Tag: Board Games

Board Game Haul

Lauren11 Comments

So I mentioned last year that I had developed quite the obsession with board games. This has not changed in the slightest. If anything it has only grown with time, fed by board game influencers on TikTok, Instagram, and Youtube. 

Yes, I have been influenced to acquire the following games. Please keep in mind that I have not played any of the following games as I just got them around the Holidays, be it as gifts or at our Friendly Local Game Store on sale. As a result, I will not be speaking about the gameplay. 

Hive by Gen 24 Games, Designed by John Yianna, Art by John Yianna. The objective of this game is to trap your opponent’s queen bee. It has a 7.8 player rating on Board Game Geek (a very useful website, by the way) and a difficulty rating of 2.3 out of 5. 

HerStory by UnderDog Games, Designed by Nick Bentley, Emerson Matsuuchi, Danielle Reynolds: Art by Eunice Adeyi and Cristina Aguirre. HerStory invites you to tell the stories of remarkable women throughout history. It has a 6.9 player rating on BGG and a difficulty rating of 1.36 out of 5. With an age range of 8 and up, I can imagine this would be a great game to play with the younglings in your life. This could be a great jumping-off point to teach them about some amazing women.

My City by Kosmos Games, Designed by Reiner Knizia, Art by Micheal Menzel. This one is basically Tetris, on a board, with a city. But it’s cooler than that, I promise. It has a 7.7 player rating on BGG, and a difficulty rating of 1.99 out of 5. 

Crystallo by Lightheart Games, Art, and Design by Liberty Kifer. I’m not gonna lie, I asked for this game based purely on the vibes I got while watching someone else play it…six months ago. I don’t even remember the game mechanics. Sigh. Sure has some pretty components though. It has a solid 7 player rating on BGG, and a difficulty rating of 1.78. 

Unrest by Pandasauras Games, Designed by Brendan Hansen, Art by Jor Ros. This game just looked like fun. Each player picks a side, Empire or Rebellion, and then battles it out during the revolution. Player rating of 6.6 on BGG, and a difficulty rating of 2.

LOTR Adventure Book Game by Ravensburger, Designed by Jay Little, Ryan Miller, Marcus Ross; Artist N/A. Rob and I played this just the other day, actually. Oops. It’s a fun co-op game that has strategy and time components to it. We had a great time, even though we lost. The player rating on BGG is 7.3, with a difficulty rating of 2.06.

Small World by Days of Wonder Games, Designed by Phillipe Keyearts, Art by Miguel Colmbra and Cyrille Daujean. I have been looking for this game for what feels like years. It has expansion packs and spin-offs that you can play, but finding the base game was hard. It’s always sold out! We finally found a copy at our Friendly Local Game Store after the holidays! So excited to play it! It has a 7.2 player rating on the BGG and a 2.35 difficulty rating.

Lost Ruins of Arnak, by Czech Games Edition, Designed by Min and Elwen, Art by Ondřej Hrdina, Jiří Kůs, Filip Murmak, Jakub Politzer, František Sedláček, and Milan Vavroň. Well if this game doesn’t speak to the Indiana Jones fan in me, I’m not sure what will! The good people of BGG gave this game an 8.1, with a difficulty rating of 2.9.

Have you picked up any new board games recently?

My New Obsession…Board Games

Lauren6 Comments

Well hello! How are you doing? I’m doing…alive. It’s been an interesting couple of months. I took a trip, we had more family visit, then I took another trip. I have had very little downtime and what time I have had has been spent not reading. I’ve been playing Zelda…and a few board games. In fact, I have become slightly obsessed with board games over the last several months.

It’s becoming a space storage issue. We are thinking of getting some new bookcases specifically for the board games!

But here are some of our recent plays.

Marvel Dice Throne

This game is super popular and has a few expansion packs (we don’t have them…yet). We’ve played this a couple of times and, though I have lost each time, it’s still a lot of fun. You use dice and cards to play, and it has different play rules for each player, but the overall game has the same overall rules to follow. It’s a combination of luck of the dice, luck of the card draw, and a bit of strategy. We’ve only played with 2 players so far, but it plays up to 4. I highly recommend it.

Carcassonnne

This tile-laying game has been a favorite since we got it. Its play-through is simple and is based on a combination of luck of the draw and strategy. You have to match similar tiles to make what is essentially a map that has castles, towns, and roads. It plays between 2 to 5 players, but I think it’s best played with a smaller group if you don’t have the expansion packs (which we don’t). Definitely a must-have.

Kluster

This magnetic game is extremely easy to play. All you have to do is be the first to get rid of all of your magnets. It’s for 1 to 4 players, and I like it with 2 but have played with 3. This simple game would be great to decide things, like where to go out for dinner, or who is cleaning the house this time. It’s also great for when you want something quick to play and makes a great game to play in hotels.

Trails

Trails is a quick game to play that comes in a small package. It plays with 2 to 4 players, and while we have played it with 3, we prefer it at 2. It has easy-to-learn gameplay and would also make a great hotel game. It’s also quite pretty to look at. This game has resource gathering and a bear that can help you but hinder others! Such fun!

Everdell

Everdell is a resource-gathering, city-building game that plays 2 to 4 players, though we’ve only played with 2. It’s always sold out pretty much everywhere, and honestly, it deserves the popularity. We borrowed this one from the library and had a great time playing it. The art is beautiful and the gameplay is complex but fun. It can come down to luck of the cards, but there is a lot of strategy to this game. There is also a tree that you have to build and lots of expansion packs to get! We will be adding this to our permanent collection soon.

Gloomhaven

Gloomhaven is a massive game that, I kid you not, weighs 20 pounds. It’s also the most expensive game we own, though we did get it on sale. It’s probably our favorite game. This game works with up to 4 players, though we have only played with 2. It’s extremely complex, with a rulebook that is around 50 pages long. This game is not for board game beginners, but it’s also so much fun. If you like D&D or video game RPGs you’ll probably love this game.

And that’s just a few of the board games we have played recently. There are others, like Wingspan and Star Wars Villans just to name a few!

What board games do you like to play?