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A GUide To Battletech – Part I

I have developed a great love-hate relationship with Battletech The Game of Armored Warefare. On the one hand its an amazing tactical simulation of giant robots fighting it out in a science-fiction future (what could possibly be more awesome than that). On the other hand it is miniatures board game franchise that can only be described as a complete cluster-fuck of jumbled information, literally stacks of books with little to guide you through the material you might want or need to play the games countless levels of complexity. Now blaming a game for having a lot of content is not something I want to do, I love content, but it’s quite tough to know how to navigate it all and its to this order of acquisition and absorption of material this guide is dedicated to. I want to help new players come to terms not just with what the material is, but what is a good order in which to acquire and read it.

In short, once you get your starter set or your box set, you will begin to explore the games option as all good gamers do and there is much to explore, 35 years of books, miniatures and content. You will get very little instruction or guidance from Catalyst Game Lab the current overseer of the franchise. There are some basic overviews, but very few quest arrows if you get my drift.

As I have recently gone through the very painful process of deciphering the games very cryptic codex of books and content, I thought I would use the white space on my blog to pass on that knowledge in hopes that the next person to come along trying to figure out how Battletech works beyond the basic sets might find the experience a little less painful.

The Starter and Box Sets

The first place any new gamer should start when it comes to entering the world of Battletech is the Starter and Box set for the game. There really is NO OTHER OPTION. If you can’t get the box set due to unavailability (a very likely scenario), do yourself a favor and wait for a reprint. Entering the world of Battletech in any other way will be an infuriating and very disappointing experience. In fact, one of the key issues with the franchise is that aside from the starter box and core set, everything else in the entire codex library is made for not expert players, but veteran masters. There is very little in the way of intermediate entry points between the box set and the remaining line of books. In essence you go from elementary school football on the playgrounds, to the NFL Superbowl.

That said, the Core Box sets of which there is currently two (Starter and Core), will teach you to play the game on the most basic level possible, which in the case of Battletech is the Mech vs. Mech or Lance vs. Lance (4 mechs vs. 4 mechs) game. This gives you the foundation you need to understand Battletech and by playing these sets of scenarios you will get a taste of what is possible as well as the general groove of the game. It should be enough to come to the conclusion as to whether or not Battletech is for you, but it should be noted that the core set is to Battletech, what finger painting is to art. A humble beginning, just the tip of the iceberg if you will. This rabbit hole goes very deep.

In Battletech the ERA in which you play (The time period in the game world) makes a huge difference to the game. The current core set is based in the year 3025, a period known as “The Succession Wars”, the Third Succession War to be exact. This is important if you care about cannon plot, but it’s also critical to the balance of the game.

One thing that is not really mentioned anywhere is that the Succession Wars in which the core box is set, is a time period when the technology level is relatively low which means the mechs have basic types of weapons. As the Era’s progress, so do the types of mechs and weapons available, which means that a Heavy Mech in the succession wars era is a very different beast than one in some future era.

When you are starting, that is just something you want to keep in the back of your mind and is also a consideration when choosing which expanded products you will purchase to support your game.

Its also important to note that the miniatures of the game are “rough estimations” and not exact units. Another words, they are playing pieces and while there are specific miniatures you can buy to represent specific battlemechs, generally this is a hobby preference and not a requirement. In reality in the game of Battletech there are literally hundreds if not thousands of unique units, Battletechs and much more and as you progress to higher tiers of play you will realize that unlike other miniatures, its not possible to collect “the set” or “be a completionist”. What mech you have is on your Battlesheet more than what miniature is on the table representing that mech. Think of it more like a role-playing game. If you have a mage elf, any mage elf miniature will do as a representation.

As such a Locust and a Jenner are similar enough that they are interchangeable mini’s and you will find that even if you collect miniatures you will very often resort to using proxies like this or more often cardboard stand ups or for convenience which notably come with your box set and you will likely find yourself printing out or acquiring more to facilitate your game. I guess the point here is that Battletech is a boardgame first and a miniature game second, the miniatures are fun 3d representation on the board but, this is a tactical game and you will spend far more time reviewing your battlesheet (your battlemechs character sheet).

Taking Your First Steps Beyond The Box Set

The Battletech universe is an extraordinary and rich setting with countless unique events, wars, people and places represented by 35 years of books that have been written for the game. Taking your first step outside of the core set can be daunting, but in effect you have two main paths. Rules or Story.

The Rules path which I will talk about a bit later is defiantly worth considering as the expanded rules for Battletech are exponentially expansive driving deeper and deeper, to a point of extreme excess, yet resulting in a very fulfilling enrichment of the game.

That said, I strongly advise you go the path of story first and the reason is simple. All of the rules material generally assumes that you have a strong working knowledge of the Battletech universe and I really wish someone had told me that when I started. You won’t find a word printed in any manual that doesn’t make a lot of assumptions about your understanding the setting, in fact, Battletech has a crap ton of terminology and concepts, without the background of the setting its increasingly difficult to decipher the material so as a first step I strongly recommend exploring and absorbing the Battletech universe first.

For that I recommend you start with the Battletech: Universe core book. This roughly 50 page book will take you through the history of humanity in the stars from their humble beginnings as explorers of space to the year 3067. It will explain core concepts, technology, the organizations and much of the terminology of the game. This is not a complete history of the Battletech universe (far from it) but it will catch you up and give you the necessary background to take the first steps into what is a much larger world. More importantly it will bring you to where you are with your box set history wise in great detail which I think will both enrich your experience for the games you are playing and make choosing where you go from here much easier.

This book covers a great deal of the history of the Battletech Universe, aptly name I think before you consider buying more rulebooks to expand your game, you should really consider reading this first.

If you want to go further down the story rabbit hole, I would recommend the individual house books though I would consider this a luxury and not really a necessity. The material in the core set and that of the Universe book give you a fairly good feel for the houses, these house books really are just icing on the cake. These books give additional details on the history of the Battletech universe, but they do so from the perspective of the different major factions of the game world which includes some of the key conflicts of the game involving the houses. Many of these conflicts are further detailed out in focused resources so if you find one you like, odds are you could play through that conflict in a campaign using one of these focused books (more on these focused resources later).

House books also bring in some rules, which if you have followed this guide so far should largely be ignored for now, but may become handy if you decide to for example represent one of the houses in a campaign. You will also find a lot of information about the preferences and structure of the different kind of units house uses, which plays more to the tone and cannon of armies you might be constructing later if and when you get into running campaigns.

For the miniature hobbyist, the house books always include insignia and give you direction for color schemes and for the role-players, their is ample information for generating back stories for characters from a particular house. Really great, albeit very specific resource.

Taking The Next Step

Once you have played a few matches with the core rulebook you may start to envision the creation of your own mechs, making alterations to weapons systems for your favorite or looking for some unique scenarios, perhaps even getting into running the game in campaign mode as the quick rulesbook from the core set talks about briefly. In Battletech there is a book for everything and the detail on any given subject is extensive and while you might see it as a fork in the road from this point, I don’t believe it really is.

The goal of your battletech experience should be that of a gradual layering of content, rules and expansion so that you can get your head around the games extended material, but if you take the wrong fork you will find yourself reading books that reference material from other books you haven’t read yet (a common practice in Battletech) and making the assumption that you have. This, in a way, is part of the problem with the Battletech franchise as a whole, it makes a lot of assumptions about what you may have read so far.

The next real step to take is to get the Battletech Manual. You might be tempted by other core rulebooks, most notably Battletech: Total Warefare but as you have just learned how to play Battletech with Battlemechs, dragging the rainbow of other units from Protomechs, to Aerospace units and all the rules weight that comes with these combined arms rulesets works under the assumption that you are already crystal clear on the advanced rules of the game. Total Warefare presents these rules to you, but in my opinion, it does so with equal measure, giving as much weight to less exciting units like ground forces and tanks as it does to the unit that made the game famous, Battemechs. To me, Total Warefare is something for consideration later down the line and may indeed never make it on your plate. The Battletech manual on the other hand, I would consider an essential book to playing the core game.

The Battletech Manual is focused on the rules of the game and specifically as they apply to Battlemechs, its a natural next step after getting to know the Battletech setting and wishing to expand the rule set in a gradual way.

The Battletech Manual is really just an extension of and the complete rulebook for Battlemechs you have already learned and as such I think its the next logical step.

Battletech Total Warefare and The Battletech Manual cover much of the same ground, though the Total Warefare books gives equal letter count to other types of units like ground forces and tanks as it does to mechs, where the Battletech Manual focuses exclusively on Battlemechs.

In the Battletech Manual you will find complete rules as they exist for running Battlemech scenarios & fights, including all of the expanded equipment from the large array of Eras as well as more thorough and exhaustive rules for the game as a whole. After familiarizing yourself with this book and playing it using the full rules a few times you will have leaped into the larger world that is Battletech from a logical point and much of what you might read after this book will make a lot more sense.

I don’t think its unfair to say however that once you have the Battletech manual and the Universe Book, you may already have everything you will ever need to enjoy the game. All books from this point are generally very advanced and work towards creating larger and more grandiose experiences, but simultaneously pulls away from the core of the game that you have learned to play with the core set and this book (Battletech Manual) as well as the star of the show, Battlemechs.

Its really a question of how much complexity and detail you really need to enjoy the game and how far you want to expand your experiance. For most people I would say the adventure from here isn’t one of exploring the rules, but rather exploring the setting which coincidentally would continue to add optional rules, but would not necessarily change the feel and track of the game as you have learned it to this point. I guess what I’m saying is that, for a couple of friends who want to get together and have robot fights and that is exciting, adding anymore of the core rulebooks is really not going to improve that type of experience any further. Enhancing that experience might come in the form of finding interesting scenarios and battle situations instead or perhaps more relevant would be to add more story and setting information to your table to give the fights some relevance and context in the scope of the worlds setting.

Expanding Your Horizons

After getting the Battletech Manual and getting even more intimate with the core rules of the game you will have probably generated a few questions. One I’m certain off is trying to come to grips with the difference between “The Boardgame” and “Alpha Strike”. After all you got those Alpha Strike cards in the core set and you don’t use them in the board game.

I don’t think it’s a decision point as you could very well play both, but there are two conceptual differences between the board game and the Alpha Strike way to play the game of Battletech and a plethora of rules differences.

The first is that Alpha Strike does not use a hex grid map and is instead played on custom terrain like a more traditional miniature game. Secondly Alpha Strike allows for larger forces to be used in a game of Battletech while not increasing the time needed to play. The Boardgame is typically a Lance vs. Lance (4 vs. 4) fight, while Alpha Strike can handle a lot more in the same time scope. The sacrifice here is some of the details of tactical combat, things are a bit more abstracted.

Alpha Strike turns Battletech into a more traditional miniature game, creating more abstracted rules for Battlemech combat so that you can field more units without extending the time to play the game. It does of course require considerable effort in setting up the terrain and requires more space to play.

For the remainder of this article I will work under the assumption that you want to play the boardgame given that I have no experience with Alpha Strike, I can’t comment one way or the other on its qualty. What I do know is that I enjoy the detail and smaller focus of the boardgame and this is how I choose to play it and as such, its what I feel comfortable offering advice on.

None the less should you choose to play using Alpha Strike rules, I would imagine much of the advice up to this point would apply just the same and potentially moving forward it may very well continue to do so.

Some creative players combine the 3-dimensional terrain with the hexagon grid allowing them to play the standard board game while gaining the benefits of a highly visual table top of classic miniature games enhancing their experience.

To me the next logical step for exploring Battletech is to create some context for the fights you are having. Scenarios and one shots are fun, but given enough of them you are eventually going to find that they feel a bit repetitive and in a way the entire Battletech franchise is built around the idea that players will be exploring new challenges on a regular basis. Many of the books created for Battletech make this assumption and as such offer unique challenges and experiences. The only real question is where to start.

Personally I think before seeking out scenarios and unique source books there is one additional stop that should not be missed. I strongly suggest picking up a Technical Readout Book, in this case The Succession Wars: Technical Readout which will introduce you to a whole bunch of new Battlemechs in the era your box set is based as well as giving you more narrative food for the mechs you have already been playing with. The Succession War Technical Readout book is a great resource that really does nothing to add rules weight, yet it offers many new options and lots of narrative flavor, aka context.

Technical Readout books are generally just a list of all the different types of military units, mainly Battlemechs that are available in a given era or period of Battletech history. The Succession Wars covers the era in which the box set is set in as such you should find all of the mechs you received in the box set in this book, as well as alternative models for them.

You will no doubt find new mechs you want to try as well as alternative versions of mechs you already have and so naturally the next thing you will be asking yourself is “hey, where do I get the record sheets for these mechs”.

The answer is simple. You can simply photocopy and print the blank mech sheet that comes with your box-set and copy the information from the Technical Readout or you can pick up a 3rd party tool designed to provide you with every record sheet for every mech ever released as well as the ability to create your own. Sounds good right. You can download the tool and I highly recommend it as a major time saver. What I don’t recommend is buying record sheets, this is just pointless, its like paying for someone else to fill in a character sheet for you, its madness! Save your money for something more useful.

That concludes the first part of this article. Look for part II coming to you soon where we will tackle some more advanced topics and resources available for Battletech the game of armored combat.

Gaming Articles

Battletech: The Game of Armored Combat

The word “Battletech” for anyone who has been a gamer anytime between the early 80’s and today, in any genre or platform should be a household name conjuring up images of giant robots fighting it out in a grim dark future where it seems there is nothing to do but wage war. While there have been countless games that have been released over the years for this franchise, oddly enough the one that started it all, the Battletech Board game is the least likely one that most gamers have been exposed to.

In 2018 we got the latest addition to a long and illustrious series of Battletech PC games. It has been PC games and not the boardgame that has kept the franchise in the minds of gamers over the years.

Recently however Catalyst Game Labs has released their latest iteration of the boardgame version of Battletech with the release of a starter box and the official core set for the game and I thought since I’m a huge fan of giant robots beating the crap out of each other I would draw some attention with my blog to this wonderful game.

In the most simplest terms, Battletech is a quasi miniatures game and in many ways its a white elephant in the gaming world. Where most miniature games and really games in general try to simplify the nitty gritty details of combat, Battletech has a way of zooming into the game to try to give you a sense of the weight of the monstrous machines as well as a kind of a focus on the details of a battle.

While the new Beginner’s Box and Core set along with new Battletech Manuals are refreshed, this is not a “new edition”, its largely a re-edited game that has changed very little for 35 years. Why? Because its fucking awesome just the way it is, that’s why!

Where most games will have basic statistics like “firepower” and “health”, which is used for attack and defense, Battletech zooms in on the giant robots giving you something akin to a character sheet that defines details like your external and internal armor, the locations of your weapons and equipment, even your very cockpit where the driver sits. When battlemechs fight, everything is tracked more like a role-playing game, the heat of your mech, the specific location of armor damage and critical hits, the piloting and driving skills of the mechwarrior (the pilot) and countless other very focused details. It’s also extremely dynamic with many modifiers and adjustments based on position, distance and line of site, giving the game a heavy helping of detailed tactical gameplay on a level not typically seen in miniature games.

This really makes Battletech a very unique game because battles play out closer to what they might look like when playing Dungeons and Dragons, where each individual character is unique and the details of the actions and events of the battle are personalized on a character sheet.

The Battletech character sheet has changed very little in 35 years, everything you need to know about your machine is found here.

The rules of the game fall somewhere in-between simple and super complex, which is an odd statement in what I can only describe as a novel experience. Basically when you first start playing Battletech you will feel overwhelmed as the rules appear to be so intricate and complex, you wonder how you will ever get it straight in your head. However after a match or two, while the game remains deep and tactical, you discover that this game has a very deceptive simplicity to it. For all intense and purposes, its a game with a steep learning curve, yet is actually beneath the surface an extremely simple game to play. Its a lot of dice rolling and special circumstances, but laid out in a logical and referable way that results in very thematic and visual battles. It paints a picture in your mind that is definitive and clear and the rules require virtually not judgmental calls which is rare for miniature games.

Now Battletech has always had and continues to have quite a few issues, problems less related to the game and more related to the management of the franchise which may very well be why many gamers myself included, despite a interest from a distance haven’t taken the plunge. It’s sad really but while the game is fantastic, everything around it that would ordinarily attract modern gamers to it acts like a deterrent.

For one, the miniature line itself relies on third party companies like Iron Wind Metals to provide you with the gaming pieces outside of the starter sets that Catalyst Game Lab provides. Now this shouldn’t be an issue but unfortunately the quality of the sculpts coming from IWM range from atrociously horrible to just really terrible. We know that Battletech originated in the 80’s but since its launch 35 years ago the look of the miniatures produced for the game has not changed, resulting in a game that very much looks like it still belongs in the 80’s.

I spent about 20 minutes looking through hundreds of mini’s at IWM to find one I didn’t hate. This looks pretty damn cool, unfortunately great sculpts like this are rare at IWM.
This is more in line with the kind of quality you will get from IWM and I’m not joking when I say this is not even close to the worst example.

Now I will say that the new box set is amazing and from a boardgame perspective is more than sufficient to have a lot of fun with the game, but if you’re like me and want to expand your collection you will find little but disappointment. Simply put, the box set is not the standard for the game, its an exception to the rule, most miniatures for Battletech are really shitty and that is not going to motivate players to get into the game any deeper than the box set if at all. For me personally 100% of the reason I picked up Battletech after not playing it for 30+ years is because of this new box set and specifically because of the amazing miniatures within. From here however their really is nowhere to go to expand your collection, Iron Wind Metals is not even close to good enough to spend your hard earned dollar on and to add insult to injury these crappy miniatures are severely overpriced weighing in around 15+ dollars per sculpt. You get the 1980’s fashioned miniatures but a 2050 price tag.

The problems however do not stop with the miniatures, the books themselves, namely the availability of them is also a major snag. As of this writing, just a few months after the box set released, most of the core books for the game are already out of print or out of stock, including the book you actually need to play the full game, The Battletech Manual. This is a major blow for the game that begs to be expanded and expanded it has been with countless I can only imagine great books. Now I will say that the entire product line is very schizophrenic and you will find yourself struggling to even fully understand what each of the hundreds of books printed for the game are, but since virtually none of them are available to buy it won’t make much difference other than being yet another factor to turn you off from the game. If you don’t mind dropping some dough on the PDF’s, at least those are available. I picked up a few and truth is that they are really amazing, which only makes me want the hard-copies even more and makes the whole experience of not being able to get your hands on them that much more frustrating. That said, most of the books in the line are very setting/theme focused and as such, not absolutely vital to gameplay.

The core set comes with a basic manual for the game, but most gamers will very quickly realize that its just a taste of what this great rule-set has to offer and you will want to pick up this book. Unfortunately you will find it has been out of stock everywhere for quite sometime and there is no telling when the book will be reprinted.

The nail in the coffin however has to be the binding contractual arrangement for Battletech, I have confirmed with several sources that Catalyst Game Lab is actually not allowed to make miniatures for Battletech beyond the core sets and their seems to be no prospects for a future in which they will be able to even if they wanted or could afford to. What that means is that the current situation for the franchise is here to stay. I have talked to several long time Battletech fans and they have all confirmed that this is all status quo, it would seem that Catalyst is either unwilling or unable to do anything about the current state of the franchise licensing arrangements. I would venture to guess unable, as they seem to be very dedicated to the product line and I can only imagine that they would love to make it far more than it is. Still, the lack of prospects that anything will change in the future does have a very deflating effect to the whole experience.

Not to beat a dead horse, but seriously, what the shit is this? Its almost as if there is no quality control or effort made here and this shitty mini that does not come with a base will cost you a clean 15+tax. Catalyst Game Lab should be embarrassed by something like this representing their game.

Now that was a very long and mostly negative outlook on the game, for those that read my blog, you know I don’t sugar coat. That said, I’m still very excited about the game going forward. My hope is that this box set that was released will be successful enough to fund and make Catalyst Game Labs realize that they are sitting on a potentially very lucrative game that could become a lot more than it is today. In that light, I will offer some advice to Catalyst Game Labs for whatever its worth.

Call it 5 steps to making the game better.

Step 1 “Kick-starter”

Work with Iron Wind Metals to create a kick starter to fun new miniatures for Battletech. Help them make it happen, let them make the money, but do it anyway. Why? Because even if you don’t earn money from the sales of the miniatures, you will earn money from a growing and excited audience. Kick-Starter is the place to make unfunded dreams become reality and if you can’t find a way out of the contract, or can’t find a way to fun the games miniatures then let the community do the work for you.

Step 2 “Clean up The Catalog”

The “Keep it for eternity” approach to product lines is the kiss of death in the gaming industry. Your product should always have a public face as a game that looks like it was released yesterday. Art is everything, presentation is everything.

Any book that wasn’t printed in the last two years should be removed from the catalog into some archive section or irrelevance. If you want to make it relevant, create a revised version, even if you don’t change a blood word and just update the format and art, every book in the catalog should look like it belongs in the year 2019 and not the year 1985.

“Step 3 “Create Clarity”

The biggest and most important thing for the health of a gaming franchise, in particular a miniature game is to ensure that its crystal clear what everything is and what it is for. The game in its current state it’s not even entirely clear what the books are and while the community is certainly helpful in creating some of that clarity for you, your website should be a focused machine of clarity. A person with zero experience should know what products are available and what they are for inside of 2 minutes of visiting the site.

Today Battletech books are a cluster fuck of confusion, you can spend weeks deciphering what books are for which aspect of the game, their is a total lack of explanation about how eras work and what the difference between a technical readout, historical book, starter book and core book is and even how you identify them. It’s a mess and it should be clear as crystal.

Step 4 “Fix the availability issues”

Visit your business model and make sure that if the game is in print, the game is available. Nothing kills a game faster than players being unable to find the books and material they want for their collection and there is no excuse for not having the basic starter, box set and core manuals available. If it’s unavailable, your losing business and the community is shrinking, it’s that simple. It’s better to have an overstock of box sets and core books on the bargain bin then it is to have them unavailable and out of stock.

Step 5 “Modernize The Mini’s”

Whatever contractual obligation and licensing issues or finance problems are preventing the modernization of the miniature line, fix it. Quite literally without this resolved Battletech has no future other than the one in which they live in obscurity.

Set the highest standard you can afford and raise it each time you make a miniature.

Board Game Reviews, Gaming Articles

Board Gaming Super Weekend III

This summer just like the last two my gaming group got together for a 2 day board gaming super weekend, no kids, no wives, just endless snacks, beer and board games. Its without question my favorite gaming event of the year, it inspired two of my favorite articles from previous events on this blog so I thought I would write one again this year.

Board gaming weekends like this are usually an opportunity for me to test out some new games, fodder for the blog articles but unfortunately this year we played it very safe with our picks playing mostly games we have played before. Still, there was some really great games on the Agenda, here are some of the highlights.

Hero Realms

My buddy and I got to the gaming cabin first and despite the sweltering summer heat while we waited for the rest of the group to arrive we went head to head in a game of Hero Realms.

Now while I have always loved the concept of deck builders, one aspect of a great deal of games in this genre is that they are often a rather benign competitive or sometimes cooperative experience, most deck builders are focused on scoring points rather being a direct duels, which leaves the game feeling a bit flat. I find games like Dominion have really fallen out of favor for me, in fact I culled Dominion from my collection a couple of years ago. Star Realms and now the fantasy version Hero Realms flips things in the genre a bit and lets you actually build decks designed to combat each other in a direct confrontation and to me this is a much more interesting and a lot more fun way to do deck builders. I think I prefer Hero Realms fantasy theme a great deal more than Star Realms, mostly for the theme but also because each player is represented in the game by a character with special powers if using the expansion which I think is the only way to play Hero Realms. Strictly speaking however Star Realms and Hero Realms are basically the same game with different themes, so this is just a matter of theme preference.

This is a pretty fantastic filler that works really well as a two player game, but actually works amazingly as a free for all multiplayer game with up to four players as well. Great art, simple mechanics, fast pace yet clever enough to offer a pretty wide range of strategies and approaches to winning. We played this one last year at our yearly meet up as a group as well and like last time this one fired on all pistons, it definitely deserves your shelf space. It’s a really tight card game and if you enjoy deck builders like Dominion or Thunderstone for example, this one is going to be right up your alley if you like games with a bit more take that, it may even prompt you to do as I did and replace those old point chasers games in this genre on your shelf.

Coup

While this game has been around for quite some time, this was the first time we ever played it in our group, in fact we unpackaged the shrink wrap right at the table for our first game. We were told that it was something akin to a Love Letter or Avalon The Resistance during the introduction, two games I personally love so I was pretty excited to give this one a try.

After a single game we were all hooked and we ended up playing several rounds back to back, it ended up being the only game that got cleaned up during the weekend and pulled back out later for a second round of several rounds.

Mechanically speaking this is a very simple game, after a couple of rounds everyone had the rules memorized. It’s a game of nothing short of trying to pull the wool over your friends eyes and lying about it. Trickery, mind games, bluffing, calling peoples bluff and just trying to catch people on a lie are all part of coup, all activities our gaming group relishes. It registered with us and was without question in competition for one of the highlights of the weekend. Before I even got home from the weekend I had already ordered a copy for myself, rightfully described as a game similar to Love Letter and Avalon the Resistance, If you like those types of games, you are going to love Coup.

Dirk Henns Shogun

The contrast between the quiet, contemplative planning phase and the outrageously chaotic execution phase make this one of the most memorable Euro games I have ever played.

Shogun is a staple of my collection, it has been in my collection since its release a decade ago and remains one of my most beloved games I own. I will admit that it’s an acquired taste and while it has always resulted in a positive experience every time I pull it out, not everyone takes kindly to a game posing as hardened area control strategy game with an almost comic, Vlaada Chvatil like nuance ,reminiscent of classics like Galaxy Trucker.

Yes its a strategy game and smart decisions, clever gameplay, good planning, good resource management and all that good stuff you expect to be in a good war game are there, but it also has the dreaded tower of chaos, not to mention the nearly impossible to predict and plan order system that gives this game an atmosphere of hilarity that you can get mad about or you can simply embrace. It’s a nutty experience and luck plays a big role in this game, you can get screwed, the games battles swing wildly and no plan you put together is going to survive first contact with the enemy. Some might argue that it’s a far more realistic representation of warfare, most would argue that it’s too random. To me, it’s in the spirit of gaming and I always say if it’s a fun experience, even if it’s not what you expect, that is a good game and Shogun definitely qualifies for that category.

People will scream, cheer, throw down fists in anger and burst out in laughter as they watch all of their plans ruined by that maddening cube tower and the interaction of chaotic plans scraped together by all the players at the table. I would imagine some will simply hate the fact that you can barely control anything in the game. To truly enjoy Shogun you really have to embrace the experience the game is trying to create, rather than trying to get it to meet the standards of a serious war game, which notably it appears to be upon opening the box and laying out the pieces. Do that and you will love this game, but if too much silliness is not something you want in your war games, I suggest skipping this one.

For me personally, this is exactly what I look forward to in a gaming Spencerian, fun and Shogun has it in spades. . I adore this game, my copy is almost worn out and without question I will be replacing it with a new one when the time comes.

Raise your Goblets

This one debuted at last years big board gaming weekend event and it was no surprise to me at all that it found its way back this year. A game about trying to poison your friends while making sure you don’t get poisoned in what is effectively a game of memorization with a lot of screwing each other over, something that is right in our sweet spot as a group. My gaming group loves take that style games in general and Raise Your Goblets is exclusively about just that, doing it in a more fun rather than mean way.

This is really a party game, It toats the more players the merrier, but I think 5 to 6 players is where it is at its best.

Really fun, this is one of those games you really have to measure against your groups preference, but I think it’s a really great family game as well so if you have some kids at home and can get the whole family to the table, this makes for a very fun evening.

New Angeles

I have talked about New Angeles several times on this blog already since we first discovered it this year, though I’m yet to review it (it’s on my list). For me personally and I think I speak for most of my group, this is probably the game of the year. We have played it several times now on a number of occasions and it has hit it out of the park every time.

To me the most surprising aspect of New Angeles is how little attention it has gotten as a game in particular given that games like Shadows over Camelot, Dead of Winter and Battlestar Galactica enjoy so much praise. New Angeles is really a evolution of those games and really this cooperative/betrayal genre. It takes that concept of cooperative, competitive gameplay with a betrayer element and really perfects the gameplay. It’s an amazingly balanced game, giving way to the psychological games this genre is famous for, yet streamlining the whole into a well oiled machine of mechanics making this without question the best in the genre in my humble opinion.

One core aspect of this betrayer genre of games is that they border on the fringes of being social deduction games and I actually think if you bring this out during a dinner party with non-gamers, if you can get them past the science-fiction theme this would make for a really great party game. Mechanically its very simple, in fact considerably simpler and less involved than most games in this genre, yet it treats the audience with dignity and intelligence without making any presumptions about the players being “hardened board gamers”. Strictly speaking no game should ever do that, but many do so it’s nice to see a science-fiction game being more approachable.

I think it’s not hard to read into this depiction of the game to know how I would review it, it’s absolutely brilliant and belongs in the collection of any fan of the betrayer series of games, yet it has all the qualities of a great introductory game as well. I think it’s much easier to teach than say Dead of Winter or Battlestar Galactica. I fully expect New Angeles to break into my top 10 this year, it comes with my highest recommendation, if you are only going to buy one game this year, this should be it.

Formula D

At last year’s event we went out on a limb and tried several new games, some of which landed flat resulting in us having a few “duds”, so this year we made a lot of safe picks and Formula D is without question one of our old reliable’s when we have a bigger group. When our 6th player arrived part way through the weekend, this was one of the first games we reached for and for good reason.

Formula D is a very simple racing game, pick a gear, roll the dice and move your car up the track. The rules for the game can fit on a cocktail napkin and while the new modern versions of the game have come with some additional optional rules weight to spice up the game, playing it the old classic way is just as fun as it has always been.

I personally think this is more of a “casual” gamers game or a family game, than it is a sort of “gaming group” game, if for no other reason than that I find it’s a bit of a longer game and the mechanics start and remain simple throughout. I always enjoy Formula D with my gaming friends because they are a great group of guys and we can turn just about anything into a hilarious shit show, but strictly speaking as a gamers game I find it to be an odd mix between its simplicity and its length. It’s just a bit too long for how simple of a game it is and when I’m with my gaming group I have a preference to reach for the more complex games that I simply can’t play with non-gamers or the wife and kids.  Or if we are going to play something that is simple, it should be relatively short.

That said Formula D has always landed well with every gaming group we have ever tried it with, whether they are non-gamers, casuals or serious gamers. It’s a pretty game, a simple game and a fun game. It captures the intensity and anxiety of a indy car race and while I find it a bit long for what it is, I still highly recommend it as a staple of a board game collection. I would go further and say that for a family with kids or for casual social circles this game is in particularly a great choice.

Sheriff of Nottingham

The best and most tense moments are when the Sheriff is looking at your sealed bag and you know its full of red cards. Thankfully Bribery is allowed.

The Sheriff of Nottingham to me is a game in a genre all on its own, it’s an extremely simple game that when placed into the hands of a social group with a sense of humor will create fantastic table atmosphere. It’s not hard to imagine however that if played seriously, without a layer of silliness it might land flat. There is not much “game” here, it’s really more of a social activity, than a game. You take some cards, put them in a pouch, tell the Sheriff what you claim to be smuggling and he decides whether or not he believes you. Making that a fun experience with bribes, lies and silliness is really up to the group.

That said in our group its a cluster fuck of lying, bribing, shifty eyes and hilarity. While laughing out and poking fun at each other is something we do constantly pretty much in any game, Sheriff of Nottingham sets us up for so many funny situations we spend almost the entire game laughing our asses off, so for us it’s always a hit.

This time we played it with 6 players using the Merry Men expansion which in my opinion vastly improved the game creating a lot more interactions thanks to the two deputies who must decide together which pouches to inspect or not.

This a staple family game night game if there ever was one, its rules are simple and there is no reading involved so you can play this with kids or adults of any age. In fact, if I were to pick a single game for families, this would be it, it’s really tailor made for family board game nights. The fact that it works great with veteran gaming groups is just a bonus. Always fun, always hilarious, Sheriff of Nottingham is unique and wonderful.

Game of Thrones the board game

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

Game of Thrones has been on the top of my list of top 10 best games of all time for as long as I have had the list. It’s a more serious game, with a fair amount of complexity both in the rules and in the depths of its strategies, while housing one of my favorite franchises making this a triple threat, gameplay, strategy and theme.

What I love more than anything about Game of Thrones however is how it draws out true raw emotions of the players (me in particular), creating a sense of attachment to the board presence, testing that human condition while challenging you to overcome the many obstacles that both the game and the other players present. It is a deep strategy game that is played on many levels ranging from the manipulation of mechanics to the manipulation of people, all things required to successfully navigate yourself to victory.

That said I do find the games static starting conditions to be a bit dry after you have played a few times. There are certain opening moves with certain factions you must make, certain struggles between factions that are almost scripted and certain events relatively predictable that will happen in every game with experienced players.   It really doesn’t deflate the experience but if you are looking for a game that your group will play repeatedly I think you will find the more you play the more these things might bother you.

It’s also a very long game and one that although it can be played with fewer players, is really at its best at 6. Now complaining that a game designed to be a long game for 6 players, is long and for 6 players may seem silly, so don’t consider that a complaint, but in the modern age of board gaming today, games like Game of Thrones the board game can feel a bit dated and out of touch with the modern approach to streamlining common among today’s games. To me personally some streamlining goes overboard and something is lost, when it comes to Game of Thrones there is a near perfection their in this regard. The fact that its long and for 6 players is simply a fact that requires you to play it at an appropriate time, in other words its a limitation on the game likely resulting in a considerable reduction in how often you play it. Which I think is a good thing because as mentioned, playing this game to often will likely result in the game feeling a bit scripted in certain places, so for our group that probably plays this only once or twice a year, its quite perfect.

Its as streamlined as a game like this can be in my humble opinion, but a 4+ hour game is a 4+ hour game, you really need to know what you are getting into here. It’s important to note as well that this is not a game for casual dabblers or inexperienced gamers. This is for those hardened vets who are looking for a challenge, not that I’m discouraging anyone from trying it but this is not Small World, this is Game of Thrones, its complex, its long, its strategically deep, it’s a cluster fuck of mind games, it’s the definition of a gamers game. It’s one of the best games in this genre and in my humble opinion a masterpiece in the world of boardgaming.

Galaxy Trucker

Distinctively Vlaada, Galaxy Trucker is truly a unique gem that rivals Through The Ages as one of Chvátil’s masterpieces.

At this point I have mentioned Galaxy Trucker so many times on this blog I almost feel silly writing about it again. I have a love affair with Vladda Chivatil’s games, to me he is one of the most diverse, unique and adaptable designers in the business. His games are all Masterpieces and you will find every single one of his games in the top 50 on boardgamegeek and several of them in the top 10.

The staple of Chivatil games is that each one is designed to create an experience, in a sense, every one of his games is genre defining and Galaxy Trucker in my humble opinion is among the best of that example. I have never played anything close to Galaxy Trucker, though it’s important to know that calling Galaxy Trucker a “board game” is a pretty loose term. It’s a chaotic adventure through madness, essentially a test to see how much chaos and randomness you can fit into a single game, spoiler alert, it’s a metric fuck ton, but its all done with a quirky sense of humor. A game designed to create funny moments pure and simple.

Galaxy Trucker is along the lines of “activity games” where players attempt to speed design and build space ships that will be put through a gauntlet of horrible events to see if the ship or any of its crew can survive to collect some coin at the end of their galactic trucker journey. On top of that it’s a competitive race against other players, which means you are pushed further into attempting to take risks in hopes of capturing that first place glory.  Simply surviving the game with any money at the end makes you a winner, another spoiler alert, most people won’t make it.

With its many expansions things get even nuttier and while I fully understand that many gamers “don’t get the point”, its because they fail to remove the filters which under normal circumstances we put all other games through. You simply can’t do that with games like Galaxy Trucker, you must embrace it as the silly exercise that it is. If you do that with a group like minded friends, Galaxy Trucker is not only a unique gaming experience, but it’s Monty Python like fun in a box.

Conclusion

Well those are the games that were in the line up this year and I have to say, while we played it safe pulling in only games we were fairly certain would register with our group resulting in a weekend without duds, I do wish we would have taken a couple of risks on some new ones. It was none the less an amazing time as it always is with my friends, I think it was Will Wheaton that once said that “Games are the mortar that keeps our friends together”, something I can wholeheartedly agree with. Board gaming in our modern digital age where people can’t seem to put the cell phones, Ipads and computers down is really the saving grace of the human experience. It brings people together, reintroduces the concept of eye contact and lets us enjoy each other’s company in the real world. I think given the troubling times we live in today, our little blue planet needs a whole lot more of that than anything.

If I had to pick a single of these games as the game of the weekend, I think I would have to go with Game of Thrones. Its raw energy, complex strategic gameplay and endless mental games not only bring the theme together but make this one of the purest board games I can think of. It defines everything I love about boardgaming and brings it together in a single game. Without question in my mind, one of the best board games ever made.

Gaming Articles

D&D Theory: How to be a great DM

Without question one of the most controversial discussions you will ever have in the opinionated world of dungeons and dragons, or role-playing in general is about how to be a great DM.  In fact, if you google “how to be a great DM” you are going to find link after link after link of “politically correct” advice, always structured carefully as to not say something that might upset someone.  It’s a really strange thing among D&D gamers that this is such a sensitive subject, where opinions are criticized and people are quick to accuse you of being a Gronard or worse.  In fact, most advice you will find is so general, its too obvious to be of any use to a new DM or a DM having issues trying to get his head around a problem in his game.  The advice tends to be something along the lines of “there is no wrong way”, or “everything you’re doing is great”.

There are however fundamentals of good DMing, many of these fundamentals you will hear a lot of people speak out against because they are generally very… well lets just say, harsh.   DMing a game is both fun and a responsibility, at least if your intention is to ensure quality of the game.  The concept of “just have fun” is important, but games tend to derail even if you are just having fun when not approached with a firm hand and plan.  DM’s will defend this idea of this “all inclusive, there is no wrong way” approach, to which I always pose the question do you want to be right, or do you want to have a good game?

Before I start I do want to say one important thing here, perhaps the most controversial thing of all.  In my not so humble opinion there are many right ways and  many wrong ways to be a DM!  There I said it and I have 30+ years of DMing experience and the battle scars to prove it.    What are the right ways?  Well that is what today’s advice article is all about.  The gloves are coming off and we are going to do this straight up, honest and without the political correctness filter often associated with such advice.

Don’t take my word for it, there are plenty of other great unfiltered sources for D&D advice, Critical Role is among the best in my humble opinion.

The DM is ALWAYS right, the social contract

The basics of running a game as a DM is that you must establish the standard social contract between you, the DM and your players.  This social contract is sometimes made  to be complex, or not at all both very terrible approaches.  Its quite simple in reality and absolutely vital to establish before your first session to ensure you start off on the right foot, in particularly with a new group.

The basics here are this.  D&D and any other RPG is a game, but unlike board or card games, the boundaries for the rules are not clearly defined, in fact, they are very intentionally made vague and left up for interpretation in many places.  The reason for this is that in the course of an RPG session, player’s (aka characters) will come up with all sorts of crazy ideas about “stuff they want to do” and no rule set could ever efficiently cover every conceivable scenario and activity.   You won’t find answers to most questions posed by players in the book, such a ruleset would be thousands of pages long.  That said, as a DM it’s not your job to dictate what players can try or can’t try, its your job to give them the results.  Which means you must always find a way to rule over the game, no matter how nutty the scenario’s are, you simply cannot say “no” you can’t do that, the correct answer is always “ok, here is what happens”.

A good DM can turn what he imagines a game to be into reality, this is not a talent however but a developed and practiced skill.

The core of the social contract is that someone at the table must decide the results of these actions and that someone is the Dungeon Master, the nominated referee of the game, the translator of the rules and the manager of the game.

The social contract is basically an understanding and acceptance of the DM to be the authority on resolving the activities of the players.  Another words, they tell the DM what they “want to do” and the DM gives them “the result”.  That result is not up for debate, its not up for negotiation, its a ruling made by the DM and accepted by the players, this IS the social contract everyone must sign (figuratively speaking).  The social contract empowers the DM to be always right.

This social contract is something the players must go into willingly, another words, this isn’t about a player at the table taking power and being a tyrant, nor is it an assumption that he is the most qualified person to have this authority or that he is (actually) always right, but rather an understanding that someone has to decide what happens when a player says “I jump on his head and stab him in the eye”, and there is no space in the game to debate it.  There is no rule for that, someone must determine what happens, what rules might be used or what rolls might be used to determine the success  and someone must decide what actually happens narratively as a result of all that.

Consider that there may be potentially 6 players at the table with a wide range of opinions on what “should” happen, and they may even be more logical than what the DM proposes, they might even know the rules better than the DM.  You could spend time debating it, hell you could spend your entire day making arguments about it, debating it and discussing it.  The social contract empowering the DM to make the call is vital to ensuring you focus on the game, rather than debating its rules/mechanics/results endlessly piece by piece or the merits of the DM’s decision or narration.   Its a contract designed to prevent constant hard stops to the action of the game, but more than anything to keep the game moving forward without a lot of out of character discussion.

The social contract says “The DM decides and we accept whatever decision he makes”, aka, the DM is always right!

What will inevitably happen if you do not clearly define this social contract with your players is that you open your decisions, interpretations of the rules and narrations to debate and negotiation.  Each and every one of them.  You give an inch and they will take the whole arm.  Your players will become more and more challenging over time, in particular if they win negotiations and sway your decisions, setting the precedence that you can be swayed.  Before you know it, every-time you open your mouth, someone will have an opinion about what should come out of it.   It’s physically not possible to have a successful game in the long run without this social understanding between the players and their DM.  Do yourself, your players and your game a favor and establish this social contract firmly on day one of any campaign.

Always in the present, never allow the testing of waters

First, lets define what Testing the water means, in short, it works like this.

The player tells the DM what he wants to do, when you give him the results, he says “oh in that case I don’t do that”.

Alternatively and perhaps even more grievously is the DM version.

The players tells the DM what he wants to do, then the DM says “IF you do that, this will happen”, giving the player an opportunity to change his mind and back out of the action.

I can’t think of a more destructive thing a DM can do to a game than allow the testing of waters to become a precedent in his game.  This really is the shortest route to ruin that you can take.  What it really does to a game is that players will know the results of their actions before they take them, the exact opposite of what role-playing is.

As a DM you are doing your players a disservice and being firm and setting a precedence for running the game in real time is the most effective way to keep your game on track and in the present, putting the players in a position that they must listen, absorb the information and use it to make decisions knowing that whatever they decide, is now part of the game.  It really is one of those subtle keys to success.

The advice here is simple.  NEVER tell your players what is going to happen until its happening/happened.  Another words, don’t tell them the future, describe the present.  If a player poses a testing the water question, the answer is always the same.  “Tell me what you want to do and I will tell you what happens”.  A players action can’t be an inquiry to find out what would happen “if” he decides to do something.

Fear & Anticipation makes it real

There is a very common antidote in play writing and storytelling,  “tragedy makes the best story,  everything else is just noise”.  The reason this antidote exists is because as human beings we have a natural empathy for tragedy.  A tragedy is a motivation for hope, inspiration to rise from the darkness, a way to sympathize with our characters and a way to put ourselves in the shoes of the afflicted.  You cannot triumph unless you have something to triumph over.

This is why I always say that all good D&D adventures, are the stories of heroes who die tragically while saving the world.

I feel very strongly that as a good DM you must constantly present the players with challenges which if failed would result in their characters deaths.  The more tragic that death, the more memorable the story of it will be.  In short, don’t be afraid to kill characters and be merciless with their emotions when doing so, give them the tragedy.

This advice really pisses against the wind of D&D logic and design.  In a sense, the game mechanically is designed to ensure that the players always face balanced encounters and there are so many “save me” mechanics in the system that to die is really just a statistical anomaly.  This is a good thing, because you don’t want to kill characters by the mechanics, but rather by their decisions.  You want to make sure that when you kill a character, it can be traced back to a decision a player made.  A choice he had that lead him to his death, not a random encounter, die roll or some other form of “bad luck”.

Death should never be random, nor a concoction of the DM, but it should always be a surprise linked to choice and it should always be a heartbreaking event.  The design of a campaign should always include points at which characters lives are at risk, a risk they chose themselves,  the rest of the time events should be balanced in the favor of the players. The more of these events there are, the better.   Above all else however when the time comes, don’t hesitate, when a characters ends up in a situation where his death is inevitable, make it harsh, abrupt… make it tragic, dig into their emotions, give them no refuge or hope, force them into acceptance, give them the emotion their characters death deserves.

If you do this right you will create a permanent state of fear and anticipation for the rest of the players and all new characters that join the campaign.  Everyone will know that you don’t “save” characters, that death of characters is a real possibility, that it could come at any time and their actions and decisions drive that engine, not luck.  This is KEY to running a great D&D campaign, without it you will find your campaigns are always missing some intangible quality, this is what is missing!

Time is not an issue, unless it is an issue

One very common mistake DM’s make, or perhaps better to say, one common sentiment DM’s have is that “their players are taking too long” or “They are wasting time”.  Another words, you have written a adventure, campaign or story and you want to get to it, but your players seem to be doing everything but just that.  Frustrated you steer the session towards the story, skipping over less important scenes, railroading through parts of the story and events and driving the game to where you want it to be.

This is a terrible, habit that you must break.  The reality of an RPG session is that its the story of the characters.  Who they are, how they act, what they believe, what they think, who they know, how they interact with the world and what they love and hate.  Those attachments, emotions and drive does not appear in the story nor can it be artificially created, it happens outside of it and this is a really hard thing for DM’s to get their heads around.  You only fully understand it as a player.

The reality is that those half a session tavern crawls where the characters get drunk and make asses out of themselves are often even more important to the games story, than whatever grand scheme you have invented for the campaign.  They might be on a mission to stop a powerful necromancer from opening the gates to hell, but if you don’t make time to let them live in the world they are saving, the story of how they save it becomes less relevant.

Allowing the characters to become friends in character, allowing them to get to know the local tavern keeper, befriend the local blacksmith or marry the local milk maid may seem irrelevant, but it drives attachments to the world and to their characters, as a result are absolutely vital to the main plot, in most cases even more so than the main plot itself.

Allow your players to take the time from the session to role-play these moments with the same gusto you put into your main campaign events.  Make sure that they can explore the world and give them the time to do it.  Only when the players see it as a waste of time should you approach the game with more progress driven thinking.  Time is only an issue, if they make it an issue, but as a DM you should never “skip” anything the players want to take the time to get involved in.  Another words you are DMing a game at the pleasure of your players.  Your opinion about what they are and aren’t doing, frankly, has no relevance, you are the least important member of the adventuring party.  Make peace with that.

Prepare to be unprepared

Most veteran DM’s will spot this very general advice and nod their heads in sad agreement but the reality of DMing is that generally speaking, most preparation you do for a session will be wasted.  True preparation is about knowing the world and knowing it well, realizing that its the world not the adventure that you must have ready for whatever the players throw at it and that much of an actual adventure you will have to invent on the fly no matter how much you prepare.

While less controversial advice, perhaps not at all, one thing I can say about what I see in terms of preparation by most DM’s is a rather silly focus on trying to steer a session into a particular place, while being completely ill prepared for when the players inevitably derail the whole thing.  Don’t do this.  Its good to always have read (if you haven’t written) any material in preparation for a session but always know going into it that not only will the players likely completely skip over, avoid and derail it, but that its ok and you can’t give the appearance of not being ready for that, nor is it appropriate for you to steer them into it against their will.

From the perspective of the players, everything that happens should appear to be totally planned and expected.  Never let the players realize that they are off the rails, they should always feel like “they are onto something”.  Its in particularly important when they are dead wrong, when a decision is a horrible mistake that will cost them dearly.  If they think the idea is brilliant you should absolutely not steer them away from it.  Bad decisions are a key part of the game and you have to let them make these mistakes and suffer the consequences without them ever having any clue how far off they are from the material you intended for them.  This is a vital component of making the world feel real, vibrant and giving the players a sense of control over their own destiny’s, which notably will often lead them to tragedy, another key element of a good story.

Don’t take breaks from campaigns, make it a religion

This can be really tough advice to follow, real life is a pain and it’s not always possible to have a steady game going but the truth is that a successful campaign is reliant on the commitment of the DM and the players to play regularly with a established time and place.  Typically once a week is ideal, you can get away with once every other week but anything longer than that and people will be having trouble remembering events, people and places in-between session and you will not be able to maintain that “attachment” to the game that is necessary to run a solid, story that maintains cohesion over several sessions with built up personal attachments.

After 30 years of playing D&D, I have been involved in countless campaigns and the only successful ones I have ever been a part of have always been ones with a steady, weekly session with all participants being able to make the large majority of the games.  Everything else pretty much fell apart in relative short order.   I’m convinced steady, regular sessions are absolutely mandatory to the success of a D&D campaign.

When you are establishing your group and you are planning a D&D campaign, if you can’t get everyone to commit on this level my suggestion is that you create, shorter, unrelated 1 night adventure style games rather than trying to run a linked long term campaign.  D&D is always fun, even if sporadic, but as a DM you don’t want to put in a lot of effort if the end result is a campaign that flounders as a result of extended breaks between sessions.  It’s frustrating as a hell, and ultimately deflates your enthusiasm for future games with a sense of in-completion.  If at the end of a night, the story is done, even if you don’t revisit those characters again, their isn’t this looming sense of failure around the game, opening the doors to future stories with enthusiasm.

There is advantage to one shots to in that each time you do it, the players are treated to new plot twists, characters and locations which is always a fun piece of starting new campaigns.  In a sense with one shot you are starting a new campaign each time you play.

Tough DM’s are Good DM’s

I saved perhaps my most controversial advice for the last I’m going to leave you with but I firmly believe it to be the single most true statement about running games as a DM that applies to all groups everywhere.  The only good DM is a firm, tough DM that gives no quarter and is always in command of the game.

It takes a strong personality, good handle on the rules, effective philosophy and zero tolerance for bullshit to be a good DM. If that doesn’t describe you, my advice is either to develop those skills as quickly as possible, fake them if you have to or resign from the position and let someone else DM.

Players, even good ones, including friends and family, pretty much everyone you might expect or not expect to will try to pull the wool over your eyes during a D&D game.  Some will argue with you, try to rules lawyer you, manipulate you, whine, bitch and moan and everything in-between.  Some of it will be subtle, some of it not so subtle and truth be told, this is all very normal.  Chalk it off to human nature.

None the less you will have to deal with it all and as a DM it’s your responsibility to be the firm authority and handle every situation quickly and effectively, not only for the preservation of the game, but as a courtesy to the other players at the table.

In a D&D game there is no room for “issues” and really there shouldn’t be any, after all, everyone is there to have fun, its a social activity, this is not a competitive sport.  Still D&D is a game that will pull the emotion out of players, this is a good thing, but with that passion for the game and for the story, will sneak out bits and pieces of that human condition that can create uncomfortable situations and issues. Its here the DM’s authority and decisive action is vital to maintain a good game and keep things in a happy place.

The advice is simple.  Be firm, be an authority and nip the bullshit in the butt quickly and effectively.  Give no quarter, accept no compromise, be vigilant about growing problems in the group and don’t hesitate to make changes if things are not progressing in a way everyone at the table enjoys.  This is really less advice and more a responsibility every DM has and it is perhaps the toughest to follow given that every person at the table is going to be a friend or relative.  Be a strong, firm DM, that’s the best advice I can offer anyone.

Conclusion

Being a DM is a lot of fun, for many, its the only way to play D&D as some of us are simply bursting for an outlet for our creativity and the idea of just being a player is to stifling.  Despite all the creativity and joy being a host to a story brings, there are plenty of things that can go wrong and I believe unequivocally that having a strong philosophy and applying good methods is absolutely vital to success.  DM’s fail all the time at producing their visions but most of the time its not a lack of creativity that destroys their efforts, but rather the little meta details, that approach to the process of running a game that creates the most problems.

Every DM eventually develops their own methods, often they are unique but if you really research the success story’s, really listen to DM’s experiences you will find that there are definitive conclusions you can draw to certain pitfalls they are all trying to avoid.  Much of the advice offered here is really designed around those pitfalls and though I haven’t named them all by name, if you follow this advice you will find it easy to avoid the vast majority of problems that rise up as a DM hosting a game.

Above all other advice however I can say that the key is to make sure you are enjoying it.  A happy DM is a good DM, you can never be a successful DM if you don’t love doing it and its hard to imagine a DM failing if he loves what he does.    Surround yourself by friends, take your time with the creative process, be patient with your players and always keep an eye out for those subtle pitfalls by being prepared to deal with them long before they rear their ugly head and you will always find success as a DM.  Have fun out there!

Gaming Articles

Winter Hibernation Reviews

It’s been a while since I have written anything for the blog, which tends to happen around winter time.  Here in Sweden, winter is a cold, dark, bitter experience that leaves one lethargic and unmotivated.  It’s a kind of hibernation where bringing up the strength to do anything but eat and sleep is difficult.  By February however the light comes back, the snow fall makes everything bright and you start to get your energy back.

Now even though I have been in my winter hibernation that is not to say no gaming has taken place, in fact there has been quite a bit.  I thought it would be great just to do a single article to get myself caught up by doing some mini reviews and drop some tips for a few games my group and I have been playing.   This is going to be a real mixed bag however because while we played quite a few new boardgames, we actually rotated back into some miniature gaming and role-playing games as well.

Lets get right into it.

Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

While there has been plenty of board gaming, this winter D&D 5th edition really took center stage for my gaming group as we put together a weekly wednesday night game that has become almost a religion for us.   Our campaign is set in the Forgotten Realms and has after over 20 sessions already reached many of those classic D&D heights like fighting dragons, giants, hobgoblins and much more all the while ranging the gambit from city life, dungeon crawling, wilderness adventures and everything in between.  It’s been an absolute blast.

Its new but feels classic, 5e got it just right!

For me personally D&D is a staple of role-playing, really my go to game for a great RPG experience and it has been so for nearly 30 years.  I have played every edition ever put out extensively, really you could say from a perspective of experience I’m about as veteran as you can get.   I was playing D&D when Gygax was a young man. That said however, despite 30 years of D&D I have rarely ever enjoyed the game as a player, which is why this particular campaign has been so much fun much for me.  Not being a GM not only gives you a very different perspective on the game, but allows you to appreciate the rule system in a very different, very personal way.

One thing I can say about 5th Edition D&D is that its probobly one of my favorite versions of the game from a strictly non-nostalgic perspective.  Meaning that I love it for what it is, a fun RPG, while being the fuel for what I consider a classic D&D experience.  It finds a kind of middle ground between classic/old school D&D and modern game design,  while simultaneously remaining rules light enough not to throw role-playing under the bus, but rule-sy enough to keep you interested in reading the books and exploring its nuances.  I still think 1st and 2nd edition offer the most in terms of the spirit of the game as Gygax intended it, not everyone would agree with me, but a fact doesn’t require you to believe it (burn!) but as a modern system, 5e is close enough to that old school method that in the hands of a good DM you can still get those nostalgia moments reminding you of your childhood.

The classics in their original form can still be enjoyed thanks to the Wizards of the Coast reprints.

For anyone who has never played a role-playing game before,  I highly recommend 5e as a place to start.  The rules are simple and streamlined, while the writing is done well enough to inspire your imagination.  If however you’re a 1st or 2nd edition player that has skipped all of the modern, post Gygax versions of the game, if there was one to try, it would be 5e.  Definitely a fantastic game, it gets my stamp of approval.

Twilight Imperium 4th Edition

When FFG announced that they would be putting out a new edition of one of my all time favorites after nearly 10 years of 3rd edition, my body was ready.  I certainly owe this blog a much closer and deeper review than what I’m about to do here, but suffice to say that like always Christian T. Peterson and his team do not disappoint.

This is the epic upgrade you have been looking for.

Twilight Imperium 4th edition takes the established formula of the 4x epic classic and brings it one step closer to perfection.  It remains the robust and dynamic experience we have come to expect while smoothing out some of the rough edges from the previous edition.  It still comes  with all the same flaws inherent to a game like this, namely its nearly unbearable length of play and rules weight.  I personally however accept and embrace it as is,  the depths of this games tactical and strategic lengths is well worth the 6+ hour investment you will need to make to play it.

I still believe that its a 6 player or nothing type game, you simply do not get the full experience with 3, 4 or 5 players, each suffering from various balance issues.   For the inducted veteran, 4e is well worth the coin for the upgrade and like always my suggestion to the uninitiated but interested is, tread carefully.  TI4 is not a board game, its a hobby and the price tag and time investment is too high to have the 5 kilo box sitting on your shelf collecting dust.  Be sure that you have the 6 man gaming group ready to dive in with you, if your twisting arms to get people to play, my suggestion is skip it. This is a game made for hardened veterans and fans of heavy science-fiction board gaming, everyone else is going to hate it.

All that said, for TI fans, this is another step towards that ultimate science-fiction gaming experiance.

New Angeles

By far this years smash hit for me is New Angeles.  I fell in love with this game after a single play as did my gaming group and for good reason, its fan-fucking-tastic.  Definitely a contender for game of the year, New Angeles is a negotiation, backstabbing joy ride that dare I say has effectively created a new genre of board gaming.

This is probably one of the best FFG board games since Twilight Imperium 3rd edition.

Its populated with some clever mechanics, it looks amazing on the table and its driven by a really cool science-fiction theme, all things that speak to me, in on itself enough to recommend it.  This however is really just the icing on the cake,  the real meat of this game is how it establishes the feel of a political drama that plays out in discussions and debates driven by the very difficult to predict motivations of the players.  This is almost a social experiment of sorts, where much of the fun of the game is trying to deduce what the hell people are really up to, what their goals really are and who they are actually playing against and for.

Absolutely love this one, I haven’t played something this fresh since the perfect Blood Rage.  This is one of those games that belongs on every gamers shelf.

I will be doing a full review of this one sometime in the future.

Star Wars Armada

My gaming group has a tendency to cycle in and out various types of gaming, we will go through board game, miniature game or role-playing game phases at unpredictable intervals.  When we go in however, we go big and hard like porn stars.  Star Wars Armada for quite a long time was THE game for us, in fact its one of the few games we have as a group participated in official tournaments, something that was entirely new to us.  We even have a store and regional champion in our midst.

Just as quickly however it fell out of favor, but not because we stopped liking it or anything, its more that we simply got into something else and like yesterdays news Armada got set aside.   Well recently Armada made a comeback and suddenly we are buying into the new wave 7 ships, building lists and planning events.   Why?  Because Armada remains without question one of the best miniature games on the market today.  Yes its a bit heavy and I totally understand why it doesn’t compete in popularity with the likes of X-Wing and 40k, but from a perspective of game design, mechanics and sheer epic size and feel, it is among the best there is.  This is the gamers miniature game, its far less about rolling dice, painting mini’s and list building and far more about planning and execution.

FFG has done a great job of keeping each wave relevant, but it’s far from perfect.

For me personally the fact that there is no fussing about with painting and assembly is a huge plus, but really of all the selling points of Armada, capital ship combat in the Star Wars universe has to be at the top of the list.  It shines thematically as much as it does competitively.  It’s a game of layers upon layers of depth, a game of strategic and tactical subtlety which results in an endless stream of lessons as you get better at the game and gain a higher understanding of its nuances.  There is already so much strategy to explore in this game with what has already been released and with each new wave they throw in the next curve ball that has everyone scrambling and re-assessing everything to find that new key strategy that brings them the wins.  Its a fantastic experience that no miniature game fan should miss.

Now it comes with a disclaimer label and I’m not going to sit on a pedestal and tell you everything is rosy, there are some issues.  Like all miniature games it kind of suffers at the hands of the competitive meta math mining where certain combinations one can say are at the very least stupid, if not outright broken.  In the case of Armada these combos are effective but not overwhelming, yet sufficiently irritating to kick of more than a handful of forum debates.  Combos often abused by the masses creates this effect of negativity that can let some of the steam out of the game.  Right now in Armada I’m a bit cranky about the activation spam lists and mechanics like Relay which I don’t think really fit the games core premise.  This sort of thing however is quite normal in miniature games and in local groups like mine its a none issue. In our group  people create clever lists, but they always maintain that the premise of the game is about capital ship combat and fun is always paramount.  So long as your gaming group adheres to some restraint, these mechanical loopholes are usually not a problem.

X-Wing remains the king of the hill for the general masses, its light nature, simple rules and quick gameplay is hard to compete with.

All and all I think Armada remains the best option for gamers looking for a proper miniature gaming challenge, but generally I tend to still recommend X-Wing for most gamers over Armada.  X-Wing is quick to play, easy to learn and maintains that fun spark, though like Armada is has a few rambunctious nuisance upgrades and ship that can really throw a wrench into the ferries wheel.  Armada I find is a bit too heavy for most as well, like I said, its a gamers game, even I burn out on it eventually as it requires a lot of thought and energy to stay competitive, but if you strand me on an island with one miniature game, I rather it be Armada over anything else.

Sid Meier’s Civilization: A New Dawn

I was really excited for this one, in fact I bought it kind of blind without really reading reviews or investigating the game much.  This was mainly because it was FFG at the helm and the game was from the same designer that brought us the amazing New Angeles.

It looked good from a far, but ended up being far from good.

I don’t want to say I was disappointed, it was a considerable improvement over FFG’s previous lackluster attempt at bringing us the classic PC game to board game form, but I was not blown away by it either.  Far more Euroish than is good for it, the game while streamlined and a fairly straightforward experience lacked that feel of building up a civilization you might be seeking in a game with the word Sid Meier in the title.  It lacked epicness if I can invent a word and for a game that takes you from the stone age to the future age, you think this would be the one focal point for the designers.

It’s kind of a typical Euro fair with rather obtuse mechanics and abstracted to the point where you realize it could just as easily had a different theme entirely.  You don’t really build much in the game, the differences  between nations and their strategic choices is quite benign and, like FFG’s previous attempt, they failed to produce a good combat system which is also a key feature of Sid Meiers game and it should be here as well.  Oh and I really hated the art style of the board game with as much disdain as I have for the art style of the new PC version.

It was an ok, one might say below average game. for me the search for the ultimate Twilight Imperium like epic for the civilization building genre continues, this was definitely not it.  It fell short of expectation and I don’t foresee it getting a whole lot of table time in the future.  Through The Ages and Nations remain the two reigning champions of this genre even though neither is played on a map.

18XX Series (1830 Railroads & Robber Barons)

One thing I got really into this winter is the 18XX series of games. These economic railroad and business management games really sparked my nostalgic love for classic PC games like Railroad Tycoon, Transport Tycoon and Capitalism.  Now I will say this up front, this is not a genre of games my local gaming buddies are into so I have to scratch this itch outside of my normal channels, hence it has hindered my efforts but I can say without reservation that there is real magic here.

If it looks complicated, its because it is. I would rate it at a 10 out of 10 in terms of complexity of rules, so be sure your up for it, there are far simpler train games out there for the less initiated.

The 18XX series has you running transportation empires, building them from scratch and over decades of time you slowly but surely develop your railroad business with a keen eye on the economic fluctuations of the stock-market and the cut throat competition of the other players.  This is definitely what I would call ”High Complexity” gaming, its rather slow and requires a general love for the genre and perhaps a bit of nostalgia seasoning.  Still it has this great attention to thematic detail giving you a really authentic sense of time and place.  I ended up picking up several of these games including 1830, which is among the first and perhaps most famous in the genre.

I recommend this title with a caution that there is nothing ”easy” about getting into these games, its definitely and absolutely for hardcore veteran gamers with a specific economic simulator itch to scratch.  You will read the rulebook several times before anything clicks and you need to play several games before the lights really come on, then you can spend a few years playing the virtually hundreds of titles in the genre each with its own take on the same premise.  But in the right group, games like this are truly a gamers greatest reward, a unique experience on a level of gaming most games never even come close to.  If you love railroad economic games, this is the final frontier in the genre, but be warned its not for the feint of heart.

Seven Wonder Duel

This is a game that I introduced to my 9 year old daughter in hopes that I might turn her into a proper gamer.  I failed with my son who went the cool route becoming a guitar jamming rockstar but my daughter is a lot more like me and took to Seven Wonders Duel like a moth to a flame.  Sometimes you love a game because you love the people that play it with you and Seven Wonders Duel definitely falls into that category for me.

There is strategy on many levels in this one with a lot of dynamics, it really has that infinite replay-ability thing going for it.

My daughter and I probably play this game at least 3 or 4 times each week and I give no quarter when I play her.  She beats me frequently, fair and square and that in itself makes me love this game even more. Its not complex by any stretch of the imagination, but far more complex than I would have expected a 9 year old to grasp.  True, my daughter is smarter than your average bear, but I actually believe this game to be quite kid friendly.  Its colorful, the rules are fairly simple to remember and because you don’t actually count up the score until the end, it keeps their attention as they ”hope for the win”.

I definitly like Duel better than the original, it has a quaint family game quality and the fact that its specifically designed for two players means my daughter and I never have to beg the none gamers in the family to join us.

Great game, highly recommend it, in particular if you are trying to induct one of your kids into the board gaming hobby or trying to turn your wife into a gamer.

Legend of the Five Rings

This FFG reboot of the classic CCG is born out of one of my favorite fantasy settings of all time, so upon its announcement I pre-ordered without hesitation.  It found its way on my most anticipated games of the year list and its one of the few that did not let me down.

In Legend of the Five Rings you take control of one of the many uniquely themed clans with different flavors of stereotypical medieval Japanese samurai from the world of Rokugan.  Its a very unique and rather specific setting that might not speak to everyone but in terms of a dueling card game it does a fantastic job of setting up a very engaging head to head match.  For me the theme is everything here however and I absolutely adore the art in this one.

Maybe its just my love for Japanese themed art, but Legend of the Five rings gets a 5 out of 5 stars for theme adaptation from me based on the art alone.

I can’t say for sure that I will become a collector, I may just stop at the core set, but I think this is a really thinky game that is easy enough to teach that you can just spring it on someone, yet has that almost expected depth we have grown accustomed to from FFG card games.  Its always my hope that I will show it to someone who falls for it giving me a chance to drive deeper into the game, but so far no one in my group has really taken the dive.  Its not surprising, among my gaming group most of us have our preferred go to card game, so its more common for one person to collect rather than everyone getting into it.  Among my gaming group we already have Star Wars The Card Game, Game of Thrones 2nd edition and Lord of the Rings.  In each case there is just that one collector that supports the game for everyone elses enjoyment and I think Legend of the Five Rings will fall into that same category.

All and all though, of all the FFG dueling card games that have been put out over the years, this one is right up their with Game of Thrones for me.  It has that tightness of gameplay that ensures every match is really close, while also producing that ”lets play again” feeling that you get from a great game.  So far everyone I have showed it to enjoyed the game, but it hasn’t exactly blown anyones doors of.

Sometimes it really does just come down to theme, if you like that medieval Samurai theme, this is definitely the game for you, it handles the material wonderfully.

Arkham Horror

My love for Lord of the Rings the card game goes quite deep, but unlike 99% of the games on my shelf, I have bought this one for entirely selfish reasons as I play predominantly solo and that’s the way I like it.

Arkham Horror is the new cooperative card game from FFG and offers that same solo opportunity as Lord of the Rings, so I very naturally jumped at the chance to explore it.

If your a fan of Lovecraft, this is an absolute must play. Easily one of the best games in this setting I have played and that includes all the board games.

Right out of the gate I was captivated by how richly the gameplay captured the pulp horror theme, between the locals, the types of cards the limitation and tightness of resource and the really imaginative scenario’s.  The one complaint I always had about Lord of the Rings was that the campaign mode was a bit lackluster and linear, I absolutely adore the handling of campaign mode in this game as you can effectively play through the entire story-line with the same characters.  Upgrading equipment and cards as you go, tracking stats between plays and experiencing different branching of the same story or repeat plays.

The card play itself is very good, I still prefer Lord of the Rings over this one, but that’s because I think Lord of the Rings is more of a deck builder.  Its more focused on strategies and overcoming obstacles through the act of preparation in constructing card combinations that are designed for a specific task.  In Arkham Horror deck building is kind of a afterthought really, there is some, but your mostly focused on playing the game and making clever use of the resources you have rather than trying to out smart the scenarios with clever deck building.

I also prefer this one more in a group as compared to Lord of the Rings which I play almost exclusively solo.  This one works well with 2, 3 or even 4 players and if you pick up the expansions you can really make a whole night out of it.  Still its actually quite fun and quite challenging solo, I have definitely burned quite a few evenings hunched over the table trying to unravel the mysterious of the underworld.

Great game, highly recommend it, another hit by FFG who are quickly gaining a reputation for producing some of the best collectible card games in existence.

Conclusion

And with that you are caught up.  That was more or less my winter.  We of coursed played many of the games I have covered in previous reviews, this certainly wasn’t everything but definitely among the most notable.  I have quite a few reviews to write and I definitely want to get back into some What Makes It Tick articles.   The hibernation is over, time to get back to some writing.