Siggil

Matt

Dan was nice enough to pick this up for me from BBG Con and I’ve been playing it ever since. Kel, in particular, has really taken a liking to this little hand management/drafting game, so we’ve been going head-to-head repeatedly over the last week. The gameplay is simple set collection, but the different formations of the siggil have provided a wildly different experience each time, making it a lot of fun to explore the different challenges presented by the layouts.

Ben

Played this for the first time and really liked it, even though Kelly B just continually kicks butt in it. I liked the variation in setup that is offered too. I need to play more to get better, since I keep messing myself up at the end and having no options to go after when the game is about to end.

Kelly

I love this game. It’s gorgeous. I’m quickly approaching the limit at which Matt stops playing this with me. Luckily you can play it by yourself.

Abyss: Kraken

Matt

It’s here! Finally! The Kraken Expansion for Abyss entered my collection over the weekend and I was eager to get it to the table. I’m surprised by how much extra content was provided in the expansion and how the introduction of the Nebulis – a “dirty currency” of sorts that results in negative points – radically changed the potential strategies for the game. Provided I’m playing with experienced opponents, I’ll be including the Kraken Expansion and the new challenges it poses every time.

Kelly

NEBULIS! This expansion totally changes the game! The nebulis push you to spend your pearls entirely differently so that you can get rid of nebulis to avoid negative points. The Kraken expansion is excellent. I still didn’t win. I never win Abyss.

Between Two Cities

Ben

I’ve played this with 3 or more players a couple times and it’s been an ok game. Finally tried it out solo and it surprised me. I really like this game solo and ended up playing it 3 times, one after the other. It’s still quick too, around 20 minutes. From this experience, I’m actually more excited to try this 2-player now. Fingers crossed

Matt

After my second play of this title, this time with only three players, I still have no idea where I fall on its success as a game. We played in under 20  minutes, which is a boon, I suppose, but it lacks the meaningful decisions that make a game engaging and desirable. I’ll continue to try it out with different groups to see if it eventually hits home, but I do not have high hopes for this filler-style tile placement game.

T.I.M.E Stories

Kelly

When we played this game initially, I didn’t really know what it was. I just knew that Matt really wanted to play it. When we opened it up and I found out it was a mystery game about a creepy old asylum and I looked at the character cards I was stoked because creepy asylums are one of my favorite things. I had a really really good time playing this game. I know that the reviews have been mixed, but even when we were re-tracing our steps I was still excited while playing it. Getting items was super fun and trying to figure out what the heck was actually happening was really engaging. The atmosphere of playing at 1:30 in the morning also really helped the creepiness factor. I was genuinely sad when we got the card that said “Okay, now get ready for the Marcy Case” and Dan was like “yeah, I’ve gotta look into that one.” I didn’t know there wasn’t more! And I wanted more.

We started the Marcy Case. And then played it for like three hours. And I still have no idea what is happening or how to figure it out and I love that so much.

Chicago Express

Steve

Matt has been singing praises for Chicago Express and described it as a couple small steps up from Ticket to Ride. This game is a doozy for sure. The central mechanic is an auctioning between players to obtain shares in one of the five railroad companies. The bids effect how much money the company has to lay rails and increase value. Alliances are forged and rivalries created very quickly and can escalate in multiple directions. The tables seemed to turn many times in our game. The red railroad was forging along and was the most valuable on the table. Matt and I forged a semi alliance in B&O railroad and raced to Chicago before Smee and Dan could cash in.  In the end I lost since I had the least amount of money. I was playing the “drive up the price” game but most cases ended up coming back to bite me. I’m not sure if I liked this one or not but will not object to trying it again just to be sure.

Lanterns

Matt

This was a perfect fit for a 3-player game session with Kel and my mom, since it provides an engaging experience (and great aesthetics) without an excessive number of rules to follow. We still found that Lanterns has an issue with score pacing and how failing to score each turn will almost guarantee your loss, but for the context of the play it really didn’t matter. We had a good time chatting and playing, no harm done. Lanterns really is an enjoyable tile-laying game that is perfect for families.

Kelly

I was victorious! I hadn’t actually played the boxes version of this game yet so it was nice to see the art – the cards are really pretty. It had been a while since I’d played Lanterns in general, but as soon as we were done I remembered that you’re pretty much guaranteed to lose if you don’t get a points tile every turn and keep up.