Logan’s Mini Reviews: Galileo Galilei, Sail, Nature, and many more
Board Game Gumbo is pleased to present another post from Logan Lannoo, one of the local gamers here in Acadiana and founder of the Acadiana Board Gamers Discord.
I am posting here mini reviews of new to me games that I have played recently because I am in that kind of mood.
Galileo Galilei – Totally love the theme and action selection mechanism but calculating the value of your actions and understanding your true position on if you are competitive etc is very hard to calculate.
Sail – Revisited this one with the wife after not playing it for some time. Pleasantly surprised and is way better than I remembered and completely changed my view of the game.
In the Footsteps of Darwin – Another revisited game after a hiatus and was completely reminded of why it won the accolades it did and put Sorry We Are French on my radar and they haven’t missed since!
Nature – Solid multiplayer card battler but base game is…well, basic. Need to play with expansions to give full review.
Tabletop Inc. – Not a “bad” game, just not a great worker placement game but I am looking back on it more fondly than I thought I would. Definitely needs another play for a final verdict.
Ticket to Ride Legacy – This game is SHINING at higher player counts! Super snappy and am loving every minute of it and we haven’t even gotten into the fun mechanics yet!
Things In Rings – I have never seen a table of 5 fun loving grown men lock in so damn fast playing a party game! A card is played, the “Knower’ moves said card in the Vinn diagram and then you hear all the players give their responsive symphony of knowing or confused grunts and “hmm”s I love it!
Moon Colony Bloodbath – I love a game that does not take itself seriously! This game is a true testament to that in all of its flavor text and makes the sheer impossible task of sucking the least not only bearable, but enjoyable!
Ruins – Scout-like card shedding and ladder climbing with an Arnak-like theme. You have my attention! While the rule pamphlet may need another look this game does check a lot of my boxes and definitely has some very unique mechanics and will 100% be playing again!
Shallow Sea – To sum this game up in a sentence it would be “Kiss Cascadia Goodbye!” This game is obviously HEAVILY inspired by Cascadia but I much prefer it over the inspiration as I find the spatial puzzle much more enjoyable than building biomes mechanic. I loved it so much I instantly ordered a copy.
Oddland – By far my surprise game of the bunch. It was a game that I thought would be “okay” but man this tiny game has some depth! I loved the take that spatial puzzle and the whimsical spliced animal theme. Did I mention you only have 7 turns and it plays in 20 minutes?! Definitely want to table this one again soon!
Bomb Busters – 100% NOT my type of games. I am not a fan of a game creating a sense of tension for me but for some ungodly reason this game is living rent free in my mind and I keep wanting to come back to it! Never thought I would be obsessing over high stakes Go Fish.
For The Emperor – A quick and deceptively crunchy 2 player card skirmish games with a feudal Japanese theme. It never ceases to amaze me how much Allplay can make my head hurt with content in such tiny boxes! Another great 2 player game in the collection for sure!
And as always, I am here and happy to help in the comments section answering any questions you may have!
— Logan Lanoo