Boardgames, Card Games, Gaming
The shops!
First up I’m delighted to welcome back Black Kat Games all the way from Kilkenny to join our motley bunch on the 29th. Anyone who was at the last Knavecon will remember some of the great stuff they had for sale. Save those cents, you Will be buying !
https://www.facebook.com/events/429022990633056/
Huzzah!
Vic
The Coffee, the Donuts and the Coffee.
Dungeons and Donuts are once again going to be supplying Donuts for Knavecon, including the now famous and exclusive “Bitter and Twisted” Knavecon donut. Plus there’s free coffee all day for participants. Sugar, Fat and Coffee the three important food groups of gaming (four if you include crunchy burnt bits)
Huzzah!
Vic
One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a game which on the surface shouldn’t work. If you’ve played Werewolf (possibly at Knavecon) you’ll know it’s played out over a dozen, sometimes more days and nights. This is played out over One night (the clue was in the name). That said its a Long night with a hell of a lot happening.
There’s a free app available to run the game. Get the free app. Don’t bother trying to GM it yourself, the app is very slick and looks after everything for you.
Once you’ve played the base game you’ll probably look at it and wonder how much you can flog the game for. Don’t. School boy error. This is not your basic werewolf where everyone is Joey tight lips about their role. Everyone is vocal about whom they claim to be and its here that the game really shines.
A couple of the roles involve swapping hidden roles with others and the skill is in concocting a convincing story based on the possible roles that may have been mixed in
“I was a werewolf but my role was swapped by the trouble maker so your better off hanging HER! /points ”
The app is clever. It gives a five minute count down to the vote. After a few games you’ll be using all that time to cover your furry tracks or get everyone onboard to hang your suspect.
Hang a wolf and the villagers win. Fail to hang a wolf and the wolves win.
What makes for an interesting game is you’re never sure which roles are in play just the possible ones so concocting a good cover story is essential
Just like Spyfall you really want to play again straight away after the last game. We found we had to call a halt to our filler game or it would have raged all night. The extra roles add a lot to this game and given enough plays I could see myself stretching out to acquiring the expansion but there’s a lot of play in the base game
One thing that will strike you about this game when you use the app is the amount of time you spend with your eyes closed. It’s like the end of a yoga class. You’ll awake refreshed, energized and ready to devour villagers
Huzzah!
Vic
Ok I’m cheating because we’ve never really done it before, BUT, since discovering the really natty projector at Knavekids my immediate second thought for it’s use was DIPLOMACY! I reckon this could go down as something Knavecon will be remembered for
Diplomacy is a game you need to play at least once in your life, then play it again. Everyone remembers their first time playing it. Some hold grudges about something that may have happened some years ago, possibly near Japan, it doesn’t matter. What matters is you really need to play this game and you’re going to get a chance to play it at Knavecon… I’ll teach you the rules (I DO know the rules), I’ll GM the game. I’ll look after you and whether you’ve played it or not… you’ll leave a different person. See you then
Huzzah!
Vic
Since the very beginning Werewolf has been a regular group game at Knavecon. Some of the players have been naturals, some born entertainers and some, well, just bloody good liars
I’m always delighted to run a game of werewolf and it always draws the crowds. So much so I’m going to be introducing a few more group games for the next Knavecon
https://www.facebook.com/events/429022990633056/
Huzzah!
Vic
Legendary Buy and Sell
The Buy and Sell has been an integral part of Knavecon since day one. Flog your old games and peruse the fine wares on show. There is Always someone who wants to buy what you have and Always bargains to be had. Don’t miss out. Drag out all your old games and trade or buy some new stuff.
https://www.facebook.com/events/429022990633056/
Huzzah!
Vic
When gandalf said the words “I have no memory of this” he may well have been referring to the rules for a game he’s not played in over a year
Thus we found ourselves stirring the cold treacle of rules for a Study in Emerald. One I’ve spoke about before. After the requisite amount of “oh yeahs” and “I remember now’s” we were underway and I found myself playing a good and not yet insane loyalist (all hail the overlords) hoping to snatch victory from the rebel scum.
In the game we played (four players), it become clear mid game that two others in the group were also loyalists leaving a solitary restorationist to fend for themselves and here’s where I realised just one of the reasons this game is so damn good. It’s not enough for your team to win, you really want to be the one in the lead. It’s also not going to be a win if any of your team come last (the team of the lowest scoring player is removed from the game at final scoring, no ifs buts or ah come ons). So the game becomes a case of helping your allies but not helping them Too much. I love this mechanic. It’s to the forefront in A Distant Plain and Fire in the Lake. It’s there too if you look really hard in Castle Panic. If you play with the right group (evil) it becomes a fantastic tension ratchet, more so when players threaten to take out the whole team rather than let someone else win. Couple this with the possibility of jumping teams if the right permanent effect comes up (it had) we had one hell of a game.
I’ve played a study in emerald a dozen times now. I was lucky enough to snatch a copy of it on release, it’s never been the same game twice. There are several different mechanics working at once in this game and unlike say Warrior knights or Android all of them are integral and none of them feel bolted on.
When this game comes back for re-release in the next few months I’m going to be eyeing it up closely. A combination of Martin Wallace and Neil Gaimen has made someone sublime and one of my favorite games to date. I’m going to be running games of this at Knavecon IV and I urge you to give it a go. It’s unique, it’s fresh and it’s never the same game twice. More of this sort of thing
Huzzah!
Vic
Knavecon are delighted to support the soon to be open Board House Cafe in Dublin and their Charity Catan Event.
https://www.facebook.com/events/1446670008970985/
Best of luck guys!
Vic
A buddy of mine* told me about Spyfall. It sounded right up my street A traitor, filler, party game.
Ok it’s not Really a traitor game as such but it’s not far off. Each player gets handed a card from thirty possible stacks all carefully laid out so one player is always the spy.
Each mini stack corresponds to a particular Location. It might be a Starship. A Beach. A School. A Hotel and so on. Additionally each card gives a role so if the randomly selected stack was a pirate ship the roles might be captain, first mate, gunner and of course the spy…
Now here’s the rub. No one knows what the other person’s role is and the spy knows bugger all. The hapless spy doesn’t know the location that’s been picked so they’re up against it from the off.
A round shakes out like this. One random first player picks another player and asks them an insightful question to try and figure out if they’re the spy or a loyal comrade. They need to ask a question in such a way as to figure out if their target knows the location or if they’re clueless. All the player have cards in front of them with a full list of all the locations so if they don’t make it obvious they might figure it out.
Here’s an example
Player 1 : (Not a spy, Location : The Artic) : “SOoooo…. Are you going to shave the beard off or leave it?”
Player 2 : (Spy, Thinking it might be a pirate ship they’re on) : “Well I’m going to leave until this adventure is over….”
The asked player now gets to ask a question.
Player 2 : (Spy) “So…. what the hell did we drink last night?”
and so on. At any stage a player can go. HE/SHE’s the spy! and a unanimous vote sees everyone reveal their cards. Get it right the players get a point each get it wrong the spy scores four. The same can happen where the spy says, I’m the spy and I KNOW WHERE WE ARE! If they get it right they score points otherwise everyone else does
The game resets and a new location is picked and it happens again. For several round.
It’s actually quite good. Not what I thought it would be. It’s very hard to be a spy especially in a small group and I reckon you need a minimum of six to make this work but it’s so quick and so repayable you want to go again and again
We played a dozen games last night and we had to stop ourselves playing and go home (well not me I was home).
Like a lot of games I love, it’s just so simple. Truth be told it’s so simple I dispensed with the cards and wrote a quick application to do the role picking which just goes to show how lazy we are.
This will be front and centre at the next Knavecon and I highly recommend you try it out
Huzzah!
Vic
Ever watch a football final where it comes down to Penalties? It’s not so much about the ones that go in, it’s about the ones that are missed. I felt the same about Codenames which I got to see played out a number of times at KnaveKids last weekend with a variety of players. Missing a clue was fatal.
The games is a pretty straight forward party game with a nice theme. It was played at the con with a variety of younger and older gamers so it got a really good workout.
The game is played out on a randomly selected grid of 5×5 cards with single words on each. The Teams each elect one of their own as a spy master and they both stand at the opposite ends of the table and view a randomly picked card showing which words on the grid relate to the Blue Team and which related to the Red Team.
The first player to start has to get their team to reveal 9, the second 8.
The spymaster looks at the grid and calls out a word that related to one or more of the words on the cards they want their team to pick. So for example they might say “Transport” and hope their team are clever enough to pick “Car” and “Road” on the grid.
The spymasters can only use one word clues and use none of the words on the grid. If the team of guessers picks one of the agents correctly they get another go or can pass and it hops back and forth like so until the requisite amount are uncovered or the assasin is uncovered which ends the round early.
it’s simple fun, there’s a large variety of double sided cards so you’re unlikely to play the same list twice. I liked it. It was quick and simple and perfect for the age group at the convention.
If you’re looking for a simple team game that anyone can play with a nice theme, you won’t go far wrong with this
Huzzah!
as we Spymasters often say
Vic
