This Week In Games - 4.19.09

Board Game Examiner finds himself in a debate about the state of board game podcasts today.

Also, he discusses the old Sid Sackson game, Maloney's Inheritance.

GamerChris reviews the game If Wishes Were Fishes. I'd never heard of this one before, but it does sound quite intriguing.

Board Game News has a rundown of what everyone in the blogosphere is talking about The Gathering of Friends 2009.

Also at Board Game News, Larry Levy posts part 1 of a compilation of all the games he's been playing these last 6 months.

The guys at the Spiel review two gangster themed games: Chicago Poker and Family Business.

Finally, Yehuda offers this excellent piece on the Eurogame revolution. It is quite informative both in the concepts covered and the examples used to bring those concepts to life.

Well, that's it for this week. Doesn't seem like I did much gaming this week, mostly just that Magic draft on Friday and a few online games here and there. I'll be in Vermont next weekend for my Mom's birthday, so no big game nights then either, although perhaps I can get Ben and Kelly to play some Pandemic or Dominion.

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.

What Have I Been Reading?

I've been meaning to start a weekly post to highlight interesting reading around the board game blogosphere, so here's my first attempt. I envisioned this as slightly more thorough, but since I really don't have that much time to be poking around online, I'll start small.

This is not a recent post, but GamerChris wonders what the heck does hobby game mean anyway? I've wondered the same thing at times. Is Pandemic really that much less accessible than Monopoly?

Smite over at d21 Gaming is waiting for a RPG revolution akin the the Eurogame phenomenon in board gaming. He explains a bit of what he finds appealing in Eurogames and outlines what that might look like in the RPG world.

Yehuda thinks that Blokus kicks ass. I own the game, but since neither the Mrs. or I are particularly fond of abstract games it doesn't often hit the table. I do enjoy it, however, and this post makes me realize I need to playBlokus more often (especially with four players).

The Spiel episode #74, "Can't We All Just Get Along?," reviews Pandemic and Ghost Stories, two recent cooperative games. Their treatment certainly highlights some similarities between the two, and now I am definitely leaning toward purchasing the latter. I also read the excellent review of Ghost Stories by GamerChris, and watched Tom Vassel's video overview of the game.

The Board Game Examiner reviews The Pillars of the Earth, the worker placement board game based on Ken Follett's novel of the game name.

Well, that's all for now. Soon I'll be off cooking for Tastes of Spring, the annual hospice benefit. We've had lots of reservations, so it should be a great success!