a sisco's literal blog

Wed, 03 Jun 2026 17:04:53 -0700

The Marrakech expansions have arrived to today. My point salad in the desert gets more ingredients!

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 09:28:45 -0700

Been quiet for a few months. Sometime life happens. Will try to start posting more board game content, and random things.

Wed, 07 Jan 2026 22:54:22 -0700

First LEGO set in a year or two. Happy Christmas to me!

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 12:16:17 -0700

Finally got Speakeasy, the new Lacerda, to the table. 11 turns is not a lot of time to get your engine going, even with helper cards and there being more than 1 action per turn. This is definite a game that will reward multiple plays, but I think I like what is in here. Took about half way through to really get a grasp of the flow of the game and what I should be doing.

Fri, 17 Oct 2025 15:42:01 -0700

Played Tea Witches this week. A worker placement/resource management game of cute art and very bad tea puns. So, so many bad tea puns. Are there good ones?

Anyway, there is enough variety in mechanisms to be interesting, and while I played it at 3, I can see 4 being very tolerable. I would put this in the I wouldn’t seek it out, but would definitely play if asked.

Sat, 11 Oct 2025 20:23:45 -0700

Test setup of Escape Plan by Vital Lacerda while I review the rules for a play this Wednesday (hopefully!). The heist is over, now the team has split up and is making their getaway. You have 3 days to grab the loot you’ve hidden and get out of town. If you don’t make it out on day 3, you’re out of the running to win. Zero points.

Fri, 03 Oct 2025 09:58:59 -0700

Played The White Castle for the first time in over a year. It was definitely better than my first play. We also played with the Matcha expansion, which while interesting, just made for a longer game without adding enough of a change for me. Part of what appeals to me about the game is how quick it plays for a worker placement euro. Need to play The Red Cathedral again to see which I prefer. Really enjoy their 2-player Flatiron as well.

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 19:05:15 -0700

Playing a couple of older games. At 3+ players, The Great Heartland Hauling Company is brutal. It doesn’t take much space, and I might play again some day, but for now it’s going back on the shelf. Hoping to get Belfort out this week. Worker placement + area majority scoring. I recall it being fun, but it’s been about a decade. Time to play gain. Also on the to be revisited list (off the top of my head)

Belle of the Ball (First edition) – managing invitations to a ball.
Wombat Rescue (Digestion management!) – pooping cubes to find your kids and rescue them from the Dingo
Seasons – Weird magic stuff
Karesansui (cutthroat zen rock gardening) – an Ion award winner!
Junk Orbit (this one is a bit newer) – throwing space junk to move
Gravwell – slingshot movement around your enemies moves!

I am sure there are other games to be looked at. There are so many I haven’t played in a long time.

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 15:00:24 -0700

Setting up Shackleton Base for a 4-player game. Preparing to teach this next game night at my FLGS. It looks like a lot, but the complexity is in the interactions & decisions, not the mechanics. Can’t wait for our first play.

Thu, 04 Sep 2025 08:14:52 -0700

Been too busy playing games and other things to read this week. Played 7 games (6 unique) last night at our local FLGS game night. Clearly we targeting faster, lighter weight games this week. Can recommend Knitting Circle: a Calico game — their subtitle, not mine — and Propolis. The former has a great rondel drafting mechanism, and the later is an engine builder in the vein of Splendor, but with bees and a cool resource gathering mechanism. Will always recommend nana (aka Trio) which is a great memory/go fish hybrid, and the latest Point Salad variant, Point Galaxy, was enjoyed by all.

Wed, 13 Aug 2025 10:04:02 -0700

Fun book. Cozy little near future sci-fi about robots, rebellion, and biang biang noodles.

Finished reading: Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz 📚

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 00:13:49 -0700

Finally played Railroad Tiles with an expansion. My son absolutely stomped me. This is a fun tile-laying adaptation of Railroad Ink. @horribleguild.bsky.social knocked it out of the park with this.

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 00:10:05 -0700

Finished the Drowning Empire trilogy. Solid epic fantasy, cool world building. I enjoyed, and it wasn’t as long as some of these epic style stories can be. A few things were telegraphed fairly early, but they didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the characters discovering them, even if by the time it was finally obvious to them it was starting to get annoying. Better that the competency bias of many fantasy stories.

Finished reading: The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart 📚

Sun, 10 Aug 2025 00:01:20 -0700

I actually re-read the whole series of books after watching the new TV show. Still great books. Murderbot and ART are still assholes. Still highly recommended.

Finished reading: All Systems Red by Martha Wells 📚

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 21:27:04 -0700

The 3rd book of the Midsolar Murders continues the hijinks of our murder mystery author who has the murders come to her. Even in space! Mur Lafferty continues to write great multi-genre fiction, effortlessly blending sci-fi and whodunnit.

Finished reading: Infinite Archive by Mur Lafferty 📚

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 21:24:21 -0700

Fun alternate world setting with notes of Verne and Wells. And old fashioned serials. Quite enjoyable easy reads.

Finished reading: The Emilie Adventures by Martha Wells 📚

Tue, 29 Jul 2025 15:17:02 -0700

Next time I need a medical procedure, I want to go to a children’s hospital. They treat their patients more like humans than my experience in most adult clinics, actually explain everything that is going to happen in plain language, and are kind. Also, scented masks (root beer!) and adhesive remover

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 22:15:00 -0700

Currently reading: The Emilie Adventures by Martha Wells 📚

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 22:09:26 -0700

This was a fun read. Very trans, very queer, much violin. I highly recommend it. Ryka’s writing style is breezy and easy to read, even when describing the incredibly strange situations her characters find themselves in.

Finished reading: Light From Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki 📚

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 21:39:09 -0700

tap tap…is this thing on? Oh, it’s me! I haven’t posted in quite awhile. Been busy doing other things I guess. I think I will probably try and post more of the reading, and games played, and just in general. We will see.

Thu, 12 Dec 2024 21:53:16 -0700

And I am now current on the Cosmere. This last book was a wild ride, and I can’t wait to see where Brandon Sanderson takes us next.

Finished reading: Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Fri, 06 Dec 2024 14:55:08 -0700

Well, it’s time to embark on the end of the first half of the Stormlight Archive. I am curious to see how this part of the story is wrapped up. So much happened last book.

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson 📚

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 12:46:41 -0700

Kauri was a great asymmetric game of colonization and survival, where every faction felt different enough to be interesting, but not so complicated the teach went on for hours and we were ever really lost. Highly recommend if Root is too muach or too long for your group.

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 12:44:16 -0700

No photos, but played Coloretto, Short Zoot Suit, Pass Pass, and Kauri last night. Coloretto is still a great design, even if I was destroyed by chance and pushing my luck. Short Zoot Suit is both a fun design, and hilarious art! Those bears and their Zoot Suits getting shorter and shorter!

Flatiron first play

Thu, 28 Nov 2024 14:18:21 -0700

And first game of Flatiron with my favorite 2-player opponent, my eldest son. This is a solid 2 player only game from the team behind White Castle and Red Cathedral. Lots of variability, players always have some unique powers, and just a solid experience. And made for a very close game first time around. Highly recommended.