Boardgame session: 10Mar15

We visited some friends, Emma and Alex, to spend an evening playing boardgames. Due to the demands their recently expanded family and house move, we have not had a games session with them for over a year. I decided to take simple, fast games because a lot of the evening would be talking and catching up, rather than serious play. The first game we played was my recent go-to filler, Blueprints. I have commented on this game in previous posts, so I will simply say it was again very successful and I think is now on Emma and Alex’s purchase list. Emma was surprised to win on her first attempt at the game, especially as she did not fully appreciate the tactics involved!

The next game I introduced was “Hey, That’s My Fish”, another fun, quick, filler game in my collection. Players, in the form of penguins, dash around an ever diminishing ice-flow collecting as many fish as possible before being cut off. The rules are so simple that the game can be played by any age group, but there are tough decisions to be made and aggressive moves are undertaken against opposing penguins. My only criticism of the game is the fiddly nature of laying out or removing the tiles. Care needs to be taken, and frequently the tiles have to be ‘redressed’ during game play. I don’t envision any easy remedy to this problem. Otherwise the components are good and the plastic penguin models are very endearing! The game ended with a win by Alex over me by only 1 fish difference!

I will end this blog post by looking forward to games that are on my wish list of potential purchases. I think I will definitely buy “Duke” in the near future because my collection could do with another 2-player pure strategy game that my wife and I can take on holidays etc. At present we usually pack “Hive”, plus a pack of playing cards, whenever we go away! A game I have long desired is “Kingsburg”. I have read a number of excellent reviews and the artwork attracts my magpie instincts! Finally I am considering buying “Sewer Pirats” after watching a great review by Rahdo on BoardGame Geek. If I do, then I will certainly be painting the models that come with the game.

I would greatly appreciate any comments or recommendations from gamers out there, so please feel free to add your input and help direct the spending of my hard earned savings!