What Did I Play This Week - April 24-May 1

Things have been super busy of late, what with moving this week (still moving stuff!) and another side project I have in the works (details coming someday soon), but I did get a couple tabletop games in and a few digital plays in.

Cthulhu Realms
I recently rediscovered this riff on Star Realms. I played the actual card game a while back, but was bored one day and grabbed the app from the Apple App Store and started playing with a friend.  Essentially, this is a two-player deck builder, where players are purchasing cards from a central location and attacking the other player. If you have played Star Realms, you will immediately understand this game (though it isn't a straight 1-1 re-theme, it is very similar). My buddy and I  have been going back and forth a bit on it - taking turns winning a couple games at a time then losing a couple. It doesn't feel like it has quite the depth that Star Realms does, but the artwork is certainly fun and the game isn't bad. There are a couple minor quibbles I have with the app itself, but nothing drastic, just things I wish were more streamlined. We did have one crazy game where I got down to about 20 sanity (my buddy had 70ish) and then climbed out of that hole to win 86 to < 0! Games are fast, but I burnt out on Star Realms after playing in an online league on BGG for 7+ seasons. So while this is different, I don't expect to play that much more of it either.


7 Wonders Duel
I've mostly played this with my daughter. After her first game (a devastating defeat that I pulled off at the elventh hour), she clawed back to win the next game. Our tie breaker game went to points and I beat her (she was really gunning for a military defeat of me and didn't have much else). I took her on points again in the next game we played as well. This is a nice quick little game, though I'm still up in the air about how long before it becomes tired. For now, still enjoying it. I'm also giving away a 3D printed tray for the game - if you haven't commented on the post already, head over to http://things-of-no-interest.blogspot.com/2017/05/looking-for-subscribers.html and check it out!

Twilight Struggle
This was another online bidded game against my friend Matthew. I ended up as the USSR (random, I think we bid the same). I wasn't scoring large points early, but I pretty much held domination in every part of the world, so when the scoring came, it was all but over. I eventually ran the score up to the point that I just needed that one card that would get me a couple of points to win. I eventually got the last couple of points and ended the game fairly early. I have played a fair bit more than he. I think we are nearing the point where he has a better handle on the cards in the early era but not sure how much he's enjoying the games since he has been behind quite a bit in our last few games.


Carcassonne
My friend Robert wondered why we don't play this much. I showed him why by smoking him in a game with Traders and Builders, Inns and Cathedrals, The Phantom, and The Winter tile set (gingerbread man). He hadn't played in a while and made a couple early mistakes and I think he failed to notice that I had him beat on one really really big field as he didn't try to reclaim or at least negate it. I think I scored 80 points on that field at the end of the game.