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

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

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

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.