Our August 21 session will be a request night….an opportunity to bring back games that our table leaders have introduced to us in the last couple of sessions as well as recent arrivals and games that didn’t quite make it to our tables despite prepping.

Steve will be bringing/leading Cities, Mille Fiore, Shake That City, Faraway and Courtisans

Matt will be bringing/leading Bloodstone

Tim will be bringing/leading Cities, Rock Hard 1977, Wilmot’s Warehouse and Furnace

Sean will be bringing/leading Sea Dragons, Tangram City and Cat in the Box

We had over a dozen tweens, teens and adults for an afternoon of easy games at the Milne Williamstown Public Library including:  Lacuna, Rummikub, Super Mega Lucky Box, A Pet’s Life, Take It Easy, Point Salad, Cahoots, Kites and Mind Up. We’re working on changing the hours for our 3rd Thursday of the month series as the library will be open until 8 PM on Tuesdays through Thursdays starting in September.

Most of our regulars have renewed their memberships for the 9/1/2024 to 8/31/2025 year to cover our annual rent at the UNO community center. If you haven’t done so already, please send the PayPal funds to Steve at your earliest convenience. A reminder that your membership entitles you to a 10% discount off games purchased at Where’d’youGetThat gift store – at the foot of Spring Street in Williamstown.

Cities 1 (led by Tim) 2024 drafting collaboration between prolific Australian designer, Phil Walker-Harding and Bostonian Dr Steve Finn. The game is played over eight rounds. Each round, players use their workers to collect 1 scoring card, 1 city tile, 1-2 feature tiles, and 2-4 building pieces. City tiles are made up of park spaces, water spaces, and building spaces. Building pieces are placed on building spaces of the same color to form buildings, which can be 1-4 stories high. Whenever a player fulfills an achievement, they place one of their wooden rings on the achievement board. At the end of the game, players add up the points they have gained from all of their scoring cards and achievements. Tim chose the GenCon promotional Indianapolis setting with public rewards for the Convention Center, Speedway and Downtown.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/402676/cities

Cities 2 (led by K-ban) Same game but played with the Venice setting which, of course, rewarded WATER in 3 different flavors (bridges, Grand Canal and 7 buildings touching water). The base game comes with 8 different cities that neatly ties theme to gameplay. This one is my prediction for the 2025 SdJ winner as it is easy to teach but has interesting decisions and can be played in around 45 minutes.

Shake That City (led by Sean) 2023 puzzle tile-laying game for 1-4 players, that plays under an hour! The game is played over a series of rounds. The active player shakes the Cube Shaker and presses its slider to reveal a 3×3 pattern, based on which they need to place the corresponding building tiles of a single color of their choice on their board. The building tiles correspond to roads, factories, shops, parks and of course, homes. The other players then pick any building color other than the one the active player picked, then place matching colored tiles in the matching pattern on their board. Players earn points for tile-placement combinations and for the completed bonus point tiles around the edge of their board. Twelve rounds are played this way with the final 3 rounds no longer having any no selection restrictions (other than their orientation).

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/359764/shake-that-city

Railroad Ink with Futuristic Expansion Pack (led by Rachel) 2018 multiplayer puzzle game where player’s goal is to connect as many exits on their board as possible. Each round, a set of dice are rolled in the middle of the table, determining which kind of road and railway routes are available to all players. Players have to draw these routes on their erasable boards to create transport lines and connect their exits, trying to optimize the available symbols better than their opponents. The more exits connected, the more points scored at the end of the game, but players lose points for each incomplete route, so plan carefully! Will you press your luck and try to stretch your transportation network to the next exit, or will you play it safe and start a new, simpler to manage route? the expansion added city building aspects to Rachel’s new favorite game.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/251678/railroad-ink-blazing-red-edition

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgameexpansion/320735/railroad-ink-futuristic-expansion-pack

Nova Roma (led by Matt) 2023 worker placement area majority game where players are the head of an ancient and noble Roman house. Players must deploy their family members and retainers to accomplish a variety of goals. Construct buildings, dominate sea routes, secure resources, race in the hippodrome, and hire specialists. At the end of the game, the family that has done the most to please the Emperor and achieve their own agendas will emerge as the victor.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/370789/nova-roma

KeyFlower (led by Sean) 2012 Richard Breese (Key series of games) auction, set collection, tile placement, engine building and worker placement game where workers can be used to take actions or to bid for tiles. Balancing one’s actions between bidding, upgrading, shuffling resources, and simply trying to bog down opponents are what makes the game shine as the same resource is used for all options.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/122515/keyflower

Villagers (led by Drew) 2019 card drafting and engine-building game. Players recruit villagers and build their tableau each round, making tactical decisions to optimise production chains and earn points. There are many expansions in the box that need to be explored in future sessions.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/241724/villagers

SkyRise (led by Tim) 2024 area control/majorities bidding game where players are building a magnificent city in the sky, dedicated to art, science, and beauty.  A very clever spatial auction system is utilized to win building sites, earning favor across Islands and factions, scoring secret and public objectives, courting mysterious Patrons, and building your own unique Wonder. This deluxe crowdfunded design has incredible table presence with 3D buildings and a unique modular board made up of islands. It is inspired by Sebastien Pauchon’s 2008 Spiel Des Jahres recommended Metropolys.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/298231/skyrise

Steve