1/8/2025 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #25-01

18 at the UNO Park Community Center for games our members added to their collections over the holidays. Thanks Sean for leading the session while Sandy and I were braving 70 degree heat in sunny Florida and playing games with family and old friends (including former LI Gamers Alan Newman & Randy Rock) along our journey south. We did get to play Wilmot’s Warehouse, Cities, Rebirth, Trios, River Valley Glassworks, Truffle Shuffle, Take It Easy, Ticket to Ride, Qwirkle, Rainbow, Panda Panda, 5ive Straight, Lucky Numbers and Drive….so there was little opportunity for gaming withdrawal.
 
The report below was provided by Sean – thanks again
 
Welcome to Hank & Kate (friends of both Chris and Ethan) on their first visit to the group

January 15th will feature games members received from the Holiday Party game exchange table.  Choose a game you picked off the table at the Holiday Party and bring it to lead! Expect to play from among: Big Boss, Wingspan, Web of Power, Acquire, Keythedral, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Troyes, Die Mauer (the Wall), Skull Canyon: Ski Fest, Splendor, Catan, Sushi Go Party …. and more. Please email Steve with the prize table games that you are prepared to bring and lead for this session.
1/8/2025 at UNO Park Community Center

IN: Sean, Wendy, Matt, Nicole, Tim, Armando, Chris W, Ethan, Danny, Reimi, Zach, Julie, Hank, Kate, Tony, Rachel, Amy, Rob

ON OUR TABLES:

Jokkmokk: the Winter Market (led by Nicole) 2023 45 minute set collection game set in the 400+ year old Swedish Winter Market, that uses the turnorder mechanic popularized in Tokaido (player trailing the procession is on turn). Collect cards representing treasures in the Winter Market and earn VPs in various ways. Having a different mix of treasures each time played adds to the variability, making each game unique.

BGG Listing

Century: Golem Edition (led by Ethan) 2017 re-themed version of Century: Spice Road set in the world of Caravania. Each turn, players perform one of four actions:

 

  • Establish a trade route (by taking a market card)
  • Make a trade or harvest crystals (by playing a card from hand)
  • Fulfill a demand (by meeting a victory point card’s requirements and claiming it)
  • Rest (by taking back into your hand all of the cards you’ve played)


The last round is triggered once a player has claimed their fifth victory point card (6 cards with 2 or 3 players), then whoever has the most victory points wins.

BGG Listing

Wrath of Fire Mountain (led by Sean) What would the world have been like if people and dinosaurs lived at the same time? Phil Walker-Harding and Eric Lang figured it would
be ruled by a primordial volcano that shifts the land beneath their feet… obviously!
 This 2024 game combines yahtzee-esque push your luck dice rolling for actions, dinosaurs that have unique powers and excellent miniatures, area control on a board where the sizes of territories can change each turn, and a fickle volcano god with his own 3d volcano.

BGG Listing

Isle of Cats Duel (led by Matt) This 2024 competitive, standalone game designed specifically for two players in the Isle of Cats universe replaces the card drafting from the original The Isle of Cats game with a new movement system. Guided by an Oshax cat, players take turns moving around the island. Where you move determines which cats, treasures, and lessons you can access and will shape the options available to your opponent on their next turn.

BGG Listing

Railroad Ink (led by Tony) 2018 multiplayer roll & write puzzle game where each player’s goal is to connect as many exits on their board as possible. Each round, a set of dice are rolled in the middle of the table, determining which kind of road and railway routes are available to all players. Players have to draw these routes on their erasable boards to create transport lines and connect their exits, trying to optimize the available symbols better than their opponents. The more exits connected, the more points scored at the end of the game, but players lose points for each incomplete route, so plan carefully!

BGG Listing

Lost Cities: The Board Game (led by Wendy) A 2008 remake of the game Keltis, which itself was based on the original Lost Cities card game, adding a board with player piece movement, and up to 4 players.  Over 3 rounds of play, players take turns playing cards of different colors in ascending order. Each time a card is played you may start an expedition (putting one of your expedition leader pieces on the start space of the corresponding expedition track of the board), or move an existing expedition up on its track (gaining rewards for reaching randomized bonus tiles on each track). Once a number of expedition leaders (based on player count) cross bridges, the round ends and end of round points are based on the distance each player’s expedition leaders reach on each expedition track.  Afterwards the bonus tokens are randomized and a new round of expeditions begins!

BGG Listing

The Artemis Project (led by Matt) Develop a colony beneath the crust of the ice of Europa, Jupiter’s watery moon. Add newly arrived colonists to your colony, and put them to work gathering resources, building new structures, and exploring this new frontier. The Artemis Project is a 2019 dice (dis)placement and engine building game that has you fighting the planet as well as the other players. Roll your dice and place them tactically to thwart the other colonists. Harvest energy and minerals. Bid for buildings. Work together to go on Expeditions to earn rewards. Train workers. Will your efforts be enough to survive?

BGG Listing

Cargo Empire (led by Sean) In this 2024 pick-up-and-deliver board game with point-to-point network building, there is only one action players may take and that is delivering cargo. Players must navigate a changing landscape, weaving between cities and using various transport modes to score points. To dominate, players must plan their network of trading posts meticulously and keep a sharp eye on long-term rewards.

BGG Listing

Rebirth (led by Tim) 2024 Reiner Knizia tile laying game with a double-sided mapboard (for both Scotland and Ireland). This session’s game was played with the Ireland side of the board, which is a slightly more gamery variant of the game featuring public goals that players are racing to achieve and Towers with special abilities that trigger the first time you build next to them. Each turn, players draw a tile from their supply and place it strategically on the board. These tiles represent your clan’s contribution to rebuilding the land. The game rewards strategic foresight and clever tactical play, with tougher decisions emerging over the course of a relatively short game that tends to elicit repeat plays. Points are scored for chains of food farms & energy farms, settlements, castles controlled, as well as goals.

BGG Listing

Biome (led by Chris) A 2024 highly thematic nature themed tableau builder where players add plant or animal cards to their biome board for points and to compete for biodiversity achievements. Each species lives in one of 3 habitats in the biome (marsh, prairie or jungle) and once played may be activated to get a special effect, but each card can only be activated once during the game, so timing can be important. The game is played over 3 years of 4 seasons each.

BGG Listing

 

Steve (should return to the frozen tundra in time for the 1/15 session)

18 at the UNO Park Community Center for games our members added to their collections over the holidays. Thanks Sean for leading the session while Sandy and I were braving 70 degree heat in sunny Florida and playing games with family and old friends (including former LI Gamers Alan Newman & Randy Rock) along our journey south. We did…

18 at the UNO Park Community Center for games our members added to their collections over the holidays. Thanks Sean for leading the session while Sandy and I were braving 70 degree heat in sunny Florida and playing games with family and old friends (including former LI Gamers Alan Newman & Randy Rock) along our journey south. We did…

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