Taking a look at Lagoon from 3hares Games. Visit their Kickstarter here:
This is a fabulous 2-3 person tile game. It does feel a little like an abstract strategy game, though David has taken care to weave his theme into every aspect of play.
I have personally backed this game and hope that you will do the same. It is as polished and political as one could ask for a game from a small publisher.
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A look into Euphoria: Building a Better Dystopia
This is 2-6 player game that plays in around 60 minutes.
My thoughts on the game begin at minute 24… and my tangents go a little undone. whoops!!
I found the bits in the box to be superb! Beautifully done. The strategy is not deep, but the politics and faction-play keeps the game exciting.
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Legacy is a 1-4 person card game from Portal Games.
In the video I detail the basic gameplay– giving overall scores of 6.5-7/10
For neat background info visit the designer diary at http://boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/23538/designer-diary-legacy-the-testament-of-duke-de-cre
Thanks for watching and stayed tuned!!
Ginkgopolis is a 1-5 player game from Z-man Games. I love it!
Skip ahead to minute 20 to skip the rules overview. Play from the beginning to… not skip the rules overview.
Overall I’m delivering a 7.5/10!! Loves it!
Components are top notch. Nice-feeling cards, lots of wooden bits, not-useless(almost) player screens.
The gameplay is rather simple, but the rulebook is tangential and hard to decipher.
Playtime is short due to simultaneous action selection.
Bora Bora is a Stefan Feld game for 2-4 players. It plays around 1.5-2 hours.
Overall I would give it a healthy 8 out of 10.
The first 2 minutes is introduction. Then a game explanation. Opinons and wrap-up at 28:22.
In components and aesthetics, the island theme is lovely and bright. The colors are rich and vibrant.
Gameplay is fiddly and wonderful. Resetting the board each round will put off the newer gamer. For those of us looking for an intriguing challenge, this game has it. It has many paths to victory, all of which seem viable. You really need to react to the gamestate as it appears.
The improvement I could most see for it? Drafting the task tiles before the game is set. This will allow players to shape their strategy from the first turn onward.
I’ve been mildly obsessed with the new card game, Spyrium!!
Overall we’re giving it a 7/10.
The components are fine, if nothing special.
The gameplay is interactive, well-timed and DIFFERENT.
The biggest two downsides we’ve found have been in the fiddly-ness of all the bits for those who are not careful where they’re placing things, and the ho-hum theme
I got the chance to play Krosmaster Arena a month or so ago, AND NOW I CAN’T STOP!!
Overall I give Krosmaster a 7.5/10
The components are fan-fucking-tastic. Beautiful, 3d, lots of details.
The gameplay is a little wacky. It uses a lot of dice. A lot. There are plenty of ways around them though.
Watch a video or two before diving in as the rulebook(as almost all do) leaves much to be desired.
The video should be a decent walk-through with opinions after the 13-minute mark.
Recently I started playing Drum Roll from Artepia Games. After several plays I’ve come away with the following thoughts:
Components: Beautiful, lots of colors, great wooden bits. Couldn’t be happier with quality, wish the player boards were smaller.
Gameplay: Works very smoothly. Though there were not innumerable choices, a turn did not have an obvious “best” choice. This did lead to some AP issues with multiple groups.
The Good: Fun, flavorful and lots of different performers.
The Not-so-good: Swingy cards with very little mitigation.
This game was certainly worth some plays. Overall a 6.5/10
Lets look a little more in depth at the overlooked Chicken Caesar from Nevermore Games. My first impression of this game, i am not shy to admit, was wholly negative. The pun, the kickstarter, even the cover art… something in making a game when you’re unknown to a community should be in perception, right? Game-makers Bryan Fischer and John Sizemore, have made themselves an excellent negotiation game.
The good: The table is full of open information that doesn’t shy away from real, direct confrontation. This kind of interaction between players is so rare. Honestly, if shown this game without any theme, i really think i could sell it to just about anyone who walks into my store.
The bad: the game hits at 4-5 players without much wiggle room.
Who should check this out? anyone who likes lying and betraying their friends, RIGHT IN THEIR FACE! Welp, I suppose you can play this game a little nicer. Any big bad wolf among you is going to have quite a feast!
here’s how it works:
So your chickens have decided the coop could use an overhaul. The roman government is the (obviously) best choice. Its politicking(politiking?), focus on intellectual discussion, and ultimate treachery seems very cock-like. The Caesar shall be accountable for health and happiness. The tax guys will decide on tax-things, guards will be bribed and monuments to our fallen fowls with be built.
Chicken Caesar is played out over around ninety minutes. Each player represents a powerful chicken-family. Chickens wheel and deal themselves into some of the 5 different government positions. The aediles choose how much to tax the citizens, lining their pockets will also mean that blood is spilt. The Praetors will assign the guards to watch the officials in each office, often sending the traitorous guards after those who are building themselves up too fast. The consul will deliberate on their fallen cohorts; Often taking some financial incentive to build out a monument of an opponent’s family. The Caesar and censor make one important decision during their often short term. The Caesar may veto any one vote as it is placed. This can prevent death of a former beneficiary. The censor will send one chicken into exile until the next offices are seated. They can in fact exile themselves to prevent death.
In any round in which a single chicken has died, so shall the Caesar. If his censor is still seated, he will be demoted. All remaining chickens will ascend to their new offices and voting shall continue to place remaining chickens into the empty seats. The game will end when an entire family has been eradicated, or when there are not enough remaining chickens to fill the seats of a new round.
I’ve to date won half of my games of Chicken Caesar. Sometimes it has been throwing shade at the craftier opponents, sometimes trying to fly under the radar of others. Being sweet and simple is not something i’m known for, so this tactic will only work with folks who do not know me. I would totally do this, if opportunity allowed.
The scoring of Chicken Caesar is interesting. It is easy to know when you are winning or losing, as all scores are open. One well-placed monument can put any player over the top in scoring. The chart is an optimization-based score, like Agricola. Individual chickens will earn an insignia for each office they serve from round, to round. If they survive multiple rounds, this develops an “extra” insignia. These can then be offered up to the consul to be built onto your fallen chickens. For every chicken that carries the same kind of insignia, a score will be reached. The Caesar’s insignia is the greatest number of points, as it is very difficult to obtain, and even harder to survive into an extra insignia to be built later.
So the game is built upon good timing, and better negotiation than the next guy.
Overall i would recommend this as a great 5 player negotiation game. Much better than the Bang-werewolves-resistance style, if you’re trying to fill an entire evening of play.
This last week I tried out a new game, Zooligans from 800steps. This is a children’s card game which plays in around 20 minutes. In Zooligans, players of all ages bid to fill their zoos with special animals from around the world. This game was sent to me by the creator, while the kickstarter is still active.
What did I think? strong bones, if not a little rough around the edges.
Hippo animal (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
Theme 7/10: Oh yes, these animals have real pictures. I love the credit for the Flickr ones. I feel a little bad for
‘capturing’ endangered species. I think this was more educational than ignorant though.
Components 5/10: The tuck box provided was a little flimsy, but i liked the color scheme. It did not allow for card sleeves. The cards themselves were slick and pretty, but easy bent during normal play with children.
Length 10/10: I can see why this would be a fun exercise during snack time. 20 minutes to your own personal zoo!
Mechanics 7/10: Whelp, i wish that 800steps would have waited through a little more playtesting before pulling the trigger. The auction round, as I will detail later, is unbalanced and underwhelming. The goal cards are fun and the exhibits are possible. I feel this game could be teachable to all your little ones.
Animal – Moose – Alaska (Photo credit: blmiers2)
So, how does it play? A couple of end-game goals are revealed. Three zoo exhibits are dealt into the center of the table. Each round, a player is dealt a number of animal cards in hand, with values from 2-10 gold each. One special animal is dealt facing up from the auction deck.
Players may all use cards from their hands to bid on the animal to obtain them for their exhibits; upping eachother to a higher valued animal as they go.
As an adult, i wish that cards in hand could be combined to bid on the auction. To teach children, i feel this basic arithmetic would not be unwelcome. Also, with ranges in value from 2-10, i would have preferred five cards in hand, as opposed to three.
What’s so special?
Zoo-keeping is fun. It makes our imaginations work in overtime examining our love for exotic creatures and birds.
What’s the rub?
This game could have used slightly nicer components and a more sophisticated bidding system. With so few cards in hand, the player with 7-10 gold to spend has all the power.
A small aside as well, some of the ‘fun facts’ about the animals were lazy and unimaginative. This may seem nit-picky. I
About 200 Snow leopards, an endangered species, are believed to live in Ladakh (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
accept that. Facts are easy to look up, and there was already room on the cards.
I support 800 steps in their efforts. They have a great sense of what kind of games kids are looking for. I very much wish they had refined a little bit.
Maggibot 
