Tried some new boardgames
Visited some friends in Uppsala over the weekend, and had an opportunity to try some new board- and card games:
Caylus: The hype says this is the next great thing since sliced bread, but while I think it's a very good game, I think there is a bit of exhaggeration going on... It's a resource management game, where you try to collect Prestige by building the small town growing around the castle, or by building the castle itself. I heard two complaints around the table after we played it - that the rules were poorly structured (could be an issue specific to the Swedish/Finnish edition that we played) - and that the game options were kinda hard to see, printed on Carcassone-style tiles in rather murky colors, forcing players to sit bent over the table to see what was going on.
Overall though, I think the reactions were mostly positive. It's a game that will be played again, for sure.
Three Dragon Ante: A card game which is based on a game played in some D&D novels (I don't know which world they are set in). It's not a terrible game, but it relies heavily on the four cards you're dealt, and if you draw good cards, you can keep drawing lots of cards to keep your options open, while a bad hand will lead to a depleted hand and in the end losing your money. Still, it's intriguing enough that I wouldn't mind terribly to try it another time. Far from a favorite though.
Alhambra: It was late by the time we got to Alhambra and in hindsight, maybe we should have called it a night. I quite like Alhambra (though it is a bit simple minded), but the sequential nature of the game turned it into torture as people struggled to even stay away between their turns. Therein lies its weakness, that from one turn to the next, you don't really need to pay much attention to the game, so it turns into a lot of waiting. I think I will have to work hard to convince people to try this game again, unfortunately.
We had planned to get a game of Modern Art in the next day, but people sleeping in meant that we had no time before heading to the theatre to see Syriana (which was ok, but not great).
Caylus: The hype says this is the next great thing since sliced bread, but while I think it's a very good game, I think there is a bit of exhaggeration going on... It's a resource management game, where you try to collect Prestige by building the small town growing around the castle, or by building the castle itself. I heard two complaints around the table after we played it - that the rules were poorly structured (could be an issue specific to the Swedish/Finnish edition that we played) - and that the game options were kinda hard to see, printed on Carcassone-style tiles in rather murky colors, forcing players to sit bent over the table to see what was going on.
Overall though, I think the reactions were mostly positive. It's a game that will be played again, for sure.
Three Dragon Ante: A card game which is based on a game played in some D&D novels (I don't know which world they are set in). It's not a terrible game, but it relies heavily on the four cards you're dealt, and if you draw good cards, you can keep drawing lots of cards to keep your options open, while a bad hand will lead to a depleted hand and in the end losing your money. Still, it's intriguing enough that I wouldn't mind terribly to try it another time. Far from a favorite though.
Alhambra: It was late by the time we got to Alhambra and in hindsight, maybe we should have called it a night. I quite like Alhambra (though it is a bit simple minded), but the sequential nature of the game turned it into torture as people struggled to even stay away between their turns. Therein lies its weakness, that from one turn to the next, you don't really need to pay much attention to the game, so it turns into a lot of waiting. I think I will have to work hard to convince people to try this game again, unfortunately.
We had planned to get a game of Modern Art in the next day, but people sleeping in meant that we had no time before heading to the theatre to see Syriana (which was ok, but not great).