Hero Forge Custom Miniatures has an online designer with various configuration options for game figures. Not exactly cheap, but if you really need a figure for a game, it might still be worth it.
Archive 4.4.2015 - 21.9.2015
Actually, I only took Jaipur as a filler for free shipping. But within a few days, it clearly became the most popular game among us. A significant point is certainly that the theme and game go well together. The actions usually make sense and are understandable. In addition, there are only a few different actions, and only in slight variations. However, based on this, there is quite a tactical competition with occasionally quite mean snatch actions. And a good dose of luck, which always leads to the luck turning again. One of the few games where Juliana not only asks to play it afterwards, but also wants to play it several times right away. Really a great filler game for two players, ideal for one or two (or three) rounds while waiting for the food or having coffee in the city. And perfect for travel, as it is small, robust and comes with quite manageable requirements for space on the table. It will probably replace the Valley of the Kings as our filler game. Oh, the game I actually bought, the one I took Jaipur with? I haven't played it yet. We were too busy.
Yesterday, I tested Dungeon Dice for pub suitability. It passed. At least in the base version. The main problem with the game is still the fragmented manual, but I've now gotten the overviews from BGG and will print them out, which should make things run much more efficiently - this will also make the expansions interesting again. The second problem is the endgame when everyone has almost won - but we had a mistake in the game because I, being a fool, forgot the "magical artifacts are glory points" rule and ignored the "trade 5 equipment dice for a magical artifact" rule. Because with these two rules, you can build a pretty good alternative path to the hunt for red monsters and thus ensure a bit more excitement than just "who kills the first red monster". In addition, this also makes trading artifacts and equipment more exciting again and helps players who are lagging behind. Well, that's the problem when you don't play a game regularly, you forget things. And for regular play, Dungeon Dice simply has the problem that it really only becomes fun with 3 players, as both combat and trading are rather flat with two players (cooperation against one's own goals is not particularly useful). But all in all, it's a really nice dice game where dice luck is not always controllable, but catastrophic consequences can be avoided with a bit of skill. It's actually just right for the pub table because the components are totally robust.
A few weeks ago, I picked up The Golden Ages at Schwerkraft because I'm interested in civilization games and it promised to deliver the goods in less than 2 hours. I finally got to play it. Naturally, as is often the case with new games, left hand against right hand. The right hand surprisingly won, even though the left hand was clearly ahead for a long time. And the game is great - I play many games against myself to learn them, but I'm relatively rarely really enthusiastic about the game itself, because it's quite cumbersome to play against yourself. But here, each player is given goals early on through their starting civilization and their future technology that point in a certain direction and thus provoke a rather asymmetrical build-up. This is complemented by a really smooth game system in which you don't have to keep track of much and each action is self-contained, so that you never get the feeling that the game is "fiddly". The only downside is that the setup is a bit time-consuming because you fill your tableau and empty it during the game (unlike in other games), so you have to assign technology tiles. But once you've done that, the next time will be faster - and with more than one player, you can build up in parallel. Including setup, my test game lasted 3 hours and was very exciting. It will definitely hit the table again.
Progress: Evolution of Technology was on the table again today with Juliana (well, the game was on the table, Juliana was sitting in front of it...) and off we went into the fourth age. Wow. What a game. We are still very enthusiastic about it. It is by far the most complex game we play together and it does take a bit out of you, but it's a lot of fun. This time I won, but only by a narrow margin (45 to 42). So far, we have only included the fourth age, we have not yet taken the other two mini-expansions, the game is already difficult enough as it is. A really great civilization developer that focuses on the part that is interesting to me - the technology tree.
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Pergamon arrived yesterday (well, earlier, but we were on vacation) and hit the table today. A nice spiral around archaeology for the Pergamon Museum. It was a real bargain - actually no longer available, but a remainder of the English version was still available, the game for 7.50 - I couldn't say no. And it was worth it. A very interesting mechanism for obtaining funds for excavations, constantly "richer" excavation sites, an interesting mechanism where exhibitions slowly fade, and all this with great components designed with lots of love. And the game goes quickly, every single move is just a simple action, but combined with a lot of predicting what the opponents will do. Love it!
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Here's what I considered worth reading during the week and didn't want to link separately, collected and uncommented.
Long time no programming language links: Haskell for Mac is an interactive programming environment for Haskell on the Mac (as the name suggests). Interesting, as it offers a kind of notebook interface with which you can interactively develop code, try it out directly and visualize the results. Quite interesting for playing around with Haskell, but I don't know if it's worth 25 dollars - especially the sandboxing enforced by Apple can quickly become annoying. And since it requires Yosemite, I won't be able to try it out anyway.
Kashgar: Händler der Seidenstraße I got it because it was cheap (12 Euro) and the mechanics interested me: deckbuilding and engine-building. And the game implements this very well. Thematically, you are a spice trader on the Silk Road and have to manage your (usually 3) caravans. Each player starts with the same number of caravans, but each is slightly different from the starting options. This makes the game a bit asymmetrical, which I generally like. In addition, there is a really sophisticated deck builder in the form of caravan management. You win by optimizing your caravans to optimally fulfill orders. And the whole thing fits thematically very well - every person in the caravan has coherent actions available. The first game was really fun, it plays very smoothly after a few rounds, as there are only a few building blocks that you have to learn beforehand - the rest is on the cards. Through the optimization of the caravans, you have interesting long-term strategic options, through the several caravans you have short-term tactical options (which caravan you activate depends on what orders are currently on display and what the opponents are currently doing). In addition, there is an optional expansion for more interactivity, with which you can sabotage opponents' caravans. Really nicely done and completely under the radar, the game.
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Pandemic: The Cure has just been released and is already in my closet. And already played - the Generalist on Easy level was of course easy, but a good way to get to know the game. And it's just fun to roll all those dice. I think it will soon come to the table in the group, I'm still looking for a quick game as a digestif - Nations Dice Game was actually a bit too heavy, but maybe this will work. Especially since coop as a digestif or starter is never wrong.
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Every now and then I come across interesting projects that were completely unknown to me before. This time it's The Decktet Wiki, a wiki dedicated to the Decktet, a new deck of cards with a somewhat unusual structure: each card can be assigned to multiple symbols and there are not just 4, but 6 of them. Based on this, there is a large number of games that creatively use this deck of cards.
In The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game Treebeard was once again on the road with Merry and Pippin. But in "Blood of Gondor," it turned out that an adventure that starts directly with a siege is rather stupid if you mainly use Hobbits. And if there aren't enough allies outside and the few that are there face the adventure, it's quickly over. Then it went back to Ithilien, but things didn't go well there either - except Treebeard initially showed himself to be a great Ent, thereby gathering the opponents, who unfortunately could not be attacked through the secret path and thus became more and more numerous, eventually overwhelming the group. All in all, not a good day for Middle-earth. If a deck just can't find its key cards, things just go badly - there's not much you can do about it, as even drawing cards helps only to a limited extent. Sometimes I wish there were 4 of each card allowed, like in Magic. And for the Ents themselves, the density of Ent cards still needs to be increased so that things run more smoothly - at the moment, I still have too many compromises in there (for example, own Ent healing instead of the Elves I use and better defense - both will come with the next adventures, but at the moment it's stuck there).
Something new again: VivaJava: The Coffee Game: The Dice Game. Juliana loves coffee, I love games, so you can kill two birds with one stone. Nice dice game with surprising depth for a Yahtzee variant. The Al Gusto expansion in the box brings even more variations, but the base game itself is already quite nice. Of course, there is a lot of luck involved, but you can help with suitable (unlockable) abilities. Depending on the variant, there is more or less direct interaction in the game. Really nicely done. Instead of the pencil-ticked score counters, I use player mats and small markers to move. It has given us a lot of fun, and apparently we have only made a rough rules violation (the thing with the abilities that give out markers is not quite clearly explained in the rules - you can only use these things once or twice per game).
Cruel Necessity hit the table for the first time today. Wow, that's a tough nut to crack. Definitely far outside my usual gaming experience and a really interesting system that can be easily modified if it becomes too frustrating (or too easy - but I don't think that's likely). The setup based on historical events gives the dice rolling a thematic framework. But the dice can also quickly become a source of frustration when the Parliament just can't seem to accomplish anything. There are only very few ways to influence the dice. Apart from that, my first Victory Point game - and that's also an interesting experience, smelling game components that smell like burnt wood is not something you encounter every day.
Brought San Juan to the table again together with Juliana. I still like it, a fast and actually quite uncomplicated game. And by now, I also understand how to play against a Guild Hall. Even though the Guild Hall with many production buildings still seems very dominant at the moment, the Town Hall with a suitable administrative building strategy can also achieve comparable point totals. Nevertheless, I'm considering whether I might want the new San Juan, as the Guild Hall is slightly toned down there (without completely degrading it) and new interesting accents are set with the Bank.
Here's what I found worth reading this week and didn't want to link separately, collected and uncommented.
Race for the Galaxy is - together with the Robot from the Gathering Storm expansion - a really cool solo game. I have never played the game in multiplayer, only alone against the Robot (and 1 or 2 times against the Keldon AI). And so far, I have only lost. But the way to losing was always exciting. A bit of a shame is that the Robot really builds up high pressure and you therefore really have a race with him: one of the main goals must be to end the game as quickly as possible and score more victory points than the Robot. You can't afford great development work here, every turn must bring victory points and bring about the end of the game (either collect direct victory points or - usually better - bring cards into your own display). If you like science fiction themes and are looking for a solid solo experience, I can really recommend this. However, it's not quite cheap, as you need both the main game and the expansion.
Space Hulk: Death Angel – The Card Game - unpacked again after a long time. I do have many (according to Juliana, too many) solo-playable games, so it has somewhat faded into the background. But I once again realized how good the system is, how smoothly it plays, and how it keeps you on edge. It really builds a good story that is very thematic despite the few components. It's amazing how well some older (and here also smaller) games hold up. This time, the teams of Scriptor Callistarius, Brother Leon, and Brother Lorenzo wiped the Space Hulk with the Genestealers.
Progress: Evolution of Technology went into its first two-player round today. Juliana put up a good fight, even though Progress is really more challenging than anything else we usually play together. She even won (ok, she and I together won against me). As usual, of course, a game with open cards to learn. I really like the game, the technology tree is fun and quite logically structured. The game also looks good and the gray cells are not neglected. But until we get this on the table at our weekly game night, there will still be some practice time with the Nations dice game and San Juan to get used to it.
After considerable reflection and discussion, we've decided the time has come for us to step aside and seek new owners for Koken. As much as we'd like to stay, all of us have decided to pursue new professional opportunities that will prevent us from…
Quelle: Koken is for sale and looking for a new home - Koken blog
Warfighter: The Tactical Special Forces Card Game - Wow, just wow. A really well-made solo game. Co-op also possible, but I only played solo and am really enthusiastic. Surprisingly smooth system, despite the configurability of the game. Good variability of missions and interesting options for equipping the soldiers. Playtime also pleasantly short and the setup moderately quick, if you have already made the selection beforehand (or like me simply follow the instructions' suggestion). Definitely coming back to the table.
What I considered worth reading over the course of the week and did not want to link separately, collected here and uncommented.
Progress: Evolution of Technology hit the table for the first time today, though only the solo variant for testing. Very fun, building the techniques on top of each other is enjoyable. However, the final scoring for the solo game seems to be incorrect in the manual - the timer deck is probably selected the wrong way around - it should consist of cards without age change to actually exert pressure. But the game mechanisms fit nicely together and the techniques are quite logically connected. Definitely needs to hit the table again, but then also in multiplayer.
Recently on the Internet
I have uploaded new pictures to Google+ and/or Flickr. Here they are - unsorted and uncommented. There are a bit more this time because I haven't run the script for a while ...
Nations: The Dice Game hit the table for the first time today and I must say, a very nice game. Many tactical options and the regular competition for cultural advantages and turn order add additional restrictions to what you can do in a turn, yet you clearly feel how your own nation gains more opportunities from age to age. If you're looking for a friendly race with dice and low, only indirect interaction, this is definitely interesting. And rolling a bunch of dice is just something nice.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Merry, Pippin and Treebeard wandered into the Forest of Druadan to see what the Wargs were up to. There was again a pack of Ents and a few Eagles. Wow, the deck is already running really well - the balanced stats of the Ents help a lot and the last phase even the normally defense-booked Eagle has drawn, which under the right conditions (siege) he is a super Quester. But the top players were definitely the Ents, the Hobbits only played a subordinate role this time, their tools just wouldn't show up. The side quest "Gather Information" was also used for the first time, a very practical thing. All in all, I already like my Ent deck very much, especially of course because it is a reference to my favorite scene in The Lord of the Rings. Treebeard is just a cool tree.
We decided to do something totally new for us this year for our vacation: a tour through France by camping car. And it was a blast! Originally we only planned for northern France, but due to the weath…
Quelle: Tour de France
Assault on Doomrock - played solo again in light of the ongoing Kickstarter and realized that while I really like the idea of the game and especially the system, the result for me is a highly irritating and annoying game due to the extreme influence of chance and the extremely demotivating implementation of the monsters. Too bad, but a game that rather motivates me to flip the table is rather stupid. So I canceled the Kickstarter and the game probably won't hit the table anymore, especially since there's also the long setup (sorting tokens) and the long playtime.
Pathfinder Adventure Card Game: Rise of the Runelords – Base Set. Lem, Lini, and Harsk set off for Sandpoint and stumbled upon a goblin fortress on the way. Topatch Lem also got tangled up and summoned a Sandspitter Devil in the process, but in the end, they managed to make it through at the last minute. Harsk even found a better crossbow and a second set of armor to change into (you never know when you might encounter a Sandspitter Devil). I'm still amazed by the game system, even though the first base set was a bit simple in structure. I think when the Pirate set comes out in June, I'll get it again and try to get Juliana involved. I just have to sell the pirates as Johnny Depp's crew...
Here's what I found worth reading this week, collected and uncommented:
Friday is a new addition to my solo games. A small, fine solo deckbuilder in which you play Friday, who helps the clumsy Robinson to survive. Very nice and rounded concept and a pleasant playtime. Above all, very little space on the table is necessary, ideal as a travel game.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game: Merry, Pippin, and Mablung visited the Fords of Isen, along with a pack of Ents led by Treebeard and a few Eagles. The Dunlanders were flattened. Very solid performance, especially Merry as Voltron, which I liked, as well as the ingeniously low starting threat of the deck. Everything fit this time, the low threat allows time to build up and allows selective fighting. Pippin was a bit less impressive, but Lore is important for quick questing.
Shadowrift. Received yesterday, first game today. A lot of setup for such a compact box, compared to Runeage it simply has more scenarios that can be played cooperatively, albeit two-handed. On the other hand, there are no PvP card effects like in Runeage. The flow is also more pleasant than in other rather brutal coops, but at least the Drow felt too easy. Deckbuilding is also not as pronounced, there is actually no thinning, but various bloating and even late in the game you quickly have a hand without an attack. The goal is also less to eliminate the monsters, but rather to survive until you have closed the rifts, which is noticeably less action than, for example, in Shadowrun: Crossfire. Definitely needs more rounds on the table for a final verdict.
Shadow of the Elder Gods. Arrived today and immediately played a solo game with two investigators. Interesting mechanics with the threat deck, which is randomly assembled and combines open threats on the front of the cards with hidden threats on the back at the bottom of the stack. This way, even if you know the cards, the combination is unpredictable. And the best part: the game is downright tiny. Tiny Epic Cthulhu, anyone?
Lost Legacy. A playtest with Juliana, but she had some issues with the game, which is much more about observing the other players, deduction, and bluffing than about strategy and tactics. Let's see if it makes it to the table again, it is quite interesting, but rather something for 3+ players.
Sentinels of the Multiverse. Recently went to Rook City and searched for Plague Rat with my tried-and-true team of Wraith, Haka, Ra, and Tempest. It was a damn close call, but ultimately successful, even though Tempest and Ra went KO - Ra through self-mutilation, he just plays with fire too much. Haka was the boss in this game, Wraith also did good work but mainly her thing this time was to survive. Tempest is still a boss even when KO.
A Call to Arms indeed delivers some interesting heroes - Theoden could bring Rohan back to the front again, as a swarm deck benefits from cheaper allies. And his weapon is quite a hammer for a Spirit hero. And Treebeard is also very interesting - provides very good attack or quest for a few life points, which you can easily repeat in Lore. The only downside is that I then have to think about which Treebeard I want to play, because the ally version is also very good. But for example Aragorn or Elrond with Athelas brings him back on his feet quickly after he briefly went amok. Ok, 13 threat is heavy, but on the other hand, this could be a real Lore fighting machine.
RedJak's Automated Overlord Variant. Ok, I think this makes Descent really interesting - the Overlord automation offers real coop and solo - and Descent is a living game system with many expansions.
The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game. Saruman visited Celeborn and Galadriel and went on a picnic tour down to the Anduin. But of course, Saruman and Grima are doomed, so the picnic wasn't really relaxing. Hill Trolls are just real picnic poopers. Well, with the help of Gandalf, who dropped in briefly, and a series of Wood Elves, they somehow managed to pull it off, even though Galadruel really messed up with her mirror. Grima with the keys is really practical and Galadriel can keep the combo well in check. Saruman as a thug is also not to be sneezed at, especially his blanking helped against the troll, which I had to stop until Gandalf came. It went quite well, but still bumpier than the Elrond deck.
Waggle Dance. Since we've been playing Paperback a lot lately, today we're back to the bees. Always enjoyed playing this, it runs quite smoothly for us. Although I only narrowly won today because I really played poorly at times ...
Paperback. Hah! Juliana starts developing her own strategies! Simply cleared the 8 cent fame cards in the midgame and beat me 34 to 25.
Paperback. Another two-player game with Juliana and she clearly beat me 44 to 30, even though I had a good start, but she had a few big moves and thus the more valuable glory cards, while I often failed by the last cent for the next level. In the rematch, I then won 55 to 20, in the two-player game, acquiring the only 15-point glory card is usually the victory. Special success: Juliana asked if we could play! Second special success: she also wanted a second game!
Paperback. Played as a digestif after the Legends, okay, maybe it was a bit too brain-burning after the big game, but it was a lot of fun, even with four players. The funniest part is definitely the discussion about whether a word exists or not. My final Hussar's hat brought me the victory by a narrow margin.