VCSBM

A couple of months back I decided to join a local game group called "Ventura County Strategic Boardgame Meetup". They meet on Tuesday nights in Thousand Oaks, so it's close by and on a night that is generally not that busy for me. So far it has been very enjoyable. I've met a dozen new gamers and I've had the opportunity to play a few new games.
The first time I went I played Stone Age (which I love) and 2 new (to me) games, Lost Cities and Medici. Lost cities is a re-styled version of the Reiner Knizia, Spiel Des Jahres winner Keltis. It was light but fun and I think the family might enjoy it. Medici was bit more of a gamers game and I liked it a lot. The board was terrible though and difficult to work with.
The second time I went I played to new (to me) games - Kingsburg and Hamburgum. Hamburgum involves a few different mechanics, like Worker placement and resource management. I liked it a lot and would love to play it again. It's a bit heavy for the family gatherings though so I probably won't add it to the library unless I come across a fabulous deal on it. Kingsburg was awesome. Some people have commented on it being a bit long for the type of game that it is, but I didn't think so. I loved it and will some day add it to my collection.
The next Meetup I had to skip because of our family spring break vacation trip to Cambria, but last week I went and played just one game and it was a classic older MB game called Fortress America. I had a lot of fun even though we lost. It lasted about 4 hours. I would love to play it again.
This past Tuesday I played a 5 player game of Battlestar Gallactica that lasted for over 4 hours. In the end all of us humans lost. I was mistakenly taken for a cylon and placed in the brig. Very frustrating. The other table of gamers played Bootleggers and Ra.

I can't wait to see what's on the table next week.