What's on your table right now?

[Barthheart]

...

...

Man that does look awful.  :P  I'd be pissed if I received that.

[Bison]

Huh.  I hadn't noticed that and I was just looking at some Wings minis a couple of weeks ago.

[Staggerwing]

My original was a Dutch model but I covered over the Dutch roundels with Brit markings

:(

[Barthheart]

Just arrived... well at my house at least. Thanks to Banzai_Cat.  :bd:

[BanzaiCat]

Good deal! Sorry as always it took so bloody long.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

My original was a Dutch model but I covered over the Dutch roundels with Brit markings

:(

What?  The Hurricanes were out of print at that point and the Dutch one was the only one I could find.  Wasn't going to get any use out of a single Dutch plane.

[panzerde]

What?  The Hurricanes were out of print at that point and the Dutch one was the only one I could find.  Wasn't going to get any use out of a single Dutch plane.

The Dutch do very well that way, thank you.

[ArizonaTank]

"Soldiers of the Queen", magazine game, S&T #95, 1984, Isandlhwana scenario

Richard Berg design

The Zulu impis are starting to pour from the hills on turn 2.  British artillery has opened up at extreme range, no effect yet.

[panzerde]

That looks fun. It'll be interesting to hear how the Brits fare.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I tried out a 3-player game of Le Havre at the FLGS tonight.  It was my first time playing it.  The store owner was quite excited to get it on the table as it's one of his favourites.  I am pretty hit or miss with this designer.  I really like Ora et Labora a lot but some of his other titles such as Agricola, Glass Road, and Caverna don't do it for me.  I think this one falls in the latter category.  I think it's the "you must feed your people" rules in the latter that is the stumbling block for me.  Le Havre has this food requirement component as well and I find it incredibly frustrating.  It felt like it was almost impossible to progress as all of my efforts went into scraping enough food or money together to meet the requirements each turn, leaving me no time to do anything else.  The other player had it even worse than me.  He got into a situation where he wasn't able to meet his requirements and had to take out a loan.  He couldn't pay back the loan on the interest phase of the next turn and then had to take out another loan just to pay the interest on the first.  He got into a spiral where he had something like 12 loans out by the end of the game and finished with -115 points. 

I suspect this is one of those games where you have to play through 2-3 times just to learn what steps to take early on so that you don't find yourself scrambling but it was so annoying that I don't want to play that 2nd or 3rd time.

Seems I'm in the minority as it gets mostly glowing reviews on BGG.

:pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair:


https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/35677/le-havre

[Bison]

It's on my list to get and the reprint is supposed to be out mid-may.

[Nefaro]

Seems I'm in the minority as it gets mostly glowing reviews on BGG.

:pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair: :pullhair:

Maybe you're like many of us.  You just don't like most "Euro" games?

Most just seem like fancy puzzles to me.  Meh. 

I want to my games to surprise me with wicked twists and turns, constantly making me rethink my strategy after it meets the enemy, or even some bad luck.  Plus a heavy theme, of course.  Most 'Euros' just seem like a rather fancy but sedate jigsaw puzzle to me.  A bunch of jumbled pieces to put together in the most ideal way, and with a very vague picture of a theme printed on top of those pieces.  Do not want.  Probably a good thing since there are so many other genres I spend too much on.


Euros tend to get a lot of up-votes on BGG in general.  There is obviously a large crowd who loves them.  I think there are many who only play Euro style designer games, which explains why they regularly get a lot of ratings. 

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

I actually quite enjoy some of the heavier Euro games as long as they're somewhat thematic and offer up various strategies to victory.  I will gladly play Terraforming Mars, Puerto Rico, Shipyard, Ora et Labora, and even lighter stuff like Castles of Mad King Ludwig because they all allow for and reward different paths to victory.

I find that a lot of Uwe Rosenberg's games funnel you into using only a handful of strategies in order to have a chance at winning.  The food requirements in Agricola, Caverna, and Le Havre all fall into this trap.  They offer up a huge number of options that you can do, but all but a select few will lead to disaster. 

[Bison]

I actually played a game of the revised Agricola this afternoon.  I prefer it to Caverna and with an expansion or two it'll have a nice big card pool to create an even more varied games. 

I generally like euros more than some of the over produced but shallow thematic "ameritrash" (I hate this name) games, but I don't need theme to enjoy learning the mechanics which is what I enjoy most about euro games.  Some are diffenately puzzle like games, but I think that's a bit over simplified.  Unless you are playing solo the other players have a say too on how the puzzle works.  One of the enjoyments is learning to maximize the strategies and knowing that the other players know too.  The variation in Agricola ensures that the end game strategy for any given play will be different even though you are working toward the same goal.  I've been on a Stephen Feld kick lately.  Point salad games, but I enjoy that kind of game some days.  I've been eyeing Tzolk'in as the next want to play on my list.

[Nefaro]

My "puzzle" simile was definitely an improper blanket exaggeration.  I could probably even come to enjoy a few select Euros myself, if I found the right one(s).  Just not generally my thing, despite my hunger for learning new game systems.

I tend to jest about people who only play the same single game genre or system all the time, to the exclusion of all else.  Gotta be nice, not being an obsessed game hoarder.  :dreamer:  You guys obviously aren't in that category.   :))   I'm speaking of those self-professed Euro-only gamers who probably have far more available shelf space and money than I.  ;D