I managed to miss this new feature, so it is possible you have too. At the very top right of the BoardGameGeek page header there is a link to New Posts. Up until now there was no way of filtering out all the off-topic forums. If you go to the forums’ Control Panel, you will see a link to New Posts Filter. Here you can decide which forums to exclude.
This has really improved the signal to noise ratio for me.
I got Cities and Knights of Catan a month or two ago in a BoardGameGeek trade for Bang!: High Noon, which I was pretty pleased about. Last night we finally got to play it with four.
I basically got what I expected. It is a fair bit longer than the basic set. Our game took 2.5 hours, after the rules explanation, which is a little too long for something this random. On the other hand, it is a much richer game. The commodity cards, progress cards and city improvement calendars are fun. The basic map seems biased against brick. The eventual winner, Ness, had a total brick monopoly. She was able to put walls around all her cities, which made her difficult to cripple with the robber.
After reading the rules I was a bit disappointed that there is not more direct conflict between knights, but at least there is continual tension from creating and activating knights before the barbarians arrive. Having played A Game of Thrones before C&K, it’s interesting to see how this mechanic was imitated/stolen. American designers are clearly picking up a few tricks from their German counterparts.
All in all, we enjoyed it but it’s a pity the game is so long. At least an official rule change keeps the robber in the desert until the Barbarians attack for the first time, which should speed it up.
I do not enjoy reading GeekLists, as the signal to noise ratio is poor. However, there are some gems, especially the Canonical List of Free Print-and-Play Games GeekLists.
I did not realise, but the author, Don Seagraves, has made a website summarising them all.
Now I just have to get out my craft knife, cutting mat, fixative spray and spray-on glue.
I managed to find a copy of Upwords for £1 in an Oxfam charity (thrift) shop recently. Four of us tried it today and it was pretty fun.
Think of Scrabble, on a 10×10 grid, with no bonuses from squares, where you can stack tiles on top of each other to change words and you have it. The box is too big and the components are typical 80’s mass market stuff, in other words cheap and ugly, but the board swivels on a lazy susan, which is a nice touch.
There is much more luck in Upwords than Scrabble, because you score from the numbers of letters in the stacks used in your words. Therefore the scores climb as the game progresses. The last few turns can turn the game upside down and that largely depends on the tiles you are dealt.
On the other hand, Upwords is more dramatic and there is less reliance on knowing strange Scrabble-specific short words. I recommend playing it with three or four, as the swings of fate encourage a lighter multiplayer game.
My only complaint is that the rules do not forbid players making a word that has been scored earlier, for instance:
Each time the scores climb higher and higher as stacks grow, but no real thought is involved. It’s a pity this was not banned, as in our game a small skyscraper district rocketed while the rest of the board was forgotten. Next time we will ban it, maybe keeping track by writing scored words on the score pad.
I had more fun playing this than I ever have with Scrabble.
Update
mjwills commented that the maximum stack size is five tiles. I checked in the 1997 ruleset, and there are a few changes to the rules, all for the better, especially this limit. Thanks Matthew. 
Over the last week I played two old classics and had more fun than I anticipated.
Reading Yehuda’s blog reminded me that I have not played enough Puerto Rico recently, particularly with the expansion buildings. The buildings were novel enough, but playing with only four players felt fresh too.
We played with the following recommended buildings :
It was good to play without the construction hut. My group has a groupthink obsession with quarries, but I have been unable to win enough games without it for me to prove them wrong…
I might try some of Yehuda’s buildings after we have exhausted the basic possibilities of the first expansion.
I wonder what will be in the forthcoming Puerto Rico Expansion ?
This is not so good with three, as the tension from auctions is removed. On the other hand, fewer players meant I was able to see the pattern of the game with less distractions. I used to think three was OK, but after almost constantly winning my auctions with 200 florin bids, I can see it takes too much away.
I tried going for jesters aggressively and so created a work almost every round. I assumed I would win, but I was surprised in the last move when my friend took out another Prestige card and managed to keep building when my board was full.
My opinion of PoF has gone up. I still think there is too little interaction, but at there are several finely-tuned paths to victory and you have to be very alert.
It’s great to come back to these old games, either with new variants or with different people. The best thing is seeing new subtleties not spotted before.
I have never really been into IRC, mainly because I could never find any interesting discussions. This has finally changed as BoardGameGeek have an unofficial IRC channel on Dalnet. I have been enjoying quick discussions about games without the time lag of forums or blog posts.
IRC is a little intimidating at first, but in fact it’s easy and works on old hardware and narrowband connections.
1. Download an IRC client. mIRC is most often suggested, but it’s $20 shareware. There are good freeware alternatives:
2. Click the Connect button.
3. Find Dalnet in the server list and connect to it.
4. Type /join #bgg into the chat line.
There are better IRC tutorials that go into much more detail.
Last Saturday I went to visit my friend Michael and his crew for proper day of gaming. I got there at 10am and left, my head throbbing, at 8pm after playing five new games against experienced opposition. Michael kept the scores you see below – probably just to gloat over all his wins afterwards.
Around the World in 80 Days
Pete (69), Paul/Michael (72), Steve (73), Iain (did not finish)
The top three Spiel de Jahres choices seem very bland this year. Both this and Himalaya are nice enough, but they are never going to set the world alight. Michael got it right when he said Around the World in 80 Days is at the same level as Ticket to Ride. The two games feel pretty similar, although TTR wins because it feels more dynamic and the components are better.
The most likely explanation is that I am just becoming jaded about this level of gaming. As usual, Rick Heli hits the nail on the head :
The only downside might be that there may be a bit too much randomness for some, and not enough of a system to crack. I suspect that anyone who still enjoys Settlers of Catan will feel the same about this one whereas those who found that, say, Goa, hit the spot perfectly may feel a bit disappointed.
Rating – 5
Struggle of Empires
Michael (83), Paul (60), Steve (57), Pete (55), Iain (54)
I really like Age of Steam, and I have never tried any other Martin Wallace games, so I chose this when it was my turn. It is definitely a good game. Of the other games I have played, it feels similar to Manifest Destiny, Wallenstein or A Game of Thrones. In other words, it is a long, diplomatic game about territorial conquest.
Good: Lots and lots of choices to revel in. There are so many, intricately illustrated tiles to choose from. The alliances mechanic is a great way of avoiding overt leader-bashing like in A Game of Thrones. Using dice differences for combat is interesting, but, without bothering to analyse it, it seems like a gimmick. Does this method have any advantages that have not occurred to me?
Bad: It’s pretty complicated and longish – 3:15, bearable for me, but beyond my normal gaming group. It’s fiddly in a way that German games are not. It reminds me of Age of Steam in the way it has rough edges that have not been smoothed out by a ruthless Teutonic mind. Come to think of it, I would love to see what Knizia would do as a remix of Age of Steam or Struggle of Empires, in the same way that Carcassonne the City was a remix of Carcassonne.
Another problem could be tile balance. Some of them seem useless at first glance, in the same way that Production is usually a weak choice in Age of Steam.
Ugly: I know it’s a silly quibble, but I hate the fact that there are huge tracts of unused space in the middle of the board, like Britain, France and Spain.
Rating – 8. This is too deep for me to make a snap decision. I like it a lot now, but it could easily fall from grace or become as important as Age of Steam.
Betrayal at House on the Hill
Iain/Pete/Steve/Paul (Adventurers), Michael (Traitor)
This game is simpler than I thought it would be. It’s basically a dungeon crawl through a haunted house, with a cooperative end-game, against a single traitor. (There seem to be a lot of traitors in games at the moment.) In general, I am not keen on horror as a genre, but this is inoffensive stuff. Michael really screwed up being the traitor, otherwise we would never have made it. As it was, it was very close and I was the last player left alive.
I really enjoyed myself, but, in a social game like this, that was more a function of the people in the group rather than the game itself. I cannot see myself buying this, because our short game nights make me desperate to cram meaty games in and this is far too fluffy.
Rating – 5.
Diamant
Iain (20), Paul (16), Steve (15), Michael (9)
This was good fun and fitted our mood and the time gap while Michael prepared lunch. I was very happy to win something outright but I wish it had been something more skilful. I don’t know if anyone has described Diamant as Ra/Razzia super-lite before, but it’s an obvious comparison.
Rating – 5.
Power Grid
Michael (17), Iain (16), Paul (16), Steve (15)
Excruciating decisions. Lots of tension. A classic. I played Funkenschlag and there is no question in my mind that Power Grid is superior, if only because the components are better and it is much shorter.
It’s only flaw might be (and I’m guessing here) a lack of variability. Expansions like different boards might mitigate this slightly, but I am really thinking of the power plants and types of fuel. Maybe an expansion with hydroelectricity, gas or geothermal power might add to the fun of the stock market.
Michael thinks the game ends too quickly. In fact there are two variant income tables at the Geek that could lengthen the game to make it end less abruptly.
Rating – 9.
If it was not for our baby due in August, I’d definitely go to Essen with these guys in November.