Three three-player games in a sort of replay session last night: Paladins of the West Kingdom, Shards of Infinity, and Drop It

Our second go at Paladins. We liked it and thought it was solid the first time, and the second play feels just as good. Although this was a weird one as we all scored pretty low (I thought it was just me as we played). After a couple of rounds I was getting things done, but the pace didn't feel as fast as before. No big combos. And it turned out the others felt the same way. I did mess up my game by switching in my head the bonuses you get for attacking a enemy and converting an enemy, but I don't know if that really mattered much. The King's Orders weren't that helpful, and some of my end game points were canceled by a last play Inquisition that not only gave me a debt, but took away a Conspirator that my Thief would have given me a point for. I ended in last, but to put perspective on our scores, the winner of this game had a lower score than the last place player of our prior game.

Shards has been getting a lot of play from us. And it's a good filler for 3-players. I think it might even play better with 3 than 4. This game was intense as we were quickly hitting each other for a lot of damage, yet not going down. I knocked out one player with 20 attack, and then me and the remaining player kept just hitting each other for not quite enough damage. One the last play I my shields kept me alive with 2 health, and I was going to do over 20 damage to them while they only had 8 health and no way to block or heal enough. But then they realized one of their cards triggered for 2 more attack, knocking me out in the last second. It was an exciting last few rounds of fast-playing cards and Wreath damage combos. Pro tip: the player with the most Mastery will be the first one knocked out ;)

Our host brought out Drop In because it plays quick. And it does. We got in two games in just 10 or 15 minutes. And that includes rules explanations. But it was a fun time of pieces bouncing in weird ways, spearing through other pieces to touch colors or shapes we didn't want the to touch, and one case of a "magically magnetic" circle that somehow just flew across the tower instead of falling straight down. Through both games we would stay even, and when someone broke out in score, they'd get stuck and the others would catch up, with the winner only pulling ahead with one of their last pieces. Great little mid or end night game.

#boardgames