Garrett's Games And Geekiness

Shelley and I bid and build provinces in ancient Egypt in Amun-Re: The Card Game by Reiner Knizia from SuperMeeple and then play native Canadian tribes, gathering resources and journeying on spiritual paths in Manitoba by Remo Conzadori and Marco Pranzo from dlp Games

Shelley and I send our ships out into the void to find new planets to settle before they are wiped out by meteors in Cosmic Run: Regeneration by Steve Finn from Dr. Finn's Games and then work to collect resources, capture other players' people, and build structures or the cathedral in  Architects of the West Kingdom by Shem Philips and SJ Macdonald from Renegade Game Studios

Shelley and I play in our respective sandboxes, using tetris-style pieces to create tile patterns in Realm of Sand by Ji Hua Wei from EmperorS4 and then grow crops, sell them at the market, create products, then ship them abroad in  Yinzi by Rôla and Costa from Spielworxx  

Shelley and I delve more deeply into Orleans by Reiner Stockhausen and dlp games as we try out a number of Trade and Intrigue expansion options,  then we tackle another small-box title from Emperor S4 Discovery: The Era of Voyage    

Shelley and I race our boats along a river by the light of the beacons ahead of a storm in  Lighthouse Run by Jim Harmon and from Amigo then we expand our cattle delivery possibilities by adding the Rails to the North expansion (Plan B/eggertspiele) to Great Western Trail by Alexander Pfister from Stronghold Games

Shelley and I draft tiles and build futuristic cities in NEOM by Paul Sottosanti from Lookout Games and then build rails and run train companies in the US at the time of the Transcontinental Railroad in Russian Railroads: American Railroads expansion by Helmut Ohley and Leonard "Lonny" Orgler from Hans im Glück

Shelley and I get a couple of indispensable expansions to the table for two games we've enjoyed in the past: Altiplano + the Traveler Expansion by Reiner Stockhausen along with Stefan and Louis Malz from dlp Games and Santa Maria + the American Kingdoms expansion by Eilif Svensson and Kristian Amundsen Ostby from Aporta Games

Shelley and I do some post-Tahoe hiking gaming, looking at a new expansion Concordia Venus by Mac Gerts from PD Verlag and then have a great time with our blinged out and expanded  Orleans by Reiner Stockhausen from TMG and dlp Games

Shelley and I spend some time with two games we turned out not to like very much: 3x8 by Christian Fiore and Knut Happel from Amigo which is a card game with a race element  and Copenhagen (Deluxe Edition) by Asger Harding Granerud and Daniel Skjold Pedersen from Queen Games in which players collect card sets to build the frontages of buildings with Tetris-style pieces.  

Shelley and I have a great time with the new dice-filled version of  Sushi Roll by Phil Walker-Harding from Gamewright and then work hard to get the proper raw materials to build our  Tiny Towns by Peter McPherson from AEG  

Shelley and I have a great time with two shorter games this week (as the school year comes to a close!). The first games is another roll & write with a solid twist: Hex Roller by Rustan Håkansson from Renegade Games Studio and Frosted Games Followed by our chance to play wicked witches capturing fairytale characters while building our Gingerbread House by Phil Walker-Harding from Lookout Games  

Something a bit different on this week's episode as one of my current students - Harrison - joins me for a discussion of this week's first game Among Thieves by Floyd Pretz from Indie Boards & Cards then Shelley jumps back on the mics with me for a discussion of the sequel to Ganz Schon Clever Doppelt So Clever or Twice as Clever by Wolfgang Warsch from Stronghold Games

Ted Alspach joins me over the Skype airways for a discussion of Bezier Games' growth as a company as well as their new forthcoming title: SILVER along with discussions of CABO Suburbia: Collector's Edition and some of his other favorites that he's recently played or would love to re-publish.  

Shelley and I delve into a new twist on card drafting and resource building in  Hadara by Benjamin Schwer from Hans im Gluck and then have a lot of fun with an awesome twist on the area majority Carcassonne-like mechanisms of  Pandoria by Jeffrey Allers and Bernd Eisenstein from Iron Games

Shelley and I first hike through nature, painting beautiful scenes and fulfilling commissions in Sunset Over Water by Steve Finn, Eduardo Baraf, and Keith Matejka from Dr. Finn's Games and Pencil First Games then we head to another planet to explore an ancient civilization in our turtle-shaped research vehicles, while winning over influence of our admin and science teams in Magnastorm by Bauldric and Friends from Feuerland Spiele 

Shelley and I spend the week drafting cards, building our lands, and borrowing each other's actions in Key Flow by Richard Breese, Sebastian Bleasdale, and Ian Vincent from R&D Games and then we head to Chile to trade and plan the actions of our workers in Valparaiso by Stefan and Louis Malz from dlp Games  

Designer and raconteur Tony Boydell (of Snowdonia & Guilds of London fame) joins me for a conversation about game design, jaded gamers, and his own Top 10 from the past year. Here's his list: The Mind Eco-Links VOLT Holding On Airship City Gingerbread House Symphony No. 9 Endeavor: Age of Sail Tales of the Northlands AuZtralia

Shelley and I spend some time looking through the games we've played and select our Top 10, as well as Honorable Mentions and games that just aren't for us! Shelley's Lists: Not For Her = Reef and Century: Eastern Wonders Honorable Mentions = Let's Make a Bus Route, Facecards, Illusion, Trapwords, and Teotihuacan: City of Gods 10) Walking in Burano 9) Carpe Diem 8) Crusaders: Thy Will Be Done 7) Arraial 6) Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra 5) Forum Trajanum 4) Blackout: Hong Kong 3) Wingspan 2) Lindisfarne 1)1906 San Francisco   Doug's Lists: Not for Him = Yokohama Duel, Nusfjord, Keyper, Charterstone Honorable Mentions = Fine Sand, The Mind, Ganz Schon Clever, Walking in Burano, Wingspan 10) Blue Lagoon 9) Lindisfarne 8) 1906 San Francisco 7) Crown of Emara 6) Forum Trajanum 5) Let's Make a Bus Route 4) Teotihuacan: City of Gods 3) Carpe Diem 2) Symphony No. 9 1) Blackout: Hong Kong

Shelley and I train our students and gain knowledge by wandering around Europe in Newton by Simone Luciani and Nestore Mangione from Cool Mini or Not and Cranio Creations then attempt to thwart the evil intentions of Nogbad, create wondrous Inventions, and show our heroism by completing Sagas in  Tales of the Northlands: The Sagas of Noggin the Nog by Nick Case from A-Muse-Ment

Shelley and I work hard to gain favor and move up the ranks in Henry VIII's court in  Tudor by Jan Kirschner from Academy Games and then get out our binoculars and play amateur ornithologists in  Wingspan by Elizabeth Hargrave from Stonemaier Games