Author | Lightnews

Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · 4d

In theory the pirate should slow it down, but buying swords to get past them wasn’t tough and starting resources/rewards as opposed to 2 of each resouce felt like a lot. Extra building board also let players grab needed stuff instead of just improving the mancala wheel. Need to try again I think.

Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · 4d

Played Ostia at game day with all the expansions. I’d played the base game before, but this is the first time I’d tried Pirates and the other expansions. The base game is still great… but not sure about expansions. Felt like it was sped up with drafting starting resources. #boardgames #ostia

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · 19d

Got SETI back to the table at game day. This has ended up being the top game out of 2024 for me. The tight economy takes adjusting to, but once you do it’s a great mix of strategy and flavor. Plus “big stack of cards” remains one of my favorite game mechanics. #boardgames #seti

The boardgame SETI nearing the end of the game.

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · 23d

In August, we sat down on a Saturday and played a 3 player game. Everybody kept saying “We could get the epic end, but I want to do this one more thing…”
We ended up playing 8 hours… that burnt us out on it a little, but would like to get back to it again at some point.

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · 23d

Boardgames in September. Dune takes the lead as three of us are constantly playing via the app. Space Base, Ticket to Ride, Azul and Spades come via BGA with a more casual group. Betrayal and Frosthaven campaigns continue, the latter nearly complete. Good month of gaming! #boardgames #bgstats

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Sep 22

Played Wyrmspan with the new Dragon Academy expansion. Wasn’t sure about fledglings, but ended up enjoying the play patterns. End round income choices are a great addition. Downside: caves usually had some benefit, but new caves felt more likely to have useless caves in hand. #boardgames #wyrmspan

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Sep 15

Played Underwater Cities at game day this week. I think I played this once at BGG 7(?) years ago, but hadn’t ever gotten back to it. Definitely a real gem and was happy to relearn it. Solid worker placement with a bit of tableau building. #boardgames #underwatercities

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Sep 11

For Frosthaven we finally stopped sidequestimg long enough to return to the main quest. One more to go there! We’ve unlocked everything at this point, so we’re just playing out the string. Excited to see how it all ends up as it’s been a long journey with this one!

Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Sep 11

This is my second run through Betrayal Legacy. 6th scenario was my first death of the game and also the first time the “good guys” didn’t win. All traitor losses (or group win with no traitor). It was a fun scenario though, down to the wire where a 7+ on 6 dice would have won it! Close one!

Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Sep 11

Legacy games continued this week with the 6th scenario in Betrayal Legacy and the second to last scenario in the main quest line for Frosthaven. (Warning picture of Frosthaven in 2nd comment below that contains mini spoilers if you zoom in) (1/x) #boardgames #betrayallegacy #frosthaven

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Aug 25

Learned Fromage over the weekend at game day. A fun, quick worker placement game with a rotating board. Loved how it visually shows you when your workers will return. Feels like playing 4 mini games all at once. Really enjoyed it! #boardgames #fromage

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Aug 17

Got a request to teach Emberleaf for game day and had another good game. The new players really enjoyed it and I think the game is going to see some staying power at the table! #boardgames #emberleaf

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Aug 15

Got in some good gaming this week with Viticulture and Wyrmspan. Both classic games that I was happy to revisit. #boardgames #wyrmspan #viticulture

Wyrmspan game, center area and multiple boards

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Aug 11

Finally Spirit Island is one of favorites and my brother and I play whenever he is in town. We “warmed up” with a difficulty 2 setup, and I’m glad we did! The events abused us, constantly thwarting plans and failing to help us. We squeaked by with a fear win on a blighted island (3/3) #spiritisland

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Aug 11

Twilight Inscription was new to me and I enjoyed it. Only played Twilight Imperium once, so had more of a learning curve. However I enjoyed gathering resources and points across the different sheets. Warfare wasn’t my favorite, but adjusted and got 2nd of 8 players. 2/x #twilightinscription

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Aug 11

Weekend games included Vantage (not pictured), Twilight Inscription and Spirit Island.
Vantage continues to entertain as it took up a large chunk of Saturday. We completed the mission and had destinies, but players kept wanting “1 more turn”. 3 plays in and still loving it. 1/x #boardgames #vantage

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 31

Got Vantage back to the table on Wednesday night before GenCon. Was happy to see that the second game felt completely different than the first with new discoveries and puzzles. Nice pace at 3 players too. Excited to keep exploring it! #boardgames #vantage

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 28

Tried Endeavor: Deep Sea for the first time this week at game day. Great game! Mechanical options were solid and the idea of different scenarios to change up gameplay is great. I’d been meaning to try this one for a while and glad i did. Already looking forward to game 2 #boardgames #endeavordeepsea

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 21

We were at the 4 hour mark. There were some slow downs as it was a first time play and we stopped to look for rules answers here and there. I believe that “natural conclusion” will roll around faster in future plays (but that may not help you for your first time play)

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 21

A mechanic kicked in that brought the game to a natural conclusion. It’s a very well made game and does feel like you’re all in a very large choose your own adventure book. I’m excited to delve back in again and maybe give the missions/destinies a little more focus! (3/3)

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 21

Checking out the planet. One player started a collection, another went spelunking… we just kind of did what we wanted, and it was fun! We managed our resources well enough that no one hit 0, but didn’t stress over it. About as the game felt like it was dragging though (2/3)

Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 21

Got my copy of Vantage to the table on Sunday! Played it 4 player and we all really enjoyed it. One player noted it felt more like an activity than a game, and I think that’s a good way of putting it. We largely ignored the mission and just wandered around (1/2) #boardgames #vantage

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 14

Sunday game day gave another play of Emberleaf! One of last week’s players liked it so much, they had bought it and wanted to play again. Had a much better idea of what I was doing this time, plus added in the expansion material from the Kickstarter, and had a lot of fun. #boardgames #emberleaf

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 9

Tried Tales of the Arthurian Knights last night. A very light weight narrative game with a basic “roll for success” mechanic. However the flavor and story of the game were well done and a lot of fun. I appreciate how the cards lead to a variety of encounters. #boardgames #talesofthearthurianknights

Main board for Tales of the Arthurian Knights game

Player board for Tales of the Arthurian Knights game

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Scot Martin @scotmartin.bsky.social · Jul 7

Got my copy of Emberleaf to the table for the first time yesterday. After reading the rules, I wasn’t sure there would be enough substance to it beyond engine building with the sliding cards. Happily I was proven wrong! Enjoyed the game and look forward to trying it again. #boardgames #emberleaf

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