January Report

January is our annual nod to the "cult of the new" - what games haven't we played before?

At first we split up into two groups.  One played the new version of Merchant of Venus all the way through and the other group played Navegador and Startship Merchant.  After that we all played Elfenland (a very old game by Alan Moon which only KC had played before).  MOV needs no introduction, and the new version was declared to be as good, if not better, than the original - now if it would only play more than 4...  Navegador is a rondel game about the Portuguese sea explorations/colonizations.  Opinions about rondel games vary - but I thought this one captured the theme as well as any Euro mechanic-centric game.  Starship Merchant is essentially 18XX-very light without the stock market or a map.  It was a very pleasant way to pass the time and I'd be happy to play it anytime, but I don't think I'll be rushing out to buy it.  It didn't really seem to plow any new ground.  Elfenland sounds "cutesy", but it is vicious (in a mostly unintentional sort of way) and somewhat chaotic.  It could be played lightly by kids or could become an AP mire on the other extreme.  Unlike Navegador, the theme does nothing to inform play, but there is no arguing that the mechanic isn't well designed.  It's not my cup of tea, but one can see why it has stood the test of time.  Bottom line:  A good time was had!

The next game day is tentatively scheduled for 2/9.  Please let me know if you will be available and we'll see if we have a quorum.  As usual, you can look ahead to the future possible dates by looking at the blog