New Expansion for Star Realms !

The first expansion for the electronic version of Star Realms has been released.

“To get started, download the game here if you have not already. Then, after downloading and installing the game, go to Campaigns from the Main Menu, and click Campaign 3. You will see the Buy Gambit Expansion screen — click on “registration code” in the bottom left. Then the app will ask you to input the code that was emailed to you.

If you want to unlock the full game on other devices you own, you will need to log in to your user account. To unlock a device, go to Play Online, log in, and go to your user profile in the bottom left. From there, hit Restore Purchases and everything should unlock.

See you in the Star Realms Galaxy!”

I’ll do a full review of it once I’ve played it for a bit. $3.99. go get it

Huzzah!

Vic

March 5, 2015 0

Trade or Die at Knavecon

Once again Dec Noonan (famous for the “Deccie” deal) will be running the Knavecon Buy and Sell. This has become renowned for some amazing deals and the appearance of some rare games.

If you have any games you want to Sell, THIS is the place to do it.

Huzzah!

Vic

March 3, 2015 0

now… Say my name. Alchemists 99% pure.

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Obviously Paulo never played this game or would have realised that the universe was, as expected, indifferent to my plight.

Alchemists is a like a crazy inventors machine. All confusing levers and dials or more accurately, mysterious spots on the board to place workers upon that make no sense until you’ve played it at least once, better still if you’ve played it once with with someone who has a clue how to play the game. I’m lucky I didn’t have to read the rules and if I had to I would still be doing so now I’ll venture. More than likely incorrectly

The first time you play this game you will lose. You’re not within an asses roar of coasting in on beginners luck. This game has to be test driven hard before you can begin to understand it

Alchemists is both a worker placement and an investigation game. Having played if a couple of times I’m very impressed. There are quite a few mechanics going on here and yet it works as a seamless whole and it holds the theme together perfectly. Someone’s put a lot of thought into this game and I salute their design skills.

If you’ve ever played dungeon lords or dungeon petz you’ll be in familiar territory. The artwork and components are top notch. The app is excellent.

I look at the design and I’m amazed how so many different elements have been woven together without any of it feeling tacked on or herniated. I also look at it and think there could never be an expansion for this game it’s too well formed.

Up to four players duke it out to be the best potion maker in the kingdom. To do this they need to figure out which ingredients (different each game) make up which potions. Expound theories on ingredients. Disprove others. Sling potions to adventurers, earn cash, make a good showing at the final expo but above all do it before your opponents do. So all in all it’s medieval breaking bad

The old adage of if you can’t convince them confuse them applies here and it is possible to win the game by faking your way through, just not with my group. There was an incident with diplomacy some years back (I forget the details*) that branded me as untrustworthy, but hey you shag one sheep and suddenly you get a name.

The app is absolutely integral to the game (although there’s a GM set of rules should you be on desert island) and it’s very slick. It allows you to test out potions secretly on yourself or on your capitalistic apprentice and hopefully not poison him or you. Expect many curses and shouts as you discover the herb world doesn’t always work as expected.

The game plays out over around eight rounds with the last ones having you in the spot light showing off your wares at the final scoring expo.

There’s a lot to this game. Not so much in the rules. They’re fairly straightforward but a clear path to victory is not obvious. There are numerous ways to score points and they all add up making for neck and neck racing from start to finish. Constonopolis had a lot going on, this has a lot more, but it never feels overpowering or anything other than fun.

I really like this game. It’s different. It’s worker placement for sure but with a lot more than your normal Fare. The app really makes it, as do the funky player screens and wild looking main board.

We Will have this at KNAVECON and I recommend a test drive If you want something challenging and different

Huzzah

Vic

March 2, 2015 1

There is no I in XCOM. XCOM Boardgame

I love XCOM. I’ve loved XCOM since it was laser squad. Since it was UFO. I played laser squad nemesis by email. Enemy unknown and the wonderful Enemy Within and everything else in between. It’s one of the best game franchises of all time, Nothing more ,nothing less so like a Star Wars fanboy waiting for episode seven, the Boardgame was setting itself a difficult goal and a hardened critic. I needn’t have worried this was fantasy flight. They don’t mess around

XCOM the coop Board game is a coop game, WAIT! Come back! Based on the last incarnation of UFO, XCOM the enemy within. If you haven’t played this game I highly recommend it. If you’ve played enemy unknown I still recommend enemy within its tremendous.

If you’re a fan of the video game you’ll love this incarnation it gets the vibe just right. FF as you would expect have lifted graphics straight out of the game and the build quality of the game is spot on.

Xcom has always been a game of two halves. A strategic management game and a tactical squad based shooter. The board game concentrates on the former. You and up to three other players have to deal with running Xcom and allocating resources to combat the myriad of problems that crop up.

The game is app driven. A very slick and free app assists your play and unlike say Descent, Heroquest etc the bad guy is played by the app. Truth be told I would have loved if one player (me) could play the aliens and micturate on the goodie goodies. It’s not to be, it’s the app or nothing.

The four players take the roles of science officer (chose which research for which player role ) squad leader (ground troops), central officer (satellites and events) and commander (allocates the budget and emergency funding).

All of the roles rely on each other so even though it’s coop blame can be squarely levelled at one player when it all goes south. (Probably the squad leader). I got to play a couple of games on Thursday last. We lost them all. The last one was very close. I didn’t mind, it was still fun. Perhaps I should mind, we played it on easy

The game is all about resource allocation. Be it your limited budget, your pool of troopers or your murder of fighter planes.

The turn is split into two distinct halves one timed and one not. The first dozen or so actions consist of (sometimes in no particular order) guided by the app, picking which techs to research. Picking the best choice of two upcoming crises cards. Seeing where UFOs are appearing, seeing which aliens are coming for tea in your base (you’re all out of tea), what missions are popping up and whom to allocate to defend your base, go on away missions and whom to support them.

The time section is tense. The app counts down minimum safe distance style and any time saved on one section gets transferred to another. In easy level you can pause. On normal you get some breather time. On higher levels it’s, well it’s bad, real bad. You have most certainly picked a bad day to give up sniffing glue

Once you’ve come out of the timed section you reap the seeds you set one by one and hope you haven’t made bad decisions leading up to this (you probably have). Attempts are made to conquer these problems in your in-tray and a push your luck mechanic means you can sometimes make it worse but you always know it was your fault if it all goes moobs up.

Once you’ve dealt with all these issues its back to the timed section for the next turn.

Rinse and repeat for a half dozen or less iterations until you complete the final mission.

There are a number of different scenarios that the app picks at the start so each game is different.

It’s a fun game. It’s coop. I don’t like coop games. I like xcom. It’s fast. Faster still when you lose. It’s xcom (the greatest game ever). It’s fantasy flight. It’s worth a look

Some people are against the idea of using an app for this, but it does add to it and I personally welcome our app overlord. Hail App.

There will be a few copies at KNAVECON. I recommend you have a look, if you’re an xcom fan doubly so

Huzzah!

Vic

February 27, 2015 0

Still on – a little like Donkey Kong

Nearing the end now, this has been a long and extremely strange game of Diplomacy

February 25, 2015 0

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

February 21, 2015 0

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

February 17, 2015 2

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

an2

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

February 17, 2015 0

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.

citadels

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

February 14, 2015 2

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

February 12, 2015 0