Reviews | Spielbound

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Title	Title	Comment	Post date
Dune	Bene Gesserit emerge victorious!	We wound up having an epic seven player game that lasted five and a half hours. It was a bloody, bloody mess as factions continuously disappeared completely from the map only to re-emerge stronger and more resilient later. Sand worms appeared and alliances formed - The Fremen working with the Bene Gesserit, the Emperor and Harkonnen, and the Landsraat and The Guild. Each of the Alliances were on the verge of victory at one time or the other but ultimately it was the Emperor and Harkonnen who controlled four of the five strongholds at the end of round 9...only to be foiled by the Bene Gesserit's pre-game prediction, which identified the Harkonnen winning in Round 9. Thanks to the bit of good fortune, the Bene Gesserit came out on top!	Sun, 2015-01-04 09:37
Emira	Assemble a Harem!	The third and final favorite-Bryce game I'm demoing this month is Emira, the game of strategic harem acquisition. Some might think this sort of theme would result in a casual party game. But no! Emira is an elegant assortment of classic Euro mechanics: There are auctions! There are several fun tracks to keep track of! There is set collection! And there is exciting cube-pushing action! Yes! Plus, there's no need to feel embarrassed, awkward, or politically incorrect playing this game. It was designed by a woman so it's all good!	Sat, 2014-12-06 22:46
Trias	Dinosaurs All Over The Place!	The Trias demo was a huge success! We had two separate 5-player games going on at the same time. Both games came down to the wire and ended with very small point spreads from first to last. There was lots of intense dinosaur action to be had: dinosaur migration, dinosaur drowning, dinosaur babies, and dinosaur domination!	Sat, 2014-12-06 22:37
Empire Builder	Come draw on a game board with crayons!	The second game I'm demoing this month is Empire Builder, the original crayon rails game. What is crayon rails, you ask? It's a game mechanic where players actually draw their railroad lines on the game board in crayon! Sounds childish? Ha! You'll wish it was a children's game when you're bankrupt and struggling to deliver coffee from Southern Mexico to Toronto! Seriously, this is an amazing game and I'm not exaggerating when I say the crayon rails series of games changed my board gaming life! It's that amazing and oh, so much fun. I can't wait to share it!	Fri, 2014-12-05 00:29
Trias	Dinomeeples!	I'm demoing some of my all-time personal favorites in December. First up is Trias, a dinosaur-themed action point selection / area control game. Roar!	Fri, 2014-12-05 00:19
Walnut Grove	Game 2 of November Pioneer Saturdays!	Walnut Grove is the second pioneer-themed game I'm demoing on Saturdays in November. This one combines a couple of my favorite board game mechanics in a completely unique way: tile laying and worker placement! Expanding your homestead and watching your workers starve was never so much fun!	Thu, 2014-11-06 00:07
Glen More	Game 2 of November Sheep Wednesdays!	So, earlier in the month I ran a demo of Shear Panic and, following in the thematic sheep footsteps of that game, tonight I'm teaching Glen More! Okay, technically Glen More isn't a game about sheep. It's a game about farming in the Scottish highlands, of which raising sheep is just one element. But there is a sheep on the cover and there are white cubes in the game that pretend to be sheep - so I'm going with the whole sheep theme anyway!	Thu, 2014-11-06 00:00
Shear Panic	Shear Panic Demo a Huge Success!	Thanks to everyone who dropped by for the Shear Panic demo! While teaching the game to a couple hanging out in the cafe at 6:00, several other people were unable to resist the lure of those cute sheep pieces and requested to get in a game after the first was over. I wound up breaking out my extra copy of the game and ran two more games at the same time at 7:00. All together - 7 people learned Shear Panic tonight while participating in a total of three separate games! Sheep-tastic!	Wed, 2014-11-05 23:55
Oregon	It's Pioneer Saturdays in November!	I'm running a couple of pioneer-themed games every other Saturday in November. Why? I can't think of a good reason except that these are a couple of awesome games that I'd love to teach other people. First up is Oregon, a BGG highly-ranked game and one of the highlights of the out-of-print section of the Spielbound library. There's nothing quite like this card-based worker-placement game.	Mon, 2014-11-03 11:46
Shear Panic	It's Sheep Wednesday in November!	I'm running a couple of sheep-themed games every other Wednesday in November. Why? Because sheep are awesome! First up is Shear Panic, the game of strategic sheep manipulation. This game from Mayfair features some of the most beautiful components you'll ever see in a game and, while certainly family-friendly, also offers satisfying strategic options for any designer board game fan!	Mon, 2014-11-03 11:40