Back together (cautiously, tested and well-ventilated as usual) for a
day of games at home.
We started off with Steampunk Rally
Fusion,
which I haven't played since the new Kickstarter arrived in January
last year. (It does have a solo mode now.) We used exclusively new
content, but none of the extras like event and artifact cards.
The rules came back to us reasonably quickly and the new stuff (like
Overcharge, a powerful effect that requires that part to be discarded,
and Gear Up, which costs cogs to turn on) didn't seem too challenging;
the game overall is a little more complex than before, but this isn't
a monster of fiddly details. On the other hand I played terribly and
therefore obviously this is the fault of the game's design.
Merging original and new decks would seem to run a risk of dilution
(too many similar cards coming up together), but there's a post on
BGG
with a suggested list of cards from original SPR and Fusion to make a
single set of reasonably-sized decks. I'll try that next time.
On to Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive
Edition:
Legend, Wraith, Bunker and Tachyon against the good Baron. (I'm
playing this introductory scenario a lot, because I'm introducing the
game to multiple groups of people.) Great stuff! I think some of the
players were feeling a bit lost keeping track of the effects, but this
continues to be a game that really speaks to me – not sure why,
superheroes aren't really my thing, but there's something about it
that works with these mechanics.
Then my tekeli.li forum Secret Santa present Paranormal
Detectives,
which didn't get the enthusiastic reaction it did when I played it at
Thirsty Meeples (back in December 2019 when the world only felt a
bit doomed) but still came out reasonably well. Is it a "keep
forever"? Maybe not. But there's fun to be had here.
Lastly, the "other" Alien game, ALIEN: Fate of the
Nostromo.
It's a lot more small and straightforward than Nemesis, and large
parts of it make sense (for example, you can remember which room is
where on the ship, unlike Nemesis). It does feel very like a lot of
other cooperative action-economy games (Pandemic, Flash Point: Fire
Rescue, V-Commandos, etc.) and the theme is all right but doesn't
entirely cover up the basic crudity of the mechanics. It's OK, I'd
play it again, but even as a fan of the (first two) films I wouldn't
give it house-room.
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