Our (seventh annual) JeffCon weekend up at Lake Kachess was last week, and we once again brought a mix of old classics and new games to try out. Here are some of the games we played this year:
- Greed Incorporated - This business game had a number of aspects that I enjoyed, and it reminded me of a 18XX game without the railroads. Each player runs one or more companies and attempts to make their financial statements look as good as possible. If you don't increase your earnings from last turn, some of those in leadership positions will get "the boot". Which isn't all bad, as there is typically a hefty exit bonus involved. Those nice bonuses provide cash that players use to buy victory points and win the game. I enjoyed the business part, but the victory points seemed to add a unnecessary layer of complication - I would have preferred to have the winner be the player with the most cash at the end of the game.
- Isle of Skye - We played this old favorite with the new Druids expansion, which adds another buying round that can help out players recover from a bad start. I enjoyed it and was able to win the game with a enclosed scroll which provided a huge bonus at the end for all my completed areas, (for which I had many - mainly from the new purchasing round).
- High Society - This was a fun bidding game and I joined the group late in one of the later plays. The player with the highest score wins unless they have the least amount of money left over. This rule allowed me to end up winning the game with the second highest total....
- Star Wars: Destiny - Last year I introduced the group to Star Wars: Destiny using a home-brewed co-operative game. Since then, we have played a large number of two-player matches against one another. I still find the game to be quick and enjoyable and also have had fun constructing my different decks. We ended up doing a draft, which took a number of hours, but provided a ton of rounds of matches.
- Diamonds - This trick-taking game was similar to Hearts, but adds a "suit action" that allows you to take an action after winning a hand. It was simple and a good late evening game.
- KeyForge - I was able to finally try out a game of KeyForge, the card game by Richard Garfield which was announced at last year's GenCon. Every card is part of a “house", and each house has different qualities. Each unique deck is composed of cards from exactly three houses, all mixed together. I really enjoyed the game and I'm excited to try out the other decks I've collected over the last year.
- Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay - For the first time in over two decades we ran an RPG. We used old V1 rules and characters, and as GM I enjoyed presenting my Old World scenario which took place in a small hamlet and a nearby mining camp.
- Battlestar Galactica - This old classic hadn't been played in awhile and so it took us some time to get back into the swing of things. Once we did, we all enjoyed the suspicion, intrigue, and fun accusations it provides. The Cylons won suddenly after it had appeared that the humans would have a smooth pathway to victory....