To clarify, game of the week, doesn't mean the best game. It means the best play of a game in a week.
Similarly, dud doesn't mean worse game I played, just one that fell the most flat.
________________________________________________________________________
~NEW TO ME~
Arkham Horror: The Card Game
Full campaign, 3 players.
We lost badly in the last game, mainly because we struggled to get clues in the 2nd game.
VERDICT - 
While we were playing the first game, I was feeling great about the game. It felt thematic, I felt like my decisions mattered, and we were all having fun. All those things quickly were tore away over the next 2 games. The game became move to location, draw a random token for skill check, move token from one card to another until full. REPEAT. And the longer this went on, the less I was liking it. Worse, the theme of our locations was gone. At one point we were in woods, it could have been in a busy city or on a moon base, and nothing would have felt different or be changed. At the end of the day I enjoyed the game, but I didn't love it. My expectations were huge for this, and I must say it's a big disappointment. LCGs are expensive, and it needed to be love for me to invest.
I'm not even sure I liked it more than mansions of madness. The hand management is massively better than the near non existent choices in mansions. However mansions does such a better job pulling you into it's world and making you feel the theme. Each scenario in mansions feels different. Arkham is much bigger pain to set up each game.
As it stands, I'm hoping to play the game occasionally if someone else in my group picks it up and collects it. I say it's likely, as the people I was playing with enjoyed it more than me.
#Up4Trade
Different characters have a different feel Good hand management Cool upgrading your deck between missions Great artwork
Feels more mechanical than thematic after a short while Long fiddly set up time Repetitive gameplay Biggest ripoff of the "core set" and needing two, of all the LCGs. FFG should be ashamed of themselves for ever defending it as anything other than the blatant cash grab it is, while producing a bunch of useless waste (you throw away over 1/2 the 2nd core).
________________________________________________________________________
The Gallerist
John won by a mere 3 points, in a game I didn't think I was remotely in.
VERDICT -
John asked to play this before meetup saturday morning. I'm always up for trying new games, especially worker placement. So we went with this instead of Trickerion. I had no idea it was a stock market game. Ask me my most hated game type, and I'd probably tell you stock market games where you move soulless tracks up and down. So dread over came me once it became clear that's what this game is. Luckily, it's a really good one with a decent theme. I understand that people who love stock market games, would love this game. I still would never want to play it again. But since it wasn't a terrible game, I was invested and I wasn't having a miserable time playing it.
Decent theme Amazing player aid. FFG take note! Solid bits, and clear board
Bonus salad Weird Reputation system (or was it called fame, or influence?) Art on the art, doesn't match the type of art. Boring eurotrack manipulation
________________________________________________________________________
7 Wonders Duel: Pantheon
I was feeling pretty good, until a massive money swing happened at the beginning of the 2nd round. The end of the game card flop was also not nice to me, a 14 point swing based on pure luck.
VERDICT - 
I liked it, but I'm not sure I loved it. Not all gods are created equally, and some are very powerful. This adds luck and swinyness to the game. Think of them as random wonders you can buy. Still a very fun time, but hard to say if it's an approvement over the base game. This is of course after just 1 play, so my feelings will be more clear after the next time.
#Top25
________________________________________________________________________
~NOT NEW TO ME~
Codex: Card-Time Strategy – Deluxe Set
Travis won the 3 player game, but honestly it was a total crapshoot of who would win.
VERDICT -
I think it's safe to say, I'll never ever play 3+ plus players again. It took 2.5 hours to play this one, and AP wasn't bad except for a few times. It's just way too many things going on. That's ok though, the 2 player game is still one of the best games on the planet.
#Top10
________________________________________________________________________
Islebound
3 Players
John won, but I had the last turn where I simply could have asked what everyone's score was, to take an action to win. So I'll call it a win for me.
VERDICT -
I still find this to be a pretty cool game for how light it is versus amount of options. However, just like Ancient World, my friends don't share that opinion. It's gotten mixed feedback to say the least. On the trade pile it goes.
#Up4Trade
________________________________________________________________________
~DUD OF THE WEEK~
Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne
A five way tie for first. Yep, you read that right. This happened after Brett forced a house to be eliminated, and we were all tied at 1 point.
VERDICT -
3 plays of this, and they've all been poor. And it has nothing to do with the gameplay itself. It's all because FFG didn't put mother fraking player aids in the mother fraking box. It's just a giant game of explain the same rules over and over. It's like FFG didn't test this game one single fraking time with a group of newbies. It will not be busted out again until player aids are available.
________________________________________________________________________
~GAME OF THE WEEK~
Yedo
The last time Sean lost a game of Yedo, was 2 and half years ago. He ended my streak of never having lost the game at the time. That was a ton of plays ago for sean, much less for me. Even before we started people around the game were commenting things like "you're playing that with sean? well your gonna loose". Sean and I get pretty banter heavy in games, and it's never higher than it is in Yedo. I took much delight in ending his commanding streak of wins. Yep I defeated him, by 3 points.
VERDICT -
Hard to believe it's been almost 2 years since my last play of Yedo. Yedo is my 2nd favorite worker placement game. It does badly need an expansion, that is thankfully finally coming in some form or another.
This game also produced one of the best rules arguement I've ever had. So much so, others took part in it from other games, and we were all laughing pretty good. The situation? Sean had 14 points, me and the other player had 9. An event card came out that gave 2 points for the player with the fewest points (in case of tie they both get it). Then it gives 1 point for the player with the second fewest points. Sean argued he had the second fewest points. Hilarity ensued. Hopefully the designer can clear this up for us. I'll tip him so geekgold if he rules it in my favor, just because Sean will be hilariously furious.
#Top25
________________________________________________________________________
FINAL THOUGHTS
Arkham certainly let me down. Maybe it can be awesome a year from now. That's one thing a LCG can benefit from. It's been mostly a let down year, from new to me games. Except for a few, but those few have been amazing. I still have a lot on my shelf, that I'd really like to get to the table. That either haven't been played in quite some time, or at all. As far as new stuff, I'm debating Blood Bowl 4th Edition. I'm a big sports guy, but I'm just unsure if I'd like it or not.
JUST ARRIVED/ARRIVING SOON
Super Motherload
I enjoyed this game a lot when it first came out. But I traded it to George for something I was really wanting. My thinking at the time was, if I trade it to George I can play it anytime. Over the last 2 years I've learned that is very not true. It's rare to see george bring back games. So I'm happy to have picked this up again. I have a huge gap in my collection between big long games and fillers. So I'd like to get some more hour long light to medium games (that friends will like).
This is a weird one. I'm actually not getting it to play 1st & goal (though I'll give it another try). I'm getting it for the board, to use with Fliip Football. Fliip Football is a great game, but has a fiddly board to use for downs and such. I remember 1st & Goal's board being amazing.
Codex: Card-Time Strategy – Deluxe Set
Final 2 colors should arrive this friday, woohoo. Still pissed they don't come with their binders, especially for the cost. $40 bucks for >200 cards (of poor quality) is pathetic.
