Christmas Games Reviews

Adjusted the sizes of the layout. Not sure if it's too noticeable, but I think it looks slightly better and doesn't feel as crammed. It being so small wasn't much of a problem back when my posts were smaller, but they've gotten larger as of late, so I increased the size a little bit.

We got tons of games for Christmas. If you want to see the full list look at my mom's post here.

Had a similar idea to Andrew, but after he posted his post (which you can find here), I've decided to basically convert to the style of that blog post. Go give his a read real quick and come back here so you can compare his opinions of the games we played to mine (the games we talk about slightly differ, although most of them are the same). It's kinda interesting, I think. Ordering them on my favorite board/card games list will come later, for now you only get my brief thoughts on them.

SeaFall: Playing through the campaign of SeaFall was amazing. It rose higher than my bar of expectations. After hearing the mixed opinions about the game I was kind of scared it wasn’t going to be that enjoyable. But, man, it was a blast. However, is it a good game? Sure I loved it as a Legacy Game, but I don’t see myself pulling it out and playing one of the two ways you can after the campaign. I would rather play other games. So there it sits at the top of the closet where it is hard-ish to reach, along with Pandemic: Legacy.

Viticulture: Viticulture is absolutely fantastic. Will it become my new number one? Don’t know yet. But when I look in the closet and seriously consider playing the solo variant, I know it’s a good game.

My Village: My Village is very enjoyable. Is it better than Village? Hmmm… maybe. One thing Village has over My Village though is killing off my people. In Village, it felt strategic and was one of my favorite parts of the game. In My Village killing off my people doesn’t feel rewarding enough. It is often, if not always, better to try and not kill your people off. It barely rewards you and getting your person back is just annoying. I miss the powerfulness (not a word, apparently) of having your people remembered in the book of remembrance that was present in Village.

Mystic Vale: Mystic Vale is really nice and feels clean. I love the system and it has the quickness of Dominion, which is a really nice bonus.

Codenames/Codenames: Pictures: Codenames is and isn’t what I was expecting. The game played out fantastically. But before getting a chance to play, I heard about how it was the top party game on boardgamegeek, and it surprised me. Maybe it wasn’t quite what I thought. Well, it was exactly what I originally thought it was going to be. Which was strange. In a party game setting pulling out Codenames feels strange to me, I just wouldn’t do it. It feels too thinky for a party. I would play it with four, five or six (six being the sweet spot, I think), but anything above that I would instantly pull out Avalon or Telestrations instead. Granted, I haven’t played it will a larger group than 6, so I don’t really know how it would go. Anyways, still a great game.

Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Castles of Mad King Ludwig is in a strange place right now. I love the gameplay, there is nothing wrong there. But when I saw that the box said it lasts 90 minutes I was surprised. The gameplay makes me feel as though it shouldn’t be that long, but the thing is the gameplay doesn’t feel dragged out at all. Not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but it is a weird combination. Feeling as though it shouldn't take that long, but, when playing, it doesn't feel long (even though it actually does take that long). Still quite fun to play, regardless.

Imhotep: Imhotep is quite amazing, and certainly went higher than my expectations. I was kind of hesitant to get it, but I’m glad it’s in our closet. The actions are simple, which really aids this game. It doesn’t limit the fun, it makes it quick, plus the actions are simple enough that I’m not afraid to pull it out and explain it to people.

Caverna: Caverna is incredible. But, to me at least, it doesn’t completely replace Agricola. In Agricola, I really enjoy the personalization you get at the beginning of each game through the occupation and minor improvement cards. Asymmetrical powers is one of my favorite game mechanics. It also has a nice tight feel to the game where I feel every choice matters. Also, I, along with Joseph, feel as though we haven’t explored Agricola completely. There are still some things we haven’t done and things we feel are a good idea, we just don't really do. And that’s with no expansions (of which we have, and plan to, own none). However, that being said, Caverna will probably end up higher on my favorite games list due to the fact that it will hit the table more often. Since it doesn’t feel as tight I’ll be more likely to pull it out if I just want to play a fun game and not stress (not sure if that’s the right word) about each of my moves. However (I really do use that word a lot), if I am in the mood for a tighter game I will definitely pull out Agricola over Caverna any day of the week.

Shakespeare: Andrew says my thoughts exactly.

Alhambra: Alhambra's gameplay is very nice. I especially enjoy the quickness of it. I grab some money, you grab some money, I buy a tile, you place a tile, I grab some money etc. It gets around to your turn rather fast at some points. Getting to go again after paying for a building exactly is really cool. Sometimes it feels like it adds a little push-your-luck element to the game. My thought process sometimes: "Should I grab that money so I can buy it for exact next turn, or should I get it now? Cause if I don't get it now someone else might grab it before me, which is no bueno since the walls fit perfectly into my Alhambra." And since you can see what money your opponents are picking up, if you're looking closely enough you can pull off these cool triple turn moves and stuff.

Fresco: I really do love the hidden worker placement in this game. The wake-up chart is awesome also (although I do prefer Viticulture’s). The game itself is also really enjoyable. But, the two-player variant is, in my opinion, not the best. Not as bad as 7 Wonder’s variant though, that’s for certain. And it’s not bad by any means, the core is the same, something just didn’t feel right. If I have three or four players, however (seriously, I use ‘however’ sooooo often), putting this on the table will be on my mind.

Treasure Hunter: A fun, quick game. The drafting mechanic flows great. Only annoying thing is you have to shuffle all the cards you used this round for the next round, making short pauses in the otherwise quick gameplay. Small annoyance in an overall fun game.

Kingdom Builder: Kingdom Builder is a nice semi-lighter game. Since we got two expansions right in a row I haven't played with everything in the base game, yet alone the expansions. We have 16 different boards and tons of goal cards, which is great for variety. Still undecided if/how we would play with more than one card in hand. I was thinking something like instead of drawing one card and placing settlements there, you would draw two cards and pick one to put settlements in (you would then discard the other card and draw back up to two).

Avalon: Believe it or not, this Christmas break is the first time my copy of Avalon has been used. Got it last Christmas and never got the chance to play it. Glad I got it though. To be honest, it’s a lot more fun and balanced than I thought it was. I went in with the intention that bad guys were slightly overpowered and that it was kinda hard to figure stuff out. Turns out good guys stand a far better chance than I thought. They, in fact, won most of the games. This is due to the fact that there is a lot more info going around than I thought possible. Whenever I played I was genuinely surprised how the good guys could track down the bad guys. Lots of fun.