I played
Grim Reaper against my son Isaac today. This is a game that I first found on
superdupergames.org and have enjoyed playing it online but thought it would be a nice physical game too. I've discussed it with the game designer, wyons, via SDG and mentioned to him that I thought the 6x6 grid using 6-sided dice for all the pieces would work out nicely for a physical version. I went about coloring some dice, along with the help of my 9-year-old, and printed a game board with my 3d printer. You can see the results in the attached photos. (On the sheet of paper I had written some helpers to explain the turn order along with gender reminders for the different colors of dice we were using.)
During the first game, Isaac mentioned that he really liked this game already. It was a challenging game, and we had over half of the board filled, but in the end, I was able to keep my people alive on the board longer while his died out.
Game 2, I made what I thought was a terrible mistake, considering we are playing with only 6 Reserve Life points to start. I had placed my first two people on the board without enough life to last if he blocked my first birth. However, he went a different direction with his second person and I managed to live long enough, just a couple more rounds, and was able to block a birth on his turn that he needed to survive. That game was over quickly.
Game 3, Isaac came back strong. We both had moments in the middle of the game where it seemed like we were each going to win, but this time Isaac managed to outlive a weak hold that I had in a corner and he managed to make his connection across the board.
We discussed the game more, and we both agree that it's a good game and I encourage other people to check out this game. On
http://superdupergames.org/main.html?page=play_reaper&num=38618 you can even find a match where the game designer explained more of the strategy to me.