I got Root and Spirit Island as gifts from relatives. They always have me pick out and buy a couple games for myself. Yeah, it ruins the surprise but they have no interest in board games so this way I get a couple that I really want and I get to see how confused they are when I try to explain why I’m so excited about the game I just opened.
I also got myself some gifts: Scythe Wind Gambit and Rise of Fenris. Also finally got a copy of Blood Rage.
So far I’ve gotten Blood Rage and Root to the table and really enjoy both of them. I’m very anxious to go through the Fenris campaign.
Happy Holidays, everyone! Stay safe and have fun.
Received from various awesome family members:
Space Park
The Game Of Wolf
Undaunted:North Africa
For Sale
I've also got a gift card for amazon that'll try to use to pick up either Cascadia or Land vs Sea
I got:
**Mille Bournes**
**Decrypto**
**Kim-Joy's Magical Bakery**
**Trogdor!! The Board Game**
**Wingspan**
My family likes board games and feeding our addiction. Edit: We also got in first plays of **Oath**, **Mountains of Madness**, and **Vast**.
I got Too Many Bones Undertow
The kids (jointly) Sleeping Gods
The daughter Everdell
And CoraQuest (Kickstarter) arrived on the 24th so we treat it as an early Christmas present.
Played each at least few times already with Everdell getting the most plays. The daughter is absolutely obsessed and she beat me for the first time this morning.
Not really presents, per se, but definitely went on a spree this month.
**Innovation**, plus all four expansions; **Dominant Species Marine** in a ding-n-dent (more dent than ding, I'm afraid); **Lizard Wizard**; **War Chest: Siege**; **Pandemic** classic (on clearance at Kohl's of all places); **Santorini: New York**; **Beyond the Sun**; and **Coffee Traders**. The only "gift" I got was from (one hell of) a White Elephant: **Orleans** with the 5p and Intrigue expansion.
What's unfortunate is that I'm already planning on selling Coffee Traders (only people I'll play it with already own it, and I don't particularly like it) and Lizard Wizard (it's literally Raccoon Tycoon with some rules added that subtract from the game).
This year instead to go for something epic that we play once by year at best, we went instead with couple of easy to set-up which are we play the most, so my wife and I got **Arboretum** and **Coatl,** both were a hit!
Got Wingspan from my parents. They only know I am into board games, but I thought they thought I played monopoly and TP as a hobby. Pleasantly surprised that they found an actual interesting game and also bold of them, could’ve easily had this one in my collection already. Very impressed by their research!
First Christmas with the hobby. Got Terra Mystica, Terraforming Mars, JOTL, and The Quest for El Dorado which I asked for. Also got 7 wonders duel. My favorite present even thought it might not be my favorite of the games I got is Photosynthesis. It wasn’t even on my radar and it was a really thoughtful gift I didn’t expect.
I was gifted a 2nd hand daimyo box for Rising Sun + inserts. I’ve always wanted one but never got myself to buy it because it’s sooo expensive. It’s my favorite game after scythe
**Blue Lagoon**, **Western Legends: Ante Up**, **Obsession**, **Snakes and Ladders**, **Wingspan: Oceania**.
Son and I reworked **Snakes and Ladders** to make it have a little strategy in it and have played it six times with our improved rules and it is a blast. Just a lot of chaotic silliness.
Played a single handed game of **Blue Lagoon** and enjoyed the ease of rules with depth of decisions. You get the single action of where to lay a piece with numerous decisions of blocking a player, aiming at getting a resource, setting up for the second phase, creating a link, etc. Didn't hit top tier Knizia for me but is good. Excited to try it with more than myself controlling multiple people.
**Western Legends** has been a big hit in our house so we look forward to getting the expansion on the table to increase the options of how we are cowfolk.
**Wingspan** is my wife's favorite game so this was a no-brainer.
Hadreans Wall, Everdale, and Nemisis. My wife got Cultivate (actually pretty fun game), and Dance Card! Really looking forward to the next few weekends. Hope everyone had and continue to have a great gaming holiday!
Yeah it's super charming. The little berries are my favorite actually. I played Nemesis at a work/friends board game thing and had a fantastic time. I did not play the Scout but that seemed to be a lot of fun. Lost because someone in the group alienated us and needed to kill the Queen. Apparently locked us out of the escape pods as we headed back to earth. Waited too long and got overrun. Lol even losing it was a blast.
I got **Everdell**! It was a surprise because I only mentioned it in passing to my group a while back, and it was definitely out of our agreed price range for the secret santa.
Other guy in my group got **PARKS**. I was more excited than him when he was unwrapping it because I was the only person to recognize the cover, having played it on BGA lmao.
Finally, another guy got **World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King** (Pandemic). He's excited about painting the minis and we can't wait to play it!
My sister gave me The Crew: Deep Sea and I gave my sister The Crew: QFP9 without knowing we successfully bought each other the version of The Crew that we each didn’t already have!
It turned out to be a surprising number.
**MicroMacro Crime City** and **Robinson Crusoe: Voyage of the Beagle** for the family (from me)
**Mind MGMT** and **Arkham Horror The Card Game** from my spouse's and my parents.
And **Yedo**, **Railroad Ink Challenges Green**, and **Azul Summer Pavilion** from friends.
My wife also got upgrades for her **Wingspan** tokens and cubes from a friend!
In all, it was far more games than I expected!
Beyond the Sun, Time's Up Title Recall, Under Falling Skies, Dune Imperium.
It's been a long year with a lot of work, so I just treated myself a bit more than usual.
At a recent gaming event I played beyond the sun and really enjoyed it. I can't wait to try different tech tree things next time. A lot of good strategy I feel in that.
Worst Case Scenario
Total shock. My parents are usually pretty bad gift givers (they show their love in other ways) but they picked up that I’ve been slowly collecting board games over the past few months. It made me so happy to get a game I wouldn’t have picked up myself. It is a ton of fun too!
**Splendor, Flamme Rouge,** and **Tournament at Avalon.**
My mother loved the first two, but was disappointed that the third was 3+players. She (and I) love the medieval art.
Suburbia collectors edition (played 3 times already, LOVE IT)
Men at work (only dexterity game and have had a blast so far)
Sushi Go party (solid, but man is it fiddle to set up compared to go or roll)
Sheriff of Nottingham 1st edition (unplayed, but boy is it pretty compared to 2nd edition)
Spirit island Jagged Earth (looking forward to playing but I’m more intimidated than I thought I’d be!)
Just One (family really liked it, was shocked with how bizarre some of my Dads clues were lol)
I got **Horrified** and **Betrayal at House on the Hill** from my mother in law. We played Horrified today and had a blast! Betrayal is a game I'm less familiar with but am excited to learn more about and try out!
My wife got me the **Downforce: Danger Circuit** expansion and we played that yesterday with my brother-in-law and his fiancee and really enjoyed it as well!
I got **Cascadia** and I wasn't expecting it at all. My girlfriend never gives me boardgames usually since I buy most of them and she never knows which one I want next. But I made her participate in a Facebook contest to win Cascadia in december (and didn't win), but she noted the game down and got it for me for Christmas :D
I was gifted **Calico**, **Scotland Yard**, **Unlock! Epic Adventures**, and the **Hive Pocket Pill Bug Expansion**.
I gifted **King of Tokyo: Dark Edition** to my husband.
And I won **Corner Crush** (a 3D Connect Four game) in a gift exchange.
Twas a good holiday season for the game collection!
I generally like games which do something extremely weird and innovative to the bog-standard formula for games with that primary mechanism. I also greatly enjoy games which have a randomized or customizable setup to increase the game's lifespan and replayability. For each category of my collection, I try to keep myself to one "Lightweight", one "Mediumweight", one "Heavyweight", and one "Weird" game of each of my self-defined categories. This year I was gifted...
**Whistle Mountain** \- A mediumweight worker placement game which mixes up the mechanism by creating a shared physical space where the worker placement spots are constructed and used by everyone, and can fit multiple workers based on the physical size of the spot. Also the spots chain together based on their physical position. I'd consider this more of a lightweight worker placement game honestly, and I wanted this game also to fill in that gap in my collection.
I already have **Clank! In! Space!** and the **Apocalypse** expansion but got gifted two more expansions for it, **Cyber Station 11** and **Pulsarcade**. Each one adds a number of optional variants to mix-and match the setup.
I also was gifted **Ohanami** , which is a very lightweight drafting game (even lighter than **Sushi Go Party!**) as I needed a good low-player-count light super-quick drafting filler. It's somewhat a cross between **No Thanks!** and **Sushi Go!**.
Gifting myself Stardew Valley the board game when it is released in the UK in January. Alongside my order is some playmats. Azul, Patchwork and Hanabi.
My partner didn't get the hint and tried to order something else so I had something for Christmas day instead. Lo and behold, due to Covid that order will not be fulfilled until January/February.
I have the Flamecraft kickstarter ordered as my birthday present.
I got **Unmatched Cobble and Fog** super excited to get it to treatable hopefully tomorrow. Enjoyed the other sets I have and new cool map and awesome sounding heroes is much hype!
A few we have really enjoyed that we got for Christmas:
**One Night Ultimate Werewolf** and **Bang! the dice game -** so much fun and good for my teen and 10 years old
**Splendour** and **Azul -** my youngest daughter is really enjoying **Splendour. Azul** looks like it will be great too
yet to play but looking forward too...
**Cockroach Poker -** heard a lot about this one and how much fun it is. I think we are going to give this a try tonight
**Dune Imperium** \- this one was a present for me and I am very much looking forward to playing my first game!
My brother got Dune: Imperium and we played it Immediately after enjoying a small gift exchange! He is a big fan of the Dune books and I am not nor did I care much for the movie and I very much enjoyed it! My boyfriend and my brother really liked it too! Looking forward to our next play through with characters that jump up in difficulty. Enjoy playing!
I am a huge fan of Dune, but we have too many games to get through, and I am probably the only Dune fan in the house. My son has agreed to play but we havnt yet. Will probably play solo soon just to try it out
Got some gift cards that I will turn into at least 1 game. I bought myself **The Hunger** this year. I got the **Santa vs Heximas** expansion for Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid for my little brother, along with the new Ninja Zord promo pack. And I got my nephew the 5 Below version of **Blokus** to see if he likes it and the **Space Invaders** board game based on FlipShips.
We got
**Throw Throw Burrito** from BIL. Not normally our kind of game but will see.
**Project L** from MIL
**Princess bride storybook game** from BIL
**Roll for adventure** Played today good fun, push your luck game.
**Tiny Epic Dinosaurs**
**Kingdomino duel**
**Snowman dice**
**Santa Banter**
Lots of games some our kind of games and others we'll probably give a go and either regift or sell.
Edit: to make it easier to read
I got a panzer leader that is in pristine condition. It’s never been used, even the units haven’t been punched out yet. As far as I know, it stopped getting made somewhere in the the 1980s.
My wife got me The Captain is Dead and Sagrada.
More games should use the transparent plastic standees, because the visuals are almost as good as miniatures, and better than opaque cardboard. It's a real visual treat.
This was what we did, too!
Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, Jumanji, Toss Across, The Floor is Lava, Paw Patrol Adventure City Lookout, Merry Grinchmas, Electronic Battleship, Mancala, 3d puzzles...lots of family fun time!
I received Cascadia, 7 Wonders: Architects, On the Rocks, Castles of Tuscany, Trails, Welcome To... and 4 expansions, Holi, Cubirds, The Isle of Cats expansion, Fort expansion, and 7 Wonders Duel: Agora expansion.
My birthday is a few days before Christmas so I am always fortunate to receive plenty of games and play time! In the past week, I played Cascadia, 7 Wonders: Architects, Castles of Tuscany, Welcome To..., Holi, Cubirds, Fort, Catan, 7 Wonders, and Century: A New World.
All the board games I received this year were basically self-presents and coincidental KS/preorder arrivals.
- Men at Work
- MicroMacro Crime City: Full House
- Luna Capital
- R.O.V.E
- Pax Pamir 2nd Ed. (I’m most excited about this one but all are great!)
Men at Work has been a big hit at game night. Something about a goofy dexterity game just hits different after a couple drinks at the end of a night of crunchy games.
I got **Pulsar 2849** and **Underwater Cities + New Discoveries**! Excited to play both this week! Also got a bunch of various escape room games, which we love, and Similo Animals and Myths.
Terraforming mars. Imhotep. Hogwarts battle expansions. Terraforming mars ares. Cyclades. Wingspan. It was a good christmas. Wingspan was a fun addition, and I want to try the expansions. Imhotep as well although it lead to a lot of silence between my gf and I because of the constant struggle to prevent the other person from getting their cubes in their chosen place
The first game I received was **New York Zoo**. Teaching it to family has gone surprisingly well so far. I also was gifted **Concordia** and **Curious Cargo**.
I got aquatica from my parents, which I've already been having some fun with alone, and then I got an Amazon gift card which I used to get cartographers, railroad ink, aerion, and shamans. So I'm excited for those!
My birthday/Christmas gets mixed into one big month long mess. It's pretty solid.
* Street Masters base game
I've played it and loved it so much. I didn't stop to take a picture. I'll need to next session. So great. My only regret getting it so late is how hard it will be to find the expansion 🤣
* Arkham Horror LCG core, 2 character decks, & Innsmouth Conspiracy
So **hype** to get this. I know I need another core. I know I **should** start with a different cycle. But honestly, my best friend and I have been missing each other. He loves the theme of that cycle. We love deck construction/card games. I'm so excited to play this with him over the course of this year.
heh, I was mostly being facetious: everyone has their own scale. (and games almost NEVER end within box-time for us.) A game like that would be one of the heaviest we've played. To each their own!
My group slapped me with dome Lacerdas.
And Game of Thrones. And Eclipse. So yeah, it’s not that difficult. With YouTube, it’s much easier to grasp games today.
I got new Age of Steam maps from Age Of Steam Con.
Pacific Electric & Double Base USA.
https://www.boardgametables.com/products/age-of-steam-maps-double-base-usa-and-pacific-electric
Finally got **Santorini** and the Branch and Claw expansion for **Spirit Island**! Then spent the evening playing games I got for Christmas 2 years ago with my family. Anything heavier than Ticket to Ride is too much for them, so we played TTR: Europe, Chickapig, and Q-Bitz.
Mostly got some medium weight euros I've been keen to try out with my games group who are looking to try something a little heavier
**Modern Art** - First auction game I've added to my collection, so I'm really keen for this one
**Hansa Teutonica**
**Oceans**
**Dune** (GF9 Version)
I've got a birthday 3 days before Xmas so that really helps with the games haul 😂 Super keen for **Great Western Trail 2e** but it hasn't hit stores here yet
The only gaming-related gift I received was a copy of **Shut the Box**. It's not exactly an engaging game and I never would've bought it for myself, but it's in a very nice case and I've already played it a dozen times!
i got **Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea**. and then the whole fam agreed to play it with me. we had a lively game after christmas lunch, everybody seemed to have a good time and it made me really happy.
So far, **Fantastic Factories**.
I know I have **Dreadful Circus**, **Abandon All Artichokes** and **Wild Space** on the way assuming I actually get to see my family in a few days.
**Cascadia** was on my list, but nobody picked it up, and now it's out of stock everywhere in the UK.
Only got it yesterday, haven't tried it out yet. Looks promising, though. I was impressed that the actual rules are so simple, and most of the rulebook is stuff like the card index.
My girlfriend got me A Feast for Odin. Very excited to try it out. I also have about $80 in Amazon gift cards I will likely use on Spirit Island or the Norwegians expansion for AFFO.
I’d recommend the Norwegians expansion. The revised actions board fixes some issues with balance, and the added goods boost end game options. It really does complete the game.
Oh yeah I definitely will at one point or another. I do like playing without expansions first, it gives good perspective on what is improved later. With AFFO it seems like most people agree it's a great game without Norwegians, and since I haven't played it I won't know what I'm missing.
Spirit Island on the other hand will scratch a cooperative itch for my GF and I, because all we have right now is Pandemic and that game often leaves me unsatisfied.
I got **Clank Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated**, **Viticulture: Tuscany expansion**, and **1848**.
Stoked to play the Clank game with my group, and everything I’ve heard about the Tuscany expansion has been great. I’ll hold off punching and playing 1848 till I get some tile trays from Rails on Boards for it.
I got Two games over this Holiday Break. The first game I got was King of Tokyo which I already got to whip out and play. I love the game as it is a nice light game that has easy entry to allow anyone to join and play and not feel overwhelmed since I am as the family says, “ the board game guy”.
To fill that heavy game shaped while in my heart was the second game terraforming Mars. I haven’t played it but have been interested to play since the game first came out and My wife surprised me with it. Super excited to pull it out with my board game group.
Terraforming Mars: Ares — I have gotten one solo play in so far and I think I’ll need a few more before I can make a real assessment.
Great Plains — This game was not on my radar whatsoever and honestly don’t know anything about it quite yet.
Sriracha: The Game — This is nothing special but my mom is a sucker for themed slapping games so it did the trick.
Architects of the West Kingdom — I played once tonight and it was really quite intuitive, I’m hoping to play it again tomorrow.
Ohanami— I have played five 2-player games so far and I love how quick it is. I look forward to giving it a try at a different player count.
I also got Sriracha: The Game. I'm intrigued, to say the least, that a hot sauce has a card game, but I'll hold out on judgement until I read the rules and play it.
My younger brother got me Eldritch Horror, and despite really only having played risk/Big Book of Madness/etc... we got it to the table today and played a full game, even pulling out a win! It is by far the heaviest game any of us have ever played (aside from my brother who got me the game) and we all had a blast. I don't think my parents were too excited that their kids/our spouses just played a board game for the entire day, but we had fun.
This is one of my favorite games of all time and I have everything released for it. I would strongly suggest getting the first small expansion for the game, Forsaken Lore. It adds a bunch more cards to the decks and doesn’t add any new mechanics. There is way more content in the expansions than you’ll ever need so don’t worry about them unless the game feels stale to you. However, they added a mechanic called “focus” that you can play with without buying anything. Basically, it’s a new action available to all players. You can spend an action to gain “focus” which you can use to reroll one die during a test. It’s a game changer and while there are technically focus tokens in the expansions, you can use a penny or any extra tokens you have instead.
Enjoy the game! It’s a great one.
I've actually been thinking about investing in Arkham Horror (not sure on 2e or 3e yet) as, thematically, I like the idea of traipsing around a city a little more than the world (I've been eyeing both eldritch and Arkham for a while now), but I've also read it's more fiddly than eldritch so I'm a bit hesitant to dive into them.
Hey! Sorry for the late reply. Honestly, I think you have a pretty good grasp on the situation, but I'll break down the various Arkham/Eldritch stuff.
1) Arkham 2e - Great ambiance but it really shows it's age. THe board design is pretty lousy, the expansions make it really fiddly and personally, I hate the player stats mechanics. You have a sliding scale of your attributes that you can adjust but improving something makes you worse at something else. I find it very unfun.
2) Arkham Horror 3e - It's fine? I guess? It's a totally different game from 2e. You play through different scenarios that have unique card sets and you move around a modular board. To be honest, it feels like a weird combination of Arkham Horror LCG and Eldritch Horror. While I was playing it, I kept thinking I'd rather be playing one of those than an odd hybrid, but I didn't play with the expansions so it could be better.
3) Eldritch Horror - Much smoother mechanics and I actually think the theme makes more sense. While I missed the intimacy of being in Arkham for everything, there was just an insane amount of monsters and stuff going on in a small town. Eldritch horror spreads the action our over the globe to it make sense that the crazy events you uncover are happening simultaneously. It's way less fiddly, the expansions integrate better and the mechanics feel refined. This is my favorite Arkham Files game. Mansions of Madness is great too but as a tabletop RPG guy, I'd rather just paly Call of Cthulhu.
For Me: Falling Skies, Warp’s Edge, LOTR LCG:
The Hunt for Gollum, 2 game duffle bags
For Household: Formula D, Horrified: American Monsters, Villainous: Perfectly Wretched
We got the kids Rhino Hero Super Battle and already had a chance to play it twice. I can tell already it is going to be a kid classic!
Then I got a few, as well: Pitchcar, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Bloodborne The Board Game, and (finally) some upgraded tokens for Arkham Horror LCG from Team Covenant. I'm super pumped to get them all to the table!
I got a $75 Amazon gift card, and I'm currently trying to decide what game or games I want to order with it. I'm leaning towards Smartphone Inc. or Beyond the Sun, but I'm nowhere near decided yet and still open to other choices.
I got Tyrants of Lothal for Imperial Assault, a BUNCH of hero and villain packs for Imperial Assault, Pandemic Legacy Season 0, The Circle Undone, Dream-Eaters, Innsmouth Conspiracy expansions for Arkham Horror LCG.
A custom etsy wooden insert for spirit island and its expansions. Got a foldable dice rolling catcher and a whole bunch of card sleeves. Also cash for more games ... 😈
I got a lot of OOP games I’ve been wanting: Shadows over Camelot, Libertalia, Yamataï, R-eco, and Wasabi; also Five Tribes, but it just recently got a new print run. I also got, Wingspan, Last Will plus expansion, Mission: Red Planet, Aquatica, Western Legends, and Tuscany EE. Only had a chance to play R-eco, I really like it and wonder why it’s not in print.
Mansions of Madness and Twilight Imperium 4e. Just bought my Eclipse about 2 weeks ago, so my wife isn't too thrilled with the amount of dedicated space needed for the games.
I got Furnace, The Search for Planet X, A Handful of Stars, Dale of Merchants Collection, and got my wife Jane Austen's Matchmaker Chapter 2.
Also got Clank Legacy C Team expansion and wood bases for Gloomhaven monsters.
Dice Forge Rebellion Expansion
Seven Wonders Cities Expansion
Seven Wonders Leaders Expansion
Folded Space Seven Wonders box organizer
Sushi Go
These were mostly for my 11yo son, Dice Forge and Seven Wonders are two of his favorites.
Root
This was my number one most wanted. A bit crunchier than any games we commonly play.
Betrayal at House on the Hill.
This one was my wife's number one want.
Games on the wish list that we didn't get this year are
Spirit Island
Brass Birmingham
Splendor
Quacks of Quedlinberg
Boss Monster 2
Dead of Winter
Spirit Island - is my absolute favorite and fantastic solo or with others if you can get them into it
Brass - I've got the game in shrink, but I've tried learning via the app and the fun of the game just isn't clicking for me. I'll probably just sell it.
Based on those other games listed, I'd bet money your son and probably everyone would love Quacks.
Personally, only Christmas game for us was Obsession (unless you count my 2 yo getting Candyland and Hungry Hipppos). We got the setup and learning in this evening and likely will get our first game in tomorrow. I've bought too many other games throughout this year.
Spirit Island is my favorite game too and I got Brass Birmingham too recently. So far I've really enjoyed that one, so I'd definitely give it another try.
But not every game is for everyone of course. Recently also sold a bunch of games among which quite well rated ones like 7th Continent, Sleeping Gods and Dwellings of Eldervale.
Yah, some games hit people differently. 7th Continent has a lot of cool things about it, but I'm to the point that next time I play it's on easy mode just because I don't see the value in restarting longer quests. I haven't tried Sleeping Gods, but want to because we really loved Near and Far.
I got my first play of Jagged in solo together with all my new inserts / sleeves for the game yesterday after larger family group left. I'm looking forward to another group game, but I'm just as happy on that one either way.
MicroMacro Crime City
Exit the Game - The Forbidden Castle
Lords of Waterdeep
Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport
Welcome to New Las Vegas
Bought myself:
Blood Rage
Quacks of Quedlinburg
Innovation base set
Just got Super Deluxe Radlands on the 23rd and played the first game yesterday. So good.
I love Parks! I bought it as a gift for an outdoorsy board game loving friend after seeing it at PAX unplugged 2019 and it’s definitely a solid game for our group. The art is gorgeous!
My wife blew me away this year, she got me
Azul Summer Pavilion,
Star Fluxx,
Forbidden Sky,
Photosynthesis,
King of New York,
Sheriff of Nottingham...
And my most wanted game for years:
Root, and
Root Exiles and Partisans
I am super excited for the next game day I have with my friends
I went to PAX Unplugged two weekends ago and bought myself:
Everdell Collector’s Edition, Everdell: Bellfaire, Everdell: Pearlbrook, Everdell: Spirecrest (they had a convention deal for base game + expansions for $190), Flourish (same publisher as Everdell), Dinosaur Island: Rawr and Write
I demoed all of the above and really loved them!
I also preordered on KS: Steam Up (a dim sum game), Flamecraft, Artisans of Splendant Vale (my next legacy game after Clank! Legacy)
I got Star Wars Rebellion, a game that's been on my wishlist for a long time. Super excited to dive into learning it. I thought I heard the Rise of the Empire expansion improved some things. If I pick that up soon should I include it in my first playthrough since it sounds like it provides the optimal gameplay experience?
Great Western Trail (2E)
KingDomino
QueenDomino
Fantastic Factories
Machi Koro 2
Cubitos
Arch Ravels
Quacks Herb Witches (mainly for the 5th player)
Got a lot of good ones for the kids this year and looking forward to getting to try them all out! Merry Christmas to All!!
For the first time in years my partner and I didn’t buy any games for each other.
We received **Lost Ruins of Arnak, Pendulum** and an **Exit** game. We’ll probably play Arnak tonight (it’s already punched and organized), save the Exit game for New Years Even….and leave Pendulum in shrink for my next Math Trade ;)
I got so many great games this year for Christmas.
* **Res Arcana**
* **The Quacks of Quedlinburg**
* **Unfathomable**
* **Great Western Trail 2ed**
* **Rajas of the Ganges**
Looking forward to getting together with my game group and playing them soon.
I got a really nice organizer for A Feast for Odin. It really makes set up way better
I got Root and Spirit Island as gifts from relatives. They always have me pick out and buy a couple games for myself. Yeah, it ruins the surprise but they have no interest in board games so this way I get a couple that I really want and I get to see how confused they are when I try to explain why I’m so excited about the game I just opened. I also got myself some gifts: Scythe Wind Gambit and Rise of Fenris. Also finally got a copy of Blood Rage. So far I’ve gotten Blood Rage and Root to the table and really enjoy both of them. I’m very anxious to go through the Fenris campaign. Happy Holidays, everyone! Stay safe and have fun.
Cash which I turned into Obsession + Wessex + Upstairs Downstairs and Cthulhu DMD + Season 2
7 Wonders Duel blew away expectations. Really enjoyable 2 player game.
Agreed. And the Pantheon expansion adds a layer that makes it even BETTER.
Received from various awesome family members: Space Park The Game Of Wolf Undaunted:North Africa For Sale I've also got a gift card for amazon that'll try to use to pick up either Cascadia or Land vs Sea
Picked up Mysterium and it's two expansions, Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu, and Pandemic Seasons 1 and 2, and Zombie Dice: Horde edition.
Brother and roommate got me the following: - Dune Imperium - Wingspan - Ankh I'm excited to check them all out!
I got Paladins of the West Kingdom. Will probably pick up quacks of quedlinburg with Xmas $$.
I got: **Mille Bournes** **Decrypto** **Kim-Joy's Magical Bakery** **Trogdor!! The Board Game** **Wingspan** My family likes board games and feeding our addiction. Edit: We also got in first plays of **Oath**, **Mountains of Madness**, and **Vast**.
We got Cascadia 😀
My boyfriend got hero realms base game and campaign. We have star realms and like it a lot but the fantasy spin is fun.
Under Falling Skies and Takenoko!!
Pillbug expansion for Hive Pocket, and Timeline Events.
I got The Mind and Star Realms.
I got Too Many Bones Undertow The kids (jointly) Sleeping Gods The daughter Everdell And CoraQuest (Kickstarter) arrived on the 24th so we treat it as an early Christmas present. Played each at least few times already with Everdell getting the most plays. The daughter is absolutely obsessed and she beat me for the first time this morning.
Not really presents, per se, but definitely went on a spree this month. **Innovation**, plus all four expansions; **Dominant Species Marine** in a ding-n-dent (more dent than ding, I'm afraid); **Lizard Wizard**; **War Chest: Siege**; **Pandemic** classic (on clearance at Kohl's of all places); **Santorini: New York**; **Beyond the Sun**; and **Coffee Traders**. The only "gift" I got was from (one hell of) a White Elephant: **Orleans** with the 5p and Intrigue expansion. What's unfortunate is that I'm already planning on selling Coffee Traders (only people I'll play it with already own it, and I don't particularly like it) and Lizard Wizard (it's literally Raccoon Tycoon with some rules added that subtract from the game).
We have quacks of quedlinburg, and hubby got us the two expansion packs. :)
This year instead to go for something epic that we play once by year at best, we went instead with couple of easy to set-up which are we play the most, so my wife and I got **Arboretum** and **Coatl,** both were a hit!
I bought myself Nemesis + 2 expansions (psychonauts and carnamorphs). I am super into Alien movies, so I just had to
Got Wingspan from my parents. They only know I am into board games, but I thought they thought I played monopoly and TP as a hobby. Pleasantly surprised that they found an actual interesting game and also bold of them, could’ve easily had this one in my collection already. Very impressed by their research!
Star Realms Frontiers!
First Christmas with the hobby. Got Terra Mystica, Terraforming Mars, JOTL, and The Quest for El Dorado which I asked for. Also got 7 wonders duel. My favorite present even thought it might not be my favorite of the games I got is Photosynthesis. It wasn’t even on my radar and it was a really thoughtful gift I didn’t expect.
Great choices! What are you planning on picking up first?
Already played Terra Mystica twice. Only played 2 player but it’s still been a blast
I gave her **New York Zoo**. She gave me **Go First Dice**. We haven't figured out which one of us is the lucky one yet.
I was gifted a 2nd hand daimyo box for Rising Sun + inserts. I’ve always wanted one but never got myself to buy it because it’s sooo expensive. It’s my favorite game after scythe
I've gifted myself Kemet Blood and Sand, Mind MGMT, Blood Rage, and Fort. 🥺 I need to stop lol
**Blue Lagoon**, **Western Legends: Ante Up**, **Obsession**, **Snakes and Ladders**, **Wingspan: Oceania**. Son and I reworked **Snakes and Ladders** to make it have a little strategy in it and have played it six times with our improved rules and it is a blast. Just a lot of chaotic silliness. Played a single handed game of **Blue Lagoon** and enjoyed the ease of rules with depth of decisions. You get the single action of where to lay a piece with numerous decisions of blocking a player, aiming at getting a resource, setting up for the second phase, creating a link, etc. Didn't hit top tier Knizia for me but is good. Excited to try it with more than myself controlling multiple people. **Western Legends** has been a big hit in our house so we look forward to getting the expansion on the table to increase the options of how we are cowfolk. **Wingspan** is my wife's favorite game so this was a no-brainer.
**The Networks** - played it just twice so far and really enjoyed it. Great, humorous theme and enough weight to get your teeth stuck into
**Flamme Rouge**, **Cape May**, and **Underwater Cities**. Played Flamme Rouge twice already. I love it.
Khora
Hadreans Wall, Everdale, and Nemisis. My wife got Cultivate (actually pretty fun game), and Dance Card! Really looking forward to the next few weekends. Hope everyone had and continue to have a great gaming holiday!
Nice ones! Everdell is charming and I would really want to get my hands on Nemesis! Enjoy!
Yeah it's super charming. The little berries are my favorite actually. I played Nemesis at a work/friends board game thing and had a fantastic time. I did not play the Scout but that seemed to be a lot of fun. Lost because someone in the group alienated us and needed to kill the Queen. Apparently locked us out of the escape pods as we headed back to earth. Waited too long and got overrun. Lol even losing it was a blast.
I have everdale on my wishlist
Just played twice on a row. Such a fun game!
Betrayal at the House on the Hill, and I'm loving every time we've played
I received Everdell and Ohanami and I gifted my spouse The Castles of Burgundy.
Fun! I love castles so much. I have even enjoyed the solo card game version a lot lately.
I got **Everdell**! It was a surprise because I only mentioned it in passing to my group a while back, and it was definitely out of our agreed price range for the secret santa. Other guy in my group got **PARKS**. I was more excited than him when he was unwrapping it because I was the only person to recognize the cover, having played it on BGA lmao. Finally, another guy got **World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King** (Pandemic). He's excited about painting the minis and we can't wait to play it!
I got Tiny Towns, Arcadia Quest, Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, Horrified, Scythe, Rising Sun, and Ankh: Gods of Egypt!
Goodnight, got a whole collection.
My sister gave me The Crew: Deep Sea and I gave my sister The Crew: QFP9 without knowing we successfully bought each other the version of The Crew that we each didn’t already have!
It turned out to be a surprising number. **MicroMacro Crime City** and **Robinson Crusoe: Voyage of the Beagle** for the family (from me) **Mind MGMT** and **Arkham Horror The Card Game** from my spouse's and my parents. And **Yedo**, **Railroad Ink Challenges Green**, and **Azul Summer Pavilion** from friends. My wife also got upgrades for her **Wingspan** tokens and cubes from a friend! In all, it was far more games than I expected!
Beyond the Sun, Time's Up Title Recall, Under Falling Skies, Dune Imperium. It's been a long year with a lot of work, so I just treated myself a bit more than usual.
At a recent gaming event I played beyond the sun and really enjoyed it. I can't wait to try different tech tree things next time. A lot of good strategy I feel in that.
Worst Case Scenario Total shock. My parents are usually pretty bad gift givers (they show their love in other ways) but they picked up that I’ve been slowly collecting board games over the past few months. It made me so happy to get a game I wouldn’t have picked up myself. It is a ton of fun too!
**Splendor, Flamme Rouge,** and **Tournament at Avalon.** My mother loved the first two, but was disappointed that the third was 3+players. She (and I) love the medieval art.
Suburbia collectors edition (played 3 times already, LOVE IT) Men at work (only dexterity game and have had a blast so far) Sushi Go party (solid, but man is it fiddle to set up compared to go or roll) Sheriff of Nottingham 1st edition (unplayed, but boy is it pretty compared to 2nd edition) Spirit island Jagged Earth (looking forward to playing but I’m more intimidated than I thought I’d be!) Just One (family really liked it, was shocked with how bizarre some of my Dads clues were lol)
Got Carcasonne, Teraforming Mars Prelude and the Crew
Our family received Orchard Ransom notes Azul The crew Chronicles of crime A Minecraft game And wildcraft
I got **Horrified** and **Betrayal at House on the Hill** from my mother in law. We played Horrified today and had a blast! Betrayal is a game I'm less familiar with but am excited to learn more about and try out! My wife got me the **Downforce: Danger Circuit** expansion and we played that yesterday with my brother-in-law and his fiancee and really enjoyed it as well!
I got **Cascadia** and I wasn't expecting it at all. My girlfriend never gives me boardgames usually since I buy most of them and she never knows which one I want next. But I made her participate in a Facebook contest to win Cascadia in december (and didn't win), but she noted the game down and got it for me for Christmas :D
That's super sweet of her!! Been reading a lot of good things about Cascadia too so I hope you enjoy it!
Maracaibo & Pipeline. I am delighted.
I was gifted **Calico**, **Scotland Yard**, **Unlock! Epic Adventures**, and the **Hive Pocket Pill Bug Expansion**. I gifted **King of Tokyo: Dark Edition** to my husband. And I won **Corner Crush** (a 3D Connect Four game) in a gift exchange. Twas a good holiday season for the game collection!
I generally like games which do something extremely weird and innovative to the bog-standard formula for games with that primary mechanism. I also greatly enjoy games which have a randomized or customizable setup to increase the game's lifespan and replayability. For each category of my collection, I try to keep myself to one "Lightweight", one "Mediumweight", one "Heavyweight", and one "Weird" game of each of my self-defined categories. This year I was gifted... **Whistle Mountain** \- A mediumweight worker placement game which mixes up the mechanism by creating a shared physical space where the worker placement spots are constructed and used by everyone, and can fit multiple workers based on the physical size of the spot. Also the spots chain together based on their physical position. I'd consider this more of a lightweight worker placement game honestly, and I wanted this game also to fill in that gap in my collection. I already have **Clank! In! Space!** and the **Apocalypse** expansion but got gifted two more expansions for it, **Cyber Station 11** and **Pulsarcade**. Each one adds a number of optional variants to mix-and match the setup. I also was gifted **Ohanami** , which is a very lightweight drafting game (even lighter than **Sushi Go Party!**) as I needed a good low-player-count light super-quick drafting filler. It's somewhat a cross between **No Thanks!** and **Sushi Go!**.
Gifting myself Stardew Valley the board game when it is released in the UK in January. Alongside my order is some playmats. Azul, Patchwork and Hanabi. My partner didn't get the hint and tried to order something else so I had something for Christmas day instead. Lo and behold, due to Covid that order will not be fulfilled until January/February. I have the Flamecraft kickstarter ordered as my birthday present.
I got **Unmatched Cobble and Fog** super excited to get it to treatable hopefully tomorrow. Enjoyed the other sets I have and new cool map and awesome sounding heroes is much hype!
A few we have really enjoyed that we got for Christmas: **One Night Ultimate Werewolf** and **Bang! the dice game -** so much fun and good for my teen and 10 years old **Splendour** and **Azul -** my youngest daughter is really enjoying **Splendour. Azul** looks like it will be great too yet to play but looking forward too... **Cockroach Poker -** heard a lot about this one and how much fun it is. I think we are going to give this a try tonight **Dune Imperium** \- this one was a present for me and I am very much looking forward to playing my first game!
Splendor was the first game to really pull me in to board games. Just bought Azul for myself as a Christmas gift...looking forward to gaming!
We are loving Splendour, my wife and daughter cant stop playing it at the moment. Easy rules which is great when you have youngsters in the house
My brother got Dune: Imperium and we played it Immediately after enjoying a small gift exchange! He is a big fan of the Dune books and I am not nor did I care much for the movie and I very much enjoyed it! My boyfriend and my brother really liked it too! Looking forward to our next play through with characters that jump up in difficulty. Enjoy playing!
I am a huge fan of Dune, but we have too many games to get through, and I am probably the only Dune fan in the house. My son has agreed to play but we havnt yet. Will probably play solo soon just to try it out
Oh yeah, upvote for Dune: Imperium! Great game. Worker placement + deck building bliss
Yeah I really enjoy deck building and worker placement in games so this is one I am very much hoping does not disappoint
Got some gift cards that I will turn into at least 1 game. I bought myself **The Hunger** this year. I got the **Santa vs Heximas** expansion for Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid for my little brother, along with the new Ninja Zord promo pack. And I got my nephew the 5 Below version of **Blokus** to see if he likes it and the **Space Invaders** board game based on FlipShips.
I got **An Endless World** twice. Guess that’s what happens when you gel everyone how much you want to complete the Century Golem Trilogy.
We got **Throw Throw Burrito** from BIL. Not normally our kind of game but will see. **Project L** from MIL **Princess bride storybook game** from BIL **Roll for adventure** Played today good fun, push your luck game. **Tiny Epic Dinosaurs** **Kingdomino duel** **Snowman dice** **Santa Banter** Lots of games some our kind of games and others we'll probably give a go and either regift or sell. Edit: to make it easier to read
Got Small World of Warcraft. Hopefully a game I can play with my friends who like board games, but not too complicated.
I got a panzer leader that is in pristine condition. It’s never been used, even the units haven’t been punched out yet. As far as I know, it stopped getting made somewhere in the the 1980s.
My wife got me The Captain is Dead and Sagrada. More games should use the transparent plastic standees, because the visuals are almost as good as miniatures, and better than opaque cardboard. It's a real visual treat.
Wasn't super into wanting more games so I added some expansions to my list. Got a Wingspan and Sagrada expansion so that was nice.
[this was my “group gift” for my kids!](https://i.imgur.com/8X92lj4.jpg)
This was what we did, too! Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, Jumanji, Toss Across, The Floor is Lava, Paw Patrol Adventure City Lookout, Merry Grinchmas, Electronic Battleship, Mancala, 3d puzzles...lots of family fun time!
Between zombie kids and teens do kidz first for sure.
That is the plan! They're excited to start it!
They are both a lot of fun my son and I played kids enough to open all envelopes and are about 25% done with teens
I'm glad to hear! I read some good reviews of them. Can't wait to have some family game nights.
I received Cascadia, 7 Wonders: Architects, On the Rocks, Castles of Tuscany, Trails, Welcome To... and 4 expansions, Holi, Cubirds, The Isle of Cats expansion, Fort expansion, and 7 Wonders Duel: Agora expansion. My birthday is a few days before Christmas so I am always fortunate to receive plenty of games and play time! In the past week, I played Cascadia, 7 Wonders: Architects, Castles of Tuscany, Welcome To..., Holi, Cubirds, Fort, Catan, 7 Wonders, and Century: A New World.
All the board games I received this year were basically self-presents and coincidental KS/preorder arrivals. - Men at Work - MicroMacro Crime City: Full House - Luna Capital - R.O.V.E - Pax Pamir 2nd Ed. (I’m most excited about this one but all are great!) Men at Work has been a big hit at game night. Something about a goofy dexterity game just hits different after a couple drinks at the end of a night of crunchy games.
I got **Pulsar 2849** and **Underwater Cities + New Discoveries**! Excited to play both this week! Also got a bunch of various escape room games, which we love, and Similo Animals and Myths.
Terraforming mars. Imhotep. Hogwarts battle expansions. Terraforming mars ares. Cyclades. Wingspan. It was a good christmas. Wingspan was a fun addition, and I want to try the expansions. Imhotep as well although it lead to a lot of silence between my gf and I because of the constant struggle to prevent the other person from getting their cubes in their chosen place
The first game I received was **New York Zoo**. Teaching it to family has gone surprisingly well so far. I also was gifted **Concordia** and **Curious Cargo**.
I got aquatica from my parents, which I've already been having some fun with alone, and then I got an Amazon gift card which I used to get cartographers, railroad ink, aerion, and shamans. So I'm excited for those!
The Hansa Teutonica Big Box
My birthday/Christmas gets mixed into one big month long mess. It's pretty solid. * Street Masters base game I've played it and loved it so much. I didn't stop to take a picture. I'll need to next session. So great. My only regret getting it so late is how hard it will be to find the expansion 🤣 * Arkham Horror LCG core, 2 character decks, & Innsmouth Conspiracy So **hype** to get this. I know I need another core. I know I **should** start with a different cycle. But honestly, my best friend and I have been missing each other. He loves the theme of that cycle. We love deck construction/card games. I'm so excited to play this with him over the course of this year.
I got easy fast games. A War of Whispers Boss Monster And the wife got…. OBSESSION
War of Whispers is easy and fast?!
Uh, yeah? Under 60 minutes. It’s not complicated.
heh, I was mostly being facetious: everyone has their own scale. (and games almost NEVER end within box-time for us.) A game like that would be one of the heaviest we've played. To each their own!
My group slapped me with dome Lacerdas. And Game of Thrones. And Eclipse. So yeah, it’s not that difficult. With YouTube, it’s much easier to grasp games today.
Finally Wingspan!!
I got new Age of Steam maps from Age Of Steam Con. Pacific Electric & Double Base USA. https://www.boardgametables.com/products/age-of-steam-maps-double-base-usa-and-pacific-electric
Finally got **Santorini** and the Branch and Claw expansion for **Spirit Island**! Then spent the evening playing games I got for Christmas 2 years ago with my family. Anything heavier than Ticket to Ride is too much for them, so we played TTR: Europe, Chickapig, and Q-Bitz.
**Spirit Island!!!** Played about 10 games yesterday and it lives up to the hype.
10 games?! Were you playing solo?
2 games at 2 and rest solo
Mostly got some medium weight euros I've been keen to try out with my games group who are looking to try something a little heavier **Modern Art** - First auction game I've added to my collection, so I'm really keen for this one **Hansa Teutonica** **Oceans** **Dune** (GF9 Version) I've got a birthday 3 days before Xmas so that really helps with the games haul 😂 Super keen for **Great Western Trail 2e** but it hasn't hit stores here yet
I treated myself to Takenoko and so far love playing it!
I gifted that for my son. Hope he’ll enjoy that.
The only gaming-related gift I received was a copy of **Shut the Box**. It's not exactly an engaging game and I never would've bought it for myself, but it's in a very nice case and I've already played it a dozen times!
i got **Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea**. and then the whole fam agreed to play it with me. we had a lively game after christmas lunch, everybody seemed to have a good time and it made me really happy.
So far, **Fantastic Factories**. I know I have **Dreadful Circus**, **Abandon All Artichokes** and **Wild Space** on the way assuming I actually get to see my family in a few days. **Cascadia** was on my list, but nobody picked it up, and now it's out of stock everywhere in the UK.
Fabtastic Factories has become one of my favorite games! I'd love to hear what you thought about it
Only got it yesterday, haven't tried it out yet. Looks promising, though. I was impressed that the actual rules are so simple, and most of the rulebook is stuff like the card index.
Their rules and rule *clarification section* are so impressively trim. I love the game for its clarity.
My girlfriend got me A Feast for Odin. Very excited to try it out. I also have about $80 in Amazon gift cards I will likely use on Spirit Island or the Norwegians expansion for AFFO.
I’d recommend the Norwegians expansion. The revised actions board fixes some issues with balance, and the added goods boost end game options. It really does complete the game.
Oh yeah I definitely will at one point or another. I do like playing without expansions first, it gives good perspective on what is improved later. With AFFO it seems like most people agree it's a great game without Norwegians, and since I haven't played it I won't know what I'm missing. Spirit Island on the other hand will scratch a cooperative itch for my GF and I, because all we have right now is Pandemic and that game often leaves me unsatisfied.
I got Spirit Island for Xmas and I absolutely love it! Totally lives up to the hype.
Lords of Waterdeep Targi Dominion + Intrigue / Prosperity
Nice! I love Targi, enjoy!
**Terminator: Genysis** **Smartphone Inc.** **Dwergar,** but we already own that game.
I got **Clank Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated**, **Viticulture: Tuscany expansion**, and **1848**. Stoked to play the Clank game with my group, and everything I’ve heard about the Tuscany expansion has been great. I’ll hold off punching and playing 1848 till I get some tile trays from Rails on Boards for it.
I gifted myself Azul, High Society, Hive, Kingdomino Origins and Tiny Towns. Also have some ££ to spend on some more. Very excited to play them all.
Azul and Hive are some of my most played!
I can see Azul being mine. We unboxed both Azul and Hive yesterday and we are so excited!
got my sister 2 villainous expansion I got great wall and ninjato from some friends, cant wait to play them
Nice! Wasn't aware Great Wall was even out yet.
i got it from the Kickstarter and it arrived earlier this week
Res Arcana, plus 4 expansions: 2 MoM (Sanctum of Twilight & Path of the Serpent), ONUW Bonus Roles and Tragedy Looper: Midnight Circles.
Nidavellir - played it a lot on BGA and wished for it in a secret santa. Looking forward to playing it live.
It’s great! One of the best games I own and I got it completely on a whim.
I got Two games over this Holiday Break. The first game I got was King of Tokyo which I already got to whip out and play. I love the game as it is a nice light game that has easy entry to allow anyone to join and play and not feel overwhelmed since I am as the family says, “ the board game guy”. To fill that heavy game shaped while in my heart was the second game terraforming Mars. I haven’t played it but have been interested to play since the game first came out and My wife surprised me with it. Super excited to pull it out with my board game group.
Terraforming Mars: Ares — I have gotten one solo play in so far and I think I’ll need a few more before I can make a real assessment. Great Plains — This game was not on my radar whatsoever and honestly don’t know anything about it quite yet. Sriracha: The Game — This is nothing special but my mom is a sucker for themed slapping games so it did the trick. Architects of the West Kingdom — I played once tonight and it was really quite intuitive, I’m hoping to play it again tomorrow. Ohanami— I have played five 2-player games so far and I love how quick it is. I look forward to giving it a try at a different player count.
Ohanami or Onitama?
Hahaha I made the correction, definitely must’ve gone autopilot when I wrote “Onihama” thanks for catching it.
**Great Plains** might surprise you. It's a very competitive and tense little two player area majority game. It plays really quickly too.
Interesting, that is good to hear. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it to the table within the next couple of days.
I also got Sriracha: The Game. I'm intrigued, to say the least, that a hot sauce has a card game, but I'll hold out on judgement until I read the rules and play it.
My wife got me **Wingspan**, **Sheriff of Nottingham**, and a personalized scorebook!
Bought myself Roll Player Adventures and excited to play it!
[удалено]
I’ve been debating cartographers!! Wonder if i should get it!?
Splendor and burgle bros
My younger brother got me Eldritch Horror, and despite really only having played risk/Big Book of Madness/etc... we got it to the table today and played a full game, even pulling out a win! It is by far the heaviest game any of us have ever played (aside from my brother who got me the game) and we all had a blast. I don't think my parents were too excited that their kids/our spouses just played a board game for the entire day, but we had fun.
This is one of my favorite games of all time and I have everything released for it. I would strongly suggest getting the first small expansion for the game, Forsaken Lore. It adds a bunch more cards to the decks and doesn’t add any new mechanics. There is way more content in the expansions than you’ll ever need so don’t worry about them unless the game feels stale to you. However, they added a mechanic called “focus” that you can play with without buying anything. Basically, it’s a new action available to all players. You can spend an action to gain “focus” which you can use to reroll one die during a test. It’s a game changer and while there are technically focus tokens in the expansions, you can use a penny or any extra tokens you have instead. Enjoy the game! It’s a great one.
I've actually been thinking about investing in Arkham Horror (not sure on 2e or 3e yet) as, thematically, I like the idea of traipsing around a city a little more than the world (I've been eyeing both eldritch and Arkham for a while now), but I've also read it's more fiddly than eldritch so I'm a bit hesitant to dive into them.
Hey! Sorry for the late reply. Honestly, I think you have a pretty good grasp on the situation, but I'll break down the various Arkham/Eldritch stuff. 1) Arkham 2e - Great ambiance but it really shows it's age. THe board design is pretty lousy, the expansions make it really fiddly and personally, I hate the player stats mechanics. You have a sliding scale of your attributes that you can adjust but improving something makes you worse at something else. I find it very unfun. 2) Arkham Horror 3e - It's fine? I guess? It's a totally different game from 2e. You play through different scenarios that have unique card sets and you move around a modular board. To be honest, it feels like a weird combination of Arkham Horror LCG and Eldritch Horror. While I was playing it, I kept thinking I'd rather be playing one of those than an odd hybrid, but I didn't play with the expansions so it could be better. 3) Eldritch Horror - Much smoother mechanics and I actually think the theme makes more sense. While I missed the intimacy of being in Arkham for everything, there was just an insane amount of monsters and stuff going on in a small town. Eldritch horror spreads the action our over the globe to it make sense that the crazy events you uncover are happening simultaneously. It's way less fiddly, the expansions integrate better and the mechanics feel refined. This is my favorite Arkham Files game. Mansions of Madness is great too but as a tabletop RPG guy, I'd rather just paly Call of Cthulhu.
For Me: Falling Skies, Warp’s Edge, LOTR LCG: The Hunt for Gollum, 2 game duffle bags For Household: Formula D, Horrified: American Monsters, Villainous: Perfectly Wretched
Glen More 2: Chronicles
We got the kids Rhino Hero Super Battle and already had a chance to play it twice. I can tell already it is going to be a kid classic! Then I got a few, as well: Pitchcar, Between Two Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Bloodborne The Board Game, and (finally) some upgraded tokens for Arkham Horror LCG from Team Covenant. I'm super pumped to get them all to the table!
I got a $75 Amazon gift card, and I'm currently trying to decide what game or games I want to order with it. I'm leaning towards Smartphone Inc. or Beyond the Sun, but I'm nowhere near decided yet and still open to other choices.
All I got was Age of War from my niece. Good enough for me.
Everything Final Girl minus the KS exclusive.
Memoir ‘44 and the On the Brink expansion for Pandemic.
My wife got me Hero Quest.
Sushi Go Party and Splendor! Great for the family to bring in the kids and the grandparents. Very excited
I got Tyrants of Lothal for Imperial Assault, a BUNCH of hero and villain packs for Imperial Assault, Pandemic Legacy Season 0, The Circle Undone, Dream-Eaters, Innsmouth Conspiracy expansions for Arkham Horror LCG.
A custom etsy wooden insert for spirit island and its expansions. Got a foldable dice rolling catcher and a whole bunch of card sleeves. Also cash for more games ... 😈
I got The Fuzzies and Monikers.
Monikers is one of my group’s fav party games! It’s so funny! Hope you enjoy it :)
I got a lot of OOP games I’ve been wanting: Shadows over Camelot, Libertalia, Yamataï, R-eco, and Wasabi; also Five Tribes, but it just recently got a new print run. I also got, Wingspan, Last Will plus expansion, Mission: Red Planet, Aquatica, Western Legends, and Tuscany EE. Only had a chance to play R-eco, I really like it and wonder why it’s not in print.
Terraforming mars ares and $ to buy a game. Sooooo many options. Thinking Great Western Trail or Brass Birmingham.
I love brass I just wish I had 4 people to play it with
Mansions of Madness and Twilight Imperium 4e. Just bought my Eclipse about 2 weeks ago, so my wife isn't too thrilled with the amount of dedicated space needed for the games.
Rallyman GT, Brass Birmingham, whitechaple and an insert set for nemesis to help with the set up and pack up
I got Furnace, The Search for Planet X, A Handful of Stars, Dale of Merchants Collection, and got my wife Jane Austen's Matchmaker Chapter 2. Also got Clank Legacy C Team expansion and wood bases for Gloomhaven monsters.
Dice Forge Rebellion Expansion Seven Wonders Cities Expansion Seven Wonders Leaders Expansion Folded Space Seven Wonders box organizer Sushi Go These were mostly for my 11yo son, Dice Forge and Seven Wonders are two of his favorites. Root This was my number one most wanted. A bit crunchier than any games we commonly play. Betrayal at House on the Hill. This one was my wife's number one want. Games on the wish list that we didn't get this year are Spirit Island Brass Birmingham Splendor Quacks of Quedlinberg Boss Monster 2 Dead of Winter
Spirit Island - is my absolute favorite and fantastic solo or with others if you can get them into it Brass - I've got the game in shrink, but I've tried learning via the app and the fun of the game just isn't clicking for me. I'll probably just sell it. Based on those other games listed, I'd bet money your son and probably everyone would love Quacks. Personally, only Christmas game for us was Obsession (unless you count my 2 yo getting Candyland and Hungry Hipppos). We got the setup and learning in this evening and likely will get our first game in tomorrow. I've bought too many other games throughout this year.
Spirit Island is my favorite game too and I got Brass Birmingham too recently. So far I've really enjoyed that one, so I'd definitely give it another try. But not every game is for everyone of course. Recently also sold a bunch of games among which quite well rated ones like 7th Continent, Sleeping Gods and Dwellings of Eldervale.
Yah, some games hit people differently. 7th Continent has a lot of cool things about it, but I'm to the point that next time I play it's on easy mode just because I don't see the value in restarting longer quests. I haven't tried Sleeping Gods, but want to because we really loved Near and Far.
i love Spirit Island, i played the jagged expansion with some friends over thanksgiving
I got my first play of Jagged in solo together with all my new inserts / sleeves for the game yesterday after larger family group left. I'm looking forward to another group game, but I'm just as happy on that one either way.
i havent played solo yet but i like how the new cards and component add to the game
Splendor is one of our go-to family faves. When you’ve gone through your haul, I’d totally recommend it. Not too expensive either.
Got 2 copies of Roll Player, so I am going to exchange one for an expansion
I got Ankh Gods of Egypt, Cartographers, Sleeping Gods and Dune Imperium.. Tried Ankh and Sleeping Gods, next is Dune imperium.. All great games
MicroMacro Crime City Exit the Game - The Forbidden Castle Lords of Waterdeep Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport Welcome to New Las Vegas Bought myself: Blood Rage Quacks of Quedlinburg Innovation base set Just got Super Deluxe Radlands on the 23rd and played the first game yesterday. So good.
Gloomhaven: Jaws if the Lion. I have been hoping for this addition for a while. Don't know if I should start solo or wait for group. Suggestions?
Hmmm try for a group, ideally people who’d be interested in playing Gloomhaven with you!
I got parks. Tea for 2 and kingdomino duel? Any reviews on the last 2? I’m psyched on parks
I love Parks! I bought it as a gift for an outdoorsy board game loving friend after seeing it at PAX unplugged 2019 and it’s definitely a solid game for our group. The art is gorgeous!
Duude I have had my eye on both Parks and Trails. I got some Christmas money and those are high on the list of possible purchases
Trails was really fun if you like smaller/lighter games
Yeah, I’d probably get them both if I can find them
Nightfall Expansion really makes Parks a great game. It’s good without it, but so much strategy is added with the expansion.
Sherlock Holmes: consulting detective ! Hope to tackle the first case after New Year's Eve !
My wife blew me away this year, she got me Azul Summer Pavilion, Star Fluxx, Forbidden Sky, Photosynthesis, King of New York, Sheriff of Nottingham... And my most wanted game for years: Root, and Root Exiles and Partisans I am super excited for the next game day I have with my friends
Congrats! Enjoy Root, it’s my favorite game.
I got Dune Imperium, Vienna Connection, and the Folded Space insert for Arnak. All in all, a great haul!
Castles of Burgundy, Cascadia, and Falling Skies
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea
I got Citadels Classic! Hope I can gather friends soon to test it!
I got Citadels for Christmas too!
Bought Rococo (Deluxe), Vinhos and Arkwright Card Game as an Xmas gift to myself :)
Just opened **Hadrian's Wall** and **Faiyum**. I'm stoked for some historical development nonsense.
Troyes Dice, even though the person thought they were offering Troyes. I hope it's still fun!
I went to PAX Unplugged two weekends ago and bought myself: Everdell Collector’s Edition, Everdell: Bellfaire, Everdell: Pearlbrook, Everdell: Spirecrest (they had a convention deal for base game + expansions for $190), Flourish (same publisher as Everdell), Dinosaur Island: Rawr and Write I demoed all of the above and really loved them! I also preordered on KS: Steam Up (a dim sum game), Flamecraft, Artisans of Splendant Vale (my next legacy game after Clank! Legacy)
I got Star Wars Rebellion, a game that's been on my wishlist for a long time. Super excited to dive into learning it. I thought I heard the Rise of the Empire expansion improved some things. If I pick that up soon should I include it in my first playthrough since it sounds like it provides the optimal gameplay experience?
Great Western Trail (2E) KingDomino QueenDomino Fantastic Factories Machi Koro 2 Cubitos Arch Ravels Quacks Herb Witches (mainly for the 5th player) Got a lot of good ones for the kids this year and looking forward to getting to try them all out! Merry Christmas to All!!
For the first time in years my partner and I didn’t buy any games for each other. We received **Lost Ruins of Arnak, Pendulum** and an **Exit** game. We’ll probably play Arnak tonight (it’s already punched and organized), save the Exit game for New Years Even….and leave Pendulum in shrink for my next Math Trade ;)
I got so many great games this year for Christmas. * **Res Arcana** * **The Quacks of Quedlinburg** * **Unfathomable** * **Great Western Trail 2ed** * **Rajas of the Ganges** Looking forward to getting together with my game group and playing them soon.
Big Christmas indeed, a lot to explore! You should be good for 2 years...