Mark Johnson

Tilt? Stall? I’m not even a pilot and you guys are killing me with this stuff. :-)

Crazy talk

Games played in September. It was an unusual month—these are almost all online, inc a bunch played live with friends & audio. Great to play Pergamon and Bohnanza again.

Introduced this favorite to some newer boardgamers recently. I was worried they would find it too light, too random. The research points are just a *touch* fiddly. But fortunately they seemed to like it.

Organized another online game day for listeners of my podcast. Another fun time with some great titles & friends.

Yes, but unfortunately we tried Southern Rails with only three players. Definitely needs more.

A whole bunch of online boardgaming, though. Loves getting back to Dragonheart, joining faves Tuscany & SS+P. Also enjoyed revisiting History of the World. One “history game” on the list, Wir Sind das Volk, was another fun revisit.

A lighter month of August for in-person gaming. I really loved getting to play Die Fugger and Krass Kariert again. Endeavor Deep Sea is another standout. The Hunt just barely kept my wargaming alive.

🦠 💩

And here are the games I played online in July. Mostly BGA, of course, but I’m enjoying getting back into BSW for its unique games (Tuscany, Notre Dame, Qwinto). Still some Yucata, too (eg GAH, Maori).

The in-person games I played in July. All but one of these were at EsCon, since summer con season interrupted my regular game group.

Small Fjords by @grailgames.bsky.social is a slick, little package. Quality packaging & components similar to Oink, but a little larger which permits more inside. I just played the solo variant to this 2-player version, but may end up liking it that way the best.

I loved this entire system Leonardi invented. Still do. I’ve owned the WW1 original, the WW2 and jet fighter sequels, and then X-Wing vs TIE. Then the Lost World Series brought it down to a fun, RPG-ish personal scale. And back up to Battlemechs.

Thanks for having me on. Great fun. For anyone curious about that German realtime online gaming site it's called Brettspielwelt and can be found at brettspielwelt.de . There's a way to get most of it in English (click the flag), and it still has some games you won't find anywhere else.

I've been enjoying these whippersnappers and their newfangled podcast for a while. Now I was able to join them for a game day. Then was able to talk about a classic boardgame on their show as a guest!

Had a great time at EsCon as always. Good friends, good games, and a “mini event” of our own. This time it was a focus on Rudiger Dorn games. We called it the Dornücopia! Whoever won a game was adorned The Great Dornholio

What did you think of that 2-player variant?

Who remembers when BGG had an online implementation of Tigris & Euphrates? I’d love to find an archived screenshot.

Wonderful bonus game night where we played all three Kenner noms Looot!, Faraway, and Endeavor Deep Sea. Plus the little trick-taker Prey. A friend joined us who hasn’t been available for many months (new parent!).

French. Et toi?

That feeling never goes away. I think Duolingo is awesome, use it every day, but I also think it’s got a fairy low ceiling and I’m going to need to take a next step somehow. Probably conversation classes, online or in-person.

Ah yes--I wrote here before I'd read your Illuminating Games substack. Now I'm on WargameVault, putting things on my wishlist. But I don't actually get to play UF hardly at all, so am resisting the "Buy" button for now.

I'm not familiar enough...what's new?

Nice. I’m just getting back into running after a 10 year (!) break. Restarting from zero.

You’re going to need a bigger boat.

Mostly online gaming last month, thanks to a dedicated "mini-con" event I hosted, plus a 2-week vacation later. Besides the SdJ & Kenner nominees I get to play this way, my standouts for the month are Space Empires 4X, Thurn und Taxis, Billabong, and Planet Unknown.

Five decades!! Nothing short of amazing. I picked up one copy back in the 90s, just to know what it was about.

Spoke with a retired German couple on our vacation in Norway. They were shocked that I knew where Regensburg was. Then shocked that I knew about the Spiel des Jahres, Catan, and Bohnanza. This never happens when I travel! Their favorite card game is Wizard, inc with anniversary edition expansion.

There’s a great online implementation of Washington’s War at Rally-The-Troops. We should play sometime!

www.rally-the-troops.com

Another good episode. I agree 100% that El Grande was the designers’ “sideways” (good word) approach at a dudes-on-the-map conquest game. And though the medieval court theme was pasted-on, the result was something that bears a cynical resemblance to real-life conflicts of influence, rather than arms