RogerBW's Blog

Another gaming weekend at home! Must have more of these!

We started with the current month's challenge for Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition. My second try at this one, and I lost again; the Matriarch is tough.

Then Star Realms to wind down. I've played more deckbuilders since I met this, and arguably better ones, but this is the first that I enjoyed, and I do still enjoy it.

In the morning, Perdition's Mouth: Abyssal Rift, which I've been wanting to try for ages. I like the rondel and hand management ideas, and I had a pretty good time. But… well, thematically it's a bunch of generic heroes going down a dungeon; and practically it's a big box full of plastic. I think I liked Ravage: Dungeons of Plunder better, both because it has cardboard standees rather than plastic, and because it tries to be a bit different from the standard D&D-derived player and monster archetypes.

The main event: Xia: Legends of a Drift System, with all expansions (and an integrated rulebook). In fact we had several separate play aids round the table, not all of them compatible (in particular the rules for taking mission cards changed between the base and expanded versions of the game). Also, two of the five "players" were two-player teams.

We had missions and piracy and trade and exploration. Also, do not play "Chicken" with comets.

I think everyone had a good time, and (playing to ten points) the game felt about the right length; I'd previously played a test game to five, and that definitely felt as though it was over too soon. This time, someone else won a turn before I might have, but that seemed fair. I suspect with new players three or four would be a better count, because we did sometimes take a while to think through what we were doing. Definitely an "event game" that I'll play again.

Most of the players left, and we moved on to Ashes: Rise of the Phoenixborn, in which I'm gradually working through all the standard decks before I start building my own. This time, I took Noah Redmoon (attack and be attacked) against Saria Guideman (empty the enemy's deck), and just barely won. I'm still enjoying my low-pressure exploration of this game.

To cool down our Massive Brains, Go 500 Racing Dice Game, one of the few times I've played this in person. Far too many black flags on those dice.

Classic from 1969 Rivers, Roads & Rails next. It's a fascinating game, especially for its era – one could of course just play it with coloured lines, as the very first edition had it, but it's much more fun with the art. There is a winner, but you could never have a serious tournament ladder. It's just satisfying to play in itself.

Lastly, Baseball Highlights: 2045, in which I managed to lose the main series 4-0. I remember when I was vaguely good at this game.