A lot has happened since then. For instance, I had only been contemplating purchasing Agricola. I’ve since then purchased it, it’s sister game Le Havre and the Animeeples that go with Agricola. My wife and I play both very frequently. And while the Animeeple pieces are not cheep, and make a $60 game worth more than $100, it is worth it, as the enjoyment of the recreation triples. As you can see from the images you get all three types of animals, and all the crops, including, for food, Fish to put in the fish pond, Bread to bake, meat for generic food, and what we normally call Cheese for everything else. Z-Man games got smart, and in the new expansion, (yet to come to my game shelf) has Animeeple Horses instead of blocks, so no need to hunt those down in the future! Le Havre, if you haven’t played it yet is worth it. And I will post on it soon, as it deserves such attention.

I have been working on several game designs myself, and may in the future share one of the prototypes with you. One is a simple farming game, which I thought I’d try my hand at. The second one I was working on was a ‘World Builder Game” which was going well, until Fantasy Flight Games announced “Runewars” which, unfortunately, was my game to the “T.” All the bells and whistles are attached, and I can’t wait to play it. It was both discouraging and encouraging, because it meant I had to put the game on the back burner. But it was encouraging because it means I did have a good idea, if a few months too late. I still plan on working on it, for praticum, as I was about to enter the most difficult portion of the design: War and Economy. But, I chose not to let it discourage me, and instead turned to a game idea that was nothing more than a concept, and lo and behold, it wrote it self, prototype and all, in 3 days! I don’t have a name for it yet, but the game takes place in an Abbey, in which you are all vying for the position of the new Prior. It is both a Co-op game, as the Monastery cannot be run by a single monk, but you are also competing for the head hancho role by the end. What do you do? Feed the brother, which must happen? Or go give alms to the poor, which will increase your standing with the people? The other players may not appreciate your spending the communal money that they’ve all worked to hard to save on Beggars. My wife and I have played it once, and it still needs tweaking, but I have a feeling this game will be something to gawk at soon.

Over New Years my wife and I had friends over for an all night Twilight Imperium session. Originally it was going to be a 7-player game, by wife and I being the only players with previous experience. Three backed out, and 2 showed, which, in the end was better, as the game ended by 3am (Our fastest game yet! We started at 9pm.) The game consisted of My Embers of Muatt building some rather intimidating War Suns which rolled awfully and died often, my wife’s Naalu Collective biding her times and then making some gutsy moves, my co-worker Christopher played the feline Hacan and was sitting on some nice real-estate, which caused the two ladies to his left and right to contend for said space, and Christopher’s girlfriend, Maggs, playing the deceitful little Yssaril, who washed the board with everyone of us. Over-all a very satifying game, and we all look forward to another game soon.

Until next time (Tomorrow probably, when I do a review of Le Havre.)

Game Gorilla Out

Some stores can get it, some can’t. It’s a remake of the game Vinci, which I had never heard of, but everyone talks about it. This game was designed by the same designer, only this time, with a Fantasy twist. I thought it looked interesting, and the design work on it is par none. But I put it off because the one guy who kept trying to get us to play it is someone I don’t like playing games with. But when Blue Highway Games announced that it would be the tournament game this month, I decided to check it out.

I went out on the game’s website at Days of Wonder. There I was able to download the rules and read them through. Which I did, several times. Overall, a very simple game. You get to choose a starting race (out of fourteen) each of which has a special rules. Each race also gets another randomized special rule out of twenty. Then you start invading the world. Thing is, you only get so many tokens for your race. (You get a starting number from your Race, anywhere from Dwarf (3) to Ratmen (8). You also get an additional number based off your other special rule (anywhere from 3 to 5.) There are a couple of races that get more through other various means. Once you’ve spread your race too thin, you send it into decline, and grab a second race and start invading more. Careful though, if you spread yourself too thin again, and you choose a third race, then the first that went into decline disappears forever. Unless you have a special rule that states otherwise. When you go into decline, the old race is simply an invadeable place holder, unless you have the Ghouls, aka Zombie, who, when they decline stay at full power and continue to lumber forward.

Overall and incredibly fun game. I wants it!!

Funny thing is, now that it is the Tournament game, everyone in the store is buying it and talking about it. Very exciting, to say the least. Please go check out this great, learnable, and infinitely replayable game.

Last night I played a game I’ve been wanting to play for some time called Khronos.

the purpose of the game is you take you two time travelers between the Age of Might, the Age of Faith and the Age of Reason. In those time periods you spend your cards and cash to build small, medium or large buildings that are Castles, Cathedrals or civic buildings. 

The thing is, to travel back in time takes money, and having buildings to your name makes money. If you build something in the age of Might is automatically exists in the future. But if you build in the past over where something else will be in the future, it makes the piece that was there cease to exist. Sounds fun huh? The goal of the game is to have money. It takes money to make money, thus, at the end of the game you don’t have a lot of money. Thus, you must “eek out a living.”

Two games I have mentioned before, Agricola and Shadows over Camelot help to portray this “eeking” as well. At the end of the game of Agricola, having worked hard to feed your family, you score your points based on all you accomplished. The thing is, you will have accomplished little since you have to feed you family. Thus, you “eeked” out a living. In Shadows Over Camelot you all work together to attempt to hold the tides of darkness at bay. “Tides” of darkness is a good representation, because it is like holding back water with nothing but a trowel. You work and work and work as darkness continues to close in on you, thus forcing you to “eek” along. 

I’ve begun using this word as a descriptive of games when I talk to others, saying, “Yeah, Khronos was very Eeking.” And you should too.

-Game Gorilla out

This required a simple $5 entry fee and our bodies present. (Bringing my own copy of the game for the store to use got me a free soda and candy too!

With everyone set up, they randomized tables for each of us and had a preset map. I played a game against three others players, only one I knew. Another player, who we shall call Snape was quite the jerk. Frankly, from the get go my enjoyment of the game was ruined. See, when he wanted to trade, he would stick out his jaw and almost snarl his plan. “I have a sheep I just got, I’m going to trade it to you for two wheat and a brick. Take it!”

Then, once you said never mind he would continue to hold it out with a look of “by all that is unholy I’ll kill you,” in his eyes. And, if you were able to avert your eyes, he would shake his head with a “gosh, what an idiot.” I then refused to trade with him, ever. Needless to say, I lost. I had 3 pts. I know. That’s bad.

My wife had ten victory points in her hand when another player won instead, so she took second.

The tourney runners then placed each player at a table reflective of their ability (all the #1s sat at a table with others, #2s with 2s and so-on) This meant I sat at the table of the #4s, e.g. losers. I had a much more fun game. Fairly co-op for a Catan game, trading fairly, and no problems. I still only got 6 pts, and lost. Yep. #32 of 32.

My wife though, won her second game. It took a lot of deliberating to figure out who went to the final table, basically, because my Wife tied in victory points with two others for fourth seat, and it went to the third tie-breaker, based on how well other players did against those players in prior games. Needless to say, my wife was the fourth seat at the final table. The other three guys, (including the jerk from my first table) were al, we found out later, from Olympia, and came all the way north for the tourney. my wife had played the board before (it was, in this case Catan:germanies,) which justified the other players to pick on her whenever 7s came up. Still, even with them stealing form her left and right, she held her own, and earned her own 9 points when the three of them began pickering over longest road. First one guy, then another, then a third took longest road, which guaranteed his victory. The other three, including my wife, tied for second. Took the pot for 2nd 3rd and 4th and split t three ways.

Yes, my wife, who was reluctant to play in a tournament in the first place took second, and I took last. I’m so proud of her.

We arrived a good half hour before the tourney started. Some people had already assembled their own four man teams. I was placed with three other gamers.

Basically, the game store created a single deck for each game, and then we each got the same deck for each game. Your team’s job was to cure all the viruses and you got points for tie breakers for each one you eliminated. 

The first game, we were doing pretty good. But, unfortunately we ran out of cards before we cured the last disease. This made on of the players, who we’ll call Bob upset. For the most part, he didn’t even want to continue playing because he couldn’t win. I think this helped in our second game though. He overanalyzed everything, and basically told us all what to do. By no longer controlling our every move, we al got to do what we wanted, and it allowed us to work together, and quickly. Thus, we won the second game.

On game three though, which was on the difficult setting, within one turn around the board we lost. It just so happened that the board we built extra hard, and that if you shuffled it just wrong when the first outbreak happened, you lost instantly. This made “Bob” very angry. He decided the entire event was stacked against us purposefully. And he continued to state is disappointment until I spoke up as well as the other players at the table, and told him he was flat out wrong. And it was more than fair (This was reinforced by the fact that one team, of all the teams did actually win the last board.)

Overall, a very good experience. Next month will be a Catan Tournament. I’m looking forward to that one.

Entered the game store, and two regulars showed up almost instantly. Both being Gamers, and given that tonight, Saturday, is a Pandemic Tournament at Blue Highway Games, we decided to take a sit down and play Pandemic. No real point in given a full review. I did that a few weeks ago.

Having found cures for all of the diseases, we moved on to the next game Shadows over Camelot. 

As King Arthur, I was also the Traitor, though I didn’t do a very good job of it. This was after all, the first time I had played with a Traitor. 

Next, we pulled out Flux, a very fun game of only one rule. Draw a Card, play a card. Simple, right? Now, every player plays cards that reveal new rules, like draw 5, play all. And no Card Limit. Once around, my wife won, and we played again.

Lastly, we played a game I’ve not played but once, ten years ago, Chrononauts, in which you change history. Again, my wife won almost instantaneously. So, we played again. After much work, and hitler having been assassinated, and then saved again multiple times, I finally won. Oh yeah, sure, this post is short, and a bit lame, but tonight I’m playing a Pandemic Tournament, and will give a full run down tomorrow.

We had a freidn in town last night, took him up to play, and my wife said “Let’s play Agricola!” Well, this is odd, seeing as how up til now she’s not really enjoyed it. This is because it never clicked with her. We’ve played it two other times. The first time it was just the two of us, a very awkward situation. The guy working at the gaming store that day was a bit odd, and hovered over us while I attempted to read the rules aloud. (Thanks for making me feel so comfortable.) I was very self-conscious trying to read aloud while he didn’t bother to show us how to play.

The second time we played, my dad was in town, and he had just spoken about a co-worker who had been talking about it the same day, so we played again.

This time, our friend, a gamer who has also played Puerto Rico, and Catan sat down with us. Once everything was set up I said:

Okay, so this is Agricola. It is very simple, in that your goal is to run your farm. It is complicated because it’s like Super Puerto Rico.

Sounds easy right? Then, I explained the entire game in less than five minutes, and we started playing. I was very impressed with myself. Of course, I had just the weekend before run a game of Twilight Imperium, and explained it. So if I can explain Twilight I, I can explain Agricola.

In Agricola, you eke out a living my using your two starting peasants in various choices. You might send them to sow a field, or go fishing, or collect clay for your store house. You might go to market to buy a Sheep. Like Puerto Rico, you have limited choices. Unlike Puerto Rico, when you choose something, others don’t benefit from it, only you do, as as the game moved along, you gain more and more choices. 

If you expand your little wooden hut, you might have babies who will then, in turn, be more workers, to accomplish more things. Thing is, you have only fourteen turns. Every two or three turns, a harvest comes, during which you must have enough food (two per peasant) to feed your family. To make things worse, once a choice is chosen, the other families (your opponents) can’t choose them until next turn.

Now, I am really enjoying this game. The reason, because I will probably never master it, and there are so many ways to play. I could play a balanced farm to reduce the negative points at the end of the game. I could farm the land. I could be a rancher. I could have babies and stretch to feed them, and then use them to in turn take the game at the end. 

My problem us I keep switching my plan in midgame, which hurts me. Darn. Things start rolling out of control so fast that if you switch, you’re screwed. My wife doesn’t completely enjoy the game yet cause she is a collector. She wants a nice looking farm by the end. This is difficult. Of course, last night, she kicked our butts and never had a third peasant. She had lots of wild boars in pins, and it really helped. 

The best way to play? If you never have before, play once through and try to make a balanced farm, and then, next time you play, make a decision at the beginning, and then stick with it through and through.

On Boardgamegeek.com Agricola gets a very high (#1) 8.32, this came form no where, and displaced Puerto Rico which held the position for several years. Also, Agricola has a brother who is starting to appear on these American Shores called La Havre, which is not entirely the same. I understand it to be a game in which goods come in to the Harbor, you purchase them, and then turn them into greater goods and sell them off.  

I hope you’ll consider checking this game out. Though the price it not cheap. (Ranged around $60 to $70) The game is fun, and can be played by 1-5 players. 

And let me know what you think. If there is a game you’d like oto have reviewed, I will see what I can do.

Game Gorilla out

Walked up to an about to start game of Pandemic. Good game. I’ve heard a lot about this one. It is a co-op in which you win, or die trying. 

You each play a different character, such as the dispatcher, who sacrifices his moves to do a little himself. Or the Researcher, who can move cards from other players easier. Or the Medic, whom I played, who is basically Jesus. He walks in and heals more stuff than more. Once a cure is found basically, he walks through the sick and wounded are miraculously healed by his shadow touching them. (the two roles we didn’t have playing where the Foreman who can get research labs set up quicker, and the scientist who finds cures faster.)

What might happen though, if an outbreak. If these occur, not only is there a major outbreak somewhere new, but all the places that have already had outbreaks will likely escalate. And if the viruses rise in a city above the third degree, then every surrounding city becomes infected just a little bit more. 

So you better keep all of the major outbreaks down, while still trying to find a cure for what is about to go global. 

The game is highly replayable, mostly because of you who is playing with you. Some people could glory hog and try to combat things on their own, which might be okay, but it leaves the rest of you with three other viruses you must fight. You could all concentrate on eliminating one right at the beginning, but the other three could be very strong by then, and you’d be near losing by doing that. You could each separately try to combat a single disease. This also might not work. In the end, you have to cooperate. Also, very hard.

In conclusion, a very good intuitive game. Good co-op, with high danger and panic. If you have someone who has played before, this will help, but it shouldn’t take too long for you to figure it out. 

Happy Gaming!

Game Gorilla

As I mentioned last time, I do have a second blog too, over at http://mondayshero.wordpress.com. Feel free to check it out, as it will include my less gamer related works, and just plain random fun. 

This weekend I played a couple of gams, including on Friday Ticket To Ride Europe and Firefly Munchkin. And then last night, Saturday, I played Settlers of Catan, to my great chagrin, Apples to Apples, and then, for the first time, I was the bassist for a band in Rock Band.

so the question running through your head right now, if you know Munchkin is, how do you play Firefly Munchkin?

The guy we were playing with has almost all the Munchkin sets, so he likes to put together theme decks.

 Plus This

Equals 

So now you know. So we got to talking about other possible Blender Genres you could put together. You could mix StarMunchkin, Munchkin Bites, Munchkin Booty and Munchkin Impossible and get Pirates vs. Ninjas vs. Robots vs. Zombies and settle the age old riddle once and for all, “who would win?”

Or how about if you played in an ascending order. You start your adventure playing normal Munchkin, building the deck perhaps with only lvl 10 Monsters to behold. And once you hit lvl 5, you advance to playing Munchkin Booty as your party gets on a pirate ship. Then, once you hit lvl ten (this is an extended game) you fight your first big villains in Munchkin Bites. Lastly, in lvls 15-20 you take on the Grape Old Ones and their ilk in MunchkinCthulu. 

Until next time, keep gaming, and don’t look back.