What game is hitting your table?

Jolo · July 22, 2012, 05:11:59 PM

3 player game of Power Grid: First Sparks followed by a 4 player game of 7 Wonders, both solid games although 7 Wonders is starting to wear out it's welcome

celticgriffon · July 23, 2012, 09:05:58 AM

On Saturday night I managed to play two games: High Society and Dominate Species.

High Society is a light filler. Basically everyone starts with a bunch of money. A prestige card is flipped and a bid begins. If the card is a positive card (riches and fame from 1 - 10 points) only the highest bid pays. If it is a negative card (-5 points, 1/2 score, or a thief) any money bid is lost when someone finally takes the penalty ccard. The player which takes the negative card keeps their bid. That is really all there is to the game but the tension is amazing. And the player who has the least amount of money left in their account (hand) at the end of the game cannot win despite their score.

Dominate Species - This was my second play of the game. The first play was with the full compliment of players and it was ruthless. This time we had four players and the game allowed a bit more freedom. I think there are a few too many cards in the game. Taking out 5 - 10 at the beginning of the game would probably shave an hour. The first play was a bit overwhelming... there is lots to consider each turn. I found that your positioning is quite volatile. You can have a huge lead in species on a territory and the next second your tokens are wiped... So there is a fair amount of chaos in the cards. But the game is very well put together. The theme is wonderful. And I really look forward to my next play.

Michael

Bix Conners · July 24, 2012, 08:41:27 AM

Been awhile since I posted anything in here...

I was in BC/AB/ID/WA for a week. While in BC I played 7 games of Hive at Johnston Creek Provincial Park. Seems like this game was made to take camping.

Last night I played a 4 player game of Pastiche. It was my third play of this game. I enjoy playing it occasionally, but would not want to make it a regular gaming item. We followed that with a 4 player game of Zooloretto. I forgot how much I enjoy this game. Has some opportunity to screw over the other players. Well done. We finished the night with a game of Quarriors. I almost did not get on the scoreboard. Boy did I have a bad game. Fun filler though.

Colin Dearborn · July 24, 2012, 09:48:07 PM

I agree with your assessmemt of Pastiche. Fun little game, but a little bit of a brain burner for what should be a lighter game. It was fun getting another play of Zooloretto too, that one just has so many opportunities to mess with your opponents.

Also got in a couple games of Neuroshima Hex with Alex today. We have been adding terrain tiles and trying out the new armies that came from the print and play forum on BGG. So far they have been very balanced and have added some very cool options.

Jolo · July 26, 2012, 08:30:53 AM

Robert was in town, so we cracked out a Wallace game, his redesign of Brass, Age of Industry. If you have played Brass then you have a working knowledge of the game. The big differences are:
No canal phase.
You get points for tiles that are not flipped.
You can do some actions without spending a card, but drawing cards is an action.
There are no income or scoring tracks.
Loans costs interest and can be paid back, so you can get a loan, build an industry, manage to flip it and pay back the loan in the same turn

We played on the Germany side (there is also a New England side), and you know, I am willing to play this again. Of course I have not found a Wallace game I didn't love.

Bix Conners · July 26, 2012, 08:32:21 AM

On Tuesday night we player a four player game of HeroScape on the large map.

Robert & Dillon were on 1 team and Greg & I were on the other. Robert & Dillon took a huge lead and inflicted heavy losses to our forces. Greg lost his lead unit (Cyprien). I managed to get my shades next to Syvarris and Theracus and took control of both of them. I never got to use them, but did have the satisfaction of seeing the other team have to put down their own units. Greg & I rallied back and were catching up on points. We took the fight to the mid board and right to the enemy start zones. I managed to take control of another enemy unit (Raelin) and we were well on the scoreboard. At the end of the game, they had too much of a lead for us to catch up and they took the victory. Fun game with back and forth swings.

celticgriffon · July 27, 2012, 11:20:55 AM

Last night at the German Club I was able to play two games:

Power Grid First Sparks - Their is something to be said for streamlining a game. Removing areas which seem to take a long time (auctions) is a great thing. Unfortunately we played with incorrect additions each round for each food group. So the market was somewhat way understaffed. This led to the game being a bit longer than it should. Also it meant I was nickel and diming my way into more resources to increase my clan. I would like to give it another go but I doubt the game will surpass a 6 or 7. There is something I love about the original power grid system (yes I own Funkenshlag) despite the extra length...

D-Day Dice - I had the pleasure of reviewing D-Day Dice when it was part of the Canadian Board Game of the Year challenge. Everyone who played it back then loved it. And now that it has finally been released to the world and I think we should rejoice. I didn't have enough time to go through the rules in the detail I would have liked so we played the very basic basic trial run two player. Playing without sector rules or specialists or tools left the game way too basic. We should have added them in. I forsee this game getting to the table a lot over the next few months. WIth the line for life I have (all things D-Day Dice will come to me) I have a lot of material to get through. yikes... I am really hoping I can round up my nine year old on this one. My grandfather participated in World War II. His last name was Zachary (my moms maiden name) - and when my ex-wife and I decided on a name for a boy it was universal and immediate. Hence my sons first name... I want to make sure both of my kids learn about the history of WWI and WWII and this will give me the perfect excuse to do so.

Tempest · July 30, 2012, 09:10:01 PM

Back into a D&D campaign! Looking good so far. I'm a dwarven (protector spirit) shaman, one friend is a human monk/rogue hybrid and the other is a half-orc paladin.

Bix Conners · July 31, 2012, 10:31:37 AM

Quote from: Tempest on July 30, 2012, 09:10:01 PM
Back into a D&D campaign! Looking good so far. I'm a dwarven (protector spirit) shaman, one friend is a human monk/rogue hybrid and the other is a half-orc paladin.

What version of D&D are you playing? I got out at 3.5 and have not played in years. I wonder what the new edition will be like.

Last night I played another game of Merchant of Venus. This was a three player game and was quite enjoyable. We played to $3000 and I had a weak start. I felt under the gun from the beginning of the game. I managed to use the Teleports effectively and get a number of large payoffs. I won with Colin being just 1 turn away from winning. I am really digging this game.

Tempest · July 31, 2012, 08:58:04 PM

4th ed, lots of the extra books, but not the essentials stuff. I don't want to open up *that* can of worms, but I do enjoy 4th ed quite a bit. There are some things I wish were a bit different, but overall I really have fun with it. I think the most important part is the people you play with anyways, as well as how you like to play. I'm more of a fan of combat and stuff, so I really enjoy the new system; it makes it interesting for non-mage characters in combat.