March In Review - Games Played

 Reviewing Months Past

I've seen this done on a few blogs and without really anything additional to add with my Wednesday posts for now, I thought that I'd make it a monthly item that I review all of the games that I played the previous month. I'm a bit late with this one, but I'll try to make the first Wednesday of the month a review of each of the games that I played in the past month with a quick blurb of what I played.

I post weekly on the What Did You Play This Week geeklist (thread for the subscription here) so if you would like more detail, check that list out. I'll just post some simple thoughts on the games I played as well as play count and whether it was new to me in the previous month more for housekeeping than anything else. I know that I get curious to see what people have played in the previous month so I thought I would post my own here for you all to read through and judge.

Games Played in March:

8.75 Cartographers x10 (20 all-time) - This was one that I really got into in March since I found that I could play it on both Happy Meeple.com as well as Tabletopia. It's a quick and easy game to play but I found myself wanting a bit more and began looking into getting Cartographers Heroes for some additional options to expand my game. A few plays with coworkers as well yielded 10 total plays for the month of March making it my highest played game for the month.

8.8 Cat in the Box: Deluxe Edition x5 (12 all-time) - Another game that's quick to play and relatively easy to teach. I had gotten a copy in February after playing it at my local board game cafe and taught my coworker and several family members to play. It's a quick game that is enjoyable to play when I'm looking for a good card game that requires some additional brainpower to play.

9 Clank!: A Deck-Building Adventure x7 (9 all-time) - Purchased - After having played Clank! in February for the first time and not enjoying it as much as I thought I would, I decided to write the game off as a wash and move on. I found it for sale for $30 at a local used book store and I purchased it since I knew that I would hate myself for passing on the game. I'm glad I gave it another chance as upon subsequent replays, I've found that I like the game significantly more than my first playthrough.

8 Chronicles of Crime x5 NEW! - Borrowed - A good friend of mine lent me his copy of Chronicles of Crime and I played through the first four cases of the game. While I'm enjoying it, I'm glad I didn't purchase the game myself since it falls in the "one and done" category of games, which I'm hesitant to spend money on.

10 Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition (9 all-time) - It had been some time since I played Castles of Mad King Ludwig and I convinced my friend Anthony to play the game. It remains one of my favorite games to play and I still want to pick up a copy of the game myself, but it's hefty price of $200 for the collector's edition (which would be the one I got) is a bit offputting.

10 Everdell: The Complete Collection x2 (10 all-time) - Two games with my wonderful wife who loves this game. After the first one taking nearly three hours, we cut down how many expansions we played with and only had a few mini-expansions included which still led to about an hour and a half long game, but overall much shorter. Still need to play with the Corrin Evertail and Rugwort expansions included, but otherwise I've played with every expansion so far. My favorite has to be Newleaf.

10 Thunder Road: Vendetta (6 all-time) - I still love the carnage and chaos that this game brings to the table even playing the base game. The Kickstarter just ended with a pretty respectable total and I'm waiting for the pledge manager to open up so I can get the Maximum Chrome edition with the new expansion. I'll hold onto my base game until the package is delivered, but after that I hope to be able to sell my base copy of the game for what I paid for it a few months ago.

10 Welcome to the Moon x2 (17 all-time) - After completing my 10x10 challenge board for Welcome To The Moon, it has taken a bit of a background seat for other games to be played in the challenge. However there were a few days that I had wanted to play the game and with one solo game and another campaign being started with my regular gaming buddy, I hope to add a few more games of Welcome To The Moon to my plays in April.

10 Wyrmspan x2 NEW! - I was so excited to get my hands on a copy of this game and my initial play of the game with my friend Anthony did not disappoint. It was more than I could have hoped for and while it didn't get to the table as often as I had wanted in March, I'm hoping that I'll be able to teach my wife, Sarah, how to play the game in April. I'm also going to bring it to our monthly game session in the hopes that I can play a four player game of it too.

9.5 Cascadia x2 (20 all-time) - Cascadia got the same fate of Welcome to the Moon as I had finished my 10x10 challenge plays of it and wanted to play more games. I love this game still but I took a bit more of a break with the game once I had completed the challenge. I'm still wanting to return to the game to complete the final remaining scenarios, but it will have to be in April and beyond.

9.25 Dinosaur World (10 all-time) - We have my second game of Dinosaur World to continue my 10x10 challenge plays since I started in January. I love this game but it's such a table hog that it's hard to recommend all the time since we can really only fit two players on our small dining room table. Still, it's a game that will definitely have more plays in the future and I'm definitely looking forward to it. I hope to play a game or two with Sarah in April and beyond, but we'll see what happens. Coincidentally, this represents my 10th play of the game as well, making it officially one of my "dimes" on my played games list.

9.25 Marvel Champions: The Card Game x2 (13 all-time) - This was a really fun one to play. I finished my campaign of the Marvel Champions: The Card Game – The Rise of Red Skull expansion to complete my 10x10 challenge playthrough of the game with a resounding 5/5 win ratio. My Spider-Man Agression deck that I built myself is one of beauty and absolutely clobbers each and every enemy that it comes across. While it struggles with clearing threat, I was smart in what allies I put into the deck and had only slight trouble with threat in one of the earlier missions.

9 Apiary (4 all-time) - Another game of Apiary this month against the level 2 AI. I'm in awe of how well the game plays with the solo automa that has been created for it. Interestingly enough I found out that while each of the "levels" of the automa doesn't change much in the way of behavor and scoring for the AI player, it does reduce the amount of time that the player has to earn points, thus creating a more and more compact game that ends sooner with higher AI levels. It's a really smart design and reduces the number of potential turns a player has to beat the AI the harder it is.

9 Captain Carcass x3 NEW! - Originally brought by my friend Anthony to our Friday Night Game Hangout, I enjoyed it enough that I asked him to bring it to play with Sarah, my dad and myself for a night later in the month. It is a clever little press your luck game with each round being very quick. Sarah liked it enough that she wanted to add it to our collection, which is high praise for a game and makes me sure I've found a hidden gem.

9 PARKS x2 (8 all-time) - With this game on my 10x10 challenge list, I wanted to play a few games in March and initially played a solo game against the *shudder* rangers (I don't like them). Sarah saw me playing and asked that we play another game and a few days later we pulled it out to play against one another. It's a great game, but I sometimes have to be in the right mood to play solo as Sarah's not always open to playing a game together.

9 Welcome To... (17 all-time) - After lending this out to Anthony for most of the month, I was able to get my copy of the game back and played a game with Sarah. It resulted in a decent game for the both of us, but the second tier objective that has players get all parks and pools on the middle street is brutal. It feels a bit too random for me and hard to accomplish with cards sometimes so I might keep that out of future games I play. Overall Welcome To... is a really well designed game and I want to play a few more rounds in April, both with others and solo.

8.75 Clank! In! Space!: A Deck-Building Adventure x3 (5 all-time) - Purchased - After getting the base game of Clank! I found that a friend was selling Clank! In! Space! for $25. Not wanting to pass up an amazing bargain, I snatched up the game immediately and quickly threw in a few plays of the game. I absolutely love all the references for the game and have thoroughly enjoyed the modular nature of the boards. It is a bit more in-depth than base Clank! with some additional card mechanics, but overall, it's remarkably similar. I also love that the solo version comes with a campaign that players can go through for a loose story that ties together each game.

8.75 Horrified (8 all-time) - Another game on my 10x10 challenge that saw a play in April. While I was not as on top of my plays like I had been back in January and February, I still managed to get a play in during March and taught Sarah to play the game. She was initially put off because of the theme, but after we played the game, Sarah said that she would be open to trying it a few more times to see how the other monsters played. I've got two more games until I hit my 10x10 challenge amount and I'm going to (probably) get them in April.

8.25 Splendor x2 (7 all-time) - It had been some time since we played Splendor so Sarah and I pulled it out to finish our night after a long week. Sarah managed to beat me both times when we played, which was unprecedented. I might have to update my strategy when playing the game and I'm glad that I have some challenge that has been added. The game was getting slightly stale for me.

8 Dice Forge (4 all-time) - After a four month drought from playing the game, I pulled it out at the request of a coworker and we played a quick game of Dice Forge. I had forgotten how much fun the forging mechanic was and after playing it, I vowed to play the game more often since it was such an excellently designed game.

8 Long Shot: The Dice Game NEW! - This was brought to the table by my friend Anthony after he had picked it up at a local thrift shop. It was touted as a really clever roll and write and after playing the game I had to agree. It was a really fun experience and after we had finished, I definitely wanted to play more in the future. I hope that Anthony brings it as a nice filler game for one of our Friday Night Hangouts.

7.75 Roll Player: Monsters & Minions NEW! - After I had played the base game earlier in the month, I thought that I would attempt the expansion on Tabletopia. My biggest complaint about the base game was that it felt incomplete, just creating a character only to have the game end once each of the slots for the dice had been filled. Monsters and Minions helped resolve that issue that I had with the base game by supplying a final boss that players were attempting to defeat at the end of the game. I would like to try it with Anthony to see his thoughts, but I enjoyed it much more than base Roll Player.

7.5 Calico (7 all-time) - A quick game of Calico on Tabletopia hoping to complete the first challenge scenario. Unfortunately, I pushed too hard too fast and didn't even get close to the necessary score that was required. Despite it's cute looks, Calico is deceptively difficult and far harder than Cascadia.

7.5 Dungeonology: The Expedition (5 all-time) - The first play of my 10x10 challenge has been recorded. This is the way.

To go deeper into the game, while it does take some time to set up, Dungeonology is a nice crunchy dungeon crawler and I really enjoyed pulling it out again. I'm really excited to play it more for my challenge and have even started a pseudo-campaign for the solo missions. I also have three separate expansions that have yet to be touched so I'm looking forward to trying them out too.

7.5 Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island NEW! - Played my first game of Robinson Crusoe after several attempts to play it with Anthony. We managed to get it played during our normal monthly guys hangout and even had a win on our first attempt. It helped that Zach, the owner of the game, had quite a few plays under his belt and helped shepherd us along during the game, but a win is a win in my book. Super crunchy and while I would love to add it to my collection, I doubt that I'll ever convince Sarah to play it, which means that I'll have to play it only when offered.

7 Queendomino NEW! - Anthony owns Kingdomino and wanted to see how Queendomino differed from it. It's a bit more mechanically heavy but overall was a fairly fun game to play. It was at a local game shop and Anthony thought he would pick up a copy himself so I'm going to hold off on getting a copy of the game myself despite enjoying it.

7 Raccoon Tycoon NEW! - This was definitely not what I was expecting when I looked up the game on BGG. It was far lighter than I had thought and although I had a ton of fun messing around with Anthony's head with the auctions, overall it wasn't something that I would actively bring to the table to play. I might try it again with a higher player count, but overall, I'm perfectly fine without playing this again.

7 Roll Player NEW! - We played this at the request of Anthony and I found myself wishing that there was a bit more to the game when it concluded. I love the idea of building a character with rolled dice, but the sudden end once the final dice is placed was a bit jarring. Still, I enjoyed it more than Sagrada because of the storybuilding that I could do with the character I was making. The expansion, Monsters and Minions helped resolve my concern about an overall goal, which I detailed above.

7 Space Park x2 NEW! - After seeing this on Tabletopia, I wanted to give it a few tries as it was made by the same company that produced PARKS. Since I played it solo, I didn't get the full view of how the game played, but overall, I think that it would be great with a group of more than just one person. While serviceable, the solo mode felt more tacked on than anything and I think it would be better to try the game with another person or two.

6.5 Carcassonne x3 NEW! - So this is technically not a new game to me, but it's the first time I've logged plays here on BGG. I own the digital implementation of the game and after three plays, I have determined that the computer is a big fat cheater. I don't like playing against the bots and would far more prefer to play this with an actual person than a computer.

6 ICECOOL (6 all-time) - Played a single game with my daughter with "modified" rules. What ultimately amounted to us just flicking the penguins around the board, we played the game for her birthday the way that she wanted to. At 4 years old, she still has a bit of time before she fully understands the rules of the game and I cannot wait to play with her when she gets older.

6 Lost Cities NEW! - Played a game on Happy Meeple and was not impressed. Very basic card game that I didn't really fully understand how to play resulting in an awful game. Probably won't play this one again unless it's offered by someone in real life.

6 Unicorn Glitterluck: Cloud Crystals (8 all-time) - This is my daughter's favorite game to play. It's a simple game designed to teach kids rules of board games, but the fact that it has UNICORNS in it makes it the best game ever. I'll play willingly with her though and we can usually get a game or two in before she starts to lose interest.

5.75 30 Rails x2 NEW! - This was an interesting roll and write I found here on BGG. It is a simple idea and decently implemented. I had fairly abysmal scores with my first two plays that tells me there's a lot to learn how to play. While it's not my favorite roll and write that I've come across, it does represent a fairly decent time waster and only requires two D6 to play. I'll have to give it a few more shots to see if it's worth keeping around.

N/A So, You've Been Eaten (1 all-time) - I played this game after seeing it on Tabletopia and wanted to try it out. I love the idea of a game that plays itself and the initial game didn't disappoint. While it would probably play better with another person, I think that the idea is fun and having the option to either play the miner or monster is a clever idea. It feels slightly underbaked, but overall I enjoyed my initial play enough to try to come back for another game and give it another go before I rate it.

Final Thoughts

That's 77 plays over 35 different games. *Phew!* I thought that this would be fairly easy to do, but after seeing how many different games that I played in March, I realized that I was up for quite a task. It's been a fairly good month with 14 new games played and two games purchased (Clank! and Clank! In! Space!).

With a total of 77 plays for March, I'm at 175 plays logged for the year, which puts me well on my way to 365 total plays for the year. March had the highest play count total so far versus the 53 plays in February and 45 in January and I think that's probably going to be the highest number that I'll be able to accomplish before I start plateauing. I think I'm going to absolutely smash 365 plays probably sometime in May/June based on how much I've played in the last few months and will probably shoot for double that count by the end of the year. I'm just over halfway to 1000 plays (553 total logged) and will probably hit that by the end of the year if I continue this trend.

While this was a significant amount of work to put all the games I played on a list, I still enjoyed it and thought it was worth it to see everything on one page. I might mess around with how I list them next time, choosing chronological or play total first instead of rating, but we shall see.

Give me your thoughts: What are your most played games for March this year? What totals are you hoping to accomplish with your plays (if any at all)? What was your favorite new game that you played this last month?

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*Originally posted on BoardGameGeek on 10/4/2024*