Off-topic, how was Origins? C'mon, spill!
Origins was a lot of fun. I mostly engage in the RPGs when I go to such conventions, so I don't have a whole lot on the board game front.
That said, I was able to devote a couple of slots to the dealers' hall. I had never collected all five ribbons in a Mayfair demo before, so I gave that a shot. I got to learn to some new games. The games I demoed in the Mayfair room were:
Whitewater - I actually enjoyed this a lot. It's a hex racing game between different rafts. It reminds me of Mississippi Queen or Alpine, but this has a distinctly unique mechanic. You control two rafts, but you're not in complete control. Someone else is also controlling your rafts. See, you're part of a team, but you are vested in two rafts. To outline what happened when I played, I had a paddler in rafts B and C. Someone else had a paddler in rafts A and C, while someone else had a paddler in rafts B and D. So, I had to work with someone to get raft B down the river while working with someone else to get raft C down the river. You also bet on which of your rafts will win with multiplier tokens. I put x2 on B and x1 on C, so that the final score would favor raft B.
An interesting take on this is that you want to win, but you have to keep in mind how your rafts are arranged. As it happened, B and C were way out in the lead while A and D were lagging behind. I had put x2 on B because I figured this complete stranger would be better at it than the other complete stranger. I was wrong. C was ahead of B by one hex. As the two approached the finish line, I decided to sabotage C by using my actions to do nothing but spin in place, letting B coast on by. I got 8 points for that (2x3 for first and 1x2 for second). I guess I would have won anyway if I didn't do that (1x3 for first and 2x2 for second) since the other guy in B could only have hoped to tie me (2x3 for first and 1x1 for second), and ties go to the person whose boat crosses first. Still, it allowed me to get a perfect score.
I actually bought Whitewater with my 50% coupon.
Ablaze - This game caught my attention, but I wasn't ready to buy it just yet. I was afraid that it might not hold up to a second demo. I wanted to play it again on Sunday, but they weren't demoing it that day. I'll bide my time and try it again later. The mechanic is interesting. You place tiles like Carcassonne or Seismic, but you're limited on where to put them. The theme is that you're fighting a forest fire. When you draw a numbered hex, you must put it in a spot where the sides touching add up to the highest value. So, two 6s next to each other had a strength of 12, while three hexes with 3, 5, and 5, would be strength 13. It actually captured a fire pretty well, spreading where the heat was strongest but abating as weaker hexes were put down. The scoring mechanism was interesting too. You add up all the hexes and then divide by the lowest value in the group. So, you want those 5s and 6s, but you better get at least one 2, or you're suffering.
Discworld - I never read the books, but I can see this dripping with theme. I have no idea what the Agony Aunts are, but the picture was just awesome. It's a territory-control game where you draw a secret identity, and people try to figure out what would make you win while trying to complete their own agendas. It was kind of neat, but not knowing the identities was probably a detriment. Fortunately, there is a cheat sheet handy so you can see what is available. Seemed neat, and it reminded me of Lords of Waterdeep. I'll have to try it again later.
Family Business - I know this is an older game, but I never played it before. I didn't miss much. My wife and I did not like this game at all. It just seemed too random, like Poo or Nutz. I guess it's actually kind of like Lunch Money in a sense, though I do love that game.
Patrician - I wanted to like this, but I didn't have fun playing this. I think part of it is that while building the towers, ties go to who has the topmost piece. I had it in my head that it was the bottom piece and played it like that. That hurt me a lot. I guess I fail to see the advantage of building a tower first. Usually, tiebreakers in similar games go to people who get in the territory first but not this time. I'll have to try this one again.
Struggle for Catan - This is a simplified version of Catan in a card game. It took some getting used to, but the mechanic seems interesting enough. I only played two players. I imagine this could be really cutthroat with four players.
I also tried a few other board games. I heard good things about Summoner Wars, but it rubbed me the wrong way. The biggest problem for me is that ranged attacks work only in orthogonal directions. You can target something 3 ahead of you or 3 beside you but not 1 ahead and 1 aside. I also tried Jab, which is a nice unique ruleset which involves some speed and dexterity but not overwhelmingly so. I don't see any accountability in the game, though. You can only block punches using certain cards, but if you accidentally block with a wrong card (as I suspect I may have done), then who's going to know? Your opponent is probably paying too much attention to other things. Wife is really interested in this, so we may pick it up. The winner is probably Dixit. I saw the great reviews, but it looked like a child's game. Certainly, it can be, but it's as complex and mature as the players allow it to be. It's kind of like Apples to Apples in that everyone plays a card to fulfill the condition. The condition, however, is set by the "storyteller," and he can be as specific or abstract as he wants. The storyteller also plays a card. His goal is to have between 0% and 100% vote for his card. If he gets 0%, then his selection was too obscure. If he gets 100%, then his selection was too obvious. The artwork for this game is phenomenal, and I predict that we'll buy this and all the expansions. Our niece will love this game.
So, I got to take in some board games, but that wasn't my primary focus.
And man, did I go overboard in posting.
