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
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.
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)
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
It’s seems appropriate that I should visit Dead of Winter in the dead of winter. (Dead of winter in Ireland is around 2 degrees c but that’s neither here nor there)
This game has been getting a lot of hype and with good reason. It’s a great game. It’s also hard to lay your hands on and children are being openly sold to purchase it (the current rate of exchange is three children in case your wondering)(but that’s for an unopened copy you can probably get a used one cheaper)
Due to a friend’s* forum post I’ve come to realize that In the same way as letters from white chapel is of a particular genre and sits in between Fury of Dracula and Scotland Yard in terms of complexity and ‘weight’. DOW (not to be confused with dawn of war) sits between Battlestar Galactica and Shadows over Camelot. It’s a semi (oh err missus) co-op game with the ever present threat of a betrayer.
There are a lot of zombie games out there. A lot. You know that. There aren’t a lot of good zombie games. This is the latter. The zombies are a backdrop to story that plays out. The real brains and potatoes is completing the overall mission. This is chosen at the start and they come in tall, grande and venti variety. This I like. You can set the length of the game you’re going to play. A short game will last you anything from an hour up depending on how many players (Max five) medium and long obviously longer (only played short and medium so far).
I’ve spoken about the difficulty setting in Nations and I like this trend of having adjustable parameters in a game. Its a welcome feature. More of this please
Yes that is alchemy the other end of the table
In addition to the main mission each player gets a random objective card at the start which will usually have you completing the main mission and a secondary objective, (because it’s all fine and dandy winning coop but you really gots to know who won won). Added to this there’s a possible betrayal objective in the mix and you now have a ingredients for a nice paranoid adventure. The best type.
There’s similarities to Battlestar to Be sure. A lot actually. Each turn there’s a crisis to be solved by secretly throwing your limited resources at (some help some hinder and it’s done face down so you don’t know if and whom the bad dude is). Players can be exiled (unlike the brig in BSG they can’t come back) making their mission more difficult. Exile two non traitors and you lose
There’s a lot of ways to lose this game. Don’t complete the primary mission in the short time provided BOOM! you lose. Morale drops to zero BOOM! You lose. Run out of good, don’t tidy the waste up, lose too many characters. You guessed it all paddling offences. It’s a hard life being a survivor. Actually I bet after a zombie apocalypse, life would in fact be quite sweet, free stuff, no work, unlimited Boardgames, set your own bedtime but I digress. In this incarnation life is hard and you’ll lose a lot. Couple that to a possible betrayer actively aiding the Zees and you’ll lose. A very lot.
One of the sizzles of this game is the sort of mini crisis cards called crossroad cards (expect more of these, plaid hat have another few games with similar mechanics on the drawing board). The player to your left takes it and monitors your actions in your turn to see if you match the criteria. It could be a particular character doing a particular action in their turn and so on. The result might be more zombies appearing or finding some extra items. It might be a choice the individual or group have to vote on. There’s a lot of theses cards in the game so you won’t see the same regularly appearing. It’s a nice mechanic, not dramatic, but it means every game is different
The game plays out fairly quickly. You spend your time between foraging for resources, building defences, controlling zee numbers and if you’re the betrayer secretly ruining everyone’s day. Now there can be a bit of downtime between your moves, we found that the last time we were playing however I think that may have been more us than the game, so I’ll let it slide.
Each of the characters in your group (you start with two but may pick up more) have a special ability. Good at searching, fighting, immune to cold, I really like the town drunk who’s special ability is if he tops himself morale goes up 🙂
This game has proved very hard to get but more and more copies are coming into supply. It’s overhyped for sure, but it’s still a good fun solid game. It’s well worth getting your hands on.
That said don’t take my word for it. I could be the betrayer. Actually, I probably am.
I’ve looked at vassal a number of times over the years. It’s great. It’s a multi-user sandbox Boardgame interactive whiteboard for want of a better term. There’s over a thousand board and card game modules downloadable and once you get your head around it, it’s very slick. There are a number of other game managers like this out there and I’m going to visit each of those in time. (Octogon being a cracker for card games). For now the daddy appears to be Vassal and it’s BIG for certain games. I can see why
There’s everything you need to play your favorite games here, bar voice chat. But there’s a ton of apps for the likes of that (Skype), so just run that at the same time (unless you like silence).
Now. Here’s the crux. It does not enforce the rules. Well it pretty much does not enforce the rules. It very much depends on the module and how it’s written. However, the truth is that doesn’t really matter. The original cardboard didn’t enforce the rules either. You and the other players did. So what we have is a way to play Boardgames and cardgames from a library of over a thousand games with anyone from anywhere in the world and its all free…. Let that sink in the join me for a game of Twilight Struggle
The issue I’ve always had with vassal and a lot of others is just like Vietnam you have to be there man or you don’t understand or more accurately you all have to turn up at the same time online and play the game out
I’ve done this once or twice online with buddies* and it’s neat, very neat but with more than one player the logistics are a pain.
If like me you find it hard to dedicate a number of continuous hours to playing a game the cherry on top is you can play these games with your opponents at your own pace by email…. I didn’t realise this until recently and it’s breathed new life into the system for me.
The one module that I’m REALLY impressed with is the one for Twilight Struggle. Now since playing my first game of TS last year I have become a huge fan of it (Well addict is a more accurate term). I would say it now rates as my favorite two player game of all time. ever. EVER. The module that’s available free for this game is a work of art. Everything from the game is in there. The whole game. The extra cards the extra rules and to top it off all of the rules are enforced. It’s amazing
There are flaws. A few. Not in the game or the rules but if you play by mail because you’re sending the turn back and forth it’s POSSIBLE to cheat a little. That said if you’re the type who cheats at games you shouldn’t really be gaming anyhoe.
Here’s where you get it btw. Have a browse in awe at the modules available
Vassal is stupendous. It’s s gift (unlike the one ring). You should immediately drop everything you’re doing (including open heart surgery) and install it. Don’t thank me.
I did say this was not your average game of Diplomacy. Germany fell foul of well, pretty much everyone else early on and despite his best efforts never found enough (any) traction to get back into the game.
Top marks for sticking with it even though it was a doomed post. In the words of the glorious German Leader* “Scheiße, Scheiße, Scheiße”
It’s been a long time since this game hit the table. Someone had mentioned it and I was duty bound to bring it out. Having played it and the expansion a number of times in the past I was surprised how much I’d forgotten
Galaxy trucker is a fun. Light. schadenfreude game. The game is all about laughing and possibly pointing at your opponent as their higgled piggledy space ship comes apart under stress.
(What more do you want. You get to laugh at someone else’s misfortune. Surely this is the fillet of every game)
The game operates in two parts the first bit everyone assembles their ship from the collective pool of parts caracassone style. Careful attention must be paid to how the whole thing hangs together and incorrect connectors will mean a design change and probably losing your position on the starting line
So one ramshackle country design job later you’re the nervous owner of a ship that would make a space Ork tut and it’s off into the oily blackness with your opponents in pursuit.
A flight consist of a series of events. Pirate attacks. Meteor showers . Planet falls. Other stuff that you all try and weather as best as you can. You can be unlucky and parts of your ship get knocked off or you can be very unlucky and large parts of your ship get taken out all to the cackling delight of your opponents.
Once you arrive you score points for arriving first, not losing bits, selling cargo. Having a purdy ship. There’s certainly an element of luck but design decisions and use of power during the mission make for a fairly skillful game.
Each missions of which you play three sees you building bigger and more complex ships from the limited resources
This game is pure hurt joy. It is immensely enjoyable to see someone’s creation coming apart at the seams while you thrundle along unharmed
There’s a number of expansions for it which is pretty much just more of the no bad thing same. I have one of them.
I like this game. It’s simple it’s fun and it plays five with the first expansion. For some reason it’s very expensive which is a pity as you should really try it and the price tag is a definite barrier
I’ll bring it to the next KNAVECON and you can see for yourself. Until then watch the skies (for falling debris)
This is the essence of every dungeon crawler game, most MMOs and pretty much every RPG
Warhammer quest has recently appeared in electronic form on steam but it’s been available on iOS for some time and its good clean fun. It’s an old game. An old old game from Games workshop over two decades old and out of print for as long.
Doesn’t look like this on my phone
I could simplify this but just saying its advanced heroquest 1.3 but I’d do it a disservice. Many people (mostly old) consider this the best dungeon quest game produced by GW. Opinions vary.
There are two things that grab you about this game. The characters move this side of a bit too slow and the buy to cheat is, I’m looking for word… Not good.
Struggling with a dungeon? Buy a legendary weapon for cash money. Need more gold? Micro payment for more. Want some other character class? You guessed it.
Now for your five euro you get a very nice game that will last a few weeks. That’s fair enough. The expansions to it are another five euro each, which I’m just about okay with,
Truth be told you’re looking at xbox or Playstation prices if you want all the content. I didn’t. I had enough after the second expansion but I’d gotten my fill. A full quarter of a year casual gaming.
For all my gripes about the game its clean distilled fun. No matter how many times I venture down a dungeon I always get a thrill from wondering if I’ve bitten off more than I can chew but somehow prevailing or maybe not
Leveling up is the magic sauce in so many games. It appeals to our lizard brain.
It’s a tidy little game. The graphics are good if you squint on a smart phone. It’s also available on an iPad and PC but I think it works best as a phone/tablet game squinting assumed
“This is my dungeon crawler. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My dungeon crawler is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life. My game, without me, is useless. Without my game, I am useless. “
It’s fun while it lasts and you get what you pay for. Worth checking out
Victor Gannon Games 