Roux Dat: First Impressions of AQUARIA, OPERATION BARCLAY, and HARMONIES

It’s only January 6, and I’ve already broken my New Year’s Resolution of not playing any board games in 2026. But the good news is that I played three really enjoyable games this past week.

At our “Euro Mondays” meet up (where we don’t always plays Euros, but we still keep the name), Logan brought over his new copy of Aquaria to play with me and Doug. Aquaria is proof that designer Tomáš Holek was there at the Crossroads with Robert Johnson and cut a similar deal. That is three solid games in a row that I have played by Holek, this one published by Capstone Games.

In Aquaria, over the course of four rounds, players are acquiring (or is it acquariaing?) fish cards to add to their tank, all while keeping the natural balance of the water. And scoring points. Lots and lots of points. Most people will notice the action selection mechanic, where players move their dice around the board, and if the move is to an adjacent space, bonuses are earned. It’s not really worker placement, since there is absolutely no blocking (although there is a slight bit of interaction, due to the way the bonuses are calculated.)

But there are two other clever tricks that I really dug. The player board has little dials on the up/down and left/right slots that can be manipulated by playing certain cards or taking actions. Matching the dials to the goals that round give nice bonuses. The second twist is in the way that the players can power up the cleaning of the tanks by adding tokens to juice up the cleaning action. If you like running up tracks, building up an engine, and firing up spatial bonuses and combos, this game is for you.

Mitchell and I also got a chance to play Operation Barclay, a two player game about WW2 from 25th Century Games. It’s poker, sort of, but with a story. One player acts as the Allied powers, trying to surreptitiously plan to retake Europe from the Axis powers, who are played by the other player.

The board has hidden markers representing the Allied’s best plsns to re-invade Europe. Winning the poker hands, or even guessing correctly who will win the hand, or even just playing more attack symbols than the other player will either drive the Allieds toward their goal, or let the Axis players stymie the plans. The first round was interesting, but as we got closer and closer to the six month of planning, the tension was palpable. This is an excellent two player game.

Finally, my Secret Santa in the Chuck’s Gateway & Filler games group on Facebook sent me Harmonies, an absolutely beautiful little puzzle game. I taught it to my wife, and we’ve played it almost a half-dozen times already. Players are building little habitats to attract animals, and matching those habitats to goal cards to score points.

Sounds simple? It isn’t. It’s spatially complicated in the manner of games like Akropolis or Fountains. Of the three, I prefer Akropolis, not only because I am much more in tune to the strategy but also because I love the 3d aspect of the gameplay. But I must admit, very few games recently have challenged the puzzle side of my brain like Harmonies. I definitely want to play it more.

So, that’s our first impressions of three great games from the holidays. I hope you and your family had a great holiday, and that you enjoyed some gaming, too!

Until next time, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game Gumbo