West Coast Meeple Fest, Wrap Up

Looking back at the weekend the clear winners for me were Die Burgen von Burgund and Airlines Europe.

Die Burgen von Burgund does all the things I want from a game, and it does them pretty well. Turns are fast, with few but meaningful choices. There’s some interaction with the other players, but not direct confrontation. There are multiple paths to victory, and it seems possible to change strategies mid-game. The die-rolling mechanic is an elegant way to constrain player choices without causing luck to trump strategy. I’m not a fan of some of the production choices — I think the board looks like it was printed on a inkjet printer whose cartridge was running low — but it’s a solid game. I expect this one to be appearing at our house soon.

Airlines Europe is basically a third as long and a third as deep. I played three route-building and stock market games this weekend, and this one was my favorite. It is as simple as possible, and no simpler. That, combined with my love my Alan Moon’s designs, means that we’ll probably pick this up as well. And it’s short enough that it could see some weeknight play. Sweet.

As always, Gwen and I had a fantastic time at Meeple Fest. I commented on the way home that over the course of the three previous times we’ve attended, I’d played games with at least half of this year’s attendees. Gwen thinks for her it’s closer to two-thirds. That’s one of the reasons it feels less like a convention and more like a get-together with friends.

Friends who play a lot of board games, that is.

Update

Fitness: None
Sun, Moon, and Stars: 0 words, 201 seven-day average, 260 average, 34090 total, 1910 to go for the week