Game Nite magazine issue 15

Game Nite

Issue # 15

the magazine of tabletop gaming

e e r ges

F 0+ pa 10

Game Reviews Terra Mystica app review

Friedemann friese game Designer

Eric B. Vogel

Dresden files card game

Joshua Cappel Artist

Book Reviews and more!

In this issue: Reviews

book review

14 Ninja Taisen Ninjas.

4 Game Theory 101 The Complete Textbook

6 The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming Gaming Etiquette

8 The Creation of Narrative In Tabletop Role-Playing Games

Education 90

Games in Education Recent Games with Educational Merit

Interviews 24

Dresden Files Card Game.

42

Friedemann Friese

Eric B. Vogel

Game Designer.

64

Joshua Cappel Artist.

Solo Gaming 86

Roll Player Jeff Rhind

Comics 95 Comics Game Night comic strip.

Space Invaders Dice!

Roll and Write.

20

The Dresden Files Co-op Card Game.

30

Pyramids

34

Quests of Valeria

38

Amun-Re Knizia Classic.

48

Cultists of Cthulhu Lovecraft Traitor?

54

Magic Maze Silent Co-op.

80

Knot Dice Celtic Creativity.

82

The Cohort

84

Crazier Eights

92

Latest Valeria Title.

Assemble a Roman Legion.

Crazier Crazy Eights.

Game Nite Contributors

Review index

Terra Mystica

96

Android and iOS

2

Build a Necropolis.

Contributors

Mobile Reviews 10

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Game Nite Issue #15

Back Issue Index

From the gaming table

Game Nite ISSUE # 15

W

hile most people celebrate the arrival of Spring for the return of warmer weather and green foliage, those of us who are into board games realize that it is time for news of the new Origins and GenCon releases. This year will be no different, as summer approaches we will start to see publishers releasing more information. My guess is that this year we’ll be seeing even more games than the previous years, as there doesn’t appear to be any slowdown within the hobby. On the contrary, Cons are still selling out and board game sales are still strong. It’s a great time to be playing board games!

Cover Photograph by Serge Pierro.

Amun-Re © Tasty Minstrel Games

Editor in Chief/Publisher: Serge Pierro

Editor:

In this issue:

Eric Devlin

Bill Braun reviews “Cultists of Cthulhu”.

Tom Franklin reviews “The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming”, “The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games” and “Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu”.

Contributing Writers: Photographers: Bill Braun

Serge Pierro

Jeff Rhind continues his series on solo games - this time featuring the hot game: “Roll Player”.

David Niecikowski

Bill Braun

David Niecikowski’s looks at “Recent Games With Educational Merit”.

Kevin Lauryssen

Jeff Rhind

John Anthony Gulla

Robert Delwood

Special thanks to Friedemann Friese for taking time from his busy schedule to share his thoughts with our readers.

Jeff Rhind

Callum Dougherty

Special thanks to Eric B. Vogel for sharing his thoughts on the design of “The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game”

Christine Sampson

Steve Krause

Robert Delwood

Special thanks also to Joshua Cappel for his time and samples of his artwork.

Callum Dougherty

Congratulations to Reiner Knizia and Tasty Minstrel Games for winning an Editor’s Choice Award for, “Amun-Re”.

Tom Franklin

Congratulations also to Digidiced for winning an Editor’s Choice Award for their excellent app of “Terra Mystica”.

Steve Krause

Follow us on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/GameNiteMagazine Visit us at:

Serge Pierro

www.gamenitemagazine.com Follow us on Twitter:

Editor in Chief

@GameNiteMag

editor@gamenitemagazine.com Issue #15

Game Nite

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Book Review

Game Theory 101 The Complete Texbook

W

ith the growing interest in Game Design, subjects such as Game Theory have started to intrigue many aspiring designers. However, while there are numerous chapters within books and videos that discuss the subject, many of them cover only a small aspect of it, leaving it up to the reader/viewer to search for more information. With “Game Theory 101: The Complete Textbook”, William Spaniel attempts to present “a user-friendly introduction to Game Theory”. Let’s see if the book delivers on its promise.

When I first heard of the book I was unaware that there was a YouTube video series on which it’s based. I decided to ignore the series (at first) and read the book as if it was the only source.

The book is divided into four “lessons”. Each of these lessons are further divided and the resulting lessons are branched further still. It would be better to think of the book having four sections and each section having several chapters and subchapters. Ex: Lesson 1 is actually divided into eight sections (Lesson 1.1 − 1.8) and Lesson 1.1 is divided into five sections (Lesson 1.1.1 − 1.1.5).

Not surprisingly the book starts of with the classic Game Theory example of “The Prisoner’s Dilemma”. Anyone with even a casual interest in Game Theory will have already come across this topic. Spaniel does an excellent job in laying the foundation for later chapters by breaking down the example and introducing the concepts that will be used more in-depth in later chapters. Perhaps the most interesting example in this section was the real life example of the Tobacco Industry and advertising. This was an excellent example of Game Theory in “everyday life”.

Other topics covered in the opening section include: Strict Dominance in Asymmetric Games, Nash Equilibrium, Iterated Elimination of Strictly Dominated Strategies and Mixed Strategies. While the subject matter may appear to be imposing, Spaniel does a good job in making them user friendly and accessible. By the end of the book, these and other topics will become second nature.

all of the math is very easy to follow, yet in this section we are now introduced to an Algebraic equation to solve the game. While the Algebra is not overly difficult, the author assumes that the reader is well versed in Algebra and just writes out the formula without any explanation of each of the steps used to come to the final result. I found this to be unacceptable for a book touting itself as “user-friendly introduction”. A simple step by step explanation of the initial algorithm would have made the rest of the chapters much easier to grasp for those who are not fluent or are rusty in Algebra. At this point I decided to watch the relevant YouTube videos on the subject matter to see if there were any clarifications or explanations, but there wasn’t any.

I’m not sure why a simple explanation couldn’t have been provided in either case, especially as the rest of the book is handled in such detail. As I tell my students, “Teaching is a communication skill, not a knowledge based skill”.

The other main lesson headings are: Lesson 2 “Game Trees and Subgame Perfect Equlibrium”, Lesson 3 “Probability Distributions” and Lesson 4 “Infinite Strategy Spaces, Second Price Auctions and The Median Voter Theorem”.

Each of these sections have the same depth of analysis as the initial lessons.

For anyone interested in Game Theory this book should be on the “must read” list. There is a tremendous amount of useful information contained within, and when used alongside the videos on YouTube, you will have a firm foundation on the subject matter. Even with my criticism listed above, this book is highly recommended, as William Spaniel has done an admirable job in gathering all of this information into one book and breaking it down into a digestible format. The book has inspired me to want to watch his video series, which also goes beyond the topics covered within the book.

However, the opening section contains what I consider to be a somewhat fatal flaw. In the section on Mixed Strategies we are introduced to the Mixed Strategy Algorithm. Up to this point

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By Serge Pierro

Game Nite Issue #15

Author: William Spaniel Publisher: Self Published

Highly Recommended https://williamspaniel.com/textbook/

Book Review The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming

T

eri Litorco, a contributor to Geek & Sundry, as well as co-founder and co-host of The Board Dames podcast, has written a new book with the rather grand title, The Civilized Guide to Tabletop Gaming. Just how civilized is it?

And who needs to be civilized? Good questions.

Despite stating in her introduction that she “wrote this book to help all gamers make the most of their gaming experiences”, the book is clearly an introduction to the hobby for newcomers with an interest in gaming. Early chapters include sections on Finding your Friendly Local Gaming Store, Learning and Teaching How to Play Board Games, and Finding and/or Forming a Gaming Group. These sections are written with good advice to get new gamers playing with friends – old and new – quickly and comfortably.

In addition to board games, Litorco introduces the reader to the world of Role Playing Games (RPGs). She describes the differences RPGs have from standard board games and the variety of mechanics and group interactions that make them so enjoyable. As well, there a good sections on how to create engaging characters and giving your imagination free reign to interact with the imaginary world created for you.

Having attended many Conventions over the years, her chapter on Attending Conventions is filled with excellent tips on how to budget both your time and money. There’s a very useful section on how to take the best care of yourself while attending events that offer non-stop, 24 hour gaming. If you are going to be attending a Con for the first time, you’ll come away grateful for having read her suggestions.

Not too surprisingly being civilized, for Litorco, comes down to some basic common sense and manners: be mature and polite; be friendly and honest; be respectful of other people’s games; make sure everyone is having fun (and not just you), etc. She sums these ideas up with the phrase “Don’t Be a Dick”,

By Tom M Franklin

a request she repeats throughout the book. (Amongst a list of topics on the book’s cover is “Essential Skills to Not Being a Dick.”) Being a gracious and respectful adult goes a long way.

We’ve all either suffered through games with dicks or seen others’ fun being ruined by someone whose ego is the most important thing at the table. Her advice on how to rescue your groups’ once-fun gaming session is by addressing the problem person directly and honestly. And if that doesn’t work, simply walk away from the table, depriving that person of the attention they so desperately want.

Missing from Litorco’s book is any discussion of the numerous websites devoted to the hobby. While she devotes a full chapter on the etiquette of “Talking About Games Online”, both in reviewing game and in game forums, she neglects any mention of where an interested reader might find such sites. There were numerous places in the book where I was surprised to not find a reference to BoardGameGeek.com or one of the many online sites where you can play board games for free. It was strange to not see a list of Recommended Web Sites for New Gamers, especially since she provides a page-long list of “Conventions to Check Out” later in the book.

This book would be a welcome read for someone starting out with gaming, or attending their first gaming convention, or just trying out RPGs. For long-time gamers there isn’t much new here.

It would be great, however, if the owners of our favorite FLGSs would make this book mandatory reading for anyone wishing to return to the store after having been asked to leave for being a dick.

Editors: Teri Litorco Publisher: Adams Media

Recommended http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/ The-Civilized-Guide-to-Tabletop-Gaming/Teri-Litorco/9781440597961

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Book Review The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games

I

f you’ve ever played a tabletop role-playing game, be it any version

of Dungeons & Dragons or Call of Cthulhu or a GURPS of your own devising, I want you to take a moment and think about your favorite moment in all of your campaigns. You know, that funny/ amazing/crushing/ thing that you still love to talk about to this day.

Go ahead and savor that moment again. I can wait.

Chances are that thing that happened was so completely cool that you’ve shared it with friends -- some who have gotten it and some who have not -- but it was simply too great a moment to keep to yourself. What made it so good was that you were heavily invested in the narrative being told and the characters around you Jennifer Cover, currently an Associate Professor of English and Director of The Writing Center in Ball State University, takes a clever approach to her subject. As an English major, she recognized that the narrative of a Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) adventure is different from any other of narrative commonly studied.

Starting with examples of some early interactive narratives, she explores the Choose Your Own Adventure books and text-based computer games. In each of these, the reader’s role was not passive -- he or she made an A or B decision and flipped the pages to the corresponding page or keyed in simple instructions to move the computer game forward.

Moving to D&D, she uses the campaign titled The Elemental Temple of Evil as a way of comparing and contrasting the same basic plot in three different media, a D&D module, a computer Role-Playing Game, and a written, bound book. Of these, the book provides the most commonly identifiable method of interacting with the script. The computer game expands that text but provides multiple limitations. (You can choose to make your character Good or Evil, but the decision changes nothing in the context of the game; the game points you in the directions it wants you to move in and disallows random exploration) The Tabletop Role Playing Game (TRPG) provides the most free-form and interactive experience with players speaking directly to one another and the Dungeon Master, or Game Master, who is overseeing the adventure and providing the basic structure for the story to be built upon.

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By Tom M Franklin

The role of the Dungeon Master (DM) is crucial to the expansive central narrative of a D&D adventure but this make the DM the ‘author’ of the game? What if the DM is presenting a D&D module written and developed by another DM? In the standard view of narrative there is the Narrator (the person writing the story) and the Narratee (the person reading the story).

With D&D, not only can you have multiple people authoring the initial adventure but as soon as the adventure starts a good DM will ask the players, “What do you want to do?” That’s when the real story of a D&D adventure begins -- when the players and the DM interact through a common give-and-take to explore their environment and create what will happen next.

Cover’s work is a good attempt at opening up the TRPG genre up to other scholars to study. However, even as a revised dissertation, the writing is often thick with scholarese -- the art of taking a simple idea and complicating it with scholarly jargon to the point it’s difficult to translate the original idea back into plain English. As well, many early chapters include a dense review of the literature, which unless you’re a fellow scholar, can be skipped.

The Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games contains many good and interesting ideas on the personal and group storytelling aspects of developing a character and an adventure, as well as the role a good DM plays in holding both the characters and the narrative together. However, the overall presentation of the material is not done for a general reading audience. Even those with an interest in D&D or TRPGs in general will need to carefully dig through Cover’s text to uncover those elements that hold the most meaning to them.

Game Nite Issue #15

Author: Jennifer Grouling Cover Publisher: McFarland

Worth Trying www.mcfarlandbooks.com

Mobile Review

Terra Mystica

By Serge Pierro

Terraform On Your Mobile Device

T

erra Mystica is often found near the top of various “best games” lists, and while it is an amazing game, finding a group of players is not always an easy task.

One of the benefits of digital apps is that boardgames can be ported to multiple devices and players can play each other at their convenience. Plus, with the advancements in the field of artificial intelligence players can play a competitive game against the device itself, which is especially useful for practicing strategies. Let’s take a look at Digidiced’s app and see why it should be on your portable device.

Whether you are a new player or someone just looking to brush up on the game, the app includes a tutorial section. This is an interactive/scripted tutorial and you should expect to spend at least a half hour or more going through it. It is not that the game is difficult, but there are a lot of different aspects to it and the tutorial teaches how everything works and where it is in the user interface. That being said, you would be much better off watching a video on how to play or reading the actual rulebook, as the tutorial will give you an overview of sorts, but may not be in-depth enough for newer players.

When the game loads you are greeted with a majestic soundtrack that sounds great. I usually like to play with the sound off on most games, but the soundtrack does add to the experience, though after a while it becomes annoyingly repetitious.

When you go to the main screen you are greeted with several options. The middle is devoted to playing a “Ranked Game”, “Casual Game” or a “Local Game” against the AI. The right hand column contains the important options such as, your other games in progress, the tutorials and the options (HD, FX, Music and game speed).

When you start a new game against the AI you get to choose how many opponents you would like to play against (the game plays up to five players), as well as their level of difficulty. The only “shortcoming”of the game is that it ships only with an “easy” AI. There are plans for more advanced AI’s to be released in the future, which will be free, including a Hard AI with Deep Learning. The current AI

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strength is: Sir Losealot (1 second), Amber (5 seconds), Boris (10 seconds) and Sir Thinkalot (15 seconds). You are offered two map choices, Basic and Loon Lakes. There are also options for Map Balanced VP’s, Expansion Passing Rules and Shuffle Players.

After choosing your Faction from the group of 15 Factions you are taken to the map and the game begins. The map takes up the majority of the screen, yet Digidiced has done a wonderful job of placing “tabs” across the top of the board that offer access to many of the important sections. There are also two pullouts on the left and right sides of the screen to access other important information.

To access the actions for your turn, tap on your lightly animated character icon at the bottom of the screen. This will take you to the screen that shows your available options.

If there is a red “X” through the icon, that means that the action is currently not affordable. When you tap the green “i” icon you are taken to your player board screen. If you tap on the green arrows it will take you to the Power screen and then to the information screen about your Faction. Tapping the character icon will take you back to the map.

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Mobile Review (Cont.)

The actual game play is quite smooth, as the computer will always let you know what is going on, who’s turn it is, what your options are, etc. Each of the pop up screens contain all of the relevant information and are quite helpful for playing the game, especially during your first couple of attempts.

The graphics are stunningly sharp and the user interface is quite pleasing. After a game or two you will find yourself instinctively reaching for the correct icons and not having to tap each one to find out what it does. The Cult track is slightly different from the others, as it scrolls from bottom to top to show the “height” of the track. Overall the interface does a great job of handling all of the game’s information.

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Online play includes sections for your account, which also includes a list of your friends. There is an Achievement tab that includes goals such as “David and Goliath” for beating a higher ranked player and “Multiculturalism” for when you have won a game with each of the Factions. For those who enjoy statistics, there is a screen that includes your record with each Faction, Matches Played, Won and Lost Matches and your Highest Ranked score. The Ranking section includes the Top 10 Players, as well as the Ranks closest to you.

If you are a fan of Terra Mystica the board game, then you probably already own a copy of the app, after all it is an excellent game and having it available on a mobile device seems too good to be true. If you have never played the board game, then this is an excellent opportunity to jump aboard. While $9.99 may seem to be steep for an app, it is ridiculously low for a game of this quality, in terms of both game play and programming (especially when the harder AI is added). With all of the options and 15 different Factions there is a ridiculous amount of replayability and that doesn’t even include the “Fire and Ice” expansion which is slated for a later release. If I could own only one non-Chess board game app, it would be Terra Mystica.

Issue #15

Version #: 1.09 Price: $9.99 Devices: Android and iOS Developer: Digidiced

Highly Recommended

Game Nite

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Game Review

Ninja Taisen

By Serge Pierro

Rock, Paper, Ninjas

P

layers first impression on seeing Ninja Taisen thought that it looked similar to another Iello game, Schotten Totten (see issue #14 for our review), but once they sat down and played it they realized that it was a totally different game. Lets take a look at a game that literally takes the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” mechanism and uses it to create a fast and light filler game that features squads of attacking ninjas.

Ninja Taisen is part of Iello’s “Mini Games” line and the box measures c. 6” x 4” x 1 1/2” and contains a small cardboard insert that divides the storage area into two sections.

The 16 page rulebook is the size of the box, and while sixteen pages might seem to be a lot for such a simple game, there are numerous illustrations and examples throughout.

Both the Path tiles and the Village tiles are double sided and made of a very sturdy cardboard stock. One side features the main artwork of the game and the other side features numerical icons to indicate the order in which to lay the tiles. This is merely for cosmetic purposes, as the tiles have no “terrain effect” on movement or combat.

The 20 cards are divided into two symmetrical decks, each with their own backs and unique character artwork for the fronts. The cards are of a decent stock and are fine for how they are used in the game, as they are only shuffled at the beginning of the game.

The game includes three custom dice (red, blue and green) that feature an “oriental font” for the numbers and measure 11/16” in size with rounded corners and engraved/filled numbers.

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To start the game lay out the Path tiles and place your Shogun beneath your starting Village tile. Shuffle the remaining cards and then deal them face up, 3 cards on top of your Shogun, 3 cards in the next space, 2 cards in the space thereafter and 1 card next to that space. This will be the starting position of your army.

On your turn you will roll the three dice. The result of the roll will indicate how many spaces each of the colors may move: Red=Scissors, Green=Paper and Blue=Rock.

Example: If you roll a 2 on the Red die, you may move one of your Ninjas with the Scissors icon on it. If the Ninja is on the bottom of a pile, it moves all of the cards on top of it along with it (up to a maximum of 2 cards on top). This is one of the more interesting aspects of

the game, as your ability to maneuver your Ninjas is paramount to success. It should be also noted that if the Scissors card was in the middle of a stack it would leave the card(s) beneath it and move itself and any cards on top of it. You may use each of the dice to move each icon type.

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Game Review (Cont.)

If after moving your Ninja(s) they wind up on the same tile as the opposing Ninjas, combat ensues. If the Ninjas are of a different color, then the “Rocks, Paper, Scissors” system is used: Rock beats Scissors, Scissors beat Paper and Paper beats Rock. If the Ninjas are of the same color, then the highest number wins. In the case of a tie, each Ninja moves a space back towards their starting Village. The combat system uses the top card of each stack of Ninjas and continues until all the match-ups have been resolved.

Gamers who like to have more control of movement and combat will probably be a bit disappointed, as the luck of the die roll plays a large role in the game’s movement and as a result, its combat.

Personally I feel that the combat system is the most interesting aspect of the game, as you have to try and setup your Ninja stacks in a way that they will have favorable match-ups with the opposing Ninjas. It was fun to watch one Ninja slice and dice their way through a stack of opponents, only to be destroyed in the end by The Shogun uses a different approach to combat. It is his nemesis. The combat was fast and clean due to the always considered to be the same color as the opposing simplicity of the “Rock, Paper, Scissors” mechanism.

Ninja; however, at the end of a combat resolution with an opposing Ninja he loses “X” amount of strength This would make a nice gateway game for a younger from his starting value of 4, where “X= the strength gamer who enjoys a ninja theme. With repeated plays of the opposing ninja”, and continues the rest of that they will start to understand how to make the necessary round with the new reduced value which can be further decisions on stacking their Ninjas, as well as enjoying reduced by facing other Ninjas. If the Shogun survives the attrition that takes place when combat ensues. This he will begin the next round back at his full strength of is a fast and fun game that provides an easy combat 4. system for those times when you just feel the need to control a clan of ninjas.

The game ends when one of the Ninjas reaches and controls the opposing Village.

Iello has a knack for producing games that appeal to families and yet have just enough depth to keep a more serious gamer interested. This is a fast game and the 20 minute time listed on the box is somewhat accurate, though it is possible that the game will end earlier. The age group of 8+ is reasonable and will appeal to younger children who enjoy combat oriented games, as well as manga influenced artwork. The game’s components can easily be transported in a pocket and is playable in a pub or at the beach.

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Designers: Katsumasa Tomioka Publisher: Iello Number of players: 2 Mechanic: Rock Paper Scissor, Dice Ages: 8+ Length: 20 mins.

Game Nite Issue #15

Recommended www.iello.com

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Game Review

Space Invaders Dice!

By Serge Pierro

Roll & Destroy the Invaders!

I

remember the days of pumping quarters into the Space Invadersgame at the local luncheonette. So when Space Invaders Dice! was released as a roll and write game, I looked forward to seeing what it had to offer. Let’s see if the dice game is able to deliver the arcade game experience.

The game comes in a small 6 1/2” x 4 3/4” x 1” box.

Enclosed are two 12 page rulebooks. One is in English and the other, Spanish. The rules could have been a bit clearer, but they are sufficient for learning the game. But, be prepared to bounce around.

There are two sizes/types of dice included: 3 white Laser dice and 9 black Attack dice. Both feature imagery that is printed on the dice.

The “board” of the game is a score pad. There are 40 double sided sheets which are printed on a heavy paper stock. I was able to lightly mark the boxes with a #2 pencil and then erase it with a kneaded eraser numerous times with no ill effects. If used judiciously, these will last you a long time.

To begin the game, players will receive one of the score sheets and will need a writing utensil to cross off the relevant boxes.

On a player’s turn they will first roll the Laser Dice as explained in the rulebook. This will result in the three dice being placed on the numbered squares at the bottom of the page. These deny access to those columns. This will be done at the start of each round.

The main action of the game is rolling the Attack Dice and applying the results. The die faces are: Destroy a Blue Invader, Destroy a Blue or Green Invader, Destroy a Green Invader, Destroy a Pink Invader, Remove a Laser Die and “You Missed”.

Each of the “Destroy Invader” die faces destroy the associated Invader. This is done by crossing out one of the boxes on the score sheet. This has to be done from the bottom of the column to the top. EX: You have to first cross off the bottom two Blue Invaders before you can access the two Green Invaders above them. The same holds true for the Green Invaders being removed before accessing the Pink Invaders.

Once a column has been cleared you will have an opportunity to shoot down a UFO. Any color Destroy Invader die can be used for this purpose. After the UFO is destroyed, the player will roll the special UFO Die and record the results of the roll on the score sheet.

The remaining icons on the dice remove Laser Dice or penalize you for “missing”. If “You Missed” is rolled, for each face showing the “X” that player will have to cross off the same number of boxes on the score sheet in the area designated for this purpose. This also acts as a timing mechanism, as the game ends when there are no more free spaces.

One interesting mechanic is that for every 2 columns that are emptied you use one less die - thus making the game harder as the game progresses.

Once the game ends you add up all of the points from Invaders you destroyed and add any UFO points, this will result in your score. If you are playing this as a solo game, then you will have a new number to try to beat as your high score. If playing against other players, the player with the most points wins.

With the growing interest in solo games, this is a welcome addition to the genre. The game plays fast and there are some light strategic ideas to pursue. Of course the fact that it is a dice game there is going to be the unfortunate “luck factor”, especially when it comes to rolling “Misses”, but this is something you obviously are willing to deal with if the game interests you. Although this works beautifully as a solitaire game, it works just as well in multiplayer with the only downside being the downtime between turns.

The game somewhat captures the feel of the original arcade game and makes for a fast filler - whether solo or with other players.

Designers: Daryl Andrews Publisher: Turn 1 Gaming Supplies Number of players: 1-4 Mechanic: Roll and Write Ages: 8+ Length: 15 mins.

Recommended www.t1supplies.com

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Game Review

The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game

By Serge Pierro

Harry and Friends Join Forces

A

s a voracious reader, I’m certainly familiar with “The Dresden Files” series of books by Jim Butcher. I had previously read the first four books in the series, and while enjoyable, they seemed to be a bit pedestrian. Before reviewing this game, I read book five of the series, “Death Masks”, and was surprised to see how much better it was than the previous books. So when we sat down to play this game I felt that I was fairly well versed in the current setting of the Dresden Files game and with eager anticipation looked forward to seeing if the game could deliver the experience contained within the books.

The game comes in a deep 9” x 9” x 3 3/4” box and comes with a simple black plastic insert. The insert includes four blocks of grey foam that can be used as spacers. It is nice to see that Evil Hat Productions planned ahead, as there is plenty of room for the planned expansions.

The 16 page rulebook is the size of the box and is packed with illustrations that break down the cards and show examples of play.

There is also a section about rules for two player and solitaire versions of the game. A scan code is also provided so that you can watch a 12 minute “how to play” video in lieu of the rulebook or as a supplement.

The four panel board is thick and sturdy and its main use is for organization of the cards and tokens. In theory, the game could be played without the board.

The 155 cards are standard sized. The cards seem a little thin, but should be fine as they are only shuffled at the beginning of a game. Also included are 26 illustrated dividers, for both the base game and three future expansions. These include the list of cards used for each of the books, as well as the Stunt, Talent and deck composition for each of the characters.

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All of the tokens are printed on a thick cardboard stock.

The game includes eight translucent dice. They are broken down into two sets of four, orange and purple, and feature 2 blank sides, 2 “minus” sides and 2 “plus” sides. And though they look really nice, I’m not sure why there are two colors, unless there is something in the upcoming expansions that will make use of them.

To setup the game, populate the board with the appropriate components. The difficulty of the game can be adjusted by the amount of Fate Points in the supply at the start of the game. 13 Tokens = easy, 8 = standard and 4 = challenging.

The game comes with five decks that represent the first five novels in the series. It is recommended that you start with the first one (Storm Front) and play them in order, as a campaign. This is something that fans of the series are definitely going to want to do, as it greatly adds to the overall experience.

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Players will also have to decide on what characters they are going to want to use. In a two player game, each player will use two characters, while in the 3-5 player count range each player will choose only one. Each character will have their own deck of cards and two special cards: Talent and Stunt.

Harry Dresden must be used in each game.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Game Review (Cont.)

Game Review (Cont.)

Once everything is setup, players should have a short discussion on how they would like to approach the scenario, noting where specific cards are located on the board and the text on the cards, as there are several cards that have to be completed in a certain order before other cards can be targeted. The amount of cards that each player receives is determined by the player count. It should be noted that there is no draw phase in the game. The only way to get new cards into your hand is by card effects.

Surprisingly the solo variant is very similar to the main game.

As a matter of fact you are essentially playing a three player game open handed. It proved to be quite challenging, though the experience was at the same level as the base game. It was entertaining, but I would have preferred to have had a solo variant that was unique.

On their turn a player must do one of the following: Discard a card to generate Fate Points, Play a card from their hand, Use their Stunt card or Pass.

Another possible downside is that since the theme is so closely tied to the world of “The Dresden Files”, there will probably be groups of gamers who are unfamiliar with the series and won’t enjoy the game as much.

Fate points are the “currency” of the game and can only be generated by discarding a card for the Fate points listed on it.

This is a balancing act, as these are also the same cards needed to both solve cases and defeat foes. The limited hand size will prove to be quite challenging.

The two main goals throughout the game is the solving of Cases and defeating Foes. Cases are solved by having placed the required amount of Clues on the card. Foes are defeated by meeting the Hits stat on the card. While it may seem to be an “easy” task, it is further hindered by the use of a Range system in which players may only target cards that are in Range of the card played, thus making cards on the far end of the board difficult to deal with.

One of the more unusual mechanisms of the game is the “Showdown Phase”. This is used at the end of the game to allow players “one last chance” to solve the cases and defeat foes. Although it isn’t terrible, I wasn’t enthralled with it because it depended on the results of dice rolls for the results.

To win the game, players will have to solve more cases than foes remaining on the board. If there is a tie, it is counted as a loss.

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The main downside of the game is the artwork. Several of the cards use the same artwork and it is easy to confuse the cards.

Fans of “The Dresden Files” are going to absolutely love this game, as it nicely captures the essence of the novels. It is a fun experience to play through one of the books in the game, while discussing player’s favorite moments and memories from the original novels. The game plays fast and is very challenging.

The wide assortment of cards will keep a Dresden fan happy, while the talk of expansions only adds to the replayability factor. Due to the integration of the theme, this game is “highly recommended” for Dresden fans and “recommended” to those who are unfamiliar with the series .

Designers: Eric B. Vogel Publisher: Evil Hat Productions Number of players: 1-5 Mechanic: Co-op Ages: 13+ Length: 30 mins.

(Highly) Recommended

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www.evilhat.com

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Interview

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Eric B. Vogel

By Serge Pierro

Designer of: The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game How did you come to be the designer of the game? Are you a fan of the novels?

At the time my first game for Evil Hat Productions, Zeppelin Attack, was being launched at Gencon, Evil Hat had someone working on a Dresden Files card game. Evil Hat sometimes asked me to review board game submissions for them, and so they asked me to take a look at this one. Conventions are one of the few occasions when the whole Evil Hat team gets together, and so a lot of business gets done during the con. I playtested the game, which was a good game, but it was a very simple trick taking game that I didn’t think was good fit with The Dresden Files. I went back to Evil Hat and told that since The Dresden Files was their most important license, I thought their fans would want a bigger game that mirrored the action of the books more closely. I suggested they could reach out to one of the prominent game designers I knew to do it, but they offered me the commission. It was then that they told me they wanted it to be a cooperative game.

Yes, I had read all the books earlier and really liked them. When I read for pleasure I read mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery novels so The Dresden Files novels were my kind of think. When I first read them I had done some idle thinking about what might make a good Dresden Files game before I got the commission, but always in terms of a competitive designs, so when they told me it was to be a cooperative game I had to go back to square one.

Did Jim Butcher have any input into the design process of the game?

Not directly. He and I have never met.

However the game is derived very directly from his books, with different decks for the different characters and novels of the series. One game of Dresden Files is playing through one novel in the series. For this reason we didn’t need him to create new material to be consistent with the Continued on next page>

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Interview (Cont.) world of The Dresden Files, because the books themselves were his input. It is important to me to make any adaptation I make a faithful one. Besides, I don’t think fans of The Dresden Files would be pleased if we had taken Jim’s attention away from writing Peace Talks.

However he generously took the time to do the voice of Harry Dresden in the video for the game’s Kickstarter campaign, which was a great treat for the fans.

Did you use any of the material from the The Dresden Files Roleplaying game for the card game?

I used a lot of the concepts from Evil Hat’s Fate Accelerated role-playing system in the game. The original version of the Fate system was created for the Dresden Files RPG. Fate Accelerated is also the engine of the new Dresden Files Accelerated RPG. I did not actually use the mechanics of the RPG, but I used the action constructs from the game to inspire mechanics.

What did you feel was the most important element of the series that you needed to transfer into the game?

Several elements were pretty important. The novel series arc as a whole is really about Harry, a loner and an orphan, coming to trust and depend on his allies - his chosen family. I felt it was important the players got to play as a variety of the characters from The Dresden Files,

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and for those characters to make distinctive contributions to the team effort - just as they do in the stories. I also thought that the sense of being under time pressure is integral to all the Dresden stories, and so I wanted the players to feel tension for most of the game.

What was the process for choosing the cards for each of the books? Due to the game’s design there was a need for Foes, Obstacles, Advantages, and Cases. Were these chosen separately for each book or did you devise a formula that was used for distribution across all of the books?

There is a formula for the underlying math of the game, the balancing parameters within which the decks can vary. In the proportions of those elements you mentioned, the card types, as well as the interactional effects of the cards, I try to create a unique reflection of each book. Storm Front emphasizes the detective element more than most of the novels, so it has more Case cards. Fool Moon by contrast is all about those different types of werewolves, so it has more Foe cards. The obstacles and the interactions between card effects are particularly important for representing the distinctive elements of the plot of each novel. That was the aspect of designing this game that was most enjoyable, creating distinctive logistics puzzles for each book deck that represent the action of the story in interesting ways.

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Photo supplied by Eric Vogel

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Interview (Cont.)

What made you want to include dice into a co-op I also love that players get the chance to throw big handfuls of dice without it making the game card game? too random.

I find some co-operative games a little too deterministic for my taste. I wanted a mix of logistic analysis and risk management in this game. Because fate dice are so emblematic of all Evil Hat’s RPGs, making the game use fate dice specifically really added to the appeal of the game for a lot of Evil Hat’s core audience.

It wasn’t easy creating a dice mechanic using fate dice, which are essentially 3 sided dice that roll from 1 to -1 like a Z score. However, the mechanic I finally came up with allowed me to create customizable curves, which add a lot to the distinctiveness and variety of the game.

The Showdown phase is an unusual one. Why did you include a “last chance” mechanism into the game?

First of all, because The Dresden Files books always end with some kind of big fight, so that needed to be represented somehow in the game.

In my view, several cooperative games often have a problem with having an anti-climactic ending in which you know either that the team will or won’t win quite a while before the game actually ends; I don’t think that is much fun. I prefer a game that stays close, winnable or losable, right up until the end. Players do sometimes win before the Showdown, but the game comes down to the Showdown about 80% of the time.

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What was your favorite experience while working on the game?

That’s hard to say. This was a much longer design process than usual for me. Design and playtesting took well over a year of constant work. This was because I had to create so much content for the base game and the first 3 expansions. There was so much material to playtest I had to map out a specific series of tests as if I were setting up a program of scientific experiments, and execute them in 8 hour long sessions in which my playtesters played the game some 20 times a day. It also took me longer to come up with the idea for the core mechanic, probably because I hadn’t created a cooperative game before. I spent several months playing the various cooperative games out there and trying a variety of ideas I wasn’t happy with first. I am very happy with the final product, and I still enjoy playing the game a lot even after all this playtesting. However, I can’t say this one had an enjoyable development process; it was a lot of hard work and stress. Its more fun when most of the game comes together in a quick epiphany. Probably my favorite experience was getting the POD prototype and getting to see all of Tyler Walpole’s beautiful artwork and Fred Hick’s graphic design all come together. I am very happy with how the game turned out as an aesthetic object.

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Due to the side of the box and the inclusion of the expansion dividers, there are going to be three

expansions. Are there any more in development at the moment? If so, can you tell us anything about the characters or books included?

The first 3 expansions got printed along with the base set, and will get released at the same time.

Expansions 4 and 5 have already been designed, but Evil Hat will have to see how the game is doing in retail before they green light doing the artwork and production of them. I gave Fred Hicks some instruction in creating content for the game, and he designed most of expansion 4.

I designed everything in expansion 5. The plan is for expansion 4 to have character decks for Mortimer Lindquist and Kincaid, and the books Changes and Ghost Story. Expansion 5 will have a Winter Knight Harry deck and a Winter Lady Molly deck, as well as the books Cold Days and Skin Game. Skin Game is my favorite book in the series, and I think people will find it is the most interesting book deck yet. It has an interesting obstacle structure built around the gates of the underworld.

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Game Review

Pyramids

By Serge Pierro

Build Your Own Personal Necropolis

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hen it comes to themes, one of my favorites is ancient cultures, in particular Rome and Egypt. So it should come as no surprise that a new drafting game based on building Egyptian pyramids, obelisks and tombs would be one that I’d be interested in.

Let’s take a look a Necropolis building game that is simple to play and should be appealing to many players.

The spot varnished box for Pyramids features a magnetic flap along the right side and measures 7 3/4” x 5 1/2” x 1 1/2”. Upon opening the flap you are greeted with an enlarged portion of the Michael Menzel cover featuring the pyramid, as well as listing the game’s credits. Included is a custom plastic insert that has two compartments for storing the cards.

Unfortunately there is no dedicated area for the tiles and first player token and they will have to be placed in the space above the cards.

The 12 page rulebook is profusely illustrated and has several examples, as well as a page devoted to the clarification of the god tiles. The rules are concise and are easily accessible.

The 105 Construction cards are of a decent stock and should be fine for how they are used, as they are only shuffled at the start of the game.

Also included are 5 player aide cards of the same stock.

The 5 god tiles and first player token are made of a sturdy cardboard stock. The first player token has to be assembled before the start of the game and then disassembled afterwards.

Also included is a full color score-pad that conveniently breaks down the scoring categories.

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To setup the game players will use the number of god tiles based on the amount of players and arrange them in numerical order in the center of the play area. Each player is dealt a face down Construction card. The remaining cards will form the Construction deck.

A round consists of four main phases: Stock the Quarry, the tiles is that the “1” tile will allow you to draft first, Select a God Tile, Select a Pair of Construction Cards/ yet you are only allowed to construct your pyramid on Construct your Necropolis and End of the Round. your turn; whereas, the numbers above it allow you to do more, such as build a pyramid and an obelisk. So The current first player will “Stock the Quarry” by there is a tradeoff as to what you want to draft and what placing pairs of cards above each of the god tiles. These you want to build. cards are drawn from the deck.

The “Select a Pair of Construction Cards/Construct During the “Select a God Tile” phase, each player in your Necropolis” phase is where you will draft a pair of turn order will take a god tile. The difference between cards from the Quarry and add them to your hand. You Continued on next page>

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Game Review (Cont.)

Pyramids is a quick filler game that has an enjoyable will then construct your pyramid, and if possible, you may also build another structure, depending on the god drafting mechanic, as well as having varied approaches to scoring. Although the building of the pyramid is tile that you chose. mandatory, it is the secondary strategies of how much The “End of the Round” is a cleanup phase where the time/effort one is willing to invest in building the obelisk god tiles are returned to the center of the play area and and tomb where the game is often won, as both can yield all player’s hands have been discarded down to one card. a large amount of victory points. Combine this with the subtle strategy of building each structure with the The first player token is then passed to the left. associated glyphs and you will see that there are a lot of There are several things to note on the constructing small, yet interesting decisions to be made throughout the of the Necropolis. First of all, the pyramid has to be game. built each turn, this is not optional. The building of The only downside is the scoring system. Not that the pyramid is also the timer for the end of the game (10 turns). When drafting and building for the pyramid there is anything inherently wrong with it, but it seems one should keep in mind that the goal for scoring the to be more suited for a “larger” game than a quick filler. pyramid is by connecting the colored blocks. Each of However, the scoring-pad does help to alleviate the the five colors will score, with the largest connection of tedious “checking off” of the various scoring types. blocks scoring twice.

Overall it proved to be a worthy filler to add to the The obelisk is scored by the number of stages that it collection of such games. I’m sure that it will hit the table has (how tall it is) and what color is most represented in again in the future. If you are looking for a fairly quick those stages. Ex: if you have an obelisk that has 4 stages (30 minutes) drafting game, then you might want to take and there are Red blocks in two of them, then you a look at this one, as the game offers subtle strategies while would score 3 points; however, if you had Red blocks in building your own personal Necropolis. all 4 stages, you would score 10 points.

The tomb is scored by having the most stones of a color. If you have the most Yellow, you score 5 points.

If there is a tie, no one scores. This is tabulated for each color.

Another thing to be aware of are the Glyphs on the cards, as they will score additional points if they are used for constructing the corresponding edifice, with each one scoring 2 points.

Designer: Matthew Dunstan & Brett J. Gilbert Publisher: Iello Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Card Drafting Ages: 10+ Length: 30 mins.

After 10 rounds the game ends and the scores are tabulated. The highest score wins.

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Recommended www.iello.com

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Game Review

Quests of Valeria

By Serge Pierro

“Lords of Waterdeep - The Card Game”?

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ver since Valeria: Card Kingdoms arrived for review, it seems that there has been a study flow of Valeria games by Daily Magic games hitting our table. Last issue we took a look at Villages of Valeria and this issue we look at their newest offering Quests of Valeria. Let’s take a look at the latest release and see what it has to offer.

The game comes in a 7” x 4 3/4” x 1 3/4” box that has a cardboard insert that has three sections; two are used for the cards and a narrower compartment for the cardboard tokens.

The 16 page rulebook has several illustrations and card breakdowns, as well as including two pages for the solo rules. The back page features a quick play reference.

The 127 cards are made of a decent stock, however due to the nature of sliding the cards at the end of each turn, you’ll want to consider playing on a “cloth” surface or sleeving the cards.

The cardboard tokens are pre-punched and are made of a thick stock.

At the start of the game each player randomly chooses a Guild Master card. This card is used for endgame scoring and indicates the Quests that grant bonuses.

In the middle of the table place the “0,1,1,2,2 and 3” tokens in a row, as well as the “Hire from your hand” token. These will be used to indicate the hiring cost of the Citizen cards. Deal six cards from the Citizen deck, placing one below each of the Cost tokens listed above. This will be form the Tavern Line. Place the Citizen deck to the right of the line of cards, it will be used to replenish the Tavern Line when cards are taken from it.

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Place 6 Quest cards (4 Quests in a 2 player game) in the area above the Tavern Line.

These will be the available Quests that can be completed. When a player fulfills the Quest’s requirements, they place it in front of them and the space is filled with the top card of the Quest deck.

Each player is dealt 3 cards from the Citizens deck for their starting hand and the first player receives the “first player” token and the two action tokens.

Draw: Simply draw a card from the Citizens deck.

Hire: Discard the number of cards indicated by the token above the card on the Tavern Line. Immediately On a player’s turn they will play two actions. These resolve any effects generated by the card after purchasing can be the same action. The actions are: Draw, Hire, it and place it in your tableau.

Reserve and Quest.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Reserve: You may take one Quest and place it in your tableau area. Only you may complete this Quest. You may only have one reserved Quest at a time. Another option is to remove all of the available Quests and replace them with new ones and then choose one.

and fluidly, with the resources printed on the cards. More often than not you will find yourself discarding an extra resource(s) in order to fulfill a Quest. Besides the actual resources, players will also need the appropriate number and type of Citizen Roles. At times these will be harder to match to the Quest than the resources themselves.

Quest: Discard the appropriate amount and types of Citizens from your tableau and complete a Quest. The one “downside” of the game is that it seems to end After the cost has been paid you immediately receive the too quickly with lower player counts, such as two or three effect listed on the card. These cards contain the victory players and we have adopted a house rule that the game points necessary to win the game. ends after 7 Quests instead of 5, as this seemed to be a more suitable number. This added a few more minutes Players are limited to a hand size of 8 cards and a limit to the game, but everyone agreed that it was worth it. of 8 cards in their Guild.

The inclusion of the two Action tokens is a great idea, as The end of the game is triggered when one player has it can be a bit confusing when taking an Action that then completed 5 Quests and making sure each player has chains into another Action or more. Thus by first taking had the same amount of turns. Players will then add the the initial Action and passing the first Action token to Victory Points on their Quests, as well as the bonuses the next player, everyone understands that the followup from their Guild Master card and the player with the Actions are still in accordance to the first Action played. most points wins.

Quests of Valeria is essentially Lords of Waterdeep - The The game also includes a solo variant that is played Card Game. It takes the Quests and Lords aspect of that slightly different. After choosing a Guild Master, you game and delivers a very enjoyable experience. Plus, the remove specific Citizen cards from the deck, as listed game features more excellent artwork by Mico. This is an in the rulebook. The main difference is that both the excellent addition to the world of Valeria!

Quest and Citizen cards will be shifting left each turn and at the end of a turn if there are any cards at the “0” Designers: Isaias Vallejo token they are removed from the game. So there is a Publisher: Daily Magic Games race to complete as many quests as possible before either of the decks run out, at which point the game ends and Number of players: 1-5 the points are tallied. Your points are then compared to Mechanic: Card Drafting, Set Collection the list in the rulebook for your ranking. It was fun, but Ages: 14+ if the Quests that match your Guild Master come out in “groups”, you will not be able to complete them fast Length: 45 mins. enough. Otherwise it was an enjoyable variation.

There’s not a whole lot to say about the gameplay, as the game is a resource management game that plays quick

Recommended www.dailymagicgames.com

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Game Review

Amun-Re

By Serge Pierro

Classic Knizia Auction Game

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s strange as it may seem, there are some gamers who are unfamiliar with the earlier works of Reiner Knizia. These games are amongst the best the hobby has to offer. Classics such as Tigris and Euphrates and Lost Cities have stood the test of time. Amun-Re was one of his later big box sets for the hobby market before moving onto his lighter designs for the family market. Let’s see what made this era of Knizia games so interesting.

This edition is by Tasty Minstrel Games and it comes in a 12” x 12” x 3” square box. It includes a cardboard insert that has two long wells and has three “shelves” to support the board.

The 12” x 8 1/4” rulebook is actually a single sheet of paper folded into six distinct pages. The rules are clearly laid out and easy to reference. It also includes a sample beginning of a game, as well as providing details about specific cards.

When you lift the box you will notice how heavy it is, this is due in large part to the gorgeous 6 panel board. The board is printed on a very thick cardboard stock and looks great when laid out on the table.

The Farmer tokens, Start player token and Offering tiles are made of a sturdy cardboard stock.

The 85 cards are 2 12/16” x 1 11/16” and are linen finished.

There are five sets of wooden player pieces in five different colors (Red, White, Black, Blue and Green). A set consists of 3 custom “Egyptian Meeples” (Scribes) and a scoring cube.

However, the highlight of the components are the Pyramids, Double Pyramids and Stones. These are cast in a solid tan resin and look great.

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The game consists of two Ages. Each Age consists of three rounds and each round contains four phases. Scoring is tabulated at the end of each Age, with the second Age being the end of the game.

In a round the following four phases take place: raises the bid by a higher increment. If you are bumped Auctioning for Provinces, Purchases and Construction, from the track, then on your next turn you have to bid Offerings to Amun-Re and Harvest and Income. on a different Province. Once bidding is complete, each player will pay to the supply the amount of the bid and The Auction of Provinces phase is used to obtain collect any bonuses that were available at the Province.

Provinces and any of their associated bonuses. Players will use a bidding system in which players will place During the Purchases and Construction phase each their Scribes on the bid that they are willing to pay. If a player will have the opportunity to buy various items. player wants to bid higher than you, they have to place These include Favor cards, Farmers and Stones/ their Scribe on a space further along the track, which Pyramids. Favor cards grant players various bonuses.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Farmers are used to gain income. The acquisition of Stones allow for the building of Pyramids, with three Stones equalling one Pyramid. Each of these items are paid for using a scale that is printed on the board.

Each item must be bought at the same time, with larger quantities costing much more than lower ones.

During the Offerings to Amun-Re phase, players will offer Gold to Amun-Re to try and increase the values of the Harvest. Players may bid as much Gold as they wish.

Players may also use the Theft card which subtracts 3 from the total Offering and gives the user 3 Gold. After the Offering has been tabulated, the Offering tile that matches the amount offered is placed on the board and used for the Harvest and Income phase. The player with the largest offering gets the First Player token, as well as receiving 3 rewards of their choice (any combination of Favor cards, Farmers or Stones), the second highest receives 2 rewards and the third highest 1 reward.

The final phase of the round is “Harvest and Income”.

During this phase each player will receive Gold based on the amount of Farmers they own and the current number on the Offering tile. As well as receiving Gold from any Caravans they own (if Camels are available on the Offering tile) and from any of their Gold Mines.

The preceding four phases are repeated three times per Age. At the end of each Age there is a scoring round.

The various scoring criteria are listed in the rule book.

The high score at the end of Age 2 wins.

Amun-Re is a great reminder of the “early” days of eurogaming, where the best designers stood out because of their excellent designs and not the amount of miniatures or extraneous “noise”. A game either stood or fell on the strength of the design. Amun-Re displays

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many of the the subtleties that Knizia is known for.

This game features one of Knizia’s auction mechanisms and is a good example of his influence on auction games in particular. Forcing players to make a commitment on their bidding is intriguing, as there is a very real chance that you will lose the bid if you try to “play it safe”.

Tasty Minstrel Games is well known for their production values and Amun-Re is another quality offering. One can’t help but notice the attention to aesthetics with the resin pyramids and stones, as well as the linen finished cards and large six panel board.

Gamers who are unfamiliar with Reiner Knizia or Amun-Re are going to be in for a treat when playing this game. While it is not at the same level as his masterpiece Tigris and Euphrates, that doesn’t detract from the elegant game play. This is classic Knizia, where he distills everything down to its essence. If you haven’t had a chance to play this game, now you have the opportunity to find out what makes it special. It’s great to see it available again!

Designer: Reiner Knizia Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games Number of players: 3-5 Mechanic: Auction, Area Control Ages: 14+ Length: 90 mins.

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Highly Recommended www.playtmg.com

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Interview

Friedemann Friese

By Serge Pierro

Game Designer Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts with our readers, can you tell us a little something about yourself?

Did you start designing games at an early age? If so, do you remember what your first game design was like?

I’m 46 years old, living in the northern area of Germany. I do have two kids, a boy aged 6 and a girl 4.

Not married. I like playing games, hearing music, solving puzzles , whiskey, cooking, cheese.

I started very early. At the age around 10. The first things to do were changing the rules of Monopoly and Risk to change the game. Pick up and deliver was the next thing I was interested in.

For people who don’t know, what is your interest in the color green?

My favorite color and therefore my gaming color, leads to be my company’s color.

Friedemann Friese

Designer 504 Power Grid Friday Fabled Fruit www.brunocathala.com

What games over the years have you enjoyed most, from both the point of personal enjoyment, as well as those that influenced your growth as a designer?

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Interview (Cont.)

Outpost is very important. This game is just inspiring by itself. It has a runaway leader “problem“, but it is still full of good energy, good for inspiration. Other games on my list to be favorite: Ave Caesar, Linie 1 (Streetcars), Robo Rally, Palastgeflüster, Bounce It In, PitchCar and deduction games as a genre.

When the opportunity presents itself, what games have you currently been playing?

Flamme Rouge, Mole Rats in Space, Castles of Caladale, Macroscope and my own stuff.

Who are your favorite game designers?

Difficult, because there a lot of designers I like because of specific games they designed and not for their complete work, but there are designers I’m always up to look what they do. On the other hand I know a lot of designer in person and this interacts with the interest of playing their games, just to look what they are about to do.

When starting a new design, do you start with a theme or a mechanic?

If you had the opportunity to work with another Can happen both. Actual I’m a bit more in game designer, who would it be and what kind of mechanics right now, but if a good theme shows up, I’m in. game would you be interested in making?

No idea of this right now. It could happen every day, because I do have contact to other game designers. I think the most probable idea would be the moment when I show a prototype to someone or get a prototype to be seen, and we develop common ideas that could be a start of a cooperation.

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What is your daily design/playtest schedule like?

Do you work on games everyday?

Every day. Yes. When the kids are in kindergarten, then I’m in my office an work on games. I do have two regular game nights a week.

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What do you think defines your “style” as a game designer, is there a specific mechanic or rule set or… ?

Richards Breese just told me last week: That I always try to find the boundaries of games and try to break them. This is a strong motivation for me.

Which one of your games do you consider your best design, and why?

Very difficult to tell. Power Grid, Friday, Fauna and Fabled Fruit are games feeding me because of their success. Fresh Fish was a long time a game regarded as a hidden gem by others.

504 was the most work to be done on. Foppen and Fuji Flush are just these 1 idea = 1 game phenomenas. Landlord is my first real game and still successful. My best game is always the one I’m working on right now.

As a designer, do you have a favorite player count that you prefer to design for?

Five.

Power Grid is considered by many to be your best design. What do you think makes this game so appealing?

1. You just do what you do. It is a business game about powering cities. You buy plants, resources, connect to cities, earn money and so on. Easy to understand.

2. A “new to the game” player still has fun to play it, because he does not see if he falls behind, because he might be just one city behind and only thinks he is one city behind. But normally you are not only that behind, you have lesser money, weaker plants and a worse net structure.

If you can see that, you are better in the game and about to play for the win 3. The game end. It is all about the question: Is this the last round or not?

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Interview (Cont.)

Currently there seems to be a great deal of interest in solitaire games. Friday is an interesting design that reflects the theme. What were the differences in designing a solitaire game, as compared to a game for more players?

First of all solitaire game can be puzzles, optimizing on VPs, coops for 1 person or just multi player solitaires done right. In Friday I took the deck builder mechanism and this mechanism by itself is very non-interactive with other players. But it is strong for building up your own structure. It worked out. I’m working now on another solitaire game and this game is more like a classic solitaire like Klondike, it’s all about sorting a shuffled deck of cards. Sorting cards sounds boring, but a lot of people really like sorting, me too. A lot of games are about sorting. I do not like optimizing on VPs not in multiplayer games and not in solo-games. So I would not design such a game.

504 is an incredibly ambitious design. What inspired you to take on such an undertaking?

Somebody had to do it!

How did you playtest the 504 games? Did you divide them up over different play testing groups or did you do it all yourself?

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There are normally no play test groups without me. So I was present almost every time. But I wrote a computer simulation to test it by myself to simulate 2,3,4 players

Can you tell us a little about your collaboration with Ted Alspach on America?

Easy, Ted just liked the fauna game system and had the idea of using it for questions about the american”pop-culture”. I was not much into the questions itself, because I do not know enough about these trivia. He had the idea of adding the possibility of betting on “no one to be right”, which I think is a good one to show the game is not as serious as a lesson in school. Done. The Fauna system is very strong, because you work with all players on the same question, but the questions have more than one right answer.

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Fabled Fruit uses the “Fable Game” system, can you tell us about the system and if there are any other games that are in development that use it?

The Fable Game System is just the idea that the game memorizes the last games played with the game without changing material, without writing on cards and destroying material. It is kind of strange, because like in legacy game you do have the feeling of a campaign, but you still have single games with a single winner. I’m not quite sure if these games are really in need for an overall scoring. I added one in Fabled Fruit, but still think it is not necessary. Two games of Fabled Fruit feel so much more connected to each other than two games of Power Grid, but one should regard them as two different games.

But this happens to a lot of filler games, trick takers, where the rules says you should play it at least as often as the number of players. So these single games get connected too. The next logic What advice would you have for aspiring game step was to connect them even stronger. And designers? yes I’m working on other games with the Fable Game System.

Don’t go where something is already done again and again, just look for games that have not be Are there any other upcoming projects that you done yet and design them.

are at liberty to discuss or announce?

I have the liberty but will not do it!

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Game Game Review Review

Cultists of Cthulhu

By Bill Braun

A Recipe Not Fully Cooked

L

ast night at Miskatonic University there was Gameplay a terrible thunderstorm: lightning struck the Elder Sign over the main hall of the University, After selecting one of five available scenarios and shattering it into 6 pieces. choosing from the 12 available characters to play as, players will randomly create the game board in real Strange things are encroaching on our world, and time by laying out the tiles that make up both the you must reassemble the Elder Sign and put a stop interior and exterior spaces of Miskatonic University. to these incursions! Unbeknownst to the rest of you, This process, while slightly time consuming, does one of your number is secretly a Cultist, plotting your accommodate for a high degree of randomness for downfall. Can you save your college and your lives each new game of Cultists of Cthulhu. before the Cultist kills you all?

After the game board is built, one Cultist Role Card Cultists of Cthulhu is described as a “game of is randomly selected and shuffled into a number mystery and intrigue, cooperation and betrayal, of additional Academic Role Cards, totaling the action and adventure, for 1-6 players.� It boasts number of players in the game. These role cards are an opportunity to scratch that itch for players then dealt one at a time, face down, to each player looking for hidden traitor mechanisms set in the and kept secret from other players for the majority Lovecraftian world, filled with creatures from of the game. Academics are a part of the team beyond space and time, a randomly generated working together to complete the various objectives game board, and potentially high replay value. outlined by the scenario, while the Cultist will be secretly keeping an eye on the Star Track, waiting But is there enough game here to live up to the for the designated moment to reveal themself and expectations of the Cthulhu faithful? potentially transform into the very nightmare that is trying to enter our world.

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Photo: Bill Braun

Cultists of Cthulhu is played over a series of rounds and turns. Each round all players take a turn – drawing an indoor or outdoor event card and then taking two actions. An action consists of the standard move, attack, steal (from other characters), using a room action, using an item, or a scenariospecific action.

After all players have had a chance to take a turn, the round ends with the University turn. This is generally when bad things happen. It is also one of several game mechanisms that highlight the level of suspicion and betrayal between players.

The first player draws two Star Cards, reads them both secretly, choses one to put into play, and shuffles the other back into the Star Card deck.

These cards always increase the current number on the Star Chart – bringing the cultist ever closer to revealing his or her true identity – while also prompting immediate and potentially ongoing events that, more often than not, work against the Academics. But suspicions rise, and players are unsure if it was the Cultist that chose the Star Card or another Academic, and which option truly was the lesser of the two evils.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Photo: Bill Braun

The bulk of gameplay involves players attempting a variety of ability checks that are spread across a character’s attributes: finesse, brawn, reason, and focus. Each character card displays the color and number of dice that will be added to these particular checks. The game comes with three sets of dice: green, blue, and red. The possible results for each die are Good (Elder Sign), Weird (branch-shaped symbol), and Bad (the swirly Yellow Sign), with the green dice providing the most number of possible Good results and the red dice having the most number of possible Bad results.

typically allows the character to pull a random piece of the shattered Elder Sign from a draw bag or cup; while rolling two Weird symbols and/or two Bad symbols result in a variety of bad (and worse) things to occur – taking wounds or more horror, advancing the Star Chart, spawning a creature, etc.

The University turn is also the time when players will refer to the Star Chart, and move and attack with the monsters that are currently in play. Only the player assigned as the Cultist will know at what point on the Star Chart they will be able to reveal themselves: at level 15, 20, or 25. The fact that this reveal will always occur at one of these levels, regardless of the scenario being played, helps to build a fair amount of tension during the game. When will it happen? Who will it be? What happens next?

These Ability checks will specify the type of attribute and the difficulty. To perform the check, dice are taken that equal a character’s attribute score, with additional dice added to the pool based on the color of the difficulty until there are a total of five dice in hand. After rolling all five dice the player may re-roll all of the dice that share a result, regardless of the Play continues in this fashion until either the color and only one time. Rolling three Elder Signs Academic Goals have been met and win the game

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Photo: Bill Braun

as a team, or all Academics are dead, in which case the Cultist wins. Cultists of Cthulhu is very much a game of deception, suspicion, accusations, and betrayal, and it has the makings of an original and engaging game. Unfortunately, it has its fair share of stumbles along the way.

Theme and Components I was pleasantly surprised by the overall quality of the game’s components. The artwork is thematic and nicely detailed, the cards and tiles are well designed and feel solid in your hand, and the character standees are comparable to what can be found in a game developed by Fantasy Flight Games.

Not knowing which player is the Cultist or when they may reveal their true form is a wonderful feature of the game. Adding to the high level of suspicion is the understanding that each Academic card lists three stages of Madness that are tracked individually on the character’s sheet. As players take more and more horror due to encountering creatures and failing ability checks, additional stages of madness are unlocked. Stage one generally has no effect, while stages two and three force players to begin acting strangely on their turn: forcing them to remain outdoors, stealing from others, isolating themselves from other Academics, etc. When combined with the rule that each player’s role card – Cultist or Academic – must be kept facedown and hidden from other players, this further enhances the level of distrust and is really the best and most well thought out design of Cultists of Cthulhu.

However, each time I have played Cultists of Cthulhu the same thing happens. I become engaged with the well-thought game design involving interesting hidden traitor mechanisms, only to be ripped from However, games that utilize the Cthulhu mythos – there are many and I’ve played and own most of the experience by a lack of overall polish.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Photo: Bill Braun

them – focus on immersing the players through the stories that are told. And this is where Cultists of Cthulhu falls incredibly short.

Every card that comes with the game never goes beyond a simple title. Granted, the titles of these cards – whether an Event, Star, or Artifact Card – attempt to be thematic with their brief, 3-4 word description, so much more could have been developed to take the game to the next level.

Instead, players are left with random thoughts that include: “Look What I Found”, “A Change in the Winds,” and “The Lights Go Out”.

by what can only be described as a lack of effort and enthusiasm. It’s truly unfortunate because the developer of Cultists of Cthulhu certainly has a knack for storytelling as each of the character cards include a nice backstory. The talent is there. But, it feels like the developer’s time and energy may have run out.

And while finding and reassembling the shattered Elder Sign is generally a required goal, regardless of the chosen scenario, I’m not sure what to think when every Indoor and outdoor Event card (all 100 of them) each produce the exact same result when I get it. Creating a narrative for every card is difficult. rolling three Good symbols – “You find a piece of But when you commit to developing a game that the Elder Sign”. involves the Lovecraft mythos, you can bet that the constantly growing fan base will be expecting Queue the sad, Charlie Brown theme music…. more. I certainly was and continue to feel let down

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Photo: Bill Braun

Final Thoughts The idea of inserting a hidden betrayer element into a game that resides in the world of the Cthulhu mythos is a hugely interesting concept to me, and Cultists of Cthulhu promotes this idea with a number of engaging mechanisms. It is game that has the potential to become something great, but too many stumbles along the way and a rulebook that is in serious need of edits and, dare I say, is incomplete, forces it to the bottom of an ever growing list of better and more immersive Cthulhu-based games. Those interested in trying it out may be satisfied with what it has to offer. For me, the game shows incredible promise, but ultimately fell flat.

Photo: Bill Braun

Designer: Thomas Eliot Publisher: Sixpence Games Number of players: 3-6 Mechanic: Co-op Ages: 14+ Length: 120 mins.

Worth Trying

www.sixpencegames.com

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Game Review

Magic Maze

By Serge Pierro

Real Time Mayhem

S

ince I’m not a fan of “real time” games and have grown somewhat tired of co-op games, Magic Maze is a gaming experience that I was unprepared for, as it combines these mechanisms in a way that leads to a fun filled experience. It’s one of those rare games that whether you win or lose, everyone is laughing at the end of the game.

The game comes in a 10” x 10” x 2 1/2” linen finished, square box and sadly does not include an insert for the storing/separating of components.

The 40 page 9 1/2” x 9 1/2” rulebook is in reality an 8 page rulebook in five different languages (English, German, French, Dutch and Spanish).

Each section is profusely illustrated and breaks the game down into the individual actions. The remaining pages are devoted to the 17 scenarios that help form the structure of the game, as scenarios 2-6 introduce new permanent rules to the game, one per each scenario. This made learning the full game a pleasure, as we weren’t overloaded with rules for what is already a mercurial realtime co-op. They are introduced at a nice pace and after playing the relevant scenarios at least once, the additional rules felt manageable and natural.

The twenty-four sturdy 3 3/4” Mall tiles are linen finished and printed on a heavy cardboard stock. The Action tiles and Out of Order markers come from the same punchboards as the Mall tiles.

The Hero pawns and the “Do Something” pawn are made of wood.

There is a sticker set that is applied to the Hero pawns; however, these are prone to becoming loosened from the pawn. You may have to use

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another adhesive type to keep them from continuously coming loose. Be sure to have the ends of the sticker overlap each other to hinder the loosening process. (some stickers haven’t come loose yet… so it seems to be a combination of the sticker overlap and/or the grain of the wood.)

Also included is a large scoring sheet that is 9 1/2” x 9 1/2” and printed on a light card stock. This is used to track the history of the scenarios. It’s a nice touch, but, we never used it.

The game includes a 3 minute sand timer.

To start the game, place the starting tile in the middle of the play area and randomly place the Hero pawns on the center squares. Each player is given an action tile (determined by the number of players) and it is important that the “north” arrow is aligned with the “north” arrow on the starting tile. This is also the last opportunity to discuss strategies and such, because as soon as the timer is flipped over the game begins and there is no talking allowed!

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Game Review (Cont.)

Since there are no turns and players don’t control any one Hero pawn it is important to keep your eyes on all of the pawns and follow the action. When you see that a Hero needs to make a move that requires the action you are responsible for, you have to quickly make that move and then start searching for the next instance. You will certainly want to pay special attention to the player who has the Explore action, as they will be in charge of building the mall. We found that it was essential to build as quickly as possible and stop building as soon as all of the relevant items were revealed.

The only real downsides to the game is that the theme is somewhat bizarre - fantasy characters stealing items from a mall - and the possibilities of “cheating” and misplays. It is the last one that is the most troublesome.

It was easy at times to mistakingly move a character with an action you didn’t control and the real time aspects of the game just added to the mayhem. This became especially true with the “passing of the Action tile” rule, as one became accustomed to moving to the “right” and instinctively did so when given a “new” action, instead of doing the newly obtained action.

It should come as no surprise that tracking the progress of the timer is of extreme importance, as the game’s end is determined by running out of time. We liked to have one player who was in charge of having a Hero pawn near a Sand Timer space and when the timer was just about to run out they would enter the space and flip the timer. However, since these spaces may only be used once, they would then have to make their way towards another one.

The bottom line is that at the end of the game there is nothing but laughter and discussions of strategies and mishaps. Although I prefer games that are intellectually challenging, I found this game to be very enjoyable and would gladly play it again. The fact that it plays up to 8 only adds to the list of positive things about the game.

It’s a great game for families, and gamers, as well. I was quite surprised at how much I liked it and I think that this is a game that many people are going to enjoy.

The game’s 17 scenarios progress in difficulty. Each of the scenarios also increase the amount of tiles included in each one, oftentimes adding more obstacles and challenges.

The game ends when all of the Hero pawns have “stolen” the items and escaped off of the board or if the time runs out.

Magic Maze is exactly the type of game that I would normally not be interested in playing; however, with its challenging scenarios and overall “fun factor”, I couldn’t help but be impressed with this “silent” real-time Coop. I loved how the scenarios are laid out in a way that both introduces the rules and provides more depth of play as you continue.

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Designer: Kasper Lapp Publisher: Sit Down!

Number of players: 1-8 Mechanic: Real Time Co-Op Ages: 8+ Length: 15 mins.

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Highly Recommended www.sitdown-games.com

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Game Review

Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu

By Tom M Franklin

A Plague of Insanity

I

’m a big fan of Cooperative Games. In Cooperative Games (or co-ops)

you and your fellow gamers are playing together against the game itself.

I know, it sounds almost too easy -- c’mon, we ought to be able to take on a handful of cards and some bits of cardboard!

But, trust me, the game, being the game, has the odds stacked way in its favor. This game not only has the basic mechanics of the original Pandemic behind it, but Shoggoths and the other unspeakable terrors of the Lovecraftian Old Ones working to steal your sanity and defeat you.

If you’ve never played the original Pandemic before don’t worry. The first part of this review it a basic overview of how to set up the game start playing without any reference to the parent game. For those of you who have played Pandemic and want to know what differences there are between the original Pandemic and Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu feel free to start wth the section titled “Differences” and then come back here so it all makes sense.

Game Goal / Winning Conditions Seal four Gates before Cthulhu returns to the earth unleashing a reign of terror and horror for untold generations. (Or at least until you can play again…)

Inside the Box Inside the box you’ll find a 12-page, full color set of of instructions and four-fold game board that presents four different cities, each with six locations. These sit atop a molded plastic insert that has spaces for each of the plastic miniatures of the Shoggoths, as well as a space for each of the seven investigators and a larger space for the 26 Cultists you’ll be trying to rid the cities of. There’s also a six-sided Sanity Die that will judge your mental strength against the madness caused by the Old Ones.

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There are also seven sets of cards: On the helpful side there are 7 Investigator cards that show the roles you can play throughout the game; 44 Clue cards with the names of the four cities on the board; and 12 Relics cards that will help you to defeat the Old Ones. On the not-so-helpful side there are the 12 Old One cards and the 24 Summoning Cards that will show you the city locations where Cultists appear on each turn. To make matters worse, there are the dreaded Evil Stirs cards that will make things much worse for you and your fellow players. Additionally, there are four Reference cards to remind you of the Actions you’ll take on each turn as well as the effects that losing your Sanity will cause.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Setup Before starting the game you’ll need to separate the decks and shuffle each one.

Investigator cards are chosen by the players. They then take the corresponding Investigator card (placed Sane side up in front of them) and miniature figure, four Sanity Tokens, and a Reference card. Each Investigator places their miniatures at the Arkham Train Station.

Cthulhu is removed from the Old Ones deck and placed face down in the far right position of the Summoning Rate section at the top of the game board. The remaining Old Ones cards are shuffled and six are drawn at random. These six are placed face down in the remaining six positions to the left of the face down Cthulhu.

The Summoning Deck is shuffled and placed in the bottom right corner of the board. The first two cards are turned over and placed in the Summing discard pile. These two city locations get three Cultists added to them. The next two city locations are turned over and get two Cultists each. The next two get a single Cultist each. Finally, draw a last Summoning card and place a Shoggoth on that location.

Randomly select the number of Relic cards appropriate to the number of players and add them to the Clue card deck. The Clue cards are then shuffled and then dealt out to the players, again, the number of cards depending on the number of Investigators. The Clue cards are then reviewed and a number of each city’s cards are removed based on the difficulty level of the game chosen. The remaining cards are then separated into four piles and the four Evil Stirs cards are shuffled randomly into the piles.

The Clue card piles are stacked one atop the other to form a single pile and then the game is ready to begin.

Sample Turn On a given turn you must do the following three things: Perform up to three Actions; Draw two Clue cards; Reveal Summoning card equal to the current Summoning rate.

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Your Actions include Walking from one location to another location that is connected by a line on the board; discarding a Clue card at one of the four Bus Stop locations to travel to another Bus Station; use one of the open Gates as a shortcut to any other open Gate on the board. Additionally, you can use one Action to defeat a Cultist and remove him from the board or use three Actions to defeat a Shoggoth.

If you’re in the same location as another Investigator you can either give or take a Clue card or a Relic card. If you have five Clue cards for a city you can also use an Action on that city’s Gate to close that Gate.

After you have completed your four Actions you draw two cards from the Clue deck, being sure to keep your final hand limit to seven. Then you draw Summoning cards equal to the current Summoning Rate.

If you’re lucky, the two cards you’ve drawn from the Clue deck just represent one of the four cities on the board and the locations on the Summoning cards have two or fewer Cultists on them. If not, well, things can quickly go horribly bad for everyone.

Remember those four Evil Stirs cards that were shuffled into the Clue deck? If you draw one of them you trigger an Awakening. You pull the bottom card from the Summoning deck and place a Shoggoth on that location. You then roll the Sanity die to see what psychic damage the Shoggoth has done to you. If you lose a total of four Sanity points you’re driven Insane. This limits your abilities for the remainder of the game -- unless you can close one of the four Gates, which restores your Sanity.

If, during your Summoning phase you have to place a fourth Cultist on a given location you trigger another Awakening.

A Shoggoth appears and you roll the Sanity die. Then you take all of the discarded Summoning cards, reshuffle them, and place them on top of the Summoning deck. This, of course, means those locations with Cultists are soon going to be visited by even more Cultists.

Oh, and for every Awakening you also turn over one of the Old Ones looming at the top of the board. Each Old One will have a special power -- some will trigger one time effects, others will have effects that last throughout the remainder of the game.

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Photo: Tom M Franklin

And lest you think this isn’t enough to contend with, some of the Summoning cards have a special Shoggoth icon at the bottom of them. When these cards are revealed, each Shoggoth on the board moves one location closer to the nearest Gate. Should a Shoggoth reach a Gate they disappear from the board and trigger another Awakening.

Winning and Losing As with most co-op games there are plenty of ways to lose.

You can run out of Clue cards or you can perform a seventh Awakening and reveal Cthulhu. You can run out of Cultists or you can run out of Shoggoths. Or all of the Investigators can go Insane.

Winning, by comparison, is straightforward: Investigators must reveal five of that city’s cards at that city’s Gate to seal the Gate. Do that for each of the four cities and you’ve defeated Cthulhu.

DIFFERENCES Taking a look at the two boards shows several obvious differences. Pandemic’s board has four areas with twelve cities each; Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu as four areas, but with only six locations each. As well, Pandemic allows players to cross from the left side of the board to the right side (i.e.

San Francisco connects to either Tokyo or Manila and Los Angeles connects to Sidney). Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu is a closed loop, meaning there is no way to get from one edge of the board to the other -- unless you’re willing to risk your Sanity by going from one Gate to another As for the card decks, the fewer locations means that Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu has fewer Clue cards than Pandemic has Player cards. As well, while the Difficulty levels are set strictly by the number of Clue cards removed. Evil Stirs (i.e.Infection) card numbers remains the same at four regardless of the difficulty level.

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Game Review (Cont.)

This also means there are fewer cards in the Summoning deck, meaning you can run completely through the Summoning deck before drawing another Awakening card.

This can cause every location on the board to be a possible site of Cultists appearing.

In Pandemic a fourth infection in a city triggers an Outbreak and one Outbreak can potentially trigger multiple Outbreaks in connected cities. In Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu a fourth Cultist triggers a Shoggoth. While a fourth Cultist cannot trigger similar ‘Outbreaks’, the mechanic of having the Shoggoths move one location closer to a Gate based on random Summoning cards more than makes up for this.

(Remember, a Shoggoth who reaches a Gate triggers another Awakening.)

The Infection Rate in Pandemic simply increases in number by moving a token from one space to another. Awakenings in Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu reveal a new Old One who, as stated earlier, has a special effect on the game, either short or long term.

Finally, there is the Madness die. The introduction of any sort of randomness into a Pandemic-style game seems counter-intuitive. However, given the potential effects on an Investigator’s psyche after encountering a Shoggoth, the die roll mechanic fits in with the game. Upon encountering a Shoggoth or revealing an Evil Stirs card, you must roll the Madness die. Depending on the roll either nothing happens, you lose one Sanity, you lose two Sanity, or you attract two Cultists to your location.

Final Thoughts & Recommendations What’s to Love When my gaming group started setting up the board and cards for our first game we all commented on the wonderful artwork. The board and the cards (especially the backings of the oversized Old One cards) is very well done and sets the mood for a game of mystery and lurking evil. This carries over to the layout and edge art of the pages in the rule book.

There are several new mechanics that work very well in Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu. Using Relics have a cost

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associated with them (a roll of the Madness die) which is a very nice touch. Having a closed-loop board with quick travel from one side of the board to the other having a the same cost adds to the difficulty of the decisions.

Shoggoths constantly moving towards the nearest Gate when certain Summoning cards are drawn add immediate tension to the game. Since each city is, at most, only three locations away from a Gate you can never rest while any of them are on the board.

The Relics and Old Ones cards add an element of variability to every game. Each time you play different Relic cards will be shuffled into the Clue card deck just as each game will feature different Old Ones in different orders at the top of the board.

What’s to Love Not So Much Insanity didn’t feel well thought-out to me. If you lose four Sanity that means, in general, you lose one Action per turn and one of your special abilities is slightly hindered. Nothing awful really happens to you -- other than your ability to defeat a Shoggoth is all but removed. Oh, and those Investigator special abilities? If you’ve played the original Pandemic, you’ll recognize most of them.

The miniatures are nice, don’t get me wrong, but the colors are a bit odd. The Investigators are a generic gray, which isn’t too bad. The Shoggoths and Cultists, however, are a bright, almost neon teal that I still can’t get over. Sorry Z-Man, 1980’s jewel tones do not inspire fear and awe.

The plastic insert is nicely designed for holding all of the miniatures but the card holder was something of an afterthought. Sure all the cards fit into the card section, but there’s no easy way of getting them out short of tipping the box upside down or scraping at cards with your fingernails.

Finally, the player Clue Cards are all generic Town Names, not location names. This may seem minor, but it’s an attention to detail concept that I felt was missing. I know the locations are not as individually important in Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu as they are in the original Pandemic, but it still bothers me every time I look at the cards.

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Photo: Tom M Franklin

Recommendations Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu is a solid co-op game with plenty of tension and hard decisions for your gaming group to make. The number of Relic and Old Ones cards means you don’t have to worry about replayability: each game you play is going to be different from those you’ve played in the past.

If you like co-op games and you like the Cthulhu mythos, then there’s no doubt that you’ll like Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu.

The harder question, though, is: If you already own Pandemic and you’re neutral on Lovecraft’s Cthulhu, is Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu still a must-buy? I’m a big Pandemic fan and was eager to try Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu. And while I was glad to have played it -- and will happily play it again -- the differences weren’t enough to push Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu onto my limited-budget Must Buy gaming list.

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However, if Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu sounds intriguing, I certainly recommend you give it a try. It’s certainly a game worthy of time on your table.

Designer: Matt Leacock & Chuck D Yager Publisher: Z-Man Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Co-op Ages: 14+ Length: 40 mins.

Highly Recommended www.zmangames.com

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Interview

Joshua Cappel

By Serge Pierro

Artist Do you come from an artistic family?

a picture of me eating mashed potatoes. She made some pretty good mashed potatoes. This is the kind of interview scoop readers come here for!

Not particularly. Actually now that I think about it, not at all.

Huh. Never really realized that before.

What are your earliest recollections of doing art?

I did a lot of copying comic books when I was a kid. I always liked drawing and creating; even from a young age I designed games and created prototypes for them. My very earliest recollection of doing art, if we’re being honest, was a card I made for my mom that was

Are you self taught or did you study art in school?

Joshua Cappel

Artist Scoville Kheops Belfort Wasabi Pirates vs. Dinosaurs @Josh_Cappel

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I have a couple years of graphic design education, but I’m mostly self taught.

This is probably obvious from how terrible I am at certain fundamentals. Or maybe it isn’t obvious; I try desperately to hide my weaknesses. 80% of my art is me trying to hide the stuff I’m not good at.

Who are your main artistic influences?

I don’t really have any overtly obvious artistic influences that I can point to and say I’ve modelled my style in that direction. Some comic artists I loved growing up were Keith Giffen and Sam Keith. I always liked artists who were willing to go a little impressionistic with their work.

Who are your favorite board game/card game artists?

At the moment David Forest & Lina Cossette (collectively known as Mr. Cuddington) are blowing my mind with everything they do. I love Michael Menzel’s scenescapes, and Adam McIver’s blend of fun art with great functionality. Ryan Laukat’s work really speaks to me too.

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Interview (Cont.)

What is your favorite medium to work in?

Probably good old pencil and pen. That’s where I feel the most comfortable, though I’ve gotten to the point where a good percentage of my inks are done digitally now. Digital is quicker and easier to fix mistakes, but genuine paper drawing has a feel that just can’t be replicated.

Can you tell us about your studio and work environment?

My studio is what a normal artist’s studio might look like if it was turned upside down and shook around a lot. So many random piles of papers. Lots of game boxes stacked around, tons of miscellaneous components and various half-constructed and re-cannibalized prototypes are scattered everywhere. My office is like a snapshot of the game design portion of my brain.

How did you get involved in creating artwork for the game industry?

Quite on purpose. To make a long story short, I became friends with a group of aspiring game designers, and when one of them was close to signing a deal with a publisher, I’d whip up some samples and ask for them to show the publisher. Eventually a publisher (Z-Man, for the game Gheos) took the bait, and I got the gig. Parlayed that into another job, then a few more, and now I have to fight them off with a stick.

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Do you enjoy playing games? If so, what are some of your favorite games?

Love playing games! Would be a little weird if I didn’t, no? Classic favourites are Caylus, Endeavor, and Small World; I’ll play any of those any time. Recent faves are Clank, Great Western Trail, and Santorini. And of course I will rock a Foodfighters battle in a heartbeat.

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Interview (Cont.)

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 really want to illustrate an original Bruno Faidutti game. I already did his Kheops, but it was a revamp of an existing game and was more graphical than illustrative. I have vowed to illustrate a game by Chris Chung (designer of Lanterns) one of these days... really I’m interested in providing art and design for any good game; usually it’s the game itself that gets my creative engine running, not so much the designer. Themewise I think I’m ready for something dungeony or creepy; haven’t done anything in that vein yet and kind of want to explore visual possibilities there.

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What component do you enjoy rendering the most and why? The box cover, cards, the board, tiles, etc.?

It varies by game, of course. I find myself paying a ton of time and attention to game boards, but the box provides the biggest canvas for creating a nice communicative art piece. The box cover is basically the ad for the game, so you want it to tell the story in one snapshot. Lots of publishers and gamers expect the classic action shot; someone in period costume gazing out over a period setting. I’ve done a couple of those, but I really like to think of something that goes POW. Continued on next page>

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Interview (Cont.)

What is the piece of artwork that you are most proud of?

Probably the board for Belfort, by Tasty Minstrel Games. So many details in there. Also pretty much the entire package of Pirates vs Dinosaurs by Jolly Roger Games, particularly the item cards.

Best rope I’ve ever drawn. Maybe that’s weird, but it’s a really good rope. And the box of Endeavor

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The graphic design/illustrations for the box covers of “Scoville” and “Kheops” are simple, yet powerful.

Were you given direction on these, or were the concepts/designs yours?

Those concepts were both mine. I was lucky enough to work with publishers willing to take a chance on a single striking image instead of a typical action scene.

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Interview (Cont.)

As one of the few artists who also design games, what do you feel your artistic background brings to your games and does your game design influence your artwork/graphic design?

If anything it’s the graphic design aspect that affects my game designs, because I like to come up with creative component solutions to make game processes work better. Generally though, I don’t think the game design is affected my my art background. The other way around, definitely a lot more. I evaluate all the components of a game with a game designer’s eye to make sure that the visuals will improve the playability of the game.

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Can you give us some insight into the dynamics of working with your wife, Helaina, on board game projects? Do each of you have specific strengths?

Yeah definitely. Helaina has the business mind, so she handles basically the entire weight of the publishing responsibilities. I do more of the game design work and all of the prototype crafting and final art. Naturally we both help the other the best we can; Helaina is always available to playtest and offer development feedback on my designs (with a particular eye for how the game should work for Kids Table’s philosophy) and I always contribute to company strategy. It’s a great working situation.

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Interview (Cont.)

Do you illustrate projects outside of the game industry?

Not really, any more. All games all the time.

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Do you have any news on upcoming projects?

Artwise, I’m working on several games right now... two for IDW and two for Grand Gamers Guild. And of course the work I do for Kids Table underneath it all.Â

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Interview (Cont.)

Do you accept private commissions?

I never have, but I would, if someone wanted something special.

How can readers keep up to date on what projects you are working on?

They can follow me on Twitter or Instagram; I post finished work and sometimes in-progress stuff on both.

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What advice would you give to aspiring board game artists?

Practice your craft. Become a better illustrator than me; this shouldn’t be too hard.

Mostly, if you want to create great graphic design for board games, you need to play a lot of games and understand how the components make the games function more smoothly. Clarity is king; your graphics and art need to improve gameplay by making information available, accessible, and unambiguous. We walk a fine line between making things look good and making things work well. Ideally you’ll achieve both at once, but if you ever find yourself in a position where you have to lean one way or the other, lean towards “work well”.

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Game Review

Knot Dice

By Serge Pierro

Celtic Inspired Games and Puzzles

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here seems to be a trend recently of Kickstarter games that feature all kinds of amazing miniatures, and yet the games themselves tend to be a bit flat. So it’s a refreshing change to see a game that is aesthetically pleasing and is actually a game, or in this case a game and a puzzle. Knot Dice Deluxe is an interesting offering, let’s take a look at what it is all about.

The Deluxe version of Knot Dice comes in a 7 1/4” x 5” x 1” box that features a 2 1/4” plastic window displaying the beautiful custom dice inside.

The game contains two booklets: a 36 page book that explains the games and a 20 page book devoted to the puzzles. The game rulebook devotes two or three pages for explaining each game. The games list the player count, time and complexity, as well as the instructions and related illustrations. For the most part these can be followed, however, it should be noted that there are videos online that also teach the games and the spatial relationships in some of the games are easier to grasp while watching the videos. The puzzle book features a nice selection of puzzles and even includes a section on how to notate your solutions.

The deluxe edition contains an opulent black velvet bag with a drawstring that has the logo embroidered onto it. This makes an excellent storage and transportation accessory and further adds to the classiness of the production.

Some of the activities use the enclosed painted wood tokens which have a celtic design silkscreened onto them.

The main attraction is the thirty-six 3/4” custom dice. These are a marbled green color with engraved faces filled with silver paint, giving the impression of dice made of jade with silver inlays.

One of the more fascinating elements of the game collection is that there are several designers contributing games. There is a decent range of games, especially when considering that each of the games use the same dice. There are both cooperative games and competitive games.

One of the nice features of the presentation is that each of the games is taught in the same format. We’ll take a look at “Kells” as an example.

minutes and has a low complexity. There is then a short backstory and objective. Followed by the Setup and Game Play. This is followed by how the game ends and the scoring method. And finally there is an Advance variant.

“Kells” like many of the games included in the package is about constructing Celtic Knot designs. This is not only challenging, but the results are often quite stunning. Here players will work together in trying to complete a Celtic Knot design. This may sound easy, but if you have to discard 3 or more dice from the game, you lose. It also provides a nice introductory point for the rest of the games.

Knot Dice is a gorgeous collection of games and puzzles. The quality of the components is excellent and the final positions of the games and puzzles are quite beautiful. This is the type of game that I would expect to see at a retail outlet that specializes in gourmet and connoisseur type items or a museum.

And while the aesthetics of the game are quite pleasing, it is the game play and especially the puzzles that make this worth picking up. I was quite impressed with the puzzles, as they provided a challenge and had various levels of difficulty, thus providing an excellent solitaire experience.

Overall this is a package that is going to appeal to players who are looking for a wide variety of games and the option of being challenged by puzzles. Fans of Celtic culture will want to add this to their collection just on the theme alone. Since many of the games are for two players, it is perfect for couples. I can also see this appealing to young children, as the games and puzzles will challenge their inquisitive minds, but not overload them with heavy strategies.

Designers: Matthew O’Malley Publisher: Black Oak Games Number of players: 1-4 Mechanic: Co-op, Various, Puzzles Ages: 8+ Length: 15-30 mins.

“Kells” is a cooperative game for 1-3 players (1-4 players if using the Deluxe version or purchasing a second set) that takes 15

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Recommended www.knotdice.com

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Game Review

The Cohort

By Serge Pierro

Assemble a Roman Legion

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ncient Rome is a one of my favorite periods in history. I collect ancient Roman coins and have read many books on the topic. So when Mage Company announced they were doing a card game based on the assembling of a Roman Legion, I was instantly intrigued. Let’s take a look at a filler that has a set collection mechanism that “punishes” you as you attempt to put together your Legion of Roman soldiers.

The game comes in a 8” x 8” x 1 1/2” square box that has a printed cardboard insert that lines the bottom of the box with cartoony landscape, but offers no storage capabilities for the cards. The box is clearly designed for being displayed on retail shelves than for the storage of the game, as it is much larger than needed.

The rulebook is the size of the box and consist of a single glossy sheet of paper folded in half for 4 pages. There seems to have been a printing error, as the rules need to be read from the back of the book to the front. It was a bit disconcerting at first, until I realized that this was the case. It’s a bit disappointing to see something like this not being caught during production.

The game consists of 144 cards of decent card stock.

The game is fairly straightforward. You place the deck of cards in the middle of the play area. On a player’s turn they will draw two cards and keep one for themselves and give the other to another player of their choice. They also have the option of playing one of the cards from their hand face up in front of them to start assembling a Cohort. At the end of your turn you discard any cards above the maximum hand size of four.

The goal of the game is to assemble a Legion. A Legion is composed of three completed Cohorts. Each card has a number in the right hand corner that indicates how many of those cards are needed to complete the Cohort. Ex: The Praetorian card has a 3 in the corner, this means you need to have three of these cards in front of you to complete the set (Cohort).

The main interest in the game is the effects printed on the cards.

When you place one of the characters in front you their effect is triggered. Although the goal is to complete three Cohorts you can attempt to start as many as you wish, however, you will be affected by all of the effects generated. Generally the effects are a hinderance and will influence how you play the game. For instance, the card “Equites” has a Cohort size of 4, yet when it comes into play your hand size is reduced to two, thus making it tougher to finish the set. Another card, “The Centurion” makes you play with your hand face up on the table, allowing other players to see what you are going for and making sure they don’t pass those cards to you. There is also a special card “Primus Pilus” that can be used as a wildcard or it can be used to remove a character from a player’s uncompleted Cohort.

My main problem with some of the cards is that the text on some of them doesn’t exactly match the text listed in the rule book. You will have to memorize what is listed in the rules and apply it to the cards. It would have been nice to have had a player aide for helping new players learn the game.

As a filler it can be enjoyable, especially as the game progresses and multiple effects are on the table. However, it is the abundance of effects that at times can slow the game down. The game seemed to go on longer than the game play would warrant, but then again with people socializing around the table, this is not unexpected. If you are looking for a filler that doesn’t require a great deal of a strategy while socializing, then this might be one that you may want to consider.

Designers: Jeremie Kletzkine Publisher: Mage Company Number of players: 2-6 Mechanic: Set Collection Ages: 8+ Length: 15-30 mins.

Worth Trying

www.magecompanygames.com

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Game Review

Crazier Eights

By Serge Pierro

Crazy Eights with Special Abilities

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have recently been fascinated by designers who are looking towards the past as an inspiration for their current designs, especially when using “standard” games. We’ve seen numerous chess variants, poker inspired games and now with Crazier Eights we see the card game Crazy Eights adopted as the base for a design. Let’s see if this quick card game improves on a classic.

Crazier Eights comes in a standard sized tuck box, which is not overly surprising as it uses a standard sized deck of cards.

The 12 page rulebook is mainly text and has only a couple of illustrations.

The 52 cards are made of a decent coated stock with a nice “snap back”. The back of the cards feature the gorgeous artwork of Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, which is also used for the front of the box and cover of the rulebook.

To start the game each player is dealt seven cards and then the top card of the deck is placed face up in the discard pile. On a player’s turn they will first draw a card. Then they move into the main phase of the game and are presented with two options: either discarding a card and/or playing a card for an effect.

If a player discards a card it has to match either the color or rank of the face up card in the discard pile. The one card that breaks this rule is the “Devious Dragon” which has a rank of 8 and is considered a wildcard when discarded. The player who discards it will determine what the next color will be. Cards that are placed onto the discard pile do not trigger the abilities printed on them.

When a player plays a card for an effect there are two things that could physically happen to the card. If it is an Event, the text is resolved and then the card is placed at the bottom of the draw deck.

If it is an Asset, then it is placed in front of the player and the effect is used accordingly.

Event cards are one time effects. Example: Timeshift - “You get an extra turn after this one.”

Assets stay in play. Example: Stream of Life - “Each player may discard an additional card during his or her turn.

Each rank has the same type of effect. Example: Stream of Life has a rank of two and all of the other twos in different colors have the same effect. So there are only thirteen different effects in the deck.

Play continues until a player discards their last card to the discard pile and thus wins the game by having no cards left in hand at the end of their turn.

The effects contained within the game make it far more interesting than your standard game of Crazy Eights. It would be hard to ever play the original game after playing this one.

The effects within the game are varied. With two of my favorite ones mentioned above, the others include effects such as looking at an opponent’s hand and trading a card, forcing a player to draw three cards, discarding two additional cards on your turn, as well several others. There is just enough variety to keep the game interesting at first, though after a while you will be wishing for more.

This is a fun little filler that has potential for growth. Apparently there will be a new version coming out soon based on Camelot, which could be interesting especially since there is some nice public domain artwork associated with it. Having artwork by artists Edward Burne-Jones and Francesco de Goya in the game is certainly nice.

While the game can be recommended based on the actual game play, the main caveat is that the game is expensive for a deck of cards. Perhaps in the future they will be able to get a better price point on production and offer it at a lower price. But, if the price is not a problem and you enjoy the simplicity of the standard card game, then Crazier Eights will prove to be an entertaining filler experience.

Designers: James Gray Publisher: Self Published Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Crazy Eights, Special Abilities Ages: 13+ Length: 10-30 mins.

Worth Trying www.craziereights.com

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Solo Gaming

Roll Player

By Jeff Rhind

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oll Player is a dice drafting and manipulation game for 1-4 players from Thunderworks Games.

Designed by Keith Matejka, players create RPG characters with the usual tropes of stats: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma. Class, Skills, Alignment, Traits and Equipment cards can also add complexity during play, as well as scoring opportunities.

To start, choose a player board; this establishes your race i.e. Dwarf, Human, Orc, Elf, etc. Next, randomly assign yourself a doubled-sided class card. This establishes what profession your character will be: a rogue, monk, wizard, cleric, druid, and so on. Each class has different stat requirements that score reputation stars (victory points) based on the total pip value of dice in that stat’s row. Additionally, the card lists a special ability that can have an ongoing or a once per round effect. A random alignment card is placed on your home board with a cube that tracks whether you are good or evil; lawful or chaotic. This is not only a way to score more points but also used to enable certain special skills that you may acquire. A backstory card is also randomly chosen. This card sets up your pre-game history with some flavor text to give you some insight into your character and displays how additional points can be scored.

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To start the game, take 6 random dice form the bag and roll them. Then place them on your board in whatever stat rows you’d like as long as you place dice all the way to the left. In other words you can’t put dice in random places like the middle of the far right side of a row. You’ll also start with 5 gold. Initiative cards numbered 1 through 3 are each placed above three Market cards. Then, three random dice from the bag are rolled and placed from least to greatest (ties are arranged by player choice) one on each of three initiative cards – the number two card also has one gold on it.

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Photo: Jeff Rhind

At the beginning of each round you will take a die. If you select the first card, the AI will not take any cards in the Market. If you take the second die, you will get a gold but the AI will roll 1d6. A 1, 2, or 3 will trash (destroy) its associated card (a 4-6 does nothing). If you take the third die, a 1/2 will destroy the first card, 3/4 the second and a 5/6 will destroy the last card.

Once you have placed your die on your player board you have the option of discarding a Market card, if you are not interested in buying one, which gains you 2 gold. Otherwise, you purchase one of the remaining cards by paying its gold cost. Skill cards, which can be used at anytime during the game, can only be activated if you can move your alignment cube as indicated by the arrow on the card. If you can’t move it, you can’t use it.

If the arrow is next to its cost then, if possible, you must

move your alignment cube as indicated when purchased.

Weapons and armor cards may also be available to strengthen your character but only one Market card may be purchased each round.

The other two dice are put back into the bag, the left most card is discarded and any other remaining are destroyed and therefore removed from the game. You replenish the Market, roll and add three more dice to the initiative cards with no more than one gold on the 2nd card, and continue with the next round. Each time you place a die in a particular row you activate that stats’ special ability as indicated. Abilities may allow you to re-roll a die, switch dice around, flip one to its opposite side, or shift your alignment cube. Once a row is complete, you will also gain a gold and when your player board is completely filled with all 18 dice, the game ends and you calculate your final score.

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Solo Gaming (Cont.)

Photo: Jeff Rhind

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The game has its critics wishing there was more than just creating a character or that it’s too random, but then again it is a dice game. At game’s end you have an RPG character with a backstory, completed stats, special skills and equipment ready to go on an adventure. But that’s it – no more. Enter the next Kickstarter! A campaign is in the works by the publisher that will add a module to the game where your completed character will battle a beast or monster! I, for one, cannot wait for this added gameplay.

There are lots of opportunities to score, and Roll Player has just enough in game crunchiness that makes the game a little “thinky” but also allows it to be played really fast. I don’t think you will play one game and put it away. Many games can be played in one session as you try different boards, classes, backstories and alignments – the possibilities are endless.

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Photo: Jeff Rhind

This game, in a word, is fantastic! It’s a great puzzle, solo experience as you decide which die you should take to get your stats where they need to be. The obvious choices are high valued dice, however there are trait cards that allow you to have a low valued stat and still gain points. Skill cards, although affect your alignment, gain you valuable ways to adjust your dice. Although Roll Player can seem a bit random, there are some interesting decisions to be made as to when you should bail out of trying to hit 17+ on your strength and utilize a trait card to get 8 or less, for example. Armor cards allow for a set collection element. There are limitations on how many weapons you can carry. (After all, you only have two hands.) Dice colors that match your class gain you additional points and gold dice give you one gold each time you place them.

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Education

Recent Games with Educational Merit

By David Niecikowski, MAED, ABD

T

o be honest I have been really busy since the last article and will continue my series of top games by academic content area hopefully in the next issues; likely science games. In the meantime, regardless of how busy I am, I always find time to play games, often new games, as game play is a great way to unwind and spend quality time with one’s family. It just so happens that I have received some games recently I backed through Kickstarter that have been hitting the table a lot lately and if the trend continues, may be added to our list of all-time favorites.

immediately family, and friends. As a dexterity game trying to score the most points flicking discs, it has connections to science (physics) and mathematics.

2. Backyard Birds – I was drawn to the beautiful hand drawn bird and scenery art from the self-published designer John Jackson of April May Games. Simple game play makes this a pleasure to play with strong connections to ecology, science. The tension comes from racing to win territories with your flocks before your opponents. It works thematically, especially with the Raptors, Farm, and Seaside expansions (unlike Whether I back a game on Kickstarter or purchase it other card games which are abstract or with irrelevant in retail, my decision to buy has become more selective themes). Like most card games, your success can be over time when considering the thousands of games I greatly affected by what is drawn but that’s okay if have played/reviewed and own. As a game designer you accept that this is not a pure strategy game. My I look for games with unique mechanics or twists on only complaint is that printed rules are not currently old mechanics and games with immersive themes. In provided for the expansions. addition, as discussed in a previous article, I play games with a family member who has cognitive/memory 3. Rollet – This a great party pinball-like, ricochet, difficulties so games shorter in length and that have turns dexterity game that mixed ages can simultaneously with a limited number of choices move to the front of enjoy that is designed by England’s Et Games Limited the list for consideration. Being a twenty-year veteran in and hand manufactured in India (my order arrived education, games with educational merit receive extra from DHL worldwide shipping). The game plays best attention even if the theme is lacking or the mechanics in teams of two while racing to score so many points are cliché. rolling steel balls down your rotatable wooden ramp to knock the wooden ball into your opponents’ goal. This Since December 2016 I have received 14 Kickstarter is another game with connections to science, physics. games that have educational merit. I have ranked seven of them in order by how often they are hitting the table. 4. Santorini – A thematically rich abstract strategy game designed by Dr. Gordon Hamilton and published 1. Crokinole – Having never played this game, I ordered by Roxley. The object is to be the first player to move Crokinole based on its reputation from Mayday Games. one of your workers to the top of the 3rd level of a We immediately recognized its 140 year old appeal and building while placing floors of buildings to achieve an have enjoyed playing tournaments within our family, advantage or block your opponent. The rules are simple

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difficulty drawn from a deck of cards using a pool of pieces. If you finish before you opponent, the fun comes from stomping on the dynamite button that shoots air through a connected hose that knocks down your opponent’s structure that he/she was too slow to build.

Based on the card difficulty, we added time as a head 5. Sagrada – We just received this game and have start for players who needed more processing time than already played it five times in just three days of owning quicker opponents. Yet another game with connections it. Sagrada is a quick playing, dice drafting, puzzle game to science, physics. where players complete to score the most points based on private and three public goals that are met placing 7. Virulence: An Infectious Card Game - A light card dice of different color and rolled number within a game by Genius Games that plays fast with just the puzzle grid (simulating a stain glass window) after 10 right amount of decision making and strategy where rounds of play. Sagrada has logic-mathematical and art players compete to score the most points creating sets history connections. of cells using virus bidding/infection cards and dice.

Thematically the virus theme is not as integral and 6. Build or BOOM – Another dexterity game makes therefore falls more into the ‘pasted on’ spectrum but the the list (manufactured by Proto.Toys) where two players game has mathematical connections and can generate race to be the first to recreate a structure of varying discussions about science, biology. with variants and 40 thematic Greek gods and hero powers (when including the expansion) that change the way the game is played. This game has strong logicmathematical connections with a social studies/cultural theme.

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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!

Tom M Franklin Tom lives in North Carolina where he and his wife are staff to their

five cats. His writing has appeared in his agent’s Inbox and the occasional hand-written letter to friends. He grew up playing Abstract Strategy Games (back when they were simply called games) and still regards dice of all kinds with suspicion. His Board Gaming Claim to Fame is having taught over 300 kids how to play Chess. Considering he’s been playing board games for over 50 years he really should be much better at them than he is.

Steve Krause Steve is a newspaper designer based out of Pontiac, Michigan. He first became enchanted with modern board games with Betrayal at House on the Hill, and it’s been downhill ever since. His work on board games has appeared in Slate, and he runs the @boardgamesofinsta Instagram account and you can follow him on Twitter at @Steve_Krause.

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Game Review Index

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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

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Nevermore Gold West Arcadia Quest Dragon Flame New York 1901 Lift Off! Tesla vs. Edison Yashima Targi

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Outer Earth 1944: Race to the Rhine Runecast Cycling Tour Witkacy Firefly: Fistful of Credits Dozen Doubloons King Down

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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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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 #15

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Kanagawa Lunarchitects Hero Realms Santorini Vinhos: Deluxe Colony Sun Tzu Bermuda Crisis Tavarua Explorers of the North Sea America San Allies Crisis

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Hanamikoji Element Villages of Valeria Mansions of Madness 2nd Edition 7 Wonders Duel Oceanos Herbaceous A Feast For Odin Schotten Totten This Belongs in a Museum

Issue #16 July 2017

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