One quarter of the year is OVER! Wow. Talk about peaks and valleys…. that’s been the phrase of the year for me so far. Lots of lows but just as many highs. I’m hoping that I can keep the upward momentum going into Q2! OK, so…. on to the games!
March Recap/Overview
4 Games knocked off the SoO in March:
Ark Nova
Vindication w/ new expansions
Cosmic Encounters Duel
Rolling Realms
Total Games on SoO Played in 2023: 8
Games added to SoO in March: 2 (6 total this year)
- March: Moonrakers: Titan Edition, Distilled
- Feb: Vindication (Chronicles and Hamlets Expansions) and Motor City
- Jan: Bot Factory and Marvel: Zombies
Games left on the SoO: 40
Net difference: -2
Recap
I’m finally in the negative! And I was almost up 3, but Moonrakers arrived on the 30th of March. I should have kept it in the box until April Fools 😉 lol.
In total, I played 22 games (17 unique) with 14 different people. I had a pretty intense gaming weekend with the rest of the GwS crew this month!
Ark Nova
What a game. If you are a Terraforming Mars fan, then this game was made for you. It’s a super slow burn, and there is definitely a bit of randomness involved with it because of the amount of cards that you will be drawing and giving up throughout the game, but it was a lot of fun. It takes up A LOT of the table, so make sure you have ample room. I say this having not played with any of the expansion of TM, but I enjoyed Ark Nova a lot more. I felt like there was a lot more to do and the decision tree mattered a lot more to the outcome of the game. The game play is super tight, resources are very limited, and there is a lot of posturing in order to do a certain action at a certain time in the game. I learned very early on that I truly needed to think a few turns ahead in order to be successful. That may not be your cup of tea, but for me, it was invigorating!
I had heard stories about people winning the game by only scoring 10 points, and many times people scoring well into the double digit negatives, so I joked that I would call it a success if I scored 5. Sure enough, that’s exactly what I scored! VERY excited to play this one with my buddy Brad and his wife Jessica who are big TM fans!
Cosmic Encounters Duel
This was one I bought to play with my wife Rachel, but I ended up playing it with my buddy Brad over his Spring Break. It’s a really fun two player version of the original that keeps the same general mechanics but streamlines things for two players. I was a little underwhelmed by the general mechanics of the game as became a little predictable, but I think that with another play or two, and exploring more of the many alien race cards (we played with the starter cards), I will find my groove with it. I think this is a great way to get someone introduced to the CE universe and then to move into the OG version of the game with a group!
Vindication: Hamlets and Chronicles Expansion
I mean….. there isn’t much to say here other then Yes. I love this game. This was one of the first games that I truly fell in love with. I have nearly a dozen plays of it in the past few years and every time it gets better. The way the board reveals itself over the first few rounds, constantly changing end game conditions, choosing which tiles to play with to make interesting and unique combinations, and the never ending micro expansions to add new characters, loot, pets. It’s just awesome. And now with the new expansions, you have a few extra “side boards” so that you can add even more location tiles to the game, expanding the universe and options for you to explore during the game! I love it. It’s like a constantly evolving jigsaw puzzle – you know what you need to do and what the end should look like, but getting there is always different!
Rolling Realms
Maybe I’m late to the game (pun intended), but this one has been sitting on my self for a year and I don’t know why it took Rachel and I so long to get it out and rolling (I did it again…..). We love us some roll and writes, so this one was a big hit for us. The variability of it by adding new realms in to play with and the fact that each realm is a mini game of a board game is super cool. The rule book is super clear and tight, so the time to learn, setup and play is incredibly quick. You can see by the photo that the area needed to play is small since we were once again back at Nerdvana on a Saturday night PNO (Parent’s Night Out) to play! This one is definitely making into our rotation!
Well, that’s it for March! I hope that everyone out there is having a great time playing games with the fiends and family as much as I am this year! Let me know what games you are playing and what games you are knocking off, or potentially adding to your Self of Opportunity!
-Stuart
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