Game Nite
Issue # 12
the magazine of tabletop gaming
e e r es
F 2 pag 11
Game Reviews new Column: app reviews
Mike Fitzgerald game Designer
Kay Wilke yucata
Vincent dutrait Artist
and more!
In this issue: Puzzles 7 Word Search 87 Crossword Puzzle 106 Answer Keys
Puzzle Solutions
book review
8 Game & Puzzle Design Peer Reviewed Journal
Education 4
98
History of Tabletop Games Part X - 1800 - 1900’s
Games in Education Top 10 Family Math Games
Interviews 30
Vincent Dutrait
64
Mike Fitzgerald
84
Artist.
Game Designer.
Kay Wilke Owner of Yucata
Solo Gaming 94
Tiny Epic Galaxies
12
Imhotep Spiel des Jahres nom.
16
In the Name of Odin Continuing Corruption.
22
Centauri Saga 4x Co-op.
26
Draconis Invasion
44
Dastardly Dirigibles
48
Flamme Rouge Race to the Finish.
52
Haspelknecht German Coal Mining.
56
Hansa Teutonica Plus, 2 Expansions.
72
Star Trek Panic Star Trek Co-op.
76
Theomachy
80
Commissioned Christian Co-op.
88
San Ni Ichi
90
Small City
Dark Fantasy Deckbuilder. Steampunk Card Game.
Texas Hold’em/Deckbuilder.
Ninja Card Game. Heavy City Builder.
Jeff Rhind
Contributors
Comics
102 Game Nite Contributors
105 Comics Game Night comic strip.
Review index
Mobile Reviews 10
Reviews
108 Back Issue Index
RED 7 Android and iOS
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Game Nite Issue #12
From the gaming table
Game Nite ISSUE # 12
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his end of the year Holiday issue is our largest issue to date -- 112 pages! Due to its original size of over 116mb, I was unable to upload it to the hosting site, so I’ve tweaked some parameters and have been able to get it down to a more managable size, yet maintaining as much quality as possible. I imagine there will be people who will enjoy the new file size! :)
Cover Photograph by Serge Pierro.
As another year winds down, we would like to take a moment to thank all
Editor in Chief/Publisher:
of you for your support -- it is appreciated!
Flamme Rouge © Lautapelit
Serge Pierro
In this issue, Bill Braun reviews “Star Trek Panic” and “Dastardly Dirigibles”.
Editor: Eric Devlin
Jeff Rhind continues his series on solo games - this time featuring: “Tiny Epic Galaxies”. David Niecikowski’s shares his “Top 10 Family Math Games”.
Contributing Writers: Photographers:
John Anthony Gulla returns with Part X of his series on the “History of Tabletop Games”. This time covering games from the 1800-1900’s. Special thanks to Mike Fitzgerald for taking time from his busy schedule to share his thoughts with our readers. Special thanks also to Vincent Dutrait for sharing his thoughts and his stunning artwork.
Bill Braun
Serge Pierro
David Niecikowski
Bill Braun
Kevin Lauryssen
Jeff Rhind
John Anthony Gulla
Robert Delwood
Jeff Rhind
Callum Dougherty
Christine Sampson
Thank you to Kay Wilke of Yucata for taking the time to be interviewed.
Robert Delwood
Congratulations to Andreas Steding and Passport Game Studios for winning an Editor’s Choice Award for the brilliant ,”Hansa Teutonica” and its expansions! As well as “Game & Puzzle Design” for winning an Editor’s Choice Award for their excellent publication.
Callum Dougherty
Be sure to check out the reviews of our new contributors, Chrissy Sampson, Robert Delwood and Callum Dougherty.
Follow us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/GameNiteMagazine
Serge Pierro
Visit us at:
www.gamenitemagazine.com
Editor in Chief
Follow us on Twitter:
editor@gamenitemagazine.com
Issue #12
@GameNiteMag Game Nite
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History
The History of Tabletop Games
By John Anthony Gulla
Part X - Tabletop Games in the Late Modern Period, 1800-1900
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s we continue to roll-and-move our way through the history of games, it is only during this Late Modern Period of history (approx. early 19th century) that we finally note a genuine return in the popularity of what we now refer to as “board games.” Rudimentary mechanics involving the manipulation of space and/or moving along a pre-set track meant that a board was once again a necessary component for tabletop gaming. Playing cards or card decks, while not at all abandoned in the period, would not suffice. Also, children (and families) of this time began finding themselves with more leisure time, and as such, games began to flourish as a worthy pastime –especially when they doubled as a tool for learning. One of the very first board games to merit some attention in this manner was a game marked by quite a long title. The game was called: The Mansion of Happiness: An Instructive Moral and Entertaining Amusement. Though difficult to prove, one could surmise that such an expository label reflected its innovation and newness insofar as the need to offer an explanation into what it was, since such parlorstyle games (other than abstracts, e.g., Chess and Checkers) were not well-known. Indeed, the title also makes no small mention of its intent to not only be a tool for “amusement,” but also an “instructive” tool associated with morality. The game’s designer, Mr. George Fox, in fact also billed it as a game meant exclusively for children, who would benefit most from it.
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Mansion of Happiness was first made and distributed in England by Fox himself around the turn of the 19th century, with some sources claiming that he used real gold in its printing process to create a lavishly decorated board. Only a few hundred copies were made, though the game’s initial successes merited a second and even third edition printed by local investors not long after, with only slight differences in production taking advantage of the new processes of chromolithography (allowing for multi-colored boards to be produced for far less cost). The game’s success continued into America in the 1840’s, having been brought overseas and published there first by W. & S. B. Ives. Ives also appears ot have had some success with the game, with many more editions being printed in the coming years. Amusingly, Ives’ entire library would later be purchased by a more well-known name in the industry now: George S. Parker, AKA, the founding member of the Parker Brothers Company. Parker, who held the notion that games should be played for fun rather than used as a tool for imparting values, seems to have ended the success of Mansion of Happiness in favor of other games he created and promoted himself. As previously mentioned (and indicated in the game’s title), Mansion of Happiness was a game that had players move through a designated path on the board, hoping to land on spaces labeled as “Virtues,” which furthered their goal, while avoiding spaces labeled as “Vices,” which moved them backward, like a more pious version of what most of us would recognize as Chutes and Ladders (or Snakes and Ladders). Dice, of course, were considered by Puritans of the era to be a tool
Game Nite Issue #12
Public Domain.
of the devil, primarily due to their longstanding association with gambling. For this reason, a teetotum spinner was utilized instead for determining movement on a player’s turn. The first person to reach the “Heaven” space at end of the pre-set track was considered the winner. Simple, and yet effective, Mansion of Happiness continued its success throughout the 19th century, where its popularity faded due to many other new and exciting
offerings born in this quasi-renaissance of board games. The other hugely popular board game that made its initial appearance in the latter half of the 19th century --and which is still sold in stores in some form today-- was none other than Milton Bradley’s Game of Life. Beginning its own life known as The Checkered Game of Life, it was so named for the familiar, square-checkered board it was first developed and
Continued on next page>
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History (Cont.)
played on, but also indicated a double-meaning regarding life’s many ups and downs. In what is likely a direct influence from Mansion of Happiness, the goal of The Checkered Game of Life was similar: be the first to reach a final space on the board, which indicated you were the first player to achieve happiness. Yet, in Bradley’s game, he explains (perhaps consistent with his game’s theme) that reaching the winning space merely meant that the player lived to a “happy old age.” In fact, the board’s marked spaces were indicative of much more broad and secular themes altogether, with positive spaces labeled and depicting concepts such as “Bravery” or “Success,” and negative spaces like “Poverty,” and even “Suicide” (a space which ended the game for that player immediately, but was removed in later editions). Also unprecedented was the included rule that, in order to win in Bradley’s Life, one must not only have managed to land on the final space, but also have scored enough points (i.e., “wealth”) by the time they arrived in order to win! In other words, The Checkered Game of Life had perhaps the first ever dual win-condition. Unlike Mansion of Happiness, it seems that it was not necessarily the person who was most pious or righteous that was given victory, but the player who had the best life in terms of amassing wealth most efficiently. As, perhaps, the first decidedly “American” board game, this point (and what it says about the culture of America in that time) cannot be overstated.
a quick explanation for movement options, based on which number they rolled on the teetotum. If the player rolled a 1 or a 4, they were able to move vertically, either one or up to two spaces, respectively. If they rolled a 2 or a 5, they could move horizontally in the same fashion. If the player rolled a 3 or a 6, they were permitted to move diagonally. While the role of luck was still obviously quite present, such movement rules allowed its players to make more meaningful decisions based on their board position. Bradley decided that these rules were thematic, as life is also full of choices. Finally, Bradley also included a rule that only one player could occupy a square at a given time, meaning a player could choose to move into a spot already containing another player’s pawn (assuming they had rolled the right number required to do so) and kick him or her out of it, sending them backward on the board, directly to the space marked “jail.” The near future seems to indicate that the Parker Brothers (and game designers) may have paid special attention to this “take-that” mechanic.
The Checkered Game of Life also utilized some interesting mechanics for its time. Though it copied the use of the teetotum from Mansion of Happiness, it used the device in a decidedly different way, in order to provide more options to its players. In order to accomplish this, Bradley manufactured and included what might be considered the first ever “playeraids.” The first edition of Life included 4 small papers that served double-duty, providing players with both a means for them to keep track of their own score (or “wealth,” in game terms) and also a small reference graph that afforded player’s
In our next entry, we will look at the progression of board games at the turn of (and into) the 20th century, including some discussion of American capitalism and the industrial revolution’s continued effect on games in general. We will also take a brief turn back into the world of popular card games developed in the era. I hope you’ll join me as we cross a Bridge or two to find a Clue as to the whereabouts of a certain Landlord, who insists on being the only one to play a rather popular game I wager you may have played a few times yourself. Until then, have fun making board game history!
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History also shows that Milton Bradley’s own life was, of course, a great success. Well-known to most now, his board game company went on to become one of the foremost successful manufacturer’s in game history, and he created and published many successful games after his initial success with The Checkered Game of Life.
Game Nite Issue #12
Puzzle
Games That Begin With The Letter “B� R
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(Words can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.)
Bang Babel Basilica Bismark Brass Battletech Bamboleo Bausack
Byzantio Bohnanza Bazaar Blurt Boxcards Blokus Bombay Burano
Boggle Blox Biblios Barony Bushido Batik Bruges Barons
(Solution on Page 106) Issue #12
Game Nite
Blitzkrieg Bisikle Babylon Belfort Batavia Blink Bullfrogs Borneo 7
Book Review Game & Puzzle Design By Serge Pierro
D
Additional coverage includes: a thought provoking article on “Eco-Friendly Game Design”, “Narrative Progression Traits for Role-Playing Games”, “Elegant Combat in War Games”, as well as several other equally interesting musings.
The first thing that you will notice upon receiving a copy of this journal is both the weight and quality of the paper. I was pleasantly surprised when I took a quick flip through the pages and saw color photos and diagrams, all of which are printed on thick paper. The text and graphics are crisp throughout.
But, my favorite feature would be the article on “Characterising Score Distributions in Dice Games”. In many ways this also summed up the level of professionalism and keen intellect that is displayed throughout. The 13 page article approaches the subject matter in a fascinating and logical way. There are 21 graphs that are full of stats and provide insight into the various computations, while also presenting a pleasing graphical representation of the material.
ue to the intellectual nature of creating games and puzzles, it should come as no surprise that a peer reviewed research journal would appear on the scene, for those who are interested in exploring the subject matter in greater depth. With “Game & Puzzle Design”, Editor-InChief Cameron Browne has assembled a group of knowledgable writers who bring their expertise to material and in the process deliver a “must read” publication.
The journal is published twice a year and is available by subscription. Back issues are also currently available. This information is available on their website, as there is no mention of it anywhere within the journal itself. After a short editorial by Cameron Browne on the subject of “Game Design in the Age of AI”, there follows ten expositions on various subjects. These range from “Wrap O-round Weave Five” which covers the design principles and manufacturing procedures for the production of Puzzle Rings to “Characterising Score Distributions in Dice Games”, which is a “must read” for game designers who use dice for combat or other usages of dice while trying to provide balanced results within their games . There are footnotes scattered throughout the journal and each of the articles end with a Reference list that provides excellent source material for further reading. One of the more interesting topics presented is that of Nikoli’s “Shakashaka”. After presenting a nice overview of how the puzzle can be solved, there is a featured puzzle at the end of the article. But even more interesting is the decision to have seven of these puzzles placed throughout the publication. This starts with a smallish one and increases in size, until you reach the end of the book where a huge one awaits you. I don’t know if this type of feature is included in every journal, but it is a very pleasant addition to this one and provides plenty of brain crunching entertainment throughout.
The pedigree of the writers are also worth noting. There is a Spanish nuclear physicist, a Japanese magazine writer, a New York based Associate Professor of Computer Science, a British Research Fellow and more. This gives you an idea of the level of seriousness that is given to the subject matter. This is high quality collection of information that has been collected in one place. Overall I was very impressed. All of the writers were well informed on their subject matter and were able to convey their thoughts clearly. While the dice article could be considered a bit math heavy, it was certainly interesting and those who enjoy math and stats will enjoy this immensely. The rest of the articles were more accessible to the casual reader, but nonetheless had depth and were quite informative. Anyone who has an interest in games, as well as puzzles, will want to go to their website to get an idea of what type of coverage is provided. But there is no doubt in my mind that if you have any interest in game design, either as a professional or an amateur, that this is something that you should be reading, as the information contained within is excellent. A “must read” for the serious designer.
Editor-In-Chief: Cameron Browne Publisher: Lulu Press, Inc.
Highly Recommended www.gapdjournal.com
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Game Nite Issue #12
Mobile Review
RED 7
By Serge Pierro
Change the Rules... and Win!
W
hen our gaming group is looking for a light, but interesting game to end our gaming session, we often reach for “RED 7” as it fills that niche nicely. So when we saw that it was going to be available for both the Android and iOS systems, we felt the need to take a look at it and see if it could duplicate the experience in the digital realm.
The gameplay itself is comparable to the actual game and fans will certainly enjoy having the opportunity to play the game at their convenience. I tend to favor the basic game as compared to the advance one, but I do like to dabble in that as well, but only when I get bored with the basic game. The AI has three separate levels and seems to play well and you can have up to three AI opponents.
For those who are unfamiliar with the game, the object is to be winning at the end of your turn… or you are eliminated. Example: If the current rule of the game is “High Card”, then you have to have the highest card in play at the end of your turn. (In the case of ties, the game uses the ROY G BIV color spectrum to determine the highest card. Ex. Red beats Orange, Orange beats Yellow, etc.) If you are unable to do so, you have to play a card that changes the rule to something that allows you to be winning, such as “Most Cards Below 4”. On your turn you can both play a card and/or change the current rule. If you can’t meet the current requirement or change it, you are out of the game and play continues until there is only one player left.
You are offered the options of a “Quick Game”, “New Game” and “Challenge”. The “New Game” option allows you to set the parameters of the game, including, Advanced, With Points and With Actions. These choices will make players of all levels happy, as it increases the replayability of the game.
The mobile version uses the screen in Landscape mode and uses a visual theme with the look of watercolors and paint swatches. Your hand of cards is displayed at the bottom of the screen.
This is one of the first games that I now reach for if I’m looking for a very fast game to pass a short amount of time. The AI is decent and doesn’t seem to make poor plays, so every game is a challenge. If you are a fan of the card game, you will love having the ability to be able to get in a quick game with this app.
For new players of the game there is a Tutorial that explains all of the basic concepts and allows players to swipe both forward and backwards throughout the tutorial - in case they want to review or skip ahead. There is also a Rules section so that you don’t have to keep referring to the Tutorial.
The game seems to still be in the early stages of development, but updates have been rapidly improving the program. There have been changes to the interface resulting in a more intuitive interface and games that I had lost earlier due to a card being placed in the wrong zone, are no longer a problem. The design team seems to be working hard at improving the gaming experience.
Version #: 1.1.2 Price: $2.99 Device: Android and iOS Designer: Carl Chudyk Publisher: Silver Bullet Games LTD
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Game Nite Issue #12
Recommended
Issue #12
Game Nite
11
Game Review
Imhotep
By Serge Pierro
Build Ancient Egyptian Structures
W
hile Kosmos is best known for their excellent series of small box, two player games, they do release “big box” games. This game first caught my attention a couple of weeks before it was nominated for the “Spiel des Jahres” award, due in large part to both the theme and the spatial element of the cubes. Now that the fervor has died down a bit, how does the game actually play? “Imhotep” comes in a square c.11 3/4” square box. The cardboard insert is printed in full color and has a unique eight sided polygon shape that has raised triangles in the box corners, leaving plenty of room for the components in the central well. The magazine sized 12 page rulebook is profusely illustrated with examples of all of the main features. Only 4 of the pages deal with the actual rules of the game, while the remaining pages provide more in-depth coverage of the finer points of play. The modular playing boards are made of a very sturdy, linen finished cardboard stock, each having an “A” and “B” side. The ships and scoreboard are from the same punchboards. The 55 small euro-cards (1 3/4” x 2 11/16”) are broken down into two decks and are of a decent card stock. Since the cards are not heavily shuffled throughout the game or placed in hand, they are fine for their size and stock. The main attraction of the game is the inclusion of one hundred and twenty 1 1/2mm (9/16”) wooden cubes. These oversized cubes come in four player colors; Brown, White, Black and Grey. The rulebook suggests playing with the “A” sides the first time you play and I concur. Not that the “B” side is too complex, but after using the “A” sides you’ll further appreciate what the “B” sides have to offer.
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Each player will receive a set of Stones (cubes) and a matching Supply Sled. To begin the game the starting player will receive 2 Stones to place on their Sled, the second player receives 3, the third player receives 4 and the fourth player receives 5. Choose the appropriate seven Round cards that match the player count and randomly remove one of them from the game - the remaining six cards will be used to determine what Ships are used each round.
At the start of a round the top card of the Round card If a player chooses the Get New Stones action, they deck is revealed and the appropriate ships are placed in may take up to 3 Stones from the quarry and place them the play area. Then starting with the first player each on their Sled. player will play one action and continue in turn until all four ships have docked and unloaded their Stones at The Place One Stone action allows a player to take a Stone from their Sled and place it on an open space on their location, thus ending the round. any ship. Each player must play one of four actions on their turn. These are: Get New Stones, Place One Stone on a Ship, Sail One Ship and Play 1 Blue Card. Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.) Using the Sail One Ship lets a player move any Ship The “B” sides are a bit more interesting, but essentially that is able to dock at any site, even if they don’t have they are variants of the above, with additional bonuses any of their own Stones on the Ship. when building on certain squares. If a player has a Blue card they can spend their action for their turn to play the card and resolve its effects. The use of the Ships is both a scoring and timing mechanism. When a Ship docks, the order in which the boat is loaded (front to back) determines how the Stones are placed/resolved.
The game ends when all 6 Round cards have been revealed and the 4 boats on the final Round card have delivered their Stones. Then the endgame scoring begins and the player with the highest score wins.
Although I thought that this was a somewhat surprising nomination for the “Spiel de Jahres”, the game play did seem to align with the “family” element of the award When a Ship arrives at the Market, players will exchange and was quite enjoyable. The game play is simple, their Stones for any of the face up cards. Red cards are but not without some strategic planning and multiple resolved immediately, Blue cards are for later use, Purple scoring paths. For more experienced gamers, the “B” and Green cards are used for endgame scoring. Any sides are going to see the most play, as they offer a more non-Red card is placed face up in front of the owner. substantial gaming experience. The aesthetics of the large cubes adds a great deal to the atmosphere of the When a Ship delivers Stones to the Pyramid they are game, as the spatial elements of building the Obelisks scored immediately. The amount of points is determined and Pyramids is both rewarding and pleasing to the eye. by the location of where the Stone is placed, as indicated This is a light game that I can see repeatedly hitting the on the board. table for quite some time. When a Ship drops off Stones at the Temple they are placed in order and if there is no more room, they are stacked on top of each other. The Temple scores at the end of the round and is determined by the Stones, as seen from above. Ships delivering to the Burial Chamber drop off their Stones and arrange them accordingly. The scoring is done at the end of the game and is determined by the number of connected Stones.
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding Publisher: Thames & Kosmos Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Action Management, Area Control Ages: 10+ Length: 40 mins.
Ships delivering Stones to the Obelisk stack them on the appropriate color space. At the end of the game the player with the highest Obelisk gets the most points and other players receive a lesser amount.
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Recommended www.thamesandkosmos.com
Issue #12
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Game Review
In The Name of Odin By Serge Pierro
Thematic Viking Game
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o say that It seems that everyone once in a while there is a theme that becomes “hot” and currently that theme is Vikings. This is probably due in part to the success of the TV show, “Vikings”. People have become familiar with the likes of Ragnar Lothbrok and now look to vicariously partake in their adventures. Featuring 90 miniatures and a huge board, does “In the Name of Odin” deliver the kind of experience that Ragnar Lothbrok would be proud of? The game comes in a square 11 3/4” box that is 3” deep. It includes a white cardboard insert that has a spacious well down the center of the box, with two wings to support the board. The 12 page color rulebook is profusely illustrated throughout and contains numerous examples of game play as well as annotated breakdowns of each of the components. The large six panel board is linen finished and looks impressive when laid out on the table. The five player boards are printed on cardstock. The 43 cardboard tokens are linen finished and are of a decent stock and there are also five wooden disks to track scoring. The 155 cards are broken down into five separate decks and are of a decent quality.
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Also included are 90 plastic miniatures. These come in three different sculpts: red Warriors, grey Traders and blue Sailors. The rulebook devotes a page and a half to show how to set up the board and most of that space is filled with a large, annotated illustration that will get you up and playing in no time.
Each player’s turn has two parts: an Action phase and Once per turn a player may use the “Action Card a Draw phase. Exchange” to take one of the cards from their hand and exchange it with one of the four face up Action cards In the Action phase you can spend the cards in your on the board. This proved to be a very useful action hand to take any of the available actions, such as: Action as everything within the game is basically paid for by Card Exchange, Gather Vikings, Recruit a Hero, Use a using the symbols on the Action cards and there are Hero’s Ability, Obtain a Construction token, Construct times when you are short of a needed symbol and yet it a Building, Buy a Longship, Return a Longship, Repair is available for exchange on the board. a Longship and Raid. Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.)
The “Gather Vikings” action allows players to use the top part of their action cards to obtain Vikings. Vikings can be obtained at a rate of 1 symbol for 1 Viking, 2 for 3 or 3 for 6. However, players are only allowed to have a maximum of 10 Vikings on their player board. The “Recruiting of a Hero” allows a player to have a Hero available for going on Raids. When a Hero completes a Raid they are placed on the bottom of the Hero deck and a new Hero needs to be obtained for the next Raid. Some Heroes have non-Raid abilities that can be triggered by using the “Using a Hero’s Ability” action. After using the ability, the Hero is placed on the bottom of the Hero deck. In order to construct a building you first have to own a Construction Token. This is done by using the “Obtain a Construction Token” action. The cost of the action is paid for with the Craftsmanship symbols and is equal to the # of tokens already owned + the number of buildings owned +1. Example: 0 tokens owned + 1 building owned +1 = 2 Craftsmanship symbols. If you have a Construction Token you are able to then use the “Constructing a Building” action to purchase a Building and place it on your player board. The action is paid for by using three Craftsmanship symbols. Buildings must be built on the proper space and may not be replaced by another building of the same type. The Buildings may offer multiple benefits, including producing resources, special abilities and special actions. They are also a source of endgame points.
Using the “Buy a Longship” action allows players to buy a ship. Ships are necessary in order to go on Raids. Ships may generate resources that can be used during Raids. They also have a number of oars indicating the distance they may travel. Damaged ships have reduced range. Ships are obtained by using 3 Seamanship symbols. The “Return a Longship” and “Repair a Longship” actions both cost 2 Seamanship symbols. After a ship is used for a Raid it is flipped over. In order to use it again you have to use the “Return a Longship” action to flip it back over so that it can be used again. In order to repair a ship that has one or more damage tokens on it, you will use the “Repair a Longship action”. Perhaps the most important action is the “Raid” action, as this is the main means of scoring points within the game. In order to go on a Raid a player must own a Longship, Hero and the suitable amount and types of Vikings. Raids have three different ranges. When the Raid is chosen that player will expend the number and types of Vikings needed. Symbols on other cards can be used to help offset the expended Vikings, however at least one physical Viking must be used in a Raid in order for it to be successful. Other players will have an opportunity to “Modify the Raid Requirements” by playing action cards from their hand using the bottom symbol as the one to be matched. Three cards must be played, so if some players decide not to play a card, cards are drawn from the deck to bring the total up to three. The raiding player then has Continued after the following page>
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Game Review (Cont.) the opportunity to play cards out of their hand to match the symbols. There are boats, buildings and heroes that also produce these symbols which can be used instead of a card. If a player matches all three they score an additional point, if they match two then nothing happens, if they match only one then they lose −1 point and if they don’t match any, they lose −2 points. The player scores the Fame points indicated on the Raid card and any additional points for the 2 or 3 range Raids, as well as flipping their Longship over to indicate that it was used and place 1 damage token on it. Raiding is the last thing you may do on your turn, so if you want to use any other actions they must be played before you Raid. After the action phase, the current player will draw back up to a hand size of 6 cards and any player who played a card during the “Modify the Raid Requirement” phase of the Raid also draws a card. The end of the game is reached when all of the Raids have been completed. The number of Raids used in a game is determined by the number of players and is listed inside the rulebook. example: 8 raids in a two player game and 14 in a five player game. When the game ends the final scoring takes place. Players will add the Fame points on their Buildings and Longships, as well as for their sets of Vikings. The highest score wins. This game proved to be a very pleasant surprise. It was simple enough for new players to jump right in and play, yet there was enough depth to keep more serious
gamers interested. I was vaguely reminded of the engine building qualities of “Splendor” in that some of the purchased Buildings, Longships and Heroes provided additional resources to be used for other purchases. The plastic miniatures look good, but there were too many of them to place in the designated area of the board and it is probably best to place only some of them and keep the others off to the side. One of the other plusses for the game was the length of the game. For a game that is playable in an hour’s time, there was a lot of interesting game play taking place. The engine building aspect of the game was enjoyable and there was nice synergy with the various actions that were available over the course of the game. The discard a Hero after using them in a Raid or their ability was another tough decision that had to be made, as there were times you were quite reluctant to go on a Raid because the Hero’s ability was highly desirable. Fans of the Viking genre, as well as games that feature hand management and engine building, will find a lot to like about this game. Ragnar Lothbrok would be proud.
Designer: Krzysztof Zieba Publisher: NSKN Games Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Hand Management, Set Collection Ages: 14+ Length: 60 mins.
Recommended www.nskn.net
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Game Review
Centauri Saga
By Serge Pierro
Co-op 4x Game
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entauri Saga presents an interesting proposal, a co-op 4x game that plays in 60-90 minutes, which also has the versatility to be playable as a solo game with any of the five included scenarios. Let’s see if it works. Centauri Saga comes in a square 11 3/4” box that is 2 1/4” deep. The custom black plastic insert holds all of the components nicely in place with specific areas for each type. The large 24 page rulebook is heavily illustrated and was a bit confusing at times - all of the needed information was available, but it was scattered about. Pages 16-23 feature the five campaigns included in the game. The four player boards are made of a card stock with punch-outs for the areas in which cubes are placed. While this works great on games like Scoville which use a thicker cardboard stock, here the stock is too thin to be able to securely hold the cubes in place, but it is better than a normal flat surface. The hexagon Sector tiles and the various other tokens are all made of a decent cardboard stock, with the bonus of the Sector tiles already being pre-punched and stored in their specific area of the insert. There are two different cards included; 107 Euro Standard cards that measure 2 1/4” x 3 1/2 cards and 92 Euro mini cards that measure 1 3/4” x 2 3/4”. Each of them are slightly flimsy, but not to the point of being detrimental to play. Also included are 10 black dice with white pips, 30 black wooden cubes and 10 acrylic gems. The game includes 47 plastic miniatures of various types. The main ships come with a black plastic base and are made of the same type of plastic as the Starbase pieces. The Raider pieces are made of a styrene plastic and are lighter in weight. The Boss minis are made of the same type of plastic as the main ships.
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To begin the game each player will receive a player mat, a Commander, an Armada miniature along with the matching Armada deck, 3 Astartium crystals, black cubes to mark the stats and an Activation token. For this review we will take a look at the “Fixing the Jumpgate” scenario, which is the first scenario recommended. Any components that are related to this scenario are placed alongside the others.
In the middle of the playing area place the Dawn and Recurring Events: Any revealed Events have their Jumpgate sectors and place the Armada minis on the effects take place during this phase, as well as any Boss Jumpgate. Each round is made up of the following abilities. phases. Scanning Report: A Scanning Report card is revealed Phase 1: and resolved. Ravager Retaliation: This phase is Scenario specific. Phase 2: For “Fixing the Jumpgate� its main use is as a timing Upkeep: Any Activation tokens that were used are mechanism. Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.) returned to the Cargo Bay. Players can upgrade their The game is won when the Scenario’s condition is met. Starport and Research Lab by spending Astartium Each Scenario has a different requirement. crystals. It’s hard not to notice the increase of Co-op games Phase 3: over the last several years, due in part to the success of Pandemic and Pandemic Legacy. However, I’ve grown Movement: Movement is indicated by the current somewhat bored of the format, as there hasn’t been a stat on the player’s board. Each of the Sector tiles has whole lot to do within the game itself, other than make a number that indicates how many movement points it some obvious decisions and see how they turn out will cost to enter. against the luck of the card draw. While the “luck of Explore: A player may move into an empty space the draw” factor is still present in Centauri Saga, it goes adjacent to the Sector tile they are on and Explore by beyond the typical co-op design by enabling players to turning over a Sector tile from the deck and placing it supplement their decisions with the building up of their in that area. Armada’s abilities. This is a co-op game that is suited for players looking for a more intellectual approach to XPM: If there is an XPM token in a player’s current meeting the challenge. Sector, they may spend 1 Movement point to pick it up. By their nature co-op games tend to be quite viable Phase 4: as a solitaire experience and this one is no exception. Explore: If a player used the Explore action in the Although the solo variant is fine, I found it more previous phase they will now draw an Exploration card interesting to use the 2-4 player rules and play the other and attempt to resolve it. If successful, they reap the allies. printed rewards, if not, they take damage and put an Although I’ve grown weary of the co-op experience, Event card into play. I’d have to say that this was probably one of the more Combat: In this phase a player may engage in combat interesting ones that I’ve played. Unlike the static with an enemy ship. Speed determines initiative and abilities in other games, here you are responsible for the enemy always delivers a set amount of damage, fleshing them out. though you can roll to see if your shields stop any of the If co-op games interest you, then this is one that you damage. Your damage is indicated by the number of should definitely be taking a look at. successful rolls, which are a 4,5, or 6. Combat continues until a ship is reduced to zero. If you win, you receive the rewards stated on the card. Designer: Constantine Kevorque Regroup: During this phase your main choices are to draw a common Action card, Repair 4 points of Hull damage, gain 1 Exploration token or gain 1 Combat token. Phase 5: Expand: During this phase you can build a Starbase. These are necessary in order to engage a Boss.
Publisher: Vesuvius Media, Ltd. Number of players: 1-4 Mechanic: Co-op Ages: 13+ Length: 60-90 mins.
Recommended www.vesuviusmedia.com
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Game Review
Draconis Invasion
By Serge Pierro
Dark Fantasy Deckbuilder
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ne of the things that separates many Kickstarter game campaigns is the quality of the artwork, and this is certainly the case with “Draconis Invasion”. The dark fantasy art enhances the theme and adds a polished, professional quality to the game. Of course having attractive art is nice, but how does the game play? “Draconis Invasion” comes in an unusual box. It seems to be an “upscale” 3,000 count card box, with graphics along the bottom sides of the box and two heavy duty separators to divide the storage area into three separate sections. The box is deep at 4 1/4 inches and 9” x 14” along the sides. There is a great deal of empty storage area within and it could easily hold two more copies of the game. The game comes with three rulebooks, English, French and German. Each of the 28 page rulebooks are the size of a checkbook. However, only six of the pages actually address the rules of the game, the rest is filled with various game related material. Since this is a deck builder it should come as no surprise that the main components are the cards themselves. The 300+ cards are all linen finished and are separated by linen finished dividers. The 33 Invader cards are linen finished and square, measuring 3 1/4”. There is a dark blue custom die included that has light blue numerals on it, as well as a flaming skull graphic with a “6” on its forehead. After setting put the table as per the rulebook, each player will receive 7 Wealth cards and 5 Defenders. Players will also receive 2 Campaign cards. To start the game the die is rolled to determine the starting player. Then that player will roll the die again and determine the Threat Level.
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Players start their turn by drawing 6 cards. You may play one action card (if you have one) and then use one of the other options: Buy, Campaign or Defeat. Action: Action cards provide different abilities, as well as providing additional actions, buys, money or cards. Example: “Casualty of War” -- Trash 1 non-Terror card from your hand. +1 Action.
Buy: Players will use the Gold cards in their hand to buy either more Gold or Defenders. Campaign: When using this action players may take two cards from the available Campaign cards. You may take two from the top of the deck, one from the deck and one face up or two face up cards. If you choose a face up card it is immediately replaced.
Defeat: In order to defeat an Invader, a player must use one or more Defenders that have the total attack value that is greater than or equal to the Health points of the Invader, as well as having the required amount of gold available so that the Defenders can be hired to attack.
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Game Review (Cont.) One of the more interesting aspects of “Draconis Invasion” is the use of the Terror die and the Terror cards. These added a great deal to the theme of the game, as well as providing an additional timer for triggering the end of the game. When a player discards a Terror card from their hand the Terror die is advanced one number. When it reaches six (the skull) an Event is triggered. The Event is given to the player who will have their turn next and it is resolved at the start of their turn.
Although I liked the concept, several players were not happy with having to pay for the Defenders again to engage in combat. This slowed down the overall game play as a player would draw the needed card, but not have the available money to pay for them.
The endgame Campaign cards were a nice touch, but there were a couple where you needed two of a specific Invader in order to receive the bonus. This was also a point of contention, as there were games where the The game ends when a player has defeated 6 Invaders or second Invader needed didn’t show up. the Event deck is exhausted. Players will then total the points on the Invaders they killed and gain additional A personal pet peeve: if you are going to have great bonuses for Campaigns that match the relevant Invader. artwork, please find someplace on the card to give credit Each Campaign must be played on an individual to the artist. Invader. Example: if you have killed two Wyverns, you would need a Campaign for each of them. The player Overall I felt that this was an enjoyable deckbuilder with a theme that was nicely implemented. The solo with the most points wins. play was quite challenging, and as such the replayability The game also includes a Solo version which is played of the game was quite high. If you are looking for a in a campaign-style mode. There are 10 different thematic deckbuilder with a provocative solo experience, Battle Stages that each have predetermined Defenders then this is one that you should take a look at. and Actions, as well as three different difficulty levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Expert, each requiring 15/20/25 Glory points respectfully to win the current Stage before moving onto the next one. These are very Designer: Jonathan Jeffrey Lai challenging, even on Beginner. Part of this is due to the Publisher: Keji Inc. fact that you only use 3 events and the initial Threat Number of players: 1-6 Level can start high and the game can end quite quickly. I’d prefer that the each of the solo games started with a Mechanic: Deckbuilder Threat Level of 1. Ages: 14+ There’s enough interesting concepts present to make this a game worth trying. First of all the Terror Die/Terror Cards/Events mechanic is decent timing mechanism that makes sure that the game doesn’t get bogged down in the later rounds, as well as nicely supporting the theme, as the Defenders become more terrified as the game progresses and more Invaders hit the table.
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Length: 45 mins.
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Recommended www.draconisinvasion.com
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Interview
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Vincent Dutrait
By Serge Pierro
Artist Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with our readers, can you tell us a little something about yourself? I’m a French illustrator, illustrating children books, role playing games and board games since 1997. I like playing piano and listening movie soundtracks. I read Fantastic literature, especially the books written by William Hope Hodgson who fascinate me. I live in South Korea, in Ilsan near Seoul with my wife and our two daughters.
Do you come from an artistic family?
Michael Menzel Artist New York 1901 Medici
Yes, in my family we have many teachers, graphic designers and artists as my two uncles brothers Alain Girel (http://www. boutiquemetiersdart.fr/web/ la-fnaa/alain-girel/) and Jean Girel (http://www.jeangirel. fr/), famous international ceramist who gave me my first drawing lessons when I was a kid and teenager.
Lewis and Clark Robinson Crusoe Rising 5 www.vincentdutrait.com/blogv2/
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Interview (Cont.)
What are your earliest recollections of doing art? I’ve always loved drawing. After a period of US Comics, I got interested in role-playing. At first, I was fascinated by the illustrations. After that, as I grew more excited by the alternate worlds. The art made me dream, and I had one wish – to do the same thing with my own art. I also played the books A thrilling fantasy adventure in which YOU are the hero. So I tried to draw this kind of images… The beginning of a pastime which will become my job…
Are you self-taught or did you study art in school? I studied illustration and computer graphic design in the Ecole Emile Cohl ArtSchool in Lyon (France). Graduated in 1997, I started to be freelance illustrator the same year and since, I illustrated many children books, Role Playing Games and now several boardgames.
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Who are your main artistic influences? I admire the American painters of the early twentieth century, especially Newell Convers Wyeth. Wyeth was a painter and illustrator, as was his master Howard Pyle, who I also like. Not to mention Dean Cornwell, Frank Schoonover, Harvey Dun, Maxfield Parish‌ The list of painters and illustrators that I like is rather long. Arthur Rackham, Edmund Dulac, John Howe, Joseph Clement Coll, James Gurney, Frazetta, Alan Lee, François Boucq, Cosey, Taniguchi, Otomo for comics, Miyazaki for animation and many others! I spend a lot of time online and in bookstores searching for new artists, new books and collections of illustrations to complete my library. I have a huge collection of art books at home and I just discovered amazing woodblock japanese artists, Kawase Hasui et Yoshida Hiroshi. Continued on next page>
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Who are your favorite board game/card game What is your favorite medium to work in? artists?
Brushes and acrylic paints on paper for the most Frankly, I never thought about this‌ I like the part and I use inks, color pencils and felts for artworks of Michael Menzel, high-detailed and the amendments and small adjustments. On a constant, and recently I was really impressed “traditionalâ€? way! by the illustrations of Kwanchai Moriya and Weberson Santiago, quite new and fresh imageries in board game world.
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Can you tell us about your studio and work How did you get involved in creating artwork for environment? the game industry? It’s a quiet place, a very large room with two desks, one for painting one for computer graphics. On the 14th floor of a building overlooking on a nice forest. And I work at home, everyday day.
Most of my work is children’s books. About ten years ago, in order to expand my horizons, I contacted some game publishers, which resulted in some interesting commissions. It’s only really been since 2010 with Water Lily and Tikal II (for Gameworks) that I got really deep in the world of board games. The proof is the growing number of new gaming collaborations. Continued on next page>
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Interview (Cont.)
Do you enjoy playing games? If so, what are some of your favorite games? I am a casual gamer and I like to play to all the games but only good games, ah ah. This is always a difficult choice, as each game brings a different experience and different feeling. The games I can play again and again without tiring are Ticket to Ride, Small World, Robinson Crusoe, Abluxxen...
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If you had an opportunity to do the artwork for a game by a specific game designer, who would it be, and what would you like the theme to be? I would like to do something exuberant and excessive, how about a game with Kaijus fights? With Antoine Bauza or Ignacy Trzewiczek ? Continued on next page>
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The illustration for the box cover of “New York 1901” is stunning, both in terms of the composition and color palette, are you given direction on what the illustration should be, or are you given the creative liberty to come up with your own compositions? Usually publishers have an idea, and we talk, discuss about this and they give me the creative liberty to express what I want. So most of time, I give the direction or we find the better “mix” between our ideas.
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What component do you enjoy rendering the most and why? The box cover, cards, the board, tiles, etc.? The whole game! Because I really enjoy to build a complete universe with all the components. I don’t work cards with the same feeling as the box art cover or the board. So, on each component, I could find a new and different way to express something about the game, characters, action, atmospheres, etc. Continued on next page>
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Interview (Cont.)
When you are rendering a game board, does the Do you have any news on upcoming projects? client supply a rough sketch of what they would like or do you do the entire graphic layout yourself? Now I’m working on several huge projects. I I always like to hear and read ideas. But just as leads or tracks, not so precise or specified. And usually, publishers contact me to “profit” of my skills as much as they can, so they prefer to let me find the best solution ^^
What is the piece of artwork that you are most proud of?
think that I can tease “Dungeon 365” by Korean designer Juhwa Lee, a kind of RPG calendar in a medieval fantasy world as DnD! And “Museum” by Olivier Melison & Eric Dubus, players as curators of one such museum and it’s your job to build the biggest, most coherent collection that you can in this game of collection. Both games on Kickstarter next year! And in the next few weeks, I will complete “Lovecraft Letter”, a new version of Love Letter with darkness and indeed the Cthulhu!
For now, I think that I have two… The new box art cover of Robinson Crusoe and the illustration Do you accept private commissions? for the Kickstarter Collector Edition of Rising 5. First one is a “narrative” illustration, to boost Yes, possibly. the immersion in the game and the second one is “generic” image, as a movie poster, to show How can readers keep up to date on what projects the casting and boost the mood of the game.
you are working on?
Do you illustrate projects outside of the game I communicate a lot on Facebook, here https:// industry? Less and less… Because working on games is really monopolizing, too many illustrations to complete. But I like to do illustrations for children books or RPG books.
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www.facebook.com/Vincent.Dutrait and on my blog www.vincentdutrait.com/blogv2/.
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What advice would you give to aspiring board game artists? Just three words: work, work and work. The material is not the key. It’s possible to do perfect images with simple components. Your mind and your hands are the key. As Edgar Degas said: - Everyone has talent at twenty-five. The difficulty is to have it at fifty. - Painting is easy when you don’t know how, but very difficult when you do.
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Game Review
Dastardly Dirigibles
By Bill Braun
A Steampunk Competition
P
rofessor Phineas Edmund Hornswoggle, known for building the highest quality airships, has announced his retirement. As one of the greatest airship engineers in the kingdom, you have gathered at the Hornswoggle factory in a competition to build the best airships you can and become the successor to the Hornswoggle Empire. You’ll have to keep your wits since the Professor has jumbled the parts you’ll need to complete your craft. It will take skill, luck, and more than a little treachery to win, but by hook or by crook you’ll be the master of these Dastardly Dirigibles! And so sets the stage for a 2 to 5 player game of Dastardly Dirigibles, where each player takes on the role of an ambitious engineer, vying to assume the position once held by the esteemed Professor Phineas Edmund Hornswoggle. It’s a race, spread across three rounds, to be the first player to complete their airship and score the most points. Doing so will position them as the sole heir to the Hornswoggle factory, but is this a victory worth competing for, or is it just full of hot air? Gameplay At the beginning of the game, each player is given a Guide Sheet and is dealt five facedown cards from the deck of 63 Airship part cards and 12 Special cards. The remaining cards are placed into a face down draw pile from which the Emporium is built - a row of face-up cards that all players will have access to on their turn, the number of which is determined by the number of players. The deck consists of nine suits of Airship cards, each suit composing a unique Steampunk airship, in addition to 12 Special cards that provide a variety of “take that” opportunities to interfere with other players. There are
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seven cards in each suit that make up the different parts of the Airship: nose cone, front lift engine, front gondola, rear gondola, drive engine, rear lift engine, and tail. Of the nine suits in the deck, seven have their own unique symbol in the top left corner of the card, and the last two suits are considered wild and may count as any other suit. Gameplay is easy and player turns (outside of some potential Analysis Paralysis) will generally go by rather quick. After drawing up to a hand size limit of five cards, players will perform three actions that may be taken in any order and may be repeated. Those actions include playing an Airship card or Special card from their hand, discarding a card, swapping one card from their hand with one card from the Emporium, replacing all cards in the Emporium with new cards from the draw deck, or passing. Playing an Airship card is the basis for winning the round and moving the game forward. But determining which card to play – and when to play it – is what provides Dastardly Dirigibles with a fair amount of depth and strategy. When playing an Airship card the player will add it to their individual Guide Sheet. Doing so will require ALL other players to immediately play a matching Airship card from their hand (if they have one), even if it means replacing and discarding an existing part. In one action, a player may quickly disrupt the plans of another player’s Airship and move ahead by completing their own Airship. However, players need to be careful and consistently watching the Guide Sheets of other players. Forcing a card to be played by everyone may inadvertently end the round by allowing another player to complete their Airship.
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Photo: Bill Braun
Scoring happens over three separate rounds and occurs immediately when any player plays the last part needed to complete their Airship, and all Airships are scored, even if they are incomplete. At its heart, Dastardly Dirigibles is a set, or suit, collection game. When scoring, players find the suit that was used the most to build their Airship, scoring two points for each card of that suit. Wild cards always count as the most suit played, but only score one point each. If a player has an incomplete Airship that is made of no pairs or wild cards, that player will score one point for each card used, regardless of suit. Lastly, the player that completed their Airship first will receive two bonus points for that round. After three scoring rounds, the player with the most points is declared the winner and heir to the Hornswoggle factory.
As you might imagine, scoring for a game of Dastardly Dirigibles tends to be on the low side. With seven different suits, two wild card suits, and each Airship needing seven parts, the odds of completing your Airship with more than a few of the same suit is low. To make things more interesting, and certainly more tempting during gameplay, players have an opportunity to score a Muddle – a completed Airship that is made of one of each suit, with no pairs of any kind, and does not contain any wild cards. Although the odds of this occurring are stacked even higher against you, a successful Muddle is worth a fixed 20 points during the scoring phase of the game. Of all the games that I have played prior to the writing of this review I have only come close to achieving a Muddle once. I was close, so very, very close.
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Game Review (Cont.)
Theme and Components The overall theme of Dastardly Dirigibles is loosely pasted on. Players could very well be creating anything from their hand of cards and just about any theme would work. Granted, I’m a bit of a sucker for all things Steampunk, but there was very little about Dastardly Dirigibles that immersed me beyond the fact that I was trying to complete my tableau before my opponents. However, the Special cards that were added to the gameplay did provide just enough art and creativity to bump up the game’s theme to a bit more relevancy. And while I appreciate the Steampunk art and quality of the cards, I was left a bit disappointed with the player Guide Sheets. Nothing more than paper mats that are three-way folded to accommodate for the smaller box size, I have concerns that, over time, the creases will wear down and eventually begin to tear – as would be expected of any paper product. I’m certain the decision to use this type of game component was a way to contain cost, but there are other, less flimsy, options that could have been considered before mass production began.
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Final Thoughts Dastardly Dirigibles is a fine game and I’m certain there is an audience that will enjoy it. Unfortunately, for me, there is very little in the game that has left me with a lasting memory. It’s solid. The rules are well written, and the gameplay is quick to learn and easy to play, but it tends to overstay its welcome. The game box advises one hour per game, and that’s fairly accurate. Where I was expecting a quick filler game, I wound up with something much longer. Scanning my collection of games there are numerous titles that take just as long but deliver a much more interesting experience. In the end, the time that it takes to play a game like Dastardly Dirigibles is its ultimate black mark against it.
Designer: Justin De Witt Publisher: Fireside Games Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Set Collection Ages: 8+ Length: 60 mins.
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Worth Trying www.firesidegames.com Photo: Bill Braun
Outside of the Airship part cards, the deck also contains 12 Special cards designed specifically to mess with your opponents. These cards are resolved as soon as they are played and range from forcing players to discard a card, adding cards to your hand, and stealing cards from other players. These types of tabletop shenanigans are nothing new, but they do add a bit of additional player interaction and strategy to the game.
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Game Review
Flamme Rouge
By Serge Pierro
Sprint Across the Finish Line!
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icycle Racing is a popular sport, and with competitions such as the Tour de France and the Giro d’Italia, it would only seem natural that there would be games featuring this theme. Finnish publisher Lautapelit has teamed up with designer Asger Sams Granerud (13 Days: The Cuban Missle Crisis) to produce a card driven racing game. Does it have what it takes to cross the finish line? Flamme Rouge (“Red Flag”) comes in a square 11 x 3/4” box that is 2 3/4” deep. The cardboard insert features illustrated components of the game and has a large well with two wings on the sides. The 16 page rulebook is approximately the same size as the box and is divided into four independent languages: English, German, French and Spanish. The rules are well illustrated and will have you up and cycling in no time. All of the components for the game are of a very high quality. The Player Boards and the Track tiles are both made of thick, linen finished cardboard. The Track tiles are double sided, with a more advanced version on the reverse side. The 190 linen finished cards are divided into 120 Energy cards (30 for each of the four players - 15 Sprinteur and 15 Rouleurs) and 60 Exhaustion cards (30 Sprinteurs and 30 Rouleurs), with the remainder being 6 Stage cards and 4 Reference cards. The cyclist miniatures will certainly capture your attention. Each player will use a “Sprinteur” and a “Rouleur” of the same color. The miniatures come in a plastic storage tray that slides into a cardboard box.
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To set up the game, players will choose one of the Stage cards and build the course according to the layout on the card. Each player will receive a player board that matches their chosen color, the matching two decks of cards, as well as the appropriate miniatures. Then each player will place their miniatures behind the starting line and the game begins.
On a player’s turn they will draw four cards from one of their cyclist’s deck (Sprinteur or Rouleur) and choose one and place it face down next to the deck and place the other three cards face-up on the bottom of the deck. Then they will repeat this for their other deck. After all players have chosen their cards, they are revealed. The cards resolve starting with the cyclist that is in first place and continuing with each cyclist in order. Each cyclist moves the number of spaces indicated on the card. Cyclists can move through other Cyclists, but they may not end on an occupied space.
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After all Cyclists have moved, players will then check for Slipstreaming. Starting with the Cyclist(s) in the back, there is a check to see if there is exactly one space between them and the group in front of them. If so, the group that is behind moves forward one space, this is to simulate the Slipstreaming that takes place in a bicycle race. This continues until each group has been checked. Previous groups can continue to Slipstream further up the peloton if they meet the one space requirement. Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.) After Slipstreaming has been applied to all of the Cyclists, there is a check to see who is Exhausted. Any Cyclist who has an empty space in front of them receives a corresponding Exhaustion card ( Sprinteur or Rouleur) which has a movement rate of 2. There are track sections that have red and blue markings on them. The red markings indicate a hill that Cyclists will have to climb. Because of the effort necessary to do so, any card they play above 5 is reduced to 5 and there is no Slipstreaming applied. The blue markings designate the Cyclists going down hill and any card below 5 is instead played as a 5. Both rules greatly add to the theme of the game, as it really captures the feel of climbing and descending on hills.
movement. Players who track or count cards will enjoy trying to stay aware of what cards have been played and try to strategically set up the best point in which to launch your attack. I enjoyed using my “Rouleur” in the role of a “Domestique” and had him take most of the Exhaustion cards and keeping my “Sprinteur” fresh for the final sprint. Surprisingly many of the races ended with more than one rider crossing the finish line at the same time, so it is important to plan to finish as far beyond the finish line as possible.
With a game time of approximately 30-45 minutes, this has quickly found its way into my collection of games that can hit the table at any time during a gaming The first cyclist to cross the finish line wins. If more session, as it can be an opener, longer filler or even a than one cyclist crosses the finish line, then the one that main game. This is another excellent design by Asger finishes furthest is the winner. Sams Granerud and I look forward to seeing what his next offering is like. Fans of professional bicycle racing “Flamme Rouge” does a great job of capturing the feel will most certainly want to take a look at this game, as it of a professional bicycle race, as you are constantly vying does a great job of capturing the theme. Greg LeMond for the best position, in order to launch a breakaway and Miguel Indurain would be proud! attack towards the finish line. First time players will get a feel for how the game plays with the “flat” stage, but will then want to immediately move onto the other stages, as they feature the ascents and descents of the hills and make for a more realistic experience. Gamers will find several interesting concepts beneath the surface of this racing game. One of the first decisions that one encounters is that of trying to guess what your opponent will play, the reason being that you’d like to Slipstream behind them, thus gaining a free space of
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Designer: Asger Sams Granerud Publisher: Lautapelit.fi Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Hand Management Ages: 8+ Length: 30-45 mins.
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Highly Recommended www.lautapelit.fi
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Game Review
Haspelknecht
By Serge Pierro
Coal Mining in Germany
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aspelknecht is the first game in a trilogy of games by Thomas Spitzer featuring the theme of coal mining in 16th century Germany. This is the most accessible game of the series, as each of the games that follow increase in complexity, with the third game being the heaviest. Let’s take a look at what has made this series so popular in Germany. The game comes in a 8 3/4” x 12 1/4” box. This was the first time I had come across a game where all of the cardboard components were shrink-wrapped tightly together and the other components were separately bagged. Even more surprising was the insert itself was packed with the cardboard and had to be assembled for the box. When assembled it took up roughly 2/3rds of the box and formed two well areas that held all of the non-board components. The boards rested on the shelves of the insert. The 16 page rulebook is the same size as the box and has a numerous illustrations throughout. The pages are laid out with 2/3rds used for the rules and the inner 1/3 for illustrations and highlighted information. All of the cardboard components are made of a thick stock and are linen finished. The other components are made of wood and include cubes and disks. There is also a cloth bag for randomly drawing action disks. At the start of the game each player will take 18 black cubes and place them on the coal markings of their player board. They will also take 11 disks of their chosen color, placing one of them on the score track and the other will be used to indicate their position on the turn order track. The remaining disks will be used for claiming Development tiles. The number of Development tiles used in the game is determined by the number of players, as is the number of Action disks. Once the number of disks are determined, they are placed in the bag and will be drawn randomly to fill the Resource boards, which are also determined by the number of players.
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The way that Actions are determined is interesting. Example: For a two player game the Resource board that is used contains two sections, each one containing a reserve pool and an action pool. At the start of each round the reserve pool will contain three action tokens and the action pool will contain six disks. On a player’s turn they may choose “X” disks of any one color from either of the action pools. In
turn order everyone takes disks from the action pools. If a player took less than five disks on the first round of drafting, they will then have the opportunity to take more, however, the maximum amount of disks a player may have each round is five. It should be noted that one of the action pools has a Pit water symbol on it and if a player takes any action disks from that pool, they take a Pit water token and place it on their player board.
After everyone has taken their action disks for the current round, they will add up the value of the disks they took on their first draft. The lowest value goes first and the highest goes last. The three action types are: Yellow/Food 3 pts., Brown/Wood 2 pts. and Black/Coal 1 point.
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Game Review (Cont.) The action disks can be used as follows: For each Black It’s easy to see why this series has built a following in action disk, you can excavate 1 coal, or remove 1 or 2 Pit Germany. The game play itself is actually quite simple, water. For each Brown disk you get 1 Wood resource. however, the decision making process is quite robust as For each Yellow disk you get 1 Food resource. there are so many interesting avenues to pursue. I’ve played games (and won) where I didn’t excavate all The Farmer has a special action which allows him to my coal and others where my focus was entirely on pay the cost to obtain a Development. Developments excavating coal and each of these games were rich in must be purchased from the top of the “tech tree” down, strategic decision making. and only adjacent Developments may be obtained. When players obtain a Development they score the The action mechanism is brilliant, especially when you victory points stated on the Assist tiles. Other players take in account the action pools that have the Pit water may use the Development that you claimed, but they penalty and the disks having different values. Of course often have to pay you for the privilege. Besides victory everyone wanted the Food disks, but at what cost? Do points, Developments offer buildings, money, tokens you go “cheap” and make a rush for coal? There are and other abilities. many subtleties that provide the opportunity for some interesting decision-making. Each of the game’s three rounds represents a year in time. Each year contains a three part Spring phase, a If this title is representative of the quality of games two part Summer phase, a three part Autumn phase and we can expect in the rest of the series, then I eagerly a three part Winter phase. await the other releases. This is a very solid euro-game that many people are going to find enjoyable and it The Spring and Autumn phases are the same. At the offers excellent replay value, especially when one takes start of each phase all players receive 1 Pit water token. in account the various Development variations. The Then all players will place their action tokens on the name might be hard to pronounce, but the gameplay spaces where they wish to take their actions and after will leave you satisfied. everyone has placed, the actions are resolved. The Summer phase is the same as the previous two, with the exception that if the Farmer produces food this phase, he will generate a bonus of +1 food. The Winter phase is special phase in which points are awarded for the amount of Coal excavated, payments made to the Nobility and surplus resources can be stored, if able.
Designer: Thomas Spitzer Publisher: Capstone Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Action Management Ages: 12+ Length: 90 mins.
The game ends after “three years” and the player with the most points wins.
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Highly Recommended www.capstone-games.com
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Game Review
Hansa Teutonica
By Serge Pierro
+ East & Brittania Expansions
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lthough “Hansa Teutonica” is a game that many players “in the know” are familiar with, surprisingly there are players who have never heard of it or played it. For players who are looking to add a “top notch” game to their collection, Passport Game Studios continues to make it available to those who would like to be “in the know”. “Hansa Teutonica” comes in a 9” x 12 1/4” x 2” box and has a cardboard insert that has a very large well and two wings. The well is larger than necessary and the two wings support the board and player panels. The large 12 page rulebook is well illustrated and laid out in a 1/3-2/3 layout where the 1/3 of a page is a summary/highlights of the the 2/3 page next to it. This allows a quick glance through the rulebook to find important info, and if needed, the associated section to explore the rules further. The sturdy, four panel board is linen finished and double sided. One side is for 2-3 players and the reverse is for 4-5 players. The five player panels are also made of a sturdy cardboard stock as well as being linen finished and double sided. However, the back is identical to the front. The cardboard tokens are from the same punchboard as the player panels and thus share the same qualities. There are 134 wooden cubes and 20 wooden disks that are used to represent the Traders and Merchants.
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To start the game each player will receive their own player board and place their colored cubes and discs on all of the empty spaces, leaving the first space of each section unfilled. On the main board the three Tabernas are each given a random Bonus Marker, with the arrow pointing to the corresponding trade route. The first player takes 1
Merchant disk of their color along with 5 Trader cubes, each of the other players will receive 1 Merchant disk and x+1 Trader cubes, where x = the # of the previous player’s Trader cubes. Players put their other cubes aside, forming a General Stock.
On a player’s turn they can initially take one of the following actions: Take Income, Place Trader or Merchant, Displace a Player, Move your Pieces or Claim a Route.
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Game Review (Cont.) Take Income: Using this action allows a player to take a number of Trader cubes from their General Stock equal to the amount allowed on the Money Bag section of their player board. Place Trader/Merchant: For one action a player may place 1 Merchant or 1 Trader on any route. Displace a Player: This allows a player to replace an opponent’s Trader with their own, however it costs them one Trader from their personal supply to do so (it is returned to the General Stock). Merchants cost two. The player who has been displaced gets to move the displaced piece, plus one from their General Stock to any adjacent route. Move your Pieces: You may move the number of pieces as stated on your player board to any route on the board. Claim a Route: Once a player has the necessary amount of Traders/Merchants on a route, they may close it. In doing so they may trigger connected cities to score points, take a Bonus Marker, Establish an Office - which will allow them to score points on future connected routes or upgrade the city specific ability on their player board. As mentioned above, one of the options for completing a route to a city that has a special ability is that you then can remove a token from your player board for that ability, thus upgrading your board. I felt that this was perhaps the most interesting thing about the game, as players were able to make individual decisions on how they wanted to strategically approach the game. The possible upgrades are: The Actions ability gives a player additional actions. Each player starts with one action and when this ability is upgraded they receive the Trader cube removed from the space, as well as revealing their new action amount. The scale goes: 2,3,3,4,4 and 5. This is usually one of the more hotly contested areas of the board.
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The Town Keys offer endgame scoring bonuses. At the end of the game players will receive one point for each of their cities in their longest chain of cities. The scale goes: 1,2,2,3 and 4. If the longest chain strategy appeals to you, this can provide significant scoring bonuses.
The Privilegium is more of a middle game ability. In the early part of the game the Office spaces are white, however as these are taken the next spaces are of a different color and you need to have the ability to use that color. A properly timed use of the Privilegium can yield big rewards as you will have the ability to take control of Office spaces that other players can’t occupy.
The Book - Liber Sophiae determines how many tokens you can move when you use the Move Your Pieces action. This scales: 2,3,4 and 5. A player who excels at this ability can wreak havoc on the board by moving swarms of tokens in surprising ways. Often times a player will feint with their placements, blocking certain routes, and then unleash the Move action and take
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Game Review (Cont.) other routes unopposed. It should be noted that Liber Sophiae is the only place where you can get Merchant tokens added to your supply. These are very important for certain strategies, especially for the domination of Coellen, a city that yields 7,8,9, and 11 points at the end of the game, for players who have their Merchant tokens on the appropriate spaces. The Money Bags ability allows an increase in the number of tokens you can take from the General Stock. This scales: 3,5,7 and All. This allows you to have more tokens available, as well as not having to waste future actions to resupply. This is a subtle action, but one that you will find necessary in some strategies. Some people felt that 5 or 7 was a sweet spot, where others felt it was worth the extra effort to be able to take all of the tokens on a turn. The game ends when one of three conditions are met. 1) A player gets 20 or more points on the scoring track. 2) If a player needs to draw a Bonus Marker and there are none left. 3) When a player completes the 10th city. The game ends immediately when one of those conditions is met… even if it is still that player’s turn. There are several endgame scoring mechanisms. These include: receiving 4 points for every eligible ability that has been fully developed on their player board; bonus markers are scored by the amount of markers owned, scaling in value as the number increases; the Coellen area of the board is scored; players receive 2 points for every city they control and each player’s longest chain of connected cities scores according to the number revealed for Town Keys on their player board. One of the key elements of the game is the diverse paths that players can pursue, both in the strategic sense of what they want to do on the main board and in the tactical sense of developing supporting abilities on their personal player board. The game is rich in
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subtle strategies that keep players engaged and allow for various play styles and strategies over a wide range of games. My favorite part of the game is the ability to upgrade your player board. Besides the obvious reasons behind the ability upgrades, there is also the harvesting of new cubes for use that can obviously be used for an advantage in certain strategies. The displacing mechanism provided yet another fascinating interaction amongst players, as there were those who would put a Trader on a route in order to get displaced, so that they could get cubes on the board faster. Of course, other players had to weigh the advantages/disadvantages of doing so. * * * Like many other successful map based games, Hansa Teutonica has expansions available for it. Two of them are currently available. “East Expansion” is the first expansion for “Hansa Teutonica”. The components come in a sealed plastic bag. If you are interested in storing this along with the base game in the original box you will have to remove the box’s cardboard insert. There are three rules sheets, one for English, German and French. The components include a deck of cards and a new map/board. Each of the components is a separate expansion. The 9 cards that come with the package can only be used for the base game and allow for endgame scoring bonuses. All players receive one card. Each of the cards features three cities on the map and rewards the owner with one point for each city that they have established an Office. If they also have the majority in each of the cities, they will receive an additional 5 points. This could potentially lead to an 8 point bonus.
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A new board is the second component in this expansion, yet requires the components of the base game in order to be used. The city Waren now offers the players a choice of upgrading either Actions or the Money Bag, and as such becomes a magnet to players who use either/both of
those abilities in their base strategy. We enjoyed having the flexibility to be able to stay in the area to upgrade, however, other players enjoyed building Offices in the area in order to gain points from our interest here. The new “green” cities don’t normally allow Offices to be built there. There are ways to build via the Bonus Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.) Markers, but otherwise they are unable to support Traders in these cities. This made the Bonus Markers in the base set much more viable, as well as providing the impetus for players to use the Permanent Bonus Markers. Another new feature is that of the Permanent Bonus Markers. These have special abilities, but unlike the ones included in the base set, these are actually printed on the board. They all provide powerful abilities and make playing on the Ocean Trade Route enticing. The Ocean Trade Route is a new addition to the map. This route is somewhat similar to the one in the base game for scoring bonus points for connecting the sides of the map, except that it has the addition of the Permanent Bonus Markers and is Merchant token intensive. Players have to decide how they will want to use their Merchants, as now there is another area of the board where they are useful. This expansion is an excellent bridge to move from expanding the scoring capabilities of the base game, to moving onto a new map with new locations and abilities. If you like the base game, you will love what this expansion has to offer. The second expansion is called “Brittania”. The only components for this set are three 4 page rule booklets in English, German and French, and a new double sided map. The double sided map is oriented vertically and has a map for 2-3 players on one side and 4-5 players on the other side. Like the first expansion, it has Permanent Bonus Markers printed on the board. For this expansion the map is territorial and both the game play and scoring is dependent on this, as there are some actions that can or cannot take place in certain areas of the map. There is also a bit of area control thrown in for the endgame
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scoring with players receiving points dependent on how many cities they control in the different areas. The new rules add an interesting twist to the game as players will have to find new ways to place and displace tokens in specific areas of the map. The rulebook also contains special rules specific to games with only two players. This expansion provides a different experience than the other versions of the game, yet maintains all of the qualities that make it such a great game. The permissions needed to place and displace tokens make for another layer of interesting decisions and the endgame area control scoring bonus will appeal to fans of this type of mechanism. Overall this is another solid expansion and provides fans of the game with plenty of options for future play. Whether you are playing the base set or any of the expansions, “Hansa Teutonica” is a game that should be in every serious gamers collection, as it provides an excellent playing experience, along with a nice variety of options provided by the addition of the expansions.
Designers: Andreas Steding Publisher: Passport Game Studios Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Action Points, Route Building Ages: 12+ Length: 45-90 mins.
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Highly Recommended www.passportgamestudios.com/
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Interview
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Mike Fitzgerald
By Serge Pierro
Game Designer
“Mike Fitzgerald is a game designer and industry legend.”
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with our readers, can you tell us a little something about yourself?
What games have you been playing lately?
I am a Game Designer living in the beautiful state of Colorado. Did you start designing games at an
early age? If so, do you remember what your first game design was like? My first game was released in 1994 when I was 46 years old so I did not start at an early age. It was a trading card game called Wyvern and did well enough to get me started as a Game Designer.
Mike Fitzgerald
Designer Mystery Rummy Series Baseball Highlights 2045 Diamonds Wyvern
My favorite game of all time is Mottainai and I play it often still. I just got back from Essen and am looking forward to playing many of the new titles like Great Western Trail and Inis. I love Terraforming Mars, Via Nebula and still play a lot of Village and Istanbul.
What games over the years have had the most impact on you as a game designer? Magic the Gathering had the most inspiring my first game Wyvern and I then did 4 more Trading Card Games 3 of them with Wizards of the Coast.
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Interview (Cont.)
Who are your favorite game designers? Carl Chudyk, Richard Garfield and Alexander Pfister.
If you had the opportunity to co-design a game with another designer, who would you like to work with and what type of game would it be? Bruno Cathala and it would be a simple but elegant game which is the type he is known for.
Which one of your games do you consider your best design, and why? Hard question. I think I have 3 very good designs that I am very proud of. The first is Jack the Ripper, Mystery Rummy #1- I took 3 years on that game. It started the series which is still selling 20 years later. The others are my recent games Diamonds which presents something unique in trick taking games and is very simple, and Baseball Highlights 2045 which I believe is the most interactive deck builder there is.
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When starting a new design, do you start with a theme or a mechanic? 90 percent of the time I start with a theme and see if I have any mechanisms in my files that could help or I make new ones to fit the theme.
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What do you think defines your “style” as a game “Jack the Ripper” is my favorite game in the designer, is there a specific mechanic, rule set, etc. ? “Mystery Rummy” series and I also own and enjoy “Wyatt Earp”, which is also similar, but My games all have simple rules and hopefully not officially part of the series. What made you some depth to them. Some do this part better choose “Rummy” as a foundation for this line of than others. games and what were some of the early obstacles/ How did you approach designing a Trading Card changes that you made to the base game in order Game, as compared to one of your smaller self to give the “Mystery Rummy”series its character? contained games?
My first 5 designs were trading card games and they were all based on themes or licenses so the approach was learn the license and put it into the game so the game feels like the license. In smaller games I have much more freedom to create the design space I will be in.
You predominantly design card games, do you have any intentions of ever designing a board game? If so, what kind of board game would you be interested in designing? My first non-card game comes out at Gen Con 2017 and is a Tile laying game. It is a game based on Game State concepts and is called Dragon Island. I may try an actual board game next.
I loved Rummy as a child and I feel the base game has so many built in Heuristics that it makes the perfect space to design themes and other mechanisms around it. Look at how popular set collection is in our hobby. All of that is really using the Rummy base. Rummy was an easy foundation to build theme around. I made the cards you play in sets the basic cards of whatever the story was like Jack the Ripper all the suspects are the cards you play in sets. Then to create the theme I use cards that you can only play once a turn to create the theme of each story. This formulas has given the the foundation for many designs. This year is the 20th year since Jack the Ripper was released and it is still for sale in the states and several other countries.
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Interview (Cont.)
Having had the opportunity to playtest the “WCW: Nitro” game for you back in the late ‘90’s, I was exposed to your calm and professional approach to playtesting. Have you noticed any changes in how you approach playtesting games today, as compared to back then? I think I get more from the playtesting now. I have learned to watch players more than listen to them because they say a lot with their actions in playing a game. For blind play testing I give them questions to answer and a direction of what I am looking for.
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I’ve been enjoying “Baseball Highlights 2045” as both the card game, as well as the digital implementation on Android. We gave it an “Editor’s Choice Award in Issue #3 and it still stands the test of time at this point. What was the design process like of taking the theme of Baseball and distilling it down to the clever version that finally saw print? The design process was 5 years of difficult work. I put a demand on myself of making a game where in 5 minutes you could play and have any baseball score possible and combine this with interesting buy rounds between each game. How to do that mini game took a long time but I would not give up until the design worked.
You are currently working on a Noir themed Legacy card game, can you tell us a little about it and what was the most surprising aspect of designing a Legacy game that you hadn’t anticipated?
How do you approach playtesting a Legacy game as compared to a non-Legacy title? Your design sections of it separately and then connect it together. One you are done you must get many people to do the whole run of it and watch them and get their feedback. I will be testing the run throughs till the day before it prints.
You are going to be doing a tile-laying game, “Dragon Island”. What made you choose to leave your “comfort zone” of card games and decide to do a tile-laying game and what can you tell us about it? It is a tile laying game where you choose a side form a double sided tile and place one every turn. Every tile you place will be available for all players in some way so you must evaluate if it will help you enough to warrant playing it. It has Treasure Maps, Dragons and the chance to make them your Pet, building and resource management if what i think is a fun package.
I hate to call it Legacy because you do not destroy anything. You do alter some things permanently but you also have a game you can play after the journey that is a Mystery Rummy What is your daily process for working on game type game. I knew the design would be hard after getting advice from Rob Daviau and Matt designs? Leacock but I did not know how hard it would I design in the morning hours when I am at be to blend a story with the game play. It is now my most creative. I tend to play test and just done and publishers are looking at it. play games later in the day. Continued on next page>
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Interview (Cont.)
Even though you have retired from radio, your voice and knowledge live on with Ludology. What made you want to take part in a podcast series? I wanted to stay connected with doing something like radio and podcasting is a way to talk about things you really love to an audience of people interested in what you love.
What advice would you have for aspiring game designers? Make the game you want to make and stay with your vision. Play test only after you have the basic game you want to have.
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Game Review
Star Trek Panic
By Bill Braun
Set Phasers to Fun!
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he timing of the release of Star Trek Panic could not have been any more appropriate, considering millions of fans from around the world just celebrated the 50th anniversary of the franchise. While certainly an impressive milestone, this particular celebration falls a bit flat for me. It’s true, I lean toward the “Lucas” camp when considering the age-old argument: Star Wars or Star Trek. However, over the last few years, I have become a fan of the Panic series. Although I have not yet tried Munchkin Panic, when presented with the opportunity to play the new Star Trek Panic I immediately considered how this would be an interesting experience, blending two very different opinions of two very separate franchises. Would my appreciation for the game mechanisms developed by Fireside Games push Star Trek Panic into warp speed, or would the experience be nullified by my lack of appreciation for the Gene Roddenberry science fiction opera? Gameplay Star Trek Panic, like its older brothers and sisters, remains as a cooperative game in which players take on the roles of the iconic (and original) members of the U.S.S. Enterprise – James T. Kirk, Spock, and Montgomery Scott are among the seven playable characters. Working together, 1-6 players must complete a five year mission (essentially, five individual missions), while defending the Enterprise from an unending barrage of enemy Threats and alien encounters. After choosing a character to play as – each with its own unique ability – the 3D replica of the Enterprise is placed in the center of the board, Enterprise cards are dealt out based on the number of players, three Threat tokens are randomly placed in sectors 1, 3, and 5 of the game board, the deck
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opoly Photo: USA
of Mission Cards are shuffled, and the first Mission is drawn and placed face up. The details of the mission – parameters, objectives, and rewards - are read aloud and the game begins. The individual turn structure and player actions remain fairly consistent from the Panic games previously released. After drawing up to your hand limit of Enterprise cards a new Mission card will be revealed if the prior mission has either been completed or failed. The current player then has the option to trade a single Enterprise card with another player. This is where the cooperative element of Star Trek Panic really shines as players will work together and talk through the best strategy for completing missions and protecting the Enterprise. These discussions often result in planning several moves ahead and feeling confident in the solution, often resulting in complete disruption and, dare I say – Panic, after new threats are revealed. The bulk of gameplay occurs during the “Play Cards & Maneuver” phase of each player’s turn. In this phase, Enterprise cards are played to attack enemy Threats, repair
Game Nite Issue #12
Photo: Bill Braun
damage, and work to complete the current Mission. The Enterprise cards have been developed to accommodate for multi-use functionality, a game design that I have come to appreciate more and more. Whether playing a Phasers card to hit a designated enemy in a specific zone and range, repair a damaged hull or shield, or resolving a special, one-timeuse ability, nearly all of the Enterprise cards also display one of four Division credit symbols: Science, Engineering, Command, or Medical. More often than not, completing Missions require players to commit a variable amount of Division credits. This often results in a difficult decision that needs to be made. Do you play a card to destroy an enemy Threat token before it can board the Enterprise, or is it more important to commit the card and complete the current Mission’s objectives? An Enterprise card can only be played for a single ability, and choosing which one to use can make all the difference with winning or losing the game.
The ability to maneuver the Enterprise is another feature that sets Star Trek Panic apart from its relatives in the Panic universe. A player may choose to maneuver the Enterprise once during the Play Cards & Maneuver phase of each turn. This maneuver can be done before, during, or after cards are played, and the player has two ways to maneuver the ship: rotating clockwise or counter-clockwise one sector, or moving the ship forward. Since the Enterprise cannot actually move forward on the board, this is represented by moving all tokens in the front two sectors one range closer – a simple, yet hugely thematic game mechanism. When allowed to do so, maneuvering the Enterprise results in both defensively strategic benefits, as well as better positioning the ship to complete any number of potential objectives.
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Game Review (Cont.)
A player’s turn ends with Threats currently on the board moving one range closer to the Enterprise and firing an automatic hit – damaging and destroying shields, hulls, or seeing enemies board the ship to inflict even greater damage. Lastly, two new Threats are drawn from the Threat bag and randomly placed onto one of the six sectors based on the result of a six-sided dice roll. Similar to the games that have come before it, the level of “Panic” that is experienced with Star Trek Panic certainly has its share of ebb and flow. In an instant, that feeling of confidence is replaced with doom and an undeniable urge to abandon ship. A single turn can mean the difference between successfully completing another mission and being swarmed by an armada of cloaked Klingon Birds of Prey, all targeting that one section of hull that is no longer protected by shields. It’s how you react and work together as a team that will ultimately determine the end result. Theme and Components I feel confident in claiming that Star Trek Panic delivers the highest level of theme when compared to the other Panic games. Whether it’s the unique abilities of the individual crew – Scotty repairs the hull and shield, Chekov deals additional damage when attacking with a Phaser card, Sulu maneuvers the Enterprise twice on his turn – or the method in which Klingon ships have the potential to reappear in different sectors from when they initially cloaked.
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The Mission cards also embrace the theme and represent many of the individual episodes from the original Star Trek series. They include Tribbles, a sentient cloud of pure energy, and a guy named Khan who’s hell bent on taking over the Enterprise. More than just flavor text and images from the television show, the developers of Star Trek Panic ensured that each mission not only felt unique from the rest, but focused on a high level of player immersion by slightly altering the rules of the game to best accommodate for the mission goals, restrictions, and potential rewards. A favorite example of this is with the mission titled, The Deadly Years. Described as a strange disease that ages the crew incredibly fast, during the mission the number of cards the active player may play is dictated by the current mission timer. Although the mission timer starts at six, it ticks down by one when the mission status is checked on each players turn. The longer the mission takes to play, the older the crew gets, the less cards a player may play on their turn – because getting old truly does suck. As well thought out as the theme of Star Trek Panic is, for many, the real highlight of the game will come from the components – specifically the three dimensional Enterprise. Granted, the components of the previous Panic games have always been noteworthy, the developers of Star Trek Panic went above and beyond. The Enterprise is nicely represented and a wonderful centerpiece to the game board, but as its shields are destroyed and the various hull sections are damaged, additional cosmetic tokens are placed onto the ship to represent the total amount of destruction that can occur during the game. These components give the game a heightened sense of urgency when things really start to go badly for the players, and provide a nice thematic touch to an already thematically polished game.
Game Nite Issue #12
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Final Thoughts The Panic series of games, published by Fireside Games and USAopoly, has been a great option for entry-level gamers and a wonderful introduction to the idea of what a cooperative board game is all about – and Star Trek Panic is no exception. Faster than engaging Warp speed, Star Trek Panic has quickly replaced all other Panic games for me, regardless of my novice understanding and appreciation for the source material. The subtle game mechanism changes and additions, when combined with the high level of component quality, makes this a must own game for Star Trek fans, fans of cooperative experiences, and tabletop gaming in general – whether new to the hobby or a collection enthusiast.
Issue #12
Designer: Justin De Witt Publisher: Fireside Games, USAopoly Number of players: 1-6 Mechanic: Co-op Ages: 13+ Length: 90-120 mins.
Highly Recommended
www.firesidegames.com / www.usaopoly.com
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Game Review Theomachy:The Ancients By Serge Pierro
Texas Hold’em meets Deckbuilding
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hen a legend such as Sandy Petersen becomes involved with a game, it is certainly worth noting. Petersen’s company has brought Theomachy: The Ancients over from Poland and has delivered an interesting blend of deckbuilding and Texas Hold’em Poker, combined with the theme of mythological gods. Let’s see what it has to offer. The game comes in a 9 inch square box that is 1 1/2 inches deep. It includes a cardboard insert that has a central well. Although this setup was fine for shipping purposes, when all the tokens were punched and the cards were opened, there was no real way to fully close the box. This was exasperated when the tokens were put into plastic bags. The square rulebook is 16 pages long. There are very few illustrations, but there are several “Thor’s Tips” throughout that provide additional information. The last page shows the layout for the game and was one of the reasons why reading the rules was not as clear as they could have been. The 180 cards have excellent snap to them. They are black bordered and dark on the front and back, unless sleeves are used one can expect wear along the edges to be an issue. The 12 “Deity Icons” are oversized cards (4 1/8” x 5 3/4”) and are printed with metallic ink. There are 140 cardboard tokens that are broken down into several categories and are all of a very sturdy cardboard stock with a matte finish. For the first game they recommend that you use the pre-made decks in order to get a feel for how the game plays. We played a few hands with them and then decided to stop and restart with the more advanced game. This was an excellent method in which to become acclimated to the game’s mechanics.
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At the start of the game, each player receives Follower tokens. These will be the “currency” of the betting rounds. Players will then pick a Pantheon. Each Pantheon contains 3 Deities. If you are not using the pre-made decks, there are then three rounds of card drafting. Each
round starts with each player receiving 5 cards and taking one and passing the rest. The last card of the draft for each round is discarded. After three rounds each player will have 12 cards. They will then choose 8 of those cards to be their starting hand. The other cards are placed in the discard pile along with the other cards that were previously discarded during the draft. After the draft is complete, each player will choose one god from their Pantheon and place it face down in front of them. Once everyone has chosen, they are revealed
and the other gods are placed back in the box and the discard pile is shuffled back into the deck. The main mechanic of the game is based on Texas Hold’em Poker. Players draw their hand of five cards and there are three of five cards showing from the Constellation deck. Then a round of betting begins. The Constellation cards have resources on them that the players will use to play cards out of their hands. The better the card, the more resources it will require and you Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.) will have to decide whether or not to stay in the hand, hoping that one of the later cards revealed will provide enough resources to play your card(s). Each player will ante up one of their Initiates and the following play will have the betting aspects of Poker with raises, calls, passes and folding. During this time cards can be played for their effects, as long as the resource requirements can be met.
was enough diversity to be able to approach them with entirely different strategies. Perhaps more games played would reveal more of their overall balance.
As much as I enjoyed the game, it did suffer from one glaring weakness - player elimination. Due to the nature of the betting, it is possible for two players to keep going back and forth, while the eliminated players sit around and watch. This game would have been much better if The way a hand is won is by the resolution of combat. there was a specific condition to reach instead of “winner There are specific cards that can only be played in combat take all”. Nowadays only quick games like Love Letter and they all have to be of the same Element. The total can seemingly get away with player elimination. strength of the cards played plus the face value of the Initiates in the player’s Stake equals the total number Also, the winning of the pot also seemed a bit used to determine the winner. anticlimactic, as the main reward was being able to choose the first card to take. After winning the hand, the winner will have the first choice of any of the cards in the Prayer Track and place Overall it was a good and solid game, but sadly, it it in their discard pile. This is how the deckbuilding is unlikely to hit the table again, due to the the player aspect of the game works. Then the other players must elimination - and that is a shame, because the game is do the same, as the taking of a card is not optional. actually quite interesting. The game ends when there is one player remaining, having eliminated all of the players and owning all of the Initiates. While the above is an oversimplification of how the game plays, it does provide a quick overview. However, the really interesting aspects of the game are contained in several of the other rules which help take this game to another level. Although it is easy to play, there are several levels of complexity that aren’t apparent on the initial play. Clearly there was some thought put into the various gods of each Pantheon, though some of them seemed to be more useful than others, yet there
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Designer: Tomasz Bylina, Adam Kwapinski & Jakub Wasilweski Publisher: Historical Games Factory/Petersen Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Deckbuilding, Drafting, Bidding Ages: 14+ Length: 30-60 mins.
Game Nite Issue #12
Recommended www.wydawnictwofgh.pl
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Game Review
Commissioned
By Robert Delwood
Christian Co-Op
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ommissioned takes the Christian based theme game to a new level. At face value it’s a Euro style game depicting first century apostles evangelizing the Roman world. They establish churches, grow the congregation, and face persecution along the way. At another other level, it’s also about evangelizing the gospels, with Biblical references and copious historical and background notes. And why not this theme? Games depicting demons and monsters are so common it seems they’ve become required. But the real question is can a game you’d think you’d find in the Flanders’ house (complete with Pray and Share actions) be a real game? Simply put, the answer is yes. Start with the high quality components. The double sided map board represents Christianity at different times. One side is for the religion’s birth and initial spread, from Jerusalem to Rome, and Carthage to Asia Minor. The other side is later in the century from London to Babylon, Cordoba to Nishapur. The map is stylized and forms a circle, as were contemporary maps for the period, rather than the horizontal lay of the Mediterranean as we expect today. It may take a moment to orient yourself. Other components include white cubes (church membership), pawns representing player’s apostles, grey meeples (missionaries or non player characters), a set of Trial cards (the bad stuff that happens), and Faith cards (tools players use to craft their actions). The Faith cards form the deck building collection. Divided into four values, they cost from one to four Faith points (the monetary unit). One point cards represent the basic actions, such as a single move, or removing a single restriction from an area. Two point cards also a single action but additionally represent books of the Bible (the epistles) and can be used to form sets, sometimes needed for victory
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conditions. Claiming a book removes the card from the deck. Three point cards allow double actions, such as moving twice, or adding two church members in a city. Four point cards are the miracles and the most powerful actions. These include removing all restrictions from a region, or move to any city or church. Supplementing these cards are the apostle’s powers. Each apostle has a special power and is represented as six identical Faith cards with that power unique to that player. For example, Andrew’s power is to add church members, and has six cards represent church building. Peter allows cards to cost two, making miracles cards (four points) more assessable to team members. The player’s starting deck is always their six special power cards plus two random two point cards. Start by selecting one of the five scenarios. These state the set up and victory conditions. The game is for two to six players, and each then selects an apostle. Since each apostle’s power vary, players can complement each other’s skills specifically for the scenario. Finally, pick the starting player by assigning the Elder staff. During the turn, the elder makes all the decisions and makes all the moves. There are three phases per turn: Arm, Live, and Mature. In the first, the Arm phase, all players collect six cards from their draw deck, forming their hands for the turn. The next, the Live Phase, is the where most of the game is played, and composed of five actions. Trial Action: The elder draws the top Trial card and implements effects immediately. These always intend to be detrimental, but could actually not have any affect due to circumstances. Effects include restricting movement in out of regions or cities, removing church members, scattering units within a city location, or even destroying churches.
Game Nite Issue #12
Photo: Robert Delwood
Prayer Action: Each player, including the elder, chooses one or two cards (depending on the number of players) and places them face down on their mats. These cards will collectively become the set of actions that the elder may choose from in the next phase. The player mats specifically instruct to “quietly play� these cards, and for a reason. After having set aside the cards, the elder rolls an eight sided Message die. This die specifies the amount of talking that may ensue. For example, on a four through eight, there is no restriction and players may freely discuss tactics after turning the cards over. A one through three restrictions talk and the players may not discuss tactics. There may detrimental effects as well. Share Action: Flip over all the cards and the elder selects two of them to use for the turn. Although the players may be able to discuss tactics, ultimately the elder makes the decisions.
moves. A Fellowship move transfers any number of church members, apostles, and missionaries from one church to an adjacent church. A Mission move allows movement into a city without an established church but the move has to include at least one apostle or missionary and they have to move from a city with at least a four population (the combination of apostles, missionaries and church members) at the moment of movement. A common Mission move, for example, includes three population (perhaps an apostle and two church members) in preparation for the upcoming Grow action.
Move Action: The elder gets two moves automatically, plus the effects of the two cards selected during the Share action. Since the game is about creating and spreading and churches, moving is paramount. There are two kinds of
Grow Action: All cities with a population of at least three can grow one church member. The elder decides which cities, if any, grow. An important tactic is that after church is established during the Move action, a newly place church
The moves and other options may occur in any sequence, although restrictions may exist. Perhaps a Trial card prohibits moving out of a city or region.
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Game Review (Cont.)
The Elder staff is passed to the next player, and the Live phase is repeated but with a new elder. You continue completing the Live cycle until you have two cards remaining in your hand. Mature Action: Everyone can buy new cards. Each Faith card also has a Faith point value in the top left. The total Faith points from both cards are the amount you can spend on purchases. You can buy any number or combination of cards as long as you don’t exceed the total available. Placed newly purchased cards face up in the discard pile. This completes one turn. Begin with the Arm phase and continue play with the new elder. The game ends in one of two ways. The first is at the end of the turn that the last Trial card is drawn, check victory conditions. The players all win together or lose together. The other condition is immediately if five churches are extinguished. If a city that has had an established church becomes empty, that is, has all church members, apostles, or missionaries completely removed, the church dies or is extinguished. This removal may be either through a trial or by choice. Like all good cooperative games, there is always more to do than time allows. And one sign is the number of tradeoffs to be made. First, the game is limited by the number of cards in the Trial deck, or 21 Live phases. As an example, in the first scenario you have to establish churches in 35 cities requiring at least 41 moves, but you have a base of 42 moves, or a clearance of just one. You’ll likely have players buy Move cards. Second, the apostles are most at risk. Many of the Trial cards affect the city or region that elder is in. The problem is that apostles are the primary way the church spreads. That means the newest churches are the most fragile. Leaving a city with only one church member is risky since Trial cards easily attrition these. However, it’s also unavoidable. Churches take time to build up and the apostles need to be moving forward. The back areas, or the oldest churches, tend to get large because of the Grow phase, but it also takes valuable Move actions to bolster weaker cities. Third, there is
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danger potentially everywhere. Some Trial cards place Stop counters in cities. There are two types of Stops: Growth, and Mission. Growth stops prevents that city from increasing in the Growth phase. The Mission is the more prohibitive one, and prevents apostles and missionaries from moving out. Cities may also have more than one counter of each type, so clearing the city becomes harder. These stops can be removed by cards and are an annoyance until then. Fourth, the players have to plan their turn if they want to buy good cards during the Mature phase. That is, you may want to keep the higher value cards, which prevents them from being played during the turn. Of course, there are plenty of other dangers, too. With the mechanics in mind, the powers of the apostles are: Andrew: Adds a member to the church where the elder is. Barnabas: Removes a Growth stop from the elder’s region. James: Provides an extra move. John: Allows all apostles to remove two cards from their discard piles, and those discards can also be used to purchase two point cards. Peter: Purchase any Faith card for two points. Paul: Removes a Mission stop from the elder’s region. The difficulty of the game can be changed in two ways. While clearly each apostle has a valuable contribution, some are better and worse than others depending on the needs by the scenario. Carefully selecting apostles can change the game. For example, since moving is important, James’ power may be used every turn. Barnabas’ and Paul’s power of removing stops, may not be applicable each time. The second way is that Trial deck has two options: Easy and hard. The base deck has 15 cards common to both. You can choose to add the easy cards, hard ones, or a combination of either totaling six cards. The finished deck always has 21. In summary, this is a light fare for a cooperative game, playable in under an hour. The second game printing clarifies some rules. There are several innovations, such as a no talking option, and letting the elder select the cards to use. Play is easy, maybe requiring a turn or two familiarity. With five scenarios, six apostles to choose from, and a variable Trials deck, there is a high replay value. You can also choose to read the theological notes. Or not.
Game Nite Issue #12
Photo: Robert Delwood
member increases the population to four, which then allows the group to continue in the next Move action.
Designer: Patrick Lysaght Publisher: Chara Games Number of players: 2-6 Mechanic: Co-op Ages: 13+ Issue #12
Length: 60 mins.
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Interview
Kay Wilke
By Serge Pierro
The Man Behind Yucata.de
“Kay Wilke is the owner of Yucata.de, a popular online board game site.”
What made you want to create a site that allowed players to play popular hobby board games? In 2001, when yucata.de went online, I had some spare time and wanted to learn web technologies. I’ve always been an avid player, so the them of the site was obvious. I’ve picked a rather simple game, I had played before and started. I never planned that 15 years later we would have over 100 games online and that so many players would also have contributed by programming for the site. Otherwise I would have called the site “WorldOfBoardGames” or something similar instead of naming it after the first game. I never planned to add a second game :)
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What are your favorite games, both onsite and off? Obviously that varies over time. Offsite Eclipse, Terra Mystica, Galaxy Trucker and Smallworld are long time favorites. Online, I am testing new games before they go online. But Thunderstone is probably special to me.
Kay Wilke Owner www.yucata.de
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The site has some great games, such as Thurn and Taxis, Russian Railroads, Glen More, Antike Duellum, The Voyages of Marco Polo, El Grande, Luna, etc. How do yo go about choosing what games to make available on the site? Especially those that aren’t available on other sites.
I haven’t programmed a game for years now, so I am mainly the matchmaker between the wishes of my team and the publishers which need to grant a license. Especially new developers are joining the team to develop their favorite game only to find that Yucata won’t get a license for the game. On the other hand, sometimes I get licenses for great games but no developer wants to implement it or it doesn’t get finished. Navegador is an example. One day we’ll bring it online, but so far no developer finished the task.
Elo developed his ranking system for chess. It also works for Go and other luck-free games for two players. Yucata used for several years a self-enhanced system which adapted ELO for games with more than two players. But ELO turned out to be too volatile for games with a high amount of luck. Microsoft developed TrueSkill for the leader boards on X-Box. It supports more than two players, team play and also allows to account for the varying luck factor of different games. The ELO system is just a special case of TrueSkill for Whether a game is available somewhere else is luck-free 2 player games. not important to us. It also doesn’t have to be brand new. The developer really needs to like The second ranking system is a meta-game the game since he’s going to spend some time which is intended to motivate players to play with it. different games and different players. Originally we kept the Yucata theme and had 9 different I must admit that it is getting more difficult to priest/god ranks of Mayan mythology. During get licenses. The main reason is that publishers the last 15 years we had two temple revolutions are now trying to earn money with the digital when we got too many high priests. The last versions of their games. I would probably do the revolution was absolute, which is why every same, it is still sad that I am getting the answer member starts as a “new villager” and is then “No, we are trying to do an iOS version” more earning ranks. Sometimes, a ranking system is and more regularly. limiting players in their choice of opponents or game type. Because they fear to lose a rank, they As a tournament Chess, Go and Scrabble player I’m play only weaker opponents or prefer not to try used to sitting down against an opponent with an new games. This is why we added an opt-outELO rating and being able to estimate their playing mechanism: You can chose to be a “hermit” and then will never gain or lose a rank.
strength. However, Yucata uses a “two tier” system that has a TrueSkill rating along with a title. What made you decide to choose this system over the more common ELO system?
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Interview (Cont.) Can you give us a behind the scenes look at the There are many tournament modes which everyday operations of Yucata? might vary due to personal taste or game. And The platform is pretty stable and we’ve got many volunteers answering questions in the chat and in the forums. Thus, my main work is to support developers or to talk to publishers about licenses.
you have to device how to handle games where one player plays slowly or stops playing. The tournament section in the forums is run by some players who found different solutions for those challenges. Still, you are right, we should add a full-featured tournament mode.
How open is the development process for users Are there any upcoming announcements that you who are interested in programming games for the would like to share with our readers? site, or are they developed “in house”? As we’ve done for a long time we are going to All of the developers on the team started add great games one by one, we will continue to being online players and after a while asked to be a free site and an asynch site. develop a game of their own. The framework is documented and we are always open for new Perhaps let me add something about the asynch developers but the source code is not open character of the site. Players coming from a live source. playing site often have a hard time to adapt to asynch play. On Yucata most people play several The Tournament area of the site is “buried” in a games at one time, between 5 and perhaps section within the Forums and have players involved 300. Some live-gamers will leave, others will in having to edit a spreadsheet. Are there any plans learn to prefer it over live play after some time. to make tournaments more accessible? Perhaps a Every month someone will propose that Yucata should add a live playing option, perhaps as the “Tournament” listing under the “Games” tab? standard option because it is so much more fun. We obviously disagree with that, which is why True. We do have some tournament support we grant every player for every move 30 days. which is inactive right now. So far we didn’t And we’ve also added measures that nobody can find the time to implement a fully automated game the system by just ignoring games which tournament system. There are several challenges: they are about to lose.
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Puzzle Issue #12 Crossword Puzzle
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1. "___ Card Kingdoms" 3. Designer Sandy ___ 6. "Race to the ___" 10. Popular Fitzgerald series "Mystery ___" 11. "Fabled ___" 12. "Wyatt ___" 14. Arcane Wonders two player game 15. "Star Trek ___" 17. "___ at Sea" 19. A cube in "Hansa Teutonica" 21. "San Ni ____" 26. Mercury Game's "Walled ___" 27. Ohio based convention 30. "Hspelknect" resource 31. Australian designer, Hamish ___ 32. "Dastardly ___" 33. "___ Invasion"
(Solution on Page 107)
1. Leder Games "___ the Crystal Caverns" 2. 2016 Spiel des Jahres nominee ___ 4. "Dice __" 5. Mike Fitzgerald CCG "WCW ___" 7. Petersen Games card game 8. Dark fantasy artist ___ 9. A disk in "Hansa Teutonica" 13. Dutrait artwork for Knizia classic 16. Designer Andreas ___ 18. HABA classic "___ Hero" 20. New Feld "Oracle of ___" 22. Mike Fitzgerald CCG 23. "Flamme ___" 24. "In the Name of ___" 25. Yucata owner "Kay ___" 28. Concordia expansion 29. TMG's "Steam ___"
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Game Review
San, Ni, Ichi
By Christine Sampson
Lighthearted Ninja Combat
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rowd-funding platforms like Kickstarter have turned gamer after gamer into independent game makers, yielding popular titles like Exploding Kittens, Scythe, Paperback, and Zombicide. Such was the case for San, Ni, Ichi, a martial arts-themed card-battle game from Ironmark Games that joined the ranks of successful Kickstarter projects in 2015. Since its release in May 2016, it has steadily been collecting positive reviews ‘round the Internet, due to its lighthearted tone, easy flow, and stunning artwork. Let’s start with the basics. The game features two types of cards: Attack cards and special weapons. The attack cards follow a simple element-based logic: Water cards can beat fire cards, fire cards can beat wood cards, and wood cards can beat water cards. They are also given a number between one and ten as an indicator of their strength. The special weapons are definitely part of the game’s appeal. They are shuffled and randomly drawn into the deck depending on the number of people playing, so each game becomes different from the last. The weapons allow different abilities, such as blocking attacks or swapping piles of attack cards that have been played. Turns begin with a player selecting a card from his or her hand and placing it face down on the table. They count down from three “san, ni, ichi!” in a sort of “rock, paper, scissors” kind of way and reveal all cards simultaneously. Though not required, it is highly recommended that players make enthusiastic martial-arts-battle noises as they flip their cards. Then, the damage phase begins, and here’s where the numbers on the cards come into play. The player showing the lowest-numbered card goes first, and players take turns in rising number order. Players can do one of three things. He or she may attack another player by placing the chosen card in front of that player into a space known as the combat pile. He or she may defend, placing the card on his or her own combat pile. He or she may also counter an attack by playing a card on his or her own combat pile and then pushing that
pile to that of another player whose combat pile is empty. Attacks must follow the elemental logic: Fire attack cards cannot beat water attack cards and wood attack cards cannot beat fire attack cards, for instance. In each round, the player who is left with the highest-numbered card takes the damage for that round by flipping over the combat pile cards, and begins the next round with an empty combat pile. Other players’ combat piles remain in play for the next round. The game takes place in seven finite rounds, and at the end, players total up the numbers on the attack cards and any damage done by the special weapons. The player with the least amount of damage at the end is the winner. The artwork of San, Ni, Ichi consistently draws impressed reactions from everyone who opens the box. The figures and elemental symbols were hand-drawn by the game’s creator. Of particular note are the game’s female ninja warriors, who are drawn in a more human fashion, rather than the often hypersexualized way that women are often seen in Japanese animation and other work illustrating the martial arts. One caveat to the game is that explaining how to play San, Ni, Ichi tends to take longer than playing a full session of the game itself. I have to admit that when I attended the Kickstarter launch party that Ironmark Games hosted, three different people had to explain it to me before the rules sank in and I fully began to understand it. When you do get a group together that already knows how to play, San, Ni, Ichi does move fast and you start to see its full potential as a game that really stands out. That the game is lighthearted and supports up to six players without feeling slow or tedious are definitely strengths; so is the complexity that it packs into such a fast-paced game.
Designer: Mike Sette Publisher: Ironmark Games Number of players: 3-6 Mechanic: Card Based Combat Ages: 10+ Length: 15 mins.
Recommended
www.ironmarkgames.com
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Game Review
Small City
By Callum Dougherty
City Building - Heavy Euro
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mall City is the third in a series of heavy tile individuals including lobbyists, ecologists and architects driven city building euro-games self-published by in the form of special character action cards chosen via a rondel at the start of each turn. designer Alban Viard.
The combination of factors that cause cities to organically grow has been the unifying mechanic explored in this three part series. Small City is more intuitive than Clinic and heavier than Town Hall. Early placement is highly relevant across each of the eight rounds and will define your city throughout the game. Small City is more than a slow builder, every action warrants deep analysis from the first placement. Early games are filled with multiple players reveling in their frustration of “why did I build that there!?� In Small City you develop a city space as a mayoral candidate seeking re-election. You have to build your borough, provide for its people and deliver on promises in return for votes (Victory Points). Currency and resources become shops, private homes and public buildings such as museums, universities and hospitals. You manage the pros and cons of pollution reduced by building parks versus pedestrian deaths. Enlisting support in your endeavors from eight
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You build your Small City from interlocking tiles not dissimilar to Princes of Florence. However, Small City feels more cohesive and weightier than Princes of Florence, because whilst obeying similar building rules over a similar area, the construction is more involved and feels more rewarding as an action and is satisfying in solo play, while also scaling well through different player counts. Furthermore, Alban Viard is known for introducing variants to his games and this one includes a solo variant, alternative special action cards, two maps to build on plus a multitude of available expansions. Individual boards are double sided with beginner and expert maps with differing build space. The bulk of available expansions are individual board variants. One featuring immovable forests, another encroached upon by the sea and another cut by a river. The different boards offer unique challenges to the experienced player and make for a good handicap when experienced players versus new players. I think fans of Small City will frequently play solo games on the larger beginner board, mainly for the thrill of building.
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Photo: Callum Dougherty
The build phase happens in unison behind screens resulting in little downtime compared to games of similar weight and complexity. Which when combined with A) player conflict over a rondel of vastly differing special action card roles such as lobbyist and opponent B) player competition over minimal pollution which will be fatal to your meeples C) the ability to send out meeples as tourists to other cities and D) players trying to optimally block crucial sections of the highest scoring players board with mayoral visits, Small City feels fast paced, highly interactive and even mean at low player counts for such a heavy euro. However, Small City maybe isn’t the fairest as special objectives received at the
start of the game aren’t the best balanced and the special action card abilities are intentionally unbalanced. The relationship between mechanics and theme in Small City doesn’t feel disjointed as in other games that use polygonal tiles. In fact the theme is insightful, offering a look in a microcosm at how a mayor and their goals can shape a growing city. The theme is both playful and political without being inflammatory. My favorite line of flavor text from the rulebook is in reference to the abilities of the opponent special action card “This is a blank card…That’s it. Dealing with your opponent always feels like a waste of Time”
Continued on next page>
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Game Review (Cont.)
The rulebook is easy to refer to, however; the game could benefit from text on cards and game boards as it’s symbology can be confusing and easy to forget. Of the component quality, the game boards are reasonable cardstock for a self-published game where as I feared I would tear key tiles just separating them from the sprues. The wooden meeples and resources are very nice but the cheap plastic coins look out of place in an otherwise attractive game. Small City is the heaviest city builder. However, with higher player interactivity than even many much lighter euro-games and the inclusion of some mitigating luck and unbalance. Small City is an example of an emerging style I have noticed in heavy euros that can also be found in Stefan Feld’s Bora Bora and Panamax by Gil d’Orey, Nuno Bizzaro Sentierio and Paulo Soledade. In these games the weight absorbs features and mechanics that would
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normally be short falls in this style of game. The luck, the aggressive interactivity and unbalance enrich the game instead by forcing players to adapt their strategies, encouraging involvement in other player’s strategies, serving the theme and by presenting high variance and complex obstacles. Small City is therefore not only the heaviest city builder, but also the most deep and rewarding. Building a city to watch it grow is still just plain joy as with Suburbia etc. but in Small City watching interacting building tiles encourage each other’s growth is elegant and thought provoking, so I find myself constructing a city with this game in its solo variant almost daily. Small City has not only became my new favorite solo euro-game but as an attractive, interactive and refreshing multiplayer game, and has rapidly found a place among my favorite games of all time.
Designer: Alban Viard Publisher: AV Studio Games Number of players: 1-4 Mechanic: Tile Placement, Area Influence Ages: 12+ Length: 90-120 mins.
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Recommended www.avstudiogames.com
Photo: Callum Dougherty
Visually, Small City is vibrant with nice contrast between tiles. The style of the various game boards take the form of designer’s dossiers meets hip urban geography infographics. The game is cute with cartoon caricatures on the special action cards and its adorably small meeples. It manages to look fun, friendly and exciting, whilst still suggestive of a distinctly European game design. It has similar visual vibes to Flip City meets Food Chain Magnate, albeit with lower production values and this style carries onto a competent rulebook.
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Solo Gaming
Tiny Epic Galaxies By Jeff Rhind
T
iny Epic Galaxies continues the Tiny Epic line from Gamelyn Games with what is quite possibly their most popular entry in the series yet. Designed by Scott Almes, you are in control of a small fledgling empire. Dealt cards in the middle of the table represent planets that may not only provide different resources but also add victory points and special abilities to your empire when you colonize them and add them to your empire. You roll dice that allow a player different actions like move a ship into orbit which over time allows you to colonize that world and add it and it’s special ability to your empire. You can also gain culture to advance your empire as well as gain energy which can allow you to re-roll dice. The game comes with official solitaire rules where you are battling another empire, called the Rogue Galaxy, for control of space. The AI comes in five degrees of difficulty ranging from the introductory beginner to the nearly impossible to beat “epic.” The first player to 21 wins the game. On your turn you will roll only 4 dice although you can gain more dice as the game progresses. You spend a die to perform an action. Dice actions include: Move your ship – Place a ship onto a planet (4 are dealt to the middle of the table) to gain it’s resource (energy or culture) times the number of planets you have landed on, or put your ship into orbit which over several turns can allow you to take control of the planet and gain victory points. Energy/Culture – Either die face gains you the number of either resource as indicated by the number of ships either that are in orbit or landed on a planet that provides the applicable resource.
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Diplomacy/Economy – Either of these die faces allow your ship to advance on the track orbiting a planet with the matching symbol. As you progress around in orbit (the longer the orbit and thus more spaces, the more victory points the planet is worth) Once you reach the end of the track, all ships are returned to their respective owners, you place the planet card under your galaxy mat
Photo: Jeff Rhind
(play mat), you gain the special ability and the victory The Rogue Galaxy starts with all four of his ships and points associated with it. 5 dice that you roll one at a time, perform the action and then continue. For example, the Move Ship action Utilize a Colony – this last die face allows you to trigger means the AI places a ship in orbit on the left most one of your special abilities of your empire. planet card where it does not have a ship. The AI gains Energy and Culture the same way as well as Diplomacy You can also trade in two unused dice to convert a third and Economy allowing the AI to race you for control of unused die into any face you want. After you have spent all a planet. As the Rogue Galaxy gains culture it increases of your dice, the Rogue galaxy takes his turn. its dice pool, which gains extra VPs and the energy Continued on next page>
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Solo Gaming (Cont.)
increase means it will “level up” and future attacks on you will change. When the AI rolls the Utilize Colony action, it will attack your empire zapping energy or culture from you or forcing you to return a ship home. If the AI cannot use the die face, then the AI does nothing – that’s a good thing. A very cool mechanic in the game allows the solo player to spend a culture of your own empire to “follow” or copy the action a die rolled by the AI. A mechanic reminiscent of Eminent Domain’s “follow” action. Pretty simple, right? It is. It is not a complicated game. Don’t be fooled however by this small box game. The Rogue Galaxy AI can ramp up very quickly and gain lots of points fast. This is a great press-your-luck dice roller filler
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game and it doesn’t take up a lot of table space. It’s not very deep and although there is some luck involved with regard to dice rolling, that luck can mitigated through the conversion of two unwanted dice to a die face of your choice. Additionally, falling behind can be diminished by using the “follow” action as long as you have culture to pay for it. Tiny Epic Galaxies plays fast and allows you to make some decisions and the dice rolls, both of the player and the AI, allow for some press-your-luck excitement. Considering the overall popularity of this game, an expansion is on the way in 2017 that provides more planets as well as secret missions and ship pilots with special abilities. Tiny Epic Galaxies is a must-have, fast dice roller for the solo player.
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Photo: Jeff Rhind
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Education
My Top Ten Family Math Games
By David Niecikowski, MAED, ABD
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he focus of this article is on families who are
looking for fun, authentic games that develop math reasoning. The focus is not on math games for the classroom teacher; however, some connections to Common Core State Standards for Mathematics will be highlighted. As mentioned in previous articles, I have observed over time how playing traditional games have helped my own children achieve academically and socially over the last 14 years. Playing board and card games definitely helped them with their logicalmathematical reasoning, especially in the areas of planning and number sense. When considering what games to include in the list I considered the over 2000 games in our current and past collection. I decided to mostly focus on games that they played when they were as young as 5 and 3 and that we still play today at their current ages of 19 and 17. The idea being to recommend the following games as good investments for new parents who will enjoy playing these games with their children when they are young and as grow older. Of course, since we still play these games today, I recommend them for families of teens and young adult children as well.
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With regard to educational/classroom connections: this article is not about recommending games to meet certain standards. If that was the case, I have games in my collection that teach fractions, place value, and telling time from companies such as Learning Resources but that are too academic/didactic and therefore, do not hit the table today with my family. I would only use these games with future grandchildren, in the classroom, or in teacher/parent trainings. In general, games in My Top Ten Family Math Games could meet all eight Common Core Standards for Mathematical practice: “[1] Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them… [2] Reason abstractly and quantitatively… [3] Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others… [4] Model with mathematics… [5] Use appropriate tools strategically… [6] Attend to precision… [7] Look for and make use of structure… [8] Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010) However, formal lessons would more often than not need to be created around playing these games with students engaging in oral and written
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discourse to draw out connections to these general standards. More specific standards will be referenced in the discussion of each game but grade levels will not be included; although all will be 5th grade or less. The reason being is that children of all ages are at different mathematical development levels; e.g., students are expected to master multiplication in 3rd grade but there are 9th grade students still trying to master their multiplication facts while taking Algebra.
#1 Qwirkle Cubes 2009
Ages: 6+
# of Players: 2 to 4
Discussion: This is ranked number one on my list because it has received the most plays compared to the others over the last several years. We prefer it to the original Qwirkle because we enjoy the aspect of being able to roll your cubes before taking a placement action when creating patterns of shapes to score the most points. It has just the right amount of luck and strategy which enables less experienced players to be competitive. Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, and Geometry. Continued on next page>
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Education (Cont.) #2 Ingenious 2004
Ages: 10+
#5 Zooloretto # of Players: 2 to 4
Discussion: Ingenious is similar to Qwirkle Cubes in that you are placing shapes on tiles in patterns to score the most points. What makes it a favorite is that your score is only as high as the lowest value of the six available shapes. So someone could be scoring over 15, for example, in five of the six shapes but only has a score of 3 in sixth shape category. Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, and Geometry.
#3 For Sale 1997
Ages: 8+
# of Players: 3 to 6
Discussion: This is the only game on my list that deals with whole number money. What we like best is bidding on houses with only limited resources (money) and then selling your houses in the second phase of the game to win checks of different values based on the ranking of the houses. The game can favor those who are good at remembering other players’ bids and who has won which ranked houses.
2007
Ages: 8+
# of Players: 2 to 5
Discussion: This award winning ‘score the most points’ game still holds a special place for us because we love the art. The game seems deceptively non-strategic but the choices of when and which truck of animals, money tokens, and/or vending stalls can be agonizing. Deciding when to expand your zoo, where to place tokens, and when to buy and sell animals in barns adds to the strategic thinking. Being a favorite, we have made it appoint to acquire most of the expansions that are mostly out-of-print. Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking and Number and Operations in Base Ten.
#6 Jamaica 2007
Ages: 8+
# of Players: 3 to 6
Discussion: What would it be like to play Candy Land, a race to the finish game, if you added strategy and a pirate theme where you could also battle each other? If this sounds fun then Jamaica is the game for you. We like deciding which action cards to use on the current turn in consideration of the value of the movement dice placed on the night time and day time movement Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic phases. You have to decide whether to race ahead and Thinking and Number, Operations in Base Ten, and score treasure cards that could be beneficial or cursed, Measurement and Data. potentially land on another player’s space and do battle and steal resources, or gather resources of gold, cannons, #4 Lost Cities the Board Game or food. The fun comes from trying to plan your own moves and predict other players’ moves. 2008 Ages: 8+ # of Players: 2 to 4 Discussion: We favor the board game version of this Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic ‘score the most points’ game over the two player card Thinking and Number and Operations in Base Ten. version (although we do have two copies of the card game and have tried the four player variant). We enjoy racing to uncover artifacts before other players. We feel the larger card deck of numbers that are placed in sequence is more forgiving than the card game in that it is rare you will score negative points on an expedition when you do not travel far enough. The game provides a quicker 1 round variant. Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking and Number and Operations in Base Ten.
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#7 Battle Line 2000
Ages: 12+
#9 Splendor # of Players: 2
2014
Ages: 10+
# of Players: 2 to 4
Discussion: Battle Line uses elements of poker to try and be the first to win 5 battle flags or 3 battle flags that are all adjacent to each other. Players must agonize what and when to commit a card behind a flag. Winning a flag will usually be decided after comparing 3 cards that are placed on each side of a flag over many turns. However, a player can make the argument that the flag is won before all cards are placed based on what cards have been placed on previous flags. In addition to a deck of cards with colored suites numbered 1-10, there is a special action deck that player can use to achieve unexpected results. The reason why this game is not further down on the list is because only two-players can play the game.
Discussion: Splendor is the most recent game on our list because of how many times we have played it. The object is to be the first player to score 15 points using temporary precious gems to buy cards worth points that also provide permanent gems for future purchases. It is an engine building game where the cards you buy help make future purchases cheaper. Unfortunately, we played the game so many times we had to remove certain cards from the game that encouraged a predictable strategy. As a result, this game may move off this list in the future.
Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking and Number and Operations in Base Ten.
#10 Zombie Dice
Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking and Number and Operations in Base Ten.
2010
Ages: 10+
# of Players: 2 to 99
Discussion: This is the push-your-luck game that has seen the most plays in our collection. We like racing 2000 Ages: 5+ # of Players: 2 to 4 to be the first zombie to eat 13 brains and having fun Discussion: This is the most Chess like game as there calculating the odds of rolling three shotgun blasts and is no luck involved. Like in Chess, usually the best losing the current turn’s progress. We like playing with player will win. However, when playing with 3 or more the two expansions and bought plastic brains to help players, the less abled players can be more aggressive at track scoring. blocking the better player’s expansion across the board. Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic The player wins who places the most pantomimes on Thinking and Number and Operations in Base Ten. board’s grid. Like a 2D version of Tetris, we enjoy flipping and rotating the available pieces to achieve the best fit and block other players. Final Thoughts
#8 Blokus
Standards connections: Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number and Operations in Base Ten, and Geometry.
All these games are light to medium weight games that are great for family members who are not interested in games that take over an hour to play. Shorter playing time is also ideal for younger players who are developing longer attention spans. With experience, none of the games on the above list take more than 30 minutes to play. Source: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers. (2010). Common Core State Standards for Mathematics. Washington, DC: Authors.
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Contributors Serge Pierro
Serge has playtested numerous games for several companies, including Wizards of the Coast and AEG. He has also written for Duelist, Inquest and Gamer print magazines. His award winning photography has appeared in both newspapers and magazines. He has self published a game, and has several other designs scheduled for a 2017 release.
Eric Devlin
Eric has been the North East Regional Representative for Wizards of the Coast, the brand manager of Legends of the Five Rings, as well as working with Sabretooth and Third World Games. He has an extensive background in playtesting for top companies. He has also written for Games Quarterly, Duelist, Inquest and others.
Bill Braun Bill has been a contributing writer for PSNation and High-
Def Digest, an Editor and Publisher Relations Director for 30PlusGamer, and the co-creator and podcast host of A Band of Gamers.
John Anthony Gulla John graduated with an M.A. in Humanities, wherein he focused his study on games, the history of gaming, and game design as it relates to the Humanities. He is an avid board gamer and game collector, with over 200 games in his current collection. You can reach him on BGG.com under the username JohnAG68
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Jeff Rhind Jeff is a single father raising a 17 year-old son and a 6 year-old daughter, and slowly coaxing them into the world of tabletop gaming. He has been gaming for many years and shares his love and appreciation for the hobby by reviewing and talking about games on his web site: completelyboard. com as well as his You Tube channel at youtube.com/completelyboard. You can also follow him on twitter @jeffrhind
David Niecikowski David is a published game designer and recognized expert on using traditional games with families and students. Since 2000, over two dozen of his board games, role-playing supplements, books, and articles have been published. He has also worked as a freelance marketing and event consultant with scores of industry companies such as Alliance Game Distributors, Gen Con, Wizards of the Coast, Upper Deck, Mayfair, Rio Grande, AEG, and Out of the Box.
Kevin Lauryssen Kevin has a Master in Audiovisual Arts and majored in Animation. He works as a Freelance Draftsman for multiple companies in Belgium. He’s an avid gamer who has created a web-comic about boardgaming. His work can be found at www.game-night.be
Christine Sampson Christine is a full-time journalist who considers herself lucky to be doing exactly what she pictured herself doing when she was 15 years old. Her work has appeared in the Huffington Post, the East Hampton Star, Newsday, the Wall Street Journal, and many other publications and blogs. When she isn’t playing tabletop games, chasing down news stories, or trying to catch up on sleep, Christine can be found holed up working on her novel.
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Contributors (Cont.) Robert Delwood
Robert, a professional technical writer by day, first played Panzer Leader and hasn’t stopped since. He’s playtested during that time, has written an Advanced Squad Leader automated player aid, and proof read rules for six companies. He’s also reviewed games for Fire and Movement, Armchair General, Paper Wars, and ASL Journal..
Callum Dougherty
Callum is a cinematographer and video artist working in film and fashion video. He is currently studying his MA in Film and Cultural Studies where he is busying himself figuring out how to squeeze ludology into every assignment! In his free time he can be found playing only the heaviest euros or trying out the creepiest and wibbliest new roleplaying games!
Contributors
?
Game Nite is always interested in hearing from potential
contributors! If you feel you have something unique to offer, feel free to contact us... we’d love to hear from you!
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Comic
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Answer Key
Games That Begin With The Letter “B� R
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(Words can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.)
Bang Babel Basilica Bismark Brass Battletech Bamboleo Bausack
Byzantio Bohnanza Bazaar Blurt Boxcards Blokus Bombay Burano 106
Boggle Blox Biblios Barony Bushido Batik Bruges Barons
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Blitzkrieg Bisikle Babylon Belfort Batavia Blink Bullfrogs Borneo
Issue #12 Crossword Puzzle 1
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1. "___ Card Kingdoms" [VALERIA] 3. Designer Sandy ___ [PETERSEN] 6. "Race to the ___" [RHINE] 10. Popular Fitzgerald series "Mystery ___" [RUMMY] 11. "Fabled ___" [FRUIT] 12. "Wyatt ___" [EARP] 14. Arcane Wonders two player game [ONITAMA] 15. "Star Trek ___" [PANIC] 17. "___ at Sea" [EMPIRES] 19. A cube in "Hansa Teutonica" [TRADER] 21. "San Ni ____" [ICHI] 26. Mercury Game's "Walled ___" [CITY] 27. Ohio based convention [ORIGINS] 30. "Hspelknect" resource [COAL] 31. Australian designer, Hamish ___ [STERLING] 32. "Dastardly ___" [DIRIGIBLES] 33. "___ Invasion" [DRACONIS]
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1. Leder Games "___ the Crystal Caverns" [VAST]
2. 2016 Spiel des Jahres nominee ___ [IMHOTEP] 4. "Dice __" [TOWER] 5. Mike Fitzgerald CCG "WCW ___" [NITRO] 7. Petersen Games card game [THEOMACHY] 8. Dark fantasy artist ___ [BROM] 9. A disk in "Hansa Teutonica" [MERCHANT] 13. Dutrait artwork for Knizia classic [MEDICI] 16. Designer Andreas ___ [STEDING] 18. HABA classic "___ Hero" [RHINO] 20. New Feld "Oracle of ___" [DELPHI] 22. Mike Fitzgerald CCG [WYVERN] 23. "Flamme ___" [ROUGE] 24. "In the Name of ___" [ODIN] 25. Yucata owner "Kay ___" [WILKE] 28. Concordia expansion [SALSA] Game Nite "Steam ___" 107 [WORKS] 29. TMG's
Game Review Index
• • • • • •
This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the 2-4 of Us Small World Stella Nova Shoot-Out Postcard Cthulhu Postcard Empire
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Tile Chess Cards of Cthulhu Samurai Spirit Golem Arcana Pairs Sutakku Timeline
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Baseball Highlights 2045 Samurai Sword Paperback For the Crown Trench Firefly Cutthroat Caverns Rise of the Zombies Shadow Throne
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• • • • • • • • •
Rhino Hero Attila Spurs and Sprockets Chaosmos March of the Ants AquaSphere Fidelitas Rise of Cthulhu Maha Yodah
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Animal Upon Animal Sushi Draft Stones of Fate WWII: Stalingrad Stockpile The Magnates Sentinel Tactics Flip City Space Movers 2201 Dark Tales
• • • • • • • • •
Nevermore Gold West Arcadia Quest Dragon Flame New York 1901 Lift Off! Tesla vs. Edison Yashima Targi
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Game Nite
• • • • • • • •
Outer Earth 1944: Race to the Rhine Runecast Cycling Tour Witkacy Firefly: Fistful of Credits Dozen Doubloons King Down
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Game Review Index
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Steam Works Web of Spies Cartography Xia: Legends of a Drift System Orleans Raiders of the North Sea Hoyuk Wizards of the Wild Myths at War Ring It! Hogg Wild for Wealth The Martian Investigations
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Cosmic Run Imperial Harvest Under the Pyramids (Eldritch Horror Expansion) Bomb Squad Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization Luna Biblios Dice Trekking the National Parks Fuse Skulldug! Horrible Hex
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Cuisine a la Cart Foragers The Shadow Over Westminster Scoville Valeria: Card Kingdom Onitama Knit Wit Worlds Fair: 1893 Flip City: Reuse Gruff The Walled City Empires at Sea
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Game Review Index
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JurassAttack! Oh My Gods! Looting Atlantis 13 Days Apotheca Tiny Epic Galaxies Automobiles Daxu Slaughterville Kheops Scoville: Labs Ancient Conflict Treasure Chest
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Dr. Eureka Stockpile: Continuing Corruption Sugar Gliders Dawn of the Zeds: Third Edition Vast: The Crystal Caverns The Networks Grifters Trajan Conspiracy! Secrets of the Last Tomb Best Treehouse Ever Matryoshka
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Imhotep In the Name of Odin Centauri Saga Draconis Invasion Dastardly Dirigibles Flamme Rouge Haspelknecht Hansa Teutonica Star Trek Panic Theomachy Commissioned San Ni Ichi Small City Issue #12
Game Nite
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