{"id":3398,"date":"2013-01-29T18:53:07","date_gmt":"2013-01-29T18:53:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnshepherd.me.uk\/?p=3398"},"modified":"2013-01-29T18:54:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-29T18:54:49","slug":"2012-board-gaming-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnshepherd.me.uk\/?p=3398","title":{"rendered":"2012 Board Gaming review…"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’re almost into February already, so if I don’t scribble this down now it’ll never get done. Therefore… herewith and within: a few random thoughts on my boardgaming exploits of the last 12 months \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

My most-played board game of 2012:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Village\"<\/p>\n

…was Inka and Marcus Brand’s Village<\/strong>. Well, actually, my most-played game of the year was level-pegging between Village<\/strong>, Pandemic<\/strong>, and Power Grid<\/strong> — but Village was one of the big releases of the year and the others are oldies, so for arbitrary tie-breaking purposes and a more interesting article, I’ll call this one in Village’s favour.<\/p>\n

Village is a pretty good game. It wasn’t my favourite<\/em> new game of the year, and it doesn’t really<\/em> tread any revolutionary new ground (though chewing over the idea of it being a “worker removal” game rather than a “worker placement” game is a fun mental exercise). BUT… it’s easy to teach to people, plays in sensible 90 minutes or so, and always seems to deliver a satisfying sort of gaming experience. Plus, the fact that it won the Kennerspiel prize meant there was a fair bit of interest\/demand for it at the local gaming group… so it got its fair share of outings. <\/p>\n

The forthcoming Village Inn<\/strong> expansion seems interesting — it adds bits for a 5th player (useful!), a brew house (facilitating a new beer-making craft), and another “major” building — the eponymous Village Inn, with new scoring opportunities and paths to victory. It’s something I’ll definitely want to get my hands on in 2013 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Favourite new game of the year: <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Agricola:<\/p>\n

Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small<\/strong><\/p>\n

I was so impressed with this one that I made a video<\/a>. The video got 3,000 hits on YouTube, and lots of BGG thumbs-up and tips. Sadly, slipping in a free (and unsolicited) ad for my favourite boardgame store was my slight<\/em> undoing, as YouTube’s moderators rejected the video for monetization, and lots of parties who would’ve otherwise been very happy to embed the clip & give it more exposure didn’t do so for sake of publicising a competitor …Oops! An important lesson to be learned about boardgame video-making there, I think.<\/p>\n

Anyway, I’ve already gone on at length about what a great game this one is, so I’ll spare you the repeat. Suffice to say the expansion — More Buildings Big and Small<\/strong> — pushes the game even further up the scale of greatness. Which, I guess, saves me the trouble of having to write a separate “favourite expansion of the year” category. Because that would be it \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Favourite new board game of the year that I didn’t actually buy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Snowdonia\" <\/p>\n

Snowdonia.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

I didn’t rush out and buy it initially, because I wasn’t sure how much lasting appeal it would have. And I didn’t rush out and buy it after becoming convinced that it did<\/strong> have lasting appeal because… well, all the cheap copies had sold out by then. Cracking game though; I’m sure I’ll get one eventually \ud83d\ude42 <\/p>\n

Least-favourite board game experience of the year:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Quelf\"<\/p>\n

Quelf<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

This appeared as after-dinner entertainment during a trip to see my parents. It turned out to be everything<\/strong> that I don’t like about after-dinner party games, in one conveniently-sized package. Ugh.<\/p>\n

Most criminally-underplayed game of the year:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Hawaii\"<\/p>\n

Hawaii<\/strong><\/p>\n

I won this in a competition in the summer, but since acquiring it I’ve played it a grand total of… *gulp* … two times. And that’s NOT<\/strong> because I don’t like the game … from 2 plays, it seems like a really sound eurogame, it looks great, and it’s got some interesting and unique things going on with it. The problem is, basically, this:<\/p>\n