4/9/2025 – Berkshire Gamers Session Report #25-14
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16 at the UNO Park Community Center for an expansion themed night.
Welcome to Candy & Gaius (Armando’s better half and their son) on their first visit. Gaius is now officially the youngest gamer to play with us.
Our April 16 session will be a request night. Kindly indicate games you want to play and/or lead on our RSVP form. Our 4/23 session will feature games with RIVERS (thanks Wendy for the suggestion)
4/9/2025 @ UNO Park Community Center
IN: Steve & Sandy, Sean, Tim, Armando, Matt, Chris, Julie, Nicole, Rob, Danny, Elliot P, Landon, Sean K, Candy, Gaius
ON OUR TABLES:
Faraway (led by Armando) 2023 runner up Light Game of the Year as voted by BGG users. The People from Below expansion was used which added more People cards, more Sanctuaries, the ability to play one additional player, more variety with no new rules. Players will play square cards as a row of 8 in front of them, from left to right. These cards represent the regions they will come across while exploring the lands. Characters on these cards will grant players victory points, but only score VPs if later cards fulfil the conditions they demand. At the end of the game, players walk back the same way, scoring cards in the opposite order they were played. There lies the heart of the gameplay. Throughout the game, the cards played will serve both to set new objectives, and to meet the ones previously played. On each turn, players select one region card from a hand of 3 and a clever priority system governs replenishment drafting. The first play in this 30-minute gem of a filler will likely make one’s head implode, as players wrap their brain around simultaneously thinking both forward and backwards on their journey to score VPs. The second play is generally one of those ‘aha’ moments when things click.
Take It Easy (led by K-ban) 1983 puzzle game that is a true multi-player solitaire, in which each player individually completes a hexagon-shaped board with spots for 19 hexagon tiles. We played 2 rounds of the base game (as we had 2 first time players) followed by 2 rounds with the simplest of the Daffodil expansions – which adds an asymmetrical playing board, 4 wild tiles and requires that the first 3 tiles called go on each of the 3 stamen spaces. There’s no limit to the number of players provided you have enough copies on hand. One person (the caller) draws a tile randomly and tells the others which of the 27 tiles featuring colored/numbered lines crossing in three directions, with numbers from 1 to 9, it is. “The 9-8-7,” for example. Each player then chooses which empty spot on their own board they’ll play the 9-8-7. This is repeated until the boards are filled.
The idea is to complete same-numbered lines across one’s board. Scoring is calculated by multiplying the number on the tile with the number of tiles in the completed line. A complete column of three 9s is worth 27, for example…but a lot of players will hope for five 9s to fill the big column down the middle. It is often compared to Bingo because of the familiar pattern of a number being called and then everybody looking at their cards to play it, and then scoring if a line is completed. But that’s as far as the comparison goes. Bingo is sheer luck; Take It Easy is a game of skill.
Night Parade of a Hundred Yokai (led by Matt) King Enma is nowhere to be found. With his dreadful castle in Mount Fire vacant, asymmetric clans of demi-gods long forgotten will raise armies and battle to conquer the hearts in the islands of Japan. Pick from 4 asymmetric factions and draft to summon new yokai making the most efficient night parade. Every round, activate one of your parades to send meeples to haunt the islands, move around and fight each other. As soon as an island has a certain number of yokai, the denizens will build a shrine to pacify them, sending your meeples back to your player area. Once one player gets 5 of their shrines in play, the remaining players get a last turn, then the game ends and victory points are scored based on hidden cards to decide the winner.
The cursed Throne expansion was used, which provides: a new type of action – Reign: that changes effect based on which clan sits on the Cursed Throne; Spirit as wooden tokens, the Champions, the Challenge board, and more yokai to join the parades!
https://boardgamegeek.com/
Flip 7 (led by Armando) 2024 push-your-luck card game where players flip over cards one by one without flipping the same number twice. It is the self-proclaimed ‘greatest card game of all time’ (says so right on the box….so it must be true, right?) There is currently no expansion – and why would one be needed?
Space Base (led by K-ban) 2018 John D. Clair designed game of open drafting, random production and engine building, where players assume the roles of Commodores of a small fleet of ships. Ships begin docked at their stations and are then deployed to sectors as new ships are commissioned under your command. Use cargo vessels to engage in trade and commerce; mining vessels to build recurring base income; and carriers to spread your influence. Establish new colonies for a new Commodore in a sector to gain even more influence. It is a quick-to-learn, quick-to-play dice game using the core “I roll, everyone gets stuff” mechanism seen in games like Catan. It’s also a strategic engine builder, using a player board (your space base) and tableau of ship cards to buy and add to your fleet. The cards you buy and the order you buy them in have interesting implications on your engine beyond just the ability on the card you buy, making for a different type of engine construction than seen in similar games. Players can take their engine in a number of directions: long odds and explosive gains, low luck and steady income, big end-game combos to launch from last to first, or a mix-and-match approach. Ultimately, it is a game you can just start playing and teach everyone how to play in the first round or two and has a satisfying blend of dice-chucking luck and challenging strategic choices. We used parts of the Genesis expansion, that adds new ships as well as substituting in 6 new colony cards from a deck of 36.
Power Hungry Pets (led by Armando) 2024 is a reimagining of Love Letter, with players making a mad grab for power thanks to the animal powers they have on hand. Each card features a number and a hilarious way to backstab, steal from, or obliterate the other players. Players hold one card at all times, draw a second card during their turn, then must decide which to keep and which to play – requiring only one decision at a time. In the end, the player with the highest number card wins.
Splendor: Cities of Splendor (led by Armando) 2017 quartet of expansions for use with the Splendor base game. Each expansion is added to the basic game and they should be played separately. Our intrepid trio tried the Trading Post expansion where there are special bonuses that players earn by acquiring an array of development cards: more prestige points from the 1st noble tile you receive, an extra token when you choose the “Take 2 gem tokens of the same color” action, and so on.
Archaeology: the New Expedition (led by Sean) 2016 Phil Walker Harding designed combination of set collection, drafting and push your luck card game re-implementing 2007’s Archaeology: The Card Game. It was expanded to 5 players and added tent cards as well as additional treasures and monuments. Players are archaeologists, working the dig sites of the Egyptian desert. Search for the right pieces to complete torn parchments, broken pots, and other priceless artifacts. Explore an ancient pyramid in the hope of uncovering a huge stash of treasure! Trade shrewdly at the local marketplace to increase the value of your collection. Sell treasures to the museum at just the right time for maximum profit. But beware, the desert also has its dangers! A devastating sandstorm can throw your expedition into disarray, and cunning thieves lurk around the dig site ready to steal your prize discovery!
Steve
16 at the UNO Park Community Center for an expansion themed night. Welcome to Candy & Gaius (Armando’s better half and their son) on their first visit. Gaius is now officially the youngest gamer to play with us. Our April 16 session will be a request night. Kindly indicate games you want to play and/or…
16 at the UNO Park Community Center for an expansion themed night. Welcome to Candy & Gaius (Armando’s better half and their son) on their first visit. Gaius is now officially the youngest gamer to play with us. Our April 16 session will be a request night. Kindly indicate games you want to play and/or…