Lets see what I played:
MILESTONES
Played 2 games of 2 player Milestones. Both games I manage to break past 80 points and its a first for me. Milestones is rapidly becoming a top 10 for me in 2012 and somehow the game clicks for me on many levels. It is easy to teach, easy to learn and fast to play. Only when you start to ponder how to score points and what materials you need to exchange and convert will the game bog down somewhat. My friend who played with me is not too fond of it yet. I think he will need several plays before he can form an opinion about it. I would recommend this to gamers that like medium weight euros especially if you enjoy the rondel mechanism.
PLATO 3000
After the disastrous 4 player game I had previously (where I did not read the rule correctly for "extending the job") my next few games (with 2 and 3 players) have been excellent and very fun! I will certainly recommend this game as a 2 / 3 player light game that is again, easy to teach and fun to play. For those that like rummy style games this is a very good game to try. The artwork is fantastic and I love the bold colors. Text on the card is easy to read and comprehend. Now I can understand why many people rave about this card game. Not sure if it will reach my top 10 for 2012 but it is certainly a good contender!
FLEET
A friend of mine backed the Kickstarter for Fleet and I managed to snag a copy from him as my interest was piped after talking to Joel (Drive Thru Review fame) and I was eager to give it a go. So far I have played 4 or 5 games including in my office during lunch. This is a light weight card game that reminds me of Race for the Galaxy lite. You are trying to manage your hand of cards so as to have enough to bid during auctions, pay to and use to launch ships and to captain these ships. So in summary you are trying to create a card generating engine to help you score points and win the game. Its quite a fun game for now at least and I will look forward to playing with the other kickstarter promos, though it was mentioned to me that the weather and casino license cards are horrible (awww but the casino comes with that large wooden die!). If you have a copy of the game, you got to have the fish-eeples. They are very nicely done and draws the players into the game so much more than just blue cubes. Many players have commented how cute they are! So give this a try if you haven't and especially if you are a race for the galaxy fan (no role choosing though).
SEASONS
4 player Seasons! Manage to have a game of this with 4 players in person. I went with my usual route which is to have as many cards as I can. I haven't mastered the transmutation way though I have been trounced online with that many a times. It is fun and all but I am not sure why its not as fun as I had imagined it to be in my head. I am wondering if the wooden cubes on the too small numbers is irking me even though it is really a very small issue. The art is awesome and I think its the same artist that did Isla Dorada as well as the upcoming Tokaido. Very good components, awesome art, not a bad game (even for 4) as long as people do not suffer from analysis paralysis. I am still not sure if I am going to keep my copy from NYC though, but we'll see when it arrives :)
VILLAGE
Another favorite of mine and one that will probably be in my Top 10 for 2012. Its always fun to play this game and I tried a different route than my usual strategy this time. I did not gun for the Village Chronicles this time and was trying alternative strategy (i.e. go via the Travel route). However, halfway through the game, we found ourselves going back to our usual strategy which was quite amusing. We had a tense last round and because we had never found ourselves in such a situation before, the victor narrowly won the game. I came in 3rd and I realized the importance of the Village chronicle in the game. I added the extra customer tiles I have bought from BGG and they don't seem to impact the original game too much. Very fun medium euro worker placement style of game and one I recommend as well!
MARRAKECH
3 player Marrakech! I haven't tried this game with 3 yet and it was interesting to see how big swaths of the same carpets can appear on the map. It made for a very treacherousness maneuvering of Assam the meeple but luckily for us we did not step into the sea of yellow carpets. Still quite a fun game for me as I love the components and how simple the game is yet holds quite a bit of tactical depth for me.
TROYES
Had the opportunity to bring this out again and 3 of us have played before with the last player being new to the game. I added the promos from BGG and that event which drew out another red card was painful. Throughout this game, we did not really clear a lot of the events and thus we found them hurting us way too much. The rules for activating cards can sometimes be a bit confusing for me, especially when I start to think about multiple chains. Still this is a rather unique and fun game. You can find it online at boardgamearena.com. I am not too sure what Ladies of Troyes will bring to the game. So far it seems there will be an extra smaller board and a few more cards to add to the base game. Think I will most likely buy it because I do like Troyes quite a bit. Good game, good game.
INFERNAL CONTRAPTION
This and HEAP are the only mistake purchases from GENCON. I was "duped" by the graphics and the impulse buy that I bought both of them at GENCON after an initial demo of HEAP at the booth. The game itself is not bad but for the amount of time it took for 3 of us to play this game (almost 2 hours), it does not justify the amount of fun we had. In the end, after I lost all my Parts pile, we stopped the game and played something else. I think perhaps we can reduce the Parts pile per player and thus end the game earlier. That may help the game somewhat.
HELVETIA
Ah, the game where you are a mad scientist and you are trying to perform your evil deeds and you have this village setup above your lair as a distraction. To ensure the secret agents of the world do not disrupt your evil plans and discover your existence, you must ensure the people in the village (who you have conveniently brain washed) perform their daily routines as normal.
Well at least that is the story I tell everyone. Otherwise its hard to explain why you can:
1) control when they work and wake up
2) control whom they marry
3) control which gender the offspring shall be
All jokes aside, this is a very unique game to play because there is marrying involved (which allows you access to another player's house (and product) and making babies (which gives you more work force provided you have a married couple in the same house in your village). There are no goods components per say because any and all goods that you produced will be used up immediately. Thus you only activate your person to get the goods when you can use it. A very good game and I recommend this as well!
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