My Gathering Playlist
Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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My Rundown of the various games on the table last week in Columbus. I will admit upfront, as you can see from my ratings, that I prefer longer more involved games, generally, but I do play ANYTHING!!
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 10
My favorite game at The Gathering!! What a great simulation of the economic realities that got the American Auto industry into the situation it is in today....we are a car society with ingenuity in design and performance!! Note: played the prototype, which I assume is close to final from the smooth manner it played in my two games).
Thanks for yet another wonderful, wonderful challenge and experience, Martin!! It is amazing how Mr. Wallace can distill R&D, the concept of efficiency, production, demand forecasts(market research) parts, three segments of vehicles (luxury, mid-market and mass market), segment progression and decline, private distributors and retail and wholesale sales into one game. The progression of the technology and demand trends are layed out in a fascinating way to figure out where your companies best spot is in the marketplace based on all the plans of the other companies and your own ambitions. The historical characters you can play in in one of four rounds include: Ford, Kessling, Sloan, Howard, Durham and Chrysler (each with his own unique ability). There is even a board of directors making executive decisions about both production and selling strategies.
The ability to combine game mechanics and theme is just superb in this one!!
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 10
Just glad this hit the table as it is one of my all-time favorites.
Age of Renaissance with a more modern theme (US Economic History) and an improved accounting system for the technologies and advancements. Card driven historical games are just hard to beat, in my book.....so different everytime and always presents unique challenges to winning!!
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3.
Board Game: Agricola
[Average Rating:8.25 Overall Rank:2]
Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 10
Taught this to a few players whom had never played. Can never pass up a chance to expand the fan-base of this wonderful, challenging farming game that just never seems to get old for me!!
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4.
Board Game: Finca
[Average Rating:7.07 Overall Rank:284]
Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 9
I really liked this one. It was fun, original and had great bits. Just simple enough that you could play with non-gamers even, which I plan to try as soon as I can get my hands on a copy. Still works well for gamers too. My pick for the SdJ award this year.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 9
More Dominion goodness to come!! 25 more cards and they somehow all seem to be unique and add new flavor to an already great game. The tourney was fun too, with a very high level of play, as you might expect. Happy to win one round!!
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 8
Played with 2 players and enjoyed it very much. Tile placement/stacking and a race for animals. Beautiful, production. Have a feeling it is not as good with more players due to the potential downtime and AP pitfall. I do favor farming-themed games, so helped me like it more. Will pick up a copy of this one.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 8
Finally got to play this one!! I really enjoyed the theme and gameplay here. Nice marketplace where half of the action in the game occurs....fun placement competition with some unique rules that work well...then onto the town and scoring which also works well, I found. Can be a little harsh at times but tends to balance out and our 5 player game ended up being all pretty close.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 8
German Dice Game?? Sounds like an oxymoron to me!! Noticed a trend recently towards more dice in German games (Stone Age, etc....). For what it is, I actually liked it....have a suspicion that the Temple track may be a bit over-powered though, but will hold off on making a conclusion until after further play. The rules were played differenty by many at the event, so curious to see who was right.....still a good, solid addition to the Alea mid-size box series
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 8
I like this one as a short filler. Civilization yahtzee, but much more with the advancements and trade goods. Fun to play..downtime is a bit of problem so better with 3 players, IMHO.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 8
Interesting Amigo title that probably will not come out in English, but you never know. Palace building with good player interaction thru special actions. Blind bidding may tarnish the title for some, but I actually enjoyed the way the bidding worked. Well done!!
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 8
Usually not a race game fan, but I found this one intriguing. With too many sleds in the tree area, I finally just plowed thru and took the damage and ended up losing only by a little. Original mechanisms for braking, changing speed and making turns. Satisfying and would play again...probably will not buy though as I still other types of games compared to race games.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 7
Finally got to play this one as well!! Not what I expected, so had to adjust my expectations......drafting (ala Ticket to Ride/Thurn and Taxis)and postioning game that has pretty big downtime between turns which detracts from the gameplay. Was expecting more of a history/strategy game. Perhaps a little abstract for my taste. The artwork left quite alot to be desired too. There was a prototype from the same designer that I actually liked quite alot better than this one!!
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 7
Fun party game that came up late at night. I'm horrible at it since I lived out of the country for almost a third of my life and have a gap in my movie, tv, song cultural background. Japanese version anyone??
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 7
As far as party games go, this ranks right up there, in my book!! Coyote re-done with more variants to the cards including a 2x and negatives. Great fun with the head bands and indian-style poker hats looking around the table at what is on everyone else's head to make a somewhat educated guess at the total.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Played 5 of these but will hold off on comments until they are printed or have a listing here on BGG. One of the best parts of The Gathering.
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Jeff DeBoardGamer
United States
Eugene
Oregon
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Rating: 6
Not my type of game really. Cooperative game but just didn't come together for me. Cute for a one-time experience, but probably will not play much ever again.
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Budapest
Gumboro
Delaware
You meet Alan Moon and he invites you or you get a really good recommendation from a regular attendee.