A Truly Overstuffed Month (March 2022 newsletter) (Patreon)

Hey folks, to give a little bit of bad news right off the gate, the Brass Birmingham video is going to be a little delayed. A combination of personal and professional obligations have conspired to make me just a bit busier than I was expecting. Luckily, the principal photography is just about done and I'll be busting my buns to get it finished as soon as possible. Expecting that to be in a week or two, depending on...life. In April I'll also have a revised Aldarra video (their campaign was retooled, this time with smaller and less expensive minis) and a tutorial for Stellar Expedition, which is very Star Trek-y in feel. That video will feature a delightfully stupid intro that I was so happy I was able to make work.

This shot lasts for about a second and took probably 45 minutes to figure out. Gotta love green screens. Anyway, this month I played a ridiculous amount of games at Dice Tower West, which might just be my favorite con. I love seeing new releases and whatnot, but for me it's all about playing games, and this one really lets you do that. I didn't take pictures of nearly enough of them, but I can definitely tell you about some highlights.

Ark Nova for example! Believe the hype, folks. This one's great. It's heavily inspired by Terraforming Mars (one of my favorites) but feels like it has a bit more for you to actually do. The action selection system takes the best part of Civilization: A New Dawn and streamlines it to fit a much bigger game. The scoring method is great too. Moving up on opposite sides of the same track and meeting in the middle is a much more interesting mechanism than just most points. I could go on at length about this game, but suffice it to say I highly recommend it if you like big engine builders.

One of the first games I played at the con was Merv: The Heart of the Silk Road, and while I wouldn't say it was my favorite, I did thoroughly enjoy myself. Yet another game with a cool action selection system where you place meeples around this square, choosing a tile to activate along the matching row/column, possibly helping other players along the way, and then the placement also determines your turn order for next round. It was a little hard to grok at first, especially considering just how many things you can do, but after a while you pick it up and get into the swing of things. And on top of that, it has absolutely gorgeous artwork. Perhaps a little busy at first glance, but such a wonderful color palette.

I talked about it a bit on twitter, but I'd been interested in playing Forbidden Stars for quite some time. While it took a good 5 or so hours to play, which at a con is quite the investment of time, I'm so glad I did. While I couldn't care less about Warhammer 40k, I'm always curious about a space based 4x game. And this one has a wealth of interesting ideas. When playing a 4x, I can't help but compare it to TI4, but this one felt different in just about every way. I don't imagine I'll play it again any time soon, but I'm certainly glad I gave it a try, and would recommend you do the same if you get the chance.

Other great games I played but didn't take pictures of: 

Whirling Witchcraft: Good lord is this game fun! I played it seven times at the con. Now, that's not especially difficult considering it takes about 10 minutes to play, but I just kept going back. A silly little resource conversion engine builder where the goal is to inundate your neighbor with excess goods. It's absolutely lovely and there's a good chance I'll end up buying it, despite the fact that a good friend also bought it right after the con.

Dice Miner: Another excellent filler. Draft dice from the top of a mountain in three quick rounds. Mess with your friends just a little bit and hope you've got more gold than them at the end. It's fun. It's quick. I really wish it weren't out of print.

Fantasy Realms: I don't know if I'd call it a filler, but it's definitely a light game. Try to get the best hand of cards by the end of the round. Everything can be good, but some cards will help you a lot more than others. Chuck the ones you don't want, pray that the ones you do will show up. I don't know how much staying power it would have if I owned it, but I played it twice and enjoyed it both times.

While I didn't play Furnace at the con (though not for lack of trying), I did manage to play it a couple weeks later. Looking back, I guess I've been playing a lot of engine builders lately. Makes sense, it's one of my favorite genres. Anyway, this is definitely one of those games that's easy to learn but it's not until halfway through that you go "ohhhh, that's how I should've been playing this whole time." It's a pretty quick one though, so you don't feel like you've wasted time or anything. And regardless, I thoroughly enjoy turning resources into other resources into other resources into points. If that's your jam, Furnace will be your...jelly? It's good. It's a good game.

I played a fair few more games than what I've shown (it's actually been a great month for just playing games for fun), but I don't want this to go on too long, so I'll wrap it up. In other news, I've already got Sidereal Confluence in hand and I'm hoping to play it pretty soon. If everything goes as planned, I should be able to start prepping that script soon and get back on schedule. There's a lot of great stuff happening soon you guys. I can't wait to make it and for you to see it. Thanks for being here. Have a good one!