Board Game Friday: My Board Game Arena Plays Lately

The month of February was very quiet for me in terms of in person board game plays.  However, while I may not have had the time (or people) to play with in person, I did get my game playing fix on by jumping back into Board Game Arena.  In fact, between January 1 and February 29 of this year, I played (and finished) a total of 200 games.  

Here's the full list:

Of those, several were brand new to me.  I enjoy trying out different games so Board Game Arena is perfect for me!  For the new-to-me games, here are my quick thoughts:

boop.  

boop. is an abstract game where you try to get three cats in a row to win.  There are a few neat twists to the game (for example, you start out with only kittens that you first must graduate into cats).  I'd say that I'm not a huge fan of most abstract games but I did enjoy playing boop. for a solid month or so. 

Beyond the Sun:

This game tickled my brain in that it's got some graph theory happening with the various tech trees as well as the planet area.  There's plenty of options to consider and multiple ways to win - a sign of a game that will probably have a long lifespan in my eyes.  I do think this one probably works best on BGA as opposed to in person, the computer helps to keep track of all the details (plus which moves are legal or illegal at any moment in time).  

Memoir '44:

An interesting war game that plays across two rounds (each player controls each faction for one round, the overall winner is the person who did best across the two rounds).  This is a scenario based game and I do think that some of the scenarios are quite unbalanced (but I guess it's okay since you always play as both factions in a single game).  I enjoyed this one but it's probably not one that I'll race out to buy.

Great Western Trail:

I actually own this game - I bought it for myself as a birthday present two years ago.  Unfortunately, I haven't had anyone interested in playing the game with me in person so my copy is still in shrink.  I will say that I've certainly enjoyed playing GWT on Board Game Arena, so much so that I'm definitely keeping my own copy!

A Feast for Odin:

This is a game that I've heard a ton about and finally got to try for myself.  There is a TON of different options in this worker placement game, but I'm not exactly sure how exciting those options are.  I have to admit, I'm atrocious at this game in my limited number of plays - and I think this is the type of game that rewards many plays so that you can get more efficient with each action.  I need to keep at this one to get a real feel for how much I'll end up liking it (or not).

The Castles of Burgundy:

Another classic game that I had never played before.  I enjoyed this one a lot, though as usual I need to play it a number of more times before I can say I have a great feel for it.  I should also give Matt S. a shoutout for introducing many of the above games to me (and also for destroying me at most of those games, haha).  

If anyone out there also plays on BGA, let me know and maybe we can get a game going.  I mostly play turn-based stuff given my work schedule, raising a kid, etc. but I'd love to get more game tables up and active!