but not too bad.
The second is Proylia, a land partially under ice cover. The extra challenge here is that ice is more difficult (expensive) to traverse.
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Ascension Dreamscape on the table, ready to play. Dreamscape is one of my favorite sets. The amber pieces are used to purchase Dream Deck...

Ascension Dreamscape on the table, ready to play. Dreamscape is one of my favorite sets. The amber pieces are used to purchase Dream Deck cards which is sort of a side market. There are two more sets that use the amber pieces in different ways so those 3 sets mix nicely.

If I had to pick a single favorite deckbuilder it would have to be Ascension, as long as I can have all my favorite sets.

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After a few plays of Flatiron we are getting into it. Starts out tight on money but things ramp up once you get your engine...

After a few plays of Flatiron we are getting into it. Starts out tight on money but things ramp up once you get your engine going.

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Proud of my village placements in this one. It's the scoring card where village areas have to touch 3 different terrains.#boardgames

Proud of my village placements in this one. It's the scoring card where village areas have to touch 3 different terrains.
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We started the year with a few plays of Marabunta. Nice little 2p-only area control game with a distinct Knizia feel: simple rules add up to...

We started the year with a few plays of Marabunta. Nice little 2p-only area control game with a distinct Knizia feel: simple rules add up to very meaty decisions. Plays very quick once you get a hang of the rules. Made me think of Babylonia (for the "tile" placement) and Biblios (majority scoring with multiplier)

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#boardgames #showerthought: Space Station Phoenix is a drafting based tableau/engine building game with a funny looking tableau and an...

#boardgames #showerthought: Space Station Phoenix is a drafting based tableau/engine building game with a funny looking tableau and an elaborate drafting mechanism.

BGA seems a bit under the weather right now#boardgamearena #bga #boardgames

BGA seems a bit under the weather right now
#boardgamearena #bga #boardgames

We played some White Castle today. I spent much of the game being jealous of my partner's engine :) But it's a game that I enjoy...

We played some White Castle today. I spent much of the game being jealous of my partner's engine :) But it's a game that I enjoy thoroughly even when I am losing.

We also have Flatiron on the way, latest one from the same designers, 2p and solo only. It uses a stacked card trigger mechanism that I enjoy in some other games like Knarr, Lorenzo, Golem, Deus.

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Content warning:BGA vs Yucata opinionFor those who play online do you prefer BGA or Yucata?I do most of my gaming on BGA because of the huge...

Content warning:BGA vs Yucata opinion

For those who play online do you prefer BGA or Yucata?
I do most of my gaming on BGA because of the huge selection of games. But when Yucata has a good implementation for a game it often feels so much better. Newton which has been on Yucata for a while and recently got a BGA version is a good example. The board layouts, the action selection and especially the undo system are much nicer on Yucata.
I love how consistent and useful the Yucata undo/redo is.
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Came up with a new grid draft variant for one of our recent favorites,...

Came up with a new grid draft variant for one of our recent favorites, Harmonies:

https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/3397393/a-grid-draft-variant-for-harmonies

Very similar to the Cat Lady draft.

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We played some more Harmonies and Junk Drawer since we still had them on the table. Both are really fun. I wonder if there are any different...

We played some more Harmonies and Junk Drawer since we still had them on the table. Both are really fun.

I wonder if there are any different draft variants for Harmonies. Seems like it would be well suited for experimentation. A 3x3 grid draft perhaps?

Online on BGA I've been getting back into some older favorites: RFTG and Marco Polo II.

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Sometimes I like to dig through BGG's game list using various filters. Today I was surprised to see that there are less than 300 games...

Sometimes I like to dig through BGG's game list using various filters. Today I was surprised to see that there are less than 300 games listed as using polyominos (and even fewer if we remove variants and other noise). And I seem to have most of the good ones already. It feels like such a popular and successful game mechanic, I just thought that it would be a higher number considering the huge number of games on BGG.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/24571/components-polyominoes/linkeditems/boardgamefamily?pageid=1&sort=rank
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The second new game today was Junk Drawer. This one was a lot of fun too. A relatively simple polyomino game where you play one piece into...

The second new game today was Junk Drawer. This one was a lot of fun too. A relatively simple polyomino game where you play one piece into each of the four quadrants every round. The twist is that each quadrant has a different scoring rule. The card driven tile selection works very similarly to My City. I really like how easy it is to get the game on the table or to reset between plays. The various scoring cards add a lot of variety and greatly change the feel of the game.

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A couple of new games today. First is Harmonies. I can definitely see what the hype is about. Very simple rules and satisfying gameplay....

A couple of new games today. First is Harmonies. I can definitely see what the hype is about. Very simple rules and satisfying gameplay. Reminds me a bit of Tiny Towns. Excellent production too, I love handling the wooden pieces.

I thought that I had an advantege because I've played this a bunch of times on BGA but on the table still lost every game so far. I guess my partner is a natural. That didn't keep me from thoroughly enjoying our plays though.
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We played 2 games of Bitoku, one base game one with the expansion. The expansion is pretty light, easy to add and no reason not to keep it...

We played 2 games of Bitoku, one base game one with the expansion. The expansion is pretty light, easy to add and no reason not to keep it mixed in. My favorite module was the new Lake Treasure tiles, they are a lot more interesting than the base game ones. The festival cards are neat too and easy to leave out if we are not in the mood for them.

Nice small expansion, worth picking up if you find it at a good price but not essential.

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