April saw my most plays for 2024 and while I had expected that number to be lower than March, I still managed to log a whopping 85 plays for the month. My December of 2023 still is the highest total play count for a month at 95, but overall, I'm fairly happy with what I was able to accomplish this month.
There were quite a few new games to me in April and I had quite a bit of fun playing them. I tried to sort this month's list first by total number of plays for the month, then alphabetically to give this list a bit more of a sense of organization. Like last month, there's just a quick note on my feelings about the game as every week I post on the What Did You Play This Week geeklist.
Anyways, off to the Gamesmobile, Robin!
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I was able to get a copy of The Crew: Mission Deep Sea for my collection and although I wasn't able to play it with my mom as I had hoped this month, I do now own a copy of the game so I'm able to play it with her when she visits. I played quite a few games ranging from one to three people at the table and this game continues to be a favorite of mine. There's something so clever about a cooperative trick-taking game that just sticks in my brain and tickles the right places.
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This one has easily become Sarah's favorite game of our collection (along with the next one) and we purchased three separate expansions for it in April for our anniversary: Clank!: Adventuring Party,Clank! Expeditions: Gold and Silk, and Clank! Expeditions: Temple of the Ape Lords. It's been one of our go-to games to play at night and there's something about it that is like catnip for Sarah. It's been such a fun journey adding more of the game to our collection and having so many different maps to play with really helps with changing things up.
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Along with Clank!, this is the second game that we added an expansion to this month in our collection. We got the Clank! In! Space!: Cyber Station 11 expansion for Clank! In! Space! and Sarah and I absolutely love the variety that it gives, both with the new cards and with the new layout for the board. We continue to play more games and more often than not, have found ourselves both on the wrong side of the escape and with both of us ending in 0 points. Naturally that makes us want to play again and that pushes our play count higher.
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I borrowed Heat: Pedal to the Metal from a friend after complaining I had not been able to get my hands on a copy of it yet. I played nine games over the weekend and even got through two of three of the included race championships. I still have the final '63 championship to go, playing solo, but I think that 9 plays was enough for a weekend. It definitely solidified my need to get a copy of this game for my collection.
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While I didn't have as many games as last month, I still find myself enjoying Cartographers. I have been playing around with some of the randomized boards for the game. It definitely helps with making things feel a bit more new and even resulted in my wife's first win of the game ever. She was really happy about that one.
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My friend brought this up to play when he visited us and after having an initial two games with two people, Sarah joined us and we played another two games. It was a nice simple card game that had a really fast play, which I appreciated, especially at the end of a long night of dealing with kids and playing heavier board games. Sarah agreed with me and requested that we pick up a copy for our own collection.
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This was just played online as I was hoping to get a few games in on one night when I didn't have much gumption to play anything else. It was a game and that's really all I have to say about this one. I'd play it if someone else wanted to, but I wouldn't really choose to play it more.
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Another few games of Captain Carcass (aka, Dead Man's Draw) to round off a few games nights. It's a nice simple palette cleanser and allows for some really fun "press your luck" elements. It's not something I've picked up yet, but Sarah loves this game, so it's only a matter of time before we add it to our collection.
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Three games of Everdell to complete my 10x10 challenge for the game. I played one solo, one with two, and one with three, each with different expansions to give me a changed feeling. With a second play of Pearlbrook, I think I stand by my statement that it's the weakest of the expansions and I'll most likely be including another expansion with it and not playing with the wonders, despite them looking really cool. Still, it's nice to have the game done for my challenge, even though I know that I'm going to be playing it much more. Now that the challenge plays are done, I don't feel like I have to play Everdell, and I much more prefer that.
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Another few games of PARKS to continue to work on the 10x10 challenge entry and I'm finding that more and more I prefer to play this game with other people. The solo mode is good, but there's something that gets lost when not playing with other people. I find myself rushed far more than when I play with an actual person with the solo mode and with how pretty the game is, I want to enjoy my time with it. I still have yet to play with more than two people consistently, so I'm hoping that I can get this to the table with 4 or 5 people to see how that changes the dynamic.
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Three games of this with my daughter (4) who is in absolute love with Unicorns. This is a nice simple game that I can play with her and doesn't require too long of her time so we're generally able to play an entire game before she's getting too antsy. Will probably play more with her as I attempt to continue to teach her about the incredible realm of board games.
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Three more games of Wyrmspan as I was able to teach it to two separate people (playing twice with Sarah). I had such a fun time playing this game and the dragon theme is such a great one. Each time I've played it has been such a close point spread showing me how mechanically balanced this game is. I've yet to truly dive into the solo mode, but I'm hoping to get a few games of that in May.
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I found a solo automa here on BGG and attempted a few games with the automa. It's not terribly hard to get a really good score, but I do like being able to play such a beautiful game solo if the desire arises. While Azul is often a bit too light for me to want to play, it is a great gateway game and the components are gorgeous, so I doubt I'll ever get rid of it.
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Two games on one night of this cozy yet surprisingly difficult game. I managed to beat the first scenario on play 8 of the game (after 5 attempts) and failed on Scenario 2 directly after. This game is really tough to get the necessary point totals for the scenario goals and I am still working on building a strategy for what to do.
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Two more games for my 10x10 challenge, both solo. I attempted my first three monster game and managed to absolutely crush it, placing extra emphasis on getting the villagers to safety. This allowed me to get more white cards which helped with prolonging my turns and ultimately got me the win. It's a strategy I'll keep in mind when playing my final game of the 10x10 challenge for this year.
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It had been some time since I played this game with Sarah and we wanted to try it again. We played on "Easy" difficulty, but after we crushed the goal for the game, we realized we probably could at least play on "normal" difficulty with how many games we've played together. Next time!
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For my dime of Castles, I played my first 5 player game and it was just as fun as I thought it would be. We had such a cool castle-building experience and I once again was reminded how much I love the extra components in the Collector's Edition. The towers that sit on your board just make it look so cool and the artwork is great, along with the 20 separate swans you can choose from. I love this game.
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Another game in my 10x10 challenge that saw a solo game play from me. I really like Flamecraft and it's a nice way to wind down at the end of the night. I'm slowly working through the Solo Achievements and have about half unlocked. I'm hoping that by the time I finish my 10x10 challenge, I can get all the achievements completed for future solo games. I'm also hoping to play this at 3+ since I've only ever played it at a 2 player count.
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A friend brought this to game night and I thoroughly enjoyed the game. It was a mix of Carcassonne and Cartographers, with a little bit of Castles of Mad King Ludwig thrown in for good measure and I really enjoyed the game. I loved being able to score the objectives multiple times over the game and it felt so much better to me than Carcassonne. I definitely want to play this one again and would be curious about a two-player game of it.
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Played this for the first time at work during a lunch break and it was an interesting engine builder. The dice rolling mechanic felt a bit swingy at times, but I could definitely appreciate what the game was attempting to do. I think that it was made better by my friend's fiery language during the game, but I wouldn't mind playing this a second or third time again to see everything it has to offer.
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Played a solo game of this since it had been some time since I pulled it out. I managed to win, but still found myself wanting to challenge myself more. I was given a really cool alternate way to play the solo mode and I'll definitely have to give that a try. Maybe I'll bring it with me on my trip in a few weeks to play with my family.
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I attempted to play this with my daughter (4). It didn't go well and she ended up quitting about halfway through the game. I still think this takes a bit too much attention for her, but I'm hoping to consistently play this more with her as she gets older.
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Played a game with the Orient Cards from the Splendor: Cities of Splendor expansion. It was interesting playing the game with an added challenge and while I didn't win, I used the game to really learn about what the expansion added and how it felt. I want to play with some of the other expansions and even play with Sarah to see what she thinks of the game.
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Introduced a friend to the game at my monthly game group and we had an absolute blast. I played full on chaos-mode and flamed out at the end from a mine, but it was absolutely worth it for the laughter and fun we had while playing the game. I still think this is one of my favorite games ever and I am so excited about getting the Maximum Chrome edition in November.
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Introduced this at work and played the base game maps. After playing so many games of Welcome to the Moon, I'm glad that I have this version too as it's fantastic in it's simplicity. I need to play a few more games of this since I've enjoyed it in the past and I may bring it on my trip in May.
Overall that's 4 new games for me in April, which is about average for me. I'm not certain how many new games I'll play in May since I'm planning a trip down to Florida with my brothers and dad, but I'm hoping I can get at least one per day while I'm down there. I'll be bringing a few selections to play with them and I'll always have Tabletopia and Board Game Arena to play online if I want.
Give me your thoughts:What were your favorite games that you played this month? Are there any games that you like to travel with that you could recommend for people who don't normally play games? Any new games that you played this month that you want to talk about?
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