Before I tell you the games I regret let me tell you: I recently got into Netrunner. I am 100% overwhelmed (never really played MtG). But I am so grateful for Jinteki. Through some luck I met a very experienced player who takes my hand and shows me all the things one doesn’t know if they have never played living card games/tcg. I also infected some friends of a friend and we only play online due to distance. I am in my 30s and feel so excited for every game. Maybe go on netrunnerdb take a prebuilt get a couple of runs and get excited by playing. My preach is over, now to you question: Most times I was lucky with my blind buys. Oath, CloudAge etc. Games I don’t really like such as Celestia many of my friends enjoy so I keep them. Games I hated first but initially did not buy like Root and Bora Bora I gave a second try years later. Then I started to enjoy them. Maybe because I got more experience and for Root I embraced the chaos. Now I am a proud owner of all but the Clockwork expansions. It sucks spending money on something you looked forward to. The good thing is you can always revisit, resell and regift.

Auch ich bekomme einen Hass, jedes Mal wenn ich Dienstwagenprivileg höre. Allerdings denke ich, dass in vielen Punkten auch heute schon das Auto den Öffis weit unterlegen ist. Außer natürlich man glaubt der Werbung, weil Auto macht Brum Brum und gibt das Brum Brum Gefühl:

Keine Parkplatzsuche

Nicht selber fahren

Im Fernverkehr Geld zurück bei Verspätung (bekomm ich im Stau nicht)

Ich geh auf die Toilette, Zug rollt weiter

High, alkoholosiert. Egal. Jemand fährt mich heim

Ich kann lesen, mich bewegen.

Natürlich gibt es Orte und Menschen, die nur mit dem Auto zu erreichen sind. Und Öffis brauchen Gewöhnung. Wie funktioniert richtiges umsteigen, Linienpläne, iehh Menschen. Da kann das Ticket helfen. Berührungsängste abbauen.

Wenn die Erwartungshaltung aber ist mit 1 T Metal bis in den Aldi zu fahren, weil laufen für Untermenschen ist, denen kann einfach nicht geholfen werden.

The rules are easy and don’t change much. If you understand the base game the expansion is easy peasy to learn. Everything but the festival cards fit on the board so you need 20 cm^2 more space. The lake tiles I’ll keep for sure, they make the lake actions/Kodamas more interesting. The rocks as well, they are just extra rocks. The double cards are ok. Didn’t see them being overpowered yet. Festival cards I’ll use depending on the crowed. Some don’t like surprises. Maybe only use the blue ones for a nice play and only take the red against your archenemy. Furthermore the festival cards are with text (English and Spanish are sold together). Bitoku I like that much because it is language independent.

Well, this is the big question. I got a folded space so apart from the festival cards everything would fit. But the box design is lovely and I still got some space so it can stay.

Oath - this was the weirdest Oath game ever. 90 min, four players, 2 citizens. The Empire couldn’t move because it was so inflated. Weird cards on the board , restricting movement. Chancellor got rid of all sites just to keep his power. And he did. Time to strike again next time.

Agent undercover nice hidden role game. Still like it. Some players struggle to ask questions. Maybe some ideas could be exchanged at the beginning to help them out.

Arborea and Bitoku - twice and I won. What a weekend. Will keep playing these games cause they are so lovely. First time playing the Bitoku expansion. The Art on the double cards are more lively than the older ones. I like the lake replacements, the festival cards are ok. The mean ones could possibly stop too strong players, but not me 😎

Tiger and Dragon - won. Little bit of tile counting and luck. It was ok. Need to play again to judge.

Outlook: would like to try the Witcher again. Hope I get around.

Tikal - boardgame of the year 1999. Won the game. The box has way too much shelf presence for what it is. We played the base version with two players. It was ok but nothing I need to revisit.

Tribes of the wind - at two and four players. Won both times. Because I need to write a review a tried to look at it from different angles. I won with different Tribe leaders. Some combos of the leaders feel extra powerful. You really need to keep your eyes on your opponents boards to determine when they will pull the trigger to end the game. Winning the race to build the fifth tree seems a good winning strategy. At two players I like that your choice of cards will influence the second set of cards you’ll base your turns on.

Who did it? - I am not the fastes and I don’t like the theme but it is one of the best ice breaker and funny Absacker (drink or in this case last game of the night with no special requirements often fast and light hearted)

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza - in comparison to who did it is this game much more dangerous 😅 me and a friend hurt ourselves playing it.

Alhambra card game - I am a big fan of Alhambra. But we visited the in laws and even so they play games like clever, you need to bring new elements slowly to the table. Therefore I brought this lighter version as Bonn edition. They can identify cards and have fun talking about the locations and understand buying cards with different currencies. Next time I hope I can play the big game with them.

Qwinto and that’s pretty clever - always lose against the in laws. Maybe I try to hard to win. A good activity between two meals, cake and coffee.

This week was a good week. I have three wins to report.

Order by importance of the win:

Twilight Imperium - how did I manage to win? I still have no idea. This game is so long and it was my second time playing it. Four Player table. It is nicely asymmetrical and way too many factions to understand there balance playing it once a year. It is an ok game. But why do people like this game so damn much? The art is nice.

Root - Vagabond for the first time and won the game. Still prefer the other factions cause I like the war aspect of the game.

Heat - it is a race game. And I won. The review from shut up and sit down really captures the essence of the game. It is nice and a light game. Only half as lovely without Dutraits art. I was glad someone else moved the bots, cause this I didn’t quite catch yet. Would love to play with six players.

Foodchain magnate - oh, did I lose. This game gives no room for failure. It is tight and needs lots of planning. The old art style I really like. Nat a game I need to replay.

The Spiel is a boardgame fair in Germany. Pretty big and international.

I played both and I found them, as a not regular Nemisis player similar. But I just wanted to add: at the Spiel they displayed a new Nemesis. Didn’t check it out but maybe it is a valuable info for you before you buy