My Year of Games

You'll never catch me alive, copper!

2012-03-21T15:31:00.001-07:00

18. Scotland Yard

by Manfred Burggraf, Dorothy Garrels, Wolf Hoermann, Fritz Ifland, Werner Scheerer and Werner Schlegel

Players: 3 - 6
Ages: 10+
Time: 45+ minutes
Type of game: Deductive / Hidden Movement

Reccomended?: Yes

"Chase me! Chase me!" I called as I ran, laughing through the streets of London. Jumping onto buses, using the tube to cover long distances and using taxis to get myself lost in the back streets.
Meanwhile, my opponents did their best to figure out where I was, aided by my odd need to reveal my position every 5 moves or so.

Scotland Yard is a 1 versus many game. One person plays the mysterious Mister X whilst the other players are the police trying to track X down.

The police move openly. I can always see where the are and plan my moves as X secretly. They also start with a limited supply of tickets for the various transport types which, when they use them, become part of my supply widening my options as theirs decrease.

X moves secretly. He'll start in the open and then, as soon as his first move is decided, will disappear leaving just the ticket that he used to make the journey behind as a clue to where he could have gone.X writes his destination and covers it with the ticket he used to get there. Using a black ticket? That'll get you on anything obscuring your possible destination even further.

Like most good co-op games this is difficult for the many and to really be sure of winning would involve some clever mapping. This kind of shenanigans while making an interesting logic problem would also be quite a fun sucker. Which would make the game a puzzle rather than a game.

The other issue with this is, as it's one versus many rather than many versus the game it feels unbalanced. You don't mind losing to the game, but losing continually to whoever has the role of Mr X makes it way less enjoyable.

I'd read a lot of good things about this game on BGG but, ultimately, it's not for me. While I'd still recommend it this ones destined for eBay.

5 in 4

2012-03-20T14:40:00.000-07:00

Pop quiz, hot shot! You've got 5 two-player games and an afternoon to kill. What do you do? What do you do?

The answer? Go and visit David Q. Smith of Mondo Comico fame and play the heck out of them. So here are 5 games we played in (just under) 4 hours.

13. Star System

by Walter Obert
Players: 2
Ages: 9+
Time: 30+ minutes
Type of game: Deductive Card Game
Recommended?: No

A Cluedo/Guess Who? type game. Be the first to work out which 5 of 20 stars are featured in your opponents movie. Although why he's trying to keep it a secret is beyond me. Not my favourite hidden information game which is why it's now on the shelf of Mondo waiting to be sold!

14. Lord of the Rings: The Duel

by Peter Neugebauer

Players: 2
Ages: 10+
Time: 45+ minutes
Type of game: Hand management
Recommended?: Yes

The fight between Gandalf and the Balrog played out with cards. Exactly turn you must play a card. You shall not pass! Ahahahahahaha! How funny I am.

This is fantastically over produced with Gandalf and Balrog represented by odd little wooden pieces and a lovely cardboard bridge is included to walk them on to represent who has the upper hand at any one time.

Each card has four slots on each side. An filled slot is an attack, an empty one is not. Your opponent plays a card and them you must answer it. Any filled slots that are unanswered by another filled slot means 1 damage to the opponent.

You will play with every card in the deck during the game so you need to make sure you don't use all your best cards up-front.

15. Pick & Pack

by Simon Hunt

Players: 2
Ages: 8+
Time: 20+ minutes
Type of game: Light Abstract Strategy
Recommended?: Yes
A fun little apple collection game where you and your opponent operate a claw grabber like in those fairground machines that contain awful stuffed toys that you can never win because the machine is fixed (or for readers in Japan - UFO Grabbers that contain cool toys and actually give you a very good chance of winning.)

The twist is that one of you controls the horizontal movement on their go as the other moves vertical on theirs. So you've got to try and get something good while denying them on their turn. Or... do you set them up with something so appealing that they'll set you up for an even better tile on your next go.

Beyond the core tiles you have action tiles that can be triggered by landing on an empty space. These can increase the value of your apples or decrease the value of your opponents allowing you to pip them to the top spot.

I've run out of apple gags now.

16. Strike Dice

by Michael Andresakis and Alexander Argyropoulos

Players: 2-4

Ages: 8+
Time: 20+ minutes
Type of game: Random Abstract Strategy
Recommended?: No

Gah.

Full disclosure: I play-tested this game and helped to re-write the rules (as in, make them clearer not change them).

That said, despite being emotionally invested in this and having real respect for the visual attention that these guys have given Strike Dice and their other game, Eragra, I struggle to say many positive things about this game.

An abstract strategy game with pawns of random strength. This unbalances the game so much that it becomes way more about luck than strategy.

The rules are still wilfully obtuse and over-written making a relatively basic game seem complicated and deep at first glance.

Good luck to them but I won't be keeping it.

17. Stratego: Star Wars

by Jacques Johan Mogendorff / Uncredited

Players: 2

Ages: 8+
Time: 30+ minutes
Type of game: Secret movement
Recommended?: No

Classic Stratego with a twist of Star Wars Episodes 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6. That's what happens when you make a game midway through a prequel trilogy.

Yours and your opponents pieces are hidden from each other until one attacks the other. Then the pieces involved in the combat are revealed to decide the outcome. The loser removes their piece from the board and tries to remember the location and type of piece in order to make a succesful path to the enemies hidden goal piece.

With certain pieces that work against each other best (think you've found a bomb? You need a droid to defuse it) your brain will be twisting and turn to keep track of what's where.

Unless you're me with my limited patience for abstract strategy games in which case you'll kamikaze charge your way to certain doom.

And yet... I think this might stay. David Q. Smith talked very fondly of playing this as a child and a game like this would be good to have in the house when I finally have children. Because surely I'll be able to beat them at it!

I've weirdly forgotten who won what... Perhaps David remembers.

This is how we do it European style

2012-03-20T13:59:00.003-07:00

12: Ticket to Ride: Europe

by Alan Moon

Players: 2 - 5
Ages: 8+
Time: 60+ minutes
Type of game: Family / Route building

Reccomended?: Yes

A slightly friendlier Ticket to Ride variant with the addition of stations. These cool little things allow you to ride your opponents train from 1 city to another allowing to complete that difficult journey.

Each station you don't use is worth an extra 4 VP though so you've got think carefully about when and if you should use them.

At the end of the game the player with the longest unbroken route of his own trains gets an additional 10 points.

The board can also look very crowded after a 4 player game as above so, even with the addition of the stations, 5 player games can still get a little nasty!

Fluxxing Hell! Competition Time!

2012-02-29T14:22:00.001-08:00

11. Fluxx

by Andrew & Kristin Looney

Players: 2 - 6
Ages:8+
Time: 15 mins -forever
Type of game: Card / Random
Reccomended?: Not really

This is the first of the games that I have played purely to get them out of my collection.

Fluxx is a card game in which you draw a card, play a card and hope to end up with the right cards in front of you to satisfy the goal card that is currently on the table.

The twist is that most of the cards you are playing change the rules of the game until you can end up with something like this.

or this...

Random, fun at times but more often than not it's a game that overstays it's welcome. What should take 15 minutes often can last 40 or 50 minutes which, for a game this random, is not it's ideal length.

So... I'm getting rid of it in my first competition!

In order to win this copy of Fluxx please leave a reply to this post telling me which game I should add to my collection and why?

I will select the winning post at the end of March and contact them for postage details.

This competition is void where prohibited. Prize on offer is my used copy of Fluxx.

Riskier Business - Spoiler free zone

2012-02-28T00:46:00.001-08:00

10. Risk: Legacy

by Rob Daviau and Chris Dupuis

Players: 3 - 5
Ages: 13+
Time: 60+ minutes
Type of game: Family / War

Reccomended?: Yeh

Risk: Legacy is somewhat controversial.

After all, here is a game that you destroy over time. You will rip up cards, not remove them and put them in the box. You will write on your board with a regular pen not with a wipe clean pen. You will stick stickers on your board and onto cards that will change the way the game plays. Forever.

Except... This is actually a game that you build over time. Eventually, after 15 games or so, you will have a unique game that provides you with a visual reminder of the skirmishes that have come before. It may not be the most balanced game in the world but you'll take that into account when playing. After all, standard Risk isn't balanced because the world isn't balanced and neither will your new world be.

Playing regular Risk gives you an idea of what to expect here.
The board and the starting rules remain pretty much the same. There's a variance in claiming a card if you successfully conquer a country that adds a little more strategy and should get the game moving faster but, aside from that, so far so similar.
Beyond that base the game very quickly shows some new aspects.

The box

Hidden between the (slightly nerdy) future war cover is a carefully thought out thing of beauty.

The box is sealed with a sticker you must break in order to open it. Not only guaranteeing that nobody has "built" your world before but also reminding you of the permanence of what you are about to start.

Opening like a briefcase, you're greeted by some sealed packages and a sealed board that, again, reminds you that this game is a war. A war that you will fight and, win or lose, you will accept the consequences of your actions.

Sign and be damned!

Beneath the board lie the 5 armies and 2 extra sealed compartments ready to spread fresh havoc in the future.

Hidden beneath the components tray lies the sneakiest component I've ever seen. Do I want to open it? Yes! Will I open it? Maybe...

Armies

Gone are the cubes and beads of old school Risk. Here we have 5 different armies. Not only do they look different (which shall I have? The ones riding the bears or the ED209 knock-offs?) but they also play differently. Again, how they play comes down to you.

At the beginning of the 1st game you select an army. You also get a card with 2 distinct power stickers on it. You choose one, stick it to your armies card and throw the other one away. That's it. Gone from the game. Forever. As the game progresses more powers may become available to you making your army pretty unique.

Although you choose an army in that 1st game it doesn't mean you have to use them forever. You can chop and change depending on what's available and how tasty the powers on offer are.

Resources

Instead of receiving a random resource card upon conquering a country you can get one if you conquer a country whose card is showing on the resource board. These cards can range in value from 1 to 6 and, providing you have enough, be turned in at the beginning of your turn for more troops. If none of the countries you conquered are on the resource board you get a measly little 1 resource card.

Throughout the game you can add resource stickers to your favourite country cards to make them even more valuable. Beware! If you make it too valuable somebody may decide to destroy it at the end of the game because of the unfair advantage it gives you.

Scars

At the beginning of each game, each player gets a random scar that they can stick to a country on the board should they wish to. At the beginning of the game you will have either a bunker, for better defence, or an ammo shortage to weaken defence. These can sway they tide of battle but, as you only get one each game, need to placed carefully to ensure maximum impact.

The board holds handy reminders of what the scars do and has places for future scars that, presumably, are included in the extra packages.

Rules

Event the rule booklet doesn't escape customisation. As you progress through the game you will find stickers to place in the rule booklet that change or add to the established rules.

Win (or live through) a game and you get the chance to add or remove something in the game. This could be as simple as adding a resource sticker to your favourite country...

...or as founding and naming your very own city in your favourite country.

Envelopes

We've opened one envelope so far due to my Risk rubbishness. I'm not telling you what was inside but at least it gave me something to read while the game finished.

I'm 1 game in so far with Risk Legacy with (at least) 6 hidden elements yet to come into play. The shape of the game is yet to be decided and I can't wait to see what it will finally be.

Risky Business

2012-02-10T00:46:00.000-08:00

9. Risk: Nostalgia Edition

by Albert Lamorisse and Michael I. Levin

Players: 2 - 6
Ages: 10+
Time: 120+ minutes
Type of game: Family / War

Reccomended?: Meh

The aim of the game is to ~~defeat~~ ~~destroy~~ decimate your opponents and conquer the world. A bit like Monopoly but with cold steel and warm blood instead of rent extortion and debtors jail.

In this Nostalgia edition, perfectly replicating an olden days game, you have exciting battles between cubes (1 army) and, if you're very lucky, odd-shaped beads (10 armies). If you're very, very ~~sad~~ lucky you can use a Lego Deathstar* (20 armies).

On your turn, you receive some reinforcements (decided by the number of countries and complete continents you hold) turn in some cards for more reinforcements and then attack!

You attack by selecting up to 3 armies from one of your countries and attempting to invade an adjacent country by rolling the same number of dice. Your opponent will choose to roll up to 2 dice (1 per defending army up to a maximum of 2).

You compare the highest and next highest dice in each roll. The aggressor wins if his dice is higher, defender has a home advantage and wins on tie or higher. Extra dice go unanswered and won't affect the combat.

You remove 1 army for each dice that is beaten. If the country is now empty the aggressor must move at least the undefeated armies from this roll in and may bring further armies from that country (leaving at least 1). If the country is still occupied the aggressor can attack again or decide to leave it until another turn.

On your turn you can attack as much or as little as you like. If you capture at least 1 country you will receive a card which you can trade in at the beginning of future turns for more armies.

And that's about it. There is only 1 way to win. Total annihilation of your opponents. Whilst this ensures you won't have any namby pamby ties, it does mean that for a portion of the game some or most of your opponents will be wiped out and start milling around looking for something more interesting to do.

Later editions fixed this problem by adding victory conditions and secret missions.

In the below pictures, I'm black, Louisa is yellow and Luke is red. 2 things have become apparent from my games of Risk:
1) it's a bit samey and long
2) I'm not very good at Risk

Nothing says Global Domination like a cartoon whale in a jaunty hat

Luke's Deathstar marches across the world

Victory! Now let's play something else...

*Lego Deathstar sold separately.

Sabre-toothed Seven

2012-02-06T00:57:00.000-08:00

8. Mammut

By Kristian Amundsen Ostby

Players: 2 - 5
Ages: 8+
Time: 30+ minutes
Type of game: Social / Auctionish
Reccomended?: Yes

Seems like life in prehistoric times was a little more straightforward than it is now. You'd go out with your tribe hunting and gathering then split the spoils under the watchful eye of the tribe leader. Everyone shared the work and got their equal share of the spoils. Fair. Y'know, exactly like banking works now.

What if the tribe leader wasn't around and we were left to ourselves to decide how to split it? What's to stop me taking all of it? We need some rules to stop that happening. Let's see... If I have nothing in front of me I can take as much as I want from the central pile or take everything from somebody (who either has been too greedy or has what I want).

Seems fair? That's Mammut.

Here's the 2 boards. The far one acts as storage for the 7 sabre-toothed animals and a reminder of the various scoring options, the other is for keeping track of your score and furs.
You get thin and fat mammoths to mark your journey and another one to keep in front of you to:
A) remind yourself what colour you are
B) remind the other players what colour you are
C) play with
During the game you will find yourself doing mostly C.

Each round you'll upend a bag of tiles and leave them as they fall apart from separating them slightly so you can see what side is up. The first player takes what they want but tries to take little enough so that it's not stolen by another player. In our game 7 was decided as being the amount you could take without being acutes of being too greedy. Which meant we'd take 8-9 to try and push our luck.
With a number of ways to gain points and a couple of ways to lose points, you've got to get a good mix and keep an eye on what your opponents are picking up. But, as the tiles are double-sided you can never be certain of what you're going to get each round. So, although you can decide on a basic strategy you've got to be open to changing it.

Like The Resistance, the bulk of this game happens socially. Yes, you have the tokens in front of you to represent the choices you're taking but it's how you argue the fairness of those choices that really makes the game. That's where the fun of this really comes into play.

Also, there are sabre-toothed hamsters in this game.

You Sank My...

2012-01-27T00:31:00.000-08:00

7. Battleship Express

By Reiner Knizia

Players: 2 - 4
Ages: 7+
Time: 10 - 20 minutes
Type of game: Dice
Reccomended?: Yes

Battle Yahtzee!
Reiner Knizia!
You Sank My Battleship!
All Games Will Come in Pods In The Future!
Express!

Line up your fleet. Choose one to attack with and then pick one of your opponents fleet to attack. Roll your dice as many times as your ship will allow hoping that you get enough successes to sink their ship. If you succeed you get the ship as a trophy.Get enough trophies and you've won the war.

Comes with Simple (Captain) and Quite Simple (Admiral) rules.

The only thing this has in common with the traditional Battleship game (C3? Miss. D12? Miss? B4? Miss? Ad infinitum) is the theme. This is not a bad thing in that this game is not dull.

Great little luck-based light strategy game to kill 20 minutes. Highly recommended and pretty cheap.

The Health Inspectors Wouldn't Approve

2012-01-26T00:59:00.000-08:00

6. Rat Hot
by Michael Schacht

Players:2
Ages: 8+
Time: 30 mins (15 or so once you've got the hang of it)
Type of game: Tile placement, stacking
Reccomended?: Yes

There's a rat in me kitchen what am I gonna do?

Probably not sell any of those herbs and spices due to food hygiene regulations.

Except that's what you have to do. Each turn you take 2 tiles and aim to place them so that you form sets of your colour spice (2 of a kind gets you 1 point, 3 or more gets you 2 points). You're also aiming to leave your opponents colour of rats in awkward places and limit their options for completing sets on their turn.

You can place your tiles on the table or on top of other tiles. Your tile cannot cover just one tile and must have tile(s) under each of it's 3 sections. By doing this you can cover up (squash) your own rats and your opponents herbs and spices.

Quick to learn and fun enough but kind of gross if you think the theme through. Again, this is a 2 player so doesn't come out as much as I'd like.

Eat Up!

2012-01-25T06:26:00.000-08:00

5. Burger Joint
By Joe Huber
Players: 2
Ages: 10+
Time: 30 mins+
Type of game: Resource Management
Reccomended?: Yes

This 2 player game sees you managing competing restaurant chains aiming to control the largest market share.

Because one player controls a burger chain and the other a pizza chain you need different resources (cubes). To be the best though you need to take some of the stock your opponent needs to sabotage their expansion plans.

The more your chains grow the more resources are split between you and the more actions you can make to tip the balance in your favour.

As your chain grows you gain (and lose) victory points. If you end your turn with 12 you win.

Pretty simple to learn and pleasant enough to play but may be one of the games to go.

2 player games don't get much of a look in at game sessions so, unless Kate, my wife, really takes to them they become shelf filler. Which, with my self-imposed boundary of 100, means I may end up giving this the shove this year.

Greed is Good (Except when it's bad and you get trapped in a pyramid with hungry mummies, crocodiles, cobras and scorpions)

2012-01-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

4a. The Adventurers: Pyramid of Horus
By Guillaume Blossier and Frédéric Henry

Players: 2 - 6
Ages: 13+
Time: 45 mins
Type of game: dungeon run, Push your luck
Reccomended?: Yes

Feverishly, your eyes sweep across the sarcophagus lid deciphering the symbols as they go. Pausing on one you can't quite decipher you consult your notebook to find the meaning. Sure now of the secret way to unlock the casket's treasure, you tug at the lid's edge. No! You've gone wrong again. You're certain of two of the symbols but still need to decipher three. You've got one more chance before the mummy turns round and starts lumbering towards you. You're certain you could work faster if you hadn't been bitten by that snake and weren't laden down with golden trinkets. You can't possibly drop them though. You have to hold on to the treasure so, when the roof finally gives in you're ready to start running for fear of being trapped... Forever!

This the second of The Adventurers games (I own both which is why it's 4a). The first game (coming soon to The List!) sees you exploring a Raiders of the Lost Ark style Mayan temple. In this version however you explore a pyramid looking for treasure and avoiding the many dangers within.

The game has been refined somewhat but the core system remains the same.
The number of actions each player can take is decided by the roll of 5 dice at the beginning of the round. Any dice value the same or higher than your WLL (Wound Load Level) enables you to take 1 action to a maximum of 5.

How is your WLL calculated? As the game progresses you'll pick up cards. Some are treasures (yay!), some are equipment (yay!), some are wounds (boo!). The more you carry and/or the more wounds you receive the higher the number rolled has to be to count as an action.

The deeper you get into the pyramid, the more you explore hoping to find treasures the slower you get. If you should ever find yourself with 12 cards you have to start dropping treasure and equipment just so you can keep moving.

Despite this reduction in the number of actions you can take, you will find that the game doesn't slow because at the end of each round the first player randomly selects a stone (plastic) block from the box lid. Inside each of these is a number corresponding to a space on the board. The block ~~comes slamming down into the pyramid~~ is placed carefully so as not to damage the board hopefully wounding one of your competitors who rolls out of the way or squashing them if they can't. Each block hinders your movement until, inevitably, they form a wall trapping any with the misfortune to still be in the main body of the pyramid.

The winner of the game is the person still alive with the most treasure. Although, when we play it's generally just the person that's alive.

Somewhat chaotic, this is a favourite due to theme alone. Good silly fun.

Three adventurers ready to take on the perils of the pyramid! They're all grey so the designers included little coloured bases so you can tell them apart. Yes, that one in the middle is Rasputin.

Mummy 1,

Mummy 2...

...and Mummy 3. They all want to eat your brains!

The full pyramid. Around the board are the various treasures you can collect and decks of cards for the different areas you can search in.

David shows just how easy it is to lift a block from the box. Well done Sir!

Key of the Door - 21!

DOOM! This one missed you, but you won't always be so lucky.

Mike and David's characters are, wisely, heading towards the exit. Greedily and stupidly, I decide to search for just a few more treasures...

3 blocks crash down and I head for the exit. Nearly at the wall and laden down, I'm moving 1 space a turn until... DOOM! A block falls sealing my fate... FOREVER!

The List!

2012-01-16T14:50:00.000-08:00

Finally! The moment has come to reveal...

The List! The List! The List! The List! The List!

Airlines Europe
Airships
Alhambra: The Dice Game
Arkham Horror
Articulate! - PLAYED
Avalon
Bananagrams
Battleship Express
Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game
Bonnie and Clyde
Burger Joint
Burrows
By Golly
Carcassone
Cargo Noir
Change Horses
Climb!
Cluedo SFX & Cluedo: World of Harry Potter
Clue Express
Cthulu Dice
D-Day Dice (due to arrive in March from Kickstarter)
Deluxe Canasta Caliente
Dixit & Dixit Odyssey
Dominion, Dominion: Alchemy, Dominion: Prosperity, Dominion: Intrigue, Cornucopia, one-off promos - Envoy, Stash, Black Market, Walled Village, Governor
Dread Pirate
Fast Flowing Forest Fellers
Flashpoint: Fire Rescue
Fluxx
Forbidden Island
Formula D and some extra maps
Gambit 7
Get the Gem
Gift Trap
Gloria Picktoria
Haggis - PLAYED
Hamburgum
Heroquest
Highland Clans
Hossa
Ice Flow
Identik
If Wishes Were Fishes
Jungle Speed
Junta: Viva El Presidente
Justice League of America Monopoly
King of Tokyo
Knightmare
Le Cardo
Lego Creationary
Lord of the Rings: The Duel
MageStones
Mammut
Maori
Marrakech
Monsterpocalypse
Montego Bay
Mystery of the Abbey
Notre Dame
Once Upon a Time
Pick & Pack
Pirate's Cove
Pirates of the Caribbean: Buccaneer
Pirates: Quest for Davy Jones Gold
Quarriors!
Quelf
Rapidough
Rat Hot
Regatta
Risk: Legacy
Risk: Nostalgia Edition
Road Kill Rally
Robber Knights
Saboteur & Saboteur 2
Scotland Yard
Settlers of Catan
Settlers of Catan Card Game
Small World, Small World: Underground, Grand Dames of Small World, Cursed, Be Not Afraid..., Tunnels, Tales & Legends
Space Hulk: Death Angel
Star System
Star Wars Stratego
Strike Dice
Sultan
Sushi Bar
Tanto Cuore
The Adventurers: Temple of Chac & The Adventurers: Pyramid of Horus - PLAYED
The Great Dalmuti
The Pirates
The Resistance - PLAYED
Thunderstone & Thunderstone: Wrath of the Elements
Ticket to Ride (Europe, Nordic Countries, Map Pack 1 (Asia & Legendary Asia - PLAYED), Map Pack 2 (India & Switzerland), Alvin & Dexter, Europa 1912)
Tok Tok Woodman(should arrive soon from Kickstarter)
Trivial Pursuit: Family Edition
Tumblin' Monkeys
Waldschattenspiel
Who Wants to be a Millionaire
Wok Star
Yahtzee Deluxe Poker
Zombie Dice
Zombie Ninja Pirates
Zombies!!!

With a few liberties (squeezing all of Dominion, Ticket to Ride, Small World, The Adventurers and Cluedo into 1 listing) my collection has (or will once the 2 Kickstarter games arrive) reached 100! Or maybe more... I feel like there's some games missing. I'm sure I've got a Jenga somewhere...
Some of these will have to go this year though. I'm sure there's better on the horizon.

For those who live nearby (or want to make a trip to Nottingham to play) let me know if there are any of these that you want to play with me.

I also thought I'd share the other massive games collection in the house.

My wife's collection:

Game of Life

Haggis

2012-01-15T02:19:00.000-08:00

3. Haggis

by Sean Ross

Players: 2 - 3
Ages: 13+
Time: 45 mins
Type of game: Card, Trick taking
Reccomended?: Yes

About once a week, I'll head into my local game shop, Mondo Comico, where confused philanthropic billionaire (only one of these words is true) David Q. Smith, Esquire hosts game session.

There'll be a game or two going on and, if you're lucky, there'll be a game about to end or a few people milling about so you can jump into a game quickly. Occasionally, there'll just be 1 other person around and you get the chance to play a 2 player game. It's rare these will come out at a games night as people generally want to play with larger groups.

This past Tuesday though I arrived whilst a game of Robber Knights (coming soon to The List!) was halfway through. Thankfully, there was one other unattached gamer there so we were able to break out another game.

Which was Haggis. I'm going to play this again soon as we spent most of the game getting to grips with the rules.

Haggis is a trick-taking game and, if you want to play with 2 and don't mind either defacing a deck of cards or referring to a list of notes, one you can try out now.

You will need:
1 friend
1 deck of playing cards
1 pen (if you're going to deface the cards)

Pull out the aces and 2 sets of royalty leaving you with 4 suits of cards 2-10 and 2 sets of Jack, Queen, King (suits are irrelevant). Write 1 on each 3, 5, 7, 9, 2 on your Jacks, 3 on your Queens and 5 on your Kings. These are the point values of the cards when you add them up at the end.

Put a set of royalty in front of each of you and shuffle up the rest of the cards dealing 14 to each leaving 8 in a pile on the table (this is the Haggis).

Look at your hand and decide how likely it is that you will be the first player to get rid of your cards and bet either 0, 15 or 30 points on this. At the end of the game you or your opponent will win this depending on whether you were successful or not.

The player to the left of the dealer starts (or the right of the dealer as there's only 2 of you anyway). You lay a trick and then the other player either plays a higher trick of the same type and number or passes. When the other player passes you collect the cards.

The tricks are mostly sets (singles, pairs, three - 6 of a kind) and sequences (run of 3 or more cards of the same suit or runs of sets (2 or more)). Along with these are bombs which beat anything. These add a massive dose of strategy to the game as, while they beat anything (apart from higher level bombs), the cards won go to your opponent adding to their score but giving you control of the next round. I'm not going to tell you what they are. You'll have to buy the game if you want them.

The round is over when one person gets rid of all their cards. You then score thusly:

0, 15 or 30 points for clearing your hand
5 points for each card in your opponents hand (including any of the royalty on the table)
Both players collect up the cards they won (the person who emptied their hand gets the Haggis and the remainders of their opponents hand ) and score the points on the cards

The game can continue until one player reaches a certain point value. 250 points is suggested for a shorter game, 350 for a longer one.

This isn't the kind of game I'd normally go for, being relatively themeless as it is. I got it as part of a Kickstarter deal along for Flashpoint: Fire Rescue (coming soon the The List!) for a few quid extra and have been pleasantly surprised. It feels like a traditional game and certainly draws inspiration from old card games. Whilst the box says 13+ I wouldn't hesitate in introducing this to a much younger audience and it being a success. That is, of course, assuming you're willing to dumb down your play a little.

Buy it at your local game shop (most will order in for you) or:

Ticket to Ride: Legendary Asia

2012-01-12T04:43:00.000-08:00

3ish. Ticket to Ride: Legendary Asia (from Ticket to Ride Map Pack 1)

This is 3ish because, for the purposes of The List (The List The List The List) it doesn't count as a game on it's own as:

A) You cannot play it without using some components from Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe
2) I'm grouping all the Ticket to Ride games into 1 entry
iii) Because

Nevertheless, I did play it.

Ticket to Ride is a game I'll never tire of, primarily because my wife loves to play it. This may be because she almost always wins it. It may be because it's simple to play but still has enough variety and challenge to keep it interesting.

Its a game about buying train track routes to complete journeys between cities. Lay track or complete journeys to earn victory points. The player with the highest number of VP at the end of the game is the winner.

The game moves quickly because each turn you only get to do one thing:
A. Collect some train cards to allow you to claim track,
B. Claim some track by turning in the right number of train cards,
C. Collect some more journey cards to give yourself more routes to work towards.

You'll often hear gamers talking about gateway games. The games that got them into playing games, the games that they play with others to open their eyes to the variety that exists beyond the many different flavoured versions of Monopoly. For me Ticket to Ride is the gateway game that I would recommend to anyone.

I will talk more about it in the future but, for now, take my word for it and get a copy. If you want the map pack you'll need either the original Ticket to Ride or Ticket to Ride: Europe as well.

The Beginnings of The List

2012-01-08T14:19:00.000-08:00

The List is starting to take shape. First, however, I had to lay hands on all of my games. Scattered around the house, behind and under things as they are.

There's about 50 or so in this picture with more in drawers and the Pile 'O Games on the stairs to add. For now, enjoy a sofa full of games.

How many can you name? How many have you played?

Some of these I can't wait to play, others less so...

One of life's little highlights

2012-01-08T14:09:00.000-08:00

Gambling Lambs is the name of a monthly games night in Nottingham held in a lovely little tea shop called Lee Rosy's on (at least for now) the first Thursday of the month.

It's something I look forward to every month and will talk more about it in the future, particularly when I play one of my games there.

At Thursday's GL though we played The Resistance followed by The Resistance then The Resistance and a final serving of The Resistance. Which is fine because even though I want to play all of my games, I've got a year to do it and playing games for fun is equally (or more) important.

One little extra note on The Resistance. If you're running the game and you get to the spy reveal stage, where all the spies open their eyes, remember to open your eyes too. You'd be surprised how easy it is to forget. Especially if you're me.

Find out more about Gambling Lambs here

Articulate!

2012-01-06T16:02:00.000-08:00

2. Articulate!

Players: 4 - 20+
Ages: 12+
Time: Depending on number of teams, 1 - 2 hours
Type of game: Party, Descriptive
Reccomended?: Yes-ish

The rules of Articulate! are simple:

1. Spin the spinny thingy in the board to pick a category

2. Pull cards from a box and, in 30 seconds, describe as many words from that category to your teammates by mostly saying umm, urrr and thingy

3. Move your pawn forward the number of words your team successfully guessed

4. Spend 5 minutes shouting at/being shouted at by your teammates/the other teams about how obvious your description was/how obscure your description was/how you can't believe they don't know who (insert political figure here) is/how you could have done it better if you only had a brain

5. Pass the box to the next team and prepare to mock them

There's a few other rules that insert some randomness and dictate how you can describe your words but, other than that, it's a game of shouting, disbelief at your collective stupidity and relief as you manage to guess at least 1 word correctly.

Like most games of its ilk it can be unbalanced if you have a team that is particularly in sync which can, like playing Trivial Pursuit with a Mastermind champion, suck the fun right out of it.

Hugely successful in the UK, recently we have been blessed with variants like Small Person with Less References to Politics and other Things of Value Edition and Obsessed with Myself, TOWIE, Crappy Gossip Magazines and Have Limited Understanding of Situation in the Middle East (Is That Where Madonna/Angelina/Jordan Got Her Baby From?) Edition. Needless to say, these are somewhat more biased to those who have had less exposure to the real world either through shortness of time on the planet or smallness of mind. #JUDGING.

Nevertheless, there are worse things to do with your time and Articulate! is as fun as the people you are playing with.

If you can't be bothered with the board, the spinner and pieces then take the box and timer and take it in turns to describe words to everyone. Successful guessers get the card with the word and once everyone has described once/twice/thrice/fource (delete as applicable according to patience level) the game is over. If you are obsessed with winning and losing and Being Better Than Others count up your cards and the player with most correct guesses is the winner and is allowed to visit the Queen.

Buy it in toy shops, WH Smiths, department stores or down below

Santa's been!

2012-01-04T12:50:00.001-08:00

For the past 2 years I've taken part in BoardGameGeek's Secret Santa and my gift arrived today!
My Santa's mother has been unwell so it was delayed somewhat but it was a nice surprise to come home to and hopefully she's on the mend.
My Santa sent me Risk Legacy - a game with a concept I am very keen on. I'm looking forward to talking more about this when I play it. Thanks Santa!
The elves at Shire Games (otherwise known as Nick and Sue) were terribly apologetic for the lack of wrapping paper and, by way of apology, included some additional cards for Dominion - Walled City and Governor. Apology accepted!

The Resistance

2012-01-04T11:10:00.000-08:00

My wife, Kate, and I went to spend the last day of this holiday with our friends Luke & Louisa. As Luke had asked, I brought along a bag of games to play. Knowing that he had also invited a few other people I brought games that would be quick to learn and fun. The first game we played and, by extension, the first of my 100 games I played in 2012 was...

1. The Resistance
Players: 5 - 10
Ages: 13+
Time: Approx 30 mins
Type of game: Co-operative, Team play, traitor element
Recommended?: Highly

Nervously, you look around. You know there are traitors amongst you. Who can you trust? Who is out to betray you and your mission?
Finally, you decide who is going to accompany you on your final mission to overthrow the corruption that is all around you. Next, comes the voting. Everyone gets their chance to cast their vote even if, secretly, they're a sneaky conniving spy.
The votes stand at 4 in favour, 2 against so the mission will go ahead! Euphorically you hand out the tools your little team will need to complete the task safe in the knowledge that the 2 treacherous spies must have been the ones voting against you.
One last step left. Your mission strike team now select the equipment they will use on the mission. If they select a blue card they are doing their bit to make the mission succeed. A red card means they're a spy, they've sabotaged the mission enough to ensure it fails and you have doomed everyone by making a poor decision.
Slowly you gather up the cards your team have selected and, one by one, you flip them over for all to see.
Blue, blue - you start to breathe a sigh of relief - another blue - relaxed now, you mentally give yourself a pat on the back - Red!
How could this have happened? You were so careful! You look up at your team with eyes filled with distrust and regret. One of them betrayed you. Your best friend? Your wife? Or the new girl?
There's no way back now. The mission failed and you've run out of chances so the spies have nothing to lose by revealing themselves. Everyone reveals their true allegiances and suddenly you're reeling. You've been living a lie for the last 10 years. Your wife, your sweet innocent wife, shows her true colours and you can never, EVER, trust her again.

The Resistance, at its heart, is a game played not with counters or a board or cards (although they all feature to some degree) but with your head.
The premise is simple. It's the future and you are part of a resistance cell. You're dealt a card that shows which team you belong to. Your group will consist of mostly Resistance, but there will be some Spies.
The Resistance have to pass 3 missions to succeed, the spies have to make 3 missions fail. Simple enough?
The twist is that the spies know the identity of the other spies. They can work together to spread dissent and bring the missions down.
The resistance are left to guess, use logic to eliminate options and mistrust. But mostly mistrust.

Once learnt the game can fly past or go slowly and tensely depending on who you are playing with. While the selection of mission teams and the playing of cards drives the game forward, the discussions in between rounds are where it really gets interesting. As accusations fly around you can find yourself talking other people out of trusting you by protesting too much.

It's Werewolf or Mafia with more going on or Battlestar Galactica Lite. Neither of which are bad things.

Its rare that this will be played just once. This is the kind of game which will have someone asking "Can we play again?" as you collect up the cards. With such a short running time and so much involvement for all players it's hard to say no to just one more game. You never know, as you deal out those cards, you might just find yourself able to trust your wife again.

Where to buy:

Wherever possible, please buy games from your local games shop. Not only will you support your local economy but will also be able to benefit from local experts.

If you can't find it locally, you can support this blog and my gaming addiction by purchasing games through the links below or at the side of the page.

The Challenge

2012-01-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

While looking at my game collection one day I realised that what my wife had been saying for months was actually true. I HAVE got quite a few games.
I decided that I would stop at 100 and, from then on, 1 game would have to leave the house if another was joining. This, I was certain, wouldn't be happening for a while.
I checked my collection on BoardGameGeek and realised, unfortunately, that this would happen soon. VERY soon.
Now, I have been on a massive game buying spree for the past couple of years having rediscovered the fun of games through Settlers of Catan, Zombies!!! and Carcassonne and very quickly discovering new and exciting games that I absolutely, positively HAD to own. This has left me with a large (my wife's word) ish (my addition) collection of games many of which have only come out to play once or twice, some of which have never been played.
I resolved that 2012 would be My Year of Games and every game I own would be played during it.
Some won't make the cut and will move on, possibly even before being played (I'm looking at you, Hamburgum).
Over the next year, I'll talk about the games I play, the people I play them with and the joy of playing the game. Hopefully, you'll find something that takes your fancy and will join me in my year of games.

Next time: 2 games down. I'd tell you what they were but between them description would be futile!

Soon: The list! When is a game an expansion? Is an expansion a game? The answers for game counting are always and never, respectively.