Hi y'all! I'm back!
Finally I have some time and energy to write my blog since a small hiatus. Life took over with moving to a bigger apartment and getting ready for our baby who actually was born 5 weeks premature. Now I am a mother for a beautiful baby boy.
So what's new, you ask? Last fall I was part of a group who started a new Finnish board game award called Pelaajien Valinta i.e. Player's choice. This is something I'm pretty proud of and I hope to continue my work with the award and the jury in the future. I won't bore you with the details since it is an award for games published in Finnish.
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Pelaajien Valinta jury handing out awards to Linda from Lautapelit.fi by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
Concerning actual board games, the end of the year was a bit lackluster. In September I attended the annual Lautapelaaman con with my husband and niece. I needed to test some games for my jury duty, but we did get to play other games too. Unfortunately I had round ligament pain during the whole weekend which made sitting for hours, well, a pain in the ass. Lautapelaamaan is always fun because I get to meet friends from all over my country, which is a rare treat.
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Lautapelaamaan 2017 by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
Because our son decided that he wanted to be a 2017 baby instead of a 2018 one, I missed out on the Board Game Marathon which we have every New Year's Eve. I was going to post about it as usual but life is sometimes quite surprising. There has been talk about a faux marathon so maybe I'll get my chance.
Our collection has gotten some new acquisitions which is always nice. I'm most excited about Rajas of the Ganges and Pulsar 2849 which are awesome! So happy to have them. I also have Nusfjord waiting to be played, but I need to do some fimo work for it before it gets played. All my Uwe's need to have fimo characters before they get played. We have also been enjoying Caverna: Cave vs Cave for a quick two-player game. I'm so excited for the upcoming expansion for it. Don't know much about it yet, but I'm expecting more tiles!
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Caverna: Cave vs. cave by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
Rajas of the Ganges was a Christmas gift from my husband and it is a huge hit! I've played it with all the player counts and enjoyed them all. If you enjoy worker placement maybe give this one a try. It has an interesting scoring mechanism, which I really like. It has dice as a resource of sorts, which is pretty cool. With 4 the game is a bit long, but can be enjoyable with the right people. I might like 3 players best.
I'm wondering if I might even teach it to my mother-in-law. She plays The Voyages of Marco Polo just fine, so I'm considering if she might be able to grasp this one too. While they are totally different games, they are about the same weight.
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Boats on the Ganges. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
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Some more Rajas of the Ganges. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
Pulsar 2849 is a sci-fi dice drafting game and it is amazing. The game takes up your whole table, but it's OK because the game is just so good. So many things to think about, as it is a bit of a point-salad. At first I was somewhat lukewarm on the art but after playing the game it has grown on me. My husband was also pleasantly surprised how much he enjoyed Pulsar and I think he is not upset with me buying it anymore :D There is a small issue of not having any space on our game shelf but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. We had a game night with us and my cousin Jonna and my niece Maiju, and I think they all loved it! I'm thinking about upgrading the dice to a little more dazzling ones, because the silver wood ones, while being functional, are a little dull.
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Pulsar 2849. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
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Pulsar 2849 is huge! by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
A friend of mine Tero gave us his copy of Bärenpark which I instantly had to teach to my mother-in-law. She loves Patchwork and Cottage Garden so Bärenpark was a must try with her. And it did not dissapoint. I actually like Bärenpark more than Cottage Garden. It has achievement tiles which give the game just a little bit more to think about, while Cottage Garden is more zen like. I do have to admit I've played the CG app like a hundred times, though. Bärenpark is also getting an expansion which is sweet!
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Bärenpark. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
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My polar bears enjoying their ice house in Bärenpark. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
I also bought a Feld from Tero. What?, you say. Yes, I'm not biggest Feld fan and I'm sorry for that, but nevertheless, I decided to give AquaSphere a go. So when Tero was selling his copy I thought why not? Still haven't gotten it to the table, but I'm hoping to sooner rather than later. I'm actually really interested in Merlin by the same designer, so maybe I'm growing to become a Feldian. Who knows. AquaSphere does look a bit busy on the table, but I'm confident that once I'm familiar with the rules it all makes sense.
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Feld has entered our house. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
My latest acquisition was The Voyages of Marco Polo: Agents of Venice and The Voyages of Marco Polo: The New Characters. Marco Polo is one of my favorite games and my husband honestly told me to get it a.s.a.p. And that is rare, I tell you. And what is the most important thing about the expansion is the purple playing pieces.
Not really, but it is nice to be honest. The Agents of Venice expansion adds a small new board, so bigger table might be needed. Luckily our new kitchen has a bigger table for such occasions. The New Characters mini expansion was something I had meant to get much earlier but somehow just always forgot to. Has anyone succeeded to put all the expansion material to the base game box? Seems unlikely. Maybe if I take out the insert.
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Marco?..........Polo! by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
That's it folks! Hope you guys have a nice week :)
And here is a picture of Luka with Gulo gulo which he got as a gift. Maybe in a couple of years he can actually play it ;)
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Our baby boy with a gift for the future. by Miira Hartemo, on Flickr
Finally I have some time and energy to write my blog since a small hiatus. Life took over with moving to a bigger apartment and getting ready for our baby who actually was born 5 weeks premature. Now I am a mother for a beautiful baby boy.
So what's new, you ask? Last fall I was part of a group who started a new Finnish board game award called Pelaajien Valinta i.e. Player's choice. This is something I'm pretty proud of and I hope to continue my work with the award and the jury in the future. I won't bore you with the details since it is an award for games published in Finnish.
Concerning actual board games, the end of the year was a bit lackluster. In September I attended the annual Lautapelaaman con with my husband and niece. I needed to test some games for my jury duty, but we did get to play other games too. Unfortunately I had round ligament pain during the whole weekend which made sitting for hours, well, a pain in the ass. Lautapelaamaan is always fun because I get to meet friends from all over my country, which is a rare treat.
Because our son decided that he wanted to be a 2017 baby instead of a 2018 one, I missed out on the Board Game Marathon which we have every New Year's Eve. I was going to post about it as usual but life is sometimes quite surprising. There has been talk about a faux marathon so maybe I'll get my chance.
Our collection has gotten some new acquisitions which is always nice. I'm most excited about Rajas of the Ganges and Pulsar 2849 which are awesome! So happy to have them. I also have Nusfjord waiting to be played, but I need to do some fimo work for it before it gets played. All my Uwe's need to have fimo characters before they get played. We have also been enjoying Caverna: Cave vs Cave for a quick two-player game. I'm so excited for the upcoming expansion for it. Don't know much about it yet, but I'm expecting more tiles!
Rajas of the Ganges was a Christmas gift from my husband and it is a huge hit! I've played it with all the player counts and enjoyed them all. If you enjoy worker placement maybe give this one a try. It has an interesting scoring mechanism, which I really like. It has dice as a resource of sorts, which is pretty cool. With 4 the game is a bit long, but can be enjoyable with the right people. I might like 3 players best.
I'm wondering if I might even teach it to my mother-in-law. She plays The Voyages of Marco Polo just fine, so I'm considering if she might be able to grasp this one too. While they are totally different games, they are about the same weight.
Pulsar 2849 is a sci-fi dice drafting game and it is amazing. The game takes up your whole table, but it's OK because the game is just so good. So many things to think about, as it is a bit of a point-salad. At first I was somewhat lukewarm on the art but after playing the game it has grown on me. My husband was also pleasantly surprised how much he enjoyed Pulsar and I think he is not upset with me buying it anymore :D There is a small issue of not having any space on our game shelf but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. We had a game night with us and my cousin Jonna and my niece Maiju, and I think they all loved it! I'm thinking about upgrading the dice to a little more dazzling ones, because the silver wood ones, while being functional, are a little dull.
A friend of mine Tero gave us his copy of Bärenpark which I instantly had to teach to my mother-in-law. She loves Patchwork and Cottage Garden so Bärenpark was a must try with her. And it did not dissapoint. I actually like Bärenpark more than Cottage Garden. It has achievement tiles which give the game just a little bit more to think about, while Cottage Garden is more zen like. I do have to admit I've played the CG app like a hundred times, though. Bärenpark is also getting an expansion which is sweet!
I also bought a Feld from Tero. What?, you say. Yes, I'm not biggest Feld fan and I'm sorry for that, but nevertheless, I decided to give AquaSphere a go. So when Tero was selling his copy I thought why not? Still haven't gotten it to the table, but I'm hoping to sooner rather than later. I'm actually really interested in Merlin by the same designer, so maybe I'm growing to become a Feldian. Who knows. AquaSphere does look a bit busy on the table, but I'm confident that once I'm familiar with the rules it all makes sense.
My latest acquisition was The Voyages of Marco Polo: Agents of Venice and The Voyages of Marco Polo: The New Characters. Marco Polo is one of my favorite games and my husband honestly told me to get it a.s.a.p. And that is rare, I tell you. And what is the most important thing about the expansion is the purple playing pieces.
Not really, but it is nice to be honest. The Agents of Venice expansion adds a small new board, so bigger table might be needed. Luckily our new kitchen has a bigger table for such occasions. The New Characters mini expansion was something I had meant to get much earlier but somehow just always forgot to. Has anyone succeeded to put all the expansion material to the base game box? Seems unlikely. Maybe if I take out the insert.
That's it folks! Hope you guys have a nice week :)
And here is a picture of Luka with Gulo gulo which he got as a gift. Maybe in a couple of years he can actually play it ;)
