Well, what did happen to me in April? I purchased even more games since last time!!! (Honestly, when the morale is low, purchases get out of hand.) All pictures are from BGG.
First of all, I got D&D: Temple of Elemental Evil second-hand. This game has been on my wishlist for a long, long time; it was my #1 wishlisted in the D&D Adventure Board Game series. But then it ran out of print, and I couldn't find any copy on the second-hand market. Well, until now, that is. With the two I already own (Drizzt and Ashardalon), I feel that my collection is "complete" until I actually play through them. The other three just don't look as interesting to me, and the boxes are really big.
Next, I made plenty of retail purchases. Starting with Bandido. It's not much, really, a very small box game of maze construction. I should enjoy that one a lot.
Then I grabbed Les Gardiens de Havresac, that hopefully will be localized to English. It's a bag-building game, but what interests me here is what you do with the bag. You draw little figures of heroes who all obey their movement rules, starting from the last pawn you placed. The goal is to reach some specific places on the map. So it looks to be a fun spatial puzzle. I am looking forward to playing it really much. On the downside, I don't like the colored cartoony Fantasy artwork.
I also grabbed Limes as part of the same purchase. One of my surprise discoveries in board gaming is that I enjoy tile-laying a lot, no matter how boring it does sound when I read the rules of one such game. Since Limes is a small-boxed, soloable classic of the genre, it looked like something I should get. But it does look awfully boring to me.
I also grabbed the Charms & Potions expansion for Hogwarts Battle. That's pure completionism on my part though, so I'm not proud.
I thought I was done. But then a bunch of new releases popped up and I couldn't resist. Starting with 1001 Islands. I really dislike the aesthetic feel of the game, but I want to play that game because it will be part of my "island-building" collection. I told you I would get it upon release.
It keeps going. Although I don't want to support the Roll 'n' write trend, I felt too tempted with Dungeons, Dice & Danger by Richard Garfield. This should be a great game to play on the train. And I think it's beautiful. I've also read the rulebook and found it really appealing mechanically.
I also got the French retail edition of Skulls of Sedlec, but didn't realize you needed a (not included) expansion to play solo - unpublished so far.
Next, we have Riftforce: Beyond. Riftforce is a minimalist 2 players card game I feel very excited about but couldn't try so far despite owning it, due to a lack of opponent. I am therefore pleased that the Beyond expansion introduces a solo mode, although I don't expect too much from it.
Finally, there's a game that's not on BGG, it's called M.A.R.I., and I got it because there was a robot on the box. I also like the map cards. I have no clue how it plays.
I've just tried Bandido and, as expected, I immediately enjoyed it. That's the kind of micro-game that speaks to my tastes!
I've also tried Limes. Although the box is far too big, I can grab the components (24 tiles and 7 meeples) to play in the train. It's a nice game. Very classic and unexciting, but immediately accessible, and consistently interesting.
For me, the Harry Potter game doesn't really need the expansions. But I like the Charms and Potions expansion way more than the Monster Box of Monsters one. I can't recommend playing with everything added in. I still want to make a selection of all the extra content to get some kind of balanced game that doesn't drag on too long. One day.
Whoa, that's quite a haul. Regarding Skulls of Seldec, you can't get the Solo Expansion, Monstrance? I was able to get it in English. Are you looking for the French version? You can get the English PnP here for $1 (€0.93).