RogerBW's Blog

We didn't make it to Thirsty Meeples in March but did manage to get together for a couple of longer games at my place. Images follow: cc-by-sa on everything.

The first was They Come Unseen, which I think may have been the last of my unplayed Essen 2015 purchases. It's clearly not modern in design, or rules-writing, being over-complex for what it does and having significant off-table state; I think this is another game for which I'll have to rewrite the rules for greater clarify, though there's a decent one-page summary that covers most of it. Read the FAQ too.

We started to get the hang of things, and I think I did a reasonable job with fuel resupplies. Didn't help us save the first base, though.

There were points at which we were clearly far too close to each other.

With damage markers used to lay out the minefield danger zone (after said minefield had sunk the supply ship), the bold Soviets finally managed to destroy the submarine – but half its mission had been accomplished.

I had a good time, and I definitely want to give this another go. It's vastly simpler than most naval games, and tied to a very specific scenario, but it does a good job of forcing the player to make the same sort of tactical choices as would be needed in the real world.

Our other game for the evening was Suburbia, which hasn't seen the table for really quite a long time. We played with the Inc. and 5★ expansions.

I find myself remarkably tempted to 3d-print a money holder, in the style of a change dispenser but without the springs.

I didn't get any really interesting tiles, and indeed found myself struggling in last or joint last place for stars for much of the game. There was never a time when I wanted to use an Investment marker.

One of my opponents went for early industrialisation round the hydroelectric power plant.

The other went for a more conventional mixed approach.

In the end I finished reasonably in the middle, and scored lots of goal points to win the game – even though I'd missed out on my usual "most water" (some form of this has been my secret goal in about half the games I've played).

Another one I'd like to play more, though it does help that these particular opponents aren't prone to long pauses for thought: this is a turn by turn game, and it can be very much slowed down if someone wants to work out all his options when it's his turn.