(This is not a session report, it's just a "Wow, I made a purchase and am happy with it!" report)
This is a story of a tired man's friday night, and how one new board game made the night from bearable to truly enjoyable:
It was a rough week, and I decided friday after lunch hour to go to my local friendly game store to finally purchase Twilight Imperium 3rd edition, as have been suggested to me in the recommendations forum. Maybe bagging the plastic ships and sleeving the cards would help me wind down for the weekend. But oh, behold, the Star Craft the boardgame is sitting next to it on the shelf, and I just didn't have the heart to choose between them after all (they both look so pretty!). I needed time on that decision.
So I asked some recommendations from the nice employee behind the counter, and explained my scenario, and told that I really didn't know what to buy, but I needed my new game fix
. Perhaps something with backstabbing, perhaps high confrontation level, or something. I was really tired and perhaps didn't make myself an "easy customer"
.. Well, after a few game recommendations he pulled out Small World, and told me that it's "like Risk, but done right". He gave me quick overview of the game, and I decided to buy the game (and the fact that I found the box art really fun did effect my decision).
I finally got back home, made some tea and started peeling the shrink wrap. At that point I was thinking "Oh, man! I forgot to pick some Minigrip bags from the store for my new game!". Discouraged, I pulled the token sheets, boards and rules out and
nearly cried in joy! (I did cry
out in joy) This is the best box insert in my collection by far! Everything has it's own little compartment, and the Race Token tray, oh wow! I took a long good sip of my tea, smiled, and started punching the counters, and another surprise reared its head: "Punching these is like a dream! I had to use an exacto blade for some of my Twilight Struggle tokens, but here a gentle blow'll suffice!"
Kudos, Days of Wonder. Kudos.
All the Race Tokens organized, banners and special powers in their place, and the empty punch sheets beneath the box tray, I started reading the rule book. It was easy enough to go through at my very tired state, but at one point it hit me: "This is Vinci! I had totally forgotten that Small World reimplements that. Oh my goodness, I love Vinci, and don't own it yet!"
(I browsed the Emoticons for good 5 minutes, but didn't find one to convey my emotions at that point accurately, so: I was one happy 
)I was happy at that point, and decided that no matter how tired I might be, I'm going to try a 2 player game against myself to see how this game feels. And then I get a call from my sister, explaining that she's with her friend in the neighbourhood, and wanted to come by and play something. Energized by the promise of a game night I welcomed them, and we played two 3 player games of Small World, and had a blast! We laughed at the crazy new races that popped up, especially the Underworld Humans made us chuckle the whole night, even though noone played with them. And my sister's friend fell head over heels in love with the forever fleeing Elven race, and impersonated them whenever we went outside for a cigarette break.
All in all, it turned out to be an excellent friday night. After all
Epilogue:
The next day I had an important meeting, and had some spare time before it to walk in the city. I bought both Small World expansions. And to top it all of, we played another two games tonight with my sister and her friend! The Merchan Elves ruled the lands, and I still haven't won any game..
All in all, I am really happy with my purchase, and I just wanted to share my joy with a group that is sure to relate to this joy.
