1/16 Featured Games

Hello Everybody!


This upcoming Friday (in two days!) will be our regularly scheduled FND.  Attendance has been great over the past few months and we expect that to continue as we push forward through this cold January!!  If you're not busy Friday night, come play some games in our lovely (and warm) facilities and Bridge Church!

Also, mark your calendars as January has five Fridays which means we will be having a bonus FND on the fifth Friday of the month!


This upcoming Friday we will be featuring games that involve BOATS.  Boats, Boats, Boats!

I (Lee N.) will not be there this upcoming Friday so our good friends Tish and Laura will be bringing and teaching all of these lovely aquatic games!

Tsuro of the Seas

I have never played Tsuro or its sequel (of the sea), however, I see them all of the time at game stores so I've always presumed they are solid abstract games.  Tsuro of the Sea has some nice artwork that features boats, so even though it is an abstract game (meaning the theme doesn't necessarily influence the mechanics), it still fits this theme quite nicely.  Again, I've never played, so I'm not sure how it works, but according to BGG:  The basic game play of Tsuro of the Seas resembles that of Tom McMurchie's Tsuro: Players each have a ship that they want to sail — that is, keep on the game board — as long as possible. Whoever stays on the board the longest wins the game.

Hansa

Hansa is another game I've never played - in fact I'd never heard of it until Tish mentioned it (which is impressive - I'm pretty nerdy and have heard of most games).  Hansa is a neat Euro-game that has players taking the role of Hanseatic Merchants trying to buy and sell goods, establish trading posts, and do other Euro-y things along the coasts of Scandinavia. 



Settlers of Catan: Seafarers


Settlers of Catan was my gateway game and I personally own every expansion (except the newest).  Tish will be bringing her copy of Catan with the Seaside expansion.  While at this point in my life I generally avoid Catan, there is a certain degree of nostalgia when I think of it.  We played the heck out of Catan back in the day and Seafarers was always our favorite expansion.  If you've never played Settlers before then you should because its arguably the most important board game of the past twenty years (its that old).  Trading, bidding, rolling 7's.  It'll all be there.

Pirate's Cove

Pirate's Cove is produced by Days of Wonder.  Days of Wonder is probably the company that produces the most consistently good games of anybody out there. They don't make a lot of 'em per year, but when they do, they're great. Ticket to Ride, Memoir 44, Shadows Over Camelot, Five Tribes - all superb Days of Wonder games.  Pirate's Cove never really picked up the sames team as those other games, but it has gorgeous components and by all accounts is quite fun.  You're pirates.  You do piratey things. I've never played it, soo that's all I've got to offer as far as specifics, other than a complimentary arrrrr.




Niagara

Our next game has actually won the Spiel de Jahres award and did so back in 2005.  I've never played Niagara, but generally speaking games that win the Spiel are quite good.  According to BGG, here's what you do:

Niagara is set in the not particularly safe world of rushing waterfalls. In the late 18th Century, the Shawnee and Iroquois Indians pointed white Desperadoes, Mercenaries and Adventurers in the direction of hidden caches of valuable jewels, in the hopes of turning them against one another and away from their territorial expansion ambitions. Players play as some of those Adventurers.

The first player to be able to claim ownership of five jewels is the winner. But the chase after the riches has some snags. The speed of the river is always changing, since the speed depends on the decisions of the players and the changeable weather. And once a canoe goes over the falls, it's a hefty investment to replace it. And there are also the Desperadoes to contend with, who aren't above trying to plunder the riches from Adventurers returning home. Niagara is distinguished by an innovative movement mechanic as well as a beautiful three-dimensional rendering of the waterfall setting.

Dominion: Seaside

Dominion is a very famous Deckbuilding game that has roughly six thousand expansions.  The one we will be specifically featuring this Friday is the Seaside expansion which has several boat and port related cards.  In this game, everyone starts with the same ten cards and as the game progresses you add cards to your deck to try and create the most efficient engine of cards.  It plays fast, is immensely replayable because each game has different cards, and overall is a very good game.  It also is a Spiel de Jahres winner (I think).

Well, that's all of our featured games!  We hope to see you out at FND this upcoming Friday.  Bring some friends and have fun!