Xmas boardgames

 Xmas holidays are always a good excuse to dig out some boardgames and catch up on painting.

I was given a sprue of Warlord Games Ashigaru figures which came with a recent issue of Wargames Illustrated and have finally got round to painting them up (I've finished the bases since taking these snaps).  They might even get an outing on the table over the next few days.

The Japanese theme has continued with the 1st game we've played... Tokaido.  

This is a lovely game with fantastic artwork.  It's also one of those games which is deceptively simple.  Players take the role of travellers going from Kyoto to Edo, stopping off at a series of inns on the way.  As you travel you can stop off at various places to a bit of shopping and eating (collecting and building sets of cards on the way).  You can also visit temples, farms and view panoramas all of which help build victory points.  It's very much about the journey rather than the destination.  Although the rules are very simple it does create interesting tactical choices about where to stop... do you block your opponent or get to your choice of stop before someone blocks you.  There are advantages to racing ahead to be first at each inn but then you'll miss out on the chance to collect points in other areas.  The game only takes about an hour so great for people who take a bit of convincing (like my wife).  

Some food...

Some of the panoramas starting to build up.

We also played a couple of regular games which everyone will be familiar with... Settlers of Catan and Carcassone.  Having come 2nd in Tokaido I was hoping for better things and somehow managed a win in Catan...unusual as my son usually thrashed me at this.  I was soundly beaten by my wife at Carcassone though via her ruthless management of monasteries.

 

Some rapid urban sprawl taking place!

We were discussing getting some expansions for both of these but I'm not sure which to go for, so if anyone has any recommendations let me know.

We are planning a couple of other games before the holidays are over and it's back to work :(

The first is Guards, Guards which my son got for Xmas.  The Discworld games aren't always easy to track down as they are all out of print.  We've played Ankh-Morpork a lot so we're looking forward to giving this a try.

I've also dug out a copy of the GMT game Blackbeard.  

I picked up a cheap copy ages ago but it hasn't made it out of the box yet so we might give this a go, either as a 2 or 3 player game...more on this if we get round to it.