Regular Event on the 19/08/2023 was well attended. Here is the short list of games.
- Andean Abyss
- Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game
- Raccoon Tycoon
- Labyrinth
- Century: A New World
- First Class: All Aboard the Orient Express!
- Point City
- Dungeon Mayhem: Monster Madness
- Splendor: Marvel
- The Red Cathedral
- Brass: Birmingham
- Catan
- The Castles of Burgundy: Special Edition
- Near and Far
A short list this time because many of these are big games with long play times.
Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game was played before dinner and again after by two different groups. Mastermind was Annihilus with the scheme, Steal All Oxygen on Earth. First group won their game, second group lost to the scheme.
Game Report from Narelle
We played Castles of Burgundy – Stefen Feld’s best game in my opinion and #17 on the BGG’s list of all games. This is the special edition, I have had the original version as many of us have for a long time. We didn’t play with any of expansions, (well a few different special tiles) we all had a great game scoring well with 3 of us scoring over 200. But the feel of the acrylic tiles is fantastic, bags for us to grab the tiles from each round are gorgeously thick and stand up on their own, the wooden crate goods were nice and thick, the art is great and the player aids easy to use. It was easy to use, easier to set up than the original version and the fact that they have an insert to hold your tiles in play meant no more knocking them accidently during the game. I can’t wait to play it more and play the vineyard expansion. Feel free to ask me for a game of this anytime.
Game Report from Mike
We played another title from the COIN(COunter-INsurgency) Series from GMT Games – Andean Abyss. It’s a fully asymmetric game where four factions contend for power and shifting alliances in the Colombian War on Drugs.
The Government (blue) player is rich and powerful, but to get anything done is slow and expensive. It’s “Ally” is the right-wing AUC (yellow) who does some of the Governments “dirty work” in the countryside but has their own agenda.
On the opposite side is a left-wing communist group known as “FARC” (red) wanting to create opposition and overthrow the Government.
And in the middle of all this is the Cartel (green) …wanting to build drug labs and make money in the midst of the chaos. #SayNoToDrugs kids. 🙂
While we didn’t track individual cards or plays, our early game involved the communists (red) and AUC rallying recruits for their causes; with the Government advising its AUC ally. And the Cartels got straight to work with its Empire building.
One memorable moment included the Cartels giving the communists (red) Guerrilla a ‘shipment’ token as part of a business deal to “leave me alone.” 😉
Later, the AUC played a card event that allowed them to convert the Guerrilla holding the shipment to the AUC side; effectively stealing the drug money for himself. This of obviously well received… not. 😉
Another memorable moment again involved
the AUC doing a terror/assassinate action to remove a red base and two cartel bases – sparking a “little” animosity with the Cartel… okay, a LOT of animosity with the Cartel. The table talk was hilarious.
Unfortunately time ran out and we had to call the game, but did have a clear winner even though we all had negative scores.
AUC -1 Won!
FARC -4
Cartels -7
Government -10
A satisfying and colourful gaming experience.
While these COIN games are complex, they provide a truly unique gaming experience unlike any other Euro or war game.
To learn more check out Andean Abyss on board game geek, and look for other games in the series such as “Cuba Libre” and the newest title released in 2023 – “People Power: Insurgency in the Philippines, 1981-1986”
Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed!