WHAT HAVE WE BEEN PLAYING : June 4th, 2020

We’re back with another roundup of what the DWP crew has been playing over the last week! Let’s start things off with the DWP’s founder, Sean J.:

El Grande – This is an old favourite of mine that gets to the table far too rarely. This week, my brother and nephew stopped by for an afternoon of gaming and I got to introduce them to El Grande. I remembered how much potential meanness lies in the rather tame looking box. We had a great time and I think we’ll get it to the table again soon. My 15-year-old nephew is quickly becoming a board game savant and he won by around five points. I will have to play a bit more aggressively if I want to take him down next game.

Kimberly T. journeyed to a socially distant fairgrounds on her table:

I played a wonderful game called Crystal Palace! It was heavy-ish and complex, a real juicy one to sink your teeth into. The thing I liked about this worker/dice placement game so much is the player interaction: every move felt like the winning/losing move (and I think I did just that with 2 victory points shy of the win). It’s very thematic (first World Fair) and the game is replayable, because I want another go at it right away! I particularly like how you get to set the pips on your dice, but if you choose high numbers for priority selection at the locations, you have to pay money for it: each pip is a $1 investment upfront. My only caveat right now is that the pairing of character cards with their matching patent cards is pretty tough and hard to execute. I’m definitely playing Crystal Palace again.

Up next, it’s the voice behind our semi-regular Cult of the Old series, Steve T:

This week I’ve been playing a lot of the SId Sackson classic Can’t Stop. It’s a simple, but tense push your luck game that makes you constantly ask yourself “do I have enough, or do I want to risk it all to get more?”

Diving in for some solitary gaming is Billy C.:

I have been delving into the explorative world that is The 7th Continent. It has been years since a game gave me this much delight in the first few plays, and I have also never played a solo game as extensively as I’m now playing The 7th Continent. The constant feeling of discovery and tension is going to keep me coming back to this huge, beautiful title.

Also walking down their gaming road alone is Matt R.:

I’ve been eyeing my copy of Space Base for a while now, realizing it won’t be getting played as long as the quarantine continues, but thankfully the community of BoardGameGeek.com came to my rescue with a solo variant for one of my favourite games of the past couple of years. So, I cracked open Space Base and rolled and rolled, eeking out my invisible opponent with one round to spare. It played differently enough from a multiplayer to make it worthwhile, even when I can play Space Base with other actual humans again.

Little Thumbs, Big Thumbs columnist Jon-Paul D. got a handful of games played:

In Nova Scotia, we’re now permitted to bubble with one other household, which has boosted our morale and gaming opportunities. The high point of my gaming week was managing to play a game of Alhambra between two homes via video call, with a copy of the game set up at each table. Other games played include Unmatched (Bruce Lee was slain by Alice), Fantastic Factories, Port Royal, Gulo Gulo, and the underrated 2012 house favourite, Divinare.

And finally, our chief Editor David W. scratched his gaming itch via online play:

A friend and I used Tabletop Simulator to try out Osprey Games’ upcoming Undaunted: North Africa, the sequel to last year’s amazing gateway wargame Undaunted: Normandy. The way it uses deckbuilding mechanics to simulate tactical-level combat is so elegant and exciting. U:NA changes things up by adding vehicles and makes combat much deadlier. Can’t wait for this to come out!

And that wraps up our gaming highlights for the week. What did you play over the last week? Let us know in the comments of this page, or through your preferred social media outlet!