Virgins' Villagers

The Game Crafter News

01 December 2023

Games played October-November 2023
by
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Magic: The Gathering - 28 plays (all-time 7k+) - XP4 - Enth1
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Sorcery: Contested Realm - 8 plays (all-time 8) - XP1 - Enth1 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Dune: Imperium - 7 plays (all-time 72) - XP3 - Enth1
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8
[/BGCOLOR] Doppelt so Clever: Challenge I - 7 plays (all-time 6) - XP4 - Enth2 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Welcome to the Moon - 5 plays (all-time 11) - XP2 - Enth3
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Atiwa - 5 plays (all-time 5) - XP2 - Enth2 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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10
[/BGCOLOR] That's Pretty Clever! - 4 plays (all-time 36) - XP4 - Enth2
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8
[/BGCOLOR] Kutná Hora: The City of Silver - 4 plays (all-time 4) - XP2 - Enth1 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Ancient Knowledge - 4 plays (all-time 4) - XP2 - Enth2 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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6
[/BGCOLOR] Imperial Miners - 4 plays (all-time 4) - XP3-4 - Enth3 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Ark Nova - 3 plays (all-time 31) - XP4 - Enth1
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9
[/BGCOLOR] Fantasy Realms - 3 plays (all-time 29) - XP4 - Enth3
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Beer & Bread - 3 plays (all-time 2) - XP1-2 - Enth2 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Go - 2 plays (all-time 900+) - XP3 - Enth1
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Civilization: A New Dawn - 2 plays (all-time 6) - XP2 - Enth3-4 [BGCOLOR=#ffad00]OUT OF THE DUST![/BGCOLOR]
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Revive - 2 plays (all-time 2) - XP2 - Enth1 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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9
[/BGCOLOR] Caverna: Cave vs Cave - 1 play (all-time 16) - XP3 - Enth3 [BGCOLOR=#ffad00]OUT OF THE DUST![/BGCOLOR]
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Ceres - 1 play (all-time 1) - XP1 - Enth2 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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9
[/BGCOLOR] Coimbra - 1 play (all-time 16) - XP4 - Enth3
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9
[/BGCOLOR] Earth - 1 play (all-time 21) - XP4 - Enth2
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Everdell - 1 play (all-time 49 plays) - XP4 - Enth3
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Exhibition: 20th Century - 1 play (all-time 37) - XP4 - Enth3
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Habitats - 1 play (all-time 140) - XP4 - Enth3
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8
[/BGCOLOR] Indian Summer - 1 play (all-time 25) - XP4 - Enth3 [BGCOLOR=#ffad00]OUT OF THE DUST![/BGCOLOR]
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10
[/BGCOLOR] It's a Wonderful World - 1 play (all-time 144) - XP4 - Enth3
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Merchants of Magick: A Set a Watch Tale - 1 play (all-time 14) - XP4 - Enth3
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6
[/BGCOLOR] Mosaic: A Story of Civilization - 1 play (all-time 1) - XP1 - Enth2 [BGCOLOR=#39ff14]NEW TO ME![/BGCOLOR]
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9
[/BGCOLOR] Nations - 1 play (all-time 21) - XP4 - Enth3 [BGCOLOR=#ffad00]OUT OF THE DUST![/BGCOLOR]
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8
[/BGCOLOR] NEOM - 1 play (all-time 25) - XP4 - Enth3
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7
[/BGCOLOR] Riverside - 1 play (all-time 8) - XP4 - Enth3
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization - 1 play (all-time 365) - XP3 - Enth3
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10
[/BGCOLOR] Wingspan - 1 play (all-time 71) - XP4 - Enth3

Quick reference for experience & enthusiasm codes (more in-depth explanation here):

XP1 Confusion (rules not yet fully mastered)
XP2 Exploration (discovering strategies/tactics)
XP3 Study (deep-diving a game's intricacies)
XP4 Comfort (this game is an old friend)

Ent1 Infatuation (head over heels or longtime lover)
Enth2 Eagerness (current favorites)
Enth3 Appreciation (will suggest although could be low frequency, like/love to play)
Enth4 Tolerance (won't suggest, don't mind playing)
Enth5 Distaste (avoid if possible)
Enth6 Loathing (refuse to play)

:mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel::mintcamel:

It was my birthday month, and I was really spoiled with board games as gifts this year. What's more, with Ceres arriving this month, and Sorcery beta edition being released which I had pre-ordered earlier this year, my new-to-me pile reached even dizzier heights! And as I also got all of them played, most of them repeatedly, I have fewer other titles in this two-month report. I really like digging into games to explore their tactical and strategical depths, and I love playing old favorites again and again; but even so, there's nothing quite like discovering and savoring a new game. Opening the box, smelling fresh cardboard, reading the rules, and muddling through the first play - I love it. Too bad you can only do it once for each game!

Most of the games were pleasant surprises, although Revive surprised me with its incredibly short game arc (still leaving a very good impression mind you!), and Mosaic, my birthday present to myself (oh, the decadence!), by its very very long arc (we didn't get close to triggering the game end when calling it a game). I'll be looking into some fix to cut the game length down to a more palatable size; luckily, that's quite easy to do by modifying the set-up, so I still have a good feeling about this game. The only game leaving me somewhat disappointed was Imperial Miners, which does not seem to have the crunch or depth I'm looking for, despite its comboliciousness.

For Atiwa I had high expectations, although there have been a few misses with Rosenberg games; but I'm happy to report that the fruit bat game is definitely on the 'great' side of the spectrum and I'm sure the box has many more plays in it. Kutna Hora turned out to be awesome, Ancient Knowledge definitely has a lot more to offer and Sorcery was above expectations. Ceres was ok, it clearly has some depth and requires skill to play so there's something here, but it didn't wow me. Then again, some games just don't after just a single play; there will be more.

:limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel::limecamel:

Out of the dust

Blew the dust off of four titles during the last 2 months!

Civilization: A New Dawn - dust layer: 4,5 years

Had no idea it'd been that long. This is one of those games that I don't feel like playing with 2, thus making it exponentially harder to get to the table. I selected this for game day and didn't regret it, although I do think the odds of it getting many more plays are vanishingly small. The replayability of this game is not so high, each game is relatively similar and figuring out how to create the shortest path to the 3 (pairs of) objectives is not too arduous. But I had fun with this game.

Caverna: Cave vs Cave - dust layer: almost 4 years

I forgot how good this game is, and it's all the fault of that awful expansion. How bad can an expansion be for it to not just fail to make the base game better or more interesting, but to completely obliterate all desire you had to play that base game for several years? That's pretty much exactly what happened for me. Glad I played it again though, I will try to forget that an expansion was ever printed and get Cave vs Cave on the table again soon. 2019 was truly a cursed year for board games; my success rate for new 2019 games/expansions is by far the lowest.

Nations - dust layer: 3 years

Amazing civ game, also for 2 (especially with the easy variant we use to simulate a 3rd player), but not so easy to get to the table. Apparently it had been a while, but it was a joy as ever. Great stuff!

Indian Summer - dust layer: almost 2 years

One of the less successful Rosenberg's for us, but still a keeper. The anticlimactic ending which is often intrinsic to race games can be a bit of a bummer, but it's charming, has nice table presence with great autumnal colors and is always a good time to play. I look forward to my next play... in 1 or 2 years, heh.

:grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel::grapecamel:

By phase of experience

Obviously I had to learn quite a few new rules sets, which wasn't too arduous for this crop of games. Especially Revive was an absolute breeze to learn. Ceres was a bit more opaque and required the first play with all components in front of us for the game to start making sense, but it clicked after the first round. Mosaic was surprisingly rules-light, and had the worst rulebook from this batch of games, although Sorcery comes close behind it.

We finally completed all scenarios for Welcome to the Moon and discovered [o]the loop the story makes to keep you cycling through the scenarios. Story's still lame as ever of course.[/o] It should be less of a slog from now on.

Still climbing the learning curve of Dune: Imperium, with our resident expert euro player routinely trashing the rest of us. It had take him about 20 games to reach our level, but then he pulled ahead and never looked back. I still hope I can improve my game to give him more of a contest... and of course, I'm looking forward to Dune: Imperium – Uprising, the pre-order of which still didn't arrive :cry: Starting to get a little impatient to tell the truth!!

:orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel::orangecamel:

On the enthusiasm axis I don't have much to report on. I played one more game of Through the Ages online, which was fun, but I'm not tempted to start playing multiple games at once again.

Thus ends my report for October and November '23. Keep on gamin'!
-Storm
New Image for Roll'n Bump

by Myriatix
<div>Roll'n Bump ‐ French third edition (2023) BackBox</div>
New Image for Roll'n Bump

by Myriatix
<div>Roll'n Bump ‐ French third edition (2023) FrontBox</div>

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