This Week In Games

Here's my second attempt at a weekly roundup of what's out there about board games. I renamed the post this time around because some of the links may be audio or video, not just text like my first post implied (What Have I Been Reading?)

Eric Martin discusses herd mentality in the media. Although this sounds like a negative, he considers when this trend could be good for board games.

Brain talks about Shogun, overview of play and some strategy tips. Comparison to Risk is not something i remember hearing about with this game, but does get me intrigued.

Josh at Pair o' Dice Games talks a little about what he likes and dislikes about Agricola. Being the #1 game on BGG means that lots of people will be trying the game, and of course not everyone will love it!

Josh also responds to a post at Board Game News about language independent games. I have mixed feelings about this trend, just like Matt Thrower at BGN. I wouldn't say symbols on cards rather than words makes a game more confusing, but they do make it feel a little more foreign and unfamiliar. Given the choice I'd still go with language dependence, but I certainly understand the trend in the opposite direction.

The guys at The Spiel talk about science fiction board games, providing detailed coverage of Galactic Emperor and Galaxy Trucker. I continue to enjoy the podcast a great deal, especially their step by step game overviews.

Board Game Examiner relates his recent experience with teaching the game Attika, and discusses how successful strategies playing against seasoned opponents may not be successful against new players.

Tom and Sam at The Dice Tower talk about their top 10 games from 10 years ago, as well as some ideas for drafting in games. I certainly think drafting (as found in Fairy Tale and Dominion) will really explode in popularity as a game mechanic in the next few years. I'm excited about seeing what heavy strategy games may be introduced with a strong emphasis on drafting, since Dominion is very light.