You know  you give me no choice but to add more games to the Grande Raffle.  I thought we had peaked at Knavecon 9 but OH NO, this is going to be the best raffle to date.  A big thank you to a number of people who have donated prizes for the big event.  Knaves I give you the kickstarter that is….

Don’t Forget!

and let’s not forget

MORE TO FOLLOW

SO! how do I get tickets early and beat the rush on the day and benefit from the 2 for 1 offer before the friday before the Knavecon?  Simples just paypal my Swiss bank account at

victorgannon@yahoo.com

Prices are currently

• 2 x raffle tickets for €1
• 20 x raffle tickets for €7
• 50 x raffle tickets for €12

Should you feel inclined, feel free to pre-book your tickets for the event too.  Tickets will be available on the door on the day as usual.  It’s going to be a busy con!

• Adults €18
• Students and unwaged €10
• Accompanied Children Free

Huzzah!

Vic

Jimmy “The Infamous” Murphy was good enough to guest write a review of Camel Up the card game, let’s hear what he has to say…..

Camel up is a fun board game that can go to 8 players with expansions.

If you’ve played that game then you’ll find a lot of similarities.

It’s still a game about betting on camels racing down a track and hoping that the next move will go your way.

The betting options are largely similar. You have a set of bets on where the camels will come in this leg of the race and a set of bets on the final places. There is one end of race bet for each camel to either win or lose. The payout for being fight is pretty large in the game context so getting it right is important. You can only have one win and one lose bet in front of you but you can swap then so it is entertaining to watch the musical chairs effect when camels make big gains or losses in a round.

The leg bets are on each camel and decrease in value so there’s a pizza too grab them quick, the downside being getting it won’t can lose you money. The bet payouts are generally good enough that players are encouraged to make bets and be engaged in the race.

This version runs on cards, literally. Track is a set of cards and the movement is governed by the race deck. The race deck is built by each player getting a hand of cards and splitting that hand into discards, secret race cards ,one known racecard and one card they can play in their turn.

This makes the game interesting as each player has a certain amount of knowledge about what’s in the race deck. Numbers vary on the player count but if 3 player it’s the following.

You get 9 cards.

You put 3 into the race.

You discard 4.

Then you have one you hold and one you reveal to the table on your turn if you choose.

So the rounds run with everyone trying to grab the best bet, choose the perfect moment to play their secret card and wondering what the fates and the other players are going to do to them. The level of engagement for players is high even on other people’s turns as you are watching the race unfold. There is a lot of silent and not so silent commentary on the performance and probable hereditary of the camels each leg.

When it looks like the race is ending the banter and plots hit a high point. Alliances are made and broken based on the likelihood of the player with the currently leading camel to be able to reach the end line if everyone else is discarding the cards that make that camel lose. This is the leg of significant nods and smiles and flat out bluffs

For me camel up cards is not as much fun as the board game with the expansion. But I Think it’s going to be a handy one for casual play. Works well with kids and goes to six players. The real bonus is the box is about the same size as a tiny epic game making this a much more portable version.

Jimmy

Finally got down to Cork to game with Jimmy "the infamous" and the guys from Dan Lowery's tue night games. It was an honor and a pleasure. For them obviously. For me it was a savage beating at The Godfather game.

The guys have a fantastic setup. A cosy bar, friendly staff (related), good food and decent coffee and unusually for a bar alcohol.

The bar even has its own themed board gaming menu of meals. Drop in early. Have a bite to eat, play a few games, have a drink. Not a bad evening at all

A big thank you to the lads for their hospitality. Great nights entertainment and I'm looking forward to seeing these complete 24 carat bastards at Knavecon 10.

Huzzah!

Victor

AS YOU KNOW, the knaves are famous for their gentlemanly/ladylike behaviour, their effortless classiness and their love of the aesthetic.  Knavecon 10 is going to be something special and we’re going to be wheeling out some very special games as part of our Posh Gaming series (which I just thought up seconds before now).

One of the Thur crew is going to be inviting correctly washed and gloved gamers to join him for a game of War of the Ring on his brand new shiny copy of the 2017 Anniversary Edition.  His copy includes the anniversary edition expansion Warriors of Middle earth and 3D printed custom fortress pieces which look the Business!

We will also have a copy of the Kickstarter edition of Takenoko available to us and more posh games will be added before the 2nd September.

I’ve you’ve been hoarding a special edition of a game for some time.  Knavecon 10 is the perfect time to whip it out and show it to everyone….

Huzzah!

Vic

Will be down in Cork Tue 14 Aug for a games night with Jimmy and the lads

https://www.facebook.com/groups/946308112049171/

Come say hello before Knavecon 10

Huzzah!

Vic

Pandas are great aren't they?. They're all lovely and cuddly but you know they will eat meat If it's available and in the wild will happily knock the shit out of other pandas. Viticulture looks like a gentle game but under the surface it's quite brutal. Not directly but by the dark gods by some of the most infuriating cock blocking ever to grace a board game

Viticulture is a worker placement game a little like Agricola, a little like Stone Age. It's by the same dudes that made Scythe. You spot that pretty quick when you crack it open. This is a quality game, lovely art work, lovely build quality, cracking meeples.

The game sees up to six players taking he role of a viticulturist growing grapes, harvesting them, making wine, fulfilling wine orders and hopefully outscoring your fellow players. It's pretty straightforward.

Turns are split into seasons. In spring you choose a spot on the wake up list (turn order) go early and you get to play first, a very advantageous thing to do. The later you decide to go the more rewards you get in the form of money, cards and if you're particularly tardy an extra worker. Top marks on the choice of rooster as the meeple for this. In no way did my gaming group make jokes around this Every turn.

Summer opens up a number of options for gathering seedlings, planting vines, building your own infrastructure and getting helpful visitors to come and help out.

You start with three fields each capable of supporting a limited amount of vines. The better quality grapes require things like trestles and irrigation. The cheaper ones will thrive anywhere. Picking the right grape type is important to your overall strategy. All have pluses and minuses.

Visitors come in the form of cards which with a worker on the play card spot lets you execute it. Visitors give you actions sometimes with a cost that allow you to carry out a season related action without having to grab one of the limited worker placement spots. Speaking of which spots are limited on the board and the first ones (depending on numbers) give you a little bonus. Going first is quite important. It's a case of waking late and getting a bonus now or early and getting it later when you place a worker. The essential edition adds the grande worker he can jump on a spot already occupied but you only get one of them so choose carefully.

Fall/Winter sees you harvesting grapes. Making wine and fulfilling wine orders. This is where you make a decent amount of score and the better quality wine gives you more points

Viticulture is one of those games that's more than the sum of its parts. It's really really good. The horror of seeing a spot you need taken and you missing out on a move for a round is like a gut punch. Make sure you're the one dishing it out. The game is so well polished. It oozes class. The artwork is bang on the game's footprint is perfect. Game length is bang on. This is pure entertainment in a box.

I'm going to have my copy at Knavecon and I recommend a look if you haven't tried it. It's sat on my shelf for months now and I'm so glad I took it down to play it. Great game. Go play it

Huzzah!

Vic

More games being added to the Knavcon 10 Raffle Pool.  Knaves I give you something REALLY special for Twilight Struggle fans.  Currently selling second hand for €100 a new and unopened copy of Twilight Struggle Turn Zero AND Promo Packs.  Check out the link for details.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/224686/twilight-struggle-turn-zero-and-promo-packs

Don’t forget

and let’s not forget

MORE TO FOLLOW

SO! how do I get tickets early and beat the rush on the day and benefit from the 2 for 1 offer before the friday before the Knavecon?  Simples just paypal my Swiss bank account at

victorgannon@yahoo.com

Prices are currently

• 2 x raffle tickets for €1
• 20 x raffle tickets for €7
• 50 x raffle tickets for €12

Should you feel inclined, feel free to pre-book your tickets for the event too.  Tickets will be available on the door on the day as usual.  It’s going to be a busy con!

• Adults €18
• Students and unwaged €10
• Accompanied Children Free

Huzzah!

Vic

My favorite type of game is dudes on a map. Have always loved them since Risk and Diplomacy got me into this hobby and I'm always up for a bit of map based conquest. Doesn't mean other game types are bad I like those too but dudes on your border rocks my world.

Enter Mare Nostrum a new ancient empire conquest game set around the med. For me it's the spiritual successor to conquest of the empire but plays out a lot more quickly and demands half the footprint of that venerable old warhorse.

Players take the role of one of the leaders from that era (Cesar, Cliopatra, Hannibal etc) and a fixed starting position of cities, temples, resource routes, markets, legions, forts and ships. The last three are there for conquest and protection the rest are about accumulating resources to build more economy or raise military units to ruin someone else's day. It's a classic formula. We've seen it in Antika and numerous others games. But that's ok because this game does it really well.

Mare Nostrum is both an economic and a combat game (mostly combat when I played it) the game sees you building up your economy by harvesting sets of unique resource types available on different spots on the map. There's 12 different resource types in total plus gold. They all do the same thing. Get three unique ones and you can build stuff or stick control flags on nearby neutral areas. This reminds me a little of Avon Hill Civilization.

There are a number of pretty swift parts to each turn the turn order of each dictated by the strongest player in that discipline. Trading sees you swapping one at a time resources with other players. This is swift and whack a moley.

Building. Again straight forward. There's no upkeep on units or cities.

Conquest. Here you move ships and men then kick off a fight and loot or occupy regions and trade routes. Fighting is dice based with some nations having various bonuses. Fighting is very interesting since the strongest nation calls the order of player turns. It's all too possible to have someone sweep in as the last player and put paid to a hard one victory.

What's particular interesting in this game is the different paths to victory. Control 4 capitals, build the pyramids, be ahead in all three categories (culture, construction and military might). Swapping strategy mid game is quite possible. It's also fast. You could conceivably win in an hour (our game lasted three).

The issue I have with a lot of map conquest games can be turtling and lack of expansion. I've played some games where you don't get far from your capital and encounter maybe only one or two players. When I play a game with four, five or six players I want them all to have an impact. I want to be threatened and threaten all of them potentially. The short hop by boat opens the map out nicely. You're never too far from any enemy. At the same time it's possible to dig in and defend yourself but it's not unassailable and tying up resources like this will cost you the game. The balance here is well done.

Something I haven't felt in the last few games I've played is the urge to play again and quickly. I thought about this game the next day. How I could have played differently. Effective strategies. Mechanics. Wether I should get my own copy. This is a fun game well worth looking at.

The game looks good. It's a busy map but not overpowering and all very clear after a round or two. Build quality is good with a number of deluxe add one and replacement pieces. There's a number of additional optional rules which I didn't play but all look interesting and I will investigate in time.

There should be a few copies at Knavecon on the 2nd September. Once again this is one I'd Pencil in on your dance card if map conquest be your pleasure

Huzzah!

Vic