Nations In Review

Been Gaming,

So we have played Nations three time now and I decided to get some initial thoughts down on "paper". We have enjoyed every game we have played and neither of has felt completely out of the game but I can see the case for the game leading people down paths due to the strength of a military strategy and the event phase trying to dictate what you should do in the current round. So the game works by placing workers out on your building(s) so they are able to generate resources in the resource phase, but they each worker costs resources to be placed and usually you will need to have food for the famine at the end of the round as well and gold to buy new buildings that get better each age. So you are trying to balance a lot things while trying to earn victory point through earning the most books in an age, wars and other sources, while keeping the short term goals of the events in mind.

While military strength is a large factor in the game so far we have found it to be controllable. First if the player doesn't buy the war as his first action, by all means buy the war before them. I like to have at least one military card active since raiding cards card give you a little bit of swing room in what you need to do in a turn to avoid being short on food for the upcoming famine or getting to play out that extra worker for a victory point late. Another stop gap is if there are Golden Age cards showing I will pick Greece if it is available. This often lets me push a military competition early and use the ability for resources or negating the loss of a war cheaply by reducing the cost of gaining a VP through the Golden Age cards. Now I tend not avoid the military if I can and focus on just building the most efficient resource engine I can and just win on being able to produce more things than my opponent and use stability to negate the wars I will lose, China isn't a bad choice for this strategy.

The game is tight and the Events do tend to steer the turn but I tend to like the swingy feel to a mass shift of world outlook that each half of an age brings and feel that it is kind of thematic in its own way. In short it probably isn't going to replace Through the Age for most people but I found it much easier to get to the table and that goes a long way in my book.

Later days,

Tom

Doomtown Returns

So the weird west is on its way back to a card game format with Doomtown: Reloaded. I am very excited about this news, a little less so until I hear plans for the Sioux Union or a similar faction but I will make due until a faction similar to the ones I played comes out. This is one of the games that loved and just couldn't get anyone to play in my area, it probably didn't that I was 16 or 17 and trying to teach people how to play the game but I couldn't find anyone else in the area to take the torch. I played in a few of the large Origins tournaments with cobbled together decks and that is where I learned how to play the game. That is also where I met some of the most generous people playing CCGs at that time, people who ave others promos and copies of staple cards to help the community and what built the backbone of how I try to conduct all my trades in every game I have played since.

I want to try and get Doomtown rolling in my area as soon as I can, I am going to start making homebrew prize kits of poker chips as soon as the rules come out so I can have something to build buzz about the game. I am going to try and do deck construction for the new game here as well as card review and hopefully tournament reports.

Beginning a Boardgame

So I have had a few ideas kicking around my head for some time now, I'm not sure if anything will come of them but I thought I should make a go of it for a change.

Right now I just have some themes that I like and the loose outline for one game's mechanics. The themes are whaling, temple building, mountain climbing, sports(either some future variation on rugby or lacrosse). Now the mechanic is a tile laying system and I thought I could do it with worker placement. So I have to figure out the core rules and get something together to start testing. For the other games I am going to read up on the subjects and see where that takes me.

Great Gateway Boardgames

Since we have started hosting an almost monthly game night I have expanded my collection at a faster pace than I had planned. This led me to some purchases I regretted but a lot that have made stepping into gaming far easier than when I was a youngster in the eighties. So in no order here are the gateway games that have really gone over well for my group.

Ticket to Ride -- This was one of the first games I played with Angela and her sister. It is pretty easy to grasp the rulse and the difference between the two base sets make it tilted towards a more take that play style or With the addition of stations in Ticket to Ride: Europe lets you play in a more friendly style. I think the 1910 expansion for the original and the 1912 expansion for Europe adds enough to the game that they should be an auto include when purchasing one of the base sets.

Lords of Waterdeep -- This worker placement game sees the table often, it feels far more epic than it should but I have never been disappointed by playing it. The expansion does a lot to break the sometimes forced nature of the game and once you start to tire of the original it is definitely worth picking up.

Sushi Go -- Hasn't even hit the table yet and I already had three people ask when the next game night was so they could play. Now I have played the game and it is a nice little filler that I hope gears everyone up to play 7 Wonders.

Dominion -- As long as you handle the set up it is a really good tool for showing that a board isn't necessary, it was the first game I tried when I decided to get back into board games and it was the right choice for me. Coming from CCGs after a childhood of Dungeons and Dragons and my uncles Avalon Hill collection let me jump into the scene with confidence in being able learn any game I wanted. Starting in a familiar medium really helped shore up my confidence. Now we have Ascension, Trains and several other deck builders that can serve this purpose but I would still choose Dominion.

Those are the games that I usually open up for people and now others in our group feel comfortable teaching. I hope to get Firenze to the group table as it is a solid gateway in my opinion.

My Top 5 Boardgames of 2013

This is a list of my current top 5 games, I am going to try and update it every year. These are not all games released in 2013, so here goes.

Honorable Mention - Machi Koro

5. Founding Fathers

I love this games theme, it does a really good job of marrying the mechanics and theme of the game. It makes for a very tense area control/resource management game, for me at least that is how it plays on the table. The actions open to you are limited but the timing and various powers of the cards bring a lot of depth to the game. The only reason it hasn't seen the table more is due to the 3 player minimum.

4. Tzolkin: The Mayan Calander

The timing of this game is also a big factor in making it fun for me. Once again a small selection of main actions(pick up a piece(s) or pull a piece(s) from the wheels) and a lot of variety from the actions on the board along with varied set-ups allow for a lot of reply value. If the dummy player wasn't needed for 2 player it might rank higher but it is needed to add tension into the game.

3. Suburbia

This tile laying game has seen the table a fair amount through the year. It has a Dutch auction aspect and a healthy dose of resource management. It also has a built in equalizer for a run away leader which is nice for those times when other players get a large point jump.

2. Keyflower

So the worker placement combined with the auctions allow for a wide range of options, especially since you are using the same resource for both. One has to walk a fine line between bidding and making the resources you need. Then add in the tile laying of your village so you can transport goods for points and/or upgrading your tiles, the game offers a wealth of decisions.

1. Terra Mystica

City building, resource management and all the powers open to players. Then you have unique abilities for each race and an area control aspect with the more players you add make this a really tense/fun game for me.

Been Busy

Quick News

So after my blog somehow deleted I posted some thoughts on the, then new, Star Wars LCG. I have been keeping busy with it and board games these days. I have been doing painting for my friend and holding painting/board game nights. So I am still working on my Infinity and Flames of War and I picked up some 6MM Liizardmen on Dinosaurs to mess about with, I will buy at least one of the new Lizardmen kits. I put together some things for two friend recently and plan to teach them some of the things I have picked up by trial and error over the past 8 years now I think. So in short, not dead just busy.

Later days,

Tom

SW: LCG Jank 2.0

So I have been playing a solid amount of games with my multi faction build and it has gone through some changes:

Smuggler and Spies
A Hero’s Journey x2
Forgotten Heroes x2
Mission Briefing x2
Questionable Contacts x2
Jedi Training x1
Tribal Support x1

This deck relies on getting a solid board control going and using Han and Luke to clean up. The rebel affiliation isn't needed so if it doesn't come up feel free to pitch the Mon or Engineers to an edge battle. Right now the Jedi Mind Trick, Heavy Blaster Emplacement and Ewoks are being used for crowd control and to get that additional unopposed damage to trigger. I do miss the event denial and redirection that Jedi usually brings to the table, with that in mind I have been playing:

Smuggler and Spies
A Hero’s Journey x2
Forgotten Heroes x1
Mission Briefing x2
Questionable Contacts x2
The Secret of Yavin 4 x2
Tribal Support x1

This has helped with some of the difficulties I have had with the Dark Side being able to take out my low health heavy lifters. I do miss the utility of 3 mid Tricks but only testing will prove which is needed more. In closing this is by no means a top tier deck but it is something that has potential in the limited card pool that we have right now.

Springing the Trap...

...or when to Ackbar.

I find Ackbar to be a difficult decision to make, he is often a large resource sink that will be difficult to properly time. You have to have a unit present in order to participate in an edge battle, for an attacker this shouldn't be a problem since there could be no engagement otherwise. The three open resources on the other hand can be a challenge at times, going into that situation your opponent could be expecting a Rebel Assault or Admiral Ackbar and plan accordingly. Unfortunately playing Ackbar during an engagement is the only time to take advantage of his reaction text to help clear the board.

I think playing Ackbar as the defender is an easier play to make. If my opponent opponent is playing a more blitz style and commits several one health units I just need to decide if I want to assign a token defender to either make them waste cards in an edge battle I don't care about or use the edge battle to cycle my own hand. In this situation I do not care about winning the edbe battle because the first action I take after the edge battle resolves will be to play Ackbar and kill all the opponent's one health units in the engagement.

The other defensive scenario is when you want to win the edge battle. this is usually when your opponent has high health units like Vader, Devastator or even AT-ST that Ackbar will not be able to kill in a single shot. In these situations I might play Ackbar after assigning defenders if I need to have presence for the edge battle. I might try to hold him until after the edge battle if I feel confident about winning the edge and use the first action to play him and strike with him first. This will let you lock up a target or two and possibly let you strike unmolested for the rest of the engagement. You can even hold him until your opponent has used all of his strike to deny the unopposed bonus and avoid Ackbar taking any damage from your opponent's strikes, this is more to buy you a turn when you desperately need it.

As the attacker one thing is above everything else you have to have a unit to declare in order to engage an objective, I have seen some people try to declare an objective hoping to play Ackbar unopposed. Unfortunately you cannot do this tactic. Now if you declare an attacker and you opponent removes the attacker you will be able to play him since the engagement isn't canceled by removing the attackers. Now unless you play Ackbar after the other attacker was removed and before the edge battle begins you will not be able to put anything into your edge battle since you have to have presence to participate.

On the attacking the only almost auto-play I have is when they only assign one health defenders, you might have this happen once on accident after that I would expect they are trying to see if you have Ackbar or Rebel Assault and want to bait them out of your hand. In this situation I usually just drop out Ackbar and take the board clearing I can get. If you get three units Ackbar did far more than you should expect. Now if you feel they are baiting you, you can hold him for the next defensive turn and see what happens. After that it really depends on what I have seen of my opponents deck and what my hand looks like for the edge battle.

In closing this is all just opinion and conjecture of the 20 or so games with the deck. Board control with the Rebel Alliance is something that gives me hope for a type of Light Side control deck but only time will tell.

Star Wars: LCG Thought

So I took the plunge on Fantasy Flight's new living card game. I have played a few games now and I like the feel of the game so far. I think the edge and the resource mechanics make you consider the next few turns more than I did in other games. By this I mean two things resource and hand management, I have never played a game with quite this system and it is very engaging for me.

I like the resource mechanic, in that I have to consider if it is worth locking down a two resource objective(or even an enhancement or character) for two turns or possibly more. So it is a little bit of an unlearning process in that you aren't guaranteed your resources every turn, but I like the feel it gives the game.

The other mechanic that I am really enjoying is the edge battle. This determines how battles play out, if you win the edge battle you get to strike with one of your units first as well activating any edge dependent icons on your units. So you will be able to take out opposing units and deny them abilities if you win the edge battle. The edge battle goes into another form of resource management, you fight an edge battle by starting with the attacker and laying a card face down into your edge stack, then the defender has the option and it goes back and forth until both players pass consecutively. On the cards there are pip mark under the cast of the cards, this is how much force each card contributes to the edge battle. The player with the highest amount wins, this is also the only time fate cards can use their text. Fate cards are another way to deal damage to a unit or objective or even negate that edge battle. In the game you always draw back up to your hand size during your draw step so it makes cycling to cards very possible. I am always in favor of playing whatever doesn't look useful into my edge stack if I am defending because I know I will be getting a fresh hand next turn. While I am attacking I find that I am more aggressive with Light Side decks in general since their win condition is to destroy three Dark Side objectives. When I play the Dark side I tend to hedge a bit with my Sith deck and play a little looser with the Imperial Navy.

Now the third thing that is very different for me is the pod building system used for deck construction, this means that each objective has five card associated with it when you choose to put it in a deck. You can have up to two of an objective unless the objective states other wise, this means you can't just throw in four or three of a card depending on your roots and be done with it, it also means that farther down the line you could see 10 copies of a card making up part of a deck. You have to have a minimum of ten objectives in your deck. I think it is definitely something worth a serious look once the new sets start coming but for now it just locks you into some sub-par choices but the edge battle mechanic goes a long way to cycle anything you might not find useful.

Pure Star Wars LCG Jank

The evolution of my tri-faction jank deck. So I ended up buying the new Star Wars game and I have been playing and build decks at every chance I get, I have also been teaching the game to everyone who will sit down and I am considering a third core set so I can have the demo decks built for those situations. Anyway, I wanted to have Han, Leia and Luke in a deck so I started throwing sets together and this is what I am starting with:

Jedi Affiliation
A Hero’s Journey x2
A Journey to Dagobah x1
Jedi Training x1
Questionable Contacts x2
Fleeing the Empire x2
Rumors at the Cantina x2


So it starts off with two each of the character pods and I included two of the Cantina pod to help keep my resource options open. Dagobah is a nice fish if I can get it, but the 4 damage usually means it is a turn sooner than I would like. Jedi Training gives me It Binds All Things, Jedi mind Trick and Ancient Monument as well as contributing to the force struggle itself. It lack a little punch right now and I think I might add in some Rebel Assaults and Heavy Blaster Emplacement but I want to get a few more games in to see what isn't working right now.

All Your Posts Are Belong To Us

So I logged on today and all my posts were gone, that kind of sucks.