tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52039414327784772332024-02-07T01:50:03.025+00:00Norwich Board GamersPlaying board games since 2005ish. Every Monday & Tuesday evening at St. Andrews Brew House/Louis Marchesi.Borkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06456256915491568109noreply@blogger.comBlogger414125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-67333309788402658432023-12-12T15:43:00.002+00:002023-12-13T10:41:50.534+00:0012 Reasons why you FAIL at explaining Board Game Rules<p></p><div><span style="font-size: large;">🕑 <b>6</b></span><b style="font-size: large;"> min read</b></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXX08KqZgzYVa5rcVgKhmIcLE1hXyCWELZ70x9XgRYvlaEzJo5WJWN1DrCpLafYFqPZp3gVDQtQv4heb64Q9v1-2kt233mR02nGXMtsnYi0YEZXt2dya7_bUTe7ZloKdsvLBFuWbf4fjS9pdmbPjrKy2fm92mtKagSZdfWCZrVxKoDctGK_lJAxp49WU/s533/7a9glz.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="356" data-original-width="533" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWXX08KqZgzYVa5rcVgKhmIcLE1hXyCWELZ70x9XgRYvlaEzJo5WJWN1DrCpLafYFqPZp3gVDQtQv4heb64Q9v1-2kt233mR02nGXMtsnYi0YEZXt2dya7_bUTe7ZloKdsvLBFuWbf4fjS9pdmbPjrKy2fm92mtKagSZdfWCZrVxKoDctGK_lJAxp49WU/s320/7a9glz.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Yes yes. I intentionally used the word <b>FAIL </b>to illicit a visceral reaction of fear and disgust in you. Otherwise known as click bait. So let's not talk about <i>whooo </i>called <i>whooo </i>a failure and let's remind ourselves about the creative and hugely necessary art<b> </b>of<b> Board Game Rules Explanations</b>! Yay!</div><div><br />Holiday season is almost upon us, and we <i>may</i> be thinking about becoming jolly and teaching our families a new board game or two, after our festive roast lunch of choice; AND on Mondays and Tuesdays at NoBoG!</div><div><br /></div><div>Below is a list of <b>12 </b>'<b>Don'ts</b>' I have concocted from memory. If you have any more to share, or you wish to argue the exact opposite point... please feel free to comment! Sharing, after all, is caring.</div><div><br /></div><div>So without further ado, why <b>DO</b> you fail at explaining board game rules, eh?<br /><br /></div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><i><b>You've not read the rules yet, or recently. </b></i><br />Sounds obvious, however, it needs repeating for some of us. I've done it myself "<i>sorry I didn't expect to be playing this game tonight... so I didn't read the rules! Can everyone help me pop out the tiles from the inserts please?</i>". Don't be me. Do better. <br /><br /></li><li><i><b>You've not watched an online play through of the game, or played before.</b></i><br />Watching the game, or playing the game gives us greater memory recall when trying to describe the instructions efficiently. The more you play/watch, the faster and more accurate you can explain the rules. My favourite game explanations to sit through, always start with "<i>I played this game 3 times now, and the last time I played was yesterday</i>". My heart beat immediately calms down... ahhhh.<br /><br /></li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_OpLKtvPMYfagDFwcdxCOJjhIRs7bfJJkYv6UUf9uVh_w_QONwjqbUiI6PBiLHeiliMq0ej2LIAPwfn_khy4vE4KclUpWiO6Wj88V-vli1MSWlFZs4vgNOg8PAu1lSd0itAlX34DQxBo9yxb7Cqr8h9W-lDppxjqca8_T6NCzPLmdYMruD6uCioPY1U/s4032/17s8859ar4461.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1908" data-original-width="4032" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy_OpLKtvPMYfagDFwcdxCOJjhIRs7bfJJkYv6UUf9uVh_w_QONwjqbUiI6PBiLHeiliMq0ej2LIAPwfn_khy4vE4KclUpWiO6Wj88V-vli1MSWlFZs4vgNOg8PAu1lSd0itAlX34DQxBo9yxb7Cqr8h9W-lDppxjqca8_T6NCzPLmdYMruD6uCioPY1U/s320/17s8859ar4461.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's just like Catan, duuude.</td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>The game is too complicated for the intended audience.<br /></i></b>Some players may not have realised how complex the game is going to become. Try starting off with a brief synopsis on how complicated it can get... give them a chance to pick something simpler or perhaps find a different group. Normally, the average time to complete a game is a key indicator of how tough it will be to learn the rules. Not always... but sometimes.<br /><br /></li><li><i><b>You share game strategies BEFORE the mechanics have been fully explained.</b></i><br />Sometimes we can be too energetic and enthused about a particular game or part of a game. We may decide to describe what happened in prior games, hoping to teach players about our misfortune or success... save that for the end IF you have time. So please try and refrain from describing to players how you won a 'last round' victory by employing the 'church/beggar/owl/stone' strategy.. at least until the game is going.<br /><br /></li><li><i><b>You keep jumping to the edge rule cases, during the main rules explanation.</b></i><br />Funny little extra rules for the <i>first turn</i>, <i>last turn</i>, or <i>no turn</i> etc... Try not to explain them all at once. Drop a hint about them, and remind everyone at the end of an explanation about the slight differences or special circumstances... like what happens when you tie as winners. <br /><br /></li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNoMhgukRUtJzvEUgo1FrlCAZ6h9t6g1GohE0-uabuDl8kpZ98iETD-co1HJVBkJdWZur4hfvbQMk28XJVmQQeSDA1qe1Fhcsh3gjjeMu1tRQuUCUdH2PPpviV9w7LTZeqwzg9qZrCj9pekYanwpOEqMdUipUoenmnvH5M7yp_MYRfR6IZpzPtp9D548/s930/Cockroach-Poker-7-1170x823.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="823" data-original-width="930" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzNoMhgukRUtJzvEUgo1FrlCAZ6h9t6g1GohE0-uabuDl8kpZ98iETD-co1HJVBkJdWZur4hfvbQMk28XJVmQQeSDA1qe1Fhcsh3gjjeMu1tRQuUCUdH2PPpviV9w7LTZeqwzg9qZrCj9pekYanwpOEqMdUipUoenmnvH5M7yp_MYRfR6IZpzPtp9D548/s320/Cockroach-Poker-7-1170x823.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not the winning that counts.<br />It's the fact that it ends is important.</td></tr></tbody></table><b><i>You forgot to tell everyone how to win the game.</i></b><br />Not as easy to remember as one might think. Keep it simple at first, then come back later if it needs more fleshing out. I like to tell players this quite early on.<br /><br /></li><li><b><i>You also forgot to tell everyone how the game ends.</i></b><br />Normally forgotten, until last. Good to bring it up naturally during the game explanation. "<i>...and that is how we end the game actually. When all those cards are finally drawn</i>". Then of course remind everyone at the end again. Simples. Do it. <br /><br /></li><li><b><i>You go into too much detail when describing the turn structure.</i></b><br />Keep your initial descriptions as simple as possible. "<i>On your turn, pick up 2 cards, play one. Return other one to the discard pile</i>." <b>NOT </b>"<i>on your turn, pick up 2 cards, if you get a blue one then try to keep that one, but discard the green ones for at least the first 3 rounds of this 5 round game. Trust me bro.</i>". Yeh. No. <br /><i><b><br /></b></i></li><li><i><b>You take on way too many questions from the other players before the full explanation is completed.</b></i><br />It happens. A lot. Perhaps answer a few questions as they come up, but if one or several players are preempting your explanation with continuous 'drill-down' questions, then its best to ask them to save their questions for the end. As some of the upcoming rules may just explain the confusion in greater detail. Not a hard and fast rule this one... but could save a lot of frustration.<br /><br /></li><li><i><b>You didn't wait until all the players were seated and waiting.</b></i><br />Another super obvious one. Unless a player has experience with the game being explained, wait for everyone to be seated, watered and ready. Even if there is another experienced player, having them around might help with the explanations. So long as they don't mind keeping quiet as you maul the rules in front of them.<br /><br /></li><li><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBu5wfgrwJ983cW0lyVjMRfIs00av5K2vJw5cMgu5wSCCOIIZMnqWjZo6wXBp6N3of4n7BdCx-w9alyQucQwlk9K0RdQVwr5yD4NVNnIMAoFSPlYiHdG_E3Ef7E0ToXInzW_yN48d_nZh0tAM99gq9oTmvNkMj8sS48w8zUxTfxqg0xhjx1B2T3SMOeJM/s2048/407736177_10160844643614876_1823035617421057325_n.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBu5wfgrwJ983cW0lyVjMRfIs00av5K2vJw5cMgu5wSCCOIIZMnqWjZo6wXBp6N3of4n7BdCx-w9alyQucQwlk9K0RdQVwr5yD4NVNnIMAoFSPlYiHdG_E3Ef7E0ToXInzW_yN48d_nZh0tAM99gq9oTmvNkMj8sS48w8zUxTfxqg0xhjx1B2T3SMOeJM/s320/407736177_10160844643614876_1823035617421057325_n.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brave warrior.</td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>You may have forgotten, that playing board games is fun!<br /></b></i>During the stress of teaching board games to others, we can easily forget that this is supposed to be a fun evening. Slow down, smile, crack a joke if you feel like it. Once you have everyone's attention, trust me it will go a LOT smoother. My favourite one liner seems to get a great response most times, feel free to try it out for yourself - "<i>The object of this game is to, win</i>.".<br /><br /></li><li><i><b>You know all the above, yet you apply them in a random sequence for maximum confusion.</b></i><br />Now, I'd love to tell you which order to explain Catan to your auntie with a short attention span, or 3 hyperactive cousins... but I can't. The suggested order in which we explain the rules is normally shown in each rule book. However, as you get to be more experienced, YOU can decide at which point to drop in the line, "<i>OH! I forgot. Even though we are all racing towards 10 victory points, you have to beat all the other players by a gap of at least 2 VPs, or that 10 becomes 11. Plus remember your hidden VPs! They come into play when revealed. SO! Do you understand? It's 10 VPs to victory, unless it's 11... or 12. Sometimes 13. You'll see</i>". Yeh. Good luck with that one if you forget to explain it to your mum or dad.</li></ol><div><br /></div><div>Finally, there really is no 'best' way to teach rules of a board game to 3 or 4 players who have never heard of the game before. You best recipe for success is simplicity through experience. So, bring your favourite game in lots, get it to the table and have fun explaining it; again, and again and again. It will get easier with time.</div><div><br /></div><div>You got this! We believe in you. </div><div><br /></div><p></p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-23861939603221436872023-12-09T15:36:00.016+00:002023-12-18T23:07:10.522+00:00Game Night - Take That. Robbie's Revenge<p><span style="font-size: medium;">🕑 <b>8 min read</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div style="text-align: left;">It's <b>Game Night</b> once again! Plus, Take That has gotten the band back together for one night of unbridled back-stabbery, and 'board game sanctioned' revenge. Yes, strap yourself in for the brutal, beautiful and recently re-released Spiel des Jahres winner from Nointy-Nointy-Six - <b>El Grande</b>. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the King. We must protect the King!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1abPEO_kgMxNoHVO0WhBTIgYPjhltemjjQ2JCUEIRViWY3EE3HUTSPY9sLrax0MIRqzQTZNH-b_uqFny6J8bjZlRXD616lFIgOfTmYhsGZgDSgsVwry71hN4MqFMHVs1gY-uHhPXAKYiJ9BRuopMqOjImxiuAfAjF24_1lFBIkoL6hIaURCDwTff2zg/s500/TBG12.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja1abPEO_kgMxNoHVO0WhBTIgYPjhltemjjQ2JCUEIRViWY3EE3HUTSPY9sLrax0MIRqzQTZNH-b_uqFny6J8bjZlRXD616lFIgOfTmYhsGZgDSgsVwry71hN4MqFMHVs1gY-uHhPXAKYiJ9BRuopMqOjImxiuAfAjF24_1lFBIkoL6hIaURCDwTff2zg/w320-h320/TBG12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>It was a cold December Tuesday evening and the pub was packed to the rafters with 30+ <b>NoBoGlins </b>hungry for entertainment. They got it. We all got it. After the evening's introductions which included a new <b>Board Game Bingo</b> seasonal event being launched, 5 of us squared off to play one of the most bloody games in board gaming history. No, we're not playing a life sized <b>Jenga </b>tower, capable of crushing your sleeping uncle after Christmas lunch. We were of course playing the legendary El Grande, designed by serial games designers, <b>Woflgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">As we sat down across from one another, it became apparent that two(!) members of Take That had brought along this exact same game. Here to settle old scores this evening were, to my right; the previously shunned <b>Robbie, </b>then <b>Gary</b>, <b>Mark</b>, <b>Jason </b>(the game owner), and me, why not.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The rules explanation was handled professionally by both Jason and Robbie. Unfortunately my attention was too easily diverted away from 'rules' by a colourful board, and the <i>beautiful </i>cardboard tower looming in the corner. Everyone was smiling and in high spirits. Very strange. I though we were here to declare war.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerYjbozUMsWO5pVlZ21ftvr0aLUJTwqlnkyYXhX9m7opZrPDJmtZFhnrgbzI8stReU9vKRo4LzTGenXNtyNYWZfaOFTzLxEM4qkia0lXfy7W_w3NdbnD3MHjL9R7mPtCrk2nt3WMnrLFPpU1_UxICxbfom_tOh41yncUyHjh4IlCZQEat-XLq9Lwnd4s/s4000/2023-12-05%2019.54.01.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgerYjbozUMsWO5pVlZ21ftvr0aLUJTwqlnkyYXhX9m7opZrPDJmtZFhnrgbzI8stReU9vKRo4LzTGenXNtyNYWZfaOFTzLxEM4qkia0lXfy7W_w3NdbnD3MHjL9R7mPtCrk2nt3WMnrLFPpU1_UxICxbfom_tOh41yncUyHjh4IlCZQEat-XLq9Lwnd4s/s320/2023-12-05%2019.54.01.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Tower of Mystery</td></tr></tbody></table>Game turns in El Grande comprise of a very straight forward set of actions. Once turn order has been established, each player plays (face-up) one of the 13 numbered cards from their hand. The cards are numbered 1-13. The higher the number, the earlier you will pick up one of the 5 unique draft-able action cards, which drive the game forwards. The lower the number, the more troops (meeples) you can enlist from your supply in readiness to place onto the gorgeous map of medieval Spain. The player with the lowest numbered card also becomes the first player, next turn. The game is broken into 3 consecutive rounds of 4 turns each. Scoring phases happen at the end of each round. Ultimately, the aim is to score victory points by occupying territories (worker placement style) in Spain, shifting troops from one place to another, right up until the scoring phases happen. Then whoever has the most meeples in one territory, wins some victory points. Some territories offer varied consolation prizes for both 2nd and 3rd places, sometimes they don't. There is also a huge tower to drop troops in, secretly accumulating meeples, until it too is scored! A powerful bonus is up for grabs by winning the 'tower' game, because during a scoring phase, each Grandes (player's) meeples contained in the tower are unceremoniously dumped onto one territory of their choice, BEFORE the end of round scoring begins. Ooo it's spicy. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHkqY4E6cAnMnuJNcbl93MsyPZkVvC5zWzlywc3qmsktsFBa3oPzjj3ftX7P7PXtkjpfLq_t0B_JJHFY8SQm_gHzWckTkGhdDRSL974bX9cfPzIo59E28I1V6yvyKDDEYGXl3yC4LF3B3eBWvXwoXKgigJaCwPuryHUmGXT_78Ry5OBh_6CHg63HZV70/s4000/2023-12-05%2020.14.54.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaHkqY4E6cAnMnuJNcbl93MsyPZkVvC5zWzlywc3qmsktsFBa3oPzjj3ftX7P7PXtkjpfLq_t0B_JJHFY8SQm_gHzWckTkGhdDRSL974bX9cfPzIo59E28I1V6yvyKDDEYGXl3yC4LF3B3eBWvXwoXKgigJaCwPuryHUmGXT_78Ry5OBh_6CHg63HZV70/s320/2023-12-05%2020.14.54.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Sparkly King does his walk</td></tr></tbody></table>Ok. So, there is a lot of toing and froing going on as the Grandes vie for area majority of profitable territories. During the game, placing and removing of troops is massively hindered and empowered by where the King is (a huge, glitzy gold wooden meeple), which is moved each turn by the player who takes the 'King' action card. The game is brutal, and not just because having a majority of meeples in a territory is as fleeting and fickle as <i>love </i>itself. One minute, you might think you're getting married, but in the next second, you are splitting your board game collection with them and arguing over who gets Scout. WE ALL HAVE SCOUT!! Get over it, please.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The 5 actions cards which are drafted by players in turn order, allow them to deploy meeples, move meeples from one territory to another, and move other players meeples into or AWAY from territories you control. If that wasn't enough chaos and heart break for you evil doers... some action cards allow you to relocate the King, thus freezing all meeple movements in that territory. Finally, a Grande with an insatiable blood lust, could just 'assassinate' a whole swathe of enemy troops (meeples), sending them back to their supply. Ouch. There is so much more to this game than I've just explained above, however, it's time to get back to the game at hand... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br />First player up, was Robbie, with a real mission to rub everyone's noses in their flourishing solo career, immediately took the King action. They deployed a whole bunch of their meeples into a high scoring territory, and then slid the King onto it. Thus, stopping all additional movements both in and out of the space. This was bad enough, however Robbie had also managed to imprison the majority of Gary's troops in a territory which they could not possibly prosper from... pretty much destroying Gary's 1st, 2nd and possibly 3rd turns. After the first 4 turns, Robbie was riding high with an excess of 20 points. Mark, Jason and I were close (not close) behind, and Gary was bottom of the charts.. with zero points. It was a first round massacre. Game over? Not yet.... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdb29QL6MWWpMJh8CNq4Dcv3ApweXp8Dw9YjUxYNHkiA_Bo5fu_dyMzEzwjqpi1eRckLr0HJAha9v05SpXz_asM1cBv4T6qcDmkgyZiCstvzUU4Ua9FoPd9_CQZdIy0wdFtm0bvP-43RelA2iYcIbUJO0z_W31GfsMtKiUjNiktmydebDjNTJB13SnOY/s498/gary-barlow-sad.gif" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="280" data-original-width="498" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkdb29QL6MWWpMJh8CNq4Dcv3ApweXp8Dw9YjUxYNHkiA_Bo5fu_dyMzEzwjqpi1eRckLr0HJAha9v05SpXz_asM1cBv4T6qcDmkgyZiCstvzUU4Ua9FoPd9_CQZdIy0wdFtm0bvP-43RelA2iYcIbUJO0z_W31GfsMtKiUjNiktmydebDjNTJB13SnOY/s320/gary-barlow-sad.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's not over Gary. Ok. Now it is. </td></tr></tbody></table>Robbie continued moving further ahead in round two, with Mark a close 2nd. Jason and I were trading 3rd and 4th places with each other. By the time it got to the closing few turns of round 2, I had begun to formulate a new strategy; draft a large number of new meeples into my court, and set myself up for a lucrative final turn, with first player privilege. This would have been a great plan, however Robbie, 'Robbie'd' my territories, even though I was clearly going into the final round in last position. It's really hard not to take this game personally, but Robbie was on a Rob-page, and I kept my cool. Unfortunately for Robbie though, Gary had declared war on them, as revenge for the first round shenanigans. Which was met with a lot of gas lighting... and probably the best quote of the evening, from Robbie:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>"You know what Gary, I think we got off on the wrong foot here...." </b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This of course was the understatement of the century, and normally those kinds of remarks would come from my mouth... with a cheeky grin I might add. This game was going nuclear. If you look up the meaning of war in the Oxford English Dictionary, you might find a portrait of Gary grimacing at Robbie, playing El Grande.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGZaqB23gjNkYPypB8iblJZMAWZNP2g3k6rwS1pFDso8xAlKx2US4LUtrGF6-OwKkKpW6Fg_AYFSpNrBAk9dAc0eAFNXDN3HyCfNuKKxCYZnAlVb-v3S3qAawbVHWw28-PhMxDJ7_Gn_caDKA8xtSwDaTJ6C_DVICFbLLm9OrOt73i26UO-QEVzBMOhxQ/s350/61cEM7klVIL._SY522_.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="343" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGZaqB23gjNkYPypB8iblJZMAWZNP2g3k6rwS1pFDso8xAlKx2US4LUtrGF6-OwKkKpW6Fg_AYFSpNrBAk9dAc0eAFNXDN3HyCfNuKKxCYZnAlVb-v3S3qAawbVHWw28-PhMxDJ7_Gn_caDKA8xtSwDaTJ6C_DVICFbLLm9OrOt73i26UO-QEVzBMOhxQ/w225-h230/61cEM7klVIL._SY522_.jpg" width="225" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Prince Mark of Spain</td></tr></tbody></table>Mark, the silent assassin, was diligently infiltrating the most valuable properties, and scoring plenty of 2nd and 3rd place rewards. Mark didn't particularly upset anyone, even when provoked. Personally, I think they played the most diplomatic game of the session. Jason, I believe, had relegated themselves to 3rd place quite early on. They played for the fun and enjoyment, and regularly popped up to give someone a bloody nose, just to remind us that they were still playing. Gary passed me on the score tracker several occasions, and we were fighting for last and 4th places. Then, I changed strategy again. I decided, that I wanted to give Gary some help (to my detriment), in the hopes that they might rally both Mark and Jason to work closer with one another to undermine Robbie's solo carer. I mean Robbie's winning position.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">At first, it didn't work very well. Gary decided to use their new uplift in points and creative ideas to beat on Robbie some more (good), but Mark and Jason did not follow suit (bad). In fact, Mark sided with Robbie more often than not, in the hopes of consolidating their 2nd place, keeping them as close to Robbie as possible. Quite clever, and not easily manipulated.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Eventually, however, my machinations bared some fruit. The dysfunctional pop band gradually began to rob Robbie of some territory rewards, and used their drafted action cards to efficiently protect themselves against the 'sledge hammer' tactics employed by Robbie, so successfully. Or in other words, doing a 'Robbie'. The results of which meant that Mark closed in on Robbie's lead and I actually <i>did </i>set myself up for a profitable final round.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">My strategy was not to make any more enemies so close to the end of the game, and take risks on certain properties, leaving myself open to being taken advantage of. The danger with this strategy is exactly that. Because there are so many ways to rob other players of scoring victory points, it feels like a menacing victory point buffet of both pain and pleasure. Meaning, some players may simply make inefficient or emotional plays which may adversely affect you, purely by accident, or coincidence. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWJ6jpIL7_OA_h_jrc3TWAyKp-yEwb5NjmL4ZfS4Ap96z0qZJ8le-U-vweksHEy4FP3P0sZFvuVxW_cI-ibK3_TBuZ8GJvmiEZtbka4QGF_MSw7DOXmCmcqc__e8h9ZlX1EWfC3y1wDZPY5e5Bdhph2u06F2DKocOTV-ghQdiDWIQwhYuP7OTqNarxs8/s4000/2023-12-05%2022.12.59.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyWJ6jpIL7_OA_h_jrc3TWAyKp-yEwb5NjmL4ZfS4Ap96z0qZJ8le-U-vweksHEy4FP3P0sZFvuVxW_cI-ibK3_TBuZ8GJvmiEZtbka4QGF_MSw7DOXmCmcqc__e8h9ZlX1EWfC3y1wDZPY5e5Bdhph2u06F2DKocOTV-ghQdiDWIQwhYuP7OTqNarxs8/s320/2023-12-05%2022.12.59.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tight closing scores. 110/106/100/96/87</td></tr></tbody></table>The final scores came in at the end and it was actually quite close. Robbie, <i>the Hammer of Spain</i>, won with 110 points. Mark, the <i>Prince of Spain </i>came 2nd with 106 points. I managed to reach 100 points, Jason came 4th with 96 points and poor Gary never fully recovered from the first round massacre with 87 points. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">What just happened? Well, Robbie decided to forgo ALL pleasantries and like a fox being let loose in a hen house, they turned Gary's game (and to a lesser extent mine) into a coop full of blood soaked feathers and body parts. Total destruction. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Mark, played at a similar pace all the way through. Precise, non-confrontational, unassuming, small calculated gains and wins. A potential winning formula to be sure. In one particular move, Mark benefited from a well placed King pawn move and earned a serious amount of victory points, JUST as a scoring phase came up.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">I had been out-played early on, and when I regathered my senses for a fight back, this happened to be the time that I was kicked around like a school-yard football. Thus my plans were only partially realised as a result - particularly in round 2. I eventually settled for less efficient moves and plays, which were designed to cause friction between my opponents. Hoping to remove me from the line of fire long enough to change my fortunes. Who knows... maybe I could spark a war between the leading pair of Grandes?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Jason, I felt, had been caught in a losing position early on too. However, they decided to plough on as best they could, and attempt to secure a solid 'middle' ground position. Jason had a great distribution of troops across Spain, but failed to utilise turn order as well as the rest of us. Ultimately, this led them to rely more heavily upon the luck of opportunities <i>given</i>, rather than opportunities <i>created</i>.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFmLIq44q1ZQKB8Bkddjq-vAmwwpGV3TZNI37KuKvbTV9A2ExPooAqN2kjzC5yoi1KmoYRufl5FO4fpCPmdP1SpzEyTPdNGp8Qn9WfrR-JnKpBLuUT6Ro_WEtkbC83Bz6DzxwNkhE_ChKnyNE0uwcUFpVI1UP8P3ghvfHqqcKi7WdDTRG9a3ZsKgFvQOs/s1668/IMG_4809.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1555" data-original-width="1668" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFmLIq44q1ZQKB8Bkddjq-vAmwwpGV3TZNI37KuKvbTV9A2ExPooAqN2kjzC5yoi1KmoYRufl5FO4fpCPmdP1SpzEyTPdNGp8Qn9WfrR-JnKpBLuUT6Ro_WEtkbC83Bz6DzxwNkhE_ChKnyNE0uwcUFpVI1UP8P3ghvfHqqcKi7WdDTRG9a3ZsKgFvQOs/s320/IMG_4809.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Finally, Gary. Poor Gary. Their first few turns and round, was almost a complete write-off, thanks to Robbie. These first few moves secured both the winner and the loser of our game. Gary eventually found some creative tactics to cause damage and raise themselves up to 3rd position at one point. However, they were unable to hold back their rage at Robbie and failed to consolidate that position for long enough. They did however, manage to control their turn order in such a way to cause maximum discomfort to the rest of us Grandes. What. A. Game.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">If like me, you don't really enjoy many take-that mechanisms in your board games, then let me give you some hope for the future, in particular for playing El Grande. Most take-that mechanisms appear to be unavoidable, punishing actions which do little to help with your own immediate progression. They are designed (in the most part) to hold back your competitors; rather punitively, I might add. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">El Grande is different. Yes it's brutal, yes it's punishing... but the actions are so clearly informed by your own needs and desires, that it is HARD to blame another player if you happen to be the victim of a blood bath. Hard, but not impossible.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">This game lends itself to experience, diplomacy, manipulation and a sharp tactical mind. Of course being flexible is advantageous but without a good plan to start with, you may as well just be having fun playing 'king maker' for your opponents amusement. You never know, perhaps one turn they may cut you some slack... but don't bet on it. This is El Grande, after all. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Even though I can't wait to play this game again, we do not foresee Take That reforming for one more gig (rematch).. but never say never. Emotions were raw and feelings were hurt - but in a good way. The second best quote came after the game from the lead <i>victimised </i>Grande himself, Gary:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><b>"I love it when I can spend an entire evening having my ass handed to me, and still have a great time."</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">Have a great gaming night yourself, and yes, if you ever get the opportunity, try a game of El Grande. </div>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-56783368267134336292023-12-05T12:55:00.006+00:002023-12-07T14:04:32.729+00:00Board Game BINGO! - Duncan's Dilemma<p></p><b style="font-size: x-large;">🕑 3 min read</b><div><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TyaVVkBRdVr2X_RKkcvaJzSV-ZSBMADEFpT1O6yuV0TyVe_7at1SwtH_cHdsXp0E6Qwagpm8pZIbHUd5jH9JDCT_7DBRCxxrSnqFqw0xhtN5BmZmWLA5Gh920TB5Ru4pZly6edPtg8f_niL5iWBbUaf2gTewZEfLj8j6Pjb3RltnWOqVj-ISVrGc0jI/s2732/MArko%20fail.png" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1750" data-original-width="2732" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4TyaVVkBRdVr2X_RKkcvaJzSV-ZSBMADEFpT1O6yuV0TyVe_7at1SwtH_cHdsXp0E6Qwagpm8pZIbHUd5jH9JDCT_7DBRCxxrSnqFqw0xhtN5BmZmWLA5Gh920TB5Ru4pZly6edPtg8f_niL5iWBbUaf2gTewZEfLj8j6Pjb3RltnWOqVj-ISVrGc0jI/s320/MArko%20fail.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Click to get a closer look!</td></tr></tbody></table>Tis the season to be jolly, and boy do we have a REASON to be jolly this December. Duncan from the one and only <b>Games Room</b> in Norwich has kindly donated a brand new board game to <b>NoBoG, </b>for us to give away to one of you lovely <b>NoBoGlins</b>.<p></p><p>So in typical board gaming fashion, we have decided to hold a 'gaming event' to decide who gets it.</p><p>Get ready for.... <b>BOARD GAME BINGO</b>!!</p><p>During all 3 Tuesday evenings in December, you will be invited to pick up a <b>NoBoG Board Game Bingo</b> card and pen from Ian. Each card, if handed back in at the end of the evening, will give you one entry to the grand prize draw at the end of this month. Simples!</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96eps28VP6vZGAUieW1tbL49kagmjHx5m1E337KD_BgMJ-T2O7koesvytRcaXOxLEin0-pnXQjL-ne4K_cM-rtGS1OccdrZUFJb4r1CxfGhdgWGCJaBsVgPafr7PGSfF7RRTSOxmuFncdI1l5o6jSwlNVCb0HgfS1_MJLadpzYmZMYSgIkgOjoCUpcVM/s4000/2023-12-02%2011.36.00-1.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg96eps28VP6vZGAUieW1tbL49kagmjHx5m1E337KD_BgMJ-T2O7koesvytRcaXOxLEin0-pnXQjL-ne4K_cM-rtGS1OccdrZUFJb4r1CxfGhdgWGCJaBsVgPafr7PGSfF7RRTSOxmuFncdI1l5o6jSwlNVCb0HgfS1_MJLadpzYmZMYSgIkgOjoCUpcVM/s320/2023-12-02%2011.36.00-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">'Terror Below' with Duncan</td></tr></tbody></table>BUT. Before you hand it in you may want to try to fill it up as much as possible by crossing off any board games you hear called-out during the evening's introductions. <p></p><p>Each card has a 3x4 grid, with 12 random board games on it. Every card is unique, and here are the rules for scoring:</p><p></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Each card has to be handed in that evening and is worth 1 victory point (VP).<br /></li><li>During introductions, when board games are being called out, if a game on your card is mentioned, cross it off!</li><li>Each time you manage to fill in an entire column (3 boxes) you will earn +1VP.</li><li>Fill in a row (4 boxes) and you will gain +2VPs for each row.</li><li>If you manage to sit down and play one of the games you have crossed off that evening, then circle that box and gain another +1VP to your score.</li><li>You get to put an 'X' on one additional box of your choice before you hand it in as a bonus!</li><li>At the end of the evening, total up your score, put your name on the card, and hand it in to Ian, or whoever is Master of the Bag/Hat/Box that evening.</li><li>The contact details and score will be snipped off, and posted into the chosen container. All this information will be destroyed after the Grand Prize Draw has taken place.</li><li>The remainder of the Bingo Card, is retained by you, and may be given to Duncan to be used as a 5% off voucher on any purchase in The Games Room. Thanks Duncan!</li><li>At the end of the month (date TBC), 3 names will be drawn out of the container. The NoBoGlin with the most VPs in that group, WINS! Ties will be decided by who was drawn first - first player privilege. If the same name is drawn out more than once, the VPs are simply totalled up together to form one explosive score for them! The drawing of names will stop once 3 different NoBoGlins are picked.</li></ol><div>Clear as mud? Great. See you all there for fun and games, and BEST OF LUCK!!</div><div><br /></div><p></p></div></div>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-16695374581398724412023-10-28T23:20:00.000+01:002023-10-28T23:20:52.843+01:00 WhaDiYoB? - The Thief of Baghdad (2006) and 12 Thieves (re-published 2017)<p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>🕑 7 min read</b></span></p><p></p>W<i>elcome back again, to our '<b>What Did You Bring?</b>' segment! This week will be taking a look at a game which was last mentioned (favourably) in our <b>NoBoG Blog </b>8 years ago! <b>12 Thieves </b>by <b>Thorsten Gimmler</b>, and published by <b>Queen Games</b>. </i><div><div><i><br /></i></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbWBJ787N2Z6sRIIs0ojcx-yBnX7hfb9hxo7KZodL-W1VjazB5Dlzhtmw2e52hmhLc_oTMzPt4AsRBiZFYZDkcALOXAvPrgqMWA8n9p_2glEgfwI20BdWqg_rQ18m3NpaRgnjjnWwPGrPHHV0l3_hgtDvE-ZGzbBSpx5m8HWLvd_F9mS-gwEtkhKnCts/s679/81ZQPJcE3eL._AC_SX679_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="679" data-original-width="679" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnbWBJ787N2Z6sRIIs0ojcx-yBnX7hfb9hxo7KZodL-W1VjazB5Dlzhtmw2e52hmhLc_oTMzPt4AsRBiZFYZDkcALOXAvPrgqMWA8n9p_2glEgfwI20BdWqg_rQ18m3NpaRgnjjnWwPGrPHHV0l3_hgtDvE-ZGzbBSpx5m8HWLvd_F9mS-gwEtkhKnCts/s320/81ZQPJcE3eL._AC_SX679_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Under cover of the night, in the far away city of Baghdad, 5 opulent Palaces and their riches, have become the targets of what can only be described as organised flash mobs of thieves. Each Thieves Guild (player) has access to 12 thieves plus 2-4* palace guards on their pay-roll (*depending on the number of players). The aim of the game is to bribe your way into the treasure vaults of the palaces and then carry away chests full of gold and precious stones. The first player to secure the contents of 4-6* treasure chests (*player dependant), wins! </div><div><br /></div><div>If you were imagining some kind of 'Oceans 11' heist or caper, full of twists and turns with a rich theme... then please feel free to look away. The theme here is only lightly pasted on. At the beating heart of <b>12 Thieves</b> is an area moving, hand managing, tactical, abstract puzzle game and race(?). There is a healthy dollop of luck needed to achieve more than other players in the same amount of time, but don't despair, if you like pitting your wits against your opponents and out thinking them, then you're in good company here. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>12 Thieves </b>was republished in 2017 by Queen Games, after it's initial release in 2006, again by Queen Games - under the old name of <b>The Thief of Baghdad. </b>It was also nominated for <b>Spiel des Jahres</b> in 2007. I played the 2006 version, which contained wooden meeples rather than cardboard tokens. Interestingly, the games designer Thorsten Gimmler designed one of my favourite filler games too - <b>No Thanks!</b>. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, let's quickly talk about the mechanics and game play before I let you how I really felt about <b>12 Thieves</b>. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIg__6EwNoV79b0HeehL5iRe8rLhVl3RXtW05M1cEyrBeW6c3j_1KMEvG0rP9gxkBe7snKQLL694LDUVHh5HLjVeI4F9Z56cy6US7vvoZp4nrF4n7vcddNyWCkF2GR_UgH4PZdJryLGV6ehJE2066Q8vB3CZz3cgad4pWAfnaYC49id4KFxHXZa6l5Q7k/s679/81M7fQH27-L._AC_SX679_.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="679" height="184" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIg__6EwNoV79b0HeehL5iRe8rLhVl3RXtW05M1cEyrBeW6c3j_1KMEvG0rP9gxkBe7snKQLL694LDUVHh5HLjVeI4F9Z56cy6US7vvoZp4nrF4n7vcddNyWCkF2GR_UgH4PZdJryLGV6ehJE2066Q8vB3CZz3cgad4pWAfnaYC49id4KFxHXZa6l5Q7k/s320/81M7fQH27-L._AC_SX679_.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">12 Thieves (2017)</td></tr></tbody></table>Players take their turns in clockwise order, playing cards from your hand in order to move guards from one palace to another, and 'deposit' your own thieves into treasure rooms. The colours of the cards played correspond to the colour of each palace. So to get a thief into a treasure room, you must have one of your own (coloured) guards posted at the palace of your choice, plus at least 1 more guard of another players (or a neutral guard), and the correct number (and coloured) cards. If you have your guard positioned, and the right card(s), you may sneak one or more of your thieves into the palace courtyard. Treasure chests in each palace require 4-7 of your thieves to be placed, to take them. Each palace has 4 chests to steal. </div><div><br /></div><div>Once your turn has ended, you draw 3 more face down cards from the deck into your hand in readiness for your next turn. </div><div><br /></div><div>As one would expect, there is more to this game than simply being in the right place at the right time, with the right cards. You may move your own palace guard from one palace to another, by again, playing a card of the same colour as either the palace you are leaving, or the palace you are going to. You may also, move one of the neutral (non-affiliated) guards by spending 2 cards, 1 of each coloured palace involved in that move. You might be asking why would you do this. Well, for a player to sneak a thief into a palace's treasure room, you must have one of your own guards, plus another guard to pay one card for each thief you drop off there. However, if there are 2 opposing guards at the palace, then you must bribe using 2 cards per thief to drop them off. If there are 3 opposing guards, then the cost is 3 cards each thief. So you can see that your passage to success may be made more expensive or blocked entirely by opponents jerking guards around just before it becomes your turn. Ouch, you jerk. </div><div><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFpP7N20KhQfaqiACdt4G-fQfKq6b3X6b5j9Ql9Th6jHLja4ZIhew9qtUZvER39EPhp_W813kQXK1cDzVwl0bL0i2W2SAi2-JgDhgJkBb7NQENTUaaw2kjb18zk7kZQrpDx7BEydDfj4npsEUsVQWPsea1jVGmhzr7ePCDk_uwG45jO7fK_Reb8bdL_Tc/s2000/Thief-of-Baghdad-Move-Neutral-Guard.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="2000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFpP7N20KhQfaqiACdt4G-fQfKq6b3X6b5j9Ql9Th6jHLja4ZIhew9qtUZvER39EPhp_W813kQXK1cDzVwl0bL0i2W2SAi2-JgDhgJkBb7NQENTUaaw2kjb18zk7kZQrpDx7BEydDfj4npsEUsVQWPsea1jVGmhzr7ePCDk_uwG45jO7fK_Reb8bdL_Tc/s320/Thief-of-Baghdad-Move-Neutral-Guard.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Thief of Baghdad (2006)</td></tr></tbody></table></div><div>There are another couple of rules worth mentioning, before this chaotic masterpiece can be rendered fully in you mind. When you move one of your own guards from one palace to another (paying the card cost), that guard may also take a single thief of its own colour from the treasure room of the palace it is departing from, and deliver it, free from additional cost, to another palace's treasure room. So long as the maximum number of thief movements (and drop-offs) does not exceed 3 in the same turn, that is. The other rule is; if you can't do anything on your turn, or you simply don't want to do anything, you may instead go directly to drawing 3 cards, plus an additional wild card called a <b>Dancer</b>. This Dancer card can represent any colour you want it to be. It's very, very useful when you want to impress all the another thieves guilds with your forward planning and slick tricks. Totally not luck though. 100% skill. </div><div><br /></div><div>There it is!! A beautifully simple, yet thinky, abstract board game which will last you 30-60mins, depending on player numbers and levels of susceptibility to AP (Analysis Paralysis).</div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcVxpCnQaep-q0xhEHeIbADsSsnWJv9O8StZONermwKZVPLT3IqJHnAv0wUhc7uxeymaPBM4ukZFVSo_gE5I9YW3dCxuerRVAr3x7xRlGJwb4JdVBFFMK2c3YtXmv5B11VZRcDTlr9PeMHpw_ZRYjr7ERYCJBQ3HiSAtV_gUreTIkCf47HTdRthGd_ng/s2269/Untitled%20551.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2269" data-original-width="1716" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkcVxpCnQaep-q0xhEHeIbADsSsnWJv9O8StZONermwKZVPLT3IqJHnAv0wUhc7uxeymaPBM4ukZFVSo_gE5I9YW3dCxuerRVAr3x7xRlGJwb4JdVBFFMK2c3YtXmv5B11VZRcDTlr9PeMHpw_ZRYjr7ERYCJBQ3HiSAtV_gUreTIkCf47HTdRthGd_ng/s320/Untitled%20551.png" width="242" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Be more donkey.</td></tr></tbody></table>My final thoughts on this game are; give it a try if you get the chance - definitely before you consider buying it. <b>12 Thieves</b> gets a healthy 6.4 rating on <b><a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/22278/12-thieves" target="_blank">Board Game Geek</a></b>, and that somehow feels right to me. The game is fairly cheap, and the production quality of the original release is way better than the latest 2017 release. However... it will not spoil your enjoyment of the game. One other thing I found about the game is, that there seems to be some useful 'cheat codes' you can use to hack the game. My first play, I was obsessed with what everyone else was doing. I moved guards around continuously looking for short cuts towards victory, but mainly to be chaotic, only to end up serving my opponents with 'open goals' - which amounts to palaces with only 2 guards of 2 separate affiliations. Believe you me, they took advantage of every opportunity I provided them with and used their experience with thievery to force me to lament a hand of cards which did nothing for my cause. ARGHHH!!!</div><div><div><br /></div>By the time I got to my second game I had discovered the 'hacks', and then richly became enemy number one. As a result, I effortlessly glided to victory under a chorus of muted groans from my lesser gilded opponents. This game is easy to learn. It makes you feel powerful. It can also make you feel like a donkey. I love donkeys. Adopt a donkey! Do it!</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, that's enough. See you next time. </div></div>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-27714851049598064812023-10-03T14:32:00.011+01:002023-10-03T16:16:05.506+01:00Game Night - ALAN!! A complete Leg-End.<p><i><b></b></i></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOftpI5zmpZUfoY8DG9NPOqpMA7aZYinMr0PTEsiibTYV3PBA0QQpQn5xxrVbpYGGqDAmvvpdfP-PRQqVA3I88AzsFPom6k98izw52W0TwqcGPKbOJVYody__2GaH64sphSAJY3ssnOLmmCqZ0ARSJkE_fGLsHrl7R_KGNN8jDHbRKAMH2_Aa9GPgECo/s949/95081-large.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="949" data-original-width="635" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOOftpI5zmpZUfoY8DG9NPOqpMA7aZYinMr0PTEsiibTYV3PBA0QQpQn5xxrVbpYGGqDAmvvpdfP-PRQqVA3I88AzsFPom6k98izw52W0TwqcGPKbOJVYody__2GaH64sphSAJY3ssnOLmmCqZ0ARSJkE_fGLsHrl7R_KGNN8jDHbRKAMH2_Aa9GPgECo/s320/95081-large.jpg" width="214" /></a></b></div><div>🕑 10 min read</div><div style="font-style: italic;"><i><br /></i></div><b style="font-style: italic;">It's not like we, the Townsfolk, haven't seen travelling bands of (so-called) heroes before. After all, many of us rely heavily upon their lucrative trade. It's just that these ones in particular, more than any others, had thought so highly of themselves. In the not so distant past, yes, we may have suffered minor raids by The Dragon of the Northern Mountains, but nothing we couldn't easily recover from in time.</b><p></p><p><i><b>With each new group of 'dragon horde coveting' strangers came its challenges. Yet, when they eventually built up the courage to travel north and 'save' our town, we would never hear from them again... and life continued on in relative peace. </b></i></p><p><i><b>This time was different, though. We got what we dreaded the most. Word had reached us that The Dragon was defeated, and now, so was our main way of making a living. To add insult to injury, those potty-mouthed, blood-thirsty, patronising (not in a good way) out-of-towners, turned up on our door steps to rub our noses in it too. </b></i></p><p><i><b>Thank the gods they hated each other more than they paid any attention to us... or we, too, might have become ash, along with most of our town. What did we ever do to deserve heroes like these?</b></i></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghM096KrypXA6nR-cHFmpJc0pSVkIUv-MEj3nztPmGsO5pBbl0zPMDUY5ygiP2ct_X1xf8ROKprTbiXXvZr3yTKeAR-lJUqJ7LtjU0EMiepSgxVOZ9yKdsYoq0Sb_IzhuTFLhiO48RrCbiW5aUHTy2WP8xaL6X3tY-Zq8ke8hdgb1sc6F_Tngj-CxI9yU/s4000/2023-09-26%2022.29.05.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghM096KrypXA6nR-cHFmpJc0pSVkIUv-MEj3nztPmGsO5pBbl0zPMDUY5ygiP2ct_X1xf8ROKprTbiXXvZr3yTKeAR-lJUqJ7LtjU0EMiepSgxVOZ9yKdsYoq0Sb_IzhuTFLhiO48RrCbiW5aUHTy2WP8xaL6X3tY-Zq8ke8hdgb1sc6F_Tngj-CxI9yU/s320/2023-09-26%2022.29.05.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Welcome once again to Game Night at NoBoG! 30+ NoBoGlins, and a few first timers, came together to play games on 6 fuzzy tables. It was a very busy evening indeed. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the murder-hobos and meta-gamers.<p></p><p>It took a while (years), but I managed to get a game of Fiasco RPG back on the felt again and run it at a NoBoG evening. If you are unaware of what Fiasco is, then please let me quickly fill you in. </p><p>Fiasco is a games master'less, dice'less storytelling, tabletop roleplaying game for 3-5 players. Each player will 'star' in a total of 4 'scenes' over 2 acts of play. The aim is to improvise a story together; setting up highly incendiary situations, testing relationships to destruction, and grabbing what we want when we can... and all just for the fun of it. A typical game of Fiasco begins quite conservatively and then rapidly descends into mayhem and hilarity, lasting usually between 2.5 - 3 hours. </p><p>To kick this game off, the players discuss and collectively choose one of the 3 <b>Playsets </b>available in the core game box. Each playset is a backstory, genre, and micro-environment from which the players get to draw inspiration from and roleplay within. Mechanically, each playset comprises a deck of 54 cards full of thematic story-telling devices to wet our creative whistles with. During the set-up, which is an enjoyable part of the game too, all players are invited to choose a <b>relationship </b>with one of their neighbours to the left or right of them. Once complete, they are all then invited to take a moment to discuss their roles and character ideas. Those connections are then added to with <b>needs,</b> <b>objects</b>, <b>and</b> <b>locations.</b> All of this is meant to build up and facilitate the flow of ideas in order to weave a story and (hopefully) reach an explosive/surprising conclusion.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRmU6FZHrIqsFYHBnT-aI5clX_RM4ImJuG4i3tnS9zSGnohLdJvPLCoi6TQWURqfkqs0WkooINAZvnQMqQnfDqbsbTJxQ5XLkMG_MtzIlL441e8pE2H-NKLDaPSEfxM3VprRgFBYvab69VlTYs32d3fF8oQfPqmevFjn11KRcJ4HKTbmpalLUAVLDwRY/s1814/7O4lLz.png" style="font-style: italic; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="628" data-original-width="1814" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDRmU6FZHrIqsFYHBnT-aI5clX_RM4ImJuG4i3tnS9zSGnohLdJvPLCoi6TQWURqfkqs0WkooINAZvnQMqQnfDqbsbTJxQ5XLkMG_MtzIlL441e8pE2H-NKLDaPSEfxM3VprRgFBYvab69VlTYs32d3fF8oQfPqmevFjn11KRcJ4HKTbmpalLUAVLDwRY/w400-h139/7O4lLz.png" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">Our group chose the </span><b style="text-align: left;">Dragon Slayers</b><span style="text-align: left;"> playset. After creating a bangarang of interdependence between our characters, we descended upon the (un)suspecting denizens of the town. Here's a somewhat embellished dramatization of what went down... from the perspective of the beleaguered Townsfolk. </span></div><p></p><p><i><b>What was not entirely obvious to the townsfolk was how this mismatched band of travelling clowns managed to best a literal dragon; let along our Dragon in her own lair. She had made short work (or so we were told) of all previous 'heroes' who used our town as a base camp. That's not to say that the provisions and equipment we sold were subpar. So, if at any point a vicious rumour about us wafts your way, try not to be too judgemental. We're good folk, trying to make an honest living. Unlike the 'heroes' of this story.</b></i></p><p><i><b>Like I said, we heard that The Dragon was defeated. A party of locals were being organised to locate what was left of the dragon's horde when 'they' finally turned up; in the evening at our one and only tavern. First, a pair of disgruntled elves, spouting xenophobic cuss words, named Zadkiel the Spellweaver and Dagan the Aloof. Now, our town was a diverse mix of folk from all over the land. However, this fact was completely lost on them spiteful little elves. Word had it that they were plotting to accumulate as much of their companions loot as possible before fleeing with it. </b></i></p><p><i><b>The other 'pair' appeared to be human in ancestry and of magical means. Some of our town's tavern-goers nicknamed them the 'Rain Dancers'. This stemmed from witnessing them waving their arms around a lot in close proximity to one another, looking to the heavens in exasperation, then concluding with gormless looks of concern when nothing happened, or indeed zilch was going their way at all. The robed and more worrisome looking one screamed, "Alan!" quite a lot, to which Alan responded with "yes, your Mighty. " They both smelt of death and despair. </b></i></p><p><i><b>Lastly, and by no means least, was a brute of a dwarf who we believed to be the groups 'meat-shield', as described by modern-day adventuring parlance. Gwarl the Deadly had a penchant for harassing a bewildered Alan for elven biscuits and murdering our orc neighbours who lived just down the trail. We caught wind of this fact when our very own town mayor made an impromptu visit to one of her cousins for mid-afternoon tea and to open their new orphanage. </b></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnyyINYwT6ILONXfIOG7Hz4GywOvdwQLoYPiqGsMtJ9eyN0oZwuMQ-pJ2UMXWw18WAauxWFDlLB86jeOODpNXUzQzzJHso1iyvzIppAOMi-yg3FwNcsLvO4VbYah4FzOl-Nebhc7vX7bIjPWoZLvqOKveXlGDl24Rk7hH2jL_z6PCzDDS_Q5uJ1WgYXw4/s2015/IMG_4730.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2015" data-original-width="1464" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnyyINYwT6ILONXfIOG7Hz4GywOvdwQLoYPiqGsMtJ9eyN0oZwuMQ-pJ2UMXWw18WAauxWFDlLB86jeOODpNXUzQzzJHso1iyvzIppAOMi-yg3FwNcsLvO4VbYah4FzOl-Nebhc7vX7bIjPWoZLvqOKveXlGDl24Rk7hH2jL_z6PCzDDS_Q5uJ1WgYXw4/s320/IMG_4730.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beware an elf bearing gifts.</td></tr></tbody></table><p><i><b>All in all, it was quickly decided that if this murderous, ill-tempered, lying bunch of back-stabbers didn't kill each other soon, we would probably have to send for help from The Big City for reinforcements. Or face the very real possibility of the total destruction of our homes and businesses. </b></i></p><p><i><b>As rumours of their plans spread, our finest townsfolk minds began to formulate plans of their own. Our very own Town Merchant, who happened to be elven, was contacted by the adventuring party's elves. For some insane reason, they bartered away the rights to the dragon's skull for elven crackers! What idiots!! We immediately went to work, following both Zadkiel and Dagan, in the hopes that they would lead us to the dragon's horde. Unfortunately, late the next afternoon, we lost contact with our comrades who were involved. However, reports say that the pair of disgruntled elves turned up at our tavern with some crackers, in a sack splattered with blood. Perhaps we had underestimated them somehow.</b></i></p><p><i><b></b></i></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOYh6MZ8ICT5IwhIkaRgI-MfIqGutZEInKUNr41bav8IiXJnC9Qs6yBoMA8hhVJ6VACnyq_RlFBx1g6sl3FShH1TP-xeHJHNmD4v2hGRS-5hzmebJ5YbeoIo-p-OYbsyi4s6tk1-KXqBUWV8O-YeZQhDhP4nxl7JZTbjQgNsMpETiucJUrKidu2eU5N3U/s2426/IMG_4735.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2426" data-original-width="1804" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOYh6MZ8ICT5IwhIkaRgI-MfIqGutZEInKUNr41bav8IiXJnC9Qs6yBoMA8hhVJ6VACnyq_RlFBx1g6sl3FShH1TP-xeHJHNmD4v2hGRS-5hzmebJ5YbeoIo-p-OYbsyi4s6tk1-KXqBUWV8O-YeZQhDhP4nxl7JZTbjQgNsMpETiucJUrKidu2eU5N3U/s320/IMG_4735.jpg" width="238" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arundel and Alan. Winning. </td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>Elsewhere, our town's librarian, who hired out her spare room and cellar to the mystical pair of humans, had some interesting news too. He overheard them discuss releasing an undead plague of untold misery over the land, via the dragon's egg they had newly acquired during their raid on the lair. They must be brains of the outfit. However, we later found out that their plans were put on hold when Alan discovered that the dwarf, Gwarl, had mistakenly eaten the raw dragon egg, rather than the chicken egg which had also been close at hand. Alan of course, neglected to pass on this important information to Arundel The Mighty, at least until after they both had completed a necromantic ritual gestating the farmhouse chicken egg, into what turned out to be a very very angry and murderous bird indeed. </b></i><p></p><p><i><b>It was at that point that several reports came back of buildings spontaneously exploding or setting themselves alight. We're not entirely sure what happened, as most of us were too busy grabbing our children and elderly, and running for the foot hills. In time, though, what really occurred was reliably passed back to us. The dwarf had suddenly come down with an acute case of flammable breath and explosive farts - apparently confirming that he indeed had eaten a dragons egg. In the midst of setting fire to our tavern and adjacent properties, Arundel the Mighty had decided to use a magical staff's abilities on the dwarf, in an attempt to reincarnate and regurgitate the chewed up remains of the dragon embryo. This was a time critical objective, since Gwarl had not yet had a chance to sit down and dispose of it at the khazi. </b></i></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwuDJOJIn0iPcP6BBKGfQJsci3k5bZsx6KMQqFpIz-5IHCMssdkzPIyhza9hd7H-FxUr55XNn4e2JbALTv-7lQjiZBw9NJWCpKxKsjfk9M0AUEIANtfrdrqYSHENxhJbEdaATDnc8bANhoq8QCKwQHSRfTjTUHhErhgy5ce6X3LHd76OVnIcbbUCWgFoY/s2257/IMG_4732.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2257" data-original-width="1638" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwuDJOJIn0iPcP6BBKGfQJsci3k5bZsx6KMQqFpIz-5IHCMssdkzPIyhza9hd7H-FxUr55XNn4e2JbALTv-7lQjiZBw9NJWCpKxKsjfk9M0AUEIANtfrdrqYSHENxhJbEdaATDnc8bANhoq8QCKwQHSRfTjTUHhErhgy5ce6X3LHd76OVnIcbbUCWgFoY/s320/IMG_4732.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gwarl needed to lie down for a bit.</td></tr></tbody></table><i><b>Success! The newly awakened and conscious belly creature proceeded to gnaw its way through the chest of a rather surprised birthing dwarf. </b></i><i><b>It was at this time, that one of the disgruntled elves, Dagan, decided that they had seen enough of this madness, grabbed all the available loot and made a break for it.</b></i><p></p><p><i><b>While a confused and fiery baby dragon destroyed the rest of our town, what was left of the adventuring party piled on to</b></i><i><b> Dagan and tore them apart for their treacherous behaviour. We're not sure how many of the treacherous acts already carried out so far constituted an execution in their eyes... but apparently stealing stolen treasure crossed a line somehow. May the gods have mercy on all of their souls. If they still have a soul, that is. </b></i></p><p><i><b>After a few days of rough travel, we, the Town's refugees, arrived at the Big City gates for food and shelter. We passed onto the authorities the whispers which had circulated regarding what remained of those so-called 'heroes'. They were last seen wandering off into the wilderness, however, we could not be certain. For all we knew, they might have infiltrated our travelling party for protection in numbers and we unwittingly granted them access to the City. </b></i></p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy13sPgWdeXonFt8hUtcHcJ-vXOCKz9o_WBnMC7dlYJ-mahRvAvMwC1DZSPfWPlkngTFmXyRgKOfSEYsFimLGABZOjXMyrpsF_bojWcdLO3UKFQMGEazxRyEAHNzMEW1u-WiQemyqAaTkcglw41FZ891gAta_P2pRg-AesF5HepC8IPMN9e9rQlmtz6E/s820/Fiasco-2nd-Edition-Cards.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="820" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPy13sPgWdeXonFt8hUtcHcJ-vXOCKz9o_WBnMC7dlYJ-mahRvAvMwC1DZSPfWPlkngTFmXyRgKOfSEYsFimLGABZOjXMyrpsF_bojWcdLO3UKFQMGEazxRyEAHNzMEW1u-WiQemyqAaTkcglw41FZ891gAta_P2pRg-AesF5HepC8IPMN9e9rQlmtz6E/s320/Fiasco-2nd-Edition-Cards.png" width="320" /></a><i><b>Never have I met such a sorry bunch of accidental dragon slayers in my life. Worse, they are still out there, unquestionably oblivious to the mayhem and destruction they are leaving in their wake. </b></i></p><p><i><b>My beloved husband never did return from his last shift at the tavern that afternoon. Leaving behind four young children. Maybe he was the lucky one? However, I doubt it, as he was last seen having his face pecked off by that fowl bird and then spontaneously popping out of existence. If you ever read this account, my darling, please remember us, and come find us. Together, we'll exact our revenge...</b></i></p><p><b>Ok, so our final thoughts.</b></p><p></p><p>I have played Fiasco over 20 times by now, to a varying degree of success and intensity. The feedback from our first time Fiasco players this time, was that the game really makes you think. Which was later clarified to mean, that there was little (by way of mechanics) in the game to help new players to prepare for being put in the spot-light so early on. If I recall, I experienced this on my first few games too. Having to work with only 'creative vapours' can feel very intimidating, and may cause a small amount of stress. </p><p>Fiasco is a rules light game, and the driver of the current scene is an individual player who uses their time to try and forward their character's agenda. Other players may and will jump in from time to time with helpful suggestions, it is in fact recommended! However, players, who are only experienced in roleplaying in games where the story is driven and underwritten by a sole person - a Games or Dungeon Master; could easily feel a little abandoned and uncomfortably short of ideas. </p><p>Over all, the game was really fun, with plenty of belly laughs - especially around our failing and flopping magic-using apprentice Alan... who (of course) eventually went insane. </p><p>Story telling and improvisation is a skill, there's no doubt about it. So if you are lacking in that department or are in need of some practice... or you want to show-off your quick thinking, razor-sharp wit, give Fiasco a go. It's an experience to behold. </p><p>See you later.</p><p></p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-1795061702358005952023-09-26T04:30:00.007+01:002023-10-03T15:06:22.319+01:00 WhaDiYoB? - Space Base (2018)<div>🕑 6 min read</div><p></p>W<i>elcome back again, to our '<b>What Did You Bring?</b>' segment! This week will be diving into a game which doesn't seem to have made many appearances at <b>NoBoG </b>in recent times. <b>Space Base </b>by <b>John D Clair</b>, published by <b>AEG</b>. </i><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiq-rJpGheaEh5WnXx1viM5i9BlF7H6jroZeHg81SjSzfKrImJuPS3aaQKCEKUhcc_qnu08zVIAjR8smvLox8edU-GrG8A_AX1-TSjyGddhyscDW1ZcPCqK7URnLWTudsxdM5d_2K_lQvzIMEFcI2UWFYNt8Dmf7llkEehNEziBCgItUYqgt-E5UdpjU/s4000/2023-09-26%2014.33.38.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTiq-rJpGheaEh5WnXx1viM5i9BlF7H6jroZeHg81SjSzfKrImJuPS3aaQKCEKUhcc_qnu08zVIAjR8smvLox8edU-GrG8A_AX1-TSjyGddhyscDW1ZcPCqK7URnLWTudsxdM5d_2K_lQvzIMEFcI2UWFYNt8Dmf7llkEehNEziBCgItUYqgt-E5UdpjU/s320/2023-09-26%2014.33.38.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In a galaxy, far, far away, <i>but not that long ago</i> - a space base has become home to your space fleet. As the newly minted Commodore of your Fleet, it is your mission to trade and increase your wealth and influence; all in the hopes of ultimately becoming the Admiral of the Fleet! <p></p><p>Space Base is essentially a race which encompasses a tableaux building dice rolling game, where luck plays a big part along with some quick thinking, and some satisfying tactical choices too. </p><p></p><p>This game is fast becoming an ever-green, and is the most popular game by John D Clair, according to BGG. I suspected that quite a few of us may have somehow over looked Space Base, due to there being a galaxy full of other rising stars. So here's my take on it, and why I think you might want to dip your toes in, roll some dice and do some intergalactic exploration if you get the opportunity. </p><p></p>Space Base is one of those games where learning it is easy, however mastering it will take numerous attempts. John Clair has given to us a highly sensitive set of in-game controls and customisation which imparts immediate feedback. It gives me a sense of excitement and anticipation when I know I am sitting down to play it again. So here goes.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpsJZ1g31HWy46apcdTfM7PqRlwj_36zQTnUvaEO6PSoibeYFSdiKuBGY5h8MygnbcBQlWbsvXwtgpwp-iMTXHUByOy59243CNQAdiJCm4JPcDddxl49zsnPUtu6N0C6DeLlV3yUN8gvfGrOsJ6wWSZUZ2QbX710LiKAl8IKzhsgKrb3z9wMAML1v3DQ/s4000/2023-09-24%2017.19.12.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKpsJZ1g31HWy46apcdTfM7PqRlwj_36zQTnUvaEO6PSoibeYFSdiKuBGY5h8MygnbcBQlWbsvXwtgpwp-iMTXHUByOy59243CNQAdiJCm4JPcDddxl49zsnPUtu6N0C6DeLlV3yUN8gvfGrOsJ6wWSZUZ2QbX710LiKAl8IKzhsgKrb3z9wMAML1v3DQ/s320/2023-09-24%2017.19.12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>If you have ever played Machi Koro, then you will have a head start on understanding parts of this game. Each player begins with a tableaux (space base) of 12 sectors equipped with the same 12 space vessels. On your turn you roll two six-sided dice. The number on the dice correlates to each numbered sector. So if you roll a 6, you gain the (blue coloured) bonus given by the vessel docked at sector 6. However, alternatively you may split the dice total, for example, if you rolled a 4 and 2, you may collect the individual bonuses on sectors 4 AND 2 instead. Roll a doubles and you get to use the same number twice if you wish. Typical bonuses include additional <b>Credits</b>, increased <b>Income </b>and/or more <b>Influence (victory points)</b>. If you collected credits then they are added to you running total. You may then spend credits on a new vessel (only one purchase per turn) bought from a multi-level (tiered) market place. However, even if the vessel you wish to buy is less than your current total, your credits are still returned back to zero for that turn, thus wasting any remaining credits. At the very end of your turn, your credits bounce back up to your last income level. This means, you will have to save your credits for a BIG purchase a few turns down the line. Or, you could concentrate on raising up your income level, giving yourself a powerful launch pad, to be able to afford the expensive vessels found in the 2nd and 3rd level markets. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZBXlVG2-4WukobZKhDFynaapSKIT4T0VJtMFNamNMJucKb4T2lM1wFAgAx44x-_LRca_Jedoxfw2VwJZkZf3XTyY0Ejm9mzHUB4DqWeI_ufygLwtenEepsI2eC7D3exUk9WZSRkl1nMnLjfL1_MmqdiTXHvyHYOYYffYIFaU4vRakhjdWHCS0j1ACso/s679/71XsWDg-EpL._AC_SX679_.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="678" data-original-width="679" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfZBXlVG2-4WukobZKhDFynaapSKIT4T0VJtMFNamNMJucKb4T2lM1wFAgAx44x-_LRca_Jedoxfw2VwJZkZf3XTyY0Ejm9mzHUB4DqWeI_ufygLwtenEepsI2eC7D3exUk9WZSRkl1nMnLjfL1_MmqdiTXHvyHYOYYffYIFaU4vRakhjdWHCS0j1ACso/s320/71XsWDg-EpL._AC_SX679_.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p>In Space Base the first player to 'max out' their influence tracker at 40 points, wins. You can do this by purchasing vessels which give you influence bonuses on yours and other players turns OR by buying some of the single use <b>Outposts</b> which are priced from 1-40 credits. The larger the outpost you buy, the more influence (victory points) they will score you. These outposts usually are acquired towards the end of the game to speedily increase your influence, so you can swiftly and/or sneakily nab a last gasp victory. <p></p><p>If Space Base was simply just the game I described above then it would still be quite an enjoyable one. However, there is a little more to it. Let me explain. </p><p>You may have been thinking, wait, if I only have 12 sectors, and I buy a new vessel to dock at one, where does my old vessel go? Is it decommissioned? No. It is sent into space (deployed) to explore and trade in the furthest reaches of the galaxy. What this means in game terms is that it is flipped upside down, and slipped under you player board at the same position it was first docked at. You now earn a new (red) bonus from that vessel each time the number is rolled on any of your opponents turns! Not only that, some vessels will give you unique power-ups that can be used to increase or decrease the sector number rolled that turn. So now you have a small engine builder which can help you find some more of the good luck needed to win a campaign. Indeed, how you choose to arrange and deploy your fleet over your space base provides you with a unique path to victory. Plus, just like with Machi Koro, advanced players will be taking note of where their opponents are strongest or weakest, and try to take advantage of this information. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDODoB2MPhnSPzxlZSXlngM3cvCG1oExgAmGWCh8g1q5hGOQ7Ov-L8ak0DJeNDcr8sIK83EFbdlweypZt5KzKBl9WtoNHJE0ZViCD46IUeJ1NawnO528NIJeoC8NGV1lSJsibvHPHnWczpdd85id-QUVjWvA1i1py816nLUyjdjL6J1-3xXF2ZglpW9tY/s4000/20230420_173445.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDODoB2MPhnSPzxlZSXlngM3cvCG1oExgAmGWCh8g1q5hGOQ7Ov-L8ak0DJeNDcr8sIK83EFbdlweypZt5KzKBl9WtoNHJE0ZViCD46IUeJ1NawnO528NIJeoC8NGV1lSJsibvHPHnWczpdd85id-QUVjWvA1i1py816nLUyjdjL6J1-3xXF2ZglpW9tY/s320/20230420_173445.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><b>Final thoughts.</b><p></p><p>I was introduced to this game a few years back after falling in love with Machi Koro. As soon as I began playing Space Base, I knew I would adore this too. For such a simple game, it really pushes you to be creative with your choices, and try your luck at engineering a smooth running warp core, which works on both yours and your opponents turns. Failing that, you can go for brute force, save your credits up and purchase a super-powered vessel or outpost, and put all your xenomorphic eggs in one nest. </p><p>Space Base sprawls out quite satisfyingly over a large table, and is reasonably priced for what looks like a LOT of game. I suspect that many of us will play this game several times before we manage to grab ourselves a well earned victory though. It is worth saying that since this game is dice roll driven, you could easily benefit from a really lucky set of dice rolls, and artificially get your fleet's warp drives running at warp 9 prematurely.</p><p>Space Base will play quite easily in 1 hour, however if you play at the higher player count of 4-5 players, or most of you are first time players, plus some of you are prone to analysis paralysis... then put aside another 30minutes for sure.</p><p>See you all later!</p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-42670339268623009552023-09-18T12:00:00.036+01:002023-10-03T16:18:33.605+01:00Game Night - TAKE THAT and Party?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">🕑 8 min read</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Hi! <b>Game Night</b> is<b> '<i>Back for Good'</i></b>! We're not going to be '<b><i>Up All Night'</i>, </b>but we are hopeful that it '<b><i>Could Be Magic'</i></b>. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the victims of both sharks and pirates.</div><p></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaWvirWmz1y1zjJFPKBpc3QfRCwawv6eT5htvKYDWbFCdg7p8tuuL4wEC71LmahpHwjBFd5fcujuboMsVhSO7ANS29O8hDRD_N9V3w25ShxCJ7La32N2FfgIMZHwn6ZgUFInpMePKOhYbd7-FzrlhBnuyzmlSKy3AVXz11ivsF2M-9VwT7mIByzZeM2E/s1998/Untitled%20550.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1631" data-original-width="1998" height="261" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaWvirWmz1y1zjJFPKBpc3QfRCwawv6eT5htvKYDWbFCdg7p8tuuL4wEC71LmahpHwjBFd5fcujuboMsVhSO7ANS29O8hDRD_N9V3w25ShxCJ7La32N2FfgIMZHwn6ZgUFInpMePKOhYbd7-FzrlhBnuyzmlSKy3AVXz11ivsF2M-9VwT7mIByzZeM2E/s320/Untitled%20550.png" width="320" /></a></div>This, was our first Tuesday evening game night of September, and it brought to us another <b>25</b>(<i>ish</i>) <b>NOBOGlins.</b> After briefly catching up with <b>Gary</b>, I decided that I was going to join in with them and play <b>Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest</b>. Never played it before. Heard a lot of good things. We're all going to be <b>SKY PIRATES! </b><p></p><p>After the usual WHADIYOB introductions, we found ourselves with 6, yes SIX players!! OMG... this was going to be an amazing evening, I think '<b><i>I Found Heaven'</i></b>. </p><p><b>Let's GOOO!!</b></p><p></p>This game looked impressive, and easily spread out over our huge table. Gary initially warned us that our game <i>might </i>take over an hour; before efficiently ploughing onto explaining the rules. On my left was <b>Howard</b>, <b>Mark</b>, <b>Jason</b>, then <b>Robbie</b>, and finally <b>Gary </b>(on my right). It turns out that a few of us were "<i>old salt</i>" and had played before... not me though.<p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJP72UVn7_3FFudssh2QXLtF6krZkaz3PVjCXv1arlw2Epi8LtcC6Wik6ReC97sb7eRX-CxeVuhS5kU6BxT91nH_mmul5Ldpg9-zgtXO-9tF4RjRU1WrZtJiMLRPicIqhSTkg_ldRgYeuYPMFVdwCj1VodzhLSKtYbKrVFDMUFOHF9inC8pt318kF0k0s/s4000/2023-09-05%2020.43.54.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJP72UVn7_3FFudssh2QXLtF6krZkaz3PVjCXv1arlw2Epi8LtcC6Wik6ReC97sb7eRX-CxeVuhS5kU6BxT91nH_mmul5Ldpg9-zgtXO-9tF4RjRU1WrZtJiMLRPicIqhSTkg_ldRgYeuYPMFVdwCj1VodzhLSKtYbKrVFDMUFOHF9inC8pt318kF0k0s/s320/2023-09-05%2020.43.54.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a table of riches!</td></tr></tbody></table>Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is a fairly recent re-print (and re-publishing) of an older and much loved 2012 version. In case you haven't played before, the cut and thrust of this game revolves around every player starting with the same hand of 6 cards (crew members), drawn from a pool of 40. Then we simultaneously choose one, play it, reveal it, and then deal with them in initiative order. Each crew card also has a unique power which affects the game in lots of cool and interesting ways too. The aim is to collect as many of the valuable loot tokens as possible, whilst avoiding relics which <i>normally </i>penalise you. Plus; force opponent's crew members to walk the plank (die), using your unique crew powers, thus hindering others and helping you to your villainous victory. The pirate with the most loot wins. Sounds easy...right?<p></p><p>My first wake up call that something might be rotten in the state of Demark, was being removed from the island (turn order) by another captain's crew powers and by the <b>cutlass</b> loot tokens. Unfortunately, in this game, if you are stymied too many times during a single round, it can prove to be a problem. Hence my first criticism of this game. When playing a 6 player game, a lot of 'out of turn' take-that powers can and and will be deployed. Resulting in bloody-brawls full of highs, lows and the haunting cries of "Please! Not me again!", "I'm not even winning!" and "Why do you HATE ME?!".<i> "Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!! Batten down the hatches ya bilge sucking land lubbers!"</i></p><p>I had been warned prior, that Libertalia was a festival of 'by the skin of your teeth' escapes, brutal put downs, revenge, and of course clever predictions which lead to great plays. Which all sound amazing fun! So why didn't it 'feel' like that to me? Ok, no more review stuff - what actually happened?</p><p>Howard and Mark moved quickly into the lead by a good margin, closely followed by Gary. Unfortunately Jason and Robbie (poor Robbie) got to walk the plank several times during the first round because "<i>dead men tell no tales</i>". I performed poorly by simply tripping myself up and over thinking, only to find my actions were over-ridden, or weaker than expected. However, when it came to round 2, I was beginning to understand what I needed to do, and was grabbing some valuable loot tokens. Yay me. </p><p>Going into the final round, both Howard and Mark were really beginning to pull away. Gary's plans appeared to have paved the way for a great finish, and Jason was gaining good ground too. Unfortunately for Robbie and I, we had been "<i>scuttled</i>" a few too many times early on to make a serious dent in our deficits. This is part and parcel of a competitive game like this one, and as the game's "<i>scally wags</i>", our inexperience was showing.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREpCnY9rxwN_k_k9C7e2e8iXq15s6LmMA-pI98u6jeIPXyTLZP_50Qo68FQW34swUBNQJ6jzfe2IOMSgJPJ2wS1mZJMofFUw82VsdCO8UUeRynjBWf38-xtam4oc-pnCk_TCm8boQKnh0k45QyqOsYQBdrU3NqebedISmKmImF6Nw910K1ombnkGo9F8/s1013/Screenshot%202023-09-15%2016.19.03.png" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="723" data-original-width="1013" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiREpCnY9rxwN_k_k9C7e2e8iXq15s6LmMA-pI98u6jeIPXyTLZP_50Qo68FQW34swUBNQJ6jzfe2IOMSgJPJ2wS1mZJMofFUw82VsdCO8UUeRynjBWf38-xtam4oc-pnCk_TCm8boQKnh0k45QyqOsYQBdrU3NqebedISmKmImF6Nw910K1ombnkGo9F8/s320/Screenshot%202023-09-15%2016.19.03.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Robbie's not a fan. But we love him still. </td></tr></tbody></table>I'm not entirely sure, but I may have been witness to some frustrated plays made by Robbie. They began to unleash '<b><i>The Flood</i></b>' on some of us by purposefully selecting the cutlass loot token and began "<i>swabbing the deck</i>" with extreme prejudice. I was here for it. I would have probably hi-fived Robbie if I got chance, but they made a speedy exit after the game (probably to utilise some of their notoriety and pursue a solo career). Suddenly our plucky six-some was now a band of five. Howard won Libertalia, closely followed by Mark. A predictable end, to a 2 hour game.<p></p><p>Afterwards, I was reliably informed that playing Libertalia several times is mandatory for a good time, and I do love me a good time. I enjoyed the table banter, and yes, I do look forward to giving it another go in the future. </p><p><b>Next game please!</b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="text-align: left;">Fantasy Realms, one of my favourite short (filler) games. 5 players went into this game, and 3 of us had played it before. It's a super fast hand management and set collection game which has the tendency to end way too fast. Rome wasn't built in a day, but a Fantasy Realm can be built in 20 minutes. </p><p style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOyX7-qGW7vHuvvfAIo7aFI4owgwrg7S9BjoOwDjyJ7qVGp166QCVEITNUiAJ9ogDabRxnB4PTXMwPikmJWaJwVr1uirOg0OgNE-3YKvOc4q-gBgVFDorrRyu1Kpwl_GH4emiRNetl-WQJuizVWzt28ezOQRCC1s0BVF1rqnvmWaBmeD9Ria4kJLM-yE/s4000/2023-09-05%2021.43.24.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="2197" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimOyX7-qGW7vHuvvfAIo7aFI4owgwrg7S9BjoOwDjyJ7qVGp166QCVEITNUiAJ9ogDabRxnB4PTXMwPikmJWaJwVr1uirOg0OgNE-3YKvOc4q-gBgVFDorrRyu1Kpwl_GH4emiRNetl-WQJuizVWzt28ezOQRCC1s0BVF1rqnvmWaBmeD9Ria4kJLM-yE/s320/2023-09-05%2021.43.24.jpg" width="176" /></a>Each player is dealt a hand of 7 face-down cards. When it is your turn, you simply either pick a card from the remaining deck, or pick a face-up card from the discard pile. You may only have 7 cards, so you have to discard one before the turn moves on to the next player. All discarded cards are arranged face-up on the table, and when there are 10 cards left discarded on the table, the game ends immediately! How you decide which card to pick up, what to keep and the one to discard is all based on the strength of the hand you currently have. The idea is to build the most valuable (strongest) fantasy realm before the world ends. Each card you have has a strength value, and when added together, they become your final total. Some cards work together to multiply up strength, some cards penalise you for having particular cards and of course a few cards penalise you for not having certain other cards. It's a complete mess for new players - but a game plays so fast that it is entirely possible to rush through 2-3 games without even blinking.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Try it. Try blinking. I've already played 3 games of Fantasy Realms. </p><p style="text-align: left;">After explaining the rules, I let everyone know that a score of over 100 was great for first timers, and if you managed to get to 150 then you did very well. Scores of 200 or more were available for experienced players, as knowledge of the deck is key to optimising your hand for a godlike total. </p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuazibbGS4GQ4NjJNWnYXx3ZAbUrK198eRFoinmDrDHhzI6UZwOte7SZ5X3T56YDydLwq6a4hYI2G_UtXMi7ZAR2vEWcwwtq1_1ugamOSooJdqDZjQq6BDnut2qOnIMW4evnlwIwQYgzx5QhwfcthK3wXNWJxu8flK2qQpoJLG4JsPx560hgxVclJ79w/s4000/2023-08-21%2021.42.48-1.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOuazibbGS4GQ4NjJNWnYXx3ZAbUrK198eRFoinmDrDHhzI6UZwOte7SZ5X3T56YDydLwq6a4hYI2G_UtXMi7ZAR2vEWcwwtq1_1ugamOSooJdqDZjQq6BDnut2qOnIMW4evnlwIwQYgzx5QhwfcthK3wXNWJxu8flK2qQpoJLG4JsPx560hgxVclJ79w/s320/2023-08-21%2021.42.48-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What a starting might look like</td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;">Our winner from last game, Howard, scored an impressive 199 points! Plus Howard managed to make good use of the <b>Gem of Ordering </b>card, which provides massive bonuses for a set of cards in numerical order. Always satisfying when a player manages to do this. Gary and Mark (our first timers) scored well with 135 and 150 points. I remember finding it quite difficult to get anywhere near 150 on my first few attempts - so this was a amazing to see. Jason, who was our other experienced player (with 20 games under their belt) did <b>exceptionally </b>well with a score of 239! However, I managed a rare win by scoring 2 more points, totalling a huge 241, which a BIG number for me - so I was delighted. </div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;">In our last game we all had to endure multiple 'take-that' actions which took their toll on our fragile plans. Fantasy Realms is not particularly known for hostilities. BUT experienced players know when to hold onto certain cards to deny other players big totals, and when to focus on their own burgeoning realms. Jason though, was witness to me picking up the <b>Candle </b>card, which when combined with the <b>Book of Changes</b>, <b>Bell Tower</b> and any one <b>Wizard</b>, adds a massive 100 points to your final score. Unknown to me, was that Jason had the Bell Tower, and decided to hold onto it for the entire game, denying me my bonus 100 points. HOWEVER... what he didn't know was that I had the Mirage card, which can duplicate the Bell Tower.. thus giving me the bonus in the end. I also managed to find the Necromancer which added another card to my hand at the very end just before scoring AND the Collector who added another 40 points for having 4 Wizards. Game over.</p><p style="text-align: left;"><b>NEXT!! </b></p></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAwXn-czhS1jCPlN44fqRK-yqrSy7J9zpjMwaIPQDP-uw7IgCAcsMXEBSQjJ4Bmb58lYBq9J90j91iiDj_KndSLCp3yQYcs8heG5pyTMIFTt5gaUEckfDEPpKEKQR7q-0-lIS7DEap4hJbnxVOOekbVpKZR_zUZIgKKmKrRCjfGSxqgKSDkdb8aelMhpg/s1920/Imageprincipale_seasaltandpaper-1-1920x1080.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1920" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAwXn-czhS1jCPlN44fqRK-yqrSy7J9zpjMwaIPQDP-uw7IgCAcsMXEBSQjJ4Bmb58lYBq9J90j91iiDj_KndSLCp3yQYcs8heG5pyTMIFTt5gaUEckfDEPpKEKQR7q-0-lIS7DEap4hJbnxVOOekbVpKZR_zUZIgKKmKrRCjfGSxqgKSDkdb8aelMhpg/s320/Imageprincipale_seasaltandpaper-1-1920x1080.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Origami artwork is stunning.</td></tr></tbody></table><p>Fast becoming one of my favourite short, set collection games, we reached our final game of the evening, <i>the beautiful</i><b> Sea Salt and Paper</b> with 3 players, Howard, Gary and me. This was my 4th, maybe 5th play, and I still hadn't quite worked out how to defeat others yet. I do love it though. Simply, each player has an option of either picking 2 cards from a face-down deck, discarding one, and keeping one for their hand. OR, pick up one of the face-up cards from either of the 2 discard piles. Easy stuff.</p><p>As you collect your set of cards you are given opportunities to play pairs of cards face up to score points and gain additional actions from doing so. For example: have another turn, or blindly pick another face-down card for your hand etc. In this game though, the 'take that' shark/swimmer combo pair was being used profusely. It would appear that blood was in the water <i>again </i>and it was time to '<i><b>Pray'</b></i>. </p><p>This game is played in rounds, and ends when one player reaches 35 points or more. Each round is curtailed by the players themselves. Once you have at least 7 points in your hand combined with any pairs played on to the table, then you can simply call STOP! Everyone counts up their card set values and adds them to their running total. There are a few more rules surrounding this, but I'll save that for an up and coming review. </p><p>In our game, ATTACK was the only form of defence as each player proceeded to plunder the other's<br /> hands; fishing for Mermaid cards and probing for valuable Penguins. In the first round I was shark attacked twice, leaving me with only 3 cards when STOP was called. So, I got a big fat zero. Cue the grumpy face. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3526" data-original-width="1884" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZxWVs-sI_tolXguB1gJbFQvEii2Y_L0U8HFlAFzY0z-0rcRF4YEbuXl-c_TAmNxuckTAXH0q4DxYOEHy9Qc4n22XAUMF5qo0Bwx-YWJd5ZzbUM7olJQ0dwQoZkEWkxxsYEXdGhiL0aFdblmRzcGfPAPtwmGFFbZAzBKirznXY5tU2-uLlu0SQxq-Skg/s320/2023-09-05%2022.14.01.jpg" width="171" /></div>Amongst the very, <i>very </i>funny banter at our table, we also experienced a hilarious situation when Gary picked up 2 cards and immediately played them both as a pair, declaring loudly that he would be using his Shark & Swimmer combo to steal a card from my hand... again. This was a 2-fold mistake. Firstly, you can't pick up 2 cards and play them both in that same turn, you have to discard one first. So, a disappointed Gary pocketed the shark card and discarded the swimmer card. Secondly, I had a shark card in my hand, so of course I picked up the rejected swimmer, and immediately dealt Gary some 'rough justice' with it. It was amazing good fun, and my only regret was that we didn't get to fully finish the game before 'turfing out time' was upon us. In the end we called it a draw... but somehow I lost. Not complaining though, as it was a memorable night. <p></p><p>This evening was FULL of highs and lows, frustrations and so much 'take-that' that it was difficult '<i style="font-weight: bold;">Holding Back the Tears' </i>sometimes. I may have my criticisms of games which encourage such gratuitous amounts of player smack downs, however, sometimes you gotta '<b><i>Get Ready For It'</i></b>, and '<b><i>Don't Say Goodbye'</i></b> too early. </p><p>We will return next week; with more cutlasses and sharks than ever before. Just you wait!</p></div>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-36822603969428892632023-09-12T14:20:00.004+01:002023-09-12T15:25:57.931+01:00All fingers and thumbs - a dexterity night<iframe class="BLOG_video_class" allowfullscreen="" youtube-src-id="Mzcgyk62cHU" width="600" height="498" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Mzcgyk62cHU"></iframe><br>
It seems a long time ago now [<i>ed: yes it is Ian, better late than never I suppose</i>], when 6 Noboglins bravely decided it would be fun to try out some different dexterity games.
First up was a sneaky game played by early arrivals on the Tuesday, a recently arrived Kickstarter game in the Itten games 'funbrick' package. 5 different games, with this one a game arguably the standout game in the campaign, but does it live up to that promise?
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<b>Viking See-saw</b> follows a design that's been done before, of balancing a see-saw, by adding items and trying to avoid it tipping over to the other side. What sets this aside from all the others though, is the quality of the components. There's real variety in the items you need to add, from a plastic gem and ball, through quirky wooden meeples, the wooden cargo that serves as the game's timer (and punishment for failure), through to the stars of the piece, metal cubes that might look like Terraforming Mars cubes, but represent the quality that game was mocked for missing. The brass one in particular is intimidatingly weighty, making it quite the decision as to when to use it. <br>
<i>Wobbly hand rating: Challenging but far from impossible</i><br><br>
Then onto the games proper, and <b>Men at Work</b> is notable for its quality components as well, and dexterity games do seem improved by having quality, rather than flimsy pieces.
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The premise is you're working on a building site, where there is a 'laissez-faire' attitude to health & safety, but making that worse, employees want to show off when the boss eventually turns up, by building higher than anyone else has built before, plus if they cause an accident, it's the next player who has to clean up the mess before they take their turn. What could go wrong? Lots, but often the wobbliest construction is still remarkably resilient... until eventually it (catastrophically) isn't.
Many of you will have played Jenga, and felt frustrated by the laborious setup before play commences. This game solves that by laying out a just 3 grey chunky 'supports' and then laying out a mere 3 chunky coloured wooden 'girders' resting on them. The game is ready to play inside a minute or two. On a player's turn, a card is turned over revealing whether they're placing a worker or a girder, plus whatever additional criteria they have to satisfy. Some are easier than others, with girders touching other girders being a blessed relief for the naturally clumsy, but the workers carrying 'bricks' and/or little wooden 'beams' usually eliciting great apprehension.<br>
<i>Wobbly hand rating: Sometimes easy, sometimes verging on impossible</i><br><br>
We followed this with an evocatively titled game game that plays in a similar way to Men at Work.
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<b>Catch the Moon</b> starts with two wooden ladders, and each turn adds another, in the manner of Southern Italian builders <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJgzLlAFbvvCa1d0ICn8BygXfnW6DCvrdK5hxREmu_r3E9jUZjDhoIIHG8279TCxa2btljP6QAmClk-U1gCcQ1xh4BRTeBASk7f5IlCJG7iHWacquE1-2JGaem8nC_t0C2UeKLjo8E41qW8W__CnlCi_jJ9wrCu2AAuaGq_UYXY9cdHNSTIwJiFULtWAb/s240/ladders.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" height="320" data-original-height="240" data-original-width="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUJgzLlAFbvvCa1d0ICn8BygXfnW6DCvrdK5hxREmu_r3E9jUZjDhoIIHG8279TCxa2btljP6QAmClk-U1gCcQ1xh4BRTeBASk7f5IlCJG7iHWacquE1-2JGaem8nC_t0C2UeKLjo8E41qW8W__CnlCi_jJ9wrCu2AAuaGq_UYXY9cdHNSTIwJiFULtWAb/s320/ladders.jpg"/></a></div>
The only constraint is a die roll with 3 possible instructions on it. It seems simple, but unlike the relatively obvious areas of stability/instability in Men at Work, those ladders had a nasty habit of twisting around when another ladder was added to it, which is an absolute nightmare when instructred to add the 'highest ladder yet'.<br>
<i>Wobbly hand rating: Deceptively and surprisingly variable</i><br><br>
Next up was a very different game, that goes under a few different names, but involves mechanised plastic monkeys throwing rubberised coconuts into coloured plastic cups. I think ours was called <b>Crazy Coconuts</b>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9b0J3Bd1hIrNs8Beb7FFRNTB_NrGnvicqTyxNpxkJqwjVjHl6Ao1jy7dROPNUUbGcSOMiC-eD5FAZHDu3paruXgCvNkjeuCuiy7yOVddXJDW__4CsW-Y-RcJ0QleWT7pD2TuGU4_qVzdvGOAOFmuZmoSM8ao9I39_nh3R2y1_Dwtwm-euR2ZOtpkOhDEy/s270/coconuts%20game.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; "><img alt="" border="0" width="320" data-original-height="187" data-original-width="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9b0J3Bd1hIrNs8Beb7FFRNTB_NrGnvicqTyxNpxkJqwjVjHl6Ao1jy7dROPNUUbGcSOMiC-eD5FAZHDu3paruXgCvNkjeuCuiy7yOVddXJDW__4CsW-Y-RcJ0QleWT7pD2TuGU4_qVzdvGOAOFmuZmoSM8ao9I39_nh3R2y1_Dwtwm-euR2ZOtpkOhDEy/s320/coconuts%20game.jpg"/></a></div>It also comes with some optional cards, which we quickly decided were a poor addition to the game, adding annoyance that distracted from the fun. This was probably the surprise package of the night, for what is ostensibly a children's game, it was a bundle of laughs, and again it came down to a good choice on components. You remember the mention of rubberised coconuts earlier? They were crucial, as it enabled laugh out loud trick-shot moments of a coconut landing perfectly in the cup, but bouncing out again. Or the reverse of initially missing the target, but a friendly bounce finding a cup nonetheless. The greatest trickshot however, from the winning team's star player, was a shot that landed in one cup, bounced out, only to then land in an opponents' cup, thus stealing it from them. Definitely one for 'all ages who can enjoy a giggle'<br>
<i>Wobbly hand rating: A winner, as there's a bit more force and a little less delicacy required </i><br><br>
Finally, we closed with <b>flipships</b>, a very different beast.
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It's themed on space invaders, where you flick your cardboard ship tokens through the air, trying to land them on the cards that represent the invading aliens. Each ship has a special ability that might make it easier to hit an alien ship; be more effective when it does; or help you assault the mothership (landing the ship token inside the cardboard constructed mothership). It's a game that can be a little tough to get the hang of, finding that right angle to lauch the ship, so it threatens the target and not the adjoining table (or in the words of Monty Python, does not so much fly as ... plummet).<br>
<i>Wobbly hand rating: Avoids the pitfall of requiring delicacy, but it's definitely an acquired skill </i><br><br>
A nicely eclectic mix of games and as a side-note, two of these games I'd never played before, but was able to quickly work out the rules in the last ~ 5 minutes of the previous game, in order to be ready to teach it. For someone who prizes simple rulesets, dexterity games can be ideal. An evening of purely dexterity gane is not something I'd want to do every week, but as an occasional thing, something I'd look forward to again, especially if I can persuade Paul to bring along Flickfleet (flicking dice from plastic ships, at opponent's ships, and massively more fun than I imagined). Also to look out for is the game 'Push It!' that Alison has brought along, that's arguably the perfect pub table dexterity game. Damn! I'm starting to get excited for a follow-up....Ian Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15243375909834669194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-19484507586974660662023-09-04T11:12:00.007+01:002023-10-03T16:18:54.759+01:00Game Night - Heck! It's the Fearsome Time Travelling See-Saw<div class="separator">🕑 8 min read</div><div class="separator"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator"><b>Zoinks! </b>It's <b>Game Night</b>! For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the pillaged and hen-pecked worms. </div><p>On this eventful Tuesday evening in August, almost <b>30 NOBOGlins</b> turned up and played on <b>6 tables</b>! After the usual introductions, several of us broke away and managed to pull out and play 4 <i>medium/light-weight</i> games. Our 1st game was with 3 players; 2nd game with 4; then our final 2 games were with 5 whole <b>NOBOGlin</b> players! Like I said, it was eventful.</p><b>Let's GO!!</b><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5Fn41o5QcsgcNKKaYcl5LpB_Vyq5X-6mQI_t2CzqADDGN9r5vmXmkBqfKqfAoI4SDH0sShnJQHNJksgAwOucgInkgBCOSyGgLXreDzCigEZYusHD9ZOECXiBtOMNjGiQlM458sfTneuOXCGjIr_aacYs1YEp6lnWmW8W31g9qVblAz3dEdlMJOi9S54/s4000/20230829_195031.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf5Fn41o5QcsgcNKKaYcl5LpB_Vyq5X-6mQI_t2CzqADDGN9r5vmXmkBqfKqfAoI4SDH0sShnJQHNJksgAwOucgInkgBCOSyGgLXreDzCigEZYusHD9ZOECXiBtOMNjGiQlM458sfTneuOXCGjIr_aacYs1YEp6lnWmW8W31g9qVblAz3dEdlMJOi9S54/w150-h200/20230829_195031.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IT'S ALIVE!!</td></tr></tbody></table>First up was <a href="https://norwichboardgamers.blogspot.com/2023/08/whadiyob-fearsome-floors-2003.html" target="_blank">Fearsome Floors</a>, with <b>Shaggy</b>, <b>Fred </b>and <b>I</b>. Now, this game only usually takes 30-45minutes however we found the slow-lane and finished our session after a gentleman's 90 minutes of play (including a 10 minute intermission - <i>more about that later</i>). Our mission was to escape a dungeon with as many of our party members as we could (beginning with 4 each) before a monster caught up with us. <b>Shaggy </b>was the 'monster standee' builder this game, and what a handsome businessman monster 'Mr Conjunctivitis' was. The race started out pretty standard, an orderly wave of kidnap victims emerged from their cells slightly dazed and confused. Then quickly followed by a forced 'skedaddle' when Mr Conjunctivitis unexpectedly ploughed into Fred's escaping party, ultimately sending 2 victims back to the beginning. Good start. <p></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeXlMIC4HWe2Kes2G3gILJh8bDoy01r_WcOcGgO-YVGt906ukSmXcH_eNni7uq3zCH4Az-rOVc9ZOl2gzrZtKVSDG52ExyG0fYkNyk9YRQrA4cp663O1rBDIcOhtvdrB63FzZrkkkoLr5nYvM-FEaKDPjsLWBnQXcdb46rF2eEnzw4s-i5XMjt4tqJCw/s3583/20230829_200357.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2877" data-original-width="3583" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeXlMIC4HWe2Kes2G3gILJh8bDoy01r_WcOcGgO-YVGt906ukSmXcH_eNni7uq3zCH4Az-rOVc9ZOl2gzrZtKVSDG52ExyG0fYkNyk9YRQrA4cp663O1rBDIcOhtvdrB63FzZrkkkoLr5nYvM-FEaKDPjsLWBnQXcdb46rF2eEnzw4s-i5XMjt4tqJCw/w200-h161/20230829_200357.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3.2.1. SKEDADDLE!!</td></tr></tbody></table>From then on, Shaggy and I slowly but surely sneaked towards the exit, however, my '<i>Old Fonzie</i>' stumbled and was captured; back to the start with you old man! Shaggy was now the one to beat. I tried my best to divert the attention of Mr Conjunctivitis towards Shaggy's party members, but the all I could do was claim yet another one of Fred's characters and bring the monster toe to toe with one of Shaggy's escapees. Rats!!<p></p><p>It was at that point we had our intermission. A fire alarm went off and all of us NOBOGlins vacated the bar and onto the street, leaving behind one metric tonne of cardboard and wood to feed a potential fire. Luckily the alarm turned out to be false, thus saving our games from either burning to ash, or becoming water damaged. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtnnTNh1IPnMIWhzEnQhy3rZyTDRq4vHhrGnhveEvPkrwx1MUY9FMhzFXq9EjlSYC3VenF5wIq-dnQ2Qn227acF8guVI4fuwz-iwK4AzscZrU2sBnDgby6oH7jUDRBbrjc3zOcxHTkzMpqWcrhyx93OwdvfmoIPpKV-9o2PULYBoxH4Rhdh5LdR_R0cA/s3768/20230829_202436.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3768" data-original-width="2806" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRtnnTNh1IPnMIWhzEnQhy3rZyTDRq4vHhrGnhveEvPkrwx1MUY9FMhzFXq9EjlSYC3VenF5wIq-dnQ2Qn227acF8guVI4fuwz-iwK4AzscZrU2sBnDgby6oH7jUDRBbrjc3zOcxHTkzMpqWcrhyx93OwdvfmoIPpKV-9o2PULYBoxH4Rhdh5LdR_R0cA/w149-h200/20230829_202436.jpg" title="Look behind you!" width="149" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's Behind You!!</td></tr></tbody></table>Returning to the game with a renewed vigor, we had to confront the fact that our pal Shaggy was on a cakewalk to victory, but not on my watch! I immediately went into action sacrificing my '<i>Zombie Fonzie</i>', who went to the big 'garage apartment' in the sky along with one of Fred's party; before lining up yet another 2 kills, my '<i>Fonzie Fonzie</i>' and at last, one of Shaggy's. I was playing for a draw! Unlucky for me, Fred was having none of it, and saw a way where they could win the whole game by sacrificing their puppy (who exactly IS the monster in this game Fred?). My '<i>Old Fonzie</i>' bit the dust permanently and the pressure was now on! I was excited because from here on in, the game was Fred's to win or lose. C'mon Fred!!<p></p><p><b>Fred lost. Shaggy won.</b></p><p>HOORAY!?! All my machinations came to nought. It was at that time <b>Velma </b>joined us, and we went into our 2nd game of the evening with 4 players.</p><p>The <b>Viking See-Saw</b>. </p><p>Our winner from the first game, Shaggy, brought along a <b>BEEEEee</b><i><b>utiful </b></i>stacking dexterity game by the one and only Dr Knizia. This game is very simple. Each player starts with identical piles of cargo, then in turn, places one of their pieces onto the tipped up (high) end of a pink viking boat. Yes, after a busy campaign of dating and pillaging, nothing says gender neutrality better than sailing away on a powder pink boat of peace and love. <i>#NotAllVikings</i></p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYXifsxeEDhACANZvH0X4pMxDDaoItaXlds1YgknhM7x6Omt62uqPMwTf5Mkf112kBCp1reQQ5a6H-FsZ9rhhGwxW0R95_Ih0Os7J80UZOxmczMjrd0slukP-b0zCad-wTdjBFY_H5aJcBnPOvAYQQjlke34r1JcsogVQjFqjaCGeIsJ07dfCBCXNFZw/s3373/20230829_213742.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3373" data-original-width="2569" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLYXifsxeEDhACANZvH0X4pMxDDaoItaXlds1YgknhM7x6Omt62uqPMwTf5Mkf112kBCp1reQQ5a6H-FsZ9rhhGwxW0R95_Ih0Os7J80UZOxmczMjrd0slukP-b0zCad-wTdjBFY_H5aJcBnPOvAYQQjlke34r1JcsogVQjFqjaCGeIsJ07dfCBCXNFZw/w153-h200/20230829_213742.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Japaneses Viking Boat</td></tr></tbody></table>IF, you manage to place your piece of cargo safely onto the boat, NOT tipping it over, then congratulations - your stolen (sorry, re-distributed) items may actually make it back...to... I wanna say Sweden(?), but it could easily be Norway. Nope wait, apparently these are Japanese vikings, all the way from Japan. That's kinda terrifying actually. <p></p><p>Next player then tries to balance their loot on the boat too. This continues until a player tips it over and/or unsettles the boat, thus dropping some cargo into the sea. Now they have to pick up a mystery box (brown crate), and/or any items that fell into the drink, adding it back to their pile again. I think you get the idea. First player to stow-away all of their loot (or 'luggage' if you want to gas-light the entire UK - thanks BGG) wins the game.</p><p>This game was a lovely and exciting puzzle, especially since the pieces of cargo (luggage - lolz) are a variety of sizes, shapes and weights. Unfortunately I think our new player Velma ended up with more cargo than they started with, obviously due to the choppy waters of the North Sea... and our current champion Shaggy, managed to get another win under their belt. The scores so far: <b>Fred </b>0, <b>Shaggy </b>2, <b>Velma </b>0 and <b>Me </b>0. Next game please! </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtTM3Q9qV03a0DcA5scPYGt_EE6C5U0iXCGSTrY85gM3xX7Zqx1Emvv0dh2fY5zSnLaVe-AnEW1NId42mjh2D1z7k77fqu-wICa_QPiA6HJovK-IAkpgVR_SVEy7uSFArtkEP67TNEMayvIvYHOAO7Jwwk15MBl0P7g74Yw5pvxr8fPVAtfkzLv9O0tc/s2410/IMG_4714.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1719" data-original-width="2410" height="143" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwtTM3Q9qV03a0DcA5scPYGt_EE6C5U0iXCGSTrY85gM3xX7Zqx1Emvv0dh2fY5zSnLaVe-AnEW1NId42mjh2D1z7k77fqu-wICa_QPiA6HJovK-IAkpgVR_SVEy7uSFArtkEP67TNEMayvIvYHOAO7Jwwk15MBl0P7g74Yw5pvxr8fPVAtfkzLv9O0tc/w200-h143/IMG_4714.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I like being centre of attention</td></tr></tbody></table>So the next game started and ended pretty fast as it was <b>Timeline</b>, the game made infamous (not a thing) for making some of us look incredibly well read and studious... and others (me), look stupid and ignorant. Our resident cargo kleptomaniac <b>Velma </b>brought in this game, and explained it very well to us all....including our new player <b>Scooby</b>!! Now we were 5. <p></p><p></p><p>The idea of this game was to empty our hand of 4 cards into the timeline in front of us. Each card depicts an event of historical significance, all we had to do is place it in chronological order, without knowing the year shown on the back. As the timeline gets longer, the chances of getting rid of a card becomes tougher. If you fail to guess the right place in the timeline for your card, it gets discarded and you draw a new card into your hand. I enjoyed this game, and it was educational for about 30 seconds (my memory span). Velma won, closely followed by - I wanna say Fred. However in this game, being second is just the first loser, Fred. Look haven't you got an adorable puppy to kerb-stomp somewhere?! I didn't manage to take a photo of our game, however I did an artist's impression of how the game looked and went. Enjoy. NEXT!!</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWx_edmMqqgfBql2x9YDOH8Uwkr02SW377uMyV0q3zyEp73UObYTE-MlJuGpZXzvBHO11FYE_ZejYHi_v1lVAAL31C4N5pap1ayUDMgPjsP0xJbjLrNbKmz-OhyfzZQ4ZqMHHzrCN74_PlNMnE0MMVygvNSOCoGkfpE6M3gzMYq0tBJgeOjFKmE2jhn1s/s4000/20230821_172548.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWx_edmMqqgfBql2x9YDOH8Uwkr02SW377uMyV0q3zyEp73UObYTE-MlJuGpZXzvBHO11FYE_ZejYHi_v1lVAAL31C4N5pap1ayUDMgPjsP0xJbjLrNbKmz-OhyfzZQ4ZqMHHzrCN74_PlNMnE0MMVygvNSOCoGkfpE6M3gzMYq0tBJgeOjFKmE2jhn1s/w150-h200/20230821_172548.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Past game photo</td></tr></tbody></table>Lastly, but by no means least we played <b>Pickomino</b> (or <b>Heck Meck </b>if you're cool like the Fonz). Another Reiner Knizia classic; this game is a push your luck, dice rolling, take-that extravaganza of groans, hubris and victory dances. I will cover the rules better in a WHADIYOB post at a later date. It's a game not to be dissed or missed. I brought this game in, so was quietly confident that I could get a win in, to save some face...<p></p><p><b>All you need to know are these rules:</b> 1. Roll some dice (Yahtzee style) but you can roll as many times as you like - or until you bust. 2. Bank only dice of the same number (or worms). 3. When adding up your banked dice and taking a tile, a worm counts as 5 points, and you MUST have at least 1 worm to have a legal total or go bust 4. Collect the numbered 'worm tiles' by rolling the their exact number and create a single 'stack' of them in front of you. 5. Rolling higher numbers is great, as it earns higher value worm tiles and protects your 'stack'. 6. You can steal tiles from other players by rolling the exact number of their uppermost tile on their stack. 7. If at anytime you 'bust', then you lose your uppermost tile to the table again and the highest numbered tile on the table gets flipped.</p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7509HotJulz2zUuhlEWvEu3N3JgUQxVAWySM6_ZmaeI4YzaTiLBrVTfSv-AZqVi2LCTDbcrufUuz32chCN5L8oXNA2h3XXvtqdZG_Ic1LG41fhnB47ZWi0gUcpiX3uYMV-YqeOOrTkOInnP2GN6nmpZ88DxZ9YIETtlWn-JjMnpEm0IdW-xjs1BCFCbU/s2873/20230829_222607.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2873" data-original-width="2590" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7509HotJulz2zUuhlEWvEu3N3JgUQxVAWySM6_ZmaeI4YzaTiLBrVTfSv-AZqVi2LCTDbcrufUuz32chCN5L8oXNA2h3XXvtqdZG_Ic1LG41fhnB47ZWi0gUcpiX3uYMV-YqeOOrTkOInnP2GN6nmpZ88DxZ9YIETtlWn-JjMnpEm0IdW-xjs1BCFCbU/w180-h200/20230829_222607.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shaggy rolls dice fine.</td></tr></tbody></table><b>Let's Roll</b>. The game started out pretty well for both <b>Shaggy </b>and I. We immediately captured tiles in the low thirties! Amazing start. <b>Fred</b>, <b>Velma </b>and <b>Scooby </b>were not quite so lucky though, and <b>Shaggy </b>and I proceeded to steal tiles from them, quite profusely I might add. <b>Shaggy </b>finally moved into the lead after a particularly vicious onslaught of <b>Velma's </b>vulnerable stack. Velma impressively kept their cool though.<b> </b>Good on them. <p></p><p>Eventually, as always, someone flew too close to the Sun and just as Icarus famously did, they had their worms stolen and/or busted. That 'someone' was <b>Shaggy. </b>Their screams were not of anguish at all, they were of course, screams of delight. Delight for an exciting rollercoaster ride of both victimisation and hubris.</p><p>The next Icarus in the line of fire was me. Yes, I had slowly been building up my stack, diligently protecting it from foreign hens, coming over here and stealing my worms, <i>blah blah blah</i>...then I lost. I stumbled at one of the last few hurdles of the game, but not only did I lose, I came LAST. I had no worms and was hen-pecked to oblivion... not even dust remained! I think my opponents would have pecked out my soul if the game allowed them to. To be honest, I think they did - they stole a part of me that evening. Especially Fred. </p><p>Against all the odds, our very own Velma won, by a healthy margin. </p><p><b>The final scores were as follows:</b></p><p>1st (Joint with 2 wins each) - Velma and Shaggy!</p><p>Last - The rest of us losers.</p><p>Well I had a great night, and I'm pretty sure all the rest of the gang did too. Plus it is worth mentioning that no-one was made fun of or belittled at all. Just in case my jokes fell flat. </p><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://media.giphy.com/media/1xmhhQ2ygZG8CDDTNV/giphy.gif" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="140" data-original-width="245" height="140" src="https://media.giphy.com/media/1xmhhQ2ygZG8CDDTNV/giphy.gif" width="245" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">..and they celebrated. </td></tr></tbody></table>So there we have it; my preference has usually been for getting several light weight games on to the table and then finish with a filler, but that's not for everyone. Fred remarked that they regularly chased 'gaming nirvana' via the route of heavy, crunchy euro-style games.<p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>"..one game to rule the entire evening!"</b></span></p><p>However, they did confess that they <i>really </i>enjoyed the bloody, salty, aged and wormy '<i>palate cleansing sorbets</i>' which were served up this fine evening. Hooray for everyone, we did good!</p><p>See you all at <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/94tPTPq5ZytPgfNS6" target="_blank">NoBoG</a>* another night!</p><p>*Please feel free to drop by the Google listing for NoBoG and review it :)</p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-21975930838873855062023-08-29T12:59:00.009+01:002023-10-03T15:11:40.739+01:00WhaDiYoB? - Fearsome Floors (2003)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBPwhOOOgK2k8evp05zqHMWwh7fVSep3x1DtIEmPaY-eTZkLfOljkJRRjDjDqeA2IGlcmUU7hsn5A75lXULsT6vNg5DvTeGoDMte4-bAp0N2cEwS2xjdzNj3cOROGbHVBMP8CAr8vVT0N9BbYm1GKZ_mW-O7KQqRx60F0HyV5H1jNjvQOAjP031SLFtg/s515/fearsome-floors.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="515" data-original-width="378" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuBPwhOOOgK2k8evp05zqHMWwh7fVSep3x1DtIEmPaY-eTZkLfOljkJRRjDjDqeA2IGlcmUU7hsn5A75lXULsT6vNg5DvTeGoDMte4-bAp0N2cEwS2xjdzNj3cOROGbHVBMP8CAr8vVT0N9BbYm1GKZ_mW-O7KQqRx60F0HyV5H1jNjvQOAjP031SLFtg/s320/fearsome-floors.jpg" width="235" /></a></div><p>🕑 8 min read</p><p>W<i>elcome once again, to our '<b>What Did You Bring?</b>' segment!</i></p><p></p><p>For the purposes of this post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the murdered.</p><p>In <b>Fearsome Floors </b>we have been kidnapped by a wicked scientist and fed to their monsters! Our entire party has been dumped at the entrance to dingy dungeon hallway filled with stone blocks and slippery pools of blood (fresh from the last party of guests?). The only hope of escape is a thin slither of day-light in the distance and the fact that we have protection in numbers. So, I don't need to run faster than the monster... just faster than that weakened old man or the defenceless child. HA-hahahaha! </p><p>As we all enter the hallways and apprehensively advance towards the exit, we hear a horrifying howl in the darkness... and just like in the <b>Squid Games</b>, the race is on to survive!!</p><p>This game was designed by Friedemann Friese, and was originally meant to incorporate his 'friends' escaping from him on a dance floor. I have 2 problems with this. 1. Why were they running away from a green/blue haired games designer on a darkened dance floor? And 2. Where has all this congealed blood come from!!?</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorPJbkVSGr-uT8pu7thlA_fJRWyp55whIEosAWhdl0HzuMgLWbBeZLELtygHFS-m9LnBiKsbyQtlumqmH5Tk8T7-sCkopx1CzYtJKMI_MXNh6FC5GQTgepeRzHlBjFSYLT_WWTqIVJdukMOFM96n8x9ArcnlhPGTJd-rk_8Z5XFRwR5k9GimDVMusKsg/s4000/20230828_200519.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiorPJbkVSGr-uT8pu7thlA_fJRWyp55whIEosAWhdl0HzuMgLWbBeZLELtygHFS-m9LnBiKsbyQtlumqmH5Tk8T7-sCkopx1CzYtJKMI_MXNh6FC5GQTgepeRzHlBjFSYLT_WWTqIVJdukMOFM96n8x9ArcnlhPGTJd-rk_8Z5XFRwR5k9GimDVMusKsg/w269-h359/20230828_200519.jpg" width="269" /></a>Joking aside, apparently Friedemann landed upon the revised theme of escaping a horrific basement monster, more than 5 years after his original idea had landed on the play-test table. I for one am glad he did; because the new theme is so enjoyable and engaging. Let's talk about the game play and why you might want to try this game should you get the opportunity. </p><p>Firstly the game screams family fun, even if the theme is horror, it's not really gruesome. It's more like Scooby-doo and the Mystery Inc. gang being chased through a haunted house, full of teleporting portals that only the vile villain can use. Before I speak more directly about movement and mechanics, please take a moment with me to bask in the glory of the wonderful monster token in this game. Rio Grande Games has given to us a multitude of printed card-board arms, legs, bodies and heads to assemble as we see fit. Slotting them together to create the strange standee is really easy and satisfying. </p><p>At the start, we are all given several counters of our chosen colour. Depending on how many players there are you will either have 4 coloured counters (1-4 players) or 3 counters (5-7 players). Turn order is very simple, each player gets to move one of their escaping 'party member' counters in turn until all players have moved their entire party. The maximum number of spaces a counter (party member) may move is shown on the top of each one. This number ranges from 1-6. Once a counter has been moved, you flip it over to the opposite side, which does 2 things. It shows us which player counters have been moved this turn, and it reveals a new number for the next turn. Because in a brilliant turn of events, each party member has 2 different speeds! Remember that, as it will haunt you and possibly trip you up when you least expect it later.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJTiY3qrtnLD5qVQwt5f36pLyqkg1s7jDNJ9ULoUtz2gKLxjDPFvce0zDgeB9hutgIMh3LwfyA55j8gRSqeYtKVAxV4HLEQGD_LsCG9PQhcW3EKvK0465Nd0Fb0Mu_xSm5o4AzYhHv2xYbd1LC1JuG5itmxFqB9lz5i9YpZPIsmGotmvhq2sDkcaPNkeU/s4000/20230828_200513.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJTiY3qrtnLD5qVQwt5f36pLyqkg1s7jDNJ9ULoUtz2gKLxjDPFvce0zDgeB9hutgIMh3LwfyA55j8gRSqeYtKVAxV4HLEQGD_LsCG9PQhcW3EKvK0465Nd0Fb0Mu_xSm5o4AzYhHv2xYbd1LC1JuG5itmxFqB9lz5i9YpZPIsmGotmvhq2sDkcaPNkeU/s320/20230828_200513.jpg" width="240" /></a>Once we have moved all our party members, then the fun can truly begin when the monster activates and starts shambling towards us all. To move the monster, all you do is shuffle the monster's 'tombstone tokens' and randomly pick one off of the top. This will tell you how far it will move, usually between 5 and 10 spaces. The cruel creature will continue to proceed forwards until it finishes all of it's move, capturing victims as it proceeds. HOWEVER, as it callously creeps towards us, it will also take a look down intersecting corridors, and as soon as it perceives a prey, it will immediately change direction and head towards them for the remainder of it's moves. The monster cannot see behind itself, around corners, or past stone walls. It will keep moving, only changing direction as it catches a glimpse of a party member. </p><p>From a safe distance you may want to run one of your party into the line of sight of the gruesome giant, just so that it changes direction and eventually captures one of your opponents! A risky move... as they can hide around corners just as the monster reaches their corridor, leaving the murderous monster to eat one of your very own family instead. </p><p>This game does not overstay it's welcome, and is full of extra little details which make the game worth your time. For example, if the monster is forced to simply walk into a side wall, it teleports to another area of the basement and continues it's ravenous rampage. Plus this sadistic savage can push stone blocks into players pieces and even crush them against walls! Perhaps that's where all the blood came from? If one of your party members is captured (eaten), then it is sent back to the start, where it's race begins again. The game ends when a player manages to escape 3 of their counters (1-4 players), or 2 of their counters (5-7 players). </p><p><b>Why do I like this game? Maybe I should have started with this, so here goes. </b></p><p>Even though Fearsome Floors is 23 years old, and the mechanics come from a different board gaming era all together, they are still incredibly engaging. As players you have the option to simply run your party members as far away as you like, hoping to escape the gaze of the monster, or perhaps goad it into doing your dirty work for you. It's hilarious. Sorry, did I not say that enough already?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FNQAiQfOaJ5VBGFZC5hJqn-9h3_l1TIjbTJp8_fq8IL1CjGrfFyUgLSNqCTTliqTAjaksxVfM9GR_Fmm-4JF_40f-THLJQy6LS_nw3zZR2sjycaKgF7jWXFBhDoVPMxP21t0k5opp1FzxeZqKmlB8rhlg4DIEtdKMtvtttMV2MmWwyqiAuc32203RK8/s157/fearsome-floors%20-%20Copy.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="139" data-original-width="157" height="139" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FNQAiQfOaJ5VBGFZC5hJqn-9h3_l1TIjbTJp8_fq8IL1CjGrfFyUgLSNqCTTliqTAjaksxVfM9GR_Fmm-4JF_40f-THLJQy6LS_nw3zZR2sjycaKgF7jWXFBhDoVPMxP21t0k5opp1FzxeZqKmlB8rhlg4DIEtdKMtvtttMV2MmWwyqiAuc32203RK8/s1600/fearsome-floors%20-%20Copy.jpg" width="157" /></a></div>At higher player counts, the game play becomes intensely chaotic, and conveys the same sense of dread you get when driving to an airport, and you convince yourself that you left the oven on. Maybe that doesn't sound so fun after all... THEN an opponent does something even more moronic, letting you off the hook. Let's all laugh at them now. Forget about me, I intended to leave my oven on all along!! <p></p><p>Since this game only lasts between 30-45mins (player number dependant) you can easily play through it twice, or drag out another board game to quench your appetite for crunchiness. Your choice. </p><div>If you'd like to know more about this game then you can find the Board Game Geek link <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/7805/fearsome-floors" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>!</div><div><p>See you all at <a href="https://goo.gl/maps/94tPTPq5ZytPgfNS6" target="_blank">NoBoG</a> later!</p></div><p></p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-74701180083040243342023-08-21T14:44:00.004+01:002023-10-03T15:08:06.902+01:00King Charles III and I walked into a pub...<p>🕑 4 min read</p><p>For the purposes of this post, peoples names have been changed to protect the innocent and treasures of both national and local importance.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbYPCotDcvKtL8ix40i0UUoGVAg_mSdGul3Vndv5Dr99kSAFvIiNVAmx1Vk2J-sIsfRser8mGWKMO4chFXUsq495xsPUOtAnJB1Tk03ohxg7QDma2ADpHXPPz-3_PO9P0lr-mcTaiCqERPcboksVgjy_u8kMxr-9Aiay2AjSoWPSYUe2p9JZRaAG6kdY/s1825/IMG_4701.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1825" data-original-width="1389" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYbYPCotDcvKtL8ix40i0UUoGVAg_mSdGul3Vndv5Dr99kSAFvIiNVAmx1Vk2J-sIsfRser8mGWKMO4chFXUsq495xsPUOtAnJB1Tk03ohxg7QDma2ADpHXPPz-3_PO9P0lr-mcTaiCqERPcboksVgjy_u8kMxr-9Aiay2AjSoWPSYUe2p9JZRaAG6kdY/s320/IMG_4701.jpg" width="244" /></a></div></div></div>So, every now and again (couple of times a month) I get<br /> drinking and discussing board games, designers and gaming groups with <i>King Charles III</i>. What will probably surprise you more than the fact that our monarch enjoys a board game or 10, is that he wears his crown at the pub! He says it gets him a greater number of drink offers, but more importantly, way more interesting chats with random strangers. It works for me; so I buy him whiskey and we chat about his heritage, and of course board games. Lots and lots of board games.<p></p><p>I don't know about you, but random jibber-jabber of this ilk, both inside and outside my regular gaming groups are where I learn the most about new games I've never heard of, or have yet to play. The wealth of board gaming knowledge out there - especially in our very own Norfolk, is kind of exciting right now. </p><p>So I'd like to dedicate this post to a small slice of the conversations and serendipitous ramblings I've had with the <i>King</i> down the boozer. Enjoy.</p><p>I've not long come back to gaming after a 15 year hiatus and struggle to recognise or remember prominent designers and publishers. Charles doesn't make me feel silly when I'm caught blathering though. He simply glosses over it and waxes lyrical about his own favourites instead. With that in mind, let's chat about one designer in particular - the good doctor, <b>Reiner Knizia</b>. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>This prolific designer has managed to publish over 700 games, spanning a 25 year career. If you haven't already played any of his games, you will probably have played a game inspired by one of them. Both <b>High Society </b>and <b>The Quest for El Dorado</b> (published by Ravensburger) regularly make an appearance at NoBoG gaming nights each week. I personally have added 2 highly acclaimed titles, <b>Ra </b>and <b>Babylonia</b>, to my board game collections on the personal recommendation of our reigning monarch.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtoCeWoGpR1t0HiwwAvHPVX99IWLaT4JT1s9x-ssvLLAfFh2XtO-5Lq4Qugmq7STYdzu4EdMrGtxIadRtYqs04rj40zyxDzZPG9uC7c6-8h_OhyNwiputIatyAhV9Glutnz50zAeVMzekX28381S0NmRNW1J2eNWgE6hp9fsXTstoAgBEWt3N9gGTD_g/s2732/Untitled%20540.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1750" data-original-width="2732" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPtoCeWoGpR1t0HiwwAvHPVX99IWLaT4JT1s9x-ssvLLAfFh2XtO-5Lq4Qugmq7STYdzu4EdMrGtxIadRtYqs04rj40zyxDzZPG9uC7c6-8h_OhyNwiputIatyAhV9Glutnz50zAeVMzekX28381S0NmRNW1J2eNWgE6hp9fsXTstoAgBEWt3N9gGTD_g/s320/Untitled%20540.png" width="320" /></a></div>What's all the fuss about though? Why is it that one person can be this talented and so successful at board game design? Well, apart from the sheer amount of time he has spent working on and receiving earnest feedback for his great ideas - Dr Knizia appears to have developed a very particular set of design skills focussed on the human condition. Charles and I discussed this at great length and drew some conclusions. <p></p><p>As a designer myself, my focus is mostly on fun. Obviously this can be highly subjective and genre specific, but our man Knizia has found ways to mine it, or to be more accurate, allow players to 'unearth' the fun themselves. Most of this 'fun' comes from clever player interactions and well-balanced multi-layered strategies. For example, in <b>Babylonia</b>, placing your tiles and surrounding locations of interest earn victory points and will deny them from your opponents. <i>Basic</i>. However, if you are imaginative, you can simply instead; rock up to those areas, let other players go to war over them and claim the spoils after the dust settles. Thus, collecting small rewards at regular intervals, which multiply up as your network grows and snakes its way into everyone's territory. Reiner's scoring mechanisms can sometimes be complicated, but boy are they rewarding for those players who just wanna explore, and spend some quality time with like minded folk. King Charles agreed with me, that there's something quite amazing about uniting players in a shared scoring mechanism. Dr Reiner Knizia signs off several of his most precious works with this approach, for example <b>Tigris & Euphrates</b> and <b>Samurai. </b>He does this so well, that I'm convinced he understands us better than we understand ourselves. </p><p></p><p></p>Whilst I sit here and write this post I am hopeful that we ALL may eventually find a love for certain genres, mechanics, publishers and/or designers, as I think this matures us as aficionados for our chosen pastime. If you are anything like King Charles and I, then please raise a mug of ale or wee dram of whiskey to that thought. Just like the whiskey, it warms the heart. <p></p><p></p>Do you have any favourites? Tell us about them. Even better, bring them along to a game night and entice us all with their majesty. <p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSnTfcxNQK1SGpyp0NqbDM5PG7nte7Vbfsytk6opb6oVY4PxY7DlIbi9aDb2I3BYsFGqFiUUfmh6gXsvbXvl6memATwbg6zWTHPYDRW-iALaLMiZ5D8JMrzL57kbLxKiGDECGsTt-IBUkUW0YAWkYnG6iD6BhiNOx-E6vA3atRWwzoj4sfSlzGp9zIjOc/s2732/IMG_4700.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1616" data-original-width="2732" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSnTfcxNQK1SGpyp0NqbDM5PG7nte7Vbfsytk6opb6oVY4PxY7DlIbi9aDb2I3BYsFGqFiUUfmh6gXsvbXvl6memATwbg6zWTHPYDRW-iALaLMiZ5D8JMrzL57kbLxKiGDECGsTt-IBUkUW0YAWkYnG6iD6BhiNOx-E6vA3atRWwzoj4sfSlzGp9zIjOc/s320/IMG_4700.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Watch out for <b>Ra </b>and <b>Babylonia </b>on NoBoG nights - both games only last for about an hour. Plenty of time for chewing the fat, and playing other games. <p></p><p>If you wish to learn some more about Dr Reiner Knizia's best to worst board games, then please click <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/302880/reiner-knizia-games-some-them-ranked-best-worst" target="_blank">HERE</a> for a more extensive look at his works of art.</p><p>See you soon!</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-53871584255004900932023-08-20T14:57:00.001+01:002023-08-22T12:41:00.650+01:00Norwich Games Convention - a brief preview<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Norwich games expo –
What’s taking your fancy?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This Saturday sees the *first of what hopefully will be a
regular games convention in Norwich <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So in this **unpaid preview, what exciting things are on
offer?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Doors open at 10am</b>
and for those dropping off games in the <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Bring
and buy,</b> this may well be a first port of call. Hopefully not the mile-long
queue of the UK games expo....<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRocm0YMVWz06Y9zHDUh-6CKFmNulcXGPGUNsXB4dfXEvQcK1-QSYaYoQ-J1kXSh5xPZvX_qjQkAHko8bv24pcL0J08CQt3Ba9ONy-WePo5DoF5gItc6-ORjWofEUBVrBRudQlELqosaZ6iGSA38kmnZDFMdba484QCj6z11CPPSL8ZSNX8UKudhz4l-9e/s1500/queue.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1500" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRocm0YMVWz06Y9zHDUh-6CKFmNulcXGPGUNsXB4dfXEvQcK1-QSYaYoQ-J1kXSh5xPZvX_qjQkAHko8bv24pcL0J08CQt3Ba9ONy-WePo5DoF5gItc6-ORjWofEUBVrBRudQlELqosaZ6iGSA38kmnZDFMdba484QCj6z11CPPSL8ZSNX8UKudhz4l-9e/s320/queue.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<p class="MsoNormal">Will you be dropping games off to make space for other games
to replace them, or browsing what’s on offer to find the grail game you’ve
always wanted, or a bargain or three?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There are <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">stalls </b>open
from 10am – 6pm, covering a range of interests. Quite a lot of focus on Role
playing games (RPGs) and accessories, with more dice than a mad chef on speed.
Art, T-shirts and even a tattoo artist also on offer. Norwich businesses are strongly
out in support, including Norwich VR, The Games table, Slice and Dice, Zatu and
Black Tower Games, along with others from nearby such as Crit It and the
wonderful couple who run Badgers games from Kings Lynn. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Quirkiest stall perhaps the Lazy bug rugs
stall – go get your knitted dinosaurs…!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZRSneGA31cnnlsfG1Q42FzH7xQzWG84it2kRQ1-V6JELBgjinw1aSRzwyVE3XWPe-NJI5R28Km0sRnLuOxqfzx-aSTOfrQEcQdDSFhz7y-2Ne6ufeLrL2pDaDvO7J86poPfrKt4rCOYjKFMr0Cn97ExOhcmoLgn7j2rnjnFor8ng6e8i-u1A9XGnJkme/s2048/knitted%20dino.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1542" height="88" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFZRSneGA31cnnlsfG1Q42FzH7xQzWG84it2kRQ1-V6JELBgjinw1aSRzwyVE3XWPe-NJI5R28Km0sRnLuOxqfzx-aSTOfrQEcQdDSFhz7y-2Ne6ufeLrL2pDaDvO7J86poPfrKt4rCOYjKFMr0Cn97ExOhcmoLgn7j2rnjnFor8ng6e8i-u1A9XGnJkme/w67-h88/knitted%20dino.jpg" width="67" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p class="MsoNormal">Also starting at 10am, are <b>roleplaying games</b> in the historic ***crypt, but note these do
require pre-booking, so find a topic that appeals and get signed up. There’s good variety,
showing the hobby is much broader than mere dungeon-crawls, and there’s even a ‘Miss
Marple’ style murder mystery RPG.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdFGadFBdpsilb0MyvLx-reACIDdc9KGirn8pNq9qVRUymFp6uQD2_ua5EJsiZT2TFFCu2FXJL3d6xM9vdqh4JMUVys6aLIvhiUm6bWuf5PpHx58gj_DU3mDaovSNxHv7fIfujNUZagtvxKJvMUpOZvpLWpgdTiOU5CqHNVWckj-kr_UNAtLxrc6DjyZw/s1200/gavel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="1200" height="90" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdFGadFBdpsilb0MyvLx-reACIDdc9KGirn8pNq9qVRUymFp6uQD2_ua5EJsiZT2TFFCu2FXJL3d6xM9vdqh4JMUVys6aLIvhiUm6bWuf5PpHx58gj_DU3mDaovSNxHv7fIfujNUZagtvxKJvMUpOZvpLWpgdTiOU5CqHNVWckj-kr_UNAtLxrc6DjyZw/w134-h90/gavel.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>Throughout the day there will be <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">live auctions</b>, and even if not bidding, it’s a chance to see/experience
a big variety of auction styles…. And no, don’t worry about scratching your
nose or touching your ear counting as a bid.<o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s also <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">charity
gaming</b> for the Benjamin Foundation in Blackfriars hall at 2pm – 6pm<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The event listing is here <a href="https://www.norwichgames.uk/whats-on">https://www.norwichgames.uk/whats-on</a>,
with additional info on their facebook page <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NorwichGamesCon">https://www.facebook.com/NorwichGamesCon</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Perhaps if biggest appeal is the opportunity for all-day gaming, with the gaming
area expanding significantly at 6pm when the market stalls pack up, and the
gaming takes that space over as well. Will you stay for this and if so, are you
aiming to grab that opportunity to dust off a copy of Game of Thrones or
Twilight Imperium and settle in for the evening? Maybe a chance to game with
friends or with strangers?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There’s going to be food and drink available for the
majority of the day, so no need to leave the building and risk sunburn, drowning
or mixing with the happy shoppers in the city.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<div style="border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.5pt; border: none; mso-element: para-border-div; padding: 0in 0in 1pt;">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">Finally, if you do see John
Anthony or Stacey (Staceface) Sanderson, give them a smile of encouragement, as
they’ll probably be rushed off their feet all day, and indeed that goes for the
other organisers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;">Hope to see you there? If so, what's most exciting for you?</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext 1.5pt; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in; padding: 0in;"><br /></p>
</div>
<p class="MsoNormal">*whilst we’ve had Diceni for years, that does have a more
tabletop gaming focus, albeit with a board game and cosplay element.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">** However if there were any gold bullion available, it
would as ever be appreciated.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">*** I’m assuming a similar vibe to downstairs in the Louis
Marchesi, possibly with more reliable electricity<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">**** or orctions as they call it. Not sure if there’s more
teef involved.<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Ian Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15243375909834669194noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-48525870252313638082023-08-14T12:38:00.003+01:002023-10-03T15:08:34.307+01:00WhaDiYoB? - Last Will (2011)<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg98JR0XGgPksUNZFaI0CAKPRSBVIJWfTA_uJoCS97F3PQ9AGzCkgtjgbYBBr-5t8-8c7lNvuTVFTo-9wmWP-fe2MptM2awag0dZDeQOzx-1oGHXsny2SNscnQkwqwi1zkufdDM-TNoaaT2wqMpfy5FCKmGH6cAvKh6YA03NqtBpRahWv3j5gvJCaj9QUw/s2560/91p8dT3aqLL.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1803" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg98JR0XGgPksUNZFaI0CAKPRSBVIJWfTA_uJoCS97F3PQ9AGzCkgtjgbYBBr-5t8-8c7lNvuTVFTo-9wmWP-fe2MptM2awag0dZDeQOzx-1oGHXsny2SNscnQkwqwi1zkufdDM-TNoaaT2wqMpfy5FCKmGH6cAvKh6YA03NqtBpRahWv3j5gvJCaj9QUw/s320/91p8dT3aqLL.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div>🕑 5 min read</div><div><br /></div>W<i>elcome once again, to our '<b>What Did You Bring?</b>' segment!</i><p></p><p>For the purposes of this (<i>review</i>) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the extravagant.</p><p></p>Someone died! "<b><i>There's been a murrrder!</i></b>" No wait, wrong game sorry. Our beloved uncle has died of boredom and left us all a small fortune - HOORAY! So, I guess we're all siblings? Or maybe cousins? The game doesn't stipulate who we are exactly, but it promises to reward us for being really, <i>really </i>stupid with money. <b>Double HOORAY!!</b><br /><br />Our uncle was a bit of hermit and an outrageously thrifty (boring) millionaire. In his last will and testament, he confided, that for all his fortune and privilege he found little enjoyment in life. So his grand lesson in death, his swan song, is to challenge his nieces and nephews to spend his inheritance as fast and as extravagantly as possible. Enjoy life! Queue a 'Brewster's Millions' like comedy of events. <div><br /></div><div>Those gamers <i>of a certain age </i>will recognise this theme as the same one used by family game 'Go for broke', but rest assured, the gameplay here is firmly in the modern school of gaming.<br /><div><br /></div><div>The first player to go bankrupt (lose all their share of the inheritance) is the winner. Then, they inherit the REAL fortune!... and I guess become sad and depressed like our cursed uncle was. Cheers unc...??</div><div><br /></div><div>This game sounds fun right? Spoiler alert. It is. <div><br /></div><div>In our game we had 4 NOBOGlins<b>* </b>playing, however 'Last Will' can be played with between 2-5 players. The game is medium weight in complexity and can be finished in 60-120 minutes, including setup and explanation time. We did it in about 2 hours. I think you will need most of that 2 hours in your game too, as the whole idea of it - <i>to lose money</i> - is counter intuitive, plus refreshing. Your brain will continue to fart and contort for most of the game; trying to convince you to amass money rather than wantonly spend every last farthing. </div><div><br /></div><div>Spending money in this game is easy though! Buy that farm you've always dreamed of. Cha-ching! Go on a boating holiday with a horse and dog! Pay them to teach you how to swim (not in the game - sorry). Have lavish, wild parties in manor houses, and invite your neighbour's spouse! Ooh-la-la now we're talking. Yes, there are many ways in this game to spend your inheritance, but the trick is do it faster than your opponents, and in such a manner that what you purchase doesn't become an asset in the future. Because, just like in 'Brewster's Millions' the hilarious 80's comedy film, any assets (properties, houses/farms) are counted against you in the final act (after round 7). </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EToy_vQwu0XfNSAC6EDpHhmtTAxKNEu4zLWEENx4KWiMq0A7cW5AA0Qo3_sIeQa_hKFWsHFhBwwYbWNd1HRf1wWUkxsvB9BfBnJKgVFMjQwK_OHEGW-YARwZRAMAM_rcuybxfCK2VVK-Bf9kUQEpLg8ZwbhpORnaDUPxmPAo5bWD5AN0s1obZiFo-oo/s4000/2023-08-01%2020.42.51.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3000" data-original-width="4000" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EToy_vQwu0XfNSAC6EDpHhmtTAxKNEu4zLWEENx4KWiMq0A7cW5AA0Qo3_sIeQa_hKFWsHFhBwwYbWNd1HRf1wWUkxsvB9BfBnJKgVFMjQwK_OHEGW-YARwZRAMAM_rcuybxfCK2VVK-Bf9kUQEpLg8ZwbhpORnaDUPxmPAo5bWD5AN0s1obZiFo-oo/s320/2023-08-01%2020.42.51.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>So let's talk about the game mechanics and how we can achieve bankruptcy from the comfort of a pub table. Each of the 7 rounds are broken down into 4 fleeting phases. First of all, may I say that this game has one of my favourite mechanisms for turn/phase order. After you have chosen which player is to go first, they get to place their round token on 1 of the 6 possible 'planning spaces'. The further left you place your marker, the further up the action turn order you will go... however, the rub is the further right you place your marker, the more actions and options you will have during that round. Mwah! Chef's kiss. More about chefs later...</div><div><br /></div><div>From the planning area, each player will decide when they take their actions, how many different action spaces they will utilise, how many actions they are able to take, and how many new cards they will draw into their hand to help achieve their goals this round. </div><div><br /></div><div>The 4 phases quickly flow into one another, only stopping every now and again when a player amusingly forgets that they are supposed to be <b><span style="color: red;">burning </span></b>through their inheritance. Ha-ha losers. I mean, ha-ha... accumulators?</div><div><br /></div><div>In the central card marketplace, each player can either pick up new properties each round to purchase, enlist the help of some rather wasteful or incompetent associates (pals, estate agents, gardeners, chefs etc.), or take advantage of a one-off event card to whittle down that fortune; like an expensive carriage ride to no-where, a 'hectic day' shopping or even a dinner reservation you don't attend. Of course the players may also choose to invite (and pay for) companions to join them on their adventures. </div><div><br /></div><div>There is an abundance of choices available to slowly but surely whittle down your fortune, however there will be a massive temptation to spend a huge slice of your inheritance on properties, and why not. Properties are expensive, they also deteriorate when not maintained, used as a flop houses or partied in like it's 1899. Unfortunately though, their value never really fully disappears, and being stuck with an asset when the game comes to the end is potentially disastrous to the bank account... no wait. Assets are good! I'm doing great right?! Hahahaha you've fallen into that trap again! Winners are losers excluding when losing is winning. Losing (winning) is fun. Except when you are winning, of course. So confusing.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaZmXg20XwrTqYCHHN6_Fm82rxZfC2XtRfiqPfNYi-ubdLtXBdtwODD59mR5w7rr2sQBbnumnTwsWwyR5NjZX-CwmaOfIen78RduqBNMbWrYCL0yODHNXdZE4XEFx9bGZYUuFyUDiAfh_2XDiVff8XnZpDEti0HNyxg2PeAxWOpI01qFZXLQpSWKeYK8/s4000/2023-07-25%2022.18.26-1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuaZmXg20XwrTqYCHHN6_Fm82rxZfC2XtRfiqPfNYi-ubdLtXBdtwODD59mR5w7rr2sQBbnumnTwsWwyR5NjZX-CwmaOfIen78RduqBNMbWrYCL0yODHNXdZE4XEFx9bGZYUuFyUDiAfh_2XDiVff8XnZpDEti0HNyxg2PeAxWOpI01qFZXLQpSWKeYK8/s320/2023-07-25%2022.18.26-1.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>Finally, as per usual, this well balanced and fun game has a naughty little skid mark. I've played it twice and both times the same(ish) strategy won. Avoiding properties will allow you to build an engine within the game which will survive the test of time. Reacquainting yourself with helpful (mooching) pals or associates, and increasing your card drawing capacity will eventually become a very powerful end-game play. Therefore, you have been duly warned, attempting a property strategy means that you must pick a good time to exit the market with your ill-gotten losses(?) FAST, and then rely upon a new set of situations to off-load your moolah late in the game. It is my opinion that buying and selling property/farms is indeed hard mode. On my first game I managed to get within a few English pounds of the winner with the help of 3 very incompetent estate agents, and by manipulating the property market almost every round. So... it is possible, I guess. Consider the property challenge set!</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>If you'd like to know more about this game then you can find Board Game Geek link <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/97842/last-will" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>!</div><div><p>It's a good game. I wholeheartedly recommend it. </p><p><br /></p></div></div></div>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-20304973015357299312023-08-08T12:22:00.011+01:002023-10-03T15:08:53.244+01:00WhaDiYoB? - Ra (2023)<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXeII1Dor0K7g2G194Plf8JnJPNeV0ecukwcL4_oKO7Es4WM3DIg7TKKS6_C8AQM-sS8P1TNzjkuu0i5xG4yu164uxVBWEtYlAQzOv5pApx93_TWyOnwgjsJJuPjVP2gQbSFmj8iGgq6bH2beBz01hOMHF2g1fInHnyOj7pFrehEgr_G6lq_x2GqMWWs/s886/RA+3d+BOX+VISUAL+iso.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="886" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPXeII1Dor0K7g2G194Plf8JnJPNeV0ecukwcL4_oKO7Es4WM3DIg7TKKS6_C8AQM-sS8P1TNzjkuu0i5xG4yu164uxVBWEtYlAQzOv5pApx93_TWyOnwgjsJJuPjVP2gQbSFmj8iGgq6bH2beBz01hOMHF2g1fInHnyOj7pFrehEgr_G6lq_x2GqMWWs/s320/RA+3d+BOX+VISUAL+iso.png" width="271" /></a></p><p>🕑 6 min read</p>W<i>elcome once again, to our '<b>What Did You Bring?</b>' segment!</i><p></p><p></p><p>For the purposes of this (<i>review</i>) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the mummified.</p><p><b>RAAAAA!! </b>The <b>Sun God Ra</b> is the bringer of life, light and an immensely fun auction game. As a devoted worshipper of Ra, it is our job to enrich ancient Egyptian civilisation through Art, Religion, Astronomy, Writing, Agriculture and the construction of epoch spanning Monuments, all in his name. </p><p>Don't worry though, you don't have to do all that in a single hour at the pub. Just shout '<b>Ra' </b>a lot during the game and hold... hold.... NOW! <b>Bid NOW!!</b> </p><p>I like my games simple, and this is as simple as they come - <i>let's not talk about the end game scoring yet</i>. At the heart of this game is a (closed) auction system. So please allow me (a serial hater of auction games) to try to convince you (a non-believer of Ra) to give this game a try if you ever get the opportunity. </p><p><b>RAAAA!!!</b></p><p>Winning, as mentioned previously is easy. All you have to do is bid the highest, and collect as many tiles as you can, which have been picked out of a colourful bag. If you did well, your collection (or set) will be the most valuable and beat the scores of every other player. Boom! Ra loves you, and only you. Go on... give that big <b>Ra </b>statue a kiss. It's beautiful. Kiss it. </p><p>At the start of the game, depending on how many players there are, each player is given 4 rather chunky Sun Disks numbered between 2 and 16. The Sun Disk with the 1 on it, is placed centrally on the communal tableaux. Ooo.. I've never written that word before... tableaux. Sounds lush. </p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTtPBf6fNBfzLOXQOlDvS7edaINKDgkAYMInvmJ_LU0mOx92LXSi17zRKqZGc5F-sI6o-DOobT63SalSW_dSLL7SdudybQEw2rQncPxXk_-M1hGk9Jjssxk8NyzzWva4WXfualDqaXKnGVYpeFt23Ia-lRjRqSyZYtj7KhR4QR4ydyrQZKamncHpbUXY/s750/PlayTheGame_25Century_RA_Retail_09.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="750" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFTtPBf6fNBfzLOXQOlDvS7edaINKDgkAYMInvmJ_LU0mOx92LXSi17zRKqZGc5F-sI6o-DOobT63SalSW_dSLL7SdudybQEw2rQncPxXk_-M1hGk9Jjssxk8NyzzWva4WXfualDqaXKnGVYpeFt23Ia-lRjRqSyZYtj7KhR4QR4ydyrQZKamncHpbUXY/s320/PlayTheGame_25Century_RA_Retail_09.jpg" width="320" /></a>Anyway, each player uses their Sun Disks to bid in the upcoming auctions, but you only get to bid once in each auction! So if you really want those tiles for your collection of Monuments, Rivers, Civilizations, or Gods etc. then you had better pay up son!! The higher the number the higher the bid.</p><p>This game is broken into 3 Epochs - which are essentially rounds. During each round, players have 1 of 2 simple decisions to make during their turn. 1. Do you draw another tile from the sack and add it to a burgeoning public display of gifts to Ra? Or 2. Do you just call <b>RAAA!!</b> Thus beginning an auction and prematurely ending the 'Generation Game'* style conveyor belt of victory points amassing. <b>Pro-tip</b>: If you do call <b>Ra!</b> Then you will get a distinct advantage in the bidding process, as you will bid last. This turns out to be a delicious game of chicken with your opponents. Do they use their high numbers to secure the auction win? Or do they let you take all the tiles for a measly '3 Sun Disk'? </p><p>When you eventually do win an auction, then you will swap your winning Sun Disk with the central one left over from previous bids - and keep it for future rounds.....yep that happened. Congratulations, you just played yourself. Or did you....? ::sly smile::</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5F_mWf-lTrnV2oRmnCQr1WeZU-JTgPGQ_jqj6WdD-O8YCq1cxq07P8GsDaFkv1cCF2_tJbDB7JCoHPAMo6j0x5NYpbz7Gkd0g-4hTJZG2LXyvzrHeAMw0KWqxonpyfVLe8PKyU4pKdumVdhvoBjM8nsjzpkc8hUfx9FlIwwogxP1WpCZDSnYa1XZ1kI/s750/PlayTheGame_25Century_RA_Retail_07.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="750" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH5F_mWf-lTrnV2oRmnCQr1WeZU-JTgPGQ_jqj6WdD-O8YCq1cxq07P8GsDaFkv1cCF2_tJbDB7JCoHPAMo6j0x5NYpbz7Gkd0g-4hTJZG2LXyvzrHeAMw0KWqxonpyfVLe8PKyU4pKdumVdhvoBjM8nsjzpkc8hUfx9FlIwwogxP1WpCZDSnYa1XZ1kI/s320/PlayTheGame_25Century_RA_Retail_07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>During the game lots of other bad stuff can and will happen too. There are <b>Disaster </b>tiles! Of course there are, this is ancient Egypt. These tiles are like a fly in the ointment of your offerings to Ra, they force players who collect them to lose some of their collection's value. Some tiles only score when accompanied by other tiles; other tiles only score if you have the most of them, and one tile even penalises you for having none of them. Plus, just in case you weren't having enough fun yet, several tiles that are drawn from the bag are <b>Ra </b>tokens! This token artificially begins an auction, which can be both horrible and sublime at the same time. They also act as the Epoch (round) countdown timer. <div><br /></div><div>If you have been paying attention, you will have noticed that every new conveyor belt of offerings to Ra has value, however, that value is different for each player. Therefore every auction is exciting, fast and mouth-watering (in it's own way). Between the screams of "<b>RAA!!"</b> and "Stop them! They are going to WIN!", you will be trying to count the value of your offerings - hoping that you can predict the outcome. Do not do this. You are wasting your time, and you could easily miss the opportunity to gain massive rewards, or even prevent another player from doing the same thing.</div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFobcSP1OzjG70E0S67I7p7sX3PeJhGAlklQWPDJOU4UJijnhET9lMuSWtdi82Ld-CFmvBI-RyQea-lKQEB-83po4ZH3zuhKQt0dTUGqtJszDIWV1ZKvz1bWex7XTmjzlQUOAw6K1KX4QGWgnIYOS2LOYP1-UhZBq8syJBk-a-HqM02w9Pwe0QTnc_4I/s750/PlayTheGame_25Century_RA_Retail_05.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="501" data-original-width="750" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsFobcSP1OzjG70E0S67I7p7sX3PeJhGAlklQWPDJOU4UJijnhET9lMuSWtdi82Ld-CFmvBI-RyQea-lKQEB-83po4ZH3zuhKQt0dTUGqtJszDIWV1ZKvz1bWex7XTmjzlQUOAw6K1KX4QGWgnIYOS2LOYP1-UhZBq8syJBk-a-HqM02w9Pwe0QTnc_4I/s320/PlayTheGame_25Century_RA_Retail_05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>After the 3rd Epoch has finished, and the count-up begins - this is where the game lags a bit. Yes, it can be exciting announcing your totals in turn order, but very frequently I have found this stage to drag a small amount and can become technical. Losing by 2 points can feel horrible, but not as horrible as realising that you just lost by 20 points and was probably playing a different game all along. Ra hates you. But don't be sad though, the game doesn't last very long, and you may even be able to get an additional play out of it during the evening, if everyone is on board. </div><div><br /></div><div>All jokes aside, this game is kind of genius. Maybe it won't be to everyone's taste, since crunchiness only pops up during the set collection and the count-up at the end. However the interpersonal challenges, the pushing of ones luck and the schadenfreude as you announce <b>"RA!"</b> to the screams of delight from all your new friends... then watch in horror as one by one, they all 'pass' on bidding for the tiles, and you're now stuck with them... cue the giggles. </div><div><br /></div><div>In conclusion, I do recommend giving Ra a try if you get the opportunity.</div><div><br />If you want to know more about this game, then you can find the Board Game Geek link <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/12/ra">here</a>! Plus if you have any suggestions on which games to review in <b>WhaDiYoB?</b> then pop a comment down below for us. </div><div><br /></div><div>Enjoy your screaming. I mean evening!! Enjoy your evening. </div>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-50266356721145299322023-08-01T12:36:00.004+01:002023-10-03T15:09:20.307+01:00WhaDiYoB? - First Rat (2022)<p> 🕑 6 min read</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0hbhcVfF9l6CSQMyIcyQ-LZRw_FEX-4jZaxlGR3QSQ-QdoV6StRZBxquhtx0l3vaOL02OxkzSsNjBpoPdig7jLYfqHCF-Y6OfVFI8_Fj1icOxWjTJVvjNn1DrnJEv900rzTfu_x9-KqcMOVkEQr84KdIQXQDt2zMaE9FffUOyUeCTwnB2t9LJrFsrq_s/s2190/4250231729942_01.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="2190" data-original-width="1491" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0hbhcVfF9l6CSQMyIcyQ-LZRw_FEX-4jZaxlGR3QSQ-QdoV6StRZBxquhtx0l3vaOL02OxkzSsNjBpoPdig7jLYfqHCF-Y6OfVFI8_Fj1icOxWjTJVvjNn1DrnJEv900rzTfu_x9-KqcMOVkEQr84KdIQXQDt2zMaE9FffUOyUeCTwnB2t9LJrFsrq_s/s320/4250231729942_01.jpg" width="218" /></i></a></div><i>Welcome to the first '<b>What Did You Bring?</b>' segment. </i><p></p><p>For the purposes of this (<i>review</i>) post, player names have been changed to protect the innocent and the furry.</p><p>Legend has it that the mesmerising yellow moon which hangs in the night sky above the junkyard is actually made from cheese! Many a rat child has dreamed of making their heroic journey and staking a claim to the heavenly globe of gouda. Then when all had given up on reaching it, a fellow junkyard rat scavenged an ancient manuscript amongst the discarded rubbish. A comic book! Not just any old comic though, no. This book illuminated the very first moon landing in full and precious detail. </p><p>Ever since then the race was on to train 'rattronauts' and build a rocket ship capable of reaching the moon. One small step for rat, one tantalising leap for rat-kind. </p><p>This delightful backstory sets you off on a board gaming experience which is likely to have you constantly grinning, and hatching new plans as the game readily shifts gears and powers towards a manic race - to become First Rat. </p><p>On game night we played with 4 players which (after playing a few games myself) seemed to be a nice sweet spot. However, First Rat will play well with 1-5 players. </p><p>Each player starts with 2 colour matched 'rattronaut' playing pieces, and the simple instruction to move your rat pack up a pile of junk towards victory. During your journey you will be collecting resources like baking soda and vinegar (rocket fuel); or calculators and tin cans (components), then spending them to construct your rocket ships which will ultimately catapult you to the cheesy moon. At the heart of this very easy to learn game, is the synchronisation and efficiency of your rat movements. Plus, as you gradually ready your rockets for launching, many other opportunities will present themselves to generate special rewards and essential bonus powers to help you to first place. For example; 'light bulbs' will light your way forward, score victory points, and allow you to pick up additional resources in well lit areas. Also you can collect 'mini cheeses' which are in-game currency that allow you to purchase additional powers at shops and help you share in the wealth of the scrapyard with your opponents. Finally you can scavenge 'apple cores' which move your burrowing rat around at speed, collecting unique powers, unlocking more rats to send into space and scoring valuable victory points. </p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3aSFHrOlSmG5a04RGfZUMosJlV-vopz9XNWCfJpLAtXY9R2_6lEcY-yxw023ymjSpQ7FdcFiGu7Gpyy7BrU6xDHwCa5pJ8dB8SwRunv3xysB0eGduT2VSj08gWT6Z-RygwaLNptgVYz0qdtAfbKNi8C2RiUvBwAMY4OCaUIyUyolviQVml0vuWWvZA6c/s2048/table.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3aSFHrOlSmG5a04RGfZUMosJlV-vopz9XNWCfJpLAtXY9R2_6lEcY-yxw023ymjSpQ7FdcFiGu7Gpyy7BrU6xDHwCa5pJ8dB8SwRunv3xysB0eGduT2VSj08gWT6Z-RygwaLNptgVYz0qdtAfbKNi8C2RiUvBwAMY4OCaUIyUyolviQVml0vuWWvZA6c/s320/table.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>First Rat is turn based and your turn comprises of a very simple choice. Firstly, do you move one of your rats up to 5 spaces OR do you move any number of your rats up to 3 spaces each. If you move one rat, then you simply collect the resource that you land on. If you move more than 1 rat, then you may collect all the resources upon which they land - so long as your rat pack land on spaces of an identical colour! This little rule confronts you with a delicious, thought provoking riddle each turn, where you must weigh up the need to slowly increase the quantity of the resources you scavenge, with where to position yourself in readiness for that killer move next turn. Simple, yet incredibly fun. <p></p><p>The game feels like you have a multitude of possibilities to follow through on to outwit your junkyardian opponents, and you never really feel 'out' of the space race either. There is always something to look forward to, manipulate, and help you onwards towards your final destination. </p><p>You can win in only one way - be the player with the highest victory points at the end of the game. However, you are confronted and teased with many ways to earn those points. Ideally, being the First Rat to each victory point condition is the tried and tested route to success. Ending the game is also simple; the game ends when one player has placed the last of their (8) scoring cubes at victory point locations dotted all over the game board OR when one player has sent all 4 of their rattronauts into space! </p><p>In our game, everyone seemed to enjoy the experience and ultimately the player who eventually won, was definitely 'First Rat' to several high scoring victory point locations.</p><p>All in all, if you enjoy a fun, fast paced, easy to learn game with medium complexity, then you MUST give First Rat a go if you are able to. With 4 players who are paying attention, plus a bit of chilling at the same time, expect to spend about 2 hours (including the rules explanation). </p><p>There is a lot of replay-ability in this game through optional rule sets and bespoke (reverse the board) setups. However, I don't see any need for them right now, as the actual game reacts well to different players and their quirky strategies.</p><p>If you want to know more about this game then you can find Board Game Geek link <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/347703/first-rat" target="_blank"><b>here</b></a>!</p><p>I love this game and hope to show it to more players in the future. </p><p><br /></p>The Board Game Daterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14607482137784095888noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-53751518117225108942023-06-07T14:06:00.000+01:002023-06-07T14:06:06.008+01:00<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif";"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Archeos society: Polishing a rough
diamond?</b></span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRNTSRKpXJi8a67cYbxfMouMkhAJOSOWup26P1DID0OYnyT6iXl8jXChZmqTLM08jSgr7g-gYdajV8ssaAFubxTBi5tNxTKKcZ5IIXeMRmKI53L_lkHvPSEo2PLu0tPOEV-OASPqj5GsZ_-1WleDoDJbRMh8TNzh2sEBJQMaFWAj1YrGDzbm1XmeZigQ" style="font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="392" data-original-width="392" height="270" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgRNTSRKpXJi8a67cYbxfMouMkhAJOSOWup26P1DID0OYnyT6iXl8jXChZmqTLM08jSgr7g-gYdajV8ssaAFubxTBi5tNxTKKcZ5IIXeMRmKI53L_lkHvPSEo2PLu0tPOEV-OASPqj5GsZ_-1WleDoDJbRMh8TNzh2sEBJQMaFWAj1YrGDzbm1XmeZigQ=w270-h270" width="270" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKEspdqZ0ArlYgFXjCZ-Djup80DJQK4xDSX233ELdZehy4_VxZDzy2wieuQxJ7Y_MWSoY_jG8MgQD3RJs0m4WXe-BLgEuOSp7qk2UhXgRikaLhRWFX3y_TDXLx2xNiAOy4kSVI1Trdf0_uuBXgrVsvVsOZ4hCRqzr7O-aGy9sLIiLdmFEe2s4JatlUDA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="363" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhKEspdqZ0ArlYgFXjCZ-Djup80DJQK4xDSX233ELdZehy4_VxZDzy2wieuQxJ7Y_MWSoY_jG8MgQD3RJs0m4WXe-BLgEuOSp7qk2UhXgRikaLhRWFX3y_TDXLx2xNiAOy4kSVI1Trdf0_uuBXgrVsvVsOZ4hCRqzr7O-aGy9sLIiLdmFEe2s4JatlUDA=w255-h255" width="255" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Ethnos was a weird little game.
Published by CMON, they of the hugely expensive Kickstarter games with glossy production
values, lots of theme, even more minis that have grown over time to be anything
but ‘mini’. By contrast Ethnos had a clumsily pasted on theme, some truly
appalling graphic design, but it was well-regarded mechanically.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">It’s been out of print for a while,
and rather than a reprint, designer Paolo Mori refreshed the design/theme and
it’s been published by ‘Space Cowboys’, not CMON.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Archeos society is now no longer
generic fantasy, but instead a slightly more thematic concept of gathering
different specialist explorers to go on expeditions to 6 different locations
(represented by 6 different scoring tracks). This is the major change to
Ethnos, which has a bland central map in which the players sought to get
additional points from getting area majority in the map locations.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjICJeeqyHE9X6rhoZnjs7IdOKi47U8u9AZ4JkTV0uIWHnY1nI4U1UKgA7gktUpzkuUNO9hCpGlHcxOUYAVxF4zSpYhfOaHwV5pwEq5cFPoRLEi9C4uQmDCeTXHNaio6iXNO6DxY0QtfPLI0zPeEz-fjDmOrLMVhrw7zxZf1TsmCSeTFrdy-XcdMWSXg" style="font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="208" data-original-width="208" height="201" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjjICJeeqyHE9X6rhoZnjs7IdOKi47U8u9AZ4JkTV0uIWHnY1nI4U1UKgA7gktUpzkuUNO9hCpGlHcxOUYAVxF4zSpYhfOaHwV5pwEq5cFPoRLEi9C4uQmDCeTXHNaio6iXNO6DxY0QtfPLI0zPeEz-fjDmOrLMVhrw7zxZf1TsmCSeTFrdy-XcdMWSXg=w201-h201" width="201" /></a><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5VgeaA4HYQ4mJCSVk4fn3TfK26fyp1xN6_Dape6BHkaBK7VXy9ba1Ho6WV6qblyUXw2zMYlXI7iGc3UaWCPvVGKdQ1xzQ1QVRSPrIvEp7yQWoDwtVRoVK1h_aN7ReetkVFHY-i8Qa6t7Cvj9BIClJ7bjcTIqI5qWPNmfiLjfHV2CSimVgxMax4bItcw" style="font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="178" data-original-width="178" height="123" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj5VgeaA4HYQ4mJCSVk4fn3TfK26fyp1xN6_Dape6BHkaBK7VXy9ba1Ho6WV6qblyUXw2zMYlXI7iGc3UaWCPvVGKdQ1xzQ1QVRSPrIvEp7yQWoDwtVRoVK1h_aN7ReetkVFHY-i8Qa6t7Cvj9BIClJ7bjcTIqI5qWPNmfiLjfHV2CSimVgxMax4bItcw=w123-h123" width="123" /></a><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><br /><br /></o:p></span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p><br /><br /></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"><b>Mechanically</b> it is extremely similar
to Ethnos. On your turn you either:</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: inherit; mso-fareast-font-family: inherit; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> - </span></span></span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Choose a card from those on display /
off the top of the deck (but now getting to draw 2 off the top if no cards are
on display) </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"> OR</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: inherit; mso-fareast-font-family: inherit; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> - </span></span></span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Play a set from your hand, either of
the same colour, or same role (Botanist, physician, student etc.), with the
card you choose to place on top dictating the ‘leader’ and hence which of the 6
coloured tracks you get to advance on, plus the special rule-breaking ability
of your leader. The game’s lovely twist is that the remaining cards in your
hand must be placed face up into the display area, sparking something of a
feeding frenzy on following turns as players scoop up one of these cards that
fits their hand.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Larger sets score more points, but
conversely getting lots of sets played will move you up the scoring tracks
quicker. Classic points salad choice for players to choose their own approach.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">There’s still the same lovely ‘push
your luck’ end of round timer, with the drawing of the </span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> </span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">3</span><sup style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif";">rd</sup><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> of 3 special cards triggering an
instant finish to the round (and muttering/cursing that happening).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">There is some board interaction on
the advanced side, but we didn't play that as most of our players hadn't played
this game before, nor Ethnos, so we trusted in KISS (Keep it simple stupid). Conversely
Ethnos had greater interaction as players jockeyed for the higher scoring regions,
but wasn’t as combative as it might appear.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">
<br />
The new Archeos society boards are mechanically a little bit a 'much of a muchness' on their
basic side, with slightly different points scoring (at end of each round). Each
has a # of cards in the set requirement to progress, which generally gets
larger. Of note were the pilot, allowing you to choose which board you progress
on (subject to the minimum set size requirement), plus the red track which
rewards players with increasing amount of cards to draw off the top of the
deck... which in one round very much rushed the end.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b>So, that flimsy theme and poor
graphic design have been resolved? </b>Yes, but only to a degree.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">- The text of the cards in Ethnos has
been replaced by symbols. Whilst these are good / understandable, it does take
half a round until people have really embedded what each one does.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- The text on the central tracks
could be more visible, especially as this plays up to 6 and invariably Ethnos
was a game that got pulled out for higher player counts and I expect the same
of this game.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- There’s an odd choice of player
colours, with white, black, grey and then three shades of brown. The different
wooden shapes are a help, but not especially obvious what each represents.
Nonetheless that’s a big help for colour-blindness accessibility.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- Dual layer boards for the tracks
would have been helpful, albeit a simple block for each column, rather than
anything more fancy. It is somewhat easy to knock the pieces as it is.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- Flimsy score track. The thinnest of
card, maybe 200gsm or less, so little more than paper-thin. This is absolutely
something I would laminate.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">- (Bleeding) Student cards. They made
a mistake on the student cards, printing right to the very edge, unlike the
other cards. That is noticeable if you look for it... but even despite knowing
this, at no point did I notice that during the game, either in the draw pile or
players hands. On that basis I'd happily live with this issue, but others may
find that very problematic.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;">Additional thoughts:</b><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit", "serif"; font-size: 10.5pt;"> It plays very
similarly to Ethnos, but doesn't forcibly push players towards one colour or
another, based on the random rewards of Ethnos. It also seemed to encourage
players to get more small sets out in round 1 in order to progress up the
tracks (perhaps because the set scoring again was quite small and on the
scoring track which was placed off to one side, as it’s not in constant use. I
think a player aid would have really helped (for this and the symbols).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><b>Overall: </b>I liked Ethnos, but didn't
care much for the theme or the graphic design. The new game an improvement on
both counts for me, but the new theme is still somewhat flimsy, and the board
readability is an annoyance. The new tracks feel rather themeless as well, even
when compared to the themeless central board of the original.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">For me, overall it's slightly better,
and I'll probably buy a copy. Mechanically it remains a super game, fast
playing, easy to teach and with some nice twists, plus it plays up to 6, which
I value for a game that plays fast, but isn't a party game.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: #F0F2F5; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit","serif"; font-size: 10.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><b>Archeos Society, not
to be confused with Archaos, the utterly crazy, yet brilliant French circus
troupe. It also lacks the excitement of chainsaw juggling.</b></i></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWE6B62LRsOF8uzKoEmptiyim5rMcAm3xRS4w6xdseDmhJ9QXG3UeRIqDUmGbYp12kEASAdMrYYxWEVTSNLlRBavQSYuh58TCqbZslj4irgjWhsogWh6tNRmZHWGguVVVEQP-q1v3bi6w0B9TNfFdyOrZw1h1nchRg0pUor0ED7IkJoCGtoEZUXz5bXw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="427" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWE6B62LRsOF8uzKoEmptiyim5rMcAm3xRS4w6xdseDmhJ9QXG3UeRIqDUmGbYp12kEASAdMrYYxWEVTSNLlRBavQSYuh58TCqbZslj4irgjWhsogWh6tNRmZHWGguVVVEQP-q1v3bi6w0B9TNfFdyOrZw1h1nchRg0pUor0ED7IkJoCGtoEZUXz5bXw=w284-h213" width="284" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHwvM0YfzcN0eSg9BYw1J5TNdjNv4l--ZgDCgz3uTAd6LoqYmcmYivItb7jxKBnj5AWx2mOInUnSpQY0jkZWBgeDdP3qwziS-mLNQfkiFYFutoq_ZHakkHXKjD5MMB0ZlyLQfwzF9mnhIZPvO5B5pmnZW2_NfSXWS4BuFZ2L8-4Df4g6vj2n_H6iEEgA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="488" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhHwvM0YfzcN0eSg9BYw1J5TNdjNv4l--ZgDCgz3uTAd6LoqYmcmYivItb7jxKBnj5AWx2mOInUnSpQY0jkZWBgeDdP3qwziS-mLNQfkiFYFutoq_ZHakkHXKjD5MMB0ZlyLQfwzF9mnhIZPvO5B5pmnZW2_NfSXWS4BuFZ2L8-4Df4g6vj2n_H6iEEgA=w326-h213" width="326" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitIrRsKpWkUPSQ2QKm8itnGN7eno7e-fU4o8B1IGnK6WXFRxlYDCx4BSnVchTRFrv_iLIaNy9-dxMa1TT0xY6itK5kUuKiX7gBSiS-ztBqu4C8X7tLDaYSdEqbqiT2QyO2UMcIeoj7dKLQTMntVEfUm0J9B7nW57qoYuJo7A11dWy6ckNBoM53Rd396w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="404" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitIrRsKpWkUPSQ2QKm8itnGN7eno7e-fU4o8B1IGnK6WXFRxlYDCx4BSnVchTRFrv_iLIaNy9-dxMa1TT0xY6itK5kUuKiX7gBSiS-ztBqu4C8X7tLDaYSdEqbqiT2QyO2UMcIeoj7dKLQTMntVEfUm0J9B7nW57qoYuJo7A11dWy6ckNBoM53Rd396w=w273-h278" width="273" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHaxPJmzGRVbBlgtSunE6to9GRywsdyQam-0Cnp8RUMsOnjpBceJw4E2EUCNEXz-6Qorr5IMl_OmZW4iF8-05bEA2scoTa9SIwwzY06QYH7srScAzTt8pHBt5ovqilbW_9Dp0-LZYR2GxLcl-jOJC-yIL4-eDDIwIeHVWPTC89mf_EkDGHL6P__TmKlw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="509" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgHaxPJmzGRVbBlgtSunE6to9GRywsdyQam-0Cnp8RUMsOnjpBceJw4E2EUCNEXz-6Qorr5IMl_OmZW4iF8-05bEA2scoTa9SIwwzY06QYH7srScAzTt8pHBt5ovqilbW_9Dp0-LZYR2GxLcl-jOJC-yIL4-eDDIwIeHVWPTC89mf_EkDGHL6P__TmKlw=w339-h275" width="339" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></p>Ian Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15243375909834669194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-62293002521799098032022-12-13T16:29:00.000+00:002022-12-13T16:29:29.864+00:00The only slightly evil 6x6x6 quiz<p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">A little light entertainment for the festive break. Answers will be posted on NOBOG facebook page (behind a spoiler screen) </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-align: left;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Round 1. </span></b><b><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Anagrams – There’s a board game in there, what is it?</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 16px;"><i>Let's start things off relatively easy. All these are board games, some older, some modern (and of the modern ones. all have been played at NOBOG)</i></span></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #202124; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Nice damp<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Cooler tot <o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Pork watch</span></span></li><li><span style="font-family: arial;">Tito Deck rite</span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Dirty PC<o:p></o:p></span></span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Toe or pain</span></span></li></ol><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: 0px;"><b><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">Round 2. Cult of the old – match these dates to the games that were first published in that year<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: 0px;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Perhaps a little harder, but easy to have a guess if you don't know</i></span></p><ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in; text-indent: 0px;" type="A"><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #202124; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">1983<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #202124; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">1993<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #202124; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2001<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #202124; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2004<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #202124; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2007<o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; color: #202124; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">2011</span></li></ol><div style="text-indent: 0px;"><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;">.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Castles of Burgundy</span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Cockroach Poker</span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Escape Rooms (i.e. the date of the 1<sup>st</sup> physical
escape room)</span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Jenga</span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Magic the Gathering collectable card game</span></li><li><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">Munchkin</span></li></ol><p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: -0.25in;">
</p></div></div><div style="text-indent: -24px;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: #202124; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Reverse quiz - H</span></span><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">ere’s the answer, but
what is the question?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: Arial, "sans-serif"; font-size: 12pt;"><i>Now here's the truly evil round, and it covers wider than just board games, extending to cards and hobbies/puzzles. No sneaky use of internet to look these up! It's much more fun to try and work them out. Get more than a couple without cheating and that's impressive.</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l2 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><ol style="text-align: left;"><li>Alison Hansel</li><li>$12,969,608 </li><li><span style="background: white; color: #202124; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">24
Wensum St</span>, 16 Charing Cross, 41 St Andrews St, 17 Tombland</li><li><span style="background: white; color: #202124; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">43 252
003 274 489 856 000</span></li><li>John Peake, Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson</li><li>Cinema City (or Suckling House as it was known at the time)</li></ol><o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="A">
</ol>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 3.0pt;"><span style="color: #202124; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p></p>Ian Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15243375909834669194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-16458764142076676282022-11-13T18:08:00.000+00:002022-11-13T18:09:54.288+00:00Co-operation? What sort of trickery is this?!!!!<p> </p><p class="MsoNormal">Forgive me a little ancient history. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixlg4jw2Nl9cT1yVxYwcqaXiVlZUfpyhDpYZdL4EC5pn0w63Yp3WvqTJTuxKFD0OqhKrr5VmHkudK_70KLe3yXSGMS8YkNeJ0exSnlSgLDcDcSpSF6zvXfRWCbkOReTS-zCDuEJzgTZatW2vyYq40Zu2hQwzgMrfsheJtYAiuJQfSL3ESRRkyUtxtIag" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="63" data-original-width="63" height="62" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEixlg4jw2Nl9cT1yVxYwcqaXiVlZUfpyhDpYZdL4EC5pn0w63Yp3WvqTJTuxKFD0OqhKrr5VmHkudK_70KLe3yXSGMS8YkNeJ0exSnlSgLDcDcSpSF6zvXfRWCbkOReTS-zCDuEJzgTZatW2vyYq40Zu2hQwzgMrfsheJtYAiuJQfSL3ESRRkyUtxtIag=w62-h62" width="62" /></a><br /><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><br /></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In my original era of gaming, barring D&D /
Dungeon-crawlers (neither my thing) I can’t recall other co-operative games. I
suppose Escape from Colditz was close, as a 1 vs many, though I had a rude
awakening the first time someone showed me it could very much be played semi
co-op <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“I’ll
have that traitor court-martialled!!”</span></i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIb825joI4ic8tkeYwEwUP7GBDcIBESvUiCpn0m7dEalgsfcXfSMmGIQCrlom6qwsxqWo_z1PStAudxhYpzpfvFZ21wJwo_2VnYDqCkA0VFCg_9LqVz9Y2YzchMZ8Si3I2Ky0MWgIpbg1EzodY1oreVOplw2XLOWq7pNYpywZfmDV4iTEcaqPEPq1W5A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" data-original-height="55" data-original-width="55" height="44" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgIb825joI4ic8tkeYwEwUP7GBDcIBESvUiCpn0m7dEalgsfcXfSMmGIQCrlom6qwsxqWo_z1PStAudxhYpzpfvFZ21wJwo_2VnYDqCkA0VFCg_9LqVz9Y2YzchMZ8Si3I2Ky0MWgIpbg1EzodY1oreVOplw2XLOWq7pNYpywZfmDV4iTEcaqPEPq1W5A=w44-h44" width="44" /></a></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2YCDC8yIK9oKc9L5If3XyaEq97k42Sch1xmaSMeyXw44DmmlNy1InmRhf61fC2X6saqertLOo2CfI2F5hbqidewAh1bM88w96N_M5Tbt-me056YqMgAD4BJnZCI8Bs6OH-SUAP9RuiKO_FxpdwSkTt_KW_hapgupXQP5GE3grc-k2Ji-0TpxXDYXsLQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="270" data-original-width="454" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEg2YCDC8yIK9oKc9L5If3XyaEq97k42Sch1xmaSMeyXw44DmmlNy1InmRhf61fC2X6saqertLOo2CfI2F5hbqidewAh1bM88w96N_M5Tbt-me056YqMgAD4BJnZCI8Bs6OH-SUAP9RuiKO_FxpdwSkTt_KW_hapgupXQP5GE3grc-k2Ji-0TpxXDYXsLQ=w447-h266" width="447" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">So after a rather long break from gaming that started just
before the millennium, returning to the hobby a decade and a half later revealed
an amazing array of co-operative games, and that richness has continued since. Here are a few examples played at NOBOG over the years. Perhaps you were one of the players?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Pandemic </b>is very well-known, but my favourite
‘Pandemic system’ game is one that doesn’t carry that name, though it was
designed by the same person (Matt Leacock). The game is Thunderbirds,
originally released via Kickstarter crowdfunding, and followed by a retail
release…. but then the IP licence expired, never to be reprinted. Here’s a shot
of it being played at NOBOG in Sept 2019. The board may look rather simplified,
but it presents a fierce challenge, as it’s not enough to plan for your own
turn, but have to consider the player(s) that follow you. Will your move aid
them as well, or risk leaving them helpless? Gameplay is pretty easy to learn,
though it does present a bit more of a puzzle than Pandemic, despite the use of
dice in solving most events. For anyone who grew up on the Gerry Anderson
series, there will be plenty of moments where a wry smile develops as you
remember an episode from decades before.<span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
id="Picture_x0020_1" o:spid="_x0000_i1029" type="#_x0000_t75" alt="No photo description available."
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</v:shape><![endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEik0OgIat_rmrUqLrFBsr-tav7d3_1X_IS2w6eTJTTeU7G9PMaEtkF9GU1uFuIZIT5WXIpiOp7q_yzb3qTqpm9e2adXWPeD20wLHctcL9wgQUsSbsMXhcJUJYdeA00EzoDOcieO8L0dE0qb_9vi3-WhA9F56S3aiTSCADQga0CSWzlbpO7-s7slpljRFA" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="940" height="324" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEik0OgIat_rmrUqLrFBsr-tav7d3_1X_IS2w6eTJTTeU7G9PMaEtkF9GU1uFuIZIT5WXIpiOp7q_yzb3qTqpm9e2adXWPeD20wLHctcL9wgQUsSbsMXhcJUJYdeA00EzoDOcieO8L0dE0qb_9vi3-WhA9F56S3aiTSCADQga0CSWzlbpO7-s7slpljRFA=w431-h324" width="431" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Cthulu / Lovecraft</b> has become a popular theme, and
especially so for co-operative games. There is something so obviously appealing
about ones sanity being tested by unspeakable monsters, though any
schoolteachers will I’m sure say that the joy wears off after a while. Recent
gaming has seen Mansions of Madness (a very cinematic crescendo with the
narrative side to the fore) and Cthulu Death May Die (a more cerebral puzzle,
albeit with figurines that may be outgrowing the term ‘mini’), but the game
illustrated takes us back to a NOBOG session in the dark and distant June 2017,
the game being the “Big book of madness”.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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o:title="A picture containing text, desk Description automatically generated"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqe4RXisMxDQdTrFNNCBoMwLdmIBrNCw9F_4GKF_gQUbKUxDNk5W4badPqLCxm0JkQOmbGT7QTjyYLD6l7PgfMb6pfjV2rw6LOZjGIjoVatbqdulvgL94bd0ie3B_PWVVz8hQp_CwZhg7REjMLU07c1uiL_Z2Yk_y3mjmKCj46V9GSfgHK5BHbDQz-xQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="940" height="335" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhqe4RXisMxDQdTrFNNCBoMwLdmIBrNCw9F_4GKF_gQUbKUxDNk5W4badPqLCxm0JkQOmbGT7QTjyYLD6l7PgfMb6pfjV2rw6LOZjGIjoVatbqdulvgL94bd0ie3B_PWVVz8hQp_CwZhg7REjMLU07c1uiL_Z2Yk_y3mjmKCj46V9GSfgHK5BHbDQz-xQ=w448-h335" width="448" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Between two…</b> Games design might sometimes feel a
little derivative / repetitious, but there are some cracking original ideas out
there. I’d definitely count in this the games Between two cities of Mad King
Ludwig, and Between two castles of Mad King Ludwig. The premise is that whilst
the games are competitive, this is achieved by playing co-operatively with the
players to your left and right. You create a tableau with each of those
players, but only the lowest scoring of those two counts as your score, so you’re
naturally encouraged to treat them both equally. Such an innovative design, but
also a game that must be useful to bring new players into a more experienced
group, as they’ll get help from both sides. Here is Between two castles, being
played at NOBOG in December 2019. <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;"><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shape
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</v:shape><![endif]--></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfsSDe6W2hCLZMLHH-nLTrV2MWWVITMtn4H_0Cn3TnouW94EwAFQm4OZ5pgT6t_mjxuXXcUepnRZL0H-LB6Scer-U12zdM1bSQo_HsDq5aFmz-dpkNGSMJO5N6VIKbbQkBhC-UN1OlQvz6oaNCYNo_PJJ8YDdmMyC7bfu6r5jQxhkwj5pSgwU2N9eVKQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="705" data-original-width="940" height="345" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjfsSDe6W2hCLZMLHH-nLTrV2MWWVITMtn4H_0Cn3TnouW94EwAFQm4OZ5pgT6t_mjxuXXcUepnRZL0H-LB6Scer-U12zdM1bSQo_HsDq5aFmz-dpkNGSMJO5N6VIKbbQkBhC-UN1OlQvz6oaNCYNo_PJJ8YDdmMyC7bfu6r5jQxhkwj5pSgwU2N9eVKQ=w460-h345" width="460" /></a></div><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Escape rooms</b> have become a big thing in the wider
public awareness and NOBOG even played one in board game form this month
(Adventure Games - November 2022). Have any been played at NOBOG before? I
can’t recall any, but they seem like they’d be a good fit.</p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjU3LyqdSFTVCmACELig4vz7yWznrGTRZtSm4su6_Hps1HvfrDhASl_YL6T0tK0xD7F1j0k7I06Q-rJ_y1wXG4Sm2H_6O9SY-Nn07wr20acqxEMEIKdQRt49eU-xD3wNdPsnjrvl5WVz6A34sHzh4K9e-OQYa-bt5KW56BGv9XIKxhoT1PaOnK052_SDg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="463" data-original-width="623" height="350" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjU3LyqdSFTVCmACELig4vz7yWznrGTRZtSm4su6_Hps1HvfrDhASl_YL6T0tK0xD7F1j0k7I06Q-rJ_y1wXG4Sm2H_6O9SY-Nn07wr20acqxEMEIKdQRt49eU-xD3wNdPsnjrvl5WVz6A34sHzh4K9e-OQYa-bt5KW56BGv9XIKxhoT1PaOnK052_SDg=w471-h350" width="471" /></a></div><br /><br /><br /><o:p></o:p><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b>Just One</b> has been a popular closer to NOBOG evenings
for a while now, and we’re most likely to play it as an uber-chilled casual
game than actually keeping score. Here’s a more recent photo of a large game of
it being played at NOBOG in Sept 2022. Super easy to teach / learn, and it gets
some longevity from needing to think about the interests / experiences of your
fellow players e.g. a clue based on a Marvel superhero would be wasted on me,
but might be perfect for someone else. For me it (and not Monopoly) should be
the game that is in every household, and Christmas would be a lot more
tolerable were that the case.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBFhlOSQZ1Utew3W3jZD1fidIDiTWwI0P2CSv5CBtSRnzZJQwt9Sb4ROdFMDETP5Yzvgd_xsjtg-nzmJI43Lbm63UaH_MC6PUQhYBcyu_VZTzLDBTY00tRg20pliwcmHCPOLCfypxD8P9eiSGzXf4lPWG_Rq70EJLHWf8rFPuhpy8fIwSOjS04pmH1sg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="995" data-original-width="940" height="392" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiBFhlOSQZ1Utew3W3jZD1fidIDiTWwI0P2CSv5CBtSRnzZJQwt9Sb4ROdFMDETP5Yzvgd_xsjtg-nzmJI43Lbm63UaH_MC6PUQhYBcyu_VZTzLDBTY00tRg20pliwcmHCPOLCfypxD8P9eiSGzXf4lPWG_Rq70EJLHWf8rFPuhpy8fIwSOjS04pmH1sg=w371-h392" width="371" /></a></div><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">How about you?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Do you enjoy a little co-op play alongside more
traditional competitive games?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Any favourite co-op games, or ones you’re keen
to try out?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Did you play in the game illustrated (or any
other time)? If so, any thoughts on the game?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 18.0pt;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Ian Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15243375909834669194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-90352560785952792362022-10-28T14:30:00.001+01:002022-10-28T15:56:02.634+01:00NOBOG - welcome to Norwich board gamers - what to expect<p>Firstly, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Chiller;">don’t be afraid</span></b><span style="font-family: Chiller;">,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggPSeF846lUVsPG8bLgOESBzl-etCICB4L09NeDTGoie_9d-IQcMpw1sEMvI8pKIrFKSZKgb9svH61si9MGgccKFv3CiTavXdQshYMun7rJpAuv_u3frt7YhR1HlXlSfyqtpABgMwojiBopV_Z4INQ407v2M844QZ9E1NbUoUTK8t7caFlV1gucbwZ8w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="168" data-original-width="300" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEggPSeF846lUVsPG8bLgOESBzl-etCICB4L09NeDTGoie_9d-IQcMpw1sEMvI8pKIrFKSZKgb9svH61si9MGgccKFv3CiTavXdQshYMun7rJpAuv_u3frt7YhR1HlXlSfyqtpABgMwojiBopV_Z4INQ407v2M844QZ9E1NbUoUTK8t7caFlV1gucbwZ8w" width="320" /></a></div><br />It’s a friendly group who are happy to game
with anyone, be they a newcomer to board games, rediscovering their interest in
board games, or people who never lost that love of gaming. <p></p><p class="MsoNormal">If you still feel
nervous or have any specific concerns, contact Ian Sutton or Lewis Walker via
facebook and we’ll ensure you are fully supported, or simply mention it on
arrival to anyone there and they’ll be happy to make you feel welcome and supported.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u style="font-weight: bold;">How much does it cost and do I have to join?</u><br />There is no charge and there is no membership - you are simply free to turn up whenever it is convenient for you. In buying drinks or food at the bar, it does help ensure the pub get value from providing the room(s) for us. </span><br /><br />There's a good selection of food if you're hungry, from very light snacks to properly filling meals, and a few of us often arrive a little early to fuel up for the gaming!<br /><br />They brew their own beers and ciders, but also have plenty of others available, plus a rather decent wine list (Trimbach and Kooyong impressed this wine lover), together with a wide range of soft drinks, plus tea. herbal teas, coffee and even hot chocolate with marshmallow floating on top! 👻</p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><br /><u style="font-weight: bold;">Where to find
NOBOG </u></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Webdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Webdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Webdings;">ü</span></span><o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s currently hosted <span style="color: #78b6f4;">*</span>upstairs on the 1st floor of the city centre pub ‘St
Andrew’s Brewhouse’ (opposite Cinema City / St Andrews Hall) on Mondays and Tuesdays every week,
but we usually have a temporary venue in December.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvHSDmBuBarMl90hEMHoRARU8jTQzxH0KQFMXiOUDX5_iBKCtNdJUBsJ2KiRL1MB4B4_-9-u43aGDmMKiUoK8T8OtT-1doQdjZIQqYhe_7hwQ54Gok92qvbOR3-MTUXEI2L5Y6nGCr1DP-TPlHqkp8922VHHNzBc1IjawOF2OLqM293XuZueOKe3x4UQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="417" data-original-width="515" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjvHSDmBuBarMl90hEMHoRARU8jTQzxH0KQFMXiOUDX5_iBKCtNdJUBsJ2KiRL1MB4B4_-9-u43aGDmMKiUoK8T8OtT-1doQdjZIQqYhe_7hwQ54Gok92qvbOR3-MTUXEI2L5Y6nGCr1DP-TPlHqkp8922VHHNzBc1IjawOF2OLqM293XuZueOKe3x4UQ" width="296" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">*</span><span style="color: #0070c0;"> Ask the bar staff on Mondays,
as we’ll either be upstairs as normal or in the ground floor restaurant area<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>When to arrive </u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">½</span></span><o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anytime before the 7:30pm roll call and people often start
arriving a little before 7pm, to have a drink and a chat or a bite to eat
before the gaming commences.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>7:30pm Roll
call?!!!<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMLrbtNBT7IqMDrPeibJkERs6YRDHnzQVyweAdFJvWH24ewv_x0cbrBy7nNbwaRzYOvKzGUzSRo2p7x9Wh2H6_Yl0KpowWOz0vY8UUzdQWz253aRE88YzjXomXaIXMxRINhtKDlJf9Mk_4Y-amUNd0LnHqY92fdDFx3pW2TDbKWed_uHedeBHkSuq0iw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="526" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiMLrbtNBT7IqMDrPeibJkERs6YRDHnzQVyweAdFJvWH24ewv_x0cbrBy7nNbwaRzYOvKzGUzSRo2p7x9Wh2H6_Yl0KpowWOz0vY8UUzdQWz253aRE88YzjXomXaIXMxRINhtKDlJf9Mk_4Y-amUNd0LnHqY92fdDFx3pW2TDbKWed_uHedeBHkSuq0iw" width="240" /></a></u></div><u><br /><o:p></o:p></u><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At c. 7:30pm, one of the more gregarious gamers (often Lewis - photo above) will stand
up and ask everyone to call out the games they’ve brought, so everyone knows what’s available that night. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">At the moment about half the attendees bring games and about
half just bring themselves and that works rather well.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">If there’s anything that sounds interesting, head over to
the person that called it out, to get that game played. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Don’t worry if you don’t know what these games being called
out are, as you can also stroll around the room to see what they are. In
addition there is always someone coming round the room who will ensure everyone
has a game to play. We’ve never yet left anyone without a game to play and
don’t intend that to ever happen. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">In addition, the person who brings the game will always teach
it to those at the table.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>What games get
played? <o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">There is a very wide range of board games played, from
lighter & shorter ‘filler’ games like Just One, Cockroach poker &
Codenames, through ‘becoming mainstream’ games like Ticket to Ride, Wingspan
& Root. Dexterity games like Junk Art and Men at Work have made recent
appearances, as have some social deduction games like Blood on the Clocktower.
Then at the ‘bigger’ end of the scale we’ve the full spectrum from a ‘heavy
euro’ like On Mars through to a classic thematic game like Zombicide. <br /><br />If you haven’t heard of any of these games or haven't played many games before - don't worry! The rules for a game are explained at the start and even the longest serving members are regularly learning new games. Everyone is welcome to bring along games they would like to play or think others may enjoy, but don't worry if you can't as there is always a good selection of games to choose from.<br /><br />Once a game has finished the table may start another game or players are free to break up and join other games that may be starting. Often the second games will be shorter to fit into time constraints, or to play larger more social games.</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To get a full sighter of the sort of games that have been played,
the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/groups/nobog usually lists all the games played of an evening, often with
pictures of the games.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>What time does it
finish? </u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span style="font-family: Wingdings; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-char-type: symbol; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;"><span style="mso-char-type: symbol; mso-symbol-font-family: Wingdings;">Á</span></span><o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We aim to be all packed up and exiting the pub by closing
time (currently 11pm). However it’s also feasible to plan to leave before that,
so when choosing a game, it’s very much possible to arrange for a game that’s likely to
finish earlier.<br /><br />For a video of what it looks like upstairs, here's a video from a while back showing games in progress https://www.facebook.com/100008174955627/videos/2842234852725652/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>FAQ (and unusually
for FAQs, these questions do actually get asked!)<o:p></o:p></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Do I need to bring
games? <o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">It’s entirely up to you. Around 50% of people bring games
along. Bringing games is fine, as is not bringing games.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What can I bring?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Anything that you’d like to get played and that you’re
confident enough in the gameplay / rules to teach them to your fellow gamers.
The group’s focus is board games, but we hosted a role playing group for a few
years and would be happy to do so again. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I’m new to gaming -
is this ok?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Absolutely! The person who brought the game will teach the
gameplay / rules at the start of the game and no prior knowledge is assumed. We
have a mix of experience in the group, and new gamers keep the group fresh, so you are every bit as important to the group.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What does it cost?<o:p></o:p></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Nothing! We host the group in a pub and there is no charge
for gaming and we intend to keep it that way. Although it’s in our interest to
ensure the pub gets enough revenue from drinks and food to want us there, there
is never any pressure, and we want the group to be as inclusive
as possible.<br /><br /><b>Can young people come along?</b><br />Due to licencing conditions, it's not possible for under 16s to join us (the pub would need them to leave by 8pm). However there are a group of parents who are arranging meetups on other days / times, at venues better suited to hosting children. If this interests you, feel free to post on the NOBOG facebook page to co-ordinate with those parents. <o:p></o:p></p><h3>Getting There.</h3><h4>Car</h4><p class="MsoNormal">Ad-hoc parking is available around St. Andrews Brew House, parking restrictions are in places dropped after 6.30pm for single yellow lines, but there are also a number of car parks available situated close to the venue. Here is a <a href="http://www.norwich.gov.uk/TransportAndStreets/Parking/Documents/Parkingplanner.pdf" target="_blank">helpful PDF map</a> of the parking available. Closest car parks are St Andrews Multi Storey car park ( closest and best ) and the smaller, tighter St Giles Multi Storey carp park. £3 for the evening after 6.30pm. The Forum car park has a flat rate after 4.30pm.<br /></p><h4>Bus</h4><p class="MsoNormal">St. Andrews Brew House is located fairly centrally and is within easy walking distance of the main bus hubs available in Castle Meadow. If a bus goes to Norwich then chances are it stops at Castle Meadow, a mere 5 minute walk from St. Andrews Brew House. The bus station is about 10 minutes walk.<br /></p><h4>Cycling</h4><p class="MsoNormal">There are dedicated cycle parking facilities dotted around, here is a useful map of all the cycle racks and lockers, rather awesomely there are some cycle parking facilities right outside the door of St. Andrews !<br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/154vuJtCMUfOiLX_84ib6a5eegMvxwM5a/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Latest Cycle Map of Norwich</a><br /><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B70ZCGTJcNBMZU1rZDBaSDlsZU0/view?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Older Cycle Map of Norwich</a><br /></p><h4>Train</h4><p class="MsoNormal">Norwich is served by its rather swanky Victorian era mainline station. A 10 minute walk from the station will get you to St. Andrews Brew House. However depending on your route the last trains from Norwich can leave relatively early - before 11pm. Check your rail timetable for details.<br /></p><h4>Air</h4><p class="MsoNormal">Norwich has it's very own airport - the Norwich International Airport. Arrival here for some gaming is feasible, if impractical for a regular commuting type basis ( unless you are a fabulously wealthy and pampered jet setting type ). Taxi/bus/chauffeured limousine required after flight!<br /><br /><br /><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAek-ilG-tQdZDmZcIq3I6R_Ay0Th7LkgaBeuZB6BqEgk0sFfH691ocKYTqtVUUK-EfthKgh8h3K43YS_EtMIEj9rNmcOR3XJ_hOkF2Hhd-hu3ZMudGxWZ-KrvvvwGhUjkAZUfWUB7ZKU/s1600/bggNoBoG.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAek-ilG-tQdZDmZcIq3I6R_Ay0Th7LkgaBeuZB6BqEgk0sFfH691ocKYTqtVUUK-EfthKgh8h3K43YS_EtMIEj9rNmcOR3XJ_hOkF2Hhd-hu3ZMudGxWZ-KrvvvwGhUjkAZUfWUB7ZKU/s1600/bggNoBoG.png" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqS0MXh9MSXuEjqOmyeNyZdxtTf-dccqt6pUlCHImyGQjpo7fCwscPIM6-acdo4rCHiQgvLCD_fNFkhXVMbkbFAOMbS3aZRCHsy886PdgjkPVI9zARYYJhDQfQneTn-lsxqqcPnySY0gQ/s1600/facebookNoBoG.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqS0MXh9MSXuEjqOmyeNyZdxtTf-dccqt6pUlCHImyGQjpo7fCwscPIM6-acdo4rCHiQgvLCD_fNFkhXVMbkbFAOMbS3aZRCHsy886PdgjkPVI9zARYYJhDQfQneTn-lsxqqcPnySY0gQ/s1600/facebookNoBoG.png" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgapRIarHl4I6Wme8PDIw2xTsh3QBpzm-ANnYynXphP07Pnjig-TnaXlYZA32tw_vPkp1ABu5XE69bdah4DwLD31vD-y69Jii4cdOkpaKFW4huwbA0kRrv2b98KP0uzmUSqURmTb1ntM/s1600/twitterNoBoG2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBgapRIarHl4I6Wme8PDIw2xTsh3QBpzm-ANnYynXphP07Pnjig-TnaXlYZA32tw_vPkp1ABu5XE69bdah4DwLD31vD-y69Jii4cdOkpaKFW4huwbA0kRrv2b98KP0uzmUSqURmTb1ntM/s1600/twitterNoBoG2.png" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Ldmtnp-t5ehsFcRgKCONYHJuaj_m2gUb-0eqxTxZAmT-6zo6DKxICBRk9T3NdUqoKBeAars51yuE6loNmNdK7WUMSsbXBHstHCtvVrdvgJ6xpGToFND9HQYWDpYmkz0g4hyWTsnbQts/s1600/nobog_insta.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="43" data-original-width="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1Ldmtnp-t5ehsFcRgKCONYHJuaj_m2gUb-0eqxTxZAmT-6zo6DKxICBRk9T3NdUqoKBeAars51yuE6loNmNdK7WUMSsbXBHstHCtvVrdvgJ6xpGToFND9HQYWDpYmkz0g4hyWTsnbQts/s1600/nobog_insta.png" /></a></div>Ian Shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15243375909834669194noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-32672724538299954132020-04-05T14:10:00.001+01:002020-04-05T14:27:00.785+01:00Gaming with Tabletop SimulatorSo, you've joined the NoBoG discord, you've picked up Tabletop Simulator for Steam, and now you're ready to play games !<br />
<br />
What do you mean you've done none of that ? Details on how to join the NoBoG discord can be found on the handy dandy guide here on the blog - <a href="http://norwichboardgamers.blogspot.com/p/virtual-nobog.html" target="_blank">http://norwichboardgamers.blogspot.com/p/virtual-nobog.html</a><br />
<br />
In Tabletop Simulator you're either going to be hosting a game, or joining a game. If you just wanna join someone elses game, that's very straight forward, wait for the invite, pick your player colour, and that is pretty much it. Hosting a game is a bit more tricky, but here you get total freedom of finding games you want to play, and seeing if you can entice other people to play with you. We'll go over both how to host and how to join here.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Hosting a Game</h3>
If you are not planning on hosting a game, and just want to join others games, then you can skip this and go find the <a href="http://norwichboardgamers.blogspot.com/2020/04/gaming-with-tabletop-simulator.html#joiningagame">Joining a Game</a> guide below. But at some point you'll likely get the itch to setup your own game. . . .<br />
<br />
As well as purchasable DLC for Tabletop Simulator, there is an <i><b>enormous</b></i> library of board games available as a "mod" through the workshop. The chances are if the game has been around for more than a month, you're going to be able to find it on Tabletop Simulator - copyright strikes not withstanding.<br />
<br />
If you've already hosted a game on TTS before, and have downloaded it
already, you don't need to find it again - it will be saved locally for
you - you can skip to the <a href="http://norwichboardgamers.blogspot.com/2020/04/gaming-with-tabletop-simulator.html#creatingahostedgame">Creating A Hosted Game</a> part if you need a reminder on how to do that. If however, you are thinking of a cool game to host and want to see
if it's available then you need to search the workshop.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Finding A Game You're Interested In</h4>
We'll go through an example here at every stage. I want to host a game of Archipelago. Let's see if we can find that in the workshop for TTS. In our game library within Steam we make sure Tabletop Simulator is selected which should show us a page like this :<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpErRvZEve6bvUENmOKcooagEgJs4iwGI5zneYz4xoamR-7AS4_BjI4atu6dXrfkWY6pDGpQScFy_qMwtePBMWEfX1osgwigsW4h6snhY6jX_IQFhHU1EKWKzFvawkdymMnSHiPE39jo/s1600/Steam1a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1405" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSpErRvZEve6bvUENmOKcooagEgJs4iwGI5zneYz4xoamR-7AS4_BjI4atu6dXrfkWY6pDGpQScFy_qMwtePBMWEfX1osgwigsW4h6snhY6jX_IQFhHU1EKWKzFvawkdymMnSHiPE39jo/s320/Steam1a.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Screenshot 1</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
Circled in red in the screenshot is the link for the Workshop where we will be able to find all the games available in TTS. Clicking on Workshop will take us to the Workshop screen. If your screen doesn't look like this, you can't see a Workshop link and instead has three dots like this :<br />
<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGAc1gpaW_htkEP7mRnI9n4Er8zHWbLtJDEov9VRhjbCu0AwNzxT0qY_BtzLsK0BOKifmddsg0_H5ZaFdcsTMQGnbkELtE9ehTaJiTLBGBWLIvDHxC7Hchf8PWr3Q8J9nYjN9hUqHGBU4/s1600/steam1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1157" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGAc1gpaW_htkEP7mRnI9n4Er8zHWbLtJDEov9VRhjbCu0AwNzxT0qY_BtzLsK0BOKifmddsg0_H5ZaFdcsTMQGnbkELtE9ehTaJiTLBGBWLIvDHxC7Hchf8PWr3Q8J9nYjN9hUqHGBU4/s320/steam1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
Then the navigation bar is simply a bit compressed. Click on the three dots to open a drop down menu and select Workshop.<br />
<br />
Within the TTS workshop page there is a search facility. The screen should look like this, the red circle shows where the search is.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02c86cNUuk0TyJigG_jxXgCizgC8AtqJtTeoBQMZNSMv6Ul48jPuyFOUtiF4SouAnAAiLZ-mvpW3I-cfK2uX9QN4pcuXsIvAA9VEMfc_AsPBYitynNnE4BdhRJCoT8ATOf8dKwZwvpe4/s1600/steam2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1157" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg02c86cNUuk0TyJigG_jxXgCizgC8AtqJtTeoBQMZNSMv6Ul48jPuyFOUtiF4SouAnAAiLZ-mvpW3I-cfK2uX9QN4pcuXsIvAA9VEMfc_AsPBYitynNnE4BdhRJCoT8ATOf8dKwZwvpe4/s320/steam2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
So in our case, we want to go looking for Archipelago. Is it available within TTS ? We type in Archipelago and hit return. . .<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCXl1c5XzTiArK1u-8RkzuJkYj9d5yev-4fq8Sjpzwots0wzIsrzHc5iBtMHqa-Y1NM8PH50zQ0Ax7yff0cFX0qHGZQGbZEWhbFXR6r0EpbiCwhz2_JGxpxqWkTgetwVeaCrGawJ3S9s/s1600/steam3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1157" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtCXl1c5XzTiArK1u-8RkzuJkYj9d5yev-4fq8Sjpzwots0wzIsrzHc5iBtMHqa-Y1NM8PH50zQ0Ax7yff0cFX0qHGZQGbZEWhbFXR6r0EpbiCwhz2_JGxpxqWkTgetwVeaCrGawJ3S9s/s320/steam3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
What do you know, there are in fact many versions of Archipelago that people have uploaded. There is even one with the expansion ( War and Peace ) included. So we'll take a look at that one. Click on the item takes us to its workshop page.<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0i83jvOPX4AYI-DQcvPKPaTicnI313G8PhuB4Tsy-mHr6COLAYBfUT415T6bbYZ7oEreiIrqbmiru5IcYV1-dC6wSJYv2Lcx9RvCPOjl_XbgDhfDoWn6Kb7FpuDzItOyQ_PtKPm9EHPg/s1600/steam4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="929" data-original-width="1157" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0i83jvOPX4AYI-DQcvPKPaTicnI313G8PhuB4Tsy-mHr6COLAYBfUT415T6bbYZ7oEreiIrqbmiru5IcYV1-dC6wSJYv2Lcx9RvCPOjl_XbgDhfDoWn6Kb7FpuDzItOyQ_PtKPm9EHPg/s320/steam4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We can scroll about on this page and check out the comments and the like to see what people have to say about it, but, to grab this for ourselves we simply click on the Subscribe button.<br />
<br />
Once we've subscribed we are done in the workshop, now we fire up Tabletop Simulator ( the big green Play button in Screenshot 1 ).<br />
<br />
<h4 id="creatingahostedgame">
Creating a hosted game </h4>
When TTS has loaded, hit the Create button and select Multiplayer :<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWHh0durVm6gKSKJJ7UGf3_XeUfEaLYEAboftMZ9_WGk_4wS2dZxIS-lqGgWzCmxmmRZWD44osdmcdUjgfvixIKEq54njB0YGOmxaeItgyuSWMTXNn52VJtWw5nFl4ixuVFjIgH2LoOs/s1600/tts1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcWHh0durVm6gKSKJJ7UGf3_XeUfEaLYEAboftMZ9_WGk_4wS2dZxIS-lqGgWzCmxmmRZWD44osdmcdUjgfvixIKEq54njB0YGOmxaeItgyuSWMTXNn52VJtWw5nFl4ixuVFjIgH2LoOs/s320/tts1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
We get to name our table, possibly add a password and set the max number of players ( if you'd like people to spectate, note that max players will limit *all* players including spectators ).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8vUzblq5hZm-Fn9wdrUa5i93jMhIIJ9Dl9DPXplG1ySI24TyHCC-CXdQEhwhthQyNKpgIcFg2TLSUMgl6Eqb83OCeHefezDMDyQYXVVUvfmDHS_Rc2_O79rq37FgMJf1tQrR47-Fko4/s1600/tts2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8vUzblq5hZm-Fn9wdrUa5i93jMhIIJ9Dl9DPXplG1ySI24TyHCC-CXdQEhwhthQyNKpgIcFg2TLSUMgl6Eqb83OCeHefezDMDyQYXVVUvfmDHS_Rc2_O79rq37FgMJf1tQrR47-Fko4/s320/tts2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Hit the Create Server button ( not the big Create button ), and you'll be taken to a screen which allows you to choose what game you want to host. Here you can pick from "classic" games which as a hardened board gamer you probably wont be interested in, DLC that you might have bought, or, for us, as we grabbed something from the workshop, a workshop mod. In this screenshot you can see that Archipelago is now visible as we subscribed to it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUm6QJybWm3EURLWgyQ_5zEctjcf6SYt2IRO8G_XkowL66A1e8Q53HTvgSsIWG4mEgayAqPG8nkzSSSqAByau2hx0ODDRW-sLSeUC0bcFKdqG0tIugrPZ1eWM6Q_5guMKxtIUzUlLKmc/s1600/tts3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzUm6QJybWm3EURLWgyQ_5zEctjcf6SYt2IRO8G_XkowL66A1e8Q53HTvgSsIWG4mEgayAqPG8nkzSSSqAByau2hx0ODDRW-sLSeUC0bcFKdqG0tIugrPZ1eWM6Q_5guMKxtIUzUlLKmc/s320/tts3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Clicking on Archipelago will fire up the game with the mod. If it is the first time you've done this, content will now be downloaded from the workshop ( very quickly ), and the game setup.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBApDjtd4CJt2TfOz_bgN8ReKeyjkfZvDgXpjNjVlI4Spz6XYc-d79EgMnHaTyx1lkGuVOgrhkzekW3sZBpxJ0IV9ClqJQv2egCKDQBvFUcppimBmzY-kXXkS8-6QSJtsom_O6-s23L5c/s1600/tts4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBApDjtd4CJt2TfOz_bgN8ReKeyjkfZvDgXpjNjVlI4Spz6XYc-d79EgMnHaTyx1lkGuVOgrhkzekW3sZBpxJ0IV9ClqJQv2egCKDQBvFUcppimBmzY-kXXkS8-6QSJtsom_O6-s23L5c/s320/tts4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Hooray. Archipelago is now loaded for us ! Right mouse button rotates our camera, W,A,S,D will move it about, and mouse scroll wheel will zoom in and out.<br />
<br />
To get playing this fine game you're gonna need to pick a Colour. At the top right of the screen will be your name, clicking on this will reveal a menu to Change Color or Change Team. By selecting Change Color you will get to pick from being a spectator or one of the players. Lets click on it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivei5naM0Xvt48onac9VT_BLmVJteJlQbzpYHPyk4B6prcJoSyeqsP3_2wKUBPh2eZa_K9ncRlf47cJofxLgtSbilEE31qvdXoY_r6FP9Zz3wrbwJ5M8gg7CKPP5A4O-x_MqU5GhlEA_I/s1600/tts5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivei5naM0Xvt48onac9VT_BLmVJteJlQbzpYHPyk4B6prcJoSyeqsP3_2wKUBPh2eZa_K9ncRlf47cJofxLgtSbilEE31qvdXoY_r6FP9Zz3wrbwJ5M8gg7CKPP5A4O-x_MqU5GhlEA_I/s320/tts5.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
TTS is now asking us to Choose Color. We do this by clicking on one of the colour circles scattered around the tabletop. Player colours here are Green, Yellow, Purple, Red and Blue, whilst spectator colours are Grey. Lets pick Red by clicking on the red circle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLoeUB7_MT0NMIa6Ss_5kAKSk-N6pKX_26mR7TMIyClSzkTJR_tvNjN-BvjLrEaEGDB4rVRV2aolqZsiwp2twKoQnkvNXRJ7UIvN5cfkavoAqRYkoNr3xMLzOCor-0UEpElrORyvTITw/s1600/tts6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlLoeUB7_MT0NMIa6Ss_5kAKSk-N6pKX_26mR7TMIyClSzkTJR_tvNjN-BvjLrEaEGDB4rVRV2aolqZsiwp2twKoQnkvNXRJ7UIvN5cfkavoAqRYkoNr3xMLzOCor-0UEpElrORyvTITw/s320/tts6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And that's it. It has now played our name as the Red player, and we get access to the red secret area. Note that in TTS some areas are coloured in your player colour - this means anything you place in there is hidden from other players, so you can flip your cards or the like and they wont be able to see them. You might also in some games have a similar area for a <i>hand of cards</i> where people will be able to see how many cards you have, but not what they are.<br />
<br />
All you need now at this point is people to play with ! People can either join by finding your server, or you can invite them in . . . At the top right of the screen there is a plus icon. Clicking on this will open a Steam window allowing you to invite people from your friends list.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrz5NiUeZpQTjS91RIu6r1zeV9irIdlViq8OvshzIm0QM1mCNoadk1fVVQvmuGj0NOFuzjws9VGjrCMOUCo14HRDN6HZ7NVw2pz1NsleJwUhY0G-7oVPL_K3nUGrUYLKl9xGnZA9kJZg/s1600/tts7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBrz5NiUeZpQTjS91RIu6r1zeV9irIdlViq8OvshzIm0QM1mCNoadk1fVVQvmuGj0NOFuzjws9VGjrCMOUCo14HRDN6HZ7NVw2pz1NsleJwUhY0G-7oVPL_K3nUGrUYLKl9xGnZA9kJZg/s320/tts7.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Clicking on the invite button by a players name will send a Steam invite to that player to come play your game. If they accept they will join your game and automatically download the game you're playing from you. No need for setup !<br />
<br />
And that's it. You're ready to play your hosted game in TTS !<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<h3 id="joiningagame">
Joining A Game</h3>
So you wanna join a TTS game that someone else is hosting. You can do this in a few ways.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Invited </h4>
The easy lazy way is to get them to invite you into the game. And this is pretty much how you probably want to join a TTS game. In order to do this however you need to be a Steam Friend. Assuming that is the case ( and if it's not check out elsewhere how to add a Steam friend ), you can receive an invite from them. If you're already inside TTS it will look something like :<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp415cK3ccxiRp3oSKZnDR_iBRJ_UB-ooz-1tDUVkr3QEsYQI1q7j2cxSqrfvLNLyTReO7_dqUG2CbAJwhoNZR9s6M5QAVvJyyJWOaldBdqWf-3d1D2EGGYd7TP9cr8JvVD_fWkDt9jIM/s1600/tts8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp415cK3ccxiRp3oSKZnDR_iBRJ_UB-ooz-1tDUVkr3QEsYQI1q7j2cxSqrfvLNLyTReO7_dqUG2CbAJwhoNZR9s6M5QAVvJyyJWOaldBdqWf-3d1D2EGGYd7TP9cr8JvVD_fWkDt9jIM/s320/tts8.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here it is telling us we've been invited to a game and to "check steam overlay". The steam overlay can be accessed by pressing SHIFT + TAB to make it appear / disappear. If we hit SHIFT + TAB we see -<br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPSeXKiRZwrTRrXUQgoxI73ya-HI9OHE1dAa5WepOxwI0hENZaL7Qa0XtYqoVcHkkPodVJbdZN1aXielHs5oZNBfsRkknze4aoBv4xDkEmMH_AjztDNzsetLcSEiWzlwmpEsRf8iWCAY/s1600/tts9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNPSeXKiRZwrTRrXUQgoxI73ya-HI9OHE1dAa5WepOxwI0hENZaL7Qa0XtYqoVcHkkPodVJbdZN1aXielHs5oZNBfsRkknze4aoBv4xDkEmMH_AjztDNzsetLcSEiWzlwmpEsRf8iWCAY/s320/tts9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Clicking on play game will join us into the server ready to play the game. Note that it's not required you already have TTS running for this - Steam will also fire up the game for you if it's not running, and you won't have to muck about with the "Steam Overlay" either. After joining the game, you'll get a download progress bar and eventually join their game :<br />
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... and we'll be prompted to pick a player colour. Click on one of the coloured circles to do that.<br />
<h4>
Join via Steam Friends Join Game</h4>
If someone is playing TTS on your friends list - and for some inexplicable reason they haven't thrown you an invite - , you can invite yourself to join their game ( assuming enough space... ) !Right click on their name in the Steam Friends overlay and then click on Join Game<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MGCmnV9F3RwYilCvDCyoyr8XuOO-zT1FT6b151WR3q3XDH0a84rFNNSNP1PAauhoGOkxZ-TewB5PHT7-2h-Zj9BdVOeHHJevsS_mwJM9ITE-0Nc6zSBtFgQCmpdClY4B9PVOLeNAeIY/s1600/tts12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="907" data-original-width="373" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MGCmnV9F3RwYilCvDCyoyr8XuOO-zT1FT6b151WR3q3XDH0a84rFNNSNP1PAauhoGOkxZ-TewB5PHT7-2h-Zj9BdVOeHHJevsS_mwJM9ITE-0Nc6zSBtFgQCmpdClY4B9PVOLeNAeIY/s320/tts12.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
Good etiquette would obviously state that you have permission or otherwise of the person with the game.<br />
<h4>
Join via Server Search</h4>
Another way you can join is via finding their game on the main search from TTS. Click on the JOIN button inside TTS where it will ( slowly ) download a list of all available tables. This is a slower clunkier way to join games, but useful where you either don't know the person at all, or they are not on your friends list. Eventually you'll find the server you're looking for. You can filter this by name, or by friends to help sort the chaff from the wheat !<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTntDhNbJ9S3VAHoX1G2TTfnCEjM_Rgo9scpde1k4Xrz5aVXLh0nmoj5FuRp89Oz6kX3c33PYnzuCIa7t7JxAKFjX1Gd6T4qYdR0rtPELaILuJIr_sF2IkLjXNJdgmx-qvJvFy3pCpbk/s1600/tts11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpTntDhNbJ9S3VAHoX1G2TTfnCEjM_Rgo9scpde1k4Xrz5aVXLh0nmoj5FuRp89Oz6kX3c33PYnzuCIa7t7JxAKFjX1Gd6T4qYdR0rtPELaILuJIr_sF2IkLjXNJdgmx-qvJvFy3pCpbk/s320/tts11.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Here we can see a server called "Hello Bork." hosted by Weird ( Lewis ! ). Selecting this and clicking Connect would allow us to join the game. ( Note that there are a massive 2825 gaming tables currently being played on !! )<br />
<br />
<h3>
The (very) basics of Interaction</h3>
There are many tips and tricks you can use inside TTS to help play the game. But for the most basic of interactions. . .<br />
<h4>
Picking something up </h4>
You can pick up a game piece, card, pretty much anything, by left clicking on it and holding down before moving your mouse. To release the item, let go of the mouse button. On decks of cards, a short hold of mouse button before moving will take <i><b>one</b></i> card from the deck. If you hold the mouse button down for a longer period you will take the <i><b>entire</b></i> deck.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsNPKPIZbfKpeBQ-93ymy4DHK0fTxO2uKOwFaCChy5Gs54QwU29wzXxZrhKQq3pcsLEY-dFWEOheSjKhHao2ls5Q_oQUFMuT6nzB5pNe8DUAKRI-xLR-wUpRXcGBoIqvZA97nYjZzRA0/s1600/tts13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXsNPKPIZbfKpeBQ-93ymy4DHK0fTxO2uKOwFaCChy5Gs54QwU29wzXxZrhKQq3pcsLEY-dFWEOheSjKhHao2ls5Q_oQUFMuT6nzB5pNe8DUAKRI-xLR-wUpRXcGBoIqvZA97nYjZzRA0/s320/tts13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Picking up a pawn in Colonists. Note the shadow beneath indicating where<br />
it will land if you drop it.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
You can also select ( and then pickup ) many things at once by drag clicking a selection box :<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJJvTD4_fFSmsecluwCafAWBQs1VqKqKpPyVFo7yO7Qg0hqNXOb1vEIZ8fdtjI-EDNnEOSlz8juUHDL0x5NA59b-QD2zKwftFs0DPA7sSLDmNDWYytY5Yb5PbPuBCBYJ58lPs1H4oDzTU/s1600/tts14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJJvTD4_fFSmsecluwCafAWBQs1VqKqKpPyVFo7yO7Qg0hqNXOb1vEIZ8fdtjI-EDNnEOSlz8juUHDL0x5NA59b-QD2zKwftFs0DPA7sSLDmNDWYytY5Yb5PbPuBCBYJ58lPs1H4oDzTU/s320/tts14.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
And to move all those things, once again left click and hold down.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifptwCVdSTjOaCfakE-z2pq73YeMaonpel70xGgIpfqDb-i2M0NfVfgKTjrkIkIq3zQjTkPI8_FJJn5UiG2OFZTSpv-iUIQDJdSgkYWuYQ3EMCQq-kwW7MnLNeAp8ykQ8zwgnGuSki2BY/s1600/tts15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifptwCVdSTjOaCfakE-z2pq73YeMaonpel70xGgIpfqDb-i2M0NfVfgKTjrkIkIq3zQjTkPI8_FJJn5UiG2OFZTSpv-iUIQDJdSgkYWuYQ3EMCQq-kwW7MnLNeAp8ykQ8zwgnGuSki2BY/s320/tts15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Moving lots of things at once !</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<h4>
Right Click</h4>
Whilst many hot keys and shortcuts exist, by and large you can explore the full range of interactions with something by simply right clicking on it to pop up a context menu. Here we right click on a deck of cards to show us what we can do here.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bq7PiMPeoKtAulLBN3rStMzfCWjpBhvDixDIT9IUTYqqUVFB_mzB0E8wi3E5cEH02gi7QUc5vnLY0hSPoS9i3nTGxv4DsEaC3vov9a9ad9PNjTLScLLvBvllhy3u-yQG1cK7LzweoBg/s1600/tts16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7bq7PiMPeoKtAulLBN3rStMzfCWjpBhvDixDIT9IUTYqqUVFB_mzB0E8wi3E5cEH02gi7QUc5vnLY0hSPoS9i3nTGxv4DsEaC3vov9a9ad9PNjTLScLLvBvllhy3u-yQG1cK7LzweoBg/s320/tts16.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
Shuffling is a very common action when it comes to a deck of cards, and you can do that from the popup menu. More veteran users of TTS may shuffle a deck by picking it up and "shaking" it. An example of one of many such UI tricks in TTS. Search is also another useful command for a deck of cards - showing you the whole deck at once and allowing you to quickly pull a card out of it.<br />
<br />
Between the left click and right click interactions you should pretty much be able to master most of what the TTS UI has to offer.<br />
<br />
<h4>
Player Area</h4>
A special area will exist in front of a player where you can place cards into your "hand". This area allows you to flip cards without anyone else seeing them, and also places cards at the bottom of the screen for ease of viewing. Hovering over any of these cards and pressing ALT will zoom the card up. You can place items into your own area by simply picking them up and dragging them into the highlighted box. For cards you can also deal yourself cards from the right context menu, or hovering over a deck and hitting a number on the keyboard indicating how many cards you want to deal yourself. These will go straight into your hand.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguKOOv9oM73qUkkIVEaOkd2iWSU2Xt2UqV-fZe11CbLg5tRCt918BJrhtmvUBUxMEbAEJRAQ2K4Y5AaGEIoL-WxxoHFreXmAZG3M7nTgsm-hqZ7IgC8Hr9p72mRkvsO_gtoYb3ViIZ0V4/s1600/tts17.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguKOOv9oM73qUkkIVEaOkd2iWSU2Xt2UqV-fZe11CbLg5tRCt918BJrhtmvUBUxMEbAEJRAQ2K4Y5AaGEIoL-WxxoHFreXmAZG3M7nTgsm-hqZ7IgC8Hr9p72mRkvsO_gtoYb3ViIZ0V4/s320/tts17.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A single card in my hand. Note that it appears on the tabletop<br />
as well as fixed at the bottom of the screen.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
To check out all the keys available to you in the game, click on the Menu, Configuration and Controls Tab.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXUwDg3vfIROknHOx3iz6ELL1GG6EuX7ydGRHn4Lo6_trp6EZ0RbM0xO4c0xAiju_jszuz7euDDxfmVn_QalUoQEhd97sMowsSQDiKcHWsT-9QFzSjhq3rGzNUKkf2cDdPTnS9QEtoXo/s1600/tts18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1028" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXUwDg3vfIROknHOx3iz6ELL1GG6EuX7ydGRHn4Lo6_trp6EZ0RbM0xO4c0xAiju_jszuz7euDDxfmVn_QalUoQEhd97sMowsSQDiKcHWsT-9QFzSjhq3rGzNUKkf2cDdPTnS9QEtoXo/s320/tts18.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The F Key is your best friend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
That's it ! All of the above should get you well on your way to successfully gaming in TTS. Borkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06456256915491568109noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-55870780705976436212020-04-02T13:14:00.000+01:002020-04-22T00:41:43.678+01:00One Old NoBoGers Experience Getting Set Up With BoardGameArena for a NoBoG Virtual Tuesday. I’m a long-time boardgamer who loves being at a table with other gamers, moving wooden pieces around on gaudily-printed cardboard mats. The lockdown has stopped all this, but hasn’t stopped me gaming! I’ve never been much of an online player; the last PC games I finished were Castle Wolfenstein and Prince of Persia 1 (yes, the originals, when they came out). So I thought I’d share my experience of getting set up to play a game this week at Virtual NoBoG, in case it helps anyone else who’s also missing our gaming gatherings. This post describes <a href="https://en.boardgamearena.com/">Board Game Arena</a> (BGA for short), there are several other ways to play at NoBoG which will be covered in other posts.<br />
On Tuesday at NoBoG I played Puerto Rica on BGA: <a href="http://www.boargamearena.com/">www.boargamearena.com</a><br />
<br />
Board Game Arena is a free-to-join&play online boardgame site where all you need is a browser: it works with PC / Mac, iOS and Android tablets, smartphones, Wii U, Playstation, Xbox One, .... You don’t need to install anything on your PC. When you open the site you’ll see this:<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iiGaYdB5NY4ZDdL4uvUcZZU1aZzZkRTtwsYYT2egQ3LPB9WDw02c6PjfBTDFu51K5X8iLPHGkX0Zpy5HSvy0rtxTQp6SKF2XoZOxhaS9t6e_QnmeXF91olareg9jjOX5tJymXC1ESWY/s1600/Pic01.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="653" data-original-width="739" height="352" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8iiGaYdB5NY4ZDdL4uvUcZZU1aZzZkRTtwsYYT2egQ3LPB9WDw02c6PjfBTDFu51K5X8iLPHGkX0Zpy5HSvy0rtxTQp6SKF2XoZOxhaS9t6e_QnmeXF91olareg9jjOX5tJymXC1ESWY/s400/Pic01.png" width="400" /></a></div>
Scroll down……and further down..… all the way to the bottom of the page, and you’ll find where to join. Chose a player name (it will tell you if you’ve picked one that’s already taken). This is the name that others will see when you play. Once you’ve got a player name, enter your email and make up a password, and it will send you an email for confirmation. You don’t need to wait for this email to arrive, you can start in straight away.<br />
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You can chose some games that you know to add to your profile, or you can skip to the game tutorial step….<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hBOdM_Fcaw7leEomwT3yc6K_Knc20UUiJH16dlEpQhNAfNeSdYu5uAxe8gF2Tp-WRKd5eztP7APdk0qgwOB9A8ViAMLVf-XxyEGLR5Lou7GBEnjywcEl0VYJgvPOM1rxmDmUCM8tXXw/s1600/Pic03.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="1227" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5hBOdM_Fcaw7leEomwT3yc6K_Knc20UUiJH16dlEpQhNAfNeSdYu5uAxe8gF2Tp-WRKd5eztP7APdk0qgwOB9A8ViAMLVf-XxyEGLR5Lou7GBEnjywcEl0VYJgvPOM1rxmDmUCM8tXXw/s400/Pic03.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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Here you can get a game tutorial. I suggest you give it a try, to get the feel of how the controls work. You could skip this, but it’s quite useful and very friendly to newcomers.<br />
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Once you are done with the tutorial you get to the main site. Since you are new to the site it will point you to a few of the home page controls (it’s only 4 steps, and is useful info):<br />
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Welcome to online boardgaming. By now you should have received the email they sent you;<br />
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Click on the link in the email. If it asks, confirm you’re not a robot, and you’re in!<br />
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Now you’re all ready to join Virtual NoBoG on a Monday or Tuesday (via Discord) and get into a game. Bork’s excellent & easy-to-read post on on <a href="https://norwichboardgamers.blogspot.com/p/virtual-nobog.html">getting started with Virtual NoBoG</a> has covered Discord for beginners and beyond, and there are NoBoGlins out there who will help you get set up if you’re having problems, just post on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/nobog/">Facebook page</a> to ask.<br />
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To get back on BGA the login button is on the top right:<br />
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At NoBoG Tuesday in the Virtual Brewhouse various gaming options were discussed. Me, Stu, Sam and Tim decided to play Puerto Rico by Andreas Seyfarth.<br />
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In this game players take the roles of colonial governors on the island of Puerto Rico, getting victory points by shipping goods and constructing buildings on Caribbean islands. Each player uses a separate small board with spaces for city buildings, plantations, and resources. Shared between the players are ships, a trading house, and a supply of resources and doubloons.<br />
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First we had to “friend” each other on BGA, via the Community page:<br />
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Stu has played Puerto Rico online a lot, so he did the teach session. I had played the real game, Sam and Tim hadn’t. The teach was OK, although doing it online took a bit longer than in real life.<br />
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The interface to the game is pretty intuitive and doesn’t take long to get the hang of. If needed you can start a game for the teach, play a learning round or two, then if everyone agrees to “abandon game” there are no lost reputation points and you can start afresh. We played a no-pressure, long time-per-turn game, but if you like speed boardgames that can also be done. We continued to talk on Discord so could ask Stu questions and have some table chat as the game played. It worked well and was fun.<br />
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Here’s the final board, a win for Stu with a close game, just 5pts between 1st and 4th:<br />
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With all the games on BGA you can watch videos and get online tutorials, and there are plenty of game review and teaching channels on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/">YouTube</a>. On a NoBoG night don’t worry if you don’t know a game that others are suggesting, tell people and they will be happy to have a chat about whether this game is something you might enjoy, and will do a teaching session first.<br />
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You can also find NoBoG on BGA: the group is called "Norwich Board Gamers". You don't have to join the group, but it will make it easier for other NoBoGlins to find you and invite you into a game.<br />
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One note about premium membership of BGA. There are many games you can set up and play free, and you can play at tables of all of the games on BGA without premium membership, but many of the more complex eurogames require premium membership if you want to start your own table and invite your friends to play. Here’s the message you get:<br />
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Plenty of NoBoGlins have BGA premium, so they will be setting up the games. If you want to go premium you can join for just one month (£3.90) or for a year (£22.80). BGA is not pushy about this at all, but premium does give you some cool extras like game stats, ability to chose your colour, and hotseat play (all playing on the same PC).<br />
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The BGA site is seeing heavy traffic at the moment, and the admins are doing a great job of increasing capacity daily, but there are limits so it may be frustrating to get logged on sometimes (USA evenings mainly). Don’t give up too quickly, you’ll most likely get through in 5 mins and they’ve sorted it out so that once you’re playing a game it usually runs OK (if it seems to freeze in-game just refresh the browser - F5 on a PC - and it should catch up). It’s a site run by gamers for gamers and they’re doing a great job of keeping people playing.<br />
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<b>I hope this helps you get into the new Virtual NoBoG. I look forward to seeing you there!</b><br />
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TomHhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13506959299635013830noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-13362297384026493892020-04-01T20:26:00.000+01:002020-04-02T12:14:44.065+01:00NoBoG Rebooted<div style="clear: both; text-align: center; width: 100%;">
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The Machines Have Rebelled !<br />
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NoBoG has gone virtual - gaming online on Mondays and Tuesdays 7.30pm ish on a virtual board gaming platform of your choice.<br />
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Join us on Discord for the usual pre game chatter and board game arranging !<br />
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Discord link -<a href="https://discord.gg/g8AHGqr" target="_blank"> https://discord.gg/g8AHGqr</a><br />
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NoBoG - down, but never out, gaming in a socially distancing brave new world.<br />
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( btw this is NOT an April Fools post ! ) Borkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06456256915491568109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-61339756366259350012020-03-13T19:07:00.001+00:002020-04-12T10:57:06.495+01:00COVID-19<h2>
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT</h2>
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Hello one and all,<br />
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I am sure it hasn’t escaped anyones notice that the corona virus or Covid-19 has had an impact on our shores and is something we have to take seriously. In short a virus that is easily spread and can have massive complications, especially on those who either have underlying health issues or those who are elderly/children. People can spread it without showing any symptoms.<br />
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Therefore discussions have been had about our regular Nobog meetings. It has not been taken lightly or has been an easy decision. But it has been decided to postpone our regular meetings until the medical advice allows gatherings like this again. We want to be a place where people can meet and enjoy playing games. However this brings us into close contact, sharing meeples and cards etc. At the end of the day the health of everyone and their families have to been taken seriously to combat the spread of corona.<br />
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At present we will look to continually review this and all going well we'll be back in the late spring/early summer, and back to playing games together; ones where 'virus’ and 'quarantine' are purely on the board and not a reality.<br />
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Both venues have been made aware that as the Nobog we won’t be attending the usual nights and are understanding of the situation.<br />
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Overall please follow the advice of health experts, goverment, and W.H.O.<br />
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From,<br />
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The Nobog council of Jarls<br />
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P.S please pass this onto to others you know that arn’t on social media etc.Borkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06456256915491568109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-39845307302575665472019-10-01T10:36:00.000+01:002019-10-01T10:50:19.862+01:00Spes the Final FrontierIn the last couple of weeks at NoBoG the recently released game Black Angel has made it to table to confuse and bemuse amongst the stars Euro style. <br />
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Designed by the same guys that brought you the 2010 Euro game Troyes, the game borrows the core mechanics from that game, tacks on a bunch of extra things, twists a few others and spins the theme from the middle ages of Earth into the far future of spaaaacccce. Which is a rubbish description if you have no clue what Troyes is. Suffice to say, some people regard Troyes as the Best Game Ever, and so Black Angel comes with a certain amount of hype, glee and disappointment depending where you stand on Troyes.<br />
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Set onboard a sleeper colony starship that is safeguarding the last remnants of humanity - The Black Angel - the players take the role of overseeing AIs that are looking after the ship on its hazardous journey towards a planet called Spes ( pronounced confusingly "space", from the Roman god of hope ). Along the way you get to send your robots off to do various tasks around the ship and also explore the passing systems to fulfill abstract "missions" for various rewards. But as an AI governing your small army of robots, it's not all about sweeping the floors and flying around in your swanky scout ships, the Black Angel is under attack from an unrelenting alien species, the Ravagers ( *cough* Reavers *cough* you cant take the sky from me ! ), who are intent on destroying you, your robots, and your sleeping cryo colonists by turning you into tiny pieces of space debris. At which point everyone loses.<br />
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A semi co-operative ?! I can see how you'd think that, but actually no. Despite the game having a built in antagonist who can trash the ship and end with you all "losing", you still compare points - albeit much reduced - and see who the best loser was. In other words, it doesn't really matter at all and is not semi co-operative.<br />
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The game is strikingly colourful, with hot pinks and electric neon colours decorating space in something that's very far removed from your typical space trope of black and blue. The artist responsible for the design agreed to do the artwork but on one condition - they didn't want to do Yet Another Space Game that had a massive black backdrop with a few points of colour. Which is understandable but liable to upset some space purists out there. I can't remember the last NASA shot of space that was quite so... pink.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Space - a lot more Hot Pink than you might have guessed</td></tr>
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There are arguably three main core mechanics to Black Angel. The first is that your actions are tied to the dice you roll. This is one of those, workers are dice, and you stick the dice on an action space kind of a game. This bit of the game is very close to Troyes in that each player has their own pool of differently coloured dice, there's a possibility of not only using your dice, but taking others dice, and you stick those dice down into action slots to perform an action. The Black Angel has six actions you can take, two each in three colours, and it is these you can place your colour matching dice into to activate them. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">End game player tableau. Look at all those black bonus tiles ! Ridiculous !</td></tr>
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The second main mechanic is your player tableau which forms a 3 x 3 grid where you can place "tech" tiles which give you bonus actions at the start of your turn. These are activated as a group either as a column or row, and with some funkiness about "injecting" tiles and pushing them all along, there is something to think about here about what kind of actions you want on your board, where they are being pushed to, and whether you can get nicely efficient rows or columns of actions to activate all at once, further complicated by end game scoring tiles really wanting to be pushed *off* your board in order to score more points for them ( but possibly destroying your delightfully efficient grid in the process ). If you've ever played Santa Maria with its 5 x 5 grid and column or row activations with dice, it's pretty much exactly this but in smaller form, and you can shuffle the tiles about.<br />
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The third main mechanic of the game is within the ever scrolling space exploration board. Here you can move your little robot scout ships out from the Black Angel to place missions on nearby systems. These missions either form a new action space for you to place dice on in addition to the six available onboard The Black Angel, or form bonus tiles that will trigger when they "fall off" the back end of the board. The space board continually refreshes, losing its rearmost set of hexes, and adding a new set of hexes at the front, pushing the Black Angel on towards its destination - and possibly triggering "ejection" missions.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgotfrDreRtevsg0gaPaYmAfYO54kqJxHcvU9FtzRH4cYm0tHTTD0avl5IQHe0AoOMfwj8Q91f2rOkon49LJNrAKHE5ffZ4pRiNSX4UefB2A_hQyaUznfBatgnobefa7cOO8NDvZ3BgpY4/s1600/20190930_204948.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgotfrDreRtevsg0gaPaYmAfYO54kqJxHcvU9FtzRH4cYm0tHTTD0avl5IQHe0AoOMfwj8Q91f2rOkon49LJNrAKHE5ffZ4pRiNSX4UefB2A_hQyaUznfBatgnobefa7cOO8NDvZ3BgpY4/s320/20190930_204948.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The main Black Angel player board</td></tr>
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Throw in some card hand management, a minimal sprinkling of resource management spending and a whole bunch of timing of when you go into a reset turn to reroll your dice, and you pretty much have the game.<br />
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Stripping the game down to its essentials, what you'll basically be doing in this game is trying to get some favourable missions to nearby systems, planning what actions you want to put in your tableau, having one eye on what scoring tiles you can pick up and in order to do all those things running your robots around the ship.<br />
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Enough of brass tacks. How does it play ? The game has a good number of moving parts to it which at first glance is tricky to wrap your head around. It's critical that you get out into space and place some missions down - these do you two things, earn you points and materials, but crucially when they are ejected, set you up to possibly allow you to score more points from your bonus tiles. The sheer variety of these missions is pretty much impossible to track unless you've played the game a lot - there are 60 of them, all with different costs and rewards. This is further complicated by the division of the entire game into three different colours - each colour can only be activated by the matching colour, bonuses will only stack on the same colour and so on. Meaning that you kind of have to track three separate states - how are my yellows doing, how are my blues doing, how are my greens doing, am I concentrating on blues, how many dice of that colour do I have ? Getting any bit of that wrong can lead you into awkward situations of not having much useful to do or doing something you probably don't care so much about. Painting yourself into a corner here where you've inadvertently screwed yourself over by either not having the right colour dice available or the right colour card is a real possibility and takes a bit of planning to avoid.<br />
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To do the oh so important space exploration malarkey, you're gonna quickly need to get some kind of robot and spaceship availability production going, otherwise you will be faced with having no robots or ships to go explore with. This is also something you're gonna need to keep track of, not only for this turn, but probably a few turns out. And to do that, you'll need to be aware of what cards you're burning to activate your tableau - and whether you've now run out of a colour and maybe need to trigger a dice to get some of those cards back... but that also requires you to have timed the action of that dice so you can properly use it.. and.... oook. If you get any of those things wrong, you're back to the whole I've painted myself into a corner issue again.<br />
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One comment from the game on Monday halfway through the playthrough was "I don't think I'm clever enough for this game", and as you invariably cock something up in a screeching car crash of inefficiency at some point it maybe can feel a bit like a car ride where you're only somewhat in control of where you are careening. Everything in the game is interconnected, and pushing at something in one place can take away from something else in another area, possibly not to your overall benefit.<br />
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This general feeling of moving parts is also not helped by an absolute wall of iconography everywhere. Which makes it nicely language independent. But also raises a new hurdle of everyone having to understand the sci fi themed hieroglyphics plastered to missions, actions, tech and even the assaulting aliens.<br />
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Don't get me wrong. You can certainly play this game. No problem. Playing this game *well* however is another matter. And you'll know that you're not playing it well. It'll tell you. When you end up not being able to perform that action for lack of something. When your tempo is all over the place and you end up wasting cards.<br />
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Fortunately the game isn't anywhere near half as crunchy as it seems once you've learned how the game ticks along, and after you've played it once, the game is straight forward enough. Under a sit down and play this game for the first time kind of metric, I'd rate this game as a pretty unfriendly experience - depending on who you are this might put you off, or you might just be intrigued with the cool theme and interlocking actions. A combination of keeping track of states of your colours, your player tableau, dice, the chicken and egg nature of a lot of those factors, a bit of upkeep pain, a wide variety in missions and their points rewards and a wall of hieroglyhpics all add up to a bit of a beginner fog settling over the board.<br />
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After all that, overall the game is very nice, has a lot of different things to think about and has bags of replayability hiding within its broad set of interlocking mechanics. The theme is enjoyable if you like your sci fi stuffs and the ever moving space board is something pretty fun and unusual and ties in a beautiful way to track the game timer and is thematically very strong. There is a very fine balance in determining whether a mission card is worth it or not - the game is incredibly short action wise, you'll probably get something in the region of 15 ish actions before the game finishes, which means every action really does count. Something that is entirely not obvious on your first game. The game definitely has an edge of allowing you to happily do stuff that is appallingly bad for your end game, but it feels like you're achieving something Euro style. The game has numerous of these "Euro pit traps", be wary of blindly applying your expert Euro skills over to this game. The tip here is to stay very focused on what earns you points, and how many actions it takes to achieve those points. Laying down a pointless mission or two, or spamming for dice - or spamming for anything - is going to cost you.<br />
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The game is very much Troyes 2.0 Electric Boogaloo in my humble opinion, where the core mechanics of Troyes have been taken lock stock and transplanted into a sci fi theme, but with more bits on the end to increase complexity and in a move that feels like someone has sat down and said I like Troyes but how can we make it More. Some reviewers say the games are very different - I'd disagree, even to the point that the transplanted different colour dice from Troyes don't make a hell of a lot of sense in Black Angel. Whilst in Troyes thematically the dice are very seperate spheres of actions ( Red - Military, White - Religious, Yellow - Civil ), in Black Angel that thematic and actual action separation is gone, they are just abstract different colours for the sake of it. It feels super arbitrary and needlessly fussy in places. Of course it's a key part of the game, with everything divided into three colours, but to me it feels like the result of transplanting Troyes directly over without considering whether a modified design would actually fit better and make for a more streamlined elegant game without losing any of the breadth of strategic options available.<br />
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Nevertheless a great game when you get to it and have learned how to gauge its heart. But those with a nervous disposition and fans of lighter fare will probably want to stay away.Borkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06456256915491568109noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5203941432778477233.post-70827055050461416052019-09-19T13:49:00.004+01:002019-09-19T14:05:37.743+01:00Have I Got A Bargain For YouThis week we have Bargain Quest, a kickstarter ( in all proper senses of the word ) game based on being a fantasy shopkeeper.<br />
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Not of course to be confused with afternoon British TV stalwart Bargain Hunt presided over by the will never not be creepy Lord Spraytan First of His Name, David Dickinson. But if Double Dee floats your boat you can imagine yourself in game slinking around dressed like a spiv to suddenly pop up out of nowhere, leer over an unsuspecting member of the public before disappearing the way you came with only the faintest smell of fake tan on the air. You do you fam.<br />
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A self published kickstarter from an unknown designer the theme of Bargain Quest flips the familiar trope of fantasy stuffs that sees you take on the mantle of derring hero thwarting all before you, to instead imagine you as the NPC the GM scrambles to plausibly flesh out when you turned left instead of right, and have you as a shopkeeper selling your <strike>crap</strike> fine wares to <strike>unsuspecting</strike> discerning <strike>shortly to be dead</strike> legendary heroes.<br />
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Gaining victory points from just amassing more wealth than everyone else being a no brainer, you also however gain victory points if the hero you just kitted out manages to successfully assault the villain threatening the village and, even more shockingly, survive the encounter. Glory by reflected association whilst doing little yourself. The best kind of Glory. The Glory of Management if you will. You can also imagine this a bit like sponsoring the hero with your gear. Like a football strip. If say Paddy Power existed in D&D. Or perhaps this Wizard sponsored by Johnny's Kebab Emporium. Come try our Rat on a Stick !<br />
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So with the premise firmly set, therein follows a modest card drafting and even more modest hand management game. Draft a whole bunch of interesting adventuring type items into your hand - each of which can appeal to different heroes, and each of which are more or less useful to their incumbent and priced somewhat accordingly.<br />
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Three heroes are set available to all, but crucially, each of which is only interested in and can only be equipped with items in their particular expertise and only has a limited amount of money to spend.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiS-Z_ruphBCxtCfbFvjS797AmdHQLM5XS7ouERpxb9IT93zAqyfxLR-8O08x6uaEbg0nlPQi2EkeSVjJWqUxmUW7Lsa2U9da9f2vcK8NUbkoeOvhRugG9MabX5Xmfb2PMTpOjakx7HTU/s1600/BQHeroes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="999" data-original-width="1600" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiS-Z_ruphBCxtCfbFvjS797AmdHQLM5XS7ouERpxb9IT93zAqyfxLR-8O08x6uaEbg0nlPQi2EkeSVjJWqUxmUW7Lsa2U9da9f2vcK8NUbkoeOvhRugG9MabX5Xmfb2PMTpOjakx7HTU/s320/BQHeroes.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hapless Heroes of Bargain Quest. David Dickinson not to be seen.</td></tr>
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Players get to place one ( or two, or three ) items from their hand into their shop window, where, bizarrely, window display items cannot be bought, but will entice adventurers in to buy from your store." We're out of stock mate. Only got the one on display. No you can't have it. " . Players get to select which hero not already chosen comes to their shop to buy stuff, the turn order decided by whoever has the most exciting items in their window.<br />
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And thus we get to the crux of the game - there is some consideration going on when drafting - what are the current heroes looking for ? Melee things, magic, holy items ? What cards am I seeing in the round robin draft ? What should I place in my window to set my turn order, and what should I leave free to sell ? Placing great items in your window is all very well, but if that then leaves you with little to sell the chump coming through the door, that's not going to get you - or them - anywhere. Conversely, stick some crap in the window and keep the "good stuff" behind the counter is fine and dandy but ensures you'll have last pick of heroes and possibly be stuck with someone you can't cater to. Someone having more enticing items in their window than you and sniping the hero you had your eyes on is very real.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5byKTxWv_VUzpqOp68egFvx8qxc_wMNLxvtU3ABYQAsfsrHMGH5_1WAE5dnk4Njhn7GRLZosmz4ScIlbimdjOh6wyViv8V426F7i5wnkMag-vLqP3cC0LpYiJ-Y-96ROYFNaEjP8HGEM/s1600/BQ1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5byKTxWv_VUzpqOp68egFvx8qxc_wMNLxvtU3ABYQAsfsrHMGH5_1WAE5dnk4Njhn7GRLZosmz4ScIlbimdjOh6wyViv8V426F7i5wnkMag-vLqP3cC0LpYiJ-Y-96ROYFNaEjP8HGEM/s320/BQ1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Heroes with money to spend and a villain to face down.</td></tr>
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After everyone has sold crap to their sponsored customer the heroes go off to battle the visible villain and match their offence and defence against that of the bad guy. Heroes earn money for surviving ( Which is then used to buy stuff from your shoppe in future rounds ), and earn points for their sponsors by landing a hit and also surviving. After a round of adventure the heroes carelessly lose all their equipment and are once again available to all shopkeepers to squabble over. Or more likely most if not all of them die and a new set of heroes rock up to try their luck.<br />
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The game is short and not super taxing with a lovely theme and nice art that works really well and pitched from a viewpoint that is unusual in that it sets you to be the supplier rather than the hero. There is plenty of rich theme and fun to be had with the various items that you can grab from the deck, hitting all the familiar tropes of magic helmets, cat familiars, beserker axes, potions, scrolls and all sorts. It's nice, if you dig that kinda thing. Which I'd guess most RPGers will.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxzjWWH61E9uceqQWwOcVByWnz_tszKaxsslv806V63wDFsvQuImDoVklA6r7DpWzSk1OM4BuFx2tnxZ_Y6kY_hq0Rr8WYEpmJN5fqAtEv1FImZI1cv38wroKTdfnwLTYCNH2Q_4WcA0/s1600/BQ2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinxzjWWH61E9uceqQWwOcVByWnz_tszKaxsslv806V63wDFsvQuImDoVklA6r7DpWzSk1OM4BuFx2tnxZ_Y6kY_hq0Rr8WYEpmJN5fqAtEv1FImZI1cv38wroKTdfnwLTYCNH2Q_4WcA0/s320/BQ2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Shoppe of Wondrous Delights. Nothing at all at the moment.<br />
Might be getting a delivery later guv. Come back then. I Can order it in for you ?<br />
A world before Amazon.</td></tr>
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The game also has a somewhat cheeky undercurrent going on, with some items downright crap for heroes - the wineskin, appeals to all heroes, reduces defence by 1, and costs them 10 money. A poor way to prepare a hero. But does make you money. Or perhaps the swindler you can hire as a shop help, who simply fleeces the hero that walks through the door of 15 money with nothing to show for it. Harsh.<br />
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All of this can set up a bit of light narrative tacked on top of the game, which with the right crowd will make the game memorably funny. Like Honest Tim the Honest Shopkeeper - enticing heroes into his shop with a wineskin. No use to anyone. Just booze. The lowest of the low. Or at least we thought so until the next turn he simply had a "fake potion" on display. A bottle. Of water. In the window. Or at least you hope that yellow liquid is water. After selling a hapless Cleric some goods, Tim then proceeded in the following round to send out a thug to beat the hero up, leaving him senseless in some dark alley. See that holy cleric over there ? Go duff him up ! Shocking. The very worst kind of shopkeeper. Chaotic Evil. I suggested Tim was actually a criminal with an adventuring equipment fake front and a sideline in protection rackets. Honest Tim. A nice chap. Moral. Avoids social deduction games because it helps you practice lying. Not averse to beating up holy men in dark alleys however. Just beware if he ever opens a shop eh ?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieXMZdP0M5eHAeily-YKElQ1xYw06V_Vh_WsLeWnNeWFYTe3BobUcQMgnkkxdi7KUt9MMHthLrgfU1wtuKJML24hq9_dGHCqCOq7rmtgPi22-lb-meuSwX0ym5HY0Zlo4S0ijQQJGj1ys/s1600/BQ3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="472" data-original-width="960" height="157" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieXMZdP0M5eHAeily-YKElQ1xYw06V_Vh_WsLeWnNeWFYTe3BobUcQMgnkkxdi7KUt9MMHthLrgfU1wtuKJML24hq9_dGHCqCOq7rmtgPi22-lb-meuSwX0ym5HY0Zlo4S0ijQQJGj1ys/s320/BQ3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An impressive Magic Lamp on display entices the young<br />
hero into my shop. Who was doing astonishingly well until<br />
the deck of random halved their surivability. BS ! TABLE FLIP !</td></tr>
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If there's one minor fly in the ointment to this easy going Beer and Pretzels kind of game then its the random card that gets dealt on top of a hero before they go fight the villain. These can range from - no effect, to effectively cutting your offence or defence in half ( or both if youre really unlucky ), to boosting both by 50%. There is no way to mitigate this. None. Nada. Pick a card, any card. Oh bad luck, you lose. WHAT ?! Needless to say this is monstrously swingy and can and often does make the difference between success and failure and who gets points regardless of your careful curation of equipment.<br />
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It does mean there's always a chance for you, and always a chance a smug player will get smacked down. But it works both ways. And is arguably too much. But also somewhat needed to make things a little uncertain. In any event should you really hate them you can just do away with them, or trim the deck to take the worst swingy offenders out. And in the end the game is not supposed to be an AP perfect information paradise, but more of a fun romp watching ill equipped heroes die at the hands of a Goblin King.<br />
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And for those that intensely dislike mean spirited take that kick your neighbour kind of games, Bargain Quest is light on the doing the dirty to everyone else kind of actions. They are in there, but none of them are terribly impactful. Think more an occasional light hearted interference rather than a devastating razing of your neighbour.<br />
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Bargain Quest - a great bargain ! *leers at you with a David Dickinson creepy ass smile*<br />
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PS. Do you think David Dickinson walks around everywhere like that ? A fanned fistful of 20's in his hand. Here he comes. To the supermarket checkout. Fanned 20's. David points at his fanned 20's and leers. Yes. Very nice David. Well done. No I don't have any bargains for you. Why are all these 20's smeared in orange ? Borkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06456256915491568109noreply@blogger.com0