27th October 2019 Sunday at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking and our gaming continues. The final game of the day was 'Forbidden Desert', the second game in the 'Forbidden series' of co-operative games. 'Forbidden Desert' is a co-operative game of exploration. The players are a band of adventurers and explorers, scouring the desert (Which I guess is a forbidden?) for the remains of a legendary flying machine. But during your trip, a ferocious sand storm forces your helicopter to crash in the remains of a lost city. The only way to escape the desert is to fly back out of the desert. Your helicopter is a wreck, so your only hope of survival is to find and reconstruct the flying machine before the storm and desert spell your doom! What's in a game? 'Forbidden Desert' comes in a natty tin box, the game's components are good quality with some nice artwork.
How's it play? Setup.
Player actions During the active player's turn, they have 4 actions that they can perform (in any order and repeatedly.). These are:
Once the active player has completed their 4 actions, the storm gets to act. Cards are drawn from the storm deck, the number drawn depends upon how severe the storm is, this ranges from 2-6 cards. There are 3 types of storm card.
Gear cards are all beneficial for the players and can be played at any time by the owning player. Endgame Losing conditions:
If the players manage to retrieve all 4 missing parts of the machine, all manage to reach the launch pad at the same time and the launch pad is unblocked. Then the players win the game. As the adventurers escape in their new flying machine. Overall
Forbidden Desert has essentially 2 timers running, the sand tokens pouring on to the tiles and the strength of the storm (Which also increases the rate in that sand tokens appear.). Water is a resource that must be managed. Players are faced with the choice of being prudent to preserve their water levels, acting to manage the sand token levels or having to work towards their objectives. Especially since the storm can move the game area about which can cause big problems or be an opportunity to exploit. I think the key to doing well in Forbidden Desert are the characters. Each character has their own special ability. Remembering to utilise these abilities and working them into any strategy used vital in my opinion. Forbidden Desert is a cooperative game in which the players play against 'the game'. Games of this type must balance strategy and randomness in order to be good games. Too much strategy and once the players learn the game's systems, they'll learn to rinse it every time. Too much randomness and player decisions become meaningless as their fates will be left to the whim of luck. Forbidden Desert manages to straddle this line pretty well and is one of the better examples of this type of game.
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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. 5th October 2019 It's been a Saturday evening of gaming goodness at Matakishi's place. It's been an evening of small games. The fourth and final game of the night is 'Iunu', which is actually pronounced as er... 'uh wah nu'. Iunu is a card game set in the ancient time of the legendary Pharaohs of Egypt. With deserts and the Nile and the pyramids... or at least some four-sided dice. What's in a game? All the art on the cards is a clean and smooth almost minimalist style that is quite appealing. I guess it's also designed to resemble hieroglyphs? Components include:
How's it play? So we begin with setup.
There's no mention of afterlife cards, what do they do? Well when a 'priest' citizen card is played, the active player take a afterlife card and keeps it face-down in their area. Afterlife cards provide the opportunity to gain extra points during scoring. Players can only have 1 afterlife card each. If a player acquires more afterlife cards, they draw another one and keep one of the two. The other one is shuffled back into the afterlife deck. The dice Dice are rolled every round, what for? Certain citizen cards make use of these vaguely pyramid shaped dice. For example: The 'noble' card will earn the active player currency equal the result of all 3 dice (The dices' values are lowered after this.). The 'baker' citizen card can buy up to 3 bread tokens at a cost equal to the highest single dice. Bread tokens Talking of bakers, what do bread tokens do? After acquiring bread tokens, the are placed on citizen cards that have been played to increase their value in the endgame scoring. Additionally, bread tokens on your 'farmer' citizen cards will protect them from being 'enticed away' by pesky 'soldier' citizen cards. Endgame Once the citizen deck is depleted and all players have had an equal number of turns, we go into scoring. There are 5 ways to score:
Overall Iuni is a game with some interesting mechanics. Having to return 2 cards to the forum during every turn forces players into making some hard decisions, because not only are you discarding cards which may be useful, you're also giving other players the opportunity to take them. The dice are also an interesting idea and not something I've seen before in this style of game. The randomness can throw a real 'curve ball' into players' strategies. Once players have gotten their heads around the slightly unusual way the game works, it's quite quick to play and would be good as a filler or finisher game. 5th October 2019 Gaming night at Matakishi's is underway. The third game of the night was 'Campy Creatures'. Put yourselves in the shoes of a 'mad scientist'. Misunderstood, never trusted and unloved. But there's a reason why the mad scientist is the way they are and why they kidnap innocent people. It's to stop those other pesky mad scientist from doing it first!! Campy Creatures is a blind bidding game where you bid to capture teenagers and other hapless victims and put them into sets in order to score points. What's in a game? All of the cards in this game are nicely illustrated with art that wouldn't look out of place on posters for the 'creature feature' movies that this game is emulating.
How's it play? As always we begin with set up.
Campy Creatures uses blind bidding. The highest bid gets to go first and pick the victim card of their choice.
Endgame Campy Creatures is played over a total of 3 rounds. After the final round, final scores are tallied, highest score wins. Overall
Campy Creatures is a quick and interesting game to play. This is down to the special abilities on the monster cards. They can really throw a spanner into the works (And player's plans.). Special abilities include cancelling other cards special abilities, acquiring 2 cards instead of 1, forcing someone to discard a card they captured etc. Learning to watch other players is important. Looking at what cards they have collected gives you the chance to anticipate what other cards they will want. This means you have the opportunity to mess with them! It gives the game an extra level of depth, which without the game would be too simple. Even so, with so few special abilities (That are identical for all players.), after prolonged play, the game could become 'samey'. But as a occasional filler game, Campy Creatures is a good game. 24th September 2019 Tuesday evening is here and we're at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking for games night. It was an evening of several short games. We begun with 'Sushi Roll', this game is a follow up to the rather good 'Sushi Go!'. Will Sushi Roll live up to expectations? Let's see. What's in a game Sushi Roll comes in a largish box and a whole bunch of components. These are solidly made and of a good quality.
How's it play? We begin with set up:
And we're ready to go.
Overall There's a lot to like about Sushi Roll. There's a pleasant tactile sensation to be had when you slide or hand the conveyor belt tile over to another player. The same is true when using chopsticks to snatch away a die from someone else's conveyor belt. The theme fits the game perfectly. The mechanics with the dice is very clever. You can see what dice are coming your way, but since the dice are rolled again, you don't know exactly what you're getting. It does a very good job of replacing the card mechanic from Sushi Go!. No need to try and memorise cards now! Everyone I've played this game with, preferred this version to its predecessor. It's less portable and takes a little set up time, but it feels more tactile, it's a little more 'open', therefore giving players more choices to make. The scoring and pudding tokens make it a bit more 'user friendly'. Meanwhile the chopsticks and menus lend the game a bit more strategy. So, is it worth getting Sushi Roll if you've played Sushi Go!? In a word; yes! 22nd September 2019 Sunday lunchtime at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking. Unfortunately 50 Fathoms is still on hiatus. Instead we shall play some board games. The first board game of the day was 'Roll Player'. Have you ever enjoyed creating characters for an RPG more than playing them? Then maybe, just maybe, Roll Player is the game for you. Roll Player is sort of a set collecting, dice rolling, worker placement game that's all about creating what is ostensibly a D&D character. The main of the game is that players use dice to generate their stats, but it's not a case of just rolling the dice. What's in a game The components for Roll Player are of a good quality.
How's it play Firstly there's set up: This is fairly straightforward.
Taking dice After a player takes a die, they must place it on to their character sheet board. When doing this, there are 3 things they need to bear in mind in order to maximise their scores.
Market cards There are several different types of card available to but from the market. When a player takes a market card, it is placed alongside the character sheet board in it's specified spot.
A new row of market cards is dealt every round. Endgame Play continues for 18 rounds until all 6 stats have 3 dice. Points can earned from several sources, these include:
Overall Roll Player is a game with an intriguing theme. Because placing a die has so many consequences, play slows down quite a lot when both choosing and placing a die, so there feels like there is a lot of downtime between turns. Apart from this, the game fine to play and when you complete Roll Player you will have an interesting character. My first Roll Player character was: 'A concentrating, knowledgeable, intimidating, dedicated, honest, famous, chain-armour-wearing, blessed-mace-wielding, druidic, elven chosen one who's good at sleight of hand. His name is Derek!'
6th August 2019 We have arrived at Tuesday evening and thus come to gaming at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking. Century: The New World is the 3rd and final instalment in the 'Century trilogy'. You can read my post on Century: Spice Road here. You can read my post on Century: Eastern Wonder here. Century: The New World can be combined with the other 2 games to create one massive game, or in other combinations to create a total of 7 games. Century: The New World differentiates itself from the other 2 games by being a worker placement game. I guess the game board represents plantations or farms and trading posts of the early settlers of the new world. Whats in a game? If you've played either of the 2 previous games, you'll be on somewhat familiar ground here and recognise some of the components:
New Components:
How's it play?
First there is of course set up.
Taking turns, the active player can perform 1 of 2 actions.
Endgame The endgame is triggered when a player acquires their 8th card. In which case play progresses until the round is over. Upon which scores are totted up. Points are earned from:
Overall The game's core mechanic of trading cubes until enough are accumulated to buy cards that earn victory points is fundamentally unchanged from the first 2 games (Which is to be expected.). So if you like this, I imagine you may find Century: The New World appealing. What this game adds is a fairly average implementation of worker placement rules. It's nothing to write home about, but it functions well enough. However the cards and bonus tiles add an extra layer of depth to the game. When buying a card, you now need to consider factors other than just points value. Acquiring extra workers and spaces can be very useful (Although the latter is potentially useful to all players.). Acquiring bonus tiles is also an important strategy to earning points. But taking tiles is an important decision, you get to have 3 and making a poor choice early on can hinder the potential to earn points. you have to try and think ahead. The game gives to meaningful decisions to make and find the optimal method to accumulating commodities is key to doing well I think. Century: The New World is not my favourite 'Century' game (That goes to Century: Eastern Wonder.) but I would have no reservation in playing this again. 20th July 2019
Saturday night is here. This means gaming at Matakishi's. And on this night we played 'Villagers' Have you ever wanted to live in a idyllic little place? Where a single cobble stoned road runs through a village populated with quaint thatched roofed, half timbered homes to carpenters, jewellers, blacksmiths and many more craftsmen? 'A village where the population is trying to rinse everyone else out their cash two gold coins at a time?' If this sounds appealing; then welcome to Villagers; a pretty little set collecting card game. What's in a game? What's in this game? Cards, lots of cards.
There's not too much else to say, well the illustrations on the cars are nice. How's it play? Broadly speaking, the objective of Villagers is to collect sets of cards in the same 'profession'. When accumulating these cards, they are stacked on top of each other, so only the names of the cards underneath are displayed. As quite often, we begin with the set up.
Endgame Scoring for Villagers is a bit convoluted and requires some explanation.
Overall Villagers is deceptively fast to play. Apart from the basic cards, there's only 2 of each card. This means that you don't have the luxury of hoarding cards for 'later'. You need to start working towards collecting sets as quickly as you can and even then, it's likely that you will only manage to accumulate one major set in a game. If you can do this before the first market, the stack will score twice. So don't get too distracted by other potential sets when they appear. Luckily, there is normally an abundance of solitary villagers that you can take to give you something when the card you need invariably don't appear. So it seems that decisive errr decisions are the order of the day in Villagers. Villagers is an interesting game to play, particularly its unusual scoring system. I'm not sure on it's long term depth. But as an occasional game it's perfectly acceptable. 6th July 2019. It's a Saturday lunchtime at 'The Sovereigns' in Woking, so this means it's time for some 50 Fath... wait someone's running late! What will we do? It turns out that we'll 'do' 'Noctiluca'. I'm not entirely certain what the theme of Noctiluca is: Wikipedia states that noctiluca is 'a free-living, marine-dwelling species of dinoflagellate that exhibits bioluminescence when disturbed'. So now you know, it's theme is 'collecting noctiluca'. Despite appearances; Noctiluca is not a dice game. It's actually a set collecting game. What's in a game? There's a lot of very pretty colour and artwork in the components - particularly the cards. Noctiluca has the following components:
How's it play?
First there's set up.
The purpose of the Noctiluca is to collect coloured dice that match the squares on the cards. When all the squares on a card are filled with dice, that card is 'banked' and a scoring token of the relevant colour is collected by the player. The player then picks a replacement card from the top of one of the 4 face-up stacks. How are dice collected? I'm glad you asked, because this is where things get interesting.
Endgame There are 4 ways to score points in Noctiluca.
Overall Even though the rules are simple, players are given lots of options and decisions to make, particularly at the start of a phase when they are so many dice on the board. In fact at the there's almost too many choices that can be made! Noctiluca is a colourful, easy to learn game that is fairly quick to play. With a unique mechanic and scoring rules, it a little different to anything I've played before. I'd happily play it again. |
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