https://stonemaiergames.com/games/pendulum

"Pendulum is a competitive, turnless, asymmetric worker placement, time-optimization game for 1-5 players."

There is more detail at the above site, and I'm sure @jameystegmaier will discuss it further in his livestream.

Top Edit: You might have already seen this post on Reddit, but I thought I'd share here as well!

Original Post:

Six months ago I decided I needed an at-home project. I hadn’t been doing much, work was in a bit of a rut, I needed to fill a gap. I’ve dabbled in design over the years and for some reason had always wanted to design a box, but never really had a good chance. Why not make a game? Go all out on the components and see what comes out. Six months and a decent chunk of money later I just mailed out six of my copies to testers. Here’s what I did!

I had the idea when I started. Party games feel like well-tread territory but I think there’s still more there to explore and tread on. My Girlfriend and I had played some Don’t Get Got after the Shut Up & Sit Down review, and while it was fun the first game or so it didn’t stick. That idea though of Hidden Missions and Tableless really stuck though.

I nailed down most of the game over the next couple of weeks. Focusing on those hidden missions but more open-ended as well as implementing some ideas around finite health passing in between players to breed more rivalry. I’m not going to dive in too much here as I want to talk more about the actual making of the game.

I did nearly all of this in four programs. Procreate on IPad for some illustrations. Affinity Designer on both IPad and PC for the bulk of the assets, Affinity Publisher for things like filling out cards and Notion for Project Management and writing. I loved working with all these programs, especially Affinity. It’s a great alternative to the Adobe products and way more reasonable price.

The Box

The box was the first thing I started on. I know that seems weird but had a couple of reasons. One, I knew it would help land on a base look and visual style for the game and two, I was excited to make a box. I decided to work with Packlane, a company that makes high-end shipping boxes. Not ideal for a game but they have no minimums on certain sizes, good template resources and great customer service. That to me was worth a weird form factor.

Small note: If you haven’t designed for Print before, definitely read a few guides to understand the process. It will really help you make your final product look great as well as navigate conversations with printers.

I received a template from Packlane for my box size (4x4x2) and got to work. Basically spent the next month designing a box and nailing my style down. My desk was basically a giant pile of board game boxes I liked. I don’t have much advice here other than make sure your print settings are right from the start. Shifting DPI between different files or realizing later you had the wrong DPI can cause some issues and just make extra work.

Once I was done I sent it to Packlane, we had one small issue that after a back and forth just wasn’t working. Essentially the inside left and right sides were not showing the pattern properly. At the end of the day, we just couldn’t fix it so I removed the pattern on those sides. Packlane was really helpful and incredibly patient.

Once it was finalized it took around 20 days to receive them. A good bit ahead of the 30 days they predicted. Overall I’m happy with the final product, that being said they’re not perfect despite using Packlane’s HDPrint Gloss printing. There’s definitely some alignment issues you can see heavily here on the exterior of the box: Link. This was my biggest issue. I was hoping for a clean black and white box, but you can clearly see the purple. There are also various print defects, most are small. These I’m ok with as I think they fit the theme and make each one a little unique, see the “A” here: Link. The inside looked great, could have been sharper but I love it still: Link

Final Box Breakdown: I ordered 10 boxes, I think they actually sent 13. With a 10% discount code, they give you when you sign up this cost $96.06. I think next time I would look at other providers but overall I enjoyed their service and these boxes feel unique. You can find more pictures here: Link

The Cards and Manuals

So, cards are expensive. This was a big cost. I used MakePlayingCards.com. This really is the inverse of the boxes. I love the final product, but the process was rough. Their product variety is huge. I opted for US Mini Size. It made sense for my game to use smaller cards. I will say make sure you measure or find a similar card to envision what your content will look like on the card. If you own a few board games you probably have a card of whatever size playing around. This was huge in helping me set how much I wanted to put on my card.

I used a line template provided by their site to help me get my document setup to their specs. My game has two different card types. One type has a static or same image on the back and front of every card, while the other has a static back but a unique front. I designed everything in Affinity Designer. Except for that dynamic front. I made the background in margins in Designer then moved it into Publisher where I made templates so I could easily create a ton of cards.

I went through a few review rounds where I exported all the cards to a PDF then my girlfriend and I wrote notes on them on the couch of things to fix. I did three rounds of this. We found a ton of errors so definitely review, review, review and not just alone. Get other people to look too and credit them.

Small note: Affinity Publisher does not have Macro Filling as Adobe Indesign does. This was a pain. It could have been worse, but I really had to triple check everything after creating my cards as it was hours of mindless copy & paste work from my content sheet.

Once my cards were reviewed and ready I started the process with MakePlayingCards which was rough at times. The first time I logged in through Google it dropped me into someone else's account. I logged out immediately and retried and got into my own account, but this was jarring, to say the least. The process of uploading the cards failed multiple times. My payment info gave weird errors. It was basically an afternoon.

I also ordered the manual from them. They have a decent number of options. There’s not much to say here. I used a 3.5-inch double square. It was the perfect size for my box but a pretty small piece of paper to work with. I got the text in there and didn't add much else as I was up to the margins.

Final Cards and Manual Breakdown

I ordered 11 packs of US Mini Size Game Cards with 80 cards in each pack. I used an S27 Smooth card stock with a Game Card Finish each packaged in a Plain White Tuck Box. I wanted to go thicker and linen, but the price increase would make your head spin. The end product looks great. Here are a few pictures as well as on comparing them to the Bargain Quest cards which use a thicker stock and a linen finish: Link. I think they won’t hold up great over time, but they look great.

The cards were $12.11 per pack and the manuals were $2.50 per copy. With shipping this cost in total $189.20. They took around a month to arrive. I’ll probably shop around a little more next time, but I’m happy with the final product.

Other Bits

The game also has bags and pins. Both of these were pretty easy. I ordered a pack of small canvas bags from Amazon specifically looking for bags that took ink well. I ended up with 100 for $18. Way more than I need but we’re finding other uses. I also ordered a custom stamp from Vistaprint to add a little extra to the bags. This was $35, but the end bags look pretty cool:Link

I also ordered some small pins. I got a ton for $12 shipped. I was going to do another round with a fancier design as I did the first go lazily after a few beers, but they took way longer than expected to arrive (~two months) so I stuck with these guys. I did look into enamel, but couldn’t justify the price for such a small run. It was massive.

What did it cost?

This is the first time I’ve added up the cost of this project. Time to find what I’ve spent more on, this or Root expansions.

• Programs: Affinity Designer and Publisher $50 all together

• Boxes: $96.06

• Font Licensing: $20

• Cards and Manuals: $189.20

• Bags: $18

• Stamp: $35

• Pins: $12

• Shipping it to my testers and friends: $65

Total of $485.26 or $44 per game (I made 11). Alright, that’s definitely more than Root. There are totally better ways to do this, but my goal wasn’t to create an economically viable game for production. My goal was to dump some money and sweat into a personal project to prove to myself I could. I’m lucky and grateful my job stayed stable through this crazy time and I was able to do this. I know that’s not the case for so many folks.

That’s it

I don’t really know if I have some big lesson or learning to leave you all with. Personal projects are tough, I personally didn’t share I was working on this with anyone but my girlfriend and a close friend because I always have that fear I might not finish something. I think we all have fears around the things we make. We’re not like kids who can show off a Macaroni necklace like they just cured cancer. Every time you talk about a project you don't finish you have that chance someone will bring it up just to ask about it and reminding you of something that maybe you feel like you failed yourself at.

It’s even tougher to share things with a larger audience full of people you don’t know and might not be as nice. As I’m typing this to post it’s being played at a get together by one of my testers on the other side of the country and I’m terrified. What if they don’t like it? What if it doesn’t make sense? At the end of the day, I guess I just need to look at this thing and remember I did it, I accomplished the goal I set out and feel a ton of pride looking at this kick-ass box. It may not be perfect, but it's mine.

What’s next? Who knows, I don’t even know if the game is good. It has some flaws I’m aware of as is. I think we all dream of having that next hit game on Kickstarter and maybe I’ll get there after some testing and refinement. For now, I’m excited and nervous to start sharing this thing with you folks here. If you have any questions about this process or anything I’m happy to answer.

If you want to learn more about my game you can check it out at cuts.games. It’s a good escape from this mess going on outside and might make your time inside a little more interesting and there’s a free Print and Play. I’m working on a web app version as well and have a few extra physical copies I put up for sale.

Thanks for reading this obnoxiously long post.

Until next time!

TL;DR: I spent six months fulfilling my personal project dreams and a little too much money. In the end, I’m happy with what I made and learned a decent bit. The game is okay too I guess.

I typically judge a game's solo potential based on accessibility, puzzly fun, and thematic ties/immersion. The more thematic the game, the more I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of the accessibility, while for a puzzly kind of experience, I'd prefer a game with quicker setup and minimal upkeep that allows me to get in and get out after a solid brain teasing session.

So where does #Tapestry fall in this spectrum? Here are my first impressions after playing through ~50% of my first game (I had to wrap it up quickly before my son woke up from his nap).

Accessibility

• The "4 page rulebook" is great - I've previously read through criticisms regarding the short rulebook, that it doesn't give enough room for clarifications. Based on my solo play, I was pretty amazed how simple the rules are to pick up. It'll take time to learn the icons though and you'll find yourself referring to the reference sheet quite often in the beginning.
• The Automa in this game has a slight learning curve but runs smoothly - Oddly enough, the solo mode rules are longer and take more time to digest. I can see why though, because compared to a game like #Viticulture: Essential Edition, the Automa in this one needs a more complex decision tree to be able to offer good competition. But the Automa still runs very smoothly and involves little upkeep.
• Setup time is just "okay" for me but likely great for veteran solo gamers - Depending on the person, setup clocks around 5-10 minutes. In the beginning, taking out the minis and placing them down on their respective areas (on the board where players will be taking the minis from) will take you more time than you'd imagine! Also, if you're primarily a solo gamer, you'll want to store the Tapestry deck separated in two different baggies or something. Of the 50 cards, 13 of them need to be taken out when playing against the Automa. Teardown time goes super quickly because there aren't that many different pieces involved considering that it's a civ-like game.
• There's randomness, and quite a bit of it. Presents a great challenge for solo gamers but it could be problematic for multiplayer sessions - Luck factor is received very differently among gamers, and some will be optimistic about it and focus on making the best out of the situation (similar to what you'd experience in #Viticulture: Essential Edition pre-Tuscany expansion), and others will not enjoy this. The synergy of your civ's power and the right card draws can absolutely kick off your engine, while a series of bad draws will slow you down quite a bit. There are ways to mitigate this by taking actions to draw more cards, but it does mean that you'd potentially use up your resources and turns to advance along a track that's not the best for you. And while luck can leave room for less experienced gamers to catch up while presenting a serious challenge for experienced players, the opposite could also mean a bad experience where you're completely behind and feel like you won't ever catch up.
• $65 is great but $80? Hmmm... - I see that this game is now at $65 from Amazon, which is a lot cheaper than where Tapestry started out at upon release. I think that's a great value but knowing what Tapestry encompasses, I wouldn't have gone for it at an $80 price tag. Big part of this is that the minis (and the potion of the insert that houses them) comprise about 30-50% of the box's volume, and that's a whole lot of space and money for something that's mostly for visuals. I'll get more into the minis in the section for "Thematic Immersion".

Summary: Like most games from Stonemaier Games, there's a strong focus on accessibility. As I'll get into below, there's a whole lot of abstraction that keeps things simple and straightforward. So in return for a loss in thematic immersion, Tapestry offers a "civ-like" game that you can introduce to your friends and family without hesitation because it's light on rules, looks fantastic, offers satisfying gameplay, and doesn't have you beating up on one another like in #Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization.

Puzzly Fun

• Tapestry is a satisfying engine builder - More than a civ game, Tapestry comes across as an engine builder with several civ-like elements thrown into the mix. Similar to how #Wingspan offers a fun brain teaser with its 3 separate engines, Tapestry gives you four of them: Military, Technology, Science, and Exploration. The competition with the Automa and the Shadow Empire leads to making a lot of tactical decisions while your civilization's unique power sets the course for more strategic, long-term decisions. It's satisfying to push along your cubes across these tracks and have your moves grow ever more powerful.
• Offers a spatial puzzle - Whenever you build a structure or score one of those landmark minis, you place them on your civilization board that has a grid pattern that notates habitable spaces. You score points in your income turn based on the completed rows and columns and certain sections on the board.
• Automa presents a serious challenge - As a solo gamer, you will be playing against the Automa that's also assisted by the Shadow Empire. The Automa is the primary threat while the Shadow Empire keeps the race along the tracks (and the competition for the landmarks) even tighter. The game presents a tough mind puzzle of trying to figure out how to squeeze out the most amount of efficiency from your limited resources to make some serious progress along the tracks before needing to head into the income phase.
• Tactile goodness! - Some might call it overproduced, but it sure adds to the experience. The big player "boards" and many other cards have a grainy, rough finish. The income generating buildings and the minis are rubbery and fun to hold. You have the smooth player cubes that you push along the track. You have the tiles that you place on the board as you explore beyond the territories you control. And lastly, the game comes with some cool dice that you can chuck.

Summary: If you're a fan of Stonemaier Games, you'll likely at least enjoy the solo mode. Tapestry is a different game but there's a familiarity about it in its engine-building puzzles, while also offering civ-like elements such as exploration and conquering (conquering part is admittedly not that exciting though, at least not on the level of YESSS like in #Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization). Plus, Tapestry comes with a rich tactile fun that I always seek in a great solo game (otherwise, zero tactile fun makes me think "why play this instead of an app?"

Thematic Immersion (in other words, is Tapestry a civ game?)

• This question is loaded with subjectivity - For me, a civ game should ultimately deliver on a feeling of progression and story, where you can look back after finishing the game and easily reflect on its moments of triumph and downfall. Doesn't really matter how complex it is or how it achieves it, but I'd expect every move I make to feel like I've advanced a part of my civilization and hopefully made it for the better. And my answer to this is that Tapestry comes close, but not quite there for me.
• There's a lot of abstraction that makes Tapestry accessible, but at the expense of thematic ties - Advancing along a track requires an increasing amount of resources in the form of coin, food, worker, or culture. It feels odd when you're making leaps in history and just paying two workers and a coin. It's also a bit anti-climatic that many of the benefits in advancement is in the form of taking an income generating building (see the yellow, gray, brown, and red buildings in the picture) and placing it on your civilization board, where during your income turn, you will generate income based on all icons revealed. So there's a bit of that engine-building feeling of progression, but you never quite get that satisfaction of taking a super inefficient building and upgrading it beyond recognition by the end of the era. Then there are the great looking minis, which only serve to act as points. As mentioned above, placing the buildings and landmarks on your civilization board is for scoring points based on a spatial puzzle, and all these minis are good for is for covering up more footprint. And while there are many other points I can get into, your civilization will also produce anachronistic technology, where the typical pacing of real-world history will not match yours and you will find yourself developing dynamite way before discovering currency.
• There's a lack of player agency in directing your civ's history - In a game like Viticulture, there's justification for luck of the draw because it's a game in which players are relying on nature to produce their goods. I feel like this doesn't quite work for Tapestry where players should be given more control over directing the course of their civilization.

Summary: With so much abstraction in place, Tapestry leaves a lot of room for interpretation and imagination. At the same time, it never quite takes players away from thinking in terms of VP's and resources. One thing's for sure, and it's that the narrative of your civilization will look drastically different across all of your plays.

Final Thoughts: So with that said, how do I feel about Tapestry? I definitely need to give it more plays to decide, but it's a great game with lots of wonderful ideas that comes across as more of a puzzly experience than a thematic one. I'm looking forward to getting into this more in the future and it sits in a good spot where the setup time is just within what I could tolerate for a puzzly (plus more) kind of gameplay with highly competitive Automa.

Alternate title: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Actually Celebrate My Birthday

tl;dr - I loved both of these games. I played Western Legends with my friends who all loved it, and Concordia with my wife, who liked it.

As the alternate title suggests, my birthday was this weekend. In the past I have not wanted to make a big deal about this, because I don't like drawing attention to myself. My wife has helped me learn that it's okay to be celebrated once in a while, and I don't always need to deflect. I love her.

#Western Legends

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to finally have a real game night, so on Friday I invited some friends over to play my most recent acquisition, which was generously sent to me as my prize for the BGA giveaway.

I set up the game, taught the rules, and everyone chose their characters and miniatures. We had a slightly slow start, having not played before and not being 100% on all the rules, but after a round or two, it was pretty smooth sailing. I went Wanted almost immediately and had a blast. My highlights would be robbing my friend of half of his gold nuggets he'd mined for, and successfully executing a bank heist.

As previously mentioned, my friends all loved it. The winning strategy in this game (I came in 4th), was a combination of mining for gold and fighting bandits. In the post-game discussion, some people said they'd like to try going Wanted next time, since only I and one other guy were ever Wanted. Plus, that would create a little more risk in mining for gold if there were more people willing to rob each other.

My friends were so vocal about how much they enjoyed it that I'm seriously considering backing the next Kickstarter to get all of the expansions, and I would probably even be able to get them to chip in a few bucks toward it.

"Battery" style review:
(++) Art - the art is very attractive and thematic
(+/-) Components - the cards are of middling quality. The miniatures are pretty cool. The board is good (the art on it is awesome). The dice for prospecting look and feel very cheap. The chipboard "General Store" is pretty flimsy. The wooden cubes and discs are...wooden cubes and discs.
(-) Box Insert - it's basically "the trench"
(+) Rulebook - the rulebook was pretty clear. There were a couple of instances in which I referenced an FAQ when it wasn't clear in the rulebook.
(+++) Gameplay - SO MUCH FUN
(++) Immersion - I felt like a cowboy.
(+++) "My Friends Like It" factor - My friends REALLY like it

#Concordia (technically #Concordia Venus (Standalone))

I played this with my wife the next morning. I purchased this one as part of the BGA fundraiser for the Black Lives Matter movement, but hadn't played it until this weekend. Setting up for the first game took a bit of time, since I had to follow the step by step guide, having not played before. After that, teaching the rules to my wife was pretty easy. The rules of this game are impressively simple, which was something that's been noted in every review of it I've read or watched.

When we got started, neither of us had a handle on the strategy, obviously, but (speaking for myself) figuring out what to do on the next couple of turns was not difficult. "Analysis Paralysis" was minimal. With the turns being so simple, and the actions being so straight-forward, there was almost no down-time. I take a turn, she takes a turn, just back and forth. I ended up winning by a decent margin, but I'll attribute that to having absorbed the game through videos and reviews before ever having played it. I think after another play or two, this will be one of my favorites to play with my wife. Where it will rank on her list is TBD.

One thing I noticed is that the map we played (Hellas), even though it was the one rated as the best of the ones we have for two players, was not very tight. After a few more plays, I might consider buying a map that's much tighter for 2 players.

"Battery" style review:
(+) Art - the boards are attractive in their colors, but nothing to write home about, in my opinion. The card art is bland.
(+/-) Components - again, the cards are of middling quality. The chipboard stuff is all fine. The box is flimsy, and the boards actually feel a bit fragile, so I'll definitely be extra careful when setting up and putting away.
(-) Box Insert - again, it's basically "the trench"
(++) Rulebook - very clear and concise
(++) Gameplay - very smooth, quick turns. "Satisfying" is a word I'd use to describe my first play. Just a really nice game. I can't wait to play again, and I'd love to try it at 3 or 4 players.
(+) "My Wife Likes It" factor - for now I'll leave this at one (+), since I'm not totally sure how MUCH she likes it. She definitely said she like it, though.

To make a long story short, I was blessed by an amazing birthday weekend full of friends, and played some awesome games to boot. I am thankful and do not want to take this all for granted.

How's that for click bait? No? Alright, I guess I'll keep working on my click baitery. 

Anyway.

I discovered who I believe to be our very own @Marshwiggle92 on a BGG giveaway page as a winner! I was looking for myself when I saw this image (see image).

Honestly, I don't know how many wiggly marshes there are in the world, so I'm going to assume it's you. Congrats!  :)

Congrats again @theDL! Thanks always for your contributions and I hope you get to try out #Western Legends with your friends tonight! 

Disclaimer: Jaws of the Lion is my first step into the world of Gloomhaven. I've honestly never had much of an interest since I'm new to dungeon crawlers and the stigma associated with the genre certainly didn't help. I also like to stay far, FAR away from any games with long setup times. So even though I like to solo games from time to time (once a week/two weeks), I never felt drawn to try out the "#1 game of all time". Recently, though, I've been wanting to branch out from my typical euro games. As much as I love them, I often find that I greatly appreciate games that are a marriage of solid euro mechanics (rewarding strategic and tactical plays) and strong thematic connections. And this is where I make my obligatory shoutout to #Root, but recently #Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated for its focus on storytelling. Well, it looks like I've found another great match through the accessible counterpart to Gloomhaven, #Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. Here are my first impressions after playing through the first scenario.

I'll start with the pre-game experience, starting from my Sunday morning trip to Target. Skip to "Setup and Learning the Game" section if you don't want to read all the extra stuff!

Pre-Game Impressions

(++) Hype - Has there ever been another board game release at Target that caused this much commotion? I can't remember one, and I think this is history in the making. Part of the fun in our hobby is talking about games, and I couldn't help but feel excited as I made the trip, knowing that this is the single most talked about game at the moment.

(+/-) Judging by the cover - I felt iffy about the cover art when I first heard the announcement, but it's grown on me. I like it. The box is hefty and you can tell from the weight that it's Gloomhaven Jr. One thing I found interesting is that the lid already comes with quite a bit of lift. Not a good sign in terms of the ease of "reboxing" after gameplay.

(+) What's inside? - The fun part of unboxing these types of games is the sense of mystery and discovery. You can't open everything just yet, and have to wait until the right moment. The game comes with plenty of baggies and have a tray for all of the different tokens. The insert is decent but there's so little room left in this box after you punch out and organize everything. But the highlights here are the great minis, scenario book, learn to play guide, counters for hit points, great monster standees, cards, and so much more. At $50 (before tax) and 25 scenarios, this game most definitely delivers on value.

(+) Minis - I appreciate that the sculpting on these is better than Gloomhaven's. I've always had a bad impression of Gloomhaven's minis, although it's probably unfair for me to compare them against CMON's. In my opinion, the posturing on GH's minis are very stiff and the body proportions are completely off in comparison to the illustrations.

Setup and Learning the Game - How Beginner-Friendly is Jaws of the Lion?

(+) Initial Setup - The rulebook walks you through how to organize everything for max efficiency for setting up future scenarios. Including punching all of the tokens, identifying and bagging all of the monster cards, standees, and other components together, I think I took about 1.5 hours. Possibly too long for some people but it was a great way to become familiar with the game's world.

(++) Scenario Book - Storytelling and tone is just right for me. Nothing cheesy or cliched and gives you just enough to keep you interested. I just really love the idea of flipping open the book and having a great game session lying in wait.

(+++) Starting the game. Low intimidation factor - At first, you might think to yourself that there's too much prep time. But if you consider how much time (and mental energy) typically goes into learning any new game, this is a very pleasant experience with lots of "hand-holding". It leads you through one action and round at a time, saves some of the more complex elements to introduce in the next scenario, and makes you feel confident enough to walk on your own.

How Does it Play?

(++) For those who are familiar with my preferences, you know that I have a high regard for simple mechanics that reward deep tactical and strategic plays. Maybe it's from my Chess and Go background, but I always enjoy that aspect in gaming. In the first round, each player has a hand of 6 cards and you play two of them as an action. There are two "catches" that turn this game into a great tactical gameplay that reminds me of turn-based battles in games like Final Fantasy.

1. Each card denotes a value for "initiative". If you're not familiar with this concept, it's a way to determine player order, including the monsters (the monster in the first round had an initiative of 50). In each round, you lay down two cards you will play for the round, and the card you place down first determines your initiative. Once all players/characters have placed down their cards, the player order is then determined in order of lowest to highest initiative. So you have to think about how early you want to take action, how you want to position yourself to attack or support a teammate, whether you should let the monsters approach you first, etc.
2. Each card comes with two different character specific abilities, one on the top side and one on the bottom side. You will have to choose which ability you will use. So you're constantly going through choices like "Hmm should I use this ability to attack? But I'll have to sacrifice not having a movement option..." and so on.

(+) Distinct play styles for each character - I always love variable player powers and you can choose from 4 very different "flavors" in play style. When you solo, you have to play with at least two characters, so I went for the melee-based character and a support-type character.

(+) Luck in combat - Each figure (characters and monsters) on the map has an attack modifier deck. This is meant to simulate the probability of success/failure in how potent the attack will be. For instance, my melee character was low on health but I decided to take the risk and go for a strong melee attack that I was sure would success, but after a really bad card draw that basically nullified my attack (there are only a few of those in the deck), I was a sitting duck to take in lots of damage. I always like combat mechanics that make great use of luck, so I like this a lot.

(++) Smooth gameplay - Once you get past the initial setup, there's surprisingly little upkeep involved even when you're soloing with two characters. The way the monsters move is intuitive and you're mostly spending time thinking about which moves you should make. This is one of those games like Root where the mechanic blends so well into the game that it "disappears" on you.

As usual, I had a lot to say! And while it's still too early to tell, I can only guess that things will get more interesting with more plays. If I were to rate this game on a 5-star scale, I'd lean closer to a 5/5 at the moment, and I rarely give those. I think you'll really enjoy this one @nealkfrank (when you're done with #Aeon's End: Legacy, of course :D)

Well that happened with me just yesterday. After learning how to play #Sorcerer City by watching a video, I got it out and wanted to take it for a spin before I head home from work. But then I realized the ~300 tiles came completely out of order (not sure if this was a prototype copy?) and had to be separated into 14 different types. So I just spent some time getting them organized and hoped to give it another go today haha

I also experienced something similar with #Tapestry the other day, where I took it out on Saturday during my son's nap time. Fully expected to get a play in but realized that the solo mode rules take quite a bit of time to read and digest. Had to put it away and give it another go on Sunday.

Have you experienced this before? What was the reason? (long setup, overwhelming or unclear rulebook, lack of motivation, etc)

Here are the games at our office! It includes:

• Games that @trentellingsen bought but hasn't played (and likely won't for a long time).
• Games that Trent played but didn't quite like.
• Review copies from publishers
• And etc.

Which of these should I try out this week? Hopefully it has a solo mode or I could do 2p easily by myself to give quick first impressions! I'm thinking about trying out #Sorcerer City soon.

Anyone played Dungeon Universalis? What is your verdict?