Glen More II: Chronicles

The first time I tried it, on the same day as Newdale, Glen More II: Chronicles did not win me over. We started with the base game only, since none of us remembered it well — and I had probably played the original Glen More only once at most. It felt like a slightly more complex Isle of Skye, but without the fun and the auctions that give that game its energy. It was not bad; it simply did not leave much of an impression on me.

At its core is Kramer's clever rondel, around which the game moves. The second edition builds on the successful first one with a big-box approach: it is played over four rounds rather than three, and adds an extra research board, the clan actions. The base game therefore gives you more things to keep track of, although our first encounter did not show me that these necessarily come together into something exciting.

Its real trick is the eight plug-and-play chronicles, which alter rules, goals, and the overall feel of the game. You can pick and mix them, so the game promises different versions of the same core rather than campaign-style continuity. That comes at a cost, though: assembling the boxes and setting up the game initially is fairly confusing for someone opening the box for the first time. This is not the kind of game that effortlessly explains on its own exactly what it wants you to put on the table.

My final verdict is now more positive, but not uncritical. Base Glen More II on its own still does not seem enough to make me choose it over an Isle of Skye with its auctions. Once it starts using the Chronicles, though, it looks as if it has more to say. I definitely want another game with a full mix — perhaps 1-2-3-5-7, described on BGG as a medium/heavy approach — before deciding how high it can really climb.

Updated session

The second session clearly changed my view. The game had spent more than a year, perhaps even two, buried at the bottom of a stack in the “temple,” but it came back to the table before moving to new storage. We played only the third chronicle, with the whisky barrels, and the game was much more enjoyable than the first one — even though we rushed, butchered a few rules, and clan McCuttleFish honestly profited from one such mistake. With a little goodwill during setup, Glen More II rose quite a bit in my estimation and immediately entered the list of games to replay.