This weekend I actually got all three board games played. But we only got through two games on the dedicated Board Game Night. I thought I might be able to get rid of Railroad Tycoon, but it’s a really great game and everyone loved it. It’s like Ticket To Ride plus Risk but with more strategy and less dice-rolling. So that one’s sticking around. And Princes of Florence was awesome as usual. It’s one of my favourite board games: lots of strategy but with a time limit so you it won’t go on forever.

The next day we played Cities & Knights of Catan, which is an excellent expansion to the Catan game. A lot of extra pieces but it’s easy to grasp the new concepts and it adds a ton of flavour and new strategy. So that’s a keeper too.

Three games, three keepers. Next time I’ll have to be a bit of a harsher judge, I think. 10 months ago

• Railroad Tycoon The Board Game
• Princes of Florence
• Seafarers or Cities & Knights of Catan

One I’ve played (PoF), one I haven’t (RT), and one that I’ve played without the expansions (Catan). I hope to put up a few mini-reviews of the games and see if they’re all worth keeping or if I can afford to let some go. And by “some,” I mean Railroad Tycoon. I’m not getting rid of the other two. 10 months ago

A few weekends ago I organized a games day, and I brought two piles of my board games with me. We played exactly two of them, which is an admittedly slow start as I have over two dozen board games, but at least it is a start. And I hope to play one or two more this weekend. However, here are the reviews of the two we played:

Carcassonne – I have the whole Big Blue Box but we just played the original game with no expansions, and it was great. Still get confused about the rules as I am far more familiar with the Carcassonne: Hunters & Gatherers and the rules are slightly different but it’s still very straightforward, a good strategy game that is simple to play and if you have a crafty brain like me it is both a lot of fun AND super-frustrating when you have six potential plans on the go and realize you have to cut some of them loose.
Verdict: Keeper.

Battlestar Galactica – Fifth time playing it and it is still awesome. And if you’re concerned because you haven’t seen any of the episodes: you don’t need to have watched the show to play the game. The mechanics are reasonably straightforward, there are no spoilers, and you’re kind of making your own story instead of following the show’s. Basically, as players you’re trying to save the human fleet from total annihilation and and at least one of your crewmates is a Cylon working against you – even if they don’t know it yet. In a five- or six-player game I think the paranoia alone would be entertaining. Would love to get the expansion(s?) but I think I need to maximize the space in my house so I don’t have too many unplayed boxes.
Verdict: Keeper. 19 months ago