Our Ma Da

I got to play Star Wars Armada last night for the first time. Along with Imperial assault I seem to recall saying I had no interest in playing this game either this year…… I stand corrected. Not only have I played it I bought it.

Armada is good actually it’s very good. Is it as good as X-Wing? Absolutely. Is it better than X-Wing? Short answer yes with an if, long answer no with a but.

First and foremost Armada is not X-Wing with different ships, although it shares a number of attributes it’s a very different animal. Fantasy Flight have done a sterling job of conveying the feel of large ships grappling with each other (liked we’d know). It all feels right. It’s a slower more tactical game than x-wing (not that there’s anything wrong with x-wing).

There’s two distinct unit types in the game. The hulking capital ships and the annoying little fighter gnats. Both compliment each other nicely. Fighters wiz around harassing each other and occasionally scoring hits on the big ships If not unescorted. The big ships swiping at them cows tail style while maneuvering for a better angle and lashing off their big guns at the other big ships.

I’m a big fan of the age of sail. Massive slow moving ships going toe to toe with each other. Furiously working every angle to steal the advantage on their enemy. This has that same feel. The big ships have a lot more tactical options than the ships in x-wing (not that there’s anything wrong with x-wing). Diverting damage, repairing, adjusting speed, concentrating fire and it all feels right. The ships feel big and lumbering. The imperial ships you need to queue up orders in advance. The rebel ships are more zippy and responsive but outclassed in shields and firepower.

The game’s order queue is a lovely mechanic. You in advance order your ships to change speed, repair, concentrate fire or command fighters nearby. The bigger the ship the further in advance you have to book your orders. Getting these wrong when the rubber hits the road is not the end of the world by any means but getting them right just as you need it gives your ship a nice little bonus that could swing a battle.

Battles are drawn out unlike the game which only lasts six turns. You really have to work hard to take out an enemy capital ship. It’s no one shot nonsense here. Shields have to be knocked down, Hulls battered but engineer crews given enough turn can see all your brutal work undone.

I got lucky last night and got a nebulon b into two firing arcs and let rip with concentrated fire at point blank range taking out shields and buckling her hull. A turn later I finished them off as we slid by each other. It all felt right. It all felt big ships Star Wars

Now the cons.

The game is Dublin pub expensive. You’d get small change from a hundred quatloos for the base game and if you want to play competitively (I don’t) you’d really need to get two

The expansions are pricey too. Big ships are a minimum of €30 and squadrons of fighters are around €20. That said you only need two or three ships for a battle (less if you’re playing imperials)

The build quality is questionable. It smacks of rushed work that will improve in time as the manufacture gets their head around the new moulds. Nothing serious but there was an excess of flash on some pieces from my set.

Storing the models is a complete Jon Snow, then again so was x-wing (not that there’s anything wrong with x-wing).

If you can live with those above negatives then you’re in for a real threat. Myself and my x-wing buddy sold all our x-wing models at Knavecon and I reckon we might sink a bit more of our largess into this system. It’s a nice game. A very nice game. I’ll talk more about it once I’ve played it a few more times. For now if you’re question was should I buy it? then yes, go buy it.

Now excuse me while I brace for impact

Huzzah!

Vic

May 3, 2015 0

I don’t like the look of yours

I don’t think anyone expected to be playing Ladies and Gentlemen (well obviously the owner). It’s certainly different. Bought for a mere bagatelle at the Knavecon bring and buy it reared it’s Victorian head on Thursday last.

The game sees up to eight players (we had seven) working in groups to become the most talked about Gentleman or Lady in polite society come the big ball.

Teams consist of well to do gentlemen and their ladies and well me. I was the odd one out so my role in the game was …. well let me put it this way, I’d stand out at a wake…

Best T-Shirt of the night was Better Call Saul

Players score points by having the best dressed wife at the end of the game and can be boosted or undone by the look of the courtesan who is every gentleman’s friend. This is achieved by buying the best possible outfit for the aforementioned ladies

Outfits consit of hats, dresses, accesseries and an entourage of servants.

Each of the men folk each round dabble in the stock market which sees them picking resources from a collective pile to complete a set and earn money.

The ladies each of which run a shop stick a pile of cards face down with one face up showing various dresses, bags, hats etc and their cost. Ladies then secretly decide which shop to visit and fight it out black friday style for the choicest of items handing them to their male counterparts to either buy or reject. (pouting is mandartory). The courtesan can ask any of the men to buy goods for her but the men in doing so have to keep their wives sweet by buying them something of similar value.

The game ends after a number of rounds with the best dressed couple winning and the least generous types falling to the wayside.

It’s an Interesting game. Possibly not the best fit for a group of seven lads with schoolboy humour sensibilities

It’s a game that requires a few goes before a strategy would emerge and while I can’t say it was stupendous fun I reckon a few plays would make for quite the fight. I also think it would play better with a few actual women in the mix (possibly a real couristean as well)

I had not heard of this game until last Thur and it’s possible we may never play it again but I do feel strongly that I don’t feel strongly about it one way or the other. Once again it’s going to need more play before I can decide if I like it or not.

Huzzah! (as we ladies say)

Vic

May 1, 2015 2

Who’s Afraid? – eMail Werewolf V is afoot

Calling all werewolf fans, Knavecon is now recruiting for the annual email Werewolf Game. if you’ve played this game before you will know exactly what it is about. If you’ve attended Knavecon and took part in Werewolf you’ll know what it’s about too. This version gets played out by email with the wolves claiming a victim every day (bar weekends where they take a rest). Voting also happens once a day

Even if you haven’t played werewolf (or any other game) before it’s simple and I guarantee you’ll have a good time.

I’ve secured the masterly skills of the Dread Pirate Joe to once again GM the game. Game is open to anyone with an email address, So….

Get your email addresses into me and when we have 30+ we will kick off

Who’s game?

Huzzah!

Vic

April 29, 2015 2

Over by Next Christmas – Diplomacy 2014 – Turn 14

Yes, this game is STILL going on.

Despite the best efforts of Austria and England, Russia and Turkey are still in the game acting as a nasty speed bump allowing Italy to do his dastardly work while England is distracted

The Monkey trap that is St Petersburg is still vexing Austria and England allowing Russia to continue to gad about like John Constantine with a deal with the devil.

Having incorrectly predicted whom would win I remain dear reader unable to predict what could happen next….

Huzzah!

Vic

April 28, 2015 0

Kicking and a’ gouging in the mud and the blood and the beer.

Mark your calenders. The 30th of October will see the return of the most frustrating, nail biting, hair pulling, curse like a trooper, stupendous two player game of all time to the electronic world. Blood Bowl 2

Bloodbowl one is still a crackin game (if you can forgive the sometimes frustrating control system) but the new version is shaping up to be something special.

By November there will be a league, OH YES there will be a league and I’ll see you all on the pitch, hopefully face down

Huzzah!

Vic

April 27, 2015 0

Star Realms Ireland

Are you a Star Realms fan? Are you, your granny or someone you once heard of Irish? Then get over to Star Realms Ireland on Facebook and register your Player Name so we can all get into a big glorious scrap.

Huzzah!

Vic

April 26, 2015 1

Durka Durka Mohammed Jihad – Homelands

I like Gale Force Nine boardgames, they’ve written some really good
stuff, Spartacus is great fun, I haven’t played Sons of Anarchy but I
hear it’s good and last Thur we got to play Homeland the boardgame.
Gone are the days of cheap movie tie ins, these days we expect decent
mechanics and in a lot of cases designers deliver. Homeland delivers

It’s a semi-cooperative game. Semi when added to the less than bracing
word cooperative makes for a very interesting experience. We’re all in
this together! (Terms and conditions may apply)

Homeland sees up to six players working as agents to stop terrorist
threats from kicking off. These threats appear on various spots of the
conveyor of doom and each turn move from low threat through four more
stages to imminent where they really need to be defused. Failure to do so will mean a gain in points for the terrorists. Success means points for the good guys.

But since this is SEMI co-op who are the good guys?…..

Borrowing a little from Battlestar and Bang! players start with an
agenda card and may be Loyal Agents (who score points by defusing
threats), politicos (who score points by not letting the terrorists win,
but allowing them perform a bit of mischief and thereby upping their
own self importance in the form of political Clout points) and a good
old fashioned hidden traitor who just wants to see the world burn. The
role cards are handed out face down from a pool of seven with three of
the good guys, three politicos and one terrorist so it’s possible that a game won’t have a terrorist in it.

The game cracks along at a merry old pace (faster if you’re not talking
rubbish about everything but the game) and ninety minutes will see you
done and dusted. There’s no real down time as once you’ve taken your
turn you need to keep your beady eye on what everyone else is doing,
figure out their agenda and of course blame them for problems
the agency is having.

The threats that pop up on your radar vary in difficult to solve.
Actually it’s very simple, a threat will have two attributes, it’s
impact (how many points it will score for the good guys if they solve it
or bad guys if it goes off) and it’s difficulty (how many points of good
resources you need to throw at it to fix it). added to this is an
obliging terrorist card that sits on top of it and adds their difficulty
to the proceedings. Agents have to throw cards battlestar style at it
face down to try and defuse it before it ends it’s turn in imminent.
That said a bad guy or a politico might want some threats to go off
scoring points for the axis of evil.

On your turn you get to assign your agents to be lead investigators and
the buck firmly stops with them. Solve the threat and you gain some
bonus points, mess it up and usually everyone suffers

Assets, agents and soldiers allow you some extra powers to look at
threats in more detail, assist in defusing them or just muck around a
bit. (You can help or hinder other agents work either directly or covertly)

Once either good or bad points reach 12 the game ends and everyone
counts their points. Politicos add accumulated clout points up, good
agents success points (either of which can be sacrificed mid game to
gain extra resources to help in solving threats). The traitor scores
points from successful threats going off points.

In the game we played the good guys ended the game with successes but
the terrorist has accumulated enough assets and just enough terror
points to pip me at the post. I wanted a second game but it was too
late.

I like this game. It’s pretty simple, I don’t think we made any
mistakes with the rules which were concise and clear. The game play
flowed well with no speed bumps, the theme was good although it could
have been helping old ladies across the road rather than threats and it
would have been just as much fun.

A good solid fun game, well done once again Gale Force Nine

Huzzah!

Vic

April 24, 2015 0

Galaxy Truckin Across the iOS

I’ve spoken before about Galaxy Trucker and as you probably know it’s a firm favorite at Knavecons. It’s a mess. A glorious, riotous, sand pit of construction where it’s just as much about sticking it to your friends as helping yourself. It’s a game best suited to those who enjoy the frustration and despair of others…..

I notice none of you have left so I’m guessing you’re that type of gamer.

Galaxy trucker recently (last year) came out on the iPad and more surprisingly the iPhone. You can get it for android too and I think the PC is either here or WIP. They’ve done a fine job.

I played it on the phone. I’m still playing it on the phone. It’s good. It’s really good

As a fan of the cardboard version I was surprised they were able to squeeze it all into the diminutive screen of the iPhone. The other thing that surprised me was just how well it all works on small screen land. What took my whole kitchen table in RL works just tickeyboo in VR.

Unlike the base game the single player features a very neat campaign (as well as bot matches) where your character earns cash and levels up and gets to travel along increasingly hostile routes. The mechanics of the game are clearly visible as the game proceeds which I like, you’re never in doubt you’re playing a boardgame, however the graphics, music and sound effects add more life to an already lively experience. The music is catchy, the voice overs humorous and the graphics continue the lovely cartoony feel of the original.

The app features a good solid multiplayer which comes in either real time or curiously turn based. This makes for a very different style of play, less a cat fight and more a gentleman’s/lady’s pursuit.

I’m still trying this game out, the mutiplayer I need to explore a bit more and I may do a more comprehensive article on it later but in the meantime, I’m having a lot of fun with this game and I highly recommend it

Huzzah!

Vic

April 22, 2015 1

Dicing with Death – Pirate’s Dice

Pirate’s Dice aka Perudo or Liar’s Dice is a very simple push your luck game. It’s very very simple. Each player takes a set of five dice and secretly rolls them not revealing them to the other players.

The first player then calls out a challenge such as “Five fours” indicating that they believe there are in total Five Fours or more rolled between ALL the rolled dice on the table (he’s probably lying). The player to the left of them can either raise the bet say calling six of the same or something else or call the player on the their bet.

Once called the dice are all revealed and either the roller or the one who shouted “Five fours? Pull the other one!” (Or something similar)” is right. Whomever is wrong loses a dice and the process repeats until one person is the only player with dice. An extra rule sees ones are wildcards so judging can be tricky.

This game reminds me of Texas Holdem, rather than the blinds moving towards you it’s the bet and being in a good position makes all the difference (no you can’t swap seats).

For such a simple game it’s quite tactical. I played a few versions of this and just like Skulls and Roses you could make it yourself with a stack of dice. The last version I played had coloured dice and shakers for each player, a nice touch which allowed you to judge things that much better by looking at the number and colour of the discarded dice.

This is pure beer and pretzels gaming but not bad for that. I recommend trying it and seeing what you think. Dig out a dozen dice and let me know what you think.

Huzzah!

Vic

April 21, 2015 0

120 days of CAH

Knavecon is a wholesome family event, the minds of the players are pure and unsullied like a captured hobbit. As you can imagine the introduction of not one but all five expansions for cards against humanity was a shock, that said it doesn’t really explain the five hour marathon they played at the event with ALL the cards. Seemingly so certain cards from the thousand or so on offer would reappear. That’s dedication. that’s not a great description but it will suffice.

CAH is a fun game with the right group (e.g. not your mother in law). The problem with it is a dozen plays in you’ve seen all it has to offer and you tire of the combinations. The expansions each of which drop a level of depravity add fresh … vigour to the proceedings. A lot of the cards are very good, some are quite dark but all of them injected (no pun intended) with the same wit that pervades the base set (base being a great description).

If you’re a CAH fan I would whole heartily (that sounded rude too) recommend the expansion. You may need to shower after but you did want an add on and the developers gave you one….

Oh err missus

Vic

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April 17, 2015 0