Game Nite magazine issue #6

Game Nite

Issue # 6

the magazine of tabletop gaming

ND E R YEA UE! ISS

GAME REVIEWS “FAMILY GAMES THE 100 BEST”

TOM JOLLY SUPPORTING NEW PLAYERS BOARD GAME HISTORY PT. 5

AND MORE!

IN THIS ISSUE:

REVIEWS

HISTORY 04

Boardgame History

Part V The Middle Ages.

78

Vintage Boardgames

Buck Rogers Battle for the 25th Century.

BOOK REVIEW 08

Family Games The 100 Best.

OPINION 21

Playing Solo Jeff Rhind

EDUCATION 18

Games in Education Supporting New Players.

INTERVIEWS 46

Tom Jolly Designer and Puzzler.

COMICS 81

Comics Game Night comic strip.

Game Nite Contributors

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Nevermore Raven’s Revenge.

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Gold West Mid-weight Euro.

22

Arcadia Quest Dungeon Crawl.

26

DragonFlame Be a Dragon.

30

New York 1901 New Gateway.

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Lift Off! Mission Accomplished.

38

Tesla vs. Edison War of the Currents.

42

Yashima Card Driven Minis.

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Targi Unique Two Player.

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Outer Earth Contest Finalist.

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1944: Race to the Rhine WWII Themed Euro.

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Runecast Vikings vs. Loki.

66

Cycling Tour Bicycle Racing.

68

Witkacy Artistic Puzzle Game.

70 Firefly: Fistful of Credits Firefly Co-op.

CONTRIBUTORS 82

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Dozen Doubloons Light Family Game.

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King Down Chess Meets Minis.

FROM THE GAMING TABLE

Game Nite ISSUE # 6

W

elcome to our special Year End issue. It’s hard to believe that we have published a years worth of Game Nite. The readership is far beyond our expectations! Thank you for all of your support - it is really appreciated! We hope to improve even more in 2016!

Bill Braun and I worked overtime to bring you double the amount of game reviews this issue! Hopefully some of them will prove useful for the upcoming holiday season.

Special thanks to Eric Devlin for all of his excellent editing throughout the year!

John Anthony Gulla continues his popular series on “The History of Tabletop Games”.

This time he continues his coverage of the board games of the Middle Ages.

Bill Braun delivers four reviews this issue: “Arcadia Quest”, “Lift Off!”, “Runecast” and “Firefly Fistful of Credits”. As usual, he shares some interesting insights into each of them.

Jeff Rhind has an opinion piece on playing solitaire games. It’s nice to see solitaire games starting to gain some momentum.

Kevin Cox’s inaugural Vintage Game review is “Buck Rogers: Battle for the 25th Century”. Each issue he will explore a “blast from the past”.

We’d like to thank Tom Jolly for taking the time to share with us his thoughts on game design and puzzle making. Be sure to check out the photo of his beautiful puzzles.

Congratulations to Chenier La Salle & Blue Orange Games (New York 1901), as well as Andreas Steiger and Z-Man Games (Targi), for winning this issue’s “Editor’s Choice Awards”. Both are well deserved!

If you are a writer, photographer, etc. and feel you have something unique to contribute to the magazine (especially RPG and Miniature oriented contributions), feel free to contact me to discuss it. We’d love to have you on board!

Cover Photograph by Serge Pierro.

Yashima © Greenbrier Games

Editor in Chief/Publisher: Serge Pierro Editor: Eric Devlin Contributing Writers: Bill Braun David Niecikowski Kevin Lauryssen John Anthony Gulla Kevin Cox Jeff Rhind Photographers: Serge Pierro Bill Braun Kevin Cox 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 #6

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History

The History of Tabletop Games

By John Anthony Gulla

Part V - The Middle Ages 1200 - 1500 A.D.

S

pain, c. 1260 A.D.: Pumping the brakes just a bit on our trip through time (lest we overshoot the present), we find ourselves arriving at a period with two substantial moments in Gaming History: the early development and initial spread of a game that came to become (arguably) the most popular board game ever created, as well as the invention of a physical mechanism that would prove to be the most prolific means for creating tabletop games since the board itself.

Around the year 1260 CE, A Spanish King named Alphonso X (the tenth) commissioned a work that would eventually become well known to many as the Libro de los Juegos, or The Book of Games. In it, he and some Spanish monks discuss many games of the day, including various dice games --some of which we have mentioned in previous articles in the series--, which the book refers to as “games of chance,” a form of backgammon referred to as Tables, the game of Merels (i.e.

Morris), an ancestor of Checkers referred to as Alquerque, and perhaps most importantly, a long treatise on a game that was already enjoying immense popularity across Northern Europe by this time. That game, of course, is none other than what we now refer to as Chess.

Chess, noted as a “game of skill” within Alphonso’s text, is discussed at length and treated deferentially throughout it as a game of more import than any of the others included. The codex goes into great detail as to how to produce a Chess set, how the game is played (including

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many variant rulesets), and even lists strategies for several specific in-game situations. Most fascinatingly, however, is the addition of some rather unusual and uncommon variations of Chess; including a four-player Chess game; an epic Chess variant that’s twice the size of traditional Chess using additional,

Public Domain

different pieces (such as a Lion, an Eagle, and more); and an astronomically-inspired version of Chess played on a board made up of 7 concentric circles!

Of all of these variations, the four-player Chess game, so named Chess of the Four Seasons in the text, was the closest to the Chess game we are familiar with today.

It made use of four different colored sets of chessmen, with each set corresponding simultaneously with one of

the four seasons and one of the four bodily humors. It also featured a die used to determine which piece could be moved on a player’s turn (though the book declares that the game can be played with or without it). Not all the traditional Chess pieces were used in the Four Seasons game in order to accommodate all players, yet the board remained the same 8x8 square grid, producing a tight game in which every move must be measured with great care.

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History (Cont.)

Each team began the game with their King in one corner surrounded by its allies. Play was said to have proceeded with all players typically attempting to attack the player to their right, while simultaneously defending from the attack of the player on their left.

One could only imagine the chaos of such a game even from the very start! The text also discusses a prevalent strategy of creating an early alliance with the player completely opposite to you, though eventually (after one or two players were eliminated) such an alliance would necessarily be disbanded.

Although it was the most popular game of the era, Chess (and its variants) was not the only game of its ilk in Northern Europe at the time. Another game, similar in design to Chess in some ways, yet quite different in others, was called Rithmomachy (also known as the Philosopher’s Game). Rithmomachy was played upon a checkered board like that of Chess, but its dimensions differed greatly. A Rithmomachy board was still 8 squares across, but twice as long, making it the shape of a rectangle as opposed to the square most commonly seen today. More interestingly still, the pieces in Rithmomachy, while perhaps not as thematic or as aesthetically pleasing as Chess, lent themselves well to the core idea behind the game and its main mechanisms.

moved 3 spaces orthogonally in any direction. Pieces in Rithmomachy could also be stacked with other pieces, creating a sort of “pyramid piece” (a la a Kinging in Checkers, but with multiple levels possible and occurring more frequently). Such a pyramid piece became more versatile by gaining more movement options, higher in number, and, of course, more valuable to its player.

While Rithmomachy’s movement rules are interesting enough in themselves, perhaps its most genius feature was the main idea for how pieces were captured during play. In order to capture (and assimilate) an opponent’s piece, you must achieve one of the 4 following conditions: A. have your piece be able to move onto an opponent’s piece that is the same value (or, in the case of a stacked piece, the sum of their values), B. Have a lower numbered piece be the same value as a higher numbered piece by multiplying the number on the piece by the amount of empty spaces between it and the piece it is attempting to capture (e.g. a piece valued at 8 is 4 spaces away from an opponent’s 32 piece, allowing the 32 to be captured), C. add the sum of two of your own pieces and make them equal to an opponent’s piece currently located between them (e.g. your 8 and 4 pieces are flanking an opponent’s 12), and finally (and most straightforwardly), surrounding an opponent’s piece (regardless of values) on all 4 sides. The math involved in such a game is evident by introducing these rules, and this is no accident. The design of Rithmomachy was said by many in the period to have been crafted as an example of Boethian mathematical philosophy and to show how elegant his overall system was by using the game as an example of the theory in action.

Rithromachy’s pieces were either round, square, or triangular in shape (all fitting inside the area of one checkered square), and on the top they displayed a written number. No two numbered pieces on the board (regardless of side) were the same, making it an asymmetrical game. Setup and movement rules were also similar to Chess-style, but with each piece moving differently according to their shape. Rounds moved Rithmomachy and Chess were clearly the heavier games 1 space diagonally in any direction, triangles move of the era, demanding a high level of skill and extensive 2 spaces orthogonally in any direction, and squares knowledge of the rules to remain competitive. This being

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Interview “The design of Rithmomachy was said by many in the period to have been crafted as an example of Boethian mathematical philosophy and to show how elegant his overall system was by using the game as an example of the theory in action.� the case, one could reasonably extrapolate that these sort of games were mostly adopted and cared for by the wealthy and aristocratic classes. Fortunately for the middle class and poor of the era, however, an invention came about around the same time period that would cause an eruption of good games that could be played using the same low-cost materials: playing cards.

Join me next time to dive into the early history of card games and how they forever changed the hobby of tabletop games.

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Book Review

Family Games The 100 Best

By Serge Pierro

L

ast issue we reviewed James Lowder’s book Hobby Games: The 100 Best and in this issue we will take a look at his followup work, Family Games: the 100 Best. Like the previous volume, there are lot of interesting games and anecdotes contained within.

The book features a nice Foreward by former Hasbro Product Acquisition Manager, Mike Gray. Taking a somewhat nostalgic look at games, Mike delves into the games of his childhood, as well as some of his favorite games at the time of publication (2010). This sets the tone for the rest of the book as it is slanted more towards family games than the previous volume.

The table of contents is once again an asset, as it allows the reader to go through the list of games and quickly choose a game or a designer of interest and go right to that essay.

It wouldn’t surprise me if everyone does this when they start to read the book. The games are listed alphabetically in a bold type face while preceded by the essayist listed in italics. This allows the reader to quickly scan down the left column and discover an essay by a designer they are interested in, while at the same time being able to easily distinguish the game titles just to the right.

As with the previous volume there is a long list of games and designers of interest and some very interesting pairings. Some of the designers featured throughout are: James Earnest, Matt Leacock, Steve Jackson, Richard Garfield, and Alan Moon. However, the real point of interest is the pairing of a game with a designer and the insights that they provide. Some of the more unexpected designer/game essays are: James Earnest on Candyland, Steve Jackson on Monopoly and Richard Garfield on Scrabble. And while the previous pairings certainly catch your attention, there are plenty of other very interesting essays that will surprise you on many levels.

Since the book was published three years after the previous one, it provided an opportunity to include some of the “newer” games that had hit the market in the interim and some that were previously overlooked.

I was pleased to see abstract games like DVONN and Hive represented, as well as childhood favorites like Mouse Trap and Strat-O-Matic Baseball. However, there were some questionable inclusions as far as “family games” go. For example I don’t know anyone who would consider Hero Clix a family game or for that matter, Bang!. The majority of the games included could fit somewhat under the “family game” umbrella, but I believe that there will be many who will disagree with some of the included titles, but, the inclusions are interesting nonetheless.

The back of the book has some interesting info. First up is an afterword by Wil Wheaton in which he discusses his childhood and gaming with his children.

Next up is an excellent appendix by David Millians on Games and Education. Included in this section are several pages of Print, Web and Convention resources.

Like the first book, there were several times while I was reading this that I had to stop and put the book down and just sit back and reminisce about some of the games and the memories that they invoked. And while the games are clearly in the spotlight, the writers themselves were also among the wonderful discoveries within. I’m always happy to come across a name that I’m unfamiliar with and then research them along with their games. James Lowder should be commended on putting these books together, as they provide an important educational/historical perspective of the games, as well as the industry itself. Anyone who has a love for board and/or card games will certainly want to own both volumes of this series, as they cover a very wide range of games.

Editor: James Lowder Publisher: Green Ronin Publishing

Highly Recommended www.greenronin.com

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Game Review

Nevermore

By Serge Pierro

Poe Would Be Proud

N

evermore is a card drafting game by designer Curt Covert that features an interesting twist on player elimination. In Nevermore, when you die you are not eliminated from the game, instead you come back as a Raven and continue to play the game trying to “peck” at your adversaries.While also trying to transform yourself back into human form.

From the packaging to the enclosed components, Nevermore has a dark and mysterious look to it. You are greeted with the box top illustration by Hannah Kennedy which sets the mood for the game. It includes an illustrated, eight page, color rulebook. There are 60 Main Deck cards, 25 Light Magick cards and 25 Shadow Magick cards, all of which are nicely linen finished. There are also various sturdy cardboard tokens, as well as 60 wooden cubes for tracking Health and Victory points.

To start the game the main six tokens are placed in the manner shown in the rulebook and all the decks are shuffled and placed within reach. Each player is dealt one Shadow Magick card, face down, though they may look at it, as well as a Health token and five purple Health cubes.

Players are dealt five cards and will use them for drafting a hand. On the first round of the draft, players will keep two cards and pass three to the player on the left. The second round will have players passing two cards and the last round will have them passing one. Once all three The first token is the “Conspiracy of Ravens”. This is a rare rounds of drafting are completed, the players will each have their final hand of cards that will be used for the hand in which a player has accumulated five ravens. If this is triggered, the hand ends immediately and each opponent Resolution phase. loses one health token and the owner of the hand receives one As per the initial setup, the tokens in the middle of the Victory point and a Shadow Magick card. From our play experience, this is a powerful hand that seems to come up an table will be used to resolve the effects of the cards. average of once or twice in a series of three games.

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After the “Conspiracy of Ravens� is checked, the game there is a tie for the most Attack cards, then those players moves onto the Resolution phase. During this phase, each with the most cards will each assign the resulting amount of the main suits are revealed and their effects are resolved. of damage. Damage cannot be split up, it has to target only one player.

Attacks: The player with the most Attack cards subtracts the amount of Attack cards from the player with the next Healing: This is resolved in the same manner as previously amount of Attack cards and the result is the amount of stated. The player(s) with the most Healing cards will damage that the player can do to an opponent. Ex: If player receive the appropriate amount of Health. However, you A has 3 Attack cards and Player B has 1, then Player A can cannot heal above the starting amount of five. do 2 points of damage to any opponent of his choice. If Continued on next page>

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Game Review (Cont.)

Radiance: When resolved as per above, the player(s) with the most cards will receive the appropriate amount of Light Magick cards.

many amusing and surprising combinations. Some of these cards have a “Raven” section, and these are used only by players who have been turned into a Raven.

Victory: As previously, the player(s) with the most Victory cards will receive the appropriate amount of Victory cubes. Since 6 Victory points immediately ends the game, these are very important cards to keep an eye on.

Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of the game is when a player is reduced to zero health and are turned into a Raven. Instead of being out of the game, players who have been turned into a Raven continue to play, but now they have new rules to abide by. During the resolution phase they may still have the most Attacks, Health, or Victory cards, but instead of resolving them, they may “peck” the player with the second most amount of cards for one damage. If they are uncontested on a suit during resolution, they may “peck” all the other players.

Ravens may still play to win Light and Shadow Magick cards. In order for a Raven to win the game, they need to return to human form. This is done by collecting a hand after the draft containing either five of one suit or one of each suit. The player will then become a human again during the “Skulking Ravens” phase and receive four health and access to their Victory points again.

The effects of Ravens during the Resolution phase is important to note. These are “negative” cards that must be played if able. Ravens “kill” other cards in your hand.

If you have one or more Raven cards in your hand, you MUST pair them with your other cards. Example: You have 4 Attacks and 1 Raven card in your final drafted hand. You must play the Raven along with the Attacks when the Attacks are resolved. Your total attacks are reduced from 4 to 3. Each Raven cancels another nonRaven card.

After the Resolution phase is over, there is one final phase, “Skulking Ravens”. During this phase if a player has any Ravens left in their hand that were unable to be used to “kill” a card that they previously played, they receive a “Shadow Magick” card for each Raven card.

While the first round of the game has a predetermined setup for the Resolution tokens, on the following rounds they are placed face down and shuffled and then randomly returned to their position on the table. In doing so players will now not know the order in which the cards will be resolved in. This adds to the tension of the game, especially for players who are looking to Heal before the Attacks are revealed.

It should come as no surprise that a Smirk and Dagger game has their trademark “stab your neighbor” element within it. Much of this is done via the Magick cards.

While the Light Majick cards have several interesting effects, it is the “Shadow Magick” cards that pack the most punch and adds the most chaos to the game. We found that both card types were essential for being able to “maneuver” about during the game, often leading to

Nevermore was played with several gaming groups and at the end of each game, each group wanted to immediately play another game. Everyone who played it enjoyed it and several people mentioned that they will be adding it to their collection. There’s enough nuance to keep players of all levels engaged. For some, the ability to transform into a Raven was the most enjoyable part, as they cherished their role of wreaking havoc amongst the other players. All in all this was very enjoyable, and I believe that this is a game that many gaming groups will relish adding to their gaming roster.

Designer: Curt Covert Publisher: Smirk & Dagger Games Number of players: 3-6 Mechanic: Card Drafting Ages: 14+ Length: 45 mins.

Recommended www.smirkanddagger.com

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Game Review

Gold West

By Serge Pierro

Mancala meets Area Control

G

old West is a medium weight Eurogame by designer J. Alex Kevern and is published by Tasty Minstrel Games.

Players take on the roles of prospectors as they explore the fictitious area of Auloma, California during the 1849 Gold Rush.

There are a lot of components included in the box. First of all, there is a large, resealable plastic bag that is the size of the box that can hold the frame of the board and the four player mats. The board itself is noteworthy, as it is of a thick cardboard stock and is made up of four pieces that are joined together via “puzzle piece” like joints. When assembled the central area is “empty” and will be filled in with the enclosed terrain and water tiles. These additional tiles are of the same high quality as the board itself and are printed with different areas of resources for exploration in the game. These add to the replayability of the game, as they can be rotated in position and placed in different areas of the board each time the game is played. It is possible that you will never have the same set up for the game. Another aspect of the board/terrain relationship is that for a two player game, two of the terrain tiles are flipped over to their blank side, as players won’t be using them in that game. This is another area in which the modular board shines, as I like the fact that there wasn’t a static set up in which players could optimize their starting strategy for each game. Each game has a potentially different setup and with the random placing of the Mining tokens the chances of having the same game setup twice is infinitesimal.

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Another feature of the modular board is the punched out square region known as Boomtown.

There are a group of tiles that are randomly drawn and arranged in this area. This is yet another example of the replayability of the game, as not only are the tiles themselves randomly chosen, but

they can be arranged in several different ways within the region, thus expanding the variety of options each game.

and Boomtown cards, helping to clearly define the meaning of the text on the tiles, which are condensed due to space limitations.

The sixteen page rulebook is lavishly illustrated and very informative. Besides the excellent game instructions, there are card by card descriptions for the Investments

The Contracts are mini cards that are drawn at the beginning of the game and are available to everyone during the game that meet the requirements stated on them.

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Game Review (Cont.)

The game comes with a large amount of wooden tokens. Each player receives a Miner token for the score track, 12 Camp tokens, 12 Influence tokens and 3 stage coaches. The stagecoaches are printed with black detailing. There are also five varieties of resources, Stone, Wood, Gold, Silver and Copper.

Fortunately there are a lot of resealable plastic bags included to contain all of these wooden components.

It will take several minutes to set up the game, as the board has to be put together, the Boomtown tiles chosen and placed, the Contract cards chosen, the Terrain tiles have to be placed on the appropriate spots on the board, and Stage Coach tokens and the Shipping Bonus tiles need to be placed on the Shipping Track to get started. However, in a four player game with everyone helping it doesn’t take too long.

After setting up the playing environment, a starting player is chosen and then proceeding clockwise each player receives a Player Order token. Each token has a different Resource combination and the fourth player receives an extra Resource. This is all conveniently printed on the token and each player sets their Player board accordingly.

The most unique aspect of the game is the manner in which players will obtain/use the resources on their Player board. Using a Mancala mechanic, players will take an entire stack of resources from one of their “bins” on Supply Track of their Player board and drop one resource in each “bin” as they move towards the top of the board. Any resources that are left over are the ones that the player will use on their turn. Players will want to finish with at least one green (wood) or black (stone) cube at the end of this phase, as this will allow them to build a camp on one of the revealed Terrain tokens on the board. Should they have both a stone and wood cube, they will then be able to build a Settlement. If they should have

any Metal resources available, they can use these for moving on the Shipping track, resolve an Investment card if they meet the conditions or place an influence token in Boomtown.

There is always the possibility that after using your Supply Track that you will not have a green or black cube available. In that case a player will have to Loot. To Loot, a player will take one of their camps and place it in the “Wanted” area of the board, thus immediately losing one point, they are then able to redeem a Mining Token for resources and remove the token from the game.

The game ends when players have placed all of their camp pieces. There are several means of scoring at the end: 2 pts. per building in your largest contiguous group, Boomtown bonuses, Looting Penalties, and Terrain bonuses.

Gold West is a very enjoyable game. It has quickly become one of my favorite medium weight Euros.

I’m impressed with the quality components and the high replayability. The Mancala mechanic is quite interesting, especially as players started to develop strategies on how they placed resources on their player mats. This is the first time I’ve played a J. Alex Kevern design, but I plan to keep an eye out for his future games, as this one was both interesting and engaging. Kudos to Tasty Minstrel Games for delivering another quality game to the market.

Designer: J. Alex Kevern Publisher: Tasty Minstrel Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Area Control Ages: 12+ Length: 45-60 mins.

Highly Recommended www.playtmg.com

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Education

Supporting New Players

By David Niecikowski, ABD, MAED/CI

I

n June’s issue, I raised many topics for discussion such as how new players and families become long term members of the gaming community. Gaming conventions and game days/nights are events that can help in this endeavor. These events can be great way to introduce the benefits of the game hobby but are coordinators of these events and recruited game teachers making a conscious effort to welcome and support new players?

Manufacturers, who have been in the industry for a long period of time, typically understand two demonstration principles: “Keep it Simple Stupid” and “Let the Wookie Win”. For example, I have heard on more than one occasion, that Games Workshop representatives do not teach all the rules when introducing a new player to their games and that they do not play aggressively, or tap all their competitive experience, in order to provide a positive playing experience. Business-marketing experts might refer to this strategy as customer acquisition and it makes since with so many available titles competing for gamer dollars.

However, I am not suggesting that game teachers treat new players as potential customers but to position themselves as ambassadors whose primary purpose is to provide a positive gaming experience. This may mean not playing the game with new players and taking the role as coach/referee or if a teacher must play, not focusing on personally winning the game. Having attended some events recently, the following recommendations come to mind:

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Know your players Ask players if this is their first time at a game event. Organizers could gather this information during registration and attach a special flag to their badges.

Game teachers need to be trained to look for these badges or ask players in attendance and have a plan of

interaction. For example, game teachers could ask, “Are you enjoying the show thus far?”, “Have you played this game or type of game before?”, “What are hoping to experience at this event?”, and “Do you have any questions about the event?”. In my 15 years of experience in the industry I may have only been asked “Have you played this type of game before?” on maybe a one or two occasions. If player responses indicate dissatisfaction with the event, game teachers need to be prepared on

who they could talk to at the event to help resolve issues. Finally, it is important not to make assumptions based on the perceived background of players. For example, don’t assume a young player cannot handle the complexity of a particular game. Larger events with multiple tracks could provide, especially for younger players, a programming track with gateway games taught by experienced and welcoming game teachers.

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Education (Cont.)

Do not front load too much information

Provide key information in a logical sequence

Regardless of the experience level of players, each person has a finite working memory and short term memory capacity and this will vary based on the domain for each player; e.g., mathematical, spatial, auditory, kinesthetic, and linguistic information. Therefore, I make the point when teaching a new game that it is a learning game and rules will be introduced when needed in order to start as quickly as possible. In other words, the purpose is to learn the most important rules and strategies of the game in context (while playing) and not be concerned about winning. For example, in one event I attended recently the game teacher took 25 minutes to explain Eclipse. Fortunately, the 12 year old playing with us was attentive and I commended him for this and he shared that he was in a gifted and talented program.

Thus, being in the top 3% in his age group, he had the cognitive skills and social development to handle that much front loading. In this case, the game teacher did not have to differentiate his teaching style but may need to in the future when interacting with new players who may not be able to retain 25 minutes of exposition before playing.

At the recent convention I attended, my two sons and I were taught Camel Up. A game with low complexity but the game teacher had trouble explaining when and how camels moved that made all his prior explanation about what you do during the game difficult to understand.

Interesting, we played the game twice with him, which he won both times, and then we saw him come in 2nd during a three round Splendor tournament (I came in 4th). I noticed that this game teacher was making calculations and predictions at a capacity beyond most players. I confirmed my suspicions when I asked him about his educational training. He shared with me that he was a retired programming engineer with one class away from a Masters in mathematics and who spoke Chinese as a man of European decent. This man was brilliant but he had difficulty explaining how to play a simple family game! I am sure many of us who attended college can recall professors who had difficulty translating and presenting information that seemed so obvious in their own heads. A possible solution may be to have a more experienced game teacher coach a game teacher struggling with sequencing information.

Modify rules

If I had a to emphasize a ‘take-away’ from this article regardless of the gaming setting, I would ask that you ascertain the experience of your players and have a plan in place to meet the needs of new players. We belong to wonderful community who understands the joy and benefits of playing games. Let’s make a conscious effort to welcome new players and form a positive, lasting impression.

Game teachers should not hesitate to modify victory conditions, remove pieces/cards, and play with open hands to simplify a game. For example, I provided alternate set-up rules that removed more complicated cards for first time players when I consulted for Looney Lab Games’ EcoFluxx. Thus, learning a game can be gradual experience as more complicated pieces and victory conditions can be introduced with each successive play. One of the advantages of this approach is that the time to play a learning game can be reduced before playing the full, more complicated version.

Playing with open hands will also help diminish any anxiety or analysis paralysis as the game teacher provides advice on available options.

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Opinion

Playing Solo

may have solo variants either officially sanctioned by the designer or solo variants posted on BoardGameGeek.

Some multiplayer games that you may not realize have

By Jeff Rhind solo playability are La Granja, Splendor, Renaissance Man, Carcassonne, Nations, Nations the Dice Game, s solo gaming an important part of the gaming Imperial Settlers, and all games in the COIN, or industry? Well, it depends on who you ask. There Counterinsurgency Series, from GMT Games. There are is a strong contingent of gamers who enjoy playing other titles that have little to no player interaction and games solo and there are those who either don’t really are therefore considered multiplayer solitaire games care or for some reason, are against it — a very small such as Race for the Galaxy, Agricola and Fields of Arle. minority of the latter. I believe it that it fills a certain niche for many gamers. Sometimes you might want to Lastly, games that are cooperative — all players playing play a game, but, you don’t have anyone around to play together against “the game” are almost always solo-able. with. Perhaps the game is too complex for your friends, Some shining examples are Elder Sign, Eldritch Horror, so you decide to “solo it” and play all four factions. You Dead of Winter, Flashpoint Fire Rescue, Pandemic, might even solo a game so while learning it, so that you Sentinels of the Multiverse and Legendary to name but a can teach it to your friends on game night. few. You can play multiple players at the same time since you often share information and cards anyway, you can In several recent Kickstarters, there have been backers just play multiple “hands.” Other games might have a who specifically backed a game due to its “solo-ability.” different setup that may include additional cards or a I, for one, don’t back a game “solely” (see what I did different starting hand than a normal game, et cetera. there?) based on that criteria. But, there are lots of games out there for solo players, let’s briefly take a look For me personally, solo gaming has a place in my at some. home. Why? I work in technology and stare at LED displays, computer screens, and cameras all day long.

For the most part, solo games fall into one of these For me, video gaming is not something I am interested categories: cooperative games, multiplayer games with a in. My son loves it to be sure and I was in to it when solo variant or are considered multiplayer solitaires and I was younger but as I approach 50 (yikes!), I tend to lastly games specifically designed for solo play. Let’s start like things that disconnect me from technology. I love with the latter. having a multiple day session of solo gaming where the game is sprawled out on my table where I can savor the There are lots of games that are designed for the single art, push the bits around, contemplate the event text player. Some examples include: Friedemann Friese’s on a card to decide what I want to do, all the while not deck building game Friday, Dan Verssen Games’ worrying about my battery life or my eyes straining any (DVG) Thunderbolt Apache Leader or Field Commander more than my nearsighted, tired eyeballs can handle. I Napoleon, The Hunters: U-boats at War 1939-1944 (one like the quiet solitude that comes out of that more than of my personal favorites) or games in Z-Man Games’ the sounds of booms, beeps, and explosions coming out Onirim Universe including Onirim, Urbion, and the of my iPad, phone or home tv. Regular gaming does have recently released Sylvion (although there is a 2 player a place with me in my gaming group, friends and family variant). but so does solo games. I know it’s not for everyone but this hobby we are in is so varied and so vast, luckily, we Some standard multiplayer games include a separate set will never run out of games to play — with other people of cards or boards to allow for solo play, or the game or by ourselves.

I

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Game Review

Arcadia Quest

By Bill Braun

A Cool Mini Dungeon Crawl

G

ame designer Eric M. Lang has been steadily increasing his resume for the last ten years. From Call of Chthulhu: The Card Game and Chaos in the Old World, to Blood Rage and his most recent Kickstarter, The Others: 7 Sins, he has been aligning himself with publishers like Fantasy Flight Games and Cool Mini or Not to ensure that his games are not only engaging and fun, but are also represented by some of the best components in the industry.

In 2014, he worked with fellow game designers Thiago Aranha, Guilherme Goulart, Fred Perret, and Spaghetti Western Games to deliver Arcadia Quest – a Player vs. Player (PvP) dungeon crawl. With support from Cool Mini or Not - a publisher known far and wide for its exceptional attention to detail and high quality miniatures - Arcadia Quest is a hefty box that promises a campaign-like structure and a high degree of player interaction. But is the game anything more than a stepping-stone along Eric Lang’s rising-star career path?

Gameplay The backstory of Arcadia, a city founded by King David the Elder, is rich with history, fantasy, war, and betrayal, and is at the heart of Arcadia Quest.

Each player controls a Guild – Lion, Eagle, Fox, and Panda - with three unique heroes set to compete against each other and a variety of additional obstacles as a means of accomplishing a series of scenarios. Because each of the twelve available heroes in Arcadia Quest will work with any of the four Guilds, players have the choice of picking their heroes, choosing randomly, or participating in a more advanced draft. Each hero has a unique power, life value, and defense rating. Once chosen, heroes are placed on the players’ Guild Dashboard and equipped with the exact same five starting equipment cards typically representative of low level characters in an RPG-like setting: rusty blades, slingshots, and apprentice-like spells. Finally, each player is given a number of Guild tokens that correspond with their Guild color that are used to signify exhausted weapons and completed quests.

Players begin by agreeing on a scenario from the included Arcadia Quest Campaign Book. Each scenario provides a backstory, lists the tiles needed, specifies where doors, portals, creatures, and tokens should be placed, and identifies the starting locations for each of the four Guilds. On a player’s turn they have the option to activate

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Photo: Bill Braun

a hero or rest his entire Guild (un-exhausting items and resurrecting knocked out heroes). An active hero may move and attack, or attack and then move. Each hero is provided three movement points that can be used to move a single, orthogonal space, use a portal to teleport to another space on the map that contains a similar matching portal, and open or close a door.

Attacks can be melee or ranged and abide by some of the more common rules associated with each type of

attack: clear line of sight, not being blocked, adjacency, etc. When attacking, players roll black dice equal to the number identified on their chosen equipment card, in addition to any bonuses afforded by their character card.

A melee attack succeeds when rolling a sword symbol, while ranged attacks hit with each bow/arrow symbol.

Additionally, each of the six-sided dice have a single burst symbol (commonly referred to as a CRIT) that counts as both a hit and allows an extra dice to be rolled (which may also result in another CRIT, and another, Continued on next page>

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Game Review (Cont.) and another…). And because both attack and defense dice make use of the same CRIT mechanic, this often results in some very interesting attack and defense situations. In other words, never count yourself out.

Each scenario incorporates specific objectives that players are attempting to complete, inclusive of knocking out heroes from another Guild. Doing so will result in that Guild’s completing one of three required quests to win that specific scenario. Although there are plenty of Orcs scattered throughout each scenario that heroes may opt to attack, this PvP element increases player interaction and deepens the level of strategy. It should also be noted that the monsters used in each scenario do not have their own turn. These creatures simply react to their surroundings and what the heroes may be doing through either a guard reaction – triggered by close proximity movement of a hero – or a payback reaction when directly attacked.

Although Arcadia Quest easily accommodates for a single, randomly chosen scenario for 2-4 players, the game is at its best when played as a full campaign. The campaign structure provides for a more interesting story, as well as a nice character-leveling system. The city of Arcadia has been built with an outer wall and inner circle, each providing protection for the Temple of Dawning Twilight that sits at its center.

Starting with the outer wall, players select an available scenario, ranging in difficulty from easy, medium, and hard. After three outer wall scenarios have been completed, two of the four inner circle scenarios are played, ending with the final showdown in the center of the city. Treasure and gold accumulated during each scenario is spent during the clean up phase and is used to buy upgraded weapons and spells, providing the greatest benefit of playing Arcadia Quest as a longer campaign. However, heroes are only allowed to carry up to four items each, making your buying decisions increasingly more difficult at the conclusion of each scenario. You’ll want everything, and can often afford it all, but only three items can be purchased at a time.

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Theme and Components Although Arcadia Quest adds a few unique mechanics, it is still very much a dungeon crawl based in a fantasy setting. It’s fine, there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s story, background, and setting (while interesting and rich with detail) is one that tabletop gamers have seen countless times over. However, Arcadia Quest is light enough to be played with a younger audience.

Perhaps not qualifying as an exclusive “family-friendly” game, the ease of gameplay and light-heartedness of the characters and creatures made introducing Arcadia Quest to my nine and ten-year-old daughters an easy task.

Anyone that has played a game published by Cool Mini or Not knows the level of quality they provide; and Arcadia Quest is no exception. Everything that comes packed in with this game (and there are a ton of components) is of the highest quality. The rulebook is nicely laid out, easy to understand, and provides numerous illustrated examples. The various cards and tokens are of a nice thickness, displaying wonderful

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artwork, along with text and iconography that is easy to read and simple to understand. The nine, double-sided game tiles are durable and finely detailed, allowing for a high variety of placement and use across the numerous scenarios. And what can be said about the fully assembled 37 miniatures that fans of Cool Mini or Not don’t already know? Not much, really. They are of an amazing quality, finely detailed, and provide for a high degree of sculptural variety that begs to be professionally painted. Their Chibi/Anime style – overly large heads placed atop smaller bodies – further promotes the light-hearted feel of the game and adds even more “WOW” factor to an already wonderful experience.

Final Thoughts The price of entry for Arcadia Quest, while somewhat steep, is easily outweighed by the level of fun and enjoyment my daughters and I have had since we started playing it. Experiencing it as a campaign and watching your characters grow more powerful results in an overall better experience, leaving you with several un-played scenarios and more than enough reason to re-enter Arcadia’s gates. The tabletop industry continues to take note of Eric Lang, and for good reason. Arcadia Quest is another example of his abilities as a highly creative and inventive game designer.

Photo: Bill Braun

Designers: Eric M. Lang, Thiagon Aranha, Guilherme Goulart & Fred Perret Publisher: Cool Mini or Not Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Dice Rolling Ages: 13+ Length: 60 mins.

Highly Recommended http://arcadiaquest.com

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Game Review

DragonFlame

By Serge Pierro

Fiery Fun!

F

ighting against dragons is a popular theme within the fantasy genre. However, in the latest offering from Minion Games, all of the players play as the dragons as they attempt to burn down the local villages and collect treasure for their horde.

DragonFlame comes in a sturdy 4 3/4” x 6 3/4” box and has a cardboard insert that divides the box in half and holds the 114 cards and 75 wooden flame tokens. A full color, four page rules booklet is concise and amply illustrated.

To set up the game, players will place one of the Field cards from the Village deck in the center of the play area, shuffle the remaining Village cards and then randomly distribute them around the central Field, thus forming a 3x3 grid.

Each player will then be randomly given a Red Banner card, the number of which will represent their position in the turn order. The Blue Castle cards are then laid out in numerical order. Players are then dealt three cards and the player with the lowest number Red Banner will start.

On their turn each player will place one card at a time onto one of the eligible Castles on display. However, they must follow the iconography at the bottom of their Banner card.

These instruct you to place each of your cards either face up or face down and is read from left to right.

Once all players have placed their cards, the person with the lowest numbered Banner will “attack” the castle and take all of the cards played on it, as well as the Castle itself, as it will be used to designate the following round’s turn order.

If the player picked up any Dragonflame cards, they are immediately resolved. These cards have a range of one to

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three fire icons on them and indicate how many fire tokens they may place on the villages. The tokens are placed in either a horizontal or vertical row of villages, up to the amount stated on the Dragonflame card. Only one token can be placed on a card, per attack. You may not place a token on a Field or a completed Village. If your attack comes in contact with a Field or a burned down village, your Dragonflame attack ends. Once

you start your attack you must continue in the same direction. An interesting feature of this area control mechanic is that not only are you trying to have the most fire tokens per village, in order to collect the most victory points at the end of the game, but the village has to be “burned down� by having all of the spaces filled with tokens. If the spaces within the village are not all filled at the end of the game, that village scores zero points.

After the Dragonflame cards are resolved, the remaining cards are placed in front of the player and will be used for scoring points at the end of the game. These include: Treasure Chests, Statues, Jewelry, Knights, Princess, Curses and Relics. The Relics are powerful cards that have special abilities that affect the gameplay and scoring, but aren’t worth any victory points on their own.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Each round of play continues in a similar fashion, until there is only one card left in the draw deck.

Players will then tally up the points that they earned by burning down Villages and the points from their treasure horde. The highest total wins.

This game proved to be a pleasant surprise and seems to be another game that has not received the attention it deserves. It is a fun filler game that packs a lot of play within its small box. The area control mechanic of the burning villages presented players with some interesting choices, as they tried to decide on whether to help an opponent complete a village and thus score some points for themselves, or if they should leave the space empty and force their opponents to fill it themselves or risk scoring nothing.

One of the main “fun factors” was the bluffing and deduction element that was presented by the placing of the cards on the Castles. We loved the fact that the player who took Castle 1 went first for that round but had to play all of their cards face up, while the player who took Castles 4, 5, or 6 went later in the turn, but were able to play only their first card face up and their remaining two cards face down. This led to all kinds of interesting strategic ploys as players had to weigh the consequences of what Castle they attacked. Of course remembering where you put your face down cards is an important aspect of the game, especially if they were placed for the purpose of being detrimental to your opponents.

The scoring method also proved to be interesting.

Instead of glomming all of the “best” items, players have to carefully choose what they pursue, especially when they consider the cards that are hidden on some of the Castles. For example: each unique statue scores 5 points, however, if you wind up with two copies of the same statue, they both score zero. Care must also be taken in acquiring Treasure Chests, as

“...players had to weigh the consequences of what Castle they attacked.” you score the highest number of chests that you possess as a positive number, but if you have accumulated other types of Chests, they each count as -1 points.

For players who are familiar with the game Coloretto, this scoring method for the Treasure Chests will seem familiar.

The fantasy artwork by Rob Lundy nicely reflects the theme of the game and I am always happy to see the artist get credit on the box for their contribution to the game. Minion Games deserves kudos for their professionalism and I hope one day to see all publishers list the artist on the box cover.

Overall I feel that this is a game that can be easily recommended for groups who are interested in the fantasy genre and are looking for a fun filler that can be enjoyed by a wide range of gamers. This is a game that I believe will continue to hit our table in the near future.

Designer: Matt Loomis Publisher: Minion Games Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Area Control/Card Drafting Ages: 13+ Length: 30 mins.

Recommended www.miniongames.com

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Game Review

New York 1901

By Serge Pierro

Contemporary Gateway Game.

W

hile Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan are the stalwarts of gateway games, there is always room for a newcomer that serves the same role. New York 1901 is just such a game. Let’s take a look at what makes this game a welcome addition to the field.

New York 1901 is designer Chenier La Salle’s (see issue #4 for our interview) first game, and publisher Blue Orange spared no expense in putting forth an excellent debut for their “big box” line of games. The first thing that catches your eye is the beautiful artwork by noted artist Vincent Dutrait. His style perfectly catches the ambiance of the era and is further enhanced by the spot varnish printing on the box top that further adds a touch of elegance. As if that wasn’t enough, when you open the box you are treated to more of Dutrait’s beautiful artwork. However, this is the artwork of the back of the playing board! While most games would have a black back to the game board, New York 1901 has additional artwork, and while this has no effect on the actual game play, as you will never see it when the board is set up, it leaves quite the impression when you open the box and see this as a “cover” to the components below. This is a very nice touch!

The eight page color rulebook is nicely illustrated and annotated. It covers all of the pertinent information and has a quick reference on the back page. The game also includes an initiation sheet which gives new players a simple and concise rules set in order to get them up and running quickly.

a recess for the cards. Across the top section are the holders for the skyscraper tokens used for scoring.

The game’s basrelief of the logo and rivet pattern are nice touches.

After removing the folded, colorful, four panel board from the box you are greeted with an excellent plastic tray insert that is segmented to hold each players components, as well as

Each player will receive a resealable bag that contains the pieces that they will use for the game.

These include four workers, a king token and 18 Skyscraper tiles. The sculpt for the Worker pieces

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and Skyscraper scoring marker are nicely detailed. Both look great on the board and accentuate the quality of the game components. The “Tetris-like� Skyscraper tiles are sturdy and double sided.

The deck of Lot cards is shuffled and is called the Future Market. Four of the cards are dealt face up next to the Future Market, these cards are called the Open Market.

The Bonus Challenge cards and the Streets of New York cards are shuffled and randomly drawn to be used for the To begin the game, each player will receive a Character current game, while the leftover cards are returned to the card, as well as a two square Lot card that matches the box. Each player is also dealt a set of three Action cards, one printed on their Character card. They will also pick a as denoted by the color on the back of the card. These will color and take all of the relevant components for that color. be discussed below.

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Game Review (Cont.)

The game play is simple. On each player’s turn, they have a choice of two options. They may either “Acquire Land and/or Build” or “Demolish and Rebuild”. To Acquire Land, a player chooses one of the face up cards in the Open Market and then places one of their Workers on an appropriate color/sized lot that has no other worker or building. When using the “Acquire Land” action, there is also an option to “Build”. To “Build”, a player places a Skyscraper tile on a previously acquired lot and scores the points indicated on the Skyscraper tile. This can also include lots of more than one Worker, if the building uses spaces of each. To use the “Demolish and Rebuild” action, players remove one or more adjacent buildings and replace them with a new Skyscraper tile that is of a more advanced age. Example: You may demolish a Bronze building to replace it with a Silver or Gold edifice. Only a Gold building can replace a Silver and nothing can replace Gold. There are other minor rules that can be referenced within the rule book, but that is the gist of your options.

The end of the game is triggered by either one player having only four unbuilt Skyscrapers left or if there are only three face up cards in the Open Market and the Future Market deck is empty. Players will then add any bonuses from the “Streets of New York” and “Bonus Challenge” cards, as well as receiving one point for each of their Action cards that they did not use during the game. The player with the most points wins.

As previously mentioned, each player starts the game with a set of three action cards. Each of these cards may be played once per game and are then removed from play. Players who are familiar with the game Thurn and Taxis will recognize these abilities. “Construction Boom” allows a player to build two building on a turn, instead of one. “Market Shift” removes the current four cards in the Open Market and replaces them with four new ones. “Land Grab” lets you take an additional lot from the Open Market.

Blue Orange should be commended on the production value of the game, as it is quite stunning. From the beautiful Vincent Dutrait artwork to the high quality cardboard and plastic components, everything is top notch. It will be interesting to see what they will release in the future for their burgeoning line of “big box” games.

Gamers who are looking for another “gateway” game to add to their collection need not look any further than New York 1901. The game is simple and fun and aesthetically pleasing. We had the opportunity to play it with players both young and old, and all of them enjoyed it. Although new players found the game easy to play, dedicated gamers will find interest in pursuing the special endgame conditions, the dominance of certain streets and strategic blocking. There is something for everyone and that is what makes the game such a great addition to any collection.

The game has been receiving accolades all over the internet and it is easy to see why. We will gladly join the ranks, by giving this game a well deserved “Editor’s The addition of the “Streets of New York” bonus cards, Choice Award”. as well as “Bonus Challenge” cards add a bit of variety to the game and increase its replayability. At the start of the game three of the five “Streets of New York” cards Designer: Chenier La Salle are chosen randomly and offer endgame bonuses for Publisher: Blue Orange players who have the most Skyscraper tiles bordering Number of players: 2-4 those streets. One of the five “Bonus Challenge” cards is randomly chosen and will be used to influence the Mechanic: Tile Placement scoring throughout the game. Some cards affect the Ages: 8+ scoring during the game, while others influence the scoring at the end of the game. Both of these card types Length: 30-60 mins. are welcome additions to the overall game play and we hope that there is some consideration to possibly release more of them in the future, further expanding the www.blueorangegames.com replayability of the game.

Highly Recommended

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Game Review

Liftoff!

Get me off this Planet!

Mission Accomplished!

By Bill Braun

I

am a gamer! I am also a father of three and feel that it is my obligation and duty as a parent to guide my children down the righteous path of tabletop enlightenment. While there are certainly more than enough children’s games to occupy their time, finding that balance between simple starter games and transitioning them to more entertaining family games – games that both parents and children enjoy bringing to the table – can often be a challenge. A game that is too difficult might discourage the younger audience, while those beginner games – often fun in their own right – never quite hit the mark for the parents. Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! - developed

by Eduardo Baraf and art by Nichole Kelley - has the potential to be that transitional gaming experience. Although the presentation is sure to appeal to younger gamers, does it offer a family experience worth repeating?

Gameplay Designed for 2-5 players, ages 13+ (more on that later), Lift Off! Get me of this Planet! is easily played in under an hour. Set up includes laying out the game board, adding four exit tiles and four lift off tiles, placing the moon and sun tokens onto their starting positions, and adding the Garglore meeple to the lava pool of the planet’s core. Each player is dealt two resource/action cards at the start of the game, and places all ten of their alien meeples (alieneeples) onto the core tile. The object of the game is to be the first player to get all ten of their aliens (or as many as possible) off the planet before it explodes.

Lift Off! provides for a very low learning curve. On their turn players will draw two cards, take two movement actions – moving one alien twice, or two aliens once each – play any number of action cards from their hand, and end their turn by moving the moon token one space counter-clockwise around the planet. There is also the option to discard two cards of their choice for one new card from the deck. Aliens generally start by moving from the planet core through an exit and onto one of the four available lift off points. Each lift off tile identifies the cost associated with placing an alien onto the launch pad, the number of aliens allowed on the pad at any given time, as well as the specific phase of the moon and additional costs needed to lift off. These costs are paid using specific game cards that fall into one of two categories: resource cards (fuel can, screw, or a wild card that displays both images and count as either), or action cards that alter the moon phase, remove and replace the available lift off tiles, or provide additional movement points to your aliens (to name a few).

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The most difficult concept for younger players to wrap their heads around is with the phases of the moon – full, half, and new - and how they affect the various lift off points. A full moon occurs when the moon token is directly above a lift off tile, while the new moon happens when the moon token is on the opposite side of the game board from a particular lift off tile. When the moon is anywhere in between, it is considered a half moon. Because the moon token moves one space counter-clockwise at the end of each player’s turn, as well as the fact that specific action cards allow players to move the moon one space in either direction, the timing and strategy of successfully getting

your aliens off the planet nicely comes into play. When the moon reaches its starting point the sun token moves one space on the day track, bringing the planet one day closer to its inevitable destruction.

Not to be ignored is the Garglore. Playing the appropriate action card allows the player to move the Garglore to any lift off point, preventing other players from activating that specific launch platform. Playing another Garglore card will move him to another location, and he is automatically returned to the lava pool of the planet’s core any time the moon token reaches its starting position.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Theme and Components There are plenty of games that I look forward to playing with my children. But, as a parent, I recognize that some of those games focus on themes that they simply aren’t ready for. Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! is not one of those games. Although the rules suggest ages 13+, and the concept of a planet exploding might be too heavy for some audiences, everything else about the game is very light and (often) comical. Every parent needs to do their homework and make their own decision when introducing new games to their children. Some might be more cautious than others.

But, after numerous plays of Lift Off! I found little to be concerned about when playing this game with my children, and believe 10+ to be a more appropriate suggested age.

It’s also worth noting that the quality of the components included with Lift Off! are all quite good.

The puzzle-like pieces that make up the planet are of a solid cardboard material, thematically illustrated,

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and display easily understandable icons that provide for a smooth gameplay experience. The game also comes with three custom dice that, although primarily used for specific lift off tiles, are nicely etched and appropriately sized. The game cards, while small, provide artwork that is consistent with the rest of the game and utilizes minimal text, adding to the overall speed of the game.

Lastly, I challenge gamers of any age not to immediately fall in love with the individually painted alien meeples.

It amazes me how much character can be given to a small block of wood through the simple addition of two eyes and a mouth.

Final Thoughts Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! is quick to set up, easy to learn, and fun to play. While the game provides for a fair amount of replay value, there is no doubt in my mind that Lift Off! would benefit from an expansion that adds more tiles and a greater variety of action cards.

The base game is a wonderful starting point and has become a welcome addition to my ongoing collection of family games. More importantly, my children seem to love it and repeatedly ask to play it. As a gamer Dad, I’d say mission accomplished.

Photo: Bill Braun

Lift Off! Get me off this Planet! shines brightest with the variety of lift off tiles that can be used during the game. Ten in total, they range from lighting bonfires and strapping on a jetpack, to teleporting off the planet and using a slingshot. Each lift off point comes with its own set of restrictions and requirements.

Some are easy to activate, ensuring that at least a single alien escapes when used, while others promote a greater sense of risk versus reward. Each lift off point is thematically relevant (it requires two aliens to use the slingshot – one to pull it back, while the other is launched to safety) and light-hearted, and randomly setting up the board makes for a fair amount of replay value. The game also comes with a number of variants that include team vs. team, a shortened day track, and the addition of more “take that” competitive mechanics.

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Designer: Eduardo Baraf Publisher: Pencil First Games Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Worker Placement Ages: 8+ Length: 30-45 mins.

Recommended

www.pencilfirstgames.com

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Game Review

Tesla vs. Edison

By Serge Pierro

War of the Currents

I

think that it is safe to say that when game designers think of themes, the idea of a Tesla vs. Edison theme would be very low on their list. However, designer Dirk Knemeyer has delivered an interesting game that contains a decent amount of historical information, as players compete to have the most valuable stock portfolio by the end of the game.

The first surprise when opening the box is that there is no insert to hold the components in place, so players may want to consider making their own. The second proved to be more pleasant, as the outer side panels of the bottom of the box have concise biographies of the inventors Thompson, Brush and Maxim, while Tesla and Edison both share a panel. This is a nice touch as it adds some interesting history for those who are unfamiliar with the Inventors.

The large, 12 page rulebook includes callouts in the outer columns of the page for the quick instructions, while the remainder of the page deals with the topic at hand in more detail. I’m a big fan of rule books that use this style of layout as it makes it easier to find the primary information after the initial reading. The last page of the manual is a player aid.

The four panel board is nicely designed and it breaks up the board into three sections; a map, a technology area and a stock market. The subdued color scheme works well and sets the ambiance for the time period.

The highlight of the components is the money. They are not made of paper, but of a quality card stock and the graphics are gorgeous with a great tactile feel. The backs all have the same graphic design, so that the amount of money a player has may be kept as hidden information.

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Each player will receive a set of wooden cubes that correspond to the color of their shares of stock.

The shares are playing card sized linen coated cards with a common back. The remaining cards are of the same quality as the shares, however they are broken down into Propaganda and Luminaries, with each of them broken down into subgroups that are used during specific phases in the game.

They are clearly labeled on the back of the card as to when they are used.

After setting up the game as stated in the rulebook, players will begin the game by bidding on a Luminary to use with their Inventor. Choose carefully, as this is an important decision, as you will be only able to use your Inventor and the Luminary for the first phase of the game. I have seen players bid incorrectly and find themselves “locked out” of some options for that phase.

There will be additional auctions for both phase 2 and phase 3.

On a player’s turn they may perform one of four actions. To perform any action you must “exhaust” your Inventor or Luminary, by turning them over.

Claim a project: To claim a project a player exhausts one of the characters and pays the associated costs to build on the map. Each player starts at level one, so they are initially only able to build on cities that have level one technology. When they advance in technology they Continued on next page>

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Game Review (Cont.) may build the appropriate projects (see below). The cost is listed on the board for the specific type of building and players may receive discounts determined by the finance rating on their cards. The player will then move their token on the stock tracker by the amount listed on the board. The amount may be further modified by the position of the token on the Fame track.

Advance in Technology: A player may exhaust a character to advance along the technology track. There are three different tracks; AC, DC, and Bulb. The most important is Bulb, as it determines the level of the projects that you can build. If you meet the requirements, you may advance along the track and if no one has bought a patent, you may do so if you have the finance ability on your character card to do so. As long as you have the highest level patent in AC, DC or Bulb, other players will have to pay you to use the patent so that they can build a project. The cost of the use of the patent scales with each phase and level. Example: a level three patent would be $3,000, however in phase two it would be doubled to $6,000 and in phase three it would be tripled to $9,000. There were some players who complained about the need to do the math each phase, however, it isn’t really that hard to keep track of but perhaps it would have been nice if there were cardboard token overlays to remind/aid the players on the scaling of the phases.

Engage in Propaganda: Each phase has a dedicated set of Propaganda cards that players have the opportunity to use. A Luminary with a Propaganda rating is exhausted and the player will move one of the tokens on the Fame track the amount indicated by the rating. They may then choose a Propaganda card and resolve the effects indicated on it and then remove the card from play.

Visit the Stock Market: Using this action allows players to buy and sell stocks. To buy a stock, the player exhausts a Luminary and pays the amount indicated by the current position of the stock on the stock tracker.

Stocks may only be bought one at a time, each time

reflecting the change in its worth. Players who want to sell stock do so by exhausting a luminary and turning in the stock and receiving the amount indicated on the stock tracker. After a stock is sold, it is moved to the left of its original position on the tracker and is now worth less and pays less in dividends.

The game ends after turn six when the portfolios of the players are added up and the player with the most valuable portfolio wins. You will probably need either a calculator or pencil and paper to add up all the stocks, as the stock values are not in “round” values.

Tesla vs. Edison is an excellent game for those who enjoy stock games as well as history based themes.

However, it may not be best suited for those who are “mathematically challenged”. Although I was able to follow the math of the game, there were others who were getting lost in some of the in-game calculations.

So, although I really enjoyed it, it is hard to give it a higher rating as it will not appeal to all players. And while this is not a light/casual game, it is certainly not a heavy game, but it is best enjoyed by gamers looking for an intellectually challenging game and not as a social, beer and pretzels experience. There is a depth to the game that can be explored in future plays, especially if you want to explore playing each of the Inventors and different luminaries, as they are all asymmetrical. I’m certainly looking forward to having this hit the table again in the future.

Designer: Dirk Knemeyer Publisher: Artana Number of players: 2-5 Mechanic: Commodity Speculation Ages: 14+ Length: 20 mins. per player

Recommended www.artana.com

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Game Review

Yashima

By Serge Pierro

Miniatures meet Smash-Up

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here’s something about Samurai and Asian themed games that always seems to draw me in, and Yashima is no exception. From the excellent miniatures, to the gorgeous card art, this is a visually stunning package. It is not surprising to see that this game raised over $100,000 on Kickstarter. Now, does it play as well as it looks?

The box top has several nice illustrations on it, with each side panel devoted to one of the characters in the game and gives a glimpse of the excellent artwork for the cards. The side panels of the box bottom features art from the Kami cards. I found that the insert for the box took up too much room and I would have preferred a little more space in the “well” area for the storage of the game items, especially after putting them in resealable plastic bags.

The 18 page color rulebook is actually 10 pages of rules with 8 pages of backstory and extras. Although the index on the back is handy, there were instances where a term was not easily explained. For instance, there is an explanation of three of the four Status Tokens, but for some reason Rancor has no effect listed. This was initially frustrating until we were able to figure it out via card effects. It should also be noted that there were several cards that were incorrectly referenced, clearly a sign of some sloppy editing. There are several key words that need to be learned in order to play, but they are easy enough to pickup.

The game includes five sturdy, double sided terrain tiles, as well as several other token types. The main attraction of the game are the four miniatures and their associated deck of cards, as well as the four different Kami decks.

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The miniatures in the game come pre-assembled and are gorgeous. There is some some small remnants of crazy glue at points, but this can easily be removed with an x-acto knife or covered with primer and paint. And although these are called miniatures, they are actually larger than standard scale minis. The Kenta mini measures from the bottom of his base to the top of the flag a hefty 2 1/4 inches tall and Rosamu is 1 3/4” from the

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bottom of his base to the top of his head. It has been awhile since I’ve been excited about painting a set of miniatures, but these are certainly inspiring. One oddity is that the sides of the base of the Hikaru figure is smooth, instead of having the four orientation markers that the other figures have.

There are separate decks for the characters and the Kami. This is one of the more interesting aspects of the game, as it uses a mechanic similar to the game

Smash Up, in that players will shuffle together their character deck with one of the four Kami decks. This leads to many interesting combinations that are well worth investigating. Not only does each character have different abilities, but the Kami’s are even more diversified in their abilities and deck sizes. With some experimenting you will find many fascinating combinations, ranging from all out attack to stubborn defense. It will be interesting to see what future Kamis bring to the game.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Perhaps the most interesting innovation within the game is the “Tome”. This is a series of cards that are stacked together and represent pages within a book. Players are able to turn these pages and access the abilities printed on them by paying their cost in Karma, or “rip” them out of the book and use them as weapons or placed on them bottom of their deck to be resolved when they cycle to the top. As you turn the pages the abilities become stronger.

To start the game, players will choose one of the sides of the Relic board and place it in the middle of the table, then each player will choose a Terrain board and attach it to the Relic board, forming the combat area. Players will then each place their miniature on the Terrain board that they put in play. Players will draw cards equal to the hand size printed on the character card, as well as forming their Karma pool.

Another interesting mechanic is the use of Action tokens. Two Action tokens are placed in the play area, with one side showing Move and the other showing Attack. Then each player is given an Action token and they will secretly choose one of the aforementioned sides and then reveal it when everyone is ready. These will be the actions that players can choose to use during their turn. A player will choose a token from the “pool” and take that action. It is possible for all of the attack actions to be used before you get to take your turn, or for that matter, all of the movement tokens. This adds a subtle layer of strategy as to what you choose to reveal.

When using the Attack action, a player will play an attack from their hands, observing the range and coverage of the attack. Some attacks can hit several figures, so care is needed in planning out your attacks, especially in a team game. After the card is resolved, unless stated otherwise, it is placed on the bottom of your deck. Successful attacks deal damage to their opponent and are resolved by placing the same amount of cards as the damage dealt into their discard pile. In this game your deck is your life, players who have played the Highlander CCG will be familiar with this concept. When they run out of cards in a multiplayer game they become “Restored” and the players turn over their card and use the new

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set of stats, otherwise they immediately lose in a two player game. There are abilities that allow you to heal by placing a card from your discard pile back onto the bottom of your deck. The last man standing is the winner.

There is a great deal to like about this game. First of all, the combining of the character/Kami decks works really well and the variety of the decks produced is excellent.

I haven’t had a chance to try all sixteen combinations, but the ones that I have tried have been interesting and competitive. Between the use of the Tome and the character/Kami attacks there were multiple strategies and tactics available to each player and added a great deal of variety, especially in a multiplayer game. However, I did feel that the Akiko/Phoenix combination was a bit stronger than the others.

The only downside that I had with the game is the same one I have with many tactical skirmish games and that is the player who tends to “turtle” and let the others engage and wait till the end to enter play. It would be interesting if Greenbrier came up with some concepts that would discourage “turtling” or for that matter just to add some scenarios to the game, instead of it just being a slugfest.

Apparently there will be three expansions available in the first quarter of 2016 and I’m really looking forward to seeing how they play. The inside back cover of the rule book has pictures of the miniatures and their associated cards and both look amazing! There is also talk of organized play for retailers. I am a little surprised that this game hasn’t received more attention. This is clearly a game that I am keeping an eye on.

Designers: Joshua Sprung & Tony Gullotti Publisher: Greenbrier Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Card Driven Miniatures Ages: 14+ Length: 45 mins.

Highly Recommended www.greenbriergames.com

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Interview

Tom Jolly

By Serge Pierro

“Tomy Jolly is a noted game designer, writer and puzzle maker”

Designer & Puzzler When did you become interested in designing games?

About 1983ish. I wanted to distill the magic elements of D&D into a quick game, which is where Wiz-War eventually came from. At that time, I had no intention of being a game designer or manufacturer, but ended up printing Wiz-War, GOOTMU, and Knots in the years following. My moderate success with Wiz-War encouraged me to design other games, which often didn’t do very well.

Do you feel that your background as an electrical engineer has had any influence on your game designs?

Seeing as you have written short stories for online magazines, who are your favorite writers and/or books?

Tom Jolly Designer Wiz-War

The other way around, actually. The rigor of writing rules has given me an edge on writing test procedures at work.

I can’t think of any way that being an EE has helped in game design.

Drakon

Vortex Disk Wars www.silcom.com/~tomjolly

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There are quite a few, though this tends to change from year to year.

Currently, I favor the late Iain M. Banks, Christopher Moore, David Brin, Steven Brust, Jim Butcher, and John Scalzi. I’ll read just about anything these guys write. Andy Weir’s The Martian was an awesome read, and Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One was quite good. Nowadays, most of the books I read, I read because someone recommends them to me.

You were one of the first people to post a “How to publish your own game” article online, have you ever considered writing a book on the subject?

Yes. However, the business end of the game industry is changing so fast, it’s hard to keep up. And (except for my game Got It! which I Kickstarted a few years back) I haven’t been much into the manufacturing end of things.

And there’s the part about me having to write a whole book if I went that route. You know, work.

The design behind Disk Wars in ingenious, can you When you start to design a game, do you start with a theme or a mechanic? describe how it came about?

Not really. That was a lot of years ago. The original idea I pitched to FFG (at Essen, around 1997 or 1998) involved the flipping-disk combat, but had two teams of diverse alien creatures who were feeding on one another. If any of your “pod” lived, then you won. FFG made it collectable, and created the fantasy theme. I like coming up with novel mechanics and building games around them. It’s not always the best way to go as far as profitability is concerned; some mechanics just don’t grab the public’s imagination. One game involved two players taking simultaneous moves, while two “turn tokens” got passed around the table to indicate whose turn it was. I expected this to do really well (manifested in Camelot, from Wingnut Games). It didn’t. I loved the idea - but it just didn’t catch on.

Mechanic. An easy question! There have been rare times when I’ve started with theme - I wanted to design a game based on the Mars-One project - there’s a folder lying around here somewhere with a bunch of notes.

What games do you currently enjoy?

Lords of Waterdeep, Istanbul, Splendor, Dominion, Alien Frontiers, Machi Koro, Manhattan Project:Energy Empire (the game I co-designed with Luke Laurie - I just really enjoy it a lot, though it won’t be out for a few months yet). I seem to spend more time nowadays playing prototypes than published games.

What do you feel is your best game design and why?

Vortex seemed to have been a game that was ahead of That’s a tough question. Maybe Drakon, though Wizits time and is truly underrated. What led you to pursue a War, Cavetroll, Light Speed, and MP:EE all have their own reasons for rating highly. I like Drakon because it’s hex tile game, when CCG’s were all the rage?

I tend not to jump on the design bandwagon when something does well (though practically, this is a pretty good idea if you can take a successful concept and tweak it to make it better). For a short while, I thought of converting Wiz-War to a CCG+board, but that never happened. Vortex went through a number of design variations before it became hex-tiles, starting with regular playing cards in a square grid, then square tiles, then hexes. Unfortunately, I never write down what gave me the original design idea; I have hundreds of pages of scribbled notes (like any game designer) of things I’d like to explore, but often they’re evolutionary ideas sprung from other design concepts that I’ve seen recently or designed in my past.

simple and very easy to teach, yet can result in some pretty complex player interaction. I’ve probably played it 300 times, too. Got It! is a nice design too, but it’s a math card game, so I can’t really rate it as a normal game.

Who among your game design peers do you admire?

The late Sid Sackson (Can’t Stop and Acquire), Robert Abbott (of Eleusis fame), Reiner Knizia (Through the Desert and a zillion other games), Don Vaccarino (Dominion and Kingdom Builder), Richard Garfield (MTG, Roborally, etc). I’m sure there are a few I’m forgetting. I admire a lot of designs!

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Interview (Cont.)

Photo courtesy of Tom Jolly

Are you currently working on anything that you can share Own Game,” at www.silcom.com/~tomjolly/design. htm. It’s got links to sample contracts and a huge list of with our readers?

Manhattan Project: Energy Empire from Minion Games, which should be out fairly soon (via Kickstarter), and Beyond Jupiter, another codesign with Luke Laurie. Both are worker-placement style games, which I haven’t been involved with at all in the past, but thoroughly enjoy.

Both are very solid fun games with extremely high replayability. I have a few other games that are being reviewed by other game companies, but nothing solid.

One is called Derelict, which is a little like Wiz-War in space. Another is called Gerrymander, a very light areacontrol game I’ve been shopping around for years.

What advice would you give to aspiring game designers?

Playtest the hell out of your game. If you find that you’re bored of playtesting it after a few times, chances are it will bore everyone else, too. Read the game blog at www.LeagueOfGamemakers.com; lots of excellent advice there. Playtest at Protospiels if there’s one nearby.

Don’t expect instant success. Create a strong network.

Go to conventions. Pitch your game to a manufacturer at conventions. Most of my advice, I’ve crammed into a webpage called “Manufacturing and Marketing Your

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game manufacturers (not game companies like Hasbro or FFG, but the guys you want to talk to when you’re about to do a Kickstarter and need a quote).

I have always enjoyed puzzles and you have some beautiful, wooden ones on your site, how do you go about designing puzzles?

I use LiveCubes, little plastic snap-together cubes to make quicky prototypes. I used BurrTools, a free 3D program that will take complex burrs and tell you how many ways they can be assembled and graphically show you how they come apart (if they can). I use lots of paper with many scribblings, and cardboard mockups, and sometimes I make wooden prototypes in my garage just to see if the idea will physically work. More recently, I’ve found I can upload puzzle designs to Shapeways and print out pieces, and have tested a few designs that way. Eric Fuller at www.cubicdissection. com, has made wooden versions of about 20 of my puzzles, which you can see on his gallery at his website.

His wood craftsmanship is very impressive. Richard Gain and George Bell have done a few of my designs on Shapeways, too.

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Photo courtesy of Tom Jolly

What advice would you give to someone who is just getting started in designing puzzles?

There’s not a lot of money to be made in it. I collect puzzles as a hobby (I own about 1000, mostly wood). There are a few people that make a living at it, but the market is relatively small and mostly consists of collectors like me who don’t mind dropping $50-$100 for a fancy wooden puzzle. Companies like ThinkFun make a living at it selling to the general public, but there aren’t a lot of those kinds of companies around. Twisty puzzles (like Rubiks) have their own fan base, but there are a LOT of puzzles to choose from, and I don’t think the market is particularly huge. It’s not uncommon for a woodworker to make only 50 copies of a puzzle, which will often fulfill the demand.

If you’re doing it for fun, look into some of the tools I’ve mentioned above. Visit puzzle websites. If you’re doing it for profit, I’m not sure what to tell you.

Now that you are retired, do you plan to increase your output of game designs?

Absolutely. I went to Gencon last year and pitched quite a few designs, sold one game design and had some interest in others. Luke Laurie and I have worked on two excellent designs together, so that’s going well; he’s a superb designer. I’m writing more and reading more, selling some short stories, working on more puzzles and educating myself on physics (SR and GR), which has always been a big interest for me. Retirement has really changed my view on how pleasurable (and productive) life can truly be. I would recommend it highly to everyone who has a life outside of work!

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Game Review

Targi

By Serge Pierro

Unique Two Player Game

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nevitably each month in one of the Facebook game groups, someone will ask, what are some of the best two player games? Someone will of course point them to the Kosmos line of two player games that all come in the same sized box, but most importantly, they are all really good games. One of those games is Andreas Steiger’s masterpiece, Targi. Let’s take a look at a game that has somehow flown under the radar for years, though players who have discovered its brilliance know that this is an excellent game. Let’s see why.

As mentioned previously Targi comes in Kosmos’s standard two player box size of 8” x 8” and is 1 3/4” deep and features the excellent artwork of Franz Vohwinkel (interviewed in Issue #2). The rule sheet is a trifold that folds out to six pages of instructions. There are several illustrations throughout, including a step by step section that explains Targi’s unique intersecting mechanic. The included eighty cards are broken down into 45 Tribe cards, 19 Goods cards and 16 Border cards. There are various illustrated cardboard tokens, as well as custom wooden meeples for the Targis, Robber and Tribe markers.

One of the unique aspects of Targi is that the “board” is built from the cards. The 16 Border cards are laid out in numerical order in a 5 x 5 frame that will be used to enclose the other cards in the game. The frame layout is identical for every game, while the interior cards always change. To setup the interior cards for the start of the game, place five Goods cards in an “X” pattern

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by placing one at each of the corners of the frame and then placing the remaining one in the middle, then four Tribe cards are placed in the remaining unfilled spaces. Then the Robber is placed on the #1 card (“Noble”) and the game is set up for play.

This is a worker placement game with a twist. On a player’s turn they will place one of their Targis on one of the Border cards that is not occupied

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by the Robber, or directly across from another player’s Targi. This is repeated until each player has placed all their Targis. Then players will place their Tribe markers at the intersections formed by the placement of their Targis. So players will not only gather the resources or effects obtained by placing their Targis on the Border cards, but they will also obtain the cards in the central area. This is a very interesting mechanic and I’m surprised to see that other games haven’t borrowed it.

When a player obtains a Goods card from the central area, they replace it with a face down Tribe card, and when they obtain a Tribe card, they replace it with a face down Goods card. When a player gets a Goods card they take the appropriate Goods from the pool of tiles and place the card itself into the discard pile. The Tribe cards are handled differently, you either have to place it immediately, paying its cost, or it can be discarded or placed in your hand. However, it is important to note Continued on next page>

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Interview (Cont.) that you are only allowed to have one card in hand, and if you want to play it or discard it, you have to use the “Noble” action on the Border card. So you have to be sure that you really want the card otherwise you will waste an action just to get rid of it.

The Tribe cards are the foundation of the scoring for the game. When you obtain a Tribe card and pay the associated cost, you place it in your tableau, scoring the points as indicated. You will be building three rows of four cards and the placement of the Tribe cards is important. First of all, you can only place a card in the leftmost position of a row. Cards are then added to the right of the previous card in that row. However, there are endgame scoring bonuses that need to be kept in mind. If your row of four are of the same type of Tribe, you score an additional four points at the end of the game. If your row of four has four different Tribes, you score an additional two points at the end of the game. So placement is crucial if you are pursuing the endgame bonuses. Some of the Tribe cards have effects printed on them and they can be sorted into Endgame, Permanent, and Immediate effects. These affect various aspects of the game play.

There are two ways for the game to end. The first is when at the end of a turn at least one of the players has filled his tableau of 12 cards. The other involves the Robber reaching the fourth and final Raid card on the Border and resolving it. When either of these conditions are met, the game ends and the points are totaled, including any Tribe collection bonuses and/or Tribe card endgame bonuses. The highest score wins.

Targi is brilliant and it is easily one of my favorite two player games. The ingenious intersecting mechanic adds a nice strategic depth to your placing of each Targi, as you are not only planning to place your Targi to target a card at a hopeful intersection, but you are also looking to deny your opponent accordingly, and they

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“... this game should be in every serious gamer’s collection!” will be doing the same to you! There is a nice level of tension as both players jockey for position. Each of the Border cards is interesting, whether it is the collecting of a mundane, but necessary Goods, or if it is one of the special ones that allow you to pursue your strategy at the cost of not obtaining a Goods. There are a lot of interesting choices to be made throughout the game. I believe that this game should be in every serious gamer’s collection!

Designer: Andreas Steiger Publisher: Z-Man Games Number of players: 2 Mechanic: Worker Placement Ages: 12+ Length: 60 mins.

Highly Recommended www.zmangames.com

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Game Review

Outer Earth

By Serge Pierro

Planetary Engine Builder

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uter Earth was one of the finalists in the 2013 Cards Against Humanities Tabletop Deathmatch game design contest. While the earlier versions of the game had a more complex game system, the current release is much more accessible, yet is still an interesting and fun game.

The game comes with a 16 page full color rulebook that clearly presents the material, while filling the latter pages with art and a page devoted to thanking Kickstarter backers.

The back cover features an overview of the gameplay. Also included are 16 custom dice, 8 bidding paddles, a turn marker, 4 sturdy cardboard Player Dashboards, 100 Development cards, 24 Super Structure cards, and 40 Planet cards. All of the cards are linen finished. The artwork/design for the planet cards is somewhat pedestrian, however, the artwork for the Super Structure cards is quite varied and some of the art is really nice. The graphic design for the Development cards is the main mechanic for the gameplay and prove to be both innovative and interesting in concept.

The setup of the game is determined by the number of players.

Each player will receive a Player Dashboard and the associated set of dice. The Planet deck is placed within reach and cards are dealt face up next to it, forming the Planet Market, where the number of cards dealt equals the number of players, plus an additional card. Three decks of Super Structure cards are placed in the area above the Planet deck. Each player also receives a set of Bidding Paddles.

Players begin the game and the first phase by a bidding process. Each player will bid for position on the Turn Order Tracker. To bid, players will take one of their Bidding Paddles and place it face down in front of them and when all players have bid, the Paddles are revealed and anyone with a green

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check mark pays the cost of one Development card and moves onto the next round of bidding.

Players who bid a red “X� are no longer in the bidding process and sit out until all of the bidding is resolved. Bidding continues until there is only one winner. Ties are broken with a dice roll.

Players will then place their color die on the Turn Order Tracker in the order of winning bids. This Tracker has two uses, the first is it determines the order in which players can buy planets and then it

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is reversed so that the player who finished last has the first opportunity to Build and Sell Planets.

During Phase 2 players may purchase Planets by spending one Development card for each Planet.

The number of Planets you may construct equals the Sell value on your Player Dashboard. However, you can choose to exceed that number, at the cost of two Development cards during Phase 4 for each additional Planet.

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Once everyone has had the opportunity to buy Planets, the game enters Phase 3 in which players will spend 3 action points to either draw Development cards, Build or Sell their Planets. At the start of the game each die on the Player Dashboard is set to one, yet with the Selling of Planets these numbers can changer either permanently or temporarily depending on the modifiers on the Planet(s) that were sold. Example: a sold planet Continued on next page>

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Game Review (Cont.) may give a bonus of +1 to the draw action, so for one action a player may then draw 2 cards instead of 1.

It is possible to draw 3 or more cards for one action after modifiers and a Planet with a modifier.

The Build and Sell actions can also be modified. To use the Build action, players will place the number of Development cards equal to the number on their Dashboard plus any modifiers. This is the main resource management element of the game and needs to be paid attention to, as the game uses a visual method of combining the cards, in which the color of the path must connect to the previous one, in both color and position. This is a rather clever way for Building the Planets. To use the Sell Action the Planet must meets its minimum Build number. This is an interesting concept, as a player may actually go beyond the minimum number and explore that as a strategy. Normally a Planet with a 3 minimum Build can be sold when it reaches three Development cards properly connected. The Planet is then placed to the right of the Dashboard and any modifiers go into effect, while the Development cards and any relevant Super Structure cards (see below) are placed in the player’s Profit Pile.

One of the ways to increase your profits from selling Planets, is to try and meet the requirements stated on the Super Structure cards. As mentioned earlier, these cards are set up at the start of the game and the top card of each deck has a graphic element that needs to be fulfilled in order to take the card.

Example: One card states that if you have 2 blue and 1 red Development cards on your Planet when you sell it, you may discard those cards and replace them with the fulfilled Super Structure card, which in this case is worth 6 VP, instead of the 3VP the discarded cards would have been worth.

The game ends when either the Planet deck runs out or if two of the Super Structure decks are depleted.

Once the game ends scoring commences. Each player separates the cards in their Profit Pile and scores them accordingly. Developments are worth 1 VP and Super Structures score as printed. The Planets that are in the Planet Portfolio are worth 2 VP and any unbuilt Planets are -2 VP. The highest score wins.

Fans of engine building games will enjoy this game.

There is the typical “creeping up� of the power curve as players Sell their Planets and modify the dies on their Player Dashboard. The mechanic to change the dies to different numbers was an excellent mechanic and any cards that had this ability were highly sought after by players during the game. The bidding mechanic for turn order and reversing for action order was nicely implemented, as it added a bit of spice and strategy to the start of each round. I also liked the fact that the Development cards were distributed in different amounts instead of taking the easy way out and having them evenly distributed. Players who like to count cards will have an advantage as to what should still be available in the Development deck.

Other than the aforementioned lackluster Planet art, there is a lot to like about this game and I think that this is a game that many players should consider for their collection.

Designer: Paul Tseng Publisher: Mailbox Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Engine Building/Economics Ages: 13+ Length: 60 mins.

Recommended www.outerearth.ca

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Game Review 1944: Race to the Rhine

By Serge Pierro

WWII Themed Eurogame

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ne of the most common complaints about Eurogames is that many of them use the same themes over and over. On the other hand, many war games naturally suffer the same fate, as they are based on actual historical events and thus they have to use the same theme. In 1944 Race to the Rhine we have a rare example of a Eurogame with a World War Two theme.

Phalanx is known for their production quality and this is no exception. The large 16 page full color rulebook has numerous illustrations and examples of play. A nice touch is the use of various quotes by General George S. Patton throughout.

The six panel board is a large 22� x 33� and contains various important dates and events relevant to the war, thus adding to the thematic nature of the game and aiding those who would be interested in using the game as an educational aid.

The printed insert contains enough room to store all of the games components. There are several different types of wooden tokens included; 10 unit blocks, 90 supplies and 32 transports. As well as 174 various cardboard tokens, 106 cards, 3 dice for solitaire play and a sticker sheet to apply to the wooden unit blocks. Plus, a copious amount of resealable plastic bags, which are necessary to keep all of the components separate.

The game plays from one to three players, and players will be using one of the three Commanders; Patton, Montgomery or Bradley. The map is divided into three sections marked by color, with the left side of the board used by Montgomery (red), the middle used by Bradley (white) and the right side used by Patton (blue). The game is a race to see who will be the first to the Rhine.

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After setting up the game, players will each choose two actions from the following choices: Take supplies from the stock: With this action a player may choose to take three of one type of supplies from the Allied stock track or one of each type from the Supply markers reserve pool. The gas and ammo tokens are the most important in order to make progress, and keeping your units supplied with these items is a challenge.

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Take trucks: Although players start with trucks, inevitably they will run out and need to resupply. The amount of trucks that a player may take is designated by the Logistics chart. Players will also have to balance the decision as to when to take the last truck, as this will trigger the Supply Check Interphase (see below).

Transport supplies: Trucks are able to move up to five supplies from one area to another via the placement of the trucks on the arrows in-between areas. The amount of trucks that may be placed is governed by the stats on the Logistics chart. Since players may not use truck routes already on the board, they will have to plan out the most efficient routes.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Corps movement: Each unit has a designated amount of supplies printed on their Unit card that they start the game with. As an action a unit may spend one gas token to move up to three areas. Each time it enters an area of their color, they turn over the top card of their Pursuit deck and resolve it. Some of the cards have no effect and the unit may continue to move, however, there are cards that will cause a unit to stop its movement. After a unit has successfully moved into an area, they place one of their player markers on the area to indicate that they control it.

Units that enter these areas do not have to turn over a card.

There is a special phase of the game called the Supply Check Interphase. This is triggered when a player takes the last truck from the Allied Truck stock. The game state is paused and the following occurs: Each player will move their marker on the Logistics track up one level. Each Corps unit on the board must spend one food, or they are flipped over and cannot move again until they receive food. All the trucks currently on the board are removed and placed in the Allied Truck stock. The Allied Supply stock is refilled. All Commander cards are flipped face up.

After all of these have been resolved, play continues.

There is combat within the game, but the outcome is not determined by attack and defense stats, but by the spending of resources. To defeat an enemy unit they have to discard the indicated resource token(s) indicated on the card.

At the end of each player’s turn they will place a German marker on one of the areas that connect to either the areas along the Rhine that contain an Axis flag or next to a previously placed marker. These markers are used in a similar manner to the siege

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engines in Shadows Over Camelot, once all of them have been placed, the end of the game is triggered.

The solitaire version of the game is similar to the standard 2-3 player game, with the main difference being that the German markers are placed on the board as per the rulebook and three dice are rolled to determine which marker will flip over. I found this version to be quite tense, as you have to be very accurate in order to win.

This game was a pleasant surprise. I was impressed with how the game captured the feel of an advancing army, as well as the precision needed to route supply lines. Players who enjoy World War II themes and the challenges of a Eurogame will likely find this game to be fascinating. It does take a couple of plays to get a feel for the tempo needed in order to have a chance at winning the game. As far as the replayability goes, both it, and the difficulty level of the game can both be increased by means of utilizing the advanced rules. All in all, it’s a challenging game that could be considered as a gateway for wargamers who have an interest in exploring the world of Eurogames.

Designers: Waldek Gumienny & Jaro Andruszkiewicz Publisher: PHALANX Number of players: 1-3 Mechanic: Pick-up and Deliver, Route Building Ages: 14+ Length: 90 mins.

Recommended www.phalanxgames.pl

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Game Review

Runecast

By Bill Braun

Vikings vs. Loki

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oki, the Norse god of mischief, has become a household name in recent years based on the overwhelming success of the Marvel universe.

However, this shape-shifting character has a much deeper mythology that goes far beyond his relationship with Thor, and whose trickster ways end much more dramatically than being beaten to a pulp by The Incredible Hulk.

With a rich history to pull from, Loki seems to be the perfect character for game designers to develop unique and interesting experiences around. Runecast, published

by Charm City Games and designer Matt Voss, provides a cooperative dice and card game where 2-6 players take on the role of Viking warriors attempting to defeat Loki and his evil machinations. With beautiful artwork and 32 custom dice featuring Mjolnir - Thor’s Hammer, Jörmungandr - the World Serpent, and Yggdrasil the Tree of Life, Runecast has the making for an epic adventure, set in a world of magic, mystery, and peril.

But, does the game deliver an experience that’s more than good looks and routine dice chucking?

Gameplay Runecast provides a nice set of quick reference charts to help ease game set up, while delivering a more balanced experience dependent on the number of players. A smaller group of players dictates fewer battles to overcome, while also allowing for a greater number of dice each hero will have as they face off against Loki and his minions.

Players may choose from six different heroes, each with their own unique powers and abilities, and are dealt a random Fate Card that displays a single rune used to

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identify the target of Loki’s attacks. Additionally, each player is provided a set amount of random cards that make up their own, face down, Fate deck – inclusive of weapons, armor, and powerful events that potentially help, or hinder, the heroes on their quest for victory.

Health trackers are evenly distributed, along with a number of breakpoint trackers used to track how long a weapon or piece of armor will last.

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Photo: Bill Braun

On their turn, players may perform three actions: flip over the top card from their Fate deck, use their hero’s ability, and roll to attack the current Battle Board.

As previously stated, the Fate deck includes weapons, armor, and events. Only a single weapon and armor can be in play for each hero. If another card of the same type is flipped, it immediately replaces the existing card, providing a bit of risk/reward to the experience.

Activating a hero’s ability may be used at any time and requires the loss of a single hit point, so long as it does not exhaust the hero completely. These abilities range from preventing damage to enabling re-rolls, adding dice to their pool and healing other heroes. Lastly, and making up the bulk of Runecast’s gameplay, the player attacks the current Battle Board by rolling dice from their dice pool.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Each custom dice provides three unique outcomes.

The Hammer counts as a wound and allows the player to move the Battle Board Health Tracker one point forward for each Hammer rolled. The Snake is removed from the player’s pool and placed on the Battle Board, becoming part of Loki’s Dice Pool that is rolled at the end of the round. Lastly, the Tree allows players to heal one hit point by removing it from their dice pool, returning at the end of their next turn. While this reduces the number of dice rolled on their next turn, it also allows the players to heal a maximum of two hit points in this manner, potentially keeping them alive long enough to fight another day.

After all players have taken their turn and damage has been tracked on the Battle Board, Loki strikes back. The first player becomes Loki’s Thrall, collects all of the dice added to Loki’s pool, and rolls for results. Hammers score wounds against the player whose runes match the Fate Card drawn from Loki’s deck. Snakes are applied to the Battle Board’s special attack ability, and Trees are used to trigger special boons designed to help balance the often harsh Thrall results.

Runecast is a difficult game that relies almost exclusively on the randomness of the dice roll, resulting in the quick and steady elimination of your heroes. While this randomness can be mitigated through the addition of weapons and armor, as well as each of the unique abilities the heroes possess, the odds remain stacked against you.

Thankfully, each hero is provided with a Death Token that grants the ability for warriors knocked out in battle to return to life. However, resurrection comes with its own set of restrictions. Succumbing to death removes any acquired weapons and armor, and players may not return to the battlefield until the next battle. Being eliminated early on in a battle places a dire strain on the remaining heroes. Additionally, there is a Community Death Token that may reincarnate players that die in battle a second time. After that, all bets are off.

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Photo: Bill Braun

Players win a battle as soon as the final wound is scored on the Battle Board. However, this is no small task. While some Battle Boards display a “reasonable” number of hit points, many others inspire fear and intimidation by reaching triple digits. After each battle is concluded, the board is flipped over and the next battle begins. Players are victorious if there is at least one survivor at the end of the final battle.

Theme and Components The first thing players will notice - after handling the mound of nicely etched dice - is the artwork.

Reminiscent of the best that Skyrim and Dungeons & Dragons has to offer, these images immediately immerse the players into the magical world of Norse mythology.

The Battle Boards are generously sized, providing a nice frame for the artwork and ample room for Loki’s growing dice pool, while intimidating players with ominously-labeled wound tracks. Each Battle Board is double-sided, conserving on space and reducing the overall box size, and is crafted from a thick and durable cardboard.

Similar detail and durability is granted to the individual player boards. However, the same cannot be said for the deck of Fate and Equipment cards. While average in size, they feel thinner than usual and are prone to easy bending. Additionally, the artwork provided on the

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cards feel as if a completely different artist - with substantially lesser talent - did them. Although the card art and iconography are serviceable, they pale in comparison with what the remainder of the game has to offer.

Final Thoughts I’ve had a love/hate relationship with dice for years. While I love throwing handfuls into a tray or onto a table, they remain my number one nemesis.

They hate and mock me at every turn, and consistently abandon my every effort to remain in their good graces.

When I first received Runecast, there was an undeniable sparkle in my eye as I dumped out the game’s 32 custom dice. Although trepidation reared its ugly head, I took solace in knowing that Runecast was also a cooperative game – something that I am very much a fan of. Surely, this combined experience would be an instant hit for me. Unfortunately, the cooperative aspect of Runecast is far outweighed by the generic, and repetitive, dice rolling.

What began as a wonderful premise ultimately feels like a missed opportunity; as if the game’s larger ambitions were inhibited by a lack of execution and, perhaps, time. As a result, Runecast struggles to find an identity. Playing Runecast was not an unpleasant experience by any means, it simply didn’t deliver enough of a memorable one to warrant repeating more than a few times.

Photo: Bill Braun

Designer: Matt Voss Publisher: Charm City Games Number of players: 2-6 Mechanic: Co-operative Play Ages: 7+ Length: 60-90 mins.

Worth Trying

www.charmcitygames.com

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Game Review

Cycling Tour

By Serge Pierro

Tour de Fun!

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s an avid cyclist, I looked forward to playing Cycling Tour by Pocket Sports. Designed by Hamish Sterling, Cycling Tour is a dice game for 1-4 players that attempts to capture the feel of a bicycle race.

The components come in a “starter deck” sized tuck box.

The two resealable plastic bags contain cards, rules, cubes and dice. The six custom dice are the main focus of the game, along with the individual cards that represent the actual bicycle riders. Each rider has an associated set of cubes to track their position on the leader board, as well as “on card” stats. Also included are the instructions and a sheet of paper showing the three “Tours”.

To set up the game, place the “Cycling Tour 2015” sheet on the table. This will be used to track each stage of the Tours.

Each Tour is made up of 14 stages. Each player also receives a team card that represents their rider and also lists their abilities. This card will also be used to track the “Fatigue” and “Damage” stats. The “Leader Board” card displays the position of the riders throughout the race.

In order to determine the starting position of the riders on the “Leader Board”, the game starts with a “Time Trial”.

Each player will roll dice and note the results as stated in the rules. After ten rolls the results are added and that players cube is placed on the appropriate spot on the “Leader Board”. This simple mechanism captured the excitement of a time trial, as players tried to get the best time while avoiding crashes and other mishaps.

To play the game, players start each of their turns by rolling the red die. The result of this die will indicate which of the other dies that you will roll next. These include: Sprint, Line, Climb and in the case of a “Bike Check”, a Damage/ Fatigue die. If an attack is rolled, then an opponent gets to

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roll the white “Peloton” die twice with the objective of trying to equal or beat the attack number. If the “Peloton” succeeds in their rolls, then the rider remains on the same space on the “Leader Board”, otherwise the rider moves up a space.

Although the game clearly has a luck factor due to the dice, it is actually quite enjoyable and really captures the feel of a grueling bicycle race. I could almost hear

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announcer Phil Liggett’s voice report all of the exciting moments within the game. While it is certainly not a simulation, it does feel accurate in its representation of the sport. I think that the inclusion of the asymmetrical abilities helped to make this more than just a dice chucking fest. The only downside would be that I would have liked to have seen cubes included to mark the abilities on the card after their use, as well as some type of marker to track each stage of a tour. Though these could easily be handled by pencil and paper. It’s great to see a game with a cycling theme and kudos to Pocket Sports for being able to capture the ambiance in such a small package.

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Designer: Hamish Sterling Publisher: Pocket Sports Number of players: 1-4 Mechanic: Dice Rolling Ages: 13+ Length: 45 mins.

Recommended

www.pocketsports.com.au

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Game Review

Witkacy

rules: The card must cover at least 1/4 of the card that they are covering, either by placing it on top of the card

By Serge Pierro or tucking it beneath. No card may be placed completely over the top of or below any card in already in a collection.

It is possible to place one part of the card underneath a card, while placing the other part above a card. ACTION. In an attempt to make this more of a game than a puzzle, Stanislaw Ignacy Witkiewicz, who was also known there are Actions that can be used for a more “game-like” as Witkacy, was a Polish artist from the early experience. The Actions are listed within the rules. An twentieth century. Bomba Games latest release example: Play two cards on your turn instead of one. It features five of his works in a puzzle-like game that has would have been helpful if player aids were included, as the look of the drug induced artwork that Witkacy is passing the rules around the table proved tiresome. known for.

The game has an interesting scoring system that is based The small 5”x6”x1” box looks like it belongs in a gift upon the number and types of paintings completed. shop at an art museum. When you open the box there Example: If four players complete the “Portrait of a Girl” is a bonus piece of art on the inside of the top cover. painting, it is worth 4 points for each instance of the The rules are a single page and folded into quarters completed painting, thus a player who completed two of and includes a half page giving a concise overview of them would receive 8 points, where as the others would each of the featured pieces of art. There are also 20 each score 4 points. The player with the most points wins.

Artistic Puzzle Game

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plastic action discs, as well as 55 double sided cards.

The oversized 8mm x 12mm (3 1/8”x 4 3/4”) cards have a nice smooth matte finish and are somewhat thin, but since there is very little shuffling in this game, there shouldn’t be many concerns. Each card features a top half of art with two lower quarters of art, as well as a flip side that has a lower half of art with two upper quarters of the artwork.

Players take on the role of art restorers looking to put together the pieces of art from the fragments displayed on the cards. To do so, each player is dealt two cards and they choose one card to place in front of them to be used as the starting card. It is important that each player has a different starting upper half or lower half of a card than the other. If needed, a player may shuffle the duplicate back into the deck and redraw to avoid having a duplicate. Players will also receive a set of five plastic Action tokens.

Each turn players have the following options: SEARCH. A player draws from either the revealed cards beside the deck or from the top of the deck. EXPAND. Take one of the cards in your hand and connecting it to the cards that are already in front of them, with the following

This is a game that art lovers and those who enjoy puzzles will want to try. While it is certainly not a gamer’s game, the inclusion of the Action tokens does elevate the game above it being purely a puzzle, though it does feel as if the tokens were just add-on to the game, instead of an integrated part of the design. One minor complaint would be the pieces of art that were chosen. While all of them are certainly interesting, the color palette tends to blend a bit too much, thus making it harder to see the sections of the cards as they are laid out on the table. I would have liked to have seen a couple of paintings included with a higher level of contrast than the others. Otherwise, this is an enjoyable filler that players of all ages can partake in and will certainly appeal to art lovers.

Designer: Maciej Poleszak & Michal Szewczyk Publisher: Bomba Games Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Set Collection/Puzzle Ages: 6+ Length: 20-30 mins.

Worth Trying www.bombagames.pl

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69

Game Review

Firefly:

Fistful of Credits

By Bill Braun

Roll and Move Co-Op

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f you’ve been subscribing to past issues of Game Nite, you already have a good understanding of my love for all things Firefly. My review of Firefly The Game sums up not only my fondness for the characters, theme, and universe, but also identifies that the game itself is well worth investing the time with. While Firefly The Game is probably one the more popular tabletop entries, other titles have since been released that further promote the series, and based on the ongoing popularity of this short-lived television series, it seems that fans of the ‘Verse remain strong, and are more than willing to embrace anything associated with the franchise.

Along comes Firefly Fistful of Credits, the latest tabletop game published by Toy Vault. Designed for 2-4 players, Fistful of Credits is a cooperative experience that drops players into the boots of Serenity’s crew, working together to pull of a series of heists (three to be exact) with ambitions to complete objectives and score the greatest fortune. On paper, Fistful of Credits sounds like a dream come true for both Firefly and Tabletop fans alike, but does it live up to the high expectations of the series’ countless fans or, like the Reaver threat, should it be avoided at all cost?

Gameplay The rulebook suggests playing each of the three heists, back-to-back. However, if a shorter play experience is preferred, a single heist can determine whether the game is won or lost. Regardless, players begin by selecting a Big

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Damn Hero and individual sidekick from the nine available Firefly crew. Each character card is double sided, and allows for a good amount of combinations.

Have you always wanted to play as Mal and Inara?

How about River and Simon? What about matching up Jayne and Wash? Fistful of Credits delivers that level of flexibility and each character, whether hero or sidekick, provides its own set of unique abilities.

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Photo: Bill Braun

Each of the three heists comes with its own board, token set, and heist card that detail the objectives, setup, win conditions, special rules needed to run that particular scenario, and a timer track used to triggers specific events. The Derelict, recommended for first time players, has the crew scavenging a ship for credits, while attempting to disarm a number of booby traps.

Intensive Care places the spotlight on River and Simon

as they sort out River’s health condition at St. Lucy’s high security facility. Finally, Paradiso Express challenges the crew to a good old-fashioned train robbery. Promoting the theme of Fistful of Credits, fans of Firefly will likely recognize these heists as key episodes during the television series.

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Game Review (Cont.)

Players are provided starting equipment cards, along with cubes to track their hero’s health and ammo, and the board is set up utilizing a large number of tokens that are more often placed faced down onto the heist-specific game board. The basic actions a player may take on their turn involve rolling for movement, encountering and battling an enemy, and searching for credits and objectives. Interestingly, while I consider rolling for movement an antiquated game mechanism that many other game designers have long since abandoned, it is the one mechanic that primarily drives Fistful of Credits.

Rolling a one on a six-sided dice not only slows down your character, it also advances the timer and triggers a variety of heist-specific events. Moving onto a space with a facedown token prompts the search action and allows the player to flip the token over to reveal objectives, credits, or enemies. Revealing an enemy in this manner places your character into a battle situation, while revealing a credit, objective, or crate token prompts the Photo: Bill Braun player to add it to their stash, interact with it, or draw a gear card respectively. to the AI system. How does the game play against you?

How difficult are the objectives to obtain? Does the game Unfortunately, resolving a battle is just as routine and truly encourage the players to work together? Sadly, uninspiring as rolling for movement, and relies almost Fistful of Credits leans heavily on outdated mechanics exclusively on standard line-of-sight rules. When a that more often pull players out of the game rather than player confirms that they are in line-of-sight of an enemy further immerse them into the experience.

- whether by flipping a previously “hidden” token, or by walking into a space that can be associated with line- Theme and Components of-sight - they must do a battle. The player rolls their Big Damn Hero battle dice – anywhere from a four to a Although the box cover for Fistful of Credits utilizes ten-sided die – adds gear card modifiers, and compares images from the television show, I give Toy Vault credit the final result to the enemy’s strength number to obtain for trying to differentiate themselves from other licensed victory, force a draw (prompting a new battle round), or games by providing tokens, standees, and character cards be defeated - losing health and retreating. that display hand drawn art. Each of the nine characters to choose from are spot on with their clothing, weapons, I’ve played a good variety of action/adventure and facial appearance, and I like the idea of teaming cooperative games over the last few years. They are one up a Big Damn Hero with a sidekick simply by laying of my preferred genres of tabletop gaming. As a result, the two character cards side-by-side. The graphic design I’ve come to realize that a major determining factor of throughout the game is easy to understand and provides whether a cooperative board game is worthy of your time ample room for additional text, but the overall quality is based on the level of detail and development applied of the cards is rather thin and flimsy.

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While the games boards are of a nice, thick cardboard, it seems unnecessary to include a separate board for each heist. Although the board that manages The Derelict and Intensive Care scenarios is double sided, the Paradiso Express heist is a huge threeway fold out board that forces an unusually large and odd-shaped game box.

The publishers at Toy Vault would have been better off providing a number of double-sided game tiles used to create the individual heists, conserving on overall space in the box, as well as accommodating for a greater number of actual heists to play through.

Photo: Bill Braun

Final Thoughts I admit it. I’m a sucker for all things Firefly.

When I first saw the box for Fistful of Credits with the entire crew staring out at me, I couldn’t wait to start misbehaving all over again. The game designers at Toy Box were smart to focus on specific events that occurred during the shortlived television series, but limiting it to a mere three heists did not help their cause. Further limiting the replay value is the notion that some of the heists force the inclusion of specific players in order to win. Add to this some rather outdated game mechanics and a lackluster AI system and I quickly realized reserving a space

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on my gaming shelf for Fistful of Credits would be short lived. Fistful of Credits is for die-hard Firefly fans only; those that care less about what the product is, and more about collecting everything they can get their hands on.

Designer: David J. Coffey Publisher: Toy Vault Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Co-operative Play Ages: 14+ Length: 30-60 mins.

Pass

www.toyvault.com

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73

Game Review Dozen Doubloons

By Serge Pierro

A Light Family Game

D

ozen Doubloons is a very light family game that could be useful for parents who want to have a game that can be played as an educational aid and yet provides enough entertainment to keep their children engaged.

The game comes in a black vinyl game bag that closes with a drawstring. The bag has a printed logo of the game and a skull and crossbones. Inside you will find a resealable bag containing 45 plastic doubloons and a plain white tuck box containing the cards, as well as a folded, full color rules sheet. This game was originally produced as a solitaire game and then later developed into a 2-4 player game, so each side of the rules sheet is devoted to the appropriate version.

Solitaire version

When you are unable to combine cards to total twelve, you place a card from the draw deck onto the play area, creating the “Usable Row”. You can continue to add cards to the Usable Row, however you can only use the right most cards. However if a “Block” shows up, all of the cards in the “Usable Row” are discarded from play.

2-4 player version The 2-4 player version introduces the plastic doubloons to the game. To setup the game for the multiplayer variant, deal four stacks of cards in the center of the playing area.

The first four cards of each stack are face down and the fifth card is face up. Each player is then dealt four cards.

On their turn, players each have 3 actions. 1.) They may combine one to three cards from their hand and or the stacks that equal “twelve”. The player then collects a doubloon and discards the used cards. 2.) They may play a “Block” card on an opponent. The receiver of the “Block” chooses a stack in the middle of the table and places it in front of them. They may only play from their hand and this stack of cards until it is depleted. 3.) Play a “Wildcard”.

A “Wildcard” can be used to remove the penalty of the “Block” or when combined with a “1” or “2” can force a player to give you one or two doubloons, respectively. The first player to collect a dozen doubloons wins.

The solitaire version of the game begins with six stacks of cards in the middle of the play area. Each stack has four face down cards with a face up card on top, for a Although I preferred this as a solitaire game, parents who total of five cards. The object of the game is to remove are looking to teach rudimentary math to their young all six stacks before running out of cards from the draw children will find this an enjoyable way to do so. Due to its light nature, this game is more suitable for children and deck. families. Overall it is a nice package and could make a nice To remove cards, players will combine 1-3 cards in play stocking stuffer for the holidays. that equal the number twelve. And while this could be challenging in itself, there are “Block” cards that increase the challenge. When these are revealed on a stack, the affected stack is placed above one of the other stacks and none of its cards may be accessed until the stack below it is depleted. Then the “Block” card is removed from the top of the deck and the deck is placed in the empty spot and play continues.

Publisher: World Village Games Number of players: 1-4 Mechanic: Set Collecting Ages: 7+ Length: 10 mins.

Worth Trying www.dozendoubloons.com

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75

Game Review

King Down

By Serge Pierro

King Down = Resign

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eeing as I love Chess and card games, it should come as no surprise that I would be interested in King Down, as it combines card driven mechanics with a chess like board game. Let’s see how it plays.

King Down comes in a box that looks like it would contain sneakers instead of a game. The 16 page color rulebook is well illustrated and contains an FAQ on the back page. Four sturdy cardboard Player boards are included, as well as a heavier stock playing board that has a chess board on the reverse. But the main points of interest are the four decks of cards and four sets of miniatures. These are all kept separate within the box by a cardboard divider.

costs a card. Capture a mini… costs TWO cards. Enter one of the Capital Sauares… cost a card. And finally, capture a King… cost TWO cards PLUS the original Capture Toll of TWO cards and we have a total of FOUR cards, just to capture the King - without even factoring in movement and such. Oh… and you start with a hand size of three and draw two cards at the end of your turn. This proved to be a very clunky and boring system. As soon as you did something of consequence, you had to wait several turns to rebuild your hand size. Perhaps increasing the card draw to 3 and/or a starting hand of 7 cards would have been a step in the right direction. It really makes me question the amount/quality of playtesting that went into this game. I had to play the game several times to make sure that I was playing it right, because it felt so wrong. It’s a shame, as the Toll concept isn’t terrible, but it probably should have been used as a penalty modifier for some of the figures, instead of making it a blanket mechanic for the entire game. It should be noted that some characters have immunity to specific Tolls.

When a game advertises four factions with distinctive names (Sky, Earth, Fire, and Ice) and individual Kings, Each of the four armies is cast in a different color one would think that we are talking about an asymmetrical plastic. The miniatures come assembled and have system. Unfortunately, that is not the case. All of the decks decent detail while measuring approximately 1 1/4” - are identical, other than the art of the King cards. So the 1 1/2” tall. Each set is identical, except for the Kings Ice deck has Burn and the Fire deck has Frost Bite. which have unique sculpts.

King Down could be salvaged with a new rules set, and Each faction’s deck comes in their own tuck box. I hope that the designer will consider it, as there is an The cards are somewhat thin and have a smooth matte interesting game hidden within. Perhaps releasing a sticker finish. The artwork is decent, and like the minis, each set to overlay on the cards and a new manual would be an King has different artwork. Also included are a couple approach worth considering. I had high expectations when I first saw this game, but sadly it fell flat. of player aid cards.

The general game play is that players will use cards from their hand to take control of a mini on the board or attach spells. Players vie for position of the central Capital squares which grant VP’s. The main characters move in a chess-like fashion, while the others have new movement types.

The game uses a “Toll” system for paying resources and everything that you do in this game costs at least one card. Play a non-spell card… costs a card. Move…

Designer: Saar Shai Publisher: Self Published Number of players: 2-4 Mechanic: Card Driven Chess Variant Ages: 8+ Length: 60 mins.

Pass

www.playkingdown.com

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77

History

Buck Rogers

Battle for the 25th Century

By Kevin Cox

O

ver many years of gaming I have tried lots of territory control war games. I would guess most everyone reading this has played Axis & Allies or Risk, and maybe even owns a copy of one or more of their many variants. In this edition of Game Nite Magazine I would like to take a look at one of those variants that maybe you have not tried yet. The game is Buck Rogers Battle for the 25th Century.

Designed by Jeff Grubb and produced by TSR in 1988, the game is themed around the science fiction world of Buck Rogers. Buck first appeared in the novella Armageddon 2419 A.D., then became popular in Comics, Radio and multiple TV series. Thanks to this theme, this game provides some interesting twists on the territory control and battle format.

The game features a very large game board with 42 territories and lots of great miniatures that represent the different units you have at your disposal. You battle for control of different planets, satellites, moons and asteroids each turn with the goal of controlling more territories than your opponents by the end of the game.

Instead of laying out exactly how the game plays in every aspect, I will let you know how it differs from most other games of this type and how the theme works to the game’s advantage.

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Each player controls a leader that gives you a special ability bonus and is represented by a cool retro looking gold leader figure. The different leaders are characters from the world of Buck Rogers and their special ability fits each character well. For example, Buck Rogers gives you a hit bonus for all your Fighters when he is present in a space battle. These bonuses seem small at first, but if used properly can be the difference between victory and defeat.

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Photo: Kevin Cox

The main difference between Buck Rogers and other similar games is the interesting and quite logical way it handles the territories. The “solar system display” or SSD is located in the middle of the game board and serves to keep track of where each planet is located in its orbit around the sun. At the beginning of each turn the planets and asteroids rotate around the display with tokens that track location. This allows the territories in the game to actually move, making it nearly impossible to block yourself in and defend against enemy attacks.

The SSD also serves as a way to move your units across the board. When you leave your planet’s orbit you move your ships on to the SSD and along the dots in the different orbits. By doing this you can travel through space and enter another planet’s orbit, then eventually on to the planet surface itself. Traveling in this way has an interesting feel and suits the theme well. When moving through space it is difficult for your opponents to tell exactly where you are going, making for some great surprise attack moments.

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History (Cont.)

Photo: Kevin Cox

Winning the game can happen in four different ways: by controlling 15 Territorial Zones at the end of any turn, controlling the last Leader on the board at any time, convincing everyone else to surrender, and lastly by controlling the most Territorial Zones at end of the turn in which Earth returns to its start space, thus completing a 1 year revolution around the Sun. My gaming group found the last winning condition happened far too fast for the game to really get going, so we made a house rule to just disregard it and use the other three winning conditions. Trying

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to get your opponents to just surrender by (as the rules say) “pointing out the futility of their position� is especially fun.

So my final verdict is that Buck Rogers Battle for the 25th Century holds up really well and with the right group can be a challenging and fun experience. But as with vintage games like Buck Rogers the biggest challenge will be locating a playable copy at an affordable price. At the time this was written there were about 30 complete copies of Buck Rogers on eBay and Amazon with prices ranging from $25 $100. Happy Hunting!

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Interview Comics

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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 2016 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

Kevin Cox Kevin is a published game designer, graphic designer and co-owner of KnA Games. His first tabletop release is a sci-fi co-op called Space Movers, which he created with his wife, April. Kevin has been gaming for over 30 years and has an extensive collection, which features many vintage games. In addition to gaming, Kevin enjoys being a husband and all around geek.

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