Actualol Newsletter - April 2022 (Patreon)

Howdy patron pardners,

It’s been a quiet month for various reasons - I’ve had some personal troubles, I had some time off, then I got a cold, and I started writing some videos that didn’t go anywhere - it happens sometimes. I did find the right idea, and the next video is on its way.

To be honest, it’s also down to a new approach where I focus on making quality videos - I explain more about the reasons behind that in this post.

And to thank everyone for your patience, I have opened up this newsletter to all pledge levels for this month.

In this newsletter I give my thoughts on the new Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest, Phantom Ink and an Onitama expansion.

Actual Life

Last week we went to Amsterdam for a friend’s wedding, and took a few extra days to enjoy the city. I’ve been to Amsterdam twice before, but never had a chance to properly explore it.

Over lockdown we got into a YouTuber called “Not Just Bikes”, a Canadian guy who now lives in Amsterdam and talks about city planning, life and transport usually from the perspective of Amsterdam being better than North America.

I love city living - in fact, I’ve never not lived in one, although my home town of Salisbury is hardly a city compared to Bristol, London or Amsterdam. But I’m also aware of their drawbacks - and Not Just Bikes has really helped give me perspective on the topic, and verbalise feelings I have about London and how I wish it was different.

But he had overhyped Amsterdam to me. For cycling it is perfect - and we hired bikes and found it the best way to get around. But as a pedestrian it was worse - it’s much slower to walk around, because to cross a road you have to cross two bikes lanes, two car lanes and often a tram line. And the public transport options are fewer and slower than the London Underground.

Where Amsterdam definitely beats London is on board game shops. Walking into The Gamekeeper, right in the heart of the Nine Streets, the canal region of the city, was amazing. I’ve never been in a game shop that nice before, with shelves lined with hundreds of games. I was particularly captivated by one section which held all the small box games like Qwinto and 6 Nimmt. 

I couldn’t resist buying myself new copies of Sushi Go, Lost Cities and Spicy - just so that I could have them in a travel size. Hooray to Dutch publishers for understanding the need for small games! I suppose if I was cycling to game night, space would be even more important!

Another shop, Friends and Foes was bigger and arguably better than the first. All the shiny new releases were there - all of them sadly in Dutch. We have one miserable shop - Orc’s Nest - in central London, with unfriendly staff and an uninspiring selection - with a big focus on MTG, RPGs and war games. For ten years I’ve bought all of my games online, I’ve never felt the warm embrace of a friendly local games store.

And then, to mock London even further, on our final day we walked past a third game store (Schaak- en Gowinkel Het Paard) by accident! And bought a few more games out of politeness. Now I know how hard it must be for those of you with local game stores - the temptation is so much stronger when you’re in the same room as them, holding them in your hands. This is my haul from Amsterdam - more games than I’ve ever bought in person in the UK.

Whilst we were there we got to hang out with Neilan from Board Game Barrage podcast, who was on a layover between flights. He's a super nice guy, and it was great getting to chat with him. I'd really recommend checking out the podcast, I love the different topics they chat about in each episode.

Actual Games

It is a rare month where the three games I’m writing about, I actually like!

Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is a new version of Libertalia, a game that I’ve wanted to own for a long time, but it’s been out of print. I still don’t own it! But I’ve been lucky to play my friend Pankaj’s copy (co-star of Not Just For Geeks video).

It was already a brilliant game - you simultaneously select a pirate card to play an action (like in Citadels and Mission: Red Planet), and their rank determines the order they are resolved.

And the order is often crucial - getting in before someone else, or avoiding being attacked. You each start with the same hand of pirate cards, so it’s a game of outthinking each other, and timing when to play the cards to your best advantage.

Then in reverse order, you pick a loot token, which might provide gold (points), or could be cursed and lose you gold, usually left for the player who picks last. So what loot is available that round will also factor in your decision for which card to play.

The way the pirate cards play off each other, and the fact you have a different combination each time you play, makes for really interesting strategies. But it’s also a really tactical game, you have to play the situation and expect to be attacked. I especially like the 2nd and 3rd rounds when the cards you have diverge from each other, because you’ve played different things.

And this new version has 40 characters, instead of 30, allowing for more interesting card interactions. And two variants for how each loot scores, again creating new dynamics for the game. I’ve really enjoyed every permutation that we’ve encountered so far, finding the loopholes is part of the appeal.

The game also has a new tie-breaker system which gives you a little more to think about. Overall, it’s just a better game.

I only wish I liked the look of it. It doesn’t fit the feel of the mechanisms at all. The cover implies a game of sailing and exploration - when it has neither. Libertalia is all about in-fighting and thievery. So it’s like the game is embarrassed of that and has tried to soften all its edges with animal pirates and plastic confectionery for loot tokens. It’s a weird move. But it’s not worth passing up a better version of a brilliant game over.

Onitama: Light and Shadow is a new expansion of Onitama that turns it into a hidden movement game. You each have a ninja, who you move on a hidden board. Every time you play a card and make a move on the main board, you can use the same card to move the ninja as well, but in a different direction if you like.

It becomes a game of deduction - as you try to work out where they could have moved their ninja, because they can’t share a space with another piece. And of memory - where did I think their ninja was last turn?

You can use your ninja to take an opponent’s piece, revealing its location for a turn - putting it under threat. So you have to decide when it’s worth giving away your position.

I really liked the looming threat of the hidden ninja. It definitely makes the game more loose, it is no longer a pure abstract where you can see everything coming. But that’s the point. It offers an interesting twist, in a very streamlined way. I’m keen to give it more plays.

Phantom Ink is a new party game we’ve been enjoying. It is very similar to the game Crosstalk, which I’ve raved about in the past - such as in my Couch Games video.

You play on two teams - with a spirit on each team. The two spirits share the same clue word, such as “Parrot”. The mediums are racing to guess that word first.

The mediums select two question cards to give to their spirit. For example “What colour is it most commonly?”. The spirit picks a question then slowly writes out an answer, one letter at a time - until their mediums shout “Silencio” to stop them. You see, they don’t want to give away too much to their opponent, because only they know the question that was asked. So if the spirit writes “Y” they know it means Yellow, but the other team has no context.

It’s really quite incredible how well you can piece together an answer after just a few two letter clues. And I love the threat of the other team getting the answer first. I’m not sure if I prefer it to Crosstalk - but both are really fun party games, and this one is probably more available.

New Arrivals

• Long Shot - The Dice Game
• Dungeon Fighter (Second Edition)
• Azul: Queen’s Garden

Games I’ve been enjoying lately

• Wise Guys

• Caesar!

Song of the Month - Numb Little Bug by Em Beihold

Video of the Month - chicken by Alistair Green

Now Watching - The Witchfinder (BBC), Standing Up (Netflix)

Actually yours,

Jon