Archive for the 'Board Game Review' Category

When I read the rules to this game some months ago, it sounded really fun.  So, Spiel was a great opportunity to grab a copy and I had underestimated just how funny it would be to play.

In Abandon Ship, the ship is sinking and the rats are fleeing up the decks to survive.  The rats are all different colours and each player is assigned three rats from which they will score points should those rats survive.  However, this information is secret and players don’t know which rats the other players will score from.  The first rat to the top deck gets squashed in the passenger panic (zero points), but the second, third and fourth rats to the top deck will score 5, 3 and 2 points accordingly.  Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve mentioned before that I’m always on the lookout for great 2-player games, so hearing that Jaipur was 2-player only got my interest. 

Players collect cards of goods and camels with which they will claim goods tiles to earn points.  In between the players are  five face-up cards and next to those are the goods tiles which are discs with points values on them.  The goods discs are laid out in order with each stack having the highest on the top and then decreasing.  Players take turns performing actions. Read the rest of this entry »

[Below is my initial review of Assyria.  A two-part interview with the game’s designer is available too:  Part One – Part Two]

Ystari games usually contain careful planning and thinking, so when we were at the Rio Grande Games stand we decided to give it a try.   Players place huts on a landscape featuring two rivers, supply their huts with food and can perform other actions too.  The goal is to score as many points as possible from building ziggurats, hut placement and winning favour with dignitaries.

The game lasts eight turns split into three reigns (lasting 2 turns, 3 turns and 3 turns each).  In the first phase of a turn, players select food from the cards available.   There’s never enough food for what you really want and the food you select will determine player turn order too.  Next, players place their huts on the board’s hex spaces.   Placing huts on rivers earns camels (used to perform important empire expanding actions later) and huts placed elsewhere earn points. Read the rest of this entry »

As someone who likes Power Grid, the idea of Power Grid: Factory Manager was very intriguing.  I wondered if it was like Power Grid, or would it be too like Power Grid?

The goal is to earn as much money as possible in a limited amount of turns.  Each player has their own factory and buys machines (to produce goods or improve efficiency) and warehouse space.  Each manufacturing machine uses power and require workers if they’re not automated.  Income is based on the lower of your manufacturing capacity and warehouse capacity, so you need to keep these two factors as balanced as possible and plan for expanding evenly too.  

Your limited amount of workers are under great demand as workers are not only needed to run machines but are also used to bid on the turn order cards.  Read the rest of this entry »

Peloponnes was another Spiel 09 game that I pre-ordered based on reading the rules.  I was also very interested because the designer created Maya, a game I really enjoy even though I tend to lose.

Peloponnes is a civilisation building game that lasts 8 short turns.  Players bid coins to purchase land or buildings tiles which generate resource income each round, plus some give one-off instant income.  If you exceed certain amounts of a single resource, you get luxury goods instead which can be used in placed of other resources and are an important game mechanic.

Read the rest of this entry »

The great-looking board of Pony Express caught my attention before any other info.  Reading the rules made me pre-order it.  Could the game live up to my expectations?

Players play wild west riders racing to reach Sacramento.  To move, a player rolls 5 poker dice and the result determines how many spaces they will move forwards; for example, a pair equals one space, two-pair equals two spaces, etc.  A player can re-roll dice if they want but at a cost.

The twist is that the player rolls the dice under a cup and simply states what they have rolled so they could be bluffing.  Read the rest of this entry »

Cold War : KGB v CIA is a superb two-player game containing tactical play, creative card use, push-your-luck play and opponent motive guessing.  So, when I heard the designers had created a new game (Nostra citY), I was immediately intrigued.

The game focuses on the trial of a mob boss.  The players are his mobsters and, together, they try to fix the trial so the boss is found innocent.  The most respected player by the boss will win the game.  Players collect turf, wiseguys and income with which they bribe the jury, hire more wiseguys, and so on.

Nosrta citY is a superb, semi-co-operative game for anyone wanting some thoughtful tactical play with a hint of double-crossing and paranoia.  The gameplay is quite unusual so I’ll explain three phases of a round so my comments make more sense. Read the rest of this entry »

Never heard of Langfinger?  It would have been easily missed at Spiel 09 but it’s one of my favourite games from this year.

Players are thieves who collect tools to steal loot (paintings, statues, gold) which they then fence for points.  First to 20 points wins.  Each player gets three actions per turn and there are five actions to pick from: Get tools (City),  Steal loot (Villa), Swap tools (Ruin), Steal loot (Museum), Fence loot to gain points (Harbour).

Players must select their three actions for the round first and then the actions get resolved in order.  To claim an action, players take turns placing one of their 3 markers on the relevant action location.  More than one player can perform the same action but the first to claim an action will go first when it is resolved.  This is a critical element as what you want may not be there when it gets to your turn.

This is the first interesting game mechanic.  Read the rest of this entry »

Upon reading the rules prior to Spiel 09, Carson City sounded interesting and I pre-ordered it.  I wasn’t disappointed either as the game delivered a close run contest with some very interesting choices.

ACTIONS
Together, but not co-operatively, players build Carson City.  Each turn, players select a unique role and then spend their cowboy meeple (one at a time) to claim actions.  Actions allow players to gain resources, buy buildings, hire additional meeple, and even gain victory points.  However, actions only get resolved after players have committed their meeple.  Plus, apart from the two default actions, only one player can perform each action. 
Read the rest of this entry »

There are few specific designers I follow but Dirk Henn is one that I do.  So, I was excited that he was releasing a new big game.  And big is the word – big in size, big in weight and big in thinking.

Players play families in a town who use resources to make goods which they sell in order to buy relics.  Each step of the game is relatively simple, but it is the decisions to be made at each step that makes this an enjoyable, meaty game of thinking and decisions. Read the rest of this entry »