My January gaming

 I didn’t learn a lot of games in January but I did learn a game I’d been meaning to learn and a game I should have been meaning to learn.

I learned the Royal Limited, Janky Blades and Voyages.

I’ll get Janky Blades out of the way first. I try and learn a Roll and Write every month and I was worried I wouldn’t have the time to do that. Janky Blades is a perfectly serviceable and pretty forgettable game. I don’t regret learning it but it’s not going to get much more play from me.

The Royal Limited and Voyages, on the other hand, those are games that I want to add to regular rotation. They jump past being serviceable to being really good. Learning these two games meant that I made good use of my game learning time.

As I’ve commented elsewhere, The Royal Limited may be the simplest of the Simply Solo line but it’s also incredibly intuitive and engaging. It is game that is so easy just shuffle and go. And, at the end of the game, play it again.

Voyages’ core mechanic, drawing a line in a grid, is one I’ve seen plenty of times. I’ve even seen the compass rose element of it plenty of times. But the extra touches, the ones that make each map into their own distinct experience, those really make Voyages into one heck of a game system. After playing the first map, I printed and laminated all six of the official maps.

I won’t be surprised if I’m still playing The Royal Limited and Voyages in December. That’s a good start to the year.