Monthly Archives: March 2017

What Makes It Tick

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lay Of The Land

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Real Stages of Conflict At The Carrock

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

How I did It

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

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

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

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

The Victory

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

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

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

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

Board Game Reviews

Blood Rage by CMON 2015

Designer: Eric M. Lang

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

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

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

Overview

Final Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star (5 out 5) Perfect Score!

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

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

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

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

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

Components

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_star

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

Cons:  None

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

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

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

Theme

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_star

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Gameplay

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Replay-ability and Longevity

Score: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star
Tilt: christmas_starchristmas_starchristmas_star

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion

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

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

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

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

 

Best of List

Top 10 Table Top Games of All Time 2017 Edition

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

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

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

1. Through The Ages: A New Story of Civilization

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

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

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

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

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

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

2. Star Wars: Armada

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

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

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

3. Lord of the Rings: The Card Game

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

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

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

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

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

4. War of The Rings

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

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

5. Blood Rage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

7. Game of Thrones: The  Board Game

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

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

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

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

8. Star Wars: X-Wing

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

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

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

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

9. Empires: Age of Discovery

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

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

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

10. Shogun (Queens Games Version)

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

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

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

 

The Fallen & Honorable Mention

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

What Makes It Tick

What Makes It Tick: Twilight Imperium Part III

Twilight Imperium has a lot of intricacy, just learning the rules can take time but actually learning the subtle long term impact of the very wide range of potential strategies, racial benefits, technologies, strategy cards, political cards, different resources and positions, just to name a few things, takes many… many plays.

There are however some established, classic strategic and tactical concepts that can always be deployed and while I’m not going to get too deep with the specifics, I have constructed a short list lof some of the top tips & tricks.

Mecatol Rex For The Win

The importance of controlling and denying control of Mecatol Rex, the central planet of the game cannot be overstated.  While most players will prioritize “production” and “military” instinctively, the truth is that in TI3, all players will ultimately build up military forces that will be fairly evenly matched.  More than that, war is a poor path to victory and even when facing a much smaller force, you will be sacrificing resources to go to war, weakening your position whether you win or lose the war.  This is mainly because TI3 is in the scope of things, is actually a pretty short game in terms of rounds.  Most games with experienced players will end somewhere between round 6-8.

Most inexperienced players will question the value of Influence and skip Mecatol Rex as a target until they realize that controlling Mecatol Rex is about a whole lot more than that.

Hence production is really about creating a line of deterrents, its like investing in the future mutual destruction of anyone who decides to go to war with you, but usually that investment isn’t going to be turned into Victory Points through an act of war.

The true defining and usually deciding factor of a TI3 victory will be the player who diversifies the best.  You need to have technology, resources, influence, command token advantage, fleet supply advantage, military strength and political/diplomatic control.

To that end Mecatol Rex is an amazing contributor.  Its a single planet that provides 7 resources (1 production and a whopping 6 Influence).  More than that though a wide range of secret objectives are only possible to accomplish through the control of Mecatol Rex, not to mention that its a platform of control as you can project your force from the center of the galaxy at any player.  Of course having 6 influence each round is amazing as it gives you political control during voting, its a core resource in several public objectives and its used in the secondaries of several strategy cards.  There are a lot of benefits to be had just by controlling the planet.

More importantly however is that simply by controlling it, you are likely denying several players the opportunity to complete their secret objectives (2 points) which is key since in the vast majority of games, a player that completes his secret objective will win the game.

Mecatol Guardians is a variant introduced in Shattered Empire, effectively NPC units that protect the planet it to make it harder to take…. this however is just a cat in a box.

Mecatol Rex as a result is a key, strategic position and a worthy investment in most games for you.  In particular controlling it early can create a stacking effect of benefits, the longer you control the better position you will be in.

Controlling Mecatol Rex is however not about space combat, its about ground combat and as such its all about getting ground forces on the planet.  Its unlikely that should another player or more typically players decide to take it from you, that you will be able to stop them.   Its a central planet, everyone will be able to get to it.  Invading someone on Mecatol Rex with ground forces however is a considerably more difficult task thanks to the logistics of moving troops, in particular if a defending player has really built up his ground defenses.  Hence taking control of Mectol Rex and keeping it in your grasp is key, even if you only control the planet.

Command Token Management & Stalling

All the resources, military and planning in the world will fail if you do a poor job of managing your most vital resource in the game, Command Tokens.  Without question the most common thing you will hear at the end of a TI3 game is about how someone would have one if they had just one more Command Token.  It cannot be overstated how critical action economy is in TI3, every move you make will cost you command tokens, you must conserve them, spend them wisely and do everything in your power to create a reserve.  If you find yourself playing a game of TI3 two command tokens at a time that you earn in the status phase, or praying that someone will kick of the strategy card that earns you additional tokens you are not only going to lose, you are going to lose horribly.

There are a number of really important conservation methods when it comes to command tokens but the topic gets fairly complex.  I think the simplest and most direct advise I can give is to simply ask yourself “Why am I taking this action”?

One of several races with an ability to stall by spending command tokens. While they don’t help to conserve, at least you get something for your expenditure.

Simply put, you want to make sure every time you put down a command token that its with a very specific purpose in mind that garners a clear benefit, preferably one that will lead to a victory point.  You want to avoid dropping tokens just to “stall”.  Aka you don’t want to pass, but you have no worthy actions to take.  Often, in particular in early parts of the round it may be more prudent to pass.  More commonly however you are going to want to stall.

Knowing that at some point (likely all the time) you will be in that situation, you really want to find and hold on to anything that would allow you to stall.  Whether its a racial ability, an action card, a strategy card or something else.  You really want to have at least a couple of ways you can stall your turn each and every round of the game, barring perhaps the first round as this is largely for optimizing expansion.

You might at this point realize that some races are better equipped to do this then others, some even have an outright “pass” ability like the Yssaril Tribes.  Well, this is exactly why the tribes are often referred to as “the best” race in TI3.  The ability to stall, is very powerful and comes in handy throughout the game and it’s squarely because of this ability to conserve command tokens.  You will need to stall often with every race, but command token conservation is all about not stalling by spending command tokens.

Arguably a race with a terrible start, command token conversation and building up reserves is your priority in such a case.

Perhaps the best method of conserving command tokens is to simply build up a big reserve, so that you can spare command tokens to stall with. Some races benefit from this in one way or the other,  like Federation of Sol for example gets a direct benefit for simply spending a command token (get 2 free ground forces) while other races have absolutely no default way to do this, building a reserve is more important for these races.  In some cases it’s absolutely vital and a first priority.

Projecting Mutual Destruction

I have already mentioned several times in previous articles that TI3 is not a war game, but do not be fooled into thinking that means that there will not be war, nor that you can skimp on the projection of your military force.  In fact, this is not only a priority but constant.  You must always be building up a threatening, versatile force, ready to strike and bleed your enemies.

That said, the purpose of this build up is not a prelude to invasion or as a part of an ultimate plan to win a great war, its actually to project a military that is strong enough that anyone who attacks you would be assuring your mutual destruction.  It should be clear that to attack you, is to wage a war in which there will be two clear losers.  Its kind of like two world powers building up nuclear weapons, if the war ever does happen, its over for the both of you.

War is usually not a great move, but some races are much better equipped then others for conflict.

The reason is simple, you are here to earn victory points and carve a piece of the galaxy that offers enough resources that getting more from the control of other players in not necessary.  The galaxy however is far too small for everyone to get their fair share and as such, its inevitable that some players will have no choice but to fight for their claim.  You want to make sure that you make a poor target and that someone else appears to be a much better one.

Creating a proper military defense is not just about “more units”, its about creating nets of impossible odds and”stupid moves” that must be made to invade you.  You want to make it costly and that means DPS in a net protecting your key assets, lots of throw away fighters to use as cannon fodder and plenty of shooty units, preferably upgraded with technology.  Don’t skimp on ground forces either, you want to make sure that even if someone manages to take control of space, they are still not going to get your planets.  Finally you want to make sure that you can always counter-strike, so position your units in such a way as to ensure that if any spot is attacked, you have the means to make an immediate counter attack resulting in your opponent losing his units and gaining nothing for it.

Is this easy to do?  No its hard, it takes practice and there are insurmountable variables that can effect the decisions that must go into this.  This can only be learned through experience, but the important lesson you should take away here is that, the goal is always a threatening, costly defense that can only be overcome through a stupidly expensive engagement.  The goal here is to discourage attacks in the first place.

A Weak Mans War

One final piece of advice is regarding the relative starting strength and dynamic starting positions in the game.  TI3 is not a fair game, in each game there will always be players who have a clearly better and clearly worse start.  You might think that starting of in a position of strength is good, but its actually not.  Weakness leads to alliances and cooperation, strength leads to hostility and ultimately war.  Being in a weak position means you have just cause to agitate the fragile peace in the galaxy.  Out of a weak position you want to trigger wars, but you also want to make sure that your participation is just a gesture.

Play the wounded dog, in fact the longer you can maintain the illusion of being out of contention for the game the better (real or imagined).  Always remember that wars are not won on the battlefield, they are won through diplomacy, politics and manipulation with the your enemies enemy.  There is no better method to ensure victory than to draw in two players into a conflict between them with the illusion that you are taking sides.  When playing from a weak position your goal is to always create conflict between players.  Point out the possible moves, the possible threats to each other, theorize about how people will act, what actions they might take and never be afraid to make some shit up.  Put doubt in the minds of everyone and stir chaos, distract the shit out of them and push them to make mistakes.

If you ever find yourself playing the Xxcha, stirring the shit is your top priority, they are the definition of a weak starting hand.

Weak positions typically mean smaller military and fewer opportunities, as such you must create your own options, but often as it so happens it can be impossible to recover from a weak position.  Its in these cases you really learn the most about how TI3 is really played.  Its a mind game, a game of guesstimating about what people will, might or can do.  When you aren’t a threat, no one can accuse you and say “hey your trying to distract us so you can sneak in the win”, often identifying a weak position of a player is not hard to do.  Hence your weakness becomes your legitimacy, there is a sense of “he has no reason to lie” in the atmosphere that surrounds a player in a weak position.  Leverage the shit out of that, force everyone to play their hand in the open by being observant and vocal.

Its hard to play from a weak position, but it might surprise you to know that of all the victories I have ever had, starting from a weak position accounts for about 70% of my wins.  The truth is that there are no weak positions in TI3, there are just perceptions of that.  Winning from a weak position is all about the spin and to win you must be the spinster.

How that was all helpful, see you guys next time.

What Makes It Tick

What Makes It Tick: Twilight Imperium Part II

In our next TI3 article we are going to be talking about some theorycrafting surrounding this amazing epic.  We are going to talk about the meta game, table action, some do’s and don’ts and a few strategy tips to get you started all built around the theory of the Revenge Factor.

The Revenge Factor

The revenge factor is a concept that applies to a lot of games but no place is the theory more prevalent than in Twilight Imperium thanks to its rich political environment where everything is connected in one way or the other.

First lets talk about the theory itself, what is the “Revenge Factor”.  It basically breaks down like this.  In Twilight Imperium, almost every action you take is going to negatively effect someone at the table in some way.  Its a very confrontational game.  In a game of TI3 every player always has a general status of either being in contention or out of contention for the win.  While this status can change over the course of the game, the later the game becomes the less likely someone that is out of contention for the win will make a comeback and be back in contention.  This is important to understand because the revenge factor effectively kicks in when a players status changes from in contention to out of contention, whether imagined or real.

Lots of games have Revenge Factor elements, GoT The Card Game is another good example, in particular in multiplayer games. Be weary of injuring people in this game, if you put them out of contention, it doesn’t take much for someone to take you with them.

Another property of the Revenge factor is understanding that in Twilight Imperium, barring very unusual circumstances, you can always sacrifice yourself to take someone with you.  Basically if you realize that you are not going to win, you are likely still in a position to target someone and make sure they don’t win either through a wide range of actions, from playing cards, the way you vote in political rounds, using special abilities or just outright attacks, self-destructive or otherwise.

The Revenge Factor thus is the act of realizing that you are out of contention, identifying the person who caused you to be out of contention and then actively pursuing him/her and ensuring, while you won’t win, neither will they, aka, getting your revenge.

Anyone who has ever played a confrontational game like TI3 knows what this is, perhaps they call it something else but that element of “getting even” is always a prevalent force.  In TI3 this is amplified by the fact that there are so many ways to negatively effect someone at the table.

The phenomenon takes different shape depending on the player count, typically the higher the player count the more likely two players will find themselves in a pointless conflict that will put them both out of contention for the win.

The “Revenge Factor” is a very real thing and I find in almost every TI3 game I have ever lost, its been as a result of this table phenomenon.  In a lot of ways, its really not possible to win a game of TI3 entirely on your own in most circumstances, external events, alliances and political maneuvering in which you end up getting help, either willing or unwittingly is an absolute must to secure a win.  If someone is really gunning for you, willing to sacrifice their own potential victory,  victory for you is very unlikely.  Again, in most circumstances, their are obviously often exceptions but to really come to grips with this phenomenon you must both understand it, embrace it and vigilantly prepare for it.

There are many different ways to deal with the “Revenge Factor”.

First and foremost, be conservative in how you negatively impact people.  Simply lashing out randomly or negatively effecting someone just because you can, in particular if there is no benefit to you (no way to earn points for it yourself) is a sure fire way to become a target of someones revenge.  Avoid this.

A good way to do this is to always ask yourself a simple question.  How does this action help me.  If the answer is not “I will get a victory point as a result”, its usually not worth it, at least not during the early and mid game.  Things change a lot in late game where there might not be enough time to get revenge but we will talk about how to manage the end game very specifically in a later article.

This is a game about victory points, never forget this, this IS the only way to win. Swapping plastic in a war that does not yield VP’s out of spite is a sure fire way to lose the game.

The second way to avoid being the target of revenge is to anticipate and prepare for it.  Holding coveted cards like Sabotage, sitting on a Diplomacy Strategy card, creating neutral zones using military units, simply having a much larger military or even arranging a negative action through diplomatic talks with the player so he knows “ok he is going to do this so he can get a point, in trade for X or Y”.  All these things and much more can be done to anticipate or curve someone lashing out.  Understanding what a player could potentially do in response and being ready for it is important but be weary of screwing with a player who has a hand full of action cards, is within striking distance of a system you need, has more command tokens than you or is in position to help one of your other enemies at the table.  Action cards in particular can create a lot of chaos, you never want to be the target of someones action card wrath.  They can do a lot of damage and its a common strategy to stack your hand for just this purpose.

Finally and perhaps most importantly hold out negative actions for the end game.  A typical game of TI3 doesn’t end with a player getting that last and final point in the final round of the game.  It more often happens that a player scores 2, 3 or even 4 points in a single round.  Often referred to as “making  your play”, essentially the act of setting up a way to score multiple points in a single round so that players don’t have time to respond and are caught of guard.  If your sitting on 8 or 9 points in the final round, odds are you are about to play a round in which every person at the table is going to be trying to stop you, but if your sitting on 6 points people will assume there is plenty of time to deal with you.  Hence sitting on those big Fuck You actions until the right moment and then unloading to score big in a single round is the most effective way to ensure no one ever gets a chance to get revenge on you.

The golden rule in TI3 is that at 6 points you’re a threat in contention for the win. At 9 points, you’re just the guy about to get his ass handed to him by 5 other players.

Now that is not to say you should not make plays against people throughout the game, but remember the first part of this theory.  Players aren’t going to suicide it on you just because you play a Local Unrest on them in round one because they will still feel in contention for the win and won’t want to risk too much, but if you do something that really knocks them on their ass and they perceive that they are going to lose the game because of it, in particularly early or mid game, its a good chance you will have brought the wrath upon yourself and you will be dealing with a player taping your resources for the rest of the game on a suicide mission to take you with them,  making it difficult if not impossible to win.

Building political and economic power is a far better way to advance, then taking it away from someone else.

That is in a nutshell the revenge factor, know it, learn to love it and of course always be prepared to institute your own revenge should someone foolishly go after you.  Stack those action cards, arrange your military on the borders of your enemies and always be ready to pay them back 10 fold for their foolishness.  You really want to set this precedence at the table.  Everyone should know that, to screw with you is to unleash the demon, make them pay for coming after you and let them know that if they take you out of contention, your going to take them with you.

That’s it for today, hope you enjoyed the article and good luck!