Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar Finally got this to the table. Worker placement with feeding our people. The gears/time mechanism certainly add an interesting element to the game. Sometimes there wasn't really anything to do on a turn except wait. I suspect this will improve with another play as I get used to how the actions and timing work. The three player game seemed to work just fine. Looking forward to a second play.
The Palaces of Carrara Played the advanced version. Nothing really new here but it's a tense little light - mid weight game. Definitely start with the advanced version if you are more of a meaty game fan. A bit of a "chcken" element to it as you try and out wait your opponents to score to maximize your action but if they score first it's your loss.
Keyflower I really liked this auction game from R&D this year. The game plays fast and lots of interesting little decisions to make. The multiple currencies keep the bidding really tight as you don't want to miss an opportunity to lock in bids with your prevailing currency, but there are always more actions you want to do on your turn. In our game we had two seasons of kind of leisurely build up followed by a mad scramble of oh! we have to get points to win! for the last two seasons. I'm interested to try it again now that we now how fast the game goes.
I also got in a second play of The Great Zimbabwe with 3 and am still intrigued by it. I think we got all the rules on hubs and craftsmen correct this time. I think this will get a lot of play. I really like that your first actions choosing a God or specialist can really impact your whole game. Currently we have a rush for points in the last turn or two. It'll be challenging to see if this can be mitigated by some other more steady building strategy.
Ginkgopolis also hit the table again. This was still a learning game so we just dealt starting cards, so I am looking forward to a drafting game now that most of the people in the group know the game. I did sleeve this game since the cards get a lot of handling. I am a tad concerned that the game will boil down to whoever controls the largest area at the end of the game.
The Palaces of Carrara Played the advanced version. Nothing really new here but it's a tense little light - mid weight game. Definitely start with the advanced version if you are more of a meaty game fan. A bit of a "chcken" element to it as you try and out wait your opponents to score to maximize your action but if they score first it's your loss.
Keyflower I really liked this auction game from R&D this year. The game plays fast and lots of interesting little decisions to make. The multiple currencies keep the bidding really tight as you don't want to miss an opportunity to lock in bids with your prevailing currency, but there are always more actions you want to do on your turn. In our game we had two seasons of kind of leisurely build up followed by a mad scramble of oh! we have to get points to win! for the last two seasons. I'm interested to try it again now that we now how fast the game goes.
I also got in a second play of The Great Zimbabwe with 3 and am still intrigued by it. I think we got all the rules on hubs and craftsmen correct this time. I think this will get a lot of play. I really like that your first actions choosing a God or specialist can really impact your whole game. Currently we have a rush for points in the last turn or two. It'll be challenging to see if this can be mitigated by some other more steady building strategy.
Ginkgopolis also hit the table again. This was still a learning game so we just dealt starting cards, so I am looking forward to a drafting game now that most of the people in the group know the game. I did sleeve this game since the cards get a lot of handling. I am a tad concerned that the game will boil down to whoever controls the largest area at the end of the game.