Boardgaming for (Crash Test) Dummies

2014-05-22T12:04:00.001+03:00

Let's start with wargame(s). I managed to pick up Panzer General: Allied Assault for cheap from last year Essen fair and now I had finally time/place/motivation to try it out. Solo, to get the rules straight. Rules are quite short actually (when compared to other wargames, I'd say it's semi-light by complexity) but the contents were... oh my god. Don't get me wrong, when you first read the rules it all makes sense and you get quite good overview about the game flow... but when you start playing you need also all the details (you can't find). I played this game actually twice, with different scenarios and both times I had to search BGG for answers to my (quite trivial) questions. Appears there is updated rulebook somewhere... but didn't bother to search it. But about the gameplay: it's quite good. Simple but good. You move and/or (depends of unit) fire - that's all. Solo AI is a bit clumsy but I don't see it meant to be played solo, it's 2p with hidden units etc. And of course you have plenty of action cards that add replayability.

Era of Inventions - solid eurogame. This time we played it with 5 players so the situation on board was going to be pretty tight. I decided to try out something new - to use only 4 out of 6 areas available, so I did not buy any factories and also didn't run my factory. Most of the times my actions were just collecting one free development cog from passing in market exchange. And to my surprise - it turned out to be a winning strategy :) When I had enough cogs available, developed the plane, collected material, built the plane (without bonus points), let others build the plane and that's how it went. I won by only 1 point but still - good game, especially as it was played in a bit unusual way.

18GA - after good start a bit slowdown during midgame (bad company selection) and then again rise. Unfortunately (or should I say luckily?) game was left unifinished, as 2 (out of 5) players had to leave suddenly, force majeure.

I don't know why but I had always thought so far that Lords of Waterdeep is some dry eurogame... man I was wrong. Excellent game, especially with good company. Definitely would like to try this one more.

Age of Industry showed that I haven't played it for too long... now when I finally had a chance to try it, I had actually no clue about what I should be doing. I just stared at my cards and hummed. It may be also related to the amount of beers I had already consumed (it was played at friend's birthday party)... not. Good game, though.

With Tikal, on the other hand, those beers seemed to help me instead :) I managed to get quite good amount of trinkets/jewelry/artifacts/younameit early into the game and this gave a good boost during each scoring.

Gave Agricola another try - but it's still boring as hell. It's like doing accounting or so. Or I still don't get it.

Sumeria is another game that was left unplayed since last year Essen so I was happy to bring it on table. It's quite abstract set collection with very simple rules - you put one of your traders on board or you move one of your traders or you take one of your traders off board. That's it. Every turn three areas get scored with majority bonuses - and that's the game. Simple - but I like it.

And finally Trains. After quite a long break it was refreshing to give it a new try. Not that I had played it a lot earlier (just once or twice). This time most of the points came from the board, so the one who was playing for cards (me, i.e.) was left third in 4-player game. Still it was fun to play.

And now, off to UK.

2014-05-06T16:04:00.000+03:00

I don't consider myself being in Cryptozoic's target group, so I was a bit sceptical when we started playing The Walking Dead Card Game. I was correct this time - it's not much fun to play - but luckily the "alternative" rules included were much-much better than "standard". With those there were actually some meaningful choices available.

I have also avoided (i.e. not looking for playing) Escape: The Curse of the Temple, as I don't find time-triggered actions interesting enough... but man, I was wrong. Escape is really fun to play, especially with good crowd and the time-counting really creates pleasant tension.

Going, Going, GONE! has received lots of hype (and being Nicholson's Twitter follower may have increased it as well) so I was really eager to try this out. And again, it was fun to play. I was hoping it to be more strategical but it appeared to be more party-game - so for me Tulipmania is still best from Scott. Also, always when I play something new, I try to evaluate the underlying mechanics, and it was really refreshing to see that with some simple additions ordinary set collection can be quite fun to play.

As I promised to myself, while writing previous blog post, I managed to play again one Cuba Libre. In Estonian review is available here, I won't translate all the text but just say that it was truly quality time. Another win to Syndicate, as well.

Age of Gods is, in my opinion, best with 5-6 players. This time we played it with 3 players and it was still enjoyable but not the mayhem it would've been with 6.

Kings of Air and Steam is like Roborally with pick-up-and-deliver mechanics integrated into it. In a good way. During first half of the game I had absolutely no clue about what I should be doing (except, well, delivering goods) but during second half it was already really splendid. We played it with maximum number of players (7 I think it was) but I'm not sure if this is the best number to play with... from that one play I'd say that 3-4 would be best. Or 4-5 perhaps.

And finally, some Lost Legends - or "drafting game done right" as I call it. We played it twice and both times second dungeon was the toughest. In first play we also forgot the rule that you deal the monsters before drafting, so everybody had a little surprise when entering the dungeon... but during second play we included this rule as well and a good game got even better. Woohoo.

Next stop - UK Games EXPO.

2014-03-31T13:56:00.000+03:00

Too long have the COIN-series gathered dust on my shelves. Too long have some games been left unplayed. Too long, changes must be made.

Meanwhile, in parallel universe...

7 Wonders is still good for casual play (but I have a latest Wonder Pack still unopened). Tzolk'in still feels quite bland. (And I still don't understand why? Being "too euro" hasn't bothered me before liking some games). Tsuro, Guess Who, Roundhouse Kick, Get Bit are still good to play with kid. As well as For Sale (with some house rules).

In other news...

Making Profit: The Boardgame has now online-version. Yes, all you millions, who haven't been able to get a physical copy - now you have a chance to try how does the gameplay look like. But beware - AI is not the brighest (read: dumb as myself). And there are no in-game hints/tutorials, so read the rules first :)

Over and out.

2014-03-07T12:06:00.000+02:00

Couple of wargame fillers - first Stand at Mortain. I was a bit sceptical first when I saw that standard 53-card deck (incl. 1 Joker) is used with the game - but the game was surprisingly decent. It's not perfect, as I find Allied side a bit overpowered, but considering it being a 'postcard wargame' there is plenty of opportunities/depth available. For more balanced gameplay there is also a variant where some of the cards are removed from the deck - and I believe this would create even more tension.

Second game we played was Field of Glory: The Card Game - and again, decent wargame filler. First you have to build your deck with very simple mechanics and then control 3 out of 5 terrains. As simple as that. Also game ends after both players have played through their draw deck twice - and when considering that after your first turn you've drawn already 12 cards (out of 24 in draw deck) it's really fast to play.

2014-03-04T21:00:00.000+02:00

Yeah, that's true...

2009 January+February 45 games played. 2010 - 63 games. 2011 - 69. 2012 - 90. 2013 - 68 games. And this year it's... 31 games. Out of these 15 were Risk Legacy, so the actual number is even smaller, 16. Kinda sad. Must try harder! :-)

I got Risk Legacy as birthday gift, so it was quite natural to start the year by playing it. 15 games were played in 6 sessions within two months. And it's quite fun, for a Risk, and - it's main virtue - short to play. Sometimes we managed to play 3 (once even 4) games during one 4-5 hour session. One envelope was also left unopened... so there is still some replayability left! I'm not sure I'd play it 2-3-4 times in a row anymore... but occasionally, why not.

Also managed to play one 1830: Railways & Robber Barons. Runaway leader (in terms of company value) paid out dividends like there was no tomorrow and when inevitable (purchase of first Diesel) happened, game ended with banktruptcy for that player. Like a textbook example :) But if that player would've succeeded in avoiding bankruptcy, things would've gotten quite interesting, as another player received from him presidency of company with (another) brand new Diesel. This, in addition to her own company, would have made quite a difference.

Copycat. I seem to like Friese's designs and this is not an exception. It's worker placement with parts from Agricola, Through the Ages and Dominion - and it's quite fun.

Indonesia - more I play it, more I like it. I don't know why but so far in all three games I have played, I've always been in charge of shipping companies most of the time. This also means that my development options are quite limited but it's still interesting. I'd also say that this game should be played always with maximum players as it speeds up gameplay (in terms of rounds) and also creates more tension/interaction.

2013-12-27T12:55:00.000+02:00

Couple of more Cuba Libres. Two 4-player games, both won by Government. First one was a bit shock for everybody (during first Propaganda spent most of the OPs for securing the support/points from the cities and couple of provinces, then just hold the positions until next Propaganda - which arrived fast!) but second was quite narrow - both Government and Syndicate achieved the victory condition but Government had slightly better margin - by 1 point! Love this game. When playing solo, Syndicate has loads of money but when played by player (like I did this time) the situation is suddenly totally different. Perhaps I should play them by following strictly the non-player AI chart :)

Gears of War: The Board Game is a forgotten gem we have. Started the scenarios from the beginning and after fifth try succeeded in completing the first mission. Especially good if you have played the GoW on console - you can imagine then how Boomers make those "Boom!" sounds and why Tickers should be kept at distance.

I believe I have mentioned earlier that I'm probably one of the few people who don't like Agricola. It's too long for what it is and too boring as well. 2-player Agricola: All Creatures Big and Small, on the other hand, is a game I've played already 11 times and I strongly believe there will be lots of plays in the future as well. Base game alone can become a bit repetitive after some games but expansions add a lot of replayability. A lot. Really like them.

Last time I played Indonesia was something like 3 years ago - and yesterday had another chance to try. Excellent game. I was left last (in 3p game) despite my oil monopoly and shipping network that covered most of the board. Seems I spent too much when acquiring the monopoly :) Nevertheless it was interesting game with practically no downtime and multitude of decisions - really good one. Recommend for everybody who likes something meatier with mergers and acquisitions but not 18xx-heavy.

And also...

...please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2014, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures.

2013-12-16T14:16:00.000+02:00

Aaaaaaaaand, we're back.

COIN has been the magical word here lately, with Andean Abyss and Cuba Libre sharing similar gameplay but being totally different beasts. I'm not even sure if they are 'proper' wargames as there are basically no battles but - hey! - they're fun to play! Actually I haven't played the full game (i.e. with 4 players) of Cuba Libre yet, just a couple of solos and one 2p game - but even based on those I already like it. This is also a game that restored my faith to playing solo - so far I thought that soloing is (mainly) analytical math/probability exercise but CL proved that it could be fun as well. I have played two 4-player games of Andean Abyss and I believe this gives me enough experience to declare this game completely utterly broken: ARC has 100% win ratio. And yes, it's sore loser speaking :)

Managed to try out Nations, as well. It is often referred as "TTA light" but in my opinion it isn't. As a friend described - "Nations and TTA are like Brass and Age of Industry - they are similar in theme but still with different gameplay". I totally agree and I like this game. I also understand why it is described as 'the game that hates you from the beginning' - but I wouldn't call it 'hating' but 'decisions' instead :)

Trains and Stations, on the other hand, is a game I don't get. I have played it only once but the feeling was... meh. Usually I like innovative mechanics but this one... quarriors meets track building... well... there shouldn't be dice in a proper train game! Yes. I said it out :)

I bought second game from Discworld series - The Witches - from Essen already and now have several times played it as well. First it seemed like a bit disappointment as "the lightest game evar" but after using advanced rules it's quite proper push-your-luck game. So far it keeps going better and better more I play it. Haven't tried the coop version yet.

And lets finish this post also with wargaming - Musket and Pike Series. I was happy to try out one of the scenarios from Under the Lily Banners - and was completely hooked, as a result. It has quite logical (after you manage to get through the rules) gameplay with interesting command chain and wing activation - and lots of decision. At least in my opinion it simulates well the battles of this era (although I haven't researched how they might've been fought) and gives players a multitude of decisions. Normally (i.e. with other games) when you have some über-strong unit opposed by several lightish units, you just keep crushing them one-by-one. But no, not in this game - because you'll never know when your cavalry feels like it's enough fighting for a day and better to have some looting instead :) Excellent series, high on my recommendations list.

2013-10-15T11:58:00.000+03:00

Wargamers beware - at the beginning of November air warfare history will be rewritten. Will you be able to defend your objectives against most feared ace of the aces? Do you have the guts to stand and fight back? Can you defeat the flying menace?

Loopin' Louie championship, this November. Stay tuned!

2013-10-12T11:56:00.000+03:00

12 days 'til Essen. Fifth year in a row, second time as publisher. Woohoo! (Pics/comments/remarks etc will be on FB)

One more play of Combat Commander: Europe and then I have played every included scenario (12 pcs) at least twice. Makes me really wonder if I should continue the Pacific or Mediterranean path. I've played the latter and it has felt way too unbalanced... perhaps some change in playstyle is needed.

Tsuro is one of my latest finds and I really like it as filler. It's quite OK with 2-3 players but it shines with 6-8. It has chaos, short play time and very simple rules - perfect as filler or when playing with casual gamers.

The saga of Forbidden Desert continues. As we had played it so far always with 4 players decided to try with only 2p. Won Normal level on second attempt - oh, it felt good! Later on we had also some 3p games - when introducing this game to our analytical friend. We were pretty close to winning all three times but - nevertheless - his skills were not so useful :)

Oddville is nice little gem that should get more attention. For some strange reason it doesn't get picked so often.

From the downside: after playing Stone Age third time I finally came to a conclusion that I don't like this type of game. If all the game is just a setup for final scoring then why bother playing at all? :)

Oh, and registration to BGG Secret Santa is started! I'm in for both - regular and wargamer - feel free to join!

2013-09-10T13:11:00.000+03:00

As I mentioned in previous post, last Saturday was dedicated to Virgin Queen. And what an event it was.

In first play (yes, we played those two in a row) I was playing as Spain. Second in turn order, so whatever I did, rest had chance to interfere. Positive side was that Spain had larger-than-average starting hand allowing more possibilities. Well. Game started with England, France and Protestants (Dutch) taking their shots with pirating my colonies, reducing my amount of treasure and some VP's; Ottoman sank my fleet in Mediterranean; HRE was fortunately far enough not interfering with me. (And I also had a nice 'War in Poland' event card in hand so I was able to have a friendly blackmailing with HRE for not playing it.) Just when Sea Captains returned from plundering my colonies, Spanish Treasure Fleet arrived - and as there was noboy to encounter them, I got some leftovers from treasure chart. Luckily one of the +1VP tokens was left there :) Phew.

The situation wasn't actually very good for Spaniards - Morisco event was roaming near Madrid, Malta was lost to Ottoman and rest of the fortresses in that area were under their attack with Spanish fleet sunk. Then I noticed, when looking at available actions, that Spain had one unique winning condition - they have autowin if they're able to initiate successful Catholic Rebellion in England - and England was currently having fun in other areas. Therefore, Spain started plotting the rebellion: sent a Jesuit to Wales and planted Cryptography. During last impulse Spain was ready to initiate rebellion then - they got 10 dice, faced by 5 dice from England. The result was 4 hits from Spain, countered by 1 hit from England. As Spain needed to have 4 more hits than England, play continued to second turn. The good news was that two Spanish regulars appeared to England as a result.

During the negotiation phase of second turn I decided to go all-in and take my chance during first impulse round, so I skipped the marriages and negotiation and was waiting for the actions phase. I was second in turn order, so England was not able to do anything to stop me. And the action phase started. I re-initated the rebellion, this time there were 14/5 dice in my favour. I rolled first as attacker. 4 hits! Bloody hell! England rolled then... no hits! Woohoo! Automatic victory for Spain!

As everybody else was pretty disappointed of the short play (game ended at the beginning of second turn) we decided to play it once again. We selected sides by random and this time I got to play as England (with person playing England last time played as Spain :) ) - so I knew that I had to keep England free of Jesuits. This also meant that the Virgin Queen home card is pretty much out of use, as Walsham(?) was more efficient for that purpose. And this also meant that I was left only with Earl of Leicester for marriages - and he wasn't really a hit. At least during first turns. On the other hand I saw no point in offering Elisabeth for marriages as she guaranteed me 1 hassle-free VP at the end of every turn. So there were less options to think about.

England isn't easy to play with, I discovered. Except Elisabeth granting +1VP it has no more special bonuses - or at least I didn't see them. They just have excellent captains they should use, I presumed, so my plan was to harass the colonies of Spain a bit first and then achieve the 2VP for being first to sail around the world. Well - Spain didn't agree on this and after one successful plunder my captain was sent to turn track (via event). Additionally, through another event, Spain allied with Ireland and so I had Spanish regulars quite close to England. Me-no-likey. Spain tried also to initiate the rebellion, luckily it failed, Mary of Scots was executed and we had war with Spain. Sweet.

When my Captain Drake returned from turn track I noticed that his specialty was that when pirating I can choose what I'll get. Hmmm, I thought, we're in war with Spain, they have no ships/fortresses in Atlantic and I have Drake - let's have some fun. For several turns I had then standard opening - for 4CPs move to Bay of Biscay, plunder. Next impulse: for 3CPs move to Atlantic Ocean, plunder. And only starting from next impulse I had to start thinking about future plans :) Game went back-and-forth then, as I managed to keep the Spain regulars away from England, got some VP's from several events, Earl of Leicester married successfully Louise of Dutch (during their second try) and by the start of last turn I was a bit surprisingly ahead of others with 2VP. After mandatory plunder moves (out of 4 4-dice plunders I managed to get 3 with results that no dice were showing higher value than 2) I noticed that Seville was left empty by Spain so I made surprise attack there and increased the lead after successful siege. And then, when I was waiting for the end of last turn, someone mentioned that Holy Roman Empire was one key short of having automatic victory. What? Nooo! During my next impulse I used all the CPs of my home card for assasination attempt against the HRE leader, planning to ambush Ottoman key city. I had 4 dice, HRE defended with 2. First roll... and result... re-roll! Second attempt... 2 hits... and nothing for defender! HRE leader was dead! It wasn't daysaver yet, as HRE had still one card left he could use for siege... but without leader it was more difficult... and Ottomans survived this siege. Protestants needed to get 4+ VPs from science/artists but this was really long shot and they didn't succeed... so it was a really glorious play for England! Good game!

2013-09-06T19:51:00.000+03:00

It's not that there has been nothing to speak about - there have been lots of plays, one wargame bootcamp and a nice Virgin Queen tomorrow, for example - but I've ran out of blogging time recently, instead. Time to play - yes; time to blog about it - no. But better this way than the opposite.

Just finished the first scenario from LOTR "The Hobbit: Over Hill and Under Hill" saga expansion. It was a tad difficult in solo but really enjoyable when playing two-handed (with hobbit period decks). And as I don't read the stage descriptions before encountering them - it was a real surprise after advancing to third stage there. And really thematic.

On the other hand, I also had a chance to play the Cryptozoic's version of LOTR... man, this was boring. It didn't have even the usual deckbuilding choice of going for kills or buys - it just has only one resource - power! One! So you draw your hand, add the power together and buy the highest card you can afford. Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes.

And when talking about deckbuilders - bought to myself a Legendary. After first play, I must admit, I was left with really WTH-impression. It kinda was a deckbuilding... and then it wasn't. But after some more plays I realised that it shouldn't be compared with ordinary deckbuilders, as the missions add a lot here. Only drawback is that it's so easy in standard mode when playing solo or with 2p... but it has potential to be more difficult when playing with 3+ players. Looking forward to it. Tried also once with advanced solo rules - resulted in easiest win ever :) Sentinels of Multiverse is still better for "I'm the superhero!" feeling, but Legendary is more like watching a movie or reading a comics where the story evolves from "Mwahahaa, I'm gonna punish you all, you puny heroes" to "Not so mastermind anymore, aye?".

2013-08-09T10:13:00.002+03:00

There hasn't been much LOTR playing happened after finishing the "Journey down the Anduin"... perhaps small break is needed. Played it only twice during last week: once for recording the score in JdtA (85, playing with two decks) and another for testing the "Escape from Dol Guldur". As Gimli was the one who was captured, this quest was fast. Didn't win. :)

Tried to survive in the desert couple of times, as well. Forbidden Desert. Failed, as usual. But, as I've said before and will say again: I love this game.

Last time I played Stone Age it was 2009.. so decided to give it another try. Played 3-player game where one experienced player was facing two noobs. Well... when using wargaming terms then it was a massacre. 64 points with final scoring, he managed to collect all the stone axes from the card deck. As the collections were not visible to others (but you were allowed to check them yourselves, by suggested houserules) - what can you do.

A bit of wargaming as well. Andean Abyss has been quite a long time on my wish list - I even succeeded in ordering that once but it went OOS while waiting for payment confirmation - so I was happy to have it tried before purchasing. And it's a good one. I had quite basic knowledge about the situation in Colombia but event cards and designer notes gave quite a good overview - edutainment! And the game itself is good - most of the time you are faced with difficult decisions. This may also lead to AP... but luckily there are no lots of decisions. Just if I should play this turn nor should I wait until another... and if I play this turn then what action should I take. Simple mechanics, solid gameplay - that's the kind I like.

2013-07-31T11:16:00.000+03:00

Finally managed to complete the "Journey down the Anduin" quest in LOTR LCG, with two decks - Leadership monosphere (definition learned from BGG) and Tactics+Lore. First try with this combo was failure, as usual, mainly due to two Hill Trolls hanging around together... but second try was more successful. I'd even say that great success it was. I'm not going to spoil how it was achieved... but it was memorable. Now I'd like to try the third quest as well from core set... this one has difficulty level 7 (not some lousy 4). Woohoo. And then to the Hobbit quests. Perhaps I should read the book first for better thematic experience. Anyway, 18 plays of LOTR already... I'd say it was good investment. Not many games from my collection reach this amount unfortunately. (Just checked - 11 out of 106)

And Combat Commander: Europe, what else. After 20 plays I raised my rating from 9 to 10. I just love this game. Yesterday we played "Paralyzed from the West Down" with me as Axis (defender). Americans tried to break through their left wing but luckily (or should I call it luck, Germans made their setup first and Americans definitely should've seen it coming) there were several squads with light MG-s, leader and a weapon team with heavy MG. When combining that firepower with some defender specific wire-placing actions - it was pretty devastating for Allies.

Tried yesterday also something new - Autokrator from Diachron Games. This one left me with some mixed feelings - it had some quite interesting mechanics incorporated (selecting combat venue/terrain, for example) but at the same time it had considerable downtime (playing with 4 players) and even at the end it was unclear about what could be the possible benefits of some actions. Also the distribution of battle cards (troops) was interesting - but it could also lead to massive AP when you start to think about all the possible outcomes - so it was all the same as selecting those cards at random :)

And no selfish ads this time about my ongoing/upcoming games and projects. There will be time for that :)

2013-07-26T01:07:00.000+03:00

Q: How do you call an evening/night with 3 plays of Combat Commander: Europe in a row?
A: Quality time.

2013-07-23T13:52:00.002+03:00

Two recent addictions. First of them is... believe-it-or-not... Carcassonne. Played with my Android tablet. And, actually, I really suck in this game :) 18 wins from what... 100+ plays (all 4-players, vs AI). But it's still fun - even when playing casually like I do, not seeking for strategy optimization and such. Cheap to buy, quick to play, nice UI - what else would you like to get. Perfect, when you have 5 minutes to spare.

And another one is Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Started with core set and first mission was close to great success. Second one... (yeah, with the hill troll)... instead of "hit and run" tactic there is "get hit and die" tactic instead. /Solo or not, here they come, you can't hide... gonna find us and take it quickly./ If we manage to kill the troll, location gives us a finger (with threat 5 or something) or some nasty event. If we leave the troll alone... he won't be alone. He'll be with Beastmaster. Or with another troll... stomp-stomp-stomp. So, for beating this level I need correct cards in exact order both in encounter and hero draw decks.Or start with deckbuilding :) (Have played core sets so far.)

In my neverending quest to try out Wallace's different designs we had this time Tempus on table. And I must say it is truly fast to play light-civ. With 3 players 90 minutes. This is one of those games where setup is important... and also first couple of turns. But not essential - despite of my setup tile layout (Woohoo, let there be a lake. Just because I can!) and token placement (These look like friendly mountains. Let's settle there, we'll find out later if we have anything to eat) I managed to win the game by 1 point, thanks to the attack against city with my last action during last turn of game. The mechanics are very simple but I wouldn't say this is a bad game... it's just a civ-game so short that it needs some evaluation re-adjustment.

And a bit as well from the fancy life of unknown game designer. You know already, who I am talking about, right? Smart Investor was finally released to blind test this weekend. Yay. Let's see what the results will be. I even created a VASSAL module (with butt-ugly graphics, but hey! that's what the prototypes are) so all the lonely players (who like stock trading games) can PBEM this prototype all day long. If you are interested then ask nicely and I'll provide the link. Or just check the BGG forums. No reason to be nice.

2013-07-08T11:06:00.000+03:00

Something nice, really-really nice - one of my few "10" ratings in BGG: Maria. I got to play as Prussia/Pragmatic - and I have a feeling that this might be the most fun side to play. At the same time you're both ally and enemy of both Austria and France, so lots of opportunities all the time.

This time Prussia was very lucky in his conquest of Silesia - at the end of his actions during Turn 3 he was able to offer temporary truce to Austria already (and Austria accepted it). And as Austrian generals moved then to western front, to fight with France, northern Austria was left quite lightly protected. At the same time Pragmatic and Austria were making some offensive moves near France borderlands, while main Austrian and French forces were having maneuvers in western-Austria. Skirmishes during those maneuvers left Austria quite exhausted (in terms of battle cards), so after truce ended Prussia was able to give devastating blow, leaving Prussia with 20 men and 3 generals, opposed by 5 Austrian men with one general. Unfortunately we had to end the game at this point, due to time constraints, but it was excellent experience nevertheless.

About other games a bit as well. Last time I played Infiltration I suddenly discovered how... action-less should be the term I suppose... this game is. You move, you extract, move, extract. Use some card (to move more or extract more), then move or extract. It's not it's bad but... a bit repetitive. Boring.

Kingsburg, on the other hand, left me wanting some more after first play. And that's always a good sign, especially from VP-collecting worker placement eurogame, using dice as workers.

2013-07-01T16:18:00.000+03:00

18OE: On the Rails of the Orient Express is doing well in Kickstarter... and it's really-really tempting. On one hand it is The Most Awesomest and Epic-est 18xx Game Evar (and it has Estonia on it, in 4 hexes or so - woohoo)!!1!!one!!!eleven!!. On another hand it's friggin' 200$ - a bit too expensive for just collecting purposes. Especially as one copy will be bought by friend anyway. When I look at my currently "heaviest" 18-title, it's 1817... and I've managed to play it only 4 times in what... 1,5 years? Yeah, it's partly also my fault as I haven't been very keen play organizer - especially as the last experience here was quite devastating. Also, half of the 1817 plays (2 - to be more specific) have been in Finland... pelataanko 18OE:tä myös?

I haven't played publisher's other monster-18xx - 18C2C - but as much as I know, this has scared plenty of enthusiasts with massive playtime and major downtime. But this 18OE is tempting, despite of that :)

2013-06-27T23:27:00.001+03:00

Food for thoughts. Would the basic buying-selling be sufficient for stock trading game's core or should I add some derivate trading as well? And in case of adding - where could I find playtesters for such brainburner?

No references to popculture today.

2013-06-26T10:36:00.000+03:00

A Few Acres of Snow is a good game I've played way too little. I like the asymmetry of the sides with totally different strategies and so far I've found out that, as beginner, it's easier to win as France. Just aim for the victory points... with British you have to be more creative. And no, I don't want to know anything about HH.

Tank on Tank is also nice little wargame with one major drawback - it's price tag. With MRSP as 25-30€ (or something like that) you get the sub-par quality/components. But if you manage to get this for 10-15€ there's plenty to enjoy. Different terrains, covers, AT guns, Tigers, artillery, flanking... wargame within an hour. Bueno.

Also had one Steel Driver yesterday. I noticed from BGG that it was nominated as 2009 Golden Geek Best Gamers' Board Game... Idunno... I usually dig trackbuilding and economy and stocks and so on but this one tasted a bit too... weird. It's like taking Automobile and Transport Tycoon together and adding some kniziesque set collection to the end (where most of the money is received). Did I say money? No, actually I wanted to say victory points... as this is one of the few games where you can buy nothing with the money. Brrr.

Dixit Odyssey with 8 players. Actually it was for me a bit surprising to see how many times everybody guessed correctly the storyteller's card. Table talk was the best. And "bashing" the Steel Driver's winner :)

And finally - good news, everybody! One of my designs is now available for download, as free PNP. Geocaching-themed "FTF", available here. If there are any misunderstandings in English rules, I'm sorry -translation was made by your humble servant himself. Just ask then. Or play as you seem better. Have fun, at least!

So long, and thanks for all the games.

2013-06-18T09:58:00.000+03:00

Good news, everyone! (This is my favourite sentence to start the conversation with - especially in Professor Farnsworth's voice - but unfortunately not many people around here know the origins of it).

Forbidden Desert. 10 plays, 1 win. It's getting personal now. Damn, it's a brilliant game.

Pillars of the Earth. We had a runaway leader starting from Turn 1 - and she managed to win. Quite good game actually - not the one I'd like to play 3 times in a row (I'm looking at you, Forbidden Desert!) but for occasional gaming - why not.

Jamaica. Well... if you fill your ship only with gold starting from first turn already, you're not going very fast very far in this game. You're not going to win either. But you can have lots of fun - and get a decent 3rd place in 5p-game as a bonus.

Have I mentioned Forbidden Desert yet? Oh, yes, I have. Have to get it out of my head. La-la-la... Brass, Combat Commander, 1817... la-la-la.

Roundhouse Kick. I added rules explanation video to games page. But it's in Estonian... so unless you know this language fluently already, what about taking up a new challenge? :)

Sweet zombie Jesus! (Yeah, it's from that show again. Sorry.)

2013-06-06T16:30:00.000+03:00

And now for something completely different. Back from UK Games Expo. Roundhouse Kick had very nice welcome, thank you!

Actually, let this post be dedicated to UKGE 2013 award winners, as we recently played couple of those. String Railway first. The overall idea is quite bizarre - building tracks with ropes - but it's lots of fun. Several stations have capacity limits so you may suddenly discover that there is only one station (built by yourself) within the reach of your track. String Railway is also fast to play, 30-45 minutes, so it's a train-themed game within reasonable timeframe.

And another award winner we tried is Forbidden Desert. Based on success of Forbidden Island, this sequel is almost non-comparable in terms of replayability and difficulty modes. And I haven't laughed so much for a long time, as I did while playing this game. Played three times, lost every game. Of course at the start of first game I suggested that let's not start with legendary difficulty level but a bit less - elite. That was quick. Next play: ok, perhaps we should decrease difficulty to normal? Another quick game (a bit longer, though). Third attempt: novice level. This time we ALMOST succeeded... bloody sandstorms, I say... :-)

2013-04-10T13:08:00.000+03:00

5-player Eclipse. During mid-game I suddenly realized it's actually an space-themed eurogame. A decent one, I have to say, but still... optimizing, reasearching, VP collection and this fixed amount of turns. I had played it once before - and as I remembered - game was won then by player who mainly explored "backwards" and kept distance from other players. I was, from other hand, flying around and battling and having other sorts of fun and was left on one of the last positions during final scoring. This time I tried also this cautious VP-collection optimised approach - and it was a success. Go figure.

World of Warcraft is a real monster we manage to play once-twice a year. With all the expansions it's full-day-game but we've achieved finishing it also in 5 hours (or so) with 2 players with some experience. The hardest part is to handle information from all the rulebooks from base game and expansions - should check if there is some compilation available in BGG. Next time we should customize also how much of the expansions we'll use - so far the additional map from Burning Crusade, for example, is used mainly for holding cards, as nobody has bothered to travel there. We'll see. Excellent adventure, anyway.

Mice and Mystics is a nice co-op with really good theme - and not only in storyboard but also details. Helmet is made from timble, chest armor from nutshell etc etc. Mechanics are also really cool, so would like to try this one again, especially as we won the first scenario. But this reminds me also of other good co-ops I haven't had time to play for quite a long time... Gears of War... D&D Castle Ravenloft...

I also had a chance to play Tokaido yesterday. I was quite curious as this game has had a decent hype about how elegant and zen and [insert your favourite here] this game is. I must say now that it is indeed a game with very simple rules and considerable amount of variety with short playtime. Something you could easily play 2-3 times during evening and even then have time for some other games as well. The hardest part for me was remembering what is my pawn's colour - as they are given out by random. I'm sure this can be houseruled out in some way.

And finally I'm glad that Roundhouse Kick will be out during next week. Rules are available here but I'm afraid the game won't be available in stores near you, as this first print run will be micro-size, so they'll be presented mainly in conventions/fairs. Or ordered.

2013-04-01T22:10:00.000+03:00

I want to believe that the game is good (i.e. fun for me) even if you can score 141 points (out of 182) with final scoring. I really do... but do I have enough faith to try it once more? Seasons.

2013-04-01T11:21:00.001+03:00

I was quite happy to see that our store was fully crowded during Tabletop Day with people playing all kinds of games, from Saboteur to Clash of Cultures and 1856. Everybody was having good time and that's what this event is all about.

I was part of the 18xx-gang with playing the 1856 and it was also a nice (a bit long-ish, though) experience. It was also one of the rare times this game ended with bankruptcy (had happened only once so far), so it was kind of "sudden death" experience for everybody. I was left third in 5-player game but I was happy with the result nevertheless - my game start and mid-play were executed almost perfectly, at the moment of bankruptcy I had two companies with 2 x 5-trains and 1x 6-train. Now I just have to start paying more attention to possible bankruptcy evasion mechanisms for other players, as well :) Actually in my first game of 1830 in 5-Nation Tournament I already had similar situation when I was facing option to trigger phase change and thus also bankruptcy of one player - but being an PBE-game I had more time for analysing and noticed that I would've been left in fourth place this way... so I had to postpone the triggering until next OR when the victim had already enough money to survive. So, third place from that event first round, as well.

Later we tried Kids of Carcassonne with 4 grown-ups - and this game ROCKS as a strategy game! :) Well, ok... let's say as strategical party game - or something like that. Anyway, I haven't laughed so much for a long time as I did when playing this game, 4 times in a row. It's fast, it's highly tile-dependant and every move you make is good either for you or somebody else. Most of the times - for somebody else.

Dominion is a game, too dry for me for playing it with friends. Strange thing is, though, that as Android app - it's quite entertaining. I have played it 60+ times on tablet - but I have no desire whatsoever to even try playing it face-to-face. Go figure.

2013-03-22T11:17:00.001+02:00

Silence may be golden... but not anymore. Hopefully, from now on, I have enough time again for gaming. And writing about it. Busy times, bygone.

Tried Merchant of Venus recently and I was pretty surprised about how this game can be quite enjoyable, while using the "good old" roll-and-move mechanics. Made me wonder if Snakes & Ladders could be improved by adding some pick-up-and-deliver parts to it :)

Also had an opportunity to try out two games from local, Estonian designers - Construction Zone and Alles Käse. The latter is pretty surprising nice filler, where you can get maximum value from minimal components. Although the rules are written a bit in illogical order (at least for me, so couple of first plays were played by wrong rules) but despite that it's pretty good. The former is a bit more set collection and has less meaningful choices I'd really enjoy - so, not my cup of tea. And the cards felt a bit flimsy (is that a word, actually? Well, Google says it is, good for me!) as well. At least it's fast to play.

2-player Brass is still a hit. I remember that my first time ever with this game I managed to play surprisingly good high-income game (was left second by narrow margin in 3-player game) - but no matter how hard I have tried now, haven't been able to repeat it. Taking loans is soooo tempting. And easy :)

A bit of wargaming as well. Combat Commander first, with me in charge of Polish forces against Ze Germanz. Enjoyable play, as usually, with both sides having chance to win during last turn. Polish forces had to eliminate one more German unit... while the Axis needed just to survive the turn. Axis won :)

Another wargame played was Napoleons Triumph - where Russian forces managed to make quite devastating offensive moves during forst couple of turns and the rest was... waiting for inevitable to happen. It felt like playing Twilight Struggle first time with somebody who knows all the cards and the possible outcomes.

Th-th-th-that's all folks!