Letters from Sag -- Kingsburg at the May Getaway

Three games in an entire day you say?  Yes, my...

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Played it a few times when it came out. It was big in the Euro crowd. For me, it was too long for what I got out of it. These days I play Stone Age if I want to play a relatively complicated (note: relatively) Euro dice game.

I've heard that Kingsburg is a good game, but I generally loathe euros, and this one looks like a brown cross between a spreadsheet and a yearbook. Hard pass.

I’ve enjoyed the two games of (the much more colorful Fantasy Flight first edition) Kingsburg I played but own the Lovecraft Kingsburg Festival reimplementation. On paper I like some of the changes like a branching upgrade system that offers greater flexibility and madness that creates some risk for anyone who consistently high rolls.

Unfortunately the production is a disaster. The artwork is much moodier and evocative than the straight kaiju interpretations that Fantasy Flight prefers but is dark to the point of incomprehensible. The board parts are also so disproportionately large for tiles that need to hold at most three dice that I could barely fit everything and players on a regular folding table.

Haven’t played it enough yet to decide which I prefer, but I’m glad to hear you could return to it.

Sounds like the perfect weekend getaway! I'm jealous. . .

As for KIngsburg, it is a game I like more than I should. It is strangely calming and enjoyable. We recently acquired the Lovecraft version which is pretty cool despite the somewhat baffling production choices. Unfortunately, it NEVER hits the table.

I agree, Kingsburg is a game that has a relaxing tempo to it. You can carry on a normal conversation as you play. Grab a couple of brew-dogs and don't worry about playing too quickly.

Starcraft followed shortly after, where my brain had to focus on doing things in reverse order. That's a game that presses to be the center of attention.

As far as I'm concerned these mini-cons with 10 or 20 people are the heart and soul of the boardgaming scene, and if more players went to one they'd realize it. The big cons are nice because you get to meet with the same group of friends every year, but they're more expensive, and frankly I'd wager the core group you meet there could fit in one of these vacation houses we rent. With this 10-20 group you can pretty much play whatever you want, and there's always someone looking to get something onto the table.

Wednesday night through Sunday morning cost me $125, including food, drink and lodging. Really a killer deal, especially if you're on a budget.