Don't worry, I started holding Australia in my group's copy and I ended up getting nerfed pretty badly.

Ora et Labora is one of Uwe Rosenberg's (Agricola, Le Havre) latest and it turns out to be a superb game. Love the supply wheel mechanic and how to not only look at your board, but also check your neighbours to use their buildings (and screw them over in the process). My only negative point with it is that the player boards are of inferior quality. Because of the high quantity, I understand they don't need to be as sturdy as the ones from Agricola, but goddamn at least make sure they don't warp after 1 play.

Ora's bigger issue is the lack of replayability. There are really only two setups in a game with virtually no random elements.

I do like how the French map revolves around making Bread and Wine, whereas the Ireland map has neither of this and replaces it instead with Beer and Whiskey .

I did that in our 4th game (because the winner of the 3rd game was Australia-guy again). It was pretty impregnable, until another guy traded in some cards and attacked with 20% more armies. I got completely whiped out during the next 2 rounds, because he just kept throwing 6's . Seriously, I lost 8 territories and 20 or so armies (it was still early in the game) while he lost about 4 armies tops. So frustrating. Despite of this, I'm still looking forward to take revenge at the 5th game but so far I still prefer Risk 2210 AD by a long shot.

Just picked up the three boxes of the new edition of cosmic encounters in time for playing with friends (strange comicon funds getting here weeks after the fact helped....)

edit and game of thrones board game from fantasy flight (win or die)

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The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin

Speaking of the devil, I had my first game of Cosmic Encounters last weekend. It ended too quickly for my taste (but that was because 3 of the 5 players, including me, were noobs) but it was worth a repeat.

More for the mis spent comicon funds converted to winter boardgames madness, no this is SPARTA, I just picked up Kaiiju world wars (yah destructable terrain)

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The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin

Our fifth game was excellent (or at least for me anyway). Not only did I killed my nemesis of the map (sweet, sweet revenge), we unlocked a cool event (neither of us knews what's all in the box, and we were all pleasantly surprised) and I've won my first game allowing to rename the North American Continent (giving me 6 instead of 5 armies for all future games whenever I hold the continent). The first 3 games were a bit of a drag, but the game is starting to shine now.

Got me first play of Tinner's Trail and it was great. Economic game where you need to bid for mining rights, mine metals and sell them on a fluctuating market. Not only money is a bottleneck, but also time (you can only do so many actions per round). It reminded me a bit of Funkenschlag/Power Grid but it only takes half the time (which is good).

In short: ugly box, ugly game, very fun to play

Although it gets a high score, Tribune: Primus Inter Pares was kind of a let down. I guess it just took too long with 5 players, especially because we had a very hard objective to end the game.

Oh and this month... Spiel 2012
Perhaps I should find a trolley this year

I just got to try Betrayal at House on the Hill last week.

It's complex, but pretty fun. You actually have to strategize about room placement, as the "game board" is revealed room by room as you explore (you put down room tiles from a shuffled stack) and where you end your turn often matters as much as what you do in it.

First round ended far too easily with the betrayer winning due to people just dropping from the game, but second round went to the good guys because of central placement of nearly all the transit points between floors... it was far too easy for them to run to each other's rescue while I tried to hunt them down as the tentacle monster.

It was fun. The game can be a bit frustrating at first, but very enjoyable, especially if you play with people who appreciate the horror genre.

I have a ninja burger set i want to use, but so far no opportunity.

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Given the respective degrees of vulnerability to mental and physical force, annoying the powers of chaos to the point where they try openly to kill them all rather than subvert them is probably a sound survival strategy under the circumstances. -Eleventh Century Remnant

I'd consider Betrayal at House on the Hill to be pretty simple, actually. It only gets involved once the Haunts start, and even then it can vary depending on which one it is.

It depends on the group. Betrayal is pretty "complex" for casual gamers.

By contrast my group considers Sword of Rome to be a "light filler" game now >_>.

I really dislike the "Betrayal at House on the Hill" game mechanics design.
Its as if they forgot to playtest it and thus forgot to streamline and balance it.

Lots of the scenarios needed erratas to be understood or otherwise argued over what they meant.
Some scenarios is almost impossible others a piece of cake.
The chits had no art, just text, so while the box was full of chits they are pretty much redundant from a design perspective. They could have mostly been replaced with generic tokens.

Its meant to be really replayable, however the element before the haunt is not the most exciting so you tire quickly.

etc

New High Frontier expansion is coming:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgamee ... lonization

Bernal Space Colonies! Interstellar flight! Woohoo!

Also, since I'm bored, a quick rundown of my recently played games:

Andean Abyss

Interesting four-player game on the Colombian drug war. Play as the Government, FARC, AUC (Right-wing Guerillas), or the Drug Cartels. Unique implementation of the CDG mechanic and a very assymetric game. I liked it for the tactical decision-making, although the scoring can be very sudden and random.

Angola

Wargame on the Angolan Civil War. A bit too long for a relatively simple game, but I really liked the mechanic where you beg for international aid. If your side is losing badly enough, you may soon get the help of South African or Cuban troops (depending on your faction) which helps act as a "catchup" mechanic not often seen in wargames. Plus, you can use Milans against T-34s. What's not to love?

Red Winter

Traditional Hex-and-counters wargame featuring a battle in the Russo-Finnish War. Has a unique scale (company-level) that plays very fast and has interesting fire / assault mechanics. The tactical situation is also interesting - one Division of Russians fighting one Division of Finns (although only a handful of Finnish units start on the board, the rest arriving as reinforcements). Gameplay discourages simple "send in the next wave" tactics and instead focuses on flanking, daring night raids / forced marches, and judicious use of fire support elements (i.e. arty).

Virgin Queen

A disappointing sequel to the best multiplayer CDG ever. It's basically Here I Stand but unnecessarily more complex and less interesting.

Thunderbolt/Apache Leader

Solitaire game that addresses many of the problems of the "Hornet/Phantom Leader" series. In Hornet/Phantom Leader, you're essentially just playing a mission planner putting together a strike package, but with no real tactical control. Thunderbolt / Apache fixes this and results in a fiddlier but deeper game.

Village was an interested worker placement game.
Everyone plays as a Family of meeples which all starts as farmers, but along the way you can place them in the crafting area, town hall or Church hierarchy to get more income/influence/perks. What makes it stand out is that next to recources (le cubes), time is an additional recource; everytime you spent a certain amount of time you HAVE to let one of your oldest meeples die of old age. This can be inconvenient when your oldest meeple was high in church or town hierarchy, but sometimes it can be another tactic to score some extra points (the first ones to die in a certain discipline gets them in the town chronicles, which is good for some extra points at the end of the game).

Automobile is a typical Martin Wallace game where you need to invest, spend and take loans to make money. Basically you need to produce and sell cars. Producing costs money, and selling happens on a limited market, so you better make sure you don't overproduce.

sorry to necro, but I had my very first Catan match against my brother and his wife...

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The scariest folk song lyrics are "My Boy Grew up to be just like me" from cats in the cradle by Harry Chapin

So last weekend I went to Essen and brought back with me

Space Station
Card game I was interested it and it was sold for a very decent price.

Power Grid: UK & Ireland + Northern Europe expansion
New Power Grid expansion = Shut up and take my money!

Eclipse: Rise of the Ancients
40€'s may sound expensive for an expansion, but this box is filled to the brim and adds a whole lot of new content to the base game. Since I'm fond of Eclipse, this was a must buy

Myrmes
If only for the concept: to control an ant colony, explore the land, harvest for food and fight with other ants.

Ground Floor
Did the print and play version once and it's a good economic worker placement game. I was surprised at the relatively high price untill I lifted the box.

Galaxy Trucker
Been on my radar for a long time from one of my favorite designers. Just looks like a fun and chaotic game.

Tweeeet
Light family game with the most adorable, hand-made playing pieces. Explained in 2 minutes altough it's quite tactical, especially when playing in teams. Well worth the 25€.

P.I.
A light deduction game. Not too expensive, looks nice and because it's from Martin Wallace I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

Letters from Whitechapel
A more macabre deduction game where one player is Jack the Ripper, and the other(s) is/are the cops trying to catch him. Got the first edition which looks nicer, but lacks the handier playing screen from the upcoming 2nd edition. Still, at 20€ for a 35€ game I couldn't let it lying because I was really hyped about this game.

Archipelago
The most expensive of the lot, but by far the best looking and I'm really fond of the theme. Looks very complex so I'm curious how it'll play.

Suburbia
Tile laying/city building game which looks like a nice filler game. Saw too late it was the German version but although it is language dependant, it might be doable.

Tikal
A classic that just looks loverly. Bought second handed.

and for a friend:

Agricola: All creatures big & small expansion
I love Agricola: All creatures big & small as a 2 player game. This expansion adds 27 new buildings (of which 4 random are added to the 4 of the base games), adding a lot more variation to the game.

Rattus and Reef Encounter: dirth cheap for 10€ each.

What does it add beside an extra player and some new tech?



I prefer this with the expansions which make the game even harder. The goal is no longer to earn money; the goal is to be the last one alive .



It's a very clever implementation of the "hidden manhunt" mechanic.

I only skimmed over the english beta rules (I had the buy the french version, english was pre-order only) but at first sight there's:

- 4 new races (3 player mats) + 3 sets of ships to allow play up to 9 players
- 40 extra ship parts from the base game that were sometimes running out
- A more compact supply board so it takes up less space on the table
- Ancient cruisers & dreadnaughts (mean, badass versions of the ancients in the basic games
- Rare technologies (first come, first serve) like interceptors, better armor, cloaking,... but also point defence/flux shield to counter missiles verdediging tegen missiles, cloaking,...
- Development, alliance & shrine tokens. Didn't read in detail yet, but development are extra things to build (for points at the end or other things). Alliances are non agression pacts to the next level.
- New discovery tiles
- Some more basic hexes
- Special hexes: ancient homeworlds and hives which I assume are a bit like the galactic center: good systems but defended by nasty cruisers/dreads, and hexes with warp sectors, which I assume connect other warp sectors via wormholes, making the universe more open.



I kind of feel bad I missed on a box that had the base game + the big expansion for slightly more money. Then again, this will probably one of those games that'll sit in my cupboard for a long time before I can try it.

Oh yeah, the ancient homeworld hexes can be used instead of the open spots for less than 6 player games

Got to play VivaJava: The Coffee Game last night. It's all about making the best coffee blends (a bit like yahtzee but with beans of various colors), or invest in research to make your blending/selection/grabbing/... of coffee beans more efficient.
What makes it stand out however is the amount of negotiation or bluffing comes it with it, because each round has variable teams (depending on the continent you took your action in the beginning of the round). Each team needs to decide if they go for research (better efficiency later games + points end game) or blending (potential for much more points but not guaranteed), and this is done by voting. And this is what makes it elegant, because depending on what you have in your bag, sometimes you want or don't want players in your team and that's where the bluffing in the beginning in the round comes in.
Another plus is that you can play this game up to 8 players.

Been playing Zombiecide with my housemates all day. It is suitably addictive and highly entertaining, however since my experience of "board games" mostly consists of monolpoly or cluedo I cannot comment ont he game design or mechanics. I will say that it is very easy to grasp, to the point where our French housemate who is far from fluent in English was able to both play and enjoy the game.

SAdly, I did mange to get the entire party swarmed and killed, but that was after we completed the mission's objective and we decided to carry on for fun. It was...messy

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You are standing on a 4.5 billion year old complex, self-sustaining organic spacship, which is orbiting a power source a million times larger than your ship. There are 200 billion other power sources, many of them with ships like yours, in your fleet. There are 40 other fleets in the immediate neighbourhood and your entire neighbourhood is moving at two million miles per hour towards an object 150 million light years away. Welcome to life, it's a lot more exciting when you think on larger scales.