Actualol

Actualol Newsletter- July 2024

Added 2024-08-01 13:28:21 +0000 UTC

Hello hello!

It’s hot, hot, hot in London - so let’s cool down with a newsletter. I hope you enjoyed the Ultimate Couples Guide video, 10 Useful Games I Can’t Get Rid Of, and studio tour this month.

Today, I’ve got three reviews for you. And a chance to play with me on Board Game Arena.

Things are going well for the next Actualol video - “10 Board Games To Start A Collection”. And thanks to the Voter LOLs patrons, this month’s exclusive video will be “The Expansions I Actually Like”. I hope my grumpy disdain for expansions means it lasts more than 2 minutes!

Board Game Arena

I love playing games on Board Game Arena with patrons. I typically arrange them on Discord, and I’d recommend anyone who wants to play regularly to join the Discord (add your discord username to your patreon account).

But, just this once, let’s arrange some games for non-discorders! Please come and join me in these games below. They are all turn-based, which means you only need to take a few turns a day. If you’re not on Board Game Arena, I’d highly recommend it - it’s very easy to follow, and joining these games is completely free. I’d also recommend the mobile app, which is how I play all my games.

Please don’t join these games if you’re a discord BGA regular - I’d like to reserve them for others.

HEAT: https://bga.li/t/544555186

The Castles of Burgundy: https://bga.li/t/544552317

Play Super Mega Lucky Box for free with me: https://bga.li/t/544553526

Play Captain Flip for free with me: https://bga.li/t/544558337

Play Azul for free with me: https://bga.li/t/544558347

Play Stella – Dixit Universe for free with me: https://bga.li/t/544559057

Play PARKS for free with me: https://bga.li/t/544559757

Play Sushi Go Party! for free with me: https://bga.li/t/544555667

Actual Life

This month we celebrated Aurelia’s 1st birthday - and making it to a year of parenthood! We took her to London Zoo for the first time, because she loves to roar at her stuffed Lion, like in this photo.

Sadly she was awake when the lions were asleep and asleep when they were awake! But we did get near some lemurs and monkeys which were very cute.

Actual Games

Conspiracy: Abyss Universe is one of those frustrating games where I hate everything about it, except the gameplay. It’s got a stupid name, a pointless theme and repulsive artwork which has turned off everyone I’ve played it with. But it packs a neat, unusual game into a small tin - so I’m keeping it.

You’re each trying to build a council of underwater senators - a tableau of cards in an upside down pyramid. On your turn, you will take cards and add them to your tableau, in the next spot. You draw off the deck - and decide to reveal - 1, 2 or 3 cards. If you pick 3, you will get more options to choose from, but the cards you don’t take will be added to discard piles. And instead of drawing off the top - someone can take a whole discard pile of the same colour. So by giving yourself more options, you’re helping the other players.

Taking a big stack of cards will fill up your pyramid much quicker - racing to finish the game, before others can. And there’s a benefit to having lots of the same colour - because you score for the biggest connected mass of one colour.

But that’s not the only option - diversity is good too, because you only score points for your highest card of each colour. And, if you collect matching keys you will take location cards, which give you extra ways to score - like getting a point for every purple card.

So there’s loads of reasons to want certain cards - which makes you want to draw three cards off the deck each turn. But you’re terrified of helping the other players. And therein lies the beauty of this small game.

MLEM: Space Agency is my monthly Knizia fill. This one is a push your luck dice game. You all share a spaceship, and take it in turns to captain it. You’re trying to safely land your catstronauts as far into space as possible. But if you stay in the ship too long, it could crash and you won’t get out at all.

The captain rolls some dice and is trying to roll the numbers displayed on their current spot. If they do - they will move further into space. And after each move you can decide to leave the ship. Get out at a moon to score instant points, or a planet - which are a competition to have the most astronauts there.

You want to wait, because the points get much bigger the further into space you go. But it’s risky. Because as the captain spends the dice, the odds of rolling a safe number become much less. And if they don’t roll a safe number, the ship crashes, and you all start again.

It’s a lot of fun trying to predict if you’re going to make it. And it’s so satisfying taking the gamble and managing to get to outer space with one die, when everyone else has given up. Plus I like the little twists that the astronaut powers add to proceedings.

The only problem with MLEM is that it’s not Celestia. An older game, which has the same entertaining moments of MLEM, but with added bluffing, special cards that provide great surprise moments, and comes in a much smaller box.

If Celestia didn’t exist, I would keep MLEM and have a lot of fun with it. But it can’t compete with a classic

In the Footsteps of Darwin was nominated for the Spiel Des Jahres - so I wanted to see what I was missing. And what I found was perfectly pleasant - but unlike Charles Darwin, it wasn’t revolutionary.

Every turn, you take an animal tile and add it to your personal notebook in its matching spot. You’re trying to complete rows and columns of tiles - which feels a little luck dependent, because a lot of the tiles are left in the box.

Some animals score straight points - others multiply against the number of compasses you collect. The scoring all feels very familiar - and it works, but it’s not as exciting as other games that do similar things. There’s no spatial puzzle either - it’s just collecting stuff.

I liked that if you discover the same type of animal twice, it unlocks a new scoring ability. There’s no doubt the game carries interesting decisions. But as a package, it feels light, and like it’s over before you’ve begun - especially for such a big, heavy box.

It’s the same with the way you take the tiles - moving a ship token around the board to determine what the next player can take - it’s thoughtful, but it’s nothing special. So I wouldn’t nominate for an award, but I’d happily play it, because it’s solid.