Back in March at a local con, we participated in a math trade and we were able to trade many of the games that we had identified in January and the first part of February as games we wanted to trade. We traded several games but came back with about a dozen. This is one of the games that we got in the trade. I did not know much about it other than it is a Bible themed game, and Tom Vasel gave it a good review. Sadly, "good" and "bible themed" do not end up in a sentence together very often, so that was enough to make me go for the trade. Being a pastor, it is a given that I like the subject matter but is it a good game?
Game Overview Technically, this game is about creating churches on a missionary journey. However, it is really a race game. Players start at Jerusalem. They must build three churches and after doing that be the first one to reach Rome.
On a player's turn the first thing they do is declare which action they wish to take, and they have three choices. They may travel by land. Under normal conditions a player may move 1-3 spaces. The second option is to travel by boat. To travel by boat a player needs to play a boat Opportunity card. The third option is build a church. To build a church a player needs to get seven cell groups together in the city they are in. On a normal turn they may add two cells.
Next, players draw an event card. This card may effect their action. For example some cards limit movement, while others make it impossible to build during the turn. Once the event card is drawn, its effect is applied if applicable and then the player takes their chosen action if possible.
Finally, players draw an opportunity card. Many opportunity cards can be used to cancel certain event cards. Others can be used to gain additional followers, and the power deacon cards place a deacon at a church location to protect the church from future disasters.
Other rules are the city cards. Each player starts with three city cards and if they try to start a church at this city they can get three extra cells in that city. Also, at the end of each round players may trade anything with each other. The only rule that really governs trading is that all trades agreed upon must be honored. As mentioned, the first one to build three churches and reach Rome wins.
The Game We Played My wife started by moving one space from Jerusalem, and going to Caesaria to start building a church. Meanwhile, I huffed it up to the black sea to build a church at Tomis. I traded my wife a boat card for the Aquiliea city card. I already had the Salona city card, which was just south, so it worked well for me. My wife used the boat to sail for Athens. She had a lot of trouble with event cards that prevented building, but she finally got it built right after I had finished building at Salona. Now it was my turn for trouble in building at Aquilia. My wife moved onto Actum and built the church up quickly there. She looked sure to win, and was set to take a boat to Rome. However, a ship wrecked event card sent her down to Leptis Magna in Africa. She was stranded there and hoped to draw a ship card. I quickly built my third church at Genua, and then moved on to Rome to win the game.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 3.5 (It's OK) My Thoughts: This game is fairly easy, and while there are some tactical choices, it is not a deep game. However, this game has a lot of tension. The race aspect combined with the luck of the card flip ups the tensions (and occasional frustration). I think this game would be more interesting with more people. I will admit my bias, the biggest draw of this game to me is the Christian theme that I think comes through very well. The fact that it has this theme and manages to still be a competent game is an achievement. Finally, as someone who will be ordained a deacon in the UMC in a month I did rather like how powerful the deacon cards are in this game.
Her Rating: 2.5 (do not care for) Her Thoughts: This game is really easy and too luck based. The Christian theme works OK, but I still found the game kind of boring.
Verdict Combined Rating: 6 After reading the rules and setting the game up, I had kind of hoped this game would fare a bit better than it did for the two of us. We have a growing pile of games that would be good for a future family game night when our son gets older, and I think this would be another good candidate. However, as a youth pastor my biggest reason for keeping this game is that it is a bible based game that is actually fun to play. I am already thinking about how I can use this game in a Sunday School study on the book of Acts.
Last year someone very kindly gave us this game. I was initially excited because it looked like a light war game that my wife would really enjoy. We played it a few times, and in doing so I realized that other than the highlights I really did not know/remember a lot about the civil war. So this game actually inspired me to watch Ken Burn's The Civil War documentary series. So despite positive side effects, is this a good game?
Game Overview As the name makes clear, this game is about the first battle of Bull Run. One side plays the confederacy and the other side plays the union. The board has the river in the center of the board, and the rest of it is divided into various sections. Units start on specific spaces as indicated on the board. AT the beginning of each turn, a player rolls dice (four for union and three for confederate) to find out what actions they take. For each 1 rolled they draw a card. For each two or three rolled they may fire an artillery piece. Fours and fives allow moves, and sixes activate leaders.
The cards allow a whole variety of things. Some cards give extra actions, extra combat dice, or disrupt an opponent's turn. Both players begin with two artillery pieces and they may fire at adjacent spaces. To fire a player rolls a six sided die and they hit on a roll of 5 or 6. If hit, the firing player rolls again. A roll of 1-5 causes a retreat and 6 causes a wound. When wounded, units are flipped. If a wounded unit is hit, then it is eliminated.
Each move order can move units from one space to another. The amount of units moved depend on the space. To move from clear spaces to clear space, two units can move. On roads three units can move, and across woods or the river only one unit can move per move order. There are a couple of river spaces where two units can move if the moving into space is unoccupied. If movement puts opposing units in the same space a fight begins. For combat, players will roll two dice for each unit they have to a max of six. Each 5,6 is a hit (4-6 for defender if on a hill). For each hit rolled the rolling player rolls again. A 1-3 roll causes a retreat and a 4-6 roll causes a wound. The defender rolls first and all retreats/wounds are resolved before the attacker rolls. At this point, if there are any defending units left then the attacker must retreat.
A leader roll, allows a player to draw a card or activate units (infantry or artillery) in the same space as them. There are several ways the game can end. If a player's deck is expended and they have to draw a card the game ends. At this point, the union player wins if they capture two of three specially marked spaces (all three along the river). If they fail to do this then confederacy wins. If the union occupies the confederate headquarters then it is an auto-win (and vice versa). Finally, both players have rout cards. To rout a player rolls two dice, and if they roll equal to or less than the amount of units they have killed then they win.
The Game We Played I played the Union and my wife played the confederacy. I got several movement rolls early, and began moving units around my right flank to surround Henry House Hill (one of three locations I needed to win). Artillery fire weakened the defensive position, and I successfully took it. I then moved even more units into the position, and repelled a counter attack. From there I moved several units to an adjacent position that was also adjacent to the second of three positions I needed to take. At this point, my movement rolls just completely dried up. My wife began moving reinforcements to this position and a couple of successful bombardments weakened my attack position. Seeing my window closing, I attacked one turn to late since my wife had already fortified the position. She also rolled extremely well, and I rolled very poorly. This completely broke my attack and these units were soon eliminated. My units on Henry Hill were wounded, but my wife could not break the defensive position. However, I could not break out. I had units across from the third position, and I tried probing there hoping for a streak of good luck, but that did not go well either. By this point, my wife worked to end the game by card draw by using her six rolls to draw cards. This tactic succeeded, and she won because I had only captured two of the three locations.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 2.5 (do not care for) My Thoughts: I really like the mechanics of this game. I just do not find it much fun. This game is stacked against the union player. I have tried something different each time I have played the union, and each time the result is the same. I can capture one location and that is it. The Union has not won any of the games we have played. To succeed the Union needs A LOT of movement. If the rolls for movement are not there it can be very annoying. I realize the game being favored to the confederacy may be historical, but this game does not have the depth to really capture the feel of a historical simulation. It feels more like a game and the imbalance is very aggravating.
Her Rating: 3.5 (It's OK) Her Thoughts: I like the dice system in this game. I like not knowing what I am doing at the beginning of a turn, and I have to figure out each turn what to do. I also like that turns play quickly.
Verdict Combined Rating: 6 I never, ever would have thought that my wife would rate a wargame higher than me, but that just happened. Despite that, my wife is still willing to trade it. As she says there are other wargames that we BOTH like, so we should play those more. It is disappointing this game falls short, but hearing her say that makes it all good
We recently traded for this game at our local, no-ship math trade last month. I first ran across this game about two years ago in a math trade geeklist. I looked in to it, and it seemed like the kind of game my wife might enjoy. I have tried to acquire it in multiple math trades since then, and I actually failed in this one. I only made the trade after the fact when people contacted each other to work out side deals for untraded games. So was I right about my wife liking this game or did I miss the mark?
Game Overview The goal of this game is to score the most points from placing house and then properly irrigating them. Players have tiles that are played on the board in 20 different areas. Between these tiles, wooden pieces will be placed to build canals.
On a player's turn they can do one of three actions. First they may place a water source. These are little blue markers that go at any crossroads between two tile spaces. Each water source must be five spaces away from another, and there is a limited number of sources. Second, a player may place two canal pieces. These pieces go in between the tile spaces. A canal must be connected to a water source, and must be a continuous line (the canal can not split). Each water source can support two different canals. It is possible to make these double canals as well. A canal provides water to the tile spaces to their left and right.
Finally, a player may place houses. Players have house tiles with 1-4 houses on them. The number of houses on the tile is how many points it is worth. A player may place 1 to 3 tiles. To place a tile, they will roll a twenty sided dice, and then place a house tile in an open spot within that section on the board. If the spot is already supplied with water, then the player must place their lowest value tile. If placing a tile fills up the area, then all house tiles not supplied with water (possibly including the one just placed) are removed from the game.
The game ends when the last canal piece has been placed. At that point all unsupplied house tiles are also removed. Players add up the total number of houses they have on the board, and the most wins.
The Game We Played I get the feeling that a 2 player game is a little bit less crowded and less mean than a three or four player game. We both began by placing houses. Even though the roll is random, we both had are starting houses clustered together. This meant we both placed a water source and began building canals to our placed houses. The game did become a little bit more contentious as it went on, and we both tried to steer canals towards our houses and away from the other. I managed to get more tiles played than my wife but I lost more due to filling up an area before it was watered. At the end of the game we added up our houses and my wife won 50 to 49.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 3 (It's OK) My Thoughts: With more than two, I think this game could get mean. This is not a bad game, but it is not a great game either. It kind of feels like just "another euro."
Her Rating: 3 (It's OK) Her Thoughts: This game is very thinky. The mechanics are simple and straight forward. I kind of feel like this game is to simple and basic for me.
Verdict Combined Rating: 6 My wife did say that a couple of years ago, she could see herself really liking this game because the rules are so simple. However, she now thinks that she has moved on to like games with a bit more rule depth. So it turns out, I was right about my wife liking this game. I just took to long to trade for it. This is a competent game, but it is not a game that "wow's" us. We already have too many games that do "wow" us that we do not play enough. For that reason, we will probably be looking to trade Aquaduckt already.
I pre-ordered this game last year after seeing an ad for it on this website. I clicked the link and I really liked what I saw. The P500 price was set to expire in a couple of days at that point, so I pulled the trigger and jumped into get it at the cheaper price. We first got the game right at a year ago, and with in that first month I played it several times. However, it has been sitting on the shelf, unplayed, for a good while now. So is it worth deploying Boots on the Ground?
Game Overview Boots on the Ground is unique in that it can be played in four different ways. The game can be played solo, 2 player co-op, 2 player competitive, or three player (2 vs. 1). No matter how the game is played, the basic game play is the same. A mission will be chosen and the game board will be set up according to the instructions. The game board looks like a satellite shot of city streets, and different missions use different parts of the board. Despite the board being static, each mission feels unique.
Usually players will control a squad of six soldiers. Each of these soldiers fulfills a specific role in the squad such as sniper, medic, or demo expert. On a player’s turn they have a choice to either activate an individual, or activate a team. Each individual solider has their own movement rating, attack modifier, and special ability. The only way to access these skills is by activating the individual. A team consist of two or more units adjacent to each other. When a team is activated all members of a team can move 3 and fire with a zero attack modifier. Attack rules are loose. A unit can move part of it’s move, fire up to five spaces away, and then continue to move. To attack a die is rolled for the attacking force and the defending force. The numbers are compared and the differential is applied to a simple Combat Results Table. Combat is asymmetrical. It is much easier for a soldier to wound or kill an insurgent.
After a player finishes their turn, a card is drawn to activate the insurgents. In a co-op or competitive two player game, the other player resolves this card. In a three player game, one of the players has control of the insurgents. These cards often cause insurgents to move to attack, or to "spawn" in unexpected places. All insurgents attack in the same way by rolling and comparing dice. Soldiers can take three hits before they become KIA, but it is possible for a big enough of a differential in the rolls to get a one shot kill.
Play continues in this way until a group of soldiers completes the objective, or they all die trying.
The Game We Played We played the "Hot LZ" scenario. In this set up we both deployed on the board at a cross roads surrounded by insurgents. We each had to make it to a different safe LZ. We both had an insurgent that gave us difficulty, but I ended the opening fire fight with more injuries. Luckily, one of the card draws gave me reinforcements. Overall, this mission was not to hard, as almost all of the cards drawn failed to provide insurrection reinforcements. This mean that once we cleared the initial set of enemies we moved unimpeded.
I drew more cards to have insurrectionists move to fight my wife, but she rolled much better than I did so that did not harm her much. At one point to get her team to safety she needed to move several of them adjacent to a car that could be rigged to blow. If her demo expert was near, the bomb could be defused. However, her demo soldier could not reach the car. She waited a turn to move the demo guy up. It turned out the car was save cover and not an I.E.D. Meanwhile, I left my injured guys behind, while the rest of my reinforced squad moved on. I got the required four guys into the safe zone first, and we ended the game with not a single allied K.I.A.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 4 (like it) My Thoughts: I really like how this game plays very simply, but really delivers the theme of the game so well. This does not simulate a particular battle, but as a civilian with zero combat training I feel like this captures the feel of modern combat as best as a board game can. Every game is varied, unique, and tense. In a lot of way this feels like a board game adaptation of a tactical FPS video game like Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six or Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter.
Her Rating: 3 (It's OK) Her Thoughts: I like that this game is quick and easy. I also like how we do not directly fight each other but take turns using the insurgents against each other.
Verdict Combined Rating: 7 This is a very clever game that plays differently than just about anything else. The game only has 49 ratings, so I think it is very much a hidden gem type of game. It is also another game that gets added to the war games my wife will play list, which means it is a keeper.
We actually first played Wits and Wagers when it was released on the Xbox 360. It followed up behind Catan, Carcassone, and Ticket to Ride. By that point, we were buying just about any board game that got a 360 conversion (before they all moved to iOS). In 2010 we traded for the game, kind of by accident. I offered a trade I was happy with, but the other user, being a good trader did not feel that I had offered an unfair trade in his benefit. He threw in Wits and Wagers to balance it out. Early on in this project, we made an exclusion list that included just about all of our party/group games. However, this one was mysteriously left off the list. Is that because it is a good game or was that an oversight?
Game Overview Wits and Wagers is a trivia game of sorts. All players will get a dry erase board, and two betting chips. The game is played over seven rounds/questions. Many of the questions are very obscure and they all have a numeric answers. The idea is that just about everyone will get it wrong, but people will be close. Everyone writes their answer down on the dry erase board and then these answers are arranged from low to high on a board. The answers that are in the middle of the possible answers will pay out 2:1, while the outlying answers will pay 3:1 or more. Each player gets two bidding chips worth one point. No matter what a player will have these for the game. Once players have placed their bets the answer is revealed. Which ever answer is closest to correct, without going over, is the winner. Anyone who bid on that answer will get a payout in chips and the people who submitted the answer get a bonus. In future rounds, a player can wager these won chips in addition to their betting tokens. If the chips are wagered on a wrong answer they are lost, but if they are wagered on a winning answer then they pay out at the listed ratios. The player with the most points in chips after the seventh question wins.
The Game We Played We actually played this game using the Xbox implementation, which means we played with two AI players. The AI in the game is a little weird. For the first three questions, one of the AI players always had the right answer and each turn he doubled down, putting all of his chips on his own answer. This meant going into the fourth round, the AI had some ridiculous score in the 300s. However, for the last rounds this AI wagered huge amounts on wrong answers.
For most of the game I trailed my wife in chips as she was a riskier better than me and she had one huge payout. For the last two questions I had the right answer, but did not bet on myself. However on the last questions (which was about how much did Arnold Schwarzenegger make as Governor of California) my wife also did not wager on my answer so I got points for the having the right answer. This gave me a final score of 16 to her 15. The AI had 12 and 5.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 3.5 (It's OK) My Thoughts: This is trivial pursuit for everyone. I like how accessible this game is. Just about everyone can make what they think is an informed guess (even if they are way off). I am not wild about the wagering though. Actually, the last few times I have played the game with a group I have used the scoring from Wits & Wagers Family, and I like that a lot better.
Her Rating: 3 (it's OK) Her Thoughts: This game is a fine little game. It is still a trivia game though, so I am not wild about it.
Verdict Combined Rating: 6.5
Clearly, this is not a game we will get out for the two of us to play ever. Also, on the rare instance that we have someone over to play games this is not the game that we will be getting out. However, nearly all of my recorded plays of the game are from playing it with the church youth group. Since I can bring the game out at Lock-ins and other events of that nature, it is worth keeping.
Stratego is a nostalgic favorite for me. It is a game that I grew up playing, and it is a game that I could claim some level of skill at. This particular copy of Stratego, the only one we have, is also a game that I have some attachment to. In 2002, I was on staff at a church camp for the summer. Many of the weeks had pioneer camps, but I bought this game going into computer camp. Many of the youth at this camp fit the sterotype of the type of person who would go to a camp in the middle of the woods to work on computers. I reasoned that these would be the type of kids who liked Stratego, and I was right. Throughout out the week I ran a tournament. During "horizontal time" and before bed, the kids played Stratego, and it became a big deal in the cabin. I played the winning kid in the final game on the last night of camp. Throughout the week I had played several of the campers, crushing them, and establishing myself as the game expert. In the final game, I purposely played to lose, but make it look like I was not trying to lose. I lost. For a moment, the kid who beat me transformed from a shy, awkward pre-teen into a conquering hero. About five months ago (9 /12 years after the camp), one of these campers posted a picture of this game they found at goodwill on my facebook page with a smiley emoticon. It is funny the things that make the biggest impressions. So as a game for my wife and I to play, does this game impress?
Game Overview It is worth noting that this version of the game imports some optional special ability rules from Stratego: Legends. However, we played the traditional rules so that is what I am going to give a summary of. Stratego is a game of capture the flag. Players have several pieces numbered 2-10 plus five bomb pieces, one spy, and one flag that they place on their side of the board so that they can see the strength of their pieces but the opponent can not. On a player's turn they pick one piece and move it one space (no diagonals). When a piece is moved onto the space of another place both pieces are revealed and the piece with the highest number wins. The loser is removed from the board, and if they are equal both pieces are removed. Bomb pieces can not move, but if another piece attacks them the bomb blows them up. The exception to this is the "3" piece which defuses and removes bombs. The spy loses to all pieces, unless it attacks the 10 (the strongest piece) in this case the spy wins and defeats the spy. The first player to move a piece onto the opponent's flag piece (or lightsaber piece in this game) wins the game.
The Game We Played I have a standard strategy I used in deploying my pieces, and I followed this strategy once again. My wife repeated multiple times that she did not know how to best place her pieces. I began by sending my scouts and then moving in my nine, a couple of sevens and eights. My nine piece had a really good run before being taken out by my wife's 10. She sent her 10 on the offensive, but I was ready for it. I had maneuvered my spy to intercept her 10 and I took it. By this point it became fairly obvious that my wife's flag was somewhere in her left corner, surrounded by bombs. I used my 10 and an 8 to protect a 3 that I moved in. I defused two bombs in a row before I found the lightsaber and won the game.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 3 (it's OK) My Thoughts: This is still a sentimental favorite, but I know there are better games than this. The abstract nature and slow pace of the game really kind of drag it down for me now. This is a game that I will probably never request of anyone to play, but I will also never turn it down if someone else wants to play.
Her Rating: 2 (don't care for) Her Thoughts: The game is OK, but I am terrible at it. I do not know the best way to set pieces up and I have a hard time remembering pieces that were previously revealed.
Verdict Combined Rating: 5 I am a little torn on if we should keep this game or not. On one hand, this is a nostalgic game for me. It was one of the first games from early on that set the groundwork for me to love games. For that reason, I want to keep it to some day play with my son. On the other hand though, we already have much better games to play with him. Plus, I could really use the freed up closet space. . .
We traded for this game earlier this year at the Indy Con no-ship math trade. We traded a RPG book, In Harm's Way: A Napoleonic Naval Roleplaying Game, for it. I originally got this RPG at a second hand bookstore with a 50% off coupon, so I was pretty much willing to trade it for just about anything. As long as I got a game that had even a little potential to be fun I would have been happy. So is this game fun or just a bunch of unrealized potential?
Game Overview So this game takes this minute and a half scene:
And turns it into a four round game. In this game players compete to be the highest on the bridge, which is a three dimensional piece that is built and placed on the board. The first three rounds play the same. Players will draw nine cards, and end up playing up to six. The first player will play a card that has four boxes on both the left and right card face. Some of the boxes will be empty and the others will be blank. Then the opponent will "answer" this attack by playing their own card and lining up the right edge of the card in play with the left edge of the card just played. If the boxes on both player's cards are filled in then it cancels out. If one player has a blank box in one of the four and the other player has that box filled in then one damage is dealt, and the player's power will be decreased. The first player then answers this by doing the same thing and going through the same procedure. If any player's magic energy moves into negative the round is over. If not, then the rounds when both players have played six cards. Three cards are then set aside for the last round. Which ever player has more energy wins the duel and will advance up the bridge. The bigger the margin of victory the more steps a player can potentially move up.
When the next round begins, players reset their energy, new cards are drawn, and the loser of the previous round chooses who goes first. The final duel is the same only players will play the nine cards they set aside from the previous three rounds, and they will potentially play all nine of them.
After this final duel, the player highest on the bridge wins. If there is a tie the winner of the final duel wins the game. If at any round a player makes it to the top of the bridge they win.
The Game We Played I played as Gandalf and my wife played as the Balrog. I won the first round, but I only advanced one step. In the second round, my wife returned the favor and beat me so she advanced. In the third round I had a lot of special ability cards, and I used those to get my wife into the negatives. This gave me one more step up. In the final round, we were fairly even for the first few card plays, but I ran out of steam and my wife won the final round. This tied us on the steps, so she got the victory because she won the final duel.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 2.5 (do not care for) My Thoughts: I tend to like back and forth games like this. However, the gameplay of this one is just so bland. I also kind of dislike the the theme disconnect. This game makes the "duel" seem like a slow paced battle of wits that was full of magical parries, riposte, etc. In the movies and the book, this just is not how it actually played out.
Her Rating: 1.5 (Do not like) Her Thoughts: I did not like this game, and I did not find it fun. I don't really want to waste my time playing it again.
Verdict Combined Rating: 4 I really can not stress just how not picky I was in trading the book that led us to this game. I like trying new games, and it was quick, so I am glad I got to experience this game. However, we will not be keeping it and our copy will be one of the legions that find their way into the math trades.
I traded for this game in 2010, because I found the lure of the game to be fairly irresistible. Earlier in that year I played some of the Blood Bowl video game on the Xbox 360. However, a sub-optimal interface and poor explanation of the rules kept me from every really getting into it. However, I liked the concept of Blood Bowl a lot. Some research led me to Battleball, which often get described as "blood bowl lite". So did this game live up to my expectations or is there a reason why it shows up on thrift lists a lot?
Game Overview In the game both players have a team of eleven cyborg(ish) players that they are using to score a goal on a huge board that looks like a football field, divided up into rectangles for movement. Each player has a corresponding die (D20, D12, D10, D8, and D6 are all used) that is used for both movement and tackling. Each turn a player picks one of their players, rolls the corresponding die and moves the player. If this player ends next to a player of the opposing team then a tackle must be attempted. For a tackle each player rolls the appropriate die and the lowest number wins. This means that the fastest players are the worst tacklers, while the slower players are the best. The loser is removed for the round and a carnage token is placed where the player was eliminated. For the rest of the round, that location is blocked from anyone else moving on it. If a 1 is rolled for the tackle then the defeated player is removed for the duration of the game.
This goes on until a player scores. At that point, carnage tokens are cleared, defeated players are returned (unless eliminated) and a new round begins. The first player to win two round by scoring two total touchdowns is the winner.
The Game We Played My wife went first, and immediately ran one of her fast players out to get the ball. The next turn she moved that player again in an attempt to make a fast break into the end zone and win in two turns. She fell two spaces short and I tackled her. This led to a huge back and forth. Most of the action stayed on my side of the board but we kept trading blows. However, I was worst for wear. Both teams have a huge tank of a player, and my wife's big bruiser eliminated mine from the game. This same piece also eliminated two other pieces of my team from the game. It eventually got down to where I had two players on the board and my wife had three. I had the ball and started marching down the field. My wife failed two tackles, leaving her with one player who could not catch up so I scored the first point.
In the second round my player disadvantage really hurt me. I started with the ball, but I was unable to capitalize with a quick score. My wife got her big guy the ball and lumbered down field like the tank he is. The big guy gets to roll two D6 and pick the best result, and I took this guy on with one of my players that rolled a D8. We both rolled a one so both players were knocked out of the game. However, I soon lost the ball and my wife ran it down one of the sidelines for an easy touchdown.
For the final round my wife went first and retrieved the ball with one of her fast players. Seeing little choice, I ran one of my fast players up and made the tackle. This gave me the ball. My wife attempted to do the same thing, but she rolled low on the D20. I rolled for my fast ball carrier and rolled high. Since pieces in this game do not have any kind of zone of control, I ran straight through a whole in her line and scored my second touchdown.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 3 (it's OK) My Thoughts: While this is not a bad game, it has been completely replaced for me by ElfBall. This game has a couple of problems, and it lacks some real depth in strategy and tactics. Elfball keeps the ease of play but provides the depth that Battleball lacks.
Her Rating: 3 (it's OK) Her Thoughts: I think the way this game uses different dice for different players is neat. The game is too simple though, and can be a little boring.
Verdict Combined Rating: 6 I know there are several variants in the files section to add some depth to this game. However, I have a feeling using those variants will make this into a game that my wife will dislike. As a couple this is a game we will probably not play much if at all. However, we are both in agreement that this is a game we must hold onto for our son, because it will be perfect for a little boy to play some day.
My wife came from a family that LOVES themselves some rummy. For years they all got together and played a rummy variant many Friday nights. So it was not a big surprise that when we got married and moved our stuff from our respective parents' houses together that one of the things she had was a rummy board game. It has nostalgic value for my wife, but is is it a fun game?
Game Overview This is a game where players play numbered tiles to the table from a hand(tray) of tiles. These tiles are numbered 1 through 13 and are in four different colors. Each turn a player must play at least one tile or draw a tile. Players will play either runs or sets from their hands. A set is at least three tiles of the same number, and a run is at least three tiles of the same color in sequential order. The first play a player makes must be one of these and the numerical value of the tiles played must add up to at least 30. Once this has been achieved a player may then play single tiles to add to a set or run already on the table. Furthermore, a player may take tiles already on the tile to create a new set or run, as long as the set taken from has at least three tiles still. For example if there are four sevens on the table in the set and one of them is orange I could take the orange seven from the table and combine it with an orange five and six from my hand to create a new run.
This goes on until one player plays their last tile. Players with tiles left get negative points for the numerical value of the tiles they have left. The player that went out gets positive points inversely equal to the amount of negative points. Three total rounds are played and the most points wins.
The Game We Played The first round was fairly close, I went out first but my wife only had a five and three tile left. This made the score 8 to -8. In the second round, I made a mistake in how I played the tiles and I could have gone out one round earlier than I did. This was good for my wife because it gave her the opportunity to unload four 12 tiles. However, she still got stuck with two 11 tiles. After the second round the score was 30 to -30. The third round saw a few really big runs which led to a lot of splitting and taking tiles to form new sets/runs. I was able to do this a lot faster than my wife who struggled to get the tiles she needed. I went out fairly quickly and she got stuck with tiles that added up to 33. This ended the game and I won with a final score of 66 to -66.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 1.5 (Do not like) My Thoughts: In general, I dislike Rummy games because the negative points aspect of most of them drives me crazy. I hate being severely penalized because my bad luck happened when someone else had really good luck. This game is a bit more thinky than most rummy games because of how the tiles already played on the tile can be manipulated. This makes it like playing a puzzle, which I find tedious and not fun. Plus it can cause this game to move at a glacial pace.
Her Rating: 4 (like it) Her Thoughts: Figuring out the best way to move pieces in play around and make the best set or run is like playing a puzzle and that is a lot of fun. The only real downside to this game is it feels slow.
Verdict Combined Rating: 5.5 Between the two of us, my wife tends to be the more critical one and I kind of like everything, but this is very much a game that I just dislike. Despite, my wife liking it she is the one who initially suggested we get rid of it since we will almost never play it. This will be an easier parting for her, because she just discovered she can play the game on her phone.
Last year on kickstarter I supported this game because there was a lot about this game that sounded really good to me. I liked several individual mechanics/components of this game. I also really liked the idea of a light 4X game with a lot of variability that played in twoish hours. We have only backed a hand full of games on kickstarter, and this one of the ones that I am most excited about. So now that the game came in, does it live up to expectations or not?
Game Overview In this game players compete to get the most points for controlling the galaxy. At the beginning of each round players may spend their income collected from planets they control for technology or ships. A player can only develop one technology a round, and they can build as many ships as they can afford. Next in turn order, players may each take three actions a turn. There are several possible actions. A player may move a ship. Each ship that a player moves is an action. A ship may move up to is movement value. Another possible action is mine, which allows a player to take one extra credit. The third action a player can do is Culture which allows a player to draw a diplomacy card. Diplomacy cards are important because they are needed for the diplomacy action, but may also be discarded for a special ability.
There are two ways that a player can gain planets. The first is diplomacy. Each planet has a diplomatic type (militaristic, scholarly, mysterious, peaceful, capitalist). For a diplomatic action a player needs to have 1-4 cards of that type to play, and then they roll three dice. The number of cards to played determines the number needed to succeed. For example one card of the matching type requires a roll of 17, where four cards requires a roll of at least 4. If a player becomes a diplomatic ally of a planet they gain the income, VP, influence and special ability.
The other way to gain a planet is to conquer it with an attack action. To conquer a planet requires a single successful attack. If conquered the local population is not happy about it. This means a player gains the income, points, and influence but not the special ability. Players can and will attack each other. In these fights, players roll one die per ship in initiative order. Thus all "1" initiative ships roll first, damage is applied, and then all "2" initiative ships are rolled. Each ship has a target number that needs to be rolled for a hit. A small fighter for example has to roll a six for a hit, where a big destroyer only needs to roll a 3 or better. There are some technologies that can be used as alternate actions or give free actions as well.
Three times during the game players score points. They score points from planets controlled, from advance technologies, and from the galactic council. Planets provide influence and which ever player has the most influence will get bonus points. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. There are some modifiers, special technologies, trading players can do and events that happen every turn that can change things but that all goes beyond a brief overview.
The Game We Played My wife played the Narkani Alliance and I played The Academy of Eehg. The game has a smaller board set up for a two player game. We both started expanding out and by the first scoring round, we both controlled three planets, but I did have slightly better board position. After the first scoring round I allied with Phin and conquered Pyrious (the biggest paying planet and biggest point giving planets respectively). My wife allied with Corra, which made all nine planets taken. This put us in position to fight one another. I had more ships with better tech, but my wife had ships in better posistion. I was able to take Corra from her, but she retaliated by taking Phin. This put us into the second scoring round with very little changed. Like the first scoring round I scored a couple more points than she did because of influence. I was then able to beat back her assault on Lim, but I twice failed at taking back Phin from her. While I was doing this, she was the first one to build a Sunhammer, the biggest ship in the game. She sent it to take Pyrious. This set the stage for the last turn in the game, and I sent a fleet in to take Pyrious back which I did. However, I was to conservative and did not count on the special abilities my wife had access to for quick movement. Since it was the last turn she moved everything to Pyrious and took it back. This meant at the end of the game I controlled one more planet, but my wife had the one worth the most points. However, I still got more points from technology and kept the influence lead getting four points to her two. I won with the final score being 54 to 44.
Our Thoughts My Rating: 4 (like it) My Thoughts: I think I am really going to like this game. The game offers a lot of interesting decisions. There are never enough actions to do everything, but there are enough actions to feel like I can do enough. The game is fairly rules light, and it shows that the game is very combat heavy. Fighting with other players is inevitable, and when it happens it works well and is very quick. The game provides a great, thematic narrative in a short time span (our first game was 2.5 hours and our second was just over 90 minutes). This does not offer the depth of a big 4X game, nor does it get close to the depth of a more streamlined game like Eclipse. No, this is the 4X game for the people who look at the board and ask "is it like Risk?". I dare say this is a gateway 4X game, and for that it works really well.
Her Rating: 2.5 (do not care for) Her Thoughts: This is another game I do not like because people mess with my stuff! I like building up ships, and I like the diplomatic actions. I even like attacking, but I can not stand when people attack and take stuff from me. Despite that being a deal breaker for me I did appreciate how easy this game was to learn and how quick it played. This felt like a big, long game (like the game we recently played Attack!), but it played in less time.
Verdict Combined Rating: 6.5
For the two of us, this game is a bit of a mixed bag. As a couple, we will probably play it very rarely to be honest. The small board, and the fact that we have to fight each other makes the game a bit to confrontational for my wife's preferences. However, I really enjoyed the game. The game group that we are part meets for three hours in the evening during the week. This means that games like Space Empires: 4X and Twilight Imperium (third edition) are not possible to get played. Even playing Eclipse can be pushing it. However, this game will fit comfortably in a game night, and the ease of play means that anyone can jump in. Sadly, we may not hold on to this game forever, but for the foreseeable future we will hold on to it.
