Regular boardgame nights returned from summer hiatus. The full group assembled for 5 player coop Great Wall. The game has amazing table presence and pretty interesting mechanics but absolutely no balance.

• Some leaders are just vastly better than others (pay a chi to make one additional damage vs get a massive discount when you recruit.)
• Missions have massively different difficulty levels and some are nigh on impossible for 5 players.
• Events are just ridiculous. Their immediate effects are ok but their ongoing effects are just way too punishing. Still the basic gameplay loop is compelling and we’re probably gonna play this on occasion.

On the weekend my sister also hopped over for a visit and we played:

• Thanos Rising - I basically had one decent turn, the rest was all a wash and with only two players pulling we had no chance.
• Earth - First time for my sister but she quickly took to it. This was the first game where I dared to take one of those terrains that forbids you from taking a particular action (growth) and I got by quite decently. Getting another card on every plant action was well worth the tradeoff. With enough card draws, I could fuel a lot of compost actions and on top of it I got lucky and drew the terrain that gives VP based on composted cards. All in all I won with a commanding lead. But after initial confusion over the common scoring cards (fauna) it was nice to see that everyone ultimately got the hang of it and scored at least 3 of them.
• Würfel Ligretto - Early morning we decided to wake ourselves up with someting frantic. So frantic in fact that one of the dice tumbled off the table and somehow into the kitchen installation. But we were ultimately able to find and retrieve the bugger and complete the game.
• Moving on from that we played Shark Attacks - a push your luck game where I consistently have less luck than everyone else. At least this time I lost to my sister instead of my GF.
• Pharaon - We capped the visit off with this game that I had kind shelved for a while. GF wasn’t in the mood for something heavy and just watched leaving it at a 2p setup. I must say I vastly preferr this game with less players. While I apprciate that it does go to 5 players and works it just becomes soooo much thighter. Spots per player are 7.5, 5, 6.25, 5 (from 2 to 4 players) and more importantly with 5 you might not even have the opportunity to go in a particular sector if everyone else prioritizes it.

We played Grand Austria Hotel, Terra Nova and Clever 4Ever.

We also picked up a copy of Fancy Feathers from the FLGS. Imagine if Friedemann Friese designed Sushi Go and you get Fancy Feathers. I like that each drafting decision often gets you multiple cards so it plays very quickly. Card quality is good and the art on the pheasant cards is nice, happy with it for the price.

I tried Regicide because of this post, really liked it.

Our few victories were always obtained by taking risks and was never easy. The mechanics are a bit overwhelming at first, but after a couple of matches the effects are easy to remember. We still haven’t found some general strategies beyond “diamonds are really useful, don’t waste them”.

A game ended after we had J♦ as the last jack and Q♦ right after it, we simply didn’t have enough cards to deal with them one after the other.

We had a very busy week and only managed to squeeze in one game of Ark Nova. It remains my favorite game for two players.

We also had some family over with whom we played some games before even though they are not that much into boardgames. They usually play lighter Euros like 7Wonders Duel of the like. We introduced them to Castles of Burgundy. It was a gruesomely long game, at least 3.5 hours. In particular one of the relatives was stuck in analysis paralysis for a long time. Even though he was the last player, it felt like he did all the thinking when his turns start. However, Burgundy remains a really strong game and I usually just try to reach at least 200 points towards the end of the game.

The good thing was, since the game lasted until 2am, we had the prime-time window for the Peresid Metero Shower which was really spectacular. One was so strong that its tail remained visible for much longer than normal ones and was not a thin streak but more a thick line tapering on both ends. We also spotted Andromeda with our Binos.