It's been a while since I gave much of a gaming session report, probably much in part to having little time to actually play. Fortunately, part of the process of moving included getting my board game collection out in the open. We now have a full wall of shelves to proudly display the games that I've had a difficult time getting people to play. As my children are getting older though, I've been encouraging them to join me more. I've managed to get a few war or strategy games in with my family and friends, but often times I still have to relent to the party games. The past few days appear to be breaking that trend though.
Last week we played
Pictionary - my son was on my wife's team, and my oldest daughter on my team. The most frustrating, yet hilarious moment came up as my daughter was drawing her clues. Most of the clues at the beginning seemed fitting when my daughter started off drawing a girl, although I though she could just have started off circling the girl instead of drawing a new one. At one point though, again my daughter started off drawing a girl. I shouted out all the guesses that I could think of, based on the strange things that had come up before that she managed to relate to the girl, but when the word "macaroni" was revealed as the answer I just couldn't believe what I was seeing. I couldn't see the connection - to me it looked like she had just had drawn a girl, just like every other time. However, she pointed out that this time the girl was holding a box, which was barely noticeable, and somehow I was supposed to get "macaroni" from that. We just laughed. That was pretty much the end of Pictionary for that night.
I also managed to teach my kids, nieces, and sort-of-nephew how to play Reiner Knizia's
Kingdoms. Unfortunately we didn't even get to finish the first round before our game was disrupted by other party plans, but at least I got them started. Better luck getting a full game going next time.
I got my dad, brother, daughter, and son to play
Dominion with me on Sunday night. That was cool. I pulled out one of the recommended sets from the
Hinterlands expansion with the addition of Black Market and Envoy to pad the game for 5 players. My daughter mostly bought Silver, with an occasional Gold, and of course a Province whenever she could afford one. My brother went for the Border Villages, while I focused on Highways. My son seemed to enjoy playing the Oracle card often, but, like my dad, seemed to get a wide variety of cards that didn't seem to compliment each other very well. For a while we thought my daughter was going to win, because she had picked up the first Province and managed to stay ahead for quite a while, until my Highway finally kicked in right before the end of the game and I was able to buy two Provinces in one turn to secure the victory.
This evening I tried out my latest acquisition with my son. I managed to snag a card game called
Warriors for less than $2 from a clearance sale at
Funagain Games. I had been interested in picking it up for a while, and at that price, I figured it couldn't be beat. It's a fantasy card game with dice to determine the outcome of battles. The reviews that I had read mentioned it being a simplified version of Risk, which I can see, but it is by no means a replacement for Risk if you're really in the mood for it. Anyway, I tried it out with my son. It's a quick little game with a handful of luck, hint of strategy, and a ton of cards to shuffle together even though only half will get used in a two player game. I'll probably be playing it more with my son, especially since it can be played in a half hour (probably less once the two of us get more familiar with the rules), but I'm not quite sure what to think of it yet. I've read that the
Dragon Hordes expansion will improve the game. Thankfully I got that for less than $2 at the same time.
Image used with permission as an affiliate of Funagain Games. If you like any of the games I've mentioned here, please follow one of my links to purchase the game so I get a little credit. Thanks!
