Blog search

Two-player card games: Schnapsen, WYSIWYG

I made a return to Schnapsen - I had tried it once before, about five years ago. It's an extremely tight two-handed trick-taker. It's an ace-ten game, played with a 20-card pack with all the non-scoring cards removed. It seems...

Posted by Mikko on October 15, 2007 8:01 PM

Neuland and Attika

Ah, Neuland! The land of strange, yet soothing line art and wide open spaces ready to be filled with pointy little buildings, free for all to use! How have I longed to wander through your fields, moving resources around!Neuland--> So,...

Posted by Mikko on July 6, 2007 6:08 AM

Blue Moon City and Attika

Our game session dwindled up to just two players, me and Olli, but I saw no need to change the main course. I've heard Blue Moon City is good with just two, so of course I had to try it....

Posted by Mikko on June 2, 2007 9:06 AM

More Phoenicia

Three more rounds of two-player Phoenicia. Two were quite exciting: first one went to tiebreaker, second one I eventually won as Tommy continued to struggle with economical restraints. Storage is good thing to have. The third game was a slaughter;...

Posted by Mikko on May 27, 2007 3:31 PM

Railroads in Scotland (with insects)

I met Ilari today for games. Finally I was able to get Age of Steam Scotland - the free print-and-play two-player expansion - on table. Age of Steam in general doesn't seem like a brilliant two-player game, but with a...

Posted by Mikko on April 13, 2007 9:25 AM

Die Säulen der Erde first thoughts

Played a game of Die Säulen der Erde with Johanna yesterday, while the baby was sleeping. It was reasonably enjoyable. Nothing special - I've rated the game as 8 right now. As many of you have heard, there's more than...

Posted by Mikko on October 30, 2006 8:52 AM

Pacific Memoir and rats

My last board game session this summer involved me, Olli and Memoir '44: Pacific Theatre. The latest Memoir '44 expansion turned out to be a blast. Memoir '44 Memoir '44: Pacific Theatre--> We played two scenarios. Japanese counter-attack on Guam...

Posted by Mikko on August 31, 2006 7:18 AM

Elasund

Finnish review of Elasund. Elasund--> Elasund is the latest Catan spinoff. Players are building the first city in Catan, trying to reap glory by getting their buildings to fill the city. The game has surface similarities to Catan - the...

Posted by Mikko on August 25, 2006 7:06 AM

Elasund, Elasund, Elasund

Met Olli today. The dish of the day was Elasund, the latest Settlers spin-off. The Settlers element is pretty much resource production roll to start the turn, 10 victory points to gather and... well, that's about it. Elasund--> The game...

Posted by Mikko on August 18, 2006 7:47 PM

New game session: Farlander, Terra Nova

Once again I met Olli for games, this time focusing on new material. We started with Farlander, since Olli had just bumped into it in a shop. The game looks nice, and inside the pretty box lies a simple war...

Posted by Mikko on August 11, 2006 6:42 AM

Rat Hot

Rat Hot reviewed in Finnish. Rat Hot--> Rat Hot is a small two-player tile-laying game from Michael Schacht. It was previously web-published as Dschunke: das Legespiel, but this edition is from Queen Games and Rio Grande Games. The game is...

Posted by Mikko on August 6, 2006 5:25 PM

Battles in the east

I met Olli for a session of Memoir '44. We ended up exploring the Eastern Front expansion. Memoir '44 Memoir '44: Eastern Front--> Both scenarios we played - Gates of Moscow and Breakout to Lisyanka - were excellent. Add the...

Posted by Mikko on August 3, 2006 4:39 PM

Small two-player session

My games with Olli continued on Friday. We started with Kahuna - it was the final test. Olli lost big time; he got the first scoring, but then my defensive island network made it quite clear there was no way...

Posted by Mikko on July 29, 2006 6:15 PM

Kahuna

Review of Kahuna in Finnish. Kahuna--> Kahuna is a game that has bugged and frustrated me. I've found it hard to form my opinion of it, but now it's clear: I want to like it, but I can't. The game...

Posted by Mikko on July 29, 2006 7:45 AM

War, trading and hot rats

I met Olli for the first proper game session after Nooa's (that's the name of our boy) birth. It was fun, to have a small break from baby care and maintenance. We started off with Memoir '44, since that was...

Posted by Mikko on July 22, 2006 8:28 AM

Blue Moon

Olli M. was interested in playing two-player games during the summer. Since our baby likes to keep us waiting, I had plenty of time to meet Olli for games. We played a hefty session of Blue Moon. In two and...

Posted by Mikko on June 17, 2006 7:57 AM

Fjords

Here's a review of Fjords in Finnish.Fjords--> Fjords (or Fjorde) is a nice little two-player game about the vikings - however, this time the vikings are not burning and pillaging, they are farming and exploring! The game is divided in...

Posted by Mikko on March 14, 2006 11:46 AM

Two-player session with Confrontations, Fjords and a Blue Moon

I met Ilari yesterday for some games. The main attraction was the brand new Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation Deluxe. Ilari, a big fan of the original game, was eager to try the new characters. Lord of the Rings:...

Posted by Mikko on March 8, 2006 8:20 AM

Multiplayer games for two

Iain asked me about other multiplayer games that work with two (other than Caylus, that is). Well, here's a small list: Caylus--> First of all there are few games with modular boards that scale really well. Samurai is the king...

Posted by Mikko on February 3, 2006 10:32 PM

Amazing game of Caylus

Manu was picking up his games for the German order and had time for a game, so we played Caylus, since he's getting it in the order and hadn't played it yet. It was just the two of us, but...

Posted by Mikko on February 3, 2006 4:15 PM