The first was Nautilus (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3154/nautilus)
The game consisted of a building phase where each player placed down a tile(s) in order to construct more of the underwater base. The game is a balance of building up an economy by sending down different modules to the floor, and exploration of the surrounding area in order to unearth treasures, and ultimately pieces of the lost city of Atlantis. It was an enjoyable game with a definite shift in strategy once the end game began.
The second was Caverna (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/102794/caverna-cave-farmers)
Since I was familiar with Agricola the basics of the game were similar. The game adds weaponry which you can equip to your people, and send them on quests to obtain loot. This additional level of complexity gives it a different challenge. The food seemed to be much more easy to obtain in this game. It had enough variety in the buildings you could acquire which were similar to the improvement cards in Agricola. I did enjoy the way that the harvests are unknown and change every time you play. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, it took several hours to play through. It had enough complexity and differences from Agricola to have an entirely different feel to the game, despite having the same worker placement mechanic. In my book it is a winner.
Here is a photo of our game in progress.
Another game I enjoyed that day was The Princess Bride: Prepare to Die (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/137348/princess-bride-prepare-die)
This game is a variation on the familiar apples-to-apples game. In it you place down a black card which is a reason for the character to "prepare to die." And then going around the table the "non-readers" of the black card play their red cards which have character names on it that relate (or don't) to the black theme card. It led to some hilarious comparisons, and an enjoyable variant on apples-to-apples.
A game that I tried later in the day was Save Doctor Lucky (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1157/save-doctor-lucky)
This game was a variant on the original Kill Doctor Lucky. Instead of trying to kill him in the reverse-Clue style of the first game. In this edition the players are trying to rescue Doctor Lucky off of the Titanic as it goes down. All the mechanics of the game are identical except that when you make a save attempt, another player MUST be able to see you and the doctor. The game-board also sinks beneath you as the draw piles are exhausted. It was a nice twist on the Doctor Lucky games, although in my opinion I think Kill Doctor Lucky was a bit more fun since it was the first one released. But that's just my two cents.
All in all it was an enjoyable day gaming with friends.
Enjoy!
Keep those dice rolling!
Kevin
