Nearing the end now, this has been a long and extremely strange game of Diplomacy
SUPPLIES !!!! – Machi Koro
I bought Machi Koro at Warpcon having played one game of it and winning….. I’m underwhelmed
From my research (exhaustive) everyone and their dog says the vanilla version is limited and the first expansion harbour changes the game considerably, it’s sounds more a patch than an expansion. I’ll get to that in time for now I’m going to chat about the base game
I’ve always been nonplussed by most cartoony mangaish art, particularly the cutesy stuff. I find it saccharine sweet, over the top compensatory mind control cute and in some cases downright disturbing. Machi Kori features japanesey cartoony art but it’s done in a very pleasant style. There’s a lovely vibe to the game and you get that as you play. It’s a sort of Nintendo reassuring happy.
So how does it play you didn’t ask? It plays a little like Catan albeit a very simplified version. You start with a couple of basic cards. Each turn you roll a dice and each of your cards pays out on a particular number if you’re lucky enough to roll it. Some cards (Blue) pay out on anyone’s turn, some (green) only pay out on yours but pay out more. By payout I mean cold hard cash, the only resource in the game. Get more cash, buy more cards, preferably a spread so you’ll get something every roll and you’re well on your way to building the four big buildings that once complete win you the game. Do it before anyone else and you get pointing and extended laughing rights. It’s very simple.
To complex things up, there’s a few other cards, red (my favourite) which steal coins from another players if their number comes up, purple (add bonuses to other cards) and Yellow (the four final cards which give certain effects). With the exception of purple and yellow you can buy as many of each card type as you like and before you know it have a nice little cash farm on the go. The trouble is so will everyone else. You’ve got to be better, strive harder, think outside the box, hope the dice comes up right.
The problem with Machi Koro is, at least with the base game, there’s not a whole lot strategy to it. Everyone pretty much takes the same path to winning (spread it around) and someone wins. It’s not a bad game, in fact I think it’s a perfectly acceptable fun game but in it’s base incarnation you’ll bore of it pretty quick. Oh and the damn thing takes up a lot of table real estate especially with 4 players.
Going to try the expansions before I call it
Huzzah!
Vic
Star Realms at Knavecon
OK Commanders, get your practice in, come April 11th Knavecon will be hosting a STAR REALMS competition
If you’re not familiar with this game, now’s a good time to start. It’s available as a stand alone card game and cross platform for Android, iOS, Mac and PC.
See you on the battlefield !
Huzzah!
Vic
Damned if I can remember what Anomia means
Anomia I’m reliably informed is a word meaning an inability to recall names for everyday things like, you know, whatyamacallits and yokes. It’s another brain melting game in a similar vein to Cock-a-Roach salad which I seem to be ever increasingly coming into contact with. Like the electric shock game the skill is in being able to take more pain than your opponent and keep your head. O.K. it’s not that bad, it’s actually quite a fun game but we were tired when we played it and you need a clear head to get anywhere. That said if I was questioning a suspect I’d make them play this first for a couple of hours and they’d confess everything back to the first apple they stole.
Like all these game it’s piddly simple you flip a card and put it in front of you. Each card has a subject like a pop song, a museum, a famous painter and so on. It also has a symbol on it. Match a symbol with another player’s and you have to call out something that matches the opponent’s subject before they do the same to you
So it’s animal snap +. There’s wild cards in there that complicate things. Losing a card uncovers another beneath it, which can then cause another match. The game can pulse a number of times like this and unless you’re sharp it can get away from you fast. Like a lot of these games it’s the changing play field as cards are covered with others that confuses the brain. Well it confuses my brain anyway.
It’s a fun game while it lasts which is unlikely to be more than one game in a night unless you want sharp pains behind the eyes for hours. Would I buy it? No. Would I play it again? Definitely. I reckon I’ve sufficiently recovered from my last game to risk another one.
Huzzah
Vic
Citadels – a blast from the….. before now
Citadels is as old as Adams first game of apples to apples. It’s still a cracker of a game and packs a lot of longevity and replay into a small box (oh err missus)
It was my pleasure to teach someone how to play it last Thur (the fact that I WON is neither here nor there let’s move on, I don’t like to talk about it to be honest) having played this game a lot I know the rules intimately. That said veteran drivers pick up bad habits so I had a quick reread and all was fine. For once I had been playing it right. Also I knew the rules. The world didn’t end.
Citadels is a fairly simple game. It’s pretty quick and can accommodate up to eight. Unlike a lot of 8 player games it’s not that light or luck based. Players are endeavoring to build eight buildings (districts) before anyone else (of a higher value than anyone else). Buildings come in one of five colours (yes colours autocorrect not colors) and each colour is associated with a particular character that you pick at the start of your turn.
Players need to acquire building cards and the gold to build each property. To facilitate this they in turn (starting with the king)(player one) secretly choose a role from those remaining and take the roles action in numeric order.
The basic roles are assassin (kill someone), thief (rob someone), merchant (more income), magician (swap hands), architect (draw more, build more), king (take first player marker), bishop (immune to warlord), warlord (destroy opponent buildings).
When you assassinate or steal you pick a role to do it to. Not a person. This is key. So it’s a bit of a guessing game whom took which role. Depending on where you are in the queue to pick a character and the ones available you can get a reasonable idea as to whom everyone is.
There’s a lot of naval gazing where you need to keep an eye on everyone’s building and try to hold them back while you move ahead.
The game lasts, depending on the number of players (up to eight) around an hour or so. It whips around pretty quickly and your have to keep your beady eye of Sauron on everyone so there’s no down time. The game usually ends with groans of “oh dear me* I would have won next round” one of the best ways to end a game.
Just like a tuxedo or a black dress (or both)(I don’t judge) this is something you should have in your wardrobe. It’s a classic game. It comes with an expansion in the box and after dozens plays I still haven’t exhausted its play ability. A modern classic. Get a copy. It’s cheap.
Huzzah
Vic
Sacrebleu! – Viva la (next) France.
We bid a sad* farewell to France who was crushed mercilessly by the grand Italian army. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now. This just doesn’t happen! France is the strongest army in the game, Italy the weakest. Italy is supposed to be the second quote, the also ran and what about Austria?! It’s not supposed to cause mayhem, it’s supposed to die just after Italy.
Well it’s anyone’s game now (apart from France, Germany, probably not Russia or Turkey) at this stage.
Not much left now….
Moves
Builds
Current Standing
Austria: Supp 10 Unit 10 Build 0
England: Supp 9 Unit 9 Build 0
France: Supp 0 Unit 0 Build 0
Germany: Supp 0 Unit 0 Build 0
Italy: Supp 10 Unit 10 Build 0
Russia: Supp 2 Unit 2 Build 0
Turkey: Supp 3 Unit 3 Build 0
Remember 18’s the charm
Epic Spell Wars something something something
Epic spell wars of the battle wizards duel at my skullfyre
I remember playing charades many years ago with some friends. Two and a half minutes and it had to be a movie or a TV programme. There was some humdingers that were tough to mime. “Dune”, “Uncommon Valor”. “Rumpold of the Bailey” however the coup de gras was (and we came close to getting it just beaten on time) “I know my name is Stephen part two”. Much dishonour
Epic spell wars of the battle wizards duel at my skullfyre or “that stupid wizards game, no the other one” as its know for short would be a cracker as a charades question. Mental note
Yes it’s pure silly. From the adveture time graphics to the concept. Wizards (as we speak) are fighting it out, throwing spells at each other in lots of fun but ultimately dull ways.
Ever play lunch money? Well it was good in its time but apart from nostalgia it’s as much fun these days as x and o. Wizards is one step up from lunch money. Not a massive step and not enough to drag it out of novelty status
Each player starts with a number of life points and get a handful of cards. when it’s their turn they concoct a spell of up to three parts. The spell, the delivery and the blah (can’t remember). Each of these added together does a specific effect so the mighty, flames of, maggot worms might do four points of damage per player plus six to your target and restore two health.
There’s a little bit there in the shape of bonuses for using matching or different categories of spell cards.
The game attempts to make up for its shoetcomings with side splitting rules like you have to call out the full name of the spell or it doesn’t work. Oh sorry that’s it that’s the only one. It doesn’t work. A game that uses art or wackiness is like a barber that’s uses too much gel.
It’s a light game. It’s luck based and there’s not a whole lot of skill in there apart from rule following. Still it’s simple fun but it never rises above a one shot filler.
Not the worst game ever but that’s faint praise indeed
Huzzah
Vic
Ascension to the Stars – Star Realms
All hail Star Realms. It out ascension’s Ascension.
I first spotted Star Realms at a games night. I didn’t play it, I just saw it and asked what it was like. “Yeah it’s o.k.” I was told. It’s a compact little number that hides it’s light under a very tidy bushel.
You can’t look at Star Realms and not compare it to Ascension. It’s very similar. In place of wizards and demons we have spaceships and space stations.
It’s a deceptively simple game. You have three resources. Authority (life), trade (gold) and firepower (attack strength). Each turn you draw a hand of five cards and depending on how much trade you have you get to buy a card or more from the centre row of seven. You also get to unload whatever firepower you have reducing your opponents authority (life points)
So far so simple. Obviously it’s more complicated than that so here’s what’s what. There are four factions in the game and they all have ships of various costs and abilities. Most ships when they appear in your hand with another of the same faction get a bonus like more firepower or more trade or some other special ability like being able to scrap a card in your hand or discard pile.
Scrapping cards is a big part of this game. Getting rid of your lowly starter cards and replacing them with better gear is critical. In addition to your ships you can pick up space stations that stay in front of you and add bonuses and some (outposts) act as shields from incoming firepower. Space stations are, like the ships of a particular faction grant bonuses to matching faction ships.
A lot of ships and stations come with a power that only kicks in if you remove the ship from the game.It’s a very nicely balanced game where that little push of removing a ship might cost you next round if your opponent is still alive.
For such a simple game. Pretty much two resources it’s a complex beast with a nice chunk of strategy and tactics woven into easy play. Granted luck does play a part but you know when you’re up against a good or mediocre player.
In addition to the card game there’s a very slick phone/tablet/pc version of it. Very slick. I’ve played dozens of games on it now and it’s very accessible. Also the payment model is superb. If you buy it for your phone you get it for your tablet and pc too. It’s the best €5 I’ve spent in a while. I’ve gotten my value a dozen times over.
All in all this is a lovely game. It’s fast. It’s got bottom. It’s easy to learn and it’s got a real one more go feel to it, just like Ascension did.
You’ll be hearing more about this game as time goes by. Hopefully the expansions will not muddy it’s simple Charm.
More games like this please
Huzzah
Vic
Sacrebleu – France feels the pinch
Italy and Austria defy all the bookies by continuing to expand. France going gently into the night. Russia not giving an inch. Turkey fearing Austrian Christmas. England getting getting boots on the ground, slow and steady. It’s anyones game still (by which I mean not France of Germany)
Huzzah!
Vic
Raging Royds – Asteroyds
I loved asteroids when it came out in the arcades (I’m old, get over it). I played it. Read about it in magazines (magazines are sort of like hard copies of websites from the late 20th century).
Asteroyds is a fairly simple program it up racer. On a very short timer. Program your ship’s next six moves forward,turn left, turn right, flip over.
The asteroids move. You all move and someone hits an asteroid. Much hilarity ensues. No one loses and eye. People laugh at you.
Try and get through the four moving flag gates and home before anyone else does. Simple stuff.
Each ship has a unique and uninspired special move you can do once per game and if you’re feeling saucy you can take an extra move in your turn but you don’t get the benefit of the damage reducing shields you normally would.
The game is all about making mistakes or more accurately not making mistake but having your opponents do so.
It’s grand. It’s not bad, it’s not wonderful, it’s in the green zone. It was very cheap (€10) when I got it and it was well worth the cash for what you get.
You can play out a few scenarios in the game. Racing, target shooting, something else. It’s good enough. The problem is its a bit robo rally but it’s not as good as that. It’s a bit leader 1 but it’s not as good as it.
If you get the game cheaply like I did it’s certainly worth getting but at full price id say look elsewhere for racing fun
Huzzah
Vic
Victor Gannon Games 