A New Obsession!!

I never cease to be amazed at how many different game mechanics are out there. Each month or so it seems I find something that is new and exciting that I must try. The current ( and older ) slew of "Euro" games and a handful of "Ameritrash" games never lack a thrill in game play. Games that incorporate mechanics that range from mind bending to quite simple. However, not as simple as flicking little wood discs across a wooden circular playing surface! That's pretty basic in my book! Therefore, I would never have expected to stumble across an "Old school" style game that would totally obsess my thoughts and persuade me to open up my wallet WIDE! This game is Crokinole. I'll leave it to the reader to go to BGG and read the reviews. I couldn't explain it good enough and would probably ramble! Haha! Anyhow, I have finally and fortunately found a gem that thousands of others worldwide have already known about. I guess it's better late than never as they say! The game is of Canadian origin and hit "the scene" in the mid to late 1870's!! In fact, 1876 I believe! No joke! It's not that hard to imagine a game that stands the test of time. Look at Chess, Backgammon and Cribbage to name a few. These games, as well as Crokinole, have been bringing family and friends together through many generations. Which brings me to the reason I happened to find this wonderful game. Recently I was finding myself in search of something unique, but a "classic" group game. Something with some history behind it and a beloved favorite. My search lead me to the obvious choices I mentioned above, but I wanted to find something out of the ordinary ( at least for me ). Now Cribbage and Backgammon are not duds at all! I really enjoy both. However, I've never been too keen on Chess. Anyways, Crokinole seemed to be the game that fit the bill. After months of "research" on BGG and reading favorable reviews I had to try it! Therefore, I decided to buy a fairly cheap priced, used board off eBay. I bought a "cheap" one just in case it fell short of my expectations. Needless to say, it has been played A LOT!! From family to friends, young and old, it has been a solid HIT!! I plan to "upgrade" to a new board as soon as I can afford one! Not to bash my "Plain Jane" board, but it lacks the aesthetic value and quality I desire. On that note, one of my friends ( who is usually a VERY hard sell on new and unusual games I purchase ) is already desiring his own board after one night of play! That friend is Mike and trust me, he has been my biggest nay sayer since I first shown him my new interest a while back! Now, I want to show my other friend Ed, what he is missing! He is being very skeptical ( as was I initially and of course, Mike! ). I can pretty much gauge what his likes and dislikes are in games ( since they follow mine as well ) and I'm confident he will be joining Mike and I soon! "Resistance is futile! " Ed!! Hahaha! All in all, I LOVE the game and hope to get an heirloom game that will be treasured for many, many years to come!

Who'd a thunk it???

This post is dedicated to the ( seemingly ) odd game themes from Europe. For example, who would have thought that games about post offices ( Thurn & Taxis ), power stations ( Power Grid ) and a presidential election ( 1960: The Making of a President ) would FUN for instance?! I had my reservations about these titles and quite a few others in the past and recently. I was not sure that they would be that entertaining, BUT, I was SO wrong! Granted, there have been and still are some VERY odd themed games here in the States. But the "Euro" game designers continually surprise me with the off the wall game themes and innovative game mechanics they churn out each year! I am SO glad I took a chance and bought the games I mentioned above ( and many others! )! WOW! My friends and family enjoy them a great deal! Strange themes aside, I'm just happy to play these fun, entertaining, sometimes thought provoking games! These games keep my imagination alive! So many are content to go day to day and sit in front of the TV ( if it works for you...have at it! ). I personally can't stand ( or sit! ) watching TV all the time! I want the interaction and communication ( even if it's cursing at times! Haha! MIKE! ). Anyways, I would have never come across or even considered buying these game if it hadn't been for BGG! I cannot recommend that site enough! It has everything you need to know in order to make a wise purchase and answer any questions about a game if one ( or more ) should arise. So take a look and take a leap into a whole new world of board games! You won't be disappointed! Unless you don't like to fun? Happy gaming!

The Weekend 11-16 & 11-17 Pt. II

Part II! Mike suggested a game of "Colosseum" and we got down to some good old Roman fun! SUPER close game! He beat me by only one point! Cool game and I like it better with each play!

Next, we played Mike's favorite Richard Borg game, "BattleLore"! Just kidding! It's his least favorite. I'm still puzzled by his attitude towards it. He's explained how he's only miffed about some things and I have to agree with him...to a point. I love the concept of the game and I ALWAYS enjoy it EVERY time I get to play it! Granted, I LOVE it's cousin, "Memoir '44" the most, but it is a great game! The first picture of our game is just before hostilities began. The last picture is when the dust settled and I was victorious! Oh yeah!!

Later today I will be receiving "1960 : The Making of a President" and the German Game of the Year for 2007, "Zooloretto". Check them out on BGG! I looking forward to a good fight for votes with Mike soon! Plus, enjoy an exciting animal collecting game with the kids! See ya!

The Weekend 11-16 & 11-17 Pt. I

Another weekend for the record books! Been gone too long once again. Mike and I got in some good gaming in last weekend! I had just bought "El Grande" and we played it a couple times. First game ended with a tie, but Mike took me by 8 points on the follow up game! You're a turd. Did I ever tell you that? What a game it turned out to be. It can be a bit of a brain burner at times. Actually, it's not hard, but it does leave with some very important decisions to be made. I was also impressed at the fact you're never really out of it. If you're behind for a bit ( like Mike was in our first game ), it's not too much of reach to catch up! Well, you'd really have to bungle it up to screw up your chances.

At the same time I got "El Grande", I got the new expansion for "Infernal Contraption" called "Sabotage". This set of cards are mixed in with the base set and add some "screw your buddy" ( well, even more than before! ) stuff to it! I really like the game all around and have a good time assembling my machine! Mike isn't as keen on the game as I or Ed, but he's strange! Hahaha! We still like him anyways! BTW, this picture is the end game pic! We both did well, but his machine was a bit more efficient than mine. Lucky bastard! Haha!

Next, we broke out "Carcassonne: The City". This is one of my personal favorites of the "Carcassonne" series! Now this game can cause some serious AP at times! Mike slaughtered me at this game Saturday night! Next time pal! The meeples will fly! Once again, this is the finished game picture.

I'll finish up my session report in "The Weekend 11-16 & 11-17 Pt. II". Later!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Once again, I took a little too long to make a new post. I've been having a hard time trying to get in the right frame of mind to sit and type out stuff lately. Oh well, at least I have had some fun in our gaming sessions recently! Mike and I made a trip up to see Ed and Sheila a little while back. We played many games and had a great time! The games varied greatly! Games such as: Caylus, Shogun, Yspahan, Power Grid, Colosseum, Arkham Horror and a surprising favorite of Ed's, Thurn & Taxis: Power and Glory! I know we played other games as well, but damned if I can remember them right now! Geez! I'm losing my mind! Anyhow, I would like to make it up there one more time this year, but who knows? Mike and I dug out Fury of Dracula last weekend ( in honor of Halloween! ) and had a great time with a great game! Sorry Ed, but it is a great game! This coming weekend I will be taking over another spooky favorite of ours, Betrayal at House on the Hill! Other spooky, themed games that I highly recommend are: Fearsome Floors and Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game.

I've been listening to a lot of progressive music lately! I get on these kicks from time to time. Some of my favorite bands of late are: Ozric Tentacles, Porcupine Tree, Opeth ( older stuff was more Death Metal! ) Riverside, Symphony X , Devin Townsend ( Devin is GREAT! ) and Frank Zappa! I know, I'm not talking about games! But, those who know me know that music is my first passion in this world. Gaming is damn close! Not to mention, they go hand in hand as far as I'm concerned! Kinda like smoking and drinking! Haha! Music and gaming...my drugs of choice!

Time to wrap this one up! I just want to mention games that have caught my eye and I will more than likely OWN soon! Cuba, Felix: The Cat in the Sack and another Carcassonne expansion entitled, Abbey & Mayor. Until next time...keep playing and having fun!

Been away too long!

Well, finally I feel up to making a new post! I just haven't been in the mood to do it recently. A lot has happened since my last post! Whew! Amy's video of our gaming session was fun and in turn has got Mike and I off our duffs to complete a project of ours. This project has been on the back burner for quite some time! We needed this nudge big time. For the time being it must remain a secret! Hehe! Anyhow, we hooked up last night for some gaming! We played one of our favorite 2 player games, Battle Line! That game rocks! Not to mention it's designed by my favorite game designer...Reiner Knizia! I own several of his games and love each one! Some more than others though. But each one is great! I managed to win Battle Line! After a few hands of Magic the Gathering,we moved on to play Thurn & Taxis: Power and Glory. Another personal favorite of mine. The Thurn & Taxis games are not by Knizia BTW. Anyhow, Mike whooped me pretty good on that one! After that we broke out Arkham Horror. Ugh! I'm just not crazy about that game! It's got everything that I like in a game, but it just doesn't feel right with this game. We ended up winning it rather quickly ( this is a rarity! ). I actually semi enjoyed this session of Arkham Horror. It wasn't that bad. To finish the night, we played Formula De. I won that one, but just barely though! It was close! That's it for now! Later!

Blasts from the past and new "blasts"!

Mike and I managed to blow the dust off a few "oldies" and got in some good gaming the previous weekend! We also worked in two of his new games: Colosseum and Anima: The Shadow of Omega. Actually, Colosseum is a 3 to 5 player game, but we pulled it off with just the two of us. Of course, there are facets of the game that we couldn't really experience without the minimum, but it was still COOL!! I really see a lot of potential in this game! Ed, you will enjoy this one for sure! It wasn't as hard to understand as I thought it would. Everything makes sense and the theme is quite cool. As for Anima, it was really fun as well! I'm looking forward to playing it again soon! It just needs more cards though. I could see it getting boring after too many plays. Anyhow, we also played some Memoir '44 ( he whooped me good in the next scenario ), Taj Mahal and Heroscape. Hehehe, Mike's gonna never live this one down Ed! You gotta hear this! He actually forgot to use an elephant card after I withdrew early in a province! He didn't get the resources for that province and I got a good laugh out of it. Not to mention, it cost him the game too! We were only 2 points in difference at the end and his mistake cost him 5 points! Ahhh, good times! Heroscape was a blast too! We played the scenario a little wrong, but it was a great battle nonetheless. We agreed that we need to play Heroscape more often. Well, I'm gonna wrap this one up! Oh, Mike, you need to play that one disc when your woman is over! Give her some "Thug" love bro!! Hahaha! Later!

When You're HOT...You're HOT!!

I know that this may sound goofy, but here is a list of games that are seeing a lot of table time! In other words, HOT games! This is how it goes at this point in time.

1. Memoir '44 - One of the BEST WWII games around!! A new Air Pack is coming out soon and will only cause this game to remain in the top position even longer!

2. Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game - Enough has been said about this game in previous posts! Good zombie FUN!

3. Magic the Gathering CCG - What can I say? THE Grand Daddy of CCG games! FANTASTIC!

4. Thebes - Another game that has been talked about a lot lately! Great fun!

5. Thurn & Taxis - This game gives "Going Postal" a whole new meaning! LOVE this game AND it's expansion "Power & Glory"! Who knew that building postal routes in OLD Germany ( & parts of Europe too ) would be so much FUN!!

6. Yspahan - Mike's new game! Lots of fun and cool mechanics!!

7. Infernal Contraption - Awesome card game! Players are "Bodgers" ( goblin mechanics) and build machines to take out the other guy(s)! A blast!

8. Carcassonne - Wonderful "gateway" game! SUPER family game! Each version has it's own feel and appeal!

9. Ticket to Ride - Ditto! Hehe, all I said of Carcassonne can be said the same of these outstanding train games!

10. Boomtown - Super fun game of gold mines, miners, Mayors ,saloons, etc, etc,etc!

Sorry for the brief descriptions, but I'd be at this for days if I intended to go in to detail about each game. ALL are worth looking in to and buying!!

I have to say that it's VERY difficult to make these lists! I have MANY favorites and I'd like to make a Top 10, but I'd go crazy trying to widdle all of them to just 10! I can say that here is a list of my top faves that, unfortunately DON'T get much playtime ( due to player schedules and/or lack of interest ). These are not in order of importance. Check these out on BGG!

1. Taj Mahal 2. Battlelore 3. Caylus 4. Blue Moon City 5. Tigris and Euphrates

6. Power Grid 8. Robo Rally 9. Antike 10. Shogun 11. Samurai 12. Betrayal at House on the Hill

That's it for now!

Lights! Camera! Action! & Some New "Blood"!

Mike and I had the pleasure of some company on Friday and Saturday! It all started with Ed showing up for a special occasion. His sudden appearance was due to a taping and interview with us about gaming. Yep, we were to be caught on camera playing our games and yakking about them! It doesn't get much better than that I say! The person in charge of all this was Amy. Amy works at the same TV station as Mike. She was looking to do a story on "geeks" like us! I was a bit nervous at first, but soon settled down to business. I enjoyed talking about our games and other stuff pertaining to this hobby. Actually, poor Ed and Mike didn't really get as much time on camera as I did. Sorry guys. I'm just more interesting! Hahaha! It was over in no time and she was off. Soon after she packed up and left we began playing "Thebes". This is one of my games that we all enjoy a great deal. It has to do with archeology. I won't go into details about it 'cause it can be read about on BGG. I have turned my mom and aunt on to the game as well. They get a kick out of it. Anyhow, Ed got his first taste of "Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game" after we completed "Thebes". We played the scenario, "Escape in the Truck". Mike took the role of the zombie player, while Ed and I shared the role of heroes. Ed figured out the game quickly and we were off and running. We narrowly avoided a loss to Mike though. As you can see in one of the pictures, Mike had his zombies ALL over our truck near the end! But, Ed used one of his heroes to "take one for the team" ( R.I.P. Billy ) and drew them away long enough for two others to escape. All of this happened on Friday night. Ed stayed the night at Mike's after LNOE and we picked up playing more games Saturday afternoon. We began the day with "History of the World" and some new blood. Ed and I were introduced to Luke. Luke also works at the same TV station as Mike. Luke played every game we put out and did very well! He had never even heard of or seen any of these, but held his own and kicked ass as well. Beginners' luck! Haha! Next time Luke...no quarter pal!! We played "History of the World", "Yspahan" and "Formula De". We only played 3 games?! Huh! Now that I think about it I don't remember anything else. We did use up a lot of time shooting the breeze I guess! I know that Mike and I look forward to having Luke around for future game sessions! I think we may have overloaded him with details on a few other games we would like to introduce to him! Sorry Luke! We were just pleased to have a third person available down here in the Tri-Cities. Don't worry Ed. We won't forget you. In fact, we plan to try and get up to your place at least once more before this winter. Well, that's about it. See ya!

Zombies, Camels & Indy Cars...Oh my!!

Well, another weekend of gaming for the history books! On this weekend Mike and I started off Friday night with our new games! We played my "Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game" twice and his "Yspahan" only once ( we ran out of time that night! ). We enjoyed both games BIG TIME! On our first game of LNOE, Mike was the zombie player and won in the scenario titled, "Escape in the Truck". We switched places on the following scenario, "Defend the Manor House", where I won with the zombies! For our very first game of "Yspahan", I took off and was in the lead for a while, but Mikey eventually caught up and won it! Final scores were, 103 to 88. Jack ass! Hehe! Now, on to Saturday night ( that's when these pictures were taken BTW ). Greg came over with some brews and joined us in some "Formula De". He didn't fair too well, but he would not give up! He liked it quite a bit as a matter of fact! Maybe we can get more involved still?! Hmmm. Anyhow, Mike ( team Blue ) and I ( team White ) were the main "show" for a hot, 2 lap race! Mike took off and had a SIZEABLE lead on us for some time. I really didn't believe I could catch him, but I did! He was down to one tire pt. and one brake pt. and screaming through the course like a madman! I did all I could to catch him without making the same mistakes and it paid off near the end of the second lap! In the immortal words of Buford T. Justice, "I'm gonna catch that sumbitch!"...and I did! We played a game of LNOE too ( the "Burn 'em Out" scenario ). Mike took the zombies again and WON again! Crap! The zombies do have an edge in this game! Whew! It's a challenge being the hero player, but I like it! I can't wait for you to try it!! We also played a game of "Yspahan" and I got some payback with a 112 to 97 victory over Mike! That wraps up our gaming weekend for now! See ya! Oh, BTW Ed, Greg blew you a kiss! Hahaha!

Fall, Halloween and GAMES!!

I tell ya, there is NOTHING like Fall! I LOVE this time of year! Perhaps it's because I'm a Virgo...who knows? I just can't get enough of the warm days and cool nights! Mmm. I always seem to reflect on my school days and Halloween!! As with the majority of other Americans, my favorite holiday is Halloween! I love it, even though I don't participate in any festivities like I used to. Being divorced and not having any kids around ( all the time ) kinda puts a damper on doing a whole lot. Oh, I could find some party if I wanted to, but I'm just not in to drinking myself in to a daze like I have in the past. Nope, I'd much prefer staying home or visiting with my family and friends for some good conversation, good food, some horror movie ( or two ) and some gaming! Speaking of games, between my friends and I we have several great ( and not so great ) horror themed games. Here's a few of the great titles,"Fury of Dracula", "Betrayal at House on the Hill" and "Fearsome Floors". BUT, I managed to get a copy of a new game called "Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game". In my opinion, this will soon be a favorite of ours as well. I can pretty much gauge what my friends may like or may not like and this is a winner! We don't get together as often as I would like and after describing the game to them via e-mail, I've got them them "dying" to try it! I'll be "setting the hook" this weekend with Mike. Oh, I guess I should introduce my 2 favorite game buds and closest friends, Mike and Ed! They are putzes, but you know how the saying goes, "Friends are the ones who know all about you and still like you!". Hehe, they could say the same of me! Naw, these guys are like my brothers! We argue and bitch just as much as family, but I wouldn't replace them. However, there have been times with Ed........., uh we won't get in to that! Hahahahahaha! He could say the same of me! Anyways, I can't wait to get some gaming in SOON! In fact, I plan to take "LNOE" to my ex's while I babysit today. Her kids and I still remain close even after our divorce ( and I love them both...they're good kids! ). I've turned them on to a BUNCH of games that most American kids never get a chance to play ( which is a shame! ). I've turned them in to "Euro" gamers! The bulk of my collection comes from Germany, hence the title. Well, I'm gonna wrap it up. I have to go exercise ( yuk ). I've been after my self to pick up the pace lately. I may be a hardcore gamer, but I don't need to look like one!!! See ya!

Busting my blog cherry!

Well well! This is it. I NEVER would've believed I would start my own blog. I decided to do it since my friends have. Yep, I'm on the bandwagon! The main reason for theirs ( and now mine ) is to talk about games! One of our favorite past times is playing boardgames and card games. Yeah, yeah, we are geeks, but not as bad as many others. I plan to use my blog to post game sessions and an occasional picture or two of my gaming sessions. To most, this is boring, but my friends and family find playing these games to be fun and entertaining. Not to mention a fantastic way to get together, socialize and actually learn about history, geography, math, etc. through the games! I can speak for everyone and say that the main reason for our gaming is for contact and interaction on a personal level. With so many people too busy to keep in touch and/or only wish to play games online it's VERY important to me!