Dude! Take Your Turn!
A Gaming Life
New to Me – January 2024
It’s the first month of the year!
And it’s also almost the end of February.
Yes, it took so much energy to get my Top 50 games played of all time done, along with getting sick recently, that we’re into the last week of February and I still haven’t talked about the “new to me” games that I played in January!
I know, right?
With OrcaCon in January, I knew that this would be a long post.
I did not realize just how taxing it was going to be, though.
This one is going to be brutal on me, so I’m going to take some steps to alleviate the pain.
For all of the OrcaCon games, since I did talk about them in that retrospective post, I’m going to just refer you to that post.
I didn’t go into detailed “how to play” descriptions there, but enough that I think you should get a good sense of how the game works.
The Cult of the New to Me was certainly happy because while a few of the games last month were brand new, there were quite a number of older games there.
They were satisfied and content.
Which means that this month, they’re going to be really pissed off.
Actually, I’m not sure about that…because I haven’t played any new to me games in February.
Yes, it’s the last week in February and I will not have a post next month!
That doesn’t make them happy either.
Really, they’re terribly hard to please.
Anyway, without further ado (all of my ado was stolen by some big furry guy who broke into my campground anyway), let’s begin!
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Player Count
Welcome back to our usual Friday!
Sorry for last weekend’s abnormal post.
We’re getting back to the swing of things here at Dude Central, with a visit to the bar on Friday night!
Ok, I still haven’t done the “New to Me” post yet, but I have a few days.
And I just realized that I haven’t done my Combat Commander ladder write-up yet either!
That one just left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
You’ll see why when I actually get it posted.
Anyway, come on in and enjoy the warmth as the temperatures outside are starting to get more Spring-like!
Maybe I should turn down the fire now…
Or put it out!
(Ok, that’s the last fire joke for this current season…they’re getting old. I don’t see a burning need for them anymore)
How about I get you a drink and we can talk about boardgames?
I’ll turn off the William Shatner Sings the Blues CD…not sure how that got in the jukebox.
Gremlins?
Tonight, let’s talk about your ideal player count in games.
What’s your ideal?
Read MoreInventors of the South Tigris Coming to Kickstarter March 12
(Edit: 3/12/24) – It’s live! Go back it here.
In my sick doldrums last week, I missed the announcement from Garphill Games that the next (and final) entry in the South Tigris trilogy of games, Inventors of the South Tigris, is coming to Kickstarter on March 12!
Blurbing from Boardgame Geek here:
“Inventors of the South Tigris is set during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate, circa 850 AD. Over the past decades, Baghdad has become home to thousands of mathematicians, astronomers, chemists, and physicians. As inspired innovators, players are eager to develop clever contraptions to impress their peers. Will your ingenious devices adorn the House of Wisdom, or are they destined for dust and decay?”
As with the first two games in the trilogy, dice will be the main mechanism in the game.
In a departure from most Garphill Games, though, it doesn’t look like cards (or at least townsfolk cards) will actually be in evidence!
At least not judging from the picture of the game that they have put on BGG.
Instead, there will be inventions tiles and other types of tiles. You’re still going to be using workers and influence, but I don’t see a card in sight!
I’m actually really looking forward to this game because it does appear to be at least somewhat different than the other games.
You’re still placing your dice to do things, of course, there still appear to be guilds that you will be putting influence in.
But it just looks different!
You can see a bit more about the game in the Garphill Games announcement video here.
Will this jump into my Top 10 games of all time?
Maybe?
Anyway, you can follow the Kickstarter and be informed when it goes live by going here.
Are you as excited as I am?
Probably not.
But are you excited at all?
Let me know in the comments.
Holiday Weekend Shots – Games & Updates
Hola!
Welcome back to the bar on a cozy Saturday night of Family Day weekend up here in Canada.
It’s been a rough week, with me being sick for most of it.
Which would explain the complete lack of new content here at Dude Central.
Sorry about that!
Somehow I caught a nasty cold that’s been knocking me for a loop all week. I worked on Monday, called in sick on Tuesday, worked until 2 pm on Wednesday and then just tried to get feeling better for our 5-day weekend (I took Thursday and Friday off as vacation).
Thankfully, it’s been a pretty restful vacation so far.
However, none of these days have I felt like actually thinking enough to produce any kind of written content whatsoever.
Even tonight isn’t the best night, though I did want to do an update (and also work toward my goal of not having any full weeks in 2024 without at least one post) and let you know what’s coming up on the blog.
And talking about a couple of new games that have arrived in the house!
Not to mention how full my online game play card is right now. Though I’m always open to more!
So have a seat, let me get you a libation of your choice, and let’s talk games.
I’ll turn down the Tori Amos cover version of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit since it’s an abomination that I can’t believe found its way onto my jukebox.
Heads will roll…
Read MoreTop 50 Games Played of All Time – 2024 Edition (#10 – 1)
It’s been a long journey getting to this top 10.
Not so much in weeks, as these posts have appeared for 5 weeks just like the previous Top 25 did (or they should have, but I’d forgotten that I took a much too long break before posting the last one in 2022).
No, I’m talking about in words. Including ten games in each post instead of five really upped the word count!
And the length of time it took to write them increased exponentially as well.
But we’ve reached the finale!
On time?
I guess I’ll know by the time I’m ready to post this.
Yeah, don’t rush me.
(Edit: Since you’re seeing this on Sunday, I did manage to get it done on time!)
Anyway, the top 10 will contain a few surprises, especially considering how many games actually fell out of it from 2022.
There are a bunch of new games, and also one game that I was totally surprised moved to where it did.
First, of course, the usual caveats.
These ratings are sometimes from just one play (though in the Top 10, probably not really) so they are subject to change if I play the game more often.
More importantly, I have only played just over 500 games, so there are many classic games that just aren’t on this list.
So you Nemesis fans can just go hide from your alien tormentors and leave me alone.
I do hope you hide successfully, though. I don’t hate you or anything.
With all of that being said, let’s get to the meat of this post!
(or the brussels sprouts, if you’re a vegetarian)
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Old vs New?
Welcome back!
I know it’s been a couple of weeks, but I was taking some time putting a new bar up.
With heated seats!
I hope that works ok and isn’t a fire hazard.
Oops.
Anyway, have a seat and let me get you something to drink.
We’ll just avoid that charred seat over there.
I’ll also turn down the music. I’m not sure how that “Color Me Bad Greatest Hit” CD got in there, but I’ll have to get it removed.
Before we get to tonight’s topic, just wanted to post a bit of an update.
While I still hope to get the final post in my Top 50 Games Played of All Time done for Sunday morning, I’m getting increasingly doubtful that’s going to happen.
I’ll try, but no promises!
It’s been a week…
In the meantime, why not check out a previous one?
Anyway, why don’t we talk about something I talked about a number of years ago, which produced my longest-running series on this blog.
But I haven’t talked about the subject for a while.
New games vs old ones!
Read MoreReady Set Bet – High Roller – Coming to Kickstarter March 5
Betting on horse racing can be so much fun.
Especially when the money’s not yours!
Or at least it’s fake and just part of a game.
Ready Set Bet was published in 2022 by Alderac Entertainment Group. Designed by John D. Clair (one of my favorites) with artwork by Kirk W. Buckendorf and Athena Cagle, this game came out to high acclaim all over the boardgaming world.
Hell, it hit Tom Vasel’s Top 10 list of 2022, and his all-time Top 100 (I think) that very same year!
Not to stand on their laurels, though, Alderac is now coming out with Ready Set Bet – High Roller, a much more deluxe version of this game.
It’s widely considered a party game, but the original version wasn’t as conducive to big parties as it might be. The board was hard to reach depending on how many people you had.
At least that was my experience, playing it at SHUX 2022
But it was a blast!
Read MoreTop 50 Games Played of All Time – 2024 Edition (#20-11)
How our tastes change over time is always kind of interesting to look at.
As a kid, I loved Brussels Sprouts!
Now, I really really hate them.
Ok, I’m kidding…nobody sane likes Brussels Sprouts.
But you get my point!
Things you like as a kid, or didn’t like as a kid, you may now feel the opposite.
Hell, that can change from year to year!
Which is definitely the case in our boardgame likes and dislikes.
Not in general, of course.
If you hate worker placement games, you’re not going to suddenly develop a taste for them.
But a particular worker placement game may get old and tired for you, or maybe you’ll have an amazing experience with it and a game that you were kind of meh about now ranks really highly for you.
I think that’s why the Dice Tower can do these lists annually and have major changes, and why I can do them every couple of years.
All that to say, welcome to the beginning of the second half of my Top 50 games played of all time!
Today we’re counting down #20-11, so we’re getting really close to the top of the top.
Will there be any surprises in there?
Maybe. And one friend will finally have his curiosity satisfied.
The usual caveats, of course.
Many of these entries are from only one play, so they could very well change if I get chances to play them again and again.
Hopefully for the better, but you never know!
Secondly, I’ve only played a little over 500 games, so there are a bunch of really popular and highly-ranked games that are just not going to be on this list.
So you War of the Ring fans can just go find your so-called “ring” yourselves and leave me out of it.
With all of that understood, let’s begin!
Read MoreJanuary 2024 Gaming
Has a month already gone by in 2024?
Wow, time is just flying by, really.
January had a number of gaming highlights, mainly because of OrcaCon.
The annual convention down in Bellevue, Washington, it just a remarkably-run convention, so inclusive, and so fun.
And I didn’t get sick! (Unlike Dragonflight last August).
Let’s take a look at the games played so you can see just how busy of a month it was.
And here it all is in grid form (sadly there’s no picture for I Found Bigfoot!
Many thanks to the phenomenal Boardgame Stats app for the great ability to track games played!
You can see all of the “new to me” games (the ones with the yellow asterisk).
That’s 16 new to me games! (Somehow Quantum wasn’t listed as a new to me game, but it definitely was)
That post is going to take a long time to write, especially as I’m also writing the next two Top 50 games played of all time posts, so don’t expect it as soon as I have been able to do in previous months.
But I will do my best not to wait until the end of February.
Let’s take a bit of an overview, keeping in mind that I’m not going to comment (at least not much) on the new to me games, since they get their own post.
Read MoreExpansion Review – Smash Up: Excellent Movies, Dudes!
Hey there, it’s been a while!
I mean, it’s been a while since you’ve seen a Smash Up review from me, not since you’ve seen anything from me.
Unless you haven’t been visiting this blog at all, in which case I am now sad.
But welcoming to a new visitor!
I am a child of the 80s. Those were my formative teenage years, so I love so much of the media and music that was going on in it (and much of it that I don’t love, but we won’t go there).
Paul Peterson and the folks at Alderac Entertainment Group decided to come out with the perfect Smash Up expansion for me!
Ok, that probably wasn’t their intent, but it still worked out really well.
Excellent Movies, Dudes! is the…ok, I’ve lost count…let’s just say next expansion in the whole Smash Up saga, and it is chock full of 80s movies references.
(The Smash Up wiki says that this is the 21st expansion)
The expansion comes with four new factions along with more power/VP tokens and some new tokens, called “Stasis” tokens.
The artwork varies, so I’ll mention that with each faction.
Here they are in brief before we continue:
- Action Heroes (80s Action Movies)
- Backtimers (Back to the Future)
- Extramorphs (Aliens)
- Wraithrustlers (Ghostbusters)
I’ll admit up front that, while I am somewhat familiar with it, I have never seen a Ghostbusters movie.
Yes, get your shocked face going…there you go.
However, I still appreciated all the references.
How are they?
Let’s take a look.
Read More
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