Finally got chance to share some photos of last weekend:
We started with the lovely Photosynthesis:
It was really great seeing the trees take shape and spread across the map. I really liked the artwork. I felt like the game could have easily gone on for a lot longer, the advanced rules add an extra round. I liked the balance of scoring big points infrequently vs. little points every round. I ended up taking a copy home with me. Willem won this one, I scored the same number of points but cheated on some rounds regarding growing and scoring.
Next up was Isle of Skye. I've only played this once before (with Rich the Fish) and I definitely preferred it on the second play. I think having Willem explain the rules helped a lot. I'm never sure how much strategy is important in this game, I ended up scoring a lot of points due to having gold in the last round:
Next up was Azul, this is great fun. It's got a pleasing tile drafting mechanic, and I liked how scoring is calculated. I wasn't so keen on the lack of direct player interaction, but it was quick to play. Willem was the master tile layer I believe, but a significant margin.
I missed a photo of Love Letter, it's a really fun game and not one I'd get to play very often, as it needs a few players. I was fairly hopeless at it, but it's fun none the less!
After lunch we opened Forbidden Island - a game I shockingly had never played before. We took it easy and had plenty of turns left for a victory:
Next up was Quadropolis, I apologise now for my terrible explanation of the rules. Much like Forbidden Island the game tidies itself away, which is a big plus in my book. I also like how there are a set number of rounds. My quadropolis was more of a over-populated dystopian nightmare where the populace fight over the food in the only shop and forage in the grasslands for wild rabbits:
Next up was Sagrada, and though I want to like this game, I think this sitting confirmed my feelings.... the numbers never come up you need, when they do the colours aren't the ones you want. It's essentially a random luck-fest and difficult to know whether placing a die in a slot was skill or chance. I'd like to have more manipulation mechanics and for them to be less expensive. I also don't like the colour palette: would you like to be: reddy-blue, or bluey-purple or purpley-red?
I'm just bitter because I came last:
However Rich got to hold the Winner Card
Time for another game of Azul, what I liked about this one is we all managed to score a lot more points. I think I pushed too hard on the penultimate round and was in a poor position to maintain my lead, ended up losing again!
We couldn't leave without playing Carcassonne, so we did
As I recall Rich the Fish could have taken a very nice big farm away from Willem, having already taken it from me
but thought better of it because I pointed out the killer move:
I'll have to be happy knowing that in this photo it at least it looks like I've perfectly balanced my meeple on the scoretrack on top of Rich's
Great to see such a well worn set of tiles....makes me wonder how a completionist would ever cope
Willem had to leave us, he had to be home and up at 5am, so Thanks again for coming. I got a quick game of Mint Works with our last 10minutes, which we both struggled with our economy. Rich ended up getting the Gallery, which scores a star every round, which meant I was against the clock and though I scored 7 points, Rich managed to score 8 on the same turn:
I really enjoy a quick game of Mint Works, it's a refreshingly fast worker placement game.
As you'll see a wonderful selection of games. I'm looking forward to the next one
Thanks again Willem and Rich the Fish, and extra thanks for organising the bookings too Rich!