22nd October 2019
Tuesday gaming night at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking continues. The next game of the evening was 'Love Letter'. My blog about it can be found here.
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22nd October 2019
Tuesday has arrived; it's evening and we're at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking for gaming night. The first game of the evening was 'Splendor'. Read my blog about it here. 20th October 2019 Sunday gaming at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking continues as there is no 50 Fathoms. The final game of the day was 'Aye, Dark Overlord!'. A compact and simple 'storytelling' card game about making excuses to your boss. So if you've ever had a job you were really bad at, you'll be right at home. What's in a game? Aye, Dark Overlord! is a pure card game and has no other components.
How's it play? One player will assume the role of the Dark Overlord, remaining players all take on the role of his inept minions. The hint and action cards are shuffled and each player is dealt 3 hint cards and 3 action cards. The premise of Aye, Dark Overlord! is that the minions are returning from some mission that they were tasked with by the Dark Overlord. The mission was yet another failure! Now the Dark Overlord wants to know why it failed?
As well as hint cards, action cards can be played.
Withering look cards are only played by the Dark Overlord player.
Endgame Once a minion has received a 3rd withering look card it's game over - and not just for the game! The minion is carted off to the Dark Overlord's dungeons for an 'appropriate reprimand'. All the other minions breathe a sigh of relief. For the next game, whoever got 3 withering look cards should be the Dark Overlord. Overall
Aye, Dark Overlord! is a strange beast and I don't know entirely what to make of it. Mechanically, it's a very, very light game, almost nonexistent. However, to me it seems that this game has its roots in 'improv' acting or storytelling. Pass the buck seems it's a bit like 'yes, and' and interrupt a bit like 'yes, but', which are improv terms. Which I think, for a game like this, means you need a particular kind of player for it to work, it just won't work if players don't 'buy in' to it. Personally, I found it quite hard to 'gel' with the game. Maybe I need to give it another try? But if you have an interest in the improv side of this game, it may be your cup of tea. 20th October 2019 Sunday lunchtime is here and we're at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking. There's no 50 Fathoms this week, so that means board games. We began with 'Avalon' an 'Arthurian' themed game. It seems that a reoccurring element in Arthurian themed games is 'betrayal' (Or is it confirmation bias on my part?). Is Avalon any different? Does it buck the trend? In a word; no! Because Avalon is a hidden role game that's all about betrayal. What's in a game? Avalon has very few components, but they are of a good quality.
How's it play? Because Avalon is a 'hidden role' game it requires quite a bit of setup first. For the games of Avalon we played was 5-player and we used the following 'good' characters: Merlin, Percival, and a loyal servant of Arthur. And the following 'evil characters Morgana, and the assassin.
The objective in Avalon is to go on 5 quests, the 'good' characters want at least 3 of these quests to succeed. Meanwhile the 'evil' characters want at least 3 quests to fail and are looking to sabotage the quests. Each round is divided into 3 phases, team selection, voting, questing. Team selection
Once the leader has finished nominating players for the quest, everyone will then vote on their team selection.
Now that the team selection has been approved, the game moves on to questing.
Endgame Play continues until:
If the 'good' players have successfully completed 3 quests; the assassin player can 'kill' a character. If the assassin kills the Merlin character, then evil wins! Additionally, as mentioned above, 'evil' can also win during the team selection voting. Overall
I'm going to start by mentioning that I'm not a particular fan of hidden role games. I think it's because I'm not entirely comfortable with my friends flat out lying to my face! But I have to say that Avalon is a good hidden role game. I think that the reason it works so well is because there are 2 'tiers' of play going on at once. Most hidden role games I've seen have players making deductions based on the results of how things play out. Which for Avalon is the quest outcome But Avalon has something different, something extra. It also has the 'team selection voting phase', which has open voting for everyone to see. This gives players plenty of opportunity to try and glean each other's motives. 'Good' players will want to try and vote down teams that they suspect contains 'evil' characters. It's hard for a quest to be sabotaged if it contains no evil characters. Conversely 'evil' characters may want to vote down a team that does not contain evil characters. Finally, the assassin introduces a sting in the tail. The Merlin player will know exactly who the villains are. But they must be careful when selecting or voting for teams. If they're too obvious, then the assassin player may manage to deduce who the Merlin player is, then 'evil' will win. It's an intriguing idea and a real balancing act for the Merlin player. So, if you like social deduction, bluffing and hidden role games, Avalon is definitely worth a try. 19th October 2019 Saturday evening at Matakishi's means board games. Tonight we played '1655: Habemus Papam': 'Habemus Papam means 'We have a Pope', you don't actually have a Pope at the start of the game, but you will do the end! 1655: Habemus Papam is an wholesome, clean and fun auctioning game about influencing and manipulating various members of the Catholic church to control the election of the next pope. What's in a game? 1655: Habemus Papam is a fairly compact card game with some nice little components
How's it play? Setup:
1655: Habemus Papam is all about collecting sets of clergy cards, this is done via blind bidding.
Endgame Play continues until the white smoke card is drawn, then players get a final chance to acquire cards. Then it's time to see who has the most points and will choose who is elected pope
Overall
So what to make of 1655: Habemus Papam? Apart from the slightly unique auction mechanic, nothing stands out about this game or is special. It's all just unremarkable. If someone else wanted to play this, I would be happy to do so, but it's not one I'd choose. I can't with all fairness say that it's a good game, but equally I can't honestly say it's a bad game either. It's just a set collecting game, and there's better ones out there. To say it's mediocre is a little bit harsh, but that's what it is. It's all definitely a bit 'meh'. 15th October 2019 Tuesday evening has rolled around again and we're at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking. This can only mean it's games night. Our game of the evening is 'Gold West'. A game for rootin' tootin' prospectors and quite possibly outlaws and bandits. What's in a game? There are quite a lot of components in Gold West. The general game components are:
How's it play? Before beginning, setup needs to be carried out:
Supply resources Resources are supplied through the supply track.
Use metals So now that resources have been moved out of the supply track, they must be used. There are 5 resources and 3 of them are precious metals - gold, silver and copper. In this stage, the precious metals are 'spent'.
Build camp/settlement or loot After using metals, the active player has to build a camp or settlement, or loot. This is done using wood and/or stone resources that were bought out of the supply track along with the metals.
This means that having more than 1 stone or 1 wood is a waste as these will be discarded. A player only needs a stone or a wood, or a stone and a wood. That's it for a player's turn, it seems like a lot, but in play it's pretty straightforward. Endgame Gold West is played over 11 rounds, players have ten tents to use and there's a further round with no tents. Then we get on to scoring, points are scored in the following ways:
Overall
There's a lot to like about Gold West. The supply mechanic is equal parts infuriating and brilliant. If you put your resources in the lower boxes and have trouble getting them out effectively, it's only your own fault for being greedy for points. But if you're able to manage the flow of resources well, it's a good source of points. Talking of points, Gold West presents players a good variety of ways to score points. There is always a way to accumulate points, it's a question of optimisation and individual strategy. Players are always given meaningful choices on how to approach scoring. Even if a player fails to bring out a stone or wood resource, they still have the open to loot. I also like how resources become revealed as players build camps and settlements on the map. It's a nice touch. The game is also a nice looking game, I like the stagecoach meeples and there's something pleasing about looking at the game map covered in lots of tent meeples. All in all I liked Gold West. 13th October 2019
Sunday lunchtime at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking. Normally this would mean 50 Fathoms, but the game is currently on a hiatus. So board games it is instead. Today we played 'Elder Sign'. Read my blog about it here. 12th October 2019
It's Saturday again and it's the evening at Matakishi's. Time to play some games. Tonight we played the final 2 games of Machi Koro Legacy. I've already written a blog about this, you can read about it here. 8th October 2019
Board game evening at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking continues. The second and final game of the evening was 'Sushi Roll' Read what I thought about it here. 8th October 2019
It's Tuesday at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking, so it's time for some board games. First game of the night was 'Splendor. Read my blog about it here. |
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