So last Saturday I was fortunate enough to host another game day. This was a small event with only 3 other folks, so we decided to play some hard hitting lengthy games.
We started with Starcraft, which worked out well since we all had played one week earlier. The game went just over 4 hours and I lost.
We passed some time before dinner with China and Pompeii. Both games went fast and were a lot of fun. I liked China for the way it combines 2 regions with one color giving you added choices not to mention the way scoring was done. Still though, I lost.
Pompeii as well was fun. I liked the sudden shift from go see the volcano to get the hell out of dodge. Funny quick game, which I proceeded to lose.
Next we all learned Antike. While I had never played before and did not expect to win. James, the anti-Eurogamer next to me also played for the first time and dominated.
So the tally thus far, 0-4
We ended the night with Age of Empires III, A game I have played a few times. Here I thought I may have a chance, but James, anti Euro boy himself, not only won, but by almost twice the points of the 2nd place person. Just goes to show you, some days you win, some days you lose, but James sucks everyday.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
The Ultimate show down of Ultimate destiny
Friday Mike, Big Time, James, and I settled down in our stocking caps to kick some space aged ass. That is we played our first game ever of StarCraft.
I have been waiting for over a year to get this game, and when it arrived last week it was burning a hole in my house dying to get played. So without further waiting… here are my thoughts on the most anticipated (by me anyway) game of the year.
It come from Fantasy Flight Games, so I knew the quality of the pieces would be excellent. I was right. I few of the miniatures broke in transit but are easily repaired. The board, pieces, and cards are all excellent quality and just scream, “play with me!”
The rules… Well even though they are a hard to digest 48 pages long, most of that is sample game play. I was able to condense them into a 1 page “Cheat Sheet” which worked very well.
Game setup – about an hour this first time since it was read the rules, setup a bit, read some more, setup some more, etc… Once it was setup though the concept of how you “create” the galaxy seemed to work well and the advent of Z-axis routes was pretty neat. (Z axis simply means that since the 2-D board is supposed to represent 3D space, some planets on the board, even if not physically located next to other planets, can be traveled to as if they were adjacent.)
So then game play started. The first turn went well and no one seemed overwhelmed by the rules or phases of each turn. In the end the scoring was very close (having done away with the special winning scenarios since they made the game go to fast and no one was really paying attention to them anyway) The game took about 4 hours (average for 3.5 new players since Tim had played once before) and I we all learned some very good strategy for the next time we play like what seemed to work and what did not help us much.
Final thoughts:
This game needs to played again so we can use the strategies our first “dry run” gave us. I love the twist on movement and combat. Even at one of the board, you are not necessarily safe unlike Twilight Imperium where you can build and defend your home region. This game certainly comes off as a kill quick or be killed. The one player who played it completely safe got the lowest score by a fair margin.
I love the combat system since it is fresh, used no dice, and allows a strategic element to the combat system as a whole as you decide whether to save or use your special cards. Add to this the technology deck which allows you to place add on items either to combat or in general and each combat round was unique.
I like the development and resources. Nothing feel better then upgrading a building to make new types of units.
I like the fact it really feels like a Board Game version of StarCraft, not just a game using the name.
What I was not sold on was the special victory which seems to blind side you unless you are watching very single aspect of the other players. I had more time working toward area control and victory points, then special victory conditions which in my mind were way to easy for some folks to achieve. Fantasy Flight seems to love making special victory conditions and/or easy ways to archive points (like the Twilight Imperium Strategy that gives 2 Victory Points each time you choose it, although this was changed to 1 in the expansion, most folks won using the original card rather then a mixed strategy.)
Combat was cool but long. A large battle took a long time waiting for the two players to choose cards, etc… Not terrible, but long. Thank goodness combat is only 1 round.
I think most of the game is well balanced, but combat did seem to favor the Defender at least in being able to hold onto regions. It will take a few more games to see if this is really true.
The combat deck is messy, in that you have a combat hand, a combat deck, a tech deck, and a discard all using the same background. Some times my combat hand was bigger then my deck, and all in all the placement of so may “same type” card got confusing. Only the tech desk had it’s own little area, the rest seemed to get confused as folks grabbed their Combat Deck thinking it was their hand, etc…
All in all, I give this game a solid 8 our of 10 for being one solid fast paced game of area control, combat, and resource management. Even with my little gripes this game was worth the wait and one I look forward to playing again soon.
I have been waiting for over a year to get this game, and when it arrived last week it was burning a hole in my house dying to get played. So without further waiting… here are my thoughts on the most anticipated (by me anyway) game of the year.
It come from Fantasy Flight Games, so I knew the quality of the pieces would be excellent. I was right. I few of the miniatures broke in transit but are easily repaired. The board, pieces, and cards are all excellent quality and just scream, “play with me!”
The rules… Well even though they are a hard to digest 48 pages long, most of that is sample game play. I was able to condense them into a 1 page “Cheat Sheet” which worked very well.
Game setup – about an hour this first time since it was read the rules, setup a bit, read some more, setup some more, etc… Once it was setup though the concept of how you “create” the galaxy seemed to work well and the advent of Z-axis routes was pretty neat. (Z axis simply means that since the 2-D board is supposed to represent 3D space, some planets on the board, even if not physically located next to other planets, can be traveled to as if they were adjacent.)
So then game play started. The first turn went well and no one seemed overwhelmed by the rules or phases of each turn. In the end the scoring was very close (having done away with the special winning scenarios since they made the game go to fast and no one was really paying attention to them anyway) The game took about 4 hours (average for 3.5 new players since Tim had played once before) and I we all learned some very good strategy for the next time we play like what seemed to work and what did not help us much.
Final thoughts:
This game needs to played again so we can use the strategies our first “dry run” gave us. I love the twist on movement and combat. Even at one of the board, you are not necessarily safe unlike Twilight Imperium where you can build and defend your home region. This game certainly comes off as a kill quick or be killed. The one player who played it completely safe got the lowest score by a fair margin.
I love the combat system since it is fresh, used no dice, and allows a strategic element to the combat system as a whole as you decide whether to save or use your special cards. Add to this the technology deck which allows you to place add on items either to combat or in general and each combat round was unique.
I like the development and resources. Nothing feel better then upgrading a building to make new types of units.
I like the fact it really feels like a Board Game version of StarCraft, not just a game using the name.
What I was not sold on was the special victory which seems to blind side you unless you are watching very single aspect of the other players. I had more time working toward area control and victory points, then special victory conditions which in my mind were way to easy for some folks to achieve. Fantasy Flight seems to love making special victory conditions and/or easy ways to archive points (like the Twilight Imperium Strategy that gives 2 Victory Points each time you choose it, although this was changed to 1 in the expansion, most folks won using the original card rather then a mixed strategy.)
Combat was cool but long. A large battle took a long time waiting for the two players to choose cards, etc… Not terrible, but long. Thank goodness combat is only 1 round.
I think most of the game is well balanced, but combat did seem to favor the Defender at least in being able to hold onto regions. It will take a few more games to see if this is really true.
The combat deck is messy, in that you have a combat hand, a combat deck, a tech deck, and a discard all using the same background. Some times my combat hand was bigger then my deck, and all in all the placement of so may “same type” card got confusing. Only the tech desk had it’s own little area, the rest seemed to get confused as folks grabbed their Combat Deck thinking it was their hand, etc…
All in all, I give this game a solid 8 our of 10 for being one solid fast paced game of area control, combat, and resource management. Even with my little gripes this game was worth the wait and one I look forward to playing again soon.
Rock-Con does not feature “THE ROCK”
So this year I attended Rock-CON for the very first time. For those who do not know what this is, Rock CON takes place in Rockford Illinois and gathers Miniature and Board gamers from all over the state to play games.
This year it was held inside a large indoor recreation center with about 50 tables setup with games. At first the show seemed very slow with folks first arriving and setting up the various games, but by around noon it was packed with all sorts of games including one that took up over 10 tables with large (About the size of a breadbox) pirate ships.
The day is spilt into 3 sessions (or games). The first session I played Coliseum with a few folks and had a very good time. It was the first time I played and I did fairly well. The next session I actually ran and hosted a game called Age of Empires III. This is a pretty easy game to understand so I figured I would open it up to entry level players (Having only played once before myself)
This was a mistake…
It seems entry level players was read as entry to the world of games in general. Here I am walking toward my table and see a group of total misfits. I was thinking, “at least they are not my group.” Then I looked at the table number and realized. “YUP, they are MINE!”
I am a very patient person but this group really stretched that out for me.
You had Preston the Ninja – literally dressed up like a Ninja. (BTW, this is a convention to play games and shop a bit, not a Star Trek Convention. He was the only person in costume. It did not help that his cloak did not help to “Cloak;’ the smell of being in that outfit all day. YIKES!
You had Gwen, a sweet lady in her 20’s or 30’s who just DID NOT GET IT. She tried but this was a game well beyond her skill set. Besides asking to re-do her move every 3 minutes and starting strange conversations like (Your Shirt reminds me of Star Wars, which was said to Mike whose shirt simply said… STAR WARS!) she was all right.
We end with Nick, a teenage boy who had never played a game in his life. ANY game really. He must have grown up in a pod, and his social skills reflected that. His dad was there (who did not play) who informed me by whisper that his son was a bit shy. No shit bro, the kid did not speak for the first 3 hours we played. In the end he came out of his shell a bit (funny it was when Dad was not around) and did fairly well.
I did terrible mostly since I was tutoring everyone else the entire game long. A game that averages 2-3 hours pushed into the 4+ hour mark and by the time it was done, I was spent. No third game for me, I am taking my toys and going home!
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