I've sort of stopped asking for games at Christmas. Not that my family won't buy them for me--Candy likes doing that, I think. But often the games I really want are OOP or only available overseas. Even when there's a domestic source, it pains me to pay such a premium (i.e.Funagain), even when I'm getting the game as a gift. For me, what works better is to just buy the games myself. Then I can be happy with a new pair of pants on Christmas morning. :-)
This week our post-Essen order from Playme.de arrived, so did one I placed at Gamefest, and I even sprung for a couple small wargames. It's meant a relative deluge of new arrivals. A couple were played at our recent Santa Clarita Boardgamer session, but I'm missing a great chance to play lots of new goodies at a game party this weekend. I'm stuck at home with visiting in-laws, rats.
The Essen order contained four copies of Reef Encounter. We made out like bandits on this one. Relatively speaking, I mean. Our net price, shipped from Germany, was just under $60 per game. That's more than I've ever paid for a game, but quite a bit cheaper than the $100+shipping that Funagain charges. (I sort of understand that Funagain still provides a service, it's just not a service for me. Not at those prices.) My copy of Reef Encounter has a packing error, unfortunately, and not the one the publisher already knows about. They included spare tokens for the known omissions, but I'll need to write them to ask for a couple more yellow cubes. The game looks great (I love the subtle, individual artwork on the many coral tiles), but we haven't tried it yet. I was even inspired to track down a copy of Blue Planet on DVD through ebay. I want to watch the same coral reef episode that inspired Richard Breese to design Reef Encounter.
The other much-anticipated game in the Essen order is Oltremare. The game comes in a flimsy little box, and with tiny components that recall the Clippers complaints. The cards are very nice, and that's the bulk of the game. My copy had strong solvent fumes coming from the cards--they need to air out! This was played at SCB this week, but I was at the other table. I'll get to it soon enough. I notice the rules say it plays down to 2 people, and Rick Heli's writeup recommends fewer than four people in the game. Does that mean it'll really work with just 2? Candy always liked Bohnanza, so I'm wondering if it might work as a couples' game.
I like getting the one good Adlung game each year. I've been very happy with Die Fugger, Canal Grande, and especially Meuterer and Verrater. This year the one worth getting is supposed to be Im Auftrag des Konigs, about the Knights of the Round Table. Struggling through 11 pages of Adlungese didn't sound fun on game night, so we didn't get to it just yet. (In fact, I didn't even skim the rules--maaaaybe they've improved their mastery of the English language.) I didn't think too much of the artwork, but others liked it.
One of the only new arrivals I did play was Geschenkt. I enjoy the clever, numeric fillers, like Coloretto, For Sale, 6 Nimmt, Flinke Pinke, etc. (Except Don--never liked that one.) Yeah, I know you can made this game yourself easily, using just cards & chips from some of the other games in my list! But I wanted to own my own, self-contained game. And support the publisher & designer. Sure enough, I liked it quite a bit. I didn't order it, but we also played Typo, the word game/6 Nimmt hybrid.
The Gamefest order hasn't even been unpacked yet. I ordered Alhambra, the German edition on supersale. Then I was on the slippery slope, needing to get a few more items to make the shipping cost worthwhile. Soon enough, I'd also ordered Carcassonne:The City, Rumis, King's Breakfast, and The Count of Carcassonne. I'm thinking maybe Alhambra could work with Candy, and I like it anyway. Carc:The City was a must-buy for me, it being a game I already like in a deluxe wooden edition (mostly). The Count I just got since I'm on a roll, owning all of the Carc expansions except The Cathars. (Truth is, I'm not too wild about Builders & Traders, preferring the original game or with Inns & Cathedrals.) We've had pretty good fun with Blokus, so I figured Rumis was another good buy (I might prefer it to Pueblo, too). And then King's Breakfast is one I should've bought a long time ago--I think my daughter will like it.
The wargames I picked up were lightweights, the kind I like best. First was Sergeants!, by S. Craig Taylor's and his "boutique" publisher, Lost Battalion Games. I found this through one of those BGG text ads, lured by the ultra-low price. Sure, you only get a paper map and few counters, but they're die-cut cardboard counters, reasonably well-done, and even comes with dice. Most of all, I recognize the designer's name from my favorite Smithsonian/American Heritage series from Avalon Hill. The guy knows how to make good, light wargames.
Later my RSS reader picked up the Consimworld announcement of a new issue of Panzerschreck. This is a really unique magazine, combining some insightful wargame commentary with one or two (or three!) mini-games built into each issue. Yeah, the components are minimalist, but the treatments and subjects chosen are thoughtful. The latest issue now has color maps, and three games. The "main" game is a tactical simulation of a Russian Civil War battle that took place outside Tsaritsyn (later Stalingrad). Next is Assault on Cherbourg, a mini wargame with just 36 counters (though Tsaritsyn only has 90). In the couple Normandy games I've played, Cherbourg is a mop-up operation after the Allies established their beachheads, take Caen, and push to St. Lo. I figure a game where this peninsula is the centerpiece more than an afterthought could be interesting. I'm bound to learn something, at least. There's more in the magazine, including an interview with Richard Berg. Even though I don't care for any of the guy's design style, he's still a very notable figure in wargaming. In fact, he may be the most notable figure remaining.