It’s November. We’ve already woken up to snow on the ground once. It’s dark by 5pm due to the shift from daylight savings. You know what all that means? It means we’re entering peak Board Gaming Season!

When it’s too cold and too dark to go outside I recommend snuggling up to your favorite board games and grabbing a brew with your friends!

I was too wiped out from Protospiel two weekends ago to post a Monday Brews last week so this week will have a nice long list for you. I also was able to sample 5 different beers one day at a local grocery store, so the Barley list is slightly inflated. Never the less, it’s been a good two weeks in terms of Boards & Barley. Here’s what I enjoyed over the past two weeks:

The Barley:

BARLEY SPOTLIGHT:
Breckenridge Vanilla Porter

With a delicious addition of vanilla, this smooth brew is a delightful friend during the cold winter months. I prefer enjoying this at temperatures slightly above fridge temps so I recommend leaving it out a half hour before enjoying it.

• You’ve Been Wheated (Homebrew – Hefeweizen)
• Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
• MKE Sasquash Pumpkin Porter
• Leinenkugel’s Original
• Sam Adams Boston Lager
• Third Shift Amber Lager
• Victory Golden Monkey Tripel (sample)
• Westmalle Tripel (Sample)
• Karmeliet Tripel (Sample)
• Summit True Brit (Sample)
• Summit Winter Ale (Sample)
• New Belgium 1554 Black Ale
• Smuttynose Robust Porter

If you’d like to know more of my opinions on the beers I enjoy, friend me on UnTappd (username EdPMarriott)!

The Boards:

Design by Matt Loomis and art by Rob Lundy!

BOARDS SPOTLIGHT: DragonFlame

I played a nearly full art prototype at Protospiel-Madison and I absolutely loved it! This game is designed by Matt Loomis, has artwork from Rob Lundy, and will be launching on Kickstarter soon by Minion Games. The gameplay was engaging and interesting from the very first turn. The artwork was vibrant, colorful, and it really drew me in.

In DragonFlame you are trying to burn down villages and earn points. The gameplay revolves around a fun way of gaining cards. Each player is dealt a hand of cards and in turn order you will place them either face up or face down into new piles. Then each player will choose a pile and those will be the cards they use for that turn. Cards include treasures for scoring points, DragonFlame cards which let you burn villages, and relics that give you special abilities.

Overall I thought DragonFlame was a great game and I recommend you consider backing it when it launches!

• Puerto Rico
• Camel Up
• Me Booty by Chevee Dodd
• Prototype “Slap It” by Kane Klenko
• Prototype Fuse by Kane Klenko
• Prototype “Trauma Center” by Kane Klenko
• Prototype “Wealthy Lazeabouts” by Jeremy Van Maanen
• Prototype “Super Ego” by Adam Buckingham
• Prototype “First Nations” by Chevee Dodd
• Prototype “High Rise” by Dave Ross
• Prototype “Nuke it from Orbit” by Brett Myers
• Prototype Operation Picnic by Chevee Dodd
• Prototype Jibberish by Kane Klenko
• Xia
• Go Away Monster
• Skyline
• Uno Moo
• Count a Color (I think this is from the 70’s or 80’s)
• Samurai Spirit – Spoiler: we lost again
• Kingsburg

Designer’s Corner:

Leading up to Protospiel-Madison I was scrambling to get either The Grand Illusion or Armada Galactica playable and ready. While I had tested The Grand Illusion 4 times I realized that it wasn’t the gameplay experience that the theme deserved. So I basically scrapped it. With my focus solely on Armada Galactica I thought I had something that could come together. I ended up making a few prototype components. I ultimately threw in the towel on that one as well since I had no idea how to actually play the game. I’ll revisit it since I think there’s something there. I just didn’t have enough time to put together a fun working prototype in time for Protospiel-Madison.

So Thursday night before Protospiel I was sitting on the floor in my living room with a ton of prototype pieces and blank cards and tiles and scissors and glue and carte blanche. My new goal was to come up with a brand new game design and prototype it so I could test it during Prototspiel.

Whoops… Should be Sumerians!

So I stole a mechanic from The Grand Illusion, made it 3D, and the design came together. The theme is Ziggurats and you are building one. It has a spatial element and some resource management, but it is basically a points race.

So on Friday afternoon when I arrived at Protospiel I took out my tiles and my sharpies and my blank cards and threw together the prototype. Over the course of the weekend it was tested 4 times to generally positive feedback. I was super pumped by how well the game worked and I’m eager to continue working on it.