I have to say it has been excruciatingly long since I last played a board game! I own over 200 board games which are all back home spread over shelves and tables while I am away travelling except for a select few I have been flying around with me.
At long last I had a chance to open a game called 7th Continent. I backed this game on Kickstarter and it arrived this spring but I never seemed to have the time to learn it. There is a website called BoardGameGeek which is a massive resource and rating area for the tabletop gaming hobby and 7th Continent is supposed to be one of the best games you can buy. You are stranded on a cursed island and you need to explore and escape it in an almost "Choose your own adventure" style game play. Currently the game is ranked 11th in the top games in the world.
Fortunately for me when I was out for supper and said "What if we play a game?" the answer was "Let's do it!". Without ruining anything we easily started playing because the game designers had made instructional videos which we put up on the hotel room TV. Over an hour went by and I thought we had "Solved" the intro scenario and escaped the island. Wrong! Looks like our adventure for the first curse may just be beginning!
My weekend was off to a great start and I received a message from a great gaming friend two and a half hours away saying they were going to have a day of gaming and wanted to know if I would be interested in making the trip up. Since I had just played 7th Continent I was all keyed up like a chubby kid on a raging sugar rush to play more games! I jumped in the car Saturday and drove up to play as much as I could.
I arrived two hours later than intended partly due to traffic and partly because I was dragging my feet hoping to attend an interesting work event that was supposed to happen early Saturday morning. When I arrived for games the group was just finishing up a game of Zombicide Black Plague. I've never played myself but it looks excellent, has a great review and the miniatures look great! The company who publishes Zombicide is called Cool Mini or Not (CMON for short) and they are renowned for excellent minis.
The group defeated the zombies and set up Terraforming Mars. I've played twice almost a year ago, bought the game and it is sitting at home brand new in the shrink wrap waiting for me to play it. I was "over the moon" excited to get a chance to play again! I ended up tying for first and the tie breaker was who had the most money so I fell to second place. I can't wait to play this again. Amazing game! It is ranked 4th on BoardGameGeek. Click below to see it!
I was so involved in the games that I forgot to take photos of most of what we played unfortunately. Each time we packed up a game I'd swear as I realized I forgot again to take a photo of the boards end state. Our next game was Railways of the World which is designed by two of my favorite designers Martin Wallace and Glen Drover. After my close second place in Terraforming Mars I was a little ruthless in this game taking out bonds to go in debt left right and center to lay tracks and block out opponents from resources. This was all business and I was able to cash in for a pretty solid win. I didn't make any friends doing it though!
It was my turn to choose a game. I originally planned on Mechs vs Minions which has a great review but I was torn because I had brought a card game that you need at least three people to play with called Fantasy Realms. Since it would be shorter and I don't know when I'll get a chance to play it again I picked Fantasy Realms. It was a lot of fun! We played two rounds of it, enjoying the second more than the first as we got used to the cards and what it was that we were supposed to do. Our only complaint would be how long it takes to score each players hand at the end. It was a lot faster when two people worked together to score everyone's hand and had a calculator out to add things up as they went.
With the night coming to a close none of us wanted to leave yet but we didn't want to stay out all night either. Especially not me since I planned on driving back to my hotel over two hours away again after we finished. The host suggested "The Grizzled - At your Orders". Another game I own and haven't played! I've played the base game of the Grizzled but the "At your Orders" expansion I haven't had a chance to open yet. I feel like this is the first time I have ever won the Grizzled! A grim World War I co-op game where everyone struggles to make it to the end of the war to see peace we had a great stressful grueling time ending in victory.
After burning my candle at both ends for a day of gaming I drove back to my hotel a very happy board game geek! Well worth five hours of driving for 6 hours of games with a great group of friends. Hopefully I get more chances to play as I continue my travels and maybe I can finish the first curse of 7th Continent this week before I travel to Vancouver next week!
If you are camping or you find yourself wondering what to do on a rainy day I hope these gaming stories might give you the idea pick up a brand new game to try out with family and friends. We have come a long way from Sorry, Clue and Monopoly!
If you have a game to recommend or want a recommendation yourself give me a shout in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you!
Cheers,
~ The RPG