February 2008 Game of the Month

In the Year of the Dragon is my February 2008 game of the month. This was a bit of a surprise to me. This one was played late in the month (a month which was low in plays). I had purchased this one for no other reason than it was an Alea big box game. I had heard some small rumblings that it was a decent game and I was surprised to find a good gamer's game here. The game itself is fairly easy to learn, and yet there are a number of different approaches that one can take. The mechanics are a new interesting mix to me (get greedy and it costs you your place in turn order, which is often VERY important to getting the limited resources available). I expect that in a while this one will be over-played and over-analyzed by the BGG community, but for me, this one should be fun for a while.

Other games in contention this month - Vinci saw a couple plays (and one a win for me) via Vassal. Wabash Cannonball took up a chunk of my time as I worked and rework (and continue to rework) a new map. I also managed a couple plays of this and I still enjoy it. I've played with three and five players and its still good (better with the bigger map and bigger cubes and better stock certs).