Recent board games and what I thought [add your own capsule reviews]

[Nellisir]

I played Tzolk'in and Roll Through the Ages yesterday, both for the first time. I ended up winning Tzolk'in by concentrating on one area and not spreading myself out too much. I had a series of bad rolls with Roll Through the Ages, but did alright -- I might have done better if I'd stuck to my plan to end the game ASAP. Not doing so gave other people time to get more points but didn't help me at all.

I played Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries again (it's my game) last week and lost (again) by gambling and not completing two long routes. I got shut out of one on the second round of play, and simply could not get the cards to complete the second.

 

[MerricB]

This weekend was taken up mainly with roleplaying and reading, but I did get to play The Manhattan Project and a couple of games of Archipelago.

The Manhattan Project I've now played with 2 and 5 players, and both times it has been unimpressive. This is a game that got compared a lot to Lords of Waterdeep when the latter came out, but the reason it didn't get more press was simple: it was mostly unavailable (I only just was able to pick up a copy), and it wasn't as good. Basically you're in a race to make atom bombs, and it's a worker placement/engine builder game where you gather resources, get buildings, use the buildigns to turn the resources into different resources, then turn them into bombs, and occasionally bomb your opponents back to the Stone Age. (Or not). In 5-player, it was horrible - too easy to block useful actions (like Espionage). In 2-players, it was better, but the randomness of the available building was massive; I was able to get a great engine, Sarah wasn't. So, I won. My recommendation: Avoid.

Archipelago is unusual. I've played three games with 3 players, and it's been greatly enjoyable. It's billed as a "semi-cooperative" game which means there's only one winner, but you can all lose if the natives rebel. Component-wise, it is beautiful. The rulebook is somewhat confusing (especially as it reverses the normal conventions for "round" and "turn"), but is adequate. The game itself is fascinating: you have a limited number of actions per turn, which you use to build buildings (markets, churches, ports and towns), gather resources, move workers, increase workers and explore. There are also progress cards you can buy that improve the engine of your islands. Meanwhile, you have to satisfy various internal and external demands that apply during the game; not satisfying them bring the game closer to a bad conclusion. What makes the game very interesting is that the end of the game plus the scoring conditions are hidden: each player has one end-game condition with its matching scoring conditions. Once *any* of the end-game conditions applies, then the game immediately end, and you score based on *all* of the hidden scoring conditions as well as one face-up "trend". We found ourselves paying more attention to the other players' actions in subsequent games, trying to guess where to score points. There's also separatist (wins if the island rebels) and pacifist (bonus points for few rebels) end conditions. It's a fascinating game, and one we'll continue to investigate. Game length can be set to short, medium or long. (About 1 hour - 4 hours). My recommendation: Worth checking out.

Cheers!

 

[Jdvn1]

Sentinels of the Multiverse (Greater Than Games)
A non-collectible card game where each player has a deck that represents a comicbook style superhero. You work together to defeat the supervillain (represented by another card deck). I personally really enjoy the game, though I will fully admit that other people seem to either really like it or really dislike it. Because there are lots of heroes to choose from and lots of villains to choose from, combined with randomness of card draws, there is a lot of variety for replay. (though this game/publisher is still small enough that it is harder to get this game outside the US due to shipping costs)

I can certainly recommend this one - as long as you are okay with cooperative games and with losing sometimes. The expansions add replayability exponentially.

 

[Jan van Leyden]

Last week I played a game of Belfort. It is a mixture of worker placement style and majority game. At first glance, the complexity is pretty high, may be even as high as in Agricola. I'll see that I play it again tomorrow so that I can give a more profound description and evaluation.

 

[Cherno]

Gears of War: The Boardgame by Fantasy Flight Games, as usual this comes with lots of very detailed 28mm plastic miniatures and cardboard tiles. The overall art style of the components are taken directly from the videogame. The game itself does not use the well-known Doom:TBG or Descent mechanics but rather a simpler, more brutal approach to combat and exploration. It's a coop game against the system, so to speak. The Locust hordes are controlled by AI cards drawn each player turn. Players each take one COG like Marcus Fenix or Dominic Santiago which all have different starting weapons, ammo, and one special ability. Each player has a hand of cards that represent his health but also act as orders for his character, there's things like covering fire or getting a bonus to attack if you are in cover. And since I've mentioned cover: The cover mechanic is of course inspired by the videogame too; almost every maptile has obstacles with spaces that count as cover. Using these spaces to your advantage is very important if you want to stay alive, and it is one thing I must say is designed very well. The difficulty of the game partly depends on the scenario: Some are very hard and some are a walk in the park, and either way even it all goes well things can down FAST if you're not careful and make the utmost of your order cards. Players: 1-4. Game time can be quite long, 2 hours at least. Overall, I love this game and will surely play it again.

 

[Nellisir]

OK, so I just played 3 games of Evagari, which no one has ever heard of because the guy who invented it hasn't had any luck marketing it. I didn't plan on playing it; it was just the first game I could jump into.

That said, it's a pretty awesome game. It's reminiscent of both chess (4 pieces per player. each with a different type of move: a "star/knight", a "circle/king", a one-or-two space "triangle/bishop", and a one-space "square/rook") and checkers (all pieces, except the circle/king, transform or flip into a circle/king under the right circumstances - sometimes inadvertently).

The board has four 4x4 sections (16 tiles in a section), with the 4 corner tiles of each section being raised. The 4 sections come together in a square, so the 4 center tiles (one from each section) form a platform in the middle of the board. A non-circle piece on the center platform at the start of your turn flips into a circle. The twist here is that instead of moving a piece, you can rotate your section of the board 90 degrees, pushing all the pieces into a different alignment with relation to the rest of the board. A section with no pieces on it is taken out of play, and adjacent sections can slide into that space instead of rotating.

You win by flipping all of your pieces into circles, by being the last player with a circle on the board, or by accumulating points from captured pieces. You lose when you have no circles on the board, or the game stalemates and you have fewer points.

Frankly, I was really impressed. It's complex without being complicated, it's pretty quick (he's apparently done "speed" games that took less than 10 minutes, I think we averaged around 20 - 30 minutes), and the transforming board really shifts the game fast. I would definitely play it again. (Another nice thing: because the sections are all identical and symmetrical, you can add on. I suggested, and he's intrigued by the idea of, playing an 8-player, 9-section game with a fixed center section and 8 sections around the outside. There are a lot of possibilities for variants.)

He's got videos here http://www.youtube.com/user/evagari (I haven't watched them), and a website here http://evagari.com/ (which is a little overwrought IMO).

Also, I really like the idea of a game that you could easily draw out on some paper and play anytime, anywhere.

 

[Nytmare]

NEW AND OLD STUFF FROM THE PAST COUPLE OF WEEKS:

Roll Through the Ages: The Late Bronze Era - Civilization building dice game

This print it yourself expansion for Roll Through the Ages puts the entire game into overdrive. I've always liked the original, but frequently end games feeling like I never got a chance to play with any of the toys I built. The expansion adds and tweaks a handful of developments, extends the game by moving one of the victory conditions by a couple of points, and introduces a new phase, trading.


Kingdom Builder - Territory grabbing point game

I really like this game. There are three randomized aspects that completely change things around from game to game. The board is built with four random map pieces, each board introduces a random piece that you can gather during the game to give you new additional options on your turn. Finally you deal out three random victory point cards which tell you how to win points over the course of the game.


Cash n' Guns - ... Foam gun pointing bluffing game?

I had a bunch of friends visit from out of town, so we had a chance to bust out a lot of games that I haven't had a chance to play in a long time. Cash n' Guns is a game about a bunch of bank robbers calmly and politely divvying up the money after a job well done. They do this by drawing their possibly loaded guns on each other in an attempt to convince their friends to give them their (un)fair share. I love this game, but my normal gaming group usually isn't big enough to make this game interesting.


Goblins Inc - Giant mechanical robot of doom building death match chaos

This game is everything I love about Galaxy Trucker, and none of the things I absolutely despise about Galaxy Trucker. Players take on the role of a bunch of Goblin Mechanics competing to become the new boss of the Giant Mechanical Robot of Doom Factory. The game plays out over two rounds of GMRoD on GMRoD combat, with players being randomly split into teams each round. In addition, each player is given a handful of random "agendas" to choose from that dictate how they want to win points when the fight is over and done with. These agendas tend to run the gambit of how well you think your team, and/or your robot are going to do, but there is the chance of getting an agenda that allows you to bet against yourself.

Each round of the game is split into two different phases. In the first phase, teammates build their robots, each taking turns to (quietly and without any communication at all) select pieces that their partner then needs to attach to their machine. In the second, teammates take turns (once again, quietly and without any communication) swapping between piloting and operating the weapon systems.

I was blown away by this game and can't wait to play it again this weekend. It's just the right mix of light strategy, team work, chaos, and back stabbing to make me happy in a fast game.

 

[Nojo509]

I love Dominion, the deck building game. The core game comes with 25 Kingdom card piles, and in each game you only use 10 piles, so lots of replay, plus there are many expansions out there. This is a game I enjoy even if I lose. I just like trying to build up gold so I can build up victory points.

 

[Nytmare]

New Games From the Past Couple Weeks:

Death Angel - A fast, co-op, 40K card game. You play the part of a team of Space Marines, double timing single file through a Tyrannid infested Space Hulk. Each player has the same basic set of three actions to choose from each round: (basically) Attack, Overwatch (Defend), and Move/Activate. You have to choose your action secretly, and you can not choose the same action you used in the previous round. The actions do slightly different things depending on which Marines you have on your team, and what set pieces you are next to in the ship.

You're trying to survive through four (maybe five?) random sections of the ship and make it to the final room where the actual, randomized win condition is revealed. We started with ten Marines, lost all but 3 of them in the final two sections of the ship, and only managed to "win" by getting someone to the ships' self destruct button in the final room.

I only played one game of it, but it's a favorite of the group I was with. They have 3 or 4 expansions for it, but have not yet felt the need to make the game more difficult. I'm looking forward to trying it again.


Kemet - Fantasy Egyptian Wargame - A little bit of worker placement, a little bit of territory control, and a little bit of ability drafting. You play the part of a warring, ancient Egyptian tribe. On each turn, you have a bit of a resource management game, choosing how to spend that turns actions between a handful of different choices: Moving units, recruiting new troops, building or upgrading a pyramid (which dictates what kinds of abilities you can purchase), praying for more "prayer points" (currency), or by purchasing upgrades from three limited stacks of abilities. The goal is to gain victory points in a handful of different ways (winning combat, holding key locations on the board, building up your tribe...) Most victory points can be stolen, or taken away from players, but some are more difficult to get and are "permanent".

I really liked this one, and am probably going to add it to my collection in the next couple of weeks. The army builds were really interesting and dynamic.


Next Week - Kings of Air and Steam - Supposedly it's a combination of Robo Rally and Merchant of Venus with a Steampunk theme!

 

[Jhaelen]

Death Angel - A fast, co-op, 40K card game. You play the part of a team of Space Marines, double timing single file through a Tyrannid infested Space Hulk.

This one works really well as a solo game, too. I've played it over 30 times now, and despite the simple setup, only one type of enemy and few decisions you have to make each turn, there's a lot of variety in the game. It also manages to capture the theme really well and got my creative juices flowing: I think you could rather easily adapt the rules to turn it into a fantasy-themed dungeon-crawler. Since I'm not a fan of the WH40K setting, I'd enjoy that even more.