Boardgames! I used to be more into trading card games like Magic, but got tired of the cost and constant churn, and then spent the last couple years delving deeper into boardgames, including hosting a weekly game night that regularly has 8-10 people :)

Got to play Barrage and Aegean Sea last night.

Barrage is my favorite Luciani design so far, by a long shot, compared to Darnwin’s Journey and Golem. I didn’t actually do that well, but I’m itching to play again.

Aegean Sea is very different from the other Carl Chudyk games I’ve played. The cards tend to be pretty restrictive in what they do and need, so there are often cards in hand that you can’t play. This means the gameplay leans more heavily on tactical play from turn to turn, blocking opponents where possible and figuring out what the best move you can perform with a given hand of cards. Still feels very deep in terms of learning how best to leverage your unique faction and how to control the pace of the game.

The only one I’m aware of is a Kickstarter solution called LaxRax (https://www.kickstarter.com/...)

If you like Innovation and want another awesome sense card game from the same designer, check out Mottainai.

Inis is pretty much in a category of its own, but another great area control game with interesting card play is Brian Boru.

It’s really fun! It’s definitely a completely different kind of game than an Eclipse or Twilight Imperium, but if you like heavy euros there’s a lot to like about it. I really enjoy the unique technologies in each game, and the ability to define your own scoring criteria through agendas.

The best strategy in Hansa is usually whichever one people aren’t blocking you from :)

Between 7 Wonders Duel and Splendor Duel, I’ll happily play any co-designed game of his.

I haven’t! I’ve been to a couple smaller conventions local to me, and definitely would like to attend one of the “big ones” like GenCon :-)

It’s there! Right on top of the Root boxes :)

I love Brian Boru, but I’m still not very good at it! The drafting feels like it has a pretty high skill ceiling.

Yeah, it’s totally brain-bending for just being a deck of 54 cards!

The biggest gap I see in your picture above is Robotrick!

Absolutely awesome game for exactly 3 players, where a 4th robot player follows a card of instructions. The scoring is built off of what cards you win from the robot, or what cards the robot wins off of you, but with fairly “standard” rules for following, trump, etc.

It’s just brilliant, and always the game I suggest if we have 3 people and are looking for a filler card game.

Do you think Mottainai is worth getting/playing if I already have Innovation?

I wouldn’t play your first game with more than 2-3. Between the asymmetric faction abilities and the fact that card effects can require very specific situations to be usable makes the first couple games pretty rough. I feel like after a game I can play the game at a decent pace, but I’m only just starting to understand how to even score points.

Oh man, how long did Spirit Island take with 6?

I just picked up Faiyum as my first Friese game, excited to try it out!

It’s a really cool game, but it really requires everyone to prep for the game by familiarizing themselves with the rules and ideally with the faction they want to play as.

Assuming you have a group of folks who enjoy heavier games, it’s a great time.

I use the bin in the lower right for some of them, but the DVD case up top is great for small box stuff!

Targi is a brilliant game, I particularly love the GeekUp bit set that’s been created for it. https://boardgamegeekstore.com/products/geekup-bit-set-targi?_pos=1&_sid=24073fcae&_ss=r