tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38164184106934890752024-03-13T04:48:36.269-07:00Let Eric Play !I love boardgames and had a lot of fun and made many friends!
Now the host of Push Ur Luck Podcast (P.U.L.P), follow me @duckizz for the latest updates :)
P.S. Click on the ads if you want to support me thanks!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-84524575895019897902013-06-12T07:00:00.000-07:002013-06-12T07:00:05.160-07:00I have moved!consolidating our posts at http://www.pushurluckpodcast.com :)<br />
subscribe to us there!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-67273325014153941722013-05-11T01:14:00.000-07:002013-05-11T01:14:08.916-07:00The Name Of The Rose, Endeavor, Carson City, Divinare, Alea Iacta Est, Las Vegas, Noblemen, Robot Master, Edo, Navegador, HermagorPlayed a Print and Play game that has been receiving some good reviews and also a few games which I have been wanting to play. Quite a good session I have had this week with highlights being Edo and Endeavour. Lets take a look:<br />
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<b>THE NAME OF THE ROSE</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJLi6nUCcAAUus4.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJLi6nUCcAAUus4.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who's suspicious....hmmm...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b><br /></b><br />
So I manage to bring this pretty old Stefan Feld game out as Jon has been wanting to try it. This was one of the first few boardgames I purchased at the beginning when I first started to dive into modern designer games and I was very enamoured by it then. Now a few years later, playing it again and comparing to many modern boardgames, it seems to have lost a bit of the lustre and glamour I had. Much of the game, you were pretty quiet as you are thinking and trying to be subtle but at the same time trying to push the rest ahead of your pawn. However, there is a potential to just play randomly and then see how it goes because the cards you are dealt with kinda dictates what you can do and if you are dealt very bad cards you are probably helping others more than yourself which can suck. This time i realised how even during the 3 times in the game where you are revealing who you are not, it can also turn out badly for you if for example all players chose to reveal they are not a certain color and you are the only one that did not. This is especially obvious when you are in a 5 player game as it increases the likelihood that you are the color. Finally, in the end game guessing, you can also be sabotaged not because you weren't subtle but through the process of elimination. I think perhaps the game took a little too long to play because more often than not you are just doing the same thing again and again every day (6 days in the game) and only change will be reacting to the event for that day. Of course if there are players who are not being serious and just fooling around, that can throw people off as well in the game. So in summary, after a few years and looking back at this game, I can only say Try before you buy. Its seems to be Stefan's first few forays into the boardgame industry and him stretching his legs and trying out what works and what doesn't. I am certainly glad of his recent releases and will still be looking forward to Brugge and Amerigo later in the year.<br />
For more details of our discussion, do listen to Episode 9 of our podcast.<br />
<b><br /></b><b>ENDEAVOR</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJLOMxLCEAAGcyb.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJLOMxLCEAAGcyb.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So many many bits!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Ah Endeavour. I have heard a lot about this game and have almost been tempted to buy it but the board reminded me of Lost Cities the boardgame so I did not know what to make of the game. Yea I should learn to read the rules to make a better judgement but somehow the rules doesn't grab me as much when I don't have the game in front of me to look through the components and better understand how it works. Someone had the game and well since we were wondering what other games to play with 5 we decided to give this a go.<br />
Endeavour is a relatively easy game to teach and play but has surprisingly meaty strategies involved and moderate interaction amongst players. Players each have a player board which will mark various "tech" which essentially denotes how advanced they are in terms of various actions that you can perform during the game. There are a few phases in the game but the most important portion is the action phase where players in turn order, perform actions on the main board. Players are trying their best to advance their "techs" as well as obtain cards both of which will provide points at the end of the game. In addition, several locations on the board also provide points if you still occupy them at the end of the game. After 7 turns, the player with the most points will win. I will not go into too much details as you can read it from BGG.<br />
The artwork is not bad and functional. Theme wise though there really isn't a lot of theme and this is a typical euro game. It is also an area control game as well because the number of your tokens in a particular area often denotes which level cards you can obtain and the higher the level, the better rewards you will get. This is my first time playing and I was planning to go an alternative path from what the rest are doing however our paths soon cross as they started to dabble into the exploration paths I was on. The buildings that are available for building are crucial as they often provide you with 2 actions which is quite powerful in the later game when snatching the governor cards or other cards from each other.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Setup is kinda tedious. First you have to randomly distribute the chits onto each available space on the board facedown. Then you had to flip the chits up for all of them. The cards also needs to be segregated for the various regions during setup. Finally buildings need to be setup in their various levels and types. Quite a lot of things to do. There aren't any spare chits on the board though so if you lose one it can be quite painful. Otherwise, its a good use of symbols and everything else is quite clear.<br />
one smaller pet peeve is that you can card count in this game or at least memorize the cards so you know which to aim for to get certain benefits. Its not that easy but it may just give you that edge to win.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
I can see why this game is rated highly in BGG. For the length of game, the weight and gameplay it provides is just enough. I had some fun in this as it has just the right level of interaction. There is even a way to kick people's chips off the spaces on the board but will cost u 2 extra chips to do so. I don't have many complaints about this but perhaps with more plays I may have. Recommended!<br />
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<strong>CARSON CITY</strong><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJK2DQXCYAAsXhk.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJK2DQXCYAAsXhk.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not many on the other side of the river</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Carson City and its expansion is a medium weight action selection and worker placement type of game set in a wild west theme. Each turn, each players will obtain a number of cowboys (to add to those that weren't used in previous turns) and use these cowboys to place them on the board to either perform actions or block spaces on the main board to either build plots of land. Then actions are resolved based on the action track and players will take their actions. Now I giving a very high level view of the game because there are a lot of reviews already so I won't repeat them.<br />
The expansions add more buildings as well as additional character tiles with different abilities and bandits. Bandits will appear from Round 2 onwards and may occupy a player's buildings thus halving the income. However these bandits will also provide players with the ability to defeat them and thus earning points as well. So playing with the expansion does afford more abilities and I feel does make it more fun.<br />
I had played this once before and I did not really think much about it. Recently as part of an acquisition disorder phase (lol!) I decided to give it another go and got both the base game and the expansion to try again. I manage to play 2 more times after buying and have seen quite different plays of the game. It certainly requires more plays so that players know what to look out for and what to guard against. In a game that lasts only 4 rounds (which is pretty short for the amount of things to do and see in the game), players gotta be on their feet and play an active part in blocking others so that there's no runaway victories as have happened in the games.<br />
The number of actions per turn is rather limited and I find it abit distracting to concentrate on the actions I require and also on the main board because I will need plots of land to build buildings on. What I am trying to say is that there seems to be a bit of a disjoint between the 2. Theme wise its not too bad in that there are connections with the characters you choose and the actions you are performing. I love the art as the fonts used and colors are quite thematic and fitting of the western theme.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Setup is a bit fiddly as you need to setup the action spaces and the main board itself before you can start. The dice while awesome to hold because they are big and chunky are actually a bit hard to roll as they are big and heavy and will push things away if rolled onto components on the board but this is a minor peeve. You will need to ensure no one gets away with anything else the scoring will be very lopsided. This means that experienced players are a must otherwise there isn't really much you can do to catch up with the leader once they get their key items early in the game. Game length seems to be a whee bit too short as well for a game that seems to be meaty and has a lot of potential. Finally, the buildings themselves only have specific requirements to build and different ways of counting income but they don't provide anymore interactions amongst themselves which is a pity. There seems to be a possibility of more development on these buildings and more intricate interactions between them and various elements of the game.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
I am pretty ok with the game in that the bidding and fighting for action spaces creates a lot of interaction and tension in the game. Limited abilities to convert to points also will cause a lot of conflicts between the players. Counting income though can be a pain because changes to the board will change the income of each of the buildings you own. Still I am not quite getting the game in its entirety and so I don't believe I will be keeping this in my collection. Try before you buy!<br /><b><br /></b><b>DIVINARE</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJK13WLCQAE9Z5P.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJK13WLCQAE9Z5P.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">hmmm what cards should I pass...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
3 Player game and its still quite a good game for me. As mentioned, I think it will work better as a 2 or 3 player rather than the full 4 because you can still manage what you have provided and it becomes less of a memory only game and more of a tactical movement game. By saying its less of a memory game, I mean its easier to remember what you have passed on and received and so you can focus more on what cards to pass and to play so as to position yourself to be in the best position when the game ends. If you haven't gotten a copy yet and have read my blogs so far, what are you waiting for? You won't regret it! :D<br />
<b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>ALEA IACTA EST</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJKB6v1CYAAC2cv.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJKB6v1CYAAC2cv.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Many dice but not enough symbols to help players</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I bought this game when I first heard about it because of the dice and placement mechanism which reminded me of Kingsburg which I liked. However after playing it a few times I realise its a very odd game for me and did not click for me. The theme is pasted on and how the dice are placed on the various areas is quite hard to explain. I once brought it to the office and I had a hard time explaining how the dice placements worked. Scoring of points and the various secret objectives was also not as intuitive and did not help me enjoy the game. I decided to give it a go recently after a year or so since I last played and the sentiments are still the same. Its just a game that I cannot play nor enjoy playing. If you can get pass the rules and have a better way of explaining the game, perhaps this may work for me. For now though. its a pass for me.<br />
<b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>LAS VEGAS</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJJzh_ACIAE5qpp.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJJzh_ACIAE5qpp.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And many dice again. Small screwage available though</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
An easy simple dice game that has had mixed reviews. When I first heard about this and how it plays, it was mostly moderate to negative reviews. Since it is a light game I did not go about purchasing it but managed to have a play recently. We played with the advanced rules where the white dice are used (basic rules you only use the colors of dice that the players have chosen).<br />
At the start of each round, money cards will be dealt to each casino tile up to at least $50mil. This means that some casinos may get lucky and get larger amounts (some got $110mil for e.g.). During your turn, you will roll all the dice that you have remaining and then decide which sets of dice to allocate to the various casinos, depending on the pips on this set of dice that you selected. Then its the next player's turn and players keep doing this until all their dice (including the white ones) have been allocated to the appropriate casinos. <br />
Players then look at each casino and count the number of dice they have there. If your number matches any other players or the white dice, then you are out. The first non-matching majority player will take the highest value money card. Then the 2nd non-matching majority will take the next card (if any) and so on and so forth. In this way, each casino will be resolved and money collected. Players play a few rounds and then whichever player that has collected the most $ will be the winner.<br />
So while it is an easy and simple dice game, the inclusion of white dice in every player's collection of dice does make this more interesting as you can decide how and when to use these white dice to sabotage others. Components and artwork are pretty good, no compliants there.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
The main pet peeve will be the luck involved when rolling. Since this is a dice game primarily, you will be dealing with a lot of luck. As this is a filler as well and game plays pretty fast, this shouldn't be a very big issue but if you dislike luck-filled games, then you will do well to avoid this game.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
Light filler dice rolling game. This will be right up some players' alley but its not for me. The best way to play this seems to be trying to hoard your dice so that you can slowly allocate them strategically to block others and steal the majority from them. Although you may get screwed if you have a "good" dice roll, that's just the way life is i guess in this game. Try before you buy. Btw as of this writing, there is an iOS implementation of the game. Not sure how it is like but might be a cheaper alternative to try first before buying the game.<br />
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<b>NOBLEMEN</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIoTVwSCAAAHSyX.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIoTVwSCAAAHSyX.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Its all about the masquerade!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I think I reviewed this light-medium weight Euro game previously so I won't go into details here. In a nutshell, its an extremely well produced (and maybe even over produced game) with great components and art work and interesting tile placement cum building type of game. However, the various components while are intricately related, aren't flowing or functioning smoothly in my opinion. The biggest variable in the game is the queen because a round ends when a player ends his turn and he has the Queen with him. That can cause a lot of screw ups to plans and makes it sometimes very hard to plan ahead. Maybe you were waiting 1 more round for the Masquerade and needed to do something to secure the next position but someone got the queen and poof the round ended and we go straight into Masquerade. I don't think its a bad game but for me though it did not feel like it flowed smoothly and was clunky. Try before you buy!<br />
<b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>ROBOT MASTER</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BInUatJCAAEvnGC.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BInUatJCAAEvnGC.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interesting thinky little 2 player game</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Quick light game for 2 players or 2 teams from Reiner Knizia, Robot Master requires players to play cards from their hand into a 5 by 5 grid on the table. Once that is done, players will count points from their lowest column and whoever has more points will win the game.<br />
Its that simple! The complexity and thinky part comes from deciding where to play your card AND how the robots are scored. For example, if you have multiples of the same robot in the same column, you will score multiples of the points instead of just the points themselves. In addition, since what you are placing may help your opponent form the multiples he/she needs it can be used both to sabotage your opponent or accidentally helping him/her.<br />
That's largely the game! Art is ok for such a light filler and there is certainly a lot of interaction in the game because cards are used by both parties but there may not be a lot of talking because both players/teams will be concentrating on the board and trying to outthink their opponent. <br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Theme wise, there is zero in the game. You can probably replace the robots with other things and the game will still work fine. The scoring and points have absolutely nothing to do with the theme at all! While some can say that the draw of the cards may screw up your chances of winning the game, I think with careful placement, even a bad draw of cards can still win the game.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
I had some plans when I started playing the game but they quickly degenerated into tactical reactions to what my opponent has done because the game is designed this way. There is only so much you can plan ahead before the opponent places a card into the space you wanted and forces you to change your plans. Still I did enjoy myself in this light filler and I suspect this is best with 2 and not as a team game. I am finding myself enjoying these little light fillers that can be quite thinky if you let it be and lets me enjoy light fillers. Try before you buy!<br />
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<strong>EDO</strong><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJWppDQCAAAXVum.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJWppDQCAAAXVum.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ultra euro game with very little theme but fun!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
A game I saw with much curiosity during GENCON 2012 and was much intrigued by it. My usual gaming group had a copy and played it (without me) but it never got to the table again so I wasn't too sure if it was good or not. Their comments were its very dry. So I kinda shuned away from it. Recently though, with a good dose of acquisition disorder, I decided to pull the trigger :p<br />
Edo is a medium weight action selection and worker placement game with 2 ways of scoring. The game ends when a player has reached 12 points OR if all merchant tiles have been used. Then players have a final scoring and the player with the most points will win the game.<br />
Most interesting feature of the game is the use of these square action tiles to determine which 3 actions you will be taking during a specific round. These square tiles are seperated into 4 triangles each with a different action. During the planning phase, players will secretly place 3 such tiles onto a rack, placing the triangle with the action they want to take at the bottom. Then they will place a number of meeples in front of that tile which will denote how many times they want to activate that action. <br />
Once all players have placed and decided, the action phase will begin. Starting with the Start player, players will play the first action tile and the number of times during their turn. This will continue in player order and when it comes back to the start player again, the 2nd action tile will be played. In this way, all 3 action tiles will be played, actions taken in turn order and the phase will end.<br />
Players then pay rice for each of their meeple they have on the game board and then receive income based on their buildings they have in each city on the game board as well as their position in each city. Players check for the end game condition and if the game has not ended, they will flip over a new merchant tile and start a new round.<br />
Art wise its functional and quite apt. Icons are clear and easy to read and I like it.<br />
Gameplay wise, its a pretty dry euro where you are just trying your best to react to the situation and score points to win the game. The initial starting moves maybe the same but it may change only depending on what the other players do and the list of new action tiles that are available for purchase. I will need more plays to determine if this may break the game but I am hoping not as I do like the game.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Thematically its very dry and doesn't really fit the theme. You could jolly well replace it with another setting and it will still function the same. The same starting moves sequence maybe a problem in the future but I will need more plays to see if this is a problem. Choice of components is abit odd. The rice tokens are way too big and the starting player token is quite similar to the other meeples but just of a different color which can be mistaken easily. Good weighty pieces I appreciate but slightly overproduced.<br /><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
I really liked the game because its thinky and meaty enough for the length of game time it requires. While the lack of theme maybe MEH for some I did not really feel it was a pain for me. The board is nicely designed and the game play is tight enough to ensure that the game will definitely end after an appropriate length of game play. I am not too sure about the value of the merchant tiles versus constructing the buildings to get the points to win the game and I am sure with more plays it will become clearer. The promos provide just slightly more options but doesn't really add anything significant to the game play so can be ignored if you prefer. Recommended!<b><br /></b><br />
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<b><br /></b><b>NAVEGADOR</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJfZU7bCUAAH1vg.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJfZU7bCUAAH1vg.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Focused on only Shipping but got screwed...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Medium weight Euro game with a Rondel that requires players to choose from different options for obtaining money and then utilising the money again to improve these options to score points and win the game in the end. Unique part of this game will be the rondel, the market and your player board (which provides the different options for you to score points and win the game).<br />
Like many rondel games, this will not be any different. The next 3 steps are free for you to choose from but further segments will require you to return a boat to your supply. Should you have the Navegador card (which awards you with a free Shipping action), there will be an additional boat on the rondel which will signify when you must use the Navegador card or else you will have to pass it to the next player.<br />
The market is interesting because there are 2 ways to use the market. One by selling goods from your settlements and the second is by processing goods. Selling goods will bring down the price but will increase the profits for processing and vice versa. So these 2 are linked in the market.<br />
Finally, the player board shows you the different ways in which to score points and win the game. Throughout the game, you will be storing wharves, churches and items you have purchased or obtained on your player board. There are also columns where you can obtain prestige tokens which will award you money based on which icon is covered and the number of related items you have on the board. Tokens will also award you points in the end for the number of related items on your board.<br />
Artwork is pretty Puerto Rico style like and Ok I guess. I find I am moving more away from such art styles as they don't appeal to me anymore. They keep reminding me of the traditional euro games and has this trading in the Mediterranean type of feel which is boring and somewhat dated for me. Components are wooden bits and thick cardboard so that's always nice.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Artwork is somewhat dated for me but its a small pet peeve. Another pet peeve will be how random the settlements are arranged across the board. Sometime with luck the settlements you explore yield a lot of money for you and then you can make good use of the money, Other times you may be left with the small bounties and thus not as favourable. Indeed, I manage to grab a lot of money after exploring the last settlement and that helped me to get quite a lot of points. Finally, the biggest complaint will be your sitting arrangement and what actions or directions the players before you are taking. Often if you are planning the same things as they are, then they will have often made situation on the board not favourable for you when it comes to your turn. This means that you are sometimes forced to choose a different path from what you have preferred or planned for initially.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
Again, guarding someone is very important in a game like this. I was very focused on the shipping route but was quickly stopped by 2 players and I could not flip myself around fast enough to venture into other areas and score points to secure the win. Even exploring requires some good timing because players may steal ahead of you to explore and secure the settlement token when you have your armada of ships good and ready to go exploring. All in all, it was a pretty OK game for me but not great enough that I don't regret selling my copy of the game. Try it before you buy it!<br />
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<b><br /></b><b>HERMAGOR</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJgp6ilCAAEyXE8.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BJgp6ilCAAEyXE8.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OMG I was 3rd by 1 little point! GEEZE :(</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Medium weight game which combines an interesting auction type mechanism and area control where most of your scoring will come from with a thinly wrapped theme to top it off. Players attempt to build trading posts around the board and earning money after building by "selling" the resource on the market. Players also try to keep in mind the final scoring conditions and when the game end, whoever has the most money will win the game. <br />
3 parts that make this game interesting. The 1st is the auction area which starts each round. Imagine a grid where resource/special tiles are placed on the grid. Each tile is surrouned by 8 possible circles with different numbers printed on them. During each player's turn, player will place 1 of their 4 bidding pawns on any of the cirles on the board thereby stalking a claim in the tiles that are adjacent to the circle. Alternatively, player can place their pawn onto a tile directly. Player will then pay $ in terms of the number they have covered. If you place on the tile itself, you will pay $2. Once all players have placed all 4 pieces, this bidding area is resolved. A player will win a tile if he/she has a mojrity of his bidding pieces adjacent to the tile. If there is a tie compare where your pawns are. If your pawn is on the tile, you will win or if your pawn is orthogonally adjacent, you will win. So with careful bidding and placement, you can either win a lot of tiles or even win nothing at all! Players will also receive income based on the placement of their bidding pawns. If they are placed in a row, then they will receive income in arithmetic progression. Players will receive income for the row and column the pawns are in. So potentially you can receive income from $4 to $14.<br />
2nd part which is interesting is the market area which determines the income one receives when building their trading posts. The market also has slots which provide more income when a player has enclosed certain areas on the main board with their own trading posts. Finally, the market comes into play at the end game for end game scoring depending if they have a chit for that particular good and as well as the final price of the good. Slots are limited (especially for a 5 player game) and quite a lot of scoring will come from these slots so competition is high.<br />
Finally the main board itself is rather interesting. At the start of every round, a tile will be flipped over to reveal how many houses we can place onto the board for that turn. After the bidding phase, players, in turn order, will decide where to place their house on the board and move their meeple to that location. Players will pay costs depending on which roads they have covered and if there are other buildings in the destination. Finally players will get income based on the resource at the destination and its current market price. Players also check if they have surrounded a region. There are 2 types of regions which players can surround to get bonus points. One is denoted by "H" for Hermagor and will score in a single track at the bottom. Spaces are limited and there are more H's on board so competition will be fierce. The other type of region will include a resource type on the market and you will get points at the end of the game depending on how much the good costs.<br />
So as you can tell, this is a game with many layers and quite a lot of interaction amongst the players.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Theme is quite limited in the game primarily because we did not read the fluff and jumped right into the game. The game tried to project a fantasy sort of theme I think but it did not come through at all. Also the bidding portion is an interesting mechanism but does not necessarily combine well with the other parts of the game. Artwork is rather dull and dark with earthy tones. Finally, I think the game comes with paper money and in this game where a lot of money is being exchanged, I think poker chips will be a must when playing the game.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
It maybe difficult to visualize how you are going to bid initially but after a few rounds you will get the hang of it. This type of bidding reminds me of Goa though there are some significant differences. After a few rounds though, paying other players becomes a norm and can get tedious if you want to calculate everything. I enjoyed the game but felt it could have been slightly too long. I thought I was doing pretty ok because of the end game scoring but came in 3rd. The top 3 scorers weren't that far off with the points though. This is quite a fun game but maybe hard to come by because it is a few years old. Its a pity the artwork and theme doesn't come through for me and I believe if there was more cohesion and better artwork, this will be a recommended game for me. Try before you buy!<br />
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<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">PHEW! So someone commented that I seem to play a lot of games and I did a last count and here are my stats:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">I have logged 216 plays of games this year out of which I have played 125 unique games. Top 3 are love letter, coup and suburbia. CO2 is not that far behind! </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">So that's half a year gone and another half to go! I bet this number will explode due to me attending GENCON 2013 :D</span></span>duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-40432528539832665962013-04-21T08:27:00.002-07:002013-04-21T08:27:48.392-07:00Master Merchant, Palastgeflaster, Die Speicherstadt, Rialto, Super Farmer Rancho, Sheepland, Viticulture and what I backed in Kickstarter!Hits of this blogpost ? Rialto of course! Along with Viticulture and to a lesser extent, Die Spiecherstadt and its expansion. I feel that Stefan Feld is really coming into stride here with 2 great hits this year and it seems as if his previous releases have been him exploring various mechanisms and designs to fine tune his prowess and come up with winning combinations for his releases this year. If Brugge and Amerigo are in the same vein, then I am pretty sure Stefan Feld will be winning designer of 2013 hands down! Lets get on with the review!<br />
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<b>MASTER MERCHANT</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOuG47CcAAUV-7.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOuG47CcAAUV-7.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quick light filler. Love letter seems better though...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
A light game from Seiji Kanai (of Love Letter) fame. Its like a dominion light with cooler art (in my opinion) and play time can stretch from very fast to slightly too long due to the end game condition. Its no frills (very much like his Love Letter) with minimal text and multiple combinations.<br />
Players start off with 2 standard cards and a money card to keep track of the money they have. During their turn, they can play 2 cards. The first 2 cards each player receives is a card that allows you to buy 1 card from the city market (much like dominion) and steals $1 from each player that has 4 or more. Players can also play a card face down to receive $1. At the start of your turn if you have no more cards remaining in your hand, then you can take back all the discarded cards you have played previous turns. The game ends when 1 player has reached $8 OR has 8 cards in their hands.<br />
Artwork is right up my alley and that is why I also obtained his version of Love Letter. Something about this... urban looking art which is mostly just black and white with bold brush strokes appeal to me.<br />
So as you can see, very much like Dominion but much lighter. There are only 10 cards to buy from and they costs from 1 to 4 and have different abilities. Most cards allow you to target other players so as to improve your own status and sabotage others. Thus in this to and fro, players will try their best to prevent others from winning and set themselves up for the inevitable victory.<br />
Game went by pretty fast and since I had quite a lot of cards I was targeted quite often. I think we did quite a good job of guarding each other but in the end, another player managed to obtain 2 cards (1 from discard and 1 from market) and won the game. <b><br /></b>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
The main pet peeve will be the variable end game condition. Because there is no set timing of how long a game will last, this game can take as fast as 20 mins or even 1 hour if everyone has been guarding everyone very well. For such a light game to last 1 hour, that will be a killer. Otherwise, there aren't any other bad things about this game as its rather light and easy to get into and play. <b><br /></b>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
<div>
A light game that is very much a streamlined dominion clone with interesting powers that allow you to really mess with each other's cards. Because of the win condition, this game provides cards which will have a LOT of interaction as you will need to be aware and keep blocking others to prevent them from winning. There is english text on the cards so its not difficult to understand and we had no difficulty learning and playing the game. Not sure how easy is it to get it state side but you can certainly try the online Japan stores and see if they will ship to you. Try before you buy!</div>
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<b><br /></b>
<b>PALASTGERFLASTER</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOpWIgCYAEs4z3.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOpWIgCYAEs4z3.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Play session seems wonky for some who are used to euro games..</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
<div>
Brought this out for the group that decided to play something light and they did not like it at all. I guess it could be because this group mostly plays Euro games thus having a game that is quite dependant on the card draw and subsequently you may get sabotaged without you being able to defend yourself seems at odds with their terms of enjoyment. One of them brought out a good point in that you are trying to do your best to sabotage others rather than trying to reach the goal of having 6 different characters yourself which is quite true. He also pointed out you should be playing cards that are not of your color so that you can catch another player off guard and thus forcing them to play something they may not have wanted. I guess in future when I introduce the game I will emphasis on this point and it may make for a more fun and enjoyable game. Its a pity the player aid doesn't have the icons of each character on it to make it easier for the players to quickly understand what is happening and each character's special abilities.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>DIE SPEICHERSTADT</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOjKoqCcAA6SUZ.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOjKoqCcAA6SUZ.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More cards, more ways to buy cards and AWESOME COINS</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I had played this previously and did not really take to it enough to buy a copy. Now that I am a Stefan Fan, I decided to give it another go and also bought the expansion along with it. The expansion provided more cards, some new goods and a new way to play but the item that really clinched the deal are the METAL COINS. In the base game, it came with a metal coin to signify the first player. In the expansion, it came with MANY MANY coins to replace the cardboard coins from the first game.<br />
I will briefly explain the game together with the expansion.<br />
This is pretty much a game with a rather unique auction and then a sort of set collection/goal fulfilment game. At the start of every round, a number of cards (depending on the number of players) will be drawn and turn face up on the board. For the expansion, the same number of cards is now draw and placed above the board. Players then, in turn order, place one of their meeples (3 in base game, 4 with expansion) onto the first empty slot on the column corresponding to the card they want. Now you are bidding either for the card that you want OR to screw with other players. Players can also choose a card from above the board and bring them to the side of the board with your meeple on it to form another column. Once all players have placed all their meeples, the cards are resolved from left to the right. Starting with the player who's meeple is nearest the card, they will decide if they want to spend the coins to buy the card. How much does the card cost? That is where the screwing will come in. For all meeples that are in that column is the cost of the card. If you pass (cannot afford or don't want to buy), then you remove your meeple and the next player's meeple will be able to purchase the card. This goes on until the card is purchased. Now for the column that is on the side of the board, it is pretty much the same except the price is determined by the number of meeples in that column and if you choose not to buy, that card you have reserved will be discarded.<br />
Players then resolve the cards they have taken (i.e. if it is a cargo ship, then the cargo needs to be distributed either to fulfil contracts or to exchange for coins or money). After that, player order changes and each player obtains 2 coins as income. If you have not managed to purchase any cards during the last round, you will also obtain another coin as compensation. New round begins and play continues until all the card has been played and we will resolve the last card which is a Fire.<br />
Now in the stack of cards, there will be FIRE cards and a certain value. Players will add up all firemen cards they have and whomever has the lowest value will receive the Fire value in negative points. The player with the highest total sum value of firemen will receive that Fire value in positive points. The expansion also add cards which are a 1 time use and to be discarded and also cards with fixed points as rewards.<br />
I had purchased the german version so I had to refer to the rulebook to figure out what the cards do but most of the game is pretty easy to grasp. Artwork is ok and the icons are clear and easy to understand. Again, the coins are AWESOME to have and to hold. They have a nice weight to them.<br />
Perhaps its because we did not shuffle the initial stacks properly but in our initial few rounds we did not have any ships shipping goods to us so when they did finally came out, the competition was furious. There is a LOT of opportunity to screw with others and if you are a gamer that doesn't like all this disturbances and annoyances to your plans, you may want to avoid this game. I am pretty sure I pissed off one of my opponents during this game :p<b><br /></b>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Nothing much actually because its straight forward to teach and play. You may need a lot of room to play this game though because your tableau of cards may grow and you may want to have some space to see all your cards and contracts. <b><br /></b>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
<div>
I feel that with the expansion it adds abit more options such that you won't be as screwed as in the base game if you did not win anything at all. Here I think at the very least you should be able to win some items unless you were making quite bad decisions. Its better for me this time around with the expansions but I will need a few more plays to see if I like it enough. For now at least the metal coins are making me feel warm and fuzzing inside :p. Try before you buy!<br />
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<br /></div>
<b>RIALTO</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOGQlYCEAAAsav.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIOGQlYCEAAAsav.jpg:large" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1st game was Meh for me, 2nd game was WAY BETTER</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
The second release from Stefan Feld this year after Bora Bora! Brugge is out that I know but its not available in english for us right now so I haven't gotten myself a copy yet.<br />
Rialto is a medium weight game that involves card drafting and area control with the theme lightly dabbed on. Compared to Bora Bora, it is definitely lighter but runs as smooth and lasts much shorter and still provides the same amount of fun for the amount of thinking involved and time spent. In short, it still shows no degrading from the current quality we are expecting from Stefan Feld.<br />
At the start of the round, there will be rows of 6 cards (1 more than number of players) for players, in turn order based on a Doge track on top, to choose from. This is where most of the analysis paralysis will happen in the game. The cards you are drafting for will dictate the 2nd phase (with many micro phases) of the game. After a player has selected a row of 6 cards, they will also draw 2 more cards from the face down. Now players can activate the green buildings by placing a coin on the building (thus each building can only be activated once per round and only if you have enough coins). Players then need to discard down to 7 cards unless they had green buildings activated which can increase their hand size.<br />
Phase 2 is ready! This is where the meat of the game is and you can see if you have made the right decision choosing that row of cards. Phase 2 is a series of mini phases which will grant you rewards based on the number of cards of that mini phase you have played and if you play the most cards, you will get a bonus and is the new starting player of the next mini phase. This is quite important because it definitely makes the game harder to predict and quite interesting. Phase 2a is the doge track so players, based on existing doge track order, will play a number of cards with the doge track. In this phase, you can also use yellow buildings (also paying 1 coin) which allows more flexibility (i.e. play 1 card to become 2 of the same but other type of cards). There are also Jester cards which you can play in addition to a base card OR when played in 2s, can represent a base card. Phase 2a will determine how far you have advanced in the Doge track which is usually a tie breaker.<br />
Phase 2b is to grab gold (for buildings), Phase 2c is building points (to be able to build buildings), Phase 2d is Bridge which awards points and penalize players who never played any card and allows you to place bridge tiles. Phase 2e is the gondola which allows you to have more councilmen tokens in your reserve and also to place a gondola tile on the board AND extra councilman into the board. Finally, Phase 2f which is to place a number of councilmen in your reserve onto the board's active region.<br />
Phase 3 starts and players can activate blue buildings which usually award points or upgrade buildings. That is the end of a round! The game lasts 6 rounds and then, together with the final game scoring, players with the most points will win the game. The main way to earn points is to have a majority in a district so that you will get the sum of all the points indicated on bridges and gondolas touching that district. Only the top 3 players will be awarded points for each district. Note that there is a bonus scoring in that if you are the first player to place a councilman in each of the 3 orange OR blue (meaning 3 orange or 3 blue), then you will score bonus 5 points.<br />
First play through, I wasn't really feeling it like how I felt for Bora Bora after my first play. Now its not a bad game its just not as deep as I had thought.<br />
The 2nd play was way better as I kinda knew what plan to have and went with grabbing a few of the green buildings to increase my hand limit per round. I thought i had the 5 point bonuses in one round but it got sniped away from me when I wasn't paying close attention. ARGH that was a KHANNNNN moment for me and did indeed make me lose the game (I was 2nd by 1 point!). We also played correctly the 2nd time such that the winner of the bonus each mini phase will be the starting player in the next mini phase. The first play did not have this and boy did it change a lot of things in the game for me.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Small pet peeve but the board with all the extra roads and alleyways makes the board looks a bit busy. Someone mentioned it looked like colored macaroni LOL. The bonus for each round could have been indicated on the board so we don't need to refer to the rule book every so often but once you played it a few times it should come as second nature.<br />
Oh and shuffling. You will need to shuffle the cards.... A LOT. We played with 4 and almost every round after we setup the cards, we will need to shuffle the discard pile. This is especially true when you have more players and they are all aiming for the green building cards which allow them to draw 3 more cards from the deck. Sleeve your cards to prevent them from wearing out fast!<br />
The biggest pet peeve so far is the score track. It looks nice but not very practical. Why? It represents a street with a row of street lights. You are moving your score tokens IN BETWEEN the lights though and NOT ON the lights. This makes it slightly counter intuitive and hard to score. Wish they done away with this and had something more practical.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
<div>
So I had more fun in my 2nd play than my first most probably because I knew what is more powerful now than before. Still I think I haven't reach my full power with this (I should start to notice what others are taking and then be aware if I can win the phase and be the majority) and sometimes its a bit tricky to determine the player order sequence. I feel I am only beginning to discover the subtle nuances (i.e. blue buildings are mostly for points, yellow buildings are for flexibility during play, green buildings are just to provide more cards for you at the start. All in all, it is fun to play, easy to teach but probably not too easy to master it completely. Recommended!<br />
NOTE: I just played a game of 2 players and the Doge track is not really hotly contest as vs 4 player game. Much less shuffling and buildings won't run out. The 5 points bonus play a much bigger role in a 2 player game. I can't wait to try a 5 player and see how it plays out....<br />
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<br />
<b>SUPER FARMER RANCHO</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dogs smell funny. No really the plastic smells funny...</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b>
<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I saw the cover on the game and was very intrigued by this. The art and components (awesome dice and cute doggies!) appealed to me so I decided to give this game a go.<br />
This is a light family game that plays in about 45 mins or so and plays up to 6 players. The objective of the game is to collect 1 of each animal: rabbit, sheep, cow and horse. First player to do so will win the game. In essence its a game about collecting enough resources, protecting your assets and making the right decision at the right time to get the animals and win the game (with a little dose of luck).<br />
During your turn, players can choose to exchange animals using rabbits. Yes, rabbits are the currency in the game! Each player starts off with 1 rabbit and 1 sheep (which are worth 6 rabbits). Players can also expand their farm by paying in rabbits. Outer regions costs 4 rabbits. The middle region, 2 and the innermost region only 1 rabbit. Once you have decided to change and/or expand, players will roll 2 dice. Total up the animals that appear on your dice with what you have and for every pair of animals, you get 1 more of that type of animal. You have to be able to place these animals on the area that you control and only the rabbits can stack (6) in 1 hex. If you roll a fox or a wolf, then you must roll the D6 and animals in all hexes that belong to the number rolled will be removed. Fox will eat only rabbits and Wolf will eat all except rabbits. Players can discard dogs to prevent this from happening. Small dogs for Fox and Big dogs for Wolf. Then its the next player's turn and play continues this way until someone wins the game.<br />
Its a pretty light game and great for the family. Artwork is very nice and cute and dice and dogs are well produced. Luck of the roll will often determine if you are still in the game or not. But you can get dogs to mitigate bad luck. My first game I did not have any dogs and lost quite a lot of sheep to the Wolf which knocked me out from contention for good. My 2nd game though I won as I made a lucky dice roll of 2 rabbits which provided me the last rabbit I need to win the game.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b></span><br />
Luck of the roll is very high because whether you can get income in terms of more animals or if you are screwed when Fox or Wolf is rolled really boils down to the dice roll. The picture on the die for Wolf and Horse are very similar. They could have made it more distinct. The holes in the board makes it clear for marking which region belongs to you but if you made a mistake, then taking out the disc is quite difficult. Finally, after you have placed your animals on your farm area, you cannot tell if that animal belongs to you or not because your animal tile has covered your token. This is quite an odd design since if you have forgotten what belongs to you, you have to remove the animal tiles and look. Starting moves seems to be very similar, change the sheep to expand outwards 1 space and then roll dice to get more animals. There are some turns where all you do is just to roll dice and get animals because you don't really have much else to do and it doesn't make sense to use up too much rabbits and jeopardize your "income". <b><br /></b>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion</span></i><br />
So all in all, I did have some fun playing the game but in terms of replayability and longevity in my shelf, I doubt it will last. If I had kids probably this might last longer because it teaches them about choosing the right time to invest, risk prevention and mitigation and proper planning to win the game. The history of this game is pretty interesting but ultimately, its a Try before you buy.<br />
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<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>SHEEPLAND</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black sheep ran almost 3/4 of the board.</td></tr>
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<b><br /></b>
<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
As mentioned previously this is as a relatively light game. But I kinda suck at it lol. Do remember the 2 rules that people will usually forget. That is to roll the die for the black sheep to move and also when purchasing tiles, you MUST be adjacent to it before you can guy. I always seem to be purchasing tiles where I don't score a lot of sheep. I am wondering if I should be subtle and just ignore my own secret tile right at the beginning and go elsewhere so that I can purchase other tiles and HOPE my own secret tile is ignored until near the end. I haven't seen a game where the start player<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>VITICULTURE<br /></b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BITqDFKCYAE3418.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BITqDFKCYAE3418.jpg:large" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">OMG OH SO TIGHT, close race to the end! ARGH...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
A great 2nd game where we played the rules correctly. Having the vines still being there after you harvest definitely changed the way we played. We used more time to build up our engines before starting to score points left and right and going first certainly is felt more keenly in the game. I was definitely screwed a few times with nothing else much to do when I did not get to go first. Even though I had by the 3rd round managed to get all my workers out, I did not capitalize on that and with all the bad timings I lost but only lost because of a tie breaker. It was a very tense match and surprisingly, it ended up with the tie breaker (most money) in the end again to determine the winner. At the very last round I managed to pull ahead and was at about 23 points. Another player did the same and because she had more money she will certainly win. The 3rd player decided to play a Winter card which blocked me from further scoring else I will have won the game. ARGH!!!! The pain of it all! I am upgrading my recommendation from Try before you buy to RECOMMENDED. It has all the tense moments yet relatively simple to teach and play of a good game. Thumbs up!<br />
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<b><span style="color: orange;">KICKSTARTER</span></b><br />
<span style="color: orange;">So there have been quite a few new releases for Kickstarter recently which got me all excited :) Let me talk about some of the games I have backed or are interested in.....</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<i><u><span style="color: orange;">ROBOTECH RPG</span></u></i><br />
<i><u><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></u></i>
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<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/520/977/113433537f79dee77cefef14b9302b8e_large.jpg?1366165613" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: orange;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/520/977/113433537f79dee77cefef14b9302b8e_large.jpg?1366165613" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<i><span style="color: orange;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="color: orange;">When I was quite young, I managed to have copies of the original series from a friend and I spent many a afternoons reading through the books and fantasising the awesome characters that I will be and all the battles that I have. The images in the books were very cool too and I was SUPER DUPER EXCITED to see this coming out from Kickstarter! Although I am pretty sure I won't be running any RPG games (or this could be the one that do me in who knows?) I just want to have the books again to read through and well well it comes with MINIATURES! I had 1 Rick Hunter toy from so long ago and it will be very cool to have these miniatures again to look at. Painting though will probably be a problem for me but lets see what happens.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Go back this now <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rrpgt/robotech-rpg-tacticstm">here</a>! </span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u>KROSMASTER ARENA</u></i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span>
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<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/461/145/38f100699a95dbb65a737797b6f42687_large.jpg?1363894034" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/461/145/38f100699a95dbb65a737797b6f42687_large.jpg?1363894034" width="103" /></a></div>
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span>
<span style="color: orange;">Saw this pop up when I am doing my daily (yes now DAILY!) search on projects in Kickstarter for tabletop games. The very nice miniatures really drew me in and best of all, they come PREPAINTED! After trying to (and not yet finishing!) paint the miniatures from Super Dungeon Explore, I think in future I will only get miniature games where they come prepainted. Although Robotech above and Zombicide Season 2 which I had also backed flies against this statement I am making, I still will lean more towards pre painted miniatures than anything in the future. Though recently after playing online and listening to Tom's review, I am wondering if I should cancel my pledge because the game will definitely be way too light for me but the figures are really cute! Anyway, I have a few days to think about it so lets see....</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Go back this now <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/370924922/krosmaster-arena-anime-miniatures-board-game">here</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u>COLONIALISM</u></i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span>
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<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/512/265/865cce34574eb698d3b0a91bacbbda0f_large.jpg?1365839494" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/512/265/865cce34574eb698d3b0a91bacbbda0f_large.jpg?1365839494" width="41" /></a></div>
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span>
<span style="color: orange;">I am not too sure what prompted me to back this game without reading up on the rules but once I saw that this was clubbed together with Virgin Queen, I automatically assumed that this will be a euro-ey type of game that will be brain melty. So far I STILL haven't read the rules yet but still I am thinking its worth the backing. It does seem to have a lot of cards though... Anyway, its already fully funded so I still have some time to see if I will continue with my pledge.</span><br />
<span style="color: orange;">Go back this now <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1016374822/colonialism">here</a>!</span><br />
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<span style="color: orange;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u>BURNING SUN</u></i></span><br />
<span style="color: orange;"><i><u><br /></u></i></span>
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<span style="color: orange;">Now again like above, I did not read too much into the game but the awesome figures and that its a space 4x (yes yes we have had many of those I know) really intrigued me. I haven't backed this yet mostly because I want to see if it will actually reach its stretch goal but you should check out the very cool ships that can hold die in them to denote the health of the ship I believe. </span><br />
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I think that's enough for now and if you have read all the way down here, THANK YOU FOR YOUR PATIENCE! :)</div>
duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-61704134358601679892013-04-19T19:08:00.002-07:002013-04-19T19:08:38.541-07:00Nieuw Amsterdam, Batman Gotham City, First Train to Nuremberg, Take it or Leave it, 1969, Viticulture<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many new games played and my batches of new games have arrived! Hitlist this time is Viticulture and hits previously again is Nieuw Amsterdam. Lets get on with the reviews!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">NIEUW AMSTERDAM</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You CAN score in both Land and Shipping! Interesting...</td></tr>
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<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHzXTFZCUAA0enT.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This time I started off with the Fur route but seeing how no one was going for the businesses, I switched plans halfway. Its interesting playing with an opponent that calculates a lot and makes it a point to force you to make the hard decisions during auctions. The winner started off with land to get the necessary engine running while storing up on fur and near the midpoint of the game switched to fulfilling the ships, thus scoring a butt load of points from the ships and the end game scoring. My businesses strategy did not put a big dent and he won with about 100+ points. First time I have seen someone scoring past 100. Very good game still and I am loving how the theme somewhat clicks together now for me. Still highly recommended by me and do give it a go if you have a chance!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b><br /></b><b>BATMAN GOTHAM CITY</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nanananananananana BATMAN!</td></tr>
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<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BHz1bp9CQAEiW26.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">I am a fan of comics and Batman has always been quite a good read for me especially if it has cross overs with Judge Dread :P I have also played the video games so I was pretty interested to get this game and give it a go. Now the reviews have been pretty mixed and certainly it is a more ameritrash type of game and may not appeal to my now euro-gaming senses but well, its BATMAN! How bad can it be? At the very least I will get to go "NahnahnahnahNahnahnahnah BATMAN"</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Each player will have 5 cards in their hand and during their turn, they will first check if they have levelled up based on the requirements for that level. Then they will play 1 card. The top part of the card usually provides income for the owner of that location (friendly ties). Unless its a Batman card which then triggers a drawing of a batman card and resolving that card. Next, the player decides if he/she wants to play the 2nd part of the card he/she played OR discard it to draw 2 resources. If there is any combat (triggered when the player's Villan appears in the same location as another Villan OR Batman, resolve that combat (villans and batman don't really die in this game). Draw a card and your turn is done. Play goes to the next player and this continues until 1 player has reached Level 10 with his villan and wins the game.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">NAhnahanahanahanahan BATMAN..... We keep uttering that everytime its our turn lol. That does help to make the game more fun for us. Initially we were really into the game, playing our moves, roleplaying a little, singing that silly tune but then the flaws started appearing for us. Soon it got a bit too draggy and we decided to stop for dinner. Killer Croc was quite powerful, causing most of us to hide our Villans in their lairs until we grew powerful enough to come out and face him. Batman wasn't really a hindrance to us and we mostly swatted him away. I got ganged up upon because my first move was to disturb others so most of the time i was a docile Penguin. Components are quite good though the threat tokens are cardboard discs which for me, somehow feels a bit cheap. Dice are really nice as they have the batman logo engraved on it. They could have provided something better to represent like wooden discs or something but that could make the prices go up. Art is very cartoony and I like. There are HUGE player shields to hide your items behind and it has all the rules printed on them as well for players to reference. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">Boy, where do I begin?</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">Card draw luck is quite a big factor in the game. If you draw very sucky cards and you are not there at the location to benefit from it, you can end up providing a lot of income to the other player(s). At the same time, dice rolling luck is a slightly smaller factor in the game because while it determines outcomes of your battles, you can negate it with enough henchmen in that area. The spaces can be quite small and the areas could be quickly filled up with chits and villans but this is a smaller pet peeve. Player shields are REALLY BIG such that very often as we move our pieces or reach over the board, we will knock them over and expose our hidden pieces. I think the reason for such big shields is to include the rules but it could have been smaller or sturdier. Killer Croc might be overpowered because his power cards really do encourage him to seek the other Villans out to kick their asses.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">But the BIGGEST pet peeve I have with the game is that it is very hard to win and it will take quite a long time to reach there. This is similar to how I feel for Spartacus and its like a Munchkin problem. Players will be able to tell who is in the lead and may work together to stop that leader. In that way, the game could drag on for very long as the game ends only when a player reaches level 10. Moreover, it is really hard to level up once past Level 6 as the conditions are quite difficult. We played for almost 2+ hours and I was only at level 3 and Killer Croc was at 7. This also kinda shows that if you are way way behind it is very difficult for you to catch up.</span></span></span> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well, the game requires some tweaking and house ruling in order to make it playable. As it is right now, it CAN be fun but it requires the right group to play it to be fun. Otherwise, it is draggy and not much variety. Batman seems a bit impotent right now as he is easily beaten back to the batcave. He doesn't really make a big dent in our plans because his threat clearing numbers are pretty low. You really need to spread your threat around so that you can at least benefit whenever other players are playing cards. That is very important so that you are at least on par with the rest and won't lose out in terms of getting resources. I will want to play it again with my regular Friday group and see if we can get more fun out of it. As of now, its a Try before you Buy! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nahnanananananana BATMAN!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b>FIRST TRAIN TO NUREMBERG</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Choo choo! Come on get on the train people!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">So I have had a few train games in my collection last time but nothing like 18xx that sort. When I read about this and seeing the good reviews its been getting, I decided to give it a go. Players are trying to score as many points as they can, shipping goods and passengers all over the map and scoring points. All the while trying to keep a positive income flow so that they can also score more points at the end of the game. As an extra bonus, if you connect Nuremberg to the red stations, you will score a point for every link that are used for connecting. The game lasts 5 rounds and whowever has the most points at the end of the game will win it.<br />Each round is played over several phases. In the very first phase, players will be using investment cubes (every round you will get at least 12 + those that remained in previous terms) to bid onto a few auction spaces. These auction spaces will grant the winner of the bid influence points in the various categories which will determine what you can do in the next few phases. Bidding is such that each player can only win a maximum of 2 spaces and you can only shift your investment cubes to another spot if you are outbid on your current bids. once the auction is resolved, each player's disc on the various areas will increase based on the influences they have gained. There are a few tracks on the board and, briefly, they are: Train/Engine which will determine how much money you may spend to use trains for delivery; White colored influence which determine player order in terms of laying tracks and also used to pay off white meeples on the board when your tracks meet them; Green colored influence which are required when you start your track from a green station and also to sell tracks to the Green company at a later phase in the round; Red colored influence which are similar to Green colored influence; <br />The next phase after the auction is laying of tracks and each player will get a chance to lay tracks, paying for tracks using remaining investment cubes as well as the right colored influence where necessary.<br />After which, players are allowed to hire trains by paying influence. This is rather unique in that the trains are all located on one central board and are seperated into 3 different categories and are in different configurations. In this phase, players can also delivery goods and passengers by tracing the route on the track and placing the good/meeple onto the train board as indicative that the good/meeple has been delivered. <br />Finally, players will score points (1 for each good/meeple that was delivered) and also count income. This income is then reduced by the number of remaining tracks and that will account for the final profit/loss. The player's piece on the income wheel is then increased or reduced accordingly. <br />It took me some time to get into the groove of it all and after that it was quite an interesting game. There was a lot of fighting for space and position as we lay tracks to try and block each other and to maximise so that we can deliver as many different types of goods as we can because another end game scoring is each set of 4 different goods will provide 2 points. This is also a relatively low scoring game though I will need more plays to be able to determine that.</span><em><span style="background-color: white;"></span></em></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">The rules seems a bit hard to read. When I first got the game and tried to read it, with so many words and text it was pretty daunting. I did not expect a game that seems medium weight to have such complicated rules. Luckily I had someone else teach us when we played it the first time.<br />Setup is also abit tedious because you will first need to randomly populate the various areas which will produce goods. Then remove those cubes that don't correspond to the factory it was placed on. Then you need to seed the passengers on the board. Finally you place the influence discs into the bag and randomly draw them out to populate the auction spaces. Given there are a lot of spaces on the board to seed the goods and passengers, this can be pretty tedious!<br />The bits seems a bit too big for the gauges on the common board but its not a big issue.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had fun enough playing this game which seems to be like a 18xx game but way lighter. You are trying to be the first laying out the tracks to reach the various honeypots on the map so that you can be the first to deliver and score points. Why honeypots? because of the randomness right at the beginning during setup will probably cause some spots on the board to be more lucrative than the others. It is not that easy to understand right at the beginning but halfway through the game we picked it up and we were still able to give the game a good go. One thing to note the game comes with 2 maps and they provide quite different ways of playing which should be interesting. This coupled with the randomness of setup should provid e for a LOT of replayability. Overall, I enjoyed myself in the game and would like to give it a few more goes! This is however not a game for everyone especially those that do not like train-like games where you are picking up goods and delivering them. Try before you buy!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><b>TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT</b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Blue or Orange.. hmm...</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">A relatively light filler, each round, 1 player will roll al the dice into the bowl. Then starting with the player that rolled, they will choose 1 die from the bowl and place it in front of them. If they choose the RED die, then they will need to take a -1 Penalty disc as well. Players are trying to match the dice they choose with the cards they have in hand to score points. Each die can only be used for 1 card only. The RED die will count as any color. Players also have an option to play an action card before they select a die. These action cards sometimes allow you to reroll certain number of dice or other benefits to negate the luck of the roll. Finally, players can pass as well. Once all players have passed, then each player reveal the cards they want to complete with the dice they have collected. Any spare die that could not fit any cards will cause the player to collect a -1 Penalty token. Once all players have resolved, they draw back up to 5 cards (combination of action or objective cards) and a new round begins. Game ends after a preset number of rounds and the player tally up the points of the objective cards they have completed minus the penalties and whoever has the most points will win the game.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">So as you can tell, this is a light push your luck type of game and is best played with more players because you will need to figure out which card to complete and also determine if you want to go for as many cards as you can and at the same time be mindful of how many dice there are left. The action cards can be quite powerful if you have the right ones but some of them you have to collect a penalty disc for using. Quite fun and a good filler. Dice are really nice as well!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Nothing really bad about this game except perhaps players need to pay attention to what they are trying to achieve as some players could make mistakes with the GREATER THAN and LESSER THAN signs on the cards. </span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;"><b><br /></b></span></span></span><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite a fun filler, easy to learn, teach and play. Recommended!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>1969</b></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rocketmannnnnnn........</td></tr>
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<a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BH_Ex2vCIAA4Rzi.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: black;">I have heard some mixed reviews about this game but most of them have not been very favourable. Managed to give this game a go and heres what I think. In the game, players represent different countries embarking on a space race and try to score points by achieving certain successes in the various technologies that are required for a successful rocket launch. After several rounds, players in the final round, will be engaged in the final scoring which is launching of the rocket to the moon and back. Players then score final points based on scientists they have (either increase points for prestigious scientists or decrease points for dubious scientists) and the player with the most points will win the game. <br />Each round, players will first receive income as indicated by that round. Then in turn order (turn order is rotated clockwise), players will then decide how they want to spend the money either by purchasing scientists or buying cards. Scientists are placed onto their player board which will determine how much advancement in a particular technology they provide. Some technologies provide reroll benefits or even money when there has been failed rolls later in the round. After all players have purchased, players again in turn order decide whether to embark on one of the 10 tracks available. <br />Each player can engage on 6 tracks (excludig the final going to the moon track) and must choose carefully which to engage in. The player after choosing will then roll 5 special die which will either show GREEN (success) or BLUE (neutral) or RED (cancels a success). Players will advance that many spaces as they have overall successes as well as advancements provided by the scientists. Then other players (in player ordeR) may choose to play any number of cards from their hands which will sabotage the current player. Finally the current player will also decide on a number of cards to play. All other players will reveal their cards and they will decrement the current player's token (which is a cardboard rocket ship btw) down that many steps as depicted on the cards played. Finally the current player will increment that many steps as depicted by the cards he played. <br />Current player will score as many points as the final position and if he was at the top of that track, will be able to advance his token 1 step on the final to-the-moon-and-back track. Play continues until all players have had a chance to tackle a technology track or pass and that round has ended.<br />At the final round, players will get a chance to do the same but with the final to-the-moon-and-back track. Players then count the final tally of points (from their scientist) and whoever has the most points will be the winner.<br />It was an average game for me and while not too difficult to learn could be a little confusing. There is quite a lot of negotiation going on because players are trying to shift attention from themselves or convince the rest to play cards to sabotage others. This can be quite costly because each card is not cheap AND can do quite a lot of damage to the current player. There seems to be an interesting loophole where by players can invest in that technology which will provide you with multiples of 3mil whenever you roll a red die. Sometimes bad dice roll can result in you making a LOT of money!<br />Overall, we all started with vastly different plans mostly to test the mechanisms of the game. I started off with no scientists and try to just go with cards. I was ahead initially but I quickly realised its harder and harder to buy cards and I might as well buy more Green scientists to help myself and provide end game scoring. There was also a moment where we decided to throw our cards in to sabotage 1 player because, well we all felt like it and it did screw up his plans such that when the game ended, he lost the game. </span></span></span></span><br />
<em><span style="background-color: red; color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></em><br />
There should have been better icons for the scientists on the board. For example, the red cubes means the scientists counts as 2 instead of the normal 1 for each cube. The Green scientists provide 3 points at the end of the game. The Blue scientists minus 2 points at the end of the game. These could have been shown on the game board.<br />
The art is very gaudy, especially the pictures used for the scientists. Heck, one of them looked as if they were a bunch of wrestlers rather than scientists!<br />
Component wise they used paper money and rather thin player boards which is kinda meh for me.<br />
The luck of the card draw can play quite a significant part in determining how many points a player can gain from track advancement and can screw around with other players. This can be good or bad depending on how the other players take it. Given that each card costs 2mil to purchase, it can be a costly venture if you end up only getting all the lowest point cards. <br />
Luck of the dice roll can also be quite significant because if you want to succeed often you will need quite a high roll of GREEN successes. If you are having a bad dice luck, then it can suck very badly for you.<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As mentioned, it is an average game which I feel is not for me largely because of the sheer amount of luck involved coupled with a fair dose of negotiation. You could very much be locked out of the game if the other players just want to sabotage you all the way and make it very not fun for you. Not many new concepts and it all boils down to how well you can roll initially to how well you can negate cards in the latter phases of the game. Try before you buy!</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b>VITICULTURE</b></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Love the Rooster Meeple....</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><b><br /></b></span></span><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">A kickstarter that is to do with wine (hmm recently there have been quite a few wine game huh?) and lighter than Vinhos? Well sign me up! Although I did not backed it when it was Kickstarting, one of my gang managed to and it has arrived!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is a worker placement game with a player board for you to manage. There are 4 seasons to the game each round and the game ends when 1 player has reached 20 victory points. Player with the most points will win the game. During Spring, players will, in previous player order, choose to move their Rooster to a particular spot ala Fresco. This will determine what bonuses they get AND this current round's player order. Next is summer where players can choose from some of the summer spots to place their worker. Each area which can be chosen as a prime spot that gives extra bonuses (i.e. instead of planting 1 vine, you can plant 2). Players need to manage their workers carefully because they are using the same set of workers for both summer AND winter spots. Once all players have passed, then Autumn comes and players can obtain 1 summer or winter visitor card. These cards often give certain powers/benefits like obtain more $, plant an extra vine. Last season of the year Winter begins and, similar to summer, players will place their remaining workers on the board. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Essentially, Summer is for you to plant vines, get money, construct buildings and play Summer visitor cards. Winter is for you to harvest, crush grapes into wine, fulfil orders and play winter visitor cards. Once all these seasons are done, players age their wine and grapes, discard cards to keep to the hand limit and earn residual income (when you fulfil orders you will get to increment this residual income). So this repeats until a player has reached 20 points and that will trigger the end game.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">We played a rule wrongly in that whenever we harvested, we will remove the vineyard cards. But otherwise, we were pretty much spot on. Gameplay was fast and easy to manage and it feels like a medium weight game for me. The worker placement part can be quite competitive and often at least 1 player will be screwed and will have not much to do except to collect $1. Luck of the draw for the vineyard cards etc can be tricky to manage because near the middle of the game the cards I have been drawing does not benefit me at all. Worse, the demand card kinda dictates what you should do with your grapes but then again if you had prepared for it and have a wide variety of wines, that may not be a big issue. Money interestingly was quite important at the beginning of the game but became a moot point nearer the end after you have built most of the buildings. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Components are EXCELLENT! Very nicely produced and many different types of wooden bits. I especially loved the Rooster :P There might be some FAQs required for the text on the cards but the art and design all seemed pretty good. The glass beads are particularly cool because they also help to magnify the number that they are placed on!</span><i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </b></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Biggest pet peeve will be the Luck of the draw could make or break this game for some because a few lucky draws can help you immensely and position for you to win the game. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="color: #222222;">There aren't really that many other pet peeves of the game except perhaps the glass beads could have been a whee bit smaller so that if you had them lined up side by side on the player board they will sit nicely. The size differences between the medium and large cellar are quite small and can be mistaken but as long as you place them on the player board it won't matter.</span></span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The final round was rather tense because it was triggered when I wasn't really prepared for it but I managed, through luck of the draw, to collect a card or two that allowed me to pull ahead and tie with the leader. More importantly, from my play of cards, I screwed up the next player's chances to pull ahead and win the game. In the end, I won by the tie breaker (I had more money) so it was a really close game. I will want to play this again to see how I really feel about it so for now its a Try before you buy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">PHEW! A lot of games covered and my next post will have a lot more as well! Including my first play of Stefan Feld's LATEST release, RIALTO! So watch for it :)</span></span>duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-85147429106099363052013-04-13T18:05:00.002-07:002013-04-13T18:12:56.411-07:00Wilderness A Game of Survival, Space Cadets, Mundus Novus, Polis, Divinare, Omen A Reign of War<br />
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<b>WILDERNESS: A GAME OF SURVIVAL</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Run Forrest run!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i>
<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Wilderness is a game where players are trying to get from the starting point, through a series of different locations to the end point which is a village. During their journey, players need to balance their thirst, hunger and exhaustion levels. First player to reach the village wins. Another way a player can win if he is the last person alive. Why so morbid? Well its because you can die if your exhaustion level reaches the skull icon.<br />
During your turn, depending on the exhaustion level, you will have a certain number of energy points with which to spend. Moving into different types of land hexes will require different numbers of energy points. Players can also do other things like drinking water (from a river which will remove all Thirst that you may have accumulated and search for food and eating which will remove all Hunger that you may have accumulated. Once all players have had their turns, each player will increment their Thirst and Hunger level. They will also increment their Exhaustion level 1 and then some more depending on the number indicated by their current Thirst and Hunger level. There are also event cards (each player starts with 3) which can help you OR be used to sabotage other players.<br />
Gameplay wise, it is a type of racing game where players cannot directly kill each other but can, through a series of events, cause harm to come to opponents. Players also have to contend with running away from animals (unless you are confident on beating them) and also planning when to rest to remove exhaustion and also if its wise to move during the night (because you have a chance to get lost and wander off to another hex).<br />
Its a relatively easy to teach and play game. We started off relatively confident and then splintered into 2 groups with 1 heading into the desserts and the other into the forests. It is surprisingly quite easy to day if you don't manage your exhaustion levels properly. Our first death occurred in the dessert. Our second death was due to sickness from events played on that player. Third death was from exhaustion after the player had managed to kill and eat a ferocious bear (at least he died with a full tummy!) and thus by default, I was the winner. But only barely because given a few more rounds I would have most probably perished as well.<br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </b><br />
The components are HORRIBLE. To track the various Exhaustion, Thirst and Hunger levels on your player card (yes its not a board, its just a card!) you use these snot-size markers. They are really SO SMALL! I mean you could have given cubes and that will probably be better. The art is HORRIBLE. Very uninspired and cheap-feeling. A smaller peeve is that they are ALL MALE characters! Actually if you come to think about it, quite a lot of boardgames are lacking in terms of female playable characters. Perhaps I can do an investigative study into the ratio distribution of male and female playable characters in Boardgames. Hmm...<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><br />
It is a meh game for me. Its straight forward to play and doesn't have much strategic thinking involved. You just use up your actions and move through the landscape as best as you can. You do need to think about when to take a pitstop lest exhaustion kills you. The event cards do give an additional tactical element but is more used to stop a runaway leader I feel because if someone manages to move around nimbly and gets pretty far ahead of the pack, its neigh impossible to stop them unless you use event cards. The components really did this game in for me. It feels very low grade and that ultimately killed the game for me. Not recommended!<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>SPACE CADETS</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Starship CMI spending too much time in 1 sector of space!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Now I have played this latest Co-op hotness during GENCON 2012 but since its co-op, I was not too interested to get myself a copy. My cousin has and he and his group has had a lot of fun. They just played and played it out within 1 or 2 gaming sessions. They probably have gotten their ROI (return of investment) in the game now :). One in my group decided to grab a copy and so I was lucky enough to play the production copy.<br />
Now if you aren't aware of the game, basically each player will take a role of an officer on board a space ship and then, depending on the mission, the crew will work together to try to achieve the objective. In a nutshell, it is the boardgame version of a popular video game called Artemis where players can link up iOS devices and pretend to be on a spaceship. Each station features a minigame which you will recognize from various popular boardgames. For example, the Weapons is similar to Pitch car in that you are flicking discs to score hits and damage enemy ships.<br />
For a co-op game, the best part is there will not be a leader problem where 1 person just dictates what everyone else does. There is a Captain's role but in general everyone is expected to discuss and decide what best to do. However all that discussing may come to naught IF the person at that station fails to perform the minigame and throws the plan into disarray. The most crucial has to be the Helm because if the ship is moved wrongly and shields are not providing overarching coverage, then the unshielded side may become exposed to the enemy ships. So while you are playing a co-op game, you will quickly come to realise that your own mini game is just as important and you may even start to forget its a co-op when your Helmsman moves you away from the objective for the umpteen time and you begin to suspect if he's a cylon (oh wait, different game :P)<br />
Worse is when you start getting damaged and this is where the most chaos comes into the game. Systems start to fail and you may even be asked to switch roles and that is also when the most fun begins. You are suddenly thrusted into the seat of a role which you may not have been prepared for (or more likely, you may not have been paying attention to) and thus the ship will usually start to flounder at this point.<br />
Art is much nicer than the copy I saw at GENCON 2012 (because well that was a promo copy) and components are of a good quality though I wished the energy bits used the batteries from Galaxy Truckers :P<br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </b><br />
There seems to be quite a few cards which will cause roles to switch in the course of the game which means that pretty soon we will need to know how to play each roles and quickly adapt so as not to become the one that will cause the ship to fail. This can be pretty frustrating on certain players at times because it can be quite a big change to how they have been playing. That leads to another problem and that is the team could quickly turn on each other especially if there is a weak link. Though if you are playing with a group that quickly turns in this way, then perhaps you shouldn't be playing with that group at all! This is probably a small pet peeve as you should be playing with your friends who are good natured and can tease each other :). I feel that this game is also best played with the full compliment of players because each player can concentrate on their role and won't be easily distracted nor expected to handle multiple roles at the same time. The icons used to denote the various stations could have been more intuitive (i.e. Weapons have a W there so that its easy to see what station is next in the phases. Finally, the game takes abit too long for my liking. We only managed to explore the first space and barely gotten our first crystal and that took about 45 minutes. We still have 3 more space squares to explore!<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><br />
The enjoyment of this game greatly depends on the group as well as how many of you are there to play the game. When I was playing in GENCON 2012, I was lucky that Geoff was there to instruct us on how to play the game and the group I was with seems to had a lot of fun. I started off as Captain and wasn't doing too good a job and felt a bit embarrassed lol. In this game, I started off as the Captain again and was struggling to remember how to play the game. Again luckily, Geoff had made a series of game instruction videos which we can watch and learn easily. I don't think there's anything wrong with the game but its not for me unfortunately. If you have a good group and are ok with Co-op games this might be just right for you! Try before you buy.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>MUNDUS NOVUS</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The very odd feeling is still there when playing this</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><br /></span></i>
<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I first played this game sometime last year and I wasn't particularly impressed and it left me with an odd feeling in my mouth. Got a chance to play it again recently and well.... its still odd to me. Each round, players will be dealt a fresh hand of 5 cards. If they had any merchants/ship cards previously played, then they will be able to receive extra cards during this time. Next, the captain will choose how many cards each player must offer up into the public area. Captain can choose between 2 to 4 cards. Then players will add up the sums of the cards they offered. The player with the most points will be the new Captain. Then starting with the new captain, players will choose a card that an opponent has offered. The chosen card can be added to your hand OR exchanged for a card from the market, which always has 3 cards displayed. The player whose card is chosen now gets to go. After all players have taken cards, then the Captain can decide whom to go first in this next phase. In this phase, players can either submit a set of SAME colored cards to obtain a development card from a set of 5 available to choose from. Development cards can give you a character which may give you income per round and a special power or a merchant ship. Players can also submit a set of different numbered cards to obtain money. Once all player has gone, all remaining cards are discarded and a new round begins. The player who has successfully earned 75 coins or submitted a full suite (cards 1-9 and the wild card) will win the game.<br />
In our session, I was playing to do the perfect suite for the instant win. But we ignored the various character cards that came out and gave one of the other players almost 10 coins per round. I could have almost done it in the very last round but I was missing 1 card to complete the suite. It still feeling very odd as the game mechanisms are a bit counter intuitive and it doesn't help that there is zero theme in the game.<br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </b><br />
As mentioned above, one of the biggest Pet peeves I have is that there is zero theme in the game. If there was some theme perhaps it will be easier to understand and appreciate the game. Though most Euro games have no theme, sometimes the theme helps to understand why we do what we do and in this case, having no theme doesn't help. The other pet peeve is that there is no player aid to remind us on the rounds as well as the conversion rate when exchange for development cards or for money. A summary is printed on the back of the rule book but I think player aids will certain help. 1 last pet peeve is that the event tokens which denote events that are happening for that round (which can be detrimental to players) is made up of very small discs. I think cards with words would have been a better way to show what is the current event status.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><br />
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While the game play is relatively simple, you will probably need a few more plays to better understand what is happening. Because of the way you need to collect sets and the perfect suite, this reminds me of mahjong. While I do like a good game of mahjong, Mundus Novus doesn't appeal to me in that way. Try before you buy.<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>POLIS</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Careful! No sudden movements to the table now...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I have been on a spree of getting 2 player specific games and I read reviews about this 2 player civilisation like game and was instantly hooked. I enjoyed games like Through the ages but its kinda clunky to setup and would have been better served as a video game. So when I had the opportunity to make a purchase on this, I jumped at it! Now this is pretty though to get (either you buy from the publisher directly or via online sites in Europe) so it will not be very cheap.<br />
So what is the game really like? Game lasts 4 rounds. Players are competing on the same map to own cities, complete projects, grow population so as to have the most prestige points at the end of 4 rounds. At the start of each round, 3 new projects will be available for both players and there will be an event (out of several) for that round. Then the player with the lower prestige points will begin. During your turn, a player can perform 2 different actions after which your turn is over and the other player begins. Play continues until both players have passed. Now when you are performing the actions, you can choose from 12 different actions to perform. Essentially, you can grow an army (hoplite or gallery), create a merchant (for trading), move your army (hoplite / gallery) but this costs 1 Prestige, besiege a city (also costing 1 Prestige) and many others. What you are trying to do is to get resources, move your troops around to conquer and obtain more cities to provide you with more resources and points.<br />
After both players have passed, then you will perform a clean up. All in progress projects are now completed and Prestige points are awarded. Then you will need to pay Wheat for each population you have on your city tiles. Penalty for not being able to feed will be to return the city tile back an remove your token as it has turned neutral. After you have fed, you can convert remaining grain into 1 population each grain in the various city tiles you have as long as it is permitted. Finally, you can convert money (silver in this case) into prestige points. If you have 0 prestige points at this time, you will automatically lose the game. If at anytime you have lost your Capital city (mostly due to inability to feed) you will also automatically lose the game.<br />
Teaching the game is not easy as there are so many actions you can do and you will need to explain in detail what you can do for each. It took us about 30 mins to setup and explain the game. It took us another 2 hours or so to play finish the game. I won but I think I had forgotten to pay prestige when performing the collection action (basically plunder the land for resources) so my victory is probably tainted. We did not do a lot of combatting each other as we were quite busy trying to build up our engine but by the time we had a good enough grasp of what is happening, the game is over. While the map is pretty small, there is still ample space for you to grow and not really be forced into a war. Indeed, I haven't had a battle yet but reading the rules the battle system seems a bit tagged on. I think this game is still more of a Civ-type game than a war-like game. Component quality is nice and thick and looks very nicely done! There are also plenty of wooden cubes and ships.<br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </b><br />
A small pet peeve will be that the cube is used to represent population in the city, a hoplite when placed on land and a gallery when placed in the sea. It would have been nicer if there were distinct cubes for each of the different roles but I guess I can see how this may complicate the game and cause the price tag to increase with the addition of so many components.<br />
Another will be that small cubes are used to mark the market prices and the various resources that you have on your own board. Any sudden jolt of the table may send our player boards flying and screw up the game. Again different colored goods may have been a better idea but I can see the reasoning behind, after all, Through The Ages used a very similar player board system. The player aid exists on the player board which is good but I wish they had included some of the important rules like what resource u need to build a hoplite. That will make it so much more easier to tell what you need to do without referring to the manual so often.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><br />
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Polis is a meaty Euro game where you will need to make sure you are building up your engine otherwise you can be severally lacking in terms of resources to do the things you want. It is also not very forgiving and any mistakes can be easily capitalized by your opponent. I think this is a pretty interesting game and I will certainly want try it more and see if I can engage into a battle or two but this is probably a game that is not suitable for EVERYONE given the time and effort needed to play and enjoy the game. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>DIVINARE</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wait what did I put down at the beginning again?</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
Another great session. Jon had not played this before so I was eager to bring it out and see what he thinks about it. 2 players is quite different from the other player counts because at the start both of you will be dealt 12 cards and you will set aside 2 cards each. Then play continues and you will pass cards 4 times in the game. Once all cards have been played, you will open the 2 cards which you have set aside at the start of the game and then add them to the respective areas.<br />
Playing with 2 is even more intense as you will feel the head-2-head competition more than if you are playing with 3 or 4 because you know that if you screw up, its all your own fault hahaha. You can also setup your opponents easily as compared to 3 or 4 players because of the 2 cards right at the beginning which you set aside as well as what cards you pass to your opponent. Overall, I think its a great game and even better with just 2 players though your brain may melt with all the calculating afterwards. Still very much highly RECOMMENDED!<br />
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<b><br /></b>
<b>OMEN: A REIGN OF WAR</b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I want all the Oracles.... for scoring lah! :P</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><br />
I have heard a lot about this 2 player game but did not dived into kickstarter at that point in time. After the kickstarter, there was still a lot of hype surrounding the game and generally the reviews have been good so I was searching around for a copy. Just nice, someone else in Singapore was selling their copy and i snapped it up real quick. In the game, players are trying to get as much points as they can by obtaining reward cards from 3 piles in the centre and achieving feat cards (6 in total per player and both are identical sets). The game ends when 1 player has achieved 5 feat cards OR when 2 of the 3 reward card stacks are empty. Then player count up the points (2 per feat card achieved, 2 per reward card that is not used, 1 per reward card that has been used) and the player with the most points wins the game.<br />
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </b><br />
The artwork is kinda dark in the game. This game could have been rethemed to make it more accessible by more people but its still not too bad. Furthermore, because the general art theme is very similar, there is very little to differentiate easily the different types of cards (oracle, soldier and beast) other than the wording. The art does change (i.e. beast shows a Beast) but it would have been easier if the cards had different colored backings or an icon. The words on the cards though is bad. Its all in UPPER CASE and it looks as if its screaming at you all the time! Plus there are a lot of cards to go through and this is a case where it could have benefited from a well thought out icon system. Its not unplayable for sure, its just easier to grasp and play if icons were used.<br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><br />
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Overall though its not a bad card game to play and I did enjoy my play of it. Jon, my opponent, mentioned that it is very similar to Battleline which I have not played it yet. The game reminded me somewhat of Phantom but plays much smoother and faster. It might be quite tough to hunt down a copy but I will say try before you buy!<br />
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<b>PODCAST NEWS</b><br />
Well by the time this blog post is out, Episode 7 of Push Ur Luck Podcast would have been released. You can download it directly here <a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Ep+7.mp3" style="background-color: white; color: #ff9911; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Roboto, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; text-decoration: none;" title="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Ep+7.mp3">http://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Ep+7.mp3 </a><br />
We are glad that we have started our Interview series where I interview publishers and designers from the Asia region and hope to be able to publicise them to the world. We have a lot of interviews from designers in USA and Europe but I feel that we have not much exposure here in Asia and I hope to be able to assist in that area.<br />
Do look out for Episode 8 where we interview Seiji Kenai of Love Letter fame!
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And another week has past and 1 more week to our next episode! I hope I will be able to start a few feature on our podcast. This week, there aren't any new games (to me) that I would like to specially point out as being excellent and those that are above average are Quietville and Palastgefluster. Lets get on with the reviews! </div>
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<b>COUP</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sigh i never seem to win at this...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts: </span></i> Brought this out for a quick 6 player game. Nothing new here to add about the game that you don't already know except we had 3 new players to the group and one of them cannot lie lol. I also have difficulty playing this game because the 2 cards that I have really compels me to use their powers only and nothing else. I wonder if its how I have been playing boardgames (because most games you are only allowed to use what you have and follow the rules) or how I am. So while I am not super psyched and love this game like how some others do, I think I will still be keeping the game and take it out from time to time. Its a nice filler and plays up to 6. Not many games I have can do that nowadays.<br />
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<b>KINGS OF AIR AND STEAM</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5 player game! Smaller map.</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">6 player game. All map tiles used!</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b> </b>Ah this is a Kickstarter-ed game and after watching the reviews from Joel Eddy, I was eager to grab myself a copy and see how it works with my groups. Gameplay wise its pretty straight forward. Players will have an airship and are flying around to the various factories on the board to pick up goods. Then they fly the airships to their own depots to drop off the goods and subsequently have their goods delivered to respective cities to earn money. After 5 rounds, whoever has the most VPs (in terms of money, built depots, upgraded airship and trains) will win the game. Simple right?<br />
At the start, there will be a market phase where 3 tiles are revealed and the prices of the goods corresponding to the revealed tiles are increased. Next, players simultaneously decide from a deck of movement cards which 4 cards they will perform this round and place these cards faced down in 4 slots. This is very similar to Roborally. Once all players have committed their moves, all players will reveal the first card and depending on the letters on each card, move in alphabetical order. Move cards will usually have the number of spaces your airship can move and you must move all the steps. After you have moved, you can load and unload goods and then you can perform an action. Actions include building a depot, shipping goods (from Depot to City), upgrading your airship, upgrading your train (there's this invisible train that runs from your depots to other depots or cities), getting $3 from the bank or flight adjustment (move your airship 1 space). So play will continue this way until all 4 move+actions are done and then players will need to pay upkeep ($1 for every good in their cargo hold and depot) and then factories will produce (At least 1 per round). That will be the end of the round.<br />
Now if you have seen the pictures, the components look very good. Goods are cubes which are ok, depots are little wooden houses which are also ok and the airships are nice big plastic airships and nicely detailed. The artwork is also very nice and every ship has a unique design and signature. Each player also has a unique character that they can choose from. The board itself when assembled really looked surreal as one player put it. The clouds floating across the cities and our airships flying around the board does make it feel all very thematic. Gameplay wise, its simple as I have already described above and easy to play. Teaching it though there are some bits that will require playing it one round to understand the concepts better. The paper money has a nice design on it though its paper which I did not prefer. So all in all, it played quite ok and is very straight forward. Fly around, pick up goods, drop off goods, deliver them, sell get money and upgrade your airship, trains and build depots. </div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b>The airships, while very nice and big, are just too big for the board. Their stands need to share space with the depots and goods on the ground and even worse, another airship if they are both in the same space. Its all very nice to look at and handle and adds a lot thematically but practically its horrible. Its also not easy to locate all the factories when you are repopulating the cubes at the end of a round. Paper money is something that I frown upon but having those small poker chips that I have does make it easier to play and handle. This game also needs a rather large space to play on.</div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><b> </b>So all in all, this is a pretty ok game. Straight forward pick up and deliver game and I would consider this light-medium weight. Not much interaction between players except for rushing to grab the goods before another player does. Unless another player grabs the nasty character that steals $3 whenever his ship flies through another. Though in my 2nd game, the player playing that character never stole ANY money and she won handily. Problem for me though was there was nothing new to me about this game that grabbed my attention and made me want to hold on to this and play a lot more times. There is certainly replayability with the different characters and the components are attractive and nice and all that but the mechanisms are the same as many other games and thus did not excite me much. Still, its a Try before you buy.</div>
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<b>DIVINARE</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Awesome deduction game</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Played with the full 4 this time and it is just as fun. You certainly have to try and keep track of everything so as to force your opponents to have to reposition themselves or suffer the penalties. I realised in this game that with the extra bonuses that you may score if you are in the 2 extremes of each section can sometimes net you more points but those are few and hard to come by. Overall, this game is really dependant on the players and how they play given the cards that they have. Sure the cards you draw can be attributed to randomness but that doesn't stop you from being able to control what you can do as you can chose to give away a lousy hand partially and hope to receive something better. All in all, still a very good game and much liked by everyone so far! </div>
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<b>NEW WORLD A CARCASSONNE GAME</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I think we should all stick to base carcassonne</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b> </b>One of the last game for that night of gaming, we decided to try something that is easy to pick up and did not take a long time. New Word is essentially built on the Carcassonne engine and with just a few small changes. One, there is a column of land where we all start laying tiles from. Two, there are 2 neutral pawns on the board and whenever someone scores, the pawn furthest to behind or nearest to the starting column will move ahead to the next available tile in the adjacent column. If there are any meeples belonging to any player that are yet to be scored but are found to be "offsides", then that meeple will be returned to the player. In essence the neutral pawns are like referees and players, when placing tiles, have to decide if its worth the risk to place a tile back in zones that have been passed over because they offer lucrative scoring but at the risk of someone else scoring before you can and thus making you waste the previous turn. Third, scoring for farms is dependent on the number of animals that exist in the various land areas that are covered by your farmer meeple. Similar to Carcassonne, the player with the most points at the end of the game will win. While there are a few new features, its nothing earth shattering or ground breaking and it plays pretty much like Carcassonne.</div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b>Art wise while its abit more realistic as compared to the base game, its a bit hard to see the animals in the forested areas. <b><br /></b></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> Having the 2 neutral pawns does cause some of us to play it differently<b> </b>from the base game. I found myself trying to score faster so that I can move the pawns and catch the other players' meeples and thus denying them from scoring. But at its core, its still very carcassonne. I never really liked the multitude of carcassonne expansions because they feel very gimmicky to me. Its abit like all those expansions for Dominion. One or two expansions is fine but after 5 or 8, you get the feeling that they are really trying to squeeze as much mileage as they can from the base game and they are already scrapping the barrel. I mean why don't they just let it be and move on to other games. So for me at least, its a MEH and I don't recommend it. </div>
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<b>MIDNIGHT PARTY</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Run run from the ghooooost! </td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> A light hearted game where players try to move their pieces around a track to enter empty rooms to hide from a ghost that will be roaming along the halls. At the beginning of your turn, you will roll a die and then move any one of your remaining figures that many spaces. If you roll a ghost on the die, then you move the ghost 3 spaces. Players can only move their figures into a room if the ghost is already on the main track so its like a musical chairs kind of mechanism where players are jostling for positions until the ghost appears. Once all figures are either captured by the ghost or in the rooms, then players will determine the score and keep track. After 4 rounds, the player with the least negative points will win the game. </div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i> The ghost did not look very scary. In fact it looked downright friendly haha. Players who have been kicked out (because the ghost had captured them) will not have anything else to do other than rolling the die and hoping to move the ghost along. All these are just small little issues and because this is largely a family/kid/party game there is no need to be too harsh on it.</div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> We had a lot of fun moving the ghost along, making 'whooo hooo hooo" noises and catching each other's figures. Playing with 5 players we certainly had a lot of figures (each player had 3) and given that the ghost appears on 2 faces of the die, it came out pretty fast and made short work of those near him. I manage to win with only -14 points so that was cool. Take note that this is definitely a kid friendly family game so Try before you buy if you are looking for a family game. Best with kids.</div>
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<b>PALASTGEFLUSTER</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Its like a predecessor of Citadels and many others...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b> </b>I have heard of this game from Garrett's game and geekiness and I decided to grab it as a box filler for my latest order online. This game lasts several rounds until 1 player has reached a certain number of points as determined by the number of players. There are 2 decks to this game. One is the main play deck which consists of a bunch of brown cards and all the cards that belongs to the colors of the players in the game. These cards will have one of 6 characters available in the game. The other is a king deck which, when revealed, determines which character card can be played but will not have any special effect (unless its the Jester card which will indicate that the jester card cannot be played). During your turn, you have to play a card from your hand to the area in front of you. If you have to play a card of a character that already exists in your area, you have caused the end of the round and every OTHER<b> </b>player will score a point. Another way the round can end is if you manage to play 6 different characters into your area. Then you will score the point only. All cards are now collected and reshuffled and each player is dealt 6 cards for a new round. Each character has a certain power which can help you or sabotage others. For example, the Wizard allows you to exchange a number of cards from your hand with another player thus you can pass them cards that will cause them to end the round and everyone else to score a point. The unique part of this game is that how the next player is determined, depending on the card that the previous player has played. If the card is a brown card, then the player who has the least number of cards played in front of them will go next. If this is tied, then the active player chooses who to go. If the card is a colored card, then that player with the same color goes next. The active player can play his/her own color to go next but that depends if he/she is lucky enough to have his own colors, can play them or if it is wise to do so. The symbols aren't that easy to understand but the player aid card (which incidentally is used as an arrow to indicate the number of points you have) has all the description for the powers of the various characters. It is easy to teach though probably needs several plays to better appreciate the nature of the game and how it works. It reminds me a lot of Citadels and I believe several card games nowadays that have characters and powers probably owe some homage to this game. Art work is functional though somewhat dated and its a card game that fits nicely into a small box. Good for traveling.</div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b>Unfortunately, this game can get draggy. For 5 players, we had to reach 4 points and while that may seem easy to do, it did take some time. At the very least you will need 4 rounds to do so. I am also not too sure about blocking the leader and how well that will function because you are given only 6 cards to play around with and depending on the luck of the draw, you may not have the right cards to block the leader. <b><br /></b></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><b> </b>We did not manage to finish our game as we had new players joining so we stopped or game short of someone actually winning. I do kinda like it right now given what I have seen but will definitely want to try more to see how it actually works and if it can get too lengthy for the weight of the game it is. Deciding what card to keep and play and which player to go next is quite unique and very intriguing for me. So for now it is ok but with the caveat that I will need more plays to have a final decision. Try before you buy.<br />
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<b>TOWER OF BABEL</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dated when played today...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b> </b>A rather old game that someone in our group won and so we decided to give it a go and see whats it like. Basically this is a light-medium area control and set collection type of game. Initial setup, there will be discs placed on spots that represent 7 wonders of the world. Players will be provided with a number of cards initially and a Trade card. During each player's turn, they will choose a spot where there's a disc remaining. This is to indicate their interest to complete the requirements of that disc. Each disc will show a particular object and a number, indicating how many of that type of cards is required to be discarded to complete that disc. Now all other players will pull out a number of cards that they want to offer to the active player. When all have chosen, all will reveal the cards selected. The active player can now choose cards from a number of players to assist him on his task. Owners of the cards that were used to contribute to this disc (including active player) will get to place one of their building tokens onto the wonder. If the active player chose a participating player that has a trade card along with his other cards, then active player will pass that disc to that participating player but get to place his building tokens in place of the participating player's tokens. If a player offered cards but you did not choose that player, then that player will score as many points as cards offered that correspond to the disc's object.<b><br /></b><br />
When a wonder has all discs removed, then that wonder is scored. Majority and 2nd runner up will score points and the rest that have contributed will score 3 points. The scoring is incremental which means the next wonder that scores will have more points.<br />
During your turn, you can either choose a disc or pass. If you pass, you will draw a card. At the end of every player's turn, everyone will draw a card. The game ends when all of 1 type of discs has been claimed. Those monuments that were not finished will score a certain number of points and then players reveal the discs they have collected and score points. If you have collected 4 of a kind, then you get to score 30 points which is a lot in the game. The player with the most points will win the game.<br />
Initially we were kinda confused as to why players will bluff (select cards that do not correspond to the disc's object) and we guessed the only reason was to goad the other players into contributing more. Having the trade card in offering is interesting because if the active player does not have enough, he may need to take the trade card OR forgo his turn just to prevent the disc from falling into the wrong hands. It is also very important not to set someone up to complete the monument and score points. Oh you also get a special card if you triggered the scoring of a monument. Most of the time these special cards will provide you with more cards or even give you some points at the end of the game but its hard to come by and in a game at most there will be 7 such cards given out. Art wise its a pretty ok and components wise its a nice and big board but you could probably remake the game using only cards.</div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b>Near the middle and the end of the game, most active players will already have all the cards they need and thus not really require any help from the others and it becomes a matter of offering as much cards as we can to score points. In essence, being prevented from helping can actually score you more points than commencing the scoring for a monument. The player order portion on the board confused us because we failed to see the point of it. I mean there is no need to rotate it but the rules mentioned that when a player has taken his turn, place his token at the back of the line and move the others forward. It because a bit pointless. We may have read some rule wrong on this but doesn't seem like it. Other than that, I couldn't really put my finger on it but most of us felt MEH after playing the game though now that I am writing this, I can't remember why. I guess its the way the game is played and the general mode as we are playing that brought our enjoyment factor of the game down a few notches. It could also be that the mechanisms seems dated given the variety of games that we have nowadays and possibly not as engaging as we thought.</div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><b> </b>So while it doesn't seem as if we enjoyed the game, now that I am reading my own post, it is quite an ok game. The design has not many flaws and mechanisms, while feels dated, are sound. It probably isn't for our group but may require a few more plays to have a more concrete feeling on why it did not work for our group. Try before you buy.</div>
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<b>QUIETVILLE</b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It is very quiet.. even with monsters...</td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b> </b>A light card game where players are trying to manage the number of buildings in front of them<b> </b>so that they are in the best position to score when any one of the 4 scoring phases card appear in the building deck. There is a set of building cards and disaster cards on the board. During your turn, you can either use 1 money card to purchase a building card, select a disaster cad and apply its effect and obtain a money card or play a Divine Intervention card (if you have any). You can only have a maximum of 2 money cards at 1 time so if you have 2, then you MUST buy a building card or play a Divine Intervention card. Building cards come in 3 colors and a variety of points from 3 to 8. Disaster cards cause you to lose buildings depending on what is indicated on the Disaster card. If you lose 2 buildings, then you will be able to obtain a Divine Intervention card. Otherwise, regardless if you have lost a building or not, you will obtain a money card. Divine intervention cards will usually provide you with special powers like refresh the row of disaster cards etc.<br />
The unique part of the game is when one of 4 scoring cards appear in the building card deck. Whenever a building is taken, that spot is replaced with a new building card. In this way, the scoring cards will appear later on in the game and at the end. Players now choose 1 of 4 scoring types to scoring when a card appear. Players can only choose 1 scoring type per scoring phase for the entire game so players have to plan correctly otherwise they will waste these chances. The 4 types of scoring are: a) score for ALL buildings you currently have, b) score for each of the highest building for each of the colors, c) score for each of the lowest building for each of the colors and d) score all buildings of 1 chosen color. The game ends after the 4th scoring card has been revealed and the player with the most points wins the game.<br />
For this light game, the scoring methods add a surprising depth to it. You have to see if you can hold out and get those buildings that will enable you to perform the scoring that you want. At the same time, you don't want to be caught where you have no choice to purchase but to take a disaster card that will devastate the buildings you already have. Art is quite comic like and nice and everything is clear, easy to teach and easy to play.</div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b>I think the most irritating thing will have to be the luck of the draw. If you are very unlucky, during your turn you may end up with the worse types of disasters (where you will lose a lot of buildings) or with the low scoring buildings or if you have a divine intervention card that doesn't help you at all. Otherwise, there is very little else that is wrong with the game.<b><br /></b></div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><b> </b>So a light game that is easy to play and surprisingly fun with a bit of strategic planning but more tactical than anything. Whenever we saw a chance to take a disaster card that did not sabotage ourselves too much, we went for it. We did not really focus too much on the Divine Intervention cards as their powers while helpful aren't all that game changing. I did not win though but I still had fun. Try before you buy. <b><br /></b></div>
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<b>CITE</b></div>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><b> </b>A light-medium, negotiation heavy, tile laying game similar to Princes of Florence. Each player has a set of similar buildings which occupy 1-9 spaces. Your objective is to place/build as many of these buildings as you can within the 7 rounds. The player who has built the most spaces of buildings will win the game. At the start, players are allowed to place up to 7 spaces of buildings. Each player will have a unique resource which only they have (i.e. Yellow has the rock, Red has the cloth) and thus the negotiation is required so that resources from other players can be traded to create secondary elements. The interesting part of the game is how you can build the buildings. The more variety of materials you have, the less of them you need and the more spaces you can build. For example, if you only have 1 type of material, you will need 10 of them to be able to build 1 space. If you have 5 for example, you just need 1 of each to be able to do the same. To be able to create more materials you will need to build your secondary buildings, get the other base material from another player and then be able to build it OR trade another player who has built it. Game play essentially is income (production), negotiation (exchange of goods) and then build. Game ends after 7 rounds or whomever has built all their pieces and the player with the most built squares will win the game. As you can already tell, this game relies a LOT of negotiation although another player managed to build with minimal negotiation and exchange of goods. He also forced his basic material to be rare and hard to come by. In addition, you have to negotiation because of the close proximity of your buildings. Right in the beginning there is a game board where you can place your starting buildings which is the only area where each player's buildings can be adjacent to each other and provide additional benefits to each other. Gameplay can be pretty fast though unless negotiations bog down and cause a stalemate in the game. Components wise are rather good. In fact, they can be considered over produced! The stone are really small stone pebbles and the cloth is nice rich red cloth squares. But they could have done with red cubes and it would have been easier to handle and manage.</div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i><b> </b>Its kinda odd but the playing area will extend beyond the main board. Since you are pretty much given free reign (except that the new building must touch an existing building), you can expand if you want all over your corner of the table. As mentioned above, the materials seems to be over produced. The red player had problem trying to count the number of cloth because, since this was a new set, the clothes were not separated before. Though if they used the cloth same as Marrakech that might have been easier to manage. You need like a bowl or something to keep the amount of material which you may have been able to produced given that the components are not all the same sizes. You may also need to supplement with your own bits as it did not seem to be enough. The game owner used lego bits to supplement what was provided. There is a building that functions like a Bank. You can place up to 3 materials on it and then get some returns. However since the bank building piece is so small, its a bit impractical to place them onto the building. Lastly, the building's functionalities are written on the reverse side of the building but when you build them onto your area, they look better the picture side up so kind of prevents us from referring to their functions once placed on the play area.</div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><b> </b>I am beginning to shun from pure negotiation games because well, I seem to suck at negotiations :P Some negotiation is fine but if its pure negotiation then I will approach with some apprehension. That being said, there is a lot of chance for "mistakes" in this game because everything is concurrent (the negotiation, exchange of goods and building), people can make mistakes accidentally and kinda takes away from the "pureness" of a win. Not saying that I won of course lol it was all I could do to not be last (Can't remember if I was last ....). So this game is not for me. Might be for you though so verdict is Try before you buy.</div>
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<b>SHEEPLAND</b></div>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Avery simple stocks and shares game that is masked with cute sheepples. Yes I said stocks and shares. You have a board with different regions (mountain, plans, swamp, forrest and grassland) and at the start there will be a sheep in every region. Each player starts with a secret land tile randomly assigned at the start of the game. During your turn, you will first roll a die to see where the black sheep may escape to (Black sheep counts as 2 white sheep). Then you can do 3 actions, out of which, 1 of them must be to move your Shepard. If you perform 2 of the same actions, then you have to move the Shepard inbetween those 2 actions (i.e. Action, Move, Action). Actions are moving a sheep (from one region to another through your Shepard), purchasing a land tile (either of the 2 land tiles that are adjacent to your Shepard) or moving your Shepard. That is it. The game ends when a certain number of fences have been placed on the board and everyone plays till the end of that current round. Players then count up the points they have (number of sheeps in that land area multiply with the number of that land's tiles you have) and the winner is the one with the most points. </div>
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So essentially its a stocks and shares game because you are trying to amass a number of tiles (you can see these as shares) while trying to manipulate the sheeps into those land areas (price of shares). It is easy to teach and easy to play however it is quite a light game. Components are rather good looking and of course, the sheepples are very cute. It is interesting to note that most people are focusing a lot on the black sheep as it gets moved around but after a while when the black sheep gets cornered and stuck, then players will start to focusing on other areas. Diversity of the stocks (land tiles) is key here as you don't want to get trapped into only being able to buy those expensive tiles as money is VP at the end of the game and the initial tiles are free or very cheap. </div>
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<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i> The board had some serious warping issues which is unfortunate. But other than that, there is not much to complain for this rather simple game. </div>
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<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> It is a very light game. That being said, there could be chances for screwage because you can often tell what an opponent is going for and move his sheeps out of the land areas that he wants. However to do that your Shepard has to already be in position or stalking his Shepard very closely. As this is probably a family friendly game, I don't think there's a lot of in built opportunities for screwing around with other players. There are opportunities for interaction but only if the Shepards are close together. So all in all, this is a light game and doesn't provide a lot of depth for me and I was glad to be able to try it but will not be making a purchase. Try before you buy.</div>
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duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-89416090966230460422013-03-30T20:49:00.000-07:002013-03-30T20:51:21.775-07:00Suburbia, CO2, Sator arepo tenent opera rotas, Il Vecchio, The Cave, The Palaces of Carrara, The Doge Ship, Divinare, Plato 3000, Mord Im Arosa<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am so happy there's a good friday holiday which allowed me to get in some final gaming session before my nephew and niece arrives then I won't be able to host any gaming sessions at my place for a while. Best pick of the week has to be Divinare with The Doge Ship coming in second. Lets see what I played and my thoughts:</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SUBURBIA</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mint did not save me :(</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lost quite horribly and to 2 newbies (who have never played this game before) to rub it in! I think the main problem was that I changed my engine to a reputation scoring one too late into the game. I should have started to grab reputation instead of income when the B tiles starting showing up in the game. This game requires good planning and knowing when to change from a money generating engine to a reputation generating one. Timing is also quite important but some part is based on luck, referring to the tiles that are drawn. Sometimes the tile that you want will not be affordable to you but will be for someone else down the row. Furthermore, if the player before you is pretty much going on the same track then it will be quite difficult for you. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have ordered my promo from the BGG store and while I know it doesn't add a lot to the game I will welcome the variety. I twittered about this and Bezier Games replied that there will be an expansion for Suburbia and its already in the late stages of development! That I feel is what the game needs. Similar to Agricola and Le Havre 2 players, With a wider variety of buildings or perhaps even more features, it will increase the interaction amongst players as well as the replayability of the game. This is still recommended from me and I cannot wait to try a few more solos to hone my skills! :D </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">CO2</span></b><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I am the Black player btw...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ah finally I get to bring this monster out again to play it PROPERLY this time. Another friend was there and she was also hoping to finally play it properly after a mistake-filled first game for her. We were also using this to see if her sister was up to taking on heavier games. Short answer first, she is and she was scoring pretty well (our final tallies were in the 100+ which is surprising to me as well). Quite early on I ran into the issue which Jon previously talked about and which is a pet peeve for others and that is what is the point of me installing a project when it will just be stolen by another player? I had a small discussion with another player in my latest game about this and he mentioned that it is more beneficial to propose and install projects versus actually building them. Now I have not deeply analysed this to see if its true but if it is, then it certainly makes sense in a game that has quite a few rules already going against the norm (i.e. buying a CEP doesn't increase the market price). Now don't be mistaken that you can ignore constructing power plants entirely, you need to have a few for those quick scoring points and possible ownership of a region and thus grabbing all its left over CEPs at the end of the game and of course, to score UN cards, but perhaps the focus shouldn't be on over constructing. Perhaps a better plan is to install appropriate projects so as to manipulate the others to use up their resources or build plants where it is not very beneficial to them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I will want to give this game a few more tries to see if I can break through the surface and finally appreciate this game for all its worth. Right now it feels as if I am just only scratching the surface with this rather multi-layer game. I want to say that this game is recommended but I know that it is not for everyone and given the complexity to teach, absorb and then being able to play this game well, I will have to say its a try before you buy. Oh and do see if you can print out some stickers to pimp out your CEPs, they look much nicer that way ;)</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">SATOR AREPO TENET OPERA ROTAS</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Green player won. I was Yellow.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to bring this out again to see if it will survive to have a place in my collection. Sadly though after this play I don't think I will keep the game. This time we played with the full complement of 4 players and while I started sabotaging early on, it seems that we did not do a good job guarding a player and by the 3rd round or so, he had managed to collect all this books and won the game. I had only collected 2 by then but I was nowhere near the 3rd or 4th book. </span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></span></i><br />
<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This game requires a lot of spatial awareness and the 2 ladies that I was playing with were complaining about this point. We discussed a little as well about gender and spatial awareness and but I will not get into THAT discussion :P</span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Another pet peeve about the game is the luck of the draw. Sometimes you have cards in your hand that doesn't help you at all and instead of wasting a turn to draw new cards, you might as well play cards to try to prevent anyone else from grabbing their books. I suspect that if this was played properly (with everyone guarding each other), this could be a very frustrating game as there is no timer function that will end the game after a certain number of rounds.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After playing with 4, I feel that perhaps this game is best played with 2 such that you are aware of what each other is doing and you will be constantly either helping yourself or screwing your single opponent. We haven't really explored using the Gargoyle yet but it can be easily dismissed by opponents by them discarding 3 cards. Unfortunately, this game is not for me and I won't be keeping it.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">IL VECCHIO</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I won! Using the use Priest and get Wheel + $2 as well power</span></td></tr>
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<i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I managed to get the initial tile which gave me the bonus that when I took 2 Priests, I will get 1 Wheel + $2 as a bonus. My plan was to use that to my advantage to and then travel around for free. I also decided to go grab an end game tile early so I know what I was aiming for. Those really helped a lot as my end game objective was to grab the Medici crests and I was scrambling to place my worker on the rows to grab the tile. It helped also that they gave me bonus 1 point each at the end of the game. The game is easy to teach and quite straight forward. Unfortunately there's not really a lot of theme to it so that may make grasping the concepts a little bit tougher for new players. Iconography is simple and easy to understand after a few rounds and the component quality is nice with good art. The only small gripe I have was the inclusion of 2 boards that are the same except for colors. I do wish they have provided a different board to add to the replayability.</span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">I won with about 54 points but given that the scoring track is up to almost a 100, I am wondering if anyone can achieve that at all. Right now there is still a high replayability factor because of the different start bonus tiles we can grab as well as the bonus and end game scoring tiles we may get during the game. However I forsee that with many more plays the game may wear out. I am also not sure if this bonus tile that I have gotten is imbalanced but lets see if I manage to get future plays in if I can test this theory. Try before you buy!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE CAVE</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGd6IlDCcAA9v_j.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGd6IlDCcAA9v_j.jpg:large" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Yawn... when is it ending ...?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my first play of the game. I have played K2 previously and that brought me into the gaming group (Cult Of The New) that I am involved in right now. The Cave is from the same designers as K2 and while I was hoping to give this a go I have heard mixed reviews about this game. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Players are all explorers trying to navigate this cave system, by means of tile laying) and collecting tokens for actions done (i.e. taking picture, exploring lakes or navigating narrow passageways). Players need to carefully manage their resources as well and when the final cave tile is placed, have 2 turns to make it back to base camp or be disqualified. Players then count up their tokens and whoever has the most points will win the game. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Seems pretty straight forward game. We found ourselves moving around quite easily and then scampering back to base camp to replenish our supplies and then venturing out again. Repeat and Rinse until the last tile is revealed. I took a LOT of photographs and won by about 3 points. I did not do a lot of swimming in the lakes like my opponents but since most of the tiles I had revealed are photographs, I was lucky to win by that. That said, I don't have many good things to say about the game. What went wrong?</span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">For starters, I am not sure what the tent does. I mean it takes up 2 spaces in your backpack and you can spend 2 action points to set it up and gain access to the 4 spaces it provides. Ideally, it should allow you to extend your range so that you can explore further but the catch seems to be how are you going to get back to base camp then to replenish everything? If you can head back to your tent and replenish all the time, then that makes the tent much more valuable but for the entire game none of us were using the tents except when my friend tried to test the mechanism for this.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Supplies are a pain to manage. You are quite limited in terms of exploring tiles by how much supplies you are carrying before you have to high tail it back to base camp. If you run out of supplies, then you are spending your turn mostly moving 1 space. Its horrendously slow and painful if you do that as my friend discovered. As mentioned above, the tent doesn't seem to help much at all! Very odd.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">The depth of the cave creates a very odd perception and some confusion with us. When you place a tile that has a rope icon, that means that this tile is deeper so you place a 25meters icon if this was the first you encountered. Now if you descend and encounter another similar tile, you place the 50meters icon and so on and so forth. However, there are cases where 2 separate tracks may be joined by placing a single cave tile and there in lies the problem of depth. If the 2 trails were of different depth to begin with, what happens when you join them together ? This depth concept may seem interesting and thematic, but game play wise can create confusion and I feel that it should be explained more clearly in the rules or with more examples.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Finally, the bits. There are a LOT Of chits for all different types of challenges faced as well as supplies, ropes etc etc. SO MANY MANY that you need a good plano box to ensure that everything is sort out nicely for easy setup and tear down. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">This game did not grab me like what K2 did. My friend commented that in K2 at least you can see clearly where you are heading and plan how to get there whereas The Cave is largely due to luck of your draw. You may end up getting screwed if you keep exploring lake tiles when you don't have a raft or oxygen tanks and have to head back to base camp just to reconfigure your inventory. Gameplay can get draggy as well due to the number of tiles you have to explore. Some players I guess can potentially drag the game on if they focused on clearing all the available spaces and not on exploring. This was a MEH for me and is not for me. Not recommended.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE PALACES OF CARRARA</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGdlX89CYAAeS4l.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGdlX89CYAAeS4l.jpg:large" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Spin spin the wheel...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my first play of the game. Ah another essen release which I have heard about and was interested to try but not interested enough to grab myself a copy. This is a game that includes a sealed envelope with instructions for an advanced game and advice that you play the basic game a few times before you embark on the advanced game. Being the seasoned gamers we are (*wink wink*) we decided to jump straight into the advanced. My opponents have played this once before but this is my first game. Explanation was simple enough and I could grasp the concepts easily. In the game, you are trying to manage your resources and determine when is the most opportune time for you to make use of your 6 scoring pawns (each can only be used once in the entire game). When some has met the end game conditions (3 cards determine the end game conditions), he/she can declare the game is over and score extra bonus points. Players then tally up all the points they have on the board and whoever has the most points is the winner.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are quite a few interesting mechanism to the game. First is the resource wheel. At any 1 time, there should be at most 11 blocks in various colors (6 altogether I believe). The wheel is also divided into segments which shows prices of each color of block and are different from segment to segment. During your turn, if you decide to make a purchase from the wheel, you can either just select a segment and buy the blocks on it (any number) and pay the costs OR rotate the wheel once, populate the starting segment to top up total number of blocks to 11 and then make a purchase. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The blocks are used to buy building tiles which you can then place on different sections/cities on your board. The requirement to build the buildings is you must pay a number of blocks as denoted by the top right corner of the building tile and also depending on the section/city you wish to place. Leftmost city is WHITE and only allows building tiles which you have paid in WHITE blocks only. next city accepts buildings paid with YELLOW and/or WHITE blocks and the right most will accept buildings paid with ANY blocks. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most important concept of the game are the scoring pawns. During your turn you can, instead of any of the other actions choose to score by placing a scoring pawn onto any of the scoring sections on your board or on the main board. On your board, you can for example, score all building tiles that have the same icon on it. Thus, depending on which city the building is in, you will score points/money or both. You will also collect that many icons as the number of buildings you have activated. The other type of scoring will be on the main board and only 1 scoring pawn can be allocated to each scoring space. These scoring spaces will score for all buildings in a particular city but only if you meet the requirements (i.e. for the Black city, you can only score if there are 3 buildings in that city). You will also get the tokens for those buildings you have not previously activated. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The final concept will be the objectives board which will show you 3 scoring objectives that also represent end game conditions as well as a bonus objective.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">It is quite a fun game with good art, nice component pieces but not exactly dripping with theme. The scoring spaces make for a tense game as well because you need to monitor what your opponents are doing less they activate the scoring before you do.</span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">This is like a multi-player solitaire because the only interactions you will have will be the market where you can buy the stones and the limited scoring spots. But often I don't find myself being overly affected by these and was pretty much doing my own thing and playing my own game. Limited interaction.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">There is also a runaway leader because it is often quite difficult to block someone from building in their city unless there is a cooperative effort to empty the market of that particular block. Our end game scoring were quite far apart with 2 of us almost getting looped by the leader.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Its a light-medium weight Euro game that mixes a few interesting concepts together. Quite nicely executed and easy to learn and play. Not much interaction though. I will play it again but probably not like it enough to grab my own copy. A friend mentioned that this second time he played it did not seem as fun as the first. Oh I did not mention that timing is very important in the game because while you will often want to wait and store up resources before buying and scoring but if someone else grabs the spot before you, it may screw with your plans a bit. Try before you buy!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THE DOGE SHIP</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGdTdwHCEAA3_9C.jpg:large" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGdTdwHCEAA3_9C.jpg:large" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Much screwage was committed...</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my first play of the game. I have heard of this game and seen the box and all but wasn't too interested in it. Still I was glad to have been able to give it a go when my friend bought it and brought it over. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The game is a light-medium weight euro where players are taking actions using action discs to build gondolas (for money and scrolls), barriers (for protection against high waters and special benefits when taking other actions), get money, purchase plans for gondolas and barriers and ships and ultimately, building the Doge ship which will also allow the game to end when the entire ship has been built. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the start of a round, the start player will roll a number of dice (depending on the number of players) and place them in the corresponding track. All actions spaces up to where the die has been placed (i.e. if the red die is a 4, then action spaces to the left and up to the die can be activated) are free. Each spaces beyond that die will cost an additional $1 (i.e. if you want to activate Space 6 and the die is on 4, you will need to pay $2). Each player will have a number of action discs and taking turns, each player will place their action disc onto an action space and perform that activity. When all players have gone their turn, players will check the event card to see if it is High water or the Doge has arrived for an inspection. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For high water, players check the number of barriers they have against the number indicated on the event card. If they have less barriers, they will lose 2 action tokens for the next round. If they are equal, then they lose 1. Otherwise they are safe. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If its an inspection, players will now secretly bid a number of scrolls they have collected. The player with the most scrolls will score 6 points, the 2nd, 3 and so on. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The game will end only if the entire Doge ship has been completed and then players have a final inspection and whoever has the most points will win the game. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So you are trying to effectively chain your activities such that you can build 2 things with 1 action disc rather than taking 2 turns to build the things that you wanted. You are also trying to earn enough money to be able to buy a ship component and then build it later before your opponents do. There are 6 different sections to the ship requiring different number of ship components to complete the section however there is a space on the board which, when activated, allows you to replace another already built ship component. Art is quite straight forward and easy on the eyes. Components are nice cardboard quality chits. Interestingly, there is a money track instead of money chits to denote how much money you have.</span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></span></i><br />
<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The main pet peeve will be the length of the game. We had quite a lot of fun building barriers and gondolas but not so the actual ship itself. If all players end up milling around and not building the ship, then the game could drag on and be lengthy. However, since building the ship will score you points, I don't think this will be a big issue.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a nice game but doesn't bring much new things or concepts. Most of the mechanisms you will have probably played in other games already so nothing new there. I will play it again perhaps with 4 or 2 and see how that goes. Try before you buy.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">DIVINARE</span></b></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wait did I already see 4 yellows? Is that the only Yellow left in the game?</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is my first play of the game. Now I have seen this game and heard of its hype at GENCON 2012 but I had thought it was a light filler and did not look too much into it. Besides, at that time I was more interested in Seasons from Asmodee :P Boy was that a mistake after playing my first game last week. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The game is quite simple to play. Players will have a certain number of cards in their hand. These cards belong to 1 of 4 colors (red, yellow, green and white). At the start, you will pass a certain number of cards to the player on your right. This "event" will occur a few times during the game, depending on how many cards all players have left as well as the number of players.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During your turn, you have to play a card and then move your token for that location (i.e. play yellow card, activate your token in the yellow area) either to another spot. Now each location has a few sections with numbers on them. The aim of the game is to place your token on the number that you want to guess for that color. You are guessing at the end of that round, how many cards of that color has been revealed. If you are spot on, you will score 3 points. If you are adjacent to that number, 1 point and if you are way off, you will be penalized 1 point. There are sections at the extreme ends that will give you extra bonus points if you score.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After each player has had a chance to be the start player, the player with the most total points will win the game.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What surprised me was how deep the game eventually became for me. Initially after the rules were explained, I was thinking "Oh, this will be a simple game to play..." Then as the game progressed I was thinking "ok I have seen 3 Yellows, shall I pass them along or keep?" Then it was "ok now I have received some more Yellow cards... now wait how many was that ?" </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During my turn, I suddenly realised "Oh my... I will need to play a card AND move my token EVERYTIME? That will mean that if I knew the exact count (or have a pretty good idea), I will still need to play my cards in such a way I will still remain in that number to win the 3 points!" </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you can tell by now, this game has many layers and its not as straight forward nor as simple as I had initially thought. Do you pass your card to someone else so that you can lock in your choice ? Or do you choose to forgo your choice (you can move your token back to the starting point and not suffer penalty) so that you will not get penalty ? So many choices and it makes for a nice meaty game.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh and production value is really good and the locations look very realistic and 3D. Art is also nicely done.</span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">So does this game have issues? Well if you are prone to Analysis Paralysis then yea. You may be trying to remember all the cards that have been played, start to calculate the probabilities and thus not be able to make a decision. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 14px;">Some can also say that the luck of the draw is important. But all these are minor quibbles I feel. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well as you can tell by now, this is my biggest surprise and hit for this week. The intricacies and the depth of play really surprised and astounded me. For such an easy game to teach, it sure packs a punch and I highly recommend this game! Go grab yourself a copy now!</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">PLATO 3000</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Been some time since I brought it out to play this and I think that having played a few more of similar type of games (set collection or light card fillers), I think the shine for Plato 3000 is starting to wear off. It could be that the lunch group was suffering from lunch-food coma ( ;P ). It could also be that for 4 players the game doesn't work as well. Might be good for 2 or 3 but maybe for 4, we will need 2 sets to really speed things along. My colleague who played it once before and did not like it initially but after this session she liked the game. She's not too sure why she liked it better this time lol...</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think that this game really shines with 2 or 3. Though with the influx of similar games like Guildhall and to a lesser extend, Love Letter and Coup, not sure if this has enough legs to carry it past the rest to shine above them. For me so far I think Guildhall and Love Letter seems to be beating Plato 3000.</span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MORD IM AROSA</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: blue; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got my own copy after playing it previously and I was eager to break it out with the office and see how it went. We had more fun probably dropping the pieces in and trying to guess where they are than the actual revealing and guessing itself haha. Its interesting in that when we dropped, I could have sworn most of the cubes were stuck in floor 5 or 4 but when we revealed we were surprised there weren't many there. Its amazing how our ears can be deceived and this makes the game that much more challenging. Gameplay wise it is a very light game with the tower as the gimmick. Its good for new comers to get used to what we call boardgames and open their eyes but probably only scratches the very top of my itch for deduction games.</span></span><br />
<i style="background-color: red; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="color: white;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pet Peeves:</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The base where the tower sits on (or table) will probably be the easiest to guess because cubes dropping through the cardboard will not sound the same as the table the tower is resting on. That being said, it can still confuse others especially because your own cube needs to be sitting there else you will be penalised. The other Peeve I have is the way the tower is built. If you have an improper tower (i.e. some of the cardboard pieces aren't sitting nicely) then your tower maybe skewed. Anyway, these are just minor peeves to a light party-like game.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Definitely not a game for heavy or even medium weight gamers I feel but can only be a light filler with the tower as a gimmick. Its nice to assemble and look at and play it once or twice but in the long run it probably will wear off the freshness of the game. Still, a try before you buy.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">AOB</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 14px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">THANK YOU!</span></span>duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-70173089522627937722013-03-23T23:25:00.001-07:002013-03-24T01:48:10.718-07:00Bora Bora, Guildhall, Straw, Grand Cru, Nieuw Amsterdam, Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas, Riff Raff, Iota, Loopin LouieHighlight for me this week is Nieuw Amsterdam. Its a new game for me and pretty fun to play!<br />
Lets see what exciting games I have played this week :)<br />
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<b>Bora Bora</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Manage to bring this out again and with more plays, I am getting better at managing what I want and the objectives I can accomplish. For most of the games so far I will attempt to complete all 9 objectives but that kinda dictates what I will be doing as my entire game is to try to get the various requirements done to achieve my objectives. I also managed to buy 6 pieces of jewellery and quite high scoring ones to get quite a few points. I was attempting to get the max points for tattoo by activating all my men tiles at the same time but only managed to get halfway. I have been listening to Joel and Lance's podcast and they talked about bora bora as well and what Joel said is pretty true. If during the game you find yourself in the lead most of the time, it means that you maybe doing something wrong or not maximising what you can do during the game.<br />
So far I have not seen anyone manage to place all 12 huts onto the board OR fill up with 12 man/woman tiles. I think that is one of the more difficult ones to achieve for end game scoring. It seems the "filling of the 12 spaces" as well as building 6 of the tiles onto those 12 spaces are the best objectives to obtain since its possible to achieve both end game objectives at the same time, scoring you 12 points. Second easiest will be the jewellery but that is dependant on how the setup was like. Third will be the objectives and that is quite lucrative too because if you manage to complete 9 objectives you will at least have 4x9 = 36 points but you could have 6 x 9 = 54 points.<br />
<i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i> One kinda irritating thing I have found about this game is that setup is rather tedious. I will recommend having a bag each for the objectives, man and woman tiles. This will allow setup to be pretty fast as you don't need to sort them out. Another smaller peeve is that explaining how the game works can be quite lengthy because of all the different actions available as well as Phase B sections and the end game scoring. It will require multiple plays because most new players probably won't remember what the end game scorings are until halfway through the game which will not afford them enough time to switch plans halfway and switching goals halfway in the game can be quite detrimental. Jon pointed out the issue where the game seems to dictate what you can do because of the decreasing points in latter rounds for building and increasing points for the number of priests that you have. I can understand his point of view because I also box myself in by going after the objectives and thus determine what i need to and can do to get the points. Still I guess it makes it easier to let new players understand the game and get into it and give them a fighting chance against experienced players.<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> Still highly recommended from me.<br />
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<b>Guildhall</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> So after last week's playing 2 player I manage to play this with 3 and 4 and I must say 3 players is probably the sweet spot for this. It gives you an extra opponent to guard against and attack and doesn't extend the game play time for too long. Also gives an opportunity to guard against the leader. 4 may cause the game to take too long to finish. Surprisingly as you play the game, even though there maybe an early leader, usually every player will start to guard and disturb the leader such that the rest can catch up. This leads to very tense and exciting last few rounds as players try to win it themselves.<br />
<i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i> Unfortunately though, usually in the last round it is a forgone conclusion who will win and probably there is nothing else for the other players to do unless the luck of the draw allows someone else to catch up. Definitely recommends it with 3 or 4 but not so with 2.<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> Still a Try before you buy. Jon hates the art lol and will want to retheme it. Suggestions anyone?<br />
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<b>Straw</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Straw is a light filler card game very similar to Zeus on the Loose. In the game, players are playing cards which represent goods with a certain weight/number. If the sum of all the cards on the camel (first card in the centre of the table) exceeds 50, then that player has "broken the camel's back" and all other players will score the cards in their hand for points. However there is a special card that is the Straw which if you use it to break the camel's back (i.e when it comes to you and the sum is 50, you play that card), then only you will score points. Game lasts as many rounds as there are players and the player with the most total points will win the game. Its very similar to zeus on the loose in that you are playing cards with numbers and having a sum total that you are trying not to exceed (in this game) and trying to exceed (in Zeus on the loose). In Straw, there are only a few "special powers" like reserve play order and the magic carpets which provide negative points. For Zeus, there are god cards with special powers which adds more variety but can lengthen the game if all players are actively blocking well.<br />
When I played this initially, I was playing all my low weight cards so as to keep all the high weight cards but I quickly found that this was not very good as well because nearer the end when the weight is almost to 50, having a few of those low weight or negative cards will help to prevent you to be the player that breaks the camel's back!<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> This game is definitely better with more players (plays 2-6) and quite a nice filler. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Nieuw Amsterdam</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Saw the video review from Joel and wanted to give this a go. This is a medium weight euro game that is sort of area control and with a rather unique action-selection cum auction mechanism. In the game, players are trying to score as many points as they can and this is usually done in game by means of shipping fur or scoring for your buildings in the town area. There are quite few phases in the game but the first thing you do is auction or bid for actions. Now this is quite unique in that there are 5 slots available and at the start of a round, you will randomly place action chits onto the available slots. Some slots have space for 3 action chits, some have 2. Some slots also gives 2 coins if you win that slot. Starting with the first player, you will place your turn order chit on the slot that you are bidding for and declare a price. This is a once-only auction in that if your bid is the final bid so you will need to choose wisely. Once someone has won the auction (after each player has bid or passed once), that player then exchanges his turn order chit with the one that was placed in the slot (if he has any remaining) and the player that initiated the bid will get the turn order chit (if he/she wasn't the player that won the bid). Once all players have won 1 slot and obtained the action chits, the player will go through 3 phases which are denoted by the action chits.<br />
The first action is a city action and in player order, players will determine a special action and if they have the action chit for that city action, take one of 2 available city actions. The order sequence between special action or city action is determined by the player. City action allows you to either build 1-3 buildings into the town area or score for town areas where you have majority or drew with other players. You will still be able to perform a special action even if you do not have a city action chit.<br />
The second action is a land action where players can obtain land deed cards (That are not cleared in the beginning) or clear land deed cards they already possess provided the building slots of each land deed card is already filled with their buildings. By clearing, you will score points as well as obtain a number of wood pieces and get corn during the income phase. Again, players can take a special action.<br />
Third action is the fur action where players can use the action chit to either obtain fur with goods from the market or ship their fur and obtain points (determined by how many sets of the same fur they have), coins by fulfilling the requirements of the ship cards available. These ship cards also provide Goods during the income phase.<br />
Take note that the special action that you can play in each of the 3 action phases I just described are denoted by the various town spaces. If you have majority (more buildings than others) or drew with the others, you don't need to pay 1 coin when activating that town area's special action. Special actions include trading coins for wood or vice versa, building new warehouse to store goods etc etc.<br />
After the action phases, players will collect income for corn (if they have cleared land cards) and pay corn for each building they have in the town area. Penalty for not being able to feed will be removal of buildings as well as 2 points for each building removed.<br />
Players will also receive goods from any ship cards they have and finally income by counting the number of buildings they have in the town area and +1 for each area they have the majority. That will be the end of a round and at the end of 6 rounds, there will be a final scoring phase (where majority of the town areas will come into play as well as any remaining goods) and whoever has the most points will win the game.<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> As I mentioned, the auction phase is quite unique because the order in which the action chits are selected as well as bided for will determine what actions you can take during that round. Do you want to bid for the 3 action chits which allow you to perform all actions during the action rounds? Or do you want to perform a specific action twice? Do you want to win that action just to go first? In this game, going last has its advantages because during auction you can get action chits for 0 coins and at the same time you get the last action. For now at least after 1 play, I can see going first as not being all that lucrative. Interestingly, I went for the land card and majority in town area path and I did win the game but my closest competitor did not have a single building in the town area and opted to go for the fur trade instead and he wasn't too far off from my final score. So this does show that there are different paths to victory but since there are only 3 main areas of scoring, it doesn't have that much variety. Probably the most random thing in the game are what fur is available on the market as well as the action chits that will be available in the different slots. Quite a fun game for me and I will definitely want to play it again. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Grand Cru</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Another wine game? Yup and this plays, for me at least, better than Vinhos. In the game, players are trying to have the most money at the end of the game. Players however, do not start with any money and must take loans to get money right during setup. Play then goes in player order and each round will last at least 4 turns but can be extended either when all players have passed or 1 player has no more cubes (denoting wine) on their vineyard tiles. During the turn, players can choose from a variety of actions from bidding on tiles that are available in the market, selling already harvested wine (cubes), bumping up the prices for a particular color of wine to harvesting a wine etc etc. Once the first phase is over, then there will be a wine festival at the end of the round. Players will score prestige points depending if they are in the majority for wine of a color sold or if they few. Then in player order, players will be able to spend these prestige points (which are accumulative between each round) to obtain certain benefits for example, an extra sale action or obtaining money etc. Once all players have passed, then players need to pay interest for the loans they have and then decide to take more loans or payoff the loan. A new round will then begin. The game ends when at least 1 player has payed off ALL his loans or if a player is bankrupt and cannot take any loans. Then player sell off all their wines they have previously harvested, score points for the different types of wine/improvement tiles they have and then whoever has the most money will win the game.<br />
<i style="background-color: red;"><span style="color: white;">Pet Peeves:</span></i> This game has horrible iconography. There aren't that many in a game where there are quite a few rules and whatever is there isn't very helpful. We had to refer to the rulebook so many many times to understand what each tile does. Also, its so difficult to find the english version of the manual and even the geek only has a no-picture only user-created manual. Gameplay though its faster to learn and play as compared to Vinhos and not as brain burning.<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> I had fun and this game shows that short term gains will often always lose to long term gains which may or may not be a good thing. There are interesting development tiles which cannot be ignored and will allow actions such as being able to harvest 2 types of wine for the price of one. A good combination of action tiles will enable you to perform so many things that are often limited by the number of turns each round has. Not a bad game and I would say its a medium euro I will definitely want to try it again but for now it will be a Try before you Buy for me.<br />
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<b>Sator Arepo Tenet Opera Rotas</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> The game with a very difficult to pronounce name lol. Its a palingdrom btw and you can google up the meaning. In the game, there are 4 books of your color spread out all over the board. You are tasked to retrieve all 4 books and the first player to do so will be the winner. During your turn, you have 6 action points with which to play cards that will rotate or move tiles that represent footpaths on the board. Each player also has a set of special power cards that provide very powerful options for example, destroying footpaths or allowing your pawn to leap over open spaces. During your turn, you also have a free action which allows you to move your pawn 1 space or rotate or move a footpath 1 space for free. After you have played your cards, you will get to move your pawn a number of spaces depending on how many of the general card (not your personal more powerful cards) you have played and then you get to draw back up to 6 cards (either from the general deck and/or from your special power cards).<br />
I played it with 2 and even though I was leading in the beginning my opponent quickly drew level with me. With 2 players though it came down to choosing between blocking me or moving your pawn. He tried to block me a few times but in the end if he wanted to win he had to move on to grab the last book. I was very lucky with my card draws and the game was pretty much going my way most of the time. I think with 4 players it will be even more tense as if the opponents decide to gang up against the leader, the leader will have quite a hard time trying to win.<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> This game is just BEGGING to be rethemed in the style of Harry Potter! Components wise they are quite nicely done and the books are quite detailed. There is a set of initial placement cards which will help determine where the books are setup but that's all the function they serve for the entire game. That kinds seems redundant. Still this is quite a unique game and it will be a Try before you Buy for me.<br />
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<b>Riff Raff</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> I played this first with my usual Cult of the New gaming group and I decided to grab myself a copy to bring to the office to play. Now with my CotN group it was all quite relaxed and fun and I was goofing off since i really sucked at agility games. In office I was surprised that everyone was being all serious and positioning themselves to catch the falling items. I played again last night and an opponent even used a tactic where she purposely placed it such that items will fall and she can catch the falling pieces thus not being penalised too heavily! Trust people to try to find a way to game a party game hahaha....<br />
The components are very nice wood grade and well done. I also found out that depending on how you setup the ship and planks etc, you can adjust the difficulty of the game and thus replayability is very high on this. Its a pity it only plays up to 4. So far in the games I have played there isn't a case where there are more than 5 items on the boat at a time as pieces tend to fall off pretty easily. The cards add a nice level of strategy because you will need to decide when best to be placing at a certain space on the boat and if your opponents before you may have cleared the boat of items for you, making it easier for you to place your item.<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> Surprising depth for a party game. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Iota</b><br />
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<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> Played Iota again twice this week and boy what a thinky game it is. Again so far everyone who has played it really liked it and for such a small box it certainly packs a lot of game. Its incredibly hard though to catch the leader once someone has done a massive scoring and so this requires players to all be on their toes making sure they don't set up a 4-card play for another opponent. This maybe best with 2 as you won't need to worry too much about other player's stealing your slots but with 3 or 4 there is a lot of tension and a lot of tactical thinking because there is that much more chance that someone else would have played cards to screw up with your initial plans. <i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> Recommended!<br />
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<b>Loopin Louie</b><br />
<b><br /></b><i style="background-color: blue;"><span style="color: white;">Game Session and Thoughts:</span></i> I have heard so much about this game from various podcasts and I decided to grab myself a copy to see what it is. Also, since my niece and nephew are coming over next week I thought it will be a cool gift as well for them so that my brother and sister in law can play with their kids. This is essentially a kids game (think Hungry hungry hippos) where you are banging on a stick to flip Louie who is being rotated around the board with a motor (and batteries!) so as to prevent him from tipping one of your chicken discs. The player who is the last one with unflipped chicken discs will win the game. I find myself not being able to flip Louie very well but my colleague (I played this in office) mentioned that I needed to time my lever such that Louie is not bouncing on the arm and just above my lever. LOL....<br />
<i><span style="background-color: #38761d; color: white;">Conclusion:</span></i> Its a light party like game which can be combined with drinking (i.e. drink if Louie flipped one of your chickens) which will probably make it even more fun for the intoxicated hahahaa.... I sure hope my nephew and niece will enjoy it :P<br />
You can see a Vine video here<br />
<b>https://vines.s3.amazonaws.com/v/videos/4D3C706D-1C85-4850-B038-8524D41B5B38-24712-0000172EE7C3290D_1.0.6.mp4?versionId=36MRhuSmbFXnpmT4AQi4e_o3TWXpm5Jh</b><br />
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So all in all, a great week of gaming! Next few posts may not have so much gaming done mainly because my niece and nephew are here but knowing me, I will definitely try to find some way to have some boardgames in :P I still have many 2 player games that are waiting for me to try and I hope to at least get them played by April hahahaha.... *Cross Fingers*duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-11089227168326418122013-03-21T04:28:00.003-07:002013-03-21T04:28:30.004-07:00Interviews! Exciting news for Push Ur Luck Podcast. We are in contact with designers and publishers in Asia and we will be arranging for interviews for them on our Podcast in future episodes.<br />
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First up, we will be interviewing Seiji Kanai of Love Letter fame (recently repackaged and released by AEG) and Hisashi Hayashi, designer of TRAINS (released in Essen 2012 and will be released by AEG in 2013) !<br />
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We are very excited about this.<br />
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Should you have any questions you want to ask, please feel free to pop by our guild http://bgg.cc/guild/1513 and post your questions and we will see what we can do!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-90860842654252572013-03-16T23:12:00.002-07:002013-03-17T01:23:55.109-07:00Lightspeed, Dancing Dice, Witches' Brew, Terra Mystica, Tammany Hall, Iota, Tournay, Guildhall, Agricola All Creatures Big and SmallHad another great week playing games I have never played before! Highlight must have been Tammany Hall as its a new reprint and I have heard quite a bit about it. Here we go!<br />
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<b>Light Speed</b><br />
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A light filler this one and self printed from Artcow. In the game, players will simultaneously try to place their set of plane cards (1 card at a time drawn from their deck) onto the board which was initially seeded with asteroids. Players do this, taking into account the ship number (as it will determine the sequence of firing from in ascending order) as well as the placement of the ship card (because ships have shields and different angles of firing). Players also have to take note not to place cards onto other cards as these are disqualified. Once a single player has finished playing ALL his/her cards, he declares done and the placement round has ended. Now all players look at their ships in ascending order and determine whom they may have shot at and place their markers on the ships. If it exceeds the number of red buttons on that ships (indicating health points), then that ship is destroyed and the player with the most damage markers on that ship will claim that ship as points (the red buttons indicate points this time). If an asteroid was hit, then that ship actually harvested minerals and claims cubes from that asteroid (as long there are any cubes left on that asteriod). After resolving the level 10 ships, players see how many points they have gathered and the one with the most points is the winner.<br />
The concurrent placement of the cards seems rather messy to me. As you are trying to see the placement of your ships at the same time react to what other players are doing and keep track of how many cards you have left as you don't want to be caught with a lot of cards left to place. Also, if a player places their cards randomly and quickly, that can result in too quick a placement round and may result in negative points as well for the player. I wonder if you can game the system in that you place all your cards in a circle with all their lasers facing outwards (like a flower).<br />
This is a light and pretty fast game with a lot of tactical planning, using only cards and possibly a need for a length of string (to measure if the lasers have hit or not). But its not for me unfortunately.<br />
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<b>Dancing Dice</b><br />
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Now if you did not know, I met my wife through dancing and I was looking out for any dancing-related boardgames to play but so far haven't had much luck. When my friend brought out dancing dice I was immediately intrigued by it. The dice were so AWESOME as they showed the dance step feet on them to represent the traditional pips on a die. The game is a Yahtzee variant where you roll your dice (6 dice) and try to arrange them in the best way to score higher on the dance track. At the start, a player rolls a seperate set of 3 dice to determine the combinations required for a Tango. You have 2 rerolls and once all players have done, you show your "first moves" of 3 dice. Then you arrange accordingly with the other players and, in a 5 player game, the 3 players with the lowest scores (and not protected by a "Rock" feature, meaning both sets of 3 dice are identical) will decrease in stamina. Players next show their "second moves" and do the same. Players now gather back all their dice and play continues until only 1 player is left standing (the rest have dropped out due to 0 stamina).<br />
I love the dice and the colors used for the dice. They are also etched on and not stickered so that's cool. Gameplay wise, is ok as a party game I reckon. The unfortunate part of the game is that players are rolling behind the screen so you cannot really know for sure if there is any cheating involved other than having to trust the other players (who supposedly are your friends :P If you aren't playing with friends then good luck!) I guess you can play a variant where players will roll 1 at a time to show what they have rolled but that will possibly extend the game time to an hour or so. So its a light push your luck game but not for me.<br />
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<b>Witches' Brew</b><br />
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Witches' Brew, I have seen this game but never really played it before. In this game, players will have an identical set of role cards each. During each round, players will choose 5 cards from this set and once all players have chosen (secretly), the round will begin. Beginning with the start player, that player will choose a role and declare "I am the.....". Now in clockwise direction, players with the same role card out of their hand can decide to declare that "I am the...." OR choose "So be it....". Now choosing "I am the..." means you are now replacing the current player as the chosen role. If no one else contests you and all players have either passed, then you can get the benefits listed in "I am the...." section. If you have chosen the "So be it..." you will get your benefits immediately. Once all players have played their 5 cards, the round ends and players retrieve back all their cards and a new round begins. The game will end when 4 cards with crows have been "purchased" from the board. The player with the most points will win the game.<br />
In the first round of the game, we weren't really sure what we were doing as the various resources aren't very familiar to us. However I got it after playing the first round and play continued rather smoothly. Understanding what each role can do does take up some time but its quite intuitive during the game. This feels like another variation of Citadels with an interesting twist because not only must you be able guess what the other players maybe playing so that you can strategise, you must also be aware of the timing involved that will allow you to play the roles that you want. Often if you are the last player, then you can usurp the role. However that will also mean your next round (where you are now the starting player), you may not be able to play the role that you originally planned. I really liked this game. I loved Citadels and am looking forward to the new edition (which I think is only available in German now) and Witches' Brew has very similar mechanisms with a unique twist to the game. The art is very nicely done although the cauldrons could have been more distinctly drawn so that you know which role brews which potions. Still its quite a fun game. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Terra Mystica</b><br />
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Ah my precious.... its been too long since I last played you :P I was the Witches this time and while I had a close fight with the Fakirs I managed to gain the 18 points at the end game after I upgraded my shipping and placed a dwelling strategically. I was losing badly on the cult track though and only managed near the end to send a few priests in to gain a few more points. The game did take pretty long with 5 players (almost 4 hours +) but I think with experience we can probably knock it down to 2 + hours. I think pre-planning is quite important for players and pre-planning with a backup plan is important to cut down on the length of time required. Still its a game I very much love with all the things that you need to plan and think of. I am looking forward to the expansion which will add new races. I wonder though if there will be a war like race or battle rules are introduced. But that may kinda defeat the purpose of building so close to each other for the magic benefit. The initial board is kinda interesting in that we were mostly clustered together except for one of my dwellings in the centre (I had thought this was usually the place where most players will be) and another player's dwellings which were all the way to the other side of the board. My witches' powers were also put to much good use as they enabled me to populate all over the board to fight the Fakirs and other "round" benefits like placing dwelling for 2 points I have also gotten much benefit from. Good game, good game :)<br />
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<b>Tammany Hall</b><br />
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Have heard so much about this from Not Just Another Gaming podcast amongst other podcasts and I was eager to give this a go. I have also heard that this is a negotiation game and I was not particularly fond of them but since my friend had it I was definitely open to seeing how this game may or may not work for me. The game lasts for 4 terms, each with 4 years (or turns). During each year, you can do any and all of the following: use your role's power (roles are determined by the player who is mayor of each term and the first 4 years there aren' any) or place 2 of your meeples onto the map or place 1 of your meeple and 1 immigrant cube onto the map or discard a Slander disc and respective political chips to remove another player's meeple(s) from the map. Every election year (which occurs every 4 years), each district will be assessed. If it is contested, players in that district can decide in a secret bidding how many chips they want to add. Chips that correspond to the colors of the cubes in that district can be played. After the bidding is done, players add up the number of votes (meeples + chips) they have and the player with the majority wins that district. Draws will cause everyone to be removed from the board. Each district is resolved this way with those districts that are near the bay getting some benefits to the winners of those districts. Players get points for each district they have won and also for having the majorities in the 4 different nationalities on the boards (denoted by cubes). The mayor is determined by the player who has won the most districts and he will be the next start player and decide the roles for all other players. Play ends after the 4th term and the player with the most points will win the game.<br />
This game requires a lot of counting to make sound decisions. The element of negotiation is there but not a necessity as the winner has shown by being mostly quiet and subtle. It does require everyone to work against the leader otherwise there can be a very easy runaway leader problem. The board looks gorgeous and not overly cluttered though I do wish they have more symbols instead of words to represent the various actions and rewards available. Component wise, it is average. I am not too sure why they could not provide bigger meeples or more clearer distinction between the 2 top hat meeples (which are used to represent your color and role you have) and the rest of the meeples that are placed on the board. There are also a LOT of stickers used to denote the different nationalities and their political chips and that can be a pain to paste on. We also feel that this game is best played with 5 as all the roles are selected and there is quite a bit of tension and to and fro going on. Its quite a good game but may not be for me. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Iota</b><br />
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Iota was a box filler for me for my shipments from overseas and it comes in a really small box with very small cards (I cannot find sleeves for them! sob...) though it was slightly dented when it arrived. I had seen the video of the game and was intrigued by it so decided to pull the trigger. Initially I had thought this was a light filler and easy to play and finish the game. While it is by no means super heavy game and I think can be considered light, the thinking involved borders on the medium side and boy was it a good surprise for me. Each player has a hand of 4 cards and during their turn, they are trying to form a new line (one of the cards must connect to an existing card) or extend an existing line. No line can have more than 4 cards in that line. There is also a specific rule for a line: Are all colors the same or different and are all pips on the cards same or different and are all shapes on the cards same or different? If you answered No to any of these questions, then that line is invalid and cannot be placed. Once you have finished placing your cards, you add up the points on the pips of the line(s) you have created/extended. If you formed a lot (4 cards in a line), you get to double your points each time. If you managed to play all 4 cards from your hand during your turn, you also get to double your points. So if you play very carefully and wisely, you can potentially x 2 x 2 your points. An example in the rules showed how you can score 208 points in 1 turn! The game ends when all cards from the draw deck is exhausted and 1 player has played his/her last card. Whoever has the most points wins the game.<br />
Its quite a fun game and boy was it thinky. Most importantly you have to ensure you don't setup anyone along the way so that they will not capitalize and form lots from your play. Its a surprisingly fun game for me even though the best I ever managed in a single turn was 100 points. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Tournay</b><br />
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Tournay! Not really a successor of the popular Troyes but based on the same art and theme. I have been wanting to try this since it is similar to Troyes which I liked and quite highly rated. It is essentially a card game with a bit of "city" building aspect. There is a set of cards in the "market" where you can purchase from and also events (similar to Troyes) which will impact everyone. In addition, some of the cards in the Market are Prestige buildings which will provide scoring to everyone (similar to characters in troyes) if they are built. At the beginning of your turn, you can build a card into your district. Take note that your district can only accept 9 cards and is laid out in a 3x3 format. You can build over existing cards. During your turn there are 6 pple (these are similar to the dice in Troyes) where you can activate to either draw cards or use a building in your district or resolve an event card. Whenever a Town Crier card appears, all the events will trigger. The game ends when the number of town crier cards that have been revealed exceeds the number of players by 1 and at least 1 player has completed his 3x3 grid and has at least 2 prestige buildings. This does mean that the game can get a little bit too long but I will need to play again to be sure.<br />
This game is dripping in symbols but unlike Troyes where it is helpful, in this case, it is not. There are just way too many symbols to try to comprehend. The player aid is crammed full of symbols and their meanings and is quite helpful but when i say CRAM, i really mean CRAMMED. There are so many words in the player aid it might as well have been an appendix in the player manual. Not all the cards are explained though in the game manual so I recommend printing out the file found in BGG. I am OK only with the game but that is after only 1 play. I definitely do need to get more games in to have a better opinion on what I feel about the game. Art wise is identical to Troyes so it is rather unique and has that renaissance feel to it. For now its a Try before you buy.<br />
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<b>Guildhall</b><br />
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Another game that I have been eagerly waiting for and after hearing all the raves about it from various podcasts I was eager to give it a go. I had originally thought this game was similar to Plato3000 but after playing it I was mistaken. The 2 games have very little in similar other than a number of cards will allow you to activate the roles' powers. In the game, players will have 6 cards in their hand. During their turn, they may take 2 actions. Actions include, discarding any number of cards and drawing back up to 6 and playing a card from hand. You can take both actions to play cards from hand but both cards must not have the same role. When you play a card from hand, you look at those cards in your guildhall that were previously played and you can activate the action based on the number of cards. Some roles will allow you to draw new cards, others allow you to mess with your opponents' already collected cards. If you manage to collect a role with 5 different colors, then you can flip them over and count them as a completed collection (though you lose the powers). During your turn, you can, as an action, trade in completed collections for Victory Point cards that are in the centre of the table. Some VP cards give you an instant action others just give you points. The first player, at the end of his turn, reaches 20 VPs will win the game.<br />
Now I only played this with 2 but it kinda felt funky to me. Not sure what is it but its not clicking as I had hope it should be with me. Unlike Plato3000 which I instantly liked, this did not do it for me. It could be because with 2 players and I will like to play it with more but it felt a bit draggy. I believe that with more though that might be a Munchkin problem where everyone will gang up against the leader and thus drag the game on longer. Those cards which allow you to steal from your opponents and all will probably ensure that the leader doesn't get to form any more collections and thus makes it that much harder to finish the game. Still jury is out on this. Art is pretty nice though the box is way too big for this CARD game. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Agricola All Creates Big and Small Expansion</b><br />
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Finally.... after 2+ months of long waiting, my package from Starlitcitadels has arrived. OMG paying cheap for freight is really quite tedious. So far shipping from another german site takes at most about 1 month. The one I am currently using takes only about 2 weeks at most which is really cool and fast. I doubt I will order from Starlit again. Anyway the expansion now adds a LOT Of new buildings but only 4 will be seen per game you play which adds a lot of replayability to the game. The game however, still seems to be a very quiet solitaire where you are trying to build your farm up to the best that you can given what is left on the board. Indeed, the only interaction seems to be from the board where both players are placing their action tokens and performing the action and denying the other player. That's mostly it. I may need to play a few more games of this to see if there can be any increase in the interaction. Le Havre 2 player though has a LOT of interaction mostly because you can use other player's buildings and take advantage of it and screw your opponent in the process. Still having all the animal-eeples on the board makes for a very visually exciting game and I would still recommend this game especially if you want agricola light. Recommended however between Le Havre 2 p and this, I will prefer Le Havre the Inland port.duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-58945820811511682302013-03-09T19:35:00.001-08:002013-03-09T22:51:47.374-08:00Il Vecchio, The Gnomes of Zavandor, Tokaido, Bora Bora, Yedo, Mutant Meeples, Bookmaker, Great week of gaming especially since I got to play a few hotnesses from Essen and 2013. Lets take a look:<br />
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<b>Il Vecchio</b><br />
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I have heard about this game but the board and gameplay did not immediately grab me so I was interested to give it a go before I pulled the trigger. The game is quite easy to teach and learn and to play but it does have strategies and would border on the light-medium difficulty. During your turn, you can choose to activate your family member (to get resources basically), go into a city's track (to score points and get benefits), to roll dice and place new family member (spawn new workers) or recover your family members and get 1 florin (stand up your workers). That is the gist of the game! Quite easy to learn huh? The game has quite a lot of symbols thus making learning the game quite easy and the player aid is very helpful as they include details of each action and the end game scorings. Theme wise though its non existent but it doesn't make it any less enjoyable. The unique part of this game is the middleman feature. At each location, if you want to activate your family member there and a middleman token is there as well, you can put your family member at rest and get the resource and move the middleman to the next town location (middleman follow a set path around the board). Alternatively, you can spend a bishop token to get the resource without having a middleman and/or abstain from resting your family member. During the game, you are constantly thinking when is the opportune time to grab a resource and if it will cause the middleman to move to another town which will benefit your opponent. You are also wondering when to go into the various city tracks as they will give you benefits (1 time benefits like resources etc), give you end game scoring and if you have majority, provide you more points as well at the end. There are some quirky parts in the game. For example, the board is 2-sided but the only difference is the color tones used. I wish they could have just given a different board so you have 2 sides to choose from to play. Adds to the replayability.<br />
What surprised me was how simple the game is to learn, teach and play. In the games I have played so far, most players will often just go about getting resources and placing their family members in the outer tracks and then, mid way through the game, aim for the center tracks as these give tiles that provide a constant benefit or end game scoring tiles. In most other types of games, players usually have a end game objective(s) and thus know how to go about playing the game to score. This game allows you to just play the game or try to get the end game objective cards and then play the game. Interesting decisions to be made and quite fun. Recommended!<br />
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<b>The Gnomes of Zavandor</b><br />
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In this game, players are trying to get resources in the form of 4 types of gems either from actual digging and obtaining them from the mines OR manipulation of the market and then converting these gems into actual inventions / products to score points. Once a player has scored 16 points, that will trigger the game end and whoever has the most points will win the game. When we started this game, we were very puzzled because the way the market moved is quite unusual and something we have not encountered before. During the game round, whenever you purchase or sell gems, no matter the amount, it will only move up or down by 1 slot respectively. Thus the number of times the buy/sell action is triggered will determine how many spaces it moves up and down. In addition, whenever a player builds something and pays gems, the market prices for that gem will move up by that many spaces (i.e pay 4 blue gems, price for blue will increase by 4!). Prices will only drop when players get gems due to the tokens they have collected when they dug in the mines. So the more gems that are being extracted to the players, the faster the prices will drop.<br />
The trader ability is very powerful as it allows you to frequently convert gems to a color that you want. Initially, it was pretty confusing what was happening as this is looked like it was a mining game but we quickly realised its a stock market game instead. Once I got into the groove of things, I was busy building up an engine to get money and gems but I took too long and once my opponent started to make products which netted him points, it was hard to come back from. Apparently the products are also stacked such that the earlier you can make the products, the higher points you will net. Interesting choice of using cards as gems instead of having actual gem tokens because all knowledge (except money) is open knowledge. Might have increased the enjoyment factor if they used gem tokens instead.<br />
Intriguing game but I doubt I will want to play it again though. Besides, where else can you find a game where the start player is SO BIG that it kinda dwarfs the game board? lol.....<br />
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<b>Tokaido</b><br />
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When I first heard about this game, I was very intrigued as the art is very nice and the overall presentation of the board is fantastic. When I heard about the demo at GENCON 2012, I immediately searched for it in the big hall. However when I finally saw the copy, I was kinda disappointed. The quality of the components felt like a let down for me. I was still debating on whether to get myself a copy when I read the reviews and there were some issues here and there. Thus I was quite excited to be able to try it when my friend purchased a copy.<br />
The game itself is very simple and straight forward. During your turn, you choose where to venture to (but must stop at each rest stop along the way). There are a few ways to score points and these are denoted by locations along the trail. You can visit a store to buy gifts, visit a location to see vistas (3 different types), visit the temple and offer donations, take a bath and have an encounter with a stranger. The player who is furthest behind on the trail will play his turn. When all players have arrived at a stop though (and ate something there), then the player who is last in will move off first.<br />
Game ends when all players have reached the final stop. Then players will see who has majority in each of the sections mentioned above and the player with the most points will win the game.<br />
I would say this is a light game and because of the character cards available, that will add a bit more tactical element to the game. The characters often favor 1 type of action (for example, the character I had gave me extra coin from the bank when I perform the temple action) and help you to strategise on what to do. Its not a bad game but I do wish the components felt higher quality than what they currently have. Its like an exercise in graphical design which did very well but execution could have been better. Oh and the bits used to represent your points are SO TINY that it could be a child hazard. OK for me.<br />
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<b>Bora Bora</b><br />
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Ah.... first of Stefan Feld's 4 releases in 2013. Very highly anticipated and we managed to get our copies! I do love shopping online :) So what is the game like? Well to me it felt like Kingsburg due to the dice placement mechanism which is the main feature as these will provide you the actions during the game. The rest though felt very much like Trajan in that there are SO MANY things you want to do and can get distracted along the way but you only have limited actions to perform per round. The game is in 3 phases. First players will roll their dice concurrently and then, in player order, place 1 of their die on any of the action cards available. The only condition is your die must be lower than any existing die on that card. Then you perform the action. Play continues until all players have placed their die. Then Phase B begins and all players, in player order, activate 1 Man and 1 Woman tile on their player board. After that, Phase C begins and we resolve 4 sections of the board to score points, determine new starting player, buy jewellery tiles and complete objectives. The game lasts 6 rounds and after that, perform end game objectives and scoring and whoever has the most points will win the game.<br />
The game itself has a lot of moving components. It s probably hard to grasp everything at once if you are playing this for the first time. Kinda like Stefan's other game, Trajan. There are really a lot of things to do and the 6 basic actions you can do can be utilized such that you activate sub actions. There are also god cards which "break" the rules of the game thus you have even more actions. It also doesn't help that the player board is very busy because all the symbols required for the game are crammed into the board which makes it kinda overwhelming but only at first. Surprisingly, after your first round, you will kinda get the hang of things and should be able to continue the game very smoothly which is a testament to the design of the game and the symbols used. And because what other players do can affect you greatly, there will be a lot of screwage involved in this game. It has just enough of that tactical decision and strategy that makes me glad I got my own copy of the game.<br />
End game scoring wise, for a first game, most players can get around 150+ points which, if you are used to Stefan's games, seems to be the norm. All in all, this is an excellent game and I definitely recommend it! Makes me eager to see the other 3 games Stefan has lined up for 2013!<br />
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<b>Yedo</b><br />
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I was hesitant to pull the trigger on this one but since I needed some package stuffer (to make up for the delivery charges), I decided to grab a copy. Yedo feels like Lords of Waterdeep but advanced. At the start of each round, there will first be an auction. You can get action cards which can be played during the game to affect players, grab end game objective cards that will score points at the end, get a weapon tile (used for completing missions), build a annex in your estate (which gives you certain benefits), pay for a new worker, buy a geisha (for completing missions) and get a mission card (from 4 different difficulties). After that is done, an event card will be turned over and the market for weapons is replenished. Then players will now, in player order, place a worker in one of the 7 areas available provided there are also free spaces for that area. After which, the watchman will move a space, depending on its color clockwise or counter clockwise and players will have a chance to influence the watchman to move extra spaces. All workers that are in the same area as the watchman after it has stopped will be placed back into reserve unless they have cards which will prevent this from happening. Then players will, in turn order, activate one of their workers to perform the action. During this phase, you can use the worker to complete a mission OR get the benefit of that area. Then a round is done. Phew, are you still with me? Ok good.... then you need to repeat this for ELEVEN times (yes its a 11 round game) unless someone managed to complete a hardest difficulty mission which kills the King and ends the game earlier.<br />
As mentioned, you are effectively trying to gather resources from various locations and completing as much mission cards as you can. Mission cards have a standard reward and a bonus reward and usually provide you more money and/or resources and cards. However, unlike Lords of Waterdeep, you don't have an end game objective which will help shape the strategies that you are employing. Unless you have obtained an end game card, you are pretty much just trying to complete missions during your turn and hope they score you points and provide you resources to complete even more missions. Which leds me to whats good and whats bad about this game.<br />
The game board is quite pretty and nice to look at but rather busy. The symbols used are also quite straight forward and easy to read and see. Components wise is pretty ok but the cardboard bits used for the weapons and geisha etc are thin. The mission cards are a rather odd (like tarot size) shape and hard to find sleeves for. Art wise is pretty nice and the mission cards have fluff which makes sense when you look at what is required to complete your mission so that's a nice touch. The game I feel, lasts way too long. ELEVEN rounds of performing the same things which is basically to complete objectives seems way too long, It might have been better if it is only half as long. The action and end game objective cards are also not particularly helpful. We did not really use many of them during the game. So while this seems like Lords of Waterdeep, I feel that Lords of Waterdeep seems to have executed it better. Besides, Lords of Waterdeep will be having an expansion out soon so I would prefer to wait for it. Still this is a try before you buy.<br />
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<b>Mutant Meeples</b><br />
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I have heard of this game from Garrett's games and geekiness podcast and was intrigued by it. I had liked roborally and I had thought this was similar. Boy was I wrong. In this game, players are trying to see how many steps they can propose to try to get 1 Mutant Meeple to the crime scene. At the start, a player will draw 2 discs which will denote where the crime will occur. Then all players will try to propose a suitable plan of using up to 3 Mutant Meeples to try to land one of them onto the crime scene. The first player to propose will then flip a timer over and the rest of the players have another 30 seconds to propose as well. Once the timer is up, the player who has proposed the smallest number of steps required (in total) will show how it can be achieved. If it can, then the Mutant Meeple that has landed on the Crime Scene will be flipped to the tick side on the player's board. The first player who has 6 ticked Mutant Meeples will win the game.<br />
The interesting portion of the game is that each of the meeples have a special power. For example, one of them can side step, another can go through walls. Make no mistake though, while this is a puzzle game, it can be very brain burning. There is also not much interaction as most of the time players are just staring at the board trying to figure out the moves in their heads. Half the players that were with us did not really get it at the beginning and only realised whats happening near the middle of the game. I am still mixed about this game because while I like the puzzle aspect of the game, there seems to be a large lack of interaction amongst the players which I do not like. I will need to play this a few more times to have a better grasp of the game. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Bookmaker</b><br />
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After Long Shot, I have been always looking out for another horse racing game that will take its place. I decided to give this a go. After reading the rules though, I was apprehensive about how this game will be like as there seems to be some odd rule bits that I was unclear of. It does not help that on BGG there is not much activity for the game. So have I bought a lemon? Hmmm...<br />
Since we had 6 players yesterday, I decided to bring this out and see how it works. We did not play with the rule where you can change bets because it seems to break the flow. Since players are betting concurrently with the bookmakers, it seems odd that the bookmaker can stop everything and change the bets and continue again thus the break in flow to me. There are horse cards in the game, 4 of which will be placed in the open and all players will receive 4 cards as well. Then the bookmakers (there are always 2 per round) will exchange 2 cards between themselves. Thus in this way, bookmakers will have a view of 10 cards each. Now they will write down the odds and players will then place bets with the bookmakers they want (btw the game comes with paper money instead of the chips as seen). Once all players have placed at least 1 bet (bookmakers may bet with each other but are not required to), the race will begin!<br />
The rest of the horse cards will now be in play. Draw and reveal a horse card one at a time. The horse shown on the horse card will move a step in the race each time it is revealed. The first horse that passes the finishing line will win. Bookmakers will now pay out for the winning horse. Then the 2 players to the left will now be the new bookmakers and play continues until at least each player had a chance to be a bookmaker.<br />
This is a party game. Pretty much depends on the group and how fun it will be. We had a friend who drummed up the excitement as he revealed each horse card so that was certainly helpful. But as party game goes, I am not too sure about this. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>GENCON 2013!</b><br />
YEAH! I have received confirmation of my Press Pass for GENCON 2013! Which means I will be able to start to plan on what I want to do at GENCON. Definitely I will try to meetup with Tom and Eric from the Dicetower. At the same time, I want to meet with friends I have made like Joel and Stephen and play some games with them. With regards to podcasting or reporting, I will plan to do the same as last year where I twittered my pictures in real time and I hoped that was helpful to others. I will see if its possible for me to record my impressions at the end of each day and upload for distribution. I hope to also have a few interviews and perhaps try for some mass podcast episodes with the other podcasters. So it will either be me updating this blog or have a verbal podcast update every night. Its ambitious I know but lets see what can be done!<br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138; font-size: large;">STAY TUNED! :)</span></b></div>
duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-36404053652639376272013-03-04T09:01:00.003-08:002013-03-04T09:01:50.456-08:00Game Session: Get Bit, Bora Bora, Ground Floor, Railways of the World Card Game, Tanto Cuore, CO2, Village, Kaigan, Aladdin's Dragons<br />
I have decided that for games which I have talked about before in previous posts, I will not elaborate too much on them unless there is something new to talk about them. With that, I played several "new" games, both in terms of to me and to the gaming industry. Lets get on with this!<br />
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<b>Get Bit</b><br />
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Ah its been a long time since i brought out my copy of Get Bit and I decided to bring my lighter fare to office to play with my colleagues given the relaxed mood we want plus the short time we can play during lunch. Get Bit involves players playing cards so that they can get to move forward in the "queue". Whoever is the player closest to the shark will get bitten and loses a component / limb of their body. At the end when there are only 2 people left, the player who is furthest in front will win the game. The only and most important strategy is trying to out guess your opponents so as to ensure you won't be caught at the back with the shark. Its a light and quick game with cool bits (lego-like figures where you can pull limbs off and mix and mash and the shark) and an interesting theme. Good for a party!<br />
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<b>Bora Bora</b><br />
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Stephen Feld's first of FOUR releases in 2013! I am glad our group managed to grab a hold of this copy and play it before I decide to pull the trigger on this. Final verdict? Yes I pulled the trigger and I cannot wait to try this with my other groups and see how it goes. First impressions upon opening the box is the amount of setup required. That and also the super busy player board. I mean its really jam packed with symbols galore and it was overwhelming at the beginning. Luckily though, after the first round or so, we got into the grove and the player board is actually helpful and good. But there are really quite a lot of bits and cards to setup for the game. Interestingly though, as you play through the game and pieces are put back into the box, you can start to keep these pieces and thus tear down is relatively less time consuming.<br />
Lets talk about the gameplay itself. During the start of each round (6 rounds in total), players will roll their 3 dice concurrently. Then beginning with the start player, they will choose 1 die and place it on one of 7 areas available to perform an action. The only condition is the die placed must be smaller than any previously placed die on the same area. There are god cards that you can play to overcome this criteria. Then you will perform that action. Actions include building a new hut in an adjacent land, buying a Male or Female tile which gives you certain benefits when activated or tattooed/sea shelled, choose to tattoo a Male tile or sea shell a female tile (basically these tiles provide a 1 time benefit when tattooed/sea shelled) and many others. Once all players have placed all 3 die, then you move to phase 2 where you can activate one Male and one Female tile to gain the benefits they provide. Then you go to phase 3 where you will resolve the other areas of the board one by one. This will score you more points, award the first player, award a god tile, allow you to purchase jewellery (which gives points at the end of the game) as well as complete 1 objective and pick a new objective. All tiles not purchased are removed and a new round begins. The game will end after 6 rounds and there is 1 more final scoring and whoever has the most points will win the game.<br />
It is certainly a very deep game with many paths to victory. In a way, you can think of this as Kingsburg advanced (due to the die placing mechanism). There are really a lot of end game scoring available and thus, like many games of this nature, you should start off with 2 or 3 objectives and then focus on them throughout the game. You will probably not fare well if you change objectives in the middle of the game. There is plenty to do and score points with and you cannot neglect any areas especially those that will provide end game scoring as there will be a lot of points to be scored at the end. The game also provides you plenty of opportunity to sabotage each other as you can place die to block opponents as well as purchase the jewellery pieces that he needed to complete an objective or take the objective he wanted away from him.<br />
All in all, its quite a good game but I will definitely want to play more to see if there are any areas of the games that are skewed to win and thus making it mandatory to expand on that to win. Good components for an Alea game and quite well thought out game from Stephen. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Felix the cat in the sack</b><br />
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Light Auction game next where each player gets a set of same cards (all cats including 2 negative point cats and 2 dogs). In a round, all players will simultaneously select a card and then, in player order, place them from left to right. Then starting with the start player, he will place a bid. This bid is to win all the cards for that turn. The first player to pass will receive 2 coins. 2nd player will receive coints and 3rd will receive 6. The winner will take all the cards (be it good or bad). The dogs help to chase away negative cats or highest positive one but will cancel each other out if both are played. The winner is the one with the most points from the cards as well as most remaining money left. Light and pretty good with oversized cards. I am not really good with auction games though as I have a problem gauging the value of a card and may often overbid. Still the group had fun as we commented on the funny artwork of the cats. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Ground Floor</b><br />
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One of the kickstarter games that gotten a lot of hype for its components but also some people have complained quite a bit about the game for its duration and dragginess. In essence its a worker placement game where you will get more and more workers nearer to the end of the game and thus have more and more actions to take and choose from and thus surprisingly, the game can get longer. During the game we are all contractors or real estate development companies and we are trying to build our tower as high as we can so as to score a lot of points and win the game. The main currencies of the game are Information and Money but there are only about 2 or 3 options to obtain either during the game. once all players have placed their "job scheduling chips", the game will go into resolution for each job. That is the end of the round and the game will end when a player has built at least 5 stories in his tower. The game does take quite a bit of time to get thru and can get really tedious at times. The publicity track did not appeall to me to invest in as it will, at most, allow you to employ new workers first as well as decide first where to place your workers. To me, it is an OK game I guess but I don't think I will want to play it again. It just did not click with me. Components are really nice, thick boards and thick chits with a nice modern-like artwork to boot.Pity though as I really wanted to like this game. I have yet to try Skyline, the kickstarter bonus that came with the game. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Railways of the World Card Game</b><br />
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I have been wanting to try this game for some time now as I really liked the base game however never managed to justify the cost. There was a recent warehouse sale and it was going for really cheap but I did not go down on the first day and it was snapped up quick. Managed to play that snapped up copy though so its cool. Its a relatively straight forward pick up and deliver game where you have cards that you use to lay tracks to stations and then you can choose to deliver goods. Everything that you do will score you points and the player with the most points at the end will win the game. There is an end game scoring as well based on the combination of goods you have collected as well as if your tracks are of a bigger value to a station and thus you will score points for that station as well. I tried going by the goods method while my opponent went by the laying tracks and station method and she trashed me horribly. It was not a bad game and I had fun but I will probably not play this again. A few more gripes about the game. It can get really messy. Because the cards you are laying are rather free form and there is no board, you can end up needing a lot of space to play the game and having to shift cards slightly to the left or right to accomodate for new tracks and stations. The cards aren't really of a normal size so sleeving maybe a problem.Since most scores are usually around the 150 points region, the scoring track is woefully inadequate and not large enough. The scoring bits should have been made smaller to facilitate multiple players' scoring bits on the score track. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Tanto Cuore</b><br />
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Another game that has peaked my interest and I have wanted to try. This is a dominion-clone with 1 different mechanism and a cuter and anime-like theme. Components wise, the game is very pretty. Pink cards, nice art, anime-looking maids (some in compromising positions, be warned!) and they even provided very nice card seperators and it all fits nicely (even sleeved) into one of those boxes that you can use to store Magic the Gathering cards. During the game, players are trying to hire maids which will provide them with benefits when "serving" as well as victory points at the end of the game. Similar to Dominion, you will have 1 "serving" where you can play a Maid card to get benefits, you will have 1 hire where you can use "Love" which is the currency, to get new Maids from the town. The main difference is that you can "chamber" your maid (play the maid card into your private chambers) so as to declutter your deck. In addition, there are private maids which you can hire and they go straight to your chamber and provide you with a benefit every turn. Another smaller difference from Dominion is you can purchase bad effects to be placed into another player's private chambers. This may cause a maid to fall ill (thus preventing that maid from providing victory points or benefits) or give you negative points if not removed. The game will end when 2 maid stacks are empty in town.<br />
This game requires a good sense of humor and the right crowd to be able to pull it off. If you role play and make suggestive tones or just simply read off the phases or your actions during the game and if the group does not get offended, then this game can be quite fun. We were amused by all the suggestive tones being made by the phases and our actions but found the game could drag on as its not that simple to just clear 2 stacks to end the game. Near the end, I got bored of repeating myself and the fun factor nosedived until we just wanted the game to end. It could be because we weren't playing properly as we just thought like we were playing dominion when we can do a lot of sabotaging on each other but we did not. I will definitely want to play this a few more times and see how it goes. I wonder if my office crowd will be amused as I am at the game :) Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>CO2</b><br />
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Tried another 5 player game (yes I am asking to be punished lol) and this time the ending was quite surprising to me. Near the end of 3rd Decade we realised to our horror that the earth wasn't going to make it. The last 2 turns we negotiated with each other on how to safe the earth so that we can continue playing but a bad draw of 40-points for the last dirty power plant brought us to 500 and we lost. It was surprising to me because this is the first time the game won and we all lost. I love how my pimped out CEPs looked on the game. I also realised I played 1 rule wrongly (dang it, this rule book needs to be improved!) in that when we build a power plant, we must have at least the tech level on that particular tech tree as that many tech cubes on the power plant. This will probably cause a lot of the previous games to be tainted as well. I wonder, given the multitude of rules clarifications, if the designer realises there's something wrong with how the rules were arranged/designed and if there will be improvements in the future. Still I do enjoy the game and hope to finally play it all the way through correctly for once. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Village</b><br />
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Another game of village as we helped to punch out a new sealed set and taught the owner how to play. This time however it dragged on really long as no one really wanted to finish the game. However, due to this, I found myself being able to complete the touring portion even though I started at the middle of the game and also move myself up a lot on other tracks. As usual, I forgo the market track and I won by 3 points in the end over the player that focused a lot on the market track. Its pretty interesting how, by dragging the game on, I had so much opportunity to start my travelling and went to 5 places to get quite good scoring. If you haven't gotten this game, go grab it. Expansion is coming out too and can play up to 5. Recommended!<br />
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<b>Kaigan</b><br />
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Finally played Jon's hidden gem as mentioned in our podcast. Art wise, as mentioned by jon, it looks horrible. The choice of components as well is quite surprisingly. There are 2 main boards and the boards used to represent the map of Japan is made of paper. PAPER! OMG. Still gameplay wise its like Zooloretto / Coloretto on steriods. The subtle way in which you are placing your cards as well as the order in which the cards have been placed in a row and when you choose to claim a row is intriguing. Then there is another way of scoring depending on how many cubes you have placed on the map board. i think it is quite interwoven the various mechanics but during the game I wasn't really into it so much. I guess it could be because I have had several games before Kaigan and the gaudy art was not helping my involvement of the game. Still I can see the appeal of the game and I would say try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Aladdin's Dragons</b><br />
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A game I have never played before and this looks really old. To my surprise, its rated within the top 500 on BGG and designed by Richard Breese and published in 2000. This game is all about bluffing and reading your opponents to win artefacts. The game will end when all artefacts have been taken and the player who has the most artefacts at the end of the game wins. During each player's turn, they will place a chit from behind their screen into one of several areas available on the board. They will place the chit face down. Each player has identical set of chits numbering from 1 to 9. After all players have placed the chits, the areas will resolve 1 by 1. The player with the highest sum total from the chits he has placed there will usually win the rewards/action of that area. Later on in the game, players have access to artefacts that can add +3 to their total OR double the value of a chit which can make the game interesting. There are spells as well which can turn a 9-point chit to a 1-point chit. There is a guard at the palace as well which you have to beat to be able to have the option to purchase artefacts. However the game can be quite prone to analysis paralysis as players can spend quite a good deal of time mulling over what to play and where to play it. For a game that is almost 13 years old, it is quite nicely designed and fun. If it ended a little earlier though might have been much better. Try before you buy!<br />
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<b>Zombicide Season 2 kickstarter</b><br />
If you aren't aware, there was a little game called Zombicide (ok not so little) that was released from Kickstarter with much fanfare and a LOT Of miniatures. It is a co-op game where players control characters and try to survive or win in a number of scenarios as provided in the game. Recently, Cool Mini or Not (creators of Zombicide) have released Season 2 on kickstarter! It is a standalone game by itself and in the kickstarter they are also releasing Toxic City which is an expansion that is compatible with either Season 1 or Season 2. News is that within the first 2 minutes the project has been funded (their target was usd25k) and now, with 25 days to go, they are almost reaching usd600k! I have decided to back this (my first kickstarter backing!) and I can understand now why it is so addicting. To keep refreshing the page and seeing the number jump and seeing all those stretch goals being unlocked makes me all excitable but also makes the waiting that much more tedious. Still if you are interested in the game, do check it out and go back it! With the amount of goodies they throw into the game it is definitely worth while :)<br />
Check it out <a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coolminiornot/zombicide-season-2">here</a>!<br />
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duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-40914811445969798632013-03-03T08:30:00.002-08:002013-03-03T08:30:39.988-08:00P.U.L.P. Episode 4 is live!In this episode we talk about our latest gaming session that we had in Feb and the highlights and our thoughts.<br />
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You can directly download it here<br />
<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+4.m4a" style="background-color: white; color: #004b91; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Roboto, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; text-decoration: none;" title="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+4.m4a">https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+4.m4a</a><br />
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Once again, suggestions and comments are always welcome!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-35496448816239661042013-02-26T05:42:00.000-08:002013-02-26T05:42:07.510-08:00Week ending 24th Feb 2013: Hoplomachus The Lost Cities, Innovation Figures in the Sand, Taluva, Formula Motor Racing, CO2, Snowdonia, Morels, Heartland, Homesteaders, Express 01, Love Letter, Le Havre The Inland Port, Phantom, Blood Bowl Team manager, Village, Siberia The Card Game, Coup<br />
Quite a few new games and the highlight was FINALLY being able to play CO2 again with 5 are the highlights of this session. Lets take a look!<br />
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<b>Hoplomachus The Lost Cities</b><br />
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A Kickstarter game that was backed by my friend who brought it over to give it a go before deciding on the standalone expansion that is currently on Kickstarter now. This is a quick gladiatorial type of combat game where 2 players pit their heroes and armies in a bid to kill the opposing hero and win the game. This game can also be played as a solo game against various arena animals/creatures. The main focus of the game are chips which are used to indicate your unit as well as health. During your turn, you will draw from a bag containing chips of your army as well as tactics which are like spells. Then you will choose from 4 available chips to execute. It can be either a unit, in which case you "summon" the unit, place it on 1 of 6 summon points and stack a number of red chips underneath the army unit to indicate its health. It can also be a tactic chip in which case the effects of the spell is executed. This game is all about battling and gaining enough Crowd Favour points will allow your Hero to unfreeze and start to move on its own and fight as well. Turn passes from player to player until 1 player manages to kill the opponent's Hero and wins the game. It is a fast pace easy to learn game. You move close enough so that you can start to whack at someone. Combat is dependant on the dice you can roll and how many hits you have rolled. Each hit will deal 1 damage to the enemy. I won with the opponent's Hero barely even out of the gate because my unit was fast moving. The game comes with 3 different groups but replayability maybe limited because the base set of units are the same. There are some unique units to each group though and they do showcase the power and strategy that is unique to the group. Production quality is quite good as the game mat is similar to those used in the landscape map of Wings of War. Nice thick mousepad like material. Average game for me but I won't say no to playing it again.<br />
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<b>Innovation Figures in the Sand</b><br />
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I have loved the base game as well as the expansion but having never been able to bring it out very often, I had to let go my copies. Innovation is quite an intriguing game to me with all the splaying and the icons and now there's an online version which seems to make the game flow much more smoothly. My friend had bought the latest expansion and thus we gave it a go. Figures essentially adds well, famous figures to the game as well as new features to the game. I won't go too much into details but the game now takes longer with all expansions added in as each player needs to have 8 achievements to win. We did not really get to use a lot of the Figures expansion features as we drew more of the previous expansion than figures. Its still quite a challenging game deciding what to go for and what to meld and I realised having a good draw of hand is quite important to progress forward and win. I am still abit meh about the game but i won't reject to another game just to make sure that is how I feel. Components wise, card art and stock are just the same as the base art. If you prefer a nicer art, do take a look at the IELLO version.<br />
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<b>Taluva</b><br />
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Played 3 games of this and my friend Jon mentioned about the imbalanced for the first player because he/she will have an advantage in this game. Also, since this plays quite like Chess, if other players are not diligent in blocking others, they could easily allow that opponent pull ahead. I did enjoy my games though as it forces me to think and see where I can block and still score. Perhaps this might make a better 2 player game but I have yet to try with just 2. Components are nice and the final picture looks really good with the different levels and all the nice wooden buildings. I still feel this is a good game.<br />
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<b>Formula Motor Racing</b><br />
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A card game about F1 racing by GMT? Really? This has gotta be some form of joke ya? Well lo and behold, my friend had this game in his collection and we brought it out to play. It reminds me a lot of Tiki Topple. During your turn, you will play a card with which to manipulate the current standing of the race cars which are setup in 1 straight line. When the game ends, you will total up the points where your cars are positioned and whoever has the most points will win the game. So its a fast filler that is quite dependant on the cards you draw and how you play them. I think it will benefit more if, like Tiki Topple, the colors that you are aiming for are secret at the beginning. This will not make it so easy for other players to guess what colors you are and target you specifically. <br />
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<b>CO2</b><br />
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Finally managed to play a 5 player game with ALL the right rules. It certainly took quite a bit of time and can be frustrating at times. Some of the issues Jon mentioned in his rant on BGG I definitely faced for example goals that do not seem fair when faced with so many players (i.e. the UN Goal objective). While you are faced with at most 12 moves in the entire game, these 12 moves will take quite a bit of time for them to finish. Having only 12 moves also severely limits what you can do in the game. Also the tech tree's powers are even more evident in a 5 player game as the player who won was maxed out in several of the tech trees AND had the leader in tech objective card. The action cards in your hands are also more important because they can give you that much needed white cube to rush in and built that power plant before another player can. So while I still love the game, I won't play it with 5. At most 4 will do for me. Time to try the Solo game and see how it fares. Still loving it and I managed to get a set of skull-like stickers to stick on my CEPs. A little pimpin' :)<br />
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<b>Snowdonia</b><br />
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Played Snowdonia Variant where players can choose which side they want to begin from and plays up to 4. I think this variant does not create as much competition because it is dependant on which side the players choose. 1 player could very well be all by himself at 1 side without much competition. So I think if I were to play Snowdonia again I will play it in its original version. Its an ok game for me and nothing fantastic as far as I can see.<br />
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<b>Morels</b><br />
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Been wanting to bring this simple set collection game out for a go again as it has been some time since I played this. Its still quite a nice game but I am wondering about its replayability. There are already quite a lot of set collection type games in the market and I have quite a few of them so I am not sure, but perhaps I need a few more plays to determine its final value in my collection. One thing i realise i am disliking is how card games require you to refill the market or the central path where all the cards are by pushing the cards down and refilling from the end of the line. This is amazing tedious especially in this game where its a constant refill every turn. Luckily I sleeve my cards thus they won't wear down so fast but its a hassle to keep pushing cards down the line. I wish designers can stop this "mechanism".<br />
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Heartland<br />
A game that I manage to snag at a recent FLGS warehouse sale (first of its kind in Singapore!) This is a tile laying game with a small tech tree at the side. During your turn, you will get to lay a 2-square tile or a 1-square tile (each player begins with the same set of five 1-square tiles). When you lay the tile, you will get to score either victory points or farm points. Farm points are used in the small tech tree and if you manage to max out any of the 5 columns, you will get to score a livestock tile which gives you some points at the end of the game as well. If all of your markers are at or past a certain row where the farm pieces are, then you get to place your farm piece which will net you victory points every round and also prevent other players from scoring victory points on the fields your farm is on. Its an interesting game as you are trying to score more for yourself while at the same time blocking other players. The tech tree seems a bit odd as its possible for a player to max out a column during a turn immediately. Granted we were not very adapt at blocking each other in our first game but still to be able to do so seems odd. Once a farm is out on the board though players start to target the farms to minimise scoring per turn for that player. Components are nice and thick and functional. Art wise is a little bland but functional. Not a bad purchase for the price.<br />
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<b>Homesteaders</b><br />
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This time I had a better idea of what I am doing but the game seems to end too early when I am just getting into the grove of the game. One little nagging thing I have with games like Homesteaders is the ability for concurrent play. While I am not saying my opponents will cheat, I would like winning to be not tainted and not due to mistakes or carelessness made by opponents. Of course you can enforce such that each player takes his/her turn before the next player takes his/her turn. This will however make the game possibly unbearably long. It certain has enough buildings to allow for sufficient replayability but since all buildings are available every game, I guess it is possible for you to plan such that each game you will have the most optimal sequence of buildings to select and win the game. I will definitely want to give this a few more tries.<br />
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<b>Express 01</b><br />
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Sigh. I really wanted to like this game. I had thought it looked interesting enough to give it a go. Card quality is very nice and art is not too bad. However the game play with the 2nd group seems to fall very flat. It may still work with the right group but I haven't managed to find the right group. The mechanism where cards in your hand are used to purchase items and potentially they can be used as stocks or routes make it more confusing than if you were playing Glory to Rome which has similar implementation of the cards. If there were a solo variant, that may save it enough for me to keep it in my collection.<br />
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<b>Love Letter </b><br />
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Another 2 rounds of Love Letter. Even though it seems light I enjoy it quite a bit. Somehow though I don't really feel the randomness as readily as others do. I still feel that there's some skill involved especially when you are taking the Guard. Love letter for me so far still trumps Coup.<br />
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<b>Le Havre The Inland Port</b><br />
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Played 3 games of this 2 player version of Le Havre and loving it much. I still haven't managed to break the 222 barrier and I am wondering just how I can maximize my game play. I tried going by the food route but somehow along the way when your opponent starts to use your buildings your plans start to get screwed. This is also an ideal game for the iOS especially with a very good AI. I wonder if anyone out there has a good strategy can share with me?<br />
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<b>Phantom</b><br />
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Another game of Phantom. This time both of us stored a lot of power on both sides of the tableau and so we were trying to draw Charmer ghosts to draw the Character cards and score. Once that happens though the game went pretty fast. I managed to score my 11 points pretty fast and I won the game. The art is beginning to wear on me because its a lot of neon colors and not aesthetically pleasing. So after a few plays, its kinda unique and interesting but I doubt the replayability will keep it in my collection for long.<br />
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<b>Blood Bowl Team manager</b><br />
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Another game where I was so intrigued by the theme of Warhammer that I had to grab it. So far I have YET to play it even once and i was glad to be able to table it finally. Its an interesting card game where you, as a team manager, is laying cards (up to 6 in a round to a maximum of about 5 rounds) which represent your players that are competing for highlights or a tournament for that round. When you play a player, there are certain actions associated with the player which will resolve. Once all team managers have passed, then we will check each highlight and resolve a winner. All will receive the corresponding rewards which may come in the form of Fan Points (victory points), special team cards or even Star Players which will boost your team's capabilities.<br />
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<b>Village</b><br />
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Ah, one of my favourites in 2012. I played quite a bit of this once I gotten my own copy and when i was in New York as well last year. Its been quite some time since I brought out my copy to play and boy, am I super rusty. I came in last I think and I am not amused! I used to be quite good with this game but i made some mistakes which probably cost me about 10 points. I wouldn't have won anyway but well it may have made some difference. I used to be able to score quite decently with the Travelling as my main scorer but this game was cut short by another opponent who was aiming to finish the game fast to prevent the winner from gaining too many customer tiles. Still a fun game for me but my friend wasn't too keen to keep the game anymore. Pity as I am looking forward to the expansion and the inclusion of 5 players. I wonder how that will play like.<br />
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<b>Siberia The Card Game</b><br />
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Played this with 4 players this time and I am thinking its not suitable for 4. For 2 and 3 maybe but for 4 this makes the game quite hard to control and plan as most of the time, the items you want are snatched up quite quickly. A gripe that I mentioned just now with Morels however is not an issue here as you just replace those cards that were taken by drawing from the deck. There is no need to push the whole row of cards here. Phew! Still average about this game so far as it doesn't bring anything new to the table for me. May not make the cut.<br />
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<b>Coup</b><br />
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2 more games of Coup! Taught this to a new player who prefers this to Love Letter. I guess inherently its in my nature to trust someone and with so little clues its hard for me to judge if a person is bluffing or not. So far ALL my challenges have been for naught and I am usually losing in the game of Coup. I did win once tonight though because of my opponent did not pay attention to the coins I have amassed which allowed me to perform a final Coup on him to win the game. So far the "beauty" of this game hasn't really shown itself to me. Lets hope I can get more games in to allow it to shine.<br />
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And so that's it, a great week of gaming! :)<br />
duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-77517419641425922692013-02-19T07:11:00.002-08:002013-02-19T07:11:25.693-08:00Magnum Sal, Core Worlds Galactic Orders, Fairy Tales, Siberia The Card Game, Phantom, Pax, Star Wars the Card Game, CO2, Reef Encounter, Pickomino, The Hobbit Card GameNot many new games I have played so far but a few good oldies! Lets take a look....<br />
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<b>Magnum Sal</b><br />
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I have heard of this game before and was very tempted to get it but I wasn't too sure about the game play so never really got around to it. Luckily my Cult-of-the-New group had managed to get a copy and I get to play! Its so nice to be in a CotN group :P I am very lucky as well! So on with the game. In the game we are all trying to go digging for salt and then return back to deliver them to the King and earn points. So its all about us getting resources and going to the King to score points by turning them in based on the objective tiles available. That is the summarised view of the game. Other things you have to consider are the other players' miners that are in the mine with you that will cost you extra money just to transport salt cubes topside and may even steal cubes away from you. We were working quite hard during the game turning in a lot of objectives whereas only 1 player did not complete any at all till the very last turn and he scored quite a few of the high point objectives to win the game. However it seemed we played a vital rule wrongly, that is after every round, you will take back ALL your miners. This makes a very big change because it will mean that we have to establish our steps down into mine again. Another point that seems wrong is that if you store your cubes all the way to the end, you can score all the objectives that have way higher victory points. If that's the case, it may lead into a stalemate as the only way where rounds will end is when 5 objectives are completed. So jury is still out on this one but definitely requires another play to see where this stands with me.<br />
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<b>Core Worlds: Galactic Orders</b><br />
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I have played Core Worlds twice I believe and while it feels like a deck builder, it has an additional element where you use troops to try to conquer planets that are available in the middle of the board. In addition, there are some core worlds which are like final objectives that you already know how to conquer and thus you can build up your deck to prepare for it. Its not a bad game but it doesn't really capture me or compel me to want to play it many times again. My friend had just gotten the expansion and we decided to give it a go. Expansion adds a few boards which give you extra powers like increasing the number of actions you have. To be able to activate them, you have to turn in your tokens that are already on the boards. To place your tokens on the boards, whenever you play cards that have those mysterious symbols, you get to place a token on the respective board. The expansion does add extra dimension to the game as you could plan now to get certain cards into your deck so that you can place your token on the boards. I found the extra action benefit the most useful though the power that lets you purchase a science card at a 3 cost discount to be quite good as well. Its quite a good expansion for the game so I will recommend playing the game with the expansion in the future. Still doesn't really endear me to the game enough to get myself a copy but I wouldn't say no to playing it.<br />
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<b>Fairy Tales</b><br />
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Seems to be a newer version of the game that I had previously. The icons seems to be redesigned now and the rules are better. That is all the changes there is though. The game is a very straight forward drafting game that seems to be a lighter version of 7 wonders. With more players there will definitely be more interaction as there are cards which cause other players to flip their cards facedown and thus not allowing those cards to score at the end of the game. Its light, have very nice anime-style graphics and seems to have a back story but since the rule book is very short they did not include the story. Average light-weight game and worth a play or two.<br />
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<b>Siberia The Card Game</b><br />
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Managed to get this game out again for another 2 player game. Light good filler that is easy to teach and fast to play. Might be growing on me. Lets see how it plays with 4 because that will make it more competitive as people will scramble to grab the specialists cards that will grant good benefits. Give it a try!<br />
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<b>Phantom</b><br />
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Another try of this seemingly fun 2 player game. This time the gameplay feels like chess to me as we battle it out to try to scare the characters with the most points. I feel that this game if you are not on guard all the time, your opponent may just pull ahead and there is certainly no catch up mechanism. I won with 11-2 points! Definitely give it a try before you buy.<br />
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<b>Pax</b><br />
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Interesting set collecting game where you are fighting against Rome unless you are the secret spy which means if Rome wins, you win. During your turn, you will take 3 cards, one at a time and decide where the cards go. This portion is similar to Biblios as you need to decide one at a time where to place them. Then you get to buy cards and play cards from your hand. You will then get income and your turn ends. Now the interesting part of the game is that to win, you will need to have at least 4 of the sets in front of you that have more cards than those that Rome has. Another way to win is if Rome wins and you have the secret spy card. Its not a bad card game but for my first game at least, kinda hard to beat Rome. Its possible that its my first game and I still haven't figured out some of the tactics yet but I can see how this will be fun. Not sure how well it will do with more players though because with 2 its already quite hard to beat rome. Will like to give it a try again to see how it works with more players.<br />
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<b>Star Wars the Card Game</b><br />
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Close in the heels of a very successful relaunch of Netrunner, FFG's Star Wars the Card Game had received quite a bit of hype and I was itching to play my copy. Compared to Netrunner, this has a different engine and seems lighter to play. Dark side will have a death star counter which counts to 12 each of his turn thus the game length is limited to at most 12 rounds. Light side will win when Dark side run out of cards OR having destroyed 3 of the Dark side's objectives. During your turn, play is similar to most LCG games where you get to untap/refresh used cards, draw cards, play cards and fight. FFG tried to weave into the game certain concepts because of the theme and by and large it seems an average game. Not bad but seems to be lacking something. I think being a fan of the show and role playing will enhance one's enjoyment of the game. Some issues I have for example how fast you use up your cards in Edge battles makes it seem odd that a game ending condition is if you run out of cards to draw from and you don't get to shuffle your discards back into your deck. I will give it a few more plays to make a final verdict but as of now Netrunner is still ahead of Star Wars the card game for me.<br />
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<b>CO2</b><br />
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Sigh, the game that broke my heart this week of playing. I have so far played this 3 times and won all 3 times which makes my head swell. Unfortunately after reading around BGG I realised to my horror my wins are all tainted. That is because of some rules that we have gotten wrongly. For example, I realised that market doesnt increase in price if you buy a CEP from the market (the wording on the player aid seems to suggest otherwise). Also to determine ownership of a region, its not based on the number of power plants you have, but the number of types of plant you have. These and a few other rules really made the previous games I played all very tainted and I feel kinda bummed. I must say though that the rules in the game aren't very friendly to go through and judging from the numerous comments and questions on BGG, a lot of other players feel the same. Nevertheless, I still feel that this is a good game and I cannot wait to try it again WITH ALL the correct rules. I do feel that this game may not be suitable with more than 4. I also would like to play it solo and see how it works. A few of my friends though have totally dissed the game which I guess I can understand some of their points but it did not cause me to dislike the game. Furthermore, I haven't really hit most of the problems they have experienced. Then again, I haven't played this game with more than 3 so far so maybe my opinions may change when I do get a chance to table it for 4 and 5. Tomorrow! I will get a nice rematch with hopefully 4 and see how it goes. Oh and I am pimping my CEPs :P Will post pics once I get my copy and the stickers this week! Definitely give this a try. Highly recommended!<br />
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<b>Reef Encounter</b><br />
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Now I have heard of this game and its rated quite highly on BGG and been wanting to give it a try. But something (maybe its the theme or the art) seems to put me off getting my own copy. In Reef Encounter, we are essentially trying to feed our parrot fish polyp tiles and score points for each tile fed at the end of the game. Whoever has the most points will win the game. Reef Encounter is a tile laying game where you are trying to grow your coral until a certain size before you feed to your parrot fish. During the game, certain colors of polyps can "eat" or overgrow other colors of polyps. So in this way, player interaction is crucial as you can play to block others and prevent them from scoring points. Another way to block will be the scoring tiles which you can flip and lock in to ensure certain colors will score more points than the others. It is a medium-heavy game as you are trying to obtain certain polyp tiles and play at the right timing such that you can grow your corals and "cash" them in at the right time before other players decide to take pieces off your corals. Quite a good game and I would like to play it again. Not sure why its not creating as much hype here but I am suspecting the theme itself is not very attractive. Its about marine life and may remind people of an aquarium or a fish tank. That could be the reason why its not as attractive as other widely accepted themes like Fantasy or space. Give it a try!<br />
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<b>Pickomino</b><br />
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A light push your luck dice game where you roll as many times as you want but each time you have to lock down dice of the same number. If during a turn you cannot lock down any (because they have previously been locked down), then you end your turn and, if you have an existing domino, have to give it up. When you stop, you will take the domino that has the same sum as all your dice added up. The game ends when there are no more dominos to take and players counts the number of worms they have on their dominos. The player who has the most worms will win the game. Simple, light but not that easy to score dominos and you can even steal your opponents' top most dominos provided you have rolled the exact number. For a light game like this, it can drag on too long and overstay its time on the table. Not a game for me unfortunately.<br />
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<b>The Hobbit Card Game</b><br />
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Final game I will talk about today is The Hobbit Card game. This is a bridge like Trick taking game where players play either the Good side (frodo etc) or the Bad side (dragons and orcs etc). Starting with the player who has won a previous trick (or a particular character), players will play cards very similar to bridge. If a player has won a trick, then, depending on his/her character powers, distribute the cards in that trick. At the end of a round (when all cards are played), players check to see what cards they have received. Depending on the symbols of the card, players maybe kicked out of the game. At the end of 2 rounds, the Good side will win when they have at least 1 player left alive with a Good character card. The Bad side will win when all Good players have been eliminated. Light filler game that has the character powers as an interesting twist to a well worn game mechanism. The artwork though I think is based on the original novels. Game play wise, is average only for me. I won't want to play it again though.<br />
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So that's it, CO2 being the most exciting and yet most disappointing game for me in this whole set. I hope to report better news again once I have finally played it with all the correct rules!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-36956272944419984442013-02-17T00:52:00.003-08:002013-02-17T00:52:44.043-08:00Episode 3 of P.U.L.P. is out!Click here to download it directly https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+episode+3.m4a<br />
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As usual, comments, suggestions and questions are welcome and we will love to hear from you!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-37703241452707992022013-02-15T04:25:00.002-08:002013-02-15T04:25:26.152-08:00Week ending 14th Feb 2013: Geistes Blitz 2.0, CO2, Love Letter, Santa Cruz, Pamplona, Archipelago, Hanabi, Siberia the card game, Homesteaders, Taluva, Coup, Samurai the Card Game, Tzolkin The Mayan Calendar<br />
Happy V-day people! Episode 3 of our podcast will be out this sunday so look out for it! :)<br />
Highlight of this blogpost will be CO2! A lot of controversy with the game so lets get on with this post!<br />
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<b>Geistes Blitz 2.0</b><br />
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Seeing that its Chinese New Year and we have cousins over who are still rather new to boardgaming, I brought out this party-agility game for them to try and they love it! There were a lot of cut throatness amongst siblings and relatives which is surprising. i won't go into the game details again but its sometimes surprises me how party games create that amount of fun with a lot of people at the same time. It often reminds me that not everyone derives the same sort of fun from the same activity though I probably won't expand my collection of light filler games unless they also provide some depth as well to me. Still its pretty fun game and if you play the variants (i.e. talk instead of take, talk in different language) that will make it really challenging! As of now, my aunts and grandma are having my copy and I hope they get into playing it often! :D<br />
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<b>CO2</b><br />
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Ah, I am still awaiting my copy from local online store but in the meantime I am glad to have a crack at this. Even though our first game we played 1 minor rule wrong and did not rotate the start player, I think we played well and had a good time with the game. So i was raving about it to my friends about the game and to my surprise, 2 of them did not like the game at all. Jon, my podcast cohost wrote about his experiences <a href="http://bgg.cc/thread/930043/mini-session-report-review-more-like-thoughts-on">here</a> and, as expected, gotten quite a few comments and even got the designer's attention as well. Now much of the gripe that Jon mentioned in his post I did not experience. It could be due to the way we played. Right at the start we cleared the cards we have in hand so as to gain the benefits. This dictated how we started the game and it was only after we cleared the cards did we see what the UN objective cards were and we focused on them. That said, when I was playing the game I did keep my secret objective in mind and I think the rest did as well. We did not face the issue where we did not install a project because opponents will build the power plant. For me at least, I saw the benefit outweighed the cons so I went ahead. We did use our scientists strategically as well so it was a small deterrent for others to try to install our plans. We did not feel that the game bogged down and while its true that we had to adjust our plans according to our opponents' decisions, I could still plan strategically what I want. The technology tracks though I felt dictated too much of the game. Its silly if you ignore them as they give you several benefits and trying to chain several advancements together I think is key to playing the technology track. That said, I do wish that its has lesser impact, similar to the Temple track in Tzolkin. For example in Terra Mystica, there is no 1 single aspect of the game that is mandatory for you to win the game. There is supposedly a slight cooperative aspect of the game because we all will lose if the PSI rating is more than 500. But the game isn't so brutal like Archipelago and largely this can be managed by players already building power plants. I did win the game in the end with about 180+ points but the rest weren't that far behind. End game, the CEPs (at $8 a piece) really gave me a huge boost to win the game. So, all in all, I really enjoyed my first game, very astonished by my friends' reactions and would certainly like to try a game with them to see what could have gone wrong or perhaps they are right after all. Jury is still out on this i guess but I am not waiting till then to pimp my copy :P<br />
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<b>Love Letter</b><br />
Alas for such a simple game, my assumption has made an ass out of me. I reailsed I have been playing another rule wrong which is to set aside 1 card before the start of the round. That will make quite a big impact as even if you have the Guard at the end, you cannot for sure, guess your opponent's card. Playing it properly for the first time though still confirm again that I really like this game and even more than Coup. Its a simple game that is played several rounds to determine the winner and can last up to an hour if all players are playing well and guarding each other effectively. i wonder if I am up to the task of using my creative juices to retheming it my way. Lets see.<br />
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<b>Santa Cruz</b><br />
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Essentially, this is a light euro style game with a worker placement mechanism. The interesting parts of this game are the 2 phases and the set of cards you choose which will determine how you can move around the map during your turn. During the 1st phase, tiles are placed facedown on the map and each player will get to play a card from the set he has chosen to place one of 3 types of buildings on the board. The sets come in unique combinations for example one may have more "road" cards while another has more "river" cards. Road cards allow you to place your building into a spot 1 road away from your existing building. River cards allow you to place your building into a spot on the same river as that which you have a building on. Amongst the card you play will also be objective cards which will score for all players. When all cards have been placed, then all players take back all their buildings, return their cards (except the objective cards), receive a new objective cards and choose a set of route cards to begin phase 2. The twist will be that all tiles that were exposed in Phase 1 will remain as it is thus players begin phase 2 with new knowledge of both the tiles and possible objectives that maybe played. Th game ends when all players have played their cards in the 2nd phase and the winner is the one with the most points. So when I played this, the initial rush seems to be to complete your objectives first before others so that only you get to score and they don't. At the same time you also want to see what others are doing so you can tap in on their objectives as well. Once the objectives are scored, then its all about finishing up by trying to claim those that give the most points. There are also bird tiles which you can obtain that give you 1-3 points at the end of the game. Not bad and cleanly designed but I don't think I will give it another play.<br />
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<b>Pamplona</b><br />
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Run! The Bulls are coming! Based on the annual festival where cows and bulls will run against humans this game attempts to capture the feeling with a twist. You control BOTH a runner and 1 cow and 1 bull. Over 4 race maps, you will attempt to enable your runner to cross the finish line and use your cow and bull to gore/trample on your opponents' runners. The runner will always only move up to 2 spaces whereas the bull and cow have their own set of cards which are distributed to the players at the beginning of a race. Then at the beginning of each race, players will start by placing their cows and then bulls (playing cards to do so ). Finally players will place their runners and depending on where they are they will score bonus points (for being daring). Race will start and the runner/cow/bull that is furthest in front will go first. If your cow runs over another runner, they are trampled and you score 1 point. If your bull runs over another runner, they are gored and you score 2 points and the runner will not finish the race. There are also special cards which you can play that lends certain powers for example you can trip another runner that is adjacent to you. The odd thing about this game is that you can control your own bull/cow to protect your runner. That is quite a big disconnect from the theme of the game. There is quite a fair bit of blocking required from other players else a player can take advantage and win the races. After some of the cows overtake the runners or nearing the finishing line, it becomes pointless to continue as the bulls and cows often will no longer be able to prevent the runners from completing the race. At the end of 4 races, player with the most points will win the game. It is a light game and lots of laughs as we attempt to manuver our pet cow/bull to block others and we relish the opportunity to trample/gore our opponents' runners into the ground. There isn't much to strategy and its a tactical game. Components are rather good with nice thick boards and cards and nice art. The disconnect of your pet cow/bull puts me off a little.<br />
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<b>Archipelago Solo play</b><br />
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Previously I had mentioned my experiences with Achipelago and how it all fell to pieces and I have never yet managed to play a single game properly. So i was eager to try out the solo game and see if its a keeper with it. The main differences are that you choose a character from the solo set which will dictate the starting setup, end game condition and points scoring conditions. In addition, during the card purchasing phase, you will need to purchase 1 card and then rotate 2. If at any time you cannot purchase you will lose. If there is a rebellion the game will also win as per the base game. First solo game i failed and lost when the game won. Second solo i got 3rd place. It seems incredibly difficult (as also mentioned in BGG) to score a gold medal for a short game. It seems that medium or longer games will play better. It becomes how well you can play the game to meet the different objectives and since the solo cards are quite different, there will be a lot of replayability. Still however its hard to prepare for the random events that may occur and thus fight against the game winning. Especially in a solo game where you are dependant on luck of draw for the cards which you can purchase and the tiles you explore. If you are unlucky, you may end up wasting several turns exploring but not being able to place the tiles or have cards which do not help you to quell rebellion. The fact that the events are also random unless you prepare at least 1 cube of each type in the domestic market and harvest a lot of discovery tokens makes this game a bit too random for my taste. At least in CO2 you know HOW to prevent the game from winning and you can work towards that. In Archipelago you can't tell and worse there are so many possible varieties that it seems way too difficult. So unfortunately, I would have loved to like this game, I don't think it has made the cut even with the solo expansion. Pity.<br />
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<b>Hanabi</b><br />
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Co-op game! OMG why am i playing a co-op game? because the first time i played this, we had a lot of fun. Probably its because we were all quite tired and it was very late into the night when we played this. Mostly because we groaned at bad tips being given and laughed when we started forgetting previous tips or pointless tips being provided. It was quite fun then and I was fortunate enough to PnP the design that friend had done. I brought it out for my cousins to play and surprise surprise the first things that they said was "its a coop ? but i don't want to play coop!" LOL. Think it runs in the families. Anyway they tried but we did not have the same level of fun as we did previously. I have also tried it in office and the effect is same. Muted and not the same as before. Maybe i need to add liquor with this game hahahaha. In anycase, I love the rethemed game and the art is gorgeous. It will remain my unique copy :)<br />
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<b>Siberia the card game</b><br />
Following up on the base game which had some hype but seems to have died down, the card game version, plays 2-4, draws from the same artwork and the same mechanism of playing 2 of the same tokens (in this case cards) to activate the particular item. In the card game, there is a row of resources (some covered initially) that you can have access to. There are also character cards (workers, sales men etc) that you can purchase as well which give you certain benefits. Then there are action cards which you draw at least one per turn and play to obtain resources OR characters. To play the cards, you need to play 2 cards with the same symbol as the item you want to obtain or 1 card + 2 other cards of any symbol. If its resources you are attempting to obtain, how many workers you have will determine how many resource cards you can pick up. So the characters will give you certain benefits. Salesmen will increase the prices of each of the resource cards you have at the end of the game. Game ends when all resource cards have been revealed and players tally up the $ value on each of their cards (including character cards) and whoever has the most $ will win the game. Its a light set collection type of game that is quick and easy to play. Not terribly exciting I feel yet and the characters are certainly very powerful. I will need to play this with my more competitive friends and see how it goes.<br />
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<b>Homesteaders</b><br />
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I used to own a copy of this but sold it away to another couple who really loved it. I missed the awesome bits that came with the game so recently I bought another copy. Boy was it fun sorting the cool apple-eeples, cow-eeples, copper-eeples and steel-eeples as well as punching out all the thick thick cardboard pieces. For a game of this size and price, it sure comes with a lot of high quality bits! In the game we are all trying to build up a town and earn points and by the end of 10 rounds, whoever has the most points will win the game. At the start of each round, there will be a sort of worker placement and then income (in terms of money or goods) phase. After that, players will need to pay $1 for each worker they have. Next comes the auction phase where players will bid on up to 3 rights which will dictate what players can buy/build during that round. Finally, players will, in a certain order, purchase/build available buildings in the market to add to their town. The round will end and a new round will begin. halfway through the game, settlement buildings will be removed and new town buildings will be added to the market. last 2 rounds, only city buildings will be available in the market. There are also loans which you can take and only need to pay back at the end else they will deduct points from your score. An interesting bit about this game is the availability of a market with which you can buy/sell resources freely except every buy or sell action requires a trade chit which usually comes as a resource from a number of buildings. I don't know why but i suck at auction games. i usually don't do very well and end up over paying or losing out on it. I also am bad at managing my finances lol. Still i do enjoy the game but probably not as much as my other friends who were playing with me. I am also particularly tickled by the presence of a DUDE ranch which give points depending on how many cowboys or farm hands you have at the end of the game. Dude ranch.... I can imagine them going "Yo DuDeeeeeeee....... Wasssup.......?" lol. Try it!<br />
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<b>Taluva</b><br />
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An medium abstract game that has seen a recent reprint. I have heard its a pretty good game and decided to take a chance on it. Its an abstract game where you are placing tiles each turn and then placing one of 3 buildings (with certain restrictions). The game will end when a player has placed all of 2 types of buildings or when all tiles have been played. A player can be kicked out early in the game too if he cannot place any of his buildings due to the restrictions. A player can also win early if he has managed to place all 3 temples on the map. There are some restrictions as to how you place the map and how you place buildings so when you take a tile, you need to plan ahead and decide what you can do with the tile. This can lead to analysis paralysis as you are working out all the different things you can do. There can be a lot of screwage in the game because you can place tiles to block others or cover someone else's buildings so this is a highly interactive game. I had a lot of fun as its not just a pure abstract (no theme and bland) but has just that enough theme to make it a good game for me. Definitely needs more plays to have a better sense but for now is a try it for me!<br />
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<b>Coup</b><br />
Played Coup with 4 players and somehow its still not grabbing me as how Love letter has. Another player in my group as well also preferred Love Letter to Coup. Not sure if its the bluffing aspect that is throwing us off but then again I love Kakerlakenpoker which has bluffing as its main game mechanism. Maybe I need to play it with the right group to fully appreciate the game.<br />
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<b>Samurai the Card Game</b><br />
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i have seen the base game being played and the plastic pieces in that game are way cooler than the ones in the card game. Also the card game requiries a lot of space to play whereas the base game limits you to a preset board. Still this abstract game is a fun one but it requires players to be aware of possible setups and try to prevent those from happening. If all players are doing their part then it should allow for an intense close game. Very fun for me.<br />
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<b>Tzolkin The Mayan Calendar</b><br />
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Recently I wrote in to the publisher about my damaged board and to my pleasent surprise I have received new pieces for the entire board (instead of just that 1 piece)! Now to figure out how to take out my painted wheels to attach to the new board. I tried to see if ignoring the temple will net me the victory. I must say that while you don't need to make it the main focus, you cannot ignore it. I went on the tech track and played pretty well in my opinion. Near the end though after having accomplished it, I turned to the temple tracks to try to grab some final points to give me the victory. One of the players had his timing all wrong though so had to waste a few turns here and there just taking up his action pawns which is unfortunate. I am beginning to appreciate the "move the wheel twice" feature which is a very good screw your opponents move when timed just nice. As our spaces on the board are planned to the assumption that the wheel will only move once, you now have to pay attention to the corn on the wheel and when someone may want to take the first player and ultimately, if that person will also want to move the wheel twice. Because moving the wheel twice will screw up a lot of well layed plans and assumptions. people may now have to pay up to 3 corns to perform activities which they had planned previously and that can be a lot. The intial drafting of your starting resources is also very important as a first mistake can set you back a lot and make it costly to catch up. In this game I managed the corn i required pretty well and it was my best game so far as everything was working out for me and I was left pretty much by myself. So after more plays, I am beginning to better appreciate the game and enjoy it. Still highly recommended in my opinion!<br />
duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-86546644113461335892013-02-09T08:33:00.003-08:002013-02-09T08:33:45.136-08:00Happy Chinese New Year! And i played: Phantom, Maya, Le Havre The Inland Port, Among The Stars, Riff Raff, Coup, Hanabi, Kemet, Copycat, city of horror, robinson crusoe, legendaryHey Everyone, HAPPY Lunar New Year!<br />
Its the year of the Snake and I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful year! I am hoping for great things to come, improving and increasing listenership for the podcast and readership for the blog and so far its been quite a good start for me :)<br />
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I did some reshuffling and here is my boardgame collection (minus all the items which I am putting up for an auction coming next sunday (if you are interested and in Singapore, please take a look here http://www.meetup.com/Boardgames-Singapore/messages/boards/thread/31278782).<br />
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I will need to find a place to secure them when my brother and family comes over! :)<br />
Over the last 2 weeks or so I played quite a number of games including most of the new games that I have bought from Boardgameshop.eu. Speaking of which, I must praise the shop for having an updated collection (mostly Euro games since, well they are a shop in Europe) and quite affordable shipping rates which makes the games more economical to obtain.<br />
Now lets get on with the games I have played:<br />
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<b>Phantom</b><br />
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I bought this game having only read the reviews on BGG (and there wasn't must information on it yet) as also a filler for my packaged delivery to bring down postage costs. I was eager to give it a try and was I surprised at the fun I had with this little game. Phantom is a 2 player game where players are trying to scare this group of people in a haunted mansion. First player to reach 11 points wins the game. There are 4 locations in the mansion and during your turn you must activate each of them in the order that you choose. When you activate a location, you may pass or play a card. There are 2 types of cards in our hands, Ghost cards which belong to 1 of 4 types and have 1 of 6 characteristics; Place cards which may provide "scare points" as well as increase the number of ghosts that location may hold. If after you activate a location and your "scare points" meet or exceed the scare limits of a single character in that location, you would have successfully scared that person and win points based on that person's character. It is a straight forward set collecting light-medium weight game where you must decide how to position your Floor and Ghost cards in order to be able to scare and score points. There is also much player interaction in the game as there are Ghost cards which will allow you to steal an opponent's ghosts or even Floor cards. For our very first game, we came in surprisingly tight and it was down to the last character in the game to determine the winner. Both of us agree that this is a good game and would like to play it again. The card quality is matt and quite thick but that also means you should sleeve it to allow for ease of shuffling. Artwork is also not too bad. I would recommend you to try before you buy.<br />
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<b>Maya</b><br />
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We played a 2 player game of Maya which have additional items like the ladders and the priest. Rules are still the same except that if you manage to combine 2 pieces of the same colours together in the same pyramid you get to place a step/ladders at the bottom of that pyramid. At the end of the game you will score 1 point if you have majority of ladders/steps in that pyramid. In addition, if you manage to complete a pyramid (all pieces are the same color), you will be able to place a priest on the top of the temple which will also give you 1 point. Its not a bad game but there are some quirks I think. For example, you may end up doing only 1 possible move during your turn but these instances probably occur nearer to the end of the game where its very hard to be able to find something to move. Fun game and a must try!<br />
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<b>Le Havre: The Inland Port</b><br />
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Played another game and it still holds a lot of appeal to me. The way you need to keep looking at your opponents's board and try to predict what he is trying to do and timing your moves just right is a very fun mechanism for me. This feels quite different from a 2 player game of the base game and plays quite fast. I guess the lack of needing to feed makes this version not as stressful as the base game. I predict there will be new buildings in a future expansion (similar to Agricola All Creatures Big and Small) and I will look forward to getting it. Only problem is for people who have never played Le Havre the base game, they will find it hard to visualize why the mechanics (while streamlined from the base game) function in this manner that seems a little bit counter intuitive. For new players, be patient with it and after a few plays I am pretty sure you will be able to enjoy it like I did.</div>
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<b>Among The Stars</b></div>
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I have heard of this game but wasn't too interested in it. The game is very similar to Suburbia but with a space theme and drafting mechanism. You will be drafting a card each turn and then building the card you drafted into your space station. You could also discard it to get money or to build a power reactor. Then depending on the card you played, you may score instant points and move up on the score track. Pass the remaining cards in your hand to your neighbour and then rinse and repeat till all cards have been used up and that is the end of a year. The game lasts for 4 years and then players count up their secret objectives + race (each player has a unique race with special traits/objectives) and whoever has the most points wins the game. Unlike suburbia this has more player interaction as you can perform actions to steal money etc from your neighbour. Artwork wise its pretty nice as it has very obvious colours to easily tell what each building provides and its an ok game. I did not do too well with my first game though so that was a bummer. The game also requires a lot of space because of the way people can grow their space station in all different directions so having a big table is a must to play this game. All in all, I would say this is a try before you buy.<br />
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<b>Riff Raff</b><br />
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We ended the night with an agility game with awesome wooden bits and a very unique component - a loopsided ball bearing. Each player will choose a card from identical decks and then simultaneously reveal the card. The player who played the highest number will go first. Each player during their turn will take an item from an identical set and place it on the space corresponding to the number he/she played. If you tip the boat (its balanced quite precariously) then you can attempt to catch the falling pieces and place them onto the board. If you fail then your turn is over and you keep all pieces that have fallen. This continues until the cards have all been played or when a player has all his/her pieces on the boat. With the introduction of cards, it does add a slight tactical decision making to the game. You want to be the next to place items when the ship has just been cleared or has very few items. If you play a card that requires you to play after someone has just put in the same space, then its very likely you will fail and have more pieces to keep. I sucked at agility games and this was no exception. Components wise this game has top notch components. So if you are into party/agility games or a light game with friends (especially when drunk), then I will recommend you to try this game out before you buy.<br />
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<b>Coup</b><br />
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Finally managed to get myself a copy of this game that has been generating a lot of hype in 2012. I have played this about 6 times so far and I am beginning to warm up to the idea and concepts on how to play the game. Basically you have 2 cards face down (You can see them of course) in front of you which will represent your lives in the game. During your turn you can play an action. Whenever someone plays an action, anyone else can counter (by declaring that you do not believe the player) and if they are successful, the action is blocked. If at anytime, anyone is not successful when countering an action because they were caught bluffing, then they will lose a life by flipping over the card. If you have to reveal both cards, that means you are out of the game. The last player standing wins the game. Not a bad game but I need to get used to all the bluffing and challenging actions or basically, knowing how to read a person. Now I can see that this game is only vaguely resembling Love Letter and is a whole different animal. In Love Letter you are not bluffing so there isn't a need to think further and thus caters for the simple game that it is. In Coup there is a need to bluff and try to get away with things. This is quite dependant on the group then as if they are role playing along or cajoling others, then the game will be quite fun for everyone. So Love Letter I feel is more accessible and easier to play and Coup is quite dependant on the group of players. Both will still be in my collection and I would heartily recommend anyone to give both Love Letter and Coup a try!<br />
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<b>Hanabi</b><br />
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My friend managed to retheme the game of Hanabi into a Christmas theme and I was eager to bring it out for my colleagues to play this co-op game. Now if you know me, I don't really like co-op games because I feel a need to compete but I had quite a lot of fun with my regular group and the original game of hanabi that I wanted to see if I can recreate the same fun and laughter we had with my other groups. What surprised me right at the start was how my colleagues all mentioned they don't want to coop! They wanted to compete! Hahahaah.... that was music to my ears :P We still manage to give it a go though and I think I manage to recreate some of the fun and face palm moments. I love how my friend manage to capture the spirit of Christmas with fantastic and creative art and I am glad to have this copy.<br />
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<b>Kemet</b><br />
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One of the new releases from Essen, Kemet is touted as Cyclades successor and from the same publisher as well. I had Cyclades previously and did have fun with the game so I was eager to give this a go and see just how it plays. Kemet surprised me with what it is and how different it is from Cyclades. In Kemet you are trying to be the first to score 8 points (shorter game) or 11 points (longer game) which will trigger the game end and the player with the most points wins the game. To achieve this, during your turn, you will place 1 of your action discs onto your player board to trigger an action. Things that you can do include recruiting soldiers, move your troop, earn prayer points (currency), increase your pyramid level and purchase power tiles. This actually a Euro war game with an Egyptian theme and a worker placement mechanism. The game actively encourages you to wage wars and engage in battles with your opponents as this is 1 way to gain permanent points in the game. On the board, there also 5 temple areas where you can control to gain temporary points but these areas are easily wrestled away as you can pay 2 prayer points (which is the currency of the game) to teleport to obelisks on the map and there is one located at every temple. My initial thoughts were that this is an ameri-trash game because it has nice components and even nicely washed figures which are usually staples of an ameritrash game. So I am very surprised when I realised after playing that this is a euro game that requires players to interact with each other to win the game. Art is pretty good and the components are excellent. Figures of the scorpion, snake etc (these are the "heroes" or special units of the game) are also very nicely washed and even stamped at the bottom of their bases. I am also surprised that none of the units had warped blades as they are quite small and looked fragile. The other big component are the pyramids that look like 4 sided dice. The pyramids and the levels they are at will allow you to purchase power tiles depending on the levels. They look so cool and most players will start throwing them once it is out of the box. But alas they are just used as place holders. My first game took way longer than it was supposed to be because I did not realise we all started with 10 troops thus allowing us to wage wars right from the get go. My 2nd game was way better and it was really close with all 5 of us nearing the 8 point mark and we had 1 epic final round to determine the winner.<br />
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<b>Copycat</b><br />
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Finally manage to play Copycat another Essen 2012 release. This is a euro game which borrows other games mechanisms and to weld them quite smartly into a single game. Because this is a euro game, theme wise it suffers for me. Artwork also seems a little kiddish and thus I did not appreciate it as much as others. Gameplay wise, I can see how the various game mechanisms are nicely woven together to create an intriguing game but I only got this like halfway through the game though. First thing you do is draw 5 cards from your deck. Then choose one of the cards to bid for position. That card you used is discarded. Once player order is determined, in player order, players will then place their workers on the various available cards on the board which will allow them to activate an action. Once all workers are on the map, in turn order again, players will activate these workers and perform their actions accordingly (i.e. shred card, gain money, gain VP, buy a card). Rinse and repeat till one of 2 end game conditions are triggered. While I can appreciate how these different mechanisms work together, the theme falls woefully sort for me. I think this is the case where I am quite put off by the bland art. I wouldn't mind playing it again but I am definitely passing on getting a copy for myself.<br />
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<b>City of Horror</b><br />
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From all the Euro games we went into an ameritrash game and boy was it trash lol. Its primarily a negotiation game where in you are also trying to strategically move your people around the board so that you are always in a majority and thus can vote someone else's character to be eaten by the zombies. At this point our group was pretty tired and we were learning this as a new game which is not a good combination to have. During your turn, you choose a location card and then every player simultaneously reveals the card. In turn order, players must move one of their characters (each players start off with 3 in a 5 player game) to that new location. Then each location is resolved. If there are enough zombies to meet that location's requirements, then players in that room will need to vote to feed someone to the zombies (Urk!). The game ends after 5 rounds and players' characters must have the antidote for them to survive the airlift and score points. Incredibly there were only 2 players left with characters at the end and I lost by only 1 or 2 points. I think our regular group has moved on to euro games nowadays and perhaps that is why most of us weren't enjoying the game. This game is a super MEH for me!<br />
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<b>Robinson Crusoe: Adventure on the Cursed Island</b><br />
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This is another co op game which I purchased to play solo. I have read that it is a very fun thematic game therefore I pulled the trigger and wanted to see for myself. In a turn, the phases are as follows: first you draw an event card and resolve the event. If it bumps another event out (there can only be at most 2 event cards that are revealed) then you will have to perform a threat action as depicted by the event card that has been bumped out. Next you get resources depending on which tile you have set up camp on. Next phase you decide where you want to place your pawns on the various available action spaces. After that is done, you will execute the actions by visiting each action space in sequential order and using the pawns After all actions are done, if required, roll the weather dice to determine how much suffering you are subjected to. Finally, check if you are sleeping out in the open and feed yourself. A turn is done and the game repeats and will end depending on the scenario that you have chosen. So far I am having fun playing this game solo even though I have not won the scenario yet. One problem I have with the game is the way the rulebook is written as it is not very intuitive and may be unclear at times. Luckily a FAQ has been provided and this should prove helpful when I next play. I have heard that in real coop mode, the game is also as tough if not even more. I will continue to play it as a solo game and will recommend this game.<br />
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<b>Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building game</b><br />
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Played another solo game of Legendary. I am intrigued with the different villans and super heroes so wanted to try a different combination. This time Magneto was threatening earth again by converting everyone into a Killbot! Rogue, Storm and Emma Frost, the 3 ladies of XMEN are tasked with stopping Magneto and to contain the killbots within the city. If 5 killbots escape, they will be able to propagate across the globe and Earth would be lost! The initial part of the game was trying my best to ensure none escape and I was defeating enemies left and right. However somewhere into 30 minutes of the game, I realise I should just focus on defeating Magento. As I have been storing up my attack power with a lot of cards, I was able to defeat Magento in 2 consecutive turns. I ended the game with 28 points. Legendary reminds me of Thunderstone but much improved. You cannot just keep building up until you are ready to face the Mastermind. Instead its a constant management of villans running amok in the city areas as well as keeping your hand lean and trim to be able to defeat the mastermind eventually. There will be expansion for this game sometime near GENCON 2013 and they will be adding 17 super heroes! SEVENTEEN! I wonder if this game though will survive in my collection till then ;p Stay tuned true believers!<br />
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So that's a wrap, a lot of typing and a lot of cool games played!<br />
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<br />duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-87761261592202542492013-02-03T08:36:00.001-08:002013-02-03T08:36:30.682-08:00Le Havre: The Inland Port, Clash of Cultures, Mieses Karma, Suburbia, Wiraqocha, Snowdonia, Meuterer, Keyflower, Maya, Quebec, LegendaryAnother good week of gaming. Lets see what I have managed to cover:<br />
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<b>Le Havre: The Inland Port</b><br />
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Finally got my copy and couldn't wait to bring it out. While I already have Le Havre the base game which can play 2 players, I was intrigued by this meant for 2 player game. I have previously gotten Agricola All Creatures Big and Small and had fun so I wanted to give this a go. This version of Le Havre distills all that is Le Havre into a very neat little 2 player package. It contains all the essence of Le Havre without the need to feed but with a limited set of buildings. I suspect, just like Agricola 2 players, it will soon have its own expansion pack to include new buildings to liven things up. As it is, Inland Port employs a very interesting way to increase resources in the buildings owned by players which is using the dial thing-a-mah-jig that is from his design in Ora Et Labora. The game also has a interesting way to keep track of resources that you have in a form of a chart and how you move the cubes on it. Both of these make it quite different game from Le Havre base game's 2 player version. There is also high interaction as you are often looking out at your buildings and at your opponent's to see when you should be using them and when you should use yours before your opponent snatches it from you. When you play this game, you feel that its elegantly designed and rather efficient in execution. I really liked it a lot and I heartily recommend it to people looking for a good 2 player game and for those who loved Le Havre.<br />
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<b>Clash of Cultures</b><br />
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Another hot favourite to arrive on our shores recently, this was a try for me before I decided if I want my own copy. So far I don't really have a good Civ-type game and I have only previously owned Through the Ages but never managed to get it out often enough to hold on to it. I have played FFG's Civilisation but did not like it enough to get my own copy. So I was eager to try this out.<br />
Clash of Cultures is a lighter Civ-type game as compared to FFG's Civilisation and it seems to focus a lot on technology. The other elements which make for a lot of interaction in most other Civ games like war for example seems to have a smaller role to play in Clash of Cultures. Even the element of culture influence seems a little bit tacked on rather than a possible major role in the game. We had a false start due to my fault and the game took us a little over 3 hours to complete. As I seemed to be leading, the other 2 players attacked me in the final round and nearly wiped me out from the board. Surprisingly, I was tied for first place but lost due to tie breaker. Its pretty interesting how close we are in scores but we that tied were heavily invested in the technology tree. All in all, I would say this is a try before you buy and unfortunately a miss with me. And don't get me started about the Elephant on the cover! Oh well.... the hunt is still on for the next ultimate Civ game...<br />
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<b>Mieses Karma</b><br />
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Another game of Mieses Karma and this time during my lunch break. We had quite a bit of fun as everyone got into the theme and were laughing at what we have reincarnated into. One thing to note about the game is that if you are lucky and have very good draw of the cards, you could potentially reincarnate pretty fast into a human and then its at most 6 more turns before the game ends (because as a human you get to draw 6 cards and if then no one accepts your help, you play/discard a card every round so by the 6th turn you would have died and trigger the game end condition). Its a light whimsical game now to me and a try before you buy. Unfortunately its gonna be tricky getting your copy if you are in asia as I had to purchase mine from an online shop in Europe.<br />
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<b>Suburbia</b><br />
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I brought Suburbia out again to teach 3 new people how to play and it was a blast. While one of the players was quite focused in obtaining instant $, I think increasing your income and reputation track is vital. The strategy so far seems to be knowing when to build up your city (income first) and getting the timing right midway through the game to switch to increasing your reputation and thus eventually winning the game. All through the game though you need to pay attention to your objectives and your opponents' boroughs to gauge what you can do. Its a very awesome game and probably the best city building game I have ever bought.<br />
The game does reward multiple plays though as you will now know what you should be aiming for, how to place your city tiles to maximise current benefits as well as prepare for future benefits. I also tried the Solo Game variant One twice but I think I only ranked average. Even the solo game is fun for me and I will look forward to trying the other Solo variant and trying to beat my own score! I highly recommend this game.<br />
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<b>Wiraqocha</b><br />
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I first heard about this game from looking at European boardgame shops online and was intrigued by the artwork and gameplay. It was said to be similar to Kingsburg and I do love Kingsburg (it was one fo the earliest games I had owned) and was eager to give this a try. This game requires paying careful attention to what your opponents have but at the same time its not that easy to complete as the end game objectives are quite easily stolen by your opponents. There is a lot of to and fro and changing of ownership of tiles because with 3 dice, it seemed quite easy for us to reach most of our neighbouring destinations and thus kick each other out. It was through me keeping very quiet that I managed to sneak in a win. I can predict that this game may drag on too long for the weight of the strategy it provides. Unfortunately, for me this game did not click well and I was glad to have finished it. I am also glad to have not made the purchase. Try before you buy.<br />
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<b>Snowdonia</b><br />
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A 3 player game of Snowdonia with the correct rules this time. It ran much more smoothly and quickly as well and while I did better than my previous score I still lost by about 20+ points. Getting objective cards and contributing to the track building/station building are definitely key to winning the game. Going by the Surveyor route did not work well for me. Also, the train that gives you 9 points? That seems to be the best train to take. All in all, I think its quite a good game but one I won't get a copy of. The mechanisms and theme are not attractive to me. Still I won't say no to playing a game of this! This is a medium weight game and I would recommend this for Euro gamers.<br />
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<b>Meuterer</b><br />
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An interesting little card game where players are on a ship and we are trying to earn as much points as we can through selling of goods and even by means of supporting (or suppressing) possible mutinies on the ship. Its not very complicated game and requires you to anticipate what your opponents will do and react accordingly. When you become the captain (if you did not start as one, you can only acquire it through mutiny), then you have 1 more decision to make and that is how much points to give to your First Mate and IF there is going to be a mutiny or not. So its a light bordering on medium card game and plays pretty fast. I do feel that 8 rounds seems a bit too long and perhaps 5 would have sufficed. Try before you buy. It might be a bit hard to track this copy down though.<br />
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<b>Keyflower</b><br />
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Another game that rewards multiple plays as you will kinda know what possible tiles there are and the final objectives and thus a better idea what you want to build and to bid for. I went quite aggressively into the transport tiles and when I had that boat that gave 1 point for each transport value, I was pretty sure I will have won. Unfortunately though I lost by 2 points! My friend had a very small town (only 4 tiles before winter) and was doing quite respectable as well. So this game is very intriguing to me but the limited number of winter tiles + final scoring boats may limit its replayability. Still its a game that I am glad I bought though I wish they had done better with the player shields and that it required no assembly!<br />
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<b>Maya</b><br />
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Maya, an abstract tactical game that plays 2 to 4. We played 4 players though and that means team play (2 vs 2). You are trying to, by means of exchanging tiles between 2 pyramids), combine colors belonging to secret objectives for your team to score points. The more levels of the same color that are connected together, the more points you score. The game ends if there is no more logical moves to be made or when the centre pyramid is completed and one of their objective cards is also completed. The components are really quite fantastic and SO COLORFUL! I love the combinations as we played the game. Quite nice I feel and I will want to try the 2 player version as it includes ladders and priests into the game. Recommended!</div>
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<b>Quebec</b></div>
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Ah, a very good game which seems to be unnoticed by everyone. I really wish it got more attention because its a fun game with interesting mechanisms. However it seems as if scoring by the zones of power at the end of a round (century) is a must if you want to win the game. Its where a player can score quite a lot of points and if he/she manages it properly can cause his/her workers to cascade multiple times and thus ensure scoring multiple times as well. I do wish the setup could be less of a hassle. Its possible that having a poorly configured board during setup will provide unfair advantage to some but I must say the game that I played, the tiles were arranged very nicely. Recommended!</div>
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<b>Legendary</b></div>
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When this first came out I wasn't too sold on it because, well, its a co-op game. But after hearing many good reviews about the game (even though its co-op) I decided to get my own copy because I wanted to play solo on it. I managed 2 solo tries (first one being my learning game) and fought against Red Skull using Wolverine, Hulk and Deadpool (i know i know, odd combination). The first game the scheme managed to succeed so I lost. I was quite confused by Deadpool's abilities on his cards but in my 2nd run through I won. Though my final score is only 13 points which is pathetic! Not a bad deck builder but it seems a little light. I cannot imagine how light the DC Deck building game must be because they have been compared and majority have agreed that Legendary is more fun and tougher than the DC Deck building game. I will definitely want to give the other villans and schemes a try and see if I can improve my score! Overall, I made the right decision to buy this and I would recommend this game, especially to Marvel universe fans!<br />
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So all in all, a good week! I had wanted to try a game of solo Robinson Crusoe (I have been itching to play some of my new games on Solo-mode) but I think I made some initial rule mistakes and since it was getting late I did not want to restart and kept the game. I will want to try it again as it seems to be quite thematic and interesting to play with so many scenarios (even one where you are trying to capture King Kong! How cool is that ?). I am also eager to try the solo expansion for Archipelago as I hope it will make the game a keeper with me.<br />
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Right so that's all folks from me!duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-42977232755487688022013-02-02T22:14:00.001-08:002013-02-02T22:14:48.613-08:00Episode 2 of P.U.L.P. is out! <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+2.m4a" style="background-color: white; color: #004b91; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Roboto, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; text-decoration: initial;" title="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+2.m4a">W</a>e have released Episode 2! This episode we talk about 2 hidden gems in our collections that we feel should get more loving and exposure to the Gaming public.<br />
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You can download it here<br />
<a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+2.m4a" style="background-color: white; color: #004b91; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Roboto, Arial, 'Droid Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 12px; text-decoration: initial;" title="https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+2.m4a">https://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/PULP+Episode+2.m4a</a><br />
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Thank you so much to those who have commented and gave us suggestions. We will certainly work hard to improve the podcast! Do keep those comments coming people! :)<br />
<br />duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-52666619747353458412013-01-30T03:22:00.002-08:002013-01-30T03:25:56.446-08:00Love Letter, Escape: The Curse of the Temple, Nobelemen, Unexpected Treasures, Snowdonia, Suburbia, Mieses Karma, Libertalia, HomeStretch, Keyflower, Ginkgopolis<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
January is almost over! That's really fast. Lets see what I got to play :)</div>
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<b>Love Letter</b></div>
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Been playing a lot of Love letter recently as I feel it is quite a good filler game, great for warming up everyone and a game that all gamers should have a copy of. The power for each character changes quite differently when its 2 players and when its 4 players. Some characters are better to have like No. 8 in 2 players because when you can compare, you will always win. Whereas for more players, you are wary of comparing as it may reveal who you are and someone can easily kick you out by playing a Number 1. Gamers who are quite experienced are also pleasently surprised by a game so simple yet can provide so much fun. A great game and I sure hope to discover more games like this where its simple to teach and learn and in all aspects is a filler type game yet provide many hours of fun.</div>
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One thing to note to my horror, I discovered quite recently that I have been playing a rule wrongly. That is the Number 1 character when played, cannot guess another player as having the same Number 1 character! I don't believe it changed a lot of game results but I guess this is an important rule which I overlooked. For those who have played this with me, I do sincerely apologise for my oversight! Oh well, time to play more of Love Letter to overwrite all the wrongly played games of the past few weeks! :p</div>
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<b>Escape: The Curse of the Temple</b></div>
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A game that I have heard so much about and Jon had talked about in the podcast. We managed to break out this game for 5 players and boy was it frantic! Like what I have heard in other podcasts, I don't believe I breathed at all till the game is done. It feels like 15 - 20 mins rather than just 10 mins which is a good sign. Our first game we did not suceed though as we were running out of dice and did not have enough to beat the final challenge. Also I was playing the music through my iphone which initiallty I had thought it was loud enough but when we were playing and making a lot of noise, it did not allow us to clearly hear when the doors are closing and when the temple has collapsed. I can certainly see how the game is fun but there are many grey areas where it can lead to a tainted victory. While everyone is trying their best to be honest and play it properly, there will be cases where in the frantic moment, you thought you could unlock another player's dice when you are not even in the same room as he/she is and those few seconds to check and verify maybe costly or break your momentum. I much prefer a game where when you win, you know you won without a doubt and due to your planning (and luck) so I am guessing that when I think i won in Escape, I will wonder if i REALLY won or did someone played wrongly. I would like to try this again especially with my office group and see how it goes but I probably won't have one in my collection.</div>
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<b>Noblemen</b></div>
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First and foremost I must rave about the components provided in this game. Its heavy and when opened i can see that it is value for money. Kudos to Tasty Minstrel for the compoennts. The number of cardboard pieces and how thick they are made me happy. The player shields are some of the biggest and sturdiest I have ever seen. In the game, you are trying to expand your estate and thus, gaining certain "resources" by doing so and using these resources erect buildings, get money, get prestige etc all of which will contribute to scoring points for you during the Masquerade Ball and during Estate scoring. An interesting aspect of the game is when end of turn is triggered. There is a queen piece which if at the end of your turn you have, then that triggers the end of turn. This creates a need to plan properly because otherwise you can get screwed when another player grabs the queen during his/her turn and ends that round and you suddenly realise you have less turns than you had expected. Gameplay wise we also found that it is not very forgiving if you make a mistake right at the beginning, it can be quite difficult to get back into the game. Also, we found cards like Cunning Stroke which allows you to place more tiles in a turn (which is vital in providing you resources and points scoring) maybe overpowered. Granted we did not play with the Men-at-arms power too much (only 2 players did), I still did have fun. i would want to have a few more plays but at least 1 player decided that its a lousy game (due to the punishing first start + overpowered card)</div>
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<b>Unexpected Treasures</b></div>
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A light role selection type of games where players will first choose a card from a set of identical cards for all players and then reveal it after all players have chosen in secret and resolve. If there are any players with the same cards, they check their player order, switch and only 1 player will be active in that round. The rest will be out. Next resolve the player who has selected the robber and he/she gets to steal a number of objects from the rest of the players who are still active for that round. Then, in ascending order, players will be able to obtain a number of tokens representing goods from the middle of the table. If possible, they can resolve any number of contracts also available on the table by trading in objects that they own and corresponding to the contracts. Contracts provide you points and when all contracts have been drawn, the game ends and the player with the most points wins the game. The game has interesting art, oversized cards (not many sleeves can fit btw) and is easy to teach and play. Going against the norm (i.e. play robber when others are not) and making efficient use of the goods (i.e. not leaving any behind for robbers to steal) is key to the game. I found myself in a different rhythm with the other players and ran away with the game (outscoring by quite a bit). So there really isn't much catch-your-leader mechanism even though you can try by stealing goods but its pretty hard to guess what the leader can play as there are 6 roles to choose from. It is an average game for me and I won't say no to playing it but will not be in my collection.</div>
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<b>Snowdonia</b></div>
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A hotness from Essen that I wanted to try and I was glad to be able to get a game of this before deciding if I want a copy for myself. In the game players are assisting to build a railway to the top of a mountain and score points along the way. When the station at the mountain top is reached, the game ends and player with the most points will win the game. During your turn, you choose where to place one of your 2 pawns (you can get a 3rd if you own a train later during the game) and once all players have placed their pawns, in a specific order sequence, players will take actions by removing their pawns. Actions that you can do include getting resources, clearing rubble, getting cards, contribute to building of a station or purchasing a train. I initially thought that the game was kinda long but we later realised we played a rule wrongly and it should have ended in a timely manner. The game does have its own timing mechanism to ensure the game does not drag on and that is cool. Another cool aspect of the game is that there are many paths to victory but most of it involve performing actions to get resources so that you can achieve objectives from the cards that you can obtain during the game. I tried the surveyor without utilizing the train route but got distracted halfway through the game which was detrimental to me. Art and components reminded me of Walnut grove and is nice and cartoony. Not a bad game and can be played solo like Walnut grove and I may just get it for the solo aspect (yes I am now much more open to solo games and may just have a day where I play all my solo games ;p)</div>
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<b>Suburbia</b></div>
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Another hotness from Essen that I wanted to play but did not manage to get until recently. As mentioned in previous posts, I am eagerly looking for a game that can give me the same fun and feel that I had with Simcity the video game. I think suburbia does that to an acceptable level for me. The game is easy to play and teach and essentially is obtaining a tile during your turn, place it into your borough and then resolving the tile, adjusting reputation and income and getting said reputation and income and that is the end of your turn. The game does have some progression as you go through category A buildings and end somewhere halfway through category C buildings where A buildings are your basic small town type buildings and C buildings are more advanced, expensive and powerful. So while it seems simple and easy to play, it does require some thinking and planning though not too heavy that your brain will start to smoke so I think this is a medium weight game. One fiddly aspect will be the resolution when placing a new tile because you need to check your borough if there are any benefits to be activated and check each other player's borough because there are benefits that apply to ALL boroughs in play. I wish they had extended the player board another row which includes the various "ALL" benefits and provided tokens to mark them so that players can easily see if they qualify when a new building is added anywhere. Another interesting aspect of the game is the scoring track which will penalize you by decreasing your reputation and income (which can lead to negatives) when you start to move up the track. It is a neat catch the leader mechanism which will ensure that you have established a well balanced borough before progressing further. Unfortunately it feels very much like a multiplayer solitare game and interaction amongst players is limited to the market and objectives and that's about it. I was wondering if its possible to restrict the players to a fixed sized and force players to build into each other's area and even allowing boroughs to connect to each other! I wonder if there will be an expansion like that :) Good game and I recommend.</div>
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<b>Mieses Karma</b></div>
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I first heard about this game from Garrett's games and geekiness podcast and was intrigued by the theme which is Buddism, reincarnation and Karma. These 3 words also represent the main mechanisms of the game. In the game, players start off as ants and through helping other players and playing correct cards into their "lifeline", they will be able to "die" and reincarnate into better animals and ultimately back into a human again. The first player who successfully dies as a human will end the game and players then count up the points and whoever has the most points wins (usually one of the players who has reincarnated into a human). Game is light and amusing and the mechanisms of helping others to gain karma and the different powers that the animals have certainly help with the theme. I can see how this game was designed with the theme first and how the mechanisms enhance the experience of the game. For example, usually if the cards in your hand run out you will die and reincarnate. By helping others, you are giving a card away from your hand which in turn will hasten your "demise". Later animals will draw more cards when reincarnated which represents the longer lives these animals usually led and is also quite thematic. Art wise is cartoony and ok and there are little plastic buddhas which you use to keep track of your karma score. All in all, its pretty interesting and unique to me. I will want to play it a few more times just to see if there's too much luck involved. Do give this a try and see for yourself.</div>
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<b>Libertalia</b></div>
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I am still not playing this well. I mean there are times where I can predict what my opponents will be playing and be able to take advantage of it. HOwever most plays I won't be able to do so and will suffer as a result. Rarely have i ever won this game :(</div>
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Still quite fun as you are trying to second guess your opponents and the powers are interesting. However with the new light filler games that kinda fulfill the need for games where subtleness and guessing of player choices, I am not sure how long this will last though. Also its amazing how pimped out components add thematic value to a game. The metal coins I gotten at GENCON 2012 for this game certainly adds a lot of theme to the game as they feel hefty and has that Chink as they collide with each other. Never underestimate how good components can help with the enjoyment of a game!</div>
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<b>Homestretch</b></div>
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Another new release I believe from Essen that I was interested to try after hearing a few podcasts talk about this. After Long Shot, I am interested to see what other horse racing type games there are out there. I haven't had a chance to try Horse Fever yet but I gave Homestretch a try. In the game, players will draft shares for horses and then perform the first part of each race (total 4 races). They will place their betting chits on a chart in the middle of the board to denote bets they make on each horse and their placement in the upcoming race. Once done, the race will begin and that starts the 2nd phase. For the race, players will roll 2 D6 dice and decide to move the horse denoted by the sum total 2 spaces OR 1 space and then reroll again. When 3 horses have placed, the race ends and payout begins. At the start of the 2nd race, there is another opportunity for players to buy more shares and then race 2 will commence. Races 3 and 4 will just have the betting and racing phases. Once the game ends, whoever has the most money will win the game. This is a light party game which does have its share of hooting and hollaring but I think Long shot is more fun. The 2nd purchase doesn't really make sense to me and since race 3 and 4 there are no changes except for betting, they seem to just require players to roll and move the horses which seems a little redundant.Each race has special conditions to stop some horses from moving too early or provide a very big boost when they race. Though I have perhaps seen only a small fraction of the number of races available, I am not sure if there is much variety to make each race different nor interesting. Components wise the horses have engraved numbers which is better than Long Shot's stickers but otherwise the rest of the game is functional. I am not impressed with the game and this is a try before you buy type of game. I have another horse racing game called Bookmaker yet to be played so lets see how that compares to this and Long Shot.</div>
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<b>Keyflower</b></div>
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Played with 5 players and taught to a group of 6 players who have never played this before. This is still a very good game for me as timing and observing what your opponents are doing is key to the game. I haven't reached the level where I am actively monitoring what the other players may want or what tiles they will need to activate yet as I am still largely focused on what I need to do and hoping others won't realise it before its too late. Players still seem to underestimate the power of using other players' tiles as you can utilize what other player's may have spent a lot of meeples to obtain AND block the owners themselves out from using their own tiles. I still having a lot of fun with the game and since it plays to 6, will be a definite keeper for me. I would like to try this with 2 to see how it plays though. Lets see if I get the chance to. A great game and highly recommended.</div>
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<b>Ginkgopolis</b></div>
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Recently heard on Garrett's games and geekiness about how they do not get the game and feel that its boring and it is very surprising to me. Mostly because so far a lot of the games they like, I do like as well thus I am astonished that they just felt it was boring and did not like this at all. While I feel that once you have the right powers established, you can get a lot of returns each round by just performing that action and it may seem runaway, it falls on the other players to perhaps follow suite and balance the advantage out. I like how you can potentially screw with other players' plans and deny them victory. This latest game though I can see how some can feel that the game is broken and doesn't really allow for strategic planning and is tactical at best. So while I do like the game, I am beginning to see some cracks in the game. Still fun to play and recommended but now will be a try before you buy for me.</div>
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<b>P.U.L.P</b></div>
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With regards to the podcast, thank you so much for those who have downloaded and listened and the feedback you have provided. Episode 2 will be out in about 5 days time so look out for it. We are still thinking of interesting and unique topics to discuss and podcast about but feel free to leave comments/suggestions/feedback as we would love to hear from you out there. You can leave the comments in this blog or via geekmail at BGG or even twitter me.</div>
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<b>Conventions</b></div>
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Jonathan (my cohost on the podcast) will be heading to ESSEN 2013! I am quite excited for him and all the experiences he will get. This will be a first major Con for him and I hope if there are any people out there interested to help/meetup and say hi, do let him know. You can geekmail him at “jion” on BGG.</div>
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GENCON2013! I am 90% sure I will be heading to GENCON2013 again and I am so excited! I was planning to go Essen 2013 but plans change and GENCON here I come. I am excited to meet up with all the new friends I have made and met over the year and would certainly like to meet up with anyone. I will also see what I can do for the blog and podcast while I am there but 1 thing's for sure, I will be posting my pictures like how I did last year so follow me @duckizz on twitter if you want to be kept up to date on the latest and greatest at GENCON 2013!</div>
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duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-69672262233500930762013-01-23T05:21:00.000-08:002013-01-23T05:21:04.285-08:00Bests of 2012 - Supporting post for PULP:Episode 1
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Hi everyone, here are some of my additional thoughts that could not be conveyed effectively via the podcast :)</div>
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<b>top 5 surprises</b></div>
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<b>Plato 300</b></div>
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I am now wondering if Guildhall will have similar mechanisms as this. once my copy arrives from Canada (yes I have resorted to ordering from overseas so i can get my hands on it sooner! :p) i will do a comparison. I haven't played this with 2 decks but i think the sweet spot for this will be 3 players.</div>
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<b>Space Cadets</b></div>
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Seems to be having rave reviews now and I am not surprised. There are elements which make me want to grab a copy and bring to the office to try but I do prefer more competitive games and I doubt I can form 2 teams and have them fight against each other with 2 copies of the game lol. If I was sponsored and I can find 10 people willing to play who knows! But for now I will give it a miss in my collection. Still you should give it a try and feel the tension and fun when you all make it and the pressure and shame when you screw up and cause the ship to explode and lose.</div>
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<b>Xwing Miniatures</b></div>
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The hype seemed to have died down with my groups as there are so many new games to play. That and disappointment in the delay of Wave 2 sale date may have killed my initial excitement for this. Still lets see what happens when Wave 2 appears on the market and I grab a copy. Now I am wondering what to do with the unopened expansions that I have :p</div>
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<b>Netrunner</b></div>
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OMG i need to get more plays of this and especially the deck building part. I will be getting my expansions soon and I hope to get more plays in. I have recently purchased a few more deck building-type of games (including Star Wars LCG) and I hope to do a comparison between them. Oh and have you seen the FFG playing mat? I WANT ONE! Come on ffg, sell the extras that you have already!</div>
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<b>Terra Mystica</b></div>
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Still in a lot of our minds and still itchy to grab more plays on this. I will try to see if I can "infect" more people and get them hooked on the game. It really is a very good game and also widely received by the gaming public on BGG. I think I will be quite contented when I get to played each race once.</div>
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<b>Top 5 disappointments</b></div>
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<b>Scripts and Scribes the dice game</b></div>
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OMG its so ugly and while i was playing it i was so hoping that it will end soon so that we can move on. It did not made me feel I need to use a lot of brain cells during the game as I just react to what I have rolled. Pity as I do love Biblios so I would recommend people to try Biblios over Scripts anytime.</div>
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<b>Urbania</b></div>
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I did think that the game was fun when I got it but after a few more plays the busy busy board got to me and secret objectives. One common strategy that I do is to cycle through the objectives right at the beginning rather than renovate any of the buildings. This will allow other players to "help" you to achieve your objectives rather than you do it yourself. At the same time I will try to buy the specialists so that at least I score points every round. So while I wanted to love this game, it did not work out between us lol. I am hoping when I get suburbia it will be way way better. Already Ginkgopolis surpasses Urbania for me in terms of city building. Even Oddville is more fun!</div>
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<b>Archipelago</b></div>
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Sigh, I really really wanted to like this game. But the long explanation time for new players as well as the long gaming time (even on the Short objective mode) are real killers for this game. I recently gotten the Solo expansion and I am hoping to get some games in to finally be able to play this to completion. Hopefully there will be other players out there (I just need 1!) to be able to play multiplayer to its rightful conclusion. Looking online it does seem that you need the right group of players to be able to complete the game. Lets see how it goes... *cross fingers*</div>
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<b>Rex</b></div>
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So many people raved about it but it just fell through for me. I am not adverse to the universe but knowing that this was based on Dune does allow me to see how Dune theme will sit way better than the Rex universe. Perhaps the way the group played did not have a lot of negotiations and banter as required to make this game interesting and exciting. After 2 plays I just don't feel it and thus was disappointing for me.</div>
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<b>Merchants of Venus</b></div>
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Another one that many many people raved about. I was caught up in the hype as well because I listen to a lot of Dicetower and Eric loves it so much and well, i do like a lot of games that Eric loves so I had assumed I will too. Unfortunately after my first play I am not feeling it. I cannot get over the roll-and-move part of the game and it seemed a bit too light for me. Setup also seems to be quite tedious to me. Maybe I require a bit more confrontation (pewpew!)? So far I don't think I have many good space themed games in my collection. Hmm i wonder why....</div>
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<b>Top 5 Best games</b></div>
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<b>Andean Abyss</b></div>
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I need to get this out some more and play the solo version. It seems a bit daunting to teach but I think my groups can handle it. I love the different faction victory conditons and the forced interactions between players. Meaty enough for me with just the right amount of player interaction.</div>
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<b>Netrunner</b></div>
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Enough has been said above so I won't go into too much details again.</div>
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<b>Keyflower</b></div>
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Btw if you are setting up the houses, please be careful. It can be a real pain to set it up nicely as the chimminies seems to be quite difficult to setup correctly. I also need to grab a few more plays of this as it was a very enjoyable game for me. Lots of meeples, nice art and intriguing auction/activation mechanism. Timing here is also quite important because you need to know when to use your tiles and other players' tiles to block them. In our games often other players will curse when their tiles get used up and it is quite satisfying when that happens :)</div>
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<b>Milestones</b></div>
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I love this so much that I got this for my secret santa target even though he did not request for it. I really wanted to spread the "love" for this game around and I am glad that he and his family loved the game as well. The most important thing when playing this game is not to set it up for other players. Timing is also very important. If you can time it such that you can dictate the end game round and prevent the other players to make constructive last turn moves, the feeling is awesome.</div>
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<b>Terra Mystica</b></div>
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Not much else that I want to add to this. Some games we can sit around and let our mind wander as other players make their moves but Terra Mystica really kept me glued to my seat and focused on the game the whole time and for a game that takes at least 2 hours to play, that is quite an accomplishment to be so engaged and still entertained. Highly recommended and I am really glad I got a copy!</div>
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Here is a list of games released in 2012 that I played in 2012 and the number of times I played it.</div>
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Plato 3000-9</div>
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Android: Netrunner-8</div>
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Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game-8</div>
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Milestones-7</div>
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Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small-6</div>
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Libertalia-6</div>
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Ginkgopolis-5</div>
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Urbania-5</div>
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Fleet-4</div>
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Ghost Blitz-4</div>
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Lords of Waterdeep-4</div>
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Noah-4</div>
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Terra Mystica-4</div>
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Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar-4</div>
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Archipelago-3</div>
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Dominant Species: The Card Game-3</div>
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Farmerama-3</div>
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The Great Zimbabwe-3</div>
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Empires of the Void-2</div>
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Keyflower-2</div>
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Myrmes-2</div>
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OddVille-2</div>
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Rattus Cartus-2</div>
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Rex: Final Days of an Empire-2</div>
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Seasons-2</div>
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The Manhattan Project-2</div>
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Zombicide-2</div>
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Zooloretto Würfelspiel-2</div>
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1812: The Invasion of Canada-1</div>
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Andean Abyss-1</div>
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Aztlán-1</div>
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Catan: Junior-1</div>
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Descent: Journeys in the Dark (second edition)-1</div>
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Disaster Looms!-1</div>
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Empire Express-1</div>
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Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre-1</div>
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For The Win-1</div>
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Heap-1</div>
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Kairo-1</div>
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Level 7 [Escape]-1</div>
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Merchant of Venus (second edition)-1</div>
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Morels-1</div>
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Quills-1</div>
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Richelieu-1</div>
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Rocket Jockey-1</div>
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Scripts and Scribes: The Dice Game-1</div>
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Shadows over Camelot: The Card Game-1</div>
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Sheepland-1</div>
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Space Cadets-1</div>
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Spartacus: A Game of Blood & Treachery-1</div>
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Sunrise City-1</div>
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Tahiti-1</div>
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Trains-1</div>
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Urbanization-1</div>
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VivaJava: The Coffee Game-1</div>
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ladies of troyes-1</div>
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qin-1</div>
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pala-1</div>
duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-37254074887410806032013-01-21T18:26:00.000-08:002013-01-22T08:52:53.145-08:00Can you say Podcast! ;)<br />
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<a href="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1542998_md.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" jea="true" src="http://cf.geekdo-images.com/images/pic1542998_md.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
so we have recorded and finally managed to figure out this hosting and rss feed thing and our very first episode is ONLINE! :) I have submitted to iTunes as well and it may take a few days before its searchable and all. For the moment, you can click on the link at the side to start listening!<br />
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Feel free to leave comments here or geekmail us in BGG. I have also submitted for a guild and podcast entry on BGG and once its up I will update you.<br />
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Stay tune for the 2nd episode where Jon and I talk about a hidden gem in each of our collections.<br />
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The feed is here<br />
<a href="http://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/pulp_feed.xml">http://s3.amazonaws.com/PushUrLuckPodcast/pulp_feed.xml</a><br />
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iTunes is here<br />
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/push-ur-luck-podcast-pulp/id595424362?mt=2<br />
<br />duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-60612306927231792932013-01-08T03:48:00.003-08:002013-01-08T03:48:29.362-08:00Urbanization, Noah, Geistes Blitz, Zooloretto Dice Game, Love Letter, Crows, Inception and Samurai the card game<br />
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<b><span style="color: #e69138;">HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!</span></b></div>
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So the wife is now in Singapore with me and we managed to have a few good game sessions between us and with friends. However since its the christmas and new year season, I did not get to game as much as people are on holidays, I went to Hong Kong as well with my wife and so this recently played post will be rather short.</div>
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<b>Urbanization</b></div>
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The rules were kinda confusing on this one and this is one game that I did not really know what I was doing even halfway through the game. I did some of the basic strategies like carving out enough land for myself so I won't be crippled later on and expanding through tech initially and generally not doing what the others are doing. I think the concept or terms used in the games are quite different from other usual terms that it confused me. Essentially you are to score points and win the game. You are trying to grow your city gradually without overstretching yourself as there is the dreaded feed phase every turn. You can make money and thus points by means of citizens in your city or by factories producing goods or by tech. I went quite early on into the factory route but did not know how to capitalize on it. My other friends enjoyed the game and felt it was good though. Maybe its just me :)</div>
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<b>Noah</b></div>
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Played Noah again with the wife and friend in Hong Kong. I brought this along because its a very small box and quite fun to play. Not much new for me to add to this game except its a pretty easy going game, easy to teach and the variants are a MUST if you are playing with experienced gamers so that they will still find interest in this game.</div>
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<b>Geistes Blitz</b></div>
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This game was introduced to me at my regular gaming group when one of them bought this from Hong Kong. So I took this opportunity to buy a few copies as well and played it with my wife. My wife loves it. I brought it to office to play as well and so far everyone has been enjoying it. Its a good filler game great for warm up and for preparing players for longer games ahead. The game essentially requires players to grab the item that appears as is (both color + shape of item) on a card that is drawn each turn OR grab the item that does not appear at all (both color and shape) on the card. If you grab the wrong item, you are penalized and must return a card that you have previously won. The game ends when the deck runs out and the player with the most cards wins the game. For a more tricker game, you can play with the variants which require you to say the item out instead of grabbing and even saying the item in a foreign language. Initially most players will find it abit difficult to play even the basic game but after multiple plays you will definitely get a hang of it and will mostly likely improve. Highly recommended!</div>
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<b>Zooloretto Dice Game</b></div>
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A box filler with my order from the germany site it is basically zooloretto with dice. A very interesting note of the game would be when you remove dice from a truck, that truck is suddenly free for any remaining player to place dice in. So surprisingly it will pay more often than not to be the last 1 or 2 players. The game ends when 1 enclosure is left in a player's sheet or ALL enclosures are filled. Players will then count up their scores and highest score wins. Easy to teach and play and good amount of fun for the time length.</div>
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<b>Love Letter</b></div>
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So yes yes everyone has been raving about this game and I must admit I was very apprehensive about the game because it seemed to be way too light for me to enjoy it even a little. My friend got me the japanese copy (because I love the art from there) for christmas and I proceeded to get a few plays of this in. I have played 2p, 3p and 4p and 2p and 4p experiences can be quite different. for 2p, once you have the No. 3 card where you compare cards and you have a rather high card (>5), you will usually win that round. No. 1 card where you have to guess is not as effective in a 2p game. For 4p, the reverse seems to be true. The No. 1 card can be surprisingly effectively, due to the number of cards that are already discarded. No 8. card, the princess, is a pain to have very early in the game. Its been quite well received and everyone who played it liked it because its small, easy to teach and play and quite a fast little game. The japanese version of the game have some rule differences and did not provide a lot of tokens to indicate round wins. That is because it seems that japanese version only instructs you to play once or twice to determine the winner whereas the AEG version states a certain number of tokens before you win the game. If you want something light and won't really blow your wallet, this is recommended.</div>
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<b>Crows</b></div>
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A light-medium weight tile/worker placement game where players draw a tile and place it OR place a tile which depicts trash. After which, players will place their gem token on any empty tile on the board. Once all players have done so, then the crow-eeples on the board will fly towards the nearest gem token based on certain rules. Players will then score for each crow-eeple that is on the same tile as their gem token. Players remove their gem tokens and the round starts again. Once the number of face down tiles is finished, then players see who has the highest score and that person will be the winner. In this game, turn order is very important because sometimes being first will be very beneficial but most of the time being last and having special tiles which can screw up others' plans is better. We played a rule wrong involving scattering of a murder of crows (more than 5 crows in 1 spot after scoring) and this may have impacted our game. I will try it again before having any concrete opinion. So far its average for me. It is fun just not sure if it will last in my collection.</div>
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<b>Inception</b></div>
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I mentioned about this game in a previous post and since I had a chance to head to Hong Kong, I bought a copy. They did not have the 1st edition that I played but they have the 2nd edition which has additional new elements to the game. We played the basic elements first and already trying to translate the cards was a tedious for us (sad to say!). Still we manage to play the game more or less but the game ended very shortly as most of the other players are still relatively new so they did not guard against my (as the dream master)'s power and a traitor (to their clause) helped me win the game. I will definitely need to spend some time to write proper translation to the game and make it easier to play and bring it out more often to play. I do think it is fun and interesting and the new features add quite a bit to the game. There are now nightmares which occur at each level, more characters and more powers and more cards for example there's a card that forces a change in character to a person which can be quite damaging depending on the differences. Pity these chinese games are not getting a lot of limelight in BGG. Asian games in general are slowly getting some recognition with japanese and korean games in the forefront but still much can be done especially from the publishers to break into the European and american markets.</div>
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<b>Samurai:The Card Game</b></div>
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Last game I want to talk about in my list is Samurai the card game. I played my good friend's copy some time back and was itching to get my own copy. This is an abstract light-medium game where you are placing cards and hoping to be the majority when a village card is surrounded to win the respecting wooden piece (circle, square or triangle). The game ends when any one wooden piece is depleted or when the village deck runs out or when a player runs out of cards completely. The final scoring is tricky. Players compare to see how many majorities they have. If a player has 2 or more majorities, they will win the game (max 3 majorities anywaY). Otherwise, those with majorities will disregard that piece that has majority and count al other pieces. The player with the most pieces wins. Thus in the game, you are trying to outmanuver other players, make sure you have at least 1 majority AND still have most of other types of pieces. Another quirk of the game is that it requries quite a large space to play. That is because, dependant on the village cards that appear, players may sometimes concentrate on 1 side and thus leading the growth of the cards to 1 side only, creating a lopsided landscape.I would recommend this game to players who like abstract games and can spend around 30-40 mins on the game. Quite good for a Reiner game but absolutely no theme.</div>
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So all in all, still quite a few good gaming sessions. I still have some games waiting to play (especially Letters of Whitechapel) and i cant wait to bring them to the table. My german shipment with some anticipated games (like Sator) is unfortunately shipped back to the sender after being sent China by mistake (people Singapore is NOT in CHINA!!!) and repeated emails still have no response from them :(. I will also plan on starting something so cross fingers there and in my next post I hope to be able to share some exciting news :D</div>
duckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3816418410693489075.post-45288552049393194782012-12-25T15:52:00.001-08:002012-12-25T15:52:22.908-08:00Its Christmas and New Year!to my 2 or 3 fans out there, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<br />
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I just got back from a trip to Hong Kong with the wifey and managed to visit 2 boardgame cafe/shops. Purchased a few games, met a fellow boardgamer and am now trying to decipher a chinese-only game that I got.<br />
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When I am free, I will attempt to post my thoughts on 2012 as well as my top 10 games of 2012!<br />
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Until then, keep boardgaming people! :Dduckizzhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16616199413366778702noreply@blogger.com0