It’s been two weeks since I posted anything. Yikes. Life is busy when you have three kids. But no excuses. I have four articles in draft form that i just need to polish off. Hopefully that will happen soon.

But today is Monday, the day we celebrate the awesome Boards & Barley we’ve been enjoying over the past week or so. I’ve played some good stuff lately and even had an enjoyable IPA. So let’s start, as usual, with the Barley…

The Barley

That dude is freaky, but the brew is good!

BARLEY SPOTLIGHT:
NEW! Revolution Anti-Hero IPA

My friend Mark from Chicagoland brought this over when they visited a couple weekends ago. I have been trying to become more of an IPA drinker to mild success. This IPA, however, has a very nice and subtle sweetness to it that makes it more enjoyable for me. Thanks, Mark, for bringing it over!

• Homebrew – Rolling Dubbels Belgian Dubbel
• NEW! Valkyrie Big Swede Swedish Style Imperial Stout
• NEW! Lumberyard Flagstaff IPA
• NEW! Lakefront New Grist Sorghum Beer
• Tyranena Sheep Shagger Scotch Ale
• New Glarus Cabin Fever Honey Bock
• Lagunitas Sucks Brown Shugga Substitute

New Beer Count for 2015: 17

The Boards

Better than Race for the Galaxy, imho.

BOARDS SPOTLIGHT:
NEW! Roll for the Galaxy

I picked this up at my FLGS (Favorite Local Game Store) when I was demoing Scoville. I’ve always like Race for the Galaxy but I’m not sure I’ve ever totally understood it. There are so many icons and it’s not totally straight forward to me. Roll for the Galaxy is much more streamlined and understandable. I love how they incorporated the dice for choosing and completing actions. The dichotomy of developments versus worlds is much more clear than in Race. Overall I thought this was great and I imagine it will be hitting the table quite a bit!

• NEW! Terra Mystica – Whoa… there’s A LOT of game here. This is a very good and enjoyable Euro game where you can’t ever do as much as you want but you can still feel good about what you can accomplish. It takes a long time to play but I enjoyed it enough to want to play again.
• Scoville
• Mutiny Playtest
• Imperial Settlers
• NEW! Cinque Terre – I got this in a local Math Trade and played a 2p game. It’s pretty fun, very colorful, and I’d like to play with more than 2.
• NEW! Among the Stars – This is much better than I expected. This was also a 2p play so I’d like to try it with more, but I really enjoyed it. Plus, there are already a bunch of expansions so it’s got a lot of replayability.
• Wits and Wagers
• Sushi Go
• Camel Up
• Unpublished Prototype – Nuke it from Orbit

New Board Game Count for 2015: 12