Mark Johnson

🦠 💩

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

A great 12-hour day of games onlinewith friends, all while voice chatting over Discord. (A silver lining from our shared pandemic experience in the past.) Had folks from SoCal, Norcal, Texas, Massachusetts, Virginia, and North Carolina. Will do it again someday.

We've now added Just One (x2), Planet Unknown, Samarkand, Botanicus, Elfenland, Can't Stop, and good ol' Settlers of Catan to the online games day.

Online Game Day (mini-con) for my podcast listeners is underway. So far we've played Odin, Tigris & Euphrates, Saint Petersburg, and now starting River City Glassworks. Join us on the BGTG Discord server discord.gg/8ahVR9pATh

I'm catching up on some boardgame podcasts, including Cult of the Old, a favorite of mine. Nice to see this dive into classic games as well as hobby favorites. Great to point out how we can overlook how polished this design is, from the tile mix to the board design to the physical productions.

Great weekend of gaming. Even squeezed a couple wargame-ish titles in there.

I came here to make this very point, but designer Matt Leacock beat me to the punch! I am so happy to have re-discovered Chris Farrell's substack, Illuminating Games. His writing & analysis is the sharpest I've enjoyed in the boardgaming hobby for a long, long time. 100% recommended.

Balancing the game and particularly the three sections of the board | Risk: Star Wars Edition We have played quite a few games now since I've owned the collector's edition since it came out. Here are our changes from the official rules that were modified by the rule clarifications thread. Dea...

They try to give the lightsaber duel & Millennium Falcon more meaning in the game. Plus some other balance tweaks.

boardgamegeek.com/thread/20085...