LogFAQs > #942422295

some comments on previously mentioned games:
puerto rico is a classic for a reason - the pieces around its central role-selection battle are good, but the battle to jockey for the perfect position with all the individual roles is always exceptional. you're pretty much guaranteed to have at least one play where you screw someone else over, and one play where you get screwed over, and it's grand.
although race for the galaxy takes some cues from this one, the race for the galaxy board game (new frontiers) is basically puerto rico both rethemed and with a little more spice, and i'd recommend it for anyone who is lukewarm on PR for the "iffy" theme

millennium blades actually surprised me how much i enjoyed it - it's a lot more fiddly and overwrought than anything i'm usually into, but the real-time aspect along with the success of carrying over the theme's "feel" to the actual game did a heck of a lot. level 99's other stuff left me lukewarm at best, this one's easily my favorite

voyages of marco polo is right around my top 10, and it's funny that you mention it as "another midweight euro" because that's totally how it comes across! but somehow it's surprisingly addictive - it's an exceptionally well-crafted game with lots of familiar systems, yet they work in tandem beautifully here.
if there's one thing that sticks out, it's also a game where each player gets a unique power - and the characters' powers are both unique abilities (not just stuff found elsewhere in the game) and super super strong. some reviewer once described it as everyone looking around the table and calling each other's characters OP, and i think that sums it up pretty nicely.

fuse is super cool, my only beef is that it's exceptionally hard for 2 and much more trivial with 5; it's not a disaster because you can always modify the difficulty if you want, but i wish it were a tad better balanced.

castles of mad king ludwig is one of those games people who like tend to REALLY like, and i'm oddly a bit in the middle. the fun shaped pieces make castle building legitimately exciting, you're not just tossing hexagons together like in suburbia, but really making something that feels unique.
the master builder is a "good" mechanic but man it can be an AP disaster, even for people like me that usually move along pretty well. the desire to not be punished immediately by someone else buying what you need or getting what they want cheap just brings out the agony.

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it's an underwater adventure ride