RogerBW's Blog

For the seventh year (having skipped 2020), a bunch of us without family commitments got together for boardgames.

It was five of us this time, after some cancellations for illness and reasonable concern about illness. (I had a slightly rough throat, so I was masking to be on the safe side in spite of a negative test.)

We started with some short games: Ganz Schön Clever!, at which I did as terribly as usual but still had a good time.

On to Dobble aka Spot it!, an enjoyable filler which is wildly popular among people who don't generally play games. There's only the one thing you do, but it moves quickly so you don't get bored doing it.

The main event: Xia: Legends of a Drift System! I started with Vagabond with Quantum Ripple, and after quite a successful first turn seemed to fall behind. I started to catch up once I could get a trade engine going, and Socialist Merchants helped, though a Trade Embargo on Cyber happened just after I'd loaded up (so I went back and bought some more). I'd moved onto the Lone Drifter with Inertia Harness, which was very handy for getting from trade world to trade world faster, and then to get rid of the bounty moved up to Cold Phoenix with Wormhole Ripper – which I never got to use, because I was able to unload a pile of cargo and bring the game to a successful close.

I'm still very much in the honeymoon phase with this game – sure, I'm starting to meet some repeated events, but there's still plenty I haven't seen before.

Finally to cool down a bit a couple of games of FUSE: we're getting better at it, but the only times I've won have been playing solo. That's not to denigrate my fellow players; it's just easier to keep track of things if they're all happening inside the same mind.

This is a tradition which I am very glad to be able to continue.