Well, Randy’s back from Melbourne (and ConVic), and he’s brought back a few games I wanted as well with him. We did a comparison recently of the # of games we have – Randy has more actual games than me, although our numbers are comparable on BGG. I just have lots & lots of expansions. So, it shouldn’t really surprise anyone that I just picked up one new game and three expansions.

The actual game was Notre Dame, a well-regarded Eurogame that looks quite amusing. You’re influential Parisians trying to gain even more influence and prestige in Paris. There’s a drafting mechanic for the actions you take each turn (I love that), and there are also plagues of rats to lower your score… you can hire the ratcatcher, but can you really afford that action? 2-5 players, and I’ll probably get a game of it this Sunday. Rules look pretty simple.

Two of the expansions were for Power Grid, which is very close to my favourite Eurogame at present. I’ve been clocking a lot of plays on bsw! The Benelux & Central Europe board was one, and that’s unusual. And a second deck of power plants, which also admit a *long* game to 20 cities! They look fun, and now to get my friends to play it with me.

However, the really big purchase was Valor of the Guards, a historical module for ASL. This is on the same level as the legendary Red Barricades, a historical module set in Stalingrad. Valor of the Guards moves to a different part of the city and then has fun.

There are 17 scenarios included with the game, two big poster maps, five countersheets, new rules, and four campaign games.

The campaign games are really interesting, even if most will take months to play: you basically have one scenario (of about 5-7 turns) per day, after which you get reinforcements and can fortify a bit more, and then you play the next day. There’s an initial set-up, overall victory conditions, and it all looks fun. The first campaign is 8 days worth and only on a limited map. The other campaigns are longer… the fourth campaign is about 14 days, on the entire double poster map, and could take quite a while… (the campaign scenarios aren’t the same as the regular scenarios – they have set-ups, but after that the set-up for each new day depends on the last day plus reinforcements…)

Don’t know if I’ll ever get to play one of them – even the shortest is likely to take 16-24 hours – but the package is extremely nice.