Month: November 2022

One over Par

Having suggested this evening to nickster1970 Avatar meepleonboard (@nickster1970 at BGG) that a couple of plays of The Bogey would help him raise his H-Index, I decided that I would lead by example and play this excellent solo game that utilises just an ordinary deck of cards.

The aim is to play all cards in the deck to as few columns as possible with each column only containing cards of one suit in descending order (skips allowed) but, after each turn, The Bogey automatically plays the next card in the deck to potentially muck up your plans and, if you ever start a twelfth column, you lose.

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Part way through the game, I’m already up to nine columns but my hand has four cards (everything but the Ace) that can be played safely. Thankfully, the remaining twenty cards were all able to be played with me just having to open one more (tenth) column so that counts as an advanced win. Good fun.

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Ticket to Tube Town

It’s two years since I last played Metro X but as my friend, airzonk1 Avatarron E (@airzonk1 on BGG) put this as his number 1 solo game for 2022, I decided I had to dig it out to play. My previous games were on the Metro City map but this time I decided to go for the Tube Town map.

This map seems quite a bit trickier with more intersections to navigate over and, with a limited number of skip cards, I thought it unlikely that I would complete very many lines. However, it did seem to come together ok and a couple of fortuitous cards at the end allowed me to complete two lines I’d pretty much neglected for most of the game. I ended with 41 points which seemed quite good although I’ve not compared it to anyone else’s scores. However, I felt pretty pleased with this play and may well see if I can get hold of the other maps that have been released to date.

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October 2022 roundup

In October, I managed to play 58 games of 18 different titles with 3 of them being new to me.

== NEW GAMES ==

Twilight Inscription – 1 play –  8 
First Published 2022

Board Game: Twilight Inscription

This is a complex (in terms of decision space) roll and write but the gameplay is very straightforward. You have four boards that you are looking to develop (Navigation, Expansion, Industry and Warfare) but you can only work on one board each turn and you don’t have enough time to develop everything so you have to decide on where to concentrate your efforts. This decision may be influenced by the Faction you are playing, as each of the 24 different factions gives certain benefit that point you in a particular direction. Also, there are nine different versions of each board that can be mixed and matched and each board has certain objectives to aim for in the hope of grabbing lots of victory points. However, HAL is also working on these objectives to deprive you of the most valuable benefits. It works really well. I really enjoyed this and am certain the variety that is offered by the different factions, boards and objectives means there is plenty to explore.

Drop It – 1 play –  7 
First Published 2018

Board Game: Drop It

Drop It is a simple dexterity game that is reminiscent of Connect Four but here you have different shapes and you are trying to drop them into the grid to land in spots that will score you points while avoiding pieces of the same colour. Easy to explain and play but some people (i.e. me) are not very good at judging how the different shapes will bounce around the grid. Good fun.

Roller Rumble – 1 play –  6 
First Published 1999

Board Game: Roller Rumble

This is one of PLAAY games’s earliest games that has just been re-issued in a new version. It uses the key features of many of their games, such as qualities and narrative, to simulate a roller derby where two teams skate around a track trying to get their point-scoring players through the pack to enable them to rush ahead and score points for opposing players they manage to lap within 60 seconds of them breaking free. Unfortunately, this didn’t click with me at all. Their basketball game (Highlight Maker Hoops) does the same sort of thing but much better. This one seemed clunky in comparison and too fiddly for what it was. Shame.

== OTHER GAMES PLAYED THIS MONTH ==

24x Fast Drive Football
8x Motor Sport
7x Harry’s Grand Slam Baseball Game
4x Formula D
2x Marvel United
1x Red White & Blue Racin’: Stock Car Action Game
1x Igloo Pop
1x Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
1x Harry Potter Strike Dice Game
1x Fury Football
1x Zombie Dice
1x Obsession
1x Marvel Champions: The Card Game
1x Friday
1x Next Station: London

My NASCAR and baseball seasons came to an end this month and Fast Drive Football hits the midway point of the regular season. I also managed to get Obsession back to the table after a long absence and we’ve started the latest expansion to Hogwart’s Battle, which adds a new and interesting element.

== YEAR SO FAR ==

851 games of 115 titles.
42 new to me.
1 x 94 plays; 1 x 75 plays; 1 x 63 plays; 1 x 62 plays; 1 x 61 plays; 1 x 39 plays; 1 x 37 plays; 1 x 34 plays; 2 x 32 plays; 1 x 26 plays; 1 x 20 plays; 2 x 19 plays; 1 x 15 plays; 1 x 14 plays; 1 x 13 plays; 1 x 12 plays; 2 x 10 plays; 2 x 8 plays; 2 x 6 plays; 2 x 4 plays; 10 x 3 plays; 19 x 2 plays; 60 x 1 play.

== STATE OF THE COLLECTION ==

I added 3 new titles to the collection: Roller Rumble, Twilight Inscription and Marvel: Remix so my total collection now stands at 765.

At the end of October, I have one unplayed game (one at the start of the month) and my Game of the Month was an easy choice, Twilight Inscription.

Board Game: Twilight Inscription