Boardgames by the Bay

Last weekend I managed to find myself in Tauranga at Boardgames by the Bay a board game convention organised by Seriously Board. I managed to play a plethora of games over the weekend, most I have never played before. Martin Wallace was there play testing some games he is designing at the moment including a follow up to Discworld Anch-Morpork, the Witches. However the upcoming game I am most excited about is A Study in Emerald, which is based on a short story by Neil Gaiman. You can read the story here. Sadly I missed out on the play testing

So here are the games I played and what I thought in played order:

Yggdrasil

Note: click on the titles to view the game in board game geek. 
The unpronounceable game Yggdrasil started of my weekend. It is a co-op game where you are all gods trying to stop evil gods such as Loki infiltrate some sort of tree, which is important. I must admit I wasn't particularly flattered by this game, but its not really a theme I would normally be excited about. Verdict? 5/10.

The Speicherstadt

The Speicherstadt is a bidding game where you bid for cards which allow you to preform certain actions, such as convert resources to victory points or silver which you use to bid with. It is a neat little game which puts you on edge as you bid against the other players to try and get the required resources and cards to get the most victory points. Verdict? 7/10.

Alien Frontiers

Managed to get in a game of Alien Frontiers a game which I love. See my detailed review here. Verdict? 8.5/10.

Formula D

This game was amazing. Racing tiny cars around a race track sounds boring but Formula D takes a simple concept and makes a pretty fun game. It works by rolling dice based on what gear your in, the lower your gear the slower you go. Each turn you can either go up, down or stay in the same gear which you need to do in order to take the corners because if you go to fast you will wear down your car and eventually it will be destroyed. A fun sociable game which anyone can pick up. I am definately adding this to my collection. Verdict? 7/10.

Discworld: Anch-Morpork

A game by Martin Wallace. This game is a fantasy game where each player gets a randomly assigned character with a different victory condition. It is set in the town Anch-Morpork created by Terry Pratchett. It works by drawing cards which you can then play to do certain actions. The aim is to get control of territories by placing meeples and building towers. This game looks great and has good artwork. However I did find though the game play was interesting it was not particularly complex. A good game for new gamers. Verdict? 7.5/10.

Star Wars: X-wing Miniatures Game

A mouthful of a title. I really like X-Wing, easy enough to learn, a healthy amount of strategy, and plenty of variability. Plus who doesn't like flying little spaceships around a table. See some of my session reports here and here. Verdict? 9/10.

Spartacus

Spartacus is a fun game based on the TV show which I have never watched. The game works by trying to bring your opposition down by playing nasty cards, bidding in the market and then fighting your gladiators against each other. You can also place bets on the gladiators. I liked the game but it suddenly ends, which I have been led to believe is normal. You feel like you are winning but then someone suddenly plays a few cards and wins the game. I am afraid that put me off the game a bit. Verdict?6.5/10.

I managed to get another game of Formula D in here. 

RoboRally

A classic game and a goody. Similar to Formula D except you are robots, with lasers and coincidentally you shoot each other as well as trying to make it to the finish line first. The catch is you have to plan 5 moves before each round starts with randomly assigned cards. This can leave you spinning in circles, driving into holes which can become quite frustrating. Overall this game is allot of fun and I would recommend giving it a shot. Verdict? 7.5/10.



Overall it was a good weekend and will probably go again sometime.