Timeline Diversity Review

Timeline is a trivia game where you are attempting to place events in their proper order.  It has numerous sets, covering different types of events.  The sets are Inventions, Discoveries, Historical Events, and one set even has a mix of all of the above.  Diversity is the set I'm reviewing specifically, which is the set with a mix of all the different types of events.

Timeline was published by Asmodee in 2010 and was designed by Frédéric Henry.  I had heard about it for a while, and it looked interesting.  I'd take an active interest in it off and on, watching the various sets go in and out of stock on my wishlist.  Finally one night at my FLGS with my girlfriend, I decided to pick it up, thinking it would be a good quick game for us.  We went home and immediately played it, and I think it's the only game she's ever asked to play again right away.

Down in Flames: Guns Blazing Review

Down in Flames: Guns Blazing is a World War II air combat game designed and published by Dan Verssen in 2010.  It's half of the current printing of a series that has its root back at GMT Games 20 years ago.  The other half of the current printing is Down in Flames: Aces High, which I have not played, but which has identical rules.

I discovered Down in Flames one evening when I wandered into my local gaming shop.  These two older grognards were playing the original GMT version and appeared to be having a great time.  They were also the only people not playing Magic, so I asked them if I could watch.  They took the time to introduce me to the game, and answer a few of my questions. It looked like a lot of fun, so I went home and looked to see what the current availability of it was.

I have no clue what happened, but some poor guy must have messed up their order to a distributor.  Because one retailer was selling copies of Down in Flames: Guns Blazing for $4 on Amazon.  Turns out that retailer was sitting on over 100 copies of it, where as most retailers might stock 2 or 3.  Sure, it wasn't the GMT version I saw being played, but for $4 who was I to say no?

Alhambra Review

Alhambra was released in 2003 by Queen Games and was designed by Dirk Henn.  It's a tile laying/set collection game, and one of the most often mentioned gateway games.  I discovered the game shortly after getting into board games.  A very sweet middle aged woman who worked at a local gaming store recommended it.  She said she played it nearly every week with her husband and another couple.  She especially recommended the Big Box.

Alhambra sat on my wish list for a while before I followed up on her suggestion.  I played it a few times, and didn't really see what the big deal was.  I had tunnel vision at the time towards bigger and "better" games.  Alhambra even almost got traded away numerous times.  But I kept it, and decided to revisit it from time to time.  I'm actually glad I did, and here is my review.

San Juan Review

San Juan was released in 2004 by Rio Grande Games, and was designed by Andreas Seyfarth.  It is the card version of Puerto Rico, and in my personal opinion, superior to it's parent game.  It also bares a striking resemblance to Race for the Galaxy.

For years San Juan would come up every time Race for the Galaxy was mentioned.  But being such similar games, I always ignored San Juan because I already owned Race for the Galaxy.  However, a few weeks ago San Juan was on sale for iOS.  So I figured why not, lets give it a spin.  What I found really shocked me, and I quickly purchased a physical copy to share with my friends.

Dominion Review

Dominion was released in 2008 by Rio Grande Games, and was designed by Donald X Vaccarino.  It proceeded to take the world by storm.  Dominion introduced board gamers to the concept of a deck building game.  Since then it's had 7 expansions, with a 8th on the way, and I, like many others, have purchased every single one.

Dominion was the 2nd board game I ever purchased.  Before a blizzard in 2010, I purchased Dominion: Intrigue.  I was hoping to explore it and other games I had just purchased, during a week being snowed in.  I remember reading the rules completely bewildered as to how you actually play this strange game.  At this point I had only played Carcassonne.

Finally I set it up, and a few turns into the game, the first time I shuffled my discards to form a new draw deck, I got it!  I honestly can't count how many times we played Dominion that week.  For the next year though, at least once a week I'd play Dominion during my lunch break.  Dominion got played regularly at night.  Every time people came over, they asked to play Dominion.

It's been years since Dominion came out.  A lot has been said about it, and many games have aped it.  But I'm going to take a look back at just the base game, without any expansions, and see how it holds up.