All posts by 5 Minutes

Roll For The Galaxy By Rio Grande 2014

April 20, 2017 5 Minutes

Designers: Wei-Hwa Huang, Thomas Lehmann

When it comes to a list of my favorite games to play, Race For The Galaxy is one that falls into the category of games that I like to call “love to play them, hate to teach them”. That is to say, I think its a fantastic game, I will happily pull it out and play it but only with people who already know how to play. Trying to teach Race for the Galaxy is a bloody nightmare to the point that I almost never do it.

Along comes Roll For The Galaxy, a dice based version of the same game, in the same style by the same designer. The concept and goal is the same, build up your space empire by colonizing planets, discover technologies and of course doing it faster and better than the other guys. Like Race for the Galaxy, Roll For The Galaxy is a race to the finish line but instead of cards, it uses a combination of tiles and dice.

Overview

Final Score: (3.9 out of 5 Stars)

Roll For The Galaxy is a game of resource management and while its driven by dice, unlike most dice based games there is not that much luck involved. Its really a game of manipulating your dice (resources) to create the most optimal engine that scores the most points.

Now the fun part about both Race for the Galaxy and now Roll For The Galaxy is that you have limited control over which phases will be played during a round and its in this roll selection mechanic much of the games strategy takes place. You have to try to guess what your opponents will do, guess right and you can leverage their chosen actions as well as your own. This is how you really get the edge in Roll For The Galaxy and as such its both a game of resource management and reading minds.

Like its predecessor, this game is about a space race. You have to do it faster and better than everyone else.

Components

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Streamlined, clear and easy to understand iconography supported by explained text on everything makes learning the game easy, high quality tiles and dice.

Cons: Player mats are a bit flimsy, the insert is too small to fit all components so you have to pull it out to fit everything.

Rio Grande Games has a mixed reputation when it comes to component quality but with b Roll For The Galaxy they really put in the effort here. The quality of the tiles is the absolute best it can be, the dice quality is also above grade and while some of the player mats are a bit flimsy there are some nice organizational touches here that make every component very handy for streamlining gameplay.

Rio Grande has been disappointing lately. Its big success last year was re-printing a very lightly altered version of Dominion, which begs the question, why?

You have shields to hide your dice area, cups for collecting and rolling dice and there is fantastic organization of information on everything. Really most of the components act as player aides so while the game has a lot of iconography like Race for the Galaxy did, its less confusing because the rules of each icon are always spelled out on the tile or player mat. This makes the game very easy to reference and easier to pick up.

My biggest complaint about Race for the Galaxy is the difficulty in teaching it and this is largely due to the fact that the game has a ton of Iconography and its not explained anywhere in the player components, its all stored in the rule-book or index card requiring constant reference. In Roll For The Galaxy they have solved this problem and its a huge blessing, deserving of all my praise.

Roll for the Galaxy is not a complex game, but there are a lot of special powers on the tiles, unique actions and a variety of special rules. Thanks to the layout of the games components however, it all becomes second nature after a couple of rounds of play.

While there was quite a bit of art pulled from Race of the Galaxy, the majority of it is new and this was also a great decision. The game feels fresh and the art work is colorful and themed just right even if you already own and have played Race For The Galaxy.

All and all the component quality here is really fantastic, I see little to complain about other then the player mats which are a bit flimsy and will definitely wear and tear over time. The insert was also really bad, it doesn’t leave enough room in the box to fit everything so I had to throw it out. Not really a big deal, but you have to wonder what they where thinking.

Theme

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: A sense of “race” remains in the game, art work does a lot to promote the theme.

Cons: Very abstracted and disconnected in most places.

Rio Grande Games generally makes Euro style games and Roll For The Galaxy, despite being a dice based game, is very much a Euro game. Despite its roots, Roll For the Galaxy has more theme then most Euros. Your building a space empire, playing out improvements, technologies, installing governments and colonizing planets. All the science-fiction bells and whistles are here supported by great art that heightens the perception.

The art is crisp and techi, but there is limited connection between mechanics and theme here. Its very abstracted.

That said the game is not really particularly thematic, its all very abstracted, though in a dice game this is a given. Its clear that everything that could be done to make this game thematic was, but it still does not result in an overwhelming sense of time and place. It works well as a science-fiction theme and being based on Race for the Galaxy it retains that “space race” feel, but the theme here is pretty interchangeable, it could have just as well been themed to be medevil Mediterranean trading or well pretty much anything with trading and exploration.

I don’t think this really has much impact on the game though, you don’t really sit down to it expecting a thematic experience. Its a fairly short, strategic dice game with roll selection and resource management. The mind games of trying to guess your opponent strategy and intended action each turn is a lot of fun, but I’m not sure how that ties into the theme at all.

Needless to say the theme is sufficient, but isn’t going to overwhelm the senses and that’s just fine.

Gameplay

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Great core mechanics, streamlined and fun. The game pace and timing is just right in the sweet spot.

Cons: Very little player interaction.

I consider gameplay to be of utmost importance in a game like this as it involves dice and that is very easy to fuck up. In fact, I would say the overwhelming majority of dice games are huge disappointments to me so when I find a good one like Roll For The Galaxy its cause to celebrate.

Roll For The Galaxy functions on several levels, its actually far deeper than any dice game I have played before to the point where I’m not sure it fully qualifies as a dice game in the sames sense that Voyage of Marco Polo or Kingsburg may arguably might be considered to be in a category other than dice game.

Voyage of Marco Polo also uses a lot of dice, but anyone who has played is unlikely to refer to it as a dice game. Roll For The Galaxy I think falls into the same category.

On the surface its a game of resource management. You roll dice in your cup which represents your available resources or work force. The icons on the dice determine what options are available to you although there are countless ways to manipulate the results, in particular once you get a few developments into play. Your also managing your money to bring already used workers back into your cup for your next turn. There is a kind of engine here you have to coordinate to ensure you always have some resources to work with and much of the strategy of the game revolves around this cycle.

On the second level you have your action for the round. Each round you will select one of the five possible actions to take, however each player does the same thing. Only the actions selected by the player will be triggered, and since you assign dice to actions at the start of each turn, guessing correctly what actions your opponents will take will allow you to take both your action and the actions of your opponents. This is a kind of mini game of trying to deduce what your opponents will do, its both a big part of the strategy and fun of the game. Guessing correctly on a regular basis means you will gain a big advantage over time, as will your opponents. Which again flips things where you don’t want to be obvious with your actions to prevent your opponents from guessing correctly. Its really a kind of fun mind game, it can even create a bit of Analysis Paralysis. I really love this aspect of the game.

You make key decisions like which action to take each round behind a screen. deducing what your opponents are going to do is key to a good strategy.

Finally their is the third layer where you decide what planets to colonize and what developments to build. Here you have another engine where you explore tiles by pulling them out of a bag when taking the explore action, then choose which tiles to develop. This is where you will build your long term strategy, a critical component to being successful in the game as the tiles both give you advantages like more dice for your cup, ways to manipulate dice or just outright score points. The tiles themselves are also worth points and generally the more resources it takes to put a tile into play the more its worth, but of course the longer it takes to get into play. Its a fine balance of tough decisions requiring you to have a flexible and well thought out strategy. It is also the trigger for the end game, once any player has 12 tiles out, at the end of the round the game ends. So there is strategy to how fast you develop, do you go for big hard to put out tiles to score big points, or do you rush to the finish line with lots of smaller tiles.

All of these elements come together to create a very thinky, very engaging game that far exceeds the expectations you might have of a simple dice game. Much like Race for the Galaxy there is not a tremendous amount of interaction between players, its effectively a space race to see who can do it faster and better, but the game is sufficiently short that this does not become a problem. You’re really focused on your own stuff, but because of the role selection mechanic your always keeping a close eye on what your opponents are doing in anticipation of having to guess what actions they will take. It works really well to keep players interested in each others progress despite not really having much you can do to affect it negatively.

I absolutely adored the gameplay in this game, it has the exact same concept/premise of Race For the Galaxy, with the same feeling, but without the overly complex Iconography to slow the game down. Its very easy to teach and learn and its very short even with a full complement of players. Its a really great warm up game, yet it has sufficient depth to keep veteran players engaged and interested.

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Scales well, dynamic starts and plenty of randomization to create new experiences each time you play.

Cons: Nothing to complain about

Its really hard to measure the longevity of a game like this, but I think the fact that its a fairly short game (typically under an hour) its replay-ability ratio is very high. I can see this acting as a warm up game for a lot of game sessions in particular because it scales so well with any player count.

The randomness of tile draws and dice rolling ensure that you are never going to play the same game twice, in fact, I would say even your strategy is very dynamic. You are going to base a lot of your strategy on what tiles you start with and what tiles you draw, so your not going to walk into this game with a “this is how you win this game” pre-planned strategy. Every game is different, requiring a different approach, which does wonders for replay-ability.

Very little to complain about here, its easy to teach and learn, so you really can pull it out at any game session without fear. It has a great dynamic start ensuring your going to be seeing the game through new eyes each time you play. Just a good solid mechanic with plenty to explore.

Conclusion

Roll For The Galaxy has turned out to be one of the most solid titles to come out of Rio Grande for quite a while in my eyes. It definitely surpasses its predecessor Race For The Galaxy and despite being a dice game, its a very strategic game well in the control of the player. Lady luck plays her part but not nearly to the extent one might imagine in a dice game.

This is a multifaceted game that works on a fairly wide range of depth, yet manages to be easy to understand throughout. It scales really well, it has a short play time that really hits the sweet spot for warm up games and there is plenty of exploration for repeated plays.

Definitely a highly recommended title for Race For The Galaxy fans and fans of dice games, but really this game is far more than the sum of its part. This is a thinky, strategic game, worthy of the shelf space of any gamer out there.

Board Game Reviews

First Night with Runewars Miniature Game

April 15, 2017 5 Minutes

I don’t do to many first impression articles, but on occassion I like to write one just to see what I think after the first play of a game and have it as a comparison to it when I do the final review. This works best with miniature games as it takes me a really long time to properly review them.

Today on First Night With, I’m going to be talking about Fantasy Flight Games newborn sensation, Runewars the miniature game. Its officially launched, I have played it twice, here is what I thought.

First let me just say that as expected, Runewars miniatures are extrodinarly well done. The molds are clean, in epic (active) poses, there is great variety and they are just flat out beautiful. FFG has hit the nail on the head, I find very little to complain about. Personally I was amazed and delighted, even inspired to paint, which for me, is nothing short of a fucking miracle because I despise painting mini’s with a deep passion.

The quality of the mini’s is undeniable. They look amazing!

I can see that some hard core miniature fans might have issues with the fact that the molds are designed in “fixed” poses. This was clearly a design decesion made to make this miniature game a little bit more approachable for people new to the hobby as it makes assembly considerably easier with few parts to put together. Most of the pieces snap together requiring glue only for select mini’s. I know from experiance that veteran miniature gamers really want to customize and create something unique, with Runewars that will be a bit more difficult requiring some cutting and plenty of greenstuff, but I suspect most of these hobbyiest won’t find that to difficult. Its a compromise, but it certainly favors guys like me who just want to get to the game.

Skeletons were a bit more fiddly when putting them together. They require glue to put together.

I really disliked the tray system. I understand what they where going for here, but the interlocking trays and unit connectors are fiddly, too tight and really just get in the way. I can see myself cutting all of these things off, a solution easy enough to implement. I really don’t see the point of the interlocking system, its something that sounds good on paper, but didn’t really work that great in practice.

The trays were probobly not intended to be difficult to connect and disconnect, but they are, it was annoying and slowed the game down.

As for the rest of the components, in standard FFG fashion they have blown the doors off with the absolutly highest level of component and card quality, extremely clear and functional text, great artwork and aesthetics and streamlined to perfection. After a single play I was already familiar with all of the games components and by the second play the symbology was already becoming second nature. A++ here, they just nailed it.

Finally the books. I spent an hour reading the Lore book cover to cover and while I think the Runewars universe is extremely bland and generic, and still very vague, its definitly the most we have ever gotten for it. The writting was well done, clever even in some places, but the game world is still very much at arms length. I find it hard to describe but its just not dark enough for my tastes and it has this fluffy, cartoony feel to it, much like its art that really just kind of makes it difficult to connect to. It manages to fit in all of your standard over used fantasy tropes, there are magic runes, undead, forest elves and dragons. All your usual stuff done a million times before with just the tinyiest amount of variation. It was quite pedestrian with no suprises and not a single line of original thought adding a grand total of zero to the genre of fantasy work. I was really hoping with Runewars the miniatures game they were going to dive in and create something to give the game some thematic muscle and perhaps they still might with some sort of story book (aka like they did for Android) but for now the game world is still very much common and largely irrelevant.

I really hope FFG takes the time to create a lore book for Runewars like they did for Android. It really needs it.

The other two books, the learn to play and Rules Reference on the other hand tackled the job of teaching you how to play and giving you a proper rule book reference, both of which are fantastic, easy to consume and extremely streamlined. Its exactly what this game needed and I love the format. It left very few questions unanswered and while I expect we will see quite a bit of errata in the future, for the purposes of learning the game and having a good reference guide these two books have it covered.

Ok so lets talk about the actual gaming experiance here because there is quite a bit to cover and it really is the heart and soul of this game.

To me the game really kind of breaks down into three core zones of mechanics. First you have your list/army building. Second you have your gameplay and mechanics. Finally you have your strategic and tactical variation.

As far as list building goes I reserve judgement because frankly I did very little. That said I was happy to see that despite there being a fairly limited selection of units there was quite a bit of variety in how you set each one up. We had two core sets to work with and even there I felt like we could have easily gotten a 3rd. How many ranks you put in a unit has a lot of impact on how that unit will be used, but the upgrades in particular really stood out. Each one creating unique tactical oppertunities that really differeniate two units of the same type.

More than that though I can see how you can create a pretty wide range of lists with just the core sets with different levels of focus, tactical infusion and general strategy. I think with more units coming into the fold in expansions, list building will be debated and fun with plenty of room for experimentation. I was very pleased with the core set as a whole as far as list building went, it was definitly a big improvement over the core sets of X-Wing and Armada.

When Armada was released and advertised as an Epic game of capital ship combat, when you got the core set it felt like anything but. Runewars however managed to really nail it. Its supposed to be a game of epic Fantasy battles, and it feels like it with just the core set.

One core set however is clearly not enough and I would argue even two will have you feeling a bit light. Really I think most people are going to want to have 3 core sets in the end to make the 1st wave really robust and varied.

When it comes to gameplay I have to say that while I found a lot to love about it, the thing that really stood out the most for me was the core balance in the game. FFG has done a fantastic job of creating a really solid asymetrical balance between the two armies and while both matches where won by humans, it was clear to me that this was just a fluke rather than a balance issue. Certainly certain units stood out as clearly superior, but both armies had, asymetrical responses which even things out. It was clear matches are won and lost with tactics and strategy, exactly as it should be. There was one exception and that’s the Runes (more on that later)

Our first game the undead forces lost the game by a mere 5 points and the while the second match ended in largely a blow out I could see very specifically where tactical miscalculation and not balance issues where the direct cause. You could very easily track back every mistake that lead to the loss and there was plenty of “I should have” moments that would have drastically changed the outcome of the battle. (Again with one exception, I promise, more on that later)

I was also very happy with the dice layout and system. While the destiny of the dice certainly played its part, I never felt like the dice ruled the game. The stat odds are very even keel, this is not a game you can win by rolling well or lose by rolling poorly. Sure you might have a key roll that creates an epic moment of success or failure, but in Runewars battles are won and lost by decesions, not the dice, for which I can only say, thank you FFG.

The movement mechanic borrowed from X-Wing also worked really great. In our first two games we made a lot of gaffs being unfamiliar with estimating ranges, but I can see how in the future we will get much better at this. Still I think that uncertainty and “I hope I’m close enough for this charge” feeling will remain a part of this game and I think its really great. Thankfully the penalty for missing a charge or unerestimating a move are not that harsh, which I think is a good thing, it would be a shame if battles were won and lost on one mistake, that is not the case here. The movement system pushes players to take risks and hope for the best resulting in a lot more action on the table.

The table space is quite tight despite its size, usually by the second round units are clashing so you really get right to the action. I think in time the game will feel more mobile than it did in our first game as we really didn’t leverage some of the more advanced moves that are possible. While its not quite X-Wing in terms of movement, its clear that position, facing and timing are all part of the movement sequence putting players to tough decesions. All good things.

The objective and deployment mechanic was also really good, I’m glad they pulled this away from being part of a list building mechanic and made it a random draw. While I think this worked ok in Armada, the thing with. adding objectives to list building is that it creates too much dependency and drives list building. With the Runewars way of drawing them, you really kind of need to prepare for all of them and this will result in list building being more diverse and less specialized, which ultimatly creates more balanced battles. I really liked the system.

I didn’t love everything about the mechanics however. For one, I really hated the “Rune” system, it really felt like a kind of pointless and underserved random modifier that rewarded players for doing absolutly nothing but getting lucky.

The mechanic is this “extra thing” on the side of a battle completly unreleated to any tactics, decsions or strategies of the players which really does nothing at all to make the game either more interesting, more balanced, fun or tactical. Half the time we would forget about the mechanic entirely and when it did kick it, it did little else but give a player a random advantage that had zero to do with the fight. It was like flipping a coin to see if more units would die or not, simply put, it was a gift that rewarded a player for doing nothing. I also didn’t think it was particularly balanced. The undead army was allowed to regenerate units for their foot soldiers (1 or 2 of them) as long as the tray was still there based on the runes that appear. This was offset by the human player getting 1 or 2 additional threat for their Gollums. This was a poor trade of as regenerate would only kick in under very specific circumstances while the increasing threat of the Gollum pretty much kicked in every round. In fact, in two games, the undead player never once was able to leverage this advantage while for the human player it was a key advantage that gave him a huge boost in the fight.

This random modifier was poorly thought out, it adds a random element to the game that serves only to create luck based results with no tactical decesions that can be made to avoid them. Worse yet it masquerades as a way to power unit abilities, rendering some way too powerful and others completetly and utterly useless.

Balance was not really my beef with the mechanic however, I just didn’t like the idea of this completetly random element affecting the results of the battle. We already have dice for that, it just seemed pointless to have yet another element of pure luck in the game. Definitly my least favorite aspect of Runewars.

If you are a hardcore miniatures fan, you will quickly realize that there are quite a few sacred cows that have been abandoned in Runewars, this is not your grandaddy’s miniature game. FFG gave few fucks about the miniature gaming community at large, they designed this game through and through in FFG fashion with little concern as to wether or not Warhammer Fantasy/40k people will approve, or will or won’t like it. They made it the way they like it and its a take it or leave it deal. In fact, one of the biggest impressions I walked away with was that Runewars is just a giant FUCK YOU to Gamesworkshop. Its a game that has solved every problem that has plagued Warhammer Fantasy & 40k for 30+ years with ease and flare. The movement templates might has well say “eat a dick GW” on the side because its kind of like, after 30+ Years you assholes couldn’t design up a cardbord stick for movement in your game!?

Warhammer Fantasy died a very long and very painful death. It was never a good game. Runewars pretty much fixed every problem it ever had in one fell swoop. GW could learn a lot from FFG.

But I degress…

From a birds eye view as well as in the nitty gritty details, Runewars has made a very positive impression on me. Definitly worth investing in and exploring. I think as far as a straight to the point game of fantasy battles, this is the best I have seen in years and this is coming from a guy who when it was first announced instantly turned down the offer. I think my main problems with the game like the fact that it is a assemble and paint game are more a minor nuisance compared to what you get out of it as a game. I didn’t like the Rune mechanic, but this too requires more exploration. While I felt it was rather broken as a first impression, I suspect with the core set we have not really seen its full intention and use. Given that everything else in the game from the quality of the miniatures to the fantastic gameplay, it would be foolish to discount it based on these minor issues.

As a whole I would rate my impression as “really good” and I definitly look forward to future battles, so for now I stand excited about the game and look forward to exploring it further.

That’s my first impressions of Runewars, hope you enjoyed the article. See you on the battlefield.

What Makes It Tick

What Makes It Tick: Lord of The Rings LCG Solo : Part I

March 30, 2017 5 Minutes

The what makes it tick series has become one of the most viewed elements on my site and its also quickly become my favorite type of article to write. Today we begin yet another What Makes It Tick series on Lord of the Rings the Living Card Game by Fantasy Flight Games.

Now this is a game I really struggle with and its because it is a brutally hard game, in a sense, anyone playing it is an eternal noob as there seems to be no good way to truly master it. This is without question what draws me personally to this game and since like so many out there I too am always looking for any tid bit of information, advice or just tips, I thought why not pass on what little I have learned.

As with all the articles in this series I’m going to assume you are familiar with the game, this series has always been intended for existing players rather than “I want to learn what this is” type of thing. We are going to start right in the middle with our first article and tackle a tough and common topic of discussion. The already infamous Adventure Quest “Conflict At The Carrock”

This is one tough quest and I struggled with it for a very long time before not only beating it but figuring out what the hell your even supposed to do to succeed. Let’s get right into it!

Very important note here. This series is about SOLO play, unaltered, straight up solo play. Much of this advice would probably be quite different if I was making the assessments for 2 or more players.

The Lay Of The Land

Possibly one of the toughest quests in the Shadows of Mirkwood Cycle. It’s all about bringing the beat down on some Trolls!

Conflict At The Carrock is a 2 stage quest, though this is incredibly deceiving because there is so much more to it then that. The two stages are Grimbeorn’s Quest & Against the Trolls. The first stage of the quest, Grimebeorn’s Quest is mostly benign and non-descript. You set aside the 4 Trolls you will be facing later and to complete the quest you simply need to attain 7 progress. In the second quest you basically need to defeat these 4 trolls.

The first quest (Grimbeorn’s Quest) is simple enough but this is where the bulk of the work to be successful in the quest must be completed. Its not about what it says, but about what it does not say.

The clue is in the title of the first quest, you want this guy, you need this guy, this guy is your best friend in the Conflict At The Carrock!

Grimbeorn’s Quest 1
Setup: Add The Carrock to the staging area. Remove 4 unique Troll cards and 4 copies of the “Sacked!” card from the encounter deck and set them aside, out of play. Then shuffle 1 “Sacked!” card per player back into the encounter deck.

Forced: After placing the 7th progress token on Grimbeorn’s Quest, The Carrock becomes the active location. Discard the previous active location from play.

Against The Trolls Quest 2
When Revealed: Place the unique Troll cards previously set aside into the staging area.
Players cannot defeat this stage if there are any Troll enemies in play.

The core difficulty of Conflict At The Carrock is that the Trolls that drop into the staging area in the second quest, when faced simultaneously are all but impossible to defeat and because they have the same Engagement Cost, if your threat is above theres they will all drop on you simultaneously. If this happens, In all but the most rarest circumstances, you are probably going to lose in the very round they drop on you.

Hence the obvious strategy here is to control your threat so that when stage two begins, they remain in the staging area. While this is definitely part of the strategy, its far from the whole picture.

The Real Stages of Conflict At The Carrock

I mentioned that the first quest, Grimbeorn’s Quest, is all about what it doesn’t say though there are some clues given.

To truly defeat and control Conflict At The Carrock with any reliability you need to accomplish 4 things prior to completing the first stage of this quest.

First, you must find Grimbeorn the Old and claim him on your side. He is your 4th hero, a powerful one, especially equipped to help you defeat the Trolls. Without him, completing Conflict At The Carrock is very difficult to say the least. Finding Grimebeorn however requires you to go through the Encounter deck and get Bee Pastures to the table. This brings our second element.

This is the key to getting your best asset needed to defeat the trolls in stage 2, one of the many hidden “stages” of the first quest.

Secondly you must control the Encounter top deck. Whatever deck you build, its vital that you know what the top card of the Encounter Deck is and have the ability to get rid of it. This is because there are several really tough cards in the Encounter deck that can end your game rather abruptly. There are various approaches here, the one I ultimately used was Denethor. This is because he can both look at the top card and move it to the bottom deck if you don’t like it and then in later stages, help defend with his 3 defense. There are plenty of other ways to do this, suffice to say you must have some encounter deck control. If you leave it to chance, bad things will happen.

Kind of a bad guy in the original story, there is nothing bad about him in the game. He was the key to victory for me.

Cards like Muck Adder can surprise you and take out one of your heroes easily if you are not prepared. A poorly timed A Frightened Beast can dramatically raise your threat, which is something you really need to control given that you must stay under 34 threat to ensure the Trolls can’t engage automatically when stage 2 arrives. In fact its more reasonable to say you need to be well under 34 to be successful as you will gain threat during the big fight as well. Finally you really need to avoid the Sacked & Roasted Slowly combo, its going to end your day in an instance. Those are just the cards from Conflict At The Carrock to, there is all manor of death in the other decks that are part of the quest including Hill Troll who can do a lot of damage to your threat.

Instant effects like this would be a lot easier to control if you didn’t have to deal with shadow effect cards. One bad draw and things are going to die.

The third element needed for success is a good army. You really need a lot of stuff on the table ready to fight and quest. Some utility here is also a good idea to assist with all other elements. You want the units to be cheap, so that you can get them to the table, but fighty so that they can put some damage on the board. The choice here is wide open, though I personally found that the Leadership and Lore Spheres worked the best here. You have lots of allies that are cheap enough (2 or 3 resources) and offer great utility like card draws and boosting effects. The most important part though is getting a good solid force so that you have both some sacrificial lambs and can do sufficient damage to take out one Troll per round which typically means doing about 12-14 damage. That’s a big damage requirement but between hero’s and Grimebeorn, you should be about 2/3rds of the way there, so your army needs to fill in the rest.

The final element is what I like to call “fishing for cards”. This is usually done through different types of utility allies or cards, but you must find the threat control cards in your deck like Gandalf for example to keep that threat down. Remember you MUST be under 34 threat when you go to stage 2, going there with a threat higher than that is pointless, odds of you getting wiped out in short order are almost 100%. Hence getting threat control into your hand is a priority and that means drawing cards effects & other effects that allow you to pull cards or filter through them.

Spirit decks are also very good at controlling threat, I can see using the spirit sphere here with great success as well.

Ok so you can see why this particular quest is so difficult. A lot has to come together in order to succeed.

The optimal position you should be in when going into stage 2 of this quest are as followed.

Below 34 Threat (preferably 30 or bellow)
Sufficient Allies & Heroes on the board to do 12-14 damage per round when attacking.
Grimebeorn is a must in most cases, it helps with the above, but more importantly he can take a lot of damage for you without being sacraficed so your forces aren’t being diminished.

How I did It

I’m reluctant to simply post my deck. I understand that this is a common practice in the community but as I was trying to defeat this quest, I didn’t want someone to just hand me the answer for the test. This is a game of discovery, its part of the fun and I’m not going to spoil it for you. I will however give you some tips on cards that where key in the success of this quest.

I used Leadership and Lore for my two spheres. While I believe there are many hero’s that can successfully traverse this quest, I believe Denethor was the key to my success. Really I think this is one of my favorite heroes to use for any tough quest because the truth is that if you can control the Encounter Top Deck, you have given yourself a massive advantage. It requires him to exhaust however so I always make sure to put something in the deck that allows me to ready him in an emergency.

Gandalf is was also key to my success mainly for his threat control but he is expensive. This is partially why I used Leadership, so that I could get Steward of Gondor and ultimately have enough resources to pay for Gandalf. Its also an important card to get Grimbeorn the Old into play. One alternative is of course to use Sneak Attack to bring out Gandalf. This is a dirt cheap way to leverage Gandalf but requires the drawing of two cards at the same time, not exactly a reliable way of doing it. Steward of Gondor is a reliable card that helps with Gandalf and a lot of other things, so with Leadership to me its just an auto add most of the time anyway.

Finally I think Henamarth Riversong played an important roll, it was just that extra measure of control, Forest Snare can be helpful, though I didn’t use it for the Trolls, but more for controlling the board during the preparation portion of the quest in the first stage. By the time your fighting the Trolls you shouldn’t need the snare, if you do, something has gone terribly wrong. Burning Brand was also really important, the Trolls are tough enough without Shadow Effects.

The Victory

Beating this quest was not easy, my final score was 182, not exactly a massive victory, but the satisfaction of logging this quest was pure bliss. It was a tough challenge, even with all the right moves the final stage is still tough. Those Trolls are tough to beat and you still have to contend with the rising threat, questing and adds that can appear as you fight them. In the end it was about keeping that threat under 34 and killing the Trolls one at a time.

As if Conflict At The Carrock was not tough enough, you can use these nightmare version of the Trolls!

The bet advice I can give when it comes to approaching any quest in Lord of the Rings but in particular this one, is that you have to pay close attention to your loses. What is the root cause. Is it threat, is it monsters, is it questing. Identify it and then adapt your strategy to strengthen that portion of your deck. I ultimately beat the quest because I didn’t “start over” with an entirely new deck each time I lost. I simply went back to the deck and made small adaptions. In the end it took over 15 attempts before I beat the quest, but now I’m certain I could beat it at least half the time which is about as good as it gets with a tough one like Conflict At The Carrock.

It was a fantastic experience, without question one of my favorite quests so far. I hope you found this article helpful, good luck in your questing!

Board Game Reviews

Blood Rage by CMON 2015

March 29, 2017 5 Minutes

Designer: Eric M. Lang

Blood Rage is perhaps one of the most evolutionary games to hit the board gaming scene in the last decade, I use the term evolutionary rather then revolutionary because while it certainly defines a lot of new ground, it does so with existing, well established mechanics.

This game has the look of an Ameri-trash game, populated with amazing miniatures, artistic flare and of course coming out of the American publisher CMNO (Cool Mini or Not). Despite all that, its central core is without question eurocentric with elements like card drafting, resource management, victory points and Euro stylized area control.

What do we make of E. Langs creation, lets get to it!

Overview

Final Score: (5 out 5) Perfect Score!

In Blood Rage players are put in the position of a Viking tribe with the intent to control a mythological landscape, hell bent on an honorable death while navigating the cataclysmic resetting of the world lovingly known as Ragnarok.

Going on 4 years of game reviews and 20+ years of gaming, this is the first time I have ever given a game a perfect score! It earned every sparkle of every star.

Each round players will do a round robin card drafting session, cards that will be drafted for their preferred strategy. During the course of a round players will fight for control of the board as they attempt a series of raids in the name of glory and honor, to both score points and advance their clan on different resource tracks that strengthen their position. Players will also use cards to quest to score more points as well as upgrade their clan with a wide range of clan and leader upgrades, as well as purchasing of one of a kind mythological units to fight on their side.

After four rounds of play the player with the most glory points wins the game.

In a nutshell, Blood Rage is a game of area control and scoring points, but this surface explanation hardly does it justice as the strategic depth and wide range of strategic options and approaches creates an incredibly versatile and dynamic game.

Components

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Perfect combination of quality, art and sculpted miniatures. You simply can’t ask for much more.

Cons: None

Cool Mini or Not has gained quite the reputation for their component quality giving even Fantasy Flight Games a run for its money. Blood Rage exemplifies this to an extreme that is almost over kill. Intricately sculpted and asymmetrical figures border on miniature game quality and are absolutely amazing, in particular considering they exist in a board game. Every component is of the best quality from cards and tokens to the board itself. Everything has a gritty art style that brings the Viking theme to life and as if this was not enough the board is clear, easy to read and streamlined to the maximum making everything identifiable and simple to read helping tremendously in gameplay.

These miniatures look like they belong in miniature gamers display case. Absolutely amazing!

To say it plainly Blood Rage, component wise is as perfect as it can be. Its hard to imagine what else could have been done to improve the quality here. As a gamer I can only tip my hat and say thank you, I think I can safely speak on the behalf of all gamer’s that when we spend money on games, this is exactly what we want them to look like.

Theme

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: An amazing blending of game play, abstraction and theme. The best Viking themed game ever made.

Cons: You might like it less if you don’t like the Viking Theme.

The art style aside, which is in its own right a contributor to bringing the theme to life here, Blood Rage literally bleeds theme, you almost want to be careful not to get too much on you.

The connection here is deep and while the game is somewhat abstracted, somehow the abstraction really fits the overall thematic depth here. Its a game where units die, go to Valhalla and get re-incarnated then come back and do it again, oddly enough this is thematically accurate despite being of course ultra unrealistic.

The dark and mythy artwork does a great job of getting you in the mood.

More than that though the mechanics stay out of the way of the theme when it counts, but appear when it feels just right. For example it may seem odd that only so many units can fit on any given space, clearly a mechanical consideration, but they make up for it when ensuring that monsters that are brought into play are true monstrosities. Not just in the visual representation of the miniatures, but in the game effects upon their arrival. The impact is huge, the units are feared and getting them to the board is just pure bliss and satisfaction. I absolutely love the fact that the game has this deep mechanical balance where a wide range of strategies and tactics can pull out a win, while simultaneously keep it gamy by having these huge power plays that just say “fuck you and your strategy, I have a Fire Giant!” It just feels right thematically and the game bursts with color and presence.

There is also this element of asymmetrical units and while mechanically the game is not asymmetrical from the start, the fact that by the second round each player will have devised his own strategy and adapted his clan to his preference, the game becomes asymmetrical. Suddenly having asymmetrical units on the board, somehow makes sense and becomes relevant thematically. Its ingenious that the producers of this game recognized that the presence of asymmetry of the units, despite mechanically not being so out of the gate was important to the theme of the game.

Adding asymmetric units to an unsymmetrical game because through the course of the game your clan becomes asymmetrical as a result of upgrades was a genius move, even if it is total overkill.

Finally there is just the blood thirsty nature of Vikings and their perceived love of war and fearlessness of death is captured in Blood Rage beautifully. Units fight for glory and the only thing that matters are the results of battle, death is not feared, in fact often its a sought after a strategy of the game ensuring there is always action on the table regardless of the relative strength of a particular clan at any given time. I absolutely love the fact that, I go into a fight totally outnumbered, knowing I’m about to die and its still a good move for me. It ensures there is no turtling, no fussing about, its a game of war because Vikings love war and it just works beautifully to bring out the thematics of the games premise.

Blood Rage is pure perfection in capturing the mood and feel of a Viking based game of war, doing it with pizzazz and a flare for the dramatic. Love it!

Gameplay

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: An amazing dynamically built, asymmetrical game with endless possibility and strategic depth. Its the perfect game.

Cons: Ameri-Trash purist might find issue with its Eurocentric game-play.

When it comes to Blood Rage there just seems to be no weakness, Gameplay is no different. Blood Rage is an amazingly diverse game that offers countless strategies in a dynamic forum that refuses to allow you to get comfortable. This is a game that is not over until every last point is counted and no matter how it appears there are any number of ways to make a massive comeback to steal it. As an amateur designer I’m in awe of a game that does not really create anything particularly new or revolutionary, yet manages to be so deep and intriguing.

To begin with, the card drafting mechanic has been clearly tested to a ridiculous degree. The balance of upgrades, quests and attack cards are diverse and made good for a wide range of occasions. There really are no bad cards, every card in this game can be “the perfect card” depending on the timing of its arrival and the strategy of the player. Its amazing that you can look at a card in one game and effectively ignore it, while looking at in another game and realize that its your game winner. The drafting in this game is a vital component of your strategy, the decisions are painful and its not uncommon to find yourself AP ridden as a result. I just love the choices here, they have so much impact on how your round is going to play out.

Drafting cards is a vital phase in the game, its where you define your intended strategy.

Resource management is also so clever, rife with tough decisions. Every point of rage and every improved stat has important impact and often is critical to your success. A bad decision can cost you dearly, a good one can result in a major triumph. More than that though its so well balanced here as well, every attribute of your clan is so important and its impossible to be good at everything so you have to choose wisely, yet it can be so dynamic what you are able to end up increasing because of how raiding works.

With raiding, each area will have a token that represents one of the three attributes and these tokens are randomly chosen at the start of the game which creates a lot of dynamics. In some games you can end up with a lot of rage on the board, in others, you might find there to be a major shortage. The impact of that on strategies and tactics, what areas become critical in a game and how that affects the actions of players is just fantastic. No two games are ever alike as a result.

Resource management & upgrades are also critical. Nothing on this player sheet can be ignored, everything matters.

Finally there is just the global mechanics of combat, both in the cards you choose, where you put your units out, what upgrades you have in play and course what monsters you have available. All of these create a wide range of combat results, with huge upsets and triumphs. No matter what fight your going into, you can never be certain of the results, there is a ton of risk vs. reward here and in Blood Rage taking risks is a vital component of strategy. Yet despite this system there is no luck in the combat element of the game, its all about what has put out on the table and what cards players have drafted. Hence you can devise strategies to ensure the results you want, but of course you can end up being countered by other players strategies, all with virtually no luck elements to blame. This should cater to Euro sensibilities, but as a Ameri-Trash player I can’t imagine how luck would improve the game in any way, its exactly perfect as it is.

The gameboard is where all the action takes place, control isn’t everything however, its as important to fight and win as it is to control. Blood Rage is definitely not a game of turteling.

I’m hard pressed to name any negative aspects of gameplay in Blood Rage. I suppose I could say that this game improves greatly with more players. While I think a 2 or 3 player game works fine, personally I think it just shines so bright as a 4 or 5 player game (need expansion for 5), that said playing it 2 or 3 player just feels wrong somehow. This is a game of the more the merrier, though I’m not sure you could negatively score it as a 2 or 3 player game because all of those dynamics are still there. I just think its so good with a full player count, I wouldn’t dream of playing it any other way.

In short, Blood Rage its just bloody pitch perfect (pun intended).

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score:
Tilt:

Pros: Endlessly replay-able, this is a game for the ages, no two games will ever be alike.

Cons: You would have to be a hateful son of a bitch to find replay-ability issues in this game.

Blood Rage is so dynamic I can’t think of a single game that could top it in the replay-ability department. Its got it where it counts, which is pretty much everywhere. I predict that this game will remain in our gaming group indefinitely, its always a contender for the table and I just don’t see myself ever tiring of it.

I think in part the great contribution to the Longevity of this game is the card drafting. It creates what is effectively a dynamically, asymmetrical game. After the first round of drafting, each player has customized their clan and by the end of the game, every clan is not only unique, but created from a combination of countless effects, monsters, upgrades etc.. Every game is just going to be drastically different from the next, which is kind of strange considering your playing on static board.

The expansions aren’t necessary for the game, its quite perfect without them, but they are fantastic in their own right. Gods of Asgard and the 5 Player expansion are well worth the investment.

There is also this intangible quality that great games have where after finishing a game you have this “I should have” feeling, urging you to play it again so you can try the next alternative strategy or tactic. This game is not just about what strategy you choose but also about the timing of the execution of the strategy. Your always working towards the win, but there are these big end game plays which sort of dynamically form over the course of the game, coming to a conclusion in the final draft. The risk vs. reward balance here really drives this as players must make choices as to whether to play it safe or push it.

Its just a very satisfying game that keeps you hungry, win or lose you always feel like you should have won. You can always trace things back to a particular event, action or decision.

I can’t think of anything that would drive down or negatively effect replay-ability, in fact with the introduction of the expansions that allow for a 5 player game and the gods which create yet another crazy dynamic, this game is just infinity replay-able.

Conclusion

My rating system is very tough, its designed to keep me honest and make it near impossible for a game to get a perfect score. Blood Rage is the first ever and I’m really unsure if it that will ever be repeated.

You might ask then why its not my number 1 game on my top 10 best table top games of all time. Well there is no accounting for taste and while I absolutely love blood rage and I do believe its a perfect design , I find some elements of my personal taste don’t fully match up with Blood Rage, though I would never count it against a amazing design like this.

I love civilization builders, miniatures games and story based games. Blood Rage doesn’t really fall into any of those categories, but it doesn’t intend to so I don’t hold it against it. Personal preference and the ability to rate/review a game objectively are two very different approaches. Objectively, to me, Blood Rage is the perfect game and while I’m still on the search for a perfect Civilization Builder, Miniature Game or Story Based game, Blood Rage definitely meets the standards within its own genre.

This is a game for anyone that considers themselves a serious gamer, it simply can’t be missed. My first perfect review on my blog, amazing.

Best of List

Top 10 Table Top Games of All Time 2017 Edition

March 27, 2017 5 Minutes

Its time once again to refresh my top 10 best table top games of all time list. Its been an exciting year, the last time I did this was back in August of 2016 and a lot has happened since then. In fact, I think this will probably be one of the most significant updates to the list I have ever had with a ton of changes and several new games arriving to the list.

I do want to say one thing about this latest list, much like everything in life, my gaming preferences are driven by new experiences and while I don’t consider myself a cult of the new type of gamer, I do believe that in the last few years the gaming industry has improved in so many ways and there are so many new game designers and design concepts being introduced that it was inevitable that I was at some point going to experience a changing pallete. I think this list is a reflection of a culmination of experiences over the last 2 or 3 years, but it has only now sort of arrived.

Ok no sense in stalling any further, lets get to the list.

1. Through The Ages: A New Story of Civilization

Making its second official appearance on my top 10 list and driving up to number one, this is perhaps the most jarring and biggest surprise even for me. The truth is that I have always loved the Sid Meier PC game series Civilization, as long as I can remember being a gamer I have been playing it. I have also been on a never ending search to find the perfect board game version of the game, a road ripe with disappointments. Finally I find Through The Ages, a game that brings that PC game feel to the table.

There is no question in my mind that the original Through The Ages was a great game, but when people refuse to play it because it looks like a prototype excel sheet, its hard to justify for a top 10 list.

Now why was 1st edition never on my list? The truth is that while the changes in the 2nd edition are subtle, they were vital and they brought the game out of that weird space it existed in for a long time. I always liked the game, but I just felt that the 1st edition was so ugly and so unforgiving and stringent that it was impossible to bring it to the table with anyone but the most die hard fan, to the point where people didn’t want to try it based on appearances alone. This new version changed all that.

With new visuals, streamlined rules and important design fixes it brought this classic game out of the closet and while I won’t say it made it mainstream, it did make it a lot more approachable. I was able to get it to the table, I got plenty of excitement and requests to play it again. Its now part of the line up of games I can pull out to my gaming group without getting a lot of groaning and moaning.

For me personally it grew on my slowly, very slowly in fact, but when I consider this list I always think to myself, if I had a chance to play any game right now, tomorrow or next week, what would it be. Through The Ages is now that game. I would rather play this one on any given day then anything else and as such it simply belongs in the number one spot.

Its a brilliant game that demands a lot, while maintaing that spark of thematic presence culminated with years of PC gaming and a sense of nostalgia. I absolutely love it the feel of this game and I’m happy to put it at the top of my list.

2. Star Wars: Armada

When it comes to FFG games, there are always going to be a few on this list, but if you had asked me a year ago that Star Wars: Armada would dethrone X:Wing on this list I would have laughed. What can I say, While Star Wars: Armada was having an epic year with awesome new ship releases, not to mention the fantastic campaign box, X-Wing was floundering with weird and out of character releases like a Rebel Tie Fighter which left the game wanting. X-Wing was just not that exiting anymore, the power creep and ambush tactic releases just made it less fun to collect and play.

Wave II game Armada a much needed boost, but it wasn’t really until Wave III I felt the game had achieved FFG’s vision of a proper capital ship battle game.

In the meantime Star Wars: Armada has finally grown into the epic capital ship combat miniatures game we have been waiting for, it took a while, and there was a lot of waiting but its here, its amazing and with recent announcements, its definitely going to get even better. I love this game and while I consider it a bit exhausting, requiring regular breaks, I can’t think of a whole lot I rather being doing on any given game night.

3. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

My review of Lord of The Rings: The Card Game might have offered some clue that it would make an appearance on my top 10 list but to be frank and honest the first time I tried this game I was sure I wasn’t going to like it, let alone have it make my personal gaming shelf. To make it into my top 10 list in the top 3 spot is nothing short of amazing.

This game’s art work is amazing, it really helps to bring out the theme.

Its a cooperative card game set in the Lord of the Rings universe, for me personally this is a mixed recipe as I tend to not like cooperative games, I’m usually luke warm on most card games and while I like the Lord of the Rings universe, I’m not what you would call a super fan. In the end however there were three key factors that really allowed this game to break out and become not only among my favorite games, but hands down the most played game on my shelf this year.

First is the fact that the game can be played solo, not something I ever thought I would do for any other reason than the occasion boring night or to test a deck, but it turned out I love it. In fact I have played this game solo an almost obsessive amount of times and I never seem to tire of it. Secondly is the fact that the story elements of the game are vibrant, engaging and addictive. Not a month goes by where at least some of my fun money doesn’t go to a new adventure pack or expansion set. I just love how everything is strung together and each new adventure pack offers new mechanics, new angles and in many cases an entirely different approach to the game as a whole. Finally and perhaps most importantly this is without a doubt one of the most challenging games I have ever played. Each quest adventure is unique, offering new puzzles to solve, puzzles that you solve via intricate deck building, tactical play and often a little bit of luck.

I absolutely adore this game, I travel no place without it and on any given weekend I often find myself pouring a glass of wine, lighting a candle and spending my evening shuffling cards. A well deserved appearance on this list.

4. War of The Rings

There is nothing like the feeling of a epic scale game that captures a story, War of the Ring is the best of its kind.

I claim to not be a huge Lord of the Rings fan, yet there are two LotR games on my list and both are here largely because of their amazing connection to the Middle Earth story’s theme. I have said this countless times, but this is Lord of the Rings in a box and there is no other game on this list that has as rich and has as engaging gameplay linked to the theme as War of The Rings. Without question of one of the best adventure/war games in existence, no serious LotR fan or board gamer can live without this on their shelf. A Classic!

5. Blood Rage

This is a game that has been on my “must review” list for quite a while but every time I play it, while I absolutely love it, I don’t feel quite ready to define it in a review. Suffice to say however its appearance on my top 10 list should give some indication of how this review is going to go.

Blood Rage miniatures are absolutely beautiful, I’m not at all surprised people take the time to paint the mini’s.

One of the most intriguing strategic games of the decade, Blood Rage blends the fine tuned and thinky mechanics of Euro Games with a thematic, Ameritrash appearance and while I would not call this an overwhelmingly thematic game, it has it were it counts and it looks beautiful on the table. For me personally though this game is all about gameplay, with endless strategies, mind games and an astonishing amount of replay-ability, Blood Rage is without question E. Langs masterpiece.

6. Game of Thrones: The Card Game (2nd ed.)

For a guy who is “not that into card games” this last year has definitely changed my mind about a lot of games. While we see it drop on my list, its definitely not an issue with the game. This is one of the most intense, challenging and thinky games I have ever played. It draws out not only the advanced gamer in me, but it pulls out the emotional inner child as well, one that wants to kill you in all manner of horrible ways.

My relationship with this game is…. complicated. I love it, I love hating it, I’m pretty sure it hates me back, but I can’t stop playing it.

Much like the books and show, Game of Thrones the card game is a game of deceit, a game of maneuvering and above all else a contentious, confrontational game of war, one fought not just with the cards but with all of the mind games you can muster. I both love and love to hate this game, its as infuriating as it is rewarding. A must own for any serious card player, but really for any gaming group that loves to get in each others face.

7. Game of Thrones: The Board Game

Another GoT game on my list, this one effectively accomplishing the same thing as the card game but in a more direct and perhaps classic way. Its a game of control, both of your emotions and the battlefield, one in which players jockey for position of power through alliances, betrayals and outright war.

This is a game that is played in the minds of the players, the board and pieces are mostly distraction.

GoT is the Diplomacy of my generation, one that taps into the same basic concept mechanically but draws on a modern theme that is both relevant and super fun. Now I will say this about GoT the board game, you really need to play this with friends, this is not what one might call a family game or a game to play with work colleagues or at a local game store. Its a bit too personal, you are going to be doing things that are out of character for a typically morale person. Telling someone that you will help them and then screwing them the next moment is a normal part of the game, in fact its a very good strategy in many cases. That’s not something you want to do to someone who signs your paychecks or baptises your kids if you get my drift.

To me however this is the perfect game and while it is truly a rare occasion that we actually get around to playing it, its always a memorable one and looking back at the years of gaming I have personally done, I can very vividly remember the many great moments this game has produced.

8. Star Wars: X-Wing

X-Wing takes a pretty dramatic fall and truth be told it has not only fallen out of favor for me personally but in the last year has all but disappeared for the majority of my local gaming group. There was a time when my only question when it came to gaming events was, when is the next X-Wing game night, but today I have cooled my jets and haven’t touched my figures since K-Wings were released.

Still an amazing game, light, fast, easy to learn. What’s not to love.

I often wonder why that is and while I haven’t come up with anything concrete, I do believe a part of it is simply the fact that I have played it so much that its simply played out. That happens to games, even games I love. I don’t think my opinion about the positive qualities of X-Wing have changed any, I can certainly say that I don’t love all of the releases that have been put out this last year but that has always been the case since the very beginning. I think in the end I just played it too often and too much, certainly not a bad quality for a game and I do know that games that held my attention for as long as X-Wing did tend to come back around. Its certainly in no danger of being culled from my collection, I love it, but some of the fire has been vented through the plasma manifolds. I do believe some of the issue is that i’m often put to the test when it comes to purchases and right now I’m far more excited about getting Armada miniatures then I am about X-Wing.

In either case, it had a good run, I still love it and if you have not played it yet, all I can say is, what are you waiting for. It was a fantastic experience for me, so it still comes highly recommended to newcomers.

9. Empires: Age of Discovery

A new comer, or perhaps more accurate to say, a late comer given that it has been out for the better part of a decade as Age of Empires III is Empires Age of Discovery. This little Euro style worker placement game is without question one of the best of its kind.

I predict we will be seeing a lot of this one in the coming years.

My review of the game says everything I really have to say about it, other than to mention that the fire is still hot, I’m always aching to play it and every game I have had at this beauty it has been absolutely fantastic. Its just one of those A+ titles no one should miss.

10. Shogun (Queens Games Version)

I love it when an old game that I have loved for years is introduced to new players and suddenly it just comes back around again like its fresh and new. Shogun is without question one of my absolute favorite games and I love watching new players discover it. The nuances, that split style environment of quiet contemplation followed up by explosive action is just something you don’t want to miss.

I predict this game will always have a place on my shelf and for now it still has a place in my top 10 list.

In my humble opinion this is one of the best designed games of all time, its simultaneously clever, strategic and “roll the dice and see what happens” fun, while being built into one of my favorite themes, medieval Japan.

The Fallen & Honorable Mention

Certainly the biggest drop out this time around is Twilight Imperium, a game that has been on this list for over a decade, it was a tough decision for me to finally remove it. The truth of the matter is that I haven’t played this game in well over 2 years at this point (maybe more) and while I certainly have a desire to, I’m not losing any sleep over it. Its a classic, its an epic and its amazing but with a 6 hour time frame, high level of complexity and a big table space requirement its an event game to say the least. For me part of the issue as well is that I don’t have a good core TI3 group anymore and this game is just not that much fun when your a veteran and your always facing novices. It takes several plays to fully understand this game and turn yourself into a challenging opponent and right now I don’t have the group willing to invest that kind of effort into TI3, so it sits on my shelf and collects dust. I would never get rid of it, I always have and always will love it, but it no longer belongs on this list.

On the top 10 list for over a decade, it had a pretty damn good run, but its retirement was inevitable.

We say good-bye on the list to Dead of Winter and Fury of Dracula. Now Dead of Winter I’m not all that surprised, it was an infatuation, a hot love affair if you will. I still enjoy it and think its a great game but its definitely not long term top 10 material. Fury of Dracula on the other hand was a tough choice. This is a game that has been along with TI3 on the list for a decade, but while I would never say an ill word about it, it just doesn’t have the chops to stand up among the rest of these giants. When games move up, something has to go!

There are a number of games however that were definitely up for consideration for the list. The first that comes to mind is Fleet Captains, a game that fell off when I made my last list, but man its still so strong. Among the most thematic games I own, I love this game not just for its amazing gameplay and tightly connected theme but for all its nostalgic glory reminding why I’m such a huge Star Trek fan. That said however there are a few faults with the game that can’t be denied. Component quality is a bit disappointing for one and there are several mechanics that are a bit wacky and unclear. Still to this day I’m not 100% certain I’m playing it right. Definitely a great game though, in particular if your Trekie!

Roll For The Galaxy was also considered and actually may still make the list in the future. I discovered this game quite late, its been out for quite a while but man it had an instant impression on me. I have always been a fan of Race For The Galaxy but there was always something about its logic that just didn’t sit right. More than that though its just a real bitch to teach. Roll for The Galaxy clears up both the logistics and the difficulty to teach while simultaneously holding on to everything that makes Race For The Galaxy a great game. In the end though I couldn’t bring myself to put a dice chucker into my top 10 list, not that there is that much luck in the game but it just feels wrong somehow, in particular among a list of games like Through The Ages, Star Wars: Armada and Blood Rage.

It already stole the number 1 spot in my top 5 dice games list and while it didn’t make this list, I would not be surprised if it made an appearance at some point in the future.

Well that’s it for this years updated list, at least for now. I always have and will continue to update this list anytime I feel its run its course, but for now…. Gamersdungeon out!

Gamers Dungeon

All posts by 5 Minutes

Roll For The Galaxy By Rio Grande 2014

Overview

Components

Theme

Gameplay

Replay-ability and Longevity

Conclusion

First Night with Runewars Miniature Game