The interrogation of Ironbirar led the sheriff to ask Seoni and Seelah to investigate an “angel” in the Shadow Clock.  He also warned them to keep on guard for faceless stalkers describing them as clay-like creatures possibly capable of shapeshifting. 

A little wary of inspecting the Shadow Clock without more information, Seoni decided take her acolyte to the temple while Seelah checked out the Shrine to Lamashtu. 

“Something seems to have happened here,” Seoni remarked as they passed yet another scimitar. 

“It doesn’t look like it turned out well for whomever owned those weapons,” Amy added. 

Seoni nodded in agreement as she examined a spyglass.  It seemed to be intact which made it as useful acquisition. “ Let’s see what else we can find.” 

We’re big fans of Castle Panic.  We already had the expansions Wizard’s Tower and Dark Titan, so when we heard about Engines of War, we knew we had to have it as well.  It took awhile for us to find it (as it was out of stock on Amazon for quite a while), so we were even more excited when we were finally able to buy it. 

Engines of War adds some new monsters and tokens, a Keep for the center of your castle, and then, well, engines of war to both sides.  The monsters get things like a Battering Ram and an Encampment while the players get things like a Catapult and Traps.  One of the new monsters is the Breathtaker which keeps players from trading cards!  We really didn’t like that one. 

Tsuro is a tile placement game.  This particular version also includes sea monsters (Daikaiju), but we have yet to play with those.  Everyone picks a ship and gets 3 Wake Tiles.  Starting with the oldest player, everyone places their ships on the start markers around the board.  Then once again beginning with the oldest player, you place a Wake Tile, move your ship along the path (or wake), and draw a new tile.  The goal is to not be eliminated by having your ship sent off the edge of the board. 

When placing tiles you can’t:

Purposefully send your ship off the board unless it’s your only move (this tends to happen a lot in the end game)

Set your ship on an endless loop unless it’s your only move – this does eliminate you from the game

Place a tile that causes you and another player to travel in the same direction on the same path

Terra Mystica was already a pretty exciting game for us.  Then I got the Fire & Ice expansion for my birthday. 

It includes a new board – which includes a reminder about the end game conversion of coins into Victory points – new Factions (with boards, Terrain tiles, and buildings), Final Scoring Tiles, Faction Tokens, and a Turn Order Board. 

We haven’t used all the new features of the expansion.  For example, the Turn Order Board changes the order of turns every round.  Whoever turns in their Bonus Tile goes first (as with the base game), then whoever turns in second goes second, and so on.  We haven’t had the chance to play the expansion with more than 2 players, so there’s no reason to use this.  This means we also haven’t needed the Faction Tokens which are placed on the Turn Order Board. 

We have played with 4 of the 6 new Factions, though: Ice Maidens, Shapeshifters, Yetis, and Riverwalkers.  The Ice Maidens, Yetis, and Shapeshifters get a ring to place on the starting Terrain of their choice (unless that Terrain is already taken).  After they make their choice, no subsequent player can choose the race with that home territory. 

The first game Professor was the Ice Maidens and I was the Shapeshifters.  The second game Professor was Yetis and I was Riverwalkers. 

When the Sheriff’s men finished searching Foxglove Manor, they returned with evidence that the Skinsaw Man was part of a cult of Skinsaw Men from Magnimar.  Though they were hoping for a break, Seoni and Seelah agreed to investigate. 

At least their time on the road to Magnimar was uneventful. 

Playing to their strengths, Seoni along with Shalelu Andosana set out for the local academy while Seelah and her standard bearer went to see what information the guards had at the city gate. 

Seelah tried to hide her disappointment that the dog they found at the city gate wouldn’t let her pet it.  Her standard bearer didn’t seem to notice, though she seemed disappointed that Seelah hadn’t picked up the set of darts.  Ranged weapons just weren’t for a paladin. 

It seemed like they’d only just arrived and began asking questions when they encountered Justice Ironbriar.  He looked alarmed by Seelah’s presence, but she was more alarmed when he ordered a mercenary to attack her. 

She easily defeated the mercenary, and demanded to know why Ironbriar had attacked her.  He refused to answer and managed to slip from her grasp, so she could only assume he was somehow tangled up in this whole cult mess. 

When we first started working on this blog, we filled out player profiles which included our favorite games.  I listed mine as Castle Panic, Shadows Over Camelot, and 7 Wonders. 

In the nearly two years since then, we’ve played a lot of new games or revisited older games with a new expansion or end goal.  A lot of other things have changed as well, so I don’t think I’d pick the same games today as I did back then. 

Castle Panic is a great co-op game, and it’s often one I like to pick as a new game for someone. 

Shadows Over Camelot we don’t play as much.  It’s a co-op game, but with how many quests there are to complete, you end up splitting up and working alone, so a lot of the time you don’t feel like you’re working together. 

7 Wonders is a great game, but we haven’t been able to play it lately.  It’s hard to be excited about a game that doesn’t see a lot of play.  Right now it’s just Professor and me, so we’re more likely to play 7 Wonders Duel. 

Professor and I have taught people to play a lot of games, which means most of the time we learn to play on our own and then teach others.  There have been a few times others have taught us how to play, and having been both a teacher and a student, I had some thoughts on how to approach teaching/learning a game.