Summer Games!

Shane played Marvel Champions with me for Father's Day. It started a trend! We've played 7 or 8 times since.

I bought the game to play with Carrie. I got excited when she said she liked it and picked up some expansions whenever there was a good sale. 

The well ran dry. The extras I bought got put in a drawer before they were ever used. 

However, with Shane playing I've started to pull everything out. I want to see how the new stuff works! 

It's a complicated game. Shane's a smart kid, so he's able to pick up on the mechanics and some of the tactics/combos. We still play on "easy mode," though. As long as no new card is revealed, he has do-overs and can ask for help. I try to keep an eye on his play to prevent any huge mistakes, but leave decisions up to him. I figure any bad decisions he makes adds to the difficulty level for me! 

But like I said, it turns out Shane's smart. We've been winning! I didn't really expect that even on "easy mode." We've had a few nail biters, so it's not like we're winning comfortably. On our 2nd game, Shane's nemesis as Iron Man came out the 1st turn! It would've almost been a sure loss, so I called a mulligan before he got frustrated. If it had happened to my hero, I may have played on, but I figured it would have soured him on the experience.

Champions with Shane has been my main board gaming of the summer. I've really enjoyed it. I think he has, too!

There's another game I bought and thought we'd play as a family. I kickstarted X-men United last year. I'd hoped to get it by my birthday to require a family play. It didn't show up until after school was out and our summer start turned sour.

We have played a couple of family games. It's much faster than Champions which allows Carrie and Shane to play together (as long as Shane's not too loud and hyper!), but Carrie's focus (and patience) has been lower with everything going on. 

We've only used the main box so far. I have loads of Kickstarter extras I'd love to use one day, but we're not there as a family yet. Carrie needs to recover more and Shane needs to chatter less. Both should happen eventually.....and I really don't need to buy anything new for a while! We've got a backlog to get through now!

And in the meantime, "my cat" wants attention. She likes to ambush me.

If it was up to me, we'd play a family game 5 days a week! I want it to be a choice rather than a command, though. That's how love and board games work around here.