2010.03.11
Some games are really good. Others, the jury’s still out.
I’ve played a large number of new (to me) board games over the past six months, both with my regular group and otherwise. For the most part, I’ve enjoyed all of the games, but a few games stand out as ones where I’m not so sure. To be perfectly fair, I’ve only played each of these three games once to date.
First up: the Farmers of the Moor expansion to Agricola. I like Agricola by itself, but I’m not sure about the expansion. The biggest issue I have is that it extends the game time by too much for too little gain. It also adds complexity and hence makes the analysis paralysis problems in Agricola even worse. Maybe the problem was that we played it with five players. I’d be willing to try it again, although only with three or four players next time. I don’t think I’ll buy it though. I can’t see playing it very often with my regular group.
Next up is Dungeon Lords. I did enjoy the theme of the game, but it seemed like things progressed too slowly and there weren’t enough interesting choices to make. I don’t know that I really want to even try it again. I think I’d rather give Galaxy Trucker a go as an alternative.
The most recently played game I’m unsure of is Primordial Soup. I finished in the middle of the pack, but the last place player finished way behind. It seemed like the game balance was tilted towards needing to stay in a somewhat tight pack to make it interesting. There was a mild “punish the leader” mechanic in the game, but it was such as small disadvantage that I’m not sure it was enough. This one I definitely want to try again now that I’ve played once, and I suspect I’ll like it better. I also wonder whether it would be better with only four players (we had five).
Aside from these three, I’ve enjoyed all of the other games I’ve tried over the past six months or so. Hopefully the trend continues through the rest of 2010.
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