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Valerie Putman: My To-Do List
Next week I am heading off to Gulf Games in Nashville. I have a list of games that I’m still trying to get in before the Essen 2008 crop arrives.
Keltis When the SdJ nominees were announced, I had only tried one of them. I still haven’t played Reiner Knizia’s winning game and this is at the top of my “want to try it” list. It’s not that I think I’m going to enjoy this game more than any other on the list, but like the Oscar winning movies, I think I need to have experienced it if I want to call myself up-to-date.
Blox I asked Greg Schloesser to use his Grand Pubah of Gaming status to try and get copies of all of the SdJ nominees for the Gulf Games crowd to play. He just let me know that he was able to get a couple of copies of this one for us. I can’t wait to try it.
Marrakech In order to round out my SdJ nominee list, I’ll also need to get this one played.
1960: The Making of the President My husband actually owns a copy of this one and I just need to set aside an evening for us to play it. I think this is the highest ranked Essen 2007 game that I haven’t played yet.
Tribune I’ve mostly heard good things about this one. I’m hoping that someone at Gulf Games has a copy. I’m a huge Die Macher fan and it’s great to see another design out by the designer, Karl-Heinz Schmiel.
Ming Dynastie I actually taught this game at BGG.con last fall, but I’ve never played it! That just doesn’t seem right. Since I might be demoing this again at WBC or Gen Con, it would be nice to get in a play of it first.
Chang Cheng This is another Rio Grande title that I’ve seen a lot of, but never ended up at the table to play it.
Nefertiti This Rio Grande title was completely unfamiliar to me when I saw it at Origins. Since I will likely be demoing this at WBC and Gen Con as well, it’s high on my list of games to play at Gulf Games.
Ice Flow After the attention that this received at the UK Games Expo, this has been pretty high on my list of games I’d like to try.
El Capitan I know very little about this game other than it seems to have been fairly well received by the gamers ranking it on BGG.
Horus I listened to a quick demo of this at Origins and now I’d like to actually play it.
Monastery I really liked Canal Mania and I look forward to another Ragnar Brothers game.
Mordred I never played this Martin Wallace game in its original form. I’d like to give the reprint a try.
Origins: How We Became Human My old Athens, GA game group played this several times when it first came out. Hubby also played it at the Winter Gulf Games that I missed out on. Unfortunately, I may have already missed the boat on this longer game.
Perry Rhodan While I don’t play many of the Kosmos 2-player games regularly, this one has had enough positive response to make my wanna-play list.
Pick & Pack Simon Hunt’s abstract strategy sounds right up my alley. I just need to find someone who has a copy!
Robotics I had never heard of this one until I got some free expansion tiles in my Spielbox magazine last month. Now I need to know if I should hold on to the tiles or not!
Quinamid I do like wooden abstract strategy games and this one looks cool.
Change Horses While I expect this to be a bit light for my tastes, I should give this Rio Grande title a try before I have to demo it!
The Circle One guy named it “best in show” in his Essen reports, everyone else panned it. I guess I’ll have to try it for myself.
I’d better get started! If any Gulf Gamers out there have some of the more obscure titles from the list, please bring them!
I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman
Posted by Valerie Putman on Jul 27, 2008 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Valerie Putman / 1504
Comments:
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Valerie; What do the Robotics expansion tiles do? The base game is… not something you need to have on your list of must-try games. It’s got good ideas but I’m regretting my impulse buy from last Essen. pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Jul 27, 2008 at 02:52 AM | #
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Patrick,
Posted by Valerie Putman on Jul 27, 2008 at 09:20 AM | #
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Patrick, I tried to warn you… Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Jul 27, 2008 at 10:24 AM | #
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I am forced to agree with Patrick and Dale. Posted by Dan Blum on Jul 27, 2008 at 10:49 AM | #
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Valerie, Chang Cheng is actually a Tenkigames/Z-Man job, not Rio Grande. And you’re telling me that you missed my fab Nefertiti preview?! Why I oughta… Thanks for the reminder on Monastery as well. I need to get my review out the door soon. Eric Posted by W. Eric Martin on Jul 27, 2008 at 02:27 PM | #
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Valerie, El Capitain is the reprint of an older Spiele des Jahres winning game, Tycoon (1998), by Wolfgang Kramer. I’ve played the original a number of times, and the new one with every number in the range (3-5). I actually found the changes they made to be sensible and well thought out. The orientation of the cities has been adjusted to supposedly balance out the board, though I see no difference in the actual play of the game. The upgrade in graphics, while visually jarring at first, becomes very inviting the more I play. Further, the new edition expands the game to 5 players, and works like a charm; however I will say that the game with 5 runs about 20 minutes a player, though it doesn’t feel that way. Finally, they’ve included expansion cities which I have not tried yet. Tycoon was great. El Capitain is different enough to warrant a separate purchase; however if you had to choose just one El Capitain is a good replacement. Posted by Dave Kudzma on Jul 27, 2008 at 02:41 PM | #
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The sad thing about Robotics is that the components and the theme have such potential. There’s a good game hiding in there, I know it. It just isn’t hiding in the rules as published. Dale, you did warn me, this is true. Maybe this year I’ll actually take the Doctor’s advice! pk Posted by Patrick Korner on Jul 27, 2008 at 03:12 PM | #
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Pick and Pack is awesome. I would disagree that it is an abstract though. The theme fits the mechanics very well and helps you remember how to play the game. Though, I guess it is a perfect information 2 player game with no random element after the setup, so it does share something with abstract games. Posted by S. Deniz Bucak on Jul 27, 2008 at 08:12 PM | #
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Whoo, hoo. I’ve played one of those… :) Posted by Matt J. Carlson on Jul 28, 2008 at 12:54 AM | #
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Dave, Tycoon was nominated for game of the year, it didnt win (Elfenland did).
Posted by Peer Sylvester on Jul 28, 2008 at 07:11 AM | #
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Wow, there’s like 3 or 4 games on your list that I own but somehow I haven’t gotten around to playing. (Tribune, El Capitan, Chang Cheng and Changing Horses but I’ve played that one once). Something to keep in mind after WBC training is over. Posted by Peter Stein on Jul 28, 2008 at 10:26 AM | #
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Peer, I see you are correct. The funny part is aside from the designer, I also picked it up for the SdJ symbol!! Tell me they don’t know it sells games =P Posted by Dave Kudzma on Jul 28, 2008 at 11:54 AM | #
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Your problem, Valerie, is that you lost opportunities to play these games with the time you invested in demoing Dominion! So the obvious solution is to bequeath your prototype copy of Dominion to me for the weekend of Aug 6-10 so I can show my Redemption CCG buddies, and then use that down time to catch up on your other games! Hey, no need to thank me, I’m all about the help! ;) Posted by Stephen Schaefer on Jul 28, 2008 at 01:09 PM | #
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I found a picture of the Spielbox expansion for Robotics on BGG. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/326352 Posted by Valerie Putman on Jul 28, 2008 at 02:35 PM | #
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Valerie, your to-do list is eerily similar to mine. Let me know what you don’t get done at Gulf Games and maybe we can fit them in during your off hours at WBC. Posted by Tom McCorry on Jul 28, 2008 at 10:51 PM | #
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