Artemis Thur – Being a Drax Report Missed a bit

Oh yes, I just remembered we got to play Guilds of Cadwallon last night. I really like this game. I’d seen it (well the box anyway) with the Wee Gamers at Conclave when it was in Kickstarter. The artwork was excellent. I was curious and at £8 (for some reason) I snapped it up. All that had to happen now is I had to like it.

Well I do like it, it’s snappy, it’s a little bit different and the artwork is lovely. The idea behind it is Cadwallon (a city) is controlled by a number of guilds whom you wish to curry favour with. You send your agents out to the streets to join together different guilds and in the process gain influence over them.

I was very impressed with Catan when I saw it first and realised you play it on the edges of the area. Catwallon plays in the same way, you have a 3 x 3 grid of cards (buildings mostly) with gaps in between (boulevards) in which you can place your agents. Each of the buildings confer a certain amount of influence which you can use to influence nearby buildings you connect with your agents. Makes no sense, that’s fair enough it needs a 1000 word picture. Take it from me this is a clever mechanic.

The game plays out over a number of rounds and the cards you gained influence over at the end are grouped and scored. In the mix are some action cards that change things around, wildcard characters and options secret missions and global effects. For such a small package it packs a fair punch.

It has elements from Catan, Citadels, 7 Wonders and a few others but it’s still fairly unique. It happily plays out in say 20-30 minutes so it’s quite lite. I’m eager to have another go at it which is not a bad recommendation.

I lost btw, I figured I would, then I figured I had it won then it was snatched from me if snatched means a country mile. Nice game, more of that

Huzzah

Vic

November 8, 2013 0

Artemis Thur – Being a Drax Report

It was early last week that a group of gamers from Northern Ireland by the power of the inter-web made me aware of a gaming experience called Artemis. Artemis was the virgin goddess of the hunt and the moon and there’s a fair chance that the people who will get the most out of this game are themselves virgins (or possibly affected by the moon). Event though it doesn’t say it this IS the bridge from Star trek.

You and a team of other players via laptops, smartphones and tablets and a wireless network get to team up and take the roles of Engineer, Navigator, Communications, Weapons, Science of even cooler Captain of a Starship.

It’s clever, very clever. One PC or device becomes the server and shows an external view of your ship. The other players with their laptops/tablets can then jump on and become the various work stations for the afore mentioned roles. Off you go on a variety of missions and work together to complete them or I dare say even more interestingly off you go with a larger number of players on DIFFERENT ships and take each other on Wrath of Khan style.

You can probably sense my excitement here, this is Sci-Fi nirvana and yes I did want to be the captain.

To be honest it was a pretty rushed affair having only heard of the game but all was looking good. One of the guys even brought a rather nice mini projector and had the main view screen up on the wall. Unfortunately due to different versions being released (at the moment) on ipads and PCs we couldn’t link them all together so we fell back to playing a less ambitious game with just iPads.

Yes, it’s great fun. If you’re short a few players you can swap between posts on the one PC. For such a new game it’s very nicely polished and the experience is very good. Even though we were like a bunch of cadets on a school tour we did manage to nuke and destroy an enemy ship whilst calling the odds to each other from our various stations. this is DEFINITELY one we’re going to revisit when they get the versions in order

After that is was back to earth for more simple fare.

Race for the galaxy was played while we few startreked across the universe. I can’t comment on it I’ve only played it once and that was a long time back and I didn’t get it.

Next up was an old classic Scotland Yard

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/438/scotland-yard

Most people have played scrabble, monopoly, game of life etc. Scotland Yards is one step up from these and a nice gateway game. I’d never played it before and I did like it, but then again this type of hunter/hunted game appeals to me.

Scotland yard < Letters from Whitechapel < Fury of Dracula

The above three are similar but increase in complexity as you go right. I’ve mentioned whitechapel and Dracula before, both excellent game. Scotland yard is a similar but a little bit simpler and certainly less bloody and more family friendly than the other two.

One person plays the bad guy who’s sneaking around the city, the other play police men trying to hunt him down by deduction, luck and guile. It’s a nice little game, very straightforward it is definitely fun to play. Our first game we caught the bad guy about half way through the game

the second (some way say third) I was the bad guy ….. and they never caught me. Buwahaha hahaha. That said I’ve played a lot of Dracula and Whitechapel so I was prepared. I would definitely play again. It’s faster than other too and it hits the spot. If a criticism could be levelled it’s that all three games are really two player games just with a group playing the good guys. That’s fine too. I’m just saying

Also played that night were Ribbit (you B******DS) and Love letter. Ribbit is killing me, I can’t get the hang of it and it’s a childs game for 5-105 year olds…. just goes to show

More next Thur

Huzzah!

Vic

November 8, 2013 0

All Hallows Thur – Being a Drax Report

“Victor how come there isn’t a mark on any of the rule books for you games?”

It’s true I’ve been accused of not reading the rules before starting games. It’s a filthy lie, I ALWAYS read the rules, perhaps a few times before I put a game out to play. Now that said I may have READ the rules but that’s no guarantee I have a clue what the rules mean

So last night was no exception. I read the rules for Netrunner a carefully, I read the cheat sheets, I even watched the tutorial videos a few times. I carefully punched and bagged up the games and everything was ready to go…. took a while to figure out though. But I digress first up was Cards Against Humanity

This is pure and simple, adult Apples to Apples and just like that game you play the person not the game. it’s fantastic. Great party game, easy to learn and is gut bustingly funny.

It’s a perfect game for non gamers. be warned it will offend some people (whomever they are), it’s quite adult

Next up whilst the lads had a go at Ticket to Ride (I hate ticket to ride) Someone who drew the short straw got to play den den DENNNNNN NETRUNNER agin me.

Netrunner is a fast paced (unless you play me) two player card game by Richard Garfield. One player takes the role of an evil (aren’t the always?) corporation who wants to advance their agendas while the other player takes the role of a dashing Hacker intent on stopping them. Now what’s really cool about this is both players play slightly different games

It’s really worth having a look at the video tutorial and you’ll get it pretty quick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAslVfZ9p-Y

The Corporate player sets up agendas and assets that will give them score and resources (the resources in the game are credits and clicks). These are set-up on remote servers and are protected by ICE to stop hackers getting at them. There’s a certain about of bluffing insofar as the hacker doesn’t know what each server contains, it could be an agenda an asset or a trap.

The hacker spend their time building up their assets (hardware, programs) and when they choose they can do a run to disrupt a corporation server.

It works really well, I’m dying to play this again and as we learned the game the turns whipped along pretty fast.

We were only scratching the surface last night as the game comes with a number of corporation and hacker decks and as you learn the game you can configure the decks to your best advantage.

NOW unlike say Magic the gathering this is a living card game so when you buy it it’s got everything in there, you don’t need to buy a dozen decks to get a half dozen cards. I like that idea and fantasy flight are old hands now at this format

Production values on this game are excellent as you would expect with FF. Card Quality, Artwork, everything, it can’t be faulted. There’s also a stack of expansions already out.

It’s set in the Android universe (very bladerunner). I played the original Android game some time back and it never really worked for me even though I really wanted it to but I’m glad to see FF are using the same IP again just like they’ve been reusing their Twilight Emperium universe for new games like Rex.

If you’ve looking for a good two player with a good level of complexity I would highly recommend this. Make sure to read the rules. several times.

The evening wound up with a bit of Ribbit and then it was time for a clean up

Good fun, no-one lost and eye

More of that next Thur

Huzzah!

November 1, 2013 0

Still October Thur – Being a Drax Report

7 in boardgaming is an unlucky number, well not so much unlucky as awkward. Most games are designed for a max of 4,5 or 6 players so when you get 7 people around a table the obvious thing to do (apart from ignore one person) is to split into two smaller groups but somehow last night that wasn’t going to work for us so it was 7 players all the way

First up was TSURO

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/16992/tsuro

It’s a very simple game akin to pipe dreams where you lay ties with paths on them and move your marker and anyone on the same tiles marker to the end of that tile. go off the edge or collide with someone else marker and it’s game over. very simple and I THOUGHT practically no strategy, so… why do I still like the game? I don’t know. It intrigues me, I got it for the iphone and it still intrigues me.

The game itself if beautifully presented, nice quality pieces and a lovely oriental theme. It’s very light and you wouldn’t play a huge amount of it BUT it does have the one more go quality and it plays up to eight. Try it on the iphone first

Still with 7 in place we moved onto CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/50381/cards-against-humanity

This is a winner. Quite simply it’s Apples to Apples for grown ups. The box says 17+ age for players and it’s accurate. it’s also HILAROUSLY funny, bawdy and very cleverly written. Oh and it’s good value for money, I ordered it from amazon half way through the first game, it’s that good. if you haven’t seen Apples to Apples it’s a great party game especially for children but it works well with adults too. I recommend CAH it was the game of the night

Still holding fast with 7 we moved onto 7 Wonders

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/68448/7-wonders

7 wonders is a card based civilisation type game with no map, a LITTLE like through the ages but way faster and a little like Magic the Gathering insofar as if you’ve ever played a grand melee it will be instantly familar. You can only attack the person left or right of you.

The players get a hand of cards, pick one and pass the reduced stack to their left, play the card and take the stack coming from their right. The idea is to build the best ’empire’ you can whilst messing up the other players turn. it’s fast, it’s very strategic and it’s good fun. Especially the crys as you hand a hand of rubbish to the player on your left

Then without a pause it was King of Tokyo

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/70323/king-of-tokyo

This is a great little game by Richard Garfield. It’s nippy, it’s lite and it’s in your face. You take monster and duke it out with other players in Tokyo (where else) until all the other monsters lie dead and you do your victory dance.

After that we wound down with Love Letter

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129622/love-letter

A favourite of mine since Knavecon. Great little game and I learn more about it every time I play which is saying something since there’s only 15 cards in the deck!

So all good clean fun and more of that sort of thing next Thur

Huzzah!

Vic

October 25, 2013 0

Winter Thur – Being a Drax Report

Zombicide (death by Zombies I assume) is a coop game. WAIT, WAIT ! come back, it’s actually very good and yes you can stab your friends in the back…. ok take a seat I’ll start again…

Zombicide is Left4Dead in Tabletop form. You get a mission (collect some items, get to an exit point, kill a certain amount of zombies) and you and your team of survivors have to complete it. Well you don’t HAVE to but it would be a very boring game if you gave up so early.

It’s a pretty simple game (my six year old loves it), the production values are high and it’s all very logical.

Each player starts with one or more survivors each with their own attributes (the cop starts with a pistol, the drifter is good at searching and so on) and they have to wade into a world where the zombies just keep coming. Each turn your get to search for items, move, attack zombies, drive a car and so on, then it’s the zombies turn, they spawn and come stumbling (or in the case of runners running) towards the noisiest players (shooting, smashing open doors and so on causes noise tokens to appear next to the player), rinse and repeat.

Stay too long searching for weapons and you’ll get swamped, go in half cocked and you’ll get murdered, so it’s a fine balance.

In my case it would appear on reflection that running ahead and smashing in a door that contained a shit ton of zombies may have not been the best strategy for all involved. I’m sorry, I ended humanity again.

What’s clever about the game is as you kill more zombies, the difficulty level racks up so more and more and tougher and tougher zombies start appearing. it works very well with a lot of difficult choices. nicer still is it’s very easy to die if you’re not smart. two wounds and it’s over

I really liked the game. I was lucky enough to get a gift copy of it at Knavecon from the Wee Gamers (great bunch of lads).

Given time I’d love to paint the models for it, they’ve lovely

There’s a number of expansions on kickstarter and a lot of download missions for it along with a pile of extra characters you can play (snake pliskin anyone?)

It comes recommended. It’s a bit pricey but you DO get a lot for your buck. The models are excellent and you get a lot of them and believe me you WILL need them all.

Next up was….

Actually I forget. I think we played Munchkin and it was a suprisingly long time since we played it. It hadn’t changed a lot, it’s fine, I’m not the biggest fan of the game but it leaves me alone and I leave it alone generally and it’s a fine introduction game for players. I’ll leave it at that

Bit more love letter (really liking this game, a complete game with just 16 cards)

The coffee flowed, the gaming was constant, it was a good thur

More of that I say

Huzzah!

October 7, 2013 0

Last Thur – Being a Drax Report

There are effectively two types of game nights, good nights and great nights. Last thur was a great night. We got a good group together and played some damn fine games

First up for me was Love Letter

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/129622/love-letter

I’m a big fan of simple games, and this really is simple, 16 cards (15 really because you remove one before you start) and away you go with 2-4 players, over several rounds. The idea is to finish with the highest numbered card in a round and therefore win favour with the Princess either that or eliminate the others players in the round. do it four times and you win. Remember Fibonacci series in maths? it’s a bit like that where the previous played card affects the next played one.

I was introduced to it’s charms at Knavecon and was hooked after a couple of games. It does take a few games to get your head around it after which you’ll be won over. It’s also dirt cheap. €10 or so and it comes in a nice bag. What more could you ask for?

Next up was BOSS MONSTER

http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/131835/boss-monster-master-of-the-dungeon

Now THIS is something special. I WANT Boss Monster. I’m going to go and seek out a copy asap. It’s brilliant.

You start with the aforementioned Boss Monster and over time build a dungeon with traps which attracts increasingly powerful adventurers who’s souls you want to take (by bumping them off). It’s a bit Dungeon Keeper, bit Tower Defence. The real fun is where you stick a spanner in someone else’s works just as they’re about to bump off said adventurers. Typical ploys involve deactivating an opponents trap, buffing up a wimpy adventurer or a variety of sneaky nasty tricks all of which make for a brilliant gaming experience.

We played one game that lasted over an hour and it was a riot from start to finish. Everyone came away wanting more

While this went on the other group got to grips with a game called TRIPODS which is in beta, I didn’t get to play it but it looked really good.

Next was an old classic. Mag Blast. Truth be told we’ve played a LOT of mag blast and although it’s a super game it can drag on a bit and this was no exception. Also I didn’t win so it’s a silly game and we’ll never play it again 🙂 Oh and no-one made the sounds so it doesn’t count

Finished off with a bit more Love letter than we wrapped it up

Great nights gaming

More of that sort of thing

Huzzah!

Vic

September 29, 2013 2

Through the Ages Online

Through the Ages is an epic game. It’s very highly regarded on Boardgamegeek and there’s a very good reason for that. It is one of the best board games every conceived and I don’t say that lightly (I’ve played a few in my time and I should know). You’ve probably seen it in a few games shops as it’s been around a while and you may have picked it up (it’s heavy and compact), thought about it and put it back. big mistake. it’s gaming nirvana.

I’ve only ever had the pleasure of playing it in person a few times but it’s been a lot of fun. It’s also a long game. four hours plus especially if you’re learning, but it’s well worth the time. I have however played a few dozen games of it online and that has been fantastic.

At it’s core it’s a civ type game where you try to conquer the world (in this case get the highest civilization score) by advancing your civilization and at the same time sticking it to your opponents that are trying to do the same. So far so standard however what it does differently it dispense with the map. Stop stop come back it’s ok… this works.

TTA is what I would term a racetrack game, to become good as it you have to ‘drive’ it a number of times to finds it’s nuances. EVERY time I’ve played it I’ve learned something new and I have to have played 40 games of it at this stage.

The game moves pretty quickly, you gain resources and place your pieces to setup your income for the next turn, everyone does the same, rinse and repeat. As the ages advance you get access to newer technologies that allow you more possible actions. It’s a fine balance between keeping your people fed, happy, protected and advancing whilst throwing spanners in your opponents works and guarding against the same happening to you.

Historical leaders pop up that when recruited give you bonuses in certain directions or little boosts. Alexander in the early ages boosts your military but more importantly puts the frighteners on your opponents who as often as not need to divert their finite resources into military to avoid a possible drubbing. Elvis makes your people happier and adds bonuses to some of your buildings. There’s a stack of them in there and they’re all useful

The one thing I would say about the game is it’s not forgiving, especially if you’re playing against really good players, however it IS a joy to learn. There IS a steep learning curve (well for me anyway) but trust me it’s worth it.

It’s max four player and interestingly playing 2,3 and 4 players makes for 3 completely different game experiences

There are a few expansions for it (I particularly like the Pope John Paul leader in the Polish version) but the base game is fine on it’s own

OK I’ve said enough, I recommend you go right now and have a look at it online

http://www.boardgaming-online.com/

If you play one game of it through I dare you to come back and tell me I was wrong

Vic

September 18, 2013 1

After Knavecon Thur – Being a Drax Report

I’m not ALWAYS a Cylon when I play Battlestar Galatica BUT I always want to be and when I am people tend to remember because I revel in it. So last night.. Well I was a cyclon. HAPPY DAYS!

Just like werewolf being a Cylon is great fun especially if you’re an evil fecker who likes to ruin people day. What’s not to like?

If you haven’t played this game it’s based on the TV series which is several years old now but still crackin Sci Fi. I’m going to start on the basis that you KNOW BSG and go from there.

Each player takes a character from the series, each with some special traits and during their turn they take a good action then have to take a bad action which everyone else tries to help them with…. UNLESS they’re a cylon in which case they want to screw up and make happen that bad action.

Obviously no one knows who the bad guys are but during the game they may deduce it and of course it’s all about paranoia and mistrust. What’s really cool is half way through the game is people get additional loyalty cards and may or may not become a cylon.

The game does a fantastic job of matching the series and racking up the tension. last nights game was particularly close being one a step or two from winning for the humans against some tough odds but… they didn’t. They lost and it was mighty 🙂

I love this game, I love the series and it’s still a cracker after a number of years. There’s been no less than 3 expansions released the latest one only recently. I’ve had the pleasure of playing the first one “Pegasus” which introduces extra boards, a second battlestar and a host of new play mechanics. It does lengthen a game that already is hefty if you don’t keep it rolling around, but it improves an already excellent game so it’s worth the time. The second and third I haven’t tried yet but it will happen.

I thoroughly recommend this game. It’s a fantasy flight game so very good build quality and artwork.

More of this and I’m sure next time I won’t be a cylon….

September 13, 2013 0

Knavecon 2 – Being a Drax Report

The idea for Knavecon was a very simple one. A boardgaming “night”, but for the whole day and with a few more people. After the first one which was limited to friends, it’s quadrupled in size and it’s still maintained it’s laid back, friends around a table vibe.

I had a blast on the day, granted we were run off our feet making coffee and registering people but I got to try out some new games, show others how to play a few games I love and enjoy the company of some fantastic people. Oh and I got to run a big game of werewolf. I LOVE werewolf.

Everything went with military precision on the day, fry up at 9am, doors open at 10 and then people arrived…. and they kept coming. We were hoping for 40 or so to break-even but we got upwards of 80 people on the day. They came from all over, Cork, Kerry, Clonmel, Dublin, Wicklow, and Belfast. They brought their kids, they brought their spouses, some of them brought their own games, some of them borrowed the ones that were there or joined in with others with shouts of “I need two more for Waterdeep!”, “Who fancies a game of imperial?”. Friends who had chatted and gamed online met for the first time in person, gamers who didn’t know there were others living not so far from them got to game, chat and drink coffee together and it all worked out perfectly.

Games were played, bought and traded. Coffee was quaffed, donuts demolished and still they came. Tired children were relieved of gaming duty by spouses. Flagging gamers were revived by application of Pizza and chip with oaths sworn of “Gym Tomorrow”. Dice were rolled and moves made, orders issued and strategies planned, shouts of “HA!” and “AH FECK!” echoed around the room and still they gamed, long into the evening and into the wee hours, some exhausted but thoroughly satisfied with a good days work left the field of battle with words of thanks and queries of when will we meet again? And I stood amongst it, striding between tables coffee in hand, watching everyone revel in their favourite pastime. It was the best of times. Nothing beats a good gaming session and this was truly a good gaming session.

The people who attended on Saturday were stars. They came, they got stuck in and they had fun, they we’re courteous and helpful and they shared the love of their hobby. The trade stands that came had a great time and they too got stuck in, abandoned their shop posts and joined in the gaming revelry.

A big thank you goes out to all those who attended, you guys made the day and what a hell of a day it was.

As I write this it’s been a few days since Knavecon ran but people are still talking about it, posting pics, sending texts, PMs, email, organising their own game nights and planning what games to buy. The main thread being, “we loved it”, “we want more” and “we can’t wait”. That’s the best accolade we could have hope for.

We are delighted with how it went and I reckon, it’s here to stay. To paraphrase the game Spartacus, “My Knavecon will Rage on!”

See you all at the next one

Vic

September 10, 2013 1

Warlight

Warlight is a free online version of the classic RISK. Now, let’s be clear. Risk is NOT a brilliant game. If WOPR was playing Risk it would decide, pretty quickly that it would prefer a nice game of chess but I digress

Risk if you don’t know it is a simple dice based conquest game. A pretty good gateway game and it’s all fine and dandy until you discover diplomacy or pretty much most other games after that. It’s a great game if your a kid, it’s definitely better than Monopoly but then again that’s like saying I’m not as bad a serial killer as that other guy.

Warlight is the best implementation I’ve seen and there are a lot of Risk clones out there on a variety of devices. What distinguishes Warlight from every other one is it’s very polished, it’s got a stack of extras and it’s cross platform. It’s quite possible to start a game on your phone, play a bit on you PC then switch to your tablet and so on. Did I mention it’s free?

In it’s favour is it adds a nice few extras so you could call it Risk++. I like this implementation and I’ve been having fun with it.

The extras are as follows

LOTS and I do mean LOTS of extra maps for it
Games with more than 6 players
Multiple new strategy cards
Fog of war (this makes it special)
A good community of people

The fog of war makes for a quite different experience. You’re never sure what you’re opponents are up to because you can only see people beside you. Take it from me what they’re up to is NEVER good.

It also has a funky levelling up system where you score points for winning games and level up and get access to additional features. This is clever as it ensures the other players are interested in playing and you don’t wind up in a game where half the players quit straight off.

It’s also quick.

I’ve been enjoying games against friends (particularly the ones I’ve been winning and lording it over them). I recommend you try it soon

http://www.warlight.net

Huzzah!

Vic

August 27, 2013 0