Board Game Friday: Completing a Massive Trade!

One of the fun things about board games is that there is always something new to try.  Unfortunately, that usually means there is something more to buy.  However, thanks to a long history of trading baseball cards, I've found that trading board games is also an option - and one that can definitely save money (and equally importantly to me, space on my shelves)!

Recently, I completed a large board game trade with BGG user Boziko.  I sent off Assault on Doomrock:  Ultimate Edition, along with the Roguelike expansion to the game.  

Assault on Doomrock Ultimate Edition is a cooperative game that had all the elements of things I enjoy (monsters to battle, equipment to purchase, high-quality components, etc.), but for whatever reason, the game didn't click for me.  It's a game known for being hard, but when I played it with my friend, we decided it was impossible.  So either we got extremely unlucky with how our first game played out, or we really screwed up a key rule along the way (or the game is actually broken, but a 7.5 rating on BGG suggests the game is actually quite good).  No matter, not every game will click with every person, and that's where trading comes into play!

In exchange for Assault on Doomrock, I was able to land three smaller games plus a couple of expansions.  

First, Forest Shuffle. 

This is a fun little card game about building out a forest full of trees and creatures.  It's basically a game where every card gives you points; you just need to make sure the points you are getting each turn slowly outnumber whatever your opponent(s) are getting.  In addition to the base game, I was also able to get two small expansions for the game:  Alpine and Woodland Edge.  I haven't tried either expansion yet, but the base game is certainly fun enough.

The other small box part of the trade was a game called Age of Civilization.

This is a game that I've had on my "want in trade" list for a while, so long, in fact, that I don't even remember where I first heard of the game.  From what I can tell, this is a fairly quick-playing card game about building up a civilization over six rounds.  It appears that the game also has a solo mode, so I may have to try that out soon.  More to come on this game once I'm actually able to play it!

Finally, the big "prize" of the trade:  Valley of the Kings:  Premium Edition.

In Valley of the Kings, you are an Egyptian noble preparing for death and burial in the Valley of the Kings.  The goal is to fill your tomb with all of the finest things (food, statues, treasures, etc.) before the game ends.  The catch here is that you are building up a deck of cards, but only the cards you remove from your deck and place in your tomb will score you points at the end of the game.  I'm hoping that this will make for a fun decision space (use the powerful cards in hand, or bury them forever in your tomb for points later).  Like Age of Civilization, I haven't yet given Valley of the Kings a try - but it's certainly up there in terms of games I'd like to get to the table soon!

That does it for the trade.  The good news for me is that I had already played Forest Shuffle once, so I know that game is one I like.  I think I'll like the other two games, but if not, then I guess I'll have more trade bait for future board game swaps!