Pax Porfiriana I played a solo game to refresh my rules as there is no way I could remember how to play such a messy game otherwise. I still love it. Steeped in theme but interactive and fast-playing. #boardgames

Orbit This has been a big hit in the club. We think it might be the most consistently replayed game we've ever had - definitely among middle-weight games. It's not obviously by Reiner Knizia, no auctions or weakest-link scoring. It's a race game to visit all planets but they are moving around on orbits, propelled by player cards. You can mess the leader up but only temporarily and only at your own expense. Everyone has enjoyed its simplicity and playability. #boardgames

Ticket to Ride: Asia Partnership Ticket to Ride is good. You share some but not all of your tickets and contracts with your partner - so you can't be sure what they are aiming for. It hugely rewards getting extra tickets. My partner and I stuck with the base tickets and we were lapped on the score track. It would be fun to try with two teams of three players. #boardgames

Fishing Trick-taker by Friedemann Friese, the green-haired designer of Power Grid and many others. This one reminds me of Power Grid in that it's really all about the catch-up mechanism. You get 1 point for every card you win in tricks. You keep the cards you capture and recycle them for your next hand. If you don't have enough, you draw cards from the deck, which gets progressively more powerful with higher cards and trumps. This means that doing badly in a hand means your next hand will be much stronger. Powerful hands ebb and flow between the players, which is delightful, especially when playing with mixed abilities. Unfortunately I'm not convinced there's much skill as you can't card count or have much control which cards you receive. I'll keep playing, but I am not convinced it's a long-term keeper. #boardgames