Game Over Man!

Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game is a very interesting deck builder. It’s sort of a Star Realms plus but I’d do it a disservice leaving it there.

The game is either a coop or semi coop depending on what rules you go for (Basic or Advanced) with the ingenuous option of playing as an alien if you get killed by one

I was lucky enough to get to play two games of it, both of which were very different.

The game sees you playing out the plot or more accurately completing a number of objectives from the various aliens movies (1-4). Each use the same rules but work off different decks all of which makes for nicely different experiences

This game oozes theme. Everything you’d expect from the movies and a bit more. The designers took a little artistic license to bring a variety of different alien types not just the queen, face huggers and drones. The game sees the players battle xenos with acid blood, howling aliens, bigger dudes, smaller ones, stealthies, fast ones and all of them are believable.

A game starts by first picking which film to play out, choosing the respective alien and player decks and the three events that have to be completed to win the game. Seal the airlock. Setup sentry guns, Kill the queen and so on.

Players take an avatar with a certain amount of hit points and a unique starter card for their starter deck and square off with basic cards against aliens that each players turn move through six zones towards the combat zone (like a conveyor belt of chitinous doom). Once they get to the combat zone they start handing out damage cards like they were free samples so its key to wipe them out before they reach it.

The two currencies in the game are damage and recruit points. If you’ve played star realms (or most deck builders) you’ll be in familiar territory.
Recruit points (gold) allow you to buy more cards for your deck. Damage points are used to reveal aliens cards creeping through the sectors and wipe them out. Some of these aliens have an effect (usually negative) when revealed, some have an effect (usually negative) when they die.

So it’s a race to stem the tide of shiny black whilst trying to compete the group mission.

I got to play the first game with two players (it will accommodate five) and the second with three. We did very well with the first (the first alien movie) but got soundly hammered towards the end of he second (Couldn’t rescue all the hostages in time).

Even though it was coop it was a lot of fun and edge of your seat stuff from start to finish. Advanced rules allow for hidden agendas for characters (you might wind up with a Burke type character who wants to bring back a sample by being the sole survivor etc), now this mode really interests me. Equally you could play the rules that sees dead players take the part of aliens with their own decks and wreaking havoc with the humans.

This is a very neat game. I can see it becoming a decent iOS game like Star Realms before long and the Predator version which can be played stand alone or integrated with this is currently in kickstarter.

If I had to fault it I through the art work was only average. The designers chose to do their own art work rather than take stills from the films which range from comic art to recreations of movie scenes to junior colouring competition stuff. It doesn’t affect the gameplay at all but we’ve come to expect higher quality art on our cards and this isn’t it.

One thing of note is a lovely three foot long playmat that comes with the game and it’s invaluable for setup showing clearly where all the various stacks start and discard to

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this game before playing it. I figured it would be a game with the aliens theme tacked on but I was pleasantly surprised. I’m not going to rush out to buy it because someone in the group has it but if you’re an alien(s) fan this is a fine game for your needs.

Huzzah

Vic

June 13, 2015 0

KnaveKids

After the success of the Kids Corner at Knavecon V (due in no small part to Borys and the other parents who knocked it out of the park on the day) we’re going to run a smaller shorter, one day event just for families.

Starting at 11am on Sunday the 19th July 2015 until 8pm in the Castletroy Park Hotel Knavekids is going to be a family boardgame convention. Bring yourself, bring your kids and take part. Knavecon will provide all the games you’ll need or bring some of your own favourites.

We’re going to gear everything towards children so lot’s of games for younger players, group games and events, chill out spots with colouring and lego and anything else we can think of before then. That’s not say we won’t cater for older kids, we will. We’ll adjust it around the group.

Places are going to be strictly limited and prepaid. The cost is €20 for the day for you and your family.

The event is a family event for accompanied children so you’re expected to game with your kids too. If you’re a veteran gamer or a complete beginner this is a great opportunity to get your children interested in this wonderful hobby.

I’ll be joined by Borys & co who ran kids corner at Knavecon V and I’m hoping this will be the start of a regular event.

If you fancy taking part, contact me via the usual channels and let’s make it a day to remember (in a good way)

Huzzah!

Vic

June 12, 2015 0

Why can’t we just get along?

Invasion from Outer Space : The Martian Game

Why can’t we get along? Well… If we did it would make for a very short game. This is a rework of last Night on Earth. It’s a straightforward no messing around zombie game not a million miles from zombicide. I was lucky enough to pick it up in pristine condition at the Knavecon buy and sell.

The game sees two or more players take the part of the evil Mars attacks type aliens and the mad as hell and not going to take it anymore colourful circus performers.

Like all good zombie games, The bulk of the alien forces are cannon fodder but plentiful and can overwhelm in numbers. The Heroes are a tougher lot and can take a number of hits before they fall beneath the green tide.

The invaders also sport a couple of super aliens in the shape of the Zard beast. An indiscriminate wrecking ball and the Martian hero, the equivalent to the human heroes.

Play sees the two duking it out in a variety of scenarios all with a strict and terminal (for the humans) amount of game turns. The action happens around a fairly randomly laid out circus with the big top always at the centre. Various rooms offer up a wide variety of searchable items (hero cards) ranging from weapons and equipment to various cantrips. The aliens equally get to draw from their invader deck with a view to spiking the Carneys 8pm performance (and taking over the world)

It’s a very neat game. It does everything you’d expect of this genre and there’s no real down time. I’ve only played it two player, but from my experience of last night on earth it should scale pretty well.

The art work and print qualify is excellent. It’s very shiny. The art is on par with other games from Flying Frog. I assume that unlike me Flying Frog have a brace of handsome friends they can call on to play the parts of the various heroes. The photo work is superb and exudes an air of fun and frivolity.

I like this game. It’s a happy, fun, relatively light affair, well worth the entrance fee. If you don’t have a good zombie game and don’t fancy shelling out for a more expensive animal you won’t go far wrong with this

Huzzah (or ag ag ag ag as we alien invaders like to say)

Vic

June 10, 2015 0

Here’s mud in your eye !

There is a joy in setting out a game. Arranging all the pieces just so in
anticipation of the coming clash. The bigger the game the better. It
feels just right when everything is laid out correctly and easily to hand.

War of the Rings takes a bit of setting up, it also takes a bit of space too, but oh boy is it worth the effort!

I spoke recently about this game having played a couple of games of it
and been completely smitten. It’s a really really good game. Even if
you weren’t a Lord of the Rings fan (that lone gentleman at the back you
can leave now) the mechanics and flow of the game are still sublime. I’d
happily play any setting with this setup. Being Lord of the Rings and
being so close to what you would expect of that world it makes a
brilliant game stellar.

So why you might ask am I back here? Well…. I lost again, or more
correctly team Evil lost again, but you know what? It was fun! Let’s go back to the events of the night while they’re still fresh and I’m still bitter.

Myself and my team mate (collective responibility for losing) took the
Shadow side with the previous two good players taking their places
again.

The game was very different this time around. If you recall the nasty
hobbiteseses won last time by getting to mount doom (only just). Well we
were determined not to let this happen again and vowed to throw a bit
more resource at corrupting the ring bearer. It almost worked too (damn meddling kids). In addition to this plan we went straight out (zero kissing) at Minis Tirith in an effort to break it and take it before Strider arrived to give it all that. Again we almost did it

The good players had obviously been reading up on their strategies since
last time (evil players don’t read) and quickly Gandalf got hosed and
replaced by the new shine white version. Gandalf the white is a pain
in the codpiece

This time around very little happened with the dwarfs, they wandered
around a bit but never got roused into war, ditto the northerners.

Gondor quickly joined the fray with combined actions against them from
the southerners and Mordor hordes. Minis Tirith was surrounded in siege
and the south of Gondor was taken by a large force of Southerers despite
a few spirited defenses and sallies from them. A relief force of
gondorians waylaid the Mordor forces but a counter attack saw them greatly reduced and destroyed but not before they relieved the siege of Minas Tirth and Strider got in and assumed the role of Isildur (curses)

The second siege of Minis Tirith saw good orcs die with not much to show for it and a little over extended the Sauron forces limped away went west and north while fresh troops moved in from Mordor to keep Isildur contained. It was too little too late, Isildur and his boys wiped the floor with these but still weight of numbers beyond Gondor held them back from coming out and attempting an attack on Mordor proper.

Not so Rohan, which having joined in the war swelled it’s ranks and
turned it’s gaze on Isengard. Saruman raised a large army of elite
troops to defend and the remaining Sauron orcs bolstered with nazguls
and the Witch king took a couple of Ronan towns and harassed the large
rohan army snapping at it’s heels and threatening to take helms deep
unopposed.

The Ronan army turned it’s attention to the anoying Sauron gnats and hammered seven shades out of them while Sarumans forces battened down the hatches and awaited Ronan’s advance. Secure and outnumbering in their defenses.

Then disaster struck as Whitey Gandalf with the aid of pippin coaxed the
Ents into not one but two attacks on Isengard, followed by the Eagles
(non the band) who devastated the uraks and followed up by a swift
approach by the reduced but still very effective Ronan army finally fell and gave up the keys for the tower.

At this point Rohan, Gondor and d’elves were doing well but paying for
their actions in troops that couldn’t be replaced (unlike the shadow
player whom had a bottomless, albeit slow pit of them).

The fellowship at this point had retreated to Lorien (because they’re
worth it) and were healing corruption, hanging out and partying while
the armies clashed all around.

Moria and Dol Guldor raised a huge host and marched on Lorien, planning
to crush them and take away support for the resident fellowship.

In the north a last ditch offensive had been put forth by the elves of
Rivendell. A plucky attack on the shadow bases of Mouth Gram. Shadow
armies were quickly raised. This was it, Isengard Uraks were mustering
to retake Isengard and it was only a short time before they would accomplish this. Ronan was bruised and bloodied from so much fighting. Lorien was about to fall and the fellowship was still quite a ways off it’s goal. If the northern shadow fortresses could repel the elves for a while it was all over for the now diminished forces of good. The nearby Shadow base was raising elites to throw into the fray and relieve the siege….

Didn’t work. Some fast play from the elves saw them take Mount
Grundabad in quick order and with Isengard still in their keep they won it by military victory….

What a stupendous game. The tension, the planning, the huge battles.
This was just as epic as the original trilogy and it all flew by in just
over three hours. Not bad. Not bad at all.

I’ll tell you something else. Even though we lost (again) we’re even
more fired up to play again. War of the Rings is a wonderful game. I
can see this hitting the table for a long time to come

Huzzah!

Vic

May 29, 2015 0

Dr Beat

But above all…. he played the part of the Evil Dr Victor Gannon

Huzzah!

Vic

May 28, 2015 0

4 Tribes Actually

Five tribes is a four player game. That’s the first thing that struck me. The second was this game can never ever (ever) be played with anyone who over analyses their move.

The game is relatively simple. It consists of a random spread of five by six tiles each populated by three meeples of five different colors. Each of the tiles has a special ability and a points value for ownership (it’s all about the points)

Play sees you lifting a clutch of meeples and then dropping them off one at a time into adjacent tiles in a contiguous path. The last spot you drop on you pick up all the meeples of the last colour you dropped, place them in front of you and kick off the special event (if you meet the criteria) for that spot. Lift the last meeple in that square and you claim ownership with a towel over a sunbed (or more accurately a camel meeple)

A number of other scoring routes exist, access to which are controlled by the colour of meeple you lift at the end of your sprinkling. Sets of goods cards (the more variety the more points), particular colors of meeples (worth progressively more points at the end the more you have) and djinns who not only grant victory points but shower points on you when certain actions occur. Palaces and palm trees can also be build which increase score yields.

It’s worker placement. It’s mind melting worker placement if you analyze your every move. It’s comstanopolis with a bit of lords of waterdeep tacked on.

It’s also one you’ll need a few gos of before it makes sense. It’s a grand game (as in it’s grand not big or sweeping), I’d go so far as to say it’s a forgettable game. There’s a lot of this stuff out there (Puerto Rico, Istanbul and so on). If worker placement be thy God than this is a fine Demi God worthy of your prayers. If however you like to stick it directly to your friends more directly (there’s some cock blockery to be had in the shape of assassinations and grabbing before others do) then you might want to look elsewhere

Huzzah

Vic

May 25, 2015 0

Libertalia

Liberalia is a game I played last year at Gaelcon and really liked it. I picked up a copy at Knavecon buy and sell for a good price and I’m very happy with my purchase.

Liberalia is a pretty simple game. From a deck of thirty or so cards it sees the youngest player (not me) draw out eight random ones and the others hoist onboard the same eight character cards.

Each of the thirty characters have a special ability and some conditions for making doubloons for the owner and in a lot of cases a negative attribute that might cost you points at the end of the round

A round consists of six days where you secretly pick a character cards and chuck it into the mix for the day. The cards gets laid out in cards number order and the lowest one first kick off their special ability (the brute for example kills the highest character in the mix, the governors daughter makes 5 doubloons if she’s the only daughter on the ship) some characters cash in at the end of the round, some of other characters if a lower value have been played and so on and so forth etcetera etcetera.

Once charters play out their special ability then in reverse order they get the choice of some of the booty available for that day (all clearly visible in advance), some of which is valuable. Less valuable, murderous or minus points.

There’s a decent amount of player interaction, but you rarely get the chance to hammer just one specific player, so often it’s a close run points race

A special mention has to be made of the artwork. The character cards are beautifully rendered. Some of the nicest and most realistic illustrations I’ve seen in a game.

Throw in a measure of card counting and you have a fine solid game. It’s short enough that you’d like a second try after more than likely losing. It’s chaotic enough to be unpredictable but not random and the variety of cards makes for a fairly different game each time you play

Let’s be honest it had me at “pirates” and after one play, i was hooked (if you’ll pardon the pirate pun) I can see this barky hitting the table a good bit over the next few months

Huzzah! As we pirates never say

Vic

May 23, 2015 0

TBG Diplomacy 2015 – Turn 1

The First Annual TBG Diplomacy began last night (GMT)

Let’s wish our plucky generals the very best! It’s going to be rough a ride!

GERMANY : Joe Morris (Ireland)
ENGLAND : Frank W. Roberts (Tennessee)
AUSTRIA : Wes Ferrer (California)
ITALY : Max Vaughn (Georgia)
FRANCE : Larry Cruz (Texas)
TURKEY : J.J. Novacek (North Carolina)
RUSSIA : Edward Uhler (Colorado)

Huzzah!

Vic

May 21, 2015 0

ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL BGG DIPLOMACY

Knavecon in conjunction with The Board Game Group are now inviting plucky Generals to apply for a position in what will be quite simply….

THE GREATEST GAME OF DIPLOMACY EVER PLAYED….

Seven brave souls from all around the World will compete for the ultimate bragging rights using all their diplomatic and gaming skills to win this classic game. (Knavecon and the Boardgame Group are contributing prizes for the ultimate winner including a rather nice Trophy)

If you think you have what it takes then apply in the comments below and lets get this this show on the road. (those of a delicate disposition need not apply).

The game will be played out over the coming months and chronicled by our experienced GM team. This is the first of what will prove to be an annual event

Don’t delay, glory awaits!

Huzzah!

Vic

May 19, 2015 4

War of the Ring (second Ed)

Just like Sauron I’ve had my beady eye on this game for a long time. I was glad to acquire it recently second hand but altogether perfect

War of the Ring sees between two and four players reenacting the titanic struggles of the lord of the ring series.

The free people must band together and fight off the unwelcome advances of the shadow players allowing the fellowship time to get to the cracks of doom with the one ring or with a lesser force conquer a number of shadow players fortresses. The shadow player must take over enough of the free people’s turf or corrupt the ring bearers in order to win.

So it’s capture the flag with hairy feet.

I’ve played two games of this so far. A 1v1 and a 2v2. Both of them have been epic and both have been right down to the wire. (The free people’s just making it before the shadow player engulfed middle earth)(Boo hiss)

The game is pretty straightforward once you’ve learned the rules (all of which fit on a single handy cheat sheet provided), that said it it did take two full games before every little niggle was ironed out. There’s a couple of really good instructional videos out there and I recommend you either play someone who knows this game or study the videos or you’ll find yourself reading the rules a few times over before it sinks in. (Universal head do an exemplary rules summary well worth a look). Just like twilight struggle knowledge of the rules won’t save you from ignorance of the event cards and a number of run throughs will be required and a few visits to the strategy forums. No bad way to spend a few hours.

The game itself is beautifully presented.(More so if you sell the house and buy the collectors edition). There are a ton of models for the various good and bad guys all cast in reasonable quality given the amount in the box. It can be a struggle to recognize the difference between say an isengard uruk versus a Mordor orc but since you’ll probably paint all 100 plus models straight off the bat it won’t be an issue for you.

This is a clever game. It captures the feel of the books magnificently. The way the game played out each time was perfectly believable. Gandalf the grey pops his sandals in moria. Isildur defends minis tirith like a boss. Gimili rouses the dwarfs in the iron hills to war. No two games play out the same and it’s possible to try out a few what ifs.

For the amount that happens in a sitting the game is surprisingly fast. Three hours saw us setup, played and finished and we were still chasing a couple of rules during that. There is no down time in this game. You’re either planning a few moves ahead or watching in horror as something unfortunate befalls you (more so if you’re the free people)

I like this game. The two sides play out very differently. The shadow player WILL rule middle earth. It WILL overpower the free people given time. It’s all about shock and awe. The free peeps are all about holding out, sacrificing and crowd surfing the hobbits to a victory. It’s desperate times and hopefully you have enough left in the tank for that final push when you eventually get to Mordor.

It’s also thrilling. From start to finish something is going on. No matter which side you’re always stretched to achieve what you want, making do, taking risks, setting things up for next turn, reacting to events, taking the best worst choices. It’s glorious and its my very favorite type of game.

Map based conquest, big battles, and a forgivable solid set of mechanics. Layer in a familiar world and we have a classic.

I was lucky enough to snag the second edition which sports a few improvements over the first. I know it’s an oldy (Boardgames never age they just get more expensive) but it’s my favourite game this year and I can’t wait to play again. Probably as the bad guys because well. You know. Highly recommended, doubly so if you’re a rings fan.

Huzzah!

Vic

May 16, 2015 0