Boardgame Session; January 2021

Due to lockdown I am not playing boardgames with the usual groups of friends, and instead Elaine and I have been playing many 2-player games. So, I thought I would write a monthly account of the games we have brought to the table.

Early in January we played a number of games of ‘Mariposas’, the new Elizabeth Hargraves game that Elaine received as a Christmas present. The game is well produced/presented and nicely encapsulates the theme of the migration of the Monarch butterflies to/from Mexico into the central region of the US and southern Canada. It is a very different game compared to Wingspan, which I appreciate because too often follow up games are a re-hash of the previous ideas and mechanics. This is essentially a ‘race’ game that appears to be very simple but soon starts to challenge you on the approach to take to accumulate a winning points tally. I like the way the seasonal objects only become apparent once the migration is already underway. How many, and which, objectives to go for is key. The return of 4^th generation butterflies to Mexico is a consistent objective in all games and would appear easy, and then turn out to be less viable than you thought. I was initially concerned that the movement was too simple (a choice of one of two cards, and only a limited number of different card types), but it quickly became apparent that this simple decision was far from a limited choice. The turn lengths of the seasons was nicely balanced; frequently players remonstrated that if only they had one more turn, they would achieve all they hoped! In the 2-player game, the way-stations are less significant, the chances of uncovering all 4 of a particular set is low, so the bonus effect is unlikely to be claimed. I think this will have more of an impact in multiplayer games. My only criticism of the game is the lack of player interaction. I realise a strong ‘take-that’ mechanism would go against the peaceful butterfly theme but I would have appreciated some ‘mild’ interactions; maybe only the first butterfly to land on a particular hex in a turn harvests the pollen, or some form of blocking of hexes and pathways. Anyway, we both thoroughly enjoyed Mariposas and will play it often in the next few months.

The next games we got out were ‘Jaipur’ and ‘San Juan’; two classics we had not played for a while. I think it is important to return to games that may languish on the shelf, rather than constantly keep chasing the ‘new’ game experience. Both these games are fast with sharp, clear-cut focussed mechanics. Jaipur is a trading game that centres on the timing of whether to buy/trade/sell and when to take the camels. The end of a round can come quickly and take you by surprise, so you have to keep an eye on your opponent at all times. San Juan, in contrast, is an engine builder and uses role choice for each round. Again, the game is short and the end can ambush you. There are multiple ways to victory, with no one strategy dominating.

Finally this month, back to the new game market because I bought ‘Glasgow’. A quick tile laying game that reminds me of a very slimmed down version of Glen More. The player turn is determined on a ‘roundel’ mechanism, and the resource collection and buying is similar. Much more has been stripped out, leaving a fast, thinky game with a fair bit of take-that, and I can see this becoming a regularly played 2-player game in my collection.